ADVOCATE
Last week we examined the word atonement, and we found that the word is rooted in the Old Testament, where one who committed sin had to offer a sacrifice to compensate for the sin.
We closed with 1 John 2:1-2, as translated by the NIV
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Whether we read “atoning sacrifice” or “propitiation,” the truth is the same: It is the sacrifice of Christ that makes us acceptable to God, not any act on our part, for while we were enemies to God, Christ died for us (Rom 5:9-11):
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
We pick up our thought in 1 John 2, focusing on the word Advocate. There are three important facts which we will explore:
One, we are all sinners: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
Two, Christ’s was sacrificed for our sins: “He is the atoning sacrifice (propitiation) for our sins” (1 John 2:1).
Three, Christ is presently active in our lives: “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
First, let us define the word advocate as used in our text. Fundamentally, it means “one who comes along side of.” It has the idea of a defense attorney.
However, we must highlight this distinction: Defense attorneys plead their clients’ cases either on the merits of the defendant—in other words, their innocence, or on the lack of convincing evidence of their guilt presented by the prosecutor.
In contrast, Christ advocates for the guilty: “if anyone sins.”
It is not just that we have sinned in the past, but we sin in the present: Hear John: “8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:8-10).
Salvation is not just about what he did, but about what he is doing. Paul wrote in Romans 5:9-11: “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Christ is our advocate when we sin, but he cannot plead that we are innocent. Nor does he plead a lack of evidence of our guilt. He died because we are guilty. We turn to the familiar words of Isaiah in chapter 53: 4-6
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Christ defends us before the judgment seat of God on the basis of his atoning sacrifice. It is as if he says, “Guilty as charged; but the sin has been compensated for by my blood.”
God is not a hanging judge who delights in the death of the sinner, for he says, “I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live! (Ezek 18:32).
In Revelation 12:10, we learn that Satan is our accuser: “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.”
If God were to acquit all humanity of their sins even though we are all guilty, Satan would have grounds to appeal his disbarment. But the atoning sacrifice of Christ, is the basis of our acquittal and God’s justice. We again quote from the NIV. The passage is Romans 3:25-27: God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
God is just because he demands that sin be punished. He is the justifier because God himself presenting Christ as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
We can thank God that our accuser has been disbarred, for there is no one on earth or heaven who can successfully accuse us before God if we stand by faith on God’s grace: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God” (Rom 5:1-2).
We turn to the first five verses of Romans 8: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Paul continues in verses 31-34: “31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and our Advocate, pleading our case on the merits of his blood. There are two questions to which we must be sure we have the right answer.
One, have we been washed in is blood? “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5-7)
Two, are walking in the light? “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:5-10):
Next week, we will look at the word fellowship, which John tells us we have with God and Christ.
