A Redemptive Price

You can go ahead and be opening your Bibles to Romans chapter 3 and I'm going to read starting with verse 24 in just a minute.

! Kind of a continuation of a theme or really the focus of this particular part of the book of Romans and certainly this part of chapter 3.

So we're going to continue that tonight but I want to open with this thought. When I was or reached the ripe old age of 16, any of you remember when that happened for you, when you became 16?

And of course the significance of 16 is not that you've never been kissed. The significance of 16 is get to drive.

You know, get that driver's license. And I did pass my driver's test and all of that and so I remember that. And at the time, my dad had bought a 65 Ford Mustang convertible.

Now I didn't turn 16 65, okay? It was used. It was a used car. Now you're doing some math out there. But it was, I mean, it was, what a car.

What a car. And for that to be my first car to drive. Now it wasn't mine. It was my dad's. But I got to drive it nearly all the time and about any time I wanted to. And I really thought...

Hot stuff. Yeah, I heard that. And, you know, I think, and I probably have shared this before, I think I've used that car in an illustration before.

I have actually many times. But it seemed to be appropriate here to kind of introduce our text. But I think my dad may have paid maybe, probably not even a thousand dollars for it.

And today, I think, last time I checked, it might be 60, 70,000. 65 Mustang. Convertible.

Dark green. Spoke wheels. All that kind of stuff. And I remember that my dad traded it in on a Chevrolet Caprice. What in the world?

Chevrolet Caprice. I had to drive that. You know. But that was all right. Now, the point of that illustration is really this.

Now, I may know now, but I did not know then what I had. My dad didn't know. Or he would never have traded it off on a Chevrolet Caprice.

In fact, he probably would not have let me drive it. He had known what he had then. And I just didn't know. And I was driving around in a potential treasure.

It wasn't then. But, of course, would be now. And I didn't even know it. Didn't even know it. Now, that's the way many Christians are about their salvation.

All of us, to some extent. We don't really know what we have. What we have in our salvation.

Many Christians don't know that. And, you know, they have salvation. They're living in the glorious reality of it. But, do not know fully what they have in Christ.

And so, the Bible speaks of and uses these big words. And I used one of them last week. And we kind of talked about that. It uses the word justification. We're going to talk about redemption tonight.

Some other words. Propitiation. Now, there's a word that will get you excited. That is, if you know what it means. In relation to your salvation.

And so, the Bible speaks of all these big words. And, you know. And the Bible speaks of regeneration. Being born again. And righteousness.

And the righteousness of Christ. And the imputation of that righteousness. I mean, just all of this. And the Bible speaks of this. And not only are many Christians not too excited when they hear those words.

But, many do not know what they mean. Do not know their significance. And so, you know. Paul speaks of our so great salvation. And what is so great about it?

I mean. It is great. What is so great about it? To most, it is forgiveness of sin. And heaven when I die. And if that's, you know.

That's all you know about it. Then that's enough to rejoice over. Certainly. But I'm here to tell you. And you know this to be true. That there is a whole lot more to it. Whole lot more.

Much more. About our salvation. Now, last week. We looked there at the first half of verse 24. And I shared with you.

What I called then. A remarkable principle. The remarkable principle of salvation. And we looked at that glorious word. Justification. Justification.

And we read there in the text. In Romans chapter 3 verse 24. Being justified freely by His grace. Justified freely by His grace.

There it is. Justification. And we talked about that last week. And we understand that that means that God declares us just. Before His eyes.

Righteous. Righteous. Before God. Justification. What a glorious word. So. We understand. Don't we?

That it's more than just being forgiven. Much more than that. In reality. Our sin. Was placed on Jesus at the cross.

Placed there. On Jesus at the Christ. Cross. And in. And when we. Were saved. His righteousness. Was placed on us. His sin. Our sin.

Was placed on Him. His righteousness. Placed on us. In a sense. We might. Kind of. Conceptualize it. This way. I think it's okay.

To do this. That. When Jesus. Was hanging. On the cross. The Bible says. God made Him. To be sin. For us.

All right. When Jesus. Was hanging. There. Upon the cross. And He took my sin. There. God the Father. In a sense. We can kind of. Imagine it.

This way. God the Father. Looked down. Upon. His son. Hanging. Upon that cross. And He said. That doesn't look like. My son. Jesus. That looks like.

Don Coleman. Down there. That sinner. Don Coleman. And He judged. My sin. Some 2,000 years.

Later. Little more than. 2,000 years. Later. I knelt. By. My. Father. And mother's. Bedside. And I.

Trusted Christ. As my Lord. And Savior. Just as a little boy. It was. Gloriously saved. By God's grace. And from that. Point on. God the Father.

Looks down at me. In fact. He's. Looking down. Right here. Now. And he sees. This guy. Standing. Behind this. Little podium. And he says. You know. That doesn't. Doesn't look like.

Don Coleman. That looks like. Jesus. My son. Jesus. You see. That. Puts in perspective. The glorious.

Exchange. That has taken place. There. And in. In a very real sense. My only hope. Is. For God. To see me. As Christ. Because.

That's the. Glorious thing. About salvation. Among the many other things. That Christ has. Or. God has. Placed us. In. Christ. God. So.

Maybe. We can. See it. That way. So. See. This thing. Justification. God. Sees us. Not only. Forgiven. But. God. Sees us. As though. We had never. Sinned. In the first place.

I know. It's difficult. For us. To. To. Think of it. In those terms. Because. We have sinned. And we keep on sinning. But the only hope. Our only hope.

Is. For God. To see us. And. And he chooses. To see us. Because he's. Placed us. In Christ. To see us. As though. We had never. Sinned. As though. We had always.

Perfectly. Obeyed. Him. That's. The richness. Of justification. That's. The remarkable. Principle. Of our salvation. But what about. The price.

The price. Paid. For that. There was a price. Paid. What about. The price. And. Paul. Went on. To say. And I've. Already. Quoted it. Being justified. What?

Freely. By his grace. And I. Love that part. Freely. By his grace. Salvation.

Is. Free. By God's grace. And so. We. Could say. It's. Free grace. Well. That would be. A little bit. Redundant. But though.

It's free grace. It's not cheap grace. Not cheap. No way. Is it cheap. Because someone had to pay.

And of course. You know. Somebody did. And you and I know who that somebody. Was. Is. And that's Jesus. So let's. Talk then for a moment.

As we kind of work our way through the text. Let's. Talk. For a moment. About. The price. What it cost.

This. Justification. What it cost. And so. Not only a remarkable principle. Then. Secondly. A redemptive price. A redemptive price.

Being justified freely by his grace. Let's go ahead and just read the entire text now. All that we're going to. Hopefully look at here tonight. Verses 24. And. All the way through verse 26.

Being justified freely. By his grace. Through. The redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God set forth. As a propitiation.

By his blood. Through faith. To demonstrate his righteousness. Because. In his forbearance. God had passed over the sins. That were previously committed.

To demonstrate at the present time. His righteousness. That he might be. Just. Christ. And. The justifier.

Of the one. Who has faith. In Jesus. Now. There's people. There's a lot there. A whole lot there. And. You know. As much as I. Try to.

Try to. Dig deep. We're. Really just going to scratch the surface here. Now. Maybe we'll come back. And. Look at a little. More. Of this.

Next Sunday night. As we kind of move forward. Because I'm not going to be able to get into all of it. In these verses. But really what I want to do. Is just key in on. Four. Significant words.

Here. I might even. Say that they are great gospel words. And. Indeed they are. Not just words. They're concepts. Theological concepts.

Theological truths. Or however you want to name them. And the four are. Number one. Redemption. Number two. Propitiation. And aren't you glad you're not sitting on the front or second row here.

I didn't get you did I. Matthew. He's saying I don't know what you're talking about. Propitiation. All right. Faith. Third. And then the last word would be the word blood.

Blood. Though. Maybe per se. Not a theological word. But certainly. An important element of salvation. Because these all go together. All fit together. They all. Really come under.

The heading of redemption. All of these. Are contributors to it. Or explanations of it. Or. Or instruments. By which God. Is able to redeem us.

And so let's just concentrate on these four words. First of all. Redemption. Redemption. And. You know. Maybe some of us. Have. Been around long enough.

To remember. What were they. Those stamps. Used to collect. And. And. I remember my mom did that. I think she got them at the grocery store.

Several different names. What were they called? Green stamps. But there were some others too. Huh? S&H. Huh? Black. Plaid stamps.

I don't. Okay. They're just different. Different parts of the world. Or country. And you. You know. You'd fill up those books. I mean. It was exciting. For us kids. Fill up those books.

Go down to the redemption store. In a sense. And pick out something. Of course. They didn't buy much. I don't think. Maybe we didn't collect enough stamps. I don't know. But I remember that.

But. And there might be. One way to kind of. Get an idea. On the. Kind of the. The. The. The meaning of the word. But. Obviously. The best way. Is to understand the word.

As. It. Was. Used. Originally. And in a sense. Still today. And it is to picture. The. Slave market.

That's the picture. And. You can kind of picture that. Because you've seen movies. That have portrayed that. Awful thing. And. Here's the slave. To be auctioned off.

And. And. The auctioneer. Describes the slave. You know. All of his or her. Wonderful features. And why. Really. You ought to be willing.

To give a big price for it. Or her. And you know. The auction goes. You kind of picture that. And there are the. You know. Potential slave masters. Out there. Who have come with money. And they're.

Needing some new slaves. And they're bidding on these slaves. And finally. The slave is sold. You know. And. Then. Afterward. That. Master. Takes his slave.

And he says. I have bought you. You're mine. Now. I set you free. He's been redeemed. Redeemed. That.

That's the idea. And that's the. The original usage of the word. The meaning of the word. In a culture where slavery was a very common thing. And still is common. In. A lot of parts of our world today.

But. The Holy Spirit. Though. Took that word. That word redemption. And. That common word. And made it a very uncommon word. Uncommon word.

And so Paul. Inspired by the Holy Spirit. As he. As he wrote the book of Romans. He. He applied. The word redemption here.

To the work of Christ. And so Jesus Christ. Is the redeemer. He. He. He. Redeemed. Believing sinners.

And he did so by ransoming. By ransoming us. Or. By paying a price. The. The. The. The. The. The price necessary.

And the price. Was his precious blood. And we know all of that. Don't we. That. That's all. You know. Christianity 101. But. Maybe. We've not. Really.

Attached all of that. Under that word. Redemption. That great. Rich. Theological word. Redemption. Where Jesus Christ.

Paid the price. To get us off. The slave block. Redeemed us. With his blood. And by the way. That ransom. That he paid. He did not pay it.

To the devil. He paid it to God. Because it was. It was God. We have offended.

With our sin. It is God. Who is holy. And just. And whose wrath. Is poured out. Upon all sin. And sinners.

The payment. Had to be made. To God. And Jesus. Made that payment. To him. Upon the cross. And in a. In a very real way. He. Entered into. Like we sang tonight. Entered into the holiest.

Place. In heaven. With. His blood. To make that payment. And that. Sets us up.

For the next word. And that word is. Propitiation. Here's the good one. Well they're all good. Propitiation. But. But.

You know. I would be. Willing to. Venture a guess. Start to say bet. But I. Probably not appropriate. Say that. I would venture a guess. That most.

Most of God's people. Don't. Don't really know. What this word. Propitiation is. It's not something. You hear every day. Is it? Certainly not something. You would. Necessarily use. In a sentence. You know. Sometimes we'll hear.

Some big word. And somebody will speak. And we'll. Figure out ways. To use that in a sentence. You know. To use that. Out here somewhere. At work or something. And we just kind of. Wow people. With these big words. I don't know how you would.

Use propitiation. Just in. Course of conversation. Unless you're talking about. About Christ. And about our redemption. Because that.

Is what it has to do with. Jesus is. Our propitiation. Do you see what it says. There in verse 25. Whom God. Has set forth. To be.

Or. As a. Propitiation. A propitiation. So Jesus Christ. Is the propitiation. Or more accurately. He is the propitiator.

that's what Jesus is the propitiator and what does it mean? what does propitiation mean? what does it refer to? well it means that Jesus is the one who turned aside God's wrath he turned it aside God's wrath is directed toward my sin and Jesus through his sacrifice upon the cross turned that wrath aside literally he satisfied it in fact really I think that would be an alternate word that you might use in place of propitiation might just write that in your Bibles right there in the margin just put under put there in the margin satisfied or satisfied satisfied that's good enough I don't know what I was trying to think of satisfaction that's what I was trying to think of thank you that's what it means and so

Jesus is the propitiator he turns aside the wrath of God that we deserve that is directed toward us because of our sin and he does so because he has satisfied God's holy demand for our sin and thereby he takes away that sin not just just to be overlooked by God because God would not be just then or holy if God overlooked one half of one's sin he would cease to be holy so he didn't just simply make it so God could overlook it somehow he took it away took our sin away and this word too has a has a kind of a an origin and really the best place to look to understand the origin of the word propitiation and thereby to understand its meaning is to go back to the Old Testament and the word describes what the high priest did on the day of atonement when the high priest would take the blood of the sacrifice the lamb that was sacrificed take that blood into in through the holy place and on into the holy of holies inside the holy of holies where the ark of the covenant was and he would take that blood that blood of the perfect spotless lamb and he would dip hyssop in that blood and he would sprinkle it on the mercy seat now what's the mercy seat it's the lid the covering the top of the ark of the covenant

I've explained this before inside the ark we have the ten commandments the law now it's God's law we've broken and it's God's law that we've broken that causes us to deserve his judgment and his condemnation and the remedy is the blood that covers see and that's what the high priest would do he would go in with that that laver of blood that was shed from the sacrifice and he would dip it that hyssop in there and sprinkle it on the mercy seat to make atonement now the Greek translation of the Old Testament the word propitiation is used in place of mercy seat that's that's the mercy seat the propitiation and it really points to the whole act of what the priest is doing there and so we could say that if we want to bring that over into the New Testament that Christ is our mercy seat our mercy seat our propitiation it is there that satisfaction where God's wrath is satisfied there at the mercy seat see the propitiation and of course this would be done once a year on what was called the Day of Atonement and when the priest sprinkled the blood there on the mercy seat to make atonement for the people of Israel he was prefiguring

Christ and what Christ would one day do when he would make an atonement once and for all on the cross and so through the substitutionary sacrifice the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross God's wrath against my sin and your sin has been turned aside been turned aside it's been satisfied and by the way what is the proof that it was satisfied that the blood of Jesus satisfied his wrath what was the proof anybody guess the resurrection exactly you all are very astute resurrection and so he turned it aside and our guilt has been removed and so that makes propitiation pretty good word doesn't it that whole idea and as good as that is I do want to have you just think about this the cross of Christ this propitiation did not turn a mean old angry hateful

God into a loving God don't get that idea from this yeah it turned aside his wrath but it didn't serve in a sense to soften him up to make him mellow out to make him decide to you know to make an angry God kind of a loving God that's not what it was about because listen it was a loving God that offered that set forth his son Jesus Christ as our propitiation don't ever detach this from the love of God because you see behind the work of Christ is a loving God a gracious God in fact 1st John I'll read it to you you can turn to it if you want to 1st John chapter 4 and verse 9 verses 9 and 10 where John the apostle he wrote in this the love of God was manifested toward us that God has sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live live through him but now verse 10 in this is love not that we loved God didn't start with our love of God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins the satisfaction for our sins a loving God did that you see a loving and gracious

God did that now let's turn to the next word and that's the word faith now we know what faith is don't we we could define that can't we you have redemption we have propitiation and now we have the third word faith Paul said whom God has set forth as a propitiation through faith through faith folks we receive redemption propitiation justification we receive all of that through faith through faith and what is faith well I want us to understand three things about faith number one you have to listen very carefully because maybe this won't sound right on the front end but let me explain faith involves knowing something faith involves knowing something involves knowledge you cannot have saving faith in someone you do not know anything about cannot have saving faith in someone you know nothing about also you cannot have saving faith in someone you know the wrong things about for example an illiterate

Australian aborigine who has never heard the gospel might say I have faith in God but if he knows nothing whatsoever about Christ is that saving faith a lot of scholars debate over that but according to scripture it's not not saving faith and likewise a Jehovah's witness might say I have faith not just in God but I have faith in Christ in Jesus but their Christ was is only an ordinary human man not divine and so is that saving faith no it is not no it is not you see faith must have a knowledge must know something and so what kind of knowledge do you need well the knowledge of faith is not like the knowledge of science or math in that sense just a collection of facts it is as someone put it it is a thou knowledge a thou knowledge not as or as opposed to an it knowledge a thou knowledge not an it knowledge so faith knowledge is not full comprehension of God that is his nature and his character and all these things that's it knowledge but rather it is knowing what God has done for us what he has done for us thou knowledge so how much thou knowledge does one need for that to be faith

I think the basic elements of the gospel message that we are sinners and that we have sinned against a holy God and therefore we cannot save ourselves Romans 3 23 all the sin comes short of the glory of God and that Jesus Christ and him only can save us redeem us it's only through Christ that Christ died and rose from the grave for us Romans 6 23 wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord basic elements of the gospel must be known faith I reminded you this morning faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of

God complicated kind of grammar there and in essence it means faith comes by or through the thing heard and what is the thing heard God's revelation that's why you know it's good to build relationships and try to lead people to Christ by relating to them and building a relationship and it's all wonderful but no one's ever going to come to Christ apart from hearing the gospel the word of God so faith involves knowing something faith also involves an acceptance acceptance or even we might use the word assent assent or acceptance that is with our whole being we firmly accept as true what the

Bible teaches about sin and about Christ and about salvation and about God's purpose in our lives and these things most importantly faith involves trust it involves trust faith is looking away from self and leaning totally trusting totally Christ for our salvation in faith I'm trusting in what Christ did for me at the cross that that that would save me that he he died for me in faith I'm accepting what Jesus did at the cross as having been done for me it also I think involves certainly involves obedience does it Hebrews chapter 11 verse 8 let me just read it to you by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he would receive as an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going by faith and it goes on to say by faith by faith and it was accounted unto him as righteousness he believed

God and it was accounted unto him as righteousness see faith that does not lead to obedience or a faith that does not involve a commitment to Christ as Lord to obey him to follow him is not faith not faith in fact James said faith without works is dead it's a dead worthless kind of faith now we're talking about the redemptive price of our salvation here and so God can offer us redemption through faith because of one thing God can present Christ as a propitiation for our sin because of one precious thing and that leads us to the fourth very important word in the text and that's blood the shedding of Christ's blood now again salvation is free but it is not cheap not cheap it cost it it cost the shame and the agony and the death of Jesus

Christ God's only begotten son and what did Peter say about that blood he said it was precious precious blood the cost of Calvary is beyond human computation you can't estimate the worth of that can you the blood of Christ the value of the shed blood of Jesus Christ is beyond even our comprehension this explains why Paul wrote what he wrote in Hebrews chapter 10 in fact let me read that to you I read a passage out of chapter 11 in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 28 just listen to this anyone who has rejected Moses law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses oh how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the son of

God under foot counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing or an unholy thing and insulted the spirit of grace that's just really kind of a frightening verse I think we have an example or not an example of that but a demonstration of that when Israel was in bondage in Egypt and their way out or the way God rescued them was through the blood wasn't it the blood of a spotless lamb and each family there of the people of Israel were to take a lamb and to sacrifice the lamb to take the blood and what did they do with the blood they they splashed it on their doorposts and lentils but you know there's one place they did not put it on the threshold God's people came out of Egypt through the blood we might even say under the blood but they did not come walking over the blood walking over it a remarkable principle that that's what our salvation is it's justification a redemptive price and that's what our salvation cost right the precious blood of

Jesus Christ and then finally we'll just kind of touch on this and I'll come back to it thirdly a royal proclamation I think verse 26 is a proclamation a royal announcement in a sense look at verse 26 to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness did all this to demonstrate his righteousness that he might be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus what an announcement what a royal regal declaration that God is righteous he's righteous in the way he has dealt with the sin problem see there's the problem isn't it it's sin in fact I would suggest to you that the what makes Christianity well it's unique in a number of ways but it's main uniqueness in light of all the other religions is that

Christianity is the only one that has the answer for the sin problem the only one the righteousness of God and how he dealt with that see in a sense I guess we can say that God found a way he wasn't looking and discovering I'm just using this in a sense to try to conceptualize this God found a way to justify me to justify me a sinner and he found a way to do that and still remain perfectly just himself that's that's that's the point of this passage because someone might argue well you know God can be holy and just if he if he lets my sin go by go unpunished how can he be just in doing that because he justified me and he was able to do that because of the cross the cross of Christ the sacrifice of his perfect sinless son and so therefore he is the just justifier and that's what he's done for all of those who believed in Christ to do