1 John2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Jesus walked among the people and ate with the sinner and listened to the needy and the pleading heart. Went out of His way to sit on the well of the Samaritan woman’s religion and gave the water that she had never dreamed of. He stood in the middle of the scribes and Pharisees as they charged the woman with adultery, and said to them all, “….He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”. And the crowd grew quiet and left one by one. He defied religion and is the friend of sinners. And to all who receive Him “…to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Assurance of forgiveness is the longing of the heart. Can I be forgiven? Am I forgiven? These questions and similar questions plague the mind of saint and sinner alike. The LORD does give assurance. In our passage of Scripture, the offer of forgiveness is made to the saved and the unsaved. The offer of Total Forgiveness is made to all through Jesus Christ, Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Have you believed in Jesus for “The Life” that He promised the believer? Joh 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Jesus Christ is the Advocate. Again the focus is on the Person of Jesus Christ. His sacrificial death is in view but the emphasis is on Him and not on His sacrifice. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: An Advocate intercedes for you. Jesus is with the Father still bearing the wounds of His suffering of the Cross. [is it unreasonable to think that the Father does not see the wounds of Calvary? – I use the word wounds because of the prophecy of Zachariah and John 20:25-29 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. Joh 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Joh 20:27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. Joh 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Joh 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. ].
Jesus is the propitiation. And there He is with the Father visible as the personal satisfaction for our sins. Remember the writer of Hebrews said, “….when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; “
Our Advocate is perfect! The Father looks at Him with complete satisfaction for any sin we commit: for Jesus is our propitiation = The Father’s complete satisfaction for all sin is Jesus the righteous, who is with Him. Regardless of whatever the sin, Jesus Christ has made satisfaction for it.
God gave Jesus for us, not to us. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Because of sin, there had to be a sacrifice and God provided Himself One, Jesus Christ the righteous. So from John 3:16, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The Son is the Advocate and the Propitiation in 1 John 2:1-2. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
According to 1 John 2:1-2 Jesus is the satisfaction for our sins and that is all Christians everywhere, but it also covers the sins of all humanity, “….and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” For added emphasis to this see 1 John 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. That is the power of believing.
There is power in owning your condition and we see that here in the change from the indefinite third person, “any man”, to the first person, “we have” is significant. John includes himself in need of an Advocate. He did not say, “Ye have” but “we have”.
If you have not seen Christ as your Advocate who have you seen? If John considered the danger of living in an unredeemed body so should we! To own your place before the LORD as a sinner is to ensure that Jesus is your advocate. John placed himself in the number of sinners, so that he might have Christ for his advocate, rather than to put himself as the advocate instead of Christ; and be found among the proud and deceived. Luk 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Luk 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
He is our ever-present Advocate because He is Himself “the propitiation” as in 1 Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: He is to us all that is needed for propitiation “in behalf of our sins or for any deficiency for He is the Bread of Life, Joh_6:33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.Joh_6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.Joh_6:48 I am that bread of life.Joh_6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
His Advocacy is the certainty of forgiveness for the believer. The deception of satan, our self, and the flesh seeks to turn you away from faith in Him, from the simplicity that is in Him. [1]Advocacy is that work of Jesus Christ for sinning saints which He carries on with the Father whereby, because of the eternal sufficiency [power] of His sacrifice, He restores them to fellowship (cf. Psa. 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.[That was King David who wrote Psalm 23:3 and when you turn to Psalm 51 you can see he knew Who restored his life. {1-10}.
1] Jesus is your Advocate because of His sacrifice; He is your Propitiation. Jesus is from the Father to you, Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
2] Jesus answers forever to the guilt of the believer, Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Heb 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
3] God the Father, took away the offerings by the law for salvation, Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.[There is no power in the law – neither is there mercy and grace]. Heb 10:2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. Heb 10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Heb 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: [The Body of Jesus was prepared by the Father cf, Luke 1:35]. Heb 10:6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Heb 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Heb 10:8, Above [ verses 1-7] when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
4] God the Father by His Grace established Salvation through the offering of Jesus Christ as the sacrifice for our sins. Heb 10:9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. Heb 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Heb 10:11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: Heb 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; Heb 10:13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Heb 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
5] The believer needs constant cleansing from the defilement of sin, John 13:10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. When Jesus says you are clean you are clean. You are clean every whit by believing in Him for His promise of life to you, John 6:47 and 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. and you have daily cleansing 1 John 1:7-2:1, i.e. 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,[you and Jesus have fellowship] and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
To walk in darkness is to deny your need of daily cleansing, 1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
Why did Jesus want to wash their feet? Why do you need to walk with Christ? [ 1 John 1:7-10]. So they could have part with Him both the present and forever. You cannot take your shoes and socks off for Jesus to wash your feet; so how are you the believer cleansed? It is by His Word Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, It is His Word that washes us. The Bible is where we find His Word. Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. He desires that you have part with Him now and forever.
The same desire that Paul expresses in Col. 1:28-29 And the same desire that every Pastor should have. And if any preacher is not warning you as a believer about the JSOC he is letting you down.
6] Walking with Christ brings harmony to your life, 1Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, [ That is you and Jesus being in fellowship one with another]and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
[1] Scofield, C. I., ed. (1917). The Scofield Reference Bible: The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments (p. 1322). Oxford University Press.
Scofield, C. I., ed. (1917). The Scofield Reference Bible: The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments (p. 1322). Oxford University Press.
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