“31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 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?
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We are going to begin this sermon by using our imaginations. I want you to imagine a millionaire who lives like she’s broke. I’m not saying that she is thrifty. I’m saying she’s cheap. She never treats herself or any one she loves. She reuses her teabags four times and hates the taste after two uses but can’t stand to break out a new one. Kids, she has all the money you could imagine but she never does anything fun with it. She’s rich but she lives like she’s broke.
I want you to imagine a child with a beautiful smile. If you see him smile, you can’t help but smile along. The problem is that he rarely smiles. Maybe he’s embarrassed about it for some reason, but for whatever reason this kid with an infectious smile rarely smiles. He refuses to enjoy smiling or giving the joy of smiling.
I want you to imagine a man who loves strategy games. He has a closet full of these games. He has a great night whenever he plays one of them but for some reason he rarely plays them lately. They just sit in the closet. They would give him just as much joy as they did before, but he doesn’t open them up. He turns on the TV. He stares at his phone. He has a closet full of joy, but he never opens it.
What you have just imagined describes far too many Christians. They have a closet full of joy and they leave it closed. They have very good reasons for smiling and yet they rarely smile. They have something for which millionaires would exchange their fortunes and yet all too often they live like they are broke in what really matters.
I want you to consider if that describes you. If you find over the course of this sermon that you were imagining yourself, take this as an opportunity to break out the board games, so to speak. Take this as an opportunity to smile. Take this as an opportunity to live as if you were as rich as you are.
Isn’t that the advice you would give to the people you imagined? Take your own advice. You have more than you will ever understand. Enjoy it. That is the claim of this sermon, if you are in Christ, you have more than you will ever understand. Enjoy it.
We will study this in two points. First: if God is for us, who can be against us? Second: a proof and a promise. First, in verse 31, we ask and answer the question if God is for us, who can be against us? Second, in verse 32, we see a proof that God is for us and a promise of what will come because God is for us.
First: if God is for us, who can be against us? If you are born again, this will be an enjoyable sermon for you. All I’m doing is showing you what’s yours to enjoy. If you are not born again, I do hope that by the end of this sermon, you are born again and that you will be eager to enjoy what’s now yours.
This is a really fun sermon for me. It’s like taking you on a tour of gift after gift that God has given you and at the end of the tour saying, ‘now go wild.’ It’s like when I pick up a package at the post office for one of my kids. I can’t wait to get home and watch them open it to see what’s theirs. I can’t wait for you to see what’s yours.
What is yours has been detailed throughout Romans 3:21-8:30. That’s what Paul meant when he wrote, “What, then, shall we say in response to this?” Paul has taken the Roman Christians on a tour of all that God has given them and at the end of the tour has said, “What, then, shall we say in response to this?”
You might be thinking, ‘well, in response to what exactly? What’s mine in Romans 3:21-8:30? Please refresh my memory.’ Well, I’m glad you asked. What’s yours is righteousness. You can know that you will be declared righteous on judgment day because you have faith in Christ today. You can stop trying to justify yourself because God has justified you. What’s yours is adoption into the family of Abraham and all the blessings that go along with that. What’s yours is peace with God. You were His enemy because of your sin, but now you are friends. What’s yours is a power that is far superior to the power of Adam’s fall into sin. What’s yours is certainty that the Holy Spirit is changing you. What’s yours is freedom from the tyranny of sin and death. What’s yours is God as your Father. What’s yours is all things made new. So what do you say in response to all that?
Maybe you are thinking, ‘life really couldn’t get any better for me, can it? There are circumstances that I wish were different, but when I hear all of that I feel like the luckiest person alive.’ Maybe you are thinking, ‘goodness, I forgot all of that is mine. I am a millionaire and I’ve been living like a pauper.’
“What, then, shall we say in response to this?” is a necessary question for you to consider because your answer will inform the way you live. My answer will inform the way I live. Augustine’s answer was, ‘a Christian should be an “alleluia” from head to foot.’ Please consider in what ways that’s a valid description of your life. I wish my life better matched that description. I wish I were more mindful of the grace that’s mine to enjoy.
Having reminded these Roman Christians of this grace, Paul reframed it. He reframed all that is yours. He wrote, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
This is final judgment language. Paul is still dealing with the certainty of vindication at the judgment seat of God. You can be certain that nothing in this life can separate you from God declaring you fit for glory because if God is for you, who can be against you? In other words, you can be sure that all things, even what is unwelcomed in this life, is useful to God in making you like Jesus and in bringing you to glory. If God is for you, you will encounter nothing that is ultimately against you.
Now you might be thinking, I can name all sorts of variables that are working against me. About these Chrysostom, a fourth century preacher said, “yet those that be against us, so far are they from thwarting us at all, that even without their will they become to us the causes of crowns, and procurers of countless blessings, in that God’s wisdom turns their plots unto our salvation and glory. See how really no one is against us.”
You need to remember that because there is a good deal in this life that will seem pointless and counterproductive. That is a common refrain throughout Scripture, “why do you say, O Jacob, and complain O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord—my cause is disregarded by my God?” The people said that not because God was actually against them but because they forgot the ways in which God was for them.
You can forget too, which is why you need to be told that God is for you. You need to be told that, “All things work together for the good of those who love God.” If God has determined to make you like Jesus and to bring you safely to the new creation, nothing will stop Him. A pandemic won’t stop Him. Your mistakes won’t stop Him. The way to always get what you want for yourself is to want what God’s wants for you. “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
This should leave you with a sense of security. This section of Romans 8 has many purposes but one of them is to provide security. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” leads to security if you are part of that “us”—“if God is for us, who can be against us?”
I do hope that you are part of that “us.” I hope that you know that you are part of that “us”. Pity the man who is part of the “us” but doesn’t know it. He doesn’t enjoy this security, and it’s a terrible shame that he doesn’t enjoy it. He is like a millionaire who lives like a pauper. He would be so much happier if he lived as if God were on His side.
You can be sure that God is on your side. We studied that certainty last week. Go back if you need a reminder. Now you must see what it means for God to be on your side. It doesn’t mean that God has signed on to your causes. It means that God’s cause for you will be accomplished and that His cause for you is for your good. It means that God’s purpose for you and your purposes for yourself will often dovetail nicely but will also conflict and when they do conflict, you know that God’s will prevail. The trick is to be like Jesus and to want His will to prevail, “yet not as I will, but as You will.” “If God is for us, who can be against us?” doesn’t mean that God is your servant. It means that you are His servant and that He cares for His servants.
The sentence, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” is not a blank check for me to fill in the way I see fit. That sentence is an invitation for me to cash the check that God has already filled in and given me. “God is on our side in the way indicated by the gospel events, that is, as our Lord, and not as a subservient ally who can be mobilized by us for the accomplishment of our purposes,” as Cranfield put it.
Cash that check. Enjoy the security of knowing that God’s will for you will be done if you belong to Him. If you know that, enjoy that, but if you don’t know God or are disregarding God, make changes. If God is not for you, all things will not work together for your good. If God is not for you, you have every reason to fear the final judgment. Commenting on the words, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Martin Luther wrote, “So also the converse is true! If God be against us no one can be for us.”
You don’t want to stand before the judgment seat of God with God against you. Only a fool makes enemies with the judge before the trial. Make matters right with God. You do so by repenting. Acknowledge that you’ve tried to take His place in your life. You’ve tried to revolve your life around yourself rather than around Him. You are His creature. Give Him His due and you are what He is due. Ask Him to be for you and not against you. Recognize that He is more than willing to be for you. His willingness is seen in His Son. We see that in our second point: proof and a promise.
If you have any doubt that God is for people and not against them, read the gospels. “God loved the world in this way: He sent His one and only Son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.” If you believe in Jesus, believe that God is for you and not against you. You know that God is for you because of Jesus. As verse 32 puts it, “He… did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all.”
At times it will seem that God is against you and not for you. Disease can make it seem as if God is against you and not for you. Business downturns can make it seem as if God is against you and not for you. Family strife can make it seem as if God is against you and not for you. You need to remember Jesus. He makes it clear that God is for you and not against you. “If God is for us, who can be against us? He… did not spare His own Son but gave him up for us all.”
If you fail to remember Jesus, you are choosing to leave the door to the closet full of board games closed so to speak. You are choosing to live like a pauper even though you are a millionaire. Why do that? Why not live as if God is for you given that He sent His Son for you?
The fact that God has sent His Son is proof that He is for His people. It is also a promise. Verse 32, “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?”
Paul’s argument runs from the greater to the lesser. If God has done what’s greater, He will certainly do what’s lesser. If He gave His Son, He will certainly give all things.
When I was in first grade, my parents bought a number of acres in the woods in order to build a new house. Now some of you are in first grade or just were or will be so you can understand that a new house is very exciting. My dad parceled out and sold some of those acres of woodland for money to build an incredibly nice house. He is a bricklayer, so he bartered work with electricians and plumbers and other contractors to build that house. He spent a lot of time planning this house. My sister had a room with windows covering one wall to let the sun come in. My room had a skylight and also a window overlooked the pool in the backyard. It was a great place to grow up.
I believe that the we ordered pizza the first night in the new house. Now imagine that after all his generosity with this house, my dad saying that we couldn’t have any toppings on our pizza. Kids, try to imagine my dad who just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars saying, ‘you can have pizza, but it can only be cheese.’ He wouldn’t say that, would he? No, of course, he didn’t. He wouldn’t say, ‘I wanted to make everything in this house perfect your enjoyment and I gladly spent that, but green peppers is just asking too much.’ No, the man who gave what was greater would certainly give what was lesser. The man who gave the house certainly sprung for pizza toppings. The man who gave what cost everything certainly gave what cost almost nothing.
The Father who gave His Son will certainly give what is worth less than His Son. “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?”’
What is worth less than His Son? Anything else. Everything else. All things are worth less than Jesus. Since the Father gave Jesus, rest assured that He will give all things. Giving the new creation and everything necessary for you to enter the new creation is nowhere near as generous as giving you His Son. Asking for all things to work out for your good is not asking too much. He’s already given Jesus.
Picture yourself approaching the Father with two requests. First, you are going to ask Him to make everything and anything in your life work out for your good. Second, you are going to ask Him if He could tell His Son to die for your sins. I think I might dare to make that first request. I’m not so sure I would dare to ask for the second. I don’t think I would dare to ask for what God did in Jesus. Since God has done that, don’t dishonor Him by doubting His generosity. In other words, see the Father the way Jesus sees Him.
The Father gave His Son and all things are worth less than His Son. That should give you a rule of thumb by which to value Jesus. He is worth more than the new creation. Consider all things being made new. Consider a world filled with relationships as they ought to be. Consider a world free from sin and from death. Jesus is worth more than that. He is worth more than all things.
There is nothing that you will ever encounter or imagine that is worth more than Jesus. The sum total of everything everyone has ever encountered or imagined is worth far less than Jesus. That’s a corollary of Paul’s words, “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?”
That will, of course, become clear when you see him face to face. When everything is made new, Jesus will still be better than all of it. That is not to downplay the glory of all things. It is simply to recognize the glory of the Son of God.
It’s also a reminder for you to recognize that glory today. “Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands. Robed in the flow’rs of blooming spring; Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer, he makes our sorr’wing spirit sing.” Enjoy what this creation has to offer. Enjoy Jesus more.
Enjoy Jesus as the proof that God loves you. Enjoy him as the promise of all that is to come. There is an eschatological flavor to these words, “graciously give us all things.” Paul was thinking about the new creation. He was thinking about all things made new and all things on the way to all things made new. He was saying that Jesus was the down payment of this new creation. Just as Jesus was resurrected so all things, including you, will be made new.
You might wonder how this mess will ever be made new. Think about the mess that our culture is in. Think about the mess that it was in a year ago. Think about dynamics in your own relationships. Think about dynamics in your own self. You would perfect them if you could, but you can’t. God can. He sent His Son to begin that. All of that is to say that He is most certainly for you.
I want you to imagine a group of people who live as if God is for them. They happily submit themselves to God because they know His plans for them are good. They act as if they know that everything are going to turn out for their good. They claim to have proof that God is for them and their lives are certainly proof that they are for God. They trust that God will make everything the way it should be. What you just imagined is, of course, the church.
The challenge and the opportunity for us is to live that way. The challenge and opportunity for you this week is to live as if God is for you. Live as if the way that God treated you in Jesus is the way that He will always treat you. That is the case.
He is doing His part. He is for you. He is working all things out to make you more like Jesus and to bring you to glory. That is His part. Your part is to live as if what is true is true.
Don’t act like that millionaire living in poverty. Don’t act like that kid with the million-dollar smile who never smiles. Don’t act like that man who loves board games but keeps them locked in the closet. Enjoy what’s yours.
If you know that what we’ve studied this evening isn’t yours, know that it can be. It must be. The alternative is you standing before God with nothing but lame excuses on judgment day. God offers something better than that, but you must accept it. You accept it by coming to Jesus. He is, after all, the proof that God is for us. In the words of verse 32, “He… did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all.”
Now everyone who comes to Jesus this way can enjoy what we studied. If you are five years old, you can be just as sure as a grown up that God is for you. If you are new to Christ as of tonight, you can be just as sure as a seasoned saint that God who gave Jesus will make all things new, including you.
Enjoy this certainty. Enjoy what God have given. He gave it to be enjoyed. You don’t honor Him when you live as if your penniless when He’s made you a millionaire. You don’t honor Him when you ignore your reasons to smile. You don’t honor Him when you leave all the board games locked in the closet. You honor Him when you enjoy it. You honor Him when you live like He’s for you because He is. Amen.