Turn with me in the word of God to Romans chapter 8. By way of introduction, I want to remind you that all of us are different. I know it does not require a PhD in order to say that, but I make the point deliberately. All of us have different temperaments. By nature, some are timid and reticent and afraid. Others by nature have boundless confidence in themselves, but whatever we are by nature does not determine in any way what we are eternally. I want to emphasise that point. Whatever we are by nature does not determine in any way what we are eternally. Surprisingly, our eternal security has no reference to ourselves at all. And as we continue in this series on the Messiah, I want to look today at these verses in Romans 8 from verse 29 to 39 under this heading, unshakable security, unshakable security. Upon what and whom do we rest for infallible unconquerable, irreversible salvation? The answer cannot be. We rest upon ourselves. Romans chapter 8 begins with that memorable statement. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation in Christ. And for the rest of the chapter, the apostle seeks to work out in a logical fashion the significance of that statement. Why is it there is no condemnation? How can there not be condemnation given who we are and what we wear? And so he begins in the first place to tell us that the work of Christ and doing what the law could not do. There's the first thing. Christ doing for us what the law could not do. And then he moves on to deal with the work of the spirit and ensuring the work of Christ triumphs in us. So you have the work of Christ followed by the work of the Spirit. And then thirdly, he speaks of the work of the Father in decreeing who are the recipients of what the Son and the Spirit do. And having dealt with all of that, he then follows it up from verse 31 with a series of questions. to drive home the importance and significance of this statement, no condemnation in Christ. So we're going to look at these questions, all five of them in order under the following headings. First of all, in verse 31, no contest No contest. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Paul throws out a challenge in light of what the triune God has done. Who is there that will oppose the believer? given what the Son has done, given what the Spirit has done, given what the Father has done, who could possibly oppose the believer being glorified? That's an important question. Because when we look at every Christian, There isn't a single Christian throughout history against whom charges cannot be made. Every single Christian has faults. We have iniquities. We have said and done what we ought never to have said and done. We have failed to do what we ought to do. We all have faults and failings. And so every Christian has objectors against them. But Paul cuts through all of that by saying, all that misses the substantive point, which is if God be for us, Who can be against us? Is there any conceivable power, person or objection that can thwart, reverse or halt the believer's glorification? The answer is no. If God has predestinated, called, justify and shall glorify, then it is absolutely impossible to overturn that. Here's the very first rock of our unshakable security. If God is for us, who then can be against us? So immediately you see, the believer never looks at themselves when they think of their eternal security. There are far too many professing evangelicals, and when they want to talk about assurance of salvation, when they want to talk about why they should be in heaven, they talk about themselves. Friends, this is nonsense. Our unshakable confidence is never in ourselves, it is always in God. There is no contest then, he says. If God is for us, who then can be against us? No person, no power, no objection can be levelled against us, can overturn what God has planned and what God intends to do. Glorification is an absolute certainty for the child of God. Those whom he has predestinated, he shall glorify. Those whom he has called, he shall glorify. Those whom he has justified, he shall glorify. If God is for us, then who can be against us? Then secondly, in verse 32, no change Here the question is, well there may be nothing and there may be no one who can undo what God has planned. Yet, may it not be that God himself might change his mind towards us? No, says Paul, that cannot happen. That will not happen, and it will not happen because of the Father's purpose through the Son for us. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? The father will not change his mind. And he will not change his mind because of what he has done in and through the sin. And you will notice the two statements in particular. He spared not his own son. And second, he delivered him up for us. You see, the cross was not the action of man. The cross was the purpose, act of God. And it is very important that we insist upon this because wishy-washy evangelicals have reduced and diminished the cross as being an unfortunate circumstance brought about by man. No, the cross was the purpose act of a sovereign holy God. There is no parallel to what God has done. God alone did it. So let's pause here for a moment to see what God did do. First, he spared not. meaning he did not hold Christ back, he did not spare Christ from undergoing anything necessary for the salvation of the elect. He did not spare Christ in undergoing anything for the salvation of the elect. And second, he says, he delivered him. Now you will notice that the first one is negative. He spared not. This one is positive. He handed him over. He delivered him. He handed Christ over to the full penalty of our sins. It wasn't enough just to spare him. Nor would it have been enough just simply to hand him over. He spurred not, he delivered. Both went together. In other words, everything necessary for the salvation of the elect, God did for them through Jesus Christ. Now Paul is saying to us in this verse, do you seriously think that God is ever going to change his mind about his people. I know we might change our minds about one another. Sometimes we begin with high hopes for some people and we sadly have to change our minds because they turn out to be a failure. There are others we might even give tuppence for them. They don't seem to start off too well, but then we are rebuked along the way for we see what progress they make. We're always changing our minds. But God does not change his mind. He will not change his purpose towards the elect. Those whom he has chosen, called and justified, he shall glorify them. there's not going to be any change. And it's very important that you follow the argument of the apostle. In verse 30 he says, whom he did predestinate, them. He doesn't say, well, here are some predestinated and from amongst them, some are called. And from amongst the sum there are less who are justified. The same people who are predestinated are the same people who are called. They're the very same people who are justified and they are the very same people who shall be glorified. There is no diminishing in number, not one. shall be lost. God's purpose to glorify his chosen shall come to pass because of all that he's done for them through his son, Jesus Christ. So in the first place, there is no contest with God. In the second place, There is no change in God. And then in the third place, verse 33, no charge. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Here Paul anticipates someone saying something perhaps like this. Well, I can get the point about the power and authority of God. There is no one greater than God. I can also get the point about the plan of God in verse 32. There's going to be no change in the plan of God. But you have forgotten something. Haven't you forgotten the people that God deals with? Have you forgotten that they are sinners, even those saved by grace? Look at what we have to deal with. Oh, God's not the problem. It is we who are the problem. What do you say to that, Paul? And Paul says very simply and bluntly, God justifies the elect. That's his answer. God justifies the elect. He calls those sinners who shall be glorified elect. Very important term. And I'll come back to this point in the application. It is of fundamental importance that as believers we subscribe to the doctrine of election. For without election, there is no salvation. Without election, there is no calling or glorification. So he calls those sinners who shall be glorified, elect. The equivalent to election he has already used, it's the word foreknow, whom he did foreknow, verse 29. The word foreknow simply means that there are those whom God is set apart from the rest, upon whom he set his love. And he determined that he would love a certain sinner from eternity, and he would love them forever. So election and foreknowledge are simply synonyms. Those whom God singled out to love, those whom he chose to love. of those whom God has chosen and called and justified. Do you seriously think that any charge can be levelled against them? You say, but what about their sins? They came into the world as sinners. They have iniquities. Look at all the charges that can be levelled against them. We say yes. They are dreadful sinners, and they have many faults, and they ought to be damned, just even for one sin that they have committed. And they have no right in and of themselves to expect to be glorified. But the focus is not in the sinner. The focus is on what God has done. It is God that justifieth. That's the material point. God has justified. And so the key here is the justification of the elect. Shorter Catechism 33. What is justification? Justification is an act of God's free grace. It's an act of God. God freely in and of himself, in the exercise of his sovereignty, he chose to do certain things for the benefit of his people. Wherein he pardoneth all our sins. There's the first thing. He has pardoned all the sins of the elect. second, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight. So we have been pardoned and we have been accepted. But the question is, on what grounds has this been done? Only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. What's the ground of justification? It's the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. You see then why no charge can be levelled against the elect? No charge can be levelled because of the magnificence and sufficiency of Jesus Christ for them. To level a charge against any of the elect is to accuse God himself It's to level a charge against Christ. It is to say that Christ is not able to save a sinner. But if God has justified them, no charge can ever be leveled against them. Because it's what Christ has done that is the basis of our entrance into heaven. So there is no contest in 31, no change in 32, no charge in 33. And fourthly, in verse 34, no condemnation. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that dine. Yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Here the objection is, God may be and God has done, but is it not the case that given the nature and depravity of our sins, that even justification cannot be a guarantee? God may have justified, But could not that be challenged given the way they have been justified? You see how Paul is anticipating all the objections as to why a single child of God should be glorified? Could it not be? that perhaps even Christ could object to us being glorified? No, says Paul, there's no condemnation precisely because of what Christ himself has done. Look at the four pillars, died, rose, ascended and intercedes. It is Christ that dine, but even that, he says, is not enough. Yea, rather, that is risen again. He was even at the right hand of God. He also maketh intercession for us. Here he tells us that Christ died for the elect. He rose for the elect. He ascended for the elect. And he intercedes for the elect. For all those chosen, called and justified, Christ died, rose, ascended. and intercedes. You see how Paul has locked everything together. There's not a hair's breadth of difference between all these things. They are so interlocked and intertwined that if you pull it apart at any one point, the whole plan of salvation shall fall apart. And you will notice specifically that Christ's work is entirely substitutionary. Look at verse 32, we're told, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. The word used, the terminology used is specifically substitutionary, for us, literally in our place and state. And again in verse 34, for us, and the for us is directly related to what the Saviour did. He died for us. He rose for us. He ascended for us. He intercedes for us. In other words, the whole work of Christ is particular You must never describe the work of Christ in universal or general terms, because that is to cut across what is done and said here. The particularity of the Redeemer, the particularity of redemption, guarantees no condemnation. What the Saviour has done is the guarantee. So you have then, I remind you, no contest in 31. No change in 32. No charge in 33. No condemnation in 34. And then, fifthly, in verse 35, no separation. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Again, Paul anticipates someone saying, in light of all that he's just stated, someone might say, well, that's all very well, but you really do need to look at these Christians. Look at what they have to face in life. Look at what they have to engage in. Don't you see how stupid Christians are? Don't you see how fickle Christians can be? Don't you see how silly Christians are? Have you forgotten that Paul? And then don't you see how in all the strange providences of life they're always changing their position on everything. Oh how fickle the Christian is in the pilgrim pathway. We're always up and down. We're enthusiastic one day and then we look like death the next. One minute we're all zealous for the kingdom of God, and then the next, we're mesmerized with ourselves. If there's anyone who shouldn't be in heaven, it should be the Christian. We're the worst of all people. We are useless and pathetic. Well, Paul, what have you got to say about that? Is it not the case that even Christ will give up on them and say, these people, they're absolutely worthless and useless and I'm done with them? Is that what Christ will say about them? No, says Paul. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Inseparable is his answer. Christ's love for us is unshakable. It is irreversible. It is unconquerable. It is unchangeable. What a difference between our pathetic bit of love for the lord. You take our little wobbly pile of of how often we love the Lord and how much we love the Lord. It is a useless pile of junk, our love for Christ, in comparison to the Saviour's love for us. We cannot ever compare our puny little bit of useless love for the Lord and think that this is wonderful. No, we must stand and admire that love that Christ has for us, that unshakable love, that irreversible love that the Savior has for us. What is it that sustains us in life? It is the love of Christ for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? So now he proceeds to work it out. Shall tribulation separate the love of Christ from us? Or distress? Or persecution? Or famine? Or nakedness? Or peril? Or sore? Who shall, he asks, The answer in verse 37, nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Not content to make his argument, he repeats it in verses 38 and 39, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. No separation. You know people talk about falling in love. They fall in love and then they fall out of love as quick as they fall into it. Our love changes. and we love something today and we don't love it as much tomorrow, how fickle, how changeable we are. The Saviour's love for us is not like that. The Saviour's love for us is an unchanging love, an irreversible love, an unconquerable love. There is no person, place, event or power that can undo or alter or change the love of Christ for us people. You know, as you stand back and just survey all that's taught in Romans chapter eight, and you see the magnitude of what God has done for us, there is therefore now no condemnation. and he proceeds to work it out. He says, do you see the work of the triune God? This is why there's unshakable certainty, because the Father has loved us, the Father has chosen us, the Son has redeemed us, and the Spirit has so applied the work of the Son as to ensure that it triumphs in us. And so he takes all these objections that arises. What about this thing? What about that? What about the other? Noah says, Paul, there is nothing in this entire universe that will alter God's purpose to glorify his elect. They shall be in glory. I don't know about you, But here is a guarantee for God's children that will be found only in this. An unshakable certainty that is found nowhere else but in these holy things. Let's by way of application note first of all our hope and confidence. What is your hope and confidence? If you are a Christian, your hope and confidence is not in yourself. Your hope and your confidence cannot be even in what you hope to be someday. There is no hope in yourself. What is it that is your hope? What God is and what God has willed and what God has brought to pass through Jesus Christ. That's where the hope is. One of the great faults and problems of contemporary evangelicalism is its fixation with people. It is fixated with the individual. This wretched subjectivism that has run rampant through evangelicalism. What a curse. It has taken our eyes from God. It has taken our eyes of Christ. It has taken our eyes of the Trinity. It has taken our eyes from the glory and the grandeur and majesty of what has been done for us. And then secondly, it is vital as a Christian to resist the liberal reinterpretation of the cross. It is of vital importance, all this gobbledygook that we read and hear from people. There are some and they say, well, you know, the Saviour was a martyr. And of course, as evangelicals, we think about the Protestant martyrs who were burnt to death. We get warm and sentimental about it. We think of the Covenanters and their struggles, and we get sentimental. And then there are some, and they take that same sentiment and apply it to Christ. How? He was a martyr, oh our poor saviour was a martyr. The saviour was not a martyr and we mustn't pretend he was a martyr to try and evoke some sentimentality within us. Nor was he a victim of misunderstanding. Yes, he was misunderstood. Yes, he was contradicted. But the cross was not the outworking of being misunderstood. We cannot say, oh, if only people understood the Lord, they would never have crucified him. And then, of course, we must avoid saying that he was a pawn in Satan's hand, as if Satan was the one who was in charge. nor must we pretend or portray the cross as some kind of accident. You know, this is not what the Lord intended to do. This is the nonsense of the old Schofield reference Bible, dispensationalism. The dispensationalists teach that Christ never came to die. Halfway through his ministry, he changed his mind. This is appalling theology. It's worse than appalling. It is totally heretical. The cross was not an accident. And even worse, there are some who say that the Father, that God, must forgive the cross. It comes across like this. Some pathetic, useless evangelical preacher says to people, Though you did that to my son, I will still forgive you, because I forgive the cross." What nonsense! All these means, all these portrayals, is pandering to culture. It's pandering to the world. Let us be unashamed in saying today, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. What's the means? To die upon the cross. He came to die on the cross. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, rose, ascended in their seats. The cross was planned and purposed. Don't you diminish that plan, one iota. And then thirdly, the necessity of historical facts and doctrine. The necessity of historical facts and doctrine. Christianity walks as it were on two feet. On one side are the historical facts of the gospel. On the other side is the doctrine, the meaning and significance of those facts. What are the historical facts? Christ died, rose, ascended, intercedes. What's the doctrine? Election. justification, glorification. That's the doctrine. The facts and the doctrine are welded together. Any professing Christian who says, oh, I just believe, I don't bother with these things. I don't get into any discussion about historical facts. I don't get into any discussion about doctrine because all these things are so problematic. They are so divisive. I just want to believe. Let me tell you friends, that kind of person isn't just talking nonsense. They don't even read their Bibles. They don't know their Bible. They don't understand what it means to be a Christian. Nobody could say they are a Christian and then say, I don't bother with doctrine. The very heart and centre of Christianity is doctrine. Such a person isn't talking biblically if they say they don't bother with these things. or we just want to believe they say the simple gospel. They haven't a clue what the gospel is. Here we have that which is fundamental. The impregnable rock of salvation is here. What God did, through whom he did it, how he did it, why he did it, and the consequences of what he did. And if you think it doesn't matter because it's too difficult or too divisive, I'll go even further and I'll say to you, you don't even know God. You don't know Christ and you don't know the word of God. And ultimately, you rob God and you rob Christ and you rob the cross of glory. And the knock on impact is you rob yourself of infallible assurance. It is a fundamental important. to subscribe to both the historical facts and the doctrines of Christianity. You cannot call yourself a Christian without it. And do you know the wonder and the beauty of all of this? This is not for a section of the church. This is for the children of this church. It's for the young people of this church. It's for the adults of this church. It's for the elderly of this church. It's for the women of this church. It's for the men of this church. It's for the educated and the uneducated. There's not one single believer excluded from all of this. That's the wonder of it all. You don't need to go to university to understand the Christian faith. If you get to university, I'm happy for you. But these things don't require a PhD. Not because they are simple and stupid and all the rest of it. No, it's because they are spiritual. That is why. And then, fourthly, If you are a Christian today, how do you see yourself? If you are a Christian, how do you see yourself? Here you see you have a test. Do you see yourself as one of God's elect? Oh, I know you might immediately think, isn't that being a bit presumptuous? No, it's not. Do you see yourself as one of God's elect or do you see yourself as one who has committed yourself to Christ? And there's a great chasm here. One side exalts and emphasises a God-centredness to salvation. is man-centred. There you see the great contrast in the thinking of many Christians. How many Christians are man-centred? Their man-centredness means that when they talk about salvation, they talk and think of it purely in terms of themselves. That's not how the Bible describes it. The Bible describes it from a God-centred perspective. God chooses, God calls, God justifies, God glorifies. You know, there is nothing more spectacular, nothing more exalting, nothing more encouraging and thrilling than to stand back and just simply survey what God has done for us. Let's forget about thinking about some of the puny little things we claim to have done. It all means so little. As a Christian, we are to see ourselves as one of God's alive. One upon whom he has said, as love from all eternity, yea, have I loved thee with an everlasting love. One for whom the Saviour came into the world, for whom He died, rose, ascended and intercedes. You know, when you come to your death, you're not going to be saying, oh, I'm thankful that when I was at a certain age in a certain place, I did this for Christ and I did that for Christ. No, you're going to say, it's what God has done for me. That's the basis of my entrance into eternity. Are you God-centred or man-centred? Then, fifthly and finally, I must end with this. There are many other things I had intended saying. One of the things I would encourage you to study is this particular section, right through to verse 39, verses 30 to 39, and how it is used. in our standards, fascinating way in which it's used. But I want to finish with this. If you're not a Christian today, if you are not a Christian, then you are of all people most miserable. You are without hope. You have absolutely nothing. You see, unless you have the mercy of God, unless you have the work of Christ applied to you, you are nothing and you have nothing and you live and die without hope. What a tragedy, what a dreadful position to be in. I want to say to all of you, I want to say to the children, I want to say to every adult, all who are without Christ, do not you let this day pass unless you can come and speak like the Apostle Paul, I am persuaded. I am persuaded. If you are not able to say that, then do not rest until you can. That you too may glory and rejoice. with this unshakable certainty. May the Lord bless His word to your hearts.