The Power & Extent of Christ’s Death | 1 John 2:2

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Lord's Day: Jan 1, 2023  Preacher: Carlos Montijo [https://www.thorncrowncovenant.church/sermons/preacher/p/19307/carlos-montijo] Series: First John [https://www.thorncrowncovenant.church/sermons/series/first-john] Topic: Doctrines of Grace [https://www.thorncrowncovenant.church/sermons/topic/doctrines-of-grace] Scripture: 1 John 2:2 [https://ref.ly/1%20John%202.2;nasb95?t=biblia], Romans 9:10–24 [https://ref.ly/Rom%209.10%E2%80%9324;nasb95?t=biblia], 1 John 1:1–2 [https://ref.ly/1%20John%201.1%E2%80%932;nasb95?t=biblia], 1 John 5:19 [https://ref.ly/1%20John%205.19;nasb95?t=biblia] He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2 We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am: * ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church [https://www.thorncrowncovenant.church/] 4712 Montana Ave El Paso, Texas 79903 Contact us at: * web: ThornCrownCovenant.Church [https://www.thorncrowncovenant.church/] call/text: (915) 843-8088 email: [email protected] [[email protected]] Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language.

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Alright, the sermon title today is
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The Power and Extent of Christ's Death. The Power and Extent of Christ's Death, based on 1
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John 2, verse 2. And can everybody hear me okay? Everybody can hear me, okay.
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This is also known as the atonement, the atonement. And it's a vitally important doctrine, a cardinal doctrine, that has resulted in much controversy and debate throughout the history of the church.
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So you will find me juggling through scripture, church history, and doctrinal stances, and will repeat certain themes to maximize clarity and to help us grasp just what is at stake in light of this doctrine.
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And I'm always finding it such a blessing how the Lord providentially, even in the music that we sing today, that we sang today, said,
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His oath, His covenant, His blood, support me in the whelming flood.
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His blood. That's pointing to the atonement. And even in our last hymn, how
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He watches over His loved ones, died to call them all His own. How for them
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He intercedeth, watches over them from the throne. So this is all touching on this vital doctrine of the atonement.
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And in light of also that it's the new year, we often talk about resolutions and how it's the beginning of a new phase for us.
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And it's a good time to reflect and to self -examine, to examine ourselves and to see where we stand, how we are doing in our walk with the
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Lord, and to really strive to grow in the knowledge and grace of our
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Lord and Savior. And there's an interesting connection here to the Bible because one of the biggest and most important days in the
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Old Testament was the Day of Atonement, known as Yom Kippur. And this
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Day of Atonement was when the priests would sacrifice on behalf of the entire nation of Israel to try to cover the sins of the people.
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And this is, again, precisely what we're going to be discussing today, what I'm going to be preaching on today in this verse.
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But before we do that, first I did want to apologize, and it would have been nice to have the brothers from Chaparral Church present as well, but I did want to apologize if my
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Christmas message was a little too hard and heavy at first. While I cannot apologize for the substance of my criticisms of Santa Claus because I don't see how it's possible to celebrate
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Santa without breaking the first two commandments and because the Scriptures are unequivocally clear that idolatry is a sin so offensive to God that even the
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New Testament commands the immediate excommunication of idolaters, I nevertheless saw red, pun intended, and got a little trigger -happy without fully consulting our elders and should have been more careful in delivering my judgments to avoid coming off as too sudden.
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So, as I've said before, please bear with us since we are still new to this and are striving to continue learning and improving and do offer us any helpful feedback that you might have.
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Now, that being said, I also hope and pray that we as a church, as a household of faith, take proper offense, not because I expose
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Santa Claus as an idolatrous imposter, but take proper offense against our pagan culture and against the idolatrous
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Roman Catholic Church, against vain traditions that deify and idolize men, be it
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Santa or otherwise, against the shallow Protestantism and Evangelicalism that embraces these worldly Trojan horses.
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But we also want to walk this out with you in applying it to our lives. If you have any questions or concerns, you know that the elders are here for you and are more than willing to come alongside you to strive for us to be of one mind, the mind of Christ, and to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is to build up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the
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Son of God, a mature person attaining to the measure of Christ's full stature, so we are no longer to be children tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes.
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But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head, the soul head.
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From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament.
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As each one does its part, the body grows in love. So I say this and insist in the
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Lord that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.
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And that's Ephesians 4, 12 through 18. And a hearty amen to that. But now let's turn to our main text for today in 1
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John 2. 1 John 2 verses 1 through 6.
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In 1 John 2, starting in verse 1, we read,
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My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the
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Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
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And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
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But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him.
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Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. So the last time
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I preached on 1 John, I left off on chapter 2, verse 1. My little children,
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I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
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And in that sermon, I stress that we must make one of our life's goals to not sin, to avoid sin, at all costs.
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In light of the new year, this is something important that we can consider as well, a new year's resolution to seek to avoid sin in our lives.
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And I also explain that Jesus Christ is our righteous, sin -bearing paraclete, our divine mediating defense attorney, and how the metanarrative of Scripture is revealed in the gospel according to righteousnesses in the
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Bible. Which relate to God, to man, and to the God -man, Jesus Christ, the righteous.
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Amen. Now, let's continue on to verse 2. In verse 2, we read,
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He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
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Here we have before us yet another dense verse that John is jam -packing with truth.
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And he's using the analogy of faith, the analogia fide, to draw from his other writings and from other scriptures.
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In order to properly interpret this verse, we must first understand and define the key terms and see how
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John is using them. There's three of them, namely, propitiation, our sins, and the whole world.
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These are the three. Once we see the parameters that John is using in this passage, we will grasp what he means.
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The verse clearly touches not only on the extent of the atonement, but also its power.
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Biblically, to atone means to make amends, to repair a wrong or right a wrong, to remove the sin guilt of man, thereby reconciling him to God.
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It is to bring at -one -ment, at -one -ment with God, harmony with God.
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It's also important for us not to interpret scripture in a vacuum, meaning that we must learn to apply it in our own lives, in our own day, and to wrestle with the different views that the history of the church has passed down to us, while exercising sound judgment and discernment.
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Now, the primary competing doctrines of the atonement are called limited or definite atonement, which comes from what's known as Calvinism, and unlimited or universal atonement, which comes from Arminianism.
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Now, what is, what are Calvinism and Arminianism? Calvinism is often misleadingly summarized in the acronym
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TULIP, like the flower tulip, also known as the five points of Calvinism, which represent doctrines about man and his relation to God.
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The first is the T for total depravity, or that man is radically depraved and evil in all his parts, in all his being, not utterly depraved, not utterly depraved, but totally affected by sin.
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Thus, incapable of doing any good whatsoever, and cannot even believe the gospel apart from God's regenerating grace.
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The U is for unconditional election, or that God sovereignly elects or chooses whom he will save based solely on his own will, not on, not based on any condition he sees or foresees in man doing, choosing, or believing.
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It's solely based on God's choice and prerogative. The L is for limited atonement, which will be our focus for today, that Christ died only for those whom
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God the Father chose to save, and none else. The I is for irresistible grace, that God's grace irresistibly regenerates the dead sinner monergistically, or by the work of the
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Holy Spirit alone. The P is for perseverance or preservation of the saints, that the elect of God will persevere to the end and remain saved, because he who began a good work in you will finish it at the day of Jesus Christ.
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That's Philippians 1 .6. The tulip, like I said, is misleading, however, because these five points were articulated by the historic canons of Dort in 1619 as a response to the man -centered remonstrances or protests of the
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Armenians, who believed in and emphasized human free will. One of the central tenets of Calvinism, rather, is that God is sovereign, sovereign, that he is omnipotent, in omnipotent control of all things, and has predestined all things according to his good purpose.
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So Calvinism is God -centered. It is
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God -centered, not man -centered. Arminianism, by contrast, generally emphasizes the opposite of Calvinism.
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The original Armenians wrote the five articles of remonstrance, which the canons of Dort responded to, and these were the theological propositions advanced in 1610 by followers of Jacobus Arminius, who died in 1609 in disagreement with the teaching of John Calvin, then current in the
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Dutch Reformed Church. Those who supported them were called remonstrants. Note also, an important historical note, is that Arminianism has changed through throughout the ages, throughout time.
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It has morphed. It used to be more logically consistent and therefore heretical, and if you read the canons of Dort, you will see that they condemn
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Arminianism as a heresy, which is why the synod of Dort condemned it.
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But modern Arminianism has attempted to massage these heresies out of its system by introducing inconsistencies.
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Now, these are the five articles of remonstrance. Article one is conditional election, which rejects the teaching that election into Christ is unconditional, and instead asserts that election is conditioned on faith in Christ, and that God elects to salvation those whom he knows beforehand will have faith in him.
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Article two is unlimited atonement, as opposed to limited or definite atonement.
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It rejects the doctrine of limited atonement, which asserts that Christ only died for those God chooses to save, and instead asserts that Christ died for all, but that salvation is limited to those who actually believe in Christ.
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Article three is total depravity, which partially affirms the total depravity of man, that man is unable to do the will of God and cannot save himself apart from the grace of God, but it is milder form of the
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Calvinist view because believers still have the free will to choose Christ. Article four is prevenient grace, which rejects the doctrine of irresistible grace, contending instead that mankind has the free will to resist the prevenient grace of God.
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Article five is the conditional preservation of the saints, and this ultimately rejects the doctrine of perseverance of the saints, instead claiming that it depends on the believer to remain in Christ ultimately, and a true believer is capable of falling away from the faith and perishing eternally as an unbeliever.
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Now church historian Philip Schaff explains that the Armenians agree with the
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Orthodox in holding the doctrine of a vicarious or expiatory atonement in opposition to the
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Thessalonians, which was another heresy, but they soften it down, so the
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Armenians soften it down and represent its direct effect to be enabled, its direct effect to be to enable
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God consistently with his justice and veracity or truth to enter into a new covenant with men under which pardon is conveyed to all men on condition of repentance and faith.
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The immediate effect of Christ's death was not the salvation, but only the salvability of sinners by the removal of the legal obstacles and opening the door for pardon and reconciliation.
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They reject the doctrine of a limited atonement, Calvin himself says, whereas Calvin, he himself said that Christ died suficienter pro omnibus, efficaciter pro electis, and this
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Latin phrase means that Christ's death was sufficient to save all men, but efficacious only for the elect.
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I think this phrase is a little bit misleading, however, because we must realize that even though God could have saved everyone if he wanted to, he had no intention to and did not save the reprobate, the vessels of wrath, according to Romans 9, and consequently did not die for them.
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Now, in order to resist any premature jumping to conclusions, we must understand that 1
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John chapter 2 verse 2 poses interpretive problems for both Calvinism, although it is only superficial, and Arminianism, which will prove to be fatal in that case.
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Let's read it again. 1 John chapter 2 verse 2 reads, he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
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Now, I want to more carefully define the biblical view.
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Okay, the biblical view, the Calvinist doctrine of definite atonement, which is a better term than limited atonement because both sides, in fact, limit the atonement in some sense.
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Okay, Calvinists limit the extent or scope of the atonement because Christ died only for the elect, yet he fully redeemed them, while Arminians limit the power of the atonement because they say that Christ died for all men, but only to make them savable, not to fully redeem them.
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Now, I'm going to read the Canons of Dort, the second head on the death of Christ and the redemption of men thereby, article 8, and I highly recommend that you read the entire statement.
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For this was the sovereign counsel and most gracious will and purpose of God the Father, that the quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious death of his
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Son should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to salvation.
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That is, it was the will of God that Christ by the blood of the cross, whereby he confirmed a new covenant, should effectually redeem out of every people, tribe, nation, and language, all those and those only who were from eternity chosen to salvation and given to him by the
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Father, that he should confer upon them faith, which together with all the other saving gifts of the
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Holy Spirit, he purchased for them by his death. He accomplished them by his death, should purge them from all sin, both original and actual, whether committed before or after believing, and having faithfully preserved them even to the end, should at last bring them free from every spot and blemish to the enjoyment of glory in his own presence forever.
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Amen. Now let's compare this to the Armenian understanding of the universal atonement cited from Philip Schaff's Creed of Christendom.
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Universal atonement, or Christ, the savior of the world, died for all men and for every man indiscriminately, and his grace is extended to all.
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His atoning sacrifice is in and of itself sufficient for the redemption of the whole world and is intended for all by God the
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Father. Now I'm going to comment here. This is dangerous because it reveals that God's intentions and efforts can be thwarted and overridden by man's supposed free will.
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Very dangerous. But its inherent sufficiency, I'm going to continue the quote, but its inherent sufficiency, it does not necessarily imply its actual efficiency.
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So in other words, in my words, Christ did not actually redeem or propitiate God's wrath for unbelievers, even though he died for them, thereby rendering the power of Christ's atonement useless unless the sinner himself decides to apply it to himself by faith.
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The grace of God may be resisted, I'm continuing the quote now, the grace of God may be resisted, and only those who accept it by faith are actually saved.
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He who is lost is lost by his own guilt. And to add to that, and because Christ did not actually accomplish their redemption on the cross due to the conditions that are also placed on the sinner, which makes man the final determiner of his own eternal fate.
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Now as I mentioned earlier, in order to properly interpret verse two, we must first understand and define the key terms and how
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John is using them. Propitiation, our sins, and the whole world.
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Now, make no mistake, the word propitiation here is the
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Greek helasmos, and it means to make satisfaction for, to assuage, to appease, to pacify the wrath of God, so that God is no longer angry at you because his justice has been fully satisfied by Christ's death on the cross.
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That is why Jesus said, it is finished, amen? So this
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Greek word comes from the the word helasterion, helasterion, which is the
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Greek word for propitiation, and a lot of translations will mistranslate this term into expiation or into sacrifice, which does not fully render what the word means.
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It means to satisfy the wrath of God by a sacrifice.
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This, however, is a big problem for the Arminian view of universal atonement, because they believe that Christ did not fully accomplish redemption, but only made men savable and will not be saved unless they repent and believe.
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By contrast, the Calvinist view of definite atonement holds that Christ did fully accomplish the redemption and propitiation of the elect, which is credited to them the moment
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God regenerates them and gives them saving faith. So it's not ultimately dependent on man, but on God, God alone.
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This is what the affirms.
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It says, God did from all eternity decree to justify all the elect, and Christ did in the fullness of time die for their sins and rise again because of their justification.
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Nevertheless, they are not justified personally until the Holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply
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Christ unto them. So it's not actualized in time until you are regenerated given the gift of faith and repentance.
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Some Arminians, however, because of this verse claim that Jesus actually died for and satisfied the wrath of God, propitiated the sins of everyone.
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But if this were true, then two undesirable consequences follow when we apply the logical argument known as reductio ad absurdum, which is a
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Latin phrase for demonstrating that the claim leads to absurdity and or contradiction.
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So one consequence of claiming that Jesus propitiated the sins of absolutely everyone is that hell would therefore be empty because everyone would ultimately be saved, and the universalists would therefore be correct.
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The universalists who believe that everyone will ultimately be saved and nobody will go to hell.
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This obviously contradicts the plain teaching of scripture. If you turn with me now to Romans 9,
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Romans 9 starting in verse 10. So in Romans 9 verse 10,
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God says, And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather
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Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue or stand, not because of works, but because of him who calls.
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She was told, the older will serve the younger as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
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Now this passage contradicts the Arminian claim that God foresaw those who would believe and therefore saves them because the verse above teaches the exact opposite.
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It was nothing that they did that caused God to hate the one and love the other, but it was solely
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God's purpose of election. Amen? So it instead teaches that the
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Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election, that's what it means. Precisely what this verse passage teaches.
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Now continuing in verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part?
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By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom
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I have compassion. So then it does not, it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, on God alone who has mercy.
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For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
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So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault?
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For who can resist his will? But who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Well what is molded say to its molder?
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Will the clay pot say to its potter, why have you made me like this? Has the potter know right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
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What if God desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, okay, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
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And again this contradicts the Armenian claim that God's intent is to save everyone, because here
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God plainly says that God's intent was to condemn some that he made as vessels of wrath, beforehand prepared for destruction, before they had done anything good or evil.
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In other words, hell most certainly will not be empty. Amen? In order to make known,
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I'm for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory, even us by whom he has called, not from the
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Jews only but also from the Gentiles. Now these are very hard things to swallow for many people because of their theological biases.
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We have to be careful not to let our biases to override the plain teaching of scripture.
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Amen? And of course, in the words of our own
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Savior, Jesus Christ, hell is not going to be by any means empty.
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Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
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For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
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Few. Matthew 7, 13 through 14. And again, we can go on and on.
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Many are called, but few are chosen. Amen? Now, we're not done yet.
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The other undesirable consequence is that if Armenians do claim that only believers are saved, ultimately, then that means that unbelievers would be punished twice for the same sins.
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The first punishment being paid by Christ on the cross, and the second punishment being paid by them in eternal hellfire.
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This is known as double jeopardy or double payment or being charged for the same crime, the same sin twice, and being punished for it twice.
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John Owen, one of the most prominent Puritans of old, masterfully argues this point in his famous work,
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The Death of Death and the Death of Christ, and I hardly commend all 850 pages of it for your edification.
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It is a masterful work. He says, if Christ made satisfaction to God's justice for someone's sins, then justice is satisfied for their sins, or his satisfaction was rejected as insufficient.
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No other reason can be given for such a fruitless attempt, and to say it was is blasphemy in the highest degree, but God's justice is not satisfied for all the sins of all and every man.
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This is as obvious as the former. Some must undergo eternal punishment for their sins themselves, so that the justice of God may be satisfied.
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The justice of God was not satisfied by the punishment of Christ, because they were not healed by his stripes.
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I hope with Christians this does not need proving. Countless souls will undergo eternal punishment for their own sins.
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Now, how can the justice of God require satisfaction for their sins, if satisfaction was made for them in Christ already?
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The Lord will require the last penny of some, as Matthew 5 26 makes clear.
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To that all we can say is, Amen, right? I would also highly recommend
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John Gill's excellent work called, The Cause of God and Truth, and a very good DVD called,
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Amazing Grace, the History and Theology of Calvinism. Very good things to have for reading and for reference, because they cover all of these different passages and these teachings.
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Note, however, this is important. Not all Calvinists agree with Owen's double jeopardy argument, okay?
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But I think their arguments are not sound. You can examine them for yourself, but I think
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Owen's logic is consistent and biblical, and therefore unassailable.
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This is why Arminians must limit the power of the atonement, and claim that even though Christ died so that everyone might be saved, the individual cannot and will not be saved unless he first believes of his own free will.
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So Christ did in fact propitiate and accomplish redemption by his death, which brings us to the next key term, our sins.
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Our sins. So I'm going to reread the passage in verse 2.
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1st John chapter 2 verse 2. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
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The context of this letter reveals that John is referring to his local immediate audience, which may have been primarily
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Jews. If you recall the opening verses of chapter 1, let's turn there.
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In 1st John chapter 1 verses 1 through 2, where we read, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testified to it, and proclaim to you eternal life, which was with the
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Father, and was made manifest to us. We know that this refers to Christ in his incarnation,
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Christ in his gospel message proclaimed, and Christ in his divinity. All of those.
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And those who first heard and witnessed the fullness of the gospel preached by Christ were primarily
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Jews. This is important to bear in mind, so we can understand what the whole world means in this verse.
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Now the word world, or kosmos, in the
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Greek kosmos, cosmos, has several different meanings in the
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Bible, okay? We have to be very careful with this. We need to find the word carefully in light of both its immediate context and the context of the entire
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Bible as an inductive whole. Inductively. When you study something inductively, you have to get what the word means in every single case it is used, to ensure that we have a proper understanding of the term.
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But the term can mean different things depending on the immediate context of the passage.
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We cannot superficially define these terms as is made clear from John's later use of the word kosmos, the same word, the same phrase in fact, in 1st
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John 519. So if we turn there to 1st John 519, we will see the same phrase used there in a different sense.
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1st John 519 says, we know that we are from God and the whole world, kosmos holos, lies in the power of the evil one.
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The whole world is explicitly contrasted from we.
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We believers are from God, but the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
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So we cannot abuse the text or impose our own definition of the term, the whole world, without properly looking at the context.
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Armenians, however, tend to stretch the word world to mean every single human being for all time.
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But this once again creates the fatal flaws of either double jeopardy, where sinners are punished twice for the same sins, or diminishing the power of Christ's propitiation so that it was not actually a full satisfaction of God's justice.
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When in the passage it says Christ is the propitiation of our sins, the full satisfaction for our sins.
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Now they will also appeal to 1st Timothy 4 .10. 1st Timothy 4 .10.
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Let's turn there now and see what it says. In 1st Timothy 4 .10.
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I don't know about you, but I'm really enjoying this. This is exciting stuff. Very, very exciting to be able to look at the text and compare.
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This is how we should study the Bible. Amen. When you read a book, when you read or examine somebody's theological stance, you want to always compare it to Scripture and see how it holds up to all of Scripture.
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So 1st Timothy 4 .10 says, For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hopes set on the living
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God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
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So, ouch. I mean, did I completely blow it this time again? Or, uh -oh.
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What does this verse mean? Now, this verse, however, looking at it carefully, makes a clear distinction that God is especially the
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Savior of those who believe, revealing that He is Savior in two different senses.
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Two different senses. One general, the other particular.
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It does not say that Jesus propitiated everyone's sins, nor does it say that the atonement applies to unbelievers in one sense and to believers in another.
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That's not what it says. Let's get some help from Gordon Clark, who digs a little deeper here.
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It is patent that especially indicates two kinds of salvation.
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This may seem strange to devout evangelicals in the 20th century, but it was not so puzzling in Paul's day.
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In the Old Testament, God is a Savior, not only in the sense of everlasting heavenly salvation, but also as a rescue from famine, from peril, from defeat and death and battle.
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In Judges 6 .14, God through Gideon saves the Israelites from the hand of the Midianites. 2
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Samuel 3 .18 says that by the hand of my servant David, I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the
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Philistines and out of the hand of all their enemies. In the New Testament, Acts 27 .20
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and 31 describe salvation from shipwreck. There are other ways to distinguish between salvation applicable to all sorts of men and a salvation restricted to the elect, but it is plausible and certain that God is
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Savior in two different senses. The second being the salvation he provides for believers.
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Okay, now the context. Let's go back to 1
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John 2 and verse 2. The context of verse 2 makes clear that by the whole world,
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John is referring to all other believers from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation outside of John's immediate local audience of primarily
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Jewish believers. As John Owen says, the whole world in this verse means in other places men living in the world are denoted so by the whole world in this can nothing be understood but men living throughout the whole world in all parts and regions thereof in opposition to the inhabitants of any one nation place or country as such as the redeemed of Christ are said to be in Revelation 5 .9.
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Now Revelation 5 .9 says, and they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
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This verse demonstrates also the necessity of exercising the analogia fide and the analogia scripturae, the analogy of faith and the analogy of scripture, which are the same principles that John and the biblical authors use to ensure that our understanding of this verse does not contradict other parts of scripture.
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We must take care to rightly divide the word of truth and to not shallowly misinterpret these passages and end up contradicting scripture.
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So to sum up the whole matter, what the Apostle John means when he says he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world, is that Jesus Christ's death, his atonement is truly the full satisfaction of God's justice, the full redemption, the full propitiation of God's wrath for the sins of not just his immediate audience of mostly local
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Jewish believers but of all believers from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation or the whole world.
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And all God's people said amen. Thank you for listening to the sermons of Thorn Crown Covenant Baptist Church, where the
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Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety is applied to all of faith and life. We strive to be biblical, reformed, historic, confessional, loving, discerning
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Christians who evangelize, stand firm in, and earnestly contend for the Christian faith.
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If you're looking for a church in the El Paso, Texas area or for more information about our church, sermons, and ministries such as Semper Reformanda Radio and Thorn Crown Network Podcast, please contact us at thorncrownministries .com.