The title of the message is Whom
God Hath Set Forth. Whom God hath set forth. The
fact that He would set forth His Son, that we who are sinful
by nature could enter into His presence and worship Him and
to enjoy eternity with Him is beyond my understanding. Beyond
me. Now, Lord willing, this Friday
is to be my last day out at the machine shop, so I'm like a kid
at Christmas. I've been so excited. I thought,
Vicki, I just feel like I'm crawling to the finish line. But I sure
look forward to that. Turns out to be a real blessing,
I believe it will, to this congregation for years to come. Now we have
here in this chapter, especially in verse 25, one of the strongest
and clearest declarations of the gospel found in the Word
of God, whom God hath set forth. made conspicuous, whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood. God has set forth His Son. Paul
makes it so clear, he makes it so clear that Jesus Christ is
all in all in salvation. From Alpha to Omega, He is all
in all. In Him we are justified. In Him
we are sanctified. In Him we are accepted. He hath
made us, it says in Ephesians, accepted in the Beloved. God has done this. The God of
glory, the God of majesty, the God who is a light into which
no man can approach, the God who is of pure eyes and to behold
iniquity has sent forth His Son. be of propitiation. And we'll
look at that word here in just a little bit, but let me deal
with just a few of these verses before we get to that. Lay some
groundwork. Paul says in verse 19, Now we
know that what things soever the law saith, whatever it saith,
in precept and its commands, it saith to them who are under
the law. Who's under the law? Everyone. Who's under the law
in this country? Is there anyone in this country
not under the law? Everyone's under it. And it says
here, so what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who
are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, shut up,
without excuse, and all the world, not just sections of it, All
the world, the globe over, may become, listen, guilty before
God. That's the work of the law. Now,
why in the world does a man, would a man, just like we saw
that rich young man, why would a man want to go to the law and
try to find favor before God with it by his obedience to it? that the whole world may become
guilty." Now, Paul is speaking here of God's moral law. That's
what he's speaking of here. And every man and every woman
is bound to keep that moral law. Bound to it. No exemptions. Even when our Lord came into
the world, He says He was made of a woman, made under the law. The law can only do three things. cannot save a guilty sinner,
it can only condemn him. He cannot save. It was never
given to save. It can only condemn. The law
can only reveal our depravity. The law never reveals my goodness.
I don't have any. It reveals our human depravity.
Tell someone, don't do something. You can put the speed limit,
whatever you want out there, and somebody's going to break
it. It reveals human depravity is what it does. You just say,
don't do it. I mean, we're going to do it. It reveals what we are. And then
it shuts men up to Christ as the only hope of salvation. It's
not the law and Christ, it's Christ and Christ only. It shuts
us up to Christ, runs us to Him. Therefore, he says in verse 20,
By the deeds, by the doings, by the keeping of the law, there
shall no flesh be justified in God's sight." Now, we may justify
ourselves, and we try to justify each other. We make excuses for
each other and accuse and excuse, but not in God's sight. And that's
the sight I need to be justified in, God's sight. No flesh, no flesh. It doesn't
matter if it's the president or a king. or a pauper, no flesh
shall be justified in his sight by the doings, deeds, keeping,
my personal obedience to God's law, because I can't do it. I
can't do it. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. It doesn't say by the law is
the knowledge of grace and forgiveness and mercy. No, sin. Sin. All must shut their mouths. and
claim guilty before God with no excuses. None. And since all
are guilty before God, it is evident, none can be justified
by trying to keep God's law. None can be justified by it.
But now, oh, I'm glad of verse 21. I'm glad for verse 21. This is where it starts. But
now, the righteousness of God. God demands righteousness. Righteousness
is a very important word. The righteous Lord loves what?
Righteousness. Scripture says He loves righteousness. God loves righteousness. And
righteousness signifies the precept of the law and the penalty of
the law. That's what it signifies. And
if it is not honored, if righteousness is not honored, in every jot
and in every tittle, the offender has to die. He has to die. The soul that sinneth must die. There's no escaping that. However, the righteousness spoken
of here is not God's personal righteousness or personal holiness. But it's that righteousness,
now listen, it is that righteousness which God provided through the
obedience of his Son and imputed to everyone who believes. That's
what it is. Let me read that again. I wrote
these scriptures down. But now, at this time, the righteousness
of God Listen, without my personal obedience to the law. It doesn't
say without the law as though the law has been cast aside.
The law has not been cast aside. The law has been fulfilled. The
law has been honored. The law has been magnified by
the obedience of Jesus Christ. But now the righteousness of
God without my personal obedience to the law is revealed. This
righteousness is revealed being witnessed Testified by the Law
and the Prophets. They give witness to it. They
give witness to His righteousness. Read the Word of God. It's in
the Word of God that we find out whose righteousness saves
us. His. His. And God has provided this
righteousness that He demands, of which if no man has, will
see God. And He's provided it in His Son. We have a righteousness. We have
a righteousness that God is satisfied with. We have a righteousness
that God Himself has provided in the person of His Son. We
have one. It's manifested. It's revealed.
And how is it revealed? Through the preaching of the
gospel. Through the preaching of Christ and Him crucified.
It's revealed every Sunday Every Wednesday, Frank stands here
and teaches, I stand here and preach out of Wheatlesburg and
Lexington and Virginia and many other places. It's revealed every
week. This righteousness is revealed
through the preaching of the gospel. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ, faith in Christ and the faithfulness
of Christ. Unto all and upon all them that
what? Keep the law? Obedient? Strive? Like that young man said,
tell me, which? What like I yet? Give me another
commandment, I'll keep it. No. No. Unto all and this righteousness
is unto all, this righteousness is upon all of them that believe. Abraham believed God, and it
was accounted to him for righteousness. And it's this righteousness he's
speaking of. It's not another righteousness.
There's only one. His. His. Unto all and upon all them that
believe. Oh, my soul. For there's no difference. Scripture says God is no respecter
of persons. There's no difference. It doesn't
matter the color of a man's skin. It does not matter the nationality
of a man. There's no difference. No difference. This perfect righteousness of
which we are justified, of which we are sanctified, is not imputed to us because
of something we do. Because someone we believe. We
believe God. We believe God. It's not something
we go out and sweat over and do. No, we believe God. We trust
God. We take Him at His Word. We believe
His Son. We trust His Son. It's imputed to all that believe,
no matter who that person is or where he's from. For all have
sinned. It doesn't matter where you've
come from. It doesn't matter what family you were raised in.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We've
missed the mark. Every last one of us has missed
the mark. But Christ didn't. He didn't
miss the mark. He didn't come short of God's
glory, did He? No, He magnified the law and made it honorable.
Now being justified freely by His grace, being cleared of
all charges, my, what would it feel like if you were summoned down to
the court down here in Boyd County and you're guilty? You're guilty
of something. And you've been summoned down
there. And you go down there and it says, no charge. There's
no charge on the book. Even though you know you're guilty,
there's no charge on the book. You cannot find one charge against
you. Not even one thought that you
had that you shouldn't have had. Not even one idle word. You know
He said He's going to bring into judgment every idle word that
men speak. Now think how many people lived
on this earth. Billions upon billions. There's over six billion
now alive. Billions upon billions. And He's
going to bring every idle word into judgment. And there's not
even an idle word against you. And He's forgiven you. Why? Freely. By His grace. Freely. By His grace. Through the redemption. Through the blood. One man said,
the blood, the blood, the blood. Plead the blood. through the
blood, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Oh, being justified freely by
His grace means this, no condemnation. So Paul says in Romans 8.1, there
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. No condemnation. Can you imagine what it would
be like to hear him say, depart from me? I never knew you. You're not going to change his
mind. You're not going to be arguing. You're not going to
be plea bargaining. When he says depart, that's it. When he says enter in, my soul. No condemnation. Because he suffered that condemnation.
The very condemnation we deserve. And I know we cannot even begin
to lay hold of that in this life. Someday we will. Someday we'll
know how much we owe. But he suffered that condemnation
at Calvary. In verse 25, let me read 24 with
it first. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Whom
God has set forth. God did this. God did this. This is of God. Whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what we declare here every
week. His righteousness. For the remission of sins. For
the forgiveness of sins. that are past, speaking of those
Old Testament saints. Their sins were put away by the
blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ as ours through the forbearance of God.
Now it says here that God sent Him forth over in the margin. Let me see where this is at. Over in the margin it says foreordained.
And that's so. God foreordained Him. God decreed
this. But God set him forth. He made
him conspicuous. He made it very conspicuous as
to by whose righteousness we are saved. It means public view. He was crucified publicly. Paul
said to, was it Agrippa? Agrippa or Felix, one of them,
he said, this thing was not done in a corner. You know what I'm
talking about. They didn't slip out of town
and do this. This was done publicly. Public
view. God set him forth. He exhibited
him. He set him forth publicly. And
that's what he's done. He set him forth. Paul said this
to the Galatians. Galatians chapter 3. Galatians 3, look here. O foolish
Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey
the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently
set forth, crucified among you. The gospel came to them with
such power. He said that he was set forth
before you, crucified among you. God set him forth. He's been
set forth. Now what does propitiation mean? It is a Bible word. It's
a Bible word. It means this. It means covering.
Covering. He has set him forth to be a
covering. It means this. Mercy Seek. Mercy Seek. He is the Mercy Seek. I will show you this here in
a minute. It means atonement. All these words are connected
into this propitiation. Atonement. He is the atonement
by whom we have received the atonement. It implies satisfaction. He is the satisfaction. He is
the atonement. He is the covering. Reconciliation. He is our reconciliation. Christ is our mercy seat. He's
our covering. He's our atonement. He's our
satisfaction. He's our reconciliation. God
is setting forth to be all these. All of them have their meaning
in that one word, propitiation. He is the place. Listen now.
Christ is the place. where God is satisfied. Christ
is the place where God is reconciled. Christ is the place where God
meets sinners like you and me. Turn over to Exodus chapter 25.
Now in that chapter, this is where God tells Moses to build
the Ark of the Covenant. And he says in verse 21, when
you have time, read that chapter. In verse 21 of chapter 25, and
thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark. In the ark thou shalt put the
testimony that I have given thee, the broken law. And there, now
listen, and there I will meet with thee. Where? There. Upon the mercy seat, the
blood of atonement is put upon it. He said, there I'll meet
with you. Now listen, and I'll commune
with you. Brethren, that's Christ. That's
Christ right there. That's the picture. That's the
type Christ is the antitype. I will commune with thee. There
is no communion with God apart from Jesus Christ. There's no
coming before Him. Whatever you ask in My name,
don't dare ask anything if you don't ask in His name. And be
careful what you ask if you're going to use that name. And I will commune with thee
from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which
are upon the ark of the testimony. Well, that's what it is. He's
our mercy seed. He's the place where God is satisfied. He's our reconciliation. And
there in Christ, God says, I'll meet with you. I'll meet with
you in mercy. I'll meet with you in communion.
I'll meet with you in fellowship. I'll meet with you. That's beautiful, isn't it? Beautiful
picture. Now, let's take notice here.
And I'll wind this down. Who set him forth? Who set him
forth to be a propitiation? It says God did. God set him
forth. This is not something that men
came up with. God did it. And that means if
God set him forth, there's no other way. There's no other way. He chose him. He said in Isaiah
42, Behold mine elect. He chose him to be the propitiation
for our sins, the mercy seat, the atonement, the satisfaction.
God chose him. He called him to the work of
redemption, being delivered by the determined counsel for knowledge
of God, it says in Acts. God did this. Our Lord did not take this upon
Himself of His own accord. His Father, the triune God, laid
it upon Him. He says over in Proverbs 8, I
was set up before ever the earth was. And that's my next question.
When did he set him up? When was he set up? 2,000 years
ago? He was set up before the foundation
of the world. That's why He's called the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. He was set up to be
the propitiation of our sins before He ever created the heavens
and the earth. Long before that ever happened.
Ever, He says, ever the earth was. Before all things. When
He came into this flesh, John said, Behold, the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world. Oh, He was set forth. He was set forth in eternity.
He was set forth in time when He came in the flesh. He was
set forth at Calvary when He was nailed to that cross. When
He was beaten. I mean, as an old cliche, within
an inch of His life, beaten. God set Him forth. God set Him
forth. And tonight, tonight he set forth
as the only hope of a sinner, as the only satisfaction that
God has with a man, is Christ. He set forth. Now, how did he set him forth?
Well, first he set him forth in promises. Then he promised
the seed of the woman. He promised Abraham the seed.
Then he set it forth in types and pictures of Passover land.
Then he set it forth here in the flesh and at the cross. Then
in verse 25, this verse is the message of the scriptures. It's the gospel. It is the gospel. It is the only
message given to us to preach to sinners. It's the only message
given to us to set forth to the church. Christ and Him crucified. Paul said to the Corinthians,
I am determined not to know anything among you. And he's not saying
he's not interested in them and their secular lives. He's not
saying that. He said, I am determined that
we are going to settle this one issue first. I'm determined not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ. and Him crucified. Now, once we determine that,
once that issue is settled, once that matter is settled, then
we can have fellowship. We can have fellowship. But if that matter has never
settled and we cannot come to agreement over the gospel, we're
not going to have fellowship. We're not going to have fellowship. Light and darkness can't fellowship.
Can't do it. It's the message. It's the message
of the Scriptures. And it's the only message given
to save sinners. Paul said this, there's only
one gospel. So he said to the Galatians,
there is only one gospel. If any man or an angel comes
preaching any other gospel, let him be accursed. There's only
one. It's the only message of the
Scriptures. And it's an effectual message. If God is going to save
sinners, It's going to be through the preaching of Christ crucified.
It's going to be setting forth Christ as the propitiation for
our sins. That's what was preached at Pentecost,
when God saved three thousand people. That's the message God
honors. That's the message that honors
God. And that's the message God uses to quicken dead sinners. And let me give a word of caution
here, and I quit. is not propitiation. Repentance
is not propitiation. Our tears do not cover our sins. They do not cover our sins. Nor
do they satisfy God's justice. Judas, after he had betrayed
the Lord, took the money, and he came in to the high priest
there, the priest there, He cast the money down and said, I betrayed
innocent blood. I betrayed innocent blood. And
he went out and he hanged himself. He felt so bad about it. But
it didn't cover his sins, did it? It did not put one sin away. Not one. Only the blood of Christ
is the propitiation for our sins. Faith is not propitiation. Believing
God does not satisfy God's law. It doesn't satisfy God's law.
Only the blood, only the blood can satisfy justice. Only the
blood of Christ. Christ is the message. He says
here in verse 26, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness. He's the message. to declare
at this time His righteousness, His righteousness, that He might
be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
God can be a just God and a Savior through the offering of the body
The sacrifice of the body, the blood of the body, and the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. God can be a just God and a Savior.
He can bring a wretch like me into His presence and have fellowship. And have fellowship. Look to the One. Look to the
One whom God has set forth. And it'll be alright. It'll be
alright.