A Devotion from Charles Spurgeon

“If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the

righteous.”

—1 John 2:1

“If any man sin, we have an advocate.” Yes, though we sin, we have him still. John does not say,

“If any man sin he has forfeited his advocate,” but “we have an advocate,” sinners though we

are. All the sin that a believer ever did, or can be allowed to commit, cannot destroy his interest

in the Lord Jesus Christ, as his advocate. The name here given to our Lord is suggestive. “Jesus.”

Ah! then he is an advocate such as we need, for Jesus is the name of one whose business and

delight it is to save. “They shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.”

His sweetest name implies his success. Next, it is “Jesus Christ”—Christos, the anointed. This

shows his authority to plead. The Christ has a right to plead, for he is the Father’s own

appointed advocate and elected priest. If he were of our choosing he might fail, but if God hath

laid help upon one that is mighty, we may safely lay our trouble where God has laid his help. He

is Christ, and therefore authorized; he is Christ, and therefore qualified, for the anointing has

fully fitted him for his work. He can plead so as to move the heart of God and prevail. What

words of tenderness, what sentences of persuasion will the anointed use when he stands up to

plead for me! One more letter of his name remains, “Jesus Christ the righteous.” This is not only

his character BUT his plea. It is his character, and if the Righteous One be my advocate, then my

cause is good, or he would not have espoused it. It is his plea, for he meets the charge of

unrighteousness against me by the plea that he is righteous. He declares himself my substitute

and puts his obedience to my account. My soul, thou hast a friend well fitted to be thine

advocate, he cannot but succeed; leave thyself entirely in his hands.