01/08/2026
JESUS OUR ADVOCATE ( 8 )
CHRISTOCENTRIC MEAL
DR ABEL DAMINA
SATURDAY AUGUST 1, 2026
1st John 2:1 My little children, these things write I to you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: Vs 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.*
This refers to Believers. Jesus is our Advocate with the Father when we sin, So the Holy Ghost knew that sons of God would sin.
Psalms 130:3 If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Vs 4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.
Jesus lets us see the uniqueness of sons. He says which one of you has a son. Sometimes, you need to experience Fatherhood to understand what he is saying.
Matthew 7:11 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
He stressed the character of the statement. He says even evil/sinful fathers give good gifts. That means we'll respect that relationship. You don't treat children like other people. How would a Christian imagine the father sending his children to hell?
There is a relationship we have with God.When a believer sins, it is a son that has sinned.
We have an advocate with the Father. Jesus is our advocate. You don't require forgiveness when you sin. You have been forgiven. What happens after salvation is that we grow. Forgiveness has been given before the sin.
When a believer sins, he needs to grow up. God has an inseverable relationship with his sons. Sometimes we begin to think like we are servants and no more sons.
In one of the parables of Jesus, there was a uniqueness in the prodigal son. Others were of servants. Sons can go wrong and astray, but the father always has an everlasting outstretched arm.
In the parable of talents, he gave to each man as he wanted. But the son, he gave him what he had. You must know the difference. You are a son. You are not someone trying to be accepted with God. You are a son. Salvation is the gift of no condemnation.
Hebrews 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
That statement is the charter of the new covenant. The essence of the new covenant is not to find fault.
2nd Corinthians 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; Vs 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them; and hath committed to us the word of reconciliation.
This is the charter of the gospel. That is the commitment. The blood of Jesus stands as a guarantee of our fellowship with God.
If believers sin, lets see the tone used.
1st Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, even as to babes in Christ.
See how Paul described believers. 'And I brethren' shows the person rebuking and the one being rebuked are of the same family.He said 'I couldn't speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto babes in Christ.
There is nothing called carnal Christians. If Paul calls them carnal, then that would mean he was carnal too. He employed an oxymoron; a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g evil good, good bad etc). You cannot be a carnal son of God.
He used that term because the behaviour they displayed wasn't different from someone who was not born again. He used the phrase 'like the flesh'. It was not what they did once, but their behaviour. The people Paul referred to here were born again.
The word 'babes' means one who is undeveloped.
James also used an oxymoron.
James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.He called them sinners. It must be because of lack of words because earlier on in James 1:18, he had described them as begotten of God. He lacked words. Paul got it right. So, we can have sinning Christians. Paul did not call them any other name but brethren; saints.
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; Vs 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Saints are being perfected because saints are not perfect people. Hence, a Christian can be in the family who is a babe and acting like a mere man. And in James' language, we can find one who is a sinner in his conduct.
In 1st Corinthians 5, a brother even had his father's wife. Notice, he didn't call the brother a Gentile. In chapter 6, he told them about a conduct unbecoming of saints.
1st Corinthians 11:19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
Selfishness was among them. He was talking to men born again, and they are sons. Everyone who is a child of God is to grow up by acting on the word. In that growth, there will be behaviour patterns contrary to the word of God.
CONFESSION
My sins are forgiven. Jesus is my Advocate. The blood of Jesus is the guarantee of my fellowship with the Father.
May God bless us all through his words
