Blessed indeed it is to see how rich and fall is God’s provision for our need. There isn’t a single need that can possibly arise in the history of God’s people, that He has not foreseen, and made provision for. And it is well if our hearts, have drunk in this blessed fact, for it will help to give us confidence in God, and enable us to go to Him in every time of need.
In John, we have the manifestation of eternal life in the Person of Jesus; and as par takers of this life we are in relationship with God, and have communion with the Father and the Son. But this communion may be broken through sin. The relationship cannot be destroyed, but communion is interrupted. Now the same grace that brought us into this relationship with God, restores communion also when it has been lost through sin. “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.” This is God’s gracious provision for His own children when they have lost communion through falling into sin.
Before we look at this point, let us notice a little the fact, that God’s word makes no provision for a believer to sin. John says, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.” He does not say, “that ye may sin,” but “that ye sin not.” In the first chapter he says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us;” and “If we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” So then, we have sin, and we have sinned. Yet, true as this is, God, has brought us to Himself in grace, where we walk in the light, as He is in the light. But what is the ground of this? How could God, consistently with His own nature and character, give us such a place? The simple, soul-satisfying answer is, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Blessed and sure foundation for our souls to rest upon! “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” How wonderful is God’s grace abounding over all our guilt and shame! And the greater the sin, the brighter shines the grace that abounds over it. But “shall we sin that grace may abound? God forbid.” “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.” It is all to deliver us from sin, not that we may go on in it. God is not only “faithful and just to forgive us our sins,” but also “to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In virtue of Jesus’ blood we are pardoned once and forever; but we are also morally cleansed through the word applied in the power of the Holy Ghost. A new nature is given, and as this is regulated by the word, we are cleansed from all unrighteousness. May we then lay to heart, that the whole work of grace is to deliver from sin—from its guilt, and from its power and defilement. “These things write I unto you that ye sin not.”
But the soul-humbling fact remains, that the believer, though a child of God, and walking in the light, does fall into sin; as James says, “many things we all offend;” and as John here says, “If any man sin.” We still have the flesh in us, and if allowed in the least degree, it is sin, and communion is broken. God has condemned in the flesh on the cross, and if we are allowing what He has condemned in the sacrifice of His Son, He cannot have communion with us.
Now God has made provision for the restoration of this communion when it has been lost. If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father.” God provided a Savior for us as lost sinners, and He has provided an Advocate for us as failing children. And thus His provision is complete. It covers the whole range of our need from first to last. Jesus died for us to save us, and now He lives for us on high, a High Priest with God, an Advocate with the Father; and He maintains our cause, according to the value of an already accomplished and eternal redemption, founded on the shedding of His own blood.
There is a difference, no doubt, between His intercession as in Hebrews, and His advocacy as in John. But all is founded on the value of His sacrifice for us. In Hebrews His intercession is of our weakness. Here His advocacy is view of sin which has interrupted communion. Both are needed. We are weak, and can no more take a single step in the wilderness journey in our own strength, than we could have saved ourselves when in our sins. It was as much the power of God that conducted Israel across the wilderness, as it was His power that saved them out of Egypt. And so it is with us. It is God’s salvation, and God’s power from first to last. We are “kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time;” and because we have a High Priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, having been tempted in all points like as we are, except sin, we can “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (1 Pet. 1-5; Heb. 4:15-1615For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15‑16).)
But in John it is not merely a question of weakness. It is if “any man sin.” And here “we have an Advocate with the Father.” It is with the Father. Mark, though we may have sinned, the relationship is not broken, God is our Father still. The relationship abides, but communion is interrupted, and needs to be restored. And this is brought about through the advocacy of Christ, who has undertaken our whole cause. We have this Advocate. It is God’s provision, and nothing can possibly hinder His services for us in this capacity. It is an unconditional service characterized by pure grace. It is no movement on our part that secures it. It is not, if we repent, or if we confess our sins, but “if any man sin, we have an Advocate.” It is all grace. The whole movement begins with Him, just as when He saved us in the first place. As surely as sin has interrupted our communion with God our Father, so surely the advocacy of Jesus goes on to bring about its restoration. And this is what makes the restoration certain, sooner or later. If left to ourselves we could never get right. But all begins with Him, and His work cannot fail, blessed be His name! Repentance and confession have their place, but these are the results of His advocacy, not the cause; and the difference is very great. But we will look at this a little more fully, that our souls may get the full benefit of it!
(To be continued, if the Lord will.)