Not Guilty!

Greeting

Once more, we’d love to welcome you back next week as we kick off this new teaching series. I believe it is going to help some of you become the person you know that God has called you to be.

I cannot wait.

Now let me ask you something.

Introduction

How many of you enjoy a movie or a show about courtroom drama?

I know that it is not for everyone, but I really enjoy a good movie with courtroom drama.

Here are some of my favorites:

A Time to Kill with Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sandra Bullock.

The Rainmaker with Matt Damon, Mickey Rourke, and Danny DeVito

The Lincoln Lawyer, another movie with Matthew McConaughey

There are so many to choose from. Here’s one more…

A Few Good Men with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholas. “You can’t handle the truth!”

I love the suspense of these kind of movies as the plot unfolds and it takes twists and turns as the attorney’s make opening remarks, call their witnesses, cross examination, they bring out evidence, they appeal to their peers, and then they always have a star witness. The star witness leads into closing arguments, and then the verdict.

Guilty! or Not Guilty!

And as today, that is the title of this message.

Not Guilty!

Transition

I want to read a passage of scripture to you that makes me imagine a real life courtroom drama that is happening right now, that you might not be aware of.

Revelation 12:10-11

Then I heard a strong voice out of Heaven saying, Salvation and power are established! Kingdom of our God, authority of his Messiah! The Accuser of our brothers and sisters thrown out, who accused them day and night before God. They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb and the bold word of their witness. They weren’t in love with themselves; they were willing to die for Christ.

The Court of Heaven

This passage of scripture reads much like a courtroom.

I’m going to do my best to walk you through this courtroom scene and take you into the story of the Resurrection.

You see the Bible calls Satan the Accuser. One of the things that Satan does is he comes before God and he brings Accusations against humanity.

In a courtroom drama, Satan would be like the Prosecuting Attorney.

And he’s not just any prosecuting attorney this is personal for him.

Why is that you ask?

Well, long before Satan was an accuser, he was an angel created by God to lead the worship in heaven. His original name was Lucifer. He wasn’t just leading the worship, but he was beautiful. He was brilliant.

Until one day, pride was found in him.

Now you may be asking yourself, why would God create an angel only for that angel to be filled with pride. The answer to that is God has always created us to have a free will. He does not impose himself on his creation. If he did, he would not be a loving creator and father, but he would be a tyrant. His creation would live under his forced compliance.

But he doesn’t do that.

And so Lucifer is one day found to be filled with pride, he leads an insurrection, and he wanted to take the worship in the heavens. In that moment, Lucifer was cast out of heaven and took on the identify of Satan, which means our adversary.

Why is he our adversary?

Because after his fall God created mankind. We were made in the image of God and we were made in his likeness. Satan sees me and he sees you and when we worship God, he remembers that that was his role. That was what he did.

So you see, this trial is extremely personal for him. He is accusing humanity, and more specifically, he is accusing you.

Do me a favor, look at your neighbor and tell them you are the accused.

Opening Remarks

In this courtroom drama Satan begins his remarks by standing before God and he pleads his case against humanity.

“God, your son/ daughter is a mess!”

You said that they are to love one another but instead they are fighting and starting wars.

They are gripped by pride and they have addictions.

Instead of helping their neighbor they are indifferent.

And the the Accuser goes on to say, “I will show you that they are not worthy to be with you in heaven.”

The Evidence

And the next thing that the Accuser does is he begins to bring out the evidence of your shortcomings.

He looks at God and says, I submit that this person has been dishonest. They constantly lie to people, even their loved ones.

He holds up a bottle and says, I submit for your consideration that they have an addiction. They can’t go a day without having drinks and it’s a problem.

He shows a video of an argument that you had with your spouse, I submit to the court that he has anger issues. The way that he talks to his wife and his children isn’t up to your standards.

And one by one, the Accuser begins to list your faults:

Lies

Disobedient

Sexual Promiscuity

Pride

Ego

And he presents evidence after evidence again you.

He recalls the times and reveals to the courts the things you did that you thought no one knew. Thing you thought no one would ever find out - he somehow found out and he’s bringing an accusation against you.

The Accuser

It is at this point that the evidence looks overwhelming against you. Everything that the Accuser has said about you IS TRUE. You’ve made mistakes. You’ve fallen short. You’ve failed to live up to God’s standard.

Romans 3:23 GNT describes the condition of humanity when we are far from God:

'everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence. '

And it is at this moment that this case appears to be closed. The Accuser has presented his remarks, he has buried the court with overwhelming evidence, and all signs point to guilty.

The Star Witness

But the defense calls its star witness. And as the doors to the back of the court room open up, Jesus walks into the room.

The appearance of this witness startles everyone. He’s not walking into the court room in a suit and cleaned up. He doesn’t look ready to testify that day. In fact, he’s bloody. His body is badly beaten. And if it wasn’t for the defense calling him by name, you wouldn’t even know that this was in fact Jesus.

As Jesus takes the stand he is asked to discuss the evidence one by one.

Jesus, what about the divorce that this person went through? To which Jesus responds; “Seeing them go through that was one of the hardest things that I had to watch . But I still love them, and I took the pain of that divorce to the cross. And they are forgiven.”

The accuser asks the next question, what do you say about their addiction? To which Jesus responds; “My heart breaks to see them like that. That’s not the plan that I have for their life. But I love them, and I took their addiction to the cross. They are forgiven.”

Absolutely frustrated the Accuser asks the next question, but what do you have to say about their anger issues? The way that they talk to their spouse and their children. To which Jesus responds, “I’ve already forgiven them from that. And if they put their faith in me I will replace their anger for joy. They are forgiven.”

And one by one the enemy is hurling accusations toward God for every one of our faults, but each and every time Jesus responds two ways, “I love them and I forgive them.”

Witness Credibility

In that moment the Accuser begins to question the credibility of this Jesus. Who is he and why does he get to say these things like, “they are loved and forgiven.”

It is right at this moment that the defense begins to read who this man Jesus is.

John 3:16 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus is God’s own son who was sent on a mission to save humanity.

Why did they need saving? Because everything that the Accuser has said is absolutely correct. We are imperfect people. And we were unable to save ourselves. But here is what we believe.

Galatians 4:4–5 NIV

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

This means that even though our faults separated us from our Heavenly Father, his Son’s actions on the cross brought us back into right standing with our father.

You see, Satan thought that cross was going to put an end the mission and the plan of Jesus. What he didn’t count on was that the very thing that was the death of Jesus was the birth of his sons and daughters.

Now, as the room once more looks to Jesus, our star witness, suddenly, he is no longer covered in his own blood. Suddenly, he is cleaned up. And more than cleaned up. He doesn’t just look like Jesus, he looks better than he did before.

That is because the witness has changed.

He is no longer the Son of Suffering, but now he is the resurrected Savior.

And that’s why we celebrate this Resurrection Sunday.

Jesus was the Son of Suffering who took our place on the Friday afternoon on the cross, but on Sunday, when Jesus rises from the grave, He is now the resurrected Savior who has defeated death, hell, and the grave.

He isn’t just our witness, but he’s the hero of our story. He is the one who saves us. He heals us. He fills out life with purpose. And we now love with a hope that just as Jesus rose from death, we too will live again.

Our Intercessor

So here is what I want you to see from the scriptures. Although Satan is standing before God and he continues to bring accusations against you. we read this:

1 John 2:1 NIV

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Satan is our Accuser, but Jesus is our Advocate.

Satan is accusing, but Jesus is Advocating. He’s speaking up for you. He’s speaking well about you.

Hebrews 7:25 NIV

Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

I love this, it says that Jesus lives to intercede for us. He lives to do that!

And here’s one last verse.

Romans 8:34 NIV

Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

A Vision of Jesus

If there is one thing that I think we could do a better job of presenting to the world, is presenting this resurrected Jesus to the world.

Yes, Jesus died for us.

Yes, Jesus hung on a cross for us.

But yes, Jesus also rose from the grave and is now seated at the right hand of the father. And he’s beautiful. And he is for you. And he is renewing all of creation.

His death was only for a moment, but his resurrection and his life is for eternity.

That’s our King.

Jesus the Savior of the World.

The Risen Savior (Conclusion)

Let’s get back to the courtroom and see what the verdict is. The accuser has made his closing arguments, but so has our advocate Jesus.

And where this court is different than other courts is that you, the person on trial, is active in the judgment of this court. You are not passive, but you are a part of this heavenly courtroom drama.

You can either chose to sit the accusations of the accuser, or you can believe what Jesus is saying about you. Jesus declares life over you.

Jesus declares that you are forgiven.

Jesus declares that His spirit now lives inside of you.

Jesus declares that you now have a new purpose.

But what about your role? You see, all of these things that Jesus says about you only apply to you when you apply them to you.

In this courtroom drama you are going to put your faith in the lies of the accuser or in the words of Jesus.

Who are you going to put your faith in? What are you going to apply to your life?

If you want to apply the words of Jesus, then all you have to do receive what He is saying about you.

Make him the Lord of your life.

Believe that our Advocate laid down his life for you, but that more importantly, he rose on Easter Sunday to give you victory in the courts of heaven. His resurrection means your victory.

The moment that you put your faith in Jesus a verdict is reached and that verdict is Not Guilty!

Call

And today I want to close by giving you the chance to make a decision to follow Jesus, our Advocate. Some of you might know of God, but were not aware of Jesus. and today I want to help you make that decision to follow Jesus. I’ve written a book that actually helps you with each and every step of what you should do once you make a decision to follow Jesus.

I know that you might be thinking, “well if I say yes, what happens next?” And that’s exactly what this book will help you with.

So having said that, if today you want to make a decision to follow Jesus. I’m going to ask that you pray this prayer with me.