Romans 8:38-39 NO SEPARATION!

The Introduction

Romans 8:38–39 (CSB) For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In these days, we have Christians contending that their faith would be unshaken if the resurrection never took place. That argument is nothing new. For the orthodox Christian, this is not our first rodeo. Paul was already dealing with this argument thirty years after Jesus ascended to glory:

1 Corinthians 15:12–14 (CSB) Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, and so is your faith.

Many people today and throughout history love to believe in the love of God, abide in the love of God and attempt to the best of their ability to live by the love of God. But they do that will no mindset or thought about Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

If you receive the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, then there are implications. Namely, I am a sinner in need of a great Savior.

But if I change or disbelieve in sin, sin’s effects upon me and my life and the results of separation apart from God forever—if I think sin is not that big of a deal— then the only thing I have to contend for is just the love of God apart from Jesus Christ our Lord.

What I hope that you, the reader, realize is that there is no love of God apart from Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sure, God has grace for the good and the evil, the just and the unjust.¹

That is the everyday grace of God. The common grace of God that he gives all of mankind. His common grace cannot be confused with his saving grace. Your life is good? So good. Don't confused that with you are good with God.

This is what must happen for us to be saved by God:

John 3:12–21 (CSB) If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man. “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

In writing this particular Gospel, the Apostle John never intended for verses, let alone for singular statements to be set apart and taken out of context. (Actually, no author, Biblical or otherwise, wants that.) But verse 16 is known throughout all the land. By itself, we can deduce that God did love the entire world and out of that love he gave his only begotten Son.

Here is the rub: the world expects that that they will be saved because God love them so much by given them His Son. I am not saying they are explicitly thinking this. But they are living under a presumption of the love of God that saves everybody. But we can clearly see in this passage that there is a distinction between those who do not believe and those who believe.

John goes on to say:

John 3:36 (CSB) The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

This verse (and with the rest of the Bible) flies in the face of what the world thinks is the love of God.

The love of God for you has to be through Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior in order for you to be saved to God. Apart from Jesus, you then remain under the wrath of God.

To the Christian, the 8th chapter of Romans is a full-blown out description of Christ as "the path of life, the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore"². This is a book that cries out, “See what God has done! Come to Him, one who gives great love and sweet rest for your tiresome soul!”

Let me contend to you that God has spelled out precisely what His love is all about—that is, it was all about Jesus Christ his Son.

The birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ is the love of God manifested to us all. Believe in him, trust in him, and obey him and you will have eternal life.

But if I am honest with myself, my belief, trust, and love for God waivers. I get distracted. I have let the world wear me down. Here’s a frightening thought: what if God’s love was solely based on my own love for Him?

That thought terrifies me because I can do nothing perfect. Ever.

But by the sheer grace of God, I do not have to be.

Let me fall away seven million times, but I am counted righteous unto him and get up seven millionth and one more.

Let all of life wear me down. And then watch the Father come running after me to rescue me yet again that I might live to Him.

Let death come knocking on my door.

But yet, Death is a defeated foe because my Savior championed over Death. I will step on Death’s prostrated neck and spring forth to glory and perfect relationship with God.

Octavius Winslow. No Condemnation In Christ. Banner of Truth. 385.

Let angels, rulers, and powers come at me! For my Christ Jesus is the Commander of the Most High and the Grand Champion and Conqueror over Satan, demons, sin, hell, and death. He is my shield, my sword, strong tower and mighty fortress. I shall not be moved!

Let circumstances fall where they may. There is nothing that I have done or will ever do that would reconstruct the eternal chasm between God and myself. Why? Jesus Christ fills the void and is the measure and distant between the eternal God and me.

My God ascends to glory far above and away from my sins. Yet, despite the dark depths of my sin and depravity, my Christ Jesus went deeper still to eradicated my sins once and for all.

Let the cosmos fall. Let this planet be torn asunder. Let the unthinkable happen. My Lord is Lord above all and in his hand are power and might over all.

For here is love:
>Genesis 3:15 (CSB) I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.

And here is love:
>Deuteronomy 7:6–8 (CSB) For you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth. “The LORD had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

And here is love:
>Psalm 103:15–18 (CSB) As for man, his days are like grass— he blooms like a flower of the field; when the wind passes over it, it vanishes, and its place is no longer known. But from eternity to eternity the LORD’s faithful love is toward those who fear him, and his righteousness toward the grandchildren of those who keep his covenant, who remember to observe his precepts.

And here is love:
>Lamentations 3:22–23 (CSB) Because of the LORD’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness!

And here is love:
>Ezekiel 36:25–28 (CSB) I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

And here is love:
>Matthew 1:21 (CSB) She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

And here is love:
>Romans 9:25–26 (CSB) As it also says in Hosea, I will call Not my People, My People, and she who is Unloved, Beloved. And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not my people, there they will be called sons of the living God.

And here is love:
>Galatians 2:20 (CSB) I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

And...
>1 John 4:10 (ESV) In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

And here is love:
>Romans 8:1 (CSB) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,

And here is love:
>Romans 8:38–39 (CSB) For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other no created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing, absolutely nothing will separate me from God’s love for me that only comes through Jesus Christ my precious Lord and Savior. Amen.