I would like to once again thank the Lord for providing me with more writing work. It is certainly an answer to prayer. I really enjoy writing, and I'm glad I get to earn a living doing something I enjoy.
Last week, we looked at the need to confess sins. We saw that the first step in beginning our walk with Christ is to confess and repent.
After coming to Jesus, we will sometimes slip and fall. When we fall into sin, we should confess our sin to Jesus so that we can remain in fellowship with Him and not let anything hinder our relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
This week, we leave chapter one and being our examination of the second chapter. John begins chapter two by saying, "My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
John wants to reiterate the fact that the believer should seek to live a life free from sin. Just as John believes that this is vital, I do as well.
If we say that we have fellowship with Christ, our actions should demonstrate the fact. Our actions are part of our testimony as Christians to those who haven't committed their lives to the Lord. When those who are without Christ look at us and see that our lives are filled with sin, there is nothing that attracts the unbeliever to want to accept Jesus as the Lord of their lives. From observing us, they can't see that following Jesus makes any difference.
To be a follower of Christ means to follow Jesus and imitate His life. We are to be more like Jesus every day and lay sin and the old way of life behind. We must lay aside the works of the flesh and demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit.
For those who do fall into sin, Jesus is the answer. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession on our behalf. This passage says that He is our advocate. Jesus pleads our case.
When we come to the Lord confessing our sin and asking for forgiveness, Jesus intercedes on our behalf. Because Jesus shed His blood on the cross and has risen, if we believe in Him, His blood cleanses us from sin. Jesus says to the Father that the price has been paid. We are in Christ, therefore, we can be forgiven.
John put it this way in verse 2, "And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
To propititate means to appease. Jesus appeased the wrath of God against sin on our behalf.
When man sinned, this act caused separation from God. Because of our sin, we deserved the wrath and punishment of God. Because God is just, He had to punish sin. However, God is also a God of love and mercy. God wanted to bring us back. God wanted to satisfy the demands of both His justice and love.
For this reason, Jesus Christ came into the world. He was the Lamb of God come to take away the sins of the world. Jesus lived a holy and sinless life. He fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law.
When Jesus died on the cross, He bore the sins of the world in His body. God's wrath against sin was borne by Christ. Jesus took our place. He took the punishment that we justly deserved out of His great love for us.
Jesus died for our sins. But He rose again defeating the effects of sin which are death and hell.
When we place our faith in Jesus, His blood cleanses us, and we are declared righteous based on the righteousness of Christ.
Because of what Jesus had done, when the Father looks at us, He doesn't see our sin and unrighteousness, He sees us clothed in the righteousness of His Son. God's wrath and judgment passes over us because we are in Christ.
The Old Testament Passover story explains this concept. When the children of Israel were in Egyptian bondage, God sent plagues against the Egyptians to persuade them to let His people go.
Finally, God said that He would slay the first born in Egypt. God told Moses to have each family of the Israelites sacrifice a lamb and apply the blood to the door posts of their homes. When the death angel saw the blood, he would pass over that house, and the first born of that house would be spared.
When the Father sees the blood of Christ applied to our heart, His judgment passes over us.
As John says, Jesus died for the whole world. Salvation and atonement are available to anyone who will call upon the name of the Lord. John 3:16 sums it all up, "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."
Whosoever will may come, and that means anyone who is reading this message right now. Come to Jesus. Find forgiveness and a new life. Amen.
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