Propitiation

Here I Stand Theology

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:05

I am thankful to be saved today. Thankful for the privilege and the honor that we have to be in God's house this morning.

00:14

I am thankful, Tim, for becoming and becoming,

00:21

I guess, your friend more and knowing you. I'm thankful for your testimony.

00:27

And some may say, why should we still have preaching after it's been so good?

00:33

Well, we will have preaching because it is because of the gospel of Jesus Christ that men have a testimony.

00:42

And so that is where we stand, Tim. Again, let me just kind of make note here.

00:49

Tim talked about the importance of testing your salvation, and that is exactly what we've been looking at in the book of 1

00:57

John. For the last month, about a month ago, we began going through 1 John because in 1

01:03

John you have a litmus test to know if you're saved or not. You can tell if you've been saved by how you answer and how you understand the truth of the gospel.

01:14

So in 1 John chapter 1 and through 1

01:20

John chapter 2 and verse 1 is where we left off two weeks ago. Really the focus and really the central theme of the text that we've been looking at there has been about sin.

01:32

And real honestly, sin is kind of a downer. Sin is not something that makes you want to shout.

01:38

Matter of fact, the more you study the scripture and the more you understand of how vile and how wretched a sinner that man is, the worse and worse you feel about yourself.

01:50

But I am so thankful today that when we come to the place where we realize that we are totally, absolutely, and completely wretched, poor, miserable, blind, and naked when it comes to being able to help ourselves unto salvation, friend, you'll never be in a better place than when you're so broke you know you need

02:12

Jesus Christ and He's the only one that's going to be able to provide salvation unto you.

02:20

Spurgeon had it right. If you don't have Jesus, you don't have nothing. And if Jesus ain't everything, then you ain't got nothing.

02:28

So we want to look this morning at a beautiful verse of scripture. One verse we're going to look at, but we're going to read to you quite a bit from the

02:37

Old Testament and back into the New so that you might have an understanding so that you might know what it means when the scripture says that He is the propitiation for our sins.

02:51

1 John chapter 1, or I'm sorry, 1 John chapter 2 if you would turn there.

02:56

And then if you want to, go ahead and turn over in the Old Testament to the book of Leviticus chapter 16 and put your finger there.

03:05

We're going to be reading much of the 16th chapter of the book of Leviticus this morning. And then we're going to end up back over in the

03:12

New Testament in the book of Romans and the third chapter there. So as we read the scripture here in 1

03:20

John, I'm going to go ahead and read verse 1 and 2 together, but our text is going to be from verse 2.

03:26

My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not.

03:32

And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

03:38

And He is the propitiation for our sins.

03:45

That is something you're going to hear repeated this morning. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

03:57

God, I just want to come to you and I want to ask you,

04:04

God, to help me preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen this morning.

04:15

And God, I want to ask you this morning not only to do that for me, but to do something for the people in this place this morning that no other person can do for them.

04:32

I want to ask you to open up the scriptures unto us and help us,

04:40

God, have a deeper and a better understanding and place a higher value and a higher emphasis on your glory and understand the difference and the importance of the

04:52

Old Testament sacrifices and what we see in the fulfillment of those in you in the

04:59

New Testament. For it is in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. And Amen.

05:07

Matthew Henry in his commentary on 1 John said this, The Christian religion is the religion of sinners, of such as have sinned, and in whom sin in some measure still dwells.

05:20

The Christian life is a life of continued repentance, humiliation for, and mortification of sin, of continual faith in, thankfulness for, and love to the

05:33

Redeemer, and hopeful, joyful expectation of a day of glorious redemption in which the believer shall be fully and finally acquitted and sin will be abolished forever.

05:47

I so told you that truly I know that our struggle with sin is real as believers.

05:54

Tim has testified that to you this morning as well. But friends, I would be amiss if I did not preach and proclaim to you today the good news that though our sin be great, that God has provided grace that is greater than our sin in His Son, Jesus Christ.

06:13

There's an old song in the church hymnal that says there is grace in the

06:19

Lord's perfect love. So today, with the help of God, I want to try to preach to you and have you to consider this morning what it means that Jesus Christ, that He is the propitiation for our sins.

06:36

It is important for God's people. It is important for you if you are saved. It is important for you if you're lost and God illuminates and reveals to you your lostness, that you understand and that you know just how important it is what went on in the

06:56

Old Testament in relation to what Jesus did for us in the New Testament.

07:02

And so again, 1 John 2 verse 1, the Scripture simply says

07:07

He is the propitiation for our sins.

07:13

Matthew Henry and I, in his commentary again on this same chapter, made this statement.

07:18

He said it is not confined to one nation and not particularly to the ancient

07:25

Israel of God. He is the propitiation for our sins.

07:30

And not for ours only, as John's speaking, not only for the sins of us

07:37

Jews as that are of Abraham's seed according to the flesh, but also for those of the whole world.

07:44

Not only for the past or us present believers, but for the sins of all who shall hereafter believe on Him or come to God through Him.

07:57

He is the propitiation for our sins. He is the propitiation for my sin, but not for mine only, but for all those who will believe on Him through the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

08:14

He is the propitiation for our sins. Now, what is a propitiation? If you're taking notes, a propitiation is an atoning sacrifice.

08:24

And something that we find from the word of God that was set up under the

08:30

Old Testament covenant, under the Old Testament law, was the practice of the priesthood.

08:37

And the priesthood would offer up yearly, and even daily in some cases, sacrifices to provide what's called a covering for sin.

08:47

And truly, truly, until Jesus Christ came, there was never a propitiation made in full.

08:55

There was never an expiation made in full. There was only a covering for the time.

09:01

But when Jesus Christ came, and when Jesus Christ died, He not only covered our sins, but He did away with our sins.

09:10

He is the propitiation for our sins. Schofield, C .I.

09:15

Schofield, is said in reference to the book of Leviticus chapter 16. He gave the definition atonement.

09:22

Remember, propitiation is an atoning sacrifice. Atonement in theology is a term which covers the whole sacrificial and redemptive work of Christ.

09:35

In the Old Testament, atonement is the English word used to translate the Hebrew word, which means to cover, coverings, or to cover.

09:43

And it was actually pronounced, it's spelled atonement, A -T -O -N -M -E -N -T, but it's actually pronounced atonement.

09:54

So atonement. So Jesus Christ, when the New Testament says, of two,

10:00

He made one. When He made atonement, He completed all things. There were no longer separate things that had to be done.

10:09

When Jesus did the work, it was finished. Amen? And Schofield went on to say this,

10:16

The Levitical offerings covered the sins of Israel until an anticipation of the cross, but did not take away those sins.

10:25

It was the cross, not the Levitical sacrifices, which made atonement or atonement.

10:31

Let's read Leviticus chapter 16. And in this 16th chapter of the book of Leviticus, I want to try, as we read to you, to just kind of draw out where we see the gospel in this passage of Scripture.

10:45

Under the Old Testament practice and in the New Testament fulfillment. Now in the book of Leviticus chapter 16, and we'll begin actually, let's actually begin in verse 3.

10:59

The Bible says this, Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place, Aaron was the high priest of that time, with a young bullock for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

11:11

He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen britches upon his flesh, and he shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired.

11:25

These are holy garments. Therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.

11:35

There was a practice, there was a rite, there was a ritual that the priest had to perform to make himself ready at this time to present the sin offerings unto a holy

11:51

God. He had to be clean, he had to be pure ritually speaking. Now if you're saved today and know anything about the gospel, you know this, that Jesus Christ was perfect.

12:04

Jesus Christ was pure. Jesus Christ was clean. And Jesus Christ was the only one who is able to provide a sacrifice acceptable and holy unto

12:17

God for our sins. The scripture goes on to say here in verse 5, listen,

12:24

And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

12:35

And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself and for his house.

12:46

And he shall take the two goats and present them for the

12:51

Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the

13:02

Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. In other words, one goat was brought to die, and as we'll see a little later in this passage, one goat was brought to live.

13:19

One goat was born to die, and one goat was born to live.

13:25

Just so that everybody here is clear on this, Jesus Christ had to be born of a woman, according to the scriptures, according to the flesh, so that he might come and be the sinless sacrifice that was to be provided for our sins.

13:46

He was born to live a sinless life. And he was born to die a death that no one else could die.

13:56

I am so thankful for that. And so the Bible says Aaron cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the

14:04

Lord and one lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the

14:11

Lord's lot fell and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the

14:23

Lord to make an atonement with him and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.

14:34

And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself and shall make an atonement for himself and for his house and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself.

14:51

And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the

14:57

Lord and in his hands full of sweet incense beaten small and bring it within the veil.

15:06

And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony that he die not.

15:18

Understanding this, that God set up the tabernacle of the congregation in the wilderness so that the children of Israel might have a place that was set up for the purpose of sacrifices so that from year to year they might have a covering provided for their sins.

15:37

There was the outside of the tabernacle, the tabernacle was walled off and then when you went into the tabernacle that was where most folks would gather and most folks would dwell and then you would go into the inner court where the priest ministered, where the priest did their service unto

15:56

God and then beyond the inner court there was what was called the

16:02

Holy of Holies where beforehand God had set up and laid out plans for the

16:08

Ark of the Covenant to be made and in those instructions and in the details of the

16:14

Ark of the Covenant that was made was intended there for the mercy seat for the blood to be sprinkled from year to year so that an atonement, a covering might be made for the children of Israel from year unto year and once a year only was the high priest allowed to go beyond the veil into the

16:35

Holy of Holies. And so what we have read to you thus far is that what you've seen, the sin offering has been made that the two goats have been set aside one to die and one to live and the blood was shed and so now it is

16:53

Aaron's job to go into the place where only the high priest could go once a year and the scripture goes on to tell us this in verse 14

17:04

And he shall take of the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times

17:19

The mercy seat on the Ark of the Covenant was set up and overlaid with gold two angels with their wings spread facing each other so that when the priest would go in he would sprinkle the blood that was shed in the midst of that mercy seat

17:37

Verse 15 it says this Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring his blood within the veil and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat and he shall there's this word again he shall make an atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions in all their sins and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness

18:24

He went in to provide a sacrifice that would provide a cleansing albeit for the time then for the children of Israel Verse 17

18:36

And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place until he come out and have made an atonement for himself for his household and for all the congregation of Israel This was something that only the high priest could do by himself and Jesus Christ the scripture tells us is our great high priest and he had to do the work of salvation all alone if you read in the gospels you'll find that when he went to the garden the disciples were there with him for a time but when it was all said and done he was all alone no one was there to carry the burden but he himself and only the high priest can do that because that was the requirement that God had set out from the beginning for the high priest and so the bible goes on to say this he was alone he was alone and he made an atonement for sin

19:50

Verse 18 And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the Lord and make an atonement for it only he could go into the holy of holies only the priest could go in and out of the holy of holies and that by the course that God had set up only

20:09

Jesus Christ our great high priest was able to ascend into the heavens and provide an atoning sacrifice for our sins and only

20:19

Jesus Christ can go into the heavens and come back out as Aaron did here and he shall go out unto the altar make an atonement shall take the blood of the bullock take the blood of the goat and put it upon the horns of the altar round about and he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times and cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel and when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place when his work was through when his work was finished when all was fulfilled be as it were for that time he reconciled the

21:03

Bible says in the New Testament that Jesus Christ has reconciled us unto

21:09

God he reconciled the holy place and the tabernacle of the congregation of the children of Israel Jesus Christ reconciled the difference that sin produced between us and God that's what that's saying right there and the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar and he shall bring the live goat and Aaron shall lay both his hands listen

21:40

Aaron shall lay both his hands with blood on them upon the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins putting them upon the head of the goat and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness and verse 22 says and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness in the book of Isaiah we have the prophecy concerning Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of this what was testified and spoken of in Leviticus in Isaiah chapter 53 and beginning in verse 3 the scripture says this concerning Christ he is despised and rejected of men he is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we esteemed him not surely he hath borne our griefs the hands on the head of the goat bearing the iniquities surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the

23:39

Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb so he openeth not his mouth he was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off listen he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth yet it pleased the

24:27

Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the

24:42

Lord shall prosper in his hand he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities therefore

25:00

I will divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bare the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors so Aaron killed the goat that the

25:29

Lord's lot fell on for whom the sin offering was to be made took the blood of that goat put his hands on the goat that was chosen to live and chosen to bear and chosen to carry away the sins of his people and he not only didn't just let it go in the midst of the tabernacle but they took him out into the wilderness where the goat ran off never to be seen and never to be heard of again the beautiful thing about the fact that Jesus Christ is the propitiation for my sins is that my sins are no longer remembered that they are carried away as far as the east is from the west he is the propitiation for our sins and Aaron verse 23 and Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation and shall put off the linen garments which he put on when he went into the holy place and he shall leave them there oh friends after the work was finished after the work was completed after the work was done

26:43

I want you to know something the next thing that the high priest had to do was to take off those clean pure garments that he had put on to begin the process and he was called to lay those things aside and they were to be burned up and they were not to be used or taken part of again so he laid those aside made himself clean through the ritual cleansing but friends

27:09

I want you to listen to something concerning our great high priest for after Jesus Christ became the propitiation for our sins when he cried out it is finished there on the cross sin was propitiated there was an atoning sacrifice that was made sin was expiated sin was done away with as far as the forgiveness of sins went concerning Jesus Christ and the work was finished and the work was completed so according as it was in the

27:39

Old Testament the job and the responsibility of the high priest was to lay aside the linen garments that he had on so Jesus Christ died he was put in the grave and the scripture says in John's Gospel verse chapter 20 and verse 1 the first day of the week cometh

27:57

Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark unto the sepulcher and seeth a stone taken away from the sepulcher then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom

28:09

Jesus loved and saith unto them they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher and we know not where they have laid him

28:17

Peter therefore went forth and that other disciple and came to the sepulcher so they both ran together and the other disciple did outrun

28:27

Peter and came first to the sepulcher and he stooping down and looking in the

28:33

Bible says this and he saw the linen clothes lying yet went he not in listen they wrapped the body of our great high priest in linen garments but friend the linen garments that may symbolize and show forth purity in this world are not the exact and the true symbol of purity for Jesus Christ is true purity

28:58

Jesus Christ is the holiness of God and the Bible said he saw the linen clothes lying and where they had been and another gospel the scripture says when the disciples came to the place of the sepulcher where they had graved one gospel writer says this when they looked in to the grave they seen two angels just like the mercy seat one sitting at the foot and one sitting at the head of the body where Jesus had lain and they said why do you seek the living among the dead for he is not here but he is risen he is the propitiation for our sins propitiation required not only the priest not only required a sacrifice but it required a place for the sacrifice which was the mercy seat and Jesus Christ was all of those things friends we have a triune

30:00

God God is God the Father God the Son and God the

30:06

Holy Spirit and friends I want you to know he is our high priest he is the propitiating and expiating sacrifice and he is the mercy seat where that propitiating and expiating sacrifice was provided and given to us let me close with reading this the book of Romans the book of Romans chapter 3 and verse 21 through verse 28 but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom

31:07

God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins the expiation of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God so some would say how was

31:34

God justified in passing over the sins of the Old Testament believers he was justified because he set up a covering for the time in those

31:44

Levitical sacrifices but my friends let me tell you what he did he made a way so that not only the temporary coverings for sin under the

31:54

Old Testament practices were provided expiation and propitiation for but the sins of those who live present and the sins of those who live future now have the hope of propitiation of their sins through Jesus Christ Paul said to declare

32:11

I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus where is boasting then it is excluded by what law of works nay but by the law of faith therefore we conclude that man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law an old hymn writer put it this way concerning salvation through Jesus Christ concerning the propitiation that Jesus Christ made by the way the

32:45

New Testament teaches us and tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins the old song writer

32:54

William Calper wrote this old song and this is how he put it there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains the dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day and there may

33:19

I though vile as he wash all my sins away dear dying lamb thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more e 'er since by faith

33:38

I saw the stream thy flowing wounds supply redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die then in a nobler sweeter song

33:54

I'll sing thy power to save when this poor whispering stammering tongue lies silent in the grave

34:04

Lord I believe thou hast prepared unworthy though I be for me a blood bought free reward a golden harp for me tis strung in tune for endless years and formed by power divine to sound in God the

34:27

Father's ears no other name but thine Heavenly Father today

34:35

I understand right now just a little bit and I'm able

34:40

God it's so resounding in my soul what you had Paul say and what we had preserved for us in your word when

34:49

Paul said unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to the

35:02

Gentiles oh God save the lost God save those that might be in this place today that have heard the gospel over and over and yet dear

35:15

God it has left them unaffected caused them to understand and know God your saving efficacious power in the working of their heart and changing them dear

35:29

God from an old person an old man into a new creature where all their entire life is changed in an instant in view of what you have done otherwise

35:45

God please please please for our loved ones

35:51

God have mercy delay God if you would your coming just a bit longer and God tarry with our lost people oh

36:08

God cause judgment to begin here at the house of God cause your people

36:18

God to love nothing less than the sincere milk of your word

36:26

God cause us God to have a greater hunger cause us oh

36:33

God to have a greater thirst for righteousness let us not be content with the rut and the routine of what many call the daily