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While preparing for our current sermon series over John’s epistles, I have read through his letters more times than I can count. As I read them over and over again, I noticed a peculiar phrase John repeats in his first letter: “my little children” or “little children”. It feels like an aging patriarch speaking to his progeny with urgency and fatherly compassion, trying to ensure certain truths sink deep into the soil of their lives before he leaves.
This blog series will cover these seven “little children” moments. I hope it enriches your experience as an attentive child under the spiritual fatherhood we have in John. May we learn from the wisdom and experience of our esteemed ancestor.
For the first of the seven sayings, we don’t have to wait long. Its implications are absolutely massive for the Christian life:
"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (1 John 2:1)
What if you believed God was for you on both sides of your sin?
Let me explain the question. In so much of my spiritual journey, I have been tempted to believe the lie that genuine growth and change—what Christians call sanctification—wasn’t really possible for me. My own fight against sin stood as the most compelling argument in my case. What is even worse about this false belief was that I could, at times, start believing that God wasn’t helping me, and on my worst days, that He may have even been working against me.
In repeated failures against temptation, it often feels like someone is tripping you up and then shaming you for the fall. It’s almost as if temptation lures you in and then judgment immediately shames you for being so stupid to fall for it.
Unfortunately, I believed this voice of temptation and shame was God’s. What a profoundly heretical and blasphemous mistake. But John says something powerful here:
“I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.”
For John, sin isn’t inevitable for the believer. When you embrace the realities of God’s character and what He has done for you through Jesus, you become increasingly unlikely to yield to the same temptations. Why? Because if you walk in God’s light, then you no longer stumble about in the darkness of rebellion (1 John 1:5–10).
Turns out, God isn’t tripping you up in the dark, leaving obstacles in your path for you to stumble over. God does not tempt you (James 1:13) and always provides a way out into the light whenever you are tempted (1 Corinthians 10:13). John doesn’t want you to keep on sinning, and God doesn’t either. In fact, God is actually available in all His power to help you avoid that outcome.
But what about when you do sin? Well, secondly, John says:
“But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
What does Jesus say about me when I mess up? Does He accuse me? Complain in exasperation about how I should have known better by now? No! Far from that—He advocates for me, and He does so from the eternally secure position of His own righteousness. He substitutes His obedience for my rebellion. He superimposes His own life of walking faithfully in the light over the dark stumbling of my own attempts.
The One who has every right to condemn me actually advocates on my behalf. The thought is almost too much to comprehend!
If God is not the one tempting or shaming me on either side of my sin, then whose voice am I hearing?
When temptation seems so compelling, when it promises so much, when it feels almost irresistible, as if saying no is foolish… who is telling me that? And if I have sinned and feel shame that crushes my soul, if it seems like God is done with me, if I wonder whether or not I’ll make it or if I should just walk away before I make a fool of myself… whose voice is that?
There is one who tempts and lies. There is one who accuses and slanders. But neither is our Lord.
God’s enemy is the one who often speaks loudest on both sides of your sin. He lures you in only to shame you after the fact. It is the same voice each time, and John wants you to know it isn’t the voice of your heavenly Father.
So, how does this help? At the very least, it helps me both resist sin and recover from failure through repentance.
Now, I can resist sin because I remember that God doesn’t want me to sin, and He stands ready, through His powerful Spirit, to help me not sin. Now, I can recover from my sin because it reminds me that repentance is the safest thing I can do after failure. God doesn’t want distance and shame from me in that moment. He wants me to believe that my Advocate has my back in the heavenlies, and so shame and hiding become illogical responses.
So, dear friends, my fellow little children of John, the beloved of our Lord Jesus, here’s the truth:
You don’t have to sin. It isn’t inevitable.
But if you do, you have an advocate right now in Jesus Christ, the righteous.
Let’s silence the voice of the enemy and be people who live increasingly in the bright light of God’s love.
A Prayer When Tempted:
Father, I am weak and need your help. But You see me, and You love me. I know this temptation isn’t from You, and I know it isn’t what You want for me. So, please help me walk into the light of Your truth and love. You have plans and purposes for me that are better than what this temptation offers. I believe that; please help me believe it in a way that leads me to You and not to sin. Lead me not into temptation, Father. Deliver me from evil.
A Prayer After Failure:
Father, I hate this. I am sorry for my sin. I got lured in, and I failed. Please forgive me. Grant me mercy, Lord. I repent of my sin and turn back towards You and Your way. Help me now to remember Your Son, Jesus Christ the righteous. Help me remember that He is my advocate, even now, when I need one the most. Give me the confidence and assurance that comes from knowing that He is advocating for me, and grant me the freedom of walking in repentance and righteousness.
Want to dive deeper into this sermon series? Check out our sermon series guide on The Letters of John, or watch the most recent sermon from The Letters of John sermon series.
