Romans chapter 5. Now we believe
according to the scriptures the doctrine of limited atonement. also known as particular redemption. God our Father elected a people
unto salvation in Christ before the world was made. Scriptures
tell us that in Ephesians 1.1, Paul is speaking to the saints.
He is speaking to the faithful in Christ Jesus. And He says
of the saints, those that have truly been sanctified by God,
those that have truly been given faith in Christ, He says, 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 unto 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,
to make us glory in His grace, free grace that chose us apart
from anything in us, just by God's will, according to the
good pleasure of His will, that we would praise the glory of
His grace wherein He made us accepted in Christ Jesus the
Beloved. So God chose a people. The Scriptures
are so clear on that. Brother Ravi just read 1 Peter
and what were the believers called there? Elect of God. Elect of
God. God had a people. And then Scriptures
declares it was the elect who Christ redeemed. In Ephesians
1.7 He said, In whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Who
is the we He is talking about? The same people He is still talking
about, the saints, the faithful. Those God chose from before the
foundation of the world and He blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. It wasn't a foreknowledge of
seeing that we would have spiritual blessings in us that He chose
us. He blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. There would be no need of sanctification
of the Spirit if He foreknew something in you, such as faith. It's whom He foreknew, not what
He foreknew. It's whom He foreordained, whom
He chose. And those are the ones Christ
died for. In Christ, we have redemption. We have forgiveness of sins.
Christ declared it was the elect for whom He laid down His life.
In John 10, 15, He said, I laid down My life for the sheep. That's who He said He died for.
Isaiah 53, 8, God said, for the transgression of My people was
He stricken. for the transgression of My people
was He stricken. And Christ accomplished the redemption
of God's elect. He accomplished the redemption
of His people at the cross. He didn't merely make it possible.
He accomplished it. Scripture nowhere speaks of Him
making it possible. Scripture speaks of Him accomplishing
it. You know what redemption is? That's to have all the sins
of this people paid for. That's to have justice poured
out so that justice is satisfied toward all for whom Christ died. That's redemption. To be justified
by Christ. That's redemption. Listen, Daniel
said 70 weeks are determined upon Thy people. This is what
Christ was doing for His people. At the cross it says He came
to finish the transgression. He came to make an end of sins. He came to make reconciliation
for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness. You
get that now? He brought in everlasting righteousness. That means the righteousness
He brought in never ceases to last for the one for whom He
brought it in. It's not that He brought in a
righteousness, but if you don't avail yourself of it, you're
going to perish. No, the righteousness Christ
accomplished for His people's everlasting righteousness. It
shall be given to them because it will last forever because
He did it for them. See, He finished the transgression. He made an end of sins. He reconciled
His people and He everlastingly made us righteous. That's what
Christ did when He came to the cross and laid down His life. Hebrews 9.12, listen to this,
"...by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption." Again, that's redemption that
won't ever Not be. That's redemption that will be
forever. It's eternal redemption. Those He redeemed are eternally
bought and ransomed from all the curse of the law. Hebrews
9.26 says, Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. That's what He did. He put away sin. And He did it
for those elect God gave Him from the foundation of the world.
He put away their sin. And since Christ satisfied justice
for His people. That substitution is the gospel. Christ came to lay down His life
for a particular people. And He was there by Himself. And God took all the sins of
that people and put them on Christ. And Christ then had the justice
of God poured out on Him instead of on them. And because He satisfied
justice, because God's holy law is honored, that's why He came
to declare the righteousness of God, to declare that God only
does right. And He accomplished that on the
cross. He declared God is right. He's
just. He did not sweep sin under the
rug. He didn't just overlook our sin. No, He punished the
sin of those He saves. He did it in Christ, His Son.
And in doing so, it says He's also the justifier. Everybody
that's going to be brought to believe on Christ, God is their
justifier. God justified them in Christ
on the cross. That's Romans 3, brethren. It
says in Hebrews 1-3, when He had by Himself purged our sins,
He sat down. And because He satisfied justice,
because He purged our sins, justice will not punish Christ and then
punish one for whom Christ died. That wouldn't be just. It wouldn't
be just for the law of God, for God Himself to satisfy His justice
in the person of His Son for His people and then turn around
and pour out justice on His people. That would not be just. God will
not do that. God is just. The gospel is not
about you and me first and foremost. The gospel is about the righteousness
of God. and how God can honor His law
and be just and justify His people. That's the gospel, the righteousness
of God. And so because He's just, He
will not punish those for whom Christ died, because He punished
Christ. And so Christ said, them, in
John 10, 16, after He spoke of the sheep, He said, them I must
bring, and they shall hear My voice, And there shall be one
foal and one shepherd. And he said, they are going to
hear me and they are going to believe me because I am going to bring
them. I must bring them. Justice demands I bring them.
That is why those Pharisees came. They said, they are trusting
in their works, they are trusting in their will, they are trusting
in their decision, they are trusting in themselves. And they came
to Christ. They said, why do you make us
doubt? Tell us plainly who you are. And he said, I told you
plainly. And he said, ìYou donít believe me because
you are not my sheep.î He did not say, ìYouíre not my sheep
because you donít believe me.î He said, ìYou donít believe me
because youíre not my sheep.î He said that right after he said,
ìAll my sheep shall hear my voice, and them I shall bring because
I must bring them, and there will be one foal and one shepherd.î
It doesn't matter if they're my people from among the Jews.
He said, others I have also that are not of this fold, they're
Gentiles, elect. That's me and you who are not
Jew by nature. He said, them I must bring all
together and make them one fold and having one shepherd. He's
the one that brings us. He said in John 17, 2, praying
to the Father, He said, Father, Thou hast given me power. over
all flesh, that I should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given Me. That limits how many He is going
to call, doesn't it? I have power over all flesh,
He said, to give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
Me. See, they must be given eternal
life. because God chose them and Christ redeemed them. And
God predestinated them to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit
through the Gospel. That's why the Apostle Paul said
in 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Turn there with me just a moment.
2 Thessalonians 2.13. He spoke of some who perish in unbelief. They would
not believe, so God turned them over to reprobation so they could
not believe. If we perish, it's our fault. Nobody else to blame,
our fault. But see, God won't take no from
some people. Those that He put in Christ to
redeem the Christ, He won't take no from them. Look here, this
is what the Apostle Paul said. After talking about those that
perish, he said 2 Thessalonians 2.13, But we are bound to give
thanks always to God for you, Why do we thank only God? Because
there is nobody else to thank. We can't thank ourselves. We
are bound to thank God for you brethren. Be loved. That means loved before. Beloved
of the Lord. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. Through sanctification of the
Spirit. That meant He is going to send
you the Gospel and give you the Holy Spirit and regenerate you
and give you life and faith in Christ. That's what God predestinated
us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself. Look,
from the beginning He chose you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Faith is the gift of God. By grace are you saved through
faith. That's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, lest any
man should boast, where His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. That's
what he's saying here. Through sanctification and belief
of the truth, where unto He called you by our gospel? By our gospel,
to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. What's
that glory? It's having His righteousness.
and His holiness, and His redemption, and His wisdom. 1 Corinthians
1.30 says, Of God are you in Christ, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,
that according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory
in the Lord. We don't have anything to glory
in. What I'm saying to you, what I've just declared to you now
is, salvation beginning to end is of the Lord. Is that not what
the book teaches us? Salvation is of the Lord. He gets all the glory, we don't
get any. We don't get any. Yet, some teach
that Christ died for all men without exception. There is a
doctrine called universal redemption, universal atonement that teaches
Christ died for everybody without exception. Now this doctrine
teaches that Christ didn't really redeem anybody, but He made it
possible for all to be redeemed. He made it possible. And the
deciding factor is if you believe on Christ. That makes salvation depend on
the sinner's will. by making Christ's blood effectual
for them. It's the sinner who has to make
Christ's blood effectual by believing on Christ. Let me ask you something. Now, if you don't know Him, this
will be easy to answer because one of those two made you offended.
What I just told you about universal redemption, that didn't offend
you at all. But what I said about limited atonement, that offended
you if you are an unbeliever. Why? Because limited atonement
doesn't give you any glory and put it in your hands. Universal
redemption puts it all in your hands. It makes you God over
God. Makes you to be the one who makes
the deciding factor and makes the difference. But scriptures
don't say we make the difference. God said who makes you to differ
from another? What do you have that you didn't
receive from God? What do you have that wasn't
freely given by God? It's God who makes the difference.
But this universal redemption says salvation depends on the
sinner's will making Christ's blood effectual for them. This
dishonors Christ. It says Christ failed to accomplish
redemption and it exalts the sinner. Those are two things
God hates in His Word. He says that clearly. Anybody
that dishonors His Son and anybody that exalts the sinner, God hates.
Now, universal atonement, hear me clearly, universal atonement
is nowhere taught in the scriptures at all. Nowhere. I am telling
you the truth. It is nowhere taught in the scriptures.
Not in any shape, form or fashion. It is not that Christ died for
His elect, but if all others want to be saved, they can be
saved. That is not in the Word of God. That is man-made doctrine. Paul said this. He said, if I
preached circumcision, Why then am I persecuted? He said, if
I preach circumcision, then the offense of the cross is ceased. What did he mean by that? What
is circumcision? Circumcision is anything you
do. If I preach that the sinner made the final decision, made
Christ's blood effectual by his decision, if I preach that it's
by your will, or if I preach that it's by your works, Paul
said, I wouldn't be persecuted for that. The gospel that you
hear preached abroad, all over the world, and I'm just talking
in Christianity, but all religions are the same as what you hear
preached in Christianity. It's all about your works. What
about that Gospel would cause anybody to persecute and kill
somebody? Nothing. There's nothing offensive
about it. It puts it all in your hands.
If Christ would have come preaching that, He wouldn't have been crucified.
One of the first things He preached when He stood up is He said,
there were many wetters. But God sent the Gospel to one
of them. There were many lepers. God sent
the Gospel to one of them. And you know what the result
was after he preached that? They wanted to take him up on
the brow of a hill and kill him. Because he preached divine election.
He preached God's sovereign choice of whom He will. Paul said in
Romans 9, it's God who shows mercy. He has mercy on whom He
will. And whom He will, He hardens.
What are you going to say about that old man? Paul said, who
are you to reply against God? Shall the thing form, say to
him that formed it, why have you made me thus? Can you and
I actually question God? God, God, true God, holy God,
righteous God, God who does all things as He will, can we question
God? Who are we to question God? Can
an ant question you? Then may we question God. Today I want to look at a few
of the Scriptures. that men use to teach universal redemption.
And I want to show you why they do not teach universal redemption.
First of all, I want to show you a few scriptures with the
word all in them. I can't show you all of them,
but I'm going to show you a few of them with the word all. First,
Romans 5.18. Romans 5.18. Therefore, as by
the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life. Now, this passage from verse
12 down to the end of the chapter is comparing and contrasting
Adam and Christ. It's comparing and contrasting
Adam and Christ. And what it is speaking of here
is federal That is legal headship. We're speaking of legal headship. And because Christ, Adam was
the head of all his offspring. He was the legal, federal legal
head responsible for all who would be born of him. And Christ
was the legal, federal head of all who would be born of him.
You get that? That's important. You missed
that and you've missed the gospel. You missed the whole meaning
of this passage in the whole Bible. God is looking to one of two
people. He is looking at Adam and there is going to be a host
represented in Adam or He is looking at Christ and who is
represented in Christ. Those that are going to be saved
are represented in Christ. Now here is what He is teaching
here. By the disobedience of Adam, all who Adam represented
sinned in Adam and therefore died in Adam. Look back at verse
12. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sin. There, the word means everybody
without exception because we all came from Adam. And when
Adam sinned, And when Adam transgressed God's one law in the garden,
sin entered in. You see, there's only two men
that came into this world holy without sin. That's Adam and
Christ. They're two representative men.
And Adam in a perfect garden without sin disobeyed God, transgressed
the one law God gave him. And when he did, he plunged the
whole human race into sin and spiritual death. The reason We
come into this world, Scripture says, born dead in trespasses
and in sins. We come into this world without
an understanding of God. Our minds, Scripture says, are
enmity against God. Romans 8 says, carnal minds are
enmity against God, hating God. Not just not knowing God, hating
God, the true and living God. We don't hate the God we imagine,
we hate the truth. When we hear about this God,
we hate this God by nature. We see that and the reason we
get wrinkled and old and die is because sin is what we are
in our nature. This body, this old, everything
that came from Adam is going back to the dust in everybody. And so he says here verse 18,
Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men
the condemnation. Look at verse 19, For as by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners. There it means
everybody without exception. Here's how you know. Who was
born of Adam? All of us were. That's who He
represented. All who would be born of Him.
Verse 19, look at that. The words were made. See that?
Were made. This is important now because
this applies to Christ. This is talking about Adam right
here. It means Adam's sin didn't make
us susceptible to being made sin. It means by His fall, everybody
He represented were made sinners. They were made sinners. Even
so, whenever Christ perfectly obeyed God's holy law, when He
satisfied God's justice on the cross, all God's elect were in
Christ and therefore, the free gift of justification came upon
all who were born of Him. Look back at verse 18. The second
half says, ìEven so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life.î You see that? He talked
about Adam to give us a picture of Christ. He said back up there,
what is it? Verse 13. He said in verse 13
at the end of it, he said, I'm sorry, at the end of verse
14, he said, Adam is the figure, he's the picture of him that
was to come. He's the picture of Christ to
come. How is he the picture of Christ to come? In this thing
of headship. Everybody Adam represented died
when he disobeyed. Everybody Christ represented
lived when he obeyed. And they shall all receive justification
of life. All shall be born of Him and
live of Him. Now look here with me. Look again.
It says verse 19, the second half says, So by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. That be made now means the same
thing it did with Adam. It doesn't mean Christ made it
possible for us to be made righteous. It means Christ made us righteous. Christ made us righteous. So
this whole notion of Christ didn't really accomplish redemption,
He made it possible. Verse 19 says no, no, no. Just like we were made sinners
by the first representative Adam, we are made righteous by the
last Adam. Everybody that will be born of Christ will be made
righteous by Christ. made righteous by Christ. So
all who Adam represented died and all who Christ represented
shall be made alive. Look at verse 21. That as sin
hath reigned unto death, even so might, and the word there
is shall. It's shall. Even so shall grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Christ our Lord. You see, there are no possibilities
with God. We wouldn't say God might do
something. The word there is shall. Where you found the word
might, it means... It's not a possibility Christ
will fail in making His people alive. He can't fail. He's God. So that's why 1 Corinthians
15, 22 when speaking of the resurrection said, As in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. You see, He's not going
to cease to call out His people because He's made us righteous
already. So He's going to give us life and faith. Now go with
me to 1 Timothy 2. I'll show you another scripture
that has the word all in it. This is another common scripture
that when you're talking about limited atonement, folks will
quote this to you. Let's read it in context. Context
is so important. Look here, 1 Timothy 2 verse
1. Paul says, I exhort therefore
that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, giving
of thanks be made for all men. What does he mean there? He means
all men of every rank, class, and race in society. Look here
at verse 2. He is going to show you that. and for all that are in authority,
from the least authority to the greatest authority, that we... He is talking here about himself
and other elect believers. Remember what they said about
them over in 1 Corinthians 1? There is not many wise, not many
noble, not many mighty are called. So here you got kings, who are
the mightiest at the top, you got all in authority from the
top to the lowest, and then you come down to the lowest to we,
and you got believers who are not many wise, not many noble,
not many mighty. All ranks and classes of people.
Listen, that we may lead a quiet, peaceful life in all godliness
and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of
God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth. What does he mean there? The
same thing. He is going to have all kinds
of men saved. Jew and Gentile, bond and free,
male and female, rich and poor, educated and uneducated. For
there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all these different
kinds of sinners. That is what he is talking about.
to be testified in due time. It's going to be brought to them
and they're going to bear witness to each one of them for whom
he died in due time. Where unto I am ordained a preacher
and an apostle. I speak the truth in Christ and
lie not. A teacher of the Gentiles in
faith and verity. Peter was ordained to preach
to the Jews. Paul was ordained to preach to the Gentiles. The
whole context is showing us, brethren, that the word all means
every person of rank and society. That's the only way it could
agree with the rest of the Scriptures. And all Scripture agrees. That's
the only reason that could be consistent with Ephesians 1 who
says God's elected those God chose and blessed with all spiritual
blessings in Christ before the foundation of the world. But
they weren't just one class of people or one race of people.
They were all kinds of people. But let me show you this. He's
teaching us here God's no respecter of persons. God is not looking
at you and me. And because we are respected
by so many others in our neighborhood, He is going to respect us. God
is not a respecter of persons. No sir. It doesn't matter pride
of face, race, place or grace. God hates pride. Period. He is
no respecter of persons. But now look at this. Christ
gave Himself a ransom for all. This is what the Scripture says.
Revelation 5, 9 says Christ was slain. This is the saints saying
this. Christ was slain and has redeemed
us to God by His blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation. That means Christ has a people
of all kinds of people. Now, context shows that it doesn't
mean all men without exception because it says Christ gave Himself
a ransom for all. Do you know what the word ransom
means? You see, we often read Scripture and focus on the wrong
word. The word we ought to focus on is ransom. Christ gave Himself
a ransom. What does ransom mean? When a
person is taken captive and held for ransom, when the payment
is made, do you go and make a payment for everybody in your town? If somebody captured your son
or daughter and they were holding them for ransom and they said,
this is how much you have to pay and you have the child back,
are you going to go and make a payment and say, well, this
is for everybody in my town? No. You're going to pay the ransom
for that individual Child, aren't you? And when that ransom is
paid, you are to get them back. Because the ransom was paid.
Christ Jesus the Lord came into this world to ransom all those
God the Father gave Him. All the world in Adam fell under
sin. We all came under condemnation
in Adam. And we were all dead in trespasses
and sins. And we could do nothing to ransom
ourselves from the curse of the law. We could do nothing about
it. And God sent His Son into this world to those that God
of His own good pleasure, Scripture says, those of His own will,
those by His own purpose chose and gave to Christ. And He sent
Christ into the world to redeem His particular people. And Christ
paid the ransom for His particular people. And when He paid their
debt, He ransomed them from the curse of the law. He bought them
out. He redeemed them out so that that law can say nothing
else to them. Have you ever bought a gift for
somebody and set it up on a shelf and say, I hope somebody comes
and buys that. I bought it for whosoever wants
it. I just hope somebody will come and get it. You buy a gift
for a particular person and you give it to them. That's what
God did with His Son. Why insult God's wisdom? Why
insult His intelligence? Do you think our God would actually
send forth His only begotten Son that laid down His life for
a host of sinners and just leave it in the hands of the sinners
to decide if they want to avail themselves of it? We've got people
every day that failed in business and failed to hold up their responsibilities
in their daily lives. Do we think we can actually hold
up the responsibility of heaven? Not at all. Let's don't insult
God. And also it says here in verse
4, God will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge
of the truth. God is sovereign. The word to
focus on here is God will. He will have. He will have all
men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Everybody
that's talking about, all His elect among all these different
classes and ranks of people, God will have them all to come
to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. How do I know that's
going to be the case? Go to Daniel 4.35. Go to Daniel
4.35. You see, we're going to have
to be put in the dust like Nebuchadnezzar was and learn what Nebuchadnezzar
learned. Look here in Daniel 4. Look at verse 35. This is who
God is. Look here. Let's go to verse
34 and read it. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned
unto me, and I blessed the Most High. And I praised and honored
Him that liveth forever and ever, whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion in His kingdom from generation to generation. Verse
35, And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing.
He doeth according to... What is it? He doeth according
to His will. God does according to His will. Where does He do it? In the army
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And what do we
say about that? None can stay His hand or question
Him, saying unto Him, What doest Thou? That's God. You see, when it says God will
have all men to be saved, it's not saying God just wishes all
men will be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. It's
saying God who works His will in heaven and earth will have
all kinds of men that He's chosen, all ranks in society, be saved
and come to the knowledge of the truth because He's God. This
is why we read another place in Isaiah 46.10 if you want to
return there. Isaiah 46.10, He declares the
end from the beginning. And from ancient times the things
are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will
do all my pleasure. That's God. God's not like us. You and I can't say that. We
can't say, I will and I'm going to do my pleasure. We have to
say, if God will. Because we can't bring our will
to pass. But God can. That's what makes Him God and
me and you the creature. God can do as He will. I will
do all my good pleasure, God said. And God accomplishes His
will of having all His elect from every rank of society to
be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He accomplishes
that. This is what He was talking about in 2 Peter 3.9, if you
want to turn there, 2 Peter 3.9. You know, you've heard this put
in the sinner's hands right here. God's just, oh, He's wringing
His hands. He wants to save you if you'll just let Him. That's
not the Word of God, brethren. Listen here, 2 Peter 3, 9. The Lord's not slack concerning
His promise. Do you hear what He said there?
He's saying the Lord's going to fulfill His promise. What
He declared from the beginning, He's going to bring to pass.
as some men count slackness, but God's longsuffering to us
were, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance." So, what's God's longsuffering mean then? If we
just saw whoever God's willing, if God's not willing for any
to perish, whoever that's talking about, they're not going to perish
because God's not willing. Whatever God's not willing is
not happening. If God wills them to be saved,
they are going to be saved because God accomplishes His will. So
let me ask you this. What is the longsuffering of
God going to result in then? God is waiting. He has not sent
Christ back yet because He still has a people that He is going
to make hear the gospel and He is going to make them repent
and believe. That is what He is saying. That is why Christ
hasn't returned yet. It's not that God's being lazy
about His promise. God's going to fulfill His promise.
Christ is going to return. He's not going to lose one. He's
going to bring all His people to glory. Christ said that. This is the Father's will which
is set me, that of all which He has given me, I should lose
none, but raise it up again at the last day. That's what Christ
is going to do. So, why hasn't He returned yet? He said, because
He's longsuffering. He's waiting longsuffering with
our sins, with the sins of His people yet, because He's going
to send the gospel to each one, and He still has some, and He's
going to call them out. Well, how do you know, preacher,
that's what that longsuffering means? Go look at verse 15. It
says to you and me, account, reckon this to be the fact, that
the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. When the Lord is long-suffering
to His people, it's going to end in Him saving that person.
See what I'm saying? I'm saying if we just look at
1 Timothy and see, God will have all come to be saved and come
to the knowledge of God. It means He's going to have all
His people out of all different kinds of classes and ranks in
society. He's going to have all of them
be saved. So now let's go to a few scriptures
with the word world and I'll be very brief. I'll probably
just get one here. We go to 1st John 2. 1st John
chapter 2. This is what got me looking at
this. Somebody asked me a question. This was brought up. They were
talking about God's particular redemption and somebody quoted
this scripture and said, Seek Christ out for everybody. That
means let's read it now. 1st John 2 verse 1. My little
children, these things write I unto you that you sin not.
And if any man sin, and the word there is win, because he is talking
about believers, and we sin. He has given us a hope here when
we sin, when we see our awful sin, when we fall in sin. He
said, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our
sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. Again, always pay attention to
the context. Who is he writing to and who
is writing? This is the Apostle John writing
to believers. And he says, how do we know?
He says, my little children, my little children. He says,
we have, we have. It is not a possibility, we have. An advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous. You see, it's written to little
children. It's written to believers in Christ. When we sin, we have
an advocate with our Heavenly Father. Now, pay attention to
the important word. What is an advocate? What does
an advocate do? An advocate, the best way to
illustrate it is a lawyer. When you have a lawyer, that
lawyer is in court standing between you and the judge. That advocate
is not representing everybody in the courtroom. That advocate
is representing you to the judge. And that is what Christ is. Christ
is the advocate interceding with God for each one of His elect
people. That is what He is doing. If
He wouldn't have been interceding for us, when Adam sinned in the
garden, God would have wiped the whole thing off the map and
been done with it. But there Christ stood before
God as the surety of His people, saying, Father, I'm going to
pay what Your people owe. I'm going to pay their debt.
And God was long suffering, not willing that any He gave to Christ
would perish, but that they'd all come to repentance. And so
God waited. Christ came forth and fulfilled
the work, And He went back to the Father and now He is there
making intercession for His people as the advocate of His people.
Look at Romans chapter 8, 33. Hold your place right here. We
are going to come right back to it. But look at Romans 8,
33. I want you to see this. Romans 8, 33. Listen, let's read this whole
thing here, verse 28. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called. And why is all this so? According
to God's purpose. God does everything on purpose.
For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. Whom He called, them He also
justified. Whom He justified, them He also
glorified. You see, God did it all. What
shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all. Again, who is He talking about?
He is talking about them He foreknew, them He justified, them He glorified,
them He called His people. He delivered Him up for us all.
How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? That's
saying everybody Christ died for, He's going to freely give
us all things Christ bought for us. Now watch, here's what I
want you to turn here for. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect, it's God that justifies it. This is why
I said that everybody Christ died for has got to be born again
because God justified them. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who's even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. As what? As our Advocate. Do
you see who he is making intercession for? Do you see who he is the
advocate for? He is for those that he chose, those that he
predestinated to be conformed to his son, those that he sent
his son to justify, those that he sent his son to call out,
those that he has redeemed and those that he is going to glorify.
He has done all this for his people and that is who he is
interceding for. So he says to the believer who's
now been brought to an understanding of Christ and rejoices in this
message, he says to you now, when we sin, brethren, don't
forget this, we have an advocate with the Father. We have Jesus
Christ, our righteousness at God's right hand pleading our
case with God. And then look at this. This tells
you also that he's not talking about everybody without exception.
Because when Christ talked about interceding, He said in John
17, verse 9, He said, I pray for them. He said that I might
give eternal life to all them, to as many as you've given Me.
And He said, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given Me. That's what Christ said. I don't
pray for the world. I'm interceding and I'm the advocate for them
you've given Me, Father. We're going to call Christ a
liar? Of course not. We're going to bow and say, yes,
Lord. It's the best thing I ever heard. If He hadn't loved me,
and redeem me and call me freely by His grace. There is no other
reason. If you know what a dead dog,
maggot, sinner you are, you can say that. You can say, if He
hadn't done everything for me, there would have been no cause
in me. Until we can say that, we are not saved. We are lost.
Until we can say that, we don't know God. That is just fact. Now listen, here is another thing,
the way you know this is not speaking about everybody. Back
in 1 John 2, it says He is the propitiation for our sins. You
know what propitiation means? Propitiation means an individual's
sins have been atoned for and forgiven and he is justified.
His sins have been atoned for and he has been forgiven and
he has been justified. That is not true of everybody
in the world. Does everybody in the world believe on Christ?
Scripture says Christ is a propitiation through faith in His blood. Not
everybody in this world believes this message. Christ is the atonement,
He is the reconciliation, He is the justifier of His people
through faith in Him. Let me ask you a question. If
Christ died for everybody, that means Christ died for some people
that were already in hell at the time He died. Again, wouldn't that insult God's
intelligence? Wouldn't that insult our Redeemer?
Would He lay down His life and die for people that He knew were
going to perish in their sins? Some people perish in their sins.
There is a hell, you know. No. He chose them. He redeemed
them. He made propitiation for them.
And right now, He is their advocate with the Father interceding for
them that God is going to be sent to them, they are going
to believe, and not only that, when they sin, after we have
believed, He is still going to advocate for us and intercede
for us, so that God will not let us go. He is going to save
those He loves. Now look, so when He says here,
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world,
He does not mean Christ made atonement for the whole world.
When Christ makes atonement, you have got to be saved, because
justice will not be poured out again. Justice is satisfied. So then all must be saved, else
God is not righteous. But the whole point of Christ's
death was to declare the righteousness of God. And so John here, who
is an elect Jew, and whose immediate ministry was to Jews, is saying
he is not only our advocate, and not only our propitiation,
but for his elect Gentiles scattered throughout the world. And see,
God knows that He is going to use that scripture right there,
this letter John has written. He is going to use it not only
to minister to those John was ministering to in John's day,
but to us Gentiles in our day. And so He is telling you and
me who believe here, who are His elect Gentiles, that it is
not just the Jews that He is an advocate and a propitiation
for, but for us too. Scattered way over here in this
part of the world, not over there where they were. So you see that? And this is the same thing He
meant in John 3.16 where He said, For God so loved the world, He
gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life. God loves His elect in
Christ. Those He loves, He loves in Christ
and He loves everlasting. He said, I have loved you with
an everlasting love, therefore in loving kindness have I drawn
you. He said, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Nothing
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us because God sent His only begotten Son into
the world that we shall live through Him. That tells you who
the world is. It's all those that shall live
through Christ. He says, herein is love, not
that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son, the
propitiation for our sins, the atonement for our sins, the justification
for our sins. And men say, but it says, whosoever
will. That's fine. It says, whosoever
will. Christ is declaring to a lost Jew, Nicodemus. He is talking to him and He is
declaring why God's people must be born again. He is declaring
why we must be drawn to Christ irresistibly, effectually by
God. He is declaring here why we preach
Christ whom we do know. He is declaring here why Christ
had to be lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness. It
is because for God, and the word so means after this manner, for
God after this manner loved the world. For God, after this manner,
loved His elect all over the world. This is how He gave His
only begotten Son that whosoever, Jew or Gentile, believes on Him,
not works, not looks to His will and His works and His way, but
who believes on Christ and trusts Christ to save him, trusts Christ
to do all the work, he shall be saved and not perish. He is
saying this is how God loves. God does it all. That is what
he is saying. If you read the context and God
gives you light to see it, that is what he is saying. And the
very next thing he says, where men never read the rest of the
chapter, he says, but this is a condemnation. This is why God
has to save by making you to be born again and drawing you
himself. Because lights come into the world and sinners love
darkness rather than light and will not come to the light that
they might be saved. Because when they do all their
religious sin, all their works they've done in religion, all
the hope they look into in religion, it's going to be reproved and
renounced as nothing but sin. And men won't come to the light
and have that said to them. Unless God grabs them and says,
come. That's why Christ said, all that
the Father giveth me God the Father shall draw him. And no
man can come to me except the Father draws him. They got to
be drawn. It's not as men say. It's not
that God's going to give you life and now He's going to just
let you go and maybe you will, maybe you won't. No. He said to Christ when He raised
Him from the dead in Psalm 110, He said, Thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power. When you come to them, you're
going to make them willing. We are made willing by God. Now
let me end with this. I am way, way over. Let me just
say these three things. Don't ever take for granted the
word all in the world means everybody without exception. When you read
the Scriptures, read the context. And look at the verse. And pay
attention to the words. Luke 2.1 says, It came to pass
in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be taxed. Does that mean everybody
without exception? Caesar didn't have authority
over everybody without exception. Just over people under his dominion. That's what it means. Not everybody,
not all the world. It means just those people. And
then always read the first verses of an epistle to see who it's
written to. And you'll find it's written to believers. In Romans
it says, To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called saints. 1 Corinthians 1 says to the Church
of God sanctified in Christ Jesus called saints all that in every
place call upon their God and our God who is Christ Jesus our
Lord. Brother Robbie read 1 Peter and
he is writing it to the elect. Ephesians is to the elect. So
when you read it then and you read it better and it says we
and it says all and it says world, you know what he is talking about.
The elect. God's people. And I can say we
if I count myself as being one of those and believe on Christ.
But if I keep saying, well what about, it's not fair for the
rest, I'm putting myself in the camp with those that don't believe
God when I say that. You see what God does, He takes
you out of that camp, puts you in the camp with His elect so
that you say, thank God He chose me. I didn't love God, He loved
me. I didn't choose God, He chose
me. I didn't do a thing, God did
it all. That's a man that's been saved. And that brings me to
the last thing. Look at the verses and read the
scriptures and here's your discernment. Here's true discernment. What
gives God, the triune God in Christ, all the glory and salvation
and gives me zero? And if you see that, what gives
Him the glory and gives me zero, you found the truth of the text.
Because this book does not give me and you glory at all. We have obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will, that we should
be to the praise, that we should glorify God the Father's glory
who first trusted in Christ. So there you go brethren. His
name is Jesus for He shall save His people from our sins. You
see, God the Father does everything after His will. Christ is Jesus,
for He shall save His people from our sins. And He said of
the Holy Spirit, when He has come, He will reprove, that means
convict and convince, the world of sin and judgment, of sin and
righteousness and judgment. So see, the Father is glorified,
Christ is glorified and the Holy Spirit is glorified. Salvation
is of the Lord. God the Father chose His people,
Christ redeemed His people, and the Spirit of God calls out and
keeps His people. That's because salvation is of
the Lord. We preach God's glory. We glory in God. We glory in
Him and not in man. I pray God will bless that. Amen. Alright, Brother Eric. Alright, brethren, let's close
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