Settle matters quickly with your adversary

This is a part of a series

• Settle matters quickly with your adversary
• The law of double jeopardy

My previous post (The law of double jeopardy) is a gentle introduction to the legal system in the spiritual world. This post really nails the concept totally and should put you in a good position for the rest of your life.

It’s a legal system

The bottom line: This whole world works according to a legal system. You are a sinner and the consequence is death. BUT. If you are willing to accept the free gift then Jesus Christ paid for your sins, if you agree that He made the full payment (which is death) THEN no further payment is required from you.

In a legal system if someone makes an argument against you and you make no defense then you lose. One day I got an email from my web host in the USA. He said he will be bringing a charge against me to a court in the US and he will demand my server as payment. He told me in the email that if I didn’t show up to defend myself then I will automatically lose and he will automatically win and the court will award him my server. What could I do? I didn’t live in the USA and so I lost the court case and I lost my server.

That person had an argument and I was not there to present my argument. I presume I lost the case and I know that I lost my server. It was a “life lesson” you could say.

You see… when someone accuses you before the judge, that judge doesn’t study the facts, they study the LEGAL ARGUMENTS. The better legal case wins.

You have an accuser

So now… let’s turn to your life.

You have an accuser who accuses you before the Judge in Heaven. This is seen in the Tanakah (Old Testament)…

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and satan standing at his right side to accuse him. – Zech 3:1

In the NT the bible also says that our enemy (satan, lucifer, devil, serpent, dragon etc.) accuses the brethren day and night…

For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. – Rev 12:10

Do you have a legal defense?

If the enemy accuses you… what is your counter argument? Do you have one? How do you defend yourself from his constant accusations?

If you are still unsure about this… maybe you are wondering IF you need to deal with your enemy’s accusations? Let’s see what Jesus Christ told us in the sermon on the mount…

“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. – John 5:25-26

Let’s break that advice up…

1. Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way,
2. or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.
3. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny

So we are instructed to settle matters with the adversary. Are you with me?

How do we “settle” things?

Now we must talk about two things:

1. how do we settle matters
2. what is our legal argument?

Our enemy is a legalist and it seems to me that we have no option to appeal to the Judge… which we usually assume is the Father… but in fact scripture says that judgement now is in the hands of the Son – which is Jesus Christ.

Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son – John 5:22

Well now… this is very interesting. Now we know Who to appeal to. (I think it’s fine to appeal to either the Father or the Son.)

But what amuses me is that we have a court in which the Judge is the same Person who already paid our debt!!  The court is already completely and totally on our side! Woohoo! We know the Judge! He died for us! He paid for us! He is not at all confused about the facts about this (or any other) case.

Some legal arguments

So now lastly what legal argument can we bring before this Judge?  Remember, we must settle with our adversary. It’s a legal system so we must have an argument.

Well… here is one legal argument you can use to protect yourself. When the accuser brings you before the Judge for a second payment (Jesus made the full payment) then he is committing “malicious prosecution“.

What is malicious prosecution? According to Wikipedia…

Malicious prosecution is a common law intentional tort, while like the tort of abuse of process, its elements include (1) intentionally (and maliciously) instituting and pursuing (or causing to be instituted or pursued) a legal action (civil or criminal) that is (2) brought without probable cause and (3) dismissed in favor of the victim of the malicious prosecution.

In some jurisdictions, the term “malicious prosecution” denotes the wrongful initiation of criminal proceedings, while the term “malicious use of process” denotes the wrongful initiation of civil proceedings.

To put it simpler… malicious prosecution is when someone takes you to court or accuses you legally when they KNOW that they have no legal right to do it. In other words they want to waste your time or waste your money or simply cause trouble for you.

satan already has his full payment on the cross. he has no valid accusation to throw at you. So if he goes ahead with his accusation against you then he is committing a crime known as malicious prosecution.

More crimes he has committed

In fact… if we accept the full payment which Jesus Christ has provided for us then our enemy is also guilty of many other things… which he has been getting away with for over two thousand years… for example… taken from Wikipedia…

• Abuse of process is a cause of action in tort arising from one party making a malicious and deliberate misuse or perversion of regularly issued court process (civil or criminal) not justified by the underlying legal action. Although Wikipedia says that “the mere filing or maintenance of a lawsuit, even for an improper purpose, is not a proper basis for an abuse of process action.”
• Frivolous litigation is the practice of starting or carrying on lawsuits that, due to their lack of legal merit, have little to no chance of being won.
• Vexatious litigation is legal action which is brought, regardless of its merits, solely to harass or subdue an adversary. A single action, even a frivolous one, is usually not enough to raise a litigant to the level of being declared vexatious.
• Disbarment. Repeated and severe instances by a single lawyer or firm can result in eventual disbarment.

It is clear that if your sins have all been paid for then under the law you are acquitted and declared righteous.

so one Man’s act of righteousness [leads] to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all men – Rom 5:18

If you are acquitted then you have immunity from prosecution.

And it is also clear to me that the enemy must be disbarred from the court so that he is no longer able to accuse us. And yes that is what the scripture says… he has been hurled down… out of Heaven…

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. – Rev 12:10

Summary

Unless we settle matters with him (see John 5:25-26) the adversary will continue to take us to court and keep winning his cases against us.

But if our faith is correctly prepared and if we prepare our arguments which we give to the Judge… then…

1. We will be acquitted (see Rom 5:18) and found to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect (see Sermon on the Mount: John 5:48). The Judge (Jesus Christ, see John 5:22) is the same Person who paid our debt (on His cross) and if we make the correct argument He will find us not guilty.
2. If we ask, the Judge will declare us immune to further prosecution – for as long as our faith remains entirely focussed on Jesus Christ on the cross (consider the bronze serpent on the pole in the wilderness, for as long as the Israelites looked at the bronze serpent the bite did not kill them, See Num 21:9 and see John 3:14 where Jesus Christ declares that He is to be raised up just as the bronze serpent was raised up and all who look at Him will not die)
3. If we ask, the Judge will find the enemy guilty of many crimes such as double jeopardy, abuse of process, frivolous litigation and vexatious litigation.
4. If we ask, the Judge will disbar the enemy (ie throw him out of Heaven so he can’t continue to accuse us, see Rev 12:10)
5. If we accuse the enemy of these crimes before the Judge, then the Judge will find the enemy guilty of these crimes and the Judge will punish the enemy by putting him in prison. The Judge will hand the accuser over over to the officer, and he will be thrown into prison. (See John 5:26-27 as above, which is simply the reverse of when we are found guilty of what the enemy accuses us of). And the enemy will not be let out of that prison until he has paid back every last penny. (See John 5:26-27).

What is your faith declaration?

Make no mistake, your faith – what you believe that Jesus Christ did for you on His cross – is absolutely essential to the quality of your life.

Jesus Christ said…

For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned. – Matt 12:37

If you are looking for more scriptures to use to defend yourself then check out this list which I have been using for the past 8 years.

You can download those scriptures in MS Word format and also other resources here.