Nothing Can Separate Us

Yeah, so Josh was gone this week to BC for the general general Baptist conference meetings.

! So rather than have Josh come back and try and do a full service, Dave and I said we'd split this up.

! So today, today is communion. Today is communion. The remembrance of Christ.

And as we worship Christ, we look at the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,

and understand the who, what, where, and when of his life clearly.

Like, it was Jesus. He died on the, he was born, he died on the cross, he was resurrected at Calvary 2,000 years ago.

The letters that are written later focus mostly on the why and the how of the story.

Like, the epistles, they fill in the rest of the blanks.

Romans chapter 8, and we're going to use that, yeah, it's coming up.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Explains the assurance of who Jesus is and what we see by faith in him.

Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life, has set you free from the law of sin and death.

So this explains better than, in a way, than the Gospel, what happened.

So we are free from the law of sin and death, if there's those who are in Jesus Christ.

We see no rules or extra costs to becoming free from sin and death.

It is through faith, and faith in Christ alone.

In the Old Testament, the law included many sacrifices of blood to be a substitution for the penalty of death.

Christ dying on the cross fulfilled that need for reconciliation to God.

Romans next, try this.

Romans 8, 7 to 11.

Make clear the distinction between believers of Jesus through faith and those who reject the faith.

Even though those who feel they can earn their way by doing good, honorable things, that they feel they can earn a place in heaven.

Romans 9, 7 to 11.

Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

These verses make clear the how and the why of Scripture.

Not submit, nor can do so.

Cannot please God.

These are definitive, not allowed for wishy-washy, I'm better than I am bad type of acceptance of God.

I have heard that.

I have heard a guy say, yeah, on the scale of things, I'm a little bit better than that, so I'm going to go to heaven.

This is very definitive.

You cannot please God in the realm of the flesh.

There are many who want his acceptance without repentance and faith in Jesus.

One of the smallest yet most powerful words in the Bible is if.

God's grace allows eternity with him if we have faith in him.

An example of this is if you do not make any payments of your car, the finance company will repossess it.

No ifs, ands, or buts.

Legally, the company has the right to take it back after a length of time.

So in this passage, there is implied a no argument case.

If indeed the Spirit lives in you, you are a believer.

Here.

8 verse 9 says,

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh, but are in the realm of the Spirit.

If indeed the Spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

So this is a, you do not, you are not in the, you, however, are not in the realm of the flesh, but in the realm of the Spirit.

So we are, this is the born again.

This is the living in the Spirit.

This is the Spirit of God that lives in us.

But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

So this is a very definitive if.

And again, but if Christ is in you,

they do not belong to you.

Yeah, okay.

If Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death,

because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.

So no matter what happens, if you have Christ as your Savior,

even though your body is subject to death,

because of sin, we're all sinners, we all deserve death,

the Spirit gives life.

So this is the born again.

We are allowed to have Christ's reconciliation with us.

And later on, 11,

it says,

And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you,

He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies

because of His Spirit who lives in you.

So this tells us we will have our bodies when we get to heaven.

He promises that.

So we will go farther down in the passage.

We read about the power of Christ.

There are a series of questions that demand an answer.

What then shall we say in response to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

There is a saying that rings true.

One plus God is a majority.

The God, Jesus, who in six days created the universe by His word,

alone has no equal.

We talked about this in the Alive program with the six kids this morning,

emphasizing that there is a six-day literal creation,

and God spoke it into existence.

He didn't have to take stuff and make it.

He created it by His mouth.

He made it.

This God, there is no equal.

There is no another God.

There is no one else that could do this.

We are promised that we will be rejected and hated for faith in Jesus,

but having the Spirit who lives us gives you us the endurance to face these trials.

So we are promised that the world hates us,

and it's proven that over and over.

We have the strength of God Almighty on our side.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Next verse.

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?

Gravy train.

Luxury.

Prestige.

Stuff.

Not all things is the knowledge.

No, all things is the knowledge that no matter what happens,

we have the faith that God gives us,

the strength through His Holy Spirit,

to endure hardship,

even being martyred.

And martyred means being killed for our faith.

There's been thousands of martyrs.

Even a couple years ago,

there were 12 guys in,

I don't know if it was Afghanistan,

and they got marched out,

and they said,

if you rescind your faith in Jesus,

we will let you live.

You just have to bow to Mohammed.

They said, nope.

They lost their heads.

They were martyred.

They went to heaven because of their faith.

Paul wrote the book of Philippians

to encourage people

that this world and that all it offers is temporal.

No matter what we think about this world,

no matter about the luxuries,

all the fun stuff,

all the great stuff we have,

it's just temporal.

There's no U-Hauls behind a hearse.

Remember that.

The message that Paul had was

to live is Christ,

to die is gain.

So I have three examples given us

that comes from the autobiography of Corrie Ten Boom,

The Hiding Place.

This is the story of a Christian family

who hid Jews in their homes during World War II.

After being caught and spending time

in a Nazi concentration,

she lived to be a powerful witness for God.

She, yeah,

they had a little hole in the wall

and they hid Jewish families

and one of their own friends gave them in

and the Nazis put them in a camp.

So the three,

there were three things

that really stood out

from her autobiography.

And this is part of the,

the blessings that we get from Christ.

Graciously giving us all things.

Here are the three things.

First,

she did not want this blessing at all.

Lice.

Lice.

The barracks that the internet,

that the intern lived in,

were infested with lice.

So the guards would not enter there.

This enabled Corrie and her sister

to lead Bible studies

and sing hymns to God uninterrupted.

The guards would not,

like,

there's lice,

I am not going in there.

So they didn't.

So they,

even though they were bitten

and they,

it was infested,

she got to be a believer,

she got to minister to others

uninterrupted.

The second,

10 days after Corrie's sister died

of starvation and disease,

Corrie was released

due to a clerical error

on the paperwork.

So instead of stamp,

you're going in the gas chamber,

it was stamped,

you're going out the gate.

This mistake saved her

from the execution

that was shortly scheduled.

And the third,

and probably the hardest,

years after the war,

she met one of the guards

who brutalized her

and her family.

Can you imagine,

here's somebody

that you knew

killed your sister,

killed your father,

killed your friends,

stuffed them into the gas chamber,

made your friends

haul out the bodies

and the...

Through the strength

and grace of God,

she was able

to forgive this person.

This does not come

from our own power,

but the strength

God gives us

at these times.

So God believed

that God

could give her

the strength

and she was able

to forgive this guard.

It's worth watching.

You can look

this story up

on YouTube.

I looked it up yesterday.

There's lots of places

on YouTube.

Corey Ten Boom.

There are some

who teach

that we can live

our best lives now.

And honestly,

for them,

it might be true

if they do not have

salvation in Christ

and reside forever

in heaven.

That's the false gospel

that some people teach,

that things,

material things now

are great.

But we realize

for someone like

Corey Ten Boom,

the great things

were fleas,

clerical errors,

and the ability

of...

Who will bring

any charges

against those

whom God has chosen?

It is God

who justifies.

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.

There is one

who tries to bring

allegations against us.

That is Satan.

We read in Job

that Satan brought

accusations forward

to God in heaven

about Job.

He is full of hate

and deception,

desiring that those

redeemed by Christ

will be condemned.

So we have a

spiritual battle.

There is a spiritual

battle in heaven

and Satan

and his demons

are fighting,

wanting every person

to spend eternity

in hell.

But Christ

is interceding

for believers.

In effect,

because Christ

is the judge,

he's our redeemer,

but he's also

interceding for us.

So he's already

done,

the case is done.

There is no case

for rejection.

Case is closed

if we are a believer.

Devil can't talk God

into kicking us

out of heaven

if we are believers.

Next.

Is that

30?

Yeah.

Who shall separate us

from the love of Christ?

Shall trouble

or hardship

or persecution

or famine

or nakedness

or danger

or sword?

As it is written,

for your sake

we face death

all day long.

We are considered

as sheep

to be slaughtered.

No one

in all these things,

no,

in all these things

we are more than conquerors

through him

who loves us.

You know,

we realize

in Davidson

these threats

are symbolic

for now.

There is no one

at risk of famine

or sword

and even nakedness

is only a choice

but in many countries

these are real threats.

And we want to support

those people

in Iran

and Afghanistan.

Like that's why

we're wanting

to support

that school

that takes

and teaches

the true gospel

because they don't have

the chance

to even

hardly go to church

in some of these countries

and to give them

a deeper knowledge

so that they're not

led astray

with,

oh man,

you can have

your best life now.

if you're

in Afghanistan

and you're being persecuted

that's not your best life.

So we want

to make sure

that we support people

with a deeper knowledge

of scripture

so they can stand up

against these threats.

And don't think

that right now

that we are immune

from these threats.

God has given us

this time

to read

and study

his scripture

and pray to him

and seek his guidance

for what we can know

so that we can know

him who loves us.

So that is

that is why

we have the ability

to read.

God has enabled people

to have the ability

to read

and comprehend.

He's given us

the scripture

so that we can know him.

We can understand him.

Finally,

for I am convinced

that neither death

nor life

neither angels

nor demons

neither the present

nor the future

nor any powers

neither height

nor depth

nor anything else

in all creation

will be able

to separate us

from the love of God

that is in Christ

Jesus our Lord.

Yes.

Powerful.

This is the assurance

the assurance

that we can have

faith in Jesus

as Redeemer

and nothing

nothing

can separate us

from him.

In heaven

there is nothing

that can change us.

By rejection

Christ

by rejection

Christ's invitations

people already

are separated

from the love of Christ

for all eternity.

So if you don't

accept Christ

you have rejected him.

there is no changing

of minds

after a person

dies.

Nothing a person

can do

or pay

will ever change

the amount.

Not

the idea

that we're going

to be in purgatory

and if we spend

a bit of time

there that God

will let us

into heaven.

This

lifetime

is all we got.

This is why

Christ's invitation

is serious.

Christ's love

is reserved

for those

who believe

in his

substitutionary

death

in our place

and it's available

to everyone.

So he loves

everyone.

He gives the

opportunity.

He says

believe in him.

So

to finish off

why is heaven

going to be

so great?

Heaven is going to be

absolutely

wonderful.

Why?

The answer is

in Hebrews

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2

and I don't

I think I do

have it.

There.

Hebrews

Hebrews 2:14

chapter 2

verse 14

and 15.

Hebrews

Hebrews 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2

14 and 15

give us the

reason why

there will be

joy in heaven.

Things will

never be like

they are

on earth.

Never.

It's never

going to be

the same

and the

reason is

since the

children have

flesh and

blood

Jesus

too shared

in their

humanity

so that

by his

death

he might

destroy him

who holds

the power

of death

that is

the devil

and free

those

who all

their lives

will be held

in slavery

by their fear

death.

Jesus has

promised that

and this

goes right

back and

this again

we talked

about this

in Sunday

school

that

Jesus

crushed

Satan's

head

Satan

bit

Christ's

heel.

This is the

fulfillment

that

Jesus

by his

death

on the

cross

and

resurrection

he might

destroy him

who holds

the power

of death

that is

the devil

so the

devil

is gone

there is

no devil

in heaven

there is

no he

will tempt

us to

do things

there is

no devil

going to

God

and accusing

us

the devil

is permanently

in hell

but he's

not there

yet he does

not live in

hell right

now

but he

comes to

the presence

of God

to make

accusation

so as we

wrap this

up

we realize

communion

is a

solemn

occasion

reserved

for those

who are

being saved

who have

a saving

faith

so please

pass the

emblems by

if at this

time

you feel

you do

not have

this faith

we look

at ourselves

and reflect

on our

lives and

how we

have fallen

short of

perfection

also we

look at

life and

sacrificial

death and

resurrection

of Christ

to realize

that we

have eternal

hope

so that

is

communion

is to

look at

that it

is only

through his

blood

through his

resurrection

that he

destroyed sin

that he

died in

our place

and as we

think about

ourselves

what we

have done

why we

deserve

punishment

and then we

look at

Christ and

realize he

paid that

punishment

so as

we

pass the

emblem

it's a

chance to

really

think about

Christ

not about

ourselves

but about

Christ

well

ourselves

and the

fact that

we

don't deserve

his grace

and the

fact that

we can look

at Christ

and realize

he gave

us grace

thank you

and that

we

take

him

take

him

and

and

him

him

him

!