The Unrivaled Love of God

Romans 8:31-39

The greatest truth in all the world is that God is for us; that He loves us, no matter their condition, sin, and shame.

Whether you’ve been with us since Sunday morning, or just a few nights, each evening we have opened the Bible and learned of several people who came to experience God’s love…His agape love

The greatest reality of God’s love is:

It is perfect and it is absolute

It expresses His perfect plan and purpose

Matthew 1:21 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.””

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

It works all things for the good of those who love Him—even those things which are painful

Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

It delivers a person through the struggles and sufferings of this world, walks them through temptations and trials, protecting and providing for them

It works to conform a person into the image of Jesus Christ thru the Holy Spirit

2 Corinthians 3:17–18 “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

It is a person’s assurance that God has done everything necessary to save us and sustain us

Ephesians 1:13–14“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

What makes this truth all the more unfathomable is that God did not have to act for us (for me or for you)…but He did

This love of God, which has been our focus, has been extended to ANY and EVERY person, yet it can only be truly experienced as a person accepts it:

This means a person must

Recognize their sinful nature and that they have sinners

Recognize their sinful nature and their sin has separated them God, now and if nothing changes, for eternity (“the wages of sin is death”)

Recognize their only hope of salvation is through the repentance of sin and confession of Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior and begin to live a life following Christ

To help us tonight, as we close out this week, please turn to Romans 8:31-39. These verses serve as powerful reminder of God’s unfailing and unrivaled love

If you are here tonight and haven’t given your life to Christ, I urge you to pay close attention to just how much God has loved you and promises to keep loving you…I guarantee you haven’t experienced or know a love like this

If you are here tonight and you have given your life to Christ, yet b/c of some sin(s), backsliding, or just the heaviness of life, your “first love,” as Jesus says has become a little faded or dim—might I encourage you to pay close attention and be reminded of how much God has and continues to love you…so that in confession you might be feel restored and refreshed tonight

(READ ROMANS 8:31-39)

I. (v.31-33) We can know God is for us, b/c of what He’s done for us

Romans 8:31–33 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.”

As we get into this, understand a few things

God loves His Son—with a perfect love

God perfectly approves of His perfect Son

God’s Son (Jesus Christ) was with, is, and is as God—and before coming into this world knew only of unending praise/worship and honor/glory

“He who did not spare His own Son…;” this means that

God did not hold back or refrain from giving us His Son—in sending Him to the cross

God did not think twice or have second thoughts about sending His Son to the cross

God didn’t hesitate, blink, or refuse to send us His Son

God weighed a person’s eternal separation from Him against the sacrificing His only begotten Son on a cross we deserved…and He didn’t blink

You are too worth it to Him

You are too valued by Him

You are too loved by Him

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all…” this means

God didn’t send His Son for just a certain group of people—those who “deserve it,” but for ALL people

No matter who you are

No matter where you’re from

No matter how far you’ve run, or how prodigal you’ve become

No matter how gross the sin or how deep in sin

No matter how broken you feel, no matter what others have said or done

Luke 5:31–32 “Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.””

Luke 19:10 “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.””

God “delivered Him up,” this means

God handed His Son over to die for us—in our place, as our substitute

God handed His Son over to dies for us, so that might not

Experience—-condemnation—but restoration

Experience—separation—but reconciliation

Experience—alienation—but redemption

God’s love not only saves us, it also sustains us

God’s love is our provision—How, if God’s Son is the greatest provision we could ever hope for, is He not bound to give us/provide for us/walk with us in all other things

He provides for us spiritually

Developing spiritual fruits and disciplines in our lives

Galatians 5:22–23“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”

Providing for us our “daily bread,” daily sustenance (strength, encouragement, and mercies)

Luke 11:3 “Give us day by day our daily bread.”

He provides us deliverance from the struggles and sufferings of this sinful world

1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

He provides the necessities of life, as we seek Him, His kingdom, and His righteousness

-Matthew 6:31–33 ““Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Philippians 4:19 “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

God’s provision in our lives (salvation and sanctification) comes through Christ and Christ alone:

“in Him,” means it is with Christ God gives us all things

If we are with Christ all things are given to us

If we are with Christ we will be delivered from struggling and suffering

This does not mean the believer will never suffer/struggle, but that God will see them through the struggle and suffering

If we are with Christ we will be conformed more and more into the glorious image of Jesus Christ

God bestows this upon a person freely

Salvation is the freely given gift of God to man

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Salvation is the freely given gift of God man must respond to and accept

Romans 10:9–10 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Romans 10:13 “For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.””

Salvation is the freely given gift of God man must respond to and accept, which then leads to a life of obedience to God

Romans 8:1 (NKJV) “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

Through God’s love we are justified

This means our sins are not charged against us

The means we are not dealt with according to our sin

Psalm 103:10 “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.”

***Warning*** This does not give us license to sin—b/c this takes advantage of grace and mocks the cross