No Created Thing Can Separate Us from the Love of God
Then, at the end of verse 39, Paul adds one all-inclusive encouragement to make sure he hasn’t missed anything: ". . . [no] other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." That covers everything that is not God. No thing and no person in all the universe can separate us from the love of God.
And that includes ourselves. There are those who say the elect can’t be snatched out of God’s hand (John 10:29) but they can jump out. In other words, they say, you can be elect, born again, justified, and in the end perish. That is not what the Bible teaches. "Those whom he justified he glorified" – that is the radical assurance of the elect. The assurance is not that you can forsake the faith and live in sin and go to heaven. The assurance is: God keeps his elect from final apostasy and unbelief. The new covenant promise for all God’s people is this: "I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me" (Jeremiah 32:40). There may be many stumblings and wanderings, but if you are his, you will be brought back. Trust him.
So nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate God’s elect from him. The result is massive security for merciful service through many sufferings.
4 comments:
Ann
Good post! I once knew some folks who said that the elect only refers to Israel, i.e. the jews.
They had been in our fellowship and I knew them a for quite awhile. Unfortunately the hyper arminian/open theist doctrine they began to proclaim created a separation. However those who love the Lord and "are called" will never be separated from Him. That is why all things work together for good.
Piper is a great teacher.
Compare Jehoshaphat's prayer to Paul's words in Romans 8;
2 Chron 20:
5And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, 6and said, "O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. 7Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? 8And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, 9'If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you--for your name is in this house--and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.' 10And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy-- 11behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. 12O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you."
I lead worship in our church and write a majority of our music. Here are two songs that go with the subject matter here:
http://therockwithwings.blogspot.com/2005/03/prayer-of-jehoshaphat-this-song-is.html
http://therockwithwings.blogspot.com/2005/03/luke-187-8-i-am-in-mood-today-so-this.html
Jehoshaphat:
"We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you."
Hebrews 12:
2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
ESV
What a great, and awesome God has chosen us.
I just cannot imagine my learning about God without John Piper, without his sermons, his books, his ministry.
Other preachers adress my mind and my understanding on a purely intellectual level, which is good, too, but when I listen to Piper, I not only acknowledge the Word - I feel it, too.
It is on the similar level as when I listen to Steve Camp's music...
That is probably why you find so much by John Piper on my blog.
Great post. It encouragement like this that really builds up a believer
Two of my favorite verses are Romans 8 38-39.
They bring me much comfort.Great post.
Cristina
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