The All-Surpassing Love of God
Romans 8:31-39
Introduction
William Borden was on his way to work as a missionary in China. But he never made it. He was struck down with disease, and died in Egypt. As he lay dying, he wrote a final note for his friends and family – it simply read, “No reserve, no retreat, and no regrets.”
Many of us hear that and think, ‘How? How can a man experience such a tragedy and still find satisfaction in God?’ After all, he believed God had called him to be a missionary. In China, no less!
And so after learning languages, raising support, traveling across the globe to get there, he is struck down with an illness that doesn’t just delay him, it kills. It just doesn’t seem fair. He was trying to do the Lord’s work. He was seeking to be faithful to God – doesn’t God care? Why would he let him die like this?
But then we are forced to think of Borden again. His last letter reveals that he knows what’s happening. He knows that despite all of his preparations, he will never see China. He knows that despite his attempts at faithfulness, God is still taking his life.
And yet, he is still able to write, “No reserve, no retreat, and no regrets.” He is a man who has found satisfaction in God. He has satisfied the longings of his soul by delighting in God, and so he is able to say – even in death – God is still good.
Most of us probably aren’t there yet. Most of us probably do not know God that well – well enough to find such joy in him and place such trust in him. But most of us would like to. I think if you’re a Christian here, that’s the kind of life you want.
You want a life where your mind and your heart are so captivated by God, where his presence is so profound and so pleasurable, that you are willing to trust him in anything. Even when life turns up the heat, and temptation to sin comes hard – God is still good, and far more satisfying than anything the world has to offer.
So, this morning we want to continue looking to the Bible and continue seeking to see and understand God in a way that that kind of life becomes a reality for us. We want to see how glorious God is and how pathetic sin looks in comparison.
Last week we looked at the near-blinding glory of God and Christ as it was revealed to John in heaven; a glory that we will one day see face-to-face as well. Today, though, we want to see the beauty of God as revealed in his love for his people.
This morning, we want to look at Romans 8:31-39, and behold the All-Surpassing Love of God
“If God is for us, who can be against us? [32] He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? [33] Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. [34] Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. [35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” [37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
From these amazing, unanswerable questions, we glean four truths upon which to build our confidence in God’s love for us as his people.
1. God’s All-Surpassing Love Ensures No One Can Oppose Us (8:31)
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Notice that Paul doesn’t just ask, ‘who is against us?’ Because we can think of many people who are against us. Not just us, sitting here today, but Christians everywhere for all time
We think of the hostile world, persecuting God’s people, driving them underground, punishing them for their faith. Or our adversary the devil – an enemy who, though defeated, is by no means dead. Perhaps, most sinister of all, there is our own sinful hearts.
And if we were to attempt to face these enemies head on, in our own strength, by our own virtue, it would be a disaster – we are already defeated. It would be like someone charging a battalion of tanks with bows and arrows. This is why Paul doesn’t just ask, ‘who is against us?’ For he knows the barrage of replies he would get from the Roman Christians.
Instead, he asks, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Of course the answer that Paul expects is ‘no one.’ Since God is for us, no one can ultimately be successful in their attempt to stop us.
If you’ve seen the movie version of Tokien’s Lord of the Rings, you will recall the battle of Helm’s Deep in the second movie.
The setting is this final stand to defend the peoples of Rohan. They have retreated to this fortress – Helm’s Deep, but the future is essentially hopeless. The approaching army isn’t human, but a near demonic force driven by blood lust – all they want to do is kill humans. And this approaching force of evil outnumbers them something like ten to one.
And there is great seen where King Theodan is standing with his armor bearing, strapping on the royal armor. And the king is kind of staring off into space, determined to do what he must and meet the enemy, but all the while believing he will die in the end.
Sometimes Christians face the world like this everyday. They think, I know I have get with life, trying to live for God, but it’s hopeless. Sin is too strong, the world is too wicked, and I am too weak.
But Paul writes and says – take heart! Just a view verses before this, Paul writes, For those whom God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Because of his all-surpassing love, God as called his people out of sin and declared them innocent because Christ has died for them. Furthermore, he has purposed to not only declare you righteous, but make you righteous by the power of his Spirit. And he will do this until you get to heaven where the process will be complete and there will be no more sin your life – forever.
After all of that Paul says, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Because of God’s love for us in Christ, we can have confidence that God is for us, and so no one can stand against us. All the powers of hell itself could come against us but they will never prevail, because God is for us.
2. God’s All-Surpassing Love Ensures We Will Have Every Gift We Need (8:32)
“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
Notice the argument Paul is making here. He is saying, ‘Look, God has already given us Christ – he has given us his own Son; he has already given us the most beautiful, glorious, all-satisfying gift that is imaginable, why would he now keep something from us? After Christ, everything else is small potatoes.
John Flavel: “Surely if he would not spare his own Son one stroke, one tear, one groan, one sigh, one circumstance of misery, it can never be imagined that ever he should, after this, deny or withhold from his people, for whose sakes all this was suffered, any mercies, any comforts, any privilege, spiritual or temporal, which is good for them.”
Paul says God will surely give you ‘all things’ – all that we need for life and godliness – because God has already given us the most loving, generous gift he could have given us – Christ.
But how many of us actually believe this? How many of us actually see Christ as the treasure that he is? How many of us see Christ as God sees him – the greatest gift of love that could be given?
This is part of the reason I love reading older books. It seems that many people today just don’t love Christ as deeply as those who have gone on before. When you read people like Spurgeon and the Puritans, you come away thinking, ‘Do I worship the same Christ? Do I know the same Christ that these men love? If I do, then why don’t I love him as much they do?’
I am convinced that part of the answer lies in the culture in which we find ourselves. We live in a culture that has so much stuff. And, like the world, we have become entranced by that stuff. We look past Christ and ask for other kinds of gifts.
We ask God for new jobs, new cars, new marriages – all kinds of things. And when we do not get those things we somehow feel unloved. But the problem is not God; the problem is us. The problem is that we have devalued Christ.
Our affections are so misaligned, that we find more joy in a job, more satisfaction in a car, more pleasure in sex than we would ever find in joy, satisfaction, or pleasure in God’s Son. Yet he is the most pure and unending source of all of these things.
This is what we need to recover – the sight of his glory; the sight of his supreme worth above all things. We need to see him and him alone as the greatest treasure of our lives. Like Paul, we must pray for less things and more of Christ.
In Philippians he says, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ … that I may know him.”
Friends, some of you know nothing of Christ. He can be your salvation – the joy of your life. Turn from your selfish, unsatisfying sinfulness and embrace Christ by faith. Octavius Winslow was correct to write: “who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; Not Pilate for fear; not the Jews, for envy – but the Father, for love!”
3. God’s All-Surpassing Love Ensures No One Can Condemn Us (8:33-34)
“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” The two questions that Paul asks in these two verses are virtually the same. For here, the point of bringing the charges is to condemn.
It is interesting that in talking with Muhammed, one of the Christians in Niger, he used these very words to describe the way of life there. He said everyone is trying to ‘condemn you.’
By that, he meant everyone is looking for a crack in the armor. Everyone is looking for some way to discredit your beliefs, or your life. He talked about being challenged by Muslims who came to him, with chests puffed out, believing they had found the hole in Christianity that make it collapse.
Moreover, many would try to attack him personally. He talked about one time in particular where a Muslim man was saying how horrible Christians were; how they were all bad people and always fighting with others. Muhammed didn’t say anything and let the man go on his rant. But eventually another man – not a Christian – looked to Muhammed and said, “This man is not always fighting – he never has trouble with anyone.”
That not only speaks to Muhammed’s testimony, but serves as a picture of the ministry of Christ that Paul speaks about here. We can imagine Satan himself pointing out our moral failings to God, much as he tried to do with Job.
‘See, God, look how they sin – they lie, cheat, and steal. They love other things more than you, making gods of money and sex and sports. Surely, they cannot be your children.”
And yet, Christ is there to stand as our advocate. He is there to say, ‘No, they are God’s children. I died for them, and was raised back to life again. And now they stand faultless before God, not because of their own sinfulness, but because my righteousness, which I have given them.’
We can imagine such a scene, but an all too real one plays out on a regular basis for most of us. It is the scene that unfolds when Satan comes to us and seeks to condemn with similar words. Though we can never suffer actual condemnation, he wants us to feel condemned.
He delights in dragging us through the mud of our own sin, reminding us of our failings. Drudging up the past. Whispering to us that we have no right to enjoy God or believe we can really have forgiveness.
And yet, Paul reminds us that our salvation does not depend on us, but on the justification that comes through the death and resurrection of Christ for us. So we can sing with all humble and hopeful faith –
When Satan tempts me to despair, And tells me of the guilt within, I look to heav’n, and see Him there Who made an end of all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died My sinful soul is counted free; For God, the just, is satisfied To look on Him and pardon me
Paul asks, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?”
And the answer is ‘no one!’ Why? Because “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
4. God’s All-Surpassing Love Ensures Nothing Can Separate Us From God (8:35-39)
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ [37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Paul’s last question brings together all the others questions he has posed. Here he asks the essential question – “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
And after asking the question, Paul considers some of the things that might cause us to believe that we have pulled from Christ’s loving grip of grace: tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
The truth of the matter is, this is life, isn’t it? Not just life out there, but life for the Christians as well. Paul quotes from Psalm 44 to remind us just how brutal life can be – He says, “As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’”
Do not miss the significance of this verse. In the context of Psalm 44, Israel is suffering not for faithlessness, but for their loyalty to the Lord. Indeed, in 2 Tim 3:12, Paul reminds us that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,”
This was extremely relevant to the recipients of this epistle. Paul is writing to believers in Rome. Many are being persecuted for holding to their faith. They are in danger of being put to death. Before too much longer, it will become popular for the emperor to execute Christians by using them as torches to light up his garden parties. And yet, this will not be a sign of God’s displeasure against them. They have not been separated from the love of Christ.
We might be tempted to think that bad circumstances in our lives mean God doesn’t love us. Some people say ‘your experiences define you.’ But Paul says no – if you are a Christian, God’s love defines you. His love is what gives meaning to the story of our life. Christians have no reason to think of themselves as victims. This is why Paul says, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
Even in the bad times, God is using those things to bring you to glory. And nothing is going to happen to you apart from his will, and nothing is going to separate you from his love.
Paul says, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Conclusion
Does sin come too easily because of the difficulties of life? Have the difficulties you face caused you to wane in your love for God, and caused you to pursue quick and cheap relief by giving into to sin?
Are you overwhelmed by guilt because of your sins? Perhaps sins of the past before you came to Christ? Or possibly even sins that, even this morning, beset your soul?
If you have forgotten about the great love with which God loved, and have found your heart easily giving way to sin, then take the advice of the old hymn writer –
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of his glory and grace. Through death into life everlasting he passed, and we follow him there; Over us sin no more hath dominion–for more than conq’rors we are! Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of his glory and grace.
Brothers and sisters, never forget the love of God for you. The kind of all-surpassing love that bring joy, contentment, strength, and satisfaction – the kind that cannot compare to the cheap imitations sin offers.
Remember God’s love and delight yourself in him (Ps 37:4).
