THE BOOK OF ROMANS MADE CLEAR-21

ff ENDING WITH THE LOVE OF GOD f!

by Desmond Ford

University of Hard KnocksPaul tells how bad it is. He says, til have to punchmyself continually." That's an interesting comment,isn't it. til pommel my body" (v. 27 RSV). One versionhas, til beat myself black and blue.tI

That's a good and clever translation. I like thechoice of words (though I don't like the idea!) You'veheard of the University of Hard Knocks. The school

New Testament EvidenceLet me point out that there'snothing inconsistent here withwhat's said of the Christian life '.' "elsewhere in the New Testament: . \::/

Do you not know that in a race ~,'\-:?all the runners run, but only one ,f '\gets the prize? Run in such a way as toget the prize. Everyone who competes inthe games goes into strict training. They do it toget a crown that will not last; but we do it to get acrown that will last forever. Therefore I do not runlike a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like aman beating the air. No, I beat my body and make itmy slave so that after I have preached to others, Imyself will not be disqualified for the prize. (ICorinthians 9:24-27 NIV)Notice what Paul is saying here to the church at

Corinth. tlI'm running a race!" That takes effort. Youknow the old joke made about joggers. They enjoy itso much that they all look miserable! Paul's runninga race. He's putting out some effort here. til exerciseself-control, tI he says.

The New Testament makes it clear that being aChristian is no guarantee life will be easy. Life is often

a struggle, and God seems silent. But God is sovereign

and loves us in Christ. We are to believe the wonderful

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promises of the Bible above our senses.

I n Romanschapter 7,the apostlePaul Self-control Unpopularwrites about himself. He has been a gen- We don't like exercising self-control. We long for auinely converted Christian man for many holiday from self-control. But Paul says, til exercise

years. Yet he confesses that he still must struggle self-control.tI If a worldly athlete training for theagainst sin. He is no longer tlin the flesh,tI but the Olympics has to do it, how much more the spiritualflesh is still in him. athlete.

Not that Paul is a flagrant and publicly notorious You know, it's strange when you think what peo-sinner. But over the years the gospel has sensitized his pIe will do to fulfill worldly ambitions. If they're inconscience. Any failing to love as Christ loved, to the Olympics they will train and train. If they're try-serve as Christ served, to resist ing to complete a scientific investigation-such asevil as Christ resisted evil, Edison with his 10,000 experiments to find a filamentbreaks Paul's heart. He knows for the light bulb-they will work and work.only too well that sin remains Or if they're just out to make money-peo-in the Christian, though it does pIe will do anything. Get up early, staynot reign. up late. Cheat their neighbors. Ruin

their health. People will do any-thing for worldly ambitions.

When it comes todivine ambitions, we feel thatputting out a lot of effortgoes against the grain.

- *~.~~~ tlLord, you ought to have an~ '- '~'Jl:'-- easier way than that." But Paul~~ '\ is saying that if there has to be

, self-control for worldly peopleachieving worldly objections, how muchmore is the need for self-control in thespiritual conflict, in the spiritual race.

Self-control in everything. It goes against thegrain. We don't like it.

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God is never theauthor of evil.God does not

initiate evil, buthe overrules evil

in favor ofgood.

cry is "Ouch!" and the school colors are black andblue. That's the school you are attending. To be aChristian is to be in the University of Hard Knocks.

Dear friend, life is not a stroll on a spring daythrough a summer garden. It's not that. Jesus said toPilate, "You would have no power over me if it werenot given to you from above" (John 19:11 NIV). Nopower except by divine permission. You could haveno power at all against me.

We have to learn to say that to life. We mustlearn to say that to life. Life is never going to show usa friendly face for long. The world of the flesh and thedevil are our enemies. They're notour friends. They're our enemies.They're never going to show afriendly face for long. We have tobelieve that God is in control.

The Sovereignty of GodIn this Book of Romans it says ofGod, "For of him, and throughhim, and to him, are all things: towhom be glory for ever. Amen"(Romans 11:36 KJV).

I have to fight and struggle tobelieve that. But the more I cometo believe, the more restful my lifewill be.

"Of him, and through him,and to him, are all things." Thatdoesn't mean God originates evil.No, indeed. But it does mean thatby the time that evil touches theChristian, it has a meaning, it has a purpose.

Remember when Joseph said to his brethren: "Yethought evil against me; but God meant it unto good,to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much peoplealive" (Genesis 50:20). You meant it for evil; Godmeant it for good.

Remember when Shimei cursed David and caststones at him. One of David's friends, Abishai, said,"Let me go over and cut off his head." David said, "Ifhe is cursing because the Lord said to him, 'CurseDavid,' who can ask, 'Why do you do this?'" (2Samuel 16:9-10 NIV).

What an answer. "God has told him to curse me!"We have to believe in the sovereignty of God.

The Silence of GodGod is never the author of evil. God does not initiateevil, but he overrules evil in favor of good. He is thegreat Chess Player who gives the other contestant per-fect freedom but who wins the game at last. The mostobvious example in the world is Black Friday, whenour Savior was crucified.

What could be more gloomy, what could be morehopeless, than this innocent Man being triumphedover, abused, cruelly treated-and Heaven does noth-

ing about it! It is the silence of God that confuses us.God was very silent at Calvary. The Man on the crosscried out, "My God, my God, why? ... " When aChristian is trying to do the right thing, it's twice ashard when things go wrong. "Look, Lord, I'm trying,and this is what I get for it."

Well, no one ever tried as hard as Christ, and hesucceeded. And yet he was brought to Black Friday. Itwas so black you can't understand it until Sunday, theresurrection day, can you? Remember the agedpreacher who said, "That was Friday. Sunday's acomin'!"

We've got to remember that.Pain and trouble and tragedy andthreat, that's Black Friday. ButSunday's a comin'!

God's Gift Brings All GiftsLook further on, into chapter 8

of Romans."If God is for us, who is againstus? He who did not spare hisown Son but gave him up forus all, will he not also give us allthings with him? (Romans 8:31-32 RSV).The greater Giftimplies the lesser gifts.

We all have more needs thanthe hairs on our heads. Whateveryour need is now, your greatassurance is that if God has givenyou the greatest Gift, Christ,everything less valuable is also

included. But it is what God sees to be necessary, notwhat you think is necessary.

We can't change God's mind, because he knowsreality. You and I live in a world of illusion, a world ofunreality. For example, everything we fear about thefuture is grotesquely exaggerated. Our fears are liars."If God is for us, who can be against us?" If God didnot spare his own Son (this is an allusion to Genesis22, where Abraham offered his son Isaac) how shouldGod not also-along with Christ-truly give us allthings? All things we need. In his time. And God isnever in a hurry.

God allowed Lazarus to die. In God's time, it wasbetter that Lazarus should die. A resurrection is amuch better thing than a healing.

Death Is Only Sleep"Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It isGod who justifies" (Romans 8:33 RSV).

Dear friends, you have a clean sheet with God!We can well bear all things by his grace.The worst happens and we pass on, and that's life.So what? Death is only sleeping. How come? Becausethere's going to be a resurrection.

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Your life is now hidden with Christ in God. WhenChrist, who is your life, appears, then you also willappear with him in glory (Colossians 3:3 NIV).

For the Lord himself will come down from heav-en, with a loud command, with the voice of thearchangel and with the trumpet call of God, and thedead in Christ will rise first. (1Thessalonians 4:16).The ancient saints who are dead have only been

asleep for what seems like a second. It might havebeen a thousand years, but it's only a second to them.They fall asleep, and the next thing they know is theglorious return of Christ! We do not know the passingof time when we are sleeping. We are not aware oftime passing. And death is only a sleep.

If we've received God's justification-if we've gotthat-all the setbacks of life become very much sec-ondary. The devil can't take from us anything morethan our spending money, if our eyes are on Christ.

Glorious ClimaxNow notice the glorious climax of this section ofRomans:

No, in all these things we are more than con-querors through him who loved us. For I am surethat neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principali-ties, nor things present, nor things to come, norpower, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in allcreation, will be able to separate us from the love ofGod in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39 RSV)Death's bony fingers can untie all lovers' knots,

but they only fumble at the grave of the child of God."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 beable to separate us from the love of God, which is inChrist Jesus our Lord" (KJV). What a beautiful picture!Now, friends, we have to learn to quote these verses toourselves day-by-day. What happens to all of us-there's no exception-is that our self-talk is often verybad. What we tell ourselves is often awful.

Absolutize, Catastrophize, RationalizeFor example, we absolutize. I do it all the time. Mywife Gill has to constantly correct me. I say, "Look atthis! The game's up! It's all over!"-or whatever. Gillsays, "Don't be silly." And she's right. It's silly to abso-lutize. But we do it.

We catastrophize. We see a speck of blood, and weare convinced our whole body is going to lose alleleven pints.

We rationalize. We try to explain away our quite-natural mistakes and make them look good. We abso-lutize, we catastrophize, and we rationalize. Our self-talk is usually very poor stuff.

We have to learn to substitute God's talk. "I amsure that nothing can separate us from God's love-not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the presentor the future, and not powers above or powers below.

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Nothing in all creation can separate us from God'slove for us in Christ Jesus our Lord! (CEV). This is whatit means to "set your minds on things above"(Colossians 3:2 NIV). Fill your mind with these things.Let God do the talking up here.

Don't absolutize: "All is lost!" Don't catastrophize:"It's all up now." Don't rationalize: "I didp't meanwhat I said!" Let God do the talking.

Christ-the Tree of LifeThe Book of Romans begins with the midnight gloomof the infamy of human depravity. It talks aboutthose who abuse their sexual gifts and about thosewho hate fathers and mothers. It talks about hatredand strife and variance and emulation and idolatry.It begins with the midnight picture of human depravi-ty. It finishes-this major section of chapter 1 through8-with the love of God.

It began by saying, "There is no one righteous,not even one" (3:10). But this section closes with, "Weare more than conquerors through him who loved us"(8:37). Isn't that a great contrast?

It's such a great contrast that it takes a real effortto believe it. Dear friends, that's because all of oursenses shout out at times against it.

But you know we are often cheated by our senses.Advertisers constantly take advantage of us throughour senses. We have to learn to go by God's preciousWord, the Bible, and not by our senses. When by faithin Scripture you find Christ is the Tree of Life (and youcling to him), you have reentered Paradise! .:.