Go with me, if you would, back
to 1 John. I ask our brother to read chapter
1, because our text is chapter 2,
verse 1, which says, My little children,
these things Write I unto you that you sin not. That's the commandment of God,
isn't it? That's simply, simply the commandment of God. He said,
I just wrote everything I said in chapter 1 to you. These things
write I unto you that you sin not. That is the reason, the one reason
Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden. Isn't that right? They sinned against God. That
is the reason that Lucifer and all those angels were cast out
of heaven as a bolt of lightning to the earth. is full of horror to me every
time I think about the fact that when God cast him and all those
angels out of heaven, he cast them all right here to the earth. This is where he cast them. And
the reason is because they sinned against God. They said, I want
to be God. And Adam and Eve said, I want
to be God. And every other man has said,
I want to be God. Isn't that right? Sinned against
God. He said here in verse one, my
little children, these things write I unto you. God gave the law to Moses. And
he said, Moses, I want you to write this down and I want you
to give it to the people. And what the law said was, sin
not. That's what the whole law said,
all of it. Every commandment. That was the
reason for it. Sin not. The law was given to
expose man's sin. Right? The law was given to show
man his sin and to tell man sin not. That's the whole reason
the law was given. Sin not. God will not have it. That's
what the law said. He will not tolerate it. He will not put up with it. He
will not allow it to stand in his presence. He will not. Sin not. Sin not. He told Adam, in the day that
you eat of that forbidden fruit, thou shalt surely die. He said
the wages of sin is death. That is the only thing that can
come to a sinner. That's it. That's the only thing
that can come to a sinner. Turn with me over to Psalm 24. Psalm 24, our Lord very plainly
tells us right here who He will accept into heaven. Psalm 24
verse 3 says, Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? That's
talking about glory. His heavenly kingdom. Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy
place? He that hath clean hands, you
have to have clean hands, and a pure heart, you have to have a pure heart.
That's not bendable. Who hath not lifted up his soul
unto vanity, vainness, Emptiness, vanity means
emptiness and vanity is self, right? Nor sworn deceitfully,
he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness
from the God of his salvation. That's who God will allow into
his kingdom. Now I'm about to make an extremely
true statement. Sinners are not allowed to enter
into heaven. They're not. Sinners are not
allowed to go to heaven. They cannot stand in His holy
place. They can't. If a person is a
sinner, they cannot go in. They cannot go in. That's why
John said, that's the whole reason John said, My little children,
these things write I unto you that you sin not. Now go with me back over to 1
John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2 verse 1 says,
My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin
not, and if any man sin. Now have we sinned? Are we sinners? You ask people
that and they say, no. No, not really. Not really. Look at 1st John chapter 1 verse
8. It says, if we say that we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If
we say in our heart, and it really does not matter what we say with
our mouth. You know people say things with their mouth all the
time and have no intention of meaning it in the heart. All
the time. So it doesn't really matter what
we say with the mouth. If we say in our heart that we're
not sinners against God, We deceive ourselves and the truth is not
in us. What is the truth? Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the truth. If we honestly believe in our
hearts that we are not sinners, Christ is not in us. We are lost,
damned souls who are lying to ourselves. Lost and damned. Right here is the evidence of
a person who does not know God. And if God's grace doesn't have
mercy, if he doesn't do something and step in, that person, this
person that we're about to see, is going to die in the sin that
he says he doesn't have. But this right here is how you
can spot this person who does not know God. He says, no, I'm
not a sinner. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Now, here's
how you can spot a man who God has done something for. Here
is how you can spot a man that God has done a work of grace
in the heart of the sinner. Turn with me over to Romans 7. Romans 7, now this is the Apostle
Paul speaking. And do you believe the Lord saved
the Apostle Paul? Do you believe God saved the
Apostle Paul? I believe He did. I believe He
did. Now, He said in Romans 7, verse
14, We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. In 1st Timothy 1, he said, I'm
the chief of sinners, the absolute chief. And he said, I know that
the law is spiritual. He said, but I'm carnal and I'm
sold under sin. Verse 15, for that which I do. What does he do? Sin. That's what the Apostle
Paul did. Sin. For that which I do, I allow
not, I know not. For what I would, what I want
to do, what does he want to do? Sin not. What I would, that do I not. I don't sin not. But what I hate,
that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. In spite of me disappointing
myself and disappointing myself, in spite of everything I do that
makes me hate me and hate me and hate me, I stand before God
and say, Your law is holy, just, right, good. And I bow to it
even if I don't bow to it. And I acknowledge what I am. Verse 17, now then it is no more
I that do it. What he's saying is God has created
a new man in here and it's not that new man, but it's sin that
dwelleth in me. It's this disease that I was
infected with from my father Adam. It's in every molecule
of my flesh. Everything about this physical
being. Verse 18, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth
no good thing. For to will is present with me."
There is a new man in here that wants it so badly. But how to
perform that which is good and right in the eyes of God, I just
don't see myself ever being able to do it, not in this flesh.
For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would
not, that's what I do. Now if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. And don't we all find that? Even
when we think we're doing good. Verse 22, he said, I delight
in the law of God after this new man, this inward man. But
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. The only thing I know to say
about myself is now here's a man that God saved. Here's a man
that God did a work of grace in. He said in verse 24, Oh,
wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. I serve
the law of sin. What he's saying is, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I acknowledge that
God is holy. I acknowledge that he must punish
sin. And can we all say the same thing
with the apostle? Can we say the exact same thing?
I'm a sinner, not with the lips, with the heart. I'm a sinner. I deserve God's judgment. That's all I deserve because
I've willingly, consciously and unconsciously broken his law,
and sinned against him. That's just the way it is. Can
we say with King David, Psalm 51, I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me, against thee, thee only, have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, and you're justified
in whatever you have to say to me, and you're clear in your
judgment. Do you believe God saved King
David? The man that God himself said,
he's a man after my own heart. I believe he did. And that's
what he said. That's what he said. If we can
say that, if we can't say that, then let's close the book and
leave. But if we can go with me back
over to the text. First, John two. 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. What does that
mean? What does it mean to say we have
an advocate with the Father? I want to illustrate it to you.
And then after we see this illustration, we're going to see what it means. There was a dear, dear man. He was a very quiet man, a believer. He attended with the congregation
in Franklin, Tennessee. And I thought a lot of him. I thought
so much of this man. The Lord has taken him home. He probably died when I was somewhere
around 20. But his name was James Beasley,
and everybody called him Jay Bird. Everybody. He was a short
man. He was a very, very, very, very
quiet man. Almost didn't speak unless spoken
to, you know. But just a dear believer. He and my dad were close. He
loved my dad and my dad loved him. And after he retired, he
came by to see my dad almost every single day. Literally,
it was like clockwork. Here comes Jay Bird. But while he worked, he was a
convenience store clerk. He ran the cash register at a
convenience store there in town. And one night, a young guy came
in, but he looked old enough. You know, a guy came in who probably
had a beard or something. He looked old enough. And Jay
Bird sold him something. He was underaged, and Jay Bird
sold him something he shouldn't have sold him. But he didn't know. And later on that night, that
guy was pulled over and he was arrested and the police asked
him, where did you get this? And he told him, that convenience
store right there. So the police brought him over
there and brought him inside and asked Jay Bird, did you sell
this to this guy? And Jay said, yeah. He said,
well, did you card him? He said, no, he, he looked old
enough to me. And the police said, well, he's
not, he's not. And you're going to have to go
to court over this. He gave him, gave Jay Bird a ticket. And,
um, Jay was tore up about it. The police told him, and I've
heard my dad tell this story so many times. But the police
told him, you can't pay this ticket. This is not a payable
ticket. You have to appear before the
judge. The crime is too severe. We don't allow that for this
crime. You have to appear. You can't pay. And Jay, you know,
rightfully so, he was pretty upset about it. Well, not too
long after that, you know how it goes with the court system.
It takes a while to go through the system, and he's waiting
all this to come about. A little while after that, a
lawyer came into the convenience store. Jay was standing behind
the counter. And this lawyer came in and asked
him, are you Mr. Beasley? And Jay said, yes, I
am. And he said, well, I'm a lawyer,
and I noticed that your case is coming up soon on the docket,
and I just wanted to leave you my card. And Jay said, I appreciate
it, I do, but I can't afford a lawyer. Jay didn't have much.
He worked at a convenience store, all his life. And he said, I
can't afford a lawyer, I'm just gonna represent myself. I was
told to go, I have to appear before the judge, and I'm just
gonna go. And thank you, but I can't afford a lawyer. The
guy said, that's okay, don't worry about it, I'll take care
of it. And Jay said, well, okay, but I can't pay you. He said,
don't worry about it. He never heard from that guy
ever again. And Jay never called him. He never called the number
on the card. He couldn't afford to pay a lawyer. So in Jay's
mind, you know, he's just going to go. He's going to go. You got to go. OK. Appear, you know, representing
myself. Some time passed and they finally
gave him his court date and he called dad the day before and
he said, I got to appear in court tomorrow. And he said, I'm a
little nervous about it. Would you go with me? And dad said,
yeah, I'll go with you. So they get there and he said it was
full of people, full of cases, everybody waiting for their case
to be called. And Jay was not even close to
being first. And they sat there and it was
case after case. And the judge was a lady who,
I remember her name being a kid, she was infamous, Judge Franks. She was a lady who proved herself. She was tough, she was strict,
and this was the judge. So they get there and Dad and
Jay look up, it's Judge Franks. Case after case came before this
judge and she was not showing any mercy to anybody, just like
that's her way. No mercy. And dad said that he
was just shocked at how tough she was being on these people
who he thought ought to catch a little bit of a break. He said
there was a girl who stood up before Judge Franks and she was
pregnant. And she had 15 counts of hot
checks. And Judge Franks asked her, why
do you have 15 counts of hot checks? And she tried to play
the sympathy card. And she said, Your Honor, I've
had some trouble with my baby. I've had some complications with
my baby. And I'm sorry. It's just been so hard. And if
you could just, she said, I tell you what. Either you have every
single check made good by five o'clock today or you will be
in my jail tonight. Next. She was being that way with everybody.
Everybody who came up, she was firm, she was hard. Dad said,
the only problem is it kept getting worse, and the reason is because
nobody had representation. Nobody had a lawyer. And it was
a pet peeve of hers, she didn't like it. And every time, she
was getting more and more mad as it went on. More and more
mad, one after the other. Every person who came up, her
exact phrase was, do you have representation? Every single
one of them said, no, your honor, I'm representing myself. They're
coming for whatever reason, all these little reasons. And they're
told, go up here before the judge. And they say, okay, this is how
it works. This is what you do. And they
would say, no, your honor, I'm representing myself. And she
would say, I can't believe somebody would have the nerve to come
into my courtroom without representation. Everybody who was sitting there
waiting on their name to be called was listening to this, including
Jay. And dad knows he's here by himself. I'm here with him, but I can't
do anything for him. And they're listening to her say this with
each one that stands up. Do you have representation? No, your honor. This is how man thinks he's going
to go meet God. All right. And you tell him you got to go
stand before the judge and they say, OK. That's what you do. This is how it goes. And just like my dad, everybody
is going to be shocked. I didn't know it was going to
be like this. I didn't know it was going to be like this. I
didn't understand this was the requirement. I just thought you
got a ticket for sin and you went and appeared before the
judge. Dad said he was scared as he could be. And he's just a visitor. Well, dad said one after the
next stood up and she would ask him, do you have representation?
No, your honor, I'm representing myself. He said she'd throw the
book at him and say, next. He said a boy was called and
his mother stood up with him. And she looked that boy right
in the eye and she said, do you have representation? No, your
honor. She said, I am moving this case,
I am appointing you a lawyer, and don't you ever step foot
in my presence ever again without a lawyer. Next. And the clerk said, James Beasley. Dad said his heart sunk for him. This is a serious offense. He
said his heart sunk for him. He said, I was so scared, and
I didn't even have to stand up. And as Jay started standing up,
that lawyer was sitting on the front row. And he stood up, and
he said, Your Honor, I represent Mr. Beasley. And with your permission,
I'll speak with you about his case after this court session
is over. Dad said her whole countenance
changed. She looked at that lawyer and
she said, that'll be fine. Next. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the father Jesus Christ the righteous. Jay Bird didn't
seek that lawyer. The lawyer sought Jay Bird. Jay
Bird couldn't pay the lawyer. The lawyer did it of his own
free will. Jay Bird never said anything. Jay Bird never did anything.
The lawyer took care of it all. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did for His people. That's what Christ did for us. He pleaded their case on their
behalf. He pleaded their case by making
their case His own. That's what He did. Look with
me at a couple of verses and we'll close. 1 Timothy chapter
2. 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 5 says, For there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave
himself a ransom for all to be testified He made himself to
be testified in due time. He set his people free by putting
himself on trial. He did that before the world
was ever made, didn't he? James Beasley had no idea that
lawyer was on the front row. Dad had no idea. Dad had never
seen the guy. Jay saw him once. And who knows
how long it was. And that man was on the front
row. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? We won't need
to imagine in that great day when the name is called Gabe
Stoniker. And the Lord Jesus Christ says,
I represent Gabe Stoniker. I've taken care of everything.
That's fine. Next. Look with me at 2 Corinthians
5. Verse 21 says, For he hath made him to be sin
for us, the one who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God. You notice those last two words?
And him. And him. He paid the debt that
he did not owe, he paid the debt that we could not pay, and he
paid it in full. And then he made intercession
to the Father on our behalf. Paul said, if God be for us,
who can be against us? Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. If any man or woman sin. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He said you can come to him without
money and without price and he will justify you freely in his
own blood. He'll make your case his own.
He'll pay your debt in full, and then he'll go make intercession
to the Father on your behalf. How wonderful. How wonderful. Stand together with me.