Propitiation

Propitiation Romans 3:25-26 1-5-08

Today Lord willing we’re going to talk for a little while about “propitiation”

1st of all let me tell us just exactly what “propitiation” is. It’s a big bible word that means, ~ the act of appeasing the wrath of God by offering an appropriate sacrifice,

In other words, Jesus Christ is the only Sacrifice that God will except in order to pay for our sins, and satisfies Gods demand for an acceptable means of removing His wrath toward lost sinners, Jesus Christ and the shedding of His precious Blood as the one and only satisfying payment on our behalf.

Romans 3:25-26 25 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 past, through the forbearance of God; 26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

And we find in 1 John 2:2 “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

And in 1 John 4:10 “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Ø Here are some facts about this great doctrine and pillar of our faith.

1st of all Propitiation Satisfies God’s Justice:

propitiation means a covering for the sins of men and carries the idea of complete satisfaction for our offenses. In our society we have a set of standards, which we call the law of the land.

When one of these laws is broken we have a judicial system that requires vindication for the crimes committed, and that we refer to as justice. A judge cannot look at the evidence, and realize that the person is guilty, and say, “Well, we love you so we are going to let you go scot-free.” No! Our laws state clearly that certain crimes are to be punished by certain penalties.

And like wise God’s justice is the same, only He treats all sin and sinners alike. God’s justice must be vindicated. The penalty for breaking His laws must be satisfied, and death is that penalty which God’s justice demands.

Romans 6:23 23For the wages of sin is death; --

And Gods justice will accept no other. As guilty lawbreakers we cannot do anything to correct our wrong, and because God does love us He wants to declare us forgiven and free from the penalty of our sin, but He cannot do so unless the demands of justice are met.

What we need to realize is that our Great God is Holy and because He is Holy He cannot tolerate sin, there will be no sinners in heaven, now all that will be there were lost sinners before we were saved, but because the Lord Jesus paid our sin debt and we gladly received Him as our Lord and Savior, He became the propitiation for our sins and at that time we’ll be spotless from all sin. But until then we need to ask God to forgive us of our daily sins, not to save us again.

There are sins of omission, and there are sins of commission.

Solomon said in Proverbs 24:9 The thought of foolishness is sin:

James said in James 4:17 therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Jesus told His disciples in LK.11: as He gave them the model prayer,

LK. 11: 1- 4 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 2And he said unto them, “When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3Give us day by day our daily bread. 4And forgive us our sins;-- ”

And let me remind us that the Apostle Paul said twice in Romans 7: that it was sin that dwelt in him.

Rom.7: 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me-

Rom.7: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

You and I will have problems with our sinful nature as long as we remain in these natural bodies.

1 Corinthians 15: 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We still have this old Adamic nature and will have until we receive our glorified bodies.