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Sermon outline Prepared by Dr. Joseph P. Metoyer, Jr., Pastor/Teacher January 6, 2002 Text: Romans 8:31-39 Subject: More
Than Conquerors Introduction: Leave
2001 knowing that regardless of what happened to you, “you are more than
conquerors”. Enter 2002
knowing that whatever you may face today, next week or in a few months, “you
are more than conquerors”. Scripture
portrays love as the fulfillment of all the commandments and righteous acts we
show toward other people. If such
is the case, then it is crucial for us to focus on the character of God, which
is love. When we focus on the
source of life we will bear fruit, and the fruit of the Spirit is love (Gal.
5:22)… The primary characteristic of the new person (or primary characteristic
of sanctification) is love (N. Anderson & R. Saucy, The Common Made Holy,
p.121). Paul asks and answers five questions in these closing verses of Romans Chapter 8: I.
If God is for us who can be against us (v.31b)? The rhetorical question “who can be against us” is equivalent to an emphatic statement that there is no one whose hostility we need to fear. We all have some or at least one enemy who is against us and desire to ruin us; but with God on our side we need not fear them. A. That enemy might cause us to suffer grievously but they cannot snatch us for the grip of our God. (II Cor. 11:23ff)… Do you have any friends that celebrate in your failure? You are more than a conqueror! Do you have family, which celebrates, in your disappointments? You are more than a conqueror! Do you work with someone who never says anything nice or encouraging to you? You are more than a conqueror! Is there a bully in your school who always picks on you or who has others laugh at you, do they talk about your clothes? The Word of God says, “You are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus!” II.
Can God Give Us All Things (v.32)? God gave up His Son for our eternal salvation, therefore we may be confident together with the supreme gift of His Son; He will also give us all things. A. We do not have to overcome sin’s debt because God has provided our “justification” in the past through Christ death and resurrection, therefore the all things spoken of in the text should point to the fact that We are more than conquerors because God has provided all the things we need for eternal salvation. He “Justified” us, He “Sanctified” us, He also “Glorified” us. Positionally we have received all that we need to go to heaven and none of it came by human power but it was God who imputed the righteousness of Jesus Christ upon us at the moment we believed. Christians my go through trials, and storms and even uncertainty but the victory is ours. B. The Apostle Paul gives us complete confidence that “All Things” belong to the Christian. (I Cor.3:21-23) Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world of life or death, or things present or things to come – all are yours. And you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s. III.
Can Anyone Indict Us For Sin (v.33)? No! We have been justified and that standing before God never changes. A.
(Romans 3:24) Being justified freely by His grace.
Man is justified through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Justification is a gracious gift God extends to the repentant,
believing sinner, wholly apart from human merit (MacArthur Bible, 1698).
Because sin is an offence against God’s righteousness it takes an
act of God to restore the believing sinner before God.
Because of the shed blood of Jesus we have been accepted in the beloved
and no one can drag us before a judge and open an indictment against us for sin.
Because Christ paid it all “We are more than conquerors! IV.
Can Anyone Condemn Us (v.34a)? A. No! Christ died for us and now lives as our Advocate. An advocate is someone who pleads man’s case before the Judge and the Judge is God Himself. (I John 2:1-2) My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not ours only but also for the whole world. B. When a lost sinner, a sinner without the guarantee of salvation stands before God in the “Judgment” that lost sinner can and will be condemned. (Matthew 7:21ff) Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! C.
(Romans 8:1) There is therefore now no condemnation to
those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit. If
Jesus has provided eternal salvation to those who have “confessed with their
mouths and believe in their hearts that He died on the cross and rose from the
grave” then there is some good news for the believer of Christ:
You are more than a conqueror! V.
Can Anyone Separate Us From The Love Of Christ (v.35)?
No one! The Christian needs to have full confidence in the fact that we may still go through some battles, but the war has already been won. We are more than conquerors. The trouble we have is not going to separate us from the love of Christ. Don’t faint when trouble comes your way; don’t give in when they persecute you. Application: You might ask the question, how can I be more than a conqueror when I’m in the trouble I’m in? Paul said in (v.37) (διà τοũ àγαπήσαντος ήυμãς) Through Him who loved us; in other words, we are more than conquerors not through any courage, endurance, or determination of our own, but through Christ, and not even by our hold on Him but by His hold on us that’s what makes us more than conquerors. “The use of the aroist participle indicates that the reference is to a particular historic act, namely, that act by which He proved His love to us” (International Critical Commentary Romans V-1, p. 441). (John 3:16)… (Romans 5:8) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We are more than conquerors!!
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