Let's start this morning in the
Book of John, the Gospel of John. I was out walking the other day
after Mark had texted me and asked me if I could preach this
morning, and the text came to my mind, who is sufficient for
these things? I thought, boy, I'm sure not.
So pray for me as I try to exalt our Savior. John chapter 8. We're very familiar with these
verses. I'm sure you've heard them expounded
time and time again. Actually, I'd like to start in
the last verse of chapter 7, and it says, And every man went
unto his own house, and Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives.
Our Lord did not have a house. He did not have a place to even
lay his head. Verse two and early in the morning
he came again into the temple and all the people came unto
him and he sat down and taught them. And the scribes and the
Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And when they
had set her in the midst in the middle of a large group of people
this had to be incredibly humiliating for this woman. When they had
set her in the midst they said unto him Master This woman was
taken in adultery in the very act. Now, Moses, in the law,
commanded us that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou?
This they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse
him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the
ground as though he heard them not. And when they continued
asking, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is
without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her. This act of adultery called for
death by stoning. And he again stooped down and
wrote on the ground. And when they heard it, being
convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning
at the eldest, even into the last, And Jesus was left alone
and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted
up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman,
where are those nine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither
do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Now, Levitical
law required that both people taken in the act of adultery
be stoned to death. But these men had no desire in
bringing this man to be before the Lord, to be condemned before
the Lord. They were only interested in one thing. This verse tells
us they were looking for some way, again, to trip up the Lord,
to catch him in an error where they could accuse him. And we're
not told how many accusers this woman had, but I imagine it was
several. And I'd like to draw some parallels
this morning, because as this woman had many accusers, so does
the child of God. Among those accusers are Satan,
God's holy law, our own heart, our sin, and the world and unbelievers. Now, first of our accusers is
Satan, and we read in Revelation 12, 10, it says, And I heard
a loud voice saying in heaven, Now has come salvation and strength
and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For
the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them
before the throne of God day and night. Now, in Job chapter
one, if you want to flip over there for a minute, and hold your hand there. Job
chapter one we have what I think is an amazing account. In verse
six we read this it says now there was a day when the sons
of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came
also with them. Now most commentaries that I
read said that these sons of God are the holy angels. And
it would seem that these angels, these ministering spirits, are
sent forth to minister, to care for God's people, both before
they'd come to the knowledge of Christ and certainly afterwards. We read in Hebrews 1, it says,
but to which of the angels said he at any time, set thou on my
right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. And then
it asks a question, are they not all ministering spirits?
sent forth to minister to them that shall be the heirs of salvation. Minister, this is another word
for servant. And another definition is one
who gives aid or performs a service. One who is appointed by or under
the authority of a sovereign or a head of state to a high
office. Hold your finger there in Job
and turn over with me to Psalm 91. This gives us details about
how our God use his angels to watch over his people. Psalm
91. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is
my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust. Surely, he shall deliver thee
from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings
shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield
and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day,
nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction
that wasteth at noonday, A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten
thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of
the wicked, because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge,
even the most high thy habitation. There shall no evil befall thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall
give his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all his ways,
or all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their
hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread
upon the lion and the adder, the young lion and the dragon
shalt thou trample under feet. Because he has set his love upon
me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high because
he hath known my name. He shall call upon me and I will
answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor
him with long life. Will I satisfy him and show him
my salvation? Now, these verses make it crystal
clear that God's people are cared for and the means that he uses
are his holy angels are sent to protect God's elect every
moment of their life from their birth to their last breath. But knowing that we literally
have guardian angels is not a license to live carelessly. We know this
from the account in Matthew four, when Satan tempted our Lord after
he had been fasting in the wilderness for 40 days. And it tells us
that Satan took our Lord upon a high pinnacle of the temple
and bid him to cast himself down. And he quoted this 91st Psalm
Satan did. And he told the Lord if I'll
be the son of God cast thyself down for it is written here in
Psalm 91 that we just read for it is written he shall give his
angels charge concerning thee and in thy hands I shall bear
thee up lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone
to which our Lord replied it is written again. He said Satan
you want to quote scriptures. I've got one for you. It is written
again thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God. And it would seem
that after having done the work to which they are sent, these
angels return to give an account to God. And the scriptures are
not clear exactly where this account takes place. Some of
the commentaries that I read said that it does not take place
in heaven because Satan was cast out of heaven and he would not
be allowed to come back. As if there was another throne
of God somewhere else, it really isn't clear And it really doesn't
matter because it's clear that Satan does indeed accuse us. He is one of our accusers. And we find in Job, starting
in verse 8, And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered
my servant Job? that there is none like him in
the earth, a perfect man and upright, one that fears God and
escheweth evil. Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, Doth Job fear God for not thou hast not or hast thou
not made a hedge about him and about his house and about all
that he hath on every side. Thou has blessed the work of
his hands and his substance is increased in the land. Now here
Satan brings an accusation. But put forth thy hand and touch
all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. Satan
here accuses Job of being faithful to God only because God had blessed
him. But then in chapter 2, we find
Satan and the Lord having much the same conversation in which
Satan accuses Job again. So God allows Satan to touch
Job and take away everything he held dear. And of course,
we know how that story ends. The Lord blessed Job more at
the end of his life than he did at the beginning. But we do know
this, that if Satan accused Job before the throne of God, he
accuses us every hour of every day. That verse in Revelation
says day and night. And then our second accuser is
God's holy and strict law, and rightfully so. The spirit of
the law says this man was taken in adultery, For the law says
if you look on a woman to lust after her, you've already committed
adultery with her in your heart. Now, we need to understand that
the breaking of God's law does not include just actions. It
includes our very thoughts. Now, most times we're able to
control our actions. Sometimes we'll lose our temper
and maybe do things we regret. But the breaking of God's law
does not include only our actions. As I said, it includes our thoughts.
And anyone who claims they can control their thoughts are deceiving
themselves. If you're honest with yourself,
I'd say you're a lot like me. Sometimes I am shocked by the
thoughts that enter my mind. I'll be attempting to read God's
Word or praying and the most vile thought will come to my
mind and I think to myself, I truly, truly am a wretch. I've used the illustration before
where we're like a godly man who's falsely accused of a crime
and sent to prison and his cellmate is the most vile, filthy mouth,
corrupt individual who has ever lived. And this godly man attempts
to pray, and his cellmate begins to brag about some horrid crime
that he has committed against an innocent victim. And this
godly man attempts to pray and read God's word, and this cellmate
begins to describe in vivid detail how he violated and murdered
a little child. And this godly man cannot escape
this vile cellmate. And we're in the same condition.
The believer has two natures, despite what some people believe.
We have two distinct natures that are constantly at war. Constantly. We will have no peace until we
lay this body aside. It's no wonder that Paul cried
out, O wretched man that I am. The law says, you shall love
the Lord your God with all your soul, strength, and mind. But
all of us who are honest have to admit there's way too much
love of self in our hearts to love our God with all our heart.
So what then is the purpose of this law? It's clearly there to accuse
us, to condemn us. It's there to constantly remind
us how we violate every statute
found in God's law. Paul explained this to the Galatians
in chapter 3, verse 19, where he asked, wherefore serveth the
law? What's the purpose of God giving the law? And then he answers
his own question. It was added because of transgressions
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And
it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. And he
further told the Galatians, For as many are as of the works of
the law are under the curse. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things, not most things,
that continueth not in all things that are written of the book
of the law to do them. The law shows us our inability to follow any of its statutes. It rightfully is our accuser.
James declared in chapter 2 verse 10. He said this for whosoever
shall keep the whole law yet offend in one point. He is guilty
of all if you break even one commandment in thought or deed
found in God's law. You may as well be the most vile
individual who ever lived and violate them all because it only
takes One violation of the law to be guilty. We're told of the
entire law. Paul told the Galatians again,
but that no man is justified by the law on the side of God.
It is evident for the just shall live by faith. It is evident.
It doesn't need any further elaboration. How then can the elect of God
possibly be justified? We're going to look at that in
just a few minutes. And Paul says one more thing
to the Galatians in chapter four. He says, tell me either desire
to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? Do you
not understand the insanity of the desire to be under the law? It can only lead to death. And he further said in Romans
chapter three. Now we know that what thing soever
the law sayeth it sayeth to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before
God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall some flesh be justified. No, it's not what it says. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in its
sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. There is nothing but condemnation
to be found in God's law. It is there to accuse us. It's impossible for any man to
keep it. Keeping it almost perfectly is not going to cut it. You must
keep God's whole law. And we know that there's only
one man who ever lived that did that. That clearly kept every
statute of the law in deed and in thought. Thirdly, our own
heart accuses us. In Jeremiah 23, we read this,
how long Shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy
lies? Yea, they are prophets of the
deceit of their own heart. Our natural heart tells us now
this is how you get right with God. How many times have we heard
that expression? You need to get right with God.
But Proverbs tells us that there is a way that seemeth right unto
a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. The word tells
us that our hearts are not just wicked, they are desperately
wicked. Our natural heart will always,
without fail, deceive us when it comes to the things of God,
always. Christ told us this, that it's
not the things that go into a man that corrupt the man, It's the
things that come out of a man because they come from the heart. The Lord taught us that all actions
proceed from the heart. Ralph Barnard once made this
statement. He said, Honest men don't go
to hell. And by that he meant that once
God shows you what you are, you will seek a remedy. You will
admit with God that you're a vile wretch. You have nothing to recommend
yourself. And you need an outside source
for righteousness. God put a conscience in man.
It's described in Romans 1. And in verses 19 and 20, it says,
because of the evident things of creation that are seen by
man, they are without excuse. Our heart tells us that there
is a God and that we fall short of what is required to be allowed
into His presence. Our heart is indeed one of our
accusers. And fourthly, we have another
group who accuses the world and unbelievers. They did this to
our Lord when he walked the earth. They said he's a glutton and
a winebibber. He's a drunk. Our own heart tells us that there's
a God and the world, and lost men. Even though they despise God,
they love to watch Christians. And they love to point out what
they perceive as their shortcomings, their hypocrisies. And certainly,
there's plenty to point out. But what the world does not understand is that we realize more than
they ever could of how incapable we are of keeping
God's law and even living as we should. And they do not understand
that those shortcomings simply make us cling all the more tightly
to Christ and his righteousness. This is seen in the parable of
the Pharisee and of the publican, the Pharisee, the world looks
at Christians and think, boy, I'm glad I'm not like those hypocrites. But the child of God beats his
breast and begs God for mercy, feeling the accusation of his
own heart condemning him. And lastly, we have one more
accuser, our sin. And if this were the only accuser
we had, it would be more than sufficient to condemn us to an
eternity of unimaginable suffering. The scripture tells us that we
come forth from the womb speaking lies. When it comes to sin, we
hit the ground running, and it only gets worse from there. Romans
3 describes a natural man and his thoughts toward God, and
it is not an encouraging picture. John Bunyan, that man who wrote
Pilgrim's Progress, who was used so mightily of God. Pilgrim's
Progress at one time was the most read book in the world after
the Bible. And John Bunyan spent 12 years
in Bedford prison for one thing, for preaching the gospel of Christ
crucified. But Bunyan wrote the best definition
of sin that I have ever read. He said this, Sin is the dare
of God's justice, the slight of his power, the rape of his
mercy, the jeer of his patience, and the contempt of his love. Good description of us in our
sin. And our sin is ever before us a constant, constant reminder
of our wretchedness before God, our constant accuser. So here we stand, believer, accused
of much more than this woman was accused of. She was accused
of committing one sin, adultery. And our sins are so numerous
they can't even be listed. And it would appear, from a human
standpoint, that we're rightfully and hopelessly condemned before
God, guilty of all the charges brought by our accusers. But
there is hope. In the book of 2 Chronicles,
chapter 20, we have a story of how the multitude of the enemies
of Israel assembled themselves to destroy Israel and Jehoshaphat,
their leader. And this is the type of our many
accusers. And verse 3 says that Jehoshaphat
feared and that he prayed this prayer to God. He said, O Lord
God of our fathers, Art not thou God in heaven, and rulest not
thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thy hand
is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand
thee? And we hear our Lord Jesus Christ
say to us what Jezreel said to the nation of Israel in verse
15 of that chapter. This is our encouragement. He said, be not afraid nor dismayed
by reason of this great multitude, this great multitude of our accusers.
For the battle is not yours, but God's. Believer there, there is our
hope. This battle against our accusers
is not ours. but God Almighty. So don't despair because of the
multitude of your accusers. There is one who stands in our
place, mighty to save. Our God is obligated, and I use
that word purposely. Our God is obligated to address
our accusers, obligated by the promises he made in eternity
past that he would be the sufficient righteousness for his people. Let's read Romans, let's flip
over Romans chapter eight verses, we're very familiar with Romans
chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. We'll begin in verse twenty eight, Read through verse 34. And we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the call according to His purpose. For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom
He called, them He also justified. and whom he justified, then me
also glorified. What shall we say? What shall
we say then to these things? If God before us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? And then Paul asked this question,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect. And he
answers it. It is God that justifies. And he asked a second question,
who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, a rather
that is risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also
maketh intercession for us. In these verses, we find a twofold
reason why we can rest in the finished work of our Lord Jesus
Christ. First, it is God that justifieth. Second, it is Christ
that died. And it doesn't get any better
than that. But some may ask, why is this such good news? And
if you ask that question, it is evident that you've never
known the terror of your own guilt after God has showed you
who you truly are. And you've never known the unspeakable
joy that comes when God speaks peace to your heart, that your
sins are put away by the blood of Christ. Paul described that sacrifice
this way, speaking of Christ, to declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. Now, there's some extremely good
security systems on the market. They protect both your home and
your online security. And some of these security systems
have a redundancy built in. They prevent them from being
overridden or becoming ineffective. Among these are, they duplicate
things in the system, such as storage and networking, power
supply, and so forth. But many times, these systems
can still be hacked. But let me tell you, there is
no security system in the world like the security that's enjoyed
by the child of God. Paul asked the questions in Romans
8 that we just read. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Come on. Come on, accusers. Lay
out your charges. But in the second half of that
question, or second half of that verse, he answers his own question
by saying, it's God that justifies. The great ruler of this universe
is sovereign potentate who declares his people justified. So who
is going to bring any accusation against one of God's elected
is going to stand up in the court of God. The verdict is already
in not guilty by reason of substitution. Not guilty. Romans 3 26 tells
us that our God uses a finished work and righteousness of Christ
that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth
in Jesus. There is no violation of God's
holy law when he declares his people justified. Justice has
already been carried out on our blessed Passover lamb. God, his divine nature does not
allow him to simply wink at sin. It must be punished. Then in the next verse, he asked
another question, who is he that condemneth? Come on, accusers.
State your case. Let's hear it. But again, he
answers his own question with a second redundancy. in our assurance
of security. It is Christ that died, and not
just that, rather that is risen, and not just that, who is even
at the right hand of God, and not just that, who also maketh
intercession for us. So who is going to lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Who is going to accuse him of
anything It has not already been addressed 2,000 years ago on
Golgotha's tree. Now I've heard preachers, among
them I think Don used to speculate about what our Lord bent down
and wrote on the ground. Don mentioned he thought it was
probably dates and times that these hypocrites that brought
this lady to the Lord had committed sins much worse than she had. We'll never really know But we
do know this, that Christ figuratively stoops down, writes on the ground,
and silences all our accusers. There's two verses that tell
us what's to become of our first accuser, Satan. We read one already
at the beginning of this message. Let me read it again. And I heard
a loud voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation and strength,
the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the
accuser of our brethren, Satan himself, is cast down, which
accused them before the throne of God day and night. This great
accuser of our brethren, of us, will one day be cast into that
lake of fire where he'll never be able to bring another accusation
against his people. And Romans 16 20 tells us this,
the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly,
we are going to stomp his head. And in our next accuser, the
law steps up and lays out the accusations against us. But there
is hope to be had because we read in Romans 10 for that Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The
law has been dealt with in the death of Christ on our behalf,
which he accomplished And it's described in Colossians 2, 14. When it says blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary
to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And verse 24, Galatians 3, speaking
of God's holy law, it says, Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified By faith,
we are beyond condemnation because having been justified, we just
read in Romans how he foreknew us, predestinated us and conformed
us to the image of Christ. But I've not yet been glorified,
you say this text says, Demi, also also past tense glorified. But those that were in Christ
from eternity past have already been glorified. And we looked at how our heart
accuses us. But in this we have hope. 1 John 3 reads this, For
if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and
knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn
us not, then have we confidence toward God. In Psalm 57, it says,
My heart is fixed, O God, My heart is fixed, and I will sing
and give praise. Now I know that when it says
our heart is fixed, it means that it's steadfast in the praise
of our God. But I think it also applies to
our natural heart. God fixes that heart by giving
us a new one. This is described in Ezekiel
11, 19, where we read, and I will give them one heart, and I will
put a new spirit within you, and I will take the stony heart
out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may
walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and do them and
they shall be my people and I will be their God. This is how our
corrupt heart is fixed. Our heart that is deceitfully
wicked above all things is now replaced with a heart that loves
God And it keeps His statutes and His ordinances. Our next accuser, the world.
Christ gave us assurance when it comes to the world as our
accuser. He said this, told His disciples this, in the world
you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome
the world. Overcome means to conquer. to
defeat, to prevail over. And finally, our accuser, the
worst accuser of all, charges us every moment of every day
our sin has also been silenced. Because in Hebrews 9.26 we read,
But once in the end of the world hath He appeared, Why? To put away sin, by the sacrifice
of himself. Now listen, believer, listen.
You hear that? That's silence. Because every one of our accusers
and all their accusations have been rendered moot. Now, this
woman taken in adultery in the very act was indisputably guilty. Yet, because of the intercession
of Christ on her behalf, she escaped the death that was required
by her sin, by the law of God. Now, does that sound familiar? Sadly, we're accused of every
charge brought by our accusers, by Satan, the law, our own heart,
the world, and our sin, all of which require an eternal death. Like this woman, we're saved from death one way,
by the intercession of Christ our Lord. Now we have much to
grieve over in this life, and many times we can't help but
wonder if we even know the Lord. I know sometimes, many times
I do, our accusers seem to overwhelm us, but the Spirit of Christ
comes to remind us of our blessed standing before holy God, and
he asks us, child of God, where are those unaccusers? And the believer can reply with
full confidence, Lord, they've all been rendered silent. They have nothing more to throw
against us, no more accusations to bring against us because of
your inaccessory work. We are now free from sin and
free, most of all, from condemnation. And one last thing. Our Lord said to this woman taken
in adultery. He spoke words. That are the most blessed words
any sinner can hear. He said this, neither do I condemn
thee. She knew who he was. She referred
to him as Lord. Neither do I condemn thee. Go
and sin no more. Now this woman, the Lord gave
this woman a command that she could not possibly keep in and
of herself. And when he gives us the assurance
that he has silenced all our accusers, he says to us, Neither
do I condemn thee, go and sin no more. But how is this possible
when earlier we looked at the fact that we're nothing but,
and do nothing but sin? And there's only one way that
it's possible. He is speaking of that new man that John wrote
of in 1 John chapter 3. Listen. Listen to these encouraging
words. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him,
and he cannot sin. This is how the believer can
go forth and sin no more. We have a new nature that cannot
sin, completely separate from the old nature that can do nothing
but sin. So, child of God, take your rest
in the finished work of Christ. Knowing that all these accusers
are helpless to prove to present any charge against you that will
stick, they have all been silenced forever by the imputation, the
intercession of our mighty Savior on our behalf. May the Lord bless
that to your heart. Billy, come lead us in this.