To turn to the book of Romans, Romans chapter 3, and my subject once again tonight, the procedure that makes justification a possibility before a righteous, just, holy God. Romans chapter 3, and the paragraph that we're reading, verses 21 through 26. Jonathan Edwards reading from a handwritten manuscript in Enfield, Connecticut. It was on July 8, 1741. Preached a sermon on the basis of a passage found in Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 35. Their foot shall slide in due time. We think of it as sinners in the hands of an angry God. And his point was crystal clear. as you think about the sermon that was preached. He said, there is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell but the mere pleasure of God. And he talked about the danger of sin and the danger of standing before an offended God all because of our sin. In his words, the use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone is extended abroad under you." Then he sent forth ten theological truths in order to establish his point regarding this wrath of God against sinners and then you think of various passages within the sermon that are oftentimes quoted such as the bow of God's wrath is bent and the arrow made ready on the string and justice bends the arrow at your heart and strains the bow and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God and that of an angry God without any promise or obligation at all that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood." And you read the comment and then at the end of this particular quote, however unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it. Or you think of this quote that oftentimes is given. The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you and is dreadfully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like fire. He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire. He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight. You are 10,000 times more abominable in his eyes than the most hateful, venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince. And yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else that you did not go to hell the last night. that you were suffered to awake again in this world after you close your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning. But the God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking His pure eyes by your sinful, wicked manner of attending His solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell. I mean, he wants these individuals to understand the depth of sin and the holiness of God and God's hatred concerning sin, His wrath concerning sin. So you read this sermon, this unbelievable sermon, and contemporary theological liberalism absolutely despises it. Because if you talk about contemporary theological liberalism, it would say all of this is absolutely pagan. Contemporary liberal theology has no place for wrath at all. Only for love. You can only talk about love. A god of wrath doesn't fit into the scheme of liberal theological thought. So you think about this sermon that was preached by Jonathan Edwards and Contemporary liberal theology says this is absolutely pagan. There is no way you should accept this thought at all. You ought not to talk about God's judgment or condemnation or wrath. You ought to talk about love. That's what you ought to talk about. And so I read the words of J.C. Ryle. He cannot believe. He's utterly dismayed, he said. concerning the omission of plain New Testament language and why individuals are not warned. In the words of Bishop Royal, beware of manufacturing a God of your own, a God who is all mercy but not just, a God who is all love but not holy, a God who has a heaven for everybody but a hell for none, a God who can allow good and bad to be side by side in time but will make no distinction between good and bad in eternity. Watch out, be warned concerning that. And the reason why we must always be warned is because that kind of thought is completely contrary to everything that the Bible says, certainly in terms of what Paul says in the book of Romans, certainly in terms of the portion of scripture that we're reading tonight, Romans chapter 3, verses 21 and following. I read the words of Wayne Grudem, taken from his systematic theology, when he said, there is an eternal, unchangeable requirement in the holiness and justice of God that sin be paid for. And it's going to be paid for either by Christ or by the individual. So I turn to Romans chapter 3, and I want you to notice the language as I read it, beginning in verse 21. The Apostle Paul states this. But now, apart from the law, righteousness from God is manifested. Be in witness by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness from God through faith in Jesus Christ to all who are believing. For there is no difference, no distinction between Jew and Gentile. For all sinned, all sinned in Adam. Now we're talking about original sin, now we're talking about imputed sin. For all sinned and are coming short of the glory of God. Glory of God being the manifestation of his character, of his being, who he is. Then we read verse 24. being justified freely by His grace, now look at this phrase, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now we talked about this word redemption, a term that is used 10 times in the New Testament. And if you think about redemption, you're thinking about freedom, you're thinking about liberty, you're thinking about emancipation. liberty, freedom, emancipation from slavery, from bondage, all because a ransom has been paid. So when you read this in terms of redemption, it's a slave market term. So if you talk about redemption, Paul will say redemption is found nowhere other than in connection with Christ Jesus. This is where it's found. So when you talk about being set free from bondage slavery to sin that is found in Jesus Christ that's what I read. As I read this statement here in verse 24 through the redemption that is in connection with or that is in Christ Jesus. Then I move into verse 25 and I want you to notice the way it reads. Whom Antecedent being Christ Jesus. So Christ Jesus is the object. Whom? God. That's God the Father. God is the subject. So Jesus Christ, the second person, and God the Father, the first person, worked in harmony, in cooperation, in order to bring this about. Whom? Christ Jesus. God. God is the subject. God initiated all of it. Now listen to the words of John Stott. He writes, the father did not lay on the son an ordeal he was reluctant to bear. Nor did the son extract from the father salvation he was reluctant to bestow. Christ did not die to make the father loving. He loved us from the foundation of the world. The will of the Father and the will of the Son coincided in the perfect self-sacrifice of love. If the Father turned away from the Son at the cross, it was because they agreed it must be so to purchase our redemption. It was a horrid necessity. So when I read this concerning God the Father, God the Son, I recognize they're in harmony in terms of what took place. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. So I'm reading it here in verse 25, Chum, Christ Jesus, God, God the Father, and then we read this verb. Now remember, if you read the verb pra-tithi-mi, tithi-mi means to place or to set and pra- means before. So the word means you're setting or placing something before you. That's what the word means. So it either could mean You are going to set or place something before you because you want it to be manifested publicly. Or you are setting or placing something before you because this is what you planned or purposed to do. So the Nazmi will translate it, displayed publicly. Inavi will translate it, presented King James, set forth, but both of them are valid. God planned this beforehand in eternity and in time and space, historically, all of it was displayed and it was displayed publicly. So I read the statement here in verse 25, whom God displayed publicly or planned beforehand, presented, set forth as, and then I read this word, a propitiation and then I'm going to take the phrase in his blood with the word propitiation as a propitiation in his blood now when we read the word propitiation as you recall this particular word is only found one other time in the New Testament It is found in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 5. And in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 5 you read this statement, just listen to it as I read it. And over it, referring to the Ark of the Covenant, the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy seat. And the word mercy seat is the word translated here propitiation. So if you think of the word Hilasterion, it's only used twice in the New Testament. Here it's translated propitiation or an atonement, a sacrifice, however your translation reads it. But the only other time this word is used is in Hebrews 9.5 and there it's Mercy Seat. If I go back to Exodus chapter 25 verse 17, that's the first time you have it. And there you're talking about the covering of the Ark of the Covenant. And the word there for Mercy Seat, all through Exodus 25, is this word Gilesterion. So when I think of this word propitiation, I'm thinking of the lid or the covering of the Ark of the Covenant. And it came to be applied in a general way to the very place where atonement was made. So I think about what the high priest would do on the day of atonement. On the day of atonement, Leviticus 16, seventh month, tenth day, so we're in September, October of our year, the high priest, only time he could do it, the high priest would enter through the veil to the, there's incense there, so there's a cloud of incense, So he entered in through the veil into the inner sanctum, the Holy of Holies, with blood, and he sprinkled the blood upon the mercy seat. And he did it, he had to count it seven times, because remember, one mistake, fatal, he died. So the high priest entered into the inner sanctum. Josephus tells us that there were 83 high priests from Aaron to the very last one in 70 AD, 83 of them. So here is the high priest, beginning with Aaron, and he would enter through the veil into the inner sanctum. The only piece of furniture there was the Ark of the Covenant, mercy seat. God enthroned there as King above the Ark of the Covenant, between the cherubim, above the mercy seat. So the high priest would come in, representing the people, and he would sprinkle the blood upon the mercy seat. And the only one who was in there was a high priest. So all of this was veiled. All of this was concealed. And he could only do it one time a year. Tenth day, seventh month. There's a question how many times he went in. We know he went in brought in the censer with the incense, brought in the sacrifice for himself, brought in the sacrifice for the people, probably went and took the censer out, so probably at least went in four times, but he goes into the inner sanctum, no one could see this, only the high priest. So when you read the statement here, whom God publicly displayed as a mercy seat, as a propitiation in his blood, you see what he's saying? Now listen to the words of Douglas Moo. He puts it like this. What in the Old Testament was hidden from public view behind the veil has now been publicly displayed as the Old Testament ritual was fulfilled and brought to an end in Christ once for all sacrifice. Now that's Douglas Moo and his commentary on Romans. Now listen to the words of T.W. Manson. He makes this comment. The mercy seat is no longer kept in the sacred seclusion of the most holy place. It's brought out into the midst of the rough and tumble of the world and set up before the eyes of hostile, contemptuous or indifferent crowds. Now you'd have to say there's only one meeting place where man can meet God and that of course is Jesus Christ. He's now the meeting place. So we read this whole concept of propitiation or this concept of mercy seat as we have it here. The NIV will read this word sacrifice of atonement in place of the concept of propitiation. Sacrifice of atonement. Now let me show you the other forms of the word. It's not the same word but they're in the same family. Turn over please to the book of Hebrews and I want to read Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 17. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 17, and notice the statement as I read it. The writer of Hebrews will say, Hebrews 2 17, Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brothers. Why? That he might be a merciful and faithful high priest, in things pertaining to God to make, and the King James, for whatever reason, translates this verb reconciliation for the sins of the people. But it's not reconciliation, it's propitiation. To make propitiation for the sins of the people. So we read in the word propitiation here. The NIV simply reads it as atonement. But it's the verb to make propitiation. That's the verb in Hebrews 2.17. Now we have the word in Hebrews 9.5. And here you have the same word that's used in Romans 3.25, translated mercy seat. In our view, it translates as an atonement cover. But the word mercy seat is the word propitiation in Romans 3.25. Now the only other time you read any kind of propitiation or this family of terms, and they're all basically very similar, would be in the book of 1st John. And I'd like you to turn there to 1st John, chapter 2, and notice this word. The word we're reading about is hilasterion. This is hilismos. But notice the way John uses this word hilismos in 1st John, chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. My little children, these things are writing to you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. Now look at this verse 2, and he is, the person of Jesus Christ himself is the propitiation for our sins. And not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Now here's Gelas Mas, propitiation. He is a propitiation for our sins. Now this word is used only one other time, also in 1 John. It's in 1 John chapter 4, and I'd like to read verses 9 and 10. Verse 9, chapter 4. And this was manifested, the love of God towards us. Because God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Here in His love, not that we love God, but that He Himself loved us. And sent His Son, this is the same word that's used in chapter 2, verse 2. Sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. So the Son Himself was the propitiation for our sins. And that's Elishmas. Then up it renders this atoning sacrifice, atoning sacrifice. Now these are all of the references other than the verb that's used in Luke 18 that has nothing to do with what we're talking about. So when you look at all of the forms of the word, only six times in the entire New Testament. But the word that we're looking at in this study is found twice. In Hebrews 9, 5, mercy seat, but here. In Romans chapter 3 and verse 25 we have it. Whom Christ Jesus God planned beforehand or publicly displayed as a propitiation in His blood. Now if we think of the word propitiation it assumes a number of things. It certainly assumes that God is a personal God and it certainly assumes and presupposes wrath. within the idea of propitiation, wrath, the wrath of God. So when we think of propitiation, we have to think of a personal God, and then we have to think about the wrath of this personal God. So how would we define propitiation? How about this? The turning away of wrath by an offering. the turning away of wrath by an offering. So wouldn't you say if you're talking about propitiation you have placating, you have satisfied the wrath of God all by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. So this is propitiation. So if I think of propitiation and I think of that term There is the reality not only of a personal God but the wrath of this God. And this wrath must be appeased. It must be propitiated. Now there are those who will come to this and say that is absolutely pagan to think of this personal God who is very angry and wrathful and you have to placate and appease and propitiate. And so there are those who say this whole thought is derived from pagan religions where you have this pagan god, this angry god that has to be appeased by some offering of grain or fruit or some child sacrifice. So when you talk about this, this is very pagan because here you have this god that's capricious and unstable, very angry and you have to appease. So there are those who will come to this and say, the very talk of God's wrath is Old Testament. That's nothing but Old Testament. That's not in the New Testament. The New Testament renders that obsolete. When you talk about the coming of Jesus Christ, we should highlight His love. We shouldn't highlight His wrath, His love. That's what we ought to be talking about. The whole idea, we're told, of Jesus turning away wrath creates an unhealthy tension within the members of the Godhead. And furthermore, speaking about God's wrath will turn unbelievers away from Christianity. If we talk about the love of Jesus, that's far more attractive and far more appealing. And moreover, if you emphasize the wrath of God, that's going to make a Christian prone to violence, since the God he worshiped is a violent God. So here, all of these thoughts, in terms of contemporary liberal theology, do away with the whole concept of wrath. Let's just talk about love. I don't know if you've been in the service, but I've been in too many of them where that's all we all I heard all I heard was love nothing else everything was love and I'm wondering how in the world can that individual talk about love in this one verse and the next verse he skips over doesn't talk about the next verse at all but he ought to read the next verse but he doesn't he only reads this verse how do you how do you reconcile that kind of thing so if you talk about propitiation Propitiation presupposes a personal God and presupposes anger and wrath. So what do we say about this? And what does liberal contemporary theology say about it? We'll enter an individual by the name of C.H. Dodd. He was born in 1884. He died in 1973. He was a congregational minister. He was a New Testament scholar. He taught at Manchester. He taught at Cambridge. When he retired, he became the general director of the New English Bible Translation. So you may have a New English Bible. If you have a New English Bible, then you're following, of course, C.H. Dodd's thought about this. He did not like the concept of propitiation at all. So he says, The rendering propitiation is misleading, for it suggests the placating of an angry God. And although this would be in accord with pagan usage, it is foreign to biblical usage. So Dr. Dodd says all of this is sub-Christian, to talk about God being angry and God having to be appeased. Propitiation is not proper. Propitiation is not right. We need another term. So what did he propose? Expiation. Let's use the term expiation as a substitute for propitiation. Now that is CH dot. And the reason why is because, now think about it. If you think of propitiation, if you think of expiation, think of the, you're dealing with prepositions, aren't you? Pro, ex. So if you talk about propitiation, you're talking about doing something before someone. If you're talking about expiation, ex. You're talking about removal of something, taking something away. So if you read C.H. Dodd, he will say expiation is right because expiation involves the removal of sin's guilt. Not some kind of appeasement in terms of wrath. So he likes the word expiation, and that's the way it's translated in that translation. And the basic thought of it is he did not like the thought of any kind of wrath within God. Certainly not wrath occasioned by human sin. And since there's no wrath, you cannot accept this word propitiation, that is not correct. And so you need another word that basically describes the putting away of sin. The removal of sin. And that word is expiation. Far better rendered, he would say. So C.H. Dodd would say, expiation, let's take that. That's the way it reads in that translation. Expiation, and let's do away with propitiation. Now he sets forth some evidence trying to buttress his case. He looks at various pagan writings and says that when you talk about expiation and propitiation, it's very ambiguous in terms of those terms. He talks about the Hebrew word. When you come to the Hebrew word, look at the way it's translated in the Greek translation, Septuagint. translated purify, purge, forgive, not propitiate. So he says when you look at the word that is used here, say in Romans chapter 3 verse 25, if you look at this word, it has all kinds of other meanings and you could say that it means something like to cleanse or to forgive. And when the word is used to translate this word in the Hebrew Bible, It doesn't mean appeasement, it means to remove guilt. Now that is his argument. And of course, it's been rebutted by a number of excellent New Testament scholars, like Roger Nicole. And Roger Nicole weighs in and he says, His arguments are not persuasive. That his evidence is highly selective, he omits other relevant words. He fails to include other writings, ancient writings, that understand propitiation as appeasement. He ignores the content and context of particular passages that, if he really considered, would destroy his conclusions and basically his whole logic is faulty. Roger Nicole argues. Now he's not the only scholar, New Testament scholar to argue against these conclusions. Leon Morris was also an excellent New Testament scholar. He argues very strongly against it. He says God ignored the fact that when you look at this word It may be rendered forgive, but it just as well can be rendered propitiate in terms of God's wrath. And furthermore, Leon Morris will argue, When you look at the context of Romans, you cannot dismiss the notion of wrath, the wrath of God. Because chapter 1, verse 18 through 320, that is what his argument is all about. Condemnation, judgment, wrath. And then you move into the remedy, which begins in chapter 321. So Leon Morris will argue he is simply dismissing the entire context of the book of Romans. So when I think of all of this, there are those like C.H. Dodd who do not like the concept of propitiation and argue for expiation on really tenuous grounds. And then you have very good scholars, Roger Niccoli and Morse being two of them, that take issue with his conclusions. Now think about it. If I'm reading the Old Testament, did you know that there are over 20 different Hebrew words? over 20 different Hebrew words that are found about 580 times in the Old Testament that express the wrath of God. There are over 20 Old Testament words that speak of God's wrath. And when you read of His wrath, it's always in terms of sin. It's always because of sin. So when I read the Old Testament, there are all of these words. that are used in terms of God, in terms of God's wrath, and the reason for His wrath is because of sin. You say, but that's in the Old Testament. When you turn to the New Testament, there are basic words that are used in the New Testament that emphasize God's wrath. There are two of them in particular. One of them is arge and the other is thumas. Now both of those words are used with reference to God. Now let me just say something about them. If I'm thinking of the word argue, and I'll point it out in Romans because Paul will use it. When I think of this little word, how about something like this? The natural disposition, temper, character, movement, agitation of soul, impulse, desire, violent emotion, especially and chiefly anger. Anger. Now that's arguing. Now here's another. A state of relatively strong displeasure, a strong indignation directed at wrongdoing with the focus on retribution, wrath. And then according to this lexicon, of God's future judgment, specifically qualified as punitive. Now that's orge. Now there's another word, it's thumos. Now listen to what this one lexicon says to try to distinguish them. Orge, the first word that I read, denotes indignation which has arisen gradually and has become more settled. So it's a wrath that's building, building and gaining momentum. Thumos, anger forthwith boiling over and soon subsiding again. Anger, heat. So if you think of Arge, it's something that is building within. You think of it as this settled wrath or indignation and then Thumos is just an outburst, an explosion of anger. So you can have someone who's angry, and you don't really know the person's angry, but it's building in the person, and something is going to give way, and you're going to know the person's angry. But it's just building up, and the person is angry, angry. And then you think of just the explosion when the person is angry. He's shouting, he's shouting, he's very angry. So if I think of Orge, it's this building up almost as though you have this dam and you have God's wrath building, building behind the dam. And then Thuma says the dam breaks, and then you have this fury. You have this wrath that's poured out. And when you think about it, these are the words that are used in the new Testament and they're used with reference to God, both of them. Now, if I step back into the Old Testament, it would be right to say that we certainly see demonstrations of God's anger. You have a universal flood that destroys everyone with the exception of eight individuals in an ark. And conservatively, you had over a billion people in the world. Some would say up to seven billion. But there were only eight survivors. Everyone else, of course, died. Then you think of the cities there on the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboim. There were a pentapolis of cities. There were five of them. One of them was spared because of Lot's prayer, but four of them were destroyed, obliterated. Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim. You think of Joshua coming into the land. When he led the forces of Israel, what were they to do? They were to kill every man, woman, and child within the land of Canaan. They were all to be liquidated. And there are various reasons why. I mean, it comes to a point where God says, enough is enough. You remember what he said to Abraham? I'm going to wait 400 years, and when the iniquity of the Amorites is full, then I'm going to judge them. You say, well, all of that's in the Old Testament. You come into the New Testament. Do you remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10 and following? And he talks about the cities where he did all of these miraculous works and they turned against him. And he said, it's going to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the time of judgment than it is for you. You remember those statements from Jesus? The word Gehenna, which is the word for the lake of fire, is used 12 times in the New Testament. You know who uses the term 11 of the 12 times? Jesus himself. 11 of the 12 times that we read of Gehenna, which is the lake of fire, Jesus is the one who uses it. And the only other one to use it is James, the half-brother of Jesus. He's the only other one to use the term. Did you know that Jesus spoke more about hell and judgment than he did about heaven? So it wouldn't be right to say, well, all of this is just in the Old Testament, and it's not in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, you have an angry God. In the New Testament, you have Jesus, and he's all love. That's not what I read. And we read of his wrath all through the New Testament. Now let me just show you a few passages where we have this word arge, the settled wrath. And I'll point out Thomas as well. Go back with me, please, to Romans chapter 1. Let me just put it out in the book of Romans. In Romans chapter 1, he's going to commence the whole thought in terms of condemnation. And he does it in chapter 1, verse 18. Now, notice the statement as we have it in Romans 1, 18. For the wrath from God, that's arge, that's a settled wrath, For the wrath from God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who are holding down the truth and unrighteousness." Now that is wrath that finds its source in God. And that's arge wrath. That is that settled wrath that is building. Now look at chapter 2 and look at verse 5. Chapter 2, verse 5. Look at the statement as Paul sets it forth. But according to your heart, an unrepentant heart, you're storing up against yourself, see this word, this is arge, wrath in the day, see that word, that's arge, in the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Now there in verse 5 of chapter 2, we have that word arge, that set of wrath that is growing and building. But according to your heart, an unrepentant heart, you are storing up against yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Now come down to the 8th verse. And when you read verse 8, I just want you to notice the phrase. Do you see the word wrath and anger, tribulation and distress? When you read those words in verse 8, anger, that's arge, and that's thumos. So you can say wrath and anger, arge, thumos, wrath, anger. Then you read this word, tribulation. You know what that word means? Pressure, pressure. And then you have this word. You know what this word means? It means you're in a narrow, confined space. You're trapped in this narrow, confined space. If we want to know what hell's like, this is hell. You have wrath, you have anger, you're under incredible pressure, and you're in this narrow, confined space. I mean, that's what we're reading. I read a very sobering article about these thousands of inmates in New York State prisons, and they're held in solitary confinement. And it's all about this one individual who spent 10 years in solitary confinement, was confined to a cell for 23 hours a day, 23 hours a day. Now you think about it, Wrath, anger, pressure, tribulation. And then in your narrow space, your confined, this confined space. And remember, you're separated from God and there's nothing but darkness, nothing but darkness. I mean, just think about what all this, you know, the way you would, you would conjure this up in your mind. But the words that are used here in verse eight, arge thumas, wrath and anger. So I have it in chapter 2, verse 5 and verse 8. Come over to chapter 3. Notice the statement here. Chapter 3, look at verse 5. But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who is inflicting our wrath? I'm speaking according to a man, God forbid. Now the word that is used there in verse 5 is arge. Now turn over please to chapter 9 of Romans, chapter 9, and look at verse 22. What if God, willing to show His arge, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction." Vessels of wrath fitted for destruction? There's the word. Now turn to Ephesians chapter 5 and look at the statement here. Before I read it, let me read this one in Ephesians 2. This is Ephesians 2. It's in the third verse. And he talks about all unsaved people. And in the last of verse 3 he will say, And were by nature the children of wrath, that's Arge, children of wrath even as others. Children of wrath. There's Arge. Now look at chapter 5 of Ephesians and look at verse 6. Let no man deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the vices, he talks about it in these prior verses, For because of these things comes, that's Arge, comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. The wrath of God is coming upon them. That's Arge. Now look over at Colossians chapter 3. Here's the parallel. This is in Colossians chapter 3. Look at verse 6. For which things, referring back to the vices of verse 5, for which things say There's Orge. The wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience. The wrath of God. Now turn, please, to 1 Thessalonians 1. Next book. Look at verses 9 and 10. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the..." Now look at, that's Arge, who's going to deliver us from the wrath to come. Look at chapter 2 of 1 Thessalonians. Look at verses 15 and 16. "...who," referring to Jews, "...both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they pleased not God, and are opposed to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always. For the wrath, that's Arge, the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Look at the 9th verse. For God has not appointed us to wrath, that's Arge, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at 2 Thessalonians, next book. Chapter 1, referring to the coming of Jesus Christ when He returns to the earth and reveals Himself. Verse 8, inflaming fire, taking vengeance upon them who know not God, and who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. Come, please, to the book of Revelation. Notice Revelation chapter 6. And notice what we read in terms of God the Father and the Lamb. Revelation chapter 6 verse 16. And they said to the mountains and rocks, fall upon us and hide us from the face of him who sits upon the throne and from the wrath, look, from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath has come. Who will be able to stand? Look at the words, wrath, wrath. Turn over to chapter 11. Chapter 11. Notice the 18th verse. And the nations were angry, and your wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward to the servants, thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small, great, and shouldest destroy them who destroy the earth. But you have it here. and thy wrath is come. Turn to chapter 14. Notice the statement in Revelation 14. Look at verse 10. The same shall drink from the wine... These are unbelievers who have received the mark of the Antichrist. The same will drink from the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever. And they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast in his image and whosoever receives the mark of his name. But in verse 10 you read of his wrath, you read of his indignation, his anger. Now come to chapter 16. Look at verse 19. And the great city was divided into three parts. And the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath, the fierceness of His wrath. Now turn please to chapter 19 and look at verse 15 when Jesus returns to the earth. The 15th verse. And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." I mean, how in the world can one deny the wrath of God? How can one say it's only found in the Old Testament, not found in the New Testament? Do you remember Jesus in the temple when he threw those money changers out? And he talked about his anger. Or do you remember the gospels where it says the Lord looked upon them with anger? So how can someone just talk about the love? The love of Jesus. Obviously I believe in the love of God. Obviously I believe in the wrath of God. I believe in the love of Jesus. But I also believe that the Lamb can become angry. And we read of the wrath of the Lamb. So when we talk about this Word, that is used here by Paul, we must understand that all of the Bible addresses God's wrath against sin. And that sin has to be punished. It has to be punished either in Christ or within the person of the sinner. And since all of the Bible, including the New Testament, Talks about God's wrath against sin. The word propitiation is a proper term. Not in the way that the pagans used it. Not in the way that you read about it in the pagan writings. But if you talk about the pagans in the way the pagans used it, people placated an offended deity. They did it. When you talk about Christianity, people never take the initiative. They don't bring the sacrifice. God himself, out of his great love for sinners, he provides the way by which his own wrath against sin is averted, satisfied, propitiated. He does it himself. So God placates his own wrath against sin so that now he may extend his grace and mercy and love in order to save sinners. But it's all, of course, on the basis of Christ. than what Christ has done. So when I think about it, like I said this morning, I understand the physical pain of our Lord, and the mental anguish of our Lord, and the abandonment that our Lord sensed upon the cross. But what I have to understand is the wrath and punishment unleashed upon Him because of our sins. Now that's what happened. And that is propitiation. I have to understand propitiation as it is described in the Bible. Expiation is all right. We can use the term expiation, but we have to use the term propitiation as well. Both are valid. Both are right. Now I want you to turn back to Romans, and I want to read a statement in Romans chapter 5. And I want you to just note this statement. I'm not done here. I'm coming right back to propitiation, but I'm not nearly done. But I want you to come to Romans chapter 5, and I want you to notice this statement. It's in verse 9. Therefore, much more, having been justified now by his blood, we will be saved. Now look at this. We will be saved from wrath through Him. From wrath, that's our gate. Whose wrath is that? That's God's wrath. Through Him, that's Christ. That's through Jesus Christ. We are saved from wrath through Christ. Then the next verse says, for if while being enemies We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Much more having been reconciled, we will be saved. You see this word? You know what it literally says? In His life. It's the preposition end. In His life. I'm going to be saved from wrath all because of Him and only Him. Redemption is found in connection with Christ Jesus. Nowhere else. And then if you talk about propitiation, if we want to know the person who did it, Jesus himself. If we want to know the place where it was done, the cross. The cross is where it was done. And the only way, of course, that we can receive it, as he says in Romans 3, verse 25, is through faith. Now, I want to come back, and I want to talk about propitiation, and I want to put 21 through 26 together because there is an eternal plan that's worked out. And it is absolutely incredible what the Apostle Paul says here, which hopefully I'll be able to explain.