What Can Separate Us from the Love of Christ?

 

The Love of God - Romans 8:35-39

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

·       The answer is obvious, but it is good to be patient and be blessed by the answer. Not only will we receive the answer, but what is powerless to separate us from the love of Christ!

Shall tribulation, or distress,

·       All these things we remember more often than the good things in our lives. We even create landmarks in our memory banks referring to these tragedies. Many off us (if we’re old enough) remember where we were when we first hear of JFK’s death, or MLK’s death, or the Challenger disaster, or the Oklahoma City bombing, or 9/11. How about when your loved one or dear friend passed away, or was diagnosed with a devastating illness?

·       As is said in 1 Corinthians 13:12, our point of view is dim, much like committing to an all-nighter to prepare for a test or writing a term paper, and frustratingly looking at your reflection in the glossy finish of a textbook at 3 a.m. We don’t have the perfect knowledge we will enjoy in Heaven, just a tiny portion; but we will see Jesus face to face, and as the old gospel song says: “It will be worth it all when we see Jesus, Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ!”

or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

·       Jesus promises us in the second part of John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” We will experience trouble in this world, but Jesus doesn’t want us to fret over this. As He said in the first part of John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace.” That we may rest in the promise that He is above the world, controlling the circumstances in our lives for His glory.

³⁶ As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 

·       Quoted from Psalm 44:22 à God is glorified even through persecution. For all believers, our home is in Heaven. “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

·       How many times in the Bible did God instruct the Israelites to prayerfully stand and watch Him conquer their enemies? Think of Gideon and his 300 men as an example. God causes us to go beyond conquering sin, death, and Hell to inherit salvation. God’s way of salvation through His Son is sufficient for all mankind to be forgiven of sin, and “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

 ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life,

·       Nothing about our physical condition…

nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come,

·       Not even Satan and his demons are capable…nothing on the calendar either. The future is in His hands!

nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth,

·       The highest mountain, the deepest abyss, or if Trekkie technology ever becomes real and we begin boldly going “where no one has gone before,” it’s all powerless…

nor anything else in all creation,

·       Why would God create something that would separate us from His love?

will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

·       An everlasting love made most evident by our Savior’s sacrificial death and resurrection. His death saves us from the ultimate penalty of sin; His blood covers our wretchedness, so when God looks on us at the judgment, He will see the righteousness of Jesus. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, but through salvation God has breathed in us new life. We’ve been declared righteous, and in Heaven, God will finish His work in us as we are made completely righteous for the rest of eternity.

·       Don’t accept allowing your troubles to cloud your view of God’s love for you. these troubles, and the powers of darkness, are incapable of doing that.