The Sole Propitiation: Relying on Christ’s Wrath-Averting Work

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] Well, good morning. We'll be looking today, starting at 1 John chapter 2.
[00:00:11] If you'll turn with me and your Bible's there.
[00:00:17] This, in talking about the word propitiation, Jesus is our propitiation.
[00:00:26] It seems like a big word, and almost like one of those words that you shouldn't mention in church because it might be too hard to understand.
[00:00:32] But it has a huge bearing on who Christ is and what his saving work is that he came to do for us.
[00:00:44] And especially as we were in Michigan engaging with Muslims, the fact of Christ being our propitiation, our sacrifice, our atonement, the one who removes the guilt of sin from us by his death and resurrection,
[00:01:02] it is very counter to what the Islamic faith teaches.
[00:01:08] It shows how Christ's salvation was not just done in the New Testament, but that's woven through the Old Testament as Islam teaches.
[00:01:19] The Bible was corrupted in the New Testament about Christ.
[00:01:22] It's like, no, what Christ, who He is, the fact that He is eternal, The fact that God exists as three persons and one God is woven all through the Scriptures, the Old and New Testament shows that the Islamic faith is not true.
[00:01:42] It is not real.
[00:01:43] It will not deliver someone from their sins.
[00:01:47] And the reason all this is important is not just because we went to Michigan or Muslims there, but also Muslims that are here.
[00:01:55] and this mosque that is being built.
[00:01:59] I mean, we as believers and followers of the Lord Jesus should not be afraid to engage Muslims, should not be afraid to engage Islam and just point out where those inconsistencies are because there is a ton of them.
[00:02:22] But I'm sure that a lot of people here would be like, oh, we're supposed to witness to Muslims?
[00:02:29] Oh, no, perhaps we shouldn't do that.
[00:02:32] That might be putting ourselves at risk.
[00:02:36] Well, did Jesus say that our Christian life was supposed to be just good all of the time and that there would be no risk in us sharing the gospel and following Him?
[00:02:53] No, He said if the world hates me, it's going to hate you.
[00:02:56] If the world kills me, well, guess what?
[00:02:59] It's going to kill you too.
[00:03:01] But God is, and Jesus is greater than the world.
[00:03:05] He is greater than our very lives.
[00:03:08] He gives us eternal life.
[00:03:10] And so, not just for Muslims, but all people who are lost, who are separated from God, the ones that God will save and call them to Himself, Those are the ones that God has sent us after, after His people.
[00:03:32] Do you see what I'm saying?
[00:03:34] God wants to use us as witnesses and as His followers to testify to the truth.
[00:03:45] Because anyone who has not confessed Jesus as their Lord and Savior will be separated from Him for all eternity.
[00:03:53] If we are scared to witness to Muslims and to other people, we are, in a sense, condemning them because we're not willing to share the truth of the good news of Jesus to them.
[00:04:13] So let's read here from 1 John 2, verses 1 through 6.
[00:04:21] My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not and if any man sin we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole
[00:04:45] world and whereby we do we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments he that saith i know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But
[00:05:04] whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected. Whereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as
[00:05:25] he walked and so what john is writing here is explaining who jesus is to us he says he says i write these things to you that that you may not sin or ye sin not well john isn't just
[00:05:53] being hopeful there to us. He isn't just saying, well, you know, try not to sin, but I know that you're going to, even though we can't be perfect, right? But if the Holy Spirit lives in us and we
[00:06:12] are hungering and thirsting to God, if we are falling before Him, if we are seeking Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, then the Holy Spirit is changing us and is making us to want to not sin
[00:06:29] and to really strive to fight against sin so that we might live more and more unto Christ.
[00:06:40] In 1 John 3, 6, it says, John tells us, he says, Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not.
[00:06:52] Whoever sinneth have not seen him, neither known him.
[00:06:57] Well, the one thing that you might not see from that translation of the English is that it shows in Greek that it is he who continues to sin in the sense of essentially walking in sin, living in a sinful lifestyle.
[00:07:14] That if we are Christians, we have to abandon that.
[00:07:18] We have to cut that loose of pursuing sin in our lives because we are saved and changed and made servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:07:33] And so that is a great thing to understand there of what John is saying is that we will not continue in sin.
[00:07:43] We will be wanting to please God and to follow Him with all of our hearts is a continual process in the Christian life.
[00:07:54] And then in the second part of verse 1, it says, And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
[00:08:06] So John is saying, hey, I know that we are all going to sin.
[00:08:11] John is saying, I'm going to sin.
[00:08:15] But when we do, we have an advocate.
[00:08:18] We have a comforter with the Father who is Jesus Christ, the righteous, and His righteous works for us.
[00:08:28] It is really interesting that that word advocate is the same word as comforter for the Holy Spirit.
[00:08:37] I mean, that's one of those things that points to the Trinity, that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are like this.
[00:08:46] and in other places in the New Testament where it describes the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of the Father.
[00:08:57] And so it's showing here that Jesus is our advocate and He is our mediator as we are going to see from other scriptures.
[00:09:07] All through the Old Testament, every time that Jesus appears as He is eternal, before He comes as a man to be born as a baby.
[00:09:18] He appears many times to His people to save them, to deliver them.
[00:09:24] And in every case, He is showing that He is acting as our mediator, coming between us and the wrath of God for sin, or even our sin by our own sinful tendencies, by our own bad decisions that Jesus comes and mediates between us and our sin
[00:09:47] to deliver and to bring life.
[00:09:50] It shows how great is Christ's love for His people that He will not leave them to themselves, to their own means to help themselves.
[00:10:02] I mean, do you know how when kids are young, they are teenagers, and they get to that point that they think that they actually know more than their parents.
[00:10:15] And they think, man, my mom and dad don't know what they're talking about.
[00:10:19] If they only did it like this, then everything would work out right.
[00:10:23] And then they get to that point where as they get older, they're like, you know, maybe I don't know everything.
[00:10:29] And maybe my parents were right in this.
[00:10:33] Well, that is really and even more so what the Christian life is like.
[00:10:41] of us realizing that there is no way we can deliver ourselves.
[00:10:46] There is no way we can save ourselves.
[00:10:48] There is no way that we know how to do everything perfectly.
[00:10:53] And so what should that make us do?
[00:10:56] It should make us run to the Lord.
[00:10:58] It should make us fall on Him.
[00:11:00] It should make us depend on Him like never before.
[00:11:05] like we are children who need our Father to direct us and to guide us.
[00:11:17] And one of the reasons in using that example, it's like the older I get, the more that I realize that it's like I'm not going to do everything.
[00:11:28] Like I don't have the right answer for everything.
[00:11:31] And it can be very easy from a human standpoint to give in to pride and be like, well, I'm not going to admit my weakness.
[00:11:39] I'm not going to tell people I don't know how to do something or I don't know how to do it that well, but it should make us want to fall on Christ all the more.
[00:11:50] All right, moving on.
[00:11:52] When it says we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, that kind of hits on a similar point because Christ is the righteous one.
[00:12:03] It is only by his perfect life, by his power, by the fact that He has done everything for us without fault, and that by us claiming Him, we are made righteous, we are sanctified, we are made holy because of His righteousness, because of His faith,
[00:12:28] as we're going to see later in Romans 3, and it shows how unrighteous we are.
[00:12:38] If we have sinned once, then we are out of accord with the Father.
[00:12:48] We don't get to make those rules, but God says you are to obey me perfectly.
[00:12:53] And because we have not, there is wrath for sin.
[00:13:01] Something has to take away that wrath.
[00:13:03] Something has to remove it.
[00:13:05] Something has to atone for it and appease that wrath.
[00:13:09] Do you know what that word is called?
[00:13:12] Perpetuation.
[00:13:13] And Jesus is our propitiation.
[00:13:16] He's the one that came to take that away.
[00:13:20] And the only way that you can ever start to wrap your mind around this is that God took the full measure of His wrath against sin and He poured it all out on Christ.
[00:13:35] And it's not just like my sin.
[00:13:37] It's not just your individually sin.
[00:13:39] It is the sin of the world.
[00:13:40] and he takes it and he pours it out on Christ.
[00:13:46] And the Lord Jesus took it all for us.
[00:13:51] I mean, why do you think that he was in the garden on the night before and his sweat was like great drops of blood and the angst of him saying, if there's any way to remove this cup from me,
[00:14:05] please take it, but not my will, but your will.
[00:14:09] in Him taking our sins upon Himself so that we would be forgiven and we would be free from that.
[00:14:22] All right.
[00:14:24] So verse 2 of John chapter 2.
[00:14:32] And He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
[00:14:40] So we've talked about what propitiation is in a basic way.
[00:14:44] but you also but before we get more into that you also have to understand what it says for the sins of the whole world well some people think by that that it means universal salvation
[00:14:57] it means that everyone would be saved and it might mean that if you were to take that verse all by itself but what does Romans chapter 10 verse 13 tell us that all who call on the name
[00:15:17] of the Lord will be saved you have to call you have to believe you have to repent of your sins you have to bow before Christ and say I want to follow you and not myself I want to follow you
[00:15:33] instead of putting my trust and fulfillment in everything else that the world might can offer me and so when it says the sins of the whole world it is the sins of his people for all who
[00:15:49] will come to christ for all who the father will draw to come to christ so you kind of have to understand that that that is what it is meaning there is not universal salvation doesn't mean
[00:16:03] that everyone will be saved it will be only those who have confessed christ as their savior and lord i mean that's that's a really interesting thing saying that jesus is your lord many people are
[00:16:18] are great with Him being their Savior, but what about your Lord?
[00:16:24] That means that everything that you do is under scrutiny of God Himself.
[00:16:31] That means that your life and what you do and how you live for God is that you want to please Him.
[00:16:41] And if you don't please Him, and if you disobey Him, well, then there are consequences, right?
[00:16:48] No one really wants to talk about that.
[00:16:50] But that's why we have an advocate, the Lord Jesus and Jesus Christ, the righteous, who paid that penalty for sin.
[00:17:06] And so the Lord does want us to submit to him.
[00:17:19] He wants us to claim him as his Lord, or sorry, him as our Lord and him as our king.
[00:17:30] meaning that everything we do is under review.
[00:17:35] I mean, have you ever thought about following God like that?
[00:17:38] His love for you is great.
[00:17:40] It is tremendous.
[00:17:42] Don't miss that.
[00:17:43] Don't not hear me saying that.
[00:17:48] But the Lord Jesus says that every idle word that we say will be held accountable.
[00:17:56] Do you realize that?
[00:17:58] How many idle words have you said this week?
[00:18:01] How many idle words have I said?
[00:18:03] or idle thoughts have I had or ways that we have not glorified God through what we do.
[00:18:11] Jesus being our Lord is extremely important, especially for all that He has done for us, for us to be forgiven and to have eternal life.
[00:18:24] All right, so back to a little bit more on propitiation.
[00:18:29] This is really cool from the standpoint that the same word for...
[00:18:40] Okay, so propitiation is used in Romans 3.
[00:18:43] We'll go there in a little bit, not right now.
[00:18:48] But that word used in Romans 3 is the...
[00:18:51] And it means propitiation, but it's just used in a different way in the sentence.
[00:18:56] But it's the very same word in how it is used in Romans 3 verse 25 as the word mercy seat translated in English from Hebrews 9.5.
[00:19:12] It is the Greek word halasteron.
[00:19:18] So that means propitiation.
[00:19:20] In 1 John 2.2, it is the word halasmos.
[00:19:26] And all of this still means atonement.
[00:19:29] It means removal of sin.
[00:19:30] like I said it's just different usages within the sentence it is something that satisfies divine wrath but then as we just said the word propitiation is linked to mercy seat well what was the mercy seat because that's that that's really where this understanding comes out the
[00:19:56] mercy seat was in the on the ark of the covenant that that the Lord showed Moses and the Israelites that they were to make.
[00:20:04] And this is where the Ten Commandments were kept in.
[00:20:07] This is where Aaron's rod that budded in the jar of manna were placed in the Ten Commandments.
[00:20:14] It had the two cherubim on top and the wings touched in the middle and it had a seat there on top.
[00:20:23] Also had rings in it so that they would carry it by the poles and not so that they wouldn't touch it like Uzzah did and he was struck down when David tried to bring it to the ark to Jerusalem.
[00:20:38] So like why was Uzzah struck down?
[00:20:43] Instead of carrying it, they had it on a cart and the oxen stumbled and the cart kind of shook and he reached out and put his hand on it and God struck him dead.
[00:20:55] The reason is, is because it was the mercy seat.
[00:20:58] and the mercy seat is where God would come down and sit when he came into the tabernacle.
[00:21:10] His spirit, he would come down in a spiritual sense and he would be there.
[00:21:15] And it shows us in the Old Testament that he actually talked with Moses from the mercy seat.
[00:21:23] So just to kind of make this jump before we read any more verses, if you have the word propitiation, which means the removal of God's wrath, and it's the same word as the mercy seat that God would come down,
[00:21:35] then what it shows us is that the Ark of the Covenant was a picture of Christ's death and resurrection and salvation for us as the only thing that would remove sin from us before a holy God
[00:21:54] so that He would accept us and forgive us.
[00:21:59] You see that?
[00:22:00] That is critical in understanding that.
[00:22:03] That is critical for understanding what salvation is.
[00:22:08] That God takes that guilt and the act and the inclination and the desire to sin from us only through Christ.
[00:22:22] So what does that mean?
[00:22:24] That means you can never be good enough on your own.
[00:22:27] That means I can never be good enough.
[00:22:29] that means you know it was a bad news that we are wretched horrible sinful people right but that's what makes the good news of jesus so good so if if as the majority i won't say the
[00:22:48] but a good bit of the christian world thinks that okay okay jesus died for us but i'm still a good person? What's the difference between them and the Muslims? Because Islam teaches that you have to
[00:23:05] work for your salvation. We believe that you're supposed to obey God and follow Him and try to follow Him as best as you can, right? But not for salvation. It is the proof that shows that we
[00:23:25] are really saved without leaving the subject of propitiation yet John actually says that here in first John 2 verse 3 and hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments so if there is a person whether you know or maybe even describing you it could be describing me
[00:23:55] who says that they are a Christian but their lives do not look like what a Christian's life should look like, does not look like what the Bible teaches, then you have to ask yourself, do you really know Him?
[00:24:15] Because if we know Him, then we will want to obey Him.
[00:24:21] We will want to follow every single word that is in here And, you know, by and large, the majority of people, in the sense of how they might treat other people, try to be good people.
[00:24:41] I'm not saying that we hit the mark all the time, but we try to be good people, right?
[00:24:48] By and large.
[00:24:50] What about your thought life?
[00:24:53] What about the thoughts that you might have toward other people?
[00:24:56] Do you know how I know anything about that?
[00:24:59] Because I get them all the time.
[00:25:01] And this willfulness that we have in us, like, I'm going to do it my way.
[00:25:10] No one's going to tell me what to do.
[00:25:12] I have the best ideas, right?
[00:25:18] Well, I thought God did.
[00:25:21] I thought we were supposed to submit to him and to follow his lead.
[00:25:25] I thought it wasn't our agenda for our lives, but his.
[00:25:29] Do you see the difference?
[00:25:31] Now, if we repent of that, we're okay.
[00:25:35] but repenting also means it means to do a 180 it means the direction that we're going in that is not good we turn around and we don't do that anymore we try really hard not to and every
[00:25:48] time we mess up we go to our advocate Jesus Christ the righteous okay so back to the whole mercy seat thing with propitiation jesus stands for the ark of the covenant he stands for the
[00:26:09] mercy seat for the removal of god's wrath from us he stands for the whole temple because jesus says in john chapter 2 when they asked him why he was clearing the temple he says destroy this
[00:26:25] temple and in three days i will raise it up again he wasn't talking about the literal temple was he? He was talking about his body. But this idea of the mercy seat showing that Christ was
[00:26:39] the only one who could take away our guilt from sin. We're going to look at a few verses from that because I can tell you, but it's another thing to see it. All right. Let's look at in
[00:26:54] hebrews 9 1 through 5 now this is where the word mercy seed is the same word as propitiation in verse 5 but starting in verse 1 then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine
[00:27:17] service and a worldly sanctuary so when it says first covenant is talking about jesus came to make the second covenant which was a better covenant which was one that would really save in an eternal way.
[00:27:33] Verse 2, For there was a tabernacle made, the first wherein was the candlestick and the table and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary.
[00:27:42] And after the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, that is the most holy place where the ark was, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had the manna
[00:28:03] and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant, or the Ten Commandments.
[00:28:09] And over it the cherubims of glory, shadowing the mercy seat, of which we cannot now speak particularly.
[00:28:17] And what he's talking about is the construction of the Ark of the Covenant itself.
[00:28:21] But the writer of Hebrews is going on to show how Christ is really the fulfillment of all this.
[00:28:27] let's jump in in hebrews 9 to verse 11 but christ being come a high priest of of or being come a high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands
[00:28:48] that is to say not of this building christ is our tabernacle right he is the temple so he came in his body to bear the sin to pay the the sacrifice and the removal from sin in himself verse 12 neither
[00:29:09] by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us all and hebrews goes on especially in chapter 10 to talk
[00:29:24] about how the blood of goats and bulls and sheep will not totally save us can only forgive you at that time but the blood of Christ will forgive us forever and will take our sins away verse 13 in
[00:29:40] Hebrews 9 for if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctify it to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the
[00:29:53] eternal spirit offered himself without spot to god purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living god let's go to the old testament in exodus 25 verses 21 to 22 this is where god has
[00:30:16] explained to moses how to in building the ark and what the purpose is more of what the purpose is and thou shalt put the mercy seat above the ark and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony
[00:30:32] that I shall give thee and this is important and there will I meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat from above the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony
[00:30:47] of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
[00:30:54] And so the Lord is saying that He is going to come down on the mercy seat and talk with Moses and commune with Him.
[00:31:01] Well, what does the word commune use there make you think of?
[00:31:06] Communion.
[00:31:08] The Lord's Supper in showing the death and the resurrection of Christ.
[00:31:12] Do you see that?
[00:31:12] It is utterly amazing that this was God's salvation for us planned before the foundation of the world praise the lord and it's and and it says that that he would come down and sit between the two two cherubim when jesus rose from the dead and the
[00:31:37] tomb was empty and and the women and the disciples went to the tomb what did they see where jesus was laying two angels not a coincidence all right let's look at numbers chapter 7 verse 89 i mean
[00:31:56] who knew there was 89 chapter or 89 verses in a chapter the 89th is really good it says and when moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him to speak with
[00:32:12] the Lord. Then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony from between the two cherubim, and he spake unto him. And so that this,
[00:32:30] like I said, this idea of mercy seat is the same word as propitiation, which is how our sin is removed only by the sacrifice of Jesus only by him dying for us it is why our whole lives should
[00:32:45] revolve around us coming to Christ worshiping him yielding ourself to him confessing our sins and then saying as Isaiah said Lord send me here I am send me let me let me go out and tell
[00:33:02] what you have done for me and how you have saved me.
[00:33:08] Because if we try to rely on ourselves, on our strength, on our abilities, on our own wisdom and abilities, we will always fall short.
[00:33:17] And it will be short for salvation.
[00:33:25] Let's see.
[00:33:28] We're running out of time, so I'm going to try to hit some of these other passages.
[00:33:32] Let's go to Romans 3 because this uses the word propitiation and it is very, very insightful.
[00:33:42] Romans 3, verse 20 to 28.
[00:33:50] And this is where the Scripture and the Lord is just dialing this in, really driving the point home for us.
[00:34:01] So verse 20, Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is knowledge of sin.
[00:34:13] And I want to stop there before I read any more.
[00:34:16] There's this, I mean, just such a great point in this one book that I was doing a Bible study for the homeschool co-op, and it is 14 Gospel Principles for Parenting.
[00:34:29] And in one of those principles, it talks about if you have like a four-year-old, and it said in here, you know, like say this person's four-year-old daughter, and you ask them, hey, why did you do that?
[00:34:46] Why did you hit your brother?
[00:34:47] Why did you do this thing that was just kind of so wrong?
[00:34:51] Well, what are they going to tell you?
[00:34:52] Are they going to say, you know, like, I am a horrible, wicked sinner and I need redemption?
[00:34:57] They're not going to say that.
[00:34:58] They're going to be like, well, I wanted that.
[00:35:01] But isn't that us?
[00:35:03] Aren't we like that four-year-old?
[00:35:07] Because the only way we're going to get redemption and forgiveness is only through Christ and nothing of what we do.
[00:35:15] By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.
[00:35:21] Verse 21, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
[00:35:30] So the Lord is saying, hey, there is a new way that God is still showing His righteousness, the fact that He is just.
[00:35:40] Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all that believe for there is no difference in verse 22 when it says by the faith of Jesus Christ means he was faithful in all that he did means he was perfect it means his love for
[00:36:00] us was so perfect and full that only he could come to die for us and in any other translation in the King James you will not get the faith of Jesus Christ it is faith in Jesus Christ and when
[00:36:13] it says faith in jesus christ who is the uh what what person is the emphasis put on us by the faith that we have in jesus but but only in the king james does it have the faith of jesus christ which
[00:36:29] shows that he is the faithful one he is the righteous one and it is only him verse 23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God there's no ands or buts there it just is we have
[00:36:47] all fallen short being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ah finally something good there right grace we are freely justified through his grace and by His grace alone. It is not ours. It is not of ourselves. But we are justified by Christ.
[00:37:16] We see this in verse 25, whom God hath set forth, speaking of Christ, to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to be a sacrifice that appeases the wrath of sin, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins
[00:37:39] or the forgiveness of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, that God has mercy upon us in Christ.
[00:37:49] If you are looking to the world to fulfill anything in your life, then you have not bowed the knee to Christ.
[00:38:05] or we can add if you are a believer and you have let things from the world come in it's time to get them out it's time to confess those sins so that you might experience his mercy
[00:38:28] and his power to come into you to use you not for your own means but to live and to serve him verse 26 to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that He, meaning the Father, might be just
[00:38:51] and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
[00:38:56] Now, what does that mean?
[00:38:58] It means that God took all of His wrath and anger and punishment towards sin, and He poured it all out on His Son.
[00:39:07] And that's why Jesus, when He was on the cross, He said, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?
[00:39:13] because the Father had to turn His face away because the sin of the whole world, of all of His people was on Christ and on His Son.
[00:39:26] And the only way Jesus was able to bear it and to rise from the dead was because He was perfect, because He is the second person of the Trinity and God Himself.
[00:39:40] Verse 27, where is boasting then?
[00:39:43] It is excluded by what law of works?
[00:39:47] Nay, but by the law of faith.
[00:39:53] Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
[00:40:02] In Galatians, it says that the law is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ, to show us that we cannot be good enough.
[00:40:10] We cannot save ourselves, but Christ can.
[00:40:14] But brothers and sisters, it is only as we bow to Him, it is only as we submit ourselves to Him and say, Lord, you show me how you want me to live for you, not me live and then hope that you bless it.
[00:40:31] I want to jump real quick to Romans chapter 5.
[00:40:42] This is a passage that we'll end on.
[00:40:45] Praise the Lord, right?
[00:40:47] All right.
[00:40:49] This is one of those passages that really brings all of this together.
[00:40:57] Romans 5 verse 6.
[00:41:00] For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
[00:41:07] Now that is important to think of in how God's...
[00:41:12] Before we come to Christ, this is how God sees us.
[00:41:16] He sees us as ungodly.
[00:41:18] which shows that when he saves us and changes how our status changes before him we are made righteous through the blood of christ we are made holy we are made godly but before we are actually
[00:41:36] enemies of god verse 7 for scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet per venture or perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die so that that's that saying that that that while
[00:41:54] there's some people in your life that especially your family your your wife your husband you're like hey i i will i will die for them or for your children sometimes that's it's like those are hard
[00:42:08] things to say and to understand but it's like pointing to christ it's like but christ but god commended his own love toward us in that while we were still sinners christ died for us that should
[00:42:29] have that weight upon us see god loved us before we were made right and holy do you see that he loved us when we were sinners and he poured his mercy upon us in christ to bring us to himself
[00:42:45] into changes and this is the glory of the gospel is a beautiful thing verse nine much more than being now justified by his blood doesn't say justified by anything else but by the blood of
[00:43:03] christ we shall be saved from wrath through him because jesus is the one who removes wrath from God. He is our propitiation. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled, we were made right to God
[00:43:24] by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
[00:43:33] Not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ whom we have now received the atonement or the reconciliation or the propitiation.
[00:43:46] That is a beautiful thing there.
[00:43:48] Also because it is said that because Christ died for us, because He rose from the dead, because He has taken away our sins, it's like He has put His, not like, He has, He has put His Holy Spirit within us.
[00:44:02] He has strengthened us and equipped us and empowered us.
[00:44:05] And He said, now go out and tell people of this great salvation.
[00:44:10] And this is what our jobs is as Christians.
[00:44:14] and how is it that it is so easy for us to get bogged down in ourselves and what we have and what we think is important and what our busy agendas are and then we get tired and we're not really thinking about how we can serve for Christ
[00:44:33] and live for Him, which is why, brothers and sisters, we have to be in the Word every day.
[00:44:40] We have to be on our knees before the Lord saying, how can I live for you?
[00:44:46] How can you use me?
[00:44:48] Please forgive me of my sins.
[00:44:50] And the only way that I can even stand before you and say these things is because I deal with this too.
[00:44:57] And yet we all want God to fill us and to use us in a way that is greater than ourselves.
[00:45:06] To live for His glory, that His love might flow through us to other people.
[00:45:11] It won't be our love that's flowing out because it's not enough.
[00:45:19] It is only by the mercy of Christ and us coming to Him and to Christ alone.
[00:45:28] Yes, hallelujah.
[00:45:31] And so this is what God wants for us.
[00:45:35] He wants us to come to Him.
[00:45:37] He wants us to bow before Him.
[00:45:41] He wants us to submit ourselves to Him.
[00:45:43] And why?
[00:45:44] Because He is our loving, covenant, and faithful God who will not leave us to ourselves because then we would be condemned to hell, right?
[00:45:58] This is how we are salt and light to people who need to know the hope of Christ, who need salvation, who need eternal life, and we should not shy back from sharing this with people.
[00:46:13] I mean, what is death?
[00:46:20] What is the end of our lives?
[00:46:22] If we know Christ, it is going to be with Him forever.
[00:46:27] I mean, shouldn't we want that more than what this world has to offer?
[00:46:33] I know that there are things that are in life that we hang on to.
[00:46:38] Oh, this is important. I want to see this.
[00:46:40] You know, I'd like to hit this milestone before I die.
[00:46:48] What do you think Kyle Busch thought this past week?
[00:46:50] it can happen in a moment's notice.
[00:47:00] Therefore, we have to come to Christ and to devote ourselves to Him.
[00:47:07] Do not waste any more time.
[00:47:10] Let's stop living for ourselves and live for Him and live every minute of every day for Him.
[00:47:20] Amen?
[00:47:21] Let's look to the Lord in prayer.
[00:47:25] Lord God, Lord, we do thank You for the mercy and forgiveness that we have in Jesus.
[00:47:34] Lord, we thank You that He came to pay the price and the penalty for our sins, that He took the full wrath of Your anger against sin, that He took that on Himself so that we might be free,
[00:47:58] so that we would know the truth and the truth would set us free.
[00:48:02] that we would be able to be forgiven, that we would be able to be the sons and the daughters of the Most High God.
[00:48:11] And Lord, we pray that you would cause us to commit everything in our lives to you, that you might be glorified in us and through us.
[00:48:23] Lord, that we might be constantly praising you and seeing how can we live for you, how can we tell others about this great and glorious salvation that you have given to us that we do not deserve.
[00:48:36] Oh, Lord God, you are so good to us.
[00:48:44] We thank you for your love and for your salvation.
[00:48:49] And we can confess our sins and know that we are made whole and right before you.
[00:48:55] Thank you for reconciling us through the blood of your Son and for coming to save us.
[00:49:02] Lord, help us to be filled with the joy of living for him as the one who died for us.
[00:49:10] We ask all of these things in his great name.
[00:49:13] Amen.
[00:49:16] Our last hymn is It Is Well With My Soul.
[00:49:19] It's number 495.
[00:49:21] It will be on the screens if we could stand and sing this together.