“An Advocate with the Father”
By Kyle Pope
We all have
friends and family who lead very upright lives. They love their families. They
pay their taxes. They are hard workers and do good to those around them. They
are our neighbors and classmates. We see them at the grocery store and pass
them on the street. From everything we can see with our eyes they are the
“cream of the crop” of what this world has to offer. Within them, however, unseen
to the naked eye is a fatal flaw—they are spiritually separated from God! The
invisible bullet of sin has penetrated their soul leaving a mortal wound that
has rendered them spiritually dead. Although they appear to be alive and well,
they are walking corpses awaiting their everlasting cremation.
Why don’t we
see this fatal flaw? Perhaps because we are so used to superficial observation.
We judge according to how healthy someone looks in the flesh. Often, however,
it may be that a person with a broken failing body is one of the most
spiritually healthy among us because he or she does not trust in the flesh. We
prize intellect and power, but it is often only the humble and meek that see
the importance of reaching outside of themselves. The spiritually dead don’t
stand out from the crowd. We won’t see an arrow floating over them and pointing
to them with the words “I am lost!” Yet, whether they realize it or not, the
truth is that all souls separated from God because of sin are lost in sin.
The sad thing is
that the Bible tells us that is the condition of most of the world!
Jesus said of the gate leading to destruction “there are many who go in by
it” (Matt. 7:13). While of the gate leading to life, He said, “there are
few who find it” (Matt. 7:14). In fact, the Bible often uses the term world
itself, not in reference to the pure and undefiled product of God’s work in
creation, but of the corrupt results of what man has done to it. So John
teaches, “If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him” (1
John 2:15).
How are we to
rationalize in our minds that a loving God can view those whom we consider so
decent and upright as separated from Him? How can we see them as God does? We
often try to tell ourselves that the “good person” we know in the world is
somehow accepted by God, but it is only the “bad person” who is not. But, who
defines what is good and what is bad? God sets the standard of
man’s behavior. It is His right to judge man’s deeds. In reality, no accountable
soul can stand before God as a “good person” because “all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Why is it that all who are
outside of Christ are lost?—Because sin prevents man from coming into the
presence of a sinless and righteous God. If any souls could honestly claim that
they had never sinned they could come before God without guilt. But, the Holy
Spirit frankly tells any accountable soul who might cling to such wishful
thinking, “If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
How can the
sinful soul approach God the Father? Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father
except through Me” (John 14:6). The insurmountable obstacle to the human
soul is sin! The necessary remedy to conquer it is Jesus Christ. The fatal
deficiency in the worldly soul outside of Christ is the lack of an Advocate
with the Father on behalf of sin. The only One who can fill that role is Jesus—“There
is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts
4:12).
The Bible
declares to the Christian, “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our
sins, and not for ours only but for the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2). Jesus
Christ is the most over-worked public defender in human history! Yet, He only
works for those who accept His service through faith and obedience to the
gospel. While His caseload is full, He is always willing to take on more
clients. May God help us to see those around us who need Him as desperately as
we do, but have not yet come to realize it.
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