I have pleased Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in His Word. Let
us turn to the first epistle of John, the second chapter,
and we'll read verses 1 and 2. The first epistle of John, chapter
2, and reading verses 1 and 2. My little children, these things
write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have
and 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. when the Apostle speaks, as he
does, about also for the sins of the whole world. Of course
he doesn't mean physically everybody in the world. And I understand
that generally speaking in the writings at this time, the Hebrew
writings and the Greek writings when they spoke about the whole
world, it really referred to the Gentiles. So what it meant
was it wasn't the Jewish nation, the whole world meant also those
who were called from the Gentiles. So what a mercy to have a statement
like this in the Word of God for our encouragement. Because
we are unworthy sinners, we are great sinners and in and of ourselves
we have no ability to approach unto God the Father, the Almighty
God, who is holy and just and righteous and cannot look upon
sin. And therefore how is it possible,
how would it have been possible, for us to approach unto the Majesty
on High? And yet how very necessary and
how very needful Because we are on the earth as sinners and we
need to be able to come and to pray unto our God in heaven. Pray that that God will hear
and answer our prayer. Well here we have it spelled
out in these words. The Apostle addresses the Church
of God as little children. Indeed it's good if we read the
other parts The Lord Jesus tells us, accept ye become as little
children. It really means that you and
I should have a teachable spirit, come down to the level of a little
child and not think that we are beyond being instructed, beyond
being taught, because we are ignorant and because we are sinful. So it is really a very apt, a
very appropriate phrase to bring before us my little children. It is good therefore tonight,
if we are feeling in ourselves as just a little child, not anybody
of any importance, indeed somebody who is unimportant, somebody
who really doesn't deserve any notice. And yet to think the
Lord God, he takes notice of all his children. or his little
children. And what a blessing that is.
So the apostle tells us, my little children, these things write
I unto you, that ye sin not. Well of course we are not freed
from sin naturally because sin is in us. We are born in sin
and straight from iniquity. And sin is daily with us. And
it is something which is a burden. to the true church of God, sin
is a burden and therefore really our sins are a burden every day. Every day the things that the
devil brings into our mind, the devil puts into our mouth, perhaps
the devil causes us to action, all these things are sinful. and how we need therefore to
realise that we cannot cleanse ourselves, we cannot therefore
approach unto God the Father by ourselves, because we are
sinners, because by ourselves we are not just, we are unjust.
And so the Apostle goes on to say The chiefs did not. And if any man sinned, which
we do, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
Righteous. Surely that is wonderful news
to us tonight, to think that we do have an advocate. You might say, what is an advocate? Well, in natural terms, in our
law courts, an advocate is one who is retained by a client to
present his case before the judge. That's what an advocate is in
our natural law courts. And really, it is the same in
essence in this great and glorious statement. that we have and advocate
the Lord Jesus Christ. And as it were, we are his clients,
we are his children. And he takes our case, our sinful
condition, and presents it unto his Father. Now that doesn't
mean to say that our case is watered down. because God is
holy and God is just. And therefore we are not able
to hide our sins. We are not able to pretend our
sins don't exist. But what a blessing it is for
us to know that the glorious second person in the Trinity,
the Lord Jesus Christ, he comes And He speaks for us. He speaks
for us to His Father. And we do not have to present
our case. The Lord Jesus Christ presents
it and He presents it in that wonderful and perfect way. He doesn't present it and not
bringing forth our sins or anything like that. they are there, they
are to be seen, they are solemnly true. But the Lord Jesus Christ
points out to his Father that he has indeed taken away our
sins, all our sins. He has paid the price to redeem
us from our sins. And there we see the glory of
this heavenly Advocate, so superior to a natural Advocate, a natural
Barrister or Queen's Counselor who we may think of in our law
courts, who would present our case and no doubt plead for clemency
and plead for mercy on the behalf of those he represents. But here we have a far superior
advocate, one who not only presents our case, but tells the judge
that he has already paid the price that was necessary to free
us from the righteous law of condemnation. We cannot escape
God's righteous law. We are condemned by it. And what a good thing it is when
the Holy Spirit convinces us that we are condemned. We are
condemned. And we cannot free ourselves. And we have to plead for mercy
to our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is surely why when
the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Rome and those opening
verses in the 8th chapter tells us so very beautifully, there
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. That means all who are outside
of Christ are condemned eternally. but those who are in Christ,
that means those for whom Christ has died, those for whom Christ
has paid the price that was owing because of their sin. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus
who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit You may
remember of course this verse follows on from the 7th chapter
where the Apostle Paul speaks of his sinful nature, the sinful
condition that he has to cry out about and how he wasn't happy
with it, but how he had to confess it. He tells us I find in the
law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Isn't
that sad? Isn't that true? Why? It's because
we are born in sin and shaped in iniquity. We cannot free ourselves
from it. That's why we have such a statement
as we have here. When I would do good, evil is
present with me. we have the devil at our elbow. He's always there to tempt us. He's always there to bring wrong
thoughts into our mind. He's always there, if possible,
to produce wrong words from our mouth and wrong actions. But
then, says the Apostle, for I delight in the law of God after the inward
man That's the new creature. That's his new man. Not the old
man, it's his new creature. That which is born again in the
Spirit. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. And what an indication that is
of the grace of God in our hearts when we delight in righteous
things and we don't delight in unrighteous things. He says,
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. Well you see, captivity because
of sin. Oh Reshiman I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death. It's a great blessing. that Almighty
God influenced the Apostle to write such words of truth, which
I believe only the true Church of God understands. O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So tonight Do we thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord as our advocate, the one who takes our
case in hand, the one who speaks for us in heaven's high court
above. What a blessing that is. What
a mercy that we as unworthy sinners have such a glorious saviour. one who graciously condescends
to come to us. I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord, so then with a mind I myself serve the law of God,
but with a flesh the law of sin. What a difference, what a separation,
how the apostle is able to spread out wonderfully clearly. So he goes on and says, Therefore,
there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in the Spirit,
who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit. 4. The law of the Spirit, of
life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. What a blessing there is then
to have such a wonderful Saviour. We cannot underestimate the greatness
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the greatness of his work of
redemption and the glorious work that he carries out in heaven's
high court on our behalf as our advocate. Well, he really intercedes
for us. You might say what does that
word really mean, intercede, but I believe it can be also
translated as entreating, to thank the Lord Jesus Christ.
With all the millions of people billions of people, he takes
notice of an unworthy sinner like you and me and entreats
for us before his Father and our Father. What a mercy that
is. What a great blessing. Does that
not therefore produce in our hearts, I hope it does, true
thanksgiving to this great Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was
willing to therefore pay the price that he could stand here
as our Advocate in the presence of his Father and our Father,
because he lived that perfect life. He was tempted in all points
like as we are Again that's a glorious truth isn't it? Surely that should encourage
us to realise here we have a blessed Saviour who understands our temptation. That's why he is such an able
advocate. He doesn't therefore stand in
that place as someone who doesn't understand. He understands what
sore temptation is because he has felt the same. And it's hard
for us as sinners of the earth to appreciate that the Lord Jesus
Christ passed his way in order that he might be our advocate. Just ponder that great truth
that the Lord Jesus Christ lived for those 33 years in this sinful
world in order to fully understand and appreciate our condition
and our situation and then to willingly, willingly pay the
price needed to free us. He tells us in John's Gospel
If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Yes, what freedom there is. It's
a wonderful truth, isn't it? Wonderful to think that we are
free. Not because anything that we
have done, nothing that we can do, could possibly free us from
our sin. But the blessing is that you
and I are accepted in the Beloved. Well, what a mercy it is, what
a favour it is, what a blessing it is, and it is through Him,
the Lord Jesus Christ, as our Advocate. And it's good you know
if we have a right understanding of this, of the Lord Jesus Christ,
in what He does for us. When the Apostle Paul wrote to
the Ephesians, he tells us this. In the second
chapter from verse 15 I'll read. Having abolished In his flesh,
the enmity, even the law of commandment contained in ordinances, for
to making himself a twain one new man, so making peace. And that he might reconcile,
both under God, in one body, by the cross, having slain the
enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were
afar off, and to them that were nigh." By nature we are far off,
far off from God. We want to bless his Saviour.
He's come and preached peace to our hearts. and to them that
were nine. Then he says, for through him
we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. This is how
we have access, by the Spirit, through what the Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ has done. And because of that he is able
to go on and say, Now therefore ye are no more strangers and
foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints. and of the household
of God. The whole Church of God can join
together in praising the Lord for being their wonderful advocate
in the presence of God the Father. And we all form part of that
building, not because of anything that is meritorious to what we've
done, but all our merit is in the Savior. And so he says, in
whom all the building, every member of this building, every
true, born again, saint of this building, fitly framed together,
growth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are
built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." These
are great truths, aren't they? They are very humbling truths
to unworthy sinners. Sin is deserving endless punishment. Sin is deserving to be estranged
eternally from God and yet through his great love and mercy he has
laid down his life so that you and I might be possessors of
eternal life. And therefore we do have and
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. The Lord Jesus Christ, he suffered
in our place. He suffered for us. And that's
difficult for our natural minds to appreciate. that this great
and glorious Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, suffered for us,
in our place, on our behalf. What a mercy! What a mercy! The Apostle Peter, who knew very
well the value of the Lord Jesus Christ as his Advocate. He tells us in his first epistle
in the third chapter in verse 18. For Christ also hath once
suffered the sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring
us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by
the Spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits
in prison. which sometimes were disobedient,
when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of
Noah, while the ark was repairing, when few, that is eight souls,
were saved by water, the like figure whereunto even baptism
doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of
the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Well, to think that this
man, Almighty God, has died on our behalf, suffered all incarnate
God could bear, with strength enough and none to spare, and
has never underestimate the value of our salvation to think that
the Son of God, none less, was willing to suffer in our place
in order that he might bring us to God and in order that he
might be the justifier, yes, the one who was just and is just
And because of his sinless death has justified us. And if any man sin, we have. And advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. And the Apostle goes on to say,
and he is, the propitiation for our sins. The propitiation for
our sins. What does propitiation mean? I think it really means that
he is the expiator. That's the one who extinguishes
our guilt. This is what the glorious Saviour
has done for all this church. He's taken away our sins, every
sin. every sin. What a mercy. The
sins of our life, past, the sins today, the sins to come, have
all been washed away in the precious blood of the Redeemer. That's why we read in the Hebrews,
without shedding of blood there is no remission. It was God's
divine way and purpose to take away sin. And we have that picture,
do we not, right from Genesis, right through to Revelation.
That glorious sign of the shedding of blood. The power in it. The power to take away sin. The power to remove our sin. And He is. Not that He was, not
that He will be, but He is. He is. May such a great truth
be applied to our souls, that He is. He is. What a mercy to
have this great Saviour then who is the propitiation for our
sins. He is the Advocate, and he is
the propitiation. No one else, no one else could
have reached the standard that Jesus did. Because the standard
was to live a perfect life. There were saints in the Word
of God who were very gracious. We can think of some, Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob, they had their faults but they lived,
generally speaking, a faithful life. But you see, their lives
paled into insignificance in comparison with the Sages. He came into this sinful world
with that one project, you might say, and that was to save his
people from their sins. And the only way that was to
be accomplished by himself sacrificing, giving his life in place of ours,
that he might bear the punishment for all our sins. Well what a
blessing tonight if we have some little understanding and appreciation
that this blessed Saviour is today our Advocate. Just ponder that today. the Great God, the Creator of
all things, looking upon us, utterly, utterly evil, unworthy
sinners, and yet speaking on our behalf to His Father. Oh, and presenting us, faultless,
before the throne, we who are great sinners, to think that
we are presented faultless before the throne because of what Jesus
has done. These are great and glorious
truths. May the Holy Spirit apply them
to our souls so that we can really go on rejoicing, praising God
for his great blessed work in daily. Blessing God for His unspeakable
gifts. Amen.