Jesus Loves Me, So What? | Romans 8:18-39

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in

practical ways. Hey, everybody, thank you for tuning in for

another episode of The Bible.

Man, Chris. When I was coming in today, I was thinking,

we're gonna give these guys the best we can possibly

give them today on a Thursday. Are you thinking.

Of Thursday's recording?

Sure?

Okay, sure, perhaps you think in general you're thinking I

was thinking in general, okay, that we are going to

give them the best podcast effort we can give them. Okay,

all right, man, Well I'll tell you what this is

gonna be a good one.

I'm just gonna strive for above mediocrity. I'm gonna let

you carry it about that.

Okay again, So thanks, all right again. So here'sousn So

you know, we only bring the finest.

News to our absolutely and to our.

Listeners, and you know sometimes we bring special interest things.

And this is kind of a little bit of news

and a little bit of special interest. It comes from

the finest, most reliable sources. We comb the Internet, and

we keep coming back to the Babylon b Yes for

the best information. So today's article that we're going to

read for you is man buys new TV so he

can watch NFL refs blow calls and stunning four K resolution.

Which which, by the way, is very applicable because the

Lions fans just played the Chiefs.

For Lions fans in general. But oh yeah right, yeah, yeah, general, yeah,

but for considering they just played the Chiefs here recently. Yes,

here's what goes new Bronfels, Texas. One super fans dream

of seeing his team play in high definition came true

this weekend as a local man bought a new TV

so he could watch NFL referees blow calls and stunning

four K resolution. Derek Johnson upgraded his home entertainment system

over the weekend, including a seventy inch OLED television that

finally allowed him to see the officiating crew totally botch

every penalty call in the forty nine Ers game. I

can now see every horrible officiating error in the crystal

clear detail, Johnson said after the refs made another completely

bogus holding call. Gone to the days when I would

be stuck trying to figure out what the refs were

looking at on my standard definition TV. Now I can

see them ruin games every week in four K. A

lifelong Niners fan, Johnson was excited to now see his

team fail miserably thanks to egregiously boned calls by inept referees,

every bad pass interference call, every down by contact ruling

on a clear fumble. I can see it all now,

he said. Before I just had a sneaking suspicion that

they were making all of these mistakes. Now I can

see it just like I was sitting in the front row.

It adds a whole new dimension to watching my favorite

team get completely re weekend and weekend.

Wow.

At publishing time, Derek Johnson had smashed his brand new

four K TV after throwing one of his wife's decorative

fall pumpkins at it in anger due to the refs

missing a blatant roughing the passer call.

Wow, that's so good.

Ah, that's fantastic, so good.

So he buys this new TV and all you can

see is, you know, the bad rest and then he

smashes it right right well, because after all, now he's

now he has reason to be angry, right with crystal clarity.

Okay, so Chris, do you think that they're blowing these calls?

On purpose. You know what I have. It's an epidemic,

isn't it.

I have a hard time believing the entire organization of

the NFL is instructing referees to to to to sway

the games, Okay, like in other words, like the conspiracy

theory is it's the entire organization right now. The very

much lesser theory is that maybe somebody is getting paid

under the table, and there's you know, there's certain referees

that are getting paid, which, by the way, on you

know now with AI that the things that come up

after the games are hilarious, right because they make they

make people say things that they didn't say.

You're right, So like, uh.

So the coach, coach Campbell's in the locker room and

he's saying like stuff, and I'm like, that's not what

he said, right, but but AI makes it seem like it.

Right.

But anyway, what ends up happening is the referee is

just about to call Golf's touchdown back and and then

there's a chief fan that walks up to him and

he's holding a card reader and he goes boop, he

hits the card and then the referee looks down and

he goes, thank you, No, no touchdown, we're calling it back.

I just And then there's another AI meme where he

had a duffle bag full of money and he comes

and he lays it down and he goes, he kisses.

Him, he kisses the referee, and he goes. He goes

pass interference. He's hilarious. Okay, Well, all I know is

if the game goes our way, yeah, then I never

see any bad calls. But if the game goes against me,

I want to gently push back in that and say,

oh no, I'm just saying.

As a fan, as I do see all the things

that go away, I always think to ourselves, ooh, that

car went our way and it shouldn't have. Yeah, Like,

I always think that all the time.

I'm such a good fan that I think I agree

with the refs when they go our way, and when

they go that's right, that's right. We should get away

with that.

People have gotten away with it, which by the way,

is true.

But but yeah, yeah, so uh anyways, that was a

I thought, really really useful thing talking about blown calls

and all those kinds of things.

Yeah, you know what else is useful?

You know who also takes good care of their their fans.

God, God takes care of his fans.

Yeah, that's right. So in Romans chapter eight, Hey, this

is oftentimes one of those misquoted version miss misquoted or

misunderstood or frustrating passages. So I thought i'd start reading

in Matthew eight eighteen. If you don't mind, you know

what I allow that. Yes, so there's a lot that

he's already talking about beforehand with regard to the living

life in the spirit of God. There's now therefore no

condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus all this stuff.

But then you get to verse eighteen. It says, yet

what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory

He will reveal to us later. So as difficult as

this life is, it's nothing compared to how great eternity

is going to be. For all creation is waiting eagerly

for that future day when God will reveal who his

children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected

to God's curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks

forward to the day when it will join God's children

in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know

that all creation has been groaning as in the pains

of childbirth right up to the present time. And we

believers also, even though we have the Holy Spirit within

us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long

for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering.

We too wait with eager hope for the day when

God will give us our full rights as as adopted children,

including the new bodies He's promised us. We were given

this hope, and we were saved. If we already have something,

we don't need to hope for it. But if we

look forward to something we don't yet have, we must

wait patiently confidently, and the Holy Spirit helps us in

our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants

us to pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays for

us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And

the Father, who knows all hearts, knows what the Spirit

is saying. For the Spirit pleads for us believers in

harmony with God's own will. And we know that God

causes everything to work together for the good of those

who love God and are called according to His purpose

for them. For God knew his people in advance, and

he chosen to become like his son, so this son

would be the firstborn among many brothers. And having chosen them,

he called them to come to him, and having them,

he gave them right standing with himself. And having given

them right standing, he gave them his glory. What shall

we say about such wonderful things disease? If God is

for us, who can ever be against us? Since He

did not spare even his own son, but gave him

up for us, all, won't he also give us everything? Else?

Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his

own no one, For God himself has given us right

standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one?

For Christ. Jesus died for us and was raised to

life for us, And he's sitting in the right place,

in the place of honor that God's right hand, pleading

for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love?

Doesn't mean he no longer loves us. If we have

trouble or calamity, or persecuted or hungry, or destitute, or

in danger or threatened with death. As a scripture's sake,

say for your sake, we're killed every day. We were

being slaughtered like sheep No, despite all these things, overwhelming

victory is ours through Christ Jesus, who loved us. I'm

going to keep go. Yeah, they go. And I am

convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love.

Neither death nor life, No neither angels nor demons, neither

our fears for today, nor are worries about tomorrow. Not

even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.

No power in the sky above or in the earth below. Indeed,

nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate

us from the love of God that is revealed in

Christ Jesus, our Lord. Well there you go. Now there's

a bunch of promises in there. Buddy. Now you ready

for this, Go for it.

This is in my top five.

Yeah, it's one of my.

Best passages, my favorite passage, favorite passage. Yeah, so I

would say from from verse thirty five to the end

of that chapter, which is what verse thirty thirty nine,

thirty nine, Yeah, so thirty five through thirty nine, it

is one of the most powerful. In fact, whenever I

read it, which is often, I actually say this is

first of all, it's the most common question I think

in the Bible. Can can you know can can about

God's love? Does that love us? Right? It's to do

with God's love? You know, it's the most common topic

I should say in the Bible. And then it's the

strongest answer to any given question in all of the scripture.

So I would say the only thing that rivals it

would be when God, at least in my mind, unless

you can come up with something I'm not thinking of.

But remember when God answered job and job and Job

was talking in but it really wasn't like a singular question.

This is a single question. Can anything ever separate us

from Christ love? That's the question? And then all of

a sudden, the next four verses is the like some

of the strongest language ever.

Let me be clear. Nope, nothing, yeah, nothing. Let me

clarify what nothing means. Not that and not that and

that thing.

He says, no power in the sky and the earth

below right, nothing indeed will ever be able to separate

us from the love of God through Christ, Jesus, our Lord.

You know it's just it's just so strong and so yeah.

When when God answered job, I think that he answered strongly.

You know who made the deaf, who made the dumb?

You know who created the ocean who totally can only

go this far right, which we just sang on Sunday,

by the way, And so anyway, I think that that

was a strong answer, but I don't think it was

a direct question that was asked that Job had. Jordan's

was was did Job plainly say why? Right? Like? You know,

he more so complained to God and then God was

addressing the complaint right right? Whereas like whereas this is

an answer to a question. So anyway, I think I think

this is the strongest answer to any question in the Bible.

But that really isn't the promise though, right, The promise

we're looking at today isn't the promise we're looking at today.

Yeah, the promise we're looking at today is he who

did not spare his own son, Well he not also

give us everything that we need.

Yeah, so there's there's the promise of provision. In other words,

God gave everything.

If God was willing to give everything, including his own son,

how hard is it for him to make sure you

have what you need?

Right?

Right? It's he already did the hard work. This is

this is light work compared to your big problem today?

Is light work compared to what He's already done for you. Yeah,

and so he can do it yeah yeah.

Well and it's and again this is one of these

promises that talk about the nature of God. Right, So

the nature of God is a God who's giving, which,

by the way, it's worth saying that that, you know,

we are created in the likeness of God. We're creating

the image of God, and so we're created to give

our lives away. So that literally was the sermon on Sunday,

wasn't it.

That's right.

Yeah, we talked about how the fact that you know,

we all admire people who are generous, we all admire

people who give, and in fact, it's it's some of

the strongest admiration that we have for a human to

be able to say, at the end of their life, man,

they thought of everybody else before they thought of themselves.

And the reason why that's in you. We made the

case and say, the reason why we thought think that

that is in you and in me is because that

is the nature of God in you and the story

of God in you. Right. So God has placed that

within you. It's built in whether you're a Christian or not,

or whether you believe in God or claim to be

an atheist like it or not, we all believe who

are Christians that you, even as an atheist, you still

are created in the image of God. You have God's

nature in you that needs to come alive in Christ.

But it's still there. Your tendencies or you know, human tendencies,

and then you have spiritual tendencies, and you're attracted to

the story of God that is alive in you. And

so I think that I think that that is exactly

why we admire people who are selfless, because we are

created to be selfless.

Yeah. So this passage begins with Paul acknowledging life is hard, right, Hey,

things are tough. What we're suffering right now is nothing

compared to the glory of what God's promised. And then

a lot of people will ask why did bad things happen? Right,

And Paul's acknowledging that part of it. Hey, whether you're

a Christian or not a Christian, life is really hard, right.

You're gonna have moments when it's pretty great, maybe years

that are pretty great. Yeah, those moments when my granddaughter

came running to me, jumped up on my lap, and

the first time they both my grandkids call me jeepy

for some reason and jump up on my lap and

she goes gep and she just looked at me so intensely,

and then she jumped out and ran away again. That

delight in that moment is just amazing, you know what

I mean. It's just so much fun. And so there's

these really incredible beautiful sunset I was out in my

tree stand in the woods hunting a couple days ago,

and that beautiful fall sunsets, when the leaves are turning,

It's just bright blue sky, a little storm in the background,

beautiful sunset, geese flying through the air. I could hear

a great horned owl was hooting not far away from me,

and all of a sudden, coyote started howling all around me.

It was just really intense night, right.

And sounds like a scene in the Three Amigosh.

Yeah, yeah, it was just so incredible. Right.

So you have these You're welcome, Chad.

You have these amazing moments in life that make us

long for paradise and for perfection.

I agree with that.

Topia, I agree with that. And then we have to leave.

You got to get out of your tree stand. You

got to come home from your vacation, right, and you're hit.

Just keep on kids, keep disobeying, you know what I mean,

screaming in the back of all that kind of stuff.

And and so it's built in us to desire paradise

and perfection. And then Paul says, but hey, the promise

we're looking for is exactly what God's promised. That's exactly

what your heart desires, right, it's that perfection. But in between,

what's going on? And he says, well, the whole world,

against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse.

God says, if you sin, you'll die. And you know

he made humanity is the crown jewel of creation. So

when when we sin, everything broke, everything broke. It all

pivoted from it's designed to keep you alive too. Now

it's trying to have you ever been to Texas. Everything

in Texas is trying to kill you. Everything in Africa.

You've been on the bush with me before, we've been together,

and well, I guess I was out in the bush

with you on that trip, wasn't it. But everything's trying

to kill you, man. The bugs are trying to kill you.

The plants are trying to kill you. The heat's trying

to kill you. The rocks, the sides of the mountains,

everything serpents. So yes, snakes are trying to kill you.

And so he says, what happened was the world broke

under the curse that was placed on humanity because of

our sin. And he says, but with eager hope, the

creation looks forward to the day. This is all of

creation is looking forward to the day when it'll join

God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. There's

going to be a day when there'll be no more death,

just like there was at the beginning in perfection. We

have this echo off action in paradise in eternity that

we still long for today, all of creation does. And

he says, for we know that all creation has been groaning,

as in the pains of childbirth, right up to the

present time. And so and he says, even we believers

also grown, even though we have a holy Spirit with

us as a foretaste of future glory. Right, so we

even we long for our bodies to be released from

this this sin and suffering. And so we wait with

an eager hope. So we also are living in a

broken world, and so bad things happen, But because of Christ,

we have hope for eternity, and he will have a solution.

He has a he had he bring us back to

the garden, back to paradise that we've always longed for.

So you know how the garden when Sin entered into

the world. One of the things that God specifically mentions

is you're gonna have to work for your food now. Yeah, right, So,

so no longer is everything going to be perfect. So

I equate that to weeds, right, we are a part

of that curse.

Right, hard hard ground weeds. Yeah, like like labor, low production.

Yeah, and so so I definitely look forward to the

time when all landscaping will have no weeds. Yeah, great,

with no weed block, no weed block needed, that's right.

But let me ask you this question. Based on the

fact that there's gonna be no more even even creation

itself is looking forward to no more death. Does that

mean do you think that leaves will no longer turn

colors and die? Will they always just be green?

Well, you would have to have that leaf be a

living entity. And it's not. It's a part, but.

It says here creation is looking forward.

To Yeah, but the tree is the living entity. The

leaf is just a part of the tree. Okay, yeah, yeah,

Otherwise you'd have to believe that hair would never fall

off your head, that fingernails would never need to be clipped.

You make a good point, and I will concede to it.

It felt, that felt unbelievably fulfilling. Of course you did.

It always does for you.

That's so good. So anyways, even Paul acknowledges this is

Saint Paul. We think of him as being like super

Christian Paul. Right, And even he says, hey, listen, it's

hard for all of us. Life is hard. We shouldn't

be surprised by it. We're all going through it saved

and unsaved together. Life is difficult because the world is broken.

The difference is you and I don't have to be

depressed by it because Jesus has a solution for it. Right,

And so then people go, well, then why are we

living in this curse? How mean is that? Well, Peter

tells us God isn't being lazy right the way that

you would measure laziness the city.

Otherwise, why wouldn't you come back sooner?

Right? Instead, it says he's being patient so that no

one would perish, but that everyone would have a chance

to come back to him in repentance. Right, And so

God's allowing time to play out, even though it's a

broken time. He's allowing it to play out so that

everybody that should be born will be born, and that

everybody will have an opportunity to hear the gospel and

turn to Him in faith. And so the solution to

the broken world around us isn't just isn't only more

food lines, more bags of rice, more wells. The solution

is we need to get more Jesus everywhere, and he

begins to restore what is broken and what is lost.

And we have the Holy Spirit one in us, which

gives us assurance of the promises to come.

Yeah, and once again, the nature of God, the promise

that we were focusing on hinges on the fact that

this describes everything about Jesus or God, the father who

gave Jesus. Right, so it says, you know that he

where's that thirty two? That's really again, since he did

not spare even his own son, but gave him up

for us all, won't he also give us everything else?

Because like you said, he's already done the hard work.

So is there anything more costly? To God than to

give up his only begotten son. Right, So God is

not going to withhold well, you know what, I don't

think they deserve this. So think of and by the way,

this is such a great word picture because no matter

what you can think of, it's not going to trump

what God has already given to us. So if somebody

comes up and says, hey, listen, I'm going to give

you a million dollars, we always think, do you think

that maybe he'll give me five dollars? Right? And he's like, yeah,

I'm pretty sure he's willing to give you five dollars

because last week he cut you a check for one

million dollars.

I've already given you that Rebby steak, right, but I'm

not going to give you this chicken nugget right right, right,

It doesn't make any sense. I've already given you that

private jet, right, but I'm not gonna let you have

this paper airplane right right right.

That's more extreme.

That's more extreme.

Right.

So He's already given us, beyond our comprehension everything that

we need. Why would he hold back simple little things?

And that's really what Paul's trying to say. Yes, right,

but I think it's interesting because he pivots in between

how hard the world is to all the needs that

we're going to have, and right in the middle of that. Again,

I'm always looking for what's in the middle, he says.

You know, sometimes we don't even know what to pray for.

The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example,

we don't always know what God wants us to pray for. Well,

then if I don't know, and I think a lot

of our listeners are probably struggle with this, I've struggled

with this in my past. Oh yeah, boy, I just

I'm not going to pray because I don't even know

what to pray for, right, And it's exactly the opposite

solution here. So pray, keep praying, because the Holy Spirit

prays for us with groanings that can't be expressed in words,

and the Father, who knows all hearts, knows what the

Spirit is saying for. The Spirit leads pleads for us

believers in harmony with God's own will. And then in

that context, we know that God works all things together

for our good. But it's not for everybody. It's just

for those who love God and are called according to

His purpose. So you can't mess up praying, is what

I'm trying to say. You might not know what to

pray for, So tell God, God, I don't know what

to pray for. The Holy Spirit, would you? Would you

sort this out? I need help, right, And so you're

you're asking, and then the Holy Spirit can pray on

a level bring our needs to God on a level

we can't even comprehend, he says, with groanings. We can't

be expressive words.

That's good. Well, that's probably a great place to end,

and what a great passage, and hopefully we will see

you tomorrow on the Bible.

Gus