I take your Bibles and turn back
with me to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, if you look
in verse 23 to verse 26. I entitle this Christ Our Propitiation. Christ Our Propitiation. He says in verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has 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 forebearance of God to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth
in Jesus. Now, in verse 23 the apostle
continues to testify of the same thing he has testified of for
two and a half chapters, namely the depravity of man, the absolute,
complete and utter ruin of all men. All have sinned, result and fallen
short of the glory of God. The total depravity of man that
all men, he says this in these previous chapters, chapter Through
chapter 2, he says concerning the Gentiles, they had the law
of God written on their hearts. They had creation. They had conscience. They had a law. God gave them
a law. To the Jews, they had the law
of Moses. And yet, what is the conclusion
of this? That both Jew and Gentile have
sinned. Both Jew and Gentile failed to
obey the law of God that was given to them. And thus, because they had no
spiritual understanding, no spiritual life, there was no way they could
have obeyed the law given to them, nor would they have obeyed
the law given to them. The conclusion, therefore, as
is written in scripture in verse 10, As it is written, there is
none righteous. How many is righteous? No, not
one. Who understands? There's none that understand
it. Who seeks after God? There's none that seeketh after
God. They are all together unprofitable. Why? There is none that doeth
good. No, not one. What about the law? Verse 19.
He says, we know that whatsoever things that say law say it, that
say it to them, that under the law, anybody want to be under
the law, anyone, in any aspect, in any part, name one law that
you desire to be under. Because if you desire to be under
one law, then this is speaking to you. It says to everyone under the
law. that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become
guilty before God. See what the law does? You, that
one thing you want to be under, you're guilty of. All the law does is shut our
mouths. It cannot help us to God. It
cannot. It is not ever meant to help
us to God. It is meant to silence us before
the justice of God. That is its total purpose. is to silence us, to shut us
up, that all the world may become guilty. Cursed is everyone in
Galatians 3. Cursed is everyone. Cursed is
everyone who continueth not in what? All things written in the
book of the law to do them. Not just acknowledge them, but
to do them. You can't just consent that they're
good. If you want to be under the law,
you must do them. Which one? All of them. All of them. And if you don't, what are you?
Cursed. Cursed. Cursed. To be under the
law in one point, Paul says in the beginning of Galatians is
to be removed from Christ. Isn't that astounding? To be
under the law in any part is to be removed from Christ. You
can't be under the law and under grace. These are totally incompatible
systems. totally incompatible means of
salvation. It is to make Christ, the salvation
of Christ, dependent in some measure on your obedience. That's
what it does. Well, I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe He's
my Savior. But in order to maintain this,
I've got to obey the law. No, you're removed from Christ
now. I don't, I don't, it doesn't
really matter what you think about it. The scriptures are
clear concerning it. And so then are you trusting
your obedience for your sanctification? Is not sanctification necessary
for salvation? Don't you need to be holy to
be saved? Were you dependent upon your
obedience to the law to make you holy? You are removed from
Christ. I didn't say it, the Apostles
said it in Galatians. We spent, what, six, eight months on that
book? The whole book is dedicated to
that. If you be circumcised, Christ should profit you nothing. So listen, Christ will profit
nothing to anyone who desires to be under the law. You've been
removed from Christ. What's the purpose of the law?
That every mouth be stopped and all the world become guilty.
What's the conclusion? Verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Why? For by the law is only the knowledge
of sin. That's all it can do is expose
sin. It can't help you be righteous. But here's the gospel. Now then,
boy, the darkness is just so great. I mean, the darkness of
our depravity is immense. I imagine if we understood how
depraved we really are, we'd probably all kill ourselves.
It would be so depressing, it would be so horrible. I'm thankful
God doesn't expose it all at once. But here's the gospel, but now,
conversely, the righteousness of God, listen, without the law. That's what I need. I need righteousness
without my obedience. is manifested, being witnessed
by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God,
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. The righteousness of
God. The righteousness of God. This
is the gospel for everyone who's guilty. When the law comes in
and you are guilty, is there any guilty sinners? Then this
is for you. Righteousness without your obedience. Righteousness, what kind of righteousness?
The righteousness of God. It was manifest, witnessed by
the Law and the Prophets. What? That Christ should come
and fulfill the righteousness of God for His people. The righteousness
of God is manifest clearly in the Law and the Prophets. It
was types and shadows and pictures, but now, Ta-da! He's opening the curtain. He
said, now, it's clearly revealed what all the law and the prophets
witnessed, that the righteousness of God should come by one way,
the faith of Jesus Christ. That's how righteousness should
come. Now, in this verse, in verse 22, We have the first of
two requirements of the law. And I went over this Wednesday,
but I just, I think going back over it again is just as good.
We need to hear it again. Two aspects of the law that are
necessary to save the sinner. First of all, righteousness. Second of all, redemption. Payment
for sin. According to the law, both of
these were required. perfect, absolute obedience. And we've proved before that
none of us have done that. So how then we who are guilty
should be made righteous? It must be by the righteousness
of another. The righteousness of God which
is by the faith of Jesus Christ. So the first requirement, righteousness.
And I just said that. What is righteousness? It is
perfect obedience. Listen to this. Let it sink in. I had to walk around this building
all day yesterday thinking about what it means to actually obey
God. Listen, in every thought, in every word, and in every action, and most importantly, in every
motivation, You must obey God's law. If you ever look to yourself
to do that, you are mad. You are insane. You have not done it, and you
cannot do it, and you will not do it. Yet God requires it. God requires it. God's standard
of righteousness is not, we used to have in college, they'd grade
on a curve. God's not grading on a curve
here. You must be as righteous as God, but rejoice. Why? Because Jesus has fulfilled
all righteousness. He did it by his perfect obedience. Isn't that what he said? I came
not to destroy the law, but what? To fulfill. To fulfill the law. Consider now the obedience of
God's the Son as our federal head. Jesus, according to the
law and the prophets, he promised that he would be a representative
of all his people. And so, being found in fashion
as a man, what did Christ do? He humbled himself. He became
obedient. When he became a man, he became
subject to the law of God as every one of us was. Subject. And the Son of God took on flesh,
he submitted himself to the care and the will of the Father in
everything. You got that? In everything.
For his very substance, food, When you go get something to
eat, how often do you think about how God provided it? How often
are you thankful for it? How often are you dependent upon
your own power to put it in your mouth? You don't even think about
God when we're feeding our face. Yet Christ, in all His eating
food, was totally consumed with thanksgiving and praise and honor
and glory to God for giving Him the food. Could he use his own
power to do that? Yes, he could do that, but he
couldn't save us, except he submit himself to God. That's what he
did. Now remember, there are two principles
of the law, right? In all the obedience of the law,
two things must be done. Love for God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your
mind. And secondly, love for your neighbor as yourself. Now,
there's 613 commandments in the law. And Jesus Christ kept every
one of those commandments with a full love for God and a full
love for his neighbor. Every second of his life. That's what it took to obey the
law. And our Lord Jesus Christ did
that with love to God and love to his neighbor. Only Christ
did this. And this he did not for himself,
friends. Why would he subject himself
to this? Was he not already righteous in himself? Was he not already
holy in himself? He did not this for himself. But every act of obedience to
God was for his people. for you. What a great condescension. Our
Father gave Christ and Christ willingly did it. Look at Romans
5, you can see that this is the result of His obedience as our
representative. We know that by sin, Adam, sin
came and death came into the world. Romans chapter 5 and verse
19, this is how righteousness comes to us. He said, For by
one man's disobedience many were made sinners. How were you made
a sinner? You were made a sinner by one man's disobedience. So, even so, by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. How am I going to be righteous?
Only through the righteousness of another. That man, Jesus Christ,
is all my righteousness. Now then, we know this, that
Christ came to be the righteousness of God. He is the righteousness
of God for all his elect. But who are they? That's a vital
question. More specifically, how may I
know if that's my righteousness? Look what he says in verse 22.
Go back to your text and look at verse 3. Verse 22, even the righteousness
of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. We see how it's
merited, but who is it given to? Unto all and upon all them
that believe. Now to every believer, This is
the promise of God. This is to you who believe. That
righteousness which Christ earned is both unto you and upon you. It is imputed to you and it is
imparted to you. Both. Both. First, this righteousness of
Christ was always ours. How's that? Well, because before
there was sin, God put you in Christ. There was a union, a
vital union that you had. You are believers now. And we're
going to get to that part in just a second. Before the world
began, all of the elect were in Christ Jesus. and they were
accepted. Did that tell us in Ephesians
1? He says, according as he had
chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy without blame before him, motivation in love,
having predestination under the adoption of children, how? By
Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the riches of his glory, to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted. Isn't that great? You that believe
you were accepted before anybody else knew it, before the angels
were created, before any other being but God alone existed,
you were accepted. Why? You were in union with Christ. Therefore, God could legally
charge you with righteousness. You can't charge a man with righteousness
that don't have righteousness, can you? Can you really charge
a man as being righteous? Can you pretend he's righteous?
God doesn't pretend righteousness. You are either righteous or you're
not. God is no respecter of persons. You are either righteous or you're
not. Every elect soul was righteous from the foundation of the world.
Because of what? They were in Christ. He was their
federal head. He was their representative.
Isn't that how you're righteous now? Because of your union with
Christ. Isn't that why you're righteous?
Because of that union. What changed? Nothing. Nothing. Created the world, sin came in
the world, that didn't alter that. That covenant was from
eternity. So this righteousness is justly
imputed to all God's elect even before they receive it. Why? Because we were in union with
Him. But it's not only this righteousness is charged to us, imputed to
us by our union with Christ, Consider this, that every one
of God's elect, this righteousness is also imparted to us. It's
imparted to us. This is what we call the new
birth. In Ephesians chapter 4, I believe
it's 24, he says, put on the new man. Why is he calling it
new man? Well, because it wasn't there
at your birth. It wasn't there. Put on the new man which is created. Isn't that, that's a beautiful
word. Created. And what's the image of this
new man? It's created after God in true
holiness. True holiness. That's why you
go to 1 John chapter 5, I think it's verse 18, it says, Whosoever
is born of God sinneth not. That's astounding. If you don't
understand the new birth, that's an astounding scripture. But
if you understand the new birth, you understand what it means.
That which is born of God, the new man, he doesn't sin. He can't
sin. The struggle with us is all we
can see is our sin. Why is that? Because the old
man is not yet eradicated. He's still there. You not feel
Him? You not struggle with Him? You
not despise Him and hate Him? Why is that? Because you're not
what you desire to be. That's why Paul said, "...the
flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh."
These are two contrary to one another's. Why? So that you can't
do what you would. You that believe. Is it not your
desire to be righteous? Do you want to be like Christ?
That's a no-brainer, you bet. Can you? Why not? That which is born of God said,
if not, why can't you? It's exactly what the apostle
meant when he said this. He said, I desire to do good. The evil is present with me. And he said this, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? What is he talking about? He's
talking about that rotting corpse of the flesh that hangs about
our neck. dragging us to the earth. I told
you you had divided attention. Why is that? Why can't you focus
on this, which is the most wonderful thing in the world? The old man
is why. He's not gone. We have hope that
one day he will. When he falls into the grave,
that's over. That's done. And that body sits in hope, waiting
to be just like the new man. One day this body is going to
be like the new creation that's in us, and we are going to be
whole. But until then, what do we do?
We struggle. We struggle. Let us by faith then just receive
what God says. Receive what God has given us.
And this is how the new birth is given to us. It's through
faith. Isn't it? This righteousness imputed, this
righteousness imparted is only given to one group of people,
believers. Those who believe. And remember, does our faith
add anything to this righteousness? Even our faith is a gift of God. The measure of our faith. I mean,
every believer desires to have strong faith. I'll tell you this,
not often is strong faith given to believers. Many times we're
like the apostles. Oh, you of little faith. Why? But the measure of our faith
is even given by God. What can you do to increase your
faith? Tell me. I mean, people want to be religious
and say, man, if I just do this and do this, my faith will increase.
Really? That's amazing. God said it's a gift. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. So our faith is a gift of God.
And so we receive what? The righteousness of God. Now
that is the first aspect of requirement. You that desire to be received
of God, you must be as righteous of God. And I'm telling you,
one has already made that righteousness. Only one. And the only way this
is received is simply to believe on Jesus Christ. That's it. Believe
on Him. Now secondly, redemption. This
is in our text now. Look back. Paul says in verse
23, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We've
seen that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the first demand,
we must see is also the fulfillment of the second demand, which is
called redemption. Redemption, being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption. How is a man justified? He is
justified, not only through righteousness, but also through redemption. freely justified by His grace
through redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set
forth to be the propitiation. Now, Paul reminds us who have
been made the righteousness of God, he's going to remind us
this again, we've all sinned. Man, why keep telling me that? Why does Paul keep reminding
us that we've all sinned? Well, because the law not only
demanded obedience, But it also demanded death for every disobedience. Friends, the righteousness of
Christ would do us no good unless, first of all, the justice of
God is satisfied. Why? Because we really sinned. We are really guilty of sin. We all really have fallen short.
So then, how then can God be just and the justifier of the
ungodly? Sin must be punished, and that's
what he's dealing with in this section. Justice must be satisfied. Therefore, God, who is not willing
that any of his elect should perish, who loved us with an
everlasting love, who purposed us to be holy and without blame,
He also decreed the means by which we should both be righteous
and that His justice should be satisfied. That Christ should both be our
obedience and our payment for sin. Behold again the strictness of
God's unbending justice. God's love for His elect, His
purpose for us to be holy could never Listen very carefully. His love and His purpose for
us to be holy could never come at the expense of His justice.
We do it all the time. We do it. We excuse others based
on a circumstance or their familiarity with us or our love for them
or our affection for them. They do something horrible and
we just forgive. No payment required. God can't
do that. God can't do that. Every sin
must receive a just reward. Now, how many sins do you have? If every sin is worthy of eternal
damnation, how many sins do you have? And God cannot, His justice is
unbending. I've explained this multiple
times. He's no respecter of persons. God's justice. You're the elect
of God. You that are the believers in
Jesus Christ, you realize that God's justice is no different
for you than it was for any of the other people that's lost. We are judged under the same
justice of God. So how can we who are truly guilty
and cannot pay be justified. Listen, the same way you were
made righteous by the offering of another, you are made righteous
by the deeds of another, you shall be redeemed by the offering
of another. The covenant that God set forth
is this, that his son should be the redeemer. God swore before
Christ came. You read this in the Old Testament.
God promised forgiveness, didn't he? You take the covenants in
Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and God swears he's going to forgive.
He said, I will remember their sins and iniquities no more. How is that possible? If he's
strict and he's just, how in the world is he ever going to
forget your sins? Listen, one word. A price had to be paid for our
sins. How could God do this and be
just and pardon the sinner from death, even by Jesus Christ? Listen to this word. Go back
to your text. Look at this. He says, Through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a Propitiation. I'm going to spend the rest of
my time explaining how that and redemption are related. They are the same. Redemption
is the act of making an offering. Propitiation is the offering
itself and the offerer. Now, whenever a Jew heard the
word propitiation, there is one thing he thought
of. The great David told me. The Great Day of Atonement. The
word propitiation has to do with the mercy seat. It has to do
with the offering that was made and sprinkled upon the mercy
seat. You remember that sinner, the publican, said, Lord, be
merciful. The word is propitiatus. I need
an offering. I need a sacrifice that's acceptable
to God. That's what he was thinking of.
He was thinking about the Great Day of Atonement when he asked
for mercy. And so when Paul is putting this here, this word
propitiation, we should have our minds set on that beautiful,
wonderful picture of the great day of atonement. And if you
want to read this later in Ezekiel 16, please write it down and
read it later. And then have it all as a view of Christ. Keep
Christ on your mind as you read through that chapter, and it's
going to bless you. And I'm going to skim through
it here. First of all, in a great day of atonement, you need a
high priest. That was one of the main things. He's talking
to Aaron in Leviticus 16. He's saying to Moses, this is
what you tell Aaron. He's a high priest. The first
thing he needs to do is put on some linen garments. A linen
white garment, a linen belt, and a linen cap. Oh man, what
is that? That is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ in his humanity. robed in spotless righteousness. Isn't that what the robe of the
saints is made of? Fine linen, clean and white. Aaron, he had to go wash himself.
He's only a picture. He had to wash himself. He had
to put on this garment that wasn't his own flesh. It was all a picture
of Jesus Christ coming to provide our righteousness for us, that
high priest. Secondly, he was to take an offering. Notice this is a picture of Aaron
and all this. God does this. He said, I want
you to get a bullock and I want you to make an offering for yourself
first. Why? Because you're not Christ. You
need an offering for yourself. Then you need to sprinkle that
blood on the tent, and on the altar, and on everything else,
because it was made by man, and it's only a type. So you got
to show people that this was not the real. That's why he had
to offer that first one. Then he said, take two goats.
Two goats. And you go cast lots. You're
going to throw a lot down. One of them is going to be for
God. You know which one that was?
That was the offering one. That was the one that's going
to be killed. For God what? For God's justice. God demanded
payment for sin and the lot fell on that one, the offering goat.
What a picture of Christ. A lot of God fell on Christ to
be our offering. Now, what do people have to do
with this? I'm going to get to that, but
think about them. They're not even there. They're
on the outside of this fence. They can't even see what's going
on in there. They have no business in there.
This is God's business. And that law is cast for that
offering of that goat. Christ was our chosen propitiation.
God chose him to be our redeemer. As our high priest, Christ offered
himself. That high priest offered the
goat. What did Christ offer? Offered himself. An offering to God without spot,
without blemish. A perfectly acceptable offering. And as that high priest, you
remember he slid through that goat and that blood poured all
over that white linen. He took that blood into the very
presence of God and sprinkled it all over the mercy seat. What
is that a picture of? It was not his blood. It's a
picture of his shedding of his blood. God foreordained that
he should shed his blood. That he should make his soul
an offering for sin. And so as Jesus Christ suffered
on the cross, what was he doing there? He was satisfying the
justice of God for our sins without the shedding of blood. is no
remission of sins. So as the high priest took the
blood and sprinkled it upon the ark, see that Christ, who is
the ark of the covenant." Oh man, every picture of this is
Christ, isn't it? He's the priest, He's the offering,
He's the tabernacle, He's the ark, He's the veil, He's everything! Remember that box? It was a wooden
box, incorruptible wood, His humanity, overlaid with gold,
His deity. Inside was the complete, intact
law of God. Isn't that what he did? In his
heart he kept the law of God. Then you see the bread, the manna. What is he? He's the bread of
life, the Aaron's rod that budded. He's the producer of life. Christ
is everything in that ark. And over the top was that solid
gold lid. You see, that's where the blood
was shed. He interceded for us. His offering pleaded our mercy
for us. You see how Christ brought his
own blood into the presence of God. And so then you see now
then the other goat, the scapegoat, what happens to this goat? Well,
the high priest, after he had offered that sacrifice, he takes
that goat and he puts his hands on it and he confesses all the
sins of the people of Israel on top of that goat. Notice,
he didn't confess the sins of the Amalekites, the Amorites,
the Hittites, the Jebites, just Israel. He takes that goat, there's a
strong man, they pick the strongest fellow they can find, They put
him in white linen. They tell him to grab that goat.
It's got all the sins of Israel on it. And he said, you go out
there to a place where nobody lives. Nobody's even been there
ever. An untouched place. And you let
them go out there in the wilderness. What is this a picture of? This
is a picture of what the death of Christ did. You had the death,
and now you have a picture of what it did. All of our sins. What happened to your sins? God
can't just arbitrarily forgive you of your sins. Listen, how
did He deal with them? He confessed them on His Son. He made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin. That's what He did. As Christ hung on the cross,
could you find any sin on Christ. Could you see anything sinful
about Christ on the cross? Did he sin on the cross? Absolutely
not. Of course not. Everything he
did and thought was still in love for God and man. Yet in
this act of divine power and right, God made him guilty. I don't know how he did it. Tell
you the truth, don't care. I can't wrap my mind around it.
If I can't wrap my mind around it, neither... I know this. I've
heard men try to tell me they have. Go ahead, okay? If you've
got some divine insight, I don't have it. I know he was absolutely
without sin, and I know this at the same time God made him
to be sin. I know God didn't pretend him to be guilty. I told
you God don't pretend. God says it's an abomination
to condemn a righteous man. It's an abomination. Can't do
it. Yet somehow I'm telling you this, he bore the guilt of our
sins. And when he died, what did he
do? He was that strong man because nobody else could bear the justice
of God but him. Only He can endure the wrath
of God. Only He was able to bear our
iniquities in His own body on the tree and endure the fierce
measure of God's wrath for our sins. And when He did, He carried
them away into a place uninhabitable. In other words, the forgetfulness
of God. That's where He carried them. Jeremiah 50, look at it. You
that believe, you lay hold of this. How far did he remove our sins?
David said as far as the east is from the west. Never the two shall meet. Look at Jeremiah chapter 50.
Look at verse 20. How far did this scapegoat remove
our sins? In those days and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for. Justice is always seeking for
sin. It can't overlook its sin. It
must be sought, or he's not just. If God were to ignore sin, he
wouldn't be just. But the sin is looked for. And what does justice find? And there shall be none. the sins of Judah, and they shall
not be found. Why? For I pardon. I will pardon. Who? Those whom I reserve. Everyone
that Christ redeemed. Those are reserved. I like old
Joshua, that high priest. He's got those filthy garments
on. Satan's about ready to speak. He's right there. He's fixing
to accuse him. and looked like he had every
right to. He was a horrible man, did horrible things, and he just
prostrated, just can't do anything about it, he's guilty. And he
just knows he's ready to be condemned. And before Satan could open his
mouth, the Lord Jesus Christ stood by and said, is not this
a brand plucked from the burning? Is this not one I reserved? This is not one that I have paid
the price. Our Lord Jesus Christ so paid
the price for our sins that He, without reservation, told us,
it is finished. It's done. God is satisfied. You know, on that great day of
atonement, after all that blood and all that stuff You imagine
this high priest is soaked with blood and dung and all kinds
of stuff. It's a messy thing. It's not
a very neat and sanitized place where you take a scalpel and
you cut it and you pour it in. Blood's everywhere. And the high
priest was told of God. He said, go in and take off those
linen garments and I want you to wash yourself and then you're
going to leave those garments in the holy place. When the Lord
Jesus Christ rose from the dead, what did they find in the tomb? Garments. Those linen garments
he was wrapped in, those garments that were stained with his blood,
they left them in the tomb. That's what our high priest did.
He left our sins in the tomb. They're gone. And now, that high
priest was told then to get his beautiful robes and put them
on. I read this, he said these robes were made of gold and scarlet
and purple. They were lavish robes. They had these shoulder pads
on them, had gems on the shoulder pads with the names of Israel
written on them. He had a breastplate with the
names of Israel written on it. He had an ephod, which is how
men communicated with God back then was through this ephod.
And show us that Jesus Christ is what? He's no longer in the
tomb. He's risen! And He's donned His
kingly garments and now He is sitting at the throne of God.
What is He doing? As our High Priest ever living
to make intercession for us. Do you feel condemned? How often does the enemy come
along and whisper condemnation to us? Really, he doesn't even
need to do it. We do it in ourselves. We condemn
ourselves. But listen, he who is your propitiation, your propitiation is now risen
and seated at the throne of God. Ever living, the scripture says,
to make intercession for us. Now, I'm going to ask this, does
any sinner need a propitiation? Are you just going to go to God
by yourself? Well, when I get to heaven, this is what I'm going
to tell God. Go ahead, go on. I'm not talking
to you. This gospel doesn't speak to
people like that. This gospel is for guilty sinners who have
no hope in themselves. You have no righteousness of
your own? I'm pointing you to one who has righteousness. Jesus
has righteousness. You can't pay for your sin. I'm
pointing you to one who's already paid for sin. Now how is this
propitiation and redemption received? Listen, go back to your text
one more time. Look what he says. Through the propitiation according
to... Wait, wrong part. There we go.
whom God has set forth to be the propitiation." How? Through
faith in His blood. How is this received? It is received
by faith. It's received by faith. If there's
any sinner who needs a propitiation, do like that publican did. Lord
be propitious to me. Listen, the sinner. I know you
talk about total depravity of everybody, but I'm depraved. I need a propitious sacrifice.
I need Christ as my offering. I need Christ as my righteousness. Well, how then is this come to
us who believe? Now, why you believe? You that
believe, listen. Why it came to you? Why are you
justified? Aren't there greater people than
you? If you were to stack the works
of some of the religious men of this world, we wouldn't be
able to compare our works with theirs. Their works far outseat
ours. They're far better people than
we are. We confess. Why are you justified not then? Look at verse 24 again. Being justified. Righteousness
and redemption. How? Freely. Freely. That's the only way you
can be justified. You want to add something to
it, you won't be justified. The only people who are justified
are justified freely. By His grace. That is only through the redemption. that is in Christ Jesus. It's
only through that redemption, only through that righteousness,
are you justified. And what does the scripture say
to you who are justified? Listen to this very carefully.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. Listen to this. There is therefore
now no condemnation. What about now? There is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. You
can do this all day long. You can go until you leave this
world and say that over and over again. And it's still true. There
is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
God even asked this, who is he that condemneth? It's God that justified, yea
rather it is Christ that died and is risen again. So then,
you that are propitiated, what does it say? Who shall separate
me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? Name it.
What is it? You fear? I have fears all the
time. Fear, fear, constant fear. And
the Lord keeps reminding me, fear not. God helped me not to
fear. This one thing I know is that
nothing in this life or the next can separate me from that. Why?
Jesus Christ is my righteousness. Jesus Christ is my propitiation. Do you want to add anything to
it? Anybody want to touch? And I like that picture that
Ray David told me because, listen, everybody was outside waiting.
Nobody did anything in there but the priest and those offerings. Nothing. Nobody. And they didn't know it was done
until the priest came out. Isn't that true? We didn't know it was all done
until Christ came out of the tomb. And now it's clearly manifest
it's done. It's done. It's done. Oh, it's
done. Now does this give you motivation
to sin? That's the most idiotic thing
I've ever heard. Does grace motivate you to sin?
Not if you've got that love of Christ in view. That is what
constrains me not to sin. Not the law. The love of Christ,
that perfect Redeemer, that moves me to love, to serve, to honor
Him. Doesn't move me to see it. Christ,
our propitiation. Pray God will bless this to you.
The stand be dismissed and pray. Our gracious Father in heaven,
be merciful to us, be propitious to us. Pour out the blessings
of the Spirit upon us and Let us be at this moment able to
bask in the glories of Christ, our Savior, being cleansed and
washed in His blood, robed in His righteousness. Give us thankful hearts, hearts
of love and hearts of mercy. Forgive us our sins. I beg you
to do this in Jesus' name. Amen.