[The following is the manuscript of my sermon delivered on the 25th of October, 2015. Look for the video on our Vimeo channel, http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]
With the events of the last few weeks, I feel it critical that we not lose sight of one very important message that our Father God gave us in our Bible. It has to do with us, as well as our loved ones who’ve gone on home to live with our Father and with Jesus. It’s a sweet and simple truth that we absolutely must remember, especially when the storm clouds gather overhead.
Listen and follow along as I read from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 8, verses 31 through 35 and 37 through 39, from the New Living Translation of our Bible…
Listen and follow along as I read from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 8, verses 31 through 35 and 37 through 39, from the New Living Translation of our Bible…
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since He did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all, won’t He also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one — for God Himself has given us right standing with Himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one — for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and He is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?
37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow — not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below — indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
--Romans 8:31-35, 37-39 (NLT)
Let us pray… Father God, speak to us using my voice, but let Your children see only Jesus and hear only Your words. May Your Holy Spirit touch our hearts and write Your message upon our very souls. In the blessed name of our Lord Jesus we pray. Amen.
A man whose heart had been deeply touched by the death of a friend, expressed a desire to begin the Christian life, and he told the minister so. "There's just one thing that makes me hesitate," he added. "I'm afraid I can't hold out. Where I work, there are some pretty rough fellows. I don't believe there's a real Christian in the crowd." For an answer the minister reached down and lifted a flower from the vase on the table. "Do you see this flower?" he asked. "It grew in the mud and slime of a marsh, yet see how clean and spotless it is. That's because God kept it. And He can keep you, too."
A pastor in Virginia phoned the editor of religious news for the local paper and gave him the topic for his Sunday morning's sermon: "The Lord Is My Shepherd." The editor asked, "Is that all?" The pastor replied, "That's enough." The editor, thinking that those two words were part of the preacher’s subject, posted the topic in the newspaper as follows: "The Lord is My Shepherd. That's Enough."
The Lord is my Shepherd and that is enough. To know the Lord as our protector and provider is enough to dissipate all fears and dilute all sorrows. What more could we need than to have God by our side? God keeps us - in the palm of His hand, in the safety of His arms, in the warmth of His heart.
Have you ever felt defeated, beaten down by life? Do you just get to the point where you hate facing another day? I'm not talking about “Gee, I had a hard day and just want to put my feet up and snooze in front of the TV for a while”. And I’m not talking about losing at Rook or Phase 10 here on game night. I’m not even talking about Duke beating Carolina, which is extremely difficult to cope with!
What I mean is that feeling of being completely conquered, truly and utterly defeated. That feeling where all you have the strength left to do is to run up the white flag… but you don't know who to surrender to. Have you ever had one of those days, or weeks, or years? I know I sure have.
I titled this message "Conquered, or Conqueror?" for two reasons. The first is because sometimes we feel more like one than the other. And the second reason is that I believe we have a choice in the matter.
What are some of the differences between these two conditions? Well, if you simply look at the words, they only differ by two letters at the end: an "ed" on one and an "or" on the other. They share the same root word: "conquer". One of the dictionary definitions for that verb is to gain a victory over, to surmount, to master, to overcome. A conqueror does those things, while the conquered suffers them. One is defeated, the other triumphant. One lost everything, the other won.
When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday, the people cheered and shouted "Hosanna", "Savior". They expected that the Messiah would come as a victorious leader, conquering the Romans and freeing the masses from tyranny. Jesus indeed won the great victory for us all, but not in the sense or the manner the people expected.
So while we may at times feel conquered, Paul tells us that through Jesus, not only do we win the fight, but we gain an overwhelming victory! Look at verse 37 again: "No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us."
What is it we face? What are "all these things" Paul refers to? Look in verse 35: troubles, calamities, persecution, hunger, destitution, danger, and even threats to our very life. Nasty stuff!
Yet Paul assures us we have an overwhelming victory through Christ. We are conquerors through Jesus. And Paul confirms this in his second letter to his young protégé, Timothy, in chapter 1 verse 7…
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
--2 Timothy 1:7 (NLT)
When we confess our belief in and give our lives to Jesus, He sends God's Holy Spirit to live within us, to be our constant Companion and to augment our own spirit. Our spirit becomes one of power, not fear.
But we're human, with human weaknesses. We may have trouble really believing we are conquerors, especially when life just batters us day after day after day, in much the same manner it did Paul, who was beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, time after time after time. Sometimes it just seems humanly impossible that we could be conquerors. And indeed it just might be humanly impossible, a fact Jesus Himself affirms.
Do you remember the story of the rich young ruler who asked Jesus how he could gain eternal life? After a little back and forth Jesus told him he must sell all he owns, give to the poor, and follow Him. The young man refused to do so and Jesus commented that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter heaven. The disciples, astonished at this, asked how then could anyone gain heaven. Matthew recorded the rest of this exchange in chapter 19 verse 26…
But we're human, with human weaknesses. We may have trouble really believing we are conquerors, especially when life just batters us day after day after day, in much the same manner it did Paul, who was beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, time after time after time. Sometimes it just seems humanly impossible that we could be conquerors. And indeed it just might be humanly impossible, a fact Jesus Himself affirms.
Do you remember the story of the rich young ruler who asked Jesus how he could gain eternal life? After a little back and forth Jesus told him he must sell all he owns, give to the poor, and follow Him. The young man refused to do so and Jesus commented that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter heaven. The disciples, astonished at this, asked how then could anyone gain heaven. Matthew recorded the rest of this exchange in chapter 19 verse 26…
26 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
--Matthew 19:26 (NLT)
Man, by his own actions, cannot save himself - it is impossible. But with God, all things are possible. All things. And that's good, because it gets really scary when we see what we're up against. As I noted a little earlier, Paul gives us a taste in today's verses 35. In effect, we can expect to be tried, persecuted, starved, stripped of our possessions, maybe even slaughtered.
None of that is very pleasant to think about. But exactly who or what does this threat come from? What is the wall made of that we beat our heads against? Paul reveals our true enemy in his letter to the church in Ephesus in chapter 6 verse 12…
None of that is very pleasant to think about. But exactly who or what does this threat come from? What is the wall made of that we beat our heads against? Paul reveals our true enemy in his letter to the church in Ephesus in chapter 6 verse 12…
12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
--Ephesians 6:12 (NLT)
We are made to conquer and we have a spirit of power. But we have to contend against Satan?! Against the very devil, pure evil in every sense of the word?! How can we possibly succeed, or even hold our own?
Let's go back to our message text for a moment. Verse 32 tells us that God gives us all things, including a spirit of power. Verses 33 and 34 ask that if we have been chosen by God, are justified by the Creator of all, then who can bring a charge against us, who can accuse us? No one!
Verse 34 goes on to assure us that Jesus intercedes for us, He sits at the right hand of God the Father and pleads for us! And verses 38 and 39 declare that nothing, nothing can separate us from God’s love, from His protection, from His help. The love that He revealed in and through His only Son, Christ Jesus our Lord, will always be ours.
The author of Hebrews, in chapter 2 verses 14 and 15, gives us insight into how Jesus worked this already, and why…
Let's go back to our message text for a moment. Verse 32 tells us that God gives us all things, including a spirit of power. Verses 33 and 34 ask that if we have been chosen by God, are justified by the Creator of all, then who can bring a charge against us, who can accuse us? No one!
Verse 34 goes on to assure us that Jesus intercedes for us, He sits at the right hand of God the Father and pleads for us! And verses 38 and 39 declare that nothing, nothing can separate us from God’s love, from His protection, from His help. The love that He revealed in and through His only Son, Christ Jesus our Lord, will always be ours.
The author of Hebrews, in chapter 2 verses 14 and 15, gives us insight into how Jesus worked this already, and why…
14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could He set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.
--Hebrews 2:14-15 (NLT)
Our human fear of death can hold us in slavery all our lives. When we were dead in sin Jesus came to us, to free us from the slavery of sin, that we need no longer fear death, but instead look forward to salvation and to eternity with Him.
So how do we deal with all this? How do we stand up to the constant onslaught life throws at us? We all face personal problems, as individuals. We face interpersonal problems, with our family and others. We Christians face troubles even here within our church families.
Many churches are seeking new pastors right now. Traditional churches are seeing declines in membership and attendance. Many, including some right here in our own community, worry about paying the bills and keeping the doors open. These churches are us. We are the church. We are the body of the risen Christ here on earth. How can we hope to cope with all this?
Again we can turn to Paul for instruction and assurance, this time from his letter to his beloved church in Philippi. In Philippians chapter 4 verses 12 and 13, Paul says…
So how do we deal with all this? How do we stand up to the constant onslaught life throws at us? We all face personal problems, as individuals. We face interpersonal problems, with our family and others. We Christians face troubles even here within our church families.
Many churches are seeking new pastors right now. Traditional churches are seeing declines in membership and attendance. Many, including some right here in our own community, worry about paying the bills and keeping the doors open. These churches are us. We are the church. We are the body of the risen Christ here on earth. How can we hope to cope with all this?
Again we can turn to Paul for instruction and assurance, this time from his letter to his beloved church in Philippi. In Philippians chapter 4 verses 12 and 13, Paul says…
12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
--Philippians 4:12-13 (NLT)
In any and every circumstance, Christ will strengthen us.
There's truth in the saying that if God leads us to it, He'll see us through it. He gave us that spirit of power, and of love, and of self-discipline, as Paul told Timothy. And those three gifts show God's wisdom. He gave us the power to stand up and face the evil one, but tempered it with love that - if we use it properly - can keep us from hurting others. And He gave us the self-discipline to use these gifts as He intends, and to help us stay focused on the true enemy.
The only contribution we need to make in all this is to have faith in Jesus' love and God's grace. Jesus tells us if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we can move mountains. Our faith that He will strengthen us to stand strong against whatever we face will see us through. Our faith will make His strength ours.
Our text today tells us that the One who died for us, who sits at the right hand of God, pleads for us. He sent us the Holy Spirit and filled us with a spirit of power. He loves us and nothing can separate us from His love. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, God is always with us, comforting us with His sovereign authority and power. God's grace, Jesus' sacrifice, Their great love for us… What more do we need?
Have courage. Stand strong. We are conquerors, through Jesus Christ our Lord who loves us. Amen.
Let us pray… Loving Father, You know how weak Your children truly are, so You gave us Your Holy Spirit to empower us, to make us conquerors. You do not want us to ever feel conquered, no matter what life throws at us, so You assure us that we can find strength in Your Son Jesus. Please help us remember this, Father, any time we might begin to feel utterly defeated.
Hear us now, Father God, as we come to You in the silence of this beautiful place, speaking to you from our hearts, offering our thanks and seeking Your forgiveness for our disobediences…
Lord Jesus, You gave Your all for us just that we might be freed from the slavery of sin and death. In You we are conquerors, and never conquered. You are our hope and our salvation – in You we place all our trust. This we pray in the glorious name of God’s Son and our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
There's truth in the saying that if God leads us to it, He'll see us through it. He gave us that spirit of power, and of love, and of self-discipline, as Paul told Timothy. And those three gifts show God's wisdom. He gave us the power to stand up and face the evil one, but tempered it with love that - if we use it properly - can keep us from hurting others. And He gave us the self-discipline to use these gifts as He intends, and to help us stay focused on the true enemy.
The only contribution we need to make in all this is to have faith in Jesus' love and God's grace. Jesus tells us if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we can move mountains. Our faith that He will strengthen us to stand strong against whatever we face will see us through. Our faith will make His strength ours.
Our text today tells us that the One who died for us, who sits at the right hand of God, pleads for us. He sent us the Holy Spirit and filled us with a spirit of power. He loves us and nothing can separate us from His love. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, God is always with us, comforting us with His sovereign authority and power. God's grace, Jesus' sacrifice, Their great love for us… What more do we need?
Have courage. Stand strong. We are conquerors, through Jesus Christ our Lord who loves us. Amen.
Let us pray… Loving Father, You know how weak Your children truly are, so You gave us Your Holy Spirit to empower us, to make us conquerors. You do not want us to ever feel conquered, no matter what life throws at us, so You assure us that we can find strength in Your Son Jesus. Please help us remember this, Father, any time we might begin to feel utterly defeated.
Hear us now, Father God, as we come to You in the silence of this beautiful place, speaking to you from our hearts, offering our thanks and seeking Your forgiveness for our disobediences…
Lord Jesus, You gave Your all for us just that we might be freed from the slavery of sin and death. In You we are conquerors, and never conquered. You are our hope and our salvation – in You we place all our trust. This we pray in the glorious name of God’s Son and our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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