What I Tell the Devil (Romans 8:31–39; Lord’s Day 1)
The devil cannot condemn us eternally, but he can tell us we should feel condemned. From Romans 8, this sermon takes the phrases of Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 1 not merely as theological descriptions but as answers to Satan’s accusations. When he charges, “You are a sinner,” I tell the devil that Christ has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood—and I like to tell the devil to take it up with Jesus.
Introduction
Let’s turn together to the sermon notes page where you’ll find the words of Lord’s Day 1 of our Heidelberg Catechism.
Q&A 1 is the theme: Christian comfort.
Q&A 2 is the outline: living in that comfort by knowing my guilt, God’s grace, and my gratitude in return.
Let’s joyfully read responsively:
Q. 1. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own,
but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has delivered me from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven;
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
also assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.Q. 2. How many things must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort?
A. Three:
first, how great my sin and misery are;
second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery;
third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance.
As we saw last week, my only comfort in life and in death is Jesus Christ. It is he who gives me certainty and confidence in this life and for the life to come.
But why? There are so many things out there coming into your living room, going into your ears, and presented to your eyes offering comfort.
There are the pop psychological comforts that soothe us with the idea that as long as we’re not hurting anyone you’re okay and I’m okay.
There are religious comforts. Islam offers eternal gluttony and sex fulfillment for men. And the list goes on.
But my only comfort in life and in death is that I am not my own but Christ’s. And with my body and soul, in life and in death as the beautiful Song says, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (Song 6:3). Jesus Christ holds my body and soul even as I hold on to him by faith. He knows me even as I know him now by faith and will know him by sight in the life to come. Scripture teaches this. And in our Catechism we say it back to God. This is our confidence! This is why we say with the apostle: If God is for us who can be against us? (v. 31)
And the devil knows this. There is that terrifying line in the book of Revelation: “But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (Rev. 12:12) What he says is echoed in our text: Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? (v. 33) Who is to condemn? (v. 34) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (v. 35) The devil knows he cannot condemn us eternally. But he can tell us that we should feel condemned. And feeling condemned, we lose our joy in living for Christ. A.W. Tozer said it best:
…Satan…knows that it is no use trying to damn a forgiven and justified child of God who is in the Lord’s hands. So, it becomes the devils business to keep the Christian’s spirit imprisoned. He knows that the believing and justified Christian has been raised up out of the grave of his sins and trespasses. From that point on, Satan works that much harder to keep us bound and gagged, actually imprisoned in our own grave clothes (“I Talk Back to the Devil”).
This is where Romans 8 is so helpful to our attitude of confidence when we feel defeated by the devil. What I tell the devil is to answer all his accusations by telling him about my Lord Jesus.
Who can be against us when God did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all and therefore how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (vv. 31–32)
Who can bring any charge against God’s elect when it is God who justifies? (v. 33)
Who can condemn uswhen Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us? (v. 34)
Theme
This is why our Catechism is so helpful. After we say what our only comfort is we go on to express why Jesus is our only comfort. Think of this section not merely as a list of theological descriptions of what Jesus did, but as a list of your responses to the devil’s accusations (The following is adapted from Ursinus, Commentary, 19–20).
“You are a Sinner!”
When Satan charges and condemns, “You are a sinner,” I say to the devil, “Yes, I am by nature, but Christ has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood.”
Yes, God is just and any infraction of his law has an eternal penalty.
Yes, I cannot pay the price to get out from under his justice.
But his Son, Jesus Christ, can. Jesus fully paid for all my sins. In that little preposition foris the entirety of your salvation!
“You are Surely Going to Die and Be Mine!”
When Satan charges and condemns, “You are surely going to die and be mine,” I say to the devil, “He…has delivered me from the tyranny of the devil.”
Just like the Lord delivered or “redeemed” Israel from enslavement to the power of Pharaoh, so too Jesus Christ my Lord has bought me back out of enslavement to the devil.
And while the price in those ancient days was either a lamb or the firstborn son, those shadows pale in comparison to their reality in God’s own Son, Jesus:
“You were ransomed…not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18–19)
The first Adam plunged us in to servitude to Satan; the second Adam ripped us from his grip:
“through death [Jesus] might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Heb. 2:14–15).
“You’re Going to Fall into Sin and Fall Out of Grace!”
When Satan charges and condemns, “You’re going to fall into sin and fall out of grace,” I say to the devil, “He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven.”
Jesus satisfies, Jesus redeems, and Jesus preserves!
Jesus says, “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28) because “even the hairs of your head are all numbered” by God (Matt. 10:30).
What a preserver! It’s why Ursinus said,
“Our safety does not lie in our own hands, or strength; for if it did, we should lose it a thousand times every moment” (Ursinus, Commentary, 19).
“Look at All the Evil you Experience, this Must be Evidence that God Doesn’t Love You”
When Satan charges and condemns, “Look at all the evil you experience, this must be evidence that God doesn’t love you” I say to the devil, “All things must work together for my salvation.”
“But What If You’re Not One of the Elect?”
When Satan charges and condemns, “But what if you’re not one of the elect?” I say to the devil, “Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, also assures me of eternal life.”
I know I am one of the elect because I belong to…Christ by faith.
And I feel this in my heart as a believer in Christ because Christ himself by his Holy Spirit, also assures me of eternal life. Did you hear that? We are assured by Christ by his Holy Spirit. As Jesus taught:
“…the Spirit of truth…will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak…he will take what is mine and declare it to you (John 16:13–15).
“But What If You Don’t Really Have True Faith?”
When Satan charges and condemns, “But what if you don’t really have true faith?” I say to the devil, “And makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.”
I lived for you, Satan, in the past, as a slave; but now I live for Christ as a bondservant.
He “gave himself for [me] to redeem [me] from all lawlessness” and so that he might “purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14).
Satan likes to accuse. But I like to tell the devil to take it up with Jesus! Martin Luther once wrote a letter to a friend and said this:
When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares that we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means. For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where he is, there I shall be also (“Letter to Jerome Weller, July 1530,” in Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel, 86–87).