Good morning beloved!
Let us begin by looking at 1 John 2:1. It says,
• My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an ADVOCATE with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
As I began meditating on this Scripture, I was drawn to the word, “ADVOCATE”, so I looked it up in the Strongs Concordance, and wonderfully enough, this word, “ADVOCATE” is the Greek word, “Parakletos”, which means,
1. Called to one’s side; especially called to one’s aid
2. One who pleads another’s cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant, an advocate
3. One who pleads another’s cause with one, an intercessor
4. In the widest sense, a helper, succourer, aider, assistant
So, JESUS IS OUR ADVOCATE, our attorney for our defense against the result of our sinning. He assists us legally before Almighty God if we sin.
This word, “ADVOCATE” is only found 5 times in the New Testament. 1 John 2:1 is the first and the other four are found in John 14, 15, and 16.
John 14:16 says,
• And I (Jesus) will pray the Father and He will give you another ADVOCATE that He may abide with you forever.
This is referring to the Holy Spirit and is the same Greek word, “Parakletos”.
Thirdly, John 14:26 says,
• But the ADVOCATE, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
Hallelujah! The Holy Spirit is not only our counsellor, but also our teacher.
The fourth Scripture about JESUS BEING OUR ADVOCATE is found in John 15:26. It says,
• But when the ADVOCATE comes, Whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth Who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.
And lastly, we can find this word, “Parakletos” in John 16:7. It says,
• Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the ADVOCATE will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
So, we can see from all these amazing Scriptures that this word, “ADVOCATE” means lawyer, or one one who pleads our cause or case. Jesus acts as our lawyer, pleading our case before the Father. When we are tempted, if we sin, we can claim the promise of 1 John 1:9 that says,
• If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It is quite obvious that God does not want us to sin because He says in 1 John 2:1,
• My little children, these things write I unto you, so that you may not sin.
We can conclude then that if we walked completely in the Word and in the love of God, we would not sin ~ What a glorious Church we can become!
Considering the other side of the issue, when people continually want to sin and choose to sin, I doubt that they ever were Christians to begin with. Why? When people live any way they want and do anything they want on a continual basis, I have to doubt that a true Christian conversion ever took place, according to the Scriptures.
This Scripture in 1 John was never intended to encourage people to sin. John is simply telling us about God’s provision for sin. The Spirit of God will help us overcome sin ~ not encourage us to practice it! After all, John said, “These things write I unto you, that you sin not.”
In Hebrews 4:14 we read,
• Seeing then that we have a great High Priest…
We have a High Priest Who also stands in this office as ADVOCATE, that we may…
• Come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (verse 16).
1 John 2:2 states that,
• Jesus HIMSELF is the propitiation (the blood covering) for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.
Isn’t that the best news you have ever heard? Because Jesus became our sacrifice, all we have to do is confess our sins and He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Thank You, Lord!
Jesus is my ADVOCATE,
Lisa Gordon
Gordon Ministries and Jesus City Church
God bless you guys! If you were encouraged today and would like to donate to our ministry, simply go onto GordonMinistries.org and click donate!
I love you and am praying for you today!