Introduction
This is now my eighth sermon on Romans 8 and we’ve had to go slowly through this one chapter because it’s packed with wonderful truths about God and our salvation.
It begins with the marvellous promise that for those who are in Christ Jesus there is now no condemnation. Though we’re sinners who sin against the Lord continually in thought and word and deed and though we fall short of doing God’s will every day and even though our best deeds are spoiled by sin, nevertheless Christ’s people will never ever be condemned, because Christ our Saviour was condemned in our place. That’s how this chapter begins and it ends with the marvellous promise that nothing will separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing will separate us from God’s love for us.
And so, there’s no condemnation and there’s no separation. It really is wonderful. And between those two promises at the beginning and at the end of the chapter, Paul has been teaching us so many other wonderful truths about God and our salvation. And best of all perhaps is what we’ve been studying over the last two Sundays and how God works in all things that happen to us and in all the circumstances of our life, good and bad. He works in all things for the good of those who love God and who have been called according to his purpose. And God’s purpose for his people is for us to be conformed to the likeness of our Saviour, so that in the end Christ will be surrounded in the life to come with his people, who have been made perfectly holy and righteousness in his presence and who therefore bear the family likeness to our elder brother, Jesus Christ. And God’s glorious plan for his people in Christ Jesus began before the creation of the world, when he set his love on us and predestined us for the glory to come. And those whom God loved and predestined in eternity, he also called. And those he called, he also justified. And those he justified, he also glorified. And since God did not spare his beloved Son, but gave him up for us all, then how will be not also, along with Christ, give us everything we need to bring us to perfection in his presence? If God is for us, who can be against us and succeed, because God works in everything that happens to us to make us more like our Saviour.
That’s what we need to remember as we go through the week and as we face disappointments and trials and setbacks and unpleasant circumstances and bad news. As we face all the troubles and trials of life, we need to remember and believe that God our Father is at work in these things to bring us to perfection in his presence. He’s working out his plan for us and his plan for us is always for our good.
And now we’ve come to the final verses of this extra-ordinary chapter. And these final verses contain three big questions: First, who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? Second, who is he that condemns? And third, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Paul poses each of these three questions and the answer to each question is implied rather than stated. The answer to each question is: no-one. No-one will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen. No-one will condemn us. No-one will separate us from the love of Christ. The answer to each question is: no-one. But then, for each question, Paul goes on to explain why this is the case. So, here’s why no-one will bring any charge against them. And here’s why no-one will condemn them. And here’s why no-one will separate us from Christ’s love. And so, let’s turn to the passage.
Who will bring any charge?
And Paul’s first question is: ‘Who shall bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?’
When Paul refers here to those whom God has chosen, he’s referring to believers, isn’t he? So, before the creation of the world, God chose his people. He, as it were, said to himself: ‘I want him and I want her to be with me for ever and to see my glory.’ And having chosen us before the creation of the world, he then made us. And when the time was right, he called us through the reading and preaching of the gospel. And he enabled us to respond to his call and to trust in Christ for salvation. And he called us to Christ for salvation because he first chose us.
And so, when Paul refers here in verse 33 to those whom God has chosen, he’s talking about God’s people. He’s talking about Christians.
And so, who will bring any charge against them? And the word ‘charge’ is a legal word, isn’t it? Paul is thinking of a judicial setting and of someone who is bringing a legal charge or an accusation against God’s people. And since he’s using the future tense — who will bring any charge — then he’s perhaps thinking of the last day, when everyone will stand before the judgment seat of God to give an account of their lives. And so, on that day, who will bring a charge against God’s people to prevent us from entering the glory to come? Who will stand up in the presence of God and accuse us?
And the answer is that no-one will stand up in the presence of God and accuse us. But it’s not because we are blameless and haven’t done anything wrong. After all, we are born sinners who have inherited from Adam a fallen, sinful nature. And because we’re born sinners, sinning against God comes naturally to us. And we sin against God continually throughout our lives in thought and word and deed. And even after we believe in the Saviour and are filled with his Spirit, we continue to sin and to fall short of doing God’s will. And as I’ve already said, even our best deeds and our good works are spoiled by sin. I was speaking to someone about this recently. I can’t remember who it was. But I pointed out that our church’s Confession of Faith says that our good works are defiled and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection that they cannot meet the searching standard of God’s judgment. So, we’re born sinners and we continue to sin and to fall short throughout our lives here on earth and even our good works are not as good as they should be.
So, if the answer to Paul’s first question is that no-one will bring any charge against us on the day of judgment, the reason for that answer is not that we are blameless and haven’t done anything wrong. That’s not the reason why no one will bring any charge against us. The reason no one will bring any charge against us is because it is God who justifies. Do you see that in verse 33? It is God who justifies.
And we’ve talked about justification before and what it is. The Bible makes clear that sinners are justified through faith in Christ the Saviour. And so, the moment we trust in the Saviour, God justifies us. And that means he forgives us for all that we have done wrong; and he regards us as if we’ve done everything right.
He forgives us for all that we have done wrong, because Christ has paid for our sins with his life when he died on the cross. He has paid the debt we owe to God for our disobedience. He was punished in our place so that we might receive forgiveness.
And then, God regards us as if we’ve done everything right, because Christ’s record of perfect obedience becomes ours whenever we trust in him for salvation.
And so, whenever we believe in the Saviour, God justifies us. He declares us free from guilt and he reckons us as righteous in his sight and worthy of eternal life for the sake of Christ.
And so, question: Who will bring any change against those whom God has chosen to prevent them from entering the glory to come? Answer: No one will bring any change against those whom God has chosen to prevent them from entering the glory to come. Why not? Because all the accusations against us were answered by God the moment we first believed and God pardoned us and accepted us because of Christ. And so, no-one can say anything to God about us that will prevent him for bringing us into his presence to see his glory.
Who is he who condemns?
The second question is similar to the first question. So, the first question was: ‘Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?’ And the second question is: ‘Who is he who condemns?’ And this second question links what Paul has just said about justification with what he’s about to say about Christ. So, if God is the one who justifies believers, so that he pardons us and accepts us because of Christ, then who is able to condemn us? Who is able to condemn us, when God the Judge has already declared us free from guilt and righteous in his sight? Who is able to condemn us? Answer: No one is able to condemn us.
And from there, Paul goes on to speak about Christ. And what does he say about Christ our Saviour? He says that he died. He died on the cross as the once-for-all, perfect sacrifice for sins. He died on the cross, bearing in his own body and soul the punishment we deserve for all that we have done wrong in this life. He died on the cross to pay for our sins with his life and to cancel the debt that was against us. So, Christ died for us.
And more than that: he was raised to life. And his resurrection from the dead signifies that he has paid for our sins in full. I’ve used the illustration before, but think of a criminal who is caught and sentenced. The judge rules that he must spend 10 years in prison to pay for his crime. And so he’s put in prison and locked away behind bars. But then, at the end of those ten years, he’s able to be released. And he’s able to be released because he’s paid for his crime. He’s done his time and now he’s able to be released. And the prison guards — who once had to ensure that he was locked up behind bars — have to unlock those bars so that he can walk free. They must let him go free, because he’s paid for his crime in full.
And the Lord Jesus was released from the grave and he was raised to life because he has paid for the sins of his people in full. If our sins hadn’t been paid for, then he would still be dead. He’d still be dead, still suffering the punishment for our sins, still enduring the sentence for our disobedience. But he’s paid for our sins completely and for ever. And so, he was released from the grave and he was raised to life.
And now that he’s alive, he’s at the right hand of God the Father and he’s interceding for us. Do you see that in verse 34? And what that means is that he’s appearing before the Father as our perfect Saviour to ensure that we will never be condemned. Though we deserve to be condemned for all that we have done wrong in this life, nevertheless he’s appearing before the Father as our perfect Saviour to say about us that he’s already paid for our sins with his life and he’s already given us his own record of perfect obedience. And since he’s already paid for our sins with his life and since he’s already given us his own record of perfect obedience, then we cannot be condemned.
And lest we think that the Father is against us and the Lord Jesus has to persuade the Father not to condemn us, we should remember that the Father was the one who loved us and who sent his Son to save us. And because the Father loves us, he’s willing to listen to the Saviour who loves us and who is interceding for us always.
And so, no-one can bring any change against us, because God has already justified us because of Christ. And no-one can condemn us, because Christ died for our sins; and his resurrection proves that he has paid for our sins in full; and he’s now appearing before the Father as our perfect Saviour to ensure that we will never be condemned.
Who shall separate us?
And so, the first question is: ‘Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?’ The second question is: ‘Who is he that condemns?’ The third question is: ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?’ And the answer once again is: no-one. No-one will separate us from the love of Christ. And in the rest of the passage, he reassures us that it is so and he explains why it is so.
He begins by listing some of the circumstances of life which might cause us to think that Christ doesn’t love us. He mentions trouble and hardship and persecution and famine and nakedness and danger and sword. If these things happen to us, we might begin to think that Christ doesn’t love us. But we would be wrong to think that.
So, I said last week that we mustn’t rely on our circumstances to know whether God is for us or not. We mustn’t rely on our circumstances, because our circumstances change all the time. They go up and they go down. We have good days and we have bad days. Good things happen to us and bad things happen to us. And if we’re relying on our circumstances to determine whether God is for us or not or whether Christ loves us or not, then we might conclude that God is not for me and Christ doesn’t love me when bad things happen to us. We may think to ourselves: If Christ really loved me, then I wouldn’t face trouble or hardship, let alone persecution and famine and nakedness and danger and sword. If Christ really loved me, then surely he wouldn’t let these things happen to me? And our assurance of God’s love would go up and down depending on what is happening to us. Something good happens. ‘Great! That proves God loves me.’ But then: ‘Oh no! Now something bad has happened to me. I guess I was wrong. He doesn’t love me. He’s against me.’ If we’re relying on our circumstances, then we can have no lasting assurance of God’s love. And that’s a miserable way to live.
And so, we mustn’t rely on our circumstances to determine whether God is for us and whether Christ loves us. And what we learned last week is that the way to know that God is for us and the way to know that Christ loves us is to look at the cross. We’re to look at the cross, because the cross tells us that God the Father loved us so much that he was willing to give up his beloved Son for us. And we’re to look at the cross, because the cross tells us that Christ loved us so much that he was willing to give himself up for us. When we look at the cross, we see God’s super-abounding love for us.
And what we’ve also been learning recently about the circumstances of our lives is that God, who loves us with a super-abounding love, is at work in every circumstance. He’s at work in the good things and in the bad things and he uses all these things for our good, which is to bring us to perfection in his presence.
So, those are some of the things we’ve been learning recently about God’s love and our circumstances. And bearing all that in mind, will trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword or any other circumstance we suffer in life separate us from the love of Christ? And if we face death all day long and if we’re considered sheep to be slaughtered, does that mean that Christ no longer loves me? If I suffer any of these things or any other trial or trouble in my life, does it mean that Christ no longer loves me and that I’ve been separated from his love? Does it mean that? And the answer is: no. And the answer is no, because in all these circumstances we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
What does it mean to be more than a conqueror? I know what it means to conquer adversity. We conquer adversity when we’re not crushed by it and when we recover from it. So, we conquer a disease, for instance, when the treatment is successful and we recover our health. We conquer poverty when we get a new job and we clear our debts. But what does it mean to be more than a conqueror? It means that, not only are we not crushed by adversity, but that some good comes out of it. Not only are we not beaten by adversity, but we gain some benefit from it.
And good comes out of our adversity, not because of anything we have done, but because of God and his love for us. So, look at what Paul says in verse 37. He says that we are more than conquerors ‘through him who loved us’. And so, because of God’s love for us, he’s able to take this adversity that you’re facing and he’s able to work in it for your good, which is to bring you to perfection in his presence where you will see God’s glory for ever.
And since this is the case, then Paul was convinced that nothing will ever separate God’s people from the love of God. Nothing will ever separate God’s people from the love of God, because God lovingly works in every circumstance we experience; and he lovingly uses it for our good.
And so, nothing will separate us from his love: neither death nor life; neither angels nor demons; neither the present nor the future; nor any powers; nor height nor depth; nor anything else in all creation. So, nothing that happens to us in life or death can separate us from his love. No spiritual power — whether good or evil — can separate us from his love. Nothing that happens to us now or in the future can separate us from his love. Nothing from the very heights of creation to the very depths of creation can separate us from his love. Nothing can separate us from his love, because he’s at work in all these things because he loves us and he uses these things for our good.
Conclusion
Now, isn’t that marvellous? And doesn’t that make you want to stand up and sing to God’s glory? And doesn’t that give you the confidence you need as you enter another week? What’s going to happen to you this week? I have no idea. And you have no idea. There are things you’re planning to do and you want to do. But who knows what will happen as you go about your life this week? Who knows what surprises there will be? Who knows what problems will arise? Who knows what will happen? But here’s the thing: no matter what happens to you, if you’re a Christian, then you can be sure that the God who loves you and who sent his Son to die for you will be at work in what happens to you. And he will make sure to use it for your good, which is to bring you to perfection in his presence where you will see his glory and the glory of his Son, who died to bring you to God.
He died to bring you to God. And now that he is alive, he will not let anything keep you from coming to God.
