1 John chapter two, and we will
read from verse one. My little children, these things
write I unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And
he is the propitiation for our sins. and not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do
know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that
saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar,
and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in
him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that
we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him
ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. Now, we'll let that suffice for
our reading today. But I'm sure that there is much
for us to contemplate and reflect upon in these few verses. Let's just take a moment and
commit this time into the Lord's hands also. Heavenly Father,
we pray that thou would lead us to understand thy word, direct
our hearts and our minds to concentrate upon the message that John has
for us here today. And may these truths find a place
to hold and catch in our hearts, that they may be applied to our
spirits, that they may comfort our souls and that we may find
encouragement in them. And may the Lord Jesus Christ
be lifted up even in our view, that we may worship him in spirit
and in truth and find him to be our all in all. Amen. The Lord Jesus Christ called
his disciples little children and that is the phrase that John
uses here in this opening verse of chapter 2. He seems to have
found the phrase particularly meaningful. When the Lord called
John and the other disciples his little children, John obviously
appreciated that phrase and we find that he uses it himself. Here he imitates his Lord and
his friend using the same term of endearment that the Lord had
used to in turn address and arrest the attention of his readers. In fact, and I'll just mention
this, that John seems to have liked this expression so much
that he uses it nine times in this short epistle. And therefore
the frequency with which he uses it makes it in itself mentionable. He's speaking to those who are
little children. Now certainly he was an older
man by this time and so he writes as an experienced elder to those
who will read his words. And perhaps he has in view those
who are young in the faith. But I think this is a reference,
rather, to those who are children of God. It's that sense that
this little phrase bears, surely. It's those little children, those
who are, with John, a child of God. Believers in Christ who
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are called by adoption into the
family of God that they may in turn call God their Father as
the Lord Jesus Christ had encouraged and taught his disciples to do.
Our Father which art in heaven. So we who trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ, who know him as our everlasting Father, we who trust in the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ as our elder brother and speak of him
as our heavenly Father, we are the children of God. And it is
a tender and it is a loving and it is a discriminating distinguishing
phrase and it is personal because it shows us that there is this
relationship between God and his children and so Paul calls
them, I'm sorry, John calls them little children. Paul says in
Galatians chapter 3 verse 26, ye are all the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. And so here we're being reminded
right at the very outset of the fact of this faith, this distinguishing
feature in the family of God. Who are the people of God? Well,
God created all people, and in a sense, all people are the handiwork
of God. All people are the creation of
God. But there are those who are the children of God by faith. And this, I'm sure, is what John
is referring to here when he calls his readers little children. And so, we are to understand
and see that these words are being written to those who are
the people of God by faith. And that reminds us that John
is writing to believers and when he encourages us as believers,
when he encourages us to believe, when he encourages us to stand,
when he encourages us to walk, he is writing to us to encourage
and comfort us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. And a
little bit later in the epistle, in fact, I think it's chapter
three, John will enlarge and explain what it means to be a
little child, to be a child of God. And there he will say, in
this, the children of God are manifested. You see, you have
the children of God revealed as to who they are. And he goes
on to explain how that manifestation of the children of God will be
evidenced, how it will be witnessed, how we might know that we are
children of God and that others around us might know that we
are children of God. And he goes on to explain that
it is by the effects and the nature of the new birth. as Jesus had spoken of it to
Nicodemus. You have to be born again. Now,
we'll come back to that later, but for now, I want us simply
to take from this first usage, or the first use of John in this
passage, in this verse, that John, in speaking of his readers
as little children and describing them so is addressing believers. And he's doing it in a most gentle,
caring and affectionate way. He's speaking pastorally to his
readers. not to grieve us in the things
that he is saying, but showing us that he is aware of our condition
and addressing us tenderly as you would speak to a child. And
I hope that we might enter into something of the surrounding
ambience, if you like, of this terminology. He is not speaking
to us cruelly. He's not speaking to us sharply.
He's speaking to us softly, tenderly, little children. encouraging
and comforting, as it were gathering us in his arms as the Lord Jesus
Christ did to the little children in his own day. And so metaphorically
even in John's language we can see that passion, that tenderness
being expressed, not to grieve but to encourage and to comfort
the little children in the faith regarding their status and standing,
regarding their privileges and blessings. believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ by faith. And yet the first thing to notice
is that the Apostle talks about our sin. So he is speaking to
those whom he knows are sinners but he is speaking to us gently
and tenderly. Sin is in the extreme an ever-present sorrow. Every child of God, every little
child knows to his lamentation, to his sadness and sorrow that
he is a sinner. It is a characteristic of the
family of God. But John is not going to chide
us for being sinners, he rather desires to cheer us, not to crush
us, but to reassure us. The old man of our flesh will
never be without sin, and the new man that is created in Christ
Jesus will never be without the struggle of that sin, in the
flesh and in this world. And it may be that for a short
while we are able to suppress the manifestation of a particular
sin, but we cannot eliminate the nature of sin which is part
and parcel of our humanity. And so here John is directing
us once again to realise that only faith brings hope. Not looking at our own lives,
not examining our own actions, not looking inwardly to test
our hearts and our motives or our actions or our words or our
thoughts. Doing that will only ever bring
us down. Doing that will only ever cause
us to fear and to worry that we are not really Christians
at all. But rather he is showing us that faith is the only reason
that we can have hope. Faith in the promises of God. Faith in the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Faith in the faithfulness of
the Father of whom we are. the little children by adoption.
And so faith brings hope and faith brings relief to a believer
under the challenges of their sinfulness when they placed their
trust in that substitutionary and representative work of the
Lord Jesus Christ when he died on the cross for his people in
our place. And so I admire John's gospel
emphasis here. He is about to deal with the
sin that the Lord's people feel, but he does so gently and tenderly. And he says, if and when we sin,
we have an advocate with the Father. So here we're using this
word advocate now. And he is using this word to
direct us to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, recognising the
circumstances that we are in, that we are sinning primarily
against God. But when we sin, We have an advocate
with the Father, says John. Jesus Christ the righteous. That's a beautiful little phrase
and there are beautiful truths encapsulated in this opening
verse. Here's a couple of things that
I want to draw your attention to with respect to this phrase,
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Because
it is to this one that John is directing our attention. And
you know, whatever you remember from today's service, whatever
you remember from what it is that I say here to you now, that
is a beautiful phrase. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. If that's all you remember, remember
that. What is John saying? He is saying
we have one who speaks for us, an advocate, one who speaks for
us, one who stands forth for us. one who represents and intercedes
for us little children, those who are the little children,
those who believe, who are little children by faith, we have one
who stands forth, intercedes for us and engages on our behalf. And John says we have one, we
don't have to go and seek one out, We don't have to think,
oh, I'm going to have to find a lawyer, I'm going to have to
find a solicitor, I'm going to have to find someone to represent
me, I'm going to have to go and look for someone who can help
me in this situation. He says we already have one.
And that is a beautiful thought that already in the presence
of God stands the Lord Jesus Christ advocating and interceding
for us here upon earth. We have an advocate. And another thing that this is
referring to is that this advocate is with the Father. The Lord
Jesus Christ addresses the need that we have. When we sin, we
have an advocate with the Father. He is with the Father, representing
and speaking on the basis of our sin. He is addressing in
heaven before his Father our need. He is speaking for us in
the court of divine justice, where transgressions are weighed
and where guilt is attributed. an advocate steps forth and speaks
to the need of his people. It's a beautiful thought and
again he who speaks, our advocate, is the living word. You see how John has been so
entranced and concentrated upon this one who is the living word. In the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and the word was God. And then again,
we discovered the opening part of John's gospel. He speaks of
the living word that became flesh. We saw him, we touched him. This
is the living word and John is speaking about this word because
that's what advocate means. It is one who speaks out vocally and he is addressing our need.
The living word is a fit and able spokesperson for the need
of his people. He is both righteous to meet
with the Father and he is a suitable sin-bearer of his people's iniquity. That is, he is the God-man. So you see how John has woven
together these opening themes that we read about in the first
few verses of the epistle of John? and now he is beginning
to enlarge upon them. This one who came into the world
who is God and became man has the attributes and the suitability,
he has the character to fulfil this role of being righteous
and yet a sin bearer on behalf of his people. He is speaking
about the suitability of Christ to fulfil this role. Isaac Watts,
we've read a number of his hymns. He writes, my advocate appears
for my defence on high. The father bows his ears and
lays his thunder by. Not all that hell or sin can
say shall turn his heart, his love, away. Why? because our Advocate has appeared
before him on our behalf. And John says this Advocate,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is the propitiation of our sins. And that is a powerful word for
a mighty work. This doctrine, this teaching,
this revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ as the propitiation of
our sins is a beautiful and weighty teaching. We need to spend a
few minutes upon it. It is another word of covenant
grace. It is a covenant word, if you
like, by which I mean it describes a covenant role of our Lord Jesus
Christ, one of the offices, again, that he fulfils. And also, it
speaks to us of Christ and the Father, that relationship that
exists between the two. because propitiation is integral
to salvation and it is at the very heart of God's grace and
love and mercy towards his people. It has to do with reconciliation
and yet not simply the fact that we are reconciled to God. but
the means by which that reconciliation is accomplished. And I say to
you often, I'm sure, as we speak about these different roles and
offices that the Lord Jesus Christ had, this is the wonder of the
way of salvation, that it has so many facets, so many beautiful
angles from which we can look at it, so much depth and wonder. then we will, I'm sure, spend
a lifetime. It's a lovely little picture
when you think about the rainbow or when you think about light
shining through a prism. It appears as white light. We
see it. It's transparent. But when it
shines through that prism, it breaks up into all the colours
of the rainbow. red and yellow and blue and green
and indigo violet. We can see, and orange, we can
see those colours of the rainbow and all of them combined together
to just be the glorious transparent light. and yet it is made up
of them all, and that's a picture of Christ. Surely that's a picture
of our Saviour, that we see Him, and yet as we see Him and look
at Him in different ways, we see so many beautiful things
about Him, so many wondrous attributes in the work that He has accomplished.
It is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the man, Christ Jesus who is
the propitiation. It is he who has reconciled us
to God. Not us, not our faith, not our
belief, not our works. That's what I mean by saying
it's a covenant word. It is Christ's work on our behalf. that has brought us into this
position of being reconciled to God and being able to receive
the blessings and to stand in that happy state of being under
the blessings of God. Christ has reconciled us. He
is our propitiation by his sacrifice and death. This is what Paul
calls making peace through the blood of his cross. Peace through the blood of his
cross is the propitiatory work of Christ. The Old Testament
type was the mercy seat in the tabernacle where the blood of
the sacrifice was sprinkled and God's anger at sin was appeased
and removed. And that was the type, the picture
of this propitiatory work of Christ. But the Father is also
involved because it is the Father, it is He which Paul says in Romans
3, verse 25, set Him, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, forth
as a propitiation. through faith in his blood. So
the Apostle Paul tells us that Christ is our propitiation, having
died on the cross, but that it was the Father who set him forth. It was the Father who said, this
is what is required, this is what has to be done. it was the
blood of Jesus Christ and faith in that blood which brings us
into the experience of Christ's propitiatory sacrifice. The triune God is here at work
in covenant union and fixed on this means. It is God, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit who settled upon this means of salvation
from sin. There isn't another way. There
had to be that propitiatory work of the Lord Jesus Christ. A propitiation,
a reconciling, a blood sacrifice by a sinless man on behalf of
sinful men. that would be in itself acceptable
to the holy justice of God the Father as he dwelt in eternity,
that would be effectable by the perfect obedience of God the
Son while here upon earth, and that would be applicable by the
mediating comfort of God the Holy Spirit throughout time into
the hearts and lives and consciences of men and women, sinners by
faith in Christ's work. That's what John is telling us
here. Now that's quite a mouthful, I accept that, but it is nevertheless
the very essence and substance, the foundation of what we believe
as Christians. Here is this one, Jesus Christ,
who is our propitiation. And that work was set up and
set forth by the triune God in the covenant of grace because
that alone was acceptable to the holy justice of God. That
alone was achievable, effectable, could be put into effect by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that alone is applied by
God the Holy Spirit. And so John explains to his readers
that this Jesus, who did this, this Jesus who is the advocate
and the propitiation, is the one that he is speaking about
as his friend, his friend upon whose breast he leaned, his friend
that he touched, his friend that he embraced, his friend that
he saw and heard and spoke to. The God-man is the one by whom
Our sin is forgiven and taken away. John isn't missing and
hitting the wall. He is bang on target here as
he shows us upon whom our faith is focused, the object of our
hope. And not only his readers as it
were, but he says the sins of all the elect body, the sins
of all the church, all the world over, finds their propitiation
in this one Jesus Christ. Now let no one intimidate you
by suggesting that this verse that we have before us here and
here's the propitiation for our sins and not for our sins only
but also for the sins of the whole world. Let no one intimidate
you into thinking that this is speaking of universalism or this
is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ dying for everyone. This verse does not teach universal
atonement. There is no such thing in scripture
as universal atonement. It is a figment of the imagination
of unbelieving men and women. Scripture does not teach effectual
propitiation, successful advocacy for any but the elect. Here we
see that Christ's work in the covenant purpose was for a particular
people and that is why we speak about particular redemption or
why we might use the phrase from time to time limited atonement
because the death and the propitiatory sacrifice and the reconciliation
which was accomplished was a work that was particular to those
for whom Christ died. just as the advocacy of Christ
now in heaven, the intercessory work of Christ in heaven is for
those for whom he died. The elect and the redeemed and
the converted are all the same people. What we have here, if we look
at verse 3, is John's purpose being revealed. that we might
know him, this one Jesus Christ. Who are we going to know? Well,
we're going to know the advocate who is standing for us in the
presence of God. We are going to know our propitiator
whose blood being shed has reconciled us to God. I do like this phrase
that we have when it speaks to us here, that we might know him
and know we know him. Verse three, hereby we do know
that we know him. See some people say, well how
do I know if I'm a Christian? How do I know if I'm a believer?
When I look at my life, when I look at my heart, when I look
at my attitude, when I look at my thoughts, when I look at my
actions, how can I possibly have any grounds for hoping that I'm
a believer? That we might know that we know Him. that we might
experience Him, that we might enjoy knowing Him, that we might
have assurance in our heart. That's John's purpose. but he
is telling us that there is a way that we know him. So 1 John 2, verse 3, reading
it again, and hereby we do know that we know him, the Lord Jesus
Christ, because it is Christ that John is speaking of, if
we keep his commandments. Hereby do we know that we know
him if we keep his commandments. Now there, a big shudder is now
going down the spines of those who are listening. If we keep
his commandments. But this isn't the Ten Commandments.
This isn't the Ten Commandments that we're talking about here.
The Lord Jesus Christ called the Ten Commandments the Law
of Moses. This isn't the Law of Christ. That's the Law of Moses. In Mark
chapter 7 verse 10, For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy
mother. John says this is his commandments,
not Moses' commandments. And in Mark chapter 10, verse
3, again the Lord Jesus Christ says, what did Moses command
you? So there's a distinction between
the commandments that Moses gave and the commandments that the
Lord Jesus Christ spoke. Now let me just say that with
respect to the commandments of Moses, keeping those are impossible. And if that was the condition
of knowing Christ, then no one could know him. Not even Paul
the Apostle. And yet Paul says we know him.
So we're not talking about Moses' commandments here. Peter calls
that tempting God to put, this was in Acts 15, he spoke about
tempting God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which
neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. This is not Moses'
law we're talking about. These are the commandments of
Christ. So what John is telling us is comforting words for the
Lord's people. John is reminding us that the
Saviour told those who are seeking to do God's will Listen, John
chapter six, verse 28 and 29. They say unto him, what shall
we do that we might work the works of God? Okay, if it's not
Moses, what is it that we have to do to work the works of God?
Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God,
that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Isn't that beautiful? How do we do the commandments
of Christ? We believe on him whom he hath sent. Faith, faith is the fulfilment
of the commands of God. How do we know that we know him?
We believe on him. And so Paul can say in 2 Timothy
chapter 1 verse 12, I know whom I have believed. and I'm persuaded
that he is able. So he is able to keep me. I know whom I have believed.
So there is a knowledge of Christ. What knowledge? The knowledge
of faith. by believing in Him, by believing
and trusting His promises, by believing and trusting His offices,
His perfect accomplishment of all that was needful for the
securing of our salvation. In 1 Timothy 4, verse 3, he writes
there, to them which believe and know the truth. You see,
that's what believing is. It's to know the Lord Jesus Christ
who is the way, the truth, and the life. And John, the one who
is writing 1 John chapter 2 here for us right now, he says in
the 5th chapter of this little letter, verse 13, These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son
of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life. and that
ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. That's what John's
telling us here. This is the work of God, this
is the commandment of Christ, that ye believe on him whom he
hath sent. Do you see this? Do you see how
beautiful this is, how lovely? Do you see how easy this yoke
is in comparison to that yoke of Moses that was laid on the
Jews of old that Peter said was too heavy for us to bear? Do you want to know that you
have eternal life? Believe on the name of the Son
of God. Believe what God has done in
him and by him. Believe in the name That is Lord
Jesus Christ. That's it. Believe in the name,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord, because he is God,
because he is the God-man who has come into this world, who
is here in this earth as a man. Believe that He is Jesus, the
Saviour. He shall save His people from
their sin. Believe that He is Christ, the
Anointed of God, to fulfil all the obligations of the covenant
purpose of grace. Believing in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ is our salvation. Let me paraphrase a little passage
that we find in 2 Kings 5, verse 13. This is the passage where
Naaman's servants speak to him about Naaman's attitude to Elisha
not coming out and speaking to him and giving him the honour
that he deserved. Let me paraphrase that little
passage there and direct it to you today. Friend, if the apostle
had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it?
How much rather then, when he saith unto thee, Believe and
be clean. You see, Naaman wanted to do
something impressive. He wanted to be told to go and
do some great act and then come and you'll be clean. But that's
not our job. The work has been done. The work
has been done by the only one who could do the work, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And all we are called upon to
do is simply trust, believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and that which he has accomplished. Do you believe that there is
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous? I
ask you, do you believe that? Do you believe that today, that
there is an advocate, as John has described him here, with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, able to represent
you, able to stand in the presence of God for you, able to bring
that argument by his skill, by his wisdom, by his abilities,
which you alone never could do? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that he is the propitiation for the sins of his people? Do you
believe that he is knowable by faith and only faith in him? Let me wrap up these final three
verses of the little passage that we read today in a single
paragraph, if I may. Let me read them to you. Verse
four. He that saith, I know him, and
keepeth not his commandments, is a liar. Now what is the commandments? To believe in him. So if you
say you know him and don't believe in him, you don't believe that
he is who he is, then you're a liar and the truth is not in
you. But whoso keepeth his word, believes, in him verily is the
love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in
him. He that say he abideth in him
ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. We walk in
Christ, we stand in Christ, we live in Christ because we are
in him, because only those who are in him believe in him. It is a mark of our faith that
we trust in him and thereby we walk like him because we are
like him, because he is our head. This is the beauty of this perfection
of salvation which the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished and the
new man that has been created whereby we are able to trust
and believe in Him. This I say to you who listen
and to the world of professing Christians around about us today,
you claim to know Christ as your Saviour. Do you believe in Him? Do you believe in Him? Oh yes,
you say, I believe. What do you believe? Do you believe
in the God of the Bible? Do you believe in the everlasting
covenant? Do you believe in God's sovereign
purpose fulfilled on the cross? Do you believe in that propitiatory
and reconciling blood sacrifice by a sinless man on behalf of
sinful men? that would be in itself acceptable
to the holy justice of God the Father for all eternity. That would be effectable by the
perfect obedience of God the Son upon earth and no one else. and that is applied by the mediating
comfort of God the Holy Spirit throughout this time, age, through
the preaching of the gospel and believing in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is the gospel, full, free,
sovereign, and effectual to save sinners. This is what it is to
believe, to know him, and to know eternal life by him. There never was a soul more desperate
for salvation than the jailer at Philippi the night of the
earthquake. The Apostle Paul and Silas, they
said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. May God the Holy Spirit apply
these truths to our hearts and souls, give us faith to believe
and thereby knowledge and assurance of our sins forgiven. May we
know the joy and peace in believing unto everlasting life. May we
know Jesus Christ who is himself the resurrection and the life. Amen.