WWUTT 1202 Whom God Put Forward as a Propitiation? (Romans 3:25)

Romans 3:21-26 and the Righteousness of God Through Faith

As a demonstration of His love and His grace, God put forward His Son, Jesus, to be a propitiation for our sins to be received by faith. Know what this means when we understand the text.

You're listening to When We Understand The Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Find videos and more at our website, www .tt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the book of Romans, chapter 3. And as with yesterday, I'm going to begin by reading verses 21 through 26. The Apostle Paul writes,. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith.

This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

So yesterday we looked at verses 23 and 24, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now, that flows from the statement that was in the previous verse, where it says the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, whether they are Jew or Gentile, all who believe receive the righteousness of God that has been imputed to them by faith in Jesus Christ, who by His death on the cross has atoned for our sins and given us that righteousness.

Our sins were placed upon Him on the cross. His righteousness has been given to us by faith. That is 2 Corinthians 5 .21 that also illustrates this doctrine of double imputation. For our sake, He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

And as I had taught previously on this, the picture that we're given of this in the Old Testament is of the lamb that is being sacrificed on the altar and the head of the household who brings that lamb into the place of sacrifice, puts his hand on the lamb's head.

The lamb is slaughtered. Its blood is spilled. And with the man's hand on its head, it symbolizes a transference of guilt from the person or he representing his family. Maybe someone in his family has sinned.

There's a transference of sin from himself onto the animal and the animal is sacrificed on his behalf. Now that doesn't mean that that actually happens because the book of Hebrews says the blood of animals really had no power to forgive anyone's sin anyway, it was all symbolic and pointing to one who was to come who would fulfill these things spiritually.

And that is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the lamb of God, who was sacrificed on the cross for us. So you have that transference of sin symbolized in the Old Testament by the hand on the head. But what you did not get from that is a transference of righteousness onto the person sacrificing the animal.

An animal has no righteousness, especially not when it comes to understanding the kind of sin that we bear as image bearers of God. And we took the mind and the breath and the body that God gave to us for his glory and we blasphemed God with them instead and glorified ourselves.

And so because of the sin of man who was made in God's image for his glory and instead we glorified ourselves, there is a sin that is unique to us that is just not among animals. So there's not a righteousness within an animal, even a spotless lamb being sacrificed on an altar that is therefore transferred to the person who is sacrificing.

So all of that was supposed to be symbolic and it was pointing to Christ, who was to come, who is our righteousness. He is sin for us, became sin for us, Second Corinthians 521 again, and gave us his righteousness so that we stand before God justified.

And therefore we read on in verse 24, we are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. All who believe receive the righteousness of God. All have sinned. All are justified by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

That's verse 25. So God put Christ forward and you've probably heard this question raised before. Who was it that killed Jesus? And the question may be absurd at first because you might be thinking, well, the Romans killed Jesus.

It was Pilate who then turned him over to the guard who then took him up on Golgotha and nailed nails in his hands and his feet and hoisted him up on a Roman cross. So therefore it was the Romans who killed Jesus.

Others might say, well, the Jews were the ones who killed Jesus. They're the ones that arrested him. They lied about him, presented him before Pilate. They're the ones who said he blasphemed God by claiming to be God.

When, of course, that was the truth. Jesus is God. And because of the false testimony that they bore against Christ, then Pilate and the Romans just simply did what the Jews were demanding them to do.

So therefore, you say the Jews killed Jesus. Well, then you want to get more broadly theological and you want to say, well, we killed Jesus. It wasn't the Romans. It wasn't the Jews. We're just as guilty as anyone 2000 years ago who would have put him on that cross.

We've sinned against God. And because of our sin, God gave his son to be sacrificed for us. Therefore, we're the ones who killed Jesus. Well, what's the answer to this question? We have God killed Jesus.

The Romans killed Jesus. The Jews killed Jesus. We killed Jesus. Who killed Jesus? Well, the answer is all of the above. Right. A, B, C, D, E, all of the above. That would be the answer. But only one of those is not guilty of any wrongdoing or sin.

And that is God. God put forward his son. Jesus willingly laid down his life. So it's not that the father was crushing his son and Jesus was doing something unwillingly. Jesus willingly went to the cross.

His desire was to do the will of the father. But it was the father who put his own son forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. And we who believe in Christ, what he accomplished there on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, our sins are forgiven and we have right standing with God.

We have become Christ's inheritance. The father gives us to the son as a possession because of the righteousness by which Jesus accomplished all of these things, sinlessly fulfilling the law, laying his own life down in obedience to the father.

God raised him up and he is seated in the heavenly places at the right hand of the throne of God. Now, all of this has been bestowed upon Christ, the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father, which we have there in Philippians chapter two, verses 10 and 11.

So we are the treasure that God has given to Christ for a possession because of all that he accomplished in righteousness. If you are a follower of Jesus, the father has given you to the son. The son was given for us that our sins would be atoned for so that he might purify for himself a people, as it says in Titus 2, 14.

But this is all the work of God. And this was preached from the very first time that the gospel was proclaimed in Jerusalem. Consider what Peter said here in Acts chapter two, verse 23, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.

You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. There you have it. You have Peter saying Jesus was crucified because this was according to God's definite plan and foreknowledge. But you did this, you crucified and you killed him.

And then at the end of this sermon, when he cuts the Jews to the heart by the things that he points out, according to the fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures, he says in verse 36, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

Later on in Acts chapter four, the apostles have been persecuted for proclaiming the gospel of Christ. And when they are set free, they pray unto the Lord. And here is what they pray. Sovereign Lord who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them who threw the mouth of our father, David, your servant said by the Holy spirit, why did the Gentiles rage and the people's plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. This is verse 27 for truly in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel.

You even have specific names that are mentioned there. Herod, king of the Jews, Pontius Pilate, ruler of the Romans, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel who went along with this to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

And now Lord look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with boldness while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant, Jesus.

This was the prayer for boldness that the apostles prayed after they were persecuted and set free. And it's within this prayer and acknowledgement of God's sovereignty here in Acts chapter four verses 24 through 30 is where we find this prayer that they say for truly in this city, I read this again, truly in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

So yes, there were wicked men who put Jesus to death, but this was all according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. Peter even said this in his sermon. The first time that the gospel was preached in Jerusalem, he said, God put Christ forward, but you crucified him by the hands of lawless men.

And so when Paul gets to chapter nine, Romans chapter nine, verse 19, and he says, why does God still find fault for who can resist his will? But who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me like this?

Paul is responding to an argument that has already been answered in the presentation of the gospel. Of course, he's responding to the skeptic who's attempting to argue back against the concept of God's sovereign election.

He's responding to that kind of an argument, but Peter had already proclaimed it in the first declaration of the gospel at Pentecost. God put forward his son, he did this, but it by no means relieves you of the guilt that you've committed against God by putting his son to death.

Even though this was all according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, it doesn't mean you are guiltless. And the way that Peter preached this cut the Jews to the heart. And they said, what are we going to do?

Because they realized according to what Peter said and showed according to the Old Testament scriptures that Christ had fulfilled these things that had been prophesied. They knew that they had killed the son of God and they were terrified.

The judgment of God is going to fall upon us because we killed the one whom God sent had prophesied about the Messiah who was to come that we had been looking for. We didn't even see him when he came here and we put him to death.

So now what are we going to do? And Peter says, repent and be baptized every single one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts two thirty nine for the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off for you Jews, for those who are going to be descended from the Jews and even for the Gentiles, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.

This was the very first time the gospel was proclaimed. How do you like that? It was it was a predestination sermon that Peter that Peter preached there at Pentecost, a predestination sermon Peter preached at Pentecost.

That's tougher than Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Anyway, we so we continue on here in Romans chapter three, verse twenty four. We are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation.

The word propitiation means that the wrath of God is satisfied by the sacrifice of Christ. And we saw foreshadowing regarding this all through the Old Testament as well. Noah in the ark after Noah ran aground and everybody, uh, they unboarded the ark.

What about what is the word I'm looking for here? They they disembarked the ark when they got off the ark. What was the first thing that Noah did? He built an altar and he sacrificed unto the Lord. And it says there in Genesis eight, verse twenty one, when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth.

Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. So the sacrifice that Noah lifted up and the fact that the wrath of God had been poured out, God's wrath was satisfied. The way that we might understand this is he rested from his wrath just as he rested from creation on the seventh day.

So after his wrath was poured out and Noah lifted up a sacrifice, the righteous man whom God had saved, then the Lord turned back in his anger. Do a search for that sometime. Pull that up in the Old Testament, you know, like through a Bible gateway search or something like that.

Look for how many times it shows up in the Old Testament that the Lord turned back in his anger. I think the easiest way to do this search would be just just to do a word search of turn and anger, just those two words and see how many times this comes up in the Old Testament that something was done to turn the anger of the Lord back from destroying his people, which was surely about to happen after Israel worshipped a golden calf while the Lord had been talking with Moses on Mount Sinai.

Moses was a mediator on behalf of the people of Israel and asked the Lord not to destroy them. And it says the Lord turned back in his anger. He relented in his anger, which would have if the Lord burned in his anger would have wiped out Israel.

But in doing this, he was sanctifying Moses as a mediator for his people and as a type that was pointing to Christ, who is the greater Moses, according to the book of Hebrews. Consider these words in Isaiah 12, 1.

The Lord is my strength and my song. You will say in that day, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away that you might comfort me. And we have this in the Psalms also, Psalm 85, 3.

You withdrew all your wrath. You turned from your hot anger. And it's the sacrifice of Christ that has done that for us. So all who believe in Jesus covered by his blood, the wrath of God that was burning against our unrighteousness has been turned back.

He is a propitiation. He has satisfied the wrath of God that was burning against the unrighteousness that previously we had walked in. John 3, 36 says, whoever has the sun has life, but whoever does not obey the sun shall not see life.

But the wrath of God remains on him. Not that the wrath of God comes upon him. It remains on that person who does not follow Christ because the wrath of God was on him beforehand as one who was born in the line of Adam under the curse of sin.

It is by Jesus Christ that we are born again and delivered from the curse into the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. This is all wrapped up in an understanding of propitiation. We are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation.

It's in Isaiah 53, 4 that we read. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.

Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent. So he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away.

And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring. That's us. We were followers of Jesus Christ. He shall prolong his days.

The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 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 righteousness 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.

When it comes to understanding how Christ is a propitiation for our sin, there's really no chapter to go to that better explains this than Isaiah 53. So God put him forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

And this was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

That's where we'll pick up tomorrow, finishing up verse 25 and on to verse 26. Let's conclude with prayer. Heavenly Father, you are good. You are a good God. Even on our worst days, you are still good.

No matter what it is that we are going through, it is much better than what it is that we deserve. It is in your divine forbearance, you have passed over former sins. You don't give us what we deserve, but rather in your grace, you give us your son, Jesus, who died for us as a sacrifice for sins so that we would not perish in our transgressions, but we would have everlasting life with you forever in glory.

What a wonderful gift. What a wonderful love demonstrated through your son, through Jesus Christ, our savior. May we desire to walk in his ways all of our days. And it's in his name that we pray.

Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog, sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues. You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .tt .com.

Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's Word…when we understand the text.