Salvation: The Atonement of Christ

So, you've been following us, you've been talking, Nathan kind of brought you up to date with kind of where we are now in this series.

And he just reminded me that Martin Luther just said that this passage that we just read is the centerpiece of the whole Bible, which I can definitely see how he got that if you look at it.

And so we're going to talk about some big words tonight for us. And remember, as I've said in the past, big words are Latin phrases or any other thing we use around here.

It's not to sound smart and theological. It really is to kind of help you remember something, because if something's different, it'll stand out in your mind and you'll remember.

So that's why we use big words. And language is important, because it helps describe what Christ has done for us and who he is.

So tonight, we're going to talk about the substitutionary atonement of Christ.

And I have four points for us to kind of walk through.

And the first one to kind of walk through is, is all men have sinned and rebelled against God.

And we've kind of talked about that a lot already, so I'm not going to give you the whole doctrine of sin again.

But the reign of sin is universal. It affects everybody.

And I was talking with a good friend of mine, a really awesome, awesome girl.

And she has just a very, very staunch Catholic background, Roman Catholic background.

And she was telling me how she fully believes that Jesus, or Mary, was sinless.

And because if she was going to bear Jesus, that she had to be sinless.

And to which I was saying, like, no.

Like, we all are under the curse of sin, all of us.

And even Mary, during her song to God, or her prayer, she says, basically, that she blesses God, her Savior.

You know, like, she knew that she needed a Savior.

She cried out for a Savior, just like everybody did.

And in Ecclesiastes, you've got to turn there, but Ecclesiastes, Solomon wrote, more than likely Solomon wrote,

Surely there is not a righteous man on the earth who does good and never sins.

See this alone I have found, that God made man upright.

Remember that?

Like, Kyle talked about how God made man, God created man upright.

But then it says, but they have sought out many schemes, or many devices.

So we have rebelled against God.

We have abused that awesome privilege He gave us.

And then in Isaiah 59, 2, it really is a cool picture.

I'll just read it to you.

It says, your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.

And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.

A very powerful language.

This picture of separation from God.

Not togetherness, not a relationship with God, but separation from God.

So that He has hidden His face from us.

And such a powerful phrase.

I was going to just kind of make a point that to the Hebrews, and also it should be to us as well, really.

But the greatest blessing in their mind, you can read in the Old Testament, the greatest blessing in their mind was to behold God's face.

To see God's face.

Because that implied His love, His favor.

Lord, lift up your countenance upon us.

You've heard that in the Psalms.

This idea of God loving and showing favor.

So that was the greatest blessing.

So the greatest curse was for God to hide His face from you.

To leave you to yourself and to your sin.

And later on in Habakkuk, chapter 1, verse 13.

Habakkuk 1:13

It says,

You who have pure eyes, you cannot look upon evil and you cannot do wrong.

Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil and you cannot do wrong.

So this idea that God's face is hidden from those who have sinned and rebelled against Him.

And they're under a curse.

The curse of sin.

So all of us, no matter who we are, we all have sinned and rebelled against God.

And it has to start there.

So that's the first one.

But the second one, the second point of the night, is that God's righteousness must be upheld.

God's righteousness must be upheld.

And so righteousness, there's a lot of ways to describe this.

But basically, God will always do what's right.

Period.

Always.

At all times.

And that holiness, boy, there's a lot of definitions on that one.

They all hit on the same.

They're all good stuff.

It's probably one of the harder attributes of God to actually describe sometimes.

Like sanctification would be for a lot of things.

But in one sense, though, the holiness of God means that He is utterly separated from all things that are evil.

Utterly separated from Him.

But it doesn't just mean that.

It also means that if He is holy, it means that He is devoted to destroying evil.

And upholding His own honor.

That's what it could also imply.

So God's holiness pushes Him to destroy evil.

And so, since God loves what is good, right, and pure, then it shouldn't surprise us that He is devoted to destroying evil.

He won't, He's going to destroy anything that's opposed to who He is.

It's not just that God has holiness.

It's that God is holy.

Or He has righteousness, but that He is righteous.

It's anything that opposes Him, He will deal with.

So, what are some things in the world that have happened that you are outraged about?

Or something that you remember hearing about?

Something in you just kind of like rose up and said,

That is awful, and that has to be dealt with.

You know, just atrocities, or when judges let terrible criminals get off,

when the evidence is so clear that they were guilty.

So many things we get upset about.

And you just have to ask the question,

Is evil and is sin worth hating?

Absolutely, it is.

And like the loving thing for God to do would be to destroy evil.

So, God in His character like intrinsically hates sin.

He hates it.

And we don't want God just to kind of see what's going on and then brush it under the rug.

Some leaders in history don't tolerate anything.

They're just like killing people left and right, right?

Like a dictator, Stalin, Mao, Hitler.

But at the same time, it's probably just as bad to have a ruler who just lets anything fly.

And that's kind of like almost where our nation is kind of going to some degree.

A lot more so.

A Roman citizen during the Roman Republic wrote this,

And that's true.

But God is not like that at all.

So, He hates sin.

He hates injustice and injustice and anything that goes against who He is.

So, when people rape children, when young girls are taken captive and sold into slavery,

when greedy businessmen do damage to others to climb the ladder,

or when we, not me, but like when other people are just like your roommates in school or wherever,

and you lash out with them in anger and pride and think that you are better than them,

they should do something for you.

Just so many things.

When you actually do something good for somebody with a selfish gain in mind,

a selfish motive, not really out of love for them, but for yourself,

God hates these things.

Big and small, He hates all of it.

And we want Him to be that way.

We don't want a God that sees evil going on and just sweeps under the rug.

He's not worth worshipping if that's true.

He would not be God.

You see that?

He'd be like some kind of other deity we've created.

Sin destroys human happiness.

It destroys it.

It hurts us.

And what we glorify is what we love the most.

And if you track the matter of your day, you'll see that normally it's not God.

It's a lot of other things that you're following.

And so God just doesn't see what's going on and turn a blind eye.

He's sworn that He will deal with evil.

And He feels a holy wrath toward those things.

It's just within His character to be that way.

So just as much as God's love has propelled Him to send Christ,

and to provide a way for us to be forgiven,

at the same time, like running along right beside that,

is God's holiness saying that one day I will destroy all evil.

So He said, a lot of you know in Romans 6,

for the wages of sin is death.

Right?

Ezekiel, all souls belong to me, God says,

and the soul who sins shall die.

That's what He says.

Very powerful.

So there's a payday coming for sin,

and we've earned it.

We've worked for it.

It's our wage.

And it's death.

That's the outcome.

And His wrath is coming,

and it's coming like non-stop.

There's nothing anybody can do to stop it.

John the Baptist in Matthew,

he said,

flee from the wrath to come.

Now, I'm sure some of you saw those hoo-hahs up on the square during Gold Rush,

just pretty much just damning people.

Man, that disinfuriates me.

But don't be fooled.

What they're saying is true, though.

Okay?

They're just giving you a part of the picture, though.

They're not giving you the rest of who God is at all.

And to make an idol out of one attribute of God is idolatry.

Like, to just focus on one part of who God is

and then ignore the rest of Him is wrong.

So if you love,

if you really fall in love with His goodness and His fatherly side,

then you hate, like,

uh-uh, I don't want to hear about the wrath side.

You don't really love God.

You don't really know God.

He's all those things.

So, turn to Revelation 6.

Just to take a look at this.

This is terrifying stuff.

And this stuff's all through the Scripture.

You can't really turn a blind eye to it.

Revelation 6.

And all throughout the Scripture,

both Old and New Testament,

they had different names for this,

but a lot of times in the Old Testament,

they would call this the Day of the Lord.

It's referred to as the Day of the Lord

in Zephaniah and Ezekiel and other places.

Amos.

But, just to jump ahead,

Revelation 6, verse 12,

Revelation 6:12

it says this.

This is going on in the heavenly realm.

It says,

When He opened the sixth seal,

I looked,

and behold,

there was a great earthquake,

and the sun became black like sackcloth,

and the full moon became white blood,

and the stars of the sky fell to the earth

as the fig tree sheds in winter

and its fruit was shaken by a gale.

So, basically,

it's like everything is getting dark.

Get the picture there,

just like utter darkness is what's happening.

Verse 14,

The sky vanished like a scroll,

that it is being rolled up,

and every mountain and island

was removed from its place.

The kings of the earth,

and the great ones,

and the generals,

and the rich,

and the powerful,

and everyone,

slave and free,

hid themselves in caves

and among the rocks of the mountains,

calling on to the mountains and the rocks,

fall on us and hide us

from the face of Him

who is seated on the throne

and from the wrath of the Lamb.

for the great day of their wrath has come,

and who can stand?

Very, like, terrifying stuff.

Like, no matter where you go,

the Lord will find them.

Like, He's going to...

It's like a...

I hated to compare it to this,

but if you are God's enemy

and you don't have Christ standing on your behalf,

like, you're His enemy.

We'll read that in just a minute.

But it's kind of like one of those scary movies

where everybody's kind of locked up in a house,

you know,

and they're hiding from people,

and then, like, the murderer,

whoever,

is just going from room to room

just killing people, you know?

And, like, you're hiding,

thinking, like, maybe He won't get me.

Like, it's that kind of terror

that is going on here,

and God will, like, find everybody.

And from the wrath of the Lamb,

that will be Christ, you know?

And it doesn't matter.

It says the King's the most powerful people on the earth.

Then it says slave and free

from the homeless guy out in the street.

I mean, everybody.

No one will be spared.

And so some of you may be thinking, like,

well, I'm glad I'm a Christian,

so I don't really need to worry

about reading passages like this.

So I really don't even like to think about it,

so I'm a Christian, and I'm okay.

Thank goodness I'm saved.

But think about this.

I think that if we're around when this happens,

no matter who you are,

we all will be aware of the wrath of God when it comes,

whether you're a believer or not.

And in that moment,

you're going to feel like terror

and also like what it's like to stand within Christ

when that happens

and like the gratitude and the joy

and the peace that will come from that.

But people will say, I'm saved.

Like, I shared the gospel with several guys this week,

and one of them was like, I'm saved.

Like, I'm good.

I'm saved.

And I was like, cool, man.

I said, well, I was trying not to be, like,

too hard on him.

I know he had no idea what he was talking about,

but I just said, like,

you know what you mean when you say you're saved?

Like, what does that imply?

He's like, well, I did it at a church, you know,

like when I was 15,

and, you know, like I went forward

and I prayed a prayer.

Like, I know I'm good, man.

You don't got to worry about me.

And I said, that's not answering the question, bro.

I was just kind of real with him.

And I said, like, what does it mean to be saved?

Like, when you say you're saved,

what are you saved from?

And I went on to show him a couple passages,

and I was saying, like, it's the wrath of God

that you're, that people say that term.

That's what it means.

It's saved from judgment, saved from the wrath of God,

saved from the just, holy, and loving wrath of God.

Hard to hear it that way, but it's true.

So in Romans 1, it says this,

the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven

against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men

who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

That's Romans 1.18.

So it's all over the pages of Scripture.

It's terrifying.

It should just...

Man, I'm...

So, where is the wrath right now?

Well, at this time,

I mean, you can definitely say this is going on now,

there's a season of grace

where God has sent His messengers,

His people,

out with the gospel to declare

that He has a peace offering,

like in Jesus.

He put it this way,

kind of like if we were...

I remember when this happened,

like Bush told Saddam,

like, surrender now.

Like, here's the terms.

Do it now.

Or we're going to war.

And Saddam obviously was like,

no, I'm not doing that.

And, okay.

And like, he had all fury unleashed on him

when that happened.

And tiny picture,

puny picture,

compared to what it's like now.

Christ, or God has said,

here is my terms.

Repent, believe the gospel,

and turn to my Son,

like you will be my enemy

based on...

my enemy or not,

based on what you do

with those terms.

And one day,

I will come back.

I'm going to clean house.

And that's really just how

terrifying it is.

So, when we sin,

we're putting ourselves

underneath that.

And no one can stand.

No one will be able to stand

the wrath of God.

A terrifying thing.

So then, thirdly,

the third point...

Kind of moving along tonight.

Alright.

The third point is,

Christ came to make atonement

on our behalf.

That's good.

Christ came to make atonement

on our behalf.

Okay?

So, atonement.

I'll just give you kind of a

loose definition of it, okay?

It's the work of Christ

in His life and in His death

to earn us salvation.

Okay?

It's the work of Christ

in His life and His death

to earn us salvation.

So,

Christ made right

the offense

that we have caused

to God

and the enmity

between us and God.

And He opened the door

for all spiritual blessings

then to come to us.

All the other things

that are about to follow

these messages,

regeneration,

justification,

all these things

that are going to follow this

were made possible

by the atoning work

of Christ

or else it wouldn't have happened.

So, Christ won for us

all these awesome things

through what He did

on the cross.

So,

here's some words

to kind of follow

to help describe this, okay?

The first one is

penal substitution,

P-E-N-A-L,

penal substitution.

We get from our word penalty,

alright?

And it basically just means that

it's the idea that

the penalty that we deserve

was given to someone else

who took it voluntarily

who didn't deserve it.

Christ took our penalty.

Christ voluntarily

took what we deserve.

He stood in our place

as our substitute.

And then,

another word

is used to describe this

as vicarious atonement.

And a vicar

is someone who stands

in the place of another,

a one who represents another.

And Christ's death

was vicarious

because He stood in our place

and represented us

before God

at that moment.

And He took the penalty

that we deserve.

He stood in our place.

So,

turn to Isaiah 53

real quick.

Christ bore our penalty

and He stood in our place.

Isaiah 53,

go to verse 4.

Isaiah,

Isaiah,

as some of my Irish friends say.

I'm like,

what?

Can you just not say Isaiah?

Isaiah.

Isaiah 53,

Isaiah 53:4

verse 4.

So,

over 700 years

before Christ,

these words were spoken

about the Messiah,

about Christ.

And this is a picture

to the T

about what

substitutionary atonement is.

All right?

Surely,

He has borne

our griefs

and carried

our sorrows.

Notice the hours

throughout this.

He bore our griefs

and carried

our sorrows.

Yet we esteemed

Him stricken,

smitten by God

and afflicted.

But He was wounded

for our transgressions.

He was crushed

for our iniquities.

Upon Him

was the chastisement

that brought us peace.

And with His stripes

we are healed.

All we like sheep

have gone astray.

Each turn,

we all have turned

everyone

to His own way.

And the Lord

has laid on Him

the iniquity

of us all.

He was oppressed

and He was afflicted.

Yet He opened

not His mouth.

Like a lamb

that is led

to the slaughter

and like a sheep

that before its shearers

is silent.

So He opened

not His mouth.

By the oppression

and judgment

He was taken away.

And as for His generation

who considered

that He was cut off

of the land

of the living,

stricken

for the transgression

of My people.

Transgressions

of My people.

That's what it is.

Our sorrows,

our transgressions,

our iniquities.

He bore this.

And the whole time

He could have stopped it.

Notice that?

He did not open His mouth.

He could have said,

I'm not doing this anymore.

He could have stopped it

at any time.

He could have bailed.

And notice the words

that are used.

It says that He was

stricken,

smitten,

afflicted,

wounded,

chastised,

oppressed,

and afflicted.

Alright?

Those are serious words.

On our behalf,

that's a definite picture

of what atonement means.

Do you remember,

I remember when the movie

Passion of the Christ

came out,

and I was just kind of

wondering like,

what does that mean?

Passion.

Like,

the passion of the Christ.

What does it mean?

And really,

like when you look at it

from a biblical sense,

I tried to read up on this

many years ago,

and I remember,

but it really means

not like,

rah, rah, rah,

we're passionate

about something.

I'm passionate about coffee.

Oh my gosh.

Like,

not that kind of,

not that kind of passion.

It means like,

suffering

the degree of difficulty

to reach the goal.

What it means.

Like,

something in us that says

that goal

or that prize

is worth anything,

and I'm willing to do it

to get that.

So,

when you speak of

the passion of Christ,

that's what it was.

Like,

what did he suffer for?

And,

at least in my mind,

what I could pick out

was really just three things.

One was,

he suffered

so that we would be

restored back

into a relationship

with the Father.

Okay?

So that we could know God

again.

But also,

to enable us

to live in a manner

that would reflect

God's glory again.

Right?

Remember the fall?

The broken image of God

cannot reflect

God's glory anymore?

Now we can,

if you are in Christ.

In many ways,

we can reflect

what we originally

intended to do.

But then,

ultimately,

Christ's passion

was to honor

his Father.

That's why he did it.

To honor

his Father

in heaven.

It says that

he gave himself

for us

a fragrant aroma

to God,

a fragrant sacrifice

to God,

pleasing to God.

So,

so on Good Friday,

which is a long way

from now,

kind of,

like in Jerusalem,

have you ever

thought about this?

Like,

what must it be like

to know the hour

of your death?

You know?

I just think about,

like,

what would that do to you?

Would it just crush you?

A lot of us,

it would.

The people here

who know me well

that have kind of

followed me over the years

know that I've had

moments like that

in the hospital

where I knew,

like,

very well

that,

like,

I was in my last

few hours,

possibly.

And,

you have a thousand

things run through

your mind.

And,

it can really just be

a time of great turmoil.

And,

so what must it be like,

think about that,

to know the hour

of your death?

And Christ

had this on his mind

from the very beginning,

right?

He knew why he was here.

But,

when he set his face

toward Jerusalem,

it really just kind of

all came down on him.

He really knew

what was going on.

And,

it became more and more

tense.

And,

so,

well,

and think about this,

the Gospel of John,

John throughout

the whole time

calls Jesus

the King,

the King.

He refers to Jesus

as the King

a lot.

And,

and why?

Because,

like,

he acted in the most

royal and,

like,

dignified manner ever.

While men were

lashing out at him

and spitting on him,

he didn't revile

in return.

He had compassion

on his mother

at the cross.

All these things.

A totally disgraceful

trial that he had.

Blasphemy.

You know what?

They,

they accused Jesus

of that.

You know that?

That was the crime.

Blasphemy.

Right?

That was what they

were saying,

like,

our Lord

was guilty of

blasphemy.

And isn't that crazy?

Like,

that is,

like,

the ultimate thing

that we are guilty of.

Blasphemy against God.

And they were accusing

Jesus for this.

And,

they accused him

of treason.

Right?

Against Rome

and against the state.

Definitely not.

But that was the two things

that we were the most guilty of.

Blasphemy and treason.

All of us are.

Against God.

So,

in Gethsemane,

in the garden,

you can go and see it today.

It's still there.

But Gethsemane means,

like,

the oil press.

And it really,

it's on the Mount of Olives

on,

like,

the western side

of Jerusalem.

And,

it really means,

like,

where olives are pressed.

Right?

And it's really

crazy symbolic

that Jesus was feeling that

while he was there.

He was feeling pressed

and crushed

by what was on his mind.

And I'll just read you

a few things

out of some different

gospels that happen.

Jesus said this

in Matthew.

He said,

My soul is very sorrowful.

Even to death.

And he told his disciples,

Remain here.

Watch and pray.

So sorrowful

that he was,

he felt like he was

going to die.

Like,

that's how awful it was

for our Lord.

And then in Luke 22,

Luke 22:41

verse 41,

he says this.

Well,

he withdrew from them

about a stone's throw away.

So,

not too far.

Then he said,

he knelt down

and he prayed,

saying,

Father,

Abba,

you know,

if you are willing,

remove this cup

from me.

So,

is there some other way?

Is there any other way

that this can be done?

Is what he almost was saying.

If possible,

is there any other way

that you could,

like,

deal with this?

When he says,

take this cup from me,

he's referring to,

like,

the Father's wrath.

All throughout the Old Testament,

God's wrath

that's referred to

is cups

or bowls of wrath.

And he knew

that he was about to drink it.

He knew it like the,

it was being passed to him.

And he said,

is there any other way?

And,

and believe it,

like,

like,

the Lord,

the union between Christ

and the Father

is so close

that if there was another way,

he would have done it.

Seriously.

He would not have done this

if this was not

the other,

any other way.

And then it says,

Jesus went on to pray,

nevertheless,

not my will,

but yours be done.

And it says,

and there appeared to him

an angel from heaven

strengthening him.

Isn't that cool?

And that is an awesome gift

from the Father

just to remind him

of, like,

who he is

and where he will be going

eventually.

And it said,

and being in agony,

he prayed

more earnestly

And his sweat

became like

great drops of blood

falling down to the ground.

I'm very,

the agony of Christ

that he went through,

like,

in Gethsemane.

Then the cross.

When he finally was on the cross,

like,

the cruelest,

most degrading way

of execution,

at least,

in my knowledge,

I don't know,

I could be wrong,

but I doubt anybody here

is going to dispute me

on this anyway,

but I think there was around

maybe five or six thousand

slaves that were crucified

after the Spartacus Rebellion

all along

the Appian Way to Rome.

it was reserved

for, like,

the cruelest,

most wicked,

treacherous people

for scum.

That's who it was designed for.

And then, like,

the very Creator Himself,

Christ,

being put on the cross.

Cicero,

an old writer,

he said that

crucifixion is

the supreme

capital penalty,

the most painful,

dreadful,

and ugly.

You'd hang there for days,

you would die of,

like,

you wouldn't be able to breathe,

your arms would be lifted up

so high,

and eventually,

buzzards and crows

would come and just

eat on you

while you were there.

It was meant to last for days,

a very slow death,

mentally and physically,

just torture.

And this was the death

that Christ

was to die for us.

And remember what I said,

for God to show His face

towards you,

the greatest blessing,

and for God to hide

His face from you,

the greatest curse.

in Mark 15,

this is something

that happened at the cross,

it says,

And when the sixth hour

had come,

there was darkness

all over the whole land

until the ninth hour.

And in the ninth hour,

Jesus cried

with a loud voice,

Eloi,

Eloi,

lama sakpathini,

which means,

My God,

my God,

why have you forsaken me?

Because in that moment,

like,

God was treating Christ

as if He was

full of all the sin

of all the people

He was going to save.

He was feeling

the Father's wrath,

something totally alien

to Christ,

something He was totally

not used to at all.

He was feeling

the wrath of God

on the cross.

God was hiding His face

from the Son.

Terrible stuff.

Think about our

our Father Adam,

right,

in the garden.

The tree that was

in the garden

said what?

Everything,

it was beautiful,

it was attractive,

right?

Everything pleasing

to the eye

was on that tree.

And He was,

He went right for it.

But think about this tree

that Christ was on.

Nothing appealing about it.

Nothing in Christ's

holy nature

wanted to go to the cross.

See that?

Totally different.

But He went

and He suffered.

So,

Christ,

that second,

that third point,

excuse me,

Christ came

to make atonement

on our behalf

as our substitute.

So then lastly,

fourthly,

Christ's atonement,

the double cure.

Okay,

we'll talk about that

in a second.

Christ's atonement,

the double cure.

Some of you are familiar

with the hymn,

Rock of Ages.

I hope we might sing that.

Are we singing that?

We are singing that.

There's a line in there

where He says,

Be of sin the double cure.

Save from wrath

and make me pure.

And,

so,

atonement,

when you look at the word,

it really,

there's two words

that can be kind of used

to give a full picture

of what it really means.

And then,

there are two big words.

The first one

is propitiation.

That's actually in your Bible,

so don't think

we're making that one up.

If you have a good translation,

it's in your Bible,

propitiation,

and then expiation.

And,

they carry

slightly different meanings,

but they give us

a good picture

of what Christ did

on the cross.

And,

they both

are kind of found first

in the Old Testament

during

the Day of Atonement.

And,

it was

symbolic

of what Christ

would do for us

one day.

And,

they took two different

goats,

if you remember this,

and then one of them

was killed

and slain

on behalf

of the sins

of the people

of Israel.

And,

the other goat

was like set free

and sent off

into the wilderness.

And,

it was symbolic

of like removing

the sin

from God's presence

and freeing them

of guilt and shame.

That's what it was

symbolic of.

That's where you get

the word scapegoat from,

actually,

the scapegoat.

He was sent away

into the wilderness.

And,

the first goat

was an act

of propitiation.

He was killed.

The second goat

was an act

of expiation.

He removed

or blotted out

the sin of the people

from the presence

of God.

And,

he carried away

their guilt

and their shame.

And,

both of those

were figures,

prefigures

of what Christ

would do for us.

And,

both represent

the complete

work of Christ.

Christ propitiated

the wrath of God.

He satisfied

the wrath of God.

But,

he also removed

our guilt

and our shame

from Christ.

So,

let's just look

at one at a time.

Propitiation.

Just go ahead

and,

we read it

in Romans 3

if you remember that.

We'll look at

something else

in a second.

But,

turn to Romans 5

real quick.

Romans 5,

go to verse 6.

Excuse me.

Choking a little bit.

So,

propitiation,

the idea of like,

in front of idea.

That's what the word

pro kind of means here.

is the act

by which

a sacrifice,

in our case,

Christ,

bore the wrath

of God

and thereby,

like,

changed God's attitude

or God's outlook

on who we were.

It changed

God's view

on us.

So,

it turned it

from wrath

to love

is what

Christ did.

So,

some translations

use,

I don't know

what yours might say.

When we read

Romans a while ago,

it might have said

something like,

it might have just

said atonement,

it could have said

a lot of different

things,

but when we look

at this word,

if you were to

kind of look it up,

it doesn't mean

a lot of things,

but some would say

like,

to appease

or to placate.

Okay,

like,

that's what Christ

did for us.

Like,

he appeased

the wrath of God.

And,

those aren't really

good words

to use

because,

like,

appease

or placate,

appease,

appeasement

usually has a

negative context,

right?

Like a,

like a tyrant

wants something,

a terrorist

or something

wants something

and we give it

to him

and that appeases

him and so

he backs off.

Or to placate

almost carries

an idea

of,

like,

soothing,

like,

it's okay,

you know,

don't,

don't be upset

about this.

And either one

of those

describe,

like,

what was

really done

for us.

Both of those

carry,

like,

just a very

negative meaning

and I think

some NIV

translations say

atoning sacrifice,

which isn't bad

but it kind of

means,

like,

that Jesus

turned away

the wrath of God

from us

is what that

kind of implies.

And that's

not good either.

Jesus didn't

just simply

turn away

the wrath of God.

in high school

some buddies

of mine

used to box

a lot.

One of my

best friends

in high school

won the

Junior Olympics

in boxing.

He's a tough

dude.

He beat the

snot out of me

like four or

five times.

He was just

fast.

Every time I

rear back

he'd go

bam,

bam,

bam.

And I

gave him

a bloody

nose one

time.

But I

kept coming

back for

more for

some reason.

So,

but like

when you're

boxing though,

like,

if you swing

and someone

like bobs

and they

miss or

they block

you,

like,

it implies

like you

didn't hit

your intended

target,

right?

And that's

why,

like,

we can't

say that

Christ

turned aside

the wrath

of God

because it

would mean

like he

missed,

it missed

the object

and that God

is upset

because he

didn't like

hit his

intended

target.

So,

it really

doesn't mean

that.

But two

words I

think that

propitiation

could mean

clearly is

one is like

exhausted

Christ

exhausted

the wrath

of God

on the

cross

or he

absorbed

the wrath

of God

on the

cross

or two

words

that kind

of

explain

this.

He

didn't

just merely

deflect it

from us

or prevent

it from

reaching us

like he

absorbed it

completely

and like

all of

God's fury

unleashed on

his son

on the

cross

and held

nothing back.

Just think

about

standing on

like a

seashore

or an

ocean shore

tsunami

just coming

right at

you

like just

full on

and then

all of a

sudden

it's absorbed

into this

little hole

in front

of you

like the

whole thing

just goes

like that's

what Christ

did.

He absorbed,

he exhausted

the wrath

of God

on our

behalf.

Romans 5

Romans 5:6

verse 6

it says

for while we

were still

weak

at the

right time

Christ died

for the

ungodly

for the

ungodly.

So very

important.

I use this

passage more

than any

other to

share the

gospel with

unbelievers

because it

has so much

in here

that's good.

So while we

were still

weak,

so not

when God

doesn't help

those who

help themselves,

not when you

get your act

together,

the scripture

says you're

weak and

helpless and

utterly can do

nothing for

yourself at

all.

While we

were still

weak at the

right time

Christ died

for the

ungodly.

For one

will scarcely

die for a

righteous person,

though perhaps

for a good

person one

would dare

even to die.

So what's

he saying

there?

It's a really

good argument.

I really like

what he says.

This is the

best analogy

I can have

I guess for

me.

But I

have three

nieces,

okay,

like seven,

six,

and a year

now.

Addison,

Ansley,

and Ava.

And they're

all really

cool.

And I love

them.

I don't really

get to see

them a lot,

but I

really love

them.

And if

someone said,

hey,

somebody's

got to

die,

it's going

to be

you or

them,

without any

hesitation,

I would

say me.

John would

for his

children,

Nathan,

Wes,

they would

do it for

their children

like in a

heartbeat.

They wouldn't

even stop

them to think,

okay,

well,

it wouldn't

be like a

process,

it would

just happen.

It would

be like,

they would

just do it

for their

children.

But at

the same

time,

if you

were to

say,

hey,

there's

this dude

out here,

he's murdered

three people,

he's molested

several children,

and he's on

death row,

unless you

step in

and die on

his behalf.

You up for

that?

Everything

kind of

goes back

to,

wait a

minute,

he's had

his chance,

you know,

why should

I do

this?

He's going

to get

what he

deserves.

Be glad

that none

of us

get what

we deserve,

by the

way.

So,

like,

so what

Paul is

trying to

say here

is that

we all

are that

guy.

We're not

like the

innocent,

cute little

kids,

like we

are that

guy.

We are

that person

that no

one would

die for

at all.

It's his

point.

And so

what does

this do?

We all

would be

willing to

die for

those whom

we love,

right?

But to

die for

someone as

wretched as

that would

have to

be an

incredible,

powerful love,

right?

An incredible,

powerful,

infinite,

almost love.

But he

says,

this is why

in verse 8,

look at verse 8,

but God

is not like

us,

but God

shows his

love for

us,

and while we

were still

sinners,

Christ died

for us.

Wow,

that was it.

That demonstrates

the great love

of Christ

right there,

that he

died for

wretches

like us.

Verse 9,

Since therefore

we have now

been justified,

made right

with God

by his

blood,

much more

shall I be

saved by him

from the wrath

of God.

For if while

we were enemies,

we were

reconciled to

God by the

death of his

son,

much more

now that we

are reconciled

shall I be

saved by his

life.

More than

that,

we rejoice

in God

through whom

our Lord

Jesus Christ,

through whom

now we have

received

reconciliation.

Great passage.

Go back and

study this

some more.

There's so much

good stuff in

there.

What I like

about it,

it deals with

the two

different extremes

of people,

some that are

all about

the love of

God,

and God

is our

grandpa in

the sky,

and never

doesn't have

any wrath,

and then it

deals with

the people

who say,

hellfire and

damnation,

that's all

there is to

God.

And so it

deals with

both of

those camps,

because it

says that,

it talks about

the wrath

of God,

it says that

we were the

enemies of

God,

and then it

says that,

it talks about

the great,

powerful love

of God,

and sending

Christ to

die on our

behalf,

to reconcile

us,

to bring us

back into

fellowship with

the Father so

that we can

live for him

and glorify him

again.

All that in

that one

passage.

So many

good things.

So that's

propitiation,

God sending

Christ,

Christ absorbs,

exhausted the

wrath of God

on the cross

on behalf of

those who

would believe

in him by

faith.

That's what it

says here.

And then,

so that's

propitiation.

Then expiation,

that's E-X-P-I-A-T-I-O-N.

Expiation,

it means out of

or from,

if you want to,

out from.

And,

Christ,

death on the

cross,

not only

dealt with

our,

not only

bore our

punishment,

but enabled

us to be

free from

guilt and

from shame.

And for me,

this is what I

have a hard

time with.

I have a hard

time forgiving

myself.

The guys in

here that are

really close up

and in my

life,

they know,

like I,

I really just

want to like

ram my head

into the wall

sometime after I

sinned against

the Lord.

And this is

the hard,

so,

if Christ really

did remove

the wrath of

God,

then this would

be an obvious

conclusion that

he also would

deal with your

guilt and your

shame from

that second

goat that

was set off.

And so,

some of you

know Casting

Crown Song,

East from the

West.

Psalm 103,

Psalms 103:11

verse 11,

For as high

as the heavens

are above

the earth,

so great is

his steadfast

love towards

those who

fear him.

As far as

the east is

from the west,

so far he

has removed

our transgressions

from us.

So,

this is

language,

this cultural

idioms that

are trying to

express an

infinite distance.

How high is

the heavens above

the earth?

There isn't

a limit.

How far is

the east is

from the west?

It just keeps

going,

like there is

no set distance.

It's an

infinite picture.

So,

Jesus not only

bore our

punishment on

the sin,

but he

carried away

an infinite

distance our

guilt and

our shame.

Okay?

That's what

the cross did.

So,

when it says

that God

forgets the

things we do,

you ever heard

that?

Like he forgives