I want you to look back in the
8th chapter of the book of Romans with me, if you would, and I
want to read verse 33 and 34, and verse 34 primarily be our
text this morning, of Romans chapter 8. 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. Now we see here that the
Apostle Paul is making a challenge. He says in verse 33, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect. And then in verse
34, Who is he that condemneth? And I'm sure that the Apostle
Paul knew the accuser of the brethren. He knew something about
the accuser of the brethren. He knew something about old Satan.
He knew something about the conscience of men. He knew something about
purity. He knew something about the various
areas of life wherein condemnation and wherein charges spring from. He knew all about this, so he
issues a challenge. and says, Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect, seeing it is God that justifies
the sinner? Seeing it is God that remit sin, forgive sin, justify
sinners, who can lay anything to the charge of those that have
been chosen of God, those that have been chosen of God from
old time, those that have entered into covenant love, those that
have been blessed in Christ, to be saved, who can lay anything
to their charge, and then who is he that can condemn one of
God's elect to hell, who can condemn them to be punished again,
who can condemn them to suffer at the hands of eternal vengeance,
seeing that their Savior, the Lord Jesus, has died, that He's
risen again, He's even at the right hand of God, He now makes
intercession for us. This is the challenge of the
Apostle Paul, the believer's challenge. Now the protest of
an innocent man against the charge of an accuser may well be strong
and behemoth. I say the protest of an innocent
man against the charge of an accuser may well be strong and
behemoth. But here we have a more uncommon
theme. Here we have a challenge made
by a justified sinner who is protesting with a holy and inspired
fervor that his character is clear that his conscience is
clean even in the sight of God himself. Here we have not a man
who is born naturally innocent. The Apostle Paul said himself
that he was the chief of sinners. He said that he was the chief
of sinners. And so it is not the natural
innocence of Paul's heart, but it is the perfect mediation of
the Lord Jesus Christ which gives him this amazing confidence which
enables him to make this challenge, to make this challenge before
heaven and before earth. The Apostle Paul is standing
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has a standing in Christ.
Now we have before us in this text, I think, four pillars upon
which the child of God can rest his weary soul. Four pillars
upon which we can rest our hope, rest our weary soul. These will
never break Nor they ever bend, they'll never bend, regardless
of how many rest their weight, the weight of their souls, upon
these pillars. They will never break, I say,
they will never bend. Yet for our strong consolation,
now these four pillars are found in verse 34. For our strong consolation,
that we may cease to tremble, that we may cease to fear, these
are given. God has been pleased to give
these four eternal rocks, if you want to call them that, these
four immovable foundations upon which the faith and rest of a
child of God will stand secure. We have them right here in verse
34. But why is this? Why would our
Lord, through the Apostle Paul by the Holy Spirit, give us these
four pillars of consolation, these four foundations, these
unmovable foundations to secure our hearts? Why? Well, beloved,
why does the Christian need to have Such a firm, such a massive
foundation. Well, there's a very simple reason,
I think, to why the Lord is pleased to give us verses of Scripture
like we have here before us. Verse 33 and 34. The believer is so doubtful. The believer, maybe I should
call him an unbeliever, because many believers are very unbelieving. And this is very important for
us to understand and to see that as long as we're in this flesh,
we fight the battle of faith. Paul said that he fought a good
fight, that he had finished the course, that he had fought the
good fight of faith. And faith is a fight. There isn't
anybody in this world who believes God that doesn't have a fit of
unbelief now and then. Everybody once in a while is
doubtful of heart and is disturbed in heart. But it's wonderful
when we can come across such massive consolation as we have
here in our verses this morning. We're prone to distrust. It somehow or other is difficult
for us to be persuaded of our own security in Christ. Now you
would think that we all would immediately grasp a hold of this
rope. You know, each strand of here,
each one of these things in verse 34 It says, 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. Each one
of these would be strong enough in and of itself to give the
believer sufficient security to enable him to be joyful for
the rest of his life. It's kind of like they used to
talk about the ropes that they used to put down in mines, that
they would lift the tonnage of ore and stuff out of mines, and
they said that one strand of the rope that they used would
be strong enough to stand the weight that they were lifting
with it. But many strands are woven together and twisted together
that it would be unbreakable. And so we find here in this text
that these four things are woven together, twisted together, and
they make a massive rope to hold the people of God and to give
us great security in our lives. Now God has given us then these
arguments to crucify our unbelief and our infidelity that it will
rise no more. And I do hope this morning, and
I know that just as sure as I'm preaching to you, that before
the day is out that we will most surely be assaulted again by
Satan, will be under his attack and will surely maybe even have
problems before this day is out. But the reason why God has given
us such plain scriptures as these is in order that our unbelief
and infidelity might be crucified. Now moreover the Lord knew What
we would be encountering day by day in this world, this world
is, as we've often said, is no friend of grace to help us on
to God. This world is an enemy of what
we stand for. This world is against us. And
this world is not going to in any way, shape, or form assist
us, but they'll put blocks in front of us, stumbling blocks
in front of us as they can. And then our own sin. Our own
sin, my soul, how sternly we are attacked by the old nature,
our own old nature, that nature that will carry with us until
the Lord is pleased to take us home and take our soul home out
of this body unto glory. Our old nature, our old sin,
and this sin doth often disturb us. It often causes us to have
rocks in our beds of faith. It causes us to be disturbed
because we don't understand what's going on. That there's a part
of us that is anti-God. That there's a part of us that
is an enmity against God. There's a part of us that cannot
please God that never pleases God. Our old flesh nature that
is contrary to God in every way and every shape. And this is
indeed a burden to our hearts. And the reason the Lord has given
us these great consolations is because He knew what an attack
we would have from our own nature. And then the devil, we mentioned
him a while ago, he's the accuser of the brethren. And the devil,
he knows a lot about you and I. He knows a whole lot about
us. and he could lay a lot of charges to each one of us. Say,
well, that fellow's been on my territory. He's been over in
my camp. That fellow's walked with me
a little bit. And the devil could make a lot of charges against
each one of us. But, beloved, the Lord has entrenched
us within these four walls till the storm be overpassed. Until the storm of accusations
from the devil and the storm and the assaults of the flesh
and the world is overpassed. So the apostle then challenges
the whole world and heaven and hell in this question, who is
he that condemned? And in order to excuse, as it
were, his boldness, He gives us these four reasons, and I
want to talk a little bit about these four reasons here this
morning, why a child of God can never be condemned, why they
can never suffer punishment at the hands of God, why they must
go free, and why they must forever be in the bliss and blessing
of God for all eternity. The number one thing that we
have here in verse 34 is, it is Christ that died. It is Christ
that died. You will notice as we read and
as we try to work our way through this verse of scripture this
morning, that there is nothing at all said in this verse about
you. Nothing at all said in this verse.
I mean, there is nothing said about your part or something
that you contribute in this verse. It is all the work of God. It
is God that justifies. When will we learn that? When
will we ever get peace knowing that it is God that justifies? It's God that does the justifying. It's not you and I that works
up enough merit to where that we're able to secure justification
from God's hand. It is that God has provided the
remedy for our sin. It is God that justifies. Now, we'll take note how that
comes to pass. It says here, Christ has died. The Lord Jesus has died. Now
we believe, and you listen carefully to what I have to say. I don't
intend to preach long this morning, but I'd like for you to listen
carefully to what I have to say. Christ has died. Now we believe
that in the death of Christ, There was a full payment paid
to divine justice for all the sins which believers can possibly
commit. Did you get that? In the death
of our Lord Jesus Christ, there was a full payment made to divine
justice for all the sins that all believers could ever commit. There is a full payment that
has been paid. We preach that God's wrath was
poured upon the head of our Lord Jesus Christ and that God's vengeance
emptied out itself upon the cross and there is not left in the
book of God a single sin against any believer. against any true
believer that stands in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is not one
sin upon the book of God against that soul. Not one sin. Now that is because the vengeance
of God was emptied out, the whole shower of the vengeance of God
was poured out upon the Lord Jesus Christ, upon His lovely
head, upon the cross. So my friend, If you can find
your way to the foot of the cross, if you can hide yourself away
at the foot of the cross in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the
bloodshed, your sin is entirely put away, your sin is forever
forgiven, your sin, you will face it no more, your sin has
been pardoned, it's been put away. If you can find your way
to the foot of the cross, to that bloody tree. Jesus has been
punished to the full. on the bloody tree. The Lord
Jesus has been punished. The Lord Jesus has been put to
death. It is Christ that died, God's
Son, that one who knew no sin, had no sin, and He always pleased
the Father. He was absolutely obedient in
every respect to the Father, but He was nailed to the cross
as our substitute, and He went to hell for me. The Lord Jesus
went out. Now the just for the unjust.
The Bible says that he might bring us to God. The blood of
Jesus Christ, God's own Son, God's own Son cleanseth us from
all sin. He died for the blasphemer. Somebody
said, well, I don't know, you know, about the blasphemer. Well, he died for the blasphemer.
He did. He died for that. The Bible says
he was numbered with the transgressors. He was numbered with them. That
means that he was dealt with as one of them. That means as
he hung on that cross that he suffered the death of the blasphemer,
he suffered the death of the liar, he suffered the death of
the lascivious person. The Lord Jesus suffered the death,
our death on the cross, whatever you are The Lord Jesus suffered
that death, the death for that, on the cross. He was numbered
with the transgressor. And whatever my conscience reminds
me of, this shall be my sure reply, Christ hath died. Whatever your conscience says
to you, Christ hath died must be your reply. It's your only
remedy against your conscience. It's the only remedy against
the voice of purity. The voice of morality is Christ
hath died. Christ hath died my death on
the cross. Now when I think of my sin, it
seems impossible that any atonement should ever be adequate for those
sins. When I think of my sin, my guilt,
I think sometimes it would be impossible for there to be any
atonement made, any sacrifice offered that would give me at-one-ment
with God, where I could be reconciled to God. But you know, when I
think of Christ's death, It seems impossible that any sin should
ever be great enough to need such an atonement as that. Did
you ever think of that? It seems impossible that any
sin could demand such payment as our Lord Jesus Christ made
on that cross. This is so important to see.
There is in the death of Christ enough, and I want to say more
than enough. One writer said, there is not
only a sea in which to drown our sins, but the very tops of
the mountains of our guilt are covered too. Isn't that wonderful? In the death of Christ, not only
is He to drown the men, but whatever the mountaintops of our guilt
are, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ is more than enough to
cover them. There's not only enough to put
our sins to death, but enough to bury them and hide them out
of God's sight for all eternity. Isn't that marvelous? Isn't that
wonderful? It is Christ that died. I'm talking about four pillars
upon which to rest your weary soul. Christ hath died, my friend,
and you need to rest your soul in that. Now, so we cannot be
condemned for Christ has died the sinner's death and as we
think upon that we're made to say amen and amen Christ has
died my death to sin now then we have three other things here
that we must talk about the next thing is that Paul says is yea
rather that is risen again you know most generally we think
of the death of Christ as being the apex of the work and the
redemptive work of Christ and his plan, and we know that's
true. But beloved, I don't know whether
we have ever really looked at the empty tomb like we ought
to, and heard the message of the empty tomb, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul said, Yea, rather! That
is risen again! Victory is here! Victory is here! And we need to think upon this.
The Bible says that Jesus that He was delivered for our sins
and He was raised again for our justification. The empty tomb
is the public acknowledgment of God that He has accepted the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, beloved, when Jesus was
on the cross, when Jesus was suffering that agonizing death
on the cross, He was digging the well of salvation. And when the Lord Jesus rose
out of the tomb, it was the water springing up into life. And the Lord Jesus came up out
of the grave. And we know that the Lord Jesus,
when He was dying, He was dying as a representative one, representing
his people, the elect. He was dying in their place,
in their stead, and God held him as it were. just like one
would hold a mortgage against somebody that was in debt, God
held Jesus on that cross and then when he was in that tomb,
death held him until he was raised out of the tomb, until he was
raised up and then God, that was when God tore up the mortgage
against his people and said, I accept the sacrifice that my
own son has made on their behalf, I receive that as full payment
of their sin debt, and he publicly acknowledged that he accepted
The work of the Lord Jesus has full salvation on the part of
His people in that He raised Him from the dead. That's what
the empty tomb means. It means that God accepted what
He did for me and that I can rest in that and I can rejoice
knowing that God has accepted the sacrifice that the Lord Jesus
made. Now then, this morning when we
look at this, we see that the elect, because God has accepted
Christ. He raised him from the dead and
he's seated at the right hand of the fathers we'll get to next.
We see that the people of God are free. They're free. The mortgage
has been paid. The debt's been paid. The father
has accepted it. Now it's one thing for the Lord
Jesus, don't you see? It's one thing for him to make
the offering. It was another thing for the
father to receive it. And the Lord Jesus, you know,
He took the offering with Him back to glory. When He was raised
from the dead, He went up to heaven. And we see this in the
next verse, or in the next statement of verse 34. It says, Who is
even at the right hand of God. Who is even at the right hand
of God. Now then, when we think of the
Lord Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of God, the scripture
says we shall be saved by his life. Much more, we shall be
saved by his life. We were saved by his death and
by his resurrection, but much more by his life. And we'll see
that a little clearer when we talk about the intercessory work
of the Lord Jesus. But he's now seated at the right
hand of God. Notice that the Lord Jesus is
sit down the Bible says that he is our high priest he's our
great high priest and he is sit down at the right hand of God
now if you study the old Levitical priesthood as it was connected
with the tabernacle on earth you'll discover that there was
a table for the showbread in the sanctuary and for the brazen
labor But there was no chair, no seat for the priest. The priest
stood daily offering sacrifices for sin. But there was no seat
in the tabernacle. The priest never sat down. If there had been a chair, in
the tabernacle, the people would have come to believe that the
offering was final, that the priest had made, and that it
was over with and done, would be in need for it to ever be
done again. The priest sat down. His work was finished. His work
was over. Now, beloved, that never happened
in the Old Testament tabernacle. Never did it happen, because
they had no seat for the priest to sit down in. But, our Lord
Jesus Christ, He died, and He was buried, God raised Him from
the dead, and He ascended to heaven, and He sat down at the
right hand of the Father. He sat down at God's right hand. Now, beloved, because that He
sat down is evidence and proof that He accomplished full salvation
on the part of His people. Nothing else to be added, nothing
for you to do, no contribution for you to make. All that we
must do is to believe that our Lord Jesus Christ finished the
work on earth that the Father gave Him to finish. and when
he was here in this world he went about he did that which
the father gave him and he completed it he brought in everlasting
righteousness the Lord Jesus Christ put an end to sin the
Lord Jesus established a righteousness on the behalf of his people and
so the Lord Jesus sit down at the right hand of God now there's
another message in this too and that is the Bible tells us in
Ephesians that We are seated in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Now what this means is that God's
people, those that are believers in the Lord Jesus, that we're
already in Christ are seated at the right hand of God. We're in Christ, seated with
Him at the right hand of God. That is our position before God. Now listen to me now. We were
in Him when He died. We were in Him when He died. We were in Him when He was buried. We were in Him when He was raised
from the dead. And we're in Him positionally
when He's seated at God's right hand. Now, beloved, listen. This
thrills my soul because I know you'd think what kind of a problem
the devil or anybody else would have to condemn somebody that
was seated at the right hand of God Almighty. How's anybody
going to condemn somebody that is seated at God's right hand?
We're already in Christ, seated at God's right hand. And there
isn't anything going to misfire, there isn't going to be any miscalculations. All those for whom our Savior
died, we're all in Him and we're all seated at His right hand.
We're with Him right now in eternal glory. That's our position. That's
the way God looks upon it. That's the way He sees it. He
has condemned sin in the flesh, He gave up on the old body, and
it's over with and done, and He saved us in His Son, and we're
seated in the Lord Jesus in eternal glory. His work is finished. The work of salvation is finished.
And whatever you plan to do the rest of your life, I don't know
what you plan to do, but I'll tell you this, the thing you
should do is study to know Him who died the substitute of sinners,
who was raised and all of his people in him, and is now seated
at God's right hand with all of his people seated with him,
study to know him, and pray to know him, and pray to receive
consolation and blessing through Him and what He's done on your
behalf and give up on this whole thing of you trying to polish
and work up something and plan something and make something
out of yourself. Give up on it and give your attention
to looking away from yourself unto the Lord Jesus Christ. My
friend, the greatest discouragement that every one of us have in
this world is when we turn our thoughts within. When we begin
to look within, when we begin to look at what we are, what
we've done, and to who we've done this and this and that and
something else and all of our failures that we've experienced
in this world, that's when we're discouraged, that's when we're
cast down, that's when we are not hardly able to raise our
chin off of our chest. But what we must do is we must
look away. We must focus our attention on
that which took place at Mount Calvary, that which took place
when God emptied that tomb, that which took place when Jesus ascended
to glory, and when he sat down at God's right hand. Focus our
attention on that. Now beloved, that's what's important
concerning my soul's salvation. It's not what I've done, what
I haven't done, my failures and my successes in this life. That doesn't have anything to
do with it. Look away, look away, look away to Jesus and come to
Him in your heart, in your soul and trust fully in Him. Rest yourself in Him. Trust in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Lord Jesus is in the
position of an accepted one. Think of it. Your substitute,
my substitute, he's in the position of an accepted one. He's in an
honorable position. He is in a position of majesty
and favor and he's there as my representative. He's there for
me. The scripture says that He's
gone to appear in the presence of God for what? For us. For
us. He's there as our representative. Now that brings me, that brings
me to say that you know the Lord Jesus being in the position of
majesty and honor, He also is in a position of power. You know
the Lord Jesus said all power is given to me in heaven and
in earth. It's all given to me. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
prime minister of the universe and all power is in his hands.
He's a sovereign Christ. Now beloved, if omnipotence itself
is on my side, No wonder Paul said, why, what good will it
do anybody to be against me? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Omnipotence is on our side. Omnipotence is for us. Jesus,
who has all power in heaven and in earth, said, I'm for you. And it won't do anybody any good
to be against you. It won't do anybody any good
to raise a hand, to make a charge. It won't do anybody any good.
I'm for you and oh timid soul believe it. He said all things
would work together for your good and for his glory. Believe
it and trust God and rely upon him and don't let, listen, don't
judge. Oftentimes the providence of
God hides behind a frowning face, but don't judge providence with
feeble sense and with your carnal mind. You believe what God says
in His Word and trust His Word and rely upon Him and faith will
be fed, you'll be stronger and you'll be able to face life. You must believe what God says. in His Word and lead the outworking
of His purpose into His able hands. You must do that. You
must do that. If you're going to get through
this world and stay together while you do so, you must trust
God. Omnipotence is for us. God, if God be for us, then what
good does it do anybody to be against us? I'm not afraid of
what men call failure. I'm not afraid of it. I've known
for a long time that those that are a success in God's sight
are often a failure in men's sight. But I do know this, that
if we can stay on the Lord, if we can keep believing in the
love of God that's in Christ Jesus, and if we can keep believing
that neither life nor death can separate us, and life's tougher
than death. That's why it comes first. Height nor depth nor any other
creature shall be able to separate us from the love of Christ. which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so I say to you this morning
that I believe that neither death, it says neither death nor life
is the way it's put here. And that means that I think that
death is easier than life itself. Life is the tough part. Life
is what's tough. And death is not hard. You just
fall asleep in Jesus. you just go to sleep in the Lord
Jesus but life that's where you gotta deal with the monsters
and where you gotta deal with the problems that don't go away
that you have to face and where you gotta be real and where you
gotta be honest and where you gotta find some help Trust God. Rely upon Him. But
God is for you. Omnipotence is for you. You cannot fail. You cannot fail. God is for you. And it doesn't
make any difference who's against you. God said it won't do Him
any good. It will not do Him any good.
You're going to come out. Alright, now the last thing is
this, that He maketh intercession. He is able to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God by Him, seeing that He ever liveth to
make intercession for them. The Lord Jesus Christ ever lives
to make intercession for His people. Now beloved, I thought
a whole lot about this, that thinking of our Lord Jesus Christ
and thinking of God the Father and seeing what the Lord Jesus
has already done to prove His love. You know the Bible says
here in His love, not that we love God, but that God loved
us and gave His Son to be a satisfaction for our sins. We know that Jesus
Christ proved His love and God proved His love. He spared not
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not
also through Him freely give us all things? I thought of the
Lord Jesus at the right hand of the Father, my older brother. And I thought of how He feels
toward me. And He loves me with a genuine
love. and he pleads with the father and the father was in
this thing from the beginning because he chose me in his son
gave me to his son and gave his son to me and then I think of
the Lord Jesus talking to the father about me and about my
situation about my life my problems my difficulties and I think you
know I often plead with God and I plead the blood of the Lord
Jesus and I plead the name of the Lord Jesus I cry to God and
I plead his I plead his merit and I know the Lord Jesus is
speaking with the fallen on my behalf and he talks to the father
about my needs and when I'm not able when I'm shut up within
myself and I'm not able to say anything much not able to pray
Then the Holy Spirit makes utterances that I'm not able, I just can't
tell the Lord how deeply I feel about something. I just can't
get it out, what I want to happen, what I need to happen, what must
come to pass, what I feel must happen. I can't get it out. But
then God searches. the mind of the Spirit, and he
knows what the Spirit of God in me feels, and what it senses,
and what it wants, and what it desires, what it must have. And
then God reacts accordingly. The intercessory work of God
the Son on my behalf. We must trust the advocacy, our
advocacy with Him. I just don't know how to do it,
folks. I want to pray for you. I know you've got needs. I know
you've got burdens. I know you have situations, but
I just don't know how to be everything I ought to be in intercession
for you. But we must trust our advocacy
with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's appearing there in the presence
of God for us to make intercession for us, to talk to the Father
about us. And you know I believe that the
Lord Jesus, that He is successful. I believe He is successful. The
poet said, Give Him, my soul, thy cause to plead, nor doubt
the Father's grace. It is enough He has the cause,
we would not take it from His hand. I know that safe with Him
remains protected by His power what I've committed to His hand
till the decisive hour." It's in the hands of the Lord. And
the Lord Jesus, you must trust His advocacy. He makes intercession
for you. He pleads for you. He pleads
for you. He pleads His work and His merit
on your behalf. He pleads for you. Come life,
come death, My soul can rest on this one thing. He died for
me. I cannot be punished for my sin. He rose again. I must rise. And
though I die, yet shall I live again. He sits at the right hand
of God and so must I. So must I. I must be crowned
and reign with Him forever. He intercedes. and he must be
heard by the father he must be heard by the father well beloved
may God give everyone of us an interest in these four pillars
these four walls which the Lord has encased us these four pillars
this strong rope that has four strands may God give us an interest
everyone of us in these things, these precious things, that we
might be strengthened and helped and that our souls may be glad
and happy in God our Savior. There's enough in this world
to drive us all stark raving mad. We've got to be lifted above
it. We've got to be lifted out of
it. We must focus our attention on our God and on His Son and
His complete work. Focus our attention on it. May
God give us the victory Brother...