WWUTT 396 Our Advocate With the Father?

The Apostle’s Pastoral Aim: So That You May Not Sin

John says that if we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So not only do we have Christ who is taking our request before God, He is speaking favorably of us before God when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Find all our videos online at www .wutt .com, as well as links to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. We continue our study of 1 John, and this week we are in chapter 2. If you would open up your Bible there, I'll be reading verses 1 through 6. The apostle writes, My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.

Whoever says, I know Him, but does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him.

Whoever says, He abides in Him, ought to walk in the same way in which He walked. We go back to the start of the chapter, where John says, My little children, and this is such an address of affection, to have called those whom he is writing to, his little children.

It also reflects the responsibility that John knows that he has as an apostle of Jesus Christ. He's not somebody that's just throwing around authority, hey, I'm an apostle, you have to listen to me. But he understands the responsibility that is upon him as an apostle of Jesus Christ.

When he told his apostles to go, therefore, to all the world, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and that commission upon John and the other apostles first.

They became the first carriers of the gospel of Jesus Christ at Pentecost and then to the whole world. So John understanding the responsibility that he has as an apostle, as a carrier of the word of God, more specifically, the word of Christ.

And so those who have heard this word and have come to faith are children in the faith. They are his children. Those who have heard him preach the gospel and have gone from being dead in their sins to being alive in Christ.

John is like a spiritual father to them. The apostle Paul said the same of himself to the Corinthians, that he is their father. He said, you've had many instructors, but you've not had many fathers. And I became a father to you when he preached the gospel there in Corinth.

So now John understands that responsibility upon himself, and he did not just bring people to the faith and then boast about the number of his conversions. Hey, these churches that I'm writing to, they're all my converts.

Here's the number of people that I have brought to the faith. Rather, John understands this continued responsibility upon him to see that their faith is continuing, not just that they were converted to the faith, but that they are now continuing to grow in that faith.

So even this title of calling them children, for them, it was a reminder that there was still maturity that they had to accomplish. There was more growing up to do in the faith. So John says, my little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin, helping them along in their understanding of the faith, their growth and maturity in the faith.

And all throughout this letter, he is dropping in constant instructions on how they can know that they are saved. In chapter five, he says, I am writing these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life.

And this is another one of the responsibilities that he has as a father in the faith so that his children know that they are loved not just by him, but most especially they are loved by God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We're not meant to be in mystery about this. We're not meant to go day by day wondering if God really loves me or not. The scriptures give us the confirmation that we need to know that God does indeed love us through his son, Jesus Christ.

Romans 5, 8, God demonstrated his love for us in this way, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit whom we have been given by God.

That's Paul talking to the Corinthians in First Corinthians, chapter six. We are a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. So since the Holy Spirit lives within us, who is the third person of the Trinity, then of course, God loves us because he fellowships with himself.

So we have fellowship with God. Children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin as we hear the word of God repeated to us over and over again. And we grow in an understanding of these oracles and apply them to our lives, meditating on the things of God.

We don't meditate on the things of the flesh. We're not tempted by the things of the world. We desire, rather, the things of the kingdom. So the more John can speak to his hearers and the more they listen to his words and absorb them and meditate on them, the word of Christ that was given to his apostles, the more he is working as a loving father to keep them from sin.

And as faithful children, they are being kept from sin when they heed to the word of their father. Proverbs, chapter one, verse one, the Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice and equity, to give prudence to the simple knowledge and discretion to the youth.

Let the wise hear and increase in learning and let the one who understands obtain guidance to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. And here's verse seven. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Fools despise wisdom and instruction. And then he goes on here, my son, your father's instruction and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.

My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, come with us, let us lie and wait for blood. Let us ambush the innocent without reason. Like she'll let us swallow them alive and whole like those who go down to the pit.

We shall find all precious goods. We shall fill our houses with plunder. Throw in your lot among us. We will all have one purse. My son, do not walk in the way with them. Hold back your foot from their paths for their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed blood for in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird.

But these men lie and wait for their own blood. They set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain. It takes away the life of its possessors. The instructions of a father to a son staying away from evil and drawing near to the path of righteousness, learning the sayings of the wise and heeding a father's instruction so that he would know righteousness and justice and equity or fairness and impartiality, treating one another with kindness and respect.

And these are the instructions of a father to his children in the faith, writing these things so that you may not sin. But and here's here's a gracious passage that John adds here. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

Christ Our Advocate and the Righteousness of Christ

First of all, we know that we will sin. We read this previously in chapter one, verse eight. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. And then we go from that right into verse one of chapter two. My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin, because remember, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his truth is not in us.

But we need to know righteousness so that we don't even put ourselves in this place of having to ask for forgiveness. We are pursuing the righteousness of Christ. So John is continuing to encourage his children that they would not sin, but pursue righteousness and be more like Christ.

But if anyone does sin, which again, we've just been told that we will, though, if we ask forgiveness for our sins, God is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And it is as if John is expounding upon that point here in chapter two, verse one, when he says, if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

Now, in first Timothy two, five, the apostle Paul describes Christ as our mediator. There is one mediator between God and man, and that is the man, Christ Jesus. Here, John describes Christ as an advocate.

What's the difference? Well, a mediator is one who speaks on our behalf. But an advocate, this word, this word is a little bit more loaded than mediator because an advocate speaks positively on our behalf, whereas Paul is using the illustration to say that Christ takes our request before the father.

John is saying that Christ is standing before the father and speaking lovingly of us, his children. We have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. So our understanding here is that if we have sinned, we do not fall out of favor with God because Christ is our advocate who, though we have sinned, still speaks lovingly of us before the father, not because of anything we have done, but because he is righteous.

And our words would never be accepted by God. We would never be able to sing our own praises before God. God, look how good I am. Look what I have done for you. We wouldn't be able to do that because on our own, our deeds are worthless before God.

Isaiah 64, six, they are as a filthy rag before God. But Jesus Christ, who is righteous, he is the one who makes us righteous. And so therefore he advocates for us before the father. The righteousness of Christ is what is being spoken before God.

And that's what's being accepted and received. The righteousness of Christ that was imputed to us, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, question thirty three, what is justification? Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.

And then John even expounds on this all the more in verse two. He is the propitiation for our sins. What does that mean to be our propitiation? Charles Ryrie and his book, Basic Theology, a popular systematic guide to understanding biblical truth.

He defines the word this way. Propitiation means the turning away of wrath by an offering in relation to soteriology, which is the study of salvation. Propitiation means placating or satisfying the wrath of God by the atoning sacrifice of Christ.

You think of the song in Christ alone by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. It's in the second verse where we sing till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied for every sin on him was laid here in the death of Christ.

I live. That's propitiation being exemplified in that verse of the song. So John is saying he, Christ, is the propitiation for our sins. We now have right standing with God. His wrath that was burning against our sin has been satisfied because of the sacrifice of Christ.

He's the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, John says, but also for the sins of the whole world. Now, John is not advocating for universalism here. He's not saying that every person will be saved, that every person's sins have been washed away by the sacrifice of Christ.

Rather, he's saying here, specifically talking to the audience that he is writing to, not for ours only. He is a propitiation, not just for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world. So in other words, hey, this is not just limited to me and you, this gospel that's been shared with you and now you've come to faith and you're looking around at the people in your church and you're saying, hey, these are all believers with me and even wondering, are we the only ones?

Because you think about the persecution of the church that would have been going on in the latter portion of the first century. How many Christians would there have been in churches wondering if they were it?

I mean, how many Christians have survived this exactly? Are we the only Christians on earth? John is just writing to us because we're the only Christians that are left. But John is saying he's died for the sins, not just of ours only, but the sins of the whole world.

In other words, there are many others out there who are coming to the faith and there are many more who will turn from sin to the righteousness of Christ in the generations to come, all throughout the world, all peoples of men who inhabit the whole earth.

There will be from every tribe and tongue and nation, people of God who have heard the gospel and turned from sin and are pursuing the holiness of God that we've been given in Jesus Christ, our Lord. This is not uncommon for John to speak this way.

He did so also in his gospel in John chapter three, verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And even here, there is a context that we must understand for Jesus is having a conversation with Nicodemus about what it is that he is doing and what this gospel means and how you have eternal life.

He says to Nicodemus, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

And Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And this is going back to words that were shared by the prophet Ezekiel, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, Jesus says, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it is coming from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.

This is also hearkening back to Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones when God said, son of man, prophesy to these dry bones. And Ezekiel prophesied and they stood up, but they were just standing bones with sinew on them and stuff like that.

There was no life in them. So he prophesied again and the winds came from the four corners of the world. In other words, the north, south, east and west and filled up these these living bones with life.

And they became an exceedingly great army. This is the reference that Jesus is making with Nicodemus and Nicodemus should have understood what it was that he was talking about because Nicodemus had the oracles of God.

He was a teacher in Israel. He was supposed to be teaching others what these things meant. In verse nine, Nicodemus said to him, how can these things be? And Jesus answered him, are you not the teacher of Israel?

And yet you don't understand these things. Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen. But you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the son of man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

And now verse 16, for God so loved the world. OK, contrast that statement with the very previous two verses. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

So that was the sign for the Jews. The serpents that came into the camp were biting the people and people were dying from the snake bites. And they asked Moses for release, relief. So Moses put this bronze serpent up on a pole and he lifted it up in front of the camp.

And if anybody got bit by a snake, all they had to do was look at the pole and they would be cured of their snake bite. Well, Jesus is saying this was a sign that was not just for the Jews. It is now for the whole world, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

So when the son of man is lifted up on the cross, it will be for the sins of the whole world. He's not just a messiah for the Jewish people, which is what Nicodemus thought. They were looking for a messiah who was going to save the Jews.

Jesus is saying, I have come to save the world of their sins, the world of men, that there would be men from every tribe, tongue and nation that would be part of the people of God, not just in Judea, but in among the Gentiles as well.

Jews and Gentiles together. That was what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus, for God so loved the world, the whole world of men that would that would make up the people of God. And John is saying the same thing here in 1 John 2, too.

He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. There are many other. Nations and peoples that are being added to the people of God, not just us here, not just me, not just you who I am talking to, but among all of the people around the globe, speaking multiple languages, coming from various ethnicities and backgrounds and races and creeds, God is calling to himself from the whole world, a new nation, a holy nation in Christ.

The Gospel Going to the Whole World

Let's pray. Our great God and Savior, we thank you so much for the salvation that has been given to us through Christ Jesus, our Lord. And I pray that this is something that restores our hope and encourages us as we go throughout our day, as we encounter things that are constantly wanting to rob us of the joy of salvation that we have in Christ.

Help us to meditate on the thoughts, just the pair of verses that we have considered today. And and it rejuvenates in our mind this hope of the gospel that we have being reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul, as he wrote to the Romans in Romans chapter eight, there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

The wrath of God is satisfied by this sacrifice and he is the propitiation for our sins. Moreover, there are many others that are being added to this faith, the family of God that is growing. Many other brothers and sisters that we have don't even speak the same language that we do.

But we have this one faith and one baptism in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And so we rejoice in the work that you are doing in the whole world to draw people to yourself through Christ and the Holy Spirit that lives within us.

And so help us to rejoice in these things, knowing that you are triumphant over all. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text. Pastor Gabe is the author of the book, 40 of the Most Popular Bible Verses and What They Really Mean. Available in paperback or for your Kindle, it can be found at our website at www .wutt .com.

Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word, when we understand the text.