Last Lord's Day morning we began a little thematic study over the four times that I am to be with you. A theme on the cross of Christ or perhaps more accurately the cross work of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a theme to feed our souls, that which is central to all that we are as the people of God. And what we discovered in her studies last Lord's Day was first of all the centrality of the cross. The cross central in the eternal plan and purpose of God from all eternity. And that centrality of the cross, in the perspective of Jesus, he came on that mission to see And that saving mission centered upon that which he would accomplish at the place called Calvary, that which had been appointed from before the foundation of the earth. We saw that the cross was central in the preaching of the apostles, though it was utter foolishness to the wider Gentile world and though it was a stumbling block to the Jews to whom that gospel first came. Yet we find that the apostles went everywhere preaching Christ. and him crucified. And we discovered also that it was central in heaven's eternal praise. The worship of heaven eternally will be centred on the cross work of our Lord Jesus Christ, worthy, the Lamb of the slain, heaven's multitude, the redeemed of all the earth, that multitude that no man can number, gathered from every nation, kindred, tribe, chosen by God in eternity, gifted to Christ, and for which Christ came to die upon the cross, they will for all eternity center their worship on the redeeming work of the Lamb who was slain. And then we discovered also last Thursday that not only was the cross central, but the cross was necessary. God having purpose, no wonder no obligation to save, but having in his grace and mercy chosen to save a people, the cross was necessitated for their redemption. There was no other way by which a holy God could save his people. And we saw there were two essential aspects to the necessity of the cross. One, the character of God, his perfect inflexible justice. and his infinite and pure righteousness necessitated that a sacrifice be made, that one die. For the law of God declares the soul that sins must die. And so the character of God necessitated a divine substitute who would pay for the sins of his people. And we saw secondly that the nature of sin necessitated the death of Christ upon the cross. Our sin is not something trifle, but our sin is serious. It is offensive to a holy God. It separates, it cuts it off from God. It brings his condemnation. It brings us guilt. It brings us condemnation. It brings divine punishment, eternal punishment. For our sin pollutes us before God. We are utterly depraved in the totality of what we are in Adam. And our sin, if it is to be dealt with, and dealt with it must be, because the character of God requires it to be dealt with. And so those two great things, necessity that Christ must die upon the cross. This morning we are coming to the third in our series, which is the nature of the cross. What transpired at the cross, that which was central in the purposes of God eternally, and that which was necessitated by the character of God and the sinfulness of man, what was it that transpired as Jesus died upon the cross? In other words, what was happening? What was Jesus doing as he dies the sinner's death, as he pays the price of our sin, as he offers up himself as that divinely appointed sacrifice and substitute for the sins of his people. And often we can so miss that. It's not just that Jesus died. It's not just that he made the supreme sacrifices. Men make sacrifices for others and for causes. But Christ was active, if you like, in his death on the cross. He wasn't passive, as he was nailed to that cross, but he was actively engaged in a battle. And he was transacting certain things to secure and accomplish the redemption of his people, that which God had decreed from all eternity. And so we want to establish this morning the relationship between the necessity of the cross and the nature of the cross. Now you will, and I want to remind you that in what we're considering this morning, there are great themes. And there are four essentially. And each of them would at least be a message on their own, and perhaps each of them could be a series of messages on their own. So I will simply this morning be dipping in and scratching the surface as it were, but bringing to you collectively in this message that addresses the nature of the cross work of Christ, the four essential elements that were transpiling or transacted as Christ dies for sinners. The nature of the cross work of Christ arises out of the same considerations from which are derived its necessity. In other words, the holy and just character of God and the utter sinfulness and depravity of man are the two considerations that arise when we come to consider not only the necessity of the cross, but the nature of the cross work of Jesus Christ. It is those two same considerations that draw up that which was transparent at the grace call of Calvary. We must ever keep that before us this morning. God's holy, righteous, God's infinite, inflexible justice. And the utter sinfulness and fallenness and pollution and depravity of the sinner. Necessity of the cross, but they also bring to us that which focuses on what was happening in the cross work of Jesus Christ. And there are essentially, I say, four considerations. Two of them are to do with the holiness and the character and the righteousness and the justice of God. And the other two focus upon the sinfulness of the sinner. Those which are Godward, if you like, that which had the Godward dimension of Christ's work at the cross, are to do with the character of God. They are propitiation and reconciliation. The Godward dimension of the nature of the death of Christ at Calvary. And the other two that have to do with the sinfulness of the sinner, the sinfulness of those for whom Christ dies, are redemption and expiation. And of course we alluded to some of these and touched upon some of them last Lord's Day also. what might otherwise be called some of the great words of our faith. Words that in many, many places, sadly, perhaps in the majority of evangelicalism, these are great words, great gospel issues that have fallen out of fashion. Some of them have been removed from the more modern translations. Propitiation. Where do you hear it proclaimed? Much, perhaps the vast majority of professing Christians in our land, with all its privileges, would look at you blindly and would not have a clue what you're talking about if you talked about the Christian Church. Reconciliation. Oh, there's a false notion about reconciliation, not least in our own province. It hasn't come to grips with biblical reconciliation that is at the heart of the cross work of Christ and the heart of the glorious gospel that we proclaim. Redemption and expiation, these are great things and we want to consider them, I say briefly this morning, from the perspective of the nature of the death of Christ at the place called Calvary. So let's look at them together. The two first of all that do with the righteousness, the holiness and the justice of God. We begin with propitiation, and let me give you a definition from our confession of faith. Propitiation is that priestly work of Christ wherein he removed God's anger and wrath by the covering of our sins through the substitutionary sacrifice of himself to God, thus securing our acceptance before God. Propitiation is that priestly work of Christ wherein He removed God's anger and wrath by covering our sins through the substitutionary sacrifice of Himself to God, thus securing our acceptance before God. Christ accomplished His work of propitiation That which was to do with the Godward dimension of his death. Christ was offering up himself to God. It was an offering to God. He wasn't just merely, and don't misunderstand me at this point, but he wasn't just merely in some love, expressive way, making a sacrifice for us. He was transacting a transaction with the Holy God, His Father. And so his propitiatory work is that which involves Christ pacifying, turning away the wrath of God that justly abided upon the sinner. Because of their guilt and condemnation before him, the wrath of God abides on the sinner even from their birth. And when Jesus died upon the cross in the sinner's place, and for their sins, he was dealing first and foremostly with God, the Father. And he was propitiated turning away the wrath of his father God against his people and against the sins of his people which deserved his wrath eternally. That wrath that would justly fall upon them for all eternity must be propitiated, must be turned away if they're ever to have an acceptance before God. The sinner cannot be accepted before God, for God's wrath is upon them. Just like God says you must die eternally for your sin is pollutes you and defiles you and cuts you off from me, your maker. And the Lord Jesus Christ goes to the cross bearing our sins and bearing the wrath of God against the sins of his people in order that he might, if you like, quench that wrath of God. that he might turn it away from falling upon his chosen people. And that propitiatory work of Christ is accomplished by Christ when Christ on the altar of the cross is consumed by the wrath of God. We can't fully fathom that. But here is the beloved Son of God, held on the altar of sacrifice, not by the nails that bound Him hand and foot, but held upon that altar of Calvary's cross by His own infinite and eternal cords of love for His people, that people whom He came to save. That's what binds them to the altar. They couldn't, the Nails could not have held the Lord Jesus Christ. He could have come down from that cross. He didn't need to call 10,000 angels. He could have come down and consumed the multitude that stood around the cross of Calvary. But he held himself out of infinite love for his people upon the altar of the cross. And as he held himself there with his infinite and eternal love for his people, he absorbs to himself the full wrath of God against our sins. So that he is consumed by God's wrath. He is consumed by God's anger poured out upon him. Isaiah 53. Pleased the Lord to bruise him, to put him to grief. to strike him, and to smit him, and to afflict him, and to bruise him, and to put him to death. This is God at work. It was not merely that man put Christ to death, but God put him. For God caused His wrath, His holy wrath, His righteous wrath to fall upon His beloved Son as He stands in the sinner's place upon the sacrifice of the cross. The Apostle Paul makes it clear to us in our reading this morning that the character of God And the nature of Christ's death was necessitated by God's justice and righteousness. Turn with me to Romans chapter 3. This is a well-known chapter. It's an amazing chapter. It's a chapter that's inexhaustible in its truth. Romans chapter 3 continues the theme of the opening chapters of the book of Romans, which outlines the message of the Gospel. And remember that the gospel is, first and foremost, as Paul by the Spirit tells us, it is the revelation of the wrath of God. It's a definition of the gospel. It is the revelation of the wrath of God from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. It's the gospel. He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God to save, but that gospel is the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and righteousness of man. That he's just outlined in the first two chapters, or he continues to outline, sorry, in chapters one and chapters two and into chapter three. And then he comes in chapter 3 and he says the law could not deal with that. The law could not propitiate the wrath of God revealed in the gospel of his case concerning his son Jesus Christ. No flesh could be justified by the law. No aspect of God's wrath was turned away by the perpetual sacrifices that were made daily in the temple. And then Paul comes, and having made that clear, our sinfulness and the gospel message, which is the wrath of God revealed against that sinfulness, and the fact that the law is powerless to deal with the wrath of God and to bring salvation and the righteous standing before God. And then he says, Having come to that conclusion, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. The law brings to us the knowledge of sin, but now, and he is the great contrast, but now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. The law and the prophets spoke of the righteousness of God that would come in the promised Redeemer. And he says, Now it has appeared, not only the wrath of God revealed from heaven, but the righteousness of God that is not found by the keeping of the law. But this righteousness, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. And he reiterates that when he is spelled out in these three chapters. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And then here's where we want to get to. But being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption as in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth. And it's the message we looked at that the Apostle preached Acts chapter 2. God set him forth upon the cross. God set forth his son. To what purpose? to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, by His blood shedding, by His death at the hand of God. God put Him, if you like, upon the cross in order that He, Christ, might propitiate the wrath of the Father God against the ungodless, sinful, unrighteous deeds of His people. And God did it to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time, His, God's, righteousness that He, God, might be just and at the same time the justifier of him who believes in Jesus Christ. So God puts Christ on the cross, sets Him there with an express purpose, Romans 3, 24, to make Him a propitiation to turn away God's wrath, His righteous wrath, against the sins which Christ bears in His own body on the tree. And so by that death that He dies, that death that entailed that great mystery, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God, forsaken by God, in order that God the Son might propitiate, turn away the wrath of God against his people for whom he dies on Calvary's cross. And the wrath of God consumes When Jesus willingly took that cup in the garden, symbolising the cup, was the great transaction coming to fruition. That which had been appointed from all eternity now comes to be transacted in the garden. And the Father is saying to the Son, now the hour has come. We looked at it last Thursday. The hour has come. The hour for which you were appointed from all eternity. The hour for which you came forth through the womb of the Virgin. It has arrived, my son. The hour in which you will go to the place of sacrifice and you will embrace this cup. This cup was made, that is the cup itself, if you like, and the symbolism was constituted of the righteousness of God and the justice of God. And in that cup was the undiluted wrath of God against the sins of his people. There was not one drop of mercy in that cup. And God caused that undiluted wrath of His to fall upon His Son. And on the altar of Calvary, God's wrath consumed His Son and left Him abandoned to die for us. God in Christ was turning away God's wrath against us. by offering up himself to God, to lay himself bare at the hand of God's wrath. Jesus endures hell for his people in order that God's wrath might not fall upon us from all eternity. The amazing grace of God. But not only was Christ propitiating the wrath of God, but he was doing a work of reconciliation Let me give you again the quotation from our confession. Reconciliation is that sovereign work of God the Father in which his alienation from sinners is removed through the propitiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Reconciliation flows out of and is based upon propitiation. There is a connection between these things. Because Christ has turned away the wrath of God. God in Christ is reconciling sinners to himself. That reconciliation could not take place until sin is dealt with and until God's wrath is expended upon Jesus Christ. You see, our notion of reconciliation, because of the connotations that we're familiar with, can become so fuzzy. Reconciliation is not just people who were once enemies kind of working together. Reconciliation is not just people beginning to speak to one another who didn't speak. Reconciliation is not just people for a time laying down their arms so they can no longer kill one another. Reconciliation is when the cause of the enmity between a people is dealt with and removed. You make your own applications to other things. I'm focusing on reconciliation and the nature of the cross work of Christ. But until the cause of enmity is dealt with and removed, there can be no true reconciliation. To gloss over the cause of enmity, to gloss over the wrongdoings and the sins of people against another, reconciliation cannot happen. That is biblical reconciliation, true reconciliation. And the sinner is alienated from God on account of their sins. We're at enmity with God. We're cut off from God. Genesis 3 is the picture of the communion that man had with God in creation. Because of their rebellion, because of their sin, because of their breaking, their transgressing of the law of God, they were put out of the garden. Their relationship, their fellowship with God was broken. They became an enmity with God and they became alienated from God. God and Adam no longer walked in the cool of the day and had that communion and fellowship because it was broken on account of their sin. And the New Testament oozes with the fact and the truth that the sinner is at enmity with God, the sinner is cut off from God, the sinner and God are separate on account of their sins. We can go to Ephesians chapter 1 and 2 and again talking about the cross work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know he's speaking here in a particular context of the Jew and Gentile distinction, but it's also true. But now, verse 13 of Ephesians 2, in Christ Jesus, you who were sometimes far off, now he's talking about Gentiles there, I know, but it's this idea that we're cut off, we're separated, brought nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law and commandments and ordinances. for to making himself of twain one new man, so making peace, that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." By the death of the cross, that enmity, that alienation, that separation between God and the sinner is dealt with. And because sin is dealt with, the cause of the entity, because that sin is removed, and we come to that in one of our next words here, and because the wrath of God is propitiated, turned away from the sinner, then now the sinner can have a right acceptance and the right relationship with God their creator. The sin has been paid for, the sin has been removed, the wrath of God has been turned away, and God is the one who makes reconciliation. breaks down that which caused the enmity, deals with the cause of the enmity, removes the cause of the enmity, brings back that which had separated us from Him even for all of time. And so reconciliation deals with the alienation of God from mankind. Let me give you a couple more references. Turn with me to Romans 5. Over the page, Romans 5. Verse 8, but God commendeth his love toward us. And while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's the contents. Dying for us, to what expect? Just dying a death? No. Dying in order that we might be justified by his blood, saved from wrath through him. That verse 9, that's propitiation. Saved from the wrath, because it's burned away. For if when we were enemies, verse 10, We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Do you see what Paul is saying here? Because the wrath of God is turned away, then we are reconciled by the bloodshedding and the death of Jesus Christ. That while we were yet enemies, God dealt with the enmity. God dealt with the separation. God dealt with sin in Jesus Christ. And so God puts Christ upon the cross, not just to turn away his wrath by absorbing it to himself, but God puts Christ on the cross in order that there might be reconciliation by the removal of our sin and the turning away of his wrath against us. And He did that while we were yet enemies. God delivers up His Son to the cross. That He, in His mercy, in His great love, might reconcile us unto Himself. And we didn't deserve it. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 18 and 19. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. You see, this is a work of God accomplished through the death of Christ. God had purpose to reconcile a people to himself. That could only happen if their sin is dealt with and the wrath of God is turned away from them. And so all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation to witness that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and have committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's name, because of Christ and his death, be you reconciled to God. How did it happen? For he, God, hath made him Christ to be sin for us. He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Do you see what's happening to the cross? God is making Christ to be sin. It's not just that he carries our sin. God makes him to be sin. In order that we might be reconciled to Him, God makes Him sin and deals with sin in the person of Jesus Christ by putting Him to death through His bloodshedding at the cross. It doesn't impute our sin to us, but imputes it to Christ. So that He might deal with it in Christ, and having dealt with it in Christ, the end that He might be God, and that we might be accepted and reconciled The gospel is glorious. Those who preach a watered-down, compromised gospel who never deal with propitiation and reconciliation and redemption and expiation do such despise to the gospel. This thrills me in the depth of my being. That God would put His Son to grief to turn His wrath from me. That God would put, impute my sin to His blessed Son in order that He might deal with the awfulness of my son in Him. So that I, the rebel, by being reconciled to the One who loved me and who sent His Son to die for me. And so at the cross, God's alienation is removed from the sinner by the work of Jesus Christ. And that's what provides the legal basis upon which God can turn and save sinners. One final reference here, Colossians chapter 1. And we've got to move on. Time's flying. Galatians 1.19, for a priest, a father, that in him should all fullness dwell. This is the incarnation of a son. And having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself by him, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, and that reconciliation was through the blood of his cross. So the nature of the cross was propitiation, turning God's wrath away, and the nature of the cross was reconciliation, God reconciling sinners to himself through the sacrifice of his Son. And that brings us to the third, redemption. Redemption is that priestly work of Christ. wherein he delivered us from our bondage to the law, sin and Satan, through purchase by the ransom of his substitutionary obedience in life and in death. In the New Testament we find some 20 clear, explicit references to redemption as a saving work of Christ. We are told that his very mission and purpose in coming was that he might accomplish the work of redemption. Galatians 4.4, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law. To what purpose was he born under the law? To what purpose was he born of the virgin? That he might redeem us unto God. It's at the very heart of why he comes. He comes on a mission to redeem. And Titus 2.14, that Christ has appeared, he has come to redeem us from every lawless deed. You see, we are not only alienated from God, we're not only under the wrath of God, but we're in bondage. We're enslaved to our sinful natures. We think we're free. Men and women like to think they're free, and they're free to choose, but they're not because their nature is sinful, and that sinful nature holds them enslaved. They are the slaves of Satan, Christ told the people in his day. And we are imprisoned by a bondage to sin and to death. The Hebrews tells us that, that Christ's incarnation and his death upon a cross was that he might deliver those who, through fear of death and bondage to death, were all their lifetime subject to slavery. to sin, slaves to Satan, slaves to the old nature, slaves to our fallen depravity. And Christ comes to deal with that, to release the prisoner, to set us free from sin and Satan and death and hell. And so we're told that this redemption that has been accomplished by Christ is secured only by Christ. And we're back in Romans 3 and 24. These things all bind up. God having set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Sorry, being justified freely, verse 24, by his grace. Through the redemption, the redeeming work that is in Christ Jesus. We couldn't set ourselves free. We couldn't release ourselves from the bondage of sin and Satan and death and hell. But he comes To redeem us in Christ Jesus. To set us free. Ephesians 1. Redemption through His blood. What do we mean by that? What does the scripture mean by that? Well, the basic meaning of the word redemption is deliverance through purchase. The payment of a price. A price for the people. God demanded a price. The price was the lifeblood of his son, the only price that would satisfy God, the only price that would release them from sin and release them from bondage and release them from death and release them from hell. And so Jesus comes on a mission to redeem, to buy a people through the bloodshed of himself at the cross. And it's at the heart of the cross work of Christ. It's the manward dimension. No, he's paying the price to God. But he says, you have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. Peter writing to that people who lost everything for Christ. He says, listen, you're precious to God. Don't give up. Don't turn back. Don't despair. You've been born again to a living hope. Redeemed not by corruptible things such as in silver and gold, but by the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb. without blemish and without spot. We are being purchased by His own blood. Paul said to the believers at Ephesus, take care of the flock that God has purchased with His own blood. He bought them back from their slave market of sins. And that redemption price that God required was the lifeblood of Jesus Christ. He came to redeem his people from the curse of the law and from the penalty and the power and the bondage of sin. We need to ask ourselves, perhaps this morning, are we still in bondage? Has Christ redeemed you? And if Christ has redeemed you, look at the cost. He dies, he gives his life's blood, he pours it out unto death. And all of these things are bound up together, not in separate little boxes. But God's wrath is absorbing him in order that the wrath might be turned away. God is in Christ, reconciling us by taking away the cause of the enemy or sin. And the Lord Jesus Christ is offering up himself as sacrifice, as a payment to God for the sins of his people. the death at the hands of God. And then fourthly and finally, and running out of time, there is sacrifice. Sacrifice. Or expiation. And our Confession says, expiation or sacrifice is that priestly work of Christ wherein He removed our sin and its guilt by the offering up of Himself in our place. At the cross, Christ was sacrificed for us. And he was both the offerer, he was the priest, and he was the victim. He offered up himself, but it was a sacrifice. He laid himself upon that altar in order that he might offer up himself to God on behalf of his people. And then he becomes the offerer, becomes the offering. The Old Testament is so clear in its pictures of this. He's the Blam of God without blemish and without spot, and he offers up himself without blemish and spot unto God, to sacrifice to God for our sins. And it involved the imputation of our sin to him. He himself bore our sin in his own body to the tree, is a literal translation. Our sin imputed to Him. He bears it. He bears it in His body. And He absorbed it. It's imputed to Him in a real way. It's not just a picture language. Our sin is placed upon Him. It's imputed to Him. And he takes it, he carries it as the sacrificial lamb. He carries it to the altar and he lays himself with our sin. Leaving with our sin, he lays himself on that altar and he offers up himself to God as sacrifice to deal with sin. To remove sin and its penalty and its guilt. To take away the sin of the world. For the writer of the Hebrews tells us, without the sharing of blood there is no remission, no expiation, no removal of sin, and therefore no forgiveness. In order for God to come and bring forgiveness to the sinner, there had to be a sacrifice of expiated. And then that blood in the Old Testament was sprinkled upon the altar, and we read in the sacrifice and the bloodshed of Christ that by the Spirit, the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was taken into the very presence of God. Presented on behalf of his people, said, Christ, your wrath's turned away. Father, reconciliation accomplished. Father, a price that you demanded paid. Father, the removal of your sin and guilt. Through my blood shed at Calvary, a finished work, an accomplished salvation. He cried to the Father, it hath been accomplished. And we know that the Father accepted the fullness of all that transpired at Calvary when he raised him from the dead. on the third day. And so in that sacrifice, our expiation of Christ, the removal of our sin, the removal of our guilt, and that that flows to us. What flows to us from all of the nature of the cross? In a word, salvation. Our salvation flows from the cross work of Jesus Christ that propitiates the wrath of God, that brought about our reconciliation, that held the price that God demanded for her sin and removed her sin and guilt by the sacrifice he offered as her sin-bearer. And that's it. The wonder of Calvary. The nature of all that transpired at Calvary. And he accomplished the salvation of his people. We're going to see that this evening. That it was an accomplished, finished work of redemption for all who would believe. And I ask you as I close this morning, is this salvation yours? And if it is, do you appreciate the wonder of all that was done for you by Christ at the cross?