God’s Unbreakable Love (Romans 8:28-39)
Billy Milton - April 17, 2005
Last week we spent some time looking at the great hope that we have if we are living in Christ. That hope comes from being plugged into another world and keeping our present suffering in an eternal perspective. We took great heart from some of the gigantic promises in this chapter. Verses such as 8:1 READ and 8:18 READ and 8:26 READ. The first verse of our reading today is another one of those classic verses designed to give under-pressure Christians a deep sense of security. Listen to v28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those whom love Him…” Learn these verses – if you can just pluck them out of your mind in times of trouble then they’ll stand you in good stead. “God works for the good of those whom he loves..” I meet countless people who think that God has got it in for them. Even some Christians have this false belief that God is somehow punishing them for sins of the past or present. Let me put this verse in a different way, “Do you love the Lord Jesus? Are you trying to live for him? If the answer is ‘yes’ then everything that happens to you is for your ultimate good.”
Speaking personally, verses like these give me such a sense of security. I don’t keep my faith strong – my faith keeps me strong. What a security that is. I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about it before but its actually knowing we have security that enables us to take risks in our lives. I remember working with a bunch of teenage boys on an aerial rope course in the Lake District – DESCRIBE THE COURSE AND ITS CHALLENGES. One boy refused point blank to make the leap no matter how much we re-assured him and so on. Eventually we attached a rope and harness to him and asked him to jump. He did…successfully. Why? Two words – Safety and Security. The lad knew that even if he fell the rope would hold him secure and not allow him to hit the ground. Security enabled him to take a risk.
Now I’m not really concerned this morning with encouraging you all to take up aerial rope challenges, nor am I interested in getting you to take risks with your investments and so on. What I hope to achieve this morning is to convince you of the rock-solid security that faith in Jesus can provide and, as a direct result, see if you might be prepared to take some risks in your spiritual life. From conversations that I’ve had with a number of people here this morning, I know that many of you are not totally secure in your faith, which leaves you at the mercy of your feelings and emotions. In general people who are not secure in their faith won’t take the risk of sharing it with others, and that’s not a healthy situation for a Christian to be in. Speaking personally, the defining moment in my Christian life was probably when I finally was able to take God at his word and not be mastered by my ever- changing feelings.
As far as I can see most people are prone to making one of three mistakes, in the area of security. The first is to view our security in terms of what we can see, hear, touch or smell. I don’t want to say too much about this aspect except to ask one question. If a tsunami were to devastate this country - where would your security be then? Lying in tatters or still firmly in place?
The second mistake is to place your security on a false belief. By that I mean to presume that God is all loving and so will never judge anyone, even if they reject his Son Jesus. The whole weight of Biblical evidence is that this is a false security. The Bible makes it very clear that your future security, and by that I mean after you die, will be decided by your trusting in Jesus Christ now. The rich young ruler in Mark 10 wanted some reassurance from Jesus regarding his future security and he asked Jesus about getting eternal life. Jesus could see very quickly that this man’s security was actually all wrapped up in his great wealth (mistake 1) and so he asked him to give it away and trust in him. We are told that the man went away sad, but worse than that, lost, because he just couldn’t give away his false security. He’d hoped to negotiate with Jesus but found that the price of security was non-negotiable. Jesus respected the man’s decision (to reject him in favour of his wealth) and its recorded that Jesus loved him… but let him go - to the astonishment of his disciples.
The third mistake is that in spite of their faith in the Lord Jesus, many Christians believe that, in the end, God might reject them. And it’s this mistake that I want to concentrate on this morning. Many Christians are not convinced that God’s love is unbreakable.
In this chapter, Paul is writing to people who suffer from the nagging doubt that God might reject them. He asks them in v31 a question designed to bolster their flagging faith, “If God is for us who can be against us?” Well, I don’t know about you, but I can think of a number of answers to that question. > The devil is against us. > The world’s against us. > Even our own flesh is against us because it makes us vulnerable to sin. These are formidable foes but Paul’s point is, not that there are no foes, but rather with God on our side we are given a strength that means we do not need to live in fear of our enemies.
How much is God for us? Well v32 tells us to the degree that he did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. For our security Paul lists three results of having God on our side.
1. Since God is for us, we need not fear accusation.
The apostle asks in v33: “Who will bring any charge against those God has chosen?” Again we can think of an answer to that question. One of the titles of Satan is ‘The Accuser’ because he continually accuses us before our heavenly Father. If you like a good courtroom drama then you should be finding this chapter a stimulating read because much of the language is the language of the courtroom. You and I are the defendants; Satan is the accuser; God is the judge of all mankind.
I’m reminded of the story told by the great Reformer Martin Luther. Apparently he was praying one day when Satan appeared before him in visible form. Satan began to accuse Luther of all sorts of sin and even wrote a list of them on a blackboard with chalk. Luther listened attentively and when Satan was finished ranting he took the chalk from him and wrote a few more sins on the board that Satan had forgotten and then drew a line through them all and wrote at the bottom, “Cancelled by the blood of Christ.” Since God is for us we need not fear any accusations.
2. Since God is for us, we need not fear condemnation.
In v34 Paul asks a new question: “Who is he that condemns?” Again I suppose we could suggest a few answers but none of them would actually carry any weight when we remind ourselves that God is for us. Paul has already answered his own question right at the start of ch 8 when he states quite clearly that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. PAUSE AND REFLECT ON THIS. In the remainder of v34 Paul states 4 facts to back up his claim that Christians will never suffer condemnation. Encourage yourself as you follow them with me:-
1. Jesus has already died and God’s justice will not allow him to punish twice for the same offence. Hell is not an option if our trust is in Christ.
2. We cannot be condemned because Christ has been raised from death. If the head is above the water the foot cannot drown. Death will lead us not into condemnation but into new life.
3. We do not have to worry about being condemned because Jesus is at the right hand of God. This is the place of highest honour and greatest safety. Now get this, since we are members of Christ’s body then where are we? We too are at God’s right hand.
4. We will not be condemned because Jesus is also interceding for us. Paul likens Jesus to our defense lawyer and can you conceive of the Father denying the pleas of his Son? I can’t!
3. Since God is for us, we need not fear separation.
In v35 Paul asks his final question of the chapter, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” He then lists seven possible things that might conceivably threaten to come between God and us. Trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or sword. They’re quite a list but just think back through the Bible and see if any of these things have succeeded in separating his people from him in the past. Think of Joseph, Daniel, Stephen, Jacob, Job, David, and John the Baptist, to name but a few.
In v37 Paul joins the chorus of these Biblical heroes and from personal experience he says, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him who loved us.” And so are we in all our hardships. God uses trials to build our faith; in weakness we are made strong; sickness enables us to minister to others such as we never could before; even death just brings us into God’s presence. Trials, far from separating us from Christ, should drive us to him.
vv38-39 close the chapter with a resounding note of assurance, “For I am convinced that…” READ AND PAUSE “For I am convinced..” After all that we have been learning in Romans, are you convinced? The only reason we this morning should have any fear about Satan’s accusations; condemnation and separation from God is if we have rejected God’s offer of salvation in Jesus Christ. The stark reality of the gospel message is that if we reject Christ now, God will reject us then; accept Christ now and, on the authority of our just God’s word, we need never doubt our eternal security ever again. “If God be for us, who can be against us?”