Loved beyond doubt
Last night David Nixon explored what we might do with doubts we have about God. It is sometimes the case that one of our doubts is about God's love for us. Can God really love us? Does God really love us? Last week I gave a short talk on one of my favourite scriptures about this very subject.... here it is... hope it's a blessing to you.
Karen x
No Separation
Anna had been married to Michael for 12 years when he left. Despite the vows they had taken the marriage hadn’t been easy and working at it had gotten too much for Michael. He wasn’t feeling the love anymore and wanted out.
It hadn’t been the first relationship where Anne had been left feeling alone or abandoned. Her dad died when she was young, she had friends who had drifted off, and even at church her pastor had been called to another congregation and left.
Separation… no matter what the circumstances… can leave us feeling alone, insecure, and fearful.
What might cause you to think God doesn't love you anymore?
In today’s passage we will see that God is completely and utterly different from any earthly relationship. We’ll see that because of God’s sovereignty, and Christ’s death, ABSOLULTELY NOTHING – NO EARLTHY OR HEAVENLY CIRCUMSTANCE – CAN SEPARATE US FROM GOD’S LOVE FOR US
Let’s read…Romans 8:28-39
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 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? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. 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.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Here there are two reasons why we cant be separated from God’s love and a surprise outcome
Why can’t we be separated from God’s love?
- Because God’s sovereign over all circumstances
Romans 8 is been an incredible picture of all that God has done for us and is doing for us now that he has made us his own. The climax of the passage in verses 28 to 30 says that he has a plan for each of us to become like Jesus. God's victory is so vast reaching that there is no single circumstance in our lives which is not being used as part of this sovereign plan.... and Paul wants Christians to feel a deep assurance of their place in this plan.
To emphasise this further Paul asks 5 questions in v 31 to 35 which reflect the kind of battle we live in, as Satan accuses us and does all he can to make us doubt who we are in Christ.
This is not new and is to be expected:
Remember the garden of Eden when he whispered "did God really say..."
Remember Job, and the waves of trials he faced as satan wanted him to doubt God
Satan wants us to doubt God’s love, and doubt what God has done for us in Christ.
So here in Romans, Paul was keen to spell out to the church that nothing they faced would be or could be an indication that God loved them any less. The Roman church literally faced or were about to face tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and the sword…. under the reign of Emperor Nero. In such circumstances it would be a normal human response to ask why is this happening to me?… is this God’s punishment for sin?... Is he taking his love away from me?
Some of the persecution and distress they would endure would be directly because of their faith.
So Paul quotes psalm 44… “For your sake –God’s sake - we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
The Psalm describes faithful men and women of Israel being ill treated because they were God’s and crying out to a victorious and sovereign God for rescue.
He uses the imagery of a sheep being led to the slaughter which is used in Isaiah of Christ himself… As Paul said in verse 17… as God’s children we will enter into Christ’s sufferings… but this is a proof that we are his heirs and so we can look forward to sharing with him in glory.
What are the circumstances in your life that are difficult right now?
What things may satan have brought your way in an attempt to shake your faith and cause you to doubt God’s love? And his sovereign plan?
The attacks may be more subtle than they were in Rome … did God really say there are only two genders? Did God really say marriage is only between a man and a women? Did God really say that inward beauty is of more value than outward attractiveness? But not even the hostility that the world may show us can separate us from God’s love
In fact he goes on to say to conclude the whole section by reiterating again that nothing that could ever happen, neither in life or death, earth or heaven, in time or space, present or future … there is nothing in all creation could ever separate us from God’s love.
So we can have assurance that we will always be loved by God because God is absolutely sovereign over every thing in our lives and nothing can thwart his plan in making us his.
- Why can’t we be separated from God’s love?
because we are in Christ Jesus
We often think that love is dependent on circumstances and feelings. Humanly it often is. Marriage promises are too often abandoned because of changes in circumstances and feelings.
But God’s love for us is based on something else far more concrete… the unalterable fact that Christ has died for us. We see this in verse 37 and in verse 39 –
v 37… when Paul says "through him who loved us" – he’s not saying God used to love us… but rather through him who’s love for us was made permanent through at a particular point history – namely at the cross… in Romans 5 Paul says that God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The fact that Christ died for us cannot be undone or changed and this is what God’s love for us is based on.
And then in Verse 39 we read that “nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD”
It is Christ’s death in our place and our union with him that makes God’s love for us possible
So God’s love for us is based on two absolutely unchangeable facts… God’s sovereign plan to love us, and the historical event of Christ’s death and resurrection in our place
But here’s the wee surprise…
In verse 37, Paul says we are more than conquerors through him who loved us…
How can we be more than conquerors in the midst of our suffering?
Back in verse 28 we see what victory will look like… it is God’s sovereign plan for us is to be made like his son. This is the ultimate expression of the greatness of his love... he wants the best for us… he has saved us and now his love for us is gloriously restoring us to into the image of our saviour – Jesus Christ. We will reign with Christ in glory one day… and all of satans attempts to thwart this will just become tools in God’s hands to advance this good and perfect purpose in our lives.
So... back to Anne… she and we may well experience disappointment, rejection and hurt in relationships that are earthly… but if we are united to Christ, there is one relationship that will never disappoint us or let us down. We can be absolutely assured of God’s love in whatever we face because God has saved us in Christ and because he is working out his plan to make us like Christ.
