More Than Conquerors

More than Conquerors

Romans 8:31-39

Romans is one of the most powerful books in the Bible; Romans chapter 8 has to be the capstone of the entire book, and these verses we’re studying
today are the great crescendo. Chapter 8 is about our victory, but in these verses Paul declares that we are more than conquerors through
Him who loved us.

We become more than conquerors when we understand who we are in Christ and what God has done for us in Christ and then respond by having faith in Him;
a faith that is sure and steadfast through every storm and by loving Him in response to the greatness of His love for us.

Paul has been building up to this through all the previous chapters. We were born in the sin of Adam, we were born with this flesh and will die with
it, but we can be victorious, He has given the Spirit to transform us by changing our hearts and our minds.

This is an important key; you cannot be victorious until you’re victorious in your mind. Therefore, what your mind and your heart take hold of will
determine your victory or your defeat. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ,” Paul says. In other words, when you hear the
truth, when you hear the words of Christ you can defeat the doubts, the fears; the lies of the enemy and the world.

For example, you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry
out, “Abba! Father!” When you take hold of that truth and write it on your heart, it will transform your faith.

Paul is then straightforwardly honest; there’s a lot of suffering in this present world. The creation itself groans and suffers the pains of childbirth
longing to be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We also groan within ourselves longing
for something better because we live in a broken and evil world.

But God helps us in our weakness. We do not even know how to pray as we should, by the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for
words.

Then, in verse 28, those famous words, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” If you know this great truth, if you have strength of faith to stand on this great truth, you’ll look for it, you’ll watch for it. If you believe
that God brings beauty out of ashes, then you’ll eagerly wait for that beauty and be watching. If you don’t believe, you’re left
with ashes and are waiting for nothing.

That’s when you become “more than a conqueror.” What does it mean to be more than a conqueror? That phrase is a translation from the Greek. It’s one
word and we can understand its meaning without much difficulty – Hyper-Nike. It’s not just victory, it’s surpassing victory. It’s kind of like
when the Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl last year. I was hoping to use the Oregon game last week for that illustration,
but that didn’t work out so well.

I.       God is For You

• If you truly take hold of this truth and write it on your heart, and live according to it, you will be more than a conqueror.
• If God is for you, who can be against you? There are many things and many people that may be against you, but Paul’s point is that since God is
  for you, none of those things can defeat you.

• In other words, the fact that God is for you has a greater significance than anything being against you. This is a rock on which to stand.
  

Psalm 27:1-3 “In spite of this I shall be confident.”

A.      God gave His Son for you

• The point is that God proves that He is for you. Look at the extent He went to redeem you; He delivered up His only begotten that you might have eternal
  life.
• That is convincing evidence. This is important to understand because when people experience the sufferings of living in a broken and evil world, they
  often see that as evidence that God is not for them. But they’re wrong; they only need to look at the great price that was paid by God Himself.

Romans 5:8, God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

• The conclusion we should make is that if God did not spare His own Son, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Psalm 23:1, 6, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want… Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Matthew 7:9-11, “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

• Of course, as our Abba, Father, He doesn’t necessarily give us everything we may want. His purpose is to make us like His Son.

B.       No one can bring a charge against you

• God is for you; He is the one who justifies you.
• The power of God being for you is that there is no one who is able to bring a charge against you, there is no one who can condemn you.

Romans 8:1, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

• The righteousness that God gave you far surpasses any charge that could be brought against you. You have the very righteousness of Christ added to
  your account.
• Who is it that could bring a charge against you? The enemy is called the accuser of the brethren, he would very much like you to join him in condemnation.
• You know who else might bring a charge against you? You yourself. Many people carry guilt and shame and feel very unworthy and unlovable.
• If you’re convinced that you’re unworthy and unlovable, then you’re not standing on the truth. If God is the one who justifies you, even you yourself
  do not have the right to condemn yourself.

Illus – If we could only understand that God knows about every skeleton in the closet, every shameful thing we’ve done and yet His love never fails.

C.      Christ is interceding for us

• God is for you so much that He did not spare His own Son. Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, who was raised, who sits at the right hand of God,
  and who also intercedes for us.
• In other words, the Holy Spirit is in our hearts and He is interceding for us with groans to deeper words, but not only that, Christ Himself is
  also interceding in our behalf. Can you imagine? Can you imagine Jesus asking His Father for you?

Hebrews 7:25, Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

• Intercession prayer is praying for someone else.

Acts 12:5, Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.

Luke 22:31-32, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.”

Illus – Sometimes people ask me to pray for them, but how much more precious are the prayers of Christ Himself? It’s a powerful thought to imagine Him praying for us by name.

II.       Be Convinced of God’s Love

• One of the most important keys to being victorious, in being more than a conqueror, is being convinced that God loves you, that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.
• If God is your Abba Father, then you must absolutely trust that His love for you never fails and that no matter what happens in life, nothing can
  separate you from that love.
• God has demonstrated that love when Christ Jesus took your sins on the cross. But he also says earlier in this chapter that the Spirit Himself
  bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
• We each have a testimony in our heart of God’s love and I’m convinced He demonstrates that love throughout the course of our lives in many ways.

Illus – This week I had lunch with my friend Steve who told me the story of his greatest Jesus moment.

Illus – I remember one of my own amazing Jesus moments.

A.      Nothing can separate us

• Earlier in the chapter Paul spoke of the sufferings of this present life, but here he gives clear examples that we can all relate to.
• Jesus said, “In this world you will have many troubles, but take courage! I have overcome the world.” To take courage means to have greater faith,
  to trust that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

John 10:28-30, “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

• The question in many people’s minds, however, is why God, in His great love, doesn’t keep us from these troubles. For many, it seems inconsistent,
  “You say you love me, and yet I go through troubles and trials and difficulties.”
  
• They are convinced that a God that is good should not allow evil to exist. There is such a place and it’s called heaven, but this is earth where God
  has made man with a will to freely choose to follow Him or reject Him.

Illus – Jesus gave a parable that the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat… the wheat and the tares will grow up together until the harvest…

• God did not promise to keep us from the troubles, but He did promise to be with us in it.

Hebrews 13:5-6, He Himself has said, “I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you.” So that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”

B.       Faith is our victory

• In all these things, Paul said, we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. But notice that faith works together with love. “For I am convinced,” Paul said. That’s the key.

1 John 5:4, For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.

• Many people feel defeated in life. They feel beat up by all the troubles and struggles that comes with living in this broken and evil world. They live
  discouraged.
• The difference between a person who is defeated and the person who is more than a conqueror is faith.
• God wants us to have faith that perseveres through every storm; I love the line from that song, “My anchor holds within the vale.”
• Yet other people have faith that is easily shipwrecked. They become angry or bitter and because they don’t believe that God brings beauty out of ashes
  they’re not watching for the help God will provide.

Hebrews 6:18-19, We who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope you have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…

• How can you overwhelmingly conquer through such difficult things? Because your faith is sure and steadfast and not only are you not defeated, you have
  a peace that passes understanding.

Illus – Some of you know Janet who has been one of our receptionists at the Hillsboro campus. She recently was given the worst possible news from her doctor, but she is more than a conqueror; her anchor holds within the vale.

• Faith is anchored in these truths; God loves us as our Abba Father and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love
  God, to those who are called according to His purpose. And we know nothing can separate us from the love.

2 Timothy 1:12, I know in whom I have believed…