Now, I'd like for you to open
your Bibles with me this morning to the book of 1 John 2. 1 John 2. The title of this message
this morning is found in verse 1, Christ Our Advocate. Let me just read the first two
verses of this chapter. Apostle John writing by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, He says, My little children, these things
write I unto you, that you sin not, that you don't sin. And if any man sin, and the sense
is, as every man does, we have an advocate. We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the
propitiation. He is the sin bearer, the offering
who died. to pay for our sins, to redeem
us. So he is the propitiation for our sins. And not for ours
only, but also for the whole world, the sins of the whole
world. Now, these verses here express the gospel truth, that
which is so basic, very basic, and so significant to the doctrine
of Christ. to the gospel of God's grace
and a saving understanding of grace, and really the whole life
of a true Christian. I mean, this is fundamental.
And it's so important that we, each one of us, seek to apply
our minds to understanding this. I think about the opening of
the book of Proverbs when Solomon, writing to his son, He said,
my son, basically, give yourself to understanding a proverb. That's
not just a quaint saying, but it's the Word of God. Over in
Proverbs chapter 4, he says, get wisdom. Seek wisdom. It's the principal thing. It's
the most important thing. And I really think about that
when I read these verses because it's so vital. It's life and
death that we get hold of the truths that are set forth. not
only in all the scripture, but in these two verses, which is
a summation of the very basic fundamentals and foundational
truths of the gospel, of what Christ, who He is and what He
accomplished for His people, who His people are, and how they
are to act and react and conduct themselves in this life. He starts
out over here in chapter 2 and verse 1 with the term, my little
children. And that's such an appropriate
term. It shows you that what he's writing here is addressed
to believers. Now the gospel message is to
be preached to every person, believer and unbeliever. And
we pray when we preach the gospel that God will use it to the salvation
of many, many souls. and to the edification of his
people." But what John is writing in this epistle is to those who
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who trust in him, who are resting
in him. In fact, that's what he's been
talking about from the very beginning of this epistle. He's spoken
of the fellowship of light, fellowship with the Father and the Son,
fellowship of truth, that which binds the church. Not just a
building. The church is not a building.
You know that. The church is people. It's the elect of God.
It's the redeemed of God. It's the called out ones. The
regenerated. The born again. And that which
binds us together in the grace of God. The love of God. The
truth of God in Christ. And he says, my little children.
Children of the same family. Because we have the same Father,
the Lord God of all grace, the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, who justifies the ungodly. We have the same elder brother,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who redeemed us. And it's the same children
as he's talked about in chapter 1. All in Christ are children
of God. Now, how are we children of God?
Well, I said it, we're children of God by electing grace. God
chose us. We're children of God by redeeming
grace. Christ redeemed us and adopted
us into the family of God. We're children of God by the
new birth, born into the family of God. That's not what we were
by nature in ourselves, in our own experience. By nature, we're
children of the devil in our minds as we're inspired and motivated
and energized by Satan. Look over at 2 Corinthians chapter
4. Let me show you what I mean by
that. Now, in God's purpose in electing grace, We're always
children of God. And then we were redeemed at
Calvary, brought into the family of God by Christ. But as to our
experience of it, our knowledge of it, it didn't come until we
were born again by the Spirit of God. And He showed us who
Christ is. Brought us to salvation. Brought
us to faith in Christ and repentance. Look at verse 3 of 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. He says, But if our gospel be
hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this
world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them. Now, what was I before I believed?
I was an unbeliever. And who blinded my mind at that
time? The God of this world. That's the usurped authority
of Satan over this evil world. And the main issue of his darkness
and his evil is to keep sinners in unbelief from seeing what
Paul writes of here in the following verses. Verse 5, he says, For
we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves
your servants for Jesus' sake. And this is a good description
of the new birth right here. In verse 6, For God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, that's the God of creation. Same
God who created this world who said, let there be light. That
same God has shined in our hearts. It's He who has shined, that's
what that literally means, in our hearts, in our minds, in
our affections, in our wills, in our inner man, in all that
we are within our being. God has shined in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And then we become children of
God in our experience of it. Then we're called into this family,
the household of God. And so John says, my little children
back here in 1 John chapter 2, God has brought us into his family
and we're his little children. And you know, that's a good term
for us. We who know Christ, that's a good term for us, little children.
Many times the Lord referred to his disciples and his followers
as little children. He said, verily I say unto you.
He told his disciples this. He said, except you be converted
and become as little children, you shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven. Little children. He told them one time, speaking
of literal little children, he said, suffer little children
and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom
of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is made
up of little children. In John chapter 13 and verse
33, he addressed his disciples this way, he said, Little children,
yet a little while I am with you, you shall seek me. And as
I said unto the Jews, whether I go, you cannot come. So now
I say unto you, be of good cheer. Little children. Those who are
brought into God's family come in the character of little children. Now what does that mean? Somebody
says, well, that means they're ignorant. Well, by nature we
are. But Christ teaches His children. He gives them knowledge. They
come to know the Father through the Son. And they do know some
things. And they're little children in
this sense. They come humbly and totally... Now listen to
this. This is what a little child is. A little child is totally
dependent upon his father and his mother. Totally dependent. That's what that means. And we
come totally dependent upon the heavenly Father. and upon our
firstborn brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, for all life and for
all righteousness, for all salvation." Totally dependent. Like over
in Matthew 11 and verse 25, when Christ was upbraiding or admonishing
the cities in which He preached and did miracles for not believing
in Him. It says, at that time, Jesus
answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and
the prudent and has revealed them unto babes, little children,
totally dependent upon Christ. Peter wrote, as newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby,
just as a little child desires its mother's milk, hunger, you
don't have to convince it to eat, you don't have to talk it
into it, you don't have to persuade it, you don't have to beg it,
it's hungry and it eats. And that's the way it is. Now,
we're to grow in grace and knowledge. We're to mature spiritually.
In fact, we're not to remain little children in that sense.
But here's what I'm saying. As to our total dependence upon
the Lord God of grace and upon His Son for all of our salvation,
when it comes to our total dependence upon Christ, we will never, ever
be more than little children. There's never going to be a time,
however much I grow in grace and knowledge, there's never
going to be a time that I, standing before you today, am not totally,
100% dependent upon Christ for my whole salvation. And that's
what it means to be a little child. John back here refers
to these believers as his own little children nine times in
this epistle. He says, my little children.
Now what does he mean? He's not taking the place of
God. who is our Heavenly Father and
who alone is our Father. But John is speaking as one who
was their spiritual father in the sense that he was used of
God. He was instrumental in bringing
them to faith in Christ. John didn't even bring them to
faith in Christ. He was just an instrument. Man doesn't bring
other men to Christ. God does. But God uses instruments. Paul did this too. He said in
Galatians chapter 4 and verse 19, he said, My little children
of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.
He looked upon the believers in the churches of Galatia as
his spiritual children and he pained that they be established,
that Christ be established in them, in their minds, in their
hearts, firmly. to where they could not be moved
away from looking unto Christ, the author and finisher of our
faith. That's what I pray for you. That's what I pray for myself.
That Christ be so firmly established in our hearts that we would never
be moved away by anything, by anyone, not even taking our eyes
off of Him, but looking unto Him always. Paul called Timothy
his own son in the faith because Paul was instrumental in Timothy's
upbringing as a as a preacher, as an evangelist. So when John
says, my little children, he's not using it as a term of pride,
but he's using it as a term of love, a term of endearment. That's the way he saw it. He
loved them just like a father or a mother loves their children.
Look back here in verse one. He says, my little children,
these things write I unto you that you sin not. Now, what he's
speaking of here is the goal of the Christian, the goal of
a believer. Now, what is that goal? Sinless
perfection in themselves. We've not already attained sinless
perfection in this life. And the best proof of that is
this. If you're a true believer, if
you're a born-again person, if you're one in whom Christ has
been formed in you, You're going through a warfare. Isn't that
right? It's a warfare of the flesh and the spirit. Paul described
it in Galatians chapter 4 and 5. And it's a battle. It's an everyday thing. There's
no rest from it. You'll never have rest from it.
You're at war with the world. I hear people talking about they
just want to come to church and have peace. I heard somebody
say that one time. You know the first thing that
popped into my head when I heard that? It was what Christ told
the disciples in Matthew chapter 10. He said, I didn't come to
bring peace. I come to bring a sword. And
that sword will divide friend and friend. It will divide mother
and daughter, father and son. That's what that sword will do.
You say, well, preacher, doesn't the Bible say, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people? Yes, it does. But here's what
I'm saying to you. In this world, And within ourselves,
as to the warfare of the flesh and the spirit, we'll never be
at peace in this life. Our peace is in Christ. Isn't that right? That's the
only peace and comfort you'll have. And I hate to tell you,
you who have been in this thing for a long time, the church is
not a retirement home for the spiritually weary. The church
is made up of soldiers for the cause of Christ in this life.
And it's a battle. And the greatest battle, I know
we fight the battles without, with the world, but the greatest
battle is right in here. The warfare of the flesh and
the spirit. And it shows me every day that I'm not what I should
be. I'm not what I'm going to be.
You see, now in Christ, I'm already perfect. But in myself, I'm not. And therefore I have to fight
that battle. So he mentions these things. He says, these things
write I unto you. What are these things? Well,
he's spoken of fellowship with the Father and the Son. He's
spoken of the light of the gospel, cleansing of sin by the blood
of Christ. What can wash away my sins? Nothing,
nothing, nothing but the blood of Jesus. He's spoken of confession
of sin. We're to confess our sins, and
we do when we confess that we have no hope of salvation. but
in Christ and Him crucified, His blood and His righteousness
alone. Walking in the fellowship of the light involved an honest
and open confession of sin, what I am by nature and what I do,
and that no flesh can be justified and made holy and righteous before
God by deeds of the law. The best that I can do in this
life will not be good enough to make me holy or righteous.
I have to look to Christ for that. Secondly, involves a bold
confession of Christ. Remember, he said in verse 7
of chapter 1, if we walk in the light as he is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ
his Son cleanses us from all sin. Now, that's what we need.
Now, you think about this. Think about it a lot. What do
I need? I need cleansing from all sin. Sin, sin, sin. But I'll tell
you what, where are you going to find that cleansing? It's
not in the baptismal pool. It's not in sitting in the pew.
It's not in walking down an aisle. It's not in doing good. Shouldn't
we be baptized? Yes. Shouldn't we confess Christ
before men? Yes. Shouldn't we strive to do
good? Well, John just wrote it. He
said, I write unto you that you sin not, but that will not bring
cleansing of sin. That will not wash away my sins.
There's nothing that will wash away my sins but the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing that'll make
me whole but His righteousness alone. And we quote it so often. I do. And I believe you do too,
because it's one of our favorite hymns. My hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And it's a bold confession of
Christ, not because Christ is such a great Redeemer. He's such
a great Savior. That's why we can come boldly
to the throne of grace. It's not because we're so good. Or we've had a good day, or we've
been successful, or had the victory today. It's because we have such
a great Savior. That's what he says in Hebrews
chapter 4 when he says, Come boldly to the throne of grace.
It's because we have a great high priest. Our boldness is
not in the greatness of ourselves, it's in the greatness of our
Savior. It's in the greatness of His blood to cleanse me from
all my sins. That's where the boldness comes
from. Our confidence is in Christ, and we have no confidence in
the flesh. And I'll tell you, the principal part, when we talk
about growth in grace and in knowledge of Christ, a principal
part of growing in grace and knowledge is that as we grow,
we see ourselves, our sinfulness, more and more and more, but we
also see His greatness and His power and His mercy and His grace
more and more and more. Isn't that right? I'll tell you,
I hope, if you're an old, tired warrior, I hope that you see
the greatness and glory of Christ even more today than you did
yesterday. And I hope that keeps on. Pray that it does. Well,
another aspect of the fellowship of light, John writes here in
chapter 2, is striving not to sin in light of our salvation
in Christ. Striving not to sin. in light
of our salvation in Christ. Now, all who are in Christ, submitted
to Him, resting in Him, in fellowship with the Father and the Son,
who walk in the light of true fellowship with God. Now, let
me say it again. We need to understand this. This
is fundamental to the gospel. If we're in Christ, we are, right
now, totally 100% free from the legal guilt and defilement of
sin. That the legal guilt and defilement
of sin cannot be charged to us. And listen to me, the legal guilt
and defilement of sin cannot bring us back under condemnation
and wrath, ever. Do you understand that? The blood
of Christ cleanses us from all sin. That's what that means.
We were redeemed. That means the price has been
paid in full. Listen, if the price that Christ
paid at Calvary was partial, it could not be called a redemption.
When Christ said it was finished, what did he mean? I'll tell you
exactly what it means. It means it's finished. And you
don't have to go back to the Greek to understand that. It's
finished! That means it's paid for. He didn't leave you one penny
to pay. If He did, it's not redemption and it's not grace. If He did,
it's works. If He did, He's a failure. But
He's not a failure. He's finished, He said. The Bible
says in Daniel chapter 9, He made an end of sin. Now, when
did He do that? At Calvary, when He died. Sin
was charged to him. Whose sins? Not his own. Ours.
His people. All who come to believe in him.
All over the whole world. That's what John means by that. And he made an end of it. It
says he finished the transgression. That means wherever I broke the
law, he brought it to its complete finishing. He paid my debt in
full. Jesus paid it all. All the debt
I owe. And he finished it. And then
he brought in everlasting righteousness, the Scripture says. That means
he justified me at Calvary. And it was so effectual, and
so powerful, and so great, that the total condemnation that God's
people were under in Adam was completely removed at Calvary. Now that's what it means in verse
2 here, 1 John 2, 1. He's the propitiation for our
sins. What is a propitiation? It's
a sin-bearing sacrifice, an offering, who died to take away sin. That's what that means. That's
what a propitiation is. And that means they're taken
away. That means in the sight of God's law and justice, they're
totally removed. That's what I am in Christ, adopted
into His family by Christ on the cross. As to our experience
here in this life now, in ourselves, we're still plagued with the
presence of sin. Now, listen to me, it's there,
isn't it? I mean, it's present. You have to deal with it. Are
you in the warfare? Has your warfare ceased? Now, let me ask
you a question. When will your warfare with the
flesh cease? When will it cease? When you
die. Won't cease one second before
then, will it? You mean as I grow in grace and
knowledge, I'm still warring after the... You better be. Or
you're not walking in the light, are you? If you're not warring
against the flesh, there's no spirit. Because it's the spirit
that wars against the flesh. And the flesh against the spirit.
So we're not free in our experience now. Now what I am in Christ,
now this is so fundamental, listen to me. You've got to see this
distinction. What I am in Christ right now
and what I am in myself are two different things. In Christ right now I'm perfect,
I'm holy, I'm righteous. I have no sin in Him. That's
what the scripture teaches. John wrote this by inspiration
of the Spirit in 1 John chapter 4, as he is, so are we in this
world. That means right now as I stand
before you in Christ, I'm holy. I'm righteous. If you want to
see my righteousness, don't look at me. Look at Christ. Jesus
Christ the righteous. Now if you want to see your righteousness,
don't look within. Because I want to tell you, one
of two things is going to happen if you look within to find your
righteousness. Either you're going to find it
or you're not going to find it. Isn't that right? Let me tell you something.
If you find it, I'm going to tell you what you are. You're
a self-righteous religionist. You say, but hasn't the Holy
Spirit done a great work within us? Yes, He has. But what is
my righteousness before God? Christ in glory. is my righteousness
before God. And it's the great work of the
Holy Spirit who brings you to see that and rest in Him. Isn't that right? It's by the
grace of God we are what we are. Are we getting holier within
ourselves? Now, I'll tell you something
now. If you have righteousness within, you'd have to say yes.
But I'll guarantee you there's not a believer here who'd stand
up and make that statement, I'm getting holier. Or I'm even getting
better. Because you know yourself. You
know where your hope is. Your hope is in Christ. There's
nothing about us. Paul said, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. You say, well the Spirit of God
dwells there. Not in the flesh. He dwells in the heart. And it
is a new heart. But it is not yet a perfected
heart. You're in a warfare. Your every
attempt to love your neighbors yourself is contaminated with
sin. Isn't that right? If that is your righteousness,
then you would have no problem pleading it before God. That
judgment. But my friend, if you're walking
in the light, you're not going to plead your own right. You're
going to plead Christ. And His blood, the blood of Christ, cleanses
me from all my sin. That's what John is saying here.
Sin not! Well, why do I have a problem
with that? Because I'm still plagued with
the presence of sin, the influence of sin, the contamination of
sin, and everything I think, everything I say, and everything
I do. How about you? It's there. Now, let me show you some Scripture
on this. Look back at Romans chapter 6.
And I don't have time. I told Ron, I said, I guess I'm
going to get one verse today. Because I don't have time to
go everywhere in the Scripture to prove this, but it's there
so much. Now, listen to me. Listen to
this. We're sinlessly perfect in Christ. Now, where do you
find that? Well, look at verse 5 of Romans chapter 6. We could
go through the whole chapter. It says, for if we've been planted
together in the likeness of His death. Now what does that mean?
How can I say I was planted together in the likeness of His death?
What that means is that Christ, when He died on the cross, He
represented me. He substituted for me, and He
died for my sins. I was one with Him. That word
baptism that's used up in verses 3 and 4 there, The word baptized
means placed into. That's what it means. And it's
not talking about water baptism by immersion there. That's what
water baptism is. It's by immersion. But that's
a confession. That's an ordinance of confession.
But the word baptized means placed into. Now, we were placed into
Christ before the foundation of this world. Isn't that right?
When God chose us. Doesn't it say we're chosen in
Christ? Elected in Christ? We were placed
into Christ when God chose us. And then we were placed into
Christ when He became incarnate and walked this earth. He did
it not for Himself, He did it for His people. He said, I laid
down my life for who? For the sheep. They were placed
into Him. And then God charged Christ with
the sins of His sheep. We were placed into Him. And
He died. And when He died, I died. You see, he was my representative.
He was my substitute. He died for my sins, placed to
his account. When he was buried, I was buried.
He died for me. And then he says here in verse
5 of Romans 6, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.
When he arose again the third day, I arose again. In him. So he says in verse 6, knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with him. Now the old man was
my former standing in Adam, condemned under the wrath of God. And he
says that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin. And how do you know he's talking
about what I was in Adam? Well, look at verse 7. For he
that is dead is freed from sin. Now, what does that word freed
mean? Look in your center concordance there, or your end concordance. It's a legal term. It means justified. It means acquitted. It means
exonerated. It means not guilty. It means
righteous is what it means. Many times that word is translated
just. A just man. What is a just man?
He's a sinner saved by the grace of God. Or righteous. Who is a righteous man? He's
one who is in Christ, made righteous by His righteousness imputed
to us. And that's what he's talking
about. Now I'm freed from sin. You're looking at a man who's freed
from sin. You say, well, you're still getting old and still dying.
I'm not free from the presence of it. I'm not free from the
influence of it. I'm not free from the contamination
of it. But I'm free from the condemnation of it. I cannot
be condemned again. And why? Because Christ died.
He was condemned in my place. I cannot be back under the wrath
of God again. I may feel like I am on a given
day, but I'm not. And the only way I know it is
because God's Word speaks it here. Why can I not be brought
back under the wrath of God? Because Christ went under the
wrath of God for me. He cried, My God, My God, why
hast thou forsaken me? He was forsaken for me and for
you whom he died for. And we cannot be brought back.
We cannot be. Cannot be. Look over at Romans
chapter 8 and verse 31. Here he says it. What shall we
then say to these things? Verse 31 of chapter 8. If God
be for us, who can be against us? Now let me ask you this question.
How can I know that God is for me instead of against me? Is it based on how I feel? Is
it based on what I do or what I don't do? I mean, if I go home
today and throw away all my TV sets and all of my CDs and DVDs,
will God be for me then? Is that how I can know that?
Or if I decide today that I'm not going to eat any pork, no
more barbecue, what a lie. Can I be sure that God's for
me then? They say vegetarians don't live longer, it just seems
longer. But could I say that God is for me then? Is that what
the Bible says? Or if I decide to taste not this,
touch not that, handle not this, wear certain clothes, comb my
hair a certain way, different way maybe? If I decide to do
that, can I be sure God's for me then? Or if I get baptized,
go to church, never miss a Sunday or Wednesday, will God be for
me then? Is that what the Scriptures say?
How can I know God is for me? I'll tell you how. Are you resting
in Christ? That's it. You say, preacher,
that's too simple. That's a simple gospel. Are you
resting in Him and Him alone? God said, this is My beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him. This is the work of
the Father. This is the work of God that
you believe on Him whom the Father has sent. Look to Christ. Rest in Him. Love Him. Trust
Him. Follow Him. That's who God's
for. That's right. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Well, here's the answer, verse 2, 32. He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Who's the
all there? All for whom Christ died, all
who come to faith in him. How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? That is, what that means is if
we have Christ, we have all things freely given by the blessings
of God. In other words, you have him,
you have it all. You ever wonder what it would
be like to have it all? Well, if you're in Christ, you've
got it all, eternally, spiritually, and the blessings of God. But
look at verse 33. Now, this is what John is saying
in other terms. John, in 1 John 2, 1 and 2, when
he says, we have an advocate with the Father, and he's the
propitiation friend, he's saying the exact same thing in other
words that Paul is saying right here. Look at verse 33. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Now, what does that
mean? It means they cannot be charged
with sin. Now, wait a minute now. You say,
well, wait a minute. Are you a sinner? Yes, I am. So in what
sense can I not be charged with sin? In the court of God Almighty's
law and justice, I cannot be charged. Now, why? Because it's God that justified.
God justified me. How? By my works? No. In Christ. By the works of Christ. His righteousness. God declared me not guilty. When Christ said it's finished,
the veil was rent in two. What a story. What a message. It's finished. And then look
at verse 34. Who is he that condemneth? Can
anybody condemn me? No! Why? Why? Well, because you've
done enough. You've prayed enough. You've
confessed enough. You've believed enough. You've
loved enough. No! I'm in a warfare. Nothing is
enough. That's right. So, how can no man condemn me?
It's Christ that died. You see that? Yea, rather. That
is risen again. Who is even at the right hand
of God. Who also maketh intercession for us. We have an advocate with
the five. Now, that's what we are in Christ.
Go back to Romans chapter 6, just for a second now. Look at verse 11. Now, he's talking
to the same people here now. The church, brethren in Christ,
the household and family of God, my little children. And look
at what he says in verse 11, he says, likewise reckon you
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. What he's saying there
is in the way that Christ died unto sin, you account, that word
reckon there means account. You know, sometimes it's translated
impute, that word reckon. You say I reckon, that's I account. And so he says, likewise, or
in the same way, reckon or account you also yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin. In other words, in the same way
that Christ is accounted to be dead unto sin. Now, how did he
die unto sin? He died unto sin that was charged
to him. He didn't die unto sins that
he committed. He didn't die unto the presence
and influence and contamination of sin, because He had no presence
of sin within Himself. He had no influence of sin within
Himself. And He had no contamination of
sin within Himself. He was the perfect God-man. He
was the spotless Lamb of God. His blood, His soul, His heart,
His mind was not contaminated at all by our sin. They were laid upon Him, they
were charged to Him, just like they were laid upon the scapegoat.
Just like they were laid upon the innocent lamb in picture
and time. And He died under those sins that were charged to Him.
Now, in the exact same way, when Christ died, that's the way we
died under sins. Sins charged to us. God was in
Christ. Reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, not reckoning, not
accounting their sins to them. In other words, when God charged
them to Christ, they are no longer charged to us. So likewise, in
the exact same way, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
and look here, now the same person, he says in verse 12, let not
sin therefore reign in your mortal body. Now you still have to deal
with it. The presence of it. The influence
of it. The contamination of it. You're
in a warfare. Don't let it rule and reign over
you that you should obey it in the lust thereof. That lust is
any unlawful desire. You still have unlawful desires,
don't you? Don't you? You do. We all do. We still have problems. A lot
of problems. You know, I quote this poem.
I've quoted it before, and it's kind of funny, but it expresses
the truth. And it goes like this. To dwell
above with saints we love, oh, that will be great, great glory.
To dwell below with saints we know, well, that's another story. Isn't it? You say, well, it ought
not be. What are you going to do about
it? You can look at me and say it
ought not be, but go home and look in the mirror and say it
ought not be. You see, when I look in the mirror, here's what I
find. I'm the problem. What do you find? You say, well,
he ought, he ought, he ought. You ever heard the he ought bird?
Or she ought? We need more I ought birds, don't
we? And that's the problem. You see,
we're sinners saved by the grace of God. You say, well, I have
to put up with a lot. Well, so do you. So do we all. But look at what our Lord had
to put up with. Look at what He's got to put up with. You
see what I'm saying? So don't let sin reign in your
mortal body. Verse 13, neither yield ye your
members as instruments of unrighteousness. That's your eyes, your ears,
your hands, your feet, your brain. You've got to fight sin. That's
what John is saying. I'm writing these things to you
that you sin not. You've got to fight it. Now,
why are you going to fight it? Because of the grace of God.
That's why. Look over at Romans 7 and verse
14. Paul writes, we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm
carnal, sold under sin. Now that's the same man who said
we're dead to sin. He said, I'm carnal, sold under
sin. I'm fleshly. I'm a slave to sin. I can't get
away from it. He goes on to say, I know what
to do in the way of good, but I don't even know how to do it.
I have a desire to do it, but I don't know how. I cannot achieve
that. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? And he says, I thank God through
Jesus Christ my Lord. Go back to 1 John 2, same thing
John's saying there. I'm writing that you sin not.
So in one sense, I'm perfect in Christ, legally, judicially,
before God. But in this life, morally, experientially,
I've got a long way to go. I've got a long way to go. John wrote, these things that
you sin not, that we strive for perfection in our character and
conduct. The Bible says it is our goal and purpose to be conformed
to the image of Christ. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I waive with thy likeness. I'm like him now in him, but
not in myself. I'm not yet perfected. And John
says here, and if any man sin, now he's not saying just in case
you do sin here, nor in the sense that you may or you may not sin.
Sin still is a very present reality in our lives. What is sin? Well, we quote Romans 3.23 quite
often, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
That literally means missing the mark. Do you miss the mark? Alright, on your best day. When
you decide, now I'm just going to love everybody perfectly today. At the end of the day, have you
missed the mark? Or at the end of the day, can
you lay your head down on the pill and say, well, I finally
made it. I hit the mark. I hit the bullseye. You who walk in the light, you
know better, don't you? You say, today I'm not going
to sin at all. I'm going to be perfect. I'm
not going to have a sinful thought, a sinful motive. And then somebody
comes along and says a cross word. Well, wait a minute. That was accidental. That's what
the Pentecostals say. You didn't really mean that.
You didn't intend that. That's a bunch of bologna. No,
sir. That's the first reaction of
the flesh. And we have to deal with it every day. As long as
we come short of perfection, as long as we fail in any degree
to keep the law, love God perfectly and love our neighbor. And remember,
our neighbor means our worst enemy. That means the one who
would do us the most harm. That guy that I've got in my
head that would do me the most harm, I'm to love him perfectly. That's what that law says. And
if I don't, I'm transgressing the law and I'm missing the mark.
I mean, listen to me. Here's what I'm telling you.
That means that person is in your life who would do you the
most harm. You're forbidden by the law of
God to have the least thought of harm or vengeance towards
that person. Now, there's what the law says.
You can say, well, that sounds good. Well, that might be okay,
but that's not good enough. You see, the law doesn't say,
admire me. It says, do it. That's where we are. There's
only one person who ever lived on this earth who ever did that,
and that's Jesus Christ the righteous. Now, my hope is in Him. Where's
yours? My peace is in Him. Somebody
says, well, God's people are sinners, but they're not continual,
habitual sinners. Well, have you ever had a moment,
a second in your life that you can say, I've hit the mark? Well,
it sounds like habitual sin to me. How about you? Do you always
fall short? Do I always fall short? Do I
always miss the mark? It sounds like it's a habit to
me. If you do it always, it's pretty much a habit, isn't it?
In fact, it's more than a habit. It's a way of life. Where's my
hope? Where's my peace? Where's my
rest? Read it. We have an advocate
with the flock. Jesus Christ the righteous. Now,
what does that mean? That means he pleads my cause.
That's right. He pleads for me. He stands for
me. And what does he present as the
evidence of my justification? His blood and righteousness.
What he did for me at Calvary, that's what he pleads for me
in my stead. He's my cause. He's my advocate.
He steps in when Satan accuses me. He steps in when men accuse
me. He steps in when my own heart
accuses me. And he says, like the Lord said
of Joshua the high priest, this is one whom God chose, and this
is one who's been plucked out of the fire. God chose me. And Christ plucked me out of
the fire at Calvary. He removed God's wrath. and he
gained God's favor to where I'll never be condemned again. What
a story.