JESUS CHRIST IS OUR ADVOCATE
By Bishop Mike Okonkwo
Wednesday 11th June 2024
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous:” 1 John 2:1 (KJV)
Jesus Christ is our advocate! He is speaking on our behalf and saying: “Father, they are standing based on what I did, not what they did.” Guess what? The Father cannot ignore what Jesus did. That is why God must answer us!
If we became sinners based on what the first Adam did, then we have the right to stand righteous before him because of what the last Adam (Jesus) did. So, if, as a believer, you sin, He said don’t forget there is an advocate standing by my side speaking on your behalf. Therefore, you can declare to yourself: I am free. No more condemnation! I have the boldness to come unto the throne of grace.
Satan likes to intimidate people who are ignorant. It is this intimidation he came with when Adam sinned. Adam had always enjoyed fellowship with God, but the moment sin came, He started running from God. He was confused, intimidated, and had lost his boldness. The next thing he did was to start lying. That is what sin does. Sin drives you away. When you become sin-conscious, you run even from people who want to help you. The devil tells you that everyone has known, and you will start hiding. But that is not the will of God for the believer in Christ. The truth is that you have been cleansed. God deals with the believer’s sin differently from that of an unbeliever. We are not on the same level because we are already in His kingdom.
So, when a believer falls, 1 John 3:4 says, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” (KJV). But if you stop it there, you will stay in condemnation. Verse 5 says, “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.” He revealed Himself on earth to take away our past, present and future sins.
Further Reading: 1 John 3:1-8
Daily Bible Reading: Morning- Ezra 3-5; Evening- John 20