What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?… No in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Looking around the world we live a time of seemingly increasing terror: Subways are bombed in London; ethnic and religious unrest create a whirlwind of violence; hurricanes and tidal waves assault the coastal areas, drought and crop failure blanket vast areas; famine and disease lurk in the shadows; guns and drugs breed violence and crime; global competition and a sluggish economy create uncertainty and doubt.

Looking around Boulder we live in a time of seemingly increasing concern: although violence and terrorism are not at our doorstep we fear they could touch someone we know or love who lives out there or serves in the military; we are battered by the media barrage to be tolerant of alternative lifestyles and choices; the prostitutes of reason, pride, and self-indulgence seek to woo us and those we love away from God’s Truth; the hot weather robs us of sleep and the danger of wildfire is all around us; some of us have been assaulted by disease, accident, or unfairness; others know the bitter taste of loneliness, unemployment, or long suffering; currently some of us are not in the midst of hardship or struggle but we are concerned for loved ones, friends, and coworkers who are.

The world points to afflictions and perils and says, “Look your Christ must have ceased to love you.” And worst yet Satan lurks in the shadows whispering at our weakest moments, at the times when we are most vulnerable, “Where is your God now? If He loved you would He let all this befall you?” He heaps insult upon injury when he holds our sins up in from us: our sins of rebellion against God and His Word, our selfishness, our indifference to the needs and woes of others, and weak faith that entertains the thought that God might have abandon us. All of this sometimes leaves us feeling that God is awfully far away. In the darkness of our dilemma we begin to believe Satan’s whispers: “Maybe He has turned His face from us; maybe He is punishing us; and maybe, just maybe He doesn’t care if we perish”

Mark’s Gospel reveals another group that questioned whether God really cared. In the fourth chapter we hear of the disciples who are caught in a furious and overwhelming storm, their boat is swamped and they are the facing the real possibility of perishing. They come to Jesus with the anguished question, “Don’t you care if we perish?” “Are you so blind to what we are going through?” “Have you turned away from us?”(Mark 4.35-41)

St Paul boldly reveals: What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? Is there any manner of storm that could separate our Christ from us?… No, (declares our God) in all these things (even the midst of storms) we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

But Pastor how can we be conquerors; it often looks and feels as though we are perishing. But I can assure you we are not. To the disciples in the boat on that storm tossed lake Jesus said to the storm Hush, be still. And all became calm. (Mark 4.39) Just as powerfully the Holy Spirit speaks to us in the words of the 46th Psalm: God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the sea…Hush be still and know that I am God. (46.1-2,10) To the crowds that followed after Jesus set upon by hardship, trouble, false teaching, and sin Jesus saw them and, He had compassion on them (Matthew 14.14 & Matthew 9.36-37) – cared for them, healed them, taught them, and fed them. These are words and deeds for all generations. It is true sometimes our God will calm the storms of our lives. Other times He will calm and strengthen us. This calm will come to us in and by His Word.

But Pastor how can I know that Jesus will have compassion on me? How can I be victorious because my enemies, these trials, my tribulations, even my sins seek to overwhelm me? How can I be victorious? How can even know that God hears me? How can I silence Satan’s whispers?

Romans chapter eight verse 31st declares: If God is for us, who or what can be against us. He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all- how will He not also, along with Him graciously give us all things. The Father has already had compassion on you because He sent the Son. Jesus came as the fulfillment of the promise to rescue us from sin and a fallen world. He came teaching and preaching God’s Words.

God’s Words carry real power, comfort, and hope to us who are set upon by all manner of trial, affliction, and trouble. They tell of God’s deep compassion, His deep concern, for us.

The Father’s compassion was so great that He sent the Son to atone for, to pay for, and to suffer for, the sins of the whole world. In His compassion for us the Father made Jesus who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5.21) He took that sin, our sin, the sin of the whole world to the cross. There by His death, his death in our place, His death on our behalf, He paid the full price demanded for sin. In His great compassion for us He had mercy on us for while we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Rms 5.8) It is written; He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Rms 4.25) By his dying and rising again to life He was victorious for us over sin and death. This victory He freely gives to us- we are victorious because He was victorious.

By in His death and His raising again to life we are forgiven, a forgiveness He generously pours out upon us in Baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, and by and through the forgiving Words of absolution, words we hear when we confess our sins and repent of them. Does He have compassion on us? YES, we are forgiven!

Of this Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life- (He) is at the right hand of God, and is interceding for us. (Rms 8.34) Listen to those words again: is interceding for us. I know there are times we think our prayers go unanswered or even unheard but that is not true, for The Father hears the Son and the Son speaks on our behalf. Please notice I didn’t say the mother or some other saint, no, Jesus in His compassion is interceding for those who believe in Him and call Him Lord. One day we will see just how much and how often for now we see His intervention in the manger, at the cross, and at the empty tomb.

Having done all that living and dying and rising to life for us what could separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No! In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced By the working of the Holy Spirit that neither death, nor life, neither angles nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus. In Jesus we have a Savior who willingly set aside heaven for us, to then live for us, die for us, and rise again to life for us. If He is for us then who or what could prevail in the end against us? No one. Oh, for a time we may have to suffer grief and all kinds of trials but even theses come that our faith which is greater than gold may be proven genuine and may result in eternal life. (1st Peter 1.6) But we can endure these for we know they are temporary and heaven awaits.

Jesus has given us the tools to endure: His powerful Word, His comforting and forgiving Sacraments, and a great crowd of faithful witnesses and martyrs who have gone before us to inspire us. He has given us the fellowship with other believers, and the promise to hear and act upon our prayers. In all these things He will be at work in us to ensure that nothing will separate us from Him. May He who has begun this good work in us carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil 1.6)

Amen.