[0:00] I'm sure we'll have some stragglers come in because folks are trying to get off work, get supper, get the kids and all that stuff. That's fine. So let's pray together and then we'll start with y'all and see how far we can get.
[0:13] Well, Father, we thank you for tonight and thank you for your grace and mercy in bringing these precious souls out to sit under your word and to learn of you. I do pray that they will be not only informed, but Lord, that their hearts will be enlightened and encouraged by the wonder of how you save sinners.
[0:35] We want to bring you much glory tonight as we look into your word and try to better understand the workings of the Holy Spirit in bringing people to salvation.
[0:46] Thank you for your mercy, for your grace and for your commitment of love to your people, setting your seal on them and guaranteeing us our place in heaven.
[0:59] These are beautiful, wonderful truths that fill us with the hope of Jesus. And it's in his name we pray. Amen. Amen. OK, I'll hand that out in just a second.
[1:11] I want you to listen to this real quickly. There'll be some listening up tonight. I hope everybody brought their book. Were you guys able to read the section on limited atonement?
[1:22] We're going to go over some of that. So if you didn't, it's OK. We're going to rehearse some. We don't always go to the book, but tonight we will. OK, let me read from this.
[1:33] I thought this guy did a good job of dealing with this particular theme. And so it encouraged my heart and I want to share it with you. The title of the chapter that I'm going to read from is Christ died for the church.
[1:51] OK. He says this. The scripture teaches us that Jesus Christ. Oh, did I do a mic check with you? Are we good? We recording? OK.
[2:02] Technical stuff. It's all good. The scripture teaches us that Jesus Christ died for his church. Consider these verses. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
[2:19] Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. No one denies that. Of course, it's written so plainly that all men can read it for themselves.
[2:33] Christ died for the church, his people. But you will meet men who argue this way. We grant that the Lord Jesus died for his church.
[2:47] We do not deny that. Here's why. Since he died for each and every man who ever lived, that takes in the church and all other groups as well.
[2:59] So, the fact that Jesus died for his church didn't keep him from dying for all other men too. You can see what they mean.
[3:12] If I say, I bought a new home for each of my children. Well, that doesn't mean that I didn't buy a new home for their friends as well.
[3:22] Well, it simply leaves the question open. If I'd been rich enough, I might have bought a new house for dozens of men and women. But here's the point.
[3:34] If I had bought a new home for all those other people, then they would have new homes. They wouldn't be left with nothing.
[3:47] The culprit in this discussion is the phrase died for. Replace it with one of the other biblical words that describe Christ's death. That tells us what he did in dying.
[4:01] And if we do that, the problem goes away. There's nothing wrong with the phrase died for, but we must remember to give it the full value that the Bible itself gives it.
[4:13] In other words, let's let the Bible define died for. All right, you with me so far? Christ's death is a redemption. It is a reconciliation, a bringing together and a turning away of God's wrath.
[4:29] When we give it that value, we see that it makes men right with God. Christ died for those he benefited and for no others. So now we're back to the analogy of the homes.
[4:42] I bought homes for my kids. I didn't buy them for everybody else. How do we know that? Because not everybody else has a home that I bought for them. Just my kids.
[4:53] And so again, I read this. When we give Christ's death that value, that it was a death that redeemed. It was a death that did free people.
[5:04] His death freed people. His death reconciled people. His death was a turning away of God's wrath for some people.
[5:15] When we give his death that value, we see that it makes men right with God. His death makes men right with God.
[5:26] So Christ died for those he benefited and for no others. I'm giving you this because this is what we're going to build on tonight. So if you're left with questions in your mind about any of what I'm reading, stay with me.
[5:41] Hopefully it'll all start coming together. We can see this if we look at the verses that I've just cited. What did Christ do for his church? According to Ephesians 5.25, he gave himself up for her.
[5:56] All agree that that means he died for her. Okay. And that in turn means that he redeemed her and reconciled her to God and turned God's wrath away from her in the act of his dying.
[6:13] His dying act accomplished those things. Welcome back. Did you come by? You drove yourself here. See? Yeah, you wish.
[6:24] Mm-hmm. Do you see how the question, listen now, for whom did Christ die, comes down to the same thing over and over again?
[6:39] It comes down to the question, what was Christ doing when he died? Was he redeeming, reconciling, drawing in, turning away God's wrath?
[6:52] Or was he only making all those things possible? Was he accomplishing something? Or was he making something possible?
[7:05] Okay, you with me? See? That was the point of this. Now, don't stray from me yet. We're going to bring all this together. So let me give you these.
[7:16] Hi, y'all. Welcome back. Welcome back. Michael, will you help with those, brother? And I'll give these to you guys.
[7:28] Take how many you need. And if you would make sure Jeremy and Brenda get some. Magic wand. Suzanne, can I have some water, please?
[7:41] Thank you. I forgot to get it, hon. I tried to be Bember and I didn't. Okay. Okay. So here we go.
[7:53] Understanding the doctrines of grace. Remember the TULIP acronym that we're working from. Total depravity, unconditional election. You see right there in the middle of the five. Limited atonement.
[8:04] That's where we are tonight. Limited atonement. Okay. So here's the question that limited atonement is designed to answer.
[8:19] Thank you, hon. For whom did Christ die? Alright. Alonzo says, for those whom God had given Him.
[8:32] And this is what we're going to see throughout this. So in your student handout, you have Jesus' sacrifice. Did Jesus sacrifice Himself to secure, in that first blank, our salvation?
[8:45] Or did He die to make our salvation possible? These are completely different concepts. They're not similar. And they don't build on one another.
[8:59] They're antithetical. We're going to develop this. Did Jesus' death guarantee and accomplish anything definite for sinners?
[9:13] Okay. So, limited atonement actually can be also known as particular redemption or definite atonement.
[9:26] It is particular. It is definite. It is limited. We will expand on those ideas. All right. First, let's get right to the biblical definition of limited atonement.
[9:40] Finally, perhaps the most significant aspect of the eternal plan of salvation is that the Father gives specific individuals to the Son on whose behalf He is to accomplish redemption.
[9:55] That is, freedom from sin. So that is to say, the Father commissions the Son to be the representative and substitutionary sacrifice for a particular people.
[10:09] Namely, all and only those whom the Father has chosen or elected for salvation. So, this definition right out of the gate is speaking to the reality that the atoning sacrifice of Jesus was a sacrifice made for a definite, particular, specific group of people.
[10:31] Not for the whole world. Not for all people or all mankind. Okay? Now, there's plenty of scriptural teaching on this, but again, right out of the gate, we're going to go to the Gospel of John and look at several passages.
[10:49] Because, and we're choosing John because John has all of these listed real close together, and it's all the teaching of Jesus as He puts forward the rationale for His coming in His relationship with His Father.
[11:09] Why did the Father send the Son? Why did the Son come in order to honor the Father? What was that all about? So, in John 6, 37-40, this is a reminder because this is something we've looked at before.
[11:25] Jesus says, All that the Father gives Me. Do you see that? All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.
[11:38] And the one who comes to Me, I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
[11:51] Now, what Jesus is talking about there is the pact that God made in the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
[12:03] This is what's being kind of fleshed out here. Verse 38, For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me, I lose nothing or no one, but raise it up on the last day.
[12:27] So He's talking about the souls of men and women. So here it's very clear that the Father has given the Son certain people.
[12:40] Certain people. Then if you'll go to John 10. And we'll look at 14 and 15.
[12:59] Jesus here is speaking in terms of one of His I am statements. Earlier, a few verses earlier, He spoke of being the door. I am the door of the sheep.
[13:11] You see that in verse 9? And in verse 7? I am the door of the sheep. Then in verse 11, you see Him speak of Himself as the Good Shepherd.
[13:27] And what does the Good Shepherd do in verse 11? What is His activity toward the sheep? In verse 11, what is it? He lays down His life for whom?
[13:42] The sheep. Now the question then is, who are the sheep? Alright? Some people might say, anybody who gets saved. We would say to that, yes, anybody who gets saved.
[13:57] But then we have to ask the question, who are they? And when was that decided? Because why doesn't everybody get saved? It just becomes a revolving kind of thing.
[14:10] Alright, again, I draw your attention to verses 14 and 15 now that I've given you a bit of the context. I am the Good Shepherd, and I know My own.
[14:22] And My own know Me. Even as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep.
[14:36] Not the world. The sheep. So we're talking about people who are owned.
[14:48] I know My own. They belong to Me. If you jump over and look at verse 27, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
[15:10] And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
[15:32] When Jesus was confronting the Jews who were claiming that they were of the promised people, that kind of thing, He confronts them with the reality of what's going on in their hearts, in verse 25, Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe.
[15:58] The works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me. But now notice the next verse in 26. But you do not believe because you are not My sheep.
[16:11] Now I want you to notice how important the word order there is. You do not believe. Why? What is the reason they don't believe?
[16:24] Because they aren't His. They don't belong to Him. They are not His own. It could have went the other way. He could have said, you aren't My sheep, that's why you don't believe.
[16:36] But that's not how He put it. He said, you don't believe because you don't belong to Me. In other words, those of us who are elect, those who have been singled out to be God's own, there is a sense from God's perspective.
[16:53] Now, please stay with me in this. Track with me. From God's perspective, these people are already owned by Him. He already owns them.
[17:03] He has marked them out for ownership. That's going to happen. That's a sovereign decree predetermined. Predecreed. Predecreed. Before the foundation of the world.
[17:15] And so, they're going to come to God. Now, from a human perspective, we need to have God call us out of sin and give us what we need to respond to that call.
[17:29] Right? And so, this is what Jesus is speaking of here. I'm the good shepherd. Lord, and those whom I own, those whom I've marked out and predetermined and predestined, those will hear my voice when I call them.
[17:45] Why? They will respond to me because they belong to me. They will hear savingly because they know me. And I will make sure of that.
[17:56] And this is the explanation why you have friends and you have family members and co-workers and other people in your life that have heard the gospel, who've looked into the Bible, who've gone to church or whatever, and they're not saved.
[18:11] And you say, how can they hear this and not be saved? How can they hear this and not know the Lord? This is why. This is the only way the Bible explains the answers to those questions I just asked.
[18:25] They're not marked out for salvation. On God's side, He doesn't own them. He has left them to their sin. And they have not been marked out and elected to come to God.
[18:41] Now, we're building on this, so I want to stay with it. I've showed you verse 29. My Father, who has given them to Me. Alright?
[18:51] So, this entire enterprise is built around the fact that some people have been given to the Son by the Father. And that happened in eternity past.
[19:04] In our perspective. Eternity past. Time is nothing for God. But we understand the Bible teaches us this happened back before God ever made the foundation of the world.
[19:15] people. Now go to John 17, if you would. We're just continuing to build on this theme that Jesus Himself is teaching these people.
[19:27] In the Gospel of John. John 17, 1-3. Jesus spoke these things and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, Father, the hour has come.
[19:40] Glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You. Even as You gave Him authority over all flesh that to all whom You have given Him, He may give what?
[19:55] Who's going to get eternal life? That's right. Is that clear teaching in Scripture or are we doing some kind of weird semantics here?
[20:11] Do you feel like we're playing word games and reading stuff into this? Alright. This is eternal life that they may know You.
[20:23] The only true God and Jesus Christ whom You've sent. Now He just got through telling them in the passages we read out of chapter 10 that they are My own.
[20:36] I know them. Now He's giving the other side. To all whom You have given He may give eternal life. This is eternal life that they may know You.
[20:49] So now it goes back in response. and they will know the Father through the Son. Now that's how this is working. I hope you're seeing that.
[21:00] If you look at verse 6, Jesus is continuing in this dialogue of teaching in verse 6, I have manifested Your name, I've shown Your name, Father, to the men whom You gave Me out of the world.
[21:17] They were Yours. And You gave them to Me. And they have kept Your Word. Isn't that good? And so clear.
[21:29] These are people that the Father gave to the Son. And Jesus says, they were Yours. So these people have belonged to God since before God made the world.
[21:43] but they had to come to the place from the human side of it that they came to know that they belong to God. And God in those moments of your salvation secured you as it were.
[21:59] He brought you into His arms in a way where you consciously know and from your own spirit testify that you're in the Lord. So whenever Greg and I do work with people who want to join our church, this is the kind of effort that we go to to have people talk to us about their awareness of being spiritually born again.
[22:21] We listen for things like this. They don't have to explain election to us. There are people who've joined our church and we allowed it to happen who did not understand the doctrine of election.
[22:32] You don't have to believe in the doctrines of grace to join our church. It helps. And we tell people if they bring it up we tell them we want you to come to the place where you do know them, understand them and embrace them because we're going to teach them at grace.
[22:47] That's just what's going to happen here. Okay? Some people have confronted us with that reality either right prior to the membership meeting or during the membership meeting.
[22:58] We've explained that to them and they've elected not to join our church because we told them if you don't want to allow yourself to be taught in the truth and brought to understand that these are biblical doctrines if you're not open to that process you won't be comfortable at grace because we're going to teach those things and we don't want people teaching something different.
[23:20] This is what we do at grace. This is what we believe. This is what the pastors stand on. If we thought it was something different we teach that. And we're not convinced that it's something different.
[23:32] And so there's only been a few cases where they've said okay fine we're out of here. In other cases we didn't get to talk to them they just left. And then later we found out through other sources they didn't want anything to do with whatever.
[23:47] Alright. Verse 9. We did verse 6. Look at verse 9. I ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world but of those whom you have given me for they are yours.
[24:04] up in verse 7 Jesus says they have come to know that everything you have given me is from you. And so all that is wrapped up in the salvation of these people is what God the Father has given for them to be saved to include his son.
[24:28] If he didn't give his son in that process we would have no hope would we? So this is why the Bible says Jesus is our wisdom our redemption he is our glory he is all that we need in Christ he is our treasure because he's the treasure of our salvation him the person because of what he brings to that relationship it's not just that Jesus gives us neat stuff and provides for us Jesus gives us himself and that gives us life so that's verse 9 and then look at verse 24 with me if you would father I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am so that they may see my glory which you've given me for you loved me before the foundation of the world how about that and so of course he's talking in verse 24 about our future in heaven when we'll see the glory of the Lord and be with him and there are many many other scriptures of course that speak to this kind of theme and reality but Jesus here is making it very very clear those who will come to
[25:52] Jesus are those who are being drawn to Jesus by the power of the father and the holy spirit and they will be those whom the father has given to the son in this eternal pact that they made in the Godhead before the foundation of the world so is it amazing for you to realize that before Jesus ever created anything that we know of as the universe Jesus had already created you in his heart and set his affection and love on you knew your name knew the numbers of the hairs on your head thousands and thousands of years before you ever came on the scene and decided that you would come to him and be saved and that he would secure eternity for you with him forever does that make you want to worship that God you know when I hear the alternatives to this it gets so puny that I feel like if you're going to give me a choice between that sovereign God and the puny God you just described
[26:58] I'm going to pick this one over here and that's where I ended up when I started dealing with this I chose the one that made God bigger I chose the one that I felt like the scripture was revealing to me so Jesus here is acting faithfully on the I'll just clean this up a little bit faithfully on the will of the father in his eternal purpose decreed before the foundation of the world God the father then has given to the son a particular definite limited and specific group of people who belong to the father and Jesus calls them his own his sheep his own his sheep back to John 6 44 and 45 no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day it is written in the prophets and they shall all be taught of God everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me that's the work of God that is the work of the
[28:19] Lord so it is these people it is these people claimed by God who are drawn to Jesus by the father and they know the voice voice of their shepherd as he calls them to himself to follow him in faith right you with me so the critical truth that we're dealing with now at the very heart of this atoning act because here's where I think people trip up in limited atonement they get so turned off with the reality that the Bible teaches that not everyone will be saved not everyone can be saved they get so caught up in that thinking that that's not fair that they miss this what I have up here now the fact that this is the critical heart of the atoning act of God that he did this out of love love for his chosen ones even though they were steeped in their pride rebellion hatred of God calloused hearts spiritual death making them enemies of God in their unbelief even though they were those people
[29:36] God loved them God loved them while they were still those people and marked them out for salvation while they were still those people hating God enemies of the cross of Christ and so if you'll turn bless you if you'll turn to Romans yes quick question yes they would yeah yeah but but read this stuff before it read the rest of the scriptures testimony to who these people are and it qualifies that in a way that we understand it's speaking about the elect in other places it's just making a distinction for the
[30:38] Jews that it's not going to just be the Jewish nation who are going to come to enjoy the benefits of salvation in the Lord it's going to be Gentiles as well people from every tribe tongue and nation alright so where are we where did I!
[30:54] get us! Romans 5 verses 6 through 10 the idea here is that God has set his love on us while we were yet sinners right and here's what it says for while we were still helpless at the right time Christ died for the ungodly for one will hardly die for a righteous man though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die but look that's not the case with Jesus he's saying look who Jesus died for he didn't die for good people but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us much more than having now been justified by Christ's blood we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life just look at how much it speaks to the issue there that while we were still sinners while we were under wrath while we were still his enemies he had set his love on us to save us while we were helpless in our sin and spiritual blindness we were dead to him children of wrath so
[32:18] I'm saying to you again this act of atoning atonement is an atoning love that God has for his people he did not have to save!
[32:31] anyone but out of his love he chose to save some so God didn't the little things there if you haven't filled them in God didn't start loving his elect when Jesus died for them nope that's not the Bible Jesus died for us because God loved us from the beginning what we understand to be the beginning all right so this limited definite atoning sacrifice of Jesus for his people guaranteed and secured a definite salvation by the same power and love of God which predestined us elected us drew us out of sin to himself and which constitutes!
[33:22] us in the perfect sinless life of his son credited to us by God's gift of saving faith that's a mouthful but that's all important all right if you'll grab you know what I didn't bring my book can I shame on the teacher thank you honey if you'll I bet yours isn't marked up like mine it's so clean mine's so marked up she couldn't read it if she picked mine up I promise you we're looking at page 39 particular redemption or limited atonement let me just read through this with you and let me and I'm going to do this not to insult you in your reading ability or intelligence but just to give me an opportunity to emphasize certain things now I don't know how good a job I'm going to do because mine was all marked up with those emphases but nevertheless so he says this as was observed above election itself saved no one it only marked out particular sinners for salvation that is those chosen by the father and given to the son had to be redeemed if they were to be saved being given to the son didn't save the people it marked them out to be saved by the son but in order to secure their redemption
[34:54] Jesus Christ came into the world he took upon himself human nature so that he might identify himself with that that is a huge theological statement so that he might identify himself with whom his people not the world and act as their legal representative or substitute in other words Jesus is doing what he's doing from the incarnation on for the purpose of his people a specific people who will benefit from what he's doing not to secure the potential or possibility that people might choose him but he's doing all of this because he's securing for a specific group of people a definite salvation so this is purposed okay with me on that uh
[35:58] Christ acting on behalf of his people kept God's law perfectly and thereby worked out a perfect righteousness which is imputed or credited to them the moment they are brought to faith in him through what he did they are constituted that means formed established appointed any of those words would work here through what Jesus did they are formed appointed righteous before God they are also freed from all guilt and condemning condemnation as the result of what Christ suffered for them we don't have to suffer the guilt and the penalty and the shame and the condemnation of our sin because Jesus paid all of that for us through his substitutionary sacrifice Jesus endured the penalty of their sins and thus removed their guilt forever this becomes a very very potent thing that
[37:06] I can do with people in counseling that are struggling with this ongoing guilt consequently! when his people are joined to him by faith they are credited with perfect righteousness and they are freed from all guilt and condemnation hallelujah they are saved not because of what they themselves have done or will do but solely on the ground of Christ redeeming work so that takes out the whole idea of foreknowledge doesn't it from the Arminian point of view that God looked ahead into eternity future he saw who would say yes to him and he chose those this guy just said these people are saved not because of what they themselves have done or will do it doesn't depend on their choice but solely on the ground of Christ redeeming work if it had depended on my choice what if I had decided that I would never seek God or that
[38:06] I would never say yes to God because that was my default no one seeks after God right there is no one good no not one so if God had just left me to myself I would have played on my default setting which is sin and there would be no hope!
[38:25] So God had to take initiative and that's exactly what we see in what's being said here now look at this historical or mainline Calvinism has consistently maintained that Christ's redeeming work was definite in design and accomplishment definite in its design its purpose and accomplishment that it was intended to render complete satisfaction for certain specified sinners and that it actually secured that salvation for these individuals and for no one else the salvation which Christ earned for his people includes everything involved in bringing them into a right relationship with God including the gifts of faith and repentance we exercise faith and we repent and these are gifts from God for us to do that!
[39:25] God simply to make it possible for God to pardon sinners neither does God leave it up to sinners to decide whether or not Christ's work will be effective on the contrary all for whom Christ sacrificed himself will be saved infallibly that is without mistake redemption therefore was designed to bring to pass God's purpose of election do you see how limited atonement follows on election let me read that again redemption was designed to bring to pass God's purpose of election all those whom God elected must be redeemed or God's a liar or he's impotent he's not capable of carrying through what he's decreed because after all we can't mess around with your free will so to maintain your free will we've got to put
[40:32] God back a little bit and make sure that you're able to say no to him if you want to say no that's up to you now you start hearing this and think that is ridiculous it sure is it's ridiculous because it's not the teaching of!
[40:50] all Calvinists agree that Christ's obedience and suffering were of infinite value now folks this is very important because you will hear this argued against what he's saying is if God had so willed the satisfaction rendered by Christ would have saved every member of the human race why because his sacrifice was that valuable right it would have required no more obedience nor any greater suffering for Christ who have secured salvation for every single man woman and child who ever lived than it did for him to secure salvation for the elect only but but having said that Jesus came into the world to represent and save only those given to him by the!
[41:36] Father do you see where he got that only those given to him John that's right all those places in John thus Christ saving work was limited in that it was designed to save some and not others but it was not limited not limited in value for it was of infinite worth and would have secured salvation for everyone if this had been God's intention!
[42:14] Oh they do? Yes they do but one of a much different nature Arminians hold that Christ saving work was designed to make possible the salvation of all men on the condition that they believe but that Christ death in itself did not actually secure or guarantee salvation for anyone so in other words Christ died for the possibility that some people might decide of their own free will to come to embrace him and then others might decide not to and so his death was put out there to give people a 50-50 chance it's in the balance you don't know if they're going to tip this way or tip that way that's what Christ death accomplished in that view since not all men will be saved as the result of Christ redeeming work a limitation must be admitted now here's where the
[43:15] Arminians say okay okay we'll have to admit there's probably some kind of a limit because not everybody gets saved I know people who've died in their sin well how how how do they explain that either the atonement itself was limited in that it was designed to secure salvation for certain sinners but not for others or it was limited in that it was not intended to secure salvation for any but was designed only to make it possible for God to pardon sinners on the condition that they believe in other words one must limit its design either in its extent that is it was not intended for everyone or in its effectiveness it didn't secure salvation for anybody as Bettner so aptly observes for the Calvinist the atonement is like a narrow bridge which goes all the way across the stream but for the Arminian it's like a great wide bridge that goes only halfway across all right with me is that too much you guys are looking okay question yeah so why do they do that it doesn't make sense in the light of when you let the scripture speak to the issue let me tell you when it does make sense when you try to out argue them you have to let scripture do the arguing and we are only in the sense of what
[45:06] God has put on himself as the limit of those whom he has chosen but that's a biblical limit that God has decided on not us right!
[45:17] right so here's the thing let's come back to answer the question because it doesn't make sense when we do it this way now look if there was an Arminian up here teaching you right now and he was taking you through this this would sound very different he'd be taking some of the same scriptures and he'd be doing it in a very different way in the way he explained how do I know that because I've talked to them I've read their stuff when I first taught this 20 something years ago I used an article that had been published from a Christian university in Florida where one of their main guys had written the article to argue against the five points of Calvinism it was an extensive article I took that article and I used that article throughout my teaching and I used the article points to bring them up to the people I was teaching I gave them the alternatives here and then I took them to the verses using his argument and I compared those verses with his argument with what we understand those verses to mean and
[46:21] I showed them the difference now it took a long time we were in this study for months and it was I don't even know how many pages I had to edit it to do it with you like this and the article is 20 something years old it doesn't mean that they don't believe that they still believe and teach it but I wanted to do something different with you guys I'm just saying the whole reason the entire reason that Armenians argue the way they argue about any of these points comes down to one primary concern on their part free will they cannot allow any of these doctrines to limit to truncate or to in any way diminish the free will of man to choose we must be left to ourselves to make our own choice anything less than that makes us God's robots and cannot be true salvation because it did not come from our will now you hear that and you think you you let's go back to your
[47:31] ABCs of salvation and let's do A again A says we are totally unable to come to God why because we are dead in our trespasses and sins our will is included in that spiritual death and inability you see but they will constantly come back and try to rescue free will and preserve it because they believe that anything short of free will cannot be true salvation because we didn't choose it to them to them people people from doing they want to do from what they want to do that we have some really nasty thoughts with individuals but we don't ask on all their thoughts because there's something there that prevents us from asking on those
[48:40] So what is it that prevents us from acting on those thoughts? Not us. So then, I don't know. I guess I don't see it.
[48:52] Am I tracking right? Well, I'm trying to track with you. Because we do have unbelievers. Unbelievers who have very nasty thoughts and don't always act fully on those thoughts.
[49:03] Like, you may have an unbelieving man that lusts after a woman and imagines being with that woman, and yet, at the same time, he doesn't go and grab her and stick her in the car and take her off somewhere. Common grace?
[49:27] Yes, Jill. Yes, because if he took his hand off, they would run to those things. Common grace and general revelation are different.
[49:41] Very different doctrines. Yes.
[49:51] Right. There would be no way for you to know that you have a guarantee because your salvation hinged on your ability to say yes.
[50:04] What if you get down the road and decide not really? Or this gig isn't what I thought it was going to be. I'm kind of tired of saying no to myself. So I don't want to do that anymore.
[50:15] Or someone who tried to talk to me. Yes. All right. So you're tracking. You're tracking. Just keep in mind, Arminians always, always, true Arminians now, always, always want to rescue the free will idea.
[50:32] They always want to go back to that. The closer you get them to biblical doctrine on each one of these points, the more they're going to argue against it due to free will because they see them as violations of the free will of man.
[50:47] So they don't believe that we are elect the chosen. So how did they justify God choosing Abel over Cain? That was the first choice to make.
[50:59] Right. I don't know. I'm like, He chose Abraham. He told us that Sunday. He chose Abraham. Abraham had no reason at all.
[51:09] Right. He chose. He was worshiping the moon. The whole Old Testament says He chose. Yes. Yes. Now, again, they're going to get to the place where they're going to expose and explain choosing as God looking ahead and seeing who would choose Him.
[51:29] And I mean, that's the way out. Suzanne? Suzanne? I'm ready for him on that one. All right. At 2.2.2. So, this Jesus delivered according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God and crucified and killed by the hands of liars.
[51:50] And as you know, in the first two, when Tony wrote talks about the foreknowledge, so then you're saying that foreknowledge means that God didn't have to explain a different thing to Jesus going to the cross and all of that.
[52:04] It wasn't. He knew it was going to happen, but it wasn't. And that's not true. Right. It's just later. But Jesus couldn't have been here if that wasn't just.
[52:18] Can you say that all those things are not just. That was actually something to you. And then one of the... I think I understand that. Jesus would have been born if it wasn't God's plan.
[52:29] Yes. Right. This is good. I'm glad you guys are seeing this. Alright.
[52:41] Look at this one. Make sure you get all of these. Sorry, I didn't put that up there. Guaranteed and secured.
[52:58] Alright. Now here's the next one we want to deal with. Did Jesus die for all and everyone? Did Jesus die for all and everyone?
[53:10] I'm going to take you to the book again. Page 49. Page 49. There at the bottom.
[53:21] How Jesus died for all and yet for a particular people. some passages speak of Christ dying for all men and of his death as saving the world.
[53:33] Yet others speak of his death as being definite in design and of his dying for a particular people and securing salvation for them. There are two classes of texts that speak of Christ's saving work in general terms.
[53:48] A. Those containing the world the word world. For example we have it in John 2 Corinthians 1 John and B. Those containing the word all.
[54:00] For example Romans 2 Corinthians 1 Timothy Hebrews 2 Peter Now the explanation. One reason for the use of these expressions was to correct the false notion that salvation was for the Jews alone.
[54:15] So such phrases as the world all men all nations every creature were used by the New Testament writers to emphatically correct this mistake.
[54:27] What mistake? That salvation was for the Jews alone. These expressions are intended to show that Christ died for all men without distinction. That is I.
[54:38] E. means that is that is he died for Jews and Gentiles alike but they are not intended to indicate that Christ died for all men without exception.
[54:52] That is he did not die for the purpose of saving each and every lost sinner. Now not only does the Bible teach what we just read teach that truth but we all know that by experience.
[55:06] If Jesus died to effect and guarantee and secure the salvation of everyone why isn't everyone saved? So this is not a hard argument to make.
[55:17] Okay? Okay? Yes. Eventually. Right.
[55:43] So here's the thing Alonza. So listen to this. Here's the thing. Don't try to get into an Arminian mind. Don't go there. because it's not rational. It's not only not rational.
[55:56] It's not biblical. Remember. So what they're going to do in that case that how did you put it? Tell me again.
[56:07] Yes.
[56:25] Yes. Yes. So what they're going to do though is they're going to take that all which would involve the Gentiles. They're going to take that all and the everyone the words that he mentioned up here and once again what they're going to do is they're going to try and make that sound like what the Bible is teaching here is that everybody has an equal opportunity to be saved because everybody has free will.
[56:58] So that all and everyone means that we cannot limit God's salvation work to just a specific group of people when the Bible clearly says all and everyone they see this limitation as denying people the opportunity to be saved.
[57:17] They can't stand this doctrine because they think that people everywhere in every case have a right to be saved. They have a right to be saved.
[57:29] right. And this is the argument that gets made is that what you're doing is hamstringing God at best and making God the servant of the will of man.
[57:46] I was like that way. I completely have that and had to fight against it. now it's like if you believe God supreme it doesn't make any sense.
[57:58] Right. Right. Right. And what they're going to argue is fairness.
[58:11] It is not fair. And now what they're going to say about Grace Church, because they are saying it about your pastors, and they're saying it about y'all. They are in this town currently.
[58:23] They are saying that we are not people who care about the unsaved. We don't love them. We don't care about them. We don't witness to them because we believe in Calvinism.
[58:36] We believe that there is a limited number of people, and we believe that God died for that limited number of people. When he died on the cross, he died to save those people so that his death was effectual.
[58:50] His death was definite. It was particular. It was aimed at. It was efficacious in that it was going to affect what he died to do. Bring a people to himself.
[59:01] Not dying to potentially give people the possibility to say yes. No. When he died, he was dying in effect for a specific group of people to affect for them what the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit had decided about them before the foundation of the world.
[59:19] But none who didn't know what they decided was them. We don't know. We don't know. So we witness to every single person out there that God gives us opportunity to witness to because they're not walking around with a big E stamped on their foreheads that only we can see.
[59:35] There's so many things you've thought of them. Just give us a little head to behind our foreheads. All right. Michelle. That is. That's the thing I grappled with for a while, learning the doctrines of the lecture, is, well, then what's the point of sharing the gospel with anybody?
[59:49] Right. You know? Right. But then, you know, it finally does make sense. Well, that's because God wants us to. Because we know. I mean, really, it comes down to that.
[60:01] It is. It is. We don't know which ones are going to be safe. No. And one of the things that we have commonly heard as an objection to this, especially when we've gone into places and they begin to realize this teaching, because, you know, some places we've gone into, you can't just lead out with this.
[60:20] You've got to kind of, right? That's very hard to do. The most common objection about this is from mothers who are worried about their kids. What if my kid isn't elect?
[60:33] I could never believe in a doctrine like that because I have to believe that all my kids have an equal opportunity to say yes to God. And you're telling me that they might not be elect and I can't sleep with that at night.
[60:45] Have we not heard that, Suzanne? It's a huge objection. But when they come around to see the teaching of Scripture on this and recognize that you're a lot better off with your kids being in the hands of God than in your hands, it takes all of that fear out.
[61:02] Because if they're elect, God's going to save them and if there's not, there's nothing you can do about it. So you better run to God and rest in Him and pray for Him. That's what we do for my unsaved kids. We just keep praying for them.
[61:15] Right? We trust the Lord's power to save. Whether they get saved at 70, 80, or whatever. We may be dead when they get saved. The important thing is they get saved.
[61:29] Yeah. That's right. So we want our children's souls to rest in the hands of their Creator. I tell you, I don't know how I'd sleep at night if I thought my kids' salvation was up to me.
[61:43] I've got to live enough of it before them. I've got to say it the right way at the right time. And the reason that they're not saved is because of me. I don't know how I could live with myself.
[61:56] PJ? Yeah. Some of them we saw. It's really answered. You look at it from, let's change it up and say, let's say it's a gift for everyone, but nobody's chosen.
[62:09] You think dinosaurs are sent in his own time? Yeah. It's just the possibility. Nobody's chosen to teach. That doesn't even make it. That's such a radical idea.
[62:20] Yeah. It's kind of like when you start looking at creationism versus evolution. Yeah. Versus like all that. And then at the end of it, you're looking at it going, it's just not even logical.
[62:31] It doesn't even make any sense. No. Why would all of us? We just can't compete with it. No. That's the power. No. We're so bent on the free will aspect that that kind of logical argumentation for them falls apart if it doesn't support free will.
[62:50] Because nobody would choose them. It's been like it. Nobody would. Satan wants to know that they're free will. Right. He would have to. Yeah. We would never choose them. The license to live however you want to live until the days that you know you get there.
[63:04] Which Paul talked about. License. No.
[63:14] No. License. Satan has no knowledge of who it is either, does he? Any more than he does. No. Not in the sense of a omniscience omniscience where he knows all things he can see.
[63:29] No. But he has no idea who the lesson he can see. Nope. That's why he... But he understands when somebody is truly converted to God, does he recognize that they are not who the world?
[63:44] Yes. Of the world. Yes. Yes. That he can't sense that. Yes. But I'll show you... And let me read the passage to you, Jill, that will put that to rest for you and give you a complete confidence that that is the case.
[63:58] He definitely knows who those people are. Okay. Okay. So free conversion, he doesn't know. Right. Post conversion, he knows. He does not know who the elect are.
[64:10] And the reason is the same reason we don't. He wasn't part of the Godhead and the counsel of the Godhead when we were predestined and marked out.
[64:20] He doesn't know who those are. He wasn't privy to that pact. All right. Even as a spiritual being. So Colossians chapter 1 verses 13 and 14.
[64:36] And this is an answer to Jill's question. Once a person is saved, does the devil know for sure that that person no longer belongs to him?
[64:49] The answer is yes. It says here, for he that is the Father. He is a reference to the Father. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 13 and 14.
[65:02] I'm sorry. Colossians. I don't even know what I'm doing. Did I? That's because I'm thinking I'm multitasking in my brain, which is a very dangerous thing.
[65:18] Colossians 1, 13 and 14. I'm sorry. For he, the Father, rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
[65:39] There is no way that God could transact that spiritual reality without the prince of darkness who owned us as his slave in sin not know about it.
[65:51] There's no way that could happen. So that verse alone helps us understand that this transfer was a transfer on a spiritual level by God the Father himself through the Son and now we have been redeemed being transferred from that kingdom, one spiritual kingdom and placed in another.
[66:11] Spiritual. Because it's his domain that we're being transferred from. In other words, it's saying this, Michelle.
[66:22] It's saying that we were once slaves to Satan belonging to his domain and God transferred us out of that domain into his domain. He took us from one domain. It's like the king going into war against another king and he wins the war and he takes all those other people and makes them part of his kingdom.
[66:41] So... Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Do you remember that?
[66:52] Yeah. She just said that. You weren't here when we studied that, were you? Okay. So we did the screw tape letters on Wednesday nights for I don't know how long.
[67:07] We studied that book. It was good. All right. Let me wrap it up with this because I don't think I'm going to get...
[67:17] Oh, no, no. That is not going to happen. It's okay. It's okay. I want to make a quick statement too about... Yeah. With the evangelism and people...
[67:28] Isn't it when you get converted to Christ, I know for me and him, there was a difference and before, you know, you were worried about sharing Christ with people but then once you had the...
[67:42] Once you were converted, for us, you had a strong desire to share Christ with others. It wasn't... Yes, it's a command but it was also that strong urge to share the goodness of God.
[67:53] Yeah. Absolutely. Because God changes your heart, your desire. You want to see God honored and God gives you a love for the people that you know are still bound in the darkness that held your soul.
[68:06] So you get saved and you want that for everybody. So share it. Absolutely share it. And then keep sharing it. All right. Well, let me just say a few more things if there aren't any burning questions.
[68:19] We could end with questions and stop here and I'll just pick it up. Are you good? Do a couple more items for you? Okay. So keeping the big picture in mind when it comes to limited atonement.
[68:33] I don't want us to forget by getting... We're getting down into the weeds now and I want us to kind of come up for air out of the weeds and keep the big picture in mind. So here's a verse that will help us do that or several verses.
[68:47] Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you. You see it there? Which also you received in which also you stand by which also you were saved.
[69:02] Boy, that's a lot to say about the gospel, huh? Paul says that's what I preached to you. I preached to you the truth, the good news that Jesus saves. You received it, you stand in it, and you're saved in it.
[69:16] If you hold fast the word which I preached to you, that is the truth, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
[69:41] Now, why do I share that with you? Alright, look at this quote. Our Lord's atoning death and triumphant resurrection are the foundation of the Christian faith and message.
[69:53] Since God's gracious provision of salvation rests upon these truths, it is imperative that we thoroughly understand their meaning, not only for our own edification and that of others, but also for the clear presentation of the gospel to the lost.
[70:10] We get the worst rap in the world of people being people who don't care about the lost. And that is not true. Now, that may be true of some people in some places that believe these doctrines, but it's not true about us.
[70:24] And this is why. This is why I shared the Scripture with you back here. That one. I want you to keep in mind the bigger picture of what we're talking about.
[70:36] The bigger picture of what we're talking about is the gospel and we believe this. We believe that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
[70:49] That's what we preach and teach here, isn't it? When we give a gospel appeal, we don't start the gospel appeal with, now I know that some of you are not elect, and so I'm not talking to you when I say this.
[71:01] Yeah, we don't do that, do we? So when we give the gospel appeal, we give it like that. We say to all of them with tears and with a begging heart, come to Jesus, come to Jesus.
[71:18] Irrespective of what color skin you have, where you come from, whether you're rich or poor, what language you speak, what culture you were raised in, it doesn't matter. Every tribe, tongue, and nation is going to be represented in heaven.
[71:31] And so we care about that, don't we? We care about, we want to see the people in our sphere of influence and from around the world come to know the Lord as their Savior.
[71:46] So let me say a couple more things and I'll end. Our Lord's atoning death, each point of Calvinism or the doctrines of grace is extensive in its meaning and application to life with God, particularly concerning our salvation from sins.
[72:01] Now, this is what I've reminded you of pretty much along the way. John Calvin did not invent these points, nor did he during his lifetime sit down and codify or systematize them in the form that we have them today.
[72:16] That was not what John did, John Calvin. He was dead when these points were codified and systematized against Arminianism. The Senate of Dort systematized the five points in response to the remonstrant's demands for changes in the Belgic and Heidelberg confessions.
[72:36] Those confessions of faith were articles that people used to put out a biblical, reformed view of salvation. The view that we hold to.
[72:47] John Calvin's teaching was upheld because it was determined to be the plain teaching of the Bible.
[72:59] It's not that John's teaching was held out over Arminius' teaching because people were more convinced that John was a greater guy or a better teacher or any of that.
[73:10] There wasn't a vote like that. It was because the people that were involved saw that John Calvin's teaching was the plain teaching of the Bible. So as we look into the Bible for our answers, keep in mind that the doctrines of grace were a carefully thought out and articulated biblical response to false teaching.
[73:34] One helpful approach and then I'll be done. One helpful approach in this in keeping limited atonement in its proper biblical perspective is to work backwards from the specific doctrine of grace you are studying.
[73:50] In this example, limited atonement. I explain it. In other words, this is what I'm talking about. Begin with limited atonement. Let me back up. Begin with limited atonement and work backward toward the first point of total depravity by tracing the major idea or teaching of each of those points in your mind.
[74:11] Alright? Now here's what I'm talking about. Limited atonement means that Jesus' sacrificial substitutionary death accomplished its purposes for salvational blessings only for the elect.
[74:25] Alright? We start with limited atonement. We make the statement that's true about limited atonement from Scripture. That's what it teaches. And then ask, why is this true?
[74:36] So we're going to work our way backward from limited atonement to answer these questions. Ready? That's what we're doing. Why is this true? It's true because the elect alone are those whom God singled out for salvation before the beginning of the world.
[74:53] Why did God need to act to single out anyone at all? Why did He even need to do that? Because all people deserve God's punishment for their sins.
[75:04] They live under God's wrath. They are spiritually dead to God. That spiritual death renders them unable to respond to God on their own.
[75:15] That's why God had to single people out. The elect are sinners. They need God to choose them.
[75:26] To choose them. in this way. Because man's will has been corrupted by the fall, thus each individual sinner is unable to choose for himself or herself the spiritual good of a relationship with God.
[75:43] Left to ourselves, we would never choose the Lord. Romans 1. Romans 3. A limited atonement then follows from a limited election.
[76:01] Which follows from the total inability on the part of man. Why did God have to elect anyone? Because of the total inability of man. In electing those people, when Jesus died, who did He die for?
[76:16] He died for the elect. The marked out for salvation ones. If God didn't choose, initiate, and act on our behalf to save us, we would remain slaves to sin and suffer eternal damnation.
[76:36] So the issue is once again affirming the sovereignty of God and not the sovereignty of man or the false concept of man's free will.
[76:46] We are not trying to rescue man's free will. There is no such thing. In a spiritual sense, man's will is not free.
[76:57] It is just as depraved as any other aspect of his nature. Mm-hmm. Well, there's, it's more something, I think, that they infer, Jill, from the idea of God saving everyone, saving all.
[77:18] God doesn't desire that any should perish, but that all should come to know Jesus. Those kind of, that kind of language infers to them, then, that man has a free will to choose God because that, that appeal is out there for everybody.
[77:34] I think they would come to that. I don't know of a passage that's categorically states anything about man having a will that's free. Do you, Jeremy?
[77:44] You, Jeremy studied this for a while. Yeah. It's not free will often. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. It is.
[78:15] They malign that context so bad, it's terrible. Yeah. But this is the kind of thing they do. It's a good question, Jill, but I'm not aware of anything the Arminians would pull out that they didn't have to infer from.
[78:32] Not because it categorically states it. Because the entire Bible from cover to cover teaches against anything that would smack of a free will for us to thwart the Lord, trump the Lord, divert, go around.
[78:48] Yeah. Yeah. It does. It does. All right. What's the next one? I'm almost done. So we are seeking to establish and uphold the plain teaching of God's word that God took the initiative in saving mankind.
[79:07] That's all we're trying to do here. Salvation is completely the work of God so that no person may boast in himself for his or her salvation.
[79:20] Will you give me a few more minutes to tie it up with two verses? All right. So God maintains his sovereign right. See, we're not emphasizing some sovereign right of mankind or man's will.
[79:35] We go there, we get in a lot of trouble. But we maintain God's sovereign right to both save and condemn. Who are you, O man, as the clay to ask the potter, why did you make me this way?
[79:50] Right? Okay. So Romans 9. If somebody's there, you'd be free to read that. 921. Is anybody there?
[80:00] Has the potter no right over the place to make the same one vessel for all our babies and the for this and our babies? You see that? Does God have the right to both save and condemn?
[80:15] 2 Corinthians 4.7, what does it say? But we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.
[80:32] God has the right to make vessels in any way that He wants for any purpose that He wants and we are not people to question what He does or why He does it.
[80:45] Alright, so these doctrines are not true and trustworthy because we believe them to be logical. We've got to stay out of that trap.
[80:56] And because they follow naturally upon one another. Those are good reasons, but that's not the reason we believe these doctrines. Here's the reason we believe these doctrines.
[81:07] Because they are true, because they are plainly taught in the Bible, which makes them reasonable to any mind or heart that has been redeemed and spiritually renewed by the transforming grace of God in Christ.
[81:23] And I'll stop there. I know that you've got some more notes. What I'll do is just incorporate those probably into next week. And I'll be teaching you on irresistible grace next week.
[81:38] So that brings up the issue then of, well, if Jesus died for a particular people, because a particular people were marked out by God before the foundation of the world, and people are completely unable to respond to God apart from that, then is it possible for the elect to say no to God?
[82:01] Is it possible from the human side for the elect who don't know they are elect to refuse God and to say no to Him? or is it also guaranteed that they must say yes to God and they don't have any choice in the matter?
[82:18] See, that right there drives Arminians up a wall. That people would not have any choice but to say yes to God. Do we really believe and teach that? Is that what?
[82:29] So come next time, Irresistible Grace. Read that in your book, that section, Irresistible Grace, and then we'll do what we did with this one. Okay? You guys are great.
[82:41] Man, I'll tell you, midweek, getting late, you're still tracking with it. Good job. This is heavy stuff, isn't it? This isn't lightweight stuff. One of the reasons Greg and I waited for some time, praying and thinking and just waiting and coming to this point to teach this is those who've been part of Grace for a while now under our ministry, we felt like it was time to start clarifying some of these because we have gotten you to a place where you can roll with it.
[83:10] You can build on the principles you've been taught and understand. We serve a sovereign God here at Grace. And so now we're teaching you in depth what that sovereign God does in salvation.
[83:24] Clarifying it for you. Okay. Thank you and God bless you. Let me pray for you and then we'll get a few goodies. Did anybody bring goodies? Michelle brought some.
[83:35] You rescued us. Thank you. Dora was going to do it and she was sick I think. Oh. Vanita did too? Some cookies? Okay, good. Thank you. Well, let me pray for us.
[83:47] Father, thank you for bringing us together tonight. It's just such a joy, Lord, to see your people sitting and making every effort to track with your word and take into their souls the truths of how you have brought us from death to life in Jesus Christ.
[84:04] We don't doubt that, Lord. We don't have any need for you to prove that to us or convince us of that. You did that as you saved us. You opened the eyes of our heart and you brought us from death to life in your Son by faith and we received the gift of faith and repentance.
[84:22] And Lord, we just rejoice. We want to live every day rejoicing. But we come to these truths in the Scripture and they cause our hearts to be encouraged and filled with wonder. We sit here and shake our heads and walk away and think, what a big God.
[84:38] Some of this we can't wrap our minds around. We can only go so far. And so we're grateful for that. We're thankful that we can't stick all of who you are in a little box and wrap you up.
[84:50] You're not tidy like that. At least not on this side of heaven. Thank you for your goodness and your grace and your mercy. And thank you for condescending to help us know what we can know about our great and saving God.
[85:04] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.