Hope in the Hopelessness

Romans 8:31-39 “What, then, shall we say in response 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, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. 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. 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.” 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 the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Introduction:

Happy Mothers Day

Story of Boy purchasing a jigsaw

The complexity of life and the seeming hopelessness/suffering at times, highlighted on Mothers Day

Body:

Romans overview (path of the gospel)

Break down of text

Seen

Death & Life

Human rulers

Time - Present and future

Unseen

Angels & Demons

Creatures

Any Spiritual Power

Everything else

Depth and Heights

Heaven and Hades

Ourselves

Conclusion

There is absolutely NOTHING in the physcial or spiritual realm that can seperate us from His Love, because he has done the saving. This is why we can have hope in the hoplessness because he has all the puzzle pieces and he knows the big picture.

INTRODUCTION

Happy mother's day to all the mums here at Collie church of Christ. You might relate to this story, a young boy was gifted a jigsaw, and he is getting quite frustrated because he can't put all the pieces together, it's of a New York cityscape, but there's no instructions and there's even no picture of it as he picked it up at a garage sale. And so he's just struggling to, figure it all out. And so to the point where he asks his dad out of frustration, I don't know where all these pieces go and they're a jumbled mess. Can you help? And so the dad says, sure, he jumps in and through the dad's help, they piece this beautiful picture of a New York cityscape. and it's a complete, beautiful picture and the son somewhat out of frustration, but also out of thankfulness says, dad, how did you know, to put all the pieces together like that? The father replies, well you see, I have, the luxury of knowing exactly what it looks like having been working there every day of my life This is somewhat of a picture of representation of what God does, right? God has the complete picture, right? He understands where all the jumble pieces of our life go together and what that looks like, are for us and for him and the light of his glory, and more often than not, we can relate to the jumble pieces. Can't we, that, you know, sometimes it feels like there's some missing pieces, right?

The message today is titled “Hope in the Hopelessness”. I often don't do mother's day services when I was pastoring. And the reason for it is because there is not only a great day of celebration, but also there's a lot of people that struggle with this day. Including myself who has had a tumultous times with my Mum. So I understood from that point of view that it's not a great day for everybody, but it's not a great day for people, from, for many varied reasons. Some of it is loss of relationships, some mothers and their sons and daughters are not on speaking terms at the moment. Those whom have lost their Mums, and so this day brings up painful memories. Also, there are those who are unable to concieve or have lost a baby. Couple that with people who have had a great relationship, with healthy Mothers and we have a tension called life! So whilst we do not want to take away time from celebrating those who are doing well, eneviatably at some stage we will come accross struggling and a sense of hopelessness at times. So what do we do when that hits, this passage today is the answer and actually it is the answer for everybody in Christ and is encouraging even when all is well.

BODY

Let us read that passgae that was read so well by Neil today again, but starting back in Verse 31 to gain some context:

Romans 8:31-39 “What, then, shall we say in response 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, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. 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. 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.” 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 the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans Overview

This is a summary and conclusion, not only for chapter 8, but also summarizing and concluding what has been penned from Chapter 5 onwards. Actually, the whole book of Romans thus far has been the complete picture of the Gospel, which explains the human condition, the remedy and the solution. Along with that all the work of salvation is done by God through Jesus upon the cross as a free gift. It has also shared that Gods love has been placed upon us from the very foundation of existence.

Gospel in Romans

“Romans Road” to salvation. Man has a problem: sin Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” The result is condemnation and death Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” But Christ died for sinners Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Commitment to him from the heart results in rescue Romans 10:9–10 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” So therefore God’s judgment is lifted Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” and God’s love is assured Romans 8:38–39 “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.”

Romans Chapter 8 Overview

The passage.—This is one of the great chapters of the Bible. It begins with “no condemnation” (v. 1) and ends with “no separation” (v. 39). It defies description and needs to be read over and over until its surpassing message grips our hearts and souls. The new life is a life of liberty from the law of sin and death (vv. 1–8). It is a life of glorious hope (vv. 9–25), hope of the resurrection, hope of jointheirship with Christ, and hope of final redemption. The new life is a life of glorious power (vv. 26–39). This power comes through spirit-led prayer and the providence of God. It enables us to face the future without fear. In this chapter the Holy Spirit is mentioned 21 times. However, while the Spirit is therefore extremely prominent, it is not the real topic of the chapter. It is not the Spirit himself, but the assurance of eternal life that the Spirit helps to secure, that is Paul’s topic. The Spirit is our down payment and deposit of our eternal life with God. This is our anchor in christian Hope.

Because of all of the things I have briefly shared, is the reason why Paul breaks out in a hymn like response in Vv. 35-39 and concludes that nothing can seperate us from God’s love. I have broken that Hymn down into three sections that I believe will help lock it in for us.

Seen

Death & Life

Human Condition

Time - Present and future

Unseen

Angels & Demons

Creatures

Any Spiritual Power

Everything else

Depth and Heights

Heaven and Hades

Ourselves

SEEN

Paul was no stranger to suffering, pain, despair and even being perplexed by what God was doing. So when he quotes Psalm 44:22 “Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” He is not just reading from a page, but has lived it. And there are those here who have lived it and have just starting living it. Paul gets it, he was shipwrecked, beaten, left for dead (or better rendered actually more dead than alive), twiced whipped with 40 lashes minus one, and improsined which he and others were singing and rejoicing. It isn’t just Paul, Peter an other disciples were brought before the sanhedrin and ordered to stop preaching about the Jesus that ‘they crucified’ and when they refused there was a heated deate about killing them, but in the end they beat them serverly and they actually rejoiced. It reminds me of Vietnam and the badge of honour that a disciple of Jesus showed me where he had the shape of a rifle butt indent in his head, plus stories of Mothers seeing their sons beatenm improsined and even killed for their faith and they all rejoiced. What was the common factor between them and the disciples in the Bible? That they suffered the same way as their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. They knew that Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” They knew that the same suffering that drove Jesus deeper into the Fathers love, would do the same for them too. This is the same for us, nobody wants to go through some of the horrifics of life such as death of a loved one, or a cancer diagnosis or a broken relation ship, or ...... fill in the blank. But the answer is the same to us, even if we are perplexed by what God has done or is the answer to the question “Why God” and it is that we drive ourselves deeper into the Fathers love, where we are grown more deeply and our faith is actually grown. There are two responses to suffering either it drives us to God, or drives us away from God. One there is eternal hope and the other is true despair. Please run into God.

What is being convinced

I am convinced. The verb expresses certainty; Paul sees no possible shadow of doubt. And the perfect points to a permanent state. This is no passing whim. Which menas all the following truths are for us too! And so the certainty is that it is a hundred percent in mind completed, done deal. There is no argument and Paul's head heart or actions that can say unequivocally, that nothing can separate him from the love of God. And so with that, we can also partake of that because we too have been redeemed by the same law and Jesus Christ that Paul has been saved by. Paul is not someone special who has this special kind of power or becasue of his great work upon the earth that he has a better retirement package than we do. This is for everybody who is a believer.

Death and Life

Now it's interesting that Paul starts off with death. Normally, if you talk about life and death, are he talking about death and life? There's this real big contrast in this. Now we need to dig back a little bit. We need to look at the first, or, you know, the first people that would've heard this, they were in a time where Nero were burning Christians at the stake for sport. He wrapping up Christians in skins and throwing them to wild beasts. So that's a death was a very real thing in Rome. At that time, Christians were facing it every single day. Death is not prejudiced of race, creed, culture, rich, poor, educated, uneducated, the bad, the good and neither old nor young, Christian or non-Christian.

In Genesis 1–3, evil entered the world through temptation and the fall. The result was alienation from God and one another, broken relationships, physical and emotional pain, toil, and death. Thus, the early chapters of the biblical canon portray suffering as an intruder of paradise. This account of the fall serves as a basic explanation for the origins of human suffering. The pain of childbirth and the agony of death are specifically connected with the original curse of humanity at the fall. Death was not supposed to be part of the plan for us, we were to walk with God in the Garden of eden for eternity. Sin broke it, Jesus restored it. However, we still have to face physical death in this life. And if I am totally honest…It Sucks! And has us asking Where Was God? During World War II, following word that an only son had been killed in action, a priest was called to the home of grief-stricken parents. The father, pacing the floor, weeping, in anger demanded, “Where was God when my son was being killed?” Silence prevailed. Then the ministering priest replied, “I guess where He was when His Son was being killed.” The calm, profound answer impacted the father, for it brought God out of remoteness into the circle of real life.

Death really is everywhere and has been everywhere since the day Adam and Eve decided to modify their diet. Because death is everywhere and has been for so long, one might be persuaded to think that humankind, by now, would know how to face death, whether in war or peace, with less futility and struggle. But, as the shell-shocked soldier, who was the cemetery caretaker, answered that young, widowed nurse about how her husband died, most everybody still dies “like an amateur.” There still are “no professionals in dying.” Or are there? Christians are the experts

The bible is filled with death and responses to Death, from ur original parents Adam and Eve losing their son, King David through to God losing his son. However, Romans shows us that their was death to death by Jesus sacrifice. And we can state with Paul 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 ““Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So we are experts, in death becasue Jesus paid it all, it doesn’t make it any less painful though and so we weep with those who weep and mourn together, remember Jesus wept. But the difference between our mourning and the worlds mourning is that we mourn with a real hope, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” death to death, and our salvation that is given to us and cannot be snatched away leads to this reality to those who have gone before us in Christ;

Rev. 21:3-4 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

His love was set upon you before the very foundation over the world that love continues has not stopped. Jesus has won the victory. I mean, there is death to death. Jesus has conquered the grave. Hallelujah, praise the Lord, right? So not evendeath itself, can separate us from the love of God. Why? Because God controls it. God's in charge of it. He also is the author andf finisher of my faith, my eternal salvation. If It was left up to up me and I won't even bring you into this. It was left up to me. I think I would mess it up and I would be so freaked out every day that I messed it up. And the likelihood is I would mess it up, but no, God is in control of it. He does all of the work in salvation for me now, in response, of course, I live that out by following him.

Life can actually be harder for the believer than death! in fact life is like waiting in line for the best most exciting amusement park (aka being with the Lord in our new bodies), and those who pass before us get to skip the que. Life can also seem to get harder as a Christian. Lets again focus on our Mums, life can be tiring and tough. Kids don't come with any instructions, do they? And all the Mums say Amen. I have to keep this humun alive and I have to deal with the devastation of finances and changing nappies and food and trying to figure out all these things and how to get people where they need to go on time. Not only that, but also figure out how am I going to be a good steward of my time and disciple of God as a disciple of Christ as well. How am I gonna to be a good friend and, and hospitality don't even start me on that way. I mean, the place is a mess. No one can sit anywhere and we expect to have people over like, like, and then not on that, but I've also gotta be a good friend and, and I've do these things, right? Husbands don't come with instructions either, and again all the wives said, amen. Right. So navigating what he is up to and needs. but you don't even have to be a mum or a wife to understand how difficult life can be right with the, the things that come our way, but nothing in this life. Nothing, no tragedies, no financial hardships, no brokenness, no cancer no amount of hardships can separate us from the love of God. Our sin, that we are bound to fall into and into the future, God has got us covered and cannot separate us from the love of God

Because salvation is of God, and nothing can snatch us away from his love. Then we the believer, can have the confidence of Philippians 1:20 “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”

2. UNSEEN

Angels and Demons/ Heaven and Hades

Paul says that neither anything in height, nor depth

He talks about not even the spiritual powers, right? Not even angels or demons. Now we think to ourselves, well, angels are a bit weird here, aren’t they on our side? So, why does he say angels? we understand why he would say demons, but why would he say angels aren't angels, those lovely child like creatures with litte wings who sit on white clouds. The bible (especially in Isiaiah) Talks about angels looking like a mixture of lions and Eagleswith many eyes.These majestic creatures are so powerful and big that when people see them, they, they freeze and fall to the ground. And even in some regards, sometimes they think, oh, is that God himself? And they angels have to rebuke them. So what are angels do? Well, angels actually, guard God's holiness. And as you know, they cry out holy, ho ly, holy. And so they, are the gatekeepers, if you like, no one can sneak into heaven. Because of God’s work in our salvation not even the Angels can stop us.

And likewise, nor the demons now, the demons, they are like the angels, we know that they are also powerful. But they're, they're devious. They're their evil beings and they are very hostile towards God, hate God and are under the authority of the evil one, Satan himself., So with that, the attacks that we receive, the pressing on all sides, uh, the anxiety that they may bring, and the trouble that they stir up in our minds, they can't separate us from the love of God. But what about Satan himself? Not even Satan himself can snatch away those who God has in his hands. Becasue God wins, the victory is already taken, eternal life has been given, the curtain was cracked so that we can enter into the presence of God, things have been restored back to the settings of Eden. The Old foe is defeated. In fact Paul says no other creature or demonic power (if one happened to pop up) can seperate us from the intimate relationship we have with the Father, as Romans 8 states, we are adopted into God’s family through the blood, no longer any condemnation, set free for all eternity.

Also, time and its constraints cannot seperate us from the love of our God, nothing in eternity past or eternity future can seperate us. So that sin that you fall into in a days time, or the health situation that might hit you in a years time, or the finaicial crisis that may happen in 5 years time, or the loss of limb or life to those closest to you or yourself will not seperate you from the love of God if you are in Christ Jesus. Nor the enemies lies that God is punishing you for something cannot seperate you from the love of God.

3. EVERYTHING ELSE

If that isn’t amazing enough,Paul goes to the extreme of anything we can think up that he hasn’t cannot seperate us from the love of God! no other being, nothing else in heaven or in hell, or above it or below it, no new road block can stop Gods love or undo his great salvation. This is the believers hope and response to suffering then becomes one of hope and a joy filled life, and we too like the early disciples and other believers can be joyful in suffering is if we truly get, not just with our minds but our heart that above everything else, the most important thing is that nothing and nobody can tear us away from God and his love and our inheritance of eternal life.

CONCLUSION

Think of God’s love like a stream, he is at one end and we at the other. Anything that could possibly dam up that stream, stop or dry up that Love is broken down by his Tsunami of love. And all those things are actual used to enhance the love when it gets to us, it increases our faith and brings us closer to the suffering Christ, it is the all things working together for good that we read about in 8:18. There is absolutely NOTHING in the physcial or spiritual realm that can seperate us from His Love, because he has done the saving. The Spirit has done the work, and is a reminder that the law and its requirements were met on the Cross and now the spirit is our down payment Romans 8:4 “in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” This is why we can have hope in the hoplessness because he has all the puzzle pieces and he knows the big picture. So bring those broken, jumbled pieces to God in times of trouble as he is the only one that can make sense of it, and knows the completed picture the restored one. Romans 13:8 “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.”