I'd like us this morning to go straight into Romans Chapter 8 and verses 31 to 39. Romans 8 and verses 31 to 39 is a great passage of Scripture that I think most Christians would have come across. It's an encouraging passage. It is about the love of God. And so this morning let's look at these words and say, "Dear Lord, reveal to us your love in a deeper way that I may be closer to your heart." Romans 8 verses 31 to 39 and let me read these verses for you.

'v31: What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? 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. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'

Now this is our continuation in our series in the book of Romans. In about two days' time, it is a special day for many people. Tuesday is? (Congregation responds). Valentine's Day. And Valentine's day is about love. This morning I want to share with you the highest and the noblest love of all, the love of God. The love of God is central to Christianity. In fact God tells us God is love. There was a time where a famous theologian, his name is Karl Barth. He visited a seminary. He preached there and thereafter he convened a small group of students for Q&A for discussion, and one student asked Karl Barth this question, "Sir, can you summarise for us what Christianity is all about?” And everybody took out their pen and paper, trying to jot down every single word that Karl Barth is going to say. And the theologian opened his mouth and said," This is the summary of the Christian life: Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. " Lyrics from a simple Sunday School song, and I think he is right. Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. The love of God is central to Christianity. In fact the Bible you hold in your hands in a way is a love letter from God to us, and this morning we are going to consider the immense, amazing, unbreakable love of God for His people, and I hope you will rejoice greatly in the strong love of God. 0:04:00

You see, over the past two, three weeks you have been looking at the sovereignty of God, that God is sovereign, He is powerful, He synergizes all things together. There is no doubt as to the omnipotence, and the power and the might of God, but maybe there is a question in our minds. I know God is powerful, I know God is sovereign, I know He is in control, but, is God really for me, or is He indifferent towards me? See, it is one thing to know someone is powerful but it is another thing to know that someone who is powerful is for you. It's as if Paul knew that this would be a question that would come up in our minds and he now journals for us, he journals for us Romans 8:31 and 39 and here it is, a triumphant song of love from God to us. This song begins in a sense in verse 31 where it says

"What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"

The word "if" here should be translated "since". It's not an “if” of a doubt, it's an “if” of a certainty. Since God is for us, who can be against us? And this song of love begins like this, that our God is for us. Let me first define “us”. It is important. For the rest of the message, you have got to understand the definition of “us”. The “us” here is not referring to every single human being that has ever walked upon the face of this earth. It's clearly defined as those who are called according to His purpose. These are the people who love God because these are the people whom God has chosen before time, whom God has called by His power, whom God has justified, and one day will glorify. In other words, these are the people who belong to Jesus Christ. These are the people who love Him, and this is the “us” that we are talking about. God is for us, God is not against us, neither is He indifferent towards us. The Bible says He is for us. 0:06:21

Earlier on in Romans 8:26 we see how the Holy Spirit is for us. He prays for us. We see how in Romans 8:28 God synergizes, works together all things for our good. God is for us, and later on in verse 34 we're going to see how Jesus is also praying for us. The Trinity is totally for us. This is the love of God, that those who belong to Jesus are loved with an everlasting love. So this morning let's consider if God so loved us and God is for us, what does it mean then to you and to me?

The first thought I want to share with you is this: since God is for us, we can never be condemned. Think about it, if God is on your side, if God is for you, you can never be condemned. One of the FAQs of the Christian life, frequently asked questions, of the Christian life is this, “Pastor, can I lose my salvation? If I have genuinely repented of sin and believed in Jesus and His finished work on the cross, will I one day lose that salvation? What if I sin? What if I fail? Will I lose favour with God? Will I be condemned? Will I be seen and charged as guilty?” What does Paul, the inspired writer say? He says in verse 33 and verse 34, Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? Those whom God has chosen before time, those whom God has called powerfully, who shall lay any charge to them? It is God that justifies. And who is He that condemns? It is Christ that died. In other words, Paul is asking a question today: who can rightfully condemn a child of God? The answer then, who charges the child of God?

Let me tell you someone who does do that, who wants to do that, who is regularly doing that. His name is Diabolos. What is Diabolos? Sounds like Lamborghini Diablo. (Laughter in the congregation). No, it's not the car, it's not the brand. Diabolos is? Give me his name. Satan. Actually Diabolos translated in our English is the devil. Do you know what's the meaning of the devil? Diabolos. And what is the meaning of Diabolos? The devil. (Laughter in the congregation). What is the meaning of Diabolos? Sorry? Accuser or slanderer. In fact the Bible tells us in Revelation 12:10 that the devil is the accuser of the brethren. This is what he specializes. This is what He does. That's why he is called Diabolos. He comes to the presence of God and say, God, can't you see what this man is doing? Look at his life. Listen to what he just said and read his thoughts. How could he do this? You have done so much for him and this is what he does! The accuser of the brethren, the slanderer, the accuser. He seeks to lay charge against us and to bring condemnation to us. Now may I say that when the devil does that, many times he is quite right in the charges he brings. We all could admit to that isn't it, that we are far from being perfect? We are far from sinlessness and in our lives we do fail and sin against God and so he brings these sins and say God, look at this man, he doesn't deserve to be your child. But the devil is wrong in that thinking that by bringing these charges before God, we stand condemned. Why? Because when God looks down at us, He doesn't see our sins. In a sense He doesn't quite see us. He sees Jesus in us. And so while the devil brings the right charges, he could not have sufficient ground to condemn us because Jesus had already paid for all our sins. And therefore the devil himself could not bring condemnation to us. You see, God doesn't do double jeopardy. You know what's double jeopardy? You are called to pay for the same crime two times. It doesn't work. That's not the way of God. 0:11:07

I was with my son this week in a restaurant and after having our meal, I said, “Shawn, let's go.” My son is a stick-in-the-mud. He is very, very black-and-white and he said, “Daddy, you haven't paid yet.” (Laughter in the congregation). I said to Shawn, “Shawn, I paid already. I gave the aunty the credit card earlier. You just didn't see it.” And then I asked him, “Shawn, how many times must we pay?” He said, “One time.” “And how many times must we pay for our sins?” He said,” One time.” “And if Jesus,” I asked him, “if Jesus had paid for all your sins, do you still need to pay for your sins?” He said,” No.” A little child, four-year-old kid, can understand that your sins are paid only once. God doesn't do double jeopardy. And you see there is no reason, there is no ground for anyone to condemn a child of God anymore because Jesus had already paid it all and the verdict is sealed. It is God that justifies. In other words there is no other court higher than God. None. He is the highest. No human, no prophet, no angel, no demon can overturn that verdict and sentence from God. Justified. Why? Because it is Jesus Christ that died. It is Christ who perfectly paid for all our sins. He didn't do a half-baked job. He said, “It is finished!” and that sacrifice on the cross was so complete, it appeased the righteous wrath of God and therefore He is risen again. It is a complete job. And now He is in the position of privilege, of power, of honour, at the right hand of God, and even right now praying for His people. You see, God is so for us, because Jesus had paid it all upon the cross. That's why in Romans Chapter 8 it begins with that resounding statement in verse 1,

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”

Cannot be! Jesus paid for your sins past, present, future. You will never stand condemned. That's how amazing that salvation is. I like what John Stott has to say. He says, “We can therefore confidently challenge the universe, with all its inhabitants human and demonic: Who is he that condemns? There will never be any answer.”

You'll never today be condemned because God is for us. Those who have been called, those who have believed, those who love God, you will never be condemned. There're people today who live in false guilt. Hah, when I sin against God, God is going to hate me. God is going to really punish me. Now let me say this, God will correct you, but He doesn't condemn you. God is consistently, constantly drawing you to Himself. But even in the pains, the corrections of life, it is not because He is hates you or is angry at you, but He loves you. We grieve God with our sins. That's sure. That's true. But it never stops the love of God toward us, and you will never be brought back to the place of condemnation. Because God is for us, we can never be condemned. Tremendous security today, even, when in the moment of weakness you fall into sin, you can come to your loving Father, He forgives you in Jesus Christ. You can come to Him because of His great and strong love toward us. 0:15:14

But let me move on, because in Romans 8:35 and, to 37 we see since God is for us, we can never be conquered. We can never be conquered. Now sometimes we live our lives like this chicken. I saw this on Facebook. One of the brethren here pasted this picture of a chicken on Facebook. I thought this is hilarious. Sometimes we look like this chicken. You know, we are beaten, bruised, battered, we are abused and it seems like a truck has just rolled over us. We feel like this chicken, harassed and troubled in life. We feel discouraged, we feel down beaten. But let me tell you something the Bible says about you if you have believed in Jesus. And it is this, nay in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. The Bible says you are more than conquerors. You are not overwhelmed. You overcome.

Now let's look at this phrase “more than conquerors”, three words in the English but actually one word in the Greek. And the Greek word is this, hypernikao. You say, "What is this?" Now let's look at “nikao”. “nikao” is a word that you might be very familiar with. If you just look down at your shoes, look down at your track suits, or your T-shirts, you may find this word Nike. Nike stole this idea from the Greek word. Nike means victory, conquest, and what hypernikao means the conquest, the victory, the winning. The word hyper is the word to be over, excess or super. So if you think about it, this is what God is saying about those who belong to Jesus Christ, that in times of difficulty and trials, you are a super conqueror. Just in case those who do not know what Nike is, this is Nike. (Laughter in the congregation). You are a super conqueror. In what context?

Verse 35, it says who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? So in all these pains, in all these sufferings, in all these trials, and troubles and tribulations of life, does it mean that I get discouraged, I get defeated and I am separated from the love of God? The answer is no. You are a super conqueror in the midst of such trials, troubles and tribulations. You are.

By the way doesn't this verse tell us that if you belong to Jesus, Christ doesn't promise you immunity from sufferings and pain? There will be, and the miracle of the Christian life is that it's not that we will have no more obstacles in life, but it is as we go through the obstacles in life, we are more than conquerors. That is the miracle of the Christian faith. It's not ease, it's victory. In fact I believe that if you are a child of God, you are set for even more sufferings than if you did not come to Jesus on this earth. Because it says in verse 36, “As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long”, a direct quotation from Psalm 44:22. Paul is saying, we suffer, we go through pain, we come to near-death experiences. Why? For thy sake. Yet, in all these pains, the Bible says, Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors.

Why? Why? How is it that I am preserved? You see, this is the question we have: Pastor, if I go through sufferings, if I'm persecuted, if I'm put under intense pressure, what if I fail God? What if in a moment of weakness I sin against Him? Does it mean I lose my salvation? Does it mean that I am separated from the love of God? The answer is No. You're more than conquerors. You are super conqueror. Why? The key here is - through Him that loved us. It is not about your love for Him. It's about His love for you. Your love for Him is unstable, fickle, capricious, half-hearted, but the love of God for us is strong and unbreakable. If today you are standing on the assurance and confidence of your own love for God, you ought to be very scared. You ought to be fearful. You ought to be always thinking that you are in jeopardy. But if it's God's love for you, you are on strong ground. You are more than conquerors through Him who loved you.

When I walk with my son along the streets, sometimes we walk by the roadside and along those double-yellow lines and so on, my son would like to hold my hand but I don't like him to hold my hand. I say, “Shawn, don't hold my hand. Let me hold your hand.” Because when the cars go by, I'm fearful that Shawn may not hold on to me tight enough. He may trip, he may fall, he may stumble and there the car may run him over, and so I don't trust, and I don't want my son to hold my hand. I say,” Shawn, let me hold yours, I'm stronger.”

You know, as you go through the trials of life, it is God who holds your hands. And you will not be defeated. No one can separate you from the love of God because His love is so strong. In times of suffering, there is a temptation for us to think, “God, do you really love me? The circumstances seem to conspire against me. God, do you love me?” And that's why Paul says through Him that loved us, past tense. In the Greek it is aorist tense, past tense. What Paul is trying to say is this, in your present trials, tribulations, swords and perils, don't look to these things for the evidence of God's love. Look back to the cross where He demonstrated His love toward you and be rooted and assured in His love for you on the cross of Calvary. But God demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The greatest evidence of His love has been demonstrated some two thousand years on the cross of Calvary.

My friends, today you are more than conquerors not because of who you are, but because of who He is. Not because of your weak love for God, but because of His strong love for you. And this is what Paul is saying. He is saying on behalf of God as it were, “I love you with an everlasting love, an unbreakable love.” I like this picture therefore, the picture of the chicken. The picture of a chicken that is dying on the outside, its feathers are torn, it's beaten and bruised, but it still struts its stuff. It still.. (Laughter in the congregation). It's like nothing is happening and I'm still good! I like this picture because it is still able to hold its head up. And friends, today as you go through the trials of your life, God is on your side. If God is for you, you will never be defeated. His love for you is strong.

But can I end finally with this, because God is for us, we can never be cast off. There are overlapping thoughts, but let me just say what verses 38 and 39 are saying. We live in a day where people could split all kinds of things, isn't it? You can split chemical compounds and molecules. Sodium chloride, salt can be split into sodium and chloride. That's amazing. But what is more amazing is that people can even split atoms. That's why you have nuclear energy, splitting of atoms. Scientists, people today can split many things but there is something no man, no one, nothing in this whole universe ever will be able to split. What is it? It's the love of God in Christ Jesus for us. Verses 38 and 39 says for I am persuaded. Paul says this is what I am convinced about. It's a settled conviction. I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, the greatest of powers, the most terrible of forces, things past, things present, things to come, from the highest to the lowest, he's convinced, he's persuaded, absolutely nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

Again, the emphasis here is not about your love for God, but God's love for you. It's the love of God, not the love for God. And he is saying that this love of God is very different from the human kind of love we are familiar with. It's an out-of-this-world kind of love. The love humans are familiar with is the love of condition. I love if you deserve it. I love you when I feel like it. But the love of God is out of this world. It is strong, it is rich, it is as Jeremiah says, I love you with an everlasting love. It is unstoppable, it is constant, it is complete. It never wanes, it doesn't go away. It is the love of God because He is love. And those whom He has chosen to love He loves with an everlasting love. Nothing can separate you from that love even when you sin. And even when you fail. You say pastor, “Does it mean then that as a Christian, as a child of God, knowing the grace of God, I continue in sin since I'm always forgiven?” No, if you are truly born again that grace does not stimulate you to more sin. Instead the goodness of God should lead you to repentance. But you see, it is the love of God that is so strong that even when we sin, it doesn't break. And this is where you stand. The love of God, the love of God that is strong, unchanging and eternal. This is an encouragement from God's word to us. That He loves you with a love that we did not even fully comprehend. I like what this author has to say. “In the Gospel, we discover we are far worse off than we thought, and far more loved than we ever dreamed.” Of the love of God, don't compare it with human love. It's a divine, unbreakable love.

And this is what Paul prayed for the church, isn't it? In Ephesians, Paul says that I pray that you will know the height, the depth, the breadth, the length of the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. My friends, when you sin today, God does not cast you off. You are not separated from the love. He does not love you any less. He's not going to curse you. Yes, He's is going to correct you, but He's not going to condemn you. This is the love that I want to share with you about. You say, “Pastor, so what is this going to do for me? Knowing the love of God, how is this going to impact my life?” Let me say this, if you really reflect and rejoice in the love of God, it is transformational. It changes your life. I think first of all, it gives you tremendous security in life. You don't have to go around life wondering are you saved, are you not saved? You don't have to wonder in life,” Does God still love me?” He loves you with an everlasting love. You can be secure.

Number 2, I think knowing the love of God gives me tremendous encouragement in prayer. I don't have to come to God and feel that He does not hear me and He despises me and He would not accept me. He's my Father. I can cry out, Abba Father. I can repent of my sin and rejoice in His forgiveness and say, “Lord, thank you for hearing me because of your Son.” He gives you great hope as you go through sufferings. I think one of the most tormented things about going through sufferings alone is nobody loves me, nobody cares for me. But that strength that you derive knowing that He is for you, Romans 8:28 is for you, He is working all things for you, He still loves you, gives you great strength and fortitude in sufferings. 0:29:15

I think knowing the love of God changes the way we treat one another, changes the way the church loves one another, because you are not going to love one another with a human love. You are going to love one another with the same love God has given to you. That's what 1John 4:11 says, Behold if God so loved us this way, we also ought to love one another. You are merely filling your life with the love of God and releasing it to the people around you. The love of God, when it overwhelms your heart, spills over into people's lives. And I think the love of God inspires us, motivates us to live for Him. We love him, the Bible says. Why, because He first loved us. My friends, why do you obey God today? Is it because you fear that when you don't obey He is going to whip you and curse you and condemn you? If that is the way you think, you are on the wrong track. I obey God today because primarily, God loves me, and because He loves me, I love Him. And if I love Him, I will obey Him. You see, it's the grace of God. It's the love of God that inspires me to live for Jesus Christ. That I think is the biblical motivation for our lives.

I want to show you a video. It is really about this man named Rick. When Rick was born in 1962 he was born with an umbilical cord around his neck. He was asphyxiated. He didn't have sufficient oxygenation to his brain and the doctors subsequently diagnosed him to have brain damage. We call that cerebral palsy. The doctor said this child would grow up to be a vegetable. It's probably better for the parents now to put him in an institution. But the parents refused. They wanted, they were convinced that they would give Rick the best chance possible to live a normal human life. And so they tried their very best to put him to public school. They had a son, another son who was intelligent and devised a computer programme that allows him to communicate by nodding his head. Just by nodding his head he's able to choose the letters of the alphabet and this is how Rick grew and communicated. When he was 13 years old, in the school that Rick was in, one of the students met with an accident and was paraylsed.

The school decided then to organize a charity run and Rick participated, wanted to participate in the run, of course he can't. But he came back, using the computerized system, said to his dad, “Dad, I want to join in the race.” His father, Dick Hoyt agreed to it, placed him in a wheelchair and pushed him the entire journey. Dick said that when Rick was in the race, he saw a smile so big nobody has seen before, and I want to show you videos of how then Dick and Rick Hoyt known as Team Hoyt then went on to numerous biathlons, marathons, triathlons. Because when Rick came home, he wrote again using the computerized system, “Dad, for once I don't feel like a handicapped man.” So let's look at this video and we will make an application at the end of it.

In 1999, NBC interviewed the team, father and son, and they asked the son, “If you could choose, what would you really want to do?” The son replied, “I wish I was an athlete. But if there's something I would like to do today, it is that I would love to have my father sit in the chair for a while and I'll push him around.” 0:33:29

Friends, it is the love of the Father that motivates us to live for Him. God so loved us and He is not afraid to declare it to us. He showed it in His son, He repeats it constantly in the Scriptures. Why? We love Him because He first loved us. Christianity doesn't begin with your love for God. It begins with God's love for you. My friends, rejoice and reflect in the strong unchangeable, sovereign love of God. It will change your lives.

Let's bow for a word of prayer.

This morning I simply want to be the messenger by which God says to you, dear church, I love you. I love unquestionably, I love you eternally, I love you sovereignly. It's a love that you did not deserve and therefore it is a love you cannot erase. And because I love you, I am for you. You'll never be condemned. You'll never be overwhelmed. You'll never be separated from me. I love you with an everlasting love. Walk today in that security, in that assurance, not in who you are, but because of who I am. Even as I put you through the fiery furnace of affliction, I am with you. I love you. Look to the cross where my Son died for you. Come to me in prayer. I will not cast you away. Come to me as a child to a father and I hear you. Let my love so fill your life, so overflow that your love toward others is not of you but from me. And it's only when you appreciate, rejoice and realise my deep love for you that you will really begin to love me and serve me. I'm not a God who wants to curse you when you disobey. I will correct you. I will draw you back to the path of righteousness. I will be grieved when you sin but at all points I have never stopped and will never stop loving you. I will not love you less because my love is in my Son who died for you.

So friends, would you hear the voice of your Father today. But what if you are not one of us? The “us” the Bible defines as those who are called, those who love God, those have believed, those who have repented of their sins. Then my friends, God is not for you, the wrath of God abides upon you, He is against you. Why do you want to remain in that state when He offers to you the free gift of His Son, Jesus Christ who went to the cross and paid what you can never pay. He died so that you will not need to be judged as a guilty sinner, but through Him you might have life. Jesus came not that you will be condemned. He came two thousand years ago that you through him might be saved. Would you come to Jesus? Would you come to Him? Because my dear friends, there will come a day when Jesus will come one more time. And this time He comes as a judge against the sins of a people who refuse to believe in Him. Come while it is time. Today is the day of salvation. I beg you today, come to Jesus, come to God because He so loves you.

And so my dear Father, I pray that your church today would live in that deep realization and appreciation of your strong love and by your Spirit, would you draw sinners to repentance and salvation in Jesus Christ. And we'll be careful to give you the glory because we ask and pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless.