Introduction

Our text today is well illustrated by a narrative found in Acts 16. Please turn in your Bibles with me to Acts 16 and keep your place in Romans 8.

In Acts 16, we find Paul and Silas setting off on what’s often referred to as the Second Missionary Journey. Paul sets out for what’s called “Asia” – which is referring to modern-day Western Turkey – but the Holy Spirit forbids him to preach the Word in Asia. Paul moved onto Philippi in the region of Macedonia – located in modern-day Greece. Let’s pick up the account in Acts 16:16

¹⁶ As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.

This slave girl probably was ensnared by a demon that would overpower her and predict the future. It was commonly believed by the people living in her area that these sorcerers could issue curses and, as a result, they were often feared by the people.

She proceeded to attach herself to the missionaries. Verse 17:

¹⁷ She followed Paul and was crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”

It sounds like the slave girl is proclaiming a truth, so you might be wondering why this posed a problem for Paul. Bible commentators cite two possible reasons why this was an issue:

1. Some say that having a demon-possessed girl following them around was discrediting the legitimacy of Paul’s ministry. She may have been scaring people off. He didn’t really need her testimony!
2. Other Bible commentators say that the reference to “the Most High God” was a commonly used idiom that referred to Zeus. She is in essence proclaiming that Paul was preaching salvation through Zeus and in doing so; she was furthering the false worship of the Greek god’s.

Either way, it makes Paul really annoyed, so he takes care of the distraction. Verse 18-19:

¹⁸ And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

The Bible does not say what happens to the girl. Most people believe that she eventually became one of the first members of the Philippians church plant. I think we can assume that she was thankful that she was no longer overtaken by the whims of an evil spirit.

However, without the demonic power working within her, she was not nearly as valuable to her owners. Her owners were making a healthy profit off of her sorcery so he trumped-up some false charges in an attempt to make Paul and Silas pay for what they had done.

¹⁹ But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.

The main problem for the slave owners is a financial one, but in order to bring charges against Paul, they are going to try to make it into a religious and political issue. They make a couple of charges against Paul and Silas. Verse 20:

²⁰ And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city.

The slave owners are rightly accusing Paul and Silas of challenging the local religious belief system. When Paul pointed people to the God of the Bible and called questioned the legitimacy of the Greek gods that may have caused a “disturbance.”

²¹ They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.”

Now there are very few things in the Bible that are in opposition to the Roman law, but claiming that they opposed the Roman Government would be sufficient for getting folks all riled up. In fact, they incited a riot. Verse 22

²² The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.

Don’t be too quick to discount how severe it was to be “beaten with rods.” This practice was roughly equivalent to the modern-day “caning” that occurs in some parts of Singapore and Malaysia. Here the apostles were likely beaten violently across their backside, but their hands, arms, legs and feet may have been badly injured as well. When a rod was applied to bare skin, each stroke of the rod could potentially leave deep gashes, permanent scars and would cause a tremendous amount of pain.

These beating were extensive as indicated by verse 23.

²³ And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. ²⁴ Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

The jailer took in Paul and Silas. He topped off their poor treatment by locking them into stocks. Stocks by themselves were pretty uncomfortable and it was possible that the stocks would have forced Paul and Silas to sit on their freshly inflicted wounds.

Paul and Silas had done the right thing.

• They were telling people the truth about the gospel.
• They had released a young girl from a demonic influence.
• They were trying to lead people into an everlasting relationship with God, but they were wrongfully accused as a result.
  • They were the victims of a violent mob.
  • They were punished and imprisoned without due process or a trial.

Naturally, you would expect them to be pretty upset with God for allowing this to happen to them. So what was their reaction to their terrible circumstances? Verse 25 tells us that:

“²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them…”

Here we see one example of Romans 8:38-39 on display. Paul and Silas were able to maintain their faith in the Lord, not solely because of their strong resolve to be faithful, but because of the unshakable grip that God had on their lives.

If Paul and Silas were trying to hold on to God only by their own power in the midst of this terrible trial, then they might have let go of Him. Human love is often weak, frail and fallible. Our love comes and goes.

We are on fire one day and cold the next. Our love is far from perfect and when we are faced with a severe trial, our feelings about God could easily falter. Praise the Lord that my salvation (and yours) doesn’t rely on my feelings but on God’s perfect love for me.

• My salvation is not based primarily on my love for God but it is firmly established on the solid rock of God’s love for me.
• My salvation and my eternal joy are not dependent on my fluctuating feelings. It is dependent on God’s unchanging (non-fluctuating) nature.
• It is not dependent on my frail grasp of God but on His strength to never let go of me.

Turn with me back to Romans 8. Paul is saying in verse 38 that he is “sure” of God’s love.

• The NASB says, “convinced.”
• The KJV says, “persuaded.”

Paul is sure and convinced and persuaded that there is nothing that “will be able to separate us from the love of God…” The Phillips paraphrase puts it this way; “neither a power from on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God’s whole world has any power to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Paul is convinced that God is totally sufficient to carry him through anything he might face until the day that he is face-to-face with Him.

God alone is adequate to keep His People in His family

Nothing can separate us from God because the love of God holds us fast. The Apostle Peter wrote that Christians “by God’s power, are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

God’s supreme power and omniscience and omnipotence and sovereignty not only keeps the believers inheritance secure, but is completely sufficient to guard the faith of the believer during difficult times. Although my love is imperfect, if my wife or son or daughter tried to walk away from our family, I would go after them! What does that mean for God, who perfectly loves us? It implies that if a true believer tries to walk away from God during a trial, God will go after them in a relentless pursuit!

We are like strangers travelling through enemy territory. We are surrounded by people who are hostile to the gospel. It would be easy for us to stray. Then Peter is clear that it is the Lord Himself who is sufficient to protect us. “…by God’s power, Christians are being guarded through faith…”

He keeps us focused on Him and His protection is what will eventually keep us safe until we are delivered to our eternal home in heaven. Our faith in God will not fail if God, Himself, is sustaining us!

What is even more comforting is that I’m not strong enough to release God’s grip on me. I can’t push Him away. I’m not strong enough to fall away from the Lord if He is resolved to hold on to me. If I stray, He’ll pursue me every time. I know this because God is not only able to keep us but he promises to keep us.

God promises to keep His people in His family

God has said throughout his Word many times “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” That promise should be enough, but there is more. Hebrews 6:17 says that God guarantees His promises to His people with an oath.

In our text, Paul asks in verse 35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Then in verse 39 He declares, that NO ONE “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Those statements remind me of Jesus’ words in John 10. Jesus says in John 10:27-29, “²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” Do you feel the weight and depth and strength of being kept by the promises of God’s love?

All those who have truly trusted in Jesus for eternal life will never perish. Nothing can separate them from God’s love. The worse possible calamity might come their way, but we see Father, Son and Spirit all working diligently behind the scenes to make sure not a single person is forgotten. Far from being forgotten, God is fighting for us and carrying us through:

• He sticks up for us
• He provides for us
• He justifies us
• He loves us
  • God’s love is loyal, generous, just and eternal
  • He gives to us, defends us and cares for us – no matter what happens
  • He protects us, He preserves us and He calls us His friends

Therefore, we should never feel opposed by God. When Paul and Silas where in that prison cell, God wasn’t against them. He knew exactly what He was doing and was using that extreme situation for their good and for the protection of His church. If we were to read on in Acts 16, we’d see that God used Paul and Silas’ testimony for the salvation of the jailer (and his whole family), for the establishment of a new church plant in Philippi and ultimately for His glory.

If we believe in the message of the gospel, we have to believe that God is overwhelmingly for us. Jesus gives us a glimpse into the depth of God’s love for us. (It is so amazing! If these scripture weren’t in the Bible, I would never believe them to be true.)

• In John 15:9 He said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” Jesus is saying here that His love for His disciples is as powerful as God’s love for Him.
• Two chapters later, Jesus expresses in His high priestly prayer that God’s love for us is like His love for His son. John 17:23 says, “³ I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

God loves His people like He loves His own Son

God loves His son with all His being. That means that He loves His people with all His being as well. What multiplies the effect of that love is that God is never-changing. In Jeremiah 31:3b, God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” There is no end to God’s love.

• God’s love doesn’t break down if we stumble into sin
• He doesn’t desert us if we try to walk away
• His unfailing faithfulness to us is not dependent on our imperfect faithfulness to Him
• Certainly, if we suffer for being associated with Jesus, He is ever-present and fighting to use that very trial for our good and His glory.

Romans 8:31 asked this question, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” He is for us. He does not vary. He does not change and his power never diminishes.

God’s love does not change

God’s love for us has already been proven to us when He sent His son. Turn a couple of pages in your Bibles back to Romans 5. In the ESV, Romans 5:8 says, “⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Notice the tense of the verbs. The word “shows” is in the present tense. The word “died” is in the past tense. That is not a grammatical error. The verse reads the same way in the original language. This verse is saying that God shows us his love today (right now) by what he did on the cross in the past.

The word, “Shows,” is a good literal translation of the original Greek word, but the word, “shows” is not quite strong enough in English to express the depth of God’s love displayed at the cross. Some versions say it “demonstrates” God’s love. That’s better, but “demonstrates” is still too weak of a word to communicate the concept involved.

The Greek word can also be translated as “PROVE.” Prove is a good word to communicate the concept involved here. The verse could read like this: “God ‘proves’ his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The proof of love is the giving of yourself for the well-being of someone else. In a healthy family, love is shown between family members by their willingness to make sacrifices for each other’s well-being. If you or I have a child who is trying to put their OWN well-being over a sibling’s well-being (or the family’s well-being), that is a time for discipleship. (Possibly even for discipline) It is a time to help that child understand that love gives itself for the well-being of others. Love is always giving itself away. Families that love each other are constantly making sacrifices to show or demonstrate or prove their love.

When God wanted to put His love for us on display, He gave us a tremendously valuable gift. He proved His love by meeting our most desperate need with a gift of unfathomable worth. The proof of God’s love is when He gives of Himself for the well-being of mankind. “God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son…” Of course that’s John 3:16. 1 John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation

If God’s love for us runs this deep, then we no longer have to fear the unknown. Neither the persecution mentioned in Romans 8:35-36 nor the height, depths and other created things mentioned in verses 38-39 are able to have any effect on our eternity.

There is no fear of our ultimate destruction because we have the absolute assurance of our eternal salvation. There is only hope of an ever-increasing satisfaction in God Himself. Our greatest prize is waiting for us up ahead and nothing can keep us from obtaining it!

When Paul and Silas sat in the stocks that night in the prison, they weren’t depressed. Instead, they began to sing. They found themselves so joyful in that terrible situation because of the confidence in God’s unwavering love for them. Paul was convinced that nothing could separate him from God’s love and God was working to keep Paul and Silas close to Himself – especially during that difficult trial.

Life Application

Maybe you are going through a tough time right now and you aren’t feeling very loved by God. Instead of singing praises, you are wondering where God is and why He’s allowing such a terrible thing to happen to you. Keep a couple of truths in mind:

1. God never promised that you would always be comfortable.
2. God never promised that He would treat every person in the same way.

You and I need to look for God’s love where he promised it. He promised that nothing could separate us from His love. In Verse 28, he promised to make all things work together for good. So how does he define good? In verse 29-30, God defines good as being conformed to the image of his Son.

Making us more like Jesus and preparing us for an “eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” is at the very heart of God’s love for us and is central to God’s plans for us in this life. If we set our hearts on knowing more of Jesus and obtaining a future glory in heaven, we’ll never be disappointed. We might face great opposition in this life, but we can overcome it, like the Romans Christians did. The Romans had the assurance that God’s love never fails.

If you are a believer, I dare you to look ahead:

• Dare to think about heaven.
• Think about the day your body will be resurrected.
• Think about the wonders you’ll behold when your glorified eyes see for the first time a restored, redeemed and perfected creation.
• Think about the freedom you’ll have when you are no longer influenced by sin.
• Look forward to the greatest prize of all: being in a glorified state and living in the presence of our Lord forever.

When the storms of life come your way, you might even be able to break out into song because you have the unwavering assurance that you are already accepted by Jesus Christ, your Savior. Nothing can separate God’s people from God’s love and He is working all things together to get them ready for joy forevermore.

Teaching Outline

God alone is adequate to keep His people in His family – Romans 8:38-39, 1 Peter 1:5

God promises to keep His people in His family – Hebrews 6:17, 13:5, Romans 8:35, 39,

“²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” John 10:27-29

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” John 15:9

“³ I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” John 17:23

God loves His people like He loves His own Son – Jeremiah 31:3b, Romans 8:31

God’s love does not change – Romans 5:8, John 3:16, 1 John 4:10

Application

Nothing can separate God’s people from God’s love and He is working all things together to get them ready for joy forevermore.