Nothing Will Get In The Way Of My Love For The Lord

Nothing Will Get in the Way of My Relationship with the Lord

Rev. Sean Lester

Sunday March 22, 2009

Text: Romans 8:28-39

(NIV) Romans 8:38,39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(KJV) Romans 8:38,39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Theme: God’s true love for people, and our true love for Him.

Proposition: Nothing can get in between Jesus and those who are in love with Him.

Introductory thoughts

1. God decided to love all people.

a. it was an act of his will and an act from his Heart.

b. God make everything in a person’s life work for His purposes.

c. God conforms all people into His likeness.

d. God gives destiny, a calling, justification, and glorifies to all people.

e. God gave up His own Son

2. The one who acknowledges God’s hand in their life has a choice about how to respond.

a. Two choices, to respond to the loving God in admiration and love, or to not respond to God and in effect choose not to have an eternal relationship with Him.

b. Those who do respond to God’s love do so in order to have a relationship with Him. The response is always with passion and conviction.

Interrogative: How do people who are in love with God preserve the relationship?

Transition: They make a choice that nothing will get in the way of their relationship with God.

I. Neither death nor life will get in the way.

a. The feeling that one would give up his or her very live to save the other. Jesus displayed that kind of love when he chose to leave the throne of heaven and come to earth as a human. Sin and death separated people from God, but the Word became flesh determined that death would not get in the way, anymore.

b. That same spirit of love was demonstrated when Peter and John were taken before the religious leaders and ordered not to preach in Jesus’ name anymore. They responded that they would rather obey the Lord than men.

c. I have met people from other cultures who made a choice to follow Jesus even when doing so meant punishment with pain. But death doesn’t get in the way of true love. What does a Christian lose by death? We get heaven. We get relief from the pain of the world.

d. Life doesn’t get in the way either. Jesus had the opportunity to stay alive, but he chose the cross. It was his destiny and he accepted it.

II. Neither angels nor demons will get in the way.

a. The resolve not to get distracted by supernatural things. Jesus criticized the Pharisees because they sought out miraculous signs instead of the righteousness of the one who does the miraculous. He lamented that crowds of people were following him because he had multiplied the loaves and fishes. He was grieved because the people didn’t love him. Rather, they loved what he could do for them.

b. I ask the question of those who want to get married. “Why do you love this person enough to marry them?” I want the other person to hear what is said so that they can be sure that the love is real. Sometimes, the answer is something along the lines of “because of how he/she makes me feel”. Now, because someone responds that way doesn’t mean their love isn’t real. It does mean that there is work to be done in clarifying why a person thinks they are in love. But, the point is, it is hard to love the righteousness of God when one is distracted by the supernatural-ness of God.

c. God sends preachers to draw people to salvation. Every Biblical record shows that people came to faith because of preaching. Neither angels nor demons save people. God is good because He is, not because of what he does.

III. Neither the Present nor the Future will get in the way.

a. People go into love relationships accepting the circumstances of the present and without regard for what they may face in the future. In fact, God rarely discloses what the future will hold for those who follow him. Well, Jesus did let Peter know that he would be murdered and he let John know that he wouldn’t. But, do you really want to know?