XVII. CHRIST OUR ADVOCATE
"And if any man sin we
have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the
propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the
whole world,"-1 John ii. 1, 2
THE Bible abounds with governmental analogies. These are
designed for our instruction; but if we receive instruction from them, it is
because there is a real analogy in many points between the government of God
and human governments.
I propose to inquire,
I. What is an
advocate?
What is the idea of an advocate when the term is used to
express a governmental office or relation?
An advocate is one who pleads the cause of another; who
represents another, and acts in his name; one who uses his influence in behalf
of another by his request.
II. Purposes for
which an advocate way he employed.
1. To secure justice, in case any question involving justice is
to be tried.
2. To defend the accused. If one has been accused of committing
a crime, an advocate may be employed to conduct his trial on his behalf; to
defend him against the charge, and prevent his conviction if possible.
3. An advocate may be employed to secure a pardon, when a
criminal has been justly condemned, and is under sentence. That is, an advocate
may be employed either to secure justice for his client, or to obtain mercy
for him, in case he is condemned; may be employed either to prevent his
conviction, or when convicted, may be employed in setting aside the execution
of the law upon the criminal.
III. The sense in
which Christ is the advocate of sinners.
He is employed to plead the cause of sinners, not at the bar of
justice; not to defend them against the charge of sin, because the question of
their guilt is already settled. The Bible represents them as condemned already;
and such is the fact, as every sinner knows. Every sinner in the world
knows that he has sinned, and that consequently he must be condemned by the law
of God. This office, then, is exercised by Christ in respect to sinners; not at
the bar of justice, but at the throne of grace, at the footstool of sovereign
mercy. He is employed, not to prevent the conviction of the sinner, but
to prevent his execution; not to prevent his being condemned, but being
already condemned, to prevent his being damned.
IV. What is implied
in His being the Advocate of sinners.
1. His being employed at a throne of grace and not at the bar of
justice, to plead for sinners, as such, and not for those who are merely
charged with sin, but the charge not established. This implies that the guilt
of the sinner is already ascertained, the verdict of guilty given, the sentence
of the law pronounced, and that the sinner awaits his execution.
2. His being appointed by God as the Advocate of sinners implies
a merciful disposition in God. If God had not been mercifully disposed towards
sinners, no Advocate had been appointed, no question of forgiveness had been
raised.
3. It implies also that the exercise of mercy on certain
conditions is possible. Not only is God mercifully disposed, but to manifest
this disposition in the actual pardon of sin is possible. Had not this been
the case, no Advocate had been appointed.
4. It implies that there is hope, then, for the condemned.
Sinners are prisoners; but in this world they are not yet prisoners of despair,
but are prisoners of hope.
5. It implies that there is a governmental necessity for the
interposition of an advocate; that the sinner's relations are such, and his
character such, that he can not be admitted to plead his own cause in his own
name. He is condemned, he is no longer on trial. In this respect he is under
sentence for a capital crime; consequently be is an outlaw, and the government
can not recognize him as being capable of performing any legal act. His
relations to the government forbid that in his own name, or in his own person,
he should appear before God. So far as his own personal influence with the
government is concerned, he is as a dead man -- he is civilly dead.
Therefore, he must appear by his next friend, or by his advocate, if he is
heard at all. He may not appear in his own name and in his own person, but must
appear by an advocate who is acceptable to the government.
V. The essential
qualifications of an advocate under such circumstances.
1. He must be the uncompromising friend of the government.
Observe, he appears to pray for mercy to be extended to the guilty party whom
he represents. Of course he must not himself be the enemy of the government of
whom he asks so great a favor; but he should be known to be the devoted friend
of the government whose mercy he prays may be extended to the guilty.
2. He must be the uncompromising friend of the dishonored law.
The sinner has greatly dishonored, and by his conduct denounced, both the law
and the Law-giver. By his uniform disobedience the sinner has proclaimed, in
the most emphatic manner, that the law is not worthy of obedience, and that the
Law-giver is a tyrant. Now the Advocate must be a friend to this law; he
must not sell himself to the dishonor of the law nor consent to its dishonor.
He must not reflect upon the law; for in this case he places the
Lawgiver in a position in which, if he should set aside the penalty and
exercise mercy, he would consent to the dishonor of the law, and by a public
act himself condemn the law. The Advocate seeks to dispense with the execution
of the law; but he must not offer, as a reason, that the law is unreasonable
and unjust. For in this case he renders it impossible for the Law-giver to set
aside the execution without consenting to the assertion that the law is not
good. In that case the Law-giver would condemn himself instead of the sinner.
It is plain, then, that he must be the uncompromising friend of the law, or he
can never secure the exercise of mercy without involving the Law-giver himself
in the crime of dishonoring the law.
3. The Advocate must be righteous; that is, he must be
clear of any complicity in the crime of the sinner. He must have no fellowship
with his crime; there must be no charge or suspicion of guilt resting
upon the Advocate. Unless he himself be clear of the crime of which the
criminal is accused, he is not the proper person to represent him before a
throne of mercy.
4. He must be the compassionate friend of the sinner --
not of his sins, but of the sinner himself. This distinction is very
plain. Every one knows that a parent can be greatly opposed to the wickedness
of his children, while he has great compassion for their person. He is not a
true friend to the sinner who really sympathizes with his sins. I have several
times heard sinners render as an excuse for not being Christians, that their
friends were opposed to it. They have a great many dear friends who are opposed
to their becoming Christians and obeying God. They desire them to live on in
their sins. They do not want them to change and be. come holy, but desire them
to remain in their worldly-mindedness and sinfulness. I tell such persons that
those are their friends in the same sense that the devil is their friend.
And would they call the devil their good friend, their kind
friend, because he sympathizes with their sins, and wishes them not to become
Christians? Would you call a man your friend, who wished you to commit murder,
or robbery, to tell a lie, or commit any crime? Suppose he should come and
appeal to you, and because you are his friend should desire you to commit some
great crime, would you regard that man as your friend?
No! No man is a true friend of a sinner, unless he is desirous
that he should abandon his sins. If any person would have you continue in your
sins, he is the adversary of your soul. Instead of being in any proper sense
your friend, he is playing the devil's part to ruin you.
Now observe: Christ is the compassionate friend of sinners, a
friend in the best and truest sense. He does not sympathize with your sins, but
His heart is set upon saving you from your sins. I said He must be the compassionate
friend of sinners; and His compassion must be stronger than death, or He will
never meet the necessities of the case.
5. Another qualification must be, that He is able sufficiently
to honor the law, which sinners by their transgression have dishonored. He
seeks to avoid the execution of the dishonored law of God. The law having been
dishonored by sin in the highest degree, must either be honored. by its
execution on the criminal, or the Law-giver must in some other way bear
testimony in favor of the law, before He can justly dispense with the execution
of its penalty. The law is not to be repealed; the law must not be dishonored.
It is the law of God's nature, the unalterable law of His government, the
eternal law of heaven, the law for the government of moral agents in all
worlds, and in all time, and to all eternity. Sinners have home their most
emphatic testimony against it, by pouring contempt upon it in utterly refusing
to obey it. Now sin must not be treated lightly this law must be honored.
God might pour a flash
of glory over it by executing its penalty upon the whole race that have
despised it. This would be the solemn testimony of God to sustain its authority
and vindicate its claims. If our Advocate appears before God to ask for the
remission of sin, that the penalty of this law may be set aside and not
executed, the question immediately arises, But how shall the dishonor of
this law be avoided? What shall compensate for the reckless and blasphemous
contempt with which this law has been treated? How shall sin be forgiven
without apparently making light of it?
It is plain that sin has placed the whole question in such a
light that God's testimony must in some way be borne in a most emphatic manner
against sin, and to sustain the authority of this dishonored law.
It behooves the Advocate of sinners to provide Himself with a
plea that shall meet this difficulty. He must meet this necessity, if He would
secure the setting aside of the penalty. He must be able to provide an adequate
substitute for its execution. He must be able to do that which will as
effectually bear testimony in favor of the law and against sin as the
execution, of the law upon the criminal would do. In other words, He must be
able to meet the demands of public justice.
6. He must be willing to volunteer a gratuitous service. He
can not be called upon in justice to volunteer a service, or suffer for
the sake of sinners. He may volunteer His service and it may be accepted; but
if He does volunteer His service, He must be able and willing to endure
whatever pain or sacrifice is necessary to meet the case.
If the law must be honored by obedience; if, "without the
shedding of blood, there can be no remission;" if an emphatic governmental
testimony must be borne against sin, and in honor of the law; if He must become
the representative of sinners, offering Himself before the whole universe as a
propitiation for sin, He must be willing to meet the case and make the
sacrifice.
7. He must have a good plea. In other words, when He appears
before the mercy-seat, He must be able to present such considerations as shall
really meet the necessities of the case, and render it safe, proper, honorable,
glorious in God to forgive.
VI. What His plea in
behalf of sinners is.
It should be remembered that the appeal is not to justice. Since
the fall of man, God has plainly suspended the execution of strict
justice upon our race. To us, as a matter of fact, He has set upon a throne of
mercy. Mercy, and not justice, has been the rule of His administration, since
men were involved in sin.
This is simple fact. Men do sin, and they are not cut off
immediately and sent to hell. The execution of justice is suspended; and God is
represented as seated upon a throne of grace, or upon a mercy-seat. It is here
at a mercy-seat that Christ executes the office of Advocate for sinners.
2. Christ's plea for sinners can not be that they are not
guilty. They are guilty, and condemned. No question can be raised as it
respects their guilt and their ill-desert; such questions are settled. It has
often appeared strange to me that men overlook the fact that they are condemned
already, and that no question respecting their guilt or desert of punishment
can ever be raised.
3. Christ as our Advocate can not, and need not, plead a
justification. A plea of justification admits the fact charged; but
asserts that under the circumstances the accused had a Tight to do as he did.
This plea Christ can never make. This is entirely out of place, the case having
been already tried, and sentence passed.
4. He may not plead what will reflect, in any wise, upon
the law. He can not plead that the law was too strict in its precept, or too
severe in its penalty; for in that case he would not really plead for mercy,
but for justice. He would plead in that case that no injustice might be done
the criminal. For if he intimates that the law is not just, then the sinner
does not deserve the punishment; hence it would be unjust to punish him, and
his plea would amount to this, that the sinner be not punished, because he does
not deserve it. But if this plea should be allowed to prevail, it would be a
public acknowledgment on the part of God that His law was unjust. But this may
never be.
5. He may not plead anything that shall reflect upon the administration
of the Law-giver. Should he plead that men had been hardly treated by the
Law-giver, either in their creation, or by His providential arrangements, or by
suffering them to be so tempted -- or if, in any wise, he brings forward a plea
that reflects upon the Law-giver, in creation, or in the administration of His
government, the Law-giver can not listen to his plea, and forgive the sinner,
without condemning Himself. In that case, instead of insisting that the sinner
should repent, virtually the Law-giver would be called upon Himself to
repent.
6. He may not plead any excuse whatever for the sinner in
mitigation of his guilt, or in extenuation of his conduct. For if he does, and
the Law-giver should forgive in answer to such a plea, He would confess that He
had been wrong, and that the sinner did not deserve the sentence that had been
pronounced against him.
He must not plead that the sinner does not deserve the damnation
of hell; for, should he urge this plea, it would virtually accuse the justice
of God, and would be equivalent to begging that the sinner might not be sent
unjustly to hell. This would not be a proper plea for mercy, but rather an
issue with justice. It would be asking that the sinner might not be sent to
hell, not because of the mercy of God, but because the justice of God forbids
it. This will never be.
7. He can not plead as our Advocate that He has paid our debt,
in such a sense that He can demand our discharge on the ground of justice. He
has not paid our debt in such a sense that we do not still owe it. He has not
atoned for our sins in such a sense that we might not still be justly punished
for them. Indeed, such a thing is impossible and absurd. One being can not suffer
for another in such a sense as to remove the guilt of that other. He may suffer
for another's guilt in such a sense that it will be safe to forgive the sinner,
for whom the suffering has been endured; but the suffering of the substitute
can never, in the least degree, diminish the intrinsic guilt of the criminal.
Our Advocate may urge that He has borne such suffering for us to honor the law
that we had dishonored, that now it is safe to extend mercy to us; but He never
can demand our discharge on the ground that we do not deserve to be
punished. The fact of our intrinsic guilt remains, and must forever remain; and
our forgiveness is just as much an act of sovereign mercy, as if Christ had
never died for us.
8. But Christ may plead His sin-offering to sanction the law, as
fulfilling a condition, upon which we may be forgiven.
This offering is not to be regarded as the ground upon
which justice demands our forgiveness. The appeal of our Advocate is not to
this offering as payment in such a sense that now in justice He can demand that
we shall be set free. No. As I said before, it is simply the fulfilling of a
condition, upon which it is safe for the mercy of God to arrest and set aside
the execution of the law, in the case of the penitent sinner.
Some theologians appear to me to have been unable to see this
distinction. They insist upon it that the atonement of Christ is the ground
of our forgiveness. They seem to assume that He literally bore the
penalty for us in such a sense that Christ now no longer appeals to mercy, but
demands justice for us. To be consistent they must maintain that Christ
does not plead at a mercy-seat for us, but having paid our debt, appears before
a throne of justice, and demands our discharge.
I cannot accept this view. I insist that His offering could not
touch the question of our intrinsic desert of damnation. His appeal is to the
infinite mercy of God, to His loving disposition to pardon; and He points to
His atonement, not as demanding our release, but as fulfilling a condition upon
which our release is honorable to God. His obedience to the law and the
shedding of His blood He may plead as a substitute for the execution of the law
upon us -- in short, He may plead the whole of His work as God-man and
Mediator. Thus He may give us the full benefit of what He has done to sustain
the authority of law and to vindicate the character of the Law-giver, as
fulfilling conditions that have rendered it possible for God to be just and
still justify the penitent sinner.
9. But the plea is directed to the merciful disposition of
God. He may point to the promise made to him in Isaiah, chap. 52d, from v. 13
to the end, and chap. 53, vs. 1, 2: "Behold, my servant shall deal
prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
"As many were astonished at thee; (his visage was so marred
more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:)
"So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut
their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they
see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
"Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of
the Lord revealed?
"For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as
a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall
see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him."
10. He may plead also that He becomes our surety, that He
undertakes for us, that He is our wisdom, and righteousness, and
sanctification, and redemption; and point to His official relations. His
infinite fullness, willingness, and ability to restore us to obedience) and to
fit us for the service, the employments, and enjoyments of heaven. It is said
that He is made the surety of a better covenant than the legal one; and a
covenant founded upon better promises.
11. He may urge as a reason for our pardon the great pleasure it
will afford to God, to set aside the execution of the law. "Mercy
rejoiceth against judgment." Judgment is His strange work; but He delighteth
in mercy.
It is said of Victoria that when her prime minister presented a
pardon, and asked her if she would sign a pardon in the case of some individual
who was sentenced to death, she seized the pen, and said, "Yes! with all
my heart!" Could such an appeal be made to a woman's heart, think you,
without its leaping for joy to be placed in a position in which it could save
the life of a fellow-being?
It is said that "there is joy in the presence of the angels
of God over one sinner that repenteth;" and think you not that it affords
God the sincerest joy to be able to forgive the wretched sinner, and save him
from the doom of hell? He has no pleasure in our death.
It is a grief to Him to be obliged to execute His law on
sinners; and no doubt it affords Him infinitely higher pleasure to forgive us,
than it does us to be forgiven. He knows full well what are the unutterable
horrors of hell and damnation. He knows the sinner can not bear it. He says,
"Can thine heart endure, and can thine hands be strong in the day that I
shall deal with thee? And what wilt thou do when I shall punish thee?" Our
Advocate knows that to punish the sinner is that in which God has no delight --
that He will forgive and sign the pardon with all His heart.
And think you such an appeal to the heart of God, to His
merciful disposition, will have no avail? It is said of Christ, our Advocate,
that "for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, and despised the
shame." So great was the love of our Advocate for us that He regarded it a
pleasure and a joy so great to save us from hell, that He counted the shame and
agony of the cross as a mere trifle He despised them.
This, then, is a disclosure of the heart of our Advocate.
And how surely may He assume that it will afford God the sincerest joy, eternal
joy, to be able honorably to seal to us a pardon.
12. He may urge the glory that will redound to the Son of God,
for the part that He has taken in this work.
Will it not be eternally honorable in the Son to have advocated
the cause of sinners? to have undertaken at so great expense to Himself a cause
so desperate? and to have carried it through at the expense of such agony and blood?
Will not the universe of creatures forever wonder and adore, as
they see this Advocate surrounded with the innumerable throng of souls,
for whom His advocacy has prevailed? 13. Our Advocate may plead the gratitude
of the redeemed, and the profound thanks and praise of all good beings.
Think you not that the whole family of virtuous beings will
forever feel obliged for the intervention of Christ as out Advocate, and for
the mercy, forbearance, and love that has saved our race?
REMARKS
You see what it is to become a Christian. It is to employ Christ
as your Advocate, by committing your cause entirely to Him. You can not be
saved by your works, you can not be saved by your sufferings, by your prayers
in any way except by the intervention of this Advocate. "He ever
lives to make intercession for you."
He proposes to undertake your cause; and to be a Christian is to
at once surrender your whole cause, your whole life and being to Him as your
Advocate.
2. He is an Advocate that loses no causes. Every cause committed
to Him, and continued in His hands, is infallibly gained. His advocacy is
all-prevalent. God has appointed Him as an Advocate; and wherever He appears in
behalf of any sinner who has committed his cause to Him one word of His is sure
to prevail. Hence you see,
3. The safety of believers. Christ is always at His post, ever
ready to attend to all the concerns of those who have made Him their Advocate.
He is able to save unto the uttermost all that come unto God by Him; and abiding
in Him you are forever safe.
4. You see the position of unbelievers. You have no
advocate. God has appointed an Advocate; but you reject Him. You
think to get along without. Perhaps some of you think you will be punished for
your sins, and not ask forgiveness. Others of you may think you will approach
in your own name; and, without any atonement, or without any advocate, you will
plead your own cause. But God will not suffer it. He has appointed an Advocate
to act in your behalf, and unless you approach through Him, God will not hear
you.
Out of Christ, He is to you a consuming fire. When the judgement
shall set, and you appear in your own name, you will surely appear unsanctified
and unsaved. You will not be able to lift up your head, and you will be ashamed
to look in the face of the Advocate, who will then sit both as judge, and
Advocate.
5. I ask, Have you retained. Him? Have you, by your own
consent, made Him your Advocate?
It is not enough that God should have appointed Him to act in
this relation.
He can, not act for you in this relation unless you
individually commit yourself and your case to His advocacy.
This is done, as I have said, by confiding or committing the
whole question of your salvation to Him.
6. Do any of you say that you are unable to employ Him?
But remember, the fee which He requires of you, is your heart. You have
a heart. It is not money, but your heart that He seeks.
The poor, then, may employ Him as well as the rich; the
children, who have not a penny of their own, well as their rich parents. All
may employ Him, for all have hearts.
7 He tenders His services gratuitously to all, requiring
nothing of them but confidence, gratitude, love, obedience. This the poor and
the rich alike must render; this they are alike able to render.
8. Can any of you do without Him? Have you ever considered how
it will be with you? But the question comes now to this -- Will you consent to
give up your sins, and trust your souls to the advocacy of Christ? to give Him
the fee that He asks -- your heart, your confidence, your grateful love, your
obedience?
Shall He be your Advocate of shall He not? Suppose He stood
before you, as I do, and in His hand the book of life with a pen dipped in the
very light of heaven, and should ask, "Who of you will now consent to make
Me your Advocate?" Suppose He should inquire of you, sinner,
"Can I be of any service to you? Can I do anything for you, dying sinner?
Can I befriend and help you in any wise? Can I speak a good word for you? Can I
interpose My blood, My death, My life, My advocacy, to save you from the depths
of hell? And will you consent? Shall I take down your name? Shall I write it in
the book of life? Shall it today be told in heaven that you are saved? And may
I report that you have committed your cause to Me. and thus give joy in heaven?
Or will you reject Me, stand upon your own defense, and attempt to carry your
cause through at the solemn judgement?"
Sinner, I warn you in the name of Christ not now to say me nay.
Consent now and here, and let it be written in
heaven.
9. Have any of you made
His advocacy sure by committing all to Him? If you have, He has attended to
your cause, because He has secured your pardon; and the evidence you have in
your peace of mind. Has He attended to your cause? Have you the inward sense of
reconciliation, the inward witness that you believe that you are forgiven, that
you are accepted, that Christ has undertaken for you, and that He has already
prevailed and secured for you pardon, and given in your own soul the peace of
God that passeth understanding to rule in your heart? It is a striking fact in
Christian experience, that whenever we really commit our cause to Jesus, He
without delay secures our pardon, and in the inward peace that follows, gives
us the assurance of our acceptance, that He has interposed His blood, that His
blood is accepted for us, that His advocacy has prevailed, and that we are
saved.
Do not stop short of this; for if your peace is truly made with
God -- if you are in fact forgiven -- the sting of remorse is gone; there is no
longer any chafing or any irritation between your spirit and the Spirit of God;
the sense of condemnation and remorse has given place to the spirit of Gospel
liberty, peace, and love.
The stony heart is gone; the heart of flesh has taken its place;
the dry sensibility is melted, and peace flows like a river. Have you this? Is
this a matter of consciousness with you?
If so, then leave your cause, by a continual committal of it, to
the advocacy of Christ; abide in Him, and let Him abide in you, and you are
safe as the surroundings of Almighty arms can make you.