Podcast appearances and mentions of prince paris

Dcn. Garlick, Dr. Frank Grabowski, and Thomas Lackey are reunited to discuss the first part of Agamemnon, the first play in Aeschylus' Oresteia. Check out thegreatbookspodcast.com for more information.From our written guide available to our supporters:The first play of the Oresteia tells of the homecoming of Agamemnon and is predominately animated by revenge. Aeschylus presents us with questions concerning the legitimacy of the Trojan war, how Argos has suffered without its king, and why Clytemnestra has plotted to murder her husband. Though chronologically Odysseus has not return home yet, one should compare this text to the Odyssey and Odysseus' own homecoming – written almost three hundred years prior by Homer. Aeschylus draws heavily from Homer but changes small but significant details, which creates a narrative that presents a profound lesson on the weaknesses of lex talionis as enacted by the blood avenger model. Throughout Agamemnon and into Libation Bearers, we are invited to consider whether a new model of justice is needed.I. The Opening: Unease and Gender Inversions (1)The play begins with an invocation to the gods, as will the following two plays. Through the watchman, Aeschylus communicates the time and setting to his audience in a manner typical of Greek drama. The watchman's opening monologue conveys a disquieting mood of fear and quiet dread. As observed, Lackey describes the opening as “a little eerie and a little bit off.” Notably, the watchman yearns for the return of Agamemnon, his king, and we note the king's absence has left the kingdom, Argos, in suffering (24, 37). One thinks here of the suffering of Ithaca without Odysseus in the Odyssey. The opening passages invites us to ask: “What has life been like in Argos over the past decade during the king's absence?” and “What is the effect of the empty throne of Argos upon its people?” From the outset, Aeschylus will play with gender roles and descriptions. Notice Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife, “maneuvers like a man” (13), while Agamemnon himself will be presented as effeminate. This thematic inversion invites readers to examine Aeschylus' pedagogical purpose for such language. As Dr. Grabowski observes, the toying with gender traits parallels Shakespeare's Macbeth, wherein Lady Macbeth similarly exhibits masculine qualities of ambition and dominance. As the play progresses, readers gain insight into life in Argos during Agamemnon's ten-year absence. The people long for an end to their suffering, for “an end to their pain” (23). Notably, Aeschylus allows us to see how Argos viewed the Trojan war (44), which is largely presented, at first, as a just war in which Agamemnon was the “great avenger” of Zeus punishing Troy for its violation of guest-friendship (45), i.e., Prince Paris absconding with Menelaus' wife, Helen. The reader should note whether Agamemnon's return starts to adjust this narrative....Check out our whole guide on the Oresteia.

The Trojan War was a time of heroes. From the swift-footed Achilles, and the hot-headed Prince Paris, to the beautiful Queen Helen, and the all-powerful gods, Zeus, Athena, and Aphrodite. In these early days of what we now call Ancient Greece, the story of Troy was already a saga from a bygone age, re-imagined by Homer, and told around the world ever since. But was any of it true? Did those legendary heroes ever exist? How did Helen's beauty launch a thousand ships? And could the Greeks really have breached the city walls by hiding inside a giant wooden horse? This is a Short History Of The Trojan War. A Noiser Production, written by Jo Furniss. With thanks to Professor Armand D'Angour, a classical scholar at Jesus College, Oxford, and presenter of the podcast It's All Greek (And Latin) To Me. Get every episode of Short History Of a week early with Noiser+. You'll also get ad-free listening, bonus material, and early access to shows across the Noiser network. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started. Or, if you're on Spotify or Android, go to noiser.com/subscriptions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Deacon Harrison Garlick and Adam Minihan sit down to talk about the tide of battle turns in Book 8.In this episode we will discuss:What happens in book eight?Do the Achaeans actually need Achillies?What is the relationship between Athena and Zeus?What else should be observed in book eight?Want our whole guide to The Iliad? Download it for free.Book EightThe Tide of Battle TurnsMany attempts have been made to reconcile these two ideas, to assert the overriding power of Zeus's will on the one hand, or that of a nameless destiny on the other. - Knox43. What happens in book eight?Zeus issues a new, “strict decree” that the gods are no longer to help the Achaeans or the Trojans in order that Zeus may “bring this violent business to an end” (8.08). The gods are in “stunned silence” when Athena acknowledges Father Zeus' command but also provides the caveat that she'll “simply offer the Argives tactics” (8.42). As the fighting begins anew, Zeus holds out his “sacred golden scales” of fate, and they show a “day of doom” for the Achaeans, the Greeks (8.85). Zeus makes known this judgment by letting loose his lightning and thunder against the Argives (8.89), and as they retreat, Nestor is left behind—because Prince Paris shoots his horse (8.97). Diomedes charges the front lines by himself and saves Nestor using the horses he took from Aeneas (8.116); but then he also decides to charge Troy alone in an attempt to kill Hector (8.129). Diomedes turns around, however, due to the advice of Nestor and the lightning and thunder of Zeus (8.163). Hector, bolstered by Zeus' favor, leads Troy in an onslaught against the Argives (8.197). The goddess Hera, who is raging in Olympus, first tempts Poseidon to intervene against Zeus' decree, but Poseidon wisely declines to fight Zeus (8.239). Hera inspires Agamemnon (8.250), the Achaean high chieftain inspires his men and cries out to Zeus for mercy (8.271). Zeus, moved by the weeping of Agamemnon (8.280), sends an eagle as an omen that the Argives may turn and fight (8.282). Zeus, however, favors the Trojans, and Hector leads an assault with eyes blazing like the war god, Ares (8.383, 398). Having failed to tempt Poseidon, Hera tempts Athena to intervene against Zeus' decree, and Athena acquiesces and prepares for war (8.401). Zeus sends Iris, the messenger goddess, to Hera and Athena, and the two goddesses, not wanting to war with Zeus, call off their return to the battlefield (8.490). On Olympus, Zeus partially reveals his plan to Hera and Athena, the so-called “doom of Zeus” (8.551)—that there will be a battle over the body of Patroclus, friend of Achilles. Hector pushes the advance against the Greeks until nightfall, and the Trojans, the Achaeans, and the gods all wait for “Dawn to mount her glowing throne” (8.654). 44. Do the Achaeans actually need Achilles?The movement of book eight is largely structured by Zeus' promise to Thetis—that the Trojans would prosper until King Agamemnon sees his need for Achilles (8.423). Often times, however, this is read as a self-fulfilling prophecy. In other words, that the lack of Achilles on the battlefield will inevitably lead to a Trojan advancement; yet, in contrast, it would seem that Homer presents a situation in which Zeus must bless the Trojans or the Argives will win even without Achilles. For example, examine the role of Diomedes. First, the Trojans have already stated they fear Diomedes more than they even did Achilles. Second, when Diomedes charges the Trojans to kill Hector while...

Another episode with the Gyro Captain and they are laying it all out there. They talk movies, music, politics, and more.

Music Around The World is a music segment featuring various artist and music. Some of these artists are from the United States, while others are from other countries across the globe. In this episode we will be featuring:  Nicky Greed, Prince Paris, Slovo and DJ Cruz. https://masonverapaine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/MFAW-Episode-15.mp3 Intro: 0:00 to 0:11 Nicky Greed:  Start -  0:11  and End – 3 minutes and 44 secondsFeatured Song - Talk To MeFor more information about Nicky Greed visit: Nickygreed.comFollow Nicky Greed on Facebook at: Facebook.com/NickyGreedTheBadWolf/Like Nicky Greed on Twitter at: Twitter.com/NickyGreedDuration: 3 minutes and 33 seconds Prince Paris:  Start – 3 minutes and 45 seconds  and  End – 7 minutes and 59 secondsFeatured Song - Slow Down ft. WillaFor more information about Prince Paris visit: Princeparis.comFollow Prince Paris on Facebook at: Facebook.com/PrinceParisLike Prince Paris on Twitter at: Twitter.com/prince_parisLike and Follow Prince Paris on Instagram at: Instagram.com/princeparisDuration: 4 minutes and 14 seconds For more information about Willa visit: Willamusic.comFollow Willa on Facebook at: Facebook.com/sheisWILLALike Willa on Twitter at: Twitter.com/willamilnerLike and Follow Willa on Instagram at: Instagram.com/willamilner/ Slovo:  Start – 7 minutes and 59 seconds   and  End – 12 minutes and 20 secondsFeatured Song - Run To You Slovo RemixFor more information about Slovo visit: Slovo.co.ukFollow Slovo on Facebook at: Facebook.com/SlovoOfficialLike and Follow Slovo on Instagram at: Instagram.com/slovo_musicDuration: 4 minutes and 21 secondsFor more information about ISQ visit: Isqmusic.comFollow ISQ on Facebook at: Facebook.com/IsqmusicLike ISQ on Twitter at: Twitter.com/IsqmusicLike and Follow ISQ on Instagram at: Instagram.com/isqmusic/ DJ Cruz:  Start – 12 minutes and 20 seconds   and   End – 24 minutes and 09 secondsFeatured Song - ChaosFor more information about DJ Cruz visit: DJCruz.comFollow DJ Cruz on Facebook at: Facebook.com/djcruz.chLike DJ Cruz on Twitter at: Twitter.com/deejaycruzLike and Follow DJ Cruz on Instagram at: Instagram.com/djcruz__Duration: 11 minutes and 48 seconds Outro: 24 minutes and 09 seconds to 24 minutes and 46 seconds Would you like your song featured on Mason? Reach out to us at: Contact@Masonverapaine.comfor consideration.

On today's episode of “The great love stories”, I come here again with summarized story plot of “Paris and Helen” based on Greek mythology by Reterdeen Staff. This love story is about Paris, the prince of Troy, and the beautiful Queen Helen, daughter of Zeus. The story tells that how the great war between the Greeks and the Trojans was started by Prince Paris and Queen Helen because of their love affairs.

Il dit écrire pour disparaître. Et le voici qui réapparaît en écrivain citoyen quitisse encore et toujours un fil d’Ariane entre Individu et Société, entre le Je et le Nous. Lyonel Trouillot, grand peintre de la colère haïtienne, nous revient avec «Ne m’appelle pas Capitaine» (Actes Sud). Le quartier Morne-Dédé en tremble encore. Poète, romancier, éditeur, professeur, activiste littéraire d’expression créole et française, Trouillot n’a qu’une urgence sur cette terre : écrire. De « Rue des pas perdus » à « Bicentenaire » en passant par « L’amour avant que j’oublie », il dit le chaos en y mettant aussi de la jubilation et de l’amour. Alors faisons connaissance avec celui qui a encore 7 000 km d’océan Atlantique dans la gorge pour avoir fait, il y a peu Port-au-Prince/Paris !   Les choix musicaux de Lyonel Trouillot : - Jean Coulanges, ay congo congo a bèl - Wooly Saint Louis Jean, Tordu crochu (Rediffusion du 14 octobre 2018)

1. Bryce Vine, Loud Luxury - "I'm Not Alright" (Extended Mix) 2. Landis, Breikthru f./ Harry Cracknell - "Find Me" (Extended Version) 3. Prince Paris - "Sleep Talk" (Lunar Extended Remix) 4. Fenix & Chris Wills - "Feelings For You" (Gozzi Remix) 5. Retrovision - "Stop" (Extended Version) 6. Nightcrawlers - "Push The Feeling 2020" (Starjack House Reboot) 7. Black Eyed Peas vs Technotronic - "Pump Up The Jam" (Collini Ritmo Club House Party Starter) 8. Roxette - "Fading Like A Flower 2K19" (Starjack Future House Mixshow Edit) 9. JES - "Let Him Go" (Gozzi Remix) 10. Icona Pop - "All Night" (Cash Cash Remix) 11. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Heads Will Roll 2020" (Starjack Future House Mixshow Edit) 12. Charlie XCX - "Break The Rules" 13. Laidback Luke, Bingo Players - "Pogo" (Extended Mix) 14. Tones & I vs Tujamo vs Plastik Funk - "Dance Monkey Who" (Djs From Mars Bootleg) 15. Meduza vs Supermode - "Tell Me Why You Lose Control" (Djs From Mars Bootleg) 16. Avicii - "Levels 2020" (Starjack House Mixshow Edit) 17. Stadiumx, Sebastian Wibe, Mingue - "We Are Life" (Extended Mix) 18. Laidback Luke, Dash Berlin, Marc Benjamin - "We're Forever" (Dash Berlin Remix) 19. Galantis, Dolly Parton f./ Mr. Probz - "Faith" (Galantis & Bali Bandits VIP Extended Mix) 20. Zac Brown Band - "Someone I Used To Know" (Kue Remix) 21. Panic! At The Disco - "Hey, Look Ma I Made It" (Gozzi Remix) bookdjnikis@gmail.com

In this ninth episode, you're going to listen to 19 pop, trap and electro house tracks by Saybe, Armin van Buuren, Mattafix, Vyel, Prince Paris & Castion, BOXINBOX & Lionsize, KAAZE, Marshmello, Tyga, Chris Brown, DDRey, Kito & Empress Of, Jerry Joxx & Kreg, Don Diablo, Martin Mix & NVCTS, Mantrastic & Rechler, Stephan, Sick Individuals, Landis, Brooks & Jonas Aden, Martin Garrix, Matisse & Sadko. Tracklist : https://1001.tl/24640ct9 Saybe’s song "Entre deux" is out now on Vyel Records! Watch the music video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3G9jXjdHaI To submit your track to the show, please write at : promo@vyelradioshow.com https://vyelmusic.com

1. Kygo & Whitney Houston - "Higher Love" (Andrew Marks Remix) 2. T. MATTHIAS - "Would I Lie To You" (Extended) 3. Zara Larsson - "All The Time" (Don Diablo Extended Remix) 4. Halsey - "Without Me" (The Scene Kings Remix) 5. Kygo & Rita Ora - "Carry On" (Nicky Romero Remix) 6. Alesso f./ TINI - "Sad Song" (Alesso Remix) 7. Martin Garrix f./ Dua Lipa - "Scared To Be Lonely" (Zonderling Extended Remix) 8. Sam Feldt f./ RANI - "Post Malone" (Joe Stone Extended Remix) 9. Don Diablo f./ Jesse J - "Brave" (Dj Tora & Shdw Remix) 10. The Chainsmokers & Illenium f./ Lennon Stella & Disco Fries - "Takeaway" (Andrew Marks Moonlight Edit) 11. Afrojack - "It Goes Like" (Original Mix) 12. Don Diablo - "The Rhythm" (Extended Version) 13. Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano f./ Dan McAlister - "In My Bones" (Extended Mix) 14. Avicii f./ Agnes & Vargas, Lagola - "Tough Love" (Tiesto Remix) 15. Jonny Rose, Alex Leavon - "Running For Our Lives" (Extended Mix) 16. Maddix f./ Michael Jo - "Invincible (Till The Day We Die)" (Extended Mix) 17. DubVision, Nigel, Nino Lucarelli - "Rescue Me" (Extended Mix) 18. Prince Paris f./ Bright Lights - "Still Mine" (Prince Paris & Swede Dreams Remix) 19. Don Diablo f./ KiFi - "The Same Way" (Extended Version) 20. Dannic - "Tell Me (If You Really Love Me)" (Thomas Newson Extended Remix) 21. Acicii f./ Aloe Blac - "S.O.S." (Case Ace Remix)

"Window Stage Radio" Will Premiere New Track Every Week And Give You My Energy Mix Live On Radio. 01.KuKs - Just A Minute02.David Guetta feat Raye - Stay (Don't Go Away) [Bravetone Remix] 03.ArcticBlaze - Elephants04.Navarra, Alice Ella vs. Magnificence vs. Calvin Harris, Ellie Goulding - I Feel Your Love (dejinosuke Remember Edit)05.D-Wayne x iLtik - SQUEAK06.Justin Mylo x REGGIO - More Of Your Love07.Bad Royale x Richie Loop x Lulu - NRG
08.Quintino - Make Believe09.Playmen x Damluke - Serra10.Husman x DRYM - War Cry11.Notalike x WE AM - Do It Again
12.Zinko x Maski & Banga - Baile
13.Daniel Garrick x Clef & Canberra - Firestorm14.SHKHR X Bangerific X VENRO - Mojito (Feat. Mr Shammi)15.KURA - Thunder16.HAK3N - House Party17.Roan Shenoyy x Elle Vee - Call Me Beautiful18.Oskah - Escape19.Prince Paris x Bright Lights - Still Mine (Prince Paris x Swede Dreams Remix)20.Jenil x Window & Richie Loop - Ambak (VIP Edit) Send your promo track : djwindowpromo@gmail.com Follow Window:
www.djwindow.com
www.facebook.com/djwindow
www.twitter.com/djwindowmusic
@windowmusic
www.instagram.com/windowmusic
www.youtube.com/windowmusic

Еженедельное радио-шоу. Только новинки танцевальной музыки. Запись эфира от 16.08.19 1. Duke Dumont & Zak Abel - The Power (Original Mix) 2. Croatia Squad - We Don't Need No Sleep (Platinum Doug Extended Remix) 3. Phats & Small - Turn Around (Hey What's Wrong With You) (Main Circus Extended Remix) 4. Plastik Funk - Find Your Way (Alle Farben Edit) 5. Ellis - Colours (Extended Mix) 6. Jay Hardway - Vocal Chops (Extended Mix) 7. John Christian feat. Juliette Claire - Club Bizarre (Extended Version) 8. Prince Paris & Bright Lights - Still Mine (Prince Paris & Swede Dreams Extended Remix) 9. Will K feat Amy Miyu - Trampoline (Extended Mix) 10. Dannic & Bougenvilla - Ctrl Alt Del (Extended Mix) 11. Luca Debonaire & Martina Budde - Beggin (Original Mix) 12. Maddix & Michael Jo - Invincible (Till The Day We Die) (Extended Mix) 13. Quintino - Make Believe (Extended Mix) 14. Tujamo - Hell Yeah (Extended Mix) 15. NIVIRO & Justin Prime - Reloaded (Extended Mix) 16. Tom & Jame - Get Get Down (Extended Version) 17. Tiesto & Moska - Acordeao (Extended Mix)

BoundlessFM is your radio show hosted by ROONE to light up your day with fresh and sparkling electronic dance music. Merging together the latest and most driving tunes in one hour, he is bringing you to a new level of listening experience.http://djroone.com Tracklist:01.) Roone - BoundlessFM - Intro [00:00]02.) Tom & Jame feat. Yton - Amigo [01:10]03.) SICK INDIVIDUALS - Luna [02:48]04.) Lindequist, Timmo Hendriks - Thinking About You [04:48]05.) R3hab - All Into Nothing (Cuebrick Remix) [06:22]06.) Jac & Harri - Voices [08:00]07.) Blackcode & Somero - Focus (feat. Max Landry) [09:48]08.) Holl & Rush x Dwight Steven - Ain't Nobody Else [11:48]09.) Lucas & Steve - Say Something (RetroVision Remix) [13:20]10.) Arno Cost, Norman Doray - Travolta [15:22]11.) Anjulie, BISHU - Control  [17:24]12.) Zoopreme x Krysta Youngs & Julia Ross - Bad For Me [19:01]13.) Illenium, Kameron Alexander - Pray [20:36]14.) Prince Paris feat. Bright Lights - Still Mine [23:01]15.) Blasterjaxx, Jack Wilby - Super Friends (feat. Jack Wilby) [25:09]16.) Warren & SƠN feat. Emelie Cyreus - Moving On Without You [26:44]17.) CID, Don Diablo - Fever [28:22]Fabian Vangelis Guestmix18.) ID - Looking For Love [30:39] 19.) Blinders - Relieve [34:09]20.) Nicky Romero & Teamworx - Deep Dark Jungle [37:20]21.) Blinders, TV Noise - Fire [40:13]22.) Sandro Silva & Quintino - Epic (Garmiani Extended Remix) [43:28]23.) Kygo & Valerie Broussard - Think About You (Fabian Vangelis Remix) [45:14]24.) KAAZE feat. Nino Lucarelli - I Should Have Walked Away (Extended Mix) [49:06]25.) Manse & Cuebrick feat. IIVES - Runaway (Extended Mix) [53:17]26.) Fabian Vangelis, Avaro - ID [57:07]

Subscribe now to receive new episodes automatically! Cuebrick's Conference #104:1. D.O.D - According To Me (Extended Mix)2. Bassjackers & Apster - No Style3. Van Murten - Rumors (Extended Mix)4. Calvin Harris & Rag'n'Bone Man - Giant (Robin Schulz Remix)5. Ellie Goulding, Diplo & Swae Lee 'Close To Me' (CID Extended Mix)6. Crunkz - Open Your Heart (Extended Mix)7. Cuebrick, Jochen Miller - With You (Extended Mix)8. Bali Bandits - Girls & Boys9. Cuebrick & Jochen Miller - T-Shirt10. Nicky Romero & David Guetta - Ring The Alarm (Extended Mix)11. Maone - Forever (Extended Mix)12. Mike Mago x Dog Collective - Always On My Mind (Mick Mazoo Remix)13. Paris Blohm & Nevlin feat. Romysa - Warriors (Extended Mix)14. Cuebrick - Wonderful Days15. Lian Wolf & Gamechanger - Catch Me (feat. Lil Perch)16. Prince Paris x Castion - Right For Ya (Radio Edit)17. VIVID - Back To Me (Extended Mix)18. Hardwell & Dannic feat. Kelli-Leigh - Chase The Sun (Extended Mix)

A Slave Trader’s Fear of Death The Famous hymn says, "T'was grace that taught my heart to fear. And grace my fears relieved." Of course that's coming from Amazing Grace, arguably the most popular hymn in the world. One immediately recognizable even to many non-church people. Written by John Newton, I think, as a personal testimony that he was giving of how God saved him. "A wretch," he called himself in that hymn. He was a famous sinner. The ship's captain, where he served as a slave-trading vessel, said he had never heard anyone blaspheme and swear like John Newton. Later, God put those gifts of verbal skill to better use. When he was converted, God transformed that ability but the captain of that ship, the Greyhound, said he invented swears no one had ever heard before. That was John Newton, he was a wretch, he was a wicked man. A blasphemer. But there was a night in March of 1748 while that ship, the Greyhound, was in the North Atlantic that a storm threatened to destroy the entire ship and everybody aboard. And Newton saw a man swept overboard where he had been standing just moments before. And after hours of the crew bailing and just trying to empty that rapidly filling ship of water and just trying to stay afloat, he offered a desperate suggestion to the captain that might save the ship in some way. Captain ordered that it be done and Newton said, "If this will not do, then Lord have mercy on us all." He said those words. He then returned to the pump where he and another sailor were pumping and lashed himself to it so he wouldn't be swept overboard, and for 11 hours fought the storm and fought to stay alive. And during that time, he says in his later writings, he was thinking again and again about his own words. If this will not do, then the Lord have mercy on us all. And he started thinking about how afraid he was to die. He was afraid to die. He was afraid that after he died, he'd be sent to hell. And he knew that the only thing that could deliver him from death and hell was the mercy of the same Lord that he'd been blaspheming earlier that day. And that was the beginning of his conversion. T'was grace that taught his heart to fear and grace his fears relieved. These fears must be tied to death. To be afraid of death and the judgement that follows. It is appointed unto each one of us to die once and after that to face the judgement. Some people don't have any idea why the grace of God would teach someone to fear. I remember Phil Driscoll who plays incredible trumpet and sings songs, did his version of Amazing Grace, changed the lyrics a little bit. T'was grace that taught my heart to love and grace my fears relieved. I think the original's better. It is God's grace that teaches us to fear his judgement, to fear death and hell. It is God's grace to us to teach us to fear those things. And I say to you, and I say it tenderly, there are some people sitting here today who do not fear death enough, who ought to fear death immeasurably more than you do. I say it to you tenderly because you are lost. You are not yet converted. You're not ready to face judgement, you're not ready to stand before God. You don't have Jesus as your Lord and Savior. And therefore, you greatly underestimate the danger that death is to you. Greatly underestimate it. Jesus said this, "Do not fear those who kill the body and after that can do nothing to you. I'll tell you who to fear. Fear the one who after the death of the body has power to destroy both soul and body in hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him." It is grace to take Jesus' command there to heart, isn't it? And to fear the one who has power to destroy both soul and body in hell. But I also say to you tenderly that there are some here who fear death too much and ought not to fear death at all because you are Christians and Jesus has died for you, and he has liberated you from the bondage of slavery to fear of death. And that's what the text is talking about today. It's my delight to proclaim to you your Savior again, and to speak to you what he has achieved for you, and to speak to you Christians and encourage you and say, "Do not fear death ever again. Do not fear death." And so we're going to unfold Hebrews 2:14-18 in a very orderly and logical way. It's not a three-part outline, you notice. But it's a careful stepping through the text. I. Jesus Shared in Our Humanity I just want you to understand where we're heading but basically, we're going to cover this. Jesus became incarnate, he took on a human body, so that he could die, so he could destroy the devil and death, and so he could rescue us from bondage, from slavery to fear of death. So that he could take hold of Abraham's descendants and rescue them and be for us a merciful and faithful high priest, and in that way, step into our temptations and our sufferings when we are tempted and help us at our time of greatest need. So if I could sum all that up, Jesus took on a body to help you in your temptations. That's what it's about. We're going to learn how to invite Jesus, our merciful and high priest into our time of greatest weakness, our time of greatest suffering, that time of temptation. That's what this sermon is about. Let's start at the beginning. In verse 14, it speaks of the mystery of the incarnation of Jesus taking on a human body. Verse 14, "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity." This is the infinite mystery of the incarnation. The mystery of Christmas. God became man. AW Pink commenting on this verse said this: "Another thing which makes it so difficult for us to grasp the wonder of the Divine incarnation is that there is nothing else which we can for a moment compare with it; there is no analogy which in any wise resembles it. It stands unique, alone, in all its solitary grandeur. We are thrilled when we think of the angels sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation: that those wondrous creatures, which so far excel us in wisdom and strength, should have been appointed to be our attendants; that those holy creatures should be commissioned to encamp round about poor sinners; that the courtiers of Heaven should wait upon worms of the earth! Truly, that is a great wonder. But oh my brethren, that wonder pales into utter insignificance and, in comparison, fades away into nothingness, before this far greater wonder—that the Creator of angels should leave His throne on High and descend to this sin-cursed earth; that the very One before whom all the angels bow should, for a season, be made lower than they; that the Lord of glory, who had dwelt in "light unapproachable," should Himself become partaker of "flesh and blood"! This is the wonder of wonders." - Commentary on Hebrews, 131. We can never get done thinking about the mystery of Christmas. It's an infinite mystery, beyond all question the mystery of godliness is great. He became a man, took on a human body. And so here we have described the fact of the incarnation and unfolded from that its reasons why Jesus became a man. It says since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity. And the children are those that Christ is coming to save. And because they have flesh and blood, speaking there of their physical existence, because they have bodies, because they have a physical existence, not like the angels. The Greek expression says that these children have a fellowship together in flesh and blood. It unites the human race. We are all of us flesh and blood. It doesn't matter what race we come from. We share together this flesh and blood existence. It unites us. And Jesus had to join with us in that he had to become a partaker, a willing partaker of our human nature in order to save us. And so He had to take on a flesh and blood existence. Strong Family Language Now, there's a very strong family orientation to Hebrews 2. Lots of family language. I went over that last time that I preached on Hebrews. But just look again at some of the verses. Verse 11 it says, "Both the one who makes men holy, and those who are made holy are of the same family." So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. And then we have here in verse 14, "Since the children have flesh and blood, He shared in their humanity." Verse 17, "For this reason He had to be made like his brothers in every way." This is a family thing. God has in view the family of God with Jesus as our perfect elder brother, and Jesus is a brother to all of those that he's saving. Or we use the language of children since the children have flesh and blood. And He wanted them to become partakers of the divine nature that we should become like God. Isn't that beautiful? We were originally created in the image of God. Sin has marred that image badly. But now redeemed in Christ we are created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. It says in 2 Peter 1 that his precious promises are given to us so that through them, we "may participate in the divine nature." Now there are some words that can keep you busy at night meditating on them. That we may participate in the divine nature. Become like God. In order for us to become like God, he had to become like us and take on this flesh and blood existence. And this plan was in God's mind before the creation of the world. It says in Romans 8:29, "For those whom God foreknew he predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." It was God's plan from the beginning that Jesus would be the firstborn brother of a family of brothers and sisters, all of us conformed to his image, that we would be like Jesus. This is what we're predestined for in Jesus. And it's a beautiful thing. And so Hebrews 2 reverses the whole thing and says, what Jesus had to do to make that happen? In order for that to happen, he had to leave his father's throne and then come down to that stable in Bethlehem and take on flesh and blood. II. So Jesus Can Die And so he took on this existence and he did it so that he could die. These are the reasons for the incarnation. "Since the children have flesh and blood he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy" the devil. Jesus did it so he could die. You should just marvel at the courage and love of that. He entered the world with his eyes open. Now, of course, once a baby had to learn many things. But before he took on human flesh, he knew very well, he was doing it to die. Now, the Hebrew word for flesh, word is "basar." It's used of both man and beast. We're very similar to the beasts. It says in Genesis 2:7, "The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." Later in that same chapter, Genesis 2:19, it says, "Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and the birds of the air." Both of us are formed out of the ground. We're very much like each other in this fleshly nature, flesh is muscle, sinews, intestines, vital organs, brains, those kinds of things. And we are very much like the animals in that regard. It also means we're mortal. We can die. Our flesh can decay in this sin cursed world, not much different than deer that are dying by the side of the road and decaying. So it is with our bodies as well. Mortal bodies. The focus though in the verse is actually on blood, it reverses it. It's interesting that NIV puts it back in the normal order, flesh and blood. But it's actually blood and flesh in the Greek. The emphasis is really on blood. And I think in two senses, one in terms of kinship, family. It says in Act 17:26, in the King James Version it says, "And God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth." We are all of one blood, we're of one race together. And so, Jesus had to partake in that race. He had to be of the same blood as us. But I think even more significant is the fact that that blood had to be poured out for sin to be forgiven. He had to have blood in order to shed the blood for our sins. Blood for Atonement It says in Leviticus 17:11, "For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar. It is the blood that makes atonement for one's life." Hebrews later will say in Hebrews 9:22, "without the shedding of blood there's no forgiveness." For us to be forgiven, Jesus had to come on from heaven to earth and have blood flowing in his blood vessels, so that he could shed his blood for us. He came to die. And so it says in Romans 3:25, it was Christ whom God put forward as a propitiation. We'll talk more about that in just a moment, but he put forward as a propitiation by his blood. Propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. I think there's also a focus here in Jesus' humanity on suffering. He took on blood and flesh so that he could share in our suffering. The pain that we go through, the pain that all of us endures. No one makes it through here unscathed, friends. We all go through pain and suffering, and Jesus, in order to become a merciful and faithful high priest had to do it too. He had to go through suffering. And so, he goes through the pain of weariness. Think about Jesus sitting by the Samaritan well, where the woman is about to come, weary as he was from his journey or picture him asleep in the back of the boat on the cushion. He's tired. Or you think about the pain of thirst, how Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink. And why did he do it? Well, first and foremost, he was thirsty. And secondly, he wanted to save her. And then on the cross, he cries out in fulfillment of scripture, but just out of his bodily needy, he cries out, I thirst. He was thirsty. He was also hungry. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights in the desert, it says in Matthew 4, in one of the great understatements, Jesus was hungry. That he was hungry. He went through all the pain that we do. He goes through the pain of temptation, which is I think the point of the passage here in verse 18, Jesus "suffered when he was tempted." And so he's able help those who are going through that kind of suffering. He knows what fleshly temptation is like. The pain of injury, the flogging that the Roman soldiers gave to him, ripping his back to shreds and certainly, ultimately, the pain of death by crucifixion. Jesus took on flesh and blood so that he could suffer. The atonement could not be worked for us without death. Jesus came into the world to save the children from death. From the very beginning of our sin, there's a link between sin and death. Genesis 2:17, God said, "You may eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For when you eat of it, you will surely die." That is the death penalty, and it was linked to disobedience, transgression of God's law from the very beginning. We know that the wages of sin is death. And if Jesus is going to save us, he must die. He must die. He must take on that death penalty. And so, we have in verse 17, propitiation. Propitiation by death. Look at verse 17, "Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people." Now, some of the translations are going to give you atonement there. They do that to reason with us that we don't know the word propitiation, or most people don't know it. Can I tell you? No one is born knowing the word propitiation. Everybody has to study and learn it at some point. If you don't presently know what the word propitiation means, this is your happy day. God has brought you here to learn that word. And not just so you can impress your friends with your knowledge of theology, but so that you can understand your salvation. What is propitiation? Propitiation has to do with the turning aside of the wrath of God by the shedding of a blood sacrifice. That God's wrath is averted because blood was shed on our behalf. That's what propitiation's all about. Now earlier in last century, liberal theologians thought that the idea of propitiation was far too pagan for the noble high-minded religion of the Bible, which they were crafting or re-crafting. They figured the idea of an angry deity who is then appeased by blood sacrifices is clearly pagan and having nothing to do with the high-minded religion of the Bible so they wanted to do away with it. So they started re-translating the words giving you things like expiation, other things like that. But they were trying to get away from propitiation because it offended them that God would ever be seen to be angry with us. Surely God is never angry with us. We may be angry with God, but he's never angry with us. Friend, that's just not biblical. God's passionate reaction to our sin is wrath, it's anger. He is angry about sin. And he does avert his own wrath by the shedding of the blood of Jesus. That's called propitiation. And so this idea of propitiation, it is a pagan idea. I don't think it originated with the pagans. I think it originated with animal sacrifice that God established at the very beginning after Adam and Eve sinned. God originated it, but then the pagan religions twisted it and perverted it. You know the story in the Trojan War Legend, JI Packer tells us this of Prince Paris, that he carried off Princess Helen to Troy and the Greeks were going to send their army and go rescue Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships. They're going to get her back and they're led by their general, Agamemnon. The problem is, that Poseidon apparently, perhaps with some other of his cohort gods or goddesses, is sending contrary winds and the fleet can't get underway. What does Agamemnon do? He calls for his precious daughter and sacrifices her to the gods. Packer, I think tongue-in-cheek, said the move paid off and the wind subsided and they were able to go. So JI Packer talks about this idea of pagan propitiation. He says this is how it works, There are various gods, none enjoying absolute dominion, but each with some power to make life easier or harder for you. Their temper is uniformly uncertain; they take offense at the smallest things—or they get jealous because they feel you are paying too much attention to other gods and other people and not enough to themselves, and then they take it out on you by manipulating circumstances to your heart. "The only course at that point is to humor and mollify them by an offering. The rule with offerings is the bigger the better, for the gods are inclined to hold out for something sizeable. In this they are cruel and heartless, but they have the advantage, so what can you do? The wise person bows to the inevitable and makes sure to offer something impressive enough to produce the desired result. Human sacrifice, in particular, is expensive but effective. Thus pagan religion appears as a callous commercialism, a matter of managing and manipulating your gods by cunning bribery. And within paganism propitiation, the appeasing of celestial bad tempers, takes its place as a regular part of life, one of the many irksome necessities that one cannot get on without." - In My Place Condemned He Stood, 29-30). Well, that's pagan propitiation. That's not what happened with Jesus. But I tell you this, God had an aggressive wrath against our sin and he appeased that wrath in only one way, by the shedding of Jesus' blood. Hence, the word propitiation in verse 17. JI Packer said, "If I could sum up the New Testament message in three words, sum the whole thing up and get as much as I could into three words, it would be this: Adoption by propitiation." And that's what we have in the text. We are the children of God. We have been adopted by his grace. We are in his family. How could it be that sinners like us could be adopted as his sons and daughters? Only by one way. By the propitiation that came through the blood of Jesus. Adoption by propitiation, friends, is the gospel. The biggest problem of an unbeliever's life has nothing to do with their finances, has nothing to do with their health, nothing to do with their marriage, nothing to do with their sin habits even. The biggest problem of an unbeliever's life is the wrath of God against them for their sin. In John 3:36, it says, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. But whoever rejects the Son will not see life for God's wrath remains on him." Though he or she may not feel it at all. They may be just going through the ups and downs of their everyday life not feeling at all that the biggest problem of their life is the wrath of God. Let me give you an illustration. Let's say there's a wealthy couple on the Titanic on a certain night, in 1912. And they're in their expensive luxury berth and they're having an argument; they're going back and forth. They are really getting heated up, they're really focused on their own position, they want to win the argument when suddenly there's a lurch and a screeching sound and all that, and then nothing more after that. What was that? They look at each other. I don't know. Anyway, like I was saying and off they go. And they continue their argument little knowing that their biggest problem is the gash along the side of the ship and the thousands, even hundreds of thousands of gallons of sea water that at that moment are pouring into that doomed ship. So I think that the ship was doomed before everyone on board knew it was doomed. And so it is with us with the wrath of God. The biggest danger of your life, if you're an unbeliever, is the wrath of God against you. You may not see it, you may not feel it. But I'm here as a messenger of the gospel to proclaim it, that God has an aggressive wrath against sin, and if you do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior, that wrath will come down on you for eternity in hell. But God sent his Son who took on flesh and blood, that he might die as a propitiation for the wrath of God, that he might avert the wrath of God and take it away completely from you, so that you can be free from it forever. And that is the essence of our freedom from slavery to fear of death. We don't fear it anymore because the wrath of God has been removed. So can I just plead with you if you're here in an unsafe state. I don't know who you are. I don't know your hearts. I can't read your minds. I don't know how it stands with you and God. But if you're an unbeliever, the wrath of God is your great danger. Flee to Christ. Come to Christ. He is your only your hope, the only possibility of salvation. This is the propitiation that's proclaimed plainly here. III. So Jesus Can Destroy the Devil and Death; Jesus took on flesh and blood so that he might propitiate the wrath of God, and so that He could destroy the devil and the fear of death that plagues us. Look at verse 14, "So that by His death, He might destroy him who holds the power of death," that is the devil. So here we have in some marvelous, mysterious way, a contest between Christ and the devil. Jesus versus the devil. What I would call an infinitely unequal fight. Amen? Infinitely unequal. But there it is. Christ is pitted against the devil here. Hebrews 1 has already proclaimed that Jesus is greater than any angel. It seems possible that Satan was the greatest of all the angels. Filled with his own arrogance and pride, he decided to try take God's place in heaven. He led a rebellion of some of the other angels, they fought in heaven. Michael the archangel and his angels fought, and Satan lost and he was cast down to the earth. I believe all that happened before God made Adam and Eve. Put Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, made them king and queen of the worlds and put them on larger heads with Satan who thought he was king of the world. Satan, I believe was, in some mysterious way, brought to the tree to be judged. But instead he co-opted the whole trial, the court trial turned the thing around, drew in Adam and Eve into his rebellion, and we came under his thrall. We became slaves of sin and death. And so Satan in some way held the power of death. How did he hold it? Well, Jesus said in John 8:44, "He [the devil] was a murderer from the beginning. Not holding to the truth for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language for he's a liar and the father of lies." So you have to unravel that to figure it out. Satan holds the power of death through his lies, leading to our sin, leading to the death penalty of the judgment of God's law. That's how it works. He uses God's law against us to kill us. And he does that by lying to us. It's lies, sin, death. That's how he holds the power of death. 1 Corinthians 15:56 says "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law." What does Satan do? He lies to you. He entices you. Baits you to sin. And then once you've committed sin, he turns around and gets all righteous on you and points the finger and says, "You sinner." And accuses you before the judgement seat of God based on your sin and seeks to use God's law against us to kill us. It would have been effective except for Jesus who stepped in and took the death penalty and crushed to use Satan's own weapon, death, against him by dying in our place. How Christ’s Death Destroys that Power I love the story of David's mighty men. You know how they're all listed and there's just little vignettes about each one. I want to choose one of them though, Benaiah, son of Jehoiada. Speaking of him, he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. Stop right there. What courage does that take? Here's this huge Egyptian with a spear, he's like, "Anybody have a club? It's all I need today." But he goes against this man and listen to what it says, "He snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear." Amen! You read the same thing in Habakkuk 3. Just look it up this afternoon. With his own spear, he was killed. Satan was killed by death, because Jesus died. Amen? And so He destroyed the devil. And in that way, made Satan's own future in the lake of fire certain. The devil knows that his time is short. He's filled with rage because of it. There's nothing that can change it for surely it's not angels he helps. No fallen angel's going to be saved by the death of Jesus, not one. Satan has no redeemer. Satan has no atoning sacrifice. There is no gospel for Satan or any of the fallen angels that fell with him. They're all lost forever. Do you see the grace of God to us that there even is a gospel for us? But He has come, Jesus, to destroy the devil and his works, and He's snatched from the devil the keys of death and Hades. Amen? Revelation 1:18 says, "I am the living one, I was dead and behold, I'm alive forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and Hades." Jesus has the keys. It is Jesus' to kill and it is Jesus' to raise to life, even eternal life. He holds the keys of death and Hades. And so therefore, He can free us from fear of death. Look at verse 15, "And free those, who all their lives, were held in slavery by their fear of death." The greatest bondage there is, is bondage to sin. Bondage to sin. And Jesus says, "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin. But if the Son sets you free," What? "You will be free indeed." Amen. Free indeed. And what was the nature of our bondage? Well, Ephesians 2 says, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you follow the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time. Gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature, our flesh, and fulfilling its lust and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But God, because of His great love for us, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved." That is our salvation. We were in bondage to sin, and therefore, in bondage to fear of death. Not everybody's equally afraid of death, some people just because they're young and strong and vigorous and ignorant and haven't been to many funerals, they ain't scared. I've seen the bumper stickers. "I fear nothing." Look, God can make you afraid. We are flesh and blood. What are we? We ought to be afraid of death apart from Christ. I was reading recently a little biography of Howard Hughes, the billionaire aviator. I don't think I've ever seen a man so afraid to die as this man. He was especially afraid to die of infection. He was mortally afraid of germs so he spent the last few years of his life lying naked in hotel rooms that have been sanitized with tissue boxes on each feet. He gave special instructions to his staff on how to prepare canned peaches. Yes, that's right, prepare canned peaches. You had to take the label off, you had to scour the can until fresh metal showed. You had to basically grind the can down. Disinfect the can, and then you had to open it and pour the contents, the peaches into a bowl without the can touching the bowl. Can touches bowl, I ain't eatin' peaches. He lived in mortal fear of dying by disease. I say he's dead already. That's no life. He lived in bondage to fear of death, and there are all different versions of that bondage, all different versions. Jesus came to set us free. And no Christian ought to live anything like that at all. Don't be afraid of death. We'll get to that in a moment. But Jesus frees us forever from fear of death. Many Christians have lived boldly unafraid of death. Boldly unafraid. Think of Stephen in Acts 7. Stephen gives that incredible sermon, that awesome message. Sanhedrin didn't like it very well. Actually, they were incensed by it, they were enraged. So they wanted to kill him. And with murderous intent, they get up out of their seats to start to rush at him. "But Stephen," it says, "full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 'Look,' he said, 'I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." At this, they covered their ears and yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him." I tell you in a very beautiful way, different than Howard Hughes, Stephen was already gone. He was already in heaven. Wasn't dead yet but they're stoning him, they're killing him and he says, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And then one last thing, one last thing he says, "Lord, please do not lay this sin to their charge." Just like Jesus, and off he goes. Awesome. Many saints have testified that they no longer fear death at all. Charles Spurgeon says that he knows saints that actually talked to death, they say, "I will not fear you death, why should I? You look like a dragon but your sting is gone." For these saints, says Spurgeon, "To die has been so different a thing from what they expected it to be, so light, so joyous. They have been so unloaded of all care. They felt so relieved instead of burdened. They've wondered whether this could be the monster that they had been afraid of all their days. They find it to be a pin's prick when they feared it would be a sword thrust. It is the shutting of the eye on earth and the opening of the eye in heaven." Thomas Goodwin, a Puritan pastor said this, he was laying on his death bed, he said, "Ah! Is this dying? How have I dreaded as an enemy this smiling friend." Charles Wesley, quoting a Psalm, said, "I shall be satisfied with thy likeness." Satisfied. Satisfied. He just kept saying that over and over. Satisfied. William Everett said just one word for 25 minutes over and over, "Glory, glory, glory." Do you feel that they're already there in some mysterious way, that the deposit through the Holy Spirit had been amply poured out on them at that moment? Poured out on them and they were already in heaven? Every time a child of God dies like that crisis, already one yet another marvelous victory over fear of death. IV. So Jesus Can Take Hold of Abraham’s Descendants So, Jesus took on flesh and blood so that he could die, so that he could destroy the devil and death, so that he could free us from fear of death, so that he could take hold of Abraham's descendants. I'm not going to say much about this except I'm going to tell you he doesn't do this for everybody. He doesn't save everybody. We don't believe in universal atonement. We don't believe in universal salvation. There are going to be some people in hell and they ought to fear death right through it and on, and they will when they see what's coming. But it's Abraham's descendants he helps. This is a covenant salvation. And we, whether Jew or Gentile, who follow our Father Abraham's footsteps of faith, who trust in God's promises the way Abraham did, who believe in him and it's credited to him as righteousness, we are adopted into Abraham's spiritual family and he's become for us a spiritual father. We are descendants of Abraham by faith. Galatians 3 makes this very plain. It says, "You are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ." He says if you belong to Christ then you're Abraham's seed, that means Abraham's descendants and heirs according to the promise. You are adopted children of Abraham by faith. Those are the ones he helps. And you know what helps means here? Literally, the Greek word is to grasp or take hold of as if you're drowning. Surely it's not angels he grabs and saves, but it's Abraham's descendants. I picture exact same Greek word, Peter walking on water, remember, seeing the wind and the waves, looks around and beginning to sink cries out, "Lord, save me." And Jesus saves us as we cry out for help, reaches down and takes hold of us. V. So Jesus Can Be a Merciful and Faithful High Priest So, Jesus took on flesh and blood so that he could die, so that he could destroy the devil and death, so that he could free us from death, so that he could take hold of Abraham's descendants, so he can be for us a merciful and faithful high priest. Look at verse 17, "For this reason, he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God and that he might make propitiation for the sins of the people." Now, this is the first time in the Book of Hebrews that Jesus' priestly ministry is mentioned. It will be abundantly unfolded for us in later chapters so I'm not going to say much about it here. I'm just going to tell you, Jesus is both merciful and faithful. Merciful horizontally to us and faithful to God. He is merciful to you, friends. He shows a great mercy and tenderness and compassion to you. And this is getting right to the pastoral application. He is tender towards you as you suffer. VII. So Jesus Can Help Those Suffering in Temptation And so therefore, the final point is, though Jesus can help those suffering in temptation, this is the point of it all, look at verse 18, "because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." You already knew it but I'm going to say that based on this text, temptation produces suffering. You already knew that, didn't you? Have any of you ever suffered temptation? It is a bitter thing. Hence, in the Lord's prayer, we ask to avoid it, lead us not into temptation, because it produces suffering. But if you want to live a holy life in this, world you must resolve to suffer. You must resolve to suffer the temptation. It says when you say no to ungodliness, it hurts. It's hard to change your habits. Think of a dieter who has come to the conclusion that he or she needs to lose a significant amount of weight but they're in really, really bad food habits. They've made an idol of food for decades. Their stomachs probably physically too large. And when they reduce their calorie intake and they are sticking to their diet, I tell you, it is physically painful to say no. Amen? Physically painful. But so it is for all sins. You may be in the habit of gossip or slander, and the Lord's convicted you, that you don't want to lay someone low, throw them under the bus. They may have been unkind to you but you don't want to say things about them behind their back anymore. You don't want to assassinate their character. But you have these habits. And somebody, let's say, is mean to you, they're unkind. And then you've got a sympathetic ear and it's just so comfortable and you're just talking about the things that have been happening to you recently and then... Ugh, no, I'm not going to say anything, I'm not. To God be the glory, I'm going to say no. That is suffering temptation. To stand firm. Somebody addicted to Internet pornography, they've had habits in this, I've done counseling in this area. And they want to make the change, they know it's destroying their life. They want to make the change. When the time has come to fight the battle, they have to suffer the temptation. Jesus knows what it's like to suffer temptation. He sweat great drops of blood to not give in to the temptation of saying no to his Father. He knows what it's like. He's been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. I have a bunch of applications, I'm going to throw them all out. There's just one I want to give you. I want to get to the application of this. The Hebrew Christians were being tempted to turn their backs on Jesus. You know why? Because their Jewish friends and neighbors and relatives and rabbis were putting pressure on them, hurting them, confiscating things from them, taking things from their lives. And so they were needing to stand firm in a time of temptation and testing. And the author here, you know what he's doing in these verses? He's giving them Jesus at that moment. When you are being tempted, call Jesus into that moment. Have Jesus' hand reach down like he did for Peter and pull you up. That's what its all about. The hymn, we were riding back from a wedding yesterday and we were doing our family devotion in the car, I was like, "Sing a hymn." Alright "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." That's the one I chose cause it was in my mind. "All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. O what peace we often forfeit. O what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Listen to the second verse, have we trials and what? Temptations. Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. That's what this text is about. A merciful and faithful high priest who took on flesh and blood, who died on the cross to deliver you from fear of death, to give you a promise of eternal life, and then stand with you in the fight for holiness. Call on him to be holy. Close with me in prayer.

I. Classical Illustrations: Propitiation in Action We continue in our study in Romans and we are going to be looking, again, at Romans 3:21-26, what I call, "The glowing heart of the center of the Gospel." Now, last time, we looked at justification, the way that God declares us, we who are sinners, declares us to be righteous on judgment day. He gives us a righteousness that is not ours by faith, a righteousness from Jesus Christ, and He will not count our sins against us. That's incredibly good news and it's described right here: Justification. Today, we're going to talk about propitiation. You may have no idea what propitiation is, but when we get done today, I hope you will. You will understand propitiation, the removal of the wrath of God from us, the wrath that we rightly deserve for our sins, the removal through faith in Christ. And next time, we're going to talk about demonstration, namely, how God's justice is demonstrated in the cross. Justification, propitiation, and demonstration; these three sermons on the focus of our faith. Romans 3:21-26. Beginning at Verse 21, it says, "But now, a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance, He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." Propitiation. In order to begin to get a handle of it, I'd like to go back to 400 years, 400 years before the birth of Christ, in Greece. There was a philosopher there named Socrates. I'm sure you've heard of him. Socrates, one of the greatest philosophers in human history, gathered around him a number of young disciples and was teaching them his philosophies, many of which are still with us today. And as he did this, he went on, and started to accumulate some enemies, powerful enemies in the city council where he was. And before long, he was dragged before them, and there was a trial, and he was accused of teaching false doctrines, and using those false doctrines to pervert the young people that he was teaching. The trial went on, and his enemies prevailed, and he was declared guilty, and through a turn of events, he was sentenced to death. Death, for him, meant that he would have to drink poison; he'd have to drink a cup of hemlock. And when the day came for him to do that, he had his disciples with him. He had to drink it before the sun went down, and his disciples were gathered around him, and they were begging him to not drink it, but that rather, he should escape from the city. They would help him to escape. Others had escaped and there was no careful guard over him. It was considered a matter of honor that he would drink this hemlock, and so he really didn't have to do it, he could escape. He said, "No." He was actually very happy to do it. He had no fear of death, whatsoever. He just wanted to spend his final hours teaching his disciples, making the most of the time. So he did that, and when the time came, without any fear, without any hesitation, he drank that cup of hemlock down, and died. Now, if you take that and contrast it with Matthew 26, the Garden of Gethsemane, we see quite a difference. Here in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, and it says, "Then Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane and He said to them, 'Sit here, while I go over there and pray.' He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with Him, and He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then He said to them, 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.' Then going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup be taken away, yet not as I will, but as you will.'" He prayed that same prayer three times. He said, "Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away, unless I drink it, may your will be done." And He prayed with such great earnestness, and such great zeal, that Luke tells us that drops of blood fell from His forehead to the ground. Some people have hypothesized that the intensity and the pressure in the Garden of Gethsemane was so great, that the little blood vessels right below the surface of the skin were bursting from the pressure. Whether that's true or not, you can see the intensity and the pressure in the Garden of Gethsemane, as He faced a cup. Now, as I set these two stories side by side, I get puzzled, in a way. I say, "Here's Socrates, and with no fear at all, he just drinks this cup right down." And then we've got Jesus in Gethsemane, and there's a cup, and He is shrinking from it. He's overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. And I would say, "What's the difference? Was Jesus not a man of courage?" Oh, I would say, "There's never been anyone with the courage of Jesus Christ." I think, actually, Gethsemane proves it. Jesus had the most courage of any man that ever lived, and if you look at the Gospel of John, and all the times that He faced opposition, did He ever, once, shrink from telling somebody the truth, because He was afraid? Never once. He was the consummate man of courage. Then what's going on here in Gethsemane? Well, I would say the difference between those two stories, is the difference in the content of the cups. In Socrates' cup, was physical death, but in Jesus' cup, was the wrath of God, and there's a big difference between the two. I believe that Jesus drank a cup of God's wrath for us, and He drank it to its dregs, and He knew very well that that's what He was doing. It was not death He was afraid of; it was the wrath of God. Second story I would use to illustrate this, also comes from Greece. You've heard of Homer, he wrote "The Iliad." "The Iliad" was a story of a war over Helen of Troy. You remember that story, the face that sailed a thousand ships. She was so beautiful that the Greeks went after her to get her, and as they embarked, they ran into some difficulties. I'd like to read an account of this story from JI Packer's book, "Knowing God." "Prince Paris had carried off Princess Helen to Troy. The Greek expeditionary force had taken ship to recover her, but was held up halfway by persistent contrary winds. Agamemnon, the Greek General, sent home for his daughter and ceremonially slaughtered her as a sacrifice, to mollify the evidently hostile gods. The move paid off; west winds blew again, and the fleet reached Troy without further difficulty. This bit of the Trojan War legend, which dates from about 1000 BC, mirrors an idea of propitiation, on which Pagan religion all over the world and in every age has been built. The idea is as follows. There are various gods, none enjoying absolute dominion, but each one with some power to make life easier or harder for you. Their temper is uniformly uncertain. They take offense at the smallest things. They get jealous, because they feel that you're paying too much attention to other gods, and other people, and not enough to themselves. And then they take it out on you, by manipulating circumstances to your hurt. The only course, at that point, is to humor and mollify them by an offering. The rule with offerings is, the bigger the better, for the gods are inclined to hold out for something sizable. In this, they are cruel and heartless, but they have the advantage, so what can you do? The wise person bows to the inevitable, and makes sure to offer something impressive enough to provide, or to produce the desired result. Human sacrifice, in particular, is expensive, but effective. Thus, Pagan religion appears as a callous commercialism, a matter of managing and manipulating your gods by cunning bribery. And within Paganism, propitiation, the appeasing of celestial bad tempers, takes its place as a regular part of life, one of the many irritating necessities that one cannot get on without. Now, Packer goes on to say that the gods of the Greeks, like gods in Pagan religions all over the world, behave a lot more like Hollywood movie stars, than like the God of the Bible. They bicker, and they complain, and they have little feuds with one another. And in this way, we begin to think, or get the idea that, propitiation must be about as far removed from true faith, and from true Christianity, as we can imagine. But the shocking thing is, propitiation's at the center of what happened at the cross. Paul puts it right here in Verse 25, that, "God presented Him as a propitiation." The Greek word, 'hilastérion,' a propitiation, a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God. And so we need to come to understand this message. We need to come to understand how propitiation, the removal of the wrath of God through Christ, is accomplished. II. Controversy: Is God a God of Wrath? And on this, we are in in somewhat of a controversy. Liberal theology denies that God has any wrath whatsoever against sin, no wrath, no anger. Basic assumption of liberal theology, in terms of the disagreement, or the problem between God and man, is that it's all a misunderstanding. If we would just know how loving God is toward all of us, how willing He is to accept us back, how gracious, and loving, and forgiving He is, then all would be well. So the real change that needs to occur is in us. We have to somehow understand this message that God is a God of love and we need to come back to Him. In this way, humanity's sins do not alienate God at all. He's not concerned about that. He's big enough to overlook all that, certainly, not angry about it. We just need to come back to God. And therefore, the cross ends up being some kind of an example of God's love, or some kind of a moral influence to win our hearts over to Him. If we just look at the love of God in the cross, our hard hearts will be broken, we'll see that God is a God of love, and we'll just come back to Him. Is that Christianity? I would say it's not, because God is, in fact, a passionate being. And yes, He loves people. He loves them with a love you can't even measure or imagine. It's a powerful love, it's a strong love, but God loves more than just people. He also loves righteousness, He loves holiness, He loves His law, He loves commands, He loves obedience, and He created us for His glory, as we have seen. We were created for the glory of God, and when we take the glory of God, and remove it from the center of our lives, and put some earthly idol there, God is angry about that. He's a passionate being, and there is, in fact, a great deal of wrath in God's dealing with human beings, and their sin. Now, you have seen, perhaps, a bumper sticker or something, saying "Guess who moved?" The faulty line of reasoning works this way: If there's a separation between you and God, “guess who moved?” The implication is that God never moves, that He loves you all the time, that it’s you who've moved away from God. They say if you just know that God loves you and you just come back... Well, that's true for a Christian…But a problem arises when the idea is extended to the whole world. They say, “God never moved, He's always loved us, and this way, there needed to be no change in God for our salvation, no rectification on His end. He's ready any time, if we would just come back to Him.” Well, all of this swirling discussion in the 20th Century started to bear its fruit in Bible translations, and in 1936, one particular man, CH Dodd, focused on a word that we have here in Verse 25, just look down at it. Romans 3:25, "God presented him as," NIV gives us, "Sacrifice of atonement," with a little footnote. Footnote says, "One who would turn aside His wrath, taking away sin." They avoided the word 'propitiation,' because they figured that nobody knows what it means. Other translations, King James has 'propitiation' in there, but as they were writing new English translations, they wanted to understand it theologically properly, so they thought. And CH Dodd said this, "The meaning conveyed here is that of expiation, not propitiation." Well, I would contend that just as many people know the word 'expiation,' as know 'propitiation.' It's equally difficult, so you haven't really gained anything there. But the real issue is not the word, the issue is the meaning behind the word, because what Dodd is doing is, he's changing the translation theologically. Now, that's a problem, especially when we're in the glowing heart of the Gospel, as I contend we are. Shortly thereafter, after Dodd's work, the RSV…You pick up an RSV and look at Romans 3:25, you will see the word 'expiation,' instead of 'propitiation.' Dodd himself was the chief translator of the New English Bible in 1961. Guess what word he put in Romans 3:25? 'Expiation.' You say, "What's the big deal?" There is a big deal. 'Expiation,' basically means cleaning or cleansing from sin, a cleansing, a purification from sin, covering, putting away, rubbing out sin, so that it's no longer an obstacle of fellowship between man and God. 'Expiation' is, in fact, cleansing. 'Propitiation' is all of that, plus the removal of the wrath that has come, as a result of that alienation. So what did Dodd leave out? The wrath. He said, "It doesn't exist. God is not a God of wrath." And so they changed from 'expiation' to 'propitiation.' John Owen’s Four Points in Propitiation Now, a Puritan theologian, John Owen, said that there's four points in propitiation, four things that we're looking for. 1. There has to be an offense that is taken away. 2. There has to be a person offended who needs to be pacified. 3. A person guilty of the offense. 4. Some kind of sacrifice or means to accomplish the atonement. And all four are there in the cross of Christ. Is there an offense to be taken away? Is there an end to the offenses to be taken away, immense quantity of sin to be removed? Is there a person offended who needs to be mollified? Yes, God. God is offended by sin. He is Holy and He needs to be pacified. Is there a person guilty of the offense? Oh, yes, if you'll admit it, if you'll come and recognize that you need a Savior. Oh, yes, there's a person that needs to be forgiven. And is there a sacrifice, or a means for the removal of the wrath? Yes, His name is Jesus Christ. It's all there and that is the heart of the Gospel. Now, what is this word 'atonement?' If you ever look at the word 'atonement' and pull it apart, what would you get? You'd get a little prefix 'at,' what's the next word? 'One,' and then that 'ment' ending, which means the way by which we can become at one with who? With God, right? That's what 'atonement' is. It's at-one-ment. We were separated from God and we needed to be brought to Him. This is 'atonement,' at-one-ment. And we are estranged from God, because of our sin, apart from Christ. Isaiah put it this way, in Isaiah 59:1 and following, "Surely, the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear, but your iniquities have separated you from God and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." You see, there is a problem on God's side, He won't hear. And why? Because of the sin. "For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt, your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things." God is, in fact, offended with sin. He's greatly angered by it. And I would contend that, for a non-Christian, for an unbeliever, somebody who has not come to faith in Christ, the wrath of God constitutes the biggest problem in their life. Whether they feel it or not, it is the biggest problem, the biggest threat in their life. III. Clear Biblical Doctrine: God’s Wrath a Past, Present and Future Reality Imagine if you lived, for example, in the ancient city of Sodom or Gomorrah. You wake up in the morning, and you've been having some marital problems, squabbling with your wife, and you've got kids that are rebelling, and it's just not going the way you want, and your job is not the kind of job you want, and you feel a sense of purposelessness to your life. If only you could just have... Just some purpose, some meaning to your life. Nowadays, when we preach the Gospel, Jesus comes and does all those things for you. You see? He'll create harmony in your home. He will give you a sense of purpose. He will, perhaps, help you with your training of your children. He'll help you at the job, all of these earthly benefits. I don't deny any one of them, but is that what that resident of Sodom needs the most that day? No, he needs the removal of the wrath of God; that's his biggest problem. Suppose he worked things out with his wife. Suppose he suddenly realized that his job had meaning and there was a purpose to his life, would all be well with him? No, he's got a big problem, though he knows it not. The wrath of God; it must be removed. And I'm saying to you today, "It is removed, but it is removed only in one place: The cross of Jesus Christ. The wrath of God is removed in the cross of Christ." Now, God's wrath is plainly a Biblical doctrine. I don't really have any idea how anyone can read through the Bible and not understand that God has wrath against sin. There are over 20, in the Old Testament, over 20 different Hebrew words used for God's anger or wrath, over 20. And if you take all of those, and add up all the times that God expresses wrath, you're at 580 occurrences, 580. Now, I've often said that, "People treat the Bible like Kroger or Winn-Dixie." You get your cart, and you just walk through, and you just see what you want. You just see what you want. You want a little of this, a little of that, and put it in your cart. Now, everything in the cart, is it from the Bible? Well, yeah, the love of God, His favor, His grace, and mercy, and forgiveness, those are there. But there's other things that you left up on the shelf, they're there too. And I don't know how you can walk through the Bible, and miss this one: 580 occurrences. Our God is a God of wrath. He hates, and He's angry about it, and He must be pacified. It is a great danger to us. I don't need to quote illustrations from the Old Testament, just read the stories. Read the story of Korah, and Dathan, and Abiram, who led a revolt against Moses, and the Earth swallowed them up. Did Moses make the Earth open up? Did Moses have that kind of power? Isaiah described it this way, Isaiah 30:27-28, "See, the name of the Lord comes from afar with burning anger, dense clouds of smoke. His lips are full of wrath. His tongue is a consuming fire. His breath is like a rushing torrent rising up to the neck. He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction." The past reality of God's wrath, it's back there, just read the history. It's in the Bible; it's back there. It's also a present reality, although we don't have the interpretive skill to say, "This was the wrath of God," or, "This was." Psalm 7:11, it says, "God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses His wrath every day." And Psalm 38:3, David put it this way, "Because of your wrath, there's no health in my body. My bones have no soundness, because of my sin." But even greater, is the wrath to come, the future wrath. Colossians 3:6, "Because of these sins, the wrath of God is coming." It's coming, just like it came on Sodom. It's coming and you must be ready. There is a place of safety from the wrath of God; you must find it by faith. Now, what is the cause of God's wrath? It's always the same. What is it? What causes the wrath of God? Sin. Sin, unrighteousness. Amos 1 and 2, just look at Amos 1 and 2, "For three sins of Judah, and even for four, I will not turn back my wrath." Sin brings God's wrath. God’s Wrath is His “Alien Task” And yet, I will say this, that God's expressions of wrath, He calls His 'alien task.' It's alien to His central core nature. I'm not making the attributes of God argue against one another. Where there is sin, God responds with wrath and with justice. But sin is alien, isn't it? Isn't sin an interloper, an intruder into the universe that God made? As sin is alien, so also is the wrath of God alien to His original purpose. Isaiah 28:21, speaks of it this way, "The Lord will rise up, as He did at Mount Perazim. He will rouse Himself, as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and perform His task, His alien task." That's what I'm talking about. Our God is slow to anger, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness. And God does not delight in the death of the wicked. Ezekiel 33:11, "'Say to them, as surely as I live,' declares the Sovereign Lord, 'I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather, that they turn from their ways and live. Turn, turn from your ways. Why will you die, O house of Israel?'" That's coming straight from the heart of God. He is slow to anger and takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God's wrath is so much different than ours. His anger's so different from ours. What makes you angry? Think about it that way. Think of the times you've expressed anger in the last week. Bumper to bumper traffic on Interstate 40, is that true? It's personal annoyance and irritation that produces wrath and anger, isn't that true? When you're put out, standing in line. Let's talk about Kroger: Standing in line, and somebody were to come and cut in front of you, what would you feel, what emotion, at that moment? How would you characterize that emotion? Could we call it anger? Maybe just small anger, so then we call it a different name, irritation. And why? Because you have been inconvenienced. Our anger is nothing like God's, nothing. And that's why we think God can't have wrath. His wrath is just different than ours; it is His passionate response to evil, and it is good, and I'm glad that He has it. I wish that I could get rid of mine, that's unrighteous, but God's anger is perfect. Now, there is nothing we can do, whatsoever, to remove God's wrath. What can you do? Where will you go? What will you use to remove God's wrath? Therefore, God must remove it Himself. God must instruct us how His wrath is to be removed. And in the Old Testament, He does that. Remember they made the Ark of the Covenant? Remember what the Ark was? It was a golden box. And what was inside the box? Well, the 10 Commandments, the stone tablets were in there. And on the top of the box, was an atonement cover, with these cherubim with wings. And at the center, between there, is what was translated in the King James, 'the mercy seat,' the atonement cover. And in that place, God would meet with Israel. He would speak from between the cherubim. He would speak to Moses. Furthermore, the priest would go and pour out the blood of the offering. He'd pour out the blood of the sacrifice on the atonement cover between the cherubim. And so blood atonement for sin was established, and it was poured out there, at that one place. God was instructing on how His wrath could be removed. Leviticus 16, a great chapter. You may think, "What could be in Leviticus, that I'd want to read?" You want to read Leviticus 16 concerning the day of atonement. For there, a bowl was offered for the priest, and the blood was poured out right on that atonement cover. His blood or his sin was atoned for through the blood of that beast. And then there were two goats, you remember? One of them would be slaughtered and the blood again applied to the atonement cover. One of them, however, would be the scapegoat, and the sins would be transferred onto the head of the goat, and he would be taken a distant journey away from Israel, and released. And so, a picture, a beautiful picture, of the separation from Israel and sin. God will separate sin from us, so that His wrath can be removed. It's beautiful. A Threefold Lesson From the Sacrificial System And so we have three lessons, a threefold lesson from the sacrificial system. 1. All sin deserves the death penalty. Well, you couldn't miss that, when you brought your offering and that beast was killed, you knew right away that sin equaled death. It was that way in the Garden of Eden, "The day you eat of it, you'll surely die." Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death." There's a connection between sin and death. 2. The death penalty could be paid for by a substitute. You'd bring your offering and you'd go home that day, you'd eat dinner, you'd go to sleep, you survived; the substitute died. 3. The substitute cannot be an animal. It was just a picture. That's the third lesson, it was just a picture. Can the blood of bulls and goats take away human sin? No, of course not. It pointed ahead to a sacrifice that would work. And what was that sacrifice? Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God. Now, He could do it. He could take away sin. And so God was teaching Israel, and teaching us through Israel, how His anger can be removed, and it's removed by sacrifice. It's removed by blood. IV. Context in Romans Now, that's the context in the Bible. If we look in Romans, we've seen, as we move through Romans 1:2-3, an accumulation of wrath. Have you seen it? We've been picking it up, as we've been going along. Where do we get rid of it? That's the question. We finally get to dump it down here, in the middle of Romans 3, on the cross of Christ. You look at the start, Romans 1:16, it says, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God, for the salvation of everyone who believes." Salvation from what? Verse 18 describes that, "For the wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven, against all ungodliness and wickedness of men." There's a direct connection between Verse 16-17 and Verse 18, We need salvation from the wrath of God. Did you miss that? That's what we need salvation from, from sin and from the wrath of God. And God has a decree, in Romans 1:32, "Even though they know God's righteous decree, that those who do such things deserve death... " The word 'death' is not just physical death, but eternal separation in hell. They not only continue to do those things, but approve of those who practice them. Romans 2:5 talks about the storing up of wrath, "But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you're storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed." In Verse 8, "For those who are self-seeking, who reject the truth and follow evil, there'll be wrath and anger." How can we read this and say that, "God is not a God of wrath?" You can only do it by not reading the Bible. And therefore, if you read this, and come up with a construct in your mind of God who isn't this way, you have made what? An idol. Do you see that? Now, what's the difference between that and somebody in Irian Jaya bowing down to some statue? There is no difference. You become an idolater, a worshipper of a false God. You're saying, "Okay, but this is heavy. What do we do with it?" There is a place for the wrath of God, it's the cross of Christ. There is a place for it. But we don't come at this problem by saying, "There is no wrath. It doesn't exist." It does exist. It's real. And we will see it. In Romans 3:5-6, "But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing His wrath on us?" Is God ever unjust? When He brings His wrath, it's deserved. It's just and it will come. And therefore, in Romans 3:9-20, we see our universal danger. We are under danger from this, because Romans 3:10, "There is no one righteous, no, not one." And so we need a savior, don't we? We need to be saved from the wrath of God. We need to not play games and say, "There isn't wrath." We need to say, "There is wrath and we need a savior." V. Completed Atonement! Four Key Phrases And that salvation is available in Verse 25, "God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance, He'd left the sins committed before Him unpunished." Propitiation. Now, there's four phrases here that explain our salvation. The first, "God publicly displayed Him." The second, "Displayed Him as a propitiation." The third phrase, "Through faith," And the fourth, "In His blood." Each of these four components show us how we are saved. 1. God publicly displayed Him. When did God display Jesus as a propitiation? Well, He did it in space and time, in history, outside the walls of Jerusalem one day. It was a day of Passover, a Friday, and Jesus was nailed to the cross that day, and on that day, His blood was poured out, His hands and feet nailed to wood, and His blood poured out. And there were people watching that, weren't there? There were crowds that passed by and saw it. It was a public thing, a public display. It happened in space and time, in history, and there are records of it; we have them here in the Bible. It actually occurred. Paul put it this way, in Acts 26:26, he said to King Agrippa, "These things were not done in a corner." What does that mean, "These things were not done in a corner"? God didn't tuck His Son away in the middle of a jungle and He died for sin, He did it very publicly, in the middle of everything, in Jerusalem, so everyone could see. It was not done in a corner; it was done obviously, so we could see. "Publicly displayed Him." But He also publicly displayed Him a different way. He publicly displays Jesus Christ as crucified every time some faithful servant of the Word preaches the Gospel. Every time someone gets up and explains this, God, again, publicly displays Jesus Christ. I get that from Galatians 3:1. Paul says there, "Before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified." Well, if you look at a map, you'll see how far Galatia is from Jerusalem. They didn't see it, they weren't there, they weren't standing at the foot of the cross. Well, how then was Jesus publicly displayed before the Galatians as crucified? When Paul preached the Gospel to them. I just put the picture in your mind, didn't I? I talked about the Son of God with His hands stretched out on rough wood, and nailed, hands and feet, and His blood poured out. Do you get a picture in your mind? Doesn't it come into your mind? "Publicly displayed." Now, next week, we're going to talk about the reason for the public display, so that we could see the justice of God, but the display was public. 2. Propitiation The second phrase, we've already talked about, and that is propitiation. The Greek word is 'hilastérion.' There's no missing it; it is a sacrifice which removes the wrath of God. And that's what Jesus is, Jesus absorbed our wrath. There was, as we've been saying all along, a transfer of guilt from us to Jesus, and then the punishment we deserve poured out on Him. God made Him, who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might, in Him, become the righteousness of God. The transfer happened, and then the punishment came down. Jesus knew that would happen; that was the cup in the Garden of Gethsemane, the cup of God's wrath. He knew it would happen. He knew that's exactly what was going on. Isaiah 53 knew as well, "But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds, we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Oh, what blessed verses, that our sin can be lifted from us, the guilt, all that wrath, all of it, and put on Jesus, and extinguished forever. Jesus, therefore, is like a lightning rod, which attracts the lightning bolt and draws it safely away from the one it will protect. He is our lightning rod to attract the wrath of God away from us. Well, I just made an assumption, didn't I? I said, "He is our lighting rod." Is that good for the whole world, if every single solitary person's wrath removed? If so, then there's no hell, right? If the wrath is all gone, then there is no hell. Is there a hell? Oh, yes. Will there be people? Oh, yes. So the wrath is not removed from everyone. Well, who was it removed from? For those who, what? Believe. Those who believe. 3. Through Faith It says, "Through faith." Through faith, we are connected to Him by faith. We are in Christ by faith, by simple trust. Don't bring your good deeds; they have no business being here. Do you think your good deeds can remove the wrath of God? Absolutely not. But by faith alone, we are connected to Jesus, and what a strong connection it is. Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Do you see Paul's connection there by faith? "Jesus died for me. My wrath was poured out on Him; it was my sin that He suffered for, through faith." Are you connected to the propitiation today? Are you connected to the one safe place in all the universe, when the wrath of God will be poured out here? When Heaven and Earth melts away in the heat, will you be safe, because you're connected to Jesus by faith? Oh, I pray so, through faith, simple faith, simple trust. 4. In His Blood The final phrase: "In His blood." He's a propitiation of blood. Now, the blood, I believe, represents life taken violently, life taken by force, life given up. It's not just life itself, but life poured out. And so it says in Exodus 12-13, "The blood will be assigned for you on the houses where you are, [this is the Passover], And when I see the blood, I will pass over you." Leviticus 17:11, "For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I've given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar. It is the blood that makes atonement for one's life." Blood atonement must be poured out. Hebrews 9:22, "Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness." Why? Why is it true that, without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness? Because all sin deserves a death penalty. There must be a death. And the death is paid through Jesus Christ. Jesus' blood represents the full payment of the death penalty for all those whose places He took. Has He paid your death penalty? You have a court date and we knew that. I told you that last time. Hebrews 9:27, "It is appointed for men to die once, and then face judgment." We all have a court date. We had, at least at one time, a death penalty. Have you given it over to Jesus by faith? Has He taken it from you, the wrath paid for by His blood? I pray so. VI. Consequences Consequences of this doctrine: What comes out of this? First of all, human inability. There is nothing you can do to remove the wrath of God. Nothing, it's been done for you already. It's already done. It's already finished, through Jesus Christ. You must believe, simply believe, and you'll receive forgiveness. Second of all, Christ's central purpose. Why did Jesus come? He came to die, this death, the Romans 3:21-26 death. He came for this, for justification, for propitiation, and to demonstrate God's justice. He came for this. He came to drink your cup, and if He drank your cup, is there any left for you? Is there anything left for you to drink from the wrath of God? No, it's gone. The wrath is gone forever. Rejoice and be glad. The wrath of God against you for your sin is gone through your faith in Jesus Christ. There's nothing left. God will save you on the day of wrath. There will be no wrath. You will not drink and you'll not even taste it, an incredible piece of faith. John 20, "On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together with the doors locked, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came, and stood among them, and said, 'Peace be with you.' And after He said that, He showed them His hands, and His side." Why did He do that? This is the price of peace that has been paid. "Peace be with you," He said. No more wrath, at-one-ment. It's been done. No believer in Christ need ever fear the wrath of God. It's totally gone. Jesus drank it to the bottom. Since we have now been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:9, "Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him?" Future salvation, brothers, because the day of wrath has not come yet, but when it comes, you'll be safe. Romans 8:1, "There is, therefore, now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And 1 Thessalonians 1:10, "Jesus rescues us from the coming wrath." Oh, what good news, an incredible peace of faith. But then, the incredible danger of unbelief. Do you see it? Do you see it in this doctrine? The danger of unbelief, the danger to your co-workers, the danger to your unsaved neighbors, the danger to people on the other side of the world who haven't heard of Jesus, the danger of unbelief. Do you see it? And what is the one thing that can rescue us? The Gospel. They must hear; we must tell them. If you don't know for certain that you have come out from under the wrath of God, will you come talk to me after the service? You'll have an opportunity when I finish. God will grant you life, I pray, for a few moments, to bow before Him, and to acknowledge your sinfulness, and simply say, "Lord Jesus, take my sin away. Take my sin away." Don't fail to do that. Let's pray.