로마서 2020rom11(8:18-39) We are more than Conquerors
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Lesson 11: Romans 2020
Word | Romans 8:18-39
Key Verse | Romans 8:37
We are more than Conquerors
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
Last week, we learned about the life of a winning believer in the guidance of Holy Spirit. Today’s Word is talking about the meaning of the hardships of the religious life. Through our sufferings, we resemble the image of Jesus and ultimately become glorious people. There are many hardships and temptations in this process, but with God's help, we overcome them. How can we beat the odds?
First, the Holy Spirit groans and prays for us (18-27). We suffer a lot in this world. There is a physical hardship when you have to work for your own independence and feed sheep and serve God's history. Nowadays, many people are suffering from the coronavirus 19. We also suffer from various diseases. Many people suffer from the sins of the wicked as well as themselves. You suffer when you decide to live godly in this world. However, present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The Lord will cover us with the crown of life, the crown of righteousness. We will worship God and be blessed with love, joy and plenty of life in the place where there are no tears or sorrow.
The sufferings of believers in this world are deeply related to creation. God created man as the ruler of all things. In other words, He put all nature under the rule of man. Due to human’s degradation and curses, all natural things got cursed. On the contrary, human salvation is linked to the cosmic restoration of creation. We look forward for the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. In other words, we hope to be free from sin and evil and from decay and death.
"6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together; and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest." (Isaiah 11:6-8).
Apostle Paul says that we know all the creatures have been suffering together, grieving together so far (22).
As the creation laments, we believers also groan inwardly. We want to love each other and live a holy life. I want to dedicate ourselves to God and serve the history of salvation. However we suffer from the lusts and voices that live in us, and when we work, we get easily exhausted and reveal our unwanted faults. Our minds are round, but the body is weak, so things do not go as it pleases. So the believers even want the body to be saved and brought to freedom of glory. When you reach the freedom of glory, your dirty, cursed body is saved, and becomes spiritual and glorious. A weak body becomes a strong body; a decaying body becomes an eternal one. As such, the salvation of the body is the hope that the believers lamented for. The salvation we have is full of hope. Who hopes for what they already have, since hope that is seen is no hope at all? If we hope for what we do not yet have, we should wait for it patiently.
The Holy Spirit helps us, because it's hard for us to wait for it patiently. See verse 26 and 27. " 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God." The Holy Spirit intercedes for us, because of our weakness. We are often at a loss, because of the hardships we face in the world while living by faith. Sometimes you don't know what to pray for. Then the Spirit teaches us what God means and tells us what to save. When we are groaning about what to save, the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. We must pray with confidence that the Holy Spirit will personally help us. The Holy Spirit comforts us who are weak and makes us strong. We must rely on the Spirit of comfort when we are in hardships.
God listens to our prayers and responds delicately. We each experienced that kind of response. God's help is very specific. As I visited Germany, I experienced deeply of God’s work before us. Students who have been to Thailand for a short period of time also have this experience. God protects us when we pray in the midst of trouble due to Corona 19. Through God’s warning of China’s persecution to Christians, He judges those who need to be judged, protects those who need to be protected, and leads His history of salvation. His rule is being held in the land, as the righteousness and compassion of God appear.
Second, God works for the good of those who love him (28-30). See verse 28. " 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." "And we know" This is a conviction from the experience of faith. In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. In God, failure does not end in failure, but leads to the way of success; misery also does not end in misery, but it turns into blessing. How grateful is it that you are to say that in God, whether good or bad, all things are good? This is the reason why we are always happy and grateful for the everything. This is only possible for believers who know Jesus and love him. That doesn't mean that the evil that believers do can be turned into good. The sins committed by the believers cannot be good. However, when they repent through the punishment of God, their crimes can be an opportunity for spiritual discipline and maturity through the grace of God. The sufferings of believers cannot be good in themselves, but they can be an opportunity to cultivate faith and strengthen hope. A man who believes in Jesus doesn't end up as a punishment. He will see what God does in hardships. As a Father of believers, God makes sinners righteous, helps us in our weaknesses, and makes all things work together to make good. Therefore, we must be humble and fear God in front of all that happens before us. We should repent and fight spiritually, until the image of Jesus is carved in us and the fruit of the Holy Spirit is produced. We believe that God's people and his community will work together for the good. God foreknew and predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. Even the glory that will be made in the future is in the past tense. This means that God's salvation plan will be completed during the reign of Christ, but it is already firmly established in God's will. We must persevere in our sufferings with the conviction.
Third, because of God’s love, we are more than conquerors. (31-39). Verses 31-39 is a triumphant hymn as a conclusion. In this paragraph contains four sentences beginning with the interrogative pronoun ‘Who’. "Who will be against us?"(31) “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?"(33) " Who then is the one who condemns?"(34) "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ." (35) No one can do that. Nothing can take away the salvation once received. You can live with the conviction of victory under any circumstances.
See verse 31. "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" When we try to live by faith, there is an opposing force. There are enemies of the gospel. The first is Satan. Satan wants to attack the people of God in order to let them lose their faith. Those who seek to live reverently are persecuted by people who are humanistic and materialistic. The characteristic of the last day is that people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure, and will persecute those who live reverently. The more sinful become the humans, the more the righteous suffer. As computers and artificial intelligence will keep on developing, wealth will be concentrated on people with high knowledge and skills, and the gap between rich and poor will be increasing. 0.1% of people will become capitalists and the rest will be enslaved. This will cause more suffering and will increase the rate of the poors. But God will help those who live by faith.
See 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?" When we face poverty and sufferings, we may suffer from the thoughts that believing in Jesus may be meaningless and unprofitable. When we think of who will compensate for the loss of time, material, and youth, our hearts hardens and this can make us doubt God's love. When we give our time and money to serve the lambs with the Words, but if they have no change on their life, sometimes we have to let them go, which makes the dedication we have given seem in vain. While watching our peers, who are non-Christian, buying apartments, raising money, and enjoying their lives, and comparing their life to our life can make us feel tired. But God always provides us with what we need every time. God knows and fulfills the desire of our hearts. Will the father of God, who has given us His only son as a sacrifice, ignore the suffering of his children? Will the father of God, who feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field, ignore the needs of his beloved children? We must believe in God's love and seek it with confidence. Then, He will fulfill every need of ours. Praise the Lord who fulfills our needs.
And who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Every time we sin, Satan accuses us. But Jesus takes care for all my sins, all my faults and all my mistakes. He also sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. One day when Luther came to court and fought, Satan sharply accused him of his sins. At that time Luther turned to the Satan and said, “Is that the only sin you accuse against me? My Lord has forgiven me more sin than that.” By shouting out to the Satan to be gone, Luther won the spiritual battle.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? See verse 35, 36. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”” There are many factors in the world that make us doubt the love of God. There are sufferings such as trouble, hardship, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, sword (religious martyrdom), disease, etc. There are those who are suffering from Coronavirus (2019-nCov). Because it's better to be careful, self-isolation was required, student conference was canceled, some of them suffered from the loss of income, and mothers who have jobs had difficulties leaving their children, because they had no place to leave their children besides kindergarten and schools, which was unfortunately delayed. Because of God’s judgment on the Chinese president Xi Jinping, persecuted Christian, there are ambiguous people suffering from Coronavirus. We must be in awe of God before these judgments. We must repent sin with fear and trembling and live according to the word of God. We also have to look back at your brothers who suffer from faith. I pray that we may join in the suffering of our brothers in their affliction and comfort them.
See verse 37. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” All these sufferings we faced can be conquered through Him who loves us. Our ability to win all the risks and challenges doesn't come from the capabilities that we have in ourselves. It comes only through ‘The One Who Loves Us’. The love of Christ, who loves us from by surrendering himself on the cross, is the basis for us to overcome all adversities and sufferings. Love is stronger than death. We have overcome many sufferings, experienced triumph of faith, and continue the battle of faith. This fight is sometimes difficult, but the final victory is upon us. The victory does not barely win, but a wins generously. We have to think that all these sufferings are just nothing and should withstand it. The sufferings we're going to face in the future could be even greater. But don't worry. We'll win it, too.
What can we be sure of? See verse 38, 39. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Sometimes we experience the trials of death and life. There are times when the spiritual power of angels or the power of the powerful people can give us pressure. There are tribulations and persecutions in present and unpredictable things that will happen in future. Despite the sufferings, richness is a greater threat. We may be tempted to be alienated from God's love by the power and the honor of the world, by the affection of our parents and relatives. But all these things separate us from the love of God. Nothing higher or deeper can separate us from the love of God. Even if the mountains are destroyed and the land and sky are upside down, it is God's love that cannot be abandoned. With the love of God, we can easily win.
God loves us; He still cares for us, and suffers with us. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, and It himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. The Holy Spirit encourages us. And God works for the good of those who loves him. God's love makes us overcome all sufferings and dangers. I pray that we will triumph in the midst of sufferings, enjoying the comfort and love of God. Praise to the LORD, who will overcome all our difficulties that we are facing.
Word | Romans 8:18-39
Key Verse | Romans 8:37
We are more than Conquerors
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
Last week, we learned about the life of a winning believer in the guidance of Holy Spirit. Today’s Word is talking about the meaning of the hardships of the religious life. Through our sufferings, we resemble the image of Jesus and ultimately become glorious people. There are many hardships and temptations in this process, but with God's help, we overcome them. How can we beat the odds?
First, the Holy Spirit groans and prays for us (18-27). We suffer a lot in this world. There is a physical hardship when you have to work for your own independence and feed sheep and serve God's history. Nowadays, many people are suffering from the coronavirus 19. We also suffer from various diseases. Many people suffer from the sins of the wicked as well as themselves. You suffer when you decide to live godly in this world. However, present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The Lord will cover us with the crown of life, the crown of righteousness. We will worship God and be blessed with love, joy and plenty of life in the place where there are no tears or sorrow.
The sufferings of believers in this world are deeply related to creation. God created man as the ruler of all things. In other words, He put all nature under the rule of man. Due to human’s degradation and curses, all natural things got cursed. On the contrary, human salvation is linked to the cosmic restoration of creation. We look forward for the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. In other words, we hope to be free from sin and evil and from decay and death.
"6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together; and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest." (Isaiah 11:6-8).
Apostle Paul says that we know all the creatures have been suffering together, grieving together so far (22).
As the creation laments, we believers also groan inwardly. We want to love each other and live a holy life. I want to dedicate ourselves to God and serve the history of salvation. However we suffer from the lusts and voices that live in us, and when we work, we get easily exhausted and reveal our unwanted faults. Our minds are round, but the body is weak, so things do not go as it pleases. So the believers even want the body to be saved and brought to freedom of glory. When you reach the freedom of glory, your dirty, cursed body is saved, and becomes spiritual and glorious. A weak body becomes a strong body; a decaying body becomes an eternal one. As such, the salvation of the body is the hope that the believers lamented for. The salvation we have is full of hope. Who hopes for what they already have, since hope that is seen is no hope at all? If we hope for what we do not yet have, we should wait for it patiently.
The Holy Spirit helps us, because it's hard for us to wait for it patiently. See verse 26 and 27. " 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God." The Holy Spirit intercedes for us, because of our weakness. We are often at a loss, because of the hardships we face in the world while living by faith. Sometimes you don't know what to pray for. Then the Spirit teaches us what God means and tells us what to save. When we are groaning about what to save, the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. We must pray with confidence that the Holy Spirit will personally help us. The Holy Spirit comforts us who are weak and makes us strong. We must rely on the Spirit of comfort when we are in hardships.
God listens to our prayers and responds delicately. We each experienced that kind of response. God's help is very specific. As I visited Germany, I experienced deeply of God’s work before us. Students who have been to Thailand for a short period of time also have this experience. God protects us when we pray in the midst of trouble due to Corona 19. Through God’s warning of China’s persecution to Christians, He judges those who need to be judged, protects those who need to be protected, and leads His history of salvation. His rule is being held in the land, as the righteousness and compassion of God appear.
Second, God works for the good of those who love him (28-30). See verse 28. " 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." "And we know" This is a conviction from the experience of faith. In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. In God, failure does not end in failure, but leads to the way of success; misery also does not end in misery, but it turns into blessing. How grateful is it that you are to say that in God, whether good or bad, all things are good? This is the reason why we are always happy and grateful for the everything. This is only possible for believers who know Jesus and love him. That doesn't mean that the evil that believers do can be turned into good. The sins committed by the believers cannot be good. However, when they repent through the punishment of God, their crimes can be an opportunity for spiritual discipline and maturity through the grace of God. The sufferings of believers cannot be good in themselves, but they can be an opportunity to cultivate faith and strengthen hope. A man who believes in Jesus doesn't end up as a punishment. He will see what God does in hardships. As a Father of believers, God makes sinners righteous, helps us in our weaknesses, and makes all things work together to make good. Therefore, we must be humble and fear God in front of all that happens before us. We should repent and fight spiritually, until the image of Jesus is carved in us and the fruit of the Holy Spirit is produced. We believe that God's people and his community will work together for the good. God foreknew and predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. Even the glory that will be made in the future is in the past tense. This means that God's salvation plan will be completed during the reign of Christ, but it is already firmly established in God's will. We must persevere in our sufferings with the conviction.
Third, because of God’s love, we are more than conquerors. (31-39). Verses 31-39 is a triumphant hymn as a conclusion. In this paragraph contains four sentences beginning with the interrogative pronoun ‘Who’. "Who will be against us?"(31) “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?"(33) " Who then is the one who condemns?"(34) "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ." (35) No one can do that. Nothing can take away the salvation once received. You can live with the conviction of victory under any circumstances.
See verse 31. "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" When we try to live by faith, there is an opposing force. There are enemies of the gospel. The first is Satan. Satan wants to attack the people of God in order to let them lose their faith. Those who seek to live reverently are persecuted by people who are humanistic and materialistic. The characteristic of the last day is that people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure, and will persecute those who live reverently. The more sinful become the humans, the more the righteous suffer. As computers and artificial intelligence will keep on developing, wealth will be concentrated on people with high knowledge and skills, and the gap between rich and poor will be increasing. 0.1% of people will become capitalists and the rest will be enslaved. This will cause more suffering and will increase the rate of the poors. But God will help those who live by faith.
See 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?" When we face poverty and sufferings, we may suffer from the thoughts that believing in Jesus may be meaningless and unprofitable. When we think of who will compensate for the loss of time, material, and youth, our hearts hardens and this can make us doubt God's love. When we give our time and money to serve the lambs with the Words, but if they have no change on their life, sometimes we have to let them go, which makes the dedication we have given seem in vain. While watching our peers, who are non-Christian, buying apartments, raising money, and enjoying their lives, and comparing their life to our life can make us feel tired. But God always provides us with what we need every time. God knows and fulfills the desire of our hearts. Will the father of God, who has given us His only son as a sacrifice, ignore the suffering of his children? Will the father of God, who feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field, ignore the needs of his beloved children? We must believe in God's love and seek it with confidence. Then, He will fulfill every need of ours. Praise the Lord who fulfills our needs.
And who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Every time we sin, Satan accuses us. But Jesus takes care for all my sins, all my faults and all my mistakes. He also sits at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. One day when Luther came to court and fought, Satan sharply accused him of his sins. At that time Luther turned to the Satan and said, “Is that the only sin you accuse against me? My Lord has forgiven me more sin than that.” By shouting out to the Satan to be gone, Luther won the spiritual battle.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? See verse 35, 36. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”” There are many factors in the world that make us doubt the love of God. There are sufferings such as trouble, hardship, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, sword (religious martyrdom), disease, etc. There are those who are suffering from Coronavirus (2019-nCov). Because it's better to be careful, self-isolation was required, student conference was canceled, some of them suffered from the loss of income, and mothers who have jobs had difficulties leaving their children, because they had no place to leave their children besides kindergarten and schools, which was unfortunately delayed. Because of God’s judgment on the Chinese president Xi Jinping, persecuted Christian, there are ambiguous people suffering from Coronavirus. We must be in awe of God before these judgments. We must repent sin with fear and trembling and live according to the word of God. We also have to look back at your brothers who suffer from faith. I pray that we may join in the suffering of our brothers in their affliction and comfort them.
See verse 37. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” All these sufferings we faced can be conquered through Him who loves us. Our ability to win all the risks and challenges doesn't come from the capabilities that we have in ourselves. It comes only through ‘The One Who Loves Us’. The love of Christ, who loves us from by surrendering himself on the cross, is the basis for us to overcome all adversities and sufferings. Love is stronger than death. We have overcome many sufferings, experienced triumph of faith, and continue the battle of faith. This fight is sometimes difficult, but the final victory is upon us. The victory does not barely win, but a wins generously. We have to think that all these sufferings are just nothing and should withstand it. The sufferings we're going to face in the future could be even greater. But don't worry. We'll win it, too.
What can we be sure of? See verse 38, 39. "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Sometimes we experience the trials of death and life. There are times when the spiritual power of angels or the power of the powerful people can give us pressure. There are tribulations and persecutions in present and unpredictable things that will happen in future. Despite the sufferings, richness is a greater threat. We may be tempted to be alienated from God's love by the power and the honor of the world, by the affection of our parents and relatives. But all these things separate us from the love of God. Nothing higher or deeper can separate us from the love of God. Even if the mountains are destroyed and the land and sky are upside down, it is God's love that cannot be abandoned. With the love of God, we can easily win.
God loves us; He still cares for us, and suffers with us. The Holy Spirit dwells in us, and It himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. The Holy Spirit encourages us. And God works for the good of those who loves him. God's love makes us overcome all sufferings and dangers. I pray that we will triumph in the midst of sufferings, enjoying the comfort and love of God. Praise to the LORD, who will overcome all our difficulties that we are facing.
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