You Need A Good Lawyer

Alba 6-9-2024

YOU NEED A GOOD LAWYER

I John 2:1-2

Lawyers have not always had a good reputation, and some for good reason. I found a story about two lawyers arguing a case in court and they began to call each other names. One roared, “You're a loop-brained shyster.”

The other shouted, “And you're an ambulance-chasing cockroach.” Rapping for order, the judge said, “Now that you two fellows have introduced each other to this court, you may proceed with the case.”

I am sure that if ever you were on trial for something, you would want the best lawyer you could have. You may not have needed a lawyer yet, but there will come a time when you will, because 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Since that is the case, we all will need a good lawyer. Thankfully, if we are Christians, we have the best lawyer available. I John 2:1-2 tells us who that is. It says, “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. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”

Just before these verses, the apostle John told us that we are lying if we say that we have not sinned. But here he says that his reason for writing this is so we may not sin. I think we all know that to sin is wrong. So why can't we remember that?

I can identify with the little boy whose teacher reprimanded him for stumbling through his recitation of a poem he was supposed to have memorized. “Didn’t I tell you that you were to learn the poem by heart?” she asked. “I did learn it by heart,” the child replied. “But I forgot it by head.” We’ve all had times when we’ve forgotten by head something we thought we knew by heart, even in this matter of sin.

On the TV show Hee Haw, Doc Campbell was confronted by a patient who says he broke his arm in two places. The doc replies, “Well then, stay out of them places!” He may have something there. We cannot regularly put ourselves in the face of temptation and not be affected. When faced with the problem of temptation, we need to take the good doctor’s advice and “stay out of them places.” But what happens when we don't? John tells us that when we do still struggle with sin we need, and we have, an Advocate.

The Mirriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word Advocate as “one who defends”, and as “one who pleads the cause of another before a tribunal or judicial court”. In other words, an advocate is like a lawyer. So our text tells us that Jesus will stand up in heaven's court for our defense if we are Christians.

Of course if you need a lawyer, you certainly want one:

1. Who Does What is Right

You don't need a shyster lawyer. That is apparently what former President Trump had with his lawyer, Michael Cohen, who was the primary witness against Trump in the recent court case in New York. When Trump was elected President, Cohen was not included in the team that went with Trump to Washington. That was probably a wise decision because later Cohen was convicted of perjury, tax evasion and also admitted to stealing thousands of dollars from the Trump organization. He was not a lawyer who did what is right.

But we have one who always does what what right. Our text describes Him as, “Jesus Christ the righteous”. Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus, “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” And in Acts 10:38 Peter speaks to Cornelius telling him, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Jesus was always doing good.

That's who I want for my lawyer when the final chapter of my life is written. I want someone I can trust. I already have an accuser. Revelation 12:10 calls Satan “the accuser of our brethren”. And he is busy, because that verse also says that he, “accused them before our God day and night”. I need someone to help me when I am accused.

Jesus stood up for the woman who was taken in adultery. Those who brought her demanded that she be stoned to death. Jesus' response was that anyone without sin could cast the first stone, and the crowd dispersed. Jesus said, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” (John 8:10-11)