Preached in Markham Baptist Church, January 2, 2005

GREAT WORDS OF THE FAITH - PART 1: "PROPITIATION"

We begin our series this morning entitled, “Great Words of the Faith.” And our great word this morning is “Propitiation”.

I know that ministers can foam at the mouth and become extraordinarily excited about certain words that leave you totally cold.

I am also aware of the fact that many of our Christian words and phrases need to be changed when it comes to evangelism and trying to relate our faith to the world around us. Terms and words that we evangelicals use quite freely amongst ourselves, like justification or sanctification have little or no meaning to those outside of the faith and we need to be careful in their use.

But I also know that there are many words that describe our Christian experience and Christian walk with God that have been lost through the passage of time and through neglect and need to be regained because of their power and force of expression. We’ll be looking at these words in the weeks to come but this morning we'll look at one of these words - propitiation

It is a Biblical word and it is found in a number of passages here in Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; I John 2:21; and I John 4:10. Now when some of you come to this word in reading your Bible, you may simply skip over it. I will never forget one parishioner telling me of how one of his Sunday School teachers had instructed his class that if there was ever a word they did not understand or could not pronounce while reading the scriptures they were simply to say the word wheelbarrow. So I can picture it - reading Romans 3:25, "God presented him as a pro... wheelbarrow - by his blood through faith."

It’s a difficult word. But it is an important one because it has to do with Christ’s death and its work in our lives. I pray that as we look at this word and its meaning you will have a fuller understanding of what Christ’s death is all about and what it means for you and for me.

Let me ask you four questions – all multiple choice:

Why did Jesus die?

1) to show God’s love?
2) to satisfy God’s wrath?
3) to demonstrate God’s mercy?

For whom did Jesus die?

1)for you?
2) for the whole world?
3) for sinners?
4) for God?
5) for hobbits?

On what basis does God forgive us?

1) His mercy?
2) His justice?

How can I be sure I have eternal life?

1) because I have faith in Christ’s sacrifice?
2) because I feel saved?
3) because I have accepted Christ?
4) because God has accepted Christ’s sacrifice?

I want you to have these questions in mind as we look at this text. For here in Romans 3:21-31 we have what could be called the heart of the book of Romans. Indeed, it could be called the heart of the gospel, and hence the heart of the Christian faith. It is therefore crucial that we understand this passage and the words that are used here. It begins with the words, “But now” - this means that we must understand what goes on before this in the first 2 ½ chapters.

Paul says at the beginning of this letter at 1:16: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes …” and then at verse 17 “for in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed.”

What is righteousness? Paul speaks of righteousness throughout this letter and we must understand what it means. Very quickly, righteousness is the moral character of God. It is what every human being was intended to display when they were created. The gospel of Jesus Christ is about recreating that moral character in you and me.

Now that’s a good thing because Paul goes on to point out that none of us have this righteousness. None of us have this moral character. In Romans 3:9 he says that we are all under sin. In Romans 3:10 he says that there is no one who is righteous, not even one.

There are people who believe that because I am a pastor I am holier than other people. It’s not true! Paul says in Romans 7:18 that “nothing good lives in me!” And if that’s true of Paul, it’s certainly true of me! “ALL have turned away from God. There is no one who does good.” (Romans 3:11,12)

And what is the result of this? In Romans 1:18 we read that we "are subject to God’s wrath, to his judgment." These opening chapters speak at length of Gods’ wrath, his judgment and how we are all the subject of that wrath. This is our problem. This is the predicament we find ourselves in.

So, what is the solution? How can we become righteous, that is show God’s moral character as we were created to do, and how can the wrath of God be appeased?

You can imagine someone reading over Paul’s shoulder as he is writing this and they are reading what Paul is writing and say, “Hey what about the law, Paul? Surely we can be what God wants us to be if we just keep the law.”

And Paul says, “Are you nuts?” Well he doesn’t exactly say that - he says, "True, those who obey the law are declared righteous" (they do reflect God’s moral character 2:13). But then he goes on to show in 2:17-18 that no one keeps the law. So we are back where we started. No one is righteous and we are subject to God’s wrath.

So what is the solution? We come to the great text beginning at 3:21: “But now a righteousness from God is revealed.” “Really? How?” We ask.

Verse 22: “this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."

Verse 23: There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

Verse 24: and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Verse 25: "God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”

That’s what the NIV and the NRSV versions of the bible read. "A sacrifice of atonement." This means that Jesus Christ was presented as one who would turn away God’s wrath taking away sin.

But the KJV reads “propitiation”. And propitiation means to satisfy the anger and wrath of someone.

The Revised Standard Version has the word expiation, and that’s different. That refers to the removal of sin, and while that is involved in the cross it does not fit the context of this text – it is propitiation, the satisfying of God’s wrath.

So our first multiple choice question: Why did Jesus die?

1) to show God’s love?
2) to satisfy God’s wrath?
3) to demonstrate God’s mercy?

Each of the choices have more than a shade of truth in them. But in the first instance the answer that is most right of all four is that Jesus died to satisfy God’s wrath.

And you say, “Ah pastor, our God is not a wrathful God like those pagan deities, he is not a God sitting in heaven with lightning bolts in hand ready to zap us when we get out of line.”

And that’s somewhat true, but when we take it a step further as many people have, and we say, “There is no wrath in our God whatsoever, our God is a loving God. There is no need whatsoever to appease our God. Surely Scripture is wrong when it says that Christ’s death was a means to appease the anger of God because there is no wrath in him at all."

Isn’t that a modern picture of God that we are given from many pulpits today? You hear that our God is a loving God and it doesn’t matter what you do here on earth or who you believe in - when you meet Him face to face He is going to accept everyone into His kingdom and isn’t it going to be a wonderful time, for surely God will not let anyone go to the fiery pit of hell, indeed He won’t let anyone go there.

So God is like a doting mother who no matter what her child does refuses to discipline her child. The boy can set the living room furniture ablaze, but there’s no punishment. No consequence to his actions. The matches aren’t even put up high out of his reach. Just love. And so God is thought to be just love. Sentimental love.

But I would suggest to you that that is not love at all. It is simply sentimental mush. My friends, you cannot have love without anger. They must exist together if love is to be true love. Are you aware of the organization MADD - Mothers Against Drunk Driving? It was founded by a woman in California who lost her daughter in a car accident with a drunk driver. The drunk driver had two previous convictions and yet was released and given a very light penalty. As a response she founded MADD to fight against drunk driving. She did this out of love for her daughter. Was she angry? Yes. Was she seeking justice? Yes. But her anger and desire for justice grew out of her love for her daughter.

And so with God’s wrath. If you truly love someone, you will be angry with the things that seek to hurt and destroy and threaten your loved ones. So you see God’s wrath and anger are the expression of the same character of God.

Now hear me clearly that God is not like the pagan gods who are bad tempered, subject to moods and tantrums of anger. No - our God is a holy God and His wrath rests on one thing and one thing alone and that is evil. There is nothing unprincipled, nothing unpredictable, nothing uncontrollable about God’s anger, it is aroused by evil alone:

“The wrath of God is being revealed from haven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” (Romans 1:18)

Now this brings us to the second question: For whom did Jesus die?

1)for you?
2) for the whole world?
3) for sinners?
4) for God?
5) for hobbits?

Again, there is biblical merit to all of these answers. But in the first instance Jesus Christ died for God. You see, sin is a problem for you and for me, but it is also a problem to God. Sin separates us from Him, and He had to deal with it. He couldn’t just ignore it. Remember, He loves us, and if you truly love someone you will be angry with the things that hurt and destroy them. So He had to deal with it - it provokes His righteous wrath and anger. So Jesus died to satisfy that anger.

I didn’t ask this question in the multiple choice but many people ask, Why did Jesus have to die? Why couldn’t God just forgive our sins. I mean, if we came to Him and say we were sorry, why couldn’t He just forgive us? People who ask that question do not have an understanding of the character of God. He is a loving God, He is a holy God, He is a righteous God and because of the characteristics He demands sin be paid for. Blood has to be poured out for sin. God is the one who requires it. God is the one who demands that the blood be presented in order to satisfy His anger, His wrath.

This leads us to the third multiple choice question: On what basis does God forgive us?

1) His mercy?
2) His justice?

Is it because He is being generous and kind toward us or is it because He is being absolutely right and just toward us?

I ask the question because I fear that many of you have got it wrong. God forgives us on the basis of His justice, not His mercy. I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and JUST and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

“If God was to forgive us only on the basis of His mercy, the Cross would not have been necessary. It is the death of Christ on the cross that makes forgiveness by God a just act. It is in appealing to His justice that forgiveness is possible, not in appealing to His mercy.

To be sure there is mercy, there is love involved in Christ’s death on the cross. But first and foremost it is the fact that justice has been done that God forgives us.

With the demands of his law satisfied, God is legally and morally obligated to forgive us. This is the basis on which we claim and accept forgiveness. It is not a presumption to believe my sin is forgiven, but is on the basis of the justice and integrity of God that I hold it to be true.

So what is the application of all this? Why is this important for us to understand? Or it is some empty doctrine that the scholars get all worked up about? No, we truly need to understand this for a number of reasons.

Firstly if we understand that Jesus Christ was presented as a propitiation for you, it frees us from depending on our feelings for our salvation. There are some here who say you value the cross highly. There are times when you have wept when a picture of the cross has been brought to your mind's eye and you have been deeply moved. You have felt it here in the heart. But feelings are fickle things really. What is much better is to know that God has been satisfied, that His anger with sin has been appeased. The sacrifice of Christ is precious to God (I Peter 1:18,19) and since He has accepted Christ’s sacrifice as the price of our redemption, then we can rest assured that the debt has been paid.

Secondly, understanding that Jesus Christ’s death satisfies God frees us from depending on our good works for the basis of our relationship with God. When we first come to God we must recognize and have faith that Christ’s sacrifice has satisfied God first, and on that basis I am able to approach God. It is because of the finished work of Christ on the cross that I can ask God for forgiveness.

It is because he has already offered the sacrifice that I can ask God to cleanse me. It is because God has already accepted the sacrifice that I can ask God to dwell in me and make me a new creation.

And it is on that basis that I must continue to approach God. Some of us who have been Christians for a while forget this, we forget that we can only approach God because of the cross - we get to thinking that we can approach God because we have been doing a little better, this morning I have been reading the Word of God with a warmer feeling. Today, I had a deeper prayer time. Today I didn’t get angry with my wife or yell at my kids, in fact I was quite saintly, therefore I must be able to approach God today.

NEVER! Never is it like that. We do not approach God on such a weak basis as our goodness, never do we approach God on such a flimsy idea that we have done better today. We always, always approach God because of the fact of the shed blood of Jesus Christ and that God has been satisfied.

My friends, do you see the benefit of all this? The death of Jesus Christ is a rock. It is a solid truth. It is an unshakable foundation for our relationship with God. No one can change the fact Jesus Christ died for you and that God’s wrath was satisfied through that death. Now you and I can approach God with boldness. Now we can approach God with our prayer requests. Now we can walk with God in confidence. Now we as a church can move forward against the gates of hell and they will not be able to stand against us.

It is God’s acceptance of the sacrifice of Christ that enables us to enter into the presence of God and no other ground will do.

This, by the way, answers our fourth multiple choice question: How can I be sure I have eternal life?

1) because I have faith in Christ’s sacrifice?
2) because I feel saved?
3) because I have accepted Christ?
4) because God has accepted Christ’s sacrifice?

I can be sure I have eternal life because God has accepted Christ’s sacrifice.

You see why we do not appeal to God’s mercy for forgiveness? We appeal instead to His justice. As long as I think of forgiveness as a result of God being merciful to me, I am left with the realization that there is no moral obligation on God’s part to forgive. And I may conclude that I have sinned once too often, have exhausted God’s mercy, have committed a sin that is just too big for God to forgive. And we have our list - divorce, sexual immorality, homosexuality, and so on. And as a result we experience a continued sense of guilt.

But listen - God forgives you and forgives me because He is just and therefore for God not to forgive would be unjust and immoral. To question God’s forgiveness is to question His justice and moral integrity.

Finally this, if Satan comes to you and says, “You are a sinner, you are weak and keep sinning. God doesn’t want anything to do with you,” your first temptation is to look within and in self-defense to try to find some good in yourself, in your feelings or behaviour. Or you are tempted to admit your helplessness and give in to despair and depression. Thus this accusation becomes a great tool in Satan’s arsenal.

But neither of these responses are the ones that will win the day. There is only one way to counter Satan’s accusations and that is not looking within, it is not looking with despair, it is looking to the cross of Christ and seeing there one who has died and has met the whole situation created by our sins and has answered it. The cross is the sure foundation upon which we stand. Never, never try to answer Satan with your good conduct. Yes, we are sinful, but praise God, the cross of Christ cleanses us from every sin. God looks upon the sacrifice of His Son and says the charge has been answered - Satan has no more ground of attack on us. Our faith in the sacrifice of Christ and our refusal to be moved from that position can alone silence his charges and put him to flight (Romans 8:33, 34).

So if Satan ever comes to you and tells you are a sinner, you say yes - yes, I am. And he persists. And he says you are lost. You say, on what basis? And he says on the basis of your sin.

You look him in the eye and you tell him that your sin has been paid for. You worship a just God who not only has set the price for sin but has paid the price in the person of Jesus Christ and now... and NOW, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For He has been presented as a propitiation for each and every one of us. Thanks, be to God!