John, chapter one. Somehow I feel that the message
tonight is going to be a very special blessing to somebody,
I hope to most everybody. I'm speaking on the sinner's
Savior, the sinner's Savior. In 1 John chapter 1, beginning
with verse 8, now listen carefully, John said, if we say, it's not true, but if we say
that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth's not
innocent. Verse 9, if we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just. to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if we say that we have not
sinned, we make him a liar and his words not innocent. My little
children, verse one, chapter two, these things I write unto
you that you sin not. And if any man sin, and that
word is There's no question of it occurring.
It's a matter of when. When we see it, we have an advocate. We have an advocate, a mediator,
an intercessor, one pleading our case and cause with the Father,
who is none other than Jesus Christ the righteous. Now, true
believers, I'm not talking about church members or doctrinalists,
I'm talking about true believers, true believers, true people who
have a true saving interest in Christ. They have many things
in common. I jotted down six. There are
many, many, many more, but here are six things that I believe
every true believer has in common. First of all, they believe and
love the Word of God. The Word of God is the foundation
of their faith. They love the Word of God. They
cherish the Word of God. They're much taken with the Word
of God. They delight in the Word of God, all the Word of God,
all Scripture given by inspiration of God. And then secondly, every
believer, all believers, have this in common. They fear the
Lord. They fear and reverence and worship
the living God. They know he's almighty, omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent. And they know the living God.
And they fear and reverence and worship the living God. They
fall down before him in submission, in reverence, in obedience, in
true worship. Thirdly, they all cast themselves
wholly and completely. without reservation, they cast
themselves on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. It is not only
the Scriptures alone and grace alone, but in their redemption
it's Christ alone. I have no hope but Christ. I
have no foundation but Christ. I have no redemption but Christ.
I have no righteousness but Christ. I have nothing, nothing, nothing
to recommend me to God but Christ. He is all and in all, and we
cast ourselves on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus wholeheartedly
and completely. That's true of every believer,
regardless of denomination or whatever. And then fourthly,
they love one another. Our Lord said that, by this shall
all men know you're my disciple. You know you're my disciple,
and I know you're my disciple, but others will detect it. and
see it, it'll give evidence they do love one another. And they
pray for an increase in that love. They want to love him more
and love one another more. And they pray for an increase
in faith, in humility, in patience, in love, in daily grace. They
want to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
That is their desire, to be more like him. In thought, in word,
in attitude, in conversation, they want to be like Christ.
And fifthly, every believer, all believers, have this in common.
They have an understanding, while not complete, for we know in
part and we preach in part, but they do have an understanding
of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ in redeeming
their souls. an understanding. As John said
in chapter 20 of verse 20 of chapter 5, And we know that the
Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that
we may know him that is true, and that we are in him that is
true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ. And this is the true
God, and this is eternal life. the wisdom and power of God in
Christ. We see the righteousness and
justice, mercy and peace of God in Christ. We have some understanding
how that in Christ a holy God can be just and justifier of
those who believe in Christ. And that understanding grows,
but we have that understanding. That's what brings us to Him,
because we know outside of Him there's no justification and
no forgiveness. But we see how that God, in his
righteousness and mercy, in his truth and love, can justify a
sinner in Christ. All right, six, and this is where
I'm going tonight. All believers have a struggle
and a constant conflict, inwardly and outwardly, with the old nature,
with sin, and with the flesh. Over in Galatians chapter 5,
Paul wrote these words, and I'm talking about every believer
has this in common, just as much as a love for the Word, just
as much as a fear of God, just as much as their confidence in
Christ, just as much as their love for one another, just as
much as their understanding of the person and work of Christ,
they have a conflict going on within them at all times, a conflict
between the flesh and the spirit. In Galatians 5 verse 16, Paul
said, This I say unto you, walk in the spirit, and fulfill not
the lust of the flesh. That's what that's saying. And
fulfill not the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth or warth
against the spirit, and the spirit warth against the flesh. And
these, that old man in you and that new man in you, that man
born from Adam and that man born from God, they are contrary one
to the other. One can't do right and one can't
do wrong. One can't do good and one can't
sin. And they're contrary, opposites.
So, because of this conflict and this warfare, You cannot
do the things that you would, either way. You can't be as perfect as you'd
like to be, and you're restrained by the new man from being as
evil as you could be. The hymn writer put it this way,
talking about believers, I need thee, precious Jesus, for I am
full of sin. My soul is dark and guilty. My heart, by nature, vow within. I need the cleansing fountain
where I can always plead. The blood of Jesus, most precious,
is this sinner's perfect plea. I need thee, precious Jesus,
for I'm very poor. I'm a stranger and a pilgrim,
and I have no earthly store. I need the love of Jesus to cheer
me always on my way, to guide my doubting footsteps, to be
my strength in my state. I need thee, precious Jesus,
for I'm very blind. I'm a weak and a foolish wanderer
with a dark and a sinful mind. I need thy constant presence
to tread this thorny road. to guide me, save the glory,
to bring me home to God. Now here's my first point tonight.
The believer, every believer, no matter how much he loves Christ,
no matter how strong his faith, no matter how long he's been
saved, no matter how long she's been a believer, the believer
is still a sinner. Now, it matters not if men despise
that statement. It matters not if men cannot
reconcile that statement. It matters not if men think that
a statement like that encourages sin. It matters not if men wish
to clarify it and explain it and tone it down. The believer
is still a sinner, and he still sins. That's so. The believer doesn't love sin.
He loves God, and he loves truth. He hates sin. He'd like to be
without sin. David said, I'll be totally satisfied
when I wake with God's likeness. He grieves over his sin, mourns
over it, like Paul, who said, O wretched man that I am, when
I would do good, evil is present with me. What I would do, I do
not. What I would not do, I do. Oh,
wretched man that I am." The believer grieves over his sin
and mourns over his sin. And he never excuses his sin.
He'll never justify his sins. He justifies God in his condemnation
of his sin. And he feels that he's the cheap
sinner. Paul said, Jesus Christ came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the what? But he knows, and God knows,
and every honest person knows, that every human being, every
man, woman, boy, girl, is a sinner. The Word of God says there's
none good, no, not one. The Word of God says there's
none that doeth good and sinneth not. The Scripture says man at
his best state And his highest point of goodness is altogether
vanity. Is that right? The Word of God
says we all do paid as the leaf. Our righteousnesses are filthy
rags. And then look at our text here
in 1 John, chapter 1, verse 8. If we say we have no sin, if
we say we have no sin, If we say that we're not sinners, we
deceive ourselves. We don't know ourselves, and
the truth is not in us. If we lie about that, we'll lie
about anything. Verse 10, if we say we have not
sinned, we make God a liar, and His truth is not in us. So the
believer is still a sinner. Now listen carefully to me, very
carefully, right here. You need to hear what I'm about
to say. Everybody here needs to hear it. I need to hear it.
A striving for holiness and a striving for perfection in this flesh,
in this body, without an understanding of human nature, without an understanding
of the old man, without an understanding of the love of God and the free
grace of Christ of God in Christ Jesus will do one of two things
to you. One of two things. And what did
I say? I said a striving for holiness,
a striving for perfection, a striving for higher ground, a striving
for betterment spiritually in this flesh without an understanding
of the nature of this flesh and the condition of this flesh and
the love of God and the free grace of God in Christ will do
one of two things to you. It'll make you a lying Pharisee,
or if it doesn't make you a lying Pharisee, is secondly, it'll
drive you into depression and drive you into an overwhelming
despair and guilt. That's right. And what I'm saying
is this, a person who loves Christ, who's saved, and he wants to
be holy, he wants to be without sin, he wants other people to
think highly of him, he wants to be more like Jesus, he wants
to walk in holiness and righteousness and beauty and truth, he strives
after that. And he does not always keep in
mind that that's an unattainable goal in this flesh. Perfection is unattainable in
this flesh. Holiness before God is unattainable
in this flesh except in Christ. And if he strives for that, he's
going to have to do one of two things. He's going to have to
lie and keep on lying to himself and to others and to God. Or
else he's going to realize it can't be done and he's going
to He'd fall into a pit of depression and despair and carry around
a sense of guilt where he can't raise his head, can't lift his
voice, and can't even praise God, and can't find any rest
or peace or joy. Or, I've seen both things happen
to people. According to the time, I've seen
the same person, depending on the time and depending on the
circumstances, I've known people to manifest both extremes. I met them at one time, and they're
higher in a kind, higher than Mount Everest, just about as
holy as you can get, without sin. Then I meet them the next
time, and they're in despair, depression, and guilt, all depending
on the circumstances. But—now watch this—but a good
understanding of what sin really is, of the nature of sin and
of the nature of men and women, a good understanding of the mercy
and grace of God to sinners in Christ, a good understanding
of the fact that we have an Advocate, that the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth us from all sin, that in Christ we do have a perfect
righteousness. With a proper understanding of
the righteousness of God in Christ, you can have peace. as you are,
at whatever stage of growth you may be, with whatever amount
of faith you have, whatever weaknesses or shortcomings you may have,
you still have peace in Christ. You can have rest, you can have
joy, even in this body of flesh. That's right. Paul said, Rejoice,
rejoice in the Lord. He said, we are the true circumcision
who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ, and have no
confidence in the flesh. Now, the believer is still a
sinner. Now, let me show you how he's a sinner. The believer
is still a sinner. This believer and every believer
out there is still a sinner. And don't be afraid of that.
Don't be afraid of saying that. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves. If we're afraid to say, I'm a
sinner, I've sinned today. What? Can't you say that? I've
sinned. Well, if you can't, you better
not come to God. If you're not a sinner, you don't
need an advocate. Who needs a lawyer? Criminal. Who needs an advocate? A sinner. Who needs a mediator? One who
sins. So the believer is a sinner,
first of all, from the imperfection of his nature. The imperfection
of his nature. I'll tell you what kind of nature
we have. The believer has a nature that's
in such condition that he'll sin as long as he lives. There's only one time you'll
ever fully, totally quit sinning. That's when you die graveyard
dead, as Joe Coghlan said. Sin pollutes the best thing that
I do. Sin mars my repentance. Sin mocks
my tears. Sin corrupts my faith. Sin invades
my prayers. The best thing I ever did The
best deed I ever did, apart from the merit of Christ, only increased
my guilt before God. Is that hard to take? But it's
so. The highest degree of goodness
to which any man can attain has so much creature infirmity in
it as to be worthy of God's eternal wrath because of our nature. our nature's evil. And secondly,
the believer's still a sinner, not only in his nature, but in
that he constantly sins in his everyday life. If anybody here
in this congregation tells me tonight that you live a single
hour today, a single hour, let alone a day, without a thought
of sin, without a word of sin, without an act of sin, either
in commission, commission or omission. It's not what you did,
it's what you didn't do. You say, I didn't do anything
wrong today. You didn't do anything right either. You didn't love God with all
your heart. You didn't love your neighbors as yourself. And if
you say that you went one hour of this day without sin, I'll
tell you, you don't know yourself and you don't know God. And you
don't know the holiness of God because the very thought of foolishness
is sin. I'm telling the truth. The old Adam can do nothing but
sin. He is sin. And the new nature
cannot sin. It's born of God. Thirdly, the
believer is still a sinner. He's still a sinner because of
the imperfection of his nature. He's still a sinner because he
constantly sins, constantly sins in his everyday life. He's still
a sinner, thirdly, from his own personal peculiar infirmities. What am I saying? I'm saying
this. Will you hear me? We're not all alike. I know there
are a lot of religion, especially legalists, they want to make
every believer just alike. And you can't do it. You can't
do it. One man's strength is another
man's weakness. And one man's weakness is another
woman or man's strength. Is not pride sin? But you say,
I'm not proud, I'm humble. Is not shortness of temper sin?
We're supposed to be meek. and long-suffering, but we're
like July 4 firecrackers. Is not unbelief a sin? I thought
unbelief was a sin. Is nobody here guilty of unbelief? Is not gossip a sin? Is not envy
a sin? Well, what about jealousy? Is
that not a sin? Crueler than the grave, the Scripture
says. That's pretty cruel. Is not laziness
sin? Is not covetousness sin? Paul
said it's like idolatry. Is not indifference sin? Is not
greed sin? Is not lying exaggeration? Is
that not sin? Is not lust sin? Is not selfishness
sin? What about pouting? What about
evil thoughts? Oh, when we start thinking along
that line. It's like the woman got up one
morning, she told her husband, she said, I woke up this morning
with only one nerve left, and dog, you hadn't got on that.
Just one. Oh, Mr. Spurgeon said, sinner's
my name, sinner's my nature, but thanks be to God, I'm a sinner
saved by grace. Is that hard for you to say? It's not hard if you're truthful.
That's the reason Barnard used to say, honest people don't wind
up in hell. But the hardest thing in the
world is to get people to be honest before God, honest before
the Word, honest before Christ, and honest before one another.
We'd heap rather put on a show. We'd hold us rather make people
think we're more than what we are, and better than what we
are, and know more than we know, and do more than we do. And God despises that. That's
hypocrisy. If we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive us. It says here in chapter 2,
verse 1, my little children, these things I write unto you
that you sin not. I'm not encouraging sin. I told
you believers hate sin. They don't love sin, but they
don't deny it either. And while it does not reign,
it does remain. And a man who says it doesn't
deceives himself and calls God a liar. Well, my second point is this.
Now, listen carefully to this. This is going to be heavy and
hard, straight, though, and truthful. Oh, that the believer is still
a sinner. He still sins. Not a day goes by, not an hour
goes by, that he does not sin. But, secondly, our sins. I sin. Will you hear this? Whatever
they may be, do not, I repeat, do not We cannot deprive us of
a saving interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Cannot. That's
so. It says here, if any man sin,
we have an advocate. It doesn't say if any man sin,
he forfeits his advocate. It says he has one. I get so
tired of people, they do something wrong, they'll come say, I'm
not saving. If any man sin, you've forfeited your advocate. No,
you haven't. If any man sin, you've lost your
advocate. No, you haven't. If any man sin,
Jesus resigns from being his mediator. That's not what that's
saying. It says if he sins, he has an advocate. Isn't that what
it says? It doesn't say if any man's righteous,
he has an advocate. It says if any man sins, he has
an advocate. Now listen to this. All the sin
a believer ever did, all the sin a believer can ever be allowed
by God to commit, cannot destroy his interest in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, your righteousness will
keep you away from Christ, but not your sins. Not your sins. He said, I didn't come to call
the righteous, I came to call sinners. In other words, the better you
feel and the better you think you are, the further away from
Christ you are. That's correct. When I'm weak, then am I not
strong? Actually, Jesus Christ is my
advocate only if I'm a sinner. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. And Jesus Christ is constantly,
continually my advocate, if any man's seeing we have an advocate. Not we have one, or not we shall
have one. He has one, or he'd have been
snuffed out a long time ago. The Father is the judge, I am
the sinner, and Christ is my advocate, and He's with the Father.
He not only is with him, he is in him and seated with him. Well, why would my sins change
my Lord's relationship with me? Why would my sins of this day,
whatever they were, whatever they are, why would that change
my Lord's relationship? He loved me when I was a sinner.
He chose me when I was a sinner. He died for me when I was a sinner.
He called me when I was a sinner. He loves me today with the same
love. Jim, it can't change. I'm the
Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. The gifts and calling of God
are without change. It would astound you how many
preachers not only preach, but believe in salvation by human
merit. It just might surprise you how
many of you have a whole lot left in you. The better I am, the more I pray,
and the more I read, and the more I study, and the more I
abstain from this, that, and the more God loves me. You believe
that? You believe that, you believe
in salvation by works. Salvation by works is a damnable
doctrine. God's love for me never changes
wherever I am and whatever I am and whatever I'm doing. Does
that shock you? It's so. If grace is true, that's
so. He told me when I was a sinner,
He chose me when I didn't know Him, when I hated Him and rebelled
against Him. And He died for me when I was
wallowing in my sins. What makes you think you'll change
now? Actually, most people think that
they've got better love than God, because they never forsake
their children, no matter what they do. And you would have me
to believe that God would forsake His because of something they
do? not the God of the Bible. If my right to glory, listen
to me, if my right to glory rested in any way on anything I did,
good or bad, before or after conversion, doesn't matter, it
would have already failed. All right, Cecil? Already failed. But my saving interest in Jesus
Christ, now listen to me, and some of you can get some help,
comfort my people, he says, some of you can get some strength
and help here, and you can get out of that closet, and out of
that despair, and out of that self-righteousness, and out of
that trying to attain your own righteousness, and start resting
in Christ. My saving interest in God's glory
rests on two things. His everlasting covenant and
the merits of His blessed Son. One thousand percent. Grace that
can be forfeited never was grace. Isn't that right? Mercy that can be taken away. I wouldn't have it on a silver
platter. Wouldn't have it. That's not
mercy. I'm going to show you mercy. Don't you slip. I don't want that. Introduce
me to something else. Let's try something else. All right? Here's the third point. That's the first. The first one
is this. The believer is a center. I'm not talking about an awakened
center or a conscious center. I'm just saying a S-I-N-N-E-R
center. And a sinner is to come short
of the glory of God. A sinner is a transgressor of
the law. A sinner is a sinner. He said, yeah, but they're little
sins. There ain't no little sins. Yeah, but there ain't no buts
about it, the believer is a sinner. But his sins, that true believer,
resting in Christ alone, his sins never deprive him of his
interest in Christ. They can't. That interest in
Christ didn't originate with him, it originated with Christ.
It wasn't merited by him, it was merited by Christ. It wasn't
accomplished by him, it was accomplished by Christ. It's totally one-sided.
We didn't love him, he loved us. He was reconciled to us before
we ever knew him. And he's not going to be unreconciled.
And thirdly, actually, This advocate he's talking about here, look
at the text again, verse 1, chapter 2, if any man sin, or when a
man sins, when a believer sins, he has an advocate. Right now,
he has an advocate with the Father. Actually, this advocate is provided
on purpose because we're sinners. Who he is states the case. It
describes him, it says, this advocate with the Father, first
of all, is Jesus. That shows his purpose. Jesus
is the name of the one who became a man, for my sake. The angel said to Mary, Joseph,
thou shalt call his name Jesus. Jesus here, he's going to save
his people from their sins. That's his purpose. That's his
intention. That's why he came. That's why
God sent him. That's why he's here on earth.
That's why Jesus is Jesus. He came to save sinners. He said,
I didn't come to call the righteous. He was the friend of sinners.
He gave his life for sinners. He died for the ungodly. Yeah, but I'm saved now. I'm
not ungodly anymore. Then what do you need Jesus for? Your whole nature is ungodly.
And if God ever let it go like he did some people in the scriptures,
you'd find out just how ungodly it is. It's only his restraining
grace now that holds you in. You're potentially capable of
anything that any man's capable of, or he won't. He's Jesus, all right? Notice
the second word. He's Jesus Christ. He's the anointed. Jesus tells his purpose. Christ
tells his authority. He was appointed to save you
from your sins. God the Father anointed and appointed
him, Terry, to come down here and put away your sins. He's
the appointed advocate. He's the court-appointed lawyer. And a man doesn't take that job
on himself. There's nobody else in God's universe that's an advocate. That's a mediator and intercessor.
He's appointed to this office. He's Jesus Christ. Behold it
now. Look at this. He's Jesus Christ
the failure. Oh no. He's Jesus Christ the
reformer. No. He's Jesus Christ the righteous,
holy, spotless. He said yes. Yes. old Terry Elliott's unrighteous,
and John Halsom, and Tom Harding, and Bill Borders, and all the
rest of these sons of Adam. They're all unrighteous, but
I'm their substitute. That's what my Advocate says.
And I stood in their place and in their stead before the holy
law, and I perfectly obeyed it. And I went to the cross. and
their sins were laid on me. And I've cleansed them and washed
them and purified them and sanctified them and redeemed them and covered
them completely from head to toe with my doing and dying.
And I have given every one of them the robe of righteousness
of God himself. And I'll never, never, never
forsake a one of them. I don't care where they are or
who they are. That's right. That shows his
ability. He's Jesus Christ the righteous. Oh, my little children, abstain
from fleshly lust. Abstain from sin. Mortify the
flesh. Crucify the old nature. It'll
be a daily undertaking. It'll be a constant task. When
you sin, you have an advocate. It doesn't say if any man sin
not, he has an advocate. That's what they want me to believe.
Now, if you can live your life without sin, Jesus will save
you. If you sin, you lose your salvation. If you sin, if you die before
you repent, you'll go to hell. No, I've got an advocate. I've
got an advocate. I don't even have to plead my
cause. He does. And he does it without saying
a word. He does it by his presence. He doesn't say if any man be
holy, he has an advocate. It doesn't say if any man be
prayerful, he has an advocate. It doesn't say if anybody walks
in the light, he has an advocate. It says if any man sin, he has
an advocate. That's good news. You've been
waiting to hear that? That's good news. Oh, I'm so
glad. So, when I have sinned, I don't
care if it's right now or tonight or tomorrow, the next day, next
week, next month, when I have sinned, and I come creeping to
my closet with a guilty conscience and an aching heart, and I feel
I'm unworthy to be called God's son, I'd love to walk up and
shout in your ear, we have an advocate. I'd like to take every believer
that just gets in the valley of despair and despondency and
that old heavy load of guilt and shoot them and say, we have
an advocate. You're not your own savior. You're
not your own mediator. We have an advocate. Straighten
up and praise God and thank God and walk in peace with God and
rest. Sure, grieve over your sins and
mourn over your sins and confess your sin, but greater is he that's
in you than he that's in the world. And where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. Is that right? That's the key. There it is right
there. When any man sins, we have an
advocate. And I'll tell you this, that'll
make your eyes dance with joy, and your heart leap with joy,
and your soul be at rest, and your conscience quieted down,
and your heart love Christ. Wouldn't it? It'd make you tender
and compassionate toward others. It'd make you quit trying to
find out who's saved and who's not saved. Old John Newton said, I'll get
to heaven. I'm going to miss a lot of folks
I thought would be there. And I'm going to see a lot of
folks there I didn't think would ever make it. But the thing that's
going to shock me is to find me there. And you know the reason
I'll be there? Because Christ is there. He's
entered within the veil and occupied. We have an Advocate. Come on
now. We have an Advocate with the
Father. And you know who it is? Jesus
Christ the Righteous. Sing praises to His name. You
ain't never going to be but a human being and a man. That's all you're
ever going to be until God makes you like Christ. And you're not
ever going to be anything but a woman until God makes you like
Christ. And your best position is down there on the bottom.
That's right, down there in the dust. Make your headquarters
there. And remember, you're less than
the least of all the saints. And when you start climbing,
watch out. Watch out. Folks that claim and Strive for works, use the trust
in them. They do, not in Christ. All right,
that's so. You may feel like I've gone over
here too far, but you can't go over there too far when you exalt
Christ. Can't do it. All right, Mike,
come and lead us in a few.