Apr. 13, 2025

Today is a very special day in our faith.  It is Palm Sunday, which marks the start of Holy Week.  Today is the day Jesus triumphantly enters Jerusalem to people celebrating and worshiping Him.  They cheered, “Hosanna, son of David, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” They laid down palm leaves in reverence to Him.  It’s an epic and joyful moment that leads into the heaviest and hardest week of Jesus’ life as those same people cheering for Him on this day will be screaming, 'Crucify Him,' just a few days later.  Everything in our faith comes together this week, and it starts with a victorious entrance into the city and culminates with His bloody death on Friday and an empty tomb on Sunday. So, this is a week to reflect on God’s love for us, on Jesus stepping into our mess and doing what we couldn’t do for ourselves.  This is a time of worship and for you to thank Him for saving us and allowing us to experience a free and victorious life.  We get to experience our best lives in our short time on this Earth and eternal life in Heaven because of this incredible act of love that we are celebrating.  I’m always drawn to Romans 8 this time of year because Paul explains what God was up to and what Jesus did for us.  But something else always hits my heart in Romans 8, and that is two very specific ways we can live our lives. They are opposites, and Paul seems to say that one would be how we live before Jesus’s ultimate victory over sin and death and the other what it looks like after.  Check this out.

Romans 8:1 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. 2 A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. 3 God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. MSG

This is the Good News; it’s what we celebrate at Easter and why we worship and thank God all year.  We have been saved.  Jesus won.  I love verse three. It’s beautiful.

Romans 8:3 God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn't deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. MSG

This is what it is all about.  God’s incredible loving gift of Jesus.  He sent His one and only son into our mess and set things right for us once and for all!  Paul also gave us an incredible description of human life before this incredible act of love in the first verse.  Did you pick up on that? 

Romans 8:1 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. MSG

We no longer have to live under that continuous low-lying black cloud because Jesus cleared the air and set it right for us.  This is the first of two ways Paul tells us we can live life in Romans 8.  As I read that, I keep thinking…we don’t HAVE TO live under that continuous black cloud, but so many of us do.  I would say this is a common way to describe life today for most people, including Christians.  We talk about this awesome life we have because of Jesus, but we still struggle and quietly wonder why we aren’t experiencing all that Scripture points to and churches tell us we can experience.  Life hasn’t let up, and in so many ways, it just gets harder.  We can love God.  We can ask Jesus into our lives but still struggle through life.  We still deal with pain, adversity, people stuff, mistakes, stress, and sin.  We come to church and hear about the life Jesus came to provide. But, we can all relate to life as a heavy black cloud over us, and that is tough because we hear of this incredible life through Jesus. We are grateful for what He did for us, but we wonder if there could be more to life than this oppressive, difficult existence, and there is.  Later in this chapter, Paul explains another way we can live our lives, which sounds like a lot of fun and more along the lines of what we are all looking for from our faith.

Romans 8:37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. NLT in the NIV it reads this way, 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. NIV

Well, now we are talking!  Sign us up for this, right?  We like this and would love to live this way.  We ask God for this type of life; we want to be more than a conqueror; we want to experience overwhelming victory, but so many of us read inspiring verses like this and struggle when life doesn’t seem to let up or get easier.  We want this, and Scripture says we can have it because of Jesus’s victory over sin and death. So, the question becomes, why do we struggle and stay under the low-lying black cloud and not stand and walk in overwhelming victory?  Well, we seem to think that living as more than a conqueror or standing in overwhelming victory means life will be easy, and it just isn’t; in fact, it just seems to get harder.  A big issue for so many people is we see this verse and focus on ‘overwhelming victory is ours through Jesus’…which is great, we should, we focus on being ‘more than conquerors through Him who loved us’…so true, but we seem to overlook, that first line which leads us into the context of what Paul is saying.  ‘No, despite all these things’…well, what are all these things?  Let’s read the whole section of Scripture. We’ll start with verse 31, where Paul has just talked about the future glory to come and the hope that we walk through life with because we have been saved. Then we get this…

Romans 8:31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? NLT

Let’s stop and talk because we have heard this before, right?  Hey, we can say it, if God is for you, who can ever be against you?  Well, everyone!  We just walked through a series about living out real faith, which means you will live opposite of the people around you who don’t know God and aren’t interested in living for Him.  Remember all that God Math I kept bringing up?  What matters to God is opposite of what matters to people of this world, and living for God means you live opposite of the crowd.  Who can be against you?  Everyone is against you!  And by the way, in case you think Paul is out of touch, remember where Paul is writing from: prison, waiting to die!  Everyone is against him!  So, we must think about what this means because this world and everyone in it seem to be against us.    

Romans 8:32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us. NLT

Here's another important set of questions that Paul asks.  If God loved us enough to give us His Son Jesus, won’t He take care of everything else?  This is so beautiful, but then it gets challenging with the next question.  Who would dare accuse us or condemn us?  Well, once again, the answer is that everyone on this planet living opposite of us will push against, accuse, and condemn us.  Living for God means that you will never find the acceptance you want from people of this world, but you will find it, and you have it from God.  We even struggle to accept ourselves, don’t we? Who will accuse and condemn you?  Everyone.  People don’t tend to celebrate the good and successful things you do in life, do they?  Paul is living his life in complete obedience to God, and everyone is accusing and condemning him!  The point is that their accusations and condemnation don’t matter because God loves, accepts, and will not condemn, and Jesus is sitting in Heaven right now at God’s right hand praying for you. 

Romans 8:35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. NLT

This is huge.  Can anything separate us from God’s love?  No!  But then Paul lists everything that will try to separate us from God’s love.  He also follows that question up with one that we must see because it’s often what we do when life gets hard.  He asks if it means God doesn’t love us if we walk through tough stuff.  This is massive, and while we like to focus on being more than conquerors, the full context of this Scripture can change our lives as we try to navigate the reality of life, that it just isn’t going to let up.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  No one.  Who dares accuse us?  No one.  Who will condemn us?  No one.  Can anything ever separate us from God’s love?  Nothing can.  He goes on to tell us that not even death, the dumb things we do, or the worst sins listed in Scripture could push God away.  So, the Good News of Christ’s victory just gets better and better, and because it’s a gift given to us by God, we can’t mess it up or push God away!  Because of Jesus’ life, death, and victory, we can live our best lives, standing in that overwhelming victory that we all desire, we have to understand that living in overwhelming victory doesn’t mean life won’t continue to be challenging, it means we find everything we need in God to get through it…it’s not that life gets easier, it’s that through Jesus we are free from the low lying black cloud of life without God.  We find our acceptance and love in Him; we find everything we will never find in this world and the people of it, in God, and it’s all possible because of Jesus.  So, maybe this is an intense talk for this time of year, but we love you too much not to show you the truth and reality of life, and now that we understand what the ‘all these things’ are that Paul is talking about, I think we can discuss the overwhelming victory we all want in our lives.

Romans 8:37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. NLT

Overwhelming victory is ours through Jesus, who loves us.  This is amazing, but it leads to the real question of the day.  Do we live this way?  I mean, let’s be honest here.  Life is hard.  It’s full of challenges and pain.  We don’t always feel like we are walking in that overwhelming victory, do we?  We will tell others about it and sing songs about it in church, but we struggle to experience it.  Frankly, it is rare to see anyone living in “overwhelming victory,” and I want to talk about that because the issue isn’t that the victory was completed; it’s done…Jesus won.  The issue is about what is happening in our hearts and minds as we walk through life, making mistakes and dealing with all that life throws at us.  So, let’s talk about a few ways we struggle to live in this overwhelming victory. 

First, we can struggle to experience overwhelming victory because we know ourselves.  

You know you, and I know me.  We know our thoughts and issues and the motives behind our actions.  We know our sins.  We look back over our past and see all the wreckage of our lives. We have regrets from all we didn’t do and maybe some regrets over things we did do, and it’s just so hard to believe and accept that what Jesus did covers the mess that is our lives.  Remember, we read earlier that because of Jesus, no one can accuse or condemn us, but we sure can do this to ourselves and hold our issues over us, even knowing that God does not.  We can love God and be thankful for salvation, but we know ourselves and all our junk and can’t comprehend that this victorious life is for us too, and we walk through life still beating ourselves up over things that God has already taken care of for us. 

Romans 8:35 Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture…37 None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. MSG

So, I get it, you messed up, you sin and will continue to mess up and sin…welcome to the club, but it’s time to believe Scripture to be true, and to stand in the enormity of God’s love and victory.  It’s bigger than all your junk, and while you tell others that, it’s time to understand it’s true for you too.  

Second, we struggle to experience overwhelming victory because we don’t understand God’s love, AND we struggle to believe it’s true for us.  

God’s love is so perfect and beyond our understanding of love that it is hard to grasp and accept.  Why do I say that so confidently?  Well, because every part of our human condition screams at us that we can’t be worthy of this kind of love, because again, we know ourselves and all our junk.  God’s love is unconditional, and human love is not, making it hard to understand that we can’t push God away or mess this up. Understanding and accepting God’s love is the key to finding this overwhelming victory we want.  These first two issues go hand in hand.  We know how unworthy we are of God’s love.  We know we have not earned what He has given us.  That is grace, and while it’s hard to wrap our hearts and minds around, our lives will change when we let go of our junk, push aside our human view of love, and reflect on grace and the love of God. That is when your life will change.  This is why Paul’s prayer is so profound in Ephesians 3…

Ephesians 3:16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. NLT

While God’s love is too great to understand fully, we must begin to understand its purity, enormity, depth, and true perfection. More than that, we need to understand that it is true for ourselves. I know this is hard to do because we know ourselves well, and life is painful and challenging, but we must accept and believe it. That is when we are made complete with all fullness of life and power that comes from God, experiencing this overwhelming victory we want.  So many people, including Christians, walk through life never believing they are lovable and acceptable or that what they have done could ever be forgiven.  They spend their lives feeling like they are on the outside looking in, not grasping their value or God’s love for them.  At its core, this is the biggest strain in relationships with God and each other.  Because we can't see it or believe it could be possible with God or others, we don’t understand our value and reject the idea that we are loved and accepted.  So, we work harder and harder at earning love and acceptance, making things worse and worse.  Think about it.  When we get God’s love and what Jesus did, we no longer have anything to prove, nothing to earn, and no approval to work for from anyone in this world because we already have it from where we need it, from God.  What would your life look like if you didn’t feel on the outside looking in with God, if you felt completely loved and adequate?  If you didn’t need to earn anyone’s approval?  How peaceful and centered would life be lived in that truth?

Third, we struggle to experience overwhelming victory because we allow people to have a louder voice than God.  

Who will condemn us?  Who will judge us?  Who will talk poorly about us?  Who will think we are weird for not doing what everyone else does?  Everyone!  Paul is saying it shouldn’t matter because of Jesus, but I have to ask this.  Why is it so much easier to believe and accept what others say and not what God does?  What is up with that?  It’s amazing how many of us walk through life feeling like less; feeling insecure, incompetent, inadequate, and like we are losing.  We seem to have this inner voice pushing insecurity, fear, and negatives about us. Why is that?  It’s because we lock into things we heard in the past from people and accept them.  Some of us still care more about what people think and say than what God does.  And it’s tough because people are in our face and feel louder than God.  And the more we care about that person, the more weight their words and feelings carry in our lives. The bad stuff is just easier to believe.  We have people put us down and condemn us, tell us we don’t matter, but God says we do!  People tell us we have no value, but God says we do!  People tell us we aren’t important, but God says we are!  We have to quit believing them and start believing God! We have to stop looking at ourselves through what people, friends, parents, and loved ones have said, and we have to believe what God says about us.  We are accepted, loved, valued, capable, and forgiven.  We must ask ourselves who we will accept and believe about who we are: people or God.  

Lastly, we don’t stand in overwhelming victory because life is hard. 

It is so easy to read our Bibles and miss a theme found throughout Scripture.  It’s that life is hard with tests, trials, and pain.  It’s found everywhere in Scripture, but we seem to miss it and then struggle when it hits our lives.  Life is hard, and it was for the people of Biblical times.  We seem to miss just how resilient and tough these heroes must have been.  Moses, Abraham, and we will be studying Daniel this summer, and down the list I could go; their lives were hard.  Even today, as we study Paul telling us to live life in this overwhelming victory, he is doing it from jail, waiting to be killed for his faith!  And what does he say in our study today? 

Romans 8:35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. NLT

This is exactly what happens. Life hits and hits hard, sneaking up on us despite all of Scripture telling us it is coming, and what do we do?  We question God’s love for us, wondering if He is there or cares, wondering what we did wrong because life didn’t let up with Jesus now in our lives.  None of us are excited to live difficult lives, but Paul says that despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours because of Jesus.  All through Scripture, we are told how hard life is, told that tests, pain, and trials will come, but they still sneak up on us, and they hurt us because pain is painful, and no one wants pain in their lives, but we are told that trials and pain are actually important. James tells us we are to consider it pure joy.  Peter tells us that we should not be surprised when tough stuff hits our lives, like something strange is happening to us, because these moments help us grow into the people we were created to be.  It’s easy to miss, but it’s all through Scripture.  The hardest thing to wrap our hearts and minds around is how hard life is. We read the stories but miss the humanity of it all. How much pain, adversity, and stress they faced.  As we head into Holy Week, I think it’s worth focusing on Jesus.  Reflect on all that happened this week.  It’s easy to forget that He was fully human and how mentally tough and focused he had to be to plow through all He had to endure.  In this week alone, he will be beaten, tortured, and murdered.  He will be betrayed and abandoned by his friends.  He will be accused of things He didn’t do and wrongfully convicted.  He will have the people who cheered for Him turn on Him.  He will be mocked, beaten, and laughed at, and will have God himself turn away from Him as He hangs on the Cross, and as heavy and painful and intense as that is, never forget that Sunday is coming. Here is a scripture I have been stuck on lately. It says so much in just a sentence. 

Hebrews 5:8 Even though Jesus was God's Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. NLT

We don’t stand in overwhelming victory because when life is hard, we question, fight it, check out, and struggle to learn and grow through those times.  We spent all winter trying to live out real faith, which comes down to surrendering our lives to God, which is easier to do when life is going the way we want and harder when it’s not.  Even God’s Son suffered and learned full obedience to God through suffering.  I wish it weren’t so, but there is no better teacher in our lives than pain if we allow it to be; nothing gets our attention more, and nothing shows us issues in life or motivates us to change like pain does.    

So, as we close today and head into an incredibly important time in our faith, let's ask ourselves some questions and think this through today.   Let’s start here: Jesus has taken care of everything in your life, and because of that, we can live in this new life we all want.  This is the best life possible that we often speak of, that new life, or full life Jesus came to give us…so what does your life look like?  In Romans 8, we see two ways of living—living under that low-lying heavy black cloud or overwhelming victory.  Which way describes your life?  Why do you feel that way?  Now I want you to get honest here.  Do you know yourself too well to think Jesus could love you this much?  Can you stop holding on to your issues, mistakes, and sin and accept God’s love and who He says you are?  Do you understand God’s love?  More importantly, do you believe it is true for you?  Whose voice or opinion of you carries the most weight or in your life?  Is it God’s or someone else's?  Why is that?  If it’s not God’s and you're struggling because you care so deeply for that person, I know it’s hard, but it’s time to give that all over to God and focus on Him until His voice and truth about you drowns out the lies.  Have you allowed pain and adversity to discourage and block you from God and living your best life?  When (not if) pain hits, how do you respond to it?  Can you learn and grow and be better for it (even though it hurts), or do you question God’s love for you and wonder what you did wrong or where He is in those moments?  Have you ever accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?  Have you accepted the fact that Jesus won, that victory is complete, and that while our sin may have caused it to happen, it isn’t held over us anymore? 

So, what can separate us from the love of God?  Well, everything is going to try but nothing can.  Who or what will condemn and accuse us?  Well, everyone will try, but nothing can.  Will life let up on this side of Heaven? I wish I could tell you it does, but it won’t.  This is why we are so thankful that we walk through it all with nothing to earn or win because God loved us and took care of it all for us.

Romans 8:37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. NLT