Christ Our Propitiation #2

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

Hello again, I'm Bill Wright. It is our joy to continue our commitment to teaching God's people God's Word. Today Don is continuing with the second part of a message we started last time.

So let's get right to it. Open your Bible as we join Don now in The Truth Pulpit. The question then becomes, point number three, where can we find propitiation? Where can we find propitiation? Where can we find that which will turn away the wrath of God from us?

Where can we find someone to intervene on our behalf? Is there someone who can help us in our miserably lost condition? Now, beloved, as a preliminary matter, as we look at these two verses that I read earlier, as a preliminary matter, remember that the Apostle John is speaking to true Christians here. If you have not surrendered your life to Christ, you still face the awful wrath of God. If you're here and you're not in Christ, I don't want you to draw false comfort from these verses. Instead, I would plead with you to hear the words that follow and receive Christ for eternal life. But you must bow the knee before Him.

You must repent of sin. You must receive Him by faith for eternal life. What we're about to look at is the basis of upon which you can trust Him for eternal life if you do not know Him. For those of you who are Christians whom I will be addressing for the rest of this time, this passage teaches us how we can have certainty that Christ has turned away the wrath of God from us.

Certainty, assurance, and the joy that flows from that. There's an old gospel song that often comes to my mind. The chorus has often injected itself in my preaching. But it says, we have heard the joyful sound. Jesus saves. Jesus saves.

It's joyful. The gospel is good news. The gospel is the best news. The gospel is the news. It is the message that this wrath can be turned away from us. The gospel is the news that God can be satisfied.

God can be propitiated. And when you have truly gripped, truly grasped the depth of the wrath of God on your sin, first of all it strikes you with terror. You have to know something of the terror of the Lord, the fear of the Lord, in order to come to Him in the first instance. You have to be conscious of sin before you seek deliverance from its consequences.

And if you haven't felt the terror of the Lord in some measure somewhere along the line, you have serious reason to doubt whether you're a true Christian or not. But when you feel that conviction of sin, when you're conscious, when you're convicted in your mind that it's not just everybody else that it's a sinner, it's me, and you feel that sense of terror, then in that condition you understand why the gospel is good news. You understand why it is a joyful sound to hear the words, Jesus saves. See, the whole context of those kinds of statements is that we have to be saved from something, and it's a desperately miserable condition that we're in. And so it's for the herald of the gospel to come to a sinner and say, I have joyful news for you. Jesus saves you in that condition. Jesus has the power and has done the work necessary to rescue you from your sin.

Then the soul should flower open in joy, in responsiveness, in readiness, with the words that say, what must I do to be saved? Because under the conviction of sin and conscious of the terror of God, you want words of sober truth. You need words of sober truth. You don't want a funny pastor at that point. You don't want an entertaining message.

You don't want a goofy skit. You need words of sober truth that help you understand the way out of your miserably lost condition. That's why we teach the Bible at Grace Community Church, beloved. Where can we find propitiation? Where can we find relief from this wrath of God that it is righteously upon us? What can we say about the wrath of God as believers in Christ? Well, these two verses that we were looking at, this passage teaches us how we can have certainty that Christ has in fact turned away the wrath of God from us. When we last looked at this passage, we saw that Christ is our advocate.

Chapter 2 verse 1, if anyone sins, and we talked about this, talking about those sins that come from time to time in the life of a believer, and your soul wells up with a sense of guilt and anxiety. What do we have in that condition, knowing that we have sinned against God? Speaking to believers, the Apostle John says sweet words, we have an advocate with the Father. We have someone in the presence of God in heaven who is representing us, who is advocating our cause, who is interceding for us so that our salvation could never fail. Our sins as believers we saw do not forfeit our salvation.

You don't sin your way out of true genuine conversion, because Christ represents us in heaven before the Heavenly Father as our great high priest. Now, having said that Jesus is our advocate, follow me here. John is going to explain the basis of Christ's advocacy, the grounds upon which he advocates our position before the Father, the grounds upon which our salvation, we can say, is eternally secure. How can we know that Jesus is able to maintain our cause with the Father as our advocate? Well, that is what John is going on to explain here, and in a very few compact words, the brevity of which simply showing forth the genius of the Holy Spirit who inspired them. In the brevity of these words that we're going to look at this morning, we're going to see that why Jesus is most certainly an effective advocate and an effective high priest on our behalf. Look at the end of verse 1 with me again. John says we have an advocate with the Father. Beloved, this is the most important thing in the world.

How is it that you can be reconciled to a holy God? These are the most important words in the world, these themes that the Bible teaches us. We have an advocate with the Father.

Who is that advocate? Jesus Christ the Righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins. Now, there are three ways in which I want to that John says here that undergirds the advocacy of Christ on our behalf, and so in this point number three, there's going to be three more sub points here as well. First of all, first of all, we know that we have propitiation in Christ, number one, because of his saving purpose.

His saving purpose. In verse 1 he says this advocate is Jesus Christ the Righteous. Now in the providence of God, last week we considered the name of Jesus, and it's easy to forget something important. This name Jesus in itself communicates peace to our hearts, beloved, because you'll remember that when the angel announced the birth of Jesus to Joseph, he explained the very meaning of Jesus's name in Matthew chapter 1 verse 21. Matthew 1 21, the angel instructed Joseph to call this baby's name Jesus for because he will save his people from their sins. At the very birth of Christ the angel announced the reason that he had come to earth. He came to earth in order to save his people from their sins. His name Jesus speaks to his purpose. The whole reason the Son of God left heaven and came to earth and walked on this guilty sod for some 30 odd years. The reason that he went to the cross, the reason that he was crucified, was because he came to save his people from their sins. Understand that when we talk about Jesus, when we use that name Jesus, the thought should be connected in our minds that the very nature of his purpose, his name expresses his purpose to save us from our sins. And so when we sin as believers and we go and we call upon him Lord Jesus, we're instantly reminded of the fact that he came for the very purpose of saving us from that which we are now confessing. We have an advocate in heaven whose very purpose from all of eternity established by the triune Godhead, his very purpose in coming was to save his people from his from their sins. How marvelous is that beloved?

I ask you, this is wonderful. And so as we go to Jesus confessing sin, we are immediately reminded that the whole reason that he came to earth was to save us from our sins. A sympathetic Savior who's done what is necessary to relieve us from the consequences of that which we are confessing. Beloved, if you're a Christian here this morning, you feel the guilt of sin, you've been walking away from the Lord, you want to come back but you feel that sense of anxiety. I've gone so far into sin. Beloved, here are the merciful words of the gospel.

Jesus came to save sinners. He will receive your genuine repentance, your heartfelt cries of confession. He'll receive them and cleanse you and restore you to a clear conscience and to joy and walking with the God of your salvation. Now why would you resist that?

Why would you resist that, beloved? Why would you tense up and say, ah, but for the love of your own sin? No, beloved, cast aside your sin, cast aside your rebellion and come to Christ in humble confession because by knowing that he will receive you because his saving purpose in coming was for just that reason. Jesus came not to give us earthly satisfaction but eternal salvation. And I, for one, beloved, thank him and praise his holy name for that.

Don't you? The word Christ, Jesus Christ the righteous, speaks as his role as mediator. He stands for the people of God as the one who came to save them from their sins.

Where can we find propitiation? How can we know that Christ is effective on our behalf? First of all, it's the whole reason he came. And you tend to think that if God had a purpose in sending Christ that he'll fulfill that purpose without fail. He's a sovereign God. He does whatever he pleases.

He accomplishes all of his good pleasure. Jesus came to save sinners, save his people from their sins, and we're one of his people, then we're saved from our sins. Secondly, not just his saving purpose, but secondly, we can rely on Christ as our advocate because of his righteous character. His righteous character.

Look at the end of verse 1 with me again. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Jesus Christ the righteous.

Our advocate is righteous. Stated differently, Jesus has the necessary character to represent us before a holy God. He has the necessary character to represent us before our righteous Father. He can satisfy the righteousness of God because he is God, and thus he is able to represent us perfectly before the Father. God's perfect righteousness calls forth for justice and vindication and punishment of sin, and into that breach, our lovely Lord Jesus Christ steps forward with an equal righteousness to God the Father and is therefore able to represent us on a one-to-one correspondence. Jesus's righteousness meets the Father's righteousness on our behalf. His righteousness is that which is counted to us when we believe in Christ. That imputed righteousness is what is credited to our account. The righteousness of God, which cries out for vindication, is met in heaven by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and he is there on our behalf. As we said two weeks ago, representing us like the high priest bore the names of the tribes of Israel on his shoulders and over his heart. Jesus is there in perfect intrinsic righteousness, representing his people before the Father.

These are words of marvelous sober truth, beloved. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 says, speaking of Jesus, listen to this because it's the very picture that John is invoking in greater brevity here. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25, talking about Christ in the presence of God on our behalf, says that Jesus is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them.

It's his purpose, for it was fitting for us to have such a high priest. Holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens. That's our Lord Jesus. Holy, innocent, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens, and that is the Jesus that stepped forth to represent you before a righteous God. You go, you stand before God not in your own merits, but in the perfect righteousness of Christ, clothed in his righteousness, and even now as we speak, Jesus in that matchless righteousness is representing us before God.

You want to know how we can have and you want to know how, why you can trust your advocate? You want to know why your salvation is settled? Jesus came to save sinners and now he stands before God as a perfectly righteous representative on their behalf, having fulfilled all righteousness on their behalf, he stands before the Father. Our champion satisfies the righteousness of God because he is the very righteousness of God. All of this building in our hearts, a sense of security and assurance and humility and grateful love for our Lord Jesus Christ, who did all of this, beloved, who in conjunction with the counsels of the Godhead worked all of this out before time began, had planned it all, who 2,000 years before you were even born went to the cross of Calvary to intercede on your behalf.

That's what we're getting ready to talk about. Long before you were born, beloved, God had planned this out and done what was necessary to prepare the groundwork for you to be saved. If anyone can hear truth like that and still mock, oh, they stand self-condemned. Jesus's intercession is effective because he is perfectly righteous and he's there on our behalf. Now thirdly, where can we find this propitiation? It's in Christ, it's in his saving purpose, it's in his righteous character.

How can we know that we have this propitiation? Thirdly, it's by his perfect sacrifice, his perfect sacrifice. In the Old Testament, going back to the book of Leviticus and there in the Mosaic revelation of the first five books of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, God established a pattern of the animal sacrifices which were designed to teach the nation of Israel about the consequences of sin and maintaining fellowship with a holy God. Without going into the passages doing this in very broad brush summary, an innocent animal, perfect in its characteristics, would be brought before the priest and the worshiper would lay his hands on the head of that animal to symbolize the transfer of his personal guilt to the innocent animal in front of him and then the animal would be slaughtered as a sacrifice on his behalf. Now those sacrifices were designed to provide something like a temporary cover for sin, but the root problem of sin was never addressed.

It was never fully resolved as shown by the fact that those sacrifices had to be repeated over and over. The Bible's clear that those Old Testament sacrifices never truly took away forever the sin of the worshiper. Hebrews 10 4 says it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins, but the value of those sacrifices for us today is that they give us a picture of the need for a substitute sacrifice to take away sin.

They provide a picture to help us understand the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Now with that in mind look at verse 2 with me where John says, and he himself, referring to Jesus Christ, is the propitiation for our sins. Tying the definition that we gave a half hour ago, Jesus is the propitiation. He himself is the sacrifice which turns away the wrath of God from us.

That's the message of this passage, beloved. Christ is our propitiation, indicates that Jesus Christ himself is the sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God from our sins. It was his blood shed on the cross. It was him, the perfectly righteous, the innocent Lamb of God. It was he, that innocent sacrifice that was nailed to the cross of Calvary. And it was him that Peter says bore our sins in his body. And it was him on the cross that God poured his wrath down and the dark veil covered the earth while he hung on the cross during those three hours.

Beloved, understand this. Understand what was happening at that time. God was pouring out his wrath against your sin, if you're a believer in Christ. God was pouring out his wrath on Christ. He was vindicating his judgment. He was satisfying what the law demanded. An innocent substitute sacrifice had the sins of everyone who would ever believe on him placed on his head, and then God punished him.

Beloved, understand this. We think about the gospel as a message of forgiveness, and rightfully so. But the gospel is also a message about satisfied justice.

Every sin requires a penalty. For those who reject Christ, they will bear the penalty of all of their sins in hell forever. But beloved, the glorious message for those of us that know Christ today is this. Jesus Christ himself has absorbed God's wrath on our behalf. The full fury of God's wrath has been satisfied in Christ on the cross. There is no further sacrifice to be made because Christ's sacrifice was perfect. He gave a full payment for sins for all who would ever believe in him. Romans 5-8 says this.

Romans 5-8 through 10. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Now beloved, get this. When we talk about Christ being your advocate in heaven, understand that his advocacy is grounded upon, it is based upon, it is rooted in his work on the cross. He can advocate now on our behalf because of what he did on our behalf. Christ's sacrifice continually and in an unbroken way turns away the wrath of God from all of your sins. When you sin in your Christian life, there's no need for another sacrifice.

The blasphemy of the Roman Catholic mass is exposed at a point like this. Christ has satisfied the wrath of God and now God views us with favor. Hebrews 10 verses 17 and 18 says this, and I'm almost done, beloved. Hebrews 10 17 and 18, after a lengthy talk about the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ, says, their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

If you're in Christ, beloved, forgiveness is settled. God's wrath has been satisfied because Jesus' sacrifice has an eternal virtue that forever cleanses you from sin and it turns away God's wrath. God was satisfied.

That's why he raised him from the dead. And now Jesus represents our cause in heaven before the satisfied Father to intercede for us and he will do so until we are brought all the way to glory. Beloved, don't think of Jesus pleading love against an unwilling Father.

What's happening in the intercession of Christ on our behalf is Jesus is pleading the merits of satisfied justice with a loving Father who wants to bless his children. There is perfect harmony in heaven on our behalf. Their joint purposes of love and bringing about our salvation have been fulfilled. Your sins, if you are a Christian, are forgiven and they will not be brought to bear before the bar of God ever again because Christ's sacrifice was perfect. It was once for all and it satisfied the wrath of God on our behalf.

Once for all, beloved. The writer of Hebrews can say that because God has been propitiated. God has been satisfied by Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross. Dear Christian, you are eternally secure in him. Go forth in that security humbled, grateful, praiseful until he brings you into your heavenly reward.

Let's pray. Our Father, indeed we have seen from your words great words of sober truth and yet, Lord, words of great magnificent joy. Jesus saves. Jesus saves.

Shout it out through all the land. Jesus saves. The wrath of God has been satisfied on our behalf. Oh God, thank you from the bottom of our hearts and, oh God, for the hardened hearts that are under the sound of my voice. Draw them to Christ as well, Father.

We wouldn't keep this salvation to ourselves. We just pray that you would do in the lost who still remain the work that you did in our hearts some time ago. Save them, Father, from the wrath that is to come.

Burden their hearts until they turn to Christ in repentant faith. We bless your magnificent name this morning. In Christ's name, amen. My friend, I want to let you know of a special ministry that we have at truthpulpit.com that's very near to my heart. We have a ministry to those who are in prison and in the nature of life sometimes we have loved ones that go astray and find themselves behind bars and spending significant time in incarceration. Well, we have a ministry to them. We send them transcripts of messages that I've preached from the pulpit of Truth Community Church. We do it on a weekly basis.

They get mail every week. If you have a loved one in prison that you would like to have us reach out to in that way, do me a favor. Go to our website, thetruthpulpit.com. That's thetruthpulpit.com. Click on the link that says about and you'll see a drop-down menu that will take you to our prison ministry. You can fill out the form and we'll be happy to respond and enjoin in with you in ministering to that one who is outside the normal course of society. So that's thetruthpulpit.com, the about link for our prison ministry.

That will do it for today. We'll see you next time on The Truth Pulpit. That's Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank you so much for listening to The Truth Pulpit. Join us next time for more as we continue teaching God's people God's Word.