On God's providence, the Psalms touched on some of the message all through the blood. That's what's important because all the sorrows are gonna flee away in time and eternity because of what Jesus did on the cross when he shed his blood for his people. That's the great hope that we have. Not in this world. I mean, that is hopeless when we look at this world. We have something far better and far beyond that. Well, it's good to see each one of you this morning. We want to turn to Romans chapter three and verse 25. We touched on this when we dealt with the forbearance of God. And there's one word there that's the title of our message. Just one word, propitiation. Propitiation. Notice it says, speaking of Christ, whom God hath 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. Dear gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you. The power of your word, just one word we see here is such a blessing to our souls who believe in that precious blood and the precious Christ. We pray God that you would work such a work And those who are at this moment outside of Christ as far as outwardly, but may we know assuredly by the reception of what we are going to preach this morning. And we would know that someone has come newly to understand and rest in this great truth that we see here in this text. And may we find greater and greater assurance as we see once more how powerful at deep your word is. We ask now that you would bless this message to each of our hearts. For we pray, asking forgiveness of our sins, in the name of Christ, the great propitiator, and for his sake, amen. You've probably heard of propitiation, read of propitiation, and maybe even studied propitiation. But this week was the first time I ever looked at propitiation in the way that I am going to bring out this morning. The only passages that mention the word propitiation is our text and in 1 John chapter 3 and 1 John chapter 4. Excuse me, 1 John 2.2 and 1 John 4.10. There are other references from the root of that word, three of them in the Bible as well. We're not gonna take time to look at all those. But I will say that this doctrine is one of the most neglected and misunderstood doctrines in the word of God. In fact, you don't hear much about this particular doctrine in our day today. It is so important that if it's rejected, the soul that rejects it will be rejected. by God and will not enter into his heavenly kingdom. But if it's received by the grace of God, you will be received into the glory of heaven. That's how significant this truth is. Today, we want to look at this word. It's a big word. It's a big word that has big implications. It's weighty. It's got a big meaning. We want to look at this morning is, we want to look at, first of all, propitiation defined. I think that's very important to get right from the beginning. We want to look then at propitiation declared and then propitiation demonstrated and then fourthly, propitiation delighted in. So let's look first of all at propitiation defined. It's a Greek word that is used as translated propitiation, helisterion. And, you know, we might think, well, that doesn't help me any. It means to, we could call it expiation. Don't you love it when dictionaries give you those kinds of meanings? It's like, well, I still, I'm more lost now than I was before. You might think when I say I'm going to propitiate you, you might think, well, what in the world does that mean? Or maybe you might misunderstand me and think that I'm gonna decapitate you, which wouldn't be good. But propitiate, propitiation means an appeasing or satisfying to Bring a satisfaction from one who is at odds with you. It's used also as to speak of the covering or the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. We're gonna look at that as well. Another way to put it is that propitiation is the offering of a gift. Now remember this, I'm gonna be referring to it throughout the message. It's the offering of a gift or sacrifice of sufficient value to appease the wrath of another. That's what propitiation is. It means to appease, it means to pacify. Have you ever heard of a pacifier? I'm sure you've seen it in action. Baby's crying, a little upset, give him the pacifier, and lo and behold, they're quiet, they're pacified, they're satisfied, for a while anyway. So you get the idea of what it means to propitiate, to satisfy, to appease. An offended person being propitiated or appeased has no reason, no legitimate reason to be angry anymore. So now we've seen propitiation defined. Let's look at propitiation declared. We have it declared by way of illustration in the Old Testament. If we look over in Genesis chapter 32, in Genesis 32 and verse 20, notice what it says. And say ye moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him. That is Esau. I will appease him. I'll propitiate him. I'll satisfy him. I will propitiate him with the present. that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face, peradventure he will accept of me. Now there's some very distinct truths there that demonstrate the whole idea of propitiation. We see that Jacob, remember, had taken the birthright, as it were, through subtlety, but he got it, and it was meant for him. But nonetheless, we see that, if you remember the story, his mother said, you better get out of here, because Esau's gonna kill you. And so he went off there with, his father-in-law, later to be father-in-law, Laban, and worked for him and labored for at least 20 years. He had fled the wrath of his brother Esau. And now he was coming back home. And notice some things here in Genesis 32, beginning in verse one. I wanna just show some specific words that connect with this whole truth of propitiation. And Jacob went on his way and the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, he said, this is God's host and called the name of that place Mahaniim. And Jacob sent messengers before to Esau, his brother, unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom. And he commanded them saying, thus shall you speak unto, now notice this, my Lord, Esau. Interesting, but there's a connection between propitiation and the language used here. Thy servant, Jacob, saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban and stayed here there until now and I have oxen and asses, flocks and men's servants and women's servants and have sent to tell my Lord that I may find grace in thy sight. And the messengers returned to Jacob saying, we came to thy brother Esau and also he cometh to meet thee and 400 men with him. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. And he divided the people that was with him and the flocks and herds and the camels under two bands and said that these all come to the one company and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. He was afraid of the wrath of his brother Esau. and sought to appease or propitiate his wrath. Now, as we look at this and we look at the next part in Genesis 32, beginning at verse 16, we'll notice something interesting. We see this same thing brought out where Jacob, considered himself a servant. Though he wasn't, in one sense, because remember, the elder shall serve the younger. But he came as a servant. The person, as we'll see here, that brings a gift declares himself to be the servant to the one who's receiving the gift. There's a connection in this whole truth. He declares himself therefore to be inferior. Notice verse 16. And he delivered them into the hand of his servants. Every drove by themselves and said unto the servants, pass over before me and put a space between which drove and drove. And he commanded the foremost saying, when he saw my brother, meeteth thee and asketh thee saying, whose art thou and whither goest thou? And whose are these before thee? Talk about all that he was sending to his brother. Then thou shalt say, they be thy servant Jacob's, it is a present. Now we see servant and now we see the word present or gift. Sent unto my Lord Esau. and behold also he is behind us. And so command he does have second and the third and all that followed the drove saying on this matter shall you speak unto Esau when you find him and say ye moreover behold thy servant Jacob is behind us for he said I will appease him with the present that goeth before me. That's important too as we'll see. And after it I will see his face, for eventually he will accept of me." Again, Jacob presents himself as a servant, though he wasn't. Notice something also. If Jacob would have went first, what do you think would have happened? He'd been killed. The wrath of his brother was not appeased because there's nothing between him and Esau. There had to be a gift that went before in order for the wrath to be appeased. And then we also see this was no small gift. all this cattle, I mean, that was a lot. Something else we see in this text. The giver in this truth, must be distinctively wealthy in order to give the gift that would be of sufficient value to appease the wrath of the one offended. Later on, we see verse chapter 32 of Genesis, Jacob wrestled as it were with God. And then in Genesis 33 verses four through 11, grace and favor were extended to Jacob from his brother Esau. That is a parallel to this truth that we see in the New Testament in our text. Jesus, as we look at the propitiation demonstrated, Jesus came as a servant. Though he wasn't a servant, he's God. Notice there in Philippians 2, five through seven. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant. He came as a servant. And Jesus was the gift. He was the gift of sufficient value to make an offering for sin, to appease the wrath of God, to secure eternal life unto everyone who believes. Jesus is the go-between. Jesus is God's go-between. He had to go first. He is the forerunner as Hebrews chapter six tells us. And he offered up himself and gave his life and gave his precious blood that gift again of sufficient value to appease the wrath and justice of God. And so we see, notice, whom God, there in our text, Romans 3.25, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission or forgiveness of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. If a sinner tries to enter into the presence of God, to even offer up his own blood and his own life, he'll perish in hell forever. It is, first of all, he is not sufficient. He's not a sufficient go-between. His gift is not of sufficient value before God to appease the wrath of God. People are trying to propitiate the wrath of God or satisfy or appease the wrath of God, but there is nothing you can do. Only Jesus Christ is an acceptable propitiation, needful to appease the wrath of God. Otherwise the wrath of God will abide upon you. Man, we have offended the thrice holy God, maker of heaven and earth and all that there it is. Praise God, Christ came to be that propitiation. God, you know, God shows his love. Yes, he's a God of love. but he's also a God of wrath. He's holy. He would not be just if he just looked the other way and sinned. What kind of world would it be if that's what happened? Somebody does you wrong. Would you like people to just, oh, well, that's okay. They stole from you. They murdered one of your loved ones. They crippled or maimed you and nothing was done. That wouldn't be a nice world to live in, would it? It's a principle of justice. Justice is good. And those who do wrong must suffer the wrath of God, the punishment. It's really in many ways common sense. But I want us to look at more of the context of our passage here in Romans 3, 21. Notice, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifest, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, but there was 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 set forth to be a propitiation, speaking of Christ again, through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. Now, you'll find more sermons about redemption and reconciliation than you will on propitiation. Why? Because they want to say God is love. They don't want to admit or to hear that God is a God of wrath and that they deserve that wrath. They don't want to hear that. But you cannot have redemption and you cannot have reconciliation unless you have propitiation, unless God's wrath has been appeased. Notice the word there in our text, whom God has set forth. How does God set forth? Well, he sets forth Christ. He's been set forth. He was manifested for all to see publicly, humiliated on the cross, on a hill that cannot be hit. He was set forth. Speaking of Christ, This was prophesied about and performed. In Isaiah 42 verse one, speaking of Christ. Behold, look, my servants whom I uphold. For everybody to see, mine elect. Speaking of Jesus. And whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. The Father speaking of Jesus Christ. And then we see again, 1 Peter chapter two, referring to the truths in that passage, it says, in chapter two, verse six, Wherefore it is contained in the scripture, behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be condemned. But we see Christ set forth another way. Remember I told you that the word propitiation is sometimes translated, the Greek word is translated mercy seat. We find in Exodus 25 where it talks about the furnishings of the tabernacle. It describes for us this mercy seat or this propitiation. Notice there, beginning in verse 17, after talking about the Ark of the Covenant, which pictures Christ too, again, speaking of Christ, he's the propitiation, he's the mercy seat. And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half, shalt be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, made out of gold. which symbolizes purity and holiness. And I shall make two cherubims of gold, a beaten word shall thou make it in the two ends of the mercy seat, and make one cherub on the one end, the other on the other, and even of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubims on the two ends thereof, and the cherubims shall strut forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another toward the mercy seat, shall be the faces of the cherubims, which are angelic beings, thou shalt put the mercy seat above, upon the ark. And in the ark shalt thou put the testimony that I shall give thee, and there I will meet with thee. Ah, this is the key. See what happened is that when the day of atonement came and the sacrifice was made, that that blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat once a year. And what happens then? What happens when that blood is sprinkled on the mercy seat? Remember seeing in their text, it talks about through the blood of Jesus, when that blood is sprinkled on the mercy seat, it says in verse 22 there, and there, there I will meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat. It's there at the mercy seat in Christ by faith in his blood that we can meet Christ, truly meet him. But not only meet him, notice it says, and commune to fellowship Oh, the riches of the fullness of the glory of God's grace, that we can not only meet God and come before his presence through the blood of Jesus, but we will commune and fellowship with him. The King of kings and the Lord of lords, the very God that spoke this entire creation and universe into existence. We are privileged if we believe that truth. Jesus is pictured in the Old Testament, but he's present in the New Testament. Jesus is set forth as a substance of all those symbols and all those sacrifices because Jesus is that sacrifice, that offering, that gift, that propitiation, that satisfier of the justice and the wrath of God, that savior, that redeemer, that one and only propitiation. It's not found in the Pope. It's not found in a church. It's not found in the filthy rags of our own righteousness as Isaiah 64 verse six tells us. But it's only found in Jesus. He did all that was necessary to accomplish our redemption as God's propitiation. He didn't try to do that work. He didn't hope that he could do the work. He accomplished it. In fact, we find that on the cross, Jesus cried out, it is finished. It was done. It's a done deal. But before Christ came in the world, we see set forth as well before even the creation of this world. Revelation chapter 13 verse eight says that Jesus was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God sent him forth way back then. In fact, Jesus, his very name means salvation. We find there in Matthew 121, thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins. He did it. He accomplished it. Not only he shall, but he did. The transaction has been made. The wrath of God has been appeased and the precious blood of Jesus Christ himself, his blood was a gift necessary sufficient value to appease the wrath of God. We see that God set forth Christ also on the day of Pentecost. Remember Peter, when he preached that sermon there in Jerusalem, In Acts chapter two, and after the Holy Ghost came down from heaven, their preacher preached a sermon. What did he do? He set forth Christ. He set forth Christ. And every preacher that preaches a gospel of Jesus Christ, God is using that preacher to set forth Christ. But it takes the Holy Spirit to come down from heaven. to save 3000 souls or even one soul. That's what's necessary for there to be true propitiation. And I hope and pray that if you've never seen that, if you've never experienced that, that you will understand the beautiful, wonderful truth of propitiation. that God would come down from heaven, born of a virgin, Jesus Christ would come down to the sinner's earth and die for sorry sinners like us and suffer the wrath of God. That is so incomprehensible to our finite minds that he would do that. Any earthly king would say off with his head. Who were so rebellious. But lastly, we want to look at propitiation delighted in. First, we understand that propitiation is not repentance. As great as repentance is, that's not propitiation. That's not going to satisfy the wrath of God. Propitiation is not turning over a new leaf. Propitiation is not feelings. Propitiation is not experiences. It's not evidences even. It is not practices. It's not by works. It's not by claiming the promises of God, knowing the doctrines or knowing or keeping the sacrifices. That's not propitiation. As good as the Bible is, knowing your Bible, being able to quote scriptures, Pharisees did that, that won't grant you propitiation. There's a song and I can't remember the name of it, talking about going beyond the sacred page. Going beyond the sacred page of Holy Scripture to the Holy One of Israel, Jesus Christ Himself, the Living Word. To go beyond the dead letter, if you will, to the Living Word. That's where you'll find propitiation. It's found in Christ alone. As great as Bible doctrine is, some people take pride. We all know the doctrines and all this. There's no propitiation in it. It's only in Jesus. God set forth Jesus. The mercy seat, where God will meet you and commune to you. We can find delight and propitiation. because God delights in mercy. It all comes from him. Notice there in Micah 7, 18, who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by transgression of the remnant of his heritage, he retaineth not his anger forever because he delights in mercy. Speaking of Christ, the Father says, in Isaiah 42, one. Speaking of Christ, the servant. He says, behold, my servants, whom I uphold by the leg and whom my soul delighted. Why is it that the father delighted in the son? Because one reason in particular, speaking of Christ in Psalms 40 in verse eight, it says, he says, and then said he, or excuse me, I delight to do thy will, O God. And referred to again in Hebrews chapter 10 in verse nine, then said he, lo, I come to do thy will. Jesus came to do the will of the Father. And the Father delighted in Him because He did the work necessary to appease His wrath for His people. He accomplished it. fulfilling all of the law and all the sacrifices. He accomplished God's will even to the point of suffering for sin, dying in the darkness of the cross and crying out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He experienced the wrath of God for sinners. To appease the wrath of God. What happens if you delight in propitiation, in the propitiation of Christ? Something happens to you. In Song of Solomon, chapter two, verse three, speaking of the love of God's people to Christ in particular, we can speak of the church, but It says, as the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved, speaking of Jesus, among the suns, I sat down. under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste. That's what happens when you come and find yourself as one who has been propitiated for by Jesus Christ, that you can sit down and you can rest because you know you got eternal life and he is sweet to you. You delight with great delight. Do you delight in God like that? I mean, none of us do like we ought to, but is that something that happens in your life? Think about it. I mean, somebody that you care about and they don't delight you back, I mean, that's, it's not right. And when that happens, how's that show? Well, Paul expressed it this way in Romans 7.22, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Not just outwardly, dutifully keeping the law, but you delight in it. You love it. Not with a frown on your face, but you delight in the law of God, in the word of God, in the inward man. in your heart. That's how people delight in propitiation. As we look at in Luke chapter 18, verse 13, as we close, remember the Pharisee, They're bragging about how faithful he is as he prays there in the temple. And he prays and he fasts and he's not like other people and so on, full of pride. But then you see a stark contrast between him and the publican. The publican, what does he do? He stands afar off. He is fearful of the wrath of God. He is one who recognizes his own sinfulness so much so that he smote on his breath and couldn't even look up into heaven and said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. He's saying in effect, God be my mercy seat. God be my propitiation to appease the wrath that I deserve. That publican went home justified. Not the religious Pharisee. And it wasn't because he prayed, but the Pharisee prayed. It wasn't because he prayed better than the Pharisee, because prayer doesn't get you there. It's in the mercy of Jesus Christ. We find an illustration there in the book of Esther. Remember that wicked man, Haman, who wanted to have Mordecai hanged? What happened there? Well, his evil intentions and his wickedness was manifested. And as a result, he was hanged himself. And then the king's wrath was appeased because justice was satisfied. I want us to look at a passage that we looked at before, and I want to ask a question after. 1 Peter 2, 7. Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious. Jesus is precious. The propitiation is precious. But unto them which be disobedient, he's not precious. I can take it or leave it. That's what I see today in our day to day. We're finding out who's for real and who's just playing games. We find out who's for real and who's a pretender. Don't be a pretender. Nobody likes a pretender because they're liars, is what they are. But in them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallow, the same is made the head of the corner. Is Jesus precious to you? Is that gift precious to you? If you know anything about your sin and the wrath of God that you deserve, it's a priceless gift that means everything forever. Makes good sense, don't it? It's reasonable. I just pray the Holy Spirit would move on you. Because the day is coming. If you continue to reject this priceless gift, this precious Christ, the wrath of God abideth upon you. And one day it's gonna come down on you. You'll never escape it. You'll be forever in the flames of hell. May the Holy Spirit come to you. and such power that you become so burdened and so grieved over your sin and the fact that you can't do anything and you like that public and say, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Plead the blood of Jesus Christ. So go home justified too. for the first time. I'm told that the parents in India, they offer up their most precious gift, their children, and drown them in the Ganges River. to appease the wrath of the gods. They're gods. They're false gods. I don't care what kind of gift you give. It's not of sufficient value. Jesus's gift, Jesus himself, is the only gift of sufficient value to appease the wrath God Jesus Christ has been set forth before you this morning The Lamb of God has been set forth before you this morning Christ lifted up for everybody to see God's precious gifts his propitiation May God be pleased to grant to you at this moment, this gift. This saving faith to believe upon Christ and his precious blood and to delight in him all the days of your life, to have God's propitiation through Christ's blood and go home justified and forever be justified. That's the greatest gift there ever is and will be. May God give it to you today that you'll come to turn from your sins and believe and trust in God's propitiation. Thank you for your attention to the word of God. May I ask Brother James, if you could lead us in a word of prayer. We have a father to thank for allowing us to come to you once again. We ask that you lay upon our hearts, Lord, the preciousness of your blood, O Shedden Calvary, Lord. Help us to trust you, Lord, and seek your will. We thank you for this message, Lord. It's taken the blood of our lives and put it in our hearts. Help us, dear God, that we would I repent of our sins and return to you. We are in need of that grace, Lord, and that mercy. We thank you for your abundant blessings. Thank you for each and everyone here today, Lord. For those who could not be with us, that you bring them back at that point in time. For those who are sick, we thank you for Sister Jennifer, Sister Carolyn. Touch and heal their bodies, Lord. Bring them to a full measure of health. Will you just help us to live by faith, Lord, and do that blessing in holy will. Help us, dear God, to come to the right end of ourselves, Lord. Not anything that we can do, Lord, but in Jesus Christ alone. Thank you for your mercy and your kindness. You set our hearts and our minds straight on thee, Lord, that word that waits. Help us renew our eyes, Lord, in the spirit of Jesus Christ. Just help us, Lord. Strengthen us. Help us to walk the path that is righteous and pleasing and holy before you. I ask that you bless this food, Lord, we're about to eat. Bless the nourishment of our bodies. Bless the hands that prepared it for us. We thank you for the reigns you've given us, Lord, and the child of mercy. Thank you for your prayers. Just help us be bold in service to you, Lord. Forgive us for what we're doing. All this is we ask you.