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NO SEPARATION
Romans 8 35-39
This glorious statement about our confidence in Christ has the structure of
two bookend phrases in verses 35 and 39. Paul asks the question and
answers it, and, in between he sets out the reality of the believers’
situation.
Who condemns? 34
Who shall separate? 35
Here we have:
A REAL QUESTION
Of course we expect the answer “No” – but Paul doesn’t want us to rejoice
in the reality of that truth without fully anticipating the very real
challenges that do and will confront us.
But the apostle is entirely realistic – he faces head on the many very real
forces that oppose the Christian in his pilgrimage.
• Trouble
• Hardship
• Persecution
• Famine
• Nakedness 1Cor 4 11
• Danger 2 Cor 11 26
• Sword
He has in mind a psalm, from which he will quote presently, and which
presents the victory and the opposition of the believer.
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Paul is not conjuring these things up out of the air. Any serious study of
Paul’s life and work will conclude that he had a very hard time of it.
Is there anything you would like to add to the list that Paul supplies?
• Death
• Life
• Angels
• Demons Verse 38
1 11
To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, without enough clothes to keep us warm. We
have endured many beatings, and we have no homes of our own.
2 26
I have traveled many weary miles. I have faced danger from flooded rivers and from
robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I
have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the stormy seas. And I have faced danger
from men who claim to be Christians but are not.
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• The present
• The future
• Any powers
If we face lesser difficulties how much more will we not lose sight of His
love?
It is not simply that we are subject to the same ups and downs of everyday
life with its trials etc. it is that the Christian life is a life lived on the
battlefield. There is an Enemy.
In the same way that the chapter sets out the grounds for our spiritual
security so it sets out the very real issues that will challenge the believer –
so that we may see that nothing – absolutely nothing – has been omitted.
He quotes scripture:
A HARD PROSPECT
Psalm 44 22
Mmmm – that’s not exactly a motto text to be framed and hung on a wall
is it?
But please notice it does not say we DIE or ARE SLAUGHTERED - but that
WE FACE it and ARE CONSIDERED.
Over and over again Jesus tried to prepare His followers for what would
happen to Him and what would happen to them.
What makes this verse peculiarly difficult is that by and large our Western
Christianity knows so little of the adversity and challenge that other
believers face daily.
Over and over again Paul – and the other apostles warned the Church of
persecution coming – not so as to depress them but so as to help them see
that the Chrisdtian life follows Christ into the real world – a world which has
no time for Him.
This is the world in which all share in certain problems – whether believers
or not
Suffering
Hurt
Death
Disaster
But Paul’s use of the psalm reminds us that there are perils reserved for us
simply because we are the Lord’s.
17
All this happened to us,
though we had not forgotten you
or been false to your covenant.
18
Our hearts had not turned back;
our feet had not strayed from your path.
19
But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals
and covered us over with deep darkness.
20
If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21
would not God have discovered it,
since he knows the secrets of the heart?
22
Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
The Psalm – which is at times upbeat and triumphant – bemoans the fact
that God’s people had not knowingly sinned particularly – or failed – but
they were as lambs for the slaughter.
If we can’t face that then we are FAILING HIM and not FOLLOWING HIM
But the following DOES LOOK AWAY TO JESUS HIMSELF – therein lies the
great difference.
Not only have other followers of God gone that way – but My Lord Himself
has gone that way – and further than I am called to go!
How can we witness to this world if we are not seen to be those who face
up to the real issues that confront all mankind – as well as the real conflicts
that cross the Christian pathway?
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who
loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be
able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that
nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow,
high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between
us and God’s love MESSAGE
37
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ,
who loved us.
Bristol Road Baptist Church
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38
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love.
Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our
fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell
can’t keep God’s love away. 39 Whether we are high above the sky or in the
deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from
the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NEW LIVING BIBLE
Of all that Paul has had to say in this passage – and indeed in the whole
chapter these verses present the central force THE LOVE OF GOD IN
CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.
But OUR TRIUMPH rests on the best of all possible foundations the LOVE OF
CHRIST!
Instead of a sense of failure and defeat we are cast increasingly upon HIM
– this is a crucial part of God’s plan but before we rejoice in a this final
statement we need to return to the question in a slightly different way.
Whilst we can never be finally separated – it has to be said that there are
many times when our love for Him dips to a low ebb.
Our Enemy has it in his mind to deprive us of our peace and our witness –
he will try again and again to drive a wedge between us and our Lord.
And the circumstances which Paul has listed in triumph do seem to have
an effect upon our devotion.
It towers o’er the wrecks of time – drawing me like a great magnet to the
ONLY SOURCE OF COMFORT AND CONFIDENCE
Bristol Road Baptist Church
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37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who
loved us.
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be
able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.