May God be pleased to bless us
together this morning as we consider his word. Let us turn to the
epistle of Paul to the Romans and chapter 8, and we'll read
the question in verse 35. The epistle of Paul to the Romans,
chapter 8, and reading the question in verse 35. who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Well, I wonder this morning whether
such a question is an important question for us, for us individually,
to have the evidence and the knowledge that nothing can separate
us from the love of Christ? Well, we can ask the question,
but I suppose we will not ask the question unless we do know
something of the love of Christ ourselves, and how essential,
absolutely essential it is that all of us do know that Christ
has and does love us. There are many things in this
world which appear to be important, but most of those things are
relatively unimportant. But one thing which is so important
is for you and me to know that Christ has loved us and that Christ has loved us,
as Jeremiah says, with an everlasting love. An everlasting love. That means it's a love that had
no beginning and a love that has no end. And how important
it is that all of us here this morning have the great evidence
that the Lord Jesus Christ does love us. Well, in order to determine
whether the Saviour does love us, we will need to ask ourselves
the question, why do we need the Saviour to love us? Why is
that important? Because I'm quite content with
my life and things appear to be going quite well for me really.
Well let's not forget that our lives are exceedingly short and
that what may be satisfying for us for our natural life will
not be of any value with regards to our eternal situation. Because even if we do possess
many, many things in this life and are greatly blessed naturally,
we'd have to leave everything behind when God comes and calls
us from this earth. Everything we have and possess,
every detail, the smallest thing, the largest thing, would all
have to be left behind. And then you see, the great important
issue will be as to whether not whether we have treasure on the
earth, but whether we have treasure in heaven. And my friends, the
greatest treasure that you and I can have is to know that Christ
has loved us and to realize the need we have of Christ loving
us. and to have by the Spirit's aid
the evidence that we do not deserve to be loved. And we do not deserve
to be loved if the Spirit of God has shown to us our condition
before a holy God as we are by nature, as we were born. And
how were we born? Well, the Bible tells us we were
born in sin and shapen in iniquity. And as perhaps we look at a newborn
babe and we see how beautiful they are, and yet we have to
see, yes, they're born in sin and shapen in iniquity. And all of us need a saviour. to deliver us from that condition
of condemnation. Because if we sin against God,
then we are condemned. And we know that all have sinned.
Every one of us has sinned. And therefore we need the great
and glorious salvation which the Saviour has provided to those
of his church, those for whom he has indeed died. We've read together this wonderful
chapter in the epistle to the Romans written by Paul and it's
got so many great and glorious and deep truths And I hope you
followed it this morning as we read it together. I hope you
didn't turn off and say, well, I'm going to think about every
other thing. But if you did, go home and read it carefully
and read it prayerfully, because it is a chapter of tremendous
value. And the Apostle tells us great
truths. He says, and we know, now the
Apostle was speaking from a personal experience, but he was able to
join it in the plural to all those who are blessed with liberty
like he was and calling like he was. And therefore he says,
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. And then he goes on to explain
that a little. And it's like this. For whom
he did foreknow before the worlds were created. That's a hard truth
to understand, isn't it? And don't expect to understand
it. But God gives us faith to believe it. And so he tells us
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." So the great truth is here, in those
simple words, that God's people have been born to be conformed,
made like, conformed to the image of his Son. That's a very important
point to realize. And then the apostle goes on.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, those who he's referring to,
who will be conformed to his image, those whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. God calls all his people. He calls them, and He calls them
out of darkness into light. And He calls them from death
into life. He calls them, and they hear
that voice. That's in a variety of ways.
But nonetheless, it is a voice from Almighty God. And so this
word is so, so true. Then He also called. And then
he goes on and tells us the great and glorious progression, which
is this. Whom he called, them he also
justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. So we can conclude, can we not,
that we will never be glorified, we will never be found in heaven,
unless we have been called by the Holy Spirit of God. The Apostle says, what shall
we then say to these things? He asks the question. And it's
good, isn't it? We have so many questions in
the Word of God, so many questions which are put there to help us.
And so here is his question, what shall we say to these things?
These great truths I've just mentioned. Well, says the Apostle,
if God before us Who can be against us? The great question is, isn't
it, then, is God for us? Has God called us? Nothing less
than this will be satisfactory. When you and I come to die, this
will be the great question as to whether God has called us
and whether God has indeed blessed us And if God is for us? Well, perhaps we should ask ourselves,
and it's always good, the word of God tells us, you know, to
examine ourselves. Just you and God. Examine yourself and myself included. To examine ourselves before God. In God's light, remember God's
light is very pure. To examine ourselves in God's
light and to see where we stand. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Well, to know that God is for
us. So then he tells us, he that spared not his own son but delivered
him up for us all. Those all, of course, are the
ones that he's referring to previously, who are called and predestinated.
It's not all mankind. It's the all out of every nation
and kindred, tribe and tongue that the Apostle is referring
to here. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things,
all things needful? in our natural life and all things
for our spiritual life. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Nature, natural man doesn't like
the word election because we tend to think, well it doesn't
give anyone a fair chance. Well we should be very thankful
that the Lord has and does call a people and the great question
is not to argue with God, and we can't argue with God. I'll
tell you why. You may say, why can't I? I'll tell you why. Because
you've sinned. That's why you can't argue with
God. You've sinned. You're condemned. You deserve
eternal punishment. And you can't argue about that
with God. Because you have sinned. And you are guilty. And you can't
therefore argue. that is not fair. Because if
God was fair and righteous, he would condemn all of us to eternal
hell. Well, what a blessing then. What
an amazing favour if God should have elected you and me. and therefore brought to pass
in our spiritual life the great and wonderful call of the Gospel. And therefore we can understand
what the Apostle says here. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen again. is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us." Well there's the great
and wonderful introduction really to these words which we have
this morning. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? And so if we come within the
boundary of these words, then you see we may ask the question,
who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And we shall
just want to know that it's not possible that anything can separate
us from the love of Christ. We want to know that if God has
called us if God has spoken to us that it's because he's loved
us and that there's no possibility of our souls being lost, but
that we are eternally safe, that we are indeed safe in the arms
of Jesus. And so, as the Apostle asks this
question, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Well,
we might ask the question, what kind of love is this? What kind
of love is this? Well, we have a very wonderful
word that describes this love. I'll tell you what it is. It's
immutable. And the love of Christ is immutable. You may say, well, that sounds
like a very good word, but what does it mean? What does it mean? Well, what does it mean? Well,
I've got a list here of what it means. And it gives us some
understanding of the breadth of it and It means all these
things now just listen to this list And this is the love of
Christ. This is why it's immutable It's
an abiding love It's an ageless love It's a changeless love It's
a constant love It's an enduring love. It's a fixed love. It's an immovable love. It's
an inflexible love. It's an invariable love. It's
a permanent love. It's a perpetual love. It's a
sacrosanct love. It's a stable love. It's a steadfast
love and it's an unalterable love. Well, that is surely a
very comprehensive list of what this love is. And so, how wonderful
it is to think this love is so great, it is indeed immutable. And therefore, if this love is
placed upon us, There is no possibility of us being separated from that
love. You see, it is an eternal love. It's a love that we've been in
love with from eternity past and through into eternity to
come. And therefore, in order to establish
the great truth of it, The Apostle therefore illustrates it with
the words that he brings before us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? And then he asks Shell and he
gives a list and it is a good list to just consider and to
ponder over because it is very embracing. And we might think,
well, if I come into that situation, surely that might separate me. Or this position, and that might
separate me. But no. You see, that's why we
have this great question. To be able to put out of question,
so that there won't be any question, as we realise how great is this
love. This love. Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ, and it's wonderful to know that this
love is so great, and it's without ourselves. And you see, our life
is not dependent on it. No, it's freely given. It's a
great and glorious gift, and it's a wonderful favour, and
I believe it is that which moves us. as this love is made over
to us, is applied to us, is given to us, it has a moving effect
upon us. And our concern is therefore
to do that which is in accordance with the gracious will and purpose
of Almighty God. And we come and we say, not my
will, but thine be done, because of that amazing love of the Saviour. And that amazing love of the
Saviour, let's just point out first of all how great it was. We've given that list, but just
think what it involved. What did it involve? It involved
Almighty God, the Creator of the universe, leaving His habitation
in eternal glory, in heaven with the Father and the Son, and coming
into this sinful world. And to live in this sinful world
as a normal human being, he took on himself our form and he lived
in this sinful world in order to deliver us from all our sin. And my friends, the only way
that that could be accomplished was that he should live an absolutely
perfect sinful life, with no flaw. Because if there had been
any flaw, any vestige of sin, then he would not have been able
to have redeemed his people. And therefore, just recognise
that this great saviour, we must understand it was in his human
nature that he lived on this earth and he had all the same
persecutions and temptations that you and I have today. We're
told he was tempted in all points as we are yet without sin. This great and glorious saviour
He lived then that perfect life and in order to redeem our souls,
in order to pay the price for all our sin, all our gross sins,
our terrible sins, our evil sins, our vile sins, the Saviour had
to take those sins upon himself and to pay the price required
to redeem us, to free us, from the condemnation of the law which
tells us, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. And in order to
perform that, to bring that into being, the blessed Saviour, He
had to give His life. That was the price required to
redeem us from our sin, was to give His life. My friends, He
freely gave it. But again, let us recognise the
enormous cost, because he endured great sufferings, great sufferings,
a terrifying death, in order that he might come and redeem
us, deliver us from the wrath to come. We see, do we not? Can we not see then? Do we not
appreciate? The love that he must have had.
Wonderful love, wasn't it? Wonderful love to redeem such
unworthy sinners. Just think that the great God
was willing, because of his great love for you and me, he was willing
to suffer that great death and to pay the price for our sin. The hymn writer tells us, there
was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could
unlock the gates to heaven to let us in. My friends, it was
because of his immutable love. What love? Amazing love, wasn't
it? that he should ever come into
this world to redeem our souls. And you and I need to often go
to Calvary, go to Gethsemane, realising the cost of our salvation,
so that it might influence us in our lives, as we think what
Christ has done for us and what are we doing in return. Well,
I believe this. If the love of Christ has come
into our hearts, or will come into our hearts, there will be
in measure our love returning to Him. It can never be the other
way round. Not that we loved God, but that
God loved us. Not that we loved God, but that
God loved us. That was the beginning. And my friends, as the Spirit
of God Let us remember it's only the work of the Spirit of God
that directs us to this amazing love. And we understand the wonderful
blessing that is ours. The cost to redeem our souls
was that sacrifice for sin in giving His life and shedding
His most precious blood. Nothing less than this could
do. The Saviour willingly did so because of His love. And so then we have this statement,
who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Well, the apostle
then goes through a list just to clarify the position and to
show us that none of these things, however difficult, however hard
they may seem, will not be able to separate us from the love
of Christ. And so he tells us, first he
comes and says, tribulation. Well, tribulation is that which
affects us and it means that there are difficulties, hardships,
trials, temptations, which will come into our lives. But will
such situations separate us from the love of Christ? My friends, Christ's love toward
us, what does it do? It shows us that he's dealing
with us as his children because it's to bring us in to really
appreciate what we are and how bad we are. and how merciful
our God is. Tribulation, distress, well of
course there are those times in our lives of distress. You
may think, well is the Lord going to leave us? No, the Lord will
never leave his people. He will never leave us nor forsake
us. He'll never No, never forsake. It's because of his love. Or persecution. No, you and I
will have to face persecution. Don't think that somehow you're
exempted. You see, true religion is costly,
as I've often told you. And don't think Therefore that
you got some escape route You see the Lord was persecuted and
my friends as we may be persecuted in one way or another The Lord
will show to us His great love to us in these things and the
devil may in try to bring a situation that a persecution is so much
that well we might think well the Lord doesn't love me and
You see, what happens is that we are being refined. It's a good thing to have our
religion refined. And the illustration of refining
is quite simple, because metals are put into a hot fire in order
to burn off that which is impure. And the fire needs to be very
hot to burn off all the impurities. If it's not very hot, it won't
burn off all the impurities. But when the fire is hot, it
does burn off the impurities. And what is it doing? It is refining
that metal. And it's the same in the lives
of God's people. They are refined. There's a lot
of flesh, there's a lot of the world which needs to be got rid
of. The Lord does it by refining
and we can see that these illustrations here are part of that refining. Persecution, famine, Nakedness,
peril, or sword. But perhaps they are all things
which many of our countrymen in this world today have to face. Perhaps not like we have to. But many do have to. Famine,
nakedness, peril, or sword. Many today have to suffer in
that way. And then the apostle goes on,
as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We're accounted as sheep for the slaughter. The Saviour was
accounted like that, wasn't he? Sometimes we think that you and
I are going to have a free run. My friends, if you and I are
true believers, bought with a price, redeemed in the precious blood
of Christ, we should expect a life of communion with the Saviour,
which will bring with it these things which will be hard to
bear to the flesh. But it will produce the answer
in our hearts of the evidence of God's mercy and God's favour
toward us. And that's a really important
thing, isn't it? We want to know, do we not, that God is dealing
with us as his children and not leaving us to aimlessly wander
through this world and then falling to hell at last. Oh, what a terrible,
terrible situation. And so he tells us, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We're accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. And then he tells us, nay, in all these things,
all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us. What a great truth that is, isn't
it? What a wonderful, encouraging statement. You see, we have in
the word of God, and May God indeed direct us, as we pass
through these times of difficulties and distress and tribulation,
etc., that we look to the Saviour and we're able to recognise this
great truth that we aren't able to conquer ourselves. We are
feeble and we're foolish and we're sinful and we're evil,
but to look out of ourselves to the great Saviour. Oh, my
friends, let us look out of ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ and
therefore this truth is so wonderful. In all these things we are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us, this immutable love. Oh, do we understand the picture?
And so he comes on and then he says, The Apostle, you see, and
it's a wonderful statement, isn't he? He's able to say, for I am
persuaded. These are the truths, therefore,
that I'm setting before you. These are the truths of God,
which the Lord has revealed to me. And therefore, I'm able to
come and tell you, for I am persuaded by the Spirit of God 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." Well, the Apostle you see is trying
to produce a great picture before us, to illustrate that none of
these things are able to separate us from the love of God. And
therefore, having started with this word, who shall separate
us from the love of Christ, he then comes and concludes this
eighth chapter with these words, nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Well, this morning, can we not
go on our way rejoicing and thankful to God We have such a wonderful
saviour who has loved us so much. He should lay down his life that
we might possess life. And therefore, one day, by his
grace, by that unmerited favour, we should be found with him in
glory for eternity. Well, may you and I have a right
understanding of these wonderful blessings. And my friends, may
we have shed abroad in our heart, our cold hard hearts, something
of the love of Christ. I'm sure we will all mourn our
lack of love, but my friends, do we know a little of this immutable
love, that such unworthy, hell-deserving sinners, and realize, yes, the
Lord has set his love upon me. Wonderful it is. An eternity
passed, and that great love surrounds me. And that great love will
not let me go. And oh, I'm so ashamed of my
life. But oh, may I, day by day, be
given that grace to take up my cross daily and to follow Him. Oh friends, what a blessed privilege
it is to follow such a Saviour whose love is so great, so wonderful,
that love which is indeed immutable. Remember that word, immutable. It's a great word and my friends
it describes the love of Christ to unworthy sinners. And bless
God this morning, if you and I can trace it out in our life,
as we commenced with the evidence of this life of God in our soul,
because if we have the evidence of it, then it is because of
Christ's love toward us, and his wonderful dealings with us,
and to know that one day, through His grace, we shall be united
with Him, a long eternity to spend in singing, God is love. Amen.