An Advocate

1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

We should NOT sin.
Anyone who thinks it's okay to sin is deceived.
Anyone who thinks there is any sin no matter how small that doesn't need to be forgiven is gravely mistaken.
We cannot commit even the tiniest of deliberate sins and expect that we are forgiven.
Any sin that we are aware of MUST be forgiven and in order for that sin to be forgiven we have to ASK for it to be forgiven.

We are NOT to sin.

However…

IF ANY MAN SIN we do have and ADVOCATE with the FATHER, and JESUS CHRIST the RIGHTEOUS.

We have an ADVOCATE!

We don't have to pay for this Advocate.
When you need an advocate in worldly matters you more often than not must pay for them or go unrepresented by anyone but yourself.

Have you ever had to represent yourself in court? I have and it's not easy, especially when you have a judge ignoring all your attempts to follow things to the legal level of the law, the judges I've had to deal with have taken offense at my audacity to even try to think I might know something of the law. They say over and over that I should get a lawyer, get a lawyer, hire a lawyer, get someone to represent you. But when you just CAN'T afford to hire representation then you only have yourself to rely upon and the mercy of the court which isn't all that understanding. They want those who have gone to school and studied to speak with them, not someone ignorant of all that learning. Judges, lawyers, and those they represent.

Spiritually we have a judge, spiritually we have an advocate, and spiritually we exist as those who will be judged and those who have a need for an advocate because in this spiritual trial we cannot survive representing ourselves. We need someone to advocate for us. In fact we need someone to actually TAKE OUR PLACE, someone willing to STAND IN for us, someone willing to ACCEPT our punishment because we are GUILTY!

We cannot plead our case, we are GUILTY.
We can only stand before the judge and admit our guilt and pray that our Advocate Jesus Christ our Savior will stand in our place and take our guilt. He's already served the sentence and it was the death penalty. A God- taking on flesh and dying an innocent man.

Only by the grace of our Savior will we live and no other way at all whatsoever.

If we do sin we must confess our sins and repent of them, seeking forgiveness in our God, our ADVOCATE, this is our only hope.

By His LOVE always!