Can we just talk about Romans 8:37-39?

Here we are again on a fine Sunday afternoon. Let's tub.

So my all-time favorite Bible passage is without a doubt Romans 8:37-39. Why? Because it encompasses everything the Bible is pointing towards. 

This morning at church the pastor gave a message on how the Old Testament points toward Jesus. If you look in Matthew 5:17-18, you'll see that Jesus claims that He did not come to abolish the law, but fulfill it. Now what does this exactly mean? In Jesus' day, there were hundreds of Jewish laws that covered anything from how to eat grapes to emulating God Himself. See, in those days the Jews expected the prophesied "messiah" to be someone who would liberate them from the oppressive Roman rule, a King David-esque savior who would come with thunder and lightning on a white horse. Rather, they got an entirely different type of savior. Rather than satisfying the Jews' earthly needs, Jesus came to heal humanity's previously permanent brokenness. So when Jesus says things like "I came to not to abolish the law but fulfill it," I'm sure it confused a lot of people. Every law, every statute, every command passed down in the Old Testament was pointing to Jesus. With Jesus' coming, death, and resurrection, we are freed from the laws guarding us against our natural sinfulness. While the Jews were stumbling to keep up with all 613 laws, Jesus came to finally show God's grace to a people who would be dead in the water without it. Not just for the Jews either, for the Gentiles, for you, and for me.

This is why I love what Paul writes in Romans 8. Paul is saying there is now no condemnation for those who have accepted Christ. We as humans are too broken, too sinful, too blind to attain righteousness for ourselves through the obedience of numerous holy laws. That's why God, in His infinite love and mercy, sent Jesus so that we could witness and experience the perfect fulfillment of the law with our own two eyes. After reinforcing these facts over and over, Paul erases all doubt in verses 37-39. Nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

I encourage you to just take a few minutes, and sit back and think about these things. No matter how bad we mess up or how far away we feel, the law, our sin, even Satan himself cannot take us away from God's grace. Let that wash over you like chlorinated 102 degree Fahrenheit water.