All Things For The Good In Christ

Fourth message in this chapter, chapter eight, as I have said before, is like the Mount Everest of the Bible. And I would say that as we really start at verse 28 this morning, we're gonna look at a few verses before it for context, but as we look at verse 28 this morning, you know, this really is the summit of what we've been teaching on in Romans and in the Bible. Now, I've taught this chapter many times, I've taught this verse many times, and I'm always curious to see what other people say about it, what other teachers teach about it, other pastors, what they have to say about it, other commentators.

If I see a book on a commentary on Romans, I'll grab it and you know where I'm gonna turn to in Romans. Chapter one, verse 16, which is the theme of the book. And then I'll go to Romans chapter eight and see what he says, especially in verse 28.

And so I would say that the person who has had the most influence on me is a guy by the name of John Stott. He occasionally taught at Regent College where I went to school, but he was influenced by Martin Lloyd-Jones, maybe you've heard that name before. These were great preachers and teachers of the word, all passed on.

But Stott wrote about these 12 verses and he said they could be broken down into three sections. In verse 28, he says, in verse 28, we see five unshakable convictions. And then in verses 29 and 30 that we're gonna look at this morning, we see five undeniable affirmations.

And then in verses 31 to 39, we see five unanswerable questions. And I have to tell you, like I say, I've taught this many times, I have never come across anything that breaks these verses down as brilliantly and as beautifully as that. So I'm gonna use that as my outline this morning, but of course it's my own material.

The church is built on each other's shoulders, don't kid yourself. Now, last week and the week before, we left off talking about how God uses the events in our lives. God uses the suffering of this life, uses the pain, uses the good things, the bad things, and everything in between to shape us, to conform us into the image of Jesus.

Last week, we saw in chapter eight, verses 17 to 27, God uses even our suffering, our pain, like I say, our difficulties to shape us, to mold us. And God does make some things happen to us, but I think there's a lot of things that just happened to us. Somehow, supernaturally, He's able to use this fallen world and the fallen people that populate it to shape us and mold us.

And all the things that come out of those experiences, good and bad. And we saw it last week how there's a groaning. And we looked at what that word groaning means.

There's a groaning going on. Three things are groaning. The world, all creation is groaning.

And we saw how believers are groaning. But it's this longing for a new world and a new creation, even for Christ to come back. There's this longing, there's this groaning.

But then the third thing that was groaning is it says the Holy Spirit is groaning, but He's groaning in a specific way. He's groaning on your behalf. And if there's two verses that are touching, two verses that touch my heart, it's verses 26 and 27, where we left off last week.

Amazing verses. They tell us that the Holy Spirit takes all our hurts, all our pains, all our griefs, and He takes them directly to God the Father, Abba Father, which sets up the context for what we read in verse 28. But verses 26 and 27 say this.

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. There's just so much packed into those two verses.

And as I said last week, there are people in this auditorium, there's people in this room right now, you've had terrible things done to you by other people, things you didn't deserve, things no one deserves, things so bad, things so just, terrible things, dark things, things so bad that you and no one else could ever see anything good coming out of them. And for others, it's what I call self-inflicted misery. Other people didn't do it to you, you did it to yourself.

You're a self-saboteur. You've made bad decisions that have caused you ongoing regret within your life. And I'm sure there's more than a few of us in this room.

If you've lived on this planet for any amount of time, I know I could put myself in both categories. Sometimes it's the thing that you think about first thing in the morning. You know, the pains, the hurts, the injustices, they're so bad, you don't even know how to pray about them.

Well, these verses that we just read tell us that the Holy Spirit intercedes for you with groans that are too deep for words. And the Holy Spirit has a way of communicating with God the Father, which is deeper than words, it's groans, it's wordless. And the spirit who searches our hearts and knows us intimately is also the one who is connected intimately with God the Father, it's his very spirit.

And so God knows your pain, God knows, he has to because, well, because he feels your pain. He has to because his spirit is joined with your spirit. It's impossible for him not to know it or experience it.

And so having read verses 26 and verse 27, we come to verse 28, which is the miracle of the Christian life. And it says in Romans 8, 28, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. All things work together for good.

For those who love Christ Jesus, who have been called according to his purpose, doesn't matter which translation you look it in, it's the same. And so this morning, the first thing I wanna do is I wanna deal with the truth of this verse, the theology of this verse, the meaning of this verse. And there's, well, to steal from someone else, five unshakable convictions in this verse alone.

And the first unshakable conviction is this, and you can underline it as we go along or bracket it or write it down. The first conviction is this, God works. God works.

Now, as you have eyes of faith, you start to see this more and more. God works. And over the years, the more I look back, even before I was a believer, I have to tell you, God was at work.

Oh, the stupid things I did. Oh my goodness, I should not be here. You've only heard a small fraction of the stories of what I have done.

I shouldn't be in jail, but you know what I mean. God was at work, like a weaver, weaving the threads of a carpet. I came across this little write-up poem called The Weaver.

It says, The Weaver, my life is but a weaving between my God and me. I cannot choose the colors. He weaveth steadily.

Oftentimes, he weaveth sorrow, and I, in foolish pride, forget he sees the upper, and I the underside. Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly, shall God unroll the canvas, and explain the reason why. The dark threads are as needful, in the weaver's skillful hand, as the threads of gold and silver, in the pattern he has planned.

And I think of that, and I think God is at work, and I see the underside, the reverse, the backside, of this work of art. You are God's workmanship. Poema is the word.

We get our English word poem connected to it, sort of. And so God is weaving your life. And so that is the first unshakable conviction.

God works. Now the second unshakable conviction, in verse 28, is God is at work for your good. And again, that takes faith.

There comes a point, we have to take a step of faith. And embrace that, and get a hold of that. Because without faith, you won't see it, and you won't get a hold of it.

God is at work for your good. And I've had many times, where I have seen, where it was very challenging, or very difficult. And I looked at the situations, and in those situations, I grew the most.

When things were the, I was painted in a corner. I thought it was the end. There was nothing left, nowhere else to turn.

And I mentioned mountaintops, at the beginning this morning. But you know, we like to look at that Mount Baker, on a beautiful clear day, don't we? It's a beautiful picture on a, it's just amazing on a sunny day. But the thing is, is in the winter time, you know, you look up there, there's no growth up there.

All the growth is in the valley, where it's green. That's pretty symbolic of life. You know, we love those mountaintop experiences.

No one likes the green, the valleys. Nobody says, Lord, give me more valleys. Give me more mountaintops, please Lord.

We all say it. And so, you know, that's unshakable conviction number two, God works for your good. The third unshakable conviction, is God works for your good.

And it says, in all things. In all things. That includes the suffering, that includes the darkness, that includes the good times.

The fourth unshakable conviction, is it tells us it's reserved for those who love Him. For those, did you see where it says that in your Bible? For those who love Him. That's us, that's you.

You call God your father? He is. He's your Abba father. And this is, He is working always for your good in all things.

And then the fifth unshakable conviction, it says it's reserved for those who have been called, according to His purpose. And when we get, when we get into verse 29, it's gonna tell us that God's ultimate purpose, in your life, is to conform you into the image of Jesus. To sculpt you, to mold you into the image of Jesus.

And so those are five unshakable convictions within verse 28. And as you grow more mature in the Lord over the years, you see, you see the profoundness of this verse. I mean, this verse is a description of the Christian life.

But as I've grown along in the years with it, and prayed over it, it's not just a description. It's also a verse that gives us hope. What do you mean? What are you talking about, Ed? What do you mean this verse gives us hope? Well, let me illustrate.

Practically speaking. Like I said, I've used this verse many times in my life. Pastorally, I've used it in encouraging people in tough times.

I say, I show them how to fall back on this verse and walk through their valley using this verse, like I have. There's been many times in my life where I've said, God, I just can't see any good in this whatsoever. There's been times it's been so, a couple of, I could count on one hand instances so dark and so discouraging and depressing.

You say to yourself, God, there's nothing good that could ever come out of this. God, but then I turn it around and I say, God, I can't, I can't wait to see what good you're gonna bring out of this cause I can't see it. I can't wait, God, to see what you're gonna do with this one because I can't see it any human possible way, how there's any good coming out of this, but I'm gonna sit back now, Lord, and let you do something with this because there's nothing I can do.

And for those of you that are in a difficult, dark situations, like I'm talking about, you fill in the blank. You know what I'm talking about? God, I can't wait to see how you pull this one off. And so I use it as a promise and I use it as a prayer and it gives me hope where there is no other hope.

Now, personally speaking, true story here. And I don't like to talk about this story because I can't hold it together a lot of times when I share it, the few times I have shared it, but I'm gonna do my best. You watch.

But back when I was in school, in seminary, Cheryl and I, we had, we put off having kids for a few years. That was the deal. She worked, she worked and I went to school.

And then when I was finished school, I'd start serving in a church with a job and paying the bills and then we could have kids. Well, finished school, started serving in a church in New Westminster. And we planned to start having kids.

Well, the first pregnancy turned into a miscarriage. And, you know, from a number of ladies, maybe many ladies throughout, I don't know, but that's very difficult for ladies, especially the first time through. Isn't that correct? Guys will just go, Oh yeah, okay.

It's time. I know we'll get through this, but you know, for women, it's much more, it's very personal. And it's very, and especially the first time, it's very, very difficult, especially when you put it off like we were.

And I didn't know what to do, where to go with it. All I could say was God, Romans 8, 28. I have no idea how you could bring anything good out of this.

I have no idea. Well, suffice to say, few months later, Justin, our firstborn, was conceived and all went well, in a nutshell. Sounds like a happy ending, right? No.

Fast forward, 11, 12, 13 years. And I say that because Cheryl's here. And whenever I have details, she'll say, no, you're wrong about those details.

It wasn't 10, 12. It was, 14.1 years. But fast forward, 11, 12, 13 years after Justin was born, we had moved to the Sunshine Coast.

We had started Calvary Chapel Sunshine Coast. Our kids had gone to school up there from kindergarten. And then when they got to five or six, somewhere in there, they transferred to a brand new school.

I don't know. Justin was about 11 or 12, the oldest. And then here's the thing.

One evening, just going along in life, I was sitting in the living room, reading, around dinner time. Cheryl was in the kitchen, making supper. And Justin was at the table.

And just another normal night. And I'll never forget that moment. Justin collapsed.

And fell face forward on the table. And I'll never forget the painful noise, the groan that came from his voice. It was a noise we'd never heard from his little body before.

And it was, it was an expression of pain and desperateness that I'd never heard from him before. And he cried out, I can't take it anymore. And all I could say was, I jumped out of my chair, because I didn't know what was going on.

And there he was, just sobbing and broken. And Cheryl dropped everything. And I mean, it would have been easier for a Mack truck to run over us both, than what we were going through in that room at that moment.

Because that's how intense it was, and how real it was. And we discovered that in his school, being a new kid, there was an older kid, a bigger kid, twice his size, who had been absolutely tormenting him for weeks, maybe months, we don't know. But I mean, making his life an absolute living hell.

And I mean, this kid was brutal in what he was saying. I mean, I heard what he was saying, and I didn't know where he would get things like that. Just lies and horrific things.

And we were dropping our kids off every morning to this living hell. So, and at that time, there was, things were going on in the schools. There was a wave of kids that were killing themselves by hanging themselves from paper towel holders, or the cloth holders.

Do you remember all that? There was a wave of that going on. There was a big push about bullying, and all that stuff. So I called a fellow Christian, who was a principal of a school, for his advice.

Told him what was going on, and I asked him to coach me what to say, because I said I was going into the principal the next day, which I did. And he coached me, he said, say these, this is what you say. So I went in the next day, and I sat down with the principal, and he responded exceptionally well.

And let me just say, it was like all hands on deck in that school. The principal, and the teachers, all the teachers sat down, and there was a resolve, and a resolution, and it was resolved quickly, and permanently. I mean, it was like fixed.

That kid was put on a short leash, man. The other kid. And it was being monitored.

Well, we got through that, and after two weeks or so, a couple weeks later, Justin and I were sitting at the table, kitchen table, and I was intentionally talking to him every day, trying to find out what was going on, with all my kids actually. And the show was making supper again. And so, Justin said something that, I don't understand how a 12 year old could put this together.

He said, he said, dad, like, 12 years ago, or whatever it was, mom had a miscarriage, a baby. I said, yeah. He said, well then a few months later, you guys had me.

I said, yeah. And then he said, are you glad that you had me instead of that other baby? That shocked me. I think I just about fell out of my chair.

I don't know if Cheryl fainted in the kitchen, but I'll never forget that moment. And I said, 100% without a doubt, I would never change anything ever again. I am so glad that we had you.

Do you hear what I'm saying? And that seemed to sit well with him. I mean, I could just see the wheels turning and Cheryl was in the kitchen listening to the whole thing. And we later talked about it and we were kind of like shocked.

And I thought later, dear God, what a fool I am for ever questioning what you can do if we just give it to you. You know, and over the years, I look at what kind of came out of that. Not just that one event.

Not just that one conversation of affirmation. But you know, Cheryl and I are more sensitive to women that go through that kind of experience with a miscarriage. I have personally gone into principal's offices with parents who had children being bullied and intervening and seeing.

The first time it happened, the parents turned, the mom turned to me and said, I can't believe, I'm so glad you were there because it was going nowhere until you spoke up and you said certain things. Well, you know, the list goes on and on. I mean, I've been involved in bullying situations, helping kids, helping parents and all the rest of it.

But the list goes on and on and on of many points that I could share. But here's the thing. God works all things out to the good.

For those who loved him, who have been called according to his purpose. God could take something that has, you just can't imagine how he could take it and take something good out of it. That was a big learning lesson for me.

You don't learn that in seminary. You learn that in real life. Well, verses 29 and 30 contain what are called five undeniable affirmations in your life.

Chapter eight, verse 29 says for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed into the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and those whom he predestined, he also called on those he called and justified and those whom he justified, he also glorified. So it is very clear from these two verses here that God's purpose, God's plan for your life is to make you into the image, to conform you into the image of Jesus. Jesus is the second Adam.

The first Adam blew it. We're like, we're walking around in this first Adam body, but we're getting the second Adam body one day. Amen? I look forward to it.

And your character is gonna be everything, 100%. Some refer to these two verses and the five words that are in there as what's called the golden chain. Five words that are linked together.

Five words that illustrate the invincible purpose of God for your life. And you see Paul talking about it. You see Paul and it's in his thinking elsewhere.

In Philippians 1.6 he says, God who began a good work in you will carry it to completion. Right? That's his thinking. And so here are the five words, five affirmations of God's work in your life.

He foreknew you, those he foreknew he predestined, those he predestined he called, those he called he justified and those he justified he glorified. You see those five words? So here's the first undeniable affirmation. Number one, God foreknew us.

He foreknew us. Gonna use some big words here, then I'll explain them. God is omniscient.

Means he's all knowing. He knows the future before it occurs. Amazingly, God even knew you personally before there was a you.

Doesn't say here he foreknew all things. He doesn't foreknew all things, but it says he foreknew you. That's what blows my mind away.

God personally knew you before there was a you. That's pretty crazy stuff, isn't it? No human being operates on that level of knowledge. Not like this.

And this kind of foreknowledge changes everything. It's a different reality. It's a very otherness out there.

For example, let's apply it in everyday life. If you go to the horse races and you bet money on a horse, what do you call that? It's called gambling, thank you. It's called gambling.

Why? Because there's risk. There's chance involved. It's a gamble, who's gonna win? However, if you go to the horse race and you put money down and you have foreknowledge, like God's kind of foreknowledge, who's gonna win each and every race? Is that gambling? No, it's not.

There's no risk. Zero risk. It says here God foreknows us, which is pretty amazing.

His ability to look down the corridor of time and he sees us and he sees everything about us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And so God foreknows you and everything about you.

What's interesting is that's the first undeniable affirmation, but then it goes on to the second undeniable affirmation, which is those whom God foreknew, he what? He predestined. Now here we get into some deep water. There's quite a bit written about this word.

Entire denominations have built their way of looking at God on one meeting and then other denominations have built their entire denomination and theology on a different version of that word. And so I'll make it clear this morning and solve it for you. First, it's a Bible word.

It's a word that's in the Bible. We like this word, no matter who you are and how you define it. It clearly has the element of God intentionally and purposely making something happen in one's life.

Now, do I believe in this doctrine called double predestination? No, I don't. Not at all. That's the belief that in eternity past, God chose some people to go to heaven and others he chose to go to hell.

And God did the choosing and God did the sending and that's just all that, he loves me, he loves me not, he loves, it's like picking petals off a wall like a tulip. Anyways, I don't buy into that. And here's the thing, these verses were meant to encourage us not divide people.

And over the years, I have to admit that on the spectrum, I've kind of gone more this way a little bit and other times I've kind of leaned more the other way, this way a little bit. I'm on the spectrum and so are you. I like what Pastor Chuck, who started Calvary Chapels said years ago, he says, when we get to the Calvinistic passages, we preach like a Calvinist and when we get to the Arminian verses, we preach like an Arminian and everybody's mad at us.

I added the last part. Do I believe that every human being has the potential to freely accept Jesus? Yes, certainly I do. So what does it mean? Well, here's my answer.

And I'll say it clearly and slowly. Here it is, follow me. When it says that everyone in Christ is predestined to be glorified, it doesn't mean you don't have a choice.

Let me say it again. When it says that everyone in Christ is predestined to be glorified, it doesn't mean you don't have a choice. It means you're guaranteed to be glorified.

Even though right now you're not glorified, you don't have a glorified body. You're guaranteed to be made completely and perfectly into the image of Christ. That's what we're guaranteed.

And that is the purpose that God has for your life. And so God weaves all of life and its events, its pains, the stupid mistakes you make towards this end. And that is your destiny, to be conformed into the image of Jesus.

God has punched into your spiritual GPS, the word heaven and the word Christ likeness. Did you hear me? You got a spiritual GPS and it's punched right in there. And here's where you're going.

It's all laid out before you. And that's what these five words do. They lay it out like a spiritual GPS.

Well, the second or the third invincible or the third undeniable affirmation. So he foreknew, he predestined. And number three, it says he called you.

He called you. It is the call of God that awakens a believer to accept Jesus. And when the gospel is preached, the Holy Spirit comes and convicts the unbeliever in regards to sin, righteousness and judgment.

He convicts people in regards to their personal sin. He convicts them, convinces them, persuades them in regards to their lack of righteousness and their need for righteousness. And he convinces, he convicts, he persuades them in regards to the coming judgment, if they're not a part of Christ.

Coming judgment apart from Christ. When we get to Romans chapter 10, verse 17, Paul says those famous words, his faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. When the word of God is preached and the Holy Spirit convicts, when the word of God is preached, God's word pierces the darkness of the human heart.

The Holy Spirit illuminates Jesus. The Holy Spirit shines the spotlight on Jesus. Then and only then, does someone truly have a choice to say yes to Jesus.

Outside of that, the human will is in bondage. The human will of the unbeliever is in bondage to sin. Sin is his master, sin is his slave driver.

Only when someone surrenders to the call and bends his will to the Lord's will is he saved and made a new creation. That's what I see in scripture. And that's the third undeniable affirmation.

The fourth undeniable affirmation is, well, God has justified us. So he foreknew you, he predestined you, he called you and then he justified you. We have spent a good chunk of the book of Romans talking about this, being justified before the Lord.

Explaining it as a major theme, justification by faith alone. God just hasn't given you righteousness, he's given you his righteousness, the righteousness of God. To borrow from 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, it says, he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become what? The righteousness of God.

I can barely scarce get my mind around the idea that not only do I have the righteousness of God, but I am now called the righteousness of God. It is so identified with me now, so far as my sin and unrighteousness cast from me, that now I am completely identified with his righteousness. And that is what it is to be justified in God's eyes.

So you are called the righteousness of God now, it's hard to believe. That's the fourth undeniable affirmation. The fifth undeniable affirmation is that it says here, God glorified us.

Now you notice it says God has glorified us and it says what? It's used what? In the past tense. It's used in the past tense. It's almost like it's a prophetic declaration, a prophetic past tense declaration in God's mind.

It's stated in the past tense. Very rarely do you see it anywhere else. Some would call this, like I said, the prophetic past.

That's how sure God is about this. None of you here this morning have resurrected sinless, glorified eternal bodies yet. Nobody? Yet? In God's mind, he sees past your life right now and he sees into the future and he says, you're glorified.

That's pretty amazing. You woke up this morning, I woke up this morning, I did not feel glorified for our sleep. And then Paul says, having said all this, it changes how we see things coming at us in life.

When you see these five things, these five undeniable affirmations, it changes how you see everything that flies at you in life, everything that comes your way. And then in verses 31 to 39, Paul answered, he asked five undeniable questions and we're gonna go through this quickly. Bear with me here.

So let's look at it. Five undeniable questions. They're really like rhetorical questions once you see how he's written it.

But he says in verse 31, take a look. It says, what then shall we say to these things that he just wrote about? If God is for us, who can be against us? If God is for you, who can be against you? Now, if Paul had just wrote, who's against us? What do you think the answers would have been? Who's against you? Who do you think was against them? Everybody was against them. The Romans are against us.

The Jewish religious leadership are against us. The idol worshipers are against us. The devil is against us.

Our relatives are against us. They think we're nuts. The ungodly are against us.

The neighbor across the street is against me. The people who claim to be Christians that belong to a cult, they're against me. The person that I pass by in the hallway that thinks I didn't say hi to them on purpose, they think I'm against them.

Everybody's against me. That could have been the list. But Paul says, no, if God is for you, who can be against you? If God is in your corner, that's a good guy to have in your corner.

Undeniable or unanswerable question number two is verse 32. And he says, 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? Now, if Paul just had have asked, will God not just give us all things? If he just had have said, will God not just give us everything one day? Well, the answer would be yes. But that's not how he phrases it.

God has already given you the greatest thing you could always give. There's nothing bigger, nothing greater than giving the only begotten son, Jesus. God, the son.

The way it's phrased, God has given you the greatest thing that he could ever give. Everything else is minuscule. Displays the generosity of God.

It displays the father heart of God. And then he goes on to the third unanswerable question in verse 33. Look at verse 33.

And he says, who shall bring any charge against God's elect or God's chosen? It is God who justifies. Now, if Paul had have said, if he had have just asked the question, who would bring any charges against us? The list would go on and on. We're being charged all the time.

We're being accused all the time. The Romans are accusing us. The Jewish religious leadership are accusing us.

False believers are accusing us. The accuser of the brethren, Satan, is accusing us. But he doesn't ask that.

That's not what he says. And then he goes on to the fourth unanswerable question in verse 34. Who is to condemn us? Christ Jesus, the one who died.

More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Now, if Paul had have just said, who is there that's condemning us? Again, similar list as what we read before. Except here, it tells us that Jesus died on the cross for his sin, and he rose.

And he's at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for you right now. And we started off the chapter with verse one that says what? There is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. And Paul says, who's there to condemn us? Jesus is your advocate.

Do you know what an advocate is like? What is? Advocates like a lawyer. I don't know about you, but I've heard that you can't go wrong having a good Jewish lawyer. Then anyways, unanswerable question number five, verse 35 and 36.

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, for your sake, we are being killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. Paul finally takes us to where he wants us to end up.

The unshakable, undeniable love of Christ for you. And he lists seven possibilities, seven difficulties in life that Paul himself was very familiar with. Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword.

Just read the book of Acts this January and see what Paul did on his missionary journeys. And you can check all seven of those things off because he had those on a regular basis. That was his ministry.

And so the answer to the five unanswerable questions and all the suffering of life, and Paul had a lot of suffering and a lot of persecution, a lot of rejection. Paul says in verse 37, he says, no, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. The answer is no.

These things can't conquer you. These things can't separate you from the love of the Lord. Now, the seventh thing, remember what that was? It was the sword.

That could separate your head from your body, but you can never be separated from God's love. In fact, quite the opposite. Do you see those five little words? We are more than conquerors.

Do you see it in your Bible? There's five words. Every English version here has it. We are more than conquerors.

Those five English words are one word in the original Greek, hypernicoman. Hyper, you heard me right, hyper. Hypernicoman literally means super, a super conqueror.

You are not just a conqueror, but you are even more than a conqueror. You are a super conqueror in Christ. And then, well, in verses 38 and 39, Paul lists 10 things that could never separate you.

He goes on, he's got a further list. Verses 38 and 39, he says this. We finish with these verses.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present or 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, amen? Life and death, angels and demons, present and the future, powers, height, depth, space and time, all physical creation. Paul says you've got a destination and that's heaven. Heaven is your home, that's your destination.

And he says, you've got a destiny to become like Jesus, to become conformed to the image of Jesus. Did you know that? You've got a destination and a destiny? All of you, each and every one of you, you're people of destiny. You maybe never thought of yourself like that, but that's the word that's used, predestination.

And in this fallen world filled with fallen people, where there's a lot of pain and suffering, a lot of persecution, injustice, rejection thrown at you, I would encourage you this morning to be like Paul. Paul says a couple simple words. In these last two verses we read here, he said, I am convinced.

I am convinced. I'm convinced nothing will separate me from his love. Let me ask you this morning, are you convinced? Ask him to convince you, ask him to convict you, ask him to persuade you, ask him to give you that inner witness of the Holy Spirit.

In fact, he started off in verse 28 this morning. He says, do you remember what he said in verse 28? For we know, we know that, do you know it? Or do you just kind of think about it? Do you know it? Is it a part of you? Have you embraced it? We know that God works all things out for your good. This is the invincible plan of God.

This is the invincible purpose of God for your life in these verses. Father, we come to you this morning and we thank you for these incredibly encouraging words. If God is for you, who can be against you? If God has given you everything, you think he's gonna be stingy and hold something back from you? If God has justified you, who's gonna condemn you? Who's gonna charge you? God has already spoken, it's a done deal.

And he's so convinced of his work in our lives, he's calling us glorified in the past tense. And for this father, we thank you. And I pray this morning that we would just by faith, embrace what you have to say here as encouraging as it is, Lord.

We pray that these would be words of encouragement for every man, woman, and child in this place. And Lord, if there's things that our people are going through things that have been thrown at us, maybe things we've done to ourselves as self saboteurs, self inflicted pain, Lord, whatever the regrets are, we can't even imagine how you can work something good out of it. But by faith, we come to you and we live it with you and we look forward to see what you're gonna do.

And it gives us hope. And we thank you for the promises of God. Because it's a promise you make for us.

You've made this promise that you will work out all things for our good. Thank you, father. Thank you for just this message at the beginning of this new year to face this new year with Lord.

We bless you father in Jesus name. Amen.