AT A GLANCE

Do you struggle with regret? Do you live in shame? Do you feel stuck? We invite you to listen to this sermon and find freedom in Christ! In this sermon we’ll see that because God does not condemn those who are in Christ, no one can condemn us. Believe the gospel, repent of your sin, and follow Jesus out of shame and into life!  

INTRODUCTION

Last week we established that we can trust the Lord with our whole lives and we can give our yes to Him before we even know what He’s asking of us. That’s the confidence we have as His children. He will give us all we need to do all He asks. This comes from the first of three premises and promises in this passage. buy Ivermectin uk Verses 31-32 http://thisisthewilderness.com/alfacgiapi If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 

Next week we’ll cover the third premise & promise in verses 35-39. But today let’s look at the second premise beginning in verse 33. Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 

THE ACCUSER

Verse 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? In the first premise and promise, Paul reassured us that no one can stand against us. But that doesn’t mean no one will try. In the second premise and promise, Paul expounds upon what it might look like for someone to stand against us, namely bring a charge against us. 

Biblically, Satan is referred to as the accuser. R.C. Sproul says, “The principal work of Satan in the life of the believer is not temptation, though he is engaged in that; his chief work is accusation.” 

“And 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 brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.’” Revelation 12:10 

Satan goes before God and points at God’s elect, literally God’s chosen ones, the saints, you and I, and he says, “See your people?! See what they’ve done?!” The enemy’s scheme is to discourage, defame, slander, and mock us in an attempt to diminish God’s glory. 

FILTHY GARMENTS REPLACED

But it is not as though God is ignorant of our sin. We are, in fact, unworthy of being God’s children. It’s just that God acts on our behalf just as He did in Zechariah’s vision. In this vision Satan is standing to the right side of Joshua the High Priest ready to accuse him. Instead, God rebuked Satan and then intervened on Joshua’s behalf. 

“Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, ‘Remove the filthy garments from him.’ And to him he said, ‘Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments…’” Zechariah 3:3-4 

What a glorious foretaste of what God does on our behalf in Christ. Satan accuses us of our sin, but God cleanses us from our sin by the blood of the Lamb. He removes, as it were, our filthy garments and clothes us in the righteousness of Christ. 

HUMAN ACCUSERS

Now, Satan is not the only one who accuses us. Blinded by him and under his power, Israel’s leaders frequently followed the course of Satan in accusing Jesus of all sorts of misconduct. Ultimately, they crucified Him for blasphemy. “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” John 5:18

Jesus knew who He was and could later say with confidence, “Which one of you convicts me of sin?” John 8:46 He knew He was sent by the Father to do the Father’s will, that He had only ever done the Father’s will, and the Father would vindicate Him…which He did in the resurrection as Romans 1:4 says, “and [He] was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord…” 

Isaiah’s prophesy must have been going through Jesus’ mind as He faced his accusers. “He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty?…” Isaiah 50:8-9 When the Judge helps you, who has any chance of winning in court? Jesus was right to have that kind of confidence. Who indeed could convict Him of sin? No one. 

BUT WE ARE GUILTY OF SIN

Now, it’s one thing to talk about Jesus, but what about us? Unlike Jesus, we are guilty of sin. Remember I said that we are, in fact, wicked and that God cleanses us from sin and removes our filthy garments and clothes us in righteousness? Let’s unpack that a little now. I’ve referred to the doctrinal concept called imputed righteousness before when we were studying Romans 4. “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness…” Romans 4:5 The word, “counted” here is also translated credited. 

God credits us with righteous, or He credits Christ’s righteousness to our account. The perfect righteousness of Christ, which allowed Him to say with confidence, “who can convict me of sin?,” is transferred to the believer. Everyone who recognizes their sin and calls upon Jesus for forgiveness in repentance is made righteous. In the divine court, we receive His perfection. 

This is not a denial that Christians still sin; we don’t deny we still fight the flesh. But it is to say unequivocally that in Christ, God sees you as righteous. Your filthy garments are removed, and you are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Satan can accuse you, people can accuse you, but in God’s court, you are righteous. 

HOLY SPIRIT HELP US 

If this seems too good to be true, it is because we lack the capacity to grasp the magnitude and magnificence of the Gospel. What we need is not to reduce the magnificence to meet our capacity, but to ask the Holy Spirit to help us appreciate it for what it is, truly remarkable.   

We are made right with God, counted righteous, not by our merit, but by Christ’s. God the judge helps us. And if God helps us, who on earth could possibly land a charge against us? We can echo Christ, “Who can convict us of any sin?” Why? John the Baptist looked at Jesus and said, “…Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29 Christian, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world has taken yours away.   

GUILT AND SHAME ON OUR MIND

Some of us struggle more with the accusation of our own conscience than that of Satan, or even of other people. Some look back in regret on their lives and the sins they committed make them feel painful guilt. This is where our identity in Christ is so important. We need to know the Gospel, not just enough to repeat it; we need to be intimately aware of it’s implications. Jesus said, “You will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” If you want to be free, come to the truth and truly know Him. 

Some of you are prisoner in an open cage of shame because your focus is on what is behind you and not the door that has been opened in front of you. You’re so busy reliving the past, regretting what you’ve done, reflecting on failure and sin and wickedness that you do not feel worthy of walking in freedom. You don’t do anybody any good by moping in regret. No one has ever added to their own justification by lingering the cell of shame. 

The Gospel calls sinners to three essential tasks: believe, repent, and follow Jesus. There’s no mention of sulking in the faith. Is there place to confess sin and acknowledge how wicked it is? That’s absolutely essential. We need to grieve our sin. But what comes next? 

The Bible calls true grief over sin “godly grief,” and says it leads us forward, not backward. “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” 2 Corinthians 7:10 

Some of you are alive in Christ, but you’re killing yourselves every day. You may believe the Gospel enough to be saved, but you wonder how you could ever really be acceptable to God after what you’ve done. Your life feels powerless and ineffectual. There’s nothing for you to do trapped in your cell. Life and joy and peace evades you because it is found following Christ, not lingering in shame! You feel you don’t deserve to be joyful, peaceful, and at ease and this has an appearance of piety, it has an appearance of remorse, but the bible calls this “worldly grief.”

Bitterness, isolation, and selfishness are the fruit of a mind filled with worldly grief. You do not fully comprehend what God has done for you in Christ. Even if you have been born again, you doubt your worthiness to stand before Him as His beloved child. 

GOD JUSTIFIES US

Certainly, God disciplines those He loves. He’s a good Father and that’s what good father’s do. But in His discipline, He’s not exacting revenge, He’s teaching obedience and making us more like Christ. But you need to know that He counts you perfectly righteous. He invites you to enter His throne room with boldness and confidence in your time of need as Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”   

Paul says, 33…It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Although Satan and others accuse you, God does not. And if God does not accuse you, if God does not condemn you, what else is there? Who has the authority to bring a charge against God’s elect? 

Paul says God justifies us. This means He declares us not guilty. Justification is not the same as pardoning. It’s one thing to be declared guilty and later pardoned. A pardon does not remove the guilt. The guilt remains even though the punishment is lifted. 

When God justifies us, He actually declares that we are not guilty. He deals with the guilt, not just the punishment. We were guilty, but Jesus stepped in to take our place and bear our punishment, “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5 His death serves as a substitutionary atonement for our sin. 

JESUS STANDS IN OUR DEFENSE

He credits Jesus’ righteousness to us and He declares us righteous forever. Shall we go on sinning that grace may abound? By no means! We need to consider ourselves dead to sin, Paul warns. Nevertheless, God’s verdict is final and authoritative. If you are in Christ, God justifies you, who is to condemn?

That’s the second premise, now the promise: Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 

Kent Hughes powerfully comments, “If accusations are brought against us, we need not fear, for the charges are silenced by the upraised, pierced hands of our intercessor.” Jesus, with His pierced hands and side and feet is seated in power and authority at God’s right hand. He is exercising dominion over the cosmos, and He is effectively interceding for His elect. 

I think of Stephen in Acts 7. After boldly proclaiming the Gospel to his fellow Jews, they responded to Stephen with intense rage. The situation would soon turn violent. In that climactic moment, Stephen looked up and beheld the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. The crowd rushed him and stoned him to death. While the earthly court vehemently cast their judgment upon Stephen, the divine Judge was in session, and Jesus stood in Stephen’s defense at God’s right hand. 

And that, brothers, is all that matters. The one with ultimate authority to judge has already declared His verdict for you and Christ is bearing witness on your behalf that you are clothed in a righteousness not of your own, but bought for you with His own blood. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 

FOUR TRUTHS

Since you are no longer under God’s condemnation, here are four truths to meditate upon:

1. You need not earn His love and approval. Nor could you.   
2. You need not defend yourself against your accusers. Jesus will be your defense. 
3. You are completely forgiven of your sin. It is removed, cancelled, erased.
4. You are free to leave your cell of shame and follow Jesus in His mission in the world as a delivered sinner delivering sinners the only way possible – through the proclamation of the powerful Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. It has changed you; it has set you free, and you will take it to captives and it will set them free, too. Amen?!

As we turn our attention now to communion, let’s ask the Lord to examine our hearts and show us if there are still areas where the balm of the Gospel needs to be applied to heal and to sooth. Perhaps there are areas of shame and regret in your heart. Maybe you’ve made a mess of your life and you need the Lord to take these next moments to apply the truth of the Gospel directly to that today and turn you around and show you the cell of shame is open, you may freely walk out in Christ. Not because of what you’ve done, but because of what Christ has done for you. 

You hold in your hands the symbolic representation of what it took for you to be made right with God and set free from sin and condemnation. If you’ve not taken hold of this internally, I invite you to put down the elements. Let it pass. But what I truly want for you is that you take hold of them in your hand and in your heart and let them change you and set you free. Will you call upon the Lord to forgive your sin and remove your filthy garments and clothe you in Christ?

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Doriani, D. M. (2021). Romans. P&R Publishing. 

Hughes, Kent R. (1991). Romans – Righteousness from Heaven. Crossway. 

Kruse, Colin G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans. W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Longenecker, Richard N. (2016). The Epistle to the Romans. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 

MacArthur, John. (1991). Romans 1-8. Moody Publishers.

MacArthur, John. (1991). Romans 9-16. Moody Publishers.

Moo, Douglas J. (2018). The Letter to the Romans, Second Edition. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Mounce, Robert. (1995). Romans. B&H Publishing.

Schreiner, Thomas R. (2018). Romans, Second Edition. Baker Publishing Group. 

Sproul, R. C. (2019). The Righteous Shall Live By Faith – Romans. Ligonier Ministries