Romans chapter 8. And this evening we'll be looking
at verse 35 down through verse 39, the Lord willing. And the title of the message
is, The Love of Christ. The Love of Christ. The Scripture says, who shall
separate us from the love of Christ. And then he lists seven
distinct things here in this verse. "...shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword. As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter." Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. And we'll get to the next part
in just a second. Now the Apostle here in the previous
verses before our text, he defies anyone. The Apostle defies anyone
who would charge or condemn God's elect Because God, through Christ,
has justified us. Every believer in Christ, we
confess, we confess this, that in our flesh dwelleth no good
thing. The flesh that Paul refers to
in chapter 7, he's talking about our sin nature, our old man of
our birth. he says in this nature none of
us had anything good anything good the old man that we were
born with his full of sin therefore we are quickened by the holy
ghost and are given a new nature a new nature in this nature that
god is given pay attention it has no say The new nature has
no sin. Matter of fact, he says this
in Ephesians chapter 4 that this new nature is created after God
in true holiness. In true holiness. And because of our new nature,
which is evidenced by faith in Christ alone as all our salvation,
We are made aware of the old. We are made aware of the old
nature because of the new. Listen, if you've never been
made aware of your sins, it's because you only have one nature.
You only have a sin nature. I read this just this afternoon.
A snake that has venom in himself is unburdened by the venom. It doesn't bother him. It doesn't weigh on him. It doesn't
make him sick. It doesn't make him die. He's fine. As a matter of fact,
the venom he uses for his own benefit. That's a lost man. He
has the venom of sin in him, but it's no burden. As a matter
of fact, it's useful for the lost man. But for us, it's like
having venom in a man. It's poisonous to us. Sin is
painful to us. Sin affects us and is of no value
to us. Matter of fact, we desire to
be rid of it. Just as a man would desire to
be rid of venom in his body. That's how long we long to be
rid of sin. Why? You have a new nature, a
new man, a new heart. that God gives you, He reveals.
And this nature causes us to flee to Christ, didn't it? Isn't
that what caused you to flee to Christ? God gave you a new
heart, showed you your sin, showed you that Christ died for sin.
And what did you do? You fled to Christ for refuge. You found Him to be the remedy
for sin. Remedy for sin. Therefore, all believers, we
know this, we are troubled by this inward sin, aren't we? This
old man of sin that still abides with us, we are troubled by him. We're troubled by our inward
sin, by the existence of the old man and our failure to keep
from sin. Paul says, "...to will is present
with me, but how to perform it I find not." I know every believer
can identify with that. You desire to be holy because
the new man is holy. You desire that all your nature
be holy, but that old nature that is in us, we can't find
a way. The apostle himself confessed,
that old wretched man that I am, and he struggles with sin. He
struggles with sin. And yet now, in our text here,
the Apostle in verse 33 and 34, he defies anyone to charge him
with sin. Now how can this be? How can
this be? You that know your sin nature,
yet because of the new nature that dwells in you, how then
could this be? How could he defy anyone to charge
us? You just watch me a little bit
and you'll find something to charge me with. You watch any of us for any length
of time and you'll find sin to charge us with. So how could
Paul defy anyone to charge us? He says that. He says it to men
and angels, heaven and earth, every creature, angels, devils,
and Satan. Who among you can charge God's
elect with sin? And you who claim to have any
charges against us, How can you condemn us? If there's no charge,
then what? There's no condemnation. Gotta
have a charge in order to be condemned. This is impossible because God
has chosen us from eternity and from eternity God has justified. You know why they can't claim
any sin against you? Why they can't condemn you? Because
God said there's no sin. God said there is no sin. It's impossible to charge us
because God justifies us. How? By putting us in union with
His Son. He put us in union with His Son. Just as much as your arm is attached
to your body, is attached to your head, even more so are we
in union with the Holy Son of God. So in order to charge us,
He would have to charge our head. And there is no sin in our head. Justified. Justified through
a federal head. God made Jesus to be our representative
of all the elect, so that all Christ promised to do for us,
God counted it done. That's why I promise you something,
you may not want to count on it until it's finished. You might
have good hopes that I'll try. But you really shouldn't count
on it, because certain things could come up. But you listen,
what Christ promised to do for us is remove our sin. And God
said it is as good as done. What Christ promised, God accounted
for us as righteousness. When? Before the first sin was
ever committed. Before the world began. And so then, this is the grounds. What is the grounds of my justification? Justification. First of all,
it is the death of the Son of God. That's the grounds. Look
at above this text. He gives you the grounds for
it. He says, who is he that condemneth? Verse 34, it is one, Christ that
died. You cannot condemn God's people
because Christ has paid for their sins. You cannot condemn me for
sin, seeing it has been executed in my substitute. Did I commit
the sin? You bet I did. I confess it. But I know this, it has been
abolished in Christ as He bled and died for my sin. How many? All of them. Isn't that something? Before
I'd ever committed my first, it had already been put away.
All have been put away by the death of Christ. Second, we know
that our sin is put away by the resurrection of Christ. And he
says that in the next part, "...yea, rather is risen again." This
is proof of God's satisfaction. If He had not been raised, we
are yet in our sins. But He is raised and we are then
justified by His resurrection. Justified before God. We are justified. And thirdly,
it says this, that He is at the right hand of God. I know I'm
justified because He's at the right hand of God. He is at the
right hand of God. And what is He doing? He's sitting
down. He's sitting down. What does that mean? It's done.
It's finished. The work is done. What else is there for me to
do to justify myself? Nothing. Christ justified me
and finished it, and when He was done, He rested. That's what
the whole Sabbath day is for. It is a picture of His rest. Rest. I remember Donny Bell talking
about rest. First time I'd ever seen Donny
Bell preach, he rested. He said, I'm going to show you
what rest is, and he laid down on the pew, on the front, and
he said, this is rest. Rest! That's what Christ did. He rested. He's done. And you
know what? I'm justified. And the fourth
thing is this, He ever liveth to make intercession for us.
So then, we who still have this old man of sin continually, my
Savior is interceding for me, daily forgiving me, daily washing
me, constantly, perpetually washing my conscience. from sin and dead
works, so that I might serve God. What hinders us most from
serving God? Is it not our sin? Our sin! The guilt of our sin causes great... It paralyzes us to serve God. And so how then can we serve
God with good conscience? Because He cleanses us from all
our sins. He is faithful and just. He's not doing this in an unjust
manner. Our Savior has cleansed us and
is cleaning us. So then, What is our standing
right now before God? What is your standing? Justified. Innocent of all charges. Matter
of fact, there are no charges. Isn't that what it says? Who
shall lay anything to the charge? There's no charges. How can there
then be any condemnation? There can't be. It's impossible
to have condemnation without charges. There's no charges.
Why? He died. He rose again. He sits at the
right hand of God. And he daily washes me, interceding
for me as my high priest. What are they going to charge
me with? Nothing. Nothing before God. Nothing.
so then regarding the inward cn believer this should provide
you much comfort when you are convicted and you
will be of your seat remember to confess we don't deny that
we have seen that would be foolish women but when we confess it
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Our sins. But does our justification before
God... Does our justification before
God exempt the believer from any trouble in this life? Now
I know you have trouble with sin. But do you have any other
troubles? Anybody else got any other troubles
besides just your sin? That's the biggest one. And that's
been done away with, right? So you should really be free
from all fear. of condemnation. But you have
other troubles, don't you? You have other difficulties.
These are what we call outward difficulties. Outward troubles. Sin is an inward trouble. And
it's the greatest one and that's been dismissed. So now then we
deal with these lesser things, the outward troubles. The outward
troubles. No, believers are not exempt
from any sickness, sorrow, pain, or death that is common to man.
We can have anything a man could have, we could have. We're not
exempt from these things. In fact, most religious men,
they relate outward circumstances to either the love of God or
the hatred of God, don't they? Man by nature always relate outward
circumstances to the love or the hatred of God. Everything
going well, God loves you. Everything going bad, God hates
you. That's how men look at this. The flesh supposes that health,
wealth, and prosperity in this life are signs of God's love. That if a man professes to believe
in God and does good works, that God will somehow give him the
best that this life has to offer. Now, men are making billions
of dollars preaching that. They are. Obviously, I'm not. And I won't. I won't. I don't
care for that. That's a lie. It's not true. Now try telling that to Lazarus
that laid at the rich man's gate with sores covering his body.
Now you tell him that God only wants him to be happy, healthy,
and wealthy. Try telling that to him. He's a lie. It's a lie. Try telling it to the prophet
Isaiah as they sawed him in half. Try telling that to the apostles
as they were crucified of stone to death and dragged through
the streets. Try telling that to Elijah who
was fed by the ravens and then by the widow having one piece
of bread a day. No, believers, we are not exempt
from trouble that are common to man but the apostle for our
encouragement here, for our comfort in the very teeth of our afflictions
He gives us something to cling to. Because He knows you're going
to experience these things, He is going to tell us something
that is going to encourage and strengthen us. And it is this.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Can any outward affliction... Now we know no sin can separate
us from God, but what about outward troubles? Can they separate us
from God? The answer is no. No, they cannot
separate you from the love of Christ. Nothing, friends, nothing. As we're going to see, he's going
to be very exhaustive here. Nothing shall ever separate you
from the love of Christ. None of the evils of this life,
no matter the cause, no matter who brings it, no matter the
pain of it, no matter the sorrow or the destruction, no matter
the outward afflictions, none of these shall separate us from
the love of Christ. And so here he is defying people. He's not asking a question for
information. He is defying anyone to give
him an answer to this. Who shall separate me from the
love of Christ? Who? I dare anyone or anything to
try. They will all fail. That's what he's saying. That's
what he's saying. He's defying anyone. Now the
term here, love of Christ, is not to fix our attention on our
love for Christ, but rather Christ's love for us. And I'm going to
explain why that is. Now if the apostle were to ask
this question, who shall separate us from our love to Christ? The answer is much and many. There is a lot to separate my
love from him. A lot. Matter of fact, I don't
even come close to loving him like I know I should and want
to. I know it's with you. You don't
love Him like you want to. Paul said that just a minute
ago. He said, the will is present with me. I want to love Him like
I should, but how to perform it, I can't find a way. And so
this is not focusing on your love for Christ. So many of us
do that. I know you do. You see, God has said in each
one of His children a real love. Isn't that right? My love is
real. My love for God is real. I don't
deny that. Singing the song, Oh, How I Love
Jesus, I do love Jesus. I do. But I know why I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. And purchased my salvation on
Calvary Street. I know why I love Him. And I
do love Him. You who believe, you love Him too. We by nature
were haters of God, right? We had that one nature, children
of wrath even as others, but God justified us, Christ redeemed
us, the Spirit called and quickened us to life and given us a heart
of love for Him. You know, when Peter was told
he was going to deny the Lord, he said, oh no, not me. Not me. Now, I don't think Peter was
being braggadocious in this, I think he was sincere. I'm going
to give him the benefit of the doubt in that statement. I believe
he really loved the Lord and didn't want to deny Him. And
he thought it the furthest possible thing to deny his Master. We
all know what happened. He did. He did. And what is that
teaching us? It's teaching you this. There
is no grounds for comfort in your love for Him. There is no
comfort for you based on your love for Him. Why? It's hot,
it's cold, it's up, it's down, it's there, it's not. I mean,
that's just the way it goes. Our love is so flexible and so
bendable that the latest little puff of
wind blows against us and sure enough we begin to sink. We begin
to sink. So if our love is here intended,
we could not find any rest in our afflictions. But see, look
at the text. It's not our love that he's talking
about. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Christ. It's talking about His
love. His love. that we cannot be separated
from. His love is the foundation of
all of our rest and comfort. If it is the love of God that
predestinated us to be sons, it was the love of Christ who
died for our sins. It was the love of the Spirit
that called us when we were polluted in our sins. It was the love of God that sent
His Son. You want to know what love is?
John says it. Herein is love. Now you want to know what love
is? John says here it is. Not that we love God. That's not
it. But that He loved us. And what's
the proof of such love? Everybody says God loves me,
right? Everybody says that. But what's the proof? I want
evidence God loves me, don't you? I don't want to just say
it and not really have it. Here it is. He sent His Son to
be the propitiation for our sins. Has He sent His Son to be the
propitiation for your sins? This is the manifestation of
the love of God. He sent His Son. And so then
we may find comfort in our afflictions by looking to the love of Christ. Not our weak, frail, and miserable
attempt of loving Him, but rather His perfect, inexhaustible, eternal
love for us. Now then, secondly, believers,
see the reason. The reason That we can never
be separated from the love of God is because of God's love,
the nature of God's love. The nature of God's love. First of all, consider the duration
of God's love. How long does God's love endure? How long does the love of God
endure? Now our love, if you love somebody with all your heart,
if it were possible for you to love somebody more than yourself,
it's not. But if you're possible to love somebody more than yourself, your love can only last from
your birth to your death. Your love only endures for a
short span. But consider God's love for us.
His love is eternal. As all of His other attributes,
the love of God is as eternal as God is. So the length of God's
love is from eternity past to eternity future, if I can even
use those words. God has always loved you. He is now always loving you and
He shall forever love you. Another thing about God's love
is this, it's unchangeable. However much God loved you in
eternity is how much God will love you in eternity. His love is unchangeable. The Lord said of old, I have
loved you with what? An everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Has He drawn you? Then His love
for you is eternal. He says in Malachi 3.6, I am
the Lord. Listen, I change what? Not. I don't change. I don't change. Ever. I change Not! Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Why is it you're not consumed?
Why is it you shall not be condemned? Because God does not change. He justified you in eternity,
and you will not be condemned. He loved you in eternity, and
He will love you in eternity. That's how long the love of God
is, and that's how durable the love of God is. But also I want you to see this.
How great is the love of God? Now we've seen the length of
it. We've seen the durability of it. I know some people, they
love people and they just have to grit their teeth and say,
I'm going to love you. Why? Because their love is not
so great. Their love is not so great. Oh,
but God's love, it's as great as God. It cannot be anything
less than God. His love is infinitely high.
It's as high as love could possibly be. How great is this love? It's so great, it's so great,
that God willingly saved the most vile and repugnant people
that ever lived. We would say it would be great
love for someone to save their child, wouldn't it? You have
your child and he's in a burning building. Somebody goes in there
and saves... We say that person loved. How much greater would
it be to take your worst enemy, go in and give your life saving
him? Which one is greater? Which love
manifests greatness? Which love is worthy of praise
and honor? All of us would have saved our
son. None of us would have saved our enemy. God, His love was
so great it saved His enemies. It saved the vile and the wretched. And not only this, but He purposed
that we should be one with His Son. How great is that? That God put you in His Son. made you one with His Son. Perfect, in every way, in His
Son. In love, He purposed that we
should be. Look at that in verse 29, you can see it. For whom
He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son. That's what He did for us. That's
what great love God had for you, is that He said, I want you to
be just like My Son. I want you, who by nature were
nothing like my son, to be exactly like my son. This is love. This is love. And Christ, how
much love was in Him that He would come and actually die for
us. that he would come and suffer
in such a way that no man had ever suffered before like his
suffering Christ in love he loved his own
all that the father gave him unto the end Lovingly He offered Himself for
our sins, and the love of Christ, as here is seen, is the love
of God. This love for us is the love
of God, the love of Christ. Look at that at the last verse.
He relates this love that we can't be separated from, the
love of Christ, with the love of God. He says in verse 29,
"...nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able
to separate from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord." You see, friend, if our Savior
were not God, false religion might be true. They claim He
loves all men without exception, but can't save them. Now, if
Christ were not God, that would be true. But because He is God,
that's not true. We know this. All that He loved,
He saves. All that He loved, He saves. Jesus is God in all of our salvation. He said this, "...all that the
Father hath given Me, I should lose nothing." Why? He's God. His love is just as
infinite, eternal, and durable, and high as the Father's love
and the Spirit's love. His love endures. and he will
lose nothing that God gave him. Now believer, in time of your
trouble, in these calamities and afflictions which the Apostle
here will mention, our confidence then is that we shall prevail
over every trouble and never be separated from the love of
Christ. Not for one moment. Never separated from the love
of Christ. This is our confidence. For it
is eternal, immutable, great and powerful to save all those
that Christ has redeemed and the Spirit calls to life. So
as we suffer the afflictions in this world that are without,
remember, it is not in our ability to remain firm against temptations
that keeps the love of God for us. It is not grounded in our
love for Christ, but rather 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 and gave Himself for us. Friends, if no charge is laid
to us, if no condemnation can come to us, then listen to this.
No outward trouble can separate us from Christ's love. Nothing. Nothing. Why? Because of its
nature. Because of who he is. Because of what he's done. Now
in time, in providence, there are many evils which appear to
seem calculated to remove us from the love of Christ. Isn't
that what troubles feel like? When you have troubles, doesn't
it feel like that they are trying to deprive you from His love? as though that there's something
between you and Him. Something's wrong. That's what
you think when you're in trouble. You think something's wrong.
I've done something wrong. You've never done anything right,
so just stop trying to think about it that way. It's not grounded
in you. And so the trouble that comes
never separates you from the love of Christ. It may appear
that way, but that's not how it is. And so in verse 36, look
at your text again. In verse 36, the Apostle points
out three things about our suffering. He says this, "...as it is written,
for thy sakes we are killed all the day long, and accounted as
sheep for the slaughter." The first thing I want you to know
about trouble is that it's all the day long. Life's a little day. That's how
long trouble is. We're not going to escape that,
as it is written. As it is written, for thy sake
we're killed all the day long. Our suffering is as long as we're
going to live in this world, we're going to suffer. And the
second, the manner of our suffering is this, like sheep for the slaughter. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. We are referred to as sheep in
scripture, not as a compliment. Sheep are stupid and dirty. Does
that feel like a compliment? But we all can shake our head
and say, I understand. I know exactly what the Scripture
is talking about. It's talking about me. Why? This
is the nature of the sheep. We're defenseless and we cannot
do anything and are totally dependent upon the shepherd. That's what
sheep are. We are sheep counted for the
slaughter. Like sheep, we are helpless to
protect ourselves and we surely cannot defend or deliver ourselves
from the evils. Isn't that what we're going to
spend all our time doing, trying to deliver ourselves from troubles?
We spend all of our day so concerned about... You know how many troubles
you actually deliver yourself from? None. You know who's doing
that? The shepherd. The shepherd is
the one doing all the work. You're running around chasing
your tail. That's what we do. We're sheep. We're stupid. But
the shepherd is the one leading us. The shepherd is the one bringing
us through the providences of life. The shepherd. And where does the shepherd lead
his sheep? Into these seven troubles in
verse 35. Shall tribulation? So, tribulation. And listen, these seven, it's
good to know this, seven is number of perfection. You know, your
troubles are perfect. They're perfect. You're not going
to get one more trouble than you need, and you're not going
to get one less trouble than you need. You get exactly what
you need. Seven perfections, seven troubles. Seven perfections. Now then,
listen, it says tribulation. In tribulation. This is the first
one. These are general troubles. Our
Lord said, in this world you shall have what? Tribulation. Back in Genesis, our Lord told
Adam, He said, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of
thy life. Yet these tribulations for the
lost are a warning of God's wrath, but to us, they're rather a display
of God's love. Why do you think I spend any
time disciplining my children? You think it's fun for me? You
think it's joyful? No. Because of love. Do I spend
a lot of time disciplining anybody else's children? No. I don't.
They're not mine. I deal with mine. Listen. Whom
the Father loveth, he chasteneth. Anyone chastened? Anyone, any believer chastened?
I'm loved. That's why the Father spent so
much time chastening me. Because He loves me and desires
that I do well. And so we have these tribulations.
The second one is this. Distress. This means a narrow,
confining place. Anybody been there? Where you
can't turn to the right? You can't turn to the left? You
are confined. You cannot get up. You cannot
lie down. You can't do anything. You are
distressed in a narrow place. What then does the love of God
do? He comes and He sets our hearts in a large place. My body may be constrained, but
my heart can be in a large place. That's what he told David in
Psalm 118. He says, I called upon the Lord
in distress. The Lord answered me, and what
did He do? He set me in a large place. Isn't that something? I get claustrophobic now. I didn't used to, but I recently
got that. I feel claustrophobic. And there
is nothing better than being in a large place. You know how
much this large place, this rock we stand on is so large you can't
find an end to it, you won't fall off of it. Christ is so
large you won't find an end to Him. You won't fall off of Him. In persecution, this is talking
about outward persecution. Listen, in that psalm, what did
the Lord say about the shepherd's psalm in Psalm 23? It says, Thou
preparest a table for me, where? in the presence of mine enemies."
It's so God just took all of his sheep and went into a wolves
den and just said, y'all sit down right here. Y'all eat. You
know what? That's what the church is. We
are His sheep sitting down tonight eating. Eating the bread. Talking
of His love and His grace and His blood and His righteousness.
We're eating! And what are we surrounded by?
Those who want to do nothing but destroy us. Do you realize
that? That the world would rather kill you than look at you? You know, I think it's strange
that Muslims want to kill everybody and everybody seems to love them.
They just can't do enough for them. Letting them in their country,
giving them all kinds of things. You've got to keep those evil
Christians out of here. They're horrible spreading that message
of God's love and grace. They don't want any part of it.
So you're going to be persecuted, believer. Famine. Now this is talking about food,
but I guarantee you it's also talking about the famine of the
Word of God. You know you're in a famine right
now for the Word of God? Do you know where this message
is being preached? Is it many places you can go to hear this?
Can you hear about God's election, God's redemption? Christ's success
and victory anywhere? No! We're very few, and yet some
believers are so foolish like Elimelech. Elimelech, he lived... Elimelech in Ruth, if you don't
know where it's at. And this man Elimelech, his name
means God is King. God is King. And this man, God
is King, lived in a place called Bethlehem, Judah. The house of
bread and praise is what that means. And this man, there was
a famine, a trouble in the land, a famine in the land. You know
where he went? He left God's house and went to Moab. Moab
is God's washpot. How many people today, in this
famine of the Word of God, they're in a house of bread and praise,
where they worship God, and then all of a sudden, they get some
kind of family, or some kind of trouble, and then, what do
they do? They leave the house of bread and praise for God's
washpot. The world. People retire. I'm
seeing this a lot with believers. They're retiring. They've got
good retirement benefits. And what do they do? They leave
the Gospel. Why? We're stupid sheep. Believer, we're not exempt from
these things, but we should guard against them. Taking this for
granted. This is unusual what we have. It's not taken for granted. Nakedness.
How many believers have been over the years stripped of even
their clothes to suffer in the afflictions of the sun or the
cold and die? Peril. Believers are often in
danger of the world of wolves. And Satan has a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour, who protects us from such enemies. It is Christ our shepherd. Christ
our shepherd. And listen, he gives this last
one, the sword, death. What's the worst a man could
do to you? Isn't it kill you? Isn't that the worst? It's just it. That's the final
thing that he could do to you. but in all this lesson listen
to what he said in all these things we are more
than conquerors through him that loved us now why do all of these things
happen to us i want to see this before i moved
on Go back to that first text. I moved too quickly. I want you
to see why you receive all these sufferings. What is the first
words in verse 36? As it is written, look, for what? For thy sake. Why are these troubles
coming to you? For God's sake. God determined all these things
for you. Perils, and troubles, and distresses, and swords, and
death, whatever it is. Who determined that? God did.
Now what does God say about this? You are more than conquerors. You know, they're doing that
big soccer thing. I don't like soccer. You know
why? People tie. I don't like ties. I don't like
ties. Somebody's got to win. I like
winning. I like that. God says you do
more than just win. You annihilate every foe. That's what God said. You are
more than conquerors. Not just a conqueror. You are
more than conquerors. Do you feel that way? Do you feel that you've conquered
your troubles? Anyone have? Well, I've just
really overcome that. When people say that, you just
watch. They'll be back in the same situation.
I've done it. I've said, I've overcome that.
No. No, I haven't. The moment I say
that, sure enough, I'm falling right back in the same mess I
was in before. You are more than conquerors.
How? through him that loved us. Through him that loved us. Believer, do you suffer afflictions?
Do you suffer in this body? Behold, the end of the Lord is
this, love and pity and mercy. Isn't that what he did with Job?
Isn't Job a good example of suffering? Why did God do that to Job? Would
Job have been better off left alone? No. Job experienced more
of the love of God, the pity of God, and the mercy of God
after his troubles than before. So why do you have troubles?
For thy sake. And what about these troubles?
You are more than conquerors, listen, through Him that loved
us. Who's in charge of this thing? Him that loved us. Who's in control
of our troubles? Him that loved us. And listen,
who then shall separate us from that love? Which one of these
things shall separate us? Didn't He control them? Didn't
He bring them? Then how then shall they separate us from Him?
Paul says this, I am persuaded. Are you persuaded? I am persuaded 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.
He tried to mention everything exhaustively. He started with
the first one, Death, which is our greatest fear. Death. Shall
death separate you? No. Death ushers us into the
presence of Christ. Shall life, life is full of trouble,
is that going to separate us? No, that's not going to separate
us either. Well, what about kingdoms and governments, principalities
and powers, angels and devils and demons? No! Not anything
that's ever been, not anything that is now, not anything that
is ever going to be invented is going to separate us from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Why? Because the love
is in Christ Jesus. It's not in us. It's in Christ. The whole reason God loves you
is Christ. And for God to stop loving you,
He would have to stop loving His Son. I like these. I'm going to give you some of
these. Listen to this. In Jeremiah, you know, He said
this, I've loved you with an everlasting love. And then in
Deuteronomy, I like this, He said, Yea, He loved the people.
All His saints are in thine hand, and they sat down at thy feet. Everyone shall receive of our
words What is your comfort in trouble It should be that God loves you It should be that you are in
his hands And you should sit down at his
feet. Is there any greater place to
imagine than to sit at the crucified feet of our Lord Jesus Christ? And you sit at his feet, you
shall receive his word. What is his love? What is his
word? I love How long will you love me? I've
always loved you. I'm loving you now and I'll always
love you. How great is your love? Look at my hands. Look at my
feet. See my side. And you can see
how great my love is for you. To remove your condemnation and
take it to myself. That's how much I love you. Will
I ever be separated from your love? Never. Never. May God teach us a little more
of His love. Show us more of His love in Christ. And may we stop trying to base
our acceptance on our love for Him. There's no comfort there. May God bless this to your hearts.