Dedicated To The Men of God
Who Preach the Word of God As It Is To Men As They Are
"Preach The Word"
SATISFYING GOD
Text:
Rom 3:25, "Whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,
through the forbearance of God."
1 Jn.2:2,"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
1 Jn.4:10"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Introduction
=========
As we think about God being satisfied or propitiated, our minds go back in time to the Day of Atonement.
Israel had many feasts and festivals that were important to them. I am going to mention just a few of them and then focus in with some detail on the Day of Atonement. Some of the feasts were civil feasts, others were religious feasts. Every observance was marked by thanksgiving and joyous celebration.
1. There is the "Feast of
Lights"--
Hannakuh Mentioned only one time in the Scriptures in Jn.
10:22. It was a feast which commemorated the cleansing of
the Temple after it was desecration by a man by the name
of Epiphanes. It was originally observed on the 25th day
of September.
2. Feast of Purim
This feast commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish
people from destruction by an evil schemer named Haman
during the days of their captivity by the Babylonians and
Persians. It took its name from the Hebrew word purim,
meaning "lots" because Haman cast lots to
determine when he would carry out his plot against the
Jews. The Feast of Purim took place on the 14th and 15th
of Adar, and during its celebration the Book of Esther is
read as a reminder of their deliverance. A happy
ceremony, Purim is accompanied with the giving of gifts
and much celebration.
3. The Sabbath
The Sabbath is taught in many places, including
<Exodus 16:22-30; 20:8-11; 23:12; 31:12-16; 34:21;
35:2-3; Leviticus 23:3; 26:2; Numbers 15:32-36; 28:9-10;
Deuteronomy 5:12-15>. The Hebrew word for Sabbath
means "to cease or abstain." Two reasons are
given for observing the Sabbath: Creation and Exodus.
<Exodus 20:8-11> reminded the nation of Israel to remember that God rested on the seventh day <Gen. 2:2>. This grounds the observance of the Sabbath in the creation of the world. <Deuteronomy 5:12-15> reminded Israel to remember its bondage years when there was no rest. This passage fixed the origin of the Sabbath in the bondage of the Hebrews in Egypt.
The Israelites were instructed to include the family, the hired servants, the stranger, and even their domestic animals in observance of this holy day. All were commanded to cease from normal labor. This included the command not to gather firewood <Num. 15:32-36> or to kindle a fire <Ex. 35:2-3>. Stoning to death was apparently the penalty for gathering firewood on the Sabbath. Those who violated the Sabbath would be excommunicated from the community or could be put to death <Ex. 31:12-16>.
The Sabbath became not only a day of rest but a gathering unto the Lord as well. A specific sacrifice on the Sabbath is required in <Numbers 28:9-10>. It included a lamb, a meal offering mixed with oil, and a drink offering. This was to be offered as a burnt offering. In later periods of Hebrew history, prayer and other rituals became the procedure for observing the Sabbath.
The purpose of the Sabbath was twofold. It symbolized that the nation of Israel had been set apart by the Lord as His special people. The Sabbath was also a celebration of the fact that the land belonged to God. This is seen in His provision of a Sabbatical Year-- one year out of every seven when the land should rest from cultivation in order to renew and replenish itself.
The observance of the Sabbath set the Hebrew people apart from their neighbors. Unfortunately, burdensome restrictions and heavy requirements eventually grew up around its observance. The day that was set apart for rest, renewal, and worship became a day filled with rules of many things that must not be done.
4. Sabbatical Year
The concept of the sabbatical year was that the
land was to be given a rest every seventh year. This law
included the fields of grain and the vineyards. Even that
which grew from the planting and pruning of the sixth
year was not to be consumed by the owner.
Eventually, the cancellation of debts was added to the land rest as a part of the sabbatical year. Debts to fellow Hebrews were to be forgiven during this year, although debts of non-Hebrews might be collected. But the spirit of generosity was encouraged even toward non-Hebrews. Servants were to be granted their freedom. Not only were they to be freed, they were also to be provided with grain, meat, and drink in generous portions.
The purpose of the sabbatical year was renewal-- renewal of the land, renewal of hope in the canceling of debts, and renewal of life in a new start.
5. Feast of Trumpets
This festival is mentioned in <Leviticus
23:24-25,27-32> and <Numbers 29:1-40>. It was
introduced with the blowing of trumpets, the halt of
labor, sacrifices, and a testing <Lev. 23:24-32; Num.
29:1-40>. The exact reason for its observance is not
clear. Some scholars believe it originated during the
Babylonian Captivity as a way of counteracting the
influence of the Babylonian New Year Festival. This feast
is also known as the Feast.
6. Feast of Booths or Tabernacles
References to the Feast of Tabernacles in the Bible
include <Exodus 23:16; 34:22, Leviticus 23:33-36;
39-43; Numbers 29:12-32; Deuteronomy 16:13-16; Ezra
3:4>; and <Zechariah 14:16,18-19>.
This festival was observed on the 15th day of the seventh month to commemorate the wandering of Israel in the wilderness. Features of the celebration included a holy gathering on the first and eighth days, and the offering of many animal sacrifices. The Israelites were also commanded to live in booths made of palm and willow trees during the festival to commemorate their period of wilderness wandering when they lived in temporary shelters. This feast is also known as the Feast of Booths.
7. Feast of Unleavened Bread
This feast began on the 15th day of the month as a part
of the larger celebration of Passover <Ex. 13:3-10;
Lev. 23:6-8>. Manual labor was strictly forbidden.
Strangers and native-born people alike were punished if
they failed to keep this holy day. A gathering began the
feast.
Only unleavened bread was to be eaten during this feast. Bread without leaven commemorated the haste with which Israel left Egypt. As the blood was drained from the sacrificial animal, so the life or the power of leaven was removed from the bread offered to God during this annual celebration.
8. Feast of Weeks or Pentecost
Biblical references to the Feast of Weeks include
<Exodus 23:16; 34:22; Leviticus 23:15-21; Numbers
28:26-31; Deuteronomy 16:9-12>; and <2 Chronicles
8:13>. This feast was observed early in the third
month on the 50th day after the offering of the barley
sheaf at the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It included a
holy convocation with the usual restriction on manual
labor.
<Numbers 28:26-31> describes the number and nature of offerings and <Deuteronomy 16:9-12> describes those who were to be invited to this feast. They include servants, sons and daughters, Levites, the fatherless, the widow, and the stranger. Israelites were to be reminded of their bondage in Egypt on that day.
This feast was also known as the Feast of Harvest as well as Pentecost. The early Christian believers, who were gathered in Jerusalem for observance of this feast, experienced the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit in a miraculous way <Acts 2:1-4>.
9. The Day of Atonement( Yom
Kippor)
To me, this is the most special of all the Jewish feasts.
The tenth day of the seventh month was set aside as a day
of public fasting and humiliation. On this day the nation
of Israel sought atonement for its sins <Lev. 23:27;
16:29; Num. 29:7>. This day fell in the month
equivalent to our August, and it was preceded by special
Sabbaths <Lev. 23:24>. The only fasting period
required by the Law <Lev. 16:29; 23:31>, the Day of
Atonement was a recognition of man's inability to make
any atonement for his sins. It was a solemn, holy day
accompanied by elaborate ritual <Lev. 16; Heb.
10:1-10>.
The high priest who officiated on this day first sanctified himself by taking a ceremonial bath and putting on white garments <Lev. 16:4>. Then he had to make atonement for himself and other priests by sacrificing a bullock <Num. 29:8>. God dwelt on the MERCY SEAT in the Temple, but no person could approach it except through the mediation of the high priest, who offered the blood of sacrifice.
After sacrificing a bullock, the high priest chose a goat for a sin-offering and sacrificed it. Then he sprinkled its blood on and about the mercy seat <Lev. 16:12,14,15>. Finally the scapegoat bearing the sins of the people was sent into the wilderness <Lev. 16:20-22>. This scapegoat symbolized the pardon for sin brought through the sacrifice <Gal. 3:12; 2 Cor. 5:21>.
The word "Atonement" is
a very special word.
kaphar (kaw-far')----It is a primitive root; to cover
(specifically with bitumen); figuratively, to expiate or
condone, to placate or cancel: KJV-- appease, make (an
atonement, cleanse, disannul, forgive, be merciful,
pacify, pardon, purge (away), put off, (make) reconcile
(-liation).
Even Noah’s ark picture atonement. The huge ship was built and was seal or convered with pitch( kind of tar) to preserve the vessel and keep it from leaking water.
I. THE MEANING OF PROPITIATION
=================================
What does the word mean? Very simply defined it means
A means of appeasing or satisfying.
In Romans 3:25 the Apostle Paul is speaking about Christ and says- "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation." The Lord Jesus is referred to as the propitiation for our sins, because Christ is the personal means by which God the Father has chosen to show the mercy of His justifying grace to all who believe.
NOTE:
If there were a man in a desert somewhere in desperate need of water and he found a cool spring, you could rightly say his thirst was appeased or satisfied.
II. THE NEED FOR PROPITIATION
Why was it needed in the first place?
Two main reasons:
1- Man is sinful -----Isa 59:2
Sin separates --sin hides God face from us that He will not hear. For God to be satisfied with man, a person’s sins must be taken out of the way that there might be a channel of communication with God.
2- God is Holy
God cannot allow the sinner just to go free without a proper basis for man to do so. God is holy and just. If He would allow men to go to heaven and believe just anything, then He would violate his holiness. It would not be just, and would have done away with the need for Christ coming as the Sin-Sacrifice.......
Since holiness is the chief attribute of God, to violate that would be to violate Himself and all that He is and stands for in His being.
Since man is a sinful being and God is a holy God, then before Calvary, God was not fully satisfied when it came to men.
III. THE BASIS OF PROPITIATION
============================
Rom 3:25 mentions "propitiation" and says that it is through faith in His blood.
There has never been a time that God did not require blood to deal with man’s sin. Of course we know on this side of the cross, that every time God had a lamb slain, it was to picture the one coming, of which John the Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world."
ILLUSTRATION:
-----------------------
In OT there was the mention of Cain and Abel. Genesis 4
tells us about the two brothers. Cain tilled the ground
and Abel kept sheep. They both brought an offering to the
Lord. Cain brought one of vegetables ( which would speak
of human effort and merit), while Abel brought a blood
sacrifice. God accepted Abel’s blood offering and
rejected Cains vegetable offering.
Cain became troubled, so God said to him, "Cain, why are you troubled?" God said in so many words to him, I would have accepted your offering, just like I did your brother’s , if it had been the right one. The right sin sacrifice was right at Abel’s door, if he had only availed himself of what was available.
God can only be satisfied with us when we come to Him by the way of the blood of Jesus Christ.
ILLUSTRATION:
-----------------------
I heard once of a Christian worker who used Micah 7:19 to
point out to a lost person that when we come to Christ He
gives us his perfect righteousness, and casts our sins
into the sea of everlasting forgetfulness. The troubled
man thought for a while and he said, :"Are you sure
all my sins will be gone? What would happen if the devil
should some day go out to that sea and fish them up
again?
What would I do then?"
The believer, tried to show him his fears were groundless and said to him, "God has take care of that possibility. He hates evil so much that he cannot stand the place where human sin originated, so He is going to melt this old world and make a brand new one. When he is all through, there will be no sea, so there will be no place for the devil to go fishing. The sea and all that is in it will be gone."
IV. VISUALIZATION OF PROPITIATION
===================================
It is clearly see in the two goats that were used on the day of atonement.
Remember one of the goats represented the atonement that was made, while the other one the great work or effect of atonement, which is the complete removal of sin.
ONE GOAT WAS FOR JEHOVAH. It was that sacrifice, or sin-offering, by which the atonement was made. When that offering is recieved, man does not see it happen. It takes place judically in the sight of Holy God.
THE OTHER GOAT WAS VISIBLY SENT AWAY. The word used for this goat is a word that speaks of "separation." If you will recall, the high priest who officiated on that day first sanctified himself by taking a complete bath. First he offered the offering for Jehovah of blood, then he lay his hands on the head of the second goat. This was what was called the"scapegoat." As the priest laid his hands on the head of the "scapegoat", the sins of the people were transferred to the animal that was sent out into the wilderness. As it went away into the wilderness, with the sins of the people upon it, it was found no more. Some wild predator would take the animal, since it would be all alone, and make a meal out of it, and no one could find it anymore. JESUS BECAME MY SCAPE GOAT. The scapegoat spoke of the pardon for sin brought about through the sacrifice of Christ.
V. THE COMPLETENESS OF
PROPITIATION
===================================
If you recall when Jesus hung suspended between heaven and earth on the cross, He said some of the most wonderful words that have ever been said, "It is finished."
What did he mean by that?
1. The main part of his mission was finished.
He came for the business of doing the Father’s will in providing redemption, to make it possible for a fallen, depraved human race to come to God and know God.
2. The sacrifice was completed.
There is nothing to add to the cross. It is a finished, completed work.
Don’t come to me promoting a "do" religion, thank God we have a "done"----a well done redemption.
VI. RESULTS OF PROPITIATION
Illustration
-----------------
How do you like your steaks? I like mine with the blood
all cook out . If waitress asks me how I would like my
steak, the answer is, "Well done." That is the
way I like salvation, like the Bible presents it,
"well done." Not rare--not medium--but well
done.
Man would be ignorant to try to add to a salvation which is already done and finished. That would be like taking an exquisite painting by a famous artist, taking paint, and trying to change it around to suit yourself. He is the artist;you would be wise to just let it alone and take it the way it is.
I like salvation just the way it is---it needs nothing added at all.
VI. BENEFITS OF PROPITIATION
===============================
I feel God would have me to mention three of them to you:
A. Rest
If you know God is satisfied with what Jesus did on the cross, then if you have come to God, you can be satisfied as well. If God is satisfied with what Jesus did for your sins and mine, then you should be as well.
The Bible says, "There remaineth a rest to the people of God."
It is not a day, so much, as it
is a person. Our rest is in the Lord.
He is our NT sabbath rest.
Illustration
========
Tradition says when John was overseer in Ephesus, his
hobby was raising pigeons. On one occasion an elder
passed his house as he was returning from a hunt. When he
saw John playing with his birds, he poked fun at him, for
spending his time in such a way.
John looked at the man’s bow and mentioned his string was loose. The man said, "Well, I take the tension off the string so that it will not lose its rebounding quality and fail me in the hunt."
John say, "Well, what I am doing is relaxing the bow of my mind, so that I might be better able to shoot the arrows of divine truth."
You can enjoy the rest of assurance in your soul.
Illustration
-------------
A man one day was carrying a sack of potatoes. A skeptic
asked him saying, "Mister, how do you know you are
saved?" The Christian man took a few steps forward
and let the bag drop. He said to theother man, "How
do I know I have dropped the bag, I haven’t
looked around. The critic said, "No, but I suppose
you can tell because the weight is lessened."
That is one way I know that I am saved. The load of sin is gone because I have trusted in The One who finished the work of redemption.
A.Rest
B. Righteousness----Rom 3:25
What about this business of righteousness? We have an imputed righteousness. Impute means "to put on another’s account. Jesus took all my sins, and gave Me His righteousness in return. We are going to wear white robes. Literal white robes.
White speaks of righteousness, testifying to the fact that the saints on the sunny banks of sweet deliverance, are clothed in Jesus own righteousness. It has been put on my account--it has been there ever since I believed.
REST
RIGHTEOUSNESS
C. RIGHTS
The one I feel led to emphacise is the "throne room rights" of a child of God.
Heb 4:16, "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
The devil can tell you that you have no right to approach God all He wants, He is a liar. I am a son, and have a right to call upon my Heavenly Father.
Like the song says--- "I will arise and go to Jesus,"
CONCLUSION
============
When God sees what His Son did at Calvary, when he sees we have put our faith in Christ, God is satisfied. Christ is the one who satisfies the Father--and satisfies the saints.
God is propitated (or satisfied)
My sins are expiated ( amends has been made)
The scape goat is out in the wilderness, and will never be found.
Sermon By Dr. Tom Walker- Pastor Zion Hill Baptist- Founder of this Site
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