Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Romans 8:33
Do you remember the Watergate scandal in the United States in the 1970s? A group of men were arrested after a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington. Investigators traced the burglars to a slush fund operated by a committee to re-elect President Richard Nixon. Several of Nixon’s staff members were eventually implicated, convicted, and sent to prison, and the trail of evidence was leading directly to Nixon’s doorstep when he resigned the presidency. Despite the evidence against him, Nixon never went to trial. Immediately after his resignation, his replacement, Gerald Ford, pardoned him. That meant that, regardless of his involvement, no charges could be brought against Nixon in connection with the Watergate affair. Like Nixon, you and I have been caught with our hands in the cookie jar, but there is no possibility of charges against us. Forever!
That doesn’t mean the devil doesn’t try. Already today, he has been reminding God about your failures and faults. The accuser never stops digging up dirt on you and presenting it to God. But God, who knows far more than the devil does about your failures and faults, is not impressed. You see, God also has access to the Lamb’s Book of Life, and He can clearly see your pardon there. The blood of His Son covers all of your sins. Not even the devil can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect. God has justified you. And the devil’s charges can’t stick.
The devil has better luck when he brings accusations against the self righteous and the religious. Those folks try hard, and they look good, and they are so sincere. But who has justified them? Only themselves. God can’t justify them on the basis of dead works performed by sinful hands and motivated by an unredeemed heart. Without the justification that is by faith in Christ, those poor folks have no shelter against the devil’s accusations or God’s judgment. That’s why we need to preach the Gospel.
You and I are justified by God. Our pardon is secure. The blood of the Son has cleansed us from all sins. This pardon is available to everybody; let’s get busy telling them about it. -Jim MacIntosh