The Clean But Filthy Remnant

How to stand without an Advocate

Written by Josiah Etto

 Chapter 1: Justified... Now what?
“Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to
condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all
men unto justification of life.” (Romans 5:18)

In the garden of Eden, the first couple gave up paradise due to unbelief in the God
who created them. Because of their actions they were condemned to die, and all
of their children who disobeyed God, sinned, as they did would meet the same
fate. Unfortunately, all born of this couple have sinned, “for all have sinned, and
come short of the glory of God;” thus all are condemned to die, “for the wages of
sin is death.” (Romans 3:23; 6:23) What could be done to save humanity?

It is to save humanity from this hopeless situation that Jesus Christ came to die.
He took the penalty so that we would not have to. He died so we could live. How
did He do this? He himself bore “our sins in his own body on the tree.” (1 Peter
2:24) He was crucified and took the punishment for all sins that have and ever will
be committed. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
(John 3:16) That word whosoever spans across background, location, and time,
for “he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but also for the sins
of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2) Why did it have to be Christ who had to die?
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, [...]
but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot.” (1 Peter 1:18,19) Only someone without sin, without blemish and spot,
could take the penalty of sin in the place of us: “He was manifested to take away
our sins; and in him is no sin.” (1 John 3:5) Jesus did not decide to do this for us
because of anything we did. It is only because of His love and the love of His
Father, God’s grace, that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans
5:8)

Because of His sacrifice we may now stand in front of God the Father as if we had
never sinned. “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are
sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had
said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, And in their minds will I write them;
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” (Hebrews 10:14-17) This
is called “justification.” We can say that we are justified by Christ’s sacrifice, by His
blood. Through faith, belief,in His sacrifice we are seen by God as being righteous,
as if we had never sinned. “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through him;” “being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the
remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” (Romans 5:9;
3:24,25)

Jesus not only paid the price for our sin, but He promises to forgive us if we do sin
and to come before the Father on our behalf to ask for mercy for us: “if any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1)
It is such a Friend,Advocate, King, God (John 1:1) that we who are completely
undeserving have at our disposal.
But if we by faith accept Christ’s sacrifice and are thus declaredrighteous, what
next? If when we sin we can be forgiven, what then? Is nothing else required of
us? Shall we continue sinning and being forgiven, sinning and being forgiven,
sinning and being forgiven until kingdom come? What is the conclusion of this
matter?

Chapter 2: Still A Hopeless Case?

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his
commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

Solomon here tells us that God requires obedience from us. It is because of
disobedience, sin, that humanity was first separated from God, “your iniquities
have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from
you;” (Isaiah 59:2) thus it is only through obedience that we can be reunited with
Him.

This does not negate Christ’s sacrifice. Humanity was in a state wherein even if we
were to be obedient, all had sinned therefore all were condemned to death. God
devised a plan to allow humanity to escape this fate. He joyfully proclaimed,
“Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.” (Job 33:24) This
ransom was Christ, and because of His death we do not have to die but may have
everlasting life. But this does not change what God requires of us, obedience to
His law. It only gives us a new opportunity to keep His law. There was and is no
life found in obedience to the law because we are sinners and the law condemns
us to death, but “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us.”

Christ Himself called for obedience, saying, “If ye love me, keep my
commandments.” (John 14:15) To those who professed to love Him but did not
keep His commandments He had this to say, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and
do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46) The apostle John, the beloved disciple,
is clear in saying that if we sin, we show that we “hath not seen him, neither
known him.” (1 John 3:6) If we are to really be Christians, followers of Christ, then
we must obey Him, we must not sin.

Yet such a thing is easier said than done. Christ’s death justified us, makes it as if
we had never sinned, but it did not change our character. The Bible describes our
character as follows: “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint;” “we are
all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;” “[t]hey are
all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: There is none that doeth good,
no, not one.” (Isaiah 1:5; 64:6; Psalm 14:3) We are incapable of doing good. This
does not mean that we cannot do good things from time to time, but when push
comes to shove, our true nature comesout and “anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,
filthy communication” rear their ugly head. (Colossians 3:8) “For I know that in me
(that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but
how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not:
but the evil which I would not, that I do. [...] O wretched man that I am! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:18,19, 24) It is the lack of
consistence on his part that causes Paul to mourn over his condition. Though Paul
had done many good things and had been richly blessed by God, he found himself
falling short when it really counted. In God’s eyes, to do good, to be righteous, is
not the occasional good deed, it is consistence, something we human beings lack.

Is there a means provided for us to do good? Though we are as an unclean thing is

there no way forusto be clean? We may perhaps join in despair with Job who
declares, “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.”

But wait, there is hope!

Chapter 3: Can I really be perfect?

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
(Matthew 5:48)

Christ Himself gave this command therefore we can be sure that it is possible to
fulfill it. God says of His words, they “goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not
return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11) So with Christ, who is God,
His words do not return unto Him void but have power to accomplish that which
He says.

A similar command is given in the Old Testament where God says, “ye shall be
holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy.” (Leviticus 20:26) But how can we fulfill
these commands if we are as an unclean thing and not one can bring a clean thing
out of an unclean? Seemingly worse yet, the Bible declares, “Who shall not fear
thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy.” If God is the only one
that is holy, how can we fulfill the command to be holy? Is this not a
contradiction? On the contrary! We shall see that herein lies the very clue to the
fulfillment of the command.

Looking once again at the bold, cutting words of the apostle John, we read,
“Whosoever abideth in him [“him” being Christ] sinneth not.” (1 John 3:6) Here
we are pointed to Christ as the answer to not sinning. We know that Christ did
not sin, but how did He accomplish this?

We read that He “took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the
seed of Abraham.” (Hebrews 2:16) The children of Abraham did not inherit the
nature of the first pair when they lived in Eden, but had the same nature as the
pair’s son, Cain; thus they found it easier to do that which was wrong than that
which was right. Such it was with Christ when He dwelt on this earth. This is made
further evident by the fact that we read “[w]herefore in all things it behoved him
to be made like unto his brethren [...] that he himself hath suffered being
tempted.” (Hebrews 2:17,18) Christ was just like you and I. In terms of His nature,
He was not special: “in all things” He was made like unto us. Peter tells us, “For
even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an
example, that ye should follow his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21) If Christ did not have a
sinful nature, if He could not have sinned, then this statement by Peter is a farce.
God is a “God of truth and without iniquity, Just and right is he.” (Deuteronomy
32:4) God would be unjust for requiring us to follow His Son’s example if His Son
did not start on the same level as us. Therefore we conclude that Christ had the
same nature as we do. But this still leaves us with the question, how did He
manage to not sin?

When we look at Christ’s life, we see that He always pointed to the Father as the
one who had control over His life: “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what
he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son
likewise;” “for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same
works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me;” “My doctrine
is not mine, but his that sent me;” “I have many things to say and to judge of you:
but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have
heard of him.” (John 5:19, 36; 7:16; 8:26) If it was the Father who had total
control over Christ’s actions in life, then it is through this connection that Christ
lived a spotless life.

How is it that Christ’s bond with the Father was stronger than any other person
who had walked upon the earth? Even Moses who spoke with God “as a man
speaketh unto his friend,” was told by God, “Thou canst not see my face: for there
shall no man see me, and live.” (Exodus 33:11, 20) No man had or has seen the
Father, “save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.” (John 6:46) It is in this
way that Christ is different from us. He came to this earth as a human but He was
also divine. Christ took upon Himself the title of “I AM,” “Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58) Christ accepted worship, “And he
said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.” (John 9:38) Christ also proclaimed
to have life in of Himself to be able to die willingly and bring Himself back to life,
“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take
it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay
it down, and I have power to take it again.” (John 10:17,18) These all show that
Christ was not a mere man, but God in the flesh. With his connection to divinity,
He was able to firmly grasp His Father’s hand and follow Him wherever He led
Him. Whether to the wilderness of temptation or the cross, Christ placed His
Father’s will first. “Not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:39)

We, in this sense, are not like Christ. We are mortal and do not possess the
divinity that Christ has. Because of this we cannot come straight to the Father, for
“God is a Spirit” and “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the
flesh.” (John 4:24; Galatians 5:17) God recognizing this sent His Son in the flesh
while maintaining His divinity. Thus Christ could be the bridge connecting the
flesh and the Spirit, man and God, earth and heaven. Christ is the ladder Jacob
saw in his dream that was “set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to
heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.” (Genesis
28:12) While He abides in His Father and His Father in Him, we can abide in Him
and He in us; this allows us to have a connection with the Father through Christ.
Christ is the channel through which God may bless “us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places.” (Ephesians 1:3) It is for this reason that Christ said, “I am the
way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John
14:6)

“And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one,
even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in
one.” (John 17:22,23) This is the secret to perfection, to holiness. By abiding in
Christ, who abides in the Father, holiness may be received by us.

This process of being purified, perfected, made holy is called “sanctification.” Yet
somewhat contrary to the definition, we do not become holy. We who are as an
unclean thing cannot become inherently holy in this life, for not one can bring a
clean thing out of an unclean. It is only when Christ returns the second time that
“we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this
mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:52,53) Until that time it is
impossible for us to be holy save through a relationship with Jesus Christ which
the Bible calls “abiding in Him.” But what does this relationship consist of?

Chapter 4: The Hope of Glory

“even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now
is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the
hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in
all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Colossians
1:26-28)

It is the right of all believers to know and understand the hope of glory: Christ
dwelling in you. But how can someone dwell in us? The idea is completely foreign
to humanity. We may be as ready as Nicodemus to exclaim to Christ, “How can
these things be?” (John 3:9) Indeed, spiritual things are spiritually discerned. But
Paul said that this truth “now is made manifest.” If this was true in Paul’s day,
how much more so in our own?

Christ, when speaking to His disciples about Him abiding in them, explains it
as such, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine,
ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:4,5) Though I’m sure
there are some who do not know exactly how grapes grow, we can look at in a
more general way:as much as we would not expect a plant to live if disconnected
from its roots, so we must understand that without Christ we can do nothing. To
abide in Christ is to be fully dependent on Him.
 But what is amazing is that this relationship that Christ paints that we are to
have with Him is the same as His relationship with the Father. Christ was wholly
dependent on His Father, always seeking His Father’s will not His own. Christ went
so far as to say, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my
judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father
which hath sent me.” (John 5:30) What a great mystery! Christ, who was Himself
God, could do nothing without His Father. If such was the case with Him who “is
the image of the invisible God,” how much more for us who are made in His
image? (Colossians 1:15)

Christ submitted Himself wholly to His Father, never seeking His own
will.Because of this Christ could say of Himself, “I do always those things that
please him.” (John 8:29) If His relationship with His Father is an exampleof our
relationship with Him, we should then ask ourselves, “How can I please Christ?
How can I know His will?” We read in the book of Hebrews, “without faith it is
impossible to please him.” (Hebrews 11:6) So for Christ to have pleased His Father
He must have had faith. We too must have faith. But how do we come by this
faith that Christ had, the faith that allowed him to bear the cross? The apostle
Paul tells us, “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans
10:17) Christ Himself tells us, “Search the scriptures; for [...] they are they which
testify of me.” (John 5:39) It is through reading and studying the Bible that we
learn about Christ and receive the faith that He had, the faith that allowed His
Father to say of Him, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
(Matthew 3:17)

In the Bible we find instructive words and life records, and we find God’s
law, the Ten Commandments; these show us how to please God. These writings
of guidance and history the Bible calls the “testimony.” “To the law and to the
testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light
in them.” (Isaiah 8:20) The Bible says that we are “the children of light, and the
children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness,” and that “God is
light, and in him is no darkness at all.” To follow the light is to follow God, and the
light is found in the law and in the testimony, the Bible, and anything that does
not contradict the Bible.

Because we are sinful this is not easy for us to do. The devil tempts us to
sin, just as he did with Jesus. Jesus never sinned, so how did he overcome
temptation? With each temptation Jesus met Satan with the Scriptures. Darkness
is removed by light, thus to counter the prince of darkness we must have a source
of light.

Not only did Jesus study the Scriptures, he also spent much of his time in
prayer. He did not close Himself up from the world and spend all of His time
praying however, He would make time to speak with God despite having a very
busy day. “Pray that ye enter not into temptation.” (Luke 22:40) To be able to
remember God all throughout your day and to make the effort to make time to
speak with Him is something that comes with time and practice, but it is
something wemust do if we are to follow God. Sometimes we will forget,
sometimes we will stumble and sin, but we have the assurance that “if any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1)
 Prayer is not a one way street however. It is not a monologue for God to
listen in on: it is a conversation. When we pray to God we must believe “he is, and
that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) We must
expect a response when we speak to God. We must have faith that He hears us
and will make known to us His will on whatever our request may be.

Lastly, God has given us the Holy Spirit. Christ describes the work of the
Holy Spirit as to “guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13) Since Christ is “the way,
the truth, and the life,” the Holy Spirit will guide us to Christ, showing us how to
follow Him. We can read the book of Acts and clearly see how the work of the
Holy Spirit was indispensible, without which the apostles would not have known
what exactly God wanted them to do.

These tools, the word, prayer, and the Holy Spirit, are the tools God has
given us for our perfection. Not that they make us perfect, they do not have the
power to make a unclean thing clean, but they bring us to Christ so that He can
guide us in His perfect ways.

Here is an example to help illustrate this. If you have a test to take and your
classmate helps you answer each question, allowing you to score perfect on the
test, knowing this, would it be said that you or the classmate is the smart one?
Naturally, the classmate. Even if you know some things, you would be able to
testify that without your classmate’s help you would not have scored perfect. So
it is with Christ and us. Christ is called the “wisdom of God,” he is far wiser than
any of us; this, along side the fact that He has gone through life, being tempted in
all points, thus He knows firsthand how to live a righteous live: he knows how to
score perfect on the test. We know some things but are unable to live perfectly in
our own strength. Christ came to earth as our classmate, a fellow human being, to
show us how to score perfect, and though He is now in heaven he is still ready,
willing, and able to show us how to live. His help does not make us inherently
perfect, but it allows us to live perfectly. Just as the student receiving help from
his classmate will learn more and more about the subject matter, so we will learn
more and more about what perfection looks like from Jesus. But we will never, in
this sinful world, reach His perfection ourselves. It will always be us following Him
as He leads us throughout the questions of life’s test. Thus we can be clean while
still being filthy.

Many have gone down into the grave not having lived a wholly perfect life,
but finished their life with the earnest desire to follow Christ. Because of this they
will be in the kingdom. But what about those who are alive when Christ comes?

Chapter 5: The Final Test

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship
the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the
same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without
mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.”
(Revelation 14:9,10)

At the end of time, Satan makes his final move against God’s people, those
that “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” (Revelation 14:12)
He, through his agents, the beasts of Revelation 13, makes the whole world follow
a system that speaks “blasphemy against God,” makes “war with the saints,”
compels “all that dwell upon the earth” to “worship him.” (Revelation 13:6-8)
Such a system no true follower of Christ can take part in. Those who take part in it
will find that their “names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world,” and the Bible gives them the fiercest warning
ever given to humanity, found in the third angel’s message of Revelation 14. How
can we avoid being a part of that system? How can we avoid receiving the mark of
the beast?

In contrast to the mark of the beast, Revelation 7 speaks about the “seal of
God.” Those that are sealed are numbered 144,000. They receive the seal of God
in their foreheads. This is the preventative measure to receiving the mark of the
beast. Those that are sealed are called “the servants of our God,” thus they
cannot be a part of the beast’s system which is against God and wars against the
saints, the servants of God. Everyone should be striving to be among this group.
Therefore, we must know what are the qualifications of those who receive the
seal of God. The Bible describes the 144,000 in the first part of Revelation 14.

“These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins.”
(Reevelation 14:4) Here the Bible is not talking about being a literal virgin, but a
spiritual virgin. In actual fact, Paul says of those who forbid Christians to marry
that they are “giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” (1 Timothy
4:1) God says to His people, “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am
married unto you.” The Bible likens God’s people’s relationship with Christ to
marriage: “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of
the church;” “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed
you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
(Ephesians 5:23; 2 Corinthians 11:2) God’s people are to be, spiritually, virgins.
They are saving themselves for marriage with Christ who has promised to come
and fetch them, thus they cannot be defiled with anyone else. Women in the
Bible represent systems of worship, churches: “I have likened the daughter of
Zion to a comely and delicate woman.” (Jeremiah 6:2) God’s church is
represented as a beautiful woman, “clothed with the sun, and the moon under
her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” (Revelation 12:1) While
Babylon, a false church, is represented as a whore with a “cup in her hand full of
abominations and filthiness of her fornication.” (Revelation 17:4) Therefore the
144,000 are practicers of the true worship of God. They do not follow a false
religion, but they “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto
the saints.” (Jude 3) The 144,000 being “virgins” does not mean that they all have
to have been born and raised in God’s true form and worship, rather it means,
regarless of where they began in life, their last state is on God’s side. When the
daughters of mystic Babylon, false religions, try to seduce them, they will give
them no heed.

This process of becoming perfect,