God’s everlasting love! – Romans 8:31-39
God’s everlasting love! – Romans 8:31-39
By Pastor Lee Hemen
February 11, 2018
Nothing lasts forever; the Second Law of Thermodynamics makes sure of that. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is commonly known as the Law of Increased Entropy. While the quantity, the mass, of everything remains the same (First Law), the quality of matter/energy deteriorates gradually over time which is “Entropy” and is defined as a measure of unusable energy within a closed or isolated system. I know, boring physics lesson, but absolutely not relevant in the spiritual laws of God because we learn that there indeed is something that lasts forever – our relationship to the Creator of all things!
All other religions teach us that mankind has to try hard to be better, do better, or that we have to do something grand in order for God to love us. Yet here in the beautiful gospel message of Jesus we find something totally confounding and wonderful for mankind. There is nothing we can do except trust what God did for us in Jesus. The message of Jesus teaches us about God’s everlasting love for us and Paul was amazed by it. Let’s discover what Paul wrote about God’s everlasting love…
READ: Romans 8:31-39
We are a bunch of consumers. We consume everything including relationships and what matters most to the world is how one can profit from any and everything they consume in life. However, the most important fact the every believer needs to learn is the fact that in Jesus we have everything we need in life. Paul understood that nothing matters in this life but the absolute fact that…
I. God’s everlasting love has given us everything! (Vv. 31-32)
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
1. Paul had just gotten through telling the Roman church that God foreknew whom he would call to be saved. However even though God knows who will be saved we do not know. God is infinite and all knowing and we are not. I always wondered why folks have such a problem with predestination when the Scripture is very specific concerning the teaching. It is totally amazing that God’s plan for salvation has been all figured out from eternity on! Paul would write “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8 NIV)” This is the amazing tremendous truth of the gospel message and we discover that Paul was totally blown away in the knowledge that God loved us that much and so he asks, “What, then, shall we say in response to this?” We forget that it was our choice, meaning the first human beings created by God chose to sin when they did not have to and yet even though God knew they would he already had a plan in place to redeem mankind! This is why he would teach, “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:21-22 NIV)” God became a man to redeem sinful mankind therefore “If God is for us, who can be against us?” And the answer is that “no one” because “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” God’s everlasting love has given us everything!
EXAMPLE: In the Charles Dickens book Oliver Twist which is about an orphan who is eventually put to work picking and weaving oakum, a loose fiber obtained by untwisting and picking apart old ropes used for caulking the seams of sailing ships, at a workhouse. Oliver, who toils with very little food, remains there for six months. One day, the desperately hungry boys decide to draw lots; the loser must ask for another portion of gruel. The task falls to Oliver, who at the next meal tremblingly comes up forward, bowl in hand, and begs Mr. Bumble for gruel with his famous request: “Please, sir, I want some more”. Far too many Christians have the Oliver Twist misconception about their walk with God. They think they have to come begging to God and plead with him like starving orphans to give them “more”. Paul reminds us that God’s everlasting love has given us everything!
We are not orphans left at the table of God begging for spiritual scraps and in fact quite the opposite! Scripture proclaims that believers are “children of God (John 1:12-13)”! And Paul reminds us that…
II. It was for us that God’s everlasting love was proclaimed! (Vv. 33-36)
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
1. When Paul stopped to ponder what God did for all mankind he could not help but wonder why in the world would he do such a thing? But even more was the fact there would be those who tried to either pull people back into trying to earn their salvation or those who would say that we could never be loved by God. This was simply not true so Paul asks “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?” Who could possibly do such a thing? The answer of course is “No one!” The reason was obvious for Paul because “It is God who justifies.” God is the only one who can justify us because he created all things and it is he who has the plan to redeem us! So, “Who is he that condemns?” There is only one who could and it is “Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us”! Jesus doesn’t condemn us because he willingly saved us! God’s everlasting love was established by Jesus because of what he willingly did and by what he continues to do: intercede for us! Therefore the fact is “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” And for Paul the answer again was obvious: No one and nothing! These things in life Paul stated in increasing intensity do not separate Christians from Christ and nothing and no one can! For Paul who himself was facing imprisonment for his faith and possible death he knew with certainty the love of God because he understood that just “As it is written” in all of Scripture concerning those who held out the truth of God’s love, it was “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” It was for us that God’s everlasting love was proclaimed!
EXAMPLE: There is a wonderful little book by Robert Munsch called Love You Forever. It is both sad and silly but it relates the love a mother has for her baby boy. From infancy until he grows to be a man she sings her song to him: “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like for always, As long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.” Even as toddler when he drives her crazy, as a young boy when she wanted to sell him to a zoo, or as a teenager when she felt like she was in a zoo she still sung him her song: “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like for always, As long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.” Finally when she is old and sick her son then holds her close and sings her song to her and after she passes away he creeps into his baby daughter’s room and sings: “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like for always, As long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.” As wonderful as our love is for our children we discover that it was for us that God’s everlasting love was proclaimed!
God loves us forever and nothing in all creation can change that. Because of this Paul wanted his readers to fully understand just what that loves means for us, that namely…
III. Nothing can separate us from God’s everlasting love! (Vv. 37-39)
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1. Was Paul being delusional or just hoping against hope that what he believed was true? Neither because Paul had firsthand knowledge of what he was writing about. Over and over he would relate how Jesus had changed his life. He would testify that “the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. (Galatians 1:11-13 NIV)” Paul had been changed by his faith in Jesus so it was with complete confidence he could say “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” It did not matter to Paul if he faced hardship, trouble, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or the sword! He was absolutely “convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Nothing in this life, whether it was manmade, spiritual, self-inflicted, occurring now or in the future Paul had “learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” In fact he would declare, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13 NIV)” Paul wanted all believers to understand that nothing can separate us from God’s everlasting love!
EXAMPLE: One thing I have learned in life is that people grieve differently from one another. There is not one single way to do so. There has never been a week that goes by that I have not remembered something about my father even though he died when I was a teenager. This is one reason why the words of Jesus made such a huge impact on me when he told his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)” Jesus is with me always. Ponder that for a moment. Not simply as a memory, wishful thinking, or a future hope but he is actually with me always. How fantastic to know that nothing can separate us from God’s everlasting love!
Conclusion:
God’s everlasting love has given us everything! It was for us that God’s everlasting love was proclaimed! Nothing can separate us from God’s everlasting love!
---
This article is copyrighted © 2018 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
By Pastor Lee Hemen
February 11, 2018
Nothing lasts forever; the Second Law of Thermodynamics makes sure of that. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is commonly known as the Law of Increased Entropy. While the quantity, the mass, of everything remains the same (First Law), the quality of matter/energy deteriorates gradually over time which is “Entropy” and is defined as a measure of unusable energy within a closed or isolated system. I know, boring physics lesson, but absolutely not relevant in the spiritual laws of God because we learn that there indeed is something that lasts forever – our relationship to the Creator of all things!
All other religions teach us that mankind has to try hard to be better, do better, or that we have to do something grand in order for God to love us. Yet here in the beautiful gospel message of Jesus we find something totally confounding and wonderful for mankind. There is nothing we can do except trust what God did for us in Jesus. The message of Jesus teaches us about God’s everlasting love for us and Paul was amazed by it. Let’s discover what Paul wrote about God’s everlasting love…
READ: Romans 8:31-39
We are a bunch of consumers. We consume everything including relationships and what matters most to the world is how one can profit from any and everything they consume in life. However, the most important fact the every believer needs to learn is the fact that in Jesus we have everything we need in life. Paul understood that nothing matters in this life but the absolute fact that…
I. God’s everlasting love has given us everything! (Vv. 31-32)
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
1. Paul had just gotten through telling the Roman church that God foreknew whom he would call to be saved. However even though God knows who will be saved we do not know. God is infinite and all knowing and we are not. I always wondered why folks have such a problem with predestination when the Scripture is very specific concerning the teaching. It is totally amazing that God’s plan for salvation has been all figured out from eternity on! Paul would write “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8 NIV)” This is the amazing tremendous truth of the gospel message and we discover that Paul was totally blown away in the knowledge that God loved us that much and so he asks, “What, then, shall we say in response to this?” We forget that it was our choice, meaning the first human beings created by God chose to sin when they did not have to and yet even though God knew they would he already had a plan in place to redeem mankind! This is why he would teach, “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:21-22 NIV)” God became a man to redeem sinful mankind therefore “If God is for us, who can be against us?” And the answer is that “no one” because “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” God’s everlasting love has given us everything!
EXAMPLE: In the Charles Dickens book Oliver Twist which is about an orphan who is eventually put to work picking and weaving oakum, a loose fiber obtained by untwisting and picking apart old ropes used for caulking the seams of sailing ships, at a workhouse. Oliver, who toils with very little food, remains there for six months. One day, the desperately hungry boys decide to draw lots; the loser must ask for another portion of gruel. The task falls to Oliver, who at the next meal tremblingly comes up forward, bowl in hand, and begs Mr. Bumble for gruel with his famous request: “Please, sir, I want some more”. Far too many Christians have the Oliver Twist misconception about their walk with God. They think they have to come begging to God and plead with him like starving orphans to give them “more”. Paul reminds us that God’s everlasting love has given us everything!
We are not orphans left at the table of God begging for spiritual scraps and in fact quite the opposite! Scripture proclaims that believers are “children of God (John 1:12-13)”! And Paul reminds us that…
II. It was for us that God’s everlasting love was proclaimed! (Vv. 33-36)
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
1. When Paul stopped to ponder what God did for all mankind he could not help but wonder why in the world would he do such a thing? But even more was the fact there would be those who tried to either pull people back into trying to earn their salvation or those who would say that we could never be loved by God. This was simply not true so Paul asks “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?” Who could possibly do such a thing? The answer of course is “No one!” The reason was obvious for Paul because “It is God who justifies.” God is the only one who can justify us because he created all things and it is he who has the plan to redeem us! So, “Who is he that condemns?” There is only one who could and it is “Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us”! Jesus doesn’t condemn us because he willingly saved us! God’s everlasting love was established by Jesus because of what he willingly did and by what he continues to do: intercede for us! Therefore the fact is “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” And for Paul the answer again was obvious: No one and nothing! These things in life Paul stated in increasing intensity do not separate Christians from Christ and nothing and no one can! For Paul who himself was facing imprisonment for his faith and possible death he knew with certainty the love of God because he understood that just “As it is written” in all of Scripture concerning those who held out the truth of God’s love, it was “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” It was for us that God’s everlasting love was proclaimed!
EXAMPLE: There is a wonderful little book by Robert Munsch called Love You Forever. It is both sad and silly but it relates the love a mother has for her baby boy. From infancy until he grows to be a man she sings her song to him: “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like for always, As long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.” Even as toddler when he drives her crazy, as a young boy when she wanted to sell him to a zoo, or as a teenager when she felt like she was in a zoo she still sung him her song: “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like for always, As long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.” Finally when she is old and sick her son then holds her close and sings her song to her and after she passes away he creeps into his baby daughter’s room and sings: “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like for always, As long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.” As wonderful as our love is for our children we discover that it was for us that God’s everlasting love was proclaimed!
God loves us forever and nothing in all creation can change that. Because of this Paul wanted his readers to fully understand just what that loves means for us, that namely…
III. Nothing can separate us from God’s everlasting love! (Vv. 37-39)
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1. Was Paul being delusional or just hoping against hope that what he believed was true? Neither because Paul had firsthand knowledge of what he was writing about. Over and over he would relate how Jesus had changed his life. He would testify that “the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. (Galatians 1:11-13 NIV)” Paul had been changed by his faith in Jesus so it was with complete confidence he could say “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” It did not matter to Paul if he faced hardship, trouble, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or the sword! He was absolutely “convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Nothing in this life, whether it was manmade, spiritual, self-inflicted, occurring now or in the future Paul had “learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” In fact he would declare, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13 NIV)” Paul wanted all believers to understand that nothing can separate us from God’s everlasting love!
EXAMPLE: One thing I have learned in life is that people grieve differently from one another. There is not one single way to do so. There has never been a week that goes by that I have not remembered something about my father even though he died when I was a teenager. This is one reason why the words of Jesus made such a huge impact on me when he told his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)” Jesus is with me always. Ponder that for a moment. Not simply as a memory, wishful thinking, or a future hope but he is actually with me always. How fantastic to know that nothing can separate us from God’s everlasting love!
Conclusion:
God’s everlasting love has given us everything! It was for us that God’s everlasting love was proclaimed! Nothing can separate us from God’s everlasting love!
---
This article is copyrighted © 2018 by Lee Hemen and is the sole property of Lee Hemen, and may not be used unless you quote the entire article and have my permission.
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