Wherefore, after he had said, "My little children, I write unto you, that ye sin not"; he then adds, with enlargement, "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father." Yet the little children may well be mentioned first since they most want the knowledge of it, are most feeble, and so by sin may be forced most frequently to act faith on Christ, as Advocate. Besides, they are most ready, through temptation, to question whether they have so good a right to Christ in all his offices as have better and more well-grown saints; and, therefore, they, in this the apostle's salutation, are first set down in the catalog of names:My little children, I write unto you, that ye sin not. If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." So, then, the children of God are those who have the Lord Jesus, an Advocate for them with the Father. The last and biggest, the oldest and youngest, the feeblest and the strongest; ALL the children have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
(1.) Since, then, the children have Christ as their advocate, art thou a child? Art thou begotten of God by his word? (James 1:18). Hast thou in thee the spirit of adoption? (Gal 4:1-6). Canst thou in faith say, Father, Father, to God? Then is Christ thy Advocate, thine Advocate, "now to appear in the presence of God for thee" (Heb 9:24). To appear there, and to plead there, in the face of the court of heaven, for thee; to plead there against thine adversary, whose accusations are dreadful, whose subtlety is great, whose malice is inconceivable, and whose rage is intolerable; to plead there before a just God, a righteous God, a sin-revenging God: before whose face thou wouldst die if thou wast to show thyself, and at his bar to plead thine own cause. But,
(2.) There is a difference in children; some are bigger than some; there are children and little children.My little children, I write unto you." Little children; some of the little children can neither say Father, nor so much as know that they themselves are children.
This is true in nature, and so it is in grace; therefore, notwithstanding what was said under the first head, it does not follow that if I am a child, I must certainly know it, and also be able to call God, Father. Let the first, then, serve to poise and balance the confident ones, and let this be for the relief of those more feeble; for they that are children, whether they know it or not, have Jesus Christ for their Advocate, for Christ is assigned to be our Advocate by the Judge, by the King, by our God and Father, although we have not known it. True, at present, there can come from hence, to them that are thus concerned in the advocateship of Christ, but little comfort; but yet it yields them great security; they have "an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." God knows this, the devil feels this, and the children shall have the comfort of it afterward. I say the time is coming when they shall know that even then, when they knew it not, they had an Advocate with the Father; an Advocate who was neither loath, nor afraid, nor ashamed, to plead for their defense against their proudest foe. And will not this, when they know it, yield them comfort? Doubtless, it will; yea, more, and of a better kind than that which flows from the knowledge that one is born into crowns and kingdoms.
Again; as he is an Advocate for the children, he is also, as before was hinted, for the strong and experienced; for no strength in this world secureth from the rage of hell, nor can any experience, while we are here, fortify us against his assaults. There is also an incident in the best to sin; and the bigger man, the bigger fall; for the more hurt, the greater damage.
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