Assurance Despite the Evidence (Romans 8:18-39)

I remember visiting an elderly lady who had become blind late in life and thus was unable to participate fully in worship because she could not see the words to sing. This led her to wonder whether God was angry with her and whether she still had any hope. Others believing that God loves them hope that they will therefore recover from a serious diagnosis. But when their health gets worse rather than better they begin to wonder how much God really loves them. Whether it happens to you personally or to someone close to you, the experience of physical suffering is one of the most common causes for American Christians today to struggle with their assurance. Islamic terrorists even purposely try to shake the assurance of Christians through such atrocities as beheading children who refuse to convert from their Christian faith to Islam. Whether it is stated aloud or not, the question is, ‘If your God is so strong and if He loves you so much, then why am I able to make you suffer and die?’ Similar questions arise after events like the earthquake back in the 18^th Century that hit Lisbon, Portugal and killed many Christians, including women and children. The French philosopher Voltaire, an outspoken enemy of Christianity at the time, wrote a poem meant to shake the assurance of Christians living in other European cities. He said,

What crime, what error did these children,

Crushed and bloody on their mothers’ breasts, commit?

Did Lisbon, which is no more, have more vices

Than London and Paris immersed in their pleasures?

Lisbon is destroyed, and they dance in Paris!¹

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We see suffering as evidence that we are not children of God. We see such suffering as evidence that God does not love us. Such was the way that a Jewish unbeliever sometimes would have taunted Christians in Paul’s day too. But despite all this evidence, Paul says:

Romans 8:18-39

1. You can have assurance of God’s love for you despite the things you might think are evidence to the contrary.

   1. Paul tells the Christians in Rome who are acquainted with suffering that they already have the assurance of the Spirit of Glory. He does not dismiss the sufferings of the present time as no big deal. Like Paul, some of them have known tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword. These are Christians whose suffering is so great that they don’t know what to pray – they can only groan. Paul is painfully aware of how real and serious such sufferings are and yet he tells them that they are not worth comparing to the glory to come. And while that glory is still to be revealed in the future, they have the assurance of the Spirit of Adoption and Glory in the present. By the Spirit they cry, “Abba! Father!” and the Spirit Himself intercedes for them with groanings too deep for words according to the will of God. So while they would be inclined to think that their suffering is evidence that God does not love them and while others may even be telling them that their suffering shows that they are not God’s children, the Spirit of God is within them offering up perfect prayers. So despite the sufferings that they might have thought were evidence to the contrary, the Christians in Rome could have the assurance of God’s love for them. (And so can you.)

   2. You may experience suffering of various kinds – maybe physically as blindness or cancer, financially as poorly clothed or fed, or even experience suffering as a result of joining God on His mission to save people in another part of the world. Many Christians around the world will be much better acquainted with suffering than you will ever know. But I’m not saying your suffering is no big deal. It isn’t worth comparing to the glory to come, but it is real and serious suffering. Yet you have the same Spirit within you that is within those Christians who lived in Rome in Paul’s day. The Spirit who cries out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit who intercedes for you with groanings too deep for words according to the will of God and thus offering up perfect prayers. So despite whatever suffering you know now, or may know in the future, despite whatever suffering might come from joining God on His mission to save people somewhere else on the globe, despite whatever taunting might come your way from others, you have assurance of God’s love for you if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. (You may experience times when that assurance waivers or when you doubt or when you are afraid, so hear the good news:)

2. God loves you with a love that will never let you go.

   1. The good news that Paul encourages the Christians in Rome with is that nothing will separate them from the love of God in Christ. This message of comfort for those suffering includes the doctrine of election. He says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose” and he continues with the words foreknew, predestined, called, justified, and glorified. The word foreknow means to have a loving relationship with beforehand. The word predestined means to have determined the destination beforehand. These are true from eternity. If you have the Spirit of God within you then you have already been called and justified in history. Then we come to glorified. Like the rest of the verbs it is in a completed form – for even though your glorification lies in the future, it is a completed action in the mind of God. Those God foreknew, He predestined, those He predestined, He called, those He called, He justified, those He justified, He glorified. These are all actions of God – the one who is working together all things for your good. This might raise all sorts of questions for you, but for Paul the only line of questions that matters are ones like: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Ones like: “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?” Ones like: “Who is to condemn?” The answer to all of these are – no one. Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who is raised, who is at the right hand of God, who prays for us. Yes they might suffer – tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword. They might even die. But nothing will separate them from the love of God in Christ. It is in this context of suffering that Paul says these Christians in Rome are elect of God. (What Paul says of the Christians in Rome is no less true for you: Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.)

   2. So in the face of all the contrary evidence to your being loved by God, God loves you with a love that will never let you go. You may experience times when that assurance waivers or when you doubt or when you are afraid, but those who God foreknew, He predestined, called, justified, and glorified. You may suffer now, but everyone with the Spirit of Glory within can be assured that your glorification is certain. God was not angry with the blind woman, what He began in her He would complete. He has not forsaken you when your health gets worse rather than improving. He loves you no matter what the taunters and terrorists say or do. Despite all that supposed evidence to the contrary, God loves you with a love that refuses to let you go. Praise be to God. Amen.