Jesus is...
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Jesus is...
Jesus is...
1 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. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
When I was a youth pastor I had used a clip from a popular movie to illustrate to students how people in the world think of Jesus. I’m not going to show it here, it wouldn’t be appropriate for the Sunday morning gathering, but I will explain....
Ricky Bobby is sitting down at dinner with his family and he wants to say grace, “To thank the good Lord of his blessings”, It goes something like this...
“Dear sweet baby Jesus...” He is interrupted by everyone at the table, “why are you praying to a baby?”
“I just like the baby version of Jesus the best”
“But he was a Man, he had a beard.”
“Well its my house and I like to pray to Baby Jesus”
“Dear sweet little 8lb 6oz baby Jesus, so peaceful in your golden fleece diaper, yet so omnipotent...”
Everyone laughs, because so many people see Jesus this way. He is either a sweet little baby we celebrate at Christmas or the man of sorrows who was bloody and beaten on the cross we see at Easter...
While Jesus was certainly both of these pictures, the problem that has plagued the church is seeing him as only these things… Or one more picture, which is most certainly our favorite picture of Jesus… The very Anglo version of Jesus that speaks english in a soft manner… Long brown hair with a well groomed beard. Standing in a white gown with a purple sash carrying a baby lamb under his arm, while speaking softly to the crowds…
This also is not Jesus… He is a man of middle eastern descent who would’ve most likely had darker skin complexion.
So I am going to these lengths here to show us that our mental pictures of Jesus can sometimes be all about something that has nothing to do with who Jesus is. So as we work our way through this text let’s see who Jesus is, and then what our response to him means...
1 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.
First please notice the tone with which the Apostles John writes to us with. My little children… Later he will call us Beloved and addresses young men and fathers to include all ages… He is speaking as one who we can trust because of his great care for us. He is not trying to come off as angry because of false teachers he needs to combat against. He is not upset because of sinful patterns that brothers fall into. He addresses us with the care he has received from Christ himself. He sets a tone of love and care even when correcting us from sinful patterns that are destructive.
He tells us his point in writing is so we may NOT sin.
After hearing what he just wrote about confessing sin and God being Just, (listen to last weeks message if you missed it), he tells us that the point is for us not to sin… not just that we can be assured of forgiveness when we do sin, so sin as much as you want. That would not be the mindset of a true believer.
John will go on to tell us about obeying Christ, he will mention the words “know” and “keep” when talking about our relationship with God, but he is first addressing the issue of Sin among God children. And in his gentle tone he is not condemning us for having sin but he is careful to not encourage us to be careless about sin either.
So he writes to us so that we would not sin… (ugh, we feel tension here already because we know we have sinned). YET, is anyone does sin.
What is sin?
Some have said, Sin is a term used in archery and it means to miss the mark. Which is true but it is the poorest explanation of sin we could use and fails to show the serious nature of what the Bible means when it talks about sin.
To sin is to commit an immoral act or transgress against God’s divine law. Sin is not oopsies or mistakes. Sin is defiance against God, and before we know God, before we are reconciled to him, before we are made new by believing the Gospel, we are not just people who sin but it is our very nature. I’ve said it before that sin is not so much what we do as it is who we are. Sin is not external it is internal, and we need to have our internal nature changed before we can talk about our external behaviors.
But we still lack some understanding of sin, so let me try to help us think about it deeper. Here are some examples...
Parents with little children… Your child hits you and says no. They break your commands and act out in immoral ways. What should the punishment be? Maybe a spanking or a time out.
Parents with teenagers… Your kids refuse to clean their room and obey the house rules. What should their punishment be? Grounding, take phone away, mandated chores?
Legal aged adults in society… You walk up to someone on the street and you attack them, you hit them and you take something from them. The police are called and they catch you. What would your punishment be? Go before a judge and be convicted of crime, probably serve jail time and have some probation.
How about someone who runs up to the president and punches him? What would their punishment be? Life in jail...
Do see how these behaviors may be similar but at different levels they become far more serious?
Well what to think sinning against the creator of the universe who is Holy and Perfect would mean for the one who commited the sin? Because God is the ultimate authority in all of life, even the smallest sin would mean death. And God would be a righteous judge for condemning a sinner to death.
So when John says, Im writing this so that you may not sin, but if you do sin… We should stop right there and understand that this means we would deserve death for what he is talking about, and we already acknowledged that we are all having some serious tension because we know we have sinned… Yet look at what he says...
1 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.
We have an Advocate with the Father… Jesus Christ the Righteous!
Our sin deserves death and he is writing us so we will not sin and have to fall under God’s wrath for sinning… But if we do...
WE HAVE JESUS!
What is so amazing bout this is what we learn about Jesus...
Jesus is Righteous!
Jesus is Righteous!
What does it mean for Jesus to be righteous?
Righteous means to be free from guilt and sin and to have acted in accord with God’s divine law!
To be righteous means to be in right standing with God.
What does it take to be righteous then? It would mean to perfectly follow the law of God and to never sin.
The bible calls Jesus our high priest and it says he never sinned even though he was tempted...
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus, he is fully God and fully man… he is divine and he really walked on this earth and lived amongst his creation. he was tempted in his flesh and never sinned. He was tempted as we are...
To say Jesus is righteous means he did what we could never do, he never sinned and is perfect in his standing before God. How about you? and Me? Are we righteous before coming to Jesus? Have we sinned? YES! that means we are unrighteous.
Jesus is righteous… And while that is amazing, he is something else too. He is not just the perfect one we could never truly be like, he is not just the perfect sacrifice that God would accept for us dirty sinners.
Jesus is our Advocate!
Jesus is our Advocate!
Jesus is our Advocate!
Do you know what an advocate is? The greek word here is Parakletos, which means helper in a legal matter.
In our court systems an advocate speaks for the rights of his or her client. Like an attorney who knows all about the law and how it applies to us, an advocate represents us before the judge. God is the Judge and we are the defendant who is obviously guilty.
God’s righteous law pronounces us guilty on all counts. We have violated God’s standards, rejected His right to rule our lives, and continued to sin even after coming to a knowledge of the truth. The only just punishment for such wickedness is an eternity in hell according to God’s word.
Look at his word condemning the sinner...
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
1cor6.9-10
If we are to stand before God without an Advocate, we are guilty of these things and more...
Yet Jesus died for our sins to be taken away from our record as we stand before God… and So the rest of that verse says this...
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
And this sums up what it looks like for Jesus cover our sin… Yet John is saying here, that if we still sin, remember we can confess it and be forgiven… WHY???
Because Jesus is our Advocate… which means that he stands before the judge when we sin.
He pleads our case with the Righteous Judge. We may imagine the conversation going something like this: “Father, I know Dave Leandre has sinned and violated our commands. He is guilty as charged. However, you have said that my sacrifice is sufficient payment for the debt he owes. My righteousness was applied to his account when he trusted in me for salvation and forgiveness. I have paid the price, so he can be pronounced ‘Not guilty.’ There is no debt left for him to pay”
Do you know what the Bible says about our debt in light of God’s law?
14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Jesus is our Advocate when God first accepts us into His family as His children (). And He remains our Advocate forever. says that, when we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us from it. As His followers, we will still sin. But, when we do, we are commanded to confess that sin to God. Confession is an agreement with God about how bad sin is. We stand guilty before Him with no argument and no justification of our own. Our Advocate steps before the Judge, and together they agree that, because we are “in Christ,” no further punishment is necessary. Jesus has already made sufficient payment to redeem us.
And here is the thing about our Advocate Jesus Christ… He has never lost a case!
But there is more to Jesus than him being a perfectly righteous advocate who pleads our case. there is more to him than just one who lived and was tempted and yet was without sin. He actually paid the price himself, he himself carried the cross and stood under the wrath of God for us… Look!
2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
Now we see another way to know Jesus. As our sin bearer who carried the weight of the worlds sins. yet there is a word here that we should know in order to understand more about Jesus.
Jesus is our Propitiation
Jesus is our Propitiation!
Jesus is our Propitiation!
Propitiation - This fancy word carries with it the basic idea of appeasement or satisfaction, specifically towards God. Meaning God’s wrath was completely satisfied in Jesus’ death!
Propitiation is a 2 part act that involves appeasing the wrath of God, (Which is just judgement against our sin), and being reconciled to God, (because our sin has separated us from his Holy presence).
Propitiation - This fancy word carries with it the basic idea of appeasement or satisfaction, specifically towards God. Propitiation is a 2 part act that involves appeasing the wrath of God, (Which is just judgement against sin), and being reconciled to God, (because our sin has separated us from his Holy presence).
When John tells us that Jesus is our propitiation he is saying that Jesus took the wrath of God on himself, and carried it away from us, so we can be reunited or reconciled to God.
This is not something we can do… When we say Jesus is righteous we mean he perfectly fulfilled God’s law and never sinned… something we can never do.
When we say Jesus is our advocate we mean he pleads our case before God to ensure that his death paid the penalty for our sin that we are most definitely guilty of. Jesus advocates for us and that is something we could never do in our own works and good deeds.
When I say things like Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves, this is exactly what I am talking about… But there is ore when we know that Jesus is our Propitiation.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (). The only way for God’s wrath against sinful man to be appeased and for us to be reconciled to God is through Jesus Christ. There is no other way!
This truth is also communicated here in , “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” An important part of Christ’s saving work is deliverance from God’s wrath; Jesus’ propitiation on the cross is the only thing that can turn away God’s divine condemnation of sin.
Those who reject Christ as their Savior and refuse to believe in Him have no hope of salvation. They can only look forward to facing the wrath of God that they have stored up for the coming day of judgment (). There is no other propitiation or sacrifice that can be made for their sins.
Only Jesus is our Propitiation!
Look at what romans says about this!
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Last week we talked about God being Just and not allowing us to pay for the price of our sins because he already punished Christ in our place for our sins… But here we see that God is Just and the Justifier… meaning he isn’t just the one who will not judge us for sin but he is also the one who accomplished the work that was a propitiation for sin!
romans321-26
God doesn’t judge us sinners because God in Jesus Christ paid for us sinners.
Jesus is God and he Saves his people by being for us what we could never be for ourselves.
What other religion can boast of a God that saves people who are his sworn enemies, by becoming a person and doing for them what they could never do for themselves and then applying his victory to all of them that would come and acknowledge him and give up their right to rule themselves?!
This is Scandalous Grace!
We are Saved TO God - in eternity, from out of this world
We are Saved FOR God - in becoming different people who now live to do good works he prepared us in advance to do. We now represent him in this dark place as a light that points to him!
We are Saved FROM God - in that his wrath will be poured out on those who die in their sin and must be judged as his enemies. Yet he saves us from coming under that wrath and being cast away from him eternally… HOW???
Jesus is our propitiation, which means that
We are Saved BY God - Jesus who is one with the father, stands in our rightful place under his own wrath, with all his perfection which is the only thing that would allow someone to not have to be judged… and he freely gives to us the pass he had earned. We contribute nothing to this, God does it all in Christ for us!
This is good news that we are saved BY God, FROM God, FOR God, TO God… And Jesus is all of this to us who do not deserve to qualify for such Grace!
Aren’t you thankful for who Jesus is?!
1 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. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention an explanation of what is meant by the phrase, “the sins of the whole world.”
This is not meaning that Jesus is salvation to everyone who ever lived irregardless of their life and what they believed about God. This is not universalism that says everyone is fine no matter what they believe because Jesus did it all for everyone.
Commentators agree that what John is saying here is that the EXTENT of Christ’s death is universal but INTENT is only for those who would believe.
In other words, Christ’s death is SUFFICIENT for the whole world but it is only EFFICIENT for those who would believe, or the elect that have been called since before the foundation of the world was laid.
John Calvin explained it this way -
“The phrase the whole world relates not to every creature that God has made, for then the fallen angels also would have a share in Christ’s redemption. The word whole describes the world in its totality, not necessarily in its individuality.”
Further more we know that Jesus Died for all kinds of people.
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
rev
This is a picture of the whole world being represented as being saved FROM God, BY God, FOR God and TO God!!!
And all of this is because of who Jesus Is!!!!
3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
In this section we now have a switch from all that we know Jesus is to what those who follow him are like.
What is going to become apparent here as we work our way through 1 John, is that John will show us that true believers live in obedience to God’s word.
“Those genuinely born again display a habit of obedience.” John MacArthur
John MacArthur
What we see here is that obedience is an assurance of salvation. Meaning that those who are not truly believers do not continue any obedience to God, there is no fruit in their life that looks like the holiness of God in Christ.
John will continue to teach this concept as he uses the word “know” some 40 times and the word “Keep” some 10 times in this book.
So the idea isn’t a hard one to understand… those who Know God will Keep his commands!
Those who know God will keep his commands
Those who know God will keep his commands
and so John starts off by saying that we know that we have come to know him… Meaning this is our assurance. Although we may continue to sin and need to confess that sin, we know we belong to him, because we keep his commands.
There is no giving up for the true believer. And there is no true believers who do not keep his commands. Remember that john was writing this to people who were being infiltrated by false teachers who said they really didn’t need to do all the things God wanted them to do.
It was obvious that the false teachers did not keep God’s commands, and so it was obvious that they did not Know him. But the same applies to us and others who claim to know God. If we do not keep his commands then we do not really know him.
The problem is when people think that by trying to Keep his commands you can get to know him or earn a position with him. That is works based salvation, which is no Good news because it is dependent on your work being perfect all the time. remember just one sin against God would earn you death.
So make no mistake about it, John is not saying we can Know God is we keep his commands… He is saying that we can know that we already know him if we keep his commands.
Salvation comes first and changes us on the inside and now we have a desire to keep his commands. the Order is important.
But the test is simple to know if people really know him...
4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
If someone claims Christ but doesn’t live like a believer, then they probably are not one.
But what about those who are believers and they sin? is this a contradiction? NO, because he already addressed what a real believer looks like… Someone who doesn’t try to cover their sin in darkness but brings it out into the light by confessing it to God who always forgives!
So this verse is talking the one who says, “Yeah, I’m a Christian”, but they do not confess their sin and they live contrary to God’s word and his commands. That person should easy to spot, because they do not ask for forgiveness and they do not try to keep God’s commands. They are a liar. There is no truth in them.
5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
But now look at this person… Someone who does keep God’s word… Someone who does Confess their sin, someone who isn’t trying to hide in the darkness… In that person it says the Love of God is perfected!
Why is that?
Because they know their God. They Know he forgives. They know they can’t hide sin and must admit to it because he has already done a great work to forgive them of it. They receive God’s love and it grows inside of them. They do not run from God when they sin, they run to God when they sin… that is what perfected love looks like! Keeping his commands looks like people who know him!
But he finishes this verse with a thought that needs to be completed with the next verse...
5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
To abide in him means to live in him.
For those who claim to know God through Jesus Christ our Righteous Advocate and Propitiation… We Live in him and we walk in the same way in which he walked...
Do you understand what that means?
Please understand that what I’m about to say could easily be twisted and that the order of it makes all the difference between good news and good advice.
It is the final thing we learn about Jesu from this text...
For the Christian Jesus is our Example
For the Christian, Jesus is our Example
For the Christian, Jesus is our Example
Now to be clear… I am not saying and the Apostle John is not saying that Jesus is your example, so be like Jesus… That is cold dead religion that cannot be obtained by our efforts and our works.
That is why I said that the order is important. You cannot follow the example of Jesus to become a Christian.. But You cannot be a Christian if you do not follow the example of Jesus.
Do you hear the difference there?
and just to be sure I am not preaching works to you that the Gospel rejects, that Jesus is our example for the believer, here are 2 verses to show you this is true.
21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1peter2.
So the Apostle Peter said Jesus left us an example that we might follow in his steps. But goes on to say that this is for those who have died to sin and been made righteous, who have been healed by Christ’s wounds. For us Christians who are like straying sheep, we need to return to our shepherd, and we need to follow his example.
but if that is not enough, how about this verse.
15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
This was right after Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. He tells them that his actions are left for an example for them to follow. But not just for a foot washing, but rather how we are to serve each other.
but again going back to what John is saying, we know we live in him if we walk as he walked.
Jesus lived perfectly even though we did not, yet now that we know him, we look to his life as an example of how we can live now that we have been changed by him.
Peter tells us he was an example fort us, and Jesus told us he was an example for us. But not an example of how to earn salvation from God. He is an example of how we are to live now that we have received salvation from God, because of his work!
So who do we respond to all this?
You cannot be righteous on your own, apart from the Holy Spirit applying the work of Christ to your heart.
You cannot be your own Advocate before God the Righteous Judge
You cannot be the Propitiation for the sins of the whole world
BUT if you truly know the one who is these things.. if you know Jesus, then you can walk, or live, in the same way which he lived. He being your example of love and grace and humility will change your life in response to this world and you will b e seen as a true believer.. As one of God’s dearly loved children!
Do you know these truths today and are you living like they are true?
3 questions for Community Groups this week
Question 1 - What does it mean that Jesus is our Advocate?
Question 1 - What does it mean that Jesus is our Advocate?
Do you feel like you are going to have to make your own case before God? Do you understand that Jesus is your legal helper before the righteous judge of all humanity? That Jesus is an attorney that has never lost a case, and he will surely represent you before a Holy God that you would stand guilty.
Is Jesus a baby or a man on the cross? Do you think of him as someone who lived perfectly and died innocently, or was he just a good teacher?
Do you think that your advocate will only represent you so far or for a limited time, than its up to you to do better?
Question 2 - How does it give you hope to know that Jesus is your Propitiation for sin?
Question 2 - How does it give you hope to know that Jesus is your Propitiation for sin?
Do you understand this big word? Does it make sense? Why would it be important to remember this truth? Do you know who God is and do you know what your sin is? What should be done because of your sin? What was done and how gracious is God in providing a propitiation?
Question 3 - How do we get Christ as our example wrong?
Question 3 - How do we get Christ as our example wrong?
Do we act like Jesus as our example is how we earn some sort of Righteousness from God, or are we aware that the righteousness of God was given to us because of the work of Christ? Do we get the order wrong in salvation and make it about us following an example to get saved, or do we follow Christ’s example because we are saved and now we display a new nature that we learn from looking at Christ?