Isaiah chapter 53 we looked at last week we began
looking at the subject of the atonement and as I mentioned
last week we believe that the Bible teaches and I think clearly
teaches And not only do I believe that
it clearly teaches, but I believe that it teaches that we should actively be sharing this same
teaching. As I mentioned, I think last
week, I think I mentioned that I knew of some men who believed
what we believe about the atonement, but yet they don't preach it
because they their reasons is. Some men preach it for fear that
they might lose their position as a pastor. Some may preach
it because they may feel that they might lose membership, lose
money. They preach it because maybe
they don't even fully understand it yet. So they continue to just
keep that under wraps until they know a little more about what
the Lord's teaching them. I know whenever I first started
coming to the doctrines of grace and began to see a lot of these
things. I couldn't explain different facets of things. You know, there'd
be arguments about this and that and this and I didn't have an
answer for it. And so I, a lot of times I didn't like to just
put myself out there until I kind of knew better in my own mind
what I was being taught by the Lord and everything. And I think
in that scenario, it's not necessarily, you know, a bad thing, you know,
we want to, I want to speak the truth and anybody who wants to
speak the truth. But if you're covering up and
hiding just so that you can keep it a quote unquote job, uh, or
people and money and whatever the case might be. Unfortunately,
that's, that's the thing. I remember in the Southern Baptist
convention, there was a lot of men who claimed to be Calvinist
and we don't claim to be Calvinist here just for the record again.
But in the Southern Baptist Church system, there was a lot of men
who believed the doctrines of grace. And when churches were looking
for pastors, these men who were looking to pastor churches and
everything, a lot of times they would not be up front about what
they believed because they knew Most of the time, they would
either be warned by the higher-ups in the Oklahoma Baptist Convention
that, oh, that guy preaches this. I mean, it even happened with
me. There were men who were warning a couple of churches that were
looking to call me to be their pastor. And they were advising
them not to call me because I believed in election and predestination. particular redemption and things
like that. And so, you know, a lot of those men though, however,
were being a little bit deceiving and not coming forth with what
they believed whenever they were being asked, you know, about
their beliefs, about stuff. They were even being a little
somewhat cloudy in their answers so that as not to point out that,
and their thought was, you know, once I get in, then I start teaching
and people will start understanding. But again, this all comes down
to revelation, brethren. Second of all, let's not be ashamed
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the gospel. I know a lot of people don't
think it's the gospel. They don't think limited atonement
or particular redemption has anything to do with the gospel.
The gospel is about Christ dying for our sins. Christ died and
was buried and was resurrected. and we talked about that a few
weeks ago, if Christ didn't die according to the scriptures,
wasn't raised according to the scriptures, then if the gospel
you're preaching is his death and resurrection according to
the scriptures, if it isn't that, then it's not the gospel. Just
him dying and resurrecting isn't the gospel. The gospel is about
the purpose for whom he died and for what he did in that death
and that resurrection. It is part of the gospel. And
so for anybody that says, you know, I don't want to preach
this because it might, you know, hurt my standing with this church
or it might hurt my standing being asked to speak at conferences
or, you know, being asked to speak at all these events and
whatever, you know, revivals and things like that. If that's
your motive for that, then you're just out there as a hireling.
All you're doing is going out there for filthy lucre and preaching
God's Word ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and ashamed of
the Christ of the Gospel. So, again, even that, to speak and
to stand boldly for these things is only by God's grace also. If God doesn't give us the grace
to boldly stand for these things, Our nature is to cower under
that because we all want to be accepted. We all want to be loved. We all want to be, uh, you know,
a lot of times we all like to be patted on the back a little
bit and say, Hey, yeah, we like that. You know, if, if we're
honest, if I'm honest with you guys and I've tried to be as
honest as I can open and transparent as I can about me and myself
and my sin and things like that. Uh, as much as my natural man
doesn't like that, you know, But if I'm honest, who doesn't
like a little pat on the back and say, oh, your sermon was
really good. Whoa, we learned a lot from you. Who doesn't like that? Well,
I like that, don't I? If we're honest. I try and I pray that the Lord
keeps me humble. I try to stay humble from that. And I try to make it a thing
that whenever somebody says something like that, to always just say,
well, praise the Lord. You know, it's because of the
Lord, you know. Turn that attention back to the Lord, you know. And
it's Him that should be receiving the glory and the exaltation
for whatever has been done and everything. And so, but in the
secrets, we all like to be patted on the back. Well, whenever you
preach a gospel that is contrary to the world's idea of who Jesus
is and what His salvation is about, you're not gonna get those
pats on the back. You're not gonna get those invites
to go preach at the big conferences where they like to charge you
$150 to come to their conference and listen to the gospel that's
free. It's supposed to be free. That's just a side note. And
I'm gonna run on it just a little bit. Here lately I've been seeing
all these things on TV, the Founders Conferences, the G4 Conference,
all these conferences that's out there, these men's group
conferences, these things like this. And whenever you look at
those things, they're charging people to come and be a part
of that. And like it's in the hundreds
of dollars, you know, charging $120, $150 to come to their conference.
But you're going to get some free literature when you come.
You're going to get fed. We're going to feed you a meal
and everything. Now we don't put you up in a
hotel or anything like that. And they're going to these big,
giant, mega churches where there's thousands of people going to
this church, and all of them are preaching tithes. So everybody's
tithing this money, and they've got big bank offers. And yet,
here they have it. They fly in all these famous
preachers, and then they charge you to come, $150 a head, to
come to their conference. Brother, I'll just be honest
with you. There's a lot of conferences that I've gone to, and I've been
a part of, and preached in, and everything like that. And churches
small like, well, maybe not as small as ours, but small churches,
and every one of those churches, they don't charge anybody to
come to those conferences. They provide literature for people
whenever they come. They feed everybody whenever
they come. And most of the time, especially
if they're, especially the preachers that are coming to preach, they'll
put you up in a hotel And your family, if your family's with
them, like whenever we go to Choctaw or some of the other
places where we go, they put us up in a hotel and buy, listen,
they spend thousands of dollars on the people that come to their
conferences and not ask for thousands of dollars. And they don't take
up an offering during the thing either. So, you know, there is
a difference in preaching the gospel and hawking the gospel,
and there's a lot of people out there that's hawking the gospel.
Anyway, that's my tirade or soapbox for today. I've seen about three or four
of those this week, and it just, it keeps bothering me every time
I see that and think about that, but anyway, I digress. We're looking at the atonement,
right? Last week we looked at how Christ limited atonement
or particular redemption. And again, let me just kind of
maybe recap that for some that may have not listened last week
or was paying attention or something last week. Whenever we say limited
atonement, we're not saying that God is limited in what he can
or can't do, right? We're not saying that. Whenever
we use the term limited atonement, We're saying that it is limited
in its scope on who it is intended for. The atonement of God is
limited or confined to those for whom God elected before the
foundation of the world and give to Christ Jesus. Of course, we
last week spent a lot of time talking about how limited atonement
and election went hand in hand. that God did elect a people in
Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. He isn't electing
people in time whenever they choose Him. He's not waiting
until you believe or receive or ask or raise your hand or
come down an aisle or go through the waters or whatever. He isn't
waiting for that to elect you and He wasn't looking down the
corridor of time to see if you would do that to elect you. He
elected a people before the foundation of the world, before anybody,
as Romans 9 says, before anybody did anything good or bad. Election
is God's purpose. And it says it as clear as day
there in Romans 9, that God chose some and not others and that
He did that not according to anything good they did or anything
bad they did. So the elect of God wasn't elected. because they did something good.
And the reprobate, the non-elect, wasn't non-elected because of
anything bad that they did. So God didn't look down and see
actions that they were doing and therefore elected them. God
elected them by the sheer pleasure of His will, because of the love
that He had for the elect, and He had that elect in mind. He wrote their names down in
the book of life. These are the ones to whom life
will be given. He gave those people to Christ
Jesus. They are His. They are in union
with Him. They are in Him from the foundation
of the world. Chosen in Him from the foundation
of the world. All these things, the Bible is
clear in teaching that and if you don't believe that that is
part of the biblical record, it's because you are overlooking,
you're not reading, you're not studying, you're just dismissing
the plain reading of scripture. To at least acknowledge the fact
that the Bible does say those things. Now, the reception of
those, the belief of those, the embracing of those, the enjoyment
of those, that's not going to come unless one's born from above. But to deny the fact that the
Bible teaches, or the Bible explicitly says these things, that we are
chosen before the foundation of the world in Christ Jesus,
that we were loved with an everlasting love, that he wrote names down
in the book of life before the foundation of the world, that's
in Revelation. If we deny the fact that that's even in the
Bible, then we're just deceiving ourselves. We're being deceived. Your preachers are not preaching
the whole counsel of God because that is clearly in Scripture.
But again, our reception of those things, our belief of those things,
embracing of those things, is only going to come when we're
born from above and given understanding of these things and given faith
to believe those things by God. See, we're dependent upon God
for all those things. And, on top of that, God only
does that for those whom He elected for the foundation of So it isn't
me trying to convince you. I'm not going to convince anybody
of any of these things. And that's not my intent today.
My intent today is not to try to convince you of anything. Am I trying to persuade you?
Is there a difference between convincing somebody and persuading
somebody? The Bible talks about Paul persuading
people. Well, whenever it talks about
those things, it is not talking about that we are trying to convince
somebody. and we're gonna bring them from death to life, from
darkness to light, only God can do that. But to those who have
been given new life, to those who have been brought from death
to life and been brought from darkness to light by God, the
Holy Spirit, whenever we preach the things
of God, there is a persuasion of belief on those things. There is a convincing of things
in those, but it's a spiritual work. It's not a human work. It's not a work of the flesh that we are
doing on the outside that we're trying to connect with the intellect
and the minds of the human flesh to accept these things. It's
coming by the Spirit of God who is the teacher and the convincer
and the persuader of the heart to receive these things and believe
those. And that's only as Christ gives us the measure of faith
to believe. So, again, that may be foreign to a lot of people
that may be listening or watching or whatever. That may be foreign
to you guys. But please know, the Bible is
full of that. And the reason you don't hear
that in your churches is because you have preachers that don't
believe that and therefore they never exposit those things. They never talk about those things.
They skip over that. And as I've said before, you
can go and look at a lot of commentaries and a lot of times they'll skip
over whole passages of scripture just because they don't want
to deal with What's going on? You can go to their websites
and look at all, you know, they may preach verse by verse through
the scriptures, but whenever they get to a certain section,
they'll just gloss over places like Romans 9 and Ephesians 1
and 2 Timothy 1, or 2 Timothy 1, 9 and 10. They'll skip over
Isaiah 53. You know, all these verses that
are so clear, they'll skip over those things. Why? Because particular
redemption, election, predestination, no free will, all of these things
are completely antagonistic against our flesh. The Adamic man who
believes that he has his own righteousness, that he has his
own worth, You know, I mentioned to you a few weeks ago about
that statement by Billy Graham, that blasphemous statement by
Billy Graham that said, God would never transgress or trespass
on our free will. Why? Because he's a gentleman.
He wants us to love him and he wants to have a true response
to him. And so therefore he would never
trespass our free will. And statements like that, that
are just totally ignorant of the things of God. is totally
ignorant of the things of God. Because without God's working
in us, we never would believe these things, would never receive
these things, would never love God. So therefore, to make statements
like that, that's what we're used to hearing. That's what
we're accommodated by in all these churches that are out there,
is this God that is not a electing God, not a God that only dies
for some, that loves some and hates others. It's not that God. And as I said, if we're embarrassed
to preach that, then we're embarrassed of God. We're not embarrassed
about the doctrine. It's not the doctrine that we're
ultimately embarrassed about. It's not the gospel that's being
preached that we're necessarily embarrassed about, when it comes
down to it, we are embarrassed, we are ashamed of that God. I mean, that was like whenever
the people were murmuring to Moses about what all God was
doing. Even God told Moses, said, don't
worry, they're not mad at you and murmuring against you, they're
murmuring against me. At the end of the day, You might
not like Mike Smith or what Mike Smith is preaching or what Mike
Smith is saying, but if it's according to God's Word, at the
end of the day, you don't like the God of Scripture. That's
what you don't like. You don't like the doctrine that
Christ preached. You don't like the doctrine that
God wrote 90% of this book about. And I would say 90% of this book
is about the elective, redemptive work of God. I mean, just think
about it from cover to cover. This Bible starts out with God
creating, establishing His sovereignty, and immediately it goes into
the Gospel. Immediately it goes into the
Gospel. Showing man's unrighteousness, and then therefore showing God's
righteousness. Adam was unrighteous, but God
was righteous. He clothed him. Showing that
there is going to be a seed that is always going to be an enmity
against God, but yet there is going to be a seed that is always
going to be righteous before God. There is going to be a seed
that is going to be in the woman. A seed that is going to be of
God. And there is this contradiction between the evil seed, the unrighteous,
and the good seed, the righteous. between Satan and between God. There's always going to be this
antagonism between those that are reprobate and those who are
elect. That's all through Scripture. Even to Revelation where it comes
down at the very end, what's going to happen? There's going
to be a separation of the sheep and the goats. There's going
to be a separation of Satan and Christ Jesus. There's going to
be a distinctive judgment on the righteous and the unrighteous. Those who are righteous are righteous
because they are in Christ Jesus. Those who are unrighteous are
those who are not in Christ Jesus. It all is about God's purpose
in election. And so we've seen last week that
in election God does choose some. And that Christ does intercede
for the ones that God chooses. And the ones that God chooses
and the one that Christ intercedes are the one and the same people.
He doesn't intercede for everyone, only the ones that God has chosen. And to some, again, this to you
is offensive. Oh, so you're the frozen chosen. Listen, we don't boast of our
being the elect of God. We have no room to boast. There
is nothing that is in us if we are His. There was nothing about
us that caused God to elect us other than His sheer pleasure.
I can't boast about being elected because I deserve hell just like
anybody else. So my boast is not in myself. I cannot say, well, I'm the elect
of God. I'm only the elect of God by God's grace. by God's
mercy. If I be His, I am His because
of nothing in myself but only because of Him. And so the redemptive
work of Christ in dying for me, for my sins being forgiven, for
my unrighteousness being covered with His righteousness, for the
wrath of God to be completely removed and not even a chance,
if you'll allow me that word, not even an opportunity or ever
an action of wrath to take place against me. All of these things,
it's because of His grace. Because He has given me mercy. It's because of what He has done.
All these things. is because of Him and not because
of me. Nothing that I'm good at that
I've done. And so, whenever we speak of these things, whenever
we preach these things, we definitely are not saying, well, we're the
only ones that's worthy, we're the only ones that's good, we're
the only ones, you know, fooey on you, you reprobate, only the
select are the, you know. Matter of fact, the grace of
God humbles the heart. We see the picture of the publican
and the pharisee whenever they were there in the temple and
the pharisee, I thank you Lord that I'm not like these guys.
You don't hardly hear that to people who have truly been given
the gospel, who believes it, the true gospel. They know their
sin. They know how bad they are. They
know that there is nothing that they can lift up and offer to
God that he would But the publican knew that. The publican was given
a humble heart, a contrite heart, a broken heart. And all he could
do is raise his head to God and say, have mercy upon me, a sinner. Yep, I know I'm not like that
guy there. I know I'm not like him. I can't boast in that. The grace of God humbles people. Limited atonement, when we speak
of limited atonement, we speak of an atonement that was for
the elect of God and the elect of God only. Particular redemption
is speaking of a particular people and that particular people only
that was redeemed. Whenever Christ came and brought
redemption through His blood, that redemption was for His elect
out of National Israel that preceded his death in the Old Testament,
and there was some Gentiles as well scattered throughout the
Old Testament, but for the elect among Israel, not all of Israel,
but among Israel, and now out of every nation, language, tribe,
and tongue, he has redeemed people for himself out of, out of, He
hasn't redeemed everyone in every language, nation, tribe, and
tongue, but out of. Therefore, all the Israel of
God is represented in Christ's death, whether they be Jew or
whether they be Gentile. So the limit is to who was redemption
or atonement made for. It was made for the elect of
God given to Christ. And that's what we talked about
last week. If you didn't catch that, you
can go Check that out on YouTube or Sermon Audio or Facebook,
wherever you want to find that. Today, and I spoke a lot last
week because it's hard to talk about the elective work of God
as it pertains to particular redemption without speaking of
the effectual nature of it. But in the redemption or the
atonement that Christ did for people, His people, We've seen
last week that you cannot sever election from that gospel. And the reason we can't sever
that is because everyone for whom Christ died, there is an
effect. It's effectual. So Christ's death
is not only particular in that there is a specific people for
that, but it's effectual, meaning that it actually has an effect. Now I looked up the term effectual
and I typed it out here so I wouldn't get it wrong. I think we all
kind of know what effectual means, but I thought I would look up
the definition in Webster's Dictionary. And effectual means producing
an effect or the effect desired or intended. Now, that's really
good there. Effectual means producing the
effect desired or the effect intended. Or having adequate
power or force to produce the effect. Now, immediately my mind just
goes to all kinds of theological things. whenever I read that.
Having adequate power or force to produce the effect that was
intended. Something was effected. Someone
was effected. There was an outcome. There was
an intended or desired effect. And we know that God being sovereign,
omnipotent, has the adequate power or force to produce the
effect that he intended. Where do we hear that about?
Known unto God are all His works, the end from the beginning. So
He already knows all of His works. But the Bible also says that
He has declared all things. The Bible says that if He wills
it, if He purposes it, He also will do it. He is bringing about
everything that He has desired. everything that He has declared. His purpose shall stand in the
armies of the heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. None
can stay His hand. Right? God is going to do what
God has determined to do. And we learn in Ephesians that
God chose us in Christ Jesus and He chose us for a purpose.
That we might be before Him in love, that we might be redeemed
that we might be given. Look if you would, keep your
place there in Isaiah 53, but look at Ephesians. Again, this had a lot to do with election, but look, he said,
Ephesians 1, 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. according as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
So here we see that God's purpose according to election is that
there would be a people who would be given and put into Christ
and blessed with all spiritual blessings, that they would be
before Him holy and without blame. That's justification, right?
To be holy and without blame means to be righteous. That means
there must be imputed righteousness. And as I'm looking at this, and
I know there's a lot of people who disagree with this, but when
I look at this right here, I see whenever he says that we were
blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus according as he had chosen us. That means the blessing of
all blessings was in Christ Jesus in heavenly places before the
foundation of the world. Why? So that we would, from the
foundation of the world and from the time that we were given to
Christ, blessed with all spiritual blessings, that we might be holy
and without blame before Him in love. That's justification. I can't help but see justification
before the foundation of the world. God's view of His people
has always been in Christ Jesus. We were elected to salvation,
we were predestinated to be the righteous of God. Although we
in our flesh are in Adam, the spirit man, the inward man, that
which life is hid with Christ in God, that man has always been
before God in love. We can't be holy and without
blame unless we're justified. We can't be holy and without
blame unless we are imputed righteousness by God. And that is our standing. That is God's view of His elect
from the foundation of the world. before they ever entered into
sin, after they entered into sin, as they continue in sin,
until the day the flesh is put off and there is no more sin. God views His people the same. And it says here that it's all
according to the good pleasure of His will. It wasn't according
to who did what and who didn't do what. It was according to
the good pleasure of His will and it is also to the praise
of the glory of His grace. See, there was a purpose in God
choosing a people and on those people declaring before the foundation
of the world that they fall into sin and be redeemed from that
sin, be justified of that sin, imputed a righteousness where
they would not be held accountable for that sin. And he did it all
in Christ Jesus. That's the gospel, brethren.
And you can't divorce the gospel from election and particular
redemption. If you divorce that, you don't
have the gospel. That is preaching the gospel
according to the Scriptures. that Christ died. How did He
die? According to the Scriptures.
Well, what does the Scriptures say? That He died for a specific
people and there was a certain effect that came from that. They
were counted as never of sin. They were imputed a righteousness.
They were justified before God. Turn with me to Isaiah 53. And
look with me if you would down to verse 11. So, how is Christ's death effectual? And why do we say it's particular?
Well, because everyone for whom Christ died is going to be effected
by what Christ's death did. Okay? They're going to be effected
by it. And when I say effected, they're
going to be the recipients, or as we've seen in this thing,
they are going to be the ones to whom the desired or intended
effect happens. And it's going to be according
to His adequate power. His adequate power is going to
cause the effect for what Christ died for. That's why we say if
there's anybody in hell for whom Christ died for, God's adequate
power was not enough to effect the atonement and redemption
that God provided in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus came to save His
people from their sins. And if He didn't save them from
their sins and they go to hell, it was because of what? Not because
of anything they did, even though they are in hell because of sin. They are being judged for their
sin. But if Christ died for them and was their Savior, but yet
they didn't receive Him, everybody's saying, well, that's because
they didn't receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Yeah,
but was Jesus not the Savior? Did He not come, as the Bible
said, to save from sin? Well, if He died for them and
He didn't save them from that sin, then He's the one that didn't
have the adequate power to accomplish what God intended. If God intended
for everybody to be saved and not everybody is saved, the onus
comes back on Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ was the one that
God sent into the world to be the Savior of the people. If
God intends that everybody come to repentance, everybody come
to be saved, and people don't, and they die and go to hell,
then that's because Jesus failed to accomplish what God intended. Now I don't think anybody is
comfortable saying that Jesus didn't accomplish everything
that God sent him to do. Especially when Jesus prayed,
Father, I have done all that you have told me to do. I have
accomplished all that you have sent me to do. And even in his
dying breath, he cried out, it is finished. So I don't think
any of us are comfortable saying that Jesus didn't accomplish
what God intended in Christ's coming. So if Christ did all the work
that God sent him to do, then everything that Christ did
is going to be accomplished. And what did Christ do? Well,
one thing he came to do is to justify people by his blood. One of the effects of those for
whom Christ died is the fact that they are justified before
God. So if there's anyone in hell
that Christ died for, they can't be there because Christ justified
everybody he died for. Justification is not something
that is waiting for a condition on man to be done, unlike the
Arminian and the Calvinist. The Arminian and the Calvinist
are the reformed All put justification at the moment of our faith that
God doesn't declare a person justified until they believe. No difference in the Calvinist
and the Arminian. The free willer and the reformed. Nobody, everything is about your
faith, about your belief, about your activity. Justification
wasn't about that. Justification was based on Christ's
faith. not Christ's faith given to you,
Christ's faith, His faithfulness, His life of obedience to the
Father, that is the righteousness that God declares as righteousness,
that is the righteousness that was substituted to every one
of God's people that He died for, that is the righteousness
that we will stand in whenever we stand before God, is that
righteousness. That is how God justified us. He justified us because Christ
substituted in His life. Therefore, in our life that cannot
keep God's law, we stand before God justified. That's why substitution is so
important. And that's why we say the redemption
is particular because there was actual effectual substitution. Jesus was actually a substitute. He didn't pretend to be a substitute.
He wasn't an actor acting like a substitute. He actually came
as a substitute who stood for somebody. If I hire a lawyer
and a lawyer is my advocate and he goes before the court in my
stead, and he goes before the judge and he defends my case
before the judge, then that man is my substitute. He is going
in my place. He is actually substituting for
me. Now, when he goes before the judge to plead my case, I
can't say that he's pleading your case, or your case, or your
case. Why? Because he's there specifically
for me. He is a substitute for me. He's not substituting for somebody
else that day on court day. He's substituting for me. Well,
brethren, when Christ came as a substitute, the Bible said
that He came as the surety for His people, His elect, His children,
His seed, His brethren. That's who He came. And so therefore,
whenever Christ came as a substitute, whatever Christ did as that substitute,
There was an effect of that. When Christ came and lived perfectly
before the Father and kept the law, that was the substitution
for all of His people. Whenever Jesus died on the cross
and received the wrath of God for sin, that was a substitute
for all those for whom He died. Therefore, the effect of that
is life lived perfectly to the law, the effect also is death
made for sin because the wages of sin is death, that no wicked
is going to stand and going to get away with it, the wicked
are going to be punished. We as the wicked were punished
in Christ Jesus. And if we were punished in Christ
Jesus, there is therefore now no condemnation because Jesus
took that punishment. If Jesus took that punishment
as the substitute, the effect of taking the substitutionary
punishment for us means the ones who was substituted for does
not have to pay. If anybody is in hell and Jesus
died for them, then Jesus obviously did not substitute for them or
God is an unjust God because he condemned Christ and now he's
condemning those who are in hell that Christ died for. I don't
think any of us here or anybody listening is comfortable saying
that God is unjust in his judgment or that Christ was condemned
for this person, but God turned around and condemned them anyway.
Are you comfortable with that? I'm not comfortable with that.
That's blasphemy. That's why we are so wound up
about the gospel and getting it right. Why don't we go to
churches that are preaching the false gospel? Because they are
lying about God, they are lying about Christ, they're lying about
the gospel. They're telling you that salvation
is something that it's not. And we don't want to partake
of the harlot sin. We don't want to partake of what
their evil message is. As good as it sounds, as religious
as it sounds, and as dedicated as the people are that are saying
it, we cannot partake of that. That's why there is this distinction.
Now, in Isaiah 53-11, the Bible says, He, meaning the Lord, he
shall see the travail of his soul, meaning Christ, He shall
see the travail of his soul and be satisfied." So the death of
Christ brings a satisfaction to God. Everyone for whom Christ
died, God is satisfied. What's satisfied? Well, number
one, God is satisfied in the work that was done on the behalf
of those people. But second of all, the judgment
or the justice of God is satisfied. whenever the travail of Christ
in His substitutionary death, whenever Christ travailed, the
Bible said that through that travail and because of that travail,
the justice of God was satisfied. Satisfaction happened. That means that the price that
was paid was equal to the price that was owed, the
price that was owed by those for whom Christ died, the price
was paid. If I have a mortgage and owe
money on a house, say I have $10,000 that I owe on my house, I have a debt to the bank for
that $10,000. But if somebody goes and pays
that $10,000 off to the bank, my debt has been satisfied. The bank is now satisfied. Meaning
what? Their judgment against me that
I owe them $10,000 has been satisfied. The bank can now say, you don't
owe me nothing. You're free and clear. The bank
now has no more rights over me in my house. Whenever Christ died, He paid
the full satisfactory payment that God required for our sin
to the point where God was satisfied. If Christ had dropped short and
didn't provide and just made salvation possible, God would
not have been satisfied. No, Christ had to complete the
work of atonement in fully atoning, in fully saving, in fully finishing
the work that God gave Him to do, else God would not be satisfied. And it says here, He shall see
the travail of His soul and be satisfied. God was satisfied
in Christ's death. So if there is anybody who Christ
died for, that is in hell, then God's satisfaction was not made
for them. And if they're in hell and Christ
did die for them, God is again unjust and Jesus did not do the
full work for them. Because His job was to atone
for all the ones that He died for. that atonement was to satisfy
God's judgment against them and to justify them before God. And if God did not count what
Jesus did and be satisfied with that, then Christ didn't do enough
to accomplish what He was sent to do. But the Bible here tells
us that He did. He says, by his knowledge shall
my righteous servant justify many. He shall justify many. He didn't say justify all. He
said justify many. But what is that according to? What is the ground of their justification? For he shall bear their iniquities. The reason that God justifies
the sinner is because Christ bore their iniquities. Therefore,
the ones that He substituted for didn't have to bear their
own iniquities. So if you're saying that Jesus
dies for everyone, everywhere, then Jesus bore their iniquity,
and if He bore their iniquity, God doesn't count their iniquity
against them, Because everyone for whom Christ bore the iniquity,
they are justified before God. If they're justified before God,
that means there's no more in their account book that says
they owe God anything. And if you don't owe God anything,
then God can't bring judgment against you. I know that sounds oversimplified,
but brethren, that's the Gospel. The Gospel is Jesus did it all.
All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. Nothing in my hands I bring only
to Christ I clean. I don't bring nothing to Him.
Jesus did it for me. He's the substitute. And whatever
He did to substitute for me satisfied God and therefore there is now
no more condemnation for me. Look with me if you would back
into Romans chapter 3. The effect of Christ's atonement
is justification, right? Romans chapter 3. Look with me,
if you would, down to verse 24. The Bible says, being justified freely
by His grace. What was it that brought the
justification? through the redemption that is
in Christ. Christ's redemption is what brought justification. Being justified freely by God's
grace, but the basis and grounds of God giving that grace of justification
is the redemption that is in Christ. That's why we believe
in particular redemption. That redemption obviously is
for a particular group of people because everyone for whom Christ
died, it says, are justified freely. But you're telling me
that Jesus died for everybody but there's somebody in hell
that is justified freely? God justified them freely but
sent them to hell anyway? Again, that's why we say those
are lies about God and His justice. That's lies about Jesus and His
work. Brethren, run from these doctrines
that you're hearing in these other churches. Get out of there. Get away from it. If you have
to dwell in your house alone and you and your family preach
and teach each other there within your own family, do that. But
don't be partakers of this harlot and her sexual deviation of doctrine. the spiritual deviation, this
hawking Jesus for profit, this hawking Jesus for popularity,
this hawking Jesus for a clear conscience. The Jesus of Scripture completed
the work that He was sent to do. And God accepted that work
to the point where there is free justification to everyone for
whom Christ redeemed. And if his redemption was for
everybody, brethren, the universalists have been right all along and
we were wrong. Everybody is going to be saved.
I've said it before, I actually have more respect for the universalists
who say everybody's going to be saved than I do for the Armenian
or semi-Pelagian, if you want to use the big 50 cent word,
for the freewheeler who believes that Christ died for everybody,
but yet not everybody is saved. At least the universalist realizes
and sees the effectual nature of Christ's atonement. They at
least see that if Jesus died for somebody, that person will
be saved. Now they miss the fact that there
are some that are going to be in hell. There are some that
are not going to be saved. They miss that fact. but at least they're consistent
in their view of Christ and His work. They're consistent of the
view of God and His justice. God is not going to condemn those
for whom Christ saved. At least they were consistent
in that. Look, if you would, chapter 5,
verse 9. Romans 5, verse 9. It says, much
more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him. See, here's another effectual
thing about the work of Christ. If Christ died for you, not only
have we been justified by His blood, but being justified, that
means there's no more wrath for us. You see, justification and
propitiation is tightly knit together. If there is justification,
There is propitiation. And let me just say that on another
note in defense of eternal justification. The Bible says that we were not
appointed unto wrath. Now that was God's appointment
before the foundation of the world. The Bible has said the
elect of God are not appointed unto wrath. Now if we're not
appointed unto wrath, the reason that there is no more wrath is
because God has been propitiated. And the only reason that we have
been propitiated is because there has been justification. God's
wrath is turned away because God's justice has been satisfied. Right? Am I wrong about that? Is that not what the Bible teaches?
that justification means that God's justice has been satisfied. He has been appeased. We just
read it in Isaiah 53, saw the travail of his soul and he was
satisfied by my righteous servant, by the knowledge of my righteous
servant, the many shall be justified. Justification means that God
has been satisfied. His justice has been satisfied.
If God's justiceness has been satisfied, then that means there
is no wrath. There is propitiation. You can't
have justification without propitiation. And if you believe that we have
eternally been not under wrath, then that means we've eternally
been justified. Now, I know that there are some
Calvinists that say, well, wait a minute, we have been under
God's wrath. The Bible clearly says that we were We were children
of wrath, even as others. Read it again, but read it slowly.
It said that we were children of wrath, even as others. It didn't say we are children
under wrath, even as others. It said we are children of wrath. That means in our Adamic nature,
we are wrathful people towards God. We are at enmity against
God. The flesh wars against the Spirit. The flesh is at enmity against
God. Yes, we are just like the others
in that regard. But it doesn't say that we were
under wrath. The Bible says that we were not under the wrath of
God, never under the wrath of God. But here it says that Much more
than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from
wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more
being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. Not only so,
but we also join God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have now received the atonement." Not meaning that at that point,
the atonement was reckoned to them, but reckoned by them. By this, we join, not only so,
but we also join God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is
through the Lord Jesus Christ that we receive or that we experience
the blessing and the fact that we are in the atonement. Not that He gives it to us at
that point in time, but that we receive the news of it. We receive the joy of it. We
receive the blessing of knowing that we have been atoned for
and that everything that God did in that atonement, we're the recipient of that. Why? Because there's an effect
to Christ's death. Look at Romans chapter 8. Look
at verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of the whole world? Is that what it says there? Who
shall lay anything to all the people of the world? It doesn't
say that. It says, Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? Now, I want you to read this
with me. Think about what we're talking
about. Think about what's being said here. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. So
again, we're talking about the effectual nature of the atonement.
Number one is that those for whom Christ died are justified
before God, right? If we're justified before God,
then that means that there is no more condemnation. There's
nothing condemning us. So that means there is no transgressions
that's in our transgression list. you're sinless, that all the
sins that you have racked up, all the transgressions against
God that you have committed, that that's clear, that's no
longer there, that's not being counted anymore, right? So he says here, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? They can't because the
slate has been cleared. There's nothing on the account
book. Why? Because Christ died and He took
on. the penalty for all that sin. He paid the price, and he paid
it in full, and God was satisfied and said, payment made, thank
you very much, nothing more required. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? Now, what's the grounds Or what
is the argument here that Paul is fixing to put forth on why
there cannot be any charge to these people? It is Christ that
died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who maketh intercession for us. See, the argument that Paul is
making is no one can bring any charge against the people of
God The elect of God, why? Because Christ died. So what's that saying? That's
saying that the effect of Christ dying for somebody means that
there is nothing on their charge list. Nobody can charge them
for anything because everything that was on that list has been
taken away because Christ took it upon Himself. They cannot
be condemned. They cannot be charged with anything
Because Christ died. Because Christ died. That's the
effect of Christ's death. That He has taken our sins. Now, are you still going to say
Christ died for everybody and that there's going to be people
in hell? Then who's going to bring a charge against those
people? If Christ died for them, we learned last week, that means
they're the elect of God. Because Christ only died for
the elect. Christ only had died for the
elect. And the effect of that is that there is justification.
And this right here is saying that there can be no charge made
to God's elect. That's why I say whenever we
stand before God and those scriptures that say that we're all going
to be sitting there and we're going to be judged whether we've
done things in the body, whether good or bad, Brethren, whenever we stand before
the God, there's only one mediator between God and man, and that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. And if there is a mediation between
me and God on whether I've done anything good or bad, the only
person that's going to stand in my stead is Jesus Christ.
Whenever the judgment day comes, and I'm even kind of toggling
on this viewpoint, whenever the end comes and everything is done
and God sets up judgment and the sheep and the goats are separated,
The sheep are not going to be judged because they were already
judged when Christ died. Their judgment came in Christ
Jesus. Whenever we stand before God,
we stand clothed in the righteousness of Christ Jesus. We enter in
hearing, well done thou good and faithful servant, singular. Why? Because the good and faithful
servant substituted on behalf of all his seed, of all his sheep,
of all his children. He was the good and faithful
servant and the words good and faithful servant, if I am to
hear that, is because I am in Christ Jesus and I am the elect
because I am in the elect one. So the judgment at the end is
for those who have not been given to Christ. And they will be judged
on what they did, whether good or bad. And it's going to be
judged and the books will be opened. The book of life being one. The
book of works will be opened up and what will be shown. Christ
didn't do the works for you. Therefore, you're found in your
own works and you will be judged by your own righteous. And the
Bible says there is none righteous, no not one. And the Bible says
that there will be none who will be justified by the deeds of
the law. So there will be nobody that
can come before God and say, we have done and we have kept.
That's why in Matthew, is it Matthew 7? where it says, depart
from me, you workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. After they
said, didn't we do this, didn't we do this, didn't we do this,
God didn't accept those works. Why? Because by the deeds of
the law, no flesh is going to be justified. Their trespasses
was ever before them. They had not had somebody substitute
for them. The righteousness of God had
not been imputed to them. Therefore, they stood in their
righteousness. And that's what most people want.
They want to perform their own righteousness. They want to be
accepted upon the grounds of their own righteousness. Brother,
listen. We should want to run from that.
Don't judge me in my righteousness because the Bible says that all
my righteousnesses are filthy rags. I don't want to be judged
in my own righteousness. I don't want to be patted on
my back because of something that I did. Why? Because whatever
I do is tainted with sin and it isn't worth anything. So the argument here that Paul
is making is that nobody can lay the charge to God's elect
because Christ died for them, and if Christ died for them,
there can't be any charge. Therefore, brethren, we can't
have people in hell that Christ died for because there's no charge
given to them. Now, I know we're probably going a little
bit long here, but I want to just look at a few more things.
So we see that justification is one of the things. Look also,
if you would, go back to Ephesians. Another effect that we receive,
or that is placed upon all those for whom Christ died, is the
fact that they have been redeemed and cleansed of sin. Look with
me, if you would, at Ephesians chapter 5, look at verse 25. It says, Husbands, love your wives
even as Christ also loved the church. and gave himself for
it. Now we read that last week, I
think it was one of our verses that we read last week showing
that Jesus did die for the church. He gave himself for the church. But look at the purpose for why
he gave his life or gave himself for the church. That he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word
that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it should be holy and without
blemish." Now we've already seen in Ephesians chapter 1 that that's
God's purpose and he gives that to us in Christ Jesus before
the foundation of the world. But what was the grounds and
the basis for God being able to do that and still be a just
God? Because those people that God loved from eternity and gave
to Christ whenever they were created in this time was created
in Adam and certainly was parcel of all the failures and sin and
everything that comes with being part of the flesh and of the
earth earthy. The basis of us standing before
God, holy and without blame, and to be blemished is that Christ
died for us. If Christ died for you, then
you are without spot, you are without wrinkle. Well, wait a
minute. Preacher, don't we still sin? Are you saying that you
don't sin? No, sir, I sin all the time. I sin every day. Matter
of fact, I've probably sinned while I preached this message
and thought, if not indeed, I may have said something untrue. Who
knows? I hope I didn't. But the flesh
is still flesh and it cannot please God and everything that
it does is not worthy for God. What's he saying here? The fact
that Christ died for us in that death sanctified or set apart
His people from everybody else. How did it set apart everyone
else, then from everyone else? Well, whenever he set us apart,
he set us apart to be reckoned as, because of our justification
before God and the imputation of righteousness, he set us apart
from everybody else as a cleansed, holy, spotless without wrinkle
church. You can't say that about everybody
else. To sanctify means to set apart. So God has set apart these
people from the rest of the people. These people He has set apart
to be holy, without spot, without wrinkle, without blemish. But
they are with spot and blemish and wrinkle. But yet God doesn't
account them as such. Why? Because they are seen in
the one who is spotless. Blemishlessness. The one who
is without wrinkle. In whom is no guile. There is
no sin. They found nothing in Him. Who
is perfect, immutable. We're found in Him. See, Christ's
death did something. It counted those for whom He
died as being without spot and blemish. And we can't say that
about everybody, right? Otherwise, there wouldn't be
people in hell because they're there because of their spots
and blemishes and wrinkles. They're there because of sin. He says that he might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of the water, that he might present
to himself a glorious church. That's one of the effects. of
Christ's death, is that everyone for whom He died will be presented
as such. Look at Titus chapter 2. Look with me through verse 14.
Speaking of Jesus, it says, Who gave Himself for us, that, so
here it is, here's the effect of Him being given for us. who
gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and
purify unto himself, oh here's this word, peculiar, particular,
special people, that he might purify unto himself a peculiar
people zealous of good works. Now a lot of people means that
whenever we become saved that we become more holy and more
holy and more holy and more holy that God is purifying us. Listen,
brethren, nowhere in the scripture does the Bible say that God is
purifying this flesh. As a matter of fact, he says
the flesh is dying. Every day the flesh is perishing. But the inward man is renewed
every day. But the flesh is continuing to
perish and will continue to perish until we do actually perish in
this body. So what's he mean here? He says,
who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from iniquity
and purify unto himself the people who are purified because of what
Christ did on their behalf. He washed them with water, not
that their flesh would be without spot or blemish, but he washed
them so that they, in God's sight, would be seen in his righteousness. of Christ's death is justification,
redemption, and a cleansing from sin. We are no longer guilty
of sin before God. You say, well, what about the sins
that you commit tomorrow? You'll be guilty of those. I
can understand that Jesus died for all those past sins. Listen,
whenever Jesus died on the cross, all my sins were future. I mean, all my sins were future
to Jesus when He died. But if He died for all my sins,
then that means He died for all my sins that were all in the
future. So that means that all the sins that I have yet to still
commit before I die or before He comes back and ends everything,
I'm still going to commit all those sins as God ordains. and not restrains. I'm going
to commit those things. But all those sins that I've
yet to commit are still ones that Christ has already died
for. Why? Because whenever Christ died,
He died for all of the sins of His people. Not just their past
sins, but all their sins. So I'm cleansed from sins. Whenever
Jesus washed me by His Word, And I tell you what, whenever
Jesus gives the Word, it's a done deal. But whenever He cleanses
us, He cleanses us, and we are clean. No spot, no blemish. What is the next thing? Well,
we've already kind of hit on it a little bit, but one of the
other effects is that we have been, there has been propitiation. Everyone for whom Christ died,
there's propitiation. Look with me back at 1 John chapter
2. 1 John chapter 2. Again, for those listening or
watching, or for you children that might not know the word
propitiation, that word is just a big word. And the Bible uses
this word, so we should use these words. I don't believe in dumbing
down the Scriptures. We should use the words that
the Bible uses. The Bible uses these words. The word propitiation means a
turning away of God's wrath. It's an appeasement. God's wrath
has been appeased. God's judgment has been appeased.
So it means that there's a turning away of God's wrath or a shielding
of God's wrath. Something that turns God's wrath
around. Kind of the picture is, you know, You guys have probably seen fantasy
movies or things like that that's got dragons and stuff in there
and you see the hero that's out there and he comes and he's got
his sword and he's got his shield out there and the dragon goes
and starts breathing fire down on him and lifts up that shield
and that fire hits that shield and just bounces off and the
guy's safe because he's behind that shield, right? You know,
we've seen movies kind of like that. Well, that shield propitiates
the wrath of that fire from hitting that guy. It shields him. It turns it away. But in propitiation, there's
an appeasement. It means that God has been appeased. In 1 John chapter 2 and verse
2, the Bible says, and he, meaning Christ, is the propitiation for
our sins and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole
world." Now they're saying, there you go preacher, everything that
you've just been saying has been eradicated because of this one
verse. This one verse has completely
destroyed your whole doctrine. Your whole entire theology has
just been pummeled by this one verse that Jesus is the propitiation
for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the whole
world. Well, let's think about it for
a minute. Is our doctrine pummeled because
of this one verse? A couple of things that we need
to take note of. Number one is everything that
I've said before. If Jesus has propitiated, and
this clearly says, He is the propitiation for our sins and
for the sins of the whole world. If Jesus is the propitiation
for our sins and the sins of the whole world, then that means
that there's not one person in the whole entire world for whose
sins have not been propitiated. So that means that everyone for
whom Christ died, and if you're wanting to say the whole world
there means everybody head for head, then that means everybody
in the whole entire world that has ever lived, their sins have
been appeased before God. And that the wrath of God has
been removed from them. Now are you comfortable to say
that? I'm not. Because we know for
a fact that there are people in hell. And there will be people
thrown into hell at the end whenever all things are consummated. So, what do we do now? Do we have a contradiction found
in the Scriptures here? Well, no. We just have to look
at the context. What is the context here? Again,
who was John? Who is the one who was who the
Holy Spirit had write this. And to who was John writing?
Well, we see here that John, number one, was an apostle of
the Lord Jesus, but John also was one who was sent and was
an apostle and a pastor to those who were of the Jews. And if you remember, the Jews
had it ingrained in their mind that only ethnic Jews would be
saved, that they were the only people of God, that the Messiah
was going to come and be the Savior of their sins. But yet in the coming of Christ
Jesus and the revealing of the mystery that has been kept hidden
for ages, that it is also Christ who is going to save from the
Gentiles as well as from Israel from the Jews, that he had a
people of the Jews and he had a people of the Gentiles. That when Jesus came and began
to preach this, there was confusion. Wait a minute, I thought we were
the only ones. So what did Peter have to say?
What did Paul have to say? What did John have to say? Bear
in mind, Jews, that He is not only the Savior of us, but the
Savior of the whole world. There is going to be saved out
of the world. We read it last week in John
chapter 17. I pray for these. I do not pray
for the world, but those that Thou hast given Me. And not only
those that Thou hast given Me among the Jews, but those who
will believe Because of them. Because of their
preaching. Their testimony. Their ministry.
Those who will come to the knowledge of Christ because of them. That
was the Gentiles. As well as other Jews. But let's
think of another thing. If we take this word, whole world,
and apply that to everybody everywhere.
Do you remember whenever Jesus was going into Jerusalem? And the Pharisees was looking
on and seeing everybody praising Christ as He entered in, singing
Hosanna, throwing down the palm tree, the palm leaves as He rode
in on the donkey. And what did the Pharisees say? They said the whole world has
gone after Him. Now, is that everybody everywhere? Well, those Pharisees weren't
going after Him. Half the Gentile world, or most
of the Gentile world at that time, all the Gentile world at
that time, I guess you could probably say, they weren't going
after Him. So what was it talking about?
Well, the whole world at that time was being the world of the
Jews, and specifically those who had gathered in Jerusalem
for the feast. They were all going after Jesus
and following after Jesus and leaving the Pharisees in the
dirt. They were hearing the truth and was following after the truth
and not the lies of the Pharisees. And they said, the whole world
is going after, we're going to have to do something because
if we don't stop this, the whole world is going to go after him. But their intent was not talking
about the whole world head for head, but just those who were
there, right? So we know that this word or phrase, whole world,
doesn't necessarily mean everybody head for head. But it means some
from every part of the world, right? And that's what John means
here. Because we, again, we might not
know what it does say, but we know what it doesn't say. We
know it doesn't say the whole entire world, because if Jesus
is the propitiation For the whole entire world, that means there
is no wrath of God left for anybody. The Universalist, once again,
will be correct. Look over in chapter 4, if you
would. Verse 10. This is here in His
love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His
Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now, who is our there? Well, again, let's look at the
context. Go back to the beginning of chapter four. Beloved. Believe
not every spirit, but try the spirits where there are God.
He's talking to the beloved. If you remember in Ephesians,
we are the beloved because we have been accepted in the beloved
because we are in the beloved. We've been put in the Beloved
who is Christ, and if we are in Christ, then we are beloved. Look down at verse 4. Ye are of God, little children,
and have overcome them. So these are the children of
God he's talking to. Verse 6, we are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth
us. He that is not of God, heareth not us. So he's making a distinction
even in verse 6 between those who are of God and those who
are not of God. Who's he talking to? Those who
are of God, the Beloved. Verse 7, Beloved, let us love
one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born
of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. So there again, he's making a
distinction between those who are of God and those who are
not God. So who is he talking about in
this passage here? Verse 10, here in his love, not
that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to
be the propitiation for our sins. So here we see that Jesus Christ,
the effect of Jesus Christ's death was that we have been propitiated
before God. Lastly, we see the effect, and
there's more, I'm sure that there's more that I've missed, brethren,
but one of the effects of the death
of Jesus Christ is that we receive new life and all that is contained
within that new life. And whenever I say that, I mean
all that's contained in the new life being faith, repentance
that we are given to know God. The effect of Christ dying for
those people is that we would receive the new life or that
life from above, spiritual life. And whenever we receive spiritual
life, we now have that capacity given by God to have faith in
and on upon Christ Jesus, to repent of dead works and repent
of false doctrine. We have been given to know the
true and living God. Look with me at 2 Corinthians. Maybe I can bring this out a
little bit and let the Lord be pleased to make it a little bit
clearer to us. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Bear with me, we're almost done.
2 Corinthians chapter 5, and look
with me if you would at verse 14. 2 Corinthians chapter 5,
look at verse 14. It says, For the love of Christ
constrains 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 that
a him which died for them and rose again." So we see one of
the effects of Christ dying is that those for whom he died lives. But we know that not everybody
will live. Right? Not all are going to live. Look if you would at 1 Peter
chapter 3. Look down at verse 18. It says, For Christ also hath once
suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. What's the effect? That he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit. So, we have been given new life. We have been brought to God. Now, in the New Covenant, and
he speaks of this in Matthew, get back to Matthew chapter 26. Matthew 26, look
with me down at verse 26. Jesus purchased all this in His
death, and this was part of the New Covenant. This new life being
given is part of the New Covenant. This effects of this new life
is part of the New Covenant. Okay? Look with me at verse 26
of Matthew 26. It says, and this is the account
of the Lord's Supper from Jesus Institute of the Lord's Supper.
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and
break it, gave it to his disciples and said, take, eat, this is
my body. And he took the cup and gave
thanks and gave it to them saying, drink ye all of it, for this
is my blood of the New Testament or the New Covenant, which is
shed for many for the remission of sin. So again, we see effects
here that that the blood of the New Testament or the blood of
the covenant, his shedding of blood is for the remissions of
sins and it's for the many, not for all, but for the many. But
I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the
vine until the day when I drink it anew with you in the kingdom,
in the Father's kingdom. So we see here that Christ's
death is the ratification or is the is the signing necessarily,
or the, not the signing, but I guess ratification is the best
term I can think of, of that new covenant. Okay? Showing that
that covenant of God is ratified by His blood, or is made effectual
by His blood. is made sure by His blood. His blood is what sealed the
deal for God. Remember we read that by His
knowledge, my righteous servants shall justify the many, for He
shall bear their iniquity. The thing that appeased God,
the thing that was what sealed the deal for God, so to speak,
is the blood of Christ Jesus. Without the shedding of blood,
There is no remission of sin. So the New Covenant and all that
was to be given in the New Covenant will not take place and you will
not have if you're not part of the New Covenant. Only those
who are part of the New Covenant will be the recipients of everything
that is promised in the New Covenant. Well, preacher, what's promised
in the New Covenant? Well, let's look back at it. Let's look in
Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah 31. Look with me, if
you would, down at verse 33. It says, But this shall be the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. Now again,
we're not speaking of the ethnic people. We're talking about the
spiritual people of God. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward
parts and right in their hearts and will be their God and they
shall be My people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord." We have all these churches out there that are running
around trying to teach everybody to know the Lord. But He's saying
here under the New Covenant and those in that covenant, the recipients
of everything that that covenant is going to bring about, one
effect of the New Covenant is that Christ, by His Spirit, will
be our teacher. We won't have to tell everybody
under this covenant to know the Lord. Why? Because everyone will
know the Lord. That's why, brethren, the old
school Baptists were against all these things like Sunday
schools, was against all these things like missionary societies
and these works of trying to get people saved through missionary
works and things like that. Not that we don't believe in
going and preaching the Gospel, everywhere, but that we don't
believe as the Fullerites, especially in the 1800s, the Fullerites
that were rampant, that began to say that there are people
who are dying and going to hell because they're not being reached
with the gospel. And even today, those Calvinists
and Reformed people who are saying that we're mystics because we
believe that God can teach without the means of grace men actually
out there preaching to you. Listen, God can teach you by
His Spirit and He tells you. We don't have to tell every man,
know the Lord. Why? They shall all know Me. We can
read back in the epistles of John. He says that you have no
need that any man should teach you because of the anointing
that you have. The Spirit of God is in you.
You have no need that any man should teach you anything. Why?
Because the Spirit of God is your teacher. That's the end
effect. of Christ's death. That's part
of the New Covenant. And the New Covenant was ratified by
the death of Jesus Christ. Look at what he says there. He says, They shall teach no
more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive
their iniquity and will remember their sin no more. That's part
of the New Covenant. So if we are part of the new
covenant, we are going to be recipients of that. And Jesus
died so that everybody under that covenant will receive that. So if Jesus died for you, you're
part of the covenant. And if you're part of the covenant,
that is going to happen to you. Look at Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel chapter 36. Look with
me, if you would, down to verse 26. Actually, let me back up
to verse 25. It says, Then I will sprinkle
clean water upon you. Now, we just read about Jesus
cleansing us with the water, right? Then I will sprinkle clean
water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness,
and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also
will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." He's
not reworking the old. A lot of people believe that
regeneration is the renewal of something that was already there
before. No, this is a new. A new covenant, not the old revamped. A new covenant. It's a new spirit,
not an old spirit revamped. It's a new heart. not your old
heart revamped. He says, I will give you a new
heart and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh and will give you a heart of
flesh and I will put my spirit within you, that's the new spirit,
and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments
do them. Brethren, that's part of the
New Covenant. If you are part of the New Covenant and those
who are part of the New Covenant are the ones who Christ died
for because we read that all that the Father giveth me, that's
who was given to Him in the New Covenant. All that the Father
giveth me is the ones for whom He died. See, that's why we say
that the particular redemption or the limited atonement is such
because it's tied to election. It's tied to the effectual working
of God. Everyone for whom God elected
will be the recipients of what God did in Christ Jesus. And
what did Christ do? He justified, He redeemed, He
cleansed, He propitiated, and He brought and raised us to new
life. He give us He gives us faith.
He gives us repentance. He gives us knowledge of God. He gives us to walk in His statutes. He gives us to do all these things. So if you say that Christ died
for everybody, then that's what everybody's going to do. That's
going to be everybody. They're going to be part of the
New Covenant. And if they're part of the New Covenant, then
the ratification by blood means there has been remission of sin
and there is no condemnation for them. We hold to limited atonement
and particular redemption because the Bible is clear that because
of God's election and because of God's effectual working and the fact that the Bible says
that there will be some who will be saved and there will be some
who will not be saved, then that atonement had to be limited to
just His people and particular to them and them only. Therefore,
that is the message of the Gospel. Therefore, that is to be proclaimed. Therefore, that is the Gospel
that we are to receive. That is the Gospel that we are
to believe, to proclaim. Those who come among us, if they
bring not this Gospel, they are not to be part of us. Unless they repent of that Gospel
that they hold to and receive the Gospel and the doctrine of
Christ, then they are not to be welcomed. They are not to
be. If there is any that rise up among us who preach another
gospel, they are to be put out and not be compromised with. Why? We put them out so that
Satan might have his way with them, that the flesh might be
dealt with, and if they are truly the people of God, then through
that, God brings them back to us. But you see, the gospel is
a very important thing, and getting the gospel right is a very important
thing. And it isn't just, well, we're
all worshiping the same God, we're all worshiping the same
Jesus, we're all saying the same thing, Jesus died. As long as we believe Jesus died
and was buried and was resurrected, that's really all that matters.
And if we give our heart to Jesus and love Jesus and are dedicated
to Him, and Him alone, that's really all that matters and everything,
and all these other things are just side issues, or these are
things that you teach as people become more mature. No, brethren,
it's the very heart and part of the Gospel. Justification
is the heart of the Gospel, and justification is something that
was promised in the New Covenant. And so only those who are under
that New Covenant promise are going to be the recipients of
that. And if that's the case, then those are the only ones
that Jesus died for. So your gospel has to include the particular
nature of Christ's death. It has to include election. Election
isn't the side note. Okay? Alright. I went long and
went hard. Anybody got any questions or
comments? Died out of breath, actually. I guess I'm I don't
realize it sometimes when I'm preaching, but if I've been intense,
I can usually feel it in my chest. It's all out of breath. It's something that's of great
importance, brother. I know there's so many people that think we
just harbor on this and harbor on this and harbor on this, and
we make false distinctions that shouldn't be there, and we're
being too sectarian, and we're following after some theologian
or something like that. It's who we are because of what
we've been given. It's the message of God to His
people. And so, I don't think we can
ever say too much about it. I don't think we can ever proclaim
it too hard. Shout it from the rooftops. Tell
the world around us, Jesus saved. Not saves, but saved. He saved. Alright, anybody got any questions
or comments? Anything you want to add to it?
Corrections or rebukes? Prayer requests? Anybody got
anything you need a prayer for? Alright, let's pray. Father, we thank You for this
day and we thank You for Christ Jesus once again. We thank You
for the Gospel, for the Word of God that's been given to us.
We thank You for the Declaration of justification, for propitiation,
for the cleansing of sin, and for the new life that you've
given us in Christ Jesus. Father, we thank you for this
new covenant of grace. We thank you that salvation doesn't
come by our works or our attempts to be holy. But, Father, it comes
by the work of Jesus alone. And, Father, we know that we
don't deserve it, and we know that we are truly sinners by
nature, deserving of your wrath, deserving of your hatred. But
Father, because of your grace and your love for us, while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And because of that death,
we have been given new life and we've been given promises that
those promises cannot fail in being brought out and given to
those for whom it was given. So Lord, we just trust in you. We trust in all that you are
and we trust in your faithfulness and in your immutable nature
that Those things that you say, we know that you cannot lie. And therefore, if you said that
Christ died for us, and we believe that, then that means that Christ
has given us that belief. And that means that if he's given
us that belief, that every promise will not be done away with, that
it will come to fruition, that it will be effectual. So we thank
you again for this. I pray, Lord, that you'll be
with these brethren. I pray, Lord, that they've been encouraged
and edified by this today. And Lord, if there's anything
that I've spoken amiss or spoken in error, Lord, may you forgive
me of that, and may you correct me in that, and that I might
only speak those things that are true about you and about
your salvation. Again, Father, I pray for all
these brethren, that you'll be with them as they leave here,
as always, that you might sustain them, that you might keep them
throughout this week, that you might enable them as you see
fit in the times that you have them to speak and minister to
others, Lord, that they might speak truth and that they might
give glory and honor unto you. For it's in your son's precious
name that we pray. Amen.