1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,040 He really is. 2 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:10,400 We just sang a song by a gentleman named Eugene Clark. 3 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:17,320 Nothing is impossible when you put your trust in God. 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:27,400 Gene Clark was a gifted musician on the keyboards and composition, but he came down with a crippling, 5 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:36,080 severe form of arthritis and spent the last years of his life confined to his bed in Lincoln, 6 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:37,080 Nebraska. 7 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:46,560 His hands gnarled, other parts of his body as useless, dictating the compositions that 8 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:50,760 came to his mind and to his spirit. 9 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:55,880 One of those, the one we have sung tonight, nothing is impossible with God. 10 00:00:55,880 --> 00:01:01,600 Think of the courage, the confidence that was in the heart of such a man to write a 11 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:09,720 song like that when he was absolutely crippled in body, but he knew something. 12 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:13,920 God was on his side. 13 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:19,320 Many of us have prayed for the Meisner family. 14 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:27,480 Pastor Meisner and his family served the Lord at the Midway Community Church here in St. 15 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:29,120 Paul. 16 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:34,420 Their 13-year-old daughter, Michelle, as you may have read in the newspaper, was found 17 00:01:34,420 --> 00:01:38,800 unconscious on the first day of school. 18 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:47,160 As she was getting ready, she became unconscious and slipped under the waters of the bathtub. 19 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:52,280 And they did not know how long she had been in that condition when they finally discovered 20 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:57,520 that she was unconscious and below the waters. 21 00:01:57,520 --> 00:01:58,520 She was in a deep coma. 22 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:02,600 They were able to get her heart started, but she never came out of that. 23 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:08,460 As you probably read in the paper Thursday or Friday of this last week, Michelle went 24 00:02:08,460 --> 00:02:12,800 home to be with the Lord. 25 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:19,880 When you go through something like that, how do you believe that God is on your side? 26 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:21,440 Because it sure doesn't seem like it. 27 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:27,180 I mean, if God had answered the prayers of thousands of people across the country and 28 00:02:27,180 --> 00:02:35,840 awakened her from her coma and healed her, and she could have resumed school, then we 29 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:41,760 would have said, well, certainly God was on their side, but she died. 30 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:48,040 That does not negate the truth that we see in Romans chapter 8 in our study, that in 31 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:54,320 fact whatever our circumstances, God is on our side. 32 00:02:54,320 --> 00:03:01,200 Let's read again our full text beginning in verse 31 of Romans 8. 33 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:04,220 What then shall we say to these things? 34 00:03:04,220 --> 00:03:08,740 If God is for us, who is against us? 35 00:03:08,740 --> 00:03:14,960 He who did not spare his own Son but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with 36 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:18,280 him freely give us all things? 37 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,340 Who will bring a charge against God's elect? 38 00:03:21,340 --> 00:03:23,080 God is the one who justifies. 39 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:25,520 Who is the one who condemns? 40 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:27,400 Christ Jesus is the one who died. 41 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,160 Yes, rather, who was raised? 42 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:34,360 Who is at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us? 43 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,520 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 44 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:45,320 Or tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 45 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:50,700 Just as it is written, for thy sake we are being put to death all day long. 46 00:03:50,700 --> 00:03:53,720 We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. 47 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:59,120 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. 48 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:04,640 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 49 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:09,600 things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created 50 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:19,560 thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 51 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:21,920 God is for us. 52 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:26,280 We can look at the circumstances of life like Jacob did and we can say all of these things 53 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:29,160 are against me. 54 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:35,640 But we can look at the same circumstances from the biblical perspective and say God 55 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,240 is for me like David did. 56 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:48,900 Here the apostle says if God is for us, and by the way he is, who can be against us? 57 00:04:48,900 --> 00:04:54,040 He gives to us in this text five proofs that God is for us. 58 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:59,640 The first proof is that he delivered up his son for us, verse 32. 59 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:07,480 He did not hold him back, sparing what is precious, but delivered him over to be killed 60 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:11,480 and sacrificed for our sake. 61 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:17,560 If God was willing to do that for us, will he not be willing to give us all things in 62 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,560 Christ? 63 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:22,300 How do we know God is for us? 64 00:05:22,300 --> 00:05:31,080 Because he went to the extent of even delivering up his only beloved son for our sake. 65 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:34,180 Then in verse 33 we see the second proof. 66 00:05:34,180 --> 00:05:37,660 It is that God declared us righteous. 67 00:05:37,660 --> 00:05:44,520 Who can possibly successfully bring a charge against us? 68 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:47,740 Who can bring us into court and press charges? 69 00:05:47,740 --> 00:05:52,960 Who can call us in for accounting and be successful at it? 70 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:58,560 Well Satan of course would try, but he has no legal standing in this court. 71 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:06,020 The very one who possibly could press charges against us is the same one who has already 72 00:06:06,020 --> 00:06:14,040 rendered the verdict on our behalf and he has said, righteous, you are justified. 73 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:17,880 I declare you right with myself. 74 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:24,960 And God has the right to do that because his son has paid for the sins that we have committed. 75 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:29,280 Therefore he can justify us. 76 00:06:29,280 --> 00:06:32,220 There is no double jeopardy in God's courtroom. 77 00:06:32,220 --> 00:06:36,880 We know that God is for us because he has declared us righteous in his son. 78 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:44,080 And then we know that God is for us thirdly in verse 34 because he has received our advocate. 79 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:49,560 The one who could condemn us and judge us is Jesus Christ because the Father has committed 80 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:53,520 all judgment to him, John 5 22. 81 00:06:53,520 --> 00:07:02,480 But that very one who is the judge, Jesus Christ, is the same one who died for us, who 82 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:09,760 rose again and who is now at the right hand of God not as our judge but as our advocate. 83 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:15,480 And so the only one qualified in the whole universe to judge us is the very one that 84 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:19,360 is appointed as our intercessor, our advocate. 85 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:23,160 And he stands before God as our defense. 86 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:25,880 How do we know God is for us? 87 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:30,920 Because he has received to his right hand the one who is our advocate. 88 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:37,400 And he stands there as the perfect propitiation or satisfaction for our sins. 89 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:38,400 God is for us. 90 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:40,280 He's not against us. 91 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:46,400 Now we come to a fourth proof, these we studied last week. 92 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:51,800 The fourth proof that God is for us is that he assures us of victory, verses 35 through 93 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:53,600 37. 94 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:59,840 You and I are not guaranteed a life that is without its difficulties, its sorrows, its 95 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:01,360 disappointments. 96 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:07,040 Indeed, suffering is to be expected. 97 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:13,200 As he says in verse 36 in quoting from Psalm 44, for thy sake we are being put to death 98 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:15,520 all day long. 99 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:22,320 Psalm 44 was written at some point in Israel's history when there was a reversal in the nation. 100 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:27,000 They were really under pressure. 101 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:35,600 And he is saying in that verse in the context of Psalm 44 that loyalty to God was extracting 102 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:42,480 from them a terrible price of suffering and persecution. 103 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:47,660 And the Holy Spirit now takes that verse from Psalm 44 and puts it here. 104 00:08:47,660 --> 00:08:52,440 And he says that if you and I are going to be faithful servants of God, if we are going 105 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:58,280 to be loyal to him in life, then it's going to cost us something. 106 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:01,240 We're going to suffer. 107 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:03,880 But in all of those sufferings we have been given victory. 108 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:06,560 Now he suggests some of the sufferings that we might face. 109 00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:12,600 There are at least seven here in this inventory of possible experiences. 110 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:18,280 By the way, on your own you may want to go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and there see 111 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:23,840 that the apostle Paul is really writing about his own story because all of these things 112 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:26,040 he experienced himself. 113 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:30,800 In the first place he mentions tribulation. 114 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:34,440 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ, he says. 115 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:36,600 Shall tribulation? 116 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:43,320 The word means troubles, pressure, the distresses of life. 117 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:47,920 Are you in distress tonight, Christian? 118 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:54,760 Understand that that distress of soul, that trouble that you feel, the pressure that is 119 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:59,920 within you that you may even feel like is going to burst you, that is not going to separate 120 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:01,560 you from the love of Christ. 121 00:10:01,560 --> 00:10:05,280 God's still on your side. 122 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:07,360 God is for you. 123 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:12,260 He talks about distress in the next noun. 124 00:10:12,260 --> 00:10:13,680 The word here is hardship. 125 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:16,880 It comes from a Greek word that means narrowness. 126 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:25,040 The idea is being hemmed in, pressed and crowded in by your circumstances. 127 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:30,480 Have you ever been that way in a crowd maybe? 128 00:10:30,480 --> 00:10:37,080 Perhaps getting out of the metrodome after one of the games over there. 129 00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:40,280 Everybody's trying to exit through your door, right? 130 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:48,360 All at one time, and you feel like you're just a little bitty piece of dust that's 131 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:51,600 being squeezed between all of these people. 132 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:54,960 That's the thought here, being narrowed in. 133 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:58,520 When I think of this, one illustration comes to my mind. 134 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:04,240 When I was a youth pastor out in Spokane, Washington, you do lots of strange things 135 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:05,240 as youth pastors. 136 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:09,280 You wouldn't do if you were in your right mind. 137 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:15,520 We took the kids at camp one year up to a cave about a half an hour north of the church 138 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:17,680 camp that we had. 139 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:23,960 It was not a cave that was open with guides and so on. 140 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:29,960 They had lights that you turned on and you went down to the cave yourself. 141 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:32,880 We took these kids down to the cave. 142 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:39,840 On this one occasion, we saw this opening that went off in that direction where it was 143 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:43,160 dark and foreboding. 144 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:50,880 A couple of us decided that we would explore that little branch of the cave. 145 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:53,680 I got my flashlight and I started back into this hole. 146 00:11:53,680 --> 00:11:55,720 It was a fairly good size at that point. 147 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:58,280 It better begin to get narrower. 148 00:11:58,280 --> 00:12:02,960 Finally, instead of being just hunched over, I was down on my knees. 149 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:08,160 It wasn't too long until I was down on my elbows going like this, trying to find out 150 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:09,800 where this thing was going to lead me. 151 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:16,000 As I was shining my flashlight, suddenly the cave roof just went like that down to the 152 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:17,000 floor. 153 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:21,600 There I was right up against the end of that branch of the cave. 154 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:24,960 The first time in my life I heard claustrophobia. 155 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:29,080 I wanted to get out of there so bad because everything had narrowed in on me. 156 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:34,120 I could just see at that moment a great earthquake hit the Pacific Northwest and rocks would 157 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:35,320 fall behind me. 158 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:38,320 Here I would be hemmed in. 159 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:39,320 That's the feeling here. 160 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:45,000 Even when I talk about that, I get that feeling in my stomach. 161 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:50,640 He says when you get that feeling like all of life is collapsing around you and you're 162 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:55,200 in narrow straits and hemmed in, God is still for you. 163 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:59,280 He talks about persecution. 164 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:03,520 All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 165 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:07,480 It doesn't matter if you're on a junior high or high school campus or if you're 166 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:10,560 in an office at work or wherever you are. 167 00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:14,960 There will be those who will attack you if you dare to live godly in Christ Jesus because 168 00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:18,240 our world does not like godliness. 169 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:24,640 It's just like light that exposes what's happening in the darkness around. 170 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:29,840 Oh, there will be some who will pat you on the back perhaps, but there will be those 171 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:33,600 who will come at you and go for the juggler. 172 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:34,600 Persecution. 173 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:40,360 But when it's for God's sake, for thy sake, he says we're being slaughtered all the 174 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:41,360 day long. 175 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,120 When it's for God's sake, it's worth it, isn't it? 176 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:50,760 Stand alone if necessary and experience persecution because God is for us. 177 00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,800 He talks about famine, going hungry. 178 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:57,000 Some of us could use a little more famine than we enjoy now. 179 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,200 No, not really. 180 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:03,360 Not this kind of famine because this is the kind of famine where you're really starving 181 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:07,840 to death, where there's nothing to eat. 182 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:13,360 But God is for you, he says, even in that extremity of physical need. 183 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:17,200 He talks about nakedness, being without adequate clothing. 184 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:21,360 He talks about peril, danger, and threat. 185 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:22,920 Terrorism. 186 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:30,880 One of the big concerns of missionaries going to the foreign fields these days is terrorism. 187 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:39,320 Missions are having seminars now to tell their missionaries how to deal with terrorists and 188 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:44,760 to explain to missionaries what the mission's policy is regarding terrorists, should they 189 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:47,120 be taken hostage. 190 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:49,360 That's the word here, peril. 191 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:51,800 It's terrorism. 192 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:56,320 In the midst of terrorism, God's for us. 193 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:58,000 And then he talks about the sword. 194 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:04,840 That, of course, is how Paul died, according to tradition, beheaded in Rome. 195 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:07,280 The idea behind the sword is execution. 196 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:11,800 The apostle says, if it gets to the point that we are executed, remember that God is 197 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:13,040 for us. 198 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:15,400 He has assured us victory. 199 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:21,360 Notice he says in verse 37, in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who 200 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:22,360 loved us. 201 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,120 Now wait just a minute. 202 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:32,620 How do you call an execution a victory service? 203 00:15:32,620 --> 00:15:39,560 Or if a Christian in Ethiopia or in some other part of Africa, Mozambique or wherever over 204 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:50,240 there, if a Christian starves to death in the famine, how is that victory? 205 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:52,280 Go back to Hebrews chapter 11. 206 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:57,200 At the end of the chapter, he summarizes and he talks about these people had all these 207 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,400 marvelous experiences of deliverance. 208 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:09,720 And then he talks about the other group and the suffering they endured and the persecution 209 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:15,080 they had and the executions that they went through. 210 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:21,640 I just love it how he puts in parenthesis there, of whom this group, the world, was 211 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:24,320 not worthy. 212 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:26,360 But how do you call that victory? 213 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:29,200 He says these all died in faith. 214 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:31,800 Is that victory? 215 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:40,560 Folks, if we measure our victories only in terms of what we see in this world, then we 216 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:47,340 have misunderstood what victory is. 217 00:16:47,340 --> 00:16:52,840 We have to be careful how we define the victories that God gives us. 218 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:54,800 Sometimes we see them in this life. 219 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:57,840 There are times when our faith is rewarded. 220 00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:03,480 There are times when God raises the little girl out of the coma and she comes back to 221 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,000 enjoy life. 222 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:10,280 But there are times when God takes the little girl. 223 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:20,540 But I want you to know that in eternal terms, that is as much a victory as when God answers 224 00:17:20,540 --> 00:17:24,700 the prayer and restores the life. 225 00:17:24,700 --> 00:17:31,800 We have to learn to define victories in terms of eternity, in terms of the big picture of 226 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:37,240 what God is about and what God is doing. 227 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:38,280 God is sovereign. 228 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:43,240 He is bigger than all of the experiences of life that may come to us. 229 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:50,760 And He promises us that in all of these things we overwhelmingly conquer, even if we are killed. 230 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:52,740 Yes. 231 00:17:52,740 --> 00:17:57,840 For then we have gained the final victory. 232 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:03,480 Death is not a defeat for the Christian. 233 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:08,640 It only takes us to the presence of the Lord, to heaven. 234 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:12,200 Oh we've got to keep that in mind. 235 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:16,960 We overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 236 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:18,240 And that's in the present tense. 237 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,400 We continually overwhelmingly conquer. 238 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:28,080 That is a present tense, continuous experience of the Christian in all of these things. 239 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:35,280 And the means of our victory is Jesus Christ, Him who loved us. 240 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:46,340 He is working in our circumstances, bringing about victory, the ultimate victory. 241 00:18:46,340 --> 00:18:48,380 He assures us of victory. 242 00:18:48,380 --> 00:18:54,080 We may not see it in the specific experience that we're going through, but in the end 243 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:55,640 we shall see it. 244 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:57,760 We'll see the victory. 245 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:00,040 Just turn back to Psalm 118. 246 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:03,240 I was reading this recently and it meant so much to me. 247 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:07,840 I jotted it down here as a cross reference to this fact. 248 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:17,360 Psalm 118 verses 5 through 9. 249 00:19:17,360 --> 00:19:22,680 Psalm 11 says, From my distress I called upon the Lord. 250 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:27,460 The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. 251 00:19:27,460 --> 00:19:29,960 The Lord is for me. 252 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:31,880 I will not fear. 253 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:34,680 What can man do to me? 254 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:39,080 The Lord is for me among those who help me. 255 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:44,320 Therefore I shall look with satisfaction on those who hate me. 256 00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:49,080 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. 257 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:54,400 It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. 258 00:19:54,400 --> 00:20:00,720 Even leaders, even those humanly speaking who should be able to come through for us, 259 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:01,720 can fail us. 260 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:04,280 But God won't. 261 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:05,280 He's for us. 262 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:07,280 He's for us. 263 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:09,840 And He assures us of victory. 264 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:15,440 The overwhelming victory in the end is ours through Jesus Christ. 265 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:20,320 And there is nothing in heaven above or in hell below that can keep that victory from 266 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:21,320 coming. 267 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:27,360 It is ours in Jesus Christ and it was assured by His resurrection from the dead. 268 00:20:27,360 --> 00:20:33,320 Now if He were still in the grave somewhere over in the Holy Land, and we went over and 269 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:38,160 on our tours of the Holy Land could see the grave of Jesus, then we could not have this 270 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:40,520 verse in the Bible. 271 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:49,440 But He has conquered the final ultimate enemy, death, and assured us that the final victory 272 00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:52,160 is ours through Himself. 273 00:20:52,160 --> 00:21:00,320 And finally, we know that God is for us because He secures our position. 274 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:06,600 Paul carefully considered this matter of being separated from the love of Christ. 275 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:10,000 And he came to a decisive conclusion. 276 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:13,800 That's the meaning here, I am convinced. 277 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:18,960 This is something that Paul has carefully weighed in his mind. 278 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:24,960 And now he comes to a conclusion that has results that go on to the rest of his life. 279 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:34,400 He says, I am persuaded, I am convinced after carefully evaluating the whole thing, that 280 00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:38,720 none of these things shall separate us from the love of God. 281 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:47,640 And notice that he gives ten realities for us to consider. 282 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:51,200 These include the extremes of existence. 283 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:58,040 He says, I am convinced that death can't separate us from the love of Christ. 284 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:01,600 That's the end of what is present. 285 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:05,240 We've talked about already the victory that God has given us. 286 00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:10,640 Oh, I tell you, death is a terrible thing when it comes. 287 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,540 It separates. 288 00:22:13,540 --> 00:22:20,720 Death is like a brass door that slams in your face. 289 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:25,760 And you no longer can see or talk with that loved one. 290 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:30,300 And there is no way for you to get over it or under it or around it. 291 00:22:30,300 --> 00:22:35,960 It's just there to mock you in your loneliness. 292 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:46,320 But he says, death as cruel as it is, as powerful as it is, has been conquered. 293 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:51,320 And death cannot separate us from the love of Jesus Christ. 294 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:53,280 It cannot. 295 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:58,280 Though it take us away from this earth, this present scene, it cannot separate us from 296 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:01,280 the love of Jesus Christ. 297 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:02,680 And then he points to the other extreme. 298 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:08,640 He talks about life, likewise, whatever the present circumstances are in our existence. 299 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:13,680 He says it can't separate us from Christ. 300 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:17,080 Either way, Jesus Christ is with us, isn't he? 301 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:24,560 In this life, we say with Paul, for me to live is Christ. 302 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:29,760 He says, life, whatever it entails, whatever comes to me, and remember he was in bonds 303 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:34,000 at that point, writing to the Philippians from Rome. 304 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:38,200 He says, for me to live, well that's just Christ. 305 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,220 He knew the Lord was with him in that. 306 00:23:41,220 --> 00:23:45,720 But then he knew that death meant being absent from the body and present with the Lord. 307 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,180 So you can't lose either way. 308 00:23:48,180 --> 00:23:50,440 Either way, we cannot be separated from Christ. 309 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:53,520 Then he goes on to talk about angels. 310 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:58,040 We're assuming holy angels because he goes on to talk about principalities, which is 311 00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:06,320 frequently Paul's term for the other side, for the demons, the angels of darkness and 312 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:07,320 of evil. 313 00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:13,400 And he says that angels, or spirit beings, cannot separate us from the love of Christ. 314 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:20,680 Now of course, the good angels would not, but the evil angels cannot separate us from 315 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,400 the love of Christ. 316 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,360 Spirit beings do not have that capacity. 317 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:31,520 And then he mentions things present, including hardships. 318 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:33,160 And he talks about things to come. 319 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:36,920 So again, a contrast, the extremes. 320 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:43,120 The things present that we are going through, and then the things to come, the unknowns, 321 00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:48,000 the potentials, the possibilities, the fears that sometimes come with all of that. 322 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:53,200 He says none of that in the future can separate us from the love of Christ. 323 00:24:53,200 --> 00:25:00,640 Whatever comes to us in life cannot separate us from him. 324 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:06,000 Sometimes the devil gets us over a barrel when we talk about the future. 325 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:13,720 I don't know how about some of you parents, but one of the things that I experience is 326 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:20,080 this little voice in my ear from the enemy. 327 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:30,920 And it says, if you dare make a deep, thorough commitment to God, someday God is going to 328 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:33,400 test that. 329 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:40,360 And he's going to take away your wife, or he's going to take away one of your children 330 00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:41,840 to see if you really mean it. 331 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:44,960 How many of you parents have ever experienced something like that? 332 00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:45,960 Are you couples? 333 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,840 You know, many of you. 334 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:53,040 My friend, that's not the voice of God. 335 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,160 You recognize the voice when that kind of word comes. 336 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:58,120 It's the enemy. 337 00:25:58,120 --> 00:26:02,160 Well, should we withhold? 338 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:08,640 Should we stand back and be cautious about committing ourselves to Christ and to his 339 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:09,740 Lordship? 340 00:26:09,740 --> 00:26:14,040 Should we be careful about committing ourselves to him because of the possibilities of the 341 00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:15,240 future? 342 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,520 And what may happen if we do that? 343 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:26,960 He says, whatever the future holds, things to come, in those things we are more than 344 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:33,480 conquerors and whatever it is, it cannot separate us from the love of Jesus Christ. 345 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:39,940 You and I can depend upon the love of Christ. 346 00:26:39,940 --> 00:26:46,440 Should one of those things that we dread happen? 347 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:54,720 At that moment we must remember, as awful and as terrible as this is, it does not separate 348 00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:57,000 me from the love of Christ. 349 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:59,040 He still loves me. 350 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,040 He still loves me. 351 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:02,040 Things to come. 352 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:05,080 It cannot separate us from the love of Christ. 353 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:09,320 He talks about powers. 354 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:13,720 Possibly here he has in mind human governments. 355 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:18,560 As Paul was dealing with human governments in Rome, the place where this epistle was 356 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:24,000 addressed, was the seat of the greatest power in the world in that day. 357 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:28,200 But he says powers cannot separate us from the love of Christ. 358 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:36,520 He talks about height and depth, the extremes of space as we measure them, height and depth. 359 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:40,440 He says there is no way that we can be separated from the love of Christ. 360 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:42,440 We can't get that high. 361 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:45,800 We can't get that low. 362 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:57,240 And then if he hadn't said enough, he concludes by saying, nor any other created thing shall 363 00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:00,840 be able to separate us from the love of God. 364 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:03,520 Now what does that include? 365 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:11,560 Well, when you consider the fact that everything but God is created, it means that there is 366 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:18,360 nothing in the whole universe that can separate us from the love of God. 367 00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:27,960 Contrary to the opinions, even the convictions of some, there is nothing that can separate 368 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,500 us from the love of God. 369 00:28:30,500 --> 00:28:35,800 We can't even separate ourselves from the love of God because we're a created thing 370 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:37,960 too. 371 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:43,840 There is nothing in the universe that is able to separate and sever that love relationship 372 00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:47,880 and the love pouring into our lives from Jesus Christ. 373 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:48,880 Nothing. 374 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:49,880 Nothing. 375 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:56,440 It is impossible for you, for me to be rejected by God. 376 00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:58,480 Impossible. 377 00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:03,280 We can experience rejection in this world and we do, all of us. 378 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:04,640 And it hurts. 379 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:08,280 But we cannot be rejected by our Lord. 380 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:10,180 We can't be overlooked by Him. 381 00:29:10,180 --> 00:29:12,240 We can be overlooked in this world. 382 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:20,400 And there are times we miss out on things that we've deserved or we felt we did. 383 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:22,960 But God is not going to overlook us. 384 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:28,560 There is no way for us to miss the destiny that God has purposed for us, which destiny 385 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:33,200 we've talked about before, our being glorified with Christ. 386 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:36,120 Oh my friend, God is for you. 387 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:40,060 He is for you in every respect of that term. 388 00:29:40,060 --> 00:29:45,240 There is no way that you can measure that God is against you because He is for you in 389 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:46,840 Jesus Christ. 390 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:53,960 And nothing can separate you from the loving purpose and destiny that He has in mind for 391 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:56,260 you. 392 00:29:56,260 --> 00:30:02,280 But the fact is there are times that we wonder if God does love us. 393 00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:07,040 Sometimes our prayers aren't answered the way we prayed them. 394 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:11,400 Because things don't turn out like we anticipated they would or should. 395 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:17,080 And we say, but God, I thought you loved me. 396 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:23,480 Please keep in mind that the proof of God's love for us is not in our experience, but 397 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:28,040 it's in His Word. 398 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:35,200 The proof of God's love for us is not in our experience, but it's in what He says. 399 00:30:35,200 --> 00:30:41,360 And if you and I go through an experience in which it seems as though God's love isn't 400 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:45,840 present, it's a lie. 401 00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:48,240 Because His love is there. 402 00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:51,520 We may not be able to see it at the moment. 403 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:55,500 Our eyes may be blinded by tears. 404 00:30:55,500 --> 00:30:59,400 Our mind may be clouded by disappointment. 405 00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:06,520 Our emotions may be covered over with grief and sorrow. 406 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:08,400 But Christ's love is there. 407 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:12,680 And that's why He says what He does in verse 28. 408 00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:19,920 That all the things work together because God causes them to. 409 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:25,760 They work together for good, our good, and for His glory. 410 00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:31,800 I hope tonight that whatever you're passing through, that you will understand this. 411 00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:37,280 You will accept the security that God promises you as His own. 412 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:42,840 You as a child of God can never be anything less than that. 413 00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:43,840 He keeps you. 414 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:46,120 He preserves you. 415 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:48,680 It does not depend upon your faithfulness. 416 00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:57,080 Oh, we want to be faithful, but our security does not rest upon our faithfulness but His. 417 00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:03,280 If we believe not, yet He abides faithful, says the Word of God. 418 00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:08,840 Your preservation as a child of God depends upon the faithfulness of your Heavenly Father 419 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:16,920 who has caused you to be born again by the work of His Spirit into His family. 420 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:25,800 One day He is going to present you to Himself in glory, and you're going to be just like 421 00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:27,440 the Son of His love. 422 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:33,600 As we said before, God is so pleased with His Son that He wants a whole heaven full 423 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:35,400 of people just like Him. 424 00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:38,040 That's your destiny. 425 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:44,840 And nothing in heaven above or hell below can prevent you from one day stepping into 426 00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:49,200 that glory that God has prepared for you. 427 00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:52,360 Doesn't that make you want to be faithful now? 428 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:54,760 Doesn't that make you want to obey Him? 429 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:57,280 Doesn't that make you want to serve Him with everything you've got? 430 00:32:57,280 --> 00:32:59,200 It does me. 431 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:03,040 Not because I want to keep saved. 432 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:08,040 Not because I want to do something to try to hang on, but I just want to serve Him because 433 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:10,840 He's done so much for me. 434 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:12,920 I want to give Him everything I am. 435 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:19,640 Everything I've got because of all that He's promised, all that He's purposed for all 436 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:24,040 of us who know and trust the Lord Jesus Christ. 437 00:33:24,040 --> 00:33:29,480 Let's pray. 438 00:33:29,480 --> 00:33:33,840 Right where you're seated, will you thank the Father? 439 00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:40,720 Will you tell Him how grateful you are for the proofs that He's for you? 440 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:47,600 Your heart may be aching with some experience in which you have doubted His love. 441 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:52,520 You've wondered if you're going to be a conqueror in that instance. 442 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:56,560 Believe His Word. 443 00:33:56,560 --> 00:34:00,560 Remember the proof of His love is not in your experience, but in His Word. 444 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:07,480 He says He loves you, and there's nothing that can separate you from that. 445 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:15,680 Father, I pray that all of us who are yours tonight will sense your arms of love around 446 00:34:15,680 --> 00:34:24,320 us and may that melt those areas of life where we perhaps have been rebellious and resistant 447 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:27,840 to the will of God. 448 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:37,640 May your arms of love around us cause our struggling to cease. 449 00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:45,960 May it cause the anxieties and the fears and the worries that we have been captivated by 450 00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:51,280 to be stilled. 451 00:34:51,280 --> 00:35:00,480 May we realize how sovereign you are and how definite your purpose is and how sure your 452 00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:03,080 love is. 453 00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:05,440 Thank you. 454 00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:06,440 Thank you. 455 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:21,880 In Jesus' name, amen.