Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I've entitled this message, The
Sinner's Prayer. Now, by that title, I don't mean
what, quote, soul winners mean when they say, pray this prayer
after me. That's an abomination. When you
pray, you pray on your own. You're not following somebody's
lead. But here we have the sinner's
prayer. Luke chapter 18, verse 13, and the publican standing afar
off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast." You see, this man saw that his heart was
his problem. Saying, God, be merciful to me,
a sinner. Now, the word merciful is the
word that's generally translated propitious. Now this is the sinner's
prayer. God be propitious to me, the
sinner. The definite article is used
God be propitious to me, thee, sinner." Now, if someone believes
that they are a sinner, they understand that there's nothing
they can do about their sin. And they're asking God to do
something about their sin. God be propitious to me, the
sinner. Now, only a sinner will pray
this prayer. Are you a sinner? You may think,
well, I do bad things and I make mistakes, but would I term myself
as a sinner? I don't think so. Well, then
you can't pray this prayer. Only a real sinner can pray this
prayer. And this is who Christ came to
save. Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.15,
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He didn't come
to save good people. He didn't come to save righteous
people. He didn't come to save people
who can save themselves. He came to save real sinners. Now, somebody may be thinking,
what do you mean by a real sinner? The Bible defines sin as the
transgression of the law. Speaking of the Ten Commandments,
sin is the transgression of the law. Now, James tells us to break
one commandment is to be guilty of breaking them all. You can't
look at the Ten Commandments and say, well, I've kept seven
of them, but I've broken three, or even I've kept one of them. If you have any understanding
of God's holy law and who you are as a sinner, you know you've
broken every commandment and you do it all the time. As a
matter of fact, If you're a sinner, you understand that you haven't
kept one commandment one time. If you've never committed adultery
outwardly, physically, you've done it in your heart, and you
know you've lied. Maybe you haven't shoplifted,
but you've taken credit where credit is not due. You've certainly
taken the Lord's name in vain. As a matter of fact, every time
we mention His name, we don't have the proper reverence. Let's
go on and on with the law. A sinner is someone who has not
kept one commandment one time. Are you a sinner? Somebody says,
well, I don't believe that. Well, then you can't pray this
prayer. This prayer is not for you. This is the sinner's prayer. God be merciful. Literally, God be propitious
to me, the sinner. Now, what does the word propitious
mean? I asked Siri what propitious
means or propitiation means, and here's the definition she
gave. To win or gain favor to God or
to persons by doing something that pleases them. That's how you propitiate God. He is in disfavor with you because
of your sin, but you do something to please Him to gain His favor. Now, that is an accurate description
of human religion. That's what human religion is
all about, doing something to gain God's favor. You do something to make Christ
do something for you. Human views of propitiation begins
with man doing something to propitiate God. But my dear friends, that
cannot be done. In the gospel, Propitiation is
what God does for Himself to make a way for Him to do something
for me or you. The Bible never speaks of man
propitiating God. It only speaks of God propitiating
Himself, doing something for Himself that enables Him to do
something for me or you in a way that is consistent with His attributes,
His attributes of justice and holiness. He doesn't violate
His attributes, but He has made a way to give you favor because
he's done something for himself, propitiation. Now, this word
is used in Hebrews chapter nine when the writer to the Hebrews
is talking about the mercy seat. Now, in the Old Testament, there
was what is called the mercy seat, the lid of propitiation. And that would cover the Ark
of the Covenant. The priest, once a year, would
go in and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. and God would be
propitiated. That represented the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ that made God able to accept a sinner. Not something that sinner has
done, but what He has done through the blood of His dear Son. The lid of propitiation. Now that same word that's translated
A mercy seat is translated in Romans 3.25, a propitiation. Now listen to this scripture.
There's no difference. Romans 3.22, there's no difference.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now there's another definition
of sin. Sin is the transgression of the law. Sin is coming short
of the glory of God. Have you or I ever done anything
that did not come short of the glory of God? Absolutely not. There's no difference. No difference
between a moral man and an immoral man. No difference between a
religious man and an irreligious man. No difference between an
atheist and a theist. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Being justified. freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation. Now here is God doing something
for Himself that He might have mercy on us. You see, sin was
taken care of in the perpetuatory sacrifice of Christ. God gave
His Son. You and I didn't do anything
to propitiate God. God propitiated Himself. by giving his son to die on Calvary's
tree to put away sin. And now he has a way to be just
and yet justify somebody who in and of themselves are unjust. It's called God being just and
justifying the ungodly. Oh, thank God for the perpetuatory
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Bible never speaks of
what we can do to propitiate God. It only speaks of God doing
something for Himself. He propitiated Himself, and now
He can look in favor and grace and mercy towards people like
me and you. For God to do something for me
or you, he had to do something for himself. It's called the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me give you an illustration
from the Old Testament about what this thing of propitiation
is. God had told Abraham, Genesis
chapter 22, you take your son, your only son, and you offer
him up as a burnt offering to me on a mount that I'll show
you. Now can you think of the agony
Abraham must have felt as he was taking his son Isaac to Mount
Moriah to slit his throat, put him on an altar, cut him up,
and set him on fire as a burnt offering to God. Now he knew,
we know from Hebrews chapter 11, that God would raise him
from the dead because God had promised the Messiah to come
to him. And as a matter of fact, he said to the servants who were
with him when he and Isaac were going to the mountain, I and
the lad are going yonder to worship and will return again to you.
He believed he was going to kill him. God was going to raise him
from the dead and he was going to return back to them. But as
they were going up the mountain, Isaac asked his father, father,
here's the wood. Here's the fire. But where's
the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. That is propitiation. God provides. You don't, I don't
provide anything. God is the one who provided the
lamb and God provided the lamb for himself. For him to do something
for me or you, he had to first do something for himself. He
had to make a way for him to be just and not violate any of
his attributes and yet justify somebody like me or you through
the blood of his dear son. He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? God will provide Himself. He Himself is the Lamb of His
own providing. Now there's propitiation, my
son. God will provide himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. Now if I ever see who God is,
and who I am, a sinner. I'm going to understand something
about why this publican prayed, God be propitious to me, the
sinner. Oh God, I can't do anything about
my sin. I can't make it go away. I can't
make myself acceptable in your sight. Would you do something
about my sin? God, be propitious. God, remove my sin. God, make my sin to not be through
the blood of your Son. Now that's the sinner's prayer.
God, be propitious to me, the sinner. Now, what I would like
to do is, with our remaining time, is look at five scriptures
that deal with this thing of propitiation and see if you and
I can, from our hearts, pray this prayer. God, be propitious
to me, the sinner. Now, in Hebrews 2, verses 16
and 17, Verily, he took not on himself
the nature of angels. Christ didn't die for angels.
You know the demon world, we know very little about it, but
at one time they were in heaven and they fell with Lucifer. And
do you know God did not provide them a savior. Christ did not
take upon himself the nature of angels, but he took upon himself
the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved
him, it was necessary for him to be made like unto his brethren."
Every believer, everyone united to him is his brethren. We read earlier in this chapter,
for both he that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are
all of the one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them
brethren. Now he had to be made flesh, his brethren were flesh,
he had to be made flesh. His brethren were sinful, he
had to be made sin. That's what took place on Calvary's
tree. In all things, it behooved him
to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and
a faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation. for the sins of the people. Now
that word, reconciliation, is the same word, propitiation. And this gives us some idea what
the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ has done. It made reconciliation. God is reconciled. to everyone for whom Christ died. There's nothing for me to do
to earn His favor or gain His favor. God is reconciled through
the death of His Son. And we're not to do anything
to bring that about. This is the work of Jesus Christ
alone. Hebrews 1.3 says, when he had
by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of
the majesty on high. Now, the next scripture I would
like to consider is Hebrews 8.12. God says, for I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness. God says, I will. Not I will
if, but I will be merciful, and there the word once again is
propitious. I will be propitious to their
unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more. Now do you hear that? God says,
their sins and their iniquities, I will remember no more." Now,
this is the result of the perpetuatory sacrifice, the sin-removing sacrifice
of Christ. It causes God to say, their sins
and their iniquities, I will remember no more, the non-remembrance
of sin. Now, if you've ever had a medical procedure where the doctor
gives you some kind of medicine and you forget what's
taking place. I've had my throat stretched,
I don't know how many times, and what the doctor would do
would give me some kind of medicine, so I didn't remember it happening.
It happened. And when I would wake up, I could feel it happen,
I could feel the results, but I didn't remember it. Now, God's
forgetting is not like that. If God forgets something, it's
because there's nothing there for him to remember, because
the perpetuatory sacrifice removed the sins. When Christ said to
that woman taking an adultery, woman, where are those thine
accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. He said, Neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. Now, why
would he not condemn her? Because there was nothing to
condemn her for. The perpetuatory sacrifice of
Christ removed the sins. 1 John 3, verse 5 says, He was
manifested to take away. our sins. And in Him is no sin. And that's what His perpetuatory
sacrifice did. It took away sin. The moment He died, everybody
He died for was justified. Now, justified doesn't mean you're
still guilty, but God doesn't count you that way. Justified
means you're sinless before God. It means you have no guilt. It
means you've never sinned. That's what justification is,
and that's what the Lord accomplished. As a matter of fact, this sinful
man who prayed this prayer, you know what the Lord said about
him? He said, I say unto you, he went down to his house justified,
not merely forgiven, not merely pardoned. but justified rather
than the other. Let me read you a scripture from
Jeremiah chapter 50, verse 20. In those days and at that time,
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall
be none. Now, if God's looking for something,
He's going to find it. And the iniquity of Judah shall
be sought for, and there shall be none. That is what the blood
of Christ accomplished in His perpetuatory sacrifice. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? There's nothing to be laid to
their charge. God justified them. Who is He that can condemn? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God. Now, the third scripture I would
like to read is found in 1 John 4, verse 9, and we're going to
see that the perpetuatory sacrifice of Christ is brought on because
of the love of God. Propitiation is not to pacify
an angry God. It was the love of God that sent
the propitiation. In 1 John 4, 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, here in His love, not that we loved God,
but that He loved us. and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. You see, God's love is saving
love. There will be nobody in hell
that God loved There will be nobody in hell that Christ died
for, that he propitiated God for. Romans 8.32 says, he that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Speaking of
the elect, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? There's nothing that can prevent
him from freely giving you all things through the perpetuatory
sacrifice of Christ. And it's the Lord's love that
brought this on. And there's nothing, listen to
me, if Christ died for you, there's nothing you can do to mess it
up. God's love sent His Son to be the perpetuation for our sins.
And then His perpetuatory work is the ground of His intercession
for His people. We read in 1 John 2, verse 1,
my little children, these things write unto you that you sin not. There's never a reason to sin.
There's never an excuse for sin. these things write unto you,
that you sin not." He doesn't say, don't worry about your sins
since you have the sacrifice of Christ. He says, these things
write unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, or when
you do, when you do, you will, you will, it's evil, you ought
not. But you will. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. We have a lawyer with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. Oh, what a lawyer He is. He's
the judge's son. And he's never lost the case.
Everybody he represents is saved. And what is unique about our
lawyer is he makes all his clients plead guilty. Guilty as charged. And yet every one of them come
out justified. What a lawyer this is. We have
a lawyer with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He,
here's the ground of His intercession, here's why He's such an effective,
successful lawyer, He is the propitiation for our sins. God has removed the sins through
his propitiating work. And not for ours only, not just
for the Jews, but the Gentiles as well. Also for the sins of
the whole world or for the whole world. He's the propitiation
of our sins. Now, when the Lord represents
his people as their intercessor, let's say I commit a sin for
the thousandth time. And he doesn't say, oh Lord,
I know he's for, committed that sin. Father, I know he's committed
that sin a thousand times. Please forgive him one more time."
No, all he pleads is his perpetuatory sacrifice. He is the propitiation
of our sins. And he stands before the Father,
and the Father sees everyone he represents as perfect in Him. And finally, we have the prayer
of this publican, God be propitious to me, the sinner. Now, if I ever find out who God
is, in His holiness, in His otherness, His majestic glory, If I see
who he is, I'll see who I am. I'm a sinful man. I remember
in Luke chapter five, when Peter first saw who the Lord really
was, he said, depart from me. I'm a sinful man, oh Lord. You don't want to have anything
to do with somebody like me. Now if you ever see who he is,
if I ever see who he is, I'll see who I am. And if I see who
I am, this is my only prayer. God, be propitious for me. God, be propitious. Do something about my sin. Make
it to be gone through the blood of your Son. I can't do anything
to propitiate you. I can't do anything to make up
for my sin. I can't do anything to promise
that I'll be better from here on out. I know myself better
than that. The only hope that I have is
that you would be pleased to be propitious to me. If my salvation depends upon
anything that I have to do first before you can do something for
me, I have no hope at all. God, be propitious to me, thee,
sinner." May God enable you and I to pray that prayer from the
depths of our heart. Now, we have this message on
DVD and CD. If you call the church, right,
we'll send you one. This is Todd Nyberg, praying God will be pleased
to make Himself known to you. Amen. To receive a copy of the
sermon you have just heard, send a request to todd.neibert at
gmail.com or you may write or call the church at the information
provided on the screen.