THROUGH IT ALL, WE’RE MORE THAN CONQUEROR
Romans 8:35-39
In the late fifties and early sixties, an era that many of you do not know about. The Timex watch people aired a commercial with their product going through a battery of abusive situations. The watch was dropped from buildings, beaten with hammers, and rolled over by cars and trucks, and to the amazement of all of us, after enduring such abuse, the watch although partly destroyed remained working and because of this, the Timex Watch people penned the phrase; “Timex watch, it takes a licking’ but it keeps on ticking’.” Likewise as we look at this text nestled in this eighth chapter of Romans, we will see yet another that is targeted to be abused and in some cases killed. They are the Believers. But when the final chapter is written we will be the conqueror that made in through hard trials and tribulations. In fact Paul quotes from Psalms 44 verse 22, “For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.” Then he gave us endearing hope in verse 37 when he said “Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”
My brothers and sister, it is my desire to encourage you, even while you might be in the midst of going through. I come to let you know that through it all. Through high gas prices. Through it all. Through all your disappointments. Through it all. Through high medicine, food and housing bills. YOU CAN make it, because you are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus who loves us.
Do I have any Conquerors in the house?
First of all. . .
1. WE NEED TO HAVE A REALITY CHECK (V.35)
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
First, we must realize that no one or thing can separate us from the love of our Lord. Many times people interpret this text as if nothing or no one can separate Christ from their love, but that is not what this text means. It means that your mean disposition, your worst sin, your home girl, your Aunt Maggie and Uncle Bubba cannot separate you from the love of Christ. Now not only did Love die for us but He also freed us from the guilt of sin. There are people that feel that they are too this that and the other, and the Lord does not want any dealings with them, this my brothers and sisters is far from the truth. Again just like it was said in last weeks message, that we have the ability to choose the coarse that we take. We can either choose to follow Jesus or choose not to. In this case we can choose to be set free from the guilt of sin or we can continue in it. But I hope that you will understand that there is no circumstance, no situation, no event that can cause Christ to turn away from us. No matter how terrible or severe the situation, it cannot separate the true believer from the love of Christ. Christ loves the believer regardless of the circumstance, and He longs to be the Believers reconciliation. So, the reality of it all is that there is nothing that can stand in the way of Jesus’ love for us.
Secondly there is the reality that. . .
2. ALTHOUGH THEY WILL SEEK TO KILL US WE WILL STILL BE VICTORIOUS (V.36-37)
“As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
Look what the text say and I hope you embrace the important words in the beginning of the text. It said, As it is written, (For thy sake). There are things that we go through by reason of one of two ways. Lets deal with the first. Before we accepted Christ we suffered things because we caused then. People didn’t like us because we basically did not like them, we got in trouble with the law because we chose to do so, we had trouble in school because we didn’t apply ourselves. I hope you understand what I’m talking about. We got in trouble because we had a (we problem). It was about what we wanted to do. It didn’t matter, what mama or daddy wanted us to do, or the law and teacher wanted us to do, but because of our We sickness, we did it our way. Our young people, not all but some, squander some great opportunities because of this illness called (We). We disease causes them to miss out on a great educational opportunities, the streets are full of really good athletes that squandered class room activities for the social and they found out that they could not play the next season and they also found out that D-1 college coaches do not recruit athletes that can not make it in the classroom. So they squander the opportunities that is before them, because they did thing for their own sake. But then there is troubles that come because we chose to follow Christ. At this point we are not doing thing our way but, we are doing it Jesus’ way and if the world hated Jesus without a cause, it will surely hate you too. So the text which was spoken by Paul from the old testament book of Psalms 44, tell us that we for thy sake or God’s sake will be killed all the day long. Today all over the world someone is dying because of the stand they took for the Lord. I’m reminded of the young Christian girl at Columbine High School who lost her life all because she was a Christian.
Finally, there is a reality that. . .
3. NOTHING SHALL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE YOU FROM THE LOVE OF GOD
(V.38, 39)
“For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.”
Once you’ve had a relationship with the Lord, there will be nothing that can separate you from His love. My brothers and my sisters, these scriptures that we discussed today is dependant upon a brother or a sister having a full relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. You can’t buy it, you can’t fake it, and membership will not get it for you. It comes from a sure enough relationship with the Lord Jesus who is the Christ. That is why in verse 31 it said, What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? You see God is not for those who is not for Him. Now don’t get this wrong He loves those who had not made Him their choice and is still giving them many chances to come to Him. But in order to receive all that God has promised to His people you have to have a relationship with Him. Not with the church, not with the pastor, not with the choirs, deacons, preachers, and the Sunday School. You need to have a relationship with the Lord, because the Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. In other words. Jesus said in Luke 9:23 If any man will come after me, let him first deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me.
CONCLUSION
Well I got to go now, but I want to say Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers, may you day be a blessing to you. But before you go, I want to share something with you. As a father I love my children. They will make me angry, disappoint me, go against my wishes, and make bad choices after they’ve been steered in the right direction. But I tell you, they might do all those things but I still love them no matter what and regardless what they do, it can’t separate them from their Daddy’s love. There are certain things promised to my children. But it will come only when they choose to do right things by us and by each other, they will put themselves into a position to be heirs of our estate. There is a pocket watch that my great uncle had given me and gave me strict instructions to always keep it in the family. Alonzo can be the heir of that watch, but if he don’t make the right choices, then one of my daughters will be the heir.
Likewise, Paul is letting us know that he is persuaded nothing can separate the true believer from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.
In other words the only way to get the Father’s promises is that you will have to choose His Son.
