Jesus our Advocate

INTRO

Good morning everyone, if you have a Bible this morning you can turn to 1 John chapter 2. If you don’t have a Bible, grab one around you or follow along on the screens.

We have a decent amount to talk about this morning so I’m going to take some time to pray and then we will get started.

Pray

BODY

Let’s keep up having the people of God reading the Word of God together. 1, 2, 3...

English Standard Version Chapter 2

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.

Despite these verses being short, there is a actually a lot to talk about and a lot to dig into. So without any further ado, let’s talk about his shocking statement right off the bat.

That you may not sin.

So that is a pretty bold statement, isn’t it? If someone wrote a book in today’s world of Christianity, like a Francis Chan or someone popular and on the front of book it said, “I wrote this so that you may not sin” there would be so much backlash and people calling them a heretic! Yet here John, in the word of God is telling his church and us today that he is writing this letter so that we may not sin. Now, before we have religion manifesting and we get uncomfortable with that, last week we already covered that what John is not saying is that we don’t have sin or that we have never sinned. If we are saying that than we are deceiving ourselves, the truth is not in us and we call God a liar and His word is not in us. But this is John’s desire and I would say, since it is God’s word, that is it Jesus’ desire for us. He wants us to not sin. He wants life for us, to walk in righteousness and purity, and love, and freedom. I remember our previous pastor Billy Skaggs saying many times, it is not about perfection, it is about direction. It is for freedom that Christ has set you free.

So if this statement rubs you wrong, ask yourself why. Is it because we have been so ingrained with calling ourselves sinners that we don’t believe we can walk in a way where we don’t sin? Is it because we actually like walking in our sin? This is not saying you will never sin, it is saying that he doesn’t want you to sin. And then he continued on with saying that…

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

So let’s talk about two words that you are probably not using on an every day basis which are advocate and propitiation. Let me give you the definition and then I want to share three stories from scripture of how these words have been acted out before. And then lastly, I’ll show you how this actually matters to our lives today.

Advocate means: Helper/Stands in ones defense

Jesus actually used this word to describe the Holy Spirit in John 14 when he calls him our helper. But here John uses the term in light of Jesus. He is our helper with the father to stand before the father and help us.

The second definition is propitiation

Propitiation means: A sacrifice that bears God’s wrath and turns it to favor.

So, I get that it is not popular or fun to talk about the wrath of God these days, or any days. But as I mentioned last week, God is a God of Justice and this is a good thing for all of us. If he didn’t care about sin, if he just turned a blind eye to injustice, to human trafficking, child abuse, slavery, or whatever else you want to fill in the blank, that would not be a good God. There needs to be justice for the sin that is happening, and lot of us would say yes and amen to this until it comes to us. But what we don’t realize is that even the smallest sin, a little lie, is still sin and the wages of sin is death.

So in love, God knew that we would never be able to appease the sin that we committed. There would not be enough bulls and goats in the world to take away our sins. There needed to be a perfect, sinless, one to turn away the wrath of a perfect, sinless God. Now I know there may be some more questions with that which I’m willing to talk with anyone if you want to continue to discuss it. But I want to show some examples of what this looks like in the Old Testament and then how it affects our lives today.

Atonement and Propitiation Examples

So these are paraphrased in the Josh Hayden version but I encourage you to read the stories on your own.

ABRAHAM AND SODOM AND GOMORRA | Genesis 18:16-33

Abraham talks with God and God reveals to him that he is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorra for their sin. Abraham knows that his nephew Lot and his family live there and asks well are you going to destroy the righteous with the wicked? So Abraham is stepping in as an Advocate for the righteous, even though he knows God is just in destroying the town for it’s sin. Abraham asks okay if there are 50 people will you not destroy it? God responds to this advocate in mercy and says, if there are 50 people then I will not destroy it. Abraham knows that there are not 50 righteous people there so he asks 45? how about 30? keeps going down 25? 10? 6-7? I’m kidding, he only gets down to 10. And because of Abraham stepping in as an advocate, God spares Lot’s family. This is important for us to look at because, while it might seem like a strange story, it shows God’s heart that while he is just, he is also merciful, and even willing to hear from man. No other God was doing this in the ancient near east.

MOSES AS AN ADVOCATE AND PROPTITIATION FOR ISRAEL | EXODUS 32:30-31

Israel is delivered out of Egypt, walks through the red sea, get’s water from a rock, manna from heaven, and then God makes a covenant with them at Mt. Siani. Moses goes up the mountain to recieve the commandments and which he is up there, the Isralites think it is a good idea to take all the gold they got from the Egyptians and make a golden statue to worship. So this is sin because they are bowing down to a false idol and God tells Moses, I’m going to destroy this whole nation and start from you Moses. And Moses says hold up! No! God forgive them and if anything, wipe me out. So Moses stands before God and not only helps Israel but says I’ll take the blame for them! That is being an advocate and a propitiation.

DAVID, NABAL AND ABIGAL | 1 SAMUEL 25

David, the same guy who killed Goliath, is out in the wilderness wandering around because Saul is seeking to kill him. And he was in the wilderness and helping some shepherds and heard from them that they were having a shearing party. Kinda like when your done with harvest you celebrate. And David and his crew are hungry and tired, so David is like, hey this is a good opportunity to get some food. I’ve been helping out this guys sheep, maybe he will give us some food in return. Seems fair right? Well this guy, is not a good guy. His name is Nabel, and his name in Hebrew means malicious idiot. And that is what he is. So when David send some men to say, hey can we come to your party, he is like. No, I don’t know this David and he could be some crazy rebel, get out of here. Well David hears this and is like, men grab your swords! We are going to kill this guy. Being hungry can make you do some dumb stuff, right? Well while all this is happening Nabel’s wife hears about this and decides to do something. Her name is Abigal, which he name in Hebrew is better, it means “My Dad is a redeemer.” She hears about her malicious idiot that she marries and his actions and gets a bunch of food and sets out to meet David. Thankfully she meets David the valley and becomes an advocate for Nable and his whole family. She becomes the propitiation for her worthless husband too. She absorbs the wrath of David and brings redemption to the whole story. David praises God for Abigal for stopping him from doing this foolish and sinful action. Nabel eventually dies and David marries Abigail.

So with all these stories, and this information about being an advocate and propitiation the question is, how does this apply to us today?

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO US TODAY?

When John was writing this, what was he wanting believers to understand and also to live out from these truths of Jesus is our advocate, helper, the propitiation not just for us but also for the whole world?

1.TO KNOW JESUS RIGHTLY

Remember that John is coming against the Gnostic heresy that was invading the truth that was distorting the image of Jesus. It was making him mystical and etheral. But John is drawing us to the the resurrected and ascended Jesus. Hebrews 8:1 tells us that he is our high pries that stands before the father and intercedes for us. If our view of Jesus is the pathetic pictures that we see on Time magazine rather than a glorious resurrected man in heaven who stands before the father in perfect righteousness so that we can stand before God in perfect righteousness, we need to change our perspective. He is your advocate and your propitiation. If you can see Jesus correctly then the actual fruit and evidence will be this.

2.BE FREE FROM CONDEMNATION ,SELF JUSTIFICATION AND CHEAP GRACE.

So if we don’t see Jesus rightly, a lot of things can happen. But the three that I have listed here are all from really a wrong view of Jesus. If you are continually thinking that there is no advocate for you, no one to help you and that God is still mad at you. You will be living in shame, guilt, and condemnation. Those are the anti-gospel. This is why it is hard for you to pray, read your Bible, or worship. There is a veil of condemnation around you thinking that you still have something to prove to God. No, he is your advocate and propitiation.

You could also find yourself living in the lie of self justification. Instead of Jesus being your advocate and propitiation before the father, you keep holding up your good works, booming business, perfect house, car or whatever else you think is making you perfect before God. If Jesus is not our advocate, then we are good on our own. We got it figured out. It’s a lie.

Cheap grace takes the truth of this and demonizes it. Yes Jesus is your advocate and propitiation so then you can just sin and he will forgive. So there is no desire in you to change or turn away from sin and to walk in the Spirit. This is what the theologian Dietrich Bonhoffer called cheap grace. The cross of christ is a joke to you rather than a way to freedom and life. A way to be buried with christ and be raised to new life.

And when we realize what forgiveness feels like that we didn’t have to earn, that we received and we can have that peace from knowing that Jesus is our advocate and there is no wrath on us, then…

3.BECOME AN ADVOCATE FOR OTHERS

John tells us that Jesus’ work is for the whole world. For God so loved the world, meaning we don’t just to get to keep this for ourselves. Listen let’s just get into the mud of it, most of our relationship at home, work, school or elsewhere are failing because there is no advocate in them. There is two Nebal’s unwilling to be an Abigal and have redemption, forgiveness and peace. Can you be an advocate for others by interceding for them? Absolutely. Can you be an advocate for others by sharing the Gospel with them? Yes. Can you be an advocate for others by not being offended, forgiving them, and not letting sin that is against you create you to walk in unrighteousness?

John is going to start pounding this late but the reason we are not walking in love, is because we don’t know God as love. We don’t understand what we have been given and so therefore we have nothing to give. And when we do that there is animosity, wrath and the feeling of walking alone rather than understanding you have a helper. You have an advocate. You have the peace of God because the wrath of God has been turned away and brought you into the family all through the work of Jesus.

ENDING

Pray? Reflect? Invite?