If thy foot slippeth, if it slippeth greatly, then know thou it will not be long before a bill be in heaven preferred against thee by the accuser of the brethren; wherefore then thou must have recourse to Christ as advocate, to plead before God thy Judge against the devil thine adversary for thee.  And as to the badness of thy cause, let nothing move thee save to humility and self-abasement, for Christ is glorified by being concerned for thee; yea, the angels will shout aloud to see him bring thee off.  For what greater glory can we conceive Christ to obtain as advocate, than to bring off his people when they have sinned, notwithstanding Satan’s so charging of them as he doth?

He gloried when he was going to the cross to die; he went up with a shout and the sound of a trumpet to make intercession for us; and shall we think that by his being an advocate he receives no additional glory?

Christ, when he pleads as an advocate for his people in the presence of God against Satan, can plead those very weaknesses of his people for which Satan would have them damned, for their relief and advantage.  “Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” This is part of the plea of our Advocate against Satan, for his servant Joshua, when he said, “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan.”  Zech. 13:  2.  Now, to be a brand plucked out of the fire, is to be a saint—­impatient, weakened, defiled, and made imperfect by sin.  This then is the next plea of our goodly Advocate for us:  “O Satan, this is a brand plucked out of the fire.”  As if he should say, “Thou objectest against my servant Joshua, that he is black like a coal, or that the fire of sin at times is still burning in him.  And what then?  The reason why he is not totally extinct as tow, is not thy pity but rny Father’s mercy to him.  I have plucked him out of the fire, yet not so out but that the smell thereof is yet upon him; and my Father and I, we consider his weakness and pity him; for since he is as a brand pulled out, can it be expected by my Father or me, that he should appear before us as clear and do our biddings as well as if he had never been there?  This is a brand plucked out of the fire, and must be considered as such, and must be borne with as such.”

His righteousness Christ presents to God for us; and God, for this righteousness’ sake, is well pleased that we should be saved, and for it can save us and secure his honor and preserve the law in its sanction.

For Christ, in pleading against Satan as an advocate with, the Father for us, appeals to the law itself if he has not done it justice; saying, “Most mighty law, what command of thine have I not fulfilled?  What demand of thine have I not fully answered?  Where is that jot or tittle of the law that is able to object against my doings for want of satisfaction?”

Here the law is mute; it speaks not one word by way of the least complaint, but rather testifies of this righteousness that it is good and holy.  Rom. 3:22,23; 5:15-19.