WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.600 So, we're going to look back again this morning at Romans chapter 8. 00:00:06.600 --> 00:00:13.560 This has obviously been the most intense period that we've spent looking through the book. 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:21.800 We spent four weeks on Romans chapter 8, because it's probably, it is, I believe, the core, 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:26.359 the central, the hub of the whole of the letter to the Romans. 00:00:26.359 --> 00:00:32.799 Would it be as bold as to say it's, maybe, the hub of the whole Bible? 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:40.119 Because of what it says, it's tremendous, hugely significant for us in our Christian 00:00:40.119 --> 00:00:41.119 lives. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:46.420 So, the last section of chapter 8 where we read together where Paul introduces this section 00:00:46.420 --> 00:00:50.039 with the question, what shall we say to these things? 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:54.239 I mean, who says these things? 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:56.480 Who says what Paul says in this last section? 00:00:56.480 --> 00:00:59.920 I mean, he'd be crazy to say these, right? 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:03.920 It's unbelievable the things he says in this passage. 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:08.000 And what we need to remember and ground ourselves in this morning is that we believe God says 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:09.840 these things, okay? 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:15.560 God says these things through Paul, the apostle, speaking to the church in Rome. 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:21.520 Remember in our gifts of the Spirit, we were looking at the apostles as being foundational. 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:26.239 And Paul was an apostle and the truths that he had along with the prophets are foundational. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:34.920 It was revealed to him, these great truths by God, not only deliberately and consciously 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:41.159 by God, but also what he came to experience and know and realize, because these guys were 00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:44.039 real guys, they weren't just robots. 00:01:44.039 --> 00:01:48.719 And through his own personal experience as a believer, he came to know and understand 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:51.679 these things, I'll say a little bit more about that later. 00:01:51.679 --> 00:01:56.159 But the core of chapter eight of Romans is the whole idea of mindset, isn't it? 00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:58.200 We've looked at that again and again. 00:01:58.200 --> 00:02:00.319 What's our mindset as Christians? 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:06.759 Immediately, you can listen, because it's about your mindset as you come in and our mindset 00:02:06.759 --> 00:02:09.879 as Christians as we go from here. 00:02:09.879 --> 00:02:12.560 Mindset is so important for us as Christians. 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:18.879 It's so important to how we live and how we understand our Christianity and our lives. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:22.199 It may be that today you've come into church unsure of God altogether. 00:02:22.199 --> 00:02:25.400 It may be as a Christian, he seems very far away. 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:27.199 You may be not feeling the love. 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:30.439 It doesn't seem to, he doesn't seem to be listening to you. 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:33.319 And the journey seems very tough. 00:02:33.319 --> 00:02:36.240 You may be doubting yourself as a believer. 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:39.240 Your emotions may be all over the place with regard to that. 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:44.719 You're feeling guilty, judged, opposed, vulnerable. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:45.719 Your faith is weak. 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:47.600 You might just be feeling in a bit of a rut spiritually. 00:02:47.600 --> 00:02:48.600 I'll come to church. 00:02:48.600 --> 00:02:49.600 That's what I do. 00:02:49.600 --> 00:02:50.600 It'll be different today. 00:02:50.600 --> 00:02:52.439 At least we'll be a fire drill. 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:55.719 But normally it's the same kind of thing every week. 00:02:55.719 --> 00:03:02.840 And you may be suffering, physical or spiritually or in whatever way, many fears. 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:05.840 And you may also be struggling with life experiences. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:10.560 The world in which we live, craziness of that world in which we live, the insecurity of 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:12.280 the days in which we live. 00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:14.480 Things used to be fairly stable. 00:03:14.480 --> 00:03:16.439 Anyone over 50 can say that. 00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:21.680 But for young people today, the world is very insecure. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:23.439 There's so much suffering. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:26.400 As a Christian, you may be getting slaughtered for your faith. 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:31.800 You know, verse 36 speaks about that, for your sake, we're being killed all the day long. 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:33.400 We're regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:37.240 We appreciate and sympathize with that today. 00:03:37.240 --> 00:03:40.920 You might be disappointed with the church and with Christians. 00:03:40.920 --> 00:03:44.159 You may have dragged your feet to St. C's today. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:52.040 St. C's is the subject of your ire and as leadership, how you feel let down in one or 00:03:52.040 --> 00:03:53.599 many different ways. 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:57.040 Well, what's the purpose of Romans chapter 8? 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:03.840 Is to change our mindset with the help of God's Holy Spirit. 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:05.340 To change our mindset. 00:04:05.340 --> 00:04:12.239 And the end of Romans chapter 8, Romans, the letter ends with that great benediction marked 00:04:12.239 --> 00:04:14.239 by joy and peace. 00:04:14.239 --> 00:04:17.839 I think that's coming up on the screen, the end of Romans chapter 8. 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:21.079 Sorry, the end of the letter, Romans chapter 15. 00:04:21.079 --> 00:04:23.519 Have we got that? 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:24.519 And it's the great benediction. 00:04:24.519 --> 00:04:26.560 We've used quite a lot when we're doing Romans. 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:31.319 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by the power 00:04:31.319 --> 00:04:33.360 of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:38.600 So joy and peace is the reason for Romans, is the reason for the writing of the book 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:42.480 of Romans, knowing joy and peace in our lives. 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:46.720 And the purpose of Romans 8 is to focus all of that. 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:53.279 So in verse 28 it says the importance of, and we know that for those who love God all 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:54.279 things work together. 00:04:54.279 --> 00:04:57.399 A knowledge, a knowledge of what God says to us. 00:04:57.399 --> 00:05:03.839 And in verse 38 it speaks about being sure or being convinced of what God says. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:07.919 So Martin Lloyd-John speaks about that as logic on fire. 00:05:07.919 --> 00:05:10.799 So it's conviction and knowledge. 00:05:10.799 --> 00:05:16.359 Romans 8 is about changing our mindset by knowledge and by conviction so that we can 00:05:16.359 --> 00:05:18.439 live a life of joy and peace. 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:24.519 You of us don't want to live a life of joy in Christ and peace in Him. 00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:28.959 So I don't know, I don't know why you've come today. 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:31.959 I don't know in what condition you've come today. 00:05:31.959 --> 00:05:36.240 I can tell on the outside, and you can tell with me on the outside, but I don't know what's 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:37.480 in your heart. 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:42.759 You may need to hear this truth very, very much today, very clearly. 00:05:42.759 --> 00:05:45.800 You praying that God will speak into your life. 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:50.639 If you need to hear this, you may be wrestling with issues of faith and trust. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:56.000 You may have come today saying, this is the last time I will come to St. Columbus unless 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:01.879 I get some kind of proof or some kind of evidence that God knows my heart and God knows what 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:03.840 I need and that He speaks into that. 00:06:03.840 --> 00:06:09.600 I don't know, but I'm asking that you pray that God will change your mindset and change 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:14.800 my mindset so that we can live a life of joy and peace in Him. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:19.160 So He speaks into our lives in this passage in two very important ways. 00:06:19.160 --> 00:06:20.720 He says a couple of things. 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:25.199 He says firstly, I will not let you go. 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:26.680 I'm paraphrasing. 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:28.400 I will not let you go. 00:06:28.400 --> 00:06:29.400 That's what He says. 00:06:29.400 --> 00:06:33.480 These are the two things that God is saying in this passage. 00:06:33.480 --> 00:06:36.560 I'm not going to let you go as a believer. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:40.160 And He says, you will never be separated from my love. 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:41.160 Never! 00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:42.319 He says never. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:44.480 You'll never be separated from my love. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:45.480 That's what He's saying this morning. 00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:49.600 I will not let you go and you'll never be separated from my love. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:54.200 Now just before you get all bristly and say, well, it's okay for you to say that. 00:06:54.200 --> 00:06:58.040 You're just a full-time minister and it's easy for you to preach these truths or maybe 00:06:58.040 --> 00:07:05.040 you say before the Bible says that because the Bible doesn't know what my life is like. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:07.439 Preacher doesn't know what my life is like. 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:12.000 How dare you say that kind of things that you'll know joy and peace and that God will 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:14.560 never let us go and never be separated from His love. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:16.560 It's kind of sentimental, isn't it? 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:20.120 Because you say two things before we get bristly about it. 00:07:20.120 --> 00:07:23.639 First is, God knows exactly what your life is like. 00:07:23.639 --> 00:07:25.560 Knows exactly what your life is like this morning. 00:07:25.560 --> 00:07:29.399 He knows exactly what your heart is like. 00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:39.519 But also Paul in saying these things was no idealist or no monastic apostle who preached 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:40.519 in an ivory tower. 00:07:40.519 --> 00:07:42.519 Paul knew these things. 00:07:42.519 --> 00:07:45.079 Second Corinthians 11, it's a slightly longer quote but I want to read it because it puts 00:07:45.079 --> 00:07:47.919 into context what Paul says here. 00:07:47.919 --> 00:07:49.399 He speaks to the church in confidence. 00:07:49.399 --> 00:07:53.399 He says, look, five times I received at the hands of the Jews, the 40 lashes, less one. 00:07:53.399 --> 00:07:54.959 Three times I was beaten with rods. 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:56.079 Once I was stoned. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:57.519 Three times I was shipwrecked. 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:00.359 At night and a day I was adrift at sea. 00:08:00.359 --> 00:08:04.599 On frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, 00:08:04.599 --> 00:08:09.799 from the Gentiles, in the city, in the wilderness, at sea, from false brothers, in toil and hardship 00:08:09.800 --> 00:08:13.680 through many a sleepless night in hunger and thirst, often without food and cold and 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:14.680 exposure. 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:21.400 And apart from other things, there's the daily pressure on me of my anxiety of all the churches. 00:08:21.400 --> 00:08:29.080 This was no theorist when Paul says these things and when God gives him this message. 00:08:29.080 --> 00:08:32.240 God is committed to our good, verse 28. 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:39.680 His purpose and determined will is to complete what he's begun in our lives, eternal life. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:42.079 Thomas preached about that last week. 00:08:42.079 --> 00:08:46.039 And he does so because of his passionate love for us. 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:50.239 So I say again, God is saying, I will not let you go. 00:08:50.239 --> 00:08:55.039 You will never be separated from my love. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:09:03.319 But the challenge of the gospel is a kind of, and a very important aside here, challenge 00:09:03.319 --> 00:09:04.319 of the gospel. 00:09:04.319 --> 00:09:06.120 This promise isn't to everyone. 00:09:06.120 --> 00:09:10.440 This isn't a universal promise to humanity. 00:09:10.440 --> 00:09:14.679 Can you call God Father? 00:09:14.679 --> 00:09:18.360 Do you know Him as your Lord and Savior? 00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:23.200 Do you appreciate your spiritual need? 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:28.720 Are you looking to God for the answers and for meaning and for hope in this volatile and 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:30.519 insecure world? 00:09:30.519 --> 00:09:37.279 Because if you're not, then you need to recognize that this truth is only to those who have 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:41.759 committed their lives and hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:44.799 Because it's only safety and only security in Him. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:47.039 There's only joy and there's only peace in Him. 00:09:47.039 --> 00:09:48.439 There's only life in Him. 00:09:48.439 --> 00:09:50.199 That's the whole message of Romans. 00:09:50.199 --> 00:09:54.039 It's the whole message of the good news, isn't it? 00:09:54.039 --> 00:10:00.240 To remember that the importance of being able to call God Father because you've come to 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:04.200 Him through Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. 00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:11.759 So as Christians, He wants you to know and He wants you to be convinced so that your mindset 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:20.240 changes, that He will not let us go, that we cannot be separated, never separated from 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:21.240 His love. 00:10:21.240 --> 00:10:27.120 And He does it by asking five questions in this section, okay? 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:29.320 So always getting us to use our minds and get us to think. 00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:31.080 And questions are the great way of doing that. 00:10:31.080 --> 00:10:37.160 So in verse 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35, each verse has a question. 00:10:37.160 --> 00:10:41.120 And it's through the answer to these questions that He's assuring us that we will not let 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:47.160 us go and that His love for us will never, we will never be separated from Him. 00:10:47.160 --> 00:10:52.040 But I'm going to split that five questions into three points because there are three 00:10:52.040 --> 00:10:53.200 themes really. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:56.960 The first is generosity, the generosity of God. 00:10:56.960 --> 00:11:00.400 There's one and two, what shall we say to these things? 00:11:00.400 --> 00:11:04.720 If God is for us, God's on our side, who can be against us? 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:08.000 And He says, He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for His own. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:14.280 Second question, how will He not along with Him graciously give us all things? 00:11:14.280 --> 00:11:17.600 So generosity is the theme of these first two questions. 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:22.320 And He's reminding us in a world where we're plagued by insecurity and by fear and sometimes 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:23.320 right opposition. 00:11:23.320 --> 00:11:28.440 And maybe you've come thinking, God doesn't give me what I ask for. 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:31.000 He's not giving, He's not answering my prayers. 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:32.940 Does He really care? 00:11:32.940 --> 00:11:33.940 Is He mean? 00:11:33.940 --> 00:11:35.940 Is He a killjoy? 00:11:35.940 --> 00:11:42.960 No, He's reminding us of His generosity and His being on our side. 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:46.000 God He says is for us. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:48.840 When God is for us, this is not a bit player who's for us. 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:50.600 This is not someone who's insignificant. 00:11:50.600 --> 00:11:55.879 It's not a figment of our imagination like our invisible friend that we used to have 00:11:55.879 --> 00:11:56.879 when we were small. 00:11:56.879 --> 00:12:03.800 God is the living God, the Creator and sustainer of the universe who is for us. 00:12:03.800 --> 00:12:05.159 He's on our side. 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:08.440 This is a hugely significant reality. 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:13.240 And in His generosity, He has given His Son. 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:17.800 He did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all. 00:12:17.799 --> 00:12:25.000 Now that's a really hard section, a really hard verse, because some people immediately 00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:31.240 read that and say, well, you know, He didn't give Himself, He gave His Son. 00:12:31.240 --> 00:12:37.120 A bit of a dictator, someone who abused His power. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:40.359 He wasn't willing to give Himself but He gave His Son. 00:12:40.359 --> 00:12:42.879 What kind of Father would do that? 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:49.120 We can't possibly read that if we understand the mystery of the Trinity, when we understand 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:55.559 that God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons, one God, one God. 00:12:55.559 --> 00:13:01.840 So in the giving of His Son, He's giving Himself. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:08.399 The pain of Christ's forsakenness on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:17.279 He's as painful for Christ the Son as it is for God the Father who's having to forsake 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:20.879 at that point, His beloved Son. 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:26.840 And He's giving in the Trinity that He's giving of Himself in the most mysterious way and 00:13:26.840 --> 00:13:32.720 in the most astonishing mind-blowing way. 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:36.240 He's committing Himself, He's already committed Himself to us. 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:38.240 You know that yourself, don't you? 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:43.759 You show your love for someone, the greatest love you can give is not really a check. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:44.919 Checks are handy. 00:13:44.919 --> 00:13:49.879 But is the giving of yourself, isn't it? 00:13:49.879 --> 00:13:53.120 That's how we measure our commitment to someone. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:58.960 It's when we give them of ourselves, our time, our friendship, our interest, our sacrificial, 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:03.519 you know when we spend time with someone, the giving of ourselves, that's the great 00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:05.680 act of love and commitment, isn't it? 00:14:05.680 --> 00:14:07.039 The giving of ourselves. 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:13.199 And that is how we know if people really love and practically show their love by the giving 00:14:13.199 --> 00:14:18.759 of themselves to others. 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:20.959 And God gives us His Son. 00:14:20.959 --> 00:14:22.879 God gives us Himself. 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:29.959 He gives us what we absolutely need as His Son is atonement for our sins. 00:14:29.959 --> 00:14:35.679 And therefore having given us what we absolutely need, we can be assured He will continue to 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:39.199 give us all that we need in our lives. 00:14:39.199 --> 00:14:41.719 He can't give more. 00:14:41.719 --> 00:14:44.759 He will always give what's good for us. 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:48.399 That might not be what we think is good for us, and it certainly might not be what we 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:59.759 want, but He will always give what is good for us, and we can rejoice in His generosity. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:02.639 And more so because we know what lies ahead. 00:15:02.639 --> 00:15:05.079 Anticipation is a great thing in life, isn't it? 00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:08.759 Peace and hope, and Paul speaks about hope at the end. 00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:11.600 One of the worst things in life is to be devoid of hope, isn't it? 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:14.120 Have no hope, no anticipation, no future. 00:15:14.120 --> 00:15:17.720 We have this great hope as Christians, you know, when people die. 00:15:17.720 --> 00:15:22.440 When Christians die, it immediately makes us think about the future hope, the end of 00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:27.200 this life, you know, which is passing so quickly, and we think we're so secure in it, but ends 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:28.879 so quickly. 00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:31.840 And then there's, for us as Christians, there's future hope. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:39.360 And in fact, it's so secure that Paul mentions it in the past tense. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:41.360 In verse 30, we didn't read it. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:44.639 Those who are predestined, they all call those who call, they justify, and those who justify, 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:45.639 they also glorify. 00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:46.639 They glorify. 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:52.920 We haven't been glorified yet, but it's written in the past tense, it's so sure. 00:15:52.920 --> 00:15:56.759 This is what is going to be like for us. 00:15:56.759 --> 00:15:57.759 He can give us more. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:02.639 He's committed to our present, he's committed to our future and our glorification and all 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:04.279 that we need, you know? 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:06.799 It's saying, I'm on your side. 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:08.600 I'm on your side. 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:11.480 It's generosity of the living God, he says, on our side. 00:16:11.480 --> 00:16:13.480 So there's generosity, that's the first thing. 00:16:13.480 --> 00:16:16.879 The second thing is innocence. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:20.679 That's questions three and questions four. 00:16:20.679 --> 00:16:23.399 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:25.200 It is God who justifies. 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:29.440 Who is to condemn Jesus Christ, the one who died, more than that, who is raised, who is 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:32.360 at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us? 00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:44.360 So these second two questions are written in the, with the idea of the courtroom. 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:45.640 They're legal questions, really. 00:16:45.640 --> 00:16:46.640 Who will bring any charge? 00:16:46.640 --> 00:16:49.240 Who will condemn us? 00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:58.320 And he brings that into our lives, that the idea of being crushed, having a sense of failure 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:04.640 or of guilt often happens in a community setting. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:08.480 As we compare ourselves with others, we feel failed or we feel miserable or we feel that 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:15.120 we've done things wrong or we feel we're being judged, sadly, often. 00:17:15.120 --> 00:17:18.079 These questions in the courthouse language. 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:21.879 Despite our greatest efforts, what I try to hear is we feel judged. 00:17:21.879 --> 00:17:24.159 We feel judged by our own conscience. 00:17:24.159 --> 00:17:27.159 We feel judged by Satan's accusations. 00:17:27.159 --> 00:17:30.919 We feel judged by a cynical world that we go to work in every week and sometimes someone 00:17:30.919 --> 00:17:33.240 will say, well, I thought you were a Christian. 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:35.359 Are you really, you're a Christian? 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:36.359 Wow, that's strange. 00:17:36.359 --> 00:17:38.519 I didn't think you were a Christian. 00:17:38.519 --> 00:17:44.839 Judged by the world and maybe also judged, as I said, by other Christians. 00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:48.240 You're sadly most often judged by other Christians, strange thing. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:51.519 Then we just go God on our side, we think we're God. 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:54.480 We think we can take the place of God and make all the judgments ourselves. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:56.879 We're very good at that. 00:17:56.879 --> 00:18:03.519 But God is saying and reminding us and challenging to get our focus and attention. 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:06.799 If we're going to be joyful, if we're going to know peace in our lives, we need to remember 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:11.639 who it is that we stand before and whether our identity is our identities in God, it's 00:18:11.639 --> 00:18:13.599 in Jesus Christ. 00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:15.839 God has justified us. 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:17.240 He says that for you. 00:18:17.240 --> 00:18:19.559 Who will bring any charge against God's elect? 00:18:19.559 --> 00:18:23.079 He said, no one will because God has justified us. 00:18:23.079 --> 00:18:24.839 This is the great judge of the universe. 00:18:24.839 --> 00:18:30.039 He said, your sins are already cleared in the person of Jesus. 00:18:30.039 --> 00:18:33.480 That's why this is all related and channeled into the person of Jesus. 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:35.399 You might not feel you need Jesus. 00:18:35.399 --> 00:18:38.159 You might not feel you are gilly before Jesus. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:47.920 But he says that we are made right only by Jesus and by having our faith in Him so that 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:54.360 God the judge justifies us because he sees as perfect and innocent Son. 00:18:54.360 --> 00:18:57.960 And Jesus is not going to condemn us. 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:03.040 Now, you think someone who judges you, just think about it for a moment because they've 00:19:03.040 --> 00:19:04.360 got something on you. 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:08.479 You know, that's what's happening in the press all the time just now. 00:19:08.479 --> 00:19:14.839 Someone's abusing their parliamentary position to name someone else and someone else who's 00:19:14.839 --> 00:19:19.279 named says, you know, you shouldn't be saying anything like that. 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:20.919 You don't have anything on me. 00:19:20.919 --> 00:19:24.199 But the reason he says it is because he has got something on him. 00:19:24.199 --> 00:19:25.559 He knows a secret. 00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:29.439 He knows about things that he's done in the past now. 00:19:29.439 --> 00:19:32.439 And sometimes that will make us feel gilly, maybe with other people. 00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:35.320 They know things about us. 00:19:35.320 --> 00:19:36.880 They know what we're like. 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:40.440 Maybe as you look in the mirror, you see yourself and you say, I know things about myself. 00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:46.279 But the thing is here, what we're told, what we're told here is Jesus is not going to condemn 00:19:46.279 --> 00:19:49.519 us. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:57.640 And yet he is the one who knows our sins intimately because he died for our sins. 00:19:57.640 --> 00:20:02.560 He can't be surprised by our sins and by our heart and by our guilt. 00:20:02.560 --> 00:20:11.280 He voluntarily took them, suffered them, was judged for them, was condemned on every single 00:20:11.280 --> 00:20:14.000 one of these sins on our behalf. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:19.440 So Jesus doesn't condemn us because he has already been condemned in our place. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:26.120 To see why we can know innocence and justice at the same time. 00:20:26.119 --> 00:20:28.359 God is satisfied with that. 00:20:28.359 --> 00:20:31.039 He's at the right hand of God. 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:39.079 God raised him to life, defeated death, the curse, and the curse of a rebellion and sin 00:20:39.079 --> 00:20:42.000 against God. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:43.239 That's what God had planned. 00:20:43.239 --> 00:20:44.679 He raised him from the dead. 00:20:44.679 --> 00:20:51.399 And Jesus Christ is alive, sitting at the right hand of the Father in a place of great 00:20:51.400 --> 00:20:59.960 glory and the Father listens to Jesus' prayers for you. 00:20:59.960 --> 00:21:01.720 Jesus praying for you today. 00:21:01.720 --> 00:21:03.960 He's interceding for us at the right hand of God. 00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:04.960 Isn't that great? 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:05.960 Isn't that amazing? 00:21:05.960 --> 00:21:14.000 You've got that great reality and that great truth in our lives that Jesus Christ is interceding. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:18.800 Trinitarian team effort on our behalf. 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:26.039 We recognize that we're innocent because of what God continues to do in Christ for us, 00:21:26.039 --> 00:21:30.919 and so we can know joy and peace. 00:21:30.919 --> 00:21:33.159 Generosity, innocence. 00:21:33.159 --> 00:21:40.680 I'm struggling today because the first time in many years, the clock up there stopped. 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:43.000 So might go on for a very long time. 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:48.079 But I was given a watch by some very caring parishioner who obviously didn't want me to 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:50.559 go on too long. 00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:51.559 But I'm really missing. 00:21:51.559 --> 00:21:53.159 I'm sorry if I keep looking up there. 00:21:53.159 --> 00:21:58.679 I am looking at the gallery, but I'm just recognizing the clock has stopped and it's 00:21:58.679 --> 00:22:00.079 confusing me. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:03.199 So generosity and innocence. 00:22:03.199 --> 00:22:05.599 Generosity questions one and two. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:07.279 Innocence questions three and four. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:12.519 So when we know we are innocent before God justly because of Jesus and because we know 00:22:12.519 --> 00:22:19.720 God is generous towards us rather than mean, then that enables us to know joy and peace. 00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:21.799 It changes our mindset. 00:22:21.799 --> 00:22:29.160 So the last thing, and this is question five, which is really a summary of the other questions. 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:34.000 It's the pinnacle of the other questions, and it's the question behind the other questions, 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:39.839 and it's the fear that might be often behind your life as a Christian in my life. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:41.400 Unbreakable love. 00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:43.280 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 00:22:43.280 --> 00:22:48.160 Is that not what brings you fear spiritually? 00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:52.600 God doesn't love me anymore. 00:22:52.600 --> 00:22:54.400 I've done too much. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:58.160 I'm separated from God's love. 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:03.160 Can it be that we fall out of a relationship with Jesus Christ as believers? 00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:11.560 Well, we're reminded in this passage that this climactic question is to remind us that 00:23:11.560 --> 00:23:17.360 whatever we are experiencing as believers, our mindset is to take us back to that place 00:23:17.360 --> 00:23:22.880 where we know and recognize and appreciate that He will not let us go and that we will 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:24.880 never be separated from His love. 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:35.280 Now, that can seem trite and it can seem like it's just kind of wishful thinking in many 00:23:35.280 --> 00:23:41.040 ways because of the suffering and the struggles and the battles we have in our lives. 00:23:41.040 --> 00:23:45.480 There's no denial of the suffering that we go through in life, and there's no denial 00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:49.600 that some people suffer a lot worse than we do. 00:23:49.600 --> 00:23:52.600 But we need to disabuse ourselves as we come to this. 00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:56.719 Disabuse ourselves as something very misleading, which is often at the core of our thinking, 00:23:56.719 --> 00:24:03.319 which is if Jesus loves, if Jesus does love me, why does He let me suffer? 00:24:03.319 --> 00:24:05.679 Why does He let me go through difficulties? 00:24:05.679 --> 00:24:07.679 You know, our biggest battle is the question, why? 00:24:07.679 --> 00:24:08.679 Well, why? 00:24:08.679 --> 00:24:10.399 Why isn't He promises coming true now? 00:24:10.399 --> 00:24:12.240 Why don't I see the joy and peace? 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:14.079 Why do I know these things? 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:15.079 Maybe you don't have these questions. 00:24:15.079 --> 00:24:21.439 Maybe I'm just particularly questioning, but I suspect some of you may have. 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:25.000 And I've often heard, at least I've often heard it said, you know, if God is our Father, 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:28.480 well, I know my Father, He would never let me suffer. 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:32.960 If He had the power of God, He would never let me suffer the way God lets me suffer. 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:36.039 What kind of Father is it that would allow you to go through these things? 00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:41.640 A legitimate concern, isn't it, when we apply human kind of characteristics to the living 00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:42.640 God? 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:47.960 Well, what do we need to remember of what the Bible always, always teaches? 00:24:47.960 --> 00:24:52.360 It's first that sin always continues to cloud everything. 00:24:52.360 --> 00:24:55.840 If we're associated with Christ as believers, we will be opposed. 00:24:55.840 --> 00:25:02.120 Okay, we will be opposed because Christ Jesus as the perfect person was also opposed. 00:25:02.120 --> 00:25:04.759 It's anomalous, we saw that on Wednesday night. 00:25:04.759 --> 00:25:06.720 Anomalous just means doesn't make sense. 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:09.079 Sin doesn't make sense. 00:25:09.079 --> 00:25:10.960 That's why Jesus cried on the cross. 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:11.960 Why? 00:25:11.960 --> 00:25:12.960 Why? 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:14.640 In the midst of that darkness, He cried why? 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:18.080 The living God, the Son of God cried why? 00:25:18.080 --> 00:25:22.720 Because being under the curse of sin is just senseless. 00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:25.200 It's not logical. 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:28.320 And the world under judgment doesn't make sense to us. 00:25:28.320 --> 00:25:29.320 Sin doesn't make sense. 00:25:29.320 --> 00:25:31.000 It's a horrible anomaly. 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:35.920 It's a miserable experience that we just never make sense of. 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:38.840 But sin clouds everything, a world under God's judgment. 00:25:38.840 --> 00:25:44.240 And sin still remains in our own heart as we battle against God. 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:47.720 As sinful nature remains, it's temporary. 00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:48.880 We're responsible. 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:49.880 We're not to grieve the Spirit. 00:25:49.880 --> 00:25:51.480 We're not to quench the Spirit. 00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:53.000 We're not to resist the Spirit. 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:55.039 But sometimes we do. 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:58.200 And sometimes, therefore, there's a struggle. 00:25:58.200 --> 00:26:04.680 But paradoxically, in His great love, He says He even will use suffering to bring us closer 00:26:04.680 --> 00:26:06.680 to Him. 00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:10.000 The Bible doesn't only suggest that. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:16.960 That is the clear experience that we know and Paul knew and that Jesus taught. 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:22.119 And here we have a list of all the things that can happen in this life to believers, 00:26:22.119 --> 00:26:27.079 whether it's trouble or hardship or opposition or poverty or violence. 00:26:27.079 --> 00:26:33.720 And then in the second section, He repeats another broad kind of areas of life, there's 00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:38.160 physical world, the physical world, life or death. 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:46.000 The spiritual world, angels or demons, time, present or future, space, height and depth. 00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:51.640 And anything, He's really just giving us a list of anything that might be able to separate 00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:53.240 us from the love of God. 00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:58.040 Can anything you list today separate us, separate you from the love of God? 00:26:58.040 --> 00:27:02.279 And He's saying, no, no, nothing can. 00:27:02.279 --> 00:27:06.519 Does your suffering that you may face or may have faced this last week, will it tell you 00:27:06.519 --> 00:27:08.160 that God doesn't love you? 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:10.200 No, it does not. 00:27:10.200 --> 00:27:11.599 God says no, it doesn't. 00:27:11.599 --> 00:27:13.039 We may not understand it. 00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:19.240 We certainly will not like it, but it doesn't tell us that God doesn't love us. 00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:21.160 Nothing can separate us. 00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:31.319 And the reminder is that nothing we experience, nothing that we subjectively feel will separate 00:27:31.319 --> 00:27:38.439 us from the love of Christ as we remain in Him. 00:27:38.439 --> 00:27:41.200 Remaining in Him is the key. 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:50.639 His purpose for us, His love for us, His commitment to us, His elect will never lose their salvation. 00:27:50.639 --> 00:27:53.960 Nothing can separate you, He says, from my love. 00:27:53.960 --> 00:27:57.480 He says, I'm telling you that. 00:27:57.480 --> 00:28:01.680 He says, it's not about you, He says, it's about me. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:04.839 It's about my love, my commitment. 00:28:04.839 --> 00:28:13.920 It's my intercession, my finished work, my declaration of you being justified. 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:18.200 So He says, this is what we are to know. 00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:21.319 We are to know this. 00:28:21.319 --> 00:28:26.480 We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:30.680 And we are to become convinced of that. 00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:32.039 We are to be sure of that. 00:28:32.039 --> 00:28:34.960 That's what this chapter is all about. 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:46.920 The word there is a rational, settled, unalterable foundational conviction, something that is 00:28:46.920 --> 00:28:58.840 at the forefront of our mindset that governs our life, therefore, therefore we can't spend 00:28:58.840 --> 00:29:01.480 any time on this. 00:29:01.480 --> 00:29:05.000 We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:06.500 That's what we are. 00:29:06.500 --> 00:29:10.960 We are more than conquerors because of what God has done. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:13.920 God is to receive the glory in our lives. 00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:14.920 We're not the conquerors. 00:29:14.920 --> 00:29:16.720 It's not our love. 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:17.720 It's not our abilities. 00:29:17.720 --> 00:29:18.799 It's not our knowledge. 00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:20.400 It's not our convictions. 00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:27.200 But it's what we take and recognize as the character and the person of the living God 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:29.759 to whom is all the glory. 00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:37.559 And if we can't give the glory to God, we misunderstand what our salvation is about. 00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:39.360 He is worthy of our worship. 00:29:39.360 --> 00:29:42.120 And He's worthy of our glory. 00:29:42.119 --> 00:29:46.919 So may we be more than conquerors so that we can know joy. 00:29:46.919 --> 00:29:50.879 There's so little joy, isn't there, in the Christian church. 00:29:50.879 --> 00:29:53.359 That's a terrible thing to say. 00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:55.359 But it's true, isn't it? 00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:59.079 There's an awful lack of joy in the Christian church. 00:29:59.079 --> 00:30:01.679 Probably a great lack of peace as well. 00:30:01.679 --> 00:30:07.399 Joy and peace as our mindset is fixed on these truths, I will not let you go and you will 00:30:07.399 --> 00:30:09.759 never be separated from my love. 00:30:09.759 --> 00:30:16.839 May we know joy and peace and kindness as we think about these great truths. 00:30:16.839 --> 00:30:19.039 Let's pray together. 00:30:19.039 --> 00:30:25.079 Lord, I ask and pray that you would apply your word to my heart and to the hearts of 00:30:25.079 --> 00:30:30.559 everyone here that we would have a mindset that is being renewed, that we would remember 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:37.240 we're not condemned, that we would remember that Jesus has taken what is justly meted 00:30:37.240 --> 00:30:47.759 out, would be justly meted out to us and has taken the cost, the punishment for us. 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:54.440 Help us to know that we are adopted into your family as children and that you're a divine 00:30:54.440 --> 00:31:03.519 Father and that you are at every level working things out in such a way that we will be stronger 00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:12.039 and fitter and better as we do not resist you and grieve you or sin against you. 00:31:12.039 --> 00:31:19.799 Lord, give us that awareness of the Spirit working in our hearts, God sending the Son 00:31:19.799 --> 00:31:26.039 being sent and the Holy Spirit coming into our lives at great Trinitarian partnership 00:31:26.039 --> 00:31:27.039 on our behalf. 00:31:27.039 --> 00:31:33.680 Lord, we pray for those for whom their Christian faith is particularly sharp and focused and 00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:40.079 maybe helpful but also challenging this week, those who grieve the loss of loved ones. 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:48.079 We pray for Mary Mackay, John L. Mackay's wife and her great loss, her life's partner. 00:31:48.079 --> 00:31:51.279 We pray for his children. 00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:57.680 We pray for others who we might know who might have come into our minds as I've prayed for 00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:00.359 John's family. 00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:07.200 We pray for all those who need your help, who may have come today at the end of their 00:32:07.200 --> 00:32:14.639 tether, we pray that they may find this great message of joy and peace and hope in Jesus 00:32:14.639 --> 00:32:15.639 Christ. 00:32:15.640 --> 00:32:24.320 And as we ask and remind us as we hear of so many things in the press and in the world 00:32:24.320 --> 00:32:31.320 that remind us of the shortness of life and the insecurity of all that we would find our 00:32:31.320 --> 00:32:34.360 rock in our salvation in Jesus Christ. 00:32:34.360 --> 00:32:40.759 So help us, we pray, and bless your word to us and anoint us with the presence of your 00:32:40.759 --> 00:32:45.160 Holy Spirit as we sing praise in response to you for Jesus' sake. 00:32:45.160 --> 00:32:45.640 Amen.