Romans 8:33-39
Divine sovereignty is the ultimate source of comfort for the Christian believer, because it means that God is in control of his destiny. What could be more comforting to the Christian than to know that the outcome of his life is not in the hands of fortuitous circumstances, but is in the hands of a benevolent God?
Suppose the Spirit has convicted me of my sin, and I have confessed it. God has promised to forgive my sin, but Satan starts telling me, ‘How can you be a Christian? Look at what you did!’ As he starts taking away my peace, it is at that point I am to say, ‘Satan, who shall lay any charge to God’s elect? Get out of here! You have nothing to say because I am a justified man.’ It is God who justifies. That is the point the apostle is making here. God, the supreme Governor, the supreme Judge, has declared that I am justified.
Here the goal of election is set forth, and we have a biblical answer to one of the greatest mysteries that puzzles us. If our salvation has nothing to do with our own merit, or our own foreseen good works, but is purely of grace, then why does God save me? What is his purpose, if it is not based on my work or my activity?
The only reason why God has saved me is for the sake of Jesus Christ. The ultimate reason for predestination is the honour and glory of Jesus. Jesus is the reason for the universe. The goal of creation is that Christ might have the pre-eminence.
God the Father gives his people as a love-gift to his Son. Jesus says, All that the Father gives to me, come to me (John 6:37). Christ was aware of the fact that certain people were given to him by the Father. And that’s where our election is based, in the love of the Father for the Son.
Christ is our Advocate, as well as our Judge. Even now he is making intercession for us. So my sin has been covered from every conceivable angle.
I have to speak over 300 times a year. Do you think it is remotely possible that my feeling of spiritual intensity, my feeling of closeness to Christ is equally strong every time I speak? Of course not. There are times when I feel so overwhelmed by a sense of awe and adoration for Christ, that I can’t wait to speak. There are other times I feel so far away from Christ; perhaps I am tired, sometimes I am just not in the mood, often I feel spiritually vacant and poverty stricken. But it says on my calendar that I have to give a lecture or a sermon or a lesson. At such times, I am thinking, ‘What am I doing standing up here trying to encourage other people when I am going through this?’ But I have found that the worse I feel, and the less I feel like it, the more I really feel dependent upon the power of God.
We can’t be fair-weather Christians. So when trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword come, they cannot separate us from Christ’s love. Nor should they separate our love from Christ. The true Christian continues to love Christ throughout all these things. It is a two-way affair here. Trouble tends to increase my ardour for Christ, because my sense of need for Christ is intensified. When I face hardship, I do not flee from Christ, but rather run to Christ. When I am persecuted, I may be tempted to deny Christ with my mouth to get relief from the persecution, but in the midst of persecution is where I most need the presence of Christ.
This is what it means to be a Christian. We are going to have to face trials, tribulation, distress, nakedness, sword, all these things. But why do we do it? For Jesus’ sake, because we love him. But Jesus is not like the general who tells his troops to charge into enemy machine gun nests while he is seated comfortably in a bomb shelter. No, Jesus has gone before us, he was the sheep who was slaughtered. He was killed in a way that we can never be killed, he suffered in a way that we can never taste, he drank a cup that can never touch our lips. Our response of gratitude and love for our Lord is that we are glad to be counted as those who are facing death all the day long and are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
How much more strength does it take to conquer distress or persecution or peril than it does to beat up somebody on the street corner?
The means by which we conquer is not our own strength, but rather Christ gives the capacity to overcome.
Do you know what happens to people when they are persuaded? They become convinced, and people who are convinced have convictions; and people who have convictions live according to principles. How else can you explain the life and ministry of Paul, apart from the fact that he was a man who had been persuaded. That’s what we need in the church—people who are convinced that nothing can separate them from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul gives a list of things that could possibly disrupt and rupture our relationship with Christ: death, life, angels, demons, the present, the future, powers, height, depth, anything else in all creation. He could have said it in one sentence: ‘Brethren, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.’ That’s the point he is making. There is nothing in this universe that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We know that we are ultimately safe and secure in Christ.