ETS Home        12/17/06

The Summation of God’s Love for Us

 Romans 8:31-39

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? [32] He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? [33] Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; [34] who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes 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] Just as it is written, ‘For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’  [37] But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. [38] For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 What shall we say to these things?: (for those of us who believe)

            The Spirit of Christ is working in us to bring us to the place where we are not only aware of God’s love, but of His Sovereign work.  Can we really believe that the Triune God is somehow so irrespective of what He has purposed that He would work toward the purpose and not have the power to “pull it off?”  His Sovereign work is such that there is nothing is so powerful to stand in the way of God accomplishing what He purposed. 

 The letter to the Romans is one of the most systematic and thorough doctrinal theses in all of scripture.  We are shown the nature of man (Romans 1); we are shown the mercy and grace of God (Romans 3); we are shown the futility of the flesh (Romans 4) and the power of the Spirit (Romans 8).  There is little uncovered as pertains to the Christian and his walk that is not dealt with.  Therefore, it behooves us to know it well; to study it and meditate on it.  The more we understand our absolute destituteness outside the scope of God’s grace, the more we understand that His forgiveness has nothing to do with our performance, the more we realize that His mercy and grace immeasurably outweigh our fleshly weaknesses, the more we will learn to walk in the confidence and power of His love.

 Unless we have a thorough understanding of God’s Word, we will have a misconception about who we are in relationship to Him.  The more we understand His word to us, the more we understand that there is nothing about the Christian life that is dependent upon us.  It is He Who has called us to Himself; it is He Who has quickened us; it is He Who has redeemed us; it is He Who has justified us; it is He Who has set us free; it is He Who is making us into the image of His Son.  In the embracing of all that He is to us, we lose the concept that we are more important than He.  Just the opposite reality transforms our thinking.  We come to see that His power, presence and purpose totally consume all that we are.  We come to see that, as Paul says, “if God is for me, who can be against me?”

 The story goes that a couple of hundred years ago, there was a treasure of gold coins that had been left in a cave in the Rocky Mountains.   Most thought it was one of those stories that had been fabricated by an old miner who was just after some attention.  However, a father and son, who were spelunkers, were out looking for new caves to explore and came upon the treasure by accident.  It truly was a very valuable find that they had wondered upon purely by accident.  They began strategizing how they would get it out and get back to civilization.  They were aware that there was more than they could both carry, but the son argued with his dad that about the amount of the coins he could take.  His dad told him that what they had was a fortune.  The son wanted more.  So he filled his backpack completely full. 

 As they began to work their way down the mountain, they came to a crevasse.  The father was able to get through the hole in the rock, but the son, because of the weight and mass of his pack became stuck and he could not get through.  The father told him that if he did not cut himself away from his back pack he would not be able to free himself and get out of his situation.  The father reached his hand down and said, “Son you will have to trust me on this; you cannot get out alive with what you have.  You will die here.  Let it go, trust me.”  The son did.  He was saved.  When they arrived home, the value of the old coins that the father had was enough to make them vastly wealthy.

 God has reached down to us.  He died on the cross for us.  We have been justified, freed from the bondage of sin.  We are no longer under the condemnation of our sins.  We have been given new life in Christ.  All of this is ours.  And yet, many times we fall into place of discouragement thinking that because of our sin God’s love for us is hindered or diminished to the degree that He cannot or will not forgive us for the entanglement of sin in our lives.  Have you been there before?  I often talk to people who are there and have no confidence in their salvation.  What is the issue?  That person’s sin is greater than the love, grace and forgiveness of God.

 As you listen to Paul’s words in the next verses, you understand the importance that the Spirit is putting on the justification wrought by Christ’s blood.

[33] Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies;

It is almost as if God is saying, “How dare you think that the essence of My Son’s death and resurrection could be of such insignificance to you!  Listen to Me, child, when I justify you, you are justified…period.  Your justification is not based on your ability to do anything.  You justification is based solely upon what the Christ has done on your behalf…the effects are eternal.”  God is saying that no one (more specifically, Satan himself, the accuser) can call in (as a debt or demand), i.e. bring to account (charge, criminate, etc.).  The debt has been paid by the Righteous One on the cross.

[34] who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

Since “being justified” means that we are “just because of Christ’s righteousness being imputed to us”, we, by the very nature of His nature being worked out in us means that we are not condemned.  When Christ went to the cross, He did something utterly fantastic.  He accomplished two mutually exclusive things…He became sin and became the sacrifice for sin.  He was able to do that because His very nature was sinless…totally incapable of sin.  The fact that God raised Him from the dead proves that His was the Perfect Sacrifice that completely atoned for all our sin.  Not only is He our Advocate, as John states (1 John 2:1), but He is also our “Intercessor.”  In this verse, Paul, again, references the unity of the Trinity, for earlier he referred to the Holy Spirit as the One who intercedes for us (8:26).

[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] Just as it is written, ‘For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered."[37] But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. [38] For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I don’t think that there are anymore encouraging words in the Scriptures to me than these verses.  They have guided me and held me secure for over 35 years.  We are secure in Christ to God.  We are not just secure in Christ, but we are “overwhelming conquerors” in Him.  There could be no greater Christmas gift to each of us this year than to realize that God has predestined us unto Himself; He has called us; He has justified us; He is sanctifying us; He has secured us in His Son; and we have the glorious hope of His return.  Hallelujah!  What a Savior He is.  He truly is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords!  He is our Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Almighty God and Everlasting Father.  May our hearts turn to Him with thanksgiving and adoration every day of our lives.  May our obedience to Him, our humility before Him be the strongest evidence that He is our All-in-All.