Turn with me, if you would, to
1 John, chapter 2. 1 John, chapter 2. The gospel is good news, isn't
it? The word gospel means good news. It means glad tidings. That's what our text is today,
good news, glorious news. This is amazing, relieving, thankworthy
news. 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, Jesus Christ the righteous."
That's good news, isn't it? For a true child of God, the
longer he or she lives on this earth, the better news that becomes. The better news. If any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Have you sinned? Have you ever
sinned? Sure you have. We all have. The Apostle John just said in
chapter 1 verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. Verse 10 says, if we say
that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not
in us. We're calling him a liar. That's
a sin. Romans 3 23 says all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. I believe most everybody knows
that. I believe most everybody knows and would admit that. I believe everybody would say,
I have sinned. But I also believe, I sincerely
do believe that even though men and women realize that they have
sinned. I believe most men and women
don't realize that there is a just punishment coming for their sin. I believe many women, men and
women don't realize that. I believe masses of people leave
this world with no clue of the immediate suffering and punishment
and condemnation that awaits them. Many, many people. And
when there's no real knowledge of certain punishment and condemnation
for sin, there's no real need for a remedy of sin. If you don't
have a real knowledge of what is about to come, there's no
sense of urgency in the matter. There's no sense of urgency. This is a true story from maybe
the 1940s or the 1950s. But a man was driving a truck
leaving Vicksburg, Mississippi. And it was nighttime. And out
in the country, pitch black, pouring rain. And he couldn't
see. Couldn't see where he was driving.
And it was raining so hard, the river started rising. And one
river flooded to the point that it washed the bridge out on the
road he was driving on. And you couldn't, the terrain
was such that you couldn't really see the bridge and see that it
was out until it was too late. And he drove his truck out into
the river. And he got out of his truck and
he fought the current. He swam to the bank. He crawled
up this muddy, pouring rain, muddy bank, and he went back
up to the road to start warning people. And a car came, and he
started waving his arms, hollering, the bridge is out! And he looked
like a swamp person. He was covered in mud, he looked
awful, and the car didn't want to stop for him, and drove right
past him, went over the bank into the river. So another car
started coming. He got more into the road, hollering,
the bridge is out. The car swerved around him and
went right over into the river. He said he hollered the bridge
is out for 45 minutes before a car finally stopped. And by
that point, I believe it was 18 cars that went into that river
and three people died from it. Now, the problem for all 18 of
those cars was they had no idea what was waiting for them just
over that little hill. Therefore, they had no urgency
in the matter. And that's the problem that men
and women face today. They know that they are going
to have to leave this world and go meet God. People talk all
the time about crossing that river of death, you know. They know they're going to have
to cross that river, but they have no idea what is waiting
on the other side. No idea. They think their road
is just going to continue. We're on the road, and we're
going to cross that river, and then the road's just going to
continue. Having no idea, their bridge is out. And it's because
of their own sin. because of their own sin. In
2 Peter 3, this is just one page back for me, but 2 Peter 3, verse
1, it says, This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you,
in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance,
that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken by the
holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord
and Savior. Knowing this first that there
shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts
and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth
standing out of the water and in the water. whereby the world
that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the
heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are
kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment
and perdition of ungodly men." Judgment and perdition, that
means destruction, damnation, perishing ruin. of ungodly men. Verse 10 says, But the day of
the LORD will come as a thief in the night, in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. What does that mean? That
means judgment is coming. Judgment is coming. Why? Sin. Sin against God. That's the reason why. Turn with
me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians 1, the middle of
verse 7 says, The Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance
on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction From the presence of the Lord and from the glory
of His power. Most people read that and say,
well that's not going to be me. Most people read that and say,
that's not going to be me. Why not? That's talking about
those who have sinned. Not obeyed. Those who have not
obeyed. Have you sinned? Have I sinned? If we have in our sin, that's
talking about us. Look with me at Matthew 7. Matthew 7 verse 13, enter ye
in at the straight gate. Four, wide is the gate and broad
is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in
there at. Because straight is the gate
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that
find it. Destruction, many, life, few. Yeah, but that's talking about
people who don't go to church. If you go to church, you're fine,
right? That's what people think. That's
talking about all those who don't make the effort to go to church.
If you go to church, you're fine, right? No. Look at verse 21. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, But he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me ye that
work sin. This is what is just over that
hill. This is what's waiting in that
river for sinners. Are you a sinner? And the reason
I ask that is because I'm a sinner. Adam was a sinner. Abraham was
a sinner, Isaac was a sinner, Jacob was a sinner, Moses was
a sinner, David was a sinner, Solomon was a sinner, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Mary, all sinners,
all sinners, all have sinned, and that's what's waiting for
sinners. Well, if that's the case, then
what hope do any of us have? It's this right here. And this
is critical. This is just critical. This is
tedious. Our eternity hangs on this. There is one advocate for sinners. That means there's only one Pope
for sinners. There's only one person who can
plead to the Father on behalf of sinners. There's only one
person who can make intercession and can appease the wrath of
God for sinners. And that one person is Jesus
Christ the righteous. Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Now, let me just point out why
these church goers were not justified and were condemned. It's because
they tried to advocate for themselves. And this is what men and women
do all day, every day, men and women are going to meet God all
day, every day. It's happening right now. And
this is what men and women do all day every day. They tried
to plead their own case. They stand there trying to plead
their own case. Justify themselves. They bring their own intercession.
That's the great error of false religion. False religion causes
men and women to believe that they can be their own advocate
saying to God, I, I, we. The truth causes men and women
to believe that there is only one man who can advocate for them. Therefore,
their cry before God is he, he, Christ, Christ, and that's it. That's it. Church or no church
is not the difference. Christ or no Christ, that's the
difference. He is the only hope that any
of us have before the judgment throne of God Almighty. He's
the only hope. Go back to the text, 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. The good news
of salvation and redemption from condemnation and sin and the
free gift, the free grace of God, this good news is not a
license to sin. It's not a license to sin. Christ
did not come to destroy the law. He came to fulfill it. And salvation
by grace and not by works, that's not a license to sin. Verse one
says, my little children, these things write I unto you that
you sin not. But here's the glorious news
of the gospel. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. If we have sinned,
There is one who can and will go to God and will plead mercy
and redemption for sinners in his own blood. And that one is
Jesus Christ the righteous. Look with me at Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9 verse 22, it says, almost all things are
by the law purged with blood. And without shedding of blood
is no remission. The only thing that can actually
make a payment for sin is blood. And it can't be sinful blood,
it has to be righteous blood. And Jesus Christ is the only
one who has it. Look at verse 11, it says, But
Christ being come, and high priest of good things to come, by a
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption. for us. It took Him
shedding His own precious blood to put away the sin of His people. That's what it took for Him to
advocate and satisfy and make intercession to God for the sin
of His people. It took something that none of
His people could offer God. Sinless, righteous, holy blood. Now, what's the conclusion to
all this? Here it is. When it is our time
to leave this world and to go stand before God, I think about
this all the time. In that day, it's going to be
more real than today. You wonder, what's it going to
be like? It's going to be very, very real. More, much, much more
real than the fact that I'm standing before you right now. It's going
to be much more real that I will be standing before the judgment
throne of God. When it is our time to leave
this world and to go stand before God, we will either, we'll do
one of two things. We will either try to make intercession
to God on our own behalf or Christ will make intercession to God
for us. One of those two things will
happen. Either we will plead our works
and our goodness and our decision and all those things as a payment
to God for our sin, or we will plead Christ's blood alone as
a payment to God for our sin. It'll be one of those two things.
If we plead ourselves and try to make our own intercession
to God for sin, we will hear Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. And it's because sin is mixed
with everything that we do. Our best state is altogether
vanity. But if we plead the blood of
Jesus Christ, our advocate, Then we are going to hear, welcome
in, thou blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you. We're going to hear that. Plead
Christ and not ourselves. Plead the blood of Christ, the
righteousness of Christ. What that means is point to him. Look to Him, trust Him, cast
your all on the Lord Jesus Christ because He is the only advocate
to God that there is. He's the only one. Now, I went back and forth on whether
or not to tell you this, but I'm going to. Years ago, a few
of us in this room knew a man named James Beasley. I was very
young. I knew him, I don't know, 8,
9, 10, up into my teenage years. He was a store clerk. a convenience
store clerk. He ran a cash register at a convenience
store in the town that some of us grew up in. And everybody
called him J-Bird, James Beasley. And everybody called him J-Bird.
And one night, a man, a young man, underaged man, came into
the convenience store and put something up on the counter that
he wasn't old enough to buy. And J-Bird sold it to him. And
then later on that night, the young man was pulled over and
the police asked him, where'd you get this? And he said, well,
I bought it at this convenience store over here. So they brought
that young man into the store and they asked Jaybird, did you
sell him this? And he said, yeah. And they said,
did you card him? He said, no, I thought he looked
old enough. So they said, well, you're going
to have to appear in court for this. And they gave him a ticket.
And the police told him, you can't pay this ticket. This is
not a payable ticket. You can't just make the payment
and go on about your life. This offense is considered very
severe in our state. And you have to appear before
the judge. Well, that upset him pretty bad. He was pretty torn up over that.
Jay was very close to my dad. They were good friends. They
spent a lot of time together. And he confided in dad that he
was pretty upset about it. Not too long after that, a little
while after that, a lawyer came into the convenience store. and
asked him, are you Mr. Beasley? And he said, yes, I
am. And he said, well, I'm a lawyer,
and I noticed your case on the docket, and I just wanted to
come and leave you my card, you know, if you would like to have
some representation. And Jay Bird said, I appreciate
it, but I can't afford a lawyer. Jay did not have much. He said, I'm just going to have
to represent myself. Thank you for coming in, but
I just can't afford it. The guy said, you know, that's all right.
He said, don't worry about it. I'll just take care of it. And
Jay said, well, I really can't afford to pay you anything. He
said, no, don't worry about it. I'll just take care of it. And Jay said, OK. Jay never heard
from that guy ever again. Never. He never called the number
on the card. He couldn't pay the guy. He never
heard from that guy ever again. Well, some time passed, and they
finally gave Jay a court date. And he called my dad the day
before and said, I have to appear in court tomorrow for this thing
that happened. He said, I'm pretty nervous about
it. Would you go with me? And my dad said, yeah, I'll go
with you. So they got there the following morning, and the courtroom
was full of people. It was just plumb full. All of
these cases. And they noticed immediately
that the appointed judge for the day was a lady named Judge
Franks, who had a huge reputation in town for being very strict,
very harsh in her judgments. And everybody was like, great,
it's Judge Franks. Case after case, this judge showed
no mercy to anybody. None whatsoever. She was just
laying down the law. Dad said he was immediately shocked
at how tough she was on people that he even thought ought to
catch a little bit of a break. He said, my heart was, was breaking
for some people. He said, a young lady stood up
and she was pregnant and she had 15 counts of hot checks. And she stood up before judge
Franks. And Judge Frank said, why do you have 15 counts of
hot checks? And this girl tried to play the
sympathy card. She said, Your Honor, I've had some trouble
with my baby. I've had some complications, and things have just been so
hard. And if you could just, Judge
Frank said, I tell you what, either you make good on every
single check by 5 o'clock today, or you're going to be in my jail
tonight. Next. Every case that came, she was
getting more firm and more hard. She was getting more mad. And
the reason is because, here's the reason why. Nobody had representation. And it was a pet peeve of hers.
She did not like it at all. Every time that this happened,
she got more and more mad. Dad said this was her exact phrase. Somebody would come up, and she
would first thing say, do you have representation? Every single person said, no,
your honor. I'm representing myself. All of those people had to come
for different reasons. They were all told, you're going
to have to appear before this judge. They said, OK. They came. All of them said, no, I'm representing
myself. All of them. She would say, I
cannot believe that someone would have the nerve to come into my
courtroom without representation. Every person who was sitting
there listening to this was scared to death, including Jay, including
my dad. He said, I started getting so
scared, and I wasn't even on trial. I didn't even have to
stand up. But he said, the room was just so tense. And he said,
I was thinking, poor Jay. He's here by himself. I'm here
with him, but I'm not his representative. I'm not going to stand up with
him. Well, one case after the next,
Judge Frank said, do you have representation? No, Your Honor. She'd throw the book at him and
say, next. Next. Next. Called a boy up. His mother got up with him. She
looked him right in the eye and said, do you have representation?
No, Your Honor, I don't. She said, I'm moving this case,
I'm appointing you a lawyer, and don't you ever step foot
in my presence ever again without a lawyer. Next. And the clerk cried. James Beasley. Dad said his heart sunk. He said, I was so scared. As James started standing up,
that lawyer was on the front row. And that lawyer stood up. They
didn't even know he was there until he stood up. It was just
a crowded room. As James was getting up, that
lawyer stood up and he said, your honor, I represent Mr. Beasley. And he said, with your permission,
I'll speak with you about his case after this court session
is over. And Dad said, her whole countenance
changed. And she looked at that lawyer
and said, that'll be fine. Next. Jay Bird didn't seek a lawyer.
That lawyer sought him. Jay Bird didn't pay for the lawyer.
The lawyer did it of his own free will. Jay Bird didn't say
anything. He didn't do anything. The lawyer
took care of it all. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done for his people. That's the very thing that Christ
has done for his people. And on that day, oh, may we just
say, Him, Him, just see Him, look to Him. If any man has sinned,
if any woman has sinned, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. That's gonna be the greatest
news. We think it's good news now, just wait till that day.
Wait till that day. When Gabe Stoniker is called,
and the Lord Jesus Christ says, I represent him. You can see me about him. That'll
be fine. Next. Thank God. All right.