God's Steadfast Love

Insecurity

We are now in our second week of lock down. I wonder how you’re feeling about the whole situation?

There is certainly no guarantee that it will end this week, in fact, my guess is that we still have at least a few more weeks.

And that can make planning hard. How can you plan your next family gathering when you don’t know when you’ll next be allowed to visit them?

Now, we’re all going to react different to these sort of situations. For some, you might not feel phased at all. For others, it will be a big deal.

But when we face personal insecurities, the isolation can be particularly tough.

When we start questioning, do people even like me? Do I have any real friends? Why would people like me, I don’t even like myself?

Put thoughts like that into an environment of isolation, where there is no validation, where you can’t see the body language of others, where you might go for quite some time without even hearing from someone, it can be very troubling.

Now each of us will feel this to differing degrees. Some of you might really struggle with those personal insecurities. Others of you might be quite confident in yourselves.

But even for the confident ones, I think there can still be those moments of doubt.

Seek help

Now before I continue, let me just make something clear. I am going to be talking about how we find security in Jesus. And this will be a message for every single one of us. But for some, there may be some underlying mental health issues. While you should still find security in Jesus, it is also important you seek the appropriate health advice.

A Spiritual perspective

Well, let me step back and consider the insecurities that we feel from a spiritual perspective.

I actually want to do that by starting with the devil. Now the devil gets a few different titles and descriptions.

Father of lies

One such description comes in John 8 when Jesus is getting fired up with some obstinate Jews, and in the process of this, he considers the influence of the devil in their lives, and so describes the devil as the “father of lies”. (John 8:44)

This father of lies of course displayed his cunning abilities right back in Genesis 3.

Now it’s quite interesting to see how it worked. You see, we have Adam and Eve in the garden with God allowing them to eat from any tree except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But the devil comes in the form of a snake and questions Eve about this advice.

Fact checkers

Now today we are all familiar with the fact checkers. It seems almost every news agency has their own fact checking unit these days, and I’m sure you’ve figured out which ones you trust over others.

One thing I have observed with them however, is that there conclusion is not always just true or false. Sometimes it can be that simple, but they’ve developed other labels like “mostly true” or “misleading”.

And it’s the misleading one I find interesting. Because you can speak a truth, but be very misleading with the words you say.

Well, if we were to do a fact check on the devil in Genesis 3, well rather than false, I think he might be labelled misleading.

You see, the snake does say ‘you won’t die’, which technically is a lie because death does eventually come, but that death for Adam and Eve doesn’t come for a very long time - centuries in fact.

And the snake says that their eyes will be open - something which does indeed happen.

You see, this father of lies is very cunning. He speaks in a way that can sound very much like truth, but takes you in the complete different direction to the one God has planned.

Satan

But another common name for the Devil is Satan.

Now did you know that the word Satan is not the translation of the Hebrew word, it is the Hebrew word.

The Hebrew word Satan actually means ‘accuser’ or ‘adversary’, although certainly the biblical authors did use it in the sense of what we understand.

A striking image from the Old Testament comes in Zechariah 3, where we have Joshua the High Priest having Satan stand beside him, and it tells us that he stands there ready to accuse him. Actually, in the Hebrew it essentially says that Satan stands there to satan him.

In this image, Satan is saying that this man is not worthy.

Now I’ll come back to this image, because it will become a powerful image to describe what we see in Romans 8.

What happens to us

You see, in these two descriptions of the devil, we can actually start to see part of the reason we get the insecurities. And again, I don’t want to simplify this too much - there are of course many factors.

But you see, Satan the accuser is there to highlight all those times you’ve failed. And it certainly is the case you’ve failed. In fact, it’s one of the big things we’ve learnt going through the book of Romans.

You are a sinner.

I’m sure if you just think back over the last week, you can all think of numerous occasions where perhaps you got angry with someone.... where you looked with envy at your neighbour who has a bigger car or better house… or where you acted deceitfully to gain an advantage over someone… or perhaps it was even just carelessness where you didn’t show love as you should… where you put yourself first, ignoring God, ignoring others.

Satan the accuser is ready to slam those failures into your face.

Just look at what you are. How can you even look at the mirror.

But Satan the accuser, is also the Devil, the father of lies.

And just like he does in the garden, his lies are based on some truths. How could people love you when you’ve acted in this way?

He will tell you that you are not good enough to be in God’s kingdom. You don’t deserve your spot. You should probably just slip away quietly before you make the situation worse.

As I’ve said, there may be other factors at play in your insecurities, but don’t downplay the spiritual aspect. The evil one will mess with you and if you fail to let the amazing truths that we’ll get to shortly, you will be in a world of pain.

Romans 8

Well, let now come to Romans 8 because it is here that we’re going to see how we stamp in the face of the devil who is trying to bring us down.

Now we’ve already spent two weeks in this amazing chapter, and it truly is one of the most amazing chapters that we have.

You see, it started with the powerful words: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. A truth which we’re going to come back to shortly.

In the first third, which I covered two weeks ago, it describes how by the power of the Spirit in our lives, we can start to see victory in our life. Our actions will start to conform to that of Christs. We are able to move from the realm of the flesh, and into the realm of the Spirit.

And knowing that by the Spirit, our present reality is renewed, which also saw in the middle third, the section I looked at last week, that we can look forward to a future glory, one that we wait for with the expectant groans.

And so this chapter has so far filled us with hope. A hope like no other this world has to offer. A hope that says that this messed up world is not all, we can change and we can expect better.

But as we are filled with hope, the devil frets, and he goes into overdrive to bring us down. He’ll use those tactics I’ve been talking about to move you from a position of hope to a position of despair.

But Paul will have none of it.

He hasn’t taken us this far just to be defeated.

And so he asks in verse 31: “What, then, shall we say in response to these things?

And he goes on to ask five questions which will get to the heart of our insecurities.

Questions which could very easily bring to mind those insecurities, like the fact that we should have charges against us, and that we should be condemned, and that we don’t deserve the good things… except those things don’t come to mind, because he frames each question with an important truth.

Because of the way they are framed, we can see how foolish those insecurities really are.

So let’s look at them now.

Who is against us?

I want to show you what I’m talking about by first asking the question without the framing Paul gives it.

You see, the first question is: who can be against us?

Well, you can see when the question is asked like that, the answer could be a long one.

I’m sure you can think of many people who are against you. There are those people who for whatever reason, whether logical or not, have just taken a dislike to you. They’re the people that bring out the worst in us. They are the people who make life hard.

And once we’ve extinguished the list of people on this earth who are against us, we then consider the spiritual enemies. The evil forces that tempt and confuse us.

The answer to the question: who can be against us? is: well, there’s many.

But, Paul doesn’t ask the question like that. He frames it very differently, and it suddenly completely changes.

He asks, if God is for us, who can be against us?

Well, there is now only one answer - no one!

That list we came up with a moment ago, they fade in comparison.

Having what we need

The second question asks: will God give us all things?

When asked without the framing, the answer is, well, probably not. I certainly don’t deserve it.

Why would God give us all things? The way we muck things up, it would almost seem foolish of him to do so.

But look how Paul frames the question: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all”

You see, not only is God generous, he is sacrificial in his generosity.

He is not giving you what you deserve. He is giving out of his abundant love.

We can very easily worry about whether we have enough. But while sometimes there may be some luxuries that you have to go without, do you think God will hold back anything you need, just because you made some mistakes.

Will God give you all things? You better believe he will - and then some.

Who will bring a charge?

In the third and fourth questions, things start to get serious.

The third question asks: who will bring a charge.

Well we know who. Satan, the accuser. As we talked about, that is what that name, Satan, means.

He knows which buttons to push.

He just holds up a mirror. He might even give you a copy of Romans 2.

He’ll call you a hypocrite. He’ll tell you, you’re just like those Pharisees, and we all know the roasting they received from Jesus.

But Paul adds to the question: “It is God who justifies”

You see, we’ve gone through this in the series. Yes Romans 2 is important. It does tell you you’re a sinner. But Romans 2 needs to be read with Romans 3. Because, though you are a sinner, you have also been justified.

And for this reason, when those charges come flying at you, this is where we need to call the devil for what he is - the father of lies. Because there is no charge against you, because the charge sheet was wiped clean when you accepted Jesus.

Zechariah 3

Remember I made a brief mention before from Zechariah 3. It’s actually quite a profound picture, because we have Joshua the High Priest, with Satan the accuser next to him.

The chapter has Joshua wearing filthy clothes. But in an act of grace, the filthy clothes are removed, and replaced with fine garments.

In the picture Joshua was about to face the barrage of the accuser, but God said, no, you don’t answer to him. You answer to me. And I’m a God of grace.

The same is for us. You don’t answer to Satan. You answer to God, and when he looks at you, he sees Jesus.

Who condemns?

The fourth question in some ways is similar to the third. Who will condemn you?

It’s really the final piece of the puzzle. You see, we’ve questioned, who’s against you, and who’s bringing charges against you.

And thinking about this from that perspective of our personal insecurities, it’s like our defenses have now been breached. We’ve been defeated.

And sometimes we can feel like that. We resign ourselves to the fact that we’re done.

But this time, Paul doesn’t just give us a new framing for this question. He starts by giving us the answer.

No one condemns you. After all, if no one is against you and no one is bringing charges, then of course you’re not condemned.

But he also gives us a framing which puts this right.

You’re not condemned, because Christ Jesus died. He has taken the punishment already.

But it’s more then that. Even Paul’s getting excited at this point - did you see him say in verse 34 “more than that...”

You see, not only did Jesus die, but he also raised to new life. This is the evidence of the power of what happened. But it also doesn’t end there. As Paul goes on to remind us, Jesus is not at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

You’re not condemned because Jesus has already gone through this and is at your side bringing you through.

Who shall separate us?

Well the fifth and final question in some ways ties this all together.

You see, maybe you’re not going to think in terms of charges and being condemned.

It’s just that we feel so disonnected… unloved.

And so Paul asks: who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

In the earlier questions, I will suggesting what the answers might be if he didn’t give us the framing he did.

Well this time, Paul himself gives us a pretty convincing list of what might get in the way.

He lists: trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, the sword.

This isn’t a comprehensive list. But these are real things that the Christians in Rome would have faced. Perhaps we could add lockdown to the list. Or whatever other specific trouble you might be facing at the moment.

These things are real and they are hard to go through.

More than conquerors

In verse 37, Paul then gives us a powerful reminder - “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors though him who loved us”.

And this is the beautiful thing. We have all these insecurities because the devil keeps feeding us his lies.

But we don’t have to stand for it. We just say one thing to him - or really, one person - Jesus Christ.

And by the power of the name of Jesus we become more than conquerors, because not only do we stand with the one who has defeated death - we gain life by him.

And Paul gives us another amazing list in verses 38 and 39, this time, not so much focusing on those earthly problems, but on full breadth of everything.

He powerfully concludes:

Romans 8:38–39 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

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.

Conclusion

There we have it.

If there is any doubt left in you as to whether you have a place with Jesus or not, I want you to meditate on this passage.

Now I recognise we will all have doubts from time to time. That’s part of being human. It’s also part of living in a world where the devil still has some level of reign in him.

But we do not need to let these doubts get the better of us.

We need to call a lie for what it is.

When you have that voice inside you saying that everyone is against you. Declare: God is for me.

When it says you don’t deserve to have anything good, say: God has already graciously given.

When you feel the charge sheet filling up, or that feeling of condemnation becomes strong: point to Jesus, who has paid the price, and more than that, has risen to new life.

When you feel separated: Declare: I am more than a conqueror. I have Jesus and he will never leave me. Nothing, and absolutely nothing can ever get in the way.

Romans 8 really is an amazing chapter.

It starts with the no condemnation, and ends with no separation.

This is what the truths taught in the first seven chapters lead to. The truth that God is for you so who can be against you.

Let me pray...