I want to talk a little bit about
what it means, what the scriptures are saying
here, but I also want to maybe look at what it's not saying
as well. You know, the Bible is the best
commentary on itself. you really need. The Bible will interpret itself.
The Bible will define itself. You know we have people that
like to run the dictionaries and lexicons to find out the
meanings of words. Whenever we can look and see
how God uses words in the scriptures and we can see how God defines
them. and always wanting to take what
God says over what man says. We can look at commentaries and
see what some man interprets this to say, but the Bible makes
a commentary upon itself. We can go to the scriptures and
find out that the Holy Spirit has given us all the commentary
we need. In fact, I've seen it the other
day, it came up in my Facebook memories, and I didn't repost
it because I've posted it like many, many, many, many times.
since I first made it, but several years ago, I made this kind of
little, how I intended it to be made
is a kind of like one of those sales ads, you know, like you
would see on TV. Buy now, you know, one of those
type of, you know, you get this and this, but that's not all,
you know, one of those type things. And what came up, was is I was
watching a conversation on Facebook about all these guys talking
about the need for commentaries and theologians and creeds and
confessions and I just posted a picture of the Bible up there
and I started it out and the verbiage on all that is, you
know, are you tired of searching through all the creeds and confessions?
Are you tired of going through dusty libraries trying to look
up this or that? Are you tired of having to pull
up all these commentaries and trying to figure out who's right
and who's wrong and all this stuff? Anyway, trying to do that,
I said, well, you don't have to do that anymore. And basically,
the thing was, we have a new resource for you. And it's written
by the greatest writer that's ever been written that covers
every topic that's ever been covered. You know, it has spanned
forever and, you know, anyway. It says, what you need is the
Bible, you know. But anyhow, I wrote that several
years ago and I always think of that whenever
we want to know what something says in the Word of God, we go
to the Word of God and it will never fail us. to define, to
interpret, to commentate upon the things of God. The problem
is, is that even though those things are there, even though
we find that all the facts are in this Bible, even though we
find that all of the doctrine and the teaching and all of the revelation that God
has given to us is found here in this book. The problem is,
is one of the things this book tells us is that the things of
this book as they pertain spiritually cannot be known apart from the
spiritual work of God in us. Being born from above having
the Spirit in us, and teaching us by the Spirit, not through
man, but through the Spirit. Not that man doesn't confirm
these things, and whenever we hear it, we say, you know that,
that's the truth. But the Spirit teaching that
what this is saying means this. Apart from the Spirit doing that,
and that's in 1 Corinthians. You can look that up, the first
couple chapters of 1 Corinthians. Paul lays that out very clear.
that the things of the Spirit cannot be known by the natural
man. One has to be born again to know
the things of the Kingdom of God. He has to be born again
to know the things that are freely given to us. He has to be born
again, meaning has the Spirit of God in him, dwelling in him,
to be able to know what this is saying to us. So this is just
words in a book until the Spirit reveals truth to us. and you
just can't pick the book up and just read it and all of a sudden
you know the truth. You can gain the facts, yes. But brethren,
you can't know the spiritual truth of these things, much less
believe on them until you have been given that by the Spirit
of God. But what I find a lot of times
is we come to these things and even though all the truth is
in here, a lot of times the commentating, the interpretation, the defining
that God does in this book is often outside of our grasp because
we have not been given understanding to know these things. But brethren,
they're there. The Spirit has to teach us that.
And so whenever we come to the Word of God, we pray that the
Spirit would give us understanding, that the Spirit would give us
the knowledge of what is being said, the truth of what is being
said, and that we understand it within the context that the
Spirit was giving it. I've mentioned that many times.
I say that here all the time. The context is very important.
Not just the context within the chapter, not just within the
context of the letter, but the context of the whole entire Bible. The context is very important
and if we look at a verse and we say that verse and we quote
that verse and we use that verse, as a proof text, and we don't
have the context in what that is talking about, much less use
it in its proper way, then that's just a proof text for you and
your presupposition. It's not conveying truth. And
a lot of people will quote the Bible, but yet they're not conveying
truth because they are using the Scriptures to support their
presupposition, to support their theology of man, instead of letting
the Bible say what it says, and that we, as the Spirit gives
us to believe upon that, then, you know, whatever the Spirit
gives us to believe, I guarantee you we're going to believe it
the way that God intends it. But until then, we are bound
to human wisdom, We are bound to carnal understanding, and
through the human wisdom and carnal understanding, we're going
to completely miss the whole purpose and the meaning of those
verses. It has to be revealed to us. Now, I say that because
one of the misquoted, misused, misunderstood verses in all of
Scripture is here in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 2, as it pertains
to Christ's death and who He died for. Now, this that I'm preaching
this morning is a correction of many things that I've preached
in the past. A correction of a whole entire
theological system that I used to hold to in the past of something
that I used to firmly believe was zealous in. With all of my
heart, I believed this to be true, and I encouraged and pleaded
with others to believe it to be true as well. But brethren,
no matter how earnest I was in preaching this, no matter how
earnest I was in believing this, and no matter how earnest I was
in trying to impress that upon the hearts of others, that did
not make it truth. Just because it was a truth to
me did not mean that it was actually the truth of Scripture, much
less a truth that is being taught in the heart of God's people
by the Spirit of God. If this isn't what the Word of
God says and it isn't what the Spirit of God is attesting to
in that child of grace's heart, All of the pleading, all of the
begging, all of the pressing, all of the teaching, all of the
witnessing, all of that that I have in my zealous efforts
will not change the heart of anybody if the Spirit of God
is teaching the truth that is contrary to the untruth. is the only person in God's Word
that used this particular word that I want us to look at here,
and particularly this verse. But in 1 John 2 John writes,
and he, speaking of Jesus, is the propitiation for our sins
and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Now, in times past, that what
I was talking about being zealous and believing, truly believing,
earnestly desiring this for everybody to know and to understand. This
is being taught in most churches everywhere. It was my theology,
it was my belief, it was my zealous religious effort to bring others
to the knowledge of this as well, is that Jesus has died for every
single man, woman, child that has ever entered into this earth.
That was what I believed, and that's what I taught, and that's
what I believed the Bible taught. And I had 15, 20, 30 verses of
scripture that I could take you to and I could show you Jesus
died for the world. He died for everyone. He died
for the sins of everybody. He's a propitiation for not only
ours, but the whole world. And I would say, lookie there,
not only ours, but for the whole world. And I would use those
verses to press that theology, to press that, what I thought
was the gospel. I believe this is a false gospel
now. But it is, and I believe it's not only false gospel, but
I believe it's a blasphemy to say that Christ died for somebody
and that person never does receive the benefits for what Christ
died for, or who Christ died for. If they don't receive the
benefits, if the efficaciousness doesn't ever come in, if the
applying of that death is not ever made to that person, then
Christ died in vain. Christ died in vain and He did
not accomplish what He was sent to do. To save His people from
His sin. That He was sent to save His
people from His sins because God loved those people. For God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish. So if you look at John 3.16,
who is the one that Jesus died for? The whosoever's that believe. Because the reason God sent his
son into the world is because he loved the people. Who is the
people in that context that God loved? The ones that believed. Then that's where I would have
said in times past, aha, there you go, you have to believe.
Whosoever believeth, that's the one that God will love and will
save. But that's not what that's saying.
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish. The believing ones
should not perish. God sent, by His love, His Son
into the world so that the believing ones would not perish. That phrase,
those whomsoever believe, is a descriptive phrase of a group
of people. It's a specific group of people,
the believing ones. As a matter of fact, if you look
in the Greek grammar of that in the structure of the grammar
in the Greek that actually is how it is read the believing
ones in our English language it doesn't read that way very
well so we say those who believe or whosoever believe that's how
we say it in English and so God loved a people and did not want
them to perish Therefore he sent his son to die for them so they
would not perish. So if Christ was sent from the
love of God to die for people so they would not perish, then
what is the outcome of the death? They will not perish, right?
So if there is any person who is in hell and perishing, that Christ died for, then Christ
did not fulfill that which the love of God sent him for. See,
brother, this is what I'm talking about. The Bible interprets itself.
If you read John 3, 16 at its face value and just apply the
presupposition that God loves everybody and died for everybody,
then you're going to look at that verse and say, well, there
you go. Whosoever believeth on him, it's all about belief. It's
all about free will. It's all about a relationship
that God wants to have with you. And so he has done all this for
you, but you have to receive the gift. And so there there's
where Man's Gospel is set forth. But whenever God's Word is taken
into account, and we see, and we ask those questions, will
the love of God, will the love of God for who? Well, it says
they're the world, okay? The world, then who's the world?
Well, it says the believing ones. It's the believing ones. But
what's the outcome of God's love in sending His Son to die? that
they shall not perish. So everyone that the Father loves,
whom He sent His Son to die for, shall not perish. And that goes
hand in hand with 2 Peter 3, 9, which everybody takes out
of context, that says that He is not willing that any should
perish. Who is the any? It is those who
have been given to God, or to Christ. those who have been given
to Christ, the brethren, the us-ward, those who have been
elected before the foundation of the world, those who God has
loved with an everlasting love. The context of Scripture defines
these things. When we look at the word world,
when we look at the word all, when we look at the word whole
world here, there's a context to that. There is a people who
is being written to. There is an application of certain
principles throughout Scripture that we learn. Let's go back
to John 3.16 again. I know I haven't gotten to my
verse yet, but I'm trying to lay a groundwork here, what I'm
trying to say. In John 3.16, the context, again, is the believing
ones. But let's go, let's peel the
layer back a little bit further. If it's the whosoever believes,
that are going to be saved and not perish, what does the Bible
say about belief? Who is it that believes? Because
the Bible clearly says that all men have not faith. The Bible says that belief, faith,
is a gift of God. It isn't something that is of
ourselves. We can't believe. We don't have
faith. That's something that we cannot
produce in the carnal, natural man. It's only produced through
the spiritual man born from heaven. The spiritual man born from heaven
that comes and takes its residence within this fleshly body, that's
the one that has the faith of Christ in him. That's the one
that has belief on Christ. That's the one who has repentance
granted to them. That is the one who God gives
these gifts that we experience from salvation. That's why I'm
saying, if the application of everything that God has provided
in the salvation of Christ is not applied to the sinner, they
never will experience it. Faith has to be applied to them.
Repentance has to be replied to them. Love for God has to
be applied to them. Love for the brethren has to
be applied to them. We don't love God. God loved
us. And because God loves us, He
shed His love abroad in our hearts so that we can love Him because
we are enmity with God. See, we don't just love God out
of nowhere. We don't just look at the facts and say, well, you
know what? I think I love God better. Because we don't even
understand the facts, nor do the facts seem anywhere beautiful
to us. As a matter of fact, the Bible
says that all those facts in the Bible, those are foolishness
to those who are dead in trespasses and sins. It's foolishness to
those who are not born from above. So who are the ones who believe?
Well, the ones who believe are the ones who have been granted
belief, who have been given to believe. It is given unto you
not only to believe, so there, that passage of Scripture automatically
reveals to us the fact that believing is something that's granted to
us. If God says that it's something
that has to be granted to us, the automatic understanding should
be that if it has to be granted, That means we don't have it,
right? If something has to be granted
to you, that means that there is something that you don't have
and can't do. And God has to grant that to
you. I'm not saying grant as far as,
I know you want to believe, but I'm not going to let you. I know
you want it. I know you want to believe in
me, but I'm not going to let you until I say so. That's not
what grant means. means God gives you the ability. Until God grants you the ability
to believe, we never will believe because our fleshly man in Adam
has not the ability to believe on him, to understand spiritual
things. We are at enmity with God. We
don't like the God of this Bible and the salvation of this Christ
or the gospel of this Christ. We don't like that. Oh, we like
to hear that Jesus died for me and then I'm going to go to heaven
when I die. We like that gospel. But we don't like the gospel
that we don't have our hand at anything in there. Jesus did
it all. God bases everything upon what
Jesus did, not what we do. And it's even not about what
Jesus is doing in me. God isn't trying to reveal Himself
to people out there through me because He already did it in
the man Jesus Christ. Christ is the manifestation of
God. We are not the manifestation
of God. Until the day we die, we will
not manifest who we truly are until we put on that new man,
until we put on that new body. Until then, that new man is hidden
within the man of flesh. So who is it that believes? Well,
it's the one who's been given to believe, granted to believe.
The Bible says this, to peel the onion back just a little
bit further. Whosoever believeth on him. Okay, well, who are the
ones who believe on him? Well, we learned that not everybody
has faith. And we also learned that faith
is something that has to be granted. It's a gift of God. So that means
we're dependent upon God to give it. We don't just choose it.
We don't ask Him for it. We don't search it out. We don't
muster it up. We don't change the object. It's
something outside of us. It's a different faith. It's
a different belief than just natural faith and belief. It's
something that only comes from the divine nature. That divine
nature, whenever it comes into us and is operated in us by the
Spirit of God, then receives those things that have been said
about it. But, who are the ones who have been granted to believe?
That's where we peel that onion back a little bit further. Let's
ask the Bible, not John Calvin, not C.H. Spurgeon, not John Wesley,
not Adrian Rogers, or Roland Tidwell, my grandpa, who was
my only pastor I ever had. Who do we ask? The Bible. Who are the ones who have been
granted to believe? Well in Acts 13.48 the Bible
says that all who are ordained to eternal life believe. Those who are ordained to eternal
life believe. Don't take my word for it. Look
it up. Look there. This is just what the Bible says.
We want to look up what the Bible says. Not what Mike says. I don't want my kids to believe
anything because I said it. I don't want my kids to believe
anything or you to believe anything because I said it. I'm not anybody,
brother. And listen, I've been wrong.
I've been wrong about a lot of things. I was wrong for many
years about the whole gospel. And since I've been here as your
pastor, I've been wrong about some things and I've had to correct
them before you. That wasn't an easy task, by
the way. Crow doesn't taste good. They knew those humble pie. Acts 13, 48. And when the Gentiles
heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord.
And as many as were ordained to eternal life, So now we see
the Bible lays down another principle that teaches us who the believers
are, who the whosoevers are. Who are the whosoevers that the
Bible is talking about? So whenever you go to those scriptures
where everybody is telling you, whosoever will, whosoever will,
whosoever will, what does the Bible teach us? The whosoevers
are. The whosoevers are those who
are ordained to eternal life. You see that scripture there?
But look at the little phrase right before that. As many as. Now you've heard me preach on
that phrase before in the past. It's been a while, but you've
heard me preach on that. That's a quantifier. That phrase
is a quantifier. It quantifies a certain amount,
right? As many as, and we've used the
example here before, right? As many as gathered here at Sovereign
Grace Baptist Church this morning, sang hymn number 309. Well, who's that talking about?
Is that talking about past members? Is that talking about future
members? Is that talking about the members who's sitting at
home right now, maybe? No, who's that talking about? As many as were here. So, as
many as quantifies is a quantifier. As many as, and what is the quantifying? That gathered and sang the hymn. Right? As many as And then it
quantifies. Who are the ones who believe
as many as were ordained to eternal life? Now, Brethren, that's not
Michael and Michael's theology. That's not Larry and Larry's
theology. And you name the preacher and
their theology. If they are preaching and teaching
these things, they're teaching what the Bible says. Oh yes,
the Bible says that whosoever will believe upon Him shall not
perish. But again, the Bible clarifies
all of that for us, brethren. We don't have to guess and we
don't have to continue in debate about it. We don't have to continue
in debate when the Bible clearly states that the love of God resulted
in the non-perishing of every one of those whom Christ died
for. If God loves you, you will not
perish. Why? Because He sent Christ to
die for you so that those whom He died for shall not perish. There's an efficaciousness. You
all understand what I mean by efficaciousness, right? There
was an effect. Cause and effect. The cause of
us to not perish is the death of Christ. What is the effect
of the death of Christ? Us not perishing, right? Now, there's a lot more that
I could go on on that part, but I want to get back to the verse
that's at hand here. 1 John 2, verse 2, it says, And
He, Christ, is the propitiation for our sins. Does anybody here
can tell me what the word propitiation means? That's a pretty long word. My grandpa would say it's a 50
cent word. Substitution? Right? Anybody else? The word propitiation, and it's
only found two times in the scripture, and by the way, Both of them
are from the Apostle John here. He uses the word twice. The word
propitiation means appease, to appease something or to turn
away wrath, to appease God's wrath or to appease God's justice. So Christ is the appeasement
or the satisfaction of God's justice. When Christ died, for
the people that he was sent to die for, that death was the satisfaction
of God's justice and it was the appeasement of God's wrath. That's what propitiation means. So to be the propitiation for
something means that Christ's death was what satisfies God
and His justice, His righteousness, His holiness, everything that
God demanded of the sinner, what Christ's death did was appease
everything that God required. And with everything that God
required being appeased, that meant everyone for whom that
propitiation was made was now no longer guilty before God,
but the big word is justified before God. They are now justified. God has justified the sinner
through Christ being the grounds of appeasement. His death and
blood was the grounds in which the appeasement of God is made. And it says here, He is the propitiation
for our sins. He is the appeasement of God's
justice and righteousness and holiness and wrath against our
sins. So if Christ is the propitiation
for our sins, and not only our sins as the Word says here, but
also for the sins of the whole world, if we don't keep in context
the way we're talking about here, then that means that everybody
in the whole entire world man, woman, and child from Adam until
the end of time, if he is the appeasement of God's wrath, if
he is the satisfaction of God's justice for every man, woman,
and child that will ever live, brethren, how does anybody go
to hell? How does anybody go to hell?
If he is the appeasement for that, that means God's wrath
is not on them. It means that God's justice has
been satisfied and they are justified. If they are justified, they are
justified on the grounds of His appeasement, His propitiation.
And so if He's done that, that is applied to everyone for whom
the appeasement was made. The propitiation here is set
for not only our sins, but for the sins of the whole world,
and if you say, well, there you go, that's everybody, he wills
that none should perish, for God loved the world, he gave
his only begotten Son, and whosoever believes in him, there it is.
The reason that they go to hell is because they don't believe.
Well, isn't unbelief a sin, too? Was Jesus not the propitiation
for unbelief? I mean, really brother, I'm not
trying to be facetious here. I'm not trying to be sarcastic
here. I truly am trying to just lay
this out as simplistic as I can. And it doesn't matter how simplistic
we lay it out. Again, it has to be revealed.
But lay this out that if you think about these things, what
we are saying when we are saying these universal salvation things
is absurd. Even within the context of even
human wisdom. much less if you've been taught
by the Spirit of God. In human wisdom, I can look at
this and say, if Jesus propitiated everybody head for head, then
that means God has no wrath upon anybody. That God's justice has
been satisfied and there's no more judgment to come. If there's no more judgment to
come, then no matter what happens when I stand before the judge,
I'm standing there justified because Christ propitiated for
me." And if I say, well, it's because
you rejected Him. You were in unbelief. You never believed upon Him.
Well, brethren, did not the Apostle Peter himself reject Christ and
dwelt in unbelief before Him? If Christ does not pay or propitiate
the sin of unbelief or the sin of rejection, then Peter's sin
of unbelief and rejection still stands. Peter has not been saved. Peter is in hell. Because Christ
didn't pay for sin of unbelief and rejection, but Peter surely
did commit that sin. And guess what? So have you,
so have I. Every one of us at some point
in our life have rejected Christ, have rejected the gospel that
we have heard, have denied Christ, even as a Christian. Listen,
brother, there's been times in my Christian life, and I'm ashamed
to say this, that people get to talking and I don't speak
up about Christ. I'm ashamed to say something.
Guess what I've done? The same thing Peter did. I'm
not going to speak up. I'm not going to speak up. I'm
not going to get myself in that tangled mess. I'm not going to speak
up. We've all denied. We've all rejected. We've all
been in unbelief. Matter of fact, the disciples,
even after they were born from above and given the gospel, they
said, we believe, but help thou our unbelief. Paul said, there's
still within me unbelief. Paul himself, look, he murdered
and killed zealously tried to shut down the whole entire way
Christ and His people. He denied Christ was the Christ,
the Messiah. So how did Christ propitiate
that sin if that's the sin that sends you to hell? So obviously
this means something other than what we're trying to purport
it in some universalistic way. What is it saying here? Well,
remember who John is. John is the apostle to the Jews. And at the time, the gospel was
first preached to the Jew before it was sent to the Gentile. And
salvation, the Bible says, is of the Jews, meaning that at
the first, it was of the people of Israel that God had given
this gospel to. until the allotted time that
Christ had foreordained that the gospel would go from there
and then it would work its way out to spread across the world. But brethren, the children of
God, before the gospel ever got to them out in the world, was
already there. The children of God were already
scattered abroad throughout all the world. Wherever God had people,
God had a people within those people. And so whenever John
writes this, he's writing to these Jewish people and he's
saying, listen, he is not only the propitiation for our sins
only, which was the mind and the mentality of the common Jew
at the time, that salvation was only for them, that Christ was
only their Messiah, that God had only chosen the people of
Israel in the flesh to be his people. But that was not the
gospel, that was not the intent, that was not anything even hinted
at in the Old Testament, because throughout the whole Old Testament
it was prophesied that the Gentiles would be brought in. So what's
John saying? He's not only a propitiation
for us as the Jews only, but for the whole world, meaning
the Gentiles, the world of all the Gentiles. He's a propitiation
for the whole world in the aspect of there is propitiation for
all of God's elect who is scattered in all the parts of the world,
not just of the Jews only. You say, well, you're kind of
making that, you're stretching that. Well, again, we go back
to the thinking of if He is the propitiation, then that means
there is no wrath. There is no judgment to come
on those for whom He died because His death was the propitiation.
But look if you would with me at Isaiah 53. I want to make a couple of notes
here. Keep your hand in one, John, because we are going to
return to one John here in a minute. But look, if you would, at Isaiah
53. This word propitiation, as I
said, means to appease or to satisfy. Verse 11, Isaiah 53, 11. It says,
He shall see the travail of his soul, that's Christ dying, Christ's
death. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. What is it that satisfies God's
justice, His wrath, His righteousness? What is it that satisfies God
and what He requires? Well, here we see the travail
of Christ's soul. That's what satisfied Him. That
goes hand-in-hand with what we just read. That He is the propitiation
for our sins. Christ's death is what satisfied
God's justice. Here He's saying the travail
of His soul is what satisfies God and says, By His knowledge
shall my righteous servant What is the outcome of the travail
of his soul? God is satisfied and we are justified. So if Christ has died for anybody,
then justice is satisfied and there is no more guilt, forgiveness,
justification. If there is forgiveness and justification,
then that means no hell, no perishing. Why? Because we have been saved
from the wrath to come. The wrath has been removed. The
wrath is not upon us. Because God's justice has been
satisfied. And it was satisfied by Christ's
death. Therefore, all those for whom
Christ died, that wrath is removed, God is satisfied, and we are
justified by my righteous servant, justified many, for he," notice
the word for, that means because, my righteous servant justified
many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Do you believe that
Christ bared the iniquities of every man, woman, child that
has ever blessed the face of this earth? Or should I say cursed
the face of this earth? If you believe that Jesus has
bore the iniquities of every person that has ever lived, then
continue to be consistent and say that every person that has
ever lived on the face of this earth from Adam until the end
has been justified before God because the death of Christ,
the travail of his soul satisfied God and it justified the many. Because he took their iniquity.
The outcome of bearing iniquity and travail of soul is justification. Now are you ready to say that
every man, woman and child that has ever lived is justified before
God? And if they are justified before
God, there is no hell, there is no dying and perishing and
wrath to come. But yet the Bible clearly teaches
us that there is. wrath to come. There is a hell. There is people even now in hell
that have perished. There will be people, the Bible
says, who will stand before God and will say, Lord, Lord, did
we not do all these marvelous works in Thy name for Thy sake,
for our love for You, what they thought was love for Him? Didn't
we do all these wonderful deeds shall say, Depart from me, ye
workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. And they shall be cast,
they shall be bound hand and foot, and cast into the lake
of fire that burneth forever and ever." Brethren, if anybody is there,
it is because Christ did not die for their iniquities. He
did not travail in soul for them. He did not propitiate before
the Father in their stead. If He did, there is removal of
wrath, there is removal of iniquity, there is removal of guilt, there
is justification, satisfaction, and there is eternal life. Because all that have believed
are the ones who are the recipient of that. And the ones who are
the believers are the ones who were ordained to have eternal life. He shall see the travail of his
soul. Brethren, listen, it isn't just
that verse. If you go all the way up and look, you will see who hath believed our report
and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed. He shall
grow up as a tender plant, as a root out of the dry ground.
He hath no former commonness When we shall see Him, there
is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we
hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed
Him not." That's the natural man's tendency. But it says,
"...but surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem Him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities. Chastisement of our peace was
upon Him. Now look at this verse. And with
His stripes we are healed. If He was striped for every man,
woman, and child, then that means every man, woman, and child have
been healed. What have they been healed of?
The Charismatics and the Pentecostals want to say this is talking about
physical healing of all your sicknesses. That's not what this
is talking about. This is talking about what the
context is talking about. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. What is it that we are healed
from? Our transgressions and our iniquities. If Christ died
for you, if He bore the stripes for every man, woman, and child,
then all of the stripes that He endured He endured for specific
people and those specific people received the outcome of that
which is being healed. Healed of their transgressions
and healed of their iniquities. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone his own way and the Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity of us all. Well, if he laid on him the iniquity
of us all, man, woman and child that has ever lived, then bearing those iniquities
is going to bring forth justification as we just read down in verse
11. So who is the all that we're talking about here? It says all,
Mike. It means all. Everybody that
is in the world. All means all. Have you ever
heard that? Has anybody ever told you? Well,
all means all. Well, the Bible says at one time,
the high priest was saying, look, the whole world has gone after
Jesus. That's the whole world. Does
that mean every man, woman, and child has gone after Jesus and
believed on Him? Because that's what they were
saying. The whole world is going after Jesus and believing on Him. What did they mean by the whole
world? They meant everyone in this area is believing on Him.
They're going to Him. All means all. Well, if all means
all, then praise the Lord, I'm wrong. And every man, woman,
and child that has ever lived on the face of this earth shall
be saved. Because the Bible says, ye shall
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Sins and iniquities are the same
thing, brother. And it says here, He has laid
on Him the iniquity of us all. If He has borne the sins and
the iniquity of every man, woman, and child, He has saved them,
because His name is Jesus, it means Savior. And a Savior saves. A Savior doesn't pretend to save
and a Savior doesn't just give a potential for salvation. A
Savior actually saves. There's a fire station over here.
and there's a fire station over there on that side of town over
there. If there's a fire at this house across the street, and
these men over here come over and they save these people, those
are firefighters, those are firefighters, those firefighters started this
way, but these men got here, saved these people, got them
out of the house, and saved the house from burning down. These
firefighters got to the end of the block, realized, hey, it's
already done. We can't call these firefighters saviors, because
they didn't save anybody. They didn't even get to the job
yet. These men saved somebody, how? By coming and saying, all
right, we're here with our fire truck, but if you'll let us,
we'll hose it down and bust in the door and come and get you.
No, what did they do? They came in, they busted in
the door, they pulled the people out of parachute, and they put
out the fire and made it where there's no signs of anything
going on. Might not be the greatest example,
but the thing is, is who are the ones that saved? The one
who actually did the work. If Jesus is the Savior, the one
who bore the iniquity, if Jesus is the one who bears the sins
of all men, then all men's sins have been borne. There is no
more to bear. He has saved them from their
sins. Therefore, they are justified
before God. Therefore, nobody goes to hell. That's why I said,
praise the Lord. I'm wrong. It isn't just the elect, but
listen, it isn't the elect It isn't some and not others. It's
either the elect or it's all. It's not both. Brethren, I think
John Owen had a real good thing in the death of Christ. I think
that's what it was in. The death of death and the death
of Christ. He said there's only a couple of possibilities. He
died for the sins of all the people, some of the people, or
none of the people. If he died for the sins of none
of the people, nobody's saved. If he died for the sins of all
the people, all the people are saved. But what does the scripture
teach? Well, there'll be some in hell,
so there are some that he didn't die for. But there'll be some
in heaven, so there'll be some that he did die for. So that
means that he died for some of the people. We just gotta know
what does the Bible teach of who are those that are the ones
who he died for. The Bible says that they were
the people that he Love from all eternity. Look, if you would,
at John, the Gospel of John, chapter 11. You say, Preacher, I still think
you're pulling out of context or you're pressing into that
your theological system that John was saying He is the propitiation
for our sins, meaning the Jews, and the sins of the whole world,
meaning the Gentiles. Because the Bible doesn't say that there.
The Bible doesn't say that. He just says it's the sins of
the whole world. Right. I will agree. The Bible did not
say in 1 John 2, 2, that he is the sins of the, that he died
for not only our sins, the Jews, and the sins of the Gentiles.
It didn't say that there. That's why I prefaced this whole
entire thing this morning with we have to know what the rest
of the Bible says though. Does the Bible say that anywhere? If it does, then we take the
principle laid down by God and we apply that to the places where
it seems to be contradictory, right? If at one place it says
that He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world,
not just us, but the whole world, but in some other place, it defines
that. Then we take the clear, revealing,
and let that interpret the gray, mysterious, right? Well, look
with me at John chapter 11. I want you to read something
with me here, and I encourage you to turn and look at this. It's my understanding,
that whenever the Bible talks about the sins of the, not just
the sins of us, but the whole world, and there's a distinction
made between some and the rest, I always contend that this is
talking about Jew and Gentile. Because again, that's the presupposition
that the Israelites had, is that the Gentiles were dogs and there
was no salvation for those outside of Israel in the flesh. But the Gospel being preached
in the Old Testament was that Christ would come to be the Messiah,
not just of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles. The Jews rejected
that. The Jews denied that. And so
Christ, whenever He came, The apostles, whenever they began
to teach, and specifically Paul, whenever he was commissioned
to go out and to preach among the nations, showed that the
Gospel, the good news of the salvation that was in Jehovah,
in Christ, was not only for those out of the Jews, but for those
out of the Gentile nations as well. And I think John chapter
11 proves this point. Look if you would with me. down
in verse 51. Now remember, this is after Jesus
had raised Lazarus from the dead, and that caused a lot of commotion
whenever Jesus raised a dead person out of the grave. These
religious leaders got kind of irritated, and what are we going
to do, man? I mean, we've seen him heal the sick. give legs to the crippled, give
eyes to the blind, give ears to the deaf, give tongue to the
dumb. But man, this is something that
goes beyond all that. This man was dead for four days
and has been risen from the grave. And it says here, and this fakie,
well, let me go back. I'm sorry, verse 47. Then gathered the chief priests
and the Pharisees a council and said, What do we, for this man
doeth many miracles? If we let him thus alone, all
men will believe on him, and the Romans shall come and take
away our place and nation. And one of them, named Caiaphas,
being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know
nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that
one man should die for the people. and that the whole nation perish
not. Now pay close attention to what
the Holy Spirit of God reveals to us here. And this spake he
not of himself. That means that when Caiaphas
said this, Caiaphas wasn't saying this out of his own knowledge
and understanding. This was given to him and was recorded by God
because this is the truth that God was prophesied not only here
in its direct application at that time, but as God is telling
us, looking back at this, what this was meaning. And this spake
he not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied
that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation
only, but that also he should gather together in one, the children
of God that were scattered abroad. Now, brethren, is that not the
same as saying He has died not only for our sins, but for the
sins of the whole world? Not only for this nation, but
for the nations that scattered abroad. But I want you to pay
close attention to what Caiaphas unknowingly, truthfully prophesied. and not for that nation only,
but that he should gather together in one the children of God. Now let's again think about some
things and ask a few questions. Number one, the gospel at this
time had not yet gone out of Jerusalem or that area, right? And he is
saying that Jesus is going to die for this nation, but not
only this nation, that death is going to apply to every nation,
and there's going to be an outcome of that death. There's going
to be a gathering into one out of this nation and out of all
those nations, a gathering of one. But notice if you would
here, the children of God. Who is being gathered out of
this nation, out of this nation, and who is being gathered out
of those other nations? Who is it? It's not hard. What does it say there? The children
of God. Who have been scattered abroad.
The gospel hasn't went yet, but they're already the children
of God. You say, well, wait a minute, how can they be the children
of God when they haven't believed yet? You become a child of God
whenever you believe and repent. No, no, no, no. You believe and
repent because you are the children of God. That's why the gospel
goes to you. The gospel goes and tells you the good news of
your salvation and the Spirit of God within you attests to
that truth and you repent and believe. They are children of
God. The Bible says that because you
are the children of God, God has sent His Spirit into you.
You were a child of God before. These were children of God that
were scattered into every nation. And the Bible says that the gospel
was to go out and was to gather them out. Now, they were already
saved. He died for this nation and for all the other nations
when the gospel had not even made it out to those nations
yet. So they were saved before the gospel went out to those
nations. So salvation doesn't come by the preaching of the
gospel. Salvation came by the finished work of Jesus Christ.
That's what we've been saying. He is the propitiation. The grounds
of this salvation is Jesus' death. The grounds of our justification
is the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, not our accepting,
our believing, our repenting, our walking, whatever we do. It isn't based upon that. Our
salvation doesn't wait in time for God to say, okay, I see that
you're doing that or you've accepted me or you've received me into
your heart. Salvation was on Jesus Christ. The propitiation was on Jesus
Christ. And the application of that is
to be sure. Every child of grace will receive
that. And because that application
is sure, The children of God that is scattered, not only in
Israel, but in all the nations, will be gathered together into
one. Look at John chapter 10, verse
16. If you don't believe me on that,
if you want to say, well, that's Caiaphas, He was the wicked high
priest at the time. He was falsely prophesying. Okay? The Holy Spirit, though, said
that was the truth. But if you want to say that he was falsely
prophesying, would you believe Jesus? If he said that? If Jesus said that he only died
for certain people? Don't take my word for it. Don't take Caiaphas' word for
it. John chapter 10, verse 14, Jesus said, I am the
good shepherd and I know my sheep and am known of mine. Now, if
he says my sheep, then that means that there is a distinction,
that there is a certain group that is called his sheep, right?
I know my sheep, and am known of my sheep. As the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father. And what does he say there in
verse 15? And I lay down my life for the whole world, every man,
woman, and child. Is that what he says? I lay down my life for the whosoevers
that believed upon me. with their free will, I lay down my life for the sheep." So here we see Christ laid down
His life for His personal sheep in contradiction or in distinction
from the goats. He didn't die for goats, He died
for sheep. So if there is sheep, that means
that there were goats, because the Bible says at the end, He's
going to separate the sheep from the goats. So He died for the
sheep. Well, who are the goats? If Jesus
died for everybody, then who are the goats? Because Jesus
only died for sheep. And so at the end, when God separates
sheep from goats, then who were the goats? Because Jesus died
for the sheep, and you're saying that Jesus died for everybody.
Well, he says, here are my sheep. So that tells me that the ones
he died for are the called sheep. The ones he didn't die for are
the called goats. But notice what he says after
verse 15. I lay down my life for the sheep. Who's he talking to here? He's
talking to the sheep in Israel. He's talking to the people of
Israel at this time. That's the only one he had come
to minister among, is the people of Israel at that time. But notice
what he says. He doesn't just leave it at the
Jews. He says, and other sheep I have
which are not of this fold. Not of this fold? What are you
talking about? You mean, not of the sheep of
God? No, that's not what he meant.
He said, not of this nation. not of this people, this particular
fold. I have many that are out there
scattered, but they're not of this fold. Then, what does he
say, also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there
shall be one fold and one shepherd. Isn't that what Caiaphas just
said, that he's going to die for the nations and not this
nation only, but he shall gather into one fold those of every
nation. The Bible says in Revelation
that the people of God are going to be represented out of every
kindred, nation, tribe, and tongue. That means God has people in
every language group, every tribe, every nation, every tongue. It
will be represented. There won't be one group of people
that will not be represented within the elect of God. That's
what He means when He says the whole world. That means that
there's no place in the world that someone will not be represented
in the people of God. So he can't say that... That's why he says that I'm not
a respecter of persons. Yes, he's not a respecter of
persons in that regard. But he is definitely a respecter
of persons in the regard that he has chosen a people for himself
out of every nation of the world. And he will save them. And they
will be his sheep. And they will be one fold. Therefore
does my Father love me because I lay down my life that I might
take it up again. Look, if you would, at 1 John chapter 4. Two more verses
and we'll be done. 1 John chapter 4. This is the
second place in the Bible where the word propitiation is found.
And again, it's by the same writer who used it in 1 John 2 too. And I pray that you'll be given
to see what is being said here. 1 John chapter 4. And look with me if you would
at 14. 10. Herein is love, not that we loved
God." So there again, brethren, there is a category that has
to be in our mind from the principles of Scripture that people do not
love God. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. So, again, we see who are the
ones whose sins were propitiated? The ones that God loved. But
does it say in here who God loves? Look at verse 7. Actually, we can go even further
back. Verse 1. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits for they are of God, because many false
prophets have gone out in the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit
of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God. And this
is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it
should come. And even now already it is in
the world. Ye are of God, little children. So who is he talking to here?
He's talking to the children of God. The brethren. Beloved. Ye are of God, little children,
and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you
than he that is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are
of God. He that knoweth God heareth us.
He that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit
of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, again there's the word,
beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone
that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. It might take a
little bit of thinking here, and it surely takes the revelation
of the Spirit to know it. If it says here that we don't
love God, but then it says that there are some that love God,
what is the difference? What makes one to love God while
the other or the rest do not love God? Something must make
the difference because man does not love God. There is no love of God in their
hearts. The Bible says that we are enmity
with God, that we hate God. We are haters. of God in our
heart. So what is it that causes us
to love? It is the fact that God first
loved us. Now if you say that God loves
everybody and Christ died for everybody, then everybody will
be given the love of God shed abroad in their heart. Why are
there people that do not love God today? Why will there be
people in hell that never loved God? If God loves everybody,
the result of God's love for anybody is the propitiation of
their sins and the, what is it here, being born of God. Because
if you love God, it says here, for love is of God, and everyone
that loveth is born of God. That means the qualification
to love God means you have to be born of God. You can't love
God before you're born of God. And so all those people that
tell you that you have to believe and receive and repent towards
God before He will cause you to be born again, before He will
save you, are contradicting the Word of God. Those people who
have not been born of God cannot love God and repent and believe
on Him. Who are they going to believe
if they don't love? Are they going to believe on someone they
don't love? Or are they going to trust and repent of wrong
thinking on a truth that they don't love? No, they have to be born of God.
They can't know God until they're born of God, it says here. He
that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. That means I
don't have God. If I don't love God and I don't
know His truth and love His truth, then that means I've not been
born again. But if I've been born again, then I love God and
I love His truth. Right? But you're saying God
loves everybody. The result of God's love results
in the removal of sin, the justification of those people, and a love being
given for God and for the brethren. And brethren, there are people
all over this world that do not love God, who die in their sins
and go to hell, rejecting Christ, rejecting God, rejecting that,
that's because they've not been born from above. Not because
they just with their own free will decided not to go Christ's
way and went their own way. He says, in this was manifested
the love of God towards us because that God sent His only begotten
Son into the world that we might live through Him There again,
brethren, that right there backs up everything I just now said.
In this was manifested the love of God towards us. Because God
sent His only begotten Son. How did God manifest His love?
How does He manifest God's love? By Christ dying and supplying
propitiation. Christ dying and applying satisfaction. Christ dying and applying forgiveness. Christ dying and applying belief
on the truth, love for God. And how did He do that? They
have to be born from above. They have to become a new creation,
a new creature. The old creature can't do that.
Therefore, God in grace and in love gives them inwardly what
they didn't have in Adam. And that's what we call born
again. That's what we call being quickened. That's what we call
being born from above. That has to take place before
anybody can believe and repent and love on God. And this is
manifested to us here. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time.
If we love one another, If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and His love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we
dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us His Spirit.
What's he talking about here? He's saying the same thing as
he said in those earlier verses, just in a different way. Now
he's saying it backwards. He's saying, Beloved, if God so loved
us, we ought to love one another. And how do we know? Hereby we know that He dwells
in us and He is in us because He has given us His Spirit. His
Spirit, if He has given to us, if we are born of the Spirit,
born from above, we will love. We will love Him. We will love
His people. That's an effect of God's love. So if you say God loves everybody,
this is the outcome. See, that's why you just can't
take those words, the whole world, the word all, and just apply
that blanket statement that it means everybody everywhere. We
have to let the Spirit, we need the Spirit to teach us and that
the Scriptures dictate to us the meanings and definitions
of these things. I can clearly see why people
are so zealous to say everybody and all, Because that's what's
ingrained in our head. But more than that, brethren,
that's what the natural man loves. The natural man wants to know,
there is something within my hands. It does require something
on my part. Jesus has done all that he can
do. But I have to do something. That's
what the natural man wants to do. That's our default nature.
That's the very thing that Satan at the very beginning tempted
man. And whenever he tempted Adam,
he tempted all of us. That is just a type, that is
just a type, a microcosm of the whole entire macro thing. Whenever
he tempted Adam, Adam stood as us. Not just physically as us,
but he stood typically as us. He also stood typically as Christ.
By the way, I believe he had two places of typification, but
he stood as us. When Adam stood, that sin was, you can be as God. You can be as God. Anyway, there's a lot more that
can be said about that, brethren. whenever the Bible says that
He is the propitiation for our sins, that He died for all the
world, He's the Savior of not only us, but for the whole world. Keep that in context with what
the rest of the Bible says. If it is the whole world, then
the application of that salvation is for the whole world. And if
the Bible clearly states that the application of all that doesn't
fall upon every man, woman, and child, then we have to repent. That's where repentance comes
in. Repent of that wrong thinking and turn and believe the Gospel. Believe what the Word of God
says. Don't go by your feelings and
the God that you think, the ooey gooey God that you want Him to
be. The God of the Bible has revealed Himself. Believe on
whom He has revealed Himself as. and let the chips fall where
they will. If people don't like that, if
that causes division, if that causes people to leave your church,
if that causes you to get kicked out of associations and conventions
and churches and families and even jobs, let it do that. Because greater is the reward. This is just about momentary
afflictions. There's a greater reward that comes All right,
anybody got any questions or comments? Anybody want to fist fight over
here? Some people do, they like to
fist fight over this thing. Yep, I've seen plenty of those. We are so beholden to God for
everything. And that's the whole point, is
that if we preach a gospel that leaves something into the hands
of a preacher or the recipient, then we leave them without hope,
because the hope isn't found in that. Does the child of grace,
whenever he's born from above, seek the Lord? Yeah, he does. That's why we say, the Bible
says that no man seeks after God, but then the Bible also
says, seek me and you shall find, right? Is that contradictory?
No, again, so we have to find out what the context is. Who
are the ones who seek after God? Those who have been born from
above. So whenever you're telling people that aren't born from
above to seek after God, there's no way they can, and no time
will they ever, unless God first gives them life. We might talk
a little bit more about some of these things next week if
the Lord wills. But anyway, anyone got anything? Father, once again
we come to you and we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ and
thank you for the Word of God that has been preserved for us. We thank you for the Spirit of
God that has been given to teach us. And Lord, we ask that you
might forgive us for the times that we allow our human reason
to overtake us, and Lord, that we think that we can put anything
of ourself or condition to the root of our salvation. Lord,
we know that there's nothing in this life that we could ever
do to guarantee, to merit, to be worthy of your salvation.
But Lord, you in grace and in love have chosen to give salvation
Nobody deserves that. But Lord, we know that You have
chosen a people for Yourself. You have shed that love upon
them from everlasting. And Lord, we know that You have
given them to Christ. Christ has been the faithful
servant who has done all things on their behalf. Because of that,
they become the recipients of the inheritance. It's a sure
thing. Father, we know that if it would
have been left under that old covenant that says do and live,
we would never enter into the kingdom of God. We would never
experience the inheritance of God. But Father, we're thankful
that a better testament has come, a better covenant has come, one
that was finished from the foundation of the world. May we continue
to always praise and honor Christ and give glory to Him for what
He has done. It's in His name that we pray.
Amen.