Village Schools of the Bible

ROMANS: Heart & Soul of the Gospel
A Devotional Study of Romans
by Max Frazier, Jr.

ROMANS 8:18-39: OUR PRESERVATION IN CHRIST

As you might remember, the theme of this chapter is our preservation in Christ. That fact is clearly seen in those closing verses that lie before us today.

Notes on verses 18-25 - our new hope

Paul says the whole of nature is looking for just one thing - the manifestation of the sons of God. There are three realms that groan:

1.Creation groans - waiting for release form the endless cycle of corruption
2.We groan - because we are still in the body of flesh
3.The Holy Spirit groans - on our behalf

Notes on verses 26-27 - our new help

Our infirmity is that we do not know how to pray as we ought.

Notes on verses 28-30 - our new knowledge

God's eternal purposes come first, then His foreknowledge, then predestination. Then God calls and He justifies and He will glorify. These six words are the six golden links that bind the believer to the two eternities - the eternity that is past in the purpose of God, and the eternity that is future in glory with Him.

Notes on verses 31-39 - our new assurance

Paul is at the mountain-heights of the Christian position

Verse 31 - "these things" - refers to everything said from chapter 3 and also his discussion of "divine election and foreknowledge"

"if" - since GOD IS FOR US "who against us" - this is a direct challenge to all and any in the whole possible universe

Verse 32 - proof that God is for us. God spared not. God delivered Him up.

"for us all" - sinners saved by grace. Since God gave Christ, He also will give us all things. If He gave us His most precious Son, how shall He not also freely give us trivial things.

Verse 34 - evidence that the whole Trinity works for us:

(in verse 22 - the Spirit makes intercession for us

(in verse 31 - God is for us

(in verse 34 - Christ is making intercession for us

Verse 35 - "tribulation" - direct troubles that afflict the saints because of the gospel. Satan has never succeeded in separating one saint from Christ's love by tribulations (see Matthew 13:21; First Thessalonians 1:6 and 3:3; John 16:33) "distress" - anguish. Word means "a narrow, cramped place" "peril" - see Second Corinthians 11:26

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS:

As I shared a few studies previously, I believe there are two towers of biblical truth that bookend this great chapter. The first one is the tremendous reality that we no longer stand condemned before an angry God. Why is this possible? It is because Jesus Christ and His death on the cross appeased or satisfied the wrath of an angry God. As a member of the family of God, I no longer have to worry about facing the wrath of God. That simply will not happen. Praise God!

The closing verses of this chapter disclose the second great tower. We can state it simply, "Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus." Let me state that once again - absolutely nothing can separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. In the preceding sections Paul has been careful to delineate those things that might try to cause us to be separated from Christ and His love. Included among these were:

1.Matters of life and matters of death - I think we could say that the uncertainties of life and the certainty of death cannot separate us from His love.

2.Angels nor demons - those represent the impact of the spiritual world, both for good and for evil, upon our lives.

3.The present nor the future - those present realities (the state that I am presently in) and the future possibilities (those conditions that I may be in tomorrow) cannot separate us from His love.

4.Powers - I think this could represent anything that has the potential of influencing us in any way, or controlling us.

5.Lofty things or lowly things - No matter how inflated or deflated is my self-esteem, how I view myself cannot separate me from Christ's love.

6.Absolutely nothing else in all creation - I think Paul uses this phrase to include anything that might not fit into one of the categories above.

Friends, I can stand before God in the absence of condemnation because I can never be separated from His love. If these were the only two spiritual truths that we had from God's Word, how dynamic our lives would be. These two truths are the heart and soul of this chapter and of the writings of the Apostle Paul. It is no wonder that Paul could say in verse 37 that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER AS ONE READS THESE VERSES:

1.When God saved you, He did not instill a spirit of fear within you. List some of the things Paul says we don't have to fear. Why don't we have to fear them?

2.What does the phrase "we don't know how to pray as we should" mean? Relate a time in your life when you didn't know how to pray about a matter. How did God answer and what did you learn from this experience?

3.What does verses 28 mean to you? How can you claim its truths?

Romans 8:5-17 Return to the Table of Contents Romans 9