Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God Repurposes The Broken Vessel For His Glory

I have really enjoyed going through the Book of Romans. When our Lord Jesus called Paul to be His Apostle on the Damascus Road (Acts 9:3-16), He changed this “chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Before conversion he was Saul, a “Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee” (Acts 23:6), a Jew of Tarsus who studied at the feet of Gamaliel, taught the Law of God (Acts 22:3). Saul persecuted the Church, spilling the blood of Christians because he thought it was his religious duty. On the Damascus Road Jesus changed Saul to Paul, the persecutor of the faith to the protector of the faith.

When God calls a person to salvation and that person receives Christ as Lord and Savior, God uses the past experiences of the newly saved to promote His Kingdom.

Saul was trained at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the most highly regarded Bible teachers or Rabbis of his day. Gamaliel was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Ruling Council. Being trained by Gamaliel, the Apostle Paul learned the value of asking questions. A good teacher asks good questions so as to make the student think. As God used Paul to write Scripture, Paul often made use of questions to challenge his readers. Last week we studied:

Romans 8:28 … we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

How do we KNOW that ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD for the Christian, the person who LOVES GOD? Because God saves us “according to His purpose”. God’s purpose for the saved person is to make us like Jesus. We are “predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son {Jesus}” (vs 29). God is going to make it happen. He saved you through Christ, to make you like Jesus. God justified you, declaring you righteous because of the Blood of Christ, so that He will GLORIFY you (vs 30).

A Good Teacher, Paul Asks Some Really Good Questions

Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be FOR US, who can be against us?

What a great question!

God saved the Christian on purpose.
God repurposes the Christian as His child.
God determines the Child’s purpose.

“If God be FOR US, who can be against us?”. If you are saved by faith in Christ, then ANYTHING that comes your way comes under the will of God. Paul asks another good question:

Romans 8:32 He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Jesus’ death was not just a tragic accident, a misunderstanding, a misuse of power. Jesus Christ is the “only Begotten Son of God” (John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9). God the Father sent His Son to the earth. God the Father did not spare His Son, but “delivered Him up for us all”. Jesus – the Incarnate Son of God – died a horrible death on the Cross of Calvary for us all.

If God paid a great fee for our salvation, if God did the greatest thing He could do for us at the Cross, will He not now do the lesser? Purchased at a great price, will God not take care of us? Absolutely! What a great question!

Illustrate: When God called the shepherd boy David to be King of Israel, from that moment on David grasped and held on to that great truth. When confronted by Goliath David kept his purpose before his eyes. When Goliath roared, David didn’t flinch. He was called by God to be King. Why should he fear Goliath, no matter how big he was? When David played the harp for King Saul, and Saul sought his death, David did not fear. God told him that he was going to be King of Israel. He kept the purpose of God before his eyes, no matter what happened.

Illustrate: When Joseph was told by God that he would one day rule over his family, his brothers were jealous of him. When they cast him into a pit and sold him as a slave, Joseph kept what God told him ever before his eyes. Unjustly accused and imprisoned, Joseph kept his eyes on the Lord Who called him. He was in the will of God, and though imprisoned 13 years, in time God raised Joseph up to be the right hand of Pharaoh.

All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to God’s purpose.

Romans 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s ELECT (eklektos)? It is God that justifieth.

God chose to save you. God called you. You chose to heed His call. You are His Chosen, those whom He has called out of the world.

Do Christians err? “It is God that justifieth”. Do Christians fail? “It is God that justifieth”. Do Christians stumble? “It is God that justifieth”. Absolutely. What is our solution? When we fail, we repent and return to God. “It is God that justifieth”. I cannot fix what I messed up. “It is God that justifieth”. I do not count beads, I do not pray to a saint or the Virgin Mary (who, by the way, is no longer a Virgin), I do not go to a Priest and ask him to forgive me. “It is God that justifieth”.

Our failings and sins do not define us. God called us to salvation, and we freely came to Him through Christ Jesus. Each one of us who are saved are in covenant with God. “It is God that justifieth”. It is God Who declares us righteous and and our sins covered. We do not live so as to please others, but God. Certainly we do not live arrogantly so as to hurt others, but our primary concern is to serve the Lord Jesus. The Apostle wrote:

Galatians 1:10 (ESV) For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

The Christian is an object of God’s Will.

1 Thessalonians 2:4 … we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.

“It is God that justifieth”. We are saved on purpose for a purpose. When we let anything absorb us or entice us but the glory of God, we walk a dangerous path.

Those who are more interested in pleasing others instead of pleasing God may not be saved.

Our Lord Jesus chastised the religious Pharisees of His day, saying:

John 5:44 (ESV) How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

The Pharisees were more concerned about what other Pharisees thought of them, but cared little of what God thought. That is not the way of Christ. Jesus said of these Bible scholars:

Preach This!

John 12:43 (ESV) … they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

The Christian lives to please God, to fulfill His purpose, to bring glory to Him. “It is God that justifieth”. That is who we live for.

Christ Paid For Our Sins, And Prays For Our Sanctification

Paul now asks another great question:

Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

The world is condemned by sin. Christ came to remove God’s condemnation from whosoever that believes in Him. A familiar text is:

John 3:15-18 (NKJV) … whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The condemnation that matters is the condemnation of God. This world, this God rejecting world, is under the condemnation of God. “God so loved THE WORLD that He GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON”. The Father called on His Son to go to the Cross for our sins. The Father calls whosoever will to come to Him through Christ. “WHOEVER believes in Him, in Jesus, will NOT PERISH, but have EVERLASTING LIFE”. Though the world is under God’s condemnation, to come to Christ by faith is to leave the condemnation of God.

You are saved from damnation by the Blood of Christ. You keep on being saved by the Resurrected Christ, “who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” Jesus saves us, and keeps on saving us. This is the purpose of God. Jesus promised:

John 5:24 (KJV) Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

When you believe on Jesus Christ, believing and receiving Him as Lord and Savior, you become one with the plan of God. The world may condemn you, but that doesn’t matter. God cannot condemn you. You are passed from death to life. You are changed.

Romans 8:1 (KJV) There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Jesus Christ saves us, the Holy Spirit indwells us, Jesus Christ intercedes for us, and the Father has a purpose for us.

What a glorious truth this is. I would give my life even now if I could make you all understand the power of living found in this truth. We live for Jesus, to please Jesus – not to please ourselves. The children of Adam live to please themselves, to bring glory to themselves. We live for Jesus, for the Kingdom of God.

Can You Do Something To Separate Yourself From The Love Of God?

Having read and studied all these things, we now come to what I call not just a good question, but a really good question.

Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the LOVE of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Is there anything from the outside of you that will separate you, dear Christian, from the love of Christ? Paul breaks it down. Let’s look at these words:

– Tribulation: Greek thlipsis. Affliction, anguish, oppression, great pressure. Some who hear the Gospel “have no root in themselves” and when affliction or anguish comes they bail out. Jesus spoke of these pseudo believers in Matthew 13:21; Mark 4:17. If affliction comes and you reject Jesus, you were never saved. Jesus promised that while we as believers are in the world “you will have thlipsis, but REJOICE, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

– Distress: Greek stenochōria. Tight spots, narrow spaces. Between a rock and a hard place.

– Persecution: Greek diōgmos. Attacks from the world.

– Famine. Nakedness. Peril. Sword. When your safety or comfort is threatened. None of these things shall separate you from the love of Christ. If you are saved, born again by faith in Christ, you will love the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus will love you. However, I want you to look at the text as to what it doesn’t say. The text says:

“Who shall separate us from the LOVE of Christ?”

But it doesn’t ask us:

“Who shall separate us from the BLESSING of Christ?”

The two statements are not the same.

Dear Christian, it is possible to be loved of God, but to get yourself in a mess of trouble by wandering either physically or spiritually from God in Christ.

Our Lord Jesus spoke a parable one time called by many: The Parable of the Prodigal Son”. This Parable is only told in Luke 15:11-32. Jesus never called this Parable “The Prodigal Son”, but merely introduced it as:

Luke 15:11 … a certain Man had TWO SONS

Jesus used this parable to explain the love of God for His children. In the parable, the younger son comes to the Father and asks:

Luke 15:12 .. Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me

He demanded that his Father give him his inheritance. Taking his inheritance, the young son went out into the world. He left his Father’s Kingdom, spent all that he had. Eventually the young man had to take a horrible job of slopping hogs. Many days he ate what the hogs ate. What a terrible place to be!

Nothing can separate you from the LOVE of Christ, but by willfulness you can depart from the BLESSING of Christ. You can go out into the world, and bring horrible suffering on yourself. The younger son illustrates many who claim to be Christians today. The safest and best place to be is in the Kingdom, serving the Father, trusting the Lord Jesus. But like this young son, if we wander away, we will find ourselves in a bad place. In the parable:

Luke 15:17-19 (NKJV) But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my Father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my Father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”

The young son did what every wayward Christian needs to do. He remembered the blessings that he had when he was in the Father’s house. The young son repented, and returned home. He humbled himself. Rather than demanding his rights and privileges, he said “I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants”. The young son physically left the blessing of Christ. But did he leave the LOVE of Christ? No. Jesus said:

Luke 15:20-24 (NKJV) … he arose and came to his Father. But when he was still a great way off, his Father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the Father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

The young son never stopped being the Father’s son. He was still loved of the Father. But when the son became one with the world, the Father would not follow him nor bless him. But once he repented and returned to the Father, in humility, the Father bestowed His blessings on that young son.

Christian, God will not bless you if you walk off into the world. You are to live in the Presence of the Father, to the glory of Jesus. You are not dead in sin, you are dead to damnation and condemnation. You are dead to the things of this world (Colossians 2:20). You are called to:

Ephesians 4:1 (KJV) … walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called …

Colossians 1:10 (KJV) … walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God ..

1 Thessalonians 2:12 (KJV) … walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

Nothing can separate you from the “love of Christ”, but pride and willfulness can separate you from the blessing of God.

There were two sons in that parable our Lord told us. The young son physically walked away from the Kingdom of God. The older son came home, and heard the celebration and was jealous of his brother. In Luke 15:28-30 the older son was angry, and refused to go into the celebration. He was self righteous. The younger son physically left the Father’s Kingdom, but the older son spiritually wandered away. The Father told him:

Luke 15:31-32 (NKJV) ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’

Neither son glorified the Father, nor honored His Will. But the Father loved them both. The Father wanted the best for both sons.

Beloved, if you are saved by faith in Christ, the Father wants the best for you. We close with the final word of the Apostle:

Romans 8:38-39 (KJV) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you allow the flesh to lead you, you can separate yourself from the blessing of God. But if you are saved by faith in Christ, the love of God “which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” cannot be extinguished. God loves you. Love Him back!