Romans 8:32
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Hello, church. It's a nice cozy group. We're going to talk about Romans 8, 32, which is on the front of your bulletin. I think it's also on page 945 in the Pew Bibles. Let me pray one more time. Lord God, I pray that our hearts would be soft to your word, that we would be quick to apply the things that we find in it tonight. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
It is one of the greatest, most costly pursuits in human history. The quest to defeat death. For thousands of years, the wealthiest and most powerful people on earth have dedicated everything they have to this problem. Think back to the pharaohs of Egypt. They believed their power and immense wealth could buy eternity. They poured entire national treasuries into their pursuit. They spent the lives of countless slaves and piles of gold into massive tombs, including the pyramids, hoping to preserve their physical bodies and ensure their passage to the afterlife.
After spending a kingdom's fortune to achieve immortality, their mummified bodies had become tourist attractions. Their eternal homes are visited by millions, including me, alongside countless others shuffling past their scarf-a-gye, snapping photos and leaving. They lie silent in museums while strangers gawk at their preserved remains. The pharaohs paid everything for privacy and divinity, yet received neither.
Fast forward to today. The quest continues with the same desperation with different methods. Have you heard of Brian Johnson? The tech billionaire who spends $2 million annually to reverse aging. He takes 111 pills a day. He receives blood infusions, is constantly monitored by personal medical teams. He lives by algorithms that determine every meal. And then there's Peter Thiel, spending hundreds of thousands to eventually have his body frozen after death, betting his fortune on the hope that future science might resurrect him.
Oh, the irony. These men have been smart and used their wits to build their fortunes, yet foolishly spend them on futile dreams. That's because the same mortality rate for the Pharaohs, 100%, patiently waits for them too. More than irony, it's a profound tragedy. They want to buy a few extra flawed years on earth while tragically ignoring the one promise of true, perfect, eternal life for us, for free.
The glorious guarantee of life beyond the grave found in the simple divine logic of Romans 8 32 he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also along with him graciously give us all things this is one of the most important verses in the New Testament for Christian assurance especially in times of difficulty. Right now in our room, some of you are facing battles with sin that feel unwinnable.
Others are facing deadly illnesses. Still others walking through the shadow of depression. Some are watching families fracture and fall apart. The Bible promises these trials will come, but you must take this verse to heart. It's your anchor when all around seems to give way. Two parts to the message. Number one, the gift that wasn't spared. And number two, the assurance of everything else.
First, the gift that wasn't spared. The first half of this verse lays down an unshakable foundation for our faith. Paul begins with a premise so costly, I don't think any human mind could ever invent it. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. This is not religious window dressing. It's a declaration of the maximum price God could pay.
It shames the wealthy man who spares nothing for his own selfish quest for life. While God spared nothing in his loving quest for us. When Paul says God did not spare his son, he echoes that moment from biblical history that foreshadows the nature of the ultimate sacrifice that we saw this morning. It's the echo of Abraham fulfilled as we saw this morning in Genesis 22. God tests Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac, the heir to promise.
At that moment, when Abraham raises the knife, the angel of the Lord calls out, Do not lay your hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. God accepted Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son, and God provided a ram as a substitute. Romans 8.32 presents a striking contrast in some ways to the story of Abraham and Isaac.
This time, God the Father does not intervene to stop the sacrifice. Instead, Jesus becomes the ultimate fulfillment of what Isaac's story foreshadowed. As the Lamb of God, Jesus serves as the substitute, bearing the punishment of our sin, the sins that we deserve punishment for. unlike Isaac there's no last minute rescue no ram caught in the thicket to take his place Jesus himself is the final sacrifice the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world God chose not to spare his own son but allowed the sacrifice to be completed accomplishing our redemption. And consider this. He did not give some great religious person. He did not give a prophet. He did not give an angel. He gave his own son, the unique, co-eternal, infinitely valuable,
second person of the Trinity. This was not a cheap gesture. It was the fullest measure of God's love and God gave him up for us all. That is, God delivered Jesus to the horrors of the cross and the crushing weight of sin. He became the sacrifice for everyone in the human race who would put their trust in Jesus from tech billionaires to every person in this room. Which brings us to the second point, everything else, the assurance of everything else.
The powerful second half of this verse reads, How will he not also, along with him, that is Jesus, graciously give us all things? That is, for those who are found in Christ. Paul is making the argument that if God provided and performed the most costly, difficult, and painful act imaginable, giving up a son for us, why would we ever doubt that he would freely give us the lesser, comparatively easy things like our daily needs, grace, perseverance?
Think of it this way. If a parent sold their house, emptied their retirement fund, gave their life savings to pay for their child's life-saving surgery, would they refuse to buy that child a pair of socks? The greater gift guarantees the lesser gifts. As John Piper writes, creating the world and running it for the good of his people is relatively easy compared to handing over his son to ridicule and torture. The hard part is already done.
The impossible obstacle has been overcome. Everything else, every provision, every grace, every need you have is easy by comparison. The logic is stunning. Giving us all things is now the easy part for God. Think about this. Every time you fear being denied something good, you see obstacles. It seems impossible to you. At that discouraging moment, remember this heavenly logic, giving you what you need is the easy part, the hard part is already done.
Three centuries ago, the Puritan pastor, John Flavel, captured this magnificently. Surely, if he would not spare his own son one stroke, one tear, one groan, one sigh, one circumstance of misery, it could never be imagined that ever he would, after this, deny his people, for whose sake all this was suffered. Any mercies, any comforts, any privilege, spiritual, temporal, which is good for them.
God allowed his son to endure the full measure of suffering. And if he did that for you, how could he possibly withhold anything good from you now? We must be careful here, of course. For one, we need to keep in mind, we mostly don't know what's good for us. Only God does. That's because he knows what's coming and we don't.
Recently in an elder meeting, we bowed our heads to pray over some difficult decision we were making, and as we did, John Lovett commented, let's remember, we are talking to someone who knows the future. Can I get an amen? Amen. Secondly, when Paul promises that God will give us all things, we must be careful to understand he's not writing a blank check for material prosperity.
This is not the false promise of the prosperity gospel for bigger house, a luxury car, financial success. If you have enough faith, right? Context matters. Look at where we are in Romans 8. Paul has been talking about life in the Spirit in verses 1 through 17, our future glory in verses 18 through 25, the Spirit's intercession for us in 26, 27, and God's sovereign purpose in salvation, verses 28 through 30. Immediately after our verse, Paul asks who shall bring any charge against God's elect in verse 33 and declares that nothing can separate us from the love of God in verse 35 through 39 clearly Paul is talking or speaking of the context of salvation and eternal life he's not talking about material prosperity he's talking about spiritual realities not earthly stuff the all things God promises are the things necessary to complete our salvation and bring us
safely to glory. So don't confuse this passage with the promise of a private jet or a cure for aging. Our verse promises everything we need for our redemption, for our sanctification and ultimate glory. You know, part of the problem, and it's a great tragedy, is that most people think Jesus offers a salvation that no one really needs. You can tell because they trade the world's trinkets for what Jesus offers.
I mean, some people admire Jesus as a good teacher, perhaps as a prophet or a wise man, but they think things will work out on their own for salvation by and by. But they don't understand the extent of the problem Jesus came to solve. Dorothy Sayers was once asked about life's two great questions and she answered in only three words. So she was asked, why does everything we do go wrong? And secondly, what is the meaning of all this suffering? She replied, the Christian answer to the first is sin and the answer to the second is Christ crucified the world is the way it is and we are the way we are
because we're sinners we're under the sentence of death the pharaohs could preserve their bodies but they could not preserve their souls tech titan Brian Johnson obsesses over every cellular process yet he cannot answer the simple question why do we suffer? Bottom line, there's no amount of money that can reverse the curse and that's why salvation is no small matter.
The writer of Hebrews calls it a great salvation because it must accomplish what no human wealth or no human effort could ever achieve only through Christ and him crucified. Think, think, brothers and sisters, think of the things we need to be rescued from. The guilt of sin in the past. The power of sin in the present. The punishment of sin in the future. All things, all things refer to the complete work of salvation.
And let me outline it, bear with me on this, but let me outline it for you in 10 words, 10 words. Election, God choosing us before the foundation of the world, not based on our merit, but by his sovereign grace and love. Propitiation, atoning our guilt, satisfying God's justice. Justification, declaring us righteous in God's sight, though we are not righteous. Reconciliation, ending our alienation, restoring friendship with our Creator.
Adoption, making us no longer strangers but sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. Redemption, destroying the devil and all the evil that enslaves us. Regeneration, giving us spiritual life after we were dead in sin. Sanctification, transforming us daily into Christ's image. Resurrection, raising our bodies from physical death. Glorification, perfecting us for all eternity in God's presence. Maybe you're put off by big theological words.
I know in my early Christian life, I made fun of these and I was put off by them. But you know what? These are biblical words. They're found in your Bible. Most of them are found in one verse called the golden chain of salvation, Romans 8, 29 through 30. And if you don't understand them, you're not going to fully understand the book of Romans and your Christian life is diminished. But listen, but the point is, the point is, do you see the staggering scope of our need? God isn't giving a life extension program is nothing less than the complete reversal of the fall. The undoing, a very consequence of sin, the restoration of everything we lost in Eden. And frankly, granting us glories we never had in the first place. And you can't get those on your own. You cannot.
Every single piece of our salvation flows from the cross. The Holy Spirit dwelling within us, Romans 8, 9, secured by the cross. Power over sin and the flesh, Romans 8, 13, purchased at the cross. The guarantee of resurrection, Romans 8, 23, promised by the cross. And the glorification, our final glorification with Christ, guaranteed by the cross. and all things means even more than this it means that God will take everything that comes to your life every opposition, every suffering even death itself and transform it for your benefit just as was done for God's son Paul says just a few verses later that in tribulation, distress, persecution famine and danger we are more than conquerors through him who loved us in Romans 8 37 now notice we don't we don't conquer by
escaping these things as Piper John Piper explains we conquer by watching God turn these enemies of our joy into servants of our good the wealthy tried to escape death God promises us to give us death not as something we can reject but as a triumphal gateway to glory even our greatest enemy becomes our servant when God is for us Piper writes again the great promise of future grace guaranteed by the logic of Romans 8 32 is that nothing will ever enter your experience as God's child that by God's sovereign grace will turn out to be unbeneficial for you.
This is what it means for God to be God, for God to be for you, and for God to freely give you all things in Christ. And do you hear the promise? Do you hear it? Nothing will enter your experience that God will not transform to your benefit. God doesn't just strip suffering of its power to destroy you. He weaponizes it for your good, your holiness, your everlasting joy.
All things that come your way are used by God for good for you and others. How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? No co-pays, no required supplements, no membership fees, no $2 million annual budgets, pure, undeserved, lavish grace.
The pharaohs built pyramids to preserve themselves. Peter Thiel pays to be frozen solid, hoping to live again. But the world's attempt to buy time ends in the cold, hard reality of the grave or the cryonics tank, which is just an expensive grave with better marketing. Every longevity startup, every anti-agent protocol, every pyramid and cryogenics chamber is a monument to the same desperate truth humanity knows it's dying and there's a sense we're going to go to one place or the other meanwhile the Christian who dies in Christ is immediately in his presence and will be fully alive fully conscious fully glorified no waiting, no gamble no maybe so embrace the free
guaranteed an eternal promise secured by the cross he who did not spare his own son will not spare anything necessary for your salvation your sanctification your glorification your good the question is not really whether God will provide the question is whether you will trust the giver who's already proven his love at the highest possible cost.
Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Father God, thank you that you did not spare your own son. And thank you that you promise us in your word that you will give us all this in Christ all things for those who are found in you we pray Father for that assurance in our lives we thank you that you've accomplished this for us we pray in Jesus name, Amen