Let's turn to 1 John, chapter
2. 1 John, chapter 2. The Declaration of the Gospel
declares that Jesus Christ is the Savior. He is the salvation
of God for his people. There's not another salvation.
There's one Savior, one salvation for all of God's people scattered
throughout the world. And this salvation is so perfect,
so complete, that it is sufficient for all our needs. All our needs. We don't need other parts, other
pieces. We have everything that we need
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is our text, is verse
2, 1 John chapter 2, verse 2. The Apostle says, And He, Jesus
Christ, is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world. Now, the best news
that we hear is that Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. That's good news to me because
I'm a sinner. And I need grace. I need his
salvation. He's the savior of sinners. And Christ came into the world
to save his people from their sins. And this is not a salvation
which is limited only to the Jews, the physical Jews. This
is the salvation of God for all his people, Jew or Gentile. This is the one savior. Now,
when Paul and Barnabas were called of God to go out and preach this
gospel, they carried it out outside of Jerusalem, outside of Judea,
outside of Samaria, outside of all that area, and out to the
Gentiles, out to the Greeks there. And they were in a city called
Antioch in Pisidia, a different Antioch from where Barnabas found
Paul, a different Antioch, and they declared to the people there
in the synagogue that through this man, through Jesus Christ,
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. We preach Christ because
he's the Savior. and by him all that believe are
justified from all things." Their faith, their belief testifies
that they are justified from all things which men cannot be
justified by the law of Moses. That's how sufficient Christ's
blood is. That's how perfect and complete
his salvation is. It's entire, wanting nothing. But they were going to come back
the next week. And the Jews saw all the Gentiles
being gathered to hear this word preached. They wanted to hear
it too. And when the Jews saw that, they
became jealous. And they began to contradict
the things that Paul and Barnabas were saying and to blaspheme
God. And it says in Acts 13, verse
46, then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said it was necessary. that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you, but seeing ye put it from you, and
judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles." Now what's amazing is that left to ourselves,
all men put from ourselves the truth of God. We all judge ourselves
unworthy of everlasting life because we want to take salvation
into our own hands. When we're left to ourselves,
we want to take salvation in our own hands and come to God
on our terms. But God will not have that. He'll
humble us. If we're His people, He's going
to humble us. He's going to put us low in the dirt to come to
Him as in the means which He's provided, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul goes on saying, for
so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be
a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation
unto the ends of the earth. And that's from Isaiah 49.6,
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. But Paul and Barnabas, as ambassadors
for Christ, carried that word out to the Gentile lands. And
when the Gentiles heard this, what they said, that they were
going to preach this gospel to the Gentiles, they were glad
and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained,
as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. Those whom God
ordained unto this salvation, they believed the word which
was preached unto them. And the word of the Lord was
published throughout all the region. And so what the Lord
is showing us in his word, what he's teaching us here in this
epistle of 1 John, and in all his word, is that he chooses
whom he will unto salvation. Now, when man hears that, We
know this of ourselves. We see this in the world. Man
makes a division. He puts a division in that. He
hears things that divide based on outward things. He looks on
the outward. He looks on man. And he says,
oh, God is just dividing. He's just choosing a people based
on outward physical characteristics, whether it's of how they were
born, by their race, or whether they're Jew or Gentile, or whether
they're doing certain things or not. Man looks at things that
divide. But what the Lord is showing
us is that He makes a distinction in His people. So that it's not
based on outward things, but He gathers together His people
out of all the nations, out of all the peoples, out of all the
families of the earth, the Lord has a people. And He distinguishes
those that are His by the manifestation of grace, by the manifestation
of faith in them. And so when God's people hear
the word, they rejoice in that. They're glad to hear that Christ
is salvation. They want to hear that Christ
is the Savior because they're sinners, they're hungering, they're
thirsting for righteousness, which they cannot make for themselves.
And they hear this word that Christ is the Savior. He's the
propitiation for our sins. And God's people rejoice in that
word. They rejoice because God has
manifested that they are those for whom Christ came and shed
his blood. It's a manifestation. There's
a distinction of faith in them whether they're Jew or Gentile
or whatever nation they're from. So I want to show you this morning
how that the Lord makes a distinction in his people. Now the text here,
verse 2, 1 John 2 verse 2, says Christ is the propitiation for
our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the
whole world. So we're gonna look at this,
and the Lord willing, we'll understand what the Lord is saying here
by this word, and see the comforting blessings that are given to us
in Christ here. So John describes Christ's sacrifice
as a propitiation, and what that means, it's speaking of his redemption,
his purchase of the people of God. We were dead in trespasses
and sins, there's no law that was given that could save us,
We could not come to God, we were in darkness, we were blind,
we were deaf and dumb to the things of God. We had no life
in us. Our hearts were hard, our thoughts
were dull, and we just did not know the true and living God. But Christ came, and he propitiated
the wrath of God which was against us by the sacrifice of himself
on the cross, meaning he turned the wrath of God which was against
us for our sins upon himself, and he bore that wrath. in our
place, in our room instead. He paid the debt. He paid the
price necessary to purchase his people, to deliver us out of
that body of death in Adam, out from that inheritance and took
us out of that and established us in his own body. so that he
is our inheritance, he is our life, he is our salvation, and
so he's the propitiation for his people. We're justified freely
by the grace of God through the redemption, through the purchase
of the Lord Jesus Christ with his own blood. We're God's people,
those that believe Him and trust Him. And so John here speaks
of our sins. And when he says our sins, he's
talking there as a Jew. And he's saying Christ came and
he saved his people out of the Jewish nation and put away our
sins. And then he goes on to say, and
not for ours only, not just the Jews, but also for the Gentiles. The whole world, he describes
them as the whole world there. And so we want to have a right
understanding of this whole world. What is he saying? Has God failed? Because we know that there are
many that have heard, there are many that do not believe this
gospel, that do not believe Christ, that die in their sins. And the scriptures tell us that
those who die in their sins have no part in Him. They have no
life. They're in hell right now. Separated
from God. Those that die in their sins
are separated from God. But if Christ paid, as many people
teach, and think that this verse is saying that Christ just indiscriminately
paid the price of every man, woman, and child's sins. If that's
true, how can it be that he has failed because there's so many
people in hell? There's so many people that have
died in their sins that do not believe the Lord Jesus Christ. How is that good news? How is
that good news? So it would mean that Christ
has failed, but the scriptures are clear. The scriptures teach
us that Christ is the savior of his people. It says in Matthew
121, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. He shall save them. It's a triumphant
word. It's a glorious word. It's a
word that declares that Christ shall not fail. He cannot fail. He's almighty
God. Manifest in the flesh. Come to
do the will of the Father perfectly. Perfectly. And he didn't fail.
If he failed, then what hope do we have? If he failed for
them, what hope do we have if he's a failure in that sense? So we either must believe the
scriptures, or we're going to believe what man says. And what
man says Christ did is contradictory to this book. It's contradictory
to this word. We're not going to oppose the
will of God. His will is going to be done.
His will is going to be brought to pass for his people. And so, idolatrous man hears
that and he wants to rob God's glory. And so he takes salvation
unto himself. And he says, well, the difference
maker is you and me. We got to make the difference.
Otherwise, we'll go to hell. But if we make the difference,
then we can be saved. A man puts the glory on himself
rather than giving glory to the Father. And so what man says
is that Christ died for all, but it's up to man to decide
whether or not he's going to let Christ save him, whether
or not he's going to make this word effectual to him or not. That's what man says there. But
the scriptures oppose that. The scriptures come against that.
They oppose man's pride and man's self-confidence. The scriptures
teach salvation isn't of man and his decision. The scriptures
teach that salvation is of the Lord. Jonah 2.9, salvation is
of the Lord. Psalm 3.8, salvation belongeth
unto the Lord. It's the Lord's work. We are
saved by the grace and power of Almighty God. The question
isn't whether I will let God save me, the question is whether
God will save me. It's not whether I'll let Him
save me, but whether He saves me. It comes down to Him. It's
written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Am I a
Jacob or an Esau? I don't make that decision. God
has chosen whom He will. God has chosen His people. Acts 13.48, we read it at the
beginning, it spoke of that as many as were ordained unto eternal
life believed. Those that were chosen of God,
ordained unto this salvation, they believe. They believe. God
manifests faith in those whom he loved and chose in Christ
from the foundation of the world. He makes it known through faith
in them. Faith is the gift of God and
he gives it to all for whom Christ died. So what does John mean
when he says Christ is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours
only but also for the sins of the whole world? What does he
mean there? How are we to understand this
word world and these two words whole world? Because the natural
man teaches that means every single individual. Every one
of them. But does it mean that? How is
it used in scripture? So I want to just show you a
few things that show us what the Lord is teaching us about
this word world. Because what the Lord does is
he saves his people whether they're Jew or Gentile. That's really
what it's coming down to. There is a sense in which Christ
is the Savior of the world. There is a sense, we know, and
what it's teaching is what I said earlier, is that there's one
Savior. There's one salvation. There's
one name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved. There is only one salvation. So in that sense, he is the savior
of the world, whether we are Jew or Gentile. All are saved
one way, by the blood of Christ. If there was a law that could
have been given to make us righteous, God would have given it and spared
his son. But the coming of Christ shows that there is no law. There's
no work that we can do. There's nothing that you or I
can do to save ourselves. We need a Savior. We need a Savior
to save us by grace, by grace and mercy. So to understand the
words whole world in scripture, what we find is that actually
when it's used, it's used in a limiting or restricting sense. And I'll give you a couple examples.
In Luke chapter two, verse one, it says that it came to pass
in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be taxed. All the world should be
taxed. Now, who was taxed? Who was taxed? Everyone in the Empire of Rome. in every country that was subject
to Rome. But we know from history that
all the world, not every single country, was subject to Rome. But only those countries that
were subject to Rome, they were taxed. And yet the scriptures
calls it all the world. All the world. Well, it's a limited
sense of all the Roman world was taxed. People in China weren't
taxed. People down in Australia or in
Africa or further south in Africa or here in the United States
before it was a country, they weren't taxed because they weren't
under, they weren't subjugated to Rome. And so it's limited
in that sense. Again, here's another example.
Paul, speaking of the gospel, coming unto the Colossians, says
in Colossians 1, 6, that this word is come unto you as it is
in all the world. and bringeth forth fruit as it
doth also in you." Well, that's not speaking of the world of
unbelievers. It's speaking of the world of
believers, the church, those who hear the word of God, in
whom the fruit of the spirit was manifest and brought forth.
That word brought faith and brought works of righteousness in them
which believe. scattered throughout the world.
And yet it's talking about the world of believers as opposed
to the world of unbelievers. Of which am I? Has God called
me? Has God revealed his faith in
me? Has God made it evident that
I am of that world of believers? Or am I yet dead in trespasses
and sins in that world of unbelievers? And that's what we see constantly
through in the scriptures is this, that limiting sense that
reveals those that are Christ's and those that are not Christ's.
And it's not something that I've done that makes that difference.
It's the distinguishing grace of God which is revealed. And
then that hear that word and are blessed by the word of Christ
and rejoice that Christ has come and gave his life and put away
my sins. And I believe it. And that's
the manifestation of His grace and mercy for you, sinner. For
you that believe Christ. For you that have no righteousness
of your own, save the Lord Jesus Christ. Him only. Him only. He's
our Savior. Now we'll see other examples
as we listen that show us the world in that limiting sense.
Limited to believers as opposed to the world of unbelievers.
So the second thing I want us to see here is that God always
manifests those for whom Christ died by revealing faith in them. He reveals faith in them. Looking at Romans chapter 1,
Romans 1 verse 16 and 17, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel. For it is the power of God. And we're going to see that
at the end of this message. This gospel is the power of God
that he uses to manifest faith in his people. He's going to
give a hearing ear to his people to rejoice in Christ. It's his
power. Unto salvation to everyone that
believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed. From faith to faith, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. You that believe Christ
and live upon Him. That's your life. And the scriptures
say they are justified. They're the just ones. They believe
Christ. We know He's salvation. He's the Savior and He's my Savior. I have no hope of righteousness
save the Lord Jesus Christ. I need no other righteousness
save the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's how the justified
live. They testify that they are justified
because we're not looking to our works. We're not trying to
justify ourselves. We are justified by Christ. And that's our hope. He's our
hope. Then in Romans 3, 25, We see
that those for whom Christ died, those who are justified by Christ,
whose sins are propitiated by his blood, are revealed by their
faith, by their faith in Christ, whom God had set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in his blood. In other words,
we know it's manifest. those for whom Christ died, those
whose sins are propitiated, put away, through faith, through
faith, through belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how
he manifested and makes known to you that you're his. He gives
you faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And for whom Christ is a propitiation,
we see in our text in 1 John 2, 1, that Christ is also our
advocate. He's our advocate, where it says
in verse one, my little children. He's writing to the church of
believers. My little children, these things
write I unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And so Christ is not the advocate
of unbelievers. He's the advocate of you that
believe him. You that come to him, Lord, bring
me to Christ. Bring me to the Father. Bring
me to my God. Gain me entrance into his presence. Let me know him, and we know
him through and by Christ. We see him in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's our advocate. He's our advocate
with the Father. And so there's a world of believers
and there's a world of unbelievers. We see this in Christ's high
priestly prayer. When he prayed, if there's any
prayer that I would want to be under to receive the blessings
of this man's prayer, it would be Christ, our high priest. And
he said to the father before he went to the cross in John
17 9, I pray for them. I pray not for the world. but for them whom thou hast given
me. I pray for them, for they are
thine." So again, we see there's a world of believers and there's
a world of unbelievers. And the ones who are the Lord's
people in that world, they are believers. They have faith given
to them. They trust Christ and they walk
by faith in him who prayed for them. Him to whom we were given
by the Father. And this is why our Lord told
the unbelieving Jews, no man can come unto me except the Father
which hath sent me draw him. Otherwise we'll remain like Esau,
disinterested. I could care less. about the
sacrifices. I could care less about this
religion. I could care less of what Isaac
and Abraham do. That's how Esau was. He didn't
care. He was happy with his inheritance
in the field, in this world. And so he had no interest in
it. And that's why Christ said, no man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. It is written in the prophets.
And they shall be all taught of God. How could he say all
will be taught of God? Because he's talking about all
the world of believers. Every one of his people shall
be taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. And that's
where the distinction is made. We see it in the faith which
he reveals in his people. And that's John 6, 44 and 45.
And then third, we see that John was correcting this false belief
that salvation was only for the Jews. The Jews largely believed
that salvation was only for them and that the Gentiles would not
be blessed in this. They wouldn't receive the blessings
of Christ. But John declares freely, and
he declares it often in his gospel as well as this epistle of 1
John, he declares over and over again how that salvation would
come to the Gentiles. as well as the Jews. And it wasn't
restricted just to the Jews, but God had a people that he
would bring this salvation to. So John the Baptist, for example,
when he saw Christ coming, said, behold, the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. It's not just for the Jews. He's
the Savior of his people scattered among the Gentiles. He has a
people there too for whom He will put away their sin. And so we see that Christ is
the promised seed of Abraham who should come, that in Him
all nations would be blessed. He's that promised seed. that
the Father promised to give to us, that we're blessed in Christ
Jesus. And so He's the Savior of both
Jews and Gentiles. And in Revelation 5 verse 9,
we hear the song of the redeemed. And what is their song? Revelation
5 9 it says thou was slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy
blood out of every kindred every tribe every people every nation
every kindred tribe people a nation out of these people the Lord
has a people that are his world that are his inheritance and
that are going to be with him forever, forever in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then when our Lord spoke
to Nicodemus, we see this again in John 3, verse 16 and 17. He said, for God so loved the
world, Nicodemus, that is the Gentiles, which is contrary to
the rabbinical teachings of what they thought. God has a people
in the world, Nicodemus, that he gave his only begotten son
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. That is the
way that the Jews had concluded that they would not be blessed.
And he says, oh, contrary to what you think, they shall be
blessed. Whosoever believeth in me shall have everlasting
life. For God sent not his son into
the world to condemn the world as the Jews imagined, but that
the world through him might be saved. He'll distinguish, He'll
make known those for whom He gave His life, those for whom
He shed His blood. They will hear and they shall
believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, if men believed Christ,
that He died as their propitiation, and if men whom the Father loved
could die in their sins and go to hell, then what does the love
of God have to do with our salvation? If Christ's blood could be shed
for us and we still go to hell, what does his blood have to do
with our salvation? If it rests on us, it would render
God's love mute, ineffectual. But instead, it is effectual.
Those for whom He loves, He separated unto Himself. He gave us to Christ
and put us into His care. He came and did all that was
necessary for our salvation. Christ did it all. He did it
all. So brethren, we have a sure salvation. We have a certain salvation in
Christ Jesus. Not that salvation which men
imagine, but a certain salvation in and by the Lord Jesus Christ.
And God manifests those. We don't have to wonder, well,
he died for me, but now it's up to me to keep myself saved. No, the Lord is the one keeping
you. And He's drawing you so that
we continue to come and hear and be fed and strengthened and
nourished and encouraged in Christ because it's Him who keeps us. It's Him who manifests this salvation
in us. And so I wanna show you just
real fast before we close how it's God's power. In 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1, and I'll show
you a couple verses. First one in verse 18. We don't discriminate to whom
we preach the gospel, we preach the gospel to all, because we
don't know who are the Lord's people. But Paul said it this
way in 1 Corinthians 1.18, for the preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness. To those who are perishing, to
those who are dead in trespasses and sins, it's foolishness, but
unto us which are saved, not unto us which have saved ourselves,
but to us which are saved, who are the happy recipients of this
salvation, it is the power of God. It's the power of God that
has done this. It's God's power that has delivered
us out of death and brought us into the light and life of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then in verse 23 and 24,
same chapter. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God. and the wisdom of God. He's the
power of God. It's our God who breaks open
the rock of our grave that lays over us. He destroys that rock. He removes the rock. He removes the death and the
darkness and what we are in sin and in nature. He delivers us
out of that and brings us into the light of Christ to believe
him. And this is why it says in 2
Thessalonians 2 verses 13 and 14, we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. How? Through sanctification of
the spirit, the spirit providentially bringing you under the sound
of the gospel to hear this word and belief of the truth. He's
the one who gives that gift of faith whereby we believe Christ. Where unto he called you by our
gospel? To the obtaining. The obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. You didn't come short of it.
you that believe Christ you shall not come short of it you have
not come short of it it's to the obtaining of Christ because
he's the one that makes it effectual and he's the one that puts it
in our hand and and closes our hand upon it and he's the one
who encloses us in his love and grace and power and mercy so
rejoice brethren for salvation rests upon Christ's shoulders
It's good news. It's good news to you that hear
it. That hear that Christ is the Savior and believe Him. And
in closing, Luke 10, 21, in that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit
and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast
revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight. And so God makes the distinction
in His people and He reveals His salvation by faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, whereby we rejoice in Him and are confident
in His grace and mercy, because it's not on us. It's all of His
work, of His handiwork, or His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works. Amen.