Transcript: The Accuser's Downfall

Video Transcript - Unit 11 - Video Transcript- The Accusers Downfall (David Feddes)

Picture yourself in a courtroom, you're being charged and accused. Now in this courtroom, there's a judge. There's a

prosecutor, there's a defender an attorney who is speaking for you. And then there are some others in the courtroom as well.

Now, the prosecutor has been charging you with all sorts of terrible crimes, but the judge has been ruling in your favor, and

your defender has been doing a great job of speaking up in your favor. The judge has ruled that all charges against you are

ruled out, anything you've done wrong has already been taken care of, and paid for, and the prosecutor doesn't really have a

case against you anymore. And on top of that, the judge rules that the prosecutor is himself, a crook. And the prosecutor is

just ruled out of court. Now, when the judge makes that ruling, the prosecutor is furious. And he's got a number of his own

henchmen in the courtroom as well. And he urges them to try to take over the whole courtroom. But the judge has his people

in the courtroom as well. He's got his chief officer, the bailiff and other enforcement officials who are working with him. And

the judge orders, the chief officer to clear that prosecutor and all of his henchmen out of the courtroom and to throw them out,

and to not let them back in again. And that's exactly what happens. He's thrown out of court. And you're left there in the room

with the judge who declared you not guilty with your defender who's been speaking in your favor, and with the court officer

and others working with him who just threw your accusers out of the courtroom. So you're in a pretty good situation, you've

been declared innocent, you've got some very strong defenders, and everybody in that court is in your favor.

Now, that's kind of the picture that the Bible gives us in Revelation chapter 12. At the beginning of Revelation, chapter 12, it

talks about the birth of a child who grows up, and there's a terrible dragon representing Satan tries to destroy the child. But

then the child wins the victory, and it goes up to heaven. And then revelation 12 tells us what happens next. Now, war arose

in heaven, Michael, and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was

defeated. And there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient

serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels

were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the Kingdom of

our of God, and the authority of His Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses

them day and night before our God, and they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their

testimony, for they loved not their lives, even under death. So there you have a picture of the heavenly courtroom and have a

great conflict in it, and of the devil and his angels being thrown down. And in this courtroom conflict, we see that the

defendant is the Christian, the one being accused, Satan is the accuser of our brothers, the accuser of fellow believers. And

so there's a sense in which we're the defendants who would have to face charges. The judge is God, the Almighty, and he, in

this picture has ruled in our favor. Our defender is Jesus the Messiah, the child who was born and who was caught up to the

right hand of God, he's our defender, and the prosecutor, the crooked evil prosecutor is Satan. He's the accuser of the

brothers in this passage, and who is the enforcer in the court?

Well, the officer is Michael, the archangel, and all the other angels who are working with him and on the orders of the judge

and also on the fact that our defender Jesus the Messiah is right and has won the victory. Michael and his angels fight and

successfully defeat the dragon the devil and his angels and cast them out of the heavenly Throne Room out of the heavenly

court where they can no longer accuse. This is a tremendous picture of a courtroom conflict in heaven. And of the Victory that

God win's and have the blessing of not being accused by Satan anymore in heaven's court. Now, this was quite a contrast

this vision with what was going on at the time that revelation was originally written. The earthly courts were finding Christians

guilty, and were killing them. Based on a wide variety of accusations. Christians were accused of rebellion and treason,

because they refused to swear and to say, Caesar is Lord. Instead, the Christians insisted, Jesus is Lord, they weren't really

trying to rebel or commit treason against the Emperor. And they were willing to obey the just laws that the Emperor might

have. But they wouldn't worship the Emperor or say that he was Lord. And that was considered to be treason, and so they

could be executed on accusations of treason. They were charged with atheism, because the Christians did not believe in all

those different gods and goddesses that were part of the Roman and Greek Pantheon, the god collection, and they wouldn't

offer sacrifices to those various gods. And so they were sometimes considered to be total unbelievers, who didn't accept the

gods, and they were just atheists.

There's a story, a true story of Polycarp, who was a man who had been personally discipled by the apostle John, and later

became leader of the church in Smyrna, and Polycarp, when he was an old man was being accused, and he was told to

swear to Caesar, and then he was told to say, away with the atheists, and he was in a big stadium filled with people who

were there to watch his execution. And he turned in pointed to the crowd and said, away with the atheists, but he was

supposed to be accusing his fellow Christians, of atheism. Of course, they were not atheists, they believed in the one true

God, but they were charged with atheism and convicted of it and killed for it, because they wouldn't believe in the gods and

goddesses of Rome, they were charged with cannibalism. There were some who made up stories based on the idea that

they heard these Christians had secret gatherings where they ate Body and blood together. And Christians didn't allow non

Christians to come in and celebrate the Lord's supper with them. And so false rumors could get started and circulated, that

this notion of eating Body and Blood meant that they were taking little babies and killing them, and covering with them with

dough and then eating them. And so they were charged and accused in rumors and in courts of cannibalism. Christians often

spoke of each other as beloved brothers and sisters, and they were told to treat each other as family members and to love

one another. And there was language of Jesus being the husband and the church being his bride. And all of these images

kind of got mixed together, where they were accused of having sexual relations among family members. And so incest was

one of the charges against them in the Roman courts, and they were charged with arson, they were charged with a whole

variety of crimes and misdeeds. But the worst crime they were charged with at the time of Nero was burning down the whole

city of Rome. Now it was said by a number of others that Nero himself and his cronies had started that fire because they

wanted to launch some new building projects. And they wanted to clear out some of the old whether that was true or not,

Nero had to shift the blame onto somebody else. So he accused the Christians of starting the fire that burned so much of

Rome.

So on these and other charges, Christians were being dragged into Roman courts and charged with all sorts of horrid crimes

and found guilty and what was going on, and some of the Christians must have wondered, where is the Lord? And does the

Lord cast us off and consider us guilty? If they ever wondered such a thing? This vision said that in heaven, everything was

okay. The accuser has been thrown down at the judge has ruled in their favor, and Christ, their defender is speaking for them

at the right hand of God and interceding for them. And this vision of what happened in the heavenly court with the accuser

and his cronies being thrown out, was a tremendous comfort to Christians who were really taking it on the chin and, and

being murdered by earthly courts. That's the original setting of this vision. And it's still a vision that has a lot of

encouragement for us today. The idea that God is on our side, and that Satan our accuser no longer has a voice in the

heavenly court and he no longer has any charge that he can legitimately bring against us. Now, as we think about this whole

idea of the accusers downfall let's just look at six titles for Satan in this passage. Six titles that are given to the chief of the

evil angels he's called the great dragon. And this picture of Satan as a dragon kind of captures what he's like as a mass

murderer. This drag was seven heads, who gobbles and slaughters and he's a red dragon blood red, Satan has been a killer

from the very beginning, wanting to bring death into the world. Another thing that's true of Satan, and that he's described as

is, he's an ancient serpent, remember all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

He came in the form of a serpent, and that ancient serpent deceived Eve into saying, oh, you could become like gods, Satan

himself, thought he could become as God. And he tried in his pride to take God's place and when he failed, and then he tried

to get other people to think they can play God. Another title in this passage, the devil. That's a translation of the word

diavolos. So where we get our word diabolical, devilish, and it really means a slanderer. One who is falsely saying things, and

soiling someone's reputation, always trying to get them into deeper and deeper trouble. He's also Satan, and we sometimes

take Satan as a proper name. But Satan is really more of a title or a label than it is a name. In many respects. He's

introduced as thus Satan, first in the book of Job and then later on is called the Satan and Housatonic or the Satan is the

adversary, the prosecutor, the one who's against you, and is trying to nail you and bring you down. Another thing he's called

in this passage of revelation 12 is he's the deceiver of the whole world. Jesus said that Satan was not only a murderer from

the beginning, that's the dragon part. Jesus also said he is a liar, and the father of lies. So he's the deceiver of the whole

world. He's always trying to trick people. John Milton's Paradise Lost has Satan saying at one point evil, be thou my good.

He's just going to love evil and hate good. And then part of being a deceiver is to spend his career calling good evil, and evil

good. And trying to trick people into hating what's good and loving what's evil, what a deceiver. And then what we're

emphasizing here he is the accuser, the one who keeps on accusing that has a lot in common, of course, with the diavolos,

the slander and with the Satan, the prosecutor, but then here, he's just clearly called the accuser of our brothers. There are

other things set of Satan, but these six things come right in this passage of revelation 12.

But let's just focus on that work of Satan as an accuser who is always out to bring charges against us, but who has been

thrown out of Heaven's courtroom, as the accuser or the slander, Satan will accuse anybody and slander anybody starting

with God Himself, Satan said to Adam and Eve that God had lied to them, and that God would not surely have them die if

they took them the forbidden fruit, and that God just wanted them to keep them from becoming as gods. He was trying to

hold them down. God didn't want what was best for humanity. And you couldn't really count on what God had said. Let me

just ask you. If somebody is willing to make accusations against God Himself, and to slander, the only perfect Almighty God

in the universe, he's certainly going to be willing to make accusations and bring slander against human beings read

elsewhere in the Bible. Satan looks at the best guy in the whole world. Basically, the Bible said there was nobody else like

him. God Himself said that job was just worshiping God and loving God and maybe wasn't perfect, but but he certainly was a

man genuinely devoted to God, what did Satan say? Job worships God just because it pays. he worships God to get health

and wealth. And as long as God gives him health and wealth, Job, we'll stick with God take his wealth away, take his health

away, take away the protection that's around them, and Job will curse God. That's what Satan said. Job didn't curse God. But

Satan was willing to accuse this outstanding man of God. Satan, claimed rights to Moses body. The Bible says that Satan

was disputing and wanting the body of Moses, we don't know what he said. Maybe he reasoned this way. God, you didn't let

Moses into the promised land because he sent out there in the way wilderness when he struck the rock instead of speaking

to it like you told him to, and he lost his temper, God, I want Moses body I want Moses. And the Bible says that Michael the

chief Archangel rebuked Satan and said, The Lord rebuke you, Satan, the Lord rebuke you. But my point here is, he was

claiming the rights to the body of Moses, whom God Himself took and buried because Satan had no right to Moses.

But Satan will accuse God, he'll accuse Job, he would accuse Moses. There's a vision that we're going to see a little bit more

about in a moment Satan wanted God to condemn the high priest of Israel, Joshua, the high priests, because in his vision,

Joshua was wearing filthy robes and the sins of the people were tied into him. And so Satan was just standing there accusing

this high priests Joshua, in the presence of God. Satan, demanded to have Peter Jesus said, Simon, Simon, Satan has

demanded to have you Simon, Satan has demand the safety like wheat, but I've prayed for you. Now Peter, was the chief

spokesman among the disciples. Just look at that list. God was accused by Satan. Job was accused by Satan. Moses was

accused by Satan. Joshua, the high priest was accused by Satan. Peter was accused by Satan. This is one nasty accuser

who is willing to charge and accuse anybody of just about anything. Sometimes because we're sinners, there might even be

a basis for his accusation. But even when there's no basis for accusation, he will still try to accuse or remember the vision.

He's been thrown out of the courtroom, the accuser has been cast down. But he still remains a nasty accuser, and he will

accuse the innocent. Here's just a few stories from the Bible where innocent people are accused Jezebel that wicked wife of

King Ahab, the vicious, cruel Queen of Israel hired slanderers because her husband wanted a vineyard belonging to man

named Naboth, and Jezebel hired these false accusers to say that they had heard name of curse God, and curse the king. It

was all a pack of lies. But they said it they accused him of it, he was convicted of it, he was killed, and Ahab took over his

vineyard. Of course, they have paid later. But the point is that the role of slanderers in bringing about murder, Judas, you

remember him, the person who betrayed Jesus, shortly before that accused Marry a woman who took extremely expensive

perfume and broke the jar open and poured it on Jesus feet, and wipe his feet with her hair and just love the Lord Jesus, this

tremendous act of love and devotion to Jesus. And Judas looks at and he says, a stupid waste of money, I should have given

that money to the poor. Well, behind that kind of accusing Spirit is the Spirit of Satan himself who looks at a beautiful act of

worship. Jesus said, she has done a beautiful thing. And it will be told wherever the gospel goes. So you've got the accuser

on the one hand, and you have the joy of Jesus on the other. How was Jesus convicted?

Well, they brought in a lot of false witnesses in a rigged court who were accusing Jesus of sin. All those accusations fell

apart, though, because they couldn't get their stories straight. Until finally Jesus was asked, well are you the Son of God?

And Jesus said that he was and then they convicted him of blasphemy. But again, you see, these false witnesses brought

into accuse innocent Jesus of sin. When Stephen the first martyr was killed, what happened? It says that Stephens enemies

recruited and they set up false witnesses against Stephen and then they charged him with cursing God and denouncing the

law of Moses and all sorts of stuff that Stephen had never done and Steven was murdered by that hostile mob. So again, and

again, we've got the accusation of the innocent, and it leads very often to death and murder. That's how serious it is. And

Jesus paired those two things. He said that Satan was a murderer from the beginning and a liar and the father of lies his role

as a killer and as an accuser go together. Well, back to that vision of the high priest Joshua in the Old Testament book of

Zechariah, chapter three. Joshua is standing there and he's wearing filthy robes actually, it would be in the literal language is

standing out with robes with manure all over them just filth. And Satan is accusing him. And Satan is trying to get the Lord to

reject the high priest of Israel and then to reject all of Israel along with that high priest, and what happens in the vision?

These words come the Lord rebuke you, oh Satan, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is not this a brand

plucked from the fire. Now Joshua was standing before the angel closed with filthy garments. And to him, he said, Behold,

I've taken your iniquity away from you. And I will clothe you with pure vestments. Satan wants to accuse and condemn and

destroy. God says, I rebuke you. I cleanse, I cloth with clean robes, and I have saved Jerusalem, I have saved this man from

the fire and no amount of you're accusing is going to change my mind about that. That vision is a tremendous comfort still

today, we may feel like we're wearing robes covered with manure, and like we stink. And there's a sense in which that's true.

But there's another sense in which God has said, I've saved this person, I've plucked him from the burning, I've clothed him,

and nobody has a right to accuse the one that I have declared innocent, and that I have set free. How'd that come about?

Well, Colossians one says that we were dead in our trespasses, but God made us alive together with him, having forgiven us

all our trespasses, canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside nailing it to the

cross, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Go back to that

picture that we started with of a courtroom and have an accuser trying to use the law against us. Satan himself is worse than

we are, he's more crooked than we are. He's a bigger criminal than any of us sinners will ever be. And yet he's using God's

righteous law to accuse us. But all that we have done wrong has been nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ and Jesus, our

defender is in the courtroom, pleading the merits of his own sacrifice, and saying that everything we've done has already

been paid for. And we're in the clear, and the judge is ruling in our favor. And Satan has been disarmed. He has nothing more

that he can say against those whom God has forgiven. And so he's embarrassed, he's put open shame, he's thrown out of

the courtroom, and he is shown to be the main crook in the whole affair. That record is cancelled because of what Jesus did.

And that is the key to the accuser being cast down. He has nothing on which he has the right to accuse us in God's presence

anymore, ever again. And that is so very important for us to know in our own hearts. And if we are pastors ministering to

others, whose consciences may condemn them, and whom the devil constantly is trying to bring down and discourage, it is

so important to say the devil is disarmed, the accuser is cast down.

The judge is on your side, Jesus is your defender. Now there is a place to feel convicted of sin. Here's an important verse in

the Bible. Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. Whereas worldly grief produces death.

There are two different kinds of grief. One is godly, the other worldly, there are two different kinds of conviction, one from the

Holy Spirit, the other from the devil. Sometimes when we're feeling guilty for sin, we should feel guilty because we have done

bad things. And we need to repent and turn away from those. But there are also times when we're just burdened by guilt and

weighed down by almost wallowing in despair. And it's not of the Holy Spirit at all. It's the devil. How do you tell the

difference? Well, that can be a little bit complicated, but here are a couple of simple things. One is, when you're dealing with

the Spirit's conviction, he moves you to give up on yourself, and to seek salvation in Jesus and to change and to live by the

Holy Spirit. He wants you to know that you've committed sin and that you need to be cleansed. But then he also shows you

that you can be and he shows you Jesus, and he draws your attention to him. And he puts his spirit power right within you to

help you to live for Christ and to start changing. And so that's one kind of grief that we can feel Holy Spirit conviction about

sin. Satan's accusation is different, yet makes you feel so lousy that you just give up on God's mercy. You give up on God's

love, and you just feel bad, bad, bad with no hope. Take an example of each. What happened when Peter denied Jesus? He

felt horrible afterward didn't be and what happened right after he three times denied that he ever knew Jesus and even use

foul language and curses to make his point that he didn't know Jesus. The rooster crowed, as Jesus had told him it would.

And then Jesus Himself, though he was on trial, and in the middle of a lot of trouble, turned and looked directly into Peters

eyes. And Peter saw Jesus, and in seeing Jesus, he was heartbroken. And he went out and wept bitterly. And then later on,

he was restored again. But it was the look of Jesus Christ, that brought about those tears, and brought him back to Christ

again.

Judas is another story, he betrayed Jesus, he sold him out for 30 pieces of silver, and handed him over to his enemies and

even identified him for his enemies with a kiss. And then later on realize the horrible thing he had done. But the Bible says

that before Judas even did all that Satan had entered his heart. And then after he had done it, what did Satan do? He just

filled Judas with suicidal despair. And Judas went out and killed himself. That's a huge difference between Satan's kind of

accusation. And Jesus work by His Holy Spirit, the one moves you to be sorry for your sin, but then just look into the eyes of

Jesus and seek His salvation. The other just says, I am a rodder, I am worthless, I'm totally destroyed. And so it's important to

know the difference. If the kind of guilt you're feeling is just a despairing guilt, which is not turning you to God at all, then it's

probably Satan doing the accusing. If it's a guilt, on the other hand, that say, Man, I, I'm wrong with God, I can't see myself I

gotta be free from these sins, then that's not Satan's kind of accusation. That's the Holy Spirit. And Jesus working on you so

understand the difference between worldly grief that comes from Satan and godly grief that comes from Jesus and through

His Holy Spirit. How do we conquer the accuser? We saw that in Revelation chapter 12, it says, Now the salvation and the

power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been

thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God, so part of the answer and conquering the accusers well, you

don't actually have to do it, it's been done for you. Jesus canceled the accusations. And then Michael and his angels in the

power of God have thrown out the devil and his evil angels. But there's another sense in which we also do some conquering,

they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives, even

unto death. you conquer by the blood of the Lamb. When the accuser comes out your you say Jesus shed his blood for me,

those sins, that you're accusing me of, some of them may be real, but they're paid for.

And some of those other things you're accusing me of, aren't even bad, they're good. And I've been doing them for the Lord

and I do not listen to you, you liar. So you conquer by the blood of the Lamb, you take refuge in the death and resurrection of

Jesus. And then by the word of their testimony, you don't back down from being a Christian just because Satan is charging

you. In today's world, you'll be accused of being rude and intolerant. If you say that Jesus is the only way of salvation, you'll

be accused of being a bigot. If you approach matters of sexuality, saying that sexuality is only for a married man and woman

and not for unmarried people, not for homosexuals, you'll get all kinds of accusations. But those are accusations that are not

from God, they're from the evil one. Just remember, no one is good, live by it, and then go by the word of your testimony. And

even if it means suffering, even if it means death, the vision of the heavenly court is of your judge ruling in your favor of Jesus

being your defender of the mighty Michael and his angels fighting on your behalf and of the accuser being cast down. That is

the truth of the situation. And so if there's going to be some suffering here on Earth, so be it. We don't love our lives. We're

willing even to die because we know that we belong to the living God. Satan's a sore loser. Revelation 12 verse 12, says,

rejoice, oh heavens, and you who dwell on them because Satan has been thrown out. But woe to you on earth and sea, for

the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short. He's going to do all the damage you

can at the time he has left. He's going to try to keep accusing you and making you miserable and weakening you and

attacking your conscience but realize that he's not getting a hearing in heaven at all. God is not listening to his accusations if

you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and if God's not going to listen to him, don't you listen to him either. You say I am right

with God, and I do not listen to the voice of the accuser.

I listened to the assurances of the Holy Spirit was poured out God's love in my heart, and it was drawn me into a living

relationship with Jesus Christ. And Satan is a sore loser, he's going to try to do his thing. He's going to attack your

conscience, he may get other people to attack you. There may be times and, and societies where you may have to be

persecuted or imprisoned or die for your faith, but realize that all of that is the wrath of the sore loser of the accuser who has

been thrown out. Having thought about Satan as an accuser. One obvious result of that is a call not to be accusers

ourselves. You shall not go around as a slander among your people. And slander is so very serious. There is one whose rash

words are like sword thrusts, you're killing people with your slander, but the tongue of the wise brings healing that connection

again, between accusation and murder is made in that passage. The tongue is a fire set on fire by hell, when you are

accusing others and cutting them down and discouraging them and bringing them down to nothing, especially if your

accusations are false. Then you're doing the devil's work. And your mouth is spewing out fire from hell, wow. Churches can

be devastated by gossip and false accusations, family members can speak of each other in ways that destroy the

relationships that they have. It's hard to overestimate how much damage has been done, by the way that people can accuse

each other. And that's why the Bible in its lists of sins, sometimes lists gossip and slander right there among murder, and

homosexuality and orgies and all sorts of other stuff. And we read a list like that, oh, come on a few little words now and then

that hardly ranks up there with the biggie sins. Hey, remember that one of the primary meanings of Satan's very name is

accuser. And so judge not that you be not judged. Don't be the one who's passing the final sentence on others, and saying, I

know what they deserve. And I know that God condemns them, and there is no hope for them. That's the work of Satan. We

are to bring the gospel of hope, and the gospel of reconciliation, don't be an accuser, and don't despair when you are

accused. That's the main point I've been emphasizing again, and again and again. And the Apostle Paul brings that out so

very well. In Romans eight, he begins the chapter by saying, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in

Christ Jesus. And then near the end of the chapter, he says, 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 they not also along with him graciously give us all

things, who shall bring any charge against God's elect, God chosen, so who can bring any charge against them? It's God

who justifies who declares them innocent and right with Him, who is to condemn if God justifies them. Christ Jesus is the one

who died more than that, who was raised to life, who's at the right hand of God, and who is indeed interceding for us. So

Jesus is interceding for us on the basis of his blood. God has justified us and chosen us. Who is Satan or anybody else to

condemn us. And so Paul goes on to say, well, who can separate us from the love of Christ shall trouble or hardship or

famine or nakedness or persecution or danger or sword? As it's written for your sake, we face death all day long, we're

counting the sheep to be slaughtered, No. In all these things we are more than conquerors through him loved us. For I am

persuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, nor any powers, either the present or the future, or anything

else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God. That is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Nothing can separate

us from his love. The accuser has been cast down, and God is for us, and nobody can be against us.