Text:\u00a0 Romans 8:31-39<\/p>\n
31 <\/sup><\/em>What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 <\/sup>He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all\u2014how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 <\/sup>Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 <\/sup>Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died\u2014more than that, who was raised to life\u2014is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 <\/sup>Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 <\/sup>As it is written: \u201cFor your sake we face death all day long;<\/em> we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.\u201d<\/em> In all these things, we are supremely victorious<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n I am writing this sermon at my father\u2019s bedside in room 22 at Petaluma Valley Hospital.\u00a0 It\u2019s Friday. Karen was just here all night.\u00a0 She is very tired.\u00a0 I don\u2019t expect us to be here with dad much longer.\u00a0 Let me explain why.\u00a0 My father lies before me barely breathing. His last breath seems right around the corner.<\/p>\n My dad is dying before my eyes.\u00a0 Yet here come these words that seem anything but true at a time like this: Probably crazy to many in this world.\u00a0 In all these things, we are supremely victorious<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n But this is exactly the kind of time when we need such words. When everything might seem lost, sad and hopeless.\u00a0 This is the time when we need our Lord to come and lift our sunken spirits with his Word.<\/p>\n Otherwise, we could end up believing what was painted on a wall by an American soldier in Afghanistan.\u00a0 His year in that boiling pot of fear, death and suffering \u00a0drove this soldier to write in his bitterness:.\u00a0 God hates us all forever.<\/em><\/p>\n The devil wants us to believe that.\u00a0 He wants to get us alone, isolate us from our brothers and sisters in Christ, and drive us to despair.\u00a0 He wants to convince you that there is no way God could love you.\u00a0 There is no way God could care for you.\u00a0 There is no hope. Just look at your life.<\/p>\n This Word is like a Kevlar vest to guard our hearts when life gets tough.\u00a0 It\u2019s like a warm shower for our souls when we\u2019ve been shivering in life\u2019s coldness.\u00a0 And that is this:<\/p>\n In Christ, God is for us<\/strong>. 31 <\/sup>What, then, shall we say in response to this<\/span>?\u00a0 What Paul writes to us here harks back to what he just said.\u00a0 A few weeks ago the vicar preached on these wonderful truths.\u00a0 That from eternity God chose to make you the object of his love.\u00a0 In your life, he acted on that choice by calling you to faith in Jesus. And someday he will bring you to the blessed goal, the hope he has promised us in Christ.<\/p>\n 31 <\/sup>What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 <\/sup>He who did not spare his own Son, but<\/span> gave him up for us all<\/span>\u2026 You\u00a0 learn a lot about a relationship by what someone is willing to give up for another.\u00a0 If our moms or dads were any kind of parents they gave up a lot for us.\u00a0 Their sacrifice said a lot about their love for you.<\/p>\n This morning we heard about Abraham and Isaac.\u00a0 We met a father who loved his son, his only son.\u00a0 Abraham also knew that God had promised that through this son would come a Savior for all nations and yes his Savior.\u00a0 But now God asked him to give up his son, to sacrifice him.\u00a0 We learn a lot about Abraham\u2019s heart for the Lord when we see him make his way to Mt Moriah, gather the wood and raise his hand.<\/p>\n But what God did not permit Abraham to do, God did for you and me and all people.\u00a0 Think about it. Last week we heard God the Father say on that Mount of Transfiguration. \u00a0This is my Son, whom I love.<\/span> But follow Jesus and where does he go?\u00a0 To a cross where the Father would give him up to suffer and die.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 You know.\u00a0 For our sin.\u00a0 For our lack of love.\u00a0 For the many times we have baptized our lives with guilt.\u00a0 Yet who dies.\u00a0 Who suffers?\u00a0 Yes in Christ, God is for us.\u00a0 Look what he gave up for you! <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>So when you find yourself in one of life\u2019s pits and can\u2019t seem to see over the top, answer Paul\u2019s question:\u00a0 how will he not also, along with [Christ], graciously give us all things?<\/span> In other words,\u00a0 look up dear Christian. Look up to Jesus\u2019 cross. Look what he gave up for you.\u00a0\u00a0 If God was willing to do even that for you, if his grace is that rich,\u00a0 do you think he\u2019s going to hold back anything you really need?<\/p>\n Now Paul has us think of a courtroom. \u00a0What do you usually find there?\u00a0 There is an accuser.\u00a0 There \u00a0the one accused.\u00a0 And there is someone who then decides guilt or innocence.<\/p>\n God\u2019s word tells us:\u00a0 it is appointed for a man once to die and then to face the judgment.<\/span> So a courtroom awaits us. A verdict too.\u00a0 And our Maker is the judge.\u00a0 That prospect can frighten us.\u00a0 But this Word assures us.\u00a0 In Christ, God is for us.\u00a0 Look what he says about you. <\/strong><\/p>\n In God\u2019s court, it would be very easy for someone to bring charges against us.\u00a0 Think of what we owe to God and think of what we give him.<\/p>\n This past week as I\u2019ve sat with my I dad, I couldn\u2019t help but think.\u00a0 Sooner or later I too am going to die. I too am going to stand before a God who knows all.\u00a0 More than once my conscience pointed its accusing finger my way.\u00a0 To things in my life of which I am ashamed.\u00a0 To the grief I gave my Mom and Dad and thus to God, \u00a0the sins of my youth.\u00a0 And the sins that leap up in my heart now just when I think I\u2019m doing good. \u00a0\u00a0Yes, in God\u2019s court, it would be very easy for someone to bring charges against me \u2013 and you.<\/p>\n But listen again to these words:\u00a0 33 <\/span><\/sup>Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 <\/sup>Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died\u2014more than that, who was raised to life\u2014is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us<\/span>.\u00a0 We have a conscience that shakes its finger in our face and accuses us of guilt. The devil accuses us before God.\u00a0\u00a0 But when all is said and done whose voice will be heard?\u00a0 Whose voice will count?\u00a0 God\u2019s.\u00a0 And what do we know?\u00a0 In Christ, God is for us.\u00a0 Look what he says about you! <\/strong> He has justified you.\u00a0 He has declared you and me innocent.<\/p>\n How?\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 We know we are not innocent.\u00a0 Far from it.\u00a0 But Jesus was in every way.\u00a0 He gave that life for you and paid the price you owed.\u00a0 And then he was raised to assure you, it is finished<\/em>.\u00a0 It\u2019s a done deal.\u00a0 You are forgiven.<\/p>\n And here Paul puts this icing on the cake.\u00a0\u00a0 There is someone else in that courtroom by your side.\u00a0 Jesus, your brother and God\u2019s Son.\u00a0 And what is he doing?\u00a0 With all authority in heaven and earth, he speaks for you.\u00a0 What a friend you have in Jesus.<\/p>\n Yet we know how things can seem.\u00a0 There is a pastor in Iran under a death sentence.\u00a0 This husband and father can be put to death at any time and for what?\u00a0 For being born to a Muslim family and then believing in Christ.\u00a0 How might that seem?<\/p>\n How might it seem to us when life takes a turn that hurts.\u00a0 It might seem that God has cut you loose.\u00a0 It might seem he couldn\u2019t care less.\u00a0 It sure could have seemed that way to Paul.\u00a0 If anyone knew tough times, it was he.\u00a0 He knew shipwreck and being without food.\u00a0 He suffered beatings and jail time and finally death for preaching the gospel of Jesus.\u00a0 If anyone had reason to feel abandoned by God it was the man who penned these words..\u00a0 But here again he helps us to say:\u00a0 In Christ, God is for us.\u00a0 Look what God has attached to you. <\/strong><\/p>\n You\u2019ve seen it.\u00a0 Meant to be a joke.\u00a0 Sometimes a poor one.\u00a0 There\u2019s a sign attached to the back of someone\u2019s shirt. Well God has attached something to you. It\u2019s no joke. It\u2019s a priceless treasure.\u00a0 He attached it to you at your baptism when your sins were washed away.\u00a0 His love.<\/p>\n But then those things come that can make us wonder.\u00a0 The cancer, the broken heart, the depression. I don\u2019t see anything that resembles God\u2019s love there.\u00a0 So we assume it\u2019s gone.\u00a0 But it\u2019s not.\u00a0 It\u2019s not.\u00a0 But don\u2019t take my word for it, take God\u2019s. It convinced Paul.\u00a0 38 <\/sup>For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 <\/sup>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. <\/span><\/p>\n So here I sit in at my father\u2019s bedside.\u00a0 His time seems very near and I know my grief is not far behind.\u00a0 Here is the man who with my mother helped me learn how to walk.\u00a0 Thanks dad for that and so much more.<\/p>\n Well we need to learn how to walk as God\u2019s people.\u00a0 To walk by faith in God\u2019s Word and not by what we see and feel.\u00a0 I still am learning that.\u00a0 How about you?\u00a0 Let\u2019s learn together.\u00a0 To walk on knowing that in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.<\/span> For in Christ, God is for us<\/strong>.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text:\u00a0 Romans 8:31-39 31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all\u2014how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions\/305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n37 <\/sup>No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. <\/em>38 <\/sup>For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, <\/em>39 <\/sup>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.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nI.\u00a0 Look what he gave up for you
\nII.\u00a0 Look what he says about you
\nIII.\u00a0 Look what he has attached to you<\/p>\n