How can a sinner approach God? How can a sinner draw near to
God? How can a sinner find acceptance
with God? Our Lord Jesus gave us a parable
in the 18th chapter of Luke, with which you are all familiar,
of two men who went up into the temple to pray. Two men who went
before God in his house to worship God and find acceptance with
God. The one was a Pharisee and the
other a publican. And the Pharisee, when he came
into the house of God, walked right up front, took his place
of prominence, and he stood so that all could see him and hear
him. And the scripture says, he prayed
thus with himself. His religion was
all about him. His hope was all about him. His worship was all about him. He prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee. I am not like
other men. I'm not a fornicator. I'm not
a drunk. I'm not a thief. I'm not a robber.
And I'm not like this publican back here behind me. No, no.
I fast twice in every week. And I give tithes of all that
I possess. And I pray three times every
day. I am a very good man. I am a very devoted religious
man. I live by your law. I keep your
commandments, I worship in your house, I do those things I know
to be right. And that Pharisee left the temple
just like he came in, a lost man, ignorant of God, ignorant
of himself, without God, without life, and without hope. But there
was another man in the temple that day who sat Way in the back. Who would not so much as lift
up his eyes toward heaven. Knowing his sin. Knowing his
corruption. Knowing his defilement. Knowing
the evil of his heart. He beat upon his breast. Beat upon his breast. And cried,
God Be merciful to me, a sinner. Quite literally, God be propitious. God be favorable to me through
the blood of atonement, the sinner. And that man went down to his
house justified. Oh, may God be pleased today
to give you and me grace that we may draw near to him like
that publican, beating our breast in the acknowledgement of the
corruption of our hearts, opening our hearts to God, confessing
our sin. looking away to Christ, God's
Passover, who is sacrificed for us for the propitiation of our
sins, seeking that God will be merciful, favorable, propitious
toward us through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. If you can right now, Look away
from yourself to Jesus Christ, the Lord. Trusting Jesus Christ
as your propitiation, your sin atoning sacrifice. You will go
down to your house today justified. Oh, may God grant you that grace.
My text is Romans chapter three, verse 25. The apostle Paul, writing by
divine inspiration, has declared that we are justified freely
by the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And in verse 25, he says,
who that is Christ Jesus, whom God had set forth. Now notice
the words to be are in italics. They're added because of the
translators. And the translators put them in italics to make us
know they were added by them just to make the sentence read
more smoothly. And that's proper in translating
scripture. There's nothing wrong with that.
But sometimes it's better to read the sentence awkwardly if
the added words might be misleading. God has set forth his son a propitiation. whom God has set forth a propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. God did not set forth his son
to be a propitiation. He set forth his son as the propitiation
for our sins. in his eternal purpose and decrees
in his gospel revealed to us in the types and shadows of the
law in the prophets of the old testament in the revelation of
the gospel by the coming of our lord jesus and his accomplishments
by the preaching of the gospel throughout his word god sets
forth his son as the propitiation for our sins this word propitiation
It's not a word we commonly use today. It might be translated
atonement. It might be translated reconciliation. It might be translated satisfaction.
The word propitiation means an appeasing sacrifice. An appeasing sacrifice. God set
forth his son as that one sacrifice by whom his wrath Against fallen
man is appeased Satisfied and now through the merit of that
propitiatory sacrifice God can be propitious He can be favorable
to men and women who deserve his wrath by the merit and blood
of his darling son Let's go back for a minute to that passage.
We read earlier in Exodus 25 Exodus 25 Here, Moses was given clear instruction
by God as to all the furnishings within the tabernacle. And he
tells us about this arc of the covenant and the mercy seat.
The propitiation is portrayed in the mercy seat. Exodus 25,
verse 17. Thou shalt make a mercy seat,
a propitiation, that's the word, a propitiation of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be
the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof,
and thou shalt make two cherubims of gold. A beaten work shalt
thou make them in the two ends of the mercy seat, and make one
cherub on the one end and the other cherub on the other end.
Even of the mercy seat shalt you make the cherub, cherubims
on the two ends thereof. Verse 20. 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." Now, try to get the picture. Here's
this golden lid, all of one piece, and out of the one end is a cherub
leaning over Toward the middle with his wings touching the same
Another chair on the other end out of that same mercy seat their
wings touching they're facing one another as in complete agreement
and their eyes are always toward the mercy seat and this is the
place where everyone will come and sprinkle the blood of the
Paschal lamb once a year and The cherubs represent God's servants,
faithful gospel preachers. Same thing that Isaiah saw in
Isaiah chapter six. And they always had their eyes
fixed upon the sacrifice. And they all are in complete
agreement with regard to this sacrifice, their purpose and
the work of this sacrifice. Jesus Christ, the Lord. All right.
Read on. Verse 21. And thou shalt put
the mercy seat Above upon the ark we read about the ark you
remember in it was the testimony God's broken law Thou shalt put
the mercy seat above upon the ark and in the ark thou shalt
put the testimony that I shall give thee and There there on
this mercy seat Covering the broken law Where blood of atonement
is sprinkled there will I 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 the all the things
Which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel The
title of my message this morning is Christ our propitiation Let's
look at our text again Romans chapter 3 verse 25 the Lord Jesus
Christ The lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world
is he whom God set forth a propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God. Now this word propitiation
is used only three times in all the word of God. We have translated
different ways, translated mercy seat, translated some form of
the word merciful, but the word itself is found only three times
in all the word of God. The other two times, we have
it here in Romans chapter three, and the other two times in the
book of first John. Turn there a minute. Let's just
read those two other passages. First John chapter two. First John chapter two. Paul tells us that God set forth
his son of propitiation for our sins To declare his righteousness
in forgiving sin now look here first John chapter 2 Paul the
Apostle John here tells us how we who are gods use Christ as
our propitiation my little children these things right I unto you
that you sin not and if any man sin, we have an advocate with
the father and Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he is the
propitiation for our sins. He is the justice satisfying
sacrifice for our sins. Chapter four, verse nine, first
John, chapter four, verse nine. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us because that God sent his only son, his only
begotten son into the world that we might live through him. How
is that here in his love? Not that we love God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins. Oh, the propitiation is the sacrifice
offered to appease God's wrath. God's love for his elect, we
recognize, we understand is eternal. Immutable everlasting love he
said I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore with
lovingkindness have I drawn thee so Christ sacrifice as our propitiation
is not indicating somehow that God at one time was opposed to
us, and now Christ, by his sacrifice, makes God to be reconciled to
us. No, no, no, no, no. God was never in need of being
reconciled to us. Christ the Lamb, sacrificed from
the foundation of the world, is that one in whom we are accepted
in the beloved and loved of God from eternity. All the enmity
was on our part, not on God's part. We're described as children
of wrath. Even as others but we were children
of wrath only in the sense that we were wrathful rebelling children
only in the sense that we ourselves Sensed the wrath of god upon
us just slip but god's wrath is not Something that ever fell
on his people. We were always god's people Accepted
in the beloved from eternity in christ the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world but the love of god eternal immutable
love of God for his elect could never break forth and manifest
itself until the sacrifice was made and accepted and now God
shows himself propitious favorable to sinful men and women through
Jesus Christ the Lord. And that propitiation, that favor
of God is received by faith in Jesus Christ. Our free justification
was obtained by the propitiatory sacrifice of our dear Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we receive all the blessings
of God's grace by that sacrifice. We read about the mercy seat
in Exodus chapter 25. In Hebrews chapter 9 and verse
5, the word mercy seat is used. But Bill, it's the very same
word that's translated propitiation in Romans chapter 3 verse 25.
The exact same word. Because the mercy seat was the
type of propitiation. Mercy seat was the covering of
God's law. Now I know people sometimes think
they're smarter than God and we'll use Statement like in Romans
chapter 5 verse 11 by faith. We received the atonement. Oh,
you shouldn't say that y'all make a reconciliation We received
the reconciliation. That's what atonement is. Well
atonement means covering. That's what it is But God didn't
just cover our sins. He removed them. Yes, he did
he did but the picture is a complete covering so that our sins are
are forever out of God's sight because Christ has put them away. And the picture is that mercy
seat. Which covers the broken law is
covered with blood. And God can't see through the
blood. There's no vision of our sins by God because Christ is
our propitiation. Understand this? God meets us
in Christ, the mercy seat. The propitiation accepts us and
reveals himself to us in that propitiatory sacrifice, which
is his darling son. And there's no other way to draw
near to God No other way to be blessed of God, no other way
to be accepted of God, no other way to find God except in Christ
our propitiation. Oh, what a blessed, blessed subject
this is. Now, let me try to answer four
questions, four questions. I want very simply to address
that which is One of the most important blessed things revealed
in scripture, though the word itself is used just those three
times propitiation, Christ, our propitiation. And when I get
done, there'll be plenty of room again for for more more preaching
about this subject. But I plan to stay in Romans
chapter three at least another several weeks after I get back
from England. It's just such an important,
important chapter here in Romans three. Twenty five. First question
that must be answered is this. Why do I need Christ as my propitiation? Why do you need a propitiatory
sacrifice? Why do you need a sacrifice to
appease the wrath of God? Why? Because I know my guilt,
my sin before the holy God. We need someone to stand between
us and God who is holy. You know your sin. I know that
all men know their sin. None know their sin fully, not
even believers. But all men know their sin and
their guilt before God. Oh, may God make your sin to
bear heavy on your soul. so that you know the corruption
and the depravity of your heart and you know that you can't approach
God who's holy. You can't approach God who's
holy. God cannot look your way. God cannot be gracious to you
because you're nothing but corruption and sin, repugnant to him. In his sight, even your righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Mine too. I need Christ as my
propitiation because this God who is holy is just. He says the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. He declares that he will by no
means clear the guilty. He declares that every man who
sins, he shall be punished for his sins. God's just and he will
never bend his justice. He will never alter his holiness. He will never bend in any way,
even to save the people of his love. God in justice must punish
sin. Three, I need Christ as my propitiation. because I cannot by any possibility
satisfy God's justice. Can't be done. The Pharisee described
by our Lord in that parable went through all the motions of religion
and prayed thus with himself. All that he said and all that
he did was an attempt by the Pharisee to appease his own conscience. An attempt by the Pharisee to
silence the accusing voice of God in his soul. An attempt by
the Pharisee to do something with which he could sense God's
approval and get away from the fear of his guilt and his sin. And you do that. You do that
by nature all the time. That's the nature of fallen,
self-righteous man. We try to appease God for ourselves. We try to appease God for ourselves. You who are believers, hear this
word of stern reproof to my heart and yours. Quit trying to appease
God for yourself. Quit trying to appease God for
yourself. Well, I feel so cold, so indifferent,
so sinful. Me too. I come here to lead you in the
worship of God. And I can't tell you how broken
hearted I am because I don't have one. I can't tell you how Beat down I am because I'm not. I can't tell you how cold and
hard and vile this heart is. And you try to do something. You try to do something. You
try to muster something. You try to go through your day
like that and you read your Bible. I'll do this. I'll pray more.
I'll give more. quit trying to appease God for
yourself. You're just playing games with
yourself. God's not impressed. How do you
draw near to God through Christ? Our propitiation. How my God can you accept me? How can you accept my service? How can you accept My prayer,
my attempt at prayer. How can you accept my attempt
at proclaiming your name? How can you accept my worship?
My God, I come to you. You hit on it this morning, Lindsay,
in Christ's name. Not just saying it in his name
and in I come trusting your son. I come trusting your son. And
I'll tell you what I told you just a week ago. You come to
God bringing what God requires, and God gives assurance to your
soul. You come to God bringing something
else, and you're constantly lacking such assurance. Aaron went in
to the holy of holies with confident faith. How can he do that, Larry? He
carried that which God required, and he had no reason to fear
anything he Buried his sons who went in with strange fire, but
he didn't go back here No, no, he got up and went right back
in the next day of atonement. How could he do that? Because
he brought the blood of the Paschal lamb God appointed now hear me
if you would come to God you must come to God bringing that
propitiation that justice, satisfied wrath, appeasing sacrifice that
God requires and God has given and God accepts Jesus Christ,
the Lord, and you then draw near to him with full assurance of
faith. Now, here's the second thing.
How is the Lord Jesus Christ the propitiation for our sins?
How is he that propitiation? John says that God sent his son
to be the propitiation for our sins when Paul says God sent
him forth a Propitiation for our sins. He means that Jesus
Christ was sent by God to be our mercy seat Jesus Christ was
sent by God to be the meeting place He was sent by God to be
the meeting place between God and his people Sent by God to
be the meeting place between God and His chosen. Sent by God
to be the meeting place between God and sinners. Where God would
meet with a man and commune with him of all that he commands. Here in Christ, God meets with
sinners. Sinners walk like you and me.
He meets in Christ. He meets with sinners just like
you and me. communes with us of all that he commands Reveals
himself to us and reveals to us the full Accomplishment of
all that he commands turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 Here's here's the picture you've
got the mercy seat over top of the Ark of the Covenant blood
on the mercy seat and the glory of God fills the
room. There is the Shekinah glory,
the revelation of God's glory. Here it is in Christ, our propitiation. Second Corinthians chapter four,
verse four, the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ
who is the image of God should shine unto them. Now, watch this. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves your servants sake.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has
shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You come to
God by faith in Jesus Christ and God there shows you his glory. The full accomplishment of salvation,
the full accomplishment of redemption, the full accomplishment of all
that God requires of man in all his word, in all his law, God
shows you in Christ. Christ is enough! Bless God now. My conscience
says enough. My conscience says enough. God's
not angry with me anymore. Not only that, God has no reason
to be angry with me forever. Not only that, God says, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. You mean preacher there are some
people to whom God will not impute sin? A lot of them. A lot of them. Every sinner for
whom Jesus Christ died is a sinner to whom God will not impute sin. That means every sinner who believes
on the Son of God is a sinner to whom God will not impute sin. That means every sinner Every
sinner who dares, who dares to impute sin to himself,
to him God will not impute sin. I said what I intended to. Every
sinner who dares to impute sin to himself, confessing God, be
merciful to me. If you want to know what sin
is, this is me. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. God, look on Christ. and be propitious, be favorable,
be gracious, reconcile me to yourself. The center, the center. Christ is that propitiation we
need. But what kind of propitiation
is here? Let me briefly answer that, and I mean very briefly.
Christ is the real propitiation. He's the real propitiation. The Old Testament scripture set
forth this mercy seat. And Aaron and his sons for 2,000
years, they went in and kept the sacrifices. And on the Passover
day, they put the blood on the mercy seat. And the mercy seat
was there behind the veil in the Holy of Holies. where God
met with me. And Aaron would bring the blood
of atonement, sprinkle it on the mercy seat. And then he would
come out and put on his gorgeous priestly garments, that spectacular
priestly garment with the effort and the breastplate and the name
in the forehead of his effort, holiness to the Lord. And after he's finished the work
of atonement, he'd come out and Lift his hands up over the congregation
and say, the Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord be gracious
to thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and be gracious to thee. How can he do that? On
the basis of the atonement. Now, listen to me. Jesus Christ,
our Aaron, our great high priest, entered in once into the holy
place with his own blood. having obtained eternal redemption
for us and when he did the veil in the temple was rent in two
from top to bottom God ripped open the way and said come on
in come on in Paul tells us in Hebrews 9 that veil was his flesh
his body when God in his justice rent the body of his son, the
veil in the temple was rent open because Christ is now the way
to God. He always has been. And now it's
revealed. The door now is open to heaven. It always has been. But now it's
revealed openly manifest because God ripped open the veil. And
Christ Jesus is that propitiation by which sinners come to God.
the real propitiation. Aaron was just a ceremonial priest. And the mercy seat, just a ceremonial
mercy seat. And the sacrifice, just a ceremonial
sacrifice. And the atonement, just a ceremonial
atonement. All those things were types.
Christ is the real thing. He is our priest. He is our sacrifice. He is our propitiation. He is
our mercy seat. He is the one in whom God meets
with sinners. Oh, God, give us grace ever to
draw near to Christ, our propitiation, this one who is accepted of God
as our propitiation. And there is none other but he. Oh, but what a great propitiation
he is and all sufficient propitiation. Turn back to the book of Ezekiel.
I was looking into this this morning. Ezekiel chapter 16.
Ezekiel 16. You read this whole chapter and
it's just marvelously instructed. Ezekiel describes this deserted
infant cast out from his mother's womb, naked, dead, rotting in its own
blood, no one to care for it. And the Lord said, I pass by
the Frank Hall. That's you. That's you. And he
puts life in us and it causes us to become beautiful through
his beauty that he puts on us, through his beauty, he makes
to be ours. And you read through the chapter.
Oh, how we fall, how we fall. How we fall over and over again
how we fall what miserable wretches we are And then you get to the
end of the chapter verse 62. God says i'll establish my covenant
with you And you shall know that I am
the lord That thou mayest remember And be confounded And never open
thy mouth anymore because of thy shame. And I really don't know exactly
what he means by that. Never open your mouth anymore
to confess your sin. No, no. He bids us confess our
sin continually. Never bring up this issue again
because of your shame. Never bring up this issue again
because of your shame. when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done. O God, give me grace to quit
bringing the issue up. My sins are gone. O God, give
you grace to quit bringing the issue up. Let your mouth never
be opened again in this regard God is pacified Toward me for
all that I've done I'm sure that at least is what the prophet
means for God says listen in the establishment of this covenant.
I Will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities
Will I remember? No more. Whoa, what a propitiation
Christ Jesus is. Now, how are we to make use of
Christ as our propitiation? Come back to our text again.
Paul says he is a propitiation. Set forth by God a propitiation
through faith in his blood. He set forth by God a propitiation
through faith in His blood to declare God's righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. How do we use Christ as our propitiation? You receive Him. You receive
Him. That's what faith does. Believing
God Revealed in Christ, we receive the atonement. Believing God,
revealed in Christ, we receive propitiation. We receive Christ
Jesus through faith. Through faith. Just trusting
Him. Now you have a picture of this
in the first chapter of Leviticus. A man would bring a sacrifice
to the priest. And when he brought the sacrifice
to the priest, He laid his hand upon the sacrifice, identifying
himself with the sacrifice. And when he laid his hands upon
the sacrifice, he laid his sins on that sacrifice. We're told
in Leviticus chapter five that he confessed his sins. He confessed his sins. This is
how we use Christ as our propitiation. We come to God, laying on him
the hand of faith, confessing our sin. God, be merciful to
me, the sinner. God, look on your son. Be gracious, be propitious, be
favorable to me through the blood of your son, the sinner. be propitious
to me. I here confess my sin. Confessing
what I am and acknowledging what God has done. He laid my sin on his sword and
this sacrifice is offered to God. Bring God his son, confessing
your sin and receive the propitiation. Here's a word of warning. You must stand before God in
judgment soon. You who are without Christ. If I could say that like I want
to say it. If you could hear it like you
want to hear it, you would be terrified where you sit. You're going to meet God in judgment
soon. You go without Christ, without
propitiation, without a justice, satisfying sacrifice will forever
be cast into hell. So I bid you come to Christ. And here's a word of comfort,
children of God. We read it earlier. Christ. Our savior. Is today our propitiation. If any man sin. We have an advocate
with the father. Jesus Christ, the righteous.
And He's the propitiation for our sins. I mean, Bobby Estes,
any time you sin, use your propitiation. Go to God and find acceptance
with God in His Son. And any time you do anything,
looks pretty good. Any time you do anything pretty
good, use Christ as your propitiation. God accepts it only by Him. Only
by Him. And in eternity, when we stand
before God in that great day.