Our text has just declared that God has called us, justified us, and glorified us.  Now, "what shall we say in response to this?"

"If God is for us, who can be against us?"

"If" in the Greek should be translated "since" or "because."  You never need to wonder if God is for you.  Psalm 46 begins: "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble" (v. 1).  The Psalmist rejoiced: "The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?" (Psalm 118:6).  God promises, "I am concerned for you and will look on you with favor" (Ezekiel 36:9).

Psalm 139 says: "How precious concerning me are your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand" (vs. 17-18).  God thinks of you more often than the number of grains of sand in the world.  In case you're wondering, geologists estimate that the number is a one followed by 24 zeroes.

How do we know that he cares about us like this?  "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?" (v. 32).

The cross was the idea of God.  Jesus was the "lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8).  The Bible says that "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

This is true for us all, whatever our past sins might be: he "gave him up for us all."  As a result, we can know that our Father will "graciously give us all things."  If he would watch his Son die for us, what further proof do we need of his love and provision for us?  We'll come back to this fact in a moment.

Here's the result: Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies" (v. 33).  The world can accuse us of anything it wishes, but the highest court in the universe has already ruled in our favor.  We have already been "justified," our record expunged, our slate cleaned.

What's more, "Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us" (v. 34).  Jesus' best friend later promised, "We have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One" (1 John 2:1).