We Really Are More than Conquerors – Part 3
Romans 8:37
June 28, 2020 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I. Introduction (Romans 8:37)
A. I have proved to you so far, that because of the work of Christ Jesus…
1. We ARE Forgiven (Romans 4:6,7)
2. We ARE Free (Galatians 5:1; John 8:36) – from the condemnation of sin
3. We ARE Fiercely Loved (Jeremiah 31:3) by God Almighty
4. We are Fully Equipped to Win – been given complete spiritual armour and weapons to win
5. We ARE Fighting in a War That’s Already Won for us!
6. We ARE Focused on a Proper Goal, living a life lived well, like Jesus lived, in the will of God
7. So, Why aren’t we conquering then?
B. God gave us Five Proofs that He is FOR us – STANDS WITH US against all obstacles and attacks… (Romans 8:29,30)
Even before you knew Him, He was busy drawing you to Him! Attracting your attention, convincing you of sin and guilt, creating a hunger in you for Himself alone!
Romans 8:29,30 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
1. He Foreknew You
a. It just means God KNEW who would get saved and who would reject salvation
b. God knew us, and still wanted us – still saved us when we repented and believed the Gospel!
2. He Predestined You “to be conformed to the image of his Son”
a. It simply means Guaranteed
b. God has fixed it so that we are predestined / guaranteed to be just like Jesus one day
3. He Called You
a. To a different way of living!
b. God has called/purposed every one of us to a different life than we had before salvation
1) Whatever you WERE before you got saved, died – is done away with!
2) Since that moment, God has a new calling for you – a new purpose!
4. He Justified You
a. God not only calls us [gives us purpose], He qualifies us for that purpose
b. Our sins instantly disqualify all of us from ever doing anything good – we are ungodly!
c. So God put everything we ever did wrong, right!
5. And He WILL Glorify You – He will get you all the way home to heaven
a. This is a promise that God will glorify/perfect us too in heaven one day – guaranteed
C. So, What Do We Say About All This? (Romans 8:31-39) What is our response?
1. Evidently “God is FOR us!”
2. So, “Who can be against us?” Who can hurt or destroy us?
3. The answer is… No one! Not the devil, not yourself, not the Government, and not even sin!
D. Therefore… (Philippians 4:13)
1. We are NOT defeated, failures, ruined, and doomed to waste our lives in sin anymore
2. We are victors, conquerors of our past, of our passions, of our pretending, and of our panics
3. Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
4. We are Overcomers - We are able to press on when our heart says quit
a. It means we are well able to defeat any fear the devil throws at us
b. We are able to overcome any obstacle the devil drops on our path
c. We are not just out to win against our old habits, and old sins
d. But that we are able to rule over whatever used to bring us into bondage
5. Just believe THIS dear Christian… We cannot lose, now that we belong to Christ!
E. All believers ARE overcomers – WE ARE ABLE to Be Like Christ Jesus!
1. Scriptures:
a. Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we ARE more than conquerors through him that loved us.
b. 1Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us [PRESENT TENSE] the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
c. 1John 2:14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and YE HAVE OVERCOME the wicked one.
d. 1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, AND HAVE OVERCOME THEM: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
e. 1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh [PRESENT TENSE] the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
f. 2Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
2. That does not mean we have no problems, or that we have no sorrows, and no disappointments, and no disasters… Everyone has a past, hurts, things they are angry about, failures, bad memories, temptations, and constant sinning
3. It does mean Christians are guaranteed to overcome in the end!
a. Psalm 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
b. In the end, we have even overcome death!
II. So, Why aren’t we conquering then?
Why are SO many Christians DEFEATED, living in a constant cycle of:
A. Temptation – desire to sin
B. Deception – thinking we can get away with it
C. Decision – deciding to go ahead and disobey God and do what we want
D. Entrapment – bondage
E. Ending in Defeat – guilt, shame, depression, loss of power
F. With only feeble attempts to stop, and then actually giving in to sin easier the next time!
III. Background (Numbers 13,14)
A. The nation of Israel was standing on the very edge of a land that God had promised to them 450 years earlier when He promised it to Abraham and his children
B. They had left slavery in Egypt about a year and a half earlier and travelled northeast
1. Gone through the Red Sea
2. Spent time at Mt Sinai getting the Commandments
3. Fought back the Amalekites
4. Built the Tabernacle for worship
5. And now were at the very edge of the will of God for them
6. And that was where we find them
C. They decide to send out twelve spies – surveyors (Numbers 13:1,2; 18-20)
1. Twelve men - one from each tribe
2. Who would go from bottom to top of the land and map out the land – remember, they have never seen this land and know nothing about it
a. Num 13:18 And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;
b. Num 13:19 And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds;
c. Num 13:20 And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.
3. Like Lewis and Clark surveyed the Western United States with Sacagawea
4. Notice Joshua (13:8) and Caleb (13:6) in the list of men
5. Went throughout the land all the way up to Galilee
6. Travelling, and “sightseeing” – map-making, cataloguing everything and everyone they saw
7. Carried one clyster of grapes on a pole between two men (13:23)
8. And then 40 days then they returned
D. The Majority gave their Report (13:25-33)
1. Moses gathered the entire congregation – so excited!
2. The twelve men instantly all agreed that the land was amazing! Showed everyone the branch of grapes as an example of how fertile the soil was (13:27)
3. But then 10 of the 12 men said… (13:28,29,31-33)
a. “The people there are strong”
b. “The cities are walled and well protected”
c. “There are giants living there”
d. “All our enemies are there” – the Amalekites, Hittites, etc
e. “The land actually east up the people”
f. Then they repeated – “The men are huge and we are like little grasshoppers”
g. “We cannot go in – we cannot win this fight!”
E. Two Men speak up - Joshua and Caleb (13:30)
1. “We can do this!”
a. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for WE ARE WELL ABLE to overcome it. (Numbers 13:30)
b. We can defeat every giant, overcome every obstacle, win every battle
c. We are MORE than a match for those Canaanites – we are more than conquerors!
2. But their “opinion” was rejected – the people already had made up their minds!
F. But the People Had Already Given Up (14:1-4)
1. They were very upset now – they cried at the report of the ten men
2. Then they got Angry at the whole situation
3. They wished they had died already
4. They wanted to go back to Egypt!
IV. The Consequences
They never once really cared about the consequences of rebelling… but there ARE
consequences!
A. They were blocked from ever getting into the will of God – they had blown their last chance
1. They so desperately tried to go forward AFTER rejecting the will of God, and were stopped
2. There was no going forward!
B. There was no going back either - they were never able to go back to Egypt – one of the proofs a person belongs to God is that God doesn’t let you go all the way back to your old way of living!
C. They were doomed to live wasted lives
1. 39 years of wasted living
2. Fighting amongst themselves, hating themselves, tripping over themselves
3. While their children were going to go into
D. They never enjoyed the will of God and the power of God
E. While their children would go in – powerfully facing all those dangers and battles! But they would win just about every one of them!
F. They were never abandoned by God, but they were… Stuck in the wilderness!
V. Application – What this means to US
A. This explains why WE don’t live like more than conquerors as well!
B. What is the Promised Land for us?
1. The will of God for each and every one of us
a. For Israel, it was to get into the land and live there, no longer in Egypt
b. No longer in the wilderness, just wandering around
c. To get married, have children, get jobs, build homes, build a nation
d. You need to find that will and get right in the middle of it and do it
2. The world to turn upside down – like the devil is doing right now, WE should be doing and CAN be doing!
3. To live like Jesus Christ did – above circumstances
4. Always pressing forward, never backsliding – never going backwards
C. What are OUR obstacles? Too many to count
1. The past, all the hurts, things you are angry about, all the failures, the bad memories, the temptations, and constant sinning, the complaining, the arguing…
2. But so what?
D. Should ANY of us live in failure?
1. No. Absolutely not!
2. Yes, we WILL experience failures – almost constant failures along the way…
3. But we have God FOR us – we have all the power of God and all the promises of God
4. God has given us everything we need to do the perfect will of God!
5. NEVER FORGET THAT!
E. So, why don’t we live beyond our past, our hurts, our angers, our failures, our memories, our temptations, and our constant sinning?
F. Why aren’t we turning OUR world upside down?
G. For the same reasons that Israel didn’t succeed
VI. Message - Why Israel Did NOT Conquer Anything!
A. Even though God had promised them only victory…
1. God had given the land and its people to them – and promised they were undefeatable…
2. Deuteronomy 1:7,8 Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.
3. Deuteronomy 1:21 Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.
4. Deuteronomy 20:1 When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
B. They Didn’t Really WANT to Go In
1. Neither do so many “christians” – they are content with Jesus in their back pocket, and the world in their heart!
2. People love their old lives, and their sins, their old friends – strange isn’t it?
3. Modern Christians love pleasure more than we love God
4. Christians! Actually think they can handle the drink, the porn, the drugs, the filthy entertainment
5. They don’t WANT to live any differently than the world around them!
C. They Believed the Majority Opinion
1. 10 votes against going in, and only 2 voting to go forward!
2. The majority only saw the obstacles, the problems, the flaws in the plan, the dangers
3. Those ten men stirred up fears in the people, and discouraged them from believing God’s promises! SHAME ON THEM!
4. God had already told them about the walled cities and giants and obstacles and dangers
5. This was not news – it was fake news!
6. But it was the popular news of the day – and boy did they latch onto it!
D. They Only Saw Themselves and not God (13:31,33)
1. Numbers 13:31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
2. Numbers 13:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
3. “WE” are not able
4. “THEY” are stronger then “WE”
5. “WE” are like grasshoppers compared the them
6. Do YOU ever feel that way about YOURSELF? Do you constantly remind yourself of your weaknesses, limitations – I can’t speak, I can’t talk, I can’t convince people about the Bible, “I” can’t live the Christian life, etc, etc, etc…
7. I think you are looking at the wrong person!
E. They Were Afraid – deep inside most Christians is FEAR instead of Biblical faith
1. They were afraid of the will of God – can be quite scary
2. These people were afraid of the unknown
3. They were afraid of the battles ahead
4. Fear is huge for people who do not walk with and intimately know the Almighty God of Heaven and earth – only rules and traditions and doctrines and no relationship with Jesus!
F. They Had Quickly Forgotten so many important things…
Forgotten ALL that GOD had impossibly done already
with them
1. They forgot that as nation of unarmed slaves, they had walked out of mighty Egypt a free nation
a. No weapons, no army, no battle – just walked out the gates, praising God with hallelujah hands!
b. Exodus 14:8 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
2. They forgot how God had provided Manna every morning for over 2 million people
3. They forgot that they had drank fresh water from a Rock in the desert
4. They forgot about the constant victories against their enemies as they travelled
5. They forgot WHO they were now – a nation, the people of God (1Peter 2:9) But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light
6. And forgot who was leading them – it was NOT Moses – it was the God of Abraham!
G. They only wanted the milk and honey of the promises of God, but not the warfare that come with the promises! Christians are snowflakes now – no readiness for the spiritual war we are in
H. They didn’t even try and go in
1. They were used to living as failures – they were used to the devil they knew!
2. So instead, they grumbled and complained and found fault with the goodness of God, and with the ways of God
3. So they didn’t even TRY and go forward!
I. Instead, they Loved Arguing with God
1. Have you ever heard two people arguing? It seems like some people love to argue instead of just working at things!!!
2. That was the problem with the Pharisees too!
3. So, like those Old Testament Jewish believers, we let our hearts grumble and complain and find fault with the goodness of God, and with the ways of God, and with the fears of this world
4. This entire nation of grown ups acted like a bunch of teenagers – doing nothing but complaining
5. Always finding fault
6. They missed all the blessings of God for them!
J. Does any of that describe YOU?
VII. How do WE conquer whatever we may be facing?
A. God does it – God does the conquering! YOU CAN’T DO IT!
1. He saved you when you just asked Him to – believed Jesus was enough
2. He now fights for you AS you fight whatever enemy or obstacle you face
3. God waits for you to pray, and then He moves the mountain
4. He waits for you to go out and give the Gospel, and then he sends His Holy Spirit to win the soul’s heart to God!
5. GOD does all the hard work – the impossible
6. Just put one foot in front of the other forward (Philippians 3:13,14)
B. Know God’s Will
C. Rely on God’s abilities, not your own
1. Don’t look at yourself – EVER
2. Keep your eyes on Jesus and on the prize of serving Him
3. Remember Jesus who conquered the world and sin and the devil himself on the cross
4. John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
D. Want to Conquer – not just survive – decide to just do and fulfil the will of God for your life
E. Keep Going – ENDURE Hardness
1. Your enemy, your obstacles are no match for the will of God!
2. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for WE ARE WELL ABLE to overcome it. (Numbers 13:30)
3. Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we ARE more than conquerors through him that loved us.
4. 2Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.
F. What will happen if we do keep doing right, living for Jesus, doping the will of God? Or at least start happening?
1. Mountains might move
2. Seas might split for you
3. Manna might fall out of the sky
4. Pharaoh’s might quit fighting you
5. Enemies might just flee away from you
6. But God guarantees that Fears WILL fade
7. The world will be affected for good
8. And God promises that we WILL finish our course with joy!
9. What are you waiting for?
10. What could possibly keep you defeated now?
11. Only stubbornness, stupidity, and the love of sin
G. It all stars with a new birth on the inside – being born again
1.
God makes the weak STRONG, by humble
surrender to the power of Jesus Christ to
save a sinner – any sinner!
2. Will you let Him save YOU?
3. AND THEN dear Christian, will you let Him have you, and direct you, and forge a conqueror out of you as you follow and obey Jesus?
4. Make you MORE than a conqueror?