I. God is for you--v31; John 3:16

    A. As demonstrated by giving His Son into death for you--v32

    B. As demonstrated by His promise to care for you--v32

II. Your guilt problem has been taken care of--vv33-34; Rom 5:6-10, Rom 8:1

    A. Your Judge is your Savior--Mk 13:26

    B. Your Judge is your Intercessor, the only one you need--v34

III. No external power can separate you from this love--vv35, 38-39

    A. Not even the persecution of powerful enemies--v36

    B. Nothing created can separate you from Gods love--2 Thess 2:13-14; Rev 1:5

Martin Luther writes on Romans 8:31: It will therefore be no small gain to a penitent to remember above all his baptism... His heart will find wonderful comfort and will be encouraged to hope for mercy when he considers that the promise which God made to him, which cannot possibly lie, is still unbroken and unchanged, and indeed, cannot be changed by sins, as Paul says (2 Tim 2[:13]): "If we are faithless, he remains faithful--for he cannot deny himself." This truth of God, I say, will sustain him, so that if all else should fail, this truth, if he believes in it, will not fail him. In it the penitent has a shield against all assaults of the scornful enemy, an answer to the sins that disturb his conscience, an antidote for the dread of death and judgment, and a comfort in every temptation--namely, this one truth--when he says: "God is faithful in his promises [Heb 10:23; 11:11], and I received his sign in baptism. If God is for me, who is against me?" [Rom 8:31]. (Luther's Works, Vol 36, p60)

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THE MESSAGE FOR CHILDREN

Objects: pictures of a family in a fishing boat; downloaded images from Great America or some other Amusement Park, or from a waterpark such as Noah’s Ark (in the Wisconsin Dells)

I want to talk to you about promises. Suppose you really like to go fishing. Your dad promises to take you to the lake next Saturday. But something comes up and he can’t keep his promise. He had Saturday off until his boss called and told him he had to work. And that’s why he can’t take you on a fishing trip.

Or maybe the promise was to take you to Great America or to Noah’s Ark. You’d like to go there, wouldn’t you? Dad was all ready to take you there and then the car broke down and he couldn’t keep his promise. He didn’t lie to you; he just couldn’t keep his promise.

Sometimes promises are broken because of things mom or dad can’t control. There are other people who make promises to us, but they don’t really mean what they say. None of that can happen when God makes a promise. There is no way that He can lie to us because God never lies to us. And there is nothing that is beyond His control. Nothing can keep Him from keeping a promise.