Which turn back to 1 John chapter
4, I've entitled this message, Herein is Love, Propitiation. That's how God has expressed
His love, propitiation. In verse 7, John says, Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone
that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. Now the love he's
speaking of is that love that is the fruit of God the Holy
Spirit. A natural man does not possess
this love. Only those who have been born
again and who bear the fruit of God the Holy Spirit. An unbeliever
does not have this love. And we actually demonstrate likeness
to the Father when we love one another. 1 Corinthians chapter
13. Here's the love that is the fruit
of the Holy Spirit, beginning in verse 4, charity suffers long and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself. It's not pushy. It doesn't push
itself. It's not puffed up. It's not
actuated by pride that prevents it from doing things. It doesn't
behave itself unseemly. It's not rude. Seeketh not her
own. is not easily provoked, irritable,
touchy, thinketh no evil, and that means literally it doesn't
keep a record of wrongs. Love doesn't. It rejoices not
in iniquity, in somebody falling, but it rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things. It believes all things. It hopes all things. It endures. It's never reduced
to inactivity. Charity never fails. Isn't that beautiful? The love
that is described, that the believer is called upon to have one toward
another. Beloved, let us love one another.
For love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of God. and knoweth God, he that loveth
not knoweth not God, for God is love. Not God is loving. I do not like the title of loving
God. That means here's love and God
reaches that. No, God is love. God's love is in Christ. Nothing shall separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. The reason for his love is found
in himself. There isn't anything about me
or you that draws his love or repels his love. The scripture
says the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil. That's nothing. There's nothing
in me or you. that draws his love or repels
it. His love is found in himself.
His love is eternal. He said, behold, I've loved you
with an everlasting love. That's hard to get hold of, isn't
it? There was never a time when he
began to love me. I've always been loved. His love
is sovereign love. Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. That's God speaking. He loves
whom he will. His love is predestinating love.
In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself. And if you had the power to predestinate
everything good for your kids, would you do it? Sure you would. Somebody says no I'd rather be. I don't believe you. If you had
the power you'd make sure everything that you wanted for them they
would have. God has the power. His predestinating
love has made sure I'm going to be perfectly conformed to
the image of the Lord Jesus Christ and his love is always saving
love. There will not be anybody in
hell that he loved. everybody he loves he saves. God is love. Verse 9, now in this was manifested
the love of God toward us. Now who's the us? This is very
important. Who is the us? And the reason
I bring that up is if the us means everybody without exception
it really makes all this meaningless. If he can love you If he can
send his son to be a propitiation for you and you end up not being
saved, what good does that do you? Absolutely none. The us
is a reference to God's elect. It's the same us as Paul spoke
of when he said, if God be for us, who can be against us? That's very important. The us
is talking about all of God's people, all of God's elect. 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. Now, these people who He sent
His Son for, this people in the group, us, look how they're described
in verse 10. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now this group that he sent his
son for, the us, first of all, they're identified by two things
in that text. They had no love for God. And
this is such a sad thing. No love for God. Herein is love, not that we love
God. The fact of the matter is we
didn't. but that he loved us. He's not saying that our love
to God is not worthy to be compared to his in defining love. He's
not saying that at all, but that we had no love to God. Now, if we did love him, there
wouldn't be anything meritorious in it. He ought to be loved,
shouldn't he? He's altogether lovely, the divine being. Everybody
ought to love God. He's so glorious. He's so immense. He's worthy of love. He's altogether
lovely. So if me or you did love him,
there wouldn't be anything meritorious about it. But the fact of the
matter is, every man by nature has been guilty of this crime.
No love for the living God. Take it a step farther and you'll
be closer to the truth. Not only did these people not
love him, they hated him. And that's what you and I have
been guilty of. Romans 8, 6 says the carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can be. Now, these
are the people that God sent his only begotten son for. People
who not only did not love him, but actually hated him. And the
cross is the proof of that. All I got to do is point to the
cross and you'll see what men think about God. The one time
they're allowed to do what they want to do, they nail him to
a cross. Now, these are the people that God has sent his only begotten
son into the world for. Not only are these people people
who had no love for God but actually hated Him, these people were
sinners. He was sent to be the propitiation
for our sins. These people are sinners, breakers
of God's law, depraved, evil, ungodly, debauched, malicious,
God-hating sinners. These are the people that God
sent His Son for. In this was manifested the love
of God to us. Now, do you see yourself in that
description? Now, if you don't, if you can't
say, I really don't see myself like that, believe it anyway,
because this is the declaration of God's word. And the cross
is proof. You might not see it yourself,
but look at the cross and you'll see it very true because that's
what you do. And that's what I do. That's
what we did. These are the people that God
sent his son for. Now here's what manifests the
God, the God is love that John is talking about. Look at verse
nine again. And this was manifested the love of God toward us, us
who were sinners, us who had no love for him. And this was
manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent his
only begotten son into the world. but we might live through him. Now, the only begotten son. I wish
I knew how to talk about Christ being the only begotten of the
Father the way I ought to talk about him. But this is actually,
I have no doubt that John got this through the Holy Spirit. He read Psalm 2, verse 7, when
God said, thou art my son. This day have I begotten me. And this begetting is not an
event of time. It's a fact, irrespective of
time. He's the only begotten and well-beloved
Son. He is the express image of the
Father. He's the brightness of His glory
and the express image of His person. And if you want to know
who God is, you'll only see Him in Jesus Christ. This is the
one that God sent. The darling of His heart. The
one, oh, the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things
into His hand. He said to the Son, Thy throne,
O God. forever. That's the way the Father
spake to the Son. Now He sent this glorious Second
Person of the Blessed Trinity, the only begotten and well-beloved
Son. I wish I could speak of Christ
the way He ought to be spoken of. But if I know that, if I
thought, well, I did a good job this time, I obviously didn't.
We can never speak high enough of His glory, of the greatness
of His person. This is the one whom the Father
sent. 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. That we might live. through Him. This was His purpose that we
might live, have eternal life, have the life of God in my soul. This is eternal life, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou
sent." Now that's life, isn't it? To know God, to know His
Son, Jesus Christ. to have divine life in my soul. And really, you can't much understand
this unless you understand something about being dead in sins. Now,
there was a time when I was dead in sins. And you're going out. You're going to go out tomorrow.
You're going to go to work. You're going to see people, and you're going to see
people around you who are just dead, dead in sins. They see no beauty
in Christ. They don't really have any sense
of their own sinfulness. They can't smell the sweet savor
of His grace. They can't taste His grace. They
can't hear the beauty of the gospel. They can't feel His embrace.
They're dead. They're dead. Oh, they can hear
stuff. They hear audibly. But they're
dead, spiritually dead. And you hath He quickened, hath
He given life to, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now,
what a thing it is to have life. You know, I've got eternal life
in my soul. I see the beauty of Christ. I
love Him. I rest in His righteousness only.
I hear the gospel. I see the beauty of the gospel.
I see how it glorifies God and it's just exactly what I need.
Why? I've got life. A dead man can't
see this. I see that I'm nothing but sin
in and of myself. Why? Because I've got life. A
dead man doesn't even know what sin is. Oh, he sent his son,
his only begotten and well beloved son. He was manifested that we
might have life. Verse 10, I love this verse. Now hearing
is love. Hearing is love. And let me tell
you what it's not. It doesn't have anything to do
with us. Herein is love, not that we love
God. That's not going to enter the
equation when we talk about love. Now, I love the way John says,
herein is love. Now, there's a lot of things
you could say about love and say, that's love. That's love. There's a lot of things you could
talk about and say, that's love. But John bypasses all those things.
It's kind of like you've got a ditch with some muddy water
in it and the Pacific Ocean. And you say, with regard to the
Pacific Ocean, herein is water. Or perhaps you have a candle
that has just gone out. It's just a little ember there.
And you've got the bright midday sun. You say, herein is light. That's light. And that's the
spirit John is using when he's saying, herein is love. He bypasses all these other kinds
of loves that you could, you know, in that ditch, that's water. But that's not where you're going
to say herein is water. Herein is love. And the apostle doesn't
speak of his love, nor does he speak of the church's love for
Christ. No, herein is love. Not that we love God, because
the fact of the matter is we didn't. And the only reason we
do now is because He first loved us. We love Him because He first
loved us. That's the only reason. God's
love. I love this. God's love can go
unreciprocated. Everybody He loves is going to
love Him in one time. His love is not going to be rejected. It's this amazing love. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Now herein is love. It's not
that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son. This
is what love is. This is what love does. He sent
his son to be the propitiation of our sins. Now, this word,
propitiation, is one of the most important words in the Bible.
And I bet if you turn on the radio and listen to some religious
station and listen to the preachers, you're never going to hear anybody
talk about propitiation. It's not something that's even
brought up or even thought to be an issue. But what is it?
Hearing is love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us. and sent his son to be the propitiation for our
sins. Now, if you and I can get a hold
of this, it's going to give us some peace. It's going to give
us some joy. It's going to give us some assurance.
And it's going to give us some sense of the amazing love of
God toward us. Here in his love, propitiation. Now this word or some form of
it is found eight times in the New Testament and it's not even
found in the Old Testament, this word. Actually the concept is
maybe, I'm sure the concept is found in the Old Testament because
the gospel is in the Old Testament but this word's not. And when
the words that are generally used with regard to sin being
put away, well first of all there's pardon and forgiveness. But the
thing that is, when you pardon somebody, when you forgive somebody,
that doesn't mean there's been a satisfaction made for the sin.
It's still there. It implies there could still
be guilt. And then there's the word atonement. I love the word
atonement. But you know what the word atonement
means? And it's very easiest way to understand it. It means
covering. Pitch. Remember the first time the word
was used, it was used pitch. A black tarry to cover the ark
to keep the water out. Now, I like having my sins covered,
but what if they're still there and become uncovered? There's
where I've got a problem. And with regard to the atonement,
every year there was another atonement. There were other sins
that had not been atoned for that needed to be covered. And
I think it's interesting that the word atonement is not found
in the New Testament. Did you know that? Well, what
about where it says we've received the atonement there in Romans
chapter 5? Well, the word is actually we've received the reconciliation,
and I'm not sure why they translated atonement, but the word atonement
is not found in the New Testament. The word propitiation is not
found in the Old Testament. I believe propitiation is the
New Testament word. This is the blood of the everlasting
covenant. Now, what is this thing of propitiation? The word means an appeasement. What's that? A complete satisfaction. A complete satisfaction. More than a covering. A complete
satisfaction, the propitiation of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ
made an appeasement, a complete satisfaction, a sacrifice that
removed the sin and made it not to be. Now, I would rather have my sin
not to be uncovered, wouldn't you? I'm thankful for covering,
but What if it comes back? I want
my sin not to be put away, purged, remembered no more. Now somebody
may be thinking, why couldn't God just forgive sin? I've heard
people ask that question. Why couldn't God just forgive
sin? Why does there have to be a demand of justice? Why does
there have to be death? Why can't He just forgive sin?
I mean, you forgive people, and you don't demand some kind of
reparation, and you don't demand them to go to jail. I'll forgive
you, but I want you to go to jail, or I'll forgive you, but
I want you to... No, we just forgive, don't we? Well, I do. We just forgive. But if somebody
thinks, well, why can't God just do that? If I think that, I demonstrate
that I don't have any understanding of God's holiness. nor do I have
any understanding of my own personal sinfulness." That's the only
way that we would ask a question like that, because if we know
anything of the love of God, of the person of God, of the
character of God, we know that He is holy and sin must be punished. Sin is so evil because it has
in it a principle of hatred for God. That's what sin is. It's a hatred. It's a contempt
for God. And once again, let's go to the cross and that demonstrates
that. That's for God. God's God. God's holy. He must
punish sin. Yet he must love. So he made
a way to punish sin and completely love and accept and receive the
people that Christ made propitiation for. This is the gospel. As the righteous judge, sin must
be punished, but he gave his son out of love that sin would
be punished, put away, and he can now deal with those. for
whom Christ died in perfect love and perfect justice. I love that. First John 3, 16. Hereby perceive we the love of
God because he laid down his life for us. Your Lord was willing. Who for the joy that was set
before him, the Lord was willing. to go to the cross for every
single one of His people. And His Father was willing to
send Him for that purpose. Now, look back in 1 John 4.10
once again. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son. Now, you'll notice
that to be is in italics, isn't it? It's in italics. It was translated
and placed there by the translators thinking it would be helpful
to understand the verse. And as usual, most of the time
we see those italics, they'd be a lot better off not being
there, because you can imply from this, well, if he sent his
son to be the propitiation, maybe it hadn't happened yet. Take away those italics. He sent
his son, propitiation. He was the propitiation before
the foundation of the world, as the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. And the only way the Father has
ever dealt with any of his children is through the propitiation of
Christ. Through that, they've never been guilty. Never been
guilty. Perfect in God's sight. I'd much rather it be this way
than merely being forgiven like someone you or I forgive. I'm
more than forgiven. I don't have anything for which
to be forgiven. Yes, I'm forgiven. Are you saying
there's no such thing as a forgiveness of sins? Of course not. I believe
in the forgiveness of sins. But here's the reason my sins
are forgiven. I don't have any sins to be condemned
for. That's what the propitiation of Christ is. That is his love. God so loved the world that he
gave his son. And he gave his son to be the
propitiation for our sins. Let's look at five, six places
where this word is used. It won't take long. Turn with
me to Hebrews chapter two. Verse 16. For verily, he took
not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of
Abraham. Let me stop for just a minute.
Have you ever heard someone complain about the fact that Christ didn't
die for angels to fail? I've never run across anybody
like that. But you know, Christ didn't come for angels. He didn't
come to save angels. Now the ones that didn't fall,
he kept them from falling. They're called elect angels.
And the only reason they didn't fall is because he prevented
it. But he didn't come to save fallen angels. He took not on
him the form of angels." And like I said, I've never heard
anybody say, you know, it's not fair for him to just come to
save man and not save angels. Nobody even thinks that way.
Interesting. But verse 17, It behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren. In all things, it behooved him. It was necessary for him. It
was beautifying to him to made like unto his brethren. Who are
his brethren? Verse 11 of the same chapter,
For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are
all of the one, for the which cause he's not ashamed to call
them brethren. You know, the Lord is not ashamed
to own me as his little brother. He's my little brother. He's
one with me. I saved him. Saying I will declare
thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while
I sing praise to thee. Now back to 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 for the sins of the people. That
word to make reconciliation. That's the same word to propitiate.
To propitiate. What did he do for his brethren?
He made reconciliation. He propitiated, he made their
sins not to be. Look in Hebrews chapter 8, verse 12. For I will be merciful. Now that word merciful, and you
might want to write this down, that word is propitious. It's
not the word that's generally translated mercy, it's propitious. I will be propitious to their
unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. Now how is it? You know, when
I'm in heaven, There's a real place called heaven where people
worship the Lamb. Oh, what a place. There's a place
called heaven. And when I'm in heaven, God's
not gonna look at me and say, I remember what you did. I remember what you were. I know
you're here for Christ's sake, but I remember what you're like.
I know you. Scripture says because of his
propitiation, their sins, and their iniquities, he will remember
no more. Why? There's nothing there to
remember. God looks at me and he said,
he's always pleased me. Everything about him's pleased
me. He's just like my son. Oh, what a man. through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because of his propitiation,
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Now,
I'm just going to quote this to you. You're very familiar
with this passage of scripture. Luke chapter 18, verse 13. You
remember that publican in the temple? He cried, beating on
his breast. Oh, he knew something about sin.
I think of what David said, my sin is ever before me. know if
your sin's not ever before you, you're in trouble. You're in
trouble. God hasn't done anything for
you. But if your sin is ever before you, it's not before him. At any rate, that man beating
on his breast when he said, God be merciful to me, the sinner,
that word merciful is propitious. You know what he's saying? Do
something about my sin. I can't do anything about it.
Why don't you stop it? Do something about my sin. Same
thing David prayed in Psalm 51. Do something about my sin. Purge
me. Cleanse me. Give me a new heart.
Do something about my sin. Cause it to not be. Cause it
to be no more. And you know, when we cry for
mercy for our sins, what do we want the Lord to do? Purge them
away. Cause them to not be. God be
propitious to me, the sinner. And what did the Lord say about
that man? He said, I tell you. Oh, there's something so powerful
about the Lord saying, I tell you. He's speaking with the authority
of God. I tell you. That man went down
to his house, justified, no sin. Now that's the power
of his perpetuatory sacrifice. Turn with me to Romans 3. Verse 25, Whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation. That word set forth is foreordained
or purposed. Whom God purposed a propitiation. A sin removing sacrifice that
causes full and complete satisfaction to God through faith in His blood. Don't miss that. The only way
that I am going to believe the gospel is believe that his blood
actually did propitiate faith in his blood. You know there's
that faith there's a receiving of this propitiation isn't it.
There's a receiving of it. And what how do you do that through
faith. Faith in his blood. Let's go on reading whom God
sent forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness. Not His mercy, although His mercy
is seen. Not His love, though His love
is seen. Not His grace, though His grace
is seen. But to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. To declare, I say at this time, His righteousness
that He might be just and justify. him which believeth in Jesus.
Now that same word, propitiation, and you see this is not just
covering, it means it's gone. It's gone. The same word is translated
in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 5. This word that we just looked
at, propitiation. God set him forth to be a propitiation.
This exact same word is translated in Hebrews 9 verse 5, a mercy
seat. A mercy seat. Now the mercy seat. You remember what that is? That
gold lid that was exactly the same dimension as the ark, and
it was placed upon it. The mercy seat. Perfect. Exact
same dimension, so it fit on it perfectly. Turn with me for
a moment to Exodus chapter 25. Look what God says with regard
to the ark and the mercy seat. Verse 21, Exodus 25, verse 21. This chapter is about the making
of the mercy seat. Verse 21, and thou shalt put
the mercy seat above, upon the ark. And in the ark thou shalt
put the testimony, the law that I will give thee, and there I
will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above
the mercy seat. Now, you know someone who never
entered the Holy of Holies? Moses. There's only one person who entered
the Holy of Holies, the great high priest. And when the Lord
communed with the great high priest, he communed with every
one of his people. And that's the point. One man
entered that Holy of Holies, and the Lord, when the Father
communed with the great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He communed with me, and I communed with Him. That's how close this
union is. When He's speaking to His Son,
He's speaking to me through this perpetuatory sacrifice. Now,
one other scripture. Turn to 1 John, back to 1 John
chapter 1. Verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the
truth is not in us. We've lost all credibility. And
there, the word sin is a noun. I've told you that before. That
means a sinful nature. If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves. And the truth is not even in
us. We don't have any credibility
at all. Verse 9, if we confess our sins, And beloved, to confess your
sins doesn't mean that you know every single one of them and
confess them. The ones you do know, you should confess. But
the point behind the confession of sins is taking sides with
God against yourself. It's agreement with God, what
He says about your sins. That's what it is to confess
your sins. I agree with what God says concerning my sins. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just. Not merely merciful and gracious,
but faithful and just. You see, he's faithful to the
covenant. The only reason you're confessing
him is because of his faithfulness to his covenant. And he does
it in a way of absolute justice. If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. If we say we've not sinned, verse
10, if we say we've not sinned, and they're the words of Herb,
regarding anything I do, while I'm preaching to you right now,
I'm sinning because I did it. Now, that's just, well, you're
preaching the gospel, but if I did it, I'm well aware of my
own sinfulness, and anything I do is sin. And he says that. If we say that we've not sinned,
we make him a liar, because he says we have. And his word is
not even in us. If I make that statement, I've
not sinned. This was okay. I at least did
this right. I make him a liar and his word does not dwell in
my heart. My little children, chapter two,
these things write unto you that you sin not. I think that's amazing. All you are is sin. All you do
is sin. And the reason I'm writing this
is to you so you won't sin. Isn't that glorious? You know,
sin's never okay. Sin's never acceptable under
any circumstance. There's never an excuse for it.
You can never take comfort in it. You can never say, well,
it's my own nature. I couldn't help it. No, sin is evil. Sin
is ungodly. Oh, may God give us grace to
seek to not sin. And if any man sin, and that
if can just as easily be translated when, it is quite often even
in this epistle. When any man sin, we have an
advocate with the father. And this advocate is the great
judge's son. He is Jesus Christ the righteous. I love the way John reminds us
that he's no corrupt lawyer. He's Jesus Christ the righteous. And what I've always found so
glorious about this lawyer, he makes all of his clients plead
guilty. and every one of them are justified. That's some kind of lawyer, isn't
it? And look at the ground of this advocacy. Now, we have an
advocate with the Father. We have an advocate before the
sin, during the sin, and after the sin. At all times, we have
this advocate. And he is not forgive him again. After the
7,268th time, forgive him again. No, his advocacy is not anything
like that. Here it is. Here is the ground
of the righteous one's advocacy, and he is the propitiation for
our sins. That is why his advocacy is always
powerful and always effective, because he is, at all times,
the propitiation for our sins. And that advocacy says to the
Father, there is no sin. I put it away. It's gone. It's separated as
far from them as the east is from the west. Now on this planet,
if you start going east, you're going to end up back in the same
place. At some point, because of the
sphere of the planet, if you go east, you're going to end
up back. But if the Lord said, I've separated
their sins as far from them as the east is from the west, he's
talking about a straight line. That's infinite. That's infinite. Gone forever, separated as far
as the east is from the west. And it's all because of the propitiation. Now remember this, this propitiatory
sacrifice of Christ removed your sin, made it not to be. And I want when I lay down my
head on my pillow tonight to remember I have no sin because
of this glorious propitiation. It doesn't have anything to do
with anything I've done. It has wholly to do with what
he has done for me. Herein is love. Not that we love God. but that
he loved us and sent his son, his only begotten and well-beloved
son, the son of his love, as the propitiation of our sin. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
propitiation that thy son accomplished for us. Lord, deliver us from
looking to the flesh, looking to ourselves, enable us to rest,
completely rest in him. How we thank you that we have
an advocate with you, Jesus Christ the righteous, your glorious
son. In Christ's name we pray, amen.