21. THE CHRISTIAN'S ADVOCATE
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Who needs an Advocate? The accused. And are we accused? Yes; and we are rightly charged with many offences. Sin has ruined us. Iniquities have sadly prevailed against us. They have brought us into disgrace before God, and angels, and men. Our own consciences indict and convict us. We cannot answer for one of a thousand of our transgressions. In the court of Heaven our names are worthless. God often reminds us of this, telling us that if He shows mercy or spares us—it is not for our sakes. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.
And is there any Advocate for such transgressors? Yes. Is it a sinful man like ourselves? No. Such a one could not answer for himself. Is it some holy angel? No. If such an one were to hear the whole story of our guilt, he would throw out our cause from disgust at such baseness and ingratitude. It is Jesus Christ. He pleads and manages our cause before His Father. We have an Advocate. Thanks be to God for that.
Our Advocate can lay His hand upon our offended Judge. He counts it not robbery to be equal with God. In Him the Father is well pleased. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All the multitudes in heaven worship Him. To Him the Father has committed all judgment and all authority. We are required to honor the Son as we honor the Father. God has given Him a name that is above every name. He is full of power, as He is of truth and grace. There is none like Him. He is over all, God blessed forever.
And He has our nature also. He was once a weeping babe, a friendless stranger, and sorely tempted of the Devil. He is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He has a brother's heart. He knows by experience every kind of sorrow which it was possible for innocence to endure. Above all others was He a man of sorrows. He wept; He sweat blood; He hungered; He thirsted; He expired on the cross; He bore God's wrath.
And He was without sin. He knew no sin. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Pilate found no fault in Him. Infidelity has detected no flaw in His character. Omniscient purity declared Him sinless, faultless. Now we may glory in Him. If we sin, we have an Advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, THE RIGHTEOUS. Our hope springs from His worthiness and His merits; in no sense from anything in us. He is THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. That is His name.
Then He is a tried Friend of sinners. God has tried Him and found Him faithful as an Advocate for men. Many penitents have tried Him and found Him gracious. He has never undertaken a cause and lost it. He is mighty to save. His advocacy cannot but succeed. The Father hears Him always. All the redeemed in glory are monuments of the efficacy of His intercession.
All this is right. He gave Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. He poured out His soul unto death. The Lord made His soul an offering for sin. He redeems not with silver and gold, but with His most precious blood. The ransom He paid was of infinite value. There is no limit to its sufficiency.
"Dear dying Lamb, Your precious blood
Shall never lose its power
Until all the ransomed Church of God
Be saved to sin no more."
Those blessed hands which were pierced for us on Calvary are the hands which are lifted up for us before the eternal and glorious throne above.
Of the manner of His advocacy we know but little, except that it is very glorious, full of dignity, and full of power. He appears for us. That is enough. Dr. Doddridge represents Him as introducing His chosen to the Father, admitting that they are worthy of death, but pleading that He has died for them.
Of the substance of His advocacy we need entertain no doubt. It is pretty fully explained in His great intercessory prayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John. Now, does any humble soul wish for a sure ground of hope? He has it in Christ's pleading his cause. "Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for you—that your faith fail not" (Luke 22:31-32). And it did not fail—his faith recalled him and made him weep bitterly.
In availing ourselves of Christ's advocacy, let us know what our case is; let us attempt no concealment; let us tell Him all, and let us commit to Him the whole matter. None is able to destroy, if He protects. None can condemn those whom He justifies.
Nor need we be deterred from seeking His mercy by the greatness of our guilt. He saves the chief of sinners as readily as the least of sinners. He is able to save to the uttermost, all who come to God by Him. Reader! you may think your case very bad—and so it is. But you are not worse than the chief of sinners. You may be the uttermost; but you are not beyond the uttermost. Hope in His mercy. Oh, give Him your confidence. Lean on His almighty arm. Take Him as your Advocate.
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