Now, this morning I'd like for
us to return to 1 John chapter 2. We've been studying through
the book of 1 John, and I've been sort of taking my time here
because these are some of the most comforting words of our
Heavenly Father to his children that we can read as we carry
on through this world, through this life, concerning what we
are in Christ, what we are in ourselves, how we can find any
victory or comfort or peace at all. And John, the Apostle John
here, the human instrument which God used to write this epistle,
is speaking on the subject of Christ our Advocate. That's what
I'm going to deal with, Christ our Advocate. I dealt with it
a little bit last week, but I want to continue on with that. He
writes in 1 John, chapter 2, at verse 1, he says, My little
children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not.
Now, that is the goal of every child of God, to be totally free
from the presence, the contamination, the influence of sin in his life. We're not there yet, but one
day we will be. But this is our goal. Then he
goes on and he says, and if any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, and our advocate is Jesus Christ the righteous.
And he is the propitiation for our sins. We'll deal with that
word propitiation in a moment. And he says, and not for ours
only, but also for the sins of the whole world. The word world
there referring to God's people all over the world, not every
individual without exception. And I'll show you why in just
a moment, why that's important. But what John is describing here,
as we've seen through chapter one, is what fellowship with
God in Christ is really like. We who are saved by the grace
of God, who claim salvation, that is just as much as claiming
that we are in fellowship with God, fellowship with the Father,
fellowship with the Son, as John described it back up in verse
3 of chapter 1. And that fellowship is a closeness,
it is a union, it is a partnership that cannot be broken. It's by
grace. It's not something that we chose
to be in of our own free will, but it's something that God brought
us in through his Son. We'll see that, too. But it's
a fellowship of light. He starts out talking about light. This fellowship, if you're in
fellowship with the Father and the Son, if you're saved by the
grace of God, you're walking in the light. That's the light
of God's glory. The only place you're going to
see God's glory in redemption is in the person and work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible describes that in 2
Corinthians 4, verse 6, as the light of the knowledge of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. You can see the glory of God
elsewhere. You can see the glory of God
in creation. This world is a marvelous place. The only thing that's
wrong with this world is sin. This is my Father's world, the
psalm says. But you can see the glory of
God in creation in many ways. You can see the glory of God
in providence. That's God's government, God's
government of this world. God's in control. If God weren't
in control, I believe every one of us would be dead. You know
that? I'm serious. I believe we would.
Every one of you who know Christ, you can look back in your lives
and you can probably point to many times when if God had not
preserved you and protected you, to bring you to a saving knowledge
of his son. You wouldn't be here today. God's
in control, and we see his glory in it. How many times does he
work out things after the counsel of his own will, and then he
lets us in on it? We see the glory of it. We just
did not understand something while we were going through it.
How in the world or why in the world is this happening? And
then later on, we see the wisdom of God and the glory of God in
it. How many times has that happened to us? So we can see the glory
of God in Providence. We can see the glory of God in
other ways. We can see the glory of God even
in condemnation, because that's God's justice. Condemnation,
you know, people think about disasters today. And most people,
when they think about disasters, they think, well, God's throwing
a temper tantrum. And that's not it at all. These
disasters are the results and the consequences in God's judgment
against sin, and it's by his grace that we're all not consumed
by that. So we see his glory there. But
the only way you're going to see his glory, who he is, what
he does, why he does it, his, as the old writers used to say,
his effulgence, the brightness of his glory in salvation and
redemption, is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. the Son of
God incarnate and what he accomplished at Calvary for our salvation.
And it's by the power of the Holy Spirit who glorifies God
within our hearts, our minds, and our affections and our wills
that we see that brightness of his glory and we're brought into
fellowship with him and walk in that light of his glory. Walking
in the light of God's glory, we look to Christ. And then walking
in the light is walking in the truth, honest truth. Because in that light, God shows
us many things. One thing he shows us is his
absolute, unbending holiness. God is holy. And God is altogether
holy. And he cannot ever be anything
less than holy. God is truth, the Scripture says. God cannot lie. Somebody asked
me one time, is there anything God cannot do? Well, the Scripture
says he cannot lie. He cannot deny himself, the scripture
says. He cannot oppose himself. Sometimes
we do. Sometimes I oppose myself. That's
the warfare of the flesh and the spirit. Many things I want
to do that I don't do, cannot do. Many things I don't want
to do, I do. And I look at myself and say,
why did I do that? Why did I say that? Have you
ever done that? You say something and you can't just reach up there
and go, why did I say that? I wish that had never opened
my mouth. But God can never oppose himself. You see that? So that
God, when he's saved in mercy, now, we read that Psalm 85, and
it says things like mercy and truth are met together. Now,
think about it this way. If God judged me, a sinner, strictly
in truth, according to my deeds, where would I be? I'd be damned
forever, wouldn't I? Oh, Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? So how can God be truthful, true
to himself, true to his holiness, true to his justice, and have
mercy upon thee? How can that happen? You see,
mercy and truth must meet together. Now, how can that be? Now, in
the court of man's justice, there is no way. If a judge, if you're
guilty of a crime and you come before a human judge and he judges
you according to truth, Well, you must pay the penalty. If
he shows mercy, he's actually denying the truth. You're guilty,
here's the penalty, and I'm just not going to allow you to accept
that penalty. And we call that mercy. But see,
God can't do that. And I'll tell you why. Because
God is holy. God is just. He cannot deny himself. So how
can God, who is holy and just, show mercy and love and grace
to a sinner like me. There's not but one way. Somebody
must come and take my place under the justice of God. Somebody
must be my substitute, somebody who's able, somebody who's appointed,
somebody who's willing to do so. You say, well, preacher,
I love you. I'll take your place. Well, you
might be willing, but you're not able and you're not appointed. There's only one who was appointed.
There's only one who is willing. There's only one who is able,
and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's what John's dealing
with here. He's my advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. If
you tried to be my advocate, you would be totally out of place
because, as I said, God didn't appoint you to be my advocate,
and you aren't able to be my advocate. You're not so-and-so
the righteous in the way that Jesus Christ is the righteous.
I need one who can take my place and get the job done. We sang
that hymn, paid all charges, paid all charges. You see, that's
the problem. You can't pay all the charges, but Christ can and
he did. I owe a debt to God's law and
justice that I cannot pay and you cannot pay. But that's what
Christ did on the cross. That's what propitiation is all
about. He paid all the charges. So walking in the light is walking
in the light of truth of who God is. Also walking in the light
is walking in the light of who I am. And that's why it takes
an honest and open confession of sin. That's why John says
here in verse He says in chapter 1, if we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Walking
in the light is walking in the truth because the truth is in
you. It is set there in your heart by the Holy Spirit, and
you know who you are. You know your frame. You know
that what our brother read there in Romans chapter 3 is true of
you, that by deeds of law shall no flesh be justified or made
righteous or declared not guilty in the sight of God. You know
that if God were to judge you based on your best, you would
perish, and deservedly so. You wouldn't be raising up your
head saying, well, God's unfair. No, sir. Not if you're walking
in the light. Not if you have an honest and open confession
and realization of who I am, see, and who you are. You're
not going to be raising up and say, God's unfair. You'd say
God would be just if he were to damn me today. Isn't that
right? He'd be just. God doesn't do anything that's
unfair. He never makes a mistake. He's never taken by surprise. There is no contingency plan
because He doesn't need any contingency plans because all of His plans
are fraught with infinite wisdom, infinite knowledge, and infinite
holiness. Am I right? Amen. He is. So we walk in the
light confessing our sins. But then it doesn't stop there.
Walking in the light also has to do with a bold confession,
a confident confession of Christ. No, I cannot save myself. And
no, there's no peace and there's no comfort within me in myself. But in Christ, I have a sure
salvation. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. He is able to say to the uttermost,
them that come unto the Father by him." He's able, and he's
willing. I want to tell you something
about the Lord. People talk about election, they talk about particular
redemption, and those are all gospel doctrines. But let me
tell you something, that does not shut you out of the kingdom
of God. Let me tell you, Christ has never turned away any sinner
who's come to him pleading and begging for mercy. Isn't that
right? He never has and never will.
And we come to him, pleading his blood and his righteousness
as our only hope. It's not works that I have done,
am doing, or will do, Lord, that save me. It's what Christ accomplished
on Calvary. Therefore, I stand in him complete."
Now, here in verse 1 of chapter 2, John writes these things.
He says to you that you sin not. Because walking in the light,
a great part of walking in the light, has to do with a child
of God. a justified sinner, a saint,
and that's what we are if we are saved. Sainthood is not something
we attain by great acts of devotion or miracles. A saint is a sinner
saved by the grace of God. So a great part of walking in
the light is a saint striving not to sin, in light of our salvation
already accomplished in Christ. And that's what he's bringing
forth here. My little children, these things
write unto you that you sin not." He's been speaking of what we
are in Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. There's not one sin, not one
sin that the blood of Christ does not wash clean in those
who come to him pleading for mercy. Did you realize that?
You say, oh, oh, oh, I tell you, you don't know what I've done.
Let me tell you something. where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound. That's what the scripture teaches.
You cannot out-sin Christ. Now, that's so, and I know there
are denominations who call themselves Christian who would cringe to
hear that. Do you know that? And I'll tell
you why. It's because they're not looking
to Christ for their salvation. You cannot out-sin Christ. Right
now, I stand before you whole in him. complete in him, sinlessly
perfect in him, but not yet in myself. I have to deal with sin
every day." And that's what John writes here. He says, and if
any man sin, now that's not the construction of the original
phrase here is not just in case you do sin or if you do as if
you might not. The construction of the phrase
is this, and if you sin as every man does, then here's the situation. Well, does that condemn me? No.
Does that get me out of fellowship with God? No. Now, you may lose
sight of the joy of that fellowship, as King David did in the dregs
of his own immorality. He lost sight of it. He said,
restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, of God's salvation.
But sin does not condemn a child of God who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's It's God that justifies. Who can condemn
us? It's Christ that died. Jay Rather
is risen again and seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us. That's just another way
of saying what John is saying, right? When we sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, and our advocate is Jesus Christ
the righteous. Now, look here at verse 1. He
says, "...and if any man sin, we have an advocate." Now, who
is the we here? Who is he talking about? Who
is the we? If you know anything about English language, a pronoun,
that's what that is. It's a plural pronoun and has
an antecedent. It refers to a specific group.
And the we here is not everybody without exception. The we here
is all who are walking in the light. He's talking to believers
here. He's talking to children of God
here. When he speaks of the fellowship, he's talking about those who
are in fellowship with the Father and the Son. He's talking to
those who have been born again by the Spirit of God. And he
says, we, all who walk in the light. And it does not describe
all without exception because all don't walk in the light.
It's our hope and our prayer that you will come to walk in
the light, that God will bring you to the light. That's why
we preach the gospel to the lost. Only those who are walking in
the light of truth and grace in Christ who can claim what
follows, that Christ is their advocate. We have an advocate.
Now, what is an advocate? Well, it refers to the work of
Christ as our representative who stands at our side, which
is what the word literally means. Sometimes it's translated comforter.
But he stands at our side and pleads for us. Advocate refers
to comforter, Christ our comforter. Now, sometimes in the Bible,
for example, in John chapter 14 and John chapter 15 and John
chapter 16, You see the Holy Spirit referred to as our comforter. It's the same word, advocate,
translated here. And what it's teaching is this.
The Holy Spirit is God's advocate on earth. He indwells us and
he points us to Christ for all our comfort and all our peace
and salvation. But Christ is our advocate with
the Father, and that speaks of his work of intercession. as
his blood continually pleads for our cleansing from all sin.
He is there as our advocate continually. It's not that he has to do anything
more than what he's already done. He died on Calvary and took away
our sins. He bore them away, the scripture
says, washed in the blood of the crucified one. He made us
righteous And we pray and praise him and worship, pray to him
and praise him and worship him as one who loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood, the scripture says. So it's not
that he has to do anything more than he's already done. It's
not that every time we sin, he runs into the father saying,
now here it is. No, no, he did. He, he died once
and he entered into the Holy once, one time for all. and eternally. For by one offering,
the scripture says, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified."
That's the glory of Christ. That Old Testament high priest
had to go in every year, one time a year, because his work
was never completed. He was just a picture, a shadow,
a type. But Christ, the substance, the
glory of the Father, he went in one time. For all the sins
of all his people laid to his charge. He entered into the holiest
one time. But his blood is eternally effectual
for our complete cleansing. Christ's presence in heaven is
a testimony of this power, of his advocacy. He is our advocate. As our substitute, Christ took
our place under the law. As our advocate, he pleads for
us in the court of God's law and justice. Look at verse 2.
You see Christ pleading for us as our advocate. It's almost
like a defense attorney here. He stands for us, and it's on
the basis of his substitutionary work on the cross for us. Verse
2, and he is the propitiation for our sins. What does he plead? When Christ pleads our cause
in the court of God's justice, what does he plead? Well, does
he stand there beside you and say, well, now look at this fellow
here. He's worked hard all his life. And he's been a pretty
good fellow. He's not been perfect, but he's
done the best he could. And you've got to understand
all the things that he had to put up with. That's a big excuse,
isn't it? Well, you don't know what I've
been through. And you know, he's gone to church, and he's been
baptized several times, in fact. And he's given his tithe, and
look there, he's even got a Sunday school pin on him. Now, is that
what our advocate pleads? No, sir. What does he plead?
Verse 2. He is the propitiation for our sins. Now, what is that
word, propitiation? It's a big word. We don't use it much. It's
found three times in the New Testament. One time where Brother
Joe read. Look over at Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. Here, basically, what a propitiation
is. Propitiation refers to God being
reconciled to the sinner and the sinner being reconciled to
God. In other words, there was a matter between them that kept
them apart, and that matter was sin. And if we were condemned
in Adam, under the judgment of God in Adam, And we're sinners
in ourselves, we're sinners every day, congenial sinners now. I know people talk about habitual
sin and all. Well, we're habitual sinners.
We are. And you might not see it all
the time, but it's there. But that matter of sin has to
be taken care of by someone who will step into our place, substitute
himself in our place and take our punishment and give us back
that which we need to make things right. He must take our sins
and he must give us righteousness. And that's what propitiation
is all about. What does it take? Well, the
penalty of sin is what? Death. So that substitute's got
to die. Now, God can't die, but this
person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God, did die, didn't he? And that's to be attributed to
his humanity. He's God and man in one person. You say, explain
that to me. I'm not going to try. Not today. But I know who he is. And he
stepped into our place and he died. That's what propitiation
is all about. There's a derivative term back
in the Old Testament of the same word propitiation in the Greek
that would be translated mercy seat. You remember back in the
old covenant, the tabernacle, you had the Ark of the Covenant,
which contained the law, the broken law. And over that Ark
was laid a lid, a gold lid, had the two cherubim with their wings
facing each other, and that was called the mercy seat because
it covered the law, and the high priest had to come in one time
of year with the blood of an innocent lamb. and sprinkle that
blood over the mercy seat. Now, all that was a picture of
Christ, our substitute, who took our place and kept the law perfectly
and who died under the justice of God in our place. He paid
all the charges. Huh? He paid it all. Jesus paid
it all, all the debt I owe. And so that he accomplished the
work of making things right, perpetuation. Look at Romans
3 and verse 24. He says, "...being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ."
What is redemption? Paying the price. "...whom God
hath set forth," that word is literally for ordained, "...to
be a propitiation, a sin-bearing substitute who would die for
our sins through faith in his," what? His blood. That's his death.
He died to declare his righteousness for the remission. or the passing
over. Remember God said in the passover,
when I see the blood I'll pass over you. So the passing over
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. And then
look over at 1 John chapter 4. Here's another place where that
word propitiation is used. Where it's translated in the
King James Version, propitiation, 1 John chapter 4. And he says in verse, chapter
4 and verse Let's see if I can find it here. Yeah, verse 10. Okay, verse 10. Herein is love, not that we love
God. In other words, God's love towards
his children is not based on their love to him, because the
Scripture says he loved us when we were enemies. Isn't that right?
Now, you see that? You know, when we talk about
love and loving one another, That love is to reflect God's
love. It's unconditional love. In other words, that love is
love that has no consideration for the object of the love other
than good. You say, well, he don't love
me. Well, if you just love those that love you, Christ said, you
don't know better off than the heathen. Am I right? So he says,
herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us. And
how did he show it? He sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins, the sin he gave his Son. The Bible, Romans 8,
says, He that spared not his own Son, how shall he not freely
give us all things? That's amazing. If Christ died
for you, then you can rest assured you will receive all things by
way of blessings from God and eternal glory. because he gave
you his son. I want to show you one more verse
where this word is used but not translated propitiation. Turn
to Luke chapter 18. And this is interesting, because
if you want to know how to come to God for salvation, this is
a good explanation of it right here in Luke chapter 18. Look
at verse 9. This is the parable of the Pharisee
and the You know it well. If you've been here a while,
you've heard many messages on that subject. But back up in
verse 9, he tells us who the Lord is speaking to, Luke 18
and verse 9. He says, He spake this parable
unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous
and despised others. Now, these are fellows who thought
they were saved and everybody else was lost. They thought they
were righteous and they despised others. And he says in verse
10, two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the
other a publican. Now, you know who the Pharisee
was. The Pharisee was a religious man, a dedicated person, one
who went above and beyond the call of duty and religion. I
mean, this was a super religion, moral, outside. And who were
the publicans? Well, a publican was a Jewish
trader. who sided with the Roman oppressors
against their countrymen and collected taxes for Caesar. They
were hated, and they were usually crooks. They skimmed off the
top all the time. Matthew was a publican. You remember
that. Zacchaeus was a publican, wasn't
he? So they were crooks. They had
that reputation. To be a publican was the worst
thing you could be in Judea in that day. So here's the noble
Pharisee who everybody looks up to. If anybody's saved, he
is. That's what the general population
would say. And here's the publican who is the dregs of society.
If anybody's lost, he is. There's your situation. And he
says in verse 11, the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men are. Extortioner,
that's like a blackmailer. unjust, adulterers, or even as
his publicans. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess." Now, I want you to notice something
about his language there. He thinks he's giving God the
glory because he says, God, I thank thee I'm not as his publicans. I thank thee. But look at verse 13, and the
publicans. standing afar, would not lift up so much as his eyes
unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, and said, God, be merciful
to me a sinner." Now that phrase, be merciful, would be better
translated this way, be propitious to me a sinner. In other words,
this Republican is begging for mercy. The Pharisee, he's pleading
what he thinks God has enabled him to do. for his righteousness
before God. That won't do. The Pharisee,
the publican, he's begging for mercy based on propitiation,
based on God's justice and mercy in Christ. It's like a sinner
coming to, you want salvation? Come to Christ pleading for mercy. Be a mercy beggar. Brother Cecil
Rhodes used to talk about mercy. He said, I'm a mercy beggar.
That's where it comes from. just begging for mercy, not in
spite of God's justice, not without God's justice, not against God's
justice, but right in line with it, a propitiation in Christ,
who is our propitiation. Do you see that? And Christ said
in verse 14, I tell you, this man, this publican, went down
to his house justified rather than the other. Now, go back
to 1 John. This is what it means to have
Christ as our advocate. He's one who stands before God,
pleading his own blood and his own righteousness. God must be
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. And he's qualified. Look at verse 1 again. Who is
our advocate? Jesus Christ the righteous. That
means he's qualified. I'm telling you, Christ is like
a defense attorney who defends his clients honestly. And he
demands that law and justice bring its exact ruling and set
the accused free based on strict law and justice. Christ, our
advocate, and he's the advocate of every justified sinner, and
he pleads the merits of his finished work on Calvary, charged to them. He assures us not only of his
love, but also of his power and his ability. And here are the
facts he brings in evidence. Now, listen to this. brings in
evidence for us. Number one, the sins of his people
were charged to him. That's what he said. Charge that. Remember Paul in
the book of Philemon, the runaway slave on Nesamoth, he said, Philemon,
if he's done you wrong, if he owes you anything, put it on
my account. And that's what our advocate has done. Put it all
on his account. Whatever Bill Parker owed you,
Father, put it on my account. Whatever Don Fitzgerald, you
father, put it on my account. All right? Whatever any sinner
who comes begging for mercy, I owe you, put it on his account.
It's not mine anymore. It's not my account anymore.
It's his. I'm telling you now, and here's the second fact and
evidence. Not only did he put it on his account, but he satisfied
law and justice for them by taking our place and satisfying law
and justice to pay the penalty of our sins. Everything that
the law demanded for those sins that he said put on my account,
he paid it. Paid for it. Here's the next thing he put
in fact of evidence. Their sins, therefore, cannot
be justly imputed to them. Again, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's will? There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. God cannot justly, and God is
just now, he cannot justly lay those sins to your account. And
then fourthly, his righteousness was given to us, imputed, charged
to us. We have his righteousness. I
want you to turn back to the book of Zechariah chapter 3.
Brother Bill Pennington read this as our Scripture reading,
because it is a great illustration of the very truth that I'm preaching
today, Zechariah chapter 3. You can find that. But you know,
back here, he's talking about Joshua here. Now, this is Joshua
the high priest. He was the high priest of Israel
when they came out of the Babylonian captivity. And God commanded
them to rebuild the temple, and the people were lax in doing
so. And the leaders were not spurring
them on the way they should have, because everything in Israel,
everything in Judah was to revolve around the worship of God in
that temple, the picture of Christ, just like our whole lives today
are to revolve around him. And so he showed Zachariah the
prophet. a vision of Joshua the high priest."
And look at verse 1 of Zechariah 3. He says, "...and he showed
me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord,
and Satan," or the adversary, literally, "...standing at his
right hand to resist him," or to accuse him, or to be his adversary. Satan bringing accusation against
Joshua the high priest. And it says in verse 2, "...and
the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord reduce thee." Now, whenever
Satan accuses Now, listen to me very carefully. Whenever Satan
accuses, whenever men accuse, and whenever your own heart accuses
you, your only hope is to appeal to the Lord. And that word, Lord,
there is Gehovah who says, the Lord rebukes thee. You can defend
yourself if you want to. You know what they say about
a person who goes into court today and doesn't get a lawyer
to defend him but defend himself. He has a fool for a client. And
that is greatly so in the court of God's justice. You can defend
yourself if you want, but you've got a fool for a client. The
Lord rebuked thee. And then it says, even the Lord
hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuked thee. Is not this a brand plucked
out of the fire? Now, there's two points in the
defense of Joshua the high priest. Number one, he's chosen of God.
Hath not the Lord chosen Jerusalem?" Reduce it. Huh? He's chosen of
God, he's elected in God. Secondly, his redemption. He
is not just a bran plucked out of the fire. When Christ died
on the cross, all of his people, spiritual Israel, were plucked
out of the fire of God's wrath. God chose us, Christ redeemed
us. Now look at verse 3. Now here's Joshua, as you see,
as you look at it. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments and stood before the angel. Those filthy garments
are representative of sins charged to him, laid to his account.
And he answered and spoke unto those that stood before him,
saying, Take away the filthy garments from him." Take those
filthy garments off. That's what the Lord is saying.
That's what his advocate is saying. Take away the filthy garments.
And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity
to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with chains of raiment."
I'll give you a new garment, and that's the garment of his
righteous. Isn't that a great illustration? It goes on, the
fair miter, that's the glory of God in his mind, that's the
work of the Holy Spirit as a result, and all of that. And all that's
fulfilled in Christ. If you read that whole chapter,
he talks about the branch. That's Christ. All that in type
and picture and that vision is fulfilled in Christ. When Satan
accuses me, The filthy garments have been taken away. They've
been laid on Christ, and he burned them up under the fire of God's
wrath. And he redeemed me, and he gave
me a new garment, his robe of righteousness. That's what's
laid to my account, so that when God sees me, through Christ my
Advocate, based on his substitutionary death on the cross, he sees a
righteous person. All right? And I cannot be convinced. cannot be condemned. We know
our sin. Go back to 1 John 2, and I'll
close. We know our sin. We who walk in the light, you
know your sin, don't you? You learn about it every day,
don't you? As you grow older, you get to know it even more,
not as a friend, but as an enemy. Isn't that right? That's right,
isn't it? You know your sin. You war with
sin. Sometimes we don't war with it
as much as we ought to. You know that? Sometimes we pave
the way for it all too often. We confess our sin, but we're
assured that because of what Christ accomplished on Calvary,
sin cannot be charged to us or bring us back under condemnation
and wrath. Now, why? Because he's our advocate
who pleads the merits of his finished work. Now, let me ask
you this. cannot be charged to us, if our
sins cannot bring us back under condemnation and wrath, if right
now we are perfectly complete and righteous in Christ, then
what is there to motivate us to obedience and to good works
and to godliness? Why should we strive to sin not?
You remember what John said? He said, I write this not to
motivate you to sin, not to make you careless over sin, not that
you might pave the way to sin. I'm writing this to you, my little
children, that you sin not. The reason I'm writing you these
blessed truths of Christ our Advocate is not to make you go
headlong, willingly into sin, but to motivate you to try to
follow Him, obey Him, love Him, do right. That's why I'm writing. Well, why should I strive not
to sin? Doesn't this kind of message
give people an excuse to sin and live carelessly? Paul said
that over in Romans chapter 6 when he was virtually writing the
same kind of things here. He says in verse 1 of Romans
chapter 6, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound? His answer in verse 2, God forbid,
that kind of thinking is inconsistent with grace. You know what those
arguments reveal? A person who cannot get a hold
of this now. And I know it's by the grace
of God and by the power of the Spirit. Such arguments reveal
a serious misunderstanding of the gospel, a serious misunderstanding
of the grace of God, and a serious misunderstanding of the work
of Christ within the heart by his Spirit and his Word, and
a serious misunderstanding of the scriptures. You see, When
God shows us Christ, our Advocate, and how our sins cannot bring
us back under condemnation and wrath because of his blood and
righteousness, he sets within our hearts his Spirit and his
Word and gives us the desire to follow him. And we're going
to talk about that next week a little more. We're going to
see about that, what John says about that, but that's walking
in the light. You see, the work of grace is not only a work done
for us, it's also a work done in us. For God sheds abroad in
our hearts that love, love for him, love for his people, love
for his word, love for holiness. And we'll talk about that next
week. But I hope that's been helpful
to you. Let's sing Rock of Ages, hymn
number 126 is our closing hymn, Rock of Ages.