My Little Children...

An Advocate for the Children of God

(1 John 2:1, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, February 28, 2016)

[2:1] 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.

John's tender desire for his “little children” is that they may not sin

The apostle John uses a term of great endearment to address the Christians receiving his letter. They are more than disciples or even friends, although both of these titles would not be incorrect. They are not merely his teknon, his children. They are his teknion, a diminuitive of teknon, his “little children,” or as one respected linguistic resource suggest, his “darlings.”

These members of the churches have become John's little children because they are first the little children of the Father. They are beloved of John because they are beloved of God. Why are they beloved of God? Here we must be careful not to imagine that God does not like us and that His hand has been forced in our favor by the death of Christ for us. Neither can we conclude that God simply has to love us because He has no choice, since He is love.

We should instead remember that the Lord has gone to great lengths to deliver us from death “because of the great love with which He loved us.” Who is this God who loves us so well? He revealed Himself to Moses by proclaiming these words: “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)

Our God has steadfast love for thousands. He reveals Himself to us in the Bible, and then supremely in the coming of His Son. When we approach the topic of God's love for us we can go no further. As when we would try to overexplain the love of a mother for her children, we would cheapen that love by trying to give reasons for it. It just is. God loves us because He does. It is ours to humbly receive that love.

God, in His love, disciplines us, and leads us away from sin. His ministers, like the apostle John, teach and write to the Lord's beloved children so that we might not sin. Faithful pastors long to see their flocks turn away definitively from all that is evil. Nonetheless, they are aware that even sincere Christians will sin. Still, they do not want us to be ignorant about our condition when we sin as if the Lord would suddenly begin to hate us, or as if we should lose all hope because of our foolishness.

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father

For this reason, John reminds His readers that we have an advocate with the same Father who actually loves us. The word that is translated “advocate” is paraklete. It appears five times in John's writings, most frequently describing the work of the Holy Spirit as a companion and helper sent to us from the Father and the Son.

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:16-18)

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:25-27)

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” (John 15:26)

“I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7)

But in our passage, John writes not about a paraklete with us, but a paraklete for us with the Father, particularly in the troubling situations that we find ourselves in when we do sin. We must not think that our Advocate, or Helper, appears before an unsympathetic Judge who is predisposed against us. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit do not have internal squabbles concerning us. They all agree on the settled plan of God for our complete blessing.

Jesus Christ the righteous

Yet it is most comforting to know that we not only have a Helper from God here below in the person of the Holy Spirit. John assures us that we have another Helper above with our very sympathetic Father in heaven. Jesus speaks to the Father regarding us in our time of sin-need.

This Jesus has wounds for us in His hands and feet. He is the Messiah who has come to save His people from their sins. He did this with His sinless perfection. He is forever Jesus Christ the righteous. We have much cause for hope and assurance. We have God the Spirit living within us and even filling us as we worship the Lord. We also have God the Son, Jesus Christ the righteous, as our Helper and Advocate speaking above to the Father who has loved us with an everlasting love. This is all very good news for us, since we need all the help we can get in our fight against sin.

One final thought about being God's teknion. Children are very vulnerable. They need to be protected. The Bible tells us that we are God's dearly-loved children. Unfortunately, we regularly get ourselves into great trouble. Thankfully, we not only have a Father who will never abandon us, we also have a perfect Advocate with the Father in Jesus, the Son of God. He knows our every need and He alone understands the righteousness that is required in order for us to have a secure relationship with God. We have the very best Advocate and Helper, and we have a Father who will never stop loving us.

This morning I am thinking about a little baby boy, Brenner Vogan, who is in the NICU at Elliot Hospital in Manchester, learning how to breathe better on his own. The best thing that his parents can do for him is to hold him and love him, and they are doing that very well. Can we imagine that our Father would do less than that for us as we learn to fight against sin. I am also thinking about the father of my friend Steve Leavitt who died yesterday. Steve was able to have peace knowing that yesterday his father was struggling but that by the end of the day, his struggles were over. May the Lord rescue us from every evil deed, and bring us safely into his heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (2 Timothy 4:18)

Old Testament Reading—1 Kings 4:20-34 – Solomon's Wealth and Wisdom

Gospel Reading—Luke 5:12-16 – I will; be clean.

Sin - An Impolite (but necessary) Topic for the Church

God's Honest Truth About Sin

(1 John 1:10, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, February 21, 2016)

[10] If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Why would anyone say that he had never sinned?

Human beings have been created in the image of God and have inherent dignity and worth. Yet through the sin of one man, Adam, a destructive treason against the Almighty entered this world. The entire story of the Bible is based on these opening truths presented in Genesis 1-3. See also Romans 1-3. To deny the existence of sin entirely or to say that we have not sinned is to reject the Bible and the cross. The facts of Jesus only make sense if He is our sin-bearer. If we say that we have not sinned, we cannot have a true profession of faith in Christ. People without sin do not need a savior.

Why would anyone claim that they had not sinned? People who deny sin in general or their own sin in particular may have not really heard the Christian message. That message deals a serious blow to the bloated pride of independent human beings. Perhaps others who deny that they have sinned do not know how to deal with their sin, that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

The discussion of sin is not necessarily viewed as a polite topic today. It is also almost universally considered illegitimate for the church to make any judgments concerning sin. While vengeance belongs to the Lord alone, and Christians are supposed to be kindhearted, the church is the one organization on earth given by God to speak authoritatively concerning sin, both in general as we teach biblical doctrine, and in particular as we help people. (Matthew 16:18, 18:15-18; John 20:21-23)

The Holy Spirit, Jesus tells us, was sent to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). The church has been given the authority to declare sins forgiven (John 20:23). We need to let God be true, even if that means that everyone else is a liar (Romans 3:4)

What has God said about the universality of sin among human beings?

After sin entered the world through one man, we see the march of this dreadful soul disease in Genesis 4-5. Just prior to the flood, the Lord gives us this assessment of the condition of mankind: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5) Later in the history of Israel, when Solomon was praying at the dedication of the temple, he said, “there is no one who does not sin.” (1 Kings 8:46) In the wisdom literature of the Old Testament (Psalm 14, 53) we learn that as mankind seeking some honest standing in the presence of the Almighty, “no one living is righteous” before God. The prophets confirm that our own assessments of our condition may be wildly inaccurate, since “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) The apostle Paul states succinctly the overwhelming teaching of God's Word: “All have sinned.” (Romans 3:23)

What does the Word of God say about sin and the coming age of resurrection glory?

The good news is that it is not the Lord's intention to leave us in this sad condition. Paul writes in Romans 6:17-18, “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”

This hope of heartfelt obedience to the Word is very good news indeed, but it is only a step toward an even bigger fulfillment of the promise that the Lord made in Genesis 3:15 that He would utterly defeat sin through the One He called the “Seed of the woman.” The greater goal of the Lord is a new world where righteousness reigns.

While there is so much that the Bible teaches on this Christian hope, we must be brief and quote another famous verse from Romans 8 and a following verse that is not as frequently quoted or even known: “[28] And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. [29] For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

What does it mean that we are destined to be conformed to the image of Jesus? The ancient longing reflected in the Old Testament writings will finally come to pass, and we will be holy as He is holy.

The verse that follows Romans 8:29 is also informative, telling us that the plan of God for His elect image-bearers is that they would be glorious: “[30] And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Even now, those who go to be with the Lord after our lives here below are “made perfect” according to Hebrews 12:23. Certainly the final kingdom of heaven is a place without any sin. (Revelation 21:1-2 and Ephesians 5:27)

It is of utmost importance for us to immediately affirm two essential Christian truths: 1. Christ is at the very center of the Lord's victory over sin. 2. The church right now is called to be holy by the power of the Word and Spirit of Jesus Christ. If we deny sin we are calling God a liar and the truth is not in us. Without the truth of God, the living Word, both Jesus and the Scriptures, the church will never be holy.

How do we get that word in us (John 8)?

We must hear the Word of God in a spiritual way. We must settle in the Word as people eventually settle in a new town that they intend to call their home. Jesus spoke of this to the crowds that were listening to His teaching. “[31] So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, [32] and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

If we hope to be a holy church with the truth of God living in us, we must live in the Word. A consistent pattern of attendance in worship together is the first step for a person that wants to be a part of a community of Christian hope – the hope of a new world without sin. Even when we sing together on the first day of the week, we do what we must to “let the word of Christ dwell within” us. (Colossians 3:12-17)

God does not lie about sin. We regularly deceive ourselves on this and many other matters, lying to our own hurt. Far better to find out God's honest truth and to let it accomplish its good work in our lives.

Old Testament Reading—2 Samuel 3:26-39 – Joab, David, and the Murder of Abner

Gospel Reading—Luke 5:1-11 – A sinful man as a catcher of men

Forgiven and Cleansed

God Will Keep His New Covenant Promises
(1 John 1:9, Preaching: Pastor Nathan Snyder, February 14, 2016)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Come out of denial.

If you have cancer, it will not help you to pretend that you are cancer-free. Neither will it help us to deny the reality of our own spiritual cancer, what the Bible calls “sin.”  Last week we looked at 1 John 1:8, where John warns against denying the existence of our sin.  Let us not think there is no such thing as sin, or that the only people who are guilty of sin are those who are really bad, and we’re pretty decent on the whole and need not trouble ourselves about it.  John’s response to such folly is blunt.  “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”  All of us are born rebels against God, prone to ingratitude, unbelief, and disobedience against him to whom we owe total allegiance.  We cannot escape this dark reality by living in denial.  The way to health begins by recognizing that we are sick.

Once we recognize that we are sinners, how will we respond?  One way we might respond is to ignore the problem.  We would rather God leave us and our sin alone.  This will not due.  The God who made us will bring our entire life into judgment and hold us accountable for it every thought, word, and action.  He who is holy, holy, holy does not ignore sin, because every sin is treason against him.  Every violation of his commands is a declaration that he is not worthy of our allegiance.  God will uphold his own honor.  Our sin makes us guilty before God and alienates us from fellowship with him.  Therefore all sin leads to eternal death and misery.  Sin is a spiritual cancer that we simply cannot ignore.

God has given us a remedy for sin.

If ignoring our sin will not help us, what will?  How can we remedy our cancer?  The fact is that we cannot.  We cannot save ourselves any more than we can pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.  There is only one who can save us, and that is the One against whom we have sinned.  Doesn’t this make sense?  If we have sinned against God, which we all have, then the ball is in his court.  Praise God that he has provided a remedy for us through his Son, Jesus.  Jesus lived the life of obedience we should have lived, and died under the judgment of God we should have received, at the cross.  His blood can cleanse us from all sin (verse 7).  His death propitiates God’s wrath against sin (2:2), bringing us out from under God’s condemnation and into his everlasting kindness and favor.  There is only one remedy for the guilt and corruption of our sin.  That remedy is Jesus, God’s perfect provision for sinners like us.  Do not deny your sin.  Neither pretend it isn’t all that bad.  It took the death of the Son of God to remedy our sin.  Acknowledge it and come to him for salvation.

What do we do when we sin?

Suppose you have surrendered your life to Jesus, the Savior.  You have been forgiven your sins.  You have been washed clean.  Your debts have been paid.  Your record it clear.  Best of all, you now have fellowship with God.  You once lived under the frown of the Almighty.  Now you live in the sunshine of his smile.  You are living your life now as a Christian.  But you find yourself still committing sins.  So what do you do?  John’s words in verse 8 still apply.  No Christian should fool himself or herself into thinking that they are now sin-free.  It is important to understand that God does not remove us from his family every time we sin.  Nevertheless, sin is still damaging and defiling and it darkens our fellowship with God.  Think about children and parents.  When children disobey their parents, they do not cease to be children of those parents.  Yet their obedience, or lack thereof, does matter and does affect their relationship with their parents.  The same is true in our relationship with God as his children.  God does not throw us out of his family because we still sin.  But our sin affects our relationship with him and must still be addressed.

How do we deal with the sins we have committed as Christians, whether we have been a Christian for sixty seconds or sixty years?  First, we must realize that the basis for our ongoing forgiveness and cleansing, and the continual renewal of fellowship with God, has not changed.  The basis is still Jesus, our Savior.  Thus it is not a surprise that the way we are to handle our sin now is not fundamentally different from what it was when we first became Christians.  We come to Christ by acknowledging that we are sinners and that he alone is the Savior we need, and by turning from our sin to him in surrender.  This is essentially what we must continue to do.  As the Holy Spirit convicts us of sinful thoughts, words, and actions, God calls us to confess those sins and continue to look to Christ as our only Savior.  To confess our sins is to acknowledge them to ourselves and to God, and to ask for his grace and mercy.

God has promised to cleanse us from sin.

David has given us a good model in Psalm 51 where he confessed his horrendous sins of adultery and murder, asking for forgiveness and cleansing, and restoration of fellowship with God.  When David, or John, talks about cleansing from sin and unrighteousness, what does this mean exactly?  The language of cleansing is drawn from the rituals which God had established in Israel under the covenant made at Sinai.  It is clear from Psalm 51 that David recognized that cleansing through ceremonial rites and the sacrificing of animals was symbolic of a deeper heart cleansing which he needed from God.  That cleansing involved forgiveness, and the creation of a clean heart and renewal of a steadfast spirit within David, all with the goal of restoration of his joy in fellowship with God.  These are exactly the gifts God has promised to grant his people in the new covenant.  Listen to God’s words through his prophets:

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.  And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD.  For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.  (Jeremiah 31:33-34)

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.  You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people and I will be your God.  (Ezekiel 36:25-28)

To be cleansed is to be made fit for God’s presence.  God with us as our God, we with him as his people.  We must be cleansed of our sin in order to enjoy fellowship with God.  We are cleansed of our sin and idolatry by God’s forgiving us, and also by God renewing our desires and will so that we walk in obedience to him.  True cleansing always leads us into obedience to God.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit, given to us through Christ.  As the writer of Hebrews reasons, if the Old Covenant ceremonies purified a person ritually, “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14).  To be cleansed from all unrighteousness is to be set free from deeds which lead to death in order that we might serve the living God.

We are secure in God's faithfulness and justice.

What is the guarantee that God will forgive and cleanse us when we confess our sins to him?  John tells us that God is faithful and just to do so.  We often think of the justice of God as something from which we need to be rescued.  There is truth in that.  Yet as Christians we must understand that the justice of God also means that he will do what is right.  It is right for God to be faithful to his promises.  God has made new covenant promises to us and he will not go back on his word.  Furthermore, Christ has already satisfied the just demands of God by paying the punishment for the sins of those who come to God through him.  It would be unjust for God to condemn a person for sin when Christ has already borne their condemnation and they are clothed in his righteousness.

If you have come to believe the truth of the gospel for the first time, or if you have been a Christian for your whole life, never think that there is a point where the grace of God runs out.  God has made promises to you and secured them for you through his Son.  Christ is as much your Savior now as when you first believed.  Does sin mar our fellowship with our heavenly Father?  Yes.  But do not run from him when you have sinned.  Run to him and confess, that you might experience a fresh pouring out of his grace upon you, renewing your fellowship with him as he forgives and cleanses you yet again.  He is faithful and just.  He will do it.

Far better than lies

Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God!

(1 John 1:8, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, February 7, 2016)

[8] If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

The church as a place where forgiveness is declared (John 20:22-23)

The resurrected Christ has established His church as the kingdom of heaven on earth. From the first century disciples down to the worldwide assembly of his people today, we have a sacred role to play in declaring the Word of our King. That Word announces the fullest forgiveness to all who put their trust in Jesus and who turn from their sins.

[19] On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” [20] When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. [21] Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” [22] And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. [23] If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:19-23)

The church's message of forgiveness is based on what Jesus has done. He is the one who was was wounded for our transgressions and He is the one who sends us the Word of peace from heaven.

What is sin and why is it such a controversial topic?

The catechism tells us that “sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God.” From the earliest age of our conscious memory we have understood that God was calling us to obedience. We were called to honor father and mother as those who had authority from above for order in the home. When we preferred self to the obedience of love, we learned sin.

Sin has become a very controversial topic over these many centuries because the authority of God as a Law-Giver over all has been denied. Ancient understandings of right and wrong have been rejected. Just as the Lord warned so long ago in Romans 1, we have embraced a lie:

[18] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. [19] For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. [20] For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. [21] For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. [22] Claiming to be wise, they became fools, [23] and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
[24] Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, [25] because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:18-25)

Ultimately, sin has become a very controversial topic because there is a battle being waged for our souls. While sin shows up in countless violations against God's specific commandments, the root of it is in pride and treason against the Almighty. Rosario Butterfield, the author of “The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert,” writes, “Pride puffs one up with a false sense of independence. Proud people always feel that they can live independently from God and from other people. Proud people feel entitled to do what what they want when they want to.” Yet when we feel the inner conviction of the Holy Spirit, when the battle for new life might seem to be gaining ground, our old flesh may resort to imagining sin to be only a small offense against an very small god who is either not there at all or cannot really be concerned about us. Butterfield writes, “Sin is not a mistake. A mistake is taking the wrong exit on the highway. A sin is treason against a Holy God. A mistake is a logical misstep. Sin lurks in our hearts and grabs us by the throat to do its bidding.”

The temptation of self-deception

We know that we have minimized sin and that our God is too small when we say that we have no sin. This is a tempting self-deception. We need to hear the Word of God again and apply it to our own souls. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” “You shall have no other gods before Me.” “You shall not covet.”

We need to fight against wrong understanding of sin that administer a word of health to us without even confronting the disease. If sin is so small that we can imagine that we don't have it, the cross of Christ is emptied of its necessity and its power, and we are left in our pretend world as the CEO of our own imaginary corporation.

Sin is pride. Sin is idolatry. Sin is treason.

We don't get to determine the penalty for sin, because we are not God. Consider the sanity of David when he went below the surface underneath his adultery and murder:

[51:1] Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
[2] Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
[3] For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
[4] Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment. (Psalm 51:1-4 ESV)

The dangers of self-deception

Unless and until we are able to receive the Word of God concerning sin, we are in a very dangerous spiral of self-deception that leads to death, and the truth is not in us.

Confronting the facts may be quite costly, as it certainly was for any believer from Moses in Exodus 5:22-23 to Rosaria Butterfield in the present day. Yet the benefits that come from the truth are substantial. The truth of God in us is the beginning of a new life. Again David writes:

[10] Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10 ESV)

This is what our soul longs for, and this is the spiritual provision of the Father for us through Jesus the Son. This is the truth of God that makes all things new. Let that truth of Christ dwell richly within you, and grow in the grace and knowledge of God. That road is greatly superior to every false substitute.

Old Testament Reading—Joshua 7:10-26 – The Sin of Achan

Gospel Reading—Luke 4:31-37 – Casting out unclean spirits