Message - Who Accuses or Condemns You?

Well, a few weeks ago, we started a new series called Wonderful.

And we're basing this off of a specific section of Scripture.

It's the very end of Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

And if you're new to church, if you're new to Jesus, maybe you're watching at home for the very first time, and you're like, Romans chapter 8, I have no context for that.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

I'm afraid this might go over my head, but don't worry about that.

Because, and this is really important, we say this very often at his hands, you were created by God with the capacity to understand spiritual things.

He has created you for you to know him, to have a relationship with him.

And so even if some of this stuff is stuff you've never thought of before, you've never even heard before, it's all right because you have the capacity within you to understand it.

You'll be blown away by how fast this clicks.

Now we're calling this series wonderful because of how the series, the section of scripture rather begins.

Romans 8.31 says, What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?

And if you're familiar with this section of scripture, it's probably one of the most popular, powerful sections that we have in all of the Bible.

It's something that has encouraged Jesus followers for centuries.

It kind of ends with this declaration that's so amazing, where it says that nothing can separate us from God's love, no height, no depth, no power above, no power below, not even the powers of hell can separate us from the love of God.

And it's one of those sections that when you read it, you just get loud, you get emphatic, it's it's powerful.

It's like a declaration.

And what most people do is when you read the last part of Romans 8, you just kind of blow through everything leading up to that point so you can get to that declaration.

But what precedes that declaration is a list of questions.

Six questions that are unbelievably powerful.

A few of them are shortly answered in the text itself, but all of them have implied answers.

As I was studying and preparing for this, I realized that, man, if you can answer the six questions that it asks, if you have a decent grasp on these six questions and the answers to them, you have a very complete, very mature understanding of what it means to follow Jesus and where you stand with God.

There is nothing more important for you, for your identity, than understanding where you stand with God.

There's nothing that affects your life on a day-to-day basis more than your standing with God.

I mean, think about it.

If you're a child, your standing with your parent or your guardian matters, right?

How things are going in that relationship is gonna dictate a lot of how the day goes.

If you work in an organization, a company, you're standing with the boss, you're standing with with your managers, your supervisors, with the executives.

That's going to determine a lot about how things go for you.

Well, what could determine how things go for your life more than you're standing with the God of the universe?

And these questions answer for us where do we stand with God?

And when you know where you stand with God, when you have confidence in where he has placed you and what he's done for you, that safeguards you, it makes you secure such that even if everyone else in the world throws stones at you, so to speak, even if everyone else in your life disapproves of who you are at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter because you know where you stand with the God who made you.

This is vital.

And so we began with the first question.

That's usually what you do.

And the question was: if God is for us, who can be against us?

Or in other words, if God is for us, what does it matter if everyone else is against us?

Of what consequence is that?

And the second question was if he gave his own son for us, if he didn't spare even his own son Jesus, will he not give us everything else that we need?

We can trust God to provide for us.

And today we're going to look at the third and the fourth question together.

They're very, very closely linked together.

We see this in Romans chapter 8, verses 33 through 34.

Romans 8:33–34

By the way, I'm following along on the His Hands Mobile app.

You can use that, or you can just read on the screens, however you want to do it.

It says, Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own?

Who dares accuse us?

It's not very often that you get to use the phrase, who dares?

You've got to be a pretty important person just to say that.

Like, how dare you, right?

We don't get to use that.

It's kind of fun to say that.

Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own?

No one, for God Himself has given us right standing with himself.

Who then will condemn us?

No one, for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us.

So these two questions who dares accuse us or who condemns us?

Now, in order for us to really understand what's being communicated here, we've got to get our heads around the mental picture that Paul, the author, is painting.

Because he's painting a very specific picture.

And so let's actually look at Romans 8.33, but in a slightly different translation, the New Living Translation, rather, the New American Standard Version, puts it this way: who will bring charges against God's elect?

God is the one who justifies, or in other words, judges.

What's happening here is he's using courtroom language.

Courtroom language.

And even though this is 2,000 years ago, it just so happens that this is language we can step into really easily, because the legal system of the Roman Empire has served as the foundation for even modern legal systems.

And so a lot of the language that he's using, a lot of the terms, we still see those in our legal system today.

Now, all of us have different levels of experience with the legal system.

The police officers always talk, those who help us out on Sundays, always tell us that our people are nicer.

This is true, I'm not just saying this.

They tell us that our people are nicer than any of the other churches.

And I always tell them more of our people have records than in any of the other churches.

Okay?

So I don't know if we're just being nice or we just don't want to go there, you know?

Um of us have very personal experiences with the law.

Um I had a I had a great day just a a few months ago.

I was I was on my phone in the car.

You're not supposed to do that.

Um and I was right at Molly Lane on 92.

I was about to get over and get in the left lane to turn here into the church.

It was just a regular, I think it was like a Wednesday or Thursday, and cop lights come on behind me.

And I'm like, I was on the phone with someone who goes to our church.

So I had to tell them, hey, I'm so sorry, I'm getting pulled over by the police.

Um I'm your pastor, it's gonna be fun.

And I pulled into the iHop across the street, and as I pull in, there's a family sitting and waiting to be sat, and they happen to go to our church, and so I was just like, What's up, guys?

Just just you know, your average pastor getting pulled over by the police.

It happens, it's all good.

And so I roll my window down, officer comes up, and he's like, Hey, are you the pastor at his hands church?

And I was like, I am.

He's like, awesome.

I go there, and it's Ben Bitzer, who's an awesome, he's he's an amazing part of our church.

He's a great guy.

So we've all had experiences with the law.

We've probably, some of us had experiences in court.

I've been in court a few times, I've been called as a witness in court.

It's fun, it's a really interesting experience.

But all of us, even if you haven't had those experiences, we all have pretty sharp mental pictures of a whole courtroom type of vibe, all the dynamics at work there, because we see it constantly on television, movies, like just take a second and think.

What is your mental picture of like a courtroom drama, like a courtroom dynamic?

Law and order, I hear some people saying law and order.

Yeah, you remember that season of life like five, ten years ago, where there was like a law that said law and order has to be on TV on every channel at all times?

And you're just, I guess I'm watching Law and Order because it's on.

That's it.

For me, it's a very specific picture.

It's the movie A Few Good Men.

Okay?

A few good men.

Right.

Now, how many of you show of hands have seen a few good men?

I know the high school students are with us this morning.

This ages me with our high school students, so you'll have to.

If you haven't seen it, here's the deal A few good men.

It's one of uh one of like the young Tom Cruise movies, and pretty much all young Tom Cruise movies are the same.

Young Tom Cruise, and I'm talking like mid-80s till late 90s, uh, they're all see the same character in every movie.

It's just it's just Maverick from Top Gun, okay?

If you've ever seen Top Gun, right?

I love the song Danger Zone.

It just started running through my mind.

It's gonna be in my mind all day.

All right, Tom Cruise plays Maverick, he's a young, cocky pilot, and uh I mean, he's in way over his head, but he throws caution to the wind and he just makes things happen and he ends up being successful in the end.

That is every Tom Cruise movie for the first like 20 years of his career.

It's just it's just all like, what if Maverick had a different job?

So if you want to think like, what if Maverick was, I don't know, a race car driver?

Just watch Days of Thunder, and it's the exact same thing.

It's like Maverick racing cars.

He's in way over his head, but he throws caution to the wind and he just goes for it and it works out.

What if Maverick was, I don't know, a naval lawyer, a few good men?

It's the same character just doing different jobs.

And so I love the movie A Few Good Men.

And I love it for a few reasons.

One is very personal.

The prosecuting attorney is played by none other than Kevin Bacon.

And uh I I there's this game called the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

It's my favorite party game.

I love to play it.

You can link any actor or actress to Kevin Bacon in six steps or less.

I'm good at it.

Brandon Brown tested me at dinner just a few nights ago.

I did it, and so it's it's a fun game.

But I'm not gonna get into that now.

So I like the movie because it's got a lot of big actors, it's very helpful in the Kevin Bacon game.

But a few good men.

Here's the the basic gist of the story.

Okay, Tom Cruise, he's a he's a lawyer, he's representing these two soldiers who have been accused of of committing murder.

Turns out the soldiers carried out an order that led to the death of a fellow soldier, but that order was given by the character that's played by Jack Nicholson, who's just a jerk, a real jerk.

I think like the first seven movies I saw of Jack Nicholson as a kid, where he was just an awful person in every one of them.

It was this movie.

I saw him play the Joker, and for some reason, I don't know why, but I have a very specific memory of being a first grader and watching The Shining.

And uh and so by the time I was seven, I was like, I don't want anything to do with Jack Nicholson, okay?

So Jack Nicholson, he he's he's a jerk, he's the he's the bad guy.

Well, Tom Cruise is a lawyer, he calls Jack Nicholson to testify, okay?

He brings Jack Nicholson in, and he's uh he's talking to Jack Nicholson on the stand, and Jack Nicholson, he doesn't want anything to do with this.

He is not in the mood to answer questions, okay?

And so he's all mouthy and he's cocky, and then the judge has to step in, and the judge kind of puts Jack Nicholson in his place and is like, just answer the questions, and then it gets really intense because Maverick, Tom Cruise, he's like, I want the truth.

And then Jack Nicholson's all like, you can't handle the truth.

And his teeth are showing and his mouth is open, and it's a very close shot.

It makes you uncomfortable.

It's very similar to that whole head poking through the door.

Here's Johnny, kind of shining moment, you know?

It's really intense.

And then Jack Nicholson just spills the beans and he says that he did it, and he called the order, and he gets arrested, and Maverick wins, and then he retires from being a naval officer, and after a brief stint as a sports agent, uh he very brief stint, he becomes a spy and he saves the world a bunch of times, right?

That's where Maverick lands.

That's the story of Maverick.

That's the story of Tom Cruise.

There you go.

All right.

And if you're wondering, he played with Kevin Bacon in a few good men.

So that's a one-step person.

It's good.

All right.

That that that scene from a few good men, that I want the truth, you can't handle truth, that is what always pops in my mind when I think about a courtroom dynamic.

And what's interesting is that the language that Paul is using here, even though it's 2,000 years ago, a lot of those same dynamics, the same types of roles existed in his world.

And so it's actually really easy for us to step into this language and understand what's going on because, and this is what we're gonna get to as we wrap up, we're all part of our own personal courtroom drama.

Every single one of us is part of a courtroom drama in our lives.

And here's why.

Number one, we have an accuser.

Okay, let me read this language from Revelation chapter 12.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, it has come at last.

Salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ.

Christ is a title, it means Savior, it means Messiah.

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth, the one who accuses them before our God day and night.

It's talking about the person of Satan.

Now, Satan is not a name.

Sometimes in the New Testament you'll see Satan with a capital S, and that is that is denoting the Satan.

But the word Satan, it's an actual word that means adversary, it means accuser.

And so in the whole courtroom dynamic, the accuser is the prosecutor.

So that's what Satan does.

He accuses you, he he tempts you, and then when you fail, as we all do, he accuses you.

He brings charges against you.

Now, the prosecutor is not the only person who has a role in the court.

In John chapter 14, verse 16, Jesus says, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate who will never leave you.

John 14:16

Now he's talking about the Holy Spirit.

And it's interesting because that word advocate was the legal word in their day for a defense attorney.

If you would go to court, let's say you were sued or you were facing charges, you would bring with you an advocate.

This was the one who is going to argue on your behalf.

And so you have a prosecutor, Satan, bringing charges against you, accusing you of all the things you've ever done, thought, but you have a defender.

You have an advocate, and that's the Holy Spirit.

And that's not even the best part.

As exciting as that is, that's like having a real high-powered defense attorney right there, right?

That's not the best part, though.

The best part is is the judge.

The best part is the judge.

Now, part of the reason that we see all this courtroom language used in scripture is because a big part of our faith, and guys, I'm saying like a major core tenet of our faith as Jesus followers is the idea that everything is moving toward a final judgment.

That there will be a day when God will judge everything and everyone.

Now, that is a topic that uh has sort of fallen on hard times in American Christian culture.

You don't see a lot of pastors, a lot of churches don't want to talk about that.

Some want to talk about it too much, like they're kind of obsessed with it, and some just don't want to talk about it at all because it makes you make you feel uneasy, right?

Like we don't like the idea of God as a judge because of all the implications that go along with that.

But I just want to say this on the forefront.

We have to be okay with exploring this concept.

Because Jesus talks about it all the time.

Jesus teaches about judgment on a regular basis.

And if we're gonna call ourselves Jesus followers, we've got to be okay with what Jesus says.

We've got to be willing to wrestle with everything that Jesus says, even the stuff that we don't love right away, we've got to wrestle with it and come to terms with it.

Jesus talks about judgment a lot.

Now we feel uncomfortable with the idea of judgment sometimes for a really simple reason.

We're not sure about the judge.

Like the only reason to be uncomfortable with judgment is if you don't fully trust the judge.

There's nothing more terrifying than thinking about being placed under the authority of a corrupt judge, or a judge who lacks compassion, or a judge who uses a standard that's impossible to live up to, or a judge who doesn't have all the information, who doesn't have all the facts?

What if that judge renders a judgment that is unfair?

What if that what if that judge what if that judge doesn't see all the details, doesn't know the whole story?

What if that judge is wrong?

But if you trust the judge, if you know that the judge is the best person possible, if the judge knows right from wrong, if the judge is compassionate and good and loving and kind, that's that's a judge you want.

And I think it's important, even in light of what we talked about last week, to recognize the fact, guys, we see things happening in the world all the time.

Grave injustice being done, atrocities.

Just look at history, and it becomes pretty clear that there is a day where we're gonna need God to say enough is enough.

We're gonna need God to make a judgment and to make every wrong right, to put every injustice aside, to deal with evil once and for all.

We need God as a judge, so we've got to be okay with this idea of judgment, but again, sometimes we're uncomfortable with it because we we maybe go personal and say, Yeah, but what about me?

Like, I've got I've got stuff, and the reason you feel that way is because you have an accuser.

But we've got to understand who our judge is.

Now, what's really interesting is that our judge is actually Jesus.

But most people don't think of Jesus as the judge.

Let me show you a few scriptures to talk about this.

Uh, let's look at Romans, actually, let's go to Acts chapter 10, verse 42.

Acts 10:42

He ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all, the living and the dead.

John 5.22, this is Jesus actually speaking.

In addition, the Father judges no one.

The father judges no one.

Instead, he has given the son absolute authority to judge.

The father judges no one, he's given the son absolute authority to judge.

We don't typically picture Jesus as a judge.

And that's because usually when we think about Jesus, we think about Jesus in a very limited way.

Now, there's like a theological term for this, what we're gonna talk about for the next few minutes.

This is really important.

It's the term Christology.

It's not really a term that you necessarily need to know and use on a regular basis.

It just means what we think about Jesus, how we see Jesus, how we understand the person and the role of Jesus Christ.

Now, what we tend to do, and it makes sense, is when we think about Jesus, we think about Jesus the person.

We think about Jesus as he existed on the earth for that 33 years where he was a teacher and a prophet and a healer, he was a miracle worker, he was a sacrifice, he was a savior, he's a redeemer.

All of those, all of those titles, all of those descriptions of Jesus, they come from his very limited time on the earth.

And that is part of who Jesus is, but that's not all of who Jesus is.

Like what about before that?

What about before Jesus was was on the earth?

John chapter 1 begins with some some really beautiful poetry.

John 1 · chapter mention

And it says that in the beginning, the word already existed.

It's talking about Jesus.

And the idea here is that Jesus is the living embodiment of all of God's truth.

That's that's the word.

It says in the beginning, the word already existed.

The word was with God, and the word was God.

He existed in the beginning with God.

God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.

So Jesus existed long before he shows up on the earth.

He's there at creation, he's the instrument of creation.

So we've got to understand that Jesus is much bigger than just the person who taught and healed and died on the cross and rose from the dead.

What about Jesus now?

What about right now?

Well, Romans 8:34.

Romans 8:34

We read it a few minutes ago.

Who then will condemn us?

No one, for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us.

Right now.

Jesus Christ, who has ascended to heaven, is seated in a place of honor next to God the Father, and he is, it says, pleading on our behalf.

There's other language in Scripture that fills in these blanks a little bit more.

Hebrews chapter 7, verse 23 says, There were many priests under the old system.

Hebrews 7:23

It's talking about the Old Testament, the law, all the priests that would offer sacrifices.

It says there were many priests under that system, but death prevented them from remaining in office.

But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever.

Therefore, he is able once and forever to save those who come to God through him, for he lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.

So he intercedes.

The idea is that right now Jesus is sitting next to God and he's interceding, he's basically praying on your behalf.

That's incredible.

That's who Jesus is right now.

But what about Jesus in the future?

Romans chapter 2, verse 16 says, This is the message I proclaim that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone's secret life.

Romans 2:16

Matthew chapter 25, verses 31 through 32.

Matthew 25:31–32

This is Jesus talking.

But when the Son of Man, meaning Jesus, comes in all his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne.

All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

So Jesus will come again, and when he comes, he will judge.

Now sometimes this gets confusing for us because you know, a lot of times we're reading scripture and it says God will judge, and God is the judge, and we we hear God, we typically in our mind Fill in God the Father.

But God is an umbrella term, really, meaning God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And this sounds a little bit confusing.

Some of us are like, wait a minute, is there one God, three Gods?

What do you mean Jesus is God?

He is.

Because God means the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

There's a lot of different ways we can think about it.

A couple that I use from time to time that are helpful.

Think about like a band that has three people in it.

That band would have a name, and if you were to walk up to any member of that band and be like, hey, are you the band name?

They'd be like, yeah.

But then they also have their own name, right?

They have their own specific role in the band, but they're all known under that umbrella term.

A better way to understand this actually you.

The Bible says that we were made in the image of God.

We were made to reflect God.

We kind of look like Him.

We resemble Him in some ways.

And you have a body, you have a physical body.

You have a mind, an intellect, and I would say you have a spirit.

And those are all very distinct parts of who you are, but they're all you.

You couldn't take one of those aspects away and still be who you are.

And we all know what it's like for our mind and our body to be at odds.

Right?

I start a diet usually about once every two weeks.

Um I start a new diet.

It's pretty cool.

And the reason it doesn't work well is because my mind and body don't get along.

My body's like, I want this.

My mind is like, don't do it, and my body just goes, eh, shut up.

And I eat it.

Right?

But like, think about it.

How often do you talk to yourself?

Right?

You're not crazy.

You're actually reflecting God.

You couldn't take any of those aspects of you away and not be you.

Well, God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

It's all God.

But there are these different roles, and it says that the Father has given all authority to the Son.

And that a day is coming.

We don't know when it is.

Some people get obsessed with it to a point that's really unhealthy.

Some people like to ignore it.

Some of us ignore the idea of Jesus coming back because we've known people who obsessed over it and it was really weird and odd.

But the reality is, Jesus is going to return.

And when he comes back, he comes to judge.

And that's a really good thing.

That's a really good thing.

We have like a few claps because no one knows if that's a good thing or not.

Like Jesus is coming back.

Right.

But he's coming back, he's like, he's coming back to judge.

Now, now this could be scary.

The idea of Jesus coming back to judge could be scary.

But it's a really good thing.

Well, let me ask you a question.

Show of hands, those of you online, actually, you can participate with us.

Uh you can actually post, post a comment, tell us the restaurant that would apply to this for you.

How many of you worked at some point in your life as a waiter?

You waited tables, you served in a restaurant.

Okay, a bunch of us.

How many of you who waited tables?

I worked at Chili's for three years, and then in college, a Mexican restaurant for another year.

How many of you are better tippers after having been a server than you were before?

Like all the hands go up, right?

And the reason why is because you know all the things that can go wrong.

Like you know all the things.

It's it I had so many weird experiences as a waiter, so many times that I just, I'm sure some of you, how many of you had this where you just forgot to put someone's order in?

Like you looked at the table and you were like, oh no, that was like 45 minutes ago.

How many of you did that at some point in time?

If you were like me, you just went out and you I used this uh ambiguous they.

I was like, did they not bring your food?

They've been doing that all night long.

I'm gonna go talk to them, and then you come back, like I talk to them, it's coming out, right?

I was young.

But but having been a waiter, like I I give really good tips now, even if I have bad service, because I can relate, because I understand all the things that can go wrong.

Now the the opposite could be true.

I could decide that because I was a waiter and I worked really hard and I know what double shifts feel like, and I still did it, and I still gave good service more often than not, then I have a higher standard, and now I'm not gonna tip very well at all because I know that it's possible to do better.

Jesus, if he wanted to, could be like that.

Jesus has every right to be the most harsh judge you can imagine.

I mean, just imagine standing in front of Jesus and it's a situation of judgment and explaining yourself for let's say, I don't know, you you lose your temper, you say something you shouldn't say.

You can look at Jesus and say, Ah, Jesus, I know I said that.

I shouldn't have said that, but I was having a really hard day.

And Jesus could look at you and say, Oh, you were having a hard day.

Okay.

Let me tell you about this one day I had.

Uh got arrested for no reason, thrown through a sham of a trial, beaten within an inch of my life.

I had to carry a really heavy wooden cross on my torn-up back up to Mount.

Then they nailed me to it.

They nailed me to it.

And on that cross, I said, Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing.

So you had a day like that?

He's like, Well, no.

But, you know, if Jesus wanted to be that kind of judge, he could.

Because he's gone through everything we went through and he did it right, he did it well, he beat us by a mile, by an immeasurable amount, and if he wanted to judge us harshly, he could.

I mean, you could look at Jesus and say, Jesus, I I know I messed up, but I was just so tempted.

It was a really difficult temptation.

And he could look at you and say, Oh, you were tempted?

One time, uh, funny story, Satan himself showed up, and he just tempted me with all of the kingdoms of the earth.

All of them, every one of them.

So you were tempted with something to that degree, and you'd be like, No, it was like 50 bucks.

But at the time it felt really strong, and I just I was weak.

If Jesus wanted to, he could judge every single one of us to the standard to which he lived.

He could look at every one of us and say, You haven't been through what I went through.

Not one of us could claim to have lived a life more difficult, more demanding than the life that Jesus lived, and he did it, and he didn't sin and he didn't mess up, so not one of us could stand in front of Jesus and say, You don't understand, it was really hard.

But listen to the way that he judges.

Hebrews 4, verses 14 through 16.

Hebrews 4:14–16

So then, since we have this great high priest, Hebrews uses the language of priesthood a lot to describe Jesus, who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.

This high priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the same testings that we do, yet he did not sin.

So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God, and there we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Jesus, having been through everything that we go through, as the judge, he looks at us and he has compassion on us.

And if we put our trust in him, all he offers us, all he offers us is mercy and grace, is help when we need it.

That is the judge that will judge the world.

Can you think of anyone else you would rather have do that?

So let's go back to Romans chapter 8, verses 33 through 34.

Romans 8:33–34

Who dares accuse us, whom God has chosen for his own, no one, for God Himself has given us right standing with himself, who then will condemn us?

No one, for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand, pleading for us.

He is the judge.

And we have countless stories, so many stories that have Jesus put in a position to judge, given the opportunity to judge.

We see the way he operated as he walked the earth.

This gives us a picture to his character, to what we can expect when he comes to judge everything.

Classic example would be in John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

There's a woman who's caught in adultery, brought before Jesus, the law of the land, said that she could be stoned.

Jesus has every right to command her to be stoned.

He can judge her that harshly if he wants to.

Instead, though, he defends her.

And when it's all said and done, verse 10, it says, Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, Where are your accusers?

Didn't even one of them condemn you?

No, Lord, she said.

And Jesus said, Neither do I.

Now go and sin no more.

Now in that conversation, Jesus convicts her, he challenges her.

Jesus will challenge you all day.

He will challenge you in ways no one else can challenge you, because he wants you to be better.

But he will never condemn you.

If you put your faith in Jesus Christ, there is zero condemnation.

And here's where this really comes home.

The worship team you guys can make your way out.

Like I said earlier, all of us are living our own version of a courtroom drama.

All of us stand accused.

Every single one of us has to deal with accusation.

Now, some of those accusations that have been thrown your way in life are unfair.

They're untrue.

We all know what it feels like to have people say things about us, label us, say that we're we're this or that when it's not true.

I've been in a leadership position for many years, and when you're in a leadership position and you make decisions, people aren't always going to agree with those decisions.

I know what it feels like to have people say things about me.

And to be like, that's not true at all.

And sometimes in those moments when people say things about me that aren't true, when I feel accused, my first inclination is to jump up and try to defend myself.

And so some of you today, you might feel accused.

You might feel like there are people in this world who accuse you.

And what they say is not true, and you want to defend yourself.

But I've learned over time that I don't really need to do that very often at all.

Because I have a defender.

I have an advocate, the Holy Spirit.

I'll let him fight those battles for me.

All of us know what it's like to be accused, and this is where it gets really personal.

And the accusation brought against you is 100% true.

And this is where the enemy gets us.

Satan, he's a good accuser.

And you have issues and struggles and mistakes, and you have times that you've failed.

And Satan doesn't let those slide.

He accuses you, he throws it at you.

And here's what's really hard is other people join in.

And other people, unknowingly, many, many times, jump in and they they partner with our enemy to accuse us and to bring accusations against us.

And think about it like a prosecuting attorney calling witnesses in a court of law.

And some of us have a long list of people that maybe would point their finger and say, Yes, they did that.

And it's absolutely true.

So we stand accused, and what happens over time is we begin sometimes, even in our own minds, to partner with the enemy, and we begin to accuse ourselves in the way that we talk about ourselves, the way that we think about ourselves.

It's just constant accusation.

We're all living in our own courtroom drama, and we're all accused.

And the prosecuting attorney, it's not Kevin Bacon, right?

It's Satan.

And he's really good at what he does.

He brings charges against you.

And every single one of us, every single one of us has messed up more times than we could count.

So, what do you do when you're accused?

What do you do when you know that you've messed up?

What do you do when you know that those labels apply?

When those failures are accurate.

You trust the judge.

Because no matter how severe your biggest mistakes are, they do not define you.

They don't define you.

No matter how intense your your mess ups, no matter how legitimate those accusations that our enemy or other people or even you yourself bring, it doesn't matter because your fate has already been determined, the verdict has already been given.

Who dares accuse you who belong to Jesus Christ?

Who dares condemn you who belong to Jesus Christ?

No one, no one, for God the Father, through Jesus Christ, has already acquitted you.

You have already been declared not guilty.

You have already been set free.

What Jesus Christ has done for you, what he's done for you by sacrificing himself on the cross, he paid the price for your mistakes.

And now, because of that, and because Jesus sits in the place of judgment over all creation, he looks at you and he says, Yeah, I don't care what the charges are, don't care how accurate they are, I know them all, but I have chosen to forgive you.

It's been paid for.

I paid the price myself.

You are acquitted, you are free, charges dropped.

Charges dropped.

That's what Jesus has done.

Now here's where this really matters.

Because it's one thing to cheer and clap about it on a Sunday morning, it's another thing to walk out of here and on Tuesday have that thought run through your mind that you're a liar, that you're a cheater, that you're unfaithful, that you're a thief, that you're pathetic, that you're a manipulator.

And the truth is, when those thoughts come through our minds, they're powerful, right?

Because accusations carry great weight.

You know what, guys?

Some of those accusations, yeah.

It's true.

All of them.

But, like I said at the very beginning of our conversation, nothing changes your life more than knowing where you stand with God.

It might be true that I am those things.

But because of the goodness of my God, not because of my own, but because of the goodness of my God, I have been set free.

The charges have been dropped, I've been declared innocent, I've been declared not guilty.

And here's the beauty: when God says it, it overrules everything else.

When God says you're free, you're free.

Even if other people won't accept it, even if other people are like, no, I'm not letting you off.

It's like, okay, you don't have to.

You don't have to forgive me because God has.

And his voice matters more.

Like his voice just counts more.

His opinion matters most, and he has looked at you and he's declared charges dropped.

So, so some of us, I need you to hear this morning.

Stop, stop thinking about the charges.

They've been dropped.

Stop obsessing over your mistakes.

They've been dealt with.

Now I'm not saying don't take responsibility for your actions and don't make the necessary corrections and live your life the best you can live it, but I'm saying if you're being haunted on a regular basis by your failures, that is not God.

That is the enemy.

God is not your accuser.

He is not the one who accuses you, he's the one who affirms you, he's the one who acquits you, he's the one who loves you.

So some of us today, today has to be a day that we stop partnering with our enemy and giving weight to the accusations he brings.

Who cares?

It's been dealt with.

You're free, but you gotta live free.

You have to you have to believe that, you've got to start using that language, and when you feel accused, when someone else comes along and brings a charge against you, you've got to be at the point where, like, yeah, that's true.

But God said I'm free.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, sure, I've done those things, I've messed up, but who dares accuse me?

Whom God has chosen?

Who dares condemn the one that God has set free?

And the answer to both of those questions is simply no one.

No one out there, and no one in here gets to accuse or condemn the one that God has said is innocent.

So believe that, receive that, apply it, be confident in where you stand with God and whatever or whoever brings an accusation against you, the next time one of those thoughts runs through your mind that you are this or that.

Some of us again have allowed the accusations of others to become our identity.

The next time that thought runs through your mind, you know what you do?

You say, Yeah, maybe.

But my God has spoken on the matter.

And He has said, charges dropped.

No one has the right to accuse or condemn the one that God has set free.

And if you put your faith in Jesus, that's you.

I don't know about you guys, that's that's pretty wonderful to me.

Let's pray.

Father God, thank you so much.

Thank you so much, Lord, for being who you are.

Father, thank you for sending Jesus to not only be our Savior, but to be our judge.

Because of Him, Lord, we we don't have to worry about whether or not we receive a guilty verdict when it comes to the ultimate destiny of our lives.

We don't have to worry about that, God.

Because you've made it clear that the price for our mistakes has already been paid.

That we do not stand accused, that we do not stand condemned because of what you've done for us.

Jesus, thank you for being our judge, for being compassionate, for being merciful, for understanding our weaknesses, for understanding how hard it is to go through life and to do it well.

If you wanted to, you could be harsh.

You've earned that right, but you choose not to be.

You choose to be compassionate, full of grace, full of mercy, full of forgiveness.

And we can mess up time and time again and never run out of your grace and your mercy.

You're a good judge.

We thank you, Lord.

We depend on you.

Lord, I just pray in your name that if there's anyone here who lives under the weight of accusation, who's allowed their life, their identity to be defined by the charges that have been brought against them by our enemy, by others who have joined with.

Even if those charges have weight, even if those charges are true, Lord, I pray that we drop that weight here today, that we leave lighter than when we walked in, realizing that we have been set free, that what defines us is not our mistakes or our failures.

What defines us is what you have said, what you have spoken, what you have declared, and you have declared that we are innocent.

We are not guilty, we are set free.

Charges dropped.

Thank you, Jesus.

We love you.

Amen.