L3 Ministries

What shall we say to these things? Paul gives us courage at this mountain peak of encouragement with the Five Unanswerable questions. A Heavenly Treasure by Eric Blick, August 21, 2026 Romans 8:[31] What then shall we say to these things? Paul is reaching the summit as it were of a beautiful 14,000 foot mountain peak. Romans 8 is just that, and Paul is going even higher here in his final push to the summit. Romans is such a deep and detailed book, and it is helpful to see the big blocks of the logical flow of arguments all the way through as we read it: Everyone is without excuse and guilty before a holy God, but the justified receive the outside righteousness of God deposited to them by faith. The justified have peace with God [previous Heavenly Treasure Link here], union with Christ, freedom from the law, and life in the Spirit who helps us endure suffering and the brokenness of the world with three tools [previous Heavenly Treasure Link here]: The real hope of our glory and the restoration of all things, the Holy Spirit interceding when words fail in our pain, and the rock-solid truth that God works even this suffering for actual good to have a great life like and character like Christ which is guaranteed. Paul describes this God working for our good in more detail with The Five convictions in 8:28-29: God is working, he is working for good, he is working in all things, he does this for those who love him, and the loved are called according to his purpose. How do we know his purposes will actually happen and this promise is guaranteed? He gives us the Five Affirmations of 8:29-30: the ones who love God are fore-loved, predestined, called, justified, and glorified. So having heard all this, what can he add to this? In light of these Five Convictions and Five Affirmations, what else is there to say? Paul leaves us with “Five Unanswerable Questions” in 8:31-39 to make us grounded at the summit as we see beauty even beyond the horizon: Question 1: If God is for us, who can be against us? This focuses on God’s power. Is anyone stronger? If the God who has purposed our glory is all-powerful, why are we afraid of any opposition at all? Are you fearful? There is and can be a long list of what is against us. But Paul inserts the word “if” to show that whoever or whatever may be on that list of power against you is irrelevant. The God who is for you is all-powerful with none eclipsing his power. It is as if the list is empty because the power they steward is not relevant to thwart God or his purposes. There are no threats to God. We have no reason to stay in fear. Question 2: He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Are you anxious? What is driving your anxiety and making you cramped or stuck in worry? This question drives at God’s generosity. If he did the hardest thing by selflessly giving his son for our redemption, why would he be unable or unwilling to overflow with everything we need which is simple in comparison? He already proved he was willing to give the ultimate, why would he hold out now on anything else? It is Satan’s lie from the garden to warp our DNA to believe a default that God is really not for us, he is holding out on us, he is really not a loving God toward me, he is really not a loving father for my good. But, he proved his love. He proved his compassion. He proved his redemption in sending Jesus, and that should give us wild confidence that his love is for us now. Question 3: Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? “It is God who justifies” is the exact next clause. Are you always feeling guilty? You know Romans well that you are justified by faith in the outside righteousness of God given to you and having your record expunged. But why do we walk with false guilt? Why do we settle with, “I know God has forgiven me, but I have more work to do to forgive myself?” The God who has purposed our glory has declared us righteous, and we have no reason to ever feel unforgiven! Question 4: Who is to condemn? “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” If he died for me and was raised and rules and is interceding for me, how can anyone condemn me? There is no better life and sacrifice I need to cover a condemning word over me. When we have justly been condemned by our sin against a perfectly holy God, an eternal payment is the only suitable offset. That is why hell does not last for 4 hours and then all is pronounced okay and forgiven. That is why Jesus, having to be the eternal son of God and 100% made man is the only sacrifice that can provide true forgiveness for my sin against this Infinite Being. Jesus is still not in hell paying for my sin. His sacrifice as the infinite son of God and son of man forgave the debt. Do we need proof? God raised him from the dead, and he is today at the right hand of the Father proclaiming loud and clear “sacrifice accepted.” There is no double jeopardy with God. I don’t now pay for my sins too or need to pile on crushing weights of guilty penance. Either I pay for what I have done in eternal hell, or he pays on the cross. I am not being punished today for my bad choices and sins. I am loved and forgiven, and Jesus being raised from the dead proves “sacrifice accepted”! And he is the One praying for me right now. Question 5: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Paul gives us a long, wide-sweeping list of many of the candidates in this broken world of suffering to take a swing at us feeling we are no longer loved. He turns this WHO question – who can separate us from Chris’t love – into a WHAT question: Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Suffering is real. The world is broken. Christ suffered. Creation is groaning in the pains of this brokenness (8:22). But Christ’s love is real even in real suffering. [37] No, in all these things – [in this long list of real ways to suffer] – we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Real suffering including death cannot take Christ away from loving us. It is not after these things we are loved. We are loved now, and somehow IN ALL these things we are not just “conquerers” but MORE THAN conquers through him who LOVED us! [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] 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. The Five Unanswerable questions give us a firm place to stand on the summit as we take in the sight: We have reason for great courage. No reason to fear. We have reason for great contentment and joy. No reason for anxiety. We have reason for feeling forgiveness of sin. No reason for false guilt. We have reason for feeling the joy of acceptance. No reason for shame and paying penance. We have reason to know and feel the deep love of God for us, even in pain. No reason to think or feel we are separated from the love of God in Christ even in our pain of real suffering. His love is true and does not waiver. It is real. Ours is a thinking peace. Rehearse these bedrock principles. Take these final steps at the summit again and again remembering and knowing what is true. As singer songwriter Sara Groves has succinctly put it: “Pain is no measure of his faithfulness.” As followers of Christ, we are loved by God as his children, and his love is unbreakable, and his purposes for us are unstoppable. Prayer: Lord, thank you for your unbreakable purposes for us and for your faithful love going with your own. Help us to rehearse and know and believe and see the beauty of what you are saying in these Five Unanswerable questions. We love you because you first loved us and are resting in your faithful love today for us. Amen! Write to us! admin Notes: Source: Timothy Keller, Romans 8-16 For You: For Reading, For Feeding, For Leading (The Good Book Company, 2014), and Tim Keller’s sermon entitled Christian Happiness. Source: John R. W. Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994) Photo by Jodi: Charleston, South Carolina Forward this email to friends: If you are encouraged by this, please forward this email to your friends, and they can click HERE to sign up to receive this email to their inbox! About Us: David and Eric have been friends for many years through Glenna. Find out more about L3 Ministries together with Glenna’s three daughters carrying the torch from Glenna, passing on the hope of the sovereign grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. more Other Heavenly Treasures: Click here as our blog inventory fills to read past Heavenly Treasures! View in browser Copyright (C) 2026 L3 Ministries – Living a Lasting Legacy. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Want to change how you receive these emails? Click to unsubscribe 1839 Fawn Circle, Fremont, NE 68025