Let's go to 1 John, the second
chapter. 1 John chapter two. This morning I endeavored to
bring you a message on Christ, our advocate. He is eminently qualified to
be our advocate because he's God. He's the God-man. God appointed him to this official
capacity. That's one of his offices. He's the advocate. And if you'll
consult the scriptures there in the Gospel of John, you'll
find that the same word translated here in 1 John as advocate is
comforter. And our Lord Jesus, he comforts
us in the fact that he represents us before our God. We have a
mighty advocate. We have a mighty lawyer. And
he represents the guilty. That's the only ones he represents.
And that which he pleads is not our innocence because we're not
innocent, but that which he pleads is that he has by himself put
our sins away by sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary. Now this
evening, I want to speak to you on the subject, Christ our propitiation. And that's in the second verse,
and he is the propitiation for our sins. And not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world. Now the word propitiation
means to appease, to satisfy. It includes the work of reconciling
us to God. You see, when sin had made a
breach between God's elect and God himself, when sin had made
a division, when sin had stood in the way as a great obstacle
between us and God, God had already purposed to do something about
our sin. He would send his only begotten
son to be the propitiation for our sins, which means the satisfaction
of divine justice. You see, this matter of salvation,
it certainly involves the grace of God and the love of God and
the mercy of God, but all of God's attributes have to be satisfied. They have to be honored, and
that includes His justice and His holiness. I was in a place
of business the other day, and this lady asked me, if I was
familiar with, and she gave me the name of some organization. And I said, I've never heard
of it. She said, well, I'm gonna send
you, if you don't mind, I'll send you the testimony of one
of the persons who was a speaker. Said it was so encouraging to
all of us. And I listened to that testimony,
and the person said that God is kind, and God is loving, and
God is full of mercy to all who come to Him. Well, those are true, but that's
not the whole story. I tell you, our God, first and
foremost, He's a holy God. She didn't mention anything about
the justice of God or the wrath of God or the penalty of sin
that God must show. He must pour out His wrath upon
either a suitable substitute or upon the guilty sinner. Said
nothing about that. It's just kindness and love and
mercy and that sort of thing. Understand this. God had to do
something for Himself. before he could do anything for
us. He had to honor his own law that
said, the soul that sinneth shall surely die. He had to honor his
own justice, for the wages of sin is death. I know God is plenteous
in mercy. There's no question about that.
But God will not and cannot show mercy at the expense of His justice. He will not set that aside as
though that isn't necessary. And this matter of sin had to
be dealt with before the love of God could come to us. Now,
God did not change. God didn't hate us when we fell
into sin in Adam, and then love us when Christ died for us. The
death of Christ was not to merit the love of God. The love of
God actually sent the Savior to die in our stead. He already
loved us. The death of our Lord Jesus was
all about honoring God. When you think of the word propitiation,
it's satisfaction of divine justice. Remember this, it was God word. The Lord Jesus Christ did something
for God. It had an effect upon us, but
it's not offered to us. The payment price for sin was
never offered to a sinner. And I hear people, preachers
say, will you accept what Jesus did for you? It's not up for
your acceptance or rejection. It's not offered to you. It was
offered to the offended God who demands holiness and justice
And then having settled the issue of removing the barrier, of taking
away the breach, of our Savior bearing our sins
away, for they had been made to meet upon His head, Isaiah
53, 6. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone unto
his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him, made to meet on
him the iniquities, the inequities of us all. When you hear iniquity,
think of inequity. We're not equal. We're not equal
to perfection. Joe read to us, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. We miss the mark
of perfection. We miss it. And therefore, if
we're going to be reconciled to God, it cannot be left up
to us. It had to be left up to a worthy,
suitable substitute, our Lord Jesus Christ. And when he went to the cross
of Calvary, he went there to do business with God for his
people. You can't do business with God,
not really. You can't deal with God one-on-one. I said this morning, God's consuming
fire. We need this advocate. We need this one who is our propitiation
to deal with God on our behalf. and bless His name, He removed
the breach. He took the sins away. That which
was a mighty obstacle between us and a holy God, Christ came
and by the shedding of His blood to His death, He removed forever
the breach. And now God accepts us freely. through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. Whenever you think of propitiation,
when you read it in the Bible, Joe read it in that passage in
Romans 3, and I'll go back to that here in just a little bit.
Here's what you ought to think about, the mercy seat. That's
what you need to think about, the mercy seat. Remember we studied
the various pieces of furniture in the tabernacle. Because you
see, mercy seat means propitiation. The satisfaction of divine justice. Go back to the book of Exodus.
Let me refresh your memory here. Exodus chapter 25. I'm just gonna
give you a few verses tonight. Exodus chapter 25. And this is about the Lord giving
instructions to Moses pertaining to the various pieces of furniture
in the tabernacle, and specifically here, the mercy seat. The mercy
seat. And for the sake of time, I want
you to read, I'm gonna read to you verses 21 and 22 of Exodus
chapter 25. And thou shalt put the mercy
seat above the ark, above that chest, in the holy of holies. You know, there's that outer
court, then the holy place, and then the holy of holies. Into
the holy of holies, nobody could go except the high priest, and
he could only go in one time a year on the day of atonement.
And in that holy of holies was the ark of the covenant, had
the law of God in there, and the golden pot of manna and
Aaron's rod that budded. But think specifically of the
law of God that men had broken. Inside that chest was the law
of God. And then over the chest was a
slab of pure gold called the mercy seed. that on either side
of the mercy seat, there were chair band facing one another,
looking down as it were in solemnness and in worship upon that repository
of God's law covered by the mercy seat. And once a year, once a
year, the high priest would go in to that Holy of Holies First
of all, with blood to atone for his own sins. And then he'd go
in with the blood of a goat. And we talked about that last
week. In fact, I'll just let, I want you to turn over here
again. Leviticus chapter 16. Leviticus 16. So there's the
mercy seat. You got it in your mind. I know
you do. A solid slab of gold. And if
we had ever been enabled to look in there, lots of blood been
sprinkled on it. Because Aaron would go in there
and he would sprinkle blood seven times on the mercy seat and in
front of the mercy seat. It's very specific. It was a
bloody place. Had dried blood on it, blood
from last year. The blood remained. Look at Leviticus
chapter 16, look at verse 15. And I'll give you, kind of update
you here. You remember they took two goats
and Aaron cast lots for them. One of them was for the Lord
to be killed. The other one was called the
scapegoat. The goat that was killed pictured the substitutionary
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The scapegoat pictured that which
our Savior did by his death. He took our sins away and he
came back without them. So I'll pick up the reading in
verse 15, Leviticus 16. Then he shall kill the goat of
the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood
within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the
blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and before
the mercy seat. And he shall make an atonement
for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children
of Israel, and because of their transgressions and all their
sins. And so shall he do for the tabernacle
of the congregation that remaineth among them in the midst of their
uncleanness. You see, the mercy seat, that
was the seat of divine majesty where God promised to meet with
him. And he met with him through a
representative. And the blood, as it were, of
this goat appeased God. Think of it as a propitiation
for the sins of the people of Israel for a year. It was an
offering to the justice of God. And that's what you've got to
think about when it comes to the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. His death was an offering, a
sin offering to the justice of God to appease it, to satisfy
it. Now, of course, in this case
with this goat, guess what? Next year on the day of atonement,
had to do it all over again. Just one year wasn't enough.
Because the blood of bulls and goats, Hebrews chapter 10 says
this, the blood of bulls and goats could never put away sin,
couldn't take away sin. It pictured what Christ would
do, who is our propitiation. He came down here and he offered
himself a propitiation to the justice of God. Take me, he said,
take me. Punish me. Pour out your wrath
upon me. And all the sins of all of God's
people of the ages were made to meet on him. And the guns
of divine justice took aim on the soul, on the heart of the
son of God, and emptied the clip, fulfilling the righteousness
of God, the justice of God, and putting away all the sins of
his people. He's a propitiation for our sins. He's the one who made satisfaction.
Our tears won't do that. Your repentance won't do that. You see, his death is a propitiatory
gift. That's what that blood was back
there on the mercy seat. It appeased God. You see, what
does God demand for sin? Death, right? We all know that. Death, death for sin. But the
death of an animal, that's not gonna put sin away. That's not
gonna take care of the issue. That's not gonna satisfy God.
That's not gonna pay our debt. That makes sense to you, doesn't
it? There's only one death that could
pay our debt that we owe to the justice of God and satisfy the
Lord God of glory. Just one death would do that.
The death of the Son of God. And that's why the Bible is full
of this redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And you run into
His death from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the
Bible and all the way through it because He's the propitiation
for our sins. And those Israelites were bidden
by faith to, they couldn't go in and look at that, look inside
the Holy of Holies, but by faith they were bidden to see it as
the blood covered the mercy seat and then have some peace in their
hearts. Our sins are covered for another
year. But they weren't gone. he weren't done away with. But
I tell you, by faith, gaze upon that one who is the propitiatory
offering to the justice of God, the one who appeased justice,
who satisfied the justice of God. Look upon him by faith and
see the sins of all who believe him forever gone. That's the
power of his blood. And John says he's a propitiation
for our sins. You remember the story in Luke
chapter 18, I know you do, the story about the Pharisee and
the public and going to the temple to pray? Remember that story?
Everybody's head shaking? Any bobble heads out there? Okay.
You remember that. Well, the Pharisee, he bragged
about All he had done, and then that poor publican, he just beat
upon his chest, said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Oh,
that word merciful, that's a key word right there. Because you
see what he's saying was, be a propitiation for me. Or literally,
be the mercy seat. I need the mercy seat. That's
what he's saying. I need the blood that splattered
mercy seed. Not that mercy seed in the temple,
but the mercy seed in glory that's been sprinkled with the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it satisfied God. Lord, show me mercy on account
of and because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll
tell you in Colossians chapter one in verse 20, it says, he
made peace by the blood of his cross. And in the eyes of God, and his
eyes are the only ones that matter, in the record book of God, there
are no sins registered against his people. We're justified. We're declared to be righteous.
Had a brother wrote to me, he said, you know, justified, it's
just as if I'd never sinned. That's right. Just as if I'd
never sinned, but I'll just add to that, it's just as if I'd
always been righteous. Before the tribunal of God, God
who's just and God's holy, I don't have any sins. And I don't care who charges
me. No charge will stick against
me because Christ has purged all my sins away. He's a propitiation
for my sins. See, he made satisfaction. And that's what the publican
was saying. God be propitious to me. He sought mercy through
the justice, law-satisfying, propitiatory sacrifice of the
Messiah. Go back to that passage that
Joe read to us there in Romans chapter three. Let me just make
a few comments on this. Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three and verse
24, Romans 3, 24. Being justified, and he uses
this word freely, freely. That means without a cause in
you, okay? Freely, doesn't cost you anything.
Cost him his life. Well, we're absolutely declared
to be and we are in fact made the righteousness of God in Christ
Jesus, 2 Corinthians 5 21. And we're made the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ freely without a cause in us. Wasn't
because of anything we did. It's because of what God purposed
and because of what Christ did. being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth. God set Him forth, God put Him
on display, God put Him out there to be a propitiation, to be a mercy
seat. to be the one who appeased God's
justice that was aggravated because of our sins. Through faith in
his blood. Not through faith in his incarnation. Now be careful here, we believe
in his incarnation, but it's not through faith in his incarnation.
It's not through faith in his sinless life, though we believe
that. It's not through faith in his
miracle working ability, though we believe that. But it's through
faith in his blood, his blood. We believe him as the one who
died for sinners to satisfy a holy God and bring in everlasting
righteousness. Because you see, he's a propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare God's righteousness.
God's righteousness. You see, Paul explains what redemption
by Christ is. It's satisfaction. He satisfied
God. God set him forth. God set him
forth, it says here, whom God hath set forth. God set him forth
in the covenant of grace, didn't he? Got to go all the way back
into eternity past now. Somewhere you can't go. but somewhere where God was.
And God set him forth then. How did he set him forth? As
the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world.
Now, what do you think about that? The death of our Lord Jesus,
it wasn't an effort that God put forth
to save his people because every other effort failed. No, this
thing was all purpose before the world began. Every eye was
dotted, every T was crossed, way back yonder in the covenant
of grace. I say way back yonder, eternally,
eternally. God set him forth, the Lamb of
God. And then in time, God set him
forth in a manger. And Simeon said, mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. And then God set him forth at
the cross. He set him forth as that propitiation,
the appeasement of divine justice. He honored God's law in his life,
and he satisfied the penalty of God's law in his death. For
all of our iniquities, and iniquities are inequities, we're not equal
to the law's demands. Let's just be honest, we're just
a bunch of failures, really. But the Savior's not a failure. He was successful because that's
what God sent him to do, to save his people. God set him forth,
set him forth on the cross of Calvary. That's what Paul said
when he was talking to the king. He said, the death of the Son
of God, it wasn't done in a corner. Wasn't done in secret. Done out
in the open. Well, who set him forth? God
set him forth to be propitiation through faith in his blood. And
you know what? Now God is setting him forth
through the preaching of the gospel. You set him forth this
morning. I set him forth this morning.
Every one of God's true preachers set him forth this morning. And
you know what the Holy Ghost does? He comes to us in his saving
power and he sets him forth to us individually. And we say something
like, that's the Savior I need. Right there. The one who successfully
dealt with God for me. Is that the kind of Savior you
need? Now that's the kind of Savior I need. And maybe you
don't need that kind. And I'll say, if you don't need
that kind, you're in bad shape. Right now, there's no hope for
you. But God sets him forth to his people through the preaching
of the gospel and the Spirit of God says, here he is. Here
he is. God set him forth in the Bible
through all the types and emblems and pictures and prophecies.
God set him forth. Old Testament's full of him.
If we didn't have the New Testament, we'd just keep on preaching.
I love preaching out of the Old Testament, because there I see
Christ my Savior portrayed from being the woman's seed, to Abel's
lamb, to Noah's ark, right all the way through to the end. God
sets him forth. And that's what Paul is talking
about here. God set him forth to be a mercy
seat. Anybody here need mercy? I do. I raise the hand of my
heart. I need mercy. Where can I find
mercy? At the mercy seat. That's where
you'll find it. You're not going to find it at
Mount Sinai. You're not going to find it in
the Ten Commandments. I love the law of God, but it
shows no mercy. It's got no mercy to show. The law of God just either says
guilty or innocent. That's all it does. What's the
purpose of the law? To point out sin. That's what
it is. and to back you in a corner as
your schoolmaster and show you that law doesn't hold out any
hope for you at all. You better find hope somewhere
else, buddy. There's none for you there. Christ has been set forth as
a propitiation. He's always been the propitiation
for our sins. And he satisfied divine justice. And then go over to 1 John 2
again. Look at 1 John chapter 2. Let
me just point out something here. That one who was our advocate,
our lawyer, is our propitiation. There's a man in heaven right
now. There's a man in heaven. And he's seated on his throne,
the majesty on high. He's the God-man. And he's our
advocate. He speaks up for us. And it's not as though God the
Father is reluctant to save and Christ is begging him to show
mercy. That is not his advocacy. God being holy and justice had
to have a true sacrifice that put away sins, and the very presence
of our Savior on his throne is proof positive that God was satisfied
with his offering for sin. There's a song in our songbook. One of the verses is, five bleeding
wounds he bears, received on Calvary. they ever plead for
me before the throne of God. He's our advocate and he's our
propitiation, this man Christ Jesus. Some had to be done about
the sins of his people and Christ took care of that. He buried
him in the depths of the deepest sea. I said before you last Lord's
Day evening, the scapegoat which was led out into the wilderness
by a fit man, You know, he left that goat out there, and he came
back without it. There's the resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ. I didn't get into that too much
last week, but there's his resurrection. He came back without our sins. What happened to them? Well,
they're gone. Where are they? Behind God's
back. Buried in the depths of the deepest
sea. I don't know, probably some of
y'all might know the deepest part of, I believe it's in the
Pacific Ocean. I forget how many miles deep
it is. Well, they're way down there. I would ask my daddy. My daddy
was in the Navy during World War II. And see, my job at home,
when we grew up in Bassett, Virginia, I had to take the garbage out
to the to the trash can to the barrel, trash barrel, and burned
the trash. Well, I got curious about what-when
my daddy was on that ship, USS Biloxi, light cruiser, I said,
what did you all do with the-what did you do with the garbage?
Well, they said, we threw it overboard and sunk it. Wasn't
you worried about pollution? We didn't think about anything
like that. All that was gone, gone. Our Lord Jesus Christ so put
our sins away that he put a weight on them and sunk them down to
the bottom of the ocean. And nobody's ever gonna hear
from them or see anything about them ever again. Now that's the
wonder of full forgiveness. The Lord said, I'll remember
their sins and iniquities no more. And then, let me just consider
this. He's a propitiation, John said,
for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of
the whole world. Now, consider the extent of propitiation. Now, many people believe that
Christ made amends for the sins of the entire world. And so one writer, and I read
him this afternoon, he said, here's what brings unbelievers
to everlasting death. It is no longer their sins, but
their rejection of the Savior. because this guy said Christ
was the propitiation. He satisfied justice for the
sins of the whole world. But in his mind, this deranged
mind of this theologian, he thinks that Christ put away the sins
of everybody, but it's your faith that closes the deal. And that's
as far from the truth as you can get. Salvation, I know it's experienced. I know that. I wouldn't take
anything away from that. But it's a legal matter that
our Lord Jesus took care of when he died on the cross. What's that song? The old account
was settled long ago. How long ago? 2,000 years ago, the account
was settled. And it isn't our faith that closes
the deal or seals the deal. Our faith really flows out of
the results of his death. Our faith is a result of his
death. All the gifts that God gives us comes to us by eternal
purpose through the Christ of the cross. And to say that our Lord Jesus
made amends for the sins of the entire world is entirely wrong. We say, Jim,
what then is this saying? It is saying that our Lord Jesus
Christ was a propitiation, I think it's this, He's a propitiation
for the sins of people scattered throughout the world, Jews and
Gentiles. Or you could look at it like
this, the world of His elect. Because I know there's the world
of the unelect, the non-elect, and there's the world of the
elect. Let me give you one more verse, and then we're gonna sing
the closing song. 1 John 4, 10. 1 John 4, 10. And by the way, the idea that
Christ was a propitiation for all the sins of everybody who
ever lived, I'll tell you how wide propitiation is. It's just
as wide as God's election unto salvation. And just as wide. And no wider. And it's just as wide as our
Lord, as mediator, as his prayers are for his people. You know
what it says in John 17? I pray for those that you gave
me. I don't pray for the world. And if he doesn't pray for the
whole world, I promise you, The whole world's not gonna be saved.
He wasn't a propitiation for the whole world. He was a propitiation
for his people scattered throughout the world. And then here's the
last verse. Verse John 4.10. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his son. Why'd he send his
son? To be the propitiation for our
sins. That's why he sent him. Take care of that breach. Take
care of that huge obstacle, that mountain we call sin. Take it out of the way. And he did just that. He's a
propitiation for our sins. He's a wonderful advocate. And
he is a propitiation for the sins of his people.