Who Shall Bring Any Charge?

[0:00] In our current study of Salvation God's Way, we've been looking at the amazing five unanswerable questions that are found in the final verses of Romans chapter 8.

[0:24] ! I teach because I discovered it is a great way to learn.

[0:39] For me, the best way to learn. If I'm able to impart some knowledge to others, that's great as well. But I really appreciate that I can learn what the Lord is saying in these passages.

[0:54] We have already looked at what I call two unanswerable questions. They are, if God is for us, who could be against us? And then, he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

[1:14] And then, in tonight's study, we're going to look at the third unanswerable question, who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen or whom God has elected?

[1:29] Who's going to bring a charge successfully? In all the unanswerable questions that we have or will study, we discover that there is a great spiritual truth that supports the question.

[1:46] The first great truth is that God is for us. Therefore, who can be against us? And do we care if God is for us?

[1:58] The second question has to do with the reality that God has already given us the greatest gift he could possibly give, being eternal life in Christ.

[2:13] How will he not also give us all things as a result of that? As a result. The third great truth, which we've already stated, is who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?

[2:28] And the reason no one in the universe, and that takes in humans, Satan, or demons, can successfully charge us because we've been chosen by the God of the universe.

[2:46] Is it needful that I remind us that the God of the universe is also the supreme judge of the universe? We know that. So our God is our judge, is our forgiver of our sins.

[3:03] That's a pretty good system if you're going to stand before a judge. To be chosen by God, it is necessary that we be acquitted of all sin.

[3:15] Now that occurred at Calvary. We all know that. The atonement. All of our sins, every one, were placed on the Lord Jesus Christ as He hung on the cross.

[3:33] I get in some interesting debates with some friends of mine over that issue. Well, I don't think He, not all sin. I mean, we're not going to stand before God with any taint of sin.

[3:46] Any taint of sin at all. He took it all. In God, we have a judge. And this judge has acquitted us of all sin that would separate us from Him.

[4:01] All of it. When we think in terms of being summoned before a judge, it can fill one with a little anxiety. That actually happened to me when I was police chief.

[4:15] I was in the courthouse on the second floor at the district attorney's office. And this woman ran in. I didn't know who she was. It was Judge Williams, the lady judge. It was her clerk.

[4:27] She said, Chief Holland. And I said, Judge Williams wants you in her courtroom right now. Well, when the judge says, come, you go. It's an order from the king. So I go. I skipped the elevator this time, Mike.

[4:39] I went running up those stairs. Ran into her courtroom. And she's on the bench, you know. And she says, Chief Holland, arrest that man right there. A judge has the authority to do that.

[4:53] Anywhere in America. Any judge. If I'd been on vacation in New Mexico. I started to say, why would I go on vacation in New Mexico? But James is here. I won't say that.

[5:04] But if I'd been on. I have relatives all over. But if I'd been on vacation and a New Mexico judge says, are you a police officer? Yes, sir. In Oklahoma. I said, arrest that person. I would do it.

[5:15] I would do it. And she said. So this guy, he was just yelling at her. He was, you know, mouthy. And she finally had me arrest him. And I went outside and called the real police.

[5:26] So I was trying to get him up there. But it was funny because I get outside and he says, let me go in one more time and explain to her what I meant. I said, look, you're going to jail.

[5:37] I don't want to go with you. You know, she's going to put us off. That was my cousin though. I could have got you out of there. Oh, well. Judge Williams is? Yeah. But it was a little anxious moment, you know.

[5:51] I didn't know what was going on up there. Now think in terms though of standing one day before the supreme judge of the universe to give an account.

[6:06] He doesn't even ask to ask us anything. He already knows. He already knows. And, you know, this was a problem for the great Protestant reformer Martin Luther.

[6:20] He was petrified at the prospect of standing before God as his judge. Absolutely petrified because of his failures, his sinful failures.

[6:32] At some point or another, I think we're all troubled by this prospect as was Luther. And I think it troubles people.

[6:43] And I'm talking about Christian people and non-Christians, but Christian people. I think it's troubling for three reasons, probably more. One, our consciences accuse us.

[6:56] We've got a conscience and it's accusatory. And, you know, guys, conscience is one of the great creations of the Creator. It's a marvelous thing.

[7:09] We can put on a front. We can actually fool those around of us, at least for a little while. But we don't fool ourselves very well, although we might try.

[7:22] All of us know about secret thoughts and secret moments in our life. Can you imagine if all our thoughts or our lusts or our anger was ever displayed on a video screen some morning in church?

[7:38] I'm sure I would slink out of the building. Dr. McBride used to say, you know, people would say, I think there's going to be a video of our life in heaven. He said, then it won't be heaven if there is.

[7:50] But our own consciences accuse us. But Satan accuses us. In fact, he's called the accuser. And he's always there lurking, either him or one of his demons, and he's got a gaggle of them.

[8:09] But he is referred to as the accuser of the brethren or the accuser of the brothers. And he accuses day and night.

[8:21] Satan accuses us. And, you know, I want you to think about something. When he levels an accusation against us before the father, he doesn't necessarily have to even lie, does he?

[8:35] Not necessarily. He may be bringing up something that's very true. The good news is the father looks at the son. The son says, he's one of mine. And he says, I'm satisfied.

[8:47] And that puts it to rest. But Satan doesn't necessarily have to lie about us, although he's capable. He's a father of lies. But the truth may be more damaging.

[8:59] But as stressful as our own conscience can be, and the fact that Satan accuses us before God day and night, does not compare with this last truth.

[9:11] And I've already said it. We must one day stand before God and give an account. Another listen from Dr. McBride. A bunch of us knew him well.

[9:22] Well, you knew him well. He said, keep short accounts with God. He almost lost Lucille a few years ago. Of course, he almost died too. He had blood clots. But he said, keep short accounts with God.

[9:35] Because you never know. The day approaches. The day approaches. And it's approaching. When each one of us must appear before the omniscient God of the universe.

[9:49] On that day, every heart will be open and every desire and thought will be laid bare. Even our subconscious minds will be like a book before the great judge.

[10:00] Motives will be known. Motives will be known. That may be the most troubling prospect. This judgment before God is what caused such distress in Martin Luther.

[10:10] He had been taught that his own good works were not only good enough for him to stand before the supreme judge, but were necessary.

[10:24] And of course, he was raised in Roman Catholicism. And works is extremely important there. But they've got it skewed. We're supposed to work. But not as a way of salvation.

[10:37] But because we're saved. Because we're saved. The problem that Luther had was the same problem probably we all have. He knew his works.

[10:49] He knew what he had done. He knew his thoughts. He also knew that God knew his works. Which was most troubling to him.

[11:01] The French biographer of Luther, Merle de Abounais. I've always wanted to say that in here. I used to practice that. Abounais. He was a French historian.

[11:12] And he wrote a... I've got copies of it. Multi-volumes on the Reformation. And here's what Abounais said. What works can come from a heart like mine?

[11:26] Now he's quoting Luther. What works can come from a heart like mine? How can I stand before the holiness of my judge with works polluted in their very source?

[11:42] And as a result, Luther trembled at the thought that one day he must stand before God.

[11:53] He trembled. Trembling at such a thought is foreign to most people in our day. You can tell that just every time you turn on television or whatever.

[12:04] Really, not even most churches teach that in our day. But should we? The reformers taught down to our day that anyone who does not tremble at the thought of future judgment in light of personal sins should be pitied.

[12:24] That is why even today, reform-minded theologians say, before you take a man to the grace of God, take him to the law of God. Let him look at God's law and tremble at what's in store for those who reject grace and are under the law.

[12:41] Put this another way. How can you believe the gospel if you've never trembled under law? How can you be comforted by a text like Romans 8.33, which we're studying tonight, if you've never seen your need to be saved from sin by Jesus Christ, to be justified by God on the basis of Christ's atonement and the gift of His righteousness?

[13:08] And you'll probably think, boy, Tom's pretty smart to come up with that. That's actually Dr. Boyce, James Montgomery Boyce. I'm quoting him there. But we need to be doing some trembling. I think the Negro spiritual was correct.

[13:20] Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. And I actually sing that when I'm all alone and I know there's nobody can hear me. But the lesson of Romans 8.33 is not to bring discomfort to the elect of God.

[13:42] It is intended to awaken us to what the text actually says. It is true that God is our judge.

[13:52] It is true we must stand before this judge. But the important thing to remember is that this great, sovereign, and inescapable judge has acquitted us through the work of Christ Jesus if we have believed in Him and put our trust in Him.

[14:16] Abraham did that. You can read about it in Romans 4. And it says it was reckoned to him as righteousness. I love that. It was credited to him or accounted to him as righteousness.

[14:31] Two great truths can be stated from this one verse of Scripture. First, if you have been saved by God through the work of Jesus Christ, you are among those whom God has chosen.

[14:48] If you have been saved by Christ, you are among those who have been chosen. That's a very interesting thought.

[14:59] While we were off during inclement weather, and who would challenge the fact that it was inclement, I heard a young pastor on Christian television, looked just like John Eliff.

[15:12] When I saw him, I did a double take. But this young pastor on Christian television say something very similar. And I caught it and copied it.

[15:23] His comment was basically this. If you believe the gospel of Christ and have been saved by the gospel of Christ, it is because you were chosen before the foundation of the world to believe in the gospel of Christ, and your name was actually written down in the book of life before time began.

[15:50] Before time began. And you know, I've heard some blasphemous treatments of that thought by guys that claim to be pastors. I won't mention any names, but like Kenneth Copeland.

[16:02] I mean, he was really out there. And in fact, there was one just the other day, and he was talking about free will.

[16:13] He said Jesus had total free will, and he didn't have to do one thing that the Father told him to do, because he had free will. Excuse me? He was in obedience to the Father.

[16:25] He came to reveal the Father. That itself was a blasphemous statement. By that guy, not me. I'm quoting him. Now, we note that in Romans 8.33, the text does not say who will bring any charge against sinners.

[16:44] It doesn't say that. The Holy Spirit does not say that because we're all sinners. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, not even one.

[16:56] All our works are as a filthy rag before the eyes of God. All we like sheep have gone astray. So the Holy Spirit does not say that because we're all sinners.

[17:08] And by that, I mean this. There are sinners whose sins are covered by the blood of Christ. And at the same time, there are sinners whose sins are not covered by the blood of Christ.

[17:22] And that's the difference between being saved and lost. That's saved and lost. In the case of those whose sins are not covered by the blood of Christ, they are accused by their own conscience.

[17:39] Now, we live in a day when the conscience is seared. I mean, there's some really bad things going on in this world, in our country, in life.

[17:52] But people do have a conscience. And one day, that conscience is going to start working on them. They are also accused by Satan.

[18:03] And in the final announce, they will be accused by God Himself. Those charges are true, and there's no escaping the approaching and inevitable judgment that will result in eternal condemnation.

[18:16] Only those chosen by God will escape the coming judgment. Now, we have a judgment called the bema. Mike, you're familiar with that in the plumbing business.

[18:29] The bema, it's a seat. I won't tell you what seat you have in your house that Mike works with, but it's seat. That's different from the great white throne judgment of the unsaved.

[18:41] Ours is a place of reward, and it can be loss of reward. But the great white throne is a place of condemnation. Well, who are the chosen of God?

[18:54] And we've already studied that in verses 28 and 29. It bears repeating this evening. In verse 28, we read that the chosen are those who have been chosen according to God's purpose.

[19:12] God had purpose in choosing who He chose. According to verse 29, these are the people whom God foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He, that's the Son, might be the firstborn.

[19:32] That means the preeminent one. It doesn't mean Jesus is a created being. He's uncreated. But He's the preeminent one among many brothers.

[19:44] He is preeminent. Now, that portion of chapter 8 that I just read to you uses five astounding words. It speaks of those whom God foreknew, whom God predestined, whom God called, whom God justified, and whom God glorified.

[20:08] And you know, we haven't been glorified yet, have we? That's going to occur in heaven. We're going to see Jesus and be like Him because we're going to see Him as He is. Yet God speaks it here in the past tense as if it's already occurred.

[20:24] And by the way, when we finish up this portion of our study, we're going to go into glorification and then we'll be through. And we'll start something new.

[20:35] And I'm already working on that. But if God has done these five things in your life, foreknew you, predestined you, called you, justified you, and glorified you, who will bring any prevailing charge against you?

[20:55] I mean, can you imagine Satan making an accusation against any one of you? And the Father says, well, you know, I didn't think of it that way. Let me reevaluate this. No, that's not going to happen.

[21:07] That's not going to happen. Put another way, who is out there that can bring any charge against you that will stick? Maybe that's a good way to put it. Good Bible word.

[21:18] Will it stick? So again, I say, if you have been saved by God through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the work of the cross, you are among those whom God has chosen.

[21:37] And the second point of the equation that we'll consider tonight is this. If you are among those whom God has chosen, it is also true that God has justified you of all sin.

[21:53] Now, that may sound a little confusing. We'll clear that up. But you've been justified. Justified. Justified. And people, we like to use that little phrase, you know, just as if I'd never sinned.

[22:05] Let me tell you, God treats you just as if you're His dear Son. That's how you are treated. That's how you are treated.

[22:16] We should note that it is God who does the justifying and not we ourselves. If I try to justify my own sins, I'm in fact sinning even more.

[22:29] But God is the supreme judge of the universe. Everything He does is based upon His sovereign omnipotence, His great power.

[22:40] The truth is we may harden our hearts toward our own sins. We may also concoct some scheme to fool Satan. But the terrifying truth is we can never avoid God.

[22:53] We can't fool Him into believing we are something we are not. Can't be done. At one and the same time, that is both a terrifying thought and a very comforting truth.

[23:05] If instead of being condemned by God, we are actually acquitted and justified by Him, then who is left to condemn us?

[23:15] No one. If it is God who has saved us, who will overturn that decree? No one. You know, maybe tonight when we get home, we should spend some time on our knees as we contemplate those great truths.

[23:30] That's worth some knee time. Now, I've been using this word justify or justification tonight, and we've looked at this word many times during the course of our study, salvation God's way.

[23:45] Perhaps it would be helpful to define that word once more before we move on. Justification is an act of God whereby He imparts to a believing sinner the full and perfect righteousness of Christ, forgiving the sinner of all unrighteousness, declaring him or her perfectly righteous in God's sight, thus delivering the believer from all condemnation.

[24:20] That's quite a definition. That's quite a definition. And we have a two-sided coin here. And we've got a lot of those, don't we? A lot of two-sided coins. When I contemplate the fact that the Father has justified me by sacrificing His Son on the cross, I tremble.

[24:43] I tremble. When I sin in light of what Christ has done for me, I tremble. But that which causes me to tremble also gives me the greatest comfort and assurance.

[24:57] And let me state it by example. In this life, we will offend many people. It's just the nature of being a human. We will offend many people.

[25:10] But the greatest offense is against God. We offend a holy God. And there is no more amazing, I'm not sure what word I want here, biblical example of this than King David.

[25:29] But when you read about the life of David and this whole series of sins that he entered into, the first one being in the spring when kings went out and fought for God, against the enemies of God, David was home in Jerusalem.

[25:49] And what was he doing? He was on the rooftop looking down at a woman taking a bath. That's what he was doing. He sinned. But who did he sin against?

[26:00] Well, a bunch of folks. And we probably don't think about this in our culture today, but he sinned against Bathsheba. He sinned.

[26:11] This is the king summoned her next door to the palace. How did she end up living next door to him? This is the king.

[26:22] And he says, come over to the palace. And he commits adultery with her. He sinned against Bathsheba. He sinned against Bathsheba's husband, Uriah.

[26:33] Ted, you can do a study on Uriah sometime. That's a great guy. He was a warrior. He was fighting for David. He's out there. Of course, you know the story. David sent for him.

[26:44] He came in. He would not go and be with his wife as a husband. Instead, he slept out on the cold ground because his troops were on the cold ground. David tried and tried and tried to get him to go home and spend the night.

[26:58] He wouldn't do it. Finally, David arranged to have him killed. We're talking about sin here. This is the king. He arranged.

[27:09] And you know what? He carried the sealed scroll ordering his death himself to Jonathan that was in battle. That's amazing.

[27:22] But when David finally came to his senses, after conviction, he cried out in this psalm, Psalm 51, which is the great psalm. You ought to read it tonight of David coming to his senses.

[27:36] And the first part of verse 4, David says, Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. David cries out to have his sin cleansed because he knew that only God could accomplish that.

[27:53] No one else could. No one else could. And in Psalm 51, 7, he cries out, Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

[28:06] And I love when Nathan the prophet came to him, you know, and David finally realized that he got down on his face. And Nathan the prophet said, David, God's not going to take away your salvation.

[28:23] He didn't do that. David was justified on the basis of Christ's righteousness even though it was still future. The cross was still in the future. And Nathan said, God's not taking away your salvation.

[28:38] But. Why? There's always consequences to sinful choices. There's always consequences. Second point I'll make is that God knows the law perfectly.

[28:52] In this life, we offend people, but the greatest offense is against God and God knows the law perfectly. Why shouldn't He? It's His law. He's the one that gave us the law.

[29:03] He also knows how to justify His people. And no smart lawyer such as Satan will ever find some sin or violation of the law that is not covered by the blood of Christ.

[29:21] I'm sure he would like to, but he can't. How can God justify horrible sinners such as myself?

[29:31] How can He do that? Because God knows the value of the work of Christ, His Son. He knows the infinite value of the Son's work particularly on the cross.

[29:48] Particularly on the cross. The Father knows what happened on the cross. God has satisfied all possible claims against us and has done this Himself through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[30:09] Justification has two parts. Through the sacrifice of Christ by which we are justified, Jesus takes all of our sins unto Himself.

[30:21] And He doesn't skip over any of them. That's the agony of the cross. The separation from God because He became sin. Not a sinner. Sin.

[30:33] At the same time, Jesus gives us all of His righteousness. We call that, by the way, double imputation. He imputes His righteousness to our account.

[30:45] He imputes our sins to His account. The great Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said this, To justify means more than to pardon.

[30:59] It means more than to forgive. It means that God makes a judicial declaration, justification, and that's an important word, justification is a declaration, to the effect that He has not only forgiven us, but that He now regards us as just and righteous and holy as if we had never sinned at all.

[31:30] That's how the Father treats us, guys. God not only imputes my sin to His Son, He takes His righteousness and imputes it to me. That's Dr. Lloyd-Jones.

[31:42] And one final point for tonight. The jurisdiction of God's court is universal. It's everywhere. It's throughout the universe.

[31:56] And if there's anything beyond, it's there. There is no higher court anywhere in the universe than God's court.

[32:08] Being acquitted by the court of God, we could never be condemned by any other judge or any other court. This should bring us great comfort even when our thoughts and consciences accuse us, even when Satan accuses us.

[32:27] There's no higher authority than God. And this is what God has said. This is what God has said. And that's what we're still united in verse 33.

[32:38] Let me close with this point from the late Dr. James Montgomery Boyce. These are his words. I won't use his voice. He's a neat guy.

[32:49] Real grally. He's on the radio every morning, Sunday morning. And we're going to have a video series with him in here on Sunday morning. I have no desire to frighten you with thoughts of the final judgment.

[33:03] I want you to find comfort in Christ. But I need to say one more thing. If you are not in Christ, if your sins are not covered by his blood and you are not clothed in his righteousness, you should be frightened.

[33:24] There is no comfort for you. One day you will have to meet God whom you have dishonored and be judged by Christ, whom you have spurned, who will save you in that day if the Lord himself is not your Savior.

[33:43] If you are not in Christ and that day you will find God to be a stern, unyielding judge. I'm so glad Dr. Boyce didn't end there.

[33:54] He went to another paragraph and he says, but this is not yet that day. I love that. This is not yet that day.

[34:08] This is the day of God's grace. Jesus Christ is still proclaimed as Savior.

[34:22] And then Dr. Boyce says, believe on him. Trust him. If you do, you will enter into a salvation that neither earth nor hell can shake and that God himself has made secure.

[34:39]