Christ Our Propitiation #1

Welcome to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hello, I'm Bill Wright. Thanks for joining us as we continue teaching God's people God's Word. Don begins a new message today, so without further delay, let's join him right now in the Truth Pulpit. Over this past week I was reading an article by Dr. Al Mohler on the Washington Post website, and he was giving some spiritual commentary on one of the main news events of the past week, the problems that the governor of South Carolina has been having. And in the article he talked about the nature of repentance and salvation and those kinds of things.

What was striking to me, and this is always a waste of time, one thing to read the article, when you read the comments on articles, then you're really getting into the depths of banality. But in response to a very clear discussion about the nature of repentance and so forth, the comments left behind were very striking for the vitriolic hatred that they showed to Al Mohler and, more importantly, to the content of the things that he was saying. And the cursings and the mockings of Christianity that were stated there were typical, but nevertheless striking.

And the ease, I guess my point is this, the ease in which that kind of mocking and cursing and rejection, the flippant way that unbelievers mock the truth and reject it and go on their way is just especially, especially tragic because of the nature of the themes that are found in the gospel. It reminded me of a passage in Acts 26, you don't need to turn there, this is just by way of introduction. But Paul was giving his defense before King Agrippa and Festus, as Paul said in verse 22 of chapter 26, he said, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the prophets and Moses said was going to take place. That the Christ was to suffer and that by reason of his resurrection from the dead, he would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. And while Paul was saying this in his defense, the Bible says, Festus said in a loud voice, Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you mad.

This is insanity. But Paul said, I love this quote, he said, I am not out of my mind most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth. When you understand the gospel, you realize that we're talking about matters of sober truth.

Matters that deserve the utmost serious consideration by every man on the face of the earth. And yet it's so flippantly mocked and disregarded and laughed at. Well beloved, we're not intimidated by that, we're not deterred by that, we won't join in the mocking here. We will simply proclaim what the law and the prophets have said and we will proclaim what the writers of the New Testament have said. And lay forth before all who would hear the sober truth of the gospel and the sober truth of coming judgment.

And the sober truth of the holiness of God and the sober truth of his holy wrath against sin. All of those themes come into play in the passage that's before us this morning. I invite you to turn to the book of 1st John toward the end of your New Testament. 1st John chapter 2, we're going to go back to this passage that we have been considering for a few weeks now. 1st John chapter 2 verses 1 and 2. Now we took a time off last week to consider Matthew 1 for various reasons. The week before that we were in 1st John and we discussed Christ's advocacy on our behalf. The wonderful reality that for believers Christ is in the presence of the heavenly Father representing us and representing our case before the Father as our great high priest.

We are assured of the forgiveness of our sins as believers in Christ because, among other things, Jesus Christ is constantly before the throne of God as our heavenly advocate. Well the question might be asked, what gives him the right to be our advocate? On what basis does he advocate our cause?

That's a crucial question. And the more clearly you understand the answer to that question, the more clearly you understand how it is that Christ can advocate on our behalf, the deeper your joy, the deeper your assurance, the greater clarity you're going to have in your mind about the nature of your salvation. We're going to see today that the advocacy of Jesus Christ on our behalf is premised on, is based on the reality that Jesus has satisfied God's wrath against our sin.

We can have confidence in Christ's advocacy because he has fully satisfied the demands of God's justice on our behalf and thus we are reconciled to God through him. Look at chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 with me here. John speaking to believers as you see by the nature of his address here at the opening of verse 1 says, My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for those of the whole world. It's that word propitiation in verse 2 that we want to consider here this morning.

And I'm going to build the message around three questions that I will give answers to. And the first question, the first point of today's message is this, is what is propitiation? What is propitiation? It's a rather uncommon word in modern conversation.

It really isn't a part of everyday vocabulary for most of us. And without going into a lengthy examination of the basis for this definition and all of the historical support that goes into it, we simply want to say this. In this context here in 1 John, the word propitiation means a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God. When John is using the word propitiation to describe our Lord Jesus Christ, he is describing a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God. God's wrath against sinners must be turned away in order for them to have eternal life. What the Apostle John is saying to us as Christians here this morning is a wonderful word of sober truth that Jesus Christ himself by virtue of his death on the cross is that sacrifice on our behalf that turns away the wrath of God from us. That's the idea of propitiation, a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God. Now, that was point number one. Point number two, you're thinking, boy, if all the points are this quick, we're going to be out of here in 10 minutes.

No, it doesn't quite work that way. But the truth is most of you wouldn't want us to be done that quickly because you love the words of God and I love you for it. What is propitiation? It's a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God. Point number two, why is propitiation necessary? Why is propitiation necessary?

What's the significance of that? Why do we talk about a concept that isn't familiar so much to the modern mind? Well, what we want to do here in this point as we answer this question is to unpack the concept that lies behind the word propitiation and explain why it is necessary. And here, beloved, in this point too, you are going to see the words of sober truth that the biblical message conveys to every man who lives.

These words, these things that we're going to talk about in the next 10 or 15 minutes or so are words of sober truth that anyone in his right mind should pay very close heed to. And if you're here and you're not a Christian, you need to pay riveting attention to what the word of God has to say about these things because if you are not a Christian, the wrath of a holy God is abiding upon you and nothing is preventing the release of its full fury upon you except His grace that's given you breath to hear the Gospel today. Why is propitiation necessary? I want to take you through step by step some very simple biblical concepts that are deep in their meaning. First of all, why is propitiation necessary? Propitiation is necessary. A sacrifice to turn away the wrath of God is necessary. First of all, because God is holy. God is holy.

We said this and we've premised, we said that the Apostle John has premised all that he's been saying in the last several verses by this fundamental statement in chapter 1 verse 5 that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. God is holy. He does not tolerate sin.

He is morally pure. He has given His law for men to obey. All of us without exception have broken His law.

The windowpane has been shattered, as it were, and cannot be fixed. And God, by the nature of His holy character, by the intrinsic internal commitment that He has to uphold His justice, by nature of His holiness, God must punish every violation of His law. His justice demands it. Exodus chapter 34 verse 7 says that God will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. And beloved, the Bible makes it very clear that all men are guilty. All of you in your own life, in your own merit are guilty sinners before a holy God. Apart from Christ, no one has the merit to stand before God. Quite to the contrary, we have an infinite amount of demerit that calls forth His judgment. And that's all rooted in the fact that God is holy. Why is propitiation necessary? Because number one, God is holy.

Now, secondly, working out the implications of this, just kind of step by step. God is holy. We're all sinners.

I'm kind of combining those two points into one there. But secondly, why is propitiation necessary? Secondly, our sin separates us from God. Our sin separates us from God. The Bible teaches that all men have sinned. Psalm 143 verse 2, for example, in speaking to God, says that, in your sight, no man living is righteous. There is no righteous man on earth. No one is good enough for God. No one meets the standard of His absolute, pristine holiness.

And here's the problem, beloved, as you start to walk through this and unpack these concepts step by step. By its very nature, sin separates men from God. Because He is holy, because sin is repugnant to Him, there cannot be communion between the light of God and the darkness of sin, the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. There is a separation that takes place that is required by God's holiness. If you think back to the very start of the biblical narrative in the book of Genesis, when Adam and Eve sinned, God expelled them from the garden. There was separation that had to take place as a result of that.

The fundamental order of life on earth had been changed permanently. Isaiah 59 verse 2 says that your sins have made a separation from you and your God. And so God in His holiness is separate from man who is sinful. Now, the truth of the matter is, is that most sinners couldn't care less about that. They're quite content to live their life apart from God. They don't mind being separated from Him because they're not seeking after Him. It's not a matter of consequence to them in and of itself that they're separated from God.

They don't even think about Him. Except perhaps to blaspheme His name. But, beloved, the sinners who don't mind the separation from God have to understand a very important point. That's the third aspect of why propitiation is necessary. It's that sin brings God's wrath. Sin brings God's wrath. It brings about His righteous anger against sinners. Psalm 7 verse 11 says that God is a righteous judge and a God who has indignation every day. Indignation, righteous anger, not the fury of sinful human temper, but the settled holy opposition to sin that requires His justice to be vindicated. John chapter 3 verse 36 says, He who does not obey the Son, the wrath of God abides on Him. The Bible is clear about this point, beloved. One writer says that the Old Testament alone mentions the wrath of God 585 times. And the New Testament continues that theme as well. God's wrath is upon sinners because He is righteous.

He is settled in opposition to it. The violation of His law calls forth for punishment. The violation of God's law screams forth for justice to be vindicated, that righteousness be upheld, and that sin and wickedness be judged. Here's the point for these indifferent, callous, mocking sinners. While they might be content to live separate from God and couldn't care less about the fact that they're separated from Him, the truth of the matter is that God has reached across that divide and placed His wrath upon them. His wrath abides upon them. Whether they regard God or not, they are living under the wrath of God.

God is not passive in face of the limitless violation of His law that goes on day by day in the life of sinners. They're storing up wrath, storing up anger. And if they truly understood that, they would not mock. If they truly got the point, they would not be laughing.

They would not be joking. They would see, in Paul's words, that these are matters of sober truth. Oh, beloved, if you're here today and not in Christ, the words couldn't be more sober. Nothing else in your life matters but dealing with this wrath of God that is righteously upon you because of your sin. Sin brings God's wrath. God's wrath flows from His holiness. God's wrath transcends the separation that prevents our communion with Him. And there's one final out that the sinner might try and say, well, you know, I can live with that. I'm going to die anyway and then it will all be over.

That doesn't work either. It's right to say that God's wrath pursues sinners even after death. You can't die and get away from it. There's no escaping the wrath of God because, fourthly, remember we're saying, why is propitiation necessary?

We're just systematically going through step by step why propitiation is necessary. God is holy. Sin separates us from God. In that state of separation the wrath of God abides upon us. Fourthly, sinners face God's eternal judgment in hell. Sinners face God's eternal judgment in hell.

Eternal, unending judgment from the wrath of God. See, beloved, these are no trifling matters. This is not superficial discussions that we're having.

This isn't about self-improvement. This is about how God orders the universe and runs it in light of the rebellion of man against his law. God will vindicate his law. He will vindicate his holy character. No man, no man, no man will escape accountability for his sin.

There may be a parenthesis of time where it seems like there is no accountability, but there is ultimate accountability, beloved. Hebrews 9 27 says, It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. Jesus Christ himself said in Matthew 25 verse 46 that sinners will go away into eternal punishment.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 24 verse 51. Relentless, unending, eternal torment in hell awaits all of those who die with unforgiven sin. The self-righteous sinner as well as the profligate drunk on the street.

The man who sits in Grace Community Church and never bows the knee to Christ as much as the heathen in Africa who's never heard the gospel. All men will be brought to accountability before God to face his wrath as a result of their sin. Sinners face God's eternal judgment in hell.

And it's right that they would. This is what God has established. It doesn't belong to man to question this, to question the justice of this.

What man thinks about it is irrelevant. The truth of the matter is, is that an eternal God has established an eternal law and created man and placed him on this earth and man has violated that eternal law given by an eternal God, an eternal holy God. And the violation of an eternal law calls for an eternal punishment in order for justice to be upheld, in order for righteousness to be vindicated. Men must be punished. God's holy character demands it. His righteous anger must be vindicated. In light of all of that, beloved, your eternal welfare depends upon having God's wrath turned away from you.

And you cannot do that on your own. You cannot do any good deeds to turn away God's wrath. Your good deeds, the Bible says, are like filthy rags before him.

You have nothing to offer him. You can't offer the fruit of your soul for the sin of your soul. We're lost.

We're doomed. We're under God's judgment and we're helpless to do anything about it on our own. Now that, beloved, is why the passage in front of us today is so important. That is why we are taking so much time to deal with these one or two verses carefully. Because for you and for me, the consequences of facing God in his righteous judgment are just too awful to bear. The prospect of facing God with unforgiven sin and on the brink of eternal hell just waiting for him to pronounce the sentence, that's too awful to bear.

This is too sober to treat casually or lightly. Well, my friend, just before we close today's broadcast, I just wanted to give a special word of greeting and thanks to the many people that listen to our podcast internationally. It's remarkable to me. The last report that I saw listed 83 different countries that in one way or another are listening to us. I just want to send a special word of greeting to those of you that are in lands that are distant from my own home here in the United States. We've seen people from every continent except maybe Antarctica and people from countries like Ireland and Australia and Singapore, Canada, the UK, India.

I have friends in all of those countries. And whether you've met me face to face or whether you only know me as a voice through your favorite device, I just want to say God bless you. Thank you for your interest in the Word of God. And may the Spirit of God work deeply in your heart as you continue to study God's Word. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for your prayers. God bless you. My prayers and love are with you as well. And we'll see you next time on The Truth Pulpit.