The Defense Never Rests

F. Lee Bailey, one of America’s most sensational trial lawyers of the late twentieth century practiced law according to the creed that every man is innocent until proven guilty. He claimed to have done all that was humanly possible to defend a client. Baily wrote a book by the same title as this message, “The Defense Never Rests.”

 ” I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. John 14:18

25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. 26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. John 15:25-27

I. Comforter comes from a Greek word, “paraclete”.

A. It means Advocate, or defense lawyer.

B. Anyone accused of a crime has a right to, and needs, a good defense attorney. I attended a trial in St. Louis where a man on trial for rape had to withstand a formidable attack by a prosecuting attorney.
C. In courts of law, there comes a time when the defense lawyer says, “The defense rests its case.”  But questions always persist:

• Has everything been said?
• Has every loophole been closed.
• Ten, twenty years, life imprisonment, or death, hangs in the balance.

D. The church has a defense attorney who never rests his case.

25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Hebrews 7:25

II. You are on trial.

A. From the very moment God’s word influenced your heart and Christ’s love drew you to him, you have been undergoing a great spiritual trial. Your difficulty in loving for God is not just an insignificant personal battle. It goes way back…
B. Out of revenge, Satan introduced sin into the world, seeking to erase God from the minds of men.
C. Failing in this, he tried to destroy the personification of righteousness, Jesus Christ.
D. Having failed once again, he is not attempting to nullify the work of Christ in this world.

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

III. Yes, you are on trial…and you are guilty!

A. Man is born in sin.

• Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
• Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

B. Sin and death are our natural heritage.

1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

C. Man’s heart is deceitful.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

D. All have transgressed the commandments of God.

Romans 6:7-11 For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

IV. You are on trial…and Satan is the prosecuting attorney.

A. He is called Satan (56 times), opponent or adversary.
B. He is called “the devil” (35 times) slanderer, accuser.
C. He is the source of evil. 1 John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

D. He is a liar. 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.

E. He is called the tempter. Matthew 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

F. He is called the great deceiver. Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

V. But your defense is flawless, and your defense attorney, the Paraclete Comforter, never rests!

He brings these things to your remembrance:

Satan says: He is my possession.  The Holy Ghost says: He is redeemed!
1 Peter 1:18-19 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

Satan says:  He’s nothing but trouble. The Holy Ghost says:  I’ve given him my peace!
Colossians 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Satan says:  He’s not good enough for heaven. The Holy Ghost says:  He is justified!
Romans 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

Satan says:  He is soiled with sin. The Holy Ghost says:  He is cleansed!
1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Satan says:  God is angry with him. The Holy Ghost says:  He is forgiven!
Colossians 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Satan says:  He’s too far from God. The Holy Ghost says:  I’ve drawn him close!
Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

Satan says:  I can still control him. The Holy Ghost says:  I’ve given him victory!
Revelation 12:10-11 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. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Satan says:  He is still guilty. The Holy Ghost says:  I can’t remember his sins!
Hebrews 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

The defense never rests!