Christ's Sacrifice as Propitiation

Introduction and Review of Priestly Sacrifice

0:03 For many months, our Lord's Day morning expositions of the Word have represented an attempt to set forth the cardinal doctrines of the Word of God. Under the title, Here We Stand, I have attempted to set before you the great truths which we might say form the very nerve centers, the very life and breadth of biblical Christianity. Having examined the teaching of Scripture relative to the book, We believe and obey, that is, the nature of Scripture as God-breathed revelation. Having examined something of the teaching of the Word of God concerning the God whom we worship and confess, we are now concerned with opening up the most central concern in this entire series, namely the salvation we receive and proclaim. For many weeks our hearts and minds were expanded,

1:01 as we contemplated something of the mystery of the person of the Redeemer, who is Jesus Christ, we came to the discovery that He is precisely in Scripture what has been so beautifully expressed in the old confessional statements, very God of very God, very man of very man. He is true God, as much God as though He were never man. True man, as much man as though He were never God. And then the great mystery of that, he is but one person in the two natures forever. And now for several months of Lord's Day mornings, we have been considering this same Redeemer, not in the mystery of his person, but in the majesty of his offices. In the work of redemption, our Lord acts officially as the priest and the prophet and the king of his people. We have established from the word of God the reality of

1:58 of His priestly office and the functions of that office which are basically twofold, that of making sacrifice and that of making intercession for His people. And now for several weeks we have been examining the precise nature of the sacrifice which our Lord Jesus Christ offered as the priest of His people. Perhaps the most succinct statement of the essence of that sacrifice

2:26 is to be found in the language of Hebrews 7.27, where we read, He offered up Himself. And in the exposition of that text, I sought to lay before you that wonderful truth, with all of the richness of Old Testament type and shadow buttressing the assertions made, that when our Lord offered up Himself, He did so in a relationship in which He was not only the passive substitutionary offering,

2:56 the Lamb who was bearing away the sin of the world, but he was also the active representative priest, the one who was making that offering. And in so doing, our Lord made an objective, vicarious, penal satisfaction for sin. And those words have been defined and illustrated and summarized by scriptural text after text. We cannot go back over that ground, but I trust now that is not just a mass of verbiage to you, but when you think of your Lord offering Himself up to God, you have some understanding of what it meant for Him in so doing to make an objective, that is, a real, penal sacrifice for sin that was offered on behalf of every believer

3:50 It was a vicarious sacrifice. Now, having laid this groundwork, we want to press further into this glorious transaction in which Jesus Christ made a sacrifice for sin in the offering up of Himself. Now, why should we press deeper into the issue? Have we not examined in sufficient detail the nature of His sacrifice? Why, the answer I give is an unequivocal no.

The Atonement as Keystone of the Christian System

4:19 We have only begun, as it were, to march around and to describe the bulwarks of this central truth of Zion, the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And if there is any doctrine that we cannot afford to pass over lightly, it is the doctrine of our Lord's atoning work on behalf of sinners. In the language of the servant of God of another day, The atonement forms the very center and keystone of the Christian system. The atonement forms the center and the keystone. The keystone in construction is that stone which, if you remove it, the whole structure comes crumbling down upon you. Any other stone you may remove and affect the aesthetic impress of the building, you may in some way hinder its full construction,

5:15 but if you touch the keystone, you destroy the building itself. This particular writer says that the atonement of Christ is the center and keystone of the Christian system. It is most intimately connected on the one side with everything that is revealed to us concerning the natural state and condition of men and concerning the nature and character of Him who came to be the Savior of men. Now follow.

5:44 The author is saying, here's the keystone. Picture an arch. The keystone is that central stone, which if we move the whole arch comes crumbling down. The author is saying that in that keystone, everything prior to it is bound up in the nature of the creature who was to be redeemed. That is, what man is as a creature and a sinner. And everything that Scripture teaches about the nature of the Redeemer.

6:13 everything we've contemplated about our Lord being God and man in one person and two natures forever. Further, this author goes on to say that everything the other side of that doctrine, everything flowing out of that doctrine, touches the whole provision made for imparting to men individually the forgiveness of their sins, the acceptance of their persons, and the renovation of their natures, and finally, bringing them to the inheritance among those that are sanctified. The author says as he proceeds, and I believe the words are profound in their significance, we should view the cross in its relation to the whole counsel of God and to the entire scheme of revealed truth. The atonement is the great manifestation of God, the grand means of accomplishing

7:12 His purposes. The greatest manifestation of the character of God is to be found in the atonement. It is the keystone of the whole Christian system. Therefore, the more the Christian penetrates into an intelligent and scriptural grasp upon the nature of the sacrifice of Christ, he is penetrating deeper into the entire mystery of godliness. And to the extent that a Christian has this indistinct, vague, or erroneous views about the cross, he will have indistinct, vague, and erroneous views about everything that flows into the cross and everything that flows out of the cross. Therefore, the words of this perceptive theologian stand as indisputable that the atonement forms the center and the keystone of the Christian faith.

8:11 And so we want to press deeper into the nature of that sacrifice. And what I shall be doing over the next couple of Lord's days is to consider that sacrifice in terms of several categories of biblical concept that we have yet not touched upon. Mainly the sacrifice as propitiation and as redemption.

Legacy of the Believer in Biblical Words

8:37 Now I reminded you when I tried to set before you a reason for grappling with the statement, Christ made an objective, vicarious, penal satisfaction of the importance of words. That words embody thought. And our concern with those words was not to demonstrate that the words themselves were biblical, but that they captured and beautifully expressed truths that are in the Scriptures. But when we come to the words propitiation and redemption, we are not dealing with human words in that sense which describe divine truth. We are dealing with divine words, words which the Holy Spirit Himself has chosen to express the privileges of Christian redemption. And Christian, the sooner you settle that your legacy as a believer is bound up in words,

9:34 the more you'll get down to the business of being impatient with yourself if you do not have precise understanding of specific biblical words. What do I mean when I say that the legacy of a Christian is bound up in words? Simply this. All of the blessings purchased by Christ, those great realities, are expressed in biblical terms. And those terms are like a will.

10:00 You cannot know your legacy unless you understand the terms. Let me illustrate. Suppose you had a relative who lived in another country, spoke another language. And one day in the mail there arrives a letter. And you see that the return address indicates that it comes from some of those relatives in that other country. And in it there is a statement written in English that this particular wealthy relative who lived in that particular country has died. And he's left a will.

10:28 And enclosed in your letter is his last will and testament explaining the various things that he has left to you out of his inheritance. All of your inheritance now is bound up in the statements that are in that letter. Well, if you have any concern whatsoever to appreciate what your relative left...

10:50 You will find someone who knows the language in which that will was written, and you will have no rest until you found out what does this word mean, what does this statement mean. Your legacy is bound up in the language of that letter. Likewise, the legacy of a believer is bound up in the language of the Word of God. Part of that language is the word propitiation. Part of that language is the word redemption.

11:19 Christ by His sacrifice has made propitiation for sin. Christ by His sacrifice has wrought redemption. What do those words mean? Well, if you're like I am and I was for years, I really thought that the words propitiation, redemption, reconciliation, atonement, sacrifice, forgiveness, justification, all those were just more or less a bunch of synonyms that all spoke about basically the same thing, forgiveness of sin.

11:47 And do you know that for years it never dawned upon me that these were specific and glorious facets of that which Christ did on behalf of believing sinners? And because I was ignorant of my legacy, I did not render to God that measure of praise and gratitude, which in turn did not work in me that measure of glad obedience and wholehearted service. In that sense, I was robbed, but worse than this, God was robbed of something that was His due. And so, dear child of God, if you have the idea of propitiation, reconciliation, redemption, well, it just all says to speak about the same thing. You get that fuzzy notion out of your head right at the outset. And think hard and long with me as we press deeper into an understanding of the sacrifice which our great high priest has wrought for His people today.

Necessity from New Testament Texts

12:45 considering first of all the sacrifice under the category of propitiation. Now how will we attack this particular subject? Well, first of all, I want to demonstrate from the Scripture the necessity of understanding our Lord's priestly sacrifice as a propitiation. And then secondly, we'll seek to work at gleaning a definition, a description, ascertaining the meaning of propitiation. And then thirdly, I shall make some comments about the major mistakes regarding propitiation and seek to apply the whole to the conscience. First of all, then, the necessity for understanding our Lord's priestly sacrifice as a propitiation. Turn, please, to Hebrews chapter 2. We shall look, first of all, at the witness of the New Testament.

13:38 Am I being heard well on the back rows now? The speaker system is out and I'm working hard to project with a lung full of congestion and I don't know if I'm succeeding. Can I be heard? All right, thank you. The necessity for understanding our Lord's priestly sacrifice as a propitiation, first of all, the witness of the New Testament. In Hebrews chapter 2, reading from verse 16,

14:07 For verily not to angels doth he give help, but he giveth help to the seed of Abraham. Wherefore it behooved him, that is Christ, in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. If you have the old authorized version, the King James Version, it says to make reconciliation. That's a wretched translation.

14:39 To make propitiation for the sins of the people. I shouldn't say wretched. Poor. Wretched was too strong a word. I didn't mean to be cheeky. It's a poor translation. To make propitiation for the sins of the people. Now, without going into the thread of thought, which is really not essential to the point that we want to see in the passage this morning, you will notice in verse 16 the statement...

15:07 That the Lord Jesus Christ has come to be the Redeemer, not of angels. He does not give help to angels, but He has come to give help, not to the seed of Adam, but to the seed of Abraham. Here is strict particularism. Jesus Christ has come to give saving help to the seed of Abraham. That is, all of the elect of God in all ages.

15:37 Now, if that's so, what demands does it make upon him? Verse 17. Wherefore, if he's going to give saving help to the seed of Abraham, he has first of all to be identified with that seed as a true man. Wherefore, it behooved him. It was necessary for him in all things to be made like unto his brethren. Why? Why?

16:06 that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest. You remember the requirement of a priest way back when we started this study, Hebrews 5, he must be taken from among men and then appointed on behalf of men with reference to God. If Jesus Christ is to perform a priestly function for men, he himself must be man. Therefore, it was necessary for him to...

16:34 to be made like unto his brethren in order to be constituted a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. Now follow. Here the writer describes as one of his primary priestly functions to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Now can you bring together in your mind these lines of thought? There is the necessity...

17:03 of a true humanity in order that he might assume a true priesthood within which he might make a true propitiation. So you have a real humanity issuing in a real priesthood, issuing in a real propitiation. Now if God has brought those three things into the closest proximity, You see why it is incumbent upon us never to think that we have begun to understand Christ's priestly function as priest unless we have some understanding of what it is to make propitiation. For the propitiation is the great activity of His priesthood.

17:54 And His priesthood is the result of His assuming, among other things, a true humanity in order to be qualified for that office. So then when I assert that we do not yet have the heart of the matter, or not the heart, we do not yet have a full or biblical view of the matter of Christ's sacrifice until we understand propitiation, I make that assertion because of the passage here in Hebrews.

18:24 Furthermore, the New Testament witnesses buttressed in the book of 1 John. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 1. My little children, these things I write unto you that you may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an advocate, we have a paraclete, we have one who is there to help with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous and He is the propitiation. Here, we are not told He has made propitiation. He is propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. Now, the priestly activity of Christ is not explicitly stated in this passage.

19:21 But you can see that it is implicitly there. For you have advocacy or intercession joined to propitiation as the ground of the believer's consolation in the face of his sin. And the same thing comes before us in chapter 4 and verse 10. Here in his love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to to be the propitiation for our sins. And so John says that the love of God is manifested in the sending of Christ, not to perform something in some general undefined way with reference to sin, but notice, His love is manifested in sending His Son for the specific function of making propitiation for sins.

20:19 So that the believer contemplating saving love ought intelligently to contemplate saving love as manifested in the provision of a propitiation. But if I do not know what propitiation is, then that means there is a dimension of saving love for which I have no appreciation. So do you see the necessity of understanding our Lord's priestly sacrifice as propitiation? Hebrews 2.17, 1 John 2.2, 1 John 4.10, and then we'll not turn to it but a pivotal text to which I will make subsequent reference, Romans 3.25, whom God set forth to be a propitiation in His blood through faith to declare His righteousness, etc. But now not only is this the witness of the New Testament, it is the witness of the Old Testament.

Necessity from Old Testament Usage

21:16 The word found in the English Bible as atonement in the Greek translation of the Old Testament is again and again this word for propitiation. When they made that translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek before the coming of Christ, and they needed a word for that which we find in our English Bible, atonement, it was this family of words that was used again and again, propitiation,

21:45 to propitiate. And so Professor Murray rightly says in treating the subject of propitiation, and I quote him for the sake of brevity, the frequency with which the concept appears in the Old Testament in connection with the sacrificial ritual and the fact that the New Testament applies to the work of Christ, that very term that expresses this concept in the Greek Old Testament,

22:13 And the fact that the New Testament regards the Old Testament types and shadows as expressing the categories of Christ's sacrifice, Professor Murray says it would be impossible to regard the sacrifice of Christ in any other category other than that of propitiation. So then, I hope you're convinced of the necessity. But you say, Pastor, I'm not any clearer in my mind as to what propitiation is.

Meaning: Old Testament Origin — To Cover

22:41 Granted, but I hope you're at least convinced now you ought to be. And that you'll give yourself no rest until you are. Have you come that far with me? All right, then let's proceed secondly to the meaning of propitiation. You say, Pastor, I didn't come to church to be a dictionary. I came to get blessed. Your legacy is in words. Your legacy is in words, dear believers. Now, if you won't take time...

23:10 grasp the words, you'll never know what your legacy is. You just go around with an untranslated will saying, well, it feels so good to have a nice will in my pocket. Well, what's on it? I don't know if it sure feels good. Well, that may do in sunny days, but when dark days come, you want to say, how do I know that what's written on that just isn't gobbledygook? You see, and a Christian may do well in sunny days with indistinct views.

23:38 of propitiation and redemption. But you let the dark days of an accusing conscience come upon you. You let that ominous day of judgment begin to loom before you. You begin to think of crossing the river and standing in the presence of the God of the universe. You want to know that you've read rightly your legacy. You want to know that it's not gobbledygook. You want to know what it is that is the basis of your confidence that you'll meet God with joy and not with terror. All right? Meaning of propitiation is

24:08 I'll try to work with you at ascertaining the meeting along three lines. In its Old Testament origin, how does this word come to us like a snowball gathering size and significance through the Old Testament? Why, again, I quote from Professor Murray because he's laid it out so simply and clearly. In the Hebrew of the Old Testament, it is expressed by a word which means to cover,

24:36 In connection with this covering, there are three things to be noted. The covering, first of all, is in reference to sin. Secondly, the effect of the covering is cleansing and forgiveness. And thirdly, it is before the Lord that the covering takes place. This means sin creates a situation in relationship to the Lord, a situation that makes the covering of that sin necessary.

25:04 It is this Godward reference of both the sin and the covering that must be fully appreciated. So the whole Old Testament ritual has the idea of covering. Sin is to be covered. And sin is to be covered with reference to the Lord. And furthermore, the result of that sin being covered with reference to the Lord is the turning away of His wrath, which otherwise would fall upon the sinner.

Meaning: Classical Greek Usage — To Appease

25:33 And those are the basic connotations of the use of the parallel words in the Old Testament. Now, what was its word in general usage in the Greek-speaking world? Well, Smeaton, who was one of the greatest theologians and philologists, that is, student of words in his own day, makes this statement. The uniform acceptation of the word in classical Greek when applied to the deity...

26:00 is the means of appeasing God or averting His anger, and not a single instance to the contrary occurs in the whole of Greek literature. As interpreters, therefore, our business is to abide by language and not to pervert it from its proper meaning. Now, I'm not going to introduce you to the sordid dishonesty carried on by so-called theologians.

26:25 who facing the fact that this word had not only a clear significance in its Old Testament usage, but had a clear significance in general usage in the Greek-speaking world, you should see what they've done to try to avoid the tremendous pressure of that witness. But as Smeaton says, the job of an interpreter is not to twist the meaning of words, but simply to open them up.

Illustrations: Jacob and Esau, Proverbs 16

26:51 Now let me, having mentioned briefly the Old Testament origin and usage, the general usage, give you a couple of illustrations of its use that I hope will open it up to you this morning. Turn to Genesis chapter 32. God many times illustrates great theological words by simple historical narratives which help us to understand the meaning. Now most of you kids remember Jacob and Esau.

27:21 Esau the hunter, Jacob more the mama's boy. And you remember the story how one day Papa wanted a nice savory meat and Mama with her mama's boy worked out a scheme whereby they could deceive Papa and deceive Esau. And you remember how Esau was robbed of his birthright? Scripture says he despised it for a mess of pottage or porridge. Pottage in Hebrews...

27:51 Well, Jacob had reason to be afraid of his brother after he'd pulled this kind of a trick on him. In fact, it says that his brother was set on murdering him. Well, the time comes years later when the two of them are on a collision course. And Jacob knows that he's going to have to confront his brother Esau. What's he going to do? He knows that Esau, when he left him, or when he left Esau, there was murder in his heart.

28:16 He has no reason to believe but that the years have only caused those fires of anger and resentment to glow and to deepen and to become, as it were, a passion in the bosom of Esau day and night. So whenever Jacob thinks of the name Esau, he thinks of the relationship Esau, he can think of only one thing, wrath leading to my destruction. Well, the day comes when the two are on a collision course, and we read in Genesis 32...

28:46 What happened? Genesis 32 and verse 20. Or we could back up to verse 19. Jacob's going to use a little military strategy here. He's going to break up his troops so that if Esau sets upon one group, at least there's some more. They won't all be taken at once. Verse 19 of Genesis 32. And he commanded the second and the third and those that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau when ye find him. And moreover ye shall say, Behold thy servant Jacob is behind us. Now notice. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me. And afterward I will see his face peradventure. He will accept me. I will propitiate him.

29:42 with the present that goes before me. Now you see what Jacob is saying? He said, Esau is coming after me. There is nothing but anger and murder and hatred in his entire being. If I send these gifts before me, perhaps these gifts will turn away his wrath and he will accept me. And the expression of this in the Greek Old Testament is this very word that we have in the New Testament for propitiation.

30:12 perhaps these gifts will turn away his anger so that he will be favorable towards me. Now we have another such usage in the book of Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 14. Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 14. The wrath of a king is as messengers of death. Now here's the king who has at his disposal all of the military hardware of the kingdom. If he gets mad at you, you've had it. The wrath of the king is as messengers of death. But, but, a wise man will, and here's the word again, propitiate it. A wise man will turn it away, and so will a wise woman. You remember that incident of Abigail?

31:08 When David was ready to set upon her and the household because her churlish husband had treated him with such disrespect, and David and his troops are coming down ready to block them all out. And who comes out to meet him? Abigail comes out with great charm and wisdom. And by these gifts of food and kind words, what did she do? She turned away the anger of King David, so it did not fall upon her and her household. That's what this text is saying.

The Wrath of God: Aversion, Displeasure, Will to Avenge

31:36 The wrath of a king is his messengers of death, but a wise man will pacify it. Now do you begin to sense something of the meaning of this word? The word basically means to appease or to pacify, to avert anger or wrath. Now apply this to the text in Hebrews 2 and in 1 John 2, where it is said that as our high priest Jesus Christ is made propitiation for

32:17 Propitiation presupposes the wrath and displeasure of God, and the purpose of the propitiation is the removal of that displeasure. You see, God is no indifferent spectator of human conduct, as one man has said. He does not look upon virtue and vice in the same light. You see, God's wrath in the Bible comprehends at least three things. He has an aversion to sin, He has displeasure at the sinner, and He has a will or a purpose to avenge that sin. When we read in the Bible that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven,

33:02 When we read in the psalm that who knoweth the power of thy wrath and thine anger according to the fear that is due unto thee. What is the wrath of God? Well certainly the wrath of God is not some uncontrolled sinful passion in the deity. That's pagan. But the wrath of God is simply the reaction of His holiness in the presence of sin. It involves an aversion in.

33:40 The Scripture says, Psalm 5, Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. John 3, 36, The wrath of God abideth on him that believeth not. Away with this notion that God's aversion is to sin in the abstract. No, no. The holy aversion to sin finds expression in positive displeasure with the sinner. No.

34:33 with the wicked. Hell is not the place to which sin in the abstract will be banished. It's the place to which the sinner with his sin shall be banished. The wrath of God involves not only that aversion to sin, displeasure at the sinner, but follow closely, the will

35:03 Revenge that sin. Romans 1.18 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Romans 2.9 Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of him that doeth evil of the Jew first and also of the Greek. That's what the writer to Hebrews meant when he said, Our God is a concession.

35:34 Fire is an active phenomenon, a consuming fire. That is, there is this active, positive will and purpose to avenge sin in God. You say, Pastor, what does it have to do with propitiation? Follow. Hang in there. Pull the lines together. The God of Gethsemane and Golgotha is the God of Eden, the God who breathes.

36:04 and set an angel with a flaming sword at paradise that man would not enter again until paradise is opened through Christ. The God of Gethsemane and Golgotha is the God of the flood when all but eight were absolutely obliterated from off the face of the earth. Men, women, children, babies in arms, infants hanging upon the bread.

36:38 One family is taken out and all the others are utterly consumed. Why? God had a positive aversion to sin. He had a displeasure with the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah, and He manifested His will and His purpose to avenge that sin. The God who struck down Nadab and Abihu, the God who moved a bear to seize upon some young lads who were mocking a prophet, you go all

37:08 the Scriptures. And what is the witness of Scripture? That God is a God of pure and infinite wrath. He has an aversion to sin. He has displeasure at the sinner. And He has the will or purpose to avenge the sin. What does that have to do with propitiation? Oh, I trust you begin to see it. When our blessed Lord is the great high priest of His people, march to His own altar, which was the cross, And there as offerer and offering presented himself a sacrifice. When he was there as it were upon the altar in the act of sacrifice, he was making propitiation. He was doing what? He was turning away. He was averting the wrath of God. He was appeasing that holy wrath. How? How? Here's where Romans 3.25 comes in.

How Christ Turned Away Wrath in His Blood

38:09 forth a propitiation, or the propititory, how in His blood. In other words, the wrath and anger of Almighty God was appeased, not by negating that wrath and anger, but by that wrath and anger being swallowed up in the bloodletting of the Son of God. As the sin-bearer He became the curse-bearer, and as the curse-bearer, He was the wrath-bearer. In making that objective substitutionary or vicarious penal satisfaction for sin, our Lord was making a propitiation. He was turning away the wrath of God. He was averting the wrath of God. He was rendering God propitious to sinners.

39:06 the one who took that wrath in himself. Now there are some great errors with regard to this matter of propitiation. I see that our time is already gone and we don't have time to speak to them as I'd like to. Perhaps we'll make that the substance of our study next week and come right to the heart of application. Do you see how seriously God regards sin? Sin cannot will not be ignored. It won't simply go away. And I want to make a statement, and I've pondered it, and I've thought upon it, and I've reflected and prayed over it, and I'm convinced it's absolutely true. And I pray that the Spirit of God will send it to every heart in this place with power this morning. And here is the statement. God's wrath

40:18 Listen to that statement again. God's wrath, unmixed with mercy, has or will fall in fury upon every sin ever committed by mankind. That will happen in one of two ways. That wrath, unmixed with mercy, has or will fall in fury upon every sinner ever personally, or it will fall upon him vicariously. But fall upon the sinner it must, if God is to be God. My friend, listen. If you go to death and to judgment without Jesus Christ as your representative sinner,

41:21 propitiation for your sins, who has turned away divine wrath for your sins, the wrath of God, unmixed with mercy, will be poured out upon you in its fury. That's not bold language that goes beyond the warrant of the Word of God, for I quote what to me are some of the most frightening words in all of Scripture from Romans 2 and verse 8. What done to them that are factious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness shall be wrath, indignation, tribulation, and anguish upon every soul. There it is. Upon every soul of man that worketh evil, tribulation, anger, wrath, upon every soul.

Application: Wrath Unmixed with Mercy Must Fall

42:35 upon us in the person of our substitute. And that's the wonderful truth of propitiation in the blood of Christ. Where will divine wrath for my sins devent? By what means shall it be satisfied and be expended? Scripture tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ, when He offered Himself up

43:06 made that propitiation so that in the language of 1 John 2, 1, when the Christian who takes sin seriously, pressing on in a path of obedience and holiness and longing to be more like his master, yet in spite of all this he sins. What is his consolation? He knows sin will not simply go away. Sin will not simply fade out of existence.

43:40 my pre-Christian days. Every sin I've committed deserves divine wrath. Where is my consolation? Oh, look at the richness of 1 John 2, my little children. These things I write unto you that you may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Christ is pleading our cause, but can He so plead the cause of this man, this sinner, so as to get God's change his mind about sin deserving wrath? Can Jesus so plead with the Father as to change the Father's disposition of aversion to sin? Of his disposition to punish the sinner? Why, of course not. That's not his province. There can be no change in the essential nature of the Godhead. But here's our comfort look. He is an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and

44:41 propitiation for our sins. The sins that I have committed this day. Sins that in themselves provoke divine wrath and anger. What is my confidence that that anger will not be spent upon me, the one who has committed those sins? My confidence is that as a believer who is in Christ, I have an advocate, one who pleads my cause. And how does he plead my cause in the presence of the Father?

45:10 But in the language of one man, Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father, the full embodiment of all the virtue of His sacrifice, and the Father beholding His Son. We speak in human language. It's the only medium of communication we have. The Father beholding the Son and remembering that the Son was the object of His wrath, that the Son made propitiation for all

45:40 not bring that wrath upon me. He is the propitiation for my sins, the sins that I commit as a believer. He does not need to die again. He does not need to go back and repeat His sacrifice. For once and for all, when He offered Himself up to God, the wrath of God for all the sins of His people was poured out upon Him until the cup was drained, and He cried, It is finished. And this is the consolation of Of the child of God. In the face of his real sin. He has a real advocate. Who made a real propitiation. And that alone dear people brings real comfort. And there is no comfort apart from that. And as we shall see in our study next week. To take the little phrase. The sins of the whole world. And to push that beyond war. And say that means Christ has been the propitiation. For every sinner in the world. Saved or lost.

46:37 Judas as much as John and all the rest, is to rob me of comfort. Because if a man can be in hell for whom Christ was propitiation, what assurance do I have? If God can expend his wrath upon his son and then expend it upon the sinner and send him to hell, what consolation is that to me? Is that any consolation to you?

47:09 I substitute, there is not a firing He will exact of me. His propitiation, His turned away divine wrath. Oh dear child of God, as you read your legacy, and you read that Jesus Christ became one who took of the seed of Abraham, that He might be merciful and faithful high priest to make propitiation. Think immediately. Think immediately.

47:38 Propitiation, wrath of God. Wrath of God, what is that? God's aversion to my sin. God's displeasure with the sinner. God's will to avenge the sin in the person of the sinner. Propitiation, God's displeasure to my sin was not lessened when that sin was imputed to my Savior. God's anger with the sinner was not inerrant.

48:07 When the sinner was there in his substitute, that's why Jesus cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was not dealing with sin as an abstract concept, detached. You read in some of those messianic psalms where the Messiah speaks of his sins going over him. That's the cry of our Lord coming into such close identity with our sin that everything

48:38 and defilement was attached to Him. The wrath of God was poured out upon our blessed substitute, and God's will to punish sin was given its full

49:16 blood that would come. But all the gates were opened, and the reservoir of divine wrath upon every believer was expended. Oh, my friend, what a privilege to be in Christ. What a privilege to be in Christ. What a dread to be out of Him. For you, the reservoir is yet full, and you're making it more full every day

49:52 of God is like a mighty wall, a damn wall, holding back that great reservoir. There will come a time when Almighty God Himself will break the wall, and tribulation and wrath and anger will come upon your head. What will it take for some of us to realize that when the Scripture says, flee the wrath,

50:21 not dealing in abstract notions. Your sin is real. God's wrath is real. And thank God His invitation to come to forsake your sin, to flee to Christ, is real and is buttressed by all of the veracity of the God who cannot lie, who says, Him that comes, I will in no wise cast out. God's wrath

50:51 unmixed with mercy, shall find its mark on the head of every single sin ever committed by mankind. Will it find you personally, individually, to your everlasting shame and confusion? Or will it find you in the person of your substitute, in the person of your representative, to your everlasting glory,

51:20 And to the everlasting praise of Jesus. Who took on him the seed of Abraham. That he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. To make propitiation for the sins of the people. Are you one of the people? May God grant that you give yourself no rest until you know that you are in Christ. And that in Christ divine wrath has been turned away.

Closing Prayer

51:50 Let us pray. Oh, our Father, there was a time when we could not worship You as the God of holy and pure and righteous wrath. Every thought of Your holy wrath filled us with dread, struck terror to our hearts,

52:19 Many of us can remember living years in the conscious awareness that if we died, we should face you with no mediator, no daysman, no advocate to plead our cause. How we thank you that this morning we can praise you, that in your infinite love you sent your Son to be the propitiation for the sins of all who will look unto him for mercy.

52:47 And we pray, O God, our Father, that you will give to us as your people a new appreciation of what it is to have a Savior who, as our great High Priest, made a sacrifice that has rendered you propitious, that has turned away your righteous anger, and has brought us to the place where we may now call you our Father.

53:13 And, O God, with all our hearts we wish that we could take those who are yet under the canopy of wrath, unsatisfied, wrath that must yet break down upon their heads unless they repent. And, O God, You know that if there was anything we could do in any way by physical or verbal manipulation, we would do it if only we could bring them to the feet of Christ. But, O Lord, it is not ours to do that work. though everything in our renewed hearts would long to do it. But, O God, would it not please You to magnify Your grace by taking some in this auditorium even today and prevailing with them to flee their sins and the city of destruction and to flee into Christ, the great city of refuge. O God, may this word not return unto You void,

54:09 But may it prosper not only to the establishment of the saints of God, but to the calling of sinners into vital union with your dear Son. We thank you for this wonderful truth of a propitiation made. Fill our hearts with gratitude. And may that gratitude be expressed by our careful and diligent adherence to all of your revealed will in Scripture, out of love to Christ and in the power of the Spirit.

54:39 Now dismiss us with your blessing. May your presence be our conscious portion throughout this your day.