GOD'S GREAT NEWS for MAN'S GREAT PROBLEM - Romans 1-8

"May They Know They're Loved ..."

I spoke this week with my parents the day before they took a big trip to Europe, a trip they have been planning and hoping to make for 18 years. I had the opportunity to pray a prayer of blessing for them, and it caused me to reflect on the greatest gift my parents have given me: they have prayed daily for me for years. What a gift of love! Then I thought of the prayers I pray at night with my own children, and how important those prayers are to me, because my children are so precious to me. The one prayer I have prayed more than any other, as often as I pray with them, is this prayer: "Heavenly Father, I pray that this child will know they are loved by their Dad, by their Mom, and most of all by You, Lord. May they know they're loved ..." The most powerful force for good in the universe is unleashed inside us when we know God loves us. As my children come to know how perfectly they are loved by God, they become conquerors in life.

I came across a story by Eric Butterworth this week that documents what happens when we know we're loved. A college professor who taught sociology decided to send one of his classes into the slums of inner city Baltimore to conduct interviews and develop case histories of 200 young boys. The students were to compile an overall evaluation of each boy's future potential. In all 200 cases, the students concluded, "He hasn't got a chance." Twenty-five years passed by, and a next generation sociology professor stumbled across the study of the 200 boys. He decided to assign his students the follow-up study, to trace what happened to each boy. What they uncovered was remarkable: with the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students discovered that 176 of the remaining 180 had become more than moderately successful as lawyers, doctors and businessmen.

These findings so astounded the professor that he broadened the study to try to determine the secret of these boys' success. He interviewed the 176 men, asking each one, "How do you account for your success?" In each instance, the man would answer, "There was this teacher ..." They all referenced the same teacher. She was still alive and living in the area, so the professor called upon her to conduct an interview. He asked the old but alert woman what magic formula she had discovered to equip these boys to overcome the slums and become successful men. The teacher's face brightened and her eyes gleamed. With a gentle smile on her face, she replied: "It's really very simple. I loved those boys."

She loved those boys, and the boys knew they were loved. It was by that power that 176 boys conquered the slums and moved on to become successful men. If that is the power unleashed when one teacher loved a group of boys, imagine the power released when men and women, boys and girls around the globe come to know beyond a doubt that they are loved by Jesus Christ. The potency of that power is beyond measure: it is what holds the cosmos together, and keeps us eternally secure in Jesus Christ. It's the only love that lasts beyond death, conquering death.

We are going to learn today how Paul became convinced he was loved by Christ Jesus. That lesson changed Paul, and God through Paul changed the world.

The All-Conquering Love of God

In the last section of Romans chapter eight, Paul has been describing the love of God for us. In vs. 26, 27, Paul described the helping love of God expressed within us by the Holy Spirit, who translated our inner groanings to our caring Father in groanings too deep for words. That is the deeply personal love of God for us, deeper than words. In vs. 28-30, Paul told us about the vast sovereign love of our Father for us, orchestrating all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those called according to His purpose. That is the largest, most comprehensive love the world has ever known, a love outside of time and beyond the power of circumstances. In vs. 31-34, Paul described the advocating love of Jesus Christ for us: our Christ stands right now in the heavenly realms at the right hand of God, holding the ear of the Ancient of Days upon His mighty throne, and into that ear Jesus Christ calls us by name, pleading our cause that the Father accept us unconditionally into the family of the Beloved. We find in our Christ not our heavenly judge, but our God-appointed advocate, loving us and interceding for us at the seat of power in the heavens.

What love of God for us!! What more can Paul say? In vs. 35-39, Paul describes the awe-inspiring power of the love of God: it is His love that binds us forever to Jesus Christ. His love is the tie that binds, a threefold cord that cannot be broken, so that no circumstance we will ever face can separate us from the love of God in Christ, not even the final circumstance of our death. There is literally nothing in the universe that can separate us from the love of God in Christ. Therefore, we are conquerors in all things because of our Christ who loved us and proved that love on an old rugged cross on a hill far away. This is Paul's final word on the all-conquering love of God for us that makes us more than conquerors in all circumstances, even at the moment of our death.

Paul spoke this summary statement about the gospel of God way back at the beginning of our study, in Rom. 1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." Here in this passage is where Paul describes the power behind the gospel: the all-conquering love of God displayed in our Christ on the cross.

Paul's Final Question: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

In our last study, Paul considered the love of God by asking rhetorical questions. In vs. 31-34, he asked five questions. Here in vs. 35, he asks one final question, followed by a question suggesting various possible answers. As when we studied vs. 31-34, we will let Paul's questions and answers guide us as we observe the text.

Paul's final question in vs. 35 is this: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" This question is the dominant theme in this passage. He asks the question here in vs. 35, and by the end of vs. 39 he answers by describing what can never separate us from the love of our Savior. This is the crucial question: can anything break the bond of love between the believer and Jesus Christ?

To consider if anything can separate us from the love of Christ, Paul lists all the things that we might encounter in our journey through life, in the rest of vs. 35: "Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Let's look at this list of enemies arrayed against us in life, trying to discern what each term means:

Tribulation = EXTERNAL PRESSURE. This is pressure from outside us,
piled up slowly but surely until it becomes almost unbearable.
It is pressure from our circumstances: like bills piling up when
a host of unforeseen expenditures arise, or when several hard
blows fall all at the same time. This external pressure is like
water flowing against you while you try to run ... working
against you, making it difficult, tempting you to give up and
quit moving against the stream. Can these tribulations, piled
up one-by-one, break the bond of love between us and Christ?

Distress = A NARROW PLACE: EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL PRESSURE.
This Greek term refers to the squeeze when we find ourselves
"between a rock and a hard place." Plagued from without by
tribulations and adverse circumstances and plagued from
within by doubts and fears. Can the love of Christ for us be
squeezed out by internal and external pressures?

Persecution = PERSECUTION. Specific, personally directed rejection or even
inflicted pain for what you believe or the choices you have
made. When we are ridiculed by our families or friends for
choosing the way of faith in the midst of a skeptical world.
Can we be persecuted and isolated to the point that we are
separated from the love of Christ?

Hunger = STARVATION. The blight that has often plagued humanity,
making us question God's love for us if we have no daily bread.

Nakedness = SHAME or SEVERE PHYSICAL NEED. Can shame or raw need
so isolate us that we are alienated from the love of Christ?

Danger = CONSTANT DANGERS. From physical and spiritual foes: can any
foe, including Satan, drive a wedge between us and the love of our Christ?

Sword = PHYSICAL VIOLENCE/PERSECUTION. Is there any machine of
torture or execution that can break the bond of love of
our Christ who lays down His life for us?

Paul's list was no nightmare tally of possibilities; it was the list of enemies arrayed against Paul in his own life, as we recall from II Cor. 11:23-28: "Are they servants of Christ? ... I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches." Paul had known very intimately all the pressures he wrote about. Each had been thrown his way, and the bond between Paul and his Christ had withstood the onslaught.

I remember the childhood game we used to play in my neighborhood called "Red Rover." There would be two lines of children, facing each other. All the children in each line would hold hands. Then the first team would cry out, "Red Rover, Red Rover, send Jimmy right over." Then Jimmy would run at wild speed at the weakest link in the other team's chain, trying to break apart the hands held so tightly together. If Jimmy broke apart their hands, they had to go back with Jimmy to his line. If Jimmy failed to break the bond, Jimmy had to join the team that had held their grip. Paul's list here reminds me of the line of enemies arrayed against us: they are big, they are fast, they fly toward us at breakneck pace, hurling themselves at our weakest link, sometimes one after another. But Paul is saying that the One holding our hand is Jesus Christ Himself, and with Him holding onto us, there is no enemy that can break His grip. We are held forever by His mighty right hand ... no enemy, no matter how fast or vicious the onslaught, can break our hands apart. The bond of His love holds fast, no matter what.

There is a folktale about a bond of love between two men strong enough to withstand all pressures. The two men had been inseparable friends for as long as they could remember. Though their love and commitment bound them together, many unfortunate circumstances forced them to live in separate and hostile countries. One day one of the two, a merchant, came to visit his friend. The king was informed that a stranger from the enemy country was seen in the capital, and the king had the merchant arrested. After a summary trial, the king sentenced him to death by beheading.

The merchant fell to his knees and begged the king to allow him one month to set his house in order before the execution. "O King, all my money is invested with other men of commerce, and we have no written records of our agreements. If I die without setting these affairs in order, my wife and children will be thrown to the streets. Please permit me to return home for one month, after which I swear to return to accept my punishment." The king laughed, "What do you take me for, a fool? Who has ever heard of a prisoner returning after being released?" But the man replied, "Your majesty, I have a friend in your country, the man I was visiting, who will be security for me. He will stand in my place." The king ordered the friend to be brought to his court. "Will you stand in the place of your friend, and die for him if he fails to return?" The man nobly replied, "I would count it an honor to offer my life as security for my best friend." The king, astonished, took the friend into custody and released the merchant to return home.

The thirty days swiftly passed. On the thirtieth day, the king waited until sunset for the merchant to return. Just as the last rays of the sun were disappearing, the king ordered the executioner to remove the friend's head. The man knelt down on the execution block, and the axe was raised when a shout was heard. "Wait!! I am coming!" the merchant cried as he burst through the crowd. He knelt down beside his friend, gently pushing him aside. "I was held back by many delays: at the end, even my horse broke its leg, and I had to walk through the night to get here in time. But I am here, ready to assume the penalty," he said resolutely. But his friend said just as firmly, "But I am ready to die in your place!" The two friends argued, and neither would leave the block. The king watched and marvelled. Finally, the king ordered the executioner to cease and desist, saying, "I have never witnessed such love and devotion in all my life. Both of you are pardoned!"

There is something unconquerable about a love willing to lay down its life for another. Jesus' love was this self-sacrificing love: nothing can defeat His crucifixion love. Not even death. That is what Paul will explore in vs. 36.

What about death, the final curtain ... can death separate us from the love of Christ?

When we first read Rom. 8:35-39, it seems like vs. 36 is totally out of place, as if Paul had cut and pasted that verse into the document at the wrong place. Let me read vs. 35, 36 in order: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, 'For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'" What is Paul saying here?

Paul quotes from Ps. 44:22, one of the psalms of the sons of Korah. They are righteous, but nevertheless marked out for death, like sheep to be slaughtered. Paul quotes this verse to document for us the ultimate pressure we face as humans on this earth, our grim foe, the one who calls for us all ... death. Can death, our final enemy, separate us from the bond of love in Jesus Christ?

Not a chance!!! As Martyn Lloyd-Jones used to say about Christians, "our people die well." The Christian does not face death with fear, but with anticipation. Death is never our end. It is our beginning. It is not our final defeat, but our first victory in the heavenly realms. It is not the end of our relationships with our believing brothers and sisters, it is just a pause in those relationships. Death for the Christian no longer has any sting whatsoever: it will be like passing through a curtain and finding ourselves home at last to a place perfectly prepared for us, the very place we have been searching for all our lives. Death is the doorman to eternity for us, bowing before us as we pass him by, not the grim reaper with the sickle in his bony hand. Shall death separate us from the love of Christ? Of course not: Death will usher us into His presence, where all our hearts long to be!

Paul's point is this: WE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR!! THE PERFECT LOVE OF OUR CHRIST FOR US CASTS OUT ALL FEAR, AND DEFEATS ALL ENEMIES!! Neither tribulation, nor distress, nor persecution, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor peril, nor sword, nor even death itself shall separate us from the love of our Christ!! And the trials that do not separate us from Him make us stronger in Him, tempering the steel of our bond of love into greater hardness. And if we find the love of our Christ enabling us to conquer all these enemies, even death, then no foe can stand against us. We are conquerors indeed!

Super Conquerors Through our Christ of the Cross

This is Paul's grand conclusion in vs. 37: "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us." The driving notion of this verse is the verb hypernikomen, literally "we overconquer." This is an intensified, compound form used only once in the New Testament. The best English translation I know of is "super conqueror." Paul speaks a mystery here: that even as our enemies assail us, as trials flood our way, and as death itself blows its icy wind in our faces, we are revealed as who we really are in Christ: SUPER CONQUERORS.

I want us to imagine for a moment the weight this word would have held for Roman citizens. These Romans had all witnessed the great spectacle of the triumphal march of victorious Roman generals returning in glory and splendor to parade the spoils of their victory before the city's populace and before the dais of Caesar himself. About 13 years after Paul wrote these words, the Roman general Titus obliterated Jerusalem, and crushed Judea into submission to the Emperor. His victory was so absolute and his triumphal return as the conqueror of the rebellious colony so great that Rome still remembers it even today. We could visit Rome and see the tremendous Titus' Arch, dedicated to Titus' victories. There is a famous stone carving depicting the Romans carrying the golden Menorah from the flattened Temple in the triumphal procession in Rome. Romans worshipped those who conquered, parading their victories lavishly, building monuments to them.

Now Christians in Rome were on the other end of the spectrum. They were not celebrated; that were held in suspicion. They were not beloved of the people; they were scapegoats. They were not honored; they were vilified. But Paul turns their whole view of reality on its head: FROM GOD'S IMPERIAL THRONE IN HEAVEN, THEY THE CHRISTIANS WERE THE SUPER CONQUERORS!!! Titus ... who was he but a man allowed by God to judge Jerusalem? Nero ... who was he but a madman allowed by God to persecute His church and strengthen it for His glory? The real conquerors were the Christians in the catacombs, meeting to pray and praise their God under the threat of crucifixion. They were thrown to the lions; they were covered with tar and lit on fire; they were crucified along the Appian Way; but they wouldn't stop gathering to pray, study, and praise. Who were the heroes of ancient Rome? Hands down, the superheroes were the Christians!

THAT IS WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST: SUPER CONQUERORS!!! And Paul reveals the secret behind our success in the last phrase of vs. 37: we are super conquerors "through Him who loved us." This phrase refers to the love of Christ revealed on the cross. The participle "loved us" refers to a specific love already displayed in history, when Christ loved us the most when humanity was at its worst. It is the love of Christ on the cross that has saved us, and it is the love of Christ on the cross that makes us super conquerors. Here is where Paul concludes his long discussion on our identity in Jesus Christ. We are baptized into Christ, we are in Christ, and in Christ, WE ARE SUPER CONQUERORS!!! Oh may we see ourselves this way!!

Nowhere in all history is this seen more clearly than in the life of the famous poet and hymn writer William Cowper. Cowper was directed by his father from an early age to study law. Cowper did study law, but at age 32 he was appointed to a post that required a public examination. He grew fearful of the exam, and tried to withdraw from it by attempting suicide three times, nearly succeeding. Afterward, he was admitted to an asylum for 18 months, during which time he read Rom. 3:25, about Jesus Christ "whom God displayed publicly as an atoning sacrifice in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed." Finally understanding the love of Christ on the cross, Cowper was converted.

Afterward, Cowper moved to Olney, England, for a period of respite and healing. There he worked and ministered with John Newton. Newton encouraged Cowper to serve among the poor, to take his mind off his depressions and paranoia. He also urged Cowper to compose hymns of praise for the parish prayer meetings. The result was the Olney Hymns, one of the most famous hymn books in history. Cowper continued to struggle, composing some of his most famous hymns during severe bouts with mental illness. Despite this, John Newton said of him, "I can hardly form an idea of a closer walk with God than he uniformly maintained." After composing hymns, Cowper went on to a literary career that made his mark on history. He is considered among the finest of all English writers. Despite mental illness that would have destroyed many others, William Cowper discovered the love of our Christ of the cross, and by it this hurting man was strengthened to become a super conqueror, praising God along the way, in spite of it all.

Paul's point is this: the love of Christ will not be denied. He loved us perfectly on the cross, unleashing the power of the gospel to regenerate believing human hearts and sustain them in a fruitful life along the path of long obedience. Paul had found the greatest power in the universe, beyond all other potencies and potentates.

I AM CONVINCED!! NOTHING Can Separate Us from the Love of Christ!!

Paul now reaches his grand conclusion of all of Rom. 1-8, in vs. 38, 39: "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The sweetest words of these verses are the first four words: FOR I AM CONVINCED ... Having explained the gospel of God in its every facet, now writing his last will and testament to pass on to the faithful church at Rome in case he is martyred and taken out of the game when he arrives in Jerusalem, Paul reflects on the gospel. At some point in the past, considering the cross of Jesus Christ and the unstoppable power of the resurrection, Paul had become convinced by God Himself that there is no power in the universe greater than the love of Christ displayed on the cross. That power forms a bond of love so profound no force in any corner of any galaxy can break its bond. Paul speaks with absolute certainty. He has thought it through: Christ's love holds us, no matter what. We are safe in that love.

To prove that the love of Christ is the greatest bond in the history of the world, Paul sweeps across all known dimensions of his world through four powerful totalities expressed in vs. 38, 39. A totality is an expression combining opposite extremes to express a complete truth. The totality "day and night" is sometimes used to explain one total 24-hour day. Paul now surveys all four dimensions of life as he knows it to prove beyond all doubt that nothing can break the bond of Christ's love for us.

Death cannot break the bond, because Christ overcame death through the cross and resurrection. Christ's reign of grace supercedes the reign of sin and death, as argued in Rom. 5:12-21. It is interesting that "death" here has pride of position: it is listed first, it being formerly the greatest of all our enemies, the tyrant whose iron rule over humanity rendered it most capable of separating Christ from the one He loves. But, by the power of the resurrection, death's power has been broken, and "death no longer is master over Him." (Rom. 6:9). Even if the Christian is martyred as was Stephen, that death will not break the bond of love. Rather, like Stephen, that martyrdom throws open the doorway to the heavenlies. On the opposite extreme, nothing that "life" brings our way separate us from the love of Christ. The dimension of our physical life is bounded by life and death, at opposite ends: neither life nor death can break the bond of Christ and the one He loves.

Then Paul says that "nor angels nor rulers ... can separate us from the love of God." Here Paul introduces a totality to define the spiritual dimension, as a contrast to the physical dimension just mentioned. On one side are the good angels, loyal to God and ministers of good, while on the opposite side are arrayed the "rulers," a term most often used in the NT to refer to dark spiritual powers, the evil demonic spirits that fell with Satan. There is no created spiritual being, including Satan, who can even come close to breaking the bond between Christ and the one He loves.

Furthermore, Paul tells us that "nor things present nor things to come ... can separate us from the love of God in Christ." Here is where Paul draws out the totality defining the time dimension in which we live, both things present and things to come. There is literally nothing in the present time, including all the pressures, distresses, etc. of vs. 35, that can break the bond of love. Nor in the potentially ominous and stirring events of the future is there anything even remotely powerful enough to break the bond between Christ and the one He loves. One might smartly point out that Paul seems to have left out the "past" in his time dimension. But here he is showing us that he is still a Jew as far as his view of time is concerned: for a Jew, all of time was divided up into "this present age," and the "age to come." This is exactly what Paul refers to here.

Then he says "nor powers ... can separate us from the love of God." This term refers in a very broad sense to "cosmic powers," great powers and forces which hold the cosmos together, the physical powers and laws holding within the universe. These mysterious cosmic forces held a great sway of terror over people in the ancient world, yet even these powers could not possibly break the bond between Christ and the one He loves. These "powers" form one part of a broader description of the space dimension, the totality presented first in vs. 39.

Paul begins vs. 39 with "nor height nor depth ... can separate us from the love of God." These terms represent Paul's final of the four totalities, this time defining the boundaries of the space dimension. The specific historical context of these terms was seen in the orbit of the stars, when the star was at its zenith (its "height") and when it was at its nadir (its "depth"). Regardless, these two terms encompass the entirety of the space dimension.

Finally, Paul says "nor any other created thing ... can separate us from the love of God." Here is Paul's sweeping summary: literally NOTHING that has ever been created in the physical, spiritual, time and space dimensions surrounding human life is powerful enough to break the bond between Christ and the one He loves. Fortunately, this statement includes OURSELVES ... we cannot break the bond either, try as we might like Jonah did in running the opposite direction away from God. NOTHING in the whole universe can separate us from the love of Christ:

This is the passage that speaks to me more than any other about the reality of our eternal security as believers in Christ. Some would argue that it is possible for a genuine, Spirit-indwelled believer in Christ to somehow return to his identity in sin, to walk away from the faith and thus become "unsaved." But here in vs. 39, this is utterly impossible: we ourselves would thus be separating ourselves from our current love relationship with Jesus Christ. If "no other created thing" can separate us from His love, how can we individually separate ourselves from His love? It is an utter impossibility in light of the absolute language Paul employs here!

Since there is no enemy who can be found anywhere within the whole sweep of the created universe, Paul's contention that we are UNCONQUERABLE is absolutely true: there is no enemy to oppose us!!! Of what shall we be afraid, then? WE SHALL BE AFRAID OF NOTHING AND OF NO-ONE. THERE IS NO POWER IN THE UNIVERSE ABLE TO BREAK THE BOND BETWEEN CHRIST AND THE ONE HE LOVES. ALL FEAR PASSES AWAY IN THE ONENESS AND POWER OF THAT ETERNAL BOND OF LOVE!!!

Conclusion: The Secret of Success, the Secret of Happiness

I too stand absolutely convinced that the love of Christ for us is a bond that holds us eternally secure. His love is the most powerful force in the universe. In Him we are saved and held secure. The secret of our success as super conquerors in life is this: we are loved perfectly by Jesus Christ. Oh may we know that we are loved!!!

And may we know beyond a doubt that God says WE ARE SUPER CONQUERORS!!! Throughout our study of Romans, I have shared the stories of many famous Christians who overcame all odds to reign and conquer in life: Corrie Ten Boom who overcame the horror of the Holocaust; Fanny Crosby who overcame blindness to see the heavenlies and write hymns of praise; Joni Eareckson Tada who overcame paralysis to live to have a vibrant ministry in Christ; Willian Cowper who overcame mental illness to write songs of praise to Christ. Many of those stories came out of a book entitled More Than Conquerors. But I want to say this: ALL CHRISTIANS ARE SUPER CONQUERORS!!! Not just famous Christians, or Christians with big ministries ... every single one of us!!! There are super conquerors sitting beside you in the pew, and one staring out at you from the mirror every morning! We are all SUPER CONQUERORS in Jesus Christ!!! And what makes us so is what this passage teaches: that the love of Christ keeps us through all the pains, trials, sorrows, difficulties, middle miles, and struggles of this life. We are saved and kept. The might of Christ's love is seen in the long-term staying power of His beloved!!!

And His love is also the secret of true happiness, that dream we all hope to achieve. Victor Hugo once wisely said: "The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved." Amen! May the perfect love of Christ for us build in us the supreme conviction that we are loved by our Christ, and may that be an unquenchable seed of happiness and contentment in all our hearts for all eternity!!

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