Good morning, Church! My name is Trent Houck, and I am one of the pastors here. This is our second message in our advent series entitled “Unto Us a Life is Given.” “Life” in this sense has three meanings: the incarnate life of Christ (the Gift of Life), eternal life (The Type of Life), and the “cross hung life” (The Price of Life). We’re examining Jesus’ life from those three perspectives to prepare our hearts for Advent.
Last week, Jason brought us face to face with Cain, the cold-blooded serial killer that surprisingly crouches behind each page of 1 John. He illustrated the self-deceptive waywardness of sin that requires blood payment. We found that the type of life that is given is the blood-life of Christ. We find in 1 John that Cain had a cause for murder. His actions were premeditated and deliberate, not accidental. In fact, Scripture records for us both God’s gracious intervention and Cain’s bitter rejection of God in Genesis 4. John concludes then,
“We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous” (1 John 3:12-13).
John writes that Cain was not characterized by one single act of murder, but by “…evil deeds.” Plural. In fact, Cain found his origin in Satan himself, who is a liar, a deceiver, and a killer from the beginning. God was not being persnickety in rejecting Cain. He was not a fan of lamb and a hater of grains. Rather, John points out that Cain could not receive the correcting, free, and unearned love of God for sinners. Cain rejected grace. He rejected God. He could not stand the sound of someone else being declared “Righteous!” “Beloved!” “Child of God!” by faith. He couldn’t imagine that the second born received the lion’s share of the inheritance of the love of God. So he was consumed.
So, 1 John is written to the sin-sick Church of Ephesus and surrounding churches to warn of the deception of sin. He warns of the sin of Cain because his self-destructive, Godless tendencies were in each of the Ephesian Church Members, and even some elders. He writes, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves…” (1 John 1:8), and “I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you” (1 John 2:26), and “Little children, let no one deceive you” (1 John 3:7). The whole letter of 1 John is about distinguishing light from darkness in people, in teachers, in churches, in ourselves. He follows this by direct application:
“…Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15).
The sin of murder requires another bloodline, which eventually leads to Christ.
We find that the sin of Cain was in the offering. Hebrews 11:4 says, God accepted Abel’s offering, and not Cain’s because Abel trusted God, while Cain did not. None of us is exempt from having murderous intentions in our religious activity.
Abel, on the other hand, becomes a paragon of the type of life that Christ gives: blood-life. His own eternal life. While Abel’s blood cried out for Cain’s unceasing condemnation, Jesus’ blood cries out for our acceptance before God. And it never stops. The author of Hebrews writes, we have come “…to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24).
Unto us a life is given.
Last week, eternal life.
This week, the price of eternal life.
Jesus is the Price of the Life that Is Given
We will focus on this theme in two parts: first, we will find that the sinless, perfectly obedient life of Christ merits for us an Advocate. The word that Christ’s blood preaches is one of advocacy. Jesus Christ stands right now before the Father as your legal representative, if you are in Christ. Second, Jesus’ present advocacy is based on his atoning work on the cross. There is not a single moment that the Father or the Son forgets that Jesus was crucified for sinners. That he paid the price. Our assurance is secured. His wounds heal. His embrace is unending.
Before we go too much further, I want to say just a couple of things about John, the writer.
First, 1 John was likely written during the early 90s AD. John, by this point, was both a seasoned theologian and a faithful pastor. He had crossed the thresholds common to all of his trade. He was no longer impressed by numbers, churches planted, letters written or sermons preached. He had seen pastors burn out, marriages end, friends leave, and friends killed for the faith. In his old age, he was preaching and teaching, and re-teaching things that he had explained from the very beginning. Like a good father turned great grandfather, he refused to indulge in absent passivity or cynicism. All throughout the letter, he beams with vibrant love.[1] He calls them “Beloved” 6 times, and “children” around 10 times. This positive ratio is instructive for me as a young pastor who is learning to love the flock! You should know from me that you are loved 10 times over before you hear anything constructively critical coming from me. John, as a writer, is quick to listen and slow to speak. But, when he speaks, he speaks both authoritatively, lovingly, and pastorally. We should expect to open our hearts this morning to a trusted friend.
Second, John writes more as a lover, than a learner. The quickest route between any two points is a straight line. Not for John. 1 John is written with an almost sporadic attention deficit. While most of the New Testament letters have linear progressions, arguments, and analysis, John’s work is like an abstract painting with color slapped here and there. It’s like a spiral staircase. One commentator notes almost comically, “John rarely sustains a clear line of argument for more than a few lines or verses. He wanders from subject to subject, unencumbered by any discernible outline.”[2] John repeats himself. John is not afraid to embody the old saying, “Repetition is the mother of all learning.” This is instructive for us. This is what lovers do. Lovers repeatedly walk the same trails, and even so their knowledge deepens. They frequent the same books, movies, or spend time with the same people because there is still more to be known than what was previously experienced. John is writing as a lover of God, not only as one who collects facts about God.
1 John is an attempt then to get us to lean back into the person of Jesus Christ and experience for ourselves the warmth of his heartbeat. Even if you have heard these truths 10,000 times, you will wish after we’re done to hear them again.
So, we turn to the main question that we hope to answer through this text: what is the price of Jesus’ life? How do we measure Christ’s achievements? What is the cost of his perfect obedience and his death on the cross? We are going to argue this morning that Jesus’ sinless life and atoning death earns for us two things: his advocacy, and his security. The currency of Jesus’ life and work is accepted and received in the economy of heaven. So, we can rest!
We will try answer these questions in the following way:
Jesus’ Sinless Life Merits for Us An Advocate (1 John 2:1)
Jesus’ Advocacy is for
Jesus’ Advocacy is with the Father.
Jesus’ Propitiatory Death Earns Our Security (1 John 2:2).
Jesus’ Advocacy and Propitiation Motivates Our Obedience of Faith (1 John 2:1-2).
Let me define advocacy and propitiation by our common experience. I want to provide a few illustrations that will show that we both advocate and propitiate for people we love all the time.
First, we advocate for people we love. We advocate for our friends. We come alongside them, explain their behavior and interpret their actions. “They were going 90 miles an hour because they love adrenaline.” “That’s just the way he is. He’s from California.” “Push & Pour is his favorite coffee shop. That’s why he’s always there.” We advocate for our children. We seek to provide a rationale for why they hang upside down from the rafters. We advocate for our husbands or wives amongst our families or maybe especially before our in-laws. “He’s an introvert. That’s why he’s on a two hour walk and might not come back.” We advocate for ourselves in all sorts of ways. “I’m not yelling; I’m just passionate!” “I did that because I’m an enneagram 2 wing 3. When I’m angry, I just start getting things done!” “I’m late because well, I’m human.” Whenever we explain, come alongside, or interpret actions or behavior, we are advocating for ourselves or others. Some of you do this professionally. Teenagers are especially good at this.
Second, we propitiate for things we love. We provide atoning sacrifices to turn away wrath all the time. We just might not realize it. Think of the last time you did something kind, or self-sacrificial for your husband or wife because you were avoiding their anger or displeasure. You were propitiating. Let’s get comfortable with that word. You didn’t enjoy organizing the garage, but you sacrificed your time, energy, and sanity to turn away the wrath that would ensue by failing to do so. Or, maybe you did something kind to make up for a failure. You failed to text your friend back in a time of need, and so to make up for it, you buy them coffee and go out of your way to deliver it to their bedside. “Ryan advocates for Push & Pour, but he propitiates my wrath for talking about it so much by a latte with hearts (which I receive by grace through faith).” Maybe you failed to complete an assignment, and so you propitiate your bosses anger by staying up all night to complete it before the deadline. You make it right by providing wrath-assuaging payment of severe exhaustion.
We advocate and propitiate in relationships all the time. Both of these words have a particularly rich biblical meaning, but they are also baked into the fabric of reality and relationships.
This also takes place in our relationship with God. Because of sin, we need an advocate and a propitiating sacrifice. Jesus is the price of both. Jesus is the Price of the Life that Is Given
First, Jesus’ sinless life merits for us an advocate. Many times, when we consider Jesus’ work for us, we only think about Jesus’ atoning death. We think about Christ on the cross, and we fail to acknowledge that his sinless life was the way that he earned for us a perfect righteousness. Jesus did not merely fly to the cross, like an empty box arriving or our porch, with no contents. No, he lived for thirty-three years under the shadow of the cross, and in perfect completion of the law. He did this in the recorded and unrecorded years. Both in seen ways, and in unseen ways. Perfect righteousness is a box packed to the brim.
Jesus’ death on the cross came only after a life of perfect justice, mercy, humility and righteousness. Galatians 4:4 says, “…when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” So then, we read in our text this morning:
“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” (1 John 2:1)
How does Jesus advocate for sinners? Answer: by being “Jesus Christ, the righteous.” Jesus Christ is just. He is right before God. He stands in perfect congruence to all of God’s requirements. This is precious truth for us. If we did not have an Advocate, we would not be able to explain away our rebellion against God. What is it like to have a perfect Advocate? Here’s an example of what it’s not.
Some years ago, I was on a Missions Trip to Mexico, and our team was trying to cross the border. We looked suspicious with a big truck full of goods to be delivered to a church, and so we were pulled aside. Only a few of us spoke a bit of Spanish, and so none of us could advocate well for our innocence. Eventually, after some failed communication, we were driven into the country (celebrate!), only to be led back out of the country immediately (pity party). The point is, we spent hours advocating for ourselves and our innocence. Our advocacy was far from perfect. Later, at another border crossing, we were eventually allowed into the country. But that’s another story.
Jesus’ advocacy, on the other hand, is perfect. He speaks to the Father with perfect fluency on our behalf. This implies a couple of things.
First, Jesus’ advocacy implies that Jesus is on your side. Typically, in John, this word parakletos is used of the Holy Spirit as the “Helper”, “Comforter” or “Counselor.” So, you might ask, why isn’t it translated this way here? Shouldn’t it say, “Jesus is my Helper?”
It’s translated as “advocate” here because of what John says about sin immediately prior. If you sin, Jesus is your advocate. Jesus is your parakletos in the context of moral failure. We messed up. We’re trying to cross the border looking suspicious. We’re placed before the Judge. And, Jesus, the just, is in the court room. That would be bad news except that he is our attorney! He is alongside you, not only to help you act righteously, but to advocate for you when you fail miserably.
I remember trying to brace a water heater in a tight corner in the early 2010s. So tight was the corner that I could not get a wrench on the bolt. After a long week, long year, and long life, I lost control of my speech, my emotions, and my temper. After about 45 minutes of miserable trying, I sat down to stew in my grief. Alone. What is God’s posture toward me there? Advocate.
For most of us, when people fail, it is precisely the moment that we abandon them. We question them. We are confused. We unfriend them on Facebook, or we unfollow them. When people fail, especially when leaders fail, we are very quick to disassociate ourselves. We don’t want to appear guilty. We even dissociate from our own experiences for this reason. Jesus, the just, is not afraid of this.
We have to ask, why would the all-righteous, just Jesus be called alongside at the precise moment when we sin? Why would he come to our side, put his arm around us, and associate with us then? John alluded to this already when he said “My little children…”.
Jesus swoops in as the Advocate because we are Christ’s brothers and sisters. We are children of God. God is our Father. We are family. Jesus would not forsake his own. He cannot forsake himself.
Practically, this should change the way we respond to our own sin. When we sin, we ought not to beat ourselves up. We should not scold ourselves. When we fail, Jesus makes a special effort by the power of his Holy Spirit to both to persuade you that you are a child of God and to acknowledge before almighty God that you are his. He calms you down and then he defends you. Even if that means defending you from yourself.
I remember in my teenage years struggling with besetting sin, and for years, I sat and wallowed in my defeat. I could not believe that I had fallen again, again, and again. I felt confined, constrained, and enslaved. Then, I remember a pastor saying: “Getting back up means you are still in the game.” If we get beat down, we get back up because Christ got back up for us. We don’t sit there in our shame analyzing what went wrong. We confess our sin quickly and remember our Advocate.
What rich conversation we would have if we confessed our sins quickly! Many of us may be hiding, covering, and fearing our sin because we are terrified if it were known, we would be abandoned.
But what if we had an army of friends, fellow advocates, who represented in-person the advocacy of Jesus that is going on in heaven? That my friends, is a true Church!
Let me ask you as your pastor to confess your sin early! Confess it when it looks like just a cute, cuddly kitten. Like its no big deal. Too small to worry about. It will become a lion and swallow you alive soon. Don’t wait to confess it then. You’ll be dead.
What if you expected that when you confessed your sins, you’d hear Martin Luther’s voice say, “When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares that we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: “I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means. For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ. Where he is, there I shall be also.”[3]
Jesus does not run away from you in your sin. He comes alongside you.
You have an advocate before the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.[4]
This should bring up some cognitive dissonance. Why would the perfect advocate take on a case where the defendant is so obviously guilty? We must remember that when John says, “Jesus Christ, the righteous,” he is thinking about Jesus’ perfect moral character before the Father. Jesus is Messiah, Christ, Salvation. Jesus the Just.
John writes at the conclusion of his Gospel that, in addition to all the recorded goodness of Jesus work,
“…there were many other things that Jesus did. Were everyone one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25).
In other words, Jesus’ active obedience to God was so exhaustive, so complete, so righteous that all the books in all the world could not sum it all up.[5] He actively said and did everything that God commanded, and he refrained from saying and doing everything that God condemns. Both his active and passive obedience was just. Right.
Do you believe that this Christ stands for you? He does.
This is what it means for Jesus to be just. And, he’s on your side. He is the one who stands up for you when you fail. When you face those periods of lapsed judgment, he pleads your case. When you suffer, he pleads. When you feel lost, he pleads. This must cost him greatly! Jesus’ advocacy means that your case will be heard, and that it will come out successful.
Hebrews 7:25 says, “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.”
Notice the Gospel-logic[6] in this passage:
“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” (1 John 2:1)
Second, Jesus’ advocacy is face to face with God. When this text says, “We have an advocate with the Father,” the implication is that Jesus stands before God the Father, facing him. Jesus is in intimate, unending relationship with God as Father.
Jesus is an unending source of happiness for the Father. Lest we think that this relationship reflects some coldness in our relationship with our human fathers, consider Matthew 3:17. As Jesus comes up from the waters of baptism, the Father says from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” You can nearly hear the laughing pleasure that God takes in his own Son. To our ears, it sounds like thunder. How could God the Father ever be displeased with the glorious perfections of his only Son? How could he stop wanting to be with someone of such perfect beauty, sacrifice, intelligence and character? How could God the Father stop smiling in view of his only Son? He could not!
I have felt this kind of pleasure when my son runs or laughs. There are specific moments when I realize: I can’t believe God has been so gracious to me as to give me a son. My son. I love my son. No matter how dark or despairing the teenage years are, he will still be my son.
So then, Christian, we can rest assured that if we sin, we have this kind of an Advocate before God. We have an Advocate who is both completely and morally upright before God the Judge, and his most personal, intimate friend as the Son. This ensures that we lose neither our moral standing, nor the affection of God when we sin. We can stop punishing ourselves then.
If we fail, God does not stop being pleased with Jesus, and so then, he will not forsake us. Some of us might be walking the anxious road in our Christian life, thinking that at any moment, God is going to throw you out of the family. You might feel like you are moments away from getting fired. But, that is not our God! We are part of his family. Don’t be afraid!
On the other hand, maybe you’re not trying very hard to trust or please God. John assures us, no one who truly loves Christ wants to stay in that state. He says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” John Stott writes, “Too great a lenience would seem almost to encourage sin in the Christian by stressing God’s provision for the sinner. An exaggerated severity, on the other hand, would deny the possibility of the Christian sinning or refuse him forgiveness and restoration if he falls. Both extreme positions are contradicted by John”[7] John is perfectly balanced in his approach. As C.S. Lewis wrote, “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good.”[8] Jesus’ advocacy gives us freedom to try. Because it is trying from safety, not from insecurity.
Jesus’ present advocacy for you is the price of life that is given.
So Jesus is on your legal team before the Father as your perfect representative by his sinless life. But, what gives him the ability to advocate for sinners?
That leads us to our next point:
Second, Jesus’ advocacy for sinners is grounded in his atoning death. This is where we resolve our cognitive dissonance. You should wonder, why is Jesus on my side? Why is someone so perfect, just, and holy, the object of God’s delight on my side? If he knew my heart, he should surely be against me. Jesus can advocate for sinners, not only because of his sinless life, but because of his atoning death. John writes,
2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
This word “propitiation” is used very few times in the New Testament, and only once in this way later in John. It is very much linked to love.
John writes,
“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” (1 John 4:10).
Some translations say, “atoning sacrifice,” or “…he is the expiation for our sins…” (RSV), or even he is the “forgiveness for our sins” (Wycliffe). So, what does this word propitiation mean? We could spend hours here, but we will spend just a few minutes with this weighty word.
Wayne Grudem writes that propitiation, is “…a sacrifice that bears God’s wrath to the end, and in so doing, changes God’s wrath toward us into favor.”[9] To bear God’s wrath would mean to endure “…His settled, controlled, holy antagonism to all evil”[10] When Jesus served as a propitiatory sacrifice, “Jesus became the object of the intense hatred of sin and vengeance against sin which God had patiently stored up since the beginning of the world.”[11] He took our punishment. He endured the consequences that we deserved for our sin. This is propitiation.
What was the price of this propitiation? Jesus was the price.
In order to illustrate this, I want us to gaze first at Gethsemane and then to the Cross itself. In Mark 14:32-40, Jesus anticipates the price he is about to pay as a propitiation. It is a source of the deepest of spiritual, emotional and even physical turmoil:
32 And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And he took with him Peter and James and John [our author], and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” 37 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? 38 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. (Mark 14:32-42)
When John used this word “propitiation”, he no doubt remembered the soul-crushing trouble of Jesus as they were in the garden. He remembered Jesus peering over the edge of the cliff to see the valley of God’s wrath below. John saw his sweat form into great drops of blood in his agony (Luke 22:44), and he heard the three-fold repetition of this prayer “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36). As Jesus stood face to face with the anticipation of God’s wrath poured out, John stood face to face with Jesus. That’s why they slept. It was too much to bear. The spiritual and emotional exhaustion set in just by looking at it.
I remember anticipating the birth of my son. Waiting for the agony of birth, the anticipation of my wife’s suffering of indeterminate length, and the unknown of what would happen in delivery. Just going alongside her was deeply formative. And exhausting. Of course, suffering itself is much more difficult, but there is a helpless suffering that comes along with watching others suffer.
Gethsemane was the anticipation of this tsunami of God’s wrath. The cross was the tsunami itself. While his disciples scattered at Jesus’ arrest, some of them regathered around the cross. John writes in John 19,
23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,
“They divided my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.”
So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
This what propitiation[12] means: “… the dark weight of sin and the deep wrath of God poured over Jesus in wave after wave.”[13] Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath against sin until there was none left. And, John was right there to drink in its meaning. We could spend many hours recounting propitiation’s meaning from the Old Testament sacrificial system, but to John, all of that was a mere shadow and pointer. After the cross, Jesus was the propitiation. It had no other meaning. It was finished.
2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
This is the logic of love. Jesus is your advocate, your “priest-friend”[14] because he is the propitiationfor sins.
If you have trusted Christ, this is sweet balm for your soul. If you sin, Christ is your advocate. He is your propitiation. If you are with us today and you are not a believer, this might be the moment that God calls you to himself. Open your heart to God this morning. Believe and be saved from the deception of sin.
Romans 3:21-26 says,
21 But now the righteousness [remember Jesus’ advocacy] of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Jesus is to be believed in as our Advocate and received as our propitiation by faith. In this sense, he is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world as John says. Jesus is the way into the presence of God. He is the only way.
We’ll end with a few applications for our hearts.
Finally, the only way to follow Christ is in the joyful delight of his Advocacy and Propitiation. If you are a Christian, your obedience follows the ever-sweetening reality of Jesus’ advocacy and his propitiation.
First, we should acknowledge that outward obedience, which doesn’t matter much in the end anyway, will look different for everyone. Application of this message will look like deepening trust in God. We must repent today of our partiality, or our quickness to measure ourselves or others by outward appearances. C.S. Lewis illustrates this in saying, “When a man who has been perverted from his youth and taught that cruelty is the right thing, does some tiny kindness, or refrains from some cruelty he might have committed, and thereby, perhaps, risks being sneered at by his companions, he may, in God’s eyes, be doing more than you and I would do if we gave up life itself for a friend.”[15]Faith Community Bible Church ought to become a hospital of advocacy for sinners. We should get behind people who are barely making it one more step, who are tempted to turn back, and who often fall and fail. This should not create suspicion, distrust, but strengthen our resolve to trust Christ who paid the full debt. We should not avoid sinners, but befriend them and pray for them.
Second, we should bask today in the love of God. Dane Ortlund writes, “If an Eskimo wins a vacation to a sunny place, he doesn’t arrive at his hotel room, step out onto the balcony, and wonder how to apply that to his life. He just enjoys it. He just basks.”[16] Sometimes our obedience to Christ is stunted by the question, “What should I do about this?” Sometimes obedience means basking. I want to give you an example of what our foyer, our hallways, our bedrooms might sound like if we started basking in these truths; that Christ is our Advocate and our propitiation.
Charles Spurgeon writes,
“I want you not to listen to me so much as to listen to your own hearts, and to God’s word, a minute, if you are believers. What is that we have been talking about? It is God’s love to us. Get the thought into your head a minute: ‘God loves me—not merely bears with me, feeds me, but loves me.’ Oh, it is a very sweet thing to feel that we have the love of a dear wife, or a kind husband; and there is much sweetness in the love of a fond child, or a tender mother; but to think that God loves me, this is infinitely better! Who is it that loves you? God, the Maker of heaven and earth, the Almighty. All in all, does he love me? Even he! If all men, and all angels and all living creatures that are before the throne loved me, it were nothing to this—the Infinite loves me! And who is it that loves me? Me. The text says, ‘us.’ ‘We love him because he first loved us.’ But this is the personal point—he loves me, an insignificant nobody, full of sin—who deserved to be in hell; who loves him so little in return—God loves me. Beloved believer, does no this melt you? Does not this fire your soul? I know it does if it is really believed. It must.
And how did he love me? He loved me so that he gave up his only begotten Son for me, to be nailed to a tree, and made to bleed and die. And what will come of it? Why, because he loved me and forgave me? I am on the way to heaven, and within a few months, perhaps days, I shall see his face and sing his praises. He loved me before I was born; before a star began to shine he loved me, and he has never ceased to do so all these years. When I have sinned he has loved me; when I have forgotten him he has loved me; and when in the days of my sin I cursed him, yet still he loved me; and he will love me when my knees tremble, and my hair is gray with age…he will bear and carry his servant; and he will love me when the world is on a blaze, and love me forever, and forever. Oh, chew the cud of this blessed thought; roll it under your tongue as a dainty morsel; sit down this afternoon, if you have leisure, and think of nothing but this—his great love with which he loves you; and if you do not feel your heart bubbling up with a good matter; if you do not feel your soul yearning towards God, and heaving big strong emotions of love to God, then I am much mistaken. This is so powerful a truth, and you are so constituted as Christians as to be wrought upon by this truth, that if it is believed and felt, the consequence must be that you will love him because he first loved you. God bless you, brothers and sisters, for Christ’s sake.”[17]
We are secure in Christ’s love because of propitiation. And, we have Christ as our advocate.
This is the price of life. Unto us a life is given. Let’s pray.
[1] Edit: He calls the church: “My little children” (1 John 2:1), “Beloved” (1 John 2:7), “Children,” (1 John 2:18), “…little children…” (1 John 2:28; 3:7; 4:4), “Beloved…” (1 John 3:21), “Beloved…” (1 John 4:1); “Beloved…” (1 John 4:7; 4:11), “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).
[2] ESV Study Bible Commentary on 1 John by Robert Yarbrough, 2426.
[3] Martin Luther, cited in Ray Ortlund, The Gospel, 63.
[4] Edit: He achieves this advocacy because he is not looking mainly at your moral failure, but to his perfect righteousness. We said “legal team” because of how sin is being viewed in John. John writes, “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). So, what John has in view when he says, “If anyone does sin…” is your legal account. When your legal account seems unbalanced by an act of sin, Jesus Christ shows up as your Advocate to remind you of something else on the scales. That’s why John follows this sentence with “Jesus Christ, the righteous.”
[5] Edit: Every interaction could be examined from a new angle. Every day showed forth the unstoppable force of Christ’s perfection.
[6] In a moralistic culture, we would scold ourselves to say, “Stop sinning and maybe Jesus will help you. Be more like Jesus so that you can earn his favor. If you sin, there’s no hope for you anymore.” John says that Jesus does not stare at you with surprised disappointment when you sin. He comes alongside you.
[7] John Stott, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: The Epistles of John), 79.
[8] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 142.
[9] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 1252.
[10] Stott, 83.
[11] Grudem, 575.
[12] Edit: Although propitiation has deep theological and cultural weight coming to us from the Old Testament, those things were but a shadow of the things to come in this moment.
[13] Grudem, 577.
[14] Eugene Peterson, The Message Translation.
[15] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 91.
[16] Dane Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly, 215.
[17] Charles Spurgeon, Volume 9-10 in Spurgeon’s Sermons, “Love’s Logic,” 322.
