As I try to bring this message,
I desire to preach the gospel with the Holy Spirit sent down
from heaven in a very simple way. May God be pleased to grant
us that. In verse 10 of Hebrews chapter
8, For this is the covenant that
I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. Now, the old covenant
could never do that. Only the new covenant. And next,
he says, and I will be to them God and they shall be to me a
people now this is something the gospel does it makes God
for me he's my God and it makes me for God I'm his people the
Old Testament could never do that verse 11 And they shall
not teach every man, his neighbor and every man, his brother saying,
know the Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. You see, you couldn't actually
know the living God in the old Testament. You could know things
about him, but you couldn't know him. But in the new Testament,
the new covenant, I actually come to know. the living God,
where I know Him and He knows me. Now here's the foundation
behind all that. Those are great things, aren't
they? They're glorious things, to have God write His laws in
your heart, for Him to be your God and you to be to Him a people,
for me to know Him and Him to know me. Those are great and
glorious things. And here's the foundation as
to why that can be. Verse 12, 4, I will be merciful. And that word like the word I
read in Luke chapter 18 verse 13 is I will be propitious. That's the way it's generally
translated. I will be propitious. Now this word is also translated
merciful and it's translated reconciled and those ideas are
certainly in the word. But God gives us the reason as
to why He'll give us these great blessings is because I will be
propitious to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. Now I've entitled this message,
Propitiation. That's a big word. It's a word
that we don't hear used very much in our day, but it's found
in the New Testament seven times. Propitiation. It's a biblical
word, and it's given as the foundation, and that's an important concept.
It's given as the foundation, as the reason, as the because
of the blessings God bestows on us. It's the one reason given
here. Now, the foundation. Now, here's
a lot of things that we could say could be the foundation of
our salvation, the will of God. That's foundational, isn't it?
The will and purpose of God. The love of God. That's foundational. The foreknowledge of God. That's
foundational. But we would fail to give the
biblical foundation if we don't bring out this. Here's the reason
behind all of God's blessings, the propitiation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'm going to do these things
for you for this reason because I will be propitious to their
unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities I will remember
no more. Now what does this word mean? Propitiation. It means to appease,
to propitiate, to remove the reason for anger. to take the
barrier between me and God away. Now propitiation, listen real
carefully, propitiation is the work of God alone. There is nothing that you and
I can do to propitiate God. There's nothing you and I can
do to appease God. It's what He does for Himself. This thing of propitiation, this
thing of appeasement where God, His reason for anger is removed. It's not because of something
I did. It's wholly because of something that He has done. Perpetuation is the work of God
alone. He has, by the blood of his Son,
removed his reason for anger for all who believe. His blood blotted out our sin. He made it to be no more. Now,
turn with me to Colossians 1. I love this passage of Scripture.
May God give us grace to believe it. Here's what the perpetuatory
work of Christ does. Colossians chapter 1, verse 20. and having made peace through the blood of His cross
by Him. to reconcile all things to himself. By him I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes
alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you, you who had these wicked works, to present you
holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Now that's what
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ does. It takes someone who has
these wicked works, a sinner, a sinful human being, and he
makes that person holy. Holy. I'm holy. If Christ died for me, I'm holy. I am unblameable. That's what
the scripture says. You can't blame me for anything.
I have no blame. I'm unreprovable. Now, that's what propitiation
means. All of God's reason for anger
is removed. And when he sees me, he sees
someone who's holy. And that means holy. He sees
someone who is unblameable, nothing to blame me for. I'm just before
him. I am un-reprovable. Now this word is also translated
merciful and reconciliation and of course both of these ideas
are in the word, but it's the blood of Christ only that did
this. Now listen to me. Oh, please
listen to me. It's not my faith that propitiates. It's not my repentance that propitiates. It's not my view of the blood
and my appreciation of the blood that propitiates. It has absolutely
nothing to do with me. It is the blood of Christ that
propitiates. God said, when I see the blood. He didn't say when you see it.
He didn't say, when I see your appreciation of the blood, or
your understanding of the blood, or your faith in the blood. He
said nothing like that. He said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over. That is God's propitiation. One thing God was looking for,
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. Now, what I'd like for us to
do is see how the Bible uses this word propitiation. We see
it's the foundation of every blessing I have. Turn with me
to Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three. Verse 23, For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Do you know that if you or I
come short of the glory of God, we ought to be put in hell for
it? That's a crime. Don't miss that. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of the incorruptible God. being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in His blood. Note the word God set him forth. God set him forth to be a propitiation. Now that word set forth carries
with it Two ideas, both of which are seen here. First, it means
to foreordain or to purpose. God foreordained and purposed
him to be the propitiation. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. This has always been God's purpose.
This isn't a reaction of God to something that went wrong.
This has always been the divine purpose. He was foreordained
by God to be the propitiation. This has always been the plan
and purpose of God. Way back before time began, this
is what it was. Christ, the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world and an eternity future, whatever that
is. Whenever, when time is no more, what will be the song of
glory? Worthy is the lamb that was slain. God set him forth, he ordained
him for this. And the word also carries with
it the idea to make conspicuous, to display, to set forth. Like if I want to show you something,
I set it forth. I put it there where you can
see it. And oh, how God has set forth his son to be the propitiation. It's what the Bible is all about.
It's the message of this book. It's the only message of this
book. Right after the fall, an animal
was slain, a lamb. God took the coat, the skin of
that lamb and He covered Adam and Eve to set forth the propitiation.
With Cain and Abel, by faith Abel offered unto God a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness
that he was righteous. That's what the Scripture says.
God testifying of his gifts and he being dead yet speaketh. He
was set forth then. He was set forth With Noah, when
Noah constructed that ark, the scripture says it was pitched
with in and without with pitch. Now that word pitch is the same
word that's translated atonement. What is it that kept the water
out of that ark? Was it through the perfect way
that Noah built it? I'm sure Noah was quite a carpenter,
no doubt about that. I mean, he worked 120 years on
this ark. But what is it that kept the
water out? Was it his superior craftsmanship Constructed that
ark? No, it was the pitch. That's
what kept the wrath of God out. That's always been what keeps
the wrath of God away. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We could go on and on through the Old Testament, all these
types and stories. The blood set forth. God makes
it obvious and God is setting this forth right now, making
this conspicuous right now. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 11, And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. This is what he witnesses to
us. This is what he sets forth to us. This is what he makes
conspicuous. For after he said, this is the
covenant that I'll make with them after those days, saith
the Lord, I'll put my laws into their hearts and in their minds
will I write them. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now, where the remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. Don't you dare try bringing
one. There's no more offering. He
is set forth. Turn to 1 John chapter 4. Verse 9. In this was manifested the love
of God poured 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. You know, one of the saddest
things I know of is the fact that you and I have been guilty
of not loving God. What a crime. Herein is love,
We're not going to talk about our love to Him. Even now, I
love Him. I do. I love the Lord Jesus Christ.
I love God as He's revealed in the Word. And if you'd say, well,
how would you define love? I'd say, well, it ain't my love.
Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation. of our sins. It was the love of God that sent
him. God didn't do this to make a way for him to love. He did
this because he did love and Christ himself, his precious
blood is the propitiation. Notice Christ himself is called
the propitiation for our sins. Now this propitiation of Christ,
this is what his blood did. In propitiating God, in appeasing
God, this propitiation is all sufficient. You know what that
means? Nothing else is needed. This propitiation is immutable. It cannot be changed or reversed. And this propitiation is absolute. Your salvation is
a must. The purpose of God demands it. If Christ died for you, listen
to me, if Christ died for you, if he had you on his heart, if
your name was written on his breast, your salvation is an
absolute necessity. The love of God demands it. The
law of God demands it. Justice of God demands it. The
purpose of God demands it. We could go on and on because
of this propitiatory work. He has removed God's reason for
anger. And the salvation of everybody
He died for is a must. He says, deliver him from going
down to the pit. I have found a ransom, a propitiation. Now turn to Hebrews chapter 2. Verse 17, Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to
make reconciliation, that's the same word, propitiation, to make
propitiation for the sins of the people. Now, this is the
work of Christ. He had no help in this thing. He, by Himself,
made propitiation. Now, I think it's interesting
to note that the writer of the Hebrews said that in all things,
He had to be made like unto His brethren. In all things. That
means all things. First of all, he was made flesh.
God became flesh. But here's something that, I
mean, that's mysterious. That's so hard to get hold of,
the fact that God actually became a man. He became flesh, bone
of our bones and flesh of our flesh. But in all things, he
was made just like us too. In this sense, let me show you
a passage of scripture that just blew me away in the book of Lamentations.
Hold your finger there and turn with me to the book of Lamentations. Right after Jeremiah. Verse 12, is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Now who's speaking there? That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no question about that.
Now look up in verse 11. Look at the last sentence. Oh,
Lord, see and consider for I am become what? Vile. Who's speaking? The Lord Jesus Christ. And he
says, I am become vile. You know somebody else is vile?
That's a strong word, vile, vile, untouchable. You know somebody
else's vow? This man right here. And he had to become in all things
like unto his brethren in order to be a merciful and a faithful
high priest and to make reconciliation, to make propitiation for the
sins of the people. For him to make propitiation
for my sins, he had to become in all things Just like me. And that's what was going on
in the cross. And that is how He propitiated sins. Just as
truly as He became vile, I become the very righteousness of God
in Him. And I become clean and holy and
pure in God's sight. Because He became what I am.
He became what He was not. He wasn't vile. He became what
I am. And I become what I was not.
I become clean in God's sight. Sin is propitiated and he did
this by himself. Hebrews 1.3 says he by himself. Now, don't don't let that slip.
He by himself, that means with no help from you, no help from
me. He by himself purged, made purification,
cleansed away, put away our sins. My sins have been purged away,
removed, blotted out, separated from me as far as the east is
from the west. They are gone. And he did this
great work by himself. My sin. Oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole has been nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. I bear it no more. Praise the
Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. Turn to first John chapter two. Verse one. My little children,
these things write I unto you, that you sin not." Now here is
God's will for my life and for your life, to sin not. Grace is never an excuse for
sin or disobedience in any way. Amen. These things write I unto
you that you sin not. Now, when you do, if any man
sin, we have, we have an advocate. We have
a lawyer with the Father and he's got Paul with the Father.
He's the son of the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. We have an advocate. We have
an intercessor. We have one who represents us. We had him before
the sin. We had him during the sin. We
had him after the sin. There's nothing we do that makes
his advocacy work for us. We already have this advocate.
He's talking to the little children of God. He's talking to believers.
He says, when you sin, and you're going to, We have an advocate,
a lawyer, an intercessor with the father. Oh, this lawyer is
so glorious. He makes all of his clients plead
guilty. That's not what, you know, usually
lawyers tell them plead not guilty. But he makes his clients plead
guilty, every single one of them, and then gets them justified.
What a lawyer we have. And you know what the basis of
his advocacy is? Look in verse 2, and he is the
propitiation for our sins. And not for ours only, but also
for the sins of the whole world. Now the reason that I'm not blotted
out when I sin, It's because he's the propitiation for my
sin. Now, his advocacy, it's not like I sin and he says, oh,
forgive him this time. And so the father says, OK, and
then I sin again. He says, well, forgive him again.
No, he stands before the father as my propitiation. God's reason
for anger is always removed in my advocate. He's the propitiation
for our sins and not for ours only. But also for the sins of
the whole world, not Jews only, but Gentiles. As a matter of
fact, look at this and he's the propitiation for our sins and
not for ours only, but also for notice the sins of is in italics. It's supplied there by the translators,
but he's not the propitiation of everybody's sins. If he was
everybody'd be saved. And the translators supplied
that there, but here's the point. Christ is the Savior of the world.
If you're going to be saved, you're going to be saved by Him.
He's the only hope you have. If you're in this world, He's
the Savior of the world. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life. If you're going to be saved,
here's the only way you're going to be saved. I don't care if
you're Jew or Gentile. I don't care if you're rich or poor.
I don't care what your status is in this life. The only hope
you have and the all-sufficient hope you have is the propitiation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the propitiation for our
sins and not for ours only, but everybody in the whole world.
I don't care who you are, the only hope you have. is the propitiatory
sacrifice, the sin-appeasing sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the propitiation for our
sins, but not for ours only, but also the sins of the whole
world. Now, let me give you some good
advice. Don't try to figure out whether you're one of God's elect. Don't do it. Don't try to figure
out if Christ died for you. Your only responsibility is to
believe the gospel. Is the gospel true? Then you ought to believe. Everybody
ought to believe the truth. Believe the gospel. Dare I believe
the gospel? You're commanded to. You're commanded
by God too. And your right to believe the
gospel right now as you're sitting there is because God commands
you to. God commands all men everywhere
to repent. Don't try to figure out if you're
one of the elect. You believe, you'll find out
you are the elect. Faith is the evidence of divine
election. Faith is the evidence that Christ
died for you. And that leads us back to Romans
chapter 3 verse 25. Turn back there. I want to look
at another emphasis on this verse. Whom God set forth to be a propitiation. Now look what it says next. Through
faith in His blood. What is the evidence that Christ
has been made a propitiation for you? Faith. Faith. And here it says, faith in His
blood. I like that. Now I'm going to
ask you two or three questions. May God give you grace to answer
these honestly. Do you believe that His precious
blood is all that is needed for the complete washing away of
your sins? Now, do you believe that? Let me take it a step further.
Are you relying on his blood as the complete propitiation
for your sins? Are you relying on him as making
the way for God to actually literally be pleased with you? Are you
relying on him? And let's take it even a step
further than that. Have you committed the salvation
of your soul to Him? Your hands are off. You're not
looking to your works in any way. You're not looking to your
feelings. You're not looking to your experience.
You're not looking to your efforts. You're not looking to your knowledge.
You're not looking to yourself. You're looking to Him only. And you're relying on Him only. You have committed the salvation
of your soul to Him. Your hands are off. You're out
of the equation. It's totally up to Him. Have you committed the salvation
of your soul to Him? All your eggs are in this one
basket. Now, I want to do that, don't
you? I want to commit right now the salvation of my soul to Him.
Now, let's go back to that first scripture I read, Luke chapter
18. Verse 9, And he spake this parable, unto
certain which trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and
despised others. Now here is self-righteousness. You want to know what self-righteousness
is? Anybody who trusts themselves
that they're righteous. If you have any personal righteousness
that comes from you, this is the person he's describing. He
says in verse 10, two men went up into the temple to pray. The
one, a Pharisee. a separated one, a very religious,
moral, upright man. And the other, a publican, the
most despised man, the most looked down upon man in that day. Verse 11, the Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee. He gave God the credit. I thank
thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican." What a lie. What a lie. This guy was guilty of everything
he said he didn't do. This was hypocrisy in its purest
form. What a lie. Next time you hear
somebody boasting about their own righteousness, remember they're
lying. He says in verse 12, I fast twice
in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Now he was telling the truth
there, but where did God ever command him to do that? Verse 13 and the publican. standing far off, would not lift up so much as
his eyes unto heaven." They were singing that song, Unworthy.
Oh, this man felt so unworthy. He wouldn't even lift his eyes
up. But he smote upon his breast. You see, he understood what the
problem was. It was his heart, his evil heart,
his sinful heart. smote upon his breast, saying,
God, be propitious. God, be propitious to me, the
sinner, the worst man to ever live. That's how he viewed himself. And his only plea, God, take
it away. Take it away through the blood
of your son. This was not just a general plea for mercy He was
saying Lord be propitious. Let the blood of your son be
the removal of my sin That's the only way I can be clean in
your sight and look what the Lord said I Tell you This man went down to his house
Justified Not simply forgiven Not simply pardoned, but justified. Not guilty. Rather than the other, for here
is the unalterable law of the kingdom of heaven. This is always
true for everyone that exalts himself shall be abased. And he that humble of himself
shall be exalted. In Acts chapter 16, verse 30,
a Philippian jailer said to Paul and Silas, sirs, what must I
do to be saved? Now I'm sure that some real smart
theologians would say, you're asking the wrong question. You
can't do anything to be saved. You shouldn't be asking questions
like that. Salvation's by grace, not by words. But that's not
the way the Apostle Paul answered, is it? What must I do to be saved? Good question. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And thou shalt be saved. You know the only thing that
keeps you from believing on Christ? One thing. Pride. That's the only thing that will
ever keep a man from believing on Christ. We want to see something
in ourselves. But you know, faith in Christ
is looking totally away from yourself. and looking to Christ
only as the propitiation for our sin. Now, in our text, God says, for I will be propitious
to their sin. And here's the results. And their
sins and their iniquities. Will I remember no more? Now that's not just pie in the
sky speech. God actually doesn't remember
my sins. He has no knowledge of them.
Why? Because they've been put away.
There's nothing there for Him to remember. Turn with me to
Isaiah chapter 43. Isaiah 43. God is speaking to His people,
and He says in verse 22, But thou hast not called upon Me,
O Jacob, thou hast been weary of Me, O
Israel. Thou hast not brought Me the
small cattle of thy burnt offerings, neither hast thou honored Me
with thy sacrifices. I've not caused thee to serve
with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast
bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled
me with the fat of thy sacrifices, but thou has made me to serve
with thy sins. Thou has wearied me with thine
iniquities. I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions. for my own sake. I can't find
a reason you to do it, but I do it for my own sake and I will
not remember thy sins. Through the propitiation of Christ,
God embraces me, not with caution. He doesn't
put me on probation to see how I do. I am fully and completely
accepted in the beloved. And it can't get any better.
I can't get any more saved. I can't get any more loved. I
can't get any more accepted than I am right now in the Lord Jesus
Christ through the propitiation of Christ. Now here's the foundation
of our salvation. I'll do all these things. I'll
write my laws in their hearts and I'll be to them a God and
they'll be to me a people. And they all shall know me. And
here's why. Because the very foundation of
every blessing I have. Because I will be propitious
to their unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities I'll
remember no more. Now what we're getting ready to do now is celebrate
the Lord's table. And you know what we're celebrating?
This. I will be propitious to their
unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities while I
remember no more." Who should take the Lord's table? It's a
very important question. All who believe. Period. That's who should take
the Lord's table. If you don't believe, don't take
the Lord's table. It's an abomination. If you don't
believe the gospel, if you're not relying on the Lord Jesus
Christ, don't take the Lord's table. But if you believe this
is the one requirement, do you believe the gospel? Are you relying
on him? Then this table is for you. Let's pray together.