Greetings,
Glad to see everybody that’s here today. If you would, turn with me to look at Romans chapter 8. We will pick up reading the last verses of the chapter, beginning at verse 28.
Romans 8
King James Version
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let us pray.
This look at these last few verses of Romans chapter 8, and these verses are the climax of Paul’s explanation of the gospel, which he began in chapter 1. The first eight chapters of the book of Romans are the gospel explained in exquisite detail. Paul has examined every key component of the gospel. He started by looking at sin because sin is what God has saved us from, and to understand salvation, it’s important to understand what it is you’re being saved from.
He explained how the knowledge of sin is universal, and how God is going to judge sin, and that knowledge is also universal. Then he explained how God loved the world and sent Jesus Christ to save them from the impending judgment to come. He took time to explain how we can have total certainty and authenticate Jesus Christ, and know He was who He said He was, and He did have the power that He said He had. Then, he explained to us in detail how the plan of salvation works. We were guilty, we deserved judgment, and there is no amount of works or efforts we could put in to ever escape that coming judgment. But God loved us, and He sent His Son, Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, He took the punishment for our sins. Our sins were punished, the death penalty was carried out because of the sins of you, I, and all mankind, and that death penalty was carried out on Jesus Christ.
So sin has been judged, and specifically, our sin has been judged. Justice has been done.
Because Jesus was punished for our sins, you and I can go free. Paul again went into exquisite detail explaining what that looks like. Because of what Jesus did, you and I will never face the judgment of God or the wrath of God. God is working in us to change us into the image of His Son, and it’s the work of God Almighty doing that. God Himself will make it so, and when Christ returns, we will be like Him, we will be glorified as He is glorified.
Even though we are still a work in progress, even though there are times we wrestle within ourselves, we have struggles, like those Paul has talked about in chapter 7 and chapter 8 here, God is still working on us to make us what we are going to be. In the meantime, there is no condemnation. In the meantime, there is nothing that can stop God from loving us and stop Him from completing this work in us.
That is what we have been looking at for our last two messages. Paul is ending his explanation of the gospel here, expounding the absolute certainty that nothing can stand in the way of a child of God who’s been justified, who is in Christ, from reaching glorification.
It has nothing to do with understanding special mysteries. It has nothing to do with having kept special rules. It has nothing to do with belonging to a special group. It has everything to do with the work of God in our lives, as a result of us believing in Christ for salvation.
As we arrive at these last verses, let us examine them also, and may they also give us strength and open our eyes. In verse 35, Paul asks some questions. Let me read it.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
What can make God stop loving us? That is the question Paul is dealing with here, and it is very important because in the context of what he is saying, he has assured us in the preceding verses that God has predestinated us to be made like Jesus, to be glorified. Then he started dealing with questions: is it possible God could change His mind? His argument has been quite simple—God cannot now love us less than when He first saved us.
You could go back to chapter 5 and find where Paul makes this same argument, which he comes back to here: while we were yet sinners, God loved us and gave His Son to die for us. Being saved by His death, how much more shall we be saved by His life? This is the same argument Paul made in chapter 5. If He loved us enough to die for us when we were sinners, how much more does He love us now that we are His children, and how much more will He certainly see us through now that we have come to know His saving grace?
That’s the proposition and the end point of this love he’s talking about. It’s the love of God towards us, to save us and to finish the work in us. Can anything stop Him from loving us? Can anything stop Him from finishing that work in us? In verses 33 and 34, Paul has explained to us that there is nothing that will cause God to change His mind about us, and he has explained that there is no one and no thing that can convince God to change His mind. He sums it up here almost with this rhetorical question: what can separate us from the love of God?
Can the difficulties we face in life separate us from His love? Can the events we pass through—the tribulations, famines, difficulties, persecutions—can those things separate us from the love of God? There are people who hate us; there are people who tell us we’re going to go to hell. Those are persecutions. God could care less what those people say; nothing can separate us from the love of God. God does not care what the Gnostics, who believe they’re saved by knowledge, have to say. The Bible tells us they’re heretics, and that’s what Gnosticism really is—the belief that you’re saved through special revelation. God does not care what the law-keepers say, the people who believe they’re saved by their works. They are also heretics, and what they say does not matter. The persecutions of people like that will not change the love of God towards us, just like the persecution of this world, which does not believe in God at all, cannot stop Him from loving us.
Now, as we read this, Paul does not present us with a false picture. He doesn’t present us with the prosperity gospel. He doesn’t present us with an idea that everything is necessarily going to get better in this life. Had he done that, he would have been lying, because we only need to examine Paul’s life and find out that’s not true. Things did not get better for Paul; they only got worse in the natural sense of this world. The gospel is not a ticket to a life of luxury. It’s not a ticket to a life without cares. But when we believe the true gospel, when we truly believe that Jesus saves and that He alone saves, you better believe persecution is going to come your way. You better believe tribulation is going to come your way. Jesus promised us that it would, and we’re witnesses of it.
Look at what Paul says in verse 36:
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
For Thy sake. There is something about serving our Lord; there is something about believing the true gospel. It brings on persecutions. We are killed all the day long. That is how many people look on us—like animals to be destroyed. And they treat us that way too. That is something I believe most of us sitting here have experienced in different ways. The way these wicked ones dehumanize you, they dehumanize you so they can suspend the need to show even common decency. They gather together in wicked convocation, and with their lips, they slander and slaughter and destroy. The wicked hate the righteous. In Paul’s day, the wicked had so much power, they could even kill the righteous. The way those lunatics scream and rant and rave, you better believe they would like to see us dead today. It is just not within their power to do it
. May the Lord reward them according to their works. But as for us, what can separate us from the love of God? Can these persecutions separate us?
I have to think Paul had a big smile on his face when he wrote these verses, because many, many people hated Paul. Many, many people were hoping Paul would just die. But Paul could smile and know that nothing could separate him from the love of God. Nothing could prevent him from standing next to Christ in glory.
Look at verse 37:
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
My, what a verse! None of those things can stop God. None of those things can hold Him back or prevent Him from finishing His work. We are more than conquerors. And how is it that we conquer? How is it that we overcome? How is it that we reach this final state of glorification? It is through Him that loved us. We are not conquerors on our own. It’s not our work, it’s not our efforts, it’s not our doing. But it is through Him that loved us. That is why His love towards us is so important. That is why it is so important for Paul to examine if it is possible for Him to stop loving us. But since Paul can look at this and conclude that there is nothing that will stop Him from loving us, he can also conclude that there is nothing that will stop Him from making us conquerors. There is nothing that will stop Him from causing us to triumph over all the situations of this life and this world, and causing us to stand in glory beside Christ on that bright tomorrow.
We are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen. What a thought. It is amazing. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing can stop God from loving His children. Nothing can stop God from making us conquerors. Nothing can stop God from glorifying us. Nothing at all.
And if you have very carefully followed all of Paul’s arguments up to this point, all of this is true because we believed on Christ to the saving of our souls. That is all. That is all it took and all it takes for these things to be true—believing on Christ to the saving of our souls.
And nothing can then separate us from His love. Nothing can then stop Him from finishing the work He began in us. Nothing can pluck us out of His hand.
And it’s not our grip on Him—it’s His grip on us.
In our last message, we examined verses 32-34, where Paul began examining if something could cause God to change His mind. Could something get in the way and stop Him from completing His work in us? And he explained that God will not change His mind, that no one out there can make Him change His mind. And here in these verses, he lets us know that we ourselves cannot cause Him to change His mind. He says neither death nor life, nor things that are present today, nor even things that may come, nor any creature at all can separate us from the love of God.
Shortcomings in your present, shortcomings in your future—the nature of your life, the nature of your death—no creature, not even yourself, can stop God from loving you. When we have believed on Christ to the saving of our soul, none of those things can turn God away and stop Him from completing His work in us.
We are predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son.
And notice, this all speaks of God’s love towards us, not our love towards Him. Of course, we love God as His children, but this thing is not predicated on our love. It is predicated on His love for us.
God loves us. And what is love? What does it mean to be loved by God? What does the love of God entail?
It means He has an affection for us. He feels for us. Love is something emotional. It’s not only emotional, but love is certainly emotional. If you separate love from emotion, then it’s not love anymore. And that is something that people in the places we come from do—they separate love from the emotion. I think the most common definition of love I ever heard is, “Love is corrective.” And if you ever challenge someone’s love, that is especially where they go: “Well, love is corrective; therefore, I can treat you abusively.” But when that is the aspect of love that gets all the attention, then it’s pretty safe to bet that it’s not really love at all. God’s love is not abusive. God’s love is affectionate.
Love certainly includes an affection that is felt. Love is something you feel as compassion towards someone else, as an affection towards someone else, even as an attachment to someone else. And if you make the mistake of leaving that part out, then it’s not love.
And just like some people make the mistake of separating emotions from love, other people make the mistake of separating action from love. True love is more than just the emotions—true love turns into action. Actions that demonstrate affection and compassion that comes from love. And if we wanted to know what all that entails, we could go to 1 Corinthians 13.
Love is patient, love is kind, love is long-suffering, love is not puffed up, love does not behave itself unseemly. Love endures all things, hopes all things, bears all things. Think of that—God has that kind of love for us.
God has a love that bears all things and endures all things. That includes when we let Him down. That includes times when our relationship is not all that it should be. He endures it, He bears it. And He keeps on loving us, even in hard times. Love is long-suffering. And love is patient.
And what is funny, if you read 1 Corinthians, when Paul gives the most expansive explanation of love in the entire Bible, he never says love is corrective. And of course, love will lead us to help the ones we love do better, but it will lead us to do it in a way that is patient, and long-suffering, and kind, and not unseemly. And that is the kind of love God has for us.
And just like God, in our own life, we can often encounter things that will try our love. We can face situations where things do not go the way we would desire, where people let you down, fail to keep their word. People and situations can disappoint us at times very greatly. But love is patient. Love endures all things. And love hopes for the best. And God has that kind of love towards us. In this life, I have met very few people who actually have a love like God has, but it is my earnest desire to have such a love.
Because that is the kind of love my Heavenly Father shows to me. It is a kind and a forgiving love.
Now, let me also draw your attention to one word there in verse 38, and it is the word “persuaded.”
And what was he persuaded about? That things would get better in this world? That his life would get easier? That his suffering would end? That the world would turn into a rosy place? No, of course not. If he had said he was persuaded of that, we could know he was deceived, because that is not how his life unfolded. This world was not going to get better for Paul. But this world could not separate him from the love of God. And that is what he was persuaded of. That is what the gospel had taught him—that nothing can separate him from the love of God, and that God’s love for him ensured that God would finish the work in his life.
Just like Peter said, there is something wonderful for us, reserved in heaven for those who are being kept by the power of God. It is the power of God that keeps us. It is His power holding us. If we had to depend on ourselves, it would be quite hopeless. But when it is God, there is no failing—it will be so because God Himself is doing the work.
Jesus said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” That is love. Nothing will separate us from His love. Nothing will make Him stop loving us. Nothing will stop Him from welcoming us into heaven. Not when we are His, not when we are justified by His blood. Nothing will stop Him from loving us.
God does not change. He is ever the same. The love He has for me is eternal. The love He has for you is eternal. And nothing will change it.
And again, just notice that word “persuaded” in verse 38. Let me end by concentrating on what the word means. Paul was persuaded. He was not simply “faithing” his way into this belief. He was not just only believing, but he was persuaded. It was more than just faith and believing—it was also something that convinced him through reason. It was something he was convinced of by looking at the facts, at the evidence. He was persuaded.
And who had persuaded Paul? Who persuaded Paul? It was God. God persuaded Paul.
If you are only believing, you may be only believing a lie. If you are simply “faithing” your way to something, what you have may not be faith at all—it may just be foolishness. The Bible does not teach us to believe things that are unreasonable or illogical. Paul was persuaded about the truth he was sharing. He had reasoned it out. And you can read through his letters and understand very clearly the basis for his reasoning. And it all started with the resurrection. He knew the resurrection was true. He had met 500 witnesses of the resurrection. He had witnessed the risen Christ personally. He knew Jesus really was who He said He was. And the resurrection was undeniable proof. And if He was who He said He was, then His words were truly the words of God. And based on His words, Paul can make all these assertions because Paul is basing everything he said here on the things Jesus said, and the things written about Jesus in the Old Testament. Paul has not pulled any of this out of the ether. Paul has not had some light come down from heaven and tell him all these things. These things he is saying are derived from the plain reading of the Old Testament, and from the plain words of Jesus Christ. And through that, Paul was persuaded.
And you and I today, we have access to the same resources. We have here in this Bible the written accounts of at least seven first-hand eyewitnesses of the resurrection, and many more second-hand accounts. We have the ability to know the resurrection of Jesus really happened, just like Paul did. And from there, we can follow the exact same reasoning Paul did and arrive at all the same conclusions he has made in this first half of the book of Romans. We do not have to simply “faith” our way to it. We do not have to only believe our way to it. And people who tell you being persuaded by facts and reason is carnal or unscriptural, are people who don’t know what the Bible says. Paul actually instructs
us in his epistles to think about things in terms of reason and logic. And he tells us very plainly, like right here, that he himself was persuaded that what he is saying is true.
Faith is not the opposite of reason. Faith and reason complement each other. And the Bible actually shows us that faith that is unreasonable is probably just foolishness, not faith at all. And sadly, people who abandon reason and common sense and wrap themselves in only believing are people who end up in a ditch. And they are so blind they can’t even realize it.
But as for me, and I hope for you too, I am persuaded. I am confident, as a matter of faith and as a matter of reason, that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing can stand in our way and prevent us from being saved from wrath through Him. Nothing can stop us from standing next to Christ in glory.
Let me end by reading these verses one last time to us, verse 35:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Wide, wide as the ocean, high as the heaven above;
Deep, deep as the deepest sea is my Savior’s love.
I, though so unworthy, still am a child of His care;
For His Word teaches me that His love reaches me everywhere.
Let us pray:
Father, thank You for Your love which You have shown us by Christ Jesus. May we find encouragement in Your Word. May we find assurance in Your promises. And may You keep us all safely until we return again this evening. In Jesus’ name, we ask it. Amen.