We're looking again at Romans chapter 8 as we think about this wonderful theme that God is on our side. A 29-year-old husband and father of two went to work that morning just like every other morning he had for several years.
He was four days before his seventh anniversary, and on that day, the seventh anniversary with his firm, he was planning to withdraw his retirement that accumulated and to send that to Bible College to reserve a spot for himself for that fall because he and his wife desired to prepare themselves to go into the ministry. There as he worked in the plant that day, 60 tons of metal in quarter-inch sheets slid somehow and crushed him to death. When experiences like that come, we hear about them.
How do we respond? We could respond perhaps like Jacob did in Genesis chapter 42. Nine of his sons came back from their journey down to Egypt looking for food. Simea, do you remember, had been kept there by Joseph, although they didn't know it was Joseph yet. And the request from this leader, Joseph, in Egypt was, bring your youngest brother back. Then the report came and Jacob began to think through all of this. He said, Joseph was taken away from me. Now Simeon is gone.
You want to take Benjamin? He said, all of these things are against me. Therefore we can respond as David did, hunted by Saul, fleeing from place to place. Saul's men chasing him, just getting there after David had left for the next spot. And finally David took off to the south and went to Philistia, where his enemies were, to the city of Gath. You recognize that name, don't you? That's where Goliath was from.
Of course Goliath had been dead now for a number of years, but David was there in that city, in the midst of these people who were his enemies. And he became so frightened because his identity was known, and they began to whisper about him, oh this is the guy that they were talking about. Saul's killed his thousands, but he slain his ten thousands. David trembled with fright, so much so that he feigned mental illness there in Gath. He began to act very strangely.
He would write on the doorposts, and he would allow his saliva to run down on his beard, feigning illness so that they might not get him. They brought him before the king of Gath, and basically what he said was, why are you bringing me another crazy man? Don't I have enough crazy people around here already? And David escaped. But in the midst of that particular incident, he wrote Psalm 56 in which basically he says, everybody wants to kill me. But he says, God is for me.
When you and I come to the tough times of life, and all of us have them, we can respond like Jacob and say, all of these things are against me. Or we can look at them from a different perspective, like David, and we can say, God is for me. That is what the apostle Paul writes as we come now to the 31st verse of Romans chapter 8.
He says, what then shall we say to these things, pointing back to those actions of God in the previous verses, where he has stated that God foreknew, he predestined, he called, he justified, and he glorified his own? What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? Well, we know the devil and his legions of demons are against us, but the fact is that ultimately, finally, they cannot overcome us. And so he says, 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 and who also intercedes for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
While tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, just as it's 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. What a pinnacle of truth he comes to. God is for us. How do we know that? Well, it seems to me that in this paragraph there are five proofs that we can point to that give evidence that God is for us.
Proof number one, he delivered up his son. In verse 32 we see that. This of course is the central truth of the revelation of the Bible. It is also the wonder of the ages that God delivered up his son for us. He did not spare his own son. That is, the one that was his in that peculiar and unique sense of God the Father and God the Son in their eternal relationship as deity. He did not spare his own son.
That is, he did not withhold him as one might spare what is precious, but he delivered him over it says. In God not sparing his son we are reminded of Abraham who did a very similar thing in Genesis 22. There you recall that God commanded him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham was fully prepared to do so and in his heart actually went through with the deed, but before Isaac was slain God stopped him and provided a substitute for Isaac in the ram.
God said to him on that day, I know that you fear me because you have not spared. You have not withheld your son, your only son. A little bit later in verse 16 in Genesis 22 he says, and because you have not withheld your son, your only son, I will bless you. God promises Abraham riches of blessing there, spiritual blessings because of his willingness to give his son.
Well in that case there was a substitute that was offered for Isaac, but in Jesus' case there could be no substitute because he was the substitute for all of us. God did not withhold his son but delivered him over for us all. Please understand that that does not mean that Jesus Christ was a victim. A victim of circumstance or a victim of God as though he were unwilling to lay down his life and God the Father forced him into it. That is not what the apostle is saying.
Because Jesus Christ laid down his life for us of his own accord, of his own will, he did that. But here the emphasis is upon God the Father who was willing to deliver over his beloved son for our sake. He delivered up his son and the apostle goes on to say, how will he not also with him, his son, freely give us all things? He argues here from the lesser to the greater.
He says if God was willing to deliver over his son for you, if he was willing not to withhold his son as a sacrifice for your sake, if God is willing to do that won't he also give you all things, graciously provide everything that you need? And of course the answer is yes. God will do that because God is for us. Second Peter 1, 3 it says that God has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
And in 1 Corinthians 3, 21 the apostle says that all things belong to you and you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God. He said whether it be things present or things to come or life or death, he says all of that belongs to you. Have you ever looked at it that way? That even that last enemy, death, in a certain sense belongs to you? For if you're a child of God death has been delegated and reduced to the place of simply being a doorkeeper. That's all death is.
An enemy to be sure, but death is no victor. Death is no conqueror. It belongs to you. It's your servant in the sense that it opens the door for you to the presence of the Lord. All things belong to you. God is for us. How do we know? Because he delivered up his son for us. He could do nothing more, nothing greater than that. Here's a second proof that we see in verse 33. Not only has God given us his son, but he has declared us righteous. It says who will bring a charge against God's elect?
Those are the same people mentioned earlier in verses 29 and 30, the ones that God has foreknown and predestined and called. He says who will bring a charge against the ones that God has chosen? To bring a charge against them is a legal term. It literally means to press charges, or who will call in for legal reasons to press charges against those that God has chosen? Well, of course, Satan would like to, and he has called in Revelation 12.10 the accuser of the brethren.
But he has no legal basis to accuse us. Why is that? Because there is only one in the universe who is legally able to bring charge against you and me. That one is God himself. Because as David said in Psalm 51,4, against thee and the only of thy sin, all sin ultimately is against God. God is the only one who has a legal basis to bring charge against us.
And by his grace, God has already made a declaration about us, which Paul quotes at the beginning of this chapter, or states rather, at the beginning of the chapter, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. The only one who could charge us is God himself. And God is the one who has justified us. He is the one who has declared us right with himself, or righteous in his sight. The basis of that, of course, is Christ's saving work. But God has declared us righteous.
He is on our side. We know that. He is not against us. Turn with me to Colossians chapter 2 and look at verses that may be familiar to you, or maybe they are not. But they are suggestive in the picture that they bring to mind.
In Colossians 2 and verse 13, he says, And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, that's before we were saved, of course, he says, He made you alive together with him, with Christ, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us. Paul may have in mind here what was customary in that day at crucifixions.
The criminal who was being taken out to be executed was often required to carry a placard on which was written the charge against him and for which he was giving his life. It was a certificate of debt, as it were, to society. Now in Paul's thinking here that's tied in with the law of the Old Testament, with its commandments, which we have broken, we could almost put down the Ten Commandments on that certificate of debt. Thou shalt not, thou shalt not, and we've broken all of them.
We have, we have, we have. The wonderful thing is that God has canceled out that debt. You remember what happened when Jesus was crucified? The Jewish leader said, Hey, you need to put the placard up there. King of the Jews, he said he was the King of the Jews. That was their point. He needs to have the reason put to the cross as to why he's being crucified. Well, Pilate didn't write it just the way they wanted it written and they were a little upset about that. That's the similar picture here.
You and I had that placard around us. We've broken the law of God, but God graciously has canceled out that certificate of debt consisting of decrees that were against us and which was hostile to us. How did he do that? Well, it says he's taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross. Not ours, but Christ's. And so the certificate that should have been nailed as it were to our cross, Jesus had nailed to his cross on our behalf.
And so the accusations against us have been dealt with already in his death. And the very one, the only one indeed who has power to bring any further charge against us is God himself and he has already ruled in our favor. And he has said, justified. I remove from you the debt that you owe and I nail it to the cross of my son and you are righteous in my sight. And so who is it that can bring charge against any of us who are saved? Because God is the one who has justified us.
He has declared us righteous. And there is no double jeopardy with God. Here's a third proof I want to look at as to how we know that God is on our side. It is this, that he received our advocate into heaven. In verse 34, who is the one who condemns? A similar question as verse 33, but verse 33 seems to point toward the prosecutor. Who is going to bring charge against us? Who is going to prosecute us? Here the emphasis seems to be upon the judge.
Who is the one who is going to speak condemnation? Who will condemn us? Well, who is the appointed judge? It's Jesus Christ himself. In John chapter 5, Jesus said that God had appointed to him the judgment of all, the living and the dead. The apostle Paul repeated a similar truth in Acts chapter 17 when he preached on Mars Hill and he points to Jesus Christ risen from the dead. And by that has given proof that one day God is going to judge all men by him, by Jesus Christ. He is the judge.
The fact is that for the believer he is no longer our judge. He has become our advocate. He is the one who died and who was raised and who is at the right hand of God who intercedes for us. For him now to act as a judge and to condemn us would be for him to deny his own saving work on our behalf.
Skevington Wood has an interesting illustration about this that occurred apparently back in the early part of this century or the late part of the last century when an industrialist whom he names in England was acting as a judge, a magistrate in some level of court there. And there was brought to him that day a young lady who was working with the Salvation Army founded by William Booth in England back in the last part of the 19th century. Founded that day upon winning people to Jesus Christ.
That was the passion of Booth's heart. And this young lady had been out on the streets there in that city in Britain and had there been preaching the gospel. And there was some zealous constable who felt that she was breaking the law and so he arrested her and brought her before the magistrate. Now this man was a Christian, this industrialist who was acting as a magistrate on that occasion. The charges were read against her and he did a most unusual thing.
He got up from his seat as the judge and got down and walked around the courtroom over to the dock where she was standing as the charge and he stood beside her to argue her case even though he was the judge in the courtroom. He became her advocate. And my friend that is what Jesus Christ has done for us. He who is the appointed judge of all men has for his own left the place of the judge and come to the place of the accused and he has become our advocate with the Father.
The apostle John says, these things are right unto you that you stop sinning. But if any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And he is the propitiation or the satisfaction for our sins. And not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world. The cross work of our Savior where he accomplished that propitiation is the basis for his present ministry of advocacy, of intercession. He died, the penalty was paid.
He was raised from the dead, the proof that God was satisfied with the payment that he made. It was a sufficient sacrifice. And then he ascended back to the right hand of God and there he is today interceding on our behalf. Did you pray for yourself this morning? Well if for some reason you forgot to do that or didn't have time to do it, there was one who prayed for you and for me. And who perpetually intercedes on our behalf and that one is the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
The writer of Hebrews says it this way, when he had made purification of sins, he sat down at the right hand of God of the majesty on high. And he sat there in that position of acceptance by God and he rises then to pray on our behalf and to show himself as the sufficient sacrifice for our sins forever. When God accepted him into his presence, God accepted us in Christ. We are as fully received by God as the Savior is fully received by God the Father.
We are as secure as our Savior himself is secure. So the writer of Hebrews also says he is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them. Tonight at this moment whatever your need, there is one who is in the presence of the Father who is interceding on your behalf in mine. That's why Wesley I believe it was wrote the hymn that says, arise my soul arise, shake off thy guilty fears, the bleeding sacrifice on thy behalf appears.
How do we know that God is for us? Well we know it for these three proofs from our text. He did not spare his son but delivered him over for us. Now will he not with his son freely give us all things? Let's just suppose tonight that you got a telephone call from someone that you did not even know and that person said to you, hey I've got a surprise for you. I'm going to give you a brand new car. In fact it's not just a car, it's a Mercedes. And I'm even going to pay the insurance on it.
For as long as you own it, that car is yours. That would be wonderful wouldn't it? So you get in the car and you can't wait until tomorrow morning, you've got to drive out there and see that person tonight. When you get there you find out you need gas in the tank. You think that person is going to give you any gas? If he's willing to give you the car, even a Mercedes, don't you think he's willing to give you gas to get the thing home? Of course he is.
My friend, if God did not spare his own son but deliver him up for you, how will he not with him freely give you all things? There is nothing that God will withhold from you that is for your good. God is for you. Furthermore he's declared you righteous in his eyes. And he's at work making you righteous, changing your character. But as far as he is concerned you are as perfect as his son because you are found in Christ. And therefore no one can successfully bring a charge against you.
God is for you. He is for you because he has received an advocate into his presence. An advocate who is able to stand there and perfectly intercede. And though Satan himself should come and attack you and accuse you in the presence of God and well he might all of us, there is no way that his accusations can hold up because the one who can judge us has left the place of the judge and come to be our advocate. He says, I've cared for that. I've paid the price for that and you just be on your way.
God's for us. He's not against us. When we fail and we sin we still have one who is the satisfaction for our sins. He is the propitiation. Isn't that wonderful? Tonight God is for you. Will you believe that? Whatever your circumstances, whatever your fears, whatever your anxieties, understand that God's for you. He's not against you. Would you pray with me please? Father, I thank you for what this text teaches us.
I pray tonight that our hearts will be able to fully enjoy and relax in this truth. So often we're uptight and when things befall us that are hard to take and when there are doubts and uncertainties in the midst of our trials we begin to wonder, to question why. I thank you that you perfectly understand why although you don't always tell us. Lord teach us to live by faith and not by explanations. To trust your hand in our lives and to know that you're for us and not against us.
If there are some of us who like Jacob of old have said all of these things are against me, I pray that tonight after this exposure to your word the perception might be changed and like David we would say, but God is for me. In Jesus name, amen. Bring it to him, come to the Father. I'd like for us to sing together a hymn that speaks about the wonderful Savior we have.
It's number 335. Annie Crosby, the writer of the words, the writer of thousands of poems and hymns who was blind most of her life except for the first couple of years. She writes, a wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord. To her all of those things weren't against her, but God was for her. So she wrote in wonderful hymns about God's goodness. Let's stand as we sing together 335.