When You Fail Remember This
I John 2:1-2
Read Text.
Even Christians suffer the frustration of failure.
a. Sin does not rule our lives but yet we do sin.
b. I Jn. 1:8 and 10
Santa brings new vacuum to a mom. Kept going on and off! Plugged into Xmas blinker. God’s people are like that they shine for a while then they go out. (x 3)
As we learn in the classroom of experience, disappointment, fear and guilt usually follow failure. It can cause our lives to be miserable dealing with everything associated with failure.
It is necessary, therefore, to learn to deal with failure God’s way.
c. God knows we fail and sin
d. God has a plan for our lives so we can bounce back from failure.
John tells us in this text some things we need to remember when we fail.
When you fail remember:
What Jesus did at Calvary (2)?
A. Jesus died on the cross that your sins could be forgiven.
B. "Propitiation" – Jesus took our place by bearing the penalty of our sins. (Permanent and universal; comprehensive and complete)
C. Story of C.E. McGaughey – "It was not my Lord’s cross. It was my cross."
1. The center cross at Calvary was, In fact, our cross.
2. On it Jesus paid the price for our sins. He became the "propitiation".
D. Without His cross – hope is absent and you are doomed!
E. With it – everlasting hope is present for everyone who turns by obedient faith to Christ.
F. The cross does not give us a license to sin but it does guarantee forgiveness for the Christian who is striving and trusting in Jesus for salvation.
G. When you fail remember Jesus’ death is adequate to atone for your sin.
1. It was at work when you were baptized and it still works today.
2. He does not excuse your sin, but He will erase it. He does not approve of it, but He will remove it.
3. As a Christian, you have access to God’s cleansing grace and forgiving mercy.
What Jesus does in the court of heaven (1)?
H. Did you know when you sin Jesus pleads your case in heaven.
I. John pictures Jesus as our Advocate – "One called alongside to help."
J. Several of you have mentioned to me how you remember me in your prayers.
1. I truly appreciate it!
2. The knowledge that someone is going to God on my behalf gives me great comfort and encouragement.
3. But can you imagine the comfort and encouragement I get when I know Jesus is going before His Father on my behalf. Each time I make a mistake, each time I sin, each time I fail, He is there to pleading on my behalf.
K. It may be more than you can comprehend but remember when you fail you have an Advocate in heaven His name is Jesus.
What Jesus presents as His case, His perfect life (1)?
L. The one who intercedes for you lived a perfect life.
M. His name Jesus suggests His human side.
1. He was just as much human as if He was not divine at all and just as much divine as if He were not human at all.
2. He was tempted but did not sin; He was fully human but completely righteous.
3. Without exemption or special privileges, He became a man, suffered, lived with the shadow death over His life and was obedient to the Father.
N. His title, Christ, express His deity.
1. He understands both the righteousness of God and the frailty of man.
2. He has seen the glory of heaven as well as the depravity of earth.
3. He has tasted pain and has lived in paradise.
O. John describes our Advocate as "righteous".
1. The one who comes to our defense has never transgressed the Father’s will.
2. He is righteous – sinless, flawless, perfect.
3. Moses (Ex. 32:30) Some one greater than Moses intercedes for us!
4. He does not plead with the empty words of a worthless rebel.
5. He pleads from a righteous life, which was sacrificed for sin.
P. When we sin we are disappointed with ourselves and we know how disappointed God is but we need to remember that Jesus will ask the Father in light of His righteous life and atoning sacrifice to forgive us.
1. We as Christians need to face our failures with faith.
2. When you fail remember what Jesus did at Calvary, what He does in the court of heaven for God’s children, the case He presents.
3. God’s plan of salvation not only cleanses us at the point of birth into God’s family but also keeps us clean as God’s children (I Jn. 1:7).
4. God wants to bring us to salvation, but he yearns even more to keep us in that salvation (I Jn. 1:9).
5. God does not excuse sin in sinners or saints, but because of Jesus’ perfect life and propitiatory sacrifice, He can forgive His children.
6. Can you picture a car company, which produces cars that would remain cars only a day or two? An absurd illustration? Yes. How useless would God’s plan of salvation be if it could only create Christians but could not sustain them as Christians?
7. What do remember about King David (children – Goliath; but most remember sin), Jacob, Peter, and Paul? Where are they now? They didn’t give up on God and God did not give up on them!
8. Tonight we serve the God of the second chance!
9. Illus. – Girl’s story of 4 brothers ("God hasn’t done it yet!)
10. God does not want us to sin. A true Christian has no desire to sin. However, if in the daily battles of life we sin, God has a plan for our forgiveness. That plan is a person, Jesus Christ the righteous. When you fail remember Him.
Jim Pharr
Lenoir, Nc