A. P. Cecil
This is a practical question for Christians in these days. It is not a question of whether we are Christians or not, though it may often test the fact. Happily, simple faith in the Person of the Son of God and His work settles that question. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31). "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36). "Being now justified by His blood" (Rom. 5:99Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:9)), and many other passages. But the question is, as professedly saved ones, Do we take sides with the Advocate, or with the "accuser of our brethren"?
The advocacy of Christ is founded on His righteous Person, and His perfect work. (See 1 John 2:1, 21My 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: 2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1‑2).) His blessed work clears us from all the guilt of our sins, and in His blessed Person we have entire deliverance from our Adam state, He Himself-the dead, risen and ascended One-being our righteousness before God. It is on this ground that He intercedes-does the work of an advocate. If we sin after we have been brought into relationship with the Father as His children, then the advocacy of Christ applies. "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we [children] have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 2:1, 21My 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: 2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1‑2).
The office of the Advocate, then, is not to get righteousness for us, nor to put away our sins, nor to make us children. That is all settled by Christ's death and resurrection by faith in Him, for it is written, "This man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." Heb. 10:12-1412But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:12‑14). It is, therefore, to maintain us as children before the Father without sin, after we are justified, in face of the accuser of the brethren. (See Rev. 12:1010And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (Revelation 12:10).)
When a child of God sins, communion is interrupted; the relationship remains, but the Father has no fellowship with the sin of His child. The Advocate pleads against Satan, who accuses. The Father hears the pleading of the Advocate, who applies the Word to our walk (John 13:4, 54He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. 5After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. (John 13:4‑5)), brings us to the confession of the sin, upon which the Father "is faithful" to the righteous Advocate, and "just" to the Advocate who made propitiation, "to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9).
Thus communion is restored, and the child of God walks in the joy and light of His Father's countenance. The Advocate is literally the Manager of our affairs in our Father's court, and has reference to His government of His children in this world. It reconciles the fact of a naughty child and a Holy Father. (Compare 1 Peter 1:1717And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: (1 Peter 1:17).)
The Advocate does two things: He pleads with the Father for us, and He applies the Word to us. The one maintains our cause, if we sin, before the Father against the accuser. The other brings up our practical state to our standing, which is always maintained without sin by the righteous Advocate who has made propitiation. The failure in our practical state is from the fact of our having the flesh still in us. Our actual state is that of having two natures in one person. With the mind I myself serve the law of God, with the flesh the law of sin (Rom. 7:2525I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:25)). And though by faith and in spirit we are no longer in the flesh, yet actually it is in us (though by faith we reckon it dead, hence the failure).
There is no excuse, but the fact is that we fail. Our standing as children always remains the same, even though we sin, owing to the righteous Advocate who has made propitiation. "If any man sin, we have an advocate." But we have failed in our walk. We are defiled. We stand forever cleansed from our sins by the blood of Jesus. It never needs to be applied again (Heb. 10:12-1412But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:12‑14); 1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). Thus we always have access to God for worship. Our bodies are also washed with pure water (Heb. 10:2222Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:22)); we have had once the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:55Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5)). We are born again (John 3:33Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)) and we need not then to be put into the bath over again. But we have sinned, we have our feet deified, as it were, in passing through this sin-defiled world. This will not do for the Father's presence. What does the Advocate do? He applies the Word to us, washes our feet; the Word judges us and leads us to confession and self-judgment.
The remembrance of our Advocate who made propitiation leads us back on our knees to our Father who forgives us and cleanses us from all our unrighteousness. Thus the blessed work of the Advocate is, on the one hand, to plead for the children before the Father, if they sin, and, on the other hand, to wash their feet with the Word and to bring their practical walk and state up to their standing before Him.
Satan, on the other hand, is the accuser of the brethren. He accuses them before God day and night (Rev. 12:1010And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (Revelation 12:10)). He is the author of divisions between the children of God by accusing them one to the other. "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil." Rom. 16:17-1917Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. 18For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. 19For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. (Romans 16:17‑19).
Satan would have Balaam hired to curse the people of God, and failing in that he would use the same prophet to teach Balak to mix with the nations around, and partake of their sinful practices. He would tempt David to sin in numbering the people of Israel (1 Chron. 21:11And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. (1 Chronicles 21:1)). He would resist Joshua the high priest, and seek to prevent his filthy rags being taken from him, and his being clothed in new raiment (Zech. 3:11And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. (Zechariah 3:1)). This is the accuser's wretched work.
Those who follow the accuser are called false accusers, slanderers (literally "devils"), because they are doing the devil's work. He whispers in the ear of a minister's wife (1 Tim. 3:1111Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. (1 Timothy 3:11)) some false story about some brother or sister in Christ. She spreads it about, and so the evil spreads, which perhaps may end in an assembly being broken up. Some aged sister sits leisurely at home (Titus 2:33The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; (Titus 2:3)), and not having much to do is ready to hear stories perhaps from some worldly person about some child of God. She spreads it about to others who come to see her. It is a slander, a lie, and so the devil does his work, and perhaps some child of God gets a wound or gets hindered in the work of the Lord for years.
I would solemnly ask every child of God who reads this paper: on whose side are you working? When some slander is uttered about a child of God, do you plead for him and go home to pray for him if you know he has failed? Do you go in love and humility and take the Word to him and wash his feet? (John 13:1414If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. (John 13:14).) This is the blessed work of the Advocate. Or do you listen to the story, go and spread it lightly to someone else without knowing whether it is a fact or not? And if you are hurt by some brother, do you go in a huff to God and pray in anger at him at prayer meetings (1 Tim. 2:88I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. (1 Timothy 2:8)), and accuse him? This is to do the devil's work.
But how happy it is for us to be associated with the blessed Advocate, on the one hand pleading for our brethren if they sin, on the other hand carrying the Word to them and washing their feet. May the Lord grant His people increasingly this grace, so that the saints may see their blessed privilege of love to cover sins. "Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins." Prov. 10:1212Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins. (Proverbs 10:12). And then to plead for our brethren if they sin, acting in faithfulness in carrying the Word to them, washing their feet, so that they might be cleansed from the defilement, and so overcoming the accuser by the blood of the Lamb on the one hand; on the other hand openly resisting him by the Word of their testimony like the blessed Lord Jesus Himself. He answered the devil when tempting Him by, "It is written." So should we.
If we sin, thank God we can always answer Him by the blood of the Lamb which is the balm for every wound. Thus the blood of the Lamb and the Word, the sword of the Spirit, are our instruments against the devil down here, while our Advocate maintains our cause before the Father up in heaven. In every case we are maintained, and we are over-comers, more than conquerors, through Him that loved us.
"There hath no temptation taken you
but such as is common to man:
but God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted
above that ye are able;
but will with the temptation
also make a way to escape, that ye
may be able to bear it.”