The First Sunday in Lent

February 18, 2024

Romans 8:31-39

Rethinking Religion—

Rethinking Trials, Tests and Temptations!

31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NIV1984)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Every time we come to church we hear about how much God loves us. But, if God does indeed love us— then why? Why do we continue to endure trials and tests and temptations in our lives? Why doesn’t God simply take them all away? If you have ever had questions like that go through your mind, you are not alone! Those are questions that many Christians have pondered at one time or another! Those are questions, however, that are based on a false premise. The false premise is that trials, tests and temptations are always “bad,” always “negative.”

As we start our Sunday morning journey through the season of Lent this morning we are starting a new sermon series. The overall theme of this series is: Rethinking Religion. As we begin this sermon series let’s see how the apostle Paul gives us an opportunity to: Rethink Trials, Tests and Temptations!

Paul begins our text with two questions that require an answer. He asks us, “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” What is Paul referencing here? Paul could be referring to everything he has written so far in his letter to the Romans. Through the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit Paul has written a masterful exposition in which he condemns the whole world of sinners— both Jews and Gentiles alike. (1:18-3:20) Then Paul describes— in detail!— the doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. (3:21-6:23) He continues by addressing the subject of living a sanctified Christian life which includes the Christian’s struggle against the old sinful nature that lives inside each and every one of us. (7) From there he moves on to emphasize this glorious truth, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). And in the verses that immediately precede our text he gives us the confidence that comes from knowing that in His power and in His grace God has “predestined” and “called” and “justified” us, and one day He will most certainly “glorify” us in ways that we cannot fathom! What shall we say in response to everything God has done for us? Paul gives us the perfect response— “If God is for us, who can be against us?” The only answer to that rhetorical question is: No one!

Paul then continues to build on that rock-solid foundation when he goes on to say, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all— how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” This verse brings us face-to-face with the central message of Lent. Lent assures us that God’s love for us is so strong and so complete that He “did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.” (Pointing to the cross) Yes, my friends, the cross proves to us just how much the heavenly Father loves us! The cross proves to us how far the heavenly Father was willing to go in order to save us from our sins! As we stand in the shadow of the cross on Calvary’s hill, as we bask in the love that our heavenly Father has for us, we can be confident that our heavenly Father will “graciously give us all things”! All the things that we need for this life, all the things that we need for the next life, our heavenly Father “graciously” gives to us!

To give us an even greater degree of confidence Paul goes on to say, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died— more than that, who was raised to life— is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” With these words God the Holy Spirit brings us into the ultimate “courtroom”— God’s heavenly “courtroom.” As we stand in this courtroom we have the confidence of knowing that God Himself has “justified” us. On the basis of Jesus’ innocent suffering and death on the cross and on the basis of Jesus’ victorious resurrection from the dead, the heavenly Father has “Declared us: Not Guilty!” That unparalleled verdict became our personal possession when God the Holy Spirit created the gift of saving faith in our hearts!

With that unchangeable verdict entered behind our name in God’s Book of Life— I like to envision it recorded using the holy, precious blood of the innocent Lamb of God!— it is extremely easy to answer Paul’s question, “Who is he that condemns?” Again the only answer to that rhetorical question is: No one! And even if, even when someone tries to “condemn” us, we have Jesus standing right by our side to defend us. Not only was Jesus willing to die in order to pay for our sins, but Jesus physically rose from the dead to guarantee that all of our sins are completely forgiven! Not only did Jesus die and rise for us, but Paul assures us that our Brother Jesus, the One who is both the true Son of God and the true Son of Man, our Brother Jesus is “interceding for us” before His heavenly Father’s throne. With Jesus defending us, we have absolutely nothing to fear!

Does that mean that no one will even try to “condemn us”? Does that mean that no one will try to take the sins that we know we have committed against God and use them against us? No, it does not. We have three powerful enemies who are constantly trying to come up with accusations to level against us. There is the unbelieving world in which we live. Even though we live in a country where we have the freedom to believe and to worship according to what we know is the Truth, when we stand up for God’s Truth we can easily be ridiculed by the media, rejected by our friends, and even targeted by the government. Sadly, we see and hear this happening more and more often.

Then there is our old sinful nature. Our old sinful nature is constantly trying to seduce us with some kind of sin. “Everybody is doing it!” “Why not have a little fun?” “Give it a try— just once!” The instant we give in, the instant we even think about giving in, our old sinful nature will condemn us as unforgivable and unworthy.

And, of course, there is our arch-enemy Satan. Not only is Satan a “murderer,” but Satan is also the “father of lies.” (See John 8:44) Satan is the ultimate accuser. While we have no indication in the Bible that Satan can read our mind, he can and does hear every word we speak. He can and does see every action of our life. Satan will not hesitate to take what he has seen and take what he has heard and use it as ammunition against us when we are called to stand in God’s heavenly courtroom. Our only defense is found right here in our text, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died— more than that, who was raised to life— is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”

That is the confidence that enables us to rethink how we look at trials, tests and temptations. The devil, the world and our own sinful flesh will try to use trials and tests and temptations to weaken our faith, to plant seeds of doubt in our minds and to lead us away from the cross of our Savior. (Pointing to the cross) God allows trials and tests and temptation to come into our life to refine and purify our faith, to lead us to turn to Him and to trust in Him— not ourselves!— and to teach us that this world, a world that is broken by sin, a world that is scheduled to be destroyed by fire, this world is not our true home. Yes, God uses trials and tests and temptations to teach us to trust in His love, in His strength and in His protection.

Because our God has promised that all things work together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28)— even the trials and the tests and the temptations we encounter as we journey through this world— we confidently say along with Paul, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’”

If it were not for the gift of saving faith that God Himself has created in our hearts it would be easy— if not automatic— for us to view “troubles, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword” as evidence that God doesn’t love us and/or that God has forsaken us and/or that God has forgotten us— even if it were just for that moment in time.

With the precious gift of saving faith in our hearts we understand that God never promised that our life here on this earth would be “heavenly.” In fact, Paul’s quotation from Psalm 44 clearly reminds us that as God’s people live their faith here on this sinful world they have always and will always face hardship and persecution. In 2 Corinthians 11 Paul delineates many of the “troubles” and the “hardships” and the “persecutions” he endured as he faithfully proclaimed and as he openly lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ: imprisonment, flogging, being beat with rods, hunger and thirst. While we — God-willing!— will never face the “troubles” and the “hardships” and the “persecutions” that God’s people have faced in the past, we certainly have our own modern-day variations on that theme, don’t we. As we faithfully share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and as we openly live our faith in Christ we can easily encounter pressure and scorn, ridicule and rejection by a society whose beliefs and lifestyle clearly contradict God’s Truth as it is revealed to us in God’s holy Word. But no matter what we encounter, no matter what we endure on our journey through this world we still have nothing to fear! Why?

Look at what Paul proclaims in the closing verses of our text, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What an amazing comprehensive list that God the Holy Spirit had His servant Paul give to God’s people— including us! Whenever we face trials, tests and temptations of any kind we do so with the absolute confidence of knowing that nothing— nothing on this earth, nothing in the unseen spiritual realm— nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”! Oh the devil will try, the unbelieving world will try, our old sinful nature will try— but the cross of Jesus Christ (Pointing to the cross) is our guarantee that they will fail!

Think about how that enables us to rethink the trials, the tests and the temptations we face. When we realize what our spiritual enemies are trying to do, when we understand that their goal is to “separate” us from our Lord and what He has done for us— we run! We run to our victorious Lord and Savior trusting that He can and will protect us!

“If God is for us who can be against us?” My prayer this morning is that whenever we are facing trials and tests and temptations in our life that this powerful rhetorical question will give us the unwavering confidence to lift up our eyes to His cross and say, No one!

To God be the glory!

Amen