Sound Doctrine

Jeff Johnson: When you choose to follow the Lord, you enter into that spiritual arena with God, with Jesus in you. And man, that makes all the difference in the world. Christ in me, the hope of glory. And it's a different arena. You have a different perspective.

You've been given a joy, you've been given a peace and a love that this world cannot give, nor can this world take it away. That's the good news. It's given by God to us, special. Joy unspeakable and full of glory, a peace that passes human understanding in the midst of chaos. It's God in us.

Guest (Male): When things go from bad to worse in our lives, we may start to wonder, does God still love me? The enemy will try to convince us that he doesn't. But the truth is, nothing can separate us from Jesus's love. And I mean nothing.

That's the glorious reality we'll unpack today on Sound Doctrine as we make a return visit to Romans chapter eight. As we explore these verses, we realize why this chapter is regularly ranked as one of the greatest chapters in all of scripture. It's simply awesome. Here's Pastor Jeff Johnson with part two of his message, No Separation.

Jeff Johnson: Then over in Zechariah, Zechariah says it this way because there's a lot of drama in heaven. There's drama going on all the time. Well, God showed Zechariah Joshua the high priest and there's the angel of the Lord standing by him, which is the Lord Jesus, and then there's Satan standing there and he has this—this is in Zechariah chapter three—standing at his right hand to resist him or to accuse him.

And the Lord said unto Satan, "The Lord rebuke you. Is not this," he says, "a brand plucked out of the fire?" Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments. See, the enemy was immediately looking at and bringing up Joshua's dirt, his filthy garments. And he stood before the angel who is our advocate.

And then it says, "And he answered and he spoke unto those that stood before him saying, 'Take away thy filthy garments from him.' And unto him he said, 'Behold, I cause thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with a change of raiment.'" That's God's whole work, is taking away. As the dirt is brought up, he removes the dirt and he clothes us in his righteousness for his namesake.

So I'm forgiven, I'm cleansed, I'm secured in his love and sacrifice for me. Because that's why he did that. He did that so he could take sinners and cause them to become saints. Verse 34, "Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us."

So wait a minute, who is he that condemns? There's no condemnation. We've already talked about that. Anyone can issue a charge, though, and Satan will try, won't he? He'll seek to condemn you. He'll seek to condemn me. But only one can truly condemn. You see, he cannot truly condemn. He can lie and he can lay a trip on you.

But there's an interesting scripture in John's gospel in chapter five and verse 22. John 5:22 says—Jesus is speaking—"For the Father judges no man, but has submitted all judgment to the Son." He's the one that condemns. Don't worry about what man can do. You better be concerned about what God can do because he's the one that can judge your soul and send you to an eternity without God's love, without him.

So he's the one that truly condemns. But yet he died. See, that's what he's saying here. He doesn't go around condemning. He died for this world. He died for me. Remember, condemnation drives us from God. Conviction, which is a different word altogether, draws us. By the Spirit of the Lord, we're drawn to the Lord. We're convicted by his Spirit. And the outcome is way different on either one of these. Look at Peter and look at Judas.

Peter was convicted by the Holy Spirit. And what did he do? He wept out loud and he was broken and he cried out and he confessed. And he was convicted, and it drew him to the Lord. But then Judas, what happened to him? Well, he received condemnation from the enemy. He was condemned. And what was the fruit of that whole thing? Well, it was taking a rope and killing himself, hanging himself.

So two different results. Condemnation is not good. Conviction's good. Over in John 3:17, John writing down what Jesus said, he says, "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved." See, it's not about laying a trip on you and condemning you. It's about getting you to a place of salvation.

The Spirit has already convicted the whole world of sin. Nobody needs to tell you that you're a sinner because you know it. Oh, you might try to hide it and you might say, "No, I'm overcoming my bad with my good deeds," and you're trying to balance it all out, but it's not going to work. We all know deep inside that we've fallen short of the glory of God.

So he died for this world. You say, "But I keep getting this that I'm no good. There's no hope for me. This keeps coming to me." No, wait a minute. Don't listen to that. He died for you. More than that, he not only died for you, he rose again to give you life and that much more abundantly. See, he not only just died for you, he rose again. That speaks of life right there. And all those that believe will follow and will experience abundant life in the now and later.

And then he says this, "He also intercedes for us." Our great high priest, Jesus, interceding for each of us. Now what's interesting about this is in Mark chapter 16 verse 19, it says that he sat down at the right hand of the Father. He sat down. In other words, he did his work and then he sat down. That means it's a finished work, what he did on that cross.

It's done. It's paid for. Your sins have been taken care of. There is a way out. There's an exodus for your life out of this muck and mire. You can hide away in him. You can have an exit out of this place and live in that exit, live in that hope, live in that coming of the Son of God, live in that hope that purifies us even as we are pure, looking for his soon return. To live for the Lord in this crazy world is a hideaway. It's a hiding place.

The Bible says he is our advocate, he is our defense lawyer. Over in Hebrews chapter seven, talking about intercession for us, it says in Hebrews 7:25, "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them." So that's his job now. In heaven, he just continually intercedes for us, praying for us.

I love it when Jesus was speaking to Peter saying, "Peter, Peter, Satan wants you. He wants to sift you like wheat." This is over in Luke chapter 22 verse 31 and 32. He says, "Satan wants to have you. He wants to sift you like wheat. He just wants to rip you off. But I'm praying for you." And when I read that, I thought, that is awesome.

The Lord prays for me? He intercedes for me on a daily basis? He knows what I'm going through. He knows the junk and the warfare and all the stuff that's going on. And he's praying for me. And then he says, "Here's my prayer: that your faith would not fail." Wow, what a great prayer. That my faith would not fail.

And that when you get converted, when you really get this, you'll strengthen your brothers. That when you really come into this relationship, this walk with the Lord, you'll be a blessing to all your brothers and sisters around you. You'll be interceding for them, you'll be encouraging them, you'll be ministering to them. And I love it. So his intercession, so awesome. It silences our accuser, doesn't it? I believe it does. Because as he prays for us, we begin to listen to his word. We begin to believe what he says and not what the enemy's saying. So we're more and more being secured in our Lord.

Finally, number five, the fifth question, verse 35: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword?" Now, verses 31 through 34, he says God will not and cannot fail us. But then the question comes up, but can I fail him?

And here is where Paul really gets excited. He gets totally blown away and rightfully so because of what God ministers to him about and gives him a revelation about. Who or what can separate us? Can we separate ourselves? Can anything around us separate us? He loves us. Can our trials, our suffering, our afflictions, our tribulation, the things that we go through?

Do you remember when Paul was in prison, how he was beat up over and over again, thrown in prison? He was shipwrecked. He was bitten, beaten, stoned, you name it, he received it. It was incredible. And then he says, "These are my light afflictions." And we're going, light afflictions? Man, I think about what I've gone through for the Lord in my life, not even near there. And look at what he went through. But he took it all.

And notice that as Christians, we're not exempt from these things. And he even names the different things that will try to separate us but can't. These things we're not even exempt from. You know, it'd be great if, "Hey, become a Christian and you'll never have a trial again. And you'll overcome this and this. You'll be rich and you'll never get sick."

There's some preaching that, right? Where'd they get that? They didn't get it here. Why are they telling the people that? Well, because it really causes a lot to come. "Oh, I never get sick again. I'm going to be rich." Yeah, that's me, I'll do it. I'm going to win the lottery and I'm going to get this and get that. No, Paul said, "I'm going to have distresses from within, I'm going to have distresses from without. There's going to be accidents, there's going to be sickness, there's going to be death. The storms of life." And they're all around us. And life is tough. But it can't separate us. Nothing in this life can separate us from our Father, from our love relationship.

As Christians, we no longer cry that agonizing, "Oh, why, God?" that agonizing cry. Or in the hospital in the emergency room, you hear it a lot, "Oh, God, why? How could you?" You don't go there. But there are cries. And one of them is we say, "Lord, to what end is this? What good is going to come from this? I don't really see any good, but you said that all things are working for good. So what good is this, Lord?" And that's our question. That's where we come from.

Turn with me to Romans five verse three. Look at what Paul says here. "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations," in our trials, "knowing"—because we know some things—"that tribulation works patience, patience experience, experience hope, and hope makes not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." And so every trial and tribulation, everything we go through in this life is getting us closer and closer to God's love and we're understanding it better in a more sweet way. So it's all for our growth.

In Psalms 23:4, he says, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he's with me. His rod and his staff, they comfort me." Just to know that in the midst of whatever you're going through that he is with you to comfort you in the midst of your tribulation is awesome. At times, we know that he even carries us in those situations.

Now, if he loved me before the foundation of the world, I'm thinking, wow, he must really love me now. Now that I've received his Son. Think about this. If he loved me before the foundation of the world, now that I've received his Son, now that I'm seeking his will, now that I'm going after the things of God, he must really love me.

And those who have received him, they become the children of God. Before you were not his child. You were a child of wrath, of disobedience. But now you're his child. And he loved you then. While you were yet sinner, he died for you. He loves you now. But now you've received him. So he must love you a whole lot more.

So for the Christian, every cloud does have a silver lining. And behind the clouds, the old saying, the sun is still shining. The S-O-N behind the clouds in your life, Jesus is there to carry you even at times.

So verse 36, Paul now finishes out here and he says, "As it is written, 'For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.'" And that's out of Psalm 44:22. Interesting little quote there he throws in. We know in this world there's tribulation. Jesus said, "Be of good cheer because I've overcome it." But in the world, you're going to have it.

"All who will live godly," the scripture says, "shall suffer persecution." If you're going to live for the Lord in this world, and there's a whole lot of people suffering persecution because this world doesn't love the light, it loves its darkness. And those are precious promises, aren't they? There's tribulation, there is going to be persecution. And we don't want to claim those promises, but they are promises. They're from God's Word. And we understand that.

Paul would eventually be beheaded. They would remove his head from his body. He was in prison and in danger of his life on a constant basis. And he wasn't going around claiming and going out and going to buy the latest, greatest new Mercedes or the Learjet. He wasn't excited about the Learjet that he was going to get because of all this money that somehow has come his way.

And he wasn't living in a mansion that was overlooking the ocean with 32 bedrooms. He didn't live that way. Big bucks. He says we're sheep. We are sheep, lambs for the slaughter. Interesting statement he makes there that the psalmist makes. In other words, not a special military unit with the name on it, the Fighting Lambs, with these lambs coming at you. Or the Marine squad with lambs from hell on the back on the jacket. We're no Rambos. We're not. Not one of us. That's just not who and what we are.

Hebrews chapter 11 says who and what we are. And we just can relate to these guys back in the Old Testament. And he mentions there in Hebrews 11:37, they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, cut in half, tempted, slain by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and tormented, of whom the world was not worthy.

They wandered in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. That's not what we're looking at today with these modern-day preachers that are building up their treasure houses. It's ridiculous. And you know what, Lord, they hated you, they're going to hate me. They persecuted you, they're going to persecute me.

That's what he said over in John's gospel. He makes it very clear. Now, over 200 million suffer persecution worldwide today. 200 million suffer brutal physical persecution. That's a lot of people.

Verse 37, he says, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." Here's the secret, guys. There's no condemnation, there's no frustration, there's no separation, which he's trying to get us to see right now. And because of that, we're more than conquerors. Or another way of putting it, we're super conquerors.

This means in the midst of trial or whatever we're going through, our enemy is constantly being thwarted, constantly being put down, constantly we're conquering him. Whether you know it or not, in the spiritual realm, he's being conquered over and over. We're super conquerors, he's saying.

Remember the three Hebrew kids that were thrown in the fiery furnace and remember that whole scenario and what took place? There they were, thrown into this fiery furnace and they were victorious. The only thing that burned on their bodies was that which was binding them, that which was holding them back from being free. And immediately those burned off of them.

So fiery trial which is to come upon you, don't think it as some strange thing. Think it as the Father just leading us down another road to learn, to grow, to sharpen us. He loves us. He's with us in the midst of it. "I threw three in, I see four." Well, yes, Jesus was in the fire with them and they didn't want to come out.

And a lot of times we get even near the fire we go, "I'm not going in." I don't want to be in there. Or if you're in the fire, you're going, "Get me out, get me out." And the Lord's going, "No, I'm right here with you." It's in the fire that great things take place in our lives. We're loosed. We're freed up from those things that are binding us on this earth. How God turns things around. More than conquerors. So he was with them.

We're not of this world. In fact, over in John 15 and verse 19, listen to what Jesus says. He says, "You are not of the world. The world would love his own. But because you are not of the world, I have chosen you out of the world." That's very special, isn't it? He called us to come out. "Therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'The servant is not greater than his lord.' If they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you."

You're not of this world. Wake up to the reality that you're in a whole different arena now. When you choose to follow the Lord, you enter into that spiritual arena with God, with Jesus in you. And man, that makes all the difference in the world. Christ in me, the hope of glory. And it's a different arena. You have a different perspective.

You've been given a joy, you've been given a peace and a love that this world cannot give, nor can this world take it away. That's the good news. It's given by God to us, special. Joy unspeakable and full of glory, a peace that passes human understanding in the midst of chaos. It's God in us.

We're called to be salt, we're called to be light in this world. His love is being perfected in us. But along with that, I think we have to, yeah, we're going to get fired up. And God's going to fire you up. But be careful how you direct your high beams. Because I'm telling you, sometimes we can be less than sensitive and sometimes our beams just blow people away. Be a light, be salt, but temper that with his love, temper that with patience. And don't go busting in like a bull in a china closet. Just tone it down and go in in confidence and in faith and in boldness of your Lord. Begin to pray and intercede and plant seeds.

Guest (Male): And with that, we made it through the rich and powerful eighth chapter of Romans. We hope you got a lot out of it. This is Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. You've been listening to a study in the book of Romans here on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson. We pray you've been blessed by what you heard today.

Romans is one of the greatest books in all of the Bible. And if you'd like to hear the study again, go to sounddoctrineradio.org or listen through the Sound Doctrine podcast app. You can also hear Sound Doctrine on oneplace.com or wherever you enjoy your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

By the way, you can donate to this radio outreach right there at sounddoctrineradio.org. Thank you in advance for whatever God leads you to do. We hope you'll join us for our next study in Romans here on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff. Presented each day by Calvary Chapel Downey. Have a blessed day in the Lord.