Romans 8:32

Romans 8:32

Romans 8:32 says, "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?" This is another verse that is written with the purpose of giving us assurance that God thinks well of us, that God is going to do things on our behalf. We ought not fear that God might be displeased with us, or that He might stop helping us or stop giving to us. It will not happen. God will always be there for us: you can count on it. The reason is that Jesus died for your sins. That is all the proof that you need that God is on your side, and that He cares about you, and that He will always care about you. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?"

God does give us all things. He gives us life, which is a precious gift. He gives us all the things to sustain life, for as long as He shall choose. The air that we breathe, the food that we eat, and the very beating of our hearts are all gifts from a loving and caring God. Everything that we have in a material sense is a gift from God. That is one reason that we will answer to God for how we have used what He has given to us. The best use is to simply dedicate it to His glory. God is the real owner of everything in the universe. Psalm 24:1 says, "The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof: the world, and those that dwell therein."

The richest person in the world is no different than you are in the sense that what he has, was given to Him by God, and one day an account will be given. If you are thankful to God for all that you have, and if you dedicate all of it to His glory: then you have accomplished more with your material things than the rich person who has not been thankful or who has not dedicated his possessions to the glory of God. On almost every page of the Bible you will see the equality of the human race declared. Even though it may not appear that we are all equal in a material sense, we actually are: because all things belong to God and God gives to each of us out of His possessions. You may not be a rich person as far as the size of your bank account goes; but you are rich if God is your Father because He is a muti-billionaire and he will give you whatever He thinks that you need. That is why the Bible says, "All things are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s."

It is important to understand the means by which God gives us the things that we need. God created the world and He made it work the way that it works. Most of the times God will not supply our needs with a miraculous event such as coming into an unexpected inheritance or finding a treasure chest of gold, even though He could do that. God’s means of taking care of us is usually much more practical than that. God created the world and He created it such that humans would work for their livelihood. That is why one of the epistles says, "They that don’t work, don’t eat." And that is why King Solomon, who was one of the wisest of all people to have lived on the earth, said, "Go to the ant you sluggard, consider her ways and be wise: which having no guide, overseer or ruler, Provides her meat in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you sleep, O sluggard? when will you arise out of your sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall your poverty come as one who wanders and your lack as an armed man."

Everything comes from God. Even when we accomplish things by our own efforts, we should recognize that God has given us life and ability and opportunity. No one can ever rightly think that they accomplished something on their own. They should always understand that it was only accomplished by the grace of God. Accomplishment and success are gifts that come from God. Therefore, we can have a lot of confidence that God will always be doing the same things for each of us. He has given life to us as a gift, He has given us abilities as a gift, He has given us opportunities as a gift, and He will give us everything else that we need because He already gave Jesus to die for us.

God does give us material things, but more importantly He gives us spiritual things. The spiritual things that we receive from God are much more important than the material. The first spiritual gift that God wants to give to you is the spiritual birth that comes by faith in Jesus Christ. The more that you understand about God and understand the scriptures, the more that you will realize and appreciate the importance and the value of spiritual gifts from God compared to any material gifts that He gives.

Every believer in Christ has one or more spiritual gifts. It is said of Jesus that when He ascended unto heaven, He gave gifts unto men. Ephesians 4:7-8 says, "But unto everyone of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Which is why he said, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." This is a quotation from the book of Psalms. The gifts that Jesus would give to His believers was such an important circumstance in the work of God that the giving of these gifts was prophesied one thousand years before Christ came.

The emphasis in Romans 8:32 is the fact that we can count on God giving us whatever we need, because He already gave His Son to die for our sins. Once we realize that Jesus was sent to die for us, we should never doubt God’s continued love for us or His acceptance of us. Romans 8:33-34 says, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us."

When you come to Jesus Christ by faith for the forgiveness of sins, you are then justified by God. It is the same as though you have gone through a judicial process by which you have been declared innocent and free from guilt. God, the great and all-powerful judge of the universe has justified you. Therefore, no one could ever make a charge against you and cause it to stand: not the most vicious accuser in the world, and not the devil himself, and certainly not your own conscience. We who believe in Christ will not be condemned because He died for us, and we will not be condemned because He ascended into heaven and He is at the right hand of God the Father.

When the Bible says that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, it is symbolic of the great power and authority that Jesus possesses; and it is symbolic of the close interaction and communication between Jesus and God the Father. In the moment—by-moment communication between Jesus and the Father, one of the things that Jesus does for us, is that He intercedes for us. He speaks on our behalf. That is why there is no condemnation against those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:35-39 is one of the unforgettable passages of the Bible that tell us of the love of God. We cannot imagine how much God loves us. The most important teaching of the Bible is the love of God. Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love, to love God and to love one’s neighbor. The Bible says that God is love, and the gospel declares, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." If you forget everything else about God, never forget that He loves you. Paul put it this way in Romans 8:35-39, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height nor depth, not any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Paul listed many things that cannot separate us from the love of God. Then to make sure that we realize that his list was not the final list, he said that no other creature, in other words nothing else, can separate us from the love of God. You can make your own list. Think of the most extreme and the most negative things that can possibly happen to you, and remember that even if they happen, they will not separate you from the love of God. Every person in the world needs to be loved. Love is the most powerful of all emotions. It is much stronger than hate. It is a shame if a human has not found love, or if they have lost it. There may be no sadder story than that of lost love or of love unrequited; and there may be no happier story than that of love discovered or new love entered into. But no matter what happens to you in your experience of finding or losing love from humans in this life, no one will ever love you as much as God does. There is no greater love than the great, eternal love that Jesus has for your soul.

Twice in these verses we are told that nothing shall separate us from the love of God, and we are also told that we are more than conquerors through Him that loves us. It is not enough to say that we are conquerors; it must be said that we are more than conquerors. We are more than conquerors because through Jesus we have been forgiven of our sins, and there is no condemnation against us that would drag us down to hell. We are more than conquerors because we have the Spirit of God to guide us. We are more than conquerors because we are the children of God and He has a plan for us, and He loves us, and He gives us everything that we need, and by His mighty power He will use all things for our good. We are more than conquerors because we look forward to the Kingdom of God, and we have a living hope that looks beyond the grave and waits for the manifestation of the day of the sons of God. We are more than conquerors because by the grace of God through Christ Jesus we will even conquer death and will be among those who inherit eternal life.

Paul finishes with Romans Chapter 8 reminding us of the great love of God for us. In Romans Chapter 8 we have been reminded of several of the fantastic benefits of being a believer in Jesus. But in Romans Chapter 9 Paul begins thinking of those who are not believers in Jesus the Messiah, and his mood changes dramatically. It is a wonderful thing to be forgiven of one’s sins, to be a child of God, and to have the assurance of heaven. But on the other end of the scale, it is a very sad thing to consider those who are still under the guilt of their sins and who are in danger of standing before a Holy God without Jesus as Savior. Listen to what Paul said when he thought of those who were in such a condition. He said in Romans 9:1-3, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh."

Paul was born a Jew. He was linked to the rest of the Jewish people by the bond of family and national heritage. Having been a part of the Jewish people, he cared for them and he loved them. If you know Jesus as your Savior and you have a past or present association with a particular group of people (perhaps those of your immediate family), you also will have a natural concern for the souls and for the spiritual condition of those others. Paul said that his concern for these others was so great that he would accept being accursed from Christ, if it would result in other Jews being saved. Of course, we know that this could not happen because everyone must make their own decision. Everyone will decide for themselves if they will trust in Jesus for salvation or not.

In Romans 9:4-5 Paul points out the advantages and the opportunities and the privileges that had been granted to the Jewish people. He said, "Who are Israelites: to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen."

The Israelites were originally meant to be the focal point of God’s truth, and the truth was meant to spread from them to the rest of the world. That was the plan of God. He said to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." The Israelites were meant to become the sons of God by adoption. They failed at this point because they came to think that they were the sons of God based upon their physical relationship and blood lineage to Abraham. Remember when they boasted to Jesus and said, "We have Abraham for our Father." But when Jesus talked to Nicodemus who was a ruler of the Jews, Jesus said, "That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you, you must be born again." The Israelites had an opportunity to become the children of God, but most of them missed the opportunity because they came to think that they would obtain it through the flesh, and therefore missed obtaining it through the spirit.

Paul also said that to the Israelites had been given the glory. Perhaps he was referring to the glory of God that was revealed to the Israelites during the time of Moses. Moses talked to God on the mountain, and when he came down his face shined brightly with the glory of God; and then God led the Israelites with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. God also reveals Himself to people today; perhaps not in the same visible ways, but in ways that are just as real and just as meaningful. Jesus said to Thomas, "Blessed are those who believe without seeing." Even though we do not see Christ, we can be aware of His presence with us in a spiritual way. To the Israelites had been revealed the glory of God. It should have been a great advantage to them, but somewhere along the way it lost its significance. God may have revealed Himself to you years ago. Therefore, one of the goals of your life must be to never lose the wonder of it all, and to never let the good experiences that you have had with Christ in the past to cease being an influence on your life.

At one time the Israelites had many advantages and many privileges and opportunities, but they lost them and they failed to benefit from them. One thing is true about most opportunities: they are limited in time. You must take advantage of your opportunities while there is time, or you will lose them. This is also true of spiritual opportunities, of opportunities to know or serve God. No one knows what tomorrow may bring. If you have an opportunity to do something today, it may be your last chance to do it. Solomon said in Proverbs, "Boast not yourself of tomorrow, for a man knows not what a day may bring forth." For some people in the world, today will be the last chance they will have to turn from their sins and turn to Jesus for forgiveness. For everyone who does not end up in heaven, both Jews and non-Jews, the story of their life will be: opportunity lost.

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