Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Epistle Lesson just read, from Romans 8. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- The dynamics of God’s love are clearly revealed in our Old Testament reading. His love is not based on the kinds of values and criteria that human beings use to determine worthiness, but rather in pure and gracious love, and His faithfulness to His Word.
- These same assurances of God’s love have been forwarded on to us in the Good News of the Kingdom, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the assurance that He is the Savior of the world. And again, the nature of His love for us in Christ Jesus is clearly not based in our performance, but rather precisely because of our lack of good performance. His love is experienced chiefly in His forgiveness, His mercy, His cleansing away of our sin and guilt.
- Now, there is a distinction made between those who have been claimed by God and brought to faith, and those who have rejected His love. So Israel received favor whereas Pharaoh and the Egyptians were destroyed. And Jesus speaks about the sorting – the good into containers, but the bad are thrown away.
- But this is not His primary will – which is that all people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Rather, it is His consequential will – the fire, weeping, and gnashing of teeth only for those who reject His love and salvation and insist upon going to hell in impenitence and unbelief! Unfortunately, this is the vast majority of mankind to this very day – but this is sadly a rejection of God’s love.
- In our text Paul writes about the nature of God’s love, seeking to grow and strengthen our faith in God’s love. And so he assures us that:
I. God Has Lovingly Provided Salvation For All People In Christ Jesus
Text: “God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all.”
1 Jn. 2:2 “He is the blood atonement for our sins . . . and for the sins of the whole world.”
2 Cor. 5:19 “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them.”
Statement: The “net” of the Gospel is cast out to everyone – and is intended to “catch” all people. Sadly, as Jesus lamented over Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathers its chicks, but you would not.” The fault is not God’s, that His love is too narrow or exclusive in any way; rather the fault lies with people who are disinterested in having a relationship with God or even disinclined. But His love is extended to all, and is intended for all, and all are invited!
Application: By God’s grace we have come to know His love and to appreciate it, and so we trust His love and His covenantal promises and we rejoice in them. So also we have become people who love Him and who “keep His Word,” His instructions, and who seek to do His will. And we should understand just how much this is a gift from God – a blessing undeserved and unearned, for as Paul informs us in our text:
II. God Has Predestined Us And Called Us To Faith – We Are Saved By His Grace Alone
Text: “Those whom God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified.”
James 1:18 “Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
Statement: It is hard for us to fathom God thinking about us thousands of years before we were even born, and having determined way back then the blessings He would bestow upon us by calling us to faith in Jesus through His Word and our Baptism. But this is the assurance that we have – of His great love for us. And again, this is purely a gracious love, for obviously He laid His love upon us before we had done anything either bad or good. How wondrous it is that God is faithful and full of steadfast love – and that His love is upon each of us!
Application: These are realities that are worth pondering, considering, and embracing in our hearts and minds. His love is above and beyond our thoughts, our minds, and our comprehension – and so also His love is not dependent upon us in any way. God is simply love, and the more we grasp the nature of His love the more blessed and comforted we are. He caused these things to be written; no mere human being could ever have dreamed up or invented such thoughts about God. So we know that He wills for us to know “ABOUT THE LOVE OF GOD,” and to rejoice in it! And these assurances of His eternal love for us enable to grasp and believe that:
III. Even Now God Works All Things Together For The Good Of His Dear People
Text: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”
Statement: This is such a magnificent promise, filled with such ground for confidence, courage, and continuous joy, that it can scarcely be comprehended. So, if I suffer accident or injury, it must end up in good, something better than what I had. So, if I suffer illness or disease, this must end up in good, something better than what I had. So if I suffer betrayal, violence, or abuse, it must end up in good, something better than what I had. If I lose my business, my house, my loved ones, my reputation, my fortune, my partners, or my friends, all of this must end up in good, in better things than what I had. It is a guarantee, from God’s own holy and precious Word, and God is faithful, keeping covenant and steadfast love with us!
Application: If only we believed this reality more strongly and lived by it, how much less stress and anxiety and pressure we would have, and how our joy and peace and contentment would increase! With such a promise and assurance, how could we not be filled with utter courage and confidence! We are not confident that everything will turn out as we hope, wish, desire, or expect; but we are confident that our projection is upward at all times. Faith in this promise of God enables us to not only be courageous as we start out, but also optimistic and hopeful when we encounter all manner of difficulty and trial. To know and believe the love that God has for us produces the most powerful and effective life support that anyone can have! And it is ours, we who “KNOW ABOUT THE LOVE OF GOD.” For what this means is that:
IV. Nothing Can Separate Us From God’s Love; Nothing Can Hinder Or Defeat God’s Love From Accomplishing Its Objective – Out Utter And Eternal Blessedness
Text: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Statement: Now, we have been told and informed about the nature of God’s love for us. And we must remember God’s power and authority, that He is almighty and in full and complete control of all things – that not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from our Father in heaven, that the hairs of our head are all numbered by God. So, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” No one can charge us, no one can condemn us – Christ is FOR us, interceding FOR us at the right hand of God!
Application: God wants us to know about His love, to be assured of His love, to live in His love with confidence and courage, and to grow in our faithfulness to Him. If we understand how much He treasures us – we are described as His treasured possession, and that He has given us His everything, His own beloved Son, then we will also treasure Him and His kingdom! Moses wrote it: “You are a people holy to the LORD your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasure possession.” He wrote: “KNOW THEREFORE THAT THE LORD YOUR GOD IS GOD, THE FAITHFUL GOD WHO KEEPS COVENANT AND STEADFAST LOVE WITH THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”
Conclusion: This is what He wants us to know, what He wants you to know, so that you open yourself up to Him and His love, and allow His love to be your strength and power throughout this earthly life!
You will continue to see how His love and faithfulness will bless you and keep you to the very close of the age. All of this is simply His nature, for God is love!
So, let us be wise and well-trained scribes, understanding all these things, believing them, and living in them. It has always been, and is now, and always will be “ABOUT THE LOVE OF GOD.” Thanks and praise be to Him forever, Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.