The Inseparable Love Of God

Children’s Bible Page 1230.

When I was in elementary school, there was a fourth grade teacher who was the stuff of legends.

As you went through first, second, and third grade, you learned the stories of the oldest and strictest teacher in the whole school, Mrs. Britton, who taught fourth grade.

Toward the end of the year, third graders would shudder in horror as they contemplated the very thought of being put in Mrs. Britton’s class.

And when it came to back to school night for my fourth grade year, the weight of the world fell on my shoulders when I learned I had been put in Mrs. Britton’s class.

For the first quarter of the year, it was difficult to tell if she liked me or if she despised me along with everyone else.

She had high expectations and strict rules.

Yet, as the school year went along, I had experienced Mrs. Britton take extra time to help me improve my awful handwriting, my poor reading comprehension, and she even selected me to be a part of a special math competition.

By the end of the fourth grade, I had no question in my mind that Mrs. Britton was for me and wanted the best for me.

Now, unfortunately, many people think of the Christian life and following God being more like Mrs. Britton the legend.

God is strict and has really high standards, so while you live a life trying to follow Him, you never really quite know where you stand with him because of the high expectations and the strictness of his demeanor.

But, the reality Paul is arguing for in Romans 8, is that God would never desire His children to question or wonder where they stand with Him.

God desires His children to know and believe with utter certainty that He is for His children no matter what, and His love was set on them before the foundation of the world and absolutely nothing can ever separate them from His love.

Some would say that God uses the fear of the loss of salvation to keep his children motivated toward obedience.

And, if you tell people that God will love them and keep them, and they can never lose their salvation, no matter what, then they will have no motivation to pursue holiness or say no to sin.

But, the Bible teaches that the exact opposite is true.

You see, if God always held the fear of losing our salvation over our heads, we would not learn to love Him but to resent Him.

We would worry that we had not done enough, and most likely throw up our hands and go our own way.

But, if we know with utter certainty that God is for us no matter what and nothing can separate us from His love, we learn to love Him and we desire to honor His name by walking with him.

By the end of the fourth grade year, after all the things Mrs. Britton had done to convince me she was for me, you know what happened?

Number one, I improved and became a better student.

Number two, I would not let anyone speak negatively about her, because I know she was for me, and I wanted to honor her name.

It is the same with our relationship with God.

Are you utterly convinced that God is for you and nothing can separate you from His love?

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.

1. God Is For Us

For eight chapters now, Paul has laid out for us just how sinful we humans are as we have exchanged the glory of God for a lie and we have worshipped created things instead of the Creator God.

We have desired sin and self instead of God and His glory.

And because of this, we are separated from God and we deserve His righteous punishment due our sin.

But, while we were still sinners, God sent His only son to die for us.

Jesus took the punishment for our sin that we deserved on the cross so that all who place their faith in Him would be forgiven and declared right with God.

And when you are declared right with God, the Holy Spirit of God brings your dead spirit to life to know and worship God as you were always meant to.

And though we still carry around the old ways of the flesh, we live as children of God as we depend on the Holy Spirit inside of us.

And while there is a war between our old sinful nature and the new man of the spirit now, we have the promise that one day we will be glorified, and the old man will fully pass away and all that will be left is our glorified bodies worshipping God fully and completely!

So, when Paul says, “What shall we say to these things?”

He is seeking to capture and summarize what all that God has done for us in Christ truly means to us.

What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

What is the great takeaway of this gospel message that has been expounded in such detail for the past eight chapters?

What is a one sentence summary takeaway of all that we have seen in the gospel?

God is for us!

If you are in Christ, God is for you!

If you are not in Christ, God is holding out this message for you to place your faith in, so that you may know, He is for you!

Some would warn that it is arrogant or ill-advised to say with complete and utter certainty that God is for you and on your side.

No, it would be arrogant and contrary to God’s word to question it for all those who know and love Him.

He is not hanging the loss of salvation over your head as some kind of carrot or stick motivator to get you to live holy and obedient lives.

No, God is for you.

I would never want my kids for a moment to wonder if I had their back, if I was cheering them on, if I were on their side.

God the perfect father all the more desires for you to be utterly certain he is for you individually and He is for you corporately - His church.

How can we be so sure God is for us?

Verse 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?

It is an argument from the greater to the lesser.

If God did not hold back the sacrificing of His one and only son for you, why in the world would he now hold back His love, intimacy, care, and future grace toward you?

The giving of His son for you was the greatest good He could ever offer you at the greatest sacrifice to himself.

So, if he has already done that, it only makes sense that He is willing to graciously give us all things.

But, who is the all that God did not spare His son for?

Who is the all to whom he will graciously give all things?

We have already been told back up in verses 29-30: the all that he did not spare his only son for are those whom He foreknew and also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.

And those who he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

John 6:37 ESV

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

Verse 33 - Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?

God’s elect are all those that he has chosen, set his love on before the world began, predestined, called, justified, and glorified.

This is so powerful to understand, and too many times we think that Jesus died, and it is like He is just now hoping that people will actually choose to believe it so that He can save them as if God is the passive agent in all this.

But no, we can say with certainty that when Jesus died, He died for you with you in mind, because he set His love on you from before the world began.

Who can bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

There were certainly charges being brought against followers of Jesus in the first century.

They worship a king other than Caesar. They have blasphemed God saying He has a son who became man. They are enemies of Rome.

But, once again, it is an argument from the greater to the lesser.

If the God of the universe has declared you right with Him, what charge of men can ultimately stand?

People bring charges to God’s people in our day.

Their hypocrites, judgmental.

They are bigots and hateful and intolerant.

But, if the God of the universe has declared you righteous, what court could they possibly charge you in?

What about your own personal sin struggles, doubts, disloyalties, worst days, the guilt and shame for things you feel about things in your past or even your present?

What about Satan who is called the accuser of the brothers and sisters of Christ, because he is always whispering lies of guilt and shame?

Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?

When God is for you and you are His very possession, He fights for you, you have only to be still.

He argues your case of righteousness, you have only to be silent.

God is for us!

Who is to condemn?

Your struggles and failures with sin as a believer in Jesus do not condemn you, because Jesus has paid the penalty for them all in full.

Do you ever feel worthless or used up?

Do you ever feel like I can understand why God would love that person, or gift that person for ministry, or give that person a smooth and easy life, or give them a good reputation in the community, or give them a prim and proper family, but that’s just not me.

I don’t belong here.

Nothing ever seems to go right for me.

I’ve tried to follow God before, but it gets so messy so quickly.

No no no. Condemnation cannot come from how you feel about you.

Because you are not in the place of judge.

That’s God’s job.

And God declares that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

Verse 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.

We all deserved condemnation due our sin.

But, Christ Jesus took all of our condemnation on himself when He died on the cross.

More than that, when Christ Jesus rose from the grave, He defeated our sin and death and ensured that we would rise to eternal life as He has.

Not only did he raise to life, but He now sits at the right hand of the Father.

Psalm 110:1 ESV

1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Not only does Christ Jesus sit in the position of privilege and power at the Father’s right hand, but He is constantly interceding for us.

As our weaknesses, sins, and Satan himself seek to accuse us before God, Jesus is constantly right there to intercede and declare our sin debt has been paid.

The punishment and wrath has been fully completed and satisfied.

There is no condemnation, only commendation.

God is for you.

John 6:37 ESV

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

God will always hold and keep his own, because God is for us.

But, the question becomes, though God will keep us in the palm of His hand, is there anything a genuine Christian could do to step out of His hand?

Is there anything that we could do to cancel the salvation God has wrought?

2. Nothing Can Separate Us From The Love Of God

Verse 35: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Paul lists here some of the worst circumstances one can experience in life in this fallen world.

Paul experienced all these circumstances personally at one time or another, and many first century Christians did as well.

And the question is: could the worst circumstances of this life cause a genuine Christian’s faith to fail and separate them from the love of Christ?

Could the present sufferings, trials, chaos, and confusions of this life cause a genuine Christian to throw up there hands and curse God to the point that they remove themselves from the Father’s hand?

It seems to us in our experience to happen all the time.

Too often the gospel is watered down and presented to people as the good life of happy marriages, obedient children, wealth and success, healthy bodies, and peaceful experiences are all found in choosing to follow Jesus.

And when someone responds positively to a health and wealth version of the gospel, they are not repenting of sin and bowing to Jesus as their Lord, they are simply seeking to use Jesus to get what they really want, the Christian version of the good life.

Even in genuine preaching of the gospel, some people get wrapped up in the emotions of the story, or they want to fit in with others around them who love Jesus, and they make a decision for Christ.

Some even walk with fire and zeal for a time seemingly in the way of Christ.

But, the worst and most difficult circumstances of life, sufferings, trials, chaos, and confusions, finally tempt them to fall away and forsake faith in Christ.

We are seeing it happen in our day in the Christian deconstruction movement.

People who grew up in the Christian world and made decisions for Christ at one time are then drawn away because they are unwilling to stand out and stand up against the winds of philosophies that are blowing in our day.

They are unwilling to embrace that Jesus told us in that in the life, we would have tribulation and trouble.

John 16:33 ESV

33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

What would we say of these? Would we say that God foreknew and predestined them? That He called them and justified them, yet they chose to leave God’s hand, and forfeited the last step of glorification?

We must answer “no”. That is not what has occured. For all He called, he justified, and all he justified, He glorified.

Instead, we should say like Jesus:

Mark 4:16–19 ESV

16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

We should say that not all who profess to have faith in Jesus have genuine faith wrought by the Spirit of God.

Which is so for all who would finally fall away due to the difficulties of this life.

Yet, for all whom God has called and justified, He will keep until the end, and they will be glorified.

So, shall the worst circumstances of life - sufferings, trials, chaos, and confusions - lead a genuine Christian who has been born again by the Spirit of God to fall away?

For verse 36 quotes the Psalms which shows us that many times, it is followers of Jesus who suffer the worst circumstances of this life.

As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

In history, as well as in our day, in many places in the world, followers of Jesus are mocked, ridiculed, even sent to prison, or rounded up and slaughtered.

Can the worst this life in the fallen world can do to you separate one who has been called and justified from the love of Christ?

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

That word conquerers is the same word John uses in the Revelation to call followers of Jesus overcomers.

Those who are in Christ are victorious in the face of trouble, persecutions, chaos, and confusion as they refuse to deny their faith even in the face of death.

I don’t mean they have to respond like super heros with absolutely no fear, no doubt, no trepidation.

But I do mean that their faith does not fail, because all who God foreknew and set His love on from the foundation of the world he also predestined, and those he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, well, how could I know?

I’ve never been beaten, imprisoned, had my execution date set because I am a follower of Jesus.

How do I know that my faith would not fail and that I am more than a conqueror?

Here’s how you know, because God loves you and is for you.

Sure, you haven’t been imprisoned for Christ, but you’ve fought your own battles.

You have faced troubles, persecutions, chaos, or confusions more than many disingenuous followers who have now fallen away due to less that what you have gone through, yet here you are believing in and clinging to the love of God. Why? Because you are justified, and all who he justified he also glorified.

You say, well, I just don’t know if I could stand in Christ if they sent me to prison or set my execution date?

Why do you say that? You are standing in the midst of a culture calling you a unloving, intolerant, and on the wrong side of the social issues of the day.

Listen, God gives His people the grace to stand against whatever it is they are facing, not what they are not facing.

But, if God is giving you the grace to stand in face in what you are facing today, what makes you think He would not give you the grace to stand in whatever your future holds?

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

Romans 8:38–39 ESV

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.

Here is the conclusion, the sum of it all, the final declaration of what we shall say to these things. What we can say of this great and glorious gospel of Jesus Christ that has been expounded for eight chapters in the book of Romans.

For I am sure and convinced

That neither death = the greatest enemy, the one that none escapes

Nor life = with all its difficulties, with all its challenges, with all the sufferings, trials, chaos, and confusions

Nor angels = The book of Hebrews starts by warning us that even heavenly beings like angels are not to be worshipped as God.

Nor rulers = old translations say “principalities” these are dark angels, demons, spiritual darkness

Nor things present = your present sins, your present hurts, your present temptations to guilt and shame, your present feelings of closeness or distance from God, your present circumstances

Nor things to come = some of us spend a lot of time worried about the future, what could happen, your future losses, trials, and sufferings, and there is nothing in eternity

Nor powers = political power, societal power, mighty deeds, miracles, or spiritual power

Nor height nor depth = from the furthest star to the core of the earth

Nor anything else in all creation = although we had previously exchanged the truth about God for a life and worshipped created things

Nothing, nothing, nothing, not that thing either, that one you are wrestling with, I am sure and certain that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He loves you. He has always loved you. There has never been a doubt in His mind that He loves you. And He will love you to the end.

For all those who are his, you love Him because He first loved us.

Your love is not perfect as His, but it is genuine all the same.

And just as sure as the Holy Spirit of God has made you alive to God, your love for God will not fail.

Now, you may be here today and say: but I’m not sure and certain.

I haven’t trusted Christ Jesus who died and was raised.

And you would know if you had.

God is and good and perfect father, he does not want His children wondering if they are his or not.

So, if you know in this moment that you are not in Christ, you do not have spiritual life, you have not trusted in his death and resurrection for your salvation,

God’s hand is reaching out to you right now and calling you to take it.

You may say, well, pastor, how do you know that?

Because God sovereignly purposed to place you under the preaching of His gospel this morning.

Jesus has already done everything necessary to save you.

It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, where you’ve been, it doesn’t matter your present mess or your future prospects,

If God has set His love on you, receive His embrace, His forgiveness, as His Spirit grants you eternal life.

God is for you church!

Let’s pray.

(Couches)