Alright brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to Exodus chapter 14. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Romans
chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. I just want to look at one verse
here. Romans chapter 3. And verse 25, speaking of the
Lord Jesus, the Scripture says, Whom God hath set forth a propitiation
through faith in His blood. Whom God hath set forth a propitiation
through faith in His blood. Now what does that word propitiation
mean? Well the word here actually means,
it's translated in other places, mercy seat. It actually is the
same word, mercy seat. Go over with me to Exodus chapter
25 now. Exodus 25, hold your place there,
we'll come right back. Exodus 25 and look at verse Look at verse 17. Exodus 25,
17. God's telling them how to make
the ark. Not Noah's ark. We're talking
about the little small box that held the tables of the law. And He says, verse 17, and thou
shalt make a mercy seat. Now that's the same word we're
talking about over there. Same thing, a propitiation. Thou shalt make a mercy seat
of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be
the length thereof and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
It's the exact dimensions of the ark. The ark was just a small
little box and it was the same dimensions of that ark. And he says, and thou shalt make
two cherubims of gold of beaten work shalt thou make them in
two ends of the mercy seat. On each end of the mercy seat,
one solid piece of gold, there was these cherubims that were
looking over the mercy seat. Make one cherubim on the one
end, the other cherubim on the other end. Even of the mercy
seat shall you make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And
the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering
the mercy seat with their wings. And their faces shall look one
to another toward the mercy seat, shall the faces of the cherubims
be. All the heavenly hosts, all the
angels of the Lord are all looking to Christ. They're all looking
toward our Lord Jesus just like these cherubims were looking
to the mercy seat. He says, "...and thou shalt put
the mercy seat above the ark, above, upon the ark, and in the
ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee." That's
the law of God. This was not the broken law of
God. Remember, Moses came down with the broken law of God, and
God said, come back up here, and he went back up on the mountain,
and God wrote on two tables of stone with His finger, He wrote
the law. And He said, put that in the
ark. Put that in the ark. And so this mercy seat's above
that law in the ark. Verse 22, watch this, this is
the important thing right here. And there, there will I meet
with you, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy
seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the
testimony. of all things which I give thee
in commandment unto the children of Israel. Now, let me give you
the picture. On the day of atonement, a spotless
lamb was brought. Christ is the spotless lamb of
God. A spotless lamb was brought.
And in type, the sin of the children of Israel was transferred to
that lamb. This was just in type, just in
ceremony, and that pictured what was the actual image, the express
image, Christ the Lord, on whom the Lord laid the iniquity of
all His people. He hath made Him sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. And Christ owned them, they became
His. He owned the sins of His people
to be His. And justice then slew the Lamb
instead of the children of Israel. Justice slew the Lamb instead
of the children of Israel. Just as God in justice slew Christ
in the room and place of His people. And then the high priest
took His blood. He took the blood of that Lamb.
And he alone, by himself, with no one else to help him, he entered
into that inner room in the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies, picture
of God's presence, the Holy of Holies. And that high priest
went in there, not without blood, He took the blood of the lamp
and he went in there with no one else with him. He went by
himself. And he sprinkled the blood upon
that mercy seat. That's where he sprinkled the
blood, on the mercy seat, on the propitiation. He was appeasing
God. He was making atonement for the
sins of the people. with that blood, and there on
that mercy seat, God said, there I will meet with thee, and I
will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between
the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony of all
things which I have commanded the children of Israel. This
propitiation is the sacrifice by which God's wrath is appeased. That's what it means. It's the
sacrifice with which God's wrath is appeased. God's injured, His
injured honor, His honor's been injured due to His people breaking
His law. His honor's been injured and
so His law has to be vindicated. Justice has got to be satisfied. His law must be upheld. Atonement. making His people to be one,
where God will meet with His people and commune with His people.
That's only made by Christ the Mercy Seeker, by Christ our propitiation. He is that place of mercy where
God will meet with His people. That's how God will meet with
us. That's the only way God will
meet with us. Anybody here that might be asking the question,
how can I come before God and God have anything to do with
me, the sinner. This is the one way. This is
the only way. Coming through faith in Christ
our mercy seeker. Christ our propitiation. This
is the only way God will meet with us and commune with us is
in Christ. Now, first thing we see here
is who provided this propitiation. Back in Romans 3, we see who
provided it. It says, whom God hath set forth
a propitiation. God hath. The very God who was
offended. The very God whose law we broke. The very God whose honor we trampled
upon. This very God Himself provided
His own Son to be the propitiation. Isn't that something? Concerning
His people, this is what we read. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us. Because that God sent His only
begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him, herein
is love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son, the propitiation for our sins. That's love. to sin your own
son, to appease your wrath, and to make atonement for you for
the sins of the very people who sinned against you. We didn't
love Him. Now understand this too, God's
love for His elect is eternal. It's immutable. It's eternal
and it's unchangeable. Eternal and immutable. He never
hated those that He everlastingly loved. Just think about that
statement. He said of His people, I've loved
you with an everlasting love. So He never hated those He everlastingly
loved. He always loved His elect. And
God's love never changes. It never changes. He doesn't
love today and hate tomorrow. And tomorrow He doesn't stop
hating and start loving. Who God loved, He always loved. His love never varies. There's
no increase and there's no diminishing of God's love. So Christ has
not, by His sacrifice and His death, procured the love and
the favor of God for us. That's not what He was doing
for His people. He wasn't procuring God's love for us or making God
to love us and show us favor. That's not what He was doing.
He came because God already loved us. This is the manifestation
of God's love that he sent his only begotten son not to make
an attempt not to try what He sent His only begotten Son, who
is the propitiation for our sins. He is the atonement for our sins. Now, seeing that God Himself
provided the propitiation, seeing that God Himself has provided
the place where He will meet with His people in mercy, shouldn't
that assure us? Here I am a sinner. In need of
mercy, shouldn't that assure me that God will meet with me
if I come through faith in Christ? He's the one that provided the
propitiation. And said, this is the one in
whom I'll meet with you. That ought to ease any fear I
have of coming to Christ because I come to Christ knowing this
is the one God provided. This is the one God will receive
me in. So, that's great assurance. If
the one I offended provided the propitiation, I know God will
receive me if I come in Him. Then notice this. When did God
set him forth? He says there in Romans 3.25,
Whom God hath set forth a propitiation. Now the margin says foreordained. Whom God foreordained. That is,
before ordained. God ordained Christ the propitiation
before the world was made. In God's eternal purpose and
decree, God the Father chose His Son and ordained His Son,
Christ the Lord. When He did it, He was the propitiation
for the sins of His people. He was right then the mercy seed
for His people. God sent Christ forth a propitiation
from eternity, before the world was made. And then, in the Old
Testament scriptures, This is who God was setting forth. He
was manifesting Him, making Him obvious before the people, setting
Him forth all through the Old Testament Scriptures, way back
in the garden as soon as Adam and Eve fell. God met them and
He declared in Genesis 3.15, Christ is the woman's seed who
will bruise the serpent's head and deliver His people. He declared
Him from the beginning. And then God set him forth in
all the types and all the shadows of the law and all the sacrifices
of the law. We just saw that typified. Christ
is the High Priest, Christ is the Lamb, and Christ is the Mercy
Seat. He's the only way to God. He's
the one who went into the holy place by Himself. He's the one
who went in with His own blood. He's the one who is the mercy
seat where God will meet with His people. All through the prophets,
God manifested Him. He set Him forth. Isaiah 53 is
concerning Christ, our propitiation. Micah 5.2 said, Bethlehem Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah. That's the
town Bethlehem. Though you be little among all
the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall come forth unto me
that is to be ruler in Israel. This one who is going to be ruler
over all my people. Now listen to what God said.
Whose goings forth have been from old from everlasting. Setting forth in the prophets.
Christ our wisdom says in Proverbs, I was set up from everlasting
from the beginning or ever the earth was. And then of course
God set him forth in our nature in the incarnation when he came
and took flesh like unto his brethren. God set him forth.
And in his life of obedience is our surety. God set him forth. God set him forth in his sacrifice
on the cursed tree. We saw last week how it was done
in public. It was done in the most obvious
place where it wasn't done in a corner. He manifest Christ
before all. And He's been manifesting Him
throughout this gospel age. He's doing it today, wherever
His gospel is being preached, through the preaching of His
Word. And now and again, God manifests Christ's propitiation
in the hearts of His people. And we behold Him. And we come
to God through faith in Him. This is what Peter said, Christ
verily was ordained before the foundation of the world, but
was manifest in these last times for you. The point I want you
to get from that is this, Christ is not plan B for God. God set forth Christ of propitiation
before the world was made. God already chose a people. He already elected a people.
And He chose His people in Christ. And He already chose Christ to
be the propitiation for that people. To be the propitiation
for our sins. before he made anything, before
Adams ever fell in the garden. That means God determined the
end from the beginning. That means none of this took
God by surprise, nothing that happened in the garden took God
by surprise, so that God had to have a plan B. God always,
from the beginning, had set Christ forth, the propitiation for our
sin, and Christ was always the one God was determined to glorify
and glorify His name through. So, everything that's been taking
place from the garden all the way up to now has been under
the sovereign, perfect control of our God. When Christ went to the cross,
it was the hands of wicked men doing what God determined before
to be done. to set forth Christ our propitiation. Isaac Watts wrote a song and
this is how it goes. Christ be my first elect, he
said, then chose our souls in Christ our head before he gave
the mountains birth or laid foundations for the earth. Thus did eternal
love begin to raise up us from death and sin. Our characters
were then decreed blameless in him a holy seed. from the beginning. Now thirdly, now here's the main
point. This is the main point right
here. Christ is a propitiation by His blood. Verse 25, Romans
3.25, Whom God hath set forth a propitiation in His blood,
or by His blood. He's the propitiation. Go to
Hebrews 9. Let's see this put together in
the Scriptures. Hebrews chapter 9. And look at verse 11. Christ being come, and high priest
of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say, not of that Old Testament
building, not like that old tabernacle and that old temple. neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood. He entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for His people. That's what He did. Now, God's
holy law was broken by Adam. He's the first head. Go to Romans
5 and look here. God's holy law was broken by
Adam. And all his elect were in that
first head. We were in Him. This is Sovereign
Grace 101 right here. We were in the Lord Jesus Christ
both federally as our legal representative and seminally. So that whatever
He did, we did it. We really did it. Now watch this,
Romans 5.12, Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the
world, and death by sin. And so, and so, for that very
reason, death passed upon all men. For that, because that,
or because in Adam, now catch these next words, all have sin. In Adam all have really sinned.
All have sinned. However surely we committed sin
in Adam, that's how surely we're going to be made righteous in
Christ. Now get that. However certainly
we were made sin in Adam, that's how truly we're made righteous
in Christ. He said we have sinned in Adam. Now watch. For until the law,
He's going to prove it to us. For until the law, sin was in
the world. But now catch this next statement.
Sin is not imputed when there is no law. God will not impute
sin unless a man has been made sin under the law. God will not
impute sin unless a man has been made sin under a known law. Well, watch this. Nevertheless,
death reigned from Adam to Moses. That whole period where God had
never given a known law. Death still reigned from Adam
to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude
of Adam's transgression, even over them that did not have a
known law to transgress like Adam did in the garden. God still
imputed sin to them and they died. Well, how could that be
just? He said, God will not impute
sin where there is no law. And they didn't have a law, so
how could God be just to impute sin to them and they die? Because
they really did sin in Adam. Do you understand that? That's
why God imputed sin to them. We sinned in Adam. That's why
He imputed sin to us. That's why if you take a Greek
lexicon, do definitions mean anything? This is not trying
to do battle, this is just declaring the word. Is that what I'm supposed
to do? Declare the word. Declare what the word says. And
definitions to words have meaning. And the Greek lexicon declares
the meaning of imputation as this. It does not deal in supposition. In other words, it's not God
treating anybody as if anything. It's not a supposition. Imputation
is to impute fact. It deals in fact. And the illustration
the Greek lexicon gives is this. If I have $25 in my bank account. No, it's this. It says, if I
impute $25 to my bank account, then I had better have $25 in
my bank account or I'm fooling myself because it's not really
there. It's an accounting term. It's
just like when you account, when you figure up your bank balance,
you account. You account every line and every
figure there and you come up with the balance and you impute
what the real balance is to your account. You impute that. It's
not putting money in your account by imputing it to you. I could
impute a false motive to Kristen all day long. I'm not going to
make her have a false motive. I can impute whatever I want
to to her all day. I'm not going to make it true
if it's not true. That would be false imputation,
false accounting, false charging, false reckoning is what that
would be. Imputation is imputing a man what he is. God will not,
it's just simply defined here, God will not impute sin where
there is no law. Why? Because the law has got
to be broken. and a man be sinned is transgression
of the law. A law's got to be broken and
a man's got to have broken the law before God will impute sin
to him. That's what that's saying. Nevertheless,
God did impute sin to the people between Adam and Moses because
in Adam all have sinned. But look at that last part. But
Adam is the figure of Christ that was to come. We broke God's
law. We offended God's justice. And
that justice had to be satisfied for God to be just. God cannot, because He's holy,
God cannot arbitrarily put away sin and discharge the sinner
of our guilt apart from the work of His Son upon the cross. He
can't do it. There's some things that it's
honorable to say God cannot do. For instance, God cannot lie.
He's holy. He will not lie. He cannot. And
God cannot simply overlook our sin and dishonor His own law
without it being satisfied. A holy and a just God demands
satisfaction for sins before He can receive sinners into His
presence. And therefore, He declares without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission for sin. So Christ
came. And the Scripture says this,
He hath made him who knew no sin, sin for us, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Just like that lamb
had to be spotless or God said, you can't even come to me with
it. It can't even be a fit sacrifice if you don't have a spotless
lamb. Christ came forth holy, immaculately holy, never sinned
and never would sin. And he went to the Garden of
Gethsemane, then he went over that brook Kidron, and he presented
himself to God our Father to be made sin for His people. And that's simply stating this,
brethren, that in every way short of being corrupted, because this
is the thing that's so wonderful about our Redeemer is while He
was bearing the cross and bearing the sin of His people and the
holy curse of God toward the sin, He held up. He was alone. He was treading
the winepress, the fierceness, the fury of God's wrath all alone. And yet, He maintained His faithfulness
and fidelity to God our Father. It had to be. He had to do that
as well as bear the sin and the justice. And that's why Scripture never
says God imputed sin to Christ. He did number Him with the transgressors. That is imputing Him to be sin. He is the one who numbered Him
with the transgressors. God did that. God put Him where
He was. But He did it because He made
Him to bear our sin. And Scripture shows, you read
Psalm 22, Christ owned those sins to be hid. If I take a man's
debt, and his debt is now made to be my debt. The bank who is
executing justice and wanting to receive their payment for
that debt, the bank's not going to look at that man again anymore.
That man don't owe them anything. I have taken legal responsibility
for that man and the bank's only looking to me and that debt is
my debt now. And if I don't pay it, you know
who's going to answer for it? I will. Well, Christ owned the
sin of His people because it was His. And He declared in Psalm
22 what the whole thing was about. Why, my God, my God, why hast
Thou forsaken me? Because Thou art holy. That's
why. Thou art holy. And I'm bearing
sin. But here's the good news. All
His people were in Him, just like we were in Adam. And as
real as we sinned in Adam, in Christ, Romans 6 says, our body
of sin was crucified. That was me on that cross. Kristen, that was you on that
cross. Really! Because we were in Christ. And so God says, and when He
went into that grave and He came out of that grave, when we came
out of that grave, we didn't come out with our body of sin.
We came out a new man. He didn't come out bearing sin.
He came out justified, declared by God to be His perfect, holy,
righteous, faithful servant. And we came out in Him, declared
to be just what He is. And so now, You know why God
imputes righteousness to the believer? Because just like by
one man's disobedience we were made sinners, so by the obedience
of Christ we were really made righteous. You could just as well take that
phrase in Romans 5.13 right there and say God will not impute righteousness
where the law has not been truly fulfilled. Well, guess what? Christ truly fulfilled it. And
for that reason, God imputes righteousness to His people,
to the believer. You see, brethren, now, now,
God's a just God and a Savior in this mercy seat, in this propitiation. And so Christ's sacrifice, having
satisfied justice and having made God to be just and the justifier,
God says, we must now come to God through Him, and God's justice
says now, I must be merciful to them. That same holy character
of God now, because our sin's been dealt with, our sin's been
put away, we've been justified, now that same holy God says,
according to my own justice, I must show them mercy. Aren't
you glad there's some things God can't do? God said, I can't
pour out wrath on them a second time because my son already bore
it. This is why Paul said in Romans
6, Reckon it to be, impute it to be, that God's treating you
as if you're dead and as if you're risen with Christ. No. He says you reckon yourself to
be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. It's a fact. It's a fact. Imputation does not suppose.
Imputation believes. Imputation declares fact. It's
so. It's so. And so, in the blood of Christ,
there's mercy. There's mercy now. There's that
mercy seat. It's perfect. It's the perfect
size of that law. And that blood goes all over.
When he got through, that blood was all over that mercy seat.
all over that law. Now, God has sent His Son and
His Son has perfectly fulfilled all the dimensions of the holy
law for His people so that there's nothing else you can add to it.
That's our righteousness. And our justification is, which
is righteousness, but our justification is He also put away our sins. That amazing thing to me is that
the love of the law, the righteousness of the law is love. And here's
Christ's love. He laid down His life for God,
His Father, because He loved Him perfectly. And He laid down
His life for His people because He loved us perfectly. There's
the positive, righteous fulfillment of the law. And He did this for
God and His people by bearing the sin of His people, declaring
God just and justifying His people. And that's the fulfillment of
the negative side of the law. You want to see the law fulfilled
in every part, in the full dimensions of the law fulfilled? Look to
Calvary's cross. and you'll see it being done.
Perfect love, perfect righteousness. Not, nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entered into the holy place every
year with the blood of others, for then he should have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now, once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. And as it's appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, So Christ once offered
to bear the sins of many. He went to judgment once. And
He bore the judgment once. And the judgment for Him and
His people is over now. He died unto sin once, Scripture
says. And unto them that look for Him
shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. My little children, these things
write I unto you that you sin not. And when you do, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for the sins of
these elect believers right here, but for the sins of His people
down in Danville, and in Harrodsburg, and in Madisonville, and in Arkansas,
and in Texas, and in Australia, and in China, and Japan, and
wherever they are all over this world. Now lastly, and let me
finish real quick, look at verse 25, but He's only the propitiation
to those that believe on Him. It's through faith in Him. It's
through faith in Him. You're guilty, you need Christ,
you've got to come to Christ. God says, believe on My Son.
Come in My Son, and right there I'll meet with you in mercy,
and I'll commune with you. What is faith saying? Faith says,
don't put anything in your hand, don't come with anything in your
hand, renounce yourself, renounce your self-worth, renounce any
work you've ever done, and lay hold of Christ only, only, only,
only. And come to God, believe in Christ. Remember that publican? The Lord
said, that publican smote upon his breath, saying, God, be merciful. You know what he was saying?
Same word. God, be propitious to me. Be merciful to me. The sinner. And Christ said, and that man
went to his house justified. He went to his house justified. God said in that day the sins
of Israel will be looked for and there will not be any. They
won't be there. When God says you're righteous
and when God says I will not impute sin to them, He's not
making believe. He's not just supposing that
we're going to act like you don't have it. He says there is none. They talk about before the just
judge of heaven and earth who sees all things as they are and
as he sees them, that's how they are. And he says, there are no
sins. My son put them away. Justified. Righteous. Come to God. Believe in Christ. Let's stand
together. Lord, how we do thank you for
providing your only begotten Son. What amazing love, what
everlasting, unchanging love that you came forth in the person
of your Son and justified sinners who had dishonored you. And you
did it perfectly, you did it justly, you did it righteously. so that it's done. It is finished. Lord, bring this home to the
hearts of your people. Let the world cavil, let men
accuse us, let the world say what they will. Let God be true
and every man a liar. Here we stand, Lord, begging
you to be merciful to us for the sake of Christ alone. We
ask you to draw your people now through faith in Him. It's in His precious name we
come. Amen.