Alright, Romans chapter 8. Our
subject is our fortress. There is a lot of scripture that uses protective things that we
are familiar with as epithets of Christ being our safety. For instance, the Lord spoke
to Abraham, and He said, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield. I am thy shield. And in Psalm 18.2, the psalmist
wrote, The Lord is my rock and my fortress. What better to give
us an understanding of how safe we are in Christ as calling Him
our rock and our fortress. He said, and my deliverer. He
not only shields his people, he delivers us from every enemy. He said, my God, my strength
in whom I will trust, my buckler. That's another word for shield.
The horn of my salvation. He's the horn that, picture a,
cattle with a horn that scatters and divides and he's the one
that goes before us and makes the way for us with a horn of
power. He said he's my high tower. Scripture
says he's the high tower into whom the righteous run and are
safe. God said this, he said in Isaiah
26. He said, in that day this song
shall be sung in the land of Judah. We have a strong city. Now listen to this. Salvation
will appoint walls and bulwarks. Salvation will appoint walls
and bulwarks. Christ is our salvation. He's
the wall and the bulwark that, you know, Jericho's walls fell
down. Well, everything that's man-made,
trying to come to God and be accepted by God, shall be brought
down, like those walls. But Christ is salvation. The
moment he gives his child faith to believe him, he makes you
to know those walls have been around you the whole time. His
walls. His salvation. Protecting his
child. That's why the songwriter wrote,
Isaac Watts wrote, he's a bulwark never failing. That's who Christ
is. Now, all these different words
We have this in Christ. It is conveying our security
in Christ. But the way these are conveyed
most, and if you, you know, yes, He's protecting us in Providence,
but why? You can go back further than
that. Well, it's His purpose, yes, but why is He keeping us
to Him? Why does He call us? Why does
He keep us? Why is He doing everything He's
doing for us? Why is it? It's because God is
righteous and Christ is the righteousness of His people. God has justified
His people and He's just and He's holy and He's righteous
and He's going to call His people and He's going to keep His people
and He's going to bring His people to glory with Him because He
did it this way so that all our days we glory only in Him. and we tell others about Him
so that they'll be brought to glory only in Him. Everything
He's doing for us is because He is righteous, He is holy,
and He's our righteousness. One of the greatest dangers a
believer has, the most poisonous dart in the devil's quiver, is
to bring us into the fear of condemnation. Just the thought of it disturbs
us and distresses us, and we can't get any peace unless that's
settled, unless we know, and the Lord makes us to know, that
we're safe. Christ is our shield from condemnation. He's our fortress from condemnation. He's our bulwark from condemnation. The shield of faith, that's what
He is. He's the bulwark, the rock, the
fortress, the high tower in whom we run into and are safe. And here's why. I'm trying to
say this is how He's our shield. And this is what shields us from
that fear of condemnation. This is what the walls protect
us from that fear of condemnation. It's this good news right here,
verse 33. Who shall lay anything That's
a mighty wide brush right there. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Here's the shield. It's God that
justifieth. There's our fortress right there.
It's God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that dieth. Then he goes further, yea rather,
that's risen again. Then he goes further, who's even
at the right hand of God. Then he goes further, who's also
maketh intercession for us. That right there is our fortress. That's our fortress. That is
our salvation. That's what God made the world
for. That's why he's held it in store.
That's why he's sending forth the gospel. That's what he's
bringing every believer to believe and keeping us believing from
the beginning to the end. It's God that justified. It's
Christ that died. It's Christ that's risen. It's
Christ at God's right hand. It's Christ living to make intercession
for us. This is our salvation. Now you
that never believed on the Lord Jesus, you don't have Christ
for your fortress. You don't have this good news.
But if you believe Him, The moment you believe Him, He will make
you to know through faith, He's your fortress from condemnation.
If you could just picture how those walls fell down around
Jericho, well just picture walls just coming up all around you,
protecting you, safe and secure. That's what He makes you know
through faith, that God has justified you, you're safe from condemnation.
Believer, don't you live in the fear of condemnation. If Christ
Jesus the Lord, if you really believe what God says, that He
is the only righteousness of His people, that God has justified
His elect, I don't care what you feel, don't live in fear
of condemnation. Believe God. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. That's right. There won't be
condemnation in this life, there won't be condemnation in the
life to come if you are in Christ Jesus. I pray the Lord will bless
this word to our hearts and these walls will rise up around us
and we'll have this fortress protecting us so that we'll be
committed to this work of sending this gospel forth. and trust
in Christ as we do it, and worship Him together, and have peace
in our hearts as we do so. This right here, knowing this,
is how you're gonna judge righteous judgment in everything you do,
right here. I wanna show you two things.
I'm gonna show you what Paul's fortress was not. and then just
look at what it was. Now, first of all, Paul's fortress,
his confidence was not in anything outside of Christ. That's the
clearest way I know to say it. It was nothing outside of Christ. Absolutely nothing. When the
questions asked, who should lay anything to the charge of God's
elect, who is he that condemneth? Paul's confidence was not to
answer, well, I have not sinned, That wasn't his confidence. I
have not sinned. His confidence wasn't, as a believer,
to look at himself and say, well,
I didn't sin much today. That wasn't his confidence. Paul,
as a believer, declared himself to be the chief of sinners. the chief of sinners. As a believer,
he declared sin was mixed with everything he did. That's what
he said in Romans 7. Men will say, I'm tired of hearing
that. You need to hear that. You need to hear that constantly.
It's what's going to keep you from turning from this fortress
and thinking there's something about you that will give you
some confidence. If you have anything in you that's
giving you confidence that you won't come into condemnation,
you're under the condemnation of God. His confidence was not
to say, but my sin's not that great. Brethren, everywhere in
Scripture he declares that sin is just pure evil and it's against
God. Paul mourned his sin as very
great, the thing which he hated. He never belittled sin at all,
in himself or in anybody else, especially not as a cause of
his justification. Paul's peace was not the false
refuge of comparing himself with others and justifying himself
because he wasn't as bad as others. That wasn't his peace. His justification
was not, well, you know, it's okay now and then. That wasn't
his peace. No sinner will ever have a conscience
purged from the fear of condemnation by making his sins out to be
small or insignificant. Never. Because here's the thing,
if your sin, if the only sin you had was just, I mean, a fleeting
moment of something sinful, you broke the whole law of God. Guilty
of all. Is God that strict? He's that
strict. Well, if that's the case, then we might as well go ahead
and realize that I can't say I'm without sin. I can't say
I haven't broken the law. None of us can. We've sinned
and come short of the glory of God. So it was nothing outside
of the Lord Jesus Christ. All the sins earn the wages of
death. They earn the wages of condemnation
unless they're purged by the blood of Christ alone. Paul's
confidence was not in himself or anything he did or anything
he felt. He didn't say, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? Well, I've repented. There's
a lot of people who put confidence in their repentance. That wasn't
what he said. He didn't say, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? Well, I believed. I prayed. I've lived the life of holiness.
I've worked some works of faith. I've practiced great self-denial. None of that was his refuge.
None of that. What did Paul say of all his
works? Of all his religious heritage?
Of all his pedigree in religion? What did he say of every bit
of it? I count it but dumb. That's what he said about it.
If Paul looked to self, If he looked to any of the things he
had done, he could see sin mixed with everything, marring everything
that he'd ever done as a believer. And that's so of you and me,
brethren. And if you start looking at things you've done and try
to find this fortress in the things you've done, you're going
to end up either proud and self-deluded are totally cast down in fear
of condemnation. One of the two. Paul's shield
was not himself, it was not his works, it was not anything in
this world. He looked away from himself,
away from this world, away from all, and he declared his hope,
his refuge, his fortress, his shield was this right here. It's
God that justifies. It's Christ that died, yea rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. That's what God-given faith
believes. Don't you have something else
to fall back on? I don't need anything else to fall back on.
Christ is all and He is enough. Secondly now, I want to see What
was Paul's fortress? What was it that gave him this
confidence that he was safe from condemnation? What was it? He
said, it's God that justifies. It's God that justifies. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who would? Well, there's some that would.
The devil would. The devil would charge God's
elect. Men and women of this world would charge God's elect.
At times, our own conscience will charge us. But here's the good news. These
are not the judge. None of these are the judge.
Paul said, I don't judge my own self. I'm not the judge of me. I can't condemn me. The devil can't condemn you.
Nobody else can condemn you. Why? God's the judge. God's the
judge. And the judge says that for his
elect, for you, he has already given faith in Christ. He says
it's God that justifieth. And that A-T-H means it's forever. It's forever. You meditate on
that now. Martin Luther said that when
the devil used to come around whispering in his ear that, you
know, you can't possibly be a child of God. He said, I would just
repeat this one verse right here. He's God that justifieth. I just say it over and over and
over. It's God that justifieth. It's God that justifieth. God
came and took flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. You're going to
start hearing about him this month and you'll see pictures
of a baby. The baby that came and nursed
like every infant does, that baby is God. That's who that
baby is, he's God. He made everything in the world
that he came into. Everything. Listen to this now,
and he purchased his people with his own blood. God did. Men will
say, well God doesn't have blood. The God man does. Listen to Paul
from Acts 20, 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves,
he said to the preachers, and to all the flock over the which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. 2 Corinthians 5, 18 says, All things
are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing the trespasses unto them, and
hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." Now, what
does that mean? If God has come to you and convinced
you of your sin, that you cannot in any way be free from condemnation
because of anything in you, or anything in this world. Paul,
as we saw in the first point, he had no confidence in anything
outside of Christ. And God has convinced you that
it's God that has justified his elect. Then, brethren, This is
what God says about that. Psalm 103.12, He says, As far
as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions
from us. This is how, when He purges our
conscience, this is what He does. He makes you to know, God has
justified me. It's done. He said, I, even I,
am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not
remember thy sins. I tell you, this right here,
this is what brings that mountain down from being puffed up. This is what brings the valley
up from being too low. This is what makes the crooked
thing straight. This is what makes the rough place plain.
This good news spoken into the heart by the Spirit of God makes
you cry like Micah did and say, who is a God like unto thee?
Who is a God like God? He pardoneth iniquity. He passes
by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage. He retaineth
not His anger forever. Here's why. He delighteth in
mercy. He delighteth in mercy. When
will we delight in mercy? When we see how merciful God's
been toward us and how He delighted to be merciful to us and that
He's just to do it. You know, it's God that justifies
it. That means the just thing, that
when He says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect,
child of God, there is not anything that can be laid to your charge.
Not past, present, or future. Before God, in the sight of God,
does it really matter what anybody else charges you with? What does
God charge me with? God said, I've justified you
and I do not remember your sins. Many get so scared of that message. You cannot tell sinners that
or they'll sin. No, that's what humbles you. That's what subdues your flesh. It's the forgiveness of God that
is the greatest disciplinary. It is the love of God. That humbles the heart. Law doesn't do it. Law does not
do it. Here was Paul's fortress right
here. Here it is. Here is the shield of every believer,
verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. There is our fortress. It is Christ that died. When
the devil came around whispering to Paul, you killed Stephen. You were as guilty as the men
that actually threw the stones. You held their coats. You killed
Stephen. You held God's children to prison
and loved it and delighted in it. You're a sinner. Paul's only
answer was, it is Christ that died. Now if anybody says there's got
to be more than that, then you think there's more than that.
That's salvation. It's Christ that died. It's Christ
that died. When Paul was in prison and men
preached to add to his bonds, remember how he said that? You
could just hear the message. You heard him declare that which
he hates, that's what he does. You may have heard him declare
that what he would do, he doesn't do. You've heard him say he's
the chief of sinners. Now he's in prison. God's showing
you, this man's a false prophet. And that came into Paul's hearing. And that sound of condemnation
is just echoing and echoing and echoing. What was his fortress? It is Christ that died. It's
Christ that died. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Brethren, this is my only refuge.
This is my only refuge. All my sins, all my sins were
laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He bore in His own body all my
sins. and a wrath of God was poured
out on him in my room instead, he became me on that cross. I
am crucified with Christ. That's what Paul said. And when
he said it's finished, he declared all my sins were put away. He declared he had justified
me from all my sins. God declared I'll remember their
sins no more. All God's elect, even before
we knew it happened, He'd already accomplished it. Faith is just
God giving you the ability to hear and understand and believe
that it is already done. It is accomplished. If thou hast
my discharge procured and freely in my room endured the whole
of wrath divine, payment God cannot twice demand, first at
my bleeding surety's hand and then again at mine. The same
justice that required Christ to go to that cross and lay down
His life in place of His people and to satisfy justice for us,
now that that justice is satisfied, that same justice says, They
must be saved. They cannot be condemned. And
God will not and He cannot condemn a single person for whom Christ
died because Christ justified us by His blood. And it's God
that justified us. If He's your only hope, if your
only hope is it's Christ that died. If your hope is He died in my
place, He satisfied justice in my place, God is satisfied with
Him in my room instead. If He's your only hope, this
is the good news. Here's the fortress. There is
now no condemnation to you because you're in Christ. You believe
Him. And that's not true if you don't
believe him. If there's something else, if there's something else
you have to add, you don't have a fortress. But if you believe
him, there is now no condemnation. Here's what Paul's rock was,
verse 34. Yea, rather, he's risen again. Christ rising from the dead declares
that He is both God and the Christ. He's God and He is the anointed
and the appointed Savior of His people. That's what His rising
from the grave declares. He declares that everything He
accomplished on that cross, He not only accomplished redemption,
He accomplished eternal redemption. He not only made His people righteous,
He made us eternally righteous. Because He's eternal God and
everything He accomplished is eternal. Christ rising from the
dead declared He accomplished putting away the sin of His people. He accomplished our justification.
He accomplished our redemption from the curse of the law. He
was delivered from our offenses and was raised again for our
justification. That's what Romans 4.25 said.
Here's Paul's fortress against every charge. It was not only
Christ's death, it was not only Christ's resurrection, it's this.
Verse 34, who's even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us. The right hand of God's a place
of honor. That's the place of honor. That's
where Christ Jesus, our substitute, that's where he sits right now.
Hebrews 1.3 says he's the brightness of God's glory. He's the express
image of his person. It says he upholds all things
by the word of his power. And when he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on
high, being made so much better than the angels. He hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they. Unto which of the
angels did God say at any time, Thou art my son, this day have
I begotten thee? But unto the Son God said, Thy
throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is a scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with oil of gladness above all thy fellows. And here's the good news, here's
our fortress. Scripture says, every elect child
of God arose in him and sat down in him and is seated there right
now in him. That's why Paul said, if you
then be risen with Christ, are you? Are you? Your brother sins,
he's fallen. This is the only thing I'm concerned
about with that. Is his heart been broken to where
he sees his sins against God and his only hope is that he's
risen with Christ and he's just been made to just be drawn closer
to Christ through his fall. That's the only thing I care
about. If you're risen with Christ, this is what God says through
Paul. He said, if you're risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above. What does that mean? It means whatever condemning
word you hear, whether it's your own conscience, whether it's
the devil, whether it's the world, whoever, and anything they try
to lay to your charge, this is what he's saying. Seek those things which are above,
where Christ sits. Remember, and it's God that justifies.
It's Christ that died. It's Christ that's risen. Set
your affection on things above, not on the things of the earth,
for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then you shall appear with Him in glory." That
means there is no condemnation. Paul's confidence against every
charge was this, Romans 8.34, the end there, "...who also maketh
intercession for us." There it is again, that ETH. That old
English ETH means it's just ongoing, it don't ever end. That's what
it means. Christ is ever living to continually
make intercession for His people. I've said this to you before. He may be actually praying for
us and beseeching the Father for us, but He don't have to
do that. He's just there. And His wounds declare who he
is, his wounds declare who he is, what he's accomplished. Right
now, as a regenerated, sanctified, holy child of God, why do you
need Christ to intercede for you? Now just think about that. Why is it comforting and why
is it a must that you need Christ to intercede for you right now?
What's the point of that? It's because right now where
you sit in your flesh dwells no good thing. That's why. That's why. It's because you've
sinned today sitting right here trying to worship God. And I
have too. That's exactly why. When Paul
made this challenge, think of the boldness of this challenge.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? That's
a pretty bold challenge. He's not suggesting a believers
without sin when he says that. Not in ourselves. But he's declaring
there is a refuge to whom we flee right now for mercy and
forgiveness and for cleansing. That's what he's declaring. When
Paul listed all those sins to the Corinthians. This is so important. When he listed all those sins
to the Corinthians and he said, and such were some of you. He didn't say that to condemn
his brethren at Corinth. That's not why he said that.
His motive was not to destroy their faith in Christ. That was
not his motive. It was not to turn them back
to the law. It was not to turn them to the works of their own
hands. That would have been legalism if that would have been the heart's
motive of why he said that. At the very moment he wrote the
epistle They were guilty of many of those sins he listed. At the
moment he wrote the epistle of committing those sins. And he
knew that. And yet he called them brethren. He declared they came behind
in no gift. Here's what he was reminding
them of. This is the thing that he put the emphasis on right
here. After he said, and such were
some of you, he said, but you are washed. You are sanctified. You are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. If you looked
at them in Corinth, he told them plain as day, you're acting like
babies. If you would have looked at him,
if a Pharisee would have come to that church, he would have
said, Antinomian church right there, that's one of them Calvinistic
churches. Bunch of lawless people. Paul
came there and declared the gospel to them. and said, I know it
don't look like it to you, but you're washed, you're justified,
and you didn't do it, God did it. What's He doing? He's turned
them from them to Christ. So that by the Spirit of God
their flesh will be subdued, their old man will be put off,
they will turn from those sins and be granted repentance. This
is why He's declaring it. That was His motive. He was preaching
the same good news that John declared when he said, when any
man sin, We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the Righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins. An Advocate with the Father.
Our Father is the Judge, and His Son, the One who died for
His people, is the Advocate. And He is the Righteousness.
He is the reason there is no condemnation. And he's right
there at God's right hand making intercession for us. And he's the reason for mercy. He's the propitiation for our
sins. He's the reason God will have
mercy on our sins. He's the reason that John's former
statement's true. John said in 1 John 1.9, if we
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I'm telling you something, brethren.
Anybody trusted in their works hates that message. They hate
it. Why? Because they don't have faith
to believe it. That's why. It takes it all out of a man's
hands. And it's all in Christ alone.
When our Savior told Peter, now how is this going to help me
and you? When our Savior told Peter, He said, If a brother
trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in
a day he turn again to thee and say, I repent. He said, You forgive
him. Thou shalt forgive him. That's
what He said. Thou shalt forgive him. I don't believe that our
Lord Jesus was saying, You ought to. I think He said what He said. You shall. Because He will make
you. He'll make you forgiven. Why then, after he said it, why
was the next statement out of their mouth this? They said to
the Lord, increase our faith. Why? If I'm going to bear my brother's
burdens, Galatians 6 tells you. To fulfill the law of Christ,
I'll have people call me and the preacher's not preaching
on godly living enough. And nine times out of ten, this
is folks calling me from another congregation, nine times out
of ten, the issue is somebody has offended them and they want
to hear the preacher preach on good works so it'll put that
other person in their place and tell them how they ought to be
treating them. And so what I always say to them, and it's never popular,
but this is what I always say, since you're so adamant about
believers maintaining good works, then just do what the scripture
says you should do. Submit to your pastor and obey
him that has the rule over you, that he might minister to you
with joy and not with grief. Well, we weren't talking about
doing those good works. That's not the good work. We're
talking about some good works that's going to, you know, help
me in my motive of getting what I want. See, it's going to take
faith. that Christ, to seek Christ has
borne all your burdens and carried them all away and it's totally
justified you and it's God that's done it. It's going to take faith
to behold that for you to really believe He did that for my brother
too. And my brother's justified. It's
going to take faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, beholding Him,
to make you see that everything I lost in Adam, Christ has restored
to me. And more than I lost in Adam
has He restored to me. And that's the only way you will
be made willing to restore another that's fallen. And what are you
going to restore him with? What do you have to give anybody?
What do you have anybody? I'm going to let him back in
the church. It ain't your church. It is not your church, it's Christ. What you gonna restore him with?
The good news of the gospel. And your fellowship with him. And now listen brethren, this
is not only goes for brother falling in immoral sin, this
is for when we're puffed up and on the mountain. I find that
sin a lot harder to bear, that burden, and restore than somebody
that's fallen into sin. I think that's normal for God's
people because Christ spoke very graciously to sinners that came
to Him and to His disciples, but He was really, really strong
toward Pharisees. that were self-righteous. And
I think that's why you and me, maybe you're not that way. I
have a lot more difficulty because here's why. I see, I don't have
any business condemning anybody. I don't have a business condemning
anybody. And God's been so merciful to
me to forgive me. Hadn't He been to you? So if
I'm going to do this in meekness, considering myself, lest I become
puffed up and think I'm something more than I am, I'm going to
have to have faith to see Christ did all this in meekness, and
came to me, and had pity on me, and had compassion on me, and
drew me to His breast. When I was unlovable, and a thousand
times since that I've been unlovable. And he just keeps doing it and
keeps doing it. You know, you have to wait on
the Lord to open the door to be able to do that. But boy,
I tell you, if a brother is brokenhearted and humbled and they just want
to worship Christ, isn't that all you want? If His only hope is it's God
that justifies. It's Christ that died. Christ
interceded for me. That's what saved me. How could
you not say, come on in? Who's to lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Who is He that condemneth? Only
you which are spiritual. Only you whose only refuge is
that it's God that justifies. You whose only refuge is it's
Christ that died, that's risen again, who's at the right hand
of God, who's ever living to make intercession. Only you that
are spiritual, that have faith to behold Him. are gonna be able
to look at a brother who's fallen or a brother who's lifted up
in pride and be able to say, Christ ever lives to make intercession
for us. For us. For you and David the murderer,
for you and David the adulterer, You mean if my brother sinned
that bad for us? He's making intercession. Spurgeon said this to his congregation.
I'm going to say this and I'm done. I say this to you. I say this to you and I mean
this. I pray I'm not deceived. He said, ìOn Christ and what
He has done, my soul hangs for time and eternity. And if your
soul also hangs there, it will be saved as surely as mine shall
be. And if youíre lost trusting in
Christ, whoever you may be, I will be lost with you.î and I will
go to hell with you. I must do so for I have nothing
else to rely upon but the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, lived and died and was buried and rose again and went up to
heaven and still lives and pleads for sinners at the right hand
of God. I say amen. Here's what the song
says. Do we really mean this? My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's all. Amen.