Defense of Limited Atonement

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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July 12, 2015

00:00: The next one, you've probably heard me speak about from time to time, Arminianism.
00:09: Arminianism.
00:13: Arminianism is named after Jacobus Arminius.
00:17: He was a student of Theodor Beza, who himself was a student of John Calvin.
00:21: By the way, last week was John Calvin's birthday.
00:23: For those of you who might have missed that.
00:26: Last week we celebrated John Calvin's birthday.
00:29: Arminius had problems with Calvin's teachings.
00:33: He believed that Calvin's doctrine of sovereignty and predestination were false, as many do today.
00:39: So he and his supporters offered up a view which said that Christ did pay the penalty of every single person's sins, but that this payment is not applied until the person exercises saving faith.
00:57: Now I want to say this.
00:58: That is the most popular position in the church today.
01:05: That Jesus paid for everybody's sins, and everybody's sins are paid for, but that payment isn't applied until they exercise faith.
01:17: The Arminian teaches that Jesus paid the payment for all sins, but that the payment must be accepted before the payment can be applied.
01:27: That's the position of the Arminian.
01:29: And again, you all know people that believe this.
01:31: I can throw a stick and hit 15 churches that believe this, all within our area.
01:35: So I'm preaching something kind of radical now because I'm saying they're wrong.
01:42: This is the popular Arminian explanation.
01:45: I'm going to give you their illustration that's very popular among Arminian preachers.
01:49: They use the check at the end of the meal.
01:51: Everybody knows when you eat, you get the check at the end of the meal, right? They bring you that little book, and you put your money in it and pay.
02:02: One popular Arminian preacher makes an analogy using that.
02:06: He says this.
02:07: He says, Christ paid the payment for men's sins in the same way a man might pay a bill for dinner for a group of people.
02:16: All the people at the table have had their bill paid, but one of the people at the table refused the payment and demand to pay it for themselves.
02:25: And that's what is an analogy to the atonement.
02:29: Jesus has paid everybody's sins, but the people who go to hell are the ones who demand to pay their own payment themselves.
02:36: There's a problem with this illustration.
02:39: Well, there are several.
02:41: But I'm going to give you the basic problem.
02:44: The issue with the Arminian view of the atonement and this illustration is the issue of the double payment.
02:53: If the first man paid for the food and the second man pays for the food, then the restaurant has received two payments for the same thing, and as a result, they would have to return the money to one or to the other, or they would be stealing.
03:09: They would be unjust.
03:12: The Arminian argues that Jesus made the payment and people still go to hell.
03:21: So they're paying again for something Jesus already paid for.
03:25: That's a problem.
03:27: It's a logical problem and it's a biblical problem.
03:34: The problem is that if Jesus made an atonement, their sin is paid for.
03:38: If their sin is paid for, why are they in hell? The Arminian says, well, they're in hell because they didn't believe.
03:44: And then my next question is this.
03:46: Is unbelief a sin? Yes! Thank you.
03:53: Unbelief is a sin.
03:57: So did Jesus pay for all their sins except that one? So now you're telling me Jesus didn't die for all the sins of all men.
04:04: He died for some of the sins of all men.
04:06: Who's limiting the atonement now? The logical problem with Arminianism is that it naturally leads to the same arguments that the universalists use.
04:20: Listen to a universalist argue.
04:21: Listen to an Arminian argue.
04:22: They're using the same verses to make the same points.
04:27: But Arminians are not universalists.
04:30: They believe people go to hell.
04:31: But here's the problem.
04:32: They believe people go to hell having had their sins paid for.
04:35: That's worse than universalism.
04:37: That is worse than universalism.
04:39: If you believe a person goes to hell and their sins have been paid for, you've got a huge problem with the justice of God.
04:46: How is God just to send a man to hell whose sins have already been atoned for? This is not...
04:53: It always drives me crazy when I talk to people who are not Calvinist and talk to me.
04:59: These Arminians who talk to me and they say, oh, the one problem I have is with limited atonement.
05:04: You should believe in limited atonement whether you're Calvinist or not.
05:08: Limited atonement ain't even a problem.
05:11: And most of them don't have a problem with limited atonement.
05:13: They have a problem with the unconditional election which I'm going to deal with in the weeks to come.
05:17: But that's the problem they have.
05:18: It's not with limited atonement.
05:21: Because if you nail them down...
05:23: I asked a guy one time.
05:24: He said, I have a problem with limited atonement.
05:26: I said, do you believe in hell? He said, absolutely.
05:28: I said, do you believe people are going to hell? Absolutely.
05:31: I said, then you have to believe that somehow in some way the blood of Christ did not pay for their sins.
05:39: Because they're in hell.
05:40: If their sins are paid for and they're in hell, God is unjust.
05:46: Do I have to go on? Have I made...
05:49: I have an aneurysm.
05:53: This is huge for me.
05:56: Because this is one of the issues...
05:58: People call themselves four-point calumnists.
05:59: Don't ever bring that to me.
06:04: That's silly talk.
06:07: But number two, it is a perfectly completed atonement.
06:11: First thing we said, it's a penal substitutionary atonement.
06:15: The second thing, it is a perfectly completed atonement.
06:20: Earlier we discussed Arminian theology which teaches that the atonement paid the price for all sin.
06:28: We said that this is the most common view in the church today.
06:31: But that doesn't make it right.
06:35: In fact, let me say this.
06:38: Look how quickly the church turns to wrong things.
06:42: How many churches do we see flying rainbow flags this week? They're quick to turn to wrong things.
06:49: So just because something is popular doesn't make it right.
06:54: So people say, I believe in this view of the atonement because all the other churches believe in it.
06:59: Oh, be careful.
07:00: Oh, be careful.
07:04: The opposing view, you have the Arminian view, and then you have what we would call the Reformed view, which is our view.
07:17: It's typically called limited atonement if you want to write that phrase down.
07:22: Not many preachers will deal with this, but I think it's important.
07:27: It fits nicely in the acrostic.
07:29: The tulip, total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints.
07:34: We call those the doctrines of grace.
07:36: Sometimes they're called the five points of Calvinism.
07:38: I think that's unfair since Calvin didn't write them.
07:42: But we can call them whatever.
07:43: Just know this limited atonement is biblical.
07:51: But people hear the word limited and they lose their mind.
07:58: And they'll ask the question.
07:59: You'll be asked this question one day, especially if you work at the, what's it called, the watering hole, the fishing hole, watering hole.
08:06: If you're working the fishing hole, you're standing in front of a banner with tulips on it.
08:12: Just so you know.
08:13: Somebody's going to ask, what about that limited atonement? How can you limit the work of Christ? The reality is, it is the Arminian who limits the work of the atonement because he says that Christ tries to save people, but cannot do so apart from that person's exercising his own freedom of choice.
08:41: Thus, their idea of Christ is that he stands hoping that someone will just accept his offer.
08:54: Beloved, the Bible teaches a very different view of the atonement.
08:57: While it does teach the atonement is sufficient for any person, it's sufficient for any person in this.
09:03: There is no person whose sin is so great that the atonement can't cover it.
09:07: There is no person who has sinned so much that Christ's blood cannot atone for their sins.
09:11: I don't care how much sin you bring to the cross, it can all be covered by the blood of Christ.
09:17: That we know.
09:18: It is sufficient for all sin.
09:21: But, it was not intended for just anyone.
09:27: It was intended to save Christ's sheep.
09:32: I'll point you to John 10, verses 14 and 15.
09:36: Jesus speaking of himself.
09:37: Jesus is talking.
09:39: He says, I am the good shepherd.
09:42: I know my own and my own know me.
09:47: Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father and I lay down my life for the sheep.
09:58: Who did Jesus die for? He died for the sheep.
10:04: The atonement was not potential.
10:07: The atonement was actual.
10:10: It happened at a point in time to pay for the sins of every single one of God's elect.
10:19: The people that would come to faith in Christ.
10:21: God's chosen people.
10:23: Whatever expression you want to make, it was made for Christ's sheep.
10:27: I love Ephesians 5, which talks about husbands and wives.
10:30: It says, Husbands, love your wives as what? And gave himself up for her.
10:39: He gave himself up for the church.
10:44: Consider again our text from Hebrews.
10:45: This is the one I go to when people want to argue limited atonement.
10:48: Go with me to Hebrews 10 and read again verse 14.
10:53: For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
11:04: Who are the ones being sanctified? It is believers.
11:08: It is the justified.
11:09: It is the saved.
11:10: It is the elect of God.
11:12: Those are the ones for whom Christ sacrificed.
11:15: Those are the ones who have been perfected for all time.
11:19: It doesn't say, For by one offering He made it possible that all men would be saved.
11:25: No.
11:25: It says, By one offering He perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
11:34: And by the way, sanctified in this context means those who have been set apart.
11:39: Those who are being sanctified.
11:41: Those who are being set apart.
11:44: And that is all of us who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
11:48: Christ's death atoned perfectly for every person it was intended to atone for.
11:54: It was a true substitutionary atonement.
11:56: Here is the irony.
11:59: The irony is most conservative Christians believe in penal substitutionary atonement.
12:07: But many of them deny limited atonement or what we would call particular redemption.
12:15: And thus they do so cutting their own self off at the neck.
12:19: Because if you believe Christ died to pay the penalty truly pay the penalty as a substitute perfectly and the penalty has been paid and yet you believe that people for whom that penalty has been paid will go to hell then you really don't believe the penalty has been paid.
12:41: You are denying one to have the other.
12:46: Again, that is a problem.
12:49: We believe and hold to very simply this a perfect and completed atonement.
12:57: You can call it limited if you want.
13:01: And if you feel like you need to to fit it in the acrostic, that is fine.
13:04: But I think it should be I was trying to say tulip with a P in the middle.
13:11: It is a perfect atonement.
13:15: It is not limited in that it is not powerful.
13:19: It is perfect in that it is powerful to save every person for whom it was made.
13:26: Absolutely perfect to save every person for whom it was made.