Yeah, there's definitely that sweet bond. I'm so blessed. I've got four
children that I truly believe God saved. And their spouses. And then I believe in mama. and
a dad that the Lord's been pleased to take, and in-laws. And I'm so thankful to be here
with you. I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of 1 John, chapter
2. Brother Gene, thank you. Have blessed my heart. You know, every believer wants to hear the glorious gospel
of God's grace. And just tell me one more time. Just tell me one more time how
the Lord has put away my guilt. Just tell me. Tell me simply. Tell me truthfully. Give me some hope. John the Apostle, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, writes these words, John 2, 1 John 2. 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. Now here's an apostle, one that was called
by God, called personally by the Lord Jesus Christ, and taught
the gospel. Now you think about that. The
Lord personally taught John the gospel. The Lord sends pastors
and these pastors preach the words of the Lord Jesus. And
John heard the gospel from the Lord. gave him faith to believe. Through this apostle, the Lord
was pleased to call out some folks, and they're precious to
Him. He loves them. God's people love
God's people, but there's something special about seeing the Lord
Manifest himself to somebody and you watch him and you see
God Call him out of darkness and teach him And your heart
rejoices and he he says to my little children These things
write I unto you that you sin not now John knew that we're
sinners. He said in 1 John 1 and verse
8, if we say 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. But when he says, my little children, Sin not. Now let me let me ask you something.
Is there anything wrong with urging or encouraging a regenerated
sinner to not sin? Anything wrong with
that? I'm what he said. What I'm saying to you is I'm
warning you. I'm going to warn you about something. A very common, it's common to
all of us, temptation to do something. We're sinners. Now this is what
we are. And in this life, I'm going to
tell you, in this flesh, we're never going to get above it.
This is what we are. And we don't We don't have a
license to sin. I've heard people say, I heard
somebody say these very words. Well, I'm just a sinner. I can't
help it. The Lord saved me by grace. So,
it really doesn't matter. Yes, it does. My little children, we don't
joy or rejoice in knowing that we sin. The Lord said He's going to forgive
us. It's not the nature of a believer
to rejoice in that. Job said, I loathe myself. When I consider this truth of sin being with me. There is in my flesh there dwelleth
no good sin. It's not okay. It's not okay. It's dishonoring and it's painful. It is painful. Hold your place
right there. Turn with me to John 21, the
gospel according to John. Same writer. Remember when after
the Lord was risen from the dead and he It appeared to his disciples,
Thomas wasn't there the first time, then Thomas was there a
second time. And now here's in verse 21, John 21, John is speaking
from experience when he says, my little children, these things
write unto you that you sin not. Now he's speaking from experience. after the Lord had met with his
disciples, twice after he had risen from the dead. And now
we find that Peter had voiced this thought. John 21, after these things Jesus
showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias and on
this Y showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter,
Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, two sons
of Zebedee, and two other his disciples. And Simon Peter saith
unto them, I go a fishing. And as I've said before, I may
have said it here. He didn't mean I'm just going
out for the afternoon. Here's what he said. I quit.
I'm done. Now you think about this. I go And I know, I know that's
what he meant. I looked up the word, same word
that the Lord asked him. He said, will you go away also?
Peter said, where are we going to go? That Peter said, I go
a fishing. I'm going back. I'm going back
to what I was doing. And verse three, and they say
unto him, we also go with thee. They went forth and entered into
a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. When
the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples
knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children." I wonder how many times they'd
heard him call them that. How many times do you think that
he had referred to them as children? Children have you any meat? How's
it going for you out there? They answered him no And he said
unto them cast the net on the right side of the ship and you
shall find they cast therefore Now they were not able to draw
in for the multitude of fishes therefore that disciple whom
Jesus loved John he's talking about John said, saith unto Peter, it's
the Lord. And we're out here in the boat.
And he knows, knows what was said. When Simon Peter heard
that it was the Lord, he girded his fisher's coat unto him. He
was naked, cast himself into the sea. Now listen, John, was
speaking from experience. He knew. He knew what he had
done. And it wasn't, it wasn't that
Peter had done it. John did it. Didn't blame Peter,
but Peter said, no. John was one that said, I go
with you, I'm going with you, Peter. My little children, these
things write unto you that you sin not. These things I'm going
to write something to you so that you can read it again. I'm
so glad this is written down and you've all got a copy of
it and we're just going to read it together. These things write
so you can read it over and over again that you sin not. I'm talking to people that know
and agree with the Apostle Paul. I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into the captivity
of the law of sin that's in my members. I know that I cannot
not sin, but I need a word of comfort. Would you please tell
me something that'll give me some hope? My little children, these sayings
write unto you that you sin not, and if, and when, and though,
you see, you sin. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We have right now, At this very moment, we have
one to plead for us. We have an advocate. We have one who will stand and
answer. We have one that will plead himself
on our behalf. He who was made sin. for us, His people. He who knew
no sin. And here's the truth of it. He
does not deny the charge. Doesn't say they didn't do it.
Yeah. If we say we have no sin, we
make Him a liar. My little children, when we sin,
Though we sin, if we sin, when it happens, we have. Now right now, there
is, before the throne of God, an advocate for the people of
God. Making intercession, ever living,
he admits Every accusation is true. But I'm going to tell you something.
With every truthful acknowledgement of what we are and what we do
and how we grieve when we do it. We have one to plead his
own work on our behalf to plead his life My righteousness covers them. My blood was shed for them. And when the Father who has said,
when I see the blood, I'm going to pass over you. And I think that is so soothing
and so comforting for me to hear that. I know, I know what I'm
doing. I know what I'm doing. I realize. He as the advocate saying my
people who have sinned I as their representative
and their absolute substitute When I think of that, the substitute,
if you watch a football game, someone gets hurt, and a coach
takes him out, I'm gonna put another one in there for you.
You say, well, that's a substitute. Well, that may be a substitute,
but that's not what this is. He is our substitute, was made
us. He was made us. That's the substitute. He himself, I being made them
bore the guilt, bore the judgment, bore the wrath, bore the curse. I was made a curse for them. that they might not be cursed
and the advocate himself who was made us pleads his own merit and he's
heard of the father as the advocate pleads his merit
on our behalf that our sin not be imputed to us Why? Because it was charged to him.
I paid that debt. That debt's paid. And it's paid
in full. And when he cried, it is finished. That guilt will never be charged
to us. He paid. He paid. His blood answers every demand
before God and therefore the pardon of our sin and the peace
of our conscience is assured. We're taught by the Holy Spirit. Who is He? Who is this? I'll tell you who He is. He is
Jesus Christ, the righteous. The righteous. Who is He? He is the Savior. He's the Messiah, the one who
the Father appointed to be the advocate. He chose Him. He chose Him and chose us in
Him. We need a priest. The Father
has provided the priest. A priest is one who approaches
God on the behalf of another. And I don't want to approach
God in my own merit because I don't have any. I've got just enough
sense to know that I cannot stand before God and be accepted of
Him. God is just. God is holy. And He will in no wise clear
the guilty. I need another. My little children,
I'm writing to you about something. When we sin, we have an advocate.
We have someone that the Father is going to hear. And the Father
accepts. Because He chose him. This is
my faithful servant. My faithful servant's been qualified
by the Father. A body was prepared for him.
I need, I need, I need a man, a man sinned against God. I need a man in the God-man mediator who God accepts. has answered
for me. He's been given the Spirit of
God without measure. He's qualified. I need somebody
to talk to me that's qualified. I mean, I'm not talking about
going before some man, mere man. I'm talking about somebody that's
going to answer to God. This is the only character that
God's going to receive. What's his character? He's righteous. He's holy. He's just. We have an advocate
with the Father. And He is the propitiation for
our sins. Brother Gene, you were sitting
here just preaching it. And look, I've got this written
down in my notes. I looked it up. I looked it up,
what it meant. And even then, Bob, when he said
propitiation, I've got it written down in my notes and I thought
to myself, tell me one more time what a propitiation is. I just
want to hear it. We have an advocate with the
Father and He is the propitiation for our sins. It's what he said. I'm just going to repeat what
you said. He's going to cover it. That's what he said. He is the one to atone. What does that mean? Hide me. Hide me. Hide my guilt. Lord, shield me. Shield me. Lord, cover over me. And Lord,
restore the friendship that existed before this quarrel that I started
took place. Lord, cover me. Would you make me to be at friendship
with Him again? He is the propitiation. Lord, satisfy Him. on my behalf. Lord, by your blood,
that blood that was demanded without the shedding of blood,
His blood, righteous blood, the blood of bulls and goats is never
going to satisfy, that will never put away sin. Lord, I have separated
myself from God My sin has separated me. And I know, Hobie, that's
right. I know that's right. Lord, I
am a sinner. And to know that a sinner has
an advocate, one to plead his cause, one that came and made
himself, and he's the covering, covers it, This blood, put it
away, cast it as far as the east is from the west, behind God's
back. Where is that? I don't know,
but that's where I want it to be. I want Him. He's made peace. He's made peace with God. I'm
not... God's not mad. How do you know
He's not mad? Because He said He's got a people
that He's not mad. How do you know you're one of
them? I believe Him. I believe God. That's all I got,
Paul. That's all I got. I believe God. It pleased the Father, Colossians
119, pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. and having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto
himself by him I say whether they be things in earth the things
in heaven and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works. The thing I love about this is
it says that I was an enemy in my mind Not in his. But in my mind, I wanted to have
nothing to do with him. But by the grace of God, Almighty
God, who would not leave me to myself or any of his people,
reconciled us. How'd he do it? By the blood
of his cross. Propitiation. I'm going to cover them with
my blood. And the Father is going to pass
over. And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. Now that's some good news. And
though I don't understand the fullness of it yet, I understand
just enough, I see through a glass darkly, and this is to my shame,
I wish I saw it as it really is. But one of these days, he
said, I'm gonna see him as he is, Tony, and be like him. I'm
gonna be like him. I don't even know how to, I don't
even know what to say. But I can say this, Lord, as
you said it is, it is. Like you just said, Christ came
into this world not to make the Father love us. He came in here
because the Father loved us. He is the propitiation for our
sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world. Now you know what I'm getting
ready to say. Does that mean universal redemption? Does that
mean that he's made salvation possible for everybody? Well, the scripture sets forth,
Revelation 1-5, and from Jesus Christ, who's the faithful witness
and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings
of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins
in His own blood. Now, in closing, I want to ask
you something. Who are these us? Who are they? Well, I can tell
you only from the Scriptures who they are. Because when it
comes to something like this, you just If you just got an opinion,
well, your opinion is like my opinion, and it's not worth anything.
If I can't back it up, I know something about who the us are,
about whose sins concerning this whole world. I know that he says,
John 10, 15, I lay down my life for the sheep. Now, I know that. And who are these sheep? Well,
it's Ephesians 1, 14. Those who were chosen in Him. The remnant of His heritage.
Is everybody a sheep? Well, according to John 10, 22
to 28, no. Here's what the Lord said. And
the Lord was speaking here. John 10. He said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. That's John 10, 15. But then
he said in John 10, 22 to 28, it was at Jerusalem, the Feast
of the Dedication, it was winter, and Jesus walked in the temple
in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
him, said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you're
not of my sheep, as I said unto you. Now listen, here's a description
of a sheep that the Lord has called out of darkness. Now they're
sheep before he calls them out of darkness. Other sheep I have,
they're not of this fold and I must bring them. Now they're
always sheep. But now you've got two different
kinds of sheep. You've got regenerated sheep and sheep that hadn't been
regenerated yet. But they're going to be. Because
he said, all the Father giveth me. They're going to come to
me. Now that's who they are. Who
are the sheep? Well, it's the ones the Father's given him.
But he said in verse 26, you believe not because you're not
of my sheep, as I said unto you. Now here's the characteristic
of a sheep that God's called out of darkness. My sheep hear
my voice. Do you know how the Lord speaks? He speaks right here. He speaks
through his scriptures, through his pastors and preachers. That's
how he preaches. And the sheep hear his voice
and he knows them. And they follow me. And I give
unto them eternal life, they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of My hand, My Father which gave them
Me." Who are these sheep? They're chosen sheep. You say, I chose the Lord. Yeah,
because He chose you first. My father which gave to me is
greater than all. No man's able to pluck him out
of my father's hand. I am a father of one. Who are
these that the scripture says he's a propitiation for ours,
not for ours only, but also the whole world? Well, I can tell
you this, that whole world, they're Jews and Gentiles and bond and
free. male and female. They're out
of every nation and kindred. Not every one without distinction. But they're all kinds. They're all over. Who are they? They're the ones that God's gonna
call. They're the ones that'll surely
come unto Him. Who are they? The ones that the
Lord's laid down. I'll tell you who they are. They're
the ones that the Lord prays for. John 17, 9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for those that thou hast given me, for they are thine. So the whole world here doesn't
refer to every individual without distinction, but it It's referring
to everyone that Almighty God has everlastingly loved in Christ,
everyone for whom the Lord laid down His life, the ones that
surely He prays for, the ones He's died for, and the ones that
before they leave this earth, you write this down, they're
going to believe this gospel concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Every one of them will. They'll
hear His voice and they'll come to Him. Why? Because He knows
them. First Peter 1, 1 and 2, it says,
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, and Cappadocia, and Asia, and Bithynia, and I
can tell you this, Kingsport, Fairmont, Rocky Mountain. Who are they? They're elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. And then Peter says, Grace unto
you and peace be multiplied. And what's going to be there
in these that we have an advocate for? What's going to be the end
of those for whom he is the covering? I'm going to cover that. The Father will accept you because
I'm going to hide you in me. What's going to be their end?
Father, I will that they also whom thou has given me be with
me where I am that they may behold my glory. What glory is that? The glory is being the advocate, the mediator, the messiah, the
federal head. That glory that thou hast given
me as God, what would be given God in His divinity, but as God
having humbled Himself. The Father gave Him something.
He gave him glory to be the advocate, to be the propitiation. I will
that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am
that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me. For
thou lovest me before the foundation of the world as the advocate,
as the surety, as the propitiation, O righteous Father, the world
hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known
thee, that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. And here's my last statement.
And how shall all those for whom Christ died, for whom he's the
advocate, the propitiation. How are they going to be known? How am I going to know? Tell me one more time before
we leave this morning. Tell me one more time how I can
know that he's my advocate. I know He's an advocate for somebody,
but is He my advocate? I know He's died for somebody,
but did He die for me? That's what I want to know. How
can I know? Now you listen. John 3, 36. He that believeth on the Son. Now, let me tell you what that
doesn't mean. It does not mean He that believeth
that there is a Jesus Christ. Demons believe that. But he that
believeth, he that rests his eternal soul, he that rests all
of his hope on Christ, not in my works, not even in my faith. I'm not looking to my faith.
My faith didn't die for me. He that believeth on the Son. He that believeth on the Son
that entrusts his eternal well-being. I'm just going to say like Peter
did. When Peter got out of that boat, when he said, Lord, if
that's you, bid me out. He stepped out there and when
he saw the boisterous wind, he began to sink. And here's what
he said, Lord, save me. If you don't save me, I'm going
to die. If you don't save me, he that believeth on the Son
hath eternal life. And he that believeth not the
Son, what does that mean? He that has not, does not entrust
his eternal well-being to the Son of the living God. But he's
looking to himself. He's looking to something he's
done. He's looking to his decision. To believe on the Son is to believe
that, Lord, You're life. And the only hope I've got is
to be found and accepted with You. And Lord, You said, He that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Lord, You said. and I'm coming the only way I
know how. Lord, by the only means that I can come, Lord, I believe
you've granted me faith. And in believing that you've
granted me faith, I'm going to just say like old John Newton
said, Lord, I believe I'm coming. I believe I am. But if I have
never come before, Lord, if I have, if I, if I,
my old foolish heart has deceived me, and I know that it's desperately
wicked, and I know it's deceitful above all things, and I know
if you don't do something for me, my heart's gonna deceive
me, but Lord, if I have never truly trusted you, Lord, would
you save me? Lord, would you have mercy on
this sinner? And Lord, would you please my cause before God? Lord, would you cover my sins?
Lord, would you help me for Christ's sake?