Romans 8:28-31

Life is tough for the people of God and getting tougher all the time. Compromise encapsulates us on all sides. The courts, the legislature or the electorate now determines morality. Anyone that disagrees is labeled a racist or bigot. The pressure to conform is almost too much to bear and it comes from all sides. Our president refuses to attend the opening of the Olympic Games and sends a blatantly and openly gay representative delegation to protest a sovereign nation’s decision to crack down on what it considers immorality and, in particular, its impact on children. This past week a local high school chose a transgendered youth as its homecoming queen. We hear of the planting of a black gay church in Cincinnati, Ohio with the pictures of the founding pastor along with his first gentleman, and the author of the article decrying the church was more upset about the jewelry and clothing worn in the pictures than he was of the statement their unrepentant lifestyle choice was making.

Lest I sound as if I am harping on homosexuality alone, there is plenty of bad news to go around. The mockery of our faith is epidemic in movies, television, and radio. Christians are portrayed as uninformed, outdated, out of step, and in some places just plain crazy. The interesting thing about these attacks is that the same people making them would never do the same against Muslims and Jews. All of this piled on top of individual challenges carries the potential to completely demoralize and discourage the people of God. The great cry of the Old Testament continues to be repeated, “How long, O Lord, will the way of the wicked prosper?” But we add to that cry, “What about me, Lord?” Then the enemy of our souls joins in insinuating that we were better off when we were serving him, so we might as well come back.

While we in prayer, this past week, I kept hearing this song the Winans recorded last year, “If God Be For Us!” Stubbornly I refused to hear it as a word from the Lord for me and for all of you and yet, I kept hearing it ringing in my ears. If the teacher gets discouraged, and I do; if the teacher is tempted at times to give in and give up, and I am; clearly the flock is feeling the same pressure. I am determined to hold on. I am determined to resist the wiles of the enemy regardless of the intensity of his attacks. Jesus told me to resist the devil and he would flee. I want to give you some help as you navigate he waters of challenge. Just I refuse to give and give up, I refuse to allow you to give in or give up. This word is neither new nor complicated. But we can benefit from simplicity and repetition. Our text teaches us three timeless truths.

1. God has chosen us for greatness (vss. 29-30).

2. God wants to make us into more than we have ever dreamed (vs. 30).

3. When God is on our side, who or what can defeat us (vs. 31)?

“Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me.” (Psalm 56:9)

“The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The Lord is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.” (Ps.118:6, 7)

“Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands.

Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;

propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.” (Isaiah 8:9,10)

“But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior;

so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.

They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten.” (Jeremiah 20:11)

Our problem is a faith problem. We’ve bought into the prevailing attitude of the world around us that says we have to just accept our lot in life. But if God be for us . . .

Trouble and trial on every side has the effect of dampening our zeal and negating our resolve. We’re tempted to acquiesce to the ways of the world, but if God be for us . . .

Unrealized dreams, unfulfilled promises serve to make us skeptical and cause us to doubt the promises of the future and lose hope. But if God be for us . . .

The forces of darkness seem to be gaining on the forces of light. What we have been taught and believed to be wrong is being systematically redefined and universally accepted. But if God be for us . . .

But God is for us. He went to Calvary for us. He endured the torment of his Roman captors. He suffered and bled for us. He hung His head and while we were yet sinners died for us.

God is for us!

© All Rights Reserved – Dr. James H Logan Jr