"God's Got Us" W/ Pastor Brad

As we end off our summer sermon series on Romans 8, we've been taking a real slow go of this very deep chapter in the Bible.

The great Romans 8 is great for a reason because there are about 20 rock solid, incredible, life-changing promises that build brick by brick, just one after the next.

And today we're on the last two verses.

So in honor of God's holy, living and active word, let's stand to our feet and let's finish strong in this series that we've been in.

Romans 8, 38 through 39.

Here we go.

I'll count us off.

Three, two, one.

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.

This is the holy word of God.

Thanks be to God, you may be seated.

Today's message is simply called God's got us.

God's got us, church.

And it's not just a reminder that we see in today's scripture, but that's actually how we welcome each other, right?

Where we say, God's got you, God's got us, God's got this.

Church family, these verses contain some of the most comforting promises in all of Scripture.

Because when you surrender your life to Jesus, there is assurance of the love of God that keeps you, no matter what in life, keeps you anchored.

Turn to your neighbor and say, be anchored.

Yeah, be anchored.

Church, we need to be anchored in God's love, especially in these times.

Especially in the storms of life that are guaranteed to come.

So just take an assessment for a moment, what may be on your heart, what's taking some of the mental space today.

Consider any stormy waves that you are in right now, or ones that you see off in the distance that are coming.

Take a little inventory of the storms that you may be going through.

And uh here's the thing about storms, right?

Some of the waves are pretty obvious to see, but a lot of a storm is also what's right beneath the surface.

Undert that no one else sees.

Except the moment when you're in it, you feel it.

I heard this past week from Pastor Tim Keller, who once said, there are essentially two kinds of storms that you're gonna face in life.

Number one is the obvious storm.

That's adversity.

That's the one that we're familiar with.

Maybe you were up this morning and and you heard the thunder, saw lightning.

Right?

That's the physical storm that we see.

Hardship, loss, suffering.

Adversity challenges us from the core of our beliefs, from the core of our hearts.

But check it out, there's another kind of more uh subtle storm.

This is the storm of prosperity.

Show me your ponder emoji face on that.

Yeah.

This too can easily become a storm because we can easily drift, if things are going well, to self-sufficiency, self-dependence, and comfort.

Kind of like an undertow.

In fact, this is most of the story of the Old Testament is when the people of God are in the promised land.

They are far more reliant on God when they are in the desert.

But when they're in the season of the promised land, where there's so much provision, they drift to idol worship, baal worship, one chapter after the next.

Easy times can often easily lead to apathy or even a loss of hunger for God.

Stay with me, church.

Looking back, would you say personally for you that prosperity or adversity has been a greater trial and test for you?

Let the church go, mmm, mmm.

As I look at my own heart, despite fears of suffering, there's a timely quote from back in the day.

This is from the Thomas Brooks, a pastor and writer from the 1600s, who wrote a book called Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices.

And he had this famous quote that said, Adversity has slain thousands, but prosperity, tens of thousands.

In other words, good times are far more likely to virus from God than challenging ones.

That's why when Paul, in another letter, we're in Romans, but I wanted to throw this in here today, from Philippians 4, verse 12, he talks about something that he's learned about no matter what happens in life.

Philippians 4:12

The storms of adversity or the storms of prosperity, he says, I know what it is to be in need.

And I know what it is to have plenty.

And he talks about a truth here.

I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

What is the secret that he's speaking about?

Well, this is what Romans 8 is all about, and what he lays out for us today.

Romans 8 tells us that believers throughout time have faced hardships, persecution, illness, imprisonment, even death.

And these can cause fear.

But Paul exclaims that it is impossible to be separated from the love of Christ.

His death for us is proof of his love that is unconquerable.

Right?

We looked at this last week that Jesus, one of his other names, is that he shall forever remain undefeated, no matter the waves, right?

Which means nothing can stop Christ's constant presence with you right now.

And when we believe these incredible life-transforming assurances of God were anchored in him.

This is why Paul says a little bit earlier in Philippians 1, verse 12, this one.

Philippians 1:12

Oof, this is good.

Now I want you to know, Madison, brothers and sisters, and he's writing this from jail.

He's writing this from prison.

Paul says, what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.

So whatever it is that is on your mind or your heart today, whatever's taking your mental space, can you also say this?

That what is actually served, what has actually happened to me has served to advance the gospel, to advance the good news, to advance the kingdom of God.

Because nothing can separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul loves to build his life on the promises of God.

We see this just line by line.

We see it brick by brick, each of the promises listed here.

One after one, he lists promise after promises of God, and he looks back and he says, Listen, I'm convinced, that's how he begins it.

I am convinced, I have trust.

This brother is 100% certain that nothing in all creation can ever separate God's people from the love that is in Christ.

In other words, he's so convicted of it, of God's love, that you can look out at all the world that is around you and be anchored in Christ.

And that's what he does.

So here's what I'd like to do is just kind of go phrase by phrase, exegete this text, dig into this, and apply these and how it fits brick by brick today.

He first says, For I'm convinced that neither death nor life, just think about that.

Right?

How much do we worry about the things of life and the fear of death?

Neither death nor life can separate us from God's love.

There was a profound question, very basic question, too, that was asked hundreds of years ago that inspired the beginning of a teaching, a training manual to help raise up young believers in the faith.

It was called the Heidelberg Catechism.

I quote it every once in a while.

Question answer one, to help raise up young believers begins this way.

What is your only comfort in life and in death?

And then the answer that's rooted in Romans 8 says, Well, I'm not my own.

Well, I belong, body and soul, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.

And then it says, He has fully paid for my sin with his precious blood on the cross.

And he sets me free from the tyranny of the devil.

And he watches over me in such a way that nothing can happen to me except for his very will.

And then it quotes Romans 8 by saying that all things must work together for the good of those who love him, who've been called according to his purpose.

And by his Holy Spirit, he makes us ready wholeheartedly now and forever to live for him.

So throughout many, many centuries, that's been a response to this question that keeps us anchored in God's love, regardless of death or life.

And then he puts in there neither angels nor demons.

And I've wondered about this, especially since uh angels are good, right?

They're messengers from God's mission and from heaven.

How could angels or demons try to separate us from God's love?

Well, in our passage, Paul isn't listing only things that want to separate us from his love.

He's also listing here categories of strength, categories of power that we come across in life.

You see, in Paul's day, angels and demons were often understood as spiritual forces deeply at work, intricately at work in life.

And we need that reminder.

It's very biblical.

But a little bit earlier he says, any powers, which also means the endless line, the cycle of authorities that come and go throughout time.

In his time, it would have been rulers, Caesars, and emperors.

And not much has changed since then.

So he's saying here, listen, there is no earthly power or spiritual power that can get between God's love and for us.

And I love this next one.

That neither the present nor the future.

I love this because it gets to this, it gets to the ticker, the heart right here.

Because as you consider whatever you may be anticipating, what we do with our breath is significant.

We have a choice.

And here's what I want to say about the present or the future.

That unprecedented times, which is right now, calls for unprecedented trust right now.

Let me say that again.

Unprecedented times, right now, the present calls for unprecedented trust for the future.

Because if anything, Romans 8 is reminding us God is so committed to you with his love that nothing, even in the present or the future, will shift that even an inch.

For the Canadians in the house, even a millimeter.

All right.

So key.

This theme is very present throughout scripture.

That he is present, leading us, guiding us right now, regarding the present or the future.

Christy brought up an important phrase, and it's something that we often neglect in culture today, but it's so fundamental in understanding the gospel.

It is the word covenant.

Because you will change quite a bit in time.

We see changes all around us today, and we see changes in ourselves as well.

In fact, if you're a kid here today and you came with either mom or dad, surprise, surprise, maybe one day you'll be in that same spot.

Okay.

I remember in my teenage years, it was easy for me to be critical of the generation ahead of me.

But surprise, surprise, I'm now at that time.

And I'm learning on this hashtag, hashtag adulting life.

Right?

The only way that we can address the present or the future is to first know God's covenant with us, what he makes with us.

He's the one that gets center stage today.

We see that throughout the Word, but in particular, here's one from Joshua 1, verse 9.

Joshua 1:9

I love this.

Be strong and courageous.

Just elbow your neighbors today.

Be strong and courageous.

Don't be afraid, God says.

Don't be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Let the church say wherever.

And that's everywhere, right?

And this is a vow that God makes with his people.

When I do a wedding and vows are about to be said, I usually say something like this: that none of us, none of us can actually do what we say.

None of us can actually follow through with our words.

The only way we are able to do that is to first understand God's covenant with us.

And then by his Holy Spirit, he empowers us to be a people who can follow through with our commitments because of his commitment to us, then for better, for worse, for richer, for poor in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till death do us part are vows that God empowers us in.

And then Paul concludes in verse 39.

This vow language is all over our scripture today, that neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation.

I was joking with a friend.

You know the Greek word there for all is the word all.

It just means it all.

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.

There's a lot in creation.

The highest peaks and the lowest of valleys.

And nothing can get in between us and God's love.

Maybe here's a way to kind of break it down today.

So there is an important scripture that we call upon in very significant moments of life.

Particularly in funerals, we uh we quote Psalm 23.

It says, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

So I learned this recently from a friend.

Uh, green pastures.

Whenever I think of that, I'm imagining that in the land of the Bible, there are these just incredible fields of green grass, and it's just beautiful green pasture to just lean back and relax, take a nap in.

Uh, that's not very common in the land of the Bible.

A couple years ago, a friend of mine was in Jerusalem on the south side of Jerusalem and took a photo of a shepherd that was on a mule leading some sheep.

And it's gonna be really hard to kind of tell the difference between the rocky hills and these sheep.

One shepherd on a mule, you kind of have to squint to see it.

And then more than 250 sheep are in this picture.

You know what's not here?

Green pastures.

This is a desolate, desert area.

And here's why I wanted to share that.

The only way these sheep can find life-giving sustenance, water, or grass to nourish their lives, they have to follow the shepherd.

And the shepherd is the only one who has words of eternal life that will take them to a stream or a river, otherwise known as a wadi, right in the Middle East.

And only there will you find what's life-giving, what's nourishing, what's a green pasture, and what is able to keep you from walking step by step in Him.

Romans 10, a little bit after Romans 8, it says, When you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and when you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved.

For it is with your mouth that you profess what you believe in.

We heard that today beautifully from Sierra.

And it is with our heart that we are justified.

For anyone who believes in me, Scripture says from Romans 10, shall be saved.

Here's what I'd like to do for this next moment or two is because, yeah, we've been going through this series on Romans 8.

And it's promise after promise, brick by brick, keeping us anchored in the Lord.

Each promise nourishes our lives in a world that is trying to keep us drifted from Him.

And so I brought out my biggest study Bible, and here's what I like to do, just really in the context of worship, that oftentimes preaching just leads to worship.

And I pray that as we walk through just each of these promises, that at least one will bring comfort to your heart, strengthen your heart, bring healing to your life, no matter what you may be facing today.

So here's where we've been, and here's how these promises build.

Romans 8 verse 1, it says, There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

Romans 8:1

If you've had a voice in your mind that has spoken against you, or maybe it's from someone else in Christ, there is no condemnation.

The spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

The Spirit of God dwells in you.

Church family?

The Spirit gives life.

Oh, I just got to read this one.

This is hitting me now.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal body.

Amen?

Also, we are children of God.

Sometimes we um aren't sure of our identity.

Romans 8 makes it crystal clear.

This is your identity.

You're God's child.

Fearfully and wonderfully made.

Um you have received the spirit of adoption.

Right?

You are an heir of God.

Fellow heirs of Christ.

Um Romans 8 tells us that the present suffering will give way to future glory.

What a promise.

Creation itself will be set free.

Can you just imagine what that day is gonna look like?

Our bodies will be redeemed.

Get an amen on that.

New knees are a common church family.

All right.

Oh, this is so good.

The Spirit helps us in our weakness.

You have an advocate.

You've got a great counselor that's beside you, that's interceding for you and helps us in our weaknesses.

Oh, this one, this one took more than one sermon.

We know that those who love God, all things work together for good.

Right?

God is conforming us to Christ.

God is bringing his people to glory.

God is for us.

How about this?

He will graciously give us all things.

And Jesus is interceding for us, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Himself.

And of course, we've seen today, nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ.

We are more than conquerors, and nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

I pray that at least one of these spoke to you, gave you comfort and strength for your identity and purpose today, being the body of Christ for such a time as this.

So, in a moment, we're gonna sing the song in Christ Alone, which has really been inspired by Romans 8.

And so let's pray and lift up our hearts to the Lord and then worship.

Heavenly Father God, we come before you.

We thank you that you invite us to follow you, to fix our eyes on you with the with the life that we have, with the breath that's in our lungs.

Forgive us, Lord, for where we have felt drift, and we thank you for your word that's always on time, particularly from Romans 8, promise after promise, brick by brick, reminding us of who we are in you.

And that is that is such an important piece because when you first came onto the scene preaching the gospel, you said, repent, for the kingdom of God is near.

So, Lord, we repent of past ways, stuff that's been tripping us up.

We come before you, we lay our lives before you.

We thank you that you say, Come and follow me.

I got promise after promise after promise for you.

So, Lord, we thank you for this invitation to walk in your promises, to stand on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, our firm foundation.

All other sand is sinking sand.

Thank you for speaking to us, raising us up, unifying us as one.

We lift all this up before you today.

In your most holy name, we all pray that the church stay.

Amen.