Jesus Loves Me, This I Know

Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so..

Little ones to him belong; they are weak but he is strong

“Jesus loves me, this I know.” This is, in essence, how Paul concludes this great chapter of Romans 8. Thank God, Jesus loves us. We are weak, but he is strong to make us strong, to make us alive, and to make us lose our depression, misery, and death. He is strong to give us life eternal, that we may rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

Some people love their misery and do not want it to be taken away. They revel in it. Such people have no hope. But Jesus invites all who are burdened, weary, and sick of their misery to come to him and he will save them. Little ones, old ones, middle-aged ones, men and women, come to him and be saved.

First, Paul makes this final challenge: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Then he makes a list of our enemies, naming seventeen of them. Finally, he concludes speaking of the great victory we have in Christ over all our enemies.

The Challenge

From verse 1 of Romans 8 we have been steadily climbing until now, in Romans 8:35-39, we have arrived at the Mount Everest of the eternal security of true believers. The Westminster Confession of Faith speaks about this eternal security of the children of God: “They whom God hath accepted in his beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved” (Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter XVII: (Of the Perseverance of the Saints, section 1).

This truth of the full assurance of our salvation in Jesus Christ is clearly taught in Romans 8:35-39. Here Paul poses the final unanswerable question: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” This passage finishes the argument Paul began in Romans 8:31: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” The answer is, “No one.” The very gates of hell shall not prevail against the church, which Christ is building upon the rock foundation of himself with us, the living stones. We are in God and in Christ Jesus. We are born of the Spirit, led by the Spirit, and kept by the mighty power of the Spirit. Because Jesus lives, we live forever, for he has given us eternal life and we shall never perish. We are gripped by his crucified hands; no one is able to snatch us out of them. We are gripped also by the Father’s hand. Who can snatch us out of his hand? We are held by the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit.

We are not like Esau, Achan, Saul, Judas, Ananias, or Demas, who were not born of God. Such people fell away because they “trampled the Son of God under foot, . . . treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant . . . [and] insulted the Spirit of grace” (Heb. 10:29). But the people of God will persevere to the end in the power of God. Therefore there is now no condemnation or separation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

We have been taken out of Adam and the world, and have been joined to Jesus Christ, our beloved bridegroom, by the divine glue of Christ’s love. Separation from him, therefore, is absolutely impossible. In fact, God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16). Jesus Christ never divorces his bride, the church, for whose sake he died.

Who, then, shall separate us, the church, from the love of Christ? Who shall cut us off? That is the challenge. Who shall put a distance between Christ and his church? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? The phrase “the love of Christ” refers not to our changing love for Christ, but to Christ’s infinite, unchanging love for us. This Jesus died for us, was raised for us, is seated at the right hand of God for us, and ever lives to make intercession for us.

Who can separate us from Christ’s love? Or, to put it differently, can anyone or anything cause Christ to hate us? The answer is no. It is impossible. Not even our own sin can separate us from the love of Christ.

We are justified by God, not on the basis of our righteousness, but on the sole basis of Christ’s perfect righteousness. If we sin, God will discipline us (Heb. 12: 7-11), for he is making us holy and blameless, and he knows how to do it. But he will never cast us off. No one and no thing can do that. The Holy Spirit dwells in us forever. The Holy Spirit departed from Saul but not from David. We died with Christ, were buried with Christ, were raised with Christ, and are seated with Christ. He is the vine and we are the fruit-bearing branches, vitally united to him forever. No one can cut us off. Christ loved us from eternity, loves us now, and will love us forever.

Of Christ’s love we read, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Paul writes, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Even now, Christ is loving us by sanctifying us by his word to make us shine as the sun, that he may present us to himself a radiant church, perfect in glory.

Yes, we have enemies who would like to cut us off from the love of Christ. But they cannot and will not succeed. How can creatures frustrate the purpose of the Sovereign God? It is God’s purpose to conform us to the image of his Son, and we are called according to this purpose.

Our Enemies

There are seventeen possible enemies listed in this passage.

1. Trouble (thlipsis). In Latin, it is tribulum, from which we derive the word “trouble.” A tribulum was a kind of sledge or wooden platform studded underneath with sharp pieces of flint or iron teeth. Farmers used this tool to thresh corn. The idea is of applying severe pressure, such as the pressure applied to grapes to get juice or to olives to produce olive oil.

   Christians are not exempt from pressures in this life. In fact, we experience more troubles because we belong to Christ, whom the world hates. Paul said, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). He wrote to Timothy, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). We can count on it. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:10-12). Jesus told the Pharisees, “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town” (Matt. 23:33-34). Persecution of God’s people is not new. Therefore, do not moan, complain, and argue, but understand this truth.

2. Hardship (stenochôria). The Greek word indicates that the way of Jesus is very narrow. We are to take Christ’s yoke and our cross, and follow Jesus. We will experience anguish, straitness, and distress in our Christian life. Paul used this word in Romans 2:9: “There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”
3. Persecution (diôgmos). Ishmael persecuted Isaac. Later, some Jews persecuted the early Christians. In Acts 8:1 we read, “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.” Study the history of Christian martyrs and you will find much about persecution.
4. Famine (limos). The people of God may suffer hunger. I have known ministers’ children who suffered and died because they did not have food. Read the story of Indian saint Pandita Ramabai and you will see the results of famine. Paul also experienced severe hunger, referring to it in 2 Corinthians 11. Jesus also speaks about it: “For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink” (Matt. 25:42).
5. Nakedness (gumnotês). This means Christians may lack clothing to cover their nakedness fully. Jesus said, “I needed clothes and you clothed me” (Matt. 25:36). James says, “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is that?” (James 2:15-16). Not helping one’s brother is hypocrisy and a denial of Christianity.
6. Danger (kindunos). As Christians, we may experience all kinds of dangers, for we are not exempt from them. Just read Paul’s list of dangers (2 Cor. 11:26). He speaks about dangers from rivers, dangers from bandits, dangers from countrymen, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, danger in the country, danger in the sea, and, finally, danger from false brothers. We must realize that the Holy Spirit does not always prevent us from experiencing dangers.
7. Sword (machaira). This speaks of violent death. Someone may try to kill us. Paul had not experienced the sword at the time of this writing, but he was later killed by sword. This is still happening today. Recently a Catholic Christian’s hand was cut off by a Muslim terrorist in Kerala, India. So Paul quotes Psalm 44:22 to show how God’s people have always suffered for their faith in God: “For your sake we are being put to death all day long, we are counted and marked off as sheep for the slaughter” (author’s translation). What are we complaining about? Superficial, synthetic evangelism says, “Believe Jesus and your troubles shall disappear. You will have wealth and health and fame.” That is utterly false and has nothing to do with the gospel.
8. Death (thanatos). Believers may be put to death. But do not worry: Christ destroyed death for us by his death on the cross. Paul declares, “Then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory’ . . . The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . [We will all be changed] in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Cor. 15:54, 56-57, 52). Elsewhere he says, “But it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10). The gospel tells us how to obtain life and immortality. Think of the killing of thousands of Scottish Covenanters by the so-called Christian rulers, or read about Nero, who burned Christians as living torches to light the city of Rome at night. But for us, to die is gain, for death opens the door to paradise.
9. Life (zôê). Our lives are full of problems in this fallen world, and every day people try to escape their problems. Some even commit suicide. But to us, life here means fruitful service to God. Paul writes, “If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me” (Phil. 1:22). We must redeem the time, for we have work to do for God. And God, who formed us in our mother’s wombs, will sustain us all through life. He will be with us in life, in death, and beyond the grave. So Paul declares, “For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord” (Rom. 14:7-8).
10. Angels (angeloi) and
11. demons (archai, lit. “rulers”) are against us. But don’t worry: all evil angels and evil rulers have been defeated by Christ’s death on the cross. Paul exults, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col. 2:15). What about Jesus himself? He “has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand-with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him” (1 Pet. 3:22). So Paul says, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). We resist the devil, wrestling against him. He flees, and we stand in triumph.
12. Things present (enestôta) and
13. things future (mellonta). What of the present time and the unknown future? Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. He said to his disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). God exalted him “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Eph. 1:21-23).

    Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. So John writes, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith” 1 John 5:4), meaning faith in Christ, faith in God, faith in the gospel. Paul says, “We live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7).

    We do not know what tomorrow will bring. But Jesus is the Lord of the present and the future. So we can sing with confidence:

    Many things about tomorrow

    I don’t seem to understand.

    But I know who holds tomorrow,

    and I know who holds my hand.

    Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He knows the end from the beginning. He is with us. He never leaves us, and we are the temple of his Holy Spirit.

14. Height (hupsôma) and
15. depth (bathos). Do not worry: Jesus Christ is the Lord of all space. He is in the highest heights and the deepest depths. The psalmist asked, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there” (Ps. 139:7-8). Can we go away from God’s presence to someplace else? No, he is everywhere.
16. Powers (dunameis) that are against us. This may refer to miracles performed in the power of the devil to deceive people. Will we be deceived by counterfeit miracles and spiritual charlatans, as many people are deceived today? Jesus himself warned, “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect-if that were possible” (Matt. 24:24). But it is not possible to deceive God’s elect. Paul says, “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing” (2 Thess. 2:9-10).
17. Anything else in creation (tis ktisis htera, “any other created thing”). That is the final challenge: Is there any other created thing in God’s universe that can separate us from the love of Christ? The answer is, “No.” Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love Christ has for us.

Friends, what should we conclude? We are eternally secure. (PGM) We have reached the Mount Everest of our security. We are not victims of our circumstances, but victors over them. Christ has defeated all our enemies. He defeated death and the devil by his death.

What are we complaining about? Consider some of the troubles the Hebrew believers and Paul himself suffered:

Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. (Heb. 10:32-34)

Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. (Heb. 11:35-38)

Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. (2 Cor. 11:23-28)

Saints do not just endure hardship but glory in it. So Paul declares, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Rom. 5:3-5). We glory and boast in our sufferings because sufferings produce Christ’s likeness. Elsewhere he wrote, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Cor. 12:9).

The Victory

“In all these things,” Paul says, “we are more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37). We are super-conquerors in all things. Christians are realists. As believers in Christ, we expect troubles and persecutions. But they cannot harm or defeat us. On the contrary, “in all these things” we enjoy daily overwhelming victory. For instance, Paul says, “For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows” (2 Cor. 1:5). When there is trouble, there is also comfort.

Not only that, we learn to trust in Christ alone because of sufferings. Paul says, “Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9). Troubles make us trust only in Christ. We hope not in this world but in the world to come. Sufferings for Christ’s sake cause the things of this world to grow strangely dim. These sufferings focus our spiritual eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who is at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us right now.

True believers are filled with the Spirit, faith, and wisdom. They are clothed with the Spirit and the power of God. The church of Christ follows Jesus, who goes out conquering and to conquer. By faith we overcome the world, the devil, the flesh, and hell. We do so by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.

The church super-conquers all her enemies. Like Samson who destroyed the gates of Gaza, the church in Christ’s strength takes the battle to the gates of hell, and those gates are destroyed. The walls of Jericho crumble before the church; Goliath is killed by his own sword. Like David, the church goes against all Christ’s enemies in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel. Like Joshua, we fight and win because our God is a warrior, the commander of the army of the Lord.

Onward, Christian soldiers! We never retreat in defeat, for God is with us. And we will sing the song of Moses:

I will sing unto the Lord,

for he has triumphed gloriously,

the horse and the rider thrown into the sea.

The Lord, my God, my strength, my song,

has now become my victory.

The Lord is God, and I will praise him,

my Father’s God and I will exalt him.

We do not just overcome our enemies: we super-overcome (hupernikômen), and we do so daily. The Lord is with us. In all things God works for our good, for our final salvation, our glorification. So we read in Isaiah 43:

But now, this is what the LORD says-he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (Isa. 43:1-3)

Paul says, “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives me strength daily, who makes me strong. When I am weak, then I am strong. His grace comes to me and is sufficient for me to do every good work” (see Phil. 4:13; 2 Cor. 12:9-10).

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones speaks of a seventeenth-century pastor, Thomas Browning, who was put in Northampton prison by Charles II. From there, he wrote to his flock, “The cup of afflictions for the gospel is the sweeter the deeper. . . . A stronger cordial the nearer the bottom.” In other words, Lloyd-Jones says, “The deeper the affliction, the sweeter it is.”¹ Dr. John Stott says, “Christian people are not guaranteed immunity to temptation, tribulation or tragedy, but we are promised victory over them. God’s pledge is not that suffering will never afflict us, but that it will never separate us from his love.”²

No suffering can separate us from our union with Christ, which is our union with his life and love. We will go with the Lord through the valley of the shadow of death, but we will also arrive at the city of the living God to enjoy everlasting life. In all things, including sufferings, we daily super-conquer, not in our strength, but through him who loved us, who died for our sins on the cross.

Christ loved us and died for us. If we want a demonstration of Christ’s love, look to the cross and be fully convinced that nothing can destroy our salvation. Paul says, “I am persuaded.” The word pepeismai is the perfect passive indicative of peithô, meaning “I have arrived at this unshakable conviction.” It is not an emotional feeling. Paul stood convinced, and his was a conviction brought about by the facts of the gospel as a result of the Spirit’s enlightening his rational mind. So he came to a settled conclusion. He was not deceived or deluded, but had absolute certainty. So finally Paul obediently and confidently went out to the place of execution because he was absolutely certain that nothing could cut him off from the love of Christ. He was beheaded, as was also James the apostle. Stephen was stoned to death and Peter crucified. All these were convinced beyond a shadow of doubt of the enduring love of God manifested in Jesus Christ. In fact, the Scripture records the assurance God gave the dying Stephen of his love: “But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God'” (Acts 7:54-56). Stephen saw Jesus Christ and the Father in paradise. He was going where the thief on the cross went in his spirit.

Death cannot separate us from the love of the triune God. It can only help us to reach this paradise, a paradise of inexpressible joy. And God gives us grace not only to believe, but also to suffer for Christ. Paul says, “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him” (Phil. 1:29). God gives us grace to live, grace to suffer, grace to die, and grace to arrive in paradise. No wonder Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. . . . To be absent from the body, . . . [is] to be present with the Lord” (Phil. 1:21, 2 Cor. 5:8, KJV). Earlier in this chapter he said, “And we know to those who love God, God works in all things for good” (Rom. 8:28). In other words, we know for certain. Now he says, “I am convinced.” God’s love in Christ never fails. You have heard it sung,

Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails.

Heaven and earth may pass away,

but Jesus never fails.

All seventeen enemies listed in this passage are powerless to separate us from the love of God. Yes, they are super-human and mighty. But God is almighty. So we read in Revelation 20 that the devil, the antichrist, and the false prophet, all evil spirits and every unbeliever in Jesus Christ will be cast out into the lake of fire by Christ, the Judge of all. After that, we who are God’s people will dwell with God in the new heaven and the new earth where there are no enemies, no death, and no tears.

Absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, which is the love of God our Father. The love of the Father is the love Christ displayed on the cross. It is the love the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts in super-abundance. It is great, everlasting, undying love, which many waters cannot quench. It is the love with which the Father loves his own Son. It is beyond all human comprehension, yet Paul prays that we can grow in our knowledge of this love: “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:16-19). But this “love of God is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So no one can know the love of God without knowing and trusting in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

Therefore we can conclude that the question of Romans 8:35, “Who can separate us from the love of Christ” is answered in the negative. Nothing and no one in the entire universe, including ourselves and our sin, can separate us from his love. And, finally, Paul says that nothing can separate us “from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39). This is eternal security. Full assurance of our final salvation is only for those who confess, “Jesus is Lord.”

Have you done that? “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35).

Those who are in Christ, rejoice! Those who are outside of Christ, come! Come to him, confess him, trust in him, and be eternally secure in the love of God and the love of Christ.

¹ D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: The Final Perseverance of the Saints: Exposition of Chapter 8:17-39 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 447.

² John R. W. Stott, Romans: God’s Good News for the World (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1994), 259.