I want to read my text, 1 John
chapter 2. 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 chapter
1 of 1 John, the Apostle joyfully proclaims the glad tidings, the
good news of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in
verse 7, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from
all sin. In verse 9, he declared, if we
confess our sins, that he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all, all unrighteousness. Augustus Toplady, who lived in
the 18th century, actually he lived only 38 years, Toplady
was born in 1740 and died in 1778. He was a brilliant young
man. He wrote the hymn, Rock of Ages,
Clap for Me. But he took an oddly mathematical
approach to sin. Augustus Toplady, the brilliant
songwriter and minister of the gospel, who died at such an early
age, calculated that every human being commits at least one sin
every second of his life. That's the way he calculated
sin. He said anyone who lives to be
80 will have broken God's law 2,522,000,000 eight hundred and eighty thousand
times. It's small wonder, believing
that, that he threw himself so completely into the writing of
the hymn, Rock of Ages cleft for me. Let me hide myself in
thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure, save
from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer? No,
these for my sin could never atone. Christ must save and Christ
alone. In my hand no price I bring,
simply to thy cross I cling. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from 2,522,880,000 sins and more. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, effectually cleanses the believer from all sin, all the
evil thoughts, all of the all of the envy, all of the covetousness,
all of the pride, all of the rebellion, all of the lust, all
of the guilt, even of murdering God's own Son. And the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, presents us holy and unblameable and unreprovable
and faultless before His glory. before His presence and before
His face. That's the good news. That's
the glad tidings. That's what the angels announced
to the shepherds that morning 2,000 years ago. We bring you
glad tidings of great joy unto you is born a Savior who cleanseth
you from all sin. all sin, totally, totally cleansed,
totally delivered, totally purified, totally justified, totally sanctified
from all guilt. On the other hand, John presents
the truth of remaining sin. He presents the truth of indwelling
sin. He presents a shocking truth
that is learned quite quickly by every believer And that is
that sin is still present with us and in us. For he said, after
declaring that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth
us from all sin, he says in verse 8, if we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves. But John, you said Christ delivered
us from all sin. Now you say we still have sin.
Christ purifies and sanctifies and cleanses us from all sin,
yet we still have indwelling sin. We still have the nature
of sin. It's still there. And he says
if we confess these sins, that he's faithful and just to forgive
us and to cleanse us. And if we say we have not sinned,
we make him a liar. And his word is not in us. No man is free from sin. We are
free from the punishment of sin and free from the penalty of
sin and free from the practice of sin and free from the love
of sin, but we are not free from the presence of sin. David, the
man after God's own heart, wept over his sin. He said, My sins
are ever before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned. Isaiah, the man of God, the prophet
of God, said, I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst
of a people of unclean lips. Job, of whom God declared he
is a righteous man, declared himself I hate myself. I repent in sackcloth and ashes. The Apostle Peter, the prophet
of God, the preacher of Pentecost, said, Depart from me, Lord, I
am a sinful man. The Apostle Paul, founder of
churches, ordainer of elders, writer of Scripture, said, When
I would do good, I find that evil is present with me. Now in chapter 2, as John starts
off this chapter, verse 1, he does battle with two extremes. Now in chapter 1, he declares
the good news. Christ and his blood cleanseth,
purifieth, maketh atonement, putteth away all sin. And yet
he declares that the presence of sin is still a matter to be
dealt with. It's still a living enemy. It's
still an indwelling fact that we cannot deny. And as he starts
off chapter 2, he does battle with the two extremes that arise
in the natural mind as a result of this gospel. He does battle
with presumption. He says, these things write I unto you,
that you sin not." That you sin not. You're commanded not to
sin. Somebody says, well, preacher,
if my sins magnify the grace of God, if the jewel and diamond
of redemption shines the brightest on the background of my black
heart, If cleansing my guilt glorifies the mercy of God, then
let's do evil, that good may come. If my sins are all forgiven
under the blood, then it doesn't matter what I do, it doesn't
matter how I live. Paul says, And John declares,
my little children, these things I write unto you, that you sin
not. Do battle against sin. Resist
sin. You cannot approve of sin. You cannot love sin and love
God. With the forgiveness of sin comes
also a love for righteousness. With the forgiveness of sin comes
also a desire to walk with Christ and to glorify his matchless
name. And presumption is an evil with
which the apostle does great battle right here. My little
children, Sure, sin abides in you. Sure, the presence of sin
is with you. Sure, any man who says he does
not sin and has no sin is a liar, and the Word of God doth not
abide in him. But I write this unto you, that
you sin not." And then the other, well, now
here that leads us to the other extreme, and that is not presumption. And I have no no care, no worry
about you falling into the ditch of presumption. I don't believe
that any of you who love Christ will fall into the pit of presumption. I don't believe any man who has
been redeemed and who has been born again and in whom the Spirit
of Christ dwells, I don't have any anxious moments at all regarding
his falling into presumption. But I do worry about you falling
into the other side, into the other pit, into the other rut,
and that is despair. But I don't love sin. But preacher,
I do know sin. I don't want to sin, but I do
feel sin. I don't want to break God's law,
but I do experience sin. And sin is present with me. And
I find at the close of the day that I must pray, Lord, forgive
me of my sins. I've said what I shouldn't say,
I've thought what I shouldn't thought, I've done what I shouldn't
do. And it's that way at the close of every day. Perhaps I'm
not saved. Perhaps I'm not a child of God,
since sin is such a reality to me. Perhaps I just don't know
the Lord." Now, either one of these ditches
is dangerous. It's dangerous to fall into presumption
and say, well, if we're saved, so what? If we're Christians
and the blood of Christ has put away all our guilt, it doesn't
matter. It doesn't matter what we think.
It doesn't matter how we act. It doesn't matter what we do.
Christ has saved us. It's over. It's done with. We're
cleansed. We're forgiven. It doesn't matter
how we think or how we live. It doesn't matter whether we
love people or forgive people or are generous or kind, whether
we're proud, arrogant, haughty. It doesn't matter whether we're
passionate, lustful, evil. It doesn't matter whether we
gossip, slander. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter at all because we're saved. That's presumption. And John
said, My little children, I write unto you that you sin not. that
you sin not." Well, I can't cope with that, so that leads me to
despair. That leads me to fall into the
other ditch. Well, I do think things. I do
say things. I do react. I do respond. I do these things. I sin. I know that I do. To deny it
would be lying. Lady, I'm not saved. What's the
next line? These things write I unto you,
that ye sin not. And if any man sin, he's not
saved." That's not what it says. And if any man sin, well, he's
just not been born again. That's not what it says. If any
man sin, he's fallen from grace and he's got to get saved over
again. That's not what it says. John knows what goes on. John
writing under the influence and power of the Holy Spirit, John's
nobody's fool. John knows that he's writing
to human beings. John knows that he's writing
to people who love Christ, but yet he's writing to people, sons
of Adam, in whom the law of sin still dwells. And John says,
and if any man sin, we have an advocate, a lawyer one who pleads
our case. If we do sin, the door of mercy
is not shut. If we do sin, God has not forsaken
us. If we do sin, God's remedy for
sin is just as effectual for the saved as it is for the lost. God's remedy which flowed from
the veins of the Son of God at Calvary can cleanse the believer
just as quickly as it can cleanse the unbeliever. This is the sum
of the whole gospel. Christ Jesus is the surety of
the eternal covenant. He is the Lamb of God slain from
the foundation of the world. He is the ransom for sin that
we committed in Adam as a race. in our representative. Christ
Jesus is the sin offering at Calvary, which atoned for all
our sin and all our guilt, and put it away by his death. And
Christ Jesus is the advocate now with the Father. And it's
been Christ from before the world began, just as it's Christ in
eternity future. It's Christ, and he's my advocate. I know this, and you may not
like this too well, but this is true, and every honest person
in this building tonight will say amen to this statement. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. In the flesh I never please God. My righteousnesses are filthy
rags. I cannot breathe without sin. The smell of decay and the smell
of death is in me and upon me." Why do you think that you have
to use mouthwash? I'm serious. Why do you think
you have to use deodorant? It's because of the decay of
flesh. That's right. All of the decay
of flesh is brought about by the death of sin. That's what
the whole thing's all about. Why do you think your teeth rot?
Why do you think your flesh smells? Why do you think your breath
is the breath of the open sepulchre? That's death and decay, and that's
corruption. The corruption of the flesh.
We cannot even preach or pray or sing or worship without the
presence of sin. My repentance needs to be repented
of and my tears of remorse rise up out of self-pity. That's right. You say, oh, that fellow's really
repentant, he's weeping. About 99% of it arises out of
self-pity. And my alms are given, most of
them, most of them are given out of self-love. My sanctification
arises out of self-righteousness. My service to God reeks of self-glory. My feelings of holiness arise
out of ignorance, ignorance of myself and ignorance of God.
There's enough tender in the most moral man and woman to keep
the flames of hell burning for eternity. O Christ my Advocate,
plead my cause. Let thy blood be propitiation
for me, thee sinner." Definite article, leave me not alone,
not for one second, or the sin of that second will banish me
forever from the presence of God the Father." If any man sin, thank God we
have an advocate. If any man sin, thank God we
have an intercessor. If any man sin, thank God we
have one who pleads our cause. Now, three things briefly. Number
one, we have an advocate. Number two, where is he? Number
three, who is he? Number one, we have an advocate.
Now the word advocate, listen to this, I'm not being smart,
I just want to tell you something. Advocate is a metaphor that is
taken from the Romans and the Greeks. And the proper office
of an advocate is to defend the accused person against his adversary. That's exactly what it means.
An advocate is a person designated to defend the accused against
his adversary. Now, who is the accused? If any
man sin, it's the sinner. It's me and it's you. We are
the accused. We are the guilty. Now then,
who is the accuser? Who is the adversary? We said
Satan. Well, in a sense it is, but not
totally. The adversary is the law of God. That's who the adversary is.
That's who's got you on trial. That's who accuses you. It's
the law of God. It's the justice of God. It's
the holiness of God. We are the accused, and the law
of God is the accuser. Now, what's the charge? S.I.N. S.I.N. 2 billion, 522 million,
880,000 charges. I talked to a young man in prison
just three or four weeks ago, and I said, What are you in here
for? He said, I'm in here on three
counts. Three counts. I said, What kind
of sentence did you get? He said, I got from three to
forty years. Three counts? You got three to
forty years? Oh boy, I'm in a mess. I got
two billion, five hundred and twenty-two million, eight hundred
and eighty thousand, Eternity alone, eternity itself, eternity
in its infinity, will never allow me to serve enough time to pay
my debt. The charge you're seeing now,
who is the advocate who pleads for me against the law of God
and the justice of God? The Lord Jesus Christ. I have
an advocate. The law accuses me, and the law
charges me, and sin is the charge, and Christ stands by to wipe
away the charge and to prove my innocence. Turn to Romans
chapter 8. The 8th chapter of Romans, verse
33. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's God that justifies. Who is he
that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who makes intercession for us. If any man's sin, O my sins,
O the bliss of that glorious thought, O my sin, not in part,
but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul." If any man sin, we have an effectual advocate. If any man sin, we have an effectual
intercessor. John didn't say we have advocates. He said an advocate. John knew
nothing about the intercession of saints. Oh, St. Jude, pray
for me! I want to go on record right
now. I don't want St. Jude to pray
for me. I don't need St. Jude. St. Jude's a sinner. St. Jude's a rebel. St. Jude violated God's law just
like I did, and St. Jude is going to the same hell
I'm going to if Jesus Christ doesn't plead his cause. I don't
want St. Jude to plead for me. St. Jude,
if you're listening to me, don't you say one prayer for me. I
don't need you. I've got Jesus Christ to plead
my cause. Mary, I don't want you to pray
for me. I don't want your prayers. I
want to go on record right now. I believe the gospel of Jesus
Christ so strongly that I don't want Mary's prayers. She can't
help me. She's a sinner saved by the grace
of God. I'm not playing games, and I'm
not afraid to say what I'm saying. John didn't know anything about
the intercession of Mary. He didn't know anything about
the intercession of sin. John said, if any man sin, we
have an advocate, and he's Jesus Christ. And I'm complete in him,
and I don't need anything else or anybody else. I don't need
your water. I don't need your sacraments.
I don't need your intercessors. I don't need your priest or your
cardinals. I don't need your holy water.
I need Christ, and he's all I need. He's all I need. We have an advocate. Little children, we have an advocate. We have an advocate who's always
heard. The Lord Jesus Christ said, the
Father always hears me. The Father said, this is my son
in whom I'm well pleased. He cannot fail, said the prophet. And then in John chapter 6, the
Lord Jesus Christ said this, In verse 37, "...all that my
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I will lose nothing, but I will raise it
up again at the last day." and come short of God's glory.
And Mr. Toplady's sins are no more numerous
and no greater than mine, for to offend in one point of the
law is to break the whole law of God. And I'm in trouble, I'm
the accused, and the holy, spotless law of God is the accuser. And the charge is sin, and the
penalty is hell. But I boldly declare unto you,
I don't want anybody's hell but Jesus Christ. Nobody's. Some people seem to think that
the more religious you are, the better chance you've got. You're
dead wrong on that score. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son shall not see life, no matter
how much help he's got. No matter how many ladders he's
brought, no matter how many helpers he's secured, he that hath not
the Son of God hath not life. We have one Advocate, there is
one God, and there's one Mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus. All others are frail, all others
are faulty, all others are flimsy, all others cannot help put together. They couldn't put away one sin,
all of them put together. All the saints of all generations
and all ages, led by the purest mortals, couldn't put away one
sin. But Jesus Christ, my Lord, can
put away all sins. And all my hopes in Him, and
all my confidences in Him, and all my faith rests in Him. He cannot fail. Second thing,
we have an advocate. Where is he? He's with the Father.
I don't know about these other folks, but I know where he is.
He said, I go to my Father. That's where he is. He's in the
Holy of Holies. I don't know where they are,
but I know where he is. Who is this Jesus Christ? Well,
He's the only begotten Son of the Father. He was with the Father
in the beginning. He's the Creator of all things.
He's the brightness of the Father's glory. He's the express image
of the Father's person. The government is on His shoulders.
His name is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace. That's who He is. What did He
do? Well, He left the Father's glory.
on directions from the Father, fulfilling a covenant designed
by the Father. And he came down here to this
earth, and for a season he clothed himself in the likeness of sinful
flesh. He was born under the law. He
was tempted in all points, yet without sin. He pleased the Father
in the flesh, something I can't do and you can't do. He took
our sins in His body, and He died on the cross as the sin
offering. He was buried, and He rose again
for our justification. Where is He now? Look at it. If any man sins, we have an Advocate. Where is He? He's with the Father. He's not down in some musty,
smelly, old, dirty, dusty cathedral. He's with the Father. He's with
the Father. He's not in the grave. He's not
on the cross. He's not hanging on a crucifix.
He's not in a casket somewhere where they worship the dead Christ.
He's with the Father. Turn to Hebrews 9. I want you
to read this along with me. Hebrews 9, verse 11. But Christ being come, and high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us." Verse 24, "...Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself Now to appear in the presence
of God are us. And brethren, he is our high
priest continually. Look at Hebrews 7, verse 24. This man, this man, Jesus Christ,
this God-man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore, Hebrews 7.25, wherefore,
because he abided forever, because he has an unchangeable priesthood,
wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, or
evermore, that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to
make intercession for them. Christ ever living for this purpose,
for this cause, for this task, to make intercession for me.
If I sin, I have an Advocate, and he is with the Father, and
he is in the Holy of Holies, and his business there is to
call my name and defend me against the law and against the justice
of God and against the charge of any accuser. And he's there
for that purpose. He's my advocate with the Father. He's my intercessor. He's my
pleader. And he said, And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I'll come back again and receive you
unto myself. Now, the last statement. John said, Little children, if
you sin, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ.
Now, underscore these two words, the righteous. Brethren, he is
as righteous in his intercession as he was in his suffering. We know that his being without
sin rendered him fit to bear our sins on the cross. Look at
1 John 3.5. It says we know that he was manifested
to take away sin, and in him is no sin. In Christ there is
no sin. And we know that his being without
sin rendered him fit to be our Savior, to be our sacrifice,
to be our Redeemer. If he'd have had sins, he couldn't
have died for mine. All right? His being without
sin, his righteousness also renders him fit to be my priest, renders
him fit to be my advocate. If he had any sin, he couldn't
be in heaven. much less my advocate. God tried
him, and God found him without sin. God tried him. Christ was tried, tested in all
points, and the Father found him without fault. And he lives
in heaven right now. Jesus Christ, the righteous,
lives in heaven, a pure He had no sin of his own for which to
suffer in the world, and he has no sin of his own for which to
solicit mercy now. He took my sin when he was on
the earth and paid for them and went to glory and pleads for the forgiveness of them. And whatever he pleads for is
righteous. If it were unrighteous, he wouldn't
plead for it. If it were unrighteous, he wouldn't
get it. Now watch this. My little children,
if any man sin, the door of mercy is not shut. The presence of
God is not withdrawn. The gates of glory are not closed.
Your name is not erased from the book of life. You have an
advocate, and he's with the Father. It says you have an advocate.
It doesn't say we had one yesterday and he's not anymore. It doesn't
say we shall have one someday. It says we have right now and
every now we have an advocate. And Jesus Christ, Mr. Top Lady,
though we sin every second and possibly more, Jesus Christ never
ceases the exercise of his office. His office is never closed. He's
never out to lunch, and his line's never busy. We have an advocate
with the Father, a continual advocate. And just as there are
continual sins in the believer, there are continual intercessions
before the Father by the advocate. His advocacy, like his life,
is without end. For what does he plead? And I
close. He pleads for my justification. He pleads for my sanctification. Sanctify them through thy truth,
O Father, thy word is truth. He pleads for my perseverance
in grace. He said, I will that those whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am. He pleads for my
eternal glory, that they may behold my glory, that they may
behold my glory which I had with thee before the world was. I
pray not for the world, he said, I pray for them which thou hast
given me out of the world. Thine they were and thou gavest
them And I pray that I would keep them, Father, sanctify them,
keep them, and I pray that they may be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory. And I'll guarantee you on the
authority of God's word and on the very throne of God and on
his faithfulness, what Jesus Christ prays for, Jesus Christ
gets. He cannot fail, and he's my advocate,
and he's your advocate. And I warn you about presumption,
a man's fool to be presumptuous of the grace of God, and to throw
off the bars and say it doesn't matter. That's foolish talk,
but I'll tell you something else. Despair is foolish too, and it's
a sin, and it's doubting the love of God. And it's doubting
the faithfulness of God, and it's doubting the promises of
God. And people who run around with their tails between their
legs and their heads all bowed down say, Well, I guess I'm not
saved. You're doubting the very mercy of your Father himself. And that's as great a sin as
the man who's presumptuous. I'd rather be guilty of taking
God's mercy for granted than to put a question mark on I'd rather be guilty of taking
God's mercy for granted than to put a question mark on God's
grace and on the effectual work of God's Son. It's serious. Our Father, anoint thy word in
this message with the power of the Holy Ghost. and make it effectual. Deliver us from presumption.
O God, help us to love thee more. O God, help us to walk as Christ
walked. Help us to manifest the love
and mercy and grace and humility and faith of our Lord. Let others
see Christ in us. Let others see his loveliness
in us and his mercy in us and his faithfulness in us. Lord,
deliver us from presumption. Help us day by day to grow sweeter
And O Lord, deliver us from despair. It is no credit to thy glory
that thy children should doubt thy love and doubt thy promises. And O Lord, deliver us from this
ditch of despair. These things I write unto you,
that ye sin not, and if any man sin, O thank God we have an Advocate."
Jesus Christ the righteous, for we pray in his name, and only
in his name, and because of his name, and thanking thee moment
by moment for his name, and the privilege of pleading in his
name. Amen.