that Kathy is sick, so she's
had the flu, I think, or she's not feeling very well at all,
and Tammy is not feeling well, and Sherry's afraid because she
has upcoming surgery, so she doesn't want to get sick and
then have that postponed. I understand. Pray for them,
very highly unusual for them, and ask God's mercies on them,
and Ask God's healing. Remember Eric
in your prayers. I haven't heard from him or Angela
today. So imagine the situation has
not changed since I heard last. I think they were supposed to
go to the doctor this week sometime and get the results of his scans. So pray for them, if you will. Jean's mother, pray for her,
as well as Trinda. Took a lot for us to get here,
didn't it? Took a lot for us who are here. And I was reading today about how
the Apostle Paul was in his trip to Rome. It was no pleasure cruise. I'm sure that if we were to go
anywhere and it took us something like that, I imagine we'd never
go anywhere. But I'm glad the Lord brought us together. I'm
glad that he has done this, and I pray the message tonight would
be a blessing and a comfort, because that's how it's intended. When I prepare the messages,
I really want them to comfort God's people. The struggles we face are great.
The trials we face are difficult. And believing in Christ adds
to the afflictions. It doesn't take away from them.
It adds to the afflictions that we face in this world. So, I pray that this would be
a place of rest. A time to come aside and
feed on the Word of God and just rejoice in what God has done. To rejoice in what God has done
and I know this, this is the only thing that's going to sustain
us in these afflictions. You're not going to find anything
else to be able to sustain your soul but the gospel. So I do pray that God would take
this message and comfort the hearts of His people, and I know
this, that He is capable of saving the lost, and that is another
prayer that we should have, that God would save His people. And I know this is only through
the preaching of the gospel. That's it. This is the means.
I was thinking today that if I would preach something else,
this place would be full. If I was to preach something
else other than Christ, it would be easy to fill the place. But
that's not what my master has commanded me to do. I am commanded
to preach Christ. Preach the word. When? When it's
popular and when it's not. And that's what we do. We preach
the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this alone feeds and comforts
God's people. The goats have no taste for it.
The goats have no taste for sheep food. They'll eat anything else
but sheep food. And the sheep, they enjoy the
food that God has prepared them. I pray that God will bless me
as I preach this to you. Let's go to him in prayer. Our
Father, we come before you tonight full of anxieties and fears and
difficulties and troubles, afflictions abide us in every place. We come away, Father, into this
place tonight asking for a reprieve, place, Father, where we would
be free from these thoughts and fears and that we should at this
time focus on the great things that you have done, the magnificent
salvation that you have provided through Jesus Christ our Lord,
that he should be magnified, that his work should be amplified
in the minds and hearts of your people. And I do beg you to take
away the distractions, the things that would distract us from this. And by your Spirit, apply it
to every heart, including the heart of this man. I do pray
that you would be effectual to us through the preaching tonight. That you would be very powerful
according to the power of your Spirit. Apply it to every heart. We pray for those who are outside
of Christ, those who do not know Christ, that you would be even
this night gracious and raise the dead. For those who cannot be here,
we pray for them, those who are sick, we lift them up before
you. We plead for your healing and your grace upon them. I beg
for power and strength in my body and mind that I might preach
the word and that you'd open the hearts of your people for
it. Tonight, as we gather, as we hear these things, and as
we go from this place, I pray that you would give us hearts
to say it has been good that we have been in the house of
our God. I pray you'd forgive us our sins.
Cleanse us of all our unrighteousness. And this we plead in the name
of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and for his sake. Amen. All right, take your Bibles and
turn with me to Romans 8. Romans chapter 8. I'm going to have
to condense this. I have a lot here. But I really
want to condense this. And our text will be found in verse
33 and 34. The Apostle says, 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 is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession us. Now I want to give you my
outline. I thought about this and if I don't get through to
make it through the end I at least want to give you everything
up front. I've thought about this and I've
entitled this the four pillars, the foundation and four pillars
of justification. Now if you were to imagine a
Greek building, okay, a Greek building like the Parthenon and
you'd see that large foundation large foundation, and on that
foundation you would see pillars, marble pillars, and it holds
up this vast roof with all of its beautiful designs. And I
want you to see the roof is our refuge, and it is justification. Justification. And what holds up our justification
are these four pillars and this foundation, the four pillars
are found in verse 34. The first pillar is going to
be this, Christ died. The second is Christ is risen.
The third is that He is at the right hand of God. And fourth,
that He ever lives to make intercession for us. Those are the pillars
that hold up our justification. But we're also going to see something
more. The foundation of our justification is found in verse 33. the election
of God. This is the foundation of our
justification. And out of that foundation come
these four pillars, Christ's death, his burial and resurrection,
his ascension and his intercession. And what is the result of this?
It is our justification. So I hope that this becomes clear
tonight. Now, as we have seen last time,
the apostle makes this statement. He says, since Verse 31, what
shall we say to these things? Since God be for us, who can
be against us? If God has decreed our salvation,
if Christ has redeemed us, if the Spirit has called us and
quickened us to life, what are we going to say to these things?
Here it is, since God is for us, who can be against us? The
obvious answer is nobody and nothing. And to prove this, to prove God
is for us. Now that's one thing to say that
God is for me, but how do I know? Here it is, He spared not His
own Son. The greatest thing that God could
give you was His Son. And if God has given you His
Son, how then shall He not freely with Him give you all things
that He promised you? Now which things are what? Eternal life. And how is God
going to withhold eternal life from you? If He gave His Son
so that you might have eternal life, then why would He withhold
eternal life? It wouldn't make sense. If God
has made peace by the blood of His cross, then how then should
that peace be disrupted? He's arguing from the greater
to the lesser. And so then, since God has freely given us
these things, what are we to do? We are to patiently wait
for them in faith, patiently endure all of the afflictions
of this life, all of the troubles of this life by looking to Christ
by faith. And so the apostle tells us in
Hebrews 12, he said, let us run the race that is before us. With
patience, let us run this race before us. Doing what? Looking
unto Jesus. who is the author and the finisher
of our faith. And so as we run this race of
patience, we know this, that we are constantly surrounded
by difficulties. Why do we need to be reminded
God's for us? Because of the difficulties, we seem to think
God is not for us. These difficulties move us to
doubt either our participation in this gospel or this salvation
or God's faithfulness to it. And so the apostle, knowing these
troubles and these afflictions, what is his message of comfort? What is the message of comfort
that causes us to keep on going? It is this message of justification.
It is this message of God's justifying work. Look at Romans 5. I like
the way the Apostle ordered this. By the Holy Spirit, it's ordered.
Look at chapter 5 again. Paul makes a conclusion here.
He says, therefore, being justified by faith. He's going to speak
of what he had been talking about in the previous chapters. Our
justification before God. Therefore, being justified. That's already done. It's accomplished.
You have something. You have peace with God. Listen,
it's not by your merits and by your worth. You have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And not only that, you have access. He says, "...by whom we have
access by faith into the grace wherein we stand, and rejoice
in hope of the glory of God." What's the first thing in these
verses he mentions? Our justification. Now then, look at the next verses
and see what he talks about. He talks about our endurance.
He said, and not only do we glory in this, but also in what? Tribulation. Why? Tribulation worketh patience. Patience, experience, experience
hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, and the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts. Now we always want to start with
the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. Remember, this is
a chain, and this chain must occur in each link. You can't
skip a link. Tribulation is going to work
endurance. It's going to. And endurance
is going to do something. It's going to work experience.
You're going to see God working in experience. And experience
gives us confidence. And confidence Hope, make it
not a shame. And then what? The love of God
is shed abroad in our heart. Guess what? Start over. Tribulation
worketh patience. Patience, experience, experience,
hope. Hope, make it not a shame. The love of God is shed abroad
in our heart. Start over. Tribulation worketh patience.
This is our life, friend. This is the experience of every
believer in this world. We are going to go through this
change. But what is the comfort in all of this? How then do we
endure? By looking at the first verse.
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Now that
is the comfort that gives us the endurance. It is the message
of God's justifying work. And so now in our text, the apostle
displays our justification and fortifies the believer's conscience
against fear and guilt. against the external temptations
and afflictions of our enemies and the things in this world.
So in verse 33, the first thing he says is he begins to lay a
foundation for us regarding this justification. He says this,
go back in your text, he says, who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? And why does he use that in that
phrase? Because he had already mentioned those back up in verse
29, for whom he did foreknow. He also did predestinate under
the adoption of... predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son. These are the elect. And he says
to everyone, who shall lay anything to the charge of those that God
chose from the foundation of the world? How can you charge
them with anything? Why? God justified them. God justified them. Next he says, who's going to
condemn them? And then he gives these four pillars. The reason
why God, no one is able to accuse God's people is because God justified
them. And nobody is going to ever condemn
them because of these four things. Because Christ died. because
Christ rose again, because Christ sits at the right hand of God,
and because Christ intercedes for them. So believers, we shall have troubles
in this life, but nothing shall prevail against us. Nothing can
interfere with this matter of our justification. Nothing. Why? We didn't have anything to do
with it. Not anything. We didn't lay the foundation,
we didn't erect the pillars, and we surely didn't justify
ourselves. So then we can do nothing to contaminate this. This is glorious. That nobody
can lay accusation or condemnation to God's elect. So here's the
first thing. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
Believer. Listen to what Paul says here. by the Holy Ghost. He reminds you that you are the
elect of God. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of one group? You can lay a charge to anyone
else, but you cannot lay a charge to these people. They are the
elect of God. And so you who believe on Jesus
Christ, You have not done so by chance.
You have not believed by accident. I know that you preach the gospel
to your children. I know that you've had them sit under the
gospel all of their lives. But you, Terrence, had nothing
to do with your children believing. Nothing. Nothing to do whatsoever.
They believe because God gave them faith to believe. That's
it. If my children will ever believe, it will never be because
of me. Matter of fact, I am probably more of a hindrance than anything
else to my own son, to my own daughter. But that's no hindrance to God. If you believe it is because
you are chosen by the sovereign will of the Father. Our election
was not ascribed to us by any merits in ourselves, It was never
based on anything we have done, anything we are doing, or anything
we shall ever do. Our election is totally based
on the sovereign will of God, and that's it. You that are the elect, here's
the foundation of your justification. You were chosen. You were chosen. So look at this foundation tonight,
the foundation that upholds your justification. So no one is able
to charge you with the sin. It's astounding. It is the foundation of our justification
that we are free from all the charges of sin is rooted in our
election of God by whom we were put into union with Christ. There's
where our justification began. If I can even use the term when,
because I have to use it, because I only understand things in time.
So I say, when God chose you. There was never really a time
where He actually chose you. He had always chosen you. I don't
understand that, but that's so. When God chose you, listen, He
puts you into union with His Son. What has that been justifying
you? Scripture says, according as
he had chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
When were you elected? Somebody said this. The gospel
is very simple. It's not complicated. None of
this is complicated. You understand everything I just
said. It's very elementary language. You that believe. God chose you
before there was ever sin or anything else. And God puts you
in Christ for this purpose, that you should be holy and without
blame. Now, why did God put you in Christ?
See, we'll do a little pop quiz. After every statement I make,
you can do a little pop quiz to yourself. Why did God put you in Christ?
That you should be holy. That's His will. That's His purpose. That you should be without sin. You should be justified because
that's what justified is. It is to be innocent of all charges. That's what justified is. And you should be justified by
Jesus Christ. That's the way He said it. He
said, you should be holy and without blame before him, in
love, having predestinated you unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ. So the election of God makes
all the accusations of Satan, men, and even myself empty. You see, for Satan to accuse
me, he would have to talk to God about that. Why? Why would he not talk to
me? Because I didn't justify myself.
God did. You see why he can't make an
accusation? Because he would have to make an accusation that
God's a liar. If God justified me, it had to be a just. He couldn't
do it any other way. It had to be just. And God justified
us. You that are elect, God says
this, no one is going to lay any charge to you. No one. Why? I justified you. The election
of God then. I want you to see this because
this is vitally important. Every time we talk about election,
is there any room for pride? Is there any room for boasting
that I am chosen over someone else? There isn't. You see, if we understand election
right, it doesn't exalt us, it abases us. You see, free will
works religion, exalt men. That's false humility. Why? Because they believe they've
got something to offer. What does one who knows the election
of God know? I have nothing to offer. I have
nothing to do with this. It abases us. It doesn't exalt
us. This vain religious world hates
what I just said, despises it. And the only reason they despise
it is because they believe they have something to offer. That's
the only reason you could despise the election. Because you think
you still have something to offer God. That God needed to choose
you based on something you would do for Him. So what are you doing? You're basing your justification
before God on something you do. What do the elect base our justification
on? The sovereign will of God. To us who are saved, we know
that we were dead in sin. And God hath quickened us to
life. If salvation was left up to us, none of us would have
chose him. If salvation's a choice, like
men say, there wouldn't be anyone saved. Now, how do I know that? Because Jesus himself said that. No man can come to me except. I'm thankful for that. Except,
I'm glad, what I call the divine exception. There is an exception,
except the Father do something. Except the Father which has sent
me draw him. So we know this, that self-justification
is rooted in our, the election of grace. And so our confidence In our
election is this, God chose us, God justified us. It was God who put us in Christ
so that He might bring us to Himself. That's God's whole purpose,
to bring you to Himself. That's His will, that's what
He determined to do. So consider this, you chosen
of God. that our justification is founded
upon the unchangeable, immutable purpose of God. I like that.
He said, I am the Lord. I change not. And what's the conclusion of
God's immutable will is immutable. Therefore, this is why you sons
of Jacob are not concerned. The sons of Jacob will not be
consumed because God's will to make us holy is immutable. There's no way it's not going
to happen. God will make everyone he chose
in Christ, he will make them holy and acceptable before him. Why? He loved them. He loved
them. Every one of them will be his
sons. This is our hope of justification
as God's immutable will. But how can a man know his election?
That's a vital question. You can believe in the doctrine
of election, but really, what good does that do you if you're
not one? You don't know. How do you know
if you are His elect? This is vital because only they
are justified. Only they are going to be justified. And we know this for sure that
God has not chosen all men because if that were so, all
men would be holy. There would be no hell. If God
purposed to save everyone, everyone would be saved. But God did not. In the false gospel, they spout
that foolishness and say, well, God loves everybody, and salvation
is dependent on what you want to do, what you do. But the gospel
is clear. God chose to save some. How may
we know if we are the elect of God? It's very simple. Again,
the gospel is not complex. Faith in Christ is the only evidence
that you are God's elect. Faith in Christ. It is the only
evidence that you are the elect of God. And so we who believe
in Christ understand this, that we were called to faith by the
Holy Spirit. We were called to faith. Look
back up in your text here in verse 30. He says in verse 29
that he foreknew a people and predestinated them to be holy,
but who are they? Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
what else did he do? He called them. He called them. Everyone God
chose and justified in Christ, listen, He will call them. They
will be called. Not with some ineffectual call. He's not playing on people's
emotions and feelings. Why? Because those things change. When God calls a man to faith
in Christ, that man will believe. Why? He is born again of the
Spirit of God. He is a new creation. He's a new creation. So all He
predestinated to be holy, they shall be called. Now listen, I call everyone.
I do. I long for everyone who hears
me to believe on Jesus Christ. I do. Without exception. I would
love for everyone who hears this to believe on Christ. And I say
this without hesitation. Whosoever believes on Christ
shall be saved, without doubt. Why? Because I believe, I know
this to be true. Everyone God predestinated to
be called, they will be called, and they will believe. Without
doubt. Now I don't know who they are.
That's why I gotta call everybody. That's why the gospel goes out
to everyone. Because I don't know who they
are. God does. And when God wants to arrest
a man, He'll arrest him. He arrested this man. I was so
glad to be arrested. I was. So glad he called me. I know this. All he calls, listen,
whom he calls, what does he also do? He justified. He justified. Why? That was his will before
the foundation of the world was that you should be without sin,
that you should be justified. Is it any surprise now that you
believe are justified? It shouldn't be, because God
had already determined it. He justified. We who are the
elect of God, let us see the comfort of this, the joy of it. By the eternal, unchangeable,
immutable will of God, you who believe are justified. You're justified. I like what
he says in Ephesians chapter 2. You can look over there, Ephesians
chapter 2. He talks about our resurrection. He said, we were dead in trespasses
and sin, but God quickened us. We walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. We all had our
conversation in time past, in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling
the lust of the flesh and the desires of the mind, and were
by nature the children of wrath, just like everybody else. Listen,
here's the difference, but God. That's all you can say. This
is a divine conjunction, but. Without this, there's no hope.
But God, who is rich in mercy. For his great love, wherewith
he loved us. even when we were dead in sin. Now, up to this part, what have
you done in all this? The only thing mentioned about
you is you're dead in sin. It didn't mention anything about
your love for God, but His love it mentions. even when you were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace you are saved,
and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ." Now this is still all before you were born.
You got all this? All this was done before you
came into the world. God had done this. When Christ
lived, you lived in Christ. When Christ died, you died in
Christ. When Christ rose, you rose in
Christ. You get it? He was your representative. Now listen, that in the ages
to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and kindness
toward us through Jesus Christ our Lord, for by grace you are
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. See, there
comes in faith now. In the ages to come, he did all
that, already justified you, right? And now what does he do?
He lets you experience it. By grace, he gives you faith. So who are the elect? They're
everyone that believes. Everyone that believes. This
is the foundation of our justification. It is the election of God's grace. And so do you believe on the
Son of God? Then this is the foundation of your hope for election,
for justification. How do you know that nobody can
lay anything to your charge? Because you are God's elect. Because God chose me and justified
me before there was ever sin to oppose me. I was already justified. Justified by the will of God. not by my works of righteousness,
not by my obedience to the law. I wasn't justified because of
my faith. My faith did not justify me. What a terrible thing that
would be, right? What if your faith was the grounds
of your justification? What if one day you just, you
fell off and you're like Asa said, I just don't even have
any faith anymore. Then you wouldn't have any justification.
But see, my justification is not dependent upon my faith.
My justification is founded by the will of God. God willed and
decreed that I should be justified. And this is the hope of every
elect sinner, saved by grace, against all the accusations of
conscience and men. Does your conscience accuse you?
Because mine sure does. It is constant. It is ever-present
accusation after accusation after accusation. And yet God says this, Who in
the world are you to lay anything to the charge of my elect? I
justified you. Does that not ease conscience?
Much less somebody else trying to accuse me. I know this, that no one can
accuse me simply because this, it was God that justified me.
Listen, not man. You know, I'm not, I cannot justify
myself. I cannot. Can you? Can you somehow
justify anything that you've ever done? No. But I'm glad I
don't have to. Because God is the one to forgive
me of my sins. God does. He said this, I, even
I, that's what God said, I, myself, me, alone, I, I am the one that
blotteth out thy transgression as a thick cloud. And listen, for my own sake,
I will not remember thy sins. Listen, what you can't forget,
God will not remember. He said, I won't remember. David confessed his sin. He said
that against thee and thee only have I sinned. It is God alone who can condemn
me. but I am so thankful it is also
God alone who can justify me." Does your sin trouble you? Does
your conscience accuse you? God asked this question through
the apostle, who in the world is able to lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justified. Look, believer, elect of God,
our justification was not unjust. And so now we're going to look
at these pillars that rise up out of the foundation of God's
justification. What are the grounds then that
God can justify me? God can't do something that's
unjust. We all know that. He can't justify me unjustly. We see this all the time in our
judicial system. We see men who are really guilty
being justified. And we see men who are innocent
of things being criminalized. We see it all the time. It doesn't
matter what these things are. God is just and He cannot unjustly
justify somebody. So what then is the grounds of
our justification? If God is going to justify His
elect and says you can't accuse them of sin, He better have a
good reason why. And he does. And out of this
ground come these four pillars. Four pillars by which we see
we are justified. Look at this next verse and you
can see it. Go back to your text. Now in verse 34 he asks a follow-up
question. He says, first question, who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? The second is,
who is he that condemneth? Now I like this. This is a kind
of a head-scratcher here. If somebody can't even accuse
you of something, how in the world can they condemn you? You
get a man, he arrests a guy and he brings him before the judge
or the magistrate and he says, condemn him! What does the judge
say? What's the charge? Well, he has no charge. Well,
how can I condemn somebody that I can't even charge? And so who then can condemn us
if there is no charge to be laid on us? It is impossible. So here's a question. How can
this be true? How can this be true? because we have truly sinned. We have truly committed grievous
offenses. How can God be just and justify
us? To declare us to be righteous
and free from all charges and condemnation when we've actually
sinned. Now here are the four pillars
upon which we are justified. First of all, look at this. Who
is he that condemneth? First of all, here's the first
pillar, Christ that died. It is Christ that died. This
is why we can't be accused, and this is why we can't be condemned,
because Jesus Christ died for our sins. that by His death, as our federal
head and representative, Jesus Christ bore our sins in His own
body. When we say God imputed our sins
to Him, now that word impute means to charge. God can never
charge somebody that is not truly guilty. He can't impute sin to Christ
until He did something else. He made Him to be sin for us.
How did He do that? I don't know. I don't have a
clue how He did that. I know He did. This is my hope
of being justified, is that Christ bore all of my sins, and Him
bearing my sins, God in strict justice executed His Son. killed his
own son in order to satisfy his justice against my sins. We know God's justice and absolution
of our sins is not done unjustly. God could never pardon us or
accept us unless his justice against us is satisfied. I have
truly sinned against God. There is no doubt. There is no
question to this. Every believer confesses this.
John says, if you confess otherwise, the truth is not in you. We know
this about ourselves. Yet how can I uphold this to
be true? How can I know this to be true?
Because Jesus Christ, whatever sin I have committed, am right
now committing and shall commit in the future, Jesus Christ has
already bore it under the justice of God. He's already paid the
debt for it. This is why, this is how God
can justly say you can't charge Him. Why? I have already charged
my son for it. Christ died. Therefore the atonement, the
atonement was made in order that God might justly justify His
elect. This was set forth in all those
types and shadows in the Old Testament. Every sacrifice you
read in the Old Testament, Paul says in Hebrews, he says, Almost
everything in that old dispensation was sprinkled with blood. If
they made the tabernacle, they had to sprinkle it with blood.
They had to make the altar, they sprinkled it with blood. They
had all the sacrifices. Blood was everywhere. Why? Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. That's what God was testifying
of. Therefore, when Jesus Christ entered in, to the presence of
God, He entered in with His own blood. Now listen to this, He
said He did this and all those other things were just a figure,
just a picture of the true. But Christ entered in, listen,
once! I like that. Once! His sacrifice
was only one sacrifice. He entered in once into the presence
of God with His own blood. And what did Paul say? He says,
but now once in the end of the world he hath appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So where'd my sin go? Put it away. Unjustly? I knew a man, he was in prison,
he was in jail, and all of a sudden they came to him in his cell
at night and they said, hey, you're free to go. And the guy
said, what? I got court in like a month or
two and I have all these charges against me? And he said, oh no,
you're cleared. Go ahead. And they let him out. And every day what this man was
doing was looking over his shoulder waiting for them to come back.
Why? He was unjustly released. You don't have to look over your
shoulder. You're not unjustly released. Your sin debt has been
fully, absolutely, completely paid for. He was paid for by the blood of
Jesus Christ. I like this. Hebrews 10 verse
12, by his one offering he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. Now he either did or he didn't. You that believe, he hath perfected
forever. That's before you even got here. Therefore, the death of Christ
utterly forbids the condemnation and accusation of God's people. That's why he said in the beginning,
there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
I like this hymn. I wrote it down. It says, Not
what my hands have done could have saved my guilty soul. Not
what my toiling flesh is born could make my spirit whole. Not
what I feel or do can give me peace with God. Not all my prayers
and sighs and tears can bear my awful load. Thy work alone,
O Christ, can ease the weight of sin. Thy blood alone, O Lamb
of God, can give me peace within. The foundation of your justification
is your election, but the pillar of it is his death, the death
of Jesus Christ. Now, the second pillar is likened
to it. It is the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. And I want you to get this. Every
pillar is necessary. Everyone I'm talking about, it's
kind of like if you put three pillars on the Parthenon, you
think that's going to hold? It's going to roof fall down.
You've got to have all four. Now the second one is likened
to the first. It's necessary. The resurrection
of Christ was necessary. Look what he said. Who is he
that condemned that Christ had died? Yea, rather, is risen again. Why is the resurrection necessary? Because if Christ was not raised,
then he failed. The resurrection is proof of
the success of his death. Paul mentions this in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. There were people there saying
there was no resurrection. What a horrible thing that would
be, right? There's no resurrection. People going around the church
saying, there's no resurrection! That bodily resurrection is just
a hoax! Paul said, listen, you don't know what you're saying.
If there's no resurrection, it's because of this, Christ wasn't
raised. And he says, if Christ is not
risen, our preaching is vain. We're false prophets. He said, for if he raised not
Christ from the dead, if the dead are not raised, then Christ
is not raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, and you're yet in your sins. You see the
importance of his resurrection? The importance of it is the proof
of his death, the success of it. Why do you think so many
men spend so much of their life trying to disprove the resurrection
of Christ? They do. I mean, there are books,
volumes of books written by idiots who seem to try to prove by archaeological
studies and everything else that Jesus Christ is still somewhere
in a grave somewhere. We know this, that He has risen. He is risen. So then my hope of His death,
my hope that His death was successful, is the fact that God raised Him
from the dead. God raised Him from the dead.
So in His death He bore our condemnation, and in His resurrection He proved
our justification. He says in Romans 4, Verse 25, He was delivered for
our offenses, He was raised again for what? Our justification. Our justification. Our Lord said this, He said it
behooved Christ to suffer and rise from the dead the third
day. It behooved Him. It was necessary. Why? that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem." See, there would be no repentance and remission
of sins had he not suffered and had he not been raised. What's
my hope that I'm justified? Well, my hope is in the blood
of Christ. Well, how do you know that's good enough? Because God
was satisfied, so satisfied, that he raised him from the dead.
That's how I know. I'm justified. He paid my sin
and paid it so well that God raised him from the dead because
he had no sin left to pay. No sin left to pay. The third
pillar of our justification is this, the ascension of Christ. Look at this. who is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God." Now, at this time, when a king
or a monarch or a Caesar would like to honor a man who had done
something glorious, something victorious for the good of Rome
or the good of his country. He would take that victor and
he would prepare a throne right next to his and he would set
that victor right next to him and that man would become the
hand of the king. He would do the wishes of the
king and everything that man said was the voice of the king.
Joseph is a picture of that. Pharaoh gave Joseph his right
hand. And wherever Joseph went, whatever
Joseph said, it was as Pharaoh himself said it. That's what
happened to Christ when He rose from the dead. He just didn't
go into heaven and mingle. No, God raised Him from the dead
and His work was so glorious, so victorious, that God sat Him
down on His own throne. There's a man on the throne of
God tonight. This is how I know I'm justified,
because the one who died for me is now living. And he's not
only living, he's ruling. This is absolutely essential,
isn't it? Imagine he died for us, he rose
again for us, but man, he don't have any power to make it happen.
We wouldn't have any justification. There wouldn't be any hope. It
would be left to chance or to the power of man. But know this,
when our Lord ascended, He said this, As thou hast given Him, the Son
of Man, power over all flesh, Do you realize that our Savior
right now has power over all flesh? Nothing happens outside
of His hand. Nothing. Nothing at all. Not a leaf blown in the wind
without His decree to move it. It's astounding the things that
God moves in just a moment of time. The things that He Those
cells in your body, I was thinking about that, just everything moving
through your body alone. The millions of functions that
your mind has to perform and your body has to perform. Who's
doing all that? Goddess. It's astounding. In
Him we live and move and have our being. When He says He has
power over all flesh, that's exactly what it means. Everyone. No one is outside of His power. That's good news. Because when
I was lost and in my sin, I didn't know He was ruling all
things. I didn't know what He was doing. He was moving all
things for my salvation. I didn't know that. But now that
I'm saved, I know that. I know that all of my life was
moving toward that point where He called me and He saved me.
He justified me. Why? That's the foundation. That's
what He willed to do. He died for it. He rose again.
He sat on the right hand of God and He made it happen. I'll give you an illustration
of this. The high priest Joshua. Remember, he's covered with all
those filthy garments. He's a high priest. Supposed
to have all those beautiful garments covered in filth. And somebody's ready to accuse
him. Satan is at his right hand, ready to accuse him. You know
what Satan says? Nothing. In that text, he absolutely
says nothing. He's ready to accuse him, but
he can't say it. He can't speak it. Why? Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justified.
He said, is this not a brand pluck from the burning? Isn't
this one mine? Jesus said that. This one's mine. And He said,
take off those filthy garments and put on those royal garments. Take that, wash him, clean him
up, put that crown on his head. And these words, and he stood
by. You know what he was standing
by for? To make sure it happened. Christ is sitting on the throne
making sure that every elect sinner is called and every elect
sinner believes and every elect sinner continues to believe until
they're brought home. Why? He justified me. And I like this, He is seated
at the right hand. What does that tell you? It means it's
done. The work's finished. The work's
finished. My justification was not in any
way my work. Neither is my sanctification.
Neither is my redemption. Neither is the wisdom that I
have and the faith that I have. None of that comes from me. It
is a gift of God. If you have it, it is a gift
of God. It's a grace. And the last pillar is this.
who maketh intercession for us. The intercession of Jesus Christ
is the last pillar that holds up His perfect justification.
Why? Because it is a daily, constant,
perpetual event. Now listen, we always say this,
I know Christ died for me, I know He rose again, I know He is seated
at the throne of God, but I am still constantly sinning. I am
still struggling with the sin nature that is about my neck,
that rotting corpse that hangs about my neck that I long to
be free of. I'm still bowed down when weighted
down by Him. And often we fear that our justification
is gone. How do I know that I'm still
justified today? Listen, because He ever liveth
to make perpetual intercession. He's constantly interceding for
you right now. What is it? His hands still bear
the marks. What is this? It is your name
written on His hands. And when someone would accuse
you, it is as though Jesus Christ says, Hey, and it's constant. How much intercession did you
need just sitting here? I know I needed a lot of intercession,
just preaching. This is the perpetual part of
our justification. He is constantly, perpetually
interceding for God's people. And what is the result then?
The result is this, there is not anyone who can charge you
and there is not anyone who can condemn you. Why? God willed to justify you. Christ died to justify you. Christ rose again to justify
you. Christ sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on High to justify you. And Christ is continually,
perpetually justifying you. So what can you conclude from
this? You can conclude this, that there is no one who can
lay anything to your charge. There is no one that can condemn
you And because you are justified, Paul's gonna say this, there's
no one that can separate you from the love of God that's in
Christ Jesus. Why? You are justified. Now I read something today, someone
said this, well when someone is justified, well God is just
declaring you to be justified. Not real! He's just pretending. God doesn't pretend. Now it is
true that I've not experienced the full measure of my justification. But I know this, I am justified
because God chose me and purpose that I should be justified. I
am justified because Christ died for me. I am justified because
Christ rose again for me. I am justified because he is
seated on the right hand of God, making sure I'm justified, and
he is perpetually, constantly interceding for me. That's what
John says. If we confess our sins, he is
what? Faithful and just. Well, I have trouble with that.
My faith is often failing in that. How can you be just to
forgive me after what I did? And yet he is. He is faithful
and just to forgive us. Listen, all our sins. This is the truth that gives
us the grace to endure. It is the gospel. It is the gospel. Salvation is of the Lord. All of it. All of it. If God
did it to accuse me, you'd have to talk to Him. To condemn me,
you have to go through Him. Christ would have to have been
a failure in one of those four things. Is He? Then you are justified. I don't feel justified. What
does that have to do with it? I don't feel justified either.
What's that matter? It's God that justifies. I pray
God bless this to your heart. So stand, be dismissed, and pray. Father, dismiss us with your
blessing and mercy and pour out your spirit on us, I plead. I
beg you for it. Take the truths. of this, the
foundation of our justification and the pillars of our justification,
and see this, that the justification you've given is our refuge, it
is Christ. Christ is all our justification,
all our sanctification, all our redemption and all our wisdom,
because you've made him so. I pray that you'd glorify and
honor his name in the hearts of your people, in Jesus' name,
amen.