Title: “For I Am Persuaded…”
To be sure, this is a powerful text. But it is even more powerful when put into context, coming at the conclusion of Paul’s dialogue on what power the enemy really has over our lives. I think one of the personal conclusions I’ve come to in our study of Romans through chapter 8 has been this: I give the enemy too much credit.
It is right to fear the devil. It is right to be wary of the world’s seduction. It is imperative that we understand our own weaknesses, but none of these things is as powerful as the Lord I serve, or the faith he has given to sustain me.
More Than Conquerors
read verse 37.
Paul then recounts all of the things we looked at last week: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword, and make a rather remarkable statement: Christians are more than Conquerors thought Christ.
Does this mean that we are not susceptible to these trials? No. We go through these same trials like everyone else, perhaps even more so because Christ told us that the world will hate us because of our love for Him.
Does this mean that these trials will somehow magically have no effect on us like they would the non believer? No. We are frial and fragile, we fall and break, we struggle, and don’t always recover.
So what does this mean, that we are “More than Conquerors though Christ”?
It means that to live through these trials and prevail is to conquer them. But we will do more than that even. We will not just conquer them, we will live beyond them. All of these trials that Paul speaks of are of an earthly, temporary nature. The best these trials can do is kill our physical bodies, and frankly, so what? We are all going to die anyway. What Paul speaks of here is the eternal. We have been sealed since before we were born, until His sovereign will.
We have been promised eternity with the almighty. These trials, these toils, the enemy things they are hindrances to our lives. They are not. As J.I. Packer says, they are stepping stones to glory.
Amen?
Consider this when tragedy befalls you. A stepping stone to His glory. When children die before their time. A stepping stone to his glory. When you are burdened beyond your ability. A stepping stone to his glory, a stepping stone to him
When was the last time you thanked God for your trial?
(Ben becoming violently ill before Christmas, over the toilet, praising God.)
v38 (read)
Perhaps the most beautiful of all of Paul’s writings.
Rather than parse and dissect this linguistically, I’d like to offer a few conclusions to what Paul is saying here.
1. “For I am persuaded” Paul’s experiences lead him to believe this.
Q: What have your life experiences in your walk with Christ taught you. Not what have you been told, but what do you believe?
2. “Death nor Life” The worst the enemy can do is still not enough to ruin our faith.
Q: How often to you let the fear of physical death keep you from doing your Lord’s will?
3. “No angles, nor principalities, nor powers.” There is no power greater than the will of our sovereign Lord.
Q: How often do you give the world too much credit?
4. “Nor things present, nor things to come.” Our God transcends time. So does his will.
Q: How many times to we tell God that we can’t do something because their isn’t enough time?
5. “Nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing.” Our God is the God of all things. Even sin and the devil bow at the mention of His name. How foolish of us to think that something He created could keep us from His will.
Q: How many of us still believe that we had something to do with our salvation?
Pray.