0161 - "Just a Lawyer or An Advocate?"
1 John 1- 2:2
April 7, 2024
Quacco
Baptist Church
Savannah, Georgia
Introduction
The core of the relationship for everyone
with Almighty God is Jesus Christ. John begins the letter by saying “that which
was from the beginning …”. The antecedent, or the subject which was before the
‘beginning’ is the word ‘that’. That is, “The Word of Life'' – Verse 1
reads: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands,
concerning the word of life-- Verse 3 refers the “word of Life” to Jesus
Christ: that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that
you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the
Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
In his
gospel, John begins in 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. Which beginning is he talking
about? You can say that this is an unbeginning beginning.
Did he
mean the beginning of His earthly life, at the beginning of creation? Jesus’
life didn’t begin at His birth in Bethlehem. Jesus was not a created being like
the angels before the creation of the universe.
John’s beginning goes way back to the
eternity past. Before anything was, Jesus was there. R.G. Lee a pastor from way
back in Memphis Tennessee, Bellevue Baptist Church described Jesus’
pre-existence as follows; “Jesus was the only man who had a heavenly Father,
but no heavenly mother; who had an earthly mother but no earthly father; who
was older than His mother and who was as old as His Father.”
Expressing that Jesus is eternal He is then expressing
that Jesus is God. We can say that people are
eternal, but with the understanding that we mean they are eternal in the future sense – they will never perish, being immortal (John 5:29). Yet people are not
eternal in
the past
sense; to say that something is eternal in the past sense is the same as saying
it is equal to God or God’s Word.
Jesus’ eternal existence was
declared in Micah 5:2, But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little
among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to
be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.
The word everlasting here literally means, “beyond the vanishing point.”
John
said his subject was eternal and therefore was God because the subject existed
before all else and was the source and basis of the existence of all
things.
John gives an open invitation to
fellowship, to a relationship with God and Jesus Christ. John’s declaration
about this eternally existent, physically present, Word of life who is
God, yet is a person distinct from the Father, is to bring those reading into
fellowship with both God’s people and God Himself.
You can enjoy this fellowship even
though you do not understand all the intricacies of the trinity. You use your
eyes even though you don’t know every detail of how your vision works. You can
know God and believe in Him as He has revealed Himself, even though you can’t
understand everything about His person or nature.
What do we get from this
relationship? fullness of joy. This joy is an abiding sense of optimism and
cheerfulness based on God, as opposed to happiness, which is a
sense of optimism and cheerfulness based on circumstances.
The Christian’s joy is important,
and assaulted on many fronts. External circumstances, moods and emotions, or
sin can all take away our joy. Yet the Christian’s joy is not found in the
things of this world, as good as they might be. When John wrote about these
things, he wrote about this relationship of fellowship and love we can share
with God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ.
John isn’t making this up; these are
not his own personal opinions or ideas about God. This is God’s message about
Himself (which we have heard from Him), which John now reveals to us (and
declare to you).
V. 6, If we say that we have
fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the
truth.
There are many Christians that
aren’t aware of their true condition. They know they are saved, and have
experienced conversion and have repented at some time in their life. Yet they
do not live in true fellowship with God. This walk in darkness, indicating a pattern
of living. This does not speak of an occasional lapse, but of a lifestyle of
darkness.
God has no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). Therefore, if one claims to be in fellowship with
God (a relationship of common relation, interest, and sharing), yet does walk
in darkness, it is not a truthful claim. The issue here is fellowship, not salvation.
The Christian who temporarily walks in darkness is still saved, but not in
fellowship with God.
If John said “That is a lie,” it
means he thinks in terms of things being true or being lies. John
sees things much more clearly than our sophisticated age does, which doesn’t
want to see anything in black or white, but everything in a pale shade of gray.
The modern world often thinks in terms of “my truth” in an individualistic
sense. John focused on the idea of God’s truth, ultimate truth.
But if we walk in the light:
This means to walk in a generally obedient life, without harboring known sin or
resisting the conviction of the Holy Spirit on a particular point. This means
that a walk in the light is possible. We know that on this side of
eternity, sinless perfection is not possible. Yet we can still walk in
the light, so John does mean perfect obedience.
Since God is light (1 John 1:5), when we walk in the light we walk where He is. We
are naturally together with Him in fellowship, and then We have fellowship with
one another: John wants to make it clear that fellow Christians who walk in the
light enjoy fellowship with each other.
So, if
we do not have fellowship with one another, then one party or both
parties are not walking in the light. Two Christians who are in a right
relationship with God will also naturally be in a right relationship with each
other.
The
blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin: As we walk in the light
we also enjoy the continual cleansing of Jesus. This is another indication that
John does not mean sinless perfection by the phrase walk in the light;
otherwise, there would be no sin to cleanse in this ongoing sense.
The
blood of Jesus Christ: This continual cleansing is ours by the blood of Jesus.
This does not mean the actual drops or molecules of His literal blood, but His
literal death in our place and the literal wrath of the Father He endured on
our behalf. The blood of Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all our sins – past,
present, and future.
We can
be cleansed, by the blood of Jesus, from all sin. The sin we inherited from
Adam, the sin we committed as kids, the sins of our growing up; sins against
our father, against our mother, against our brother and sister; sins against
our husbands or wives, against our children; sins against our employers or our
employees, sins against our friends and our enemies; lying, stealing, cheating,
adultery, swearing, drugs, booze, promiscuity, murder; sins that haunt us every
day, sins we didn’t even know we did – all sin can be cleansed by the blood of
Jesus.
Sin is
the hindrance to fellowship and the blood of Jesus, received by faith as the
payment for our sin, solves the problem of sin and opens the way to fellowship
with God. You can’t come to fellowship with God through philosophical
speculation. You can’t come to fellowship with God through intellectual
education. You can only come to fellowship with God by dealing with your
sin problem through the blood of Jesus. One might say that the only sin
that cannot be cleansed by the blood of Jesus is the sin of continuing to
reject that blood as payment for sin.
V 8,
If we say we have no sin: John has introduced the ideas of walking in the light
and being cleansed from sin. But he did not for a moment believe that a
Christian can become sinlessly perfect.
Spurgeon
commented saying, “Our deceitful heart reveals an almost Satanic shrewdness in
self-deception… If you say you have no sin you have achieved a fearful success,
you have put out your own eyes, and perverted your own reason!”
You
hear people today who think they are sinlessly perfect, yet not many really
think of themselves as sinners. Many will say “I make mistakes” or “I’m
not perfect” or “I’m only human,” but usually they say such things to excuse
or defend. This is different from knowing and admitting “I am a sinner.”
To say
that we have no sin puts us in a dangerous place because God’s grace and mercy
is extended to sinners, not to “those who make mistakes” or “I’m only
human” or “no one is perfect” people, but sinners. We need to realize
the victory and forgiveness that comes from saying, “I am a sinner – even a
great sinner – but I have a Savior who cleanses me from all sin.”
You
don’t have to go to a confessional to confess your sin. When you are baptized,
you are confessing your sin by saying you needed to be cleansed and reborn.
When you receive communion, you confess your sin by saying you need the work of
Jesus on the cross to take your sin away. But of course, we need to confess our
sin in the most straightforward way: by admitting to God that what we have done
is sin, and by asking for His divine forgiveness, based on what Jesus
has done on the cross for us.
Sins
are not forgiven because we confess. If this were the case – if
forgiveness for a sin could only come where there was confession – then we
would all be damned because it would be impossible for us to confess every sin
we ever commit. We are forgiven because our punishment was put upon Jesus, we
are cleansed by His blood.
Confession
must be personal. To say, “God, if we have made any mistakes, forgive
us” isn’t confession, because it isn’t convinced (saying “if we made”),
it isn’t personal (saying “if we made”), it isn’t specific (saying
“if we made any”), and it isn’t honest (saying “mistakes”).
He is
faithful and just to forgive us: Because of Jesus’ work, the righteousness of
God is our friend – insuring that we will be forgiven because Jesus paid
the penalty of our sin. God is being faithful and just to forgive us in light
of Jesus.
John
Trapp comments, “No man was ever kept out of God’s kingdom for his confessed badness;
many are for their supposed goodness.”
The
great news is 2:1, And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
God
doesn't want us to sin, Yet if we do, there is provision made – an Advocate, a
defense lawyer on our side. But not just a lawyer who tries to give evidence
that you are not guilty, but an Advocate who is Jesus Christ Himself.
Richard Lenski, German Luthern
pastor commented, that “Demosthenes uses it to designate the friends of the
accused who voluntarily step in and personally urge the judge to decide in his
favor.”
Jesus
is our defender, our advocate, even when we sin now. God is not shocked
by human behavior. He has seen it all in advance. He didn’t forgive us at one
time to later say, “Look what they did now! If I would have known they would go
and do that, I would have never forgiven them.” His forgiveness is available to
us now.
We
stand as the accused in the heavenly court, before our righteous Judge, God the
Father. Our Advocate stands up to answer the charges: “He is completely guilty
your honor. In fact, he has even done worse than what he is accused of, and now
makes full and complete confession before You.” The gavel slams, and the Judge
asks, “What should his sentence be?” Our Advocate answers, “His sentence shall
be death; he deserves the full wrath of this righteous court.” All along, our
accuser Satan, is having great fun at all this. We are guilty! We admit our
guilt! We see our punishment!
But
then, our Advocate asks to approach the bench. As he draws close to the Judge,
he simply says: “Dad, this one belongs to Me. I paid his price. I took the
wrath and punishment from this court that he deserves.” The gavel sounds again,
and the Judge cries out, “Guilty as charged! Penalty satisfied!” Our accuser
starts going crazy. “Aren’t you even going to put him on probation?” “No!” the
Judge shouts. “The penalty has been completely paid by My Son. There is nothing
to put him on probation for.” Then the Judge turns to our Advocate, and says,
“Son, you said this one belongs to You. I release him into Your care. Case
closed!”
Do you
believe it? C.S.
Lewis wrote: “You never know how much you really believe anything until its
truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It is easy to say
you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to
cord a box. But suppose that you had to hang by that rope over a precipice.
Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it?” Such is faith
to believe.
Let’s
pray – “Father, we believe that our sins are forgiven because of the atonement
of Jesus Christ and You will never hold our sins against us nor our sinful
nature which we struggle against all our lives. We thank you that in your grace
You have granted us the righteousness of Jesus Christ to free us from judgment.
We praise you oh Lord, we thank you for Your love, Your care. We thank You, we
love Love You. We thank You in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ who lives with
You and the Holy Spirit, One God, from everlasting to everlasting ….. And all
God’s children said, Amen!
