All right, if you take your Bibles
now and turn with me again to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. I tell you, ever since I got this
new computer, the on and off button is right there by my thumb.
I keep pressing it on and off, on and off. So hold off for the
technical difficulties here. All right, Romans chapter 8. And our text will be found in
verse 35 through the end of this chapter. The Apostle says, Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? I've entitled this,
The Immutable Union of Christ's Love. The Immutable Union of
Christ's Love. Now the Apostle in previous verses,
he defies anyone. He defies anyone to lay any charge
or condemnation to any of God's elect, to those that are justified
by Christ. Every believer confesses like
the Apostle Paul. We confess, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing, which truly refers to the old
man of sin. The old nature that still resides
in every believer. Therefore, we who are quickened
by the Holy Spirit, we are given a new nature, a new heart. This heart and this nature is
created after God, Paul says in Ephesians, in true holiness. Matter of fact, John says this
in 1 John 5. He says, We know that whosoever
is born of God sinneth not. Now, He is not referring to the
old nature. That nature can do nothing but
sin. But the new nature that He gives
us cannot do anything like that. It cannot sin. Therefore, because
our new nature, which is evidenced by faith alone in Christ, we
are made to feel the guilt of our sin. Because of this new
nature, we are made to feel and own the guilt of the old man. Therefore, all believers are
troubled. We are in constant trouble. Inward
sin troubles us. By the existence of the old man
and our failures to keep from sin, we are troubled. Paul says,
to will is present with me. But how to do that which is good
I find not. You see, the apostle himself
confessed the wickedness of his old condition, the struggle of
sin and his flesh. Yet here he defies any creature
to condemn us. He defies any creature to lay
one accusation. He said this in verse 33, Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? And if there
can be no charge, who is he that condemneth? If there's no charge,
surely there can be no condemnation. It's impossible because God chose
us from eternity and justified us. It is God that justifies. That is why there is no charge
that can be laid to us. There is no condemnation that
can be put on us because God justified us. God justified us. God made Jesus
to be our representative and so then all Christ promised to
do for the elect in a covenant of grace, God accounted His promises
as our salvation. You see, Christ was foreordained. His blood and His offering are
our total justification. Yet Peter says He was verily
foreordained before the foundation of the world. This death of Christ
that justified us, was ordained of God. And if no charge can be laid
to us, there can be no condemnation. We saw this last Wednesday, the
four pillars of our justification. The four pillars upon which all
our justification are found in verse 32. First of all, it's
Christ that died. Christ died for our sins and
by His one offering put away our sins forever. That's how
there can be no charge. Because He had put away our sins. Well, how do we know He put away
our sins? That's the second pillar. He,
yea rather, is risen again. This is proof that our sins have
been forever removed from us. God raised Him from the dead.
And not only that, it says, who is even at the right hand of
God. In other words, He is now ascended
to the throne of glory. He that saved us. He that redeemed
us. He that atoned for our sins and
rose again for our justification. Right now He is seated on the
throne of glory to make sure that all of those He died for
will be saved. None of them shall be lost. It's
astounding that Jesus Christ is now seated and all power is
given to Him in heaven and earth, that He should give eternal life
to as many as the Father had given Him. And not only this,
the fourth pillar of our justification is this, He ever lives to make
intercession. He makes intercession for us. So then all who are Believers
in Christ, this is the comfort of your justification, that no
charge will ever be laid to you. No charge of sin, though you
feel the guilt of it, though you know the presence of it,
yet because of Christ, He had put it away forever. And now
then you are justified. We used to, I used to say this
a lot, justification means just as if I never sinned. That's
not what it means. It means I never sinned. To be
justified means this, you never sinned. That's what He has made
His people, justified. And therefore, He says this concerning
His sheep, that no man, I give unto them eternal life and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My
hand. None of them shall be lost. So sin is not just stopped by
the change of outward habits, but sin has been put away by
the death of Christ. Yet we confess this, sin is mixed
with all we do. We know we are justified, so
how can we find rest? How can we find rest? Knowing
we still struggle, though we are justified. Yet we still have
this inward struggle. How can we find rest to know
and cease from fear concerning God's wrath? How can we know that we are free
from condemnation? Simply it is to look to Jesus
who is all the grounds and merits of our justification before God. Does our justification before
God exempt us from trouble? Though you are justified, though
you are accepted of God, though Christ has died for you and risen
for you, though He has ascended to the throne of God where He
ever lives to make intercession for you, does that exempt you
from trouble? From outward afflictions like
sickness and sorrow and pain? In fact, Most religions relate
the outward circumstances to either the love or hatred of
God. The outward man, the flesh, supposes
that if a man is wealthy and prosperous, if he does good works,
that somehow God loves him. They base the love of God on
what they see, what they feel, and what they experience. They say, well, if you're in
sickness, then you must have done something wrong. I'm telling that to Lazarus,
that man who begged. Remember Lazarus begging at the
rich man's gate? That man spent the rest of his
life in sickness and pain and misery and died in misery. I try to tell him that health,
wealth and prosperity gospel. Try telling the prophet Isaiah
as he was being sawn in half by those who hated the gospel
he preached. Try telling that to the apostles
who were crucified, stoned, and dragged through the streets. No, believers, we are not exempt
from any troubles common to man. But the Apostle, for our encouragement
and our comfort, in the very teeth of your trouble, in the
very pain of your afflictions, he leaves us with this comfort. He says this, no matter what
happens to you, no matter the experience you experience in
this world, listen, nothing can separate you from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus. Nothing. Nothing that happens
now, nothing that has happened in the past, nothing that shall
happen in the future can separate you from the love of God that
is in Christ Jesus. None of the evils of life, no
matter their cause, no matter who brings it upon us, no matter
the pain or sorrow or destruction, none of these outward afflictions
can separate us. And that's the question he asked
in our text. Who? Who? Who shall be able to separate
us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? Now this
term, the love of Christ, I want you to see this, is not to fix
our attention on your love. It's not to fix our attention
on our love for Christ, but rather His love for us. It doesn't say who shall separate
our love from Christ. You know what? Anything and everything
separates our love from Christ. The answer would be much. What
separates your love from Christ? Most anything. Our love is fickle,
it's weak, it's fluctuating. But that's not the question.
God has set in each of His children a real love. Now, I really love
God. I really love Christ. We, by
nature, were haters of God. But God who justified us by Christ
and redeemed us has now given us a nature that we love Him.
And like Peter, remember that night at Gethsemane? He was saying,
Peter, you're going to deny me three times. He said, Lord, no.
No, I'll die with you. I'll die with you. I'll never
forsake you. Now listen, friends, I want you
to, we know the story, but you have to understand, Peter was
sincere. I mean, consider the action. Ever so foolish as it
was, he took out a sword against a band of soldiers. He really
meant it. And how many times we say, I
will die with you. And we really mean it. But let the Lord take his hand
off of us for a second, you'll find out how weak your love is. That night, that same night,
Peter denied him three times. He denied him three times. Let
the wind blow ever so softly against us and we will surely
faint. So if our love is here intended,
we could not find any rest. Now if you start looking to your
love, you're not going to find any rest in it. You're not going
to find any comfort in your love. Not your love for Christ. I'm
thankful that I have love for God. We know that all things
work together for good to them that love God. I love God. I
love Christ. But I am not resting any confidence
in my love for Him, but rather His love for me. It is the love
of Christ that cannot be separated from us. His love is the foundation
of all our rest. It is the love of God that predestinated
us. It was the love of God that called
us while we were polluted in our sins. It was God who in love
spared not his own son, but sent him to die in our stead. John says this, here in his love.
If you want to know the definition of love, here in his love, not
that we love God. Your love is not the definition
of love. Here in his love, that God loved And here's the proof. He sent
his son to be the propitiation, the offering, the offering for
our sins. So if we are to find comfort
in all of our afflictions, we are to look to this, not to our
love, but to his love. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Secondly, the reason, I want
you to see the reason that we can never be separated from this
love. First of all, consider the nature
of His love, the nature of His love. I got two things, the duration. How long has God loved you? How long will God love you? The duration of His love. And secondly, the durableness
of His love. The duration of God's love simply
is this, it is eternal. It is eternal. And the durableness
is, it's immutable. If God has loved us, it has been
from everlasting. In Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse
3, He said this, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. An everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. Has God in lovingkindness drawn
you? Has He taught you to come to
Christ alone? Then see, He has loved you from
the beginning and He will love you without end. Our love is so weak and small
at best, but our hope is in the eternal love of God, who loved
us, who predestinated us to be holy, adopted sons of God. So what is our hope of never
being separated from this love? Because it's not only forever,
it's immutable. Now consider this, what if your
love was eternal? What if you could love eternally?
Could you say your love was unchangeable? We love each other. But let somebody
do something to hurt me and that love is going to go down. Let
somebody give me something of value and the love will go up. No such thing as with God. However
high God's love is. Now imagine, if you will, as
high as you can. How much does God love His people? You listen. He loves us as much
as He loves His Son. And that love is durable. It does not change. It is just like all the other
characteristics of God's person. It is immutable. He says, I am
the Lord. I change not. Religion would
have you believe God hated you and then you did something and
now He loves you. That's stupid and foolish. Because
God would have to change in order to do that. God never hated me. Got that? He never hated me.
Now there was a time I hated Him. But there was never a time
He hated me. This is the beauty of election,
the doctrine of election, is He never ceased to love me. And His love is not just, they
say the world is telling you that God loves everybody and
that He's trying to save. What kind of love is that that
can't save? That's a powerless kind of love.
God's love is immutable, it doesn't change. Therefore all he loves
he saves and all he saves he brings to himself. All he saves
he saves eternally because he loves them. He loves them immutably,
unchangeably. In the beginning we were made
in the image of God but we have fallen to such a low degree Yet
there is no goodness in us, because we were by nature the haters
of God. But even then in love, God purposed
that we should be one with His Son, predestinated us. In verse
29, for them He did foreknow, He also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. He purposed
in love that you be in the image of His Son. His love is so great, consider
the greatness of His love, that He guards us even as the
apple of His eye. And Christ, our head, we are
His body. Consider the terms of affection,
these pictures of affection. He is the bridegroom and we are
His bride. He is the head and we are His
body. You like your body? You protect
it? How much more does Christ ahead
care and love His Church, His Bride? Christ in love loved us
to the end and willingly offered Himself for our sins. He said, The Good Shepherd giveth
His life for the sheep. The love of Christ is here seen
by the is the same as the love of God. Paul says, Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? In the end, he says,
Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ?
Our Savior that loves us is God, manifest in the flesh. If He were not God, surely His
love would have no power, but He is God, manifest in the flesh,
and because Jesus is God, We are sure that our salvation of
all who believes in Him, we're sure of it, that He will lose
nothing. He will not lose one of His people. Christ said this, All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. And I love them. He said, I'm not going to cast
them out. When they come, I won't cast
them out. Why? This is the will of Him
that sent me, that of all He had given me, I should lose nothing. How many will he lose that he
loves? Nothing. Not one of them. Now
believer, in your trouble, in your calamities, in your afflictions,
which the apostle will mention, we have many. But our confidence
is that we shall prevail over all these troubles and shall
never be separated from his love. Never, never be separated from
his love. or it's eternal, immutable, and
powerful. And all who were chosen and redeemed
and called shall have everlasting life. His love is effectual.
What good is a love that's not effectual? A love that can have
no power is no good. What good is a God that just
loves everybody, has no power to save anybody? That love has
nothing then to do with my salvation, if that's true. But I know this,
He does love His people and because He loves His people, there is
power with His love and He saves them. He saves them. We shall never be separated from
the love of Christ. It's not our ability to remain,
refrain from temptation. That's not the grounds of His
love, is it? Well, look at me. I wasn't tempted like this other
person. Well, does He love you more? Nope. And He doesn't love
them less. It's not our power that moves
Him to love. It's not grounded in our love,
but in this. We shall never be separated from
the love of Christ. And our preservation is left
into the hands of Him who loved us. You know, I'm going to persevere
because He loves me. Believers see, this is tied into
the promises for our comfort. No charge is laid to us, no condemnation
can reach us. Therefore, who can remove us
from His love? Remember, sin is what separates us from the
love of God. But seeing He's removed all objections,
how then could we ever be separated? In time and providence there
are many evils which in appearance seem calculated for the express
purpose of separating us. Look in verse 36. He says this,
For as it is written, For thy sake we are killed, All the day
long. Now, believer, how long are we
going to suffer in this life? Listen, all the day long. All
the day long. I believe we're discouraged a
lot of times because we think suffering is somehow going to
end. That we're going to get to a point where it's going to
be okay. Nope. It is written. We are killed
all the day long. Our suffering shall last as long
as this life. And the manner of suffering is
this. We, like sheep, are like sheep for the slaughter. We are
counted as sheep for a slaughter. You know why we're referred to
sheep in Scripture? It's not a compliment. It's not a compliment. Sheep are stupid, they're dirty,
defenseless creatures who are totally dependent upon the shepherd
for everything. We like sheep are helpless to
prevent our troubles and we are surely defenseless to keep ourselves
from troubles. Have you tried to keep yourself
from trouble? How's that working? You put a lot of effort into
it. How's that going? You are helpless
to keep yourself from trouble. How about defense against sin?
You doing well? Helpless, aren't you? Absolutely
dependent upon the love and care of the
shepherd. Such trouble the apostle lists in our text. He lists seven. And you know why seven is a perfect
number? We are in perfect trouble. Perfect
trouble. Seven troubles. Tribulations,
he said this, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Look
at verse 35. Shall tribulation, here's the first one. Tribulations
are general troubles common to all man. Remember what the Lord
said to Adam. He said, you're going to labor
all your life and sorrow you'll eat from the labors. Thorns are going to grow faster
than the fruit. Yet in these tribulations, they
have a two-fold purpose. They're common to all. Now, if
you're lost, you have tribulation. And if you're saved, you have
tribulation. You have troubles. What it means. But there are
two different purposes. For the lost, it is a warning
of God's condemnation. But to you that are saved, tribulations
are ordained for a different purpose. The tribulations that
we face lead us to faith, love, and every grace. That's what
tribulation does. Paul says in Romans chapter 5,
he says, not only so, but we glory in tribulation. Knowing. Tribulation works with patience.
Patience, experience. Experience, hope. And hope makes
it not a shame. You see what tribulations does
for you? It produces patience. You need patience? Well, guess
what's going to come first? Tribulations. Tribulations. He says, distress. This denotes
a narrow place, a confined place of great pressure. You ever been
there? You ever been in such a narrow strait that there is
no way out? God confines us so that if we
go forward, it's bad. If we go back, it's bad. And
we're just stuck. You ever been stuck? That's distress. You're in distress. You know what he did to the Israelites?
He stuck them right there in the Red Sea. Pharaoh behind them,
the sea before them, the mountains to the left, the deserts to the
right. There was nowhere to go. Have you been there? When the
apostles in John chapter 6, when the Lord just finished and all
those other guys left, there were so many people and all of
a sudden he preached the gospel, they're gone. Jesus turned to
them and said, will you go away also? And they said, what? To
whom shall we go? They had no place to go. They
were in distress. They had nowhere to go. We're
not going anywhere. Isn't that what distress does?
It sets us in a place where we have nowhere else to go but Christ.
Nowhere else to grow. It's your persecution. It's your
persecution. This is the lot as the sheep
of Christ. Our shepherd has set us a table
in the midst of our enemy. You know, this is unusual for
an earthly shepherd, but our shepherd has set us in a den
of wolves to eat. He put us a pasture right there
in the center. and surrounded by wolves and bears and all sorts
of evil people that desire nothing but your death. And he says, I dare you to touch
one of them. I dare you. He defies them to
separate us from his love. This table of the gospel that
is prepared for us is the gospel of Jesus Christ. which we believe
and affirm with our lives and our hearts. We confess that Christ
is the Son of God, that Christ is the only Savior for sinners.
We confess the gospel of grace, not merit. We're convinced of
the electing grace of God, of the perfect redemption of Christ,
the effectual calling of the Spirit, and keeping of God of
the saints. And the world will hate you for
it. The gospel that you love is what
the world hates and they will persecute you for it. The gospel
of God's love, he said this, marvel not my brethren if the
world hates you. Fourth one is famine, the loss
of food. I can't imagine this one. I mean,
we live in such a place that even our most poor has plenty
to eat, and they may not choose to eat it. They may choose other
things besides eating food, but there's plenty enough for them
to eat. I tell you, we eat like kings in this country. We do. We eat like kings. I am not a wealthy man, but I
promise you I have plenty to eat. And God's provided. That may change tomorrow, but
I tell you, I'm so thankful for it. But what of the famine of
the Word of God? Some believers have put themselves
in such a place to where they will not move to hear the Gospel. They've placed their family and
friends and things above the Gospel of Christ. And then they
find themselves like Elimelech. If you read that in Ruth, that
man, Elimelech, Bethlehem, Judah, the house of bread and praise,
and left it for God's washpot. And what did he find out there?
He may have found plenty to eat physically, but there was a famine
of the Word of God there. There was no Word of God there. Many people of God's people find
themselves often like David. Remember David as in his exile. He said, what I would give to
be a bird nesting in the house of God. How foolish sometimes believers
are to forsake the word of God for the things of the world and
give us famine. Nakedness. Many have been stripped
of their earthly clothes and possessions. But how often are
believers stripped because of our sin? Exposed because of the
guilt of our sin. Nakedness, we feel naked before
God. Peril, this word means danger. The wolves of the world, Satan
has a roaring lion, seeks whom he may devour. They long to silence
the word we preach. They long to erase the name of
Christ from the earth. But who protects us in such times
of peril? The Word of God says, The wrath
of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath he shall
restrain. Or sword. Believers, we do, which
means death, even death. Believers are not exempt from
death, physical death. I'm mentioning all these things.
We can and do suffer these afflictions. but never because God's love
has failed. If you suffer tribulation, distress,
persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or even sword, Know this,
that none of those things were designed to separate you from
the love of Christ. In fact, those things are intended
to endear you to the love of Christ, to bring you again to
see His love for you. In fact, see why we suffer these
things. In that same verse in verse 36,
He said, For thy sake we are killed all
the day. These persecutions and afflictions
and sufferings of God's people, they may come from men, the world
of the lost, for God has set enmity between us and them. But what men intend for evil,
God in love intends for our good. These afflictions are perfect.
They are necessary to draw out our love for God, our faith in
Christ, and our hope of heaven. That's what they're intended
for. I was thinking of an illustration
of this, and I remember one that Don gave years ago as a pharmacist. Now pharmacist, you have an illness
and he takes two compounds by themselves, each one of them
would kill you. But then he takes them and he
combines them together and it becomes a medicine to heal. And that's what the love of God
does with our tribulation, our persecution, our distress, our
peril. They are perfectly designed for
you. Do you ever envy your brother's
persecutions and afflictions? They seem so light and yours
seem so heavy. I bet you this, if we were to
really endure what our brothers endured, it'd probably crush
us. It'd probably crush us. Don't envy someone else's afflictions. Yours and mine are perfectly
designed for us by the love of God. By the love of God. our afflictions, how often we
suppose that prosperity would draw us to God. That's not true.
It's our afflictions that draw us to God. Consider Job. Would Job have known the greatness
of God's mercy and pity had he not suffered what he suffered?
As a matter of fact, James chapter 5 tells us this. Take my brethren,
the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for
an example of suffering, afflictions and of patience. Behold, we count
them happy which endure. You have heard the patience of
Job and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very
pitiful and of tender mercies. You remember, as I told you,
Lazarus begged and rich man. Who got the better end of the
deal in the end? Who received better? Lazarus was comfortable. And the man who received the
good of this world was tormented." I love that. He said, I know
my thoughts towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil. Listen, to give you an expected
end. It's not what you're enduring,
that's not the end. The end of what you're enduring, believer,
is peace. Joy. Life. Life. Do you suffer these afflictions
by the world and the body? Behold, the end of the Lord is
love and pity. So let us, like sheep, trust
wholly in the shepherd to lead us even to our death. Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil. Why? Thou art with me. You that love me are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. That rod and staff
had a twofold end. One to chasten and one to protect. That's what he does. He chastens
us, he protects us. And that comforts me. That comforts
me. what seems to appear that would
separate us, these things that appear to be separating us from
the love. The scripture is clear that we
are not separated by these things, yea? Listen, He says in verse
37, No! That's how it appears to be,
it is written. We are killed all the day long. We are counted sheep before the
slaughter. Now that's how the world and the flesh see it. That's
how we feel about it. We are martyrs all the day long. Woe is me. I'm such a martyr. Oh, my trouble is so great you
wouldn't understand. He said no. No. This is how it
really is. That's how it appears to be.
That's how it really is. In all things, we are more than
conquerors through the power of our will. Is that it? Is that what it says? We are
more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Believers, we are never the losers. You are never the loser for affliction. But rather we are always made
to prevail We are like the soldiers of Christ. We are engaged in
a spiritual warfare, combat, both out and within. And in such
a combat, we are always victors through Him that loved us. Our condemnation, our confidence
then to overcome every trial and affliction, both without
and in, is wholly grounded in the love and power of Christ. It is never our loyalty or regulation
of the flesh that overcomes our foes, but only through Him who
loved us are we conquerors. Look now who sits upon the throne
of God. It is Christ our rock, our refuge,
our shield, our city of refuge. In Him we are kept by the power
of God. Why haven't you left? Isn't the
affliction too much to bear? Isn't it horrible? Why aren't
you just left? You're kept. You're kept by the
power of God unto salvation. Seeing God in love chose us,
in love Christ died, in love the Spirit calls us and keeps
us. I'm so thankful the Spirit didn't
wait for me. Listen, if the Spirit was waiting
for any of us to come, who would be saved? None. None. He came to us in the depth of
our sin and gave us a new heart of love for Him. But we must
not ever trust in that love as a grounds for anything. Don't
lean on it. rather trust in the love of God
through Christ. Paul calculates this, he said
this, look, because of this I am persuaded, I am persuaded, verse
38, that neither death, I like that, he begins with the worst,
he begins with the worst, he doesn't build up to it, he says,
what's the worst? Death, I'm persuaded that death, nor life. That means anything
that has happened in life, anything that's right now happening in
life, and anything that shall happen. I'm persuaded that not
death nor life. Those are things we can feel
and see. What about those things we can't? Angels. No principalities, no powers.
Governments or kings or rulers. I'm persuaded that nor things
present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, in other
words, heights of prosperity or depths of poverty, I'm persuaded
that none of that, nor any other creature, just in case I miss
one. He's exhausted himself. In other
words, he just could have said, I'm persuading that nothing,
nothing shall separate us. shall be able to separate us
from the love of God that's in Christ. I notice this, you said
it shall be able. That doesn't mean they're not
going to try. Your flesh trying to separate
you from the love of God? Is Satan trying to separate you
from the love of God? is the world trying to separate
you, yes, but the promise is they shall not be able to separate
us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Here is the point of faith and
comfort, they shall all fail in their attempts. because God hath loved us with
everlasting love. He chose us before the foundation
of the world where there was nothing to oppose Him. Christ died for your sins. Christ rose for your justification. Christ is seated on the throne
of God and is moving all things for your salvation. Malachi 1 and verse 2, he says,
I loved you. Say it the Lord. Yet you say
wherein hast thou loved us? You ever said that? God says,
I love you. He says, well, I can't see it. Where have you loved me? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? Yet I love Jacob. And I hated
Esau. and laid his mountains and his
heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. What was the difference between
Jacob and Esau? You have two kids that have done
nothing good or evil, and yet God set his love on one and hatred
on the other. I can understand why God hated
Esau. He was a sinner. He was born
in sin. The amazing thing is that he
loved Jacob. Isn't it amazing that God would
set His love on vile creatures such as we are? And no one can move God from
His love. This should be the comfort in
the very teeth of all your troubles. Who? Who? Who shall in thy presence
stand and match omnipotence? Unfold the grasp of thy right
hand and pluck the sinner then. Who? None. I'm persuaded of this. You, in life or death, angels,
principalities, powers, things present, things to come, nothing
shall be able to separate us from the love of Christ, God,
that's in Christ Jesus. Nothing. I pray God will take
this with you and you take it wherever you go. It's yours. Whether you feel it or you don't,
that doesn't change God's love for you. Whether you merit it
or you don't, it doesn't change God's love for you. Your merit
is not in you, it's in Christ. I pray that God bless us. Stay
and be dismissed in prayer.