Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church · Sermon study sheet

God's Eternal Love

Bryan Schneider · January 5, 2022

Romans 8:31-39

sharonrpc.org/sermons/god-s-eternal-love

Summary

In a funeral setting, Romans 8:31-39 gives grieving believers assurance that no accuser, suffering, created power, or death can separate them from God's love in Christ.
God's love is demonstrated rather than merely spoken: he did not spare his eternally beloved Son but delivered him for undeserving sinners.
Human consciences, other people, and Satan may accuse, but the decisive verdict belongs to God, who justifies his elect.
No person earns God's favor by moral achievement; every sinner breaks God's law and needs the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Christ lived the obedient life sinners failed to live, bore the death they deserved, and clothes believers in his righteousness.
Jesus is risen, seated at the Father's right hand, and continually intercedes for his people, proving that his saving payment is complete.
Christian grief remains real and painful, but it is grief with hope because the grave does not end the believer's story.
The believer who dies is with the Savior in peace, while the unbreakable love displayed at the cross sustains those who mourn.

How does the funeral setting shape the sermon's use of Romans 8?
What proof does Paul give that God is truly for his people?
Why can inner condemnation feel persuasive even when it cannot overturn God's verdict?
What does honest examination of God's commandments reveal about human righteousness?
How does Christ's obedience answer the believer's failed record?
What does the resurrection demonstrate about Christ's payment for sin?
How does Christ's present intercession strengthen assurance?
What kinds of suffering does Paul explicitly say cannot separate believers from Christ's love?
Why is Christian mourning neither denial of pain nor despair before death?
Is your confidence in God's love based on personal goodness or on Jesus Christ?

God's eternal love: The unchanging divine love centered in Christ and bestowed freely upon those united to him.
Accusation: A charge brought by conscience, people, or Satan that cannot overturn God's justifying verdict in Christ.
Election: God's gracious choice of a people whom he justifies, keeps, and brings to glory in Christ.
Justification: God's free declaration that sinners are pardoned and righteous because Christ's obedience is credited to them by faith.
Imputed righteousness: The perfect obedience of Jesus counted as the believer's legal righteousness before God.
Intercession: The risen Christ's continuing advocacy for his people at the Father's right hand.
Perseverance: God's preservation of believers so that no trial, power, or death can finally sever them from Christ.
Grief with hope: Real mourning transformed by confidence that believers who die are with Christ and await resurrection.