The Wrong Righteousness

Date: July 27, 2008

Scripture: Romans 10

from the series Romans

Introduction

How many of you know any non-Christian people who live morally upright lives? I'm talking about good people who aren't believers and it could be a friend or a co-worker or a neighbor—any individuals you know who openly admit that they aren't Christians. Don't get me wrong. They aren't negative or rude—they don't go around bragging that they are atheists or anything. It's just that the subject came up one day and they let it be known that they don't believe in God....and that shocked you because you know by experience that they're wonderful people. In fact, you just assumed they were believers because—well, they're kind, helpful, hard-working—they are family-oriented. They are fun to be with and keep their lawn mowed. They don't have a car up on blocks rusting away to nothing in their driveway. They always put out the flag on the 4th of July. They coach little league or serve as a den mother for the brownie troop. They give to the United Way. They run in 5k's to help end breast cancer. They are in the booster club and always lend a hand at school events.

Suffice it to say that they're just plain exemplary people in the community.

Well, let me ask—is it hard for you to believe that these non-Christian—but still very GOOD people—is it hard for you to believe the gates of Heaven would be closed to them? I mean, do you ever find yourself thinking, "Somehow—some way—wonderful people like that are going to get in. Surely—God must have made some provision for guys and gals who are THAT good. There's no way THEY'D go to Hell."

While you ponder that I'll tell you that more than once I've had a conversation with someone who knows I'm a pastor and they will say something like: "This past week my uncle died. He wasn't a Christian...but there wasn't a finer person on the planet." And then there's an uneasy silence because I feel like they want me to say, "Hey no problem...I mean if there wasn't a finer person on the planet, then as a pastor I can tell you to rest assured because your loved one is in Heaven."

But could I really say that? Does God's written Word give me permission to give that kind of assurance to someone who is grieving? Is a saving relationship with Jesus Christ necessary for EVERYbody? Does EVERYONE have to embrace OUR faith in order to get to Heaven—or does that only apply to the really BAD people in this world?

Sermon

This morning we're looking at Romans 10 and, as Bill Hybels says in his comments on this text [I'm relying on a Bible Study he taught on this chapter several years ago], Paul is going to address this particular "hot topic" issue—but Paul's going to push it a step further. He's going to increase the stakes by dealing with an even more difficult question, namely:

"What about the individuals in this world who not ONLY lead an upright life—what if in ADDITION to being an exemplary kind of a person....what if they ALSO have a burning desire to please God and a zeal for serving Him and they actually carry out that zeal in practical works of righteousness each and every day? Now...certainly just because someone like THAT didn't enter into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ—I mean, since he has all the rest going for him, well, surely HE would get into Heaven—wouldn't he? Think of it: a righteous life, a love for God and a religious zeal for service for God...what more could God want? Is God really so narrow-minded and picky as to sentence that kind of person to Hell?"

While you ponder all this—let me tell you that the 10th chapter Romans is somewhat of a review of basic information that has been included in prior chapters. I mean, you'll hear familiar material this morning because Paul DRAWS on some of the lessons he's already taught in order to give a satisfactory answer to this hot-topic question once and for all—and here it is again: "Is there anyone good enough to be saved without putting their faith in Jesus Christ?"

Fortunately, it doesn't take Paul long to answer that particular question. Look at verses 9-10 where he plainly says, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead...THEN...you will be saved...for with the heart man believes....resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation."

Note—Paul says nothing about being a good person or doing good things. He just lists TWO basic conditions for being saved from the separation from God that is Hell—and here they are. Paul says we must:

• ...join the church and tithe—nope!
• ...teach the 7th grade boys SS class and wash the pastor's car—nope!
• ...walk forward at the end of the service and promise never to sin again—nope!

Paul says to be saved you have to BELIEVE God raised Jesus from the dead and you have to CONFESS with your mouth that He is the Lord of your life.

Now—the word "believe" here in the Greek means, 'to trust in, to cling to, to rely on, to commit to" so it's more than just your standard every day belief. The Bible says even the devil has a "normal caliber" of belief. Our adversary believes in Jesus—satan knows Who He is—but we won't see satan in Heaven. And unfortunately there are a lot of people who, like the devil, only have a head knowledge of God and Paul would say they are going to miss Heaven by 18 inches, because they don't have the kind of belief that is a foot and a half "lower." They don't have "heart belief" — they don't have the kind of conviction that leads to commitment. I mean, I believe in Hitler but I'm not a Nazi—and people can believe in Jesus and still not be Christians. Commitment is the difference. Based on your belief in Who Jesus is and what He did—you decide to commit your life to Him. You cling to Him. You rely on Him.

And Paul says—this belief that leads to commitment is more than believing Jesus died on the cross. It must include believing God raised Him from the dead because as Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15, "...if there is no resurrection then our faith—our belief—is false." You see, the fact that Jesus rose again PROVES that He is Who He said He is. Listen—a lot of people died on the cross before Jesus and a lot died after Him. But Jesus died for a specific purpose. He died not for His own crimes but rather for the crimes of all mankind. And then Jesus did something ELSE no one did. He rose again—so if you deny the resurrection of Jesus—you're not a believer. Well, this caliber of belief-inspired commitment to Jesus Christ is the FIRST step. Paul says the SECOND thing we have to do is to CONFESS our belief. In other words, Paul says you can't be sneaky about it. You can't be a "closet Christian." You have to give witness as to your belief or its DOUBTFUL that your commitment is genuine.

Rick Warren says that some believers are "Arctic river Christians...because they're frozen at the mouth..." and this is not a good thing because God expects us to verbalize our faith. Okay—look at verses 12-13 where Paul says,"There is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all abounding in riches for all who call upon Him for whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved." Paul is saying it makes no difference what a person's nationality is...or what their spiritual background is. Their religious heritage is not a factor in their salvation. No—everyone who winds up in Heaven does so on the basis of their individual response to the Person and the work of Jesus Christ—PERIOD. And, I'm talking about the upright people, the downright immoral people, your GOOD friends, your BAD friends....the Gentiles, the Jews—everybody gets to Heaven by going through the same door and the door is the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Now—you may be thinking, "AMEN...but Mark, we've heard that before! Been there, done that, got the T-shirt...so let's move on." And in reply I would say—not so fast—because to FULLY understand the message God has put in this text..to make sure we "GET" this review of the first few chapters of Paul's letter, I think we need to answer ANOTHER question so here goes: WHY is it so EASY for us—including those of us who have known the Scriptures for a long time. WHY is it so EASY for us to slip into thinking that an upright life and a zeal for God and service for God is enough to merit a person's ticket to Heaven? WHY do many of us as Christians tremble when asked if Jews are saved? WHY do we give false assurance to people by saying their moral and upright deceased friends are in Heaven—when we know for a fact they rejected Jesus 'til the day that they died? WHY is it so easy for us to get fuzzy on this most basic part of the Christian faith—namely what it is that qualifies a human being for Heaven?

I think the answer to these questions is found in the fact that all of us have a difficult time grasping how sinful we REALLY ARE are in comparison to how holy GOD really is. You see, with our minds—minds that are deformed by sin—we tend to look at upright, kind, religious, moral people and think, "Those people are ALMOST perfect. If perfection were a 10 they are certainly 9.7 or 9.8! What kind of God would consign a person to Hell for all eternity for simply lacking a tenth or so on their moral score?"

And friends, when we begin to think like that as Christians—well, I would say we are manifesting a kind of spiritual absent mindedness that is very scary. I mean, even ENTERTAINING that question unveils a caliber of fuzzy thinking that should have no part in the mind of a Biblically-oriented Christian because the Scriptures clearly teach that NO human being is scoring 9.7 or 9.8—not even close. No human on this planet is ALMOST reaching moral perfection. In fact, the Bible teaches that God is so holy—so righteous—that in comparison OUR best deeds of righteousness are like filthy rags.

Max Lucado says that thinking we would work our way into God's Holy presence with our own good deeds is like someone trying to blow a sailboat across the Atlantic on their own lung power. It's not going to happen—but it may explain why so many RELIGIOUS people always seem to be out of breath!

Look back at verses 3 & 4 where Paul first brings up this issue that he deals with in verse 10. Referring to the infamously RELIGIOUS Jews he says, "My hearts desire and prayer for them is for their salvation...for they have a zeal for God...but not according to knowledge. Seeking to establish their own righteousness, the Jews did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God, for Christ is the end of the law."

Paul is saying that the Jews' primary problem is that they honestly felt that they could muster up enough of their own righteousness—somehow—someway to make themselves completely acceptable to God—without any help from Jesus. They thought they could establish their own righteousness and not need any that Christ would offer. And before we judge the Jews we must admit that without a lot of spiritual discipline it is easy for US to REPEAT their mistake and fall into this kind of absentmindedness that says, "I think good and upright and moral people are almost perfect. They are almost there."

One thing that helps us embrace this kind of thinking is PRIDE. I mean, no one likes to think they are bad enough to need saving. Ray Stedman says, "I will never forget the startled look on the face of a man who came up to me in a movie theater. The seat beside me was vacant, and he said, 'Is that seat saved?' I said, 'No, but I am.'" They guy frowned and took a seat across the aisle. And we all know that "look." No one likes to be told they are "lost" and need "saving." Stedman writes, "It makes us uncomfortable—only when we refuse to face the fact that all men and women are lost...and they are facing an eternity of separation from God. These are the facts as the Scriptures put it."

Understand—you and I may ACT good; we may DO good; we may LOOK good to the HUMAN eye—but the Bible says we are ALL flawed and fallen—sinful beings who need saving. Let's take this glass of water. It looks good. I would say it looks like crystal clear. We'd have no problem drinking it. But do you remember your high school biology class? You took a drop of water from a glass like this and looked at it on the microscope and you saw: dirt, sediment, germs, creatures, herbicides—all kinds of contaminants in just a single drop of what APPEARS to be crystal clear water. Now...multiply that drop by all the drops in the glass and you see what I'm driving at. That glass of water is not as pure as you think it is. Well the Bible says that on the day of reckoning, our lives are going to be put under God's microscope. And when that happens every little piece of dirt—every little imperfection—every contaminant; every improper motive...every impure thought...every devious plan...every self-centered perspective...all of that will be magnified and it will become painfully obvious that in life we were not scoring 9.7s or 9.8s. In fact, we will see that we were way down in the minus area...negative 10 — if that. As the old hymn lyric puts it, we'll see that before Jesus we were "sinking deep in sin.." far from God.

So—we can spend a lifetime THINKING we can work our scores up on our own but the truth is we're never going to even get close to a ten. We will never be able to muster up enough personal righteousness to make ourselves acceptable to the standards of a holy God and people who try to are pursuing the WRONG righteousness. Paul says—to get to Heaven we need to abandon OUR righteousness and RECEIVE Christ's righteousness. This is the central thrust of the Gospel and it's the message that Paul has been trying to get across in the book of Romans since way back in chapter 1.

Well, now he's bringing it back up in chapter 10 because he is aware of the fact that most of the Jews don't believe him. Most of the people in his race think they are still scoring 9.7 or 9.8 and that their own righteousness will suffice in the day of reckoning. Paul says, "No way—you are misunderstanding the whole thing!"

Now—the thing that usually taints OUR thinking on this subject is the irresistible temptation to COMPARE ourselves and our RQ—our "righteousness quotient"—to the RQ's of other human beings—instead of God's holy standard. Let me show you how this works. Some of you will be able to relate to this easily because you did this for years. I hope none of you are still doing it! Okay—I've got a graph to show you what I mean.

When we start comparing ourselves to the righteousness or unrighteousness of other people—when we start putting a "righteousness quotient" on ourselves...well, we usually start by identifying the dregs of society...the degenerates...drug dealers...axe murderers....those kinds of people. We think—if a 10 is perfection, then those kind of people will be on the bottom rung—but they ARE, living human beings so we'll give them a score of 1. In comparison of course, we are much better than the dregs of society so that automatically bumps our righteousness score up to about a 5—and we've just started! We continue by rationalizing the fact that there are an awful lot of louses loose in society. I'm talking about the people at school or work who lie without batting an eyelash, who are very loose moral people—the people who run roughshod over other people's feelings...the kind of person who will cheat and cut corners if it serves their purposes...and we think, well, we're not like those people at all...so if the degenerates and axe murderers get a "1" and that brought the rest of us up to the "5" range—and if these louses maintain their 5 rating...well, that bumps us up somewhere in the mid 7's. Things are literally looking up! At this point we start tallying up the long list of admirable character qualities that you and I possess. I mean think of it: you've been gainfully employed for years and in all that time you've have never stolen much from your company—just a few postage stamps and paper clips. Add to that the fact that you are kind to most people you meet. And—you keep your word for the most part...you are faithful to your spouse...at least in a physical sense. You attend PTA meetings, and buy girl scout cookies. You support public television—and let's face it—not many people do those kinds of things these days. I mean you are clearly, several steps above these other kinds of people. Well, at the least this puts us in the mid 8's and we're not done yet because now we begin to list our religious involvements—our spiritual merit badges. Now—hang on to your hats because we go to church almost every week. We plop down 15 bucks in the offering plate.

Every one else will figure it's a full tithe but how will they ever know? We serve on a committee every so often. We prayed in public after 911..and Hurricane Katrina. And the list could go on and on but suffice it to say we are fairly spiritual people—and when you add THAT to our RQ calculation, well—in all humility we're talking 9.7, 9.8, or even 9.9! Granted it would be boastful to claim that we are tens but sometimes it's almost false modesty to claim anything LESS! Right? I mean, compared to all the other people on this planet we're 9.8 or 9.9 which is pretty amazing isn't it? And that's got to be good enough for God! It's just got to be! Would a loving God quibble over a tenth?

We chuckle, but this way of thinking is widespread. It is rampant. It goes way back in history and yet it is as modern as today. This mind set is why the Jews of Paul's day said to themselves, "We can establish our own righteousness we don't need a Savior. We don't need Christ's righteousness when our own will suffice." This is what Paul is referring to in verse 6 when he says this kind of person thinks he can raise him-SELF up to Heaven.

Well, as I said, this kind of thinking permeates the secular man in our day. This is why many people feel insulted when we tell them they need a Savior. They think, "Who needs Christ's righteousness when my own is plenty?" But their whole argument falls to pieces in an instant when we realize that God's Word clearly teaches that we shouldn't waste our time comparing our righteousness with others'...because our righteousness is going to be measured not by theirs but by the Holy righteousness of God and by that scoring our righteousness will wind up much much different, SHOCKINGLY different!

A few years ago, Daniel and I ran in the Rockville Twilight Run. I think it appealed to me because it was on a Saturday night and most public races are on Sunday morning plus it's done in the dark of night so no one would recognize me in my running out fit—and I don't look very "pastoral" when I'm suited up to run and sweating profusely. Well, that 8K was my first real "race" and when I went to the starting line I noticed that they wanted you to line up according to your speed. At the front of the line were the fast guys—the people who could run a mile at 10MPH or better and Daniel lined up with those guys. Behind them was a sign for people who could run those 5,280 feet at 9MPH and so on down to 5MPH. Behind that were the walkers and the people in wheelchairs.

Well, I knew my pace was about 6MPH—but I looked at a couple of the people in the 7MPH area and I thought, "They don't look so fast....in fact, there's a lot of gray hair up there and one of those guys looks like he'll deliver a baby in about a week—what a gut!" Plus—in the 6MPH area there were mostly housewives and a brand new running outfits with shoes to match—an obvious sign that these weren't serious runners. I mean, they were more interested in appearance than speed. They hadn't run much or their shoes would be beat up like mine. So I thought, "I must belong in the 7MPH slot—and maybe even the 8MPH group." Well, that's where I started—and by the time we reached the campus of Montgomery College I was having a hard time. My speed began to wane such that some of those housewives passed me...and when I was finally able to see the finish line—I looked and there was that guy with the beer gut ahead of me. I finished the race—but let's just say it was a very humbling experience.

I share this because a far, far, greater humbling realization hits people who finally GET IT—They stop comparing themselves to other sinners and begin to realize just how HOLY God is. To keep with the "running illustration" —when they begin to grasp God's perfection—they begin to see how far behind they are—how woefully insufficient their own righteousness really is. God's holiness is so pure—so blameless—that our meager little attempts at impressing Him with our little noble intentions and deeds of service—well we see that they fall so short.

I have met a lot of church-going believers in my life—hundreds...maybe thousands...and do you know how I have learned to recognize TRUE spiritual maturity? I can tell if someone enjoys a truly intimate relationship with God by how humble they are—because the closer we get to God—the more we understand how sinful we are and that realization HUMBLES us! We see this principle of maturity in the Scriptures when individuals came face to face with God because when that happened they weren't prideful...no—they were mournful! The prophet Isaiah—perhaps the greatest prophet of the Old Testament—when he had that vision in which he stood before God's throne...he cried out, "Woe is me, I am a sinful man. I am undone. Depart from me...I am unclean!" Once Paul—this Pharisee of Pharisees whose sole focus was personal righteousness—once he met Jesus, Paul began to refer to himself as, "the chief of sinners."

Here's what I'm driving at—Until men and women subject their righteousness to the measuring rod of God's holiness they will wrongfully rate themselves in comparison to other people and will wind up with a score way higher than they deserved. When a person is thoroughly convinced that he is a 9.7 or a 9.8, then we are all wasting our time talking to them about their need for a Savior because in their own minds they just don't need one. Who needs Christ's righteousness when your own is plenty?! And Paul is lamenting about the fact that this is the mind set of most of his fellow Jews. The are counting on their own righteousness and its not going to work. They think they are easily in the 10MPH group—but they are only dreaming! And they are going to face a night mare on the day of reckoning.

Well, what's the SOLUTION to this problem? Paul gives it to us in verses 14-15 where he asks,

"How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of Whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

In other words Paul says the solution is for Christians to get the truth out about God's holiness and man's sinfulness. We have to TELL people that when we come to the end of our lives the measuring rod is not going to be the feeble righteousness of others but rather God's perfect holiness. We have to tell them the good news that Jesus Christ lived a perfect, sinless life—and then He died in the cross in our place.

As we said back when we looked at Acts 3 & 4, the only way to get to Heaven is to clothe ourselves in Jesus' righteousness. We have to let people know this! I mean, how can we expect them to believe in Jesus and confess their faith in Him if they've never heard the truth about these matters?

Well, that is our mandate. This is message we have to get out. We have to be messengers for those who are giving themselves 9.8 or 9.9. We need to let them know that they are pursuing the WRONG righteousness—they need to know this because a day is coming....when they will stand before our loving HOLY God...and on that day we'll see how WRONG our righteousness really is.

Steve Hugo wrote the following autobiographical story about his childhood. He says:

"For as far back as I can remember, I always treated Old Man Jones, my neighbor, in the worst ways. Each April 1st, I pulled the 'burning paper bag with dog stuff in it' tradition, and even though Old Man Jones never fell for it, he still had a gross pile to remove from his front stairs! He always knew that it was me, and always said, without anger in his voice, 'Someday, you'll be sorry.' His driveway was next to ours and in the winter, I always shoveled our snow onto his drive, giving him twice the work. He never did get a snow blower, but when I was 12, just before a blizzard, one appeared in my driveway, with a note saying, 'You might need this!' I could now delight in blowing all the snow from my driveway, and most of my front yard, onto Old Man Jones's car. I would even cut a wider-than-needed path for my mom's car just to put more snow on the dinosaur's driveway. (That's what my mom always called him: 'the Dinosaur.') He always knew that it was me and always said without anger in his voice, 'Someday, you'll be sorry.' I keyed his car more than once. When I discovered the mint 1969 Mustang Mach series car that always stayed under a thick canvas cover, kept for someone, I quickly sought to learn how many pumps of my BB rifle it took send the metal orb through it's windows. It took ten pumps. He knew that it was me and said without anger in his voice, 'Someday, you'll be sorry.'

Between my BB gun and slingshot, most of his home's windows had to be replaced at one time or another, not to mention the battered aluminum siding that still bears the myriad of little dents. He never complained about the shattered bird feeder or the constant supply of dead squirrels, sparrows, cardinals, and whatever else winged its way into his yard. I do remember the tenderness that he buried the vermin with, though. I can't recall how many times he had to take his cat to the vet to remove a pellet from an infected wound, but I do remember that he always knew that it was me, and always said, without anger in his voice, 'Someday, you'll be sorry.' At Christmas-time he used to set up lots of lights around his house that looked like virtual BB magnets, which they were. A plastic manger scene was the prime target one year, and stayed on the relic's front lawn until I shot the baby's face off. He knew that it was me and said without anger in his voice, 'Someday, you'll be sorry.'

There was this room in his house that I would look into sometimes when the old man was away. It was the kind of room that I would have loved to have, if my mom could ever get a real job. It was just like one of those 'Good Housekeeping kid's bedrooms that everybody is supposed to want. I always figured that Jones was on the loony side, and this 'keeping a cool room for a kid he didn't have thing' was the final proof that I needed of his senility. But I never shot that window out.

My mom and I never had much in the money department, but every year, on Christmas, a couple hundred dollars worth of cool stuff was left on my doorstep with, 'Merry Christmas' and my name written on each carefully wrapped gift. (That's where the BB gun came from, along with a great target setup, which was never needed with the shooting range next door.) My mom, too hung over each Christmas morning to get me up early enough to meet the Gift Bearer, said that the stuff probably came from my grandfather, whom she hadn't cared to talk to or see since long before I came around. There had been some long remembered fight over his 'interference' in her affairs. I had never seen him and really didn't even know or care where he lived, so long as the goodies came.

One Christmas, I got up early on My own because I thought that I might want to see what my ancestor looked like, not to mention that I was hoping for BB's from my benefactor, 'cause Old Man Jones had just gotten a new bird feeder with 'unbreakable' glass in it, and my Daisy was calling my name before the sun was up. I was still rubbing sleep from my eyes, when I heard a soft shuffling on the porch. As I quietly opened the front door, the rising sun reflected off of an armload of carefully wrapped presents, in silver and gold paper, each with 'Merry Christmas' and my name written on it. The arms were still holding the gifts, but the face was hidden by a tall package. The obscured gift bearer was unaware that I had opened the door, until he carefully put the gifts down. Startled, Old Man Jones stood up stiffly and with moistened eyes and broken voice said, 'Merry Christmas.' 'Someday' had come, and Old Man Jones could have never been more right. I was sorry..."

Friends, our righteous and holy God gives us good and perfect gifts every day—because He loves us. Yet we treat Him poorly. We sin and do wrong in His eyes. Every day every one of us falls short of His holy standard. Perhaps the worst insult we send God's way is our prideful assumptions that, on our own, we can be good enough to enter His holy presence. But, unless we believe in and confess our faith in Jesus' righteousness...a day will dawn when we will be sorry for our sin—sorry for our feeble attempts at the WRONG righteousness. That day, there will be a lot of sorry people, who will regret that they ignored God, and believe me, that is not the day that you want to be sorry.

Christians, our hearts must break for the GOOD people in our realm of influence who are pursuing the WRONG righteousness—the people who are GOOD—but still very lost. Personal, relational evangelism must always have top priority in our minds. Remember, Jesus' first words to His disciples were, "Follow Me and I'll make you fishers of men." And His last words were, "You will be My witnesses...Go ye therefore!"

Invitation

Let me ask one final question. Have you taken advantage of the opportunities God has given you to tell your lost but "GOOD people" friends about Jesus? If not—then hear Paul's words once again, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved...but...how can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of Whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" I hope and pray all of you are taking advantage of these opportunities because how are they ever going to learn of their need for Jesus if you don't do your job as messenger? Remember, as Paul says in verse 15, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

LET US PRAY

Father God,

This morning I ask that you would heal our blindness...open our eyes so we can see two things very clearly. First, show us our sin—help us all to feel the despair Isaiah felt when He stood in Your presence...help his exclamation to echo in our minds such that we all think, 'Woe is me...I am undone...for I am unlcean...' Use that terrible realization to remind us as Christians once again how much we need Jesus...And then with that still fresh in our minds...show us how lost our non-believing friends really are. BURDEN us with that understanding. Make our hearts heavy so that—relying on the guidance of Your Spirit—we will seize every opportunity to tell them the good news of the Gospel message. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN

As we stand and sing, I invite you to respond publically in any way you feel led. Come and profess your faith in Jesus...come and ask to join our church...but come as God leads.

BENEDICTION:

Let the PEACE OF CHRIST rule in your hearts
since as members of one body you were called to peace.
Let the WORD OF CHRIST dwell in you richly
and whatever you do...in word or in deed
Do it all in the NAME OF CHRIST giving thanks to God the Father
through Him.

Who Chose Whom?

Date: July 20, 2008

Scripture: Romans 9

from the series Romans

Introduction

This week I did an Internet search on famous feuds—and several examples popped up. Here's a sampling:

The first one I found mentioned was between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. Apparently these two guys were bitter political rivals and tensions had simmered for years. Things came to a head and on the morning of July 11, 1804 they stood back to back, each with a dueling pistol, walked the obligatory 10 paces, turned, and fired. Hamilton, the former secretary of the treasury was shot and fatally wounded by Burr who, by the way, was vice president of the United States at the time. I can't help but remember Vice President Cheney's accidental shooting of a hunting companion a while back.. Perhaps that job is a lot more stressful that we think!

The next feud to come up in my search is very well known—and I'm referring to the squabble between the Hatfields of West Virginia and the McCoys of Kentucky. Here's a shot of one of those families—and as you can see, they are armed and ready to go. Their infamous disagreement started over the supposed theft of a pig and it led to a bloody feud that raged for more than a decade. Ten family members died before the fighting ended in 1891.

And then, do any of you remember the feud between these two famous actress sisters of yesteryear: Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine? They had endured a strained relationship since they were teens and it reached a breaking point in 1941, when both received Oscar nominations for best actress. Fontaine won and that sparked an all-out feud that the sisters, now both in their 90s, continues to this day.

Sermon

The reason feuds were on my mind this week is because this morning's text from Romans has helped spark a squabble that has raged far longer than these other feuds combined. I'm referring to a disagreement among two groups of Christians that has lasted hundreds of years, centering around attempts to reconcile the sovereignty of God with the free will of men. To be more specific, these two groups haven't been able to agree as to WHO chose WHOM. Does God chose who will be His children? Or—do we use our free will to chose Him? Which is more correct—free will or predestination—Calvinism or Arminianism?

As I said, this argument has made the 9th chapter of Romans one of the most controversial chapters of the New Testament. Differences over how to understand this text and others like it have destroyed friendships, split churches, and divided Christians into different denominational groups.

Reflecting on the consequences of this struggle, William Barclay once said, "This is one passage I wish Paul had not written." So—I've decided to go with Barclay's perspective, skip these volatile verses, and head right into chapter 10.  All in favor, say "Amen."  Of course I'm just kidding. All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching and correction—so we won't skip it!  Instead we'll ask God to guide us in our study! Take your Bibles and turn to Romans 9 and let's read verses 10-21.

10 - Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.

11 - Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand:

12 - not by works but by Him Who calls—she was told, "The older will serve the younger."

13 - Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

14 - What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!

15 - For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

16 - It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.

17 - For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

18 - Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.

19 - One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists His will?"

20 - But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to Him Who formed it, 'Why did You make me like this?'"

21 - Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

Wow! Are you SURE you don't want to just head on over to Romans chapter 10?  Again—I'm just kidding! Let's see what we can learn together in our study of this controversial chapter. Reviewing a bit—I would remind you that Paul has just built a powerful argument for the faithfulness of God and the absolute security of every believer. He ended his 8th chapter of the book of Romans by declaring that nothing shall SEPARATE us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Do you remember those final climactic verses?  Well, as Paul begins the 2nd half of his letter he very creatively makes a transition into the theological mine fields of chapter 9 by saying. "And speaking of being SEPARATED..." 

Bill Hybels points out that this is a play on words—a clever segue using the word "separated" from chapter 8 and carrying it over into verse 3 of chapter 9 and I agree. In essence Paul says, "Speaking of being SEPARATED...There is a group of people—my kinsmen—my race—my brethren—the Jewish people—Many of MY people are SEPARATED from Christ." And please note...this is not a callous statement of fact on Paul's part.  No—his heart is breaking over the fact that the Jews, as a whole, have rejected Jesus Christ—the Jesus Paul loves so much and proclaims so boldly. You can't help but hear the compassion in his voice as Paul says in verse 2,  "I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart because my kinsmen are SEPARATED..."  And we see how sincere his feelings are in verse 3 where he goes so far as to say,"I wish that I myself could be accursed so that the whole nation of Israel could be saved."
In other words, Paul says, "If my going to Hell in their place would get them into Heaven, I'd do it in a heartbeat!"

So, Paul loves his fellow Hebrews—he loves the Jewish people. He can't bear to think of them in Hell separated from God for all eternity.

And—I think we should stop at this point and to a little self-examination.

I mean, ask yourself, Christian—does YOUR heart break like this for the lost people around you—the people you know who don't know Jesus? It could be a Jewish neighbor across the street or a family member who has turned his or her back on God. It could be that co-worker who is so skeptical of Christianity...that person who is more on "the left" politically and looks at believers like you as "the enemy." Do you grieve over the spiritual condition of those people?  Do you pray for them?  Do you care that they are going through life without Jesus?  Does your heart break that they are SEPARATED from God? It should! A man once said to his friend, "I hear you fired your pastor. Why were you guys so unhappy with him?" The man said, "Well, he kept telling us we were going to Hell." "Oh...well, what does your NEW pastor say?" the friend asked and the man said, "Our new pastor says we're going to Hell, too. But we like him." "Really?  If your new pastor tells you you're going to Hell, just like the old one, why do you like him?" "Because," the man said, "when our old pastor said it, he sounded glad of it. When our new pastor says it, he sounds like its breaking his heart." Does your heart break for the lost people around you? More importantly, can they sense your compassion—or your judgement? Listen, fellow Christian, we need more of Paul's broken-hearted compassion for the lost—the kind of sacrificial love for people that prompts missionaries to labor in leper colonies...or to risk their own lives taking the Gospel message in places where it is illegal to do so.

Okay—back to our text.  In verses four and five Paul elaborates on his grief saying basically, "It's such a shame that they have rejected Jesus because the Hebrew people have had all the advantages."  And then Paul lists eight of their unique benefits as a nation.

• From among all the races of the Earth God chose them to be His representatives—His missionaries to this lost world. God adopted the Jews for this all-important task.
• They witnessed God's glory every day as He led them through the wilderness.
• They also had the covenants that God made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David.
• On top of that the Jewish people had the law. We have the Judeo-Christian ethic today thanks to the written guidance God gave the world through this chosen nation.
• The Jews also had the advantage of Temple worship—including all the sacrifices that served as object lessons to help us understand our sin—and God's sacrifice in sending His Son.
• They had the promises of God—promises given to them as His chosen people.
• The Hebrews had the patriarchs—great leaders like Abraham and the rest.
• But the greatest blessing of all was the fact that they had the privilege of being the race from which the Messiah, Jesus, was born.

So, Paul's grief is intensified because he knows his people—the Hebrew nation—he knows they  had everything going for them. They had all of these advantages but on the whole they blew it! Time and time again they turned from God and in the end most of them even rejected His Son. As John 1:11 says, "He came to His own but His own did not receive Him."

This makes it appear as if God's plan to save mankind has failed. But, in verse 6 Paul says that, no—God's plan has not failed because, yes, through the history of the Jews many messed up. They ignored God and became nothing more than "Jews of the flesh." But there were other Jews who were obedient—Jews who trusted God and became His true Children...children of the promise. Paul seems to say that God has CHOSEN these special Jews to buy into His plan: Isaac instead of Ishmael and Jacob instead of his brother Esau. And then in verse 14, in order to silence anyone who would say, "Hey—that's not fair," Paul says, "Is God unjust? Not at all! For as He said to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy." Paul seems to be saying some Jews will be chosen by God and others passed by.

Now—I don't pretend to have the spiritual gift of discernment but I sense a special sort of HEAVY silence in the sanctuary at this point...because the argument Paul is making here in chapter 9 is one that rubs many people the wrong way—especially Baptist believers.

In fact it almost seems as if Paul knew people who read this would respond this way because he says, "Here's another example to prove my point.  Remember? God hardened the Pharaoh's heart to demonstrate His power! So, God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden." To use a current example, it is as if Paul says, "God is the owner of the Green Bay Packers, so He doesn't have to let Brett Farve play quarterback if He doesn't want to." 

Well that's pretty much it in a nutshell.  We've scanned the bulk of this controversial chapter in about five minutes. That's got to be a world record and if we closed the service now we'd beat the Presbyterians to Ledos but we'd also leave with a lot of unanswered questions on our minds.

So, I want to use the rest of the time allotted to me this morning to try and help you to understand this doctrinal feud a little better. Of course I won't be able to resolve this issue. Far wiser believers than I have tried and failed but I still want to do my best to try and explain the nature of the controversy so that at least you can be more aware of it. Then you can join the rest of us who have been tortured by this disagreement. I mean, misery loves company—so let's dive in!

I want to begin by trying to explain the Calvinist position and these days it is usually referred to as "The Reformed Position."  It's become more popular recently in reaction to "overly seeker sensitive churches" and the emergent church movement—believers who tend to de-emphasize doctrine.But Calvinist or Reformed—whatever you call this group—these guys and gals have read texts like this one in Romans 9 as well as Ephesians chapter 1 and they have concluded that God alone makes the determination as to who is going to be saved and who is going to be lost.

Sometimes this viewpoint is referred to as "Double-predestination" because the people on this "side" of the feud believe God predestines some for Heaven and predestines others for Hell. The Christians who embrace this conviction say that God made the decision as to who would go where before the foundation of the world and man has nothing to do with it.

And that's not all. This side of the "feud" makes other assertions. For example, many Calvinists believe that Jesus died on the cross ONLY for the elect—those chosen or  predestined by God for Heaven.  They say this must be true because it would have been unthinkable for Jesus to spill His precious blood for those who would not benefit from it. They also believe that only the elect—those chosen by God to go to Heaven have the GIFT OF FAITH that enables them to believe in Jesus. All others are passed over in this particular gift giving. It's kind of like the "non-elect" have a spiritual birth defect because they don't have the ability to reach out to God.

Reformed believers are quick to say that it is not UNFAIR for these non-elect to be skipped over in this way because like all people, they are sinners—undeserving of God's grace.

To explain their line of thinking, imagine a judge in a court room who hears the evidence and convicts twenty-five people for running a stop light.  He fines each of them 100 dollars. Understand they were all caught on camera—so there is no doubt that they are all guilty.  Calvinists would say, "Who could accuse this judge from being unjust for taking 500 bucks from his pocket and choosing five out of the group saying, 'For reasons known only to me I'm going to be merciful to you. I've paid your find. I'm going to set you free.'" Could the other 20 complain legitimately?  No—because they were guilty. They received the just punishment for that. No one could say the judge was unfair because EVERYONE deserved punishment. They would say in life everyone has sinned and all of us deserve Hell...so if God simply passes people by and doesn't offer them the miraculous gift of faith...well those people are only getting what they justly deserve in the first place.

Here's another thing that Calvinists tend to believe. They say that not only does God choose the elect—they can't refuse His choosing. This is what is called "irresistible grace." In other words, if you are chosen by God to go to Heaven—well, I'm sorry—but you have to go whether you want to or not!

A good summary of extreme Calvinism is found in what is called the "TULIP" acronymand as I use it to cite the doctrines of this side of the feud make a mental note as to which ones you agree with.

• T.otal depravity.  By nature everyone is a sinner—totally depraved.
• U.nconditional election.  God elects or chooses who will go to Heaven and who will go to Hell.
• L.imited atonement.  Christ died ONLY for the elect.
• I.rresistable grace. The elect cannot say NO to God.
• P.erseverance of the saints...or "once saved always saved." The elect cannot be lost.

Okay—what are the benefits of this position?  What are the "pluses" of Calvinism? And there ARE pluses.

(1) Here's the first. Calvinism is a view that extols the sovereignty of God.

I count this as a PLUS—because God IS absolutely sovereign.  God can do whatever He wants to do.  He doesn't need anyone's permission. He can love who He wants to love; He can forgive Who He wants to forgive and condemn who He wants to condemn. God doesn't owe you, or me, or anyone anything. We are not in a position to dictate to God our own personal concept of right and wrong because as Creator, He's the One Who makes the rules. This is what Paul is getting at in verse 20, "Who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him Who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'

Have you ever played the computer game Sim City? In this game you build your own city.

You are in control. You decide where the houses will be, how commerce will be conducted,  what amenities will be made available to the public, how the economy will be driven, and so on.

It's your game; you make the rules.  The "people" you create cannot object. What right would they have to do so?  It's your game. It's your computer so you can do what you want to do. In the same way God can do what He wants to do. He is SOVEREIGN—so I think the Calvinists get that right.  We can learn a thing or two from them when it comes to this one.

(2) Here's a second plus. Calvinism emphasizes the amazing grace of God.

They understand—perhaps better than any other group of Christians—that salvation is a gift of God and that we don't get to Heaven on good works or human merit. This is what Paul is stressing in verse 16 when he says our salvation, "...does not depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy." And—again—the Calvinists get an A+ on this one because the clear teaching of Scripture is that salvation is indeed by grace alone.

(3) Here's one other plus: Calvinists, who consider themselves one of the elect tend to be very grateful for their salvation.

I mean, think of it. If you believe God chose an undeserving sinner like you from among the billions of sinners on this planet—well, it just bowls you over!  To think, "God chose ME!" I get this mental image of the people who open the door and see the Readers Digest Prize Patrol guys with a huge check or Ty Pennington and his Extreme Make-over crew, ready to build you a new house. Those people are so humbled—so grateful—aren't they?! Well, if you have this conviction that only some are chosen and you are one of them—well let's just say you don't usually take your salvation for granted. You tend to be much more grateful to God than other believers. AND—all believers—no matter which side of this feud they land on should be GRATEFUL to God for saving them. To put it in "Redlandese," our understanding of God's saving grace should drive us. It should be what motivates us to live Godly lives.

Okay—those are the pluses—what about the minuses?  Where does Calvinism or the Reformed movement fall short? And again—this is my opinion.

(1) First, it ignores the texts in God's Word that indicate people do indeed have free will.

I always want to ask an extreme Calvinist how he or she explains the scores of passages that indicate mankind has a decision to make...a choice. To me these verses certainly seem to indicate that people do play a part in determining their destiny. For example, Adam and Eve are given a choice to make in the Garden of Eden. They made the wrong choice—but it was theirs. And what about verses like Joshua 24:15 where it says, "Choose you this day who you will serve but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." What about the next chapter in Paul's letter—Romans 10:13 where he says, "Whosoever will call on the name of the Lord—whoever CHOOSES to call on Jesus—will be saved." What about John 3:16 where Jesus says, "For God so loved the world that WHOSOEVER BELIEVES in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." What about Jesus' interaction with the Rich Young Ruler where our Lord plainly gives him a choice? Remember? Jesus told him, "Sell your possessions. Give the money to the poor. Come follow Me. Make the choice—give up your stuff and be My disciple. It' s up to you."(Matthew 19:21) I don't know about you but in my feeble mind it seems as if the Calvinist position leaves a lot of passages of Scripture unexplained.  Plus—if, as human beings, we are given choices in other areas of life, why would this one choice be taken from us? That doesn't make sense to me. This leads me to mention another flaw:

(2) Extreme Calvinism makes human beings into little more than robots.

If everything is determined, then people are nothing more than puppets who go through the motions of living. In fact, this doctrine could even be seen as an excuse to sin.   If we have no choice in the matter then sinning is not really our fault. And this really bothers me because believing God set it all up this way makes Him the author of sin—and I KNOW that is not Biblical.  After all, as James 1:13 clearly says, "God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone."

(3) A third potential error is that extreme Calvinism tends to discourage evangelism.

You see, if God chooses who will be saved—then we have no role in it.  And there are some churches that follow this line of thinking.  They don't reach out. They don't share the gospel.  They don't participate in missions because in their mind the individuals who are going to be saved is already a done deal.

Well, that's the Calvinists.  What about the other side of the spectrum? What do Arminians believe?

Well, basically Arminians believe that God provided the sacrifice for our sins through Jesus' death on the cross—but men are individually responsible to choose to accept God's free gift or to reject it. I think Herschel Hobbs illustrated it well when he explained predestination or election by saying,  "There is an election held.  God votes for you. satan votes against you.  And you cast the deciding vote."  Suffice it to say that Arminians believe the Bible teaches we have a role in our salvation—we decide to accept or reject Jesus as our personal Savior and Lord. It's our choice.

Here are the "pluses" of this group's beliefs.

(1) The Arminianism perspective acknowledges the verses in Scripture that tell of God's universal love for ALL people—not just a select few.

For example, they point to 2 Peter 3:9 where it says, "God is not willing for ANYONE to perish but for EVERYONE to come to repentance." And John 3:16 where is says: "God so loved THE WORLD..." ...not just the elect.

I call this a PLUS because, yes—God is sovereign—and He can do what He wants—but in His word He tells us over and over again that what He wants to do is to save THE WORLD. He wants to forgive all of us and help all of us and bring all of us peace and joy in life. The Bible teaches that people matter to God—ALL PEOPLE.

Almighty God—Who can do anything He wants to do—wants to give you a purpose for your life here on this earth and also wants to spend all of eternity with you in Heaven—and the Armenian viewpoint acknowledges this.

(2) Here's another plus—the Armenian viewpoint resolves the unsavory idea of God sending some people to Heaven and other people to Hell.

Arminians say that God is sovereign—but in His sovereignty He chooses to give each of us free will. Those who choose to confess their sin and their need for Jesus—those who choose to follow Him as Savior and Lord are welcomed into Heaven. Those who refuse—those who don't want anything to do with God—well, they get their wish because they spend this life and the next separated from their loving Creator.

Now—some of you are thinking—well that's that. This sermon is a done deal because Mark has just explained the right position—the one this church holds. Let's wind up this service because if we leave now—we can still beat the Presbyterians to Ledos.

But wait—because the fact is Arminianism has a flaw or two as well...and it wouldn't be fair not to mention them so here goes:

(1) First, most Arminians just simply ignore these texts that seem to teach predestination.

They skip over Ephesians 1 and Romans 9—and that's not a good thing because as 2nd Timothy 3:16 says,  "ALL SCRIPTURE is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,  correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." We mustn't commit the sin of Thomas Jefferson and simply take a pair of scissors and cut out the passages of the Bible that we don't agree with—or we won't be "thoroughly equipped."

(2) One other minus is this. Arminianism can reduce God's part in our salvation.

If we're not careful it makes God into sort of a cosmic vending machine because, like putting the right change in the slot for a soda, if we say the right words He has to grant us salvation. I mean, with the Arminian view it is easy to wind up subjecting God to the wills and whims of man. It conjures up images of us saying certain phrases that obligate God to act in a certain way.

Now—if you've heard me preach—then you know I tend to be far more Arminian than Calvinist.

I believe that if we study the Bible systematically we can see that God loves all people and that Jesus died for all mankind—and that in His amazing grace He has given us free will. I believe that by rightly dividing this Word of truth with careful study we can solve the riddles of certain perplexing texts. For example, this text in verse 13 that says God loves Jacob but hates Esau is a quote of Malachi 1:1—a verse that was originally written 2000 years after Esau and Jacob lived and died. So—by the time it was written the names referred not to the individuals but to the nations that came from these two brothers. Jacob referred to the people of Israel and Esau to the Edomites—a nation that had mistreated the Jewish people.  I think Paul's purpose in quoting this verse was to condemn the actions of a NATION not to say God chose one INDIVIDUAL above the other.

Another thing—the word "hate" here is meant to emphasize a contrast—in the same way that Jesus said, "If any one wants to follow me, he must HATE his father and mother." Jesus wasn't saying we should hate our parents. To do so would be to contradict God's command that we honor them.  No—He was simply saying our love for HIM must have pre-eminence. I think the word "HATE" is used in the same way here—as a contrast—because God did  lovingly blessed the individual named Esau—his offspring became a great nation. It was Esau's DESCENDANTS who used their free will mistreat the Jews. This is what God hated.

And the passage that says God hardened the Pharaoh's heart—well, that's a quote from Exodus beginning with chapter 7 and if you were to read the literal translation of the Hebrew you'd see that of the 20 times it speaks of Pharaoh's heart hardening, ten refer to the Pharaoh hardening his own heart and ten refer to God. Plus the fact that there were so many plagues suggests to me that God gave Pharaoh many opportunities to choose to obey and set the Hebrew people free.  Another thing, the word in Romans 9:22 that we translate "fitted for destruction" literally means "fitted himself for destruction."  In other words Pharaoh's destruction came as a result of his own God-given choice.

If you look carefully at verses 30-33 of this controversial chapter you'll see that it ends by saying our salvation is based on our response of faith. And—passages like Ephesians 1 do say that Christians are predestined—but if you look closely you can see what it is really saying is they are predestined to become like Jesus. One more. I DO believe we can't come to Christ unless He invites us.  As Jesus says in John 6:44, "No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him." But I believe God draws all men. As Paul reminded us in Romans 1, even people who have never heard the gospel story can look at creation and "hear" God calling to them. I believe all people have this inborn yearning to fill that God-shaped hole that is in their hearts.

So—what are we to do? How should we respond to this FEUD?  Should we "lock and load" and get ready to settle this once and for all?

No—I think history proves that wouldn't be effective so instead let me QUICKLY suggest a few things.

(1) First, don't get into heated arguments about this.

I mean, there are brilliant Christians on both sides. For example: John MacArthur, John Piper, Al Mohler, R. C. Sproul, and others are un-apologetically of the reformed persuasion. And on the whole, I for one benefit from their preaching and writing. In fact, my favorite set of commentaries are written by James Montgomery Boice—a very Calvinistic guy. I agree with him on most things so I just ignore the parts of his commentaries where he gets into things I don't agree with him about—because the rest—the good stuff—is EXCELLENT. Plus—I have found most Calvinists to be VERY evangelistic.  I mean, the late presbyterian, Dr. D. James Kennedy wrote Evangelism Explosion—one of the most effective tools ever written when it comes to training believers to share their faith. When these reformed evangelists are asked to explain why they so aggressively share their faith they usually say they don't know who are chosen

and they know Jesus commanded us to go and share the Gospel...so they go. I have no problem with those folks.  I figure they'll learn they are wrong when they get to Heaven.

(2) And then second, if you think I'm being a bit too cavalier, remember, we won't understand some things until we get to Heaven.

God's thoughts are not our thoughts—so there are things about His actions that you and I are just not going to "get" on this side of eternity. Jerry Bridges writes, "A finite mind simply cannot comprehend an infinite being beyond what He has expressly revealed to us." And Bridges is right.

(3) Finally—and I love this advice from Bill Hybels—worship like a Calvinist and witness like an Arminian.

Learn from our Calvinist brothers and worship God as if He chose you—because there is a sense in which He did. On the cross Jesus knew He was dying for YOU. So, learn from those of the reformed tradition and don't take your salvation for granted. Remember, you are a sinner who deserves Hell but in His unfathomable grace and love He sent His only Son to pay for your sins.

Speaking of worshiping like a Calvinist...bow down and worship God for the Sovereign being that He is—a God of mystery we can't possibly fully understand.

And then, like Paul, with hearts breaking for the lost, witness like an Arminian. Do all you can to get the good news of the Gospel to people who either have yet to hear or respond. If God gives you a chance to WALK ACROSS A ROOM and share your faith—Do so!  Witness as if their salvation depends on it because as Paul says in Romans 10:14, "How can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of Whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"

Let us pray.

Invitation

Father God,

Remind us that feuds and arguments tend to both please the adversary and also push lost people away from Your love. Help us to trust You for those things we don't understand.  Empower us to obey You in those things we do. And now Father...You have promised to guide us through life and so I ask that You would speak to each of us. Convict us of attitudes and actions that need to change if we are to be more in line with Your will.

I ask this in Jesus' name.

AMEN

In the event of any technical difficulty with this e-mail, please contact the sender or email to nibymbaby@gmail.com

All of us want to be loved. All of us want somebody to love us, Well , I want to tell you that God Loves you. He loves you so much that he gave us his Son to die on the Calvary cross for our sins. And he loves you so much that he will come into your life and change the direction of your life and make you a new person, whoever you are.
Are you sure that you know Christ ??
Jesus Christ is my Master.

The No Condemnation Concept

Date: July 13, 2008

Scripture: Romans 8

from the series Romans

Introduction

As I'm sure all Redlanders know by now—one of my goals for this year is to preach through the entire book of Romans. I don't know if you've ever counted—but there are sixteen chapters in Paul's letter and today we are studying the eighth chapter—which means after this sermon we will be halfway done—and it's only taken us three and a half months to get this far! My! How time flies when you're having fun!

One thing I want to point out as we begin—is that this eighth chapter is considered by many to be the single most important chapter in all of Paul's writings. This is quite a distinction when you realize that Paul's writings compose two thirds of the New Testament—so to highlight this one chapter is saying something!

And—it's easy to understand why this chapter would be so highly esteemed—because it contains so many "classic" portions of Scripture—so many VERSES that so many PEOPLE have memorized and clung to amidst the storms of life. If we had time, we'd stop at this point and I'd give you 10 minutes or so to read through the chapter and call out your favorite verse—but since we do have time constraints—I've done that for you. Here are some examples of these CLASSIC verses—and let's read them OUT LOUD together. In fact, feel free to increase your own level of enthusiasm if one of these verses is particularly dear to you:

Verse 1 -"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Verse 15 - "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'"

Verse 18 - "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

Verse 26 - "The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

Verse 28 - "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

Verse 31 - "If God is for us, who can be against us? He Who did not spare His own Son...will He not also freely give us all things?"

Now we come to verse 35—and I don't know about you but when I START verse 35 I can't STOP until I get to the end of the chapter! Read it with me:

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"

STOP...Now say that next word LOUDLY!

"NO!

In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loves us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any power, 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."

Whew! Is this a WONDERFUL chapter or what?! Isn' t it chock full of CLASSIC words that you can CLING to and COUNT on?!

Sermon

Now—one thing I have learned over the years in preaching through various books of the Bible—is that it is often difficult to decide how far to go in each message...how best to break the verses down into bite-sized sermons. And—when it comes to THIS chapter most pastors tend to break it down into three, four, or even five sermons—but I've decided to do it in ONE—not because I'm prideful or because I'm in a hurry to finish this series—but rather because in my mind all these much-loved verses combine to answer ONE main question. And—it's a question that is on the mind of every human being—which may explain why so many of the verses that make up this chapter are so very popular.

In order for you to understand why I say this we need to back up in Paul's letter and review a bit. So that's what we're going to do. Last Sunday we looked at chapter 7 where Paul testified as to how frustrated he was when he failed in his attempt to live righteously...a kind of failure he experienced over and over and over again. Do you remember his honest confession? He said, "I do what I know I shouldn't do—and don't do what I know should. There's a war raging inside me and I let the wrong side lose all the time. I hate this! Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me? Who will help me win this INFERNAL internal struggle?"

I mean—in chapter seven we are looking at one frustrated Christian. Paul is AGONIZING over the fact that he has been born again—but over and over again he still yields to temptation and does things that KILL the joy of his new life. He's perturbed because even as an APOSTLE—even as a witness of the Risen Christ—Paul still gives in to sin.

We all know that kind of feeling. This is why so many of you raised your hands last week. Unfortunately we ALL have a plethora of experience when it comes to failing to live out our faith, because, like Paul, we ALL have this inner war going on—a war between the old nature and the new. Plus—we give in to the old nature over and over again...and when we do we feel the same agony of guilt and remorse that Paul felt. As I said last week, these are NORMAL actions and normal feelings for every Christian. They are not honorable—they not to be aspired to—but they are commonplace. And you know, even after hearing and agreeing with last week's message—I imagine that during these past seven days some of you STILL SAID some things you didn't want to say or DID some things that hurt some people—things you wish you hadn't done.

I bet some of you THOUGHT some things that you are now ashamed of. I bet you BOUGHT some things you shouldn't or ATE some things you shouldn't or WATCHED some things on TV or the Internet that you shouldn't....or SHARED SOME GOSSIP you shouldn't. And even now as the sin of this past week comes to mind you condemn yourself and think, "What a wretched, weak, JERK I am! Why did I do that? It was foolish...it was sinful. How could I mess up like that AGAIN?!"

Perhaps as you sit here this morning you are feeling like Paul in that you are experiencing mental agony over a lack of RIGHT-doing or an abundance of WRONG-doing or wrong-thinking. And if that describes you then please listen to these words from a fellow struggler! Don't give in to that kind of anguish—don't hang your head in defeat because the thing I want to make sure you understand about all this is that the evil one—our adversary—satan absolutely LOVES IT when we feel this way. He loves it when we feel defeated.

In fact, one of his favorite pastimes is to come to us as we are kicking ourselves over our sin and shortcomings and do all he can to make a BAD situation WORSE. Revelation 12:10 tells us that satan does this so much that it has earned him a nick-name—and here it is. He is called, "the accuser..." because he "stands before the brethren day and night accusing them..." In other words, one of satan's main strategies is to take the normal guilt and shame that we feel when we sin—and intensify it—exaggerate it.

You see, as Bill Hybels puts it, "the evil one knows full well that a THOROUGHLY DISCOURAGED Christian is an UTTERLY USELESS Christian."

So whenever a believer does something he regrets, the evil one swings into action immediately and starts intensifying the shame by saying things like, "Now you've done it. That was the last straw. God has had it with you. His patience is ended. His grace is used up. You think YOU'RE upset about your actions? Well, let me tell you, GOD is sick and tired of your mistakes... your premeditated foul-ups and sins." And when satan's tactic works and we fall deeper and deeper into the pits of despair, hating ourselves more and more for our failures—he turns the screws even tighter and says, "Wake up pal—you are now condemned in the sight of God—and no amount of pleading or penance will ever be enough to make God change His mind about you. You're history. You're out of the family. You are condemned. Give it up. See you in Hell."

Have you ever "heard" words like that?

Have those thoughts ever entered your mind—just as you were kicking yourself over some past sin, such that you went from feeling guilty—to feeling like just giving up? It could be something you did yesterday or thirty years ago—but satan has accused you and made you feel like digging a hole, crawling in, and covering yourself over. I can't tell you how many times I have felt that way. I know by experience that the evil one loves to intensify my shame over sin—even sin that is decades old. Those kind of accusations hit me where it really hurts. It's like pouring salt on a wound that's already throbbing. Do you know what I'm talking about?

We feel this kind of despair in our gut and we think, "It's probably true. God is no fool. God is not mocked. I FEEL like giving up on me—surely God does as well. After all, who wouldn't GIVE up on a FOUL up like me!?"

Well, suffice it to say that this kind of demon-inspired despair can be very effective when it comes to stopping us in our tracks.

We become incapacitated and we feel useless to God and useless to other people. We lose our desire to worship or serve and as I said, that's exactly what the accuser wants.

Now—I'm not saying that we shouldn't feel bad for doing wrong.

Being convicted for our sins is a good thing because if we let Him, God can use that bad feeling—that Godly sorrow over our sin—He can use it to spur us on toward true repentance and spiritual maturity. But excessive guilt can imprison our thinking and our doing—it can paralyze us and make us give up.

Well, Paul apparently knew all about this highly effective strategy of satan—because right on the heals of the section where he talks so candidly about the agony that comes from doing what you don't want to do...right after chapter seven, Paul writes chapter 8—one of the single most important sections in all of the Scriptures. And in it he underscores three truths that will help FREE us from the ENSLAVING accusations of our adversary. Paul says, that because Jesus came—because He died on the cross for our sins and rose again...

(1) We can be free from JUDGEMENT.

Look at verses 1ff:"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are IN CHRIST JESUS because through Christ Jesus...the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature.....God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering."

In these BLESSED WORDS...Paul is saying, "Don't listen to the adversary—ignore his accusations! You and I can't be condemned for our sin because Jesus already was." And praise God, Paul is right! The punishment—the condemnation—we deserve for of our sins, past, present, and future, was given to Jesus two thousand years ago. Let me put it this way. The trial for our crimes has already been held. Judgement has been pronounced and the sentence has been carried out. It's over—it's done. As Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished!" Hebrews 10:12 refers to Jesus' atoning death on our behalf when it says, "When this priest had offered for all time once sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God...by [that] one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy."

At this point I'm reminded of the "double jeopardy" law—a law that says a man cannot be tried twice for the same crime...because Jesus was tried and condemned for our crimes against God...our sins...so we can't be charged for them! He was already condemned for our failure to obey the law. And this is WONDERFUL news because as I told you last week, the law CAN'T save us. It can ONLY condemn us—it can only show us that we are sinners, who deserve eternal death and separation from our Holy God...sinners who desperately need a Savior.

Well—because of His great love God sent His only Son to be our Savior. He sent Jesus to do what the law was and still is powerless to do. So, as Jesus said in John 5:24, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes Him Who sent Me has eternal life and he will NOT be condemned. He has crossed over from death to life."

Paul has a favorite phrase that helps us to understand this "no condemnation concept."
I say "favorite" because Paul uses these same two words 164 times in his writings. Paul says that once we put our faith in Jesus—once we confess our sin an claim the forgiveness He made possible on the cross...Paul says that from then on we are "IN CHRIST" and when we are IN CHRIST we are protected from God's wrath over our sin...because as I said earlier the wrath we deserved for our sin fell on Jesus. Since we are IN CHRIST, there is no more condemnation for our sins—past, present, and future. The punishment for all our sins was placed on Him. He ATONED for them—paid for them—when He died on the cross.

It's interesting to note that the word "atonement" is the same as the Hebrew word for "pitch" — that tar-like substance that God instructed Noah to use in building the ark. That pitch kept the flood out of that ark making it dry and safe inside. That pitch protected Noah and his family from God's judgement—and Christ's atonement does the same for us. We are now IN CHRIST—just as Noah was IN THE ARK. We are safe—we are no longer condemned.

Here's another way to look at it. When we come to faith in Christ our family status changes as we are REBORN IN to God's family.

The moment we admit our sin, believe Jesus was God's Son, and confess Him as Lord, He claims us as His children and as proof of that He sends His Spirit to live in us. In verse 14 Paul says that, "...those who are led by the Spirit of God are Sons of God...who no longer have a spirit of fear but of sonship and cry 'Abba, Father.'" So you see, once we have been justified by faith in Jesus, we are IN CHRIST—we are IN God's family and because of that there is now no condemnation, only love and acceptance.

Jesus' parable of the prodigal son helps us understand this because it tells us that God is like a father who grieves over his son's sin...and instead of longing to condemn, He longs to forgive. You remember the story. The son asks for his inheritance early—in essence saying, "Dad, you are worth more to me dead than alive. I want to enjoy my inheritance now before you can spend it all so gimmee!" Well, this selfish son doesn't take the money and build a life—no—instead he takes it and squanders it on deadly, sinful living. He spends it on alcohol, gambling, and prostitutes. He parties until every dime is gone. When his bank account collapses, so does his life and this Kosher Jewish boy is forced to get a job feeding pigs. Imagine that!

He gets so desperately hungry standing there in the pig sty that he thinks about going back home as a hired hand. He was sure that with his behavior he had forfeited his right of sonship...so sure of his father's condemnation. He was so sure that his father would throw him out of the family...that all he wanted to request was a bunk in the servant's quarters and I can imagine Jesus' first listeners were thinking that the story would end just like that, but Jesus says, "Surprise! The father is so fiercely committed to his son that not only is there no condemnation..there is a celebration!" The father runs to embrace his wayward son and sends the servants off to prepare a party and I can picture him putting his hand on his son's mouth saying, "Shhh...what is all this talk about being a hired hand? Don't talk that way. You're my son!" You will always, always, ALWAYS be my son! Yes...you will be occasionally wayward, periodically foolish...you'll be stupid now and then...but...I love you son. And my love can handle your folly. Shhh...stop all this talk about the bunk house!"

Hybels points out that with this beloved story Jesus was saying, "ONCE a SON...ALWAYS A SON." But, you know, He was saying something even more important that. He was also saying, "Once a FATHER....always a FATHER." He was saying, "Your sin can't negate God's love...ever."

As you know, I was a youth pastor for many years—24 in fact! I admit, when I saw them off yesterday I felt a longing to go with them to World Changers! Well, back in my youth ministry days every so often a student would come to me and confess a foolish mistake. They would be filled with remorse for something they had done and they'd say something like, "Mark, I know I messed up. I feel so stupid. Plus I'm scared! My parents are going to kill me...dad is going to disown me. I can't possibly tell them what I've done!" And I would say, "Shh...stop that kind of talk. That's nonsense! I know your dad.. Sure, he's going to be disappointed...but your dad would never entertain the thought of disowning you. He's not like that." And time and time again the students would be shocked to discover that I was right. Sure—their parents would be upset and hurt—but they always lovingly welcomed the repentant child and worked to help them.
You see—there is no condemnation in a healthy father on the part of his children. "Once a son—always a son....once a father...always a father."

Do you remember David's words in Psalm 103, "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always ACCUSE, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the havens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him." In John 3:17 Jesus affirms the fact that the Heavenly father didn't send Him into the world to condemn the world. God could have done that long distance without Jesus' involvement. No—our Heavenly Father sent Jesus to save us—to redeem us and restore us and bring us home. God does not function with a spirit of condemnation. That's not His nature. Our Heavenly Father has an enormous capacity to forgive and receive back into fellowship His children. So fellow Christian, heed Paul's words! Don't listen to the accuser! There is now NO condemnation for those who are IN CHRIST Jesus.

Now obviously there are people who ignore God and suppress the truth and exchange it for a lie.
These people bring condemnation on themselves by refusing to be adopted into God's family. But that's not what Paul is talking about here. He's talking about believers who have stumbled... and who have repented of that but they have fallen into piles of discouragement and shame and have been victimized by the evil one who is always busy intensifying exaggerating the shame and the guilt. Paul is saying, "Christian, don't buy into his condemnation lie...don't ever allow the evil one to incapacitate you through guilt. Don't allow him to enslave you with a fear that God won't forgive you. God's not like that."

Max Lucado shares the story of a young boy who was shooting rocks with a slingshot one day in his grandmother's yard. He and his sister were apparently staying with her for the summer. Well, this kid could never hit his target—but as he was about to give up he spied his grandmother's pet duck. On an impulse he took aim and let fly. The stone hit, and the duck fell dead. The boy panicked and hid the bird in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister, Sally, watching. After lunch that day, Grandma told Sally to help with the dishes. Sally responded, "Well, Johnny told me HE wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn't you Johnny?" And she whispered to him, "Remember the duck!" So, Johnny did the dishes. What choice did he have? For the next several weeks he was at the sink often. Sometimes for his duty, sometimes for his sin. "Remember the duck!" Sally would whisper when he objected.

Finally, weary of the chore, he decided that any punishment his grandmother would meet out would be better than washing more dishes, so he confessed to killing the duck. Giving him a hug she said, "I know you did, Johnny, I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave out of you." This little boy had been pardoned, but he was enslaved to the belief that punishment was coming. Why? He had listened to the words of the accuser. Well, when you sin—don't make that mistake. Don't listen to the accuser. Instead, talk God. Confess your sin to Him. Never underestimate His love because remember, once a father always a father...and our Father has freed us from condemnation through Jesus Christ.

Here's a second fact Paul has given us in this beloved text. He says that because of Jesus...

(2) ...We can have freedom from DISCOURAGEMENT.

When we give into temptation AGAIN—we feel defeated. We feel like giving up—and, as I said, satan only encourages that kind of thinking...encourages it to the point that as verse 23 says, "...we groan..." I mean, in times of personal failure we long to do better. We're frustrated that we don't...so there's this inner GROANING...this feeling that we're never going to get where we want to spiritually. It's like putting together one of those beds from Ikea and you're on step 12, after hours of work, when you realize that on step six you used the wrong bolts and you GROAN knowing you have to take it all apart and start all over. You think, "I'm never going to get this done!"

Well Paul says we mustn't be discouraged like this because nothing can stop God's final PURPOSE for each of us—and do you remember what that purpose is? Here it is. God wants you become more and more like Jesus. That's His purpose—and, understand, this is nothing new. It's been God's plan from the very beginning of time. The book of Genesis records the fact that when God first made man, He said, "Let us make man in Our IMAGE." Of course the Genesis account also tells us that man sinned and because of that, God's image was distorted. So Jesus came to earth to finish what was started at the dawn of time. He came to make it possible for God's image to be restored in each of us. When you became a Christian and God's Holy Spirit came to live in you, He got to work right away—making you more and more like Jesus—God in the flesh. And in this 8th chapter Paul underscores the fact that nothing stops this transforming process. God works in every thing that happens to you in life—both the good and the bad—He works in ALL things—even the TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS we go through—He even works in these TOUGH TIMES to make us more like Jesus.

Look once again at verse 18. Paul says that when we get to Heaven for the biggest "reveal" of all time—when we are finally home and God's purpose for us is finished...Paul says that on this day our "present sufferings will not be worth comparing" with the glory of that moment when time ends and eternity begins. To me, this wording suggests a scale or balance. On one side of the scale is the suffering we go through....the surgeries, the rejections, the funerals, the financial woes, the heartbreaks and difficulties and on the other side is the end product...the glory of being like Jesus. In 2nd Corinthians 4 Paul says in a comparison like this, our toughest time will seem light and momentary...like a bowling ball compared to a hand full of BB's. You could fill one side of the scale with BB's and the bowling ball wouldn't move. So—no matter what life throws our way, no matter how painful and pervasive suffering can be, we can look to the future with confidence...knowing God uses everything in our life to mold us, sculpt us, polish us, shape us into the image of Jesus. God is working in everything that happens in your life toward that magnificent goal!

In fact when we repent and let Him—God will even use our failures and sins to push us toward that goal! Now—do you grasp the importance of that fact? Do you understand the security you have as a believer? Even when you make dumb decisions—even when you sin...God has the power to use even that stuff for His purpose. God's grace is indeed greater than our sin. As Philippians 1:6 says, we can be confident, "...that he Who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ."

I mean, if you are a believer, God will never give up on you. What He starts in your life, He will finish and doesn't that make you feel more ENCOURAGED and less defeated?! Look at verses 28ff again where Paul says, "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son..."

Paul even goes so far as to say that the Holy Spirit helps us PRAY in ways that speed us toward spiritual maturity. Look at verse 26. "The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Think of that! God's Spirit prays for you!

Have you ever been too angry or hurt or discouraged to pray? I know I have. There have been
numerous times when I couldn't find the words to express what my heart was feeling. Well, Paul says, in times like this when we don't know how to pray, the Spirit prays for us. He takes our prayers and translates them, so to speak, and presents them to the Father on our behalf. He prays for what we need—and this is great because we usually don't really KNOW what we need! It's like a child who comes to his mom and says, "I'm hungry. Give me a candy bar." And the mom says, "No problem—here's an apple." The Holy Spirit helps us by praying for those things we need to be more spiritually healthy—more like Jesus. In the Holy Spirit, we have an all-powerful, all-knowing prayer partner. So, we have no reason to be enslaved by feelings of judgement...or discouragement and defeat.

Finally, Paul says that because Jesus came...

(3) ...We can have freedom from FEAR.

In verse 31, he asks, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" And please note—the question is not, who can be against us. [As Lucado points out] Anyone could answer that question because in this fallen world there's a lot that is against us. Here's a sampling: disease, inflation, corruption, exhaustion—all potentially terrifying things that are against us—but that's not Paul's question. The actual question Paul asks is this, "if GOD is for us—who can be against us?" Those first five words change everything don't they?! Consider the fear-squashing comfort of that phrase. Let's borrow an idea from Max Lucado and say it together four times—emphasizing a different word each time—starting with the first. GOD is for us. God IS for us. God is FOR us. God is for US. Doesn't that feel wonderful? Funny how those four words can INCREASE your courage level while at the same time decreasing your fear level. Lucado writes,

"God is FOR you—not 'may be,' not 'has been,' not 'was,' not 'would be,' but 'God IS! He is FOR you—today at this hour at this minute. No need to wait in line or come back tomorrow. He is with you. His loyalty won't increase if you are better nor lessen if you are worse. Your sin can't stop Him being FOR you. Turn to the sidelines; that's God cheering your run. Look past the finish line. That's God applauding your steps. Listen for Him in the bleachers, shouting your name. Too tired to continue? He'll carry you. Too discouraged to fight? He's picking you up. God is FOR you. Had He a calendar, your birthday would be circled. If He drove a car, your name would be on His bumper. If there's a tree in heaven, He's carved your name on the bark. We know God has a tattoo, and we know what it says because in Isaiah 49:16 He declares, 'I have written your name on my hand,'"

So—NOTHING can be against you! Not death—not disease—not job loss—nothing can thwart God's purpose for you. If all the demons of Hell try, they will be defeated. Because you see, you are loved by ALMIGHTY GOD HIMSELF and one plus God equals an unbeatable majority.
This fact should turn Christians into the most confident people in the world. As Hebrews 13:6 says, "We say with confidence, 'The LORD is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" Indeed! Nothing can separate you from God's love. You are eternally secure—so there is no reason to EVER be afraid.

In John 10:28 Jesus said, "You are in My hand and no man can pluck you out." and I like George Beverly Shea's paraphrase of that promise, "God's grip don't slip." James Montgomery Boice tells of a time that he received a letter from a man whose homosexuality had cost him everything...his wife and children...his job...his health. In fact, he had AIDS and he was writing to tell Boice that during his illness he had found the Lord and wanted to see if he could receive his Sunday services on cassette tape. The man wrote, "Unfortunately I am losing my eyesight due to AIDS. I'm reading your books as fast as I can, before I find myself unable to do so.
Your tapes will enable me to continue my studies after the light fails. Dr. Boice, I have become obsessed with God. I can't get enough of His Word. He literally has become my sole incentive to live. I have lost so much already and I am losing everything else, but I cannot lose Him."

Invitation

Fellow sinner—aren't you glad that is true? I mean the fact that in spite of our sin we cannot lose the love of God—a love He expressed by sending His only Son to die on the cross for us—doesn't that fact dispel your fear—no matter what it's source? I mean, the cross proves once and for all that GOD's love for us is more than a feeling—it is an integral part of His character that prompts Him to always ACT on our behalf. And Paul says, NOTHING can separate us from that love—so nothing else matters, no matter how big or bad it seems! In fact, let me ask you a few questions here to illustrate the comfort of this fact.

• Can the rejection of friends—can loneliness and grief separate us from God's love? NO!
• Can financial problems—can the price at the pump separate us from God's love? NO!
• Can diseases as devastating as cancer separate us from God's love? NO!
• Can governments—can earthly powers no matter how corrupt—can they separate us from Gods love? NO!
• Can war separate us from God's love? NO!
• What about demonic powers—can they separate us from God's love? NO!
• Can anything in life separate us from God's love? NO!
• Can death do that—surely it can— NO!
• Your answers are correct—NOTHING—absolutely NOTHING can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So you see...Jesus' coming negates ALL of the accuser's attacks...because it frees us from judgement...frees us from discouragement...frees us from all fear.

Let us pray.

In the event of any technical difficulty with this e-mail, please contact the sender or email to nibymbaby@gmail.com

All of us want to be loved. All of us want somebody to love us, Well , I want to tell you that God Loves you. He loves you so much that he gave us his Son to die on the Calvary cross for our sins. And he loves you so much that he will come into your life and change the direction of your life and make you a new person, whoever you are.
Are you sure that you know Christ ??
Jesus Christ is my Master.