Romans 8:26-39 (Wednesday Evening Bible Study)

Romans 8:26-39

• Mark was filling out applications for a college-scholarship. One form asked him list life the extracurricular activities he’d been involved with in high school. Mark answered that he’d been on the school’s wrestling team. The next question requested positions he held. Mark wrote: “pinned on the mat, mostly.”Sometimes things in life can make us feel like we are pinned to the mat.
• Maybe you feel like the little girl who was riding along on her bike when she bumped her head on the low hanging branch of a tree. She ran into the house hollering, “Mom! Mom, brother Joey hurt me!” Her mother looked up from what she was doing and said, “Sissy, Joey didn’t hurt you. Joey’s not even here. He went to the grocery store with your daddy.” The little girl got this startled look on her face. Then in a bewildered sort of voice she said, “That means stuff like this can happen on its own at any time. Whoa, bummer!” Bad stuff can and does happen at any time, but we don’t have to be a slave to discouragement. Last week we saw we can be free from discouragement because while suffering is a part of this world, we forward to something better and while we wait we receive help from God.
• Romans 8:26-27
• 26 In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
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• Romans 8:28
• 28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
  • Who is this promise for?
    • Those who love God and we need to understand  that Paul was writing to Christians
  • How much is included in all things?
    • The context since verse 18 has been dealing with present suffering, groaning, being helped in our weakness by the Holy Spirit all this while we wait for the redemption of our bodies.  So the  promise is God will bring good consequences out of all the adverse circumstances.
  • What is the “good” toward which the Lord directs all things?
    • I doubt it is just material things like health and wealth in fact it may be those shallow things…what about more holy lives,  drawing closer to the Lord, the ability to serve the Lord more, spiritual maturity, some of the good may not be known  until the Lord returns.
  • What does it mean to be called according to His purpose?
    • Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
    • 2 Thessalonians 2:14
    • He called you to this through our gospel,  that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  • God has called us according to the gospel to fulfill His plan… to look like His Son and make  us  part of his family who will love Him and glorify Him forever. And this can only be accomplished thru Jesus Christ.  
• Romans 8:29-30
• 29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
  • Does the Lord know who will be saved in the end?
    • Yes He knows it all
  • What are we to be conform to?
    • The image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters…The word we translate “conformed” is a word that means a likeness inside and out. It’s a thorough change and not just an outward superficial resemblance. God knows who will be conformed to the image of His Son…When will that happen?
      • 2 Corinthians 3:18
      • And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 
    • We are in the process of being conformed even now…but when Jesus returns and we are given a new body that will be like His.  This seems to the main point here it is part of our inheritance
  • So even before the world was created, God had already predestined that some individuals would be conformed to the likeness of His Son. 
  • Is it possible for someone to be called, and justified but never be glorified?
    • Yes,  some are called and do not  respond, some do respond to the gospel call and are justified but then fall away.  The key to the certainty about glorification is predestination. God knows who will stay faithful till the end. 
  • Here is the important question: On what basis did God predestine us?
    • God predestined the End (conformed to the image of His son)  (Glorification)NOTE: He does not predestine anyone to become a believer because salvation is conditional and individuals must meet those conditions. We have free will to believe in Christ or reject Him.
    • So you have God’s fore knowledge and  predestination to be  conformed to the image of  His Son, that is glorified… each person would have made a choice to answer the  call and be justified meeting all the conditions of salvation. And being faithful till the end of their life or till Jesus comes. I know there is some tension here in God’s predestination and our choice. 
• Romans 8:31-34
• 31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? 33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. 34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.
  • If God is working all things for our good, and has made us part of His family, and given us an inheritance…Do you think is God for us?
    • We are no longer enemies but members of God’s family… God will provide all the resources we need to endure the struggle and suffering we face. He is for His children!
    • Who can beat Jesus, who can stand against Him? No one  not even Satan
  • If God gave up His son for us, do you think He will withhold anything else we need?
    • Consider the length God has gone to ensure our ultimate victory and our presence in Heaven with Him. When Jesus cried out in the Garden for a different way, God did not spare Him so that He might spare us!
  • Who might dare to bring a charge against God’s chosen?
    • Paul uses courtroom language here. Satan is called the accuser and slander…what about those we have harmed in this life…our enemies…even our own conscience because we know what we have done.
  • Will these charges come to anything?
    • No!  These accusations will never hold up…even if they are true. We need not fear them. Because we have been justified, there is no condemnation, no penalty for those who are God’s children. God is the judge…He is the one who justifies.
  • What is Jesus present and ongoing role for us?
    • Notice where Jesus is, the right hand of God, which means He shares in His power and close to the Father. So what is Jesus continuing to do for us? He intercedes for us to the Father…He interposes His blood between us and the Father’s wrath…He presents Himself as the sacrifice.  This is different than the interceding of the Holy Spirit in prayer.
• Romans 8:35-39
• 35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  • What is the answer then to Paul’s question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
    • No one and nothing
  • Does Paul guarantee us that we will never separate ourselves from God’s love?
    • No, the assumption under which Paul is writing is that we want to stay within that love of Christ. And we will make every effort to do so. There is no 3rd party that can remove us  from God’s love in Christ…other than ourselves.
• Takeaways
  • When things go bad remember God’s plan
    • He’s able to work everything for good
  • When things go bad remember God’s purpose
    • He wants to conform you to the image of his Son
  • When things go bad remember God’s provision
    • No one can be against us when God is for us
  • When things go bad remember God’s protection
    • No one can condemn you when Christ has forgiven you
  • When things go bad remember God’s presence
    • No one can separate you from God’s love
  • God does not want us to fail or to think that Satan is more powerful than He is.
  • We have a great God who will help us rise above the misfortunes in life! Don’t be discouraged