So if Jesus' work on earth was completely finished, what is He doing as my advocate in heaven right now?

That's a question that comes into us from Lynn, on 1 John 2 verses 1 and 2. She writes,

Sir Pastor John, what is Christ doing as our advocate? As a child of God, I am redeemed,

completely lacking nothing. I am justified and forgiven of all my past sins, past present future.

I am united with Christ. I belong to Him. I am sealed in Him, declared righteous in Him and sealed

with His Holy Spirit. If I am already seated in the heavenly places in Christ, what exactly

is Christ pleading with the Father for on my behalf? If His work on the cross was complete,

with God making Him the propitiation of my sins, why does Christ have to plead to God to continue

to forgive me? Why is Christ now advocating for me before God? Pastor John, what would you say to Lynn?

Let me start with an unrelated text from Romans 11, simply to illustrate a point that governs

how we think about the perplexities that arise from trying to follow the paths of God in the way

save sinners. Oh, what a challenge. Listen, listen to this for a round about complexity of God's

ways and how Paul responds to this round about complex way of saving Jews and Gentiles.

This is a Romans 11, 30 and following. Just as you Gentiles,

were at one time disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of the disobedience of

Israel, so they too now have been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you, they also

may receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience that He may have mercy on all.

Now how does Paul respond to that convoluted way of going about salvation in the world?

Oh, this is the next verse. Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God.

How unsurchable are his judgments? How inscrutable his ways. Now pause there. He didn't mean his

ways who were inscrutable in the sense that we didn't have any insight into them. He just gave us

in three chapters the most stunning insight into the way God saves Jews and Gentiles. Imagine,

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