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The Spirit

The Spirit - Gives Us Victory

Josh Yates · Sunday, 31 August 2025 · Romans 8:28-39 · 47:30 · 7,554 words

Romans S19 · 8:28-39 Lake Orion

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

Romans 8:28 is examined, showing that the promise “all things work together for good” applies only to those who love God and are called according to His purpose, not to a life free of hardship. The preacher asks, “What does okay mean?” and explains that God’s good purpose is to shape us more like Jesus, even through pain. He calls listeners to trust God’s sovereignty, stay rooted in community for encouragement, and hold fast to the assurance that nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

separate 23 luther 10 love 82 thou 8 nothing 23 conqueror 8 encounter 6 jim 5 chrysostom 4 feel 22 nate 4 avenger 4

Topics

Hope 3 Faith 3 Atonement & Sacrifice 3 The Holy Spirit 2 Condemnation 1 Suffering 1 Love 1 Election & Predestination 1 Assurance 1 Prayer 1

Scripture referenced 16

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 8 0:55 Romans 8 0:55 Romans 8:28 2:19 Romans 8:29-30 7:30 Philippians 1:6 11:17 Genesis 50:20 12:06 Romans 8 15:23 Romans 8:31-36 15:24 Isaiah 54:17 19:57 1 Peter 2:24 20:42 Colossians 2:13-14 20:48 Romans 7 23:45 Revelation 12:10 28:55 Romans 8:31 40:35 Ephesians 3 43:26 Ephesians 3:16-19 43:27

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 9 lines, 0:44. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

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Good morning again. Today we are continuing our study in the book of Romans,

and this is the end of Part 1 today. Part 2 starts next week.

I mean, Part 1 was through Romans Chapter 8, and we are finishing Romans Chapter 8 today.

But last week we talked...

We talked about some pretty stuff, some pretty heavy stuff.

The groaning that we have, that all of creation is groaning and longing for everything to be made right.

And the reality is every single one of us groans at times and longs for things to be made right

because we know that things aren't right in the world.

They're not right in our own lives.

We have our own struggles and temptations and things that just aren't going right, and we groan.

But what we learned last week is that the Spirit...

The Spirit prays for us when we can't pray.

And in the middle of our groaning is adoption as children.

We wait for God. The Spirit is groaning with us.

We know that God, of course, knows the mind of God because the Spirit is God.

And so you know that this intercession that the Spirit does, the standing in the gap for us,

is according to God's will.

And so we covered a lot last week. We covered a lot of deep stuff.

And then we come to this week, and we come to one of the verses, the passage of Scripture,

that is probably...

Probably one of the most well-known that people read and misinterpret, misunderstand, misapply all the time.

And you're probably going to recognize it once we read it this morning.

It's Romans 8, 28.

And it says,

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good,

for those who are called according to His purpose.

Let's just leave this up here for a little while.

So when we look at this verse, man, we assume a ton.

When we come to this verse, there's a couple things we have to take into consideration here.

Ask a couple questions.

Because everybody that knows anything about Scripture and attended church maybe once or twice or three times

will quote this verse and say,

And that's what we hear a lot, right?

All things work together for good. Everything's going to be okay.

All things work together for good.

Wait a minute. There's a question we have to ask.

Who does it work together for good for?

For those who love God.

That's the first answer.

That's the second answer to that question.

For those who love God.

And how do we love God?

With all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, with all of our strength.

That's how we're called to love God.

Not only that, it's for those who are called according to His purpose.

And everybody wants to say, you know, hey, everything's going to work out.

Everything's going to be just fine.

Everything's going to be okay.

Here's another question for you this morning.

What does okay mean?

What's your definition of okay?

Okay.

That your comfort, that you will always be healthy, that your loved ones will be healthy,

that you'll never have financial trouble, that you'll always have a roof over your head,

your job will never be in danger, your family will always be safe,

everything will work out to your favor.

May the odds be ever in your favor, right?

I mean, that's almost how we view this verse.

So I ask again, what does okay actually mean?

Every time I read this passage, I think back to missionaries by the name of Nate Saint and Jim Elliott.

And they were part of the movie, The Tip of the Spear.

And that was a movie that was based on their lives and their family's life.

For those of you that don't know the story, Jim Elliott was a missionary who, along with four others,

Nate Saint being one of them, went down to reach the Haurani people in Ecuador.

And they felt a calling to go reach this people that had never heard the name of Jesus before.

And they flew flights over them and dropped.

They'd never seen a plane before, these people.

And it was like 1956, something like that.

And they dropped gifts to kind of initially make contact.

And then they ended up finally landing on this strip of beach.

They had an initial contact that was decent.

And then later they came back with just that man and four others.

And I don't know how true it was in the movie, but in the movie they're portrayed as they had a gun just in case to protect themselves from wild animals.

And one of the kids actually asks, I think it was Nate Saint.

One of his kids comes up and says, what if they try to kill you, will you kill them?

And his answer is, no.

And his answer is, how can I?

Because I know I'm going to see Jesus and they won't.

And the story is, is one fateful day they landed on this beach.

And this tribe came out and speared them all to death.

This is all known through Jim Elliott's wife Elizabeth's book, Through the Gates of Splendor.

I mean, when they first heard about that, did they think that was good?

That all things are going to work out for good?

You think that's the first thing they thought of?

That everything was okay?

And yet if you continue their story, through all this pain,

the wives of these men moved down to Ecuador after their death.

And the entire tribe came to know Christ, including the man that killed Jim Elliott.

Did that feel okay?

Now, I've been talking to you about some friends of ours whose niece had bone cancer at the age of 24.

I've been saying that for the last few weeks.

I went to her memorial on Friday, 24 years old, engaged to her high school sweetheart,

the only man she'd ever dated, was healthy, active until cancer took her from her family.

I texted Jeannie after that, because I was in the middle of studying and preparing,

and I was like, where is the good in that?

So I asked again, what does okay mean?

What does okay mean?

We have to read the next two verses.

Verses 29 and 30 says this.

That's what Paul's saying.

He knows you.

He knows what you need.

He has a purpose for you.

And that plan is good.

And it is for our good.

He's fully sovereign.

Nothing ever catches him by surprise.

He knows what's going to happen, even who will accept him.

God exists outside of time.

We can get hung up on this idea.

If you've been around church at all, you have this question of,

what in the world does predestination mean?

We're not going there this morning, all right?

We could talk about that for five hours, and we could still walk out going,

wow, I don't fully understand that.

I will tell you, I've been studying it for 30 years.

And I don't fully understand it.

It's one of the mysteries of God.

Let me baseline it and say this.

Does God choose us or we choose him?

End of discussion, all right?

That's pretty much what it is.

It's not like God's up there in heaven going, man, I hope they accept Jesus.

I hope they come to me.

Oh, my goodness, I can't wait.

I hope, I hope, I hope.

That's not our God.

But at the same point, in our frame of reference, in some way, we also choose him.

Suffice it to say, it's a mystery of God, and the Bible teaches that God has fully chosen you.

The Bible also teaches that we have to make a choice.

How that works, my brain would pop.

It's a mystery of God.

And I'm okay with that.

Some people are like, I've got to figure it out.

Then let's have discussions and talk about it, right?

But it's a mystery of the Lord.

And so let's not get too caught up in the predestination side here.

But we have to know that time is really our hindrance, not God's.

That's why we struggle, because we have a beginning and an end.

God doesn't.

We don't understand that.

He exists outside of time.

A thousand years to him is like a day.

A thousand years to us is like, well, we're dead in that.

Part of a period somewhere, right?

We don't see a thousand years.

We're lucky to see 80, 90.

But we have to know that long before we knew God, he knew us.

And here's a cool thing.

He waited in anticipation for our relationship to begin.

God waited in anticipation for your relationship with him to begin, because he knew he chose you.

He made us right with him.

That justification that Paul talks about here, just as if I'd never sinned.

And by justifying us, he gave us his glory, so that we can see his glory on earth and the glory that will be given to us later.

It's both here and then.

It's both now and not yet.

That we get to see how God works here, and we will make all things right in the end.

I love this quote.

So if in the present I have been justified, then however terrible the suffering of this present time,

I know I am unbreakably tied back to the foreknowledge, predestination, and the calling of God.

And therefore, I'm safely secured to future glorification.

No matter what happens on this earth, nothing can take away our relationship with God.

And nothing takes away his promise of salvation.

Charles Spurgeon once said, and this is a tough one, but it's such a, just a, just an awesome quote.

I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the rock of ages.

See, we hope in God by grace, through faith in Jesus.

And our hope is sure, Paul's been talking about this, because we know the one who is called is faithful to us.

And in Philippians 1.6, he says,

He will bring it to completion.

He'll be faithful to complete it in the day of Jesus Christ.

He is faithful even when we're not.

Praise God for that.

Because I can be so unfaithful at times.

He never, ever fails.

And there's many things in our lives that are going to mean evil against us.

Even Joseph, when he was sold into slavery by his brothers, you think he went,

Oh, all things work together for good.

I mean, Paul hadn't said that yet.

But the reality is, Joseph in the Old Testament, I'm in a pit.

My brothers hate me.

They want me dead.

I don't think that was it.

But his perspective later on, when he was in front of his brothers,

when he's confronting his brothers, when his brothers now need him,

and they're not quite sure who he is, and he reveals himself, he says in Genesis 50.20,

As for you, my brothers, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good,

to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.

My friends, God, I talk to, things happen in life.

I just look at Jeannie sometimes and I go,

Man, God is so weird.

Like, why is this even happening?

Like, I don't talk to somebody for two years, and then they call me and go,

Man, I'm struggling.

Can we get me for coffee?

What's going on?

You know?

And then I have this opportunity to go hang out with somebody that I've missed.

It's amazing what God will do.

We're just along for the ride.

And he's always faithful.

And God's weird in an awesome way.

See, we're not told that everything in life is going to turn out okay.

Not.

That's not what Paul's saying here.

It may not be okay, but it will work out for your ultimate good, for those that love God,

for those that are called according to his purpose.

See, the good that Paul's talking about here is looking more like Jesus.

It's becoming more like him.

Everything we experience and go through, God uses for his purposes.

And they are good.

And the thing about God's plans and purposes is he factors in my stupidity.

He knows that.

You can't do anything to thwart his plans.

If God wants it for you, nothing can stop it.

If God doesn't want it for you, you can't do anything to make it happen.

And we can trust him because he's good.

Because his plans for us is good.

And while we can look at this verse and go, things will work out for good, it won't always feel like it.

That's why we need each other.

That's why, man, when I talk about growth communities, I'm going to tell you, if you're not in one, you need to get in one.

We wonder why we struggle with our faith because we come once a week and we eat one little meal and we expect that to, you know,

we need other people in our lives to remind us when we forget, to have faith for us when we're faithless,

to call us back and say, hey, I miss you.

I see this in your life.

Man, you're missing out on things.

I want you to come back.

We need each other.

We all need a big hug and a swift kick every once in a while.

Every single one of us.

And that's the type of thing we try to do in our growth communities.

Are we perfect at it?

No.

Because we're all sinners too and we're broken.

But that's what the goal is.

See, our confidence can be in the fact that all who begin with God will finish.

Hear that.

Our confidence can be that all who begin with God will finish.

He's never lost anyone that loves him.

He's never failed anyone that loves him.

He foreknew and he preached.

He predestined you.

But Paul doesn't stop there.

We're going to finish chapter 8 today.

So let's read Romans 8, 31 to 36 together.

What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all,

how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

It is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus is the one who died.

More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God,

who is interceding.

For us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness

or danger or sword, as it is written, for your sake we are being killed

all the day long, for we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

I want to tell you this morning, and you need to hear this,

you need to remember this, you got to put it right on a wall somewhere,

the walls of your heart, whatever in your mind.

No matter what is going on in your life, if God is for you,

who can be against you?

We have to remember that.

There's a story told about President Lincoln during the Civil War.

A timid civilian was seeking him out, and he goes to the president and says,

Oh, Mr. President, I am most anxious that the Lord should be on our side.

Lincoln replied, That gives me no anxiety at all that God's on our side.

The thing I worry about is being on the Lord's side.

God's always for us, but are we on his side?

Have we been moving in his direction?

God is for you.

Whatever happens, God is for you.

Do not forget that.

You may be defeated in a moment or in a season of life,

but evil will never prevail over you.

For those that love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.

I have to say this right now.

I'm feeling led.

It's not in my notes.

I'm feeling led to say it.

If you're playing church, if you're here because you think you have to be,

and you're not really caring about the Lord, you're just trying to get your God fix,

this promise isn't for you.

These are for those of us that have fallen in love with God,

that have gone after God.

That are desiring him.

We are far from perfect,

but this is for the individual who is pointing their life at the Lord.

Yeah, we have times where we fail.

We have times where we fall away.

But sometimes, and in a room this size,

sometimes we come because we feel like it's a have to,

or because we're here because of family,

or whatever that looks like.

The reality is this promise is for those that love God,

who are called according to his purpose.

We can't just pull God's promises out of the Bible and say,

oh, you know what?

All things work together.

We're good.

No.

Through Jesus, and Paul's talking about,

I've learned how to be content in both plenty and in want.

He's not talking about everything.

No, sorry.

I can do all things through Christ.

That was the verse I was looking for.

I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength.

We love to quote that verse, especially in sporting events.

I can do all things through Christ.

Come on, lions.

No, come on, niners.

That's what I'm going to say.

But the truth of it is, is, you know, I can do all things.

Yeah, I've learned to be content in plenty or in want,

Paul is saying.

Not that anything I put my mind to, Jesus is going to help me accomplish it,

because that puts me in the place of God,

because that means if I want to do it, then God's just my heavenly genie.

And isn't that how we treat God so much?

You said everything's going to work together for good,

so where's my money?

Where's my job?

Where's my this?

Where's my home?

Where's my, right?

As if God's most important concern in life is that we have the American dream,

a house, a white picket fence, and two cars, and 2.5 kids.

God's number one goal in our lives is that we would be holy before him,

and that eventually glorification comes.

And that we fulfill his purposes that are for our good.

Sometimes that means, like Nate Saint and Jim Elliot,

losing your life for the sake of the gospel.

And that is okay in God's economy, because all things work together for good.

It doesn't always feel good in the moment, but he loves us.

And evil will not prevail over us as we keep our eyes on him.

Isaiah 54, 17 says this,

How do we know it's going to work this way?

Paul says it in the next verse.

He says,

Seriously, God gave up his son for you.

You've probably heard me say this before.

I'm going to say it this morning.

There is not one person in this room that I would give up either of my daughters for.

Sorry, I love you, but not that much.

There's no way I'd give up one of my daughters for anybody in this room.

God gave up his son.

He paid the price for you.

1 Peter 2.24 says,

Colossians 2.13-14 says,

And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,

God made us alive together with him,

having forgiven all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt

that stood against us with its legal demands.

This he set aside doing what?

Nailing it to the cross.

Every single one of our sins has been nailed to the cross, my friends.

And we need to hear this because there are times, if not a lot of times,

where we don't feel like God is for us, don't we?

Where it feels like God is so distant, we don't hear his voice.

Nothing is going right.

We feel like everyone and everything is against us.

We feel like God doesn't even love us.

My friends, so much of our life is not an emotional encounter.

Though our emotions are very real and they are very valid sometimes,

our emotions will lie to us.

Our lives must be founded on something that is a lot more solid than our emotions.

Our lives.

Our lives must be founded on something that is so much more solid than politics

or finances or career or even a family because people will always fail us.

I don't care how much they love you.

You're going to be hurt at least one time by people in your life.

We have to have something that is a more solid foundation than that.

And that is the truth that God loves you and he is for you.

It's truth.

We are not in a power encounter.

The enemy comes at us.

He's more powerful.

He's more powerful in you, but he's not more powerful than the spirit inside of you.

Because he's overcome the world, Jesus said.

Jesus has overcome this world.

And whatever we've gone through, no matter what the enemy throws at you,

he who is in you is greater than he that's in the world.

It's about him.

And it's a truth encounter.

It's a battle for truth.

Not a battle for emotion.

Not a battle for politics.

It's a battle for what truth is.

And the truth is that God loves you and he died for you.

And he offers you salvation.

And all things will work together for your good.

We're in a battle for emotions.

We're in a battle for our minds.

And I say this again going back to it because Paul is still hitting this point.

We have a problem in life that we struggle with what we deem as most important.

Who or what are we living for?

It's probably the biggest question that we have to answer.

What are we really living for?

The answer to this question changes based on our perspective.

What we're focused upon.

And that can change daily.

That can change every single day.

That's why back in chapter 7, Paul talks about the things that he wants to do that are good.

He doesn't end up doing.

And the things that he knows he shouldn't do.

That's what he finds himself doing.

Oh my goodness.

I don't even know what to do with myself.

Who's going to save me?

He points it all back to Jesus.

It's got to go back to him.

So the question is, what do we really believe?

When things are crumbling, when you don't know what the next step is, what do we really believe?

We can talk about it all we want.

But are you the one that has to dig yourself out of everything and fix everything and fix yourself and fix your family and fix your job and fix your finances?

All this stuff.

Or is God?

Is God the one who loves you and is for you and holds you and you're going to point your life at him while you seek to do his will in your life?

What do you really believe?

What do you really believe?

The problem we ultimately have is a truth problem.

What do we really believe is true?

And Paul asks five questions in this passage.

Question number one, he says, if God is for us, who can be against us?

That's just truth.

Again, we may not always feel like God is for us.

And I think Paul would probably identify with us in this.

I'm sure when he was in prison all the time, he wasn't saying, thank you, God, for these chains.

You know, I'm not so sure that Paul's doing that all the time, but the outcome was always, he got there.

I'm going to trust in God because he knows better than me and God is for me.

And Paul proclaims it.

The second question he asked is, did God spare his own son?

No, he didn't.

What did God do?

He gave himself up for us.

So if he did that, doesn't it stand to reason that he's going to give us all things?

I read an illustration this week.

It was, it would be like saying, okay, I'm going to take my family to Disney world and

we've just spent like $7,000 on a week long, just probably $10,000 now.

I don't know however much it is.

And we get there thinking, you know, we've paid all this money.

That's great.

And I get up to the gate and they're like $50 to park, sir.

That's one step too far.

I'm not paying 50 bucks.

We're turning around and going home.

Would any of us do that?

No, we would grumble and complain, but we paid the 50 bucks.

Kind of what God's saying here.

If he gave his son for us, how can we not?

How can we question whether or not he is for us?

If he gave us.

That we forget that he's for us.

Question three, who will bring a charge against us?

Who realistically brings charges against us in our lives?

Well, people around us, accuses of things, Satan, our enemy.

There's one other person that brings a charge against us.

And who do you think it is?

Ourselves.

Just to give you a little look into, you know, my life sitting here in the last song.

I just felt the enemy tell me all the things I wasn't this morning for getting up on this

I just said, I'm praying.

Cause I just felt like he was telling you, you don't deserve to be up.

There.

You don't have this figured out.

I mean, it happens to all of us has to be a truth encounter because I'm not up here

because I have anything figured out.

I want to proclaim Jesus and him crucified.

It's about him because there is no condemnation anymore.

Paul said that earlier in Romans eight in this chapter.

And if God has declared us righteous, how should we, how can we ever feel unforgiven

or even guilty?

Often the reason that happens is because we don't remember and we've forgotten everything

How great God's forgiveness is.

People do struggle with it when I say this sometimes.

But I believe that God's forgiveness and the cross of Christ is so great that even if Hitler

on his deathbed truly repented of everything he did and wanted Christ to forgive him of

his sin, he would get heaven.

I know that's hard to hear.

God, the cross of Christ covers it all, covers it all.

I'm not saying he did.

I'm just saying it's that powerful.

So again, when we struggle with forgiving ourselves, this is a battle for truth.

What is true?

If I'm going to hang on to this, is God still hanging on to it?

No, not if I've asked for forgiveness.

And I've moved on.

I'm trying to point my life at him and I'm relying on his strength.

It's over.

It's done with.

Remember, it's truth, not about what we feel.

Question four, he asks, it's like number three, who's condemned?

Christ is the one that died.

In fact, more than that, he rose from the dead.

It's now at the right hand of the father interceding for us, standing in the gap for us.

The picture that's painted by apostle John in Revelation 12, 10 says this.

I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom

of God and the authority of Christ have come for the accused.

The accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before

our God.

The accuser stands in heaven saying, hey, look at Josh.

Look at what he does.

His attitude stinks.

He's an idiot half the time.

You know, that's what he's saying to Jesus the whole time.

You know what Jesus is saying?

I died for him and he's mine.

He says that to you about you too.

If you know him as your Lord and savior, it's paid for.

We are not condemned any longer.

This is good news, my friends.

If you sit here this morning and you don't know Christ as your savior, you can call him

the name of the Lord.

Believe who he says he is, that he's a son of God.

Believe that he died on the cross.

He did what he said he did.

He died on the cross, rose from the grave to forgive you of your sins.

You ask him for forgiveness and you truly repent.

You desire to turn your life over to him.

He will forgive you where you sit and you will no longer be condemned.

That is the truth of the gospel and that's real freedom.

And all of us, Jesus died for us.

We should marvel at this verse.

Jesus intercedes for us.

Jesus was declared guilty in our place and God the Father vindicated him and thus vindicates

every single one of us.

Early church fathers said this of this intercession that God does for us.

John Chrysostom said,

If then the Spirit even maketh intercession for us with groanings that can't be uttered

and Christ died and intercedeth for us and the Father spared not his own son for us and

elected us and justified us, then why should we ever be afraid anymore?

Or why tremble when enjoying such great love and having such great interest that God has

taken in us?

Lewis Berkhoff said,

It's a consolation.

It's a consoling thought that Christ is praying for us, even when we're negligent in our prayer

life, that he is presenting to the Father those spiritual needs which were not present

in our minds and which we often neglect to include in our own prayers and that he prays

for our protection against the dangers of which that we are not even conscious of and

against the enemies that threaten us, though we don't even notice them.

He is praying that our faith may not cease and that we may come out victorious in the

That's what Jesus is doing right now.

And finally, Robert.

If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies.

Yet distance makes no difference.

He is praying for me.

If we could actually grasp this.

And then his last question Paul asks is,

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

He asked the question and give some possibilities.

He says,

Tribulation and distress.

Can outward affliction or inward distress separate us from Christ's love?

Again, we may think that Christ is absent during these moments as love is absent.

But while we may not feel loved in those moments, Paul reassures us, we are not outside the grip

of the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord, ever.

How about persecution?

It takes that distress to a different level.

Suffering for the gospel was as common as water for the early church.

Many Christians around the world face it today.

Persecution can't separate us from the love of God that's in Christ.

How about famine and nakedness?

Well, that's speaking of an absence of our basic necessities.

In a time of physical depression and desperation, one may be tempted to ask,

Have I been untied from God's love?

But the answer again is no.

Anybody in these conditions can't look to it and say,

God's forgotten me.

Keep looking to him for how he'll provide for you.

How about danger?

It reminds us of the reality of living out our faith in risky contexts.

Paul certainly knew of danger.

We learned that last week.

But he wasn't a cold philosopher, cold theologian.

He endured danger, persecution, and more, and he knew that God still loved him.

What about the sword?

Does execution mean that God no longer loves you?

Not even death can separate us from the love of Christ.

But let's be honest.

There's some things that we feel separate us from God's love.

There's things in every single one of our lives that we think,

Man, I messed up again.

How could God love me?

And isn't this the real question behind all the other questions?

Does God really love me?

Am I convinced that God loves me?

Can it be true?

Can God really be this gracious?

And Paul knew that there'd still be a question.

And so he finishes this chapter.

In a marvelous and loud crescendo,

as though he is a conductor of an orchestra demanding the loudest sound

out of every single instrument.

And he states in 37 to 39,

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am sure, in other translations it says,

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,

nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

nor light, 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.

Nothing separates us from his love.

I love it.

He says, in all these things.

He's put a list out, but then he goes,

No, in everything you can even think of,

I am convinced of the love of God.

And how does he start it, though?

Because he knows that we feel like,

Man, maybe we should do something about it.

Maybe we can whatever.

What does he say?

You are more than a conqueror.

Through Jesus who loves you, nothing can separate us.

In all these things, everything he's discussed,

suffering, questioning, struggle, killed all day long,

regarded as sheep to be slaughtered,

any of the things that we can think in our minds,

while they're big and sometimes overwhelming,

you are more than a conqueror.

The word here is actually, you are a super conqueror.

Hey, guess what, guys?

We're avengers.

Actually, we're better than any avenger when we are in Christ.

There is nothing in life that will overcome us.

If we keep saying Christ.

It doesn't mean there won't be times that are overwhelming.

It doesn't mean that everything is always going to feel okay.

God will never leave you or forsake you because he loves you.

And Paul is giving us his testimony of the love of Christ.

He is sure that nothing can separate us.

He separates it out in couplets.

He says nothing in human experience can separate us, death or life.

Everything in between.

Nothing can separate us.

Nothing in the spiritual realm when he says angels are rulers.

It's angels or demons as well.

Everything in between of that.

Nothing in time can separate us.

Things present or things to come.

That covers it all, right?

Nothing in time can separate us.

Nor power, spiritual realm again.

Or also earthly powers.

When the enemy uses you to attack you.

Uses people to attack you.

It cannot separate us from the love of God.

Even when it feels like it's so, you are never separated from his love.

Remember, truth encounter, not a power or emotional encounter.

Nothing in the space of earth, height or depth.

Nothing in all creation.

Anything being created.

Nothing can ever separate you from God's love.

Why?

Because God has chosen to love us.

God has set his love on us.

And the truth is, God loves us.

Because he loves us.

I don't know why.

When he said something to be true, it's true.

He doesn't love because of anything in us.

Because that changes.

Nor anything around us.

That changes too.

He does not change.

And he loves us.

And so there's something you've got to walk out of here with this morning.

It's our bottom line.

And I need you to do this.

You need to write this down on a card.

God loves and you put in your name.

God is for your name.

God is for, God loves Josh Yates.

God is for Josh Yates.

We need to remember that every single day.

We need to remember that every single day.

Because there's times that are difficult.

I know there are.

I talk to many of you.

Never forget how much you're loved.

Because it's true.

There are two great men that stood side by side in the early Reformation movement.

All of us know the first name, Martin Luther.

Right?

But the other was Philip Melanchthon.

He was a scholar.

And Luther talked about their relationship.

He says,

I am rough, boisterous, stormy, and altogether warlike,

fighting against innumerable monsters and devils.

I am born for the removing of stumps and stones,

cutting away thistles and thorns, and cleaning the wild forests.

But master for me,

Master Philippus comes along softly and gently,

sowing and watering with joy,

according to the gifts which God has abundantly bestowed upon him.

People talked about the fact that he was, as a boy,

gentle, winsome, unassuming, scholarly,

and abiding in the look of innocence.

He was brilliant.

When he was 19 years old,

Erasmus wrote of him, he's a historian,

what purity and elegance of style,

what rare learning,

what comprehensive reading,

what tenderness and refinement of extraordinary genius.

He was also a gifted preacher.

At the age of 21,

he became a professor at the University

of Wittenberg, where Luther taught.

His specialty was preaching in Latin

to students who didn't know German, right?

And his Sunday sermons drew crowds

of 1,500 to 2,000 people.

They made a great pair.

Luther knew that Melanchthon

was all gold.

He never attempted to disguise his appreciation.

Nor could Luther ever forget the day

when his friends showed him to the world,

which had always been translated penance,

really meant repentance.

The word penance actually meant repentance.

It's a change of heart.

They loved each other.

They were each other's friends.

They were each other's hero.

And Luther, or actually,

Melanchthon wrote of Luther,

if there is anyone whom I dearly love,

whom I embrace with my whole heart,

it's Martin Luther.

They stood together to the end.

When Luther died,

he gave the funeral oration over his grave.

When Melanchthon died,

he was buried in the same grave.

And they're buried side by,

or they're buried side by side

in the church of Wittenberg.

What was this man's strength?

What made this gentle, retiring man

stand with Luther against the world

and the Reformation?

Because if Luther's this brass guy,

a guy who's a little bit more,

more feeling and has a soft heart,

that's going to be super hard for him,

harder for him, right?

To stand like that.

The verse that always stood out.

And when he was on his deathbed,

he asked it to be read again.

Romans 8, 31.

If God is for us,

who can be against us?

And he said, that's it.

That's it.

If God is for us,

who can be against us?

So can I encourage you today with that truth?

That when tribulation and distress

are weighing you down,

God is for you,

who can be against you?

When you're persecuted for the cause of the,

if God is for you,

who can be against you?

If you're struggling with finances,

putting food on the table,

with clothing needs in life,

the basic necessities,

if God is for you,

who can be against you?

If you feel as though you are in danger

or even looking death in the face

or have looked death in the face,

if God is for you,

who can be against you?

Nothing will separate you

from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Remember, you are more than a conqueror.

You're a super conqueror.

You're an avenger.

When Chrysostom was brought before the emperor,

he threatened him,

threatened him with banishment

if he remained a Christian.

Chrysostom replied,

thou canst banish me

for this world is my father's house,

but I will slay thee,

said the emperor.

Nay, thou canst not.

That's great old English.

Thou canst not,

said the noble champion of the faith,

for my life is hid with Christ and God.

I will take away thy treasures,

the emperor says.

Nay, but thou canst not,

for my treasure is in heaven

and my heart is there,

but I will drive thee away from,

man, and thou shall have no friend left.

And Chrysostom said, no.

Sorry, he said, nay.

Thou canst not,

for I have a friend in heaven

from whom thou canst not separate me.

for there is nothing thou canst do to hurt me.

Maybe it's time for us to stare

some of these things in the face

that we struggle with

and say, I've got somebody in heaven

that's bigger than you

and you can't hurt me anymore.

I don't know how it's gonna work out,

but I know how it will in the end

because Jesus loves me

and that's never gonna change.

Whatever your faith is,

maybe it's time for you

to start looking it in the face

and declaring the truth

that even that thing

will never separate you

from the love of God.

Set your focus on him.

He holds you.

He loves you.

He's for you.

And as Paul would say later

in Ephesians chapter three,

verses 16 and 19,

I pray that from his glorious,

unlimited resources,

he will empower you

with inner strength

through his spirit.

Then Christ will make his home

in your hearts

as you trust him.

Your roots will grow down

into God's love

to keep you strong.

And may you have the power

as all God's people should,

how wide,

how long,

how high,

and how deep his love is.

May you experience

the love of Christ,

though it's too great

to understand fully.

Then you will be made complete

with all the fullness of life

and the power that comes from God.

My prayer for you too this morning.

My prayer for me this morning.

We would understand

how great God's love is.

And so because once we realize that,

can I say as your pastor,

and I say to remind myself,

Time to come together.

well,

because of the love

that God's given us.

Love the unlovable,

even when it's hard.

Sometimes that means

you've got to learn

what it means to let God love you

because I know there's some of us

in this room

that feel unlovable sometimes.

Be rooted in God's love.

God is for you.

You're more than a conqueror in Jesus.

So let's come together,

overcome the evil around us.

Be rooted in the love

that's in Christ Jesus,

our Lord,

as nothing's going to separate us from it.

God is for,

Heavenly Father.

So thank you,

and we're thankful for your truth.

Thankful that it never changes.

No matter how we feel about ourselves

or our situations

or what we've done

or what we should have done

or what's going on around us,

the people that love us

don't love us.

We can know

that in all these things

we're more than conquerors

and that nothing on this earth,

nothing in the heavenly realm,

nothing can separate us

from your love

that's in Christ Jesus.

Help us to really believe it.

Help us to let our roots

go down deep into your love

how high,

how wide,

how deep

your love is for us.

And if there's anybody here

that doesn't yet understand that love,

whether they know Jesus

or whether they haven't yet

come to you,

I pray that they would ask questions,

that they would

really understand

and begin to understand

how much you love us.

Thank you, God,

for all that you are.

Thank you for what you've done.

Thank you for giving us Jesus

because if you've given us him,

why wouldn't you give us

everything we need?

Why wouldn't all things

work together for good?

And when we struggle with faith,

help us to trust.

When we forget how much we're loved,

please remind us

us. Thank you for that reminder this morning. In Jesus' name we pray.