“God Resolves to Save Us” Rom. 8.31-39, New Year’s Eve Dec. ‘17

1.       Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this New Year’s Eve is taken from Romans 8:31-39 and is entitled, “God Resolves to Save Us,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.       Today is New Year’s Eve. For many Americans, today is the day to leave the old year behind. Tomorrow is the day to begin the new year with a fresh start. Some people have made lists of things to change or to accomplish. Others have simply thought it over and have a strategy and plan to take a turn in a new and better direction. How about you? On this New Year’s Eve, what’s your resolution?

3.       Today is our last chance to make a new year’s resolution. Is there some bad habit you want to break and leave behind? Is there some better habit you wish to form? You and I aren’t alone. Watch the New Year’s Eve TV shows from Times Square tonight, and you’re sure to hear one of the roving reporters asking folks in the crowd about their resolutions. For some reason, a new year gives us the sense of a fresh start and more promising future.

4.       But, unfortunately, we’re often setting ourselves up for disappointment. A survey of many studies done on new year’s resolutions reveals that only a small fraction of our resolutions are kept. Most of us fail in the second month. The new year once had the feeling of a fresh start. Now it becomes a nagging reminder of how difficult it is to change ourselves.

5.       Last year, many of us hoped we’d spend more time with family and friends. But we didn’t. We thought we’d be in better shape, lose some weight, quit a bad habit, get out of debt, and get organized. But we failed. Instead, we’re more disillusioned than ever.

6.       And honestly, these are the small things. We’ve been talking here about things that we at least have a chance, that we’re at least theoretically capable, of improving somewhat. The bigger thing that needs to change we can’t change at all. This year, last year, every year we’re on earth, we’re sinful. By nature, we’re sinful through and through. Try as we might, resolve as we might, we can’t do a thing about that. On our own, we’re still thoroughly selfish, completely bent on having things our own way, always happy to care about the other guy if—but only if—it serves me. No resolution of ours is ever going to change that.  Still resolved to try? Then what’s your resolution?

7.       Or maybe a better question is what should our new year’s resolution be. What should chiefly occupy our minds and priorities? Many of the things we’d like to change about ourselves are good and worth the effort. But our Epistle Reading offers us the best resolution we can have—St. Paul’s resolution.

8.       Paul says in Romans 8:38, “For I am sure.” The Greek word pepeismai can also be translated “resolved.” “For I am resolved.” About what is Paul resolved?  Paul’s resolution isn’t about himself. It’s about his Lord. It’s a resolution of faith. His resolution is that there is no safer place than the love of God. It’s a growing trust in a loving Savior. Paul is resolved that nothing can surpass, overpower, or destroy the love God has for us, His children.  Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am sure,” resolved, Paul says, “that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

9.       Paul’s resolution is that God is for us! Our enemies don’t stand a chance. He boasts in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” So resolved, Paul doesn’t even expect an answer. “Who can be against us?” No one of any significance is a real threat if God is on our side. God has not held back any of His resources and power—He has sent His own Son for us all. He died for us. He was raised for us. The Gospel declares us innocent for Jesus’ sake.

10.    Paul tells us to be resolved, to stand firm, in Christ and say to our accusers, “Your condemnation, your charges against me, a child of God—they mean nothing. Your voice carries no weight in the courtroom of God’s justice. God the Judge has cleared me of the guilt of all my sin. I’ve been declared ‘not guilty’ by the one mouth that matters.”

11.    So confident of this reality, Paul isn’t distraught over the suffering and death we experience in this life. He asks in Romans 8:35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”

12.    Paul is persuaded, convinced, and resolved that the love of God through Jesus Christ is what the whole world needs. It’s the love of God that brought the Son of God to humanity. It has bridged the gap between man and God. It’s the love of God that caused His Son to endure death on the cross with joy for our salvation. It’s the love of God that caused our Lord Jesus to be raised from the dead as a pledge and guarantee of our eternal life.

13.    Paul’s resolution is grounded in God’s resolution for us. Paul wants to work His resolution into us—a resolution in the love of God that has already defeated our sin and weaknesses. It has already defeated death. It has already claimed eternal victory for us. Can anything we face in this life finally defeat us? Paul’s answer is a resounding no! He boldly proclaims in Romans 8:37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

14.    Sure, we face trials and tribulation. But we have something even more awesome, even more powerful than all the forces of hell—the love of God in Christ Jesus. It’s Jesus, our Savior, who made the greatest resolution in all eternity: His love for us. His love has never failed. His plan to make us His own has never been forgotten. His resolution is to unite us to God and one another forever.

15.    In John’s Gospel, we hear the Lord’s determination. We hear His resolution for us in his own words. He says in John 10:28-29, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

16.    The Father is resolved. He sent His only Son to secure us unto life everlasting. The Son is resolved.  He lived, died, rose, and intercedes for us even now. The Holy Spirit is resolved. He creates and strengthens faith in us. He secures us in the Gospel. The triune God’s grip on us is infinitely firm. He’s resolved never to let us go. Even though we face a year of challenges ahead, we need not despair. The bonds of love between Him and us can’t be broken. It is this, His resolution for us, that really counts. We can all bank on that. And not just for a new year, but for eternity!   God has resolved to save us, and that’s the greatest resolution that we can know about coming into this New Year!!!

17.    We begin this new year confident, convinced, and sure of God’s resolution—“that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vv 38–39).  Amen.