How does God Love Us? (Rom 8:31-39)

Introduction

If you have your Bible with you, please turn it to Romans 8.

If you were here last week, you know that we started a brief Christmas series to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Jesus’ birth. We’ve taken one of the traditional themes of Advent and we’re focusing in on that them until the Sunday before Christmas—the theme this year is love—in particular, αγαπη, which is the love that God has for us, the love He commands we have for Him and others, and is best understood as sacrificial or selfless love.

Last week, we really focused in on answering the simple question what is love?

This week, we’re asking the question How does God love us?

And next week, we’ll wrap everything up with Who do we Love?

As we answer the question How does God love us? we’ll be looking at Romans 8—in particular, we’re looking at vv.31-39, but before we read the text, let me give you just a little bit of background information concerning Romans.

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Romans per his custom to encourage, convict, and build up local churches—the difference between this letter and his other letters is that in this case, he didn’t know the people in Rome because he didn’t start the church in Rome.

Since he didn’t know the people in Rome, he really utilizes this letter to Rome as a sort of introductory letter about who he is and what Christians believe.

Romans 8 stands somewhat in the middle of his systematic concerning Christian belief and in it, he deals with the implications of Jesus’ fulfillment of the Old Testament Law—that because Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament Law, those who believe (those who follow Jesus) have been released from the consequences of the Law itself; however, because we’re in flesh, we’re still struggling to deal with our sinful appetites and desires.

Paul speaks of a battle between the flesh and the mind—that though he wants to obey God, he keeps falling into sin. That idea could be discouraging, but in v. 1 of ch. 8, we see Paul remind us of the Gospel.

That because of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection—because of His substitutionary atonement for our sins, there is no longer any condemnation for sin (at least, for those who genuinely believe). Because, through Jesus’ work on the cross for our sins, He has made us fellow heirs with Him—we reap the reward for HIs sacrifice and this truth is so great, that even when we suffer and even when we struggle in this life, it really isn’t even worth comparing our difficulties on this side of eternity with all that is to come on the next.

We can be so confident in this truth that it reshapes the way that we think about present sufferings, trials, and difficulties—for we know that all things work for the good of them that love Him.

With all that in mind, he starts in on the section that’s our focus for today. Let’s read Romans 8:31-39.

Romans 8:31–39 ESV

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded 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 sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts: (1) God loves us by saving us (31-34) and (2) God loves us by preserving us (35-39).

Prayer for Illumination

God Loves us by Saving Us (31-34)

Our text starts with Paul posing multiple questions in vv. 31-33 and each of these questions are really meant to be rhetorical—he’s not anticipating an answer because the answers, in his mind, are obvious. Nevertheless, let’s take a look at each question:

In v. 31, he starts with “What then shall we say to these things?”

This question is his starting point because it’s a natural segue between what he has written and what he’s concluding with now.

Remember, he has just spent a significant amount of time arguing for essentially, the beauty of the Gospel—that despite our own unworthiness, Jesus Christ, saves us; not by our own work or our own ability, but simply because He loves us and atoned for us as our sacrificial atonement on the cross.

His initial question is essentially—with the Gospel in mind, with the fact that God loves His people and have provided a means of salvation for His people, what can we say?

Or, with all this truth in mind, what should our perspective in this life and really the next life be?

And he answers that question with another question at the end of v. 31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Now, I do want to clarify one thing about this phrase. I’ve seen it utilized in various contexts in which it seems as if the people utilizing it use it only for one purpose—to pump themselves up as they go about their day.

I’ve seen it utilized almost as a retort against those who would confront them for behavior—i.e., “who are you to confront me, God’s on my side, I don’t really care what you have to say.”

My clarification is that this statement “if God is for us, who can be against us?” is only true (1) if you are a genuine believer in Jesus Christ—you’ve repented from your sin and you follow Him; and (2) if you aren’t acting in sin—God is not on the side of sin.

It is not a statement that you can say if you don’t believe—in fact, the exact opposite is true if you reject Him; He rejects you.

It’s also not a statement that you can make (at least, not with a straight face) if you’re utilizing it to justify sin.

This statement, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” brings a load of hope for those who are His and are seeking to live righteously.

When considered in light of the Gospel itself—it’s a potent reminder that it is Jesus who saves—not you, not someone else—and it is certainly not based on what you or what other people do.

With that in mind, a true believer in Jesus Christ can pose this question and mean it with the same intent that Paul does, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

And the answer is rather simple—no one can really oppose us, but note that in the asking of this rhetorical question, Paul doesn’t imply that people won’t oppose us.

The reality is that God’s people always face opposition on this side of eternity because God faces opposition on this side of eternity.

However, in an ultimate sense, no one can oppose God; and thus, no one can really oppose His people.

In fact, v. 32 continues with another rhetorical question.“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

Or, in other words, if we’re thinking from an eternal perspective and we consider how God had given His own Son for us all, we have to make the realization that God graciously gives us all things as well.

If He didn’t withhold His own Son, why would He hold back other things from us? Now, note two truths:

First, the things that he’s refusing to hold back for His people deal with spiritual blessings given to His people—don’t assume that it means anything that you necessarily want or desire; they’re things that He’s promised to His poeple.

Second, there’s a certain aspect to this in which we ought to simply give thanks for how God thinks about His poeple—that He’s willing to give up His only Son for us—despite our unworthiness ought to help us see the extent of His love for His people.

Showcasing His love for His people continues in vv. 33-34, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”

In His love for His people, God acts certain ways:

In His love for His people, God chooses His people—this fact is reiterated multiple times throughout Scripture.

John 6:44 speaks about how no one can come to Jesus unless the Father had already started drawing them to Jesus, “44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

Romans 8:28–30 speaks about how believers can know all things are working for their good—because God sanctifies those whom He foreknew and predestined. “28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Ephesians 1:4–5 talks about how God has chosen His people before the start of the world, “4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”

In His love for His people, God justifies His people—the idea of justification is legal or judicial term speaking about Jesus’ willingness to absolve us of the eternal consequences for our sins because of His sacrificial atonement for us:

Justification deals with the legal guilt of our sin—and the Bible’s clear that those who are HIs have are not only justified, but are being justified through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

In His love for His people, Jesus intercedes for His people.

Because mankind can never atone for their own sins, there needs to be an intercessor.

The Bible speaks of both the Holy Spirit who intercedes on behalf of our prayers and then Jesus Christ, who intercedes on behalf of our sin.

By the way, despite what many other groups claim—there is no one else who can intercede on our behalf—a priest cannot intercede for you, dead saints cannot intercede on your behalf, Mary cannot intercede for you. Only God can intercede on your behalf because only Jesus can atone for your sins.

The reality is that Jesus is the One who satisfies all these questions, v. 34, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”

There is such certainty in the One who saves, that in reality, no one can actually condemn us.

John 8:36 “36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

This ties into the overall idea in Romans 8. Think back to v. 1, “1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Why not? Because Jesus is the only one who has the capability to fulfill the Law of God and because He is the only one who fulfills the Law, He’s also the only one who can fulfill the Law on behalf of others—in our case, us.

And, if He has fulfilled the Law of God for us, there really isn’t anyone who can then condemn us because it is God who condemns for sin.

No one can condemn God’s people because God is the one who can condemn and He has already forgiven those who believe.

It is jesus who died, it is Jesus who was raised, it is Jesus who sits at the right hand of God, it is Jesus who intercedes for us.

With all that in mind, when you really sit and think through all of this—it shows us the deep, deep love that God has for His people. When we consider it in light of Christmas, which we’re preparing our hearts for through this series, we get a beautiful image of how big a deal the Gospel really is.

Though most of us look at Christmas and all we really think about is the nostalgia of celebrating the holiday with friends and family, there’s an element in the birth account of Jesus that ought to cause us to worship and praise Him. It is through Jesus’ life, His death, His burial, and His resurrection, that He saves us—we celebrate that as part of Christmas.

It is through His birth that we get to His life, His death, His burial, and His resurrection; His birth is an integral part in how Jesus saves and through His saving of us, we see His love for us.

Of course, the text doesn’t doesn’t end here, it keeps going—and as it keeps going, it shows us another element of how God loves us. Let’s re-read vv 35-39:

God Loves us by Preserving Us (35-39)

Romans 8:35–39 ESV

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded 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 sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As the text continues, we see a very powerful, very clear statement in yet another rhetorical question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”

Let me start by saying that this speaks primarily of what we call the perseverance of the saints, which is Baptist distinctive—meaning, even non-Reformed Baptists believe in the perseverance of the saints.

What it means is that if you genuinely believe, you will never lose your salvation. Jesus has called you His own, the Spirit seals you as your guarantee, and you can’t do anything to lose that.

Now, a lot of folks, hear that and think, “does that mean, that I can just pray a prayer and then do whatever I want through the rest of my life?” And some folks hear that and think, “well, what about my friend so-and-so, who claimed to believe, but then decided that they didn’t believe?”

And I can give very clear and simple answers to both those questions:

For the first one, “can I just pray a prayer and then do whatever I want?” No, the Bible is pretty clear that if you remain in unrepentant sin, you probably don’t actually believe in the first place—true believers, repent from their sins, they don’t indulge in them without any conviction.

For the second one, “what about my friend who claimed to believe, but then decided that they didn’t believe?” The Bible would say that even though they claimed to believe, they never actually did. Think of Jesus’ statement to those who did all these great things in His name, but they didn’t actually know Him. It’s the same situation.

If you genuinely believe, you don’t have to worry about whether you can lose your salvation—you can’t, but you must genuinely believe.

If you genuinely believe, no one, nothing can separate you from the love of Jesus Christ.

I can’t help but to think of the Getty’s song In Christ Alone:

No power of hell, no scheme of man

Can ever pluck me from His hand

Till He returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I stand.

Which honestly, ought to provide a great sense of hope and protection in Jesus Christ—shouldn’t it?

So much so, that the text continues in vv. 36-39 by essentially telling us that even though this life is filled with great difficulties, we can survive those difficulties because of what Jesus has accomplished for us. Look

v. 36, makes it clear that on this side of eternity, there will still be grave difficulties, “As it is written, ‘for your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’”

This is a quote from Psalm 44:22, which is a psalm of the sons of Korah in which they beg God to come and protect them.

The idea is that they’re calling on God to come and save them from those who are literally killing them not because of themselves, but (as you can see), for their faith in the Lord.

In Psalm 44, they speak about feeling as if God had abandoned them and they call on Him to come and protect them from those who seek to hurt them.

There’s a clear sense that this deals with persecution due to genuine faith, but I think the implication is that we can apply it to all of life’s difficulties.

We’re never promised in Scripture that life is going to be easy and anyone who claims that Scripture teaches that is lying to you.

We face great difficulties, trials, and hardship—some of which is our own fault, when we sin; sometimes these difficulties are the results of other people’s sins; and occasionally, it’s just because we live in a sin-cursed world.

Life is hard and there’s a lot that can discourage us as believers today.

But, our hope is in the Lord, not in ourselves; it’s in God, not in other people; it’s in Jesus, not in our own effort. vv. 37-39, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Regardless of the great difficulties that we experience in life, regardless of the hardships that we face, regardless of the trials and tribulations of living in a sin-cursed world, we can know that we are in the hands of God.

We can know that we can’t be separated from God’s love

We can know that nothing has the power to cause us to lose our salvation in Jesus Christ.

And that’s precisely what I mean by saying that God loves us by preserving us.

The reality is that if we’re honest, we give God several reasons on a daily basis not to love us:

We sin, we hope in ourselves rather than in Him, we don’t have faith, we reject truth, we hurt others

I can go on and on about it, but you can fill in the blanks.

And yet, God loves us anyways if we are His. And God preserves us anyways if we are His. And God protects us anyways if we are His.

Life is hard, but we can survive the difficulties of life because of what Jesus has accomplished for us.

With that in mind, as we reflect on Christmas, what this shows us is that Christmas isn’t the end of the account. If we think that the birth of Jesus is the end-all-be-all, we’re sorely mistaken. The account continues with Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. The account continues with Him giving us the Holy Spirit to indwell us permanently. The account continues with us being sealed by the Holy Spirit until the Day of Redemption. The account continues with us being held firm in His hand because He loves us.

And it’s that love that He has for us that then drives our application:

Application

First and foremost, Jesus’ love for us compels us and drives us. And there are multiple ways that we can look at this:

From a soteriological perspective (concerning our salvation)—we wouldn’t even bother to look for Jesus if He didn’t already love us.

Even when you consider natural theology—the fact that we can look around at creation and from creation alone realize that there is a God, is evidence that He loves us—do you realize that He could’ve created all things and made all things appear as if there wasn’t a creator? Likewise, He could’ve created us without the ability to look at creation and realize that He does exist—and yet, creation is meant to point us to Jesus

But even beyond that—the Bible makes it clear that the Law of the Lord is written on man’s heart—that when it comes to moral right and wrong, we all have some sense of what’s right and wrong—that’s meant to point us to the one who determines what is right and what is wrong—natural law is meant to point us to Jesus.

Even just in salvation itself—Scripture, particularly the New Testament, particularly Romans makes it abundantly clear that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are intimately connected in the process of saving your soul. The Father chooses, the Son redeems, the Spirit justifies. All of which is meant to continuously point us towards Jesus.

Jesus’ love is meant to drive us towards Him; and it is His love that is meant to compel us to want Him, to desire Him, to shift our affections towards Him.

From a sanctification perspective (what happens after our initial salvation)—we mature in our relationship with Him because He loves us.

While we can try—of our own ability—to mature ourselves, the reality is that that isn’t how it happens. Of course, we do bear some responsibility in the participating in the ordinary means of grace (i.e., reading Scripture, hearing the Word preached well, praying, and participating in the Lord’s Supper), we can’t force ourselves to mature.

Rather, it is the Holy Spirit who matures us through the working of the Holy Spirit—and truthfully, it’s done through the participation of the ordinary means of grace—as we read Scripture, hear His Word preached well, pray, and participate in the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Spirit matures us.

Sanctification only happens because He loves us.

Even just considering what we’re looking forward to in the next few weeks—as we reflect on the birth of Jesus. Jesus’ birth only happened because God loves us.

And it doesn’t take much for us to understand how big of a deal it is that Jesus was born—His birth was the fulfillment of several prophecies, His life fulfilled the Law itself, His death, burial, and resurrection accomplished what we couldn’t accomplish.

We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ because it is through His birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection that He shows us His love in the greatest way He possibly could by saving us.

That’s why it ought to compel us and to drive us—what should it compel us to do? What should it drive us to do?

It should drive us to Him—first and foremost, if you celebrate Christmas and do all the nostalgic Christmasy things you could do, but you never actually focus in on Jesus Himself, you’ve completely missed the point and you need to reconsider how you celebrate Christmas.

His love as seen through His birth ought to drive you to Him.

In addition, it isn’t enough just to know about Jesus—His love for you ought to drive you to love Him—meaning, if you know everything there is to know about Jesus, but you don’t actually desire Him, you don’t love Him, you don’t seek after Him, you’ve completely missed the point and you need to reconsider your relationship with Him.

Because if you actually understand the Gospel, you understand what Jesus has accomplished for you; if you understand what the birth of Jesus Christ actually means, you’re not going to be able to do anything except want Him and love Him.

Of course, when you start to understand the significance of His birth; the importance of His life, death, and resurrection; really, when you start grasping the Gospel, His love ought to compel you to worship.

No one should have to try and convince you to come and worship Jesus. No one should have to convince you to sing praise to Him and to give thanks for all that He does.

If you find yourself in a situation in life where you can’t convince yourself to worship Him, to be with likeminded believers to sing praise to Him, to give thanks—it’s likely a spiritual problem.

Because if you genuinely grasp the Gospel, if you understand the significance of His birth, if you get how important His life really is—you won’t be able to stop yourself from worshiping Him.

And while you’re in a posture of worship, Jesus’ love for you ought to drive you to obey Him.

So, first and foremost, Jesus’ love, which is seen in His birth, life, death, and resurrection ought to compel you to worship Him, it ought to drive you to obey Him—if it doesn’t, it’s because you don’t fully grasp the beauty of the Gospel itself.

Let the celebration of Jesus’ birth compel you to worship and drive you to obey Him.

Secondly, Jesus’ willingness to preserve us in His love gives us hope.

We all have instances in life in which we succumb to our own sin, we stumble, and we fall—and a tool of sin itself is to convince us that our sin is unforgivable.

So, we beat ourselves up when we consider the sins that we succumb to—we think that Jesus can’t possibly love us still or we think that Jesus can’t use us anymore, or that He won’t want to use us anymore.

First off, you’re giving yourself too much credit—Jesus loved us before we loved Him. If He loved us while we were still dead in our sins, surely He still loves us even when we occasionally fall back into our sin. Jesus was able to utilize Balaam’s donkey, surely He can still use us. And how would you know if Jesus wants to use you in any given situation or not—last I heard, Jesus is God, not you.

Second, when we find ourselves in situations like this and we think this way about our situation, it reveals that we don’t fully grasp the Gospel—that by no work of our own, Jesus saves; that by no effort of our own, the Spirit seals us. That Jesus keeps His covenants regardless of the foolish things that we might do.

Of course, that’s not an excuse for us to continue to sin unrepentantly.

Rather, this just provides us with hope when we find ourselves in sin again.

Likewise, one beautiful aspect of the Gospel and really the perseverance of the saints is that we have no need to fear Jesus changing His mind or something or someone taking us out of God’s favor for His people.

As seen in Romans 8 nothing can separate God’s people from His love—not your inability to stop sinning on this side of eternity, not the doubts that you might have about certain aspects of faith, not your uncertainty in what eternity might look like. Not even Satan Himself can separate you from the love of God if you are actually His.

And the beauty of the Gospel is that to be His, it’s as simple as what Romans 10:9–13 says “9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””

I don’t know about you, but that gives me a tremendous amount of hope.

Knowing that I can’t mess up my own salvation, knowing that someone else can’t mess up my salvation, knowing that Satan Himself cannot mess up my salvation—all of that provides great hope for me.

Because it is a consistent reminder that salvation is of the Lord—the Father chose, the Son saves, and the Spirit seals.

And despite life’s hardest situations, whether that be:

The death of a loved one even if the loved one was a child

Financial difficulties even losing your home to bankruptcy

Unexpectedly losing a job or failing out of school

Whatever it might be—this doesn’t negate how difficult those circumstances are, but, if you know Jesus, you can still have hope.

Romans 8:18 “18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not [even] worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Jesus’ birth and his willingness to seal us until the Day of Redemption reminds us of how much He loves us—allow the reminder of Jesus’ love for you to compel you to worship Him, to drive you to obey Him, and to give you reasons for hope.

Pastoral Prayer