Well, please turn with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. I'll read verses 31 to 39, beginning in Romans 8, verse 31. What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He Who Did Not Spare His Son
He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns?
It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 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 is written, for your sake we are killed all day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For 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 created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for this, Your Word. We thank You for this whole epistle to the Romans and the glorious things it teaches us concerning God, concerning man, and concerning salvation by Christ. How we praise You for so great a salvation.
How we praise You for justification and for sanctification and glorification. How we praise You that those whom You foreknew, You predestined to be conformed to the image of Your Son. Those predestined You call, You justify and You glorify. How we rejoice in the goodness and in the mercy and in the graciousness of our God.
How we thank You for the Gospel, for making us benefactors of so great a salvation. And we pray that tonight as we look at this particular chapter or section, You would encourage our hearts that we would again stand amazed at the great love of God Almighty, demonstrated supremely in the delivering up of the Son. How we praise you that you made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. You've taken care of everything in terms of our salvation.
You've brought us the forgiveness of sins. You've given us a righteousness that avails with God. You have blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And God, we pray that you would help us to respond with gratitude to the glorious truths of the Christian message.
And as we eat this bread tonight, as we drink this cup, we would do so to proclaim the glory of Jesus Christ and His death. We ask now that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit, that he would guide us, that he would lead us, that he would help us to understand Paul's words here. And as well, we pray for the forgiveness of all of our sins and all unrighteousness. Cleanse us in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank you for that promise in 1 John, that if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We praise you through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well,
Introduction
we're going to take up this particular section under the consideration of the liberality of God and the security of the believer. God is liberal in terms of His gifts, in terms of His kindness, in terms of His provision to His people, and that is primarily highlighted in verse 32. So
Declaration of God's Liberality
I want to look first at the declaration concerning God's liberality there in verse 32, and then secondly, the implication flowing from God's liberality, and then thirdly, the application with reference to the believer's security. The overarching theme is set forth in verse 31. I mentioned this this morning. Notice he says, what then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, then who can be against us? And with that, we have great confidence. In fact, John Calvin says, this is the chief and the only support which can sustain us in every temptation. The reality that God is for us, the reality that therefore no one can stand against us.
Now when Paul says these things in verse 31, he probably refers to the entirety of chapters 5 to 8, or perhaps the argument all the way up to this point, but it's sort of all encapsulated there in chapter 8 at verses 29 and 30. Notice in verse 29, for whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called. Whom He called, these He also justified.
And whom He justified, these He also glorified. So these things ought to promote in the believer A great deal of security, a great deal of comfort, a great deal of encouragement. That's the point in this particular section of Paul's argument. But notice, as we look specifically at this statement in verse 32, he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
There is first a negative statement. It says, he who did not spare his own son. He who did not spare his own son. When we look at this particular passage, it ought to suggest in our minds those instances where God did not spare his own son.
We'll look at Gethsemane and Calvary. but we need to appreciate the sort of background that is going on here. He who did not spare his own son. I think there is an echo of Genesis 22, that instance where God tells Abraham to take Isaac up to Mount Moriah and to offer him up as a sacrifice. We know that it's a test according to Genesis 22.1, but Abraham does not know this.
God tells Abraham, take your son, your only son, the son whom you love, up to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him there. On the way to the mountain, Isaac makes the observation that we have the wood, we have the fire, but we do not have the sacrifice. And Abraham makes that theologically pointed statement that God Almighty will provide, and ultimately He provides His own dear son. Because Abraham is going to bury the knife in his son Isaac, but ultimately the angel of Yahweh stops him.
And then God says this to Abraham. He says, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me. John Flavel comments concerning this reality that God did not spare His own Son. He says, and thus you see the reasons of all the severity to Jesus Christ.
God intended the sweetest mercies for you and therefore prepared the bitterest sufferings for Christ. From His deep sufferings you may confidently conclude the best of mercies are designed for you. So he says, he who did not spare his own son, as I mentioned, Gethsemane. We've studied this recently in Matthew's Gospel, both events actually, Gethsemane and Calvary, but it's helpful to reminisce, it's helpful to remind ourselves to see what's going on in this particular passage.
He didn't spare his son in Gethsemane. Remember that particular instance where Jesus goes into the garden, and He is exceedingly sorrowful. Even unto death, He is troubled. Luke's gospel tells us that He poured blood out of His pores.
He sweat great drops of blood. And there He prays, My Father, if it is possible, let this pass from Me. But He goes on to resign Himself, or resolve, nevertheless, Father, I will do your will. And what we find there is that the father did not deliver him from that particular situation.
He spared him not. He allowed him. He enabled him. He gave him to go through that particular discourse or rather that that suffering on our behalf.
Again, John Flavel, I think, makes a great observation. He said, "...and that which makes a further discovery of divine severity..." That's what's going on here. He didn't spare his own son. "...is that God spared not his own son in the day of his greatest distress." when he cried to his father in an agony, that if it were possible, the cup might pass from him.
For of that day, the scripture is mainly to be understood, the day when he fell to the ground and prayed, that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me. He beheld his own dear son sweltering under the heaviest pressure of wrath, sweating great drops of blood, crying, if it be possible, let this hour, let this cup pass.
And yet it could not be granted. Oh, the severity of God! He heard the cry of Ahab and spared him. He heard the Ninevites cry and spared them.
He heard the cries of Hagar and Ishmael and spared them. Yea, He hears the young ravens when they cry and feeds them. But when his son cried with the most vehement cry that the cup might pass, he cannot be excused. He must drink it up, even the very dregs of the cup of trembling, and to that and to the last drop.
Oh, the justice and the severity of God. So He who did not spare His own Son. He doesn't spare Him in the Garden of Gethsemane when the Son of God actually prays that if it is possible, and this according to His humanity, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. But as well,
Not Spared at Calvary
God did not spare Him on the cross. Remember, we consider that in Matthew's Gospel, in Matthew 27, that cry of dereliction. When Jesus says, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? Taking in His own mouth, in His own heart, the words of the psalmist in Psalm 22.
Why have you forsaken Me? I think it is important to rehearse what that does not mean. Remember, the cry of Jesus does not indicate any division among the persons of the Trinity. There is no division among the persons of the Trinity there at the cross.
The cry of Jesus does not indicate a dissolution of what's called the hypostatic union, the reality that we have one Christ, one person in two natures. There was no dissolution, there was no abolishment of that, there was no rupture in terms of the hypostatic union. Thirdly, the cry of Jesus does not indicate that the three persons of the Trinity all suffered on the cross. Christ, the second person of the Trinity, suffered on the cross according to his humanity.
Fourth, the cry of Jesus does indicate that the Father does not deliver him from the agony of the cross. That's the point. There's no rupture between Father and Son. The Father doesn't stop loving the Son, but the Father does not deliver Him from the agony of the cross.
The withdrawal of the Father's nearness and favor. Matthew Poole says it must be understood with respect to God's consolatory manifestations. In other words, that nearness and that presence. It's that wherein we see the forsakenness.
John Gill says, but he was now without a sense of the gracious presence of God and was filled as the surety of his people with a sense of divine wrath, which their iniquities he now bore. And then Turretin says, but as to a participation of joy and felicity, God suspending for a little while the favorable presence of grace and influx of consolation and happiness that he might be able to suffer all the punishments due to us. Now why do I rehearse this when we saw it several months ago in the Gospel of Matthew? Because it's very important.
People have a defective theology of what happens when Jesus says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? We need to realize there is no dissolution of the hypostatic union. There's no rupture between the persons of the Trinity. There is no loss of love between the father and the son, but rather the father does not deliver the son from that agony.
And as a result, he bears the wrath and the curse and the punishment that is due for us. So the cry of Jesus does highlight the doctrine of penal substitution and suffering. He who did not spare his own son. Matthew Henry says, Christ was made sin for us, a curse for us, and therefore, though God loved him as a son, he frowned upon him as a surety.
That's what's happening when the father does not spare his own son, both in Gethsemane and in Calvary, or at Calvary. Now, before we proceed, let us just momentarily focus on this reality. The father did not spare his own son. As I quoted from Flavel, God spares a whole lot of people throughout the record of redemption that really didn't deserve it.
He mentioned Ahab. I referred to Ahab this morning. When God says to Elijah, did you see that? He actually repented.
The fact that God spares Ahab, but He doesn't spare His only begotten Son, this demonstrates His liberality. It demonstrates His beneficence. It demonstrates His great love, wherewith He loved us, that He did not spare His own Son. When His own Son is in the Garden of Gethsemane, crying out that the cup might pass from Him.
Remember, the cup there is the cup of God's wrath and fury and curse. That is what Jesus, or provokes Jesus, to cry out that it may pass from Him. He doesn't spare Him when He's on the cross, suffering the shame, suffering the curses, suffering the various insults of the religious leaders. He saved others.
Let Him come down and save Himself.
Delivered Up for Us All
God the Father did not spare His own Son so that ultimately He could spare us from divine wrath and fury. That's the negative. He did not spare His own Son, but notice the positive, but delivered Him up for us all. delivered Him up for us all. This is the Father's initiative.
Isaiah the prophet, chapter 53, verse 10, says the Lord, Yahweh, was pleased to bruise Him. In Acts 2, Peter calls the crucifixion something that happens according to the predetermined purpose of God. Same thing in Acts chapter 4 that Pastor Porter preached on last Sunday night. It was the initiative of the Father.
Again, John Flavel says He delivered Him. As a judge, by sentence of law, delivers up the prisoner to be executed. It is true Pilate delivered him up to be crucified, and he also gave himself for us, but betwixt God's delivering, Pilate's delivering, and his own. There is this difference to be observed.
In God, it was an act of highest justice. In Pilate, an act of greatest wickedness. In himself, an act of wonderful obedience. Beautiful.
So He did not spare him, but delivered him up for us all. Now that whole idea of deliver him up for us all should suggest to our minds as a sacrifice. Remember, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Those of you who are in Robert Murray McShane's Bible reading calendar, you've just stepped into the book of Leviticus.
And the book of Leviticus is a book that is filled with sacrifice. It's filled with blood, it's filled with fire, it's filled with that approach to God. Because the idea of being is at the very end of the book of Exodus, God comes down. The Shekinah glory fills the very house of God, the tabernacle that they built.
But you remember at the end of the book of Exodus in chapter 40, not even Moses could enter in. Now, you need to appreciate the powerfulness of that statement. Moses was a godly man. Moses was a faithful man.
Moses was a consistent man. So when the glory of God comes down to dwell among the people, it is yet to become a meeting place. Because not even Moses himself is fit and equipped to enter into the very presence of God. Hence the book of Leviticus.
The book of Leviticus addresses the situation. How does the dwelling place of God among men become a meeting place between God and man? And as Morales well summarizes, he said, Israel learned that the way to Yahweh was through a bloody knife and a smoking altar. That's what this language suggests to us.
He delivered Him up for us all. The deliverance up is on the cross. Again, Pilate gave the kill order. Christ went willingly in terms of an act of obedience, but what happened ultimately was the predetermined plan of God the Father.
It pleased Yahweh to bruise Him, Isaiah 53.10. So we need to appreciate that it was the Father who sent the Son to die in our place. There's oftentimes this idea that the Old Testament God or the Father was angry with us, and so the Son comes to make it such that the Father can love us. One is well said.
The cross does not procure God's love. The cross is a manifestation of God's love. In other words, Christ doesn't die for us in order to get the Father to love us. Christ dies for us because the Father loves us.
You see, that is subtle, but it's absolutely crucial that we understand it. Because what Jesus does is perfectly consistent with the other persons of the Trinity, the Trinity working together in perfect unity to save His people from their sins. So it's not the case that Christ comes in order to make God love us. Christ comes because God loves us.
But with reference to Christ's sacrifice, in this epistle Paul tells us that that sacrifice was propitiatory. Propitiatory means simply this, that Christ stood in our place to take the wrath of God. Romans chapter 3, the purpose of the sacrifice, at least in Romans chapter 3, was so that Christ could be our propitiation. That means he takes in himself the very punishment and the wrath and the fury of God that should fall upon sinners.
We see with reference to this sacrifice Christ as substitute. In fact, in Romans chapter 5, specifically around verses 18 and following, we see this whole emphasis. How is it that we can be justified by faith in Jesus Christ? Because of what Christ did in our place.
Because of what Christ satisfied on behalf of divine justice. Because of what Christ went through in terms of this sacrifice. So you see, negatively, he did not spare his own son. Positively, he delivered him up for us all.
And we ought to appreciate consistently that the Father does this and the Lord Jesus willingly submits. John 10, Christ says, nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down willingly. He's always operating. in submission to His Father.
As the mediator of the new covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ marches in lockstep according to the will, the purpose, and the plan of the Father. As the mediator. There's no eternal subordination. The Son isn't always by nature or essence subordinate to the Father, but in the economy of redemption, the Son willingly submits Himself to the Father.
Now before we move on, notice, he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all. There are persons that will tell us that all always means all. And it does, but all always means all in particular contexts that we find all. And we need to appreciate that this all here is contextual.
This all, or the all of verse 32, is the all in context. The us whom God is for in verse 31, the ones who were foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and will be glorified in verses 29 and 30. They are the elect of verse 33, the ones for whom Christ intercedes in verse 34, and the ones who can never be lost in verses 35 and 39. So in other words, the all in the context is not every man without exception, it's every man without distinction.
Doesn't matter whether you're black, doesn't matter whether you're brown, doesn't matter whether you're white, doesn't matter if you're from U.S. or Canada or Asia or Africa, wherever it may be, but what does matter is that God foreknew you. that God predestined you and that in time God called you and justified you and has promised to glorify you. Those are the benefactors, those are the recipients, those are the ones be graced by the liberality of God Most High. So that's the declaration concerning God's liberality. Now
Implication of God's Liberality
note, secondly, the implication flowing from God's liberality. The end of verse 32. He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, here's the implication, or here's the question that answers itself, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? In other words, it's an argument from the greater to the lesser.
If He doesn't spare His Son, He delivers Him up to the cross, if He does the greatest, how will He not do the lesser? How will he not tend to other needs that you have? How will he not be there with you in the trenches? How will he not be there with you when you need his grace and his support and his blessing?
A brother this morning said that he burned his hand yesterday and it caused him to muse on whether or not he could be a martyr. Right? You ever burn yourself and then you think about, say, a Thomas Hawks who was burned to death by the Papists according to Foxe's Book of Martyrs? You ever consider that reality?
And I said to this brother, well, I think it's the case that God gives special grace when we're called to step into the flames. In other words, I don't know that we're always at that level where we're ready to just dive into the flames. You read those stories in the history of the church where some Christian is being burned at the stake and others say, well, I'm with him, and they jump in there too. Not in a suicidal way, but showing their fidelity, their faithfulness, their devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Brethren, we believe that He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not freely give us all other things? In other words, if He calls us to suffer in the flames for your sake, we are killed all day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. If He's going to call upon us to die a martyr's death, He's going to equip us with a martyr's grace. He is going to provide those things that are requisite for us to bring glory and honor to Him.
So it's an argument from the greater to the lesser. If He does the greatest in sending the Son of His love up to that cross, then how will He not also freely give you all the things you stand in need of? He's going to justify you freely by His grace and not help you on a Thursday morning? He's going to be responsible for the plan that sent the Son to the cross to bear the shame, to bear the curse, to bear the wrath, and He's not going to help you with a difficult situation.
Now, again, it's not magic. It's not Benny Hinn-ism. It's not Joel Osteen-ism. It's not like Jesus is a four-leaf clover or a holy horseshoe or a rabbit's foot or some other lucky charm.
It doesn't work like that. But we will, by the grace of God, do what is necessary, by His grace, to bring glory to Him. We have the sure promise in Romans 8, verse 28. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good.
To who? To those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Now, I don't know if you've sufficiently meditated upon that verse, but I doubt that Paul meant, we know that all good things work for good. That's a tautology.
We already know good things are good, don't we? We already know that good things work for good. We already know that finding a big bag of money worked for my good. Not that that happened, I'm using an illustration.
We know that good things work for good in the context, especially as we move to the end of the chapter, and he's enforcing upon us the believer's security in spite of all opposition. Romans 8.28 must most certainly mean we know that all bad things work for good. Why? Because God has it under His control.
Because God did not spare His own Son, but He delivered Him up to the shame of Calvary. How will He not also bless us in the midst of bad things? How will he not vindicate his own elect who cry to him day and night? How will he not be there in the fire to encourage his suffering martyrs?
How will he not empower Thomas Hawkes to proclaim Christ as Lord of the Fire? How will he not sustain this young Leah that was captured by Boko Haram? How will he not do that? If he's done the greatest, he'll do the lesser.
That's the nature of the argument that Paul is making at this point. It is most blessed, it is most helpful, it is most useful. Manton said, two things breed confidence. The fidelity of God, that's his faithfulness, and his liberality.
His liberality and his gifts and his fidelity and his promises. His giving up Christ to die for us is a pledge of both. This was the greatest promise, the exhibition of the Messiah, and this was the greatest gift. You see, Paul wants the people of God at this particular juncture to reflect on these things.
Everything he has written up to this particular time, as I said, summarized right there in verses 29 and 30 in terms of the Ordo Salutis. Paul wants us to reflect upon that and then engage in praise to God Almighty for the security that he is bound to us. That's the point of this particular passage. Flavel says, how is it imaginable that God should withhold after this, the greater, he didn't spare his own son, but he delivered him up for us all, how is it imaginable that God should withhold after this spirituals or temporals from his people?
And by spirituals or temporals, I take it spiritual blessings or temporal blessings. How is it imaginable? If he does the greater, how is he not going to assist you in killing the sin of pornography? If He is going to do the greater, how is He not going to assist you in killing the sin of gossip?
How is He not going to assist you in killing whatever sin you struggle with? How is He not going to come to the aid and the rescue to those who He sent His Son to die for? Again, not magic, not holy horseshoes, not four-leaf clovers, not rabbit's feet, but it is the means or rather the plan of God to keep His people in the midst of suffering, hardship, and woe. And
Application: The Believer's Security
that brings us to our third point. Notice the application of all this with reference to the believer's security. Typically a preacher goes through a passage, he hopefully does his exegesis, he sees the heads or the points, and then points of application sort of flow from that. Paul just fills in application for us tonight.
It's just beautiful. By way of question and answer, rhetorically devised to be sure, he provides us with a great context of application. Notice, after the declaration concerning the liberality of God, the implication concerning the liberality of God, notice he comes to apply it in verses 33 to 39.
Refutation of Charges Against the Elect
In the first place, there is a refutation of those who bring a charge against God's elect. Notice in verse 33, who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Now, we ask the question, who would do this?
Who would bring a charge against God's elect? Well, the devil would, wouldn't he? He's an accuser of the brethren, according to Revelation chapter 12. We see him in action in the prophet Zechariah chapter 13, verse 1.
Remember Joshua, the high priest? He's in his filthy garments, and the devil's right there, ready to jump and pounce and highlight the fact that he's a wicked, filthy, vile man. Before the devil can even open his mouth, however, the Lord rebukes him. The Lord knows what Joshua's condition is.
The Lord knows what Joshua's situation is. And of course the Lord deals with him in a justifying manner. He orders that Joshua's filthy garments be stripped from him, and he orders that new royal attire be placed upon him. This is justification by grace alone through faith alone.
So the devil will seek to bring a charge against God's elect. Other people might seek to bring a charge against God's elect. It may sort of sound like this. How could you ever call yourself a Christian in light of the fact that you did this?
How in the world could you consider yourself to be a Christian in light of the fact that you did that? So there might be that charge of God's elect coming from other people. Might not just be in your own circle of friends, might not just be within your church, it might be in the world. How in the world could you call yourself a believer?
Now brethren, if you're acting in such a way that people are saying that a lot to you, there might be a problem. So understand that. You want to make that necessary qualification. If everybody's saying to you, how in the world could you ever call yourself a Christian?
It might be time to reflect. It might be time to do a personal inventory. It might be time to get your Bible out and look at your heart and ask the question, maybe I'm not. But there are those who with gentle souls, bruised wreaths, smoking flax, they are nevertheless upbraided by a certain class of people.
And so what Paul says here is most appropriate in terms of his argument. The believer's security is sure because God justifies. It is a refutation of those who charge the elect by the justifying grace of God Almighty. In other words, what silences the opposition?
It's not your good works, because most of the time you'll have to argue the same. Well, yeah. In fact, maybe we are in there as well. Who can bring a charge against God's elect?
It might not just be from others. It might not just be from Satan. It might not just be from the world. It might rise up from within.
Well, how do we silence that? Is it by our good works? Is it by our obedience? Or is it by the fact that God is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ?
Hint, it's the second. Don't try to silence the opposition by an appeal to your own good words. Silence the opposition by an appeal to the glorious work of the justifying grace of God Almighty. Notice the refutation of those who condemn.
Refutation of Condemnation
Excuse me, verse 34, who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is also risen who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us. The elect deserve condemnation. Who is he who condemns?
Again, it may be the same sort of categories. It might be the devil, it might be the world, it might be our own flesh, it might be others within our circle of influence or friends. But needless to say, the same appeal is made. Who is he who condemns?
It is Christ who died. It is Christ who is risen. It is Christ who ever lives to make intercession for his people. Again, how do we shut the mouths of those who would condemn us?
We do so not based on our virtue, but based on the virtue of Jesus Christ, based on the doing and the dying and the rising of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the constant appeal. That's wherein the believer's security is. Brethren, your security and mine in grace is not in words.
Our security is in the grace of God. I love our Confession of Faith, the chapter with reference to adoption. It says, all those that are justified, God vouchsafed in and for the sake of His only Son, Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption, by which they are taken into the number and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God, have His name put on them, receive the spirit of adoption, have access to the throne of grace with boldness, are unable to cry, Abba, Father, are pitied, protected, provided for, and chastened by Him as a Father, yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption, and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation." You see, that's a packed statement concerning our safety ultimately in God, not by virtue of our having placed ourselves into the family of God, vis-a-vis Pelagianism or Arminianism, but having been placed in the family of God by the justifying power of God. And it's that to which we appeal when charges are laid.
It's that to which we appeal when condemnation is offered. We don't look at ourselves as an argument for silencing the critics. It is the grace of God. And then
Immutable Love of Christ
notice the celebration of the immutable love of Christ in verses 35 to 39. I think it was Pastor A.N. Martin who said, when you get to verses 38 and 39 in the book of Romans, you just can't preach that. You can't say it any better.
You really can't. I mean, 38 and 39, that's like, you know, the Mount Sham of the Fraser Valley. It just, it doesn't get any better. Notice, again, in the context, it's the security of the believer, and that security of the believer is tied intimately to the liberality of God.
He didn't spare his own son, but he delivered him up. How will he not also freely with him give us all things? The security of the believer is affixed to the God of heaven and earth. But notice the question in verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Now, the separation in view is not our love for Christ, because just about anything could do that. If you know your own heart, just about anything could do that. You're supposed to be meditating upon the scripture, you're supposed to be thinking through the implications of God's word, and immediately you think of dinner. There's just about anything that can separate us from the love of Christ, with reference to our love to Christ.
What, in view, is Christ's love for us? So when Paul says, what can separate us from the love of Christ? The answer, briefly, is nothing. And he highlights that with several sort of statements.
Notice, the tribulation endured by believers in verses 35 and 36 shall not separate them from the love of Christ. Notice, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? There's no way.
You see, we are basically dispositionally responsive to situations like this. We see problems, difficulties, trials, and conclude that God doesn't love us. Or he's mad at us. He must be upset with me because I'm suffering, I'm struggling.
Paul's point here is these things do not separate you from the love of Christ. Tribulations, trials, hardships, famines, persecutions, nakedness, peril, or even the sword do not separate you from the love of Christ. See, that's the point. What or who can separate us from the love of Christ?
What does Paul say in Philippians 1, verse 21? He says, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Now, in that particular context or situation, Paul is in prison. At that time, he wasn't sure whether he would be executed or not, though I think he thought he would be released, and he was.
In that imprisonment, he was ultimately released. It would be his final imprisonment that he would be executed under Nero. But in that Philippians context, he's not positive that he's going to get out again. So imagine, you happen to be one of his guards at his jail cell and you're not sure whether he's going to be fed to the lions or not.
You know, over here I'm writing this great epistle to the Philippians and he says, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. You'd probably run back to your superiors and say, you know, I don't really think we can hurt him. He says to die is gain. How do you destroy a man like that?
How do you hurt a man like that? Why does Paul say, for to me to die is gain? Because it means more Christ. You see, Paul understood that lions, death, hardship, persecution, trial, distress, did not argue for an absence of the love of Christ, but was simply one of the things that affected the people of God as they had dealings in this lower world.
The love of Christ is sure. The love of Christ is constant. The love of Christ is secure. The love of Christ ain't going anywhere.
If you end up in a lion's den and that big beast is about to collapse your windpipe, realize Christ won't stop loving you. Isn't that beautiful? That's really the point in this section. Not just lions, but in an increasingly hostile Roman Empire.
At the time Paul wrote Romans, it was still okay. Nero would ultimately go nuts. But in the 50s or the mid-50s when Paul wrote Romans, Nero was hedged in a bit by some decent human beings. There was some restraint exercised upon Nero.
He didn't exhibit his truly beastly character until the early 60s. In about the mid-50s, there's increasing opposition. We'll notice when we study the book of Acts, the first great persecutor of the church of Jesus Christ was unbelieving Jews. It wasn't the Roman Empire.
Initially, the Roman Empire thought that Christianity was just a subset of Judaism, and Judaism was legal within the empire, so they pretty well left Christians alone. They didn't molest Christians. They didn't deal badly or poorly with Christians. The empire just kind of let Christians be.
But increasingly, they received the opposition from the state. And Nero specifically was a beast with reference to the people of God. So Paul sees these things happening. He sees the sorts of things that will affect the people of God.
And Paul has just discoursed concerning the great gospel of justification by faith. Paul has told these dear brethren, and us by extension, that not only has God called you, not only has God justified you, but God is going to glorify you. That's not going to change. The love of Christ won't stop.
Whatever you face on earth isn't going to contaminate that great love. You need to rest assured. You need to celebrate. You need to rejoice in the reality that there is nothing that shall separate us from the love of Christ.
And then, not only do these things not stop the love of Christ, and not only do these things not stop the believer in Christ, but in verse 37, paradoxically, Paul says, yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. These things there is everything he just mentioned in terms of a horrible way for us to suffer and find distress and pain and death in this life. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. What's the point?
What's the purpose? What's the statement there?
More Than Conquerors
Not only do these trials not shipwreck the faith of the believer, but God actually used these trials to conform people even more and more under the image of the Son, so that we are more than conquerors. So we rise victorious from the ashes. We enter into the presence of God Most High. The worst that this world can do, nevertheless, is a means by which we enter in to the presence of God the Lord.
And then
Nothing Shall Separate Us
in verses 38 and 39, the comprehensive description of anything that may possibly be perceived to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He says in verse 38, for 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 created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." That is just glorious, isn't it? I want to look at two clauses. I know Al Martin said not to preach on this, but allow me two clauses here.
Notice at the end of verse 38, nor things present, nor things to come. Nor things present, nor things to come. We need that encouragement, don't we? For the present.
We need to be stuck in today. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. It's easy to see Jesus Christ active, and powerful, and glorious, and victorious yesterday. It's easy to come to the pages of Scripture and say, well, that was then, and forget today.
The Christ who is faithful in Romans 8 to the initial audience is the Christ who is faithful in Romans 8 to the 21st century audience. He doesn't change. He doesn't become defective in his execution of his mediatorial office. He's always the same.
But not only do we need to be reminded for today, we need to be reminded for the future. And I would suggest this is very appropriate in troubling times like these. I mean, brethren, it doesn't take a rocket scientist or a political science major to say, we've got problems in this country. We've got problems in the countries of the earth.
Anytime persons legislate and subsidize murdering innocent people, we really are in troublesome times. You hear that once in a while. Do you think God's going to deliver up the Western world to judgment? Do I think God's going to?
We bear all the brand marks of having been delivered up. Gross sexual immorality, that is a statement or rather an indicator that God has delivered up. That's Romans 1, 24, 26, and 28. He gave them up to what?
To a reprobate mind. In other words, men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness, men who try to excise God from their government, men who try to operate autonomously. Those sorts of men are ultimately abandoned by God Most High and we start to live like we are. We live like the days that Isaiah prophesied in, not about, but in.
Isaiah saw these things too. Woe to those who call good evil and evil good. That's where we're at. So don't you need that sure word from the apostle that nothing in the present is going to come between you and the love of Christ?
You hear that too. Well, Islam is growing so rapidly. It's not going to stop Jesus' love for me. Now that may sound narcissistic, I don't just mean me, I mean all the elect.
The verse 31, the verses 29 to 30, those who are by grace called, justified, and will be glorified. Nothing in the present can separate us from the love of Jesus Christ. That's where I'd say, can I get an amen? Because that's glorious news, brethren.
When you see the world around you, when you look at what's going on, that is most encouraging. The other clause I want to look at is in verse 39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing. That's sort of the catch-all.
I think I've told you before, the Uniform Code of Military Justice is what, 134 articles? Articles 100 to 133 deal with just about every crime you could imagine, but if those aren't covered, 134 covers it. It's the general article. It basically says, whatever 1 to 133 didn't cover, you're still guilty under 134.
It's a catch-all. That's what this is. It's a catch-all. Everything that Paul has said, we'd still try to wriggle out of it.
But what about me? Can I separate me from the love of Christ? No, you're part of any other created thing. Even you. can't separate you from the love of Christ.
Now, carnal wisdom will say, well, I'm going to go out and smoke crack and chase prostitutes then, because Butler said, I can't remove myself from the love of Christ. That's carnal logic. Gospel logic rejoices in this statement, rejoices in the power of Jesus' love, rejoices in free grace and not free will. rejoices in the fact that it's Christ who keeps us and not we who keep ourselves. Nor any other created thing shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So
Conclusion
in conclusion, my dear brothers and sisters, may I say to you, be encouraged. Celebrate your security with the Apostle Paul here in Romans chapter 8. I just want to close with a quote by John Flavel. He says, When God spared not his own son, this was the design of it.
And could you know the thoughts of his heart, they would appear to be such as these. I will now manifest the fierceness of my heart to Christ and the fullness of my love to believers. The pain shall be His, that the ease and the rest may be theirs. The stripes His, and the healing balm issuing from them, theirs.
The condemnation His, and the justification theirs. The reproach and shame His, and the honor and glory theirs. The curse His, and the blessing theirs. The death His, and the life theirs.
The vinegar and gall His, the sweet of it theirs. He shall groan and they shall triumph. He shall mourn that they may rejoice. His heart shall be heavy for a time that theirs may be light and glad forever.
He shall be forsaken that they may never be forsaken. Out of the worst miseries to him shall spring the sweetest mercies to them. Oh, grace, grace beyond conception of the largest mind. Amen.
Well, let us close in a word of prayer.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for this, your word. We thank you for this comprehensive description of everything, and none of it shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. We thank you for this love. We thank you, Father, that you have bestowed it upon us freely.
It's not that we deserved it. It's not that we earned it, it's not that we worked for it or merited it, it's because of what you did and not sparing your son and delivering him up for us. And we pray that you'd help us to meditate upon such passages as these and may they comfort and encourage us and may they aid us in the battle against remaining corruption. Help us to go from this place seeking to honor and to glorify and to love you, not as a condition for our salvation, but as a consequence of you having saved us.
Bless us now, strengthen us and help us as we continue in this worship time to you. Bless us as we eat this bread and we drink this cup and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.