Jesus our Defense Lawyer

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Jesus, our Defense Lawyer

 

There is an old lawyer joke that goes like this: “Do you know what is black and brown and looks good on a lawyer?”

The answer: A Doberman. 

 

Another one is “How do you know a lawyer is lying?” The answer: His lips are moving. 

 

The reason I mentioned this is because those jokes express how a lot of people feel about lawyers. I noticed the other day that Congress’ approval rating is about 31%. Did you know that nearly 70% of those in Congress are lawyers. 

 

A few years ago a young man got into some serious trouble and when he asked who he should get as a lawyer most of his family and friends suggested one lawyer in particular. Their reasoning was that, “He is a crook himself.” 

 

For the most part people are not really fond of lawyers. It may not be fair that people feel that way, but people often refer to lawyers as crooks, cheats, and thieves. The reason they do is because most people are expressing their feelings based on their experience. 

 

Today, we are going to consider another lawyer, a defense lawyer, and see how you feel about Him. 

1 John 2:1 

 

Here in these first 2 verses John uses terminology of the court, letting us know that Jesus, our advocate and defense lawyer, is going to deal with the legal nature of sin. We know that the wages of sin is death.

Romans 6: 23

 

Sin demands to be paid, and it wants its pound of flesh from you. Therefore, in the legal sense, when you sin, that sin immediately makes its case against you. 

 

In this passage of Scripture, John deals with that. He verbally takes us into the courtroom to deal with the legal aspect of sin. Look closer at verse 1 again.  

 

John says, “My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin.”

 

This says we should always try our best to avoid sin. We should strive to stay away from sin. God even helps us out in this.

I Corinthians 10: 13

 

However, John also wrote this for us. 

I John 1: 7 - 10

 

John wrote and told them that even though they sinned,  their fellowship was not broken with God due to the “blood of Christ” and the forgiveness of sin through Christ.

 

However, John didn’t want these Christians to go too far with the cleansing of the blood of Christ. Some of them may have had the same idea that the people Paul is talking to in Romans had.

Romans 6: 1

 

They may think that if the blood of Christ cleanses us from our sin, then let’s just go ahead and sin even more. What John is saying here is that the blood of Christ does cleanse you of your sins, but don’t you take advantage of it.  Don’t abuse it.  The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin but that is not a license to sin. 

 

If you have that attitude, then you are no longer walking in the light, you are walking in darkness. That’s why John wrote this. He wants to keep them from purposely sinning. 

 

In I John 2: 1, John tells them not to purposely sin. He tells them to not intentionally sin. However, he then says, “And if any one sins…”

 

See the “if”…that is not an “if” of doubt…that is an “if” of “when.” John is saying, “Don’t intentionally sin. Don’t purposely sin. You walk in the light, but “when” you do sin, and they will, all is not lost. 

 

That’s because we have an Advocate with the Father. An advocate is someone who intercedes for us. It is someone we call to our side. It is someone who pleads our case. An advocate is a lawyer. 

 

Our Advocate, our intercessor, the one we “call to our side to plead our case” is there with the Father. The Father sends Him to our side to plead our case to Him. Our advocate, our defense lawyer, is none other than Jesus Christ the righteous.  

 

 You are not going to live a life of sin, you are walking in the light. However,  you will sin, and when you do you are guilty, sin demands its wages. Those are high wages. The wages of sin, remember, is spiritual death and condemnation to eternal punishment in hell. 

 

So when we do sin, we make our plea to God for help.

I John 1: 9

 

We should be like David when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband Uriah murdered.

Psalm 51: 1 - 17

 

We should pray fervently to God. We should confess our guilt before Him. We should ask for His forgiveness. 

 

God, who is the Father, or the Judge, is inclined toward us because we have called for His help, and because He has appointed our counsel for us. 

 

We are not told to live perfect lives, because God knows that this is impossible for humans to do. We are simply told to live faithful lives.

Revelation 2: 10

 

Satan wants us to fail. He is always accusing us before God.

Job 1: 6 - 12

Job 2: 1 - 6

 

Satan wants us to give up. He wants us to be frustrated with our struggles. Don’t. Most of us will sin multiple times every single day of our lives. The point is, repent of those sins, confess them to God in prayer, and ask Him to forgive you. We are told in 

I John that our defense lawyer provides counsel in God’s presence for us, and that God will forgive us every single time.