Know You are Loved

See what great love the Father has given us
that we should be called God’s children– and we are!
(1 John 3:1 CSB)

This is the Good News – that the Father loves us. That we are precious to Him. That we are in His intimate family. That His love is essential to His character, and thus will never change.

If you are in Christ Jesus, if you believe in Him as your Savior, your Lord, your Treasure, if you love Christ Jesus – that is the result of the Father’s love for you. “We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19). “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).

We must remember His love every day – His love that never changes, His love that never ends, His love that is not dependent on anything we say, on anything we do, on anything we accomplish.

What happens when we forget His love?

  • When criticized, we either are defensive (feeling that if the criticism is correct, we won’t be loved), or are controlled by the critic (trying to win back his love by changing our behavior).
  • When feeling depressed and hopeless, we either plaster a smile on our faces, stifling the feelings, or turn away from God, thinking He has let us down.
  • When someone wrongs us, we either aim to convince the perpetrator of his sin, or pretend we’re ok and live a normal life outwardly while bleeding internally.
  • When gossiped about, we either wonder if we deserve it, or frantically search social media to track the terrible things being said about us and then do whatever we can to get even.
  • When tired, we either gut it out and get more and more tired, or try to create our own rest, getting angry and annoyed with those who interfere.

All these negative responses come from letting our feelings drive us – feelings of hurt, of inferiority, of inadequacy, of exhaustion, of depression. Jesus never says, “Your feelings will set you free.” Instead, He says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32). The truth that sets us free includes the truth of the Father’s love for us. When we know we are loved – when we know that the Father has declared us righteous, has justified us completely by His grace through faith in Jesus, and thus He accepts us and sees us as His own precious possession – then we are free from the chains that compel us to those negative responses. Confident in His love, we can respond differently:

  • We don’t have to let the face of the criticizer or oppressor dominate our thoughts. We can seek the Father’s loving face – and respond out of that security.
  • We don’t have to pretend everything is fine when hurting. We can cry out, like a little child with her daddy. We can weep and mourn – while holding on to the One Who loves us.
  • We can listen to critics and pray to see what is behind the criticism – yes, what ways we may have failed and need to change by God’s grace, but also what hurts and pains may be motivating the criticism, and thus be able to acknowledge that pain and stand beside the hurting criticizer.
  • We can endure the trials and tribulations of this world, not because tomorrow will be better – it may be worse! – but because nothing can separate us from the Father’s love; He will bring us safely through even the valley of the shadow of death to His heavenly Kingdom, and Jesus will return to reign forever.
  • We can see the troubled Christians around us not as problems to solve, but as others loved by God whom we can help endure in hope until they see Jesus face to face.
  • We can follow our Savior in displaying meekness – which is strength leveraged for the good of another.
  • We can know that when we are wrong or when we sin, we are still loved.

So do you feel hurt? Do you feel despairing? Don’t suppress the feelings – rather, thank God for them. But don’t let those feelings control you. Rather, use the feelings to prompt you to remember the truth of God’s love.

That’s how Jeremiah responded to feelings of despair (read Lamentations 3:17-18 to hear the depth of his feelings). In the midst of horrors far beyond what we have experienced, the prophet says:

This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:21-24).

Call to mind the Father’s love. Have that hope. Know that love every morning – every beautiful, peaceful sunrise and every horrible, pain-wracked break of day.

Do you wonder if the Father loves you like this? He does, if you are in Christ. Do you then wonder if you are in Christ? If so, come to Him! The only requirement is that you are weary and heavily burdened! (Matthew 11:28). So repent and believe in the Gospel (Mark 1:15).

Friends, in Jesus you are loved. Today. Tomorrow. For all eternity. God is faithful to His character – and thus He is faithful to love us now and forever. Remember that love. Call it to mind. And then bask in that love.

[Beth and I were privileged to take part in the annual Treasuring Christ Together retreat October 19 to 21. I try here to synthesize ideas presented and discussed at the retreat. Several different talks prompted this devotion – including those by Sean Cordell, Lance Parrot, Nathan Knight, Kenny Stokes, and Tim Cain. Anything you think particularly well said probably did not originate with me! Unless noted, Scriptures are ESV.]

 

 

The Lies of Satan and the Word of God

Our Lord Jesus tells us:

[The devil] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar, and the father of lies. (John 8:44)

What lies does Satan tell you?

Here are seventeen that he has used against me over the years – and responses to each from God’s Word. I encourage you to make your own list, adding additional lies, and developing a list of Scriptures to use in our battle against the enemy.

(1) THE LIE: There is no such thing as Satan

THE WORD: Satan tempts (Matthew 4:10-11), can be rebuked (Zechariah 3:2) and resisted (James 4:7), fell from heaven (Luke 10:18), asks to be able to accomplish his purposes (Luke 22:31-32); our battle is neither against flesh and blood nor against an abstract force, but against rulers and authorities (Ephesians 6:12).

(2) THE LIE: “You’re so bad, you might as well never try to be good.  God will never forgive you for all that you’ve done.”

THE WORD: “Don’t you know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And that is what some of you were.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (emphasis added)

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

(3) (Satan doesn’t aim to be consistent: Note that this third lie is virtually the opposite of the second, but he uses both against the same person, sometimes within minutes):

THE LIE: “Aren’t you becoming a wonderful Christian now!  Look at all the things you do for God!  Isn’t it too bad that all those other Christians aren’t doing so well.  And all those unbelievers . . .  Well!”

THE WORD: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith– and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– 9  not by works, so that no one can boast. 10  For we are God’s workmanship.” Ephesians 2:8-10a

(4) THE LIE: “Don’t even try to resist this temptation — you can’t do it!”

THE WORD: “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”  1 Corinthians 10:13

(5) THE LIE: “Shouldn’t a great mind like yours take an academic interest in Christianity?“

THE WORD: “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things– and the things that are not– to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.  It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God– that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.’”  1 Corinthians 1:26-31

(6) THE LIE: “This is more important right now!  You can (read the Bible, pray, serve others) tomorrow.”

THE WORD: “We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”  Hebrews 6:12

(7) THE LIE: “God’s way is no fun; you will miss out on life if you follow him!  My way is the way to life!”

THE WORD: “When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.  What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?  Those things result in death!  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 6:20-23

“. . . the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace . . .” Galations 5:22

(8) THE LIE: “You’ve been good for quite a while now – come on, you deserve a little fun.”

THE WORD: “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”  1 Corinthians 10:12

(9) THE LIE: “This sin really doesn’t matter . . . It’s only a little one.”

THE WORD: “Be perfect, therefore, as your father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew  5:48

(10) THE LIE: “Everyone else is doing it, so it must be ok!”

THE WORD: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2

(11) THE LIE: “Just this once. Come on, just this once!  See what it’s like!  No harm can come from this one time!”

THE WORD: “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he  is dragged away and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.”  James 1:14-15

“This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”  1 John 2:5-6

(12) THE LIE: “No one will ever know!”

THE WORD:  “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” Luke 12:2

(13) THE LIE: “You’ve already blown it — you might as well give in the rest of the way and ask God to forgive you later.”

THE WORD: “What shall we say, then?  Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means!  We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”  Romans 6:1-2

(14) THE LIE: “You’ve given plenty to God — keep this for yourself.  He can’t expect you to give him everything!”

THE WORD: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:26 (emphasis added)

(15) THE LIE: “God doesn’t love you!” 

THE WORD: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

“I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

(16) THE LIE: “God couldn’t possibly intend for you to do that!  Here’s an easier way to accomplish the same thing!”

THE WORD: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:8-9

(17) THE LIE: “If anything looks good to you, go after it!”

THE WORD: “Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and his pride in his possessions — comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”  1 John 2:15-17

God the Father’s Love for You

God’s love was revealed among us in this way:
God sent His One and Only Son into the world
so that we might live through Him.
Love consists in this:
not that we loved God, but that He loved us
and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
(1 John 4:9-10 Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Do you believe in God’s love? Not just in love as an attribute of God, an essential part of His character – but, do you believe in God’s love for you?

Back in December, we celebrated the incarnation: God taking on our form in Mary’s womb; the little baby laid in a stable’s feeding trough being God-in-the-flesh.

We sang this truth back then and rejoiced – but do we understand its implications?

In 1 John 4:9-10, the apostle John helps us to understand one key implication: The incarnation and sacrifice of the Son display the love of God like nothing else.

In His great plan of redemption, God determined to create for Himself a people for His own possession, children in His family, a Bride for His Son, those over whom He will rejoice with loud singing (Zephaniah 3:17). The Son left His glorious throne, came to life as an apparently illegitimate son to a poor couple in a Roman backwater, lived a perfect life, yet died penniless, exposed, and naked on a cross – the most shameful death of his day. He did this – for you – if you will only believe in Him, trust Him, and treasure Him. He did this so that you might be His treasure, His joy.

So the seventeenth century scholar John Owen comments on John 16:26b-27a (“I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you”), saying the disciples, while assured of Jesus’ love for them, doubted the Father’s love:

Saith our Savior, “Take no care of that, nay, impose not that upon me, of procuring the Father’s love for you; but know that this is his peculiar respect towards you, and which you are in him: ‘He himself loves you.’ It is true, indeed (and as I told you), that I will pray the Father to send you the Spirit, the Comforter, and with him all the gracious fruits of his love; but yet in the point of love itself, free love, eternal love, there is no need of any intercession for that: for eminently the Father himself loves you. Resolve of that, that you may hold communion with him in it, and be no more troubled about it. Yea, as your great trouble is about the Father’s love, so you can no way more trouble or burden him, than by your unkindness in not believing of it.” So it must needs be where sincere love is questioned.

Or, as R.J.K. Law renders the end of that paragraph:

The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to Him, is not to believe that He loves you.

God has demonstrated His love for us unmistakably in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of His Son. So do not grieve God the Father through disbelief in His love! Reflect on the incarnation, contemplate Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection – and believe that God the Father Himself loves you.

(The John Owen quote is from Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (1657), Part 1, Chapter 3; the entire work is available online for free at this link. R.J.K. Law’s excellent paraphrase and condensation of this work is published as Communion With God (Banner of Truth, 1991). Another paraphrase and condensation by William Gross (2003) is available online for free via this link).

Be Very Diligent to Love God

Jesus tells us the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our being (Matthew 22:38). Joshua 23:11 tells us this is neither natural nor easy:

Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God. (ESV)
So be very diligent to love the LORD your God for your own well-being. (HCSB)

Though God has given to all mankind “life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25), though, having given His Son on the cross, He surely will give His people all things (Romans 8:32), and though nothing will separate His people from His love (Romans 8:35-39), our love for Him comes and goes. In difficult times we are tempted to blame Him for our problems; in good times, we are tempted to ignore Him, to think and act as if we don’t need Him – like a teen who ignores the loving parents who feed him, clothe him, educate him, and pour out their lives for him.

Even when we know the Gospel and in our minds agree that we ought to love God, we often effectively slip into a pagan religion. While we would never be this blunt, our attitudes and actions can communicate: “I’ll attend church and small group, give money, read the Bible, help the poor, and speak the Gospel to others – then, God, how will you hold up Your side of the bargain?”

So Joshua speaks to us: “Be very diligent to love the Lord your God! Be very careful about this!” That is: “Don’t fall into such temptations! And don’t expect loving God to be easy – love is never easy! Work hard at it! Keep working at it day by day, week by week, year by year.”

One aspect of such diligence is to examine your heart – particularly when engaged in an activity you consider religious. Are you expressing and deepening joy in God, in Jesus? Or are you simply going through the motions?

But as important as the examination is your response when you fail! When you see yourself engaging in such perfunctory obedience, don’t fall for the lie, “If I can’t do this with the right attitude, I should just stop!” Instead, confess that lack of love to God (and possibly to other believers around you), ask God to incline your heart to Him – and continue in the task. Often, our Lord will give you a right heart as you persevere in that task.

For example, in the mid-1990s, our church in Massachusetts held two or three services every Sunday afternoon in the nursing homes in our town. If I had preached Sunday morning, everything in me wanted to go home, relax, and play with my kids. My heart was not right. I was not loving the Lord or acting out of that love. But when I went to the nursing home (often bringing children with me), prayed for a right heart, and opened up the Word, virtually every time God gave me love for Him and joy in Him along the way.

So be diligent to love the Lord your God! Fight the good fight to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

 

Cancer Cannot Separate Us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus

After preaching Sunday on Romans 8:35-39, I learned via Facebook that Anjel French has melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer that has spread to other parts of her body. Anjel is married to Jason French, former worship leader at one of the campuses of Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis and the author of some of the songs we sing at DGCC. In Jason’s post on Sunday evening, he discusses how the very truths we sang about and heard about that morning are life-giving and spirit-feeding in the midst of such serious trials. An excerpt:

Cancer is not God. It is created. It is creation. It is not self-existing. It is not autonomous. It does not have a will of its own such that it can live and move, expand or shrink, or even die apart from the will of the Creator of the entire Cosmos whom we are so privileged to call “Father,” because we have been adopted into his family through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of his beloved Son, Jesus, and are now sealed with the promise of and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

So, cancer does not have the final say. Cancer must obey God. God has the final say and for his children, this will is always for us. It can never, ever be against us. If God commands the cancer to go, it will and must go. If God in Christ commands the cancer to remain, or grow, or shrink, or stay the same, it bends to the will of him who holds as things together—even cancer—by the word of his power. And if he wills the cancer stays, we know and believe he hides a smile behind the frowning providence, for he has written down all of our days in his book when as yet there were none of them (Psalm 139:14). Our days will not be cut short, nor prolonged. This is not fatalism. This is faith in our Father, Lord of heaven and earth.

Do pray for Anjel and Jason. And do read the whole post.

The Great Love With Which He Loved Me

[This is an excerpt from a post by John Piper on the DG Blog on July 30. I encourage you to follow the link to read the post in its entirety. To explore this issue further, I highly recommend Don Carson’s book The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God. Note that Pastor John will preach at the DGCC 10th Anniversary Service on September 8 – Coty]

I want believers in Christ to enjoy being loved by God to the greatest degree possible. And I want God to be magnified to the greatest degree possible for loving us the way he does. This is why it matters to me what Jesus really accomplished for us when he died.

There is a common way of thinking about Christ’s death that diminishes our experience of his love. It involves thinking that the death of Christ expressed no more love for me than for anyone else in the human race. If that’s the way you think about God’s love for you in the death of Jesus, you will not enjoy being loved by God as greatly as you really are.

Feeling Specially Loved by God

I wonder if you have ever felt especially loved by God because of Ephesians 2:4–5? “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”

Six things stand out here in Ephesians 2:4–5.

1. The phrase “great love.”

“Because of the great love with which he loved us.” That phrase is used only here in the New Testament. Let it sink in. . . .

2. The peculiar greatness of this love that moves God to “make us alive.” . . .

3. Before he made us alive, we were “dead.”

“Even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive.” There is such a thing as the living dead. Jesus said, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead” (Luke 9:60). Before God made us alive, we were the living dead.

We could breathe and think and feel and will. But we were spiritually dead. We were blind to the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:3–4); we were stone-hearted to his law and could not submit to him (Ephesians 4:18; Romans 8:7–8); and we were not able to discern spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14). Only God could overcome this deadness so that we could see the glory of Christ and believe (2 Corinthians 4:6). That’s what he did when he “made us alive” (Ephesians 2:5).

4. God does not make everyone alive.

What happened to you, to bring you to faith, has not happened to everyone. And remember, you don’t deserve to be made alive. You were dead. You were “by nature a child of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:3). You did not do anything to move God to make you alive. That’s what it means to be dead.

5. Therefore, God’s great love for you is really for you, particularly for you.

It is not a general love for everyone. Otherwise, everyone would be spiritually alive. He chose specifically to make you alive. You did not deserve this any more than anyone else. But for unfathomable reasons, he set his great love particularly on you.

6. He has wronged no one. For no one deserves to be saved. . . .

The Special Love of the New Covenant

Now here is the connection with the death of Christ. When Jesus died, he secured for us the removal of our deadness, and purchased for us the gift of life and faith. In other words, God’s “great love” could make us alive, because in Christ that same great love had provided the punishment of all our sins and the provision of all our righteousness.

We know this because Jesus said at the Last Supper, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). . . .

Jesus Purchased the Activation

This is what Jesus bought for us when he died. And this is what the great love of God did for us when he made us alive in Christ Jesus. Therefore, God’s specific purpose in the death of Jesus was not the same for everyone. The great love of God, shown for you in the death of Jesus, was the purchase of your faith when you were dead.

He did not merely purchase the possibility of your life that you then would activate. Dead people don’t activate. What he purchased was the activation. . . . Because of a great love for you in particular.

Feel the Greatness of His Love for You . . .

This is what I want every believer to enjoy. The great love of God for you is not the same as the love he has for the whole human race. The love God has for you moved him to make you alive when you could do nothing to make yourself alive. And that same love moved him to purchase your life by the death of his Son.

So when you say with the apostle Paul, “He loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20), feel the greatness of the words, “He loved me.” He loved me.

Who Can Be Against Us?

Romans 8:31   If God is for us, who can be against us?

Really, Paul? Don’t you know who can be against us? Lots of people! Former friends – like Judas was against Jesus. Relatives – even our very children or parents, as Jesus Himself warns us (Matthew 10:35-36).  Then add to that the political authorities, the religious authorities, as well as our neighbors and colleagues – it seems that everyone potentially is against us. So how can you ask such a question? Instead, shouldn’t the question be, “If I proclaim that Jesus is Lord, who won’t be against me?”

What’s that you say? Sure, I’ll keep reading. God has done what is hardest for us in sacrificing His Son – will He not then graciously give us all things? And who can bring a charge that will lead to condemnation against anyone whom God has chosen, who is in Christ? For Jesus is there, always making intercession for us, saying, “These wounds paid the penalty for those sins! They are covered!”

OK, Paul. So you’re saying no one can be against us in the sense that no one can take away the salvation that is ours in the new heavens and the new earth. If we believe in Jesus, if we are in Christ, then we will spend an eternity with Him. No opponent can change that.

Yes, that is a precious truth. And it indeed is some comfort. I didn’t mean to question that.

But, Paul, don’t you understand? I am hurting now. And as precious as that promise of future hope is, I still have to endure the pain of betrayal and opposition from those I love now. It still seems to me that your question in verse 31 is the wrong question. God is for me in eternity, but there are still many who are against me now.

Oh, I’m sorry, I was talking and didn’t hear you. Keep reading some more? Ok. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Oh! Is that what you mean by someone being against us? “Who can be against us” means “Who can separate us from Christ’s love”? That must be what you mean for you then say: They might persecute us, they might make us starve, they might expose us to the elements, they might threaten to kill us, they might even fulfill the threat and kill us –  and they do! – yet we more than overcome all of this through the One who loves us.

So, Paul, even the worst things that happen in this life won’t separate us from the love of Christ? Not even torture and murder? Not even that? Praise God!

But, you know, there are these spiritual forces out there that are powerful – what about a demon, a fallen angel? What about Satan himself? Can he separate me from Christ’s love? No?

Well, even if I am in Christ’s love today, and He has overcome those powers that assail me, might not a greater power come along tomorrow to separate me from His love? No? Really? Nothing in all creation?

But there’s one more enemy to consider, my greatest enemy: What about myself? What if I separate myself from Christ’s love? If His love is dependent on my own faithfulness, I can surely be separated! Indeed, I certainly will be separated eventually!

Yes, I’m listening. Yes, I am a created being. Therefore I am in creation. And you said nothing in all creation can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus if indeed I am in Christ, if I am God’s elect. Yes, I do remember that Jesus said: “This is the will of the one who sent me– that I should not lose one person of every one he has given me, but raise them all up at the last day” (John 6:39).

Ok, Paul. I see now how you endured so much tribulation – how you were sorrowful and afflicted and perplexed and persecuted yet you rejoiced in God through it all. You knew the love of God – you experienced the love of God in all of that pain. And to be in Christ – to know Him – to be loved by Him – was worth more than all the pain. Yes, I do see that this is what all the Old Testament saints knew: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4).

If God is for us, who can be against us? No one can condemn us, and thus separate us from His love for eternity; nor can anyone put up a barrier between God and us even now, even in the most severe trial.

Thank you for explaining that to me, Paul. I look forward to the next lesson.