If you'd like to follow along,
I'm going to be in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. I'm going to begin reading in
verse 31. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? 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. 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. Before I get started, I heard,
actually I read, something that I believe probably most of you,
at least most from the chapel, have heard before. But I really
liked it and I thought I would repeat it. Walter has picked up a saying,
and I like it too, that what is preaching is one sinner telling
another sinner and they need Christ. Well, this is the question,
what is a preacher? A preacher is a nobody who tells
everybody about the somebody who can save anybody. I like
that, I did, I like that. That is attributed to Scott Richardson,
and it sounds like it, it does. A preacher is a nobody who tells
everybody about the somebody who can save anybody. That's
the truth. That's the truth. We only have
one message and that message is Jesus Christ. And he is the somebody. But as for today here in Romans
chapter eight, there's three or four questions here which
Paul wrote basically as rhetorical. rhetorical questions. Paul doesn't
answer them in the scripture here, in his writing. He gives
the reasons, but he doesn't say anything as far as the answer
goes other than toward the end where he says, I'm persuaded
neither death nor life nor any other creature. All right? But here's my answer for these
questions. And I read this in a bulletin
and it really grabbed a hold of me. The answer to this That's my title. Now, it may
seem like a strange title because it probably is. It's a little
different. But I think it's appropriate
because that's the answer to these questions here in Romans
chapter eight. 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. Understand, Paul tells
us in response to that question, who shall lay anything to charge
of God's elect? He says, it is God that justified. Previously in Romans eight, you'll
read that God foreknew them, he predestinated them, he called
them, God justified them. God justified them by His faith,
the faith of Jesus Christ, who is the author and finisher of
faith. God justified by His grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And God justified by Christ's
precious blood. Righteous. Righteous. Justified. The word justified and the word
righteousness are derived from the same root word. Excuse me. It's just like faith and belief. They are the noun and the verb
forms, faith and belief. are the noun and the verb forms
of the same Greek word. Well, justified and righteousness
are the verb and the noun forms of the same Greek word. Secondly, it is Christ that died
and rose again. That's the response that he gave
to the question, who is he that condemned? It is Christ that
died and rose again. Now here's a question for you.
What did Jesus Christ do after he rose again? He ascended. for us. He brought forth his
blood and he offered it to God in the holy places up there. Not made with hands. Not made
with hands. Made without hands. And he has,
by his blood, obtained eternal redemption And what does Christ do now,
after he has obtained eternal redemption for us? He goes on,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us, for us. Now, I got another question for
him. This kind of hit me while I was
doing this. You understand, it says that it is Christ that makes
intercession for us. He's at the right hand of God.
He's at the right hand, the place of approval, the place of authority,
at the right hand of God in heaven. And he's making intercession
for us. But here's the question. How
good do you think the intercession of Christ is? Here's another one, how successful
is the intercession of Jesus Christ? Now, people think that
might be a goofy question. And for most people who know
Christ, it is. But it's a question I wanna ask
because I suspect that Jesus Christ's intercession is just
as perfect as he is. But that's not what I hear preached
today. You understand, there are people who are getting lost
and saved and lost and saved all over the place. This says
that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God, making intercession
for his people. Now, what do you think? Here's
another question. What do you think the failure
rate of the intercession of Jesus Christ is? I'm gonna tell you
right now, it's zero. They've got no desire for the
Word anymore. They don't come, they think they're
fixed up. They think they're fixed up,
prayed up, packed up and ready to go, and they don't worry about Christ said, if you continue,
then are you my disciples indeed. What's that mean about if you
don't continue? It means you're not a disciple. You're not a
follower. Oh my. Understand, Christ's intercession
is as perfect as he is. What'd he say? He obtained eternal
redemption for us. There's no end to His redemption.
What's He say? He gives us eternal, everlasting
life. If that life ends, it wasn't
eternal. If that life ends, it wasn't everlasting. He makes
intercession for us. Oh, I like that. I do that. never leave thee nor forsake
thee. He made it personal. I like that too. I need personal. And Paul writes this, who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or
distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sore?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Christ himself said in his high
priestly prayer, in John 17, verse 23, I, Christ, I in them,
and thou, God, in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and
that the world may know and has loved, not loved me, loved them,
loved them, us, as thou hast loved me. Oh my. God the Father loves us as he
loved his son, as he loved Christ. You understand how good that
is? You got any inkling of how good that is? Jesus Christ calls us, those
that the Father loved, in Him. Now the love of God is only in
Christ. Let's be very clear about that.
This is not the love of God for all of mankind and every single
individual in the world. No, the love of God is in Christ.
The scripture is clear. But Jesus Christ calls us, those
that the Father loved, Who shall separate us? Huh? Who shall separate the family
of God? What he's really asking is this,
who's gonna separate us from Christ? Who's gonna separate
us from Christ? Because if you're separated from
the love of Christ, you're separated from Christ. Who can separate, here's the
question, who can separate head from his body. It's not possible. It's not possible. Christ's word said this. This
is John ten. My sheep hear my voice. No question there. No doubt. Flat statement. My sheep hear
my voice and I know them and they follow me. and I give unto them eternal
life. And they shall, oh man, this
is good. They shall never perish, never
perish. Neither, oh, here's something
even better. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Now this is my conclusion. This is where we get to the answer
I told you at the beginning. I want you to remember the answer
to these questions, and I want to remember them too. But remember,
because there's several questions, but here's the answer. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who is he that condemns? Oh,
same answer. Not God and not Christ. Who shall separate us from the
love of God? Not God and not Christ. From verse 31, who can be against
us? Wait a minute, who's gonna tell
me that the Good Shepherd doesn't find all of his sheep? Not God
and not Christ. Who's gonna tell me that the
Good Shepherd's sheep, after he calls them, won't follow him? Not God and not Christ. Oh, I
like this. And I can tell you this, here's
a beautiful passage from 2 Timothy, verses two, excuse me, chapter
two, verse 13. I remember Walter preached a
bit about this in one of his messages a while back, and it
blessed my soul. This is Paul writing to Timothy,
one believer writing to another believer. 2 Timothy 2 and verse 13, he
says this, if we believe not, yet he, Christ, that. It starts in verse 11 of
2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 11 says it's a faithful saying for
if we be dead with him we shall also live with him. If we suffer
we shall also reign with him. If we deny him he will also deny
us. This is it. If we believe not. It's not talking about being
an unbeliever. It's talking about a believer. It's Paul writing
to Timothy. Paul knew how he was, he knew
how Timothy was, and he knows how you are and how I am. We
still have in us unbelief. Unbelief. We don't believe perfectly. But here's the thing. What? Our belief does not save us. Christ saves. Christ saves. What's he saying? Yet he, it
doesn't say he is faithful, although he is. He is. It says he abides
faithful. He lives faithful. He dwells
faithful. Why? He cannot deny himself. Oh my, I like that, I do. He
abides faithful. He can't deny himself, and that's
in reference to you. He can't deny you because He
can't deny Himself. It's not that we're worthy of
it. It's not that we deserve it. It's not that we don't sin. He's faithful. He abides faithful. I like that. And what does Paul
say in the first verse of chapter eight of Romans? What? There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. What does this say? There is therefore now no condemnation. To them which are in Christ Jesus. What's that mean? Well, it means
this. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. To those whom Christ hath saved,
brought into his flock, the good shepherd, he is their good shepherd. There's no condemnation right
now, right now. Who is he that condemns? Not
God then, not Christ. I like that, I do. We are free. It's in verse two of Romans chapter
eight. For the law, the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus hath made me Free from the law of sin and
death. We're free in Christ Jesus. Why? He made us free. And if the Son
shall make you free, you're gonna be free indeed. Oh, I like that
too. Verse four says, the righteousness
of the law is fulfilled by Christ in us, in us. In believers, there's no condemnation. You want to know why? God says
so. God says so. Christ has died. Christ has risen. And if you want to, you can go
back to a word in the book of Psalms and say, sela. Think about
that. Think about that. Our heavenly
Father, we are thankful, Lord, for this time and this place. to be able to try and proclaim
Your Word, the truth about Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has given us all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. In Christ
Jesus, we have these things. Thank You, Lord. Help us to remember these things. that we are not condemned in
your sight. Men can say what they will and
do what they want, but there's therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. And we are not condemned by God
or by your son. Thank you. In Christ's name we
pray, amen.