Romans chapter 8 and verse 33,
and this is the word of the Lord. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or 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. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word also. I always try not to lose the
children when I come to prepare my sermons. My message should
be so simple that even a child can understand. Indeed, if it
isn't, then I'd have to say that I failed in my responsibilities. Because there is nothing inherently
complicated about God's word. Having said that, I'm pretty
sure that plenty of people make it complicated. which is what
I'm trying not to do. Because in itself, the whole
Bible from beginning to end is simply the story of God's goodness. It is the story of God's goodness
and mercy for sinners. And it is good news for us It's
good for us because it teaches us about God. It's good for us
because it teaches us about ourselves. And it's good for us because
it teaches us about God's grace. Let me say something about words. The words that I use, the words
that we use when we come together to read the scriptures. Maybe
you feel that some of the words I use are complicated. And I understand that because
some of them are unfamiliar. Now I try to explain the more
unusual, the longer words perhaps. But every topic has its own words. Every discipline has its own
vocabulary that we have to learn when we study that subject or
participate in that activity. For example, If you climb, or
if you dive, or if you hang glide, or if you study medicine, or
chemistry, or archaeology, you will know words that I don't
know, because these will be the words, this will be the vocabulary
of the activity that you're interested in, or the discipline that you're
studying. And specialist words bring depth
of meaning to a subject and they bring clarity and definition
to what we're talking about. And that is especially true with
regard to God's gospel. I try to be clear, I try to be
precise, I try to be informative when we're talking about these
things, when I speak about God's good news and mercy and forgiveness. There is blessing, there is comfort,
there is joy, there is power in God's word and the words of
the gospel message. And it will do us great good,
great benefit in our lives, whether we're younger or whether we're
older, to learn and understand what the Lord is saying to us
in the scriptures. And remember what I said, it
isn't complicated. It's the history of His goodness. It's the message of His grace. So I don't want to lose any of
God's children, old or young, when I bring the gospel to you. And when I use words like justify
and condemn and intercede, I will try to explain them so that we
can all benefit and we can all be helped in discovering the
simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. Now, this is not the first
time that we've studied Romans 8. A few months ago, we spent
time considering Paul's teaching in this very passage. And we
spoke about things like covenant grace, which we can think about
as an agreement by God to do us good. And we thought about
how God's love and his goodness, like God himself, has no beginning
and no end. It extends from eternity to eternity
because God dwells in eternity. And God isn't limited or constrained
by time in the way that we are. The last time we looked at this
passage, we saw how covenant grace is built on God's everlasting
love, and it leads to the saints' everlasting glory. We learned
how all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. We learned how
Christ gave his life a ransom for many. That is, he paid for
or he purchased our life with his death. We learned how we have been given
new life in Christ. and having been given new life
in Christ, we shall with him freely be given all things needful
for our spiritual life here on earth and our ongoing good in
this world. So what I want to do today and
what I'm going to do over the next few weeks, God willing,
is return to what the apostle says concerning the believers'
freedom from punishment and condemnation for sin. And I intend to speak a little
on the unbreakable union of love that is forged between the Lord
Jesus Christ and his people. Now that's for another day. But
today, I want us to note this, as it were, by way of introduction. Paul has set down these doctrines,
these blessed doctrines for our blessing and our happiness in
this world. That's the reason why he is speaking
to the Romans and through the Romans speaking to the whole
of Christ's church, all of God's people through these teachings. It is
for our help. It is for our blessing. It is
for our happiness. It's as if Paul is saying, God
has an eternal purpose to save his people from their sin and
from their just punishment. And he is working out that eternal
purpose right now in time. And Paul says, I want to tell
you about it so that you will know what is happening. God has
an eternal purpose to save His people from their sin. He's working
it out right now and He wants me to tell you about it so you
know what is happening. That's the message of the Bible.
These doctrines, these teachings, we call them doctrines because
they teach us about God. The word doctor, and the word
doctrines have the same origin. A doctor was just originally
a teacher. So in fact, it's a doctor of
medicine is the real title that we should give to our GP when
he comes or she comes to see us, or we go to see them. They're
a doctor because they're a teacher. That's the origin of the word.
And these doctrines are the teachings about God. and they're very practical. As well as telling us what God
is doing for us, they're intended to help and encourage and comfort
and enable us to cope with and deal with the troubles and the
problems of our everyday life. Health problems, relationship
problems, employment problems, money problems, When the Lord
Jesus told his disciples, I will not leave you comfortless, he
meant that he would send his spirit to them, his Holy Spirit,
to employ the words and apply the gospel to our hearts and
minds and lives so that we would benefit day by day with the experience
and understanding of these truths. Now, think of the gospel as fuel for
your soul, or refreshment for your spirit, or energy for your
mind. We're told that we shouldn't
miss breakfast for the sake of our bodies. Well, don't miss
out on the gospel of Jesus Christ for the sake of your soul. In very real and practical ways,
the doctrine of God will get you through your day and will
get you through your life. Paul tells us in verse 33 that
God's covenant people, his chosen people, his elect are justified
by God. That's the title of our service
today. It is God that justifieth. God's covenant people are justified
by God. It is God who justifies us. Justification is being declared
clean from sin and fit for heaven. It is being made righteous in
God's sight. Now let me explain something
again. I've just quoted Paul saying that we are justified
by God. And yet sometimes you will hear
me say that we are justified by grace, or that we are justified
by faith, or maybe that we are justified by the righteousness
of God, or even by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
which is it? Well, it's all of them. depending on whether I'm speaking
about how our justification is accomplished or how it's applied
to us and experienced by us. Let me give you an example. Supposing
I said, my sister washed the dog. Now, my sister washed the
dog. Did she wash it, or did the water
and shampoo that she used wash it? Well, both, depending on
what we're talking about. And how did the dog know that
it was washed? Well, by its nose, because it
smelled that it had been washed. So that depending on what part
of the process we're talking about, we might use different
words and different things to explain the process. And that's
what we're talking about when we use this different way of
speaking. Talking about being justified
by God, or being justified by grace, or being justified by
faith. We're speaking about this process
in which the different parts of it come together. Actually in verse 33 Paul is
repeating what he's already said in verse 30. The Bible often
emphasizes important truths by repeating them. Paul's reminding
us basically that sinners do not justify themselves. Not by
their works, not by the things they do, not by their will, not
by their believing. That inherently and principally,
justification is a divine act of grace and mercy. and it bears
the full endorsement of divine authority. Here's what I mean
by that. If God declares us righteous, then we are righteous. If God
declares us forgiven, then we are forgiven. If God declares
us justified, then we are justified. Who can contradict God? Who can
say what God has said is not true? It is God who pardons sin,
it is God who removes the sinner's transgression, and God who makes
sinners holy and acceptable in the Lord Jesus Christ with his
own divine righteousness. The point that Paul is making,
and I think making very beautifully, is that if God declares us justified,
then that is an irrefutable fact. And this is my first point. If
God says something is true, then it is true. Someone else might
tell you that it isn't true. You might not even personally
feel it's true. You might not understand how
it can be true, but it is nevertheless true. Justification is not about
how we feel about ourselves or what someone else tells us about
ourselves. It is what God, who justifies,
says, and what he says, goes. Here's my second point. Because
God justifies sinners, Paul is able to say, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Now, Charge here means being
charged with a debt. Like if you go into a shop and
you buy something on credit, then the shopkeeper might say
to you, I'll charge that to your account. That's the meaning of
the word here. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? or else we might think of it
as being charged with a crime. If we commit a crime, the policeman
comes and knocks on our door and we are taken to court and
we are arraigned before a judge with that crime. We are charged
with it. Now, Paul is not, when he says,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect, he's not
saying that We don't owe God anything. Or he's not saying
that we've committed no crimes. Or in the language of the Bible,
that we're guilty of no sins. On the contrary, believers know
that we have sinned. I think actually everybody knows
that they've sinned. But let's just keep it to believers
at the moment. Believers know that we have sinned. We know full well how easy sinning
is, and we know how bitter the consequences are. We know from
God's Word that we are guilty of original sin in Adam. When Adam sinned, he brought
all his posterity under divine judgment. And in our own lifetime,
in our own experience, we know how soon this natural inclination
to disobedience took effect and we went astray. Even if we're
children, we know that we don't obey God's word, that we are
guilty of having committed sin. And we know how far that we have
wandered from God. And we've got a fair idea how
offensive our sin is to Him. The testimony of the Bible and
the testimony of our conscience confirms these things to us. And even as believers, the elect
of God are not free from sin. Sin indwells us as a principle. or a law, if you like. There's
a law of sin that indwells our natural flesh. Apostle Paul explained
it, actually, in the chapter before this, in chapter seven. He was writing, of course, to
the church at Rome. This is the epistle to the Romans,
to the believers that lived at Rome, and he explained this to
them in chapter seven. He says there, For I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Paul says, I want to do good,
but I find myself doing evil. I don't want to do evil, but
I find that this nature brings me into that condemnation. Sin dwells in our flesh and in
our minds, in our thoughts, and we can't stop committing sin
in our thoughts and in our actions. Paul calls this the old man in
our nature who pursues and harasses the new man of the Spirit all
the days of our life. And believers are not sinless
by any means. We are not perfect in ourselves. Nevertheless, God's gospel tells
us that sinners are delivered from the guilt of sin, from the
dominion of sin, and from the punishment of sin because of
the sacrifice of our surety and substitute, Jesus Christ. We are delivered from the guilt
of sin, the dominion of sin, and the punishment of sin by
the sacrifice, by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul is not saying that we
have no chargeableness. We have no sin in ourselves. We are not guilty of any crimes. That's not what he's saying.
We know that we are guilty before God and that that law is in our
life. But the gospel tells us we are
free from the guilt of sin, the dominion of sin, and the punishment
of sin. Another thing that Paul is not
saying is that we have no accuser. When he says, who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect. He's not denying that we have
an accuser. He's asking who that accuser
might be, but he's not denying it. And what we find is that
believers are quick to accuse themselves when their conscience
is pricked and their sins rise up to reproach them. Do you remember
when we were speaking to the young people a few months ago? Do you remember? Do you recall
how David reacted under conviction of sin in Psalm 51? He says,
I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. David knew he was
a sinner. When he was confronted, when
he was convicted of his sin, he confessed it before God and
he acknowledged it. He accused himself. Isaiah was
just the same. He could say, I am a man of unclean
lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And Paul's own words were, O
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? Believers know when they sin.
And when they are convicted, they are brought to confess their
sin and to accuse themselves. But here is a blessed paradox. In the very moment of our self-accusation,
the Holy Spirit reminds us that we are forgiven and justified
by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are justified by God on the
basis of the blood of Jesus Christ. The world also accuses the Lord's
people When our words, when our actions contradict and compromise
our testimony, the world is quick to accuse us. Satan, he's called
the accuser of the brethren and he accuses us. He first tempts
us to sin and then he revels in our falls and in our failures. But here's the point about Paul's
statement. Not one of these charges, not
one of these accusations, stick to God's elect. Not in the sight
of God. Sure, it is that the devil keeps
bringing it up. And certainly it is true that
the world has a long memory. And there are many things in
which we find it hard to forgive ourselves. But as we have said,
it is God who has justified. That sin, that crime, that debt,
that charge has been washed away. It's been struck down. It has
been written off. It has been paid in the sight
of God upon the merits of Christ's blood. And it will never be remembered
against us anymore. Micah, the Old Testament prophet,
he says, he will subdue, speaking of God, he will subdue our iniquities. And thou wilt cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea. That's a lovely, that's a lovely
testimony, isn't it? He will subdue our iniquities,
thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Jeremiah,
he says, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there
shall be none. And the sins of Judah, they shall
not be found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve. And Paul
says, he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him
in love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace. So we see, brothers
and sisters, because God has justified His people, and since
none of the divine persons lay anything against us, not God
the Father, not God the Son, not God the Holy Spirit, and
because God has washed away all our sin in the blood of Christ,
Then as the Lord Jesus Christ says in John chapter 8 verse
36, If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free
indeed. Free from all debt, free from
every charge, free and justified in the sight of God. Christ's redeemed people have
many accusers, and they face many legitimate accusations,
and yet Paul's argument remains true. God has justified us. John puts it, the blood of Jesus
Christ, God's son, cleanseth us from all sin. And though the
Lord Jesus Christ died personally, his death was vicarious in the
sight of God. That means that he died as a
representative. He died in the place of others,
as a substitute victim. Instead of punishing us for our
sin, God punished his son, the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus
did not die for his own sin, but for the sins of others. He
died in the place of those who had been given to him in the
covenant of peace, and those whom he loved with an everlasting
love. We're going to hear more about
that love, that inseparable love in the coming weeks. But when
the Lord Jesus Christ died, he took our sin upon himself and
he carried it all away, according to God's purpose and the fulfilling
of God's will. Christ's death was deliberate.
It was purposeful. It was strictly just. By it,
God pardoned his elect. those for whom Christ died, and
Christ's death upholds God's perfect holiness, while at the
same time, it honours his grace and his mercy and his goodness
towards us. Let me ask, what does this mean
to you and me today? Yes, we are justified by God. Factually, objectively, legally,
scripturally. We are justified by God. That's
what the Apostle Paul is telling us. But we are also justified experimentally
by faith and believing what the scriptures tell us about our
justification. Believing God's word. And when
we believe God's word, it has a practical consequence for us
in this life. When we believe what God has
said about justifying us and cleansing us and redeeming us
from our sin, it has a consequence in our mind, in our heart, in
the way that we live. We have peace with God. God is
our friend. He is not our foe. He is our
friend. The cause of our enmity has been
removed and our reconciliation with him is complete. So Paul
says, if God be for us, who can be against us? In this life,
who can be against us if God be for us? Love, care, kindness,
divine wisdom guides our relationship with God now. We look to Him
for these qualities, these characteristics, these attributes at work in our
lives. The love of God, His kindness
towards us, and His wisdom in His dealings with us. Every event
in every day for the rest of our earthly lives, every joy
and sadness, every loss and every gain, every circumstance can
be viewed and interpreted within the framework of God's sovereign
will to bless us and his loving kindness towards us. Because
of these things, because he has justified us. So God is our friend. What else does this justification
provide for us? Well, it provides peace of conscience. It provides peace of heart. It provides freedom from guilt. Now, I am sure that we all look
back with shame and regret at the effects of sin in our lives. But that sin is gone. It can't
be found anymore. Our God does not even remember
it. You might remember it, but he
doesn't. He does not remember that we
committed it. He doesn't remember the sin and
he doesn't remember that we committed it. It's bound up in the bundle
of sin for which Christ was accountable and for which he died. That sin
that was laid on his shoulders, that sin that was placed on him
is where our sin is now placed. We are pure. We are holy. We are unblameable in Christ. And if that is how God sees us,
that is how we are. We lay down the guilt. We lay
down the regrets. We lay down the burden at the
foot of the cross. and we stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free. The hymn writer says, My
sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part,
but the whole, is nailed to his cross, and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. Here's another practical
application for this truth that God has justified us. We have
a living relationship with him. Every morning, we get up with
a clean sheet. And we do not go alone against
our enemies in this world day by day. And when we fall, And
when we sin, we remember that it is God that justifieth. And lastly, we have the promise
of eternal life. Whatever today holds for us and
whatever tomorrow brings, we shall soon be in heaven and soon
be with our Savior forevermore. because it is God that justifieth. We have cause to give thanks. We have cause to worship. And
until that day when the Lord takes us to be with himself,
we have cause to witness for him and to serve him in gladness
of heart. May we do so for his name's sake.
Amen.