Sunday, June 9, 2019

190602 Unending Love


Romans 8:33-39 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 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 indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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.
Paul ends this part of the letter to the Romans giving us an assurance that God’s love will never end. Before God created the universe he had a plan! That plan is far beyond our ability to understand. At the same time, it is simple. We suffer and experience attacks by satanic forces in the world. Yet we can say with Paul, “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57) His love is sufficient to meet all our needs.
Jesus identified himself as the good Shepherd that laid down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). We can see that God anticipated our need for salvation and made arrangements for it, because of his love, before he created the world. The good Shepherd was planned for by God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in agreement with God the Son before the creation. His love began in the depths of eternity past and will continue into the depths of eternity future. We are not saved by our own strength or goodness. It is God who justifies. To be justified looks in two directions. First, God declares that we are forgiven from our sins. That’s wonderful, but it’s not enough! Second, God declares that we inherit his righteousness and not our own.
So, we have the question and we know the answer…
Who brings charges against God’s elect? Let’s look at 1 Peter 5:8. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
That has always been Satan’s role and goal! Beginning with the Garden of Eden when Satan tempted Eve to sin and continuing through the Bible we see him opposing God. We see him active in the book of Job chapters 1 and 2. There he attempted to pull Job down from his faith in God. I would like to report to you that he failed! With the first attacks, Job’s reply was “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). Job’s response to his suffering went on to one of the greatest confessions of faith in the Bible. From the depth of agony, Job stated “For I know my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25). You see Job understood that it was not his righteousness but it is the fact that…
God justifies. Let’s look at Isaiah 50:8-9. He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. 9 Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty?          Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.
Isaiah is recording for us truth about the Servant of God whose obedience paid the price for Israel’s sin. The Suffering Servant is clearly represented in Jesus. In verse six, he says “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks that those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6). The Servant is beaten and insulted yet remains faithful to Yahweh. In this, Isaiah is contrasting the attitude of the nation of Judah who complained of being forsaken by Yahweh. Isaiah could see that the justifier — or vindicator — is near and will settle the issues of sin and rebellion. It is God who justifies not self-righteous humanity.
Who can condemn? Let’s go back to Romans 8:1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Believers are not subject to condemnation. The death of Jesus covered the sin of his people. In Romans chapter 3 verse 25 we are told that “God put forward (Jesus) as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.” And then in chapter 8 verse 10, we find these words “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Righteousness does not come from our attitudes or actions. One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 5:21 in it we are told: “For our sake, he (God the Father) made him (God the Son) to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” We know that Jesus had no sin because of repeated statements to that effect throughout the New Testament. He had no sin of his own and literally, we have no righteousness of our own. The Bible tells us that “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. (Isaiah 64:6). In order for us to be justified in God’s sight, we must have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose again to complete our justification.
That brings us to a position where we are forgiven and protected by God. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God demonstrated His righteousness by judging sin and showing mercy to sinners. As a result of God’s justification, we receive a right standing before God. Something we could not do on our own. Jesus Christ took our sins to the cross and nailed them there. If you like, he took them into the grave and left them there. In the Old Testament, we are told that God takes our sins and hides them in the bottom of the sea! (Micah 7:19) Miss Corrie ten Boom added that he posted a “no fishing” sign over that spot. He takes our sin from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). All of this encourages us to believe that we might be free from guilt because of the righteousness of God. Still, there is a concern on our part. Are we free from the punishment? Is it possible that God has forgiven us and given us eternal life in his Son? Who is the one who paid the price?
When we think that we need to be justified. We need to be past condemnation. Who takes up our cause? Jesus, that’s who! He stands at the right hand of God the Father. He ever intercedes on our behalf! We are reminded, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). If Jesus is interceding for us who can condemn us? No one can! Since we cannot be condemned we desperately need to know…
Who can separate us from the love of Christ? In verse 31 we are encouraged by the words “If God is for us, who can be against us?” God is for us the evidence is plain for us to see. He did not spare his own son! If he would give up his son on our behalf he will not hold anything back! Paul is speaking autobiographical. He has experienced all that he writes about here! Reading Luke’s account in the Book of Acts we see Paul facing the things he mentions here. Trouble was everywhere! Hardship characterized his life. Wherever he went he was persecuted. He suffered physical need. In 2 Corinthians 11:16ff Paul tells about the difficulties. He spoke of great labor, imprisonments, beatings, shipwrecked, danger, danger everywhere! Once when Paul was in Corinth and beginning to be discouraged. Doctor Luke recorded these words in Acts 18:9-10. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”
I am reminded of Elijah who was used mightily by God to destroy the pagan worship in Israel and replace it with the worship of Yahweh. After a great victory at Mount Carmel, the Queen threatened to take his life. Rather than face the wrath of the Queen, Jezebel, Elijah went into the wilderness. There he met an angel who fed him and sent him on to Mount Horeb. There, he stood in the entrance of the cave and was required to explain why he was there. He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” (1 Kings 19:9-10) God reaffirmed his commission and outlined the work he had for him to do. Then he told Elijah not to worry about being the only one left because “Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18). We may often be disappointed but we should make every effort not to be discouraged because…
We are super conquerors. Let’s look back at verse 37. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
In spite of all that the apostle had gone through. In spite of all the persecution of Christians beginning in the Roman Empire. Paul was encouraged! In all the difficulties that he had listed for them, he still asserted that they were “more than conquerors”. The original language would allow us to use the term “super conquerors”! Where did he get this claim? Oh, of course, I know the spirit of God guided him but was there any evidence of this bold attitude? It certainly wasn’t the idea that suffering would disappear anytime soon. It wouldn’t and it won’t. Rather his claim is based on the bigger picture in Romans 8. We have previously been assured by Paul “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28). This passage can be very encouraging to all of us.
John Bunyan sat at his desk in deep depression wondering if he could go on, worrying about the future, when this text came to his rescue. “I remember,” he says, “that I was sitting in a neighbor’s home, and was very sad, that word came suddenly to me. ‘What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?’ That was a help to me.”
It can be a help to all of us…
Because his love is unending. Let’s look at one of the most popular Scripture verses in the Bible John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Surely God will hold nothing back and taking care of his chosen people. He sent his son to die in order for us to live.
Our only hope, in the face of our sinful nature, is the love of God. Jesus commanded his disciples, and us along with them, to love one another (John 13:34-35). The kind of love he called for is the kind of love he has for us. Love that will go to the death for another. The eternal Father loved us enough to send the eternal Son to bear our sins in his own body. To have that body beaten beyond recognition and nailed to the cross demonstrating his love for us. His unending love should be reflected in our love for one another. One last thing we must remember. “Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6b). He loved his enemies — THAT’S US — to the death. We should love others in the same way. In order to do that, we need to have is kind of love flowing through us. In order to have that, we must confess Jesus as Lord. Have you put your faith in Him? Is He your Lord? Today can be your day.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton, Ill, Standard Bible Society.

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