Good morning. I'm grateful that in the providence of God I can be here with you this morning to study and examine God's Word and its demands upon our lives. Let's begin with a word of prayer, shall we? Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the great privilege that is ours to meet together this morning in your name. And you've promised us in your Word that where two or three are gathered in your name, that you are there. And we've gathered this morning in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord and Savior. And we welcome you into our presence in the midst of our gathering this morning. And we ask you, Heavenly Father, that together with the Son, that you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us. I pray that you would pour him out in great measure. Plenty, the scriptures speak of His fullness being like rivers and like floods. Father, we have experienced such meager portions. And I ask this morning, Father, that You would grant to us in Your grace and in Your mercy, plenty, plenteous outpouring of Your Holy Spirit upon us. minister to us. Holy Spirit of God, teach us. Open our eyes to understand and to see the truth of your word, its impact and influence and implications upon our lives, and guide us to conform our lives to the truth. And we will give you praise, honor, glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for what you accomplish in our lives today. Amen. Open your Bibles, if you would, to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3 is a very prominent chapter in the Scriptures. Romans was written by the Apostle Paul, as many of you probably know. Paul wrote it to believers at Rome We don't know how that church started. There's no record as to its beginning, its founding, and its being formed. We do know, however, that on the day of Pentecost, there were people in Jerusalem who were attracted to the outpouring of the Spirit upon the believers on that day who were from Rome. So perhaps that was the founding of the church at Rome, was there at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, and they returned back to Rome, began to gather together as a fellowship, we don't know. But this letter that Paul wrote to these believers in Rome is the jewel, if you will, of the scriptures that talk about the doctrines of salvation. It is the foundational book of all of the scriptures in the New Testament that bring together all of the various aspects of the doctrines of salvation, and discusses them, and presents them, explains them, shows why they were necessary, shows how they work, and ultimately exalting the Lord Jesus Christ, the one and only Savior of sinners. In chapters 1, 2, and 3, we see Paul laying the foundation and explaining how all men are sinners. He starts first with the Gentile and explains how the Gentile is lost. And then he goes from the Gentile to the Jew and explains how the Jew is lost. In chapters 1, 2, and 3, he lays that foundation just step by step by step by step, and concludes in part of the section that we will read in a moment, that many of you know by memory, Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And then Paul begins to lay out the doctrines of salvation, The very beginnings of them starting in that passage and in that section. And he begins to lay them out. And let's take a look just real quickly at Romans chapter 3. And let's read the section that is mentioned in your bulletin. That is the section from which we will take our study this morning. Romans chapter 3 beginning in verse number 21. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith in Jesus Christ, unto all and upon them that believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. In that short section, let me just highlight for you the number of the different doctrines of salvation that are mentioned in that short passage. Did you notice them? First of all, I want you to notice he talks about faith in Christ. Then he talks about the total depravity of man. All have sinned. And then he talks about justification. Then he talks about grace. Then he talks about redemption. Then he talks about propitiation, and then he talks about remission of sin, and at the end he talks about the justice of God. How many of them are there in there? Oh, maybe six, seven, eight. I didn't count them. All of those are various aspects and doctrines of salvation. From this section, I would like us to concentrate this morning on just one of them. and only parts of one of them, and that is the one that is mentioned in verse number 25. The one that is the $25 word, propitiation. It's very important for us to examine this doctrine, and let me just mention a couple reasons why it is important for us to examine this doctrine. First of all, it's a doctrine of salvation. Another reason why it's important for us to examine it and see what it means is that the Church of Jesus Christ today spends very little of its time ever examining the doctrines of salvation. It seems like life has taken on a different bend and turn. And we spend very little time examining the doctrines of salvation. This is one of them. Another reason why it's important for us to examine this particular doctrine is without it we have no salvation. If there was no propitiation through Christ with the Father, we have no salvation. It is the central cornerstone that is part of the other doctrines that are built upon the propitiation of Christ with God the Father. on behalf of sinners like you and me. Without it, we do not have salvation. It's very important that we understand it, that we know what it means and its influence and impact upon our lives if we are believers, and especially if we are not believers. We must understand. And so I'd like us to take some time this morning to examine this doctrine of propitiation. From this text, I want us to look just at three things that are part of the doctrine of propitiation and their implications upon our lives today. I want us to first of all look at what it means. This is a $25 word. What does it mean? Some of you have never heard the word, let alone understand its meaning. Secondly, I want us to look at the need of man. And then third, I want us to look at the propitiation of Christ on behalf of sinners. And then we'll close with the implications of those truths upon our lives. First of all, what does it mean? Well, just in its barest meaning, just looking at it literally as a word, forgetting its religious implications here in Scripture, in its day, the time that the Scriptures were written, the Greeks used this word to talk about appeasement. If you had offended someone and they had ought against you and you wanted to appease them, you would propitiate them. You would, in some fashion, appease them or satisfy them. Cover up something that you had done wrong against them. I don't mean by cover up, hiding it, brushing it under the carpet, so to speak. But I mean, deal with it. With them. And cover it. Satisfy it on their behalf. In some instances, they used it to describe an offering that they would bring and give to one of their gods to satisfy one of their idols. A propitiatory offering, they would call it. That's its kind of literal meaning. Well now, what meaning does it have then in this setting where it's talking about God? Well, on the one hand, The way its literal meaning was, it was an action of man. It was something that one man, one person did to another man or woman, another person. It was something that they did. That is different from the propitiation that is described for us and mentioned here in Romans. For this is something that is done on behalf of man. It is something that man could not do in and of himself, and we will see that in a moment. Man cannot propitiate himself with God. You can't, I can't, no one can. It had to be done on behalf of him by someone other than him. And it's talking about God being satisfied. Someone propitiated him, appeased him, satisfied him, on behalf of someone else. That's propitiation. And Paul presents it here as describing that it was the Lord Jesus who became the propitiatory offering on behalf of others. So that's the definition. That's the meaning of the term, of the doctrinal word itself, propitiation. It's an appeasement. It's a satisfaction. It is a setting right of something that was wrong. And in the instance of Scripture, it is done on behalf of sinners by someone other than the sinners themselves. Now secondly, I want us to look here, because it's mentioned in our text, and we read it and I pointed it out just a few moments ago, as stated in verse number 23, And that is the need of man. The scriptures describe for us very clearly the condition of man without Christ. He's dead. He's lost. He's condemned. Totally depraved. Boy, we don't like that description, do we? No, we don't. We don't like to view ourselves as totally depraved. I'm pretty good, thank you. I got my degree. I've studied long and hard. I'm very bright. I'm a good man. I'm a good woman. Sir, ma'am, you're dead in your trespasses and sins without Christ. That's the description of all men everywhere. without Christ. Lost, condemned, totally helpless and hopeless to ever change that condition. Oh, don't we wish that the dead, in some instances, could come back to life? Yeah, we've got loved ones and we wish that would be true, don't we? Friends. But they can't. They're dead. That's our condition before God. Without Christ, we're dead. The dead cannot raise themselves to life. They're lost, hopeless. And as we read farther back in this same chapter, in chapter 3, you can go back, starting with verse number 9, I believe it is, where it begins a description. of men and women without Christ. They don't have any desire for God. They are lost. Their tongues are open sepulchers. We have offended a holy, righteous God. We have violated His law. We have complete aversion to His participation in our lives, except when things go bad and then we curse Him for not stopping them. We really don't want anything to do with God. We just want Him to stop the bad things from happening to us. After all, He's a God of love, you know. And so, that is the condition of man. Now then, this text also describes for us the nature of God. Not in its totality, but it does present two aspects of God, especially relevant to the issue at hand, which is the condition of man without Christ. And God is presented here in verses number 21, 22, 25, and 26, if my memory serves me correct. First of all is righteous. The righteousness of God. The righteousness of God. The righteousness of God. The righteousness of God. God is righteous. He is absolutely holy. He is absolutely faultless. He has no mark or mar about Him. He is totally holy, free from sin. Absolutely righteous. We can't really comprehend that, can we? Because all we know are things that are marred. We're all marred. We're all marked. The scripture, Paul describes himself as a broken vessel. That's the best of us. But God is holy, righteous, without sin. Not only does this passage describe him as righteous, but he describes him as just. As verse number 26, God is just. What does that mean? That means that God's nature is His act. God is a God of grace. He displays grace. He's a God of omnipotence. He displays omnipotence. He's a God of holiness, therefore His acts are always and ever will be holy. Never sin. His acts are His nature. His nature are His acts. He is just. What He does always conforms and equates to His nature. He never violates His nature. His nature is Himself. Himself is His nature. And how He acts and lives and performs and what He does is always, always, always, always just. Conforms to His nature. Always. Never a violation. We've got a problem, don't we? What do we do with a God who is holy, righteous and just? And we as sinners who are not holy, not just, in fact dead in our trespasses and sins, what do we do? God always acts consistent with His nature, therefore He is not oblivious to our sin. Nor is He indifferent to our sin. Because He is holy, He must act as a holy God, which is to condemn and to judge sin. He must. He must. He has no option. That's His nature. And He will act in judgment. He has and He will. And He does. Now and in the future and in the past. There is one thing that will satisfy Him. Blood. What? We see it described and pictured for us in the Old Testament. God gave to Moses to give to the children of Israel His law, and as part of His law, there are several different parts to His law, which we won't examine this morning, but the one part of His law that He presented to them was the sacrifices. And what did the sacrifices entail? Blood. Blood. And God said to Moses, if you will bring the sacrifices and you will sacrifice the blood, I will accept the blood. A problem, however. They had to keep doing it, and doing it, and doing it, and doing it, and doing it, and doing it, and doing it. They could never give enough. In fact, as soon as they had sacrificed an animal and gave its blood on behalf of that sin, they really needed to turn around and do another one. Because that one only did that one time satisfy. The sinfulness of them was so pervasive in all of their lives that they would have to continually present blood offerings in order to satisfy God on behalf of their sin. Do you see that? I think you see that? Man has a problem. There's only two ways to satisfy God. The sinner must somehow continually present blood, which the scriptures tell us never could cover our sin. Or there could be a substitute. someone who would step in on behalf of those who could not act on their own and do it on their behalf. And if we could just find an acceptable substitute who could perform on our behalf that which we cannot perform on our own, and if God would accept that substitute on our behalf, could be satisfied. Do you see it? Do you see it? Oh God, open our eyes to see it. Do you see that? God and His justice must either judge us as sinners, or he must judge the substitute. Someone, someone has to pay the price. God is just, God is righteous, He demands payment for the violation of His law, and somebody must pay. If we do not trust in Christ, we will pay with our own blood. We'll be condemned. If we find a substitute, perhaps I can find life. That's the need and the plight of man before God, who is just and righteous, and man who is in great need of help. totally helpless, incapable of ever satisfying God's demands. Third thing I want us to see is the propitiation of Christ. The satisfaction of Christ. The appeasement of the Lord Jesus on behalf of sinners. Sinners like you, sinners like me. Notice what it says in the scripture. We'll read the text and then we'll just make a couple comments about it. But now, but now. Then down to verse 25. God has set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. To declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. There's a couple things I want to point out about the propitiation of Christ. And that's this. First of all, He was a substitute. You all know what a substitute is, don't you? A substitute is someone who assumes all of the responsibilities and obligations of someone else and acts on their behalf. They're a substitute. They take the place of. The Lord Jesus became a substitute for sinners like you and like me. And the scriptures declare that in many, many places. Jesus said, I have come to give my life a ransom for many. Jesus said in John 10, I have come to give my life for the sheep. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. And then we read that the Lord Jesus has taken upon Himself our sins. He who knew no sin became sin for us, that the righteousness of God might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Romans 8. He became a substitute. He who knew no sin, and He never did any sin, neither was any guilt in His mouth or in His actions, He became a substitute, took the place of sinners like you and me. And then secondly, the Scriptures describe the Lord Jesus as being a surety. Do you understand what a surety is? Don't ever become one. A surety is someone who assumes the obligations and financial responsibilities of someone, and in the event of that person's failure, they assume them and pay them. That's a surety. Jesus Christ became our surety. He took upon Himself your debt. My debt. Debt of sinners like you and like me. He took upon Him that debt, that responsibility. And because we are unable to pay for it on our own, He paid it. He paid it. The debt's paid. I don't ever want to force praise and hallelujahs from an audience, but I hope there was one in your heart. Did you hear what I said? Paid the debt in full. Paid it. It's paid. The debt. The debt that people like you and like me owe a just, righteous God. has been paid. It's paid. You know what it's like to have a debt paid, don't you? Some of you have mortgages that you've paid off and remember the relief that you felt when you sent that last check in and you got back the release. It's been filed and you're debt free. You know what that's like, don't you? And you know what it's like to pay off that credit card? It increased and it's balanced and you had problems and you had occasions where you needed to use it and it got you through a tough time and finally now things are a little bit better and you paid off that debt. How about student loans? Oh, I remember the day I paid off my last student loan. Sent in the last payment. Oh, that's nice to have the debt paid, isn't it? Well, that's what Jesus did. That's what Jesus did. Those debts I had to pay on my own. Came out of my pocket. But I'm talking about a debt that you can't pay. It's a debt that you owe. It's a debt that I owe. And you cannot pay it ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. You will never be able to pay it. Jesus did. Jesus did. He made the payment. He became the surety for sinners like you and like me. There's a third thing I want us to see. That the propitiation of Christ through His blood, and it had to be blood, remember. That's what the Father demanded. He demanded blood. The payment that Christ made on the cross through the shedding of His own blood fulfilled a symbol. Remember I spoke a few moments ago about the Old Testament law and how God gave the practice of the offerings and the sacrifices to help pay the sin and the animals were to be slain and the blood was to be spilt in order to cover the sin? You remember the section that talked about the Ark of the Covenant? The Ark of the Covenant was the thing that was in the temple in the Holy of Holies, where the high priest only went once a year, and he dared not go there without blood. If he went in without blood, his life was taken. And he had to go in with blood, and he went in once a year, and he sprinkled the blood where? On the mercy seat. The mercy seat was the spot on the very top of this box that had the cherubim that overshadowed the mercy seat that was in between them? And the high priest would go in once a year and he would take the blood and he would sprinkle it on the mercy seat and it would cover for a year the sins of the nation of Israel that had violated the law of God that was contained within the box? Word here that is used by Paul in his letter to Rome, saying that Jesus Christ is the propitiation. What it is describing is Jesus Christ is the mercy seat. That's what the word means. Jesus Christ is the mercy seat. That blood that was sprinkled out on that mercy seat once a year to cover, has now been fulfilled in one time by the shedding of His own blood. The Lord Jesus sprinkled His blood on the mercy seat, the heavenly mercy seat before the Father and He satisfied Him. And God accepted the sacrifice and He took it and He was satisfied. It's been paid. Did you hear that? It's been paid. The debt of sinners like you and like me has been paid in full through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ who became the mercy seat on behalf of sinners like you and like me. Justice can now be given. Justice can now be given in two different ways. First of all, justice can now be given to those who reject the blood sacrifice. God in his justice can condemn them to judgment. Oh, but by the same token, by the same token, if my debt has been paid, and I come to the Father through Christ, And I come to the Father and I say, Father, Jesus paid my debt. I'm trusting His payment on my behalf. What must God do in justice? He must forgive me. He must pardon me. He must release me from all of my debt. He must cancel it all. The handwritings of the law, the scriptures talk about, talking about the Old Testament law and the Ten Commandments, that law that is the handwritings against me, that condemn me to judgment, He has to cancel that. He's just. He's just. He must cancel. Why? Because it's been paid. What would we do with a judge in our day, or a business in our day, or a bank in our day, that after we had paid the debt and it had been stated on there, paid in full, would come after us for a second payment? What would we say to him? Get out of my face! You've got no claim. I paid it. Right there it says it. It's paid. Oh, by faith in Christ, that's your position before the Father. been paid in full. You don't owe it anymore. That's propitiation. God is satisfied. On whose behalf does He accept it? Everybody? No. It says here, those on whose behalf He accepts it are those who believe. Those who believe in His blood See, there are some implications now of the truth. Let me just mention a couple of them briefly and we'll close. Some of the implications that we can see from these truths is, number one, as we see the infiniteness of our sin. Have you really taken a good look at how sinful you really are? Man, it's ugly. Isn't it? Yeah, it is. I don't want to see anymore. I don't want to see anymore. I have on more and more occasions said, God, stop. I can't take it. I don't want to see anymore. Our sin, our depravity is infinite. The second thing it shows for us is the infinite grace of God. As infinite as my sin is, God's grace is beyond it. It's beyond it. The infinite grace of God. And the infiniteness of the sacrifice of Christ on behalf to pay the penalty that I owe. And the great extent of the love of God. And the love of Christ to sacrifice himself for sinners like you and me. Can you believe it? Can you believe it? Scarcely for a good man will people die. Never for an enemy. Oh, but while we were enemies with God, what did Jesus do? He died for us. Well, what can the Spirit of God do with these truths? I'll just mention a few things and we'll close. First of all, it can eliminate error. It won't take time to dwell on error. I hope that in seeing the truth, you'll see in contrast to it, the error. I don't have time to pursue that today. But the Spirit of God can eliminate error. Secondly, it can explain to you the truth. It can open your eyes to see the truth. The truth about yourself. The truth about God. in His grace, the truth about what Christ has done on behalf of sinners like you and me, and what is available to sinners like you and me, to those who believe and trust. The third thing He can do is He can encourage us. Those of us who have gathered here today, who at some time in our lives have trusted Christ and His sacrifice on our behalf as ours, and we stand before God today clean in Christ, Oh, what encouragement we can draw from this truth. It's paid. I don't have to work to try and solve this enmity. Oh, it's been paid. Oh, that can bring great encouragement. The fourth thing the Spirit of God can do is He can exalt Christ. That's one of the works of the Spirit of God, you know, is to exalt and magnify Christ. Do you see Christ today? Do you have some bit of a glimpse into who He is and what He did on behalf of sinners like you and me? And what there was true about Him that enabled Him to do what He did on behalf of sinners like you and me? Oh, the Spirit of God can exalt Christ before our eyes and our hearts and minds. Another thing the Spirit of God can do is He can edify us, strengthen us, expand our knowledge and our understanding of the truth of the doctrines of salvation and what it means to be saved in Christ for all eternity and to have our sins forgiven and how that came to pass. Oh, our faith can be edified and strengthened. Another thing the Spirit of God can do is He can examine us. We don't like that part, do we? But that's His work. He can examine us. You know, He sees through what I don't see. I see the outside and I, quite frankly, I can be fooled very easily. Oh, but God isn't fooled. He sees the heart. He sees your thoughts. He knows the intents of your heart and your mind. He knows your desires. He knows all of it. You can't fool Him. You can't hide it. He sees it. And today the Spirit of God can examine your heart and your mind, a question for you to contemplate. Where has the Spirit of God identified in your heart and life today your failure to apply the truths of God's Word? Another thing the Spirit of God can do is He can exhort us to conform our lives to the truth. What changes in your life must the Spirit of God bring to pass to conform your thoughts, your mind, your attitude, the intents and thoughts, passions, desires of your heart and life to the truth? What changes must He bring? For some of us who are in Christ, there is that constant growth, isn't there? That's part of being a child of God. There's the constant growth. Growth in grace, the scriptures call it. That constant work of the Spirit of God molding and shaping our lives into the very image of Christ. And boy, sometimes it hurts, doesn't it? Oh, the pruning knife cuts. And we bleed. Yeah, it hurts. And we read in Hebrews chapter 12 about the disciplining of the children, how the Father who really loves His children disciplines them, corrects them. Oh, that's what a loving Heavenly Father does too, you know. Those who are His children, He lovingly corrects them, disciplines them, So there's that aspect of the changing that the Spirit of God must bring about in our lives. Now, there's another group I want to talk to just very briefly. And that are those of you this morning who, in the privacy of your own mind and heart, have to admit you've never trusted Christ. Oh, you've been to church, maybe even regular church. Maybe even a member. Maybe even someone who gives. Maybe someone who is very involved in church activities. But you've never trusted Christ. My friend, your good works will not satisfy God. Your morality will not satisfy God. Your good works will not appease Him. There's only one way, and that's through the blood of Christ. And the Scriptures tell us without equivocation that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And Jesus boldly stated, everyone who comes unto me I'll accept. And so if you are here today and you have never trusted Christ, won't you call out to God today for mercy? God, have mercy on me. And won't you call out to Christ and say, Jesus, save me? I can't do it. Save me. And won't you call out to the Holy Spirit and say, Spirit of God, won't you bring about in me the faith that is necessary to trust the blood of Jesus to satisfy God on my behalf? Give me that faith. I pray you will. Father, thank you for the truth. You tell us in your Word that the truth sets us free. Oh, what great freedom. Thank You, Father, for the great demonstration of Your grace, of Your love, of Your compassion for sinners like me. Thank You. Thank You, Lord Jesus, that because You loved me, one who was without merit, one who was hopeless and helpless, You came and You suffered You obeyed the Father on my behalf. You took the punishment that I deserved. And you satisfied Him for me. And I thank you for that. And I thank you, Holy Spirit, for bringing me to faith, to trust the provision of God in Christ for sinners like me. Father, I pray that for people here. There are those who would share the same testimony that I just presented. They, too, have come to faith in Christ. Father, I pray that they will give you thanks, that they will praise and exalt your name for what you have done on their behalf, and exalt and magnify Christ. And then for those who may be here who have never trusted Christ, O Spirit of God, may today be the day that you would bring them to faith to trust the Lord Jesus, who is the procreation for sinners like them. And Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we will give to you honor and glory and praise for what you accomplish in our lives. Amen.