Christ, the Propitiation - Part 2

Romans 3:25

Preached January 18, 2009, Grace Family Church of Americus

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You can download the complete sermon manuscript by clicking here. Here is an excerpt:

Now, for the last question….. Was Christ's job as the Lamb of God finished, when He had made atonement for sins?
No. Is there more to the work of propitiation than the shedding of blood? Yes! There is another function of the One who would provide atonement, and without this function, even the shedding of precious, sinless blood would not redeem us from future sins. It is the same function that an OT priest was charged with. The priest was not only charged with approaching the throne of God with a sacrifice, but also with PRAYERS of INTERCESSION:

From John Owen's "The Death of Death in the Death of Christ":

To offer and to intercede, to sacrifice and to pray, are both acts of the same [priestly] office, and both required in him who is a priest; so that if he omit either of these, he cannot be a faithful priest for them: if either he doth not offer for them, or not intercede for the success of his [offering] on their behalf, he is wanting in the discharge of his office by him undertaken.  Both these we find conjoined (as before) in Jesus Christ: 1 John 2: 1-2, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins."

Friends, Jesus is BOTH the one who sacrificed in our place, but also, He is the One who intercedes for us!

Isaiah 53:11-12 (ESV)   Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

 

See also the text of Romans 8:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:31-35, ESV)

The death, the propitiation, of Christ, is unbreakably tied to His intercession for us! You can be assured, friends, that if Christ died for you, then He ALWAYS stands to intercede for you. He purifies your consciences, and intercedes as your advocate before the Father, even now!

But if you have no assurance that you are Christ's….. and if it is true that your conscience has not been cleansed and therefore accuses you, if you are here today in such a state, and now know that you are in need for this redemption, and desire more than anything else to have Christ……then flee to Christ, and He shall be yours! Go to Him! Look unto Him, who has been raised up for the world to see, that Man of Sorrows whom God set forth, God, who so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life! Call upon the name of the LORD, and you shall be saved.

 

 

Christ, the Propitiation – Part 1

Romans 3:25

Preached December 28, 2008, Grace Family Church of Americus

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Here is an excerpt from the sermon transcript:

Propitiation means something that appeases anger, something that provides satisfaction. God, to declare Himself righteous, must do so through propitiation. Some argue that the word is not to mean the means by which to appease anger, but to restore or move an obstacle of fellowship. Therefore they would rather translate it expiation,
meaning more like something that removes the guilt of sin in man, therefore removing the barrier that prevented fellowship with God (man's guilt). There is a teaching out there that says that God is love and nothing but love, and that He is not a God of wrath and anger. How, they say, can God be angry and wrathful, and be loving, since, as the Scripture says, 'God is love'? This idea that God is nothing but love, and in Him is no wrath at all is blasphemous. It denies the Scripture. It denies all that we have been taught by Paul from 1:18 to here. It denies the fact that the wrath of God is revealed. It says that all that is needed is for man to admit His guilt and sin, and when he does that, he can have a personal relationship with God. Now, mind you, there is some truth in that statement, but if we go out on a limb and say that God is not angry with sinners every day, then we are in great danger of cutting the limb off and falling to our death.

NO, the character and nature of God would not merely be satisfied to restore fellowship. The Scripture teaches that there is no fellowship with God, since all are born into Adam's sin. All are born enemies of God. And there is no fellowship with an enemy, but wrath that awaits, and anger that will be satisfied by the punishment of the offenders. So Jesus did not die simply to restore fellowship. He died to appease the just and holy anger….the wrath of a holy God against our sin, our rebellion, against Him by our multiplied millions of sins, shattering His Law: God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day. (Psalm 7:11, NKJV)

Jesus Christ did not die as a "fellowship restorer"……no, He died as a "wrath absorber." He did not die as a martyr, but He was "put forth" by God as one who would bear the wrath of God for all who believe. It was the will of God to CRUSH Him….and because God crushed His One and Only Son, He can now justly draw sinners to come to Himself…..He can now cancel the record of debt, through the blood of His Son…..He can now rightfully call His own out of darkness, and into His marvelous Light…..He can now be satisfied because justice is fulfilled, because the sins which so anger Him have been punished…..born not by we who believe, but by the precious Son of God, by the will of His Father:

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise [crush] him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:10-12, KJV)

 

 

The List

Preached January 4, 2009, by Chase Ostrander
Luke 17:8-10

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The Gift of Justification

Romans 3:23-24

Preached December 28, 2008, Grace Family Church of Americus

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Here is an excerpt from the sermon transcript:

Romans 3:23 is a favorite among the Gospel presentations of various denominations, and rightfully so. It is ultimate truth. But it is also, especially in these days of blatant immorality, a universally accepted fact. I do not think I have ever witnessed to a single person that did not agree that this is a true statement….that "all have sinned." Even when used biblically, by defining what sin is by using the Law, the classic reaction of a sinner is to say, "Yes, I have broken these Commandments….but nobody's perfect." Then they will say that they can ask forgiveness. And they are absolutely correct, they DO need forgiveness. And I want to tell you something that may shake the foundations of what you have been taught about salvation, but forgiveness of sin is not primarily what a sinner needs in order to enter heaven. What every sinner needs if they will enter heaven, and what we MUST PREACH TO THEM, is this doctrine of justification, and how it is separate, but necessary to the forgiveness that they already acknowledge they need. You see, every person knows that they need forgiveness…..their conscience bears witness to that (Romans 2:15). What they need….is something they do not want in their natural state apart from the New Birth….they need to be justified….not only to have their sins forgiven, but they need to be declared righteous in the sight of God and given the power through the New Birth to live as such.