Christian Conquerors: Romans 8:36-39 | Pastor J's Sermon

Paul explains that Christians are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.

We are conquerors even in the midst of afflictions and trials.

Our strength comes not from ourselves, but from the power of the word of God.

Jesus' love for us is the greatest love ever given, and it is through this love that we are overcomers.

Thank you. And Wesley once wrote something, and I wanted to just share a little bit of it with you. And it's simply this. He said, if we suffer hereby from the mean habitation of the immortal spirit, if pain, sickness, and numberless other afflictions beside, to which we should not otherwise have been liable, assault us in every side, and at length bear us down into dust of death. What are we? Losers by this? Losers no. In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Kind of seems strange, doesn't it? And all this. We are conquerors. Even if we find ourselves passing away from all the afflictions of the world, we are conquerors. Seems really strange, but this is interesting. Paul the Apostle wrote to the church at Rome. He wrote in Romans 8, starting in verse 36, he wrote this. as it is written as it's written in Psalm 44 you can look that up later if you want to as it is written for your sake we are killed all the day long see this is not meaning physical death but what it is meaning is that we are assaulted all day long by the enemy. We are continually assaulted by Satan. No Christian is going to go throughout the whole day without ever having an assault. Maybe sometimes they're a little bit smaller of an assault than others. Some days we may feel like we've had more than our share. Other days we may escape pretty clear without too much of an attack from Satan. But that is a smart warrior, if you will. A warrior doesn't sit there and let you know he's coming. And you know his attack process and know everything he's going to do. Satan's not going to do that. He's going to attack you when you don't expect it. And so that's what he does. But every day there's going to be little things that are going to try to discourage us. Little things that are going to make us go, why? Every day we are killed or assaulted. I love what he says. He says these words. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Now when you think about it, Jesus was led, what? To the cross as a lamb before the slaughter. And that is exactly what we as Christians are. We are led to the slaughter just like Jesus. But there is something very interesting that Paul wrote here that is so cool. In verse 37, he said these words. Nay, or no, if you will. In all these things, we are more than conquerors. Kind of strange, isn't it? To be more than a conqueror in all these wars and all these trials and all these tribulations. How can we be more than conquerors? When physical attacks hit us, how can we be a conqueror? Well, when physical problems attack, what do we do? We keep quoting that verse, by his stripes we are killed. we just keep pressing on we keep holding on just don't let the things of this world weigh you down because see sometimes what we do is we look at the things of this world and it begins to weigh us more than our faith can handle you ever feel that way sometimes where things are weighing you down and you feel like Like, my faith is being on the scales like this. My faith is up, you know, and all the things are weighted down, man. You know? The weight is too heavy and my faith is not strong enough to hold me down. You know? I think we've all gone through those things. We've all been there. We know what that is. If I asked you to raise your hand And I'm not doing that But if I asked you I know it all would say Yeah I've been there I know what that is I've been there See Paul was there Paul found himself in prison Thankfully we've never been in prison We never had to be put into jail Subject like Paul was You know Chained wall Rats running all around you. I mean, can you imagine that? It would be crazy. Paul knew what it was to be afflicted. Paul knew what it was to have trials and tribulations. And yet Paul stood strong. Even Paul, and now all of his afflictions, let's face it. Paul had something that was so discouraging to him, but he didn't know what it was. some people say that many believe that Paul was going blind and for a writer that's very discouraging because if you can't see you can't write it's very difficult because if you're trying to write you haven't got your eyesight you're going to be writing this way and this way and you're not going to be able to see it and read it so many people think that it was that Other people think that maybe his back was causing him very, very bad troubles to where it was making it to where, you know, maybe cutting off the blood supply to where his legs were going numb and he was going to be crippled. Many people believe that. We don't know the exact thing, but we do know that Paul went to the Lord many, many times and prayed, Lord, deliver me from this thorn in my flesh. Paul heard from God that said, my grace is sufficient. Basically meaning that Paul was not going to get a healing Yet Paul every time he wrote was talking about being an overcomer being a conqueror being blessed by God even in all these trials and tribulations So we see that's what we've got to do. We've got to move forward. We can't let the problem weigh us down. We've got to put our trust in God and push forward. I love that. He says, nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors. And how are we more than conquerors? Through him who loved us. It's not in our strength. We can't do anything in our strength. We can't beat Satan in our own strength. We can't destroy Satan's forces in our strength. How do we destroy, how do we push Satan's forces away from us? The power of the word of God. That's how we push Satan's forces away. All because he loved us. Jesus loved us so much that he went to a cross of Calvary and died there for you and for me. We deserve it. Not one of us deserved having Jesus die on a cross for us. But yet He did it willingly because He loved us. Beautiful song. Because He loved me, my Savior died. On a cross was crucified. No greater love hath mortal man had ever been known. Right? And that's the point. Jesus loved us so much. So much. And that's the greatest love ever given. I love it. And that love poured out on the cross of Calvary is how we are overcomers. How we are conquerors. I love what Paul says in verse 38. He says this, for I am persuaded. I love that. It's not just to think it. It's to know it. Because that's the point. Sometimes we can think that God loves us. but it's a whole other thing to know that God loves you hallelujah and he said I am persuaded I am persuaded and I love this he said I'm persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come a lot of stuff there to break down but cool stuff here neither life nor death beautiful doesn't matter whether you live or die if you're in Jesus you're a conqueror hallelujah it doesn't matter if it's the angels or the principalities angels of course are God's forces in heaven that fight for him and the principalities are the forces that fight against him and it doesn't matter whether it's angels or principalities that are for us or against us, we are still conquerors. Hallelujah. I love that. Nor powers, the powers of this world. What are the powers of this world? The powers of this world can be government, officials, and things like that that try to destroy the church. we say wow so much coming against the church wow it's unbelievable this is nothing compared to what the early church had to go through the New Testament church wow they really had to go through some trials and tribulations because they met together and tried to preach the word and the government found out about it they were in prison and possibly put to death we don't have that now we have you know things that you know governments and different things trying to push us and trying to say you can't do this and you can't do that but we don't have that type of persecution but the powers are against us but that doesn't mean we're not conquerors we're still conquerors because of the one that loved us and still loves us Beautiful. And then I love what he says here. Nor things present or things to come. The things that are going on right now in our life, the trials, tribulations, and all the bad stuff that's going on in our lives right now, it's not going to keep us from being overcomers, from being conquerors. And he goes a step further and he says, and the things in the future that's going to come at you, They can't destroy you either because you are a conqueror in him who loves you. I love that. See, we can't see the future, but God does. God already knows it. God already has seen it. And Paul knows that, and he says, you know what? If he already knows it, he knows what's happening, and he's not going to let you be destroyed. He's going to let you be an overcomer, a conqueror, even in all the things that are coming. Hallelujah. I love it. There's someone who said, I may not know what tomorrow holds, but I can know who holds tomorrow. And that's the point. See, I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand. Hallelujah. He holds my hand through all these trials and tribulations. He walks with me. I never walk alone because He walks with me. And what a beautiful thing that is. That is so beautiful. I love that. And then he says in verse 39, Nor heights nor depths. No matter how high on high we are with Christ, or no matter how far below we're down on rock bottom, as we're worked up and destroyed and hurt by the enemy, no matter how far down we are, His love still is there. Beautiful. Beautiful. Nor heights, nor depths, nor other creatures, any other creatures. There are so many creatures. Have you ever read Revelation? It's amazing. It's amazing. Revelation is crazy. When you read Revelation and you see all the different things that are going to unfold in the end of the world, creatures and crazy stuff going on, if anything would make you want to not be there during that time, it would be that. When you read some of the crazy things, the mouth of the depths of hell is going to open up, and creatures are going to fly out and crazy stuff is going to happen. See, no matter what creature is thrown against you, you can be an overcome You can be a conqueror See someone much smarter than me once said that the veil of the unseen world is invisible We can't see it. There is wars going on right now in the spiritual realm. Angels and demons fighting all around us. We can't see it because we have a veil. and if we had that veil taken away and we saw the wars going on all around us right now, it would scare us to death. We would not be able to move because we would be so scared about the war that's going on all around us right now. We don't see it because we don't have those type of eyes. We can't see that. But if we did, it would scare us to death. creatures fighting against angels right now, all because the demons and the creatures want to see the Christians give up and quit. And the angels fight against them, saying you cannot destroy God's people. You cannot destroy them. They will be conquerors. Hallelujah. I love that. no matter what comes against us any other creature anything what does it say? shall be able to not be able to separate us if you will from the love of God none of these things can separate us from God nothing is going to be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I love it. I've said it many times, but it bears repeating when I look at it and I think of the love of God. And I think how that God resides in heaven. We reside here on earth. and at the time there was a barrier between us to where we could not talk to God because he was up there and we were down here so there was a barrier between heaven and earth and Jesus knew that there was this barrier between heaven and earth and so Jesus came down. And when Jesus came down through the barrier, what happened? He made the cross. He made the cross. And the cross is the bridge that gets us to God's love. That's beautiful. And that's beautiful. Because of Jesus' sacrifice on Calvary's cross, we can feel the presence of God in our lives every day. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have the presence of God in my life every single day. I don't know what I would do if I didn't feel Him pushing, and His hand upon me, and His hand pushing me to the next level. Because sometimes we do, I think we've all been there, we get up one morning and we just feel like we can't make it. You know you've got to get up, you know you've got to do what you've got to do, and it's like, what am I going to do? And the Lord just kind of says, it's okay. Get up. Get moving. I'm with you. You know? I've had days like that where I'm laying there and I'm like, okay, it's time to get up. Oh, no. You know? And you just lay there and it's like, Lord, give me another two hours. You know? And God's saying, no. Get up. Let's move. You know, God will never put anything upon us more than we're able to bear. That's what the Bible says. So when you feel like you can't take no more, God knows more about it than we do. We are inherently much stronger people, much stronger creatures than we even realize. We really are. Because we feel we can't take nothing, but God says, I know because I created you what you can take. And I'm not going to put more on you. I'm not going to allow more on you than you're able to bear. Now, we think about that and we think, wow, how much can I bear? Well, think about Job. Now, let's be honest here. I think all of us would have said, hey, one physical ailment would have been enough for me, right? But that wasn't what Job went through. Job lost every bit of money he had. He had nothing left. He lost all his family. He had nothing left. No kids left. And then he lost his health. Three horrible things. One would have been enough for most people to say, you know what, I quit. Job went through three. And in all this, all these trials, what happened? Job never sinned or charged God foolishly. So God knew what Job could bear, and he didn't put more on Job than he could bear. Would one more thing have been too much for Job? Maybe. Or maybe God said, three's enough. I don't know. I'm not God. But I do know his word is true. Job did not get more than he could bear. And you're not going to get more than you can bear. Maybe you're going through something in your life. Maybe you look at it and you say, wow, it just seems like this and this and this. And I just don't know if I can handle much more. God knows what you can handle. And God's not going to put more on you than you're able to bear. You're going to be a conqueror. You're going to be an overcomer. You're going to be the head and not the tail, as the Bible says. you're going to be a blessing to someone. Because when people see you being an overcomer, they're going to say, you know what? If they can do it, maybe I can do it too. So we can be overcomers. We just got to put our trust in God. We got to put all in all in Him. Not worry about the things of this world. Not worry about the things that are going on in this world. because this world is going to destroy us. And if we focus on this world too much, we're not going to be able to handle it. That's why I don't focus on the world too much. I kind of keep that over there. And I focus more here. I want to share one more thing with you and then we're going to conclude. And then it's this from the book. It says this Always remember the essence of Christian holiness is simplistically purity One design, one desire. Entire devotion to God, that's the point. Entire devotion to God. But this admits of a thousand degrees of variations and certainly it will be proved by a thousand temptations. But in all these things, you shall be more than conquer. Hallelujah. We're going to go through things in life. We're going to go through trials and tribulations. but we will be overcomers if we have one devotion purely to God. Hallelujah. Let's bow our heads before more this morning. Let's bow our heads before God and we just focus on Him for just a moment. I want to ask you the question, are you totally devoted to God? And if you are, by no means am I trying to take that away from you But I'm just saying, are you totally devoted to God and His Word? Is God's Word the focal point of your existence? Do you focus on God's Word? Do you make it your road map daily? Is it part of your daily experience? Or do you find some days that you maybe missed reading God's Word that day? Is there days that you maybe miss talking to God And you say well you know I'll get it tomorrow Are we totally devoted to God I want you to examine your life this morning As you examine deep down inside your life And as you look deep down inside Would you say I am totally 100% devoted to God And everything And thus I am a conqueror Or would you say maybe honestly, I failed just a little bit. And if you say, I failed maybe just a little bit, I want you to not feel bad about that. I want you to realize God can get you where you need to be. Would there be someone that would be honest to God today, if you're watching the video or here in this place today, and I want you to raise your hand to God, not to me, but say, God, I need you to help me to be more devoted to you so that I can be an overcomer? Would you raise your hand to God and say, help me Lord. This house, everybody this house is beautiful. That's beautiful. Maybe you're watching the video. Raise your hand if you feel that way today. Oh, I need to be more devoted to God. I need to be more devoted to God. Oh, I got my hand up today too. As devoted as I am to Him, I can still be more devoted to God. I really could. I still mess up. I still am not where I exactly should be where I exactly need to be all the time. I mess up. Lord, I need to be more devoted to you. Father God, you saw the hands of these people this morning. The ones that were watching the video. The ones that are here in this house. These ones that said, I want to be more devoted to you, God. I need you more in my life. I need you to be more in my life so that I can be an overcomer. So that I can be a conqueror. So the things of this world will not destroy me, but I will be a conqueror of these things. Father God, I pray that you open up the windows of heaven this morning right now, that you will pour down upon your people the blessing of God, that Father God that all the things of this world will leave their existence and all that will be left as it is burned away all the things of this world. All that will be left is a desire for your word and your way. I pray it right now. And Father God, I pray that each and every one that raised their hand, that they will see the conquering power of God in their lives. That every single day in which they live, they will be able to defeat Satan in your power, Father God. That they will be able to defeat Satan not in their power, but your power. The power that comes from the cross of Calvary, Father God, will be their portion. that they will be more than conquerors in you, Father God. That they will be the head and not the tail, Father God. That they will be what you would have them to be. I pray it right now in Jesus' name. I pray, Father God, for that blessing in Jesus' name. I pray, Father God, that all this conquering power will then permeate their entire families. all the family members of their family that they will feel the very presence of God through them and that they will then become overcomers and conquerors in Jesus. We pray that right now in Jesus' name. I thank you for it, Father. Now, Father, I just want to thank you for this time together. I want to thank you for this time that we have gathered together, that we've been in your house, and we just want to praise you, God. We just want to thank you, God. We just want to praise you for all that you are. Father God, I pray for those that are sick today, that they will be well in Jesus' name. I pray for those that miss service today. Father God, I pray that there will be nothing wrong, that they will be overcomers, and they will be able to be back with us today. Father God, I pray for those ones that are watching today, that they will be overcomers, and they will get into a Bible-based church, They will be where you need them to be And they will be overcomers And now Father God as we dismiss I pray Father God that you will not dismiss us But Father God that you will go with us You will keep us safe You will bring us back safe into your house So we may worship you one more time And Father for all that you are And for all that you do We give you the praise The honor And all the glory for you truly deserve it For it's in Jesus name we beg these blessings and we say a heart of Amen and Amen Amen. you

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