Sermon Tone Analysis
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(read )
Have we noticed that man is the only being in the world who does not naturally furnish his own clothing?
Every stitch of clothing we wear speaks in one way or another of death.
If you’re wearing leather shoes at church today,
an animal had to die before we could be provided with shoes.
The wool had to be severed from the sheep’s back, to make our garments.
Even the cotton had to be pulled from its place of life if it were to become clothing for us.
The animals and the birds furnish their own clothing, but man is dependent upon others for his.
All animal clothing was put on from within, but man’s clothing comes from without.
The truth I wish to point out is that sin left man naked and he must be clothed by another,
Tan, P. L. (1996).
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (p. 1196).
Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.
even in the righteousness of Christ if he is to be fit to appear in the presence of God.
It is God who provides the covering for us, otherwise we stand naked before Him.
v33 is our next verse in our exposition of this beloved chapter of the Holy Scriptures.
Here we run into a very key term in our understanding of salvation.
It’s the term, “justify”.
33 "Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect?
God is the one who justifies.”
()
This doesn’t mean that God infuses His righteousness into us.
But it means that God actually pardons our sin, and
by accounting and accepting our persons as righteous,
not for anything done by them but for the sake of Christ alone.
Not by imputing faith itself, or the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteousness,
but by the imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto us.
Read: (, , ; 4:5-8)
We receive this righteousness of Christ and rest upon Him alone by faith, which faith we have, we have not from ourselves, it is the gift of God.
8 "For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 "not from works, so that no one can boast.”
()
All of humanity stands in need of this justification before God because of our sinful, lawbreaking.
We have all transgressed God moral law and we have all failed to live up to God’s requirement in the law.
33 "Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect?
God is the one who justifies.”
()
Here’s the main idea: That no charge or accusation will have any effect or invalidate any of whom God has justified.
Let’s look first off at
1.
The ACCUSATION in the question.
“Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect?”
Paul is saying that there is no-one who can lay any charge to God’s elect that will stick.
It is not that no-one will ever lay a charge against God’s elect.
One of the most frequent sins a Christian must endure in this life, at the hands of other people, is that of slander.
In fact, one of the names for Satan means the Slanderer (devil), and as Christians we are constantly exposed to the
criticism, the
insults, the
slanders and the
lies
of those who are hostile toward us.
Remember the words of Jesus in the Beatitudes, His benediction on those who bear the pain of false accusations:
Sproul, R. C. (1994).
The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (p.
156).
Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications.
Sproul, R. C. (1994).
The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans (pp.
155–156).
Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications.
11 "“You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me.” ()
Jesus anticipated that those who follow Him will be the victims of the same kind of false accusations that He Himself received.
Let me show you Satan the slanderer.
Let’s run back to Zechariah chapter 3 please.
Here is a vision that pictures a heavenly court scene where the high priest Joshua is cleansed for service in the new temple (vv1-5).
The divine council is in attendance, and on trial is Joshua the high priest,
the grandson of the final high priest of the temple before its destruction (; ; ).
Playing the part of the prosecutor is the Accuser who is standing at Joshua’s right side ready to accuse him (cf.
).
In Joshua’s defense is the angel of the Lord.
1 "Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.
2 "The Lord said to Satan: “The Lord rebuke you, Satan!
May the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!....”” ()
Interestingly, the dialogue begins with a rebuke to the Accuser, not with a report of the accusations.
Either the Accuser had already made his accusations before the vision began
or else he is cut off before he can verbalize them.
Nevertheless, we can infer what the accusation would have been.
The Hebrew for “accuse” has the same root as “Satan.”
Presumably the Accuser had come to lay blame on Jerusalem but more specifically on the high priest, Joshua (vv.
1–2).
The accusations apparently were not baseless since Joshua appears in court dressed in soiled garments,
an image of great scandal to those familiar with the sacrificial system.
The angel of the Lord defends Joshua with a declaration of his power to redeem.
He points out that Joshua was a “burning stick plucked from the fire.”
2 "The Lord said to Satan: “The Lord rebuke you, Satan!
May the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!
Isn’t this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”” ()
They were a burning stick snatched from the fire,
Gregory, B. R. (2010).
Longing for God in an Age of Discouragement: The Gospel according to Zechariah.
(T.
Longman III, Ed.) (p.
76).
Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.
pulled out at the last possible moment before being consumed by the flames.
Gregory, B. R. (2010).
Longing for God in an Age of Discouragement: The Gospel according to Zechariah.
(T.
Longman III, Ed.) (p.
76).
Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.
Gregory, B. R. (2010).
Longing for God in an Age of Discouragement: The Gospel according to Zechariah.
(T.
Longman III, Ed.) (p.
75).
Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.
As Jesus answers the accuser, He doesn’t liken Joshua to a mighty redwood or a majestic oak.
No, He says, “See this little twig?
I plucked him out of the fire—just like I chose insignificant Jerusalem to be My capital city.”
Our security and significance doesn’t lie in who we are, dear church, but in Whose we are.
Carson, D. A. (Ed.).
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