I Believe in Limited Atonement!

Romans 8 and the Truth Christians Are Tempted to Avoid

Our Bible is pleased to Romans chapter 8, we don't have to do it every Wednesday night, so we get to choose, and it is sort of the last week of the year. So I thought, well, let's go someplace we all know, let's do something we all enjoy and look at a well-known text and rejoice in some of the truths that bind us together.

So Romans chapter 8, and I was thinking as I pondered this text once again, there are certain words that you hear in the political discourse of our day that you aren't supposed to use, even though they accurately describe your views, because you know they're not popular.

And so a couple years ago, there was a very well-known leftist politician in the Senate, as I recall, who was going after some business person in some governmental situation, and one of these things where they call you before the Senate to testify, blah, blah, blah.

And this particular woman was getting somewhat upset and started to say, well, if you aren't careful, then we'll socialize, take over your businesses. And you can tell that what this woman wanted to do is she wanted the government to take over doing what this business did.

But you see, you're not supposed to say that openly. Everybody knows that's what that particular political perspective wants to do, but you're not supposed to say that, because then people can label you, they can identify you.

And as long as you don't say that, you go, oh, no, no, no, we don't want to do that. But everybody knows that's really what you're up to, you see. Well, there are certain words you're just not supposed to use.

And we're even told, I remember a student of mine once in seminary came to me, and he was taking an evangelism class in the same seminary. And he said, you're not to believe what we were told in this evangelism class.

We were given a list of words that you're not supposed to use, like wrath and judgment and punishment. And I'm just sort of going, well, how are you supposed to explain Christian truth without using those words?

But the idea being that certain words will have an automatic negative response in certain people's minds. Now, we all recognize that that's true. I mean, when it comes to advertising, we are all influenced by advertising.

And we know that you can buy books all over the place today about what colors you should use in your advertising and what certain colors mean. And all this stuff. And you know around here, we're not real good at that stuff.

You know, maybe we should be buying Pastor Frye those marketing books and stuff. And maybe, you know, I think they would all get burned in his backyard. But, you know, we could try. And, you know, we just don't go that direction.

We don't worry too much about the color wheel and how people are going to respond. He's never given me a list of, these are the words you shouldn't use, the pulpit, and stuff like that. And that's probably why we're all here.

But that might be why there's only as many of us here as there are. Because we live in a day where there are people, they just hear a word and their emotions just kick in. And they won't think about things.

They won't think about whether it's true or false. Just a word is enough to do it. Well, there is a word, or actually it's a phrase, in our beliefs. That, let's be honest with ourselves. Once in a while, you're a little gun shy about using that word.

That's not a term we use a lot, gun shy. But you know what I mean. A friend of mine back east heard that sometime next year I've been invited to go up to Alaska again. And yeah, they're going to get big stuff out in those woods in Alaska.

And so he has given to me, actually not lent, gave to me a rifle. And Mr. Callahan, you know, that's a big gun. The problem is I'm going to have to take that thing out to the range. And I'm going to sit down, I'm going to be sighting that thing in, making sure the scope that's on it's right where it needs to be.

Right as I'm sending that impulse down to this finger right here. Gently squeeze that trigger. You know what the problem is? I know what's going to happen. That thing's a beast. And it's going to be like George Soto walking up to me and going, wham, on my shoulder.

Now the first time I might be able to get it off pretty well. Then this thing's going to start aching. And the next time I send that message down there, I might start moving just a little bit. I might anticipate the pain of what it's going to feel like when that thing goes off.

That's called being gun shy. You're going to jump a little bit. You're a little scared about what this thing's going to do. Well there's some phrases that sometimes we're a little gun shy about in our theology.

And we might believe them, but the fact that we try to find other ways of saying them. We're a little slow in getting to it. And when we say it, we're pretty quick to explain ourselves. Might tell us we're a little bit gun shy about it.

The Golden Chain of Redemption in Romans 8:28-30

Well, one of those truths is laid out for us here in Romans chapter 8. See if when we read it, you can recognize what it is. Let's look at the golden chain of redemption. Let's dive right into the meat of Romans 8.

The section Pastor Fry is longing to get to. That's why he's rushing so quick to get through the book of Romans. To get to chapter 8. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good. To those who love God.

To those who are called according to His purpose. For those who before knew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son. So that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom He predestined, He also called.

And these whom He called, He also justified. And these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all.

How will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus. He who died, yes rather, who was raised, was the right hand of God.

Who also intercedes for us. Now you're probably thinking, He also predestined. No. I realize that there are people who might be a little gun shy about that term. And it's certainly abused a lot today.

There are people who will talk about, Oh you terrible people believe in double predestination. They will try to create this concept of what's called equal ultimacy. That is, you believe that God predestined to heaven, but He also predestined to hell.

As if the act of extending grace, unmerited favor, in fact demerited favor, the power that has to go into that act of predestination, the entire work of salvation, incarnation, the perfection of the work of Christ, atonement, the Spirit coming and bringing spiritual regeneration, as if all of that is equal to and the same as the act of justice whereby God, in His justice and in His holiness, allows His law to justly come to bear against sinners who love their sin and hate Him.

As if those two things are exactly the same. That's one of the big arguments that people are using these days. It's a lie if you can't tell the difference between those two things. The need to raise a dead sinner to spiritual life and justly condemning a sinner who wants to stay in his sin, if you think those two things...

Okay, I mean, I believe that God's decree of predestination includes reprobation, but if you can't tell the difference between those... Are you driving tonight? I don't want to be on the same road with you because it might be a little bit scary.

But that's not what I was thinking. It really wasn't. And it wasn't the calling and the justifying or anything else. Here's where it is. If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son...

But what did He do? ...delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? I've said many times, many, many times, just follow the pronouns in this text. Just follow the pronouns.

Yes, we had the golden chain of redemption. We had that beautiful statement, those whom God foreknew. That doesn't mean had foreknowledge about what they're going to do. Oh, we've all heard the text just abused over and over again.

Foreknew is a verb. It's an active verb. It's something God does. And yes, it's amazing to think about the fact that before we even took the first breath, before we even came into existence, God chose to enter into loving relationship with us.

Not based upon what we do. Not based upon this, I'm going to look down the corridors of time, and oh, I'm going to do whatever I see my creatures allowing me to do. We know the foolishness of that perspective.

We've seen the golden chain of redemption. We've seen the sovereignty of God. He foreknew. He predestined. He called. He justified. He glorified. He provides everything. It's put in the past tense because from God's perspective, it's a finished thing.

It is certain. But you see, the phrase, sometimes we're gun-shy, but limited to particular redemption, might even be a better phrase. But you know what? The longer I have thought about the atoning work of Christ, the longer I've thought about the cross, and yes, you all know, I'm writing two articles and two books on Islam.

I know some of you think, the more I've studied that, and the more I've listened to Muslims speak, the more I've become convinced we must be open and biblical, balanced, yes, but we must not be embarrassed to proclaim the fact that, A, Jesus Christ is Lord.

He's Creator. He's Lord. He's King of Kings. He's Lord of Lords. And His cross is a powerful demonstration. The reason I say this, is I've been listening to this lengthy presentation by a Muslim man, and every time he talks about Christians, and I haven't gotten to the section where he talks about how to bring Christians into Islam.

It's coming up here, I know. Every time he talks about Christians, and he talks about encounters with Christians, and what the evangelism, he doesn't use that, Dawah is calling the Islam, it's both evangelism and apologetics.

But he talks about Christian Dawah. Never, ever, a proclamation of power. It's always man-centered. It's always, well, the Christians will invite you to accept Jesus. It almost sounds to me, and I could be wrong, I don't know who's witness to this man, but it almost sounds to me like this man has never encountered someone who said, Jesus Christ is your Lord.

He is the Lord of every living creature. He is your Creator and your Maker. Every breath you take and every beat of your heart comes from His hand. You cannot be neutral about Him. He's not merely some Rasul.

He's not just an apostle. And His death is the only means by which you can ever have peace with God. Doesn't sound like anyone's ever said that to him in a straightforward way. And so it has struck me, with ever more weight, that we should not be able to proclaim a finished work.

I know that people will twist what we say. But you know what? It's not that difficult to untwist it. I mean, if they're not yelling and screaming at you anyways, it's not that difficult to untwist it.

And in fact, in most situations I've been in, where someone has raised this objection, it didn't take much effort and much going to the Scripture to cause them to see what it was that they were saying, and how unbiblical it is.

Particular Redemption in Romans 8:31-34

Think about this text. After proclaiming the sovereignty of God and salvation, what then shall we say to these things? Here's a rhetorical question. What should be our response to the fact that God, from eternity past, has brought all this to pass?

If God is for us, who is against us? Who's the us? Are these the words? Secularists? Humanists? Those who remain in rebellion against God? Are these their words?

Some of you know who Christopher Hitchens is. He hates Christianity. Oh!

Douglas Wilson has rightly said about Christopher Hitchens, there's two things we know about Christopher Hitchens. He knows God doesn't exist, and he hates Him. He hates God. Could we hand this text to Christopher Hitchens, and have him say these words?

Or is it not obviously clear, in light of what's come before this, that we have a particular group who has been foreknown, predestined, called, justified, glorified, and it's this group that is the us here.

These are not the words of those under the wrath of God. If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own... He did not hold back His own Son, but in behalf of us all, He gave Him over in sacrifice.

It's the same term that was used of the betrayal of Jesus in the Gospels. Paradidomi. How shall He not, together with Him... See, He's given Him over. He's given Him. And how shall He not also together with Him, freely, and it's the term for which we get grace, charis, to give, give us all things.

Well, if this is every human being who has ever lived, what a mockery it makes of these words. Think of the Amorite High Priest, 50 years before Moses comes back. The Amorite High Priest. He's engaged in child sacrifice to try to get the cross to grow.

The worst, the most vile of human religion, the darkest kind of rebellion against God, a seared conscience, and you're going to tell me these words are about Him? That God has freely given to Him all things?

Seriously? Yet that's what some people will tell. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all. And who is the us? Verse 33 tells you. If you couldn't figure it out just from reasoning to verse 32, verse 33 tells you.

Who will bring a charge against who? God's. There it is. There it is. God's elect. There is something so tremendously powerful in recognizing that Jesus' death was not a failure. It was not God trying something really, really hard.

Oh, there's so many today that really, really dislike the doctrine of the atonement that's found in Scripture. Substitutionary, penal, oh, this is terrible. Jesus died as an example of God's. That's all it was.

Yet, when we still believe Scripture, you have here, for us all, substitution. Hupere. That beautiful Greek preposition. In our place. He delivered Him over in our place. He will with Him freely give us all things.

And therefore, the question is asked, who will bring a charge against God? It's a foundation left. God's the one. The Father is the one who is justified. Who is the one who condemns? Christ, gee, is He who died, guess rather who is raised with the right hand of God, who also intercedes for whom?

For, it's all right there. I honestly believe, Romans 8, 31 through 34, is one of the clearest, most compelling statements of the particular redeeming work of Christ there is. I don't see any way around it.

It takes mental gymnastics to escape this, and we really have to ask ourselves the question, why would someone want to? Why would someone want to escape this? Well, because when you look at it, there's no place for us to shoehorn in our own glory.

You know what a shoehorn is, don't you? Some young people might not. They're not popular, but you know what? The older you get, the more I like mine. I like the long ones, so you don't have to... Whoa, there you go.

Straight in there. Those shoehorns are great. I got nice long ones, like yay long. But you know why you need it, is because you've got to get your foot in there, and some of us are too lazy to untie the crazy laces, and so we use that shoehorn to try to get a foot in there that's really a little bit bigger than that hole is.

Once it gets in, it's all right, because the ankle's smaller, but you need a little help. And what is the very essence of man's religion?

Man almost never, Pelagius, there's a few people today running around,.

But almost never tries to take all the glory for himself. In fact, the vast majority of the time. But you see, the essence of human religion is he can have the glory, but I have the control. He can stay out there, and he can make it available, and I can confess to everybody, I couldn't do it apart from him, but he can't do it without me.

That's the very essence of it. That's why people try to twist this, because I don't see anywhere in there even the slightest crack in the diamond-hard surface that says, God saves tourism. And so, any difficulty, someone looks at me and says, and I've had this happen.

You all know I do a lot of traveling. I just book my flights to, I'm going to be in London, then up to Dublin, and I'll have a debate when I land in London, and a debate when I get back to London. I hope that the weather's pretty good.

Or I'm going to be on a train somewhere from Glasgow to London, or something like that. But you all know I do a lot of traveling, so I find myself in some unusual places, and I remember I was in this one place, and it was overseas.

This woman comes up to me after I speak, and she looks at me, and she looks scared. You don't believe in limited atonement, do you? And you could just tell that if I didn't answer correctly, she was going to feel like all of her traveling there, and everything she listened to I just said was just going to be ruined.

What did you say to the lady at the end of the service? I looked at her and said, Yes, ma 'am, I believe that Jesus Christ saves everyone for whom he dies, and he intercedes for them. Ma 'am, who do you think he's interceding for today?

I was able to just very quickly say, Ma 'am, the high priest in the Old Testament, when he offered the sacrifice, he had to present the blood of the sacrifice in a holy place. Everyone for whom he offered the sacrifice was those for whom he interceded.

And ma 'am, he's interceding in heaven today, in the presence of the Father, specifically for those he's going to save. Do you really think he's interceding for those who are going to spend eternity in hell, and failing in his intercession?

And ma 'am, when you present it like that, the vast majority of the people you're talking to have never heard it presented like that. Never even thought about it. They've just heard somebody blasting away at Calvinism from a pulpit someplace, and just, when you tie it into that, if they're a true believer, they don't even want to begin to question the sufficiency of Christ's word.

And they're like, and the lights go on, walls come down. You know what? You just cannot be embarrassed. In fact, we need to glory it. And I don't mean like some of those folks who just carry their Calvinism around as a big old badge.

I'm not a Calvinist. I'm not talking about that. But this has got to impact everything. It can't just be kept. It impacts everything. Like I said, listening to these Muslims, I've been going, where are the Calvinists?

Where is the proclamation of power? ...encourages to speak with clarity. Christ saves to the uttermost. His death is exactly what's true.