God's Unfailing Devotion
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
If you have been a Christian for even a short time and you take God’s Word and your sin seriously, then you’ve probably had to grapple with the thought: is my salvation real? Can I truly be saved with all that I’ve done? Can I truly be saved if I keep failing the way that I do? Will God still want me? Will he still love me? Will he still receive me into his kingdom?
This morning, we are looking at the last few verse of Romans 8. And in these few verses, Paul is showing us God’s unfailing devotion toward us, his adopted children. By the end of this message to you today, my hope and prayer is that you will come away knowing that there is nothing that threatens our eternal hope of glory. Paul puts forth three impotent threats. They are paper tigers—outwardly powerful and strong, but actually impotent and helpless—that infiltrate our thinking. These three paper tigers that we will see are:
Accusations
Pain
Blind spots
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 gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
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.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
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.
Accusations
Accusations
The first paper-tiger that Paul presents are the accusations against us. Understand this because it is easy to get focused on the accusations—whether from ourselves, others, or the fear of what will be said at the judgment—that accusations cannot and will not separate us from God.
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 gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
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.
When Paul asked what shall we say to these things, he is referring to the plan and purpose of God that Bruce preached about last week. God foreknew us, predestined us, justified us, and glorifies us in order to conform us to the image of his beloved Son. So what then can we conclude from this plan and purpose of God? God is for us. Or to put it another way: God is on our side or even that God is working on our behalf. And if God is on our side, then we cannot lose no matter who challenges us. It’s like that Capital One commercial where the man says its like the biggest no brainer on earth, kind of like and then flashes to the kids picking teams for basketball and the girl picks Charles Barkley who is twice as tall as the tallest kid. It’s not even fair to the other team if Barkley’s on the other side! So it is with God on our side! I mean, a tugboat can attack a battleship, but it isn’t going to do any good.
God gave us his Son. That’s how much he’s on our side. God delivered Jesus up for our transgressions and raise him for our righteousness so that we can stand before him in the unmistakable position of no condemnation. If he gave us his Son, how could we expect he doesn’t also give us all the things necessary for our final salvation? Peter says the same thing:
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
God did not give us salvation as a gift and then quickly say, “batteries not included.” He gave us everything we need to get from this life to the next.
So if God is on our side, then who can even hope to defeat us? Who can bring a charge or an accusation? Sure, there are plenty of things that one could list. But with God on our side, none of the charges will stick. God is the one who justifies. He’s the judge who declares us not guilty. He knows who we are and what we’ve done, but he has declared us not guilty because of his Son. Thus, Paul asked who is the one who condemns? No one gets to condemn us. God is the judge. No one else. Jesus was condemned on our behalf. He died, but he didn’t stay dead. He rose from the dead. And he is now with the Father making intercession for us.
Not only do we have the Holy Spirit interceding on our behalf, but we have Jesus too! John called him our Advocate when we go wrong. We can almost look at him as our Alibi since Paul is constantly talking of us being in and with Christ. “Your honor, Chris was with me that day in question.” Every accusation therefore is dropped for those who trust in Christ.
Pain
Pain
This leads us to the second paper-tiger that Paul mentions. The first is accusation. The second is pain. Pain cannot and will not separate us from God. And Paul lists all types of pain that can come our way.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
Tribulation can be any type of trouble that comes our way: family, friends, church, weather, health, abusive spouse, a lost job, or some other trouble in our lives. Distress is that which brings anxiety and worry and hopelessness. Persecution is suffering for Christ. Famine would bring hunger pangs. Nakedness brings shame and exposure to the elements. Danger from nearly any walks of life: wild animals, arduous journeys, enemies, betrayal, the list can go on. A sword stabbing, a gun shooting, a bomb exploding.
Do any of these things have the power to separate us from God? Paul’s answer is absolutely not! And he quotes Psalm 44 as a text to at least say: these things should be expected. I don’t know why but I always took verse 36 as a personal note from Paul to the Romans. If that’s they way you keep reading it, let me tell you: we’re wrong. This was the Psalmist talking to God.
For God’s sake we are being killed all the day long. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the pain comes because of persecution. Remember that’s just one type of pain that Paul listed. In the Psalm, you will read that the writer couldn’t figure out why the calamity, the pain was coming upon the people of God. The verse after this one that Paul quoted was the Psalmist intreating God to wake up!
Isn’t that how it feels at times? Like God’s asleep? That God has abandoned us? That God has left us high and dry? Children who go astray? How painful to a mom and dad’s heart is that!? Why? Is God angry with me? Does he not love me anymore? Is he no longer on my side? Cancer! Why would God do such a thing? So often you hear the bitter questions from atheists, “where was God when my mom, my wife, my sister suffered for months with cancer?” Why is our nation turning against God and against us?
If you’ve ever felt pain, you may be wondering if it is a sign that God has separated himself from you. Or you may be afraid that your response to your suffering will separate you from him. We like to remember Job as the man who said, “The LORD gives and the LORD takes away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” But he also wondered the same things you and I do sometimes.
How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
In other words, “How long are you going to keep picking on me? Why won’t you just leave me alone and let me catch my breath?” But God did not abandon Job for such comments. Look what Paul tells us:
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
These things don’t separate us from Christ’s love; they do not separate us from God. In fact, it is through this love that we are able to overcome these pains. It’s translated as “more than conquerors” but I prefer to say that we are “hyper-victorious!” We do not just gain victory over the pain, we gain a hyper-victory. Not only do these not separate us from God, but the draw us closer to God and so become hyper-victorious over the pains of life.
Blind Spots
Blind Spots
So far we’ve seen that neither accusations of our sin nor pains that we go through will separate us from God, but now we come to that third paper-tiger: blind spots. I remember coming out of the church’s drive way out onto Droste a couple of years ago. I pulled out and at the last second slammed on my breaks as an SUV rushed by me. I never saw it until it zoomed by. It had been in my blind spot and I was nearly blindsided. But Paul assures us that blind spots cannot and will not separate us from God.
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.
Notice that these words are for the most part unseen events, beings, or actions. No one knows when death will come or will life will begin. No one sees angels or rulers or powers (classes of angels and demons). We can’t see everything that is and no one can tell the future. No one can see what is in heaven or hell, and just for good measure, even the things we may be able to see but happen unexpectedly are included; though, context seems to indicate creation in the spiritual realm.
Understand that there is a vast spiritual realm out there that is we cannot see. But Peter and Paul both tell us that there are demonic beings after us.
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
These beings are fighting against you, but they cannot separate you from the love God in Christ Jesus. When we die or when Jesus returns, whichever comes first, we need not be concerned that something has happened unexpectedly, something that we could not plan for, something we could not seen. We never have to worry that we’ll be blindsided or that we had a blind spot that we never overcame and so we are separated from God.
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
Conclusion
Conclusion
At the beginning of the sermon, I told you that my hope was that by the end you would be convinced that nothing can separate us from the hope of glory that we have in Jesus Christ. We have seen that any accusations made against us will be rendered moot and baseless because it is God who is working on our behalf, justifying us. And we have Christ as our living Intercessor and Alibi. We saw that pain cannot separate us from God, but that it is the love of Christ that causes us to be hyper-victorious. Finally we’ve seen that blind spots will not separate us from God. We never need worry that some unforeseen circumstance or being will at the last moment swoop down and blindside us, separating us from God’s love in Christ Jesus.
So if you are one who is concerned about your salvation based on any of these reasons, take hope in God’s unfailing devotion to you. You can face your disease, your family troubles, even your own sin knowing that God is at work on your behalf.
But if you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your master and commander, then you have no such assurance. In fact, the exact opposite is assured for you. You are separated from God and will remain separated from him until you come to Jesus, turning from your former ways and turning to follow him.