Well, very good. Please be seated. So I know, well, I'm glad I don't really have to introduce Malachi, but actually, maybe all of you know Malachi will actually be there in a couple, two or three weeks. He'll be taking a helm for a few weeks, but he's speaking this morning since Jim couldn't make it. Let's welcome Malachi and enjoy his teaching from the Word. Hey, good morning, Leightonville. It's good to, well, I wish I was there in person, but hopefully I get to be there in person soon. I'm looking forward to that. If you have your Bibles with you, go ahead and turn to the book of 1 John. Before we just get into the text, I'm going to pray one more time and ask for the Lord's blessing as we look into His Word together and seek to behold the glory of Christ together. That's what we want. Like I said, we're in the book of 1 John toward the end of your Bibles there. And I'm going to go ahead and pray before we dive in. So Lord in heaven, we give you thanks for this day. We thank you for the opportunity to be able to look at your word together today and how we pray for your grace. I pray that you would give us all your spirit, help us to understand your word clearly. and pray that you would burn it down deep into our hearts, that you would grant us the conviction that we need, that you would grant us the encouragement that we need. Would you please minister to us, O God? We want to be more like Christ. We want to run in the way of your commandments. So, Lord, please enlarge our hearts, we pray. We ask that you would help us to behold the glories of our Savior and pray that as we look at these words on a page, that we would see them for what they are, as your words, and not just words, but words from heaven, and help us to behold the glory of Christ, and touch my own heart, touch the heart of those who listen, help us to come away more in love with our Savior today by what we look at today. In Christ Jesus' name we pray, amen. So with your Bibles open before you this morning, I'm going to read from 1 John 1 verse 5 through chapter 2 and verse 2. And it says this, this is the message which we have heard from him and declare to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And if we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. This morning we're actually just going to be focusing on the last two verses that we read, chapter 2 verses 1 and 2. But the context, I want to bring the context here together. Just glance down at where he starts back in chapter 1 verse 5. He starts in declaring this glorious message of an absolutely holy God. This is the message which we had from the beginning, that God is light. And from there, John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, goes on to expose a number of different lies for us to be aware of. The first kind of lie that John exposes for us is a person, in verses 6 and 7, that we might call a hypocrite. This guy is a guy who says that he has fellowship with God, when in reality he's just walking in darkness. He's a hypocrite. He says one thing and he does another. And what that person needs is to repent and to come to the light. Another type of person that the Apostle John exposes is in verses 8 and 9. This is the kind of person who believes that he has actually reached perfection. that he has attained to having grown out of any sin. It says in verse 8, but if we say that we have no sin, it's this man who thinks he's finally made it. He's arrived, and John exposes him, and he says, we deceive ourselves if that's what we say. Of course we have sin. And then in verse 10, he addresses someone who looks back on his life and says, pretty much, I've been a pretty good guy. If we say that we have not sinned, my whole life I've always been pretty good. Well, John looks at that man and he just says that that man is making God a liar because God would look at him and say, that's not true, you have sinned. You have sinned. So what John has successfully done is he has hemmed us in from first to last. We can't get away from this fact. If you're an honest person, you can't get away from the fact that I am a sinner. And not only have I sinned in the past, but I'm also going to sin in the future. And is there any chance of my getting away from it? Well, There's a particular response here that someone might have. One response is that someone might just give up, throw in the towel and say, I'm done. I am, I will continue to be a sinner. There's no chance for me to not, so I'm done even trying. And that's why John brings us here. to chapter 2 and verse 1. And he says, My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. We'll get into more detail in a bit. But do you all get the picture here? The picture is in chapter 1, he has proved the totality of human sin from first to last. And in chapter 2, He is now stepping in to encourage believers to grow in their sanctification, to continue to walk in holiness. So the title for this morning's message is this, Instructions and Helps for Christian Sinners. Instructions and Helps for Christian Sinners. And our first point for this morning is Christ's instructions for us. Christ's instructions for us. We've already read it. It's in the first part of verse two. He says, My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. A couple observations that we need to think about here first is he refers to them as my little children. The apostle John has a heart for these people to whom he's writing. He loves them and he thinks of them dearly. By this time when the Apostle John is writing this letter, he's an old man. And so he thinks tenderly upon these Christians and that's why he writes to them as his little children. But I want you to notice also that he gives them a very simple command, a very simple purpose. He says, these things I write to you So that you may not sin. So that you may not sin. So that you may not break God's commandment. Perhaps you don't think of the... Perhaps we don't think in those simple of terms very often. But this is a verse in the Bible. So that you may not sin. That's what God wants for His people. And that is actually another very important observation that we need to pause to think about here. John is not writing to this group of people to tell them how to become Christians. Look at the first part of the verse again. It says, my little children. There's already a connection. They're already in the same Christian family together. They're already Christians. He's not instructing them how to become Christians. Instead, he's instructing them how to live out their Christian life and the purpose that God would have for them. My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. So, he addresses them with tenderness, and he addresses them with a very simple command. But there's also one other point that I want us to note here, and that's that it is an absolute command. There aren't any exceptions. These things I write to you so that you may not sin. And I want us to just pause a second and get our minds thinking about the absolute nature of that first part of that verse. The big sins, I'm just going to throw out some examples here to get your imaginations going, because when you read the Word, the purpose of reading the Word of God is to know that it applies to our everyday life, and they're not just words on a page. So, this would apply to quote-unquote big sins, like stealing things, thievery. It also applies to things like small sins, quote-unquote, like laziness. It applies to sins that you might feel are easy to tackle. Maybe some people aren't really fighters, and so they don't really feel tempted to go brawling out on a Saturday night. But it also applies to those. It applies to sins that feel enslaving, that just grip your heart and you feel like you can't get away from it, this applies to those too. It applies to sins that are ugly, like pedophilia. And it applies to sins that are quote-unquote respectable, such as lying to make your friends or your business look good. No matter the sin, no matter the sin, These things I write to you, Christians, to you, believer, to you who have called upon the name of the Lord. I write these things to you, says the Apostle John, so that you may not sin. It's a negative commandment. By that, I mean it has the word not in there. I write these things to you so that you may not sin, but kind of a positive way that we might think of it would be Be holy, for I am holy." Right? I write these things to you that you not sin, but be holy. Walk and live like Christ instead. Now, before we go any further, I really do want to... We need to remind ourselves that these aren't instructions for non-Christians. He's not writing to people who haven't called upon the name of the Lord. He's writing to Christians who have already confessed with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, and have believed in their heart that God has raised them from the dead, and they've been saved. He's writing to them, not how to be saved, but how to walk out their new life in Christ. So now I want to point out and draw to your attention through the scriptures a couple different reasons as to why we walk in this new life in Christ. So just turn a page or two to the right to 1 John 3 9. We were speaking about it this morning in Sunday school. with regard to the doctrine of regeneration, being born again, when God makes a Christian to be a new Christian, that is a reason as to why Christians are to not sin. It says in 1 John 3, 9, whoever has been born of God does not sin. Pause and think about that verse for a minute, and if you're an honest person, You're going to read it and say, well, I sinned actually just this morning. What does that verse mean? I think I have been born of God. I think I have been regenerated. So what does whoever has been born of God does not sin? What does that mean? It means that that is no longer his lifestyle. Of course, just like he stated back in chapter 1, verses 6 through 10, Of course, every person is going to continue to sin, but if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have been changed from the inside out. You have been regenerated. It says in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17, it says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. He's a new creature. And when someone is made to be a new creature, he's going to walk as a new creature. My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. A second biblical reason as to why John is writing this to Christians can be found back in Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6, verses 1 through 4. And this reason is Christians are called to walk in holiness to God because they've been united to Christ. Again, not so that they may be united to Christ, but because they have been united to Christ. That is why, and this is Paul's argument in Romans chapter 6, he says in verse 1, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? If you're a Christian, not only do you have a new life in Christ, but you have also died to something. You have died to sin in Christ Jesus, according to verse 2. So how can we who died to sin live in it any longer? Verse three, or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. So you see this negative positive. Again, we've been dead. We've been crucified with Christ. If you're a believer in Christ Jesus, you're dead to an old life. But you are also alive to a new life. You walk in newness of life. And how does all of this come about? Because of our union with Christ. We've been connected with Christ Jesus. So we've been regenerated, we've been united with Christ Jesus. Here's another powerful reason for the Christian to not walk in sin any longer. And that's back in the book of John, chapter 8. The book of John, chapter 8, in verse 39. It's simply this. You have been set free from sin. Most people, the world, when the world loves to break the commandments of God, they look at that and they say, that is the epitome of freedom. To do as I want to do. That is freedom. To do away with the commandments of God, that is freedom. To be bound and to be hemmed in to righteousness, that is enslavement, which is a lie from the devil. True freedom is when Christ has set you free. So look with me at John chapter 8 and verse 34. It says, Jesus answered them, most assuredly I say to you, whosoever commits sin, is a slave of sin. Whosoever commits sin is a slave of sin. Sometime, right in your margin, 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 19, and you'll see this slavery kind of expounded a little bit. We're not going to turn there now for the sake of time. But the Lord Jesus Christ says, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. It's not freedom, it's slavery. But look down at how he describes the Christian in verse 36. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. Free indeed. Free from what? Well, free from the slavery that he spoke of in verse 34. Free now to live in righteousness. Free to live for God. and His holiness. My little children, I write these things unto you so that you may not sin. Turn with me over to Ephesians, chapter 5, verses 1 to 8. Another biblical reason behind this command. You, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have been raised from poverty to being a child of God and being brought into His light, having your very nature changed. from a child of darkness to being a child of light." Ephesians chapter 5 verses 1 to 8. Therefore be imitators of God. Why? Because these people need to be saved? Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. They're already Christians. they're already saved. He continues, and he describes what that looks like. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints. Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor coarse jesting which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater has an inheritance of the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. The wrath of God is real and it comes upon those who walk in disobedience to God, friends. We know that. Verse seven, therefore, do not be partakers with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. So what are we supposed to do as light in the Lord? Walk as children of light. I had one more example, but I'd already cited it earlier, and that was from 1 Peter 1, verse 16. Be holy, for I am holy, is the way that the Lord had said it. And he goes on to say, in verse 18, that you've been redeemed. You've been redeemed, Christian, and that's why we seek to live holy lives in Christ Jesus. So I want to camp on this and expand upon this a little more. Again, get our minds engaged into thinking about what this looks like in our day-to-day. Did you know that you were saved not only to go to heaven? You were saved to walk as a Christian in this world. You were saved to be holy. You were saved to serve the Lord with your life. You were saved to serve the Lord with your affection. And it's not this bondage that he reaches out and shackles around your neck and your wrists. Remember, this is freedom. getting to do what I was made to do. Husbands, you've been saved to love your wives as Christ loved the church. That's what it looks like to live holy in your family. Fathers and mothers, you've been saved to love your kids and to raise them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. You've been made a Christian and you know what it is to walk a Christian life. And you're not going to teach your children that what you have to do is do these good things in order to get yourself to heaven. No! You're going to raise them up in the truth taught in the Word of God of salvation by grace and faith alone in Christ Jesus alone for the forgiveness of sins. You've been saved that the thoughts that go on in your life would be sanctified and holy. That the things that you think about in your spare time would be edifying to your soul and that you would grow, that you would meditate upon the Word of God. You're a representative of God. You remember that word back in Ephesians chapter 5? Be imitators of God. as dear children, an imitator of God, a representative of the family, a representative of the heavenly family. So I want to also give you this illustration to show something of the weight of this, but also the glorious freedom that comes with this. If you had a million dollars or two, you might hire a cleaning crew, a cleaning lady to come in and clean up your house, right? You hand her a key and say, I'm going to be gone for the weekend. Come in and clean everything, but, but don't touch the garage. Stay out of the master bedroom and leave the basement alone. And you know why you can do that? You can do that because in that scenario, it's your house and that cleaning lady is working for you. and she's getting paid by you, so you get to call the shots as to what she can touch and what she can't. But it was Matthew Henry, that old commentator, who painted this wonderful picture for me several years ago. If Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life, and if your life is his house, you hand him the key, and you give him access to every room to cleanse and to purify and to sanctify for his own use. You don't get to tell him, you can clean everything, just don't clean the basement. You don't get to tell him, you can touch it up here and there, just don't go in the master bedroom. You don't get to do that as a Christian. And actually, it's your privilege, isn't it? because the Lord Jesus Christ is willing. He's willing to come and to cleanse and to sanctify. But that's the call upon the life of a Christian. My little children, I write these things to you so that you sin not. No toleration. No pet sins. No pet sins. Every room. You hand him the key. Lord, this is your house. Clean it all. You call the shots. So, we have this duty upon our lives. Hopefully, you're getting that perspective by now. My little children, these things are right to you so that you may not sin. Period. End. Full stop. But if you're like me, you read that sentence and you think, I have failed, I don't know how many times already this morning. I have already sinned so much this morning. I've already failed. And so maybe you feel like the Apostle Paul sometimes. I'm sure you do. I'm sure you feel like the Apostle Paul in Romans 7 sometimes. Do you remember that in Romans 7 19? He said something to the... I have it written down. If you want to turn there, you can. Romans 7 19. For the good that I will to do, I do not. I want to do this good, but I don't do it. But the evil that I will not to do, that I practice. So Paul, the Apostle Paul himself, he feels this struggle. He knows that God has called him to holiness. He wants to walk in holiness, but he can't do it. He won't do it. And instead, the sin that he doesn't want to do, he does that. And so he says in verse 24, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Have you ever said that to yourself? Who is going to deliver me from the body of this death? I sin all the time. The Holy Spirit calls me to not sin. I've been saved, I've been set apart from the world and set apart to God's use, but I break His laws and commandments all the time. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Here's another cross-reference for you, Psalm chapter 40, verse 12. It says, "...for innumerable evils have compassed me about, Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I'm not able to look up." Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever feel that your iniquities just kind of grab you, surround you so much, even as a Christian that you feel like you can't even look up to heaven? Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They are more than the hair of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth me." And if that is where the scripture ended, we would be a very depressed bunch of people. But that brings us to our second point. And that is looking at Christ's helps that he offers for Christians. Who's sin? I know that's kind of a long title for a second point. But let's look at Christ's helps that he offers for Christians who sin. The first help that we see is this. Christ has given us a Bible to keep us from sinning. And I'm going to show that to you right from this text. I'm not making that up. Look down again at 1 John 2 and verse 1. My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. Christians, do you want to fight Sin, God has given you a book so that you may not sin. That's what it says in verse 1. There is a correlation between your intake of God's Word and your sin. Between my intake of God's Word and my sin. Psalm 119.11 Once I begin to quote the verse, many of you will know it, it says, Thy word I have hid in mine heart, that I may not sin against thee. It says in Psalm 119 verse 8, it says, With what can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed. That means paying attention. By taking heed thereto, according to your word. Brothers and sisters, when you are in the throes of temptation, what's the weapon you're reaching for? Because when you are being drawn into the throes of temptation, at that point, when your temper is getting ready to flare up or where your love for the world is getting warmer and your love for Christ is getting colder when this sin is crouching at the door, that's a battle for your life in Christ. So what's the weapon that you reach for? My little children, these things write I unto you, so that you may not sin. So if you find yourself, just take a quick heart check. If you find yourself letting your sin just slip in and conquer more and more ground in your heart, ask yourself, have I been letting my Bible reading slip? Or maybe even this question, perhaps I've been reading my Bible But maybe I haven't been reading it with my mind. Maybe I'm just hopping into the habit of running over the words. The Bible, God's Word is there to instruct us, and to help us, and to read with understanding. But maybe you think that the Bible is too hard for you to understand. And there are some segments of the word, very many segments of the word that are very hard to understand. Every one of us knows that. When we read a verse or two or five or 17 in the Bible and we just think, I have no idea what that was about. I just don't. Well, at that point, you could just throw up your hands and give up and say, well, I tried. Or if it's a large section, Just try to find something. Find something in the Word that you can hang on to and know, I can understand that. Get yourself a copy of Matthew Henry's commentary and read him. See if he can help explain it to you. Listen to sermons by godly men on that subject. But here's actually the most important thing for you to do. When you sit down in the morning to read your Bible, Don't just sit down and read. Pray first. Lord, help me to understand. You have to start there because Christ will help you. So he's given you a book to help you in your fight against sin, but not only that, Christ is our advocate when we sin. Look at the rest of verse 1. And if anyone sins, he goes on to say, See, this is wonderful. The Holy Spirit, He commands us point blank. My little children, I write these things unto you so that you sin not. And then right afterward, He comes in to comfort us when we might feel despair and throw up our hands and just say, well, I give up. I can't do that. Then He goes on to say, and if anyone sins, which is all of us, and if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Now look at that term advocate. Advocate is used only five times in the Bible, and every other time in the Bible it is used in reference to the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 14, John chapter 15 and John chapter 16, all in reference to the Holy Spirit. It's the Greek word paraclete. I'm sure you've heard that before. But it's used here, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the paraclete. What that word means is He's one that comes alongside to help you. Are you a child of God? You have an advocate. You have one who will come alongside of you to help you. And his name is Jesus Christ, the righteous. Now, maybe we need to ask ourselves this question. Why do we need an advocate? We need an advocate because we sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father. Sinners can't help themselves. Has anyone ever quoted to you the famous Bible verse, God helps those that help themselves? Let me tell you, that's not a Bible verse. It's not anywhere in the word of God. It's not there. It's the advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, that helps sinners. And I want to point out a couple more things to you is notice that he's not an advocate before the king or before the judge. That might have been true, but it says there in verse 1 that he's an advocate with the father. So not only is the advocate on our side, but also the judge himself is our father, and he is on our side as well. Do you see how we're hemmed in with help from God in Trinity? And remember, the Holy Spirit himself is also called our advocate. So we have God, the Holy Spirit, who is our helper, our comforter. We have Jesus Christ, the righteous, who is our advocate. And we have the Father, who not only is the judge, but is also our Father. We're just hemmed in with help all the way around. So what does it look like for Christ to be our advocate? I want to point out just a couple of examples to you. The first is in Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22 and verse 31. This is what it looks like when the Lord Jesus Christ is helping, when he comes alongside of his weak, sinful disciples. He says, Simon, Simon. Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. Now let's pause there. I remember hearing a sermon once, and at this point the preacher interjected and said something to the effect of, and you told him no, right? But that's not the answer. Trials will come your way, and trials are not meant to be escaped from, child of God. Trials are not meant to be escaped from. They're meant to be learned from. They're meant to draw you closer to Christ Jesus, your advocate. Simon, Simon, indeed Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you. that your faith should not fail." Well, that's really nice, you might think. Christ prayed that way for Simon, but would he pray that way for me? Would he pray that my faith wouldn't fail? Turn over to John, chapter 17. John, chapter 17, verse 9. This is the Lord Jesus Christ praying He says, I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. And all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name. Keep them, hold them, guard them. Look down at verse 17. Look at what he's praying for his disciples. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. The Lord Jesus Christ has prayed for your holiness, Christian. Look at verse 20. I do not pray for these alone. In other words, those 12 disciples that were in the upper room. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word." That's you and I. We have come to believe in Christ through their word. Jesus Christ has prayed for you, and that is part of what it looks like for Him to be an advocate for you, child of God. One more. Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 24. Hebrews chapter 7 in verse 24 This is speaking of the ministry of Jesus Christ And it says but he Because he continues forever has an unchangeable priesthood therefore verse 25 Therefore he is also able to save and to the uttermost, those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. Therefore, He is also able to save, how much? To the uttermost, to the very end. He is able to save to the uttermost. Who? Who is He able to save? Those who come to God through Him, since He is Since he always lives to make intercession for them That's good news brothers and sisters. We have an advocate in heaven on our behalf Jesus Christ the righteous This is not the privilege of the world This is not the privilege of anyone who is not in Christ Jesus Remember he's addressing this to those who are his little children If anyone sins, we, he says, we who are Christians, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So Christ has given us a book to help us to fight sin. Christ has also given us himself as our advocate to help us when we sin. But here's the third point. Christ is the propitiation for our sins. Notice at the end of verse 1 that He is not just referred to as Jesus Christ. He is referred to as Jesus Christ the Righteous. Why is He called Jesus Christ the Righteous? That is as much as to say He is Jesus Christ the Just. Him who has kept the Law of God perfectly. He is the Just One. And what does it say about him? It says, and he himself, notice the emphasis on the subject, on the glorious person of this advocate of ours, he himself, Jesus Christ, the creator, the sustainer, and him for whom all the world was created, he himself is the propitiation for our sins. and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. Now I want to bring this connection together. We're getting close to kind of wrapping up with some final points, so hang in there with me. I want to draw this connection between righteous and propitiation with you all. He is righteous because he has offered the propitiation, and that is why Jesus Christ can be the just helper of sinners. I know that's complicated, and I want to explain it with this illustration. Let's say that there is a police officer who finds a wallet somewhere in Laytonville, and he looks inside to find a driver's license, and on the driver's license is obviously an address. but in doing a little more digging, he discovers that the owner of the wallet has actually broken parole. He was an inmate and he's done something that now he deserves to go back to jail. But the cop, instead of serving an arrest warrant, he drives up to the address, he hands over the wallet and says, hey, I found your wallet. have a great day and he drives off. He decided to be nice. He decided to just look the other way and let it slide this time. That is not how Jesus Christ is our advocate. Jesus Christ cannot look the other way on our sin. Why? Because at the end of verse 1 it says, He is Jesus Christ the righteous. He is Jesus Christ the just. He is Jesus Christ who must fulfill the law of God to the nth degree. Jesus Christ the righteous. So then, here's the question. How is it that Jesus Christ can afford to be the advocate of a wretched man? like me? The answer is verse 2, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins. Now that's a $10 word, and many of you know it already, but we're going to camp on what propitiation is with an illustration. Numbers chapter 25 verses 1 to 14. You've heard this story. It's a story about the people of God after they have been brought out of the land of Egypt, and they've been set free to live for God. And in Numbers chapter 25, verses 1 and following, here's the story. It says, Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, And the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel." So get the picture. These people are cheating on God. They're acting faithlessly toward God. Let's continue. Then the Lord said to Moses, take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord. Hang them, put them to death. Hang the offenders before the Lord out in the sun that the fierce anger, that's the second time, the second time of the word anger, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel. So Moses said to the judges of Israel, every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor. And indeed one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman, a pagan woman, a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Now when Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand." I'm going to pause there before we continue on with the story. Get this picture in your mind. The holy people of God are acting faithlessly. They're cheating toward God and committing fornication. They were supposed to be separated. They were supposed to be separated from the world and to live and walk in the law of God, but they weren't. So there's one man in particular who takes one wife in front of everybody, and this man named Phineas, the son of Aaron, sees it, and he is going to do something about it. He rose from among the congregation, verse 7, and took a javelin in his hand And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. And those who died in the plague were 24,000. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath. That's the third time that word occurs. Has turned back my wrath from the children of Israel because he was zealous with my zeal among them so that I did not consume the children of Israel in my zeal. Therefore say, behold, I give to him my covenant of peace and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant and everlasting priesthood because he was zealous for his God and made atonement That's an important word that I'll get to in just a minute. Made atonement for the children of Israel. So the reason why I bring up that historical event in the life of the people of Israel is to not give instruction as to how we're supposed to interact with the world. There are people who claim the name of Christ who go out and take the lives of others. And that is not a representation of Christ. This is an event that occurs in the old economy of God's people where things were different. If you have more questions about how that works, either ask my dad or even myself when I get up there. But you see the picture. Israel had sinned and God's wrath was aroused against Israel. It was fierce anger. and 24,000 people were killed. Blood was shed because of the sin of these people when they had broken the law of God. But there was a man who stopped it. His name was Phineas. And it said in verse 13 that Phineas had made atonement for the children of Israel, and he did that by shedding the blood of those two, that Israelite in that Midianite woman. Here's the point that I'm wanting us to see, is that that word made atonement is very closely related to our word in 1 John chapter 2. And he himself is the propitiation. He made the atonement. But he didn't just make the atonement, he made the atonement to satisfy the fierce anger that anger that was burning upon the faithless people. And this, that story in Numbers chapter 25 is your story, and that's my story. Only you're not Phineas and Aaron, and I'm not Moses or Phineas. You and I are in a place like the faithless people who are cheating on God. The fierce anger of the Lord was burning and it had to be satisfied. It had to be satisfied. There was no other way to forgive the people of Israel than that justice must be served. So how was justice served? 1st John chapter 2 and verse 2. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins. Christ took the hit. Back in Numbers chapter 25, much blood was shed, and the propitiation was offered. God's wrath was satisfied. And at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, the propitiation was made for our sins, not for His. He was the spotless lamb led to the slaughter, and He bled out His righteous and holy blood, because all out of love and out of zeal for the glory of God, He gave Himself over to be the propitiation for our sins. But not for ours only, it goes on to say. but also for the whole world. Not meaning that everybody in the whole world is going to go to heaven, because that's obvious that not everybody in the world is going to go to heaven. But everybody who has been bought by the blood of Christ, regardless of color, regardless of whether that man is an executive in Silicon Valley, or a trimmer on Bell Springs, whether that man has a high school degree, or whether that man flunked out, whether that woman lives in Japan, or China, or Somalia, whether he was raised in an Anglican home in England, or whether he was raised in a Muslim home in Africa somewhere. Whoever would call upon the name of the Lord would be saved. And that's just as true today. as it was then. He himself is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." So here's the end of it, Christian. Here's the end. There is no room for dread in these couple of verses. Romans 8 chapter 1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation, no more wrath to be shed upon your head because it was shed upon Christ Jesus on your behalf. It was shed upon Christ Jesus who became incarnate for us and for our salvation, who ascended on high and has promised to return again as King of the world. He was the propitiation, and there is no condemnation for you or for me who trust in Christ. And the call upon our life is high. That's where we started. My little children, these things are right to you so that you may not sin. No pet sins allowed. None. None. Kill them all. Cut them off at the head, at the root, Submit them to the Lord in prayer, yes, but also you must walk in obedience. Don't just pray about these things. Walk in obedience. No sin. And if anyone sins, just like you will sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father. He's given you his word to help you fight. He's given you himself as his advocate. And He has given you Himself as the propitiation for your sins. And so we can walk on in the world until we finally get to see Him with our eyes as He really is. Let's pray.