Great Doctrines of Salvation

Today, as of also last week, we're talking about propitiation. Growing up, how often did you hear that word? You never hear it, do you? It's one of those words that it's hardly ever spoken of, yet it's really, really important. I never heard it until I came around here.

I remember a year or so ago at the Christmas Eve deal, My topic was propitiation. I had two people come up after me and say, I've never heard that word before. You know, people that had visited us. So I find it interesting. It's such an important word that has such incredible meaning. And I can't think of any other synonym to that word that would be talked about.

Because we seldom look at things from God's side of the ledger, I think, because we're always looking at it from our side. What do we get out of the deal? So, what does propitiation mean? God's accomplishment to satisfy God about the sin issue. So, as we talked about, reconciliation, to be reconciled back to God, is our side of that work. God's side is propitiation.

Romans 3.25-26 whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood 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 justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. What's interesting about verse 26 is that God wants to be just and he also wants to be the justifier. How can he be both? He has to be just. He can't just change his mind. He has to be just, but he also wants to do the justifying. And in order for him to do the justifying, he's got to be satisfied about the sin issue. See that? He's both.

We talked about the difference between reconciliation and propitiation. What was the event? By what event was man reconciled to God and God propitiated? Christ's work on the cross. Yeah. Two things happened there. One, he took man's place on the cross. And two, he satisfied God's demand about sin.

I probably can't overemphasize God's holy, righteous character demands satisfaction about sin. He cannot just say, oh, never mind. He can't do it. Was God of himself ever alienated from man? Marchbanks does, I think, a really good job at answering this question. Was God alienated from man, meaning that was he just of his own cut off? He says, I've had enough of you guys.

Did he reject us? What do you think? What did Marchbanks say? There was a barrier. There's a barrier? Maybe I should have phrased the question, because Marchmax used very interesting language. The question could have been, because of man's sin, was God less favorably inclined towards men? Do you understand what I mean? He couldn't show them mercy and grace. He couldn't show them mercy and grace, that's right. But from a personal standpoint, was he less inclined to love us because of our sinfulness. That's right. The way he puts it, God was favorably inclined towards man even before propitiation. was affected by Christ on the cross, it was in fact God's love that brought about propitiation. That's what Marchbank says.

And the verse that he quoted, that 1 John 4.10, and this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4.10 is becoming one of my favorite verses because it sets up that grace circle The reason why do you love God?

Because He first loved us. And if you love Him, what's He going to do? He's going to reward you. I'm sorry, you're going to obey Him because you love Him. That's the essence of grace, right? And because you obey Him, He's going to reward you. So, in order to be rewarded, by obeying him and loving him, he's got to first love us, which makes it gracious.

I had lunch with a guy this week, my friend I call the rabbi. This is an Irish guy that became a believer and he's of Reformed theology and a Messianic guy. He still thinks that everything revolves around Israel and the law. So we were kind of going back and forth on obligations.

So I said, well, you're to love God. How are you doing with that one? He said, well, I'm really trying. I said, why would you love God? Because the law told you to? He said, yeah. I said, how about this? How about you love him because he first loved you? And so, now I had him set up, right? I said, and how about obeying him? Why do you obey him? And he said, because I'm told to. I said, how about you obey him because you love him? Because he first loved you.

And right there I think I lost him. I don't think he understood. Now, this, although it might be a little tedious, but I don't think it will be. One of the cool things that Marchbanks did, was to go through the verses that use this word, and there's only seven of them in the Bible, and they mean different things in the different verses.

So the first one is Romans 3.25, whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. And we haven't spent a lot of time, well maybe we ought to do that first and then we'll talk about it. Question six says, Explain what is meant by propitiation being a place and also a sacrifice. Because we've talked about it mostly as a sacrifice as an activity.

Let's talk about it being a place. Nobody read. Go. I have a note here that says in the LX. X, it means the mercy seat. There are two Greek words that are used in the verses we are going to go through. One of them is hilosmos, it means atonement to make satisfaction for. The other word is, if I can say this right, hilos de rayon, an atoning, and the lid on top of the Ark of the Covenant was called the Elaste Rion. And it was the mercy seat. When the high priest went in there once a year, what he did is he sprinkled blood on that ark seven times. Why would he do that? Why would he do that? Why there? I mean, why didn't he sprinkle it on the walls or on the ground? Why there?

Because it's the place that atonement's done. Maybe put it another way. It is the meeting place between God and man. And it can't be a place that hasn't been dealt with by blood. So the Lord Jesus Christ can be said to be not only the satisfaction to God, but he's also the place of satisfaction. Can you go anywhere else to approach God? You can't. You've got to go to Him. So does that make sense?

The Greeks used that word because I don't know if you have a vision in your mind of what the ark looks like. It's got those angels that come up with the wings and then in the middle is a seat and right there is where the blood was spread on top of that so that symbol of Christ being actually the mercy seat. So when you look at Christ as the propitiation or the mercy seat, that's also the place where grace is dispensed. That's the throne of grace because he is the meeting place of communion between a holy God and a sinful man, a sinful believing man. That's the interesting thing about Christianity. It centers only around Christ. Only. There's nothing else that will save a non-believer than Christ himself, right? In other words, it's not a system, it's not a program, it's not a set series of prayers or theological performances. It's a person.

And you have to come to grips with the Lord Jesus Christ personally as your Savior. He is your place of propitiation. He is the one and the place where God is satisfied. Now as I read these verses, this Greek word is interchanged and so hopefully we can see how it works out.

In Romans 3.25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. That word there means, is the place of propitiation. That's a longer word that I don't want to try to pronounce again. It is, so you could say, whom God set forth to be the place of propitiation through faith.

The next one is John 2.2, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. This word talks about what Christ did to propitiate God, not place, but that which propitiates or satisfies God.

1 John 4.10, herein is love, not that we love God, but he loved us and his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Again, that's the word for that which satisfies or propitiates.

Luke 18.13, and this is kind of interesting. The publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. That word merciful there is really propitious. God be propitious to me a sinner. To be merciful really means to be propitious. So what is he saying? I'll actually hold that because we have a question that deals with that.

Hebrews 2.17 says, 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 people. To make reconciliation here is actually to make propitiation. That's that word. Two more.

And for I will be merciful to the unrighteous, this is Hebrews 8.12, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more. For I will be merciful is actually for I will be propitious.

And then Hebrews 9.5, and over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy seat of which one cannot now speak practically. The mercy seat is the place of propitiation. Are you thoroughly confused and or bored? What was the second to the last verse?

Hebrew 8.12. Okay, so it can be both and it's important that you kind of look at the context of the verse that you're studying to put it in place. So let's look at question five.

Is there a change in God or to God because of the work of Christ? Now we've already decided that God was favorably inclined towards men even before Christ died. I wouldn't say there was a change in God, but there was a change of how he was able to be merciful to men. Okay. Everybody understand that? It's a good answer.

You would say that, did God have to be appeased about sin? In other words, he said, okay, unless you come up with 40 bucks, you're not getting any of the benefits. Or unless you come up with the cross of Christ, you get no benefits. The answer, no, he didn't need to be appeased, but he has a righteous character that needs satisfaction, which is different than appeasement. Before his mercy could flow, like Steve said, the sin question had to be settled.

And one of the quotes that I found was from Marsh Banks, Habakkuk 1.13 says, Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and you cannot look on the wickedness with favor. I don't think, well I shouldn't say it that way, I think as you grow as a believer, you appreciate the awfulness of sin more and more.

And why God just can't look on sin. Because we look at sin as the list of bad stuff we do. And God looks at it totally different. And it isn't just a list of bad things you've done. It isn't that at all. It's a mindset, it's a character, and it's anything that's not of Him.

Romans 6.23 says, for the wages of sin is death, not 30 years of hard labor, death.

In face of this and because of this, Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Isn't that interesting that it's phrased that way? We all have sinned, no problema, but when he adds, and fallen short of the glory of God, what has he just done? When he says you've fallen short of the glory of God, what has he just announced to us?

The standard. What's the standard? The glory of God. How are you doing with that so far? Not so good. Do you see that? So all have fallen short of the standard, which is the glory of God. That seems awfully high for a little peasant like me. Is that too high for God to demand that? What do you think? Is that too much for God to ask, seeing as how you're really doggy sinners? Is that too high?

Maybe not, because he's given us all the divine operating assets we need to be what he would like us to be. Is that right? Yeah. He actually, I mean, when you look at, he says, well, here's the standard, which is, you know, my glory. And all of you have fallen short of that glory. And you say, OK, I'll buy that much of it. And then he says, because I've been satisfied or propitiated, if you will believe in my son, I'll raise you up to here. And you can't get there on your own. But I'll give it to you free. I'll just give it to you. You begin to realize that this salvation that we have is such a gracious act on God's part. that he didn't have to do.

It's being justified, Romans 3.24-26, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. It is an absolute gift. You cannot earn it.

Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness. How did the cross of Christ demonstrate the righteousness of God? Think about it. He's up here, man's down here, and the barrier is sin. So how would the cross of Christ demonstrate the righteousness of God? Think about that.

I've got to learn how to do that Jeopardy tune. Now verse 26 says, For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time. He's demonstrating his righteousness by the cross of Christ, so that he would be just and justifier of the one who has faith in him. The way that the cross of Christ demonstrates the righteousness of God is that it took the second person of the Trinity becoming a man in order to be crucified to demonstrate to the whole world exactly where God was about sin. That he couldn't do it any less. Do you see that? He couldn't have come up with a plan that was any less than that. Does that make sense? So the change in God, it's interesting with God, because of his righteousness, he said to Adam, if you sin, you'll die. And the soul that sins, it dies. So everybody, every human being sins.

And so they're all separated from God. And if God doesn't take the initiative, we stay eternally separated from him, right? And we can't do anything to fix the problem because of God's righteousness and his holiness, way up here. So God takes it upon himself to do it. So if he comes up with a plan to do it, it has to be a plan that's going to satisfy him as a holy God.

And he can't do it halfway. He's got to do it all the way. So enter this arrangement between him and the second person of the Trinity, the Lagos of God, the Lord Jesus Christ becomes a man and dies. Seems kind of too much, doesn't it? But that's what it took. Without the death of Christ, God is not satisfied. He is not satisfied about sin, and you and I are in big trouble.

So we already covered question six, right? So let's move on to seven. questions going from the bottom of page 35 to 36 with the publican. So this is, he's addressing his desire to be propitiated before Christ's work on the cross. So what was God's process in doing that before, in this case, before the cross. That's the next question. Before I get to that, haven't you always viewed the publican as saying, when you first read that, and maybe subsequently read that activity by the publican, what do you think he's asking for? What does it look like he's asking for?

Somebody read the verse out loud and without putting the word for officiation in there. Because most translations don't have that word in there. Somebody read it. The ones that can read English. Who's got it? Does he have a quote there? And the public, standing afar off, did not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Okay.

We'd look at that as, God be merciful to me, a sinner, right? Thinking that, well, what he's doing, when you hear sermons on this verse, what do you hear? That he was, you know, he had the right attitude, as opposed to the other guy who's up front who says, I'm not like them, Republicans. But here's the other thing about this. When he says, God be merciful to me a sinner, what is he saying to God?

It sounds like he's saying, you know, boy, just feel sorry for me. Don't give me what I deserve. Doesn't it sound like that? But that's not what he's saying. If you substitute the word propitious in there, it changes what he's saying. What is he saying about God? He's saying, God be satisfied about my sinfulness. Do you see that? It changes the whole view of it.

He's saying, God be satisfied about my sinfulness, which shows that the publican understood that his sorrow or God's mercy wasn't enough. That God had to be satisfied about that man's sin. me and my simpleness, but look rather on the propitiatory sacrifice.

So where was the, right at that point, where was that sacrifice? The sacrifice, from his perspective, let's go before the cross now, he's in the temple, it doesn't say that he had a sacrifice done, but what he's saying is don't look at me, look at the sacrifice. He says God looked on the atoning sacrifice. The atoning sacrifice.

So the publican understood that if God just looked at his request for God to be merciful to him, that wasn't going to get it for him. He was putting his reliance upon the sacrifice that he had just done to cover his sins. So he's saying, God look at this, not me.

Well it's the same thing we do. We say when we believe in Christ, Don't look at my sinfulness, look at what Christ has done on my behalf and effectuate salvation to me based on what he's done, not what I'm doing. Do you see that? Now, let's answer Steve's question.

How could he do that before the cross of Christ? And my answer to that, which was question seven, in what respect was there propitiation in the Old Testament? And the way that I answered it is I went through the day of atonement thing again. And the mercy seat was a place of mercy and propitiation because it was sprinkled with the sacrificial blood. In Leviticus 16, the high priest took the blood of a bull and sprinkled the mercy seat seven times and made an atonement for the people.

Because of that act, God could be propitious to Israel for one more year. And that's what he would do. He would cover their sins for another year because of the blood that was put there. Now here's the answer to Steve's question. Because that sacrifice pointed forward to what Christ was going to do. It satisfied God's justice for a year. It was there and only there that the blood sprinkled mercy seeds that a holy God would meet a sinful people.

Exodus 25.22 says, there I will meet with you and from above the mercy seat. Now, the best way I think, maybe a simple way to look at this, is that God, because he is eternal, God has Christ in place and his work before Adam ever sinned. And it's only because it's an eternal thing. God doesn't function in time-space when it comes to the way he does things. But in time-space, with the nation of Israel, he could say, I can cover your sins because of what my son is going to do X years down the road. In other words, I can do it on a credit. Because I know the bill's going to be paid. See that? I know it's going to be paid.

And you will find, I think sometimes, even in the Old Testament when they talk about promises, they're done in the perfect tense, as though they've already been done. You see that in Acts a lot, where things are said to sound like they're going to be future, but the tense of the verbs in there is that they're already done. Look at the Lord Jesus in John 17. He talks about the cross being over.

How come? Was there any doubt? This was something that was planned by God from the foundations of eternity. There wasn't any going back. So he could be propitious with this system he set up in the Jewish economy because he was looking forward to being satisfied totally by the work of Christ on the cross. Which demonstrates his grace and his mercy. And again, one of the problems I really have with my friend, the Messianic Jewish guy, going back to sacrifices, you know, he doesn't understand God covering the sins of the nation of Israel on a credit basis. He doesn't understand that.

You want to chase it? Go ahead. He went down to his house justified, declared righteous. Is that permanent? Why? I think so. Because he believed. What did he believe? He believed in the prophecies and what the blood represented. He believed God's word. He believed when God said here's what I'm going to give you this system and here's what it's going to do in relationship to me. So you can go through the routine of doing the system, but not really believe. And if you do that, you're what Paul calls not a Jew, a real Jew. Because the only way of salvation is by faith.

Well, God reveals to this publican, here's what I'm going to do with the sacrifice, here's what it means. And he said, I understand about propitiation, and I believe you. And I'm asking you to be propitious towards me. In other words, look to the sacrifice and not me.

He's declared righteous because he trusted God. When God said, this is what I'm going to do, he said, OK. Exactly the same as Abraham. Exactly the same as any of the Old Testament saints. When they believed God about what he revealed to them, he declared them righteous. And they didn't have to have a ton of information. They just had to believe what he revealed.

He's making a point there that the sacrifice of blood and goats, balls and goats can't take away sins. So I'm trying to put that together with this practice that was such a long practice before it crossed. When the blood of bulls and goats was in play, what did it do about the sins of the people? It covered them over. But it didn't take them away. So that's the difference of those two terms. That's right.

And it shows up in the Gospel of John. When John the Baptist sees the Lord Jesus for the first time, what does he say? Behold the Lamb of God. Gee, God is supplying his own lamb. Who does what? who takes away the sin of the world. That was a real big revelation. And John knew it. He was the first one to know it. That this Jesus was going to take the sins away, not cover them. Huge difference.

So I don't know about the rest of us here, but I've been in a lot of evangelical circles or meetings or discussions or whatever, song like that, but I don't play anymore. His repertoire has gone way down since he's been hanging around with us. But there's still, that language is still very popular.

And I think it's the lack of understanding about the completeness, the propitiation of Christ's work. They don't understand that part of it. From God's side of the ledger. And if you're of a reform or covenant theology, you're looking at Israel and the church being the same thing. You don't understand position and who you are in Christ. So you would say, oh yeah, cover my sins Lord. How about taking them away? Better deal. Much better deal.

How long does it take a Christian who knows the identification, his position and condition, and knows who he is in Christ before he begins to actually view himself as being in Christ and not in Adam forgiven. One of my favorite trick questions is, are Christians forgiven sinners? Are they? Let me see who thinks they are. cowards. You are not a forgiven sinner. You are a new creature in Christ. See that? God tells you that and you say, I'd rather be a forgiven sinner.

So, okay Steve, does human repentance and sorrow soften God's heart? Does it render him proficious? Good quote, and this might have come from Marshbank. It's too often supposed that human repentance and sorrow soften the heart of God and render him propitious. This cannot be true. It is the legal fact that Christ has borne all sin which renders God propitious. That's the only reason he can forgive. The only reason. Did Christ have to become a man in order to be the propitiation for the sins of the world?

What do you think? Yes. Yes or no? Yes. Yeah, how come? Notice I put that little word in there, explain. It's a multiple choice. Yeah, that's right. Why did it have to be a man? I mean, why couldn't he become a goat? Or why didn't he become? We were sons of Adam. We're sons of Adam. And so, I mean, if we were sons of goat, then Christ would become a goat. Well, or try this one out.

How about the sins of angels? What about them? In other words, There's this revolution in heaven, right? And a third of the angels fell, right? And they at that point had the will to choose against God, right? And a third of them did. But there's no going back with them. You notice that? The third that fell don't get a chance to change their mind, or to repent, or to seek salvation. And now that their opportunity is over, their wills are locked into place.

Christ would have had to become an angel and die for God to offer salvation to them. Do you see that? But he didn't do it that way. He became a man because he wanted, he had to satisfy the sin issue somehow through this work of the cross with Christ becoming a man. But it shows you the value in God's mind of men.

You know these viruses that live on a planet out in the middle of nowhere. It takes a man, in the Old Testament there was this thing called a kinsman redeemer. And you know what a kinsman, you remember the qualifications for a kinsman redeemer? Had to be the same kindred. Had to be able to redeem. Had to have what it cost. had to want to do it, and could not be in any way affected by the reason that there was to be a redemption. He couldn't be a part of the mess. You see that? So, again, God sets it up so that in order for God to redeem man and to propitiate himself about sin, it took Christ to become a man. By one man, sin entered the world.

Does that mean there's sin on Mars? What do you think? Do you think the whole universe fell when Adam fell? Or just the Earth? So when the Starship Enterprise shows up in Kleon, they're not going to have sin nature? Except it's going to have mankind with it. Do you think entropy applies to the whole universe, not just us? Yeah, it applies to the whole universe.

You know what I love? I hate to give you a political viewpoint, but listen to this. Obama this week says that we're going to change the direction of what NASA is going to do. We're not going to go to the moon now, but we're going to go to Mars and we're going to go to asteroids. You know why asteroids? Because he being a godless man thinks that if an asteroid is going to come and destroy the earth that he can do something about it. Only a godless man would think like that.

This is God's globe. We are his people. Nothing is going to happen here unless he determines it's going to happen. And you don't need the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to try to prevent it. It's just, I mean, the display of spiritual ignorance by godless men is amazing because of what they spend their resources to try to do what God has given them for free. Interesting. That's my last of my political comments.

The verse on this question 9 is Hebrews 2.17.

He had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. What's the difference between a priest and a prophet? A priest represents God to man and a prophet represents God to man. And a priest represents man to God. So the Lord Jesus Christ, by becoming a man, he's a high priest. And he goes, become a merciful and faithful high priest in the things pertaining to God.

He goes for us. Okay? We've already done question 10, which is Luke 2. Oh no, we haven't done this. No, we haven't. I'm sorry, I was thinking of the publican. Luke 11-2 is, and Steve, I just totally ruined Steve's whole Christian life when we first approached this issue. Look up at Luke 11 too.

Is it proper for the believer to pray this prayer? Here's the prayer. And he said to them, when you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins. For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation.

What do you think about that prayer? Get up in the morning, is this the first thing that comes out of your mouth? What do you think? Almost every church in Denver says this prayer every Sunday. Is it appropriate? No. Okay, no, it's not appropriate. Why? Why isn't it appropriate? It's a Jewish prayer, but in context, why isn't it appropriate?

Pre-cross. It's pre-cross. It's an expectation of the kingdom right there. Expectation of the kingdom. And what is your forgiveness based on here? Not that we forgive others. That's right. You're in big trouble if your forgiveness is based on my forgiving you.

Let's look at 1 John 4.10. Somebody quickly look at that. This one's freaking me out. It's alright. That's good. Look at the prayer. When you pray, Father, hallowed be your name. No problem there.

We would say that. But would we say thy kingdom come? We might. I'm looking forward to getting out of this mess. Give us this day our daily bread. That I have a problem with. Because he said to me in Ephesians, I have blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Duh. So what's the problem here? If I ask him for something and he says he's already done, I'm demonstrating my lack of faith. But then you can never ask for anything. Isn't this just saying go into them daily? That you need to refresh it daily? And that's fine. That's absolutely fine.

Because he says in Philippians, with prayer and supplication, make your request known unto me. You come to me about any and everything. And that's totally promised. What's he promised to give you? In that day, the earner received his wages every day. and when we were studying this prayer before there are some allusions to the tribulation in here because in the millennium you're not going to be praying for your daily bread there's going to be a great abundance but in the tribulation they are going to be going back to the Jewish economy and you're going to be praying yes they are give me my daily bread today yeah and so there's I think From what we studied this with Vern, there's allusions to the Millennium and to the Tribulation.

That's good. That's really good. It's too bad that I don't ever get to sit in Vern's class. I've got to learn so much. with the publicans' mindset in Luke 18? Yeah, I think so. I mean, how would you do that? Well, the publican is asking God to be propitious. We would thank him for being propitious. When your dad's favorite verse, 1 John 1, you know, if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Does it say in that verse, O God, be propitious to me?

No. Why not? Because we live post-cross. The work is done. So when we confess our sins, we confess that what God has already done is the right thing. We agree with God about what He's done. And we're cleansed from all unrighteousness because of what Christ has already done, so that we can be restored to fellowship, not to position.

In Philippians, when Paul says, make all your requests known unto God, with prayer and supplication, what does he promise to give you there? What you ask him for? Daily bread? What's the reward? for lack of a better way to put it, for going to God and going to the Lord Jesus and making all your requests known to Him. What's He promised to give you?

Philippians 2.14, is that where it is? I don't remember exactly. He promises to give you the peace that passes understanding. He doesn't promise to fix it. He said, I will give you the peace that passes understanding. How valuable is that? way more valuable than fix whatever I'm asking. The issue is, is to go to him. I think it's really important that you go to him.

But if you go to him like Paul did with the thorn in the flesh, he went three times. It's like, didn't you get it the first time? The three visits, so to speak, with God. What happened to Paul? It changed his whole viewpoint about the whole thorn and the whole issue. And he was at rest and he said, I would rather have You know, I would rather suffer so that the power of God may be manifested through me. What a different attitude that is. Different than Luke 11 too.

Now, most important thing. I'm hoping that my forgiveness of my sins are not dependent on whether I forgive somebody else. I really hope that's not true. Oh, wait a minute. God has been propitiated. What does that mean about my sins? How about the one I'm going to commit this afternoon?

Is it forgiven? Is it paid for? Yes, it is. Do I need to ask about it? No, it's done. Our job as believers is to thank him for what he's already done, not to ask him to do something in the future that he's already done. It's a really important point. Does that make sense? Well, maybe put it this way. God saves a sinner or restores a saint without striking a blow to that person or even offering a word of criticism.

Why? Because of the propitious work of Christ. Because it's already done. When you come to somebody with a gospel message, what are you telling them? God is already satisfied. To be an ambassador of the reconciliation means that you're coming to speak for God and saying, we beg you, be reconciled to God. Why?

Because he's satisfied. It's a pretty big step, I think, in the spiritual growth of a believer to realize that to step over sin, you understand what I'm saying? to behold the glory of the Lord Jesus and not be occupied with your shortcomings and sinfulness. It's a huge step. But that's what he wants. Because you can't be occupied with your sins and him at the same time. You can't do it. See that? You thank him. You don't ask him to be propitious. You thank him because he already has been. So it would kind of be, thank you for our daily bread and thank you for taking away our sins.

I think so. Yeah, I think so. And it's interesting, and although we as Americans don't know what it's like to have much want and need, I've never known a Christian that God didn't meet his physical needs. May not have been to the standard they wanted, but he met their needs. Met Paul's needs.

Is your understanding because God has been propitiated, do you believe you can approach God and are you welcome? What do you think? In your own understanding, because God has been propitiated, do you believe you can approach God and are you welcome? Answer yes. I wrote, what's that? You wrote no. Did I write no? Oh I thought you said you did.

When redemption which is towards sin, reconciliation which is towards men, and propitiation which is towards God, these were all by the death of Christ. When these three things are considered in these specific relationships to the unsaved, and when they are combined into one doctrine or body of truth, they together form what is properly termed the finished work of Christ. I want to read one more thing to you before we go, because I want to finish this. March Banks had a great statement right at the end of the chapter. Before the cross, It was perfectly proper for the publican to pray, God be thou propitious to me the sinner.

Now the one atoning sacrifice has been made and is effectual forever. He is a propitiation for our sins and not for us only, but for the sins of the whole world. God offers that propitiation, yes, he offers his only begotten son to all who will believe. God is satisfied with and rests in what his son accomplished by his shed blood and his resurrection. reader, friend, are you resting in him whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.

That's a good way to end that chapter. Let's close. Dear Father, how we thank you for your grace, and how we thank you as we learn that you really are totally satisfied about the work of Christ on the cross, and you're eminently approachable for us just to behold your glory and abide in your Son. We thank you, we pray in his name. Amen.