The End Of Accusation

The Folly of Trusting in the Nations

Please turn to Isaiah 29. I'll be continuing in Isaiah 29 this morning. I've had a few weeks off while I've been traveling. But as you remember, this section of scripture is talking about the folly of trusting in the nations.

People trusted in Syria. Syria's turned on them. Now they're turning to Egypt. But God has rebuked them for this. But then he also promises that he will forgive them and he will save them out of their folly.

And that he will destroy their enemies regardless. And so it's in this promise of salvation that we continue and we look at this promise that began in Well, it's sprinkled throughout this chapter. But began in 17 and said, is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field?

So we'll be looking particularly at verses 20 and 21 this morning, but please stand and I'll read verses 17 through 21 Amen. These are the words of the Lord. You may be seated. Dear heavenly father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for its blessing, its rich promises and And God, I pray that this statement regarding the ruthless one, the accuser, Lord, that it would be, that this would be a promise that we would be able to fully embrace and understand.

In Jesus' name, amen. Today, today I would like to talk to you about the accuser. Some of you know the word Satan literally means accuser. In scripture, he appears as Hasatan, which means the accuser.

And this is, this is the primary power that he has, to accuse. And it's something that people recognize even if they don't believe in the devil himself. Even if they don't believe, they can sense that power of accusation.

They feel a guilt for their problems, even if no one is around. You know, it's very, it's very interesting, given the way people see the world, you know, they don't believe in a God, they believe that everything is natural.

But the animal does not sit around thinking about his guilt. The rocks and the trees don't sit around thinking about guilt. But human beings, we recognize there's something real as guilt, and it sits on us, and it weighs on us.

And we can try to ignore it, we can try to push it off to the side, we can try to medicate it. But ultimately, we must deal with the problem of guilt, and we must deal with the power of accusation. And that power can only be dealt with through the atonement of Jesus Christ, through his sacrifice on the cross, through his shed blood.

We can have forgiveness of our sins, we can have this power of accusation taken away, but it is only through him. And so, looking at this promise that Isaiah has been given, of a time when the deaf shall hear and the blind shall see, these statements that are fulfilled in the New Testament, as we see physical eyes opened and physical ears opened, representing an opening of spiritual eyes and an opening of spiritual ears, all coordinate with the removing of the power of the accuser, a removing of the power of Satan to accuse.

Why? Because if sins are forgiven, of what power is his accusation? And this is where we are, here in this passage, beginning in verse 20, and I'd like to point out several things about the nature of the accuser, the nature of accusations, that there's an ease to accusations, made very easily, there's a malice behind them, they're also very trivial often, sometimes they are of nothing, sometimes they aren't even true things.

The Ruthless One and the Scoffer

Beginning in verse 20, for the ruthless shall come to nothing, and the scoffer shall cease. So who is the ruthless one, who is the scoffer? Well, in this immediate context of Isaiah, no doubt the people have in mind Sennacherib, the king of Assyria.

He is the ruthless one who has come against the people. He is the one who scoffs at them, in fact, later on, and I believe it's chapter 36, he sends men to the people of Judah simply to mock them, simply to taunt them and let them know that they will be eating their own dung and drinking their own urine because the armies of Assyria are going to surround them and engage in siege warfare so that they are starved out.

So he sends people just to mock them. And this is something that scripture speaks of often, the nature of the scoffer, the scoffer being the enemy of God. The very first verse in all the Psalms talk about the scoffer, one who sits in the seat of scoffers.

The Bible here addresses this, this problem of the scoffer. And one question to ask yourself, why does mockery and scoffing continue against God's people for so long? Does God have his purposes in it?

Yes, he absolutely does. He has purposes and permitting, scoffing has purposes and permitting the ruthless one to continue for a season because it is in that that his glory is made known in salvation.

How is God's glory made known? Not through us accomplishing things in our own power, not through a lack of trial where it's not shown that his power is needed, but it is rather through a prolonged difficulty where God gives salvation and shows that he is the one who is truly powerful.

How needful and how weak we are apart from him. This is what God accomplishes through such things. Have you ever seen, you know, a lot of times fighters, whether it be boxers or, you know, the stage pro wrestling stuff, a lot of times they'll have these, I don't know what you call them, but these hype sessions at the beginning where they're arguing with each other and taunting each other.

And I've seen, I've seen situations where one doesn't engage in any of the taunting at all because he knows just how better he is. So he lets the other guy taunt him and make a fool of himself by talking about how strong and how powerful he is.

And he lets him just really build himself up so that when he lands that, you know, single punch that knocks him out, it just shows how, how foolish he is. See, this is what God is doing. He is allowing the ruthless one to be ruthless.

He is allowing the scoffer to scoff because it is through that prolonged drama that God demonstrates his goodness, that he demonstrates his glory. And it's something that we get to enjoy more fully seeing what he has done as he conquers evil.

You know, God told Abraham that he was going to, that it wasn't until the fourth generation that they were going to be taken out of Egypt. Why? Because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet complete.

God wanted the Amorites to continue in their iniquity so that when Joshua went through the land, it would be an appropriate judgment upon them. And it would show God's justice in light of this great wickedness.

Whereas if he had not waited those four generations, if he had not waited those 400 years, it would not have shown the same thing. So God has his purposes in all of this. And I say this so that you can have the right mindset about your trials as you face them, so that you are not surprised by the work of the enemy, that you are not surprised by the difficulty that you face in this life, but that rather that you recognize the nature of the accusation that you face, whether it come directly from the accuser in your mind or if it come from just the world as it mocks believers, as it points to their true sins, the things that they have done wrong, as it makes up things that they have not done, as it does all of this, you can know that God has his purposes in his time frame.

And so, this is not something where we need to react sporadically, where we need to act recklessly or rashly, but rather we can know that God has his purposes and we can be patient. Proverbs 12, 16 says,.

The vexation of the fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult. The vexation of the fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult. Do you know someone like that, just very easily offended?

It's usually a fool, isn't it? Someone that gets just very easily offended, very easily. It's because they think that that insult has power, but if you recognize what the insult does not have power, if you recognize that either your own character stands or in the case that we're talking about here, that you have a defender high above the one accusing, you do not need to worry.

You can simply be patient on his time frame. This verse continues and it says,. And all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, and all who watch to do evil. This is someone who desires to accuse. He watches and waits for the people to do evil, and this is even the power of Sennacherib.

If you know this narrative, later on in Isaiah, as he sends these men to come taunt the people, to come scoff and mock at them, he also tells them that God himself has sent him to destroy the people. Did you know that Yahweh himself speaks to Sennacherib and tells him to destroy the people?

So what power does Sennacherib have? Even he, unlike what you see elsewhere where you're not given such specifics, what you see in this particular narrative with the nation of Assyria is that the king even recognized that his power was not his own, but that his power was coming from Yahweh.

At least at one point he recognizes this, even if later, because of his failure to recognize the greatness of God, he himself is destroyed, but he recognizes that the power he has is only the power of accusation.

His power is not so much in his great might, rather is in the fact that Israel has sinned against God. That is where he gets his power from. It's the same thing with the enemy. It's the same thing with Satan.

What power does he have? He has no great power. It's not as in Hollywood where he's, you know, I can't even think of what to say, like throwing cars around or using some kind of, you know, psychokinetic force or anything like that.

What power does Satan have? He only has the power of accusation. He can only appeal to God's power. He can only point to God's law and show what people have done wrong. He can only point to God's power in judgment and hold that over people.

So he has no power on his own. He only has the power of accusation. It's like if you've ever seen an older sibling and a younger sibling fighting, the older sibling can, you know, maybe beat up the younger sibling or be cruel to them, but the younger sibling, what power do they have if they want to get back at their sibling?

The only thing they can do is tell mom or dad. They have no power on their own, but they have the power of accusation. Now why does Satan use this power? Why does he use this power? Well, he has sinned against a great and holy God, and so he wants to drag other people into that world.

He is condemned and guilty before the Lord. He wants to drag others into that same position. There was one time I had an adult family member when I was a kid who had done me some injustice, and I think she felt bad about it, so she decided that the way she was going to deal with this was to trick me into doing something wrong too.

So she said, I'm sorry that I did that. Do you hate me? Do you hate me? And I kept saying, no, I don't hate you. I'm a little upset, but I don't hate you. She kept asking, do you hate me? Do you hate me?

Until finally I said, all right, all right, I hate you. And then she went and told my dad, and I got in trouble. And so this is the power Satan has. He tempts into sin so that you will join in this realm of the devil and his angels, that place that is prepared for them, hell.

This is the motivation, and this is the only power he has. It is only the power of accusation. Now we see the ease with which accusations are made, who by a word make a man out to be an offender, who make a man out to be an offender.

Just a simple word, just a simple word. It's so easy for an accusation to happen, whether it be true or it be false, because the law of God is so powerful, it only takes a simple word. A lot of you know that, especially in the world lately, it is just very easy to accuse someone who's in a prominent position of having done something offensive or wrong, whether or not there's any truth to this.

If there's someone willing to accuse, the news is willing to highlight this person, give them all the air time, and make sure that that accusation has power against this person, and it only takes just one small little word.

Well, that is the case with our accuser as well. It only takes one small little word, it only takes one word if the matter is true because God's law is powerful, and even if the word is false. Because God's law has power and the world recognizes to some degree the power of God's law, the power of right and wrong, that when the believer is accused of something false, people grasp onto that and hold onto it as though some great thing has happened.

The Gate, the Judge, and False Accusation

And this accusation is done with malice as well. It says, and lay a snare for him who reproves at the gate. Who is the one who reproves at the gate? Let me share a few verses with you. Proverbs 24, 7 says, wisdom is too high for a fool.

In the gate he does not open his mouth. The gate is the public place in the city, it's where everyone has to come and go through, and so it is in the gate where judgments might be made, where people of authority would resolve issues for others.

And so this is where true justice is supposed to happen, true justice is supposed to happen in the gate. But the enemy hates justice. The enemy hates those who would reprove in the gate. Amos speaks of this, in Amos 5, 10 it says, they hate him who reproves in the gate.

Speaking of the wicked, they hate him who reproves in the gate. And they abhor him who speaks the truth. The enemy despises truth. And consider how this was played out in Genesis 19 with Lot. In Genesis 19, verse 1, it said, the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom.

When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth. So here Lot is in the gate of the city, and most of you probably know this story. The angels come into Lot's house.

Men come to Lot and want to abuse the angels, but he will not let them. And then it says later in this chapter, but they said, this is the people of the city, stand back. And they said, this fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge.

Now we will dwell, excuse me, now we will deal worse with you than with them. So they said, he has become the judge. So what they like about them, he is the one who sits in the gate. He is the one who offers wisdom and offers justice.

And they despise that he has become a judge. They despise this authority, because what does this authority do? It brings condemnation against themselves. So what do they want to do? Turn that condemnation around any way that they can, any way that they can give a false accusation or even a true accusation to bring down one who speaks truth.

You know, this is why you see so often that people will reverse comments made. Or if a preacher preaches about something true, they will try as hard as they can to find that same thing wrong in the preacher's life.

Or you, if you speak as a Christian, they will try to find exactly the same thing wrong, or anything wrong, but especially if they can find that same thing. You know, if someone preaches against homosexuality, you very frequently hear people say, well, that's because he's a closet homosexual.

That's why he speaks about homosexuality. People are very eager to find that hypocrisy in the life of a believer. And this last phrase, speaking of the triviality of accusations, and with an empty plea, turn aside him who is in the right.

With an empty plea, turn aside him who is in the right. Now, this is what, this is what people do with something very empty they're willing to accuse. Now, that may be something very small that has power because of God's law, or it may be something that has no truth to it at all.

And the enemy is happy either way to accuse and to saddle with guilt. And this is exactly how the world that follows after him, exactly what they do as well. You know, Jesus said, you are not of your father Abraham, rather you are your father the devil.

And so why do so many people engage in tempting others to join them in their sin to, so that they can join them into this place of condemnation? Why? It is because they are of their father the devil, and they operate exactly as he does.

And there is no hope for them apart from the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. You know, this is exactly what happened to Jesus. He was accused over nothing, and not just small things. He was accused over things that were entirely untrue.

People accused him because he healed on the Sabbath. They accused him because they did not think that he had the right authority. But he did have the right authority, and he never sinned. And they accused him with a death sentence.

And so he died, but he was buried and raised again in three days. So all of those, all of those accusations being falsely given to Jesus, how does that compare to the accusations that are truly given against us?

When you're saddled with guilt, real guilt, how are you supposed to bear it? Well, you see, because Jesus suffered accusation, and he was guiltless, he has borne that suffering of accusation on our behalf.

All of that was placed on him. So though we have sinned against God, though we have sinned against his perfect and holy law, we can have perfect, a perfect conscience, a clean conscience, knowing that, knowing that our sin was credited to Jesus Christ.

And so even though we can truthfully speak of our sin, truthfully say that we have sinned against God, and acknowledge the wrongness of it, and turn from that, we can do so with full honesty, knowing that it has been completely paid for by one who suffered all the pain, all the, all the, the results, all the, there's a word that starts with C, all the, all the, all the consequences, all the consequences of guilt on the cross.

Christ Has Defeated the Accuser

And consider, consider that this is truly what this passage is speaking of. While it is speaking most immediately of Sennacherib and the fact that God will, will spare the people from Assyria, ultimately it points to Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, these phrases about eyes seeing, blind eyes seeing, deaf ears hearing, verse 14 saying that the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden, what does the New Testament do repeatedly with these phrases?

All of these things, it recognizes being fulfilled ultimately not in the defeat of Assyria, but ultimately in the defeat of Satan on the cross, that Jesus Christ has defeated the accuser, and it is through that that there is great victory, and all who bear that weight of accusation, all who bear that weight of guilt, because God's law is powerful, God's law is weighty, but accusation has no power if the one who holds that law in his hand has also provided a savior, that we might be saved from that death, that we might be saved from that penalty, we are perfectly free.

And so how is it, how is it that the deaf shall hear, how is it that the blind shall see? It's by the defeat of the accuser, and he has been defeated on the cross. And while that, while that victory is not fully manifest before our eyes, it is 100 percent real, and it can be enjoyed today by trusting in Jesus Christ and turning to him for forgiveness.

Apart from that, apart from that, there is no salvation. That power of accusation is very real, because God is very real, and his power of his law is very real, and it will weigh over you, and it will weigh over you until that final day of judgment, unless you have forgiveness from Jesus Christ.

If you have his forgiveness for your sins, all that is wiped away, all that is wiped away. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

That power of accusation is wiped away. If you are, if you are saddled with guilt, if you are one who saddle with the notions of your own failures, of your own failing before God or man, then know that it is only God's perspective that matters, and he has provided a perfect Savior to wipe all that away, so that the accuser, who has no inherent power and can only point to to God's power, that even that is taken away from him, and you might be perfectly free.

Prayer for Forgiveness and Freedom from Condemnation

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this great salvation that you have provided in Jesus Christ. We thank you that you have defeated the accuser through him, and we thank you that you have given the salvation freely to many across the globe, and offer it to the unbelievers even here now.

Lord, I pray that we would be those who are eager to experience this forgiveness, eager to refresh our minds with the knowledge of what you have done in him, and Lord, I pray that as we contemplate this truth, as we roll over in our minds the fact that Jesus Christ has suffered the penalty for us, that we would be released from all such thoughts of of anything the accuser might throw at us.

Lord, I pray that you would lead us away from temptation and evil in the world who would who would try to pull us into the same condemnation, and God, I pray that you would give us words that would that would speak great promises offering the same salvation to others who so desperately need it.

In Jesus' name, amen.