Why Is Jesus My Advocate If I’m Already Justified?

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00:00:05.000 | Audrey, a podcast listener, writes in to ask this.

00:00:08.000 | Pastor John, if our sins are already atoned for by the death of Christ,

00:00:11.000 | why is it necessary now for Jesus to currently make intercession for us in heaven

00:00:16.000 | as our advocate before the Father?

00:00:18.000 | I like that question.

00:00:20.000 | I like it because we know that both of those are presented in the New Testament,

00:00:26.000 | and there's an effort on her part to try to bring them into some deeper harmony.

00:00:33.000 | And so every time I try to do that, I see more of Christ, I love more of Christ.

00:00:37.000 | And so I think the answer to that question is that Jesus Christ receives more glory

00:00:46.000 | because God does it this way, since that's the reason God does everything he does,

00:00:52.000 | so that Christ gets more glory.

00:00:55.000 | And in the long run, the glory of Christ will shine more fully, more brightly, more durably

00:01:01.000 | for having made a complete atonement once for all at the cross and for interceding for us.

00:01:09.000 | But let's see if we can see in the New Testament how they're related.

00:01:14.000 | There are three key passages on the intercession of Christ.

00:01:18.000 | First one is 1 John 2.1.

00:01:20.000 | "I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin."

00:01:23.000 | "If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

00:01:29.000 | Now, right now, with the Father in heaven, we have an advocate, paraklaton,

00:01:37.000 | Jesus Christ the righteous.

00:01:40.000 | The fact that he's called the righteous, our advocate is Jesus Christ the righteous,

00:01:45.000 | suggests that what Jesus achieved here on earth in his perfect obedience,

00:01:50.000 | his perfect fulfillment of the law, his perfect righteousness,

00:01:53.000 | is a necessity in an ongoing way in heaven.

00:01:57.000 | We always have a record like a criminal.

00:02:01.000 | We fail in this life.

00:02:04.000 | That's against us.

00:02:06.000 | We sinned.

00:02:07.000 | When Christ died to cover these sins, one of the ways he did it was to become for us our righteousness,

00:02:14.000 | so that in him we have a perfect record.

00:02:18.000 | But that means we need him to keep on being a perfect record for us, now and forever.

00:02:25.000 | We never have a standing before God that's acceptable apart from the righteousness of Christ.

00:02:34.000 | It doesn't matter the fact that we don't sin in heaven.

00:02:36.000 | We're not going to sin in heaven, but we sin on earth and we're the same person.

00:02:39.000 | We got a record, and God can't accept anything but perfection,

00:02:43.000 | therefore he provides the righteous one who stands always before him,

00:02:48.000 | and we, by faith, always in him, and therefore always acceptable because of Christ.

00:02:55.000 | Think of it this way.

00:02:57.000 | Just as in hell there is an eternal consequence of suffering for a lifetime of sinning,

00:03:04.000 | so also in heaven there's an eternal consequence of needing for our record to always be covered.

00:03:11.000 | That is what Christ, the righteous one, does for us.

00:03:17.000 | We were saved by being united to Christ so that his righteousness counts for ours,

00:03:21.000 | and it must count for ours forever, and therefore he is our living, eternal righteousness in heaven now and forever,

00:03:30.000 | and in that sense our advocate.

00:03:32.000 | He ever lives to be what he became for us on the earth, namely righteous.

00:03:37.000 | That's the first text. Here's the second one.

00:03:39.000 | Romans 8, 34.

00:03:41.000 | Who is to condemn? Christ is the one who died.

00:03:44.000 | More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

00:03:51.000 | So notice the sequence.

00:03:53.000 | No one can condemn us because Christ died, second, was raised, third, is interceding.

00:03:58.000 | The implication is that what he achieved in his death for us,

00:04:03.000 | he now pleads or applies for us in his life for us in heaven.

00:04:08.000 | And I think one way to think about it is that Christ's life in heaven today

00:04:13.000 | is the ever-present proof that his death was successful.

00:04:19.000 | If God had not raised Jesus from the dead, Paul says, we'd be still in our sins.

00:04:24.000 | So that he lives means that his death was effective in covering our sins,

00:04:30.000 | and so his living presence in heaven, by its very nature, is his intercession.

00:04:37.000 | His life is essential for his death to count.

00:04:41.000 | And so his life is an essential part of our present and eternal forgiveness and acceptance.

00:04:48.000 | Here's the last one. Hebrews 7, 23 to 27.

00:04:53.000 | This is the most explicit one of all, probably the most helpful one of all,

00:04:57.000 | if she studied it in context, I think it would make all kinds of lights go on.

00:05:02.000 | "The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.

00:05:10.000 | But he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever.

00:05:16.000 | Consequently," that's a key word, verse 25 of Hebrews 7,

00:05:21.000 | "consequently he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him

00:05:28.000 | since he always lives to make intercession for them."

00:05:32.000 | Verse 27, "He has no need like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily,

00:05:38.000 | first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people,

00:05:41.000 | since he did this once for all when he offered up himself."

00:05:46.000 | So isn't it interesting that the "once for allness" of the offering is underlined,

00:05:51.000 | and that's one thing she loves and is concerned about.

00:05:55.000 | Once for all he offered himself up, and that's the reason why he,

00:06:00.000 | always living, can make intercession.

00:06:04.000 | So I think it's the same thing as we said for Romans 8,

00:06:07.000 | that Christ's life in heaven today, unlike the priests of old, never ends,

00:06:15.000 | and therefore he has taken into heaven one offering made once for all,

00:06:21.000 | and in himself, standing before God as the Lamb that was slain,

00:06:27.000 | is therefore worthy of all praise because that slaughter of that Lamb

00:06:34.000 | is embodied in the presence of Christ in heaven forever.

00:06:39.000 | So I think we could, I suppose, ponder the possibility of God saving us another way

00:06:46.000 | besides a once for all finished sacrifice, which then is embodied, as it were,

00:06:51.000 | in the slain Lamb in heaven, which becomes our advocate and our intercessor.

00:06:57.000 | But the fact that he did it this way, I think, will get more glory to him

00:07:02.000 | for what he did in the past, what he's doing now, and what he'll do forever.

00:07:06.000 | That is profound truth. Thank you, Pastor John.

00:07:08.000 | And thank you, Audrey, for your very perceptive question.

00:07:11.000 | If you would like to ask a question of your own,

00:07:13.000 | please email it in to us at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.

00:07:17.000 | Please keep it brief and to the point.

00:07:19.000 | Not every question gets answered by Pastor John, but every question does get read by me.

00:07:23.000 | And to some degree, every question you send helps inform the future of this podcast.

00:07:27.000 | So thank you for your input and your engagement.

00:07:30.000 | We'll be back tomorrow with a new episode.

00:07:32.000 | Until then, check out DesiringGod.org to find thousands of books, sermons, articles,

00:07:36.000 | and blog posts from John Piper, all free of charge to you.

00:07:39.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke. See you tomorrow.

00:07:41.000 | [end]

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Why Is Jesus My Advocate If I’m Already Justified?

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