Knowing God's Love

How can you be sure God isn't against you?

[Unfortunately, audio is not available for this sermon.]

This past Tuesday (4/17/18), an airplane full of people experienced the nightmare that many passengers sitting in their seat hope and pray doesn’t happen. As flight attendants were taking drink orders, a loud pop was heard in the airplane when the engine malfunctioned and sent pieces of metal shooting out at the airplane, one of which shattered the window in Row 14. Oxygen masks immediately dropped from the ceiling for people to put on. One woman was sucked out the window and other passengers acted quickly to pull her back in. Sadly, she later died due to the injuries she experienced. The Southwest Airlines flight was heading from New York to Dallas but made an emergency landing in Philadelphia.

As this news has been reporting, a few individuals have been specially recognized. One is the pilot, Tammy Jo Shultz. One person described her as having “nerves of steel.” Tammy Jo was so calm that air traffic control could hardly believe what she was reporting. She calmly and slowly described the emergency over the radio while at the same time trying to land a plane whose engine had failed. She told air traffic control that part of the aircraft was missing and asked that they have medical personnel meet them on the runway. A CNN article gives the rest of the conversation:

Air traffic control responded: "Injured passengers, OK. And is your airplane physically on fire?"
"No, it's not on fire," she replied. "But part of it is missing. They said there's a hole and that someone went out."
The controller responded: "Um, I'm sorry. You said there was a hole and somebody went out?...

It was hard to believe what Tammy Jo was saying because she was so calm and collected. Even though the engine keeping her 45 ton hunk of metal filled with 20 tons of fuel 30,000 feet in the air just blew up and put a hole in the airplane, sucking a passenger partially out the window, she kept her cool and made a safe landing. We may wonder: how did she do that? Even while others were panicking and there was chaos all around her and she was in immense danger with a huge amount of responsibility on her shoulders, how did she remain calm and confident?

Series Introduction
Today, we are continuing our four week series for the month of April called “Jesus Is Alive...Now What?” Because Jesus is alive, we can know God. Last week we learned that we can know better through seeing the hope he gives to us. This week, we will learn how we can know God better through seeing the love he has for us.

Sermon Introduction
Romans 8:31-38 is going to give us a better understanding of God’s love for us. There are many situations in life that would lead us to doubt God’s love for us. Those situations could throw us into a panic like the passengers on that airplane with a failed engine. But how do we react like the pilot with calm and confidence. How do we remain confident and assured that God still loves us even if our circumstances, on the surface, seem to indicate that he doesn’t?

The big question this passage answers is: how can you be sure God isn’t against you? How can you be sure God isn’t against you?

Ever since the first humans were created by God, we have had an enemy trying to convince us that God is against us. In the Bible, that enemy is called Satan or the devil. His goal is to turn us against God by convincing us that God is against us. He did it with the first humans and he’s doing it today. Satan will present evidence to convince us that God is against us. This passage covers the two main pieces of evidence that he uses: sin and suffering.

Let’s start with the first piece of evidence in verses 31 to 34.

Satan’s Evidence: Sin (Romans 8:31-34)

Romans is a letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, Italy. Paul has a crazy story. He started off thinking Jesus was a fraud, so he was trying to wipe out followers of Jesus. He was known as a man who was violently persecuting the church in order to destroy it. But then Jesus appeared to Paul alive and his life was totally changed because if Jesus is alive, resurrected from the dead, then he isn’t a fraud and everything he said is true. Paul went from the worst enemy of the church to its greatest evangelist! In about 60 AD, around 30 years after he started following Jesus, Paul wrote this letter to the church in Rome and it contains the Bible’s longest and most thorough explanation of the gospel

The passage we are looking at today is Paul’s exclamation point of assurance at the end of this long explanation of the gospel. It begins with a question:

31 What then shall we say to these things? (Romans 8:31a)

We need to know what “these things” are. “These things” are all the truths of the gospel he’s already written in the letter. Paul starts the letter by explaining that everyone with no exception has a big problem: we all know God’s law, whether inwardly by our conscience or outwardly by the written law in the Bible, and yet none of us keep it. Everyone without exception falls short. No one keeps God’s law, no one loves God with their whole heart as they should, no one loves other people as they should. Instead of worshiping God, the Creator of all things, everyone worships the things he has created.

This is a big problem because it means we all are in big trouble. It means in God’s law court, we will all be declared guilty and be sentenced to death. That’s the just penalty for our crimes against the Creator of the universe. The wages of our sin - what we earn - is death. The big problem is that even though everyone knows God’s law, no one keeps it, therefore all stand guilty before God (1:18-3:20).

The good news is that God has provided a solution to our big problem. None of us keep the law, but God has provided a righteousness apart from the law. He has made a way for us to be declared innocent and righteous even though we are guilty lawbreakers. The way he has done this is by sending his Son, Jesus, to take upon himself the just penalty for our law-breaking. He served our sentence as a substitute in our place. Jesus was condemned in our place. Jesus suffered the sentence of a law-breaker to satisfy what the justice of God requires. This quote by pastor and author John Stott puts it well: “The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man.” (John Stott, The Cross of Christ)

But a response is required by us. What Jesus did doesn’t get automatically applied to everyone. We need to trust in Jesus - we need to surrender all of life to him. We need to declare our allegiance to him as our King. Then this amazing gift is given to us. We are justified, meaning we are declared righteous and innocent. We are declared righteous even though we are guilty. We are reconciled to God when we were once his enemies.

But not only are we declared righteous. Because we now have a right standing with God, we are promised a future greater than we could imagine. It’s a bigger and better hope than we deserve. It’s the hope of everything being made new - the whole universe and everything in it. It’s the hope of a future free from the presence of sin and all the ruin it causes. It’s the hope of a future in God’s presence, seeing him face to face.

In the meantime, we are being made new. What God will do for the whole creation he is already doing in us: freeing us from the power and presence of sin. He is releasing its control over us and restoring the damage it’s done. We can say “no” to sin and “yes” to God because we are free from sin’s power.

To this, Paul asks in verse 31:

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

If you trust in Jesus, if you place your faith in him as the Lord of your life, then God is for you. God is no longer against you. He is on your side. You are not his enemy. You have been adopted into his family. You are under his care, protection, and guidance. And if the God of the universe is for you, then who can be against you?

The big question this passage answers is: how can you be sure God isn’t against you? The short answer is: Because of Jesus. Jesus makes our right standing before God possible. Jesus makes peace with God possible. If you trust in Jesus, you can be sure God isn’t against you because of him.

But Satan will bring evidence forward to convince us otherwise. Those who believe in Jesus have no fear of Jesus’ return to judge the world because we have already been declared righteous. We have nothing to fear. This is Satan’s first line of attack. He points to the future and asks: how can you be sure God won’t be against you in the future? How can you really have confidence about that day of judgment? So how can you be sure God won’t be against you in the future?

First, because God has already given Jesus as the greatest gift. Because God has already given Jesus as the greatest gift. Paul puts it this way in verse 32:

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? (Romans 8:32)

This is an argument from the greater to the lesser: if God has already given us the greatest gift by sending his Son, Jesus, to save us from our sins, why should we doubt that he will give us the future he has promised? When we trust in Jesus, we are adopted into God’s family and God promises his children an amazing inheritance.

This attack is two-pronged: it questions whether we deserve the future we are so confident God will give us and it questions whether God will make good on his promises. It questions our worthiness and God’s character. But the truth we already know that we are totally undeserving of what God has promised. We are totally unworthy. But God is so gracious and generous that he gives it to us anyway. We don’t deserve it but he gives us what we don’t deserve. That’s proven by the fact that he already gave his Son for us.

You can fight Satan by turning his accusations into praise. Let his accusations turn you to Jesus and increase the joy in the salvation he gives to you. When Satan says: “You don’t deserve salvation. You don’t deserve God’s love. You don’t deserve to be called God’s child. You don’t deserve forgiveness.” Respond with, “You’re right. I don’t deserve any of that. That’s why I thank God that he is gracious and generous and gives me what I don’t deserve.”

How can you be sure God won’t be against you in the future? First, because God has already given Jesus as the greatest gift. Second, because God himself declares you righteous through Jesus. Because God himself declares you righteous through Jesus. Paul puts it this way in verse 33:

33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. (Romans 8:33)

“God’s elect” means “God’s chosen people” - the people whom he has adopted into his family through Jesus. This question pictures the court of law and a prosecuting lawyer bringing charges against God’s chosen people to prove we are guilty. But who can bring a charge against God’s people? Who can bring a charge against those who’ve trusted in Jesus? God himself has already justified them, meaning he’s declared them righteous. The Judge has already declared them innocent. The verdict has already been rendered by the Judge so court isn’t even in session.

Again, turn Satan’s accusations into praise. He says, “You are so sinful. You are so selfish and unrighteous. You are filled with pride. You don’t love God like you should. You don’t love other people like God tells you to. You have a record a mile long full of charges to prove you’re guilty.” Respond with, “You’re right. I do. There are plenty of charges that can be brought against me. That’s why I thank God for declaring me righteous even though I should be declared guilty.”

How can you be sure God won’t be against you in the future? First, because God has already given Jesus as the greatest gift. Second, because God himself declares you righteous through Jesus. Third, because Jesus is living proof of your right standing. Because Jesus is living proof of your right standing. Paul say it this way in verse 34:

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. (Romans 8:34)

Jesus died for our sins - for all our law-breaking. But he not only died, he was raised to new life and now is in the presence of God interceding for us. If it’s a court of law, Jesus is our defense lawyer. Jesus is representing us. In Biblical terms, Jesus is our great high priest. The priest in the Old Testament represented the people before God and offered sacrifices for their sins so they could be forgiven. Jesus is the great high priest who offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins. But not only that, he is alive and in God’s presence! No one can come into God’s presence and say, “There’s no proof that these people shouldn’t be condemned.” No one can say that because Jesus is right there as a living testimony that there is no condemnation for those who trust in him.

Satan says, “You are a guilty sinner. You should be condemned. You deserve death.” Turn Satan’s accusations into praise by saying, “You’re right. That’s what I deserve. That’s why I thank God that Jesus is alive as a constant reassurance that condemnation and death isn’t my future. My future is with Jesus in God’s presence. He’s there now to guarantee it.”

Satan’s first line of argumentation is to present our sin as evidence that God is against us. Our sin means we don’t deserve what God has promised, our sin means charges can easily brought against us, and our sin means we should be condemned. But Jesus took care of our sin so that it no longer stands against us which means God is no longer against us; he’s for us.

Satan’s Evidence: Suffering (Romans 8:35-39)

Satan’s second line of argumentation is to present suffering as evidence that God is against us. When looking at the future day of judgment fails, Satan focuses on the present and asks: How can you be sure God isn’t against you in the present? Don’t all the hardships, grief, and trials in your life prove God doesn’t really love you? If he really loved you, then you wouldn’t be going through this, would you? So how can you be sure God isn’t against you in the present?

Paul gives one answer: Because God works even the bad for your good to make you like Jesus. Because God works even the bad for your good to make you like Jesus. Verses 35 through 39 give us this answer and they work kind of like two sets of stairs going up to the same place. The stairs mirror each other so after you go up one set and reach the top, then you go down the stairs on the opposite side you are seeing the same thing at each step. This happens all over in the Bible and it’s called a chiasm.

Step one asks this in verse 35:

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:35a)

Going to the next step, you get the answer in the form of a question:

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.” (Romans 8:35-36)

Step one of the stairs asks a question to make this point: nothing will separate us from the love of Christ. Step two removes all doubt: no matter what it is. Then Paul quotes Psalm 44 from the Old Testament. This Psalm was written by someone who was suffering from persecution. People who opposed their faith were making life difficult. They are a good person who is experiencing bad things. Paul quotes this Psalm to show that suffering at the hands of people who oppose God is nothing new so we shouldn’t be surprised by it.

After these two steps, we arrive at their destination at the top. The main point is in verse 37:

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37)

Then we go back down another set of stairs. The first step going down makes the same point that the last step going up made: no matter what it is. Paul says:

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, (Romans 8:38-39a)

Then step two going down repeats what step one going up stated, that nothing:

will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39b)

What’s at the top of the steps is the point the steps are making. In this life, hardships will come our way: sickness, pain, loss, grief, disease, death, disappointment. Not only this, but people will even oppose our faith. If you talk to people about Jesus, some people are going to get upset, reject you, make fun of you, think you’re silly and weird, and may even try to destroy you. But what does Paul say in verse 37?

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37)

“More than conquerors” could be translated as “super conquerors.” We not only triumph over those things that would seem to separate us from God’s love but we super triumph over them. Why is this?

Back in chapter 8, verse 28, Paul writes that for those who love God, he works out all things for their good. All things. That doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen. It means even the bad things in life, God uses for our good. But what sort of good? In the next verse, Paul says that he all things to make us more like Jesus. God’s goal in your life is to make you more and more like Jesus. And where did Jesus end up? He ended up suffering on a cross. And he calls us to take up our cross as well. Jesus walked a path of suffering that led to glory. Jesus calls us to follow him down that path of suffering to glory in the end.

Back in chapter 5, Paul tells us specifically how suffering works for our good. In verse 4, he says we ought to rejoice in suffering. Why? Because suffering produces endurance. Endurance is the ability to last through the duration of pain and hardship. The same word we get “durable” from. Durable things stand the test of time. If you are run or workout, it’s in the struggle that you actually get stronger. That’s when you built endurance. It’s when we struggle through suffering that we get stronger and build endurance. We become more durable.

Paul goes on to say that endurance produces character. Actually the word is “tested character.” It’s character that is proven because it has been tested. The character we want is the character of Jesus. But you don’t see a person’s character when everything is going as they want it to go. You see a person's character when things aren’t going their way. Do they keep trusting God or do they curse him? Do they still show patience, love, and gentleness when things don’t go their way? Or do they become harsh, angry, and impatient? Pressure squeezes out your character like toothpaste out of the tube. When you get squeezed, what comes out? Does it look like Jesus? Or does it look selfish, prideful, and angry?

Lastly, character produces hope. The more we become like Jesus, the more we value the things that Jesus valued. Jesus’s deepest love was God the Father. As we become more like Jesus, the impurities in our life are burned away so that our hope becomes more pure and concentrated on God instead of lesser hopes. We become more and more overjoyed with the bigger and better hope that God gives.

The pilot on that Southwest flight, Tammy Jo, didn’t instantly become able to handle difficult circumstances calmly and confidently. Tammy joined in the Navy in 1985 and was one of the Navy’s first female fighter pilots as part of a unit that helped train ship crews to respond to Soviet missile threats. She retired as a lieutenant commanded with three medals to her name. Tammy Jo was prepared through the training and discipline of the Navy years earlier to be able to handle the explosion of her plane’s engine last week. She could be calm and confident because this wasn’t her first difficult situation.

God prepares us to be calm and confident in difficult situations even when everyone is panicking around us. Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

I have a good friend who went through a really difficult time mentally and emotionally while we were in seminary. It brought him to the point that he felt he needed to stop school and return to his home state to be with family. But I remember talking with him as he went through that time and he said one of the blessings was that as he went into such despair and reached the bottom, he was encouraged to find that his faith and hope were still there. They weren’t based on his life going well. Even as everything seemed to be going wrong, he learned that his faith deeper than his circumstances.

As Nik and I went over this passage in our Gospel Fluency Group, we reflected on how we forget about God when life is going well. In prosperity, we forget God. But in suffer, our faith is forged. We ask tough questions we wouldn’t normally ask. Katie and I tried to get pregnant for years and we couldn’t even with the help of fertility treatments. We had to ask the tough question: even though we believe God is powerful enough to make us pregnant, will we still trust that he is good even if he doesn’t allow us to get pregnant? That question was sometimes asked through anger and often through tears, but struggling through that deepened our faith. Would we trust that God is for us even if he doesn’t give us what we ask for? Throughout the trial, I felt myself being molded by God. And it increased our hope. Often Katie would say, “I can’t wait until Jesus comes back when we won’t have this sort of pain anymore.”

Hudson is a good gift from God. But God did not have to give him to us. He gave him not because of anything we did but because he is a generous and gracious Father. But I also believe our time of waiting was a good gift from God, even if it usually didn’t feel good.

Application

Remember this truth: God is for you! If you have trusted in Jesus by giving your life to him, God is not against you, even though he should be! If you have not trusted in Jesus for your right standing with God, God is most certainly against you. You are his enemy. You are alienated from him and without hope. But if you have trusted in Christ - if you have surrendered your life to him and given allegiance to him as your King who runs your life - then every reason God has to be against you, and there are many, has been absorbed by Jesus’ death. He took it all upon himself. He sucked it all up like a spunge.

But even after we’ve trusted in Jesus, it’s so easy to believe God is against us. Satan uses our sin, bringing charges and condemnation and guilty. But for those who are in Christ, there is now no condemnation! Jesus paid it.

Secondly, we believe the lie that hardships are evidence that God must be against. “If God really loved me, then my life wouldn’t be so [blank]. If God really loved me, then he would take away [blank]. If God really loved me, then he would give me [blank].” God knew that this would be an especially easy lie to believe and that’s suffering is one of the most addressed topics in the Bible. Both the Old and New Testament talk about it continually. Here’s how you should approach suffering: expect suffering and embrace suffering. It shouldn’t be surprising that we suffer. And when we do, we should embrace it as an opportunity to build endurance, character, and ultimately hope in God.

This week, respond to accusations that you are sinful and guilty differently. You are not perfect. You do things wrong. You will sin. So stop responding like it puts your standing with God in question. Start responding like you know you are sinful and that it has been taken care of by Jesus. And start expecting and embracing suffering.

Conclusion
Once God chooses to love you, there’s no getting away from that love. Once God sets his affection on you, you will always have it. Sin can’t take that away and suffering doesn’t prove it otherwise.

Remember the answers to Paul’s questions. Who shall condemn God’s chosen people? No one. What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Nothing.