Anyway, I turned that board around
and I seen that and I thought, wow, that's kind of funny because
that's the two things of exactly what we talk about whenever we're
talking about particular redemption. That it's efficacious and it's
vicarious. Efficacious being that it has
an effect. It effects the atonement, what
Jesus did, didn't make, and we talked about this last week,
it doesn't make salvation possible, His atonement actually saved
those for whom He died. So it's efficacious. There's
an effect due to the fact of the atonement being made. And
so we say that this is an efficacious atonement. And I mentioned last
week that's one of the terms that I like. If you look at the
tulip, the acrostic tulip, the L stands for limited atonement.
And I listened this week, Brother Larry and them talked about this
on a talk show program about the atonement and how that can
be confusing to some people whenever you say limited atonement. They
think that it means that Jesus couldn't do all that he wanted
to do. which actually is the Armenian
view. Jesus couldn't do all he wanted. He wants to save everybody,
but his atonement couldn't get it done. Someone has to choose
him. So in actuality, the ones who
deny limited atonement actually believe in a limited atonement
as far as that's concerned. But the term limited atonement,
I don't have a problem with that. If you know what it's talking
about, it's talking about it's limited in its scope and not in its effectiveness,
okay? It's not limited in its effectiveness. Is that gonna bother anybody?
That guy seems to always want to do that right in the middle
of our... And he always blows the trash. We caught him one
time. He blew all the trash and was blowing it over in the yard.
So the car wash guy must be an atheist or something, don't like
Christians. Anyway, I didn't mean to get off on that, it was
kind of disturbing me. But anyway, the limit is not
as far as what Christ could do and its effectiveness, the limit
is in who it was intended for. The other term particular redemption
basically means that there is a particular group of people
that redemption is for. Efficacious atonement means that
it was an effective atonement. And then we have the term vicarious.
His atonement was vicarious means that it actually was a substitution. It substituted for somebody.
And I know those are big kind of words and everything, and
you kids need to learn those things anyway, but vicarious
substitution or vicarious atonement means it was a substituting atonement. He wasn't atoning for his own
sins. He was atoning for somebody else's
sins, and those sins that he atoned for, he actually substituted
for. So the penalty that he incurred as that substitute for those
people, all that penalty went on Him, and it was accounted
to Him, and for all those that He did that for, then the benefits
of having that wrath poured out and that record wiped clean because
they paid the penalty, that was given to whoever was for the
substitution. So if Jesus is the substitution
for anybody, whether it be everybody or for the elect only, then the
application is to that group. Now, when we look in the Scripture
and as we look around, we see that not everybody comes to know
the Lord. Not everybody is brought to faith.
There are many that have died in unbelief. There are many that
have died rejecting Christ. There are many that have died
opposed to anything that has to do with Christianity and Christ
and God and everything. And they've died. They went to
hell. We know that there's people in hell. Jesus talked about a
man who was in hell. We know that there are going
to be those at the end that are going to be cast into the lake of fire
with Satan and all of his angels. So we know that there are people
that are going to be in hell. So if that is the case, then
Jesus' redemption was either not efficacious and vicarious
or it was. If it was efficacious, then that
was applied. If it was vicarious, then whoever
he substituted for receives the benefit because someone substituted
for them. Now, anybody here ever heard
of the term double indemnity? Okay, the adults probably know
what I mean. Y'all kids know what I'm talking about that?
Basically, it's double payment, okay? If I say, you know, if
I want to sell you my phone here, and I say, here, if you give
me $5, I'll give you my phone, then you take my phone, you give
me $5, I give you the phone, then I turn around and I charge
you another $15 because you have my phone. That's double indemnity. I've now charged you twice for
the thing that I told you I was going to give you for this amount.
There was an exchange. Five dollars for phone. Okay? Well, God says that the wages
of sin is death. That's the wages of sin. Those
wages have to be paid. God is a just God and He's going
to require that payment to be made. And so Jesus died so that
all for whom he substituted for would not have to. So as the
substitute, God said, okay, and that's, and we've talked about
this, I think whenever we went through this, a substitute is
someone who actually substitutes, stands in the place for, and
they are accounted as if that was that person over there. Okay. So if I substitute for Larry,
okay, then that means that everything that was supposed to happen to
Larry is going to happen to me. And so whenever it happens to
me, it can't happen to Larry because they did it to me in
the place of, well, that's what Jesus atonement was. Jesus atonement
was taking the place of everyone that he substituted for and they
don't receive that for which Jesus received. And so now we
have two things that take place if what we believe here in limited
atonement, particular redemption, efficacious atonement, vicarious
redemption, whatever the case is. What happens then if that
isn't true, then what happens is, is number one, God punishes
the sinner. punishes Jesus, and then turns
around and punishes the sinner for something that he already
meted out his justice upon for those crimes. And so those crimes
are paid for twice, by Jesus and by the sinner. Second of all, we have God unjustly
punishing His Son for no reason. If he punishes his son and pours
out his wrath upon him for all the sins of Mike Smith and then
turns around and doesn't let Mike Smith go free, he has broken
the covenant. The covenant was that I will
go and I will bear their burdens or as we read in Isaiah 53, he
will bear the iniquity He bore the iniquity. By His
knowledge, His righteous servant will justify the many." So He
bore that iniquity and because of that, the many were justified. But yet God turned around and
took those people and threw them in the lake of fire. And said,
you're gonna burn for all eternity because that wasn't good enough
or whatever, you know, whatever the case is. So God is now an
unjust God. Now we get the, we get the, we
get the accusations of preaching an unjust God because he doesn't
choose everybody. But yet the Arminian has an unjust
God who punishes his son for sins that he turns around and
punishes those who Jesus died for and punishes them for their
sins. Now they'll say, well, they're
not being punished for all their other sins. They're only being
punished for the sin of unbelief, the sin of not believing on Christ. So that's the only unforgivable
sin. That's that sin that is unforgivable. And somehow they swirl that around.
And still to this day, even back then, I said it because I was
parroting people that I heard say it, regurgitating other preachers
that I'd heard say it. But now that I look back on it,
I don't even see how that comes about. But they say that the
unpardonable sin of the scriptures that it talks about is the rejection
of Jesus Christ, you know, never believing on Jesus Christ, rejecting
Him, whenever that is nowhere in the context of the unpardonable
sin. The unpardonable sin had nothing
to do with rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It had nothing
to do with that. Anyway, I don't want to get off
on the unpardonable sin, but that is the only sin for which
they say is not forgivable. If you have unbelief, then unbelief
is not pardonable. Let me ask you this. Is it not
true that every elect child of grace before they have been quickened
of God lived in unbelief? We all committed the sin of unbelief.
So now let me ask, is unbelief now, is all of our unbelief in
the past unforgivable? See, we believe that all of our
unbelief was covered in Christ's blood. You see where I'm going with
this? If our unbelief is forgivable, then how come their unbelief
wasn't forgivable if Jesus died for everybody? The only thing that makes their
unbelief Not forgivable is because they didn't make a choice. So
again, we get back to the whole issue that according to the Armenian
scheme, heresy All of your salvation hinges upon you making that decision,
you making that free will choice to come to Christ, to accept
Christ, receive Christ, be baptized, whatever the case is, whatever
choice gets you the thing, that's what becomes the efficacious
part of salvation. The effective part of salvation
is not the atonement. The effective part of salvation
is your choosing. And see, they can't see that.
I couldn't see that. I couldn't under... I couldn't fathom whenever
my uncle was telling me, hey, you realize that you're making
all of this about what you do, and it's about what Christ did.
And I couldn't get... I could not get that through
my head. I don't know what you're talking about. No, I don't believe
that our salvation is by anything that we do. It's by what Jesus
did, and He did it. But you got to take it, you got
to receive it. I mean, he's not just going to
force it upon you. See, that's why the next thing
we'll talk about on down the road, irresistible grace is so
beautiful. Because I was right. I was right in the fact that,
you know, I'm not going to receive this. I'm not going to believe
this. No, I'm not going to receive that. And I wouldn't have. Had
he not changed my heart, I would have continued right on telling
my uncle he was crazy. He's a fatalist. Get away. I
don't want to hear that. But praise the Lord. He opened
up my heart and give me spiritual life to receive spiritual things. And then all of a sudden, the
things that my uncle had told me all those years, I hadn't
forgot them. I hadn't forgot all those things, but all of
a sudden they come to light. Oh, wait a minute. That's what Second
Timothy said. that the gospel brings life and immortality to
light. The gospel brings things to light. When the gospel comes in, it
brings things to light. Why? Because we've been given
spiritual birth. We've been given spiritual life.
Now, so, I went ahead and turned this around again so we could
keep these in mind over the next couple of weeks as we talk about
this, but the atonement, we call it limited because we see clearly
last week that the ransom for many as we'll see this week Jesus
did for us he give his life and in exchange God was satisfied
He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. By the
knowledge of His righteous servant, many will be justified." And
so we see that that was an efficacious atonement. It effected something.
Christ being the ransom for many, giving His life, bearing it out,
taking God's wrath, being that sacrificial lamb, effected something. It satisfied God for all for
whom He sacrificed for. So there was an effect. But we
also learn that it's vicarious. And in that, that's where a lot
of people don't like that. Matter of fact, I remember even
Even as I was just, I mean, I was just barely, barely coming into
the doctrines of grace. I still had a lot of doubts and
everything, but the Lord had really began to open up my understanding
of some of these things. And I was preaching in a church
in Oklahoma City as I was traveling with Master's Voice, and we were
doing a revival there, a three-day something or another, and they
asked me to preach and then we'd sing. And in that message, I
brought up the fact that Jesus died a vicarious death. And at that point, I knew what
vicarious was, and I knew what I was actually intending to say.
I didn't know the full scope of the things that, some of the
things that I know now. I still don't know the full scope,
but I don't, I didn't know as fully as I know things now about
the atonement. But at that time, God had given
me to understand that that atonement was a vicarious thing. And I
mentioned that from the pulpit, that it was a vicarious atonement. Well, after the fact, the pastor
of the church came up to me and said, What is vicarious? He didn't know what the word
meant. He said, what do you mean by that? And the guys in my group
also said, yeah, we heard that vicarious. Did you make that
word up? Because I've been known to make up a few words here and
there. I said, no, I didn't make that up. That's really a word.
Well, they kind of jab me a little bit, you know, saying, I, you
made that word up. You made that word up. And I finally, once
we got out on the bus, I had to pull it up and show him guys,
this is a real word. I didn't make this up, but anyway,
I was surprised the pastor came and didn't know what vicarious
was. And I told him, I said, well, vicarious means that, that
it was a substitutionary death. He said, well, I agree with that.
But I said, but the vicariousness of it means that he actually
substituted for the ones that he died for. So it becomes efficacious
for them. And he said, man, I'm going to
have to gnaw on that. And so anyway, of course, we
never got asked back again. At least I didn't get asked back
again. They may have got asked back
again after I left, but I was never asked back to preach after
that point. Matter of fact, I got actually
blackballed in all the Southern Baptist Convention there in Oklahoma
the head of the evangelism of the Oklahoma Baptist Convention
was a good friend of mine as we were singing but whenever
he began to hear what I believe He would not, after I resigned
from our church, there were, at that time, there were 20,
I think there were 27 churches in Oklahoma that didn't have
pastors, that were looking for pastors. And I mentioned to him,
you know, I've resigned from my position at my church, and
if any of these churches need anybody to fill in until they
find out, or if they want to, you know, look at calling as
a pastor, I'll be glad to pray about that. never got a invite. But there was always in the Baptist
paper was, you know, we're always in need if you're if you are
a preacher and you can fill in, we need people to fill in. But
I've never got a call. So anyway, didn't mean to get
off on all that. But vicarious People are okay
if you leave it at Jesus was a substitute for everybody. But
if it's an efficacious and vicarious substitution or atonement, then
that's kind of where they get a little antsy. But again, as
we looked last week, we've seen in Isaiah 53 that there was an
efficacious efficaciousness to the Atonement, right? Well, today
I want you to see that there is a vicariousness to that. Look
with me in Matthew chapter 20 and verse 28. We see some of the same verbiage
that Isaiah said, and it doesn't surprise me because there's one
author of Isaiah and Matthew. Matthew 20 verse 28 says, Even
as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give His life a ransom for many. Remember that was the
verbage that Isaiah used, that He would justify the many. The
many. Okay. He says here that he came
to give his life a ransom for many. Now he didn't say all he
said, give his life a ransom for many. Now I'm going to digress
just a little bit here to explain this many and the arguments that
come about, about this many, this word many. Okay. Some people say, well, yeah,
well, many is a lot. And he did. He didn't, he give
his life for everybody. That's that's a lot. That's many.
yeah we can stretch it out to that and make that say yes yes
we understand that that could mean everybody but most the time
when someone says many that is a term of seclusion or a term
and I may not even get the right term for this someone might holler
it out if you hear know what I'm thinking about but it's a
term of of of a an exact amount or a determined about or not
the whole. Okay, if I say, if someone says,
well, how was the concert that you went to the other day? All
right, man, many people was there. Does that mean everybody was
there? No. That meant everybody that was
there, and there was a lot that was there, but it wasn't everybody.
It was many. If I said, we had a church fellowship
dinner, Well, who all attended? Well, there, you know, many of
the folks were there. Well, if I say many of the folks
was there, the first thing that's going to come to your mind is,
well, not everyone was there then, if many of them was there.
But if I said, I said, oh man, the fellowship dinner was good.
Everyone was there. We all enjoyed a good time together. Okay? There's
a difference between many and all. And many can mean a lot
of people. And yes, every man, woman, and
child is many people, but the word many is a term that shows
a defined amount, not the whole. And here Jesus said He came to
give His life a ransom for many. Now, He gets more pointed in
His speech if you turn over to chapter 26 there in Matthew.
chapter 26, and then look with me down to verse 28. Matthew 26 and verse 28. This
is, of course, Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper here. And He
says, For this is My blood of the New Testament which is shed
for many for the remissions of sin. Okay, so His blood was shed
for the many. Okay? He gave His life a ransom
for many, and He shed His blood for many, for the remission of
sins. So that means that the shedding
of His blood is what brought the remission of sin. And that's
what Hebrews says, right? Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. So, let's look at the equation. Shedding of blood equals remission
of sin. So if Jesus shed his blood for
all mankind, their sins have been remitted. But if Jesus shed
his blood for the many, then only the many have remitted sins. And we see that the ones who
have remitted sins are not the whole. As we get to the end of
the book, the end of the age, we're going to find out that
there are going to be sheep and there are going to be goats,
right? The sheep are going to be on his right, right? My right, your left. On his right,
the goats on his left. He's going to separate those.
The goats are going to have judgment put upon them and they're going
to be cast ultimately in the lake of fire with Satan and all
of his angels. Now, if he shed his blood for
everyone, those sins were remitted, why are they being cast in the
lake of fire? Again, we go back to that question, did Jesus not
die for that sin? Because if we were unbelieving
too, then that sin wasn't forgiven, Okay? So the shedding of blood
remits the sins, and that's for the many. But let's see, does
Jesus get any more pointed on who His death was for? Now again,
these aren't my words. These aren't Calvinist words. These aren't Reformed words.
These aren't theologians' words, unless you want to say Jesus
is the theologian. These are the words of Christ.
Okay? Let Christ speak here. What's He saying? Look with me
over to John 10. John 10. Look at verse 11. I am the Good Shepherd. This
is Jesus talking here. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good
Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. Now, let me read one more passage. Look down at verse 15 because
He says it again. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the
Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep. and other sheep
I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring,
and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. Therefore doth My Father love
Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it up again."
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have
power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This
commandment have I received of my Father." So, Jesus' coming
to die was a commandment of His Father. We talked about that
when we went through these verses in John. This was a commandment
of His Father, and He was obeying all that you told me to do. I've
obeyed everything that you told me to do. Okay? Why? That was part of the covenant.
The part of the everlasting covenant was if I'm to save these people,
then you must go and die. And so Jesus came in the fullness
of time and did all that his father told him to do, and he
did it to the T. And that's why Jesus later in
17 says, I've done all that you told me to do, and because of
that, I've lost none. Why can Jesus say, I've lost
none? Because He knows the faithfulness of God. The faithfulness of God
to say that in the covenant there was a covenant made. And God
is a... I hate to say this, this sounds
like a Pentecostal sermon. God is a covenant-keeping God.
Okay? God's a covenant-keeping God.
Why? Because God cannot lie. If God says, these people are
yours, to love, to keep, to hold. What do we say, to have and to
hold? All that is biblical language, brother. Whenever a preacher
talks about that at a wedding and has a husband and a wife
to have and to hold, that's actually for the bridegroom, not the bride.
It's the bridegroom's responsibility to have and to hold. Now she's
also to have and to hold, but not like the bridegroom is. Christ
was given to us to have and to hold. It was His possession and
it was His responsibility to make their salvation complete. And He did that. He was faithful
to that. God was faithful to be satisfied
in His justice because Christ did what He said He would do
and what was required of Him to do. Christ was faithful in
doing all that was required of Him to do, that was said that
He would do, that was part of the covenant. He did that. And
because God's justice was satisfied, Christ's obedience was done,
there's nothing left undone And therefore, everyone for whom
Christ died, there's nothing left for them to do. And so that
is the efficaciousness of it. That's the effect of it. Jesus
completed the covenant. Jesus fulfilled the covenant
between God. He did that. And so he says here
that I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life
for the sheep. And I lay down my life for the sheep. And listen,
my Father loves me because I did that. Now, Jesus here makes very clear
that it is for the sheep. Now, here's the argument that
I've come across in my time of discussions. on these issues. Someone will say, well yeah,
well everyone who believes on Christ becomes a sheep or his
sheep. Remember Acts 13, 48. All that
believed on him was ordained to eternal life. Is that what
it said? No. It says all that were ordained
to eternal life believed. Also remember, Jesus said, You
believe not because you are not My sheep. Not the other way around. You're not My sheep because you
don't believe. He didn't get the cart before the horse. They
were already His sheep before they believed, and the believing
was because they were His sheep. And so, Jesus made it very clear
who His sheep were. His sheep wasn't everybody. His
sheep were those who God had given to Him. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me." Why? Because I'm the Good Shepherd.
They hear my voice. They come unto me. I've laid
down my life for them and secured that very thing that causes them
to come. My securing that in blood is
why they come. even though he had not yet been
crucified at this time, the merit of Christ's cross, the merit
of everything that Jesus did, his obedience and his sacrificial
death, all that he did was the merit or the grounds upon which
God, before the cross and after the cross, looks down at his
people and says, not guilty, That's why we're His sheep. Matter
of fact, the Bible says because we are sons, He has sent His
Spirit into us. It isn't even at quickening.
A lot of people want to put it at quickening that we become
that, His sheep. No, we were His sheep before
quickening. We were His sons before quickening. He sent His
Spirit into us because we were sons. We were already sons. Sheep
is just another word for that. Sons is just another word for
sheep. It's just words describing or giving, it's just a metaphor
that is given, but we are His people. And so the reason that
this was given, and Jesus made this very clear. He says, well
it's actually there in John 10 if you want to look at it, verse
26. He says, but ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep
as I said unto you. Okay, so whenever he says, I
laid down my life for the sheep, he doesn't mean everybody everywhere. He laid down his life for those
that the Father gave him that were his sheep, that were the
ones because they were ordained to eternal life would in time
believe as they were given faith in Christ. See, it's still a
particular people. It's still an unconditional election. It's still an atonement that
is specific to just the sheep. Now, part of Jesus' atonement
is his intercession, right? Whenever Jesus was dying on the
cross, he died not only as a sacrifice, but he also died as the high
priest. He was the high priest. He was our high priest, because
he offered up himself He was the high priest. And so there
is intercession there. And the scriptures in John 17
says that Jesus made intercession for the people
in verse 9. He says, I pray for them, those that thou hast given
me. Okay? As a matter of fact, if
you remember, I told you, go through to John 17 and highlight
every place where it says, gave us me. Give to me. Basically those phrases there.
Given unto me. And look and see, that prayer
is not for everybody. As a matter of fact, He said
it very clearly in verse 9, 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 am glorified
in them. So, Jesus is interceding right before His death, and everything
that that was going to secure was going to be the merit for,
everything that he was sent for, he said, it's for them. Those
that thou hast given me. John 6, John 10, my sheep, my
sheep, my sheep. I mean, brethren, that to me
is so clear. And if you're still in John,
look back in chapter 11. John. That's something else that
Jesus says here. We'll look at this and we'll
conclude for today, and we're going to pick up and look at
some stuff in Romans, Lord willing, next Lord's Day. John chapter
11, look at verse 51. Actually, let's go back to verse 49. It
hadn't been too long ago that we dealt with these passages
in our exposition of John. V. 49, it says, "'And one of
them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said
unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is
expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and
that the whole nation perisheth not.'" Okay, so even here, Caiaphas
realizes that there is vicarious substitution that can be made.
Someone can be substituted for somebody else so that the other
ones don't die. He makes that statement here. It's expedient for us that one
man should die for the people. And you know, and this just kind
of comes to me, that kind of makes me think that Caiaphas
understood the coming of the Messiah and what he was here
to do, not just to set the Jews up as rulers, okay? that they
thought that they were going to be saved from the Romans and
their oppressors, be put on thrones and rule over the nations. What
the dispensationists think is still going to take place at
some point, which is wrong. But here it seems like he knew
the Messiah was coming to die for the people. But yet they
continued on with their craft, right? Their crafting. He says,
"'Nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die
for the people, and that the whole nation perisheth not.'
And this spake he not of himself, but being high priest that year,
he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not
for that nation only, But that also, and here it is, brethren,
because this is what makes the distinction. It's not nations
or everybody as a whole, but look what he says here. And not
that that nation only, but that also he should gather together
in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. Again,
I've made comment on this before. They're children that scattered
abroad that hasn't been brought together yet. They're children
of God that have that have not yet been saved is, and I use
that term in quotes, as it refers to quickening. You know, we use
the term saved in a lot of different instances, but they haven't been
brought to life yet. They haven't been brought in.
And he's talking about the Gentiles specifically here. Not to die
for this nation only, but that He should gather all together,
or should gather together in one, the children of God that
were scattered abroad." So Caiaphas, by God I believe, spoke truth
here. That Jesus was to die so that
others would not die, and that his death wasn't just for the
jews but for all the children of god that were scattered abroad
now he may have had in mind himself that all the jews that were scattered
abroad but actually at this time the jews were pretty localized
uh... for the most part i'd you know
jews were scattered around in other places besides jerusalem We see here that the spiritual
nature of this is dead on though. Jesus didn't die just for the
elect among the Jews, but for every nation. And so Caiaphas
spoke the truth that his death would be a substitution so that
others would not die. Now, if we look at that, we see
that Jesus said, for the many, Jesus said, with blood, there's
going to be remission for that many, that many that he had in
view. He said that He was the Good
Shepherd that would lay down His life for the sheep, and that
because His Father loved Him, He would give Himself for those
sheep, and that those sheep were his sheep, and it wasn't because
they believed that they were his sheep. They were already
his sheep before they believed. As a matter of fact, the Bible
also says that while we are yet sinners, still in our sins, Jesus
died for us. But also he says that here, that
it is for all the children of God scattered. So Brethren, where
do we get a universal atonement from these things that we've
read? I mean, Jesus Himself makes clear, and Caiaphas, the high
priest, even commented on it whenever he said, there's an
actual exchange, one for another. If one dies, the rest doesn't
die. So He said, if He dies, the nation
won't die. but not only the nation, but
all the children of God scattered abroad." Okay? So the elect of the nation of
Israel and the elect of all the other nations scattered abroad,
Jesus died for. And if He died for them, then
they will perish not. It kind of gives us a little
better understanding of what Jesus told Nicodemus in John
chapter 3 when He said, For God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him... Who are the
whosoevers? His sheep. He's made very clear in these discourses
that He's given after this day that He spoke with Nicodemus
as He moved into John chapter 6, John chapter 10, John chapter
17. He made very clear that the whosoever's
are His sheep. Those are the ones who will believe
on Him. That whosoever believeth on Him should not perish. That's
what Caiaphas said. One should die for the many That
way the many don't die. They don't perish. So John 16 is in the universal
atonement message. John chapter 316, for God sent
not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that he,
but that the world through him might be saved. Again, the term
world and the terms all here are all within the context of
the scriptures that bear out that the whosoever's here is
his sheep. Limited atonement. Particular
redemption. Efficacious atonement. Whatever
you want to call it, it's an atonement for the elect only. Any thoughts on that? All right, brethren, we'll stop
right there and we'll pick back up. There's a few verses in Romans
that I'd like to look at, Lord willing, the next few days. Actually,
there's quite a few, but then we'll get to Hebrews. Hebrews
is almost kind of a linchpin in my mind. Jesus' words themselves
is pretty plain. But we'll see what this high
priest and what this sacrifice and atonement, Hebrews lays these
things out so clearly. So we'll pick up with that and
see how far we get, Lord willing, next Lord's Day. All right, let's
stand and we'll have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, again, we thank
you for this day and we thank you for your mercy and grace.
We thank you for the work of Christ and salvation. We thank
you for these brethren, again, that you've gathered here today.
And Lord, we just pray that you'd keep us all safe as we leave
this place this week and that we might be ministers of your
gospel. to all that were around. Lord,
we just thank You for Your mercy and grace. We thank You for the
remitting of sins through blood. We thank You for this vicarious,
efficacious sacrifice that was made. And Lord, we are truly
humbled and it truly is by grace that we have been made participants
in this. And so, Father, Lord, I just
thank You for all that You have done through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord, I just pray that you would bless the time of fellowship
that we're about to have, the food that we're about to eat,
may you nourish our bodies by it, and may Christ be honored
and glorified in all that we do and say, even in this time
of fellowship. Again, I want to thank you for
the message that you've brought to us through Brother Larry this
morning, and that you might bless him and his family this week
as they travel back to Pineville. Lord, and I just pray that you
just might minister, continue to minister, even through the
ministry that you have him involved with over the internet. So many
people hearing those things, Lord, it's such a blessing to
hear, and the many people that are edified by it. And Lord,
we just know that it's all because of you. your mercy and grace
to even call and to give ability to bring those things, whether
it be there, whether it be here, whether it be anywhere that God's
people are gathered and your messengers are bringing that
message, Lord, we just thank you for that. And we ask, Lord,
that you just might, again, bless this day and bless this time
together for it's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.