All right, turn with me now,
if you would, to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. Our text last Sunday morning
was verses 32 to 34. And then Brother Luke brought
us a message last Sunday night from verse 31. And I said I was
going to bring another one from verse 31, but I'm not. We're
going to, we're going to move on. I'm about to read one line to
you. It's a question, but before I
do, I want to encourage you to ask the Lord to bless it to your
heart. I want to encourage you to do
that. Ask Him if He will feed you with this and comfort you
with this and really let you enter into how sweet and precious
this is. Romans 8 verse 35 says, Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Now, I really pondered that question
in the study of it. I thought about it. I prayed
about it. I really tried to enter into what it was saying. That
is a deep, deep question. And I sincerely tried to enter
into what it was saying. And one of the things that I
entered into was this. I don't know if I know of a sadder
word and a more heartbreaking word than
the word separate. Separated. Think about that word. Think about what that means. Think about what's involved in
that. Separate it. There are other words that are
equally as devastating, no doubt about it. But of the words that
describe the sorrows that this life on earth will bring to us,
that word is among those at the top of the list. I know that every person here
has to some degree experienced the sorrow of separation. Every person here, all the way
down to the babies in the nursery, as their mamas walk out the door,
you know, crying for their mamas. Every person here has experienced
to some degree the sorrow of separation. On November the 25th of the year
2000, my father experienced separation from his wife and my sisters
and I experienced separation from our mother. The Lord took
her and it was sad. It was sad. We wouldn't want it any other
way, none of us. I speak on behalf of all of us.
It was our Lord's will, by His grace, we cry, not our will,
but thine be done. We would not want it any other
way. But it was sad. It was very heartbreaking to go
through. And I know that every person
here, that's not a unique situation. Every person here, to some degree
or another, in some form or another, has experienced the heartache
of separation. Separation from family, separation
from close friends. Sometimes two people have to
separate over the issue of the gospel. Sometimes two people who both
claim to believe the gospel have to separate because the flesh
got in the way. The wickedness of the flesh,
the selfishness of the flesh, which can be summed up in one
word, sin. And maybe two words, pride and
sin. The pride of sin, the sin of
pride. But whether we decide to enter
into a separation or whether separation is forced on us, either
way, it is always the result of sin. Death is just the wages
of sin. And everything that we do in
this life is attached to the consequence of sin. If we could
only get a hold of how sin has affected every single thing that
we do in this life, everything. Our own sin is what has brought
every form of separation that there is to us. our own sin. That's where I want to start
tonight. I want us to really see that. If we're going to truly
glory in what we just read, we need to realize just as the prophet
Nathan told David, he said, thou art the man. I'm the man. I'm the man. We need to realize
my own sin is what has brought this sorrow to me in so many
forms. Every one of us has experienced
and will experience the heartache of separation and it's a product
of our own sin. Let me show you that in Isaiah
59. Turn with me if you would over
to Isaiah 59. Isaiah 59 verse 2 says, But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from
you that He will not hear. That's where it all started,
my own sin. He said your iniquities have
separated between you and your God. What he's saying is thou
art the man. I'm the man. You are the men
and women. We brought all of this sadness
and all of this sorrow on ourselves. Man wants to put all the blame
on Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve did it. I did it. I did it. I brought separation
from my God, the pain of it, the sorrow of it, the consequence
of it. I brought all of it upon myself. And that separation from God
is what has brought all of the other separations that I may
endure in this life. The word separate means to place
room between. It means to put asunder. It means to part. Here's what
the word means. It means divorce. Such a hard
word, isn't it? Verse two says right here in
Isaiah 59, verse two says, your iniquities have divorced you
and your God. Your iniquities have put room
between you and your God. How awful is that? How sad and
devastating is that? But look at verse one. It says,
behold, I love that word. Behold, the Lord's hand is not
shortened that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that it
cannot hear. He said, you may have separated
yourself from your God, but that doesn't mean that your God has
separated himself from you. That's wonderful to hear. You may have tried to divorce
your God, but that doesn't mean your God has tried to divorce
you. Now that's all we're gonna say
about separation. From here on out, we're gonna talk about Christ. In spite of what we have brought
on ourselves, the scripture says if we are God's chosen people,
Christ has loved us with an everlasting love. Not separated Himself from us,
which that's what He should have done by our rational thinking. But that's not what He did. Not
separated Himself, loved us with an everlasting love. An everlasting love. In the vein of separation. You
think about that. An everlasting love. In spite
of the fact that we tried to put space between us and Him. In spite of the fact that we
tried to depart from Him. The scripture says, having loved
His own, He loved them to the end. In spite of the fact that we
tried to lay our union down, we tried to lay down our union
with Him. In spite of that, the scripture
says, greater love had no man than this. He laid down His life. We tried to lay down the union.
He laid down His life. He loved us and washed us from
our sins in his own blood. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
five. Ephesians five, this is so beautiful. Ephesians five. Verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved his wife, the church, and gave himself
for her, for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself. He is the one on the throne and
he is the one presenting his bride to the throne. Verse 27,
that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth
himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord,
the church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. And Paul told us in verse 32,
everything I'm telling you is a great mystery. He said, I'm
talking about Christ and his bride, his love for his wife. He loves his wife as he loves
himself. Can you, can we give you the
answer? No. Can we enter into that? He
loves his wife as he loves himself. Not only has he done for her
as he has done for himself, but the truth is he did more for
her than he did for himself. He has committed His all, all
of His love, all that He is, all that He has to her, all of
it, all of it. He said, Father, in my love to
her, this is what our Lord said to His Father, in my love to
her, because of my love for her, because of my intercession for
her, Would you love her as much as you love me? That's what he
said to his father. Would you love her as much as
you love me? Because I love her as I love
my own self. Would you love her as you love
me? The father said, son, will you
have her? And will you hold her from this
day forward? Will you leave me and go down
to her and cleave to her till death so that the two of you might
never part, might never be separated ever again? Son, will you do
that? This is what he said. I will. Son, do you promise? Let's make a covenant here. Do
you promise to first love her and never stop loving her in
spite of her sickness, in spite of her sorrow, in spite of her
poverty, in spite of the fact that she will treat you like
Gomer treated Hosea over and over and over again. Do you promise to love her with
an eternal love? I mean an eternal, eternal love
from eternity to eternity. This is what he said, I do. I do. The father said, then by
the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may
go kiss your bride. Righteousness and peace may kiss
each other. Look with me at first Corinthians
13. 1 Corinthians 13 verse 1 says, though I speak
with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity,
and charity means love. and love means Christ, so we're
just gonna say Christ's love. When we come to that, we're gonna
say Christ's love. Verse one says, though I speak
with the tongues of men and of angels and have not Christ's
love, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though
I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains and have not
Christ's love, I'm nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and
have not Christ's love, it profiteth me nothing. Christ's love suffers
long and is kind. Christ's love envieth not. Christ's love vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not
his own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth not
in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Christ's love bears
all things. Christ's love believes all things,
hopeth all things. Christ's love endures all things. Christ's love never fails. Where there be prophecies, they
shall fail. Where there be tongues, they
shall cease. Where there be knowledge, it
shall vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy
in part, but when that which is perfect is come, then that
which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake
as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when
I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through
a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part,
but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth
faith, hope, and Christ's love. These three, but the greatest
of these is Christ's love. Alright, now let's ask our question
again. Go with me back to Romans 8. Romans 8 verse 35 says, Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Who shall separate us
from Christ's love for us? Who shall put any room between
Christ's love and us? I mean any space. If we are the object of His love,
then who can divorce us from that? Verse 35 says, Shall tribulation,
turbulent times, rocky times, No. What about distress? Times when it feels like everything's
closing in on you. What about persecution? That's
being attacked, being wrongly treated. Well, that draws away
from his love for us. What about famine? That means
lack of something we need. Barely enough. Just barely enough
in our eyes anyway. What about, verse 35 says, nakedness. That's being exposed for what
we really are. When that facade is ripped off
and everybody sees us like we really are. You know, everybody
tries to put on a good facade. When that's ripped away and the
truth is exposed, is that going to tear us away from Christ's
love for us? What about peril, verse 35 says? That's fear, fear of danger,
fear of what's ahead. Or sword, that's battle, contention,
strife. Verse 36 says, as it is written,
for thy sake, we are killed all the day long. We are accounted
as sheep for the slaughter. These things are constantly coming
to us. All of these things constantly
coming to us. So will any of these things bring
the sorrow and the heartache of separation from the love of
Christ to us? Will any of them? Verse 37 says,
no. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. All because he loved us. For
I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. All of those
things are out to bring separation to us. Death, the life on this earth, the fallen
angels, you know, the adversary and a third, the host of heaven,
they were angels, fell out of heaven. He said principalities,
powers. We're not wrestling with flesh
and blood. We're not. A world of adversaries are trying
to tear us apart from the love of Christ that He's poured onto
us. A world of adversaries. But this
is what Paul said, it will never happen. It will never happen. Verse 38, he said, I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor death, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." There
may be times that we feel so far from Him. I know you feel it. I've asked
you, do you ever feel that? Everybody says, yes. I know you
feel it. I do too. I do too. Sometimes we feel so
far from Him, but if God has caused us to believe on Him,
and if His blood is our only hope, then let's never forget
this right here, okay? Based on the Word of God Himself,
nothing will ever be able to put space between His love and
us. Nothing. I love the fact that
it said able. Nothing is able. Everything's
trying to, nothing can. Nothing can put any amount of
space between His love and us. In His love, we are so near. We are so near. This is what
we're constantly crying. I just did it a moment ago when
we prayed, okay? This is what we constantly cry.
Draw us nearer. Draw us nearer. Please, pull
us nearer. We want to be nearer. Here's
the fact of the matter. In the person of His Son, we
are as near as He. What that means is, we can't
get any nearer. We cry and we cry and we cry,
but In Christ, we can't get any nearer. If we're in Christ, we're
as near as a sinner can possibly be. And if God put us in Christ,
that's where we will stay forever. Forever. Us in Him, Him in the
Father. Us in Him, Him in the Father.
Whether we feel like we're in Him, in the Father or not. If
God put us there, that's where we are. And he said, this is what he
said, nothing and no one will ever be able to pluck my people
out. Nothing. So, who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Here's the answer, no one. No one. If God put us in the
love of Christ, God won't separate us from it. And that's glorious
news. He's the only one who can. If
God put us in the love of Christ, and this is how we'll know, we
will need Him. We will beg for Him. He will
be our only hope. And if God put us in the love
of Christ, God won't separate us from it. The adversary can't
and won't separate us from it. And we can't and won't separate
us from it. It is an unstoppable, unchangeable,
unbreakable love. Nothing shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. I'm pretty positive that's good
news. I'm pretty sure that's the gospel. That's good news. All right, let's all stand together.