How Should We Then Live?

In 1976, Christian philosopher and theologian, Francis Schaeffer wrote a book entitled, How Should We Then Live? In that book, and it's still on the top list of the top five books of the 20th century, in that amazing book, Francis Schaeffer traced the thought, the history of thought in the Western world all the way from the Roman Empire up through the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and the Reformation and the Enlightenment up to what he called in the 60s and 70s, the scientific age. And his point was to show how Western thought had developed and how we got to where we were with the anarchy and despair and existentialism of meaninglessness of the 60s and 70s. And he traced it very beautifully, how we got to that point. And the point of his book was, okay, since all this has happened and we are where we are, how should we then live? And the purpose of his book was to show that the only viable alternative for humanity to save itself from destruction was to realize that God had revealed himself in his word, take that seriously, come to know him as he's revealed himself and live according to the revelation of God in his word. That was his alternative. It was a grand book. Well, when I think of the question that we find in Romans 831, that book came to mind, that thought came to mind because this is kind of Paul's conclusion to the entire eight chapters he's written up to this point. If you're with me in Romans, Romans chapter 8, look at verse 31. Paul asks this question, what then shall we say in response to this? How should we then live? How should we respond to this? Literally this is plural. It means these things, the King James got that right. It was these things. What are these things? What's he talking about? What these things is he referring to? Well, obviously, he's referring back to what he's talked to us about in chapter 8. And we've seen in the last two or three weeks that Paul has given us a wonderful catalog of God's blessings in chapter 8. He has told us that we have the Holy Spirit to give us victory over sin. We have a new identity as the adopted sons and daughters of God and as the born into the family children of God. And because of that, we are heirs of the inheritance that he's prepared for us in heaven. We have the wonderful blessing and privilege of the hope that is ours, even in the midst of suffering in a fallen world. We have the hope of a better world of eternity in heaven with Christ. So we have that hope to keep us going through suffering. We have the Holy Spirit praying for us when we don't know what to ask for. He prays for us and we have the promise of an unfailing plan of God that started back in eternity past, reaches into eternity future and incorporates everything that happens in our lives that God is working together to produce the image of His son in us. I mean, that's a grand catalog of blessings. And that's what Paul's referring to and maybe even referring to the whole first eight chapters where he's talked about how God has rescued us from sin. chapters 1 through 3. He has justified us, declared us righteous, saved us chapters 4 and 5. He's given us the potential and power for victory over sin chapters 6 through 8. After cataloging all those wonderful blessings and provisions, God's made for us, His question is, what shall we then say to these things? In other words, how should we then live? How should we respond to this? What should our attitude be that will focus our lives? What should our mindset and attitude be that will cause us to live differently to respond to life's adversities? How should we look at life? How should we respond to life because of what we've seen? He's going to answer that question in the last nine verses of this chapter. How should we then live? Seeing all that God's done for us? How should we respond? How should we view life and approach life differently? What difference does this truth make? Paul is going to say first of all that we can live, we can respond with confidence in Christ as a result of this life that we have in him. And what he wants us to do is to feel the greatness of God's provision for us and to live in victorious response. Does Mew, in his great commentary on the book of Romans, has said this about these last nine verses, he says, this is a magnificent celebration of God's eternal commitment to His people. I love the way he says that. It's a magnificent celebration. And what he says is that God or that Paul pulls out all the stops and uses every rhetorical device in his arsenal to get us to feel what he's saying, to get us to celebrate what God's done for us. You'll notice in these verses that Paul uses question after question after question, to drive our thoughts to, okay, what does this mean? And then he uses crisp short answers that crackle with power to get across his point. And then he ends the chapter with this magnificent catalog of things that reaches back into eternity past and eternity future and covers everything that happens in our lives and says nothing can separate us from the love of God. It's an amazing passage and it is designed to make us feel deeply to move us into the experience of what God has given us and done for us and thus to move us to a new level of confidence in Christ. And so what should we then say to these things? How should we then live? Paul says we can live first of all with confidence in Christ, confidence in Christ. Notice verse 31 where he begins to answer the question. What then shall we say in response to this? Here's the first part of the answer. If God is for us who can be against us? What Paul is saying there is you can have confidence in His protection. You can have confidence in Christ because of His protection. If God is for us who can be against us? We're just saying that wonderfully in the song about our God. If God is for us who can be against us? Who can stand against us? And what Paul is saying is not well maybe God's for us. Not really sure about that. No, the if here is certain. It could be translated since. There are three ways to express conditional statements in the language that Paul wrote in and the one Paul chooses here is certain. Really the word could be translated since God is for us. No uncertainty at all. It's very similar to a situation like this. If I were to say to Jeanne someday, I'm going to run to the store. You need me to pick up anything for you and she would say to me, well if you're going to the store could you get a half gallon of milk or out of milk? When she says if you're going to the store there's no uncertainty about that if I've already told her I'm going to the store. I've got my keys in my hand walking out the door to get in the car. She knows I'm going to the store. Well since you're going to the store would you pick up a gallon of milk? That's what Paul is saying here since God is for us. No question about that. Since God is for us who can be against us? Say well how is God for me? Who has already described that? Don't rip this out of its surrounding verses in the context because Paul has already told us what it means for God to be for us. God has solidly stated himself for us. How has he done that? That whole plan of salvation that Paul just talked about in verses 28-30. The fact that he for knew us which means he chose to set his love on us and enter a relationship with us before time started. He did that. That's what four knowledge means. And then because he chose to love us he marked out ahead of time what the end result of that would be. He predestined us what to be conformed to the image of his son to look like Christ to be like Christ. And then in our experience he called us. He moved by the Holy Spirit in our hearts to convict us of our need of Christ. And when we responded to that working of the Holy Spirit and trusted Christ he justified us. He declared us righteous. That was the moment you got saved. And because of that God says it's just as certain as your justification that you're already glorified in my eyes you're already in heaven. That's how God is for us. How do you see God? How do you view God? Do you view God as being against you? A terrible taskmaster? Someone who's up in heaven just waiting for you to mess up so he can zap you and judge you? Is that the way you see God? It's very interesting for me to read in USA Today newspaper this week an article about people's understanding of God in America. And they've done this survey and they found they included five different responses. Five percent of Americans claim to be either atheists or agnostics but then the rest of them were grouped into categories of four views of God. Of those four views of God the most common 28 percent of respondents was they see him as an authoritarian God. Now the way that was described in the survey and in the article was a God who is a harsh taskmaster. A God who makes demands. A God who is ready to judge right now you step out of line. It's kind of a mean God if you if you want to call it that. Now certainly the Bible teaches God is holy and will not tolerate sin but that's not the idea of the survey. The survey was your view of God being an authoritarian God who's ready to zap you at a moment's notice and he's always watching to see if you mess up. That's how a lot of people see God. It's the most common view in America according to that survey. Do you as a believer see God as against you? If you know Christ as your Savior God has already stated I am for you. I chose you. I marked out ahead of time that you would be like my son. I called you. I justified you in my mind. I've already glorified you. It's already done. I am for you. I'm for you. God is not a harsh taskmaster that is just looking to punish you to throw evil things at you and because he is for you we can have that confidence in his protection. Now listen to this that no matter what happens to us no matter what comes our way. It cannot be against us. God will actually turn even the evil that comes against us and work it together to produce Christ. Like this in us the good that he's talked about in verse 28 so God's for us who can be against us? Who can be against us? You can have confidence in God's protection. As protection doesn't mean that bad things won't happen his protection means that it can't destroy you. Nothing bad can destroy you because he is for you and even terrible things that happen he will work together as he's described to produce Christ's likeness in us. He will redeem even the tragedies of life. He's for you. He's for me. There was a preacher in Constantinople in the late 300s and early 400s by the name of John Chrysostom. Actually that was not his last name. He was given that name. Chrysostom, the Greek word for gold and Stamos, the Greek word for tongue. Golden-tongued, Chrysostomus. He was golden-tongued because he was such a wonderful preacher, a real orath or a powerful preacher. He got that nickname and he's just known in church history as Chrysostom. Well he was arrested in one of the persecutions by the Roman emperor and the Roman emperor said to him, I threaten you that with banishment I will banish you from the empire. Chrysostom's reply was, you cannot banish me for this world as my father's house. So the emperor said, well then I will kill you. Chrysostom's response was, you can't kill me. For my life is hid with Christ in God. Take my life. I simply go into his presence. So the emperor becoming more frustrated said, I will take away your treasures. Chrysostom said, you can't do that either. My treasure is in heaven and my heart is already there. So the emperor in desperation said, I will drive you away from mankind. You will not have a friend on earth and Chrysostom's response was, you can't do that either because I have a friend in heaven from whom you cannot separate me. In fact he looked at the emperor and said, I defy you. There is nothing you can do to hurt me. What he was saying is exactly what Paul said here. It's not that bad things won't happen to us. It's that they can't hurt us. They can't destroy us. Yes there may be pain and suffering but ultimately God is for us and he will redeem even those difficulties in life and cause them to be used to make us more like Christ. He is for you. You can rejoice. You can be confident in his protection. Now notice the second question. Paul asks a series of four of them here to get across this point of confidence in Christ. Second question in verse 32. And the answer is wrapped up in the question. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also along with him graciously give us all things? So what he's saying here is you can be confident in his provision. God will give you everything you need. How do you know that? Everything you need to live in whatever way he wants for you to be pleasing to him. He will give you. He will not withhold anything. How do you know that because he's already given us his son? Now what Paul does here in the very question is he uses an argument from the greater to the lesser. In other words if God's giving you the greater gift he's not going to withhold the lesser gifts from you. God's giving you the greatest thing. Greatest provision he could ever give you and that was his son who died for you. You think God's going to withhold something else? Is he going to withhold his grace and mercy? Is he going to withhold himself? You see a lot of people have the image of God that God's trying to hold something back from them. That's what Satan tempted Adam and Eve with in the garden. Has God really said this? You know God God really by giving you this command not to eat through the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Basically he's trying to hold something back from you. If you eat of that tree you'll become wise knowing evil like God does knowing the difference between good and evil. He's trying to hold something back from you and Satan continually does that. Tries to convince us that God's holding back but Paul says God's not holding back. He's already given you the greatest gift he could possibly give you. His son Christ who died for you. If he's given you that surely he'll give you everything else you need to make it through this difficult life and this difficult world, this fallen world with all of its pain and heartache. He'll give you what you need to make it through. It's kind of like this. Let's say you were to win a car. You enter a contest, you win a car and it's the most grand and glorious car you could imagine. For sake of the illustration I'm going to use Rolls Royce. You win a Rolls Royce. Now most of us wouldn't know what to do with a Rolls Royce. But let's say you win a Rolls Royce and you go to the dealer to pick it up. You've won the car. It's yours. And you say okay I thank you. I appreciate that. This is wonderful. Now I'm going to drive it off the like I need the keys and the dealer says no no you can't have the keys. You don't get the keys. Cars enough. Well what ridiculous statement is that. You've got the car and whatever you need to have to drive the car is obviously going to be yours. And that's exactly what Paul's saying here. God's giving you the car. God's giving you the greatest gift he could give you and that's his son. You think he's going to hold back? You think he's going to withhold something that is good for you? Remember what we saw last week about the biblical definition of good. God works all things together for good. It doesn't mean it feels good. It doesn't mean it looks good to me. It doesn't mean it's comfortable and convenient and and all it may be suffering. It may be pain. But God works all that together to produce all of them with good which is the image of his son in us to glorify himself. So God is working all things together and whatever is needed for that to happen he will give. So you can be confident in his provision. Third question. And Paul is asking us these questions to get us to think and then he gives us these short crisp answers that crackle with power. Verse 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? The answer it is God who justifies. You can be confident in his pronouncement. God has made a pronouncement about you. It's called justification. It is God who justifies what that means and we've seen it already earlier in the book. Justification is a legal pronouncement in the courtroom of heaven that in God's eyes you are seen and you are declared to be righteous. He's made an official legal verdict, a pronouncement of the judge on the bench that you are guiltless that you are righteous in Christ. Now the question is this. Can you be confident in that pronouncement? Can that pronouncement ever be changed? Can anyone ever walk into heaven and lay a charge to your account and it's stick? The answer is no, that can't happen because the judge has already made the official legal pronouncement of righteousness. Satan tries to do this. Satan tries to lodge an official accusation in the courtroom of heaven against you. The Bible calls him the accuser of the brethren. He did it against Job as an example in the Old Testament. I think he will continue to do that. Revelation 12 teaches until the middle of the tribulation time when he will find to be booted out of heaven once and for all kicked out so he never can come back to accuse us anymore. I think he's still doing that. He's still accusing believers. He calls attention to our weakness, our sins and demands that those sins be punished and that we be given back to him. And when he does that, God says, I've already made an official declaration of justification of righteousness on that person's behalf. That sin is already covered, taken care of. It's been punished in my son. It will not be punished again. That person is justified. Satan has never won a case. He's never been able to lodge an accusation and make it stick. And that's Paul's question. Can anybody lodge an accusation against you in heaven? Satan can't do it. Nobody else can do it. Not even your own conscience can do it. And that's what trouble some of us the most. Some of us struggle with our own consciences because we know our own weaknesses and sins and failings and we just wonder, how could God really love me? How could God ever accept me into heaven? Look at me. Look how rotten I am. And our own consciences condemn us. But even that condemnation of your own conscience cannot stick in the courtroom of heaven because the official judge has already made the declaration that you are righteous so no one can make an accusation against a believer that would jeopardize his or her salvation. Nothing can jeopardize your standing before God because the judge, the one who settles every case has already made the verdict clear. He's justified you. Have you heard about the recent uproar about the Heistman Trophy? Heistman Trophy is the award given to who is considered to be the greatest college football player in any one year. Every year it's given to one who's voted to be the most outstanding college football player. In 2005 it was given to Reggie Bush who was playing a tail back for the University of Southern California Trojans and he had a great senior year. He played for the New Orleans Saints now, did until he got injured. But after a four-year investigation the NCAA concluded that he had received hundreds of thousands of dollars while he was a student athlete which was against the NCAA rules. And so they were poised to take the Heistman Trophy away from him because one of the stipulations of the Heistman Trophy is you have to be in accordance with all the NCAA regulations for student athletes. Obviously he wasn't. So they're going to take the trophy away from him. He saw what was coming and in what appeared to some people to be a very magnanimous gesture. September 14th he announced he was giving the trophy back. Well he knew it was going to be taken away from him. And that name for the year 2005 will be wiped off the record. There will be a vacancy. 2005 nobody gets the Heistman Trophy. New information came to light which changed the verdict. The Heistman Trophy was taken away. What Paul say and right here is there is no new information that can come before the Court of Heaven. The one who knows all things. He already knows everything about you. And back before you ever born when Christ died he paid dependency to forgive you of all your sins. There is nothing new but way of information that can come before the throne room of heaven that would make God ever say well you know I didn't know that. I probably ought to reconsider my verdict of justification. No that's ludicrous. God the judge the eternal judge who knows all things who knows all information has already declared you righteous. Nothing can change that. And so Paul says you can be confident in his pronouncement. Will anybody bring a charge against those whom God has chosen? No no it's God the judge who's already rendered the verdict of justification. Your righteous. So you can be confident in his pronouncement. There's another question though that Paul raises to impress upon us this thought of the confidence we can have in Christ in verse 34. Who is He that condemns? Christ Jesus who died more than that who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who is He that condemns? Can anyone condemn you? Is there anyone who can bring any information that will jeopardize your standing before God? You know I know how fearful and intimidating it can be to think that some condemnation could ultimately come. The other day I was driving back to the house and I'd gone down near Brickyard Road was turning onto Stafford and I noticed a police car behind me and he drove behind me for a little bit and all of a sudden these blue lights went on and I thought he'd see pulling me over and he didn't pull off or anything so I figured you know that maybe what he's doing so I've pulled off into the nearest parking area I could get right there beside Domino's and and I stopped and he pulled right up behind me got out of his car and he walked up to my car and I think he did pull me over and he I rolled down my window and he said do you have any idea why I pulled you over? I said I do not sir I do not know why you pulled me what was only doing about 25 miles an hour I thought all my lights were working you know and all that kind of didn't have my lights on but I thought everything was working I didn't understand he said the sticker on your license plate has expired how do they know that he said it it expired and I said well they always send you that in the mail this is what I was thinking I didn't say this to him they always send you that in the mail surely I didn't overlook that you know you always get your registration put that little sticker on take care of things and and so he said let me see your registration card so I pulled it out of the the glove compartment and handed it to him and sure enough it had run out July 1st and it hit me what had happened because of our change of address for the first couple of months we were having things forwarded to us and we were changing you know address on things as everything came in and there's a long story behind this we got our mail to college and the college couldn't change our address for us and so but then the college changed their address and in those two changes somehow that stuff from the envy never found me and I just wasn't looking for it and so it never came to the house now I know what you're thinking he did not write me a ticket he was very gracious he said just get to the envy as quick as you can get that taken care of I said yes sir we'll do but I could just see the headline pastor in jail pastor arrested I could just see the condemnation coming that's a scary thing I mean I don't get pulled over a lot that's kind of scary when that happens isn't it some of you know I know you know it's kind of scary when that happens so I know I know the feeling that is something going to sneak up on me that I never expected and and get me continue me accuse me before God well after what he has said here's the answer in verse 34 who is he that condemns Christ Jesus who died more than that who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us you say well he didn't really answer the question did he yes he did yes he did he's already said the judge has rendered a verdict of righteous so the judgment's already done for you okay the judgment the judgment bar of God the seat there where the judgment is given as far as your eternal destiny that's already settled so can anybody come and condemn you he says wait a second nobody can do that because not only what the judge has done but because of what the attorney has done Christ is the attorney John and first John too calls him our advocate our defense attorney and the defense attorney who represents you before the judge God died for you he died for you I mean he's not just getting a waiver and a fee and representing he died for you that's how much he's for you and even more than that Paul says he was raised from the dead which means Satan had no power over him Satan couldn't keep him down and not only that not only did he die for you not only was he raised for you he is at the right hand of God the position of power and equality he's equal to the judge who's already rendered the righteous verdict and not only is he sitting there beside the right hand of at the right hand of God he's praying for you he's interceding for you and so because of his praying you can have confidence and he's praying wow what confidence that brings that the one who died for me is praying for me in heaven and he's done all of the rest of that for me died for me rose for me is in heaven for me and he's interceding for me listen friend the only confidence you will ever have in this life and in the life to come to know that you will stand before God someday is not in yourself it's in Christ and because Christ gave himself for you died for you was buried rose again is at the right hand of the Father praying for you you can have confidence in his praying that you will be in heaven someday so we can have confidence in his protection his provision his pronouncement is praying all of those things give us confidence in Christ they enable us to respond to the challenges of life differently than we would if we didn't have Christ so we can respond with confidence in Christ but notice Paul doesn't stop there he says we can also respond as conquerors through Christ where that trouble because of Christ and notice how beautifully states this verse 35 he's not done with the questions yet to get us to really feel the importance of this who shall separate us from the love of Christ is there anyone or anything that can separate us from the love of Christ later we'll talk about the love of God now this is not just you know God loves you doesn't matter whether you end up in hell or not he just loves you no the love of Christ must be understood in the flow of Paul's thought here the love of Christ has been expressed from eternity past through eternity future to those who know him as savior you are his possession you are a believer and he has loved you and brought you into relationship with him can anything separate you from that relationship with God that's what he's talking about that love relationship that he's entered into with you as his child can anything separate you from that and he lists a whole bunch of things that some might think of verse 35 shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword Paul speaking autobiographically here Paul experienced all of those things in his own life he knew all of those different kinds of trouble he had experienced them all many times and so he knows what he's talking about Paul Paul knew what hard ache and pain and trouble was all about and the question is can any of that separate us from our relationship with God can any of that's terrace away from God the answer verse 36 as it is written for your sake we face death all day long we are considered a sheep to be slaughtered he hasn't really given the answer yet but he has a purpose for doing what he did in verse 36 what he does is he quotes from the Old Testament Psalm 44 22 and what he's showing here is that we can expect this kind of trouble in life God's warned us about it in fact he even told his people in the Old Testament in Psalm 44 they could expect trouble in life remember we live in a fallen world we live in a world that's under the curse because of man's sin and stuff goes haywire in this world it goes terribly wrong it goes tragically wrong because this world is hardwired for pain and suffering so it makes our hope of heaven so beautiful so he's warning us he's warning us that this has always been the lot of God's people don't be surprised by this you will experience suffering I was having some trouble with some respiratory for a couple of weeks and so I finally went to my doctor and she said I'm going to give you a shot and as doctors will do sometimes and I'm so grateful they do this she said now this is going to feel hot and it's going to sting what she was telling me was if you feel that sensation in your arm just expect that that's part of it there's nothing wrong you know I haven't destroyed a nerve or tore up a muscle or anything like she didn't say all that but I think that's what she meant but I haven't done anything wrong that's to be expected you're going to feel some pain it's going to hurt a little bit sometimes after you have surgery the doctor will say what's going to be very tender in that area for about two weeks or you're going to feel a pain here for about a month what they're doing is they're warning you of what's normal what's to be expected so you're not caught off guard that's what Paul's doing here he's quoting from the Old Testament to warn us to remind us suffering is a part of it it's going to be there it was there in the Old Testament it's in the New Testament it's going to be there in our time too just expect it and you know when you know that sensation is normal it's to be expected you can ride it out a little better because you know something better is coming that's what Paul's talking about here see these things it's not these things are not going to happen to us Paul the doctor is warning us ahead of time we will suffer life is not going to be pain-free it's it's going to be very tragically painful at times but his point is can any of that ultimately take us away from the Lord now he's answer you're ready for verse 37 no no in all these things the things that he's mentioned in verse 35 and a million other things he could have listed in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us Paul chooses to express this in the strongest way possible he takes the word conqueror adds a preposition to the end of it which literally means Cooper or hyper or super we are super conquerors we're hyper conquerors through Christ we go into hyperdrive to use the Star Wars analogy as far as conquering is concerned you see to be a conqueror just means you win a victory to be a hyper conqueror means that those which we're trying to destroy you those things that we're trying to destroy you now actually come to serve you to make you more like Christ and that's how God redeems them as painful as they may be God remember is working all things together as we saw last week they're not all good some of them are very painful but he's redeeming them he's buying them back to use them for his own to bring good out of them what Satan intends to use to destroy us God will use to make us more like Christ and closer to him so we become not only conquerors we become super conquerors in Christ so we can have conquering we can conquer over trouble but we can also conquer over doubt verses 38 and 39 if there is any doubt left about the fact that God is for you about the fact that God is inevitably certainly leading you to heaven your salvation is certain your security is complete there's any doubt about that Paul's going to wipe it out in verses 38 and 39 someone has said here that Paul pulls out all the stops now you know what that figure of speech is about our pastoral staff used to go to a pastor's conference at Moody Bible Institute and it's a great conference a lot of good things about it but one of the most amazing things was the music and one of the one of the musicians was an organist they have a beautiful pipe organ in Tory Grey Auditorium at Moody Bible Institute and it's a high you know deal up front with all these pipes of different sizes and different diameters and shapes and little holes in a different places and then there's all these louvers in the wall and they can open up and more sounds come out it's a tremendous pipe organ and they they always had a guy come to play by the name of John Innis John Innis was an organist for a little church down in Atlanta called First Baptist Church and some unknown preacher like Charles Stanley preaches down there and he was the organist at that church and he also was the organist for the Billy Graham Crusades he was a master on the organ and he would play for about 15 minutes before each evening session remember that Kevin it was just it was unbelievable so gifted so talented but you could always tell when he was about to come to the end and you know get kind of give the signal that it was right at seven o'clock in the evening session was about to start because he would lead up to this grand conclusion and if you were watching him he would hold a note and he would with one hand pull out all these stops these these little levers in the organ which would open up everything up top and the sound of that organ would just hit you like a wave it was incredible that's what Paul's doing in verse 38 and 39 he's pulling out all the stops and what he's going to tell us is there is nothing and he's going to overwhelm us with this he really wants us to feel this to move us to a deeper experience of understanding how God's provided so graciously for us he wants us to feel this deeply so he's going to ask can anything separate us from the love of God you see it there in verse 38 he says for I am convinced Paul only uses that word three times in the New Testament it's two of the three I believe are used for eternal security uses in 2nd Timothy 1 I am persuaded of what he has given me and that he will keep that which I've committed to him so he uses this word very rarely it's very strong and what he's saying is there is nothing that can sway or change this I am convinced that neither and he gives this list of things that cannot separate us from God's love and remember God's love is not just a feeling toward us it's all that plan of salvation and working all things together toward making us like Christ that he promised to do in our lives nothing can separate us from that and nothing can separate us from being with him in eternity so he lists all these things can death he said I'm persuaded that death can't do that death cannot separate you from God for a believer death is simply an entrance way into his presence that's why Chris Austin said you really can't kill me I mean you can take the body and make it stop functioning but I'll just keep going in the presence of God you really can't kill a believer you know that believer really never dies we just go into the presence of God and so death can't separate us from God and then he says nor life death case that neither can life with all of its troubles with all of its pressing hard eggs it can't it cannot separate you from the love of God so he says death and life can't do it we could probably just stop right there that covers everything doesn't it everything in life everything in death but just in case you might think well that's our experience what about the spirit world Paul says okay I got you covered neither angels nor demons good angels cannot separate you from God why they would even want to I don't know that's not the point Paul is just saying nothing no angel can ever take you away from God nor can any demon separate you from the love of God the word he uses here is literally the word for demons although it's a word for powers or rulers it's the word it means demons Paul uses it two other times in the in the New Testament and both cases he makes it very clear it's of demons Ephesians 6 and Colossians 2 it's talking about demons and so the NIV is translated it well here the fact that that he's talking about demons angels can't separate you from God demons can't separate you from God you have nothing to fear as a believer from demons does that cover everything well let's go on he says neither the present nor the future because you might think well death or life maybe that's talking about what's happened now we're in the future but but no nothing in the present nor any of the foreboding distressing things about the future nothing can separate you from God nor any powers unless any supernatural power has been left out in your thinking verse 39 neither height nor depth so take those things he's talked about don't just look at him horizontally look at him as high as you can go as low as you can go all the way up to heaven or all the way down to hell nothing in either extreme or in between can separate you from God and just in case your devious little mind has thought of something else Paul covers that too he says nor anything else in all creation we'll be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord it could not be stated any stronger than that there is nothing that can separate you from God's love from his purpose and plan for you and that plan is to ultimately make you like Christ and that will ultimately happen in heaven there is nothing that can take away your salvation this is one of the greatest chapters and a great conclusion here on the security of the believer that nothing can take away your salvation nothing can ever separate you from that plan of salvation and that purpose that God has for you to make you like Christ ultimately in heaven nothing can separate you from him what a wonderful conclusion he's pulled out all the stops and he's told you shouldn't have any doubt about the fulfilling of God's purpose because nothing can separate you from that so Paul is asking us what then shall we say in response to these things what shall we say in response to these things our response our lifestyle should be to live with utmost confidence in Christ knowing certainly that he is for us that he's providing for us he's already pronounced this righteous and nothing can change that and he's praying for us every moment of every day that will give you confidence in Christ and we should respond as conquerors through Christ knowing that there is no trouble on this earth and there is nothing that I might doubt or fear that can ever ever separate me from the love of God and his plan and purpose for my life I mean that's enough to even make a bet to shout hallelujah he really is hallelujah look at what God's done for us look at what he's given us and Paul wants it just to wash over us what shall we say to these things just let it roll over you like a mighty wave of God's love all that he's done for you and rejoice in it and worship him for it