Did Jesus Die Only For The Elect?

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All right, it is time to get into the message tonight. We'll start off a little differently.
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If you ask the question, what are the five points of Calvinism? You're asking the wrong question.
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It's kind of a historically almost ignorant question. What happened was in the 1600s, 1609, a man named
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Jacob Arminius died. He had kind of a man -centered view of salvation, a man -centered view of election, a man -centered view of the work of God.
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And he had lots of followers. And he died in 1609, and his followers decided to put together some articles, a defense against what people were believing who would say they were
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Calvinists, believing in the sovereignty of God, following the teaching of John Calvin and other reformers.
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And this was known as the remonstrance. It means to protest. It means to make a defense against.
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And so they came up out of all things with five things that they didn't like about people who believed in the sovereignty of God.
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And I say Calvinist, that's just a shorthand word for people that believe God's sovereign over who goes to heaven, that God is in charge of salvation, he's in charge of heaven's damnation, etc.
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And so they put together five points. They were the ones that really came up with the five points.
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It's not the five points of Calvinism. It's the five points really against Calvinistic teaching.
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They wanted Holland to say, you know what, we don't want you to teach the Belgic Confession anymore and the
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Heidelberg Catechism. We want you to make changes. And this is one of the changes they wanted to make.
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They wanted to make a change that instead of Jesus dying for the bride only, for the elect only, for his people only, that Jesus died instead for each and every person.
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The remonstrants, those that were against this doctrine that was very common in the day, it was the evangelical doctrine, that is
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Jesus dying for the elect. They said, we don't want that. We want to teach that Jesus, his death is sufficient for everyone and that it's extended his saving grace to all and it's only effective when people believe.
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So essentially they believed in what we call unlimited atonement. His atonement, his death, was for everyone.
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Here's what they wrote. That agreeably thereto, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, died for all men and for every man, so that he has obtained for them all, by his death on the cross, redemption and the forgiveness of sins.
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Yet no one actually enjoys this forgiveness of sins except the believer, according to the word of the gospel of John 3 .16.
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For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
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And in the first epistle of John 2 .2, he,
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Jesus, is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also the sins of the whole world.
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So what they wanted to do in the 1610 -1611 is to say, Jesus died for all men and every man, but you have to believe to have his atonement credited to your account.
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Not really anyone is saved, you're just possibly saved when Jesus died.
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And that's what we want to look at tonight. One writer said, no doubt it will seem strange to many in our day that the
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Senate of Dort rejected as heretical the five doctrines advanced by the
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Armenians, for these doctrines have gained wide acceptance in the modern church. So what had happened was, these folks that are monstrance said, we don't like it that God's in charge of everything and there's conditions to election, we disregard that there's unconditional election, so they came up with the five points.
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So now you have another Senate who would say, no, no, those are false and that's where we come up with the five points of Calvinism.
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And one of those points, the stickiest points is tonight. Did Jesus die for each and every person who was ever born?
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Did Jesus die for Judas? Did Jesus die for Goliath? Did Jesus die for Saul? Did Jesus die only for the elect or for each and every person?
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And by the way, if you're here tonight and you have a different view than I'm teaching tonight, you're welcome. It's fine, it's okay, you just don't get any ice cream.
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We wanna be generous with people and we're all learning as we go. This is not one of those, we're not gonna have any fellowship if we disagree.
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Maybe this is the first time you've heard it and it would seem very odd to you. I want you to study on your own. I want you to figure out, this confession of faith at this church is not what the pastor teaches.
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It's the London Baptist Confession of 1689. If you say to yourself and your friends, whatever
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Mike teaches, that's our confession. That's not what I wanna do. That's not what the elders wanna do.
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We want you to say, you know what, as long as Mike lines up with the Bible and our confession of faith, we'll believe him.
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My father used to say, my big 6 '4", 240 pound golden gloves boxing dad used to say,
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I trust that guy as far as I can what? Throw him. That's right. And my dad could throw people pretty far.
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Mom did not like it that he was a bouncer down the street at the bar. But anyway, that's another story. So I just wanna say, if you think that Jesus died for everybody, without exception, that's the common view.
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That's what people believe today, most everyone. You turn on the radio and you listen to Chuck Swintall or Charles Stanley or David Jeremiah.
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That's really what people believe. And so that's the world we live in. It's fine. I just wanna know what the
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Bible says. So if you believe either one, that Jesus died for each and every person or only the elect, we're gonna be nice to each other, okay?
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I will be nice to you. I hope you're going to be nice to me. I want you to know that at the very get -go that Christ's death was sufficient to save each and every person and the people on a thousand billion planets if they were there on those planets.
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I think there's only one planet with human people and image bearers. But if there were a billion planets with a billion people on every planet, was
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Jesus' death good enough to save those who would believe in him? We're not talking about the value of Christ's death.
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He, the God -man, his redeeming death was of infinite value. That's not what we're talking about.
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And by the way, everyone ends up limiting the atonement. Some people limit the atonement to say
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Jesus only dies for the elect and it's limited to that. And other people say, well, you know what?
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I think there's some kind of limit to the atonement because we believe in hell. Jesus didn't save each and every person.
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We don't believe in universalism. And those are really your options. Christ died to save all people without distinction.
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That's universalism. Christ died to save no one in particular. You have to believe in Jesus. That's Arminianism.
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And Christ died to save a certain number that the Father had given him. And that's called limited atonement, or particular redemption.
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I could ask it this way. What was God's intention when he sent the Son to die for sinners?
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Was his intention to die for everybody or to die just for some? And that's really going to be the issue.
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So tonight I have 12 questions that will help us work through did Jesus die for each and every person or did he die only for the elect?
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But before we do, I have a little test case. Here's the test case. It's a little interpretation primer.
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Sometimes you'll hear the door knock. And you'll go and you'll think, oh, it's the people from Amazon.
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It's the people from UPS. Isn't that fun when you get something from Amazon? Until it's your spouse that ordered it and you didn't know she did.
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Is that in budget? No, just kidding. Sometimes in the old days before COVID, it was a
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Jehovah's Witness. It was a Mormon. They don't come around anymore. I guess the 144 ,000 are filled, but that's another story.
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They send letters is what they do. Take your Bibles and turn to John 14, 28. And sometimes people will knock on your door and they'll say this.
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They'll say Jesus isn't God. They'll say Jesus isn't the eternal God. They'll say
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Jesus is a created being. He's great. He's wonderful. He's magnificent, but he's secondary.
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And he is not as great as the Father. So if somebody does this, what would you do?
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And what I'm trying to do here at this intro tonight is we're going to apply some of the same
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Bible interpretation principles, hermeneutical principles, this verse and other verses.
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John 14, 28. What would you say if a Jehovah's Witness said, see right there in your very own
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Bible, Jesus isn't as great as the Father. John 14, 28. You heard me say to you, I am going away and I will come to you.
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If you love me, you would rejoice because I'm going to the Father for the Father is greater than I.
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There it is. The Father's greater than Jesus. What would you say? Yes, Bob.
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Oh, office, not essence. Boy, we have some budding theologians here, don't we? What are the Latin words for that?
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Just kidding. Okay, good. What else would you say? Yes, Carol.
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Okay, context, good. That's very important. Read before and read after. I really like that. Here's one of the things that we do with Bible interpretation.
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We say to ourselves, yes, what does the verse say? What's the context? But we don't come to the
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Bible with clean slates. We don't come with a tabula rasa where it's just, you know what,
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I'm going to just read this like I've never read anything else. I come to John 14 knowing a lot about who
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God is earlier in the Bible and later in the Bible. And what do I know about God? What do you know about the triune
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God? When I read this passage, I'm reading it through the lens of, I know something about God already.
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How many gods are there? One. How many wills of God are there?
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One. How many essences of God are there? One. How many persons of God are there?
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Three. Okay, who just said three? A young person said three? Yes, Peter. I only have water to give you.
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Catechism at home, that's excellent. And so we say to ourself, all right, there's one
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God, three persons, one nature, one essence, one will.
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The Father is equal to the Son, and the Son is equal to the Spirit, and the Spirit is equal to the
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Father. And in eternity past, before creation, they are equal. The Father is
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God. The Son is God. The Spirit is God. And so now when I read this and I think, okay, the
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Son is not as great as the Father, what must be going on? And what is going on?
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What's the key here when we think about the nature of God? The incarnation.
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Good. The incarnation. As Bob would say, this relates to role, not essence.
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When Jesus said, I came to do not my own will, but the will of Him who sent me, we have to work through those.
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And so when I come to a passage that's difficult, I don't abandon my doctrine of God. Now Jesus, He assumes human nature.
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Now this is a good quiz. Since it's Sunday night, I can ask theological questions. Jesus assumes human nature.
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How many wills does Jesus have? The incarnate Jesus. Close.
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How many natures does Jesus have? Two. Divine nature and human nature.
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Does the divine nature have a will? Yes. Does the human nature have a will? One plus one is?
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Two. Two. There you go. How many wills does the God -man have on earth? Two.
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Okay. Good. And so I think to myself, oh, it is the
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Son who is sent by the Father, and only because of incarnation does
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He say, the Father is greater than me. By essence?
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No, no, no. That is not true. I can give you the Athanasius Creed, that Christ is equal to the
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Father as regards divinity, less than the Father as regards humanity. Our Lord Jesus is
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God's Son, is both God and human. And I know what you're saying. What does this have to do with anything about limited atonement?
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Okay. Here's what it has to do with. Question number one. Are there three wills in the
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Trinity? Are there three wills? Take your Bibles and turn to Titus chapter 1.
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If you believe that God is one, if you believe that there is one will of God, if you believe that in the essence of God, before creation, three persons, one will, one nature, do those persons somehow have different wills?
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Are there three wills? And I'll just set it up this way. Well, no, let's go to the passage.
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Let's let the passage talk. I'm still thinking it's great that Peter knows three persons.
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Paul, a servant of God, Titus chapter 1 verse 1, and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect.
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Why is he in ministry? He's in ministry because he loves to see God's elect come to faith through gospel preaching.
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And their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness. He loves to see the saints live holy lives.
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That's also part of gospel ministry. In hope of eternal life, that's also the end of the ministry, that is glorification, which
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God, who never lies, promised ages ago, or promised before the ages began.
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God is the never lying God. Paul is writing to Titus, where's Titus living? If you ever watch
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Survivor, they sometimes send people to exile what? Island. There are a few pagans here.
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They send these people on a reality show off to an island. Guess where Paul was when he received this letter?
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Well, where Titus was, excuse me. He was on an island, and I call it liar island. What? I thought
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I heard three again. He is on an island where there's all kinds of cretins, and they're lying, and they're evil, and they're lazy, right?
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And so he says, you know, but there's a God who never lies. They even said that, the cretins did, that Zeus had a tomb in Crete.
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And one historian said, that is also a lie. Everything about it was a lie.
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Now here's the little interesting part. He promised before the ages began. So in eternity past, no
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Genesis 1 -1, no angels had been created, no animals had been created, no men had been created, no women,
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Adam and Eve hadn't been created. God made a promise. To whom did God make the promise? Oh, I know,
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Methuselah. He at least was that old. No, there's nobody there to promise.
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To whom did God make the promise? And you already know the answer, right? At Bethlehem Bible Church. It's within the triune nature of God, and there's a promise within the
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Trinity. Before Genesis 1, before time, space, matter, people, there's a pact, there's a decree, there's a covenant.
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There's an eternal purpose. Martyn Lloyd -Jones said, three people met in conference,
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I speak with reverence, and planned it. Let us get rid of forever the idea that salvation was an afterthought in the mind of God.
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It was planned before the foundation of the world. Your salvation, my salvation, was planned in eternity past.
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God made a promise. He commanded the Father, the Father commanded the Son to die and rise again.
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I'd like you to take your Bibles and turn to John, please. John 6.
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I want you to see this theme in the Gospel of John. John 6.
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Where are we going? We're going somewhere. Hang in there. John 6, 37.
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God had planned. He made a plan for people to get saved. Did He plan for everybody to get saved in eternity past?
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What does John 6, 37 say? All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and the one who comes to me
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I will certainly not cast out. For I've come down from heaven not to do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
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And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
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This is the will of My Father that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.
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Go to chapter 17 of John. It still resonates there that there's a certain group of people that the
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Father gave the Son. He could have given everyone. He could have given no one, but He gives some people.
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And now the Son goes, dies for those people, and He will not lose one. John 17, 2.
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Since You have given Him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom You had given
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Him. See where I'm going with this? In eternity past, the Father and the Son with the Spirit there make a promise.
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Here's the promise. Son, go rescue the Bride. And the
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Son says, Yes, I'll go rescue the Bride. Before I look at one more verse, here's where I'm going.
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Do you know that the nature of Godhead Himself, the nature of the Trinity, demands for you to believe in limited atonement?
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The Father chooses the sum and says, Son, go rescue. The Spirit of God only regenerates those same sum.
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We don't believe everybody's regenerated. Is it really true that when God in eternity past having one will, the
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Son somehow would do something different than the Father? You say, well, yeah, but it says, for God so loved the world, and there's other verses.
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We'll get there. I'm wanting you to think Trinitarianly. I'm wanting you to think if a Jehovah's Witness comes to your door and says, well, the
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Father's greater, and I want you to be thinking, doctrine of God. What is my doctrine of God?
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One God, one will, one essence, one nature, three persons. They make a promise.
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There is no possible way that the Father says, here's the sum, Son, go die for them.
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And the Son will say, no, Father, I'll go die for everyone. It's impossible.
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You're tampering with the Trinity. Let's look at a couple more verses. Verse 6 of John 17. I've manifested
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Your name to the people who You gave Me out of the world. Yours they were, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept
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Your Word. Verse 9. I'm praying for them. I'm not praying for the world, but those whom
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You have given Me, for they are Yours. Verse 19.
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And for their sake I consecrate Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
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Verse 24. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see
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My glory which You have given Me, for You love Me before the foundation of the world. In eternity past, the
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Father and the Son and the Spirit have a counsel, as it were. They didn't sit down to deliberate.
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This is an eternal counsel. And the Father says, Son, here's the bride, go rescue her. Go die for her.
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And the Son said, Father, I'll gladly go. And the Spirit says, I'll gladly apply those things to the account of all those that You've given the
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Son. The main reason I believe in limited atonement is because I'm going to have to change my view of the
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Trinity if I don't. Take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews 10, please, if you would.
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I love Hebrews 10 for lots of reasons. You know, if I get a little bit older, maybe we'll try preaching through Hebrew someday.
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This is so wonderful. Just think about the nature of the Godhead. One God, three
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Persons. Verse 5 of Hebrews 10.
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Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said... What did you say when you came into the world?
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It's cold. You screamed. What does the Eternal Son say, as it were? We get this right here.
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Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for Me. He's speaking to the Father. In burnt offerings and sin offerings, you have taken no pleasure.
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Then I said, Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God, as it is written of Me in the scroll of the book.
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Jesus has a human nature, and that human nature is going to have a will, and His will is subservient to the
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Father's will, and what the Father has sent Him to do, Jesus does. If the
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Father had sent Him to go die for every person, He would. If the Father had sent Him to go damn people and not die for anyone,
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He would. Jesus is the willing sacrifice. It says in verse 9, Behold, I have come to do
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Your will. Not only in eternity past, where there's one God, three persons, one will, one nature, one essence, but even in the
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Incarnation, where now we have a human nature assumed by Jesus, and now we have two natures and two wills, that will of Jesus is subservient to the
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Father's will. He's come to do the Father's will. Verse 10,
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And by that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
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One person of the Trinity is not going to will one thing, and another is going to will another.
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Question 2, Why do I believe in limited atonement, or particular redemption, or definite atonement?
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Because I don't think there are three wills in the Trinity. Number 2, What does the majority of scriptural language say?
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Let's take our Bibles and go to Isaiah 53, please. Isaiah 53.
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We're going to get to those world passages either tonight or whenever we do part 2.
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Did you know this is the church of the two -part sermon? That's what my wife calls it. The church of the two -part. Notice what we were doing in Ecclesiastes?
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I did two chapters the first week, then we slowed down, 14 verses, and we reviewed, and then today two verses.
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It was a wonderful today, in terms of that passage in Revelation 19, that we had some visitors who,
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I mean, I can't tell if they're saved or not, but some of their friends had said, you know what, they need to hear the gospel, and I thought,
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Lord, through the frail preaching of a man, open up hearts and minds, right?
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Jesus is returning. Okay, what am I doing? I'm trying to find Isaiah while I'm talking. Isaiah chapter 53, verses 11 and 12.
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Let's just read a few verses to see, in general, we see a limitation of Christ's death, not for each and every person, but for, in this case, the many.
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53, 11. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
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Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.
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Yet he bore the sin of many, not all, and makes intercession for the transgressions.
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Take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter 2. Let me just give you some illustrations. We could go to Matthew 20, or Mark chapter 10.
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He died as a ransom for many, but let's just look at Hebrews 2, because there's lots of words here that limit the death of Christ.
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Sons, brethren, children, seed, people. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 10.
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Typically at church we just have a set of verses and we work through them. Tonight's kind of jumping around, but that's the nature of this topical message.
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Hebrews 2 .10. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
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For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. This is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,
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I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of congregation. I will sing your praise. And again, I will put my trust in him.
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And again, behold, I and the children God has given me. Verse 16.
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He helps the offspring of Abraham. Verse 17. Makes propitiation for the sins of the people.
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You'll read in the Bible that Jesus lays down his life for the sheep, not the goats.
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Question number three. Are there three wills in the Trinity? No. Does the majority of scripture limit the death of Christ?
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Yes. Question three. If Jesus died for someone, will he sanctify them? Let's turn to Ephesians chapter five.
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Ephesians five says, Christ gives himself up for the church to sanctify and to cleanse.
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Did you know, dear Christian, that there is unity between Christ's death for you and Christ sanctifying you?
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Christ for you, Christ in you. If Jesus died for you, you will be sanctified.
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If you're not sanctified, you can ask yourself the question, am I a Christian? Did Jesus die for me?
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Et cetera. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her.
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Verse 26. That he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word that he might present to himself the church in all her glory having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she should be holy and blameless.
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There's an inseparable unity between Christ's death for the church and his cleansing it.
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If Jesus died for you, he will sanctify and cleanse you. Question four.
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Was Christ's death potential or definitive? This is a good question.
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I want you to go to Ephesians chapter 1. Let's start there. And I just want to say that Christ did not die to make your redemption possible.
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Nowhere in the Bible does it say he made your reconciliation possible. He made forgiveness possible.
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It uses definite words. Here's an example. If Christ died for you, it's not potential.
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It will actually occur. In him, Ephesians 1 .7, we have redemption made possible.
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Is that what the text says? No, no. We have redemption through his blood.
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Actually redeemed. Actually reconciled. Actually made propitiation. Not made possible.
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You say, what does that have to do with anything? We'll get there. Question five. Let's turn to John 17.
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Would Jesus die for someone and not pray for them? Would Jesus die for someone and not pray for them?
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In other words, we're going to see the limitation of Jesus' prayer life for those that the
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Father has given. He doesn't pray for everyone. He prays for people, but he doesn't pray for everyone because if he prayed for them, those prayers would be answered.
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John 17. How does Jesus pray? Can we separate the priestly work of Christ praying from the death of Christ?
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Can Jesus die for just some and he prays for everyone? Can he die for everyone and he just prays for some?
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No, no. He dies for some and he prays for those same some. John 17 .9. I ask on their behalf.
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I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom you have given me for those are mine.
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Can you imagine that? Jesus only praying for those the Father had given him. Remember in eternity past, the
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Father gives the Son the elect. The Son says, I'll go live for them, I'll die for them, I'll be raised for them and I'll pray for them.
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Romans 8. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather was raised who is at the right hand of God who also is interceding for us.
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Do you think Jesus is praying for the non -elect? You say, well, he's praying for people that haven't believed yet.
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That's true, but that's a different question. Okay, let's keep going.
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Question 6. If Jesus died for each and every person, why has not the Gospel gone to each and every person who ever existed?
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Turn to Romans 10. Say, what are you talking about? What's the deal here? Okay, how is anybody saved?
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Through the preaching of the Gospel. If God wants everybody to be saved because he had his
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Son die for everybody, wouldn't the Gospel go out to each and every person? But we know it hasn't. It hasn't gone out to each and every person.
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There's a limit. Romans 10. Everyone who calls upon the name of the
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Lord, verse 13, will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they've never heard?
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How are they to hear without some preaching? And how are they to preach unless they're sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news.
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For they have not all obeyed the Gospel, that is to believe. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?
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So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Did you know that the
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Holy Spirit even restricted where the apostles would go? Don't go here. Go here. Let me show you an illustration.
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Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. Deb and I and my daughter
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Gracie and some other folks from Bethlehem Bible Church remember where we were in Greece, Deb.
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And we learned about this story in Acts chapter 16. Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra.
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By the way, I was so happy that Pradeep had to read those words this morning at 2 Samuel 17. Worked out perfectly.
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I got Ephesians 2, 1 to 10 last week. It was perfect. And the disciples there named
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Timothy, a son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well -spoken by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.
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Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places.
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They all knew that his father was a Greek. And as they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.
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So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in the numbers daily. And when they were going through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the
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Spirit to speak a word in Asia, I mean, think about that.
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Okay, wait. If Jesus died for each and every person and the only way people come to faith is by hearing a message about Jesus, the risen
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Savior, and told to trust in them and He's the only sin bearer, why would the Spirit of God ever say, don't go there?
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And what's the answer? Because there's no elect people there. You say, Mike, how do you know that?
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Well, I don't know that, but the Spirit knew that. There were seven. And then we come to Mysia.
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They attempted to go in Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. Certain places they don't need to go.
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They need to go preach to the elect. We don't know who they are, but God does. So passing from Mysia, they went down to Troas and a vision appeared to Paul in the night.
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A man of Macedonia was there urging him, saying, come over to Macedonia to help us.
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And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the
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Gospel to them. What am I doing? I'm just trying to come at you from a variety of different ways, getting you to think through.
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Maybe this is the first time you've ever thought about it. Did Jesus die for everybody? Question seven.
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What does the word substitute mean? What does the word substitute mean?
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And I would submit to you that it means He dies on behalf of, in place of, in their stead.
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And the logical conclusion of limited atonement is Jesus dies as a substitute for some.
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The logical conclusion for unlimited atonement is if Jesus died for all as a substitute, why is there any judgment?
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Okay, here's an interesting one. Question eight. Were people in hell before Christ's death? Were people in hell before Christ's death?
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Nicole said, at the time of the Lord's death on the cross, the eternal destiny of many reprobates had already been sealed in death and hell.
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Sinners during the floods, Sodom and Gomorrah, Judas. Can we suppose that our Lord died with the intent of bearing the sins of those who were then and there in hell?
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If not, He did not die for all. Question nine.
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What about double jeopardy? Remember that great top lady song, Rock of Ages? Payment cannot
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God twice demand. First at my bleeding surety's hand, and then again at mine.
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Limited atonement teaches this, that God judges sin either on people or on Jesus, but never on Jesus and the people.
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In other words, if Jesus died for each and every person, why would they ever go to hell? Because Jesus has paid for their penalty, why would they go to hell and then have to pay as well?
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A penalty can't be legally demanded twice and leave the judge as just. People are accountable for the debt that has been made by themselves.
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Question... What number am I at? Ten. I think I'm skipping one. I know somebody's going to come up to me afterwards and say, what question did you skip?
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But I'm not going to tell you. Question eleven. What about the words world and all?
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What about the words world and all? For God so loved the world. What about those?
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Aren't those in the Bible? Well, they certainly are. The word world, what's the
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Greek word for world? Kosmos.
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Where do we get the word kosmos? Can you think of an equivalent English word for kosmos? Pardon me?
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Dark? Darth? Darth Vader? Kosmos.
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Okay, good. How about cosmetics? Right? It means to put in order.
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So, your sister gets up and puts the makeup on. Her face was out of order when she woke up.
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She puts the makeup on. It's in order. That's what kosmos means. Cosmetics. The world has an order.
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There's an order. But sometimes there's different ways we can look at the word world.
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Remember the Samaritan woman? He's the savior of the what?
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World. What was she saying? Not just the Jews, but of crazy Samaritans.
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There's an evil world system. Don't love the world. There's people who live on the world and all of a sudden we think to ourselves, there's different ways we can translate the word world.
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Do you know in John's writings, the word world is used 112 times. And it can mean planet earth, a general crowd of men, sinners under the wrath of God, sinners from all races of mankind and ranks, not just Jews, the realm of evil opposition to God, and the body of God's elect.
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So let's turn our Bibles to John 3 .16 and just look at it. Does John 3 .16 teach that Jesus died for each and every person that ever existed?
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Or does it teach something else? This is one of the most famous verses in all the Bible. Remember people when they go to football games?
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Remember that crazy guy with a rainbow wig and was always holding up the John 3 .16 sign?
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Remember him? Whatever happened to him? Answer, he went to jail. You can look it up. Not because of the sign.
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Not because of the truth of the sign, but because I guess if you're gonna break the law, you gotta pay. It's a little sidetracked.
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For God loved the world in this way. Sometimes we think God's so loved, His love is so great.
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Yes it is, but He loved in this particular way. How did He love? That He gave His only begotten Son. Sadly, ESV takes out begotten.
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They did it for a reason, but it was a horrible reason. His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life or eternal life.
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God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.
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True or false? God loves the world. True. Would you say that's legit to say?
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God loves the world? What kind of love do you think this is? Are there different kinds of love?
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When I see my wife, and I'll see her next week when I get to California, I will come up to her and I will hug her and I say,
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I miss you and I what? I couldn't find the keys. No, I miss you and I love you.
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What if I see one of you ladies after church and I kind of give you this side hug and I say, I love you. Are both true?
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One's a special kind of love for my wife and there's a general kind of love. Do you know God loves all kinds of sinners so much that He even gives rain to unbelievers, taste buds to unbelievers, families to unbelievers.
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Would that be fair to say? When the rich young ruler left Jesus and Mark, it says Jesus loved him.
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There's a general love that God has for people. Is there a special love? Is there a love set alone for the bride?
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Yes, so we begin to ask ourselves the question. He loved the world. What do you think that word world is there?
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There's different ways to think of love. How about world? For God so loved the evil world system. Do you think that's what
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He's talking about? For God so loved the planet Earth. Earth Day.
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What do we do with this word world? Now don't forget, we come to the
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Bible and we just read world and we go, okay, fine. The blinders on a
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Jewish person in those days, it was this is my God and nobody else. Jews and no one else.
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Is the Son's mission for only Jews? Did Gentiles get saved? Remember John chapter three is followed by John chapter four.
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And let's take a look at the woman from Samaria that I alluded to earlier. What does this word world mean?
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Remember the woman, the Samaritan well, I mean at the well, the Samaritan woman, and Jesus talks to her and deals with her.
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Jews don't have any dealings with Samaritans. It says in verse nine, talking about water.
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Jesus is talking about spiritual water. Verse 16, go call your husband and come here.
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I have no husband. You're right in saying I have no husband for you've had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband.
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What you have said is true. I mean, can you imagine? The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
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She tries to change things up a little bit here, deviate from her own conviction, talking about where people worship.
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Jesus said I'm the Messiah in verse 26. She runs back. Maybe this is the
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Christ. What's going on here with her? And now in verse 39, many
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Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. He told me all that I ever did.
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So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with him and he stayed there two days and many more believed because of his word.
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They said to the woman, it's no longer because of what you have said that we believe for we have heard ourselves and we know that this indeed is the
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Savior of the world. For God so loved the world. What's the context saying?
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He didn't love just Jews. Guess what? God loves Gentiles. Same thing.
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Go to 1 John 2. We're almost finished. I've got to wrap this up. 1 John 2.
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Every time you see the word world, you should say, is this the evil world system? Is this God's people?
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Is this planet earth? Is this sinners of all ranks and races of mankind?
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Not just Jews. It's the same thing in 1 John 2. My little children,
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I'm writing to you these things that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He Himself is the wrath assuaging
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God for our sins, not for ours only, but also those of the whole world.
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That can only mean one of two things, friends. Jesus dies for everyone and assuages the wrath of everyone, the whole world.
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That's universalism. Or He assuages the wrath of not just Jews only, but Gentiles.
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That's exactly what He's talking about. And then the last passage for tonight. 1
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Timothy 2. What about the word all? It says Jesus died for all men. He's a ransom for all.
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What do we do about that? If I wanted to be a smart aleck, I would say, does all really mean all?
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All relative? All inclusive? What does it mean, all? What does it mean when all the country of Judea was going out to Jesus?
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Is it all manner of? All kinds of? All? Is all, all? Let's find out in 1
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Timothy 2. Now what I don't want to do here, but I'm going to have to do it anyway.
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I don't want to say, you don't know because you're reading your English Bible, and I have the special Gnostic knowledge because I know
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Greek. And in the Greek it means... I don't like to do that. But in the
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Greek... Okay, this part's true. This is easy. The Greek word for all is just like our all.
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It can mean all, it can mean all kinds of, all manner of.
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It can mean all everybody, or all some. So which one is it here?
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1 Timothy 2 .1 First of all, this is for pastors, elders, I entreat,
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I urge you for entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men.
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Boy, that is going to take a long time. It's hard enough to pray through the directory of Bethlehem Bible Church.
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What do you mean all men? It could mean all kinds of, all manner of, our each and every all. Well, it tells us, it limits the all right here.
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For kings and all who are in authority in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
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I want you to pray for all kinds of men. That's exactly what he's saying. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
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Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
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What is he saying there? Okay, I want you to start praying for some of the leaders. And by the way, God wants everybody to go to heaven.
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Is that what he's saying? Or is he saying, I want you to pray for leaders. And by the way,
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God wants leaders like that, many leaders like that to go to heaven.
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Take a look at it again. He desires all men. Who are the all men he's talking about? He's talking about the all men of verse 1 described in verse 2.
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I want you to pray for all kinds of men who are in authority. Because you know what? God regularly saves those and they come to the knowledge of the truth.
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Those in authority. There's one God, one mediator between God and men, that man Christ Jesus, who gave
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Himself a ransom for all. You've got two options. He gave a ransom for all.
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And if He gave a ransom for you, why would you ever have to pay for your sins? You'd go to heaven. So is
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He giving a ransom for every single person? And I know what you're saying. God pays for all my sins. He has assuaged
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God's wrath, the Son has. And now the only thing I have to do is believe. It's all dependent upon my belief.
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Is it? Is your salvation dependent on your belief? God did everything. He did everything for you.
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He's got it all lined up. The Son died for you. He died for Judas. He died for Herod. He died for Goliath.
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He died for Pontius Pilate. He died for Caiaphas. And all they have to do, He's just waiting for them to believe.
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And we know the answer to that. That's not true. Back to verse 6. Who gave
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Himself a ransom for all kinds of people? That He's just talked about in verse 1 and in verse 2 and in verse 4.
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What is Paul saying? Pastor, you ought to pray for people in leadership because some of those leaders need to get saved and they will.
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And Jesus gave a ransom for these kind of people. Is there any practical application to this?
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Sometimes pastors are asked the question, so what? All right, let's leave it here. If I'm right, can you go to an unbeliever and say when you're evangelizing,
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Jesus died for you. Is that how you should evangelize?
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Jesus died for you. By the way, there's nothing in Scripture that says when you see
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Paul preach, Peter preach, other preachers, they say Jesus died for you. That's not how they talk.
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How do they talk? How do the evangelists talk? Jesus died for sinners. Can you go to a sinner and say
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Jesus died for sinners just like you. Could you do that? You say that's not a very fun practical application.
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I don't say to unbelievers, Jesus died for you. I say Jesus died. He died as a sacrifice for sinners and you should believe in Him.
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But I don't say Jesus died for you. After a person believes, can you tell them
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Jesus died for you? Well, now we know. John Owen said, the
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Father imposed His wrath and the Son underwent the punishment for either all the sins of all men, all the sins of some men, or some of the sins of all men.
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If the last be true, all men have some sins to answer for and none are saved.
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If the second be true, then Christ in their stead suffered for all the sins of the elect of the whole world.
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But if the first be the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due to their sins?
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You answer, because of belief, unbelief. Owen said, I ask, is this unbelief a sin or is it not?
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If it is a sin, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it as well, or He did not.
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If He did, why must that hinder them more than other sins for which He died?
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If He did not, He did not die for all their sins. In other words, we have two options.
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Jesus died for everybody and they're going to heaven, universalism, or Jesus died for some and those are guaranteed to go.
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If you like my notes, I can send you my notes. Just email me, mike at bbcchurch .org.
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Let's close in prayer and at the very least, I want you to think through the issue for yourself and say, did
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Jesus really die for everybody or did He die just for the elect? Let's pray. Father, I am very thankful for these dear people.
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We ask that You bless our fellowship and we are thankful that Your Son died for us and we would ask that You'd help us to be patient with people that might differ and we're all learning and growing and if what we say is true, the only reason we believe it is because You've been kind to reveal it and so we want to be humble in that regard.