The Bible Baptist Church, located
at 2015 Beulah Road in Madisonville, Kentucky, would like to invite
you to listen to a message of the sovereign grace of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ by their pastor, David Edmondson. In verse 33 of Romans chapter
8, the Apostle Paul asked this question, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect. And immediately, Paul answers
his own question, and he says, it is God that justifies. Who's gonna charge any of the
elect of God with sin, when it's a thrice holy and just God that
justifies the elect sinner? Well, the obvious answer is no
one or nobody. Our text is found in the very
next verse, verse 34, and Paul asks another question. Who is
he that condemneth? Who is going to condemn a believing
sinner, an elect child of God? Who can condemn one who is trusting,
relying, and resting in and on the Lord Jesus Christ? Well,
from the scriptures, I hope to answer that question this morning.
Who is he that condemneth? Now there's no doubt that Paul
knew that in and of himself he was worthy of condemnation. In the previous chapter, Romans
7, Paul had confessed, I am carnal, sold under sin. He declared,
the sin which I hate, he said, that I do. I do it because of
the sin that dwells in me. For I know that in my flesh that
in me, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. I will and I want
to do good, but how to perform the good I find not within me. And Paul continued by saying,
in the evil that I wouldn't do, that's what I wind up doing,
O wretched man that I am. Has God brought you to that realization
of yourself? Do you see that what you want
to do, you can't do, and what you don't want to do, that's
what you wind up doing? Yet Paul, knowing who and what
he was by nature, birth, and practice, he defends his innocence,
not the innocence of his heart. but the perfect innocence that
he possessed by the perfect mediation and substitution of Jesus Christ
his Savior. And in verse 34, the Apostle
Paul gives us four things from this single verse that should
give the believing sinner great assurance that they'll never
be condemned. What was Paul's hope of escaping
eternal condemnation? What was it that did? First thing
mentioned in verse 34, it is Christ that died. It was the
death of Jesus Christ that paid the full penalty of justice for
all the sins that the believer would or could ever commit. On the cross, the divine wrath
of God was poured out upon the Lord Jesus, and the full vengeance
of a holy and angry God emptied every particle of punishment
on Him. Our Lord suffered the just for
the unjust, that he might bring us to God. So you might ask,
what does Christ's death have to do with my sins? Christ stood
in the believers' stead. Christ suffered in their place. Christ rendered full satisfaction
to the law of God, and he bore the penalty that you and I could
never bear. And if the Lord Jesus bore the
wrath and judgment of God on account of my sin, then God cannot
condemn me. It's called substitution. If
Christ suffered as your substitute, where would God's honor and justice
be if he should punish the sinner for whom Christ died? That can
never be. And the comfort in our text is
this, it is Christ that died. The Son of God and God the Son
died. Did you hear what I said? Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, but He's God the Son. God in three
persons, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The
Son of God, and God the Son died. And there's infinite merit in
the atonement and sacrifice that our Lord made to fulfill the
very law that you and I offended. all we like sheep have gone astray
and we've turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath
laid on him Christ the iniquity of us all all who would believe
not the whole world there's none in hell for whom Christ died
God is not a failure. God's will and purpose in saving
sinners is not frustrated. Who can condemn the sinner for
whom Christ died as substitute and Savior? Jesus Christ died
instead of me. So the wages of sin, which is
death, is paid in full. It is Christ that died. Now,
the second reason a believer has no reason to fear eternal
condemnation is the fact that Christ is risen again. Look at
verse 34 again. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea rather. that is risen again. Now the
words, it is Christ that died, is no doubt a powerful argument
for our salvation. But those words, yea, rather
add even more force to the certainty of our salvation. Christ, by
His death, paid the full price of what we owe the Father. Yea
rather, the glorious fact that Christ rose from the dead is
the proof that God accepted His payment for our sin. In Christ's
death on the cross, I see Him paying my sin debt. But in His
resurrection, I see God the Father acknowledging and accepting Christ's
death in my room instead. And this is the proof that I'll
never be condemned. Who can condemn me if God justified
me? As representative of His elect,
when He died, every believer died in Him. And when our Lord
was buried, we were buried in Him. God said, to death, let
my anointed go free. It was proof that God was satisfied
and that everyone for whom Christ died went free in Him. Because Christ was perfect, the
grave could not hold Him. Since the believer is perfect
in Christ, the grave cannot hold us either. He lives, and because
He lives, I shall live also. And He is delivered, so I am
delivered. Death hath no more dominion over
my Lord, and death has no more dominion over me. His deliverance
is mine, his freedom is mine forever. And if Christ can be
risen from the grave, how can the sinner who trusts in his
perfect work of righteousness, his efficacious death, be condemned? God is too just to spare the
guilty, and God is also too just to condemn the innocent. If Christ
had not risen from the dead, he would have proved to be an
imposter. But he did rise. Mr. Spurgeon, the great preacher,
once said that Christ was the hostage for all his chosen people. and by paying their debt in full,
their sin debt, God, being just, must let him go free. How could God ever condemn you
after he has accepted Christ as your payment for sin? Yea,
rather, Christ is risen again. Thirdly, we see from the next
sentence that our Lord and Savior, who is even at the right hand
of God, now you think about that. Paul wrote in Romans 5, verse
10, for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be
saved by His life. So comparing Scripture with Scripture,
we can look at this third reason of fearing no condemnation as
having a much more before it. We cannot be condemned for Christ
hath died. Yea, rather, is risen again,
and much more on top of all that. He is even at the right hand
of God. Now what does that mean? Well,
our Lord is said in Scripture to have sat down forever at the
right hand of the Father. He is in heaven sitting down.
Our Lord could not sit if His work was not fully done. he would
not be sitting if his work was not accomplished, completed,
and finished. Why, he said, from the cross
it's finished. Our great high priest, Christ
Jesus, God the Son, has taken his seat at the right hand of
the majesty of God on high. Why is this? Because now His
sacrifice is accepted and complete forever, and Christ, our High
Priest, has finished His service as our High Priest. Beloved,
we can rest assured that our Savior is sitting at the right
hand of God, that our atonement is finished, the work is over,
and our Lord has made an end of sin. Who can condemn you? Can the Almighty be overcome?
Can the sovereign be succumbed? Can the omnipotent one fail? Every blood-bought child of God
is safe and secure. They can never be condemned.
Why? Because Christ died, yea rather,
is risen again, and much more is even at the right hand of
God. And then, fourthly, it is Christ
that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the
right hand of God, now here it is, who also maketh intercession
for us. In Hebrews chapter seven, verse
25, we read, wherefore he, Christ Jesus, is able to save them,
his people, his chosen, to the uttermost, they come unto God
by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
But I suppose the sweetest proof that the child of God cannot
be condemned is found in the intercession of Christ. Jesus
Christ pleads our case, and He pleads our cause to His own Father. And Christ is able to save them,
these chosen sinners that come unto God by Him, because He ever
lives to make intercession for them. Who shall lay anything
to the believer's charge? It's God that justifies. Look
at verse 35, Romans 8. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine, nakedness? or peril or sword as it is written
for thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted
as sheep for the slaughter nay in all these things we are more
than conquerors through him that loved us For I am persuaded that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So
let me ask you one last time, who can condemn me? It's Christ
that died. Who shall condemn me? It's Christ
that rose again. Who will condemn me? My Savior
is at God's right hand. Who can, who shall, who will
condemn me? My Lord. My Savior, my Mediator,
God the Son, also makes intercession prayer for us. And our Lord's
prayer is always effectual. Our Lord said, my Father always
hears me. And because of these things,
no one can lay anything to the charge of the elect of God. Who can condemn them when Christ
is their substitute? When Christ is their sacrifice? their surety, and their Savior? The answer is no one, nobody,
or nothing. May God be pleased to make it
so for His glory, for our good, and for Christ's sake. You have
been listening to a message by David Edmondson, the pastor of
Bible Baptist Church in Madisonville, Kentucky. If you would like a
copy of this message, or to hear other messages of God's free,
sovereign grace in Christ, you can write to our mailing address
at P.O. Box 652 Madisonville, Kentucky
42431. or log on to our website at FreeGraceRadio.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, we meet at 2015 Beulah Road, Madisonville, Kentucky,
and our service times are Sunday morning Bible study at 10 o'clock
a.m., worship services begin at 11 o'clock a.m., Wednesday
evening services at 7 o'clock p.m. Please tune in again next
Sunday morning at 10 o'clock AM for another message of God's
free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.