Definite Atonement (part 1) - [John 1:29-34,36]

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Definite Atonement (part 2) - [John 1:29-34,36]

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Well, it is a joy to be here with you in New England, this wonderful place, part of God's earth.
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And I'm so grateful for this church and other churches that are joined here at this conference.
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You are lighthouses for the gospel of Christ shining in this part of the world.
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So be faithful, continue to press on in the work God has given to you, and I know that God has a great purpose for each one of you being here, and you are
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His people. And may God bring a great awakening to this area again.
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The motto of the Reformation became adopted by Geneva was, after darkness, light.
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And after the dark ages, as dark as it was, there came the shining light of the gospel.
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And the darker the night, the brighter the light. And so the darkness is certainly all around, is it not, here in the
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New England area? Al Mohler just said on his daily radio program that New England is now the most secularized part of America that there is.
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Previously, the Northwest, Pacific Northwest, could lay claim to being the most unchurched and the most secular part of the country.
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And in Dr. Mohler's estimation, and he of course is perhaps the leading Christian intellect at the moment, has, as of last week, said no, no longer the
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Pacific Northwest. It is now New England, has turned its back away from God more than any other part of America.
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So you live in a very challenging place. I live in the buckle of the Bible belt. I believe...
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I live where everybody's saved. And you know, I hear you're laughing, and you should feel my pain, because I have to work hard to get people lost.
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I really do, because no one can be saved until they know they're lost, right? And so down in Alabama, where I live, or Alabama, as they say, everybody is saved and, you know, our washing machines are saved, the cars are saved, everybody's saved.
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And so I have to preach hard to knock people off the fence. They see they're lost, and then see their need for Christ.
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Not so here. Here a secular mindset has gripped the minds of people.
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And the slippery slope, you remember I spoke of last night, from Calvinism down to Arminianism to liberalism, to ecumenicalism, to universalism, it just continues to plummet down and down to Unitarianism, to agnosticism, to atheism, and there you have
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New England. There is New England. Boston is called the Athens of America for its many universities, and these universities have been breeding grounds for the secular agenda and the secular mindset that is devoid of God.
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And so that has percolated and permeated as graduates have gone out to assume positions of leadership, and it's deeply entrenched.
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And so here you are, the little flock of God, but God has always worked through the few large doors swing on small hinges, and God is looking for a people who will humble themselves and seek
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His face and turn from their wicked ways. It's always been that way. So may the
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Lord build us up here in these days, but you are an island of truth and an ocean of error.
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And so, let us be strong in the truth and await God's timing for when
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He will raise up in extraordinary fashion the witness and the testimony of His people here.
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Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to John chapter 1, John chapter 1.
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I want to begin by reading verses 29 and following. In this message, we want to focus upon definite atonement.
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Now, just to give you some hope of encouragement, after I gave the closing prayer last night,
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I actually found the clock on the wall, and so I now see it, and I never could find it last night, so I was just having a good time.
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And after I closed in prayer, I saw that it said five after ten. I thought it was going to be like five after nine, but that's my confession of sin here this morning.
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So I see it. And so, we've got three of these in rapid -fire staccato fashion.
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So when am I supposed to be finished? Thank you, brother.
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Where have you been all my life? Pinch me. This is a preacher's dream.
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What now? I've got 50 minutes? Okay. Well, let me just kind of do the math on that, what that works out to be.
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Well, we'll just... I don't know. We'll play this by ear, see how this goes.
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Unfortunately, I have a lot to say. So John 1 and verse 29, the next day, he saw
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Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
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This is He on behalf of whom I said, after me comes a man who is a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.
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I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifest to Israel, I came baptizing in water.
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John testified saying, I've seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven and He remained upon Him.
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I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me,
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He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the one who baptizes in the
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Holy Spirit. I myself have seen and have testified this is the Son of God.
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Again, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as he walked and said,
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Behold, the Lamb of God. The heart of the gospel is the heart of the doctrines of grace, which is the substitutionary death of Christ for sinners.
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It is by no happenstance that the doctrine of definite atonement stands in the very middle of the five doctrines of grace, flanked on both sides by two supporting doctrines and standing in the very middle is the doctrine of definite atonement.
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Christ crucified is what we preach. This is the sum, the substance of our message.
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This is the alpha and the omega of our teaching that Jesus Christ has come into this world to save sinners, that He is the
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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The question that I want to raise really is twofold.
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One, for whom did Christ die? Two, and what did
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He accomplish in His saving death? The answer to the first question, for whom did
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Christ die, is defined by the answer to the second question, what did
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He accomplish in His death? You tell me what He accomplished in His death and I will tell you for whom did
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Christ die. In other words, the extent of the atonement is strictly defined by the intent of the atonement.
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If Jesus intended at the cross to die for every single human being, then
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He saved every human being at the cross. But that was not the intent of the cross.
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The intent of the cross was this, the Father had given His chosen ones to Christ to be
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His people. And when Jesus came into this world, He came to save all those who had been given to Him by the
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Father. The clear intent of Christ was to save the elect.
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Jesus did not come to save those who were passed over by the Father. I want to say it again, the extent of the cross is defined by the intent of the cross.
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Christ came to save all those chosen by the Father and that is precisely for whom
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He died. In other words, not a drop of His blood was shed in vain.
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Not a drop of His blood was wasted. All for whom He died will be saved.
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It was an efficient atonement. Not a one for whom
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He died will ever perish. At the cross, Jesus actually accomplished
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His mission. It was a successful saving mission.
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He was not a victim at the cross. He was a victor. And when He said, it is finished,
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His saving mission was successfully accomplished. He did not merely make us save a bull,
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He actually saved us at the cross. And so, I want us to see that Jesus at the cross,
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I want you to listen to this very carefully, He got what He paid for.
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Jesus was not gypped at the cross. Jesus was not shortchanged.
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If I give you a dollar, you must give me four quarters back. If you give me three quarters back, then
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I have not received what I have intentionally given to you. When Jesus died at the cross,
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He received all that He purchased with His shed blood.
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There was no shortchanging of our Savior at the cross.
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He purchased His people with His shed blood. Now, I want to walk us through many passages in the
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Gospel of John. And just as we did last night for the first two of the doctrines of grace,
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I want to do the same with the atonement. And we're going to be looking specifically at the intent and the extent of the atonement of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. The first is in John 1, 29, and if you're taking notes, this heading is an actual atonement.
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At the cross, Jesus made an actual atonement. And I want you to write this down as opposed to a potential atonement or a hypothetical atonement that saves only if there is saving faith exercised in Him.
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Now, in John 1, verse 29, John the Baptist says, behold, the
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Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world.
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Now, someone might initially look at that and say, see, here is a death of Christ for every single person.
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In fact, I read this verse that way for many, many years myself.
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I look at John 1, 29, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Here is a universal atonement,
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I thought. But I want us to look at this more carefully and see what it actually says. Now, let's begin with the historical background.
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The background for this is the Old Testament Levitical sacrificial system, which looked ahead to the coming of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. You'll recall in Leviticus 16, on the day of atonement, there were two sacrifices that were made.
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With the first sacrifice, the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, and God's Son was pictured as propitiating the righteous anger of God, of making a covering over our sins and satisfying, placating the wrath of God.
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And then with the second sacrifice on the day of atonement, it was the scapegoat. The high priest laid his hand on the scapegoat, pictured symbolically the transferring of the sins of the people to an innocent sacrifice, an innocent animal.
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The scapegoat was then released into the wilderness, never to be seen again. And this intentionally pictured all the sins of God's people transferred to the innocent substitute, the
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Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would become our scapegoat and take our sins far away, as far as the
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East is from the West. Now, I want to give you three key observations here from John 1, 29.
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Number one, there was a real and actual taking away of sin.
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Look at verse 29 again. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
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This says that Jesus accomplished something definite, that He actually took away our sins.
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This does not say that Jesus hypothetically or potentially took away the sins of the world if men will actually believe upon Him.
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No, this was a definite transaction with definite results. All for whom
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He died, He took away their sins. That is what this reads.
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Whenever you read the Bible, whether Old Testament or New Testament, you never read, as it relates to the death of Christ, hypothetical language or potential language.
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You read definite language. James Montgomery Boyce writes, quote,
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Jesus did not come merely to make salvation possible, but actually to save His people.
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He did not come to make redemption possible. He died to redeem
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His people. He did not come to make propitiation possible.
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He turned aside God's wrath for each of His elect people forever.
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He did not come to make reconciliation between God and man possible.
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He actually reconciled to God those whom the
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Father had given to Him. Boyce continues, He did not come merely to make atonement for sins possible, but actually to atone for sinners, close quote.
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This is a key point, that there at the cross, Jesus actually took away the sins of all for whom
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He died. Look at that verse again. The Lamb of God who takes away, it was an actual atonement.
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It was a real redemption. He took away the sin of the world.
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Now, we'll talk about the word world in just a moment. But first observation, this was an actual taking away of sins.
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Second observation, in the Old Testament, the Levitical sacrifice was only on behalf of the people of God.
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On the day of atonement, when the high priest of Israel went into the Holy of Holies, there was upon the ephod of his chest, there was written the names of the 12 tribes of Israel.
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He did not go in and make atonement for the Canaanites. He did not make atonement for the
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Egyptians. He did not make atonement for the Assyrians. He did not make an atonement for the
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Babylonians. The high priest of Israel went into the
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Holy of Holies, and there he made intercession exclusively for the people of God.
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And what John is saying here when he says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, what
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John is saying is that the death of Christ is broader than merely for Israel.
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The atonement is for Jews and for non -Jews, for both
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Jews and Gentiles. So this is a worldwide atonement that reaches beyond Israel to people out of every tribe, tongue, and nation.
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Now, number three, this says that Jesus died for the world.
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He takes away the sin of the world. But it must be acknowledged that the word world is used in many different ways.
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Did you know that within the Gospel of John, the word world is used 10 different ways?
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And in order to answer the question for whom did Jesus die, anyone with an awareness of language within the
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Gospel of John will have to be astute as to the 10 different meanings of the word world.
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I want to very quickly walk you through the 10 uses of the word cosmos or world.
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Before I do, let me tell you it is used 185 times in the New Testament.
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Seventy -eight are in John's Gospel, eight times in Matthew's Gospel, three times in Mark's, three times in Luke's, but hear it again, 78 in John's Gospel.
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It is also used by John 24 times in his three epistles and three times in Revelation.
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It can easily be said this is predominantly a
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Johannine word. This is predominantly John's word.
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So, what are the different uses for the word world within the
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Gospel of John? Number one, the entire universe. It's how it's used in John 1 verse 10, the world was made through him.
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Beuys explains, the word originally meant an ornament, that is, a decorative object.
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The unique feature of which is its fine proportions or beauty. This meaning is preserved in our
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English word cosmetic, which comes from the Greek word cosmos.
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Though in this case, the meaning has shifted from what is beautiful in itself to that which is used to improve features that perhaps are not.
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I think you understand what I'm saying on that. If the fence needs painting, paint it.
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In time, the word was applied to the universe or world globe.
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I really mean that in humor. So, it's also how it is used in John 17 5, and now,
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Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
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And so, it means, number one, the entire universe, the entire created order.
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Number two, the physical earth. One is the entire universe, second is just the earth within the entire universe.
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And that is how it is used in John 13 1. Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the
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Father. Or in John 16 33, in the world, you have tribulation.
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And also, John 21 25, in these passages, world means the planet earth.
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Number three, the world system. We spoke of that last night. The world system refers to the organized system of this world that is governed by Satan that includes the world of education, the world of business, the world of the media, the world of entertainment, the world of sports, the world of medicine, all of these spheres that are of this world.
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And it pictures, really, an organized system that is opposed to God.
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John 12 verse 31, now judgment is on this world.
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Now, the ruler of this world is cast out. John 14 30, the ruler of this world is coming.
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He has nothing in me. So, the third use is the invisible, strategized efforts of Satan to oversee every unbeliever with an ideology and a philosophy that is secular, that is opposed to God and His Christ.
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Number four, humanity minus believers.
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In other words, the world of unbelievers. That would be the unbelievers within the world system.
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Now, that is how it is used in John 7 verse 7, the world cannot hate you but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.
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John 15 18, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. Believers don't hate the
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Lord Jesus Christ. It's only unbelievers who hate the Lord Jesus Christ. And in this instance, world refers to the world of unbelievers.
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Number five, the word world can be used to refer to a large group, a large portion of a group.
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It can mean the population, a large segment of a population of a small region of the world.
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That's how it is used in John 12 verse 19. You see that you are gaining nothing.
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Look, the whole world has gone after him. Do you think every single individual alive on planet earth was going after the
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Lord Jesus Christ? Do you really? I mean, do you think that the Indians, the Aztec Indians in South America were actually following after the
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Lord Jesus Christ? Do you think that those living on the Sandwich Islands or on Hawaii were actually following after the
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Lord Jesus Christ? Of course, none of us believe that. The word world simply is used with hyperbole.
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It is an exaggerated statement to indicate the whole of a region and a large portion of that region.
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Number six, general public as distinguished from a private group.
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For example, in John 7 verse 4, the brothers of Jesus said, for no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly.
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If you do these things, show yourself to the world. By that, what they meant was step out of the shadows and into the spotlight.
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Step out of anonymity, go up to Jerusalem on one of these feast days and present yourself publicly to the world.
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Well, the whole world was not gathering in Jerusalem, but the word world is used to represent a public arena that is highly visible.
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Number seven, the word world is used to refer to Jews and Gentiles, to represent all groups of people.
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It refers to all categories of people.
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And I think that that is how it is used here in John 1 verse 29.
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William Hendrickson writes, quote, according to the Baptist, referring to John the Baptist, it is the sin of the world, meaning men from every tribe and people by nature of lost sin, which the
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Lamb is taking away, not merely the sin of a particular nation.
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And that's really the idea in John 4 verse 42, where it says that Jesus is the savior of the world.
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I mean, you don't think for a second Jesus has saved everyone, do you? You don't think
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Jesus, in the end, is going to save everyone, do you? I mean, that's so far down the slippery slope.
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That's universalism. I mean, those who believe that even believe the devil is going to be saved at the end.
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That's how bizarre universalism is, that even the demons will be saved, that Christ in His death at the cross ends up just saving everyone.
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Well, no, that's just insanity on steroids.
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John 4 verse 42, when it says Jesus is the savior of the world, I would remind you it's the same chapter when
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Jesus said He had to go through Samaria, and He had to meet a woman at the well.
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And she said, how can you, a Jew, speak to me, a Samaritan?
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And the whole chapter is about Jesus coming to save not only
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Jews, as in chapter 3, Nicodemus, who was the teacher of Israel, but He has also come to put
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His arms out to those who are in Samaria and the outermost parts of the world.
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So, the word world refers to beyond merely
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Jews and refers to Jews and Gentiles.
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Now, here's a key distinction. This does not mean all without exception.
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It means all without distinction. It doesn't mean all people.
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It means all groups, people out of all groups. Now, number eight, the word can be used to refer to merely the human realm.
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In other words, you would leave heaven and come to the world, meaning to leave the realm of heaven and come to the realm of humanity.
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And that is what John 1, verse 10, that is how the word is used there. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know
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Him. He left the world above to come to the world below. He was in the world, the very world that He had made, but the world did not recognize
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Him, and their cosmos is used to refer to the realm of humanity.
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Number nine, it refers to the non -elect, the world of the non -elect.
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That is how it is used in John 17, 9. I am praying for them.
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I am not praying for the world. But for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
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What do you think world means in John 17, 9? I'm not praying for the world.
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Well, it obviously means the world of the non -elect. But also, 10th and finally, the word means the elect only.
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And in John 3, 17, we read, for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world.
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And there, there's two different uses of the word world. The first usage means the realm of mankind, and then the second refers to the world of the elect.
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For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
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What was the intent of the Father in sending His Son into this world?
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I believe the intent was to save those whom the Father had given Him. In this text, world means the elect only.
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And MacArthur clarifies this, quote, the statement in verse 17, John 3, 17, that the world might be saved through Him proves that it does not mean everyone who has ever lived, since all will not be saved.
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You can also put John 6, 33, John 12, 47, that the word is used to refer to the world of the elect.
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So, in order to answer the question in John 1, 29, behold the
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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, to immediately assume that this means every person on the planet would be totally naive.
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One would be uninformed regarding the multiple uses of the word world.
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It is only in summarizing or surveying the multiple uses of this word, we realize that the trigger part of the sentence is not the world.
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The trigger part or the pivotal part of the sentence is the verb takes away.
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Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Now, if Jesus took away the sin of every person who has ever lived, then every person will be saved.
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In fact, if such a person was to ever go to hell, God would become unjust because there would be a double payment for their sins.
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In fact, upon the cross, if Jesus died for every person who ever lived, at that moment,
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Jesus would have emptied hell because there were already unbelievers in the
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Old Testament who had already been confined to the place of hell.
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And if at the cross, Jesus took away their sins, then there would no longer be any reason for them to remain in hell any more than there would be reason for you and me to go to hell.
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We will not go there because of the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took away our sins.
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And if on the cross, He took away the sins of the entire world, then that portion of the world that was already in hell, their sins would have been removed and they would have been brought out and placed before the throne of God, just as you and I will be placed before the throne of God.
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We are not saved by our faith. We are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Our faith is merely the means that connects us to the object of the one who has saved us.
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But in the final analysis, it's not we who save ourselves, it is not even our faith that saves us, it is
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Christ who saves us. Our faith was not nailed to the cross.
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Our faith did not propitiate the wrath of God. Our faith did not reconcile us to God.
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Our faith did not pay the price for our sins. Our faith has not adopted us.
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Christ has done all of this. We preach not faith and faith crucified, we preach
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Christ and Him crucified. What is the intent of the cross?
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The intent of the cross is to take away the sin of all in the world whom
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God intends to save. And at the cross, there will be a real and actual atonement.
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That is number one, an actual atonement. Number two, a specific atonement.
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John 3 verse 14. And when I say a specific atonement, it is an atonement that was designed specifically for all who believe, even for those who at one time lived in unbelief but who will be brought to a place of faith.
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Christ specifically died for all who will believe.
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John 3 verse 14, we read, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
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Son of Man be lifted up. And here again, there is need for Old Testament background.
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Israel in the wilderness, wandering in circles in unbelief and rebellion against God. God sent serpents, you know, to bite the people, inflicting their deadly poison into their bodies.
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The people were dying. God told Moses to make a brass serpent, put it on a pole, lift it up.
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All who look to it will live. It was the saving remedy of God for those who were perishing in the wilderness.
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And it became a picture of Christ on the cross. The serpent represented sin.
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The serpent represented Satan that slithered into the Garden of Eden. Brass in the
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Bible is used to represent judgment. A brass serpent is a picture of sin under judgment.
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Christ becoming our judgment for us as He died upon the cross bearing our sins.
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And this sacrifice is for all who will believe upon Him.
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As we look at verse 15, so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
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Verse 16, for God so loved the world, not merely the
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Jews who believe, but also non -Jews who believe, for all kinds of people, for all categories of people, for all classifications of people,
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Jews and Gentiles, male and female, servants and free men, uneducated and educated.
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God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
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Now, think with me. If Jesus died for every single person in the world, then none will perish.
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If Jesus died for all the sins of all people, He died for the sin of, listen to this, unbelief, right?
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If Jesus died for all the sins of all people, then He died for the sin of unbelief and the sin of unbelief of those who will die in unbelief.
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If Jesus died for all the sins of unbelief, even for the sin of unbelief in the non -elect, then no non -elect would ever perish.
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Charles Haddon Spurgeon preached a sermon, January 14th, 1855, as a 20 -year -old young preacher at New Park Street Chapel entitled,
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The Sin of Unbelief. Listen to Mr. Spurgeon reason with his listeners regarding the sin of unbelief.
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In his sermon, Spurgeon declared, quote, there is one sin for which Christ never died.
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It is the sin against the Holy Ghost. There is one sin for which
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Christ never made atonement. Mention every crime in the calendar of evil, and I will show you persons who have found forgiveness for it.
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But ask me whether the man who died in unbelief can be saved, and I reply, there is no atonement for that man.
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There is an atonement made for the unbelief of a Christian because it is temporary.
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But the final unbelief, the unbelief with which men die, never was atoned for.
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You may turn over the whole Bible, and you will find that there is no atonement for the man who died in unbelief, and there is no mercy for unbelief.
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In John 3 .16, when it says, Jesus was sent by the
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Father out of great love for the world, that whosoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life, we can rest assured that Christ did not die for the sins of those who will perish in hell, or they would be saved.
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R .C. Sproul has written, if Christ died for all of the sins of all people, that must include the sin of unbelief.
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If God's justice is totally satisfied, totally satisfied by Christ's work on the cross, then it would follow that God would be unjust in punishing the unrepentant sinner for his unbelief and impenitence because those sins were already paid for by Christ, unquote.
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Those who hold to a universal atonement, that Christ died for every sin of every man in every age, have massive problems.
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There are holes in their theology, holes in their thinking, the least of which is that Christ, they claim, died for the sin of unbelief of those who perish in unbelief.
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And if there is an atonement for the sin of unbelief, then God will never punish that unbeliever who dies rejecting
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Christ because Christ, by their theory of the atonement, has made propitiation for that sin.
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A .W. Pink writes, if all the sins of all men were laid upon Christ, then the sin of unbelief was too.
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That unbelief is a sin. It's clear from the fact, 1 John 3, 23, we read, and this is
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His commandment, that we believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Refusal to believe in Christ is therefore an act of flagrant disobedience and rebellion against the
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Most High. But if all the sins of all people were laid upon Christ, as it is now asserted, then
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He has endured the penalty for the Christ rejecter's unbelief. If this be so, then universalism is true.
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But it is not so. The very advocates of the view who we are now refuting would not affirm it, and therefore, it may be seen the inconsistency and the untenableness of their teaching.
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For if unbelief is a sin and Christ did not suffer the penalty of it, then all sin was not laid upon Christ.
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Thus, there are only two alternatives. One, a strictly limited atonement availing only for believers, or two, an unlimited atonement which effectually secures the salvation of the entire human race, unquote.
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Now, the death of Christ was a very specific, purposeful, intentional, economic death.
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And what He intended to accomplish at the cross, He actually did accomplish.
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And He died for the sin of unbelief only among the elect, for I, too, once lived in unbelief, and you, too, once lived in unbelief.
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He died for the sin of temporary unbelief, but never for the sin of eternal unbelief.
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Although we must hasten, I see the clock. Come to John 6, verse 37.
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That was a nervous laugh on your part. John 6, 37, number three, an intentional atonement, meaning it was intentionally specified for all whom the
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Father has given to Him. I think this is a monumental argument. I think this is airtight.
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I think this is irrefutable. John 6, verse 37,
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I want us to see that Christ died for all those whom the Father had given to Him, which is a clear reference to the elect of God in eternity past,
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John 6, 37. All, now, that means all within a category, all within a subgroup, all within a specified classification of people.
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What is that classification? All that the Father gives me.
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All those who became the Father's possession by right of election in eternity past, whom
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He then gave to the Son to be His inheritance, to become His bride, to become
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His sheep, the only prerequisite for Christ would be that He would come into this world and purchase
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His own bride, that He would come by the shedding of His own blood and the giving of His own life.
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He by Himself and for Himself would secure the ransom for those who had been given to Him by the
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Father. That is what we will see. All that the Father gives me, note, will come to me.
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There is a certainty about it. There is an inevitability about it. Not a one of them will ever be lost.
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Not a one of them will ever perish. They will all be safely transported to glory above.
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Verse 38, now, this gets to the heart of the matter. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.
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This will refers to His eternal, predetermined, sovereign will by which the
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Father has eternally decreed the salvation of a people whom
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He has chosen and given to the Son. Christ says, I will come down out of heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.
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That is to say, He will work in perfect agreement with the
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Father. He will work in perfect unity within the
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Godhead, saving those whom the Father has chosen and given to the
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Son. What the Arminian is forced to say is that the
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Son has come to do His own thing. That the Father has chosen
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His elect, or if they want it, has looked down the tunnel of time and done tag team wrestling, those who choose the
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Son, then the Father chooses them back because He sees them choose
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Christ, whichever way they want it. But the Son then says, no,
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I'm not going to die for those who believe upon me.
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The Father says, well, that's who I'm choosing. Even in a reflex mode, even in a responding, the
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Father only chooses, even the Arminian says, only chooses those whom He sees, foresees, believing upon His Son.
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But then they say, well, the Son is going to go His own way. The Son will save a different group of people.
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We talked about this last night. They fracture the Godhead and put
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God the Father and God the Son pulling in opposite directions and Christ dying for a different group than the
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Father chooses. Look at verse 38 again. What do you think verse 38 is saying?
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For I've come down from heaven not to do my own will.
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Now, this is referring to His saving mission. He's come to seek and to save that which is lost.
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He's come not to be served but to serve, to give His life a ransom for many. I've come not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.
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And what is the will of Him who sent me? It is the salvation and the redemption of a people whom the
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Father has chosen and given to the Son. Verse 39, lest there be any misunderstanding.
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This is the will of Him who sent me. This is the eternal sovereign will of the
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Father from all eternity past. This is the will of Him who sent me.
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This is pulling back the veil and allowing us to see into the inner courts of heaven, into the eternal counsel of God in eternity past.
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This is a rare glimpse. This is the will of Him who sent me, that of all that He has given me,
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I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day.
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This is the assignment that the Father gave to the Son. Let us be specific on this.
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Jesus did not come into this world without a roadmap. He came with an agenda.
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He came with a God -assigned mission. There was a definite assignment given to the
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Son. This is the will of Him who sent me, that of all
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He has given me, I lose nothing. Which is to say,
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I will save all those whom He has given me.
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That was His focus. He was my optic with His focus. He was riveted with His focus.
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He was like a racehorse with blinders on Him and could not see to the left or to the right.
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That of all He has given me, I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day.
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And this speaks to how effectual was His death at the cross.
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It was so efficient for the elect that none for whom
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He died will ever perish. That is why we say it was an actual atonement.
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It was real redemption. Jesus actually saved at the cross.
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He actually took away sin. He actually interposed
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Himself between the Father and us and absorbed the wrath of God toward us.
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Number four, come to John 10. It was an individual atonement.
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John 10, it was an individual atonement.
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When I say individual, I mean Jesus did not go to the cross for an anonymous blob of people.
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When Jesus went to the cross, He went there for people by name.
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Jesus did not die for whosoever. Jesus died for Steve, for Mike, for Kim.
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The names of His people were written upon His heart. In John 10, verse 11, we read,
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I am the good shepherd. Word good there meaning excellent.
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I'm an excellent shepherd. Now, the mark of an excellent shepherd is he loses none of his sheep.
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Now, today, a businessman in this economy, you've got to write off bad loans.
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If you lose a little bit, it's just the price of doing business, right?
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But that's not how Christ is measured. If Christ were to ever lose any of His sheep,
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He would be a bad shepherd. He would be a bumbling shepherd.
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He would be an incompetent shepherd. But a good shepherd, he will be defined.
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As he starts with a certain number of sheep, he ends up with a certain number of sheep.
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He will provide safe passage for them. He will defend them from all danger.
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He will rescue them out of the jaw of the lion if necessary. He will risk his own life and risk his own safety that all of his flock, all of his sheep will be safely cared for and delivered to the destination that he has determined.
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I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
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Now, who are the sheep? You know who the sheep are. But let's clarify it from this text.
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In verse 3, the sheep are those who are called individually by name.
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They are called individually by name by the shepherd. He knows his sheep.
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He has a relationship with his sheep. He has known his sheep from all eternity past.
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Their names written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world.
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He has known them. That is the meaning of foreknowledge. He has embraced them.
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He has received them from the Father as a love gift. And he knows them individually by name.
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He looks into a household, and he sees within that household which are his sheep and which are his by name.
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He looks into an office. He looks into a school. He looks into a neighborhood, and he knows specifically which are his sheep by name.
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And number 2, in verse 3, the sheep are those who recognize the voice of the shepherd and come to him and follow him.
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The sheep are those who respond to the effectual call of the voice of the shepherd. These sheep hear what other sheep do not hear.
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These sheep hear what the goats do not hear. When their good shepherd calls them by name, they lift their head and are immediately drawn to the voice that they recognize of their shepherd.
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And number 3, in verse 26, not everyone is the sheep of God.
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And Jesus makes it very clear that unbelievers, those who die in unbelief, are not of his sheep.
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So, not everyone is his sheep. Yet this says, in verse 11,
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Jesus laid down his life not for the goats but for the sheep.
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Definite article, a specific group of sheep. Number 4, verse 29, these sheep are those who are given by the
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Father to the Son before the sheep ever recognize the voice of the shepherd.
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The Father has given these sheep to the
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Son before they ever come to the Son. And then number 5, from verse 16, not only sheep from among the fold of Israel, but also sheep from another fold, sheep from among the
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Gentiles. So, verse 11 says, I'm the good shepherd.
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The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. What do you think
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Jesus intends us to understand about the intent and the extent of his atonement?
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There can be no other conclusion, that he has come into this world to give his life a ransom for many, to lay down sacrificially at great expense and great danger to his own life, a death on behalf of the sheep for all of the elect of God.
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This is so crystal clear, he actually repeats it in verse 15.
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Please note, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father.
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Now, think about this. How well do you think the Father knows the Son? How well do you think the
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Son knows the Father? It is as intimate and personal and perfect a relationship as there can be.
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In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, cross face -to -face with God throughout all of the ages of eternity past, as far as you can go back.
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The Father and the Son, perfect relationship. Now, Jesus plays off of this and adds to that by extending this intimate relationship between the
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Father and the Son. And now, he says, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
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Coming out of this Trinitarian unity of fellowship is a unity of purpose in the saving enterprise and mission of Christ.
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It is out of this perfect relationship between the Father and the Son that the
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Father sends the Son and the Son comes into this world to do what? To lay down his life for the sheep.
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How clear can clear be? If that were not enough, look at verse 30.
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I and the Father are one. If you have a study
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Bible, the note at the bottom may make mention that the word one,
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I and the Father are one, is not in what we would normally expect in the masculine.
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If one were in the masculine, it would mean I and the Father are one person.
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Then we would become Unitarians. But it is not masculine.
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It is in the neuter, which means I and the
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Father are one in nature, one in attributes.
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They are co -equal, co -eternal, and co -existent. Equally holy, equally sovereign, equally righteous, equally full of grace, equally powerful, equally everything.
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One in will, one in purpose, one in mission,
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I and the Father are one. Thus, Jesus had to die for all those given to him by the
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Father. This is a slam -dunk case.
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This is airtight. There is no wiggle room here. There is no crack in the dam.
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Jesus...and also, understand this, this is the longest place in the entire Bible where Jesus speaks of his own death.
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This is, in John 10, Jesus's commentary on his own substitutionary death at the cross.
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Jesus clarifies in this discourse that he has come to die for his sheep.
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He has come to rescue those whom the Father gave to him in worlds past, in eternity past.
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I need to stop right here. I'm not finished. We will pick it up here when we come back.
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Let me conclude this lecture by saying this, I can never come to the
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Lord's table the same again. This wipes me out.
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This puts me on my face. This lays me low.
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This removes all garments of lukewarmness.
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This removes any thought of losing my first love.
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This bonds my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ that when he left heaven, my name was written upon his heart.
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He did not come to die for the world of everybody. He did not come to die for an anonymous group of people, just everybody out there.
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That Jesus left heaven with my name written upon his heart.
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I am one of his sheep. And that when he went to the cross, just as real as he bore my sins, equally real, he took away my sins.
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And that upon the cross, Jesus did in fact, in reality, save me at the cross.
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There is a real sense that I was saved in eternity past with the Father.
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I was saved 2 ,000 years ago at the cross. And I was saved at the moment of my regeneration when he made me willing in the day of his power.
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But Jesus, in fact, in reality, accomplished what he came to do.
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And none for whom he died will ever perish.
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None for whom he died will ever plummet down into the flames of hell.
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All for whom he died will be presented faultless before the throne of God above.
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That will make us sing, hallelujah, what a savior. Let us pray.
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Our Father in heaven, we again say to you that we hardly know what to say.
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This is jaw -dropping. This is mind -boggling.
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This is astonishing. This is amazing grace.
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Father, we thank you. We are humbled. We can hardly lift up our head under this weight of glory that has been placed upon us.
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We thank you for the triumph of the cross of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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Lord, this gives us such endearment of him to us and us to him.
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This makes our heart want to run after him and lay hold of him and be as the woman and want to fall at his feet and to pour the alabaster bottle of ointment upon him and to, with our tears, wash his feet and to let down our hair and to wipe his feet because we who have been forgiven much must love much.
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Oh, Father, thank you for sending a savior who would so perfectly redeem us and take away our sins at the cross.
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Thank you for the definiteness of redemption. I pray that you would cause these truths to settle down very deeply within our soul, that we would rise up to bless the name of the one who is the head of the church, our federal head, the
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Lord Jesus Christ, who represented us at the cross. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen.