Daily Devotionals

Devotional: January 19th

" If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous." - 1 John 2:1.

" I write unto you," says John, " that ye sin not." Such was his aim in writing this epistle, and such was his aim in writing the words of our text. The statement that we have an advocate with the Father, is intended to keep us from sinning. Any man that uses it merely as an opiate to his conscience, and to procure him peace in sinning, diverts it from its legitimate use.

But when a Christian has been overtaken in a fault, what shall he do? Let him remember that for him, the unrighteous one, there is an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous. Fear not the javelin of divine wrath. It must come through Christ before it can reach you. Nay, it has already reached him. The marks of the wounds appear in his glorified body. Your sin, mounting up to the throne of God, does not get there before Christ, your advocate. It is a great thing when an advocate can get up in court and say, The trespass of my client has been already atoned for ’, the full penalty has been inflicted; and nothing now can be imputed to him. Christ’s advocacy not only obtains for us justification, but also the Spirit of God, who, with the blood of Christ, cleanses us from all sin.

We are richer in heaven than we are on earth. We have Christ the righteous, our advocate, - mine, - yours, - in heaven; on the earth we have nothing that we can justly call our own. We are here in a wayfaring place; what we see is but the furniture of an inn; it does not belong to us, save for a momentary use. But we have unsearchable riches in the country to which we go. When any one says, " What have you?" May you be able to answer, " I have an advocate with the Father - the richest of friends in the most important of all places."

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