TITLES OF CHRIST
THE ADVOCATE
DR. JIM DIXON
1 JOHN 1:5-2:2
JUNE 11, 1989
We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. What do those words mean? What does it mean to say that Jesus Christ is our advocate with the Father? The word “advocate” has two meanings, and these comprise our two teachings. First of all, the word advocate refers to a lawyer. It refers to an attorney.
Now, you see, the practice of law was once regarded as an extremely high and noble profession. In my view, the practice of law is still a very high and noble profession but of course, with the proliferation of litigation and with the commercialization of law practice, many lawyers today, perhaps, are not so highly esteemed. Today we have lawyer jokes that are almost as popular as Polish jokes were ten years ago. According to the DENVER POST, the most popular lawyer joke in the nation this year goes something like this: Why have they replaced rats with lawyers for laboratory experiments? They’ve replaced rats with lawyers because first of all, there are more of them. Secondly, the laboratory technicians are not so likely to become attached to them. Thirdly, there are certain things rats just won’t do.”
Now if you’re a lawyer or if you’re an attorney, I hope you take all of this with a grain of salt, and perhaps you should take heart. Take heart in the fact that in the Bible, this title “lawyer,” the title “attorney” is actually a scribe to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The word “advocate” comes from the Latin word “advocatis” and it refers to a defense attorney. The Greek word which is used in 1 John 2:2 in our passage of scripture for today, is “parakletos” and this word also oftentimes is used of a defense attorney. Jesus Christ is our defense attorney.
I want you to imagine this morning, for a moment, that today you are being considered for sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church. I want you to imagine that you’re being considered for canonization in a papal court, the highest ecclesiastical court in the Roman Catholic Church. Now, of course, this is not likely and, of course, you would have had to have first been beatified before you could be considered for sainthood. Of course, this is not altogether wonderful because you’d also have to be dead in order to be considered for sainthood. But imagine, theoretically, hypothetically, your name is being considered for sainthood today.
As you come before that papal court, there are two people there representing you. The first is called the “Advocatus Dei,” God’s Advocate, and this person is there to praise you. This person is there to say everything that is wonderful about you. This person is there to say everything that’s holy about you, everything that’s saintly about you, everything that’s worthy of praise, everything that’s worthy to be venerated. But there’s another person there unfortunately. This person is called the “Advocatus Diaboli,” the Devil’s Advocate.” Historically, this is the person from which the expression the “devil’s advocate” came. This person is there to say everything contrary about you. This person is there to accuse you. This person is there to say everything unholy about you, everything unsaintly, to give every reason why you shouldn’t be venerated and why you are not worthy of praise. You see, this person is the prosecuting attorney. But the “Advocatus Dei” is the defense attorney.
Now you might say, “This is all very hypothetical” but it’s not so hypothetical because the Bible assures us that one day you will stand in court. You will stand in an ecclestiastical court. You will stand in the highest ecclestiastical court. One day you will stand before the very throne of God and your saintliness be evaluated. In fact, it will be revealed whether you are a saint or not. The Bible tells us very clearly that unless you’re a saint, unless you are utterly holy, you will not enter heaven itself.
Now, obviously, obviously we’re going to need a great defense attorney. The Bible says if you’re a Christian, you have that great defense attorney and His name is Jesus Christ and He is going to stand with you in that heavenly court. He’s not going to try to prove your innocence because you’re not innocent and I’m not innocent. He’s simply going to say the penalty has already been paid. The punishment has already been given. “I died for him.” “I died for her.” You see, your sins will be forgiven if Christ is your defense attorney and you belong to Him. Your sins will be forgiven, His righteousness will be imputed to you, and you will be declared in the court of God holy, saintly, and you will enter, you will pass through the gates of heaven itself.
You know, it would be a horrible thing to find yourself in court and have a defense attorney that didn’t believe in you, to find yourself in court and have a defense attorney that didn’t want to represent you, didn’t want to defend you. The Bible tells us even though we’re guilty, there is someone who does believe in us, someone who does want to represent us, someone who does want to defend us. His name is Jesus Christ. You don’t automatically have Him as a defense attorney. You have to invite Him. You have to receive Him as Lord and Savior. Only then does He become your defense attorney. You can take care of that today. Today you can move from death to life. Today you can invite Jesus Christ to come into your heart, to come into your life and be your Lord and be your Savior, be your attorney. In the day of judgement, you will not stand alone. He will stand with you. He will defend you.
The word “advocate” not only means lawyer. It has a second meaning. It also means intercessor. You see the word “parakletos” didn’t always refer to a legal advocate. Sometimes it simply referred to an intercessor. An intercessor is a person that does two things. First of all, an intercessor is a person who connects you and your needs with someone who is able to meet your needs. You see, that’s what an intercessor does. An intercessor, an advocate who interceeds, connects you and your needs with someone who can meet those needs.
Now last Monday I was golfing in a Fellowship of Christian Athletes Golf Tournament. I shouldn’t have been there because of my leg splint but somebody had to do it and I’m not always real smart so there I was. On the ninth hole, I know this is hard to believe and I know it’s really kind of hard to explain, but I crashed my golf cart into a wall of railroad ties. When I did that…I mean, you know, you can understand why I’m not going on this infamous motorcycle trip because I can’t even drive a golf cart…but in driving this golf cart, I cut my thumb and I cut it down to the bone. It was bleeding. I went up to the clubhouse. You really need to understand, I don’t handle these things real well. So, I see the people there, they look at my thumb, it’s bleeding. You know, let’s go down to the locker room. So, we go down to the locker room. They’re looking for some hydrogen peroxide or neosporin, something to put on it, and a bandaid and I’m beginning to feel faint. Now, you’ve got to understand, I’ve done this before. I’ve fainted before. I’m gifted at this. My final words were “I think I’m going to faint” and sure enough, there I was lying on the floor of the locker room at this country club.
I don’t know how long I was out but when I came to, when I began to come to, two guys were standing over me. They didn’t know that I was kind of coming to. I could hear one guy saying to the other guy “Yeah, some guys are just like this. They can’t take anything. They just pass out at the drop of a hat.” Well, I was really kind of embarrassed. They had called the paramedics. The paramedics…I don’t know…people who were there said there were seven paramedics. I felt like I was in the middle of a Bronco huddle. They were gathered around me. They put an IV in me. They explained to me that when you pass out, you get an adrenalin rush, you perspire, you need to replace the moisture. They put an IV in me. Then they put oxygen to my nose. They put these electrodes on my body to get an EKG. I’m something of a hypochrondriac anyway so this was really…I just wanted to lay down, you know.
The next thing I knew, they had me on a stretcher and they were wheeling me into this ambulance and they took me to the hospital, Swedish Hospital. That is for this; for this thumb right here. So I arrive at the hospital and, of course, the nurse goes to the church. She says “Jim Dixon” and that’s embarrassing. You know, they wheeled me in. The doctors are there. They called Barb and Barb and Drew came over. That’s kind of embarrassing. Many times whenever Drew cuts himself I say “Son, get tough!” So here he is… I really…
In looking back on the deal, I’ve got to say that I was kind of frustrated with the paramedics for taking me over to the hospital and doing all that to me but, you know, when you really think about it, you’ve got to thank God for paramedics because many is the time that people need them. The more I thought about what a paramedic does, the more I realized a paramedic is really an intercessor. In the very best sense of the word, a paramedic is an intercessor because, you see, a paramedic takes you and your need and connects you with the one who is able to meet that need. The moment the paramedic arrives, they are in contact with the hospital and in contact with the doctors through their own private radio. They communicate what your problem is and they receive instructions and they try to follow it, and if necessary, and sometimes even if it’s not necessary, they take you to the hospital and they put you on a bed and they just roll you right up and bring you before the face of the doctor. That’s intercession and, you see, that’s exactly what Jesus Christ does for you if you belong to Him, if He is yours and if you are His, in the midst of your need.
I don’t know what your need is. I know you have needs. Everybody has needs. You see, Jesus Christ is actually able to take you into the Throne Room and wheel you right up and put you before the face of the Father because He is the Intercessor. He connects you and your need with the One who is able to meet your need.
But there is a second meaning of intercessor. It doesn’t simply mean to connect you with one who can meet your need. It refers to a person who has influence, influence with the one who can meet your need. It connects you with the one who can meet your need but is able to influence that one who can meet your need. They connect you but also have connections.
Now in my office there is a picture. It a picture of ex-President Ronald Reagan, Ronald and Nancy Reagan and Barb and me. The four of us together. I’m sure that Ronald Reagan, in his office, has the same picture. Anyway, how did I get that picture? Through a connection. Somebody who had influence. Somebody who could make that happen. We live in a world like that. Some people get jobs because they have a connection. Some people are able to get special favors because they have a connection. You may not like that. You might not like that the world is like that, but it is like that. But you see, God wants you to understand you can have the greatest connection of all. You can have the most powerful connection of all and that connection is Jesus Christ, our Advocate with the Father, because He is able to take your need and present it before the Father with influence because He is the Son of God.
You know, one of my favorite stories; a story that took place during the Civil War. It’s about a Union soldier who had just lost his father and both of his brothers. They both died fighting in that war, fighting for the north. This soldier, all that was left for him was his mother back on the farm and his little sister. He had just received word that his little sister had become a cripple. He longed, he was desperate to go back to the farm and be with his mom and be with his sister but he also wanted to be a faithful soldier. He went to Washington, to the White House, to see President Abraham Lincoln himself. When he arrived there, he was told by the officials and by the guards that he could not get in to see the President. They said “We’re sorry. Everybody’s got needs. Everybody has tragedies. Everybody’s hurting. You can’t get in to see the President.” Well, this soldier walked away from the White House and he sat down on a bench depressed, despondent. There was a little boy there. The little boy was looking at him and saw his depression. The little boy came up to him and said “Sir, what’s the problem?” The soldier just began to tell everything. He just unloaded the whole story. He needed to talk to somebody. When he was done, the little boy said “Sir, I can get you in to see the President.” The soldier smiled. The little boy said “Follow me” and he started walking towards the White House. The soldier thought “Well, what have I not to lose” and he followed this little guy. The little guy went around back of the White House, opened the door, walked right in. The soldier followed him. They went down these halls and corridors and as they saw guards and officers and these guards and officers looked at the little boy, the guards and officers just smiled. The little boy led him up the stairs and right to the office of the President of the United States. The little boy didn’t even knock. He just walked right in. This Union soldier stood outside and he could hear the voice of Abraham Lincoln and he heard Lincoln say “Son, what seems to be the problem?” The little boy’s voice said “Dad, there’s a man out here. He’s really hurting. He really needs your help. I hope you can help him.” Well, that little boy’s name was Thomas Lincoln, normally called Tad Lincoln. He died when he was 18 years old but, you see, on that day he had done a very wonderful thing. He had truly been an intercessor. He had taken a person and that person’s need and he had brought it before the person who could meet that need and he had done it with influence because he was the son of the President of the United States.
You see, the Bible tells us that that’s exactly what Jesus Christ is able to do for you. He is able to take you and He is able to take your need and present that need before the Father Himself and He is able to do it with influence because He is the Son of God. I hope you realize what we’re talking about. I mean we’re really talking about prayer.
Sometimes people come up to me or they come up to Bob and they say “Pray for us” and we do pray for you and we want to pray for you, but I think some people think “Well, if I can get Jim or Bob to pray for us, it’s going to be okay because they have influence.” But you see, the one who really has influence is Jesus Christ Himself. If you belong to Christ, if you’re a Christian, He’s your intercessor. He’s your advocate with the Father. He’s able to take your needs with influence and set them before the throne of God. I hope you pray every day. I hope you pray a lot every day because, you see, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. He’s our defense attorney in that ecclesiastical court. He’s our intercessor… able to connect us with the One who can meet our needs. Let’s close with a word of prayer.