Romans: Our Power | Freedom from Fear, Romans 8:31-39 October 25, 2020 | Matthew McNutt Part way through today’s passage, the Apostle Paul asks the question every single one of us has wondered: Romans 8:35a (NLT) Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Maybe you haven’t asked the question in those exact words. Instead, maybe you have doubted your salvation, wondered if you have done something too horrible, worried you don’t pray or study your Bible enough, or found yourself struggling with any of the other thousand fears that whisper in the background of our lives. You want to know you’re loved. You want freedom from fear. In 2001, Elton John released an incredible music video for his song, “I want love.” In a surprising move, Robert Downey Jr. was cast to lip sync the song in the music video. Surprising? Iron Man came out in 2008, seven years LATER; since then he has become one of the most popular actors on the planet, but that was NOT the case in 2001. He was just coming off a string of years in which he was arrested multiple times for cocaine, heroin, and marijuana use. His life was out of control. He ended up serving time. He was the picture of a man who had lost everything, who had gone from being the popular one to the one no one wanted to be associated with. In the music video, he walked through an empty house, lip syncing Elton John’s lyrics: I want love, but it's impossible A man like me, so irresponsible A man like me is dead in places I can't love, shot full of holes Don't feel nothing, I just feel cold Don't feel nothing, just old scars Toughening up around my heart But I want love, just a different kind I want love, won't break me down Won't brick me up, won't fence me in I want a love, that don't mean a thing That's the love I want, I want love The timing of the video was powerful, Downey’s performance was perfect – you could feel the longing watching him mouthing these words as he walked through an empty house. The symbolism was hard to miss. And the song blew up. Why? Because the desire for love resonated with people. We all have that hunger, that need. When God designed us, when He created us, God wired us for perfect love – His love. 1 The problem is, we live in a broken, imperfect world. Every one of us can point to examples of broken love, hurtful love, love betrayed, love neglected, in our lives. Because we’re surrounded by brokenness, it’s easy of us to expect the same thing of God that Robert Downey Jr. experienced from the world around him; rejection and isolation. We may not articulate it that way, or even be fully aware of it. But maybe you have found yourself wondering if you messed up one time too many – is it too much for God? Was that the straw that broke the camel’s back? If God knows everything about me, every action, every thought, how could God possibly have love for me? But that’s how an imperfect, fallen, broken world handles love: imperfectly, inconsistently, with all of the wrong motivations. It’s what the culture we have grown up in has trained us to expect. When we read these verses, we need to intentionally remind ourselves that these verses are not describing some sort of idealistic vision that isn’t actually attainable. Not only is God the only one that can actually deliver on what we’re reading, He DOES deliver on it. Romans 8:31-39 (NLT) 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. 35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul’s question – OUR question – can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Can we lose His love? Can we lose our salvation? NO. Nothing. In perhaps one of the most beautiful passages in scripture, God rules out any room for debate, for confusion, for concern. What can we say?

2 Part of me feels like the message could be just reading this passage over and over. What can we possibly add to it? What can we do that won’t distract from it’s beauty? In these verses, Paul makes five arguments1 as proof that there can be no separation between us and God, between YOU and God. 1. God is for us (v.31) Romans 8:31b (NLT) If God is for us, who can ever be against us? He has proven it over and over; most significantly by giving His Son for us. Stop and think about that for a moment. I would like to think I might be willing to sacrifice myself for someone else. I know I can’t think of a situation where I would sacrifice one of my sons. Is this too blunt? If the ship is sinking, if the house is burning, and I have to choose between you and one of my kids, even on their most disobedient, rebellious, mouthing off day, there wouldn’t even be a hesitation. How often have we spoken of God giving His Son for us as though that is something light, like we have gotten so used to the idea that we’ve forgotten how incredible it is? God is for us. Jesus is for us; Romans 8:34 speaks of how He gave His life for us. The Holy Spirit is for us; Romans 8:26 speaks of how He prays on our behalf. If God is for us, who can ever be against us? God’s love for YOU is so powerful that He gave His son; after that is there anything too costly for Him to be for you? He did that, knowing your past, knowing your present, knowing your future - and thought YOU were worth it. Is there anything we need to fear when God is for us? We will still suffer, we will still experience hardship, but we will go through it knowing God is for us. 2. God has justified us (v.33) What does being justified mean? I looked it up! It means being declared right, to have been marked good for a legitimate reason. When it comes to faith, it means that the price has been paid for what we’ve done wrong and we are clean in God’s eyes. Paul was building on the previous point when he wrote: Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Romans 8:33 (NLT) Why can we have confidence? God Himself has declared us righteous. When God looks at you, He sees a being created in His image, holy and righteous because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. So where do accusations come from? If it’s a spiritual source, it’s not God, so that leaves Satan’s team - there’s no need to listen to them. That’s just sore losers trying to ruin our win. Maybe it’s other people; but here’s the thing, if God tells me

1 Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Right (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004), 104-106. 3 something – that I am justified – and you take a differing stance, as convincing as you may be, God is the one who is right! Maybe the accuser is you. My biggest critic has been myself. That voice in the background bringing up my past mistakes, my failures, all of the reasons why I’m not good enough, why I’m too messed up, too broken, too hopeless. And the thing is, those are all reasons why people write each other off. We’re seeing this play out on a national scale at the moment, aren’t we? Each political party is focusing so much of their energy on tearing down the other rather than making the case for themselves. It’s playing out on social media; we gravitate towards pointing the finger. But we can’t fall into the trap of evaluating ourselves through the world’s eyes. As Warren Wiersbe points out, “God will certainly not accuse us, since it is He who has justified us. For Him to accuse would mean that His salvation was a failure and we are still in our sins.”2 We have freedom from fear. God has chosen us for His own; nothing and no one can take that away. 3. Christ died for us (v.34) But wait! There’s more! Romans 8:34 (NLT) says, “Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us.” Why can’t we be separated from God? Because Jesus Christ Himself paid the price! Have you ever done the math on this one? When I was a sinner, completely separated from God, at my worst - Jesus looked at me and thought to Himself, “worth it.” That is true for each one of us; regardless of when we became a believer. Jesus knew you, your past, your history, your mistakes, better than you do, and He thought, “worth it.” He willingly paid that price. Paul is essentially saying here, if Christ was for you at your worst, what in the world do you have to worry about now? You’re redeemed, holy in His eyes, regardless of what is currently going on, if He was willing to give you His best when you didn’t deserve it, how much more so is He willing now that you are part of His kingdom? You can’t lose something paid for by Christ! We have the ultimate freedom from fear, doubt, worry! 4. Christ intercedes for us (v.34) Both the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26-27) and Jesus intercede on our behalf! Why can we have freedom from fear? Is it possible to have a greater advocate? There will never be a moment in your life where Christ is not interceding for you. Nothing can stop Him, nothing can get in His way, nothing you do will cause Him to throw up His hands and say, “whoa, never mind, I’m out.”

2 Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Right (Colorado Springs, CO: Victor, 2004), 105. 4 In the 2009 Will Ferrell movie, Land of the Lost, there’s a moment I love. Definitely not one of Ferrell’s better movies, but this scene kills me. There’s a dinosaur that wants Ferrell dead, and the other character says to Ferrell: Dialogue between Will Ferrell and Danny McBride’s characters on Land of the Lost (2009) during a scene when a dinosaur is chasing Ferrell. Danny McBride: Thick or thin, I will follow you into battle at any time. You hear me? Absolutely any time. Will Ferrell: Okay. How about now? Danny McBride: Like right now? Will Ferrell: Yes. (DINOSAUR ROARING) Danny McBride: Honestly, I didn't really expect you to call the favor in this soon. So, on this one, unfortunately I'm gonna have to say no. But I think it's gonna be awesome for you, for personal growth, just to hit this one solo. I'm gonna be rooting for you. Okay? Trenches, bro. It's all about love. Okay? After this time, I'm there for you, okay? Any time after now. We do that to each other, don’t we? Let each other down, fall through, don’t deliver in moments of need. I’m not saying it’s all the time, but it’s enough that we’ve all experienced it at some point. “Trenches, bro. Any time after now.” So we become guarded, cynical. We find it hard to trust. There will never be a time where Jesus is not advocating for you. Hebrews 7:25 (NLT) reads, Therefore [Jesus] is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. Jesus forever intercedes on YOUR behalf. 5. Christ loves us (v.35-39) We began with Paul’s question, Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? (Romans 8:35a, NLT), and over this passage, Paul has made one argument after another that the answer is a firm NO. Everything we’ve been talking about for weeks now culminates in these final verses of Romans 8. Romans 8:35-39 (NLT) 35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like

5 sheep.”) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Christ will never fail us, but can we fail Him? What if we give in to temptation? Suffer too much? Don’t pray enough? Is there a tragedy or crisis that can take us away? NO. “Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ.” Nothing can tear us away from God; not our lives, not spiritual forces for evil, our doubts, our worries, there is nothing in all of creation strong enough to tear God’s grip off of us. We have freedom from fear. We need to constantly remind ourselves of these verses. Revisit them frequently! Be connected to believers who will remind you of them. Tim Keller writes that Paul is essentially saying, “Friend, have you been called? Have you found the gospel coming home to your soul with power? Have you asked God to justify you? Fine! Now realize this – that would not and could not have happened unless the great God of heaven had set his love upon you in the depths of eternity before time, and is now infallibly working out his plan to live with you forever in his family.”3 If God is for us, who can ever be against us? (Romans 8:31, NLT). Close in prayer / Romans Title slide Reminder NO Facebook Live on Monday, Give Online, Connection Card TRANSITION TO WORSHIP TEAM

3 Timothy Keller, Romans 8-16 for You (Purcellville, VA: The Good Book Company, 2015), 49. 6