John's Epistles - VI
Sunday Morning Message by our Pastor Anthony Counts
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John’s Epistles- VI
Our Advocate
I John 2:1b-2
1…And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
R.C. Sproul quote:
The doctrine of justification involves a legal matter of the highest magnitude. It involves a matter of judgment before the supreme tribunal of God. The most basic of all issues we face as fallen human beings is the issue of how we as unjust sinners can hope to survive a judgment before the court of an absolutely holy and absolutely just God. God is the Judge of all the earth. Herein lies our dilemma. He is just. We are unjust. If we receive from His hands what justice is due to us, we face the everlasting punishment of hell.
Our position before salvation?
Romans 3:9-10- 9What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
10As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;
Romans 8:29-30- 29For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
I. Divine Defense Attorney
1…And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
The word “sins” comes from the verb hamartano, which literally means “to miss the mark”.
The most important words for us in this text are:
… an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;
Advocate is the word “paracletos” meaning one who comes alongside.
II. Perfect Propitiation
2and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins…
Christ could never be our defense attorney until he first became our propitiation:
“Propitiation” actually means “to make satisfaction for”, “to make appeasement”,
Now consider:
and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
Who is the whole world?
In a very real sense, “Christ died for every man who will believe”