Preached at Good News Mission in Indianapolis, IN
1 John 2:1-6 – 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: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
Whenever you study Scripture it’s always a good thing to understand the purpose for the writing, and to whom, in this case, a letter was being written to other Christians. It helps to keep things in context.
So often, as a pastor and a Bible study teacher, if I’m not careful, I can be tempted to twist the Scriptures to make them say what I want them to say.
And unfortunately, many have been led astray by a pastor, a minister, or a reverend that wanted to preach with an agenda.
So, whenever I study the Word of God, I seek to follow some basic practices. I also try to teach these to others because, how would you know if I was preaching false doctrine, or if I was taking Scripture out of context to form my own opinion or agenda?
Well, you wouldn’t know unless you too knew what the Bible had to say.
On our church website: fbcoc.church you’ll find under our Bible Study section a series of videos on Hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is just a big fancy Greek word for “How to study the Bible.”
These are not techniques I came up with, but are used by scholars when studying the Bible. So, if you’re interested in that, just let me know after the sermon and I’ll give you that information again.
Now, back to the Scriptures.
This is a letter from the apostle John that was written to, not only the Christians of his time, but to us as well.
When you study the timing of this Epistle, it appears to have been written some time after he wrote his Gospel, the Gospel of John.
The tone of the whole letter is as a father addressing his “little children.” If you happen to be a father, then you can relate to that tone of speech. He’s giving them instruction that’s important, but he’s not doing so as a military commander, but as a father that wants to make sure his children are being instilled with the truth.
The letter was written possibly around 90 AD. To put that in context, the last book of the New Testament, the book of Revelation, which was also written by the apostle John, was written around 95 AD on the Isle of Patmos.
So, by knowing that, you know that possibly, most of those that John was writing to had already read or heard the words read of not just his gospel, but also the other gospels and probably many of the other letters from Paul, Peter, James, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Therefore, what John is writing is not necessarily something new, but something they’ve heard several times before. That of course, brings up the point of why are so many concepts and precepts repeated over and over again in Scripture?
Well, it’s because we are very hard headed and tend not to listen the first time when something is said. In fact, it’s known on the radio that you have to repeat something at least three times before the listener will actually hear it.
So, if you were to read through the New Testament starting with Matthew and kept reading until you got to our passage of Scripture here 1 John 2:1-6, you would discover that what John is saying is nothing new.
It even says in the following verse in 1 John 2:7; “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.”
So how does all of this help us to understand our passage today?
Well, even though you may have heard something again and again, and you might even be able to repeat it from memory, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you know what it means, or every facet of knowledge that goes with that teaching.
For example, when the apostle Paul had preached that Christ died for all of our sins, some believed that you could just go on sinning, because everything was under the blood of Jesus.
Paul of course had to straighten that out because they were drawing the wrong conclusion from his teaching, but also because others were accusing him of teaching cheap grace; as if Jesus died so that we could go and sin without remorse.
So even though you may have heard a teaching many times, it doesn’t mean that that teaching cleared up all the questions.
So, in this case, John is clearing up some questions that his readers had, or might have had.
It’s actually a question that I had not much longer after I gave my life to the Lord and that question was: If Christ died for all my sins, then why do I still find myself sinning at times, and how do I deal with that?
Obviously, I can’t keep going back to the salvation experience, can I? I can’t keep going back to the baptismal and get re-baptised every time I sin. If that were true then I might as well become a fish or a dolphin because I would have to spend all my time in that water.
So let’s again look at that first part of our passage:
“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:”
In the first part he says why he’s writing to them. It’s so, “that they sin not”.
That sounds like a very tall order, doesn’t it? But what follows is an acknowledgment that even someone like the apostle John can make a mistake, because he uses the word, “we”.
“And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:”
He didn’t exclude himself from that. He didn’t say, “You have an advocate,” he said, “we have an advocate.”
You see, when you come to Jesus, all of your sins are washed away.
Micah 7:19 says; “He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
Psalm 103:12 says: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
But even though your sins are separated from you, you still have this carnal nature which tends toward sin.
The apostle Paul talked about this struggle between the carnal flesh and the spirit in Romans 7:14-25:
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I 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.
A well known Christian author, C. S. Lewis said, “You don’t know how bad you are until you try to be good.”
This battle with the flesh did not end when we came to Christ, but what did happen is that we can now have victory over it through the Holy Spirit, who is the earnest of our inheritance, who is our comforter, who is our teacher, and He is the one that shows us how to live righteously.
We must choose to live according to His commandments, but when we do fall, and we will, John reminds us that we have an advocate.
What’s an advocate?
An advocate is someone who pleads on our behalf, much like a defense attorney.
You see, when you came to Christ, your sins were separated from you as far as the east is from the west.
You see, there’s an absolute north on the map and there’s an absolute south on the map, but there is not an absolute east or west on the map. So in other words, your sins are infinitely separated from you when you come to Christ.
From eternity’s perspective, those sins are gone for good. They’ve been erased, no more to exist.
But…we still live in a temporal world. We are still bound by time and therefore, we will still have to deal with this carnal nature that wants to fight against the new spiritual nature that Christ has given us.
Therefore, when we mess up, we can take comfort that we have a defense attorney who reminds the judge that our crimes have been paid for. We are no longer under judgment. Our punishment has passed from us to Christ.
That’s what it means when John says, “he [Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Propitiation means an appeasement or an atonement for something. In other words, Jesus met all the requirements needed to appease God’s judgment.
In him, is the full pardon, the full payment, and the release from an eternity in hell.
You see, not only did Jesus pay for your sins, he continues to declare, “This one is mine! This one is Free!”
The devil will come and try to condemn you, but Jesus Christ reminds him that you are free.
Your crimes have been paid for, your judgment has been fulfilled.
You are free to be a child of God for all eternity.
You now have all the rights and privileges given to a child of a king. And not just any king, but the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
God’s desire for us is that we no longer have any desire whatsoever to live in sin, to live that old way of life.
But when we do make a mistake, then take heart because Jesus is still right beside us, defending us against the accuser of the brethren.
Let me put it this way, you know you belong to Jesus when the desire of your heart is to never break His. Because the desire of His heart is to never lose you.
2Pe 3:9 says; “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
He fought to win you to Himself, and He will fight to keep you. Amen!
Have you ever had anyone in your life fight for you that way? Because God did, and still does.
If you don’t know him, like I know him, please come see me or one of the counselors here at Good News. Because the Lord wants to see you live free in Him. Amen!
Family Bible Church 