What Shall Separate Us from His Love?

Today’s Reading from God’s Word

Romans 8:35–39 CSB

35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Introduction

Don’t you just love this passage?

Here we see God’s everlasting love.

It’s an incredible promise.

And it fits right in with what we want to cover during the month of September — God’s Great Love.

Last week we took a look at John 3:16-17 and talked about the love of God.

It’s so deep and wide that it is available to every person on the planet at any given time.

It’s so vast and immeasurable that it can save you from every sin you have or will commit.

When you choose to trust Jesus — His power is directed personally to you — awakening your soul from spiritual death and separation from Him.

Today, we’ll be in Romans 8. We could literally spend a year or two in this chapter. There is so much here.

It is the climax of Paul’s greatest writing — and one of the most important doctrinal sections in Scripture — salvation is by grace thru faith and not by human works.

And the gist of it all is that through salvation, God has brought you into a relationship with Him.

And He is so powerful and loving that He will do everything possible to protect, sustain, and provide for that relationship.

This allows us to stand in our salvation with great confidence.

Just a few verses earlier, Paul summed up the security of our salvation when he said

Romans 8:28–30 CSB

28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

All things are working together for our eternal good. God is calling you to glory. He stands behind you and protects you.

What a marvelous comfort this us.

Note the progression of these verses.

God had the plan of salvation in mind from before time began.

He determined he would save those who respond to his call of the gospel.

Those who respond he justifies.

Ultimately they will be glorified.

8:31-34: The Father’s Love

8:31

Romans 8:31 (CSB)

31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

And of course, we know the answer.

No one.

God is God. Infinite in power.

We do not have to fear what others may do to us.

God is our refuge and we are in His everlasting arms.

Psalm 91:1–4 (CSB)

1 The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say concerning the Lord, who is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust:

3 He himself will rescue you from the bird trap, from the destructive plague.

4 He will cover you with his feathers; you will take refuge under his wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield.

So if God is for us, no one can successfully be against us.

8:32

Romans 8:32 (CSB)

32 He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?

Shall not the God who gave us the most in the gift of his son to save us give us less than that to keep us?

If we understand the cross and what God did to save us out of sin, we will understand the security we have in our salvation.

If he is powerful enough to redeem us out of our bondage to sin, is he not powerful enough to keep us in his son?

Our God will never abandon us.

While it is true that we do have the freedom to abandon our salvation — by walking back into a lifestyle of sin — back into the world …

the true and faithful disciple — the one who remains allegiant to Christ — is determined not to do that. It’s the last thing they would want to do.

What about those of us with true hearts who fight temptation and sin — and fail?

8:33

Romans 8:33 (CSB)

33 Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies.

For those who are “in Christ” God has already rendered the verdict.

You stand in grace, you are forgiven, and free from sin.

If that is done by God, who’s going to be a higher court? Who is going to lay any charge to God’s elect?

Satan may try — He is the accuser.

Revelation 12:10 CSB

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been thrown down.

8:34

Romans 8:34 (CSB)

34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.

Christ is the one continually interceding for us.

He’s for you — not against you.

8:35-37 - Bad Circumstances Can’t Stop God’s Love

8:35: External Pressure

Romans 8:35 (CSB)

35 Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

See the pressure, tribulation, heat, and distress in v. 35.

Will God’s love for you lessen as you go through these things?

Did God’s love for Job ever wane as he questioned God?

Did God’s love and patience run out on Elijah as he coped with depression because of Jezebel’s determination to kill him?

Did God give up on David after his sin with Bathsheeba?

Did God give up on the 12 at his trial and crucifixion?

John 13:1 CSB

1 Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

He loved them to perfection.

He love never ended for them. It is unchanging.

Look at how Paul ends 2 Thessalonians 2.

2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 (CSB)

16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace,

17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.

What has God given us?

Eternal encouragement and good hope by grace.

How can we have an unending hope?

Because for the true Christian, who has surrendered his heart to the Lord, he knows that when he sins, God provides grace.

and that is what comforts our hearts.

What’s going to change God’s love?

Tribulation?

Means “tremendous pressure.”

Usually the word here is referring to outward difficulties.

Being accused of something.

Being rejected by family, friends, society.

Enduring bodily harm.

When these pressures come - does that separate you from the love of God or Christ?

Distress

inward difficulty.

“to be caught in a narrow space.”

To be hemmed in with no way out. to be out of options.

Think temptation.

Don’t forget 1 Corinthians 10:13

1 Corinthians 10:13 CSB

13 No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it.

God will bring you through. He’ll help you bear it.

Persecution

Physical/mental/emotional suffering at the hands of those who reject Christ.

Famine

to go without food.

to be utterly deprived.

Nakedness

so poor that you can barely afford to clothe your body.

Danger (peril)

Exposed to treachery, plot, or peril. Paul was always being plotted against.

Sword

Death.

These are the worst possible attacks.

Could these things drive us out of his love and affection?

Could these things drive us to doubt and questions?

Could they drive us to falter by weakness?

8:36: What’s the answer?

Romans 8:36 CSB

36 As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.

These things don’t take us out of the love of God — they show us we’re in it.

And someone who is wholeheartedly committed to the Lord will seek to persevere through the stressful external pressures.

Hebrews 3:14 (CSB)

14 For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.

We must continue to participate in Christ.

We’ve got to hold on - steadfast to the end.

We’ve got to resolve not to bail out.

To possess the willingness to go all the way — even to death.

Now back to Romans 8:36

We understand when we came to Christ that this could be the reality. And we trust God all the way through.

8:37: More Than Conquerors

External pressures will never cause God to let go. And we have to keep holding on. We have to persevere. Steadfast to the end.

Romans 8:37 (CSB)

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

“More than conquerors”

Conqueror is “nike” in original language.

Added to this is the prefix we use for “super”

So, “Super-Conquerors”

It’s like a missile.

A sweeping, surpassing, overwhelming victory.

It’s just a tremendous word.

How can we be a super conqueror?

We don’t just win…

We come out on the other side of these things better than when we started.

Everything in your life is refining you.

Look we go through things in life where we

see the ugliness of our sin.

seen our own weakness and failure

gone through struggle with the flesh

We come out w/a better understanding of ourselves

A greater longing for God.

A greater hunger for holiness.

So it’s not just a victory … it’s a victory we come out better for!

So when we go through these things … God will give you the power to help you see His strength.

God fills your heart with a greater sense of direction than ever before.

And out of that comes a pure devotion to Christ — an eternal weight of glory.

Look … these things don’t separate us — Because He is holding on.

8:38-39: The Final Conclusion

“For I am Persuaded”

Settled conclusion. Steadfast conviction.

Have you ever connected 2 Timothy 1:12 to this?

2 Timothy 1:12 (CSB)

12 and that is why I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.

Confident assurance.

And here it is:

Romans 8:38 CSB

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

Not even the great enemy … the gates of Hades … can separate us.

Neither can life

Life with all its dangers, troubles, trials, temptations.

Life with everything it can throw out at us.

Pain, sorrow, hurt, anxiousness.

Nor angels or rulers… nothing in the spirit world can separate us.

No miracle, no nightly deed, no supernatural thing, nothing beyond our control can ever separate us from Christ.

Nothing present or things to come…

Nothing here and now … and nothing to come. Not ever.

And then finally…

Romans 8:39 CSB

39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This has to do with the stars in the heavens. Stars at their zenith or height. “the infinity of space.”

depth: the star at its low point.

From one end of infinity to the other.

As We Close…

George Matheson was born in the 1840’s.

He grew up partially blind and by the age of 18 was totally blind.

Despite this handicap, he was a brilliant scholar and graduated from the University of Glasgow.

He went on to the Seminary where he graduated and later became the minister for a church of over 2000 people in Glasgow.

He preached every Sunday w/o the use of his eyes.

He became one of the greatest preachers and orators of the 19th century.

And he never married.

He had a wound in his heart because he was in love with a young lady who decided that, though they were engaged, she would not marry him.

She gave him back the ring because she could not learn to be content with a man who was blind.

And so she left him.

It was out of the pain of this experience that he wrote a tribute to the love of God:

Oh love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee.

I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow made richer, fuller be.”

To us, His special people, Our God has said:

Jeremiah 31:1 CSB

1 “At that time”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”

Jeremiah 31:3 CSB

3 the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.

If you are with us today and without the Savior, I pray your heart has been convicted … draw near to God in belief and repentance and be baptized.

If you’re already His child, may this lesson draw you into an even deeper relationship with God and fill you with praise and wonder over the great and undeserved gift you possess.