1 John 2. I'd like to look at the first
two verses. I've entitled this message, The
Advocate and Propitiation. Let's just read the first two
verses and then ask the Lord's blessing. 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, Jesus Christ
the righteous. And He is the propitiation for
our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. Let's pray together. Our Father, we are so thankful
that we can call upon You And know, Lord, that You are the
One who has, in Your infinite mercy and grace, chosen us in
the Lord Jesus Christ, everlastingly loved us, gave us unto Him who
loved us and gave Himself for us. Lord, we thank You for Your
mercy to those not only in our midst but in our circles of fellowship
in the gospel that you have been pleased to bless and maintain
and heal. Thank you for your love and care.
Thank you for your compassion. Thank you for this evening. Lord,
would you bless this Word. Help us for Christ's sake. Amen. John in tenderness starts these
two scriptures, these two verses, My Little Children. Oh, you know, what a mark of
graciousness just to hear him write. Here he is, an apostle,
taught of God, and the tenderness that he has toward God's sheep.
You know, I think that as we get older and we begin to realize these years that God has allowed
us to be here, that He's maintained us and kept us in fellowship. That's a tender thing, to see
graciousness where God has shown mercy and grace. My little children,
these things write unto you that you sin not." John warns concerning
sin, warns God's people. He warns those that truly, by
the Spirit of God in regenerating grace, are sensitive and they
are aware of the body of sin that is within them. They are
aware of the rebellion that they see. Paul said, O wretched man
that I am. There is in me, that is in my
flesh, there dwells no good thing. My little children, these things
write unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin, and who doesn't? Who is there among us who has
no sin? We know it. But being sensitive
of that body of sin that is within, the Apostle admonishes those
to whom he writes to look to the only source of hope and peace
and comfort, the Lord Jesus Christ. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Now listen, these two verses are two verses
of such comfort, such peace, such joy, Just for a few minutes,
consider what the apostle writes. If any man sin, we have an advocate. We're not looking
for an advocate. Almighty God has provided the
advocate. He did not become our advocate
because we decided to look for Him. No man ever seeks after
God. God Almighty seeks His own and
finds Him. We have an advocate. He is the advocate for the sheep,
all that Almighty God has everlastingly loved. Now listen. What is an advocate? What is an advocate? We have
an advocate. This is an advocate. One who
pleads the cause for another. One who can answer to every demand. Now listen, here's the situation. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And in ourselves, we cannot approach
God. Almighty God is of purer eyes
than to behold iniquity. No man approaches God in his
fallen self. He is a consuming fire. God Almighty will not be approached
except by the Advocate that He has appointed. And the Advocate that we have is Jesus Christ, look at this,
the righteous. Now here's one. who absolutely knows the ones
that he's interceding for. He knows every case. He knows every need, every individual. He knows every frailty. He knows everything about, I
know my sheep. Now, you think about this. There
is one that is going to be able to touch because being made flesh. The word was made flesh. God himself, great is the mystery
of godliness. God, manifest in the flesh. Everlastingly knows everything
about Him. He told Jeremiah, before I formed
you in the belly, I knew you. Now this is comfort. This is peace. This is joy. Because
I tell you this, there's no one in this room that's not a sinner. Everyone in here is a sinner.
If any man sin, well, we're all going to agree. Okay, I fit in
that category. We have one who will plead our
cause. One who will answer. One who
knows Jesus Christ the righteous. And he who approaches the Father
is the one that the Father, as I said a moment ago, appointed
to that office. He didn't take that office to
himself. Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest,
but was called of God, even as Aaron. No priest takes that honor
to himself. He's appointed. So we have an
advocate. One who was sworn to that office
of priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Sworn to that
office. Sworn in. barred with an oath
because he could plead by no higher, pled by himself. We have an advocate. And here's
the thing. We have nothing to add to his
advocacy. He pleads his own blood. His own merit on our behalf and
answers every demand. What's demanded of the sheep?
Christ answers. He's the advocate. And God accepts
him and all for whom he pleads. They're accepted in the Beloved. We are the beneficiaries. of His merit. He loves us. He gave Himself for us. But listen to this. Not only
is He the Advocate, the Righteous One whose righteousness is imputed
to all those who evidence that imputation by believing Him.
Believing is the evidence of the imputation of the righteousness
of Christ. Not only is he the advocate,
but he is, verse 2, the propitiation for our sins. Now, there's a
big word. There's a big word, propitiation. I want you to turn to Romans
3. Turn to Romans 3, verse 23. Romans
3, 23. You hold your finger at Romans
3.23, and I'm going to read you something. Ephesians 1.12. I'm
going to read Ephesians 1.12. Alright? Here's what Ephesians
1.12 says. That we should be to the praise
of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Now, I've told you
what that's saying. That Scripture right there is
saying that the first one who ever trusted in Christ was the
Father. The Father. The Father was the
one who first trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to
the next verse, verse 13, "...in whom ye also trusted." You see
what I'm saying? Somebody had to trust first before
we could also trust. So the first one who ever trusted
in the Lord Jesus Christ was the Father who beheld Him slain
from the foundation of the world. The Father chose a people in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Gave them to Him. Appointed Him
to be the Advocate. Appointed Him to be the one who
would answer for it, to plead for it. He would plead on his
own merit. He would be the advocate, the
high priest. He would be the one who would
approach God on their behalf. And Almighty God from before
the foundation of the world saw the Lamb slain. saw the blood shed and first
trusted in Christ and everything that the Father ever did, ever
saw, ever anything toward the sheep, He everlastingly loved
them because He saw them everlastingly in Christ. He loved them. before the foundation of the
world. Slain. The Father trusted Him. Chose
Him. Loved Him. Kept Him. The Lord Jesus Christ. The One
that the Father first trusted in. I saw that same truth right
there today for the first time in this verse. Romans 3 that
I want to read to you. Romans 3. starting in verse 23,
says this, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. Being justified, that is to be declared by law
to have no guilt. The law finds no guilt. being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Now
listen to this verse very carefully, because the truth that is taught
in Ephesians 1 that I read, who first trusted in Christ, is taught
right here in this verse. Listen to this, "...whom God
hath set forth, hath foreordained to be a propitiation." Well,
actually, to be there is actually, if you'll see, it's in italics.
It's not there in the originals. Added, "...whom God hath set
forth for ordained a propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God." It was God who foreordained. a propitiation. I'm going to
tell you what propitiation means in just a second. Through faith
in His blood. You see, who is trusting in Christ? Who? Who had the assurance and
the reliance upon the Son? Who? The Father. Here, as Brother
Scott would say so often, here was God doing something for Himself. Satisfying Himself before He
could ever do anything for us. He satisfied Himself. He's a
just God. He doesn't just sweep it under
the rug. He chose us in Him. Saw Him slain. Trusted in His blood. The Lord
Jesus Christ. Our propitiation. The propitiation. What is that? I'll tell you what
it is. It's the peacemaker. That's what
propitiation means. The reconciler. The Father made
him to be the advocate. The high priest. The intercessor. The one who would approach God.
But he also made him to be the peacemaker by the shedding of
his own blood. This is how peace is made before
God. Sin is paid for. Guilt is paid for. Any time that you have a so-called
peace without sin actually being dealt with, paid for, that's
not peace. He's just. He's just. He's just. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
propitiation, the one appointed by the Father to be the peacemaker
that would satisfy the demand of God's law. God's law demands
absolute obedience. Any infraction whatsoever to
offend in one point is to offend in all points. We've all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Somebody is going to have
to be a peacemaker. God's appointed one. He's appointed
an advocate and a peacemaker. Everlastingly, as he stood as
the one who restored friendship before the quarrel ever took
place in time, before the infraction In Adam's
fall, God Almighty saw it and provided the propitiation. Before Adam ever fell, there
was a Savior, a Redeemer. God appointed it. The Father,
through assurance in His blood, that is the blood of His blessed
Son, is at peace with all that Christ answers for. He's always
loved us for Christ's sake. Job 33, 24, Then He is gracious
unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit.
I have found a ransom, a restorer, an atonement, one who has restored
peace. How long do you think? the Father
has found the One who is the ransom." How
long do you think you've seen Him? To you who are aware of the body
of sin, to you who truly see yourself as helpless, to you
who truly see yourself as unable, unable, unable, If you feel in your heart that
you're able to do something to reconcile yourself to God, I'm
not talking to you. I'm talking to you who are unable. To you who are unable, aware
of transgressions, transgressions that you hate, we have an advocate. We have
one who speaks on our behalf. He's the Lord Jesus, the righteous
one in whom the Father is well pleased. And he's the propitiation. He's the peacemaker. And not
only is he the peacemaker, John says, for our sins, but also
for the sins of the whole world. Does that mean everybody without
distinction? No, because the Lord Jesus Christ
himself said, I lay down my life for the sheep. I know he told
some Pharisees, he said, you're not my sheep. You're not My sheep. My sheep hear My voice. You're
not them. Sheep are those that the Father chose. But what does
this mean, the sins of the whole world? It means that all of those,
Jew and Gentile, chosen out of every tongue and people and nation
and kindred, not just the Jews, but for all God's elect, We need an advocate for propitiation. I told you this story. This is
a true story. I've told you this story before,
but I think this is so applicable. I'm going to tell you again.
I had a good friend of mine back in Franklin years ago, Jay Bird
Beasley. When I moved to Franklin, Jay
Bird and I became good friends, and we had a lot Pleasant times
to talk together about the gospel. Jay worked at a convenience store
and one day a big strapping young fellow came in and he bought
some beer. Jay sold it to him and didn't
check his ID. He was underaged. Police caught the guy and asked
him where he got the beer. Told him he bought it up there
at the log cabin. They went back and asked, boy,
is this the guy that sold it to you? Yeah, this is him. Jay
didn't know what was happening. And a police officer gave him
a ticket. And he was going to have a court
date. So he came to town and called me up.
He said, I've got to go to court tomorrow. Would you go to court?
He said, Marvin, I didn't know. I didn't know what was going
on. I just, he said, I just, I didn't realize what I'd done.
I just sold a guy, he said, looked old enough. He said, I should
have checked it. I didn't realize it. I was ignorant of it. He
said that I had a guy that came in a day or two after that and
told me that he was an attorney, saw that my case was coming up,
you know, on the docket here. He said he'd represent me. He
said, I told him, he said, I don't have any money. I can't pay you. Guy said, that's all right. He
said, don't worry about it. He said, I'll take care of it.
Don't worry about it. Jay said, I'm just telling you up front,
I don't have any money. Guy said, that's fine. Didn't see the guy
again. We showed up for court that day, and I went in with
him, and we were sitting there. First five or six cases came
up. I remember one of them in particular.
There was a young girl there, and she was well along in her
pregnancy. And she went before this judge. And this judge, it was a woman
there. Jane Franks was her name. And
she was known, buddy. She was tough. She was fair,
but she was tough. And this young girl stood there.
And the judge said, I see you have 15 counts of insufficient
funds, checks. She said, yes, ma'am. She said,
I've had a tough time. I've had a tough pregnancy. And she said, I understand. She
said, you have until 5 o'clock today to have these checks taken
care of. And if they're not taken care
of, you'll be in my jail tonight. Next. Boy came up, DUI, second
offense DUI. And he walked up there with his
mother. And Judge Frank said, this is your second offense,
DUI. And the mother said, yes, ma'am. He's had some tough times,
and he's just You know, we'd like to plea bargain. She said,
where's your attorney? She said, we're going to represent
ourselves. She said, let me tell you something. She said, I'm
going to change this, told the bailiff. She said, you reschedule
this for 30 days. And she looked at that boy and
she said, I'm going to tell you something. She said, you have
an attorney when you come before me and don't you ever approach
me without an attorney again, ever. Do you understand that?
And don't you ever come up here thinking that you're going to
plead your own case. You are not going to plead your case
before me. Next. And they called Jay Bird's name,
and my heart sunk. And he started to stand up, and
the young man that came up, that attorney, was sitting on the
front row. And he raised his hand. He said, Judge, he said,
that's my client. I represent him. And she looked at that attorney,
saw what happened, and she went, that's fine. That'll be OK. I'll
talk to you after court. Next. I thought never in my life have
I ever seen anything that showed me the need of an advocate, one
that speaks the language of a judge. I don't even know the law. I
don't know the rules. I don't know the regulations.
And I'm telling you, I knew just enough about that judge that
I didn't want to go before her without an advocate. I mean to
tell you, buddy, she put people in jail. And they stayed there
until things were reconciled. She meant business. But there's
one before whom we're going to stand that I'm going to tell
you something, that this woman is going to stand before. If
any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ
the righteous. And He is the propitiation. And
not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world.
May the Lord add His blessing upon these words for Christ's
sake. Amen.