Ours 1 John 1:1-2

John sets a lofty goal before God’s people: “so that you may not sin.” The goal is not managing sin, ranking sin, or making peace with sin. Sin is sin, whether it wears the label of a big daddy sin or a smaller respectable sin. Every sinful action, word, thought, and motive had a hand in nailing Christ to the cross.

The sinfulness of sin gets minimized when people magnify the sins they do not struggle with and excuse the sins they do. Grace gets twisted when it becomes a spiritual loophole, like diplomatic immunity that supposedly keeps sin from being touched. Scripture gives no room for that kind of thinking. Scripture calls God’s people to put sin to death, mortify it, cut it off, and pluck it out. Temptation acts like a delicious itch, promising satisfaction but sitting under the skin where it cannot truly be scratched. Desire conceives, gives birth to sin, and sin grows up into death.

John also gives the answer for the believer who does sin: “we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Christ is the paraclete, the One called alongside. Christ does not merely stand near guilty people and ask the Father to overlook what happened. Christ stands in the place of His people, so that they become lost in Him before the bar of divine justice. His beauty becomes their beauty. His radiance becomes their radiance. His righteousness answers for their guilt.

Christ remains the permanent Priest because death cannot remove Him from office. Old Testament priests could only serve for a season, but Christ lives forever and always makes intercession for those who draw near to God through Him. The believer’s case is secure not because the believer can make a better argument, but because the Advocate is heard, regarded, and seen.

John then names Christ as the propitiation for sins. Propitiation means that Christ satisfied and turned away God’s righteous wrath through His acceptable sacrifice. Satan may accuse day and night, and the charges may be true. Yet Christ does not deny the believer’s guilt. Christ declares that the crime has already been punished. Isaiah shows the reason: the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of all who had gone astray.

The word “ours” is possessive language. Not everyone has this Advocate and propitiation, though everyone can have Him through repentance and faith in Christ alone. Christ calls both the believer refusing to deal with sin and the lost person standing alone before the Judge to come under His finished work.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Never make peace with sin Sin never becomes harmless simply because it has become familiar. Respectable sins can be nursed, joked about, and explained away until they begin to take over. Christ’s cross reveals the true weight of every sin, not merely the sins that look especially ugly in someone else’s life. [45:14]
• 2. Grace is not diplomatic immunity Grace frees God’s people from sin’s condemnation, not into sin’s control. Freedom becomes distorted when forgiveness is treated as a cover-up for evil or a loophole for repeated rebellion. The goal of grace is a life lived as a servant of God, not a life that bargains with what Christ died to destroy. [46:01]
• 3. Christ stands alongside guilty sinners Christ the Advocate does not leave His people alone in the courtroom of divine justice. His righteousness overshadows their guilt, and His person becomes their plea before the Father. The believer is not heard on the basis of personal worthiness but is lost in the beauty and perfection of Christ. [55:26]
• 4. The cross fully answered sin’s debt Propitiation means that God’s righteous judgment against sin was not ignored or softened. Christ bore that judgment Himself, fully satisfying the justice that sinners could never satisfy. Satan’s accusations cannot uncover a sin for which Christ’s blood has not already paid. [65:10]
• 5. Christ can become yours today The word “ours” belongs to those who come to the Father through Jesus Christ alone. A person standing without Christ has no advocate and no payment for sin before the Judge. Repentance and faith bring the sinner under Christ’s finished work, where He becomes both Advocate and propitiation.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [37:42] - A Standalone Word from First John
• [40:41] - Our Goal, Advocate, and Propitiation
• [41:47] - The Lofty Goal: Sin Not
• [42:55] - The Sinfulness of Sin
• [44:27] - Respectable Sins and the Cross
• [46:01] - Grace Is Not a Cover for Evil
• [49:16] - Temptation as a Delicious Itch
• [52:50] - Jesus Christ, Our Advocate
• [55:08] - Lost in the Advocate
• [57:18] - Christ Our Permanent Priest
• [59:35] - Christ Our Propitiation
• [61:51] - The Accuser in God’s Courtroom
• [65:10] - The Crime Has Already Been Punished
• [68:19] - Will Christ Be Yours Today?

1. In 1 John 2:1-2, what two truths are placed side by side: the goal for believers and the provision made when believers do sin? [00:52:50]
2. According to James 1:14-15, what is the progression from desire to temptation, sin, and death? What does the passage not say about “small” or “respectable” sins? [00:51:36]
3. What details in Hebrews 7:22-25 explain why Jesus’ priesthood and intercession are permanent, unlike the Old Testament priests? [00:58:07]
4. In Isaiah 53:5-6, what words describe both what sinners have done and what Christ suffered in their place? [01:06:14]

1. Why does John set the goal as “that you may not sin” instead of telling believers simply to expect sin and move on from it? How does this protect believers from making peace with familiar sins? [00:45:16]
2. What does it mean that Jesus is an “advocate with the Father”? How is Christ’s advocacy more than asking God to overlook a believer’s guilt? [00:55:40]
3. Propitiation means that Christ satisfied God’s righteous judgment against sin through His sacrifice. Why is it important that forgiveness is based on a debt already paid rather than God merely ignoring sin? [01:05:10]
4. First Peter 2:16 says Christian freedom must not become a cover-up for evil. What are some ways a person can use grace like a spiritual loophole while still claiming to believe in forgiveness? [00:47:07]

1. Is there a sin that has become “respectable” in your life—something you excuse, nurse, joke about, or compare favorably with someone else’s more visible sin? What would it look like to stop making peace with it? [00:52:08]
2. When temptation promises satisfaction, what desire does it usually appeal to in your life: comfort, control, approval, pleasure, revenge, escape, or something else? What has that “delicious itch” actually produced when you have followed it? [00:50:47]
3. In what situations are you most tempted to treat God’s grace as permission to delay repentance? What would a response shaped by 1 John 2:1 look like in that situation? [00:48:31]
4. When guilt over past or repeated sin rises up, do you tend to defend yourself, make excuses, hide, or despair? How does remembering that Jesus Christ the righteous is your Advocate change where you turn? [00:56:38]
5. Christ’s intercession does not end because He lives forever. How could this truth strengthen someone who feels worn down by a long struggle against sin? [00:58:30]
6. Isaiah says that the Lord laid “the iniquity of us all” on Christ. What specific burden of guilt or fear do you need to place under Christ’s finished work rather than trying to pay for it yourself? [01:06:30]
7. Jesus becomes Advocate and propitiation for those who draw near to God through Him. Is your confidence before God resting in Christ alone, or is it mixed with confidence in your own goodness, effort, or religious activity? [01:09:22]