creatures; for that office does, as it were, predict that some time or
other we shall basely fall, and by falling be undone, if the Lord Jesus
stand not up to plead. And as it shows this concerning us, so it shows
concerning God that he will not lightly or easily lose his people. He
has provided well for us-blood to wash us in; a priest to pray for us,
that we may be made to persevere; and, in case we foully fall, an
advocate to plead our cause, and to recover us from under, and out of
all that danger, that by sin and Satan, we at any time may be brought
into.
But having thus briefly passed through that in the text which I think
the apostle must necessarily presuppose, I shall now endeavour to enter
into the bowels of it, and see what, in a more particular manner, shall
be found therein. And, for my more profitable doing of this work, I
shall choose to observe this method in my discourse-
[METHOD OF THE DISCOURSE.]
FIRST, I shall show you more particularly of this Advocate’s office, or
what and wherein Christ’s office as Advocate doth lie. SECOND, After
that, I shall also show you how Jesus Christ doth manage this office of
an Advocate. THIRD, I shall also then show you who they are that have
Jesus Christ for their Advocate. FOURTH, I shall also show you what
excellent privileges they have, who have Jesus Christ for their
Advocate. FIFTH, And to silence cavillers, I shall also show the
necessity of this office of Jesus Christ. SIXTH, I shall come to answer
some objections; and, LASTLY, To the use and application.
[WHEREIN CHRIST’S OFFICE AS ADVOCATE DOTH LIE.]
FIRST, To begin with the first of these-namely, to show you more
particularly of Christ’s office as an Advocate, and wherein it lieth;
the which I shall do these three ways-First, Touch again upon the
nature of this office; and then, Second, Treat of the order and place
that it hath among the rest of his offices; and, Third, Treat of the
occasion of the execution of this office.
First, To touch upon the nature of this office. It is that which
empowereth a man to plead for a man, or one man to plead for another;
not in common discourses, and upon common occasions, as any man may do,
but at a bar, or before a court of judicature, where a man is accused
or impleaded by his enemy; I say, this Advocate’s office is such, both
here, and in the kingdom of heaven. An advocate is as one of our
attorneys, at least in the general, who pleads according to law and
justice for one or other that is in trouble by reason of some
miscarriage, or of the naughty temper of some that are about him, who
trouble and vex, and labour to bring him into danger of the law. This
is the nature of this office, as I said, on earth; and this is the
office that Christ executeth in heaven. Wherefore he saith, “If any man
sin, we have an Advocate”; one to stand up for him, and to plead for
his deliverance before the bar of God. (Joel 3:2. Isa 66:16. Eze 38:22.
Jer 2.)
For though in some places of Scripture Christ is said to plead for his
with men, and that by terrible arguments, as by fire, and sword, and
famine, and pestilence, yet this is not that which is intended by this
text; for the apostle here saith, he is an Advocate with the Father, or
before the Father, to plead for those that there, or that to the
Father’s face, shall be accused for their transgressions: “If any man
sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
So, then, this is the employ of Jesus Christ as he is for us, an
Advocate. He has undertaken to stand up for his people at God’s bar,
and before that great court, there to plead, by the law and justice of
heaven, for their deliverance; when, for their faults, they are
accused, indicted, or impleaded by their adversary.
Second. And now to treat of the order or place that this office of
Christ hath among the rest of his offices, which he doth execute for us
while we are here in a state of imperfection; and I think it is an
office that is to come behind as a reserve, or for a help at last, when
all other means shall seem to fail. Men do not use to go to law upon
every occasion; or if they do, the wisdom of the judge, the jury, and
the court will not admit that every brangle and foolish quarrel shall
come before them; but an Advocate doth then come into place, and then
to the exercise of his office, when a cause is counted worthy to be
taken notice of by the judge and by the court. Wherefore he, I say,
comes in the last place, as a reserve, or help at last, to plead; and,
by pleading, to set that right by law which would otherwise have caused
an increase to more doubts, and to further dangers.
Christ, as priest, doth always works of service for us, because in our
most spiritual things there may faults and spots be found, and these he
taketh away of course, by the exercise of that office; for he always
wears that plate of gold upon his forehead before the Father, whereon
is written, “Holiness to the Lord.” But now, besides these common
infirmities, there are faults that are highly gross and foul, that oft
are found in the skirts of the children of God. Now, these are they
that Satan taketh hold on; these are they that Satan draweth up a
charge against us for; and to save us from these, it is, that the Lord
Jesus is made an Advocate. When Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments, then Satan stood at his right hand to resist him; then the
angel of the covenant, the Lord Jesus, pleaded for his help (Zech 3).
By all which it appears, that this office comes behind, is provided as
a reserve, that we may have help at a pinch, and then be lifted out,
when we sink in mire, where there is no standing.
This is yet further hinted at by the several postures that Christ is
said to be in, as he exerciseth his priestly and advocate’s office. As
a Priest, he sits; as an Advocate, he stands (Isa 3:13). The Lord
stands up when he pleads; his sitting is more constant and of course
(Sit thou, Psa 110:1,4), but his standing is occasional, when Joshua is
indicted, or when hell and earth are broken loose against his servant
Stephen. For as Joshua was accused by the devil, and as then the angel
of the Lord stood by, so when Stephen was accused by men on earth, and
that charge seconded by the fallen angels before the face of God, it is
said, “the Lord Jesus stood on the right hand of God,” (Acts 7:55)-to
wit, to plead; for so I take it, because standing is his posture as an
Advocate, not as a Priest; for, as a Priest, he must sit down; but he
standeth as an Advocate, as has been showed afore (Heb 10:12).
Wherefore,
Third. The occasion of his exercising of this office of advocate is, as
hath been hinted already, when a child of God shall be found guilty
before God of some heinous sin, of some grievous thing in his life and
conversation. For as for those infirmities that attend the best, in
their most spiritual sacrifices; if a child of God were guilty of ten
thousand of them, they are of course purged, through the much incense
that is always mixed with those sacrifices in the golden censer that is
in the hand of Christ; and so he is kept clean, and counted upright,
notwithstanding those infirmities; and, therefore, you shall find that,
notwithstanding those common faults, the children of God are counted
good and upright in conversation, and not charged as offenders.
“David,” saith the text, “did that which was right in the eyes of the
Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him, all
the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite” (I
Kings 15:5). But was David, in a strict sense, without fault in all
things else? No, verily; but that was foul in a higher degree than the
rest, and therefore there God sets a blot; ay, and doubtless for that
he was accused by Satan before the throne of God; for here is adultery,
and murder, and hypocrisy, in David’s doings; here is notorious matter,
a great sin, and so a great ground for Satan to draw up an indictment
against the king; and a thundering one, to be sure, shall be preferred
against him. This is the time, then, for Christ to stand up to plead;
for now there is room for such a question-Can David’s sin stand with
grace? Or, Is it possible that a man that has done as he has, should
yet be found a saint, and so in a saved state? Or, Can God repute him
so, and yet be holy and just? or, Can the merits of the Lord Jesus
reach, according to the law of heaven, a man in this condition? Here is
a case dubious; here is a man whose salvation, by his foul offences, is
made doubtful; now we must to law and judgment, wherefore now let
Christ stand up to plead! I say, now was David’s case dubious; he was
afraid that God would cast him away, and the devil hoped he would, and
to that end charged him before God’s face, if, perhaps, he might get
sentence of damnation to pass upon his soul (Psa 51). But this was
David’s mercy, he had an Advocate to plead his cause, by whose wisdom
and skill in matters of law and judgment he was brought off of those
heavy charges, from those gross sins, and delivered from that eternal
condemnation, that by the law of sin and death, was due thereto.
This is then the occasion that Christ taketh to plead, as Advocate, for
the salvation of his people-to wit, the cause: He “pleadeth the cause
of his people” (Is 51:22). Not every cause, but such and such a cause;
the cause that is very bad, and by the which they are involved, not
only in guilt and shame, but also in danger of death and hell. I say,
the cause is bad, if the text be true, if sin can make it bad, yea, if
sin itself be bad-“If any man sin, we have an Advocate”; an Advocate to
plead for him; for him as considered guilty, and so, consequently, as
considered in a bad condition. It is true, we must distinguish between
the person and the sin; and Christ pleads for the person, not the sin;
but yet He cannot be concerned with the person, but he must be with the
sin; for though the person and the sin may be distinguished, yet they
cannot be separated. He must plead, then, not for a person only, but
for a guilty person, for a person under the worst of circumstances-“If
any man sin, we have an Advocate” for him as so considered.
When a man’s cause is good, it will sufficiently plead for itself, yea,
and for its master too, especially when it is made appear so to be,
before a just and righteous judge. Here, therefore, needs no advocate;
the judge himself will pronounce him righteous. This is evidently seen
in Job-“Thou movedst me against him (this said God to Satan), to
destroy him without cause” (Job 2:3). Thus far Job’s cause was good,
wherefore he did not need an advocate; his cause pleaded for itself,
and for its owner also. But if it was to plead good causes for which
Christ is appointed Advocate, then the apostle should have written
thus: If any man be righteous, we have an Advocate with the Father.
Indeed, I never heard but one in all my life preach from this text, and
he, when he came to handle the cause for which he was to plead,
pretended it must be good, and therefore said to the people, See that
your cause be good, else Christ will not undertake it. But when I heard
it, Lord, thought I, if this be true, what shall I do, and what will
become of all this people, yea, and of this preacher too? Besides, I
saw by the text, the apostle supposeth another cause, a cause bad,
exceeding bad, if sin can make it so. And this was one cause why I
undertook this work.
When we speak of a cause, we speak not of a person simply as so
considered; for, as I said before, person and cause must be
distinguished; nor can the person make the cause good but as he
regulates his action by the Word of God. If, then, a good, a righteous,
man doth what the law condemns, that thing is bad; and if he be
indicted for so doing, he is indicted for a bad cause; and he that will
be his advocate, must be concerned in and about a bad matter; and how
he will bring his client off, therein doth lie the mystery.
I know that a bad man may have a good cause depending before the judge,
and so also good men have (Job 31). But then they are bold in their own
cause, and fear not to make mention of it, and in Christ to plead their
innocency before the God of heaven, as well as before men (Psa 71:3-5.
II Cor 1:23. Gal 1:10. Phil 1:8). But we have in the text a cause that
all men are afraid of-a cause that the apostle concludes so bad that
none but Jesus Christ himself can save a Christian from it. It is not
only sinful, but sin itself-“If any man sin, we have an Advocate with
the Father.”
Wherefore there is in this place handled by the apostle, one of the
greatest mysteries under heaven-to wit, that an innocent and holy Jesus
should take in hand to plead for one before a just and righteous God,
that has defiled himself with sin; yea, that he should take in hand to
plead for such an one against the fallen angels, and that he should
also by his plea effectually rescue, and bring them off from the crimes
and curse whereof they were verily guilty by the verdict of the law,
and approbation of the Judge.
This, I say, is a great mystery, and deserves to be pried into by all
the godly, both because much of the wisdom of heaven is discovered in
it, and because the best saint is, or may be, concerned with it. Nor
must we by any means let this truth be lost, because it is the truth;
the text has declared it so, and to say otherwise is to belie the Word
of God, to thwart the apostle, to soothe up hypocrites, to rob
Christians of their privilege, and to take the glory from the head of
Jesus Christ (Luke 18:11,12).
The best saints are most sensible of their sins, and most apt to make
mountains of their mole hills. Satan also, as has been already hinted,
doth labour greatly to prevail with them to sin, and to provoke their
God against them, by pleading what is true, or by surmising evilly of
them, to the end they may be accused by him (Job 2:9). Great is his
malice toward them, great is his diligence in seeking their
destruction; wherefore greatly doth he desire to sift, to try, and
winnow them, if perhaps he may work in their flesh to answer his
design-that is, to break out in sinful acts, that he may have by law to
accuse them to their God and Father. Wherefore, for their sakes this
text abides, that they may see that, when they have sinned, “they have
an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” And thus have
I showed you the nature, the order, and occasion of this office of our
blessed Lord Jesus.
[HOW CHRIST MANAGES THE OFFICE OF AN ADVOCATE.]
II. I come now to show you how Jesus Christ doth manage this his office
of an Advocate for us. And that I may do this to your edification, I
shall choose this method for the opening of it-First. Show you how he
manages this office with his Father. Second. I shall show you how he
manages it before him against our adversary.
First. How he manages this his office of Advocate with his Father.
1. He doth it by himself, by no other as deputy under him, no angel, no
saint; no work has place here but Jesus, and Jesus only. This the text
implies: “We have an Advocate”; speaking of one, but one, one alone;
without an equal or an inferior. We have but one, and he is Jesus
Christ. Nor is it for Christ’s honour, nor for the honour of the law,
or of the justice of God, that any but Jesus Christ should be an
Advocate for a sinning saint. Besides, to assert the contrary, what
doth it but lessen sin, and make the advocateship of Jesus Christ
superfluous? It would lessen sin should it be removed by a saint or
angel; it would make the advocateship of Jesus Christ superfluous, yea,
needless, should it be possible that sin could be removed from us by
either saint or angel.
Again; if God should admit of more advocates than one, and yet make
mention of never an one but Jesus Christ; or if John should allow
another, and yet speak nothing but of Jesus only; yea, that an advocate
under that title should be mentioned but once, but once only in all the
book of God, and yet that divers should be admitted, stands neither
with the wisdom or love of God, nor with the faithfulness of the
apostle. But saints have but one Advocate, if they will use him, or
improve their faith in that office for their help, so; if not, they
must take what follows. This I thought good to hint at, because the
times are corrupt, and because ignorance and superstition always wait
for a countenance with us, and these things have a natural tendency to
darken all truth, so especially this, which bringeth to Jesus Christ so
much glory, and yieldeth to the godly so much help and relief.
2. As Jesus Christ alone is Advocate, so God’s bar, and that alone, is
that before which he pleads, for God is judge himself (Deut 32:36. Heb
12:23). Nor can the cause which now he is to plead be removed into any
other court, either by appeals or otherwise.
Could Satan remove us from heaven, to another court, he would certainly
be too hard for us, because there we should want our Jesus, our
Advocate, to plead our cause. Indeed, sometimes he impleads us before
men, and they are glad of the occasion, for they and he are often one;
but then we have leave to remove our cause, and to pray for a trial in
the highest court, saying, “Let my sentence come forth from thy
presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal” (Psa 17:2).
This wicked world doth sentence us for our good deeds, but how then
would they sentence us for our bad ones? But we will never appeal from
heaven to earth for right, for here we have no Advocate; “our Advocate
is with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
3. As he pleadeth by himself alone, and nowhere else but in the court
of heaven with the Father, so as he pleadeth with the Father for us, he
observeth this rule-
(1.) He granteth and confesseth whatever can rightly be charged upon
us; yet so as that he taketh the whole charge upon himself,
acknowledging the crimes to be his own. “O God,” says he, “thou knowest
my foolishness, and my sins”; my guiltiness “is not hid from thee” (Psa
69:5). And this he must do, or else he can do nothing. If he hides the
sin, or lesseneth it, he is faulty; if he leaves it still upon us, we
die. He must, then, take our iniquity to himself, make it his own, and
so deliver us; for having thus taken the sin upon himself, as lawfully
he may, and lovingly doth, “for we are members of his body” (’tis his
hand, ’tis his foot, ’tis his ear hath sinned), it followeth that we
live if he lives; and who can desire more? 5This, then, must be
thoroughly considered, if ever we will have comfort in a day of trouble
and distress for sin.
And thus far there is, in some kind, a harmony betwixt his being a
sacrifice, a priest, and an Advocate. As a sacrifice, our sins were
laid upon him (Isa 53). As a priest, he beareth them (Exo 28:38). And
as an Advocate, he acknowledges them to be his own (Psa 69:5). Now,
having acknowledged them to be his own, the quarrel is no more betwixt
us and Satan, for the Lord Jesus has espoused our quarrel, and made it
his. All, then, that we in this matter have to do, is to stand at the
bar by faith among the angels, and see how the business goes. O blessed
God! what a lover of mankind art thou! and how gracious is our Lord
Jesus, in his thus managing matters for us.
(2.) The Lord Jesus having thus taken our sins upon himself, next
pleads his own goodness to God on our behalf, saying, “Let not them
that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not
those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel:
because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face”
(Psa 69:6,7). Mark, let them not be ashamed for my sake, let them not
be confounded for my sake. Shame and confusion are the fruits of guilt,
or of a charge for sin, (Jer 3:25), and are but an entrance into
condemnation (Dan 12:2. John 5:29). But behold how Christ pleads,
saying, Let not that be for my sake, for the merit of my blood, for the
perfection of my righteousness, for the prevalency of my intercession.
Let them not be ashamed for my sake, O Lord God of hosts. And let no
man object, because this text is in the Psalms, as if it were not
spoken by the prophet of Christ; for both John and Paul, yea, and
Christ himself, do make this psalm a prophecy of him. Compare verse 9
with John 2:17, and with Romans 15:3; and verse 21 with Matthew 27:48,
and Mark 15:25. But is not this a wonderful thing, that Christ should
first take our sins, and account them his own, and then plead the value
and worth of his whole self for our deliverance? For by these words,
“for my sake,” he pleads his own self, his whole self, and all that he
is and has; and thus he put us in good estate again, though our cause
was very bad.
To bring this down to weak capacities. Suppose a man should be indebted
twenty thousand pounds, but has not twenty thousand farthings wherewith
to pay; and suppose also that this man be arrested for this debt, and
that the law also, by which he is sued, will not admit of a penny bate;
this man may yet come well enough off, if his advocate or attorney will
make the debt his own, and will, in the presence of the judges, out
with his bags, and pay down every farthing. Why, this is the way of our
Advocate. Our sins are called debts (Matt 6:12). We are sued for them
at the law (Luke 12:59). And the devil is our accuser; but behold the
Lord Jesus comes out with his worthiness, pleads it at the bar, making
the debt his own (Mark 10:45. II Cor 3:5). And saith, Now let them not
be ashamed for my sake, O Lord God of hosts: let them not be confounded
for my sake, O God of Israel. And hence, as he is said to be an
Advocate, so he is said to be a propitiation, or amends-maker, or one
that appeaseth the justice of God for our sins-“If any man sin, we have
an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the
propitiation for our sins.”
And who can now object against the deliverance of the child of God? God
cannot; for he, for Christ’s sake, according as he pleaded, hath
forgiven us all trespasses (Col 2:13, Eph 4:32). The devil cannot; his
mouth is stopped, as is plain in the case of Joshua (Zech 3). The law
cannot; for that approveth of what Christ has done. This, then, is the
way of Christ’s pleading. You must know, that when Christ pleads with
God, he pleads with a just and righteous God, and therefore he must
plead law, and nothing but law; and this he pleaded in both these
pleas-First, in confessing of the sin he justified the sentence of the
law in pronouncing of it evil; and then in his laying of himself, his
whole self, before God for that sin, he vindicated the sanction and
perfection of the law. Thus, therefore, he magnifies the law, and makes
it honourable, and yet brings off his client safe and sound in the view
of all the angels of God.
(3). The Lord Jesus having thus taken our sins upon himself, and
presented God with all the worthiness that is in his whole self for
them, in the next place he calleth for justice, or a just verdict upon
the satisfaction he hath made to God and to his law. Then proclamation
is made in open court, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from
him,” from him that hath offended, and clothe him with change of
raiment (Zech 3).
Thus the soul is preserved that hath sinned; thus the God of heaven is
content that he should be saved; thus Satan is put to confusion, and
Jesus applauded and cried up by the angels of heaven, and by the saints
on earth. Thus have I showed you how Christ doth advocate it with God
and his Father for us; and I have been the more particular in this,
because the glory of Christ, and the comfort of the dejected, are
greatly concerned and wrapped up in it. Look, then, to Jesus, if thou
hast sinned; to Jesus, as an Advocate pleading with the Father for
thee. Look to nothing else; for he can tell how, and that by himself,
to deliver thee; yea, and will do it in a way of justice, which is a
wonder; and to the shame of Satan, which will be his glory; and also to
thy complete deliverance, which will be thy comfort and salvation.
Second, But to pass this and come to the second thing, which is, to
show you how the Lord Jesus manages this his office of an Advocate
before his Father against the adversary; for he pleadeth with the
Father, but pleadeth against the devil; he pleadeth with the Father law
and justice, but against the adversary he letteth out himself.
I say, as he pleads against the adversary, so he enlargeth himself with
arguments over and besides those which he pleadeth with God his Father.