Congregation let me invite us to open our Bible this evening to Romans chapter 8. We were there a minute ago. We'll come back to it now We're gonna begin our reading in a moment at verse 28 Romans 8 28 and go through verse 33, which I just said will serve as our text 833 But we'll also open to the back of our blue Psalter hymnal we're in the canons of door now I You'll note that the matter we're going to consider is on page 98. I want you to first turn to page 96 in the back, because this needs just a little bit of explanation of what we're doing here. Following each of the heads of doctrine in the Canons of Dort, there comes, at the end of each of those, a section called Rejection of Errors. This is where the brothers at the Great Synod of Dort 1618-19 considered the matters at hand and laid them out first in a positive way, giving an explanation about them in the actual articles. But then they came to say, well, these other things are proved to be untrue. And that's what we want to look at this evening. The reason I have us go here is because when we get to the paragraph 7 on page 98, it begins, who teach? Well, you might wonder what in the world's going on. And so I would encourage us to look just briefly, and then we'll come back to the rest of it in a moment. But on page 96, we have this statement. The true doctrine concerning election and reprobation, having been explained, the synod rejects the errors of those, and you hold on, paragraph seven, who teach. So we're rejecting untruths biblical fallacies errors So we'll come back to that in a moment But I needed to point that out to us first so that we don't get ourselves a bit in a tangle about what we're addressing and So then back to Romans and chapter 8 let me make just one more comment and I'm sorry about all the comments ahead of time, but The reason we're dealing with this matter now is because we just dealt last week with the fruits of election, which show forth an assurance of election by those fruits. And we're going to come next in the canons to the significant matter of reprobation, Lord willing, next week, beginning, we'll begin it next week. But we needed to look at this rather positive thing first. It's very helpful for us. And so we'll get to our text here in a moment. So we're in Romans chapter 8, in congregation we begin at verse 28. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, And those he predestined, he also called. Those he called, he also justified. Those he justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say in response to this? 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, along with him, graciously give us all things? And then our text. Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Thus far, dear congregation, God's glorious and perfect word. Keep your Bible there. We'll pay, of course, very careful attention to our text. But let's go back in the blue Psalter hymnal now to the canons of Dort. And again, this is the rejection of errors section. And if you don't mind just following along, let me read this for us and settle in on these truths. I'll repeat that introductory paragraph from page 96. The true doctrine concerning election and reprobation having been explained, the synod rejects the errors of those, now paragraph seven, who teach that there is in this life no fruit and no consciousness of the unchangeable election to glory, any certainty except that which depends on a changeable and uncertain condition. For not only is it absurd to speak of an uncertain certainty, but also contrary to the experience of the saints, who by virtue of the consciousness of their election rejoice with the apostle and praise this favor of God. who, according to Christ's admonition, rejoice with his disciples that their names are written in heaven, who also place the consciousness of their election over against the fiery darts of the devil, asking, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? With these things, dear congregation, we believe for they are indeed taught to us in the word of God and of such great value for us to consider this evening. Let's pray, asking the Lord's help, shall we? Our Heavenly Father, we know that sometimes language such as what we just read comes to us and it seems a little hard to grasp. But we know your word is clear. And so we pray that you would help us to understand how these glorious truths are of such great benefit to us. We pray that you would lead us and guide us and enable us, Lord, to be settled in Christ and to have that rich assurance that none can steal away from us what it is Christ has done for us. Bless us in these things tonight, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So dear congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, are you at peace with God in your heart? You must answer. Do you find joy in the Christian life? What would you say? Is it interesting to you? No, rather, is it exciting to you? to learn new truths from God's word, and to come to a firmer, deeper, richer grasp of the things of God. Do you love the Christian life? Now these are questions, you see, flowing from the matter that we dealt with last Lord's Day evening. The sermon that dealt in length with the matter of the fruits of election. We said then that from those certain fruits evident in every Christian life, we arrive at an assurance of being of God's elect. It's not something we are supposed to be left wondering about. Now why is that such an important question? Well, not only for all the obvious reasons we might consider, but then we come to this matter this evening that the Canons of Dort lays out for us and the Word of God picks up, because the enemy is actually seeking to convince you to doubt your election. He wants you to live in doubt. People of God, our peace in Christ and our joy in Christ is under attack from the enemy who wants us to fear that God will yet reject us for some secret, unconfessed, unpaid sin. Assurance of election, notice this, as God's act is an impenetrable shield against Satan's lies. We're gonna look at that in the following four ways. You'll have this again in your handout. The enemy who throws these darts is an expert liar. The fiery darts of the enemy are aimed at the elect. Third, those fiery darts are lies dressed in truths. Fourth, yet they are only vicious lies because God has justified his elect. And so assurance of election as God's act is an impenetrable shield against Satan's lies. Well, then notice this first beloved that the enemy who throws these darts is an expert liar. Now, these are things we need to grasp. These are things we need to reckon with. And these are things we need to believe. And the first one perhaps is very obvious to us. And yet this is where we begin, because of what we see in Romans 8, verse 33. Romans 8, verse 33, beloved, is in the setting of a courtroom. There is a trial going on, and we are the ones on trial. Where is this courtroom in which we are standing? Well, most often, usually, this courtroom in which we are standing exists in our own hearts. It goes through our own minds. It plays itself out again and again in our minds. Because the things that occur in our lives, we are drawn again and again into this courtroom, and we are set to be the ones, as the Brits put it, in the dock, there on trial, confronted with evidence, and as we're standing there on trial, in walks the prosecuting attorney. He is dressed in a $10,000 tailored Armani suit, and he saunters in with great confidence to begin presenting his case against you. And he is an absolute expert in his craft. His power is great at lying. He is armed with cruel hate. People of God, your accuser, your accuser, Satan, has only murder in him. And when he lies, he speaks his native language, the father of lies the devil is an expert liar notice again the structure of verse 33 who will bring any charge Who is going to come into the courtroom and say, this person standing there, she is guilty. He is guilty. Who is going to do that is the question being considered by the apostle here in verse 33. And the canons of Dort make it very clear that the primary prosecuting attorney is none other but Satan. And we need to have an answer to that because from him comes fiery darts. We need to be ready. Well, you see, one of the primary skills necessary to victory in warfare is a correct knowledge, an accurate knowledge about the ways of one's enemy. We need to understand how he comes at us. That prosecutor who sauntered into the courtroom with an air of authority, looking as if he's holding the ace trump card against us, thinks he has perfect evidence toward your condemnation, but he is a liar. Again, in verse 33 of Romans 8, an unnamed accuser is regularly condemning. He condemns in our heads and in our hearts. And we tonight are giving him, this prosecutor, a name, and that name is liar. We must know two things, and these are very different. We must know by the fruits we see in our Christian life that we are elect. A sermon from last Sunday night. Second, people of God, second, people of God, we must know that the name of the prosecutor against us is liar. Well, what about him then? Secondly, the fiery darts of the enemy are aimed at the elect. Now go back to the text again, Romans 8, verse 33, and ponder a particular question about the logic of the apostle. What is going on here? Why should the apostle Paul believe it necessary to pursue this internal, this heart-mind issue? Well, here the apostle is, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, seeking to protect the church. His mission here, his goal here, what he is seeking to accomplish by inspiration of the Holy Spirit is our protection, spiritually speaking. Why? Because Mr. Lyer is accusing the brethren, Rejection of Errors 1-7, throwing at the true church fiery darts. Revelation 12, 10, remember we spent quite a bit of time in Revelation chapter 12 before. Revelation 12 verse 10 tells us that the accuser, Mr. Lyre, is accusing, notice it there, the brethren day and night and day and night and day and night. He's not interested in the world. He's not concerned about those already in his camp, so to speak. But his fiery darts are aimed at the elect. Paul in Romans 8 verse 33 is writing from our perspective. He has our mind. He knows our hearts. He's at one with us. He is saying, these are the things that I'm struggling with and that you struggle with. He has taken hits from those fiery darts before. And he writes here by inspiration for our well-being, our spiritual good and safety, our protection, our peace and joy as the elect. And he comes and he says, who is going to bring these charges? Who could possibly be effective in that? People of God, we must not be surprised by the fact that Mr. Liar is firing his harmful darts at us. Now I hope, I trust, I dare to say it, I assume we understand the spiritual significance of this for us as Christians. Because you see, there is in this verse a certain expectation And the certain expectation here in the language, who will bring any charge, is what I mentioned earlier, the expert ability of the prosecuting attorney. I suppose it's this way in courtrooms all the time, that if the defense attorney wants to see what his case is gonna be like for his client, the defense attorney looks at the docket and sees, well, which prosecutor from the prosecutor's office am I gonna be facing? Oh, it's that person, we'll be okay. But then, oh no, it's this other person. And then there's that dark cloud of foreboding because they know they're gonna go up against somebody who is an expert in the craft. And here it is, beloved, an expert in the craft. In spiritual terms, the enemy studies you and me, the church. He watches for evidence to bring into the courtroom. He looks with extreme interest to find our areas of weaknesses, our tendencies towards sin. Now, these fiery darts will ultimately fail, but we must begin this evening to understand that those fiery darts will immediately fail, not just ultimately, but immediately fail. And that's where our comfort is going to be. That's the great benefit of this text, that the answer expected from the question in Romans 8.33 is structured in such a way as to expect the negative answer. Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? The expected answer to that is no one will be able to. And that's what we need to remind ourselves about in terms of the enemy. But you see, we will get there only by understanding that the enemy is firing lies at us. People of God, we need a strong consciousness of being chosen by God to shield us against incoming destructive fiery darkness. Consciousness of being chosen by God, being elect, to shield us against incoming destructive, fiery darts. Now, lest we think that this is a bit beyond the text, I want to remind you, beloved, of the great interest and great detail and great care at which the delegates to the great Senate of 1618-19 took in understanding spiritual matters for our spiritual good. The Canons of Door is the furthest thing away from pie-in-the-sky, technical theological mumblings. It is pastoral. Very helpful. So that when we read here in the Rejection of Errors 7, who place the consciousness of their election over against the fiery darts of the devil, asking who shall lay anything to God's elect, to the charge of God's elect, we have to realize that the expectation is that those fiery darts are coming. and do come against the Christian. Notice it thirdly this way then. Thirdly, those fiery darts are lies dressed in truths. Now the glory of this text, as we're gonna need to now develop it for the rest of the sermon, is the relationship of election and justification. the relationship between election and justification. And here we find the absolute power of the work of the Lord to be in the Lord Jesus Christ for us. I'll say it now, we're gonna develop it the rest of the sermon. What matters is what Christ has done for us and then what God the Father says about us because of what Christ has done for us. And why does justification matter so much to the elect of God? It matters because the fiery darts of Mr. Liar do strike the target. They do strike the target. Remember that we're standing in the courtroom, you and I, and we are on trial. Any prosecuting attorney worth his salt has evidentiary facts to lay before the court. Not just pulling things out of the air, but facts. And so he comes in accusing like this. You, he says about us, you are selfish. And he's right. Satan charges in the courtroom, you are greedy. And it's a fair charge. He says, you get angry, and often it's a sinful anger. He accuses, and we know immediately that there's truth to it, don't we? We realize that he comes and he throws darts that actually strike the target. His ability to throw the exact dart and to hit center mass is expert over centuries and centuries and centuries of practice. But then comes his main attack. And all of the rest of that is to soften us for this main attack. He says, you're selfish, you're greedy, you're angry, and because of that, now listen to it, God couldn't love you, and he won't accept you, and he doesn't hold you in his hands anymore. You're going to hell. And beloved, that is a huge, wretched lie. But the minor case that he makes, the case that where he states we actually do sin daily, is true. This is why the apostle says at the end of verse 33, it is God who justifies. People of God, those darts, those darts from Satan are fiery and inflict wounds because they are truths about our personal ungodly behavior. Well-intended theologians over the years have tried to make a case which has been a deadly attempt to say, well, Christians, when they get to a certain point, they no longer sin. They live above sin. They're free from sin. That's a horrendous lie that 1 John makes so very clear. I mention that here to help emphasize the reality of what the apostle says. It is God who justifies. Beloved, when we realize our own sins, we are able then to come closer to the center of the text, who is Christ. By asking, now listen, come to the center of the text, who is Christ, by asking about a primary fruit of the consciousness of election. Remember that from last week? The fruits of the consciousness of election. What is one of the primary fruits? and it's so important, it is found in every true Christian, every elect person, that fruit is sorrow for sin. Otherwise, this verse 33 would have very little practical benefit for us. If we didn't sorrow over sin, we feel, you see, we've said this courtroom is in our hearts and our minds, we feel the charge against us. We feel the inflicted pain from that fiery dart of the enemy who says, oh, you're so self-centered. Oh, you want everything to go your way. Oh, you don't countenance the weaknesses of other people. You're critical. And those darts, as they fire, they hurt. You lusted. You deceived. You lied. You thought the world was supposed to revolve around you. And that dart comes, and it hurts. You disobeyed your parents when their love was very clear for you. You coveted your neighbor's car, dart after dart after dart. And we feel those charges. And then the fruit of the Spirit's work, a fruit of election has us admitting that. Yes, I did covet my neighbor's car. Yes, I did disobey my parents. Yes, I did, and then fill in the blank. What are we saying? What are we doing? We are getting ready for what we're going to say. It is God who justifies. People of God, one important fruit of election that leads to assurance is that when Satan says, God hates me, I say, no, Christ died for me, and I hate my sins. And this, beloved, is such an important way that the Spirit works assurance into our hearts and lives. Who will bring a charge against me, though Satan will strive to, though he will try again and again to cause me to think that all is lost and I am nothing but a wretch and God hates me? We say in answer to it now, fourthly, it is God who justifies his elect. Oh, the power. Oh, the glory of this final statement of our text. It is God who justifies. Now, we could bring into consideration here the first couple of chapters of Job, and we could say, look at what the Lord said to Job and how he had him on a leash. And we could think of Ezekiel, and we could think of all kinds of places in the scriptures. Zechariah, where the enemy comes in and tries to lie about God's people, and the Lord pushes him down and pushes him away. And we can also then simply look at this text and say, it is God who justifies. Do you see the divine logic in the text? The weightiness of this? Let's put it the other way around. Since it is God who justifies, who then could bring any valid charge? No one. We need assurance is another way of thinking of it. We need assurance which is based on absolute authority and the absolute power of justice. Imagine you've been charged with some horrendous crime and it is true, you did it. And then you come into the courtroom and somebody else has paid the penalty. You say, well, that will never happen. But here it has happened, do you see? For we ask, how does God justify? We know the answer, don't we? He has given His elect ones to Jesus Christ, who lived absolutely obediently, perfectly in His life, and then He went to the cross and He died there substitutionarily for our sins. He was laid really dead in the tomb. He was there for three days and rose again on the third day for our justification. And since the Father gave us to His Son, And Jesus Christ did exactly what was required to do for us. Therefore, beloved, we are justified. The Father has taken the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ and he has imputed that to our account. This, beloved, is what the apostle wants us to grasp. People of God, God in Christ has justified all his elect, and no one can ever overturn that legal verdict. And so we have assurance. We have confidence. Born of what? Born of truth. Which truth? The truth that God chose us before the foundations of the world were laid and gave us to his Son to be saved. Forever. God the Father dressed us in the righteous robes of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, having imputed all of his perfect work to us. No one, ever, not even Satan, can lay any charge against us. because God chose us. And I say this again because we need to listen to this. God chose us and gave us to his son to be saved. How great the comfort of mind and peace and assurance and rest for the believer. Those fiery darts again, the cannons of Dor, error being corrected, those fiery darts of the devil come and we say, who can lay any charge against me? I am justified by Jesus Christ. People of God, our only comfort, you see this? Our only comfort in life and in death is that we belong to Jesus Christ. whom the Father sent to forever justify all his elect, who will bring a charge against you whom God has justified? Answer, no one. Amen. Our Father, how thankful we are for the divine decision that was yours alone to make, to elect your people and send all of your elect ones to Jesus Christ to be saved. And how we now are, because of what Jesus Christ has done, the justified. Oh Lord, we already know this doesn't give us license to sin, but we know more so that when we do sin, we repent and confess, and we say the enemy has no claim over us, for we are justified in Jesus Christ. Receive, O Lord, this evening our praise and our thanks that is within us from the bottom of our hearts. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.