December 2, 2007
Morning Worship
Text: Romans 8:28-39
Subject: The Love of God
Title: Will You Let God Love You?
Open your bibles to Ephesians 3. This is not the passage I am going to preach from today but it is going to lead us up to it. As I read I want to put an emphasis on just a few words in the passage. 14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.
Let’s look at the phrases I emphasized. 1) His whole family – that’s talking about Christians. 2) His glorious riches – God has great things, great promises, great riches in store for you. 3) He will strengthen you with His power – We should never be satisfied with being smart enough or strong enough or clever enough or charismatic enough, we need God’s power in our lives. 4) Through faith – everything we receive from the Lord we receive by faith. If you don’t receive by faith you don’t really receive anything from God. 5) Rooted and established in love/the love of Christ/the love that surpasses knowledge; be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
That’s where I want to take you today. When was the last time that you sensed the all consuming love of God in your life? I’m sure that every one of you knows that God loves you. I’m sure you probably know just how much He loves you, but when was the last time you felt loved like that? Do you know how much God wants you to experience the fullness of His love? He wants you to experience it on the spiritual plane. (He loved you enough to save you from hell) He wants you to know it on a physical plane. (He wants to provide for all your physical needs.) He wants you to acknowledge it on an intellectual plane. And I believe this is very important, He wants you to feel His love on an emotional plane.
Now turn to Romans 8. Starting with verse 28,
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither 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.
I want to show you today how everything that God does in your life is grounded in the love He has for you. So let all the junk go out of your life today and let’s take a journey into the love of God.
I. GOD WORKS IN THE LIVES OF BELIEVERS. (28-30) Let’s connect verse 28 to the context of the previous section in Romans 8. That section is talking about suffering and bondage and weakness. 28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Now I want you to understand something – God does not bring sickness and suffering and persecution on His people. Well Pastor Mike this says that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him… That must mean that He is working good through the bad that is happening to us. That’s right. And God chastises those He loves, right? That’s right. But God doesn’t bring evil upon you. First of all, it is satan who brings all kinds of evil against you. 1 Peter 5:8, your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour… Romans 5:12, …sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men… Exodus 23:25 says that God doesn’t bring sickness – he takes it away. 25Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you… What the enemy of your souls intends for destruction God will turn it around and make good come out of it. Secondly, it is because He loves you! Not only does God love you now, He has loved you from the beginning of time. Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart… That’s the foreknowledge and predestination that Paul talks about in verses 29-30. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. Predestination does not mean that before God created mankind He looked down through history future and said, “I’m going to save this one and that one – this one over here…” Foreknowledge/predestination means that God, in His infinite nature, has always known who would trust Him and so He chose to bestow His love upon them from the beginning. That salvation that we have received is His love poured out into the lives of all who would accept Him by faith. Thirdly, God not only did a work in you, He is still working in you. Go back to 28, God works for the good of those who love him… it doesn’t say, “God worked” but that He works… and He works because He loves you with an everlasting love and He has called you with His lovingkindness…(Jeremiah 31:3) That’s God’s love at work in your life and He wants you to know it.
II. GOD STANDS IN HIS POWER FOR BELIEVERS (31-36) 31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? In the original Greek there is no word “if”. The word should, in this case, be “since”. That leaves no room for doubt. It’s not a question of whether God is for us or not. We can be sure that he is. And “since” He is for us, who can be against us? 1 John 5:4, 4For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 6This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. 7For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit… Do you see where this is headed? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? What things did He graciously give us. 1) His Son… 2) eternal life…3) the baptism in the Holy Spirit… Our salvation does not overcome the world. It takes us out of the world, separates us from the world, but we become overcomers because we can move in the power of the Holy Spirit through the baptism that Jesus gives us. We sing the old song Stand Up Stand Up for Jesus but in reality it’s only in the power of the Holy Spirit that we are even able to stand at all! We are overcomers by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony but if you are sharing your testimony without the power of the Holy Spirit in you you’re not doing everything HE wants you to do! You’re not doing it in the power HE wants you to have. You’re not standing in His power as He stands alongside of you and holds you up. 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? You know who it is! It’s satan, the enemy of your soul; the accuser of the brethren; the liar and the father of all lies. He can accuse all he wants to but you have been set free from condemnation. Romans 8:1, 1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus… You’ve been set free from the curse. Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. It is in the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to stand at all, but it is because of the love that God the Father and the son have shown us that we can receive that power. Stop and think about it – Jesus, the One who was crucified for your sin – you might as well have driven the nails yourself – sits at the right hand of God the Father and intercedes for us. What greater love could you ever experience? Verse 35, 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Satan can’t. The world can’t. Who can? You! But as long as you keep living for Him, working for Him, exalting the name of Jesus, lifting Him up before the world. Nothing can separate you from His love. And He has given you power to stand against the devil.
III. GOD IS FAITHFUL TO BELIEVERS (37-39) 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither 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. You are more than conquerors. What does that mean? When Jesus died on that cross and was laid in a tomb only to rise three days later He conquered sin and death. So when you trusted Christ you too defeated sin and death. But you have been made more than conquerors through Him who loved us. He loved us enough to save us do you think that He didn’t love us enough to bring us through till the end? So after you are saved does God turn you out of the house and say, “Well, I got you this far. You’re on your own now.” NO, the love of God keeps on in your life because He wants you to receive the promise that was given to the disciples on that firs day of Pentecost. He wants you to be endued with power. He wants you to experience the fullness of His love right here right now! He wants you to be baptized or refilled in the Holy Spirit that you might sense His all encompassing love with every part of your being. Every muscle, every emotion, every brain cell, every spiritual sensation He wants to magnify it all in your life. He doesn’t care what church you grew up in. He doesn’t care what your life might have been like. He doesn’t care whether it makes sense to you or not – He wants to pour out the greatness of His love in waves of glory into your life. He wants to wrap His arms of power around you so tight that you will always know that no weapon formed against you can prosper. He wants you to be able to sense that He is right beside you wherever you go. Nothing can separate you from His glorious love because He’s given you the fullness of His Spirit to be a constant reminder of who He is and What He’s done for you.
A couple of weeks ago in this sanctuary our youth group came for a time of worship. And as we worship I talked to them about what would hinder them from getting as close to God as they wanted to be. Every one of them had told me that they just wanted to get so close to God that they could sense His presence. As an object lesson I had my briefcase tied to my leg so every time we started to sing the excess baggage on my leg distracted me – and them. Finally I opened up my briefcase and allowed the youth to begin to take things out of it. There were papers with things written on them like “anger, hurt, grudges, pain, … And almost to a person they told me that they were suffering the lingering effects of all those things in their lives. I want to tell you that as they got rid of the baggage there was much weeping but I could see the burdens lifting from each one of them as they began to know the love of God.
That would be a great story to end today, but I have to tell you about last Thursday. We began a series on prayer. I talked to the young people about prayer and asked for their definitions of prayer. After going through some role playing to help them understand prayer a little better we asked if they had any prayer needs and that they should come forward for prayer. Six out of the eight kids came forward and every one of them wanted to stand in prayer for someone else. You should have heard the response as they prayed for their needs and for one another. They almost sounded Pentecostal.
That would be a good place to stop but I want you to get how far God is willing to go to show His love for you. When the kids stopped praying we all turned and began to pray for Troy. He told me later that he could feel the warmth of healing power flowing down his left side as the kids prayed for him. As we prayed Lana and I began to quietly pray in tongues. After we were done praying I explained to the youth about tongues and how what they heard was not something weird but that it should be normal. One of the girls who has recently been saved look at us funny and said, “I was standing right next to you both and all I heard was English.”
Our young people are beginning to hunger for the love of God like never before.
Would you like to feel His love in your life like that again? You can. He’s just waiting for you to make the first move and then just wait in His presences. He will pour Himself out into your life so that His love permeates every ounce of your being. Would you let Him do that today?
