1 John chapter 2. I'd like to read the first two
verses. My little children, these things
write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, 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. Now Paul, not Paul, John, is
writing to some people that he loved very dearly. And he calls them, my little
children. This is an expression of affection and love. He says, my little children,
these things write I unto you, that you sin not. What I've said up to this point,
It's found in chapter 1. What I've said up to this point,
here is why I said it. Here is my goal. Here is my objective. That you sin not. And that's my purpose in writing.
I wrote you for this reason. That you personally sin not. Now, I wonder if anybody is thinking
Is sinless perfection possible? Anybody think that? Why would
he say that? Is sinless perfection possible? Well, that's the wrong question. Our goal, our objective is to
be without sin. To be perfect. To never sin again. And that is to be our objective
right now. To never sin again. Now let's look briefly at what
he said. I sure want to know what he said
that had this objective in mind so that we won't sin anymore.
Let's read this first chapter together. John says, that which was from
the beginning. That which was. He is the I am that I am. That which was from the beginning. Which we have heard. Which we
have seen with our eyes. And which we have looked upon
and our hands have handled. Of the word of life. For the
life was manifested And we've seen and bear witness and shown
to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested
unto us. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship with
us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto
you, that your joy may be full. And this then is the message
which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is
light, and in him is no darkness at
all. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. If we say, and many make this
claim, I have fellowship with Him, I pray to God and He hears
me and He speaks to me, I have a relationship with the God of
heaven. I know Him. And he knows me and
we have fellowship together. Now, if we say that, a lot of
people say that, don't they? A lot of people make that claim.
Fellowship with God. If we say that and walk in darkness,
what does John say we do? He says we lie. And we do not
the truth. Now, what in the world does that
mean? What does it mean to walk in darkness? Does that mean that
You say that you're a believer, you say that you're a Christian,
you say that you have fellowship with God, but in the dark when
nobody can see, you practice some kind of secret seeing. Is
that what he's talking about? Well, I'm not advocating that. Don't practice some kind of secret
seeing in the dark. But that's not what he's talking
about when he talks about walking in darkness. When he's talking
about walking in darkness, he's talking about walking in darkness
regarding who Christ is, who God is, who we are, and how he
saves sinners. That's what he's talking about.
Now, if we make a claim to have fellowship with him and have
a relationship with him, but we walk in darkness concerning
how he saves, who he saves, why he saves, John says we lie. And we do not practice the truth. But, he says in verse 7, 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. You do not walk in darkness when
you walk in the light. Now remember, God is light. That's the message of the scriptures.
God is light. Jesus Christ himself, the Lord
of Glory, said, I am the light of the world. Now, you know,
when he made that statement, John chapter 8, verse 12, he
said, I'm the light of the world. Preceding that statement, he
said to that woman who was caught red handed in the very act of
adultery, I do not condemn you. Woman, where are those Zion accusers?
Hath no man condemned thee? Neither do I condemn thee. Go
and sin no more." Now, the only way we can understand how he
could say to this woman who is guilty, I do not condemn you. You're not condemned. You're
just in my sight. There's nothing to condemn you
for is what he's saying. The only reason he won't condemn
you is because there's absolutely nothing for him to condemn you
for. That's the only way he can keep
from condemning you. Now the only way I can understand that,
how he can not condemn me, is through the light of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. How his precious blood washes
away my sins and makes me not guilty in the very presence of
God. I find that so wonderful. I sure
don't feel not guilty as far as the way I feel. I mean, I've
always got something hanging over my head. But before God,
I have no sin. Now, this is what we have fellowship
around. Notice the way he says this again.
If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all sin. You know, when Dave was singing
that song, all that I have is Jesus. Dave, I have fellowship
with you. Me too. It's all I have. I was
entering into that time. You know, I can have fellowship. I can have sweet communion with
anybody who really believes that Christ is everything in salvation. Oh, you just identify with that
person. You embrace that person. That person is your friend. That's
what our fellowship is around. If we walk in the light of how
God saves sinners by His grace, how God saves sinners by the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have fellowship one with another. In the blood of Jesus Christ,
God suddenly cleanses us from all sin. Now, verse 8, if we
say we have no sin, now there the word sin is a noun. Remember
that. It means something. It's a noun.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the truth
is not in us. We've lost all credibility. At
no time can I say in my personal experience, I have no sin. At no time. Because as long as
I still have my flesh, I have sin. It's always there. David
said, my sin is ever before me. And for someone to claim to be
without sin, he's already lost all credibility. He's a liar.
He's a hypocrite. Well, maybe he just has a different
view of sin. No, he's just a liar. That's it. You can't call him
anything else. A liar. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not even in us. If we confess
our sins, verse 9, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If
we confess our sins, now what's it mean to confess your sin? I know I do plenty of, well,
I confess my sins, you know, in prayer and kind of going through
the road, but that's not really confessing sin. It's not even
naming them all. You don't even know what they
all are. You can't name them all because most of the sins
you've committed, you're not even aware of. What does it mean
to confess your sins? It means to take sides with God
against yourself. It's to agree with God guilty
as charged. If we confess, if we agree with
God regarding our sins, look what it says. If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. Not
only is He gracious and merciful, if it said that, that would be
true, but that's not what it says. It says He's faithful to
forgive us of our sins. You know, when you confessed
your sins, you know why you did it? Because He caused you to.
And your confession was ordained before time began. And He's faithful. Faithful to His covenant. Faithful
to His promise to forgive you of your sins. He's just to forgive
you of your sins. You got it coming. In Him, you
have no sin. He justifies you. And He's just
to forgive you and me. Not merely gracious and merciful,
but faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. Now, if we say, verse 10, if
we say we've not sinned, and they're the words of Herb, if
we say we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not
in us. You know, there's no time, even while I'm preaching to you
right now, every word that comes out of my mouth, even if I'm
quoting the Scripture, I can't say there's no sin in it. Not
in scripture, but in the one who quoted it. Everything I do,
if I did it, that makes it sin. You believe that about yourself?
You know, I used to try to pray, and I'd have maybe Maybe forget
what you're doing while you're praying. You ever done that?
You pray and all of a sudden you start thinking about something
else. All of a sudden you realize, I was supposedly in the presence
of the living God and now I forgot about it. Or maybe some horrible
evil thought came into your mind and it makes you shudder that
you could pray and stuff like that. And y'all know what I'm
talking about. I thought, oh, that prayer couldn't
be any good. Now, wait a minute. In and of itself, if I didn't
have those thoughts, it wouldn't be any good because of who prayed
it. The only reason it can be accepted is for my great high
priest, him presenting it before the Father. At no time can we
say, I did not sin. If I did it, it's sin. Now my little children, these
things write I unto you, that you sin not. Now only the gospel creates this
desire. Freedom from the law, listen
to this, freedom, absolute freedom from the law makes you want to
keep the law. And if you're under the law in
any way, to any degree, all you want to do is break it. That's what's really there. It
is only freedom, absolute freedom from the law that makes you want
to keep the law. Paul said, I delight in the law
of God after the inward man. Now he says, these things write
unto you that you sin not. Now, what did he mean when he
said these things write unto you that you sin not? What did
he mean by sin? Well, he tells us in this same epistle, turn
to 1 John chapter 3, verse 4. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. That's what sin is. It's the
transgression of God's holy law. Now, God's holy law is everything
God said. I mean, you take everything in the Old Testament, that's
God's law. If God said it, it's law. But specifically, what I
believe he's referring to is the Ten Commandments. These things
write unto you that you sin not. Now, what do you think of God's
holy law? You know, I don't want to have
any other God before God, do you? I really don't. I don't want to. I don't want
to commit idolatry and have false views of God. I don't want to
take His name in vain. I want to revere and have a reverent
attitude towards His name. I want to truly keep the Sabbath
and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to honor my parents and
all forms of God-given authority. I don't want to kill. I don't
want to commit adultery. I don't want to steal. I don't
want to lie. I don't want to covet. My objective is to never
sin again. From this time forward, while
I'm talking to you, to never sin again. You know, it's only
the man that's free from the law that wants to keep it. He has no reason to fear it. It's complete. I stand perfect
before that law. I have no reason to fear it.
The legalist seeks to avoid the punishment of the law or gain
the benefits of keeping the law, but he has no true delight in
the law of God. After the inward man, he does
not love the law of God. Now, John says, These things
write I unto you that you sin not. Here's my aim right now
while I'm speaking to you. to never sin again. Look what he says next. Verse
2 and 1. My little children, these things
write unto you that you sin not, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the
Father. Now see that word, if any man
sin." Turn back over to 1 John 3 again for a moment. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be
like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Now see that word,
when. We know that when He shall appear,
We'll be like him for we'll see him as he is when that same word
when is the exact same word that's translated if in our text. He's not saying if you see him
as if maybe you won't, that's not really what he's saying.
He's saying when you do. And make it your objective, make
it your goal, and this is not just theory, this is not just
Talk, religious talk! Oh, this is to be in the heart
of every believer to not sin against their Savior. But when
you do, when you do. You know, the Lord could have
made us to not sin anymore, couldn't He? He could have, but He didn't. I don't pretend to understand
all the reasons behind that, but I can tell you this. I am made to continually see
my need of the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of His blood and
the freeness of His grace. My sin drives me. to the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
just saying that hymn, I need Thee. Oh, I need Thee. Every hour, I need Thee. You
know why? Because every hour and every
second, I sin. And I need His mercy. And I need
His grace. Now, he says, when we sin. Not if, as if it's not going
to happen. And when any man sin, We have, and this is what I want
us to think about for just a moment, since we have an advocate with
the Father. Not we will if, but we have right
now this advocate with the Father. We have. Now how many times have
you sinned against God and you thought, well, I need to work
up a little bit more sorrow, a little bit more repentance.
I need to get a better attitude. I need to do something before
I can come into His presence. You don't do anything to get
this advocate to work for you. Notice what he says, when you
sin, we already have this advocate. with the Father. Not we will
if, but we have this Advocate with the Father. There's nothing you need to do
or be to get Him to be your Advocate. You already have Him. We have
an Advocate with the Father. And notice, it's not an Advocate
with the Judge, but an Advocate with our Father. Not just a judge, but our Father. An advocate is a lawyer, one
who gives aid, one who pleads another's cause, an intercessor.
Peter, I've prayed for you. That your faith fail not. Did
his faith fail? He failed. But his faith didn't
fail. Because from Christ prayed it
wouldn't. You know, when the Lord said from the cross, Father,
forgive them. They know not what they do. Were
they forgiven? That wasn't some generic prayer.
Everybody he prayed for was forgiven. every single one of them. You
see, if He prays for you, the Father must hear Him. You must be accepted if the great
Advocate prays for you. Hebrews 7.25 says, Wherefore,
He is able to save them to the uttermost who come to God by
Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. We had this advocate with the
Father before the sin. We have this advocate with the
Father during the sin. And we have this advocate with
the Father after the sin. We do not even read where we
do anything after our sin to bring us into a favorable relationship.
We have this advocate. with the Father, Jesus Christ,
the righteous. Now, you think of his name, Jesus. What's that name mean? Savior. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. He's the Savior
Christ. The anointed one. That's what
Christ means. Anointed. God's anointed priest. God's anointed prophet. God's
anointed king. Jesus Christ, the righteous. He's no crooked lawyer. He's
Jesus Christ. The righteous. He's altogether
righteous. Now let me tell you some things
about this lawyer that we have. He's never lost a case. Not only has he never lost a
case, he is incapable of losing a case. If you have him for representation,
you've already been acquitted. And he is the son of the judge. Talking about fool, yet he does
not need loopholes or leverage or leniency to defend his clients,
he's altogether righteous. And you know what he makes all
his clients plead? Guilty. Guilty as charged. No excuse. No extenuating circumstances. It wasn't temporary insanity.
Guilty as charged. He makes every one of his clients
plead guilty. Yet when he pleads their case,
the great judge declares them to be not guilty. Justified. Without fault. Holy. Blameless. Unreprovable in the very sight
of God. Now that's some kind of lawyer,
isn't it? He makes you plead guilty. And yet you're declared
by the great just judge himself to be not guilty. You know, God is called in Romans
chapter four, verse five, him that justifies the ungodly. I love that verse. That's his
name, him that justifies. Would you turn with me back to
Romans chapter 3 for a moment? This will make us understand
1 John, I think, a little bit more clearly. Romans chapter
3, verse 19. Now, we know that what things
soever the law saith It saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin." Now there's our state before God.
Guilty. guilty. Well, is there anything we can
do to change this state? Well, read verse 20 again. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. Salvation is impossible by works. There's absolutely nothing I
can do to change my state. I'm still guilty. Well, does
that mean there's no hope? No. But now, verse 21, the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. Now that's not talking about
God's law being set aside. No, God's law is fully honored. What that's talking about is
without my personal obedience to the law. Now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. being witnessed by the Law and
the Prophets. Now this is what proves this
to be true. It's what the Old Testament Prophets have always
taught. This isn't some new doctrine. This is the doctrine of God.
Their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord, Isaiah 54, 17.
It's always been that way. This is nothing new. It's the Old Gospel. It's what
the Old Testament Prophets have always testified. Regarding even
verse 22, the righteousness of God, the obedience of Jesus Christ
is the righteousness of God, which is by the faith, by the
faithfulness of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them to
believe. You believe on Christ. Do you? Please, all that I have is Jesus. I mean, does that come from your
heart? Then you have the very righteousness of God. It's not
as if you have the righteousness of God, you are the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus. What a glorious, glorious state
to be in. That's me! That's me, the righteousness
of God. You're not scared to say that,
but it's true. If I'm united to Christ, I'm
the very righteousness of God in Him. It's given to all who
believe. Even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe, for
there's no difference between men All sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There's no one that's more righteous
than another. Not in reality. All men are on the same level.
Fallen in Ab. I don't care if it's black, white,
rich, poor, educated, uneducated, smart. Doesn't make any difference.
There's just not much difference between men. They've all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. But here's how somebody
is saved. Verse 24. Being justified freely. That means, praise the Lord that
He doesn't have to find a reason in you to do it. That's what
freely means. Without a cause in you. There's
nothing you did that moved Him to do this. He did so because
He is gracious. Being justified freely by His
grace. through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, His sin-atoning death, verse 25, whom God has
set forth or foreordained to be a propitiation through faith
in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed in the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Now, God set him forth,
foreordained him to be a propitiation. Now, what in the world does that
word mean? That's not a word we normally use. What's it mean?
Well, propitiation is the act of God. It's not something man
does. It's what God does. Through the
blood of Christ, he removes our guilt. And he removes his own
reason for anger. He appeases himself. He is propitiated. He has no reason now to be angry. He doesn't see anything in any
believer but that which is pure and holy. He doesn't tolerate
us, for Christ's sake, That's what we usually think. No, he
sees us as exactly like his son because we are. That's what Christ
accomplished on the cross. I am as he is. That's the blood. Understand this about the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It wasn't so much shed for you.
It was shed for God. It was shed for him, for him
to make a way where he could love you and embrace you. Well,
he already did love you and he made, he gave the blood because
he did love. And now he can embrace you in
a way that honors his justice. Even you think of your sinfulness,
that's no hindrance. If any man sin, when you do,
we have this advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous,
and he is the propitiation for our sins. Turn back to our text
in 1 John chapter 2. And my little children, verse
1, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not, and when
ye do, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins. This is why God
is appeased. This is why God can embrace you
and me. He is the propitiation for our
sins. And then John says, and not for
ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And would
you notice in that verse of scripture, the sins of is in italics. It
was supplied there by the translators, supposedly to make it more clear,
but I'm not real sure that they helped us out there. It doesn't
say he's the propitiation for the sins of the whole world,
does it? That was added there by the translators. Now, what does this say? Now,
you know as well as I do that Jesus Christ did not die for
every man. He's not the propitiation of
every man. He's the propitiation of the
elect, those who believe. And as a matter of fact, if this
meant every man without exception, it would make it meaningless.
It would make it redundant at best. It just wouldn't make any
sense. What John is saying is he is the propitiation, not just
for us, not just this group, but everybody else. What he's
teaching is anybody in the world This is every sinner's hope who
has any hope. That hope never evolves. It never
changes. It's never modified in any way. It's the same hope at all times. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't care where you are in this world. This is the only
hope anybody in this world has. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That hope never changes. I am just as dependent on the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ right now as I was when I was
first brought to a knowledge of the gospel. And on my dying
breath, I'll be just as dependent on the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when I stand before God in judgment, this is my only
plea. What can wash away my sins? Nothing. but the blood of Jesus. What
can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is that flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Any sinner in this world who
has any hope, this is their hope. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the propitiation, not for Our sins only, but this is anybody
in this world. This is the only hope they have.
It's a good hope, isn't it? Okay, let's pray together. Lord, how thankful we are for
our advocate. that you always hear. How thankful
we are for His intercession. How thankful we are for His propitiation. Lord, He is our hope. We rely completely on Him. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that you would create saving faith in each heart here according
to your will. In Christ's blessed name we pray,
amen.