Works of John Bunyan – The Greatness of The Soul, And Unspeakableness 0f the Loss Thereof; How Christ Manages The Office Of An Advocate.150

 

THE USE AND APPLICATION

Use Fourth. Is it so? Is Jesus Christ the Savior also our Advocate? Then let us labor to make that improvement of this doctrine, as it tends to strengthen our graces and our role in their management. Indeed, this should be the use that we should make of all the offices of Christ, but let us, at this time, concern ourselves about this; let, I say, the poor Christian thus expostulate with himself-

1. Is Christ Jesus the Lord my Advocate with the Father? Then awake, my faith, and shake thyself like a giant; stir up thyself, and be not faint; Christ is the Advocate of his people, and he pleaded for the cause of the poor and needy. And as for sin, which is one great stumble to thy acts, O my faith, Christ has not only died for that as a sacrifice, nor only carried his sacrifice unto the Father, in the holiest of all, but is there to manage that offering as an Advocate, pleading the efficacy and worth thereof before God, against the devil, for us. Thus, I say, we should strengthen our faith, for faith has to do with the Word and the offices of Christ. Besides, considering how many assaults are made upon our faith, we find little enough to support it against all the wiles of the devil.

Christians have too little concern for themselves, as I have said, with the offices of Jesus Christ; therefore, their knowledge of him is so little and their faith in him is so weak. We are bid to have our conversation in heaven, and then a man so hath, when he is there, in his spirit, by faith, observing how the Lord Jesus doth exercise his offices there for him. Let us often, by faith, go to the bar of God, there to hear our Advocate plead our cause; we should often have our faith in God's judgment because we are concerned there; there we are accused of the devil, there we have our crimes laid open, and there we have our Advocate to plead; and this is suggested in the text, for it saith, "We have an Advocate with the Father"; therefore, thither our faith should go for help and relief in the day of our straits. I say we should have our faith in God's judgment, and show it there, by the glass of our text, what Satan is doing against, and the Lord Jesus for, our souls. We should also show it how the Lord Jesus carries away every cause from the devil, and from before the judgment, to the comfort of the children, the joy of angels, and the shame of the enemy. This would strengthen and support our faith indeed and would make us more able than, for the most part, we are to apply the grace of God to ourselves, and hereafter to give more strong repulses to Satan. It is easy with a man when he knows that his advocate has overthrown his enemy at the King's Bench bar or Court of Common Pleas, less to fear him the next time he sees him, and more boldly to answer him when he renewed his threats on him. Let faith, then, be strengthened, from its being exercised about the advocateship of Jesus Christ.

2. As we should make use of Christ's advocateship for the strengthening of our faith, so, we should also make use thereof to encourage us to prayer. As our faith is, so is our prayer; to wit, cold, weak, and doubtful, if our faith to be so. When faith cannot apprehend that we have access to the Father by Christ, or that we have an Advocate, when charged before God for our sins by the devil, then we flag and faint in our prayer; but, when we begin to take courage to believe-and then we do so when most clearly we apprehend Christ-then we get up in prayer. And according as a man apprehends Christ in his undertakings and offices, so, he will wrestle with and supplicate God. As, suppose a man believes that Christ died for his sins; why, then, he will plead that in prayer with God. Suppose, also, that a man understands that Christ rose again for his justification; why, then, he will also plead that in prayer; but if he knows no more, no further will he go. But when he shall know that there is also for him an Advocate with the Father, and that that Advocate is Jesus Christ; and when the glory of this office of Christ shall shine in the face of this man's soul; oh, then, he takes courage to pray with that courage he had not before; yea, then is his faith so supported and made strong, that his prayer is more fervent, and importuning abundance. So that, I say, the knowledge of the advocateship of Christ is very useful to strengthen our graces; and, as of graces in general, so of faith and prayer in particular. Wherefore, our wisdom is, so to improve this doctrine that prayer may be strengthened thereby.