Our Ultimate Represntative

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Introduction

If you have your Bibles please turn with me to 1 John 2.
OPENING ILLUSTRATION Winston Churchill during WWII was who the people of Britain needed. During a war where moral and courage could have wavered and even fallen into the pits of despair with all the death and suffering that people heard about and even witnessed. It was Churchill that stood in the gap and with his charisma he communicated encouragement and determination to finish the fight. He encouraged the people to stay fast and continue on to victory. Churchill stood in the gaps and was an advocate for his people. While Churchill was a good representative, Jesus is the ultimate representative.
We are in desperate need of a representative to defend us. When we began our study in 1 John, we saw how John takes a moment to establish Jesus as the word of life in the first four verses of the text. Then, he explained that we are to walk in the light and live a life that is confessed. In other words, to have genuine faith, we are to live like Christ and to trust in Jesus alone to cleanse us from our sins. In other words, Jesus has to wash us clean. It is then that he shares in Chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, two very important realities about how Jesus is our ultimate representative. I would like to spend just a few minutes sharing those with you today if you have found your way to 1 John 2. Would you please say Word?
(Read 1 John 2:1-2
1 John 2:1–2 ESV
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. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
If you are taking notes, then you can jot this down (MPT):
“Jesus’ represents himself on our behalf so that we can have a relationship with the Father.”
Look again at verse 1,
1 John 2:1
1 John 2:1 ESV
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.
”My little children” If there was any doubt about who John was writing to before, he is making it clear that the people he is writing to are beloved disciples. At the time of the writing of this letter, it is believed that John was probably between 80 and 89 years old. So he very likely had a great deal of age on those whom he was writing to but also. John was using the same loving statement Jesus did for his disciples. For example, in John 13:33 Jesus says,
John 13:33 ESV
33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’
While the term might be deemed offensive today for a pastoral leader to go around saying my little children to his congregation. Many might take it as a belittling comment. However, the usage here is out of love and affection and is by no means a form of belittlement. It is a statement of love. It is out of this love that John is going to explain his purpose of writing. He states,
”I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin”
John does not want his beloved disciples to fall into the trap of sin. He makes that clear. He also makes it clear that that is why he is writing in the first place. If we look back to 1 John 1:5-10, he had just finished saying that we all have sinned and continue to have sinned. Yet, now he is stating that he is writing so that they may not sin. What is he trying to communicate? Well, one, he wants people to avoid falling into the trap of giving up trying to live a righteous life. He was likely concerned that some of his disciples might have a thought like this,
“If sin is a reality and it is impossible for me to live a sinless life, why bother? If I sin, big deal. God will forgive me.”[1]
This thought process is a dangerous and destructive one for the believer. I can remember growing up and hearing my student pastor at the time, Phil Newberry, use an illustration. He said,
“for many Christians, they look at God’s grace like a credit card with an unlimited balance. They go from sin store after sin store, swiping the grace card with each willful sin purchase. It might be the purchase of filthy language here and lustful thoughts and actions there, and over in the next store, they will swipe the card for lying, cheating, and gossiping. Yet, they just keep swiping the card.”
Here’s the deal, though: that thought process is not what true repentance is, nor is it the way a Christian is to live out their life. Repentance is rejecting the old sinful life and desires and clinging to Jesus! So, the believer should not go around sinning willfully.
Dr. David Allen provides a great paraphrase of John’s message, He explains
”I am writing these things so you won’t regard sin as an inevitable part of the Christian life and so you won’t presume on Christian liberty by thinking sin is no big deal.” Christians are saved from sin, not to sin![2]
In other words, we are saved to live a different life! Also, John provides hope to all Christians because we all are prone to fall to sin. He says,

1. Jesus is our advocate.

”But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
I prefer how The New American Standard and The New King James choose to translate the conjunction kai here. They both choose to use the word “and” instead of “but so it reads “And if anyone does sin.” One reason I prefer it is that but is often used for contrasting or negating what was prior. In this context, John is not purely contrasting. He is adding additional depth to the message he is sharing. He says that his writing is to help his “little children” to avoid a sin-filled life and provides hope for anyone who does find their life filled with sin. His message is that Jesus, who is perfectly righteous is advocating for us.
The word advocate means “one who is called alongside to help in a time of need.”[3]Yet, there is even more depth to the meaning here. Jesus not only helps us, he speaks and defends us. He is our defense attorney in the courtroom of God versus sin. He is standing beside us and defending us. His message is clear. They are forgiven. They belong to me. The only person you should see is me, not them or their former selves. They are a new creation in me. When you have placed your faith in Jesus, you are defended by the one and only Jesus! Paul builds on this truth in Romans 8:34, which states:
Romans 8:34 ESV
34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Then the writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 7:25,
Hebrews 7:25 ESV
25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
In other words, Jesus is constantly advocating for us in heaven. He does not stop when we sin. Instead, he continues to advocate for us as his precious children who have confessed to him as lord.
No matter how great or small you believe your sin is, Jesus wants to forgive you!
ILLUSTRATION I can remember growing up and when I’d mess up. I would dread it because I knew I would have some discipline. Depending on the crime, it could range from a lecture, spanking, or grounding. I can remember one instance where I knew I was going to be in big trouble so I did all I could to avoid being around my parents. Everything I could do, I tried to delay it. Needless to say, that was not only a long lecture, it was a long grounding too. As a kid, I made it worse by trying to avoid my parents. The consequences actually were far worse than the original discipline was going to be.
We often treat Jesus like that. When we sin, we have a tendency to feel reluctance to go to Jesus. We delay. We throw pity parties. We think of ourselves as unlovable. We feel great shame. Yet, Jesus is in the thrown room defending us, fighting our battle for us, and waiting for us to walk back to him. He wants us to run back to his embrace! When we mess up, we cannot get caught in satan’s ploy to make us so ashamed that we do not run to Jesus for forgiveness. We have an amazing advocate who is the ultimate defense attorney who makes us sinless before the righteous judge! Not only does Jesus advocate for us.
1 John 2:2 ESV
2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

”He is the propitiation for our sins”

John tells the people that Jesus is not only an advocate but he is also the propitiation for our sins. Which brings us to our second point for tonight.

2. Jesus is our propitiation.

The truth of the matter is that propitiation is not a word we use much, if not all, outside of church or religious language. Its significance is often lost or even, to some extent, prone to being misunderstood. In fact, propitiation is only used four times in all of Scripture. So, even Scripture does not use it often. Also, the word has been one that is considered difficult to translate because of the nuanced nature of the word. However, one of the better translations and understandings of the word is “atoning sacrifice.” In other words, Jesus atoned for our sins through his own sacrifice. John is stating here that the reason Jesus is and can be our advocate is because Jesus is our atoning sacrifice.
Propitiation really is tied to four words: wrath, justice, holiness, and love. There is no need for propitiation if God does not have wrath towards ungodliness. Nor is there a need for propitiation if God is not perfectly just in his judgment. Nor is there a need for propitiation if God is not holy and perfect, for anyone could be welcomed regardless of how evil they are. Nor is there a need for propitiation if God is not love. For he would simply destroy the wicked without a desire to redeem them.
Yet, it is at the cross where we can see God’s natures all come together perfectly.
Jesus Christ, by His bloody sacrifice on the cross, satisfied God’s holiness and turned away His righteous wrath from sinners. The wrath that should have been poured out on sinners was poured out on Jesus. The judgment that should have been experienced by sinners was experienced by Jesus. The hell that should have been experienced by sinners was experienced by Jesus.[4]
It is a beautiful but graphic reminder of the great length in which Jesus took to atone for our wickedness. All of this is done to fulfill God’s purpose. 2 Corinthians 5:19 tells us,
2 Corinthians 5:19 ESV
19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Jesus is the means of making the repentant world right with God! It is through Jesus that God can forgive our sins. But also, it is because of the work of Jesus that God has entrusted us with his message of reconciliation through Jesus.
Jesus’ payment for our sins was God’s perfect plan to redeem the broken, and sick world. He paid a price we could not pay.
ILLUSTRATION:
(Paying a meal for someone in a drive through).
So “when John says Jesus is “the propitiation” for our sins, he means that sin has been expiated (its penalty has been removed) and God’s wrath is likewise propitiated, that is, turned away.”[5]
Which brings us to the next portion of the verse,

and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

This is a very important verse, specifically when it comes to understanding the extent of the atonement of Jesus. Some hold to a view that is called “limited atonement.” These individuals hold that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of only those who would be saved. Individuals who claim limited atonement have long wrestled with this verse. They argue that the phrase “whole world” cannot mean the actual whole world. So they justify its uses as being that John is simply trying to explain to Jews that it is both them and Gentiles, or that it is the whole world of the elect, and the list goes on. The issue with this is that it does not truly take into consideration that John never uses the term whole world like they are trying to have him use it in any other writings; contextually, the world means the world, not the elect. Also, they are complicating the text unnecessarily. The other side of it is that you take it at face value as it is written and understand that Jesus died as an atonement for not only the sins of Christians but for the whole world.
Some might argue that this would mean that everyone would be saved, a term we call universalism. However, this is not a fair reading of the text either. John is not advocating here that everyone is saved, merely that Jesus is the atonement for the sins of every person. In the context of Scripture only those who repent and believe will be saved. Therefore, we can rest assured that Jesus’ death on the cross is sufficient to cover all our sins and the sins of the whole world. But it is only applied to those who respond to the gospel.
In other words, for someone to benefit from the atonement of Jesus, they must first receive the gospel and respond with saving faith!

Conclusion/Closing

The Church Father Augustine (AD 354-430) rightly points to the significance of Jesus as our mediator when he wrote,
For we could not be redeemed, even through the one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, if He were not also God. Now when Adam was created, he, being a righteous man, had no need of a mediator. But when sin had placed a wide gulf between God and the human race, it was expedient that a Mediator, who alone of the human race was born, lived, and died without sin, should reconcile us to God, and procure even for our bodies a resurrection to eternal life.[6]
Apart from the work of Jesus Christ as our ultimate representative. We stand before the judge eternally condemned. Without Jesus representation, we are totally and utterly cut off from God. When we stand before the throne of God, he sees wickedness. But with Jesus as our payment for our sin, his forgiveness for our sins, his righteousness clothing us, and his advocacy with the Father on our behalf. God sees his son’s righteousness and we are counted as righteous before God!
Jesus is our ultimate shield. He is our advocate. Does Jesus advocate for you?
In order for Jesus to advocate for you you must have repented and turned to Jesus.
Invitation
For us who Jesus is already our advocate and we have experienced his saving faith, are you taking your sins to him? Are you allowing him to minister to you and help you through those struggles
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