We'd like to ask you to turn your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. It's our goal to finish the chapter this week. Romans chapter 8. We're taking two weeks to just look at the sovereignty of God and get a wider view of the expanse of all that he is. Last week, we emphasized that the road to glory is a road that goes through suffering. The road to mount glory must go through the valley of suffering. That is a requirement, Romans 8, 17. We have to have suffering. And it helps to have our theology right before we enter that suffering. Many people go into suffering not understanding what it's all about and not understanding who's in charge. And I think that's what Paul wants to get across to us in this particular passage. In recent times, we've witnessed great times of great testing in the lives of modern Christians. I'm thinking of recent high-profile pastor suicides. Last year, Andrew Stockland, age 30, and this week, this past week, Jared Wilson, also age 30. I'm also thinking of high-profile Christian leaders who have left the faith. Most recently, Josh Harris, formerly pastor of Covenant Life Church in Maryland. and recently Marty Simpson, a Christian music composer and author of scores of contemporary Christian songs, many of which you all know. Add to that the continuing moral failures of evangelical church leaders and the increasing compromise of evangelicals to the sexual revolution that is engulfing our country right now. Then consider the steady stream of young people each year who are leaving the faith when they leave home. Some say the numbers are as high as 50% or more. I don't have any way to prove that, but it's a lot of kids that are leaving the faith. Now, it's certainly not right to lump all these diverse issues together, and I would not pretend to do that for a moment, but it is important for us to try to detect some commonalities so that we might be able to live our lives today, so that we might respond biblically. With respect to the failures of our leaders, and particularly beyond the obvious issues of mental health and rapid rise to fame, There is one factor that is becoming more obvious as time goes on, and that is the failure of the church universal in her theology, knowing what they believe. Many of our leaders, consequently many of our members, do not have a solid understanding of God's sovereignty. When we enter times of testing or suffering, if we do not have a solid theology of who God is, we are lost. I think I'm summarizing what is happening in our culture today. In modern history, I can hardly find a better example. of someone who had her theology right in suffering than Lisa Beamer. They remember her. Those of you who are older and remember 9-11 will recall her name. This past week I've been thinking about 9-11. This was the 18th anniversary this past week of that infamous attack on our country. I think you all remember the story of Todd Beamer, the famous let's roll hero of United Flight 93. That flight was a Boeing 757 going from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco in which Todd Beamer was riding. It was an aircraft that the 9-11 terrorists intended to crash into yet another building. Three had already crashed into buildings on our shores. This one was the last, and it was intended, we find out later, to go to the, go to the U.S. Capitol. And, of course, the airwaves being what they are, the passengers on board the aircraft learned what was happening, and they figured out very quickly that they were on an aircraft that was destined to do the same thing. By all accounts, Todd and the others on that airplane, there were 34 passengers plus crew and plus terrorists. were instrumental in preventing the terrorists from accomplishing their ultimate goal. But it cost them all their lives that day as they crashed that 757 into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Todd's wife, Lisa, at the time, a 32-year-old mother, mother of two, and four months pregnant with their third child, had been well prepared by God for this event, seasoned in understanding God's sovereignty. She was immediately thrust into the limelight. As you all may recall, she was interviewed by Larry King 11 times because of the remarkable resilience and faith that this woman demonstrated. Her dad had unexpectedly died of an aneurysm when she was only 15, so she'd been through grief before, and it took her some five years, she says, to deal with that. Her testimony to us on the loss of her husband on 9-11 powerfully states her incredible belief in God's unrelenting sovereignty over what we would call unjust calamity. I'd like to read a quote from her interview with Modern Reformation magazine in September 2002, about a year after the event, and I quote, God knew the terrible choices the terrorists would make and that Todd Beamer would die as a result. He knew my children would be left without a father and me without a husband. Yet in his sovereignty and in his perspective on the big picture, he knew it was better to allow the events to unfold as they did rather than redirect Todd's plans to avoid death. I can't see all the reasons he might have allowed this when I know he could have stopped it. I don't like how his plan looks from my perspective right now, but knowing that he loves me and can see the world from start to finish helps me to say it's okay. Lisa understood that God is sovereign. She also understood and rested in the truth that there's a purpose in God's sovereign distribution of suffering. He also understood that he enables his children to triumph in suffering. Here's our kickoff verse on God's sovereignty from last week from Isaiah chapter 46. You may remember it. Remember the former things of old for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose. We're all afflicted by suffering in one way or another. Different times of life for different reasons and differing in amounts. That is our context in Romans chapter 8 and verse 17. The necessity of suffering with Christ in order to enter his glory. Let me just read this verse. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. So the obvious question is, how does all of this work? How can we triumph through suffering? Our text tells us today how this triumph occurs, that triumph is based on the twin objective truths of, number one, God's justification, and number two, God's love. By the way, there's an outline in your bullet today. You will need this. I'm sometimes hard to follow. So please use this to track where we're going with this. Two twin themes, two objective truths, God's justification and God's love. These are the things we need to know to understand as we enter suffering. And I would say before we enter the suffering. so that we might engage it in a biblical way. Well, let's read our text today as we climb to the top of Mount Glory and get a view of God's awesome work in us. Romans chapter eight, and I'm gonna read verses 31 through 39. What then shall we say to these things? Referring back to all that's happened in the golden chain of redemption and beyond. If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword, as it is written, and he quotes from Psalm 34, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. That's Psalm 44, verse 22. Know in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Let's pray as we consider this text. Lord, we just thank you so much for your sovereignty. Father, we thank you for your justification. We thank you for your love. And we pray that as we consider these massive topics today, that you will ground our minds in biblical truth so that when we come through the valley of suffering, we will understand that you're in control. We will understand that you are working out our ultimate good as your children through these difficulties. Father, we thank you for these difficulties because they remind us of the fact that you are sovereign. Father, we thank you for your patience in teaching us through these difficult times. And Lord, in the church universal today, as we face many difficulties with leaders of our church leaving the faith, we pray that you will give us the opportunity to be more firmly grounded in the truth of the word of God. Lord, how blessed we are that you are sovereign. You stay the same regardless of what men say or do. And Father, I pray that you would open up our eyes this morning and refresh us in ways that we can't even express as we face the trials you've given us today. For it's in Jesus' name we pray, giving you thanks. Well, Romans 8, 31 through 39 is really the capstone of God's entire work of grace through the first half of Romans. We're now at the summit of Mount Glory, and what Paul is doing is giving us a perspective on what God is doing around us, what God has done for his people. We triumph through God's justification, knowing that no charge against us will stick. Verses 31 through 34, the first half of our passage. He starts off this paragraph with these words, what then shall we say to these things? What response can we possibly have to the magnificent statements that Paul has already made? Just think of the golden chain of redemption. Those whom he has foreknown, he has predestined. Those whom he has predestined, he has called. Those whom he has called, he has justified. Those whom he has justified, he has glorified. All of these things are true of the elect people of God. That's what God has done. This is the accomplishment he's worked in our behalf. What response should we have to these things depends upon Heed upon verse 17. Let me just go back and mention verse 17 again. Provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. We must understand that our response to all of these things has to be rooted in the sovereignty of God. If you are one of God's elect, then everything that happens to you happens for your good. Everything that happens to you happens for your good. to those who love God and who are the called according to his purpose. That's the definition of a Christian. That's the definition of someone who is elect of God. But there's probably a much wider reference to these things than just verses 28 through 30. You could go back and cover all of Romans chapter eight. More likely than that, I think, is you take all of Romans chapter one through chapter eight, all the work that God has accomplished in terms of response to our guilt He accomplishes our justification. He enables our sanctification. He calls us now to understand his sovereignty. The story of our redemption demands a response. And I hope this morning as you're reading this text, you understand that as Lisa Beamer dealt with the things that happened in her life, it wasn't just something that happened on the 11th of September, 2001 that caused her to have this sudden change of mind. She went into 9-11 understanding what we're gonna talk about here this morning, the sovereignty of God, that God is in control of everything that's going on around us. And she understood the fact that she was one of God's children, that God loved her, and that he was working good for her and her children despite the horrors of that particular day. Paul has the right response to this question. How should we, what then should we say to these things? His response is in the second half of verse 31, who can be against us if God is for us? This is clearly a rhetorical question, a question intended to make a point rather than to get an answer. This is a statement of objective truth. Who can be against us? No one can be against us. Wait, hold on a moment. You might say, this is not true. Lots of people can be against me. Paul, if you're looking around you, you will understand that lots of people are against you. They're trying to throw you in jail all the time. They're trying to flog you. They are trying to persecute you in every way they possibly can. In fact, Paul, you yourself were one who persecuted Christians at one time. Surely you understand that people can be against God. Then in verse, coming up here, it's very clear that Paul has more in mind than what we see on the surface because he writes this verse in verse 36, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. So Paul, how can you possibly say who can be against us? Well, the answer is really very simple. Paul is asking the question, who can ultimately be against us? There will be tons of opposition to Christianity, as there was in Paul's day, and lots of suffering for Christians to endure for those who follow Christ. The book of Revelation is filled with examples of martyrs for Christ throughout the history of the church. Ultimately, on the great day of judgment, what Paul is saying in the great Asai is, when we all stand before him, there will be no one who can stand against God or against us, his elect ones. Ultimately, no charge against us will stick because of the work of redemption that God has accomplished. How do we know that God is for us? He tells us here in verse 32. He is for us because of what He did for us with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me just read this passage. This is one of the pages in the Bible that just explodes with meaning when you understand this verse. He, that is God, who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? The idea of sparing not his own son actually comes from the book of Genesis. You may remember this passage in Genesis 22 where Abraham was willing to offer up his one and only son, Isaac. He did not spare his only son. in order to be obedient to God. He said, do not lay your hand upon the boy. This is the angel speaking to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son. The word is you did not spare your son. In the Greek version of the Old Testament, that's the same word that we have here, verse 32. Seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. The depth of God's love for us is proven in the fact that he did not withhold his only beloved son from punishment for our sins. Rather, he gave him up. He delivered him up willingly for us. It was on our behalf that God separated himself from his son for a time. The son whom he had loved and been with for all of eternity passed. They were like this. God the father and God the son for all of eternity. Jesus says on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? God was not willing to spare his own son, but he delivered him up for us all because he loves us. He gave him up for us all. Now, who are the us all? You may say, is this all of humanity? A lot of people interpret the verse that way. He gave himself up for everybody. I think what he's saying is that he gave himself up on behalf of the people that Paul has been talking about through this entire passage. The same people for whom all things work together for good. The same people who love God. The same people who are called according to his purpose. The same people who have been foreknown. You can almost say it with me now, can't you? Predestined, called, justified, and glorified. These are the us all that he's talking about. You've got to read the Bible in its context. He was referring to the elect. People don't like that word, but it keeps popping up in the Bible, pops up in this text. God has before the foundation of the world chosen a people for himself. And the whole story of redemption is how he wins that people, this sinful, rebellious people to himself by sending his son Jesus to die on the cross for them. One point in this verse that is usually missed is that Christ died for all of His elect. That is, He did so individually. He died for each and every one of His people. Now think of that. God knew me before the foundation of the earth. He knew exactly wherein I would rebel, wherein I would shun Him, turn away from Him, and do everything I could against Him. And He died for me nonetheless, because He chose to save me. And He did the same thing for you. If you're one of the elect today, if you've truly believed on Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are one of those who are called. You are one of those for whom Christ died. The Nicene Creed says it this way, for us and for our salvation, He came down from heaven. God intentionally sent His Son, Jesus, to come to die for us. He had each one of us in mind as He suffered and died on that cross. There's an additional idea here as well, and that is the idea of vicarious sacrifice or substitution, that God gave Jesus up for us. That is, instead of us having to pay for our own sins for all of eternity, which it would take at least that long, God sent Jesus in our place. And he died there. Peter puts it this way. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. He bore our sins knowingly, intentionally, paid for the sins that He knew we would commit, but He called us, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. He called us and He regenerated us and He has forgiven us for those sins. Philip Bliss captured these words in a song we just sang at the men's retreat. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Bearing shame and scoffing rude in my place, condemned He stood, sealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah, what a Savior. The next verse is powerful. Guilty, vile, and helpless we, spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement, can it be? Hallelujah, what a Savior. This is what Christ has done for those for whom He died. And then he goes with an if-then statement. He goes into then this statement in verse 32 at the end, how then will he not graciously give us all things? This is an argument from the greater to the lesser. If he will accomplish this greater act of our redemption, how will he not accomplish the lesser act of giving us everything else? He will most assuredly do the lesser thing given that he has done the greater thing. That's the argument in logic. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Well, what is he talking about with the all things? You know, that's one of these texts that you just, you have to ask yourself what's going on here because redemption is huge. What else has he got in mind? Well, I think we first of all go back to the context of Romans 8, verse 21. We enter the freedom of the glory of the children of God. What God has done is enabled us to enter into glory one day with Him. The adoption of sons, which is the redemption of our body. One day our bodies will be transformed to be like that of Christ. No longer have these human limitations. Our bodies will be like our Savior after He was resurrected. He's given us in verse 26 the intercession of the Holy Spirit before God the Father. This is another of the all things that God has provided for us. You didn't realize you were so rich in Christ, did you? All these things God has given you. And verse 39, which we're going to cover in a few moments, the love of God for all eternity. We're going to be able to love him for all eternity. But there are many, many other all things in the New Testament that we can read about under the new covenant. For example, we have the ability now to love each other. We don't have to fake a love for our fellow believers. God gives us the ability to love people who have wronged us. He gives us the ability to forgive people who sinned against us. We didn't have that ability before, truly, to forgive. The ability to build one other up in Christ. Chapter 12 on spiritual gifts in the book of Romans mentions ways that we can build each other up in the body of Christ using the spiritual gifts that God has given us. We did not have that before we became believers. The ability to live with a clean conscience in this life. We did not have that before. Hebrews 9, verse 14. It's another author, but it's the same truth that we see presented. God gives us the ability to enjoy a clean conscience, a clear conscience before God. Something impossible in the flesh. And then, of course, there are the many virtues given by God included in this all things, such as the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. He's given us all of these things. If God has accomplished the greater thing, how will He not with Him also freely give us all things? All these things I've listed to you, and many, many more, all the virtues that are listed in the New Testament, all of these are ours in Christ. Now, I don't know about you, but this should be driving us to our knees at this point as we understand the greatness of what God has done in His sovereignty for His people. This is what He has accomplished. God will, with Christ, graciously give us all things, and He is, in fact, doing that right now in our midst today. He's doing that right now in this body of believers. He then goes to the next verse, says, who then can make charges against God's elect. Notice we're in the courtroom of God's justice here. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? And the response is, it is God that justifies. For those who are constantly inflicting upon ourselves past guilt, guilt that has already been dealt with at the cross, this is a very helpful verse, okay? This is extremely helpful. Paul is thinking of a courtroom when he uses justification language. As Christians, we have been declared not guilty. This is one of the major differences we have with Rome, by the way. They do not see a courtroom language in Paul here. They sing relational language. One of the reasons for the Protestant Reformation is that Martin Luther was able to articulate how God gave us his righteousness by declaring us righteous before him. sinners coming to the courtroom of God destined to be condemned for all that they have done all that they will do that's contrary to the will of God in it and they're and they're guilty as can possibly be and Christ comes sent by God to dine across for our sins and he stands as our advocate and presents himself the finished sacrifice of Christ and and the Lord says not guilty this is what Justification is being declared not guilty. And we become just as if we had never sinned. God looks at us. We're still sinners. He sees us. He sees holy people. He sees people who have been justified by the blood of Christ. He sees people who have been justified and the means by which they've been justified is by faith. We see that articulated very clearly in Romans, but it's the work of God. And what God does is he causes us to believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Why is there no one to bring the charges against us? Because no one is able to come into the presence of the sovereign God who has already forever dealt with your sin, okay? There's no way you can be counted guilty before him. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? There's that word again, keeps popping up. the elect of God. Folks, we're not inventing this language. We're not taking it from theologians from the 17th, 16th centuries. We're taking it straight out of the Apostle Paul's mouth. He's the one who says that God has chosen a people in himself before the foundation of the world. So, no charge can stick because nobody can come into the courtroom of God and successfully bring a charge against us because Christ has already forgiven that sin. That's where it stands in the sight of God. If you're a believer in Christ today, that's your position in Christ today. Now, if you're a Christian today and you haven't thought about this for a while, you need to think about it because it will help you the next time the evil one comes, as he frequently does, as he frequently comes into the presence of the Lord and he accuses us And that accusing has a way of emanating into our consciences and we're able to, and we have a guilty conscience, a false guilt in our conscience that causes us to condemn ourselves before God. And what we need to do is understand how God views us and then view ourselves exactly the same way. The devil is constantly accusing us day and night before God. day and night before God. But Jesus Christ, our intercessor, is before God day and night also, constantly interceding for us. We have been justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, by the authority of Scripture alone, by the eternal purpose and plan of God, which has been revealed in that Scripture alone. Here's the way Paul says in Ephesians 2, for by grace are you saved through faith. that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one of us should boast. If we have problems with the doctrine of election, we will have trouble with Paul, because Paul certainly did not have any problem with it. The Greek word he uses here is elektos, eklektos, those whom God has chosen from this generality of mankind and drawn to himself. This is the definition out of the standard Greek lexicon that almost everyone, every evangelical student that I know of uses. God has chosen us in Christ. This term, the elect, is an old term for ethnic Israel. Psalm 105 talks about children of Jacob, his chosen ones. But the New Testament writers regularly ascribe this same term to the new covenant people of God. Put on then as God's chosen ones, he says in Colossians 3.12, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. He calls us God's chosen ones. That is our status before God today, and I hope you will understand what it means. If you wish to become one of God's chosen ones, can you influence that? Can you change God's mind from before eternity and eternity past? Of course not. But if you believe in Christ, if you receive him as your Lord and Savior, if you bow the knee to him, repent from your sins, you are one of the chosen. I hope you understand this. God uses the word of God to cause you to understand the need to have faith and to believe. And I call you to that faith today to show that you are the chosen ones of God. Verse 33b makes this amazing statement. God is the one justifying. Paul is literally screaming at us. You can't be prosecuted because God is the one who has declared you not guilty. The verdict of God on our behalf is irrevocable. Retrial is impossible. There is no double jeopardy. You may try yourself again in your mind every day for something you did 10, 15, 20, 30 years ago, But God's decision is unchangeable. Once God has proclaimed you innocent, no one can try you again. You are not guilty. Can I say that any other way, more plainly? A Christian, as much as a Christian sins, is not guilty before God. Now, we deal with our sins on a daily basis. We confess our sins. 1 John 1.9 says we must confess our sins. We must confess our sins. It's important that we confess our sins to the Lord God first, and then to those whom we have wronged, and we will get spanked for the sins that we have committed. There's no question about that. God deals with his children just like you parents deal with your children, but he never disowns us. We remain his children, and we need to have this very high view. Who is to condemn? No one. No one can stand before God, the one who has justified and say, this guy has something that I can hold against him. It's God. This is amazing. This is amazing. And it almost makes you shudder to say these words because we all know what sins we have committed against God. And yet God says, not guilty. The basis of our justification is Christ Jesus. Here in verse 34b. Christ, look what it says about Christ. The basis of God's justification of us is the finished work of Christ. He died for us. He was raised for us. He is at the right hand of God. That is, he's been ascended and he is now seated at the right hand of God. and he's constantly interceding forth. The death, of course, is the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem. He was nailed to a cross by Roman soldiers at the behest of Jewish leaders who wanted him done away with, and they worked God's plan. of having him crucified. Within three, and by the way, without that death, there is no substitutionary atonement. There is no forgiveness of sins. There's no satisfaction of God's wrath. There has to be the death of a perfect sacrifice. And so Jesus accomplishes that at the will of God the Father. But then he's resurrected at the same time. Without the resurrection, there's no certification. that God has approved the death of Christ as being sufficient to take care of our sins. The fact that Jesus was raised from the dead is God's stamp of approval on the death of Christ as being sufficient to win our redemption. He was delivered for our trespasses, was raised for our justification. Romans 4, 25. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead means that it worked. And it was effective, and it's accepted by God. The sacrifice was propitiatory. That is, it satisfied the wrath of Almighty God. And then His ascension. Remember in the book of Acts, He ascended up to be with the Father. After 40 days of revealing Himself to the disciples, He ascended into heaven. And He's seated at the right hand of God. Without that ascension, we have no completion of the work of Christ. The fact that this great high priest, this Melchizedekian high priest, if we go back to our days when we went through Hebrews, our Melchizedekian high priest is seated at the right hand of God. Unlike the Aaronic priests who went before, we were always sacrificing sacrifices for the people of God. This Melchizedekian priest is seated at the right hand of God. He's not busy offering sacrifices. All he is doing is interceding for us. David predicted this back a thousand years before Christ. Psalm 110. The Lord, Jehovah, says to my Lord, Adonai, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. David got a vision of Christ sitting at the right hand of God and he understood that one of his sons, i.e. Christ himself, would one day be his Lord and he would be the one who would intercede for us at the right hand of the Father. His function now is not atonement, but intercession. He's praying for us in glory right now. Do you need prayers by the Lord Jesus in heaven? Do you need prayers right now? Do you need prayers in heaven right now? We all need Jesus praying for us in heaven right now, and He's doing that The Holy Spirit is also doing it, we saw earlier in Romans chapter eight, but it says here that Jesus is interceding for us at the right hand of the Father right now. The bottom line is, because of the justification of God, that's what these 31 through 34 are talking about, because of the justification of God, we will triumph. We will stand before God as forgiven sinners. This means that we're going to anchor our perseverance and suffering to the fact that God has already determined the outcome of our legal standing before him. I don't know that Lisa understood all of this theology, but she had a glimpse of it. It's very clear from her words. And as she entered that crisis of losing her husband on 9-11, she understood that a sovereign God was working, was in control. And that's where we need to be today. You and I and every other Christian those who attempted to leave the faith, those who attempted to fall into the trap of believing the lies of the sexual revolution around us, those who attempted to commit suicide. All need to understand that God is sovereign, and he has worked our justification in a sovereign way. It will not fail. I hope, the scripture, your soul. Secondly, we triumph through God's love. Nothing can separate us from the love Verses 35 through 39. Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword. Paul is speaking to Romans Christians in AD 57. He's quite familiar with the list of sufferings that could derail us from experiencing God's love. By the way, all seven of these are evidences of suffering. Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword. These are the things that attempt to separate us from the love of Christ. And yet it says, who will separate us? It lists these things. It seems to personify these nouns. These sufferings are embodied in real people who will accomplish them, real people who will impose the tribulation, the distress, the famine, and so forth upon the people of God. We can learn a couple of things from these sufferings. First, they are real people. This is somebody in flesh and blood who comes up and actually opposes you as a Christian. And they will do that. Sometimes they'll fly airplanes into buildings. Sometimes they will do things in combat. Many of you have been in combat overseas and you've seen what some of this hatred is like. We can learn that they're real people, not impersonal ideas. But second, their work of attempting to separate us from the love of Christ is intentional. This is not just a free-for-all, a potpourri of ideas in modern civilization as to how to approach worship of God. This is hostility to Christianity. This is what Paul was facing in AD 57, and later in the mid-60s when he was actually killed for his apostleship. God will bring real people into our lives who really oppress us. People who create distress for us, who harass or persecute us, who deprive us of food, who deprive us of clothing. People who cause us danger. Finally, people who kill us. The Christian life is not the smooth road that you may have once thought that it was. An uneventful life that's just blissful from day one to day end. Everybody lived happily ever after. There will actually be suffering. And I don't think it's that far away for us in our culture today. I may see it in my lifetime. where we face physical suffering here in this country. But the obvious answer to the question, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall any of these sufferings do that? The answer is absolutely not. None of those things, none of those sufferings can divide between us and the God who loves us. That is sealed, that's permanent because of the justification that's already happened. Now, that doesn't mean that God shields his people from calamity from time to time. Psalm 44 is what Paul refers to here in verse 36. It doesn't mean that people will have hands-off attitude toward us at any time in our Christian lives. We're open and vulnerable to suffering all the time. We know that God saves his people, the first eight verses of Psalm 44. But then he rejects his people. Psalm 44, 9 through 16. If you had a chance to study this on the side, it's well worth the study. There's no sin mentioned. But for some reason, the people of God experience this persecution that God brings across their path. But God's people remained faithful. Psalm 44, 17 through 21. People were even killed for his sake. That's what we just read a moment ago. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Psalm 44 is a psalm that follows some great calamity. We don't know what it is. We don't know whether it was because of Israel's sin or simply God's sovereign hand teaching them more of his salvation. That sin question is not addressed. What we do know is that the psalmist is saying definitively that they have been continuously slaughtered like sheep. Now, this is what's in front of us, okay? In our Christian lives. If you're not into suffering, then you're not into being a Christian, okay? Suffering is ahead of us, it's coming. And so what we need to do is prepare ourselves for that eventuality, when it does happen. Paul uses this psalm for a reason. The people of God need special strength and comfort when they go through that valley of humiliation, that valley of suffering. John Bunyan talked about this in Pilgrim's Progress. It is going to come for every Christian. God's people need to know that there's a need to remain faithful to their covenant Lord But they also need to know that there is the possibility that they will be killed for God's sake. Paul reflects this in 2 Corinthians 4, for we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifest in our flesh. Paul was willing to pay that price. He was willing to be killed. But then he says the most amazing thing in verse 37, but in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loves us. These attempts at separating us from God and his love are not successful. Not only are they not successful, ultimately they will cause us to triumph. The suffering and persecution that Christians will have to endure in this life or not, here's how one writer put it, mere evils which Christians must expect and endure as best they can, they are the scene of the overwhelming victory which Christians are winning throughout. This is what God does. He sends suffering to show us that he's in charge. He sends suffering as a precursor to the glory that he's going to bring to his people. More than conquerors means prevailing completely. We are in the grip of the hands of the evil one. When we're in the grip of the hands of the evil one, we've got him right where we want him. Did you get that? When we're in the grip of the evil one, we've got him right where we want him. This is what God did on the cross. Satan says, I've got him. He's been crucified on a cross. And what does Christ do in three days? Rises from the dead. Total victory over death. When you're going through suffering. God has you right where He wants you. He is demonstrating His power in you as you go through that suffering as a child of God. There's a verse in 2 Corinthians I've loved for years. I've used it out of context every time. Please accuse me of doing it again. It says, for we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. Do you believe that? We cannot do anything against the truth. Satan cannot do anything against the truth only for the truth. Everything that Satan leverages against God, God leverages against Satan and uses it to accomplish his victory, even the bringing down of those buildings on 9-11, even the death of Todd Beamer. May I say that God used Lisa in incredible ways. as magazine after magazine interviewed her and they saw this spiritual resilience within her as she had this almost divine conception of what was going on in her life. And she realized that nothing could separate her from the love of Christ. Let me just read one comment in closing. I don't have time to cover all these verses. I was a fool to think I could. God's sovereignty, Lisa says, has been made clear to me. When I am tempted to become angry and ask God what if, or ask what if, and why us, God says, I knew on September 10th, and I could have stopped it. But I have a plan for greater good than you can ever imagine. I don't know God's plan, and honestly, right now, I don't like it very much. She said that twice now. But I trust that he is true to his promise. In Romans 8, 28, we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him. My only responsibility is to love God. He will work out the rest. Beneath her signature, one of the authors, interviewers, made this note. She writes Genesis 50, 20. When she signs her book, let's roll. As for you, This is Joseph speaking to his brothers who had put him in captivity and who were very remorseful now that he was second in command in Egypt and had control over their lives. Joseph has the divine perspective. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. May we rest in God's sovereignty in our lives. Let us pray. Father, we thank you so much today for the glory that you have. Thank you, Stan. We'd like to ask you to turn your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight, it's our goal to finish the chapter this week. Romans chapter eight, we're taking two weeks to just look at the sovereignty of God and get a wider view of the expanse of all that he is.