“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” John 13:1
“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; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:35-39)
John begins in chapter 13 reminding us all of Jesus’ immense love “for His own” even to the end of all things. So Jesus’ love will never end as one of the youngest among us said a couple of weeks ago in Bible Study when asked what this meant. We understand the depth and see the action of this love as we hear Him speak the night before His death on the cross from chapters 13- 17 of John’s Gospel. And we see Paul reiterating the strength of this love in the text we have from Romans.
But even with these two texts which are only a small example of the proof texts concerning Jesus’ love for His own… we still wonder. Have you ever wondered if life’s trials prove that God has stopped caring for you? Such natural questioning is why the Apostle Paul assures us that we are more than conquerors of life’s trials through Him who loves us!
Paul was trying to make it clear that Jesus’ love for us is infinitely greater than all our circumstances or sins. The challenges of past, present, and future do not indicate that God is gone, nor do our flawed responses to them indicate that His love is.
What assures us of God’s inseparable love? First, it was established by His grace before time began, not by how good we or our circumstances were or could be.
Second, He declares His love for, to and in us…and having declared it to be so it can never be taken away, no matter what. His love is with His own “even to the end.”
Third, God, because of His covenant of Grace is everywhere His people are. He is always near. He remains Immanuel (“God with us”) even when the earth is shaking. No trial or failure can distance us from Him nor His love.
Finally, even when trials expose our weakness, God sticks close to provide a remedy. Greater is He that is in you, than any power in this world. “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”- 1 John 4:4. As a consequence, we are more than conquerors of fear, doubt, and disobedience through Christ’s power.
The grace of God isn’t a pass on obedience; it is the power to obedience. We are no longer slaves to sin or prisoners of fear. “We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.” Rom. 6:6-7. Thus, we conquer the doubts, fears, and weaknesses that trials lay bare with belief in all the graces of a loving Lord. We believe we have Christ’s pardon for us, Christ’s presence with us, Christ’s power in us, and Christ’s promises forever surrounding us.
Knowing that God has made us able to stand and will always stand with us, we are more than conquerors of this world’s evils and maybe an even more important truth, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Remember He IS loving us to the end…which for us, His children, is a new beginning! So… He loves us to eternity and beyond!
In His Grip,
Pastor Mike
