No separation from Christ's love (Quality: Good)

[0:00] With the Lord's gracious help, I would direct your prayerful attention to the 8th chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans, verses 35-37.

[0:15] That is the 8th chapter of the epistle Paul to the Romans, verses 35-37.

[0:25] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

[0:45] As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

[0:57] Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. There are, in this latter portion of the writings of the apostle, three remarkable questions to which Paul gives three remarkable answers.

[1:24] In verse 33, he says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?

[1:37] Whether we look up to angels, whether we look down to the devils in hell, whether we look to the world, or whether we look to our own sinful hearts, who is there that can lay anything to the charge of God's elect?

[2:05] And the answer that the apostle gives, it is God that justifies. And if God has justified his people, who then can stand against them?

[2:25] Then in verse 34, the question is, Who is he that condemneth? Who dares to condemn the children of God?

[2:40] We know that the devil is active in seeking to bring condemnation upon them. But as Paul writes at the very beginning of this chapter, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

[3:02] And so again, whether it be the angels in heaven, the powers of hell, the church, or the people of God, yea, or even God himself, who can condemn when God has justified, when Christ has paid the ultimate price, none condemn God's people.

[3:39] And we might say, well, are they not still sinners? Do they not still sin against God? Do they not at times even fall into open sin?

[3:51] Do they not show a spirit so often of unbelief? Do they not have hardened hearts at times? Do they not grow cold?

[4:08] But here the answer is given. It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

[4:29] Then our faith, our hope, our trust is not in ourselves nor in any other medium, but rather in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has done all that was necessary for his people.

[4:53] And so we come to verse 35, the third question is put, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

[5:04] who shall separate us from the love of Christ? When did that love begin?

[5:18] And the answer, of course, is in eternity past. He ever loved his people, those that were chosen in him by the Father.

[5:30] He loved them with an everlasting love. Therefore, in the fullness of time, he draws them unto himself.

[5:44] What manner of love hath the Lord displayed toward us, if we are his people? Remarkable, magnificent, tremendous love love that the Lord Jesus Christ had.

[6:04] Of course, that love is not just to Christ, but to the Father also, and to the Spirit also. The three one God manifested that love.

[6:19] The Father is so often put before us as the instigator of all things. and the church, the true church of God was donated to God's ever-beloved Son.

[6:41] He loved them and would give himself for them. What manner of love I say, or how we can not plunge its depths, we cannot reach its heights, it's wider than the universe itself, it's longer than anything that can be seen.

[7:11] The love of God to his church, how he loved the people, and we have those remarkable words given us in the word of God, when the Lord Jesus Christ was found in the bosom of the Father before the world began.

[7:42] And so he says, the Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting from the beginning, wherever the earth was.

[7:58] When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there was no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills, was I brought forth.

[8:12] While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the him, and I was daily, his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in the habitable parts of his earth, and my delights, my delights were with the sons of men.

[9:08] The eternal sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ is not something that can be disputed. Throughout God's word, we read it time and time again.

[9:23] I often refer you to the first chapter of the Gospel of John. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

[9:37] The same was in the beginning with God, and all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

[9:50] Christ's love, then, is from everlasting, and it shall be to everlasting. It's not like men who perhaps love for a time, and their love grows cold and gradually dies away, and then it is no more.

[10:14] love is not a love upon condition, either, of what he sees in mankind, or what he sees which is totally against him.

[10:31] His love is indiscriminate love. It is a fullness of love. It's a freeness of love. It is the goodness of his love.

[10:45] And so, his love was ever there, and his love shall be ever there toward his elect.

[10:59] Now, we know that this doctrine is hated by the church today. It's part of the natural event of the mind of man, that they cannot tolerate, that one should have the rule over them.

[11:19] They consider themselves to be free agents, and that they have their own destiny in their own hands.

[11:31] love. But to the people of God, what a mercy it is that his love was ever before us, and that his love never changes, never alters to one degree.

[11:49] His love is always the same. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

[12:01] Who does he love? He loves sinners. We can understand the love, or we can have some understanding, should I say, of the love between the eternal three.

[12:21] That love that the Father displayed toward his Son. That love of the Lord Jesus Christ in obedience to the Father.

[12:32] The love of the Holy Spirit to make God's purposes known. We can imagine something, we have a little understanding of that perfect love that existed between them.

[12:52] Also, we can understand something of the love that God has toward the angels. These who have never rebelled, these who are ever worshipping him, crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord.

[13:15] We can understand then that these that have never fallen, who are ever at God's right hand, should be loved of him.

[13:26] And yet, even in his sight, the angels are imperfect. We can perhaps, to a certain degree, understand the love of God to mankind who seek to live a holy life, who are upright and moral and righteous and good.

[13:52] good. But the scriptures determine that there is none good, no, not one. There is none that possesses an inerrant righteousness.

[14:06] So, although we may see the best of man, and that man can love his fellow creature, it is something that, indeed, he should do.

[14:20] but Christ's love was revealed to us while we were yet sinners. He died for rebels, to those who were far off from God, to bring them back unto God.

[14:43] all the wonder of it, the wonder of that love that should so look upon us if we are his people, that love without end and without beginning, that love, that love of condescension toward those who are at enmity toward him.

[15:17] The love of Christ is rich and free, fixed on his own eternally. do we know anything of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ to our own souls?

[15:36] If we do, it is because the Spirit has revealed that love to us. We do not come by our own selves, by our own strength into the love of Christ.

[15:55] nothing would compel us to love him. It's not in the very nature of man. But while we were yet sinners, I say Christ died for our sins.

[16:13] Think of some of the remarkable characters in the scriptures. We've related some of these before. You think of Manasseh, that wicked king who killed his own children, who caused the streets of Jerusalem to run with blood.

[16:35] You think of the woman at the well, that woman who had lived a filthy and godly life, contrary to the very commandments of God.

[16:50] Yet Christ revealed himself to her. Think of Saul of Tarsus, one who hated Christ and did everything in his power to destroy his church.

[17:06] And yet, he was spoken of as a vessel of mercy. God said, we could go through so many cases. And we don't need to go far.

[17:20] We can look at ourselves. We can see, if we are honest with ourselves, that we have sinned against God. And at times, like the Apostle Paul, we can say that we are the chief of sinners.

[17:37] that revelation has to be made to us. Again, we think of ourselves as being reasonable creatures.

[17:50] We don't reckon that the seed of every sin dwells within our hearts. We justify ourselves on so many occasions.

[18:02] We think ourselves are to be good. But there is none good. No, not one. All have sinned. And we particularly have sinned against God.

[18:17] And yet, it did not deter his love. Because he knew all about us from the beginning of time, before ever we were formed, before ever we came forth from our mother's womb.

[18:34] The Lord knew us all together exactly as we are. He knew what we would become. He knew that as we grew in years, having been born in sin, we would continue in sin, we would grow in sin, that sin would become more pleasant to us, and that we would immerse ourselves at times in sin.

[19:01] sin. The Lord knew all these things, and he knew also that man, if he's left to himself, will sin himself into the grave and into eternal misery.

[19:18] But the love of Christ was set upon his people despite what they were, love of Christ.

[19:29] The love of Christ would change the hearts of his people. A new heart, he says, also will I give unto you.

[19:42] A new spirit will I put within you. we will walk in newness of life. We will hate the things that once we loved, and we will love the things that once we hated.

[20:00] And as I've said on many occasions, conversion is not some temporary change in the life of a person.

[20:11] It's a complete change. It's a turnaround. once we were walking toward this world and in this world, now we walk by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[20:29] We walk in his ways. We delight to do his will, to keep his commandments, to walk according to his precepts.

[20:41] We love him because he first loved us. and gave himself for us, a ransom for our never dying souls.

[20:53] At such love, my soul still wonder, love so rich, so full, so free. Say, whilst lost in heavenly wonder, why, O Lord, such love to me?

[21:08] it is amazing love, remarkable love, wonderful love. And the question will always be with us, why?

[21:20] Why was I made to hear his voice? And enter while thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come.

[21:30] love? Oh, what a wonder it is when the work of grace begins in some poor rebel's heart, when they feel that change taking place, when they recognize that this is not something that they could do, but something that God has to do for them.

[21:56] no man can speak them into the love of Christ. No man can threaten them that they should love the Lord Jesus Christ.

[22:08] Here is a voluntary love because of the love that Christ has shown unto us. I say again, when the Holy Spirit reveals these things and when we can immerse ourselves, as it were, in that love, how wonderful a time it is.

[22:33] We often consider that time of our first love, that period where we are taken up with the things of God, when our conversation truly is in heaven, when that love is seen in our expressions, in our walk and conversation, and man and woman can see in our very appearance that a change has taken place, that we are now new creatures in Christ Jesus.

[23:15] All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. It is a new life. life, it is a new way. It's a new concept. Everything becomes new.

[23:30] The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither indeed can he. be. I say again, no man can persuade us of these things.

[23:46] We know that the apostle in his preaching set these things forth earnestly before the people, showed by his very life, his love for the Lord Jesus Christ, endured much on his behalf, love.

[24:05] And yet that love never failed because the love of Christ to him never failed. And wherever we are plunged into the depths at times, the Lord lifts us up, for underneath are those everlasting harms.

[24:28] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Christ. What cost was involved in that love?

[24:42] He came to die that erring souls might live. How remarkable that God himself should be the deliverer of those that have fallen tragically into sin, that he should leave his father's bosom.

[25:05] He should leave the splendors of heaven, the glory that he had with the father before the world began. That time when the angels bowed down and adored and worshipped him without end.

[25:23] the glory that he possessed as the eternal son of God. And yet for the love of his people, he was willing to leave all this behind.

[25:43] You know, we read of Moses in Egypt, God, that he forsook the courts of Egypt, the glory that he had there, the expectation that one day he might have been Pharaoh himself.

[26:03] But for the suffering people of God, he was constrained to turn his back upon them, to wander in the wilderness, and then to endure many things in bringing the children of Israel to the borders of the promised land.

[26:24] We read of Jacob whose love toward a woman constrained him to serve seven years through the summer heat and the winter cold that he might obtain her.

[26:46] But how much more did the Lord Jesus Christ do for his people? He humbled himself. He made himself of no reputation.

[27:01] When we think of the virgin birth and all the circumstances there, when we think how he had to flee out of that place into Egypt, Egypt, his life to be preserved, when we think of the opposition that he met throughout the days of his ministry, even his own city and people rejecting him and wanting to cast him to his death, we read of the authorities, the leaders of God's people.

[27:41] These conspired against him. They would not have this man, Christ Jesus, to reign over them, although their scriptures had greatly determined what would happen.

[28:01] you read through the Old Testament scriptures and it's ever remarkable to me that they could not see from the scriptures that they professed to know and to believe in, that they could not see how Christ Jesus was set before them in the Psalms, in the prophecies, throughout all the scriptures, in the types and shadows that were given there by the sacrifices that were made, even back to Abraham and to the offering up of Isaac and the substitution being made, even to Cain and Esau, Cain and all these that opposed the work of God.

[28:57] Abel, being a righteous man, was hated of his brethren. You see, Christ would have to suffer far more than these.

[29:15] There can be no comparison with what man suffers upon this earth than to what the dear Lord Jesus Christ suffered in his life for his people.

[29:30] And then when we come to the end of his days here below, he was cut off at a young age. He was suffered not to live upon the face of this earth.

[29:45] And although man would seek to put him to death, it was his own voluntary action. He was willing to die, to give his life a ransom for his people.

[30:02] Now, here we see of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of Christ toward his people, demonstrated far more than ever it could be demonstrated in any other way.

[30:18] that he should suffer, bleed, and die, that he should willingly put himself in the hands of his accusers, that he should be bound and taken into judgment, that he should be quiet and not defend himself or speak a word against the people.

[30:53] How peaceable was the character of the Lord Jesus Christ because he knew what he must pass through.

[31:05] When we think of Gethsemane and how he prayed earnestly until the pores of his skin brought forth blood falling to the ground.

[31:22] What an agony he was in because the wrath of man was against him. But more than this, the wrath of God was also against him because he stood there as the substitute of his people.

[31:44] He took upon himself their sins that they should not be charged, that no condemnation should come upon them, that that condemnation should come upon him, that he should bear the somewhat impossible load, the load of the sins of the whole elect from the beginning to the end of time.

[32:13] And there we see him nailed to the accursed tree. And it was spoken of in the scripture, Cursed is every man that hangeth on a tree.

[32:30] The Lord Jesus Christ was hung upon a tree. there his suffering so intense, angels have not perfect sense.

[32:44] And speaking of the angels who desired to look into these things, how could they understand poor things that this eternal son of God should lay down his life, not for the godly, but for the ungodly, that he should pray such an ultimate price?

[33:07] How could they understand because they had never sinned, they'd never fallen, they'd always been obedient to the commands of God? And there they saw God's eternal son, the son whom he loved, and the curse of God laying upon him, darkness falling over all the earth.

[33:30] My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Was a cry that he put forth from the cross. And how can we begin to understand that statement that God is forsaken of God, that God forsook the son in whom he was well pleased.

[33:56] but it was but for a moment, because God cannot look upon sin with any tolerance in whomsoever it may dwell.

[34:09] And if we remain sinners, and remember that God is angry with the wicked every day, our sins testify against us, and if our sins are not put away, then we will die in our sins.

[34:25] and we will die to eternal damnation, to hellfire forever and ever. But it's looking to the cross at Calvary.

[34:38] It's looking to the dear son of God, who hung and suffered there, to look to Jesus as our only hope and our only plea.

[34:49] Looking to him who loved us and gave himself for us, a ransom for our never-dying souls. Looking unto Jesus, who is the only one who is able to save us, to save our souls alive, to bring us into glory, there through a never-ending eternity, to have the pleasures which are his and shall be ours forever and forever.

[35:23] The love of Christ, oh, what love he demonstrated there. But of course, that love which was so rich and so free, the death could not hold him, the grave could not contain him, vain, the stone, the watch, the seal, Christ has burst the gates of hell.

[35:58] Heaven and how the world and all things that are in it cannot prevent the Son of God rising again from the dead.

[36:12] And what was there in that resurrection? He rose again for our justification that he might justify the ungodly.

[36:27] How remarkable are many things written in the word of God. We have it, I think I might have mentioned it fairly recently in the first, the sixth chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah.

[36:49] In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple.

[37:01] Above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings, with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

[37:13] And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.

[37:24] And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. What impression did this make upon the prophet?

[37:37] Well, he saw himself undone. then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.

[37:52] For mine eyes have seen the king, the lord of hosts. Then one flew of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar, and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, lo, this has touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged.

[38:23] The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. It is that precious, meritorious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that alone, that is able to cover us.

[38:44] And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. That blood that was shed for the remission of the sins of God's people, was that blood shed for you and me.

[39:02] do we look to that blood? Do we see its cleansing power? You know, in the ordinances of God's house, in the communion, which the church is instructed to undertake, to remember the Lord's death till he come, the cup is presented before us.

[39:31] Now, Christ had to drink the cup of God's wrath to the very dregs, that blood that freely flowed from his head, his hands, his feet, and his side.

[39:53] The wine that is partaken of there represents, sets forth, the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ for his people.

[40:09] That blood, he says, was shed for you, that you might live and not die, that you might have life more abundantly.

[40:22] now, has Christ's love toward his people ever failed? Has he ever forsaken them? In the promise that he gives to the disciples before his death, he promises them that his love will ever remain the same, that it will continue, that it will never fail.

[40:48] And that promise is still true today, that those that look to the Lord Jesus Christ, his love will never fail them.

[41:01] It's always the same. It never knows any variation. We, as we sung, are sometimes hot and sometimes cold, but Jesus is the same.

[41:15] and it is that blood that cleanseth us from all our sins, makes us pure within. And although this body shall suffer sin until its dying day, yet that new life within us, that perfect work of God upon the hearts of his dear people, demonstrates that love to them.

[41:50] And then in heaven, he has not forsaken his people either. He lives as our great high priest to intercede on our behalf.

[42:03] It's he instead of us is seen when we approach to God. God and there he sits as a triumphant one.

[42:17] But the marks of his hands, feet and side are still visible and they will be seen to all eternity because these are the marks, the evidence of Christ's finished work and the justification of his people.

[42:39] and ever and only through the Lord Jesus Christ can we come to God.

[42:51] There is no other way. Salvation is of the Lord and that blood is the evidence that we are made clean every whit.

[43:04] God is the God of the Lord. Do we know this precious Jesus? Do we know the love of Christ shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit?

[43:19] God if we do then we must live upon that love and we must die upon that love.

[43:30] We must demonstrate it to all around us that we love the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and as our all. whole heart's desire.

[43:51] Jesus first and Jesus last and Jesus as our all and in all. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

[44:07] Should we not pay that debt of love to him? continually day by day and in the words of Gatsby oh that my soul could love and praise him more his beauty's trace his majesty adore live near his side upon his bosom lean obey his voice and all his will esteem.

[44:36] May the Lord bless his word thus far. Amen. process I see you in God and we are