The sermon, based on 1 John 2:1-2, emphasizes the role of Jesus Christ as the advocate, propitiation, and Savior of the world. Using the metaphor of a diamond, the speaker illustrates the multifaceted nature of Jesus's work. Jesus is described as the advocate who pleads on behalf of sinners, not based on their merits but on His righteousness. The term 'propitiation' is explained as the satisfaction of God's wrath, achieved through Jesus's sacrifice on the cross. Old Testament illustrations, such as the scapegoat and Zechariah's vision, are used to highlight these concepts. The sermon also discusses the redemption of creation alongside humanity, as Jesus's atonement extends to the whole world. Through Christ's resurrection, believers are assured of no condemnation and are called to live in the light, free from sin.

1 John 2, verses 1 and 2. These are the words of Almighty God. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

May God bless the reading and now the preaching of this, His perfect word. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Children, Children, have you ever looked at a diamond when the light hits it?

I like to do it as a 38 year old. I like for my wife to put her finger up her wedding ring up and the light to hit it and it casts this Brilliant sparkle on the wall. Have you ever seen that? No, oh We need to ask your mom to show her the wedding ring a little bit. Light passes through a prism, light passes through a diamond, it just sparkles city.

I love that. But what happens when you turn the diamond? What happens when you turn it? Even more sparkles, even more brilliance as you move a diamond. You see more of just how brilliant the stone is.

I thought of that when I was reading our passage this week. The Apostle John holds up to you the most brilliant of all brilliant diamonds, more brilliant than any earthly diamond, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he wants you to see just how glorious, just how beautiful, just how brilliant Jesus is. And so he shows you Jesus through three different titles, three different perspectives. He turns the diamond three times and you see, whoa, ooh, ooh, three times, Three times.

He shows you first that Jesus Christ the righteous is your advocate. Then he turns the dime and he says, Jesus Christ the righteous is your propitiation. And then one more time, Jesus Christ the righteous is the Savior of the world. I want you to see that this morning, for that is what John wants you to see. John gives us in these verses a description of Jesus Christ the righteous.

And he wants you to see who Jesus is from three different perspectives. But before he begins with the first title, advocate, he starts in a really precious way. Did you catch the preciousness of the way he begins chapter 2? My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. Before we even begin to turn the diamond of who Christ Jesus is, he begins that way.

My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. Before we even begin to turn the diamond of who Christ Jesus is, he begins that way. My little children I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. Now What are these things that he has been writing to those that he calls his little children? Well, that's talking about 1 John chapter one.

We haven't preached through this book expositionally. We're preaching through this passage in an expositional manner. But what is going on in 1 John chapter 1? These are the things that he's writing to the little children so that they may not sin. And by the way, I know this is referring to all the people in the congregation, but my little children, assuredly that means you little children, You should be in the Lord's day gathering with the Lord's people hearing the Lord's word and believing it just as much as your father And your mother oh you are very welcome when I prayed over Maria May this morning I really meant it that she would come to know Christ, she would never know a day that she didn't know Christ, and that she would trust the promises all the days of her life.

And when she was asked, but then, what about your conversion? She said, I didn't need anything but the Bible to tell me about my conversion. I was dead in my sin, and God made me alive, and he brought me to the water and he brings me to his table Jesus is my Lord and Savior. These truths are for you little boys and girls and big boys and girls. Big ones too.

Now 1 John chapter 1, So what are these things that he's writing to his audience? What are these things that he's referring to? Well, 1 John chapter 1 is all about fellowship with God. Fellowship with God the Father through fellowship with Jesus Christ his Son. Walking with the Father is walking with God the Son.

So John describes with that fellowship what it looks like, fellowship with God, what it looks like in John, in 1st John chapter 1. So just briefly what's going on in 1st John chapter 1. Well first, fellowship with God is not walking in darkness. You walk in the light. You don't get to say with your mouth that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and then stay in the tomb of your sin.

No, to those whom the Son is set free, He has set free indeed. And He says to you, sinner redeemed, come forth out of the tomb, Lazarus, and live free. No longer walk in the darkness but walk in the light the old you is gone Christian and behold he has made you into a new creation fellowship with God is not living like you used to live it's not walking in the darkness but it's walking in the light following Jesus out of the tomb that's what's the first thing he talks about in 1 John chapter 1 with regard to fellowship with God. The second, fellowship with God in chapter 1 is described as confessing your sins. Walking in the light is confessing your sins.

You call sin, what God calls it, evil and damnable. And then, you believe the glorious pardon at the end of chapter 1 that we believed this morning together that if you confess your sins, Almighty God is faithful and righteous to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness for the sake of His Son. We've done that already together in this Lord's Day service. That's 1 John chapter 1. And so John says in chapter 2, my little children, I am writing those things in 1 John chapter one so that you wouldn't sin.

I don't want you to sin. He was a spiritual father, a spiritual giant, an apostle calling his listeners, his children, and he's saying to them, when God called you out of the tomb of your sin, He made you alive. And to walk in the light. And I want you children to walk in the light. Sin is terrible.

Sin is insane. To go back into the darkness, To go back into the tomb is crazy. To try and put back on the shackles that Jesus Christ himself has torn asunder, to try to put those shackles back on and lay back down in the tomb is the essence of insanity. John is saying to you little children, sin is death, sin is misery. I would not have that for you.

I would not have that for you, children, parents. And by the way, parents, this very much ought to be the way that we talk to our children, just like this. Oh, that you would flee from sin and run to Christ, my child, and walk in the light and confess your sins because you don't belong to the darkness anymore. That's how we should pray for our children, speak to our children, Because that's the way that John is talking to you this morning. I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

But if you do, if anyone does sin, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. As theologian Simon Kistermaker put it, quote, the apostle John is fully aware of human frailty and Satan's seductive power. And he stands next to his readers and encourages them in their struggle against sin. He knows that these Christians wish to live a holy life as new creations in Christ. But they still sin.

And John hears the pleas of the believer who's fallen into sin. Pastor, what must I do? I have sinned. I have went back to the darkness. What must I do?

And John speaks words of comfort. End quote. And what are those words of comfort? 1 John chapter 2. But if anyone sins, We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Jesus Christ the righteous advocate. John shows you the first of the priceless, infinitely glorious, multi-faced diamond. Jesus Christ the righteous is your advocate. That word advocate in verse 1, It could be translated intercessor or helper. It's actually the same word used to describe the Holy Spirit as well in other parts of John's gospel.

It just goes again to prove the point that God is one and in three persons. The Holy Spirit is God, the Son is God, the Father is God, Blessed Trinity. But here, that word is used to describe God, the Son, a helper, an intercessor, an advocate. And That word advocate you need to get this it is such a good word. It's such a good Translation because this word in the Greek really does carry with it a legal component.

This isn't just a helper like we might think, well, I'm just going to come and assist you. No, there's a legal component here. It's an advocate like a lawyer, a legal aide. Jesus Christ is one who speaks to the Father on your behalf in your defense, Christian, in the heavenly courtroom. Now why do you need an advocate?

Why do you need a defense in the heavenly courtroom? Because of the middle of verse 1. If anyone sins, is that you? Yes. You have sinned and who is it that you have sinned against?

The thrice holy God. And your sin is not a light matter to the thrice holy God. It is rebellion, it is law breaking, it's damnable. The four living creatures, the angels and the seraphim, they declare your creator, the one true living God, to be holy, holy, holy, completely set apart in purity, completely set apart in justice and righteousness. There is no flaw.

There is nothing but perfection in the Godhead. And it is this thrice holy God's law that you have broken. Do not commit adultery. Guilty. Do not prevent, I'm sorry, do not commit idolatry.

Adultery is later. Do not commit idolatry. Guilty. Do not profane God's name or his Sabbath. Guilty.

Honor thy father and thy mother. You have not. Guilty. Thou shalt not murder, starting in the heart. God sees the heart.

You are guilty thou shalt not commit adultery You are guilty beginning in your heart. Do not steal do not bear false witness Thou shalt not covet guilty guilty guilty Ten out of ten You have sinned against God and you have sinned against man and in the heavenly courtroom, in the halls of divine justice, how do you stand? Guilty. Condemned. Isaac quoted R.C.

Sproul, I'll do it again. Your sin is cosmic treason against your Creator. And that cosmic treason demands penalty, Demands it. That's the scene that John sets up for you in this passage when he uses that word advocate. A heavenly courtroom and you're standing before the thrice holy judge, the maker of the universe, the one who knows all things, the one who sees your heart and all its corruption, and you have no defense.

You have no defense. You stand guilty without a defense. But the wonder of wonders, Christian, is that the Father who knows your guilt better than you do, nevertheless, He appoints for you a defense. For you, the Father gives of himself, his very own Son, to be your advocate, to be your defense attorney, to plead your case. And this is where everything changes because when we hear those kinds of languages like to plead your case, to be your defense, typically in the courtroom, in our land, in our day, what does the defense attorney do for the one he's representing?

Normally the advocate, normally the defense lawyer argues for the innocence of his client. Does he not? He appeals to the merits of the one he's defending. The lawyer seeks to show that the defendant is innocent and meritorious. Is that the picture that John paints for us in his book?

No. Your advocate Jesus is not pleading your merits. He is not pleading your innocence. He is pleading His. You are not righteous, no not one, but He is.

Your advocate is righteous. You have no merit save for the merit of your sins which merits damnation. But your righteous advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, He has all the merit in the world. That's why it's so huge that Jesus Christ is given that name, righteous. Jesus Christ the righteous.

At the end of verse 1, if that's not who your advocate is, if that's not who Jesus is, it doesn't matter who your advocate is, if he's not righteous, you will be damned. But your advocate is righteous. He is Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he does not defend you with your merits or your innocence but with his. He does not defend you with what you have done but what he has done.

Your advocate Christian does not make the defense of your immortal soul based on who you are. No, he is your defense. He Himself, Jesus the Christ, is your defense. And it is He, who He is that makes all the difference. He is Jesus Christ, the righteous.

So He's kept the law of God perfectly. He has never sinned. He Himself is Holy, holy, holy. He is the righteous one. And He pleads your case, not because you're innocent, but because He's taken your guilt upon Himself, He's borne at His cross, and in exchange for your sin, you've expiated – that's a theological term that means you've transferred your sin He's taken your sin and put it on himself You've expiated your sin and his righteousness has been Imputed to you credited to your account It's all by grace through faith.

Your advocate Jesus, the Son of God, is Himself your defense. He is Jesus Christ the Righteous, which by the way should terrify you. The title Jesus Christ the Righteous should terrify you if you do not belong to him. Should absolutely terrify you because though he be the defense for the Christian, he will be the prosecution for those who practice iniquity and do not belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. For all those outside the covenant, He will be the prosecution.

He is coming to judge the quick and the dead, and He is Jesus Christ the righteous. You must flee to Him by faith. You must turn from your sins, lawbreaker, and trust in His name. Today is the day of salvation if you but hear the good news for guilty sinners, that if anyone sins, they have an advocate with the Father, and His name is Jesus Christ the righteous, Who is himself the propitiation for your sins? Jesus Christ the righteous propitiation.

The Lord Jesus Christ is your righteous advocate and he is your righteous propitiation. The propitiation for your sins. Now that word propitiation that is a hard word to say much less understand so children I want this to be part of your vocabulary. So children and adults, let's all do it together. We're gonna practice the word propitiation.

I'm gonna say it, then you say it. Propitiation. Propitiation. Oh, that's pretty good, one more time. Propitiation.

Propitiation. That's excellent. What does it mean? It means the satisfaction of wrath. It's the turning aside of wrath, taking a punishment and dealing with it.

So children, I think you'll get this illustration. Here's an example of an effort to propitiate, an effort to satisfy wrath. When I was a little boy, my brother Gregory got into some big trouble. I felt really bad for him in that moment. Normally, I didn't feel bad for him.

Normally, I was just this. In this moment, I felt bad for him. And so I actually felt so bad for him that I asked my father to spank me instead of him. Now before you think more highly of me than you ought to. I wanted to be a propitiation, right?

That's what I wanted. I wanted to take the spanking and satisfy the demand for a spanking upon myself. Before I go any further, before I asked my father, I had stuffed my pants with all of my socks. And it was a balloon back there. And I come into the room, he's talking to my brother Greg, and I say, Father, I didn't use the word propitiate, but I would like to propitiate the wrath.

And it was such a circus of a site that nobody got us banging. Nobody got us banging. Father laughed. Anyway, that's a silly example of me wanting to propitiate, satisfy, appease wrath in someone else's place, to bear penalty in the place of another. That's propitiation, satisfying, doing away with wrath.

Okay, but in our passage, we aren't dealing with something silly. We are dealing with another sinner's wrath against another sinner. We are dealing with the perfect, divine, Christ's holy wrath of Almighty God. And friend God's wrath is real. God's wrath is serious against you and your sin.

You need to understand this as a sinner the thrice holy God must punish your iniquity. He must punish you and he must punish your iniquity. He must. Romans 6 23, the wages of sin is death, eternal damnation. Psalm 89 14, righteousness and justice are the foundation of Yahweh's throne if righteousness and justice are the foundations of his throne anything contrary to that is an abomination to him And so God must punish your abominations.

If He did not punish you for your sins, God would not be righteous. God would cease being God. God would be an abomination unto himself if he did not meter out divine justice that your sin demands. His righteousness, his justice, his perfection demands that you face for an eternity white, hot, thrice holy, righteous wrath because you've committed cosmic treason. And it would be perfectly righteous of God if that was all there was to say.

Hell, fire, and damnation forever because of your iniquity. That would be perfectly righteous and just of God. That's what you deserve. It would be right for God to damn you forever. But that's not all there is to tell.

Praise God. The glory of the Christian message, the good news in verse 2 is that Jesus Christ came to propitiate the Holy Wrath of God. To take the divine wrath of God the Father that was due to you Christian for your sin and bear it upon Himself. Jesus Christ went to a cross and on that cross God the Father poured out his righteous Wrath upon his son Jesus so that all who believe upon the name of Jesus so that all who repent and believe upon Jesus Christ the righteous would have their sins forever done away with. For Jesus Christ bore the Father's righteous wrath in the place of sinners.

He became a curse for you, sinner, for all who call upon His name. In the New Testament Gospels, Jesus tells His disciples that there is a cup that He came to earth to drink. There is a cup and that cup was the wrath of God for your sins and the sins of the world. And when Jesus hung on that cross and the sky was darkened and the earth shook and the rocks split in two, in that moment God the Father was pouring out this cup of wrath against your sin on his son. And it was so intense.

The greatness of that moment, the greatness, the seriousness of your sin, was so apparent that a pagan, A pagan, a God-hater, seeing what was going on, the sky darkened, rocks being shattered, the earth shaking violently. A pagan centurion who just moments ago put Jesus on the cross, sees what's going on, he says, whoa, surely this man is the Son of God. There is Jesus crying out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the ground trembles at the depth of the pain and the torment and the hell that Jesus endured as He drank the cup of Almighty God's wrath as a propitiation for your sins. Children, if you're trying to understand what that word propitiation means, imagine a cup full of wrath.

A cup that if you were to try to drink it, you would spend an eternity gulping it down in torment. And in that moment on Calvary, Jesus Christ took the cup that ought to have been yours, and He drank it down to the dregs in your place. Amazing love. How could it be that God the Son would die for me. That's good news.

Every last drop of God's wrath down to the dregs for those who repent and believe. What a thing. That is propitiation. No more wrath from God for you, Christian. Jesus has bore it all.

He satisfied the wrath of God forever. So that Romans 8 verse 1 is true, that there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because for those in Christ Jesus, if they sin, they have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, who is himself the propitiation for your sin. And you can know verse 2 is true, by the way. You can know your sins really are dealt with.

You can know the wrath of God no longer abides on you Christian. You can know that the propitiation of your sins has been accomplished. You can know it's all true because there's an empty tomb. Is Jesus Christ risen from the dead? Yes, the propitiation has been won.

Is the stone rolled away? Then the final sacrifice of Christ was accepted by God. Is He risen? He is risen indeed. So there is no condemnation for you, Christian, because the wrath of God has been satisfied.

Just two chapters later in 1 John chapter four, 1 John 4 10, in this is love not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. This is the amazing love of God that he should love you so that he would give you his son an advocate and propitiation Jesus Christ the righteous your advocate and propitiation now did you know that there is an illustration of these realities that I've been expositing Do you know that there's an actual, there's actually several illustrations in the Old Testament? If you think, well, propitiation, you know, substitutionary atonement where A savior, something steps into place of a sinner, and the judgment of God is metered out upon that instead of you. If you think that's just a New Testament reality, a New Covenant concept, you're wrong. It's throughout the Old Testament.

Think about the scapegoat in Leviticus 16. Priest would put his hand on the scapegoat. That would symbolize the expiation of the people of God's sin onto another. That scapegoat would be sent into the wilderness. We have another illustration.

Zechariah chapter 3. Zechariah chapter 3. In fact, let's go there. We got time. We got all kinds of time.

Zechariah chapter 3. At the end of the Old Testament, It's the second to last book. If you get to Malachi, you've gone just a tad too far. Zechariah chapter 3. I'm wanting to give you an illustration of propitiation and advocacy what Jesus Christ the righteous is and how it's not just a New Testament concept this has been foretold this has been prophesied this is how the people of God for all time are made right with God.

Zechariah chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. Zechariah has a vision. Verse 1, then he, that's an angel, showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. Does that imagery sound familiar to what I've said already. There's a heavenly courtroom and Joshua is the defendant and Satan is the accuser.

Just like we talked about in 1st John chapter 2 verse 1, Joshua representing Israel is in a heavenly courtroom with Satan accusing him. Look at verse two. The Lord said to Satan, the Lord rebuke you, Satan. Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?

Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. He spoke and said to those who were standing before him saying, remove the filthy garments from him. Again he said to him, see I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes. Then I said, let them put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments while the angel of the Lord was standing by.

And the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, if you will walk in my ways and if you will perform my service then you will also govern my house and also have charge of my courts and I will grant you free access among those among these who are standing here. What an illustration. Satan stands to accuse Joshua. In Verse 3 tells us Joshua is clothed in absolute filthiness. His garments are rotten, symbolic of his sin, representing the iniquity of God's people, Israel.

And there is Joshua in the heavenly courtroom clothed in filthy garments, and he has no defense Notice Joshua cannot say a word There is no but but but God no Satan speaks over him This man stands guilty and you, Almighty God, you must punish him. His sin, Israel's sin, Israel's filth, it speaks for itself. Satan's accusations ring loud in his ear and yet who speaks louder? The Lord. The Lord speaks louder than his sin.

The Lord speaks louder than Satan's accusations and the sin and Satan's accusations shut up. I rebuke you Satan, the Lord says. This man, this people Israel, this people is a brand plucked from the fire. I have chosen them from the foundations of the world. I have taken their sins upon myself.

Their sins have been expiated to me and I have imputed my righteousness to them for I am Jesus Christ the righteous and I have taken their stained garments away and dressed them in my garments of salvation. That's what's going on right there in Zechariah chapter three. The garments of righteousness that come from God. So that when God the Father sees you, He does not see filthy garments. He does not see your iniquity.

He looks at you, Christian, and he says, I see the robes of my son, and I see the mark of my son in the waters of baptism, And I have invited you to my table every single week. Come, come my son, come my daughter, for I am well pleased with you for the sake of my righteous son. He clothes you with garments of salvation. So the garments there in that passage are white, right? Vestal robes, you just got this wonderful, clean turban on his head.

Pure garments. White like a bride. Think about a wedding. The bride comes down the aisle and everyone's looking at the bride, right? But in front stands the groom.

And what color does he wear? Black. He symbolizes the propitiation for your sins, bearing the wrath, taking on the sin for His bride, that she might be presented blameless and holy with great joy. With great joy. Every wedding is a celebration of substitutionary atonement.

Every wedding is a celebration that propitiation has been won by Jesus Christ. That's what's going on here in Zechariah three. I just wanted you to know, this is a great illustration. I remember growing up, this was one of my favorite illustrations on thinking about the gospel, was Joshua and Satan, and the Lord saying, I rebuke you, Satan, I get to have the final word and then he clothes Joshua with his righteousness And then I think it's important to point out and at the end there in verse 7 Joshua gets clothed in clean linen clothed in the righteousness of God by faith, and then he says to Joshua, go and live free. Go and live free in obedience.

So Psalm 130, verses 3 and 4, if you, Lord, should count iniquities, who could stand? What's the answer? Nobody. But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared if you Lord would count iniquity nobody could stand but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. So when you think about your sin, when you hear Satan's accusations, when you find yourself in Zechariah chapter 3 territory, fly to Jesus Christ.

Right, Christian? Fly to the Savior. Fly to your advocate. Fly to your propitiation that you could say with all your hearts, who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died, yes, rather, who was raised and who's at the right hand of God the Father, who also intercedes for us.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Justin has written, for your sake we're being put to death all day long. We're considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things, no matter what the circumstances we are overwhelmingly conquered conquerors through him who loved us for I'm convinced that neither death nor life nor angels no principalities nor things present or things to come nor powers nor height nor death nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, our advocate, our propitiation.

So though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded your helpless estate and has shed His own blood for your soul. My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul. For the cup of God's wrath has been drunk to the dregs by Jesus Christ my advocate and my propitiation. And John says at the end of verse two of our passage, not just the propitiation for your sins, but the propitiation for the sins of the world.

Of the world. Jesus Christ, the righteous Savior of the world. Now here's the third turn of the diamond. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. Look back at our passage in 1 John one more time.

So I know we are in Zechariah. Go back to 1 John and look there at the end of verse 2. I want you to see it for yourself. First John 2, verse 2, he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. So what is propitiation?

Children, do you remember? Imagine a cup. It's Jesus Christ taking the cup of God's wrath for the elect and drinking it down to the dregs. But then John says, the elect, yes! And the world.

What does that mean? Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. Now, verse two is not teaching universalism. John isn't teaching that everybody everywhere is going to heaven. Verse 2 is not teaching that hell isn't real and that there's no judgment from God and that sin really doesn't matter.

No, read 1 John chapter 1. Read the previous chapter. Sin is a huge deal. And if you don't confess your sins and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, there will be certain judgment for you. I mean, you need to get this, friends.

Did you not hear what Jesus endured on the cross? The wrath of God so intense that the earth was literally splitting. A pagan man seeing what's going on, crying out in faith. There is a certain judgment for all who do not belong to Jesus Christ the righteous by faith if you don't repent and believe Then you can know that he did not drink that cup for you Which means you will drink it yourself for an eternity of torment This is real stuff. Oh one sugarcoat we must believe you must believe there is certain judgment apart from Christ There is salvation in no other name than Jesus Christ the righteous.

He's the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. And oh children and adults, you may come. You may come. This passage does not teach universalism, but it does teach just how great, just how extensive, just how glorious the power and triumph of Christ is to save.

That the sins of the world, of the world, are no match for the resurrection. Your sin, Christian, is no match for the resurrection it's like John doubles down he's like listen if you sin I don't want you to sin but if you sin you have an advocate and he's gonna propitiate the wrath of God for you. And it's so great. It's so great. That work is so great that it's not just for you.

It's for the sins of the whole world. That's how much you can trust Him. That's how powerful His atoning work is. That's why it took Jesus, the Son of God, to do it. We needed He who is infinite, He who was thrice holy, that he might be our perfect Substitutionary sacrifice he might be our propitiation Not just for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world you need an infinite God And you need a man you need a truly God and truly man sacrifice.

And that's what Jesus was. So do you remember Psalm 100? Psalm 100 verse 1 from the last two Lord's days. Shout to the Lord all the earth. So every tongue, nation, tribe, people, God's redemption is for all the world.

God's redemption is for all the nations. That's true, but it's not just the nations. What does John say that Christ's propitiation is for at the end of verse 2? For all the world. Jesus is the Savior of the world, like literally the world, the earth, creation.

When Adam sinned, who was cursed in Genesis chapter 3? Mankind for sure, right? Was he the only one? Creation 2. Creation 2.

When you sing joy to the world, and he's come to break the curse, are you just going Are you just going to limit it to mankind? John says, the sins of the world, I'm not making it up. The very ground of the earth itself was cursed in the curse of Adam. What was a part of that curse? Adam sins, plunges all of humanity into death, and creation into death with him.

And what's like the thing that God says about the the ground of the earth will do what? Sprout forth thorns. It's like the defining way that Genesis 3 talks about The curse of even the ground itself, creation itself, is going to bury you thorns. What was it that Jesus Christ the righteous wore in His passion? A crown of what?

A Crown of thorns. As He went to be the propitiation for your sins, and not for yours only, but the sins of the world. That is not an accident. That is not a, oh, that's cool. You kidding me?

Genesis 3, with Adam, plunge mankind and creation into death and the curse. The new Adam, the second Adam Jesus, he comes and he raises mankind from Death and creation with him. Jesus came and lived and died and was buried and then was risen so that earth itself would shout for joy which is exactly what Psalm 100 said the last two Lord's days, shout to the Lord all the earth. Adam brought sin and death to mankind, sin and death to all the earth. The second Adam brought redemption in life to mankind and redemption in life to all the earth.

Christ's redemption was absolutely for souls. We need to know that. I've been talking about that for 40 minutes. He came to redeem souls. But do not limit his redemption to souls.

The text doesn't do that. It says in the text, the redemption, the propitiation accomplished by Jesus is not just for souls but for creation itself creation itself was redeemed the sins of the world what was the promise that God made after the flood. Do you remember that? In the covenant with Noah? God makes a covenant with Noah, but then he says something odd.

Most of us just gloss over it, I'm sure. Genesis chapter 9, God makes a covenant with Noah and the earth. That's in the text. God makes a covenant with Noah and the earth. That's in the text.

God makes a covenant with Noah and the earth. Several times in that chapter, he talks about that. God makes a covenant with Noah and the earth. That's the covenant that you're reminded of every time you see what in the sky. That's the covenant you're reminded of.

That covenant is still in effect. Is the rainbow still there? Yes. The covenant with Noah and the earth that we believe. He's the propitiation for your sins and not for your sins only.

God sent his son to save the world. Literally all of creation. So what does John 3.16 say? Here's the nail in the coffin if you're like man, what's he talking about? All right, let's go to a verse that we all agree on John 3 16.

Yes We don't agree on this verse whoa For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's the elect. He sent his son to accomplish redemption for mankind, for all those who would trust him. The elect. But Don't forget verse 17.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. You gotta do something with verse 17. As the gospel goes forth, as the good news is proclaimed and believed, even in the midst of a great perversity that we have in our world today, Christ's gospel, His propitiation will so triumph to such a degree that the wolf will lie down with the lamb and they will not be harmed. The child will play by the den of a viper and will not be bitten. Creation itself is being made new.

Every enemy is being put under the feet of Jesus Christ. How so? Because Jesus Christ the righteous is the propitiation for your sins and not for yours only for the sins of the whole world and he rose up triumphant. So let's put it all together. Let's put it all together.

Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect claim. A great high priest whose name is Love, whoever lives and pleads for me, My name is graven on His hands. My name is written on His heart. And I know that while in heaven He stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart. And when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and I see Him there, who made an end of all my sin.

And because the sin the Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. Why? For God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me. So behold Him there, the risen Lamb, my perfect spotless righteousness, the great unchangeable I am, the King of glory and of grace. One with Himself I cannot die, My soul is purchased by His blood.

My life is hid with Christ on high, with Christ my Savior and my God, the Savior of the world. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, We thank you for the gift of your Son and the gift of your spirit that comes and takes the work that Christ has accomplished and settles it into our hearts. Oh Lord, for those in this room that have not been quickened by the work of your Spirit, do it now, we ask. Convict them of their sins.

Regenerate them. And make them a part of your people. We pray for our children that Lord they would go home this day and they would just be in love with this word propitiation. They would ask their parents, and their parents Lord would speak joyfully of such a reality and then encourage them to follow Jesus with all their hearts. Lord we thank you for the mark that you've placed upon us in our baptism.

The mark that shows us that in Christ you are well pleased with us, for you call us children. There is no more wrath, for it's all been done away with. We thank you now for this table we come to in just a moment. The body of our Savior, and the blood of our Savior, which cleanses us from all our sin. We ask, Lord, that we would partake rightfully and joyfully.

In the name of Jesus we pray amen