God Loves Us

God loves Us

Romans 8:31-39

Last week we saw that Paul described believers as those who love God. This week we see that he teaches believers are loved by God. He bases the doctrine of eternal security not on the believers love for God. He bases it on God’s love for the believer. It is true that all believers love God. But God loves us far more than we love Him. We would rather our salvation depend on God’s love for us because it is so much greater. This morning we are going to see six things that are true because God loves us.

1. God is for us (31).

Paul summarizes the truth that God loves us by saying God is “For us”.

We often have a misunderstanding of love. When we say we love someone we may mean:

We don’t hate them

We have certain feelings for them

We like them

That’s a shallow understanding of love.

We are for those we love. We are on their side. We fight for them. We protect them.

Back to the beginning of verse 31 “What shall we say to these things?”

These things= The great doctrines Paul has been teaching concerning salvation.

Justification (made righteous by the life and death of Jesus)

Adoption (heirs with Jesus)

Sanctification (Spirt within us, interceding for us)

Glorification (Salvation complete)

What would we conclude from all of this? We would conclude that God loves us!

The more we grow in our understanding of Scripture the more we grow in the knowledge of God’s love.

The doctrines of our faith open our eyes to the depth of God’s love. As we learn these doctrines, we realize God loves us magnificently.

Illust. Children don’t understand how much their parents love them until they mature. As we mature in our faith we see the love of God more clearly.

As we grow in our understanding of God’s love we will also grow in humility. One of the ways the love of God is described in the Bible is a faithful spouse receives an adulterous spouse back into the marriage. When that happens there is a humility to the one who is loved that much.

Perhaps some of you have experienced that.

Illust. Hosea. Went back to buy his own wife who had sold herself as a prostitute. He took her back to his own home and told her she would continue to be his wife.

When we see ourselves as the cheating spouse and God as the faithful husband we stand in awe of the love of God.

“Who can be?”

Two things concerning this question:

1) It does not matter who is against us if God is for us. On the day Gomer was received by Hosea it didn’t matter what anyone else said or did. Hosea was the husband. Hosea was the one offended.

The Jewish leaders had a lot to say against the Roman Christians- feast days, uncircumcised, eat unclean meat, don’t keep the Sabbath.

The Roman government had a lot to say- You are all fools! You are seditionists!

It doesn’t matter what the religious leaders say.

It doesn’t matter what the world leaders say.

Our entry into heaven depends on the words of Jesus, not the words of man.

2) No one who is against us has the power to overrule God.

If they are against us, and some are, what can they do?

It’s like being against the weather.

You say “I don’t like this weather. I don’t like it at all. In fact, I hate this weather.”

What are you going to do about it? Nothing.

If someone is against us and God is for us, what are they going to do about it?

God is for us folks. He loves us. He stands with us.

2. He gave His Son for us (32).

There was a mutual agreement between the Father and the Son.

The Father agreed to send the Son

The Son agreed to be sent.

“did not spare” Isaac was spared at the last moment by a ram in the bushes (Genesis 22). Imagine just before that knife pierced Isaac God called out “Abraham, Abraham”.

We might think the same for Jesus. See Him stretched out on that cross. The spike is placed on His wrist. The hammer comes back. Just before it hits the spike we might think a voice from heaven would stop everything. It did not.

He spared Abraham’s son.

He did not spare His own Son.

“gave Him up for us all” up to judgment.

There are things we might give our child up to:

Our country (armed forces) a noble cause

Mission work (our Lord) a noble work

Would we give our child up to judgment? No!

The cross proves that God loves us. God does not simply tolerate us. He loves us.

“will He not also with Him graciously give us all things”

What does “all things” refer to? Everything you need to make it safely to heaven.

The hard part has been done. Jesus went top the cross for you. Some people worry after they are saved if they will make it to heaven. Friend, the hard part has already been done.

Listen: the only difficult thing God has ever done is send Christ to the cross!

Everything else is easy to God.

Paul argues that since God has already done the difficult thing He will obviously do the lesser things.

Illustration: What if you bought your child a home across the country. You paid cash for it. There were acres of land. There was a beautiful yard. There was a cozy home. Everything was done.

You child said “I can’t accept the house. I don’t have the means to get to it.”

You’d say “Child, I could afford to build you a house. I can certainly afford to get you to it!”

Do you think God would send His Son to die for us and then let heaven be empty? No!

God has given the greatest thing as proof that He will give us the lesser things.

He has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness!

God loves us and we know this because He sent his Son for us!

3. He justified us (33).

There is no charge that can be brought against God’s elect.

There are people who may bring a charge.

The Roman government- these Christians refuse to bow to Caesar.

The Jewish religious leaders- These Christians refuse to practice the Law of Moses and the traditions of the rabbis.

Satan (the accuser of the brethren)- the sins we committed before and after conversion.

Illust.- Satan brings a whole list of sins we’ve committed since we have been saved. He charges us with them all.

Thundering from heaven comes Romans 3:26 “so that He might be just and justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus!”

Justification means my sin was imputed to Jesus. He paid for them all!

Justification means the righteousness of Jesus weas imputed to me- I stand clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Beside every charge Satan brings against the believer God writes “Paid in full!”

It is Satan who accuses us, but it is God who justifies!

It is religious leaders who confuse us, but it is God who justifies!

God has justified you friend!

He has declared you righteous!

He has put every sin on the back of Jesus!

He has made you righteous!

Why did God justify you? Because He loves you!

4. He sent Jesus to intercedes for us (34).

Now we move from someone charging us with sin to condemning us for sin. They say we are not only guilty but are worthy of condemnation.

The problem is there is nothing to condemn the believer for. The charges (sins) have already been paid for. Some may try and condemn us still.

Satan

Self-righteous people

Our own self

When someone tries to condemn us we have our answer in this verse.

Illust.

What do you have to say for yourself? What do you say about?

Those impure thoughts- I say, “Christ Jesus died!”

That sharp tongue- I say, “Christ Jesus was raised!”

That impatient spirit- I say, “Christ Jesus is at the right hand of God!”

That gossip you entertained- I say, “Christ Jesus is interceding for us!”

We make no excuse for our sin. We only point to the cure.

Jesus is put forth as our Great high Priest in this verse. Note a couple of things:

1) The One we wounded acquitted us.

No one was more affected by our sin than Jesus. He is the One who acquitted us. How could our enemies ever convince Him to condemn us. He already has the greatest reason. Look at the wounds in His body. Do our enemies think they have a better reason to condemn us?

2) Our Judge is the One pleading our case.

In verse 27 the Spirit is interceding for us. Here we have Jesus interceding for us. If your lawyer is also your judge you’re going to win every time!

Jesus is pleading the case and trying the case at the same time. We can’t lose!

Jesus will not stop praying for His people until every saint has made it to the shore.

He told Peter- “Satan has desired to have you… but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not!”

Every Christian always has at least two praying for him- the Spirit of God and the Son of God!

We pray for people because we love them. That’s why Jesus is interceding for you.

5. He perseveres through us (35-37).

It’s clear that Paul shifts from people to circumstances here. He uses the pronoun “who” but he is simply personifying tragic events. That’s clear in the text. I think the point is can something so terrible happen in our life that we leave God?

The “love of Christ” is His love for us. We know by looking at the cross that God will allow those He loves to suffer. The fear may be that when He does some may give up[ on God. Let’s look at the list:

Tribulation- trying and pressuring circumstances

Distress- Placed in a tight space, unable to move.

Persecution- suffering for Jesus.

Famine- deprived of necessities of life.

Nakedness- deprived of clothing and shelter.

Danger- any dangerous circumstance.

Sword- death.

In verse 36 he quotes Psalm 44:22.

Suffering is nothing new for God’s people.

No! This will not separate us! Look at what he says:

“We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us!”

What’s the proof of conquering these things? We have our faith on the side of these things. These circumstances do not convince us to turn our back on Jesus.

“through him that loved us” Christ lives in us and He is the strength we need.

Paul listed seven things. You could list 7 million if you wanted. Fill in the blank with whatever tragedy you can think of and the answer will be the same.

Nothing will separate us from God.

They have burned saints alive and they didn’t give up their faith.

They cut Paul’s head off and he didn’t give up the faith.

They crucified Peter upside down and he didn’t guve up the faith.

It wasn’t because they were strong. It was because Jesus lived in them.

You say, “Pastor I don’t know if I could hold on if something happened to my husband.”

Children

Job

Myself

The love of God will keep you!

See that man on the cross? He didn’t give up. He lives inside you.

“more than conquerors” The conquerors at that time were Rome.

The Roman Empire conquered:

Italy, Greece and Spain, the North African coast, much of the Middle East, modern-day France, and Britain.

But I will tell what they didn’t conquer. They didn’t conquer the Christians. They tried!

The Romans were conquerors. The Christians were more than conquerors.

At the end of the day, we don’t barely win. We run the score up. It’s not even close. The love of God will ensure it.

6. He will never leave us (38-39).

“I am sure” I love these words!

I know!

I’m convinced!

He lists ten things that will not separate us from the love of God.

Death- sometimes the devil may whisper to you “Once you die it’s all over” We may even entertain that thought for a moment. Don’t you believe it. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Life- nothing in your life will happen to cause you to lose your salvation.

No angelic being and no earthly ruler will rob you of your salvation.

Nothing that is happening now or will happen will rob you of your salvation.

No power will rob you of your salvation (curse or cataclysmic event).

Nor height nor depth- There is power or creature in all of space that can rob you of your salvation.

Nor anything else in all creation- That settles it!

Verses 38-39 are nothing but praise from Paul. When we understand the love of God it invokes praise from within.

There’s an old hymn that says:

There’s The Wonder Of Sunset At Evening, The Wonder As Sunrise I See;

But The Wonder Of Wonders That Thrills My Soul Is The Wonder That God Loves Me

Friend, God knows everything you have done and will do. He still loves you. He will not leave you.

He will not leave us when we cannot pray- He will pray for us.

He will not leave us when we try and stray- He will bring us back to Himself.

He will not leave us when trials come- He will strengthen us to endure.

Do you know Him today? Are you saved? If not, come to Christ.

Do you know Him but have been wrestling with doubt? Trust in the love of Christ and be encouraged.