Turn back to the Gospel of John. I'm not the Gospel of John, but
1st John. Turn back to 1st John, chapter
one and two, two verses of chapter two is where I'm going to bring
the message from. Well, actually, it's the chapter
one and those two verses. Now, before I forget, Wednesday
night, we are going to take the Lord's Supper. Because we're
at the point in Matthew where the Lord takes his disciples
and they have the Lord's Supper. So I wanted to do that Wednesday
night. All right. The title of this message is
this. We have an advocate. We have an advocate. And we have
an advocate, it says, with the Father. with the Father. There is an advocate for sinners
provided by the Father and He's with the Father at all times. He's with Him at all times. The
first thing I thought of as I read this, I actually woke up Thursday
morning about four o'clock in the morning thinking about this
verse. It was on my mind as soon as
I woke up and I thought, We have an advocate with the Father.
John says, he says, now I say to you that you sin not, but
when you do, we have an advocate. We have an advocate. Who needs
an advocate? Who needs an advocate? I can
tell you who needs an advocate. Those who are in trouble. Those
who have sin, original. You'll notice down there, John
said, if we say we have no sin and that word there is a noun. And then on down, he said, now,
if we say we have not sinned, that's a verb. But here he's
talking about those who have sinned. Original. From Adam, born with sin, born
with the nature of sin. And those who have sinned, they
are the ones that need an advocate. Now, if you're not in trouble,
In other words, if you have no sin, that's what John's saying,
if you say you have no sin, and if you have not sinned, if you
are blind enough and dead enough to say that, then you don't need
an advocate. You don't need an advocate. You
see, an advocate is for those who sin. If you have sinned and you have
sinned, then you need this advocate. And I tell you what, you need
the best. You need the best advocate that there is, because sin is
the breach, it is the transgression of God's law. We don't need just
a greenhorn or someone just graduated. We need the best that there is. Because this advocate is going
to go before God Almighty. He's going to go before God.
If you'll remember, as I read that, it says God is light. God
is holy. He is righteous. He's just. And
in Him is no darkness at all. No sin. No sin. He's holy. Absolute purity. Absolute. Now John, here in verse 1 of
this first chapter, he declares that he was one of the eyewitnesses
of the Word of Life, that He actually had seen with His own
eyes, and that He had looked upon, studied, and handled. You know, when you handle something,
you pick it up and you handle it, you look it over. He said
we have actually seen Him, we have looked upon Him, we have
handled of the Word of Life. This is not something that we
have made up, that Christ was really a substantial man, And
we've seen Him. And He's life. This man that
we've seen, heard, looked upon is life. He's life. And this life, as he says there
in verse 2, the life, this life that we are talking about, that
we have seen, that we've heard, that we've looked upon, was manifested
and we've seen it. We've seen it. And we bear witness
to you. And you notice here in this verse,
verse 2, he says, we bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life, that eternal life is a person. Ninety-nine point nine percent
of the time when someone thinks of eternal life, they think of
living forever. They think of the length of it.
But John says, we show unto you that eternal life which was with
the Father and was manifested unto us. And his name is Jesus Christ. Eternal life is a person. It's
a person. And the purpose for writing this
epistle, John lets them know, was that they might have fellowship
one with another. Now, why would they want to have
fellowship with some fishermen? Why would they want to have fellowship
with some poor, unlearned fishermen? John said, we're writing this
that you and I may have fellowship. Why would I want to have fellowship
with a poor, unlearned fisherman? Well, here's why. That you also
may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with
the Father. and with His Son Jesus Christ.
We're not just having fellowship with just fishermen here. We're having fellowship with
sons of God. Sons of the King. And he said, truly, our fellowship
is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things
write we unto you that your joy, that your joy in the Lord That
your real joy might be full, that it might be complete. And
how can that be? Well, the only way that we can
have our joy to be full, to be complete, is to have the Lord
Jesus Christ at the center of it. He's got to be the center
of our joy, the joy he's speaking of here. He's the center of it. God incarnate, God in the flesh,
God manifest in the flesh is the very center of our joy. Apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no real joy. Oh, we have some
pleasure in some things, but to have real joy, lasting joy,
joy that reaches down into the soul is found in the Lord Jesus
Christ and fellowship with Him. That's why John says in these
things, write we unto you that your joy may be full. This then
is the message. This is the message that we heard
of him or from him. And declare unto you the same
message. That God is light. That's how
he starts with God. This is the message that we heard
from him that you need to straighten up. That you need to quit doing
some things. You need to believe some things.
No, He said this is the message that we heard from Him when He
came. When life was manifested in the
flesh. This is the message. The first
thing He spoke to us about. God is light. God is holy. God is holy. God is just. That's
what He's saying. This is the message that they
heard from Christ as He taught them. The Father of light is
holy. He's holy. And in Him there is
no sin, no darkness, no darkness whatsoever. Therefore, if we
are to have fellowship with Him, if this morning we are to have
fellowship with the Father, with God Almighty, then we've got
to be holy too. Peter said, Be ye holy. The Lord
said, Be ye holy for what? I am holy. I am holy. I am. How can that be? How can
that be? Well, John will tell us this
in chapter 2. He says here in verse 6, If we
say that we have fellowship with
Him, Do you have fellowship with God?
Think about that. Think about who He is. This is
God we're talking about. Do we have fellowship with Him?
If you say you have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness,
we lie and do not the truth. What does it mean, walk in darkness?
Here's what I believe He's saying. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him, that we know God, that we have fellowship with God,
And we walk into darkness, ignorance as to who He really is, as to
who Jesus Christ really is. He is God manifest in the flesh
and what He really came to do and who He did it for and where
He is now. If we deny those things, and
I have had people that I have spoke the gospel to, witnessed
the gospel to, places I've worked. And they said they had fellowship
with God. They claimed to believe God.
They claimed to believe the gospel. And when I talked to them about
God being holy and Christ dying for those whom the Father chose,
they got upset. Got upset. You talk about particular redemption.
Christ redeeming a multitude of sinners that the Father gave
Him, and they get upset, but yet they say, we have fellowship
with God. And then they turn around and
deny the gospel of redemption that's clearly revealed in the
Word of God. The Scripture says you're walking in darkness. You're
walking in darkness. That person is walking in darkness,
and he's lying. He's lying. and do not the truth, does not
know the truth, doesn't know it. But if we walk in the light,
in the light of the gospel and the light of how God saves sinners,
if we walk in that light of how God saves sinners, who God is
according to the scriptures, according as he has revealed
himself in the scriptures, that's walking in the light. As he is in the light, then it's
evident. It's evident, first of all, God's
done something for you. It's evident God has done something
for you. We have fellowship one with another. And the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth. And that is continual. That word
means continually cleanses. Perpetually cleanses. That's
what it means. His Son cleanses us from all
sin. If we walk according to His Word, according to the light
of His Spirit, according to the gospel of grace, the gospel of
God's glory, if we do that, it's evident, it's evident that we
have fellowship with Him. It's evident God has done something
for you. That's evident. And the blood
of His Son, this is the only way sin can be put away. This is the only way. The blood
of His Son cleanseth us from all sin. All of it. All of it. But now if we say, if there's
someone who says, and I had someone tell me this once. I had someone
tell me this. We have no sin. I had a man tell me one time
after he had professed salvation and he said he was saved, he
said he didn't sin anymore. He had no sin. You wouldn't believe that, would
you? There's some out there. There are some out there. If
we say that we have no sin, and this has to do with original
sin, we deceive ourselves. Now, I don't think we deceive
anybody else that knows us. You know, we deceive ourselves,
but you really haven't deceived anybody else because they know
you. We deceive ourselves and the truth. Christ said, I am
the way, the truth, and the life, and the life. I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. He said it's not in you. It's
evident that God, that Christ, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit
of the Holy Spirit, cannot be in you. He said it cannot be
in you if you deny original sin. Can't do it. However, here's what we do. If
we own up to our sins, We own up to our sins against God, that
we own up to sin, and we've sinned. Guilty. Guilty. And here's what it's
doing. Here's what it's saying. If we
take sides with God against ourselves, if we take sides with God against
ourselves, He is faithful and just. He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Not
only is He faithful to do it, but He's just in doing it. He's just. And I tell you what,
when the Lord cleanses us from our sins, we stand before God
justified. Declared of all charges. Not
guilty. Not guilty. But if we say that
we have not sinned, then we are calling God a liar because God
says you have sinned and come short of His glory. You're in
rebellion against God. If we claim sinless perfection,
you're calling God a liar. God says we're sinners before
and after salvation. Before and after. And now we
come to chapter 2. John lets us know that the reason
or the goal for writing this epistle is this, that you sin
not. Here's the reason for writing,
that you sin not. Is John saying that we, that anyone Can reach sinless
perfection? Is John saying that? No. No, absolutely not. However,
now listen, we cannot reach sinless perfection in this life. But our goal, is this not our
goal? Our goal is to never sin again. Can we reach sinless perfection?
No. But our goal, honestly, is to never sin again. I would to
God that I would never have another evil thought. I wish I would
never have another evil action or sinful action. I wish that
was so. And we strive against sin. Our goal is not to sin. Our Lord said to that woman that
was caught in adultery, Remember that? They brought her before
the Lord. They thought they would trap Him. And our Lord bent down
and rolled on the ground. And then they all started leaving.
And then she was there by herself. He said, Does any man condemn
you? She said, No. He said, Neither
do I. Go and sin no more. She said, Boy. That's not possible. That's not possible in this life,
to sin no more. No, but I'll tell you what is
possible, to not want to sin anymore. To desire not to sin
again. Not to sin again. And he told
her, he said, you go and sin no more. Our goal is to not sin.
Now it's evident that no person Saved or lost is without sin. You know when the Scripture says,
Be ye holy, for I am holy? First of all, He meant that.
Secondly, it shows me how much I need Jesus Christ, who is my
righteousness, in whom we are sanctified. When He says, Go
and sin no more, I don't want to sin anymore. But it also shows
me how much I need Jesus Christ because of my sin. this advocate,
how much I need this advocate. The fact that an advocate has
been provided by our Father says that his children are yet sinners
because he's with the Father at all times. Every believer knows by the Word
of God and by painful experience that sin is ever present with
them. Paul said in Romans 8 or Romans
7, when I would do good, evil is present with me. That which
I would not, I do. That which I would do, I do not.
Does that sound like a confused man? Oh, that's a sinner saved
by grace. That which I would not, I do,
but I don't. I wish I would not. I would not
sin, would you? But I do. Oh, how I need him. How I need him is what it shows
to me. The Old Testament saints are
good examples. Remember Abraham? Jacob, the outworn Jacob, what
a deceiver. David and his adultery and having
her husband murdered. But you know, we don't need to
look any further than ourselves for an example of remaining sin. Just look in the mirror. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. Oh, what a verse. What a verse. Jesus Christ the righteous. Jesus
Christ. that you sin not. What is sin?
Well, sin is a nature. Sin is everything that God is
not. God is holy. Sin is evil. God is light. Sin
is darkness. Sin is against God. David said,
Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in
thy sight. Sin is a transgression of the
law of God, is what John says over in the third chapter. Sin
robs us of the joy of salvation. David said in Psalm 51, 12, Lord,
restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. David ruined that
joy. He broke that joy by his conduct,
by his sin. Then sin grieves the Holy Spirit.
It says in Ephesians 4, Grieve not the Holy Spirit, for
by yourself is the day of redemption. And sin robs us of assurance.
Am I his or am I not? And sin robs us of good things.
Sin robs us of good things. I want you to listen to this
scripture. Turn over to Jeremiah chapter 5. Jeremiah chapter 5. Look in verse 25. He says, Your iniquities have
turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good
things from you. They've withholden good things
from you. And sin brings the chastening
hand of God, our Father. That's what sin does. Now John says, my little children. Oh, how tender he writes here.
Well, so I'll tell you this. When a child of God sins, he's
grieved by it. He's grieved by it. And that's
why John writes to them so tenderly. He says, my little children.
He's writing here to God's little children. Yes, these are God's
children he's writing to. And they sin. They sin. They still sin. Even though they
are born of God, they are still sinners in need of forgiveness,
in need of mercy, in need of cleansing. Still. And he says, I'm writing to you
that you sin not. That's so, that you sin not.
Sin is never proved by God, never. Never. And it's never proved
of God's children. They never prove it. Let your
sin not. But it's not a disaster. You see, when Adam fell, the
whole human race fell in him. By one act of disobedience, the
whole world came under condemnation. By one time, one act, one act. Well, I've sinned. My, it's always
hard to tell how much we've sinned since we've come in this room.
Really. If we understood, if we truly
understood and could see the nature of sin, it would be amazing
how much sin has happened since we've been here. Because we are
here. Because we are here. So here's a glorious truth. We
have an advocate. We have one to plead our cause. We have one to take up our case. We have a lawyer, that's what
an advocate is, a lawyer who's going to stand in our place and
deal with a holy God who will by no means clear the guilty. Do you want to deal with Him?
I don't. I don't. I want my advocate.
I want this advocate, the one whom the Father provided to deal
with it. We have an advocate, a lawyer,
one to represent us when we sin. We have an advocate. We have
an advocate provided, which shows that we need one. Court-appointed advocate. We have one. I'm not looking
for one. I don't have to go look for one.
I have one provided by the Father. And this advocate, it says here,
is Jesus Christ the righteous. Oh, my soul. If we could get
a hold of that, what comfort and what peace it would give.
If we could just get a hold of that. He has their credentials. He has the credentials that I
need in someone. He has their credentials. He's
Jesus, the Savior. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. He's the Christ.
He's the anointed. He's the appointed one of God
to be the Savior, to be the advocate. And he's righteous. He's not
a crook. I tell you, you'd be hard pressed to find a lawyer
that's not a crook. I'm telling you the truth. You'd be hard
pressed to find one. But here, this is pointed out
on purpose. Jesus Christ, the righteous,
the righteous. He's the righteous one. He's the righteous one. He'll
deal with my case. in a just manner, in a just way. He'll satisfy the court. He'll
satisfy the judge and set me free. Let's look at just a few things
here about this advocate. First of all, he is with the
father. Now get a hold of that. This advocate does not live somewhere
else. and then show up when I show
up. This advocate is with the Father at all times. All times. If you know anything
about sin, this will make you happy. If you really know anything
about sin, this will make you happy. We don't have to worry
about whether or not He's going to be there when I get there.
He's already there. He's seated at the right hand
of God, the scripture says. He's there at all time making
intercession for the transgressors. He never leaves. He's there all
time. And then this advocate is provided,
that is provided, is the son of God. He provided his own son
to be the advocate. Do you know a better one? Do
you know a better one? I promise you, the judge is going
to hear this one. This is the son. He not only knows my case,
but he knows the father. And he knows what the father
demands in order to be satisfied. This is our advocate. And he's always heard. He said
in one place, Father, I know you always hear me. You always
hear him. He always has an audience with
the judge at any time. And then it says he's righteous.
The advocate provided, he's not a crook. He's not going to bend
the law. He's not going to break the law.
No, I tell you what he's going to do. He's going to satisfy
the law. He's going to meet the demands
of the law against me. He's going to meet those demands.
He's going to satisfy God's law. That's what he's going to do.
He's not going to plead my innocence. He's not going to plead my innocence
because I'm not. And you're not. There's not an
innocent man or woman in this building. He's going to plead
his righteousness. His righteousness for my forgiveness. His righteousness for my acceptance.
That's what he's going to plead. Forgiven for my sake. We are forgiven for Christ's
sake. And then it says in that second verse, and he is this
one that is our advocate provided by the Father. He is Jesus Christ,
the righteous, and he is the satisfaction. He is the covering. He is the sacrificial atonement
for our sins. He pleads his atoning sacrifice
for our forgiveness, for our justification. He pleads himself. That word propitiation means
covering, atonement. It means to pardon
and reconcile. And when he stands before the
judge of all, He stands there as my propitiation, as my atonement,
as my covering. He is my satisfaction before
God. But not only is He the propitiation
for our sins, but also for the sins of the
whole world. not for the Jews only, but for
sinners of every kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation under heaven." That's powerful, isn't it? That's
powerful. You see, he's not out of his
jurisdiction. He's not out of his territory. The whole earth is his. The whole
world is his. And it says, this propitiation
that has been provided by the advocate, who was provided by
the Father, is not for our sins only, the Jews, that little nation
of people that was over there, where there were some believers
there that belonged to God. And it's not just for us Jews
only, but for sinners out of every kindred, tribe, tongue,
and nation under heaven. People like you and me. Sinners like you and me. Who needs an advocate? Well,
you're definitely looking at one. I need an advocate. I need one. And God the Father
has provided one. He has provided an advocate. And he's never lost a case and
never will. Never has lost a case. I say to anyone this morning,
and remember now, remember, John's writing to my little children.
He's writing to God's children. That's who he's writing to. He's
writing to me. He's writing to me. I have an advocate. that I can
go to and make me whole. One that can make me just before
God. Clear of all charges. No case,
no case is too hard for Him to handle. No case. I tell you what, I woke
up thinking about that Thursday morning. And it just made my
day. It made my day. You know, you
don't have to have a long, drawn-out sermon to enjoy it, do you? I'll tell you what you and I
need for God to just speak a word in power. I woke up Thursday
night, about 4 o'clock Thursday morning, and the first thought
on my mind was this, I have an advocate. I have an advocate
provided by the Father for me. And he is none other than Jesus
Christ, the righteous, the righteous. And not only is he my advocate,
he is the propitiation. He is the satisfaction. He is
the atoning sacrifice. He is all that God demands. He's all of it. I don't need
anymore. Oh, we have an advocate. We have
an advocate. All right, Mike.