Amen. All right, we're there in Romans, chapter number 5, and of course, on Sunday nights, we've been going through this series called Declaring Doctrine.
On Sunday mornings, we're going through the series on anger management. It's a highly practical series, and the series on Sunday nights is very theological.
I try to make sure that all the sermons that are preached from this pulpit are both theological and practical, but sometimes some sermons tend to be more in one way than the other.
And of course, on Sunday nights, we've been doing a systematic study of theology. We've been taking the major doctrines of the Bible and making sure that we understand them, teaching them through the Word of God.
And we've been doing this over a period of time. This is a series that we leave and come back to and leave and come back to, and we'll probably do that for some time.
Tonight, I'm preaching part 19 of the Declaring Doctrine series, and there's probably about 35 sermons that I'll preach in total on this series, but we will do it in sections.
If you remember, I think it was the beginning of, not last year, but the year before that, we spent six or eight weeks looking at the doctrines of God.
We talked about the omniscience of God and the omnipresence of God, the deity of Jesus Christ, and then we talked about the revelation of God and the doctrines of the Word of God and how God reveals himself through conscience and through creation.
A couple of weeks ago, we started on the doctrines of man, and we covered the creation, we covered last Sunday night the fall of man, and tonight, we begin a new section dealing with salvation.
Romans chapter 5, the entire book of Romans really, but chapter 5 is a chapter that deals a lot with salvation. If you look at verse 1, it says,
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we talk about salvation, that's really what we're talking about.
The Bible says that we were at odds with God, that we were at enmity with God, but the Bible also teaches that we can have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tonight, I want to deal with the subject of salvation, and I'm not going to deal with it in the sense that you and I would normally think of salvation.
Obviously, we're a soul-winning church. Many of our church people go out soul-winning, knocking doors, and we have plans that we go through where we explain salvation to an unbeliever.
There's nothing wrong with that, but I don't want you to think that that's what I'm going to be preaching tonight. I'm not just going to be going through the Romans road or through the plan of salvation with you.
What I want to do is I want to look at the doctrine of salvation through a lens of theology. I want to look at it in a theological way.
What I want to do is I want to focus in on three statements or three words, I should say. These would be called theological words.
If we were in a Bible college setting, they would be called theological words, but really they're biblical terms regarding to salvation.
Brother David, if you don't mind just turning me down a hair, I feel like it's echoey to me and it's just messing with me a little bit.
If you could just turn me down a hair, I would appreciate that.
The three statements I want to look at tonight, and I would encourage you to write these down on the back of your course of the week. There might be a place for you to write down notes if you weren't scribbling very angrily this morning.
But I'd like you to write down some of these things. We're going to look at three words, and the three words, like I said, are theological words, but they're biblical terms. They're biblical words.
The first is atonement. The second is propitiation. The third is justification. I want you to notice that these are theological terms. They are biblical terms as well.
In fact, you're there in Romans 5. If you look down at verse 11, you'll see the first of these words that we're going to look at.
Romans 5 and verse 11, the Bible says, And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
I want you to notice that word atonement. We're going to talk about that tonight. If you flip back to Romans 3 and verse 35, you'll see...
That's not right. I wrote down the wrong reference there. Romans 3, 35, but there's only 31 verses there. Excuse me for a second. Let me find this verse for you.
I want you to look at Romans 3, 25. The Bible says, But whom God has set forth to be, here's our word, a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God.
So we see this word, propitiation. Then I'd like you to look at, go back to chapter 5 and look at verse 9, and I want you to notice the third word there.
Romans 5 and verse 9 says, Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through him.
So we're going to look at these words, atonement, propitiation, justification. And just by way of introduction, let me say these.
These three words are closely tied together, and in some ways they overlap each other. So I'm going to give you definitions for these words.
We're going to look at it in the Bible, exactly what that means in regards to the doctrine of salvation. But in a lot of ways, these words do overlap each other.
They're closely tied to each other. We'll see that they're even used in, you'll see the same word in different passages that we're looking at.
But we're going to look at this idea of the doctrine of salvation. Now let me just say this real quickly.
In the past, when I was newer in ministry, younger in ministry, I would often shy away from preaching sermons like the one I'm going to preach tonight.
Because I would feel like, you know, it's just, it's real basic. I remember shying away from sermons on the Trinity, or sermons on calling upon the name of the Lord,
or sermons on things that I just thought were kind of too basic, and I thought, you know, our people are smart. They're past these things, and our people are smart.
And many of you are, this is not going to be new information for you. But what I've learned over the years is that we need to be reminded of the things that we already know.
Philippians chapter 3 and verse 1, you don't have to turn there. The apostle Paul wrote this to the church in Philippi. He said,
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, to write the same thing to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
And what I found is that it really is safe for us to bring up these things that we would call basic, because you think, oh, the Trinity, you know, that's such a basic belief.
I mean, everybody believes in the Trinity. Why would I need to preach a sermon on the Trinity, you know, and deal with it?
And then you find out that people are spreading heresy about the Trinity. You know, you say, you know, calling upon the name of the Lord, that's so basic.
Everybody knows. Everybody's heard of the sinner's prayer. I mean, everybody understands that you have to, in faith, call upon Christ for salvation.
And then you have people that talk to you on the calling upon the name of the Lord.
And what I've been astounded at is that people will often bring in heresy in the areas that we would think are so basic and so fundamental.
And I think part of the reason is because we as preachers shy away from it. And we say, well, we don't really need a whole sermon on the doctrine of salvation.
I mean, everybody should understand the doctrine of salvation. Well, first of all, that's assuming that everybody in the room is saved, and we shouldn't really make that assumption.
But at the same time, it's good for us to be reminded of these things. We are called, I said this morning, we are called fundamental Baptists.
We identify ourselves as independent fundamental Baptists. Independent meaning that we are autonomous. Our church is not connected to any organization or denomination that controls us.
Fundamentalists means, you know, people will hear those words and they'll say, oh, you guys are radical or something.
Fundamentals just means that we understand and that we are correct upon the basics.
If you were to take a kid and say, we're going to teach you how to play basketball, you would start with the fundamentals.
You want to say, hey kid, I'm going to teach you about basketball. Step one, slam dunk. Let's work on that.
You know, the first thing you're going to work is dribble. Let's learn to dribble the ball. Let's learn to pass the ball. Let's learn to walk while dribbling the ball.
Well, eventually you might get to the slam dunk, but you want to deal with the basics, and that's really what our church is about.
It's about making sure we stick to the basics, the fundamentals of the Word of God.
So tonight, we're going to look at probably the greatest fundamental in the Bible, and that is the doctrine of salvation.
And I want you to know this, and I feel like this church is already this, but I want this to be the smartest, most theologically sound church in town.
I want you to be able to not only know what we believe, but why we believe it.
I don't want you to ever, especially when you're out there soul winning, have somebody try to look down on you or think that, you know, say something.
And you might have never heard these terms, atonement, justification, and people might try to twist those terms and throw those in your face and teach something wrong.
And you can say, uh-uh, I know what that word means. I know what, in fact, I don't only know what that word means.
I didn't get that from a commentary. I can show you in the Bible where that word is used, and you can know what it means.
We're going to look at these terms tonight, atonement, propitiation, justification, as we dissect this idea of the doctrine of salvation.
So let's start tonight with the word atonement, the word atonement. Here's the definition for the word.
Atonement is defined as the reconciliation of God and mankind through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.
When we talk about the atonement of Christ, and often it's referred to as the substitutionary atonement of Christ, we are referring to the fact that there was a redemptive sacrifice of Christ.
We're literally talking about the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Are you there in Romans 5? Look at verse 6. Notice what the Bible says.
For when we were yet without strength, for when we were yet without strength, what does that mean? That means that we did not have the ability, the capability to do what needed to be done.
And look, when you start talking about these basic things about salvation, you'll start doing away with a lot of the heresy out there.
People say, oh, you got to work your way to heaven. Well, the problem is you were without strength. You were unable to do what needed to be done.
He says, for when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die.
Yet, peradventure, for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Notice verse 11. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement.
Atonement is a word that is referring to the redemptive sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, in the Old Testament, we won't take the time to do it, but they would have a day of atonement.
When a sacrifice was killed and the picture of Christ was foreshadowed in a symbolic form in the Old Testament.
Now, what does it mean when we talk about the atonement, the redemptive sacrifice of Christ, exactly what do we mean by that and what does that entail?
Well, two things. First of all, it means that we are sinners and our sin needs to be paid for.
Last week we talked about the fact that there was this thing called the fall of man. We learned about Adam and Eve and the things that took place in regards to sin entering into the world.
Romans 5 and verse 12 says this, wherefore as by one man, this is referring to Adam, sin entered into the world.
We talked about this last week, how Eve was deceived and Adam was disobedient and as a result, sin entered into the world and the result of the fall of man was this.
The Bible says sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned.
See, the truth of the matter is this, that when Adam sinned, when Adam sinned, he passed down his sin nature to all of us.
We were born sinners because we were born with a sin nature. Last week we learned about the fall of man and the result of this. The result is death.
But we need to understand that sin was passed down through mankind, through the nature of Adam. We are all sinners and our sin needs to be paid for.
Again, because we're kind of digging into it a little bit and looking at it through a theological lens.
I want to make sure you understand this because there are doctrines out there that talk about original sin or talk about Adam's sins and talk about the fact that Adam's sin has been passed down to us and that is a Catholic doctrine that is simply not true.
The Bible says that God will never hold you accountable for somebody else's sins. When you're born, you're not held accountable for the sins of Adam. There's no such thing as original sin that is passed down to every human being.
The truth of the matter is that what's passed down is not sin, but it is the sin nature. It is the nature and the ability. The thing that causes us to sin is the flesh that we were born in.
And the truth is this, that you are not a sinner because you sin, you sin because you're a sinner. You were born with a sin nature. You were born with a nature that is prone to sin, with a flesh that will sin.
This is what the Bible says, wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin. Notice, and so death passed upon all men. What passed upon all men? Not sin, not Adam's sin, not original sin. God will never judge you for somebody else's sin.
What was passed down? Death was passed down because of the sin nature. You were born and you immediately began the process of dying. You are born and you get older and older and older and older. You grow and gain strength.
And then eventually you get to a certain spot in your life where, you know, you start here and, you know, you're going this way and eventually you start going this way. And some of you are there.
And, you know, I'm there and I'm, you know, things are going downhill. What does that mean? Well, we're all going to die and we're born with that flesh. Our bodies were not meant to live forever.
What was passed down was the sin nature. The Bible says sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men. Now, because you were born with a sin nature, yes, it is true, for that all have sinned. Why have all sinned? Because we're born with a sin nature.
Our sin nature is passed down through the blood. It's passed down through our human ancestry. I don't want to take a lot of time on this, but if you understand how reproduction works, every month a woman, a lady who is of childbirth age and able to give birth will have an egg cycle through her body.
And that woman will have a monthly cycle in which an egg will pass through her body and that egg will be discarded if no life is created. However, if the blood of a man or what the Bible calls the seed of a man meets that egg, then we have what we refer to as conception or fertilization.
Life is produced and that blood is passed down from Adam. That's why the emphasis is always on Adam. Who passed down the sin nature? Adam did. Because it was Adam's seed. It was Adam's blood that brought forth life and it's been Adam's blood that has been bringing forth life.
And our life goes back to Noah, goes back to Adam, goes back to the Garden of Eden. This sin nature, this death that was passed upon all men for that all have sinned.
And I'm not preaching about this tonight. I've already dealt with the subject of the deity of Christ, but let me just bring it up briefly. By the way, this is the reason for the virgin birth.
The virgin birth is not just a nice story we tell during Christmas time. The virgin birth was needed to bypass the sinful blood of Adam. Jesus was not born with a sin nature. Jesus was not born with death passed upon him because his blood did not come from sinful man. He was born of a virgin. His blood came from heaven.
And the sin nature was bypassed from Christ through the virgin birth. So we understand that we are sinners and our sin needs to be paid for. We also understand that Christ died to pay for our sins. We know that. Go to 1 Corinthians if you would. You're there in Romans. Just flip over to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter number 15.
You know, some people pay good money to go to Bible college to learn these things. And they don't even get it taught right. They get told a bunch of lies. We get to study the Bible and the Word of God and we need to realize, look, the Bible's not just a practical book and we're big on practicality here and to do and to do and to put into actions the things that we're taught. But the Bible is the source of all our beliefs, both faith and practice.
We can find our theology and our belief system in the Bible. See, atonement is the redemptive sacrifice of Christ. Why was that needed? Because we are sinners. When we were yet without strength, the Bible says. When we are unable to save ourselves, to help ourselves. We're sinners and our sin needed to be paid for and Christ died to pay for our sins.
1 Corinthians 15 and verse 3. The Bible says this, for I delivered unto you first of all, all that which I also received. How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
Keep your place there in 1 Corinthians. Go with me to the book of 1 Peter if you would. 1 Peter chapter number 2. If you start at the end of the New Testament and you go backwards, you have the book of Revelation, Jude, 3, 2, and 1 John, 2, and 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter number 2. Revelation, going backwards, Jude, 3, 2, and 1 John, 2, and 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter number 2. Do me a favor, when you get to 1 Peter, put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it. So I'd like you to be able to get to it quickly.
1 Peter chapter 2 verse 24. Christ died to pay for our sins. You say, pastor, that is so basic. Do we really need to talk about it? Doesn't everybody know that? Well, I don't know. You go out soul winning with me and tell me if everybody knows that. Because it's a trite statement people make. Oh yeah, Christ died for our sins. Well then why do you think you have to work your way to heaven? Well then why do you think you have to repent of your sins? Well then why do you think you have to keep the commandments of Christ died to pay for your sins?
Then why do you think you need to do anything? See, the Bible says in 1 Peter 2.24, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed.
See, when we talk about the atonement or the atonement process, what we're literally referring to is the fact that Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross that we were sinners. Our sin needed to be paid for and Christ died to pay for our sins.
Go to 1 John if you would. 1 John chapter 2. You're there in 1 Peter. If you go past 2 Peter, you'll have the book of 1 John. 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John.
And look, obviously when we're talking about salvation and we're giving the gospel to someone at the door, I try to teach soul winners and teach anyone who will listen, really.
There's really six ideas or six thoughts that people need to understand when it comes to salvation. There's six things we need to explain to someone at the door, an unsafe person that we're trying to get them to choose Christ and believe on Christ for salvation.
The first is this, that we're all sinners. The second is this, that our sin has condemned us to hell. The third is this, that God has a gift he wants to give us and that gift is eternal life. It's salvation. It's through Jesus Christ.
The fourth is this, that someone paid for that gift and that someone is the Lord Jesus Christ. The fifth is this, that that gift will last forever. It will never end. Once you have it, it will never be taken from you.
And the last is that we must call upon Christ in faith to receive that gift, to receive the gift of eternal life, to receive salvation. Those are the things we explain to people when we're out soul winning in a very practical way, but what we're talking to them about is the atonement of Christ, that we're sinners and Christ died for our sin.
So that's the first word, atonement. Let's talk about the second word. And the second word is propitiation. Propitiation.
Atonement has to do with the redemptive sacrifice of Christ. Propitiation has to do with the removing of our sin. Here's a definition for the word. The definition is this, the action, what is propitiation?
It's the action of gaining the favor of God, the action of gaining the favor of God by pleasing or appeasing God. It means to make things right. It means to reconcile.
When we use the word propitiation or when the Bible used the word propitiation, what that means is that we have gained the favor of God by pleasing or appeasing God.
Now that doesn't mean, you say, how was God appeased? How was God pleased? That was not done through any work of righteousness which we have done.
That was not done because of any merit of ours. That was done through, of course, what we've just talked about, the atoning sacrifice of Christ.
Propitiation has to do with the removing of our sin. Are you there in 1 John chapter 2? Look down at verse number 2. 1 John chapter number 2 and look at verse number 2.
And he, the he there is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, is the propitiation for our sins. Now what does the word propitiation mean? It means the pleasing or appeasement of God.
Again, look, when you look at salvation in a theological way, just what does the Bible teach about salvation, it takes away all these heresies that people have.
Because today people want to tell you, well, you've got to please God. You know, if you want to go to heaven, you've got to do right. You've got to live right. You've got to go to church. You've got to get baptized.
They'll tell you, there's things you've got to do, or they'll tell you there's things you need to stop doing. They call that repenting of your sins.
Well, you can't drink alcohol and go to heaven. You can't smoke and go to heaven. You can't, you know, do all these bad things and go to heaven.
They'll say, you've got to do certain things. You've got to stop doing certain things. Then there's, of course, the attack on eternal security, which means that once you're saved, you've got to do certain things or stop doing certain things in order to stay saved.
And the idea is this, that you and I have to live a life that is pleasing to God. Now, I agree that we should live a life that is pleasing to God, but not for salvation.
Salvation is not something we have to earn the favor of God. You say, well, didn't you say propitiation was the action of gaining the favor of God by pleasing or appeasing God?
Yes, but how was God appeased? 1 John 2, 2, and he, Jesus, is the propitiation for our sin. It is Jesus who pleased God. It is Jesus who appeased God, not you, not me.
I'm not the propitiation for my sins. Jesus says, I didn't please God and I didn't appease God. Jesus did.
And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. This is a sermon for another day, but there goes Calvinism.
Calvinists, they quote this verse and they end it right there. And he is the propitiation for our sins and for ours only.
The Bible says not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Like we learned on Wednesday night from Pastor Thompson, whosoever will may come.
Whosoever, that word will means whoever has the desire, whoever wants to. Let him drink of the fountain of life freely.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Why? Because he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Look at chapter 4, same book, verse 10. First John chapter 4 and verse 10. First John chapter 4 verse 10.
Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us.
And sent his son, that's atonement, to be the propitiation for our sins, to be the appeasement to please God for our sins.
Now what exactly does that mean? What does that mean in regards to salvation?
Go back to 1 Peter if you would, if you kept your place in 1 Peter. If not, you just go backwards. You have 2 Peter and 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 2.
What do we mean by the removing of our sins? Well, there's two ideas or two thoughts connected to that. The first is this, that Christ had no sin.
1 Peter chapter 2 verse 21. For even here unto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us. That's atonement.
Leaving us an example that we should follow his steps. Look at verse 22. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.
The Bible says that Christ was without sin, that he did no sin. We'll look at this verse later in the sermon, but in 2 Corinthians we're told that God had made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.
He'd never sinned. He never did anything wrong. Christ had no sin. But the Bible says that Christ had no sin and it says that Christ took our sin.
We saw this verse already, but let's look at it again. Verse 24, same chapter there. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 24. Notice, who his own self, referring to Jesus,
bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed.
Do you understand this about salvation, propitiation, the removing of our sins? Do you understand that salvation was truly an exchange?
We like to spiritualize things and make things into little stories that we tell them. I understand why we do that, but this was not just a story. This literally happened.
At salvation the Bible says that our sins were taken off of us and they were placed upon Christ, the Bible says, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree.
See, Jesus was without sin and he took our sin. This is what salvation is. Go back to 1 John chapter 3.
1 John chapter 3. Look at verse 5. 1 John chapter 3 verse 5. The Bible says this, ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin.
And by the way, let me just say this, the reason, see, we like these stories and we tell these Sunday school stories and that's fine and we understand it.
But we make these statements like, Jesus was the son of God and he was born of a virgin and that makes them special.
We don't understand, there's theological implications to these things. He was born of a virgin to avoid the sin nature.
He was the son of God because he needed to be sinless. He needed to be perfect. He needed to be without sin. Why?
That he might appease the judgment, the punishment of your sin, of my sin.
Keep your place there in 1 Peter. Go to the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Isaiah 53. In the Old Testament you've got the major prophets.
You've got Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel. Isaiah chapter 53. Towards the end of the Old Testament you've got those big books.
See, salvation, look, look, salvation is not, salvation is not that God just forgave your sins and he said, okay, well it's fine, you're a sinner and I'm just going to look the other way.
We like to think of it that way but that's not the way it works because God, yes, God is a merciful God and God is a loving God but God is also a just God.
And he is a holy God. God is a just judge. He could not just look the other way.
I mean, could you imagine if I kill somebody and I stand up before the judge and I say, judge, I'm so sorry, I'll never do it again and they just say, no problem.
You would say that's an unjust judge. It's good that they have mercy and it's good that they've forgiven you but someone has to pay for the debt that you committed.
Someone must pay for the crime. It must be paid for. See, God, like we talked about last week, is this perfect mixture of justice and love.
Love brings grace and mercy to you and me but justice brought punishment to our sins in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins and in him is no sin.
Isaiah 53 is one of the most famous prophecies in the Old Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want you to notice how it's described here, that he took our sins for, as Isaiah 53, look at verse 4, it says,
Surely he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Who put Jesus on that cross? We like to say it was the Jews and of course the Jews took a part in putting Jesus on the cross.
We like to say it was the Romans and of course the Romans took a part of putting Jesus on that cross but the truth of the matter is this,
that Jesus went on that cross for you and for me. It was our sins that put him on that cross.
All we like sheep have gone astray. We weren't searching after God. People like to say, I found God. I found Jesus. He was never missing.
The Bible says he came to seek and to save you. It's funny how we like to turn everything around. I found Jesus. No, actually he found you.
He was oppressed the Bible says in verse 7 and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth.
He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter and his sheep before his shears is done so he opened not his mouth.
He was taken from prison in judgment and who shall declare his generation for he was cut out of the land of the living.
For the transgressions of my people was he stricken and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich and his death
because he had done no violence neither was any deceit in his mouth yet it pleased the Lord. Notice, yet it pleased the Lord.
That's propitiation. That's the appeasement. God's judgment was appeased when Jesus was on the cross.
God was pleased and God was satisfied with the sacrifice yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
He had put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.
And by the way, his body didn't go to hell, his soul didn't.
Jesus didn't go to hell. Really the Bible says that his soul was not left in hell.
Here we're told that it pleased God to bruise him physically and that his and he says when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin,
he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Propitiation is the removing of our sin being put on Jesus Christ and then the punishment for that sin being placed on Jesus Christ.
And God was appeased. It's not trite statements we make when we say Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins.
No, there's a lot that goes into that statement. God was pleased and God was appeased.
You understand that God was coming after you? God was coming after me?
The Bible says that for unsaved people the wrath of God abideth on them.
But at the sacrifice of Christ, at the propitiation of Christ, his judgment was appeased.
The payment had been made and we were allowed to go free.
And by the way, it had to have been Jesus.
I often tell people this when we're out sowing and I tell people, you know, if there's somebody that I loved dearly and I didn't want them to die and go to hell,
you know, I might offer to take their place.
I love my wife, obviously she's saved, but if my wife wasn't saved I might come to God or I love my children and those that are of salvation age are saved.
And I thank the Lord for that and we're praying that the younger children get saved when they're able to understand it.
But if I ever had a child that did not get saved, you know, I might want to come to God and say,
God, I don't want my wife or I don't want my children to die and go to hell.
In fact, I'd like to die and go to hell in their place.
And though that might be very sincere and that may be very noble, God would never allow me to do that.
And you say, why? And the reason is this.
Same reason you couldn't do it for your spouse or your kids is because I can't die in their place for their sins because I've got my own sins to pay for.
If I said, well, I don't want my children to die and go to hell, God, just give me the punishment for their sins, God would say, well, there's a problem.
What am I going to do with the punishment for your sin?
That's the same reason they couldn't die in my place.
They've got sin that needs to be paid for.
That's why it had to be Jesus Christ, the sinless sacrifice, because when he died on the cross, he did not die to pay for his own sins. He had no sins.
He was able to take our sins. He died a death. He did not have to die. He made a payment. He did not have to pay for you and for me.
So we have atonement. What does that mean?
It means the redemptive sacrifice of Christ, the fact that he took our place on the cross, and he took our place in hell.
We have propitiation. What does that mean? It means that our sin was removed, taken off of us, and it wasn't just discarded or put away.
That sin had to be paid for, and it was put on Christ, and God's judgment came upon him at the cross and in hell.
And the Bible says it pleased God. It appeased God, and a payment was made for our sins.
And then thirdly tonight, there's justification.
Atonement is the redemptive sacrifice of Christ. Propitiation is the removing of our sin. Justification is the receiving of Christ's righteousness.
The word justified or justification means declared or made righteous in the sight of God.
If you would, go to Acts chapter number 10. Acts chapter 10. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. Acts chapter 10.
See, we like to emphasize the fact that salvation is our sins being paid for and being taken off of us, and I understand why we do that.
But that's not the only thing that salvation is. Salvation is not just that our sins were taken off of us in exchange for our sins.
Our sins were taken off of us and placed upon Jesus Christ. That's only part of the exchange.
Salvation is an exchange, and the full exchange is this, that our sins were taken off of us and placed upon Jesus Christ, and it was punished and appeased in the person of Christ.
But there's more to salvation than just that, because salvation is also this, that the righteousness of Christ was taken from him and placed upon us.
This is what the Bible calls justification. See, Christ lived a righteous life, did he not?
I mean, the Bible says it. Let's look at it. Acts chapter 10, verse 38.
Acts 10, 38. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth, Acts 10, 38, with the Holy Ghost and with power, notice, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.
Have you ever stopped to think of the fact, why did Jesus even have to live a human life?
I mean, why didn't he just come down as a 33-year-old man and just died on the cross for our sins?
But you need to understand that it wasn't just our sins being taken from us, it was his righteousness being put on us.
The reason that Jesus lived on this earth 30-plus years was so that he could go about doing good.
And his good was placed upon us. See, at salvation there was an exchange, our sins were taken and given to Christ, his righteousness was taken and given to us.
Christ lived a righteous life and Christ gave us his righteousness.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. You're there in Acts, go past Romans, past 1 Corinthians and to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
2 Corinthians chapter 5. Justification is a legal term.
When you study it out in the Bible, you'll find it in the law of Moses. It means to be declared righteous.
It's more than just being found not guilty.
In our modern legal terminology, you get accused of something and you're hoping to be found not guilty.
That's not enough to get you into heaven, simply being not guilty.
It's not just that you're not found guilty, it's that you're found righteous.
His righteousness had to be placed upon us, 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21.
Talking about God the Father in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.
For he had made him to be sin for us, that's propitiation, who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
That's justification.
He took our sin, we took his righteousness, an exchange was made.
When I was growing up, people would often say, and I don't have a problem with this, I think it's fine.
People would say, you know, justification, a good way to remember it, they would teach us, you know, justification is justified never sinned.
You can remember what does it mean to be justified, or what is justification?
It's justified never sinned.
But I would take it a step further, and I don't have a problem with people saying that, and I like that term, but it goes even deeper than that.
It's not justified never sinned, it's justified never been a sinner.
It's actually a new nature.
It's a divine nature.
It's a new man.
It's not a recovery of the old man, it is a new creature in Christ's righteousness.
The righteousness of God.
Go back to Romans if you would, Romans chapter number 3.
Romans chapter number 3.
Christ lived a righteous life, and Christ gave us his righteousness.
See, salvation is an exchange.
When we think of it under theological terms or in a theological lens, it simply is an exchange between us and Christ.
He took our sins, we took his righteousness.
He paid for our sins, we get to enter into heaven in his righteousness.
This is what we talked about last week when we talked about being robed in the righteousness of Christ.
Look, when you get to heaven, you're not going to get to heaven because God looks down and says, oh, I like you.
You're going to get to heaven because God looks down and says, oh, you're clothed in my son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You will enter in because of his righteousness.
You will enter in, the Bible calls it being in Christ, I'm in Christ.
And because Christ gets to enter into heaven, I get to enter into heaven because I'm robed in the righteousness of Christ.
Salvation is an exchange.
He took my sins, I took his righteousness, he paid for my sins, I get to go to heaven as a result of his righteousness.
And when you think of salvation in a theological sense, just through the theological terms of atonement and propitiation and justification,
and justification, it's kind of funny to even consider all the heresy that goes along with the doctrine of salvation.
Because if salvation is, he took my sins and I took his righteousness, where does good works play in in that?
Where does me getting baptized and me going to a confessional booth and me living a good life and me repenting of my sins,
where does any of that come into play when salvation is, he took your sins and paid for them, but now you got to repent of your sins.
What sins? He paid for them.
The Bible says as far as the east is from the west, they've been separated from me, never to be brought back.
People say, well, you got to live a good life or you're going to lose your salvation.
How does that play? If he paid for my sins, well, you got to live a good life or you're going to lose your salvation.
I'm living the best life I could live. I'm in Christ.
You got to do it right. I got better than right. I got his righteousness.
See, when we realize salvation under theological terms, it's an atoning substitutionary exchange between us and Christ.
There's no living a good life. There's no repenting of your sins. There's no getting baptized. There's none of that.
All there is is did he pay for your sins on the cross and have you taken on his righteousness?
Have you in faith, by faith, called upon him for salvation?
And that's all you have. That's all there is. Romans 3.23, notice what the Bible says. We'll finish up.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
That's our need for atonement. We are all sinners and our sin needs to be paid for.
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
That's atonement.
Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. To be a propitiation through faith in his blood.
To declare, notice, his righteousness, that's justification, for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God.
To declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just. Don't miss this.
What does it mean to be justified? It means to be declared righteous.
To declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just. Who's just? Jesus is just.
That he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
How do I get his righteousness? By believing. By trusting. By receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior. By placing my faith in him. By calling upon him in faith for salvation.
It's not about me being just. It's that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
There's no room for you living a good life. There's no room for you repenting of your sins.
There's no room for you doing good things so you don't lose salvation.
Because salvation, in a very basic, fundamental, theological sense, is my sins, past, present, future, were taken from me and placed upon Jesus Christ.
And when he died on the cross, he pleased and appeased God. His righteousness was placed upon me.
And I have been declared justified, I have been declared righteous, not because I'm just, that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
This is the doctrine of salvation. Let's bow our heads in our word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for salvation. I know it's basic.
I'm sure that on a Sunday night people might have thought, no, I don't really need to go to church to learn about salvation. I'm already saved.
But it's good for us to be reminded of these things. It's good for us to have a clear thought.
What exactly is salvation? What are these terms used in the Bible? Help us to learn, help us to know.
And Father, we ask if there's anybody in this room who's not saved tonight, anybody in this room who would say, I don't know if I died today, I'm not sure I'd go to heaven.
Please help them not to leave here tonight without talking to me, talking to someone, making sure they get that settled because they can know they're saved.
Jesus already paid for it on the cross and he offers it to all of us freely. We just have to choose to accept it.
Lord, we thank you for salvation. We thank you for sending your son to die on the cross for our sins. In the matchless name of Christ we pray, amen.