God For Us

It's December 13th today, but I want us to play a game. Pretend it's 1941. We're gonna all get in our imaginary time machines. We're gonna go back to December 13th, 1941, a significant time in our country's history because this is just about a week after Pearl Harbor's been attacked. Our country is responding emotionally, responding as to how they're going to engage in the war going on. Would it be very similar to how we were responding after 9-11? The main difference being there's been a war going on overseas between nations that we've been avoiding, and then after Pearl Harbor, the declaration of war. What would we do? So put yourself in that position, a young man or a young woman. If you're a woman, are you going to commit to being a Riverton Rosie? If you're a man, are you going to enlist? Because this is frightening. The war wasn't looking good. It looked like Hitler. The other leaders of Italy and Japan, they continued to make progress. The outcome wasn't all that certain. It was actually terrifying. Would you commit to the cause of fighting that enemy that attacked us? And that was doing great atrocities throughout the world. As I think about this, I want us to really press in. What would it take to get your commitment for a cause like that? Because here's the issue. You're putting your life on the line. You're putting yourself in front of bullets to protect other men who are putting themselves in front of bullets so that citizens, civilians, would not be taken, killed, captured. What would it take? So I think about it. All right, one, am I really committed to this cause? Is the cause worth it? And here we're thinking specifically the freedom that America had. Is the leadership competent? Can I trust MacArthur, Eisenhower, Patton? Is the leadership competent? How certain am I of victory? If we're gonna make a commitment to a life-changing cause, We actually have to have some confidence. The cause is worth it. The leadership is competent. And there is some prospect of victory. This morning we're concluding Romans 8 and Romans 8 is a call to arms. Romans 8 is a call to battle that requires us to be confident. Now here's the real catch with Romans 8. We're going to battle having complete confidence in someone outside of ourselves. We are called to be committed to a cause having complete confidence that Jesus Christ has done what he said he has done. He is who he says he is and he will do what he has promised. So as we look to Romans 8, this has been a rich chapter. Some have said this is the greatest chapter in the Bible. And I think it's because it speaks to two different things. One, Romans 8 is making sure you understand how much confidence you can have in Christ. And then it calls you to clear action. So whenever we're suffering, we want to go to Romans 8 because it gives us such confidence in what Christ has done. When we're asking, how do I now live for Christ, it gives us such clear action. Put away sin. What I want you to see is that being a Christian is a real commitment. It's one where you're supposed to be counting the cost. It's one where you realize you are denying yourself. You're putting to death sin. You're going to have to change everything about the way you live. Is it worth it? Is Christ who He says He is? Has He actually died? to take away sin? Has He actually risen? Is He actually at the right hand of the Father? Has He actually given us the Holy Spirit to give us the power of the resurrection? Is life eternal actually going to be better than this world? These are questions we have to really think about. We are supposed to be counting the cost. Romans 8 As I've tried to summarize, no condemnation, no defeat, no separation. You hear there because of what Christ has done, we do not fear judgment. We're justified. We do not fear sin, the devil, or death because we're more than conquerors. There is no separation from the love of God. This is the confidence that the Christian life is based upon. As I look to our passage, we're concluding. We're going to go back and walk through 28 through 30. We touched on it last week. But as we conclude, I actually want to read the entirety of Romans 8 for the context here at the word of the Lord. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind of the flesh is death, but to set the mind of the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him, in order that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this we hope, for in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought. But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose, For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified. 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 is indeed 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. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for what you have said about us, what you have decided for us, what you have done for us, We thank You, Lord, for the hope that You've set before us. May Your Spirit bless us with the faith that we need to have confidence in these truths. May Your Spirit bless us with the grace we need to have courage to live according to Your Word because of these truths. Lord, we thank You for what You've done. Help us to love You because You have first loved us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. As you can see in your bulletin outline, we've got three main points. Verses 28 through 30, God's purpose. 31 through 34, God's provision. And then 35 through 39, God's preservation. We are conquerors in Christ when we have confidence in Christ. There is a cause and effect. We can only be conquerors in Christ if we have confidence in Christ. Let's look to our first point, God's purpose. And you can see there, verse 28, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. The first phrase there, we really need to think about here, and that we know. Paul's talked about what he knows, what he considers. He's trying to help you see that what you have confidence in changes the way you live. Here, he's drawing out, we know how good God is, because God's spoken. We know what God is up to, because He's revealed it to us. Back in verse 18, we're supposed to know that the glory that is to come is not worth comparing to the suffering. Here we know that all things, even now, are working out. Now, for who? For whom? We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to His purpose. So there's two qualifiers for this great promise. All things work together for the good of those who love God and those who are called by God. Those two qualifiers are very important. When you think about what does it mean that we love God, what does it mean that He calls us, and these two things are necessarily related. Well, we know from 1 John we only love God because He first loves us. So we think about those who love God, it's those whom God has already loved. To love God is a very specific people. God's chosen children whom he has called to be his children, whom he has stirred within them a new affection, a new love. As we look to Christ's words, if you love me, you keep my commandments. If you love me, you'll love one another. As we think about what does it mean that we love God, how do I know if I love God? We need to keep those things in mind. And, well, we fail in all those. So Paul makes it very clear. It's those who he's called according to his purpose. This is the beauty of God's effectual call. I call out to my children, come to dinner. It's not always an effectual call. Right? I'm regularly asking people to do things, and I'm very ineffective. God, when He calls, that word doesn't return voice. When He desires something, when He calls, He causes a response. His word is effective. When He calls us, His purpose is fulfilled. So we see that all things work together for those who love God according to those who He calls. We realize here that there's a beautiful, powerful message for those whom He's called and those who responded to that call with love. Now, this isn't a universal, everything works out for the good of everybody. It is not everybody has everything work out for their good, because quite frankly, if you're not a Christian, it doesn't work out all that well for your good. It doesn't work out in the end for your good. If you are not a Christian, if you have not been, if you are not believed in Jesus Christ, you need to hear something in that the end is not good for you. When you see God on judgment day, you will be left without excuse. You will have to give an answer for all that you've done, and what it is is simply, I'm guilty. What the Bible says is you'll be speechless because your guilt is so obvious, and God's glory and his judgment will be upon you, and there is no answer. There's nothing we can say, all of us, if we had to stand there before God by ourselves. But this is what it means to be a Christian. You don't stand in front of God by yourself. When you're a Christian, if you believe in Christ, Jesus Christ, He's gonna stand next to you and He's gonna say, Father, I died for this one. His sin has been judged in me. Your wrath has been satisfied. Then your end is good. But the reality is, if you're not a Christian, if you're rejecting Christ, if you continue to say, no, I'm not going to say I need a Savior, I'm not going to believe in Jesus, the end is judgment and destruction. But the good news you can have today is to believe in Jesus Christ. If you hear that call and you say, yes, I want to believe, I want Him to stand with me, He will. And His Word is effective. When He says, Father, this one is with Me, it ends well. It ends good because you will be brought home. You will not be judged. Christian, God's done a mighty work. One of the things we actually need to realize from this passage, we can barely count a small fraction of a percentage of all the things God does for us. We are only aware of a very small fraction, of a very small percentage of what God actually does for us. And we hardly give Him thanks for what we're aware of. He's done such a mighty work. As you look to what follows, those whom he's called, those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. Those whom he predestined, he also called. We call this the golden chain. God doesn't leave a job half done. He completes our work. He who has begun a good work in you, he will complete it. This is Paul, I think, just fleshing that out more. This is important because It doesn't feel like things are being completed. It feels like things are winding down sometimes. Our bodies decay, suffering, death, sin. God is saying in the midst of all this suffering, in the midst of everything that goes wrong, you can't have confidence because God's made commitments, and He keeps those commitments. He foreknew. He predestined, He called, He justified, and He glorified. Let's just walk through those words very quickly. The word foreknew here is oftentimes misunderstood. It's not simply pre-knowledge. It's not merely knowledge. The word know throughout Scripture actually has a very personal element to it. When God says He foreknew you, that means He loved you. To know someone is to say, I've already been committed to you. He loved you before you existed. It's not foresight, it's for love. Predestined. And notice here, it actually has a qualifier. Predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. It's already been decided that we would be adopted. He chose us in Christ. Called. This is this is a very clear direct declaration like calling your children home He speaks with power. He speaks to draw us near Justified what we've meditated upon the the first half of Romans to be declared righteous This is the this is kind of a bedrock of Romans. We are guilty, but God declares us not guilty and That's your first building block. That's your building block for Romans. You are guilty, but in Christ, God declares you not guilty. And then glorified. Justified, he declares you righteous. Glorified, he makes you righteous. Now what's interesting here is that we know, based upon everything else he said in Romans, that glorified state, it's still waiting for when Christ returns or we die. But it's in the same tense. Focus being, it's already been decided. It's not something that he's going to wait to decide. It's been decided. That's why we can have confidence. No matter what our situation, it's going to work out for our good. God's given us salvation. How is He not going to work through our suffering? Now, again, all these things have been decided for us. That's worth writing down. All these things have been decided for us, and that can make us feel uncomfortable. We don't like people making decisions for us. We want to be autonomous. We want to make our own decisions. Now, this is good news, because on our own, we would never make these decisions. On our own, we've decided not to thank God. On our own, we've decided not to honor God. In God's grace, He called us. so that we could love Him, so that we could honor Him. It's important because we don't get to stand back and say, look how clever I am. I figured it out. Jesus is our Savior. I don't get to stand back and say, God, how thankful you must be that I have chosen you. God, you're welcome for coming on your team. God, thank you. Full stop. Period. God, thank you. Sin is not giving thanks or honoring God. This passage reminds us we have nothing but thanks. Thank you, God, for what you've done. Thank you, God, that I can trust you that no matter what happens, I can keep trusting you. God has made these most important decisions about our ultimate destiny. We can trust him with every little thing, every major thing, everything. This is the beauty. He's the mighty God who has set himself towards us. He loved us while we were unlovely. He chose us while we were filthy. He justified us while we were guilty. He's sovereign. That's good news. Now, I think everything actually specifically is focused on every kind of suffering. Every kind of suffering is really in the scope of what Paul is saying. All kinds, every suffering is actually going to be used for your good. Every trial, every pain, every sickness. Every time a friend says unhelpful things. Every time a fellow believer gossips or slanders. Every time your physical body breaks down, every time that car has something wrong with it, every time a boss keeps bothering you, never giving you credit, always giving you blame. Paul's saying all these things are going to work out for your good. Because these things remind you this ain't your home. These things remind you to look in and see how that sin is getting squeezed out. It reminds you to look up. Where Christ gives you assurance, you're his. It is for your good. Notice here the purpose. It's for your good according to his purpose. What is that? It's very important. What is God actually trying to do? If it's for my good and it's according to God's purpose, what is it? Well, we can actually see more clearly. To be conformed to the image of his son. What is God going to do with all of your suffering? Well, a lot of people think, is he gonna make me more happy? Is he gonna make me more comfortable? No, no, that's not God's intention. God's intention is for you to be more like his son who is holy. God's purpose for your suffering, the good he is going to use your suffering for is to make you more holy. to cut out the sin, to make Him more like His Son, to make it where we actually hear God and we sound like Him, we say what God says, like Jesus. So that we see God and what He does and we do like the Father does, like Jesus. God's purpose isn't that we become more comfortable, it's that we become more holy for His glory. Now, there's a beautiful picture that this is a golden chain. He also, He also, He also. These things are connected, but as Mike already alluded to, we want to think about this also as a fortress. Christ, that foundation, the four walls, and we have to think about the glorification of the ceiling. That's what we look up to. So Christ, our foundation, and then all the blessings are ours in Christ, predestined for new, called, justified, This is a beautiful, powerful fortress. When we're inside, no matter what's crashing down, we're at peace with God. But when we're inside of this fortress, no matter what's happening, we know that God is working all things together because we can see what God has already said about us and what he intends for us. But we do like to step out of that fortress. Curiosity is always killing us. We look around and we think, surely there's something a little better for me out there. Surely if I simply just take a step out, I'll see if I can get a higher ceiling for myself. We think that that glorification we're waiting upon, that ceiling that feels too low because, quite frankly, I think I can get more glory for myself today. We're constantly fearful that within God's fortress we're missing out on something. We're constantly fearful we're missing out on something. So we step out, and this is the pattern throughout scripture. This is the sickness of our sin. We step out of God's fortress, we forget who we are, what he's done, how we're supposed to be confident in him. We step out and we start feeling the consequences of our sin. And then what do we do? God, where are you? God, how could you let this happen? We step out of his protection and we blame him for the consequences of our sin. What does God do? He reaches down his mighty right arm, and he brings us back home. This is the pattern throughout scripture. When Israel was freed from Exodus after 10 plagues, they're walking toward the Red Sea, and all of a sudden, the army starts coming, and they start saying, well, there are not enough graves? We'd rather go back to Pharaoh and Moses. God, we told you, we didn't want you to save us. What does God do? He brings that cloud behind him to protect them. He opens up the sea to take them into his salvation and his protection. While they're grumbling, he saves them. Then after the wilderness, he says, go into that promised land. I am fighting for you. What do they do? No, they're giants. We can't do it. God, have you abandoned us? I am with you. I am for you. I'm going to go to battle, trust me. We grumble and he remains faithful. Christian, one of the things we have to do is remember constantly how good it is to be a child of God. There is nothing better outside. We're not missing anything. Let me talk to you youth and children especially. Your parents right now are seeking to protect you. Do not believe the lie that there's something better for you outside. If your parents are putting up biblical barriers so that your eyes are protected, your hearts are protected, your mind is protected, praise God, protection is a privilege. Believers, stay home. Stay home. In Christ's mighty fortress, we have to realize that this is a beautiful, safe place where we're gonna know Him through His Word, we're gonna know Him through His people. Now let me go back and ask a very pressing question that is key to this entire passage. It gives us great hope. It gives us great promise. There's a golden chain. There's a fortress. But we actually have to ask this question. Do we really love God? Is this really for me? So let's bring us back to how do we know? And much of Romans is about assurance of not being condemned, not being conquered, not being separated. But Christ said this, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Yes, we all fail. Yes, we all sin. Yes, we all get curious. Yes, we all say, I wonder if there's anything better outside. And yes, we're all brought back in. We can't say we love God if we're not keeping his commandments. This is a continued focus pattern of our life where we don't care. The other one is this that makes it very clear from 1 John. You cannot say you love Christ if you do not love the brethren. It's a very clear command. If you want to claim these promises, there has to be some clarity that there is a love of God that again begins that He first loved us. Let's look to God's provision. God's provision. Now, notice the second and third point, they really could be put together. I separated the third point because it begins with separation of love and it ends with the separation of love. But 35 is continuing the same kind of question, and notice this. What then shall we say to these things? I think these things are sufferings. I think these things are referring to sufferings. Notice that it goes from these things to a who question. If God is for us, who can be against us? He that spared his own son, but gave up for us all things, will he not also graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Verse 35, who shall separate us? There's an assumed who all of a sudden in the text. I think the best guess as to what he is actually saying here, the most likely choice of the who is Satan. I think Paul just entered into a discussion of spiritual warfare. The who sounds a lot like Satan. Satan charges the elect. He's the accuser. Satan seeks to condemn those who are in Christ. He seeks to condemn us by bringing the charges to make us feel guilty. Who's against us? From Genesis 3.15, we know there's been a battle all along from the children of Satan against the children of Eve. If you're in Christ, you're a child of Eve. You're a child of faith. I believe here we see the who that Paul is most likely to have in mind is the great adversary that we sing about in our first song, A Mighty Fortress. He is against us. But we do not fear because he has been crushed by the champion. What shall we say to these things? Again, I believe that's referring to the suffering. In the midst of the suffering, if God is for us, who can be against us? There's a real spiritual warfare. There is a real mighty foe. He is greater than us, but Christ is greater than him. That's why our confidence must be in Him. He is the only one who can fight and win the battle. God is for us. God fights for us. He is mighty. He is able. In Christ, God fights for us. What confidence, what courage that should actually give us to say no in temptation? To say no to fear? God is for us. Now, we need to think and realize that behind God is for us is God with us. We are in the Christmas season. We need to realize that God with us, Emmanuel, is at the foundation of God being for us. God came to be with us so that he could win the battle we could not. That's what we're celebrating at Christmas. We're celebrating the birth of a baby because that baby is God coming to be with us to fight the battle we were losing. We see this very clearly in 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? There's an argument from greater to lesser. God gave us the greatest gift. What God the Father loved the most, he gave. How could we think he's not going to give us anything and everything else we ever need? See, as we think about Christmas, we think about receiving. We love receiving things. Even at Christmas we're thinking about what we received in Christ, but we need to realize that Christmas is the time that the father gave. The father sent his son to become fragile, vulnerable, and to ultimately die. The father sent his son into a battle knowing that he would be murdered, but knowing that he would ultimately be victorious. This is why. God loves His Son the most. This was the greatest gift He could give us. He loves His Son the most. He gave us His Son so that He would then also love us with that same love. We're loved more than Adam was. We're not loved like innocent humans. We're loved like the beloved Son, Jesus Christ. He leaves no doubt. He loves us. How can we question what he's doing? What did he not spare? What would separate us from his love? You see, we think he's gonna hold back something. Spurgeon said it this way, and it's always clear when he's summarizing a passage so well. Remember this. Had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love would have put you there. If there was a condition better than the one that you are in right now, divine love would put you there. You can have confidence that you are exactly where divine love wants you because divine love sent you his son. Where you are is where God wants you to be for his purpose. We have to stop thinking there must be something I'm missing. Look at verses 33 and 34. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? Who is to condemn? Again, these are the great acts of Satan. He wants to accuse, he wants to judge us, he wants us to be condemned. What we have to constantly remember God has declared us righteous in Christ. Satan, he accuses us. He does. He brings charges. And this is the power of the charge. He actually tells us about sin that we actually committed. That is why the accusations are so tempting to believe, because we actually did do the sin he's charging us with. And Jesus says, I love you. I forgive you. I count you not guilty. It all comes down to who you're going to listen to. Are you going to listen to the accusation, you're guilty because of what you've done, from Satan? Are you going to trust that Word of God, Jesus Christ? I declare you're innocent. I declare you're not guilty. Who can bring a charge? That word is mighty. It's greater. Verse 34, who can condemn us? Notice here, Paul actually summarizes the gospel in one sentence. Who can condemn us? The way he answers this is what Christ has done. Jesus Christ is the one who died, was raised at the right hand. He died to satisfy the wrath of God. He died so that we could be forgiven of our sin. He rose again to demonstrate he has been victorious over sin and death. He's ascended now to intercede. That's what he's doing. We read it earlier, last week. The Holy Spirit, He's interceding here. The Son, He's interceding at the right hand of the Father on your behalf. All of God is seeking to represent you to make sure you know you're not condemned. Satan is constantly going to attack you. He's constantly going to bring his fiery darts. And the more we're aware of these fiery darts, the more we're going to be able to live as conquerors, confident in Christ. And if we go to Genesis 3, we can see the clear pattern of Satan. When Satan approaches Eve and Adam with her, he says, wait a second, God said not to eat of that one tree? You mean He doesn't want you to have this one thing? You realize this is gonna be good for you, right? You realize God, when He tells you to do something, He's trying to keep you from something good. Surely God would not say that. See, Satan just did two things. He made you question God's goodness. He made you question God's word. We have to trust His word. is good. When God says no, it's glorious. When God says no, he's protecting you. What Satan wants you to think, I don't need to trust this work of God. There's something that must be better. I'm missing out. No, that's the curiosity that's gonna kill you. Never question God's goodness and his love. Do not question his word. Finally, we turn to verses 35 to 39. God's preservation. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? He concludes, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Who shall separate? Now, if we just step back and see verses 28 through 30, then 31 to 34, 35 to 39, I think there's a clear pattern. Look at what Christ is committed to. Look what God is committed to. These are the commitments of God. This is how he's kept those commitments. We can know he's keeping those commitments because he sent his son to die for you. And now he's making it clear these commitments he will keep forever. This is important for any relationship. Are they committed? Is there evidence they're committed? And do I know they're going to remain committed? For any kind of real relationship, you have to have those three things. God is saying, I sent you my son, I'm committed. Nothing will ever separate you from my love in Christ. This is why Jesus is our great friend. The biblical context of no separation, again, assuming that the who's are Satan, it goes back to Genesis 3 as well. After Satan deceived Eve and Adam, and after they sinned against God, what did God do? He separated them from himself. Mercifully, God kicked them out of the garden, because they're now sinful, and they can't be in the presence of his glory, or they'll be consumed, so they've been separated. And God, from that time forth, has been declaring and committed to saying, I'm going to bring you back. And now that he's brought us back in Christ, nothing can separate us. Satan, our great enemy, is seeking to separate us. Nothing separates us from the love of God. Now, verse 35 lists off a variety of different kinds of sufferings that we may feel could separate us. The first three, I believe, could be summarized and ordered together to be distresses of this world that has animosity towards us. The next two are just simply lack of adequate provision. And the last two, those are attacks, danger in the sword. This is real martyrdom, this is persecution. So I believe he's making progress here from distress to lack of adequate provision to actual attacks. His conclusion is nothing separates God's choice to love us. Nothing interferes with God's choice to love us. Because it's very important we realize God doesn't fall in love with us because we're lovely. God says I love you because he wanted to say I love you. Nothing separates us from God's choosing to love us. Now let's ask a flip side question. What separates the love we have towards God from God? What causes us to stop loving God? Because God said, I'm never going to stop loving you. Nothing is the answer when you ask what could possibly keep God from loving us. When we ask what keeps us from loving God, the answer is anything. If you think about how easily we are distracted from loving God, the answer is really anything. It's so easy. We're so sinful. We can get so distracted. We're so fully impulsed. We have such impulses towards sin. It's anything. Nothing separates God's love for us, but we let anything separate our love from God. This is the power of the gospel, friends. He is faithful when we're faithless. He loves us while we're unlovely. He never stops loving us. Verse 37, knowing all these things, we're more than conquerors through him who loved us. For to consider our battle with Satan, it's not a fair fight. We're more than conquered. We're not smart enough for his deception. We're not strong enough for the power of sin. We are conquered. Sin, death, the curse, all these things are against us and there's no way for us to fight. We didn't even realize we're in a fight. We're conquered. But in Christ, sin's enslaving power's been destroyed. Satan's deception has been revealed and the truth has been given to us. Now we're more than conquerors. We're more than conquerors. We live as conquerors in Christ when we set our mind to the things of the Spirit. Paul's making a very clear point. When we're up against a fight, notice he's talking about those who are being killed all the day long, those who are being sent to be slaughtered. There are Christians who, when they make a decision to be a Christian, there are those who realize whenever they decide to be a Christian, they're either going to be killed or kicked out of their home. It's hard for us to realize that the real suffering takes place for many who have to decide, am I gonna count the cost? If I become a Christian, I'm gonna get kicked out of my home. I'm gonna die. What Paul is saying here is you're free of all fear in Christ because God's with you and God is for you. You're more than conquerors based upon your confidence in Christ. Because no matter what somebody brings to you, no matter what they said they're gonna strip from you, your home, your flesh, you're more than conquerors. Because everything you need, Christ has provided. But we have to actually believe that what we really need is found in verses 28 through 30. We have to really believe that there's a glory that awaits that is not worth comparing to this present suffering. Can you imagine a life without fear of what we could lose? Let's just put it down into our world a little bit better. Can you imagine a world where you could live where you don't worry about what people are gonna think about you, say about you, or do to you? Our fear of man paralyzes us. Can you imagine being more than a conqueror because of so much confidence in Christ, you don't care what other people think about you anymore or say about you. Jim Elliot is famous for saying this. He is no fool to give what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose. He is no fool to give what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose. This is summarizing, I believe, what Paul is saying. You're not afraid of losing anything in this world. You're gaining everything in the world to come. I ask you, Christian, what are we afraid to lose? What goods, what materials, what reputation? What are we afraid of losing? What are we clinging to here and now that we're not afraid of losing? Because you have the world to gain. You have the glory to come to gain. We go back to that declaration in Romans 8.18, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is revealed to us. We have to get there, but I actually think because we're so comfortable here in our world, we're not even convinced the glitter of this world is not better than the glory to come. How can we ever think the suffering isn't worth comparing to the glory? If we're gonna really think the glory that is to come is better, we have to first get past the fact that this world's glitter isn't worth living for. And then we'll really start believing the suffering is not worth comparing. See, Satan I don't think is trying to kill us with a sword, he's trying to kill us slowly as we amuse ourselves to death. We must learn to live as more than conquerors, with verse 38 being the foundation. The conquerors are the action. 38 and 39, that's the confidence. 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. the call to live for glory, some people will say, you know, you don't want to be too heavenly minded, you're no earthly good. I remember being told that as a young Christian, being very confused by it, and quite frankly, I'm still confused by it today. How do you live in this world now, making proper plans for your family, but also living fully for the glory to come? I believe this is a real tense, decision-making process, and there's a lot of freedom in there, but there's a clear problem in how we live, planning today, waiting for glory. And we reflect upon this, we have to know what really awaits us, which is why I gave you homework last week. Can you actually write 1,000 words on heaven? We have to actually know what's waiting for us so that we are really living for it. But as I thought about it, it took me back to Jeremiah Burroughs. In A Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, he makes this point that is profound. I've shared it with you before, but it's worth sharing again. We have to realize that while we're living in this earth, it's a very unique opportunity. See, we're longing for heaven when sin will no longer taint our worship and our love for God. We're longing for when Christ will give us glorified bodies, glorified lives, and sin is no longer present so that our worship is pure. But right now, there's a unique opportunity. See, in heaven, you will not have the choice to say no to sin. Today, While we're still living, while we're still waiting for the glory to come, we can actually say, God, I'm going to choose to worship you rather than sin. God, today I'm going to set my mind on the things of the Spirit, not on the flesh. This life right now is a precious window of opportunity you will not have for all eternity. To make the commitment, Because I know what awaits, because I know of the glory to come, I'm going to now choose to commit my life to glory. Now, here's what I fear really happens. We like to get while the getting's good. When sin opens up a window, we wanna dive in. That's the real danger we have. When we see an opportunity for sin, we think, well, I gotta get there. No, the way of sin is broad, it's always opportunistic. You have so many opportunities to sin. The way of Christ is narrow. Sin is always trying to tempt you to say, if you just, look, there's a small window, jump in. Christ is saying, you have a small window of opportunity to say no to sin. Follow me. Set your mind on the things of Christ. Set your mind on the things of the Spirit. See, we must be confident in His love so that we can be conquerors. We have to ask ourselves, how confident am I in Christ based upon how much I am seeking to live as a conqueror over my sin, over my temptation? As we end our meditation, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? No. I am sure that nothing will be able to separate from the love of God. Friends, that is our confidence. Christ has committed himself to us. He's called us. We now are called to live as conquerors in him. Will you pray with me? Father, we praise and we thank you for your many blessings, your promises. Father, help us to trust that you do hold us fast, Help us to trust that you are working all things out for those you've called. Help us to see the numerous blessings you continue to give us so that we can live according to your will for your purpose. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.