Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, as I mentioned
to you in the Bible study, We're going to be in 2 Corinthians
5 all day today. And this started from me really
taking notice of verse 14. Ever since we started the book
of Titus, which we've kind of veered from the last few weeks,
we've been very heavily dealing with The subject of law and grace. Works and grace. We've been very heavily tearing
down the idol of the deeds of the flesh, the works of man's
flesh. For favor, for acceptance with
God. We have very heavily shown and
declared that the only hope that sinful flesh has is the deeds
and the works of Christ's flesh. That's it. The deeds and works of Christ's
flesh that He has freely given to His people. He came here and
lived and worked. I love how the scripture says,
He went about doing good. evil, good. And he wrought these works and
he gave his own works, the record of his works, to his people for
favor and acceptance with God. He earned that for his people. And the fact that he did that
for us, that creates a love in us that constrains us to want
to be like him. Now that's what our Bible study
was just on. That's what we just looked at. The first part of
verse 14 says, for the love of Christ constraineth us. The love of Christ to us, the
love of Christ in us, it constrains us. And now that we've looked at
that, I came over here, and that's what I had on my heart, and that's
what we looked at for the Bible study, but I couldn't bring myself
to leave this verse without dealing with the second part of it. I
don't know if you noticed the second part of it. But I just couldn't leave without
looking at this. Look at the end of verse 14.
It says, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then we're all dead. Verse 15
says, and that he died for all, that they which live should not
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them.
and rose again. We can't leave this without answering
this question. And I just, I want to say, you
know, over the last 13 years now, every now and then I'll
say, I have a critical message for us. And I do every time I
stand up, if we're opening God's word, it's a critical message.
But I really want to bring our attention to this. This is a
truth that must be told. This is a truth that must be
acknowledged. We need to get to the bottom
of this. Eternity depends on it. But this is our question today,
all right? This is our subject matter today.
Did Christ die for all? Did Christ die for everybody? That's the title of this message.
Did Christ die for everybody? Verse 14 says, For the love of
Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died
for all, then we're all dead. And that he died for all, that they which live should not
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them.
and rose again. Did Christ die for everybody? Did Christ die for everybody?
Men stand in pulpits all over this world telling people, and
you see signs and you see billboards everywhere telling people, God
loves you and Christ died for you. But is that true? Is that true? I know we see it
a lot and we hear it a lot, but is that true? If it is true,
then what was his death for? What did it accomplish? If that
is true, if he died for everybody, then what does that mean for
everybody? What did his death accomplish? Because not every soul on this
earth is going to go to glory. Not every soul on this earth
is going to go to heaven. If Christ died for everybody,
if Christ died to pay the sin debt for everybody, don't you
think everybody would go to glory? But everybody is not going to
go to glory. Turn with me over to Revelation 20. Revelation
20, verse 11. And I saw a great white throne,
and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And
I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God and the books
were opened. And that's the records of everybody's
life and everybody's deeds on this earth. It's all being recorded.
The books were opened and another book was opened, which is the
book of life. And the dead were judged out
of those things which were written in the books according to their
works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them, and they were judged every man according to their
works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire, this is the second death, And whosoever
was not found written in the book of life was cast into the
lake of fire. Now see if you can really enter
into what this is saying. Every soul that was judged according
to their works, okay, you got people talking about works, you
got good works, bad works, I just hope my good works outweigh my
bad works. Every soul that was judged according
to works, their works, none of them made it. Did you notice
that? None of them made it. Every soul
that was not found written in the book of life was cast into
hell. Every soul. Now, did Christ die
for everybody? The answer is no, he did not. He died for every soul that was
written in the book of life. They are the ones that will hear. Come. Ye blessed of my father. Inherit the kingdom that was
prepared for you from the foundation of the world, prepared. Prepared for a specific people
who God was not willing to cast into that lake of fire. All right,
turn over to second Peter three with me. 2nd Peter, chapter three. Verse one says, this second epistle,
beloved, I now write unto you in both which I stir up your
pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the
words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the
commandment of us the apostles of the Lord, of the Lord and
Savior. Knowing this first, that there
shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts
and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant
of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old and the earth
standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world
that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens and the earth
which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord is a thousand
years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. Is the Lord not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance? Here's
the answer. No, that is not his will. In
order to believe that we would have to be willingly ignorant
of the fact that God destroyed this whole world with a flood. God was willing that every soul
on this earth perish, except for eight souls. You say, God is not willing that
any should perish. You ever heard somebody say that
way? Now, you know, God is not willing that any should perish.
Really? What about the flood? What about the flood? Look at
verse six again, whereby the world that then was being overflowed
with water perished. perished. Why did everybody perish? Was it just because of a natural
disaster? No. Genesis chapter 6 says, this
whole world perished because it repented the Lord that he
had made man and he said, I will destroy man off the face of this
earth. He was willing that sinners against
him perish then and he is willing that sinners against him perish
now. He is going to destroy this entire world with fire. Is this a critical message? What
if it's today? What if it's today? He's going to destroy this entire
world with fire. You ready for the gospel word?
But. All right, but. There is an us
word that he has chosen to be long suffering to. In verse one,
he called them beloved. Beloved, I'm writing to you,
beloved, he said. Those who God chose to love,
chosen to be loved. He was not willing that any of
the usward should perish, but that all of the usward should
come to repentance. Now let me show you that in Romans
8. Turn with me over to Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 verse 29, it says, For whom He did foreknow, speaking
of God the Father, whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate
Them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Verse 31 says,
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who
can be against us? Who are the us? Who are the us? It's every soul that the Father
foreknew, and predestinated, and called, and justified, and
glorified. They are the us. Verse 32, He
that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. Who are the us all? Is He saying
that He spared not His own Son and delivered Him up for everybody?
No. Well, then who are the us all?
It's every soul that the father foreknew and predestinated and
called and justified and glorified. Another way of saying us and
us all is another way. Another two other words for that
is God's elect. All right. Look at verse 33.
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect. It is God that justified. Christ
died for all of God's elect. Verse 34, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who did he do that for? Us.
Every soul that the Father foreknew and predestinated and called
and justified and glorified, Christ died for them. Only them. But thank God, all
of them. All of them. Turn over to John
17. Verse 1, these words spake Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is
come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. As thou has given him power over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. That's who he gave eternal life
to, as many as his father gave to him. Verse six, I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Verse nine, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, and all
mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I'm glorified in them.
Verse 12, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in
thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept. And none of them is lost but
the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Verse 24, Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given
me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which
thou hast given me For thou lovest me before the foundation of the
world, O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but
I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent
me, and I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare
it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them,
and I in them." Them, them, them. He said, that's who I am. am
doing this for. That's who I accomplish this
for. Look with me at John 10. Verse 11, it says, and this is
our Lord speaking, he said, I am the good shepherd The good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. You know, Matthew 25 says on
that last day, he's going to divide all nations of people
into two categories, sheep and goats. And he said in verse 11, I'm
the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep, not the goats, but the sheep. Verse 14, I am
the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. As
the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay
down my life for the sheep. That's who I lay down my life
for. Not the goats, but the sheep. Verse 24, then came the Jews
round about him and said unto him, How long dost thou make
us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believed not because
you are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal
life. and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Them. He said, you believe not because
you're not of my sheep. He didn't say, you can't be one
of my sheep because you won't believe. He said, you will not believe,
you cannot believe because you're not one of my sheep. My sheep,
that's who I give my faith to, to believe. Now that's a critical component
to knowing who Christ died for. He said, you're not one of my
sheep because you don't believe. All right. Believe what? Why do we hound this? Let me
leave my notes for just a second. Let me do a dangerous thing and
leave my notes for just a second. Why do we hound this? It's because
the glory of God is at stake. All right, if God shed his blood
to try to save somebody and they end up not being saved, he's
a failure. The glory of God is at stake.
Every soul God set out to save, God saved. All right? And a critical component of knowing
who it is that he saved is in what he just said. My sheep know
me. My sheep hear me. My sheep believe
on me. They receive faith to believe. Now here's the question. Believe
what? I think, I've told you this a
couple of times before, I think this is the most important thing
I've ever said from a pulpit. Alright, believe what? He said, you're not of my sheep
because you don't believe. You don't believe what happened
on the cross. In this chapter he's telling
them, I'm the good shepherd, I laid down my life for the sheep. He's saying you don't believe
what the shepherd accomplished in laying down his life for the
sheep. Now go back to 2 Corinthians 5 and let me show you Something
that I believe is about the most important thing I have ever declared
from a pulpit. Second Corinthians 5. And let
me make these statements here. You can believe that the cross
happened and not be one of God's sheep. You can believe that the cross
happened and not be one of God's sheep. You can believe that Jesus
Christ died on the cross and not be one of God's sheep. You can believe that he was buried.
You can believe in your heart that he rose again. and not be
one of God's sheep. You can believe that Jesus Christ
shed His blood on that cross to pay a sin debt for sinners. You can believe that a sin debt
was owed for sin. The wages of sin is death. Without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. And you
can believe that Jesus Christ shed his blood on that cross
to pay a sin debt for sinners and not be one of his elect sheep. This right here is what God will
reveal to every single one of His sheep, causing them to believe
it and hope in it and rest in it. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 says, For He, that's God the Father,
hath made Him, that's Christ, to be sin. He hath made him to be sin for us. That is the saving component
of the gospel. That's what the true faith of
God will cause the true believer to truly believe concerning the
truth of the gospel. That is the understanding that
God will reveal in all of his people. The thing that people
don't understand about the cross is that God the Father made Christ
to be sin. That's the thing that people
do not understand about the cross. Without that knowledge, there's
no understanding of the salvation of the cross. Without that knowledge,
everybody is still trying to figure out what do I do with
my sin? Without that knowledge, there's
no understanding of the gospel. There's no real understanding.
People can say, well, I know the gospel. Christ died on the
cross. He shed his blood to pay for sin, you know, and he died.
Without that knowledge, there's no real understanding of the
gospel. the good news of the gospel of
the cross. There's no understanding of the
salvation of the cross. People know that Christ hung
on the cross, but they don't know that he was made sin. People know that he gave his
blood on the cross, but they don't know that he was made sin. People know that he died on the
cross. Well, you know, Jesus died on the cross. People know
that he died on the cross, but they don't know that he was made
sin. If we don't know that, we can't
know why he died. We can't know what he accomplished
in his death. Why did he die? It's because
he was made sin. The whole transaction of the
cross is a judge and a jury. It's an advocate. There had to
be some holy justice happen here. Why did He die? He hath made
Him to be sin. Verse 21 says, Who knew no sin?
Did Christ ever personally commit sin? No! Then why did He die? Would it be just and right and
holy and good for God the Father to say, you are perfect. You've
never done anything wrong. Let's kill him. No. Why did he die? It's because
he was made sin. He was made to be the sin of
all of his people. What did he accomplish in his
death? What did he accomplish? And if we ever get a hold of
this, I'm telling you, we will have gotten a hold of the gospel.
What did he accomplish in his death? He accomplished the removal
of all of the sin of his people from them. He removed all the
sin, the sin that you have already committed this morning, the sin
that you are committing right now, and the sin that you're
about to commit on your way home. If you belong to him, he has
already removed all of that sin from you. How did he do that? He did it by making himself to
be the sin of his people. Look at verse 18. It says, And
all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. He reconciled us And he's given
to us the message of being reconciled to God through Christ removing
from us the sin that made us enemies of God. And he did that by laying that
sin on himself. And then he condemned that sin
in himself. We must all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. And we did on that cross of Calvary
in Him. Everything that we are, He was
made to be it. Verse 18 says, And all things
are of God who hath reconciled us, the us, the us all, the usward,
His sheep, His elect. All things are of God who has
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the
ministry of reconciliation to wit or to know that God was in
Christ reconciling the world unto himself. The whole world. Did he reconcile the whole world
to himself? No. Every soul that the father gave
to him out of the world scattered throughout the world. From every
tribe, nation, kindred, and tongue in the world. Verse 19, to know that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them. Because he imputed their trespasses
to himself. He made the reality of their
sins to be applied to him. God made Christ to stand in the
very place and in the very sin of His people. And God the Father
killed God the Son in that very place and that very sin. And being satisfied with that
very judgment and condemnation of Christ for those sins, by
that one transaction, all of God's people were reconciled
by Him. made to be in perfect union with
the holy character of Him. Verse 19 says, To know that God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. He's committed unto us the gospel
message to preach of reconciliation by the substitute of Christ with
His people. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God. That's not begging us
to do anything. That's a declaration that the
work is already done. Rest in it. Just rest in it. Verse 21 says, for he hath made
him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. That's the gospel of the cross.
Now let me leave you with this. Does that gospel apply to me? Does the gospel apply to me? Am I a sinner? What did he have
to be? What did he have to be made to
save his people? He had to be made sin. This is
a faithful saying. It's worthy of all acceptation.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. sinners. Am I a sinner? I would very much, in your heart,
quietly, don't answer out loud, but I would like you to ask yourself
that question. I'll go ahead and say for myself
out loud, yes. I'm the chief. Am I a sinner? Am I really a sinner before God? This is the gospel of the cross. He made Him to be sin for us,
the one who knew no sin, that we should be made the righteousness
of God in Him. That message declares that in
the death of Christ, for all of His people, all of their sins
have been removed and dealt with. God is satisfied. We are complete. There is peace. There is life. There is righteousness. There
is holiness forevermore. If you are a sinner and he did this for you, he will
make you cry, even me. Lord, let your blood be on me. My only hope is that I was included
in the removal of all those sins. Amen.