Divine Covering, Part 3

possible, but I’m going to try.
We’ve been in Romans chapter eight, which is nestled in the
greater section of God’s sanctifying work, which he began to discuss
back in chapter six, verse one. Here in Romans eight, we have
seen that all three members of the Godhead are fully involved
in this process of sanctification built on the foundation of Christ,
sustained by the spirit of God. and ordained by God himself. And no wonder Paul erupts, as
it were, in a statement of great praise and thanksgiving. Here in verses 31 through 39,
Paul basically begins to look back over his shoulders. And
as I have suggested, he prompts us to take a spiritual inventory. We’ve begun on this inventory.
And we are looking at the fact that God is communicating to
us that he has us covered. God has communicated already
that he is fully involved in the process of our sanctification.
And if that’s the case, what then what then are the implications
to the Christian? We began by examining ourselves
and looking at several of the questions that were posed to
us. First of all, Paul begins in
verse 31 by essentially asking, as I suggested, where is the
Christian’s enemy? Where is the Christian’s enemy?
If God is for us, who is against us? Paul continues this spiritual
inventory by saying, where is the Christian’s grace? Is it
possible that we would run dry the well, this supply that we
have access to in God, this support system that we have from God,
is it possible to run dry the well of grace? The third question,
the one that we’ll tackle this morning, where is the Christian’s
accuser? We’re taking spiritual inventory.
We’re looking about us. And Paul essentially asks, who
will bring a charge against God’s elect? And then the fourth question,
Where is the Christian’s God? One of the most important questions
of all. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
any of these lengthy list of things divide us from the God
who loves us? Paul’s answer is no. Absolutely
not. If you would return back to Romans
chapter 8 as we begin to consider once again This great passage,
look at verse 31 and we pick up there. What what then shall
we say to these things, if God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own
son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also
with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against
God’s elect? God is the one who justifies.
Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather, who was raised,
who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Just as it is written, for thy sake we are being put to death
all day long. We were considered as sheep to
be slaughtered. But in all these things we overwhelmingly
conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul takes us
to consider a spiritual inventory. He’s reminding us of all that
God has done, but he wants us to pause because we so often
stumble in this regard with the simple truths of God’s Word. And the first means of inventory,
as I suggested, he says, where is the Christian’s enemy? If
God is for us, who can be against us? And Paul looks back, not
just to Romans 8, 28 through 30, Paul looks back not just
to Romans 8. Paul looks back really to the
entire book of Romans to those peaks where God has shown Himself
faithful. Where God has shown Himself for
us. And in that regard, if God is
for us, who indeed can be against us? If God has sent His own Son
to be our payment for sin, Romans 7, 24 and 25, who can
be against us? If the outcome of being freed from sin, Romans
6, 22 and 23, if the outcome of that is being enslaved to
God and if the outcome of that is eternal life, then how can
we fear anything? If God is for us, who can be
against us? But last Lord’s Day, we began
to consider another question. That where is the Christian’s
grace? And this one struck many of us. From your comments afterwards,
that many times we fear or feel as if we could run dry that well.
As if maybe God would take his eye off of us because of some
sin or some attitude in us. Maybe God isn’t all that he claims
to be. Maybe God doesn’t have an infinite
supply. Maybe it is possible to run out
of the grace that sustains me. Maybe I won’t endure as a Christian. Maybe I won’t bear fruit. Maybe I won’t ever feel the joy
that I once felt early on in my Christian life. And Paul essentially
says nonsense. If God has done the greater,
if God has provided the Lord Jesus Christ, if he did not spare
his own son. Then how will he not freely give
us the lesser? How will he not continue? To
lavish his grace upon us that we would sustain that we would
be comforted that we would be steadfast in our faith. That
we would be protected by him. And that we would. engage in
a passionate pursuit of the Lord Jesus. Well Paul’s not finished
yet is he? We’re in the midst of this spiritual
inventory and he wants to ask yet another question. Where is
the Christians accuser? Where is the Christians accuser?
Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? Now From time to
time I provide you an insert just to kind of let you know
our moorings and I did so this morning for a completely different
reason. There are some inherent questions and challenges to this
particular passage and I’m not going to spend a lot of time
on this. In fact I think providing you the handout will make it
much easier. It will streamline the process.
Essentially the questions are two. How are we to punctuate
this passage and by punctuation I mean periods question marks
colons and the like. How are we to punctuate this
section. Is it a is it a series of questions
and answers or as another said is it a series of answers followed
by questions. Is there a pattern at all. I’ll
touch on that in just a moment. The other part of this is the
structure of the passage. How are these questions to be
divided up. How are these statements to be
ordered and I’ll finish with that in a moment. First of all
the questions there are those and this has very ancient support. There were those from the earliest
days. that they got their hands on
this passage on, that almost every sentence in verses 33 through
34 are questions. Will God bring a charge against
God’s elect? Is God the one who justifies?
Who is the one who condemns? And then the entire series of
verse 34 is a series of questions. Jesus who died? And so on and
so forth. There’s a modified version of
that that issues only four questions. I think the simplest way is to
look at it and to see that God clearly points out a question
here at the start of the passage who will bring a charge against
God’s elect. God is the one who justifies
that’s a statement not a question. Essentially literally it says
God the one justifying. You certainly could pose it as
a question and if you did so you don’t lose anything. But
I think he’s making a statement there followed by the question
who is the one who condemns. There’s a very clear series of
questions and answers. Now part of this is brought on.
Part of the difficulty is brought on by the fact that many import
or at least look to the structure of Isaiah chapter 50. If you
would put your finger here in Romans. I’m going to look for
just a moment. Remember we’re streamlining this
process. Look at Isaiah chapter 50 in
verse 8. In Isaiah chapter 50 verse 8
where a lot of these thoughts are believed to be that Paul
derives his thoughts from this passage. There is a series of
statements followed by questions statement followed by question.
Look at verse eight. He who vindicates me is near
statement. Who will contend with me? Question.
Let us stand up to each other. Statement. Who has a cause against
me? Question. You get the point.
The problem is just because Paul echoes some of these same thoughts
contained here in Isaiah 50 doesn’t mean that he must slavishly follow
the same structure as the prophet. And so, in a sense, we can set
aside the whole argument of questions and answers. I think it’s very
clear which statements are questions and which are clear statements. But the structure creates another
problem. For that turn back to Romans
8 and ideally pull out those little inserts that I provided. The typical view of this passage
is just as the verses are laid out to suggest that verse 33
is one entire thought and verse 34 is another entire thought
the two are separate. The concern with this is. that
some were very bothered by the fact that it seems to make Christ
the one who justifies which is theologically inaccurate that
verse 34 says who is the one who condemns Christ Jesus is
he. Essentially the answer is who
justified. Well that proposed an alternate
view for people to take. And remember, the chapters and
verse divisions are not divinely inspired. These were the through
the efforts of scholars over the years. And so what some did
was say, what you have to do is glue the end of verse thirty
three on the verse thirty four. And it would look like this.
God is the one who justifies who is it that condemns. And
on the face of it, that makes perfect sense. Justifies and
condemns those two words certainly go together but accusation and
justification in verse 33 are not unrelated concepts. Nor are the concepts of condemnation
and redemption which is essentially the idea of verse 34. There were
some other views I threw them out to you. To me it is easily
managed. If the passage is laid out just
the way I laid it out to you at the very top of the page.
A series of statements, some that are plain statements and
some that are plainly questions. Who will bring a charge against
God’s elect? God is the one who justifies.
Who is the one who condemns? And then Paul offers the final
thought on the subject. Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather, who was raised,
who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. To
me, that is the most natural structure of the passage, if
you would, let’s dive into this spiritual inventory, our third
consideration, where is the Christians accuser? Look at verse 33. Who
will bring a charge against God’s elect? I would begin by pointing
out that this is a technical word. This is a legal word. This is the language of the courtroom. Who will bring an indictment?
Which grand jury will come forth with enough data to bring a formal
accusation, one that would Cause someone to be ultimately condemned.
Who is that that would do such? The term is always used in a
legal fashion. Acts chapter 19, it was used
of Paul. Demetrius, remember the silversmith,
he was creating all these little amulets and idols. His business
was being damaged by Paul, who was preaching the real God, not
just an idol. And in that, in verse 40, it
says we are in danger of being accused of a riot. It was a legal
cause and they could have been held legally legally responsible
for it. Several other times in the book
of Acts, it’s used 23, 29, 26 to Paul before Agrippa. I am
accused by the Jews. It was a very formal, very serious
matter. Paul doesn’t say that people
are going to look down their noses at us, possibly. Paul doesn’t
say that it’s possible that some might not think that we’re the
greatest people. Paul says that there is this possibility he’s
posing it as such for a moment that there is this possibility
that some could bring an allegation a serious accusation of such
a nature that it would lead to your condemnation. And by condemnation,
I’m not talking about jail. I’m not talking about prison.
I’m not talking about earthly execution. What I’m talking about
and what Paul’s talking about here is eternal condemnation. The bottom line is we shouldn’t
be too surprised that somebody would bring a condemnation or
an accusation against us, should we? Should we be too surprised
that not everybody thinks that we’re so neat? Should we be too
surprised that people look on us and find things and areas
to criticize? It shouldn’t surprise us. We’re not perfect. We haven’t
been perfected yet. God isn’t finished working on
us. That shouldn’t surprise us, should it? Of course not. But Paul says it’s absolutely
ludicrous, absolutely silly. To think that somebody now could
step up after we, by faith, have enjoyed the forgiveness of God
and after we have stood before Him now justified, not by our
own righteousness, but by the righteousness of Christ. It’s
absolutely ludicrous to think that now somebody is going to
stand up at the back of the courtroom and indict us. Who will bring a charge against
God’s elect? Essentially, the Christian stands,
as it were, in a courtroom. It’s a courtroom scene. The Christian stands and the
judge looks about and he says, who has ought to say against
this individual? Who has anything to say? Who
has any charge worthy of merit to say against this individual?
And not unlike even this sanctuary, perhaps many people are seated,
perhaps many are seated there, some even mulling over uttering
such a charge. I don’t know what happened to
this language, there used to be language included in the wedding
ceremony, maybe in some circles it still is right. Pastors doing
the wedding. It says essentially. Is there anyone present? who does not believe that this
union should take place. That’s almost the sense of this
scene. Is there anyone present who doesn’t
think that this guy should go to heaven? And there’s a pause of silence.
And perhaps some entertain this idea of bringing up a charge. We know the devil doesn’t hesitate. Spiritual warfare is real. The
mighty force of mighty forces of evil are all arrayed against
us. The devil just stands ready to
constantly either through by means of our own conscience or
by means of verbal attacks from him or from others. The devil
stands ready to constantly stir up attacks against God’s people. Revelations 12 10 identifies
him clearly. and identifies him in that very
activity. I heard a loud voice in heaven
saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of
our God and the authority of his Christ have come for the
accuser of our brethren has been thrown down. That’s what the
devil is. And the devil is constantly about that activity. He is constantly
bringing to your mind your missteps, your misdeeds. Let’s face it,
your sins, That’s why I said you can’t hide from it. You can’t
pretend that they’re not there. The devil is always ready to
remind you. The point is, can it cast you
to hell? Can God take those and ring us up on new charges? Kind
of, if you will, a double jeopardy. I know that I forgave you. I
know that Christ and his righteousness now stand in your stead. I know
that all of your sin was placed on Christ. But what about these
new charges? Is that how God’s going to operate? Our chief accuser. Throwing it at our conscience. The bottom line here is there
is nothing to be feared if you are in Christ, if you have placed
your faith in Christ, you now have been placed into him. You
now bear the righteousness of Christ, not by your own deeds,
not by your own merits, because of your faith in his son. There’s
nothing to be feared. Except sin and sin has been dealt
with. It’s been forgiven. It’s been
completely taken away. And there is nothing left for
the Christian to fear. Believer’s sins have been completely
pardoned because of what Christ accomplished on the cross. And
note, he says here again, they are God’s elect. God set his
love upon you. Who possibly is going to bring
a charge against one of God’s people? Paul makes a statement. He’s
asked a question that begs an answer. Paul makes a very clear
statement. Who will bring a charge against
God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. That’s the whole point of this
courtroom drama. Sit down, accuser. Sit down,
anyone who would say anything against the child of God. Sit
down, those of you who begin to mull over the possibility
that any of these accusations could stick against the child
of God. God is the one who justifies.
God is the one justifying us. And it’s true that those words,
they could be taken as a question, they could be taken as a statement.
The end is the same. Who will bring a charge against
God’s elect? God, the one justifying? It almost
makes it even more ludicrous. God, on one hand, justifies us
and then turns around and accuses us. Silly. The only accuser there could
ever be, the only one we could ever face is God himself, and
if God himself has pledged his own son to deal with our sin,
how could he then stand in accusation against us? Isaiah, chapter 50. Said it this way, he who vindicates
me is near who will contend with me. If God is the one who has
vindicated you, God is the one who essentially issued not just
a not guilty. But far beyond that, as we’ll
see in a moment, then who on Earth? Who on Earth or even in
the spiritual realm is going to contend? It’s in the face of As one referred
to it as God’s acquittal in the face of God’s acquittal, the
condemnation of the world is nothing. And that’s true. It’s
true, but it’s soft, really soft. Some translations, even in the
course of describing this scene, describe it as an acquittal. And as welcome as we would be
in the court of law to receive an acquittal for a crime committed.
We would all welcome that right. But what God’s done is go so
far beyond an acquittal that to use the word here is completely
inadequate. It doesn’t go anywhere near far
enough because an acquittal is just a not guilty verdict on
one particular crime. One particular charge, one accusation,
God says not guilty. But that’s not what happens,
not with a child of God. Justification goes a great deal
further, infinitely so, than just a single pronouncement of
not guilty. The word here points to a whole
lot more. Our sin was placed, remember,
onto Christ. And Christ’s righteousness was
placed onto us. So we are not merely acquitted
of a single charge or even a whole slew of charges. But our sins
were completely taken away. And they were replaced with the
very righteousness of Christ. When God looks at us now, He
sees the righteousness of Christ. It’s not just an acquittal. We
stand before Christ, not just innocent of these particular
charges, we stand before Christ, before God himself, in the perfect
righteousness of Christ. Said one pastor, to justify is
to declare the claims of justice satisfied. If God, the supreme
judge, makes this declaration, it must be true. And it must
stop every mouth. No rational creature can call
for the punishment of those whom God justifies. Did you hear him? Nobody. Who can bring a charge
against God’s elect? Nobody. If justice is not satisfied,
there can be no justification, no peace of conscience, no security
for salvation. But there is. God has declared
it as such. Look again at the passage as
Paul issues forth another question, who is who can bring a charge
against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies
who is the one who condemns. And we began looking around the
courtroom and all there is is crickets chirping, right? It’s
silent, dead silence. There isn’t anyone. If sin has been forgiven, there
must be utter and complete silence. Any kind of condemnation of the
believer, the very called, the very elect of God is unthinkable
when you consider what God has already done for us by way of
our Lord Jesus Christ. It reminds me of a scene that
one mentioned in Zechariah. Just listen. Zechariah records in chapter
three He showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before
the angel of the Lord and Satan standing in his right hand to
accuse him. Isn’t that an interesting parallel?
Watch the scene. The Lord said to Satan, the Lord
rebuked you, Satan. Indeed, the Lord who has chosen
Jerusalem rebukes you. Is this not a brand plucked from
the fire? Now, Joshua was clothed with
filthy garments in standing before the angel. He spoke and said
to those who were standing before him, saying, Remove the filthy,
filthy garments from him again. He said, See, I have taken your
iniquity away from you and will close you with festal robes.
Then I said, put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean
turban on his head and clothed him with garments while the angel
of the Lord was standing by. It’s a it’s a clean parallel
to exactly what God has done. Out of the courtroom, devil,
out of the courtroom with your charges, take your accusations
against all of these children of mine. And take them with you. Because, as Paul said when he
started this chapter, there is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus. If you have placed your faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, not even you, not even the devil,
not even the two of you in concert can conjure up anything that
you’ve done. If you have placed your faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, no one can bring an accusation against
you. And then Paul seals the deal
with this short illustration. God is the one who justifies
who is the one who condemns. And then he points to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he essentially begs our indulgence
as we consider all that God has done for us. And is it even conceivable
that God would suddenly do an about face turn and Receive and
entertain and validate any accusation against the child of God. Christ
Jesus is he who died. This was a mighty sacrifice that
was offered on our behalf, and it wasn’t just to pretend. Jesus
Christ really died. He came. He took on human flesh. He lived and he was put to death,
brutally put to death on the cross. And in so doing, he took our
sins. And in his dying, he paid for
our sins, he made atonement, propitiation for our sins. Is it even conceivable? God doesn’t
have another sacrifice to offer. He doesn’t have another son.
That was the point of last week’s statement. It was his own son. His only begotten son that God
sent on our behalf, is it even conceivable that God would now
entertain new and fresh. Charges of condemnation against
us. As one pastor said in dying, our Lord Jesus received the condemnation
that was due our sins. He died because he took him the
guilt of our sins. He cannot be the cause of our
condemnation because his very death proves that he has taken
our condemnation upon himself. There is no more condemnation.
It’s not even possible to come under it. Not only did he die, he was raised.
You talk about proof. Proof that God had accepted Christ’s
sacrifice. That’s it. And it ends the discussion.
Christ’s death satisfied God’s demand for justice. It was enough.
Once for all. As we’ve studied in the past. God’s raising Jesus Christ from
the dead was a proof. It was proof to us that God had
accepted that payment. And His rising was essentially
a testimony to that fact, a proclamation to the world, declaring to us
that God had accepted what Jesus Christ had accomplished on the
cross. Is it even conceivable? Is it even conceivable that God
sent His Son, His only Son, to die for us? And He really did
die. He went through with it. And
not only did He go through with it when He was dead, fully dead
after three days, God raised him again. And now God is going
to entertain new charges against the child against the child of
God, not even possible. But Paul’s not finished yet. Who will bring a charge against
God’s elect God is the one who justifies who is the one who
condemns Christ Jesus as he who died, yes, who rather was raised,
who is at the right hand of God. He’s there now, he’s residing
there now. What is this place? We know that. In just a powerful way, and there
in Philippians 2, because Jesus Christ humbled himself and took
on human flesh, it says that God highly exalted him. To where? Well, we assume to heaven, but
exactly to where? Hebrews 1 4 1 1 3 4 tells us. God one of my favorite passages
you know this. God after he spoke long ago to
the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many
ways in these last days has spoken to us in his son whom he appointed
heir of all things also through whom he made the world And He,
that is Jesus Christ, is the radiance of His, that is God’s
glory, and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all
things by the word of His power, when He had made purification
of sins. When was that? When He paid for
your penalty on the cross. When He died for our sins. When
He had made purification of sins, He sat down. He sat down because
it was finished and it says that he sat down at the right hand
of the majesty on high. He went to heaven and he went
having finished that work and he sat down. It was over and
done with. The writer of Hebrews echoes
that thought in Hebrews chapter 10. Every priest and he’s talking
about going into the holy of holies to offer sacrifice for
sins, and he says, look back, look back at the old economy,
look how they used to have to deal with sin. The priest. Every priest stands daily ministering
and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins, not fully, not perfectly. He’s contrasting
what the priests of old used to do with what Christ has accomplished. And he says, look at every priest
used to walk in and they would stand there the whole time, you
wouldn’t dare sit down in the presence of God. Jesus does. Every priest stands daily ministering,
but he, after he offered one sacrifice for sins for all time. Sat down at the right hand of
God. It’s finished. That’s the whole
point of this. And Paul echoes that thought in Ephesians as well,
that he is seated at the right hand in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 1. It’s a sign of finality. It’s
a sign of finished work. It’s an affirmation that Christ’s
work was fully accepted and it is once and for all. Are we to
assume then That God would allow new charges to be trumped up
against you or I. Ridiculous. Forget the last point that Paul
makes. Not only is it Christ Jesus who died, who rather was
raised, who was at the right hand of God, who also intercedes
for us. That’s a powerful and profound
thought. Jesus isn’t dead. He’s a living
Christ and he’s a Christ in power at the right hand of God, but
he’s in power at the right hand of God interceding for you and
I praying for, as it were. And it’s absolutely crucial.
To note that this is not a defense by Christ, Christ isn’t constantly,
oh, God, please forgive them. He’s he’s done it again. That’s
not the kind of intercession that Christ is offering on our
behalf. It’s not that Jesus is going
constantly pleading mercy for us. God has already shown that
in what He’s provided in Jesus the Savior. It isn’t for defense. It’s for grace. It’s for the
fresh supplies of grace that you and I need every day. Grace
for perseverance, grace for endurance, grace for steadfastness, grace
for that joyfulness that we lack so often, grace for fruitfulness,
grace to maintain a heavenward gaze. Jesus Christ sits next
to God himself, God the Father, and he is pleading for grace
on our behalf. Saints of God, if that isn’t
a comfort to you. If you still can entertain twiddling
your thumbs, whirl, whirl, that somehow, someone, even the devil
himself can come up with some charge, something that you did
in times past that will supersede the faith that you have placed
in his son. It’s hopeless. If you can’t consider
The Christ has already died for you. God raised him, seated him
in his right hand, and he’s now pleading for grace on your behalf.
What a comfort to God’s people. What a comfort. Let’s rejoice before him in prayer. Our merciful King. So often we fall prey to this
trap. We listen to the devil. We listen
to our own heart. We listen to our critics. We
give ear to them. They resonate. They grow. They
build. And the next thing you know,
we have ourselves unsaved. Oh, God, thank you for this passage. Thank you for these words to
us. That liberate us. There is no accuser. There is
none to stand. Because there is no condemnation.
We rejoice in Jesus name.