We will begin this evening in
Romans chapter three. Romans chapter three. Gospel preachers speak frequently
and speak dogmatically concerning the satisfaction of Christ. That is, to both the fact that
our Lord Jesus Christ has made satisfaction to the justice of
God for the sins of his people, and that he shall be satisfied
with the results of his sin-atoning work. He shall see of the travail
of his soul and shall be satisfied. Our Lord Jesus Christ, satisfied
completely, perfectly, fully, entirely, and forever. he satisfied
the law and justice of God for God's elect when he suffered
and died as our substitute upon the cursed tree. By obeying the
precepts of God's law as a man, as our mediator and representative
before The Son of God brought in an everlasting righteousness,
satisfying every demand of the law for us. God requires that
we be holy. He said, Be ye holy as I am holy,
but you can't. He said, Walk before me and be
thou perfect, but you can't. Yet he will not receive you,
he will not receive me, unless we do walk before him in perfection. He will not receive us unless
we are holy, even as he is holy. So the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, being himself God, assumed human flesh and walked
before God with infinite merit, in perfect holiness. and thus
brought in righteousness, holiness, and perfection for his people. By dying then under the curse
of the law, bearing our sins, bearing its penalty to the full
extremity of divine justice, dying as our substitute under
the wrath of God, the Lord Jesus then satisfied the justice of
God. He paid the debt we owed to the
full extremity of God's justice. Thus he put away our sins by
the sacrifice of himself. He has thereby secured forever
his people's everlasting complete immunity from all the evil consequences
of their sins. Jesus Christ, having put away
our sins, having satisfied the justice of God, has forever secured
for us complete immunity. from any evil consequence, any
penal evil consequence of our sins in this world or the world
to come. Blessed be his name. God Almighty
never deals with his people in a penal way on the basis of their
sins. He dealt with our sins penally,
judicially at Calvary once and for all, and now judgment is
finished. But doesn't he chasten us? Yes,
but that's not penal. That's gracious. That's because
of his loving care of his people as our Heavenly Father. He chastens
us so that we may learn to behave before him and grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's not punishment. That's chastisement. And there's
a huge difference. The Lord Jesus has also secured
for us by his death and by his satisfaction of justice, by bringing
in everlasting righteousness, he has secured the salvation,
the everlasting, eternal salvation of all his people. By his satisfaction
of justice, he makes it impossible, I said that deliberately, he
makes it impossible for God Almighty to impute sin to those for whom
he died. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord will not impute sin. Will not because justice demands
that he cannot. Complete atonement Christ has
made and to the utmost farthing pay all his people owe. Now, having satisfied the law
and justice of God for us, we are assured that our great Redeemer
shall see of the curvail of his soul and shall be satisfied. And this is what Isaiah means
by that statement. The Lord Jesus Christ will see
every sinner for whom he has made satisfaction. Every sinner
for whom he endured the travail and agony of the wrath of God
giving birth and life to chosen sinners. He'll see them every
one regenerated. He'll see them every one justified. He'll see them every one sanctified. He'll see them every one glorified
perfectly. He will see in that day all those
for whom He endured the ignominious, shameful death of the cross,
for whom He shed His precious blood. He will see them, everyone,
accepted before His Father's throne in the perfection of absolute,
blameless holiness. To this end, God chose us that
we should be holy and without blame before Him. And so it shall
be, because Christ has made satisfaction, and Christ shall be satisfied.
This is the blessed good news we declare in the gospel. We
do not declare anything like a possibility redemption, a possibility
ransom, a possibility salvation, but rather as we're commanded
of God. God's servants comfort, comfort his people. speaking
comfortably to them, crying that her warfare is accomplished,
that their iniquity is pardoned. And they have received in the
Lord's hand double for all their sins. Now, that in a nutshell
is the doctrine of Christ's satisfaction. Tonight I want to talk to you
about three aspects of Christ's satisfaction. Three things that
are involved in this matter of Jesus Christ satisfying the wrath
and justice of God for us. You won't have any trouble at
all following my message this evening if you're taking notes.
The outline's in three words, propitiation, atonement, and
reconciliation. Now let's look at those three
things as they're revealed in the scriptures. I want you to
understand that propitiation, atonement, and reconciliation
has been accomplished for sinners by the satisfaction made by our
Lord Jesus Christ. We find the word propitiation
first in Romans chapter 3 and verse 25. This word is used three
times in the New Testament. In all three places we are told
that Christ is our propitiation. Now the very same Greek word
that is translated in the New Testament, propitiation, is translated
in the Greek version of the Old Testament, mercy seat, and is
sometimes translated in the New Testament, mercy seat. In Exodus
chapter 25 and verse 21, where God describes the mercy seat
and he says, I'll meet you on the mercy seat between the cherubim
and there I'll bless you. The word that's used there is
the word that's found here in Romans 3.25 for propitiation. Our Lord Jesus Christ is that
one who is represented and typified in the mercy seat. Now, let me
remind you of what that mercy seat was. When God commanded
Moses to have the Ark of the Covenant built and all the furnishings
of the tabernacle and that which would later be in the temple.
In the Holy of Holies there was one article of furniture to go.
That article of furniture was the Ark of the Covenant. Inside
that Ark of the Covenant was the broken law of God. The symbol
of God's vindictive, just anger and wrath against sin. Over top
of the Ark of the Covenant was a lid, a lid made out of pure
gold, called the Mercy Seat. At each end of the mercy seat
were cherubim, facing one another and looking down on the mercy
seat. Where Aaron came one time, once
a year, but only with blood, the blood of a paschal lamb,
and there he sprinkled blood on the mercy seat, covering the
broken law of God, on which the cherubim look, and there God
said, I'll meet you, I'll meet you. so that he came in with
the blood and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat. And after
he had made atonement for sin once a year, Aaron would turn
out, go out from under that thick veil, put back on his gorgeous
priestly apparel, and step out of the door of the tabernacle,
and he'd lift his hands, pointing back to the blood atonement.
And on the basis of that, he would say, The Lord bless thee.
The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto
thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee, and give thee peace. Because the mercy seat, the atonement
made, portrayed the atonement that would surely be made by
our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our mercy seat, the propitiation
for our sins. The publican in the temple, recorded
in Luke's gospel, of whom our Lord speaks, had an eye to the
mercy seat. You remember he said, the scripture
says, he would not so much as lift his eyes toward heaven,
but his eyes were fixed upon the mercy seat. He said, God,
be merciful. The word is, be propitious. God,
look on the mercy seat and be propitious to me. Look on the
mercy seat, the blood atonement there portrayed, and be gracious
to me through that propitiation which Jesus Christ, the Messiah,
will make on my behalf. The mercy seat. is that to which
the children of Israel were bidden to look, that they might obtain
mercy. And it is the very same thing
of which the Apostle speaks in Hebrews 4.16, when he says, Let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we
may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. The
Lord Jesus Christ, our mercy seat, is the sovereign King of
the universe, seated upon a throne, a throne of grace. because He
is the propitiation for our sins. Come then to Christ on His throne,
the King of glory, and find mercy and grace to help in time of
need on the basis of propitiation, satisfaction made by His blood. Now look here in Romans 3.25.
Here's the first place where this word propitiation is found
in our English New Testament. Whom God hath set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in his blood. And this is the
reason why God has set him forth to be a propitiation, a justice
satisfying, wrath appeasing sacrifice. So that God might declare his
righteousness. So that God might show all the
world how that his righteousness is established for the remission
of sins that have passed through the forbearance of God. The Lord
Jesus Christ was set forth by God the Father to be our propitiation. Now you know what that means,
to set something forth, you hold it out. If you've got a particular
item, say you're in business and you've got a particular item
that you want to sell, you want to move it. And if you've got
a, your business maybe is jewelry and you've got all these rings
and Diamonds and sapphires in this beautiful beautiful counter,
but you got one necklace that you really want to move You want
to get that thing out of the way? You want you want to unload
that and what you do is you set that thing forth in the most
beautiful Glaring light so that everybody who walks in the store
got to see it. This is what God has done He has set forth his
son to be the propitiation for our sins He is the One who made
propitiation for us, the One in whom propitiation is found,
the One for whose sakes God is propitious to sinners, and the
One who is Himself our propitiation. Christ is our Messesee. He alone
is the place where God meets sinners, receives sinners, and
blesses sinners. He is the one by whom justice
is appeased. He is the one who is our peace. And he is the propitiatory sacrifice
by which our sins are put away. Just as God in the Old Testament
types smelled the sweet savor of those sacrifices. You remember
the sacrifices were to be offered to God, burned upon the altar,
and offered with incense, and as they were, The sweet smell
of the sacrifice was acceptable to God, only ceremonially. The sacrifices would never please
Him. The sacrifices would never satisfy Him. The sacrifices would
never put away sin. But ceremonially, God smelled
the sweet aroma of the sacrifice, and He said, I'm pleased. And
thus the Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 that our Lord
Jesus Christ's precious blood shed for us is a sweet-smelling
savor to God. That which God smells and says,
I don't believe. He rests in the sacrifice of
his dear Son and so should we. John Gill wrote concerning this,
his sacrifice was an offering of a sweet-smelling savor to
the Father. He was well pleased with it.
It gave him content and satisfaction because his justice was appeased
by it, and the demands of his law were answered. More than
that, his law was magnified and made honorable by the final act
of our Lord's obedience when he satisfied divine justice.
Well, how did the Father set forth his dear Son to be the
propitiation for our sins? I don't care to involve myself
with speculation, but our Lord Jesus Christ is that one who
is set forth by the Father to be the propitiation for our sins.
Set forth in such a way as to display him, as to show him off
as the propitiation for our sins. And he was set forth by the Father
in the everlasting covenant of grace in the council of peace
before the world began where propitiation was established.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who verily was ordained
before the foundation of the world. He is that one who was
slain as the ransom price and sacrificed for his people. His
sufferings and death were such as they were because they were
determined by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of
God. So that everything that came to pass with regard to the
sacrifice of Christ, everything that came to pass with regard
to his death and his sufferings under death were brought to pass
exactly as God from eternity had determined and proposed.
I wish I could make folks understand this. I wish we would get hold
of it and really believe it. Nothing in the universe comes
to pass but by God's decree. Nothing in the universe comes
to pass except God has ordained it and God brings it to pass
in his good providence exactly according to his purpose of grace
toward us. The Lord Jesus Christ was set
forth to be our propitiation in all the promises, prophecies,
and pictures of the Old Testament Scriptures. In the very beginning,
before Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, the Lord God
gave a promise. He said, I will send the seed
of the woman and he'll undo all this mess. He'll crush the serpent's
head. He will undo the serpent's corruption
and the serpent's bringing sin into the world. He'll undo that
which the serpent has brought upon God's elect. And so the
Lord Jesus Christ undoes Satan's doing by putting away our sin. And then he gave him a picture.
He took an animal, an innocent victim, and he killed the animal. Stripped off the skins of the
animal and made clothing for Adam and Eve. He took his hand
and pulled off their aprons, their fig leaf aprons of their
own doing and their own making. I wonder why God took and himself
stripped Adam and Eve. Because they'd never take it
off on their own. And you won't either. You'll never give up
your righteousness. It won't happen. You'll cling
to it unto everlasting destruction and in hell you'll still cling
to it. You'll never take it off unless
God with the finger of his grace strips you. And then he took
the skins of the animals and put them on the naked pair and
he said this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to send my innocent
holy son and I will slay my son in the stead of my people and
take his righteousness and put it on them so that they may be
clothed with the garments of salvation. Every picture, every
promise, every prophecy in the Old Testament sets forth Jesus
Christ as that one who is to come to be the propitiation for
our sins. He is the one of whom Isaiah
spoke when he said The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us
all, for the transgression of my people was he stricken." And
then in the fullness of time, the Son of God was set forth
to be the propitiation in human flesh. He was actually made of
a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law. The apostle writes in Galatians and says, in the fullness of
time, God sent forth his Son in the fullness of time. Not,
not at just some time, just happened to be, but when the fullness
of God's purpose had come to this time! And the fullness of
time was come for the manifestation of God's dear Son, the propitiation
for our sins. Then God sent forth his Son,
not in response to something men did, but everything men had
done was in response to God's purpose at this time to send
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. And our Lord Jesus is still set
forth to be the propitiation for our sins. and he shall continue
to be until time shall be no more. God has set him forth in
his word. Here, in the book of God, he's
set forth. He's set forth in the gospel
of his grace as his servants proclaim the word. And he's set
forth effectually in the hearts of chosen sinners by the power
of his Holy Oh, may God cause you to see now that Jesus Christ
is the propitiation for our sins. Look in 1 John chapter 2. 1 John
chapter 2. Jesus Christ is the propitiatory
sacrifice for the sins of God's elect in all the world, Jew and
Gentile, male and female, wherever they are, at any age, at any
time. John writes, My little children,
these things write I unto you. What things? God is light and
there is no darkness at all. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves. Truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. These things write I unto you,
that you sin not. You mean The way to get believers
not to sin is to tell them God won't charge them with sin. That's
it. You mean the way to get believers to behave properly is to tell
them that God will never punish them for their transgressions?
That's it. These things lie down to you that you sin not. And
if any man sinned, John had better sense than most preachers and
most religious people. He knew. there's no such thing
as a man who doesn't sin, not even for a split second. If any
man sins, when you do sin, we have, oh I love that word. Most people think, and most preachers
interpret the text to read like this, if any man sin, we've lost
our but it is our sinnerhood that
gives us a claim with the Advocate. Do you understand that? Don't
ever give that up. The only ground on which you
can come before God and claim Christ as an Advocate is the
ground of your need of Him. That's the only ground. God,
I come to you with all my Oh, let me hide nothing. Let me cover
nothing. Let me confess my sin. And if
any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. One who stands
side by side, face to face, equal with the Father to plead our
cause. His name is Jesus, Savior. Christ, the appointed, anointed
one, the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins. In other words, he cannot turn
away the presence of his Son. He is that one for whose sake
God is merciful and declares, I will be merciful to their unrighteousnesses
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Hold
your hands here in 1 John. Turn back to Ezekiel 16. Let
me show you an interesting text. You're familiar with the passage.
This is where Ezekiel's deserted infant is described. The Lord
passes by in the time of love and spread his skirt over his
chosen and says, imputes to us his righteousness, clothes us
with his righteousness, and gives us the beauty of his own character
and his own nature, so that we become as one with him. And this
is how the Lord God describes the end of his work in verse
63, that thou mayest remember and be confounded Isn't that
interesting? Almost everywhere else whenever
it speaks of us remembering God's mercy and believing on Christ,
almost everywhere else it says that we'll look to Him and never
be confounded. Here it says you'll remember
and be confounded. How come? Just a few astonished, overwhelmed,
just unspeakably awed and never open thy mouth any
more because of thy shame." Look at it now. When I am pacified
toward thee for all that thou hast done, I'm astounded at myself. Words can't describe it. But I am even more astounded
at this, and less capable of putting into words that which
I know to be so. God Almighty, through the blood
of Jesus Christ his darling Son, is patient for all that I've
done. We get our word pacifier from
the effect that it brings. You take your child, he's fussy and
irritable, and you get tired of spanking him, and you get
tired of listening to him, and so you stick a pacifier in his
mouth and hope he'll take it. Shut up for a little while. Just
battle content for a little while. Here is God's pacifier that lasts
forever to turn away all his anger from all his people. That's what the word propitiation
means. Now look at 1 John chapter 4 and verse 10. Here's the same
word again. Back up in verse 9 we read, And
this was manifested, the love of God toward us, because that
God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might
live through him. Herein is love, not that we love
God. but that he loved us, and here's
the result. Now don't ever get this backwards.
God did not send his son into the world to die for us in order
that he might love us. Oh no, he sent his son into the
world to die for us because he did love us with everlasting
love from eternity. Here it is love, not that we
loved God, but he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent
by God our Father, because of his everlasting love toward us,
to be the propitiation for our sins, by offering up his soul
and his body as an offering to God, to make atonement for us. Now that brings me to the second
part of the message. Turn back to Romans chapter The word atonement is used many,
many times in the Old Testament. You can go particularly through
the book of Leviticus. If you have difficulty understanding
the Old Testament, the laws and sacrifices of the Old Testament,
always try to picture in your mind how those things reflect
upon and portray the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it's all
about. I remember Brother Charlie Payne, one time we were chatting
and someone said to him, just passing by, said, you know I
have a hard time understanding the book of Leviticus. Charlie
said, read the book of Hebrews. Because the book of Hebrews is
going to explain the book of Leviticus. If you have difficulty understanding
the Old Testament, don't ever try to interpret the Old Testament
standing in its own light. You interpret the Old Testament
in the light of the New, so that the New Testament reveals what
the Old Testament's all about. This word atonement is used throughout
the Old Testament, particularly in the law, with reference to
the matter of redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ. The basic
meaning of the word, everywhere it's used, the basic meaning
of the word, is simply to cover. That's basically what it means.
There's many other things connected with it, but basically it simply
means to cover. Let me give you some illustrations. As I said a moment ago, when
the mercy seat was sprinkled with blood, the blood covered,
covered, covered the whole of God's law, covered it So that
God looks on the blood, and in the tithe, in the ceremony, cannot
see the broken law. Now you understand, I mean by
that just typically, just in the picture. Of course he can
see everything, he sees everything. Nothing's hidden from him. But
ceremonially, the blood covers the broken law, covers the sins
of God's elect. So that God, ceremonially, cannot
see. the sins of his people. You got
the picture? That was the ceremony. This is
the reality. The Lord God has blotted out
our sins. And with the blood of his dear
Son has not just covered them, but put them away, and he sees
them not at all. He's not beheld no iniquity in
Israel, no sin in Jacob. we recall when the Lord commanded
Noah to build the ark, and the ark was to be pitched on the
inside and on the out, everywhere covered with pitch. The basic
root meaning of that word is the same as atonement. Cover
the whole thing. Cover it so that nothing is seen. And God Almighty pours out the
flood of his wrath upon all the earth, but the whole of the ark
is sealed with a covering, portraying the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And Noah and his family went sailing through the flood of
God's wrath, and it never touched them, because they were covered
in the ark. You understand what I'm saying?
Christ is our ark of salvation in whom we have endured the flood
of God's wrath until wrath is gone. And it never touches us. It beats only on the ark, Christ
Jesus. When the children of Israel were about to go out of the land
of Egypt, the Lord God ordained the Passover sacrifice. And He
said, you take the blood and you put it on the door. Take a bunch of hyssop and splatter
the blood on that door. And he said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over. Now the atonement was made by
the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it was portrayed
many times in the Old Testament. But the word is used only once
in all the New Testament. In Romans chapter 5 and verse
11. Look what it says. Not only so, but we also joy
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, now be sure you get it,
by whom we have now received the atonement. Not by whom we
have made the atonement, not by whom we have now accomplished
atonement, not by whom we have now completed atonement, but
by whom we have now received the atonement. The atonement
was made by Christ when he died as our surety at Calvary, satisfying
the justice of God. It is effectually applied to
chosen sinners by God the Holy Spirit when he sprinkles the
blood of Christ to our hearts and brings to us all the blessings
of the atonement and the covenant of grace ratified by that atonement
and makes all the benefits of it over to us as he gives us
faith in Christ. So that looking to Christ, believing
on the Son of God, we receive the atonement. Believing on Him,
we see our interest in Him, and in His death, and receive from
Him the atonement. Now the word properly means reconciliation. And it may, it is many times
translated that way. It also has a reference to the
business of propitiation. But our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has made atonement for us by the satisfaction of justice,
is that one as we believe on him through whom we receive the
atonement he has made. And in him we are one with God. Atonement. Here's what the word
signifies, this covering. with, just exactly as it's spelled
out in the Testament here, at one minute, the word is with,
through the blood of Jesus Christ, God and his people are brought
back into perfect harmony and perfect union. And that brings
me to the third part of this thing of Christ's satisfaction,
and that is reconciliation. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
5, verse 18. All things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us
the ministry of reconciliation. Ours is a ministry of reconciliation. We proclaim reconciliation accomplished,
and seek to persuade sinners, who by nature are haters of God,
to be reconciled to Him, bowing to and trusting His dear Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Reconciliation began with God,
not with All things are of God in nature, in providence, and
in grace, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. He began in the thoughts of his
heart of love toward us and everlasting grace in the counsel and covenant
of peace established with Jesus Christ the Lord. It was that
which has been executed and accomplished by Christ by his death as his
blood on the cross was shed for us. to make reconciliation for
us. Here in Romans 5 and verse 10,
if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God, already. It was done back there when we
were enemies. In Ephesians 2, 16, that he might reconcile both
to God, Jew and Gentile, in one body by his cross. Now look at
Colossians 1, Colossians chapter Paul is showing forth the great
glory, the superabundant glory and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The incomparable, incomparable riches and glory of our Savior.
And in verse 20 he says, and having made peace through the
blood of his cross. Now, notice Paul's language.
Not having proposed peace. Not having made the grounds of
peace. Not having made peace possible,
but having made peace through the blood of his cross. That's
how it was done. You couldn't make peace with
God. People say all the time you need to make your peace with
God. Yeah, you do, but you can't. How are you going to make peace
with God? You've got nothing with which to make peace. But
Jesus Christ has made peace through the blood of his cross. by him
now to reconcile all things to himself. By him I say whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven." In other words, the
day is coming when the Lord Jesus Christ will have everything,
everything that has been, is, or shall be, everything. Everything
men call evil and everything men call good, everything. Everything
in that day called the times of the restitution of all things
will be reconciled to the glory of God in Jesus Christ, he'll
see to it. So that everybody in all the
universe, heaven, earth, and hell, will be made to see that
everything redounds to his glory. Not only that, but the apostle
says, and you, that we're sometime alienated,
get it now, and enemies in your mind. Not enemies in God's mind,
that was taken care of at the cross. Not enemies in God's mind,
not even because of the Lord, because that was taken care of
when Christ died. Enemies in your mind, by your
wicked works. That's where I was. hating God and everything about God. And
that's the problem with every unbeliever in the world. That's
the problem. You who believe not, believe
not because you hate God. You hate God. That's the character
of man. The heart of man is not at enmity with God. Bobby, it
is enmity with God. Every man's heart. Now every
man's religious. Every man has a notion of what
he thinks God ought to be, and he likes his notion of God. Every
man loves religion, but all men by nature hate the fact that
God is God. They hate His rule and dominion. They hate the fact that He's
Lord of Lords and King of Kings. They will not submit to Him.
Our rebellion is the silliest thing on this earth, and yet
It's that which man by nature cherishes above anything. Suppose some fella was coming
to invade your house, a sworn enemy, and you know he's coming
to kill you. And he's armed with a riot gun
and .357 Magnum, and he got him an M16 by his eye. And he's coming
up the sidewalk. Now, just imagine. Just imagine. This fella has got a just quarrel
with you, but you despise him. You hate him. You hate him. So
you go to the kid's toy box and pull out one of them pop guns
with corks in it. And you say, I want to get you. That's what man's rebellion is.
Man lives with his fist shoved in God's face in utter rebellion. I'm not going to have him be
God, but all he's got is a little popcorn. It's all he's got. It's
not going to make any difference to God. It's not going to make
any difference to God. Man by nature hates God. The reason men will not believe
is they will not surrender. They will not bow. But we who
were alienated and enemies in our minds by wicked works, yet
now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh, through death,
to present you holy, and unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight."
Now what does that mean? The work of reconciliation was
done when Christ died at Calvary. It was finished. As far as the
law and justice of God is concerned, God was in Christ reconciling
the world of His elect unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, but imputing them to Him, and punishing Him for
them. And now the Lord Jesus sends
His Spirit with His Word, and He reconciles chosen sinners
to Himself. How? He conquers their will. He takes those who by nature
say, No God! I will not bow to Him. I will
not submit to Him. And He conquers by His sovereign
grace. And makes the most delightful
thing in all the world to their hearts, the fact that He is God. Anything more delightful to you?
Anything? Anything more satisfying to you?
Anything more comforting to you? That which was once the most
horrible reality my soul had to contend with every night when
I would try to sleep, and every morning when I would awake, and
every day as I would pursue my path to rebellion. That which
was most aggravating, most disturbing, most hateful to me, the fact
that God is God, is now, above all things, the most delightful,
comforting, soul-chilling, satisfying, heart-contenting thing in the
world. Oh, I'm so glad He's God. I'm so glad He's in He's too
wise to err. He's too good to do wrong. He's
too strong to fail. I can commit everything to Him.
I'm reconciled to Him. And I'll say a little more about
this business of reconciliation next week. Let me just, let me
bring the message to a conclusion. by telling you these three things.
You can read them for yourself in 2 Corinthians 5 verses 17
through 21. Number one, reconciliation has
been made for sinners by the death of Jesus Christ. The way
is open for sinners with all the filth of their to come boldly, speaking freely,
hiding nothing. As long as you attempt to hide
it, then you can't come. But open up your heart, hide
nothing, nothing, and come nigh unto God, listen to this, with
full assurance of faith. You mean I can come to God with absolute
assurance that he'll not cast me off? Yes sir, that's what
I mean. That's what I mean. Come to him with full assurance
of faith. Faith based upon the finished
work of Jesus Christ. His satisfaction. I come by God to you. And what I would hide from every
man, I dare not attempt to hide from you. All my sin, all my guilt, all
my corruption, believe in you. Because the blood of Christ has
forever appeased the wrath of The blood of Christ has made
atonement for sin. And now, on the basis of his
blood, I come to you. Not only has reconciliation been
made, God Almighty has sent me to you with the word of reconciliation
to persuade you who are by nature and by choice God's enemy. to be reconciled to him. Imagine that. God himself sends
a man to speak to men and speaks through that man's voice to the
hearts of chosen sinners and says, be you reconciled to God. Well, what's the motive? How can I inspire you to put down your weapons, your
warfare, your hatred, and be reconciled to God? The motive
by which God urges you to be reconciled to Him is the blessed
promise of all things If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. That doesn't mean by Biestas
that your old nature's passed away. It hasn't yet. Bless God
soon, but not yet. It does mean old record of your
sins gone, forever gone. And you have a new record called
righteousness. And a new name, the name Jehovah
seeking you, the Lord our righteousness. And you are given a new standing
before God. Oh, a preacher, if I could go
to bed with that, I believe I'd sleep a little
easier than be reconciled to God. Quit fighting God. Just quit fighting God. Bow to
Him. Surrender to His rule. Propitiation
is the appeasement of God's wrath by the blood of Christ. Atonement
is the union made between God and sinners, meeting at the mercy
seat where Christ's blood covers God's broken law. Reconciliation is the reuniting of God Almighty
and chosen sinners in Jesus Christ the Lord. That's the result of
Christ's satisfaction. Amen. Our Father, bless now your word
to the hearts of these who have heard it according to your will. From the depths of our souls
we praise you, that indeed you are God. Thank you. When we would not turn to you
for turning us, when we would not come to you for bringing
us, when we would not bow to you for subduing us. we bless you, that you would
not, have not, and shall never leave us to ourselves. And with the blessed knowledge of our God, we commit to you the care of
our friends, our lives and the affairs of
the world which you have made and you rule. And we ask our
Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. God bless you in your business.