She was desperate. You could see it in her eyes, hear it in her voice. The urgency, the fear verging on panic, the despair. Her little girl was suffering from demon possession. We don’t know more than that. How long had it been? What were the symptoms? But our idle curiosity will not be satisfied. Matthew tells us only as much as we need to know. She was a desperate Canaanite woman is seeking help for her daughter.

We’re pressing on with Romans chapter 10 this morning. Last week, we heard Paul speak of his passionate desire that his fellow Israelites, the blood descendants of Abraham, would turn from the religion based on commandment-keeping to the true righteousness of God that comes through faith in Christ. In fact, this is the reason the Israelites missed the boat in the first place - they misinterpret the Torah as a law of works rather than a promise that calls for trust. We also heard that regardless of what gets thrown against God, whether good or evil, faith or unbelief, God uses everything for the grand purpose of salvation. In fact, it’s all so much out of our hands, so entirely in God’s hands, that He has destined us in Christ even before the world was made, and in Christ everything for our salvation is already an accomplished fact.

So what about those Israelites, the blood descendants of Abraham, God’s chosen people? What went wrong? If the Gospel is the power to save, why didn’t they believe? Why did they reject their own Messiah? They had it all: adoption as sons, the divine glory, the covenants, the Torah, the temple, the promises. They had the patriarchs, the prophets. They were the forerunners of the Christ HImself. These are Jesus’ own blood relatives. And yet they did not believe that Jesus, Y’shua, is the Christ, the promised Seed of Abraham, the Son of God and Savior. What went wrong?

We know that everything works for good for those who love God, those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28).

This sermon is about nothing; and it is about everything. It’s about how nothing in all this world can separate the baptized believer from the love of God that’s in Christ Jesus. Nothing. Not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword. Nothing. Not even death. Especially not death. Nothing. It’s about how everything works out for good in Jesus. Everything, the good, the bad, even the ugly. Everything works for good for those who love God. And nothing can separate us from God’s love. Nothing and everything.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Paul knows a thing or two about suffering. Listen to his own personal litany: imprisoned, flogged, beaten, exposed to death, five times he received the forty lashes less one, three times he was beaten with rods, once he was stoned nearly to death, shipwrecked three times, a night and a day floating on the open sea, in constant danger from rivers, bandits, his own countrymen, the Gentiles, in the city, in the country, at sea, in danger from false brothers, sleepless, hungry, cold, naked, bearing the pressure of all the churches he founded. Reading between the lines of his letters, some believe that Paul suffered from bad eyesight or blinding headaches. The man knew suffering.