No One

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  July 26, 2026

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Read Romans 8:26 – 39 (NIV)
 
As we consider our New Testament lesson which comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans… it serves as a reminder to us that nothing and NO ONE is like our God… absolutely NO ONE.
 
In this passage, Paul presents his readers with images of God’s Holy Spirit who intervenes for us and helps us.  He explains how God has known and loved us from the beginning.  He also offers an extensive description of the lengths to which God was willing to go protect us and provide for us… even to the point of giving His One and only Son for us.  
 
Simply put, there is NO ONE who could or would do for us all that God has done… much less what God is doing right now and will do in the future.
 
And that is why, for our time together this morning, I want to invite us to focus our attention on two small words: NO ONE.
 
Because the fact of the matter is that there is NO ONE like our God. 
 
NO ONE.
 
Let’s face it, there may be times in our lives when we become so overwhelmed or bogged down by our circumstances that we don’t know which way to turn… we have no clue which way is up… and we have no idea what we need to do. 
 
But we can be assured that God knows… and just as importantly, God cares… and God desires to help us and do what NO ONE else can do.
 
If we are being honest… there are a lot of people who chase after fortune and fame, because they think that will make all their problems disappear… but all the money in the world cannot rescue us in times of despair like God can. 
 
There is not a single one of the plethora of self-help books on library or bookstore shelves or any podcast on any streaming channel that can help us like God can. 
 
And try as they might, not even of our most well-meaning friends and family members can do for us what God can. 
 
That is because NO ONE can or will help us the way that God can and God will.
 
And this is the best part… even when we don’t what to say or know how to ask for help… our text tells us that God’s Holy Spirit will intercede for us… because what it all boils down to is this… NO ONE can make a way for us like God… NO ONE!
 
Now, throughout the Scriptures, we find words of encouragement to help sustain us when troubles threaten to overtake us… and words of assurance that God desires to help us weather whatever storms come our way.
 
For example, over in the Old Testament, in Psalm 46 (1) we read, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble;” …and in Psalm 121 (1-2) we find, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
 
While in the New Testament, in Hebrews 13 (5 – 6) we read, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid…’”
 
Nothing and NO ONE can or will help us the way that God can and will.
 
But just to be perfectly clear… that is not to say that God can’t or won’t use the people and things in our lives to bless us in our times of need… but rest assured, when all is said and done… we will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is the only One who deserves all the credit.
 
When that unexpected refund check arrived in the mail at the exact moment you were wondering how you would be able to pay for those unexpected car repairs or medical expenses… know that it was God who made a way out of no way.
 
When the tears were streaming down and it felt like you were all alone and nobody cared… and suddenly the phone rang and it was someone you had not heard from in what feels like forever who said, “I don’t know why, but I just felt that I needed to call you to say I was thinking about you…” have no doubt that it is God who placed you on that person’s heart to call with a word of encouragement at just the right time.
 
Nothing and NO ONE can or will help us the way that God can and will.
 
Now, as we keep reflecting on this subject of NO ONE, would it surprise you to hear that there is NO ONE who knows us better than God does?
 
The Lord told Jeremiah (1:5), “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…”  and that is just how intimately God knows each and every one of us.  God has known us since before we were formed in our mother’s wombs.
 
The Apostle Paul told his young protégé, Timothy that, “The Lord knows those who are his…” (2 Tim. 2:19) …reminiscent of Jesus’ words that are recorded in John 10, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.”
 
Suffice it to say, not even our spouses, our significant others or even our BFFs know us the way God does… because it is God who made us… it is God who knows us and sees the “real” us… like NO ONE else can… God knows exactly who we are.
 
How many of you have ever said or heard someone say, “God knows my heart…”?
 
More often than not, it said as a way of rationalizing something that person has said or done that has caused someone else to question their motives. 
 
But let me suggest, although it is often used as more of a convenient excuse… it is nonetheless true.  God does know our hearts.  In fact, in Jeremiah 17:10 we find these words, “I the Lord test the mind and search the heart...”
 
While over in the book of 1 Samuel (16:7), as Samuel was on a quest to identify a king from among the sons of Jesse, the Lord told him, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
 
God knows our hearts because God knows us… completely and intimately… like nothing and NO ONE else can or ever will know us.
 
Now, beyond there being NO ONE who helps us or knows us like God… let me add that there is NO ONE who loves us more than God. 
 
The pure and simple fact is that God loves us so much that He was willing to give His only Son for us that we might have eternal life. 
 
Love doesn’t get any stronger than that. 
 
Truthfully, as much as I love my family and friends and all of you in here… I don’t see myself giving up my life on a cross the way Jesus did. 
 
Paul said it like this back in Romans 5 (7 – 8):

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

God loves us unconditionally with an unfailing love that was willing to go all the way to Calvary. 
 
It is a love that Paul describes in Ephesians as being “wide and long and high and deep” and that “surpasses all knowledge” (see Ephesians 3:18 – 19).
 
It is a love that is like no other love we will ever know.
 
And what’s more, our text assures us that there is nothing and NO ONE who can separate us from God’s love – ever… period… point blank.
 
If we look back at this morning’s text, we find the question, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”
 
Unfortunately, there are some folks who think that just because they have fallen on hard times or had tragic circumstances arise in their lives… God’s love for them must have gotten diminished, dissipated or dissolved completely.
 
There are some who believe they are beyond the reach of God’s love… that they have taken too many wrong turns, done too many bad things, said too many cruel words, or thought too many negative thoughts for God to still love them. 
 
But according to what we find in the text… there is nothing and NO ONE who can ever separate us from God’s love.
 
As the last verses of our text tell us:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels 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 our Lord. 

However, the enemy would like nothing better than to convince us that all our mistakes, our mishaps and our missteps can actually disqualify us from receiving God’s love…
 
But as Paul states quite clearly… there is absolutely NOTHING… NO THING… in all of creation that can ever separate us from the love of God.
 
That means, in spite of anything and everything we may have done in the past or might possibly do in the future… God’s love for us will not dwindle, disintegrate or disappear. 
 
The Lord told Jeremiah (31:3), “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” 
 
And we have the promise of that same type of everlasting love today… a promise that we can take to the bank… because it is a promise that Jesus, Himself, has proven to be true. 
 
Because there is NO ONE that was willing or able to do what Jesus did to demonstrate God’s everlasting love for us. 
 
In John 15:13 we read, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”   
 
And in 1 John 3, we read, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”
 
There is NO ONE that we will ever find who will love us more or be a greater friend to us than Jesus. 
 
Now before we sing our Hymn of Discipleship and prepare to receive Communion, I want to share a poem with you that was written over 30 years ago entitled “Have You Met My Best Friend.” 

         He is everything I’ve ever wanted or needed
                        And all I ever hope to be.
            He hides my secrets deep within His heart,
                        There is no way He would ever betray me.
            He feels all my pain even more than I do
                        And my sins He is quick to forgive.
            There is nothing He would not do for me,
                        He’d even die so that I might live.
            In my darkest hours, He gives me light
                        He is sunshine on the brightest of days.
            Each day I feel blessed to know who He is,
                        I delight in His marvelous ways.
            Without Him my life would be empty
                        And my heart would be a hollow shell.
            There are too few words to describe Him.
                        He’s more beautiful than a poet can tell.
            So I ask you again, have you met my best friend?
                        For His arms are open to all.
            He would really love to hear from you soon.
                        So why don’t you give Him a call.
            (© Heidi L. Barham, 1996)

And if Jesus sounds like the kind of best friend that you would like to have or already have… then I want to invite you stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship [No, Not One! #544].

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