Christ, Our Propitiation

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If you have your Bibles with you this morning, please take them and turn to the small letter of 1st John.
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I'm hopeful that those in my Sunday School class won't feel slighted, because we've been in 1st John now for quite some time, and they were perhaps hoping to hear from another book.
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Justice is a concept that has tremendous importance to our society, and is a part of the very foundation of our nation.
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The preamble to the United States Constitution reads, We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
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Notice that justice is the item mentioned first in the preamble.
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It is the goal of our nation that all citizens, regardless of ancestral heritage or economic status, be viewed equally under the laws of our nation.
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However, despite the best intentions of even the best of men, we understand that because of the sinful nature of man, no government made by men is perfect, nor will there ever be a perfect government established by men.
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No law can be passed to change the sinful hearts of men to conform them to the nature of God.
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Though justice is our goal, it is impossible for us to be perfectly just because we are sinful men.
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Yet being just, in all cases, should be our goal.
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To help us achieve justice, the statement in James 2.9, but if you show partiality you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors, should always be in the forefront of our minds.
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As evidence of our inability to be perfectly just, we each can look back upon some legal decisions that judges have made and verdicts that juries have reached and question whether or not partiality has been shown or whether or not justice has been applied.
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However, this is not a concern with God.
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God is just and does not show partiality.
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Deuteronomy 10.17 says, For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.
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2 Chronicles 19.7 says, Now then let the fear of the Lord be upon you.
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Be very careful what you do, for the Lord our God will have no part in unrighteousness or partiality or the taking of a bribe.
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Nehemiah 9.33 However, you, referring to God, are just in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully.
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The small book of Zephaniah 3.5 says, The Lord is righteous within her, referring to Israel.
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He will do not injustice.
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Every morning he brings justice to light.
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He does not fail.
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Acts 10.34 Opening his mouth, Peter said, I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality.
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Romans 2.11 For there is no partiality with God.
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1 Peter 1.17 If you address as father the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth.
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The scripture is clear.
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God is just.
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God shows no partiality.
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However, as was mentioned before, we can recall hearing of or reading about court decisions where we believe either the judge presiding over the case or the jury examining the evidence failed to reach a just verdict.
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Men are not perfectly just, but God is.
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True justice to us means that the guilty receive a punishment consistent with the crime committed, that the guilty do not go unpunished, and that the innocent are not convicted of crimes they did not commit.
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An old version of Webster's Dictionary defines the word just to mean acting or disposed to act conformably to what is right, rendering or disposed to render to each one his due, equitable in the distribution of justice, upright, impartial, fair, blameless, righteous, conformed to rules or principles of justice, equitable, due, merited, rightful, proper, conformed to fact, exact.
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If God is just, then he punishes the guilty and declares the innocent to be blameless before the law.
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He is impartial.
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He is righteous.
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His judgments are based upon fact.
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So consider the state of man before God who judges rightly.
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Romans 3 23 declares, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
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Romans chapter 3 verses 9 through 12, which quote Psalm 14, 1 through 3.
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What then are we better than they? Not at all.
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For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin as it is written.
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There is none righteous, not even one.
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There is none who understands.
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There is none who seeks for God.
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All have turned aside.
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Together they have become useless.
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There is none who does good.
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There is not even one.
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These verses should be enough to convince each of us that we are sinners before a just, righteous, and holy God.
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However, if you are not convinced of your own guilt before the law of God, then compare yourself to what we call the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20.
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You shall have no other gods before me.
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You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth.
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You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain.
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Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
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Honor your father and your mother.
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You shall not murder.
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You shall not commit adultery.
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You shall not steal.
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You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
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You shall not covet.
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If we turn to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5 through 7, we find that even if we have not broken some of these commandments literally, we are guilty of them nonetheless because of the condition of our hearts and the thoughts we think.
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For example, Matthew chapter 5, verses 21 and 22, You have heard that the ancients were told you shall not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.
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But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court, and whoever says to his brother you good for nothing shall be guilty before the supreme court, and whoever says you fool shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
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Matthew chapter 5 and verses 27 and 28, You have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
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There are other examples of Jesus showing that sinful thoughts from the heart are contrary to God's law, just as if the actual acts were committed.
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However, I think these make the point that an honest self-evaluation of our hearts tells us that we have transgressed God's law.
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Also, whether or not we want to admit it, God knows the condition of our heart.
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Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5, Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
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Jeremiah chapter 17 verses 9 and 10, The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick.
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Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.
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In Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse 3, The hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives.
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We are guilty before the law of God.
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We have transgressed his law and therefore are worthy of condemnation.
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This brings us to our question of the morning.
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If all of mankind is guilty before the law of God and God is just, then how can he declare his people to be righteous? Let's think about this question in another way.
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Consider for a moment part of the gospel message that we proclaim.
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We proclaim to the world that Christians will spend eternity in the presence of God rather than spend eternity in hell as objects of his wrath.
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So our question is, if we are guilty before the law of God, then how can God forgive our sin and still be just? The book of Job asked this question three different times.
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In chapter 4 verse 17, Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his maker? Job chapter 9 and verse 2, But how can a man be in the right before God? In Job chapter 25 and verse 4, How then can a man be just with God? This brings us to our text for the morning.
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1 John chapter 4 verses 9 and 10.
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I ask that you stand, please, as we read.
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By this, the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent his only begotten son into the world so that we might live through him.
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In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.
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Let's pray.
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Father God, thank you for the opportunity to once again open your Word and to study and to learn.
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And Father, we ask that our time in the Word would be fruitful this morning, that we would learn that as a result of our study that we would be more fruitful for these.
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I pray, Father, that you would help me to speak truth, and that you would open our hearts and minds to hear and understand and obey your truth.
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In Jesus' name we pray.
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Amen.
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Let's first consider some of the context of John's letter.
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John's purpose in writing this letter is given to us in the fifth chapter.
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And in verse 13, he says, These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
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This letter was written so that believers may have assurance of salvation.
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In this letter, there are three tests given to help believers know that they are saved.
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That is, that they are righteous before God.
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Notice John uses the idea of being born of God to refer to those who believe in the gospel.
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So if you look in chapter 2 and verse 29, for example, John writes, If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.
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In chapter 4 and verse 7, we read, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
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In chapter 5 and verse 1, it says, Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.
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From these verses, we see that the three tests that John gives us are practicing righteousness, loving the brethren, and believing that Jesus is the Christ.
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Individuals who do these things have been born of God.
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Now, on this side of glory, we will not be perfect.
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It's important to understand that.
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Paul notes this in Galatians chapter 5 and verse 17, For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
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We will fight the battle against sin until we leave this world.
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However, the three tests that John gives us indicate an overall pattern of what the life of a believer should look like.
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Notice that these are not three tests to become a believer.
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Rather, they are three tests to know that you are already a believer.
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This is important to remember because we are trying to answer the question, How can God be just and yet forgive sins? We have sinned against a holy God, and the wages of sin, or what we have earned by our sinning, is death, according to Romans 6.23.
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Death means spending eternity as an object of God's wrath.
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Death is permanent.
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Notice the text does not say that the wages of sin is death followed by life.
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Rather, the text says that the wages of sin is simply death.
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Therefore, we should realize that we cannot pay our penalty in full.
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We have earned death.
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God is just, therefore, in condemning us.
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Spiritual death is spending of eternity as an object of God's wrath because that is what is just.
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That is what we have earned.
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Now look at our text here in 1 John 4.
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By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent his only begotten Son so that we might live through him.
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Verse 9 God's love is true love.
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God's love is not just a feeling or an emotion.
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God's love involves action.
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God's love involves work.
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When we think about how we know whether someone loves us, we answer based upon what they do for us because we cannot know what the other person feels.
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We can't see their heart.
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We can only see their actions.
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The expression of true love is done through action.
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Here John indicates that God's love was manifested in us.
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According to Webster, to manifest means to disclose to the eye or to the understanding, to show plainly, to exhibit.
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Therefore, God's love was exhibited in us.
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It was shown plainly in us.
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But as we said before, God's love involves action and John tells us here in this text what that action is, that God has sent his only begotten Son.
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There is the action, the sending of his Son.
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John not only tells us what God's action is, but he also tells us why God sent him.
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The text says so that we might live through him.
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When the scripture talks about our living through him, this means we will live eternally with God in heaven because of Christ's coming to earth.
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However, we do not yet have an answer to our question, which is how can God be just and yet forgive our sins? So far we know that God has expressed his love or manifested his love through the sending of his Son.
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But what did the sending of his Son accomplish? This brings us to verse 10.
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In this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
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John tells us that he's going to be more specific about how God's love was manifested in us.
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That is how his love was shown or exhibited in us.
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He says in this is love.
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Now we must be careful to remember our grammar rules.
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Remember that sentences have subjects and objects.
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When we speak in the active voice, the subject of the sentence does the action.
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And the object of the sentence receives the action.
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In verse 9, God is the subject, meaning that he is doing the action expressed in the sentence.
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In this case, the action is manifesting or revealing, and what is being manifested is his love.
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We need to remember this because before John completes his thought, he wants his readers to be clear that we as human beings are not doing the action.
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Notice what he says.
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Not that we love God.
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Please understand that God's love for us is not dependent upon or a result of our loving him.
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Recall the verses we read earlier from Genesis, Ecclesiastes and Jeremiah regarding the heart of man.
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A heart that thinks evil continually cannot love as God loves.
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So please understand that God's manifesting his love in us is not a result of our loving him.
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If this were the case, man would be the subject of the sentence because we would be doing the action, and God would be the object of the sentence because he would be receiving the action.
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But that is not the case here.
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God is the subject of the sentence, meaning he is doing the action.
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The action that he is doing is demonstrating his love for his people.
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He demonstrated his love by sending his son to be the propitiation for our sins, according to the text.
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Now, let's define this word propitiation because it is not a word we commonly use in our culture.
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Webster states that as a verb, to propitiate means to appease and render favorable.
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Therefore, as a noun, the word means the atonement or atoning sacrifice offered to God to assuage his wrath and render him propitious to sinners.
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John uses the same word in chapter 2 of his letter.
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He says in verse 1, My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.
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And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
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And he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
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Jesus Christ is the propitiation for sins for all those who are believers, regardless of one's ancestors.
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Jesus Christ is a propitiation, not just for those in the church John was addressing, but for all believers everywhere in the world for all time.
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He is the only propitiation that will be sent into the world.
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The same root in the original is used in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 17.
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Therefore, 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.
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Christ is the high priest offered the sacrifice for sins to God.
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The same root is used in Romans chapter 3 and verse 25 that we read as part of our call to worship this morning.
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Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith.
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This was to demonstrate his righteousness because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed.
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The scriptures apply this word to Christ because of his work on the cross.
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Remember that Jesus Christ was without sin in any form.
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He was righteous.
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He was blameless.
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Before the law he was innocent.
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This means that before the law he owed no penalty for sin whatsoever.
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Therefore, any payment that he made could be applied to others.
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You see, for God to be just, he must punish sin.
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For God to be righteous, he cannot let sin go unpunished.
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God demands justice.
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This now brings us to what propitiation means.
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Jesus Christ paid the penalty for the sins of his people.
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He bore that penalty on the cross when he bore the punishment for sins he did not commit.
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He paid the penalty for our sins.
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Because the penalty has been paid, God's demand for justice has been met in Christ.
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Jesus Christ satisfied God's demand for justice by paying on our behalf the penalty for our sins.
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He is therefore our propitiation.
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The one who satisfied God's demand for justice in our behalf.
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You might be wondering, how is it just for Christ to pay the penalty for sins he did not commit? That's a fair question.
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Consider a bill that you owe to a creditor.
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Does it matter to the creditor who pays the bill? No.
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As long as the creditor receives payment, then the debt is considered to be paid.
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In the case of our sin, we cannot pay someone else's debt because we owe a debt ourselves.
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Therefore, any payment that we would make would apply to our own debt and not to the debt of another person.
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However, Jesus Christ owed no debts.
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Therefore, any payment he made could be applied to the debt of another.
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So now come back to our text in 1 John.
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God's love was demonstrated in the work of Christ because God sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sin.
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That is, Jesus Christ satisfied God's demand for justice in our behalf.
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Recall the question that we asked earlier.
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How can God be just and yet forgive our sins? He is just and can forgive our sins because the payment for sins was made at the cross by Christ.
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Therefore, a debt no longer remains.
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If there is no debt to pay, then the debt is forgiven.
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It's gone.
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This, then, is the answer to the question asked in the book of Job.
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How, then, can a man be just with God? The elect of God are just or declared righteous or without blame before God because Jesus Christ is our propitiation.
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He satisfied God's demand for justice when he made payment for our sins.
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The question we should then ask is why.
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Why would he send his only begotten Son into the world to live a sinless life and then make payment for sins he did not commit? What does our text here in 1 John say? Love.
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God loves his people.
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He has shown or displayed or exhibited or manifested his love for us through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
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Oh, that we would meditate upon this love, treasure this love, and proclaim this love to a world filled with lost souls who need to hear about God's love for his people.
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By this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through him.
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And this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
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He loved us enough to send his only Son to pay in full the penalty for our sin.
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God is just because the sin has been punished, but we are forgiven because the debt was paid.
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Let's pray.
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Lord God, how grateful we are to you for your Son, Jesus Christ, and for his sacrifice for us upon the cross.
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We thank you that you are just and that you are righteous and that yet you established a way for our sins to be forgiven, our debts to be paid, whereby we could before you be declared righteous.
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Lord, we confess to you we have not earned this righteousness, for we are but sinners and the wages of our sin is death.
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We have earned death.
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We have earned condemnation.
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But in your love and in your righteousness, you sent your Son that he might pay the penalty for our sin and that the righteousness that he earned would be applied to us and the penalty of our sin would be applied to him.
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And because the debt has been paid, we can be declared righteous.
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Oh, thank you, Father, for your love for us.
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Lord, in the name of the Son, we pray.