Okay. Thank you. Well, good morning. It's good to see you all this morning. We'll begin our time together in just a little bit. Others will be joining us by our live stream. We wanna welcome them as well. But let me mention a few things, some announcements and whatnot before we officially get started. Don't forget, there are some cards on the back of the pew in front of you that may have pertinence to you. First of all, there are prayer cards. If there's something that you would like to see prayed for, something that you wish someone would pray for on your behalf, then you can take one of those cards or as many of them as you like and you can jot down the nature of that prayer request or those prayer requests and Carl and Freddie and I would be delighted to pray for those things. There's a box to check on that prayer card if you would like others to pray. So we normally meet on Wednesday nights as a church to pray. We won't for the next two Wednesday nights, but if you would like others to pray for that, there's a box you can check, and that would be published on our midweek prayer sheet. Otherwise, the nature of that request is just for Carl and Freddie and myself. It helps us to know how to pray for you and how to care for you, and so we would welcome that and encourage you to fill those out. If you do wanna fill those out, then do so. And at the end of the service, there's a box right out here in the foyer. You could just simply put that in the box. Now there's another card as well. It's a visitor card. If you're visiting with us this morning, we are delighted that you've joined us. If you would like to leave a record of your visit, it's not necessary, but if you would, you could take that visitor card and tell us a little bit about you. If you'd like for us to contact you, you could indicate that on there as well, and even the manner that you would want us to contact you. And the same with the prayer card, if you want to leave that with us, you can put that in that same box right out there in the foyer. Either way, we're glad that you've joined us. Now, two announcements. There's several things in your bulletin that I would just direct you to be aware of, if you like, and to read about. But first of all is this evening at 4.30. We'll meet whoever would like to. We're going to try to go see some of our shut-ins and do some Christmas caroling to them. And so if you'd like to minister to our shut-ins in that way, then at 4.30 this evening, we'll meet here at the church. Come around to the back. We'll probably group together in the Fellowship Hall area and then depart from there. And then we'll go sing to some of our shut-ins and then we'll We'll come back at those who would have the time to do so. We'll come back at church and we'll have a just a simple snack fellowship. And so to that end, even if there's a snack that you would like to to bring, then that'll be what we snack on. And so whatever you bring is what will. will eat. And so that'll be after our caroling. So that's tonight at 430 around the back in the Fellowship Hall. The second thing I particularly want to mention is there's copies of the proposed operating budget at the Welcome Center. And as we announced last week, next week after the morning service, we'll have a called special meeting for your consideration of the 2025 operating budget. And so in the meantime, if you take that, if you have questions, then certainly you could ask me, since you're more apt to know who I am. But I will direct those to the Finance Committee. So Charlie Lee, the chairman of the Finance Committee. And so if you have questions, you could ask him. You could ask me, and I will bounce that question to him. And he would probably get back with you. But then we'll have a chance to consider that after the morning service next week. All right, I think that's probably all the announcements that we'll make for now. We've gathered that we might worship our God. Our call to worship is found in Isaiah chapter 25, and it's not explicitly a call to worship, but what it is, it's an announcement of the arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ and a reason to worship. in response to the fact that what Isaiah prophesied hundreds of years before the arrival of Christ has unfolded now with the arrival of Christ. And so our call to worship will be really a statement of why it's good for us to gather on this morning and to sing praises, to pray, to receive God's Word that God might be worshiped. Listen to what the prophet Isaiah says to us this morning. It will be said on that day, behold, this is our God. We have waited for him that he might save us. This is the Lord that we have waited for him. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. Join with me as I pray. Father, we are glad, we do rejoice in the opportunity to gather in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the name of the one who has secured our salvation, made a way that we might gather together in your presence. Father, we gather in Jesus' name to sing, to pray, to receive your word. We gather in Jesus' name to worship you, that you might take pleasure in such worship. And so as we gather together in Jesus' name, we would ask for the assistance, the presence of your Spirit, that you would stir in our midst by your Spirit, that you would stir in our hearts so that our worship is not only pleasing to you, but it stirs gladness and joy in our hearts. For Jesus has come for us, and for that we are grateful. For we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. If you're able, we would invite you to stand as we begin singing to the Lord. Joy has dawned upon the world, promised from creation, God's Not with feathers from above, not with seeds of glory, but a humble gift of love. The sounds of wonder fill the sky with the sounds of angels as the mighty Prince of Light shelters in a stable. Hands that set each star in place Shade the earth in darkness Clean now to a mother's breast Vulnerable and helpless Shepherds bow before the Lamb, gazing at the glory. Gifts of wind from distant lands prophesy the story. Gold the king is born today, and since God is with us, were his death we'll make a way, by his blood he'll win. Son of Adam, Son of Man, given as a ransom, reconciling God and man, Christ, our mighty champion. What a glorious mystery. Once a beam in Bethlehem. Now the Lord of mystery. What a Savior, what a friend. What a glorious mystery. Once a beam in Bethlehem. of his dreams. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Faithful, joyful, and triumphant O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem Come and behold Him O come let us adore Him O come let us adore Him O come let us adore Him Christ the Lord Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation. Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above. Glory to God. Glory to God. ♪ Come let us adore Him ♪ Oh come let us adore Him ♪ Oh come let us adore Him ♪ Christ the Lord ♪ Yea Lord we greet Thee ♪ For this happy morning us to Thee be all glory given. Word of the Father, now in Oh come let us adore him. Oh come let us adore him. Oh come let us adore him. Christ the Lord. For He alone is worthy. For He alone is worthy. For He alone is worthy. Christ the Lord. We'll give Him all the glory. Please be seated. You know, as we gather together this morning to partake in the Lord's Supper, at this time, just a few days before we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, we remember him in doing this. But when he asked us to remember him, he asked us to remember his death. He asked us to remember that his body was broken and his blood was shed. But we celebrate his birth because it was because of his birth and who he is that we can even remember his death and what that means for us now. It is Jesus who is the gift that was given to us. It is He who made everything possible for us. God had set up a plan in the very beginning that involved what our Lord Jesus Christ did and what we remember when we partake in the Lord's Supper today, the sacrifice that He made. God had established from the beginning, because sin had entered into the world, this thing called sacrifice. Sacrifice. He had set that up to prepare people for the one who would ultimately be the sacrifice, who would come, who would take care of the issue that was between man and God. I want to read some things in the book of Hebrews chapter 10. And I'll say a little bit about it before we proceed on with our partaking in the Lord's Supper. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1, it says, for since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consequence of sins, consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices, there's a reminder of sins every year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. And you can see the problem with the blood of bulls and goats. So it's impossible for them to take away sins. But why would God say at that time that it's necessary that you offer up bulls and goats? Why would he say that? That was a gift that God had given to to us, but it wasn't the final gift. It was so that people would be prepared and know that they would need to have a sacrifice that would be able to satisfy God, that would be able to take away the sins. Hebrews 10 goes on to say, consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me." That statement right there is the reason why we can remember Christ today. Because God the Father prepared a body for him. Because God the Son, who has existed in all eternity, along with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, came into this world He became a man. God, the Son, the eternal God, took on the form of a man and became a human being just like you and I. See, the problem with bulls and goats is that they're a different species, you know, using a scientific term. They are what? Were not created in the image of God. Bulls and goats didn't sin against God. But we did. We were created in the image of God. So how is it that something that's not like us could pay the price for our sins when it was someone who is exactly like us, Adam, who sinned and caused all of humanity to fall into sin in the beginning? It would have to be someone who was like us, who was like Adam in one sense, but not like Adam in another sense. Someone who was a human being, who could replace Adam, who could take our place, and who could take the penalty for our sins, that could represent all of humanity in that sense. But also because only one man, even if he's a perfect man, one man couldn't pay the price for everybody's sin, maybe for one other person's sin, but not for the price for everybody's sin. So he had to be more than just a human being. He had to be God as well, because only God can satisfy His own wrath. Only God can pay the price then, the huge price for the sins of people. And so God the Father sent His only Son into this world to become a human being, the incarnate one, the God-Man, so that God could offer up His Son as a sacrifice to pay the price for our sins. And God had set it up in the beginning that sacrifices would be necessary so that we would come to understand that a sacrifice was necessary and only one sacrifice would suffice. This is why we celebrate Jesus' death. This is why those who believe in him trust him because we know there's no need for us to do anything. You know, some may think that we can do good works and that might get us to heaven with God. Good works are not a bad thing. They're good things. They're called good works. But how can someone who's not trusting in God do a good work anyway? Because all they would do is put their works on a scale to balance them out and think that because that's the way it works in this human existence. That if I have a scale and my good works outweigh the bad works, I'm good. Because I have more good works than bad works. The problem is that you still have bad works. And those bad works are sourced in you because you have badness in you. Your whole nature is to do what is evil in the sight of God. You can't help it. We do that. It's just natural for us to do what is evil. And so how can we really do good works when our nature says to do that which is evil? We might deceive ourselves into thinking that they're good works. But they're not in God's eyes because then we did those good works in accordance with our evil nature. How could we ever satisfy God? Can't do it. Can't do it. Neither offering up sacrifices, bull and goats would satisfy God. It wasn't that God did not establish that and would not take pleasure in those who were seeking to obey Him and doing those things. Those who were seeking to obey Him and doing those things were trusting that God would provide the way for them to be righteous before Him. They weren't trusting in the sacrifices they were making. So as I continue on to read here, Verse 11 of that same chapter, it says, And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemy should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us, for after saying, this is the covenant that I will make with them, after those days, declares the Lord, I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds. Then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. That's what Jesus made possible. Because he was the sacrifice that was made once for all, he made it so that there would be forgiveness of sins and there would be no need for any other sacrifice. Jesus is the gift to us that made that possible. God sending his son into the world to become a man so that a human being to take the penalty for our sins, but the God-man would satisfy God and appease God's wrath toward those who would put their faith in the Lord Jesus. That's why we celebrate today. That's why we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus, because He came into the world so that He could pay the price for our sins. And that's why we partake in the Lord's Supper, because He accomplished what He came in the world to do. And we gotta trust Him for that. But He didn't make it so. He made it so. And so, as we begin to partake in the Lord's Supper, if you have not put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have not shown evidence of that by being baptized, we just ask that you just let this bread and this cup go by you. Nobody will look at you with scorn or anything like that. We just hope that you'll be able to observe what is happening here in the worship of this God who has been so gracious to us, and that you might consider yourself how it is that you can have this relationship with Him. But we just ask that you just let that go by. And for those of you who have put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you're welcome, indeed, to partake. Even if you're not a member of this church, if you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're welcome to partake in this Lord's Supper as these elements go out. And so, As we, our musician's gonna lead us in a song as we take a few minutes just to reflect upon what we're about to do here now. So I ask that they would begin. ♪ Rule the D.D. ♪ ♪ Love of Jesus ♪ ♪ Vast unmeasured ♪ ♪ Boundless free ♪ ♪ Rolling as a mighty ocean ♪ ♪ In its fullness ♪ To meet Thee all around me Is the current of Thy love Leading onward Thank you. If the men who will distribute the bread and the cup, would you all please come up? All right, let us pray. Our Lord Jesus, we are so grateful to you for what you've done on our behalf. Father, we thank you for sending your son, the incarnate one, the God-man on this earth, who will live a perfect life, and who will die a perfect death, really, for us. We thank you. that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, for He had a perfect human body with no defect, no missing parts, no inabilities, Lord, the same abilities that a normal human being would have, a body that was given to Him. that he would live out as a perfect human being, committing no sin, doing righteousness every day of his life, a body that would be torn apart, a body that would be marred by men, a body that would be beyond recognition, as Isaiah tells us, a body that would be scorned, a body that would be abused, A body would be put up for shame before everybody, hung up on a cross. But a body that would be found acceptable to you, pleasing to you, one who would be able to offer up to you as a perfect specimen, where you would be pleased, Lord God, to pour out your wrath on. and to receive as a sacrifice for our sins. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for your willingness to leave heaven to come and dwell among men. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for your willingness to put up with sinful human beings and the sinful side, and for your willingness to give up your life that we might live. We thank you and we give you praise. Amen. And would you distribute the bread? Hold her deeply. Love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore. Loving, loving, never loving, change and never For His loved ones, died to call them all His own. And for them He interceded. The word of God in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 23 says to us, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Let us pray. Lord, we're reminded of your blood that was shed as you were tortured by men, as you were up on the cross. What a horrible experience it was, Lord. When we think about blood coming from human beings, it's never a good thing. We understand what your word says, the life is in the blood. And we know, Lord, that you gave your life on our behalf, that you shed much blood in the whippings, beatings that you incurred at the hands of men, all part of the Father's plan, and that your body was so bloody that it was unrecognizable. And we understand even from the sacrificial system that there was a lot of blood that went out. A lot of, and life had to be lost in order for sins to be forgiven. And Lord Jesus, you, the perfect man, gave his life. The one who did what was pleasing to God while you walked on the earth. For God the Father testified twice about you, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. And yet he put you on the cross and he turned his back on you as he poured out his wrath upon you. You suffered his wrath and your life was given up. Your blood was shed, proof that life was leaving your body so that we who had no life could have life. Thank you for shedding your blood on our behalf that we could, by your blood, have life and life forevermore. Amen. Man, would you please distribute the cup? Oh, the deep love of Jesus, love of every It's an ocean that's dark as sea. Tears of hate are streaming. Gives me hope to be free. In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is a new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death. until He comes. May we proclaim the Lord's death. Amen. Men, you may now be seated. Please, if you're able, you may stand so we may continue our time of worship and song. There is no song we could sing to honor the weight of your glory. There are no words we could speak to capture the depth of your beauty. Jesus, there's no one like you. Jesus, we love you, ever adore you. There's no one like you. Jesus, we love you, ever adore you. There is no center beyond The infinite stretch of your mercy How can we thank you enough For how you have loved us completely Jesus, there's no one like you Jesus we love you, ever adore you. There's no one like you. Jesus we love you, ever adore you. There's no one like you. There's no one like you Jesus we love you Ever adore you There's no one like you Jesus we love you Ever adore you Lord All we have need. All we want is you. All we have. All we need. All we want is is you Jesus there's no one like you Jesus we love you ever adore you there's no one like you Jesus we love you ever adore you there's no one Jesus we love you, ever adore you. There's no one like you. Jesus we love you, ever adore you. If you're able to remain standing a bit longer, you're invited to do so. If you need to be seated, that's okay as well. But I would also invite you to take a Bible and turn to Romans 3. Romans 3, I'm going to read starting at verse 21 and read down through verse 26. That's on page 941. If you would like to use a Bible from the church, there should be one in that pew in front of you. Grab that and turn to 941 or Romans chapter 3. This is God's word for us this morning. And here's what God says. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested to those under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world held accountable to God. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God that is through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. You may be seated. Father, thank you for your word. We would pray now for your help as we consider this word that we've just read, that you would enable us to understand it, that you would, by your Spirit, help us to see the wonder of your mercy that comes to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we would pray that we would be altered and changed this morning by your Spirit through your word. For we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. My apologies, I actually started in verse 19, so that might have thrown you off. So I said 21, and what do I do? I don't even obey my own instructions, do I? So anyway. This is part three this morning of our short study on what Christ gifts, gives to his people. Christ came for us and for our salvation. And when we receive Christ, we receive all that he has purchased and acquired and achieved and obtained and secured for us. Christ is our ultimate gift, but in order for us to fully experience the gift of Christ, he gives these accompanying gifts, these subsidiary, if you would, gifts that help enhance how we could experience the gift of Christ. The four gifts that we're considering this month are really four beautiful portraits that describe to us in variated ways some of the wondrous beauty that Christ has offered to us as his people. A few weeks ago, the first portrait, the first gift was what I said was a relational portrait. that we receive the gift of reconciliation when we receive the Lord Jesus Christ, that God was in Christ, we're told in 2 Corinthians 5, reconciling the world to himself. The alienation is gone. The second gift last week was really a portrait from the marketplace. that we receive the gift of redemption. And you might even notice the word redemption is found here again in our reading, but we looked at it from the passage in 1 Peter, that God in Christ redeems us from the marketplace of slavery and adopts us as sons. Our third portrait. that we will consider this morning is the gift of God. propitiation." Did you see that word there? Look at verse 24 and 25 again. The second part of verse 24 where it just says, "...and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption," that was last week's, that we've been purchased, rescued out of our slavery, "...through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a Propitiation. I know some of your translations might read sacrifice of atonement. That's okay. Propitiation is a more carefully selected word, and that's what we're going to talk about, this sacrifice of atonement that is propitious. Now, Jesus came and did a propitiatory work. us. Jesus, in fact, is our propitiation. And when we receive Christ, we receive this gift of propitiation. So the first thing I want to do is explain that word. Not even sure if I can pronounce it correctly, but we're going to try to explain this wonderful gift of propitiation. And then we'll spend a little bit of time then also maybe thinking, mulling over, what difference does that make in our day-to-day lives? How you and I are to experience the perpetuatory work of Jesus daily in our lives. First of all, let's explain propitiation. God put forward Jesus as our propitiation. Merry Christmas. All we want, all we need, we're just saying it, I hope you get everything you want for Christmas because I hope that what you want above everything else is Jesus. And understanding the propitiatory work of Jesus is meant to magnify how precious Jesus is and what an incredible thing that Jesus has done for us. Propitiation has two vital elements to it. In other words, for us to understand what's that big fancy word mean, first of all, it orients us around understanding that a propitiation is the satisfaction of God's anger or just wrath. toward us. The book of Romans begins, it gets into the 18th verse in chapter 1, and he notifies us of something that is serious. It says, "'For the wrath of God is being revealed against the ungodliness of man.'" Now, I know that you and I might think, well, that's probably not applicable to me, and I hate to ruin your Christmas. In fact, I don't want to ruin your Christmas at all, but we got to get past a hurdle, and that is the wrath of God is justly aimed at every single person on this earth. I'll swing it back around to that and we'll pick up some more about that, but for now, this first vital element is propitiation has something to do with the satisfaction of God's anger or just wrath. The second thing, it almost feels like opposites, propitiation has another vital element to us, not only the satisfaction of God's anger or just wrath, but also the full and free magnification of God's mercy. This work of propitiation, if you would, unleashes a full display of God's mercy toward his people. Now we can talk Christmas. God is propitious to us in Christ because God offered up Jesus, his son, as our propitiation. What I mean by that, combining those two elements, Jesus has done something in his life and in his death and through his resurrection that is propitiatory. In other words, that satisfies the just anger and wrath of God and magnifies the full display of God's mercy. Justice and mercy coalesce and reconcile together at the cross through the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing helps us to understand that better than to take a quick trip in our memory to a key Old Testament passage. You don't have to turn there. I'm not really going to read anything from that passage. But the highest day in the day of Israel's calendar was the Day of Atonement. Yom Kippur, that's what's spoken of today in Israel. Leviticus 16 describes and explains to us What unfolded on the Day of Atonement? What unfolded on the Day of Atonement was that atonement was a propitiatory atonement. Now, in the context, God had just struck dead two brothers, two sons of Aaron, the high priest, Nadab and Abihu. He struck them dead not because that was their name, but because they tried to approach God in their own configuration. And so what the Day of Atonement, in light of that, underscores is, well, how is it that God could be approached? And he could be approached, it explains, through a sacrifice. that there were two goats described in Leviticus 16. The first goat was, the sins of the people of Israel were ceremonially placed on that goat, and that goat was struck dead, and the blood of that goat was then brought into the innermost chamber of the tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, and there the blood of that goat was sprinkled on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, residing in the Holy of Holies. And just as it sounds weird to put justice and mercy together, so it is weird in one sense to understand the nature of the tabernacle. The ark, in particular, which was inside the holy of holy place of the tabernacle, was a place of judgment. For in that box, in that ark of the covenant, there were the 10 words. And in those 10 words were the 10 commandments. And Israel broke those 10 words and those 10 commandments. And the fitting response or result from breaking God's commands would be death by judgment. And yet, the ark inside the Holy of Holies, inside the tabernacle, was not only a place of judgment, it was also the place to meet with God. Now, do you feel the tension? The only place that God has authorized for us to meet with him is a place that is simultaneously a place of judgment. Does that make you feel warm and fuzzy? No. You talk about being sobered up. The only place that God said, there I will meet with Israel, is the same place that God demands that there be a judgment, because people have broke God's law. How do you do both? How do you come into the presence of God, more importantly, and how do you endure the judgment of God? Well, the blood of that first goat that was sprinkled on that lid propitiated, there's our word, propitiated or satisfied God's justice. Now, that's a portrait that's really just a preview. Even as Freddie, as he helped us to understand the beautiful significance of the Lord's Supper, reminded us that it ain't the blood of goats and bulls that can grant us forgiveness of our sins, nor is it the blood of goats and bulls that will remove God's wrath from us. But those things were beautiful pictures and portraits that provides a preview that we find in the shed blood of the Son of God. For when Jesus shed his blood on the cross, he propitiated God's justice and God's anger and God's wrath. from people like you and me. In fact, any and all who would turn to Jesus and trust only in Him." Have you done that? What does Christmas mean to you? Christmas is about the arrival of Christ who lived a perfect life. and then therefore qualified to die as a perfect sacrifice. And it was in that sacrifice that the shed blood of Jesus was sprinkled on a heavenly tabernacle, a heavenly ark that was sprinkled on the lid of that box. And in so doing, it is through the blood of Jesus, and it is only through the blood of Jesus, that God's wrath toward you and me can be turned aside. It is only through the blood of Jesus that God's wrath can be abated toward us, because it was turned toward Jesus. who at the cross, in the shedding of his blood, absorbed the wrath of God fully and finally and forever. And all of those who turn and trust in Jesus, it says, they're whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith, I don't want to waste any of that propitious blood. Oh, and we won't. It will be successful. But turn to Jesus and receive this wonderful gift that God's wrath towards you will be turned aside, abated, because it was fully placed upon Jesus. And the result of that, the result, because remember, there's two elements of propitiation. There is the satisfaction of God's anger, his just wrath, but then there is the full, free manifestation and magnification. of God's mercy, that when the blood of the goat was sprinkled on that lid, then God, it is said, would be propitious or merciful. His anger turned aside, His mercy magnified. And by the way, speaking of mercy, do you know what the name of that lid on that box is called? Yeah, I'm glad you know that. It's the mercy seat. That describes it, that portrays what happens in Jesus Christ, that God would now be propitious to his people or merciful to his people. In fact, when they went and translated the Hebrew into the Greek so that the Hebrew Old Testament was later translated into Greek, guess which word they used to describe the mercy seat. It's the word propitiation that captures what happened on the Day of Atonement and how much more does it capture. through this portrait of what God has done in Christ. You say, well, why does God got to be so fussy about satisfying his just anger? Well, even our reading this morning maybe helps us to think through that and going on into verse 25 and spilling into verse 26, the second part of verse 25. This was to show God's righteousness. This was to show that God was just because in His divine forbearance, He had passed over former sins. As it turns out, Paul is saying the same thing that Freddie was saying to us from Hebrews. Actually, as it turns out, the blood of goats and bulls do not serve the cause of justice. No sin in the Old Testament chronology of things had yet been fully paid. The demands of justice were not fully met yet. I said, well, okay, then, I mean, why can't we just dismiss those demands of justice? I mean, why can't they be lowered? I mean, God knows our frame. He knows our foibles. He knows our weakness. He knows our sin. He doesn't say, Joe is so cute. Why can't we just let bygones be bygones and just, you know what, this justice thing is not that big of a deal. Oh, you know that justice is a big deal. You and I were made in the image of a just God. And he's not about to dismiss the demands of his justice, nor is he about to lower the requirements of his justice, for in so doing, he would be unjust. And when you hear about judges, even in the news this week, who dismiss murderers with no consequences to their actions, you kind of feel like justice has been slighted, don't you? Well, God did not slight justice in welcoming sinners like us. God had passed over former sins, but now his demands of justice are fully satisfied in the death of his son. The full weight of justice is satisfied in Christ, our substitute, so that the holy character of God is not compromised. But that in Christ, God has arranged a way to pardon sin without condoning sin. In fact, he's figured out a way to pardon sin by truly, once for all, condemning sin. And that he took our sin and placed that upon his son. He took the penalty and the curse and the judgment of our sin, and He placed that on His Son. And justice was satisfied. And Jesus was raised from the dead. But see, what this propitiation does in satisfying justice It doesn't ignore it, it doesn't dismiss it, it doesn't weaken it, it fully upholds it, and yet Jesus being our propitiation clears the moral obstacles for God to be merciful to us. So that by the time you start in Romans chapter one, it begins to make the case for God's wrath against us, when you get to the end of the section there in chapter 11 and spilling over into the early verses of chapter 12, the language is no longer of the wrath of God, the language is now exclusively of the mercy of God. Jesus turns away God's wrath from you. Jesus magnifies the full display of God's mercy towards you. Trust Him. Now, let me mention three things, if I could do this quickly, that I think maybe would clarify. I think this would be helpful. Maybe it won't. We'll know later if it's helpful or not. First thing, when I use the word anger, I know that can be a troubling word. And first of all, I use it irregardless of how troubling that may settle on us. We've all had experiences where we've been the recipients of somebody's anger and nobody likes that. But I use the word anger because, well, it's what the Bible uses to describe what's going on here. But when we think about God's anger, we're not talking about that guy whose anger is unpredictable. We're not talking about that guy or gal. I don't want to be offensive. I want to be equal opportunity here, but that person whose anger is malicious and petty and capricious. No, when we're talking about God's anger, we're talking about anger in its most beautiful way. It's just simply anger is the appropriate response to evil. Anger is a beautiful expression of God's holy love. Now, that still may not make sense to you. But when you hear of a little child that's being wronged by an adult, do you feel like high-fiving and celebrating, or do you feel angry? Someone's got to put a stop to that. Okay, now we're moving into the category of what we're talking about. God's anger is the fitting, morally appropriate response in the face of wickedness. Now, maybe, again, what takes us back is, did you just say, I'm wicked? Well, apart from Jesus, that's what Freddie said. Take it up with him. He's bigger than me. He can defend himself. Oh, I'll say that, too. Don't throw it. I'll say that, hiding behind Freddie. Second thing, second thing, when we talk about this notion of propitiation, because there were pagan notions of this word propitiation. That is nothing like the biblical notion of propitiation. In pagan notions, in mythological notions of ritual and worship, then you have this capricious, unpredictable God who's angry, and you, you have to initiate some way to calm this God down. You have to propitiate the anger of God. That's not how the Bible describes this. Did you hear what he said? Whom God put forward. God put Jesus forward. God didn't say, look, you really made me mad. You're gonna have to fix this. Here's the problem. We made Him mad, justly so, but we can't fix it. We're cooked. But while we can't fix it, The very God that our sin has elicited, the just anger of God, that very same God is the merciful God who has arranged a way for He Himself so that you and I do not initiate the propitiation, that God in Christ has initiated the propitiation. And what I mean by that is not as though the Father says, look, I've had it with those guys. And Jesus says, oh, Father, give them a second chance. I'll die for them. No, it was God in Christ. It wasn't Jesus talking the Father into being propitious. It was the Father and the Son together arranging a way to be propitious toward us. And related to that, then the third thing I would say is about this propitiation is what we then have worked out is this was no third party who was the propitiation. I can't even say the word now, I've said it too many times. My lips are getting chapped saying that word. And that's why even what, you know, Freddie talked about how, you know, in a sense, the blood of goats and bulls were something of a third party, of course, an unsatisfactory third party. But God didn't go out and find a third party to satisfy his justice. First of all, we can't find one of those. Second, it has to be this unique creature. It has to be someone who is fully God and fully man. Because only God could satisfy the eternally just demands of God's anger, and yet only a man could be the fitting representative to suffer those, that just demands. And so it is the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, not an innocent third party, but a member of God's own being. In other words, your and my gift of propitiation was a gift motivated by the selfless love Now, quickly, you guys are dragging me down here. This is taking way too long. Quickly, a couple of practical outworkings of how you and I can experience this gift of propitiation each and every day of our lives. And to do that, I'm going to quote two other passages from the New Testament that also invoke our word propitiation in them. And yet, here's what I'm gonna say, that because of the propitiation of Jesus Christ, you and I have aid every day against temptation and sin. Second thing I'll say is that because of the propitious work of Jesus, you and I have an advocate every day with our ongoing sin because of the Lord Jesus. All right? So there they are. Let me backfill now. Hebrews 2, verses 17 and 18, use our word. It says, We bumped into it again. Every single week, we kept talking, we keep getting drug into whether it's reconciliation or whether it's redemption, now it's propitiation. The end game of all of these gifts is that we become children of God. We become sons of God. And so the imagery here is that Jesus, who is likened as our older brother, he's a good older brother in this case, not all older brothers are good, but he's a good older brother. He said he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God. And it goes on, to make propitiation for the sins of his people. And then verse 18. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. When's the last time you've been tempted? You say like during the sermon sometime? Yeah. How many of you battle with temptation in life. Well, let me rephrase that. Maybe some of you don't battle against temptation in life. You just go with it. But you and I face, every one of us face temptation in life. And in God's good kindness, he actually wants us to battle against that temptation, because it never leads to any place good. But look at you, look at me. Does this look like a guy who can go up against sin and temptation and come out ahead? Our propitiation is the one who knows what it's like to face temptation. Our propitiation is the one who wants to help or aid us each and every day. So among other things, I know this, you talk about ruining a good temptation, but in the middle of temptation, when you feel the pressure, the allurement, the desire, the urge, Jesus, help me! That'll do it. Second, he's not only our aid in our battle against temptation, but most of us have little to brag about on that front. And therefore, he is not only our aid, he's our advocate. 1 John 2, part of verse 1 and then into verse 2, but if anyone sins, Anyone? Maybe not you guys. Maybe some other church, some other way. But if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father. There's our sonship language again. Jesus is our brother. And guess what? Our brother is here to help us. He's our advocate to our Father. We can come before our Father even though we've sinned because our brother has taken care of it. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is our propitiation for our sins. In fact, building upon that, I'll throw in another passage of Scripture, Romans 8.34, because when we do sin, we would deserve condemnation. And so Paul asks rhetorically in Romans 8.34, who is there to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who was at the right hand of God, and who indeed is interceding for us. You cannot out-sin Christ's effective intercessory advocation. And that's not me recommending that you try. I heard about the Christian gal on TikTok who's made millions through TikTok because of her provocative way, and yet she's unashamedly, in her own mind, a Christian. And here's what she says. I can make all this money showing myself on TikTok because my Jesus will forgive me. I don't know who your Jesus is, but you've not read your Bible. The full advocacy and intercessory work of Jesus is not meant to give us a license to sin. Oh, no, no, no, don't be so presumptuous. It is meant, however, that when we fail in that temptation, How will we recapture that vibrant love that the father has for his children? We will recapture that because we have an advocate. Because through Jesus, who pleads his own blood, his own propitious work for us, our Jesus advocates for us. Then I'll close with this. You and I will show our realization of being a people who have received mercy rather than wrath. When you and I, in response to that mercy rather than wrath, We are a people who give our lives in glad surrender and service to our Lord. Romans 12.1, therefore, in view of the mercies of God. Has God been merciful to you in Christ Jesus? Has God diverted his judgment from you in Christ Jesus? as God abated His wrath against you in Christ Jesus, as God magnified His mercy in Christ Jesus towards you so that you now are a well-loved son. Do you get that? You get that only insofar as now you gladly, lovingly, delightfully, eagerly want to please and serve the God of mercy. Thank you, Father, for your word. Thank you for all that your word says and teaches us. Thank you for what we have now received because of Jesus. Thank you that he is now our propitiation. Thank you for the gift of propitiation. Thank you for this endless display of love. Thank you for how your love transforms our loves. For we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand and sing this song together. And I lift my voice to worship you, O my soul. Rejoice, take joy, my King, in what you hear. May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ears. I love you, Lord, and I stand ♪ My sins are gone ♪ May your name be praised ♪ Exalt my soul ♪ And behold his face ♪ I will ever sing, O my King Your promises and Your power are great. In case my God, may I taste Your ways, I will magnify Your sweet peace. I will magnify your sweet peace all of my days Thank you guys for helping us to sing This morning, we're grateful. Reminder of what I said earlier, and that is there's copies of the proposed budget at the Welcome Center. I encourage you to take that, look that over. If you have questions, let me know. I'll direct you to the Finance Committee. But then we'll have an opportunity after next week's service to consider that budget. And then 4.30 tonight, we're going to go caroling. One other thing I'll mention is there's a, if you're looking for a new, Read through the Bible Devotional. This is a great resource. It's out there at the Welcome Center for purchase. If you want a copy of that, then it's out there for you. All right. Well, I hope you guys have a great Christmas this week. Isn't it this week? Okay, I was just checking. So, just checking. So, yeah. So, which means you only have a few days left to get my gift. But let's leave on a better note than that. So, listen to Romans 15, 13. May we leave with this. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that the power of the Holy Spirit may abound in hope. Go in that word, you're dismissed.