The Slain Lamb, Standing: Rejoicing In Penalty Substitution (part 2) - [Revelation 5]

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Clear Thinking About Homosexuality (part 3) - [Romans 1]

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Most of you are familiar with John Newton for his song amazing grace
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Well, he wrote lots of other songs and here's some lyrics to a one that should be more popular
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When on the cross my lord I see Bleeding to death for wretched me
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Satan and sin no more can move For I am all transformed to love
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His thorns and nails pierced through my heart in every groan I bear apart
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I view his wounds with streaming eyes but see
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He bows his head and dies Come sinners view the
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Lamb of God wounded and dead and bathed in blood Behold his side and venture near the well of endless life is here
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John Newton This morning if you're a sinner, I have good news for you
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If you realize that you're a sinner who's broken the greatest command of God to love the
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Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and then the second one that's like it to love your
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Neighbors yourself if you realize you've fallen short of the glory of God. I've got great news for you wonderful news transforming news
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News that talks about Jesus Christ the perfect one the Holy One who took the penalty for Sinners like you if you say to yourself, well,
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I don't really sin. I've just got some dysfunctions and I have some diseases and I have some syndromes and I I Learned everything from my father and mother and I can't be blamed.
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I Have no good news for you But if you realize Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners as a penalty as a
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Substitute and you focus on that as we will today in scripture. You'll see that there's no greater love.
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There's no greater motivation Spurgeon put it this way when I thought
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God was hard. I found it easy to sin But when
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I found God so kind so good so overflowing with compassion
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I Smote upon my breast to think that I ever could have rebelled against one who loved me.
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So and so sought my good What motivates a Christian Sometimes duty.
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Yes, sometimes fear. Yes, but when you look at the Lamb of God who was slain
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That elicits the praise of the church There are many competing theories for the doctrine of the atonement what happened at Calvary and most people
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Mainline Christians or evangelical Christians, they don't argue that it happened But they argue about the significance of what happened in other words
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They say Jesus died on the cross and he was buried and he was raised from the dead. But how do we interpret that?
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theologically Historically Christians would say yes. Amen. I affirm it. But then how do we see it theologically?
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What happened at the cross? So today we're gonna look at again the doctrine of penalty
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Substitution and it is the veritable lynchpin of the church. If you lose this you lose everything
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What's a lynchpin? It's a little fastener that makes the wheel stay on the axle so it doesn't fly off In the 14th century you called those lynchpins axle tree pins who knew that?
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Nobody see you've already learned and then over time Lynchpin became a figurative word for something that was important the most important part of a complex organization our structure the most important person of a system it's the most critical and that's why substitutionary atonement penalty substitution is
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The lynchpin of the church remember last week. We looked at the center of heaven Who are they worshiping in heaven
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Jesus Christ the Lamb who was slain They were singing by your blood you ransomed people for God When you study the doctrine of substitutionary atonement, you'll realize that Jesus the
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Holy One Didn't deserve to be punished, but he was punished in our place
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And when you realize you're a sinner Then you realize how great that transaction actually was
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Especially when Jesus didn't have to come and die in our place So what are we gonna do today?
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Well, we've been working through the book of Malachi on Sunday mornings But I wanted to take a small detour
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Sometimes small detours take you a long ways don't they but that's fine If penalty substitution is so important, then it should not shock us that this
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The enemy Satan would want to attack it And he attacks in many different ways that we saw last week.
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One of the ways he attacks it is because how can we think of penalty substitution in a day and age that we live in where rehab is in but Retributive judgment is out.
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I Mean if I put it this way Could you really stomach it? Jesus Christ suffered the death penalty for me
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So we can't even talk about death penalty in the country because it becomes cruel and unusual punishment
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But in fact Jesus did suffer the death penalty for his bride people
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Resist that one lady said particularly appalling is the traditional view that God is responsible for Jesus's suffering and sacrifice on the cross this paves the way for Parental mistreatment and God condones parental mistreatment, of course not
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I mean haven't we evolved past this bloody death penalty kind of language
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Remember the great liberal preacher and he was a great orator Harry Emerson Fosdick and he wrote a book called a guide to understanding the
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Bible anybody read it Have you read have you read it good because here's what he said God evolves and So you go back to?
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Genesis and Abraham bloodthirsty God You go back to Genesis and you see
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Noah and the God of Noah killing everybody with the flood I mean at least
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God is evolving a little bit with the God of David because There's some praise and some wonderful things from David he's not quite there yet because he would have
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David right in precatory Psalms and And then God was really making improvement
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Fosdick said when Jesus came along and Jesus taught wonderful things and he's still in process because Jesus taught about hell and so Fosdick would have us think
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God is evolving from this bloodthirsty God to the God He now says he worships
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So I said to myself if this doctrine is that important as we learned last week if it's the center of heaven it should be the center of the church
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What concept could we learn is there something in the Bible we could learn to make us once and for all say any attack against penalty substitution is easily
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Spotted we could say to ourselves knowing such -and -such a scripture we could easily say when the
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Detractors come along substitutionary atonement is not right penalty substitution is uncouth and boorish.
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What could we do? and so today we're going to study the doctrine of Propitiation the doctrine of propitiation and we're gonna look at the six times in the
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New Testament Where this word group is used for propitiation and if you get this word down and understand its concept and these six passages
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You'll forever say God, thank you for sending your son to die for me.
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What greater example of love and sacrifice the penalty has been paid It's finished God.
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I praise you and thank you and in fact, it is true Now what were those six passages be?
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Anybody know where in the New Testament is Propitiation language used we're gonna go six of them today, and I think
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I can get through all of them If I had an hour and a half to preach a nitro, what was that? Look the doctrine of propitiation will remind you of All the facts about God to make sure you can see the atonement properly
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God's holy and has to punish sin. God's just he has to keep his law withheld
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God's loving because he sent his son The doctrine of propitiation. So we're gonna look at six
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New Testament passages that have this word group used Luke 18
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Romans 3 Hebrews 2 Hebrews 9 1st, John 2 and 1st,
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John 4 I'm gonna say it again. The Greek word is hell asked. That's the front part of the word and it's found in Luke 18
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Romans 3 Hebrews 2 Hebrews 9 1st, John 2 1st,
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John 4 John talks about propitiation The writer of Hebrews talks about propitiation our
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Lord Jesus talks about it and you need to know this doctrine because it should help you understand the doctrine of substitutionary atonement
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I Love this word for more reasons than just I like the way it rolls off my tongue
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Propitiation. It's just a fun word to say propitiation So let's go to Luke chapter 18, please and we're gonna walk through the doctrine of propitiation
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Doing many exposition. Here's six many expositions Luke 18 Romans 3
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Hebrews 2 Hebrews 9 1st, John 2 1st, John 4 you got it the doctrine of propitiation
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And we're gonna see very quickly as you're turning to Luke 18 God is the one who propitiates and you say what's propitiation?
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It means to assuage the wrath of an angry God think about what's going on back in paganism
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Well, the crops are failing our wives aren't getting pregnant. And so God must be angry
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So we need to placate God we need to assuage his anger. He's a vengeful
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God He's a bitter God the small G and so let's give him something. It's kind of a nice commercial transaction here are a few gourds and You'd be nice to us
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The pagan view of propitiation is essentially bribery Here's a few Stalks of wheat and you let us have some children.
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Here's a virgin to be sacrificed for you Here with Molech our babies
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So we could have more babies in the future God is angry with these pagans and so the pagans bring the offering
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Here are the gourds. I don't know why I'm thinking of gourds. Why am I thinking of gourds? My neighbors are asking me to take care of their garden and water it every day while they're camping
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I went over there yesterday and I Saw some big gourd. I didn't know if it's edible or not
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I thought I didn't have no idea but if you put enough butter on it, I think you could eat it
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So I felt like I was eating a gourd and I thought well My wife and kids are out of town. If I don't wake up.
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I don't wake up the deadly gourd. I Think there's an Old Testament story about that.
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But when paganism You are the one that says God be nice to me and we're gonna look with these six passages
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This is all the sovereign initiating grace of God. God is the one who does it God makes propitiation
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We don't assuage the wrath of God. I mean, how could we? There has to be someone who could be our representative and be a man like us
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But be the infinite man the infinite God man to be able to assuage the wrath of God And so I think as we look through the doctrine of propitiation found in these six passages
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You'll see No sin that I commit is
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So great that God's Atonement on the cross can't pay for it no sin is so great that the
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Penalty cannot be paid by Jesus Christ and you're gonna be encouraged Luke 18 verse 13
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We want to pick it up early though.
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The word is found in verse 13, but we're gonna pick it up in verse 9 We're looking at the six words
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That all come from the same root propitiation Starting with Luke 18.
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Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with Contempt the context is how do you approach
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God in prayer with what kind of attitude do you approach? the God of the universe
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Some people were holier than thou Some people trusted in themselves
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How can you trust in yourself when you think you've completely obeyed the law? That's exactly what they thought
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Two men went up to the temple to pray, you know, the passage one a Pharisee and the other tax collector
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Luke 20 Jesus said sometimes people go to the temple for long prayers for appearance sake and These Pharisees morally upright the pinnacle of society's holiness would go to pray
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But also other people would go and pray the tax gather This person was despised he was dishonest
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He would not be allowed to give testimony in court because he's a traitor. He's a Jewish person and he's foresailed to Rome to extract taxes from the
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Jewish people Couldn't even hold a public office. He's notorious traitor
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Despicable, so you've got these two people maybe these two people in your mind as you think about how opposite they are
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It's a policeman and a prostitute go to pray an Elder of a local church and a drug dealer a pastor and a terrorist whatever you want to do to make it up with that kind of difference
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The Pharisees standing by himself prayed thus by the way see if he asked for anything.
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I Thank you God that I'm not like other men Extortioners unjust adulterers are even like this tax collector.
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I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get Trusting in himself.
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I am so great. I do all these things. I've got it going on my own virtues Not asking for anything from God why
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I don't lack anything Why ask God for something when you've got it all it's like Tolstoy spiritually
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This awoken me the conviction that I am a remarkable man both as regards capacity and eagerness to work
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I have not yet met a single man who is morally as good as I Praying to himself basically over and over and over a monologue to himself a soliloquy to self
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Praying to himself God, I thank you. I'm not like other people
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He wasn't even saying if it was true in his life. Thank you for the grace That's kept me from being like that.
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How many times did you have to fast in the Old Testament answer one? time a year
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Day of Atonement now I fast twice a week matter of fact, I do more than the law requires.
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I fast on Mondays and Thursday I'll do the law but the tax collector and I know you know the passage standing far off Not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying
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God here comes the request Be merciful to me a sinner and Right.
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There's where we get our word for propitiation be mercied to be be propitiated to to me be
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Mercy seated to me. That's the word that we're looking for merciful
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He says I'm a notorious sinner I stand before you not better than anyone else not worse than anyone else else because I am a wicked sinner.
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I Cannot pay my debts. So if you think you're good you say alright, I bargained with you a little bit
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God But my sins deserve punishment and I don't have any way to pay you I've got a debt and so I'm just gonna throw myself on your mercy.
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I Don't even think he really knew how to pray so burdened with sin be propitiated let your anger be removed
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Notice he's not saying Here's my offering. Here's what I'll do to get that forgiveness
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He realized if he is forgiven it has to be done by God no sweets no vegetables no animals given
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God is going to have to be placated by his own doing and it's gonna take blood without the shedding of blood.
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There's no remission Look at he couldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven. He's beating his breast
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Treat me on the basis of the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat That's the idea and I've taught many times before but want to make sure we
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Remind people maybe we have visitors or people that have forgotten Remember the Ark of the
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Covenant and on the top you've got the mercy seat and you've got the two Angels over it and and the blood is to be spilled on the mercy seat
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Because it's a great picture that when there's blood on the mercy seat Then it's like God does not look into the box the
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Ark of the Covenant to see all the laws that were broken Because the laws that were broken the Ten Commandments in the
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Ark of the Covenant those Laws have been broken, but there's been a substitute paid in blood.
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There has been death for those sins Romans chapter 3 let's go to Romans chapter 3 the second usage of Propitiation is found in Romans chapter 3 now
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Paul talks about it as well Propitiation is Jesus is the divine sacrifice.
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He's a god -man. Who's the vicarious? Substitute and he pays a penalty that we deserve but he pays
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Instead and he assuages the wrath of the father Propitiation Romans chapter 3
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What a great passage Romans 1 and 2 there's no one who is
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Righteous in God's eyes and now it says in verse 19 Now we know that whatever the law says
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Romans 3 19 it speaks to those who are under the law So that every mouth might be stopped and the whole world may be accountable to God You preach the law to people and the desired effect is this
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The person says based on what you've just told me about God's holiness and his standards and my sin
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I Can't say anything Guilty as charged. I have no excuses.
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I'd like to give some but This is the standard of God and I realize I've fallen short and I am silent because I'm confessing.
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It's true. I Stand before you God as judge and my mouth is is closed.
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I Used to argue I used to say yes, but what about evolution? I used to say things like why do
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Bad things happen to good people. I Used to have all kinds of arguments But now
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I have no more argument because I feel the weight of the law I am that person the law has been like David's long finger and David's sternum.
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You are the man. I realize I'm guilty It's like Job when he said I lay my hand on my mouth
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Verse 20 of Romans 3 for by works of the law. No human being will be justified in his sight
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Maybe in the sight of other people you could have justification but not in God's sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin
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What can the law do it can shut people's mouths and make them not give excuses anymore for their sins
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But what can it not do? What can't it do can't save people and maybe now two of the most
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Wonderful words in the book of Romans and maybe all the New Testament, but now Here something else is happening
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God to the rescue But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law
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Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. There's light shining in the darkness now and God is not going to overlook sin.
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God is going to deal with sin in the person of his Son the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe verse 22.
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Oh Excuse me No, I read verse 21 That's verse 22 for there's no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are
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Justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption. That is in Christ Jesus There are two ways to get to heaven
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The legal way and the gospel way and the legal way is perfectly obey the law and now because of Adam's fall
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We know it's impossible. And so when you can't perfectly obey the law, there's the gospel way and that's trusting in Jesus who did perfectly obey the law and Now we come to our word the second time in the
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New Testament. This word group is used that helps us Understand the gravity of our sin and the wonderful love of God in Christ Jesus verse 25
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Whom God put forward as a propitiation assuaging his wrath by his blood of vicious death to be received by faith and There it is
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No private execution No spilling of the blood and the Holy of Holies where no one else would see except the high priest
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This is for all to see out in public Appeasement has been made.
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That's what propitiation is satisfaction a satisfaction Sacrifice we could call it.
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Oh, you know what? Let bygones be bygones you sin a little bit. It's no big deal
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Is that the way God works? Every single sin, did you realize this every sin that's ever been committed in the universe?
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past present and future will be paid for Every single sin will be paid for and it'll either be paid for By people in hell forever
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Or it will be paid for as a penalty substitution by Jesus in the place of sinners every single sin
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Passage number three Hebrews chapter 2 I Don't want to say they're getting better But there's something about Hebrews chapter 2 that just makes me want to rub my hands with anticipation
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Hebrews chapter 2 the third use of propitiation the Greek word propitiation if it's not found in English So far, we've seen
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Luke 18 Romans 3 now, we're gonna look at Hebrews chapter 2 kind of a expositional word study day -to -day
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Hebrews chapter 2 looking at this book with which exalts the supremacy of Christ His superiority
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Remember what's happening in Hebrews? These Hebrew people have they've seen the temple and all its glory smoke singing
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Sacrifices trumpets Hordes of people the greatest wonder of the world arguably and now they're running from the persecutors and They're in caves and they're thinking is it worth it?
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Is it worth it? I long for the days back at the temple and The writer of Hebrews is saying you've got
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Jesus. It's worth it All you need is Jesus verse 14 of Hebrews chapter 2 to pick up the context
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Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood He himself likewise port partook of the same things
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That through death he might destroy the one who has power of death. That is the devil
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How is Jesus going to save? Humans he's got to become one.
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That's the idea here. He himself likewise port partook of the same things
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Satan's got a stranglehold on people. He's the murderer from the beginning How can you undo
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Satan's power? He himself likewise partook
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He shared notice the word there the children share in flesh
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You've got to be related Does this not hearken back kinsmen Redeemer kind of language where the kinsmen
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Redeemer had to be related? Of course it does Verse 15 and Deliver all those through fear of death were subject to life -long slavery
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Freedom from sin deliverance from sin and Now did you ever consider verse 16 for surely it is not angels that he helps
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But he helps the offspring of Abraham Now could
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Jesus say Satan has fallen and I will redeem him and I will cloak myself with angelic
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Nature so I can die in the place of Satan And it sound weird Don't shoot me
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But Jesus didn't take on angel Nature, he took on human nature
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He had no mission to save angels. He wanted to save men and women Children as a representative
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God, man. He wanted to give them help. It's a great word
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It seems like a simple word in verse 16. He helps and then it says it again. He helps
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It means somebody's lying down and they're they're hurt and you pick them up by the hand and you help them
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I don't know why but I love to watch these shows in Boston and in New York City where people have to go to the
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ER They just have cameras in the ER and you'll see the people in the ER and they'll say oh they're here over the announcement speaker
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Multiple gunshot wounds. They'll be here in four minutes. And so they get ready to take care of that person and they help
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That's exactly the word here helping except it's not for an injury to a hand or an injury to a head.
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It's spiritual suicide and sin that God is helping rescuing from Satan and His hordes and by the way that word help present tense, he just always helps why because he's a he's a faithful high priest
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He's always helping people verse 17 therefore he
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Jesus had to be made like his brothers in every respect if men sin, you're gonna have to have a man that dies for sinners representative to be a right substitute so that he might become a
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Merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God here comes our word again to make
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Propitiation for the sins of the people who makes propitiation do we that's why we're not
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Arminians of this church That's the why we're not Pelagians That's why we're not semi Pelagians because we offer nothing to God except sin
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God if we're going to be saved It has to be all of you, right? That's why when we get to heaven, you're not gonna fist bump
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God and say we did it I mean you and me are a great team. I Think I stole that from my brother.
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It's all of God So far removed from paganism where you we even see it today
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Maybe you go to a restaurant and it serves certain kind of food and and you see little pieces of fruit given to certain gods, don't you
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Placating that God it's something we have to do But if we have to get rid of our own sin, our hands are already soil
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I'm a sinner by nature and everything I do who can cleanse himself from sin. God has to do it
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It's gonna be Jesus with the metaphor of helping Grabbing us and rescuing us and of course other
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New Testament thoughts of making us alive by regeneration and justifying us but here he makes propitiation for the sins of the people
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He is the atoning sacrifice. He satisfies the wrath of God as the
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God man Jesus although he existed in the form of God did not regard a quality with God a thing to be grasped but he emptied himself taking the form of a bond servant and being made in the likeness of men and Being found in an appearance of a man.
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He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death Even death on a crawl number four.
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Okay. So which ones do we have now see if we can memorize him? What's the first one? Don't look Luke 18 second one
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We're almost through okay good third one Hebrews 2 now
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Hebrews 9 We're dealing with the doctrine of propitiation. And so for some of you that had no this this
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Attack on propitiation many scholars want to make the word propitiation only expiation
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There's propitiation and there's expiation and expiation just means your sins are removed
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And so they don't want this God who's angry with the wicked every day and they don't want the wrath of God They're focused only on the love of God.
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And of course, he's he's both and so God does remove sins He he makes expiation but he also
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The Sun removes the wrath of the father propitiation When I pick up a
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Bible a new Bible translation, I say is this liberal or is it conservative? Here's what I do
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I go to Isaiah 7 14 and see if it says woman or virgin. I Go to 2nd
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Timothy chapter 3 and I say does it say all scripture is God breathed or does it say all scripture?
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Which is God breathed some of it isn't some of it is according to them and I also like to go to Luke 18
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Romans 3 Hebrews 2 Hebrews 4 1st John 2 and 1st
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John 4 to see if they say Expiation, you know, they've got the liberal bent our propitiation
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Number four Hebrews chapter 9. We're just going to make this very Simple and quick.
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This is discussing the tabernacle. And so we're not really dealing with Anything here except the mercy seat language found down in verse 5 and 6 maybe
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I'll read as well But let me just read it to you so you can get the idea So when you'd like to go study Exodus to see what was really the setup in the tabernacle in those 20 30 40 50 chapters on the tabernacle
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You would understand it Hebrews chapter 9 verse 1 now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness
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For a tent was prepared the first section in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the presence
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It's called the holy place Behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place
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Having the golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered on all sides with gold in which was a golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded and the tablets of the
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Covenant and above it Were the cherubim of glory
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Overshadowing and there's where we get our word propitiation here translated rightly Mercy seat of these things we cannot now speak in detail
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So there again is that picture the picture is the law has been broken
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The Ten Commandments and more have been broken and the soul that sin shall surely die
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But there's been a God -ordained system for forgiveness through blood sacrifice
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Sometime read Leviticus who came up with blood sacrifice. I'll tell you this It wasn't us it was
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God who came up with blood sacrifice ultimately the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Okay, two more.
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We're gonna finish an etra Okay Uh -huh. I see that hand
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All right. So what's the next one? First John chapter 2. Let's go to first John chapter 2. I Have to say
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I've read first John chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 in my personal devotions More than any other passage in the last year,
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I don't know about you, but if you sin like I do I Need to be pushed back to the
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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 1st John chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 Are those two verses and the
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Johannine pistils that just magnify Christ? They're just Wonderful and whether you're in practice of sin or you're committing just single sins
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Jesus Christ atonement is What you need to remember now before I read verses 1 and 2
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I think it's fair to say that if you're here today and you think you're going to get to heaven by baptism by Confirmation by being good
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You are deceived You somehow think that You have some of your own righteousness or you could earn righteousness through religious deeds or social deeds
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But it takes one sin To break all of God's laws, right?
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That's James chapter 2 And you need a Savior And the
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Savior's talked about right here and I exhort you to believe by faith My little children first John 2 1 this is the fifth occasion for the word propitiation at least in the root
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Greek original language my little children I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin
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And again the language there. It's it's kind of vague. So does this mean you're in a pattern of sin?
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Practicing sin you're in the ditch of sin. You just sin in an isolated fashion Yes, any of those will work because we're gonna point you right back to the same source of forgiveness but if anyone does
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You try to do the right thing and you miss the mark you aim for the bullseye and You overshoot the whole target
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We presently have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous He's a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also the sins of the whole world
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We have an advocate that word is used elsewhere in John's writing as the
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Holy Spirit Comes alongside the paraclete who comes alongside the minister
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We have an advocate Jesus Christ the righteous. So when the anti -advocate
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Satan the accuser Stands before God when God calls him to say like in Job Stand before me and and give me an update and you could see the accuser the murderer the rebellious
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Satan saying see Abendross a pastor. He's a Christian and he sinned look at him
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What's going on here? Well, there's someone who's an advocate and by the way, if you look at this very carefully we have an advocate with the
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Father That's right up close language That's the kind of language that in the beginning
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John chapter 1 language where Jesus is face to face with God This is language of intimacy and he has the father's
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Love and he has the father's ear. He's standing in the presence of God Pleading our case why because he's accomplished the work he's paid for the sin already
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God doesn't do double jeopardy. Well, you know Jesus paid for the sin, but now we got to make might pay for the sin, too so I sin and you sin and what's the first thing that you do instead of running back to the sin you run to the
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Savior and Jesus now described in his office the Messiah. Do you notice
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Christ and his character the righteous one? This is righteousness incarnate
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Everything that God expected me to be Jesus is and was and he is pleading on my behalf as the high priest who's in the presence of God and His blood it says in verse 2 is a propitiation for our sins
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He himself is the atonement No wonder
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John the Baptist said he's the Lamb of God Thinking about the
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Old Testament Sacrifices this is penalty substitution This is the
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Son called the Advocate is the one who helps us when we sin coming alongside of us in times of need
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Not just for the Jews, but also the Gentiles, okay, and lastly 1st
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John chapter 4 The doctrine of propitiation to me is the linchpin that helps us understand penalty substitution
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And if you look at the New Testament You can see
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Luke 18 Romans 3 Hebrews 2 Hebrews 9 1st John 2 and now 1st
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John 4 which would give you the six times it's used for the doctrine of propitiation
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Verse 7 beloved 1st
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John 4 Let us love one another For love is from God Whoever loves has been born of God and knows
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God Anyone who does not love does not know God Because God is love in this the love of God was made manifest among us
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How do we understand the love of God? Is it sappy is it sentimental no
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God and his love he gives It's a glorifying the father love
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It's a saving and redeeming the church love that God sent his only
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Son into the world So that we might live through him In this is love not that we have loved
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God, but that he loved us He sought our benefit he sought our best and Sent his son to be the propitiation
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The assuaging wrath of God for our sins
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He took it in love Beloved if God so loved us We ought to love one another
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No one has ever seen God If we love one another God abides in us and his love is perfected perfected in us
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How do you explain a doctrine like love You say well, you know,
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I've seen some couples in love and If you were to ask them, could you please? Objectively describe your feelings for your fiance or for your wife well, they might
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Respond with something like maybe I would respond with Kim when we were dating I can't fall asleep till 4 in the morning because I'm thinking about her.
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I'd probably be an objective thing I Didn't go over My point is this there's no way you can describe it.
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How do you describe an emotional romantic love? Maybe it's like the wind you just see it's it's effects, but you can't describe it.
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But this love from God is subjective no This love of God is objective.
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How do you describe the love of God and it's like John when he speaks of love
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Then he talks about propitiation and when he talks about propitiation, he talks about love
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That's exactly what he's doing here the comparison Is between propitiation and love because they explain each other.
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So when you think of propitiation, it's something that God does He's the one that initiates it and now this answers the question.
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Why does he initiate it? Why would God save wretched sinners?
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Because he loves them because the father loves them don't ever think that the father was angry
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And now the son made him feel better like the father never loved
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No God Demonstrates his love towards us that while we were yet sinners what? Christ died for us always think of the father son and the spirit in a triune way in the same essence and nature the father loved sinners in eternity past and so did the son and so did the
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Spirit and the father then sent his son to go rescue sinners because he loved them
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I will be brutally honest. There are people that I read about in the newspaper and on the
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Internet That I think are unlovely. I Think they should get it they deserve it.
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I Don't know what I think about torture But some of the things that people do to other people make me think they should get it
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They should be tortured something should happen to them Those are wicked sinful people and in my heart and in my mind it is vengeance and then you realize
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Those sins weren't even against me they were against other people and they were against the holy nature of God and God loved
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Sinners to the point that he poured out his wrath not on them, but on his son
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Say well, you know, I just need six ways to love my neighbor better. I don't know how to love my wife.
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So well I don't know how to love my husband. So well, I need some hints What does the text say here?
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Just how? Applicational is this doctrine of propitiation and the love of God Verse 11 if God so loved us
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We ought to love one another the love of the greatest sacrifice the infinite sacrifice
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And when we say God is love he's saying God has made propitiation for our sins Because there's no other way
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God can take a sinful man or woman and accept them the penalty has to be paid
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God does not just forgive by saying let there be light. Let there be forgiveness He doesn't forgive like we do as maybe indulgent grandpas and grandmas whatever
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Lloyd -jones says sin is so terrible so foul and so vile that nothing could deal with it
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But the blood of Christ and that's what happened at the cross. It's not a patching over a covering over of sin
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It's not God saying don't worry all as well. It is God showing us sin as it is
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Really bringing it to the light and then dealing with it if you're a sinner
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You should say that one would intercept the wrath that I deserved is
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Worthy of praise You understand the doctrine of propitiation Let's pray.
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I thank you father Could there be a better word in all the Bible? propitiation signifies so much
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How you loved us and then the price of that love your own son Father we struggle with legalism.
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We struggle with moralism But all those are taken care of at Calvary father you did not relax your righteous laws for our sake but instead you upheld the law and you punished
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Jesus because you loved us I pray for Bethlehem Bible Church as The years go on and the doctrine of wrath and sin and hell and judgment
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Antithetical truth is going to be attacked Would you give us?
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Strength so we might proclaim the truth Penalty substitution might be disturbing to some but it's in the
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Bible and We would have no other way to stand before you if it weren't for that We would readily admit that Jesus Destroyed Satan at the cross that he was an example of love at the cross
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But at the linchpin at the center Instead of us getting punished eternally in hell
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Hell's condensed as it were down to three hours and just dumped on Jesus why because he loves sinners
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Well, thank you for loving us. I pray that you would teach us to love one another at this church in light of the doctrine