I did choose the Lord Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neiberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nibert. In Romans chapter 8, verse 35,
Paul makes this glorious statement, Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Now before we consider that statement,
we have to determine who the us is. Who is Paul referring
to when he says, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Well,
that's seen in the context of this passage of scripture. He
said in Romans 8, verse 31, a few verses up, if God be for us,
who can be against us? And who is the us that God is
for? He identifies them. 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. The us is those whom he foreknew,
whom he knew beforehand, a reference to his elect, those he predestinated
to be just like his son. Who is the us? We read in verse
30, moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom
he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. The us is the people that he
has saved. It's the people that he has loved,
his elect, those who believe. Now, if I don't see that, If
I think that the us refers to all men without exception, what
I do is I make the love of God meaningless. He can love you
and you can wind up in hell anyway. Now understand, there'll be nobody
in hell that he loved. Who shall separate us from the
love of God? Now he's talking about Christ's
love to us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? And it's also talking about our
love to him. Nothing can separate us from
our love to Him. You see, if we love Him, it's
because He first loved us. We love Him, John said in 1 John
4, 19, because He first loved us. And His love to us causes
us to love Him in return. Nothing can separate us from
Christ's love to us. and nothing can separate us from
our love to Him. Now, human loves can cease. How
many times have men and women been in love and got married,
and they stopped loving one another? Human loves can cease, but Christ
never ceases to love His people, and they never cease to love
Him. Hence, Paul says, nothing can
separate us from the love of Christ. Now let me read a verse
of scripture from John chapter 15 verse 9 with regard to Christ's
love to his people. He said in John chapter 15 verse
9, As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Now let's think just for a moment
about the Father's love to Christ. And if we can see something about
what the Father's love to Christ is, then we can see Christ's
love to us. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. First of all, we know that the
love of the Father to the Son is eternal. He never began to
love his son. He's always loved his son. There was never a time when he
did not love his son. Go back, back, back into the
council halls of eternity, and he has always loved his son. And the father's love to the
son is not unconditional. He can't help but love His Son.
His Son is altogether lovely. He's altogether beautiful to
the Father. The Father can't help but love
His Son. It's not an unconditional love.
People talk about the unconditional love of God. There is no such
thing. When people make that statement,
they're making an erroneous statement. If God loves you, it's because
you're lovely, not in and of yourself, but who you are in
Christ Jesus. We're going to talk about that more in a few
moments, but God's love to his son is certainly not unconditional. He loves him because he's altogether
lovely. God's love to his son is immutable. It can't change. He can't love
him more. He loves him altogether. He can't love him less. His love to his son makes him
give himself completely to his son. He said to his son, ask
what you will, and I'll give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. Oh, I love to think of the love
of the father to the son. He just delights in him. He's
altogether lovely to him. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ says
to his disciples, as the father hath loved me, So have I loved
you. First of all, it is an eternal
love. He said, behold, I loved you
with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee. There was never a time when Christ
began to love his people, and there's never a time when he
will end loving his people. Having loved his own which were
in the world, he loved them unto the end. And this love of Christ
to his people is not unconditional. Now hear me clearly, hear me
carefully, this is so important. God doesn't see me as ugly and
accepts me for Christ's sake if I'm in Christ. No, if I'm
in Christ, and that's the key to salvation, in Christ, accepted
in the beloved. If I'm in Christ, I am lovely. I draw out God's love just like
his son does. Listen to these scriptures when
Christ describes his love to his people. Thou art all fair,
my love. There is no spot in thee. That's because Christ loved the
church and gave himself for it 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 before him. And
that is how Christ sees every one of his people. without spot. He said in the Song of Solomon
chapter 4 verse 9, thou hast ravished my heart, my sister,
my spouse, thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes.
How fair is thy love, how much better is thy love than wine. You see, The people that he loves
is his bride, his wife, the ones he's purchased and made holy,
unblameable, and unapprovable in his sight. So his love to
them, to all of his people, is not unconditional. They are lovely
in him. That is our loveliness is being
found in him. Now, you might not see a believer
as beautiful. You might not see the church
as beautiful, but he does. He certainly does. And nothing
can separate us from his love. Having loved his own, which were
in the world. He can't love them any more than
he does. He can't love them any less than he does because he's
immutable. Having loved his own, which were in the world. He loved
them to the end. Paul said in Galatians 2, verse
20, I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? In Ephesians chapter three, Paul
said in verse 17 that Christ might dwell in your hearts by
faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love, love to
him, an understanding of his love to you may be able to comprehend
with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth
and heighth and to know the love of Christ. which passeth knowledge."
It's beyond human understanding to know the breadth of His love. There's a wideness in His love. To know the length of His love
from eternity to eternity, a love that never had a beginning, and
will never have an end. To know the depths of his love,
how far he reached down to love a sinner like me. And to know
the height of his love, every believer is seated together in
the heavenlies with him even now in the person of their Redeemer.
What love! Nothing can separate us from
the love of God. Nothing shall separate us from
the love that's in Christ Jesus. Now, not only can nothing separate
us from His love, there's nothing that can separate us from loving
Him. And look what Paul goes on to
say in our text, in verse 35, who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shout, tribulation. You know,
any trial and trouble you throw a believer's way, it's not going
to drive them from Christ. It's not going to cause them
to quit loving Him. Oh, they're going to love Him more and cling
to Him more tenaciously. Shall distress, trouble within,
Well, trouble within, trouble within my own heart that stresses
me. Will that cause me to stop loving
Christ? No. Well, what about persecutions? Oh, if you persecute a believer
for loving Christ, you'll never stop him from loving Christ.
It can't be done. The more you're persecuting,
the more he'll love him. Well, what about famine? You
take away his means of livelihood, his food, make him starve to
death. Will that make him stop loving
Christ? No, it's an eternal love. It's the gift of the Spirit.
It's God's work in him. It can't be extinguished. What
about nakedness or peril and troubles or sword, even wars?
No, nothing, nothing can separate the believer's love to Christ. You can't make him stop loving
the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's why. We see him as
altogether glorious. We see him as altogether lovely. Now, with regard to our love
to Christ, if we're believers, we ought to love him more, we
know that. And our love isn't anywhere near what it ought to
be, we realize that. And we're ashamed of that. But
He is altogether lovely. There's such glory in His person. He's God. He said, He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father. Notice He didn't say, He has
seen one who is like the Father. Jesus Christ is not like the
Father at all. He's not like God at all. He
is God. And He's fully man. bone of our
bones and flesh of our flesh, the God-man. What a glorious
creature. He's not a creature. Why did
I say that? But what a glorious person. He's no created being.
He's the eternal Son of God. And we love his attributes, his
being, his characteristics. We love his holiness. We love
His justice. We love His omnipotence, the
fact that He's all-powerful. Whatever He wants, He's got the
power to make come to pass. We love the fact that He's sovereign,
that He controls everybody and everything and is the first cause
behind all things. We love His wisdom, how that
He's made a way to be just and justify the ungodly. We admire
His justice, how He would die on a cross before He would let
His Father's law go and let sin go unpunished. Oh, how we love
His love, mercy, and grace. How we love His gospel. It's
the gospel of Christ. It glorifies His Father completely. It gives Him all the glory and
salvation. And it provides a sure salvation
for everybody for whom He died. It's Christ that died. I need
no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough
that Jesus died and that He died. For me, oh, how we love his gospel. We love his offices. He's the
Christ. He's God's prophet. He's the
word of God. He's God's priest, the priest
of God's providing. If he represents me before God,
I must be saved. He's God's king. He's the king
of kings and Lord of lords. And how we need his kingship
to cause us to do his will. We love his glory. what glory
he achieved in his life when he obeyed God's law perfectly. What glory he achieved in his
death when he actually made payment for sin and satisfied the law
and justice of God. What glory he achieved in his
resurrection when he was raised from the dead and all of his
people were raised with him and justified by what he did. What
glory he has even now as our great high priest and intercessor
representing us before God. Oh, we love his glory. In His temple does everyone speak
of His glory. We love His glory so much that
we can't abide anything that gives man any glory whatsoever. He must have all the glory. And how we love His person. We love His people. Anybody that
loves the Lord Jesus Christ, they are the excellent of the
earth to us. Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 14. The love of Christ constraineth
us. His love to us constrains us. Our love to Him constrains us. Now let me give you some words
that the New Testament uses to translate this word, constrain. This is all the same word in
the original, but it's used in different times in the New Testament
with these words that gives us some idea of what it means to
be constrained by His love. The word means the love of Christ
holds us. The love of Christ keeps us. The love of Christ presses us. It presses against us. The love of Christ, this word
constrainer is actually translated sick. Love sick is what it means. The love of Christ stops us. It stops us because of its constraining
influence. So there's things that we don't
do because his love stops us. Thank God for his constraining
love. It's translated straight. I'm in a straight betwixt the
two. Paul said, speaking of life and death, he said, I'd rather
depart and be with Christ, which is far better. I'm in a strait
because of that. The love of Christ puts us in
a strait. It's translated, it takes us. We're taken with his
love. And it's even translated thronged. We're thronged by the love of
Christ. Now back to our text, verse 36. Well, let me read the verse 35
again and then verse 36 of Romans chapter eight. Paul says, who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword? As it's written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We're accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. For thy sake, Because of your
love to us that causes our love to you, we're killed all the
day long. Now, the world will never love
the one who loves Christ. They will hate what he says about
Christ. They'll hate what he says about
man, and they'll hate what he says about salvation. The world
will have no love for the believer, and the world will kill him daily.
Not literally, although some, even now, are being persecuted
and dying for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if they're
not able to kill our bodies, they'll kill our character in
some form of persecution. Paul put it this way in Galatians
6.14. He said, God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the
world is crucified unto me. and I unto the world. Now I believe one of the most
beautiful pictures we have of this is found in John chapter
21 of a believer's love to Christ. In John chapter 21, we read in
verse 15, so when they had dined, this is after the resurrection,
Jesus saith to Simon Peter, this is after he had denied him three
times, Simon, son of Jonas, Lovest thou
me more than these? He didn't say, Are you sorry? Have you repented? Do you promise
you'll never do it again? He simply asked him of his love. He saith unto him, Yea, Lord,
Thou knowest that I love thee. He appealed to the omniscience
of Christ. And he saith unto him, feed my
lambs. He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of
Jonas, lovest thou me? Do you love my person? Do you
love who I am? He saith unto him, yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my sheep.
He saith unto him the third time, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou
me? Peter was grieved because he
said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto
him, Lord, thou knowest all things. You know everything about me.
You know my weakness. You know my sinfulness. I can't
hide anything from you. But you know that I love your
person. I love who you are. I love all
of your glorious attributes. I love you, the God-man. I love
you, my Lord and my Savior. You know all things. You know
that I love you. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my
sheep. And then he says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, when
you were young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither
thou wouldest. But when you shall be old, thou shalt stretch forth
thy hand, and another shall gird thee, and shall care thee, whither
thou wouldest not. This spake he signifying by what
death he should glorify God. Now, we don't have this in the
Bible as to what kind of death he glorified God with, but in
Foxe's Book of Martyrs, which is a very accurate description
of what took place in the early church, Peter was crucified upside
down. because he said he didn't feel
worthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord. But
notice the words, the death by which he would glorify God. Now,
are you going to tell me that nailing somebody to a cross and
crucifying them upside down glorifies God? Yes, it does. It shows such
love to Christ that they would rather be crucified and die than
to dishonor him and to disown his gospel and not confess him
before men. Yes, that demonstrates what really
glorifies God. Now, Paul says in Romans 8, verse
37 of our text, he says, for nay, in all these things, We are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. Now, our love to Him is not what
makes us a conqueror. We are more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. Here's my victory. Here's my
conquest. He loved us. me. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 we
read in verse 54, For when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that's written, Death
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be unto God which
giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm
a victor through a gift, a gift of free grace. Now, most people
believe in earned grace. You've got to do something in
order for God to give you His grace. The Bible doesn't teach
that at all. We're given the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not something we achieved,
but it's given to us by God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Paul
said regarding this in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14, Now thanks be unto God, which
always causes us to triumph in Christ and makes manifest the
savor of His knowledge by us in every place. Now we're always
caused by God to triumph in Christ. There may be times when it looks
like we're losing. But we're not. Every believer always triumphs
in Christ. And even the things that makes
us look like we're losing at times are used as part of God's
adorable providence where all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them who are called according to His
purpose. And then in 1 John 5, verse 4,
we read this verse. For whosoever is born of God
overcometh the world. That's their victory. They're
born of God, birthed by God's Spirit, given a new nature. Greater
is He that's in you than he that's in the world. And this is the
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that
overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son
of God? Now let me tell you who the victor
is, the one who believes. He believes that Jesus Christ
really is the uncreated, eternal Son of God, the glorious Master
of all things, the Lord of lords, and the King of kings, and he's
relying on Him. puts all of his eggs in this
one basket. What Christ did for me is all
I'm pleading. I'm not pleading anything else.
I'm not pleading what I've done. I'm not talking about my preaching,
my witnessing, my Bible reading, my stunt. No, the only hope that
I have is all 100% found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. I've heard people talk about
defeated Christians or leading a defeated Christian life. There
is no such thing. Every believer is more than a
conqueror through him that loved him. You see, when Christ achieved
his victory, I did too. I've seen people try to talk
themselves into believing, I'm not a loser, I'm a winner, you
know, kind of playing mind games with themselves. Well, the believer
doesn't have to do anything like that. If Christ is a winner. And he is, he won the victory.
I share in his victory. And we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. Now listen to Paul's words again,
and may the Lord enable us to extract the sweetness out of
these words. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, trials and
troubles? No. Distress, inward troubles? No. Persecution or famine or
nakedness or peril or sword? No, none of those things will
separate us from the love of Christ. As it's written, for
thy sake we're killed all the day long. We're accounted as
sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. Oh, the love
of Christ. May God give me and you the grace
to revel in the love of Christ. Now, we have this message on
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