Spurgeon: October PM
* 10/04/PM
"If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous."
--1 John 2:1
"If any man sin, we have an advocate." Yes, though we sin,
we have Him still. John does not say, "If any man sin he has
forfeited his advocate," but "we have an advocate," sinners
though we are. All the sin that a believer ever did, or can be
allowed to commit, cannot destroy his interest in the Lord Jesus
Christ, as his advocate. The name here given to our Lord is
suggestive. " Jesus ." Ah! then He is an advocate such as we
need, for Jesus is the name of one whose business and delight it
is to save. "They shall call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins." His sweetest name implies His
success. Next, it is "Jesus Christ "--Christos, the anointed.
This shows His authority to plead. The Christ has a right to
plead, for He is the Father's own appointed advocate and elected
priest. If He were of our choosing He might fail, but if God
hath laid help upon one that is mighty, we may safely lay our
trouble where God has laid His help. He is Christ, and therefore
authorized; He is Christ, and therefore qualified , for the
anointing has fully fitted Him for His work. He can plead so as
to move the heart of God and prevail. What words of tenderness,
what sentences of persuasion will the anointed use when He
stands up to plead for me! One more letter of His name remains,
"Jesus Christ the righteous ." This is not only His character
BUT His plea. It is His character, and if the Righteous One be
my advocate, then my cause is good, or He would not have
espoused it. It is His plea, for He meets the charge of
unrighteousness against me by the plea that He is righteous.
He declares Himself my substitute and puts His obedience to my
account. My soul, thou hast a friend well fitted to be thine
advocate, He cannot but succeed; leave thyself entirely in His
hands.