Propitiation.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Welcome to Village Church. [0:01] If this is your first time here, my name’s Steve. [0:03] I’m one of the pastors here at Village Church [0:05] and as always I’m thankful and grateful [0:08] to see each and every one of you. [0:10] Last week we started our march towards Easter

[0:14] with our series on the cross of Christ [0:16] and we started by taking a look [0:18] at what it is that the cross accomplished [0:21] from our perspective. [0:23] And that is that we can receive redemption from our sin. [0:28] Now what we often don’t do is really move past

[0:32] that perspective because in a sense many of us [0:36] tend to look at salvation as what we receive [0:39] and the good news out of it is that I get saved, [0:42] that I get heaven, that I don’t have to go to hell. [0:45] And so our perspective of the gospel [0:48] is sort of self-centered.

[0:50] It is a selfish perspective. [0:53] And so today I want to shift and I want to take a look [0:56] at what is it that God has accomplished [0:59] from his perspective. [1:01] What is it that God gets out of the gospel of Jesus Christ? [1:06] Because Jesus is the one that paid the penalty

[1:09] for our sin on the cross. [1:12] And since he is the judge of sin, [1:14] who had no sin of his own to pay for, [1:17] Jesus could substitute himself and pay our penalty. [1:22] But then we have to ask the question, [1:24] what has been accomplished for God through the cross?

[1:29] Why did God go to such trouble [1:32] of working out a mission to save people? [1:35] Why is it so important that God dealt [1:38] with paying the penalty for sin through his son [1:42] rather than either A, expecting me to pay him [1:45] through being under the curse forever

[1:47] or B, just kind of sweeping sin under the rug, [1:51] kind of scrapping it all and starting over. [1:54] For many people, all that they look at the cross, [1:57] all that they see is just their forgiveness of sin. [2:02] But when we do that, when we do not get past [2:06] our own perspective and go to look

[2:09] at God’s perspective of the gospel, [2:11] we kind of truncate the gospel. [2:15] If you do not, in your vision of the gospel, [2:20] see the holiness of God from his perspective, [2:23] you will not see the real glory of the gospel. [2:27] You’ll have half of the story.

[2:30] Because the glory of the gospel is truly seen [2:34] and understood when we delve into the absolute, [2:39] perfect holiness of God. [2:42] And then we can be in awe of what an amazing grace it is [2:48] that we receive because this is a holy God [2:51] who is not like us.

[2:55] And for us to see that, we have to, in a sense, [2:58] reverse engineer our understanding of the gospel. [3:03] And then we can begin to see God’s glory [3:06] in a new benefit for ourselves, [3:09] is that we are drawn into the life of God. [3:12] It is not just that something has been removed

[3:14] from us in sin, but rather it is something [3:18] that we have been added into in our relationship with God [3:21] that we have a view of what absolute, [3:26] perfect holiness looks like. [3:28] And only then can you hope to worship. [3:32] Because so often what we’ll do

[3:34] and what I’ll hear from people is like, [3:35] I believe that Jesus has died for my sin. [3:38] I believe that God has forgiven me, [3:41] but I do not feel change. [3:44] I do not feel this transformation [3:47] that was said was going to come into my life.

[3:50] I do not feel this urge to worship. [3:54] And what I would say in that is that you are not seeing it [3:59] from God’s perspective. [4:01] Because if we see this holiness, [4:04] if we see the awesome nature and awesome power of God [4:08] on display in the gospel,

[4:11] that is where the life change has happened. [4:14] And so the problem isn’t God. [4:17] The problem is with our perspective. [4:21] And the term, we used redemption last week, [4:23] the term of what the gospel accomplishes for God [4:26] is called propitiation.

[4:29] In this great work, God covers our sin [4:32] by his righteousness to remove his wrath from his people. [4:38] And so to do that, we have to focus on holiness. [4:43] In Romans chapter three, [4:46] we see this amazing perspective from the apostle Paul [4:49] that I think summarizes the work of propitiation

[4:52] in a great way. [4:53] He starts writing in Romans 3.23, [4:55] which is if you spend a lot of time in church, [4:57] this is kind of a more famous verse. [4:59] It says, for all have sinned [5:01] and fall short of the glory of God.

[5:03] That’s kind of the gotcha verse. [5:06] It’s like, oh, you don’t think you’re a sinner? [5:07] Boom, all gotcha. [5:10] This is what we do. [5:11] But we gotta go past just the reality of sin. [5:15] Here’s what he says.

[5:16] He says, and are justified by his grace as a free gift [5:20] through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. [5:23] That’s where we were last week. [5:26] That’s our receipt. [5:28] That’s what we get. [5:30] We get redemption, but we can’t stop there as so many do.

[5:35] Because Paul takes it further [5:37] to what the true perspective of the gospel is. [5:40] And then he goes in verse 25 and he says, [5:43] whom God put forward.

[5:46] So there he shifts it and he says, [5:48] this is not solely or even primarily about what you get. [5:56] This is about God. [5:59] He says, God put Jesus forward as a propitiation [6:02] by his blood to be received by faith. [6:06] This was to show what?

[6:09] Not your worth.

[6:12] Not how much value you add to the equation. [6:17] Not how you are just the centerpiece of God’s affection. [6:23] You’re the apple of his eye. [6:25] He looks down at you when you awake [6:27] from slumber in the morning and he says, [6:30] there he is, there she is.

[6:35] My creation. [6:37] That’s what we wanted to say often times. [6:40] That’s how we in our default mode of self absorption, [6:45] that’s how we would like to go through life, [6:48] but that’s because we’re trying to rob God of glory. [6:51] No, we are not the center.

[6:54] It says, this was to show God’s righteousness. [6:59] So the gospel is primarily about showing the worth, [7:05] glory, value, holiness, and there it is, [7:09] righteousness of our creator God. [7:13] Because in his divine forbearance, [7:15] he had passed over former sins.

[7:17] It was to show his righteousness at the present time. [7:20] Why? [7:21] So that he, so you know, who’s the focus on, [7:25] who’s the emphasis on? [7:26] God. [7:27] So that God might be just and the justifier

[7:32] of the one who has faith in Jesus. [7:37] Pray with me. [7:38] I wanna be praying from Isaiah 26. [7:42] Verse eight, as we pray, says, [7:44] in the path of your judgments, oh Lord, we wait for you. [7:49] Your name and your fame are the desire of our soul.

[7:54] Lord, my soul yearns for you in the night. [7:57] My spirit within me earnestly seeks you [8:01] for when your judgments are in the earth, Father, [8:04] the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. [8:08] Lord, a favor is shown to the wicked. [8:11] He does not learn righteousness.

[8:14] In the land of uprightness, Lord, [8:16] he deals corruptly and does not see your majesty, Lord.

[8:24] And Father, we ask that you be merciful to us, [8:27] that you would work your way in our lives this morning, [8:31] that you would show your holiness [8:34] so that our lives can change.

[8:39] Lord, be merciful to me a sinner. [8:42] In the name of Jesus, I pray, amen. [8:46] Number one this morning, we need to gain the perspective [8:49] that God is holy and just, [8:53] that God is holy and just. [8:57] When we reduce the gospel to what we get out of God,

[9:03] we cease to look at God, we cease to look to God, [9:08] we cease to saturate our lives with God, [9:13] and then what we are tempted to do is, [9:15] is we are tempted to look at the gospel [9:17] and see it as of less value. [9:21] Because it’s a part of my life,

[9:23] but it is not the totality of my life. [9:25] Because the totality of my life is what I add, [9:29] it’s what I value. [9:31] As we looked at the need for redemption last week, [9:34] we covered our sinfulness in a concise manner. [9:38] But we have to understand that the entire sin

[9:42] that we struggle with, whatever it is, [9:45] if it is lust, if it is pride, if it’s money, [9:49] if it’s power, if it’s fame, if it’s addiction, [9:53] the source of all of that sin is the same place, [9:57] that you are unseating God and attempting to put yourself [10:02] or something else on his throne.

[10:06] The ultimate source of your problem [10:08] is that you do not have the proper perspective [10:12] of who God is. [10:15] The scripture presents God as both transcendent [10:18] and imminent. [10:19] Now those are large words that we don’t typically use,

[10:22] but what they mean is that transcendence [10:24] is that God is above us. [10:27] He is in realms that we do not know. [10:32] He is far beyond our understanding. [10:35] We cannot fathom some of the thoughts that God has. [10:41] But God is also imminent, according to scripture.

[10:44] And what that means is that God is here. [10:47] God is active in his creation. [10:50] He’s working amongst the people of this world, [10:54] that when you got up this morning, [10:56] the fact that you could breathe [10:58] was a gift of the outworking of God.

[11:01] Hebrews 1 says is that the entire world functions [11:05] in the hand of God by his control.

[11:10] So God is both above us and he’s other than us, [11:14] but he’s also present. [11:16] What we like to focus on is the imminence. [11:20] Lord, please work. [11:22] Lord, please give. [11:24] Lord, please take.

[11:26] Lord, please return.

[11:31] So God is imminent. [11:33] But what we struggle with is transcendence. [11:37] And that’s because we are a self-centered bunch. [11:41] We prefer to think of God as being in our realm, [11:46] which he is. [11:48] But what tends to happen there is we then struggle

[11:52] to believe that God could possibly be different than us.

[11:57] I struggle to think that God may not agree [12:01] with me all the time. [12:03] That God may not see things my way. [12:07] That I might be a little less wise than God. [12:12] And so when God chooses to take the history of the world [12:16] and specifically the history of my life

[12:18] in a different direction than I wanted it to go, [12:22] there’s a little temptation in me to say, [12:24] what were you thinking? [12:26] I would have been better that way [12:27] than it would be that way. [12:28] So why are we going this way?

[12:30] Well, we’re going this way because not only is God imminent, [12:33] not only is God active in my life, [12:35] but God is also above me. [12:37] God is also higher than me. [12:39] God is also wiser than I am. [12:42] God can also see 10 years from now,

[12:44] 10 years past from now, and it’s all the same level [12:47] to where it’s all working towards God, [12:51] which sometimes leaves me at a deficit. [12:54] Why? [12:54] Because God is absolutely holy in everything that he does. [12:59] Being holy simply means that God is set apart

[13:03] for God’s purpose. [13:05] But our definition of holy is a little bit different [13:08] because I want holiness to mean that I am set apart [13:12] for my purpose, just like God. [13:16] The problem is I’m not God. [13:18] I’m not transcendent.

[13:20] I’m only imminent. [13:22] I’m not holy. [13:23] Only God is. [13:25] And so when I seek to be set apart for my purpose, [13:28] what have I done? [13:30] I’ve immediately made myself unholy.

[13:33] Because holiness is to be set apart [13:35] for the purposes of God, not for the purposes of Steve, [13:39] not for the purposes of you. [13:41] To be holy is about having what Jonathan Edwards [13:45] and many other throughout history have called [13:48] a God-entranced vision of all things.

[13:54] Is that my perspective, when I’m only looking at it [13:58] through what I want, through what I think, [14:01] through what I get, that’s not good. [14:08] I need to look to the world through the perspective of God. [14:14] And you say, well, if he’s transcendent, [14:15] how can I do that?

[14:19] Because in his eminence, he has revealed much [14:23] about himself through the scriptures. [14:26] He has told us how we can see the world [14:29] through his perspective. [14:30] I mean, throughout the scriptures, [14:31] he’s shown as being absolutely holy.

[14:33] In 1 Samuel chapter two, verse two, [14:36] it says, there is none holy like the Lord. [14:38] There’s none beside you. [14:40] There is no rock like our God. [14:43] So nothing and no one compares to the holiness of God. [14:46] He is the standard.

[14:48] To know holiness is to know him. [14:50] It’s not going to be found elsewhere. [14:53] In Isaiah chapter 57, verse 15, it says, [14:56] to come before God is to be humbled [14:58] and have your sin revealed in light of his awesome holiness. [15:04] This is, thus says the one who’s high and lifted up,

[15:08] who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. [15:10] He says, I dwell in the high and holy place, [15:12] and also with him, who check this, [15:15] is contrite and lowly spirit, [15:19] to revive the spirit of the lowly, [15:21] to revive the heart of the contrite.

[15:23] So this is saying, you have not been challenged [15:26] by the holiness of God in your life [15:29] until you have been brought to a lowly spirit. [15:34] Saying, if you’ve been brought face to face [15:37] with the holiness of God, [15:38] you did not in that moment think, I’m great.

[15:44] In Isaiah chapter six, a few chapters before this, [15:48] it says that the prophet Isaiah was caught up [15:50] in this amazing vision of the throne room of the Lord. [15:53] And he saw these angels flying around the throne, [15:56] crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord, God Almighty. [16:00] And it says, Isaiah’s response wasn’t,

[16:04] man, God’s pretty good looking.

[16:07] Man, this is pretty cool. [16:09] And there’s angels, what a nice throne. [16:12] You know, the throne room looks a lot different [16:14] than I thought it would look. [16:15] This is not the picture that I had in my head. [16:18] That’s not what the word says.

[16:19] The word says that immediately, [16:21] Isaiah was stricken to his heart and he was contrite. [16:26] It means he realized who he was in light of who God is. [16:30] Says he dropped to his knees and he said, [16:33] I am a man of unclean lips. [16:35] I come from a people of unclean lips.

[16:38] He’s saying, Lord, I don’t deserve to be in your presence. [16:41] And then he uses this phrase, he says, I am undone. [16:44] In other words, your holiness is killing me.

[16:50] And says that God sent an angel to him [16:52] and purged his sin from him.

[16:58] See, friend, to know the holiness of God [17:01] is to have an appropriate perspective [17:03] of who you actually are, not who you think you are. [17:09] Because many of us attempt to walk into God’s presence [17:13] with demands, walk into God’s presence with pride, [17:18] with ego, thinking that we deserve to be there.

[17:22] And if you do that, you’ve not truly experienced [17:24] the presence of God. [17:26] You’ve not seen his holiness. [17:29] You’ve not experienced his righteousness [17:31] as Isaiah experienced it. [17:34] In Psalm 96, nine, it says,

[17:36] worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. [17:39] Tremble before him all the earth. [17:43] Says God’s holiness brings worship. [17:46] In 1 Peter 1, 15 through 16, [17:48] the apostle Paul quotes Leviticus in revealing [17:51] that the whole world is held to the standard

[17:55] of God’s holiness.

[17:58] He says, as he who called you as holy, [18:01] you also be holy in all your conduct, [18:04] since it is written, you shall be holy, [18:07] for I am holy.

[18:10] Note what he’s saying there. [18:12] He’s saying that it is not just one group of people [18:15] that are held to the standard of God, [18:17] it is the whole earth. [18:20] And one of the problems that we have with God [18:22] is that we do not weigh ourselves.

[18:27] We do not measure ourselves by him. [18:30] We measure ourselves by other people.

[18:34] I’ll be as faithful as this guy. [18:36] Oh, well, that guy is not more faithful than I, [18:39] so what does God expect out of me? [18:42] No, the Lord says from Leviticus [18:44] to 1 Peter, he says, do you want to see [18:47] what the Lord requires?

[18:49] You do not look here, you look to the Lord, [18:54] because that is what he has required. [18:57] What is the Lord expected of you? [18:59] The Lord has expected as much of you [19:02] as the Lord has expected of himself.

[19:08] So now, why does the psalmist say tremble before him? [19:13] That’s why.

[19:16] Because he doesn’t have this picture of God [19:18] floating in the clouds in the heavens [19:20] dishing out gifts to all of his children, [19:23] saying, oh, you need this, oh, there you go, [19:24] you need this, oh, there you go.

[19:28] No, it is of a holy God who is completely righteous, [19:32] who’s perfect in all of his ways, [19:34] and he looks to his creation and he says, [19:37] look to me in worship. [19:41] Bow before the Lord. [19:45] See, this is why, and to the Christians in here,

[19:48] if you are a follower of Jesus, [19:49] the life of pursuing holiness is what it looks like [19:53] to pursue God. [19:56] We live in an era, and there’s always been [19:59] this thread in humanity to where it says, [20:01] you form a vision, you dream big,

[20:05] you chase your goals, you go for gusto, [20:08] and then you look to the Lord and you say, [20:10] Lord, you bless my vision. [20:14] That is not the gospel, that is blasphemy.

[20:19] The Lord is not indebted to your vision, [20:22] you are indebted to his holiness.

[20:27] It’s do you want to know the Lord, [20:28] do you want to pursue the Lord, [20:30] then you will be holy as I am holy, [20:33] and that is why God’s righteousness demands justice.

[20:37] You see, friends, why does any of that matter?

[20:44] See, there’s a temptation in all of us to look at this [20:46] and say, oh, God’s holy and I’m not. [20:50] Okay, question is, what if I don’t care about that?

[20:56] What if it doesn’t matter to me? [20:58] What if God can be as holy as holy gets, [21:00] and it just doesn’t really penetrate my heart at all? [21:04] Friend, understand that it is vital to our understanding [21:06] of the gospel, that we view our lives [21:09] in light of God’s life.

[21:11] His holiness does not allow for his creation to function [21:14] in purposes that he does not intend for it to function. [21:18] It would compromise his holiness [21:20] for him to allow sin to go unchecked. [21:24] Therefore, connected to his holiness is justice. [21:27] A holy God seeks justice for sin.

[21:30] Throughout the scriptures, this is the norm, [21:32] so I don’t know why we think it’s gonna be different [21:35] in our lives. [21:36] Throughout the scriptures, when his people fall into sin, [21:40] when his people reject his rule, [21:43] he brings judgment for their sin.

[21:46] It is a contemporary thought, it is this amazing myth [21:51] that we have in our minds that our sin will go unchecked [21:55] by a holy and righteous God, [21:57] that we can throw off his demands for holiness on our life [22:02] and then expect to skirt through the rest of our lives [22:04] and God’s perfectly okay with that.

[22:06] God will never visit this upon my life. [22:08] I will never have consequences for my sin. [22:10] God will have justice for his sin. [22:15] Again, in history, we see this over and over. [22:18] This is a theme of his holiness. [22:21] God seeks to correct wrongs

[22:24] and he does seek vengeance on those [22:26] that would rebel against him. [22:28] This is how Ezekiel 25, 17 puts it. [22:31] He says, I will execute great vengeance on them [22:33] with wrathful rebukes. [22:35] Then they will know that I am the Lord

[22:38] when I lay my vengeance upon them. [22:42] See friends, the truth of God is that he will pour [22:45] his wrath on sin and his holiness will be seen in his wrath. [22:51] It will not be compromised by it. [22:55] Why? [22:56] Because number two this morning,

[22:58] sin is primarily and fundamentally against God.

[23:03] That is the most offended party by your sin.

[23:09] You see, when we talk about sin, [23:10] we tend to think about human consequence. [23:13] I mean, we see the consequences of sin all the time. [23:17] From broken relationships, to physical harm, [23:20] to emotional and mental scars, [23:22] to emotional and mental anguish.

[23:24] The consequences of sin always find us out.

[23:30] I do not have any experience seeing the person [23:34] who made it their entire lives like an NFL linebacker, [23:38] just, you know, chucking, bobbing, weaving. [23:41] Oh, that sin almost had a consequence, [23:42] but he did a great spin move and he got around it. [23:46] That’s not what tends to happen.

[23:49] When you live a life of sin, the older that you get, [23:53] the more you will see people paying the temporal [23:58] or the earthly consequences for their sin. [24:02] Those earthly consequences are real, [24:05] but they’re temporal. [24:11] They’re earthly.

[24:13] You see, the consequence in front of our face [24:16] can often act as a distraction [24:19] from understanding eternal consequences. [24:24] See, the earthly consequences [24:25] should not be the totality of your concern, [24:30] nor should they be the primary concern.

[24:32] Your concern should be with God. [24:35] Your concern should primarily be the fact [24:38] that you’ve sinned against a holy God [24:40] and there are eternal consequences for that. [24:43] There’s a great example in 2 Samuel chapter 12 [24:46] where we find King David over the nation of Israel

[24:49] in a sinful situation. [24:52] He had a lustful affair with the married Bathsheba [24:55] and to cover the pregnancy that came from this sin, [24:58] he ordered her husband to be put in a situation [25:02] that David knew would result in his death. [25:06] He did this to make everyone think that he was a good guy

[25:11] because he swept in and he took the widowed Bathsheba [25:15] as his wife and well, wouldn’t you know it, [25:18] a honeymoon pregnancy.

[25:22] He tried to be the hero of a very sinful story [25:28] but God revealed his sin to the prophet Nathan [25:32] and after Nathan confronted David with his sin, [25:36] famously saying, you are the man,

[25:41] in Psalm 51, David pens his prayer [25:45] of confession and repentance [25:48] and in it, he begs God for forgiveness [25:51] and great anguish. [25:52] He looks to God and he says, Lord, against you God [25:55] and you alone have I sinned and done evil in your sight

[25:59] and I’m tempted to look at that and say, [26:00] against God alone?

[26:04] I mean, he sinned against Bathsheba. [26:07] He sinned against her husband. [26:09] He sinned against everyone connected to both of them. [26:13] He sinned against the military [26:16] by making them put a man in a situation like that. [26:18] He sinned against his entire nation.

[26:21] How could it be just against God alone? [26:27] You see, we tend to think about the temporal consequence [26:30] above the eternal consequence. [26:32] We never really wanna deal with our sin in that perspective. [26:37] You see, the reality of David’s situation [26:39] is he had not primarily sinned against any of those people.

[26:44] All of his sin stemmed from a false view of God. [26:51] Because he was not obedient to the Lord. [26:54] Because he was not holding himself in light [26:59] of the absolute righteous holiness of God.

[27:05] And so before he could get to those earthly consequences, [27:09] he had to deal with the one against whom [27:12] he had sinned in the first place, the Lord. [27:14] Because when we think about our sin [27:15] only by the earthly consequences, [27:17] we are tempted to think,

[27:18] well, as long as no one else gets hurt, what’s the harm?

[27:25] As long as no one’s affected by this, what’s the harm? [27:29] As long as it’s just me involved, [27:31] and I’m not hurting this guy over here, [27:33] I’m not hurting that person over here, [27:34] no one’s ever gonna know about this, [27:36] what is the great harm?

[27:38] And then even if there is harm, [27:41] the guilt eventually fades, doesn’t it?

[27:46] I mean, eventually, your heart just starts getting [27:49] harder and harder, and you don’t even feel guilty [27:51] for your sin anymore. [27:53] Everybody deserves to be happy, right?

[27:58] So guilt, that’s not even a consequence [27:59] you deal with after a while. [28:01] And I mean, really, the consequences of sin, [28:04] sure, there are some consequences [28:06] for those awful, terrible people [28:07] that cost them their lives.

[28:10] But the consequences that you deal with [28:13] with some of your sin, [28:14] I mean, maybe it’ll be a day or two of misery, [28:17] but after that, the consequence fades away, [28:19] and we can just walk away as usual. [28:21] That’s why we only look at the earthly consequences

[28:23] for our sin.

[28:26] Because it’s not God’s holiness, it’s my holiness. [28:28] And well, if life has taught me anything, [28:30] my holiness is compromisable.

[28:35] But you see, when God is the standard, [28:38] when God is the offensive party, or the offended party, [28:43] we see David’s response. [28:46] He was struck to his core with the reality [28:49] that his sin emerged from a wrong posture towards God. [28:54] His sin did not start with people,

[28:55] it started with a rejection of God’s holiness in his life.

[29:01] But you see, when God is the offended party, [29:05] well, then sin is not temporary, sin is eternal. [29:10] With God, there’s authority. [29:13] With God, there’s eternity. [29:16] With God, there is constant vengeance against sin. [29:21] That will drop if that sin is not dealt with.

[29:27] See, because sin evokes the wrath of God every time. [29:32] You do not see a moment of sin in scripture [29:35] where the wrath of God is not evoked out of it. [29:38] But you see, that brings the reality [29:40] that our sin should kindle fear within us. [29:43] Every single one of them, every moment of sin

[29:45] should strike fear to my heart. [29:47] But that’s not something that we want to focus on, [29:51] specifically in our current times. [29:53] Being fearful is something that’s rejected. [29:56] Even in the church, oftentimes, [29:58] we’ll talk about the fear of God,

[30:00] and we’ll be like, it doesn’t mean [30:01] you should be afraid of God. [30:02] It’s just like you kinda respect him. [30:04] And so you’re like, yes, sir.

[30:08] Friend, you should fear God.

[30:13] The authority that God has over us [30:14] should strike fear to our hearts. [30:18] This is also why oftentimes our children grow up [30:21] and they fear nothing. [30:22] They care nothing about authority, [30:24] because we do not want our children to be afraid of us.

[30:27] So when they grow up and they do not have fear of God [30:30] in their lives, we should not be surprised. [30:33] Your children should be afraid of you. [30:35] I hope mine are. [30:37] That’s why the Lord allowed me to get bigger than them [30:41] before they were born.

[30:43] I’ve got size on my side.

[30:47] And you’re like, well, I’m not as big as you, Steve. [30:49] That’s a good thing, number one. [30:51] But then number two, but you are bigger than them, [30:54] and that’s to your advantage. [30:57] You shouldn’t walk in when they’ve disobeyed [31:00] or when sin is in their life and be like,

[31:02] now, Sammy, that was a bad thing. [31:07] And you should stop doing bad things. [31:11] And let’s be good boys and girls, [31:13] and then everybody will be happy.

[31:18] Your kid’s sitting there like, what is wrong? [31:21] I’m gonna do the same thing again, man. [31:25] I’ll walk in like the Terminator.

[31:29] I got one mission, this’ll take you out, son. [31:32] Your time is limited. [31:35] I want to strike fear in their eyes. [31:38] I was in a sermon one time with Pastor Johnny Hunt, [31:41] he’s a pastor down in Georgia, and he was talking, [31:44] and he’s a more seasoned saint,

[31:45] and he was talking about how he raised his children. [31:48] He said the secret to child rearing is [31:49] that his kids literally believed he would kill them.

[31:55] So, you know, being a pastor’s kid, [31:56] oftentimes people, it’s not really fair, [31:59] and so I’ve brought my kids [32:00] into something they didn’t ask for. [32:01] Everybody looks at them and they’re like, [32:02] pastors, kids, they’re awful.

[32:06] And so Johnny, you know, he’d go over to people’s houses, [32:08] and he said that if they started to act up, [32:11] he would wait until the host wasn’t looking, [32:13] and he’d catch eye contact with his kids, [32:15] and he’d just look at them, and he’d say, I’ll kill you.

[32:20] And the head of the host would turn to look out.

[32:24] So that’s my secret. [32:26] They think I’m capable of murder.

[32:29] Some of y’all are like, I just don’t know about this. [32:33] Are Steve’s kids okay? [32:36] Someone should send someone over to their house. [32:39] They’re all right, but they’re scared.

[32:44] I don’t know any other secret.

[32:47] We need to have that understanding of God. [32:50] This is why Jesus looks to his people, [32:53] and he says, do not fear him, [32:56] who after he kills you can do nothing to your soul. [32:59] I will tell you who to fear. [33:02] Fear him who after he has killed you can damn your soul.

[33:08] That’s what Jesus himself said about the fear of the Lord.

[33:12] See, when you look to the absolute holiness of God, [33:17] you see something, and you see someone [33:20] who’s completely above you, has all authority over you, [33:24] and in your sin, it should make you tremble. [33:32] Friend, when you just deal with the earthly consequences, [33:35] you never experience real repentance.

[33:39] You never experience real forgiveness, [33:42] because you are self-centered rather than God-centered. [33:47] Never forget, it is God who saves, [33:50] and it is God whom you have sinned against. [33:54] That is the point of Romans 3, 23 through 24. [33:58] You need God to save you,

[34:00] because it is God’s wrath that you are under.

[34:05] He is the one that saves, [34:07] and he is the one whom you are being saved from. [34:11] Often, people will attempt to put the love of God [34:14] up against the wrath of God. [34:16] This is a false dichotomy. [34:19] His wrath doesn’t compromise his love.

[34:22] His wrath emerges from his love. [34:25] It is never loving to allow chaos to destroy. [34:30] Instead, it is always loving to move in ways [34:34] to ensure flourishing in creation [34:36] in accordance with the holiness of God. [34:39] It is this love that ensures God’s good for his people

[34:44] that will endure forever. [34:46] Without it, all is lost. [34:49] Without it, God is not good. [34:51] And without it, God, quite frankly, is not God.

[34:56] Number three this morning, [34:57] it is the cross of Christ that removes the wrath of God. [35:01] You might be saying, [35:02] when is he gonna start talking about propitiation?

[35:06] You see, you have to understand [35:08] what the propitiation covers to value it in any way. [35:14] Our sin is covered by a holy and just love. [35:20] The glory of the cross is that propitiation can be had. [35:24] To propitiate literally means to cover an offense, [35:29] means to appease,

[35:31] means in a term that we don’t use very often, [35:33] it means to conciliate. [35:36] And that is the root of the term reconciliation. [35:40] You see friends, God’s wrath towards us [35:43] needed to be appeased, [35:45] so our sin needed to be covered.

[35:49] In order to reconcile with us, [35:51] the offense had to be taken care of. [35:55] This is what 1 John 4.10 explains [35:58] when it says that God’s holy love is on full display [36:02] in the propitiation offered [36:04] through the cross of Christ for our sins.

[36:09] When we consider the absolute holiness of God, [36:12] when we consider the power behind that holiness, [36:16] I mean think about it, [36:17] it is an amazing thing [36:19] that God would move towards us in light of our sin. [36:26] And so often when we have

[36:27] just a human centered perspective of the cross, [36:30] we begin to think of it in terms, [36:32] well I was wise enough, I was smart enough, [36:35] I made the smart decision that other people haven’t moved, [36:38] and my decision for Jesus moved me towards God. [36:42] No, that is not the perspective.

[36:45] You are a rebel, you are a sinner, [36:48] you are unholy, you’ve committed treason [36:51] against the holy creator of heaven and earth, [36:54] and in that sin, the Lord moved towards you on the cross.

[37:02] You see the cross of Christ shows us [37:04] that God is active in our salvation, [37:06] even when we are not. [37:12] You see from God’s perspective, sin is treasonous. [37:18] Humanity took the worship [37:20] that the holiness of God beckons from us,

[37:24] and we turned it towards ourselves [37:27] and other things in creation. [37:30] And when we do not have a proper view [37:32] of the holiness of God, [37:33] we will continue to do that over and over and over. [37:38] Our redemption of ourselves is impossible.

[37:46] But rather than justly condemning us, [37:49] God chose to bring himself glory [37:53] through the work of propitiation.

[37:58] Instead of just condemning me forever [38:00] and he could have justly done that, [38:03] should have justly done that. [38:06] He covered my sin.

[38:10] God the just became God the justifier, [38:16] and in justifying me, he covered my sin [38:20] at the great sacrifice of God the Son, Jesus, [38:24] and Jesus did it all for us. [38:29] Our sin has been placed on Jesus by God’s very initiative. [38:36] Verses 25 and 26 of Romans 3 describe that work.

[38:42] The mission of the cross shows the glorious nature, [38:46] the amazing love, the reconciling power of God the just. [38:51] To return worship is an amazing thing to do, [38:57] and the gospel takes the holiness of God [38:59] and makes it even more glorious looking [39:03] from our perspective.

[39:06] Theologian John Murray puts it this way, [39:08] he says, propitiation is the ground upon which [39:11] the divine love operates, [39:13] and the channel through which it flows [39:16] in achieving its end.

[39:19] You see, the end is the glory of God. [39:22] The end is not the glory of me, [39:23] the end is not the glory of you, [39:25] the end is not the glory of creation. [39:27] The end towards which God is working all things [39:30] is his absolute glory on display

[39:34] for all of the universe, for all of creation [39:38] to look and wonder at and worship towards, [39:42] and God the Father’s working towards that end [39:46] through the work of the cross, [39:48] through the propitiation that is only available [39:51] through Jesus Christ, and to that,

[39:54] when we see the holiness of God on display in creation, [40:00] on display in scripture, on display on the cross, [40:03] and then ultimately on display through the work [40:05] of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers, [40:07] we look and we do not say, yay me. [40:11] We look and we say, what a holy, righteous,

[40:15] and loving God who’s more gracious [40:18] than he ever should have been, [40:20] has poured more mercy than I have ever deserved. [40:23] And when you have that perspective, [40:25] you wake up in the morning and you look at your life [40:29] and you say, it is a grace that the Lord even allowed me

[40:33] to wake up for one more day. [40:36] He should have killed me in the night.

[40:42] But too often we wake up in the morning as if we deserve it,

[40:47] as if anything was owed to me. [40:50] I’ll tell you what’s owed to me. [40:53] Hell, that’s what I deserve.

[40:59] For by God’s grace, he paid the price.

[41:04] At great sacrifice, Jesus Christ humiliated himself [41:09] to become part of the creation that was sinning against him. [41:14] Jesus walked among us, the very rebels [41:18] who were in treason against him. [41:21] We were those not living by God’s holy design. [41:26] We were the ones attempting to rob him of glory

[41:30] and find some other form of righteousness, [41:33] and Jesus worked propitiation for us. [41:37] You see, friends, God’s wrath is gone. [41:40] Jesus is our propitiation. [41:43] He has moved me from God’s righteous wrath [41:47] to God’s eternal favor,

[41:50] and I have no fear of ever losing that favor. [41:54] You see, you ask me, what do I have to be afraid of?

[42:00] Friend, we must always keep the fear of God in our lives [42:03] to remind us what we deserve [42:05] and what instead we have received by grace, [42:08] and when we have that memory, [42:11] we tremble before a holy and righteous God [42:14] when the reality of our sin comes into our perspective

[42:18] and then in that trembling. [42:20] You say, what is your response? [42:21] My response is, what a great God,

[42:26] because he’s forgiven me of all that would condemn me.

[42:33] Friend, follow God, follow Jesus, [42:36] and he drinks every ounce of the vengeance [42:40] that God has for sin. [42:43] And he drinks it for you so that you never will have to.

[42:49] Friend, from God’s perspective, Jesus saves.

[42:57] As the band comes up,

[43:02] Jonathan Edwards once said that it is a fearful thing [43:06] to be in the hand of God, [43:09] but the reality is is that all of us are.

[43:15] Every single one of us are in his hand, [43:19] and his glory will either be to our benefit [43:21] or it will be to our detriment. [43:24] If you’re in here this morning [43:25] and you’re thinking to yourself, [43:28] view of the holiness of God,

[43:30] I don’t know that my sin has been dealt with, [43:33] I don’t want to fall under his wrath, [43:35] I’m not certain that I’ve received that. [43:38] I tell you, friend, turn from your sin and follow Jesus, [43:42] and he will save you. [43:44] He will take the penalty for your sin.

[43:46] He took it on the cross. [43:48] It is too much of a burden for you to bear. [43:51] The curse will condemn you forever. [43:53] You cannot work it off. [43:54] You cannot work your way out of the situation [43:57] that you are in.

[43:58] And so in love, God the Father sent God the Son [44:01] to pay the penalty for your sin on the cross.

[44:07] Turn.

[44:09] Stop trusting everything you’ve been trusting [44:11] to satisfy you, because you need God. [44:14] And only Jesus can gift that to you.

[44:19] You need to repent of your sin today. [44:24] If you’re in here and you say, I’ve done that, [44:26] I’m a follower of Jesus, [44:28] and I’m trembling a little bit this morning, [44:31] I would say that’s the perspective [44:33] that we need in our lives.

[44:34] That we have the privilege to receive grace [44:40] from a holy and righteous God. [44:43] To look to him in worship. [44:46] To know him in relationship.

[44:50] Never get too familiar with your position in God [44:54] to where you don’t constantly look and say, thank you, Lord.

[45:00] The bread that we eat here at Village Church every Sunday [45:04] represents the body of Christ. [45:06] The cup represents his shed blood. [45:10] The body of Christ was broken. [45:13] His blood was shed as he took the penalty for my sin. [45:17] And when we eat and when we drink,

[45:18] it is a picture of the wrath of God being satisfied [45:23] on Jesus the Son. [45:25] And when we take it into ourselves, [45:27] what Jesus is saying is, I’ve taken your sin onto my body, [45:31] and I’m giving my righteousness into your life.

[45:38] That’s what we’ll talk about next Sunday. [45:40] That the Lord doesn’t just take our sin, [45:43] he gives us righteousness.

[45:48] If you wanna celebrate that this morning, [45:50] come, celebrate the death of our King.