Sermon: The Christian’s Perfect Plea

I invite you to grab a Bible and turn with me to the book of First John. First John is our, is the book that we're studying over the summer. You can find that on page 1021 if you're using a pew Bible in front of you. And this morning we are going to be reading and studying the first six verses of First John chapter two. So before we read this scripture, let's go to the Lord and ask for his help and blessing upon it.

Oh, father, we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. We are hungry. We are coming to you this morning hungry, desiring that we may feast upon the bread of life. And so we humbly ask, oh Lord, that you would feed us. Let this word nourish our souls and let it give life to our souls that we may live. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

First John chapter two, beginning in verse one. Listen carefully for this is God's word, 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. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this, we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments, whoever says I know him

but does not keep his commandments is a liar. And the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word in him, truly the love of God is perfected by this. We may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

Well, I wanna begin by wishing the dads and granddads out here a happy Father's day, and to those of you who may not be a biological father but are a spiritual father, happy Father's Day, uh, to you as well. I owe a lot to my dad. I owe a lot to my two grandfathers for who I am as a man today. I'm grateful to them for their instruction, for their love, their encouragement, and their commitment to my wellbeing. Men, I wanna say to you this morning, uh,

that there is, there are few benefits, few blessings that are greater to a family, to your family than for you to be a father who loves your family well, who leads them well and who points them to Jesus, who helps them to follow Jesus more closely.

I begin this way in part because it's Father's Day. It's an opportunity to encourage you fathers, but I also begin this way because we are studying a book this summer, one John that is a letter. It's a letter that is written from a father to his children. These are not biological children, but spiritual children that John is addressing. He is their pastor, he's the pastor of this church and he sees his congregants, those he's writing to

as his own children. And we see that as he calls them my little children. This is not a a term of belittling. Uh, this is a, this is a word of affection, of love, of endearment, similar to how you might say to your daughter, she's my little princess or to your son, my, my little bud. It's a form, it's a word of affection. John has great affection for these Christians and that's what motivates him to pick up his pen and to start writing to them.

He loves them. He's their father and he wants to help his children. And so he instructs them. He reminds them, warns them, encourages them it's love that is motivating his writing. And in this passage this morning, these first six verses of chapter two, John wants to make sure that his church, his little children understand what he desires from them. He wants them to know what is true for them when they fail. He wants them to have a piece of evidence, a piece

of practical evidence that will confirm to them that they are living in the way that they ought, that they are doing well in the faith. Now this is a letter that is not just for a group of Christians long, long, long ago, but this is a letter written to all of God's children. And so this is a letter for us Christians. And so John, as our father in the faith writes to us and we want to see this morning three things from this passage.

The Christian's aim, the beginning of verse one, the Christian's advocate in verses one and two and the Christian's assurances from verses three to six.

Our passage this morning begins with a purpose statement, a reason for writing. John says, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. It's a purpose statement, it's a reason he is picking up the pen and writing to them. It's not the only purpose statement we find. We found one. I already came across one in verse four of chapter one. We'll find several others throughout the book. John has reasons for writing a purpose for writing.

And one of those is so that you may not sin. One of my seminary professors had a lot of good hermeneutical principles that were distilled into memorable phrases. And one of those was this, be as balanced as the Bible is balanced. Be as balanced as the Bible is balanced. You want to preach the whole council of God. You want to preach it in its full scope. We find that the Bible is balanced and we see that here in our text.

There's a balance. This letter is marked both by realism and a real call to be holy.

Last week we saw is confirmed to us that Christians continue to sin verses eight and 10 of chapter one. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. If we say we have not sinned, we make him to be a liar. Christians are redeemed sinners, Christians are repentant sinners, but we are and remain sinners And we know it. We know it's true of ourselves. And so this letter is marked by realism

but it's also marked by a call to be holy. We see in verse one that the fact that Christians will continue to sin does not give license for Christians to sin. That would be a misapplication. So John directs his attention there. He knows that we could go there. And so he just says straight out, I'm writing this so that you may not sin. This is a misapplication. The Bible identifies frequently, shall we go on sinning that Grace May a bound by no means.

The Bible never says explicitly or implicitly that we are better off for having sinned. The Bible never says implicitly or explicitly that sinning is a good idea. On the contrary, sin is always spoken of something we are to avoid. We are to resist temptation. We are to flee the devil to resist him and we are to not sin. That's the implication of verse one. We see that it's fit right in between verses eight through 10 of chapter one.

And then as we'll see here in just a moment between verses one and two of chapter two, there's, there's realism. We will sin. But the other part of the Bible's balance is that Christians are able to not sin.

You've been saved by Christ. You've been set free from the spirit of the flesh in the spirit of God lives in you. Sin will have no dominion over you. We are able to not sin as Christians and that ought to be our aim in life because it is God's desire for his children. We ought to determine not to sin. There's a particular car ride in seminary that is seared in my mind. It's very memorable. A couple of, uh, my seminary friends were in the car

and as is normal among Christian friends, the conversation was uh, on the topic of sin and sanctification and progress and sanctification. And one friend shared in this car ride that a particular besetting sin of his was recently getting the best of him. And so he admitted to his friends rather despairingly, I don't know that there's any hope for me.

I don't know. I am not convinced that I will ever defeat this sin in this lifetime. He was visibly distraught. It was clear he understood that his sin was affecting the relationships negatively of those he loved and he believed that it might actually keep him from entering the ministry. It was a sin of that kind of nature.

And so it was quiet in the car for a few minutes after he had spoken up, but then the other friend spoke up and he tenderly exhorted him. Brother, you know that Jesus paid for that sin, right? You know that the spirit of God lives in you and this sin can be defeated, right? You know that you can make progress in your sanctification, right?

I believe you can defeat this sin. There is hope for you in Christ.

Now, the car ride was memorable because the friend who is receiving this tender exhortation knew everything that other friend had said, everything. He'd heard it all before he believed it.

But at that moment you could see the light bulb turn on in his head. It was, it was light. There was fresh wind blown into his sails and he was renewed. He was distraught, despairing, felt defeated and the words hit him fresh.

He remembered it is in fact possible to make progress in the faith. It is in fact possible to overcome specific sins with the Lord's help and spiritual effort.

That's a reminder we all need. One of the commentators on this text writes about this verse, we must assume it to be possible not to sin when we walk in the open fellowship of God and in his pure translucent light, light, especially not to sin in this or that particular way in which we have sinned. Before Evil can be overcome with good, our sins can be put to death. We can, but the Lord's help by God's grace, say no to sin and make progress in sanctification

and we ought to make it our holy ambition and our holy aim not to sin. So like a Father John is encouraging his children. He's telling them he's, he's telling them what he desires for them from them. He urges them to the high calling of putting off sin. But John is a perceptive father. He knows his children. He knows that they are beset with weakness. He knows that they will come up short and fail and knowing this, he wants to help them just

as a parent will wanna do. What do you do when you fail? Where do you go? How do you respond and where does John point? Christians to Jesus? To Jesus. Jesus is not just the solution for sinners at the beginning of their life of faith. Jesus is the solution for sin all the way through from beginning to end. We look to Jesus. He says, if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins.

There are some verses in the Bible, dear Christian, that ought to be sweet to you, ought to fill your heart with joy and hope and thanksgiving and praise. And this is one of them. This is one of the most wonderful, beautiful, hopeful verses in all the Bible. For those Christians who continue to sin, and that's all of us. There are three particular things that John wants us to know about Jesus, to see in Jesus, to enjoy about Jesus.

Jesus is an advocate. He is righteous and he is our propitiation. Let's take all three of these one at a time. Dear Christian, the one who has sinned has an advocate, Jesus Christ.

When you sin, you are not on your own. You have an advocate. An advocate is one who comes alongside to help. This word in the Greek is the same word that's attributed to the Holy Spirit. Paraclete. He's a helper. He's one who has come alongside to help in a courtroom. A lawyer is an advocate. You'd identify him as the defense lawyer. He is the one who has been appointed to represent you, to stand before the judge, to plead your case,

to be on your side. And John tells us, when you sin, you have an advocate. Jesus is on your side. He is for you. He is representing you before the judge. When you sin, you are not on your own before the judge, you have a defense lawyer. Now, I've never had to personally experience this. Just make that very clear. I'm told that when you need a lawyer, you want the best possible lawyer to be on your side. I'm told mainly by Sam Bernstein on all of his commercials.

You want a lawyer, the very best lawyer to be on your side, one who is qualified, one who has a track record of success, one who will work for your best interest, one who knows how to make a compelling case.

Dear Christian, Jesus is uniquely and perfectly qualified to be your advocate. His name Jesus means savior for sinners. He will save his people from their sins. His title Christ means that he is the one anointed to save sinners, to accomplish the work of redemption, and he is righteous. It's incredibly relevant and important. You see, because only the righteous are permitted into God's courtroom to stand before God. Jesus knows God's laws

And he's kept them. He is sinless, perfect unstained, blameless. You have the very best advocate to represent you. This is very good, very good news. But it seems that there's still a problem. It seems that there might still be a problem. You see, because what kind of case can Jesus make on your behalf when you sin?

What kind of case? What will he say in your defense? When you sin, you are not innocent. You know it. You feel it. He knows it. And Jesus is not like some of those successful lawyers who know how to game the system, who know the legal loopholes to get you out of your problems. He's not the kind of lawyer advocate who can just plug his ears and close his eyes or look the other way when you tell him everything that you did.

He will not do that. He knows he is not the kind of advocate who will pull a quick one on the judge and get you out free.

This is a judge who will not excuse sin.

Jesus is a righteous advocate. So what is our hope? Is our best hope that we can enter a plea deal? I'm guilty. Will you just give me a lighter sentence? It doesn't work that way. In God's courtroom, the wages of sin is death.

So what case can Jesus make on behalf of sinners? The answer is in verse two. He is the propitiation for our sins. Now, there's a word you don't hear every day. It's not that common of a word in the Bible actually either, but it's an important word. It's a wonderful word. Propitiation means to appease, to turn away wrath. For these New Testament readers, their minds are probably going back to the Old Testament and the Old Testament sacrificial system

when they read this word propitiation, because you remember that sinners as they come to the temple had to bring with them a sacrifice, a blameless sacrifice that would be killed on behalf of the sinner that God's anger might be turned away. We see here the propitiation for sinners is Jesus Christ. He is the offering that takes away God's anger against our sin.

I said just a minute ago that propitiation is a wonderful word, but many in our day think that the concept of propitiation is utterly abhorrent. The terrible gross concept,

my God, is not wrathful. My God is love.

Well, God in fact is love. John is going to make sure he knows that. He makes sure that we know that God is love in just a couple of chapters in chapter four, verse 10. But notice this from first John four, verse 10 In this is love. Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins in love. God sent his son to appease his anger. It isn't that the son of God had to win over

a reluctant Father. Jesus did not have to die in order to earn God's love for you. Jesus died because God loves you from eternity past Father, son and Holy Spirit loving you sends Jesus, son of God to be the propitiation

may not be popular, but that fact does not negate the truth. God is opposed to sin. He hates sin in every form.

It's because God is light. First John one, verse five, because God is holy, because God is just that there must be propitiation for sin. It's because of who God is, that there must be propitiation. So propitiation is a wonderful word for Christians Because it teaches us that instead of executing his holy, righteous judgment on sinners for their sins, that instead God executed his holy righteous judgment on his son.

I've heard some explain propitiation in a a fairly simple way that I think is maybe helpful for you. If you look at the word propitiation there in your Bible, the first three letters, pro PRO Propitiation explains how God becomes pro you. How he becomes for you. God is for you because Jesus's substitutionary sacrifice of himself absorbed all of God's wrath. Jesus bore your sin on the cross. He took all of God's wrath.

God's wrath is not merely diverted or directed. God's wrath is satisfied,

exhausted, completely. There is none left for the Christian

There is, therefore now no condemnation, none. There's not even one penny left to pay. Jesus paid it all.

And that's what the end of verse two is meant for us to to know. That's what it tells us. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. There is no other propitiation for sins. There's one propitiation for sinners. There's salvation in one name under heaven by which we may be saved. Jesus, only. Jesus.

So back to the question, what defense does Jesus make on your behalf?

I like how Ian Hamilton put it. I think he put it very well. He says, Jesus Christ never says that we are innocent.

He always says, I am the propitiation for their sins. Jesus himself is the believer's defense.

What is your defense? Dear Christian Jesus? It's not an above average record. It's not that you're better than most. It's not a promise that you will do better in the future. Your defense is Jesus.

When your conscience accuses you, when Satan tempts you to despair and tells you of the guilt within you that you know a word, I look and see him there, the one who made an end to all my sins. He is your advocate and the very sacrifice that satisfies God's wrath against your sin. So John, as a loving father wants his children to know what happens when you fail. Are you done? Are you without hope? No. No, no. Christian, you have an advocate.

And finally, he wants his children to know, to really know, to have assurance. This is a main theme. And this letter, the Christian's assurances, And John is a good father. He, he knows his children well. He knows that children need assurances and reassurances. You flip off the light in your child's room. Mommy, are you still there? Yes, honey, I'm still here. When your son is starting to climb the jungle gym a little bit farther than he's ever

climbed it before, he wants to know, Daddy, Am I okay? Yes, son, you're doing good. Keep it up. Your child gets behind the wheel for the very first time. Am I doing this right? Am I going the right direction? Yeah, you're doing good. John wants us to know that we are the children of God. He wants us to have assurances that we are walking in the right direction with Christ. As parents, we know that this is especially important for our children.

When there is something or someone that would unsettle them that might cause them to doubt or to wonder, in John's day, there were false teachers. There were some who had confessed to no God. You see this in verse four. I know him. They said, I have a special secret exclusive knowledge of God. And so you can understand that some of the Christians might be wondering, do I know God? Do I know Him? Really, this is a common question for Christians.

It's not out of the ordinary. It's not to be unexpected. It's a, it's a common question. Do I, do I know God? Do I love God? Does he love me? And John says, you can know by this. We know that we have come to know. He gives us three tests throughout this letter that we can use, three evidences that we can find that we are walking with God, that we know him truly. The first test is the one that we're gonna consider this morning, just the first test.

And it's the test of obedience or as some have called it, the moral test. See this in verse three. By this, we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. That's test positive. Test Negative is in verse four. Whoever says, I know him but does not keep his commandments, is a liar in the truth is not in him.

The Christians walk ought to match his talk. You say you know him well. Does your life demonstrate it? Does it show it?

John is simply echoing what Jesus has already said. Jesus says in John 15 verse five, whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. And then he says in John 14, verse 15, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. If a husband is, if a husband says to his wife, I love you, but he is repeatedly and consistently harsh with her,

She might wonder, does he love me?

If a wife says, I love you to her husband, but she is constantly critical. He can never do anything right, never please her. You might wonder, does she really love him? That's not what love does.

If we love Christ, we will keep his commands. Now this raises a big question, one that's been asked a lot in Christianity, what role does obedience have? What role do good works have in the Christian life? Do they have any role? Well, in fact they do. Our obedience does not save us. And yet nevertheless, obedience has an important role in the Christian life because it gives evidence. It gives evidence that we are walking in the same way in which Jesus walked.

It gives evidence that we are with him just as you would expect, a mature and healthy fruit tree to bear a bounty of good fruit when the time comes. So we ought to expect that the one who truly knows God will be living a life of righteousness, a life that is marked by keeping God's commands. So here's some questions for you. Do I know God's commands a ask this of yourself. Do I know God's commands? Do I desire to keep God's commands?

Do I keep God's commands ever consistently? Is my profession of love for God manifesting itself in acts of love to God?

Is sin more dissatisfying to me than it was 20 years ago, 10 years ago from last month? Can other Christians testify that my conduct matches my confession?

Helps you to know confirming evidence that you are walking with Christ. It's not the only form of evidence, but it is one piece. On the contrary, might ask yourself this, if I don't care to know God's commands, if I have no regard for keeping God's commands, if I'm not bothered at all, when I don't keep God's commands, then is my profession genuine?

And John doesn't want to give you false assurance. He does not want to give so-called children false assurance.

Those who make a profession to know God without obedience to God's commands, he calls liars

to strong word. It's a strong word of warning. He does not sort of paper over it or fluff it up to make it sound nicer. Liar. Similar to a doctor, a doctor calls a disease. What it is, as hard as that word may be to receive, he has to call it what it is. It's serious.

Now, I know that some of you Christians have tender consciences.

You never feel like you're measuring up. You never feel like you are doing enough, living the right way. You might be handed a a diagnostic form and an accountability sheet. Have I read my Bible? Have I been consistent in prayer? Am I loving my wife and children? Am I keeping God's commands? You might fill out the form and say, I, I think I've been doing, doing pretty good. This has been a good season of life for me in the faith.

You look at the sheet 5, 5, 6,

some of you are like that. You have a tender conscience. You never wanna make it seem that you're doing as well as you are.

This word of warning is not meant to

unsettle you, to unsettle. Those of you who are imperfectly, yes, but consistently walking in the way Christ did.

This is a word that is meant to comfort the disturbed and disturbed the comfortable, those who would comfort themselves and try to convince others that they are walking with God, that they are following Christ. Yeah, I'm following him. They're pointing to their profession, but they don't have a life that matches their confession. This word is meant to disturb them. They ought to be unsettled.

The one who knows God will not live a life absent of sin, but the one who knows God will increasingly lead a righteous life. That righteous life. Increasingly righteous life is evidence that we are walking with Christ.

I think Pastor Jason is the one who says this regularly, the Christian will look more and more like the one he loves. There will be a resemblance. There will be a likeness because it is the path that Jesus walked

and we abide with him. John wants his children to have assurance, to be able to know, to discern that they walking with Jesus. And one of those signs is that our walk matches our talk. The walk matches the talk. John is a, a father who loves this church. He wants them to know what he desires from them. He wants them to know what they should do, where they should go when they fail and they come up short. He wants them to know that they are doing well when they are

wants them to be able to discern that they're not doing well. When they shouldn't be assured that they are brothers and sisters. We are God's children. Let us aim not to sin. Let us resolve to seek help from our advocate and let our conduct match our confession. Will you pray with me?

Our Father in heaven? We give you thanks that you are a father, that you have loved us with an everlasting love and have made us your children in your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that you have as a good Father given us this word so that we might keep our aim in the right direction, that we might be reminded that we have an advocate with you and we sin, that we might have assurances, signs, evidence that we are walking with you.

Well, Lord, we all desire as your children to walk closer with you. And so we ask, oh Lord, that you would make this word effective to our souls, to our growth and grace and godliness. And we pray that your spirit would attend to our hearts, to help us live, to help us walk in the same manner in which we have spoken the confession that we have made. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.