Are You Being Convicted… or Accused?

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Have you ever had a thought about yourself that you couldn't really argue with? Maybe you messed something up, and you knew you did. You knew better. You may have even promised yourself that you weren't gonna do it again, and yet here you are. That's what can make some accusations so difficult to recognize. Because what happens when the thing being brought up about you is actually true? What if you really did mess up? Then what? Hey, I'm Melissa, and this is my question for you. We are in part three of our series called Behind Enemy Lines, where we're looking at what scripture tells us about the enemy and how he operates. Last week, we talked about deception, and we saw that a lie doesn't necessarily have to start with something completely false. Sometimes something true can be twisted just enough to lead us toward a conclusion that isn't true at all. I think we need to remember that as we move into another strategy, scripture connects directly to the enemy, and that's accusation. Because there's a difference between God showing you something in your life that needs to change, and a voice using that same thing to convince you that you'll never change. So here's my question for you. Are you being convicted or accused? And maybe one way to recognize the difference is to pay attention to where that voice is trying to take you next. There's a name given to Satan in Revelation 12 that I want us to pay attention to. He's called the accuser of our brothers and sisters. We've already established something in this series that I want to keep in mind whenever we talk about the enemy. We're not doing this so we can become obsessed with Satan. We're learning how scripture says he operates so we can recognize his strategy. So when the Bible calls him the accuser, I want to understand what accusation actually accomplishes. Because I don't think the strategy ends with making someone feel bad about what they've done. What if the real target is what happens after that? If the enemy can take something I really did and use it to convince me that I'm no longer qualified, that God couldn't possibly still use me, or that this failure says something permanent about who I am, then maybe he doesn't have to stop me. Maybe he can convince me to stop myself. That's when accusation becomes more than guilt. Now we're talking about what that guilt might keep me from doing next. And that's why I think Peter's story is so interesting. Because if anybody ever gave an accuser some evidence to work with, it was Peter. Now, if you are newer to the Bible, Peter was one of Jesus' 12 disciples, and he was close to him. He traveled with Jesus, witnessed the miracles, and heard his teachings firsthand. He was right beside Jesus walking through all of that time. Peter was also very confident or very cocky, right? If you really dig into the Bible and start to follow Peter and some of the things that he did and the ways that he acted, you can see that sometimes he was a little too confident. Shortly before Jesus is arrested, Jesus tells his disciples that they're going to fall away. Peter is convinced that won't happen to him. Even if everybody else falls away, Peter says he won't. And Jesus tells him that before the rooster crows, Peter will deny him three times. But Peter insists that even if he has to die with Jesus, he will never deny him. And then, later in the story, Jesus is arrested. And suddenly, Peter isn't making a promise in the safety of a conversation anymore. He's standing outside while Jesus is being questioned, and someone actually recognizes him as one of Jesus' followers. And Peter denies it. Later, he's confronted again and denies knowing Jesus a second time. Then it happens once more. This time Peter says, I don't know the man. And immediately the rooster crows. Luke tells us that Jesus turns and looks at Peter in that moment. And Peter remembers exactly what Jesus had told him, and he goes outside and weeps bitterly. Now, think about what Peter knows about himself in that moment. He had told Jesus he was willing to die for him, and hours later he denied even knowing him. Not once or twice, but three times. None of that needs to be exaggerated. Peter doesn't need someone to falsely accuse him of something he didn't do. The evidence is already there. And that's what makes accusation so interesting. The accuser doesn't necessarily need to invent something about Peter. He just needs to tell Peter what the evidence means. Peter can look at what happened and truthfully say, I've failed Jesus. But if that thought becomes, so who am I to think he could ever use me again? We've moved beyond acknowledging what Peter did. Now we're reaching a verdict about what Peter's failures mean for his future. And those are two very different things. This is where I think we have to go a little further behind enemy lines because accusation has an objective. If deception gets me to believe something false, accusation can take something I've actually done and use it to influence what I believe should happen next. And depending on what I believe, I might begin pulling away without anyone having to actually push me. Because maybe I stop praying because I feel like a hypocrite. I might quietly step back from serving because I don't feel qualified anymore or avoid dealing honestly with what happened because I've been so consumed with beating myself up over it. Eventually, I may start thinking, maybe this is just who I am. And if I really believe that, why would I keep fighting to change? That's what makes accusation such an effective strategy. The enemy doesn't necessarily have to convince you that what you did was okay. He may be perfectly content to keep you staring at what you did until it becomes the lens through which you see yourself. And eventually something you did starts determining what you believe God can still do with you. And here's what I find so fascinating God can point to the same failure without reaching the same verdict. Let's go back to Peter. After Peter's denial, Jesus was crucified. Three days later, he rises from the dead. Eventually, we get to John chapter 21, where Peter and some of the other disciples have been out fishing. Jesus appears to them on the shore, and they actually sit down and eat together. They have a meal. Then Jesus turns to Peter. Remember what sits between these two men. Peter denied Jesus three times. Jesus knows exactly what happened, and Peter knows that he knows. There's no pretending. And Jesus asks him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter says yes. Jesus tells him, feed my lambs. Then Jesus asks him the same question again and tells Peter to take care of his sheep. When Jesus asks a third time, Scripture tells us that Peter is actually hurt three questions after three denials. And once again, Jesus tells him, Feed my sheep. That gets me. Because Jesus isn't pretending that Peter's failure never happened. He's speaking directly to the man who failed him. And he's talking about what comes next. He says, Feed my sheep. Peter's failure is real, but so is his future. And now we're seeing a very different conclusion from the one accusation would have us reach. Accusation can look at Peter's failure and turn it into a reason that he should be finished. Jesus knows the same story and he still gives Peter something to do. And that's where conviction and accusation start separating for me. Sometimes they may begin with the same evidence at the same point in time, the same truth. There may actually be something in my life that needs to be addressed. Maybe I lied, hurt someone, lost my temper, went back to an old habit, or maybe I ignored something I knew that I needed to deal with. God's conviction doesn't require me to pretend that it didn't happen. It allows me to face it honestly. I can confess it to God and repent. There may be an apology I need to make or a change I need to put into practice. Or in other words, there's somewhere to go from here. This isn't the end. Accusation takes that same failure and tries to convince me that there isn't a future. There's nowhere to go. That's the end of the road. So instead of dealing with what happened and moving forward, I can find myself replaying it over and over again until the conversation isn't really about what I did anymore. Now it's about who I supposedly am because of what I did. And that's why I don't think the best way to distinguish conviction from accusation is simply asking whether it makes us feel bad. Conviction can be uncomfortable. Sometimes realizing you've been wrong hurts. Repentance may require you to face something you'd much rather avoid. So discomfort isn't necessarily the enemy. Maybe the better question is where is this taking me? Because God's correction may be uncomfortable while still moving me closer toward him. Accusation does something different, right? It takes the failure and keeps me circling it until I begin believing there's no way forward. And that's the strategy I don't want us to miss. The enemy may not need to convince you that you didn't fail. He may only need to convince you that your failure gets the final word, that it somehow determines who you are and where you're going in life. Let's turn back to Scripture. In Romans chapter 8, verse 1, it says, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That's an important verse to have in front of us when we're talking about accusation. No condemnation doesn't mean no correction. It doesn't mean our choices don't matter. And it certainly doesn't mean God will never show us something that needs to change, but it does tell us something about the verdict. And I think this is where the enemy's strategy can become difficult to recognize. We can start with an honest acknowledgement and saying, I failed, but without realizing it, that can become I'm a failure. Maybe the truth is that I sinned and need to bring it honestly before God. But somewhere in my own thinking, that gets turned into the conclusion that God must not want anything to do with me. Or I recognize that I should have known better. And before long, I've decided that the fact that I'm still struggling must mean I'll never change. Do you see what happened? We start with something that may have been completely true, but then we allowed it to tell us something God never said. That's the connection to what we talked about last week. Deception and accusation can work together. The accuser can use a true piece of evidence to sell you a false verdict. And here's why I think this matters so much in a series about spiritual warfare. What happens if you believe that verdict? If you genuinely believe you're disqualified, eventually you may start living like you are. Someone who believes God is tired of them probably isn't running toward him. If you've decided you'll never change, it becomes much easier to stop trying. And if you've allowed your worst moment to tell you the whole truth about who you are, you may never find out what God wanted to do after it. See, the enemy doesn't always have to block the road in front of you. Sometimes he just has to convince you that you no longer belong on that road. That's why accusation isn't harmless. And that's why recognizing it isn't about becoming obsessed with Satan. It's about becoming wise enough to recognize when your failure is being used to lead you somewhere God isn't leading you. Peter had failed, but Jesus didn't dispute that. He says to him, feed my sheep. There was still somewhere for Peter to go, something for him to do, but it wasn't the end. He still had an assignment. So what do we actually do with this? I think we start by just being honest. When something you've done comes back to mind, you don't have to immediately defend yourself. Maybe you were wrong. Okay. Own what needs to be owned. Bring it to God. Apologize if you need to. Ask God to help you change whatever needs to change. But after you've acknowledged what happened, pay attention to the conclusion you're drawing from it. That's where the strategy may reveal itself. There's a difference between recognizing I was wrong and deciding there's something permanently wrong with me. There's a difference between admitting failure and deciding that failure has disqualified me from whatever God wants me to do next. And recognizing that I need to change is very different from deciding that I never will. That's the distinction I want us to hear. You don't have to deny the evidence to reject the verdict. Peter didn't have to rewrite what happened that night in order to move forward. He had denied Jesus, and Jesus knew it, yet Jesus still called him forward. So this week, I want you to pay attention when you find yourself replaying something you've done, especially if you've already confessed it, you've dealt with it, or asked God to help you change. Listen to where your thoughts go after you acknowledge what happened. You just might discover that you've been assuming something about yourself simply because it seems like the logical conclusion from your failure. And that's worth examining. That's worth sitting with and studying. We're not trying to become paranoid about whether every thought is from Satan, if every thought is from the enemy. We're becoming familiar with the strategies Scripture tells us to watch out for. And Scripture calls the enemy an accuser. So when a thought takes something you've done and begins building a case that your failure has determined your identity, your relationship with God, or your future, don't automatically agree just because the evidence says it's true. Take that conclusion back to Scripture. Take it back to what God has actually said. And I want you to remember Peter sitting on that beach and remember that God still had a plan and a purpose for his life, and he still has a plan and a purpose for your life too. So, are you being convicted or accused? I think one of the questions we can ask is: where is this taking me? God's conviction can confront something real and still call us forward. Accusation takes something real and tries to convince us that there is no path forward. Now that we're behind enemy lines, we're learning to recognize the difference. Because the accuser may have evidence. That doesn't mean he gets to decide the verdict. Peter really did deny Jesus three times. And Jesus knew exactly what happened. And when he met Peter on that beach, he didn't pretend otherwise. He simply didn't let Peter's worst moment decide what came next. He still said to Peter, feed my sheep. So when accusation starts telling you what your failure means about your future, I want you to remember, just because the evidence is true, it doesn't mean that the verdict is too. You can sign up at myquestion for you dot com, bringing you encouragement for your spirit and wisdom for your walk.