Romans chapter 8. Begin reading in verse 28 and read to the end of the chapter.
I have a phrase or a verse that got my attention. I want us to
look at this morning, starting in Romans 8 and verse 28, we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom
he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. 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 justifies. Who
is he that condemns? 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. For who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress,
persecution, famine, nakedness, 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, life, angels, principalities, powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor height, depth, or any other
creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, there is no love of God. Now, I know John 3.16 is so twisted
and talked about, there is no love
of God for anyone except for they are in Christ. Nothing shall
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. So if you speak about the love
of God and you're not speaking of Christ, you don't know what
you're talking about. And neither do most of these
preachers. They just spew these things out. And I was reading
an article. And I remember something that
Henry Mahan said so long ago, and when I first said it, I thought,
I don't know if I understand it, nor do I understand if I
agree with it. But he said, back in the 70s or 80s it had to have
been, that the problems that we have today, wokeism, whatever
you want to call it, what we've got going on now, whatever problem
we have, he says, I blame the preachers. And I thought, and
then I thought, yes, that's exactly right. The preacher's standing
up here saying, smile, God loves you. When there's no word of
scripture says that, then people just say, I can do what I want
to, because I'm going to be forgiven, and all that other kind of thing.
It's garbage. It's garbage. If God loves you
and he loves me, it's only in Christ Jesus. That's it. But I got to thinking, and the
article was not republished, but his son, Paul Mahan, in his
bulletin printed something similar, but it was his own words. And
I texted Paul back. I said, I remember your dad saying
the same thing and blaming the same. That's where the blame
goes. It's the home, all these different things. No, but if
people come to church and they're lied to Sunday after Sunday after
Wednesday from the pulpit, don't have a proper understanding of
the God of the Bible, that's why we're in the mess we're in.
That's exactly it. So that's not my text, but it's
just so obvious in here. And not only that, but he says,
well, us, us, us. Well, who is he talking about?
Well, you keep it in context, and he's talking about the elect,
the elect. Who are they? They're sinners
like everybody else. No better, actually worse, worse. And people, they get all upset
about election, that God chooses whom he wants to and passes by
whom he wants to. And Romans chapter nine of one
place, it's all over the scripture, is so clear on that. But we, who say if we believe
God has chosen us in Christ, we cannot boast. We cannot, we've
got nothing, we've got nothing to promote or to say, look at
me, I'm better, I'm a skin color, or my socioeconomic status, none
of that. God does not, he doesn't take
any of that in consideration. He does what he does according
to the good pleasure of his will, Ephesians. And so it's not, we're
not boasting, we're just thankful. You know, we were talking, my
wife Linda and I were talking last night, election doesn't
shut heaven out, election opens the pearly gates. If there was
no election, there'd be no salvation, none. So we don't boast in a
doctrine, we boast in Christ. Because He's the hub. He's the
hub. You've got a wheel, and in the
center of everything, everything, we live, move, and have our being
in Him. It's not a matter of who's better
or we think we're better. We just simply believe what God
says in His Word. And why do we believe it? Because
He's divinely revealed. It doesn't make a difference
how smart you are, if you're a Greek or Jew, Scythian, it doesn't
make any difference. Whatever nationality, it has
to be revealed. And how does he do that? Through
the foolishness of preaching. Through the foolishness of preaching.
That's what he says. Let's look at one verse. This
verse, everything I said is true, This verse is such a comfort.
It's such bliss. Such a solid wall of divine protection
that we have here in this one verse. Verse 33. Look with me
at verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. I could re-read that. In the
Greek it would say, Who shall lay anything to the accusation,
for who shall lay anything against God's elect? It is God. that justifies. Now this is,
this message probably isn't going to be very long. It's just, to
me, is a most blessed challenge, is here summoned forth. And it's
as far as by way of man and nature, it's an unanswerable statement.
Satan or even our own conscience. You look at this, and you get
ready to accuse, like Satan is the accuser of the brethren,
and he gets ready to accuse, and he's got a bunch to accuse. If you could get inside my head,
which I don't want you in there, but my mind, my own conscience
condemns me. The world condemns me. Satan condemns me. But who's
going to do that? Because it's God. If we are justified
by the blood and righteousness of Christ, nobody can condemn
you. Nobody can condemn you. Now,
if you preach like that, then people are going to go do what
they want to do, and they're going to be, not if you understand
the gospel. You're not going to understand
the gospel. You might as well just throw
the book away. Because we don't live like we want to, we live
to please Him. We live, He says the love of
Christ constrains us. Not law, we don't believe in
that you're under the law for a moral and we don't put the
Ten Commandments out and if you don't follow these. No, we could
never keep them anyway. We've been seeing that in Romans
since Romans 3 forward. The law's our schoolmaster to
bring us to Christ. It was never meant to save, never
published to save. Christ and Christ alone fulfilled
all that against us. We couldn't keep any, so well,
I've done this, I've done that. Yeah, so did the rich young ruler.
I've done this, I've done that. He didn't understand Christ.
You understand the letter of the law, but you don't understand
the spirit. If you look at a woman in lust, you have already committed
adultery. So it goes deeper than that.
So what am I going to do? How can I be just with God? How
can I be just with God? Well, nobody can lay anything
to charge. If you are trusting in Christ
as your only hope of eternal salvation, Nobody can accuse
you. Nobody. Nobody. Well, let's look
at this. Who? My first point. Who can
condemn? Who can lay anything to the charge
or against or accuse God's people? The short answer is absolutely
none. We'll look at Satan, the world,
and our own conscience, which is probably the, if you're honest
with one another, if you know Christ, and if you don't know
him and you're self-righteous, I'm not like this person, I'm
not as bad as that person, that's not what we're talking about.
Matter of fact, Paul says if you compare yourself with other
people, you're not wise. This is the believer's rule of
life, not the law, the book. And this book, Christ says, you
search the scriptures for you think you have eternal life.
And they are they which testify of me, of Christ. So we look
at this and we look for Christ. We look for Christ. Who can condemn
us? Satan. Well, what happened in
the garden? Satan's head was crushed. Satan's
attacks have been repelled. Satan's accusation fall on deaf
ears. Matter of fact, if you look at
Job, if you look at it correctly, Satan was walking around and
saying, and then God brought up his, he says, well, have you
considered? He brought up Job. And Job fell. What a beautiful
confession. Beautiful confession, and that's
what we do. We don't excuse our sin, we don't justify our sin,
we confess our sin. And the scripture says he's faithful
and just to forgive us. It is God, he says in this passage,
that justifies. That's how we get to heaven,
is being justified by God, and it's through the blood of Christ.
It's only through the blood of Christ. It's not through Muhammad.
It's not through prayer, not through prayer beads. It's not
through Joseph Smith. It's not through Confucius. Acts
is pretty clear. There's one name given among
men. One name. One name. Oh, I know this isn't
politically correct, but politics has no place in the church. We
don't do that. We gather together, like in the
Acts, One mind, one heart, one soul, one desire to put this
stuff, leave it outside. As soon as you walk out that
door, as soon as you turn the phone on, as soon as you get
the paper, I guess they're still printing papers, I know they
are, but you're gonna get inundated, or turn on that television, you're
gonna get inundated with stuff. Stuff. Stuff. We gather together
here a couple times a week to simply simply, not complicated,
sing a few hymns, read the scripture, and center and worship around
Christ. To put all this stuff aside, because I'm as affected
by it as you are, and I want the best for my child, a grandchild,
and these things, but my only hope is that nobody can accuse
me, nobody can be against me, because God has justified. Secondly,
what about this evil world? Well, if you've got friends in
this world, which we do, we have, that don't believe, they think
it's strange, and they should think it's strange, that you
don't run with them, you don't mingle, you don't take pleasure
in their carousing and their conversations regarding this
life. We enjoy the things of this life, but not as they do.
who enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. We were that way. He called us out. He called us
out. We are to live for the glory
and the advancement of Christ, our reigning king, not for the
advancement of ourselves or our personal causes, but his cause,
his gospel, his exaltation. Thirdly, what about our flesh?
I used to think Satan was my biggest enemy. Used to. It's myself. Read Romans chapter
seven. What about our flesh within us?
Our struggles, our own agitations, and our personal warfare? In
Christ, we are not only free from the law of sin and death,
but we're free to worship, mortify, crucify the deeds of this old
nature. Through his enablings, we can
live unto our God in holiness, walking worthy of his gospel,
or as James says, that perfect law of liberty, which is the
gospel. When he's talking about that in James 1 and 2. And I
know sin has effects. I read this story, Spurgeon was
making this comment in one of his messages. There was a family,
and the dad and the boy, they had some children, and one of
the boys was just a little deviant. He was just always in trouble.
So his dad says, every time you do something that's not good,
you need to drive a nail in a post. And he says, when you do something
to refrain from that, or you do something that pleases me,
you pull that nail out. Well, it took a long time, but
the boy finally pulled all the nails out. He said, Dad, I got
all the nails out. He goes out, he said, that pleases
me. He says, but there's a bunch
of holes that remain. You better believe it, sin has
consequences. And our decisions, our actions,
we leave a lot of holes. But I'm thankful that nobody
can lay a charge to his people. Now we live with our sin, and
sin has consequences. And we soften so what we reap. However, the bottom line is,
nobody can lay any charge. Can't do it. Can't do it. He
has satisfied everything against us. Everything against us. Now
secondly, Why none shall lay anything against us or accuse
us? Why they may try, but why will they not be successful?
Well, first and foremost, because of and by Christ, God justifies
his people. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Now, you know as well as I do,
we work in or wherever we're at, there's times that we don't
look any different than anybody else. And I'm so thankful that
God sees us through his son. Not what I've done. how many
times I've prayed, or how many times I've prepared a message,
or this or that, he looks at me through Christ. Through Christ. Every sin of
the elect were laid upon Christ Jesus, who championed our eternal
salvation. By his atonement, he carried
away each one of our transgressions, like that scapegoat. The priest
had his hand on one goat and hand on the other, it signified
transfer. And then they let that goat,
that goat went away free. He carried away all of our transgressions
by his atoning sacrifice. Thusly, there is no sin in God's
book against us. Turn to Numbers chapter 23. Yes, this is in the Old Testament
as well. It's all, what's actually the New Testament, it just personifies
the Old. I love the Old Testament, looking
at the types and pictures. But look with me at Numbers chapter
23. There is no sin in God's book
of judgment against us. Numbers 23. And verse 21, he hath not beheld,
he is God. Verse 19, keep it context, God
is not a man that he should lie. Keep on going, verse 21. He hath
not beheld iniquity in Jacob. Neither hath he seen perverseness
in Israel. Why? Because the Lord his God
is with him. He's covered him. He's protected
him. He satisfied everything, he satisfied
the law for us. This is Old Testament, and this
picture is Israel, or Jacob, as the elect. So, when guilt
was taken away, punishment. I know this is difficult for
some people to believe, but the believer will not be punished. Well, what about the behemoth
seat and all that? What about judgment? He's judged
our sins upon Christ. We're responsible for our sins,
but if Christ has taken our sins upon Him on that cursed tree,
the believer will not be punished. Can't be. He can't require. It's
a double standard. Cannot be done. He smiles. He doesn't frown. His frowns
are not towards us. His smiles. His smiles are towards
us. God, as the judge, has nothing
to say to his beloved children. Secondly, just sit back, stand
back, and see what the scripture says about God. He's sovereign,
and that means he's in total control of everything. Turn with me to Joel, chapter
two. Joel chapter 2 and verse 11. Joel chapter 2 verse 11, then the
Lord shall utter his voice for his army, for his camp. that would be his church, that
would be in the churches made up of the individual believers,
is very great. The Lord's camp is very great. For he is strong that executes
his word, for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible.
Who can abide it? The Lord is great and greatly
to be feared. Consider the mightiness of our
Lord. His camp is great because he
is great. And I know some of these words
have lost their meaning in today's translations and perhaps the
English language, but when we say sovereignty, we mean he rules
and reigns as it pleases him. And this again is our comfort.
We can look back at Romans, who shall lay anything in the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies through
Christ, but it is God himself. that stands for his people. It doesn't mean we're not going
to go through any trials, any troubles, any difficulties. No,
for the most part, the believer's life is full of discouragements
and difficulties. But when we step back, we realize,
look at Paul. Paul wrote most of the New Testament.
He struggled and was left for dead. You know, all these different
things that the early church went through. The catacombs and
all these different things. We're not above trial. Matter
of fact, not only is it given in Philippians 1.29, well, it's
given to believe. So if you believe the gospel,
that's a grace. You didn't do anything for it.
Like repentance, faith. Not only is it given for us to
believe, but it's also given to suffer persecution. You look at Job, you look at
David, you look at Jeremiah, you look at all the Lord's people,
and they were not spared many trials and difficulties, but
God, our God, is on the throne, and He is, even in this wonderful
country, He's not given up His authority. I know people think
that He has, but He hasn't given up His authority. Let's look
at a few passages. Turn to Job chapter 12. Job chapter 12, and verse 14, speaking of God, Job chapter 12, verse 14, speaking
of God, Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again.
He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. We're talking
about God's control over men and women, boys and girls. Look
at, study the book of Esther. That whole thing deals with God's
sovereignty and providence, even over the unbeliever and the believer. Look at Job 34, one of my, I
love this passage. Job 34, and verse 29. That's what we desire. The Scripture
commands me to comfort the people of God. This is what I desire
is to comfort you. If you know God, if you don't
know God, sue for mercy. Plead for mercy. But look at
Job 34 verse 29. When He, that is God, gives quietness,
who can make trouble? That's why they could be burned
at the stake and be singing hymns. That's why they can hang Peter
upside down and he's still rejoiced in the Lord God of his salvation
because they can kill the body. He says that in the gospels,
they can kill the body but they can't take the soul. Now I don't
want bad things to happen and I don't want to endure a lot
of pain. If it comes, He'll give grace. You know we talk about
Somebody at one of the churches that we know over in Kentucky,
some guy came and the pastor said, why? I don't have dying
grace. The pastor says, are you dying?
He says, no. He says, when you die, the Lord
will give you dying grace. And Spurgeon said, let's not
create trouble if it doesn't happen. But when it happens,
then trust in the Lord. But we get our mind, we go, now
if this would happen, and men, I'd say, me, men are really bad
about getting their ducks in a row. Gotta make sure everything's
right. But it is going according to
his good pleasure. So when he gives quietness, who
can make trouble? And when he hides his face, who can behold
him, whether it be done against a nation or against a man, woman,
boy or girl only? You can't do it. This is why
we say salvation is by revelation. You can read the Bible from front
to back and still be like a Pharisee, blind, blind, leading the blind. Salvation is not by the will
of man, not by John chapter one, it's not by the will of man,
but it's by God, by the will of God. Turn with me to Psalms
33. Psalms 33. And verse 11, this is what I'm
talking about. It is who can lay anything, the
accusation, or who can lay anything against God's elect. It's God
that justifies. Well, who is God? Who is your
God? I'm speaking of the God of the Bible. Look at Psalms
34, or Psalms 33, verse 11. The counsel of the Lord stands
forever. The thoughts of his heart to
generations. You mean I'm not determining
that? When I go vote in November in
a couple of years, I'm not determined. That's your right. That's your
privilege as a citizen of this country. Do it. But you're not
changing the counsel of the Lord. It's going to stand. It stands
forever. And whatever that means, forever. That's what it means. He is glorious. He is our defense, this great
God, this glorious God. All the forces of heaven are
under his direct order. He rules over winds, the stars. He orders Orion. Palladius is
obedient to his decree. The powers of all things in nature,
wind, climate, lightning, rain, snow, all are under subjection
under him. He spoke and the worlds were.
This is the God that we worship. A God full of mercy and truth
to generations. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? None, because God speaks on our
behalf. Who can say unto him, what are
you doing? Why, he does as he pleases amongst
men and in the armies of heaven. And that's Daniel 4.35. Turn
with me to Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14. I know we have bills to pay,
jobs to work, all these different things. But man, there's peace
in all this chaos. There's peace, and that's to
be had in Christ. Seek Him now while He may be
found. Seek Him now. Isaiah 14 and verse 27, for the
Lord of hosts hath purposed and who shall disannul it? And his
hand is stretched out, who shall turn it back? It sounds like
to me that this God, the God of the scriptures, is totally over all. He's totally
in control all the time, every day. Scripture says he neither slumbers
nor sleeps, so we can sleep. and we need to, because it's
so stressful. All creatures, whether the largest
fish, Jonah, to the canker worm, obey his dominion and voice.
That canker worm did exactly what it was supposed to do in
Jonah, and that fish did exactly what he was supposed to do. Therefore, back to our text, Verse 31 of Romans 8, what shall
we then say to these things? If God, the God before us, who
can be against us? Isn't that a big pillow? Isn't
that the largest pillow that you could ever want to lay your
head in? If God before us, who? It's the same as in verse 33,
who? Who can you think of? Who can
you think of? Yourself, Satan, anybody you
can think of, he is for his people. If God
before, who can be against his people? Who can lay anything
in charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Well, in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse
18, you don't have to turn there, but Paul's just talking about
different things and he said, comfort one another with these
words. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. If
you're not in Christ, I don't have any word of comfort. I've
got word of damnations, I've got word of judgments. That's
what I have for you. But I know that in him, the fatherless
find mercy. You don't have a father. Flee
to him. Trust in him. Worship him. He's worthy. Worthy to be worshiped. So let's comfort one another
with these words. And I'm so thankful that we don't
talk about so much junk that's going on. And you know, you should
stay informed, I guess, but oh my word. It just robs a believer
of his peace and rest and comfort. And you know what? You read the
history of the world or however you want to read it through the
eyes of the church, through the Puritans and go back and back, there's
nothing new under the sun. There is nothing new. This has
been going on. There's been slavery. There's
been slave trade. There's been buying and selling
of humans. All these different things that
we don't want to talk about, think about. This has been going on.
Why? Because man has fallen in the
garden and he's depraved. That's the answer. You know,
you think about, oh, why is this going on, this and that thing?
Okay. You can get all worked up or you can just say, because
man's a sinner, and then move on. If you talk about man's a
sinner, you gotta talk about redemption, and there's only
redemption in one name, Christ, Christ Jesus. Do we know these
things? Do we know that we have full
and free pardon and justification in Christ? Are we still trying
to work our way? Are we still trying to be better
and get better for the sake of being seen of men? If we don't have any peace, I
pray that we would sue our Lord for mercy. He is a God of mercy. He's a
God of wrath. He's a God of all these things,
but he's a God of mercy. Plead what Christ has done, not
what you've done. We can never do enough. I don't
care how religious we think we are. We can never do enough. Christ has done it all. We don't
say do. We say it's done. And Christ
has done it. God be the glory. Bruce, would
you close us?