Ephesians chapter one, and we're
going to read from verse one. Ephesians chapter one and verse
one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the
faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to you and peace from God
our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure
which he hath purposed in himself. that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him. In whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ. in whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until
the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
his glory. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. In our last two sermons, we have
been thinking about some of the aspects of what is called the
doctrines of grace. And we have been concentrating
upon the subject of tulip. Now, if you haven't heard those
sermons, you might be thinking to yourself, what's that got
to do with flowers? Well, perhaps you can go back
and listen to the service, but let me just say that the word
tulip is a little mnemonic. It takes the first letter of
that five-letter word tulip, the T, then the U, then the L,
then the I, and the P, and it shows us some headings for a
doctrinal position, a doctrinal statement, which recognizes what
is sometimes called the doctrine of grace and it has to do with
God's sovereign work of salvation. The T stands for total depravity
and it speaks about the nature of the heart of man and the wickedness
that we fell into in Adam. The U speaks of unconditional
election and it recognises that election is part of the purpose
of God to save a people for himself. And we've thought over the last
couple of weeks about these two subjects. Today we're going to
be thinking about the L which is for limited atonement. Then we will move on to the I,
which is irresistible grace. And then we'll speak about the
P, God willing, when we think about the perseverance of the
saints. So that little mnemonic or acrostic
tulip, it just allows us to consolidate and summarize some of these doctrinal
statements that we have come to believe. The total depravity,
just by way of a quick summary, the total depravity phrase summarizes
that condition of our nature in fallen Adam. And it recognizes
that we have no ability to do any good as far as God is concerned. Not only have we no ability,
we have no desire to do good. to God. We are opposed to God
as we were reading together in Psalm 53. We are foolish, we
are ignorant, we are darkened as far as God is concerned. We
have no desire to worship him or follow him or do anything
good. Now that's not to say that there
isn't religion in the world. There's religion all over the
world. but it speaks about the nature of our soul, and that
until God speaks to our hearts in illuminating grace, we cannot
discern any truth. And that's a depravity of sin
In our nature, that is total, and that's where we get our total
depravity. In Genesis chapter six, we see
there that right early in the word of God, God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And then in the New Testament,
in Mark chapter seven, we read in verse 21, So this depravity, this totality
in our opposition to God, it spawns all manner of sinful conduct
and activity. But it's not the sinful conduct
and activity that stops us going to God. It is the root source
of that, which is in opposition to God in the first instance. And that state renders us helpless
and hopeless. It renders us guilty and condemned
before God and powerless to remedy or redeem our situation. So that there is no redemption
for us in that state of total depravity. by our own abilities
and our own actions. We are lost. We are separated. We are ignorant and we are in
need. And we can complain about that.
We can complain all we like about that. We can complain that that's
not fair. I shouldn't be brought into this
position just because Adam fell. That's not fair. We could even
contradict God and say, that's not right. You're doing it wrong. You shouldn't do that, God. We
could challenge him and we could say, we've got a better way of
doing it. And we can criticize them and
say, that's not just and you're supposed to be a just God. And
we hear every one of those arguments when we speak about total depravity. We hear every one of those arguments
when we speak about unconditional election. And we jolly well hear
every one of those arguments when we speak about limited atonement. Because men don't like the gospel. and they think they know better
than God. What does the word of God say?
Galatians 3.22 says, the scripture hath concluded. What's a conclusion? That's the settled ending of
the matter. You know when that gavel goes
down in court? That's it. That's the decision. The decision's made. The conclusion
has been reached. And what is the conclusion? Scripture
hath concluded, all under sin. All under sin. All men under
sin. In all ways under sin. For all time under sin. By all means under sin. To all eternity under sin. That's what the word of God says.
That's where we stand. That's what we are. That is the
nature of humanity from Adam to every single newborn baby
in this world. But. What a word. But. What a word is but. What a word for doomed sinners
is given to us in the gospel when God speaks about grace.
We are waiting for the axe to drop. You know the pictures you
see about the French Revolution when they're taken up and they
go underneath the guillotine and they lie there and then it's
just... That's where we are. That's where we are. We're waiting
on the axe to drop because that's all we've got to look forward
to. in our natural self in this world. If men could only see
the precarious position in which they are in. And they fill their
days with all of the recreation and all of the pleasures that
they can in this world. And even the people that have
got hardly anything, imagine that they can enjoy something
of it. And all we're doing is heading
to destruction. And there's a message goes forth
with a but. This is our state, this is our
condition. There is a totality in our depravity,
but there's a but, because God has shown grace and God has shown
mercy. And that's the message that we
have today. Ephesians chapter two, verse
four says this, but God, who is rich in mercy, for his great
love wherewith he loved us, For his great love wherewith he opened
a way of escape. For his great love wherewith
he opened that road, that route of salvation through the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so we speak of unconditional
election. It's taught of God. It speaks
of a purpose that God has to save a people out of this mass
of fallen humanity. a certain people for himself
without reference to their will, without reference to their works. Unconditional election. And we read in Ephesians chapter
one, verse four, he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. Romans 9, verse 15, we read it
last week. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, not of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. total depravity, unconditional
election. The T and the U of our little
tulip mnemonic. The T says that all have sinned
and are spiritually dead. The U says, however, God has
chosen and elected a people to save in love and in mercy. And the L speaks about the means
by which that elective purpose is fulfilled. It teaches how
God has accomplished that purpose of grace and that plan of salvation. Now I'm going on, as I've mentioned,
in the next couple of weeks, God willing, to speak about the
eye of irresistible grace and the pea of the perseverance of
the saints. But I am aware, and I want to
just mention this at this juncture, I am aware that limited atonement
is by far the grandest, fullest, deepest, most significant subject
upon which men and women can place their feeble, frail, and
finite minds. This is the one today. Limited
atonement is the important one. Limited atonement is the most
significant of this assembled truth that we have under this
little mnemonic tulip. Okay, we can speak about the
total depravity, we can speak about the unconditional election,
we can speak about the irresistible grace, and we can speak about
the perseverance of the saints, but limited atonement is the
one, it's the biggie. It's the biggie. And it deserves
more than 20% of our attention. Because here we're speaking about
Christ. Here we're speaking about his
work. Here we're speaking about the
many sided aspects of the Lord Jesus Christ's voluntary sacrifice
for the salvation of his people. This is Joseph's many colored
coat. Atonement. Being reconciled to
God the Father by the death of God the Son. Who can conceive
of such a thing? Who can plumb the depths of being
reconciled in our sinfulness to the Holy God through the Son?
Redemption. Redemption by which a people
sold under sin are brought back into that relationship with God
that He first formed in His eternal covenantal purpose. A ransom
being paid for me. I don't know that there's many
people would give very much for me. God gave His Son, Jesus Christ,
for me. He didn't pay in silver and gold. He paid by precious blood, cleansing,
the washing away of sin, the removal of my iniquity, that
deep, dark dye. of sin against God washed away
by Jesus Christ. The propitiation of Christ as
he appeased the wrath of God. The substitution of the Lord
Jesus Christ as he took my place under the condemnation of the
law of God. The forgiveness that flows to
me because the Lord Jesus Christ carried the burden of my guilt
and that relationship was restored between God and his chosen people. And the pardon, the pardon. God's willingness to be placated. God's willingness to be reconciled
and appeased to someone like me because of the work of Jesus
Christ. And there's more. There's the
worthiness of the Lord Jesus Christ as God himself, as the
second person of the Trinity, to be our savior. There is the
whole wonder of the God-man relationship, the suitability of Christ as
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, the sinlessness
of our Saviour, the perfect obedience of our Lord, the humility and
all the attributes of His person, all the qualities of His nature.
How do we begin to conceive of all of these things, the wonders
of Christ, His love, His grace, His goodness, His gentleness,
and all of the names which He takes in Scripture, and properly
give them the emphasis that they are due? Now, this is the grand
overarching topic in this little set of studies. This is the one.
This is the theme. And I doubt that there's any
other reason but that this was the purpose that the Apostle
Paul said to the Corinthians, that I am determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
that's what we're talking about in limited atonement. Jesus Christ
and I'm crucified. I don't imagine that Paul didn't
speak about the depravity of man or the election of God. Of course he did. But this is
the one. This is the one. And it's good to know, it's right
to know why the Lord Jesus Christ came. that we're depraved, that
we're helpless. It's good to know for whom he
came, that God had a people that he chose in election. And it's
good to know how the blessings of the death of Christ are applied
to us through the preaching of the gospel and the work of the
Holy Spirit. And it's good to know what the blessed promises
reaching out into eternity are for the people of God. but the cross is front and centre. The cross, the blood is first
and foremost, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the beginning and the
end, the alpha and the omega. Limited atonement contradicts
the teaching of what are sometimes called the Arminians, or the
free will teachers. Limited atonement contradicts
their teaching of what is called general or universal atonement. The vast majority of people who
claim to be Christian today believe in a general or universal atonement. That's just the way things are.
It states that the Lord Jesus Christ, when he died on the cross,
died for every sin of every person without exception. That's what
their doctrine teaches. Limited atonement also goes by
another name. It is called particular redemption. And it's the same idea. I had
a friend who used to say that he wouldn't use limited or that
he wouldn't use particular redemption. He would always use limited atonement
because it was more provocative to the free willers. Well, that's
one good reason for using limited atonement. But, of course, we
need the L for our little acrostic as well. So limited atonement
is also called particular redemption. So if you hear me talking about
particular redemption sometimes, it's the same doctrine which
is under our view. This is a doctrine which has
full biblical support. some time talking about different
verses last week to support our other headings, and we went through
a number of verses. I'm going to do the same today,
but I'm going to do it in a slightly different way. I want to give
you those verses in the context of just a couple of headings
that I have, which puts the verses about limited atonement under
a general summary. And here's the first one. That
limited atonement is consistent with God's purpose. Because limited
atonement is according to election. Now last week we established
that the Lord chose a certain people out of this world. He set his love upon those people. purposed to take them to himself,
gather them to himself, and limited atonement is the means by which
that purpose in God's will is accomplished and secured. God's purpose is the redemption
of that fallen people out from under the curse of the law, out
from under the condemnation of the law, and brought back into
that experience of the grace and love and fellowship, reconciliation
and peace with God. In the eternal covenant, God
the Father gave that chosen people, that people of his elect purpose,
into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ and committed into the
hands of Christ the safeguarding and well-being of that people
and their redemption out from the curse of the law. So John
chapter 6 and verse 38 and 39 speaks about the fact that the
Lord Jesus Christ came to fulfill that purpose of redeeming the
elect. For I came, says the Saviour,
down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him
that sent me. Now that's not saying that the
will of the Son and the Father were in any way different. It's
a recognition that the Lord Jesus Christ came to do the will of
the Father. He's telling us here that he
came in order to redeem that people that had been placed into
his care, into his hands for the purpose of their redemption.
I came down from heaven to do the will of him that sent me,
and this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing. Couldn't be much
clearer than that, could it? And as sure as God willed the
salvation of His elect, as sure as He willed it, Christ secured
and accomplished that salvation. That was His job. That was the
purpose and reason for His coming. The will of the Father is the
will of the Son. And again, what purpose? the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ had and contained in it was simply to do his father's
will. He came to do his will, to save
his people from their sins, to bring many sons to glory. So when the Lord Jesus Christ
came into the world, he could say, wist ye not that I be about
my father's business? That was what he came to do.
That was always the end. He says in John 17 verse 2 and
verse 9, if you're taking notes, As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him, I pray for them. I pray not for the
world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. This is just the flow through
the redemptive work of Christ on the cross was to the same
purpose, the same end, the same extent as the elective choice
of God. Hebrews 2.10, For it became Him,
for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing
many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings. The Lord Jesus Christ, the captain
of our salvation, was perfected in that he accomplished and completed
the will of God, the task that he was given to do by bringing
those many sons to glory. So he was successful in doing
what he purposed to do. Hebrews 12, 2, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. 1 Peter 3, 18, for Christ also
hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened in the spirit. So the Lord Jesus Christ came
to do the will of the Father, and the will of the Father was
the securing and the redemption and the salvation of his chosen
people, the elect of God. Second point that I want to draw
your attention to is this. Not only is limited atonement
consistent with God's purpose of redemption, but limited atonement,
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ only for those who were chosen
by God, is by design. Because the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ is powerful to save. You remember when the Lord Jesus
Christ was standing outside the tomb of Lazarus? You remember
what he said? Anybody? Lazarus come forth! You know why he said Lazarus
come forth? Because if he hadn't said Lazarus, they would all
have come out. And why would they all have come
out? Because he was God. And if God says, arise, then
the dead bones get up. This is God we're speaking about. So when we're speaking about
the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, when we're talking about
the precious blood of Jesus Christ, we need to know that there is
design in this matter. Had there not been design, we
might well have claimed a universality as far as the sufficiency of
the blood of Christ, so powerful it is. But there is a design
in the blood of Christ. There is a limitation in the
death of Christ. There is a particularity in the
death of Christ because by design there had to be, it was restricted
to those whom God had chosen. The lamb was slain in Egypt for
the Passover, but it was only those who were in the house over
which the blood covered the doorposts and the lintel that were saved
by design. Matthew 1.21, call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. By design, he
came to save his people. There would be no doubt about
redemption's success. Acts 20, verse 4, Paul speaks
of the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. The blood that is powerful to
save, the blood that is precious, the blood that is efficacious.
It has the desired effect. 1 John 1, verse 7 speaks of the
blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, that cleanses us from all sin. Our God was not wasteful with
the ransom price. He was not slapdash with the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Christ was
not spilled in vain. Nor did our Savior suffer without
reward. There was a definite purpose. There was a distinct people. There was a particularity in
the redemption. There was a limitation to the
extent of the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the
cross. His ransom was not for as many
as possible. How many do you want to save?
Well, as many as possible. How does that jive with total
depravity? with our deadness and our sin. Not as with as many as will come. Because none of us will come.
That is the nature of the heart of man. We are opposed to God.
The fool has said in his heart, no God. Not just we'll see what happens. Who Who builds something without
first taking stock about what's going to be required in order
to build that? People mock such an individual. Do you think God went into a
work of redemption without knowing what the outcome would be? definite, specific, actual number
were those that were bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. They
are called in scripture the elect of God, the chosen of God. And the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ was effectual to the salvation of the elect, no more and no
less. there is a consistency in the
doctrine of God's grace and the covenant purpose of salvation. A few years ago, I took my granddaughter
to Whitehaven Harbour to fish and we had our rods and we had
our weights and we had Eden and we had our hooks But we didn't
have any bait. So what does a good grandfather
do in a situation like that? He's got his rod, he's got his
hook, he's got his weights, but no bait. I took her to the bait
shop and we bought some worms at the bait shop. And I went
in and I said that I wanted a packet of worms. I learned some things
that day. I didn't know that ragworms could
bite. Look it up on Wikipedia. Ragworms
bite. And I discovered that that day.
The other thing that I learned is that they are sold in wrapped
up newspaper, like French fries. That's how we sell our French
fries. And that's how we sell our ragworms in wrapped up newspaper. So I said to the man behind the
counter, how many worms in a packet? And he said, 20. Okay, I said,
I'll have a packet. How much is that? $5. I've done
a quick currency conversion there for you. Fine, I said, that'll
be great. Now imagine that I got out of
the shop and I look in my newspaper bag, and there are five worms. I say to the man behind the counter,
I paid for 20. And he says, yes, but the other
15 didn't want to come with you. Okay, so here's your takeaway
phrase for today. The Lord will have the exact
number of worms that he paid for. And I've got Bible authority
for that. Fear not, thou worm Jacob. Ye men of Israel, I will help
thee, saith the Lord and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. What is the song that will be
sung by the saints in heaven? What is the song of victory that
we will sing in heaven? Thou wast slain, Revelation 5
verse 9, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every
kindred and tongue and people and nation. The Lord Jesus Christ
died for the elect. The elect out of every kindred,
tongue, people and nation. The elect, the chosen of God. And by his death, he powerfully
redeemed all for whom he died. He gets all the worms that he
pays for. Third thing I want to point out
to you with respect to limited atonement is this, that limited
atonement is successful. Limited atonement achieves the
end for which it is designed. No one for whom he died will
be lost. 1 Peter 2, verse 24 says, Who
his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that
we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness by whose
stripes ye were healed. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
has taken our sin, because the Lord Jesus Christ has borne our
sin, because he has carried that sin away, there is no longer
any sin for which we shall be accountable. There is a success
in the removal of the sin from the shoulders of the sinner onto
the shoulders of the substitute, which assures Redemption before
a just and holy God. John 10 verse 11 and also verse
28 says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. And I give unto them eternal
life to the sheep. And they shall never perish,
the sheep. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Matthew 26, 28, for this is my
blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission
of sins. Hebrews 10, verse 14, for by
one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. The offering that the Lord Jesus
Christ made was the offering of His blood as our great High
Priest. He went into the presence of
God bearing His own blood as the offering for our sins. And we who are sanctified, that
is set apart by God's elective purpose in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we are sanctified, we are perfect forever with the very perfection
of God himself. Hebrews 2, 9 to 12 says, but
we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the
suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by
the grace of God, should taste death for every man, that is,
every man that was given to him in covenant purpose. For it became
him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in
bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifyeth
and they who are sanctified are all of one. For which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise
unto thee. And Romans 8, 33 and 34 says,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. The heart of limited atonement
is substitution. The elect live because the Lord
Jesus Christ died in their place. If it were a universal atonement,
then the power of that blood, the success of his work, the
very divinity which attaches to him, must require that every
single sin be forgiven and there be no such place as hell. But
the testimony of the word of God is that there is a judgment
coming when men will be separated and placed into that place of
eternal destruction and punishment. Substitution is the heart of
the gospel and substitution is the work which we see exemplified
in the limited atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53
verse 4 to 6 says, Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 2 Corinthians
5, 21 says, for he made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And Romans 5,
8 and 9 says, God commendeth his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being
now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through
him. And let me just say one more
thing in closing. Limited atonement is founded
upon God's eternal love. It's founded upon God's eternal
love because it is founded on that elective purpose to save
a people for himself. It is discriminating. Romans
9, 11 to 17 tells us that it was set upon one and withheld
from another. We learned that last week. Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. The love of God is discriminating
and the love of God is unchanging. Lamentations 3 verse 22 says,
it is the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because
His compassions fail not. And Malachi 3 verse 6 says, for
I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob, ye
children of the covenant, are not consumed. All of these things that we've
been thinking about speak to us of the accomplishment of God's
divine purpose. He sees a people in their sin
and in their fallen condition. He sees a people in the totality
of their inabilities. and he purposes to save a people
for himself. And he reserves that right out
of his love and his grace and his mercy to make that choice
according to his own purpose, not upon any feature that he
sees in the individual. but unconditionally he places
his elective purpose upon those that he loves everlastingly. And in that unchanging purpose,
he sends the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that one whom
he loved from the bosom of his purpose into this world to accomplish
the ends of His covenant of grace. And the Lord Jesus Christ laid
down His life for His people. Matthew 11, 26 says, even so,
Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Amen, may God bless
to us these thoughts today.