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Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Wednesday Nite Bible Study- "Paul's Six Questions" Romans 8:28-39

PAUL’S SIX QUESTIONS
Romans 8:28-39


1. The Question that Affirms Our Faith.

What shall we say in response to this? (v. 31a)

There is no need to fret over what God will do. In times of frustration where is our faith? In times of rejection where is our faith? In times of hardship where is our faith?

What should our response be?

We have a confidence due to our faith in Jesus Christ. We have a sure salvation.
(Isaiah 12:1-3)

2. The Question that Reminds us of God’s Power.

If God be for us who can be against us? (v. 31b)

God is for us and not against us. The all-powerful, the all-knowing and all-seeing God is on our side. This should give us the security that we need in the face of insurmountable odds. (Psalm 91:5, Job 11:18)

3. The Question that Acknowledges God’s Faithfulness.

Will he not also graciously give us all things? (v. 32b)

The proof is that He gave His very best on the cross. Surely He will freely give us anything else we need. As God’s children bought by the blood of Christ, we have the riches of his grace at our disposal. (Philippians 4:19; Titus 3:4-7)

4. The Question that Ridicules the World’s Objections.

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? (v. 33)

Can anyone indict us for sin? No! We have been justified, and that standing before God never changes. (Hebrews 13:6, Psalm 112:7)

5. The Question that Mocks Satan’s Accusations.

Who is he that condemns? (v. 34a)

Can anyone condemn us? No! Christ died for us and lives now as our Advocate (lawyer) at God’s right hand. (Romans 8:1, John 3:18)

6. The Question that Confirms God’s Love.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (v. 35a)

Can anything separate us from God’s love? No! Not even the devil himself can separate us! (“principalities and powers”—v. 38). (John 10:28, Matt. 28:20)

God does not keep His child immune from trouble. Paul was not referring here to imaginary things, but to things that are dangerously real.

a. “Shall tribulation …?” Tribulation is never a grand, highly welcomed event; but whatever it may be—whether exhausting, irritating, or simply causing some weakness—it is not able to “separate us from the love of Christ.” Never allow tribulations or the “cares of this world” to separate you from remembering that God loves you (Matthew 13:22).

b. “Shall distress?” Can God’s love continue to hold fast, even when everyone and everything around us seems to be saying that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?

c. “Shall famine?” Can we not only believe in the love of God but also be “more than conquerors,” even while we are being starved?

d. “Shall nakedness?” What about our Wesleyan brothers and sisters in foreign lands who were turned out of their homes at night, stripped of their clothes as they fled into the Sierra Leone jungle? Are they separated from the love of God?

e. “Shall danger or sword?” “Where does the love of God go when minutes are turned into hours?” (“Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lightfoot) What about those loneliest moments a person bears prior to death itself?

Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver, having deceived even Paul, or else some extraordinary thing happens to someone who holds on to the love of God when the odds are totally against him. Logic is silenced in the face of each of these things which come against him. Only one thing can account for it—the love of God in Christ Jesus. (Oswald Chambers)

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