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-Todays teaching will be part 12 of a series I’ve titled; “Hope for the Discouraged and Depressed.” -Throughout this amazing chapter here in Romans 8, we’ve seen how it is, and where it is, that we can find hope when we become discouraged. -In a sense, the Apostle Paul has risen from the pages of scripture, and in so doing, successfully argued his case in the courtroom of eternity.

-Namely, that there can no longer be any charges brought against us, neither can there ever be any guilt and condemnation heaped upon us. -The reason being that, because of the finished work on the cross, and resurrection of the Christ, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. -Jesus took upon Himself the guilt and condemnation of all our sin when He was put to death in our stead via His bloodshed, which paid it in full.

-This brings up the question of why the Holy Spirit would deem it necessary to go to such lengths in recording this through the Apostle Paul. -In other words, why do we have a whole chapter dedicated to this one simple truth about how it is that there is no condemnation for us in Christ? -I believe it’s because of the devastating effects that living, unchecked, under condemnation can have on the life of a believer in Jesus Christ.

-Let me explain, if I’m deceived and have believed I’m condemned by God, I’ll then assume that God is angry at me, or even disappointed in me. -Furthermore, if God is angry at me and disappointed in me then the presupposition is that God must not love me nor does He have good for me. -Then, if that weren’t bad enough to make matters worse, I’m left with the impression God has given up on me, and wants nothing to do with me.

-When I come to this satanic conclusion, I am then left with no other alternative other than to create a distance between my Lord, and myself. -After all He’s mad at me wants nothing to do with me, is totally disappointed in me, so why even bother trying anymore, it’s no use right? Wrong! -Enter Romans chapter eight, and more specifically the verses we have set before us on the table of God’s unfailing and unbreakable love for us.

-It’s for this reason we have this extensive writing about the importance of knowing that God’s love is unfailing, unbreakable, thus unconditional. -Were it not, then what ensues is what I call a “demonic doubt” about the love of God, and a satanic questioning about the goodness of God. -Thankfully, starting in verse 33 and to the end of the chapter, the Apostle Paul brilliantly and beautifully dismantles all condemnation and doubt.

-Paul does this by peeling back all the layers and getting down to the core issue of what the source of our doubts is concerning the love of God. -He even takes it a step further with the assurance not only of God’s love for us, but that there’s nothing that can separate us from God’s love. -He even lists specific things that threaten us, in that they have the propensity to separate us from the love that God has for us in Christ Jesus.

-I don’t think that the importance of this could ever be overstated, because Satan uses both doubt and condemnation to separate us from God. -I’m of the belief that it’s for this reason we have, what we have, recorded for us here in this chapter. It’s to assure us of the love God has for us. -What we’re about to see is how that this unfailing, unbreakable, and unconditional love of God is not based on what we do, but on Who He is.

-This unbreakable love of God for us is reinforced, and secured, when Paul asks, what I’m calling the big three “who” questions in verses 33-35. -In both asking then answering these three who questions, the Apostle seals the deal, as it were, related to how this love is based on Who He is. -Now, I can be secure in what I am by virtue of Who He is how He is and perhaps even more importantly what He’s done as Who and how He is.

1. Hope returns to me knowing He is eternally justifying of me (Verse 33) -v33 The Apostle Paul rhetorically asks then emphatically answers the question of who’ll bring any charge against those whom God has chosen. -The answer, no one dare, by virtue of the fact that it is God Who justifies me and if it’s God Who has justified me then it’s just if I’d never sinned.

2. Hope returns to me knowing He is always interceding for me (Verse 34) -v34 Paul asks who is he that condemns then says Jesus He who died and rose to life is seated at the right hand of God and is interceding for us. -The implications and ramifications of this are huge! This means that the one Who died for us, is seated at the right hand of God praying for us. -For the benefit of those who weren’t with us last week we learned that Jesus is praying for us when Satan launches a spiritual attack against us.

-We find an example of this was with Peter in the New Testament and the Amalekites in the Old, both of which have a common denominator. -Both were battle weary, and vulnerable because of it, which is when they came under the attack of the enemy who sought to devouring them. -The hope comes knowing that Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding on my behalf in those present spiritual battles.

-The Lord knows that we’re all prone to lose hope when weary in spiritual battle, and that we’re more susceptible to depression because of it.

D. Martyn Lloyd Jones “Spiritual Depression -Its Causes and Its Cure” -“The greatest and the best Christians when they are physically weak are more prone to an attack of spiritual depression than at any other time and there are great illustrations of this in the Scriptures. You may be in this condition simply because you are working too hard physically. You can be tired in the work and not tired of the work. It is possible that a man has been over-working-I do not care in what realm, whether natural or spiritual-and has been over-taxing his energy and his physical resources. If you go on working too hard or under strain you are bound to suffer. And of course if that is the cause of the trouble, the remedy you need is medical treatment. There is a striking example of this in the Old Testament. …when Elijah had that attack of spiritual depression after his heroic effort on Mount Carmel, he sat down under a juniper tree and felt sorry for himself. But the real thing he needed was sleep and food; and God gave him both! He gave him food and rest before He gave him spiritual help.” D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones “Spiritual Depression, It’s Causes and its Cure” pp. 18,19

-The spiritual help that comes subsequent to the physical help comes by way of Jesus Who is interceding for us, as He prays specifically for us. -This brings us to our third who question found in verse thirty-five, and to me, it really ties the knot, so to speak, around my security in Christ.

3. Hope returns to me knowing He is never separating from me (Verse 35) (35) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? -v35 Paul in this third “who” question asks about who shall separate us from the love of Christ, then he interestingly lists six things that cannot. -I can’t get over how romantic this is, for lack of a better way of saying it. What I mean by that is, Jesus, our Bridegroom, loves us infinitely so. -So much so, that He will never allow anything, or anyone, to cause a separation between us, in our marriage to Him. Let no man put it asunder.

-Bear with me for just a moment, because I think I’d be remiss were I not to mention this list of seven things that Paul says cannot separate us. -First he says trouble, then hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger then the sword. Wow, what an intense list. Pretty much covers it. -The common denominator in all seven of these is that they speak to the peril for the believer who endures the sufferings of this present time.

-In trouble, experiencing hardship, suffering persecution, with scarcity of basic necessity, in danger facing death can’t separate me from His love. -I suppose you could say that if this is true, and it most certainly is, then I have got it made in the shade as they say, in spite of all of these things.

-There’s one final thought here, and it’s one for which I’ll close this sermon with and I do so with the hope that it will be a game changer for us all. -Notice how that these three who questions ever so beautifully and securely cover everything in terms of my past, my present, and my future. -I’m secure in His justifying me concerning my past, in His interceding concerning my present, and in His never separating concerning my future.