Our Advocate

​1 John 2:1 ~ “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.”
 
Sin, dear Christian, is the direct enemy of your soul. We wage wars against foreign adversaries, and go into great confrontations with various ideologies, and sometimes those are necessary conflicts. But who goes to battle with the sin that would devastate your very life? 1 Peter 2:11 states, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” They may start out as little things, merely small agreements with minor sins that would cause no one harm. Except that even those small sins stain and corrupt the heart. For a small sin tolerated in your heart will ultimately lead to a mighty wickedness that devours everything within you. Small lies will grow into great deceptions. Minor angers will expand into grand hostilities. Little indulgences soon devour the soul with unrestrained desires. Within every “small” sin is the seed for a great iniquity.
 
As we consider our text today, we find the Apostle John, with tender concern and yet quite direct, giving us the reason he wrote this letter: “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” There are ample reasons to come to the Word of God. We learn and grow in His grace, or we find more of the LORD Jesus and grow to love Him and discover how to serve Him. Yet, how many of God’s people come to the Scriptures for this reason—to find what is needed that we might not sin? It should be the desire of every believer to walk in this world for the glory of God. We must desire righteousness and forsake wickedness. We must come to “these things” that are written for just that purpose. David wrote in Psalm 119:11, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” There are many who, of their own power or effort, or with their own wisdom, try to overcome sin and find the means by which they can live to please the LORD. Beloved, let me encourage you to come to God’s word. He has already told you what He requires, and He has made the way for you to be made righteous through Jesus Christ.
 
And, as you read this, you, like many others including myself, have to face the discouraging (sometimes even debilitating) truth that we do not live up to the righteousness that God requires. We read that we are supposed to “not sin,” and then in despair, look at the person in the mirror and realize that we do. Sin still afflicts us. We understand what Paul meant when, in Romans 7:18-19 he says, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” What can a believer do when the sinful flesh overcomes the righteous desire? Let us draw into the second part of our text, for in it is great hope and grace. We read, “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” It is a testimony of the grace of our LORD Jesus that, though He commands us to holiness and calls us to righteous living, yet He comforts us in the promise that He will still advocate on our behalf before the Father. He has not abandoned us upon our first failure as His child. Nor will He abandon us. His blood is our defense, for He is the propitiation for our sins (see 1 John 2:2).
 
This does not open the door, however, for the unleashing of our fleshly desires. We run against the question: “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1). And the answer is: “by no means!” Again, as we began, we must go to war against our own sins. We struggle and strain against that which wars against our soul and combat those desires that are contrary to the LORD’s clear word. And when we find our feet slipping in the mire of our sinful flesh, we cry out to Jesus in confession of sin and He will forgive our trespasses and cleanse us from sin. He does not comfort us in our sin, but will cleanse us from it.
 
 But how do we combat this ever-present enemy? Take a moment and read 1 John 1:7-9. First, we are to “walk in the light, as he is in the light.” Second, we are to “confess our sins.” As you walk in the light, it will reveal your sin. When your sin is revealed, confess and repent and trust the Advocate who will forgive, cleanse and be your sure defense.
 
In His Grace,
Pastor Michael 

---