Just as that thing hung on the
tree Next to Christ, the surety Oh Lord, remember us Oh Lord,
remember us. And as Stephen was being stoned,
And God stood up there at his throne, Oh Lord, remember us. Oh Lord, remember us. Some will stand before the throne,
but some will stand in Christ alone. Oh Lord, remember us. Oh Lord, remember us. As you've said, and we believe
All who ask, they shall receive Oh Lord, remember us Oh Lord,
remember us For some will stand before the throne But some will
stand in Christ alone Oh Lord, remember us Oh Lord, remember
us When you come back with trumpet
sound And all the saints rise from the ground Oh Lord, remember
us Oh, Lord, remember us. But some will stand before the
throne, But some will stand in Christ alone. Oh, Lord, remember
us. Oh, Lord, remember us. Oh, Lord, remember us. It is great to be here. I was sitting there watching
Brother Mike and thinking, I wonder how many times he's led these
choruses over the years, but I'm so glad. I'm so glad I love
those choruses. In some places, I think they've
been forgotten. And they're so good. And this
congregation is such an encouragement for so many people. So many ministries
are a result of this ministry. Kingsport is one of them. Ikeville
is one of them, and then Kingsport is one of them. And the Lord
has just blessed you and blessed us. He's just blessed us all,
hasn't He? And you know, if He will, and
I believe He will, if we plead Christ, if He remembers us, real
soon, we're all going to be one congregation. And I can't wait
for that. I just cannot wait for it. But
I appreciate the invitation, Frank, and pray the Lord will
bless this. Turn with me first tonight, if
you would, to Matthew chapter 18. Matthew 18. This is not our text. I just wanted to begin reading
two verses right here. Matthew 18 verse two says. And Jesus called a little child
unto him. And set him in the midst of them. And said, Verily I say unto you. Except ye be converted, and become
as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of
heaven." In light of this being Bible school week, we all have
brought our children here. I brought mine. We've all brought
our children together to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the whole reason that we that we drove all this way. We brought our kids to hear about
Christ. We want them to know who He is
and what He has done. Right? That's what we want them
to know. We want them to know one thing
come the end of this life. Who He is and what He has done. And in light of that being the
focus of the week, I thought maybe tonight we could all become
little children. All of us. into every single one of us.
And come before Him with a sincere heart. Let's come before Him
tonight sincerely wanting to learn of Him. Like a little child. Who He is and what He's done
for us. Now go with me if you would to
our text. It's 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. I asked Brother
Frank to read the first chapter, because chapter 2 verse 1 says,
My little children, how amazing to be called the children of
God. My little, every, it doesn't
matter if you're 5 or 75, every son of God, What manner of love
the Father has bestowed upon us that we would be called sons
of God. My little children. He said these
things write I unto you. That you sin not. And that's the commandment of
God, isn't it? I really would love for our children
to get a hold of something tonight. I would love for all of us to
get a hold of something, but I especially want to ask our
children. Listen carefully to this, OK?
Listen carefully to this. The commandment of God Almighty
is sin not. Isn't that what he says? Isn't that what the whole book
says? Sin not. That is so, so clear,
isn't it? So clear. That is the whole reason
Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden. One and only reason
they sinned against God. That's the whole reason Lucifer
and all of those angels with him were cast out of heaven as
a bolt of lightning to this earth. They sinned against God, and
he said here in verse one, my little children. These things
right eye unto you, these things that I've just written in chapter
one and all of these things that have been given. God gave the
law to Moses. And he said, Moses, I want you
to write these things down and I want you to give it to the
people. And this is what the law said.
Sin not. That's what the whole law said. Sin not. The law was given to
show men and women, their sin. That's the reason the law was
given. To show us our sin and to tell
us sin not. Don't do it. Don't do it. Sin not. God will not have it. He will not have it. He will
not tolerate it. He will not allow it to stand
in his presence. Sin not. He told Adam, you can have the
fruit of any tree in this garden. But the day that you touch this
one tree that I'm telling you, don't touch it. The day that
you eat of that forbidden fruit, you're going to die. You're going
to die. The wages of sin is death. Death, that is the only thing
that can come to a sinner. Turn with me over to Psalm 24. Psalm 24. Our Lord very plainly
tells us right here who He will accept into His kingdom, into
heaven. Psalm 24, verse 3. Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy
place? That's talking about glory, heaven
itself. He said, He that hath clean hands
and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the
Lord. and righteousness from the God
of his salvation. That's who God will allow into
his glorious kingdom, this eternal kingdom, the one who has never
done anything wrong. That's who is welcome to come
in. I mean, perfect, never thought
anything wrong, never felt anything wrong. Sinners are not allowed
to go to heaven. but just not. They cannot stand
in His presence. Isn't that what the Word of God
said? That is the reason why John said,
My little children, these things write I unto you that you sin
not. Sin not. Now go with me back
over to our text in 1 John chapter 2. 1 John 2 verse 1 says, My little
children, these things write I unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin. Now, let me ask all of us little
children this question and kids, you are old enough. You guys
are old enough. OK, so I want you to answer this
in your mind. Don't answer it out loud, OK?
But everybody Give an answer. Everybody answer this in your
heart. Have we sinned? Answer in your own mind, yes
or no. Are we sinners? Are we sinners? You know, you
ask a lot of people that question. You know what they say? No. Look at where our brother
read just a minute ago in 1st John chapter 1 verse 8. It says. If we say that we have
no sin. We deceive ourselves. That means
that means we're fooling ourselves. We're lying to ourselves. If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us. If we say in our hearts that
we are not sinners against God, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. Now, I have another question.
Answer this in your heart, OK? What is the truth? Do you know what is the truth?
The Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the truth. I am the truth. If we honestly believe in our
hearts that we are not sinners and I'm not talking about, you
know, a lot of people will say, well, yes, now I am a sinner,
but they don't mean it in their heart. A lot of times things
come out of the mouth that men and women and boys and girls
don't mean in the And if we say in the heart that we are not
sinners, Christ is not in us. And we're lost and we're cursed
and we're lying to ourselves. Right here is the evidence of
a person who does not know God. When it is my time, my appointed
time to leave this earth, I do not want to leave this earth
not knowing God. I don't want to leave that way.
This is the evidence of a person who does not know God. He says. No. Verse 8 right here says if we
say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us. Now this is how you can spot
a man or a woman or a little child who God has done something
for. This is how you can tell when
God has moved on the heart of a person. This is what that person
sounds like. Turn with me over to Romans 7. Romans 7, now this is the Apostle
Paul speaking. Do we believe that God saved
the Apostle Paul? Do we believe that God saved
the Apostle Paul? I believe He did. I believe He
did. Now, the Apostle Paul said in
Romans 7 verse 14, For we know that the law is spiritual, but
I am carnal sold under sin." Absolutely sold to it. Sold under it. He is the same
one who said, I am the chief of sinners. I am the chief of
sinners. Verse 14, he said, We know that
the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin for that
which I do. What does he do? Sin. That which I do, He said,
I allow not. I don't know why I do it. I don't
know why I do it. The younger we are, the less
we think about it. We just do it. The older we get, the more
we start to think about it. And after a while, we want to
stop doing it. But you know what? It didn't
work that way. And we keep saying to ourselves, why am I the way
I am? Why am I the way I am? He said in verse 15, that which
I do, I allow not for what I would, what I want to do. What does
he want to do? Sin not. He said that do I not. But what I hate, that's what
I do. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. I consent to God's
holy law that it's perfect, it's just, it's right, it's good,
and I'm the problem. I'm just a sinner against it.
Verse 17, Now then, it is no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me. Sin has infected me. overtaken me, this loathsome
disease. Verse 18, for I know that in
me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is
present with me. But how to perform that which
is good, I just cannot find a way. For the good that I want to do,
I don't do it, but the evil which I wish I could stop, I just can't
stop doing. Now, if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
in a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Or I delight in the law of God
after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring
against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that
I Now, this is a man God has done something for. Oh, wretched
man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? You know, kids, that's why we're
bringing you all here this week is to tell you who is able to
deliver a sinner from the body of this death. And he said in
verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then
with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the
flesh. The law of sin, what he's saying is I'm a sinner. I'm a
sinner and I acknowledge that God is holy and I acknowledge
that he must punish sin. I acknowledge that. And the question
is, can we say the same thing with with the Apostle Paul? Can
we say that with him? I am a sinner. I am a sinner. And I deserve God's judgment. That's all I deserve, God's judgment,
and the reason is because I have willingly and consciously and
unconsciously. Broken his whole world, I've
sinned against him. Can we all say that? Can we say
with King David? King David, he said, I acknowledge
my transgressions. And my sin is ever before me
against thee. The only have I sinned and done
this evil in thy sight. And he said, you're justified
in whatever you have to say. And you're absolutely clear in
your judgment. Can we all say that? If we can, Go with me back to
the text. 1 John chapter 2. 1 John 2 verse 1 says, My little
children, these things write I unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the father. Now, what does that mean? What
does that mean? We have an advocate with the
Father. What does that mean? I want to
illustrate it to you. And I pray the Lord will bless
this illustration. I've told you before and I pray
the Lord will let me tell it again. And after we see this
illustration, I believe we'll see what an advocate he is with
the Father. There was a man, a dear man, years ago, I knew him as a child
and a teenager, but he attended, he was a believer, and he attended
with the church in now College Grove, Tennessee. They were in
Franklin at the time. And the Lord has taken him to
glory now. He was a dear man. He wasn't
a very tall man. A very, very quiet man. But his name was James Beasley. And everybody called him Jay
Bird. Everybody. Do you remember him?
And he and my dad were close. They were very close. After he
retired, you know, some people after they retire, they say that
they worked more after they retired than when they had a career,
you know. But he didn't. He took his retirement, and he
would piddle, you know, and like clockwork, almost every day.
My dad was in construction for a while, and almost every day,
here comes Jaybird, and he would pull up a chair and watch everybody
work for a couple of hours and then, you know, go and see him
at service or see him tomorrow or something like that. Just
a dear man. But while he was working, he
was a convenience store clerk for years and years and years.
You know, he didn't have much money. And he ran the cash register
for this little convenience store in Franklin. And when he was
running the register one night, a young guy came in who looked
old enough, but he wasn't old enough. He was underaged. And
Jay Bird sold him something that he should not have sold him. And that's against the law. That's against the law. There
are laws on certain things. You have to be old enough to
buy certain things. And he sold him something and
he didn't check his license. He didn't check to see how old
he was. And so he didn't know that the guy was underage and
he wasn't allowed to sell him that, but he did sell it to him.
And that's an offense against the law. Jay Bird sinned against
the law. He didn't know it, but he did.
Well, later on that night, that boy was pulled over by the police
and he was arrested. And they asked him, where did
you get this? And he told the police where
he got it. And so they came to the market. And they walked in and asked
Jay Bird, did you sell this to this guy? And Jay said, yes,
I did. He said, I had no idea he was
underage. And the officer said, well, I
mean, he is. He is. And he gave him a ticket.
And he told him, you can't pay this ticket. This is not the
kind of ticket that has a dollar amount and you just pay it. This
offense is so strong, you have to appear before the judge. So
Jay said, OK. And he said, it's going to take
a while for you to get a court date. But Jay was torn up over that,
because that is a serious offense. the what ifs, what could have
happened, and it really, it affected him. It really did affect him.
Well, not too long after that, a little while after that, a
lawyer came into the convenience store and walked up to the counter
and said, are you Mr. Beasley? And he said, yes, I
am. And he said, well, I'm a lawyer.
And I noticed that your name is coming up soon on the docket,
and I just thought I would come hand you my business card. And Jay said, well, I appreciate
that so much, but I can't afford a lawyer. He said, I'm just going
to represent myself. I just will go when they tell
me to go and just tell them what happened. I appreciate it, but I can't
afford you." And the guy said, you know what, don't worry about
it, I'll take care of it. Jay Bird never heard from that guy
after that. Never. And never had any contact
after that. Jay Bird never called the phone
number on the card because he couldn't afford the laundry.
And he was told, you're going to have to appear before the
judge, and so that's what he was going to do, you know. Some time went by, a good amount
of time went by. It was pretty slow getting him
a court date, but he finally got one. And he was very, very
nervous about it. He called my dad and he said,
I have to appear in court because of this offense. Tomorrow, would
you go with me? And dad said, absolutely. So
they went. The next day they went and they're
sitting in court. And dad said it was full of people. Lots of cases. A lot of offense
there. And people were going up one
right after the next. And the judge that was on the
bench that day was a very well-known judge. She was notorious. It was a lady and her name was
Judge Franks. Not Judge Frank. Judge Franks. And she was strict. Very, very
strict. She was tough. And case after
case was coming before her and she was not showing anybody any
mercy. And Dad said he was watching
these people go up there and he was just hoping that she would
be lenient on them. And she was not. Not at all. Dad said a young lady stood up
who clearly was far along in a pregnancy She had 15 counts
of hot checks. And Judge Franks asked her, why
have you written 15 hot checks? And she tried to pull the sympathy
card. You know, she said, Your Honor, I've had some complications
with my baby and things have just been difficult. It's just
been so hard. And I know this. And Judge Frank
said, I tell you what, Either you make all 15 of those checks
good by 5 o'clock today, or you will be in my jail tonight. Next. Dad said that's how it was for
every person who came up before him. He said, here's the one
problem, though. It kept getting worse. And the
reason is because nobody had a lawyer. That's the reason. And it was making her mad. It
was getting to her. With each case that would come
up, this was her terminology. She would look at him and say,
do you have representation? No, Your Honor, I'm representing
myself. That's it. That made her so mad
every time she heard that. She would say, I cannot believe
someone would have the nerve to come into my courtroom without
representation. It just got worse and worse. And every person who's out there
waiting for their name to be called, they're listening to
this, including J-Boat. And they know I'm in the same
boat. And Dad said it was shocking. It was just shocking. And he
himself said, I didn't know it was going to be like this. And
Jay Bird didn't know it was going to be like this. They were just
told, you know, you're going to have to stand before the judge.
And all these people came and they said, OK, I'm going to go
stand before the judge. I understand that. I'll just
tell him what happened. And they all started realizing, I
didn't know it was going to be like this. And this is going
to be the case for every man and woman and boy and girl who
goes to stand before God. They know, people know there
is an end day that they are going to have to go stand before the
judge. They know that. And they say,
OK, I'll just tell him what happened. And they're going to get there
and find out, I didn't know it was going to be like this. I had no idea
it was going to be this hard, this strict. I had no idea. Well, Dad said it was so tense
in that place. That room was just, nobody was
saying a word. And one would stand up after
the next and she would say, do you have representation? And she would throw the book
up. With each one, she'd say. Dad said a boy was called and
his mother stood up with him. And she was pretty upset at this
point. And she asked him, looked him
right in the eye, and she said, do you have representation? No,
Your Honor. She said, I'm moving this case. I'm appointing you a lawyer and
don't you ever come into my presence ever again without a lawyer.
Next. And then the clerk said, James
Beasley. Dad said whenever his name was
called, he said my heart sunk for him. He said, I was so nervous and
I didn't even have to stand up. And this is a serious offense.
What's written against him is a very serious offense. And now
here it is, his name is called. And he said, as Jay Bird started
to stand up, he said that lawyer was sitting on the front row.
Neither one of them had any idea he was up there. And while Jay
Bird was standing up, that lawyer stood up. and said, your honor,
I represent Mr. Beasley. And with your permission,
I'll speak with you about his case after this court session.
And dad said her countenance changed. And she looked at that
lawyer, and she smiled at him and said, that'll be fine. Next. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the father, Jesus Christ. Jay Bird did not seek that lawyer. That lawyer sought Jay Bird in
that run. Jay Bird could not pay that lawyer. That lawyer did it of his own
free will. Jay Bird never said anything. Jay Bird never did anything. Have you ever wondered, when
my name is called in the judgment, what will I say? You know what
the answer is? Nothing. Jesus Christ will stand up and
say, I represent gates. That's what Christ did for every
single one of His people. He pleaded their case. He pleaded their case by making
their case His own. That's what He did. Go with me
to just a couple of scriptures and then we'll close. Go with
me to 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy 2 verse 5 says, For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave
himself a ransom for all. to be testified for a testimony
in due time. He set His people free by putting
Himself on trial. Isn't that what He did? He made their case His own. 2 Corinthians 5. Look at 2 Corinthians
5 with me. 2nd Corinthians 5 verse 21 says,
For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness
of God and he put himself on trial by becoming guilty. He paid the debt that he did
not owe and we could not pay. He paid it in full. And then
he made intercession to the father. Romans 8, look at Romans 8 quickly
with me. Romans 8, verse 31 says, What
shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again. who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Isn't that wonderful? There's a class here in Bible
school that's learning this verse of Scripture. My daughter keeps
saying it over and over again. Wherefore, He is able also to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing
He ever liveth to make intercession Don't you love that? Don't you
absolutely love that, Your Honor? You can speak directly with me
about that. Directly with me. Every little
child that God the Father gave to Christ to redeem. Every single
one. If any of them have sinned. And
the answer is we all have. We all have. We're all sinners
and we're all going to have to stand before the judge. Isn't
that right? But if we recognize and acknowledge to Him that we
are absolutely broke, I mean absolutely broke, we have nothing
to pay. In my hand, no price I bring. We are absolutely helpless and
in need of mercy. I just need mercy. If any man
or woman or child sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous. He said you can come to him without
money, without price, and he'll justify you freely in his own
precious blood. He'll make your case his own. He'll pay your debt in full and
he'll make intercession to God on your behalf. That's just wonderful. That's that's the deal. And there's
nothing on our end of it. He'll do this. If you can't do
anything, He'll do this. He'll do this. He'll do this.
He'll do this. I pray the Lord will bless His
Word. One of the things that I talked
to our children about in Bible school this morning was how our
Lord Jesus Christ is trustworthy. You can put your faith in Him
and rest in Him. This advocate, you can trust
Him. You can rest in Him. He's never
lost the case because He's made every client not guilty. He is
Jesus Christ the righteous. And he's the propitiation for
our sins. He paid for, put the sin of his people away and made
him not guilty. He never lost a case and he never
will. That's a counselor. You can trust
him. That's such a blessing. Thank
you.