names of Jesus - advocate

November 22, 2007

This is part of a study into the names of Jesus. For more information click here.

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous.”
1 John 2:1 [ESV]

What a fantastic and yet humbling place to start my study. The NIV renders this verse slightly differently as “…we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence…”

(1) Jesus is the only advocate

Jesus is the only one that can be an intermediary between us and the Father, and the only one that we can rely upon to clear our sins. Will our sins be ignored by God, or excuses given for our behaviour? No! Jesus does not rely on any cunning, the Father does not turn a blind eye to sin. Jesus relies on his blood and on the sacrifice he made for us on the cross. The one who speaks to the Father in our defence is indeed the only one can deal with our sin.

(2) We can have confidence

When we fall to our knees and ask for forgiveness we do not need to worry about whether it will be successful or not. As mentioned, our forgiveness is based on what Jesus has already done with his sacrifice (1 Cor 15:3). Jesus died for our sins.God doesn’t weigh up our good deeds against our bad, just a judge would not acquit you for a speeding offense just because you gave money to charity. For this we should be grateful as the only alternative, the only hope, is Jesus.

(3) We can be free
Even the smallest sin sees us fall short of the glory of God, and would confirm our guilt. But we know that Jesus will stand in our defence and has taken our punishment. We should not give up when we keep on sinning, we should go to Jesus. We do not have to work harder at being better when we sin, we pray to Jesus.

We all sin (1 Jn 1:8) but we can be free from its power. By relying on and turning to Jesus we can stop sin ruling our lives.

Conclusion

It is humbling as a human to know that we have to rely on Jesus, that we cannot sort out our own sin ourselves. But equally how fantastic that we have the perfect advocate pleading our case with the Father. How freeing that when we mess up, we can come with confidence to Jesus and start again. Whilst sin is not without its consequences in our lives, with Jesus as our advocate it will never change our justification before God (Rom 8:1).

Application:
(1) Do you let sin take over your life and your relationships? What can you do about it?
(2) Do you believe that Jesus is a good enough advocate to cover your sins? Why or why not?
(3) Do you regularly submit your sins to Jesus and ask for forgiveness? Weekly, daily, hourly?

Relevant verses: 1 John 2:1

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Posted in names of Jesus
Tags: advocate, Christian, Jesus, names of Jesus, study
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