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The Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost

"The Facts Of Life"
Romans 8:31-39
Rev. Wayne Dobratz

I. God is for you–v.31; John 3:16

A. as demonstrated by giving His Son into death for you, v.32

B. as demonstrated by His promise to care for you, v.32

II. Your guilt problem has been taken care of–vv. 33-34; Rom. 5:6-10, Rom. 8:1.

A. Your Judge is your Savior–Mk. 13:26

B. Your Judge is your Intercessor, the only one you need, v. 34

III. No external power can separate you from this love–v.35, 38-39

A. Not even the persecution of powerful enemies–v.36

B. Nothing created can separate you from God’s love–2Thess. 2:13-14; Rev. 1:5

IV. The only force that can separate one from God’s love is unbelief–John 3:18-19; Mk. 16:16; 1 John 5:10-12.

A. This faith was born of God’s power in Baptism–Rom. 6:3ff.

B. This faith is sustained by the power of God’s Word–Rom. 10:17

C. God the Holy Spirit does not force himself upon anyone–one can can turn away–Matt. 23:37.

Martin Luther writes on Rom. 8:31: It will therefore be no small gain to a penitent to remember above all his baptism, and, confidently calling to mind the divine promise which he has forsaken, acknowledge that promise before his Lord, rejoicing that he is still within the fortress of salvation because he has been baptized, and abhorring his wicked ingratitude in falling away from its faith and truth. His heart will find wonderful comfort and will be encouraged to hope for mercy when he considers that the promise which God made to him, which cannot possibly lie, is still unbroken and unchanged, and indeed, cannot be changed by sins, as Paul says (II Tim. 2[:13]): "If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself." This truth of God, I say, will sustain him, so that if all else should fail, this truth, if he believes in it, will not fail him. In it the penitent has a shield against all assaults of the scornful enemy, an answer to the sins that disturb his conscience, an antidote for the dread of death and judgment, and a comfort in every temptation—namely, this one truth—when he says: "God is faithful in his promises [Heb. 10:23; 11:11], and I received his sign in baptism. If God is for me, who is against me?" [Rom. 8:31]. LW, Vol. 36, p. 60

Matthew Henry writes on Rom. 8:37 in all these things we are more than conquerors. We are conquerors: though killed all the day long, yet conquerors. A strange way of conquering, but it was Christ’s way; thus he triumphed over principalities and powers in his cross. It is a surer and a nobler way of conquest by faith and patience than by fire and sword. The enemies have sometimes confessed themselves baffled and overcome by the invincible courage and constancy of the martyrs, who thus overcame the most victorious princes by not loving their lives to the death, Rev. 12:11.

We are more than conquerors. In our patiently bearing these trials we are not only conquerors, but more than conquerors, that is, triumphant ones. Those are more than conquerors that conquer, First, With little loss. Many conquests are dearly bought; but what do the suffering saints lose? Why, they lose that which the gold loses in the furnace, nothing but the dross. It is no great loss to lose things which are not—a body that is of the earth, earthy. Secondly, With great gain. The spoils are exceedingly rich; glory, honor, and peace, a crown of righteousness that fades not away.

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