The Word of God is bound up in three great truths. First, the truth about God, what kind of a person is God? Psalm 99:9: "Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy." Psalm 116:5: "Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful." Psalm 103:8: "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy." Secondly, the truth about man. What kind of person is man? Man is dead in trespasses and sins and totally depraved. Thirdly, the truth about salvation. What is salvation? How does God bring it to sinful man?
We read so much in the Bible about the corruption of man, so we have to be true to people. Nobody would be interested in whether God Almighty has made any provision whatever to relieve the utter corruption of the human heart, until men have believed what God says about them. Nobody will rejoice when they hear somebody say that God has provided a Saviour, unless those people have been willing to listen to what God had to say about the corruptness of their heart, the awful blindness of their mind and the awful, awful wickedness of the seat of their affections, the heart. Jeremiah 17:9-10: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.' who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings."
God Almighty tells us the truth about our self, because that is His way of getting somebody ready, willing and anxious to find out the truth about God's wonderful salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord. I want to talk to you about God's provision to relieve the awful misery and distress of sinful men, and to cleanse those awful and perverted hearts, and to make willing that awful will of yours that is free to do evil but absolutely unable to do right. Proverbs 5:22: "His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins."
I want to talk to you about the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Sacrifice and the sinner's Substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ, the One Who was God and yet man. The One the Scriptures talk about in 2 Corinthians 5:19, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." If you haven't been willing to believe what God says about yourself, you don't care whether God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself or not. Only needy people would appreciate help, only hungry people would appreciate bread, only thirsty people would appreciate water, only paupers would appreciate a gift of a dollar, and only sinners would appreciate God saving them in Christ and for Christ's sake!
And so we talk to those that believe what God says when He tells you how wicked and sinful you are. My, what an awful description the Word of God gives about me and all of my loved ones. My, what feet I have got to shed blood. My, just open my mouth and it is full of snakes, my tongue going around telling lies and full of hypocrisy from my mother's womb. None seeking after God. Romans 3:10-18: "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." What an awful description God has given of all men! I know, God, You are telling me the truth; my own experience tells me so. And whether my experience said "Amen" to it or not, God said it and that settles it, and I believe it. Is there any hope for me? Paul said, "Yes, bless God, there is hope for men who are utterly and totally lost, ruined and depraved, bound by the cords of their own sins; men with their duty staring them in the face, utterly unable, with no desire to do the will of God."
We find what that hope is in Romans 8:34: "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died [HALLELUJAH!], yea rather that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us." That is a wonderful verse of Scripture; it sounds good to me. I need the Lord right now as much as I ever needed Him. I am just an old sinner, and if the Lord isn't my Substitute, I am just as certain for hell as anybody is. Rolfe Barnard wasn't born with a different nature from the rest of the world. I am just an old sinner, I am exactly like you. I know some things about you, because I found out some things about myself. My old heart and also yours – God has described our hearts in Jeremiah 17:9-10: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings." My affections – they are so awful I don't have the words to describe the vileness of my affections. It is just that kind of people for whom it was written, "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died." Hallelujah! Come on, devil, there is nothing can stop that! You can change my feelings, and you can change my desires, you can change my understanding, you can change the way I react against things, and you can tear up most of my doctrine. But, bless God, there is one thing the devil can't do – he can't undo this truth. Yonder on Golgotha's hill at a place called Calvary, nearly 2000 years ago in time, God in Christ hung on a cross and all hell can't undo that! "It is Christ that died."
Come on, devil, and accuse poor old Rolfe Barnard, just as mean as hell, just as vile as the devil himself. Come on and accuse me and I'll thrust back in your face the fact Christ died. Christ died, thank God, He died as God's Sacrifice and He died as my Substitute. Everybody on earth, if they want to, can go to hell arguing about the atonement. But here is one sinner saved by grace that can't argue about the atoning work of Christ. But, bless God, I believe it and my only hope and my only plea is Christ died and He died for me! Romans 5:6: "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Verse 8: "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Who can lay any charge against Rolfe Barnard? Who can condemn him? Nobody, because it was Christ that died and He didn't stay dead. Paul said, "He is risen again." Romans 14:9: "For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living." He is working at the job right now. He is at the right hand of God and what is He doing? He is making intercession for old Rolfe Barnard. Brother, that is shouting ground! I used to think that when a person got saved that he just got plumb out of the flesh and didn't have any more trouble with the devil, and never had any more conflicts within himself, but I found out that is not so. A fight started when God saved my soul. I'll tell you one thing I found out a long time ago, that my assurance is not in how I feel. My assurance is in Him, in HIM. It was Christ that died for me. If I go to hell, I'll go to hell believing that Christ died in my stead, that He died in my room, that the awful lash of the Law of God that I had broken was laid on Him. If I go to hell, I'll go believing that He was raised again so He could justify me and set me free. If I go to hell, I'll go believing that the Living, Risen Lord of Glory is in gloryland right now. The Man in glory is praying for me. Hebrews 7:25: "Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."
Come on devil, you can't get me; the Lord Jesus Christ is praying for me. You talk about security, that's it. You talk about knowing you are saved, that's it. You talk about assurance of salvation, that's it. Christ died for me, Christ was raised so He could justify me. Christ is now at the right hand of God, and Christ is praying for me. There is my assurance.
You know, I needed a Substitute, and I wonder if you've got sense enough to know that you do too. It is a dreadful thing to be condemned by man, but how terrible to be condemned by Almighty God, to be guilty. But, oh, the possibility of being condemned before the judgment bar of Almighty God and the sentence lasts throughout eternity. That is enough to make a man tremble, to think of being condemned before the bar of God. Hebrews 10:30-31: "For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompence, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 9:27: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."
Here is Paul in Romans 8, a man of like passions with you and me; and he had the courage to cry out in verse 34, "Who is he that condemneth?" Let's bring Paul to the stand. Paul, do you feel that your sins are so small and insignificant that God Almighty will just overlook them and won't condemn them? Do you feel that you do not have enough sins which you are guilty of to condemn your soul to hell? And the Apostle Paul screams out, "No, no! All have sinned, including me, and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Well, Paul, do you feel that because you have worked and toiled and sacrificed that God's condemnation is written off? "No, sir!" Paul glories in nothing save the cross of Christ. Galatians 6:14: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Well, Paul, don't you feel that now that you are a member of the church and one of the apostles, that you should have some claim on God and eternal life? But Paul would say, "No, sir; no, sir!" But he will say, "Who is he that condemneth? Come on, who can condemn the soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose?" I tell you, God has assurance for His people, and Paul dead-sure had it! "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
Now I want you to notice wherein Paul received his assurance and in Whom was he trusting so completely. You will see four great facts outlined in this very simple and yet very glorious verse of Scripture in Romans 8:34: "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us." The first fact is, that the Substitute for sinners has died. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Oh, that man who wrote that verse – "Jehovah lifted up His rod. Oh, Christ it fell on Thee, Thou was sore stricken of Thy God, There is not one stroke left for me." Hallelujah! Praise the Lord for such a Saviour!
Paul put great emphasis on the fact that, "It is Christ that died." It was no mere man; it is Christ the Son of God Who was in the beginning, and all things were made by Him. John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Verse 3: "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made." Verse 14: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." You know, if a mere man died, Paul wouldn't have any assurance. He would have a lot to doubt about. If an angel from heaven came down here and died on the cross, Paul couldn't be sure of salvation. But praise God, it is Christ, the Son of God, Who has yielded up His life in the stead of sinners. And Paul can say that he has no fear of condemnation at the hands of anybody, because "It is Christ that died." Isn't that glorious? Christ has died, Christ suffered, Christ bled and Christ died.
Now I can't prove that to you. I can take history books and prove to you that there was a man named Jesus Who lived in Nazareth. I can take history books and prove to you that He met an inglorious death on a cross at the hands of the Roman government. But I can't prove to you that He is God; I can't prove to you that He is the Son of God. I can't prove to you that the reason He was called Jesus is because "He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). I can't prove to you that the reason He hung on that cross out there was that He was God's Sacrifice and my Substitute. The Bible says in Matthew 1:21: "And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His Name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins." Titus 2:14: "Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Since God says this, there is something within me that says, "AMEN!" to it. And, bless God, I believe it with all of my heart, and in believing I have assurance. I just believe it; God said it, and He gave me the faith to believe it. Praise the Lord, there is nothing you can do to shake my belief in that. Where shall I go except to the Lord?
Take the truth that Jesus Christ died as a Substitute in my place – take that away from me, and I have got nothing left. And you can't do it; you can shake me on everything else, but you can't shake me on that. My Lord Jesus Christ bore my sins in His body on the tree. 1 Peter 2:24: "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." Galatians 1:4: "Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." Yes, He bore them in His body all the days of His earthly life. Do you know what He did when He went to that cross? He took my sins with Him, and He put them away. Praise God, He was marred by the weight of my sins. There upon the cross He paid the complete price.
Now I know if you are one of the multitudes that don't believe what God says about how corrupt you are, you are not interested. But if I am speaking to somebody that has looked in the mirror of God's Holy Law, and seen yourself, and you pled guilty and have taken sides with God against yourself, then you know something of how wicked you are by nature and practice. I'm telling you that you can rejoice with me, that "It is Christ that died."
But that isn't all. What else, Paul? Where is your assurance? "It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again." The second great truth, Christ is risen. Paul knew that if all Christ did was that He died and was buried, that was the last of Him. There is no hope for anyone, if they could kill and do away with Christ. But, bless God, they couldn't keep Him dead! "He is risen again!" Praise the Lord! Paul said, "He is risen again." I Corinthians 15:20: "But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept." Verses 3-4: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." The resurrection of Christ is my rainbow. It assures me that there is now no condemnation. Romans 8:1-2: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."
Christ is God; how do you know? He was raised from the dead. How do you know He was raised from the dead? The Bible says so, and He lives within my heart. Praise God, I can't prove that to you, but I believe it with all of my heart. I believe He took my sins and paid for them in His death and by His resurrection from the grave. God says they are completely taken away, and will be remembered against me no more. Hebrews 8:12: "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." If Jesus had died and was never raised, we would doubt if the Father accepted His death as a sacrifice for our sins. Praise God, He didn't stay dead. My Lord said in John 14:19: "Because I live, ye shall live also." Romans 6:8: "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." The resurrection of Christ gave Paul assurance of his salvation and eternal life, and it gives me assurance too.
Then there is something else in this verse of Scripture – the Substitute has been exalted. He came down here in the body of His humiliation, but He went back to glory and He sat down at the right hand of God. I wish you could bear in mind, that what my Lord is, His people are; where He is, His people are. The One Who has been my Substitute, Who has died and risen, is now exalted at the right hand of God in heaven. And while my Representative sits so close to the Father, how can I be condemned? Bless God, the Scripture says in Ephesians 2:4: "But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." That is a mighty good place to be! Who can condemn me in the courts of heaven? The Lord Jesus Christ my Substitute sits on the right hand of God. I would have no fear of God if I were an angel walking in the presence of God daily. But if the angels have no fear of condemnation in the presence of God, how much more I, who am sitting on the right hand of God in Christ? Can Christ be separated? No, sir. And I am a part of Him.
Then this verse tells us one last great truth: The Substitute has been raised and exalted and, bless God, He is now ministering as a Priest, interceding for His own. Romans 8:34: "Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us." I sure want to be in that "for us" crowd! Isn't that wonderful? You reckon that's so? The Bible says it is – that yonder at the right hand of God, there is a Man in glory. I verily believe that His hands have the print of nails in them. I believe that on His brow are scars of that awful crown of thorns. I believe that His side still bears the wounds of the spear. I believe that His feet still have the wounds of that spike that was used to fasten them to the cross. Hebrews 7:24-25: "But this man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable Priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." Hebrews 4:14-15: "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 9:11-12: "But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."
We see according to the Word of God there is a Man in glory, that is the Man Christ Jesus, that is the Eternal Son of God and that is God Eternal. And He died for me and He was raised for me. He has been exalted and I have been exalted with Him. And He is praying for me. Bless the Lord, isn't that wonderful? Here is my assurance, here is my joy and here is my hope. When my Lord was here, He said in John 17:24: "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world." That is His prayer right now. A pleading Saviour makes sure of the forgiveness of His people. Jesus pleads for me and for you, if you are His, and God will not deny His plea.
But, my friend, if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, you have much to fear. For this old world is under God's condemnation, the fire of God's anger is ready, the pit is prepared, and your feet shall slide in due time. Deuteronomy 32:35: "To Me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste." Verses 39-41: "See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with Me: I kill, and I make alive,' I wound, and I heal.' Neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand. For I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, I live forever. If I whet My glittering sword, and Mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to Mine enemies, and will reward them that hate Me." Revelation 21:8: "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death."
Today if you will hear the Word of God, harden not your heart, stiffen not your neck. But repent and turn to the blood of the Saviour, shed on Calvary's tree!