"SHARING HOPE THROUGH SCRIPTURE ABOUT GOD'S PROVISION FOR OUR SINS"
1st John 2:1 “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
Taken from today's reading in "The One Year Bible”.
Some background, application, questions and a prayer:
The apostle John wrote this short little 5 chapter letter to help believers have the Joy of the Lord, and to help them come to the place of having the assurance of their salvation. He was also combatting false doctrine concerning sin. Many false teachers were saying it's okay to sin, it's just your body, and the body means nothing to God, so go ahead and sin all you like. Well, that's simply not true.
But, what about sin? What does the Lord do when we sin? And how does He help us?
1. We as christians are God's children.
1st John 2:1 “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
Saved people are God's children.
He adopts us upon our coming to faith in Christ.
We are born again, and placed into His family as His children.
So, if you are saved, You are His child.
He is your Father.
And He provides for your needs.
He especially wants to help you with sin.
2. God helps us not to sin.
1st John 2:1 “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
Every Christian will sin until they go to heaven.
But, God wants us to sin less and less.
But what about when we do sin?
That's dealt with under the next point.
But, look at the verse, and see what it says.
God gave us this epistle to help us not to sin.
You may want to take the time and read through the 5 chapters.
It will be a tremendous help with respect to the problem of sin.
You will find that though you can't stop sinning, you will find that you will sin less and less.
3. But when we do sin, He has provided an advocate for us.
1st John 2:1 “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
Here is what God has provide for us when we do sin.
He is our Advocate, our Representative before the Father.
When we do sin, we have Jesus to help us.
It's kind of like having to go to court with the help of a lawyer.
We are not alone down here.
We have the Lord Jesus to represent us before God.
He is the one who has died for our sins.
Questions:
1. Sin is a real problem in our lives, isn't it?
2. Sin is something that we cannot deal with on our own.
3. What do you do when you sin?
4. Do you know that You can simply ask Jesus to help you, to cleanse you, and to advocate for you?
5. Do you know that God loves you so much that He wants to bless you and help you?
A Prayer:
Father, You are so wonderful. In fact, there is no one as wonderful as You. You are God and there is none like You, Lord.
One day we will no longer deal with sin. How glorious that will be. Thank You for Jesus our Advocate, our helper.
He is the sin bearer and sin helper.
We love You, Father. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Pastor Bob Grenier
Calvary Chapel Visalia
