Sermon

Are You Fully Persuaded Of An Inseparable Love ?

Carryduff Free Presbyterian Church

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  1. Amen. It's good singing.

  2. Let's turn in God's Word to Romans chapter 8.

    Romans 8 chapter mention

  3. I'm going to break into the chapter.

  4. We're going to read from verse 28 through to the end, Romans

    Romans 8 chapter mention

  5. chapter 8. As you're turning to the place,

  6. just want to inform you that at the month of February, then we

  7. will return to our studies and 1st Thessalonians, and then

  8. we'll slowly work our way through dealing with chapter 5.

  9. So do you remember that in prayer?

  10. And I appreciate that. But just for today we will turn

  11. to this portion Romans chapter 8.

    Romans 8 chapter mention

  12. Let's read from verse 28. Let's hear God's word for those

  13. online, the words that come up on screen, reading of course,

  14. from the King James Bible, Romans 8.

  15. And we know that all things work together for good to them that

  16. love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose,

  17. for whom He did for know, He also did predestinate to be

  18. conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first

  19. born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did

  20. predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called them

  21. He also justified, and whom He justified them He also

  22. glorified. What shall we then say to these

  23. things? If God be for us, who can be

  24. against us? He that spared not his own Son,

  25. but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with them also

  26. freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the

  27. charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

  28. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yeah,

  29. rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of

  30. God, who also maketh intercession for us?

  31. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

  32. Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or

  33. nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is written, for thy sake?

  34. We are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for

  35. the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are

  36. more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

  37. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor

  38. principalities, nor powers, their things present, or things

  39. to come, their height, their death, the only other creature

  40. shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is

  41. in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

  42. We know God will stamp with His own approval and blessing this

  43. reading of His own precious, infallible Word.

  44. My text this morning is taken from Romans chapter 8, verses 38

    Romans 8:38

  45. and 39. Paul says, For I am persuaded

  46. that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,

  47. nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, their height

  48. nor depth, the other creature shall be able to separate us

  49. from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  50. Now my theme today is in the form of a question.

  51. Are you fully persuaded of an inseparable love?

  52. Are you fully persuaded of an inseparable love?

  53. Notice that this text comes at the very end of one of the most

  54. wonderful chapters in the whole of the Bible.

  55. Romans chapter 8 stands as one of the great mountain peaks of

    Romans 8 chapter mention

  56. Holy Scripture. It begins with the words in

  57. verse one. No condemnation, and it ends

  58. with the words, no separation. And our text is the very summit.

  59. This text is the top of that very mountain peak, and it

  60. extolls and highlights the unsearchable, unchangeable,

  61. eternal life transforming love of God for us in Christ Jesus

  62. our Lord. 1 Commentator by the name of James Montgomery Bush

  63. used the analogy here of a mountain climber.

  64. Think of a mountain climber tied to his guide with a rope.

  65. The root is treacherous. It's difficult.

  66. He often slips and slides, sometimes he even falls, but the

  67. rope that ties is secured to the mountain guide, and he doesn't

  68. fall to his death because of that rope.

  69. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is our mountain guide, who never slips

  70. or falls the rope that ties as securely to him as his great

  71. love for us, as seen in his atoning death for us on the

  72. cross. You see, I want you to

  73. understand that the apostle Paul doesn't write these words from

  74. an ivory tower of comfort, but from the battleground of

  75. affliction, the chapters filled with words suffering, groaning,

  76. weakness, persecution, death. Yet it rises to this triumphant

  77. confession. Nothing can separate the true

  78. believer from the love of God in Christ, and a grasp of that

  79. truth will transform your life To the extent that you

  80. understand it, to the 10th. The extent that you fill your

  81. heart and mind with this truth, to the extent that you feel it

  82. in your soul, to the extent that you live with it in a deep sense

  83. of reality, you will live in victory over temptation, over

  84. sin, and you will be enabled to joyfully persevere in the midst

  85. of trials and troubles. Now, this is not mere

  86. sentimental optimism. This is a gospel certainty.

  87. Paul doesn't say I hope, or I think, or I feel.

  88. Look at the text, verse 38. For I am persuaded.

  89. The old apostle stands fully assured.

  90. He's absolutely convinced because this love that he's

  91. writing to us about, it doesn't rest or reside in US per SE.

  92. This love is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  93. What does he say? Nothing nor any creature shall

  94. be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ

  95. Jesus our Lord. Now I want you to think of this.

  96. Paul, under divine inspiration, brings us up this mountainside.

  97. He brings us to the summit, and he does so by a series of seven

  98. rhetorical questions. Look at chapter 8, verse 31.

  99. It's asked this if God be for us or or verse 31.

  100. What shall we say then to these things?

  101. There's the first quest. Notice the question mark the

  102. second question, verse 31 B if God be for us, who can be

  103. against us then he tells us in verse 32, he that spared not his

  104. own son, but delivered him up for us all.

  105. Here's the question, how shall he not with them also freely

  106. give us all things? Here's the 4th question, verse

  107. 33. Who shall lay anything to the

  108. charge of God's elect? Notice the question mark.

  109. Then we have verse 34. Who is he that condemneth?

  110. And he gives us the answer. It is Christ that died.

  111. Yeah, rather that is risen again is even at the right hand of

  112. God. He also make up intercession for

  113. us. And then he asks this 6th

  114. question, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

  115. And then he adds, these words shall tribulation or distress,

  116. or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword.

  117. And there after sword, you've got the 7th question.

  118. Mark 7 rhetorical questions. And then the apostle Paul does

  119. something amazing. He quotes from Psalm 44 verse

    Psalms 44:22

  120. 22. He says as it is written where

  121. Psalm 44 verse 4022, For thy sake we're killed all the day

  122. long. We're counted as sheep for the

  123. slaughter. He quotes this verse to show

  124. that experiencing and during these trials and troubles, even

  125. death and martyrdom for Christ's sake, is nothing new for God's

  126. people. And then he boldly affirms the

  127. words of verse 37. Nay, and all these things we are

  128. more than conquerors through him that loved us.

  129. And then he answers our text. He concludes with his firmly

  130. settled conviction. For I am persuaded that they

  131. their death nor life, their angels, their principalities,

  132. their powers, their things present, their things to come,

  133. their height and their depth. Any other creature shall be able

  134. to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus

  135. our Lord. To sum up, this is what he's

  136. saying. God's great love for us in

  137. Christ Jesus our Lord enables us to be more than conquerors.

  138. Though we face trials and troubles, though everything that

  139. we face in life's journey comes against us, we can still be more

  140. than conquerors. So we're thinking this morning,

  141. are you fully persuaded of an inseparable love?

  142. And I have three points. One, Paul's persuasion is a

  143. settled conviction. If you look at verse 38, Paul

  144. says for I am persuaded that see Paul writes here, he he speaks

  145. with the language of a settled conviction.

  146. For I am persuaded. Why is he persuaded?

  147. Not because of particular feeling in his him, his heart

  148. and mind. Not because he is hopeful, like

  149. hoping against hope. No, the words imply certainty,

  150. for I am absolutely certain I am fully persuaded.

  151. And the word persuaded in the Greek New Testament is put in

  152. the passive case. That means that the word

  153. persuaded implies a conclusion reached after a process.

  154. Paul is saying I have come through a process of persuasion

  155. that has led me to this settled conviction.

  156. This persuasion has been reached after a process of testing and

  157. trials. This persuasion has been forged

  158. in the furnace of suffering and the facing of persecution and

  159. near death experiences. He hasn't persuaded himself.

  160. Someone else has persuaded him. He has persuaded.

  161. He is passive in this process, and as a result of this process

  162. of persuasion, he has come to this settled conviction.

  163. He's absolutely certain he is beyond doubt.

  164. He is brought to this conclusion by the evidence God has put

  165. before him and the evidence goes all the way back to Romans

    Romans 8:28

  166. chapter 8 verse 28. Listen to these words and we

  167. know that all things work together for good to them that

  168. love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

  169. This certainty didn't arise from Paul being in an emotional

  170. state, it arose from God's sovereign purpose.

  171. It's interesting in verses 30 or 29 and 30, Paul brings home 5

  172. great truths. If you think of the words who

  173. are the called according to his purpose.

  174. And then he talks about a people that God did for no, a people

  175. that God did predestinate, a people whom God called, a people

  176. whom he also justified, and a people whom he also glorified.

  177. And since all that has happened, and in light of this golden

  178. chain that cannot be broken, Paul is drawn to this great

  179. conclusion and no other conclusion.

  180. And we'll ask the question what he's fully persuaded off.

  181. And here's the answer. For I am persuaded that they,

  182. their death nor life, their angels, their principalities,

  183. their powers, their things present, their things to come,

  184. their height and their depth, or any other creature shall be able

  185. to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus

  186. the Lord. Nothing shall be able to

  187. separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our

  188. Lord. That is Paul's persuasion.

  189. Paul's persuasion is a settled conviction.

  190. Now let me ask the question, Do you know the love of God which

  191. is in Christ Jesus our Lord? It's the love of God which is in

  192. Christ Jesus the Lord, the rope that binds you, the rope that

  193. ties you to the heavenly guide going up the mountainside.

  194. I want you to think of a ship. It's left the harbour, we'll

  195. call it the harbour of birth. You're sealing out towards the

  196. harbour of death. That ship is going to be beset

  197. by many violent storms. It's going to be tossed

  198. violently. There's going to be the fear of

  199. the loss of life. There's going to be despair.

  200. There's going to be hardship, but in the midst of those

  201. storms, if you have an anchor that holds secure, then your

  202. ship will not be destroyed. Your ship will not drift.

  203. And that anchor is the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus

  204. our Lord. So I'm changing the analogy from

  205. a rope tied to a mountain guide to an anchor in a ship.

  206. Remember, the apostle Paul is writing to born again believers.

  207. They're suffering hardship. They've got trials and troubles.

  208. They've got persecutions. They've been put out of their

  209. homes. Their possessions have been

  210. taken from them. They face death.

  211. They face martyrdom, All because of their love and loyalty to

  212. Jesus Christ. All because they've been sealed

  213. by God's free, sovereign grace, All because they're fully

  214. committed to Christ and Christ's gospel.

  215. And Paul is equipping the Saints of God with the knowledge that

  216. not only can they persevere in the face of these trials and

  217. troubles in life for Christ's sake, but we can be made more

  218. than conquerors in all of these things.

  219. The apostle Paul's persuasion is a settled conviction.

  220. Paul's persuasion is also a scriptural conviction.

  221. When I think of the words in verse 39, nor height, nor death,

  222. nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the

  223. love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  224. I'm writing over that text. No separation, nothing can

  225. separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our

  226. Lord. You see, we live in a world that

  227. thinks that Bible believe in Christianity is just one of the

  228. big religions in the world on a par with Judaism or on a par

  229. with Islam. It is not Bible believe in

  230. Christianity is the only true religion in the whole world, and

  231. I could preach a whole sermon in that, but you're not.

  232. But Bible believe in Christianity is different from

  233. all the rest of the world religions.

  234. And there's many reasons why it's different, but here's one

  235. Ephesians one verse 6 talks about being accepted in the

  236. beloved. And our acceptance in the

  237. beloved begins and takes place at the moment of true

  238. conversion, when we're born of the Spirit and washed in the

  239. blood and brought into a saving union with Jesus Christ.

  240. So our acceptance begins and takes place at the start of

  241. having a relationship with God, and we discover at the start of

  242. that relationship that salvation is of the Lord, that salvations

  243. by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as

  244. revealed in the Scriptures alone.

  245. We've heard the call repent ye and believe the gospel and we've

  246. received Christ by faith and we've rest upon him alone for

  247. salvation and we discover something wonderful.

  248. We discover not only that we can have an audience with God and

  249. access into his presence and we can come and ask him for things

  250. in prayer, but we discover this and this is a wonderful message

  251. that we are accepted in the beloved.

  252. It says to the praise of the glory of his grace, for in he

  253. had made us accepted in the beloved.

  254. Our acceptance is in Christ, and God accepts us in Christ at the

  255. beginning of the Christian life, not the end.

  256. And that's one of the great reasons as to why Bible belief

  257. in Christianity is different from all the religions of the

  258. world, because the religions of the world are a workspace

  259. religion. Bible belief in Christianity

  260. proclaims that the work is done and the work is done by Christ.

  261. And the moment we receive Christ by faith and rest on Him alone

  262. for salvation, we're accepted in him as legally righteous.

  263. That's the whole theme of justification.

  264. This world's not getting better. Some people believe that the

  265. world is getting better and all trials and troubles will

  266. gradually come to an end, and people will begin to love God

  267. and they'll live out the sermon and the mind.

  268. And as they do so, the world will gradually change and the

  269. people will become good and moral and uprighted.

  270. And at the end of their days, then they'll be accepted,

  271. thinking about good deeds outweighing the bad deeds.

  272. God will be the judge. That that's the thinking of

  273. many. But that's not the teaching of

  274. Bible and Christianity. That's not the teaching of Paul.

  275. Look at Paul's teaching. The world's not getting better.

  276. People are not becoming good and morally upright.

  277. People are not on a process of being accepted through good

  278. deeds. Look at verse 36 as it is

  279. written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long.

  280. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

  281. No people will be LED as sheep to the slaughter.

  282. That is, God's people will face martyrdom.

  283. God's people will not be delivered out of all trials and

  284. troubles. Trials and troubles will not be

  285. removed from life's journey. Note the words here.

  286. Paul says Frank, persuaded that neither death.

  287. Paul commences with this final climax with the extremes of

  288. human existence. One day we will all face death.

  289. Death is the last enemy. Dost thy fear?

  290. Death is a good question, and it's one of the believers

  291. greatest fears, and yet it is rendered Paris.

  292. Even if we're martyred, who shall separate us from the love

  293. of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,

  294. or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword.

  295. For I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor

  296. principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to

  297. come, their hate, their death, nor any other creature, shall be

  298. able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ

  299. Jesus. Who shall separate us from the

  300. love of Christ? 3539 Separate us from the love

  301. of God, which is in Christ Jesus the Lord.

  302. Who's the US here? Do you see this?

  303. Nothing shall be able to separate us.

  304. That's the people whom God for knew.

  305. That's the people whom God predestinated.

  306. That's the people whom God called and justified and

  307. glorified. God's love to them alone is

  308. important. Not only is God a God of love,

  309. but God is also a God of wrath against all others whom he has

  310. not for you predestinated, called, justified, and

  311. glorified. And here's the chief question

  312. you have to ask on the journey. Am I the Lords?

  313. Am I one of God's people? Do I belong to Christ?

  314. Am I in Christ Jesus the Lord? You see people today say they

  315. believe in the love of God. They never darken the door of

  316. the church, never read their Bible.

  317. They reject the great truths about the Lord Jesus Christ and

  318. His personal work. They neglect, reject His

  319. incarnation, don't believe he's the Son of God.

  320. They reject his virgin birth. They reject his sinless life.

  321. They reject his atoning death from the cross.

  322. They reject his bodily resurrection.

  323. They reject his ascension to glory, his universal priest of

  324. the second coming. They reject that the God of the

  325. Bible is a God of rather hate, sin, a God who punishes sin, and

  326. God must punish an either in his Son or in the Sinner.

  327. And you see those who say that God is love or we believe in a

  328. God of love, they don't understand the Bible.

  329. They don't understand Bible, believe in Christianity.

  330. Let me explain John 3 and 16. For God so loved the world that

  331. he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him

  332. should not perish, but have everlasting life.

  333. I want to tell you this now listen to me carefully.

  334. No love of God can be known except in and through Christ

  335. Jesus our Lord. The love of God is always in and

  336. always through. Jesus Christ was speaking to one

  337. of the men at the Junior Youth on Saturday and Friday night.

  338. He was showing me 21 articles penned by a particular Unitarian

  339. church close by. The first one is God.

  340. Is love undefined? Of course.

  341. But many have their own conception of what that

  342. scripture means. God is love.

  343. So I'll ask the question this morning.

  344. Is it a holy love? Is it a just love, a righteous

  345. love? Is it a love that's always and

  346. only seen in Christ? And I don't care who they are, a

  347. Christian, a church, you cannot know the love of God apart from

  348. Jesus Christ. You can't divorce the love of

  349. God from the love of Christ. Do you know him?

  350. Do you believe in him? Believe in his incarnation, that

  351. He's the Son of God, His virgin birth, his sin, his life, his

  352. attorney death. The Bible teaches Galatians 4:00

  353. and 4:00. But when the fullness of time

  354. was come, God sent forth his Son, made under the law to

  355. redeem them that were under the law. 2nd Corinthians 521 For he

  356. that is God have made him, that is Christ to be sin for us, who

  357. you know, sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in

  358. him, and the penalty for sin, and the punishment where sin was

  359. dealt with and atone for in the death of Christ.

  360. And the only way we can know the love of God is in Jesus Christ.

  361. All the love of God comes to us through Him alone.

  362. Look at verse 35. Who shall separate us from the

  363. love of Christ? We'll link it up with verse 39.

  364. Separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus

  365. our Lord. The love of Christ, verse 35,

  366. and the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, are one

  367. and the same. And what really matters is not

  368. our love to Him, but that's important.

  369. But what really matters is God's love to us because that's what's

  370. in view here, God's love to us. Notice God's great love for us

  371. is not diminished or terminated by our failures, our sins, our

  372. followers, our shortcomings. Yes, our love for Him waxes weak

  373. and weans, but this is an all powerful love because our love

  374. or our salvation depends on God's choice of us, God's call

  375. to us, God's hold on us, and it goes all the way back to God

  376. choosing us in Christ before the foundation of the world.

  377. Ephesians 1 and 4. Remember, He has called us

  378. according to His purpose, to be conformed to the image of His

  379. Son. In fact, He loved us and His Son

  380. so much, He delivered His Son up for us all.

  381. And that's what we read in Romans chapter 8 and verse 32.

    Romans 8 chapter mention

  382. He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.

  383. How shall He not with them also freely give us all thanks?

  384. He did all that for us when we were yet without strength, when

  385. we were sinners, when we were ungodly, when we were enemies.

  386. And if He did that for us in this state and condition, then

  387. how much more will He now by His life continue to save us until

  388. the day we finally enter heaven? It's an all powerful love.

  389. I'll tell you more than that. Christ has proved His love for

  390. us. Look at verse 34 in that He died

  391. for us in that sinful condition, and the power of Christ's love

  392. holds us up and guarantees our continuance to the end.

  393. It's a purposeful love because Christ stayed for His church,

  394. not merely so that the Church could be forgiven of all sin of

  395. thought. Word indeed, but that Christ

  396. ultimately might present her to himself, perfectly cleansed,

  397. perfectly washed, perfectly purified.

  398. And that's exactly what we read there in Ephesians chapter 5.

    Ephesians 5 chapter mention

  399. Listen to these words in Ephesians 5.

  400. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church

  401. and gave himself for it. Note the word, that which is a

  402. demonstrative, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the

  403. washing of water by the Word, verse 27.

  404. Here's another demonstrative that he might present it to

  405. himself. A glorious church, not having

  406. spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be

  407. holy and without blemish. Christ set His heart on His

  408. church for this end. His love was all powerful.

  409. His love has been proven by His death in the cross, and His love

  410. is a purposeful love. His love was not conditioned on

  411. our worthiness or our performance.

  412. It is His love that is in view, not our love for Him.

  413. Notice God's love for us is not threatened or diminished by all

  414. sorts of adversity. 835 less a possible list of things that

  415. will try to separate us from the love of Christ, tribulation,

  416. distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword.

  417. Remember the quotation from the Old Testament, Psalm 44, verse

    Psalms 44:22

  418. 22? You see, these tribulations do

  419. come. They have come to many people.

  420. They will come. Why?

  421. Well, often times they come because we're Christians,

  422. because we're born again, because we're God's people.

  423. And sometimes we fear and the fear is this that is the result

  424. of some of these severe trials and troubles.

  425. We shall feel the Lord or, or that we'll fall away and and

  426. that these trials and troubles will separate us from the love

  427. of Christ. And Paul is teaching, no, God's

  428. love for us is rock solid. It's like a foundation and

  429. whatever we face and when the trials and troubles come, we

  430. must come again and continually to the love of God, which is in

  431. Christ Jesus our Lord. The word tribulation is a

  432. general word for trials and troubles.

  433. The word distresses. Here's in light of these

  434. tribulations, the heart and mind can have a feeling of strange

  435. emotion. And these feelings, of course,

  436. come whenever we we battle through these trials and

  437. troubles. Think of an old soldier and he's

  438. captured, he's a prisoner, he's put into the cell and what they

  439. used to do, they used to get heavy weights and put it on his

  440. chest and and they would distress him until he was

  441. crushed to death. At other times they took old

  442. soldiers and put them into cages and sails where there was no

  443. room to stand, no room to sit, no room to lie, and it caused

  444. great distress. That's the picture there.

  445. Think of the word persecution, pursuing someone to do them

  446. harm, verbal persecution, physical persecution, famine,

  447. nakedness, extreme poverty and deprivation, all because of 1's

  448. love and loyalty to Christ. Some countries, of course, you

  449. can't get a job if you're a Christian, you can't provide for

  450. your family basic needs. Why?

  451. Because you profess the name of Christ.

  452. What about the word perils here? That has to do with dangers.

  453. Because of a man's labour for Christ, he he faces danger.

  454. And think of the word sword. It has to do with martyrdom.

  455. It has to do with execution, again due to 1's love and

  456. loyalty to Christ. But notice what Paul says, verse

  457. 36 as it is written. For thy sake we're killed all

  458. the day long. We're counted as sheep for the

  459. slaughter. I've already emphasised that

  460. this is nothing new to God's people.

  461. God's people have experienced martyrdom down through the

  462. centuries from the very first martyr, which remember, was

  463. able. Listen to me carefully.

  464. Trials and troubles will come even though you're a child of

  465. God. Notice these words, for I'm

  466. persuaded that neither death, death will come come eventually.

  467. Death will usher us into God's presence, he mentions, nor life,

  468. Life with all its complexities, with all its anxieties, with all

  469. its pressures. Often times life is even a

  470. bigger threat than death because in this life we have to suffer

  471. the allurements and the enticements of the world.

  472. We're tempted to sin and thought and word and deed, and we do sin

  473. and thought and word and deed, and that's where we feel and

  474. that's where we get most distressed, Spurgeon said.

  475. I'm not so much afraid of dying as I am of sinning.

  476. That is 10 times worse than death.

  477. And God's children do sin. And God's children do fall into

  478. a state of worldliness and they can grow cold for a time and

  479. they can be careless of the things of God.

  480. Place of prayer, Bible reading, the House of God, attendance at

  481. the House of God on the Lord's Day.

  482. They can get out of the habit of coming.

  483. And if they're fit and able, they should be here.

  484. We encourage them to come. Just don't sit at home if you're

  485. fit and able and should be present amongst us.

  486. But we do sin. But let's remember the Lord and

  487. love take steps to convict us, to discipline us to to restore

  488. us. Why?

  489. Because life cannot permanently separate us from God's love.

  490. And these trials and troubles that come, they don't single the

  491. absence of God's love. They are proofs that God loves

  492. us. You think of a Goldsmith and he

  493. gets some gold. He puts it into the fire to melt

  494. it down. The fire doesn't destroy the

  495. gold. No, it, it purifies it.

  496. And you see, trials and afflictions that come don't

  497. separate the believer from God. Love these trials and troubles.

  498. I'll tell you what they do. They help to refine our faith.

  499. It it, it drives us deeper to our knees and a deeper

  500. dependence on the Lord. Notice what else he says very

  501. quickly here. Nor angels, nor principalities.

  502. That's neither holy angels nor fallen principalities, neither

  503. Satan nor a host of demons can separate us from the love of God

  504. in Christ. Isn't this a very bold

  505. confession in a world where true believers often feel spiritually

  506. assaulted? But Christ is sovereign, Christ

  507. re and supreme. Christ is our Saviour.

  508. He adds this nor powers, nor things present, nor things to

  509. come, present circumstances or things that will happen to us

  510. tomorrow in the future before we die as we live out our life.

  511. Think of the mountain gig and up the mountain and you're

  512. beginning to slip and fall, but you're hailed by the rope that's

  513. attached to the gate. And that rope is the love of God

  514. in Christ. And what is Paul saying here?

  515. Nothing in this present age or nothing in the world to come.

  516. He's sweeping across time and space.

  517. He's thinking of anything that could possibly happen to us.

  518. All unknown things. No bad circumstances now are in

  519. the future, can separate us from God's great love for us.

  520. Neither height nor depth, nor any creature, even us.

  521. We're believers in Christ. We're full of weakness.

  522. We're human. We're full of doubts and fears.

  523. We're sin, but nothing can sever the love of God, which is in

  524. Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing in heaven, nothing in

  525. hell. It's his love for us that's the

  526. rope, not our love for Him. And one final thing, because our

  527. time is gone. Paul's persuasion is not only a

  528. settled conviction, it's not only a scriptural conviction,

  529. but it's also a spiritual conviction.

  530. Listen to this as we finish the love of Christ, the love of God,

  531. which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  532. This is a divine love. This is a demonstrated love.

  533. It's in Christ Jesus, the one who gave himself for us in the

  534. cross, who died on atoning death for us.

  535. It's a defined love. It's only in Christ.

  536. It's always in Christ, and it's a durable love.

  537. So there's a little outline. It is divine, demonstrated,

  538. defined, and durable. It's eternal.

  539. It's unbreakable, It's unchangeable.

  540. It's unfathomable. So let me say this as I finish.

  541. When trials and troubles come into your life as they have

  542. done, those trials and troubles are not designed to separate us

  543. from God's love. It's not a sign of God's

  544. abandonment that he's allowed them to come.

  545. It's a sign of sonship. Why does He allow trials and

  546. troubles to come? Well, trials and troubles expose

  547. the weakness of self-reliance. Trials and troubles drive us to

  548. pray to God. Trials and troubles draw us to

  549. trust in the Lord at all times. Trials and troubles are designed

  550. to help the conformers to Christ, the fellowship of his

  551. suffering. And trials and troubles are

  552. designed to make us more than conquerors.

  553. Don't look at yourself, don't look at the situation you face.

  554. Look to the Saviour. Think of the love of God which

  555. is in Christ Jesus the Lord. See, here's a question as I

  556. finish. Is it not possible that under

  557. the weight of such trials and troubles we will feel, we will

  558. fall away? Are we not weak?

  559. Are we not in the flesh? Are these not powerful enemies

  560. that are designed to bring us down?

  561. What did Paul say? Ned and all these things.

  562. We are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

  563. Not loves, but loved. It's past tense.

  564. See, Paul just doesn't answer this objection.

  565. He rubbishes it. Are we able to stand up?

  566. Are we able to overcome all of these trials and troubles?

  567. Anything that we face completely?

  568. The answer is yes. So I put it to you this morning.

  569. Let every true believer be fully persuaded.

  570. Not because life is easy. No, because God's love is

  571. sovereign. Because God's love is a

  572. redeeming love. Because God's love is an

  573. electing love. Because God's love is eternal

  574. and unbreakable and unchangeable and unfathomable.

  575. And this persuasion is only found in Christ Jesus.

  576. Trials and troubles will come, but let's remember, let's be

  577. fully persuaded. Paul's persuasion is a spiritual

  578. conviction. May the Lord bless you this

  579. morning. Thank you for coming, thank you

  580. for listening. I pray the Lord will take these

  581. few words. I I hope it's been

  582. understandable to you, but it's been something that's been on my

  583. heart and it's difficult when you're trying to expound such a

  584. deep passage all just in one sermon.