to you this morning that I would
be preaching tonight on the parable of the mustard seed, and I prepared
that message yesterday to preach this evening. But I think it
would be very profitable for us to return to the same subject
that I preached on this morning, dealing with the matter of particular
redemption, showing the utter hideousness of universal atonement. And so I want you to turn with
me to 2 Peter 1 and verse 20. We will begin here. 2 Peter 1
and verse 20. I've had this message on my mind
ever since I finished preaching this morning, so this afternoon
I jotted down some things that I want to go over with you this
evening. We come together, as you know,
every Sunday evening and we observe the Lord's table in remembrance
of our Redeemer. And I can think of no better
way for us to prepare the remembrance of him than for us tonight to
look together once more at those scriptures relating to the redemption
of our souls by the blood of Christ. Let's begin here in 2
Peter 1, verse 20. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture
is of any private interpretation. Now this is what it means. When
you look in the Scriptures and you run across a verse of Scripture,
do not ever attempt to interpret that verse of Scripture standing
alone, but rather interpret the Scripture in light of Scripture. Always interpret Scripture with
Scripture. One principle of hermeneutics
I try to practice all the time, and I've tried to teach you over
the years, is that whenever you want to understand what the Word
of God teaches about any subject, go to the place where that subject
is dealt with in the Word of God, and interpret the Scripture
in the light of the context where that particular subject or doctrine
is dealt with. How many times have you, in trying
to minister to someone, or perhaps you give them a tape, and the
message of God's electing grace or particular redemption is objected
to, and they say, but what about this verse? Well, that's the
title of my message tonight. What about this verse? Let's
look at those verses that men and women use in attempts to
deny the glorious gospel truth of particular and effectual redemption. Now the gospel, the whole of
the gospel of God's grace, the whole of the message of this
book stands or falls on this issue. Did Jesus Christ or did
he not actually redeem and justify his people by the sacrifice of
himself? Now I want you to see this very
distinctly, and tonight we're going to look at numerous passages
of Scripture. We cannot obviously look at all
of them, but we're going to look at a bunch. And I want you to
follow with me through the Scriptures, and let's let the Scriptures
themselves speak, so that we understand what God says with
regard to Holy Scripture in the teaching of particular reduction.
First, understand this. There is not a single text in
the Bible where redemption and atonement is taught, not a single
text, where there is even the slightest hint or indication
or possibility that Christ died to redeem and save all men. Everywhere in the Word of God
where the subject of redemption is dealt with. It is specifically
stated that the Lord Jesus Christ died for a particular people,
that he put away their sins, and by his blood secured and
guaranteed their everlasting salvation. Let's begin back in
Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 53. We won't look at Just any others
except just this one passage in the Old Testament, and then
we'll come to the New Testament where the matter is dealt with
more clearly as the progress of revelation was completed.
In Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 8, the prophet Isaiah speaks
here as God's spokesman. And the Lord God speaks of the
death of his son and declares in verse 8, he was taken from
prison and from judgment. Who should declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living. Now look
what it says. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. Verse 9. And he made his grave
with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, because he
had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. That is, it satisfied the justice
of God to bruise his son to death as our substitute. He hath put
him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his sin. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. Now look at verse 11. He shall
see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied by his
knowledge. I often read the text and think
it might ought to be translated by knowledge of him, but that's
not what the text says. It rather says by his knowledge. His knowledge of his seed. his
knowledge of what he has done, his knowledge of justice satisfied,
his knowledge of his covenant engagements as assurative. By
his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. Now do you see that? Our Lord
Jesus Christ bore the iniquities, the transgressions, and the sins
of God's elect. And as a result of having borne
our sins away in his birth, the Son of God has now secured our
everlasting salvation, knowing what he finished. Knowing the
agreement that was made between him and the Father before the
world began, he now shall justify all those whose sins he bore
at Calvary. Now I want you to turn with me
to Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1. We're going
to move through these quickly, but I want you to follow with
me through the scriptures. Matthew chapter 1 and verse 21. This is the angel's declaration
to Joseph as to why he should not put Mary away, as to why
he should yet continue with her as a husband with his wife, and
why he should believe the report of the angel. He says in verse
21, She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus. The word means Joshua, or Jehovah
says. Thou shalt call his name Jehovah
says, for he shall save his people from their sins." Now observe
what the angel has declared. First, the Lord Jesus Christ
is Jehovah, our Savior. Secondly, he has a people. These were his people before
he was ever brought into this world. They were his people by
God's election and God's decree from eternity. And these people
who were his people from eternity, he shall save, not try to save,
not provide salvation for, but he shall save his people from
their sins. All right, now turn to Romans
chapter 5. Romans the 5th chapter. We're
looking at just a few texts of scripture where the Word of God
teaches the subject of redemption. Where the Word of God teaches
us what Jesus Christ came here to do. Romans chapter 5 and verse
8. God commendeth his love toward
us. This is how God commends his
love to us. in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Christ died for us when we were
sinners, ungodly, unrighteous. Incapable of doing any good.
In the fullness of time, he died for us. Now look at Paul's language. This is how he reasons. And he
reasons not by his own intellect and logic, but rather by the
inspiration of God's Spirit. Much more than that. Since Christ
died for us while we were yet sinners. Since Jesus Christ died
as our substitute when we could not contribute anything to God. Much more than being now justified
by His blood. Do you see that? Since He died
for us, we are now justified by His blood. Our justification
did not take place when we came to believe on Him. We simply
received the benefit and blessing of justification by faith, but
our justification took place when He died. being now justified,
not by our believing in his blood, but by his blood, we shall be
saved from wrath through him. Verse 10. For if when we were
enemies we were reconciled to God, get it now, by the death
of his soul. I remember when a good many of
you first were experimentally reconciled to God. When first
you came to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and quit fighting
against God, quit rebelling against Him, you ceased to be rebels
to God and were reconciled to Him by faith in your hearts.
But this is talking about something else. The reason you ceased to
be a rebel, the reason you have ceased to fight against God is
because back here, when you were His enemy, you were reconciled
to God by the death of His Son. Much more, he continues to reason.
Being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Since Christ,
by his death, has reconciled us to God justly, now that Christ
sits on the right hand of the throne of God in heaven, we shall
be saved by his resurrection life, in his exalted glory. Read
verse 11. And not only so, but we also
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received
the atonement. The word is reconciliation. We
hear the gospel We hear the declaration of redemption accomplished, of
atonement made by the sacrifice of Christ, and when God gives
us faith in Him, we receive the atonement. But lay, our faith
does nothing to accomplish the atonement. Our faith does nothing
to put away sin. Our faith does nothing to make
God accept us. Our faith simply receives what
Jesus Christ has accomplished for us. All right? Let's turn
to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I received a letter this afternoon
over email from a very dear friend of Matt Tompkins down in Louisiana
who had been reading a little last night and he said before
I laid down I asked God that he might be pleased to speak
by you today to dead sinners, open their hearts, give them
conviction of sin, and bring them out of despair into life
and liberty by faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. Well, right here
in 2 Corinthians 5, the Apostle Paul says if any man be in Christ,
he's a new Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have
become new. How on earth can that be? He's
not talking about when a man's born again, then he quits being
a sinner. Oh no. Oh no, that's contrary to experience
and to the Word of God. Our sin's just as real now as
it ever was. Our sin's just as corrupt now
as it ever was. Well, what does it mean? Old things have passed
away and behold, all things have become new. He's talking about
reconciliation. He's talking about us in our
standing before God. When we have been born of God,
made new creatures in Christ, insofar as God Almighty is concerned,
all our sins, all the record of our sins, all the catalog
of our iniquities, all our past, is passed away forever and everything
has become hell. We've been inscribed in the book
of God from everlasting under the name of the Lamb of God and
in Him we remain perfectly righteous and have no record of sin. Now
this is the basis of it. Look at verse 21. 2 Corinthians
5 verse 21. For he, God Almighty, have made
him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin for us. He imputed our sins to him and made him to be sin. So that all the mountain of our
transgressions, all the indescribably hideous, obnoxious load of the
sins of God's elect for all time, were at one time made to meet
upon the Son of God, and he was made to be sin. He didn't do
any evil. He knew no sin. He didn't even
have the capability of sin. His holy heart was undefiled
and separate from sinners, but he was made to be sin. And in
exactly the same manner, look what it says, that we might be
made the righteousness of God into Him. Here we are, sinners by nature,
nothing but sin. There He is, holiness by nature,
nothing but holiness. But by a marvelous transfer of
grace, our sins were made his sins without him ever doing anything
evil. And by the same transfer of grace,
his righteousness is made our righteousness without us ever
doing anything righteous. We couldn't. We didn't even have
the capability of doing righteousness, and still don't. We still don't. We are yet by nature sinners,
and everything we do in our highest ambition is sin. But Christ's
righteousness is our righteousness, and we stand before God accepted
and to be loved. Look at Romans chapter 8. Verse 33, Paul raises these great
challenges of faith, declaring, if God be for us, who can be
against us? He said, who shall, he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? And then in verse
33, listen to this, who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? And I said, Bobby Estes? who has all day long been sinning
against God. Merle mentioned back in the office
in his prayer, we fall 70 times a day. And yet Paul says, who's
going to lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who's
going to charge you with sin? Nobody in heaven, earth, or hell,
not before God. The word says, it is God that justifies. If God declares the word justified,
nobody shall lay anything to our charge. Who is he to condemn? Come on, who's going to condemn
one for whom Christ died? Read what he said. It is Christ
that died. That means if Christ died for
you, you cannot be condemned. Yea rather than is risen again.
That means if Christ arose from the dead for you, you cannot
be condemned. Not only did he die and rise
again, he is right now at the right hand of God Almighty who
also maketh intercession for us. This is what the text means.
If Christ died for me, if Christ arose for me, if Christ sits
at the Father's right hand for me, if Christ intercedes for
me, there is no possibility of condemnation. That's the language
of Scripture. All right, let's look over in
the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 9. verse 11. In this book of Hebrews,
the apostles giving us instruction to the superiority of our Lord
Jesus Christ. He's writing to Jewish believers
and he is telling these Jewish believers that they must never
revert to Judaism. They must never revert to the
ceremonies and the types and shadows of the law. For those
things are fulfilled by Christ and Christ is superior to all.
Now he says in verse 11, Christ being come and high priest of
good things to come. by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this physical
building, this physical tabernacle, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, that is, not with some ceremonial sacrifice, not
with some typical sacrifice, but by his own blood, by the
merit and virtue and power of his blood, he entered in once,
one time, into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. What glorious gospel truth. Look
at Hebrews 10. The Lord Jesus is here speaking.
He says, I come to do thy will, O my God. He speaks of that will
by which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ one time, once for all. Verse 10. And when he says once
for all, he doesn't mean once for everybody. He means once
with finality. once and forever it's done. By
his sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ has sanctified God's elect
by the offering of his body as a sacrifice for sin one time. Now look at verse 11. And every
priest endeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices which can never take away sins. I think I told you
some years ago with a Paul Reniger, a friend of mine who was a missionary
in Italy. I was preaching on this passage and Paul was sitting
in the congregation after services. He said to me, there was a preacher
in Italy many years ago. This has been now 17, 18, 20
years ago. And this preacher was a rare
fellow because he was a preaching priest in the Roman Catholic
Church, very popular. He was standing administering
Mass to thousands of people, along with several other Roman
Catholic priests. But this fellow, he was leading
the Mass service, which is, as you know in Roman Catholic theology,
a fresh crucifixion of Christ. And as he was doing the Mass,
he had his Bible opened to Hebrews chapter 10, verse 11. And he
read, Every priest standeth daily in ministry, and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. And God
spoke his heart. He said, that's exactly what
I'm doing. And he read on. But this man, he was a priest
unlike any other. After he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. Sat down,
because his work was done, on the right hand of God, because
God accepted his work. from henceforth expected till
his enemies be made his footstool. And this is the reason he sat
down, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified." The work's done, all done. Now look in 1 Peter,
1 Peter chapter 2. In all the text that we've read,
these passages dealing with redemption, Not one text even gives a subtle
hint that Christ died for everybody in the world, or that he shed
his blood for those who actually perished under the wrath of God,
or that he suffered the wrath and justice of God for those
who shall later suffer the wrath and justice of God themselves.
Each text declares that the work of Christ was finished, accomplished
redemption, and accomplished redemption for God's elect, guaranteeing
their salvation. Read here in 1 Peter 2 and verse
24. "...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," look at it,
"...ye were healed." How could that be? How could that be? that we were healed by his stripes. Oh yeah. We were healed when
he died, when he suffered the wrath of God as our substitute,
healed judicially, and healed in the mind and purpose of God.
And now we have been healed by virtue of what he did experimentally. For you were a sheep going astray,
but are now returned. And I never read it, but I don't
stop and thank God. It doesn't say, but have now
returned. But rather he says, but are now
returned. For when we were returned to
God, we were passive, we were sheep going astray. But God in
his grace now has returned us unto the shepherd and bishop
of our souls. Look in chapter 3, verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, so that God might be just, and
yet justify the unjust. the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit. Thank God for accomplished redemption. Thank God for accomplished righteousness. Thank God for accomplished salvation
through the atoning work of Jesus Christ the Lord. Another fact
that must be recognized in the Old Testament Scriptures, we
have numerous types and shadows of the coming of Christ and the
accomplishment of redemption by him. As you read through the
Old Testament, you're now reading through the Old Testament Scriptures,
as you go through the Scriptures, look for those types and shadows,
and observe these things. Every time you had a type given
of redemption, every single time, no exception, There's not a single
exception. Every type and picture given
of redemption declares redemption to be for a specific people and
accomplished by one work. Everyone of them. I'll give you
some examples. When Adam and Eve stood in the garden and the
Lord God killed the innocent victims and took the skins of
those innocent animals and put them on Adam and Eve, He did
it specifically for Adam and Eve. The Lord killed the sacrifice,
and the Lord took the skins of the sacrifice and put them on
the fallen couple. Even so, that's what Christ does
for us. He has sacrificed himself for
us, and God Almighty has stripped us of the fig leaves of our own
righteousness and placed upon us the righteousness of the Son
of God. When Abraham and Isaac went up
to Mount Moriah, And then Isaac said, My father, we have the
wood, for by Oscar, we've got fire in our hand, but where is
the land? Abraham called his son, well, he knew you can't
worship God without a sacrifice. And then Abraham said, My son,
God will provide himself a land. God will provide, not for himself,
he said, Oscar, God will provide himself a land. And so the land
that was caught in the thicket was a beautiful picture of Christ.
Look what happened. Abraham took the ram, caught
in the thicket, untied Isaac, set him free, and killed the
lamb in his place. That's what Christ has done for
us. When the Jews were in the land of Egypt, and God told Moses
to instruct the Jews to take a lamb, and shut up the lamb
and watch it, make sure it was without spot and without blemish,
for 14 days. And on the 14th day, he said,
you take the lamb, slit his throat, And you put the blood on the
doorpost in the letter. But don't tell it to anybody
but Israel. The Egyptians never heard about
it. They didn't know what was going on. Because the lamb was
not sacrificed for the Egyptians. It was God's purpose to deliver
Israel, not to deliver Egypt. And so the Egyptians knew nothing
about the sacrifice. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
lamb slain, our Passover sacrifice for the Israel of God. The scapegoat,
when Aaron would come every year into the tabernacle, and his
sons come into the temple, and they'd take the scapegoat, and
they'd impute to the scapegoat the sins of the people. Ceremonially,
Aaron would lay his hands upon the head of the scapegoat, and
then the scapegoat would carry away the sins, not of everybody,
but of the twelve tribes of Israel. All the while Aaron was doing
his work, until he carried the blood into the holy place and
took off his gorgeous garments of priesthood, while he was going
about his ordinary routines, as he served the Lord and made
sacrifice and prepared the sacrifices, he had on this miter on his head
that said, Holiness to the Lord. And he had on a breastplate.
And on the breastplate was written, the twelve tribes of the children
of Israel. So as Abram served as a priest
between God and the people, he served only for the nation of
Israel. And the sands imputed to the
scapegoat were only for the nation of Israel. And when he came out
after the sacrifice was made, and lifted up his hands and said,
The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The blessings were for
those whose names were inscribed upon his breastplate. Now Christ
is our High Priest, and what he does, he does specifically
for God's elect. Every sacrifice, every type in
the Old Testament portrays Jesus Christ, our sacrifice, particularly
having sacrificed himself for us, effectually having accomplished
our redemption. All right, now let's look at
some of these verses that people frequently use to try to convince
us that the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ
cannot be so. Those verses of scripture we're
going to look at, please understand, it is not my intention or desire
to try to convince the unbelieving, to try to convince the reprobate,
to try to convince the tabular against himself that these things
are true. I leave that to God the Holy Spirit. My work here
this evening is to simply show you that these things fit in
the scheme of things in the Word of God with ease and clarity,
and there's no reason for you to be upset by them. I simply
want to clarify your thinking as you go through the Scriptures.
Let's begin in John chapter 3 and verse 16. Turn with me and look
at it. As I said earlier, there is not
a text of scripture in all the Word of God that even hints at
universal atonement, that even hints at the possibility that
Christ died for some who perish under the wrath of God. And when
you start to declare that everybody for whom Christ died shall be
saved, I guarantee you, your mama, your daddy, your brother,
your sister, your neighbor, your co-worker will say, what about
John 3.16? Well, let's read John 3.16. Remember, our Lord is talking
to Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Jew, a ruler
of the Jews, a Pharisee. He was like Saul of Tarsus. He
was somebody in the Jewish church. And those fellows didn't believe
that God had any mercy for Gentiles. They didn't believe that God
had any compassion or care for Gentiles, but rather that God's
grace was limited to the nation of Israel. And so our Lord speaks
to Nicodemus, and he says, God so loved the world, that his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. Now, whenever you have that passage,
that delightful, blessed passage of Scripture, torn from its context
and thrown in your face, folks say, now there you see, world,
Christ died for the world. The world. And world means world. Well, let's see. Turn to Luke. The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2.
The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2. World means what it means in
its context. You do not interpret the Scripture
by getting a dictionary and find out what a word means. You look
at the words as they're used in their context. Here in Luke,
Chapter 2, In verse what? And it came to pass, because
God said that the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, must be born
in Bethlehem of Ephratah, Micah chapter 5 verse 2. Therefore
it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree
from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Well, that means everybody. No
it doesn't. No it doesn't. Can't possibly
mean everybody. We weren't around. We weren't
around. It means all the world under
Caesar's domain. And all the world was in under
Caesar's domain. There were only specific parts of the world under
his domain. And the word world that is used
here certainly does not mean that everybody in the world went
to their hometown on this day and paid taxes. That's utterly
ridiculous. And when our Lord said, God so loved the world,
he certainly does not mean it was everybody in the world. He
says otherwise. He said, Esau hath I hated. It
does not mean Christ died for everybody in the world. This
is what it means. It means God Almighty loved the world of His
elect among every nation, people, tribe, and tongue, whether they
be Jew or Gentile, black or white, bond or free. And Christ died
for the world of His elect, so that whosoever believeth in Him,
Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, black or
white, whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
eternal life. All right? Turn to Romans chapter
5. Romans chapter 5 and verse 18. Just the other night, a lady
came to me after I had finished preaching down in Florida, and
she wasn't being a smart-ass, I don't put up with that, but
she wanted to understand this verse of Scripture. It caused
her some difficulty, so I spent a little time talking to her.
Romans 5, 18. Therefore, as by one, or by the
offense of one, Judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men to justification of life.
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, even
so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. In a
parallel passage in 1 Corinthians 15, 22, In Adam all died, in
Christ shall all be made alive. And she says, but what about
that text description, these text descriptions? I said, well,
pause for a moment. This lady happened to be a farmer.
She was from Santa Domingo. I said, let's suppose that your
legal representatives in Santa Domingo do things in their Senate,
in their Congress, however the nation is run, And you being
a citizen of that country are affected. But it doesn't affect
me. Because I'm not a citizen of
that country. I'm not part of those people. And I'm not part
of their constitution. And anything done by that one
who represents you does not affect me. But I'm a citizen of this
country. And I've got a representative
in Washington. And when Mitch McConnell votes on something,
that affects me, because he's my representative. He has some
bearing on me, legally, before the law. So what he's talking
about in this passage, in Adam, the whole human race was represented
as a covenant head. And the whole human race, sinned
and died, was condemned and cursed in Adam. In Christ there is another
race, an elect race, you just sang about it, chosen of God,
and he is the last Adam, another covenant head, and all who are
represented by him live by him by virtue of his obedience to
God. All right, look at 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter
2, verse 1. I exhort therefore that first
of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving the
thanks be made for all men. There now, all men. God commands
us to pray for everybody. Does he now? Didn't he tell Jeremiah,
don't you pray for this people? But he commands us to pray for
all men. Does he now? Did he not say, he for him is
joined to his idols, let him alone? But he commands us to
pray for all men. Read the context. It's amazing. It's just amazing how clear things
become as you read the next line. Look here what it says. That
intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, and the
sentence doesn't even end there. Here's the rest of the sentence.
For kings, for all that are in authority, that we may lead a
quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Well,
that sheds a little different light on it, doesn't it? Who
do we pray for? Everybody. People in every rank
and society, people in every part of the nation, people of
every nation, kindred, tribe and tongue, but particularly
in this context. He said, don't limit your prayers
just to the people you know in the kingdom of God. Pray for
your kin. Perfectly a president, a senator, a congressman, but
they don't know God. I know but God knows them. Well,
they're not interested in God. I know but God's interested in
us, and he governs them to rule them for our good. He turns the
king's heart like rivers of water, whithersoever he will. We have
a godless, reprobate government. I can't tell you how it grieves
me to make that statement. And frankly, it doesn't matter
whether you're Democrat or Republican, it don't matter. It don't matter
whether you spit East or West, it's the same thing, just spit.
And the politicians, it doesn't matter whether Democrat or Republican,
by and large, there may be exceptions, but they're just the same, just
politicians. But in God's providence, they're placed over us. Let us
then pray that God will direct them and rule them and cause
them to enact laws and to govern the nation in such a way as to
benefit his kingdom and his glory. And that's what the passage is
talking about. That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in
all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our Savior. He will have all meaning to be
saved. and come to the knowledge of
truth. All men, men of every rank, sometimes a president,
sometimes a senator, sometimes a janitor, sometimes a Jew, sometimes
a Gentile, sometimes learned, sometimes unlearned, but we have
men out of every rank and nation and society to be saved and come
to knowledge of the truth. Look at Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews
2. But we see Jesus, who was made
a little lower than angels, for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste
death for every Now, frankly, our King James
translation, our English translation, is translated here for the purpose
of reading with smoothness, and so the word man is put in there. The text literally reads like
this, that he, by the grace of God, should take stent for every. It doesn't accurately read for
each, but it reads for every, and that reads very awkwardly.
Every what? Well, literally, if I were translating
the passage, or I were writing out what the passage is saying,
this is what I'd do. If you were reading it in the bulletin, I
had written the article, that he by the grace of God should
taste death for every, and then I'd put a semicolon and dot dot
dot. That means I would list you who he's talking about. And
this is exactly what the apostle says. The Lord Jesus tasted death
for those who are described in the context, for every man spoken
of in the chapter. Read on then. In verse 10 he
speaks of many sons. Who did he taste death for? Every
man named among the sons of God. Those who were sanctified, verse
11. Who did he taste death for? Every
man sanctified by the grace of God. For whom did the Son of
God taste death? Those whom he calls brethren.
Those who are described as his brethren in the midst of the
church in verse 12. Those who are the children, verse
13, which the Lord God hath given me. Look at verse 15, or verse
16 rather. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. If the Lord Jesus came here as
a sacrifice and substitute to redeem and save everybody, then
that verse ought to be, he took not on him the nature of angels,
but he took on him the seed of Abraham. That's not what it says,
is it? He took on him the seed of Abraham.
And, Mero, you're the seed of Abraham. That means you're one
of God's elect. The Lord Jesus laid hold of Abraham's
seed, his covenant people, God's elect, to redeem them and give
them life, for he bared the sins and made reconciliation for the
sins of his people in verse 17. All right, now look at 2 Peter
chapter 2, verse 1. 2 Peter 2 what? And I'll break one of my cardinal
rules. As a preacher I try never to
say in the Greek it says or in the Hebrew it says. And that's
because I don't know much about Greek or Hebrew either one. But
I don't want to do that and to give a sense of superiority over
men. That's nonsense. If I stood up
here and talked to you about what the Greek says, and Hebrew
says, and Aramaic says, and the etymology of words and such as
that, you'll go out of here and forget what the Greek says, and
forget what the Hebrew says, and forget the Aramaic, and forget
the etymology of the words, and say, boy, the pastor's real smart.
And that's generally what the fellows want you to do. But I
want you to understand the scriptures. And so I'm going to break a cardinal
rule here, and I want you to listen carefully to the Greek
words that are translated in our English text. Here in 2 Peter
chapter 2, verse 1. But there are false prophets
also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you, who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even
denying the Lord." Right out of the margin of your Bible somewhere,
the word despot. This is an unusual word for Lord
here. It is not the word curios, it is the word despotis. If we
were transliterating it, if we were just writing it out in English,
it would be spelled out desperate. It's the word from which we get
our word desperate. Denying not that one who is our
master, whom we willingly serve, for he who is the sovereign desperate,
that means he disposes of you as he will. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the desperate, look at it now, who bought them. Oh, now
there you see. Jesus died even for the false
prophets. Well, in a sense, I concede. You got me. You got me. Yes sir, Jesus died even for
the false prophets. But not to redeem them. Not to make atonement for them.
The word brought there is not the word lutro, which means to
loose or deliver. It is not the word Ek-Avaradzo
which means to buy out of the marketplace. It is simply the
word Avaradzo which means to buy. Let me see if I can give
a study for you. Normally when we use the word
redeem or bought, the word is Ek-Avaradzo in the scriptures.
It is the word that would be used when a man goes to a pawn
shop and he buys or redeems a commodity that had been lost. And now he's
come to retrieve the commodity. He pays the price, puts the commodity
that had been lost in his pocket, and walks out the door. That
means redeemed. He delivered by the payment of
a price that which was lost. The word Alvarado. is the word
that would be used if a man went out to buy a piece of ground.
Hard to put that in your pocket. He goes out to buy a piece of
ground and the piece of ground becomes his. Now I love Jesus
Christ not as God, but as the man, our mediator, brought the
world to rule over and dispose of the world for the saving of
God's elect. The parable is exactly what Peter's
talking about here. Our Lord said the kingdom of
heaven is like a man who's walking around in a field and he stumbles
across a treasure. And man, he looks around to see
if anybody saw him. He covers up the treasure, goes
down to the courthouse and fires the field, not to get the field,
to get the treasure, get in the field. And this is what our Lord
is telling us. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, came into this world as our mediator, the God-man,
and bought the whole world as a sovereign despot to rule over
and govern the whole world and dispose of the whole world over
all flesh powers given to him, that he should give eternal life
to the treasure of God's elect, hidden in the field of the world.
All right, look at 1 John chapter 2. Well, let's take just a moment
and stop by chapter 3 of 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering. Now here's the key word to us
one. Long-suffering. Folks say, Boy,
God sure is long-suffering with this wicked, perverse generation.
No, he's not. No, he's not. How could God be long-suffering
with the magnolimerial hairs of the world and the volcares
of the world and the pains of the world? How could God be long-suffering?
He's not. He's long-suffering to us. He
just puts up with them. He's long-suffering to us because
in their seed is hidden a treasure. His long-suffering to usward,
and allow the ungodly to continue in the world, because there is
in the seed of Adam's fallen race, a people chosen and redeemed
by his grace and by his blood. And his long-suffering is to
those people, to usward, not willing that any of the usward,
not willing that any of God's elect should perish, but that
all should come to repentance. Now there are many, many reasons
I would say And I'll give you for that interpretation, but
listen carefully to verse 15. How do you know that this is
what that means? Verse 15. The long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation. That's what it means. The long-suffering
of our Lord is salvation. All right, now look at 1 John
chapter 2 and verse 1. John has told us if we confess
our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
dear Son, cleanses us from all sin. Now look at verse 1 of chapter
2. My little children, these things
write I unto you, that you sin not. And I preach to you the absolute
free forgiveness of sin. And I tell you, Buddy, Dottie,
Mark Henson, you men and women here, God will never charge you
with sin. He won't do it. He won't do it. And I didn't tell you that so
you could go out and live like a bunch of drunks and hoodlums. Folks,
put those words in our mouths, you know better. You know better.
God won't charge you with sin, no matter what. No matter what. Not if you're in Christ. He didn't
charge David with Bathsheba, David with the adultery with
Bathsheba. And he didn't charge David with the murder of Uriah.
And David said, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not
impute sin. He won't charge his elect with sin because he charged
our sins to his son. And God will not demand a double
payment for sin. It can't be done. God is just. But these things write unto you
that you sin not. You're not your own, you're bought
with a price. So glorify God in your body and in your spirits,
which are God's. And if any man sin, that's all we do. So the if, you can write that
out in great big letters. Or you can write it out in little
bitty letters. Sin we do. Our prayers are just sin. I've been at this thing for a
while and I try to be as honest as I can with you. I don't know,
now I do know, I have to be real honest, I don't know at all what
it is to pray ever. purely for the
glory of God. I've never experienced it. I'd
love to one time before I die. I don't know what it is to even
desire anything purely for the glory of God. If there's anybody
here who does, I'll sit there and let you stand up and take
a look. I don't know what that is. I don't know what it is to
prepare, much less to preach a message, purely for God's glory. And if I met God and had the
answer for my praying, my highest desires, and my preaching, hell
would be my portion forever, if any man said. Give it up. You've lost everything. It's not what the text says.
This is what it says. If any man say it, we have an
advocate with the Father. Oh, glory. Nothing changes. We have an advocate with the
Father. My hope is my advocate. And I know God will accept me
in him, for he is Jesus, the Christ, the righteous one. And he's the propitiation for
our sins. This is what he says, he has
satisfied justice as the mercy seat atonement for our sins.
And not for us only, but also for the whole world. What does
that mean? It means that he has not only
made atonement For our sins, my brethren, but for all the
sins of his people in all the world. So you deal with them
graciously. You deal with them mercifully.
You deal with them kindly. His people are scattered everywhere,
and he's made atonement for them. Whenever you think about the
redeeming work of our Lord Jesus Christ, Always remember, he who died
for us is God Almighty. That means his blood is of infinite
merit and omnipotent efficacy. He cannot fail. That means every
sinner for whom he died must stand with him glorified because
he cannot fail. That means every soul whose sins
he bore upon the cursed tree shall be with him in everlasting
liberty, because he cannot fail. He cannot fail. Now as we gather
again around the Lord's table, and one more time break bread
and wine, you who are believers, do this in remembrance of the
Savior. This bread represents his holy
humanity. That's the reason it's unleavened
bread. This wine represents the blood of his life poured out
unto death as a sacrifice to God for us. That's the reason it's wine,
not grape juice, because it's represents the pure, untainted
holiness of the Son of God. You who are yet without Christ,
listen carefully and watch. Don't you dare take the bread
and the wine, it's not for you. This is for believers, but it'll
teach you something. This is how sinners get in on
the blessings of what Christ did at Calvary. just as we take
the bread and the wine by our hands, and it becomes ours, and
can never be taken from us. Sinners, without doing anything,
right where you sit, right where you sit, take the blood and righteousness
of the Son of God. Eat his flesh and drink his blood,
and his blood and his righteousness is yours. forever and can never
be taken from you. Pastor, what are we to do when we sin? You know, that kind
of language implies that sometimes we don't. I laugh to keep from falling
down crying. There's never a time when we
don't. But sometimes we go through times of great difficulty with
our sin, our coldness of heart, our unbelief. What do you do
then? Trust Christ. Just trust Christ. Repent of your sin. How do you
repent? Turn again to Christ. Look to Christ. Believe on Christ. I love what John Newton said
when he was an old man. He said, I'm an old man and I
can't remember much. And I remember these two things.
I am a great sinner and Jesus Christ is a great Savior. He
is the great Savior of great sinners. Come to Him just like
that and He's yours. Amen.