But what does God really think about me?

We’re continuing our R8 series today, and in it, we’ve been talking about the major premises, the大前提 of our faith. And it really is important to get these truths cemented, not just in our minds, but in our hearts. Because they shape everything about our faith: how we see God, how we see ourselves, and how we live our lives.

Probably one of the most fundamental truths of the Bible is that God loves you.

But at the same time, it’s probably one of the hardest concepts to truly grasp in our hearts.

Because although we may understand that truth intellectually in our minds, there’s often a nagging doubt that lurks in the depths of our heart that says “Yeah, but what does God really think about me?” It took me seven or eight years of my Christian life to figure that out, and probably ten or twelve before it really cemented in my heart and mind.

I’ve told this story before. I grew up in church. I made my decision to give my heart to Jesus when I was seven or eight. All my life I had heard that God loved me. And I understood that in my head. But for years, there was always a nagging doubt in the back of my mind. I probably wouldn’t have put it this way when I was a kid, but looking back, I was essentially saying, “Yes, I know the Bible says God loves me. But what does he really think about me?”

That doubt made me hesitate to get baptized. That doubt made me hesitate to share my faith with my friends. And I lived with that doubt for years.

So what changed? Two things. One was a powerful experience in worship where for the first time in my life, I sensed the presence of God in a room. He felt so close, I almost thought I could touch him. All of a sudden, God wasn’t just somewhere out there. He was right there with me. I still remember the short message my Bible study leader give us that night. It came down to this: “Your Daddy isn’t so interested in anything you can give him. What he’s interested in is you.”

The thing that really cemented all this in my heart, though, was the passage we’re reading today. Because it really answered my question: “But what does God really think about me?”

Do any of you ever ask yourself that question: “But what does God really think about me?” Then let’s take a look at this passage together and find out. Open your Bibles to Romans 8:31.

Just to catch us up, in verses 29-30, Paul was saying some pretty incredible things about us. He said that before we were even born, before time even began, God knew us. He saw where we’d be born. When we’d be born. Who our parents would be. What our character would be like. He saw all our sins. He saw all our failures. He saw every single detail of our lives. And he still said, “I choose you. I choose you to be my child. And I have a plan to make you just like my Son Jesus. You may be flawed and broken in so many ways. But when I’m done working in your life, you will be beautiful just as my Son is beautiful.

And then he called us. Each of us have our own story on how he called us. How we first heard about Jesus. All the “coincidences” that brought us to him. The people he brought into our lives. The circumstances that led us to him. And then when we put our faith in him, he took off our dirty clothes of sin and clothed us with Christ’s righteousness. And he has given us his glory. In other words, little by little, we are becoming more like Jesus. And the day will come when we will be fully like him.

Can I ask you a question? How much do you really reflect on these things? How much do you really think of what all these things mean? It’s so easy to read our Bibles and go, “Yes, yes, yes. I get it. I understand.” I used to do that a lot as a young Christian. But how often do you actually think about what the words you’re reading mean? You see, we don’t just read our Bibles because it’s the Christian thing to do. We do it because God’s word has the power to transform our thinking, to transform our lives. And that doesn’t happen by just reading your chapter for the day as fast as you can and then forgetting everything you read the moment you close your Bible. It happens as you really think on these things.

Paul definitely thought on these truths a lot. His joy absolutely bubbles off the page. Look at verse 31.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? (31)

If you remember only one thing from this message today, it’s this fundamental truth: God is for you. God is not against you. God is for you. It doesn’t matter what struggles you may have with sin. It doesn’t matter what awful mistakes you have made in your past. It doesn’t matter what trials or hurt or sorrow you may be going through right now. None of those things change this fundamental truth: God is for you. Can you say that aloud with me? “God is for me.” Say it with conviction. “God is for me.” Right now, some of you may not feel like that’s true. But your feelings don’t change the truth: God is for you. But in what way, exactly, is he for us? Look at verse 32.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Probably the most famous verse in the Bible is John 3:16.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Do you know what the most incredible thing about that verse is? God gave his Son for a world that was hostile to him. That had turned its back on him. That had declared God its enemy. And it was to that world, that God graciously gave his Son. And what did we do with that gift? We crucified him. But when we did, God put our sins on him, and Jesus took the punishment for our sin. When we were still God’s enemies, he loved us and gave us his Son. And in Jesus, he provided a way for our sins to be forgiven. Paul puts it this way in Romans 5:8.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

If God would do that for us when were still his enemies, how much more will he shower his love on us now that we are his beloved children? God was for us when we were still his enemies. How much more will he be for us now that we are his children? Paul makes that crystal clear in verse 33.

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

As I read those verses, I think of two stories in the Old Testament. We read one of those stories a few weeks ago in the book of Job. When the devil was accusing Job, God defended him. Now Job wasn’t perfect. God knew that. But he still told Satan, “There is no one like Job. In my eyes, he is righteous.”

The other story is in Zechariah 3. Once again, Satan was accusing one of God’s people, a priest named Joshua. And the truth is, Satan had good reason to accuse Joshua. Joshua was wearing clothes covered with the filth of his sin. But what did God do? He essentially told Satan, “Shut up!” And then he had Joshua’s dirty clothes taken off and he clothed Joshua with clean garments of righteousness.

That’s what Paul says God does for us. Whenever Satan tries to accuse us, God tells him, “Shut up. I’ve clothed this one in my Son’s righteousness. This one is righteous in my eyes.” In verse 34 we find that Jesus isn’t condemning us either. Instead, he died for us, he rose from the dead, and right now at this very moment, he’s at the Father’s side interceding for us. Not only that, we read last year in verses 26-27 that the Holy Spirit is interceding for us too. God in Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all for us. (Romans 8:26-27)

Then Paul asks us the ten million dollar question. Verse 35.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. (35-36)

I love how another English translation paraphrases verse 35:

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (35, NLT)

What do you think? When you go through troubles in your life, when the world seems to be pressing in on you and you feel like you’re being crushed by your circumstances and by your pain, does that mean God no longer loves you? Does that mean God is no longer on your side? Our feelings would tell us that. We saw a few weeks ago that Job felt that way.

One of the psalmists felt that way too. Verse 36 comes from Psalm 44. It starts out so beautifully talking about all the wonderful things God did for his people. But in the middle of the psalm, the tone of the song turns. Why? Because all of a sudden, Israel started facing defeat as a nation. And the psalmist cries out, “God, why have you abandoned our armies? Our enemies are crushing us and plundering us. Our nation has become a joke.

The psalmist’s complaints sound very similar to Job’s. He cries out, “Why is this happening? We haven’t done anything wrong to deserve this. If we had forgotten you and turned our backs on you, I could understand it. But we haven’t. Why are you suddenly against us? We’ve become like sheep prepared for slaughter.”

And so again, I come back to the question. “What does God really think about us?” Especially when things are hard. Especially when we’re suffering. It’s so easy in those times for us to think that God is against us. That we are under his microscope and he’s looking for any tiny sin he can blast us for. But is that how God sees you? What is the truth? God is for you.

“Well Bruce, it sure doesn’t seem like God is for me.”

I understand that. Life is brutal sometimes. But your circumstances don’t change the fact that God is for you.

That’s what we need to stand on when we’re facing trials and suffering in our lives. Fix it in your mind. God’s not punishing you. God is pouring out his love into your heart through his Holy Spirit who he gave to you. And if you’ll just open your eyes, you’ll see it.

Some of you may be asking me, “But how, Bruce? I just don’t feel his love right now.” Probably the best way is to open your heart to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Let them love you. Let them pray for you. Let them be there for you. Don’t shut them out.

It’s so easy in our pain to shut people out. How many of you have ever done that? But the church, and by the church I mean God’s people, are Christ’s physical voice, hands, eyes, and ears in this world. And when you shut them out, you shut out Jesus. Don’t shut them out. One of the ways that I’ve gotten through the most painful times of my life was to open myself up to the people who cared about me the most, whether it’s my wife, the people in my small group, or my closest friends. Your brothers and sisters in Christ probably won’t be able to answer all your questions. Sometimes, they may be very clumsy in the way they show love. I know I often feel clumsy when people I love are hurting. But let them love you. And in doing so, you will feel the hand of Christ on you and you’ll understand again, “God is for me.” And in that truth, we will find victory in our circumstances. And so in verse 37, Paul answers his own question: Does it mean God has stopped loving us when we go through suffering? Look at his answer.

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

I like another English translation here and it more closely reflects Paul’s original words:

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. (LSB)

You might not feel like more than a conqueror. But your feelings are irrelevant. You will overwhelming overcome all these trials in your life. Why? Because God is for you. And he deeply, deeply, loves you. Paul ends with this crescendo.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (38-39)

Think about what Paul is saying. I mean, I could go into detail as to all that Paul is saying, but do I really need to? Take the time to meditate on those words. There is nothing, absolutely nothing that can change God’s love for you. There’s nothing, absolutely nothing that can take his love from you. If you want to meditate more on God’s love, read Psalm 139. Because I can’t help but think that Paul had that psalm in mind when he wrote this. In our last series, we talked about our Father’s eyes. What are they like? They are loving toward us. They’re not accusing toward us. They’re not malevolent. We don’t have to fear our Father’s eyes finding us or knowing the deepest depths of our soul. Because when he looks at us, he sees his precious child. Years ago, John Honold wrote a song based on Psalm 139. It was a staple at my old church in Hawaii for years. And his song closed with that very thought. “You’re my God. And I’m your precious child.” That’s how God sees you.

So what do we take from all this? Four simple words. God is for you. God is for you.

I wish I could ingrain that truth in every single Christian here or watching on Youtube. Because it radically transformed my life. It transformed how I saw God. How I saw myself. How I saw my life. I am far from being the Christian I should be. I see all my faults. I see my sins. I see my weaknesses. I see how stupid I can be almost every single day. I see all the ways I fail.

I have suffered heartbreak, health problems, financial problems. I have seen people I love die. But none of these things have changed that one fundamental truth: God is for me. And that’s the truth I’ve stood on for the last 35 years of my life. It’s been my rock. It’s brought me stability through all the Our feelings often go against the truth. Our feelings would lie and ask, “Is God really for me? Does he really love me?” But as we’ve been talking about for the past year, we need to break that pain cycle in our lives, hold out God’s word and say, “But the truth is.”

The truth is that if you’re his child, God does not condemn you, despite your sins, despite your failings, despite your weaknesses. He defends you.

The truth is that in your suffering, God is not punishing you. God does not see you as his enemy. He stretched out his hand of love to you and saved you when you actually were his enemy. Will he then take his hand away from you now that you are his child? Of course not.

And the truth is nothing, nothing can separate you from his love. God is for you. So why accuse yourself? Why constantly beat yourself up for your own sins, failings, and weaknesses. God is for you. So why think he’s punishing you when things are going wrong in your life? God is for you. So why question, “What does God really think about me?”

Let’s all stand. We’re going to pray in a moment, but before we do, I just want you to listen once more to Paul’s words. Close your eyes and let them sink in.

What then shall we say in response to all this?

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 will he not also, along with him graciously give us all things?

Who will bring a charge against those whom God has chosen?

It is God who justifies.

Who is he that condemns?

Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of the God and is also interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall trouble? Hardship? Cancer? A miscarriage? Divorce? Broken relationships? Broken hearts? Broken dreams? Illness? Death?

No. In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life. Neither angels nor demons. Neither things present nor future. Nor any powers. Neither height nor depth. Nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.