Let us turn to God's Word and
turning to that portion of scripture we were reading just now in the
first epistle general of John I want this morning to direct
your attention to the opening two verses of chapter 2 in 1st
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 an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous,
and He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for us only,
but also for the sins of the whole world. We have mentioned then of Christ
here in His office as an Advocate. Interestingly the particular
word that is rendered Advocate is that one from which we obtain
the English word Paraclete and we added of course just now in
that opening hymn that we sang addressed to God the Holy Spirit
but also spoken of there as a paraclete, fountain of joy, blessed paraclete. And it's the same word that we
have in the Gospel, those chapters in John, chapters 14, 15, and
16, where Christ speaks of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and
repeatedly we have the word comforter. In fact, It is the same word
that is rendered advocate here in our text this morning. It's an interesting word. It's
in fact a combination of two words in the original. The first
part of that word has the idea of one who comes alongside. I suppose we have it also in
the word parallel. When things are parallel they
run side by side and that's the first part of this particular
word. To come alongside and the other
part has the idea of calling or pleading. It's one then who
comes alongside to please and you can see how the translators
of our authorised version are very accurate then when they
translate the word here by an advocate one who stands beside
another in the law court and pleads his case that's the word
that we have then and remember the desire of Job, back in Job
chapter 16, or that one might plead for a man with God, as
a man pleaded for his neighbor. There is one, of course, who
hates men, that archangel, that fallen angel, even the devil
Satan himself, he is the accuser of the brethren, which accuseth
them day and night before God. All but there is one who answers
all his wicked accusations. When he comes, the devil to accuse,
so often of course, consciences are startled and we have to accept
the truth of what he is saying as he issues those charges against
us. but later in this very epistle
we're told if our hearts condemn us God is greater than our hearts
and knoweth all things even when our consciences as well as Satan
then are the accusers oh there is that God and he has made every
provision and made that provision in the person of the one who
is spoken of in these verses but not only an advocate a paraclete,
and all the comfort that that brings, but one who is also spoken
of in the second verse as the propitiation for our sins. And that reminds us of the fact
that he has also made the great sin-atoning sacrifice. He has
answered all the charges of the holy law of God. He has satisfied
the just wrath of God who is angry with the wicked every day. And so, as we consider these
two verses for a while this morning, I simply want us to consider
the Lord Jesus Christ here as a paraclete and a propitiation. A paraclete and a propitiation. My little children, these things
write unto you that ye 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 us only, but also
for the sins of the whole world. First of all, to say something
with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ, because He is the One
who is the subject matter, principally being spoken of in this part
of God's Word. Now, when we think of the person
of Christ, we think of him as that one who is God and man,
the great mystery of godliness, the great mystery of the incarnation.
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. He's never anything less than
the eternal son of God, the son of the Father in truth and in
love, never ceasing to be that. He is God of God, Light of Light,
very God of very God in the language of the ancient creeds. And yet,
he is also that one who became a man, a real man in the fullness
of the time when God sends him forth. And how fitted he is then,
when we think of him as God-man, to stand between God and man. to be an advocate for men in
the high courts of heaven. But here, He is referred to simply as Jesus
Christ. Normally, we would have that
threefold name, He is the Lord Jesus Christ, and of course each
of the names is significant. Lord reminds us that He is God, Jesus reminds us that he is man,
that's his human name, and Christ reminds us of his office, he
is the Messiah. But here he is simply referred
to as Jesus Christ, the human name and the official name. But see what he is, he is Jesus
Christ, the righteous. Jesus Christ the righteous. Oh
God has provided one then who himself is all righteousness. And when we read in prophecy
the promise of his coming, that God would indeed send him into
this world at the appointed time. The language that we have for
example in Isaiah 45a, drop down your heavens from above. and
let the skies pour down righteousness, let the earth open, let them
bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together,
I the Lord have created it." Or there is something that the
Lord God has created, there is some wondrous work that the Lord
God has done by the coming of Christ. When He comes into this
world, in that mystery of the Incarnation, that miracle of
the virgin birth, what is that that is conceived in the womb
of the virgin Mary? It is that holy thing. It's a
sinless human nature, no taint of any of Adam's sin, he is free
from all sin in his birth. and as in his birth, so in his
life. He is holy, he is harmless, he
is undefiled, he is separate from sinners, he is made higher
than the heavens. He is the righteous, the righteous
one. And the Lord is well pleased
for his righteousness sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable. How he has come then to stand
in that law place of all His people. That is the significance
of His coming, the purpose of His coming. When the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth His Son of a woman made
under the law to redeem them that were under the law that
they might receive the adoption of sons. Oh, He has honored the
law for his people and honoured the law both positively and negatively
both actively and passively we might say he has honoured it
in his life by obeying every precept, every commandment he
has fulfilled all righteousness but he has also honoured it in
his death because there upon the cross he is bearing all the
penalties of that law that was broken by his people. He is suffering
that punishment that was there just desert. All that law of
God, that law Paul says is a holy law. That commandment is holy,
it's just. It's good. And Christ is that
one who has come to stand as the surety of his people and
obeyed all the commandments of that righteous law on their behalf. Christ is the end of the law,
we're told, for righteousness to everyone that believes. What a remarkable provision.
And that one who was brought the full satisfaction
to the Lord of God in terms of all its holy precepts, is the
same one who has then gone to the cross and died as the substitute
of his people. and born in His own person, that
punishment that was there just as it. God hath made Him to be
seen for us, Paul says, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. This is the one then that he's
being spoken of, Jesus Christ the righteous. This is the name
whereby He shall be called, says Jeremiah the Lord, our righteousness
and thou as he is that one who is the righteousness of his people
that one who has satisfied all of God's law in every sense of
the word in precept as well as in penalty so doesn't the prophet
go on to speak of those who are in him as bearing the same name
He is the bridegroom, the church is his bride. And this is the
name wherewith she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Compare those verses in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 23, 6 and Jeremiah 33,
16. It's the same name that is given
to Christ as is given to all those who are in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now here, we read of him as an
advocate. This one, this person, is an
advocate. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. Well, when we think of the imagery
of the law court, I'm sure we would recognize that when a barrister
stands forth to represent his clients the moral character of
that particular person who is the barrister is not at all important because that's not the person
on trial although he might be an unjust
man himself He is standing there and he might well be pleading
a very just cause on behalf of someone else. But here we have
one, you see, who is a righteous advocate. And a righteous advocate
is that one who well serves those who feel their own sinnership. And when we consider that this
one who is their advocate, as we've already sought to demonstrate,
is in Scripture set forth also as their surety and their substitute,
how fitted this one is to represent poor, needy sinners. He is Jesus, who is made the
surety, we're told, of a better covenant. He pleads and he pleads
for sinners because he is not just their advocate, he is also
their Savior. He's pleading for those who are
spoken of at the end of the previous verse. Look at the context of
the text that we're considering this morning. What do we read
there at the closing part of that opening chapter if we say
that we have no sin? We deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us. How John is emphasizing
the necessity of us recognizing what we are, where we are, all
we're not to deceive ourselves. And we're not to make God to
be a liar. We're to acknowledge what we
are as sinners. My little children, John says,
these things I write unto you that ye sin not. He is concerned
that they should be altogether delivered from their sins. But
he adds this, if any man sin, we have an advocate. Oh, if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ,
the righteous. Who does he represent? He's representing
those who feel sin to be a dreadful reality. And it is a reality
for them before God. He's an advocate. With who? With
the Father. That's with God the Father. And these people feel their sins.
Those are men and women like unto David. And what does David
say against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil
in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest,
and be clear when thou judgest? David recognizes that God is
the just one, God is the righteous one. And what has David done
in his adultery and in his murderous sin, but he's not just sinned
against men and women, he's sinned against God, he's sinned before
God himself. And God is true. Yea, let God
be true. But every man a liar. That's what David is saying.
And these characters, you see, they are those who acknowledge
their sins. And what can they say? They cannot speak for themselves. They are convicted, they are
convinced, they are reproved by the Lord of God which is holy
and just and good. Whatever things the law said,
it said to them who are under the law that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world become guilted before God. These are the guilty ones. These
are the guilty ones. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous. Well, we see him
there in the Old Testament. Those words that we have right
at the end of the book of Proverbs, the words of the wise man. Look
at the language that we have. Proverbs 31.8 Open thy mouth
for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to
destruction. Open thy mouth judge righteously
and plead the cause of the poor and needy this is what this advocate
does he pleads the cause of the poor and the needy and advocates
with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation
for our sins and not for our own but also for the sins of
the whole world well let us in the second place, consider this
propitiation that is made by him who is the advocate. He's
not only the paraclete, that one who stands beside another
and pleads his cause, he's much more than that, as we've already
intimated. What is being spoken of here
at the beginning of verse 2 is Christ's sacrifice. His sacrifice. and is spoken of in terms of
propitiation. Sometimes it might be spoken
of in terms of expiation. Now I know these are technical
words, theological words, but they're important words. And
certainly we have to recognize that this is a biblical word.
Now, what is the difference? There are various aspects, of
course, to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. When we speak in
terms of expiation, we're thinking more of the manhood aspect. Man, as a sinner, is guilty. Oh, he's guilty, and justice
demands that he receives the just recompense for what he has
done, the soul that sinneth. It dies. That's what God said
right at the beginning there to Adam in the Garden of Eden
in the day that they eat us thereof, and that was an act of disobedience.
You do that, you're guilty of disobeying God's commandment,
Adam. in the day that thou eatest hereof
thou shalt surely die there's guilt and guilt must
be expiated there must be satisfaction to the holy righteous and just
Lord of God but there's also the Godward aspect when he comes
to the sins of men there's the wrath of God God cannot wink at sin. God is angry with the wicked.
Every day it says. He will by no means clear the
guilty. This is the God that we are dealing
with. And see here again how he speaks of this Advocate in
terms of his business with the Father. We have an Advocate with
the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. And
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for us only, but
also for the sins of the whole world. Is Jesus Christ the Righteous
One? Well, God the Father is also
the Righteous One. Remember how the Lord Jesus addresses
His Father in that great prayer, that high priestly prayer of
John 17. And there at verse 25 He says,
Righteous Father. or the father is a righteous
father previous to that he speaks of him as a holy father in verse
11 he's the holy one of Israel or thou art of purer eyes and
to behold evil and canst not look upon iniquity that's a God
that's a God who is the judge of all the earth, the one that's
being spoken of here. And yet, here is the amazing
thing, this God who can by no means clear the guilty, this
God who is the Holy and the Righteous One. and deals with His people,
how He deals with His covenant people in the Old Testament because
of their sins, what awful judgments He visits upon them time and
again. He doesn't wink at their sins.
And yet this is that God who has made such a remarkable provision
in the person of His only begotten Son. What do we read later in
this very same epistle? Chapter 4 and verse 10. Here
in His love Not that we love God, but that He loved us and
sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, or the wonder of
it. He has sent His Son because He
loved sinners so much. That Son in whom we read He was
daily the Father's delight, rejoicing always before Him. What a love
there was between the persons in the Godhead why are we not
told in this epistle in chapter 3 that God is love on two occasions
there in verse 8 and again in verse 16 God is love and God
is love in and of himself without reference to any object outside
of himself because God is three persons in one undivided Godhead
and the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father
and the Father and the Son love and delight in the Holy Spirit
and the Holy Spirit loves the Father and the Son and God in
his very nature, in his very being is a God of love and how God loves and how the
Father then is making a remarkable gift and a great sacrifice when
He sends His only begotten Son to be the Saviour of sinners
here in His love that God should send His Son to be the propitiation. What does that mean? It means
that God poured out all His wrath upon the person of His Son in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how He did it. He poured
it out upon His Son in order to save the sinner Now, as God
is love, so God is also a merciful God, surely He is. But you see,
this word that we have here, the propitiation, is a remarkable
word. We've said something with regards
to the word rendered advocate, a paraclete, but it's the same
also here with regards to this word. that rendered propitiation
in the second verse it's the same word or the word from the
same roots that we have in Luke 18 where the Lord speaks of those
two men who go to the temple at the hour of prayer and one
was a Pharisee and one was a publican, a tax gatherer, working for the
hated Roman authorities. And how the Lord speaks of those
two men, and which is the man that goes to his house justified,
not the self-righteous man, not the Pharisee, but the poor publican. And there's a contrast, isn't
there, between the prayers of those two men, how the one, the
Pharisee, congratulates himself before God, thanks God that he's
not as other men are. and then looks upon this despised
Pharisee. I'm not like this man. And tells
God of all the things that he does. But what do we read of
the prayer of the publican? Well, he cries out and says,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Or literally, God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. The definite article is there.
He's the sinner. As if he's the only sinner. When
Paul calls himself the chief of sinners, writing there in
1 Timothy 1, well, this publican would also call himself the chief
of sinners. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. But that word, merciful, is from
exactly the same root as this word's propitiation and it could
equally as well have been rendered God be propitious to me the sinner could have equally as well been
rendered that way would be a good rendering of the word that's
there in the original and then furthermore We find the word
propitiation, remember, in Romans 3 and verse 25 concerning the
Lord Jesus. Paul speaks of Christ Jesus whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. A propitiation for our sins through
faith in his blood. Now, again, the word that we
have there And it's exactly the same word now, it's not just
from the same root. But if we turn to Hebrews 9 and
verse 5, where the apostle Paul is describing something of the
furnishings that are used there in the tabernacle of the Lord,
and he makes mention of the mercy seat. And that word, mercy seat,
is the identical word to what we have in Romans 3.25
and so we could have rendered Romans 3.25 God hath set forth
to be a mercy search speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ whom
God hath set forth to be a mercy search through faith in his name
or when we come you see, when we come to God in prayer we come
to the mercy see, we come into the Lord Jesus Christ we're pleading
with God but really we're asking that the Lord Jesus Christ would
be our chief pleader our prayers are such poor prayers oh but
there's one there in heaven, he's at God's right hand and
he's an advocate, he's a pleader and he's a propitiation for our
sins oh this is the wonder of that provision that God has made
now in the third place Who are those who have an interest in
these things? And so, having said something
with regards to Christ as that One who is our Advocate, our
Paraclete, the propitiation that He has made by the shedding of
His precious blood, finally, let us consider something of
the people of Christ. Who are the people of Christ?
Well, who has He made propitiation for? John writes, he's made propitiation for our
sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. Now what is the significance
of this, our sins? Well, John of course is a Jew,
and the great divide as we come to the New Testament is that
between Jew and Gentile. And now Paul in his epistles
has to really deal with it. He certainly has to do that with
regards to the Galatian epistle. Because Paul is that one who
is the apostle to the Gentiles. The gospel is to go to the Gentiles
as well as to the Jews. And as John writes here, and
he's writing very much with a Jewish background behind him, he says
that Christ is not only the propitiation for the sins of the Jews, but
for the sins of the Gentiles also. That is the significance
of what he is saying. The people of God are now to
be found not only amongst the Jews. That was the case in the
Old Testament. You only have I known of all
the families of the earth, God says. And remember the language
that we find, for example, in the end of Psalm 147, "...he showeth his word unto
Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt
so with any nation, and as for his judgments they have not known
them." That's how it was then in the Old Testament. God dealt
with that people in such a fashion they were a typical people they
were a type of the true people of God but when we come to the
New Testament we discover that God's God's Israel is not just
ethnic Israel it's not just a nation those who descended from Jacob
and the twelve tribes God's Israel is never spiritual Israel and
it's Gentiles as well as Jews and that's what
John is saying here in the second verse but it is it's interesting
also to see how often times the words world or all or every might
be used in scripture and yet with to always consider the word
in its in its context I think for example of language that
we find in Hebrews and there in the in the second chapter
of Hebrews where Paul speaks of the man
remember he's quoting isn't he from Psalm 8 what is man that
they weren't mindful of him and then we come to the man we see
Jesus verse 9 we see Jesus who was made a little lower than
the angels He became a man for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste
death for every man, it says. Now who is every man? Is that every man in the world?
No, it's not. Because in the subsequent verses
there, Paul goes on to define who every man is. And look at
what follows. in verse 10 he speaks of those
who are sons in verse 11 those who are sanctified and brethren
again in verse 12 he speaks of them as brethren and the church
in verse 13 they are the children they are the children which God has given them so we
have to read we have to read these these verses in context
It's not that the scripture is teaching that Christ died for
every man. That he's the propitiation for
everybody in the world. Because we know from scripture
that Christ did not die for the goats, he died for the sheep. And so read those verses there
in Hebrews 2. by the grace of God Christ has
tasted death for every man for it became him for whom are all
things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings
for both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all
of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren
saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst
of the church will I sing praise unto thee and again I will put
my trust in him and again behold I and the children which God
hath given me and so it becomes so apparent because these things
you're probably aware some of you I'm sure are aware John Gill
in that little book The Cause of God and Truth deals with these
passages to show the truth of what was accomplished by the
dying of the Lord Jesus, who it is that he made propitiation
for. It's even for those that God
had given to him, the children which God gave to him in the
eternal covenant. Who then are those who have an
interest in the truths that we have in this particular text
this morning? Well, it's peoples from all the
nations of the earth, all sorts of peoples. But also, we see,
they are referred to as little children. "'My little children,'
says John, "'these things I write unto you that ye sin not.'" "'My
little children.'" Now, we can understand that naturally. the
epistle is written by this man John and he was the last surviving
apostle he was an old man he was certainly an old man when
he was exiled on the isle of Patmos in the book of Revelation
he's an old man here and so he writes to these believers and
he wants to encourage them But they're not only little children
to John in a physical sense, but also spiritually. Also spiritually. We know how he goes on to address
believers at different stages of spiritual growth. There is
a growing in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. And we read, didn't we, how John
addresses people in these various categories. At verse 12, I write
unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you, for
his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because
you have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you,
young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto
you, little children, because you have known the Father. I
have written unto you fathers because you have known him that
is from the beginning I have written unto you young men because
you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have
overcome the wicked one he wants to encourage these people wherever
they are whatever stage of their spiritual development but surely
we see that he is concerned for the little ones and he calls
them my little children, my little children, they're young believers,
maybe they're weak believers, like those Konies, the feeble
people, making their home in the rocks that we read of in
the book of Proverbs. But here is John, you see, he's
concerned for them. And all of the apostles are,
when they come to the practical part of their epistles, how they
concern for those little ones, those weak ones, those feeble
ones. There in Romans 14 Paul says him that is weak in the
faith, receive ye but not to doubtful disputations. Not to
doubtful disputations. We don't have to pass theological
tests in order to be those who are the people of God and the
the saved of the Lord Jesus Christ. No big words of ready talking,
no dry doctrine will suffice. Broken hearts, humble walkers,
these are dear in Jesus' eyes. Well, that's what we need to
be. Not that I'm saying it's not good for us to want to expand
our minds and to understand something more of the wonders of that great
salvation that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. it's good and surely
if we have an appetite for the things of God and the things
of Christ we want to know more and more we want to be ransacking
the Bible that we might understand something more of the wonder
of God and the ways of God and all that he has provided for
us in the person of his only begotten son but now John you
see is concerned for those who are feeble and weak and such
can have an interest in this one, this advocate, this propitiation. And then, also these people,
we might say, in a sense, they're those who are the sanctified.
Why is John writing? Well, he tells us in the opening
sentence of the chapter, My little children, these things write
unto you, that ye sin not. Well, what is he seeking? He
wants them to be delivered from sin, delivered not only from
the wrath of God, delivered not only from the guilt of sin, but
also delivered from all the filth and the power of sin. That's
what he's concerned about. He's concerned for their sanctification. He writes these things throughout
the book that they might be delivered from sin in all its dreadful
forms. And where are they going to find
all that fullness of their salvation? It's in the Lord Jesus. Doesn't
Christ himself praise, sanctify them? Through thy truth thy word
is truth. And isn't the Lord Jesus Christ
that one who meets his people in all his offices? That with God he's made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, the deed of glory,
O let him glory in the Lord, O that we might glory then in
all that the Lord Jesus Christ is as the Saviour, this One who
is our Advocate, O this One who is our Paraclete. He's there
in heaven, He stands at the right hand of God and He pleads for
His people and He's not left us without one here a comforter
even in this life even God the Holy Ghost to dwell in our hearts,
that one who makes intercession for us with those groanings that
cannot be uttered. What a wondrous provision is
that that He's made it. The Lord Jesus, our Advocate
with the Father, the propitiation for our sins. He's answered all
our sins. He's dealt with the guilt of
our sins. He's answered the wrath of God.
and so if we confess our sins all God is faithful and just
God's faithfulness, God's justice as well as His mercy, His grace,
His love all that God is on the side of the sinner if we confess
our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness why? because we have one who
is all our righteousness even Christ, the Lord's, our righteousness. Well, the Lord bless His word
to us. Amen.