was really born as a result of
some correspondence I've had with a young preacher up in Detroit,
Michigan for the past couple of weeks, and you will know the
nature of the correspondence as we move along. We believe, according to the
scriptures, that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished the redemption
of God's elect when he died as our substitute at Calvary. Now
that's the plain statement of Scripture. When Jesus Christ
died in our room and in our stead at Mount Calvary, bearing our
sin in his own body on the tree, the Son of God suffered all the
wrath of God to the full satisfaction of justice for all his people,
and thus obtained eternal redemption for us. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, has redeemed us from the curse of the law
by the sacrifice of himself. The Lord of Glory came down here
in human flesh on an errand of mercy, as a mediator, as a substitute,
as a representative man. He came here as this good shepherd
to save his people from their sins, to seek his sheep and fetch
them home on the grounds of justice satisfied through his blood atonement. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
fully accomplished everything he came into this world to do
as our surety and our substitute. We believe, according to the
testimony of God, that his blood actually paid our debt, actually
satisfied the justice of God, and actually put away our sins
with an absolute efficacy so that when he cried upon Calvary's
tree, is finished, the work was fully done to the full compliance
of the covenant of grace established between the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit before the world began. We believe, according
to the writings of this blessed book, that all for whom Jesus
Christ shed his blood at Calvary shall at last be with him in
glory, no exceptions. Yes, we do believe and preach
with great joy that glorious old gospel doctrine called limited
atonement. effectual, efficacious redemption,
particular redemption. But I like the term limited atonement
best. I like it best because it states
it best. I like it best because the enemies
of our God like it least. And so I don't hesitate to use
the term limited atonement. This we believe to be a vital
gospel doctrine. It's not something that's up
for grabs. It's not something that's debatable. It's not something
that that you can take it or leave it. Either you believe
that Jesus Christ actually did something at Calvary, or you
deny the whole gospel. There's no in between ground.
Either you believe that he actually accomplished the redemption of
his people at Calvary, or you deny that he is God Almighty.
I don't understand why that's so hard to grasp. I just can't
fathom that. If I were to stand here and tell
you, as I have on occasion, that anyone who denies that Jesus
Christ is indeed the virgin-born Son of God, anyone who would
say that Jesus Christ is not Himself the incarnate God, that
He did not really come through the womb of the virgin, that
the virgin birth is a myth. If I told you such a thing and
then tried to tell you He was my brother, you'd send me out
of here on my left ear and say, well, don't come back. Oh, we can't
accept that. If I were to tell you that those
folks who deny that Jesus Christ is himself the second person
of the Blessed Trinity, then those are really our brethren.
You wouldn't listen to me anymore, and you oughtn't to. You oughtn't
to. Such preachers ought not be heard. And yet, when I declare
to you that those men and women who deny that Jesus Christ actually
accomplished what he came here to accomplish, do not know God,
folks get upset with that. No, you can't say that. If the
Lord Jesus, James Jordan, tries to do what he fails to do, he's
not God. God doesn't try. I don't want
to go hard about that. If he attempts what he doesn't
accomplish, he is not God. If he wills what he doesn't have,
he's not God. If he desires what he doesn't
do, he's not God. Does not the Scripture. say,
I am the Lord, I will do all my pleasure. Does it or doesn't
it? Does not the scripture say, this concerning our God, he hath
his way in the heavens and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
Is that Bible or is it not? Now Rex, to deny that Jesus Christ
actually accomplished and does accomplish everything he wills,
everything he purposed, everything he came here to do is to deny
that he's God. It's just to deny his deity.
That makes this matter of effectual atonement a vital gospel doctrine. Jesus Christ actually put away
our sins by his blood when he died at Calvary. But there are
multitudes who do not believe the testimony of scripture regarding
the death of Christ. rather than believing on the
Son of God unto life everlasting, rather than trusting him alone
for redemption and righteousness. The vast majority of religious
people in this world, the vast majority of those who claim to
be preachers in conservative churches and in all the rest,
The vast majority of those who attend those churches, the vast
majority of our friends and family, those people will not submit
to and bow to the gospel doctrine of limited atonement, effectual
accomplished redemption. They will rather stumble over
the scriptures and perish in their sins and go to hell rather
than simply bowing to Christ. And some of you sitting here
are in just that boat. You willingly trample under your
feet the precious blood of the Son of God and despise the Spirit
of God's grace. I know folks everywhere talk
about salvation by grace alone. He preaches grace alone. He preaches
grace alone. I've heard it till I'm sick of
it. No, he doesn't. He preaches grace, but he won't
dare preach grace alone. He preaches Jesus. He preaches his notion of Jesus
and what you do for Jesus, not Christ's work alone. He preaches the salvations of
the Lord. So does the Pope in Rome. All it has to do is read Jonah
chapter 2 verse 9 and it preaches salvation is of the Lord. You
can't read it and not say it. But that's not what it preaches.
Not salvation is of the Lord alone. And I'm telling you that
salvation is either God's work alone or there's no such thing
as salvation for you. One of the two. Either God is
an almighty effectual savior and he saves whom he will according
to his mighty power and grace or you save yourself and this
book's a lie and we can all go on our way. There's no in between
ground. That's what Paul says in Romans
chapter 11 verses 4, 5, and 6. Look here in our text in 1 Peter
chapter 2. I want you to see this. 1 Peter
chapter 2. Verse 6, the apostle tells us we're to
desire the sincere milk of the word, that we may grow thereby. And he tells us something about
what this word is. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture. And it's written in the scriptures
numerous times. Numerous times. Just get your
cross reference in the margin of the Bible and look how many
times it's written. Behold, I, the Lord God says, I lay in Zion,
a chief cornerstone, elect, precious. Now look at the next line. And
he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. You ever wonder why the whole
religious world is so confused about everything? Chases after,
I mean they chase after this thing and that. They chase after
this window doctor and that. Somebody comes along, oh did
you hear what so and so, did you read about that? And they'll
chase it like a dog chasing its tail when it's got worms. I mean
they just go crazy over it. How come? Because they're confounded. They don't believe. They don't
believe. He who believes on this elect
precious stone, he who builds on this solid rock foundation,
he'll never be shaken. Well, no, I don't know about
that. And I'll be honest with you, I don't care about it. Did
you hear what I just said? No, I didn't hear that. But I
generally don't listen to that stuff. I just turn it off. Did
you read what that fellow said? No, I didn't read it. I'm not
interested. I don't care. Well, how can you
say that? Because I'm built on a rock.
I'm built on a sure foundation stone. He that believes on this
foundation, he'll not be confounded. But everybody else is. Look at
it now. Unto you therefore which believe, and only to you. Unto you which believe, he's
precious. He's precious. But unto them which be disobedient.
What does that mean? When they do this, no, they don't
believe. That's what it is to be disobedient, Bill. They don't
believe. They don't build on this foundation
stone. Unto them which be disobedient. Christ is the stone which the
builders disallowed. The same is made the head of
the corner. But he is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. even to them which stumble at
the word." Oh, what a terrible thing. Read the next line, will
you? Being disobedient, whereunto
also they were appointed. This is not by accident, any
more than it's accidental that God sent the Son up in the east
this morning. Whereunto also they were appointed. This too
is by divine arrangement. This is what we're told in this
text of scripture. As he is revealed in the scripture,
the Lord Jesus Christ is to reprobate unbelieving, self-righteous men
and women, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense by divine
arrangement. You see, God has so written his
word He has deliberately so written his word that reprobate men will
get tripped up by it, be confused by it, and fall over the scriptures
right into hell because they will not believe them. Why can't
you explain things to folks? Why is it when you try to explain
truth to me and they look at you like a cat looking at a new
gate and don't have any idea what you're talking about? Don't
have the foggiest notion what you're talking about. How come?
How come they can't hear? How come they can't see? Because
they're blind. They can't see. Can't see. You see, God has fixed it. So
that those who are determined to cling to their own righteousness,
and if you are so determined, you can. He's fixed it. So that those who are determined
to cling to their own goodness, who are determined that they
will not submit to the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Substitute,
as He is found and revealed in Scripture, they will stumble
over Him and fall into hell. Hold your hands here in 1 Peter
and turn to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. This is exactly what happened
to the Jews. Romans chapter 9 verse 33. But
Israel, the natural seed of Abraham, which followed after the law
of righteousness. They didn't just take this thing
lightly. Their religion was something else too. They followed the law
of righteousness. have not attained to the law
of righteousness. They worshiped according to the
outward standard and the outward ceremony and the outward requirement
of the law all those years, but they never got what the law talked
about. They never got that righteousness
which is in the law. They strove to keep the law,
keep the Sabbath day, put those silly little hats on their heads
to this day, striving after righteousness, but they never attained it. How
come? Because they sought it not by faith. Do you have any idea what it's
talking about? Are you interested in righteousness before God?
Interested in being righteous before God? The only way you
can get it is by faith. The only way you can stand before
God and be at peace and rest in your soul is to believe on
His Son. But those who will not seek righteousness
by faith in Christ, they'll never find it. Look at it now. They
sought it not by faith, but as it were, by the works of the
law. Oh man, I feel so bad. I feel so guilty. I feel so sinful. I need to start going to church.
I need to start straightening my life up. You know what? Preach
I'm going to come to church next week. I'm going to get my life
turned around. As long as you keep trying to
get yourself prepared for God's acceptance, you'll never trust
Christ. It won't happen. I'm going to
quit drinking. That ain't going to help you
any. I'm going to quit running around. That ain't going to help
you any. I'm going to quit taking that dope. That's bad for you.
That's messed my life up. No, your heart messed your life up.
The dope is just a consequence. I'm going to start doing it.
That's not going to help you any. Well, what on earth is going to help
me? Grace. That's all. Just grace. How can
I get it? Believe on the Son of God and
you'll have it. It's yours. Trust Christ. Believe
on him. And that righteousness which
he performed at Calvary is yours. And you enter into the blessedness
of it by believing him. Read on. They stumbled at that
stumbling stone as it is written. Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling
stone and a rock of offense. And whosoever believeth on him
shall not be ashamed. And don't you like the way he
translated that that time? Sometimes it says not confused. Sometimes
it says not confounded. Here it says not ashamed. Here
I am built on this foundation stone built by God's own hand. And I have no reason. I have no reason. Ever to be
ashamed before God. You remember Adam and Eve in
the garden? And then you talk about it this morning again,
they stood before God naked and they were ashamed. Ashamed. Because they had no covering.
Now, the fact is, they were naked beforehand, but they were naked
without sin beforehand. What made them ashamed? Do you
really think that Adam was so ignorant? that he presumed God
couldn't see through fig leaves? That wasn't a problem. Gary,
they had no covering for their sin. They were ashamed. Their conscience condemned them.
They were guilty. They were ashamed. But God killed
an animal. And with the clothes of the animal,
he stripped off the fig leaves and put the skins of that innocent
victim on them. and they stood before God and
they weren't ashamed anymore. Will you hear me? The Lord God
Almighty has killed an innocent victim, his own darling son. And he stripped off of me my
fig leaf righteousness and robed me with the righteousness of
his son. And I stand before God never
with a reason to be ashamed because he put away my sin and robed
me in perfect righteousness. I'm built on rock. All right,
now let's look at the scriptures here. Those very same scriptures, which
by the blessing of God the Holy Spirit are as stair steps to
us, bringing us up to our Savior, bringing us up to glory. Those
very same scriptures are stumbling stones to the reprobate. Let
me spend just a few minutes talking to you about them in general.
Now, I don't have either the desire nor the inclination to
answer the cavils of blaspheming men, and I suggest you quit doing
the same. We will bring ourselves great
peace if we quit trying to argue folks into the kingdom of God,
you can't do it. You'll bring great peace to yourself if you
quit throwing your pearls before swine and watching them trample
them under their feet. Don't do it. Just simply tell
men the truth and wait for God to use it. It's dishonoring to
God, dishonoring to His Word, to take sacred things and use
them in a carnal way, in carnal debate and argument and fussing,
and trying to convince folks of your way of thinking. That's
ungodly. It's ungodly. What we must do
is simply tell folks the truth, wait for God to bless His Word
to the saving of their souls. So I'm not interested in answering
the arguments and debates of men. I don't have time for it.
I gave it up a long time ago. But I do want to help you to
understand the Scriptures so that as you're confronted with
various things, you're not immediately brought to question things. I
want you to understand the teaching of Scriptures. And I want to
so preach the Word of God so that you who are yet without
faith in Christ may this day be granted life and faith in
Him. I've said this to you many, many times. I hope that you will
remember it. If you haven't written it down
before, write it down now. There is not in the whole book of God,
there is not a single scripture, there is not even a hint of universal
redemption in all the word of God. read and interpreted in
its context, there's not the slightest implication anywhere
in Scripture of the heretical doctrine that Christ died to
redeem and save those who perish under the wrath of God in hell.
That's just not found in this book. Such doctrine is utter
blasphemy. And yet there are some scriptures
which unbelieving men, they constantly leap before them. Just jump out
at them. Just jump out at them. Every time you say something,
you try to tell somebody about the gospel of God's grace. I
can just picture it. Some of you are still young in
the kingdom of God. Skip and say that. I can't help
but think about you. You start to tell friends and relatives.
You know, God's predestinated everything. You know, God from
eternity chose somebody to be saved. You know, Jesus Christ,
I never knew this before, He actually accomplished and guaranteed
the salvation of His people when He died. Well, I believe in whosoever
will. You don't believe in whosoever
will. Yes, we do. We don't believe in whosoever
won't. We don't believe anybody who won't come can come, but
anybody who will can. Well, I believe Christ loved
the world, died for the world. And world means world, and all
means all. Let's look one more time at a real familiar text.
Familiar to you anyway. Luke chapter 2. People say, well, when the Bible
says world, it means world. When the Bible says all, it means
all. When the Bible says every, it means every. Let me tell you
something. You go ahead and get to Luke
chapter 2, and I want to tell you something. I want you to hear me. When you read
this book, very, very seldom does all mean all without exception. Very, very seldom does world
mean everyone in the world. Very seldom. Very, very seldom
does every mean every person without exception. Here's one
classic example, as plain as the nose on your face. I don't
know what it is about going to church, but when men and women
come to church, generally, they check their brains at the door
and quit thinking. I wish when fellas would walk
in, they would take their hats off and keep their brains in
and just read the Word of God and see what it says. Luke chapter
2, verse 1. And it came to pass in those
days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, look at
this, that all The world should be taxed. Well, all means all,
and world means world. Yeah, in the context. in the
context. The word all here does not mean
all men without exception. The word world does not mean
every person in the world without exception. It means all who were
in Caesar's government. All who were in the world under
Caesar's dominion. And it didn't have a thing to
do with Don Fortner. I wasn't around. Not a thing. Now that's exactly true with
regard to an explanation of the use of the words world and all
in the scriptures. Let's look at just one or two
passages of scripture this morning that will actually give you an
interpretation basis for all passages. Turn first to John
chapter 1 and verse 7. There are several passages of
scripture. where the words world and all
are used, which many trip over and seem to think, well, these
are talking about universal redemption, universal salvation. And the
words are certainly limited and must be understood to speak of
God's elect alone. In John chapter one, verse seven,
John the Baptist came for a witness to bear witness of the light
that all men through him might believe. Now there you see, God
wants everybody to be saved. Well, let's see, let's see. Does
that word all mean all without exception? Let's see. The only
way anybody would be saved is if God sends the word by a preacher,
because faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Is
that right? So he sent John the Baptist to preach the word, to
give light to men, that they might be saved. Well, if he intends
to save everybody, I wonder why he didn't send John to everybody. If it's His will that everybody
without exception be saved, I wonder why He doesn't send His Word
to everybody. There are multitudes who never hear the Gospel, have
been throughout ages. In fact, there are some people
to whom God will not send His Word no matter how desirous the
preacher is to carry it to them. Read Acts chapter 16. Paul tells
us that he wanted to go over to Bithynia and preach the Word,
and the Holy Spirit said, No, you can't go there. Well, then the word all must
mean something else. What does it mean? It means all
God's elect throughout all the world. Black, white, red, yellow,
doesn't matter. Bond-free, learned, unlearned,
doesn't matter. Male, female, doesn't matter. All God's people
throughout the world. And so the Lord God uses the
word all in that sense. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15 verse
22. For as in Adam, all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. Well, there you have it. Wait a minute. Just don't check
your brains at the door. Just listen for a second. If
all means all the same in both places, then something's wrong.
Because there's some folks who go to hell. But if all died in
Adam, are the same all who were made alive in Christ, then everybody's
saved. Well, what then does that mean? Adam was a representative
man. He was a representative man.
The first representative man. And when Adam sinned, everybody
he represented sinned, and was made to be sinned, and died under
sin. Because he died as a representative
man. But there's a second representative man. Only two ever existed. A
second represented man, the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when he lived, all who were represented by him lived in him.
When he died, we died in him. When he arose, we arose in him.
And we were made the righteousness of God in him. The representative
man. Let's see if I can get it illustrated
this way. Adam represented the whole world.
There's James Jordan. He's the representative of all
this congregation. All this congregation. Goes to
the bank, takes out a note. Everybody represented legally
in him. He fails to pay. He fails to pay. Everybody's
guilty because the representative failed to pay. That's Bob Ponser. He represents everybody on this
side of the building. And he takes care of the same thing.
He goes back, pays a note, gets a note. And time comes to pay,
he paid it for all. Not everybody in the whole place,
but everybody over here, because that's all they represented.
And the Lord Jesus Christ has fully satisfied the wrath and
justice of God in all parts as our substitute, so that now all
who are represented by him live in him forever. Well, what about
the word world? For God so loved the world. I've
heard John 3.16 quoted for everything under the shining sun. Some years
ago, I'd written something somewhere about female preachers or said
something on a tape. That's kind of unusual for me,
but somebody got hold of it. And this gal wrote back. She said, but my Bible says God
so loved the world. I thought, what's that got to
do with a woman preaching? And somebody hears you talk about
redemption and says, God so loved the world. What's that got to
do with particular redemption? What's that got to do with? Not
a frazzling thing. Not a frazzling thing. Several years ago, I was
preaching down in Birmingham, Alabama. And just in case you're
not aware of it, the civil rights movement sort of passed Birmingham
by. It just slipped right by there. And I was down there preaching,
and I made a statement. Shelby was sitting out in the
congregation. I'm going to tell you something. God loves black
men just like he loves white men. And there's a fellow sitting
as close to me as Sally Ponson is, and this is what he did.
I mean, he just shocked the britches off of it. I would have been
surprised if he had had a heart attack and fell over dead right
there. That just can't be. Our Lord is writing and speaking
to Jews who had exactly the same attitude toward Gentiles. And
he said, God doesn't love just Jews, God loved the world. And
he didn't mean everybody in the world. That's nonsense. He said,
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. He said, I gave Egypt
for you, Ethiopia and Saba for you. He said, I raised up Pharaoh
to dump him in the river so everybody would know who I am and know
what I did for you. I mean, to say God loved the world is nonsense.
It's just nonsense. To say God loves everybody until
he sends them to heaven and then he quits loving them is to say
that God changes like you change light bulbs. That's nonsense
and blasphemy. Well, what is he saying? He says,
God has a people scattered through all the world whom he loves with
an everlasting love, black and white, bonding free, rich and
poor. He's got his elect scattered to the four corners of the earth
where he scattered them in his wrath. And he says, I will gather
them from the four corners of the earth to which I have scattered
them in my sore displeasure. And now he's gathered them. By
his word, by the preaching of the gospel, by the power of his
spirit, as the word goes forth and sinners see that Jesus Christ
alone is made of God and to us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption, the Lord God gathers in his elect
from all over the world and saves them by his almighty grace. Amen. All right, you come lead us in
the hymn, please.