1st John
2:1-2
“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” (1st John
2:1-2).
“Here in
this church and as part of this denomination, we teach expository
through the Word of God. That is verse by verse through a book
of the Bible, and if you’ve been here a little bit
of time you certainly know that, that we teach verse by verse
through an entire book of the Bible, and there’s reasons
why we do that, and there’s reasons on Sunday mornings
why we don’t have too many topical studies—a
topical study being where you just take a different text
every week and on Sunday morning you don’t know where
we’re going to be…bouncing around in the Bible. That
is fine, but for certain reasons we do [connective] expository. And
one of the great advantages I believe, one of the great reasons
for teaching expository through the Word of God is that it
helps keep us balanced in our understanding of the Word,
it keeps us balanced. We’re
not just jumping around, but we’re going through books
of the Bible. And that keeps me balanced, it keeps me
balanced in my doctrine, keeps you balanced in your doctrine,
keeps us from going to extremes in our beliefs, extremes
in our doctrine, because the Word of God is very balanced
in its teaching. So
it’s a hedge from getting too far out on one doctrine
and not balanced with the other teaching of the Scripture. Certainly
what you and I believe is important. What I believe has an impact upon the
way that I live. What
I believe certainly has an impact in the decisions that I
make daily in the way I view myself, and more importantly
the way I view God. So
as we continue here now in verse 1 of chapter 2 of 1st John
we’re going to notice as we go through this that John
is also very balanced in his doctrine, very balanced in his
understanding of the Word of course. And he wants you and I to be balanced. We’ll see that as we go through
[1st John]. He
purposely steps through what he intends for us to learn,
he purposely steps through principle upon principle with
the intention of increasing our understanding—but also
in keeping us balanced, away from an extreme position in
our understanding or in our doctrine. So
in doing this he employs certain styles. One
such technique, I’ve called it the command and counsel
technique, in which he gives a very clear exhortation, we’ve
seen him do that, very clear and concise exhortations, but
then he follows it with a word of comfort, a word of consolation. So he gives a command, and then he follows
it with a word of comfort. So
he keeps his balance. Sometimes
when you hear a command you can start to condemn yourself
or start to struggle, but he comes right back with just a
word of consolation to encourage us, keeps us very balanced
in our position. So
we’ll see that as we continue here in chapter 2 of
1st John. It’s quite evident that he desires
to build us up, not to beat us up. So
if you’ve felt a little beat up the last couple weeks
as he’s made some very strong points, you’ll
see now that he comes back with some real encouraging words
too just to remind us, this is all for our edification, this
is all for our encouragement, and to just move our hearts
into a closer walk with Jesus Christ.
Now
just a simple outline as we go through the first two verses
of 1st John. You
maybe notice, this book we’re taking real slow. It’s
just a book packed with truths and principles, and you can’t
help but take your time going through it. So
this is our fourth study and we’re only going to do
two verses this week. But a simple outline for the first two
verses of chapter 2, I have for my first point the phrase “the
aim”, then “the attitude”, that second
point. Third
point “the advocate” and then our fourth point “the
acceptance.” So may the Lord just open
our eyes more to just how much God loves us and how much
he just wants to work in our lives. Again with verse 1 of chapter 2, “My little children, these things I write
to you so that you may not sin. And
if anyone sins we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous. For he himself is the propitiation for
our sins: and not for ours only but also for the whole world’s.” So here you get a sense of John’s
age when he uses this term “My little children”. So
you get a sense he’s a bit older. Many
commentators have noted this when we got started in this
in 1st John. Many
commentators believe he’s pretty old, in fact he may
be as old as 90 years of age. He lived, we believe, to be about 94 according
to early church historians. So
he’s potentially about 90 years of age, so of course
he starts with this term
“my little children.” Now
the Greek words he chooses to use there are Greek words like a grandfather
would say to his grandchildren, they’re very tender words. When
he says “my little children”, he’s being very tender in his
speech, it’s essentially, we don’t really have an equivalent English
term, but it’s essentially saying this, “my lovely little child”,
or “my beautiful little child”. So
that’s kind of neat, as he addresses us. He’s
really got a heart of love towards us, a real heart of compassion as he writes
this letter. I mean, the ink and the pen here, as we’re
reading, are coming from a heart that really desires what’s best for
you and I. Keep that in mind as
we study this epistle this week and the weeks ahead, because with love there
must also be truth. So there’s
a heart of concern. He shares the
truth, but he’s concerned for us, he wants what’s best for us. He
wants us to learn what God has for us, and learn the standard that God wants
us to live by. But he does it with
a concern like a loving father, just trying to help us along in our faith.
The Aim
Well,
he gives his purpose again, his purpose as he writes this
letter. Verse
1, “My little children, these things I write to you
so
that you may not sin.” Now
if you remember back in chapter 1, verse 4, I know the NIV
renders it a little bit different, but I think the New King
James has it closer. But he says he writes back in verse 4
of chapter 1 “that our joy may be full”, that
we might experience the fullness of joy. And
now he says that he writes that we would not sin. And
no doubt there’s a direct correlation between the two
of those, between the absence of sin in my life and between
the presence of joy. The
less the sin, the more the absence of sin in my life, the
more the presence of joy. The
less the sin the more the joy. I
think that’s a true correlation. [And
don’t forget how John defines what sin is in 1 John
3:4, “Sin is the transgression of the law.”] On the other hand, the more the
sinful living, the less the presence or experience of joy
in my life. So I think those are both consistent purposes,
and they’re kind of directly correlated one to another. To say that his aim, his purpose is that
we would not sin, is also to relate or experience to the
fullness of joy. Certainly the world would say otherwise,
I think the world would say that, you know, ‘the world
has what we need to have a lot of fun, the world has what
we need to have a good time and lots of happiness.’ So
if we get playing along with that world and playing the world’s
game, initially it might seem like a lot of fun, but as we
continue we’ll find though, and the Scripture teaches
this, it might seem fun at first, but in the end we’re
going to find that it’s very empty, and we will especially
be void of joy, especially void of joy. So I think there is a correlation to the
absence of sin in my life and the experience of the fullness
of joy. We remember from our last study, ‘in
God’s presence is the fullness of joy.’ In
his presence is the fullness of joy. So
John is motivating us, seeking through his writing to remind
us that that is where we want to be, in the presence of the
Lord, near to Jesus, living a life full of joy, a life that
is far from empty.
Now,
I guess we could pose the question. He
says “I write to you that you may not sin.” How
can John’s letter, studying John’s letter, keep
me from sinning? He
says “I write to you so that you would not sin.” How
can his letter have that type of effect upon me? Well,
it has been said, being forewarned is being forearmed. I think that’s true. That is what the Psalmist declared in
Psalm 119 verse 11, “Your word I have hidden in my
heart that I may not sin against you.” So
having the knowledge, being forewarned certainly has an effect
upon my life later. It’s being forearmed. To read John’s letter is being forewarned
about certain things, and therefore forearmed later in my
life. These truths as they’re entering
my mind and prayerfully into my heart, they should in the
future then help keep me, be a hedge against me sinning. It
should keep me from sin in my life. Maybe
you’re a new believer, and you’ve been part of
these studies so far these last few weeks, and you through
the studies we’ve been going through, you’ve
learned that you can’t live a sinful lifestyle and
expect to be close to God. You remember what John said in verse 5
and verse 6 and 7 [in 1st John 1], that God is
light and in him is no darkness at all. And
if we walk in darkness, how can we expect to be near to God? So
you’re a new believer and you’ve been learning
that. And it’s your hearts’ desire
to be close to Jesus Christ, to be near to him in close fellowship. So this last week there’s just an
example, this last week, of an old friend calls you up, and
you’re thinking, yeah, I want to be near Jesus. Old
friend calls you up and invites you to a party on Friday
night, and you’re thinking ‘I know at this party,
I know this individual, there’s probably going to be
drugs and alcohol.’ And
you know, that’s a temptation for you. But
because of hearing what John has been sharing with you in
these studies as we’ve been going through them, you
now find this added conviction in your heart. This friend invites you to go to this
party and your thinking ‘Man, I don’t want anything
to get in-between me and God.’ So
you tell him, ‘You know, I’m not going to be
part of the party. I’m
not interested. Thank
you very much.’ So you were forewarned, and in being forewarned
you’re forearmed. Just
an example of how that works. You
hear the truths, it works in your heart, and now it helps
you later in a battle that we face day-to-day in our lives.
But
also, hearing the truth of what John has to say here, reading
his letter that he has written helps me from being misled
or misguided or deceived by the enemy, or deceived by my
own heart, my own lusts, my own desires. Maybe you have thought ‘I can live
pretty much as I want to, as long I’m not hurting anybody
I have nothing to fear, I can do whatever I want to do, as
long as I’m just being nice to people, I can be sure
I’m not doing anything wrong in the eyes of God.’ [And a lot of people who consider themselves
born-again Christians follow this philosophy.] But
then you read what we read last week, and in the last two
weeks, and say, ‘But wait a minute, that’s not
true. That’s
not true. I was
misguided, or misled, deceived by my own heart.’ Or
maybe you were taught growing up that basically, as you were
born, you were born a good person, therefore God is happy
with you and always near to you. And
you were just taught that, and there are a lot of churches
teaching that, as we even talked about last week. But
then again, you read chapter 1 with us, verses 5 to 10, and
you learned that that really isn’t true, that isn’t
true. So John’s
letter, in reading his letter, in learning these truths,
it helps me not to be misled or misguided. And
therefore it will help me not to sin. Furthermore,
hearing the truth of what he shares here brings conviction
to our hearts and therefore change to our lives. As
I read John’s letter, the Holy Spirit comes and reveals
things to my heart, certain things, and shows me at times
I’m living contrary to what God desires, what is best
for me. So I
have this sense of the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And
prayerfully, I have a humble and honest heart before the
Lord, and when I have that conviction of the Holy Spirit,
there is then this desire to make the changes that are necessary
to be consistent with the Word of God and the will of the
Lord. You know,
that’s like how counsel will work, an admonishment
from a brother, same type of thing, he’s [John] admonishing
us as a brother or a sister in Christ. Somebody comes to you, and here’s
an example. Maybe
you get a call at home one day, you know, you’ve been
away from church for awhile, you’ve been out of fellowship,
and somebody calls you, a brother or sister from the church
calls you up just to see how you’re doing, they’re
concerned for you, and you tell them ‘I’ve been
real busy, been real busy, all kinds of things going on,
illnesses and sicknesses…’ but you know the
reason you’ve been home is you’ve been watching
the Patriots or whatever, you’ve been to the season,
so you can’t come to church, and they’re calling
you up, and as the conversation continues, then the Holy
Spirit starts to convict your heart, and you’re like, ‘All
right, I gotta tell this person, here’s the real deal,
I’ve been watching football, that’s why I’ve
been home every week.’ So
then this person very lovingly just starts to encourage you
and admonish you about the dangers of staying out of fellowship. And before you know it, by the end of
the phone call you’re praying with the person and saying, ‘Lord
forgive me, I’ve gotten distracted, I’ve gotten
my focus off, help me to get back on track.’ It’s
that kind of thing, as he writes, as we hear these truths,
it should bring conviction at times to my life. [Very
sadly, in very large Calvary Chapels and Horizon Christian
Fellowships, where these sermons are preached, sometimes
there will be people who attend that tend to be marginalized
by those who attend and even by the pastor, not necessarily
on purpose, but due to the size of the congregation, and
so this never happens. In
a Sabbatarian Church of God I was spiritually ‘brought
up’ in, this would happen, and often helped a person
who was straying or struggling with something, so that they
would be helped in such a loving and gentle manner. Jesus
referred to believers as his sheep. A
good shepherd is always counting his sheep to see if any
are missing. That
may be a hard thing to do in such large congregations, and
so some do fall between the cracks, as the saying goes. I
know in the Sabbatarian Church of God I was spiritually raised
in, they would quietly and unobtrusively take an attendance
of those attending each Sabbath for just such purposes. It
wasn’t done in the fashion of “Big Brother” watching
over you, but out of sincere love and concern for the “sheep” the
Lord had entrusted to their care. Anyone who cares to argue that point has
a problem with me, as I attended such a Sabbatarian Church
of God for over 25 years.] If
there’s something that isn’t right at times. And
hopefully there’s a humble enough heart, a humble attitude
and a desire to make the changes. So that’s why he can say “I
have written this to you so that you may not sin.” Being
forewarned is being forearmed. This
will keep us from being misled or misguided, and it should
bring conviction and change to my life [our lives]. So,
indeed, studying 1st John, the aim of his letter,
it certainly should have that effect upon me, prayerfully,
that I would not sin. John has written with that aim, and this
brings us to our second point, the attitude.
The attitude
We
have the aim, now we have the attitude. John
writes, so when it comes to sin, our attitude should clearly
not be one of complacency or compromise. But
neither, as we’ll see in the second part of verse 1,
but also in verse 2, he writes that our attitude won’t
be one of complacency or compromise, but neither will it
be one of condemnation. There’s
a balance, you’ll see. It’s
possible after studying chapter 1, dependent on how we were
tuning in, maybe we just grabbed onto the truth of verse
9 [of chapter 1], which is a great truth. But sometimes folks will take a verse
like 9 of chapter 1 and start to think that they can be slack
with the sin in their lives. Why
not, they think, ‘If I sin, I can come to God and confess
my sin, he forgives me and cleanses me as if the sin never
existed, so what do I have to worry about? That sounds like a license to sin to me. If I can go and just confess and he forgives
me, man, I can pretty much do what I want. I
got a license here, I can just kind of be casual and be complacent
about the issues of sin in my life.’ But
just in case, as we get now to chapter 2, verse 1, somebody
has gotten confused about understanding the grace of God,
John now writes as a loving father to remind us of the great
need for a holy life. And
he’s made that point too before, such as the truth
already shared in the previous chapter, where it should certainly
motivate us as readers to sin less, especially when we understand
the God that we worship, this God is a God of light, and
in him is not darkness at all. So
John has told us, if you want to be close to God, in close
communion with him, walk in the Light and do not sin. So
that certainly should move me not to sin. But sometimes we miss these points and
we’re thinking ‘Well, I can confess, and get
right.’ And
no doubt there are a lot of Christians with that attitude
[of complacency]. Sometimes
all of us struggle with that a little bit. You
know, there’s a temptation that comes our way, and
the thought ‘I can get away with it, then I can confess
and get right with the Lord.’ Well John is writing, his aim is to effect
my attitude, my attitude toward the sin in my life, that
I would understand that God’s standard for me is one
of holiness—that his desire for me is that I would
live a sinless life—that I would be perfect, as the
Bible says—that I would be perfect as God is perfect
[cf. Matthew 5:48]. That
is the standard. Now,
it’s important to John that I understand that I cannot
be complacent about my sin, I cannot compromise when it comes
to how I live, just thinking that I can let things slide
in my life. And
therefore I think this Epistle is a great Epistle for the
church in America, no doubt about it. Look
at the Church in America. And you know, I was even watching TV a
little bit yesterday, thinking ‘Man, what an influence
TV has’, and just thinking about ‘Lord, how can
we more effectively even minister in this society that we’re
in. And there’s
so many pressures against the people, so many pressures against
the Church. But this is a great Epistle, this is a
great Epistle for the Church in America. Where
it seems so often for American Christians, we think we can
have one foot in the Church and one foot in the world, and
then we’re still OK—[thinking] ‘’You
know, that’s just our society, and that’s the
way the rest of the Church is, so I can live one foot in
the world and one foot in the Church and still be OK.’ So
there is this sense in the Church in America of complacency
towards sin, of compromising with sin, of a casualness with
sin. I mean,
we can just look at the statistics collected by people like
George Barna, you know, you’ve heard the statistics. I’m
sure, many times on the radio station, where he just says,
you know, here’s the world, this is what the world
thinks, and this is what the Church in America thinks, man
it’s almost no difference. You
look at all the statistics about certain lifestyles, and
in a sad way, there’s the world, and the Church in
America isn’t far from that. So that says there’s a complacent
Church in America, complacent with sin, casual with sin,
compromising with sin. But John says “I write that you
may not sin”, meaning the standard is holiness, “Be
ye perfect as God is perfect.” I think this is a great letter for the
Church in America. Because when you’re complacent about sin, there’s a lack
of passion for God. The
two go together, a lack of passion for the presence of God
[and a complacency for sin]. And when I think of that I think of Jesus’
words to the Church, that latter-day Church in Revelation
chapter 3, the Church of Laodocia. He
says “I know your works, that you are neither cold
nor hot, I could wish you were cold or hot. So then because you are luke-warm and
neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because
you say ‘I am rich, I have become wealthy and have
need of nothing’ and do not know you are wretched,
miserable and poor, blind and naked…” He
says this to the Church. “…I counsel you to buy for
me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, and white
garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your
nakedness be not revealed, and anoint your eyes with eye-salve
that you may see. As
many as I love I rebuke and chasten. Therefore
be zealous and repent.” [This “era” of
the Christian Church goes into the tribulation “to
buy for me gold refined in the fire” and to put on “garments
of white”. It
is thought that many if most of these luke-warm Christians
will die in the tribulation as the price they pay for “this
gold refined in the fire.” This
is serious stuff and applies to us all, for this attitude
can be found in every single Christian Church congregation,
although some denominations and congregations may have more
of this attitude as an overall trait than others. That’s why it behooves us to find
and dwell in congregations that are more spiritually alive,
like the early Separatists did whilst they lived in the Midlands
of England, searching out for those congregations.] So
it’s saying, you know, ‘Get a heart of passion,
no more complacent attitude and compromising attitude with
sin in your life.’ So,
John here, as we start chapter 2, he’s reminding us
that, yes, we have this incredibly gracious God, but at the
same time, his standard is holiness for our great good.
So
how about you personally? What
is the attitude that you have toward sin in your life? The
question is, do you fear God? Or
have you had a misunderstanding of the grace of God, thinking
that you can have a casual attitude about the sin in your
life? If so, I hope our studies in 1st John
show you otherwise. And
the net result for all of us is that we would be less complacent,
less luke-warm, and have a greater passion for the presence
of the Lord. That’s why John is writing. So, we get the blessing of studying it
together. But remember—now you’re thinking, ‘I
feel condemned’—but he’s balanced, man. His
point isn’t to beat me up, it’s to build me up. You’ll
see what I mean, he brings you right back the other way. He wants us to have a balanced perspective,
yes, we shouldn’t have a complacent and compromising
attitude, but neither should we have one of condemnation. He
is seeking certainly to build us up, to motivate us to live
in such a way that we live the good life. So
John follows his exhortation with consolation. The
standard yes indeed is a perfect life, a holy life, that
should be our aim, that should be our hearts desire. But
if and when we do fall short, may we not fall into despair
either.
The Advocate
Whereas John
writes, this is our third point, the advocate, and this is
just a tremendous truth, reality, he writes “If
anyone sins,”—if any brother or sister stumbles, remember
too, that we as born-again believers—“have
an advocate with the Father”—that’s
what he says. “I
write to you that you may not sin, but, and if anyone sins,”—the
balance is he brings it right back—don’t get
condemning yourself either—our great advocate as we
are believers in Jesus Christ, we have a great advocate,
and he’s Jesus Christ the righteous. That
is the way he describes him here. Interesting,
the word for advocate here is the Greek word parocletos. You may remember that term from our
study in the gospel of John. It
means one who comes alongside of you to help you,
one who stands up for you. So
Jesus, as you remember in the gospel of John, said he was
sending the Holy Spirit after he ascended to the Father,
he would come as our Parocletos, he would come as our Comforter to come alongside of us. And
the Holy Spirit certainly has now come and indwells the Church,
and he’s working in our hearts, he’s helping
us, he’s come alongside us, he’s helping us in
this world. But also as Romans chapter 8 tells us,
the Holy Spirit also intercedes within us, moving our hearts
and leading us in prayer. So
he is our Parocletos. But
now John says Jesus is our Parocletos, meaning
he’s our Parocletos in
heaven. [Which fits John chapter 14 where Jesus
said through the indwelling Holy Spirit, Parocletos,
both he and the Father would come into believers, followers
of him, and “make our abode” within them. So
this fits perfectly with Scripture and Jesus’ words
in John 14.] We have the Holy Spirit within us on earth,
but we have Jesus right now present at this very moment in
the throne room in heaven as our Parocletos,
as our Advocate, interceding for us before the Father. Now
there is a wonderful picture of this in the Old Testament. If you get some time, you may want to
study it. Zechariah
3, verses 1 to 7 displays it so wonderfully. There
we read that God has a concern with the nation of Israel,
they have sin. As you read the book of Zechariah you
learn it’s God’s intention, even as he has spoken
through other prophets, they would, as they’ve come
back from Babylon, God has brought them back as a nation,
that they would rebuild the temple. But
they haven’t been faithful in that. So
God is concerned with the nation of Israel, they’re
in sin. So, you begin chapter 3 with this picture
of what that means before a perfectly holy but yet a loving
God. There, as you start chapter 3, is the
throne room of heaven. And
interestingly, there is Joshua the high priest standing before
the throne of God. But what is also interesting, as you get
this glimpse into the throne room, is that Joshua this high
priest is standing there, but he is also dressed in filthy
rags, standing before the throne. And we’re told in this chapter that
at his right hand is Satan the accuser of the brethren. And it says specifically that Satan is
there to oppose him. So
you have God, the throne room, you have the Judge, basically,
you have Joshua, representing the nation of Israel, in rags,
in sin, then you got the accuser of the brethren, Satan there
to oppose him. And
isn’t that the reality. Right? But then, wonderfully, as you read these
few verses, the Lord turns to Satan and firmly rebukes him,
just rebukes him, and then orders that the clothes be taken
off Joshua, that these filthy rags be taken off, and that
they be replaced with rich robes. And then the Lord says to Joshua, “See,
I have removed your iniquity from you.” Beautiful
picture. Beautiful
picture. Man
represented there in the throne room of God, Satan the accuser,
I mean it’s like a judicial thing going on there, it’s
like a court room, a Judge, the prosecuting attorney, then
the Defense Attorney, and Jesus the Defense Attorney, he’s
got a lot of weight with God, the Judge, and he says to the
prosecuting attorney, “the Lord rebuke you.” And
he says to Joshua, and there’s reasons for that, and
we’ll go on “You’re not even guilty. In fact, take those clothes off, God has
forgiven you, you’re cleansed, let’s put some
rich robes on you.” That is a great picture. And that is what John is saying here,
that Jesus, you know, he says ‘Do not sin, I write
to you so that you will not sin, but
if you do, don’t condemn yourself either. Don’t be complacent, but don’t
condemn yourself, because you have an Advocate right now,
standing in the throne room before God, Jesus Christ the
righteous, standing there before God the Father.’ That’s our Parocletos, defending
us, and working in such a way. He
is our great Advocate, and he is perfectly effective. We
see there in Zechariah chapter 3, he is perfectly effective
in what he does. And
let’s just look at three reasons as to why. He
is perfectly effective as our Advocate (1) because of his
position, we see there John says
“We have an Advocate with the Father.” Now
the Greek word there literally when it says with means we have an Advocate
with the Father who’s face to face with the Father. That is what that Greek word means literally, with. It means to be face to face with. It means that Jesus is always looking
into the face of the Father, always looking into his eyes, in absolute intimacy
with God. So it isn’t like
Jesus is going in and out of the ‘court room’, it isn’t like
that he’s far removed and he’s got to send messages. He
is always looking right into the eyes, complete contact, complete intimacy
with the Father. Now that’s where I need my Advocate
to be, I don’t know about you. But
when I get in trouble, man, I want to make sure that Guy can come through. And he’s right there. He’s got such a position with the
Father, that’s what it says when it says ‘He’s with the Father’—eye
to eye, looking at him. And that’s
great to know, that tells me he’s effective at what he does. Also
(2) he’s effective because of his very person. Again, John refers to him as “Jesus Christ the righteous.” This is a reference to the person
of Christ. First to his character,
Jesus Christ the righteous. That
says, that declares that yes, he became a man, but as the New Testament tells
us, he never sinned. Jesus the
Son of God came to this earth, became a man, but he never, ever sinned. There was never, ever any fault found
in him. As the writer of Hebrews
tells us, he was absolutely perfect. So
Jesus Christ the righteous, meaning he’s perfect, he’s perfectly
righteous, and he’s standing before the Father who is perfectly holy
and perfectly righteous. That encourages me, because that’s
the kind of representative I need too. You
and I need somebody to plead our case who is worthy. Somebody
who is unworthy cannot plead for us. But Jesus Christ the righteous is worthy. He
can stand in heaven, he can stand with the Father, as God the Son. He
is perfect, he is righteous, and therefore I can be sure, I can be confident
that as my Advocate he’s accepted before the Father, he can stand in
his presence, and he can also plead my case effectively to the Father.
So,
we have the Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. He’s effective because of his position,
because of his person, but (3) as we see here also, he’s
effective because of his propitiation. He’s
effective because of his propitiation. This
word propitiation is a difficult work for our culture. It says in verse 2 “He himself
is the propitiation for our sins.” And
this is a difficult word for our culture, although it’s
one that is very familiar with a Hebrew…and that is,
in the Hebrew culture, when somebody sinned, they understood
what this means, and that is, it is necessary every time
I sinned, there was a sin committed, that an offering be
brought before God, and that offering was then given before
the Lord, and that offering allowed fellowship with God to
be restored. [And
a sin offering was a blood offering, usually a bull or lamb
had to be slain and burned completely on the altar.] And
that is what propitiation, that is the sense of that word. It means to satisfy God’s righteousness
through a sacrifice in order that I might live again in fellowship
with God. So
he is effective because of his position, because of his person,
but also because of his propitiation, meaning, of course,
he came and he died on a cross, and he shed his blood for
my sin. But now,
this word, you may get the sense as we’re going through
this, that you get the sense it’s God the Father, maybe
he’s an angry God, and we need this Advocate that can
kind of say ‘Hey man, go easy on this guy, come on,
you know, just cool down Dad, remember I died on the cross.’ You
may get that sense. But
that’s not the sense at all as you study, you’ll
see this as we go on. This
word means to satisfy God’s holy law, God is light,
and he cannot ignore sin. He
cannot close his eyes to sin. But
the Bible teaches, as John will make very clear, that God
is also love, he is light, but he is love. And later in chapter 4, verse 10 he will
say this “In this is love, not that we loved God, but
that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins.” So
it’s not that God is mad at me, but God is perfectly
righteous. And in order for him to forgive me, there
needs to be propitiation. There
needs to be a sacrifice for my sin, and Jesus is that sacrifice. So, this word though means even more than
that. How exactly
is Jesus our propitiation? Well
it’s partly, it has a lot to do with the fact that
he was the sacrifice for our sin. But the word means even more than that. It’s not just his shed blood on
the cross, be he in his very person and his very ministry
is our propitiation, meaning that he is the High Priest and
he’s the sacrifice. Remember
in the Old Testament the high priest had do this work of
propitiation in bringing the sacrifice to God [and the big
one would be on the Day of Atonement], and that was that
whole process of the high priest bringing it and offering
it to the Lord that provided the means for the people of
Israel to be forgiven of their sin [cf. Leviticus 16, whole
chapter]. Well Jesus is in every sense the propitiation,
he is the High Priest, he is the priest and he is the sacrifice. It’s all in Jesus. So, John is telling me and telling you,
that we have all we need in Jesus as our Advocate, because
of his position, because of his person, but also because
of what he is, he is my Priest, he is my offering, and he
stares at the Father eye to eye. So I can have complete confidence when
I come and say “Lord, forgive me of my sin.” Just
as we read in 1st John chapter 1, verse 9, he
is always faithful to forgive me and cleanse me of my sin. Quoting to you Martin Lloyd Jones “So
everything that is necessary to reconcile this sinner with
God is in Jesus Christ, we need nothing else, we need no
one else, because it is the Son of God who is the propitiation
we have no fear about our sin. We
can say with John that he is enough [to] sufficiently cover
the sins of the whole world.” So
our Advocate, perfectly effective, in his position, his person,
his propitiation. I’d like to quote to you again Dr.
Lloyd Jones from a sermon he preached in 1949. “As
the result of Jesus Christ”—this is interesting—“and
his standing in the presence of God on my behalf I say this,
I say it with trembling, but yet I say it with confidence,
God would be unjust if he did not forgive my sins. Christ has died for me, it is righteous
and just for God to forgive the sins of all who believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Man,
I could see how you could say that trembling. But
yet it is true. I
believe it. God
would be unjust if he did not forgive my sins, because Jesus
Christ the righteous, his person, his position, his propitiation,
he stands there with the Father—and because of all
that he has done, it’s only right that he say that
Bill, Joe, whoever that is a believer is forgiven of his
sins. He’ll
take those rags off, put on those robes. That
is cool, man. That
is awesome. That
is the privilege that we have as believers in Jesus Christ. And
not only that, you remember the other teachings in the New
Testament too. I mean, Jesus as our High Priest also
fully identifies with us. So
we have in Jesus someone who identifies with us. When
I come and I pray, Jesus goes, “I understand.” “I
know the battle in the world.” He
was perfect, but tempted in every point that I was tempted,
but yet he was perfect, he never sinned. But
he understands the battle that we’re in. He’s
sympathetic, the Scripture says. The
writer of Hebrews says he’s sympathetic towards me. So I have this Advocate, so effective
because of who he is, in the place he’s in, but also
he’s got a heart towards me. He says “I understand, oh man.” And he just lays it before the Father. And he rebukes Satan the accuser of the
brethren. So,
look at the balance, you see the balance here. It
shouldn’t be complacency with sin, it shouldn’t
be a casualness or a compromising with sin in my life. But
neither should there be condemnation. I
should open my heart and seek with all my heart to live purely
and to please the Lord, but when I struggle, when I stumble,
I come to the Father and I realize I’ve got Jesus right
now at his right hand, ‘Father, forgive me.’ He may not say anything, he may just show
him his hands and his body, you know, just his very person. His very nature has provided the means
for me to be forgiven. Wow,
that’s encouraging to me, I know that. So,
may we not be complacent, but may we not feel condemnation
either, may we instead have hearts filled with wonder and
praise and worship of such a wonderful, loving, marvelous
God that we have.
The acceptance
Finally,
we look at this phrase, he says “he
is himself the propitiation for our sins, but not for ours
only but for the whole world.” Amazing. That brings us to this last point. That is the point of “acceptance”,
the acceptance. Jesus
is the propitiation and in this propitiation, it is so powerful,
it says it right here, it is sufficient to cover the sins
of the whole world. That’s what it says, “he’s the propitiation for our sins, but not for ours only,
but for the whole world.” What
he did is sufficient to cover the entire sins of all the
world. I mean, just think about that for a moment. You
think about the Holocaust, you think about these guys flying
planes into the World Trade Center, you think about all these
horrendous things people have done. [Comment: I’m
a history buff, and facing me to my left right now as I transcribe
this sermon are three shelves of bookcases 6 feet long, one
foot deep, filled with world history books from ancient Egypt
to the very present, American, British, and world history
from ancient to modern. Most of those books are about war, the
rise and fall of kingdoms and nations. Most
of the world’s population lived and died in horrible
wars, and most died without Christ, considering that Jesus
only came a short 2,000 years ago, and man’s recorded,
sordid history goes back about 6,000 years. When Adam and Eve were placed on this
planet, created out of the elements of the earth, they were
placed on a planet that already had Satan and the one third
of the angels that had rebelled with him residing on it—a
planet filled with unseen demonic spirit-beings. Now why on earth would God allow almost
the entirety of mankind throughout recorded history to live
and die on a planet full of horrible wars and societies run
unseen by demonic forces, all right up to now and further,
to the 2nd coming, when Satan and his demons are
locked up for 1,000 years (cf. Revelation 20:1-3)? This is the age old question that has
plagued the Christian Church throughout the ages. There
is something missing to the Plan of Salvation, the Plan of
God for man’s redemption, something we either are not
seeing in Scripture, or something Jesus and the Father have
not yet revealed to us as believers. Right now, with an honest reading of all these
history books to my left, a vast majority of the dead are “unsaved
dead”, they have died without Christ. This
pastor preaching this, via the doctrine he’s been used
to seeing in the Word, thinks they’re all going to
hell, or as the popular teaching is, to “eternal separation” from
God, what I call a fancy way of ducking the bullet of having
to explain what hell really is. It’s
easier to say “I don’t know” than use this
fancy worded footwork. Is there some further plan of redemption
for the whole of mankind that has existed that we have not
yet seen or understood? Seems
nobody within the body of Christ can agree on this one. This
question is looked at by a past writer of the Plain Truth
Magazine, Mr. Keith Stump, in his fine article “Battle
Over Hell.” See http://www.unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm to
read more about this interesting topic.] You
think about all these horrendous things people have done,
you start stacking them up throughout history, people
who have taken advantage of the fatherless, people who have
abused people, all the wickedness that has taken place for
thousands of years, and what Jesus has done on the cross
is so powerful, it’s sufficient to cover all the sins
of the world. That
is amazing. That
is absolutely amazing. Sufficient to deal with all of it. However, it’s very clear here as
he writes, it is sufficient for them, but it’s only
sufficient to those who believe. He’s not teaching that everybody’s
forgiven, and when we get to heaven we find out that everybody’s
been saved. That’s not what he’s teaching. Neither is he teaching on the other extreme
the theology of limited atonement, that he only died for
the believers. It’s clear he died for the sins
of the world. His
death is sufficient to cover all the sins of the world, but
yet, he is only the Advocate of those who believe. So
it’s only efficient for those of us that have Jesus
Christ in our hearts today, as Lord and Savior. So,
then we can close with this question—Do you believe? Do
you believe? Do you believe that you are a sinner? The Bible says that we are all sinners,
and the result of that sin for a holy God is separation from
God. He is light, and in him there is no darkness. Darkness
can’t be with him. I
am a sinner, and the wages of sin is death. But
then the Bible says the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord (cf. Romans 6:23). He
demonstrated his love for us in this, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. He provided for me the means to be forgiven
of my sin, and now to have a relationship with him. And that’s all the sin, that’s
every sin you ever committed, anybody in this room. You
might be thinking, ‘Man, I’ve done the worst
of the worst.’ But you can know that his work on the
cross is sufficient, and will be sufficient for you if you
turn to him and receive him as your Lord and Savior. His
work on the cross will indeed, does indeed provide the means
for you to be forgiven and to be cleansed and have a relationship
with God. So, the Bible also says, salvation is
not by works, but is through faith, which is by grace through
faith…so all of us have to make a decision one day
to put our faith in Jesus Christ [Yeshua haMeshiach for our
Jewish believers], to open our heart to him, to ask him to
come in to be the Lord of our life, and to forgive us of
our sin, and to tell him that we’re going to follow
him from this day forward. So, the question, do you believe? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Is he in your heart as Lord and Savior. If he is, you have an Advocate with the
Father. If he
isn’t, God is holy, perfectly holy, God is Light, there
can be no darkness in his presence. Well, do you believe? Do you want to believe?—is the last
question.” [transcript
of an expository sermon given somewhere in New England.]
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