Romans: Who Can Stop Us? – The Gospel Church

Good morning everyone.

It’s a blessing to have another opportunity to come together in worship of the Lord and to look into His word. It’s been such a good week, and I am thankful for all the Lord has done for each of us.

If you would, you can turn with me to the book of Romans, and I will be picking up again in chapters. I am going to start reading at verse 28 again, and I will read down to verse 34, and we will spend some time looking at these verses this morning.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Prayer

Lord, we thank You that You have been there to help us through the recent days. We thank You for the testimonies of healing that we have heard. We thank You for the strength and the resolve You have given us. We thank You for the great love that You love us with. And we thank You for the Bible and the truth You have shared with us in its pages.

Lord, as we come to this passage of scriptures, we ask that You would open our understanding. Help us to see, hear, and understand—not the words and sounds from the lips of a mortal man because the words of man are vanity—but may the Holy Spirit speak to our hearts and enlighten us, and enable us to walk by that light. Because what we receive of the Holy Spirit is life, and is sustaining.

So I pray that You move on my own heart, and move on the hearts of the listeners. And may the great truths of these verses be incorporated into our very being, I pray, in that way that only Your Spirit can do. Let it be in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Well, these are some good verses to look at this morning. And of course, everything in the Bible is good, but some parts are perhaps of a more immediate good to us. And these things we are reading here in the 8th chapter of Romans—not just the verses I read this morning, but the entire chapter—are verses that Paul wrote to bring assurance and confidence to the hearts of the Christians living in Rome, 2000 years ago. And the same assurances and confidences he gave them are still good today. It still works the same way. Nothing has changed; Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God is faithful to all generations.

The plan of salvation does not change. The means by which we are saved remain constant. And there is nothing that comes along that can change that. If something comes along and tries to change the plan of salvation, or to modify the gospel-provided way of being saved, you can be sure that thing is a false gospel. It is not from God. A gospel that says Jesus is not enough to save you, and following Him is not enough to make it, and the truth of who He is and what He did is not enough to ensure your glorification, and His blood is not enough to save you from all wrath—that is a false gospel. That is something that has perverted the most fundamental truth of our faith.

And that has been the point Paul has been making through this first half of the book of Romans. What Jesus did is enough to save you, and if you believe that, you don’t need to add anything to it. He is the truth, and understanding that He was the perfect sinless Son of God, understanding that He died to pay for your sins, and that He resurrected to prove that He conquered death, and understanding He is Lord—that is enough truth for salvation. And understanding that He is the life, and He is the pattern, and once we are saved we should seek to pattern our life after His, that is enough understanding of the life to live. And if that is what we are doing, with an honest heart, then we are living exactly the kind of life He wants.

Paul has been driving those points home through the first half of the book of Romans. And as we come down towards the end of chapter 8, Paul is wrapping it all up and putting a bow on it, and showing us what a wonderful gift it is, and how sure and how certain it all is. And look at the certainty of it all that Paul conveys in verses 28-31. Let me read those verses again:

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

We love God; we love what He did for us by and through Christ Jesus. And He called us, obviously. If we have heard the gospel, and it spoke to our heart, we are called. And we are called according to His purpose. And what is His purpose? His purpose is what Paul describes in the next verses. His purpose is to glorify us, so that Jesus Christ can be the firstborn of many brethren. And for people like you and I, who have heard the call of the gospel message, who have heard of the love of God shown to us, and who have responded to it, and who love God, we are the people who Paul is talking about in this verse.

And let’s go back and read one verse from the book of John.

John 5:24
King James Version

24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath (past tense) everlasting life, and shall not (future tense) come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

If we believe on Him—not believe in Him, but on Him—as Paul explained in the first part of Romans chapter 8, if we believe on Him for the saving work that He did through Jesus Christ, then we have everlasting life. From the moment we believe, we have everlasting life. From the moment you believe, you are passed from death unto life. From the moment you believed, you are transformed in your status and position. And from there on, you will never come into condemnation. Never ever. Jesus was not lying to us. Jesus is the truth. Let me read what Jesus said again.

John 5:24
King James Version

All you need to be saved today is to believe this verse I just read. I mean really believe it’s true. Accept Jesus as your Savior. If you believe, we will baptize you; that is an ordinance we observe, but salvation and life eternal begin from the moment you believe on the saving work of Jesus Christ.

And that is not some superficial, repeat-after-me kind of thing, but it is something real, something genuine. Something down inside, you know you need help. You know you are going down. You know you are without hope. And you realize that you need a Savior. And you look up, and you see that Savior is Jesus. He is the one who can pay for your sins, and you truly realize He is the way, He is the truth, He is the life. And you lay down all your works, and all your tryings, and all your self-righteousness, and all your pride, and realize Jesus is your hope. And He is your only hope. And He loves you so much, He would do anything to save you. He would even die for you, to save you. And He did.

John 5:24
King James Version

Let me go back to Romans 8, verse 28.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

If you have heard His word, you are called. That is why His word came to you, to call you. And if you believed on His word, then you are the person verse 28 is written about.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

And there is the purpose. There is what He has purposed to do in you. He has purposed to make you like His Son Jesus. He has purposed to transform your life, and change you. He foreknew you. He saw you before you were born. And He predestinated everyone covered by

verse 28 to be conformed to the image of His Son.

Paul is telling us something that is so important to grasp when it comes to the certainty of our standing with God as born-again Christians. We are predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son Jesus.

And predestination—that is something sometimes people go a long way outside of the scriptures with. There are some things the Bible tells us God predestinated. There are other things the Bible tells us God left to the free will of His creation. And I am not intending to have a comprehensive sermon on predestination as we go through this chapter, but just realize this: God is sovereign. He can make anything and everything He wants happen, but there are things He does not force to happen because He leaves His creation with free will.

And as we look at the Bible, we can see there are ways in which God allows beings with free will to decide things on their own. And then there are things where God steps in, and He does acts in His sovereignty. And He overrides everything else and imposes His will. And that is the kind of thing happening here that Paul is describing.

For those who are saved and born again, God has predestinated—He foreordained it—that we should be conformed to the image of His Son. God is stepping in, and He is overriding. He is overriding anything that may get in the way, and He is willing, by a sovereign act, that you and I, and all the born-again believers, be conformed to the image of His Son. God Himself is willing it to happen. It is an act of God.

And think about that—predestination is an act of God. And what God does, it does not fail. What God does, there is no way to derail it. It might take time. It might be a process to get there. But there is nothing in this universe that can stop a sovereign act of God.

And that is what Paul is getting at here in verses 29 and 30. Nothing can stop these things from happening to the born-again believer. It is a certainty.

Let’s read it again:

Verse 29

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

You see, Paul is telling us all this is an act of God, something that God worked and brought about. He called us, He justified us. And notice what He does there at the end—He also glorifies us. Our ultimate glorification is also part of this sovereign act of God. And when we have believed on Christ, when we are born again, our glorification is also a certainty. The person who is justified is guaranteed of being glorified. When He appears, we shall be like Him.

And more than that, I have the verse this morning, there is something else promised to the person who is justified. Go back to chapter 5; let me read verse 9 again:

Verse 9

9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Through these earlier chapters, Paul gave us a long list of all the things a justified person has. And one thing a justified person has is also what Paul described there in verse 9—we shall be saved from wrath because we are justified by His blood. We shall be saved from all wrath, in all forms, because we are justified. And Paul makes no qualifications to it.

This can be applied to wrath in the sense of judgment at the great white throne, in the sense of punishment in hell, and also in the sense of the wrath of God we read about in the book of Revelation, that happens in the tribulation. We shall be saved from wrath through Him because we are justified—not because we know special mysteries, but because we are justified by His blood.

This is what the plain reading of the Bible tells us. And when you interpret symbolism and parables to contradict the plain reading of the Bible, then you have interpreted the symbols and parables incorrectly. You don’t use the symbols and the parable to interpret the plain reading of Scripture—it’s the other way around. You use the plain reading of Scripture to interpret the symbols and the parables. Unfortunately, we know people who have been doing that backward since before we were born, and that is part of why they are so confused.

But going back to the 8th chapter:

Verses 29-30

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

These things are a certainty to those who are justified by the blood of Christ. They are a certainty to those who have had a true heart change. It is a certainty for those who are born again. We will escape the wrath to come, and we will be glorified when Christ appears. So says the Word of God. Hear ye Him.

Now that brings us to verse 31. Paul has just finished giving us a home run. He has knocked it out of the park. And you know, that is what it’s like—when you hit a home run, you still have to run around all the bases. This thing is a home run, but we still have to run around the bases. But when it’s a home run, there is nothing that can stop you from winning. And that is what this is. We are justified, we are born again, we are saved. It’s a home run. And now we have to walk around the bases and make it home. And that is what we are doing in this life—we are on our way home, and there is nothing that can stop us.

And look how Paul puts it in verse 31:

Verse 31

31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

If God has done this thing, if this thing is an act of the sovereign God, who can stop it? Who can keep this thing from happening and being accomplished? Who can stop us from being saved from wrath? Who can stop us from being glorified? Who can stop us? And the answer, as we will go on to find out, is nobody and nothing. All the powers of hell cannot stop the Lord our God. All the powers of man cannot stop the Lord our God. And if He is for us, and He is doing this work, nothing can stop Him.

And I know this is a short message this morning, but this is where I will stop. And this evening we will go on. Nothing can stop God from accomplishing what He has purposed to do. And He has purposed to save us from wrath, and He has purposed to glorify us.

And as we read verse 31, we see Paul is asking this as a question. And honestly, it’s a very good question. If this thing is the will of God and He has determined to make it happen, then what can stop that? And this evening we will examine how Paul answers that question. Is there any possible conceivable way that God will not do this thing He has purposed to do?

So let me close in prayer.

Lord, thank You for the certainty of Scripture. Thank You for the confidence and assurance we have. And Lord, it is so wonderful to know that these truths we have read here in these few verses, these promises and guarantees are repeated to us over and over again throughout the Bible. We are assured by Your Word that You sanctify us and make us perfect by Your Word. And You told us that Jesus Christ is the Word. You told us You would sanctify us by Your truth. And You told us Jesus is the truth.

Lord, I pray that we put our full faith and confidence in our Savior, our Redeemer, our coming King, our Lord. We can’t save ourselves. We can’t deliver ourselves. We can’t perfect ourselves. But You can, and You will, and You are perfecting us through Christ Jesus our Lord. And when He appears, we shall be like Him. And You have promised that to us, just like You have promised it to everyone who has believed on Christ to the saving of their souls, to everyone who has been justified by His blood.

Thank You, Oh God. You are great. You are amazing. You see farther and deeper than we can see. And Your plan is perfect. Help us, Lord. Thank You for the home run. Help us walk these bases, and see us safely home, we pray.

And if there be any today who are not sure, if there be any who lacks the confidence or the assurance of the things we have read about today, Lord, I pray, open their eyes and their hearts. Let them turn to You and repent of their fallen state. Help them see Jesus is their Savior and their Deliverer. And help them see that when they are trusting in Him, it’s a certainty.

In Jesus’ name, we ask it, and we thank You. Amen.