God's Gift of Love in Jesus (Romans 8:31-39)

  • If God has given you his own beloved Son, Jesus, then will he withhold anything from you?
  • In Romans 8 Paul gives us some of the most encouraging words in the Bible
  • Lets unpack exactly what is being said here

 

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  • What is there in our Christmas traditions that is actually celebrating what happened at the birth of Jesus?
    • Giving gives!
  • Today I’m going to talk to you about God’s Gift to you in Jesus: Everything
  • I am going to look at the whole passage Romans 8:31–39, but I want to focus in particular on v31,32

Goal:

To successfully unwrap the gift!

God’s Gift of Love in Jesus (Romans 8:31–39)

  1. God’s gift to us of Jesus
  2. The Logic of Rom 8:32
  3. But what about when it doesn’t seem like that?
  4. Receiving this gift
  • Many years ago I received a gift Mastercard for Christmas
  • Got me thinking—what if someone gave me a gift card and said “there is no limit”
    • What would you buy with it?…
    • But actually, Jesus gift was something more than that

1. God’s gift to us of Jesus

Romans 8:31–39 — God’s Free Gift of Love in Jesus

  1. Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν πρὸς ταῦτα; What then shall we say in view of these things?
εἰ ὁ θεὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, τίς καθʼ ἡμῶν; Since God is for us, who can be against us?
  1. ὅς γε τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ οὐκ ἐφείσατο, For since he did not spare his own Son,
ἀλλὰ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πάντων παρέδωκεν αὐτόν, but gave him over for us all
πῶς οὐχὶ καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ἡμῖν χαρίσεται; —how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?
  1. τίς ἐγκαλέσει κατὰ ἐκλεκτῶν θεοῦ; Who shall bring any accusing charge against God’s elect?
θεὸς ὁ δικαιῶν· It is God who justifies.
  1. τίς ὁ κατακρινῶν; Who is the one who will condemn?
Χριστὸς ὁ ἀποθανών, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐγερθείς, Christ is the one who died, and more, was raised
ὅς καί ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ θεοῦ, who also is at the right hand of God,
ὃς καὶ ἐντυγχάνει ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν· who also is interceding for us.
  1. τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ; Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
θλῖψις ἢ στενοχωρία ἢ διωγμὸς ἢ λιμὸς ἢ γυμνότης ἢ κίνδυνος ἢ μάχαιρα; Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
  1. καθὼς γέγραπται ὅτι Ἕνεκεν σοῦ θανατούμεθα ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν, Just as it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long;
ἐλογίσθημεν ὡς πρόβατα σφαγῆς. We’ve been considered sheep to be slaughtered.” (Psalm 44)
  1. ἀλλʼ ἐν τούτοις πᾶσιν ὑπερνικῶμεν No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
διὰ τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος ἡμᾶς. through him who loved us! (Psalm 45 answers Psalm 44)
  1. πέπεισμαι γὰρ ὅτι For I am convinced that
οὔτε θάνατος not death,
οὔτε ζωὴ nor life,
οὔτε ἄγγελοι nor angels,
οὔτε ἀρχαὶ nor [spirit] rulers,
οὔτε ἐνεστῶτα nor things present,
οὔτε μέλλοντα nor things to come,
οὔτε δυνάμεις nor powers,
  1. οὔτε ὕψωμα nor height,
οὔτε βάθος nor depth,
οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα nor anything else in creation
δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ θεοῦ shall be able to separate us from the love of God
τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν. that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  • v.31 First a General Question—all he has been saying so far in the letter to the Romans
  • v.31–32 These are my main verses for today and we’ll come back to them in a moment
  • v.33–34 Legal questions that are absolutely foundational
  • v.35–39 How big is the present we are unwrapping?
  • First we will look at v.33–34 Legal questions
  • We don’t appreciate what Jesus did unless we understand our predicament
  • Two things: First, the seriousness of a crime relates to who it is committed against
  • What are our crimes?
    • …
  • It is wrong to say God is limited, yet immutable laws flow out of his very nature
    • The laws of what are good and bad, and the law of justice
    • And his nature as God means he must be self-consistent
  • So the upshot is, that God must punish every act of disobedience
    • We may not think this is fair, but God is the very definition of perfect justice
  • As a result, there is a punishment due to each one of us
  • But Jesus took that punishment on himself —for all those who trust him
    • and because he is God, he was able to suffer the eternal punishment of millions of people in just a few hours
  • How did he do that? —back in Romans 6 Paul discussed this very clearly

Romans 6

  1. For if we have become united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united in his resurrection.
  2. We know that our old humanity was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin would fall away, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
  3. (For someone who has died has been freed from sin.)
  4. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
  • This idea of union with Christ is the center of Paul’s gospel message
    • What Jesus did, he did carrying your identity
  • The fact that Jesus was raised from the dead meant he was successful Romans 8:34
    • Now he is at the place of power, the place of judgement
    • If the judge is the person who is your closest friend, what have you to fear?
  • see v.33–34 in the passage:
  • But the same logic says that if you have not accepted this gift, you have everything to fear
    • So don’t waste a moment in coming to him in prayer and simply asking for this gift

2. The Logic of Rom 8:32

  • The most simply logical statements are called “syllogisms”

Logic: 3 parts to a syllogism

  1. Cats have four legs
  2. My friend has a cat
  3. Therefore my friend’s cat has four legs
  • Is that always true? (may be born with 3 legs...)

Another syllogism

  1. Canadians play the best hockey
  2. The Maple Leafs are all Canadian
  3. Therefore the Maple Leafs always win the Stanley cup
  • Both 1 and 2 are flawed

A third syllogism

  1. Human beings (apart from Jesus) are imperfect and flawed
  2. The King is a human being
  3. The King is imperfect and flawed
  • Are 1. and 2. true?
    • If they are, then 3. must inevitable follow
    • That is the foundation of logic
  • Now here is the most amazing and wonderful logical statement in eternity

Wonderful logic

  1. Father God has given the gift of Jesus Christ for us, to suffer and die to rescue us
  2. Nothing is more precious to the Father than Jesus (which shows us the level of his love for us)
  3. Smaller gifts won’t be withheld because of lack of love
  • This is the logic of v.31

Romans 8:31

“What then shall we say in view of these things?
Since God is for us, who can be against us?”

  1. “For since he did not spare his own Son, but gave him over for us all”
  2. implied that his own Son is the most precious gift he could give
  3. “how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?”
  • If God has given us the greater, why would he withhold something less?
  • Story of visiting a very wealthy person…
  • So if God has given you Jesus, will he withhold anything from you?

3. But what about when it doesn’t seem like that?

  • Story of when the hard drive died on my computer…

Logic

  1. I am a child of the King
  2. All his resources are available to me
  3. So I can do what I want with them
    Nothing bad will ever happen
  • What is the problem?
  • What if we think about young Declan & his father Dan?
  • Dan loves Declan and would not hold back anything good
    • Does that mean Declan can drive Dan’s vehicle
    • Play around with all his guitars unsupervised?
  • In principle, this is true
    1. Does not follow. Are all of Dan’s resources available to Declan?
    • We are in a period of training

Two Errors

None of heaven nowSome of heavenAll of heaven now
Don’t expect healing till heavenGod loves to heal, so pray for itHealing is your right! You’ll always be healed if you have faith
All blessings now are “spiritual”Pray for material blessingsYou have a right to the wealth of heaven now!
  • What happens to a child, if everything they ask for, you give them straight away
  • God’s love and gifts don’t always lift us out of the problems of this world
    • but his love is there in them
    • Our close friends and relative die
    • Things get old and break

Outline

  1. God’s gift to us of Jesus
  2. The Logic of Rom 8:32
  3. But what about when it doesn’t seem like that?
  4. Receiving this gift

4. Receiving this gift: The Love of Christ

  • One more thing to stress about this gift:—
    • The gift is not just about Jesus cleansing us from sin
    • Jesus stays joined to us.
    • The gift is actually Jesus himself —he becomes ours

Psalm 44

  1. In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
  2. But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies.
  3. You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations.
  4. All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.
  5. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way;
  6. yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.
  7. Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
  8. Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!
  9. Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
  10. For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground.
  11. Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!
  • Evidence that Psalms 44 and 45 are to be taken together…
  • We know from the way Psalm 45 is written, this young man is Jesus:

Psalm 45

  1. You are the most handsome of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.
  2. Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty!
  3. In your majesty ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness; let your right hand teach you awesome deeds!
  4. you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
  • This is why Paul was alluding to in Rom 8:37 “…in all these things we are more than conquerors”
  • Now there is an amazing turn for the people who thought their prayers were not being heard
    • They become the bride of Christ —Rom 8:37 “…through him who loved us!”

Psalm 45 cont’d

  1. Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house,
  2. and the king will desire your beauty…
     
  3. All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.
  4. In many-colored robes she is led to the king, with her virgin companions following behind her.
  5. With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king.
  • Close by reading Romans 8:35–39 (above)
    (Not that we don’t suffer, but in these things we are more than victorious)
    • That is God’s message for you for this Christmas
    • If you are trusting in Jesus
      • He has forgiven you for every fault, every sin, every failing
      • And nothing can separate you from his love
      • The love of the Son of God, joined to you, inseparably, from eternity
    • Let this truth sink into you this Christmas

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