We Are More Than Conquerors

We Are More than Conquerors
Romans 8:31-39
January 7, 2024

Romans is one of the most powerful books in the Bible; chapter 8 is the capstone of the entire book, and these verses we’re studying today are the great crescendo. Chapter 8 is about victory, but in these verses, Paul declares that you are more than conquerors – through Him who loved you.

You become more than conquerors when you 1) understand who you are in Christ; and 2) understand what God has done for you in Christ, and then 3) respond by having faith in Him; a faith that is sure and steadfast through every storm; and 4) by loving Him in response to the greatness of His love for you.

Paul has been building up to this through all the previous chapters. You were born in the sin of Adam, you were born with this flesh and will die with it, but you can be victorious; He has given the Spirit to transform you by changing your heart and your mind.

This is an important key; you cannot be victorious until you’re victorious in your mind. Therefore, what your mind and your heart take hold of will determine whether you’re victorious or defeated. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ,” Paul says. In other words, when you hear the truth, the truth can set you free.  When you hear the words of Christ you can defeat the doubts, the fears; the lies of the enemy and the world.

For example, In verse 28, we read those famous words, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” If you know this great truth, if you have strength of faith to stand on this great truth, you’ll look for it, you’ll watch for it. If you believe that God brings beauty out of ashes, then you’ll eagerly wait for that beauty and be watching. If you don’t believe, you’re left with ashes and are waiting for nothing. That is defeat.

But you can be “more than a conqueror.” The opposite of being a conqueror is living a life of defeat. This is not God’s plan for you and if you are in Christ, it is not who you are.

What does it mean to be more than a conqueror? That phrase is a translation from the Greek. It’s one word and we can understand its meaning without much difficulty – Hyper-Nikeo. It’s not just victory, it’s surpassing victory.

I. Be Convinced that God is for You…

• If you take hold of this truth, write it on your heart, and live according to it, you will be more than a conqueror.
• If God is for you, who can be against you? There are many things and many people that may be against you, but Paul’s point is that if God is for you, none of those things can defeat you.
• In other words, the fact that God is for you has a greater significance than anything being against you. This is a rock on which to stand.
• God is for you and has the final say in an eternal context. Your identity and hope are already secure in Christ in the heavens. That is why you are not defined by those who are against you in this temporal world or what you experience in this life.
• Nothing on earth can compare to what God says about you.

A. God proves His love for you

• God proves that He is for you. Look at the extent He went to redeem you; He delivered up His only begotten Son so that you might have eternal life.
• That is convincing evidence. When people experience the sufferings of living in a broken and evil world, they often see that as evidence that God is not for them. But they’re wrong; they only need to look at the great price that was paid: God Himself.

Romans 5:8, God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

• If God did not spare His own Son, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
• If you don’t understand the heart of God, you can look at that scripture from the viewpoint that the Father begrudgingly sent His Son, and Jesus reluctantly came. But now God says, ‘I have done my part. You better sort yourself out. Shape up!’
• This might be the human response if one is forced to help someone and just saving them in the moment is the goal. But this was not the end goal God had in mind.

Hebrews 12:2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Ephesians 2:16,18-19, … and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, …for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household.

• Restoring those who carry His image, in other words, humanity, into a relationship with Him and their position was the goal. The cross was the starting point of God’s continual work in us, not the end. This is for everyone who believes in Him.

Psalm 23:1, 6, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want… Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

• God’s heart towards us is good. He is not the ‘eternal prankster’ as some godless people call Him foolishly without understanding His heart and the bigger scheme of things.

Matthew 7:9-11, “What man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

• Of course, as your Abba, Father, He doesn’t necessarily give you everything you may want. He doesn’t spoil his children; He transforms his children. A good father knows when to say yes and when to say no.  His purpose is to make you like His Son.

B. No one can bring a charge against you

• God is for you; He is the one who justifies you.
• The power of God being for you means that no one can bring a charge against you; there is no one who can condemn you.

Romans 8:1, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

• The righteousness that God gave you far surpasses any charge that could be brought against you. You have the very righteousness of Christ added to your account.
• Who is it that wants to bring a charge against you? The enemy is called the accuser of the brethren, but no condemnation against you will stick.
• The enemy cannot bring condemnation against you before the Father, but he would very much like you to join him in condemnation.
• You know who else might bring a charge against you? You yourself. Many people carry guilt and shame and feel very unworthy and unlovable.
• If you’re convinced that you’re unworthy and unlovable, then you’re not standing on the truth. You will then act unworthy and unlovable, which will attract people who mistreat you unworthily and as if you are unlovable.
• You see this devastating cycle of people being attracted to the same people over and over again who abuse them, yet they either return to that person or find someone who does the same.

Illus – My father was in the police force, and one of the things police find difficult to navigate is when they respond to reports of domestic violence. Many times, the very person, the victim, they are trying to protect would attack them to protect the abusive person. Or they would make excuses for that person, or even be the one to bail them out of jail.

• This is not only in the physical, but also a principle in the spiritual realm.
• What you believe about yourself has a direct impact on your life. God came to change how you see yourself by speaking His truth over you.
• If God is the one who justifies you, even you yourself do not have the right to condemn yourself.

Illus – If we could only understand that God knows about every skeleton in the closet, every shameful thing we’ve done and yet His love never fails. He is calling us to come and bare it before Him, surrender it, so we can experience His love forgiving us, cleansing us, and setting us free.

C. Christ is interceding for you

• God is for you so much that He did not spare His own Son. Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, who was raised, who sits at the right hand of God, and who also intercedes for us.
• In other words, the Holy Spirit is interceding for us with groans too deep for words, but not only that, Christ Himself is also interceding in our behalf. Can you imagine? Can you imagine Jesus asking His Father in your behalf?

Hebrews 7:25, Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

• What does intercession mean? He is intervening, standing in the gap for us.

Illus – Imagine the scene. The enemy comes to bring a charge against you. But Jesus, is there, interceding. What does that mean? He says, Father, we have seen this from the beginning. When I died on the cross, I already saw the sin that they were going to commit and I paid for it willingly. None of this is a surprise. It has been dealt with. It has been paid for. This accusation is fruitless.

II. Be Convinced of God’s Love

• One of the most important keys to being victorious, in being more than a conqueror, is being convinced of God’s love for you, that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.
• What defines you as being a conqueror is not defined by if you win or lose on earth by the world’s standard. We are measured by the scales of eternity, and, in that respect, you are already more than a conqueror by the free gift of life you have in Jesus Christ.
• If God is your Abba Father, then you must absolutely trust that His love for you never fails and that no matter what happens in life, nothing can separate you from that love.
• God has demonstrated that love when Christ Jesus took your sins on the cross. But he also says earlier in this chapter that the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
• We each have a testimony in our heart of God’s love and I’m convinced He demonstrates that love throughout the course of our lives in many ways.

Illus – Part of that understanding, as I have said before, came from the gift of having kids which gave me a fraction of a glimpse, although from my broken perspective, of what unconditional love means.

Illus – I can remember many times when I was alone with God, or especially in times of worship, how there were revelations of the love of God, as He moved over my soul, touching my Spirit, whispering the truth of His love for me in my heart. Especially after times of rejection, times of self-doubt, times of feeling not good enough, how he wrapped His arms around my heart, restored me with truth from His word, and changed me from someone who sometimes felt like an unworthy Gideon, into someone who knows that my God loves me and is for me. It changed who I am and how I interact with people. I am not insecure, but I am secure in who He says I am, not in my own self-sufficiency, but in His sufficiency.

A. Nothing can separate us

• Earlier in the chapter Paul spoke of the sufferings of this present life, but here he gives clear examples we can all relate to; tribulation, distress, persecution for your faith, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword. This is a hard life.
• Jesus said, “In this world you will have many troubles, but take courage! I have overcome the world.” To take courage means to have greater faith, to trust that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

John 10:28-30, “I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

• What if worse comes to worst and you lose your life? Then you are still in your Father’s hand.
• The question in many people’s minds, however, is why God, in His great love, doesn’t keep us from these troubles. For many, it seems inconsistent, “You say you love me, and yet I go through troubles and trials and difficulties.”
• They are convinced that a God that is good should not allow evil to exist. There is such a place and it’s called heaven, but this is earth where God has made man with a will to freely choose to follow Him or reject Him, and these choices people make has great impact.

Illus – Jesus gave a parable that the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat… the wheat and the tares will grow up together until the harvest…

• God did not promise to keep us from the troubles, but He did promise to be with us in the troubles. Believing and taking hold of that promise is what makes you more than a conqueror.

Hebrews 13:5-6, He Himself has said, “I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you.” So that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”

• So we are secure in eternity, and He is with us on the journey there.

B. Faith is our victory

• In all these things, Paul said, we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. But notice that faith works together with love. “For I am convinced,” Paul said. That’s the key.

1 John 5:4, For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.

• Many people feel defeated in life. They feel beaten up by all the troubles and struggles that come with living in this broken and evil world. They live discouraged.
• What is the difference between a person who is defeated and the person who is more than a conqueror? It’s faith. That’s the difference.
• Some have faith that is easily shipwrecked. They become angry or bitter and because they don’t believe that God brings beauty out of ashes they’re not watching for the help God will provide.
• God wants us to have faith that perseveres through every storm; I love the line from that worship song, “My anchor holds within the vale.”

Hebrews 6:18-19, We who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope you have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…

• This hope you have is not the English word ‘hope.’ The English word ‘hope’ means “I don’t know.” Will the weather be good tomorrow?  I don’t know.  I hope, but I don’t know.  No, the hope he’s talking about here is the hope that is sure and steadfast.  “I know in whom I have believed.  I know my Lord.
• How can you overwhelmingly conquer through such difficult things? Because your faith is sure and steadfast and not only are you not defeated, you have a peace that passes understanding.
• Faith is anchored in truth; God loves you as your Abba Father. That is a truth your faith can anchor to.
• The reason we cannot be separated from the Love of God by angels, demons, past things, future things, height or depth is because we are already IN Christ, and He is IN us.

2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

• We do not stand separate from God with all these obstacles trying to get in our path that we have to fight through to get to God. No, we are at rest IN HIM, secure IN His love.
• As a deposit of this truth, He has sent His Spirit to live IN us. We are in the Spiritual realms already in Him seated at the right hand of the Father, and He is, through His Spirit, in us.
• So we have these anchors of truth.
• God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. That is truth your faith can anchor to.
• Nothing can separate you from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus our Lord. That is a truth your faith can anchor onto.

2 Timothy 1:12, I know in whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him until that day.