Would you join me this morning
again as we study the great doctrines of grace to the book of Ephesians
chapter 2. The book of Ephesians chapter
2. We have so much said in this
chapter about grace. And grace is not something that
we merit. It is not works of grace. There
is nothing about grace that is on our part. It is all from God. It is completely and totally
unmerited favor that God shows to us, and it is brought out
here as we look in Ephesians chapter 2, and it would be well
to read all of Ephesians chapter 1 before we get here. But that
clock just keeps moving, so we'll leave chapter 1 to you. But in
chapter 2, "...and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses
and sins." And I have to emphasize again that there's only one place
that there's ever a discussion about what that word dead means,
and that's in religion. Everywhere else, everybody understands
it completely. But in religion, everybody that
is religious wants to fudge on that just a little bit. And it
doesn't really mean that. Well, it does. It means dead
in trespasses and sin, wherein in time past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past. And please don't ever share with
me that you're the exception, because you are not. I am not
an exception to this. We all had our manner of life
in this. in times past, in the lusts of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath even as others. But
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
With Christ, by grace ye are saved, hath quickened us together
with Christ, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages
to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Now grace
is not of us, neither is faith. They're all of God. Not of works,
lest any man should boast. Now if we contributed one scintilla
to our salvation, we have room to boast. But since it is all
of God, there is only one place we can boast, and that is in
Christ. Only in God can we boast. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto
good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. The Bible tells us, and I just
was looking up there in the break a number of times in the Old
Testament as well as the New Testament, that the God of the
Bible, the God of heaven, the God of the Bible, the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, describes himself as God Almighty. I want that underlined in our
mind as we look at the things today. He is God Almighty. He is never described or displayed
as the God Almost, but He's always the God Almighty. So when we're
dealing with salvation, we need a God that is Almighty. Recently,
we have examined some of the Bible passages that declare so
plainly That natural man has no ability in himself to turn
to God, believe God, receive God, accept God, or come to God. We don't have that ability. There
is no ability in our natural standing, in our natural birth,
that we have a quality that will allow us to do that. We find
out that we are totally without help, and without hope, and without
God in this world. We're totally depraved, as the
old church fathers described it. The God that has done all
He can do. Have you ever heard that? God
has done all He can do. Now that God is the same gods
that Paul was talking about when he was in Athens and went through
that great building with all of those altars to various and
sundry gods. You know, our grandson was here,
and he's been listening to a book on tape, and it's interesting. You could be talking, and he
doesn't hear a word you say, because he's off. But this book
was about the old Greek gods, and he's talking about this.
They're not gods at all. They have these human qualities
which make them not able to be gods. Well, that's what Paul
was talking about. You know, in the book of Acts
chapter 17, he's there, and he's observing all of those things. And then he brings up an altar,
and they have it inscribed, The Altar to the Unknown God. In case, possibly, they might
have missed the God, we don't want to offend him, so we'll
have an altar to that God. And Paul began at that place
and preached unto them the unknown God. the God Almighty, the God
of Heaven, the God that saves people who He intends to save.
And we find out that the religious world has many gods. They have a God Almost, they
have a God that has done all He can do, but this God that
Paul declared there at Mars Hill is the God Almighty. the saving
God. So that's who we would like to
describe. And it is required that this God Almighty do the
saving because we are unable in ourselves to raise ourselves
above a level. We can't get there from here.
We read over in the Psalms, In Psalm 50, would you turn with
me to Psalm 50 for just a moment? In Psalm 50, we read what the
natural man thinks about God. In Psalm 50, verse 21. We read
here these words, and they're brought out for our understanding,
for us to look at and say, you know, that's just the way I used
to look at him. But now he's God Almighty. He's the omnipotent God. He's
the everlasting God. He's the God before all gods.
Here in Psalm 15 verse 21, these things hast thou done, and I
kept silent. Thou thoughtest that I was altogether
such a one as thyself. We have this view of God that
He's like us in many ways. Oh, He's a benefactor. He's a
Santa Claus God. He's just waiting for us to make
a request. And then He goes on to say there,
But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine
eyes. This God is not that God. This God is the God of the everlasting. And in the book of Isaiah chapter
40, would you turn there with me for just a moment? Isaiah
chapter 40, we read here again that God shares with us, I'm
not like the gods you think about. I'm the God that actually saves
people from their sins. I'm the God that deals with dead
people. I'm the God that resurrects dead people. I'm not the God
that is out there trying to get something done. I actually do
it. And as we heard this morning
in the Bible class, To God's satisfaction, he does it. So
we'd like to carry on with that, too. In Isaiah 40, verse 15,
we read these words. Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. You know, if the nations are
as a drop of the bucket, I think he's taking care of the weather,
too, isn't he? I got a call from my brother
down there in Lakeview area. They had to scrape ice this morning.
So? Let the redeemed of the Lord
say, so? God's in control of that. All right. And then he
goes on to say here, as a small dust of the balance, behold,
he taketh up the annals as a very little thing. And the Lebanon
is not sufficient to burn, nor the beast thereof sufficient
for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as
nothing, and they are counted to him as less than nothing in
vanity. To whom will ye liken God? Or what likeness will you
compare him unto? And then he goes on and says,
the workman melteth the graven image and goes on. The man carves
out a piece of wood and goes on. And he says, what will you
compare me to? What will you compare me to?
You know, even we are committing a crime if we're trying to figure
out how to describe the Trinity. We're going to say it's going
to be like water, it's going to be like ice and steam and
liquid, or it's going to be like an egg. Don't try to describe
God like that. God is indescribable. Take Him
as He is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That's what He describes
Himself as. And He's an active, proactive
God, and He is performing His will. every day of our life. We next looked and considered
some of the verses of scripture that shares with us that salvation
always begins with God. It does not begin with us. It
begins with God. God is the author and finisher
of our faith. God's salvation began in old
eternity. God in old eternity made a choice. decreed that there must be an
act before the creation of humankind, before there was even a fall,
God must have interest in a people before that, or there would be
nobody ever saved. Nobody would ever turn to God
without God having an interest first. So He began His salvation
in old eternity. Salvation begins in old eternity. Our salvation came as a result
of God decreeing before the foundation of the world that He's going
to choose a people and give that people to Christ and their names. are written down in the Lamb's
Book of Life before the foundation of the world, and there's a song
that's in our songbook. I'm sure it's in Great Hymns
of the Faith, because many people say, this is a wonderful song.
There's a new name written down in glory, and it's mine. How
horrific is that, the very thought of that, that there's a new name.
That would mean God has to change every day, and the Bible declares
so Powerfully, I am God, I change not. I have never changed my
mind about anything. You know, more and more I have
to change my mind about why I'm in the room. What am I doing here? I'm thankful
for a good wife. Oh, you came in for some water.
You know, that's just the way it is. But God never is caught
up like that. He is forever and eternal, carrying forth His everlasting
purpose. And God has decreed that He chose
a people. Look with me, if you would, to
the book of 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2, we read here,
2 Thessalonians 2 verses 13 and
14. Notice with me here, God had
a purpose before the foundation of the world. He had a purpose
to save a people before the foundation of the world, and He had a purpose
to save an exact number of people before the foundation of the
world. And that's going to lend itself to our study today about
who did Christ die for on the cross. All right, 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 13, But we are bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning. Please, if you find it different
in a book, don't believe it. If you find it different online,
don't believe it. If you find it different from
your pastor, don't believe it. Believe the Word of God about
this subject, because writers will lead you astray, preachers
will lead you astray, It is the religious world that will lead
us astray, but the word of God will never lead us astray. It will always declare exactly
what God intended about a subject. It is not the definition of the
word. It is not how it is portrayed
or declared. It is our mind that has a problem
with God doing his business as he intends to do his business.
It's our mind. And people simply, you know,
courageous people. I don't believe it. Most of us
just simply say in our mind, I don't believe that. I don't
believe that. We don't speak it out loud. We
don't want anybody to know that we don't believe the word of
God. We, I believe every word of it. I don't know how many
people held their Bible right in my faces. I believe every
word of it. Well, okay, if you believe every word of it. But
we are bound to give thanks only to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the
truth. The pastor I heard one time down in California said
he was preaching from this passage of scripture, and as he read
that passage of scripture, a deacon jumped up and he says, I want
it to go on record right now that I do not believe the way,
I do not believe the message this preacher's preaching. And
the preacher just said, I just read the scripture, and he jumped
back up and said, I don't believe the way he's reading it. Well,
how can we read it different? It says, Brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth,
and that's the truth of the gospel, whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the church says, hallelujah,
because I know left to myself, I would still be in the pit. if He had not lifted me up, if
He had not set me on the rock, if He had not given me that song
of rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy. Turn there
with me to the book of 2 Timothy, if you would. Chapter 1, verse
9. 2 Timothy 1 and verse 9. It tells us here, as Paul again
was led by the Holy Spirit, he's the secretary of the Holy Spirit,
and he's writing down what God Almighty once written down about
how he saves his people, and he says, who has saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works. Now
the preacher had a calling. I may have a calling. I may call
you to repentance, but it is not a holy calling. Only the
Holy Spirit can give you the holy calling. He's the only one
that can say, come and we come. I like what Jesus said to Matthew,
who was making a good living at collecting taxes. Follow me. You know what he did? He left
the seat of Texas and followed Him. That's how powerful the
Lord God Almighty's voice is. Takes us from where we are to
be with Him. All right, it goes on to tell
us here, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. So God
had a work. He performed a work. He has continued
to perform that work and carrying it out to the very end. And it
will be fulfilled in time when the words of the Lord Jesus are
completely fulfilled. I have lost none of them. And they're all in their seats.
Not one extra chair, and I'm being metaphorical. one too few
or one too many, there's not a name written up there that
will not be a symbol there. All right? And finally, if you'll
turn with me to the book of Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 4 and 5. Ephesians,
chapter 1, verses 4 and 5, we read these words. God doing it. Now, if your commentary
says differently, If your own will says differently,
don't believe it. Believe the Word of God. It is
the only standard we have. You know, when people want to
be into a discussion and they want to talk about their feelings
or their beliefs, I have nothing to go on if it's not in the Word
of God. That is where we have to center.
We have to center in the Word of God. We can't go anywhere
else. Don't talk to me about your experience. Talk to me about
the Word of God. What are my experiences? You
know, there's nothing in the Bible that tells us about having
an experience and then we come to Christ. God gives us the experience
of grace. Ephesians 1, verses 4 and 5,
"...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."
So we have a terrible state we're in. Natural man is in a terrible
state, totally, totally depraved, without any hope in themselves. We cannot turn to God. We cannot
come to God. We may come to a God, but we
will not come to the God. He's an offense to our very nature. He was offensive to Cain in the
Garden of Eden. He offended Cain when he came
in the cool of the evening. And what did Cain do? Excuse
me. What did Abel, what did the father,
Adam, do? He hid himself in the garden. He covered himself with fig leaves.
God was an offense. God is an offense. We're an enmity
with God Before we're saved we are offended by him because he
is very demanding my way or no way It's my salvation or you
will never be saved. That's it So he's an offense
to us and it takes the grace of God to have us cry out as
Saul of Tarsus did on the road to Damascus Lord All right Because
of the total fall of man and because of the necessity of God,
our message this morning, we hope to say a few words and answer
this question. Did Jesus Christ die on the cross
for people that eventually go to hell? I've had people say that Jesus
died for everybody in the world. And you know where they go, John
3, 16. John 3, 16 is a wonderful passage of Scripture in context,
but Jesus did never say, He never mentioned in His own words. It's
always been words supplied to Him, just like the Sadducees
and the Pharisees tried to supply words for Him, but He never said
anything about ever dying for everybody in the world. The Bible
doesn't have that in it. We have, in fact, that God chose
out the nation of Israel to give the Passover to, a type and a
shadow of the church. He didn't give the Passover to
the Egyptians, the Hittites or the Hivites. He gave it to Israel. And throughout the scriptures,
we find there was a specific people that he dealt with with
that kind of dealing. And so it is with the church.
We must answer that question, the question at hand, did Jesus
Christ pay for the sin debt of every person that has ever lived?
Now, that's what religion will teach us, but we find out that
the Bible is totally different than that. Let us go to the only
answer book that we're going to get valid answers from. Don't
go to your commentaries. Go to the Word of God. Now, if
you can find a commentary that agrees with the Word of God,
go ahead and read a little bit of it. But if it, on the onset,
it says, this doesn't mean what it says, then put that book down. It's not worth reading. Truth
will always, truth will always bear out. Truth will always bear
out. All right. Did Christ Work on
the cross just make it possible for sinners to be reconciled
to God? Or did the work of the cross actually reconcile sinners
to God? Did Christ make a definite atonement? Did Christ make a particular
atonement? Did Christ make a limited atonement? Let's start examining what the
Bible has to say about this, and we will find out that because
of man's total sin, and fall in the Garden of Eden, and God,
before the foundation of the world, took an interest in some
people, and made the beginning of their salvation in old eternity,
there must be someone that will pay their sin debt. Someone's
going to have to pay for sin. If they're going to go free,
they have to have their sin debt paid. And those, we will read,
that go into everlasting fire, they have eternity and cannot
pay the debt. Jesus, the very idea that rejecting
Jesus puts people in hell is a fallacy. Sin puts them in hell. It's their sin. That's why God
can be just by putting people in the everlasting pit that have
never heard the gospel because they're all sinners. We're just
thankful, my friends, that he took an interest because we could
have been in that number. But he had an interest, and not
because we raised our hand, or not because, look at me, look
at me, look at me. Not because I'm doing good. It's because
we're sinners, sinners, and sinners. All right, John chapter 10 and
verse 11. Let's look at what the Lord had
to say about who he came to die for. In the book of John chapter
10 and verse 11, John chapter 10 and verse 11, we have the
Lord himself speaking about this. Jesus is going to share with
us who he came to save. He says here, I am the good shepherd. Nobody argues with that. Good. But let's argue with the next
phrase. No, let's just believe it. Because
the Word of God says, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. Now he knew exactly who he came
to save. He came to save that whole host
of people from creation, Adam and Eve, down to this time. But
he also intended to save, when he went to the cross, all his
sheep on this side of the cross. We only find record in the Bible
of one man being saved on the day of his crucifixion. And that
was a thief. A thief on the right-hand side,
a thief that knew by God's infinite wisdom and grace that he was
a sinner before God. He said he is guilty of nothing. We're guilty. We're here rightly. That's what he said about his
own sentence. We're here rightly. Now, the guy on the left-hand
side couldn't agree with that. Jesus went to the cross for His sheep.
All right, it says here, I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd
giveth His life for the sheep. Turn with me, if you would, as
we follow this thought, this theme through the Scriptures.
And we, by time, we just cannot read them all, but we will read
a few in Revelation 5. Revelation 5 and verse 9. Now,
here we have a discussion about the whole world. Here, the world
is brought up here. We have an interesting passage
of scripture here. Every kindred, tongue, people,
and nation. He's talking about the world,
but did you notice there that he said, and they sung a new
song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and open the
seals thereof, for thou was slain and hast redeemed us to God by
thy blood out of every. Out of every. He never said,
I'm going to save every. He didn't say, my blood is for
every, but I'm going to save some out of every, what it is
going to say, every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. I'm
going to save some Jews. I'm going to save some Gentiles.
And out of the Gentiles, I'm going to save some English, some
Spanish, some Mexicans, and on and on the list goes. God has
a people in this world and he knows all about them. And God
is going to make sure that the truth of the gospel gets to his
lost sheep and they will hear it and the Holy Spirit will reveal
it to them and cause them to trust Christ in the new birth.
Repentance and faith is not something that we come up with. No preacher
can get us to repentance and faith. Repentance and faith is
a fruit of the new birth. God raises us from the spiritual
dead and then we have repentance towards God and faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 1 and verse 21, would
you turn there with me? Matthew 1 and verse 21, as we
find again, the very name of the Lord Jesus is significant
when it comes to who did He come to save. There is no boasting
in this. There is only God's grace, the
grace of God. It tells us here in Matthew 1
and there in verse 21, these precious words, and it says,
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus. You know, in our world today, there's a lot of Jesuses,
and I'm not just talking about in a spiritual context. I had
a number of students in school. It was spelled J-E-S-U-S. Now, we were asked to pronounce
it Jesus. Now I don't know why anybody
would name their child Jesus, but they do. Why was I called
Norman? There's their Mikes. Why is there
Timothys? Why are there? God, in His great
providence of grace, caused our parents to do that. All right? But this Jesus, it tells us in
Matthew 1, verse 21, "...she shall bring forth a son, and
thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people."
from their sins, from the very onset, from the very birth of
the Lord Jesus. There was information shared
with us that He came to save His people from their sins. Now,
this is something that has been carried on throughout the Old
Testament up to this point and throughout the New Testament
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save His people from
their sins, to lay down His life, a ransom for His people, to shed
His blood for His people. There was no wasted blood. You
know, when we get to this, we find out If there was only one
person out of all the millions and billions of people that would
ever be born on this earth, if there was only one person out
of all those that God chose to save in eternity past and wrote
that one name down in the Book of Life, the Lamb's Book of Life,
it would require exactly the same payment for that one as
it was required to save the host. He could not change the amount
of payment due. His blood is the only thing that
can take care of sin. So the sin of one would require
the same payment. We would read the same things
about. He was in agony for one as he was in agony for the church. The payment is exactly the same,
the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He shall save His
people from their sins. In Matthew chapter 20, again,
we find the Lord Jesus sharing with us this wonderful subject
about who He came for. Matthew chapter 20, and there
in verse 28, the Word of God shares this. The Son of Man,
even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, you know,
He came not to have people serve Him. He came to minister. He came to be the servant. The
Old Testament calls Him the servant of God. He is the servant, and
this servant says, but to minister and give his life a ransom for
many. You know, as Mike has brought
out with regard to the Greek and also with regard to the Hebrew,
there's no room for saying, well, you know, this word, it could
have meant blah, blah. Jesus knew what he was saying
when he used that Greek word that said many and not all. He knew what He was saying. We
don't want to supply words for the mouth of the Lord Jesus when
He actually said He came to give His blood a ransom for many.
We don't want to say, well, He didn't know what He was talking
about. You know that is just blasphemy. Blasphemy to have
some idea in our head that God didn't know what He was doing
and didn't know what He was saying when He said it. Oh, but he says,
but to minister and give his life a ransom. Now that word
ransom means payment price. What's he paying for? Our sin
debt. Every bit of it. not just a little
bit. You know, I had a preacher tell
me one time he paid for our Adamic sin, that first sin, but now
we have to choose whether he's going to save us from our works
of sin. You know, you can say all you
want to and stretch everything that you want to, but there's
not a scintilla of truth about it from the Word of God. That's
where we have to go back to. What does the Bible have to say
about this subject? In the book of John, chapter
17, would you turn there with me to the book of John, chapter
17, and we read these words that the Lord spoke. John, chapter
17. These great high priestly prayer. He shares with us, you
know, there's a time that he used the word world and it is
intended for us to take as to the world. Take the gospel preach
the gospel in the world to every creature. Now that's our responsibility. I can't go to all the places
in the world, and you can't go to all the places in the world.
But I know what, when there is a lost sheep of the house of
Israel in another country, somebody is going to be used to take the
word to that person. Now we have more electronic aid
today to do that than we ever had in the past. It's interesting
to find out where people download messages from. Places I have
to look up on the internet to find out where it is. You know,
geography used to be so simple. And now, in our day and time,
new names creep up all the time. So we go to the internet. We
find out where they are and find out somebody in that little insignificant
place in the world downloaded a gospel message. And you know
what we do? Thank you, Lord. I didn't take an airplane there.
You didn't take an airplane there, but God used it. All right. Here
in the book of John chapter 17 and verse nine, he says, he's
praying for his disciples. He's praying for his elect. He
says, I pray not for the world. What a statement. You know, I've
had people who believe in universal atonement just stop in their
tracks. They are like I was. You don't
read the Bible for content. You read it for speed. You read
it so at the end of the year, I've checked off all the boxes.
I know that for a fact. You don't read it for content.
You pass over things. It doesn't even sink in. Well,
we find out it's impossible to sink in. But I pray not for the
world, but I pray for them which Thou hast given me, for they
are Thine. And back up to verse 2 of that
same chapter, and it says here, Jesus in His great high priestly
prayer, conversation with His Father, in secret, but we get
to hear. We get to listen in. As thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal
life as to as many as thou hast given him. And as we go through
the scriptures, back up with me, if you would, to John chapter
10. John chapter 10. And in John chapter 10, there
in verse 15, we read these words. It says, As the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. It's no secret. The Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit all had this understanding, and He is about the business
of sharing that understanding with us. Sharing with us that
Jesus Christ was not defeated at the cross, but He was successful.
He is not defeated by hell, but He is successful. He laid down
His life, a payment, a ransom for His sheep, and He paid for
them in totality. The Apostle Paul shared with
the church at Ephesus, the elders of the church of Ephesus, he
said, feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with
his own blood. He's purchased a church, the
church, the church of God with his own blood. Jesus husbands love your wives
even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it Turn
with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 53 Isaiah chapter 53 In Isaiah chapter 53, what a
statement is made in this great, great book of Isaiah. Now, one
of the things that I noticed in going through the book of
Isaiah, there just seemed to be verse after verse after verse
that explained the terribleness of the fall. Boy, there is no
water. And if there is, it's poured
into a cistern that holds no water. And on and on it goes.
And then every once in a while, you come to the palm trees. And when you come to the palm
trees, you've come to where water is. And that's what we read here
in Isaiah 53. There in Isaiah 53 and verse
8, verse 8. He was taken from prison. Isaiah
53, verse eight. He was taken from prison. Who
shall declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land
of the living. Now notice this. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. I pray not for the world. I pray
for those that thou hast given me. I mentioned that I read several
statements by people and the internet just makes it, you know,
you just pop it up. I was out here the other day
and I forgot my phone and I didn't have my fire and I was looking
for a verse and you know what I had to do, I had to go to Strong's
Old Concordance. You know how long that took?
Because they only share one word. You can only put in one word
at a time. And you hope you can pick out the best word that you'll
find it the quickest. Well, I spent some time. Lord
willing, I'll never leave my phone or my fire at home when
I'm out in my study. But anyway. I was online and
read some of the things that some of these guys are saying
out there and have great flocks of people following them. And
they are saying that particular redemption is of the devil. And
they give a few verses of scripture to prove that it's of the devil.
You know what? They never ever brought any of
the verses that we read this morning, and there's a plethora
of them that go with it. They never bring up Ephesians
chapter 1. They never bring up Romans chapter
9. They never bring up John chapter
10. They never bring up John chapter
17. They never bring up verses of Scripture like that. They'll
always bring up John 3.16 and a few others. You know what?
We don't have a problem with John 3.16. We love it as much
as the rest of the Bible. We're just asking for permission
to keep it in context. Don't take it out of context.
Leave it in context. It's a joyous verse of scripture. He's talking to a man that believes
that salvation is of the Jews and Jews alone. He's talking
to a Pharisee. He's talking to someone that
doesn't represent All what God intended to represent when he
said he's going to save some people out of every kindred nation
people in tongue and Jesus Christ spoke to him and said there's
people I have in the world Gentiles, you know, that would just make
a man like him cringe Well, this isn't the guy I thought he would
be as he's talking about salvation is also of the Gentiles You know
if he read the book of Isaiah, he'd have known it. I Now, I
read the book of Isaiah and didn't even know it. We read things
and can't comprehend them. So, John 3.16 is a wonderful
passage of scripture. Keep it in context. I don't argue
with them. Look at 2 Peter 3.9. Look with
me here. 2 Peter. I don't have a problem
with these verses of scripture. I am not going to be afraid of
them. We always have the opportunity of giving a reason of the hope
that lies within us. Here we are, 2 Peter 3, verse
9. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any should perish, but all should
come to repentance. All right. Wonderful verse of
scripture. It tells us about the greatness
of God. He's longsuffering, and he's longsuffering to who? The us word. Go back to who the
book was written to, and you'll find out that Peter was not writing
about universal redemption, universal atonement. He's talking about
the church. And he's saying, God is going
to hold back his judgment upon this world until the very last
sheep is saved. And when that happens, this is
going to be rolled up like a tarp, a tent. It will be consumed with
fire. but he will be long-suffering."
Oh, my goodness. How long did he put up with Sodom
and Gomorrah? But eventually, how long did
he put up with the old world before Noah? Well, we know at
least 600 years he put up with that nonsense. How long is he
gonna put up with the nonsense that's going on in this world
today as totally depraved people demonstrate? We're just witnessing
right now, we're witnessing in every country and in every nation
and every place what it is to exercise your free will. I will
not have God rule over me. I will not allow him to tell
me what I am. And we just see that free will
has never led anybody to God. It's always led people down to
the pit. Thank God for His will intervening
in our lives. In the book of, He taketh away
the sin of the world. Hallelujah, people all over the
world. We don't get into a discussion. All right, 1 John 2, verse 2. Would you notice that with me?
1 John 2, and verse 2. He is the propitiation of our
sins. What a hallelujah moment. When
God gives us the new birth and we finally read the scriptures
with some sense, and we're looking for Christ and Christ alone.
I'll never forget that those words of the pastor who brought
me the gospel, when I brought up the stupidest, stupidest questions,
religious questions, and he answered every one of them with, Norm,
that's not the issue. And I said, what is the issue
then? He says, Christ is the issue. Christ is the issue. And
here we are. And he is the propitiation for
our sins and not for our sins only, but for the sins of the
whole world or for the whole world. Sins are in italics. I
love that verse of scripture. You know, I don't even argue
about what the world is anymore. Just define what propitiation
is. Full payment for sin. full payment. Did Jesus pay full
payment for sin? And if they say yes, then I always
ask them, then why do many go to hell? Unbelief. You mean that's
not a sin? Oh, yes, it is a sin. Well, then
he paid for all their sins, but he didn't pay for the sin of
unbelief. You know, I've had a young preacher say, I've just
never thought of that. I've never thought of that. You
know, that's the truth. Just never thought of that. So we
must be able to deal with these great verses of scripture. He
died for our sins. Those on the right-hand side,
he said, welcome to the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. Now, why in the world, if he
died for all the sins of all the people, did he tell the people
on the left-hand side, depart from me, I never knew you. I
didn't know you on the cross. Now, he knew who they were, but
he didn't know them in a redemptive work, in a ransoming work, he
didn't do that. Why are they told by him, I never
knew you? 1 Peter 2 verse 24 Christ does not come to us merely saying
I have done my part. I have laid down my life for
everyone because I have saving love for everyone in the whole
world Now, if you would only believe and come to me, I can
save you. He does not say that. Listen to this. 1 Peter 1, verse
24, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree
that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose
stripes ye were, not might be, ye were healed. by whose stripes ye were healed."
Now, there's not one part of all of that that we are responsible
for. We're just, well, we're a broken
glass. We can't hold anything. And God
raises us from the spiritual depths of death and trespasses
and sin. He resurrects us by the new birth
and pours into us His great grace and mercy. And for the first
time in our life, we're able to say, against thee and thee
only have I sinned. But I am so thankful for your
rich blood that paid the sin debt. And as we heard this morning,
completely, full up, not one bit is left over for us. We are
presented spotless only by His grace and nothing we perform. We are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which He hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them.