A Celebration of Our Security

Let me read the text again. You already heard it once, but let me read it again beginning in verse 31. This is the culmination of eight chapters. When Paul begins this, what then shall we say to these things? He means what should we say to all of these glorious truths? That he's unveiled in the first eight chapters, the book of Romans that have culminated. In chapter 8, this great promise of the spirit, who is the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, who is the spirit of adoption that makes his children of God who is the spirit of hope. He's going to glorify us and transform us into the image of Christ. And now at the conclusion of this first half of the book, he says, what then shall we say to these things?

How can we respond? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather, who was raised, who was at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? For just as it is written for your sake, we are being put to death all day long. We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered, but in all these things, we are overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present, things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. How can you beat that? Make sure you want to just bow your head and shut up, doesn't it? What a God. What a commitment to His people. This is a celebration of our security or a celebration of our assurance in Christ Jesus. God loves it when you have assurance. Did you know that? He loves it when you are full of joy and confidence in Him in His loving kindness. There's a blessed word in the Old Testament. It's normally translated loving kindness.

The Hebrew word has said, it means God's stubborn love for His people, His covenant love. It's the love He has for those who have been brought by the Spirit into relationship with Him through Christ. He has a love for you that is a stubborn love. He will never stop loving you. He will never stop this process. And it doesn't matter what you go through. That's what Paul says here. And I want you to know this morning that God does not want you to be dominated by insecurity and fear and intimidation and anxiety. Those are means and methods that Satan uses to control people. He uses guilt and fear and intimidation, but God doesn't. God uses something very different and He wants you to have confidence in Him and in your relationship with Him.

And so in this text today we see the celebration of security or assurance in Christ. Paul revels in this mighty foundation of God's character and His commitment to His people. He wants us to rest and put all of our weight upon His character and His work. And regardless of what you're facing today, regardless of what's down the road, He wants you to know that nothing in all of life in the present past, present, and future can ever separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. And so He gives us in this text. He poses five questions that we had to ask ourselves when we are in times and we are maybe doubting a bit about what God is up to in our lives. First He says, He asks the question, verses 31 and 32.

If God is for us, who can oppose us? Now some of you might think, well I can give you a list. Some of you here this morning who've come to faith in Christ in the last few years, discovered that all of a sudden you have a whole bunch of new enemies that you didn't have before. The Bible says that the moment a person turns to Christ in faith, all of a sudden the world, the flesh, and the devil are against Him. Satan, this supernatural being, this spirit being, that covering cherub that God created and is so beautiful and so full of a perverted kind of wisdom, has so much power and He's against you. The world system that is under His domination is against you. And the flesh that is indwelling sin is still against you, isn't it?

Because you've wrestled with it this week. But what difference does it make, Paul says, if God is for you? That's his point of God is for you, then what difference does it make, who's against you? Now we may be intimidated, but we shouldn't be because we have God all mighty on our side. That's what Paul is saying. God is on our side. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, what does it really matter who's against us? There is an obvious implication in this verse and that is that God wants you to actually feel that this. He wants this to be such a clear reality to you that it actually affects the way that you live and the way that you feel as you face life's challenges and the enemies that come against you.

Have you ever faced a bully in school? When I was a freshman in high school, my brother was a senior and he was a lot bigger and stronger and all that. There was a certain amount of confidence I had because he was my brother. And I went to school, my freshman year in Los Lomas high school in Walnut Creek, nice little enclave there. It was very peaceful. And the neat place to be and my brother played quarterback on the football team was, yeah, it was great. The next year my brother went to college and when I became a sophomore we moved to Richmond and I went to Richmond high and it was a war zone at that point. And it was a scary place to be and I was being intimidated all the time by all kinds of things.

And you know what you look for is you, at those times you look for a big buddy. I wish I knew somebody like Jeff back then. You look for somebody. You remember that movie, The Bodyguard? I don't know if you remember that was kind of a B-grade movie. But it was about a little kid who was very small and easily intimidated and everybody was picking on him and he figured out what he needed to do was to find somebody who would protect him. And so he went after the biggest guy in school. It was kind of an outcast out of it and he befriended him and the whole movie is about how they developed this relationship and all of a sudden he's got a protector beside him. Paul says, if God is for us, who can be against us?

If the creator and sustainer of all things is on your side then it doesn't matter who comes against you, the very people who come against you, the breath that they're breathing at this moment comes from the hand of the one who's protecting you. God is for us. God wants us to live in the realization that he is for us. That's what amazes me. So many times what we do is that we have this method of, for example, in raising kids, we don't want to give them too much confidence. And so we make threats. I've heard people actually threaten their children if they do certain things they're going to disown them. And amazingly, God doesn't do that. He says, I love you. And if you ever doubt it, here's what I want you to do.

I want you to look back to Calvary. Because if you look at Calvary, there is no mistaking that at Calvary, God was for you. He says, he who did not spare his own son. But delivered him over for us all. How will he not also with him freely give us all things? Is God for you? Look at Calvary. God sent his own son. Look at that. He did not spare his own son. He didn't hold back this. I heard this story this week. Amazing story about a guy years ago who had to, was in the service. He had to leave his family and go to Japan. He was stationed there for a while. And every week they would receive letters from me on two little children. And these letters would come and they were so encouraging to these children.

And every week they would listen and be encouraged and have these deep warm feelings about dad who was so many miles away across the ocean. And after a few months the letters stopped. They didn't come. And some time went by and finally a letter came. And the letter said the mother opens the letter of the wife and she reads the letter and he says no matter how I put this, you're going to be deeply hurt before the end of this letter. I have fallen in love with another woman and I'm going to get a divorce and I'm not coming home and you're going to have to tell the children. And so he does. 15-year-old girl that he marries in Japan has two children. But when the mom told the kids, they kept asking her what's wrong, where's the letters, what happened to dad, is something happened they could tell in her spirit that something had happened and so she told them what had happened.

And one of the children said, get this. One of the children said, mommy, just because daddy doesn't love us any longer, is it okay if we still love him? And she said, yes, we can still love him. And so the children began to write him letters and share their hearts in life with him. Well, after a few years, two children he had with this lady in Japan, he wrote his wife a letter and he said, I've got some bad news and I need your help. I've just found out that I have terminal cancer and I don't have long to live. And there's no means, my wife, my new wife and these two children, these two little children have no means of support. And I want to know if you would support them. And this was in a guidepost's article, this lady wrote and she said this came as such a hard shock and she was so angry but then God began to soften her heart and she said, I decided I could either be abused by this man twice the second time by the bitterness I feel towards him or I could show forth the light of the love of Jesus Christ.

And so she wrote to him and said, I can't send you any money, I have no money to send you. But what I will do is this, you can send your wife and your two children when you die, you can send them here to America and they can come and live with me. And I'll take them in and take care of them and I'll teach them the language and teach them how to get on in the world here and so they can make it and they could be self-sustaining. Isn't that amazing? You know that pails and insignificance and comparison to the love of God for you, that he did not spare his own son? This is a little too emotional for me to talk about but can you imagine someone sparing their own son? I can't. I got to tell you I have one son, one son.

And I can't even imagine a situation where I would give his life in order to save the life of somebody else. I just can't. God did not spare his own son. And look at this, he delivered him over which means the word here delivered him over is the word that means to hand over as an offering. He handed him over as an offering for our sins. And then Paul, because this is his point, he's driving on the point of God as for us who can be against, he says, and how will he not also with him? If he did not spare his own son, how could he not also with him freely? Give us all things. Is there something that you think that God is withholding from you? I want you to know that if God would give his son, there is no good thing that he will withhold from you.

I've thought about this a lot this past week. What kind of love is this? I could see laying down my life for somebody and I could lay down my life from my wife, my children, I think. Well, I can't imagine giving my son to save somebody else's life. Yet God did not spare his son. At Calvary, God is saying, this is what God is saying to you this morning. Every person in this room, I want you to tell you, this is what God is saying to you. At Calvary, he is saying, I am for you. I am for you. And Paul says, if God is for us and he's proven it. If God is for us, who can be against us? What does it matter if all the world lines up against us? If God is for us? And he is for us. He is for us. Second question, he poses.

Who can accuse us? This is an important question for most of us because most of us have, our conscience is healthy enough that we feel deep guilt when we sin. Who can accuse us? What a statement. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Think about that statement. Who accuses you? Well, if you know the Bible, the answer is the devil and the world. The devil accuses you. And in Job 1, it says that Satan came before God, along with all of the angels, came before God and began to accuse Job, the most righteous man who lived on the face of the earth in his actions. And yet, Satan's attack was, if you simply take your hand of protection off of him, he'll curse you and turn his heart away from you.

He even accuses the most righteous living people. But in Revelation 12, it says, he is the accuser of the brethren and he accuses us before the throne, night and day. Who accuses you? Satan accuses you. And not only that, but the world accuses us. Just watch the nightly news. Watch out what happens. I was driving on the street, yes, day for yesterday, in Walnut Creek, and there was a lady in front of me, nice little Mercedes, she looked like she's about 85 years old, driving along, and the back of her bumper. She had several bumper stickers that gave away her outlook on life, and one of them right in the center was it, bumper sticker and said, Jesus, Jehovah, Allah, it is a God eat God world.

You see her perspective is that the cause and the source of all problems in the world is religion. That's why we're having wars, it's religion. And you know she's right, she's right, because there is a rebellion going on in this world against Almighty God. Who can accuse us? The world accuses us. Many may accuse you, but Paul's point is, what does it matter? Does it matter who accuses you? God is the one who justifies. Now we've been spent a lot of time on justification. Here's Paul's answer. God is the one who justifies. I know you're all great sinners like I am. There's nobody in this room who's not a sinner, there's nobody in this room who has kept God's law perfectly this week. But who can accuse you?

Do you know that Satan does not have the ability to read your mind, but he and his underlings can see your actions, and they're pretty easy to interpret. He hears your lies and your deceptions. He knows your sin, he knows the secret sin that you do and nobody else is around. But who can accuse us? God is the one who justifies. We've seen in this text that God declares a man righteous and receives him as his own because of his faith in Christ, and he wrapped you up in the righteousness of Christ, just that moment that you believed and put your trust in Jesus Christ. There's a prayer in Michelle Claystay's book, where he's a Frenchman wrote a book called Prayers for Life. This is a stunning prayer.

Maybe it won't relate to you like it does to me, but man, this hits home. Listen to this. I have fallen, Lord, once more. I can't go on and I'll never succeed. I am ashamed and I don't dare look at you. And yet I've struggled, Lord, for I knew you were right near me, bending over me, watching. But temptation blew in like a hurricane. And instead of looking at you, I turned my head away and stepped aside. Well, you stood silent and sorrowful like the spurned fiance who sees his loved one carried off by his rival. When the wind died down as quickly as it had arisen, when the lightning ceased after proudly streaking the darkness of all of a sudden, I found myself alone, ashamed, disgusted with my sin in my hands.

This sin that I selected as a customer selects his purchase. This sin that I paid for but cannot return to the store because the storekeeper is no longer there. This tasteless sin, this odious sin, the sin that now sickens me, which I once wanted, but I want no more, that I imagined and sought and played with and fondled for a long time, that I finally embraced while coldly bypassing you. My arms outstretched, my eyes and heart irresistibly drawn, this sin that I have grasped and consumed with a gluttony. It's mine now, Lord. But it possesses me as a spider web holds a captive of the fly. It's mine and it sticks to me. It flows in my veins and fills my heart. It has slipped in everywhere as darkness slips into the forest at dusk and fills all the patches of light.

Lord, I can't seem to get rid of it. I run from it like the master of an unwanted and mangy dog, but it catches up to me and rubs joyfully against my legs. Everyone must notice it. I'm so ashamed that I feel like crawling to avoid being seen. I'm ashamed of being seen by my friends. Lord, I'm ashamed of being seen by you. For you love me and I forgot you. I forgot you because I was thinking only of myself and one can't think of several persons at once. One must choose and I chose. And now, Lord, your voice and your look and your love hurt me. They weigh me down more than my sin. Lord, please don't look at me like that. I'm naked and dirty down and shattered with no strength left and I dare not make any more promises.

I can only stand bowed before you, Lord. And then the Lord answers, come on, son, look up. Isn't it mainly your vanity that is wounded? If you love me, you would grieve, but you would trust. Do you think there is a limit of my love? Do you think for a moment that I have stopped loving you? But you still rely on yourself, son. You must rely on me. Ask my pardon and get up quickly. You see, it's not the falling that is the worst, but the staying on the ground. What kind of a God is this that would produce that kind of cinnamon in the heart of a believer? It is God that justifies. It is God that justifies. And the message is the same to every one of you today as it was last week and last year. When you first came to faith in Christ or if you're not even a believer, God's message to you today is if you'll turn to Christ and embrace Him by faith.

He'll declare your righteous. He'll justify you. And then who is there to accuse you? It is God who justified. Doesn't matter who accuses you. If Christ is the one who stands for you. And then he asks the question, who can condemn us? Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is who you died. Yes, rather who was raised, who is the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Do you know that the only one when you ask that question, think about this for a second? Paul asks the question, who is the one who condemns this? Well, who is the only person in the universe who can condemn you? There's only one who has the authority to condemn you. Do you know that? That's what John chapter 5 says. There is only one person in all the universe who has the right and the authority to condemn you and that's Jesus Christ.

He's the only one. In John chapter 5, Jesus said the Father has handed over all judgment to the Son. I'm the one who judges. I'm the one who's going to raise the dead and judge the living and the dead. He's the only one who can condemn you. Think about that. That Jesus Christ, you feel condemned? Well, who can condemn you? Jesus Christ. He's the only one who has the authority. And yet Paul says that Jesus Christ, who is our judge, who is also our advocate. He's our lawyer. John, chapter 2 verse 1, John says, I'm writing these things to you that you don't sin so that you won't sin. But if any man sins, if any believer sins, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And he is the propitiation.

He is the satisfaction for our sins and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. Do you know whoever you are here today, there's only one place that you can flee to to escape condemnation. It's to this one who stands next to the Father and is the propitiation for our sins. The only people who can become Christians are people who are sinners. You have to be a sinner in order to become a Christian. You have to understand that you're fallen and that you deserve to be condemned, but there is one who stands at the right hand of the Father who's died for us, who still has the nail prints in his hands and his feet and the hole in his side, the proof that he has died for sinners. And he is the propitiation.

He's the satisfaction for our sins. I mean, think of how momentous this is. I'm standing up here talking to you in this little cafeteria in Brentwood, California. There's no place in the world. And I'm telling you the most incredible truth that there is in all the universe, that you can be right with God, that you can be forgiven and cleansed. You can be put in a place where you will never be condemned. Some people are satisfied. If I can just be tricky enough, I can keep from getting caught in this world. It's amazing to find people that live continually in lawlessness. I mean, I had a guy one time hit me in a car accident, come to find out that I hadn't had a license in 15 years, driving all over the place.

Didn't mean a thing to him. God offers you something so much better than shrewdness. He offers you righteousness. How would you like to be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and to be so righteous in the eyes of God that God looks upon you with absolute favor the same way he looks upon his son? That's what the gospel offers you today. And so when God says who can condemn us, the answer is no one. The very one who could condemn us is our advocate standing at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. Interceding for us. So guess what happens when you sin? Christian. I remember about in 1971 in September 1971, I was sitting in Idaho in the family room. This little house we were living with moved to Idaho to get away from California and I was sitting there.

And in the middle of the night, I'd waken about two o'clock in the morning. I was so heavily weighed down with my life and the circumstance of my life. I was running from God and I was sitting there and I began to read first John chapter one. I was reading in the Greek text because when you take Greek and seminary, that's the book that you get most exposed to. And so I could read that. I started reading through there. I get to chapter two and it says, I'm writing these things to you that you don't sin. But if any man sins, and this is what the Greek text says, if any man sins, while he is in the act of sinning, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. Is that crazy or what?

Is that amazing? That while you were in the act of sinning this week that Jesus Christ was defending you before the Father, he was standing there as your propitiation. And let me ask you, does that make you want to sin? No. It makes you want to worship, doesn't it? It makes you want to praise this kind of God. Oh, I long for you to be bathed in the love of God, for you to actually be immersed in the reality of God's love for you. He loves you so much. He didn't spare his son. He didn't spare his son. And will he not also with him freely give you all things? And then he asks this, who can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus? What a question. Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

We'll tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword. It begins going down this lick list. And notice this, he says, will trouble hardship persecution? These are emotional things. These are the things we feel so deeply. They trouble our hearts and our minds. And when you're in turmoil, when you have interconflict going on, when you don't know where to turn, can that separate you from the love of God? When you're half out of your mind, you don't know how to think. You don't know what to do. Things are pressing it in upon you and you don't know what's going to happen. Can that separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus? No. No. I was about half crazy when we started this church in 1997.

I literally was. In fact, my son basically talked me into this. And now he's leaving me. I'm so mad. I was half nuts. I couldn't think straight. I didn't know what I ought to do. He said, God's open to the store. God is going to use you. Who can condemn us? Even when we're crazy. Even when we can't think straight. Even when things are turned upside down. And we don't know what to do. And things affect us so deeply emotionally that we just think we're about to fly apart. Don't run for the bottle. Run to Christ. Nothing can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. And then he goes on, will famine? Make itness, peril, sword. These are physically, physically oriented things. Motorcycle crashes?

What can separate us? Broken bones? Lost jobs? Though your body be destroyed, you will not be separated from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. And then he says this. He quotes in the Old Testament for your sake, we are being put to death all day long. We are considered a sheep to be slaughtered. That's what the people of God are like at times. In this Sudan, there are Christians running for their lives, but there's nowhere to run. No place to hide. But like sheep, ready to be slaughtered. At times like this, can you be separated from the love of God? No. He goes on, for I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, that is realms of authority in the spirit world, nor things present that are going on right now in your life, nor things to come which are in the future, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us.

The created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. If you die, believe her, death will not separate you from God. On my gravestone, I want you to put, born 1943, reborn 1949, transferred into the presence of the living God, 2000 and 24. For a year it comes. Death cannot separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. If death comes, I'll be in His presence. Kill me and I'll be in the presence of Jesus Christ. If you live and sometimes a greater fear than dying, isn't it? If you live and that's a very real fear to many people, life. Like the woman said, the problem with life is it's so daily. It just keeps coming at you. The fear of life cannot separate us.

You fear things tomorrow. What's it going to be like next week? It's going to be like in two weeks in a month. What do you got going on? What's going to happen? I'm losing, get this. I'm losing half my grandkids. What's going to happen? I don't know. You're going to have to buy me a lot of plane tickets. The biggest challenge we face is life, isn't it? Is temptations? You're going to face? Some of you are dealing with sins right now that you can't get rid of and they're just like that passage I just read. That's how it is. You want to get rid of them so bad but you know temptations coming tomorrow. Just the demands that press in upon you and life and things that you face but life cannot threaten you.

You cannot threaten you're being separated from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. But what about angels he talks about or demons? Can spirit being separate you from the love of God? No. There's not a demon in hell who can separate you nor demon out of hell that can separate you. There's not an angel who can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Your present situation cannot separate you from God's love. Are you struggling? Are you struggling in the Christian life? Not where you ought to be. Maybe you're backslidden. If people really know what was going on in your life they say, man, that guy is backslidden. He's pulled back. He's not even walking with Christ. What's going on?

Can that separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? No. From the Lord loves he chastens. He scorches every son that he receives to himself. I got to tell you this God knows how to raise kids and he knows how to deal with rebels even when I'm rebellious. He knows how to deal with me. He knows how to break my heart. He knows how to cause me to flee to him. To flee to this love that I have in Christ Jesus. So even your present situation that cannot separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. We have a God who's going to come to our aid and rescue us even when we're the ones who cause the problem. That's the kind of God he is. And then what about the future? Are you anxious about anything?

You got any anxiety? You know what anxiety is? Anxiety is that that horrible feeling down on your gut when you realize that you don't have the resources to meet the challenge of tomorrow. You know your face was something and you realize I can't do this. I can't do this. And that anxiety begins to build. It's kind of like the feeling you have when you're out in the desert and the sciences gas 150 miles and your light just comes on that you're low on gas. You know what that feels like? I was going to a funeral one time and I was doing the funeral and we were going from the funeral home to the cemetery and I'm driving along not thinking too much and I realized we got a long ways to go. We're going all the way over to Concern and I looked down and I'm out of gas and it was most horrible feeling what would it be like for me to run out of gas in a funeral procession and I'm doing the funeral.

It's terrible. Anxiety. Anxiety can overwhelm us because we're afraid we don't have the resources. We don't have what it takes to meet the challenge of tomorrow. And Jesus said, listen, don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow has enough trouble of its own. It's going to take care of itself. Live for me today. Trust me today. He also said that even when you're persecuted, don't worry about what you're going to say. Don't be anxious. God will fill your heart with what you need to say. In fact, he said, you know what? Anxiety. Jesus said that anxiety is what keeps many people from really embracing the gospel. It's anxiety over their life. And here is the source. The source of life. The source of life.

Don't be immobilized by fear what may happen tomorrow. God has tomorrow in his hands. Nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Not tomorrow. I was talking to a parent this past week and we were ruminating over the difficulties of raising kids and the challenges you face and when they're not, you can tell they're not going to do what they need to do, what they ought to do, what you want them to do. And it's a horrible feeling. And one of the great things about going through it is once you get through it, you can tell fellow struggling, guess what? You're going to get through this. This isn't going to be forever. It's only going to be a short time and then God's going to deliver you.

Just remain faithful. Trust him. Don't fly apart. Don't fall apart. Don't run hell to shelter. Looking for solutions here and there. Trust Almighty God. Do what he says. Obey him. Nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Not even rebellious children. That's just all that is. It's just training. That's a graduate work. That sets you up to get you ready to serve others. Some of you, I look around the room and I know many of you because we've talked about it and the stuff you've gone through and you're going through and the stuff you're facing, how scary it is. You know what? Nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing. Trust him.

And then finally, who can defeat us? That's the implication of verse 37 when it says, but in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. In the Greek it says we are super conquerors. We are super conquerors. Then the implied question is who can defeat us and the answer is nobody. The world system is constantly attacking Christianity because biblical Christianity is a threat to the kingdoms of man. It's just a fact. And they always will. You can't package Christianity to make it acceptable to the world system. It never will. When you tell them the truth, when they find out the truth about what you believe, there's going to be opposition. But nothing is going to defeat you.

Who can oppose you? Nobody. Nobody that matters. God is for us. Who can accuse us? Nobody that matters. Jesus Christ has forgiven us. Who can condemn us? Nobody that matters. God has already justified us. Who can separate us? Nobody. Nobody. God loves us. Who can defeat us? Nobody. Should I have a relationship with the God like that? Ladies. The bridegroom of the church is Jesus Christ. He's a man who keeps covenant. You're safe and secure in your relationship with him. You'll never leave you or forsake you. You're secure in him. Thomas Merton said in his work seat of contemplation, he said, man is not at peace with his fellow man because he's not at peace with himself. And he is not at peace with himself because he is not at peace with God.

I want to tell you this morning, if you're not at peace with God, you can be. If you'll simply turn to him in faith, take hold of Christ. Just take hold of Christ by faith. Just say, God, I believe this. I believe what you said. I believe that Jesus really did come to die for me. And you raise him from the dead, which is your testimony that he paid for my sins. Take hold of him by faith. Trust him. Come to have this kind of relationship with a God who will never leave you or forsake you. You'll go with you all the way to the end. Let's stand and pray. Close and prayer. What foreign kind of love this is, father, that you would call us your children, and we are. And even though it does not yet appear what we shall be, when we see Jesus, we'll be like him because we'll see him as he is.

Thank you for your faithfulness to us. God, we are so unfaithful, but you cannot deny yourself. We have failed you so many times. We've wandered away so many times. We've been rebellious so many times. And yet, you keep drawing us into your bosom. Father, I pray if there's someone here this morning who's been running from you for years and maybe they just can't even imagine you bringing them to yourself. They can't even imagine you receding them and loving them and accepting them and showering them with the grace of God and Christ Jesus. I pray that this moment in their heart they would turn to you. Trust in your Son. Receive this glorious gift of salvation that you offer freely to all who will come in faith believing, trusting in this only one who can save and forgive.

Enter into this covenant of love to be loved by a God who cannot deny his own. How we thank you, Father, for your faithfulness. Help us in response to that, in the power of the Spirit to be faithful to you, we pray. In Jesus' name and for his glory. Amen. Amen. God bless you.