Calvary Road Baptist Church
“THE ACCUSER OF OUR BRETHREN”
Revelation 12.10
I have been a Christian for 47 years. I have been a pastor for 42 years. If you think that I have not seen it all, or that I have not heard it all, think again. The Christian life is a spiritual conflict. It is a war. That is the reason we are directed to put on the whole armor of God so that we can stand against the wiles of the devil, Ephesians 6.11.
The most pressing issue for any child of God is addressing the matters in the believer’s life that arise directly from that individual’s sinful nature. This, even though the devil is typically blamed for almost everything that goes wrong in a Christian’s life. I do not mean to suggest that the devil is not every believer’s serious concern from time to time. That is obvious. It is just that the devil is rarely an individual Christian’s most pressing problem to address. Your most serious problems to address are usually your sinful patterns of behavior. That said, the devil’s intrusion into a Christian’s life can be severe, indeed. It concerns the devil’s interventions into the Christian’s life that I bring this message to you.
Have you ever known someone who has responded to your invitation to come to Church by saying, “I will never go to that church again? Not after what Susie Parker said to me.” That is just one example of the many different kinds of unverified accusations that are leveled against Christians by other Christians or by unsaved people, Christ deniers, and Gospel rejecter’s every day. I would be amazed if you have not experienced a close family member who has rebuffed your attempts to invite him or her to Church or present the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, without hearing that individual-level an accusation of some kind against you or some other Christian for wrongdoing of some sort.
May I, at the outset, acknowledge that every other Christian I have ever known, and I have been guilty of sins, continues to commit sins, and will continue to commit sins until the day we die? Is that not the point? Does that not prove the assertion? It is the sinfulness of even the best among us that establishes the need of every man, every woman, and every child for a Savior. So, when someone says that you or anyone else who professes Christ did something wrong against him, or her, or some third party, your response ought to be that you would be privileged to ask forgiveness for the specific sin you are being accused of.
However, that is only the superficial scab of the spiritual sore. To really and truly deal with the problem we must turn our attention to Revelation 12.10, where we find a most intriguing phrase:
“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is 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 our God day and night.”
This verse is set in the future. It is a comment about “the accuser of our brethren” being cast down, “which accused them before our God day and night.” Three comments: First, “the accuser of our brethren” is a description of the devil, Satan, who used to be known as Lucifer. Second, it is mentioned that he accused believers before our God day and night. That is a true statement. He does that. But does it do any good for him to do that with Christ interceding for us at the Father’s right hand? No. Third, it is not an exclusive declaration, which is to say that although the devil does accuse the brethren before our God day and night, God is not the only One who hears the accusations against our brethren.
My remarks will focus on the devil, Satan, who not only accuses believers to God but also sponsors accusations that are leveled against believers to other individuals. Before dealing with this matter more thoroughly, let me review some critical background about the devil.
First, there is his creation. There is no doubt that the devil, Satan, who was initially named Lucifer and is also described in a variety of other ways in the Bible, is a created being. All beings, other than God, are creatures. I am persuaded that Lucifer was the first of God’s creatures and that he and all the host of angels that exist were created before the events of Genesis 1.1 and following occurred. In Job 38.4–8, we see reference made to “the sons of God shouted for joy.” I believe this to be an account of the reactions of the angelic host God had previously created as they witnessed God’s creation of the physical universe in which we live. This is a record of their reaction to the events of Genesis chapter 1.
After his creation, we come to his pride and his fall. God’s plan was for Lucifer, the most beautiful, the most intelligent, and the most powerful of God’s creatures, to serve at God’s pleasure here on earth. But he felt his pride wounded because he wanted to serve God in the throne room of heaven. Therefore, he rebelled. We read about his rebellion in Isaiah 14.12–15, and the five infamous “I will” statements that Lucifer made which reflected his spirit and attitude of rebellion. Of course, his rebellion against God, even with one third the host of heaven enticed to follow in his rebellion, was doomed to failure, Revelation 12.4. No one can rebel against God and prevail, not even the devil.
In the end, of course, he will be cast into the lake of fire, Revelation 20.10. This is his inevitable and, since his punishment, and the punishment of the evil angels who followed him in his rebellion against God is the reason God created the lake of fire, Matthew 25.41.
We have reviewed the devil’s beginning. I have rehearsed the devil’s fall. I have previewed the devil’s end, which is the lake of fire. What can be said about his career, between then and the future? What about the now? We come to the devil’s career.
Allow me to say as much about the devil’s career as I think I can fit into one sermon under four headings, each of which summarizes what the devil does in his interactions with and influencing of human beings:
First, THE DEVIL DENIES OUR JUSTIFICATION
Remember that justification occurs when a sinner comes to faith in Jesus Christ and is justified, with justification being the pronouncement by God of the sinner’s righteous standing before God on the basis of Jesus Christ’s imputed righteousness. Justification is not the consequence of making any sinner good enough to deserve God’s salvation. Justification is the consequence of God graciously proclaiming the application of the righteousness of Christ to the sinner who has come to Christ by faith. When the devil accuses a Christian, or when the devil successfully entices or provokes another human being to accuse a Christian, for any reason, that accused Christian’s justification is being denied.
First, the devil denies the fact of our justification, Romans 5.1:
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
When a sinner comes to Jesus Christ by faith, does that sinner become a righteous person by faith in Christ? Absolutely not. That is not suggested or implied by the biblical concept of justification. Justification does not refer to a believing in Jesus Christ sinner immediately becoming a righteous person in the sight of God. Still, it refers to a believing in Jesus Christ sinner immediately being declared a righteous person in the sight of God, with the recognition that sanctification will follow justification over time. The accusation against a Christian of wrongdoing, whether by the devil himself or anyone else who has been convinced to point the finger of accusation at a Christian, presumes that accusing a Christian of wrongdoing, or witnessing a Christian of wrongdoing, either questions that person’s justification, or suggests that Christian has not been justified in the sight of God through faith in Christ. Thus, accusing a Christian of wrongdoing does not reflect the truth of God’s Word with respect to the doctrine of justification by faith, and to think or act otherwise is both ill-advised and improper. But that is not all.
Next, the devil denies the features of our justification, Romans 8.31-39; 14.4, 10-13. Consider with me some of the features of our justification:
First, let us read Romans 8.31-39:
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32 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?
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Four apparent things to point out in this passage:
First, verse 31. God is so wholly for the Christian that any accusation leveled against the Christian, whether it be true or a lie, is ludicrous. Don’t waste your breath accusing a Christian of anything.
Next, verse 33. What good does it do to accuse any Christian of anything, rightly or wrongly, since God has already justified him, already pronounced him innocent, righteous in the sight of God? That is, the Christian is already pronounced righteous regardless of his conduct. You’d better not disapprove of that feature of justification since it is the only way you will ever get to heaven.
Third, verse 34. What good does it do to try to condemn the Christian, in light of three things regarding Christ: #1 He died on the cross for us. #2 He sits at God’s right hand for us. #3 He intercedes for us.
Fourth, verses 35–39. Proverbs 17.9 reads, “he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.” The leveling of an accusation against a believer, be it the devil or a human accuser, is an attempt to separate between God and the child of God. That is the whole point of the accusation. To deny that is a lie. Yet verses 35–39 of Romans chapter 8 is an explicit repudiation of any theory that daylight between God and one of His children is possible.
Now consider Romans 14:
4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brothers way.
This passage argues against the notion of any Christian accusing another child of God outside the boundaries of appropriate Christian correction and congregational discipline. It certainly prohibits anyone who is not a Christian from charging God’s servant to anyone. If someone is forbidden to make such an accusation, we are forbidden from hearing such an accusation from an unbeliever. Why so? To listen to allegations made against a child of God, outside the boundaries of the due process afforded by Church discipline, is a denial of both the fact and the features of the Christian’s justification by faith. Satan will do that, but we should not cooperate with anyone else engaged in that kind of outrage.
Next, THE DEVIL DECEIVES OUR BRETHREN
Notice how the devil, the consummate propagandist, deceives our brethren:
First, he lies, John 8.44:
“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
The devil abode not in the truth. There is no truth in him. He is a liar. Even when someone accuses a Christian of wrongdoing to you, it is a lie. It is even a lie when the Christian is accused of doing something the Christian did. How so? The accusation is a denial of the fact of that Christian’s justification and the features of that Christian’s justification. Therefore, it is a lie. The devil lies even when he is telling the truth. Even when a person accuses a Christian to you of doing something wrong, it is a lie even when the Christian does something wrong. How so? It is a repudiation of the fact of justification and the features of justification.
Next, he lied from the beginning, Genesis 3.4. God told Adam that the result of eating the forbidden fruit was death. The devil used the serpent to contradict the words of God by saying to Eve,
“Ye shall not surely die.”
This was the introduction of untruthfulness into the human sphere. Everything the devil does has the contamination of untruthfulness in it, even when it sounds right or reflects what appears to be true. However, since accusing the brethren of anything, even when the accusation of a brother in Christ seems to be true, it is tinged with the error of Satanic untruthfulness in the form of denying the fact of justification and the features of justification of that believer.
Finally, he is the father of lies, John 8.44 again. The final thing the Lord Jesus Christ said in that verse was “and the father of it.” The devil is the father of what? He is the father of lying. Everything he says is a lie, and everything he does is based upon the presumption of that which is not valid. Therefore, anyone who does what the devil does, who accuses a child of God of anything, is a liar.
Third, THE DEVIL DIVERTS OUR ATTENTION
There are three ways in which the devil accomplishes this diversion from our important assignment of serving God:
First, by tempting us personally. Did not the devil use the serpent to tempt Eve in the Garden of Eden? Did not Satan provoke David to number the people?[1] And did not the devil tempt the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness?[2] The Apostle Paul warns of this danger in First Thessalonians 3.5:
“For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.”
To be sure, the devil tempts individual Christians to commit sins. It is something we need to be wary of and to resist as vigorously as possible. Especially, the sin of accusing a brother or sister in Christ outside the boundaries of Church discipline, or listening to any unsaved person’s accusation of a Christian’s wrongdoing. Why so? When an accuser focuses on any Christian’s wrongdoing (and remember, you cannot be a Christian without admitting sinfulness, so what is the point?) he must ignore his own sinfulness in the sight of God. That’s not good. Why would any Christian want to participate in that?
Second, by troubling us perceptibility.
Romans 15.22:
“For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.”
First Thessalonians 2.18:
“Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.”
God sometimes allows Satan to hinder our service. But that does not justify any Christian cooperating with Satan’s efforts by accusing or listening to accusations against a believer.
Finally, by promoting our pride.
James 4.6-7:
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
First Peter 5.9:
“Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”
Isaiah 14.12-15:
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Satan’s sins all boil down to two essential reflections of his filthy character, lies and pride. He tries to entice us to lie and to avoid godly humility in favor of pride. It is a proud person who engages in the accusation of a Christian of wrongdoing.
Finally, THE DEVIL DISTORTS OUR CONFESSION
Let me confine my remarks to how the devil distorts our confession when we succumb to the temptation to level an accusation against a brother or sister in Christ, or we listen to a charge leveled against a brother or sister in Christ:
First, it diminishes God. One might wonder how God is diminished when a Christian is accused of wrongdoing. But anyone who behaves as though God does not know what is going on in the lives of His children, and is not capable of chastising His child who sins against Him, Hebrews 12.6, diminishes Him:
“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”
Think God does not know how to deal with His sinning children, but must rely on the help of unsaved accusers? Think again. Really? God must depend on an accusation from an unsaved person, or must rely upon a believer receiving an accusation against the Christian by an unsaved person? Explain to me how that does not diminish God?
Second, Christ is marginalized. Christ is marginalized whenever a believer fails to recognize and act upon First Corinthians 4.1–5, where the Apostle Paul warned the Corinthian Church members against the error of thinking it was appropriate for any individual to judge the life and ministry of any other individual Christian:
1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
Paul did not hereby deny the propriety of engaging in appropriate Church discipline, but repudiated the notion that any individual has any business sitting in judgment of any Christian’s life or conduct. To do so fails to recognize the place of Christ in each believer’s life, and the judgment that will be rendered by the Savior at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Third, the Spirit is grieved and/or quenched. Does anyone take into account the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God when the child of God either accuses another Christian of wrongdoing or allows another Christian to be accused of wrongdoing? Since the Spirit of God wrote the Word of God, is He not grieved or quenched when anyone resorts to an accusation against the Christian that utterly ignores the procedure He has written in His Word for dealing with such matters, if true?
Fourth, the Bible is not believed. Does no one pay attention to Galatians 6.1?
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
Does no one pay attention to Matthew 18.15?
“Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.”
Is there any concern for restoring a believer who has sinned or reconciling a sinning Christian to someone sinned against? Or is the goal merely to ignore what the Bible says ought to be done in favor of leveling an accusation against a Christian, ignoring the fact of justification and the features of justification so that the rejection of Jesus Christ by the accusing center can somehow be justified?
Please do not mistake this message from God’s Word for a Biblical cover-up of any Church member’s sins. However, we oftentimes commit sins just as grievous by the way we handle accusations made against our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Consider that an accusation made against a Christian of wrongdoing is almost certainly not motivated to advance the cause of Christ. I have been a Christian for almost fifty years, and not only have I never experienced an accusation made against another Christian that appeared to be a sincere desire to exalt the Savior and glorify God, but I also do not recall hearing of such a case.
Almost 100% percent of the time, the accusation is made by someone who is unwilling to address the matter with the person supposedly committing the dastardly deed. In contrast, that same person is very willing to tell someone else about the matter. I do not understand how that is right.
On the one hand, accusations made against Christians deny the fact of justification and the features of justification (a principle doctrine in our understanding of Bible truth). Still, they typically are accusations made by people who are unwilling to address their sinfulness in the sight of God.
Yet what did the Savior say about dealing with your problem before addressing someone else’s? Listen to what the Savior said in Matthew 7.3-5:
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
Does this mean we should refuse to deal with a Church member’s sins who someone wants to accuse of wrongdoing? Not at all. But the first thing we do is choose to stand with the child of God, our brother or sister in Christ, who is blood-bought and blood-washed, and justified by God. And we should make that clear to everyone, even someone who wants to level an accusation against them without corroboration of any kind. Then we should do what we can to help the brother or sister in Christ represent the Savior more effectively without breaking ranks as a Christian based upon the accusation someone tried to make against him or her.
Remember, the devil is the accuser of those people we will spend all eternity with. So, we should not allow anyone to accuse a person we will spend eternity with of wrongdoing, even if they are doing wrong. The blood of Christ and the justification is more important, and we ought to treat it so, without being so uninvolved in the lives of other Christians that we do not deal, in a proper way, with what we see.
Let us do right.
Let us clean house.
Let us observe First Peter 4.7:
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
However, let us not deal with issues the way an unsaved accuser wants them dealt with, or the way even a believer who accuses wants them dealt with. Let us deal with matters God’s way. Amen?
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[1] 1 Chronicles 21.1
[2] Romans 3.4
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Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church