I invite you to turn with me
in your Bibles, if you will, to the Gospel of Saint Matthew
chapter 1. The Gospel of Saint Matthew chapter
1. I want to read beginning with verse
21 and read down through verse 25. Matthew chapter 1 verse 21 through
25. And she, that is Mary, shall
bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets,
saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being
interpreted, is God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from
sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took
unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth
her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus. I want to speak
this morning on the subject and efficacious atonement. and efficacious
atonement. We read here in Matthew chapter
1 and verse 21, and she, that is Mary, shall bring forth a
son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sin. Now, the word efficacious means
the producing of a desired effect. It involves two things, really.
First of all, it involves a purpose or intent. And secondly, it involves
accomplishment. Now, when a certain effort is
put forth for a certain purpose, and if that purpose is fully
accomplished, it is said to be efficacious. Now if it is not
accomplished or if it falls short of being accomplished, it cannot
in any sense of the word be efficacious. For an example, let me illustrate
it. Now you remember, most of you,
the smokestack that used to stand over at the Anaconda Copper Company
here in Great Falls. And I think it was about 20 years
ago that they said it was unsafe and it had to be blown down.
And remember that stack was about 500 feet high and built in the
early 1900s, and you could see it on a clear day from many miles
away from Great Falls. And thousands of people came
to see it fall because it was indeed a landmark. And they brought
in demolition experts from Salt Lake City, Utah, as I remember,
to set the charges to blow it down. And they had it ready to
set the charges off on a Saturday morning, and many of us gathered
over on the hill, we got as close as we could to see that smokestack
come down. And the experts who set the charges
were so sure of themselves and the work that they had went about
doing that they caught a plane at 8 o'clock in the morning to
go back to Salt Lake City. Well, the time came, and the
plunger was pushed, and the explosives went off. The dust and the smoke
went up in a cloud, and when it cleared away, lo and behold,
there still stood part of the smokestack, I think about 250
feet of it, that they had said to be the weakest part of it,
and said that that part would fall down before any of the other.
Well, you may say, well, what is the point of the illustration?
Well, the point is it was not an efficacious explosion. It was not efficacious. It did
not produce the effect that was intended. They intended to level
the smokestack with those explosives, but it didn't happen. They had
to call the experts back up to redo their job. Well, you may
ask, well, what and why is this so important in regards to this
matter of the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ and the death
of our Savior. We need to ask ourselves this
morning for what purpose did Christ go to the cross? What
was the intent that God had when he sent his Son, the Lord Jesus,
into this world to be born of the Virgin Mary and to live a
life here in this world under the law, to live in perfect obedience
unto that law, and then to suffer death on Calvary's cross. What was his intent? What was
his purpose? What was it all about? and was
His atonement, was His Word on earth and on Calvary, was it
efficacious? Did it produce the effects that
God the Father intended that they produced? Did it accomplish
what God intended that it accomplished? Now if it did not, then we cannot
say that the atonement is efficacious. But if it accomplished everything
that God Almighty intended for it to accomplish, then it is
an efficacious atonement, and I have a valid sermon this morning. Now the text says, as we quoted
it a few minutes ago, She shall bring forth a Son, thou shalt
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin.
Now there are two basic views of the atonement that I wish
for us to look at this morning. Two basic views that I believe
we should look at will help us to give us a little clearer understanding
as to whether the work of our Lord really was accomplished. Now the first is that there are
those who believe that the atonement of Christ, that it was an incomplete
atonement. They say that it takes the will
and the consent of man for it to become effective. Now these
holding to this view believe that God did his part when Christ
hung on the cross, but the thing that will make the atonement
effective is whether or not free will acts upon it. Now if man accepts it, then it
will become effective for that man. And if he will not accept
it, then the atonement can never be efficacious for that man. In other words, those who hold
that view are saying that the thing that makes the atonement
efficacious is the will of natural man. Now, beloved, this is a
lie, I believe, from hell and there's no truth in it. This
is the Arminian view of the atonement. This is the general atonement
view. It is completely antagonistic
and utterly irreconcilable, I believe, to the truth. Now, the difference
between that view and the truth is that of truth and error, light
and darkness, Jehovah and Baal, God and the devil. Now, if the
atonement of Christ must have the consent of human will to
make it effective, it will save no one. They have degraded the
all-efficacious atonement, which has actually redeemed everyone
for whom it was made, to a remedy which sin-sick souls may use
if they feel like it, if they just feel like it. Now the invincible
work of the Holy Spirit is to them nothing more than an offer
of the gospel which sinners may accept or reject as they please. This horrible and blasphemous
idea of Jacob Arminius is that the atonement of Christ was made
sure and that it made sure and certain the salvation of none. that it has only made possible
the salvation of all who hear the gospel. Only made it possible,
that is, if man acts out of his free will and agrees to accept
the atonement. But this possibility, when it
is examined, is found to be an impossibility. The supposed possibility
is that fallen man, while he's dead in sin, must fulfill a certain
condition of himself, perform a certain act which God is said
to require of him before the death of Christ can be of any
avail toward him. Now the condition that they say
that man must meet is that of faith. And the act is that he
must believe, we're told. Now to make the efficacy of Christ's
atonement depend upon the act of man's will in any way or shape
or form is highly dishonoring to the Lord Jesus Christ. to
say that the success of the greatest of all God's work is left contingent
upon the preacher's pleasure is an insult to Almighty God. It is impeaching His wisdom,
His goodness, and His justice to say so. Now to teach that
salvation lies within the sinner's power is to flatly deny Christ
when He said in Matthew 19 and 26, with man it is impossible. You remember when our Lord I
was telling the disciples that it would be easier for a rich
man or for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it would
be for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And they said,
well my, they were astonished at this and said, well how can
anybody be saved? And Jesus said, well man, it's
impossible. It's impossible with man, but
with God all things are possible. Man is in such a state by nature
that he cannot and will not come to Christ, he will not believe
until he's made alive through the regenerating power of God's
Spirit. Man loves darkness, Rather than
light, John 3 verse 19 and 20 says, it says, for everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light and will not come to the light, lest
his deeds should be reproved. And they that are in the flesh,
Romans 8 and 8, they cannot please God. A man left to himself in
the flesh without the divine work of the Spirit of God upon
him, This man, he cannot please God. And the corn of mine, Romans
8 and 7, is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can it be. Man's whole flesh nature
is not subject to the will of God, neither in faith, in order
to move him toward the gospel or in obedience to move him toward
holiness by the law of God. Carnality cannot and will not
thirst after holiness. An evil tree, the Bible says,
cannot produce good fruit. Do you believe faith is a good
fruit? I do. And beloved, the Bible teaches
that an evil tree, a corrupt tree, cannot produce good fruit. A corpse cannot quicken itself. Man's will, like all his other
faculties, has been disabled by the fall. His only hope, now
this is, beloved, is a truth that we need to hear. I'm not
here to apologize for God. I'm not here to defend the truth
of God. I'm here simply to declare what
the Word of God teaches. This is a declarative ministry. And I'm here to say to you this
morning that the only hope of a natural man is not a general
atonement. The only hope for a natural man
is the intervention of sovereign and omnipotent grace, that God
will perform upon him and within him a miracle of mercy, begetting
life in his soul and enabling him to repent and believe the
gospel. But until he is brought and quickened
by the divine power, he will never be lifted out of the grave
of sin, and he'll never become a new creature in the Son of
God, Jesus Christ. And this is what man must have. This is his only hope to miss
hell and gain heaven. He must have a work of grace
done upon his soul. Because until this happens, the
sinner can no more love God, He can no more believe savingly
or walk in the Spirit of God than he can create a world himself. He cannot until God works upon
him. God is first in salvation. He must come to the sinner and
he must revive the soul of the sinner and beget life in that
soul before that sinner can believe the gospel and respond to what
the Word of God teaches in regards to the atonement. Now I want
you to remember that I did not say that faith is Unnecessary
I did not say that I don't want anyone to think that I believe
that faith is Unnecessary the Bible is full of the truth that
salvation is by grace through faith That salvation comes by
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ But my friend this believing
is not the act of the will of the natural man This believing
is the act of a man who has come to life. God has been pleased
to quicken his soul and enable him to believe. And this is what
we must understand. So man cannot believe or walk
in the Spirit of God. He cannot walk and follow Christ. He cannot repent. He cannot believe
until God does a saving work in his heart. Now we did not
say that man is not responsible to believe the gospel, because
we preach that God has commanded all men everywhere to repent,
and we preach that a man is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But we know that just like the
Bible says when it says to a deaf man, it says, and to a blind
man see, now you could not expect a deaf man to hear if God commands
him to until God gives him hearing. And you cannot expect a blind
man to see until God gives him eyesight and the ability to see. But beloved, man is responsible,
he's responsible to do it, but he will not do it and he cannot
do it until God enables him to. Now what we do say is that faith
is God's gift. We say that faith is the gift
of God and that this gift was purchased by the Son of God for
all whom he died and that in due time this gift will be imparted
unto them. Seek it, my friend. Call upon
God. Ask Him to give you that faith
which is saving, that faith which will believe Him and believe
that those five bleeding wounds received on Calvary, that these
five bleeding wounds will answer to God Almighty on your behalf
and that your sin will be pardoned and put away. or plead for the
faith which only God is the author of. Now most preachers and churches
in this town hold and believe the incomplete or the general
concept of the atonement. Most religious people believe
Now, beloved, if I believed in the general atonement, if I believed
that Christ had died for everybody just the same, then all I would
be doing this morning is getting up here telling you that you
all were saved. That you were all saved regardless
of what happened, whether you ever believed, whether you ever
heard from God or not, whether you ever was regenerated by the
Holy Spirit or not, I'd just be up here telling you you're
all saved. But we know that that is erroneous, that that is not
true, that a man must hear from God and hear from God the God
of heaven and that a work of grace must be done in his heart.
Now the second view then is that which the Bible teaches, is that
the atonement is an efficacious atonement. it actually accomplished
its design. You pardon me if I enjoy a little
bit talking about this. I really rejoice when I think
of the fact that Christ actually did save somebody when he died
on the cross. Now would you be bothered if
I were to make that statement? that Christ actually did by his
death on the cross save somebody. He really sure enough did. He
saved his people from their sins. We have here in this verse of
scripture, Matthew 1 and 21, I think an efficacious text. She shall bring forth a son.
Did she? Answer the question. The question
is, did she bring forth a son? We're together on this. Amen? She did bring forth a son. And
it says, Thou shalt call his name Jesus. Literally, absolutely. Was his name called Jesus? Well
it was. He did. His name was called Jesus. And it says he shall save his
people. Literally so. Absolutely. It
is an efficacious text. There isn't any question about
it. Now let me present to you two or three things for your
consideration. Number one, let me say that the
atonement type in the Old Testament was an efficacious Now, this
will lead us to believe, of course, that the atonement itself was
efficacious. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9, and
look here, beginning with verse 6. I want to read verse 6 through
9 here, in chapter 9 of Hebrews. Now when these things were thus
ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing
the service of God. This is talking about the Old
Testament sacrifice in the tabernacle. But into the second went the
high priest alone, once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people. The
Holy Ghost thus signifying that the way into the holiest of all
was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet
standing, which was a figure or a foreshadow or a type for
the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices
that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to the conscience. Now let's say just a word or
two about that. The point being that the tabernacle
service was a type of the atonement that our Lord Jesus Christ made. Everything that the priest did,
especially on the day of atonement, pointed to the time when the
Lord Jesus Christ, as the Lamb of God, would die on the cross
and be the antitype of that which was the type, the tabernacle
service. In other words, what Christ did
on the cross of Calvary fulfilled what was typically portrayed
in the tabernacle worship and service. Now we cannot go into
all that was involved, but I want to call your attention to the
garment that this high priest wore when he entered in to the
tabernacle to administer his service unto God. Now in Exodus
chapter 28, if you want to turn over there, we'll refer to a
couple of verses there in a few moments. Now there were many
things that the priest did and wore by the way of clothes and
garments, but one thing he wore was an ephod. and ephod. It was like a sleeveless sweater
vest. It was like a sweater or a sleeveless
vest garment. And it was strapped together
at the top or buttoned by stone on the shoulders of the priest. And if you were to turn over
there to Exodus chapter 28, let me read here a couple of verses
to you. Look at verse 9. Verse 9. And thou shalt take
two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the children
of Israel. Now the names of the children
of Israel, the twelve tribes of Israel was engraven upon these
stones, upon the shoulders of the priest. And then in verse
15, And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work,
after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it of gold, of blue,
and of purple, and of scarlet, and fine twine linen shalt thou
make it. And in verse 17, And thou shalt
set in it a setting of stones, even four rows of stones, The
first roll shall be a Sardis, a Topaz, a Carbuncle, this shall
be the first roll, and the second roll, and so on and so forth.
And then in verse 21, And the stones shall be with the names
of the children of Israel, twelve according to their names, like
the engravings of a signet, everyone with his name shall they be according
to the twelve tribes of Israel." Now, what these names signify
when the Lord sent these priests into the tabernacle to make the
offering, was that these stones each represented a tribe of Israel
and for these the offering was presented in order that God's
judgment might be postponed for a year, 365 days, until again
sin would be remembered and another offering would be made. Now with
that garment on, the high priest would take the blood of an animal,
which was a type of the atonement of Christ, and would go in behind
the veil and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, which as we said
is a type of the shed blood of Christ. for whom was this made? It was made for the children
of Israel, the twelve tribes, and it was not made for any of
the Hittites, or for the Jebusites, or any of the Philistines, or
a Gentile. It was made for the twelve tribes
of Israel. Now then, it was efficacious
for the twelve tribes. It was limited only to them. Might I say that the atonement
of Christ is limited by its purpose, not by its power. Now the purpose
of this atonement, which was a type of the atonement of Christ,
was, as we said, to postpone the wrath of God. It wouldn't
take away the sin of the people but it would cover their sin. Now, the efficaciousness of it
did not depend upon individual acceptance. I want to press that
upon you. Some of the tribes had their
tents pitched on the east side of the tabernacle, some on the
west side, some on the north, and some on the south side. And
on the Day of Atonement, the priest did not go to these tents
and to these families and say, bow your heads, close your eyes,
raise your hands if you want to get in on this. No, he didn't
do that. No, my friend, he didn't. He
did not secure or even look for individual commitment out of
these people. This offering was offered for
the twelve tribes of Israel. He made the atonement for them
without their consent. Now, beloved, I want to ask you
a question. Was the atonement of Christ made for you without
your consent? Well, bless God, if it wasn't
made without my consent, it wasn't made. Somebody says it wasn't
made. But I'm telling you it was made
without our consent. We was not there 2,000 years
ago when Christ went to Calvary and suffered and died and bled
out his life's blood on that cross. No, no, no. You say, well,
I think he ought to got their consent. No, he didn't do that. He went in and made this efficacious
atonement for the people. And the results was it was designed,
I believe, to accomplish two things. That Old Testament tabernacle
system was designed to accomplish two things. It was to be a continual
reminder of the sins of the people. that is why it does, that's why
it was done once a year. When this time of the year rolled
around, it reminded the people of their sins before God. Another thing it was designed
was to postpone, as we've been saying, the wrath of God from
the people another 365 days. Now it was not designed to take
away sin, it was designed to cover sin, and it did. You say,
well how do you know that? well because they were spared
for another three hundred sixty five days that's how i know that
it was efficacious to see the type of atonement was efficacious
it worked before god it kept god from coming down in judgment
upon these people the israelites for a year now the atonement
the second thing i want to point out accomplishment itself which
was the atonement of our Lord Jesus, it was efficacious. Turn again to the book of Hebrews,
but this time to chapter 10. Chapter 10 of the book of Hebrews. I want you to notice with me
here verses 10 through 14. Listen to these words. By the
which will, and that will he's talking about is expressed to
us in verse 9 when he said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.
Jesus said that before he left heaven to come down to this earth.
He said, I come to do thy will, O God. And what is that will? Well, by this will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now the word sanctified there
means we're set apart. We're set apart unto God through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every
priest standing daily, he's talking about these Old Testament priests
now, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which could
never take away sins, but this man Christ after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of
God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool look at verse 14 for by one offering by this one offering
which Christ made on Calvary, He hath perfected, that means
He's made perfect forever them that are set apart by that offering. Now beloved, this speaks of the
efficaciousness of the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ by this
one offering. Don't you want to get in on that?
I would. This one offering, because by
this one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified,
them that are set apart by God, those that were given unto Christ
by God the Father in the love gift that He gave to Christ that
they were set apart unto God and they have been perfected
forever, they are complete in Christ, their sins are put away
and they no longer stand guilty, judged guilty before God. I say the atonement of our Lord
Jesus was efficacious. Now I know that the salvation
experience does not become real to a man until he is able to
believe the gospel. I know until God puts faith and
faith falls out of the heavens into a man's soul, the experience
of salvation is not real to him. You remember when you first believed?
When you weren't able to believe? Well, beloved, you don't know
all about it, but you must know that God put that faith. The
Bible says, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of the
Lord. But faith has to come. That means it's not in you and
it's not of you. That faith's got to come. And
until that faith comes, then the experience of salvation is
not real to us. But according to this verse,
that 14th verse out of Hebrews chapter 10 that I read to you,
He saved us at the cross. That's where we got saved. He
saved us when He died for us. He saved us when He suffered
our hell in His body on the tree. He shall save His people, not
make an offer to save them, but to do so. Not to do 50% and leave
the rest of it to you, but to save you thoroughly, perfectly,
completely. Now I submit to you that this
is what he did when he died. He saved his people from their
sin. I submit to you that that's what
we are celebrating here today. We're celebrating the atonement
of our Lord Jesus Christ, his broken body and his shed blood. And we're celebrating the fact,
we're remembering him The Lord Jesus, who did indeed, sure enough,
saved us from our sin. He saved His people, and I believe
it would be wrong for us to gather here, celebrate a supper commemorating
the death and the burial of our Lord Jesus, and commemorating
His life, and not believe that He sure enough did save us when
He died for us. Isaiah 53 says that He was wounded
for our transgression, He was bruised for our iniquities, the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes
we're healed. What did he die for? Well, he
died in order to appease God and to satisfy God on our behalf. Who did he die for? Don't insert
your words. Why don't you examine the Word
of God to know what the Bible says about this. Well, I want
to say first of all, and I'm just about ready to conclude
my message, but I want to say that Jesus Christ did not die
for himself. Who did he die for? Not for himself. He had no sin, therefore he need
not die. He knew no sin, the Bible says,
he did not have to die at all till sin was what? Imputed to
him. Until my sin was laid upon him,
he did not have to die. But when my sin was laid upon
Him, and when the sin of all of His people was laid upon Him,
then He must die. He must die that awful death
of the cross in order to save us. And then I believe that I'm
making a true statement when I say that it was not for angels,
fallen angels, that He died. Now, nobody seems to be concerned
about the fallen angels. We hear people all the time talking
about the general atonement. They want everybody included
in the atonement of Christ. But nobody says anything about
the fallen angels, those who had left their first estate and
had fallen down and were chained in the bottomless pit in eternal
hell. There was a whole herd of these
angels that went to hell before we ever came along and we don't
have any concern much for them but we're concerned about these
our fellow sinners out here that maybe they're not included in
the atonement but Jesus did not die to save fallen angels and
thirdly he did not die for those who's committed the unpardonable
sin Now, Christ said that all manner of sin shall be forgiven
you, but blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, not in this world
or the world to come. A man who commits the unpardonable
sin, he's as sure for hell as if he was already there. There's
no remedy available for a man who commits the unpardonable
sin. And I'm not here to tell you
this morning what that is. I'm just telling you our Lord
did not die for those who committed the unpardonable sin. And then
He did not die for those who were in hell when He died. No,
He did not. If there were two or two million
in hell when He died, His death did not do any of them any good
because they're still there. Do you believe that? They're
still there. They're in hell today. Still
there. So my friend, we must be careful
what we say when we're talking about the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, He died, somebody said, for
everybody. What? What? Well, it sounds good. It sounds like old Brother Barnard
used to say, it makes mighty good preaching, it just ain't
so. That's all. It's not so. Men say it because
they feel that they have to justify God. And they say it because
they have to defend God. No, no, no, my friend. Just state
the truth. And leave the truth of God as
it is. Well, then, he did not die either for reprobates. somebody
who has missed the mark to the point that God has given up on
him. Romans 1, 26 and 28 talks about
those whom God has given up, those that he gave up on. And if he gave up on them, then
why would he die for them? If he gave up on them and said,
well, they're nothing but fodder, as it were, or straw for eternal
flames, then why would he die for them if he give up on them?
Now if God ever gives up on you, my friend, you're a goner. You're
a goner. No hope for a man if God gives
up on him. And if God turns you over to
a reprobate mind, there ain't any hope for you. You're a goner.
And there's no way back. Well, he did not die for the
goats. Our brother, I had him to read
specifically this morning the 10th chapter of the Gospel of
John to set forth the fact that the death of our Lord Jesus Christ
was not for the goats. I lay down my life, John 10 and
15. I heard him read it. Came right
out of the scriptures this morning. I lay down my life for the sheep. Lay it down for the sheep, Romans
5 and 8. But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Paul speaks there as one of the
elect. And he says Christ died for us. It is Christ that died, Paul
says in Romans chapter 8. All we like sheep. He died for
his sheep. He died for those that would
come through the work of the Holy Spirit and have the blood
atonement applied to their soul. For a man to go to hell after
Christ have died and suffered for his sin would, after Christ
had made an atonement for his sin, would be doubled in indemnity. I believe that all for whom He
died are saved. They're going to be saved. Every
one of them. There are many in this world
yet not saved whom God is going to save. And that's the reason
why we keep on meeting here week after week. That's why we keep
on preaching the gospel. That's why we continue. It's
because we know that God has a people and He's going to save
them. Hallelujah, He's going to save
them. They're inexperienced. They're
saved already because of the cross, but they're going to be
saved experientially as the gospel goes out. The Lord's going to
call them out. No crime can be punished twice.
Once a crime has been punished and satisfaction given, it can
not be tried anymore. Therefore, we must evaluate in
our minds whether Christ actually did, whether he actually did
die for us as our substitute or whether he just died to make
something remotely possible. If I get around to agreeing,
that I ought to be saved. If I get around to agreeing,
well then, that'll make the atonement effectual. No, no, no. No, no. Beloved, the atonement of Christ
is efficacious. It is. The Lord Jesus Christ
did die as the substitute for His people. And all of those
in the Israel of God are saved. And all of those who are brought
by the work of the Spirit and trust Christ They will be saved. This is God's Word. Have you
been brought by the Holy Spirit? Drawn by Him? Do you feel the
tug, the moving of the Spirit of God in your heart? My friend,
this is the way God works. This is the way God works on
the behalf of those for whom Jesus made this great sacrifice. He brings them, He draws them,
they're drawn with cords of love unto the Lord Jesus. May He draw
your heart and bring you savingly to Christ. Now I'm going to invite
Mike if you would