The Gospel-Part 3

Question 3-How are our sins atoned for?

Scriptures:
•Leviticus 16:1-34
•Romans 3:20
•Romans 3:28
•Romans 5:6,8-10
•Galatians 2:16
•Romans 3: 23-25

Our sin problem has left us offensive to God and deserving of his wrath, the just penalty of death. The question is how are we to escape the wrath of God? To understand how we do this we must first understand the definition of the word atonement.

Dictionary definition: satisfaction or reparation for a wrong or injury; amends

Definition of Hebrew word kaphar: to cover, purge, make an atonement, make reconciliation, cover over with pitch

In the days of the Old Testament the people of Israel would yearly atone for their sins on the 10th day of the 7th month of the year, on the day they called the Day of Atonement. A high priest would enter into the temple, confess the sins of Israel on the head of a goat and send it into the wilderness. He would then take another goat and sacrifice it, take his blood into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle his blood seven times on and before the mercy seat. (Leviticus 16:1-34)

This atonement, however, was temporary. And we still search for a way to eternally atone for our sins.

Paul makes it obvious in Romans and Galatians that man is not the solution:

Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law [is] the knowledge of sin. -Romans 3:20

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. -Romans 3:28

knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be
justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. -Galatians 2:16

The law exposes what God deems as right and wrong. It defines what sin is. Therefore the declaration that the revelation of sin can’t justify us implies that man has no way to justify himself before God or atone for our sin issue. Basically, as long as man are sinners we will be unable to atone for our own sins because of our sin. CJ Mahaney states it in this way:

“I can’t atone for my sin. I cannot satisfy God’s righteous requirements. My disobedience condemns me before a righteous God. And I’m captive to sin. It is humanly impossible to free myself from sin. A divine rescue is necessary. I need a savior.”

Thank God a savior has been provided. As Romans 5:6 says:

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Christ came and atoned for our sins when it was physically and spiritually impossible for us to do so. If we continue to read through Romans 5:8-10 we see Christ death is the necessary atonement for sin:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son…

God’s righteous judgment declared that a man must die because of his sin. So Christ became a man and died the death for every sin that was and would be committed by the elect. His blood covered our sin and the wrath of God was satisfied in the death of Christ. Romans 3:24,25 states it:

being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth [as] a propitiation by His blood, through faith…

God sent Jesus to be the propitiation by his blood. The Greek word for propitiation is hilasterion which means a way of appeasing or expiating. Essentially, God sent Jesus to die for our sins and appease or satisfy God’s wrath over sin. Jesus was the only man able to die for our sins because he was the only man sinless.

Therefore, Jesus came, and died on the cross to satisfy the wrath of God and his blood is propitiation that covers or atones for our sins

Study Questions:
What is atonement?
Why can’t man atone for their sins?
How does Christ atone for our sins?
What is propitiation?
How do receive the gift of salvation? (worded purposely)