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If I ask you the question, what's the most valuable thing in the world, how would you respond? What's the most valuable thing on this earth? Well, Brandon Capecchi, an engineer, had a few categories. What's the most valuable thing?
He said if we go by historically valued resource, it's gold. Easily recognizable, you can exchange it, scarce. What's the most valuable thing on the earth? If you go by human survival, it's water. You need water.
There's 300 million trillion gallons of it, but some of it's contaminated and much of it has salt. If you go by the most scarce element, it's berkelium. It was created in the labs of Berkeley, and it is very difficult to get.
Most scarce consumer resource, according to this engineer, oil. Most expensive resource, this was new to me, it's the Higgs boson. Often colloquially called the god particle. And one man said it cost $9 billion to obtain just a few 125 GEV particles.
I have no idea what that means, but you science WPI nerds, you all know. We're all nerds just in different ways. Most expensive consumer resource, $8 ,000 per gallon, printer ink. And according to this man, if we go by the most valuable Darwinistic resource, it's intelligence.
I'd like to add another category. If we go by the most valuable event, our event in general, what is the most important, most valuable event in all of history? I mean, if you confine it to the United States, it might be 9 -11.
It might be the assassination of JFK or Abraham Lincoln. Maybe the Louisiana Purchase, maybe the Wright Brothers, maybe the Manhattan Project. Outside of the USA, what's important? Tearing down of the Berlin Wall, World War I, World War II, the Reformation, Gutenberg Press, bubonic plague, Renaissance, the discovery of gunpowder.
All amazing, all astounding, all very important. But they pale in comparison to the event by the person, by the God-man. The Bible says, I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received. That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.
That He was buried, that He was raised, and on the third day, in accordance with the Scriptures. That He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. Then He appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
As you know, and as we have celebrated today, the most important, most valuable event in all of history is the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. So would you please take your Bibles and turn to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 2.
And we're going to recap what we've learned in Hebrews 2 and ask the question, for whom did Christ die? To quote the venerable John Owen, The Father imposed His wrath due unto, the Son underwent punishment for, either one, all the sins of all men, which would be universalism, all the sins of some men, or some of the sins of all men.
For whom did Christ die? It's a valuable event, it's an important thing, and we need to understand everything we can about the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews wants you to know that Jesus is great, and even with the names of Jesus listed alphabetically in Hebrews, that Jesus is the Author, Apostle, Captain, Christ, Finisher, Firstborn, God, Heir, High Priest, Lord, Mediator, Shepherd, and Son.
The writer wants you to realize that Jesus is great as a person, and therefore what He does is great. In other words, if He is so precious, His blood is so precious, His life is so precious, then everything He does also is of high value.
It's clear in the book of Hebrews, you're to think of Jesus as the High Priest, as the Mediator. Remember, Paul would go on to say in 1 Timothy chapter 2, there's one God, and there's one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
And Jesus is greater than angels because He's God the Son, chapter 1. And as you know, we're in chapter 2 now, Jesus is greater than angels even though He was a man, even though He suffered, even though He got hungry, even though He got tempted.
How could a man be better than angels? And so the writer wants to make sure you understand that in fact Jesus is superior to angels. His incarnation didn't inhibit His greatness. His cloaking Himself with human flesh didn't somehow minimize how great Jesus is and how great He was.
In the middle of all this, remember in chapter 2 verse 1, He gives a warning, the first of five warnings to motivate people. God motivates with rewards sometimes, He motivates with promises sometimes, and this particular book He motivates with warnings, and they have some real teeth in them.
And He says, therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it. And as you remember last week in verses 5 through 9, we looked at three facts about Jesus as we tried to have the focal point of our faith, Christ Himself.
Jesus' subjection of all things regained what Adam lost. Jesus' suffering leads to glory. And now back at verse 9, just to highlight a few more things before we move on to the topic today, for whom did Christ die?
Jesus' substitution is motivated by grace. Do you see that in verse 9? But we, Hebrews 2 .9, see Him with eyes of faith, who for a little while, the Incarnation, was made lower than the angels, namely, stressing the human aspect of Jesus the God-man, His personal human family name, Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
Remember that little word, for, taste death for everyone? The writer is getting us to understand substitutionary atonement. We hear a lot about it here. There's a substitute. We deserve death, Jesus dies in our place.
We are supposed to live a whole sinless life. We are born under the law and Jesus lives it in our place. This is the language of substitution. Some people wear the wrist, remember years ago there was a very famous wristband people wore, maybe some of you still wear it today.
I'm not talking about Livestrong. WWJD, what would Jesus do? That's a valuable question to ask. Is Jesus as an example for us? Yes, but more here, the language isn't He's an example, He is our substitute.
Why? Because we're sinful people. We sin and fall short. Psalm 7, God is angry with the wicked every day. We need a substitute. Ezra 9, O Lord God of Israel, you are righteous. Here we are before you in our guilt.
Though because not one of us can stand in your presence. So we sin, we need a substitute. We'd like to stand before God, we need a substitute. We sin, we need a substitute. Nahum 1, the Lord is a jealous and avenging God.
The Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. We realize we fall short of the glory of God, so we need the substitutionary work of Jesus.
And that's the language of Hebrews 2, verse 9. We're sinful, we need grace. You say, God, I want your justice. Our God, could you please give me mercy and grace? And the substitutionary atonement is basically grace incarnate.
What Jesus does, he is the gracious one. He is the generous one. He is the selfless one. When you go to work and you punch in, and you work eight hours, and you get a paycheck on Friday, the boss doesn't say, I'd like to grace you.
Does he? If he does, you've got a bad boss. You say, I've worked for this, this is my wage. You owe me. I work, you pay. When someone wins the 100-meter dash in the Olympics, at the very end, stands up on the podium, and the person puts the ribbon over their head and says, I'd like to give you some grace.
No, you compete and perform, and you get a prize. It's not grace. But since we're sinful and Adam's sin has affected us, we can't earn wages besides wages of sin and death, so we need grace. We can't win the prize, so we need grace.
True or false? God helps those who help themselves. We need non-meritorious favor. We need demeritorious favor, unearned favor, and that's grace. And that's what he's talking about right there in verse 9.
By the grace of God. Why did God the Father send the Son? Out of grace. Why did the Son die? Out of grace. Why did the Spirit of God help Jesus live a perfect life and raise Him from the dead? It's all out of grace.
By the grace of God. Aren't you glad we had three singers sing to us about grace? I looked over at Scott Fair, and I saw a little tear in his eye. And I thought, is that tear for grace, or is that tear for his daughters and his wife singing about grace?
I'll take both. The grace of God. And you never understand how gracious God is until you realize how sinful you are. And we live in a day and age where we don't only have sin, we have syndromes, we have illnesses, we have diseases, we have dysfunctions, we have little boo-boos.
No, we sin against God. And God says, I could give you justice, but I give you grace. And substitutionary atonement is nothing without grace. Because that's its motivation. John Calvin, the cause of redemption was the infinite love of God toward us.
He did not even spare His own Son. And the text says that He tasted death. Do you see that? He experienced it. This is just an idiom. This is a figure of speech. Everything that death had to offer, Jesus absorbed it.
Everything that was in the cup of wrath, Jesus drank it all the way. He just didn't take a sip of it, He tasted it. And that's just a Jewish way of saying, a graphic way of saying, a real way of saying, death was upon Jesus, and death, in fact, was suffered by Jesus.
He experienced it to the full. Now, we come to our question today for this morning. It says that Jesus, motivated by the grace of God and the love of God, was substitutionally dying for everyone. He died for everyone.
Did He die for Judas? Did He die for Goliath? Did He die for Jezebel? Did He die for Ahab? Did He die for Pol Pot? Did He die for Hitler? The text says He died for everyone. Substitutionary atonement for everyone.
So this morning, I'd like to ask you, did He, in fact, die for each and every person? Or did He, in fact, die for no one? Or did He die for the people that God had given Him? And when you read the text, you immediately say, He died for everyone.
Now, when I teach hermeneutics, the science and art of biblical interpretation, I have a few rules that I try to teach. And these rules will help guide you, like we learned last week, description and prescription.
There's another rule, and if you don't know what a Bible verse says or means, you think, okay, how could this be teaching universalism? Is everybody going to heaven? The best thing to do when it comes to hermeneutics and understanding the Bible is to what?
And you know it. Shout it out loud on Reformation Sunday. Keep reading. Thank you. I owe you some money, Steve. Keep reading. Now, if you're Jewish, remember, just for a quick second, they would think that the atonement was always limited.
The Jewish people would never think the atonement is for every person who's ever lived. Goliath, Philistines, Canaanites, Hittites, Jebusites. Because you would be thinking day of atonement was for and limited to Israel.
You would think, okay, the blood that was put over the doorpost in the Passover feast, it was limited to that family. They're living in a limited world. And you see by keep reading the context, who are the everyones?
I mean, everyone means nothing. Colossians 1, it says, Him we proclaim warning everyone. There's limits even in the word everyone. And here we find out to whom is the writer addressing. Verse 10, Here are the everyones.
For it was fitting that he from whom and by whom all things exist in bringing many sons to glory. That's who he's talking about. Who are the everyones? Many sons. Verse 11, Who are the many ones? Those who are sanctified.
Who are the everyones? Verse 13, The children God has given me. Who is the everyone? Verse 15, And deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. This morning for an outline, let me give you some points so you can think about the atonement rightly.
Right thinking about the most important event in history. No matter what your view, did Jesus die for everyone or just the elect? Right thinking about this most important event. Number one, how to think rightly about it.
You ought to think this way. Christ atonement is of great value. If you're unlimited or limited, if you think he died for each and every person or just the elect, you should say to yourself, his atonement was of great value.
No limit can be set on the value of the atonement. No limit can be set on the power of the atonement. No ceiling, no cap. It's the highest person, the highest value because of the highest person, his precious blood.
The value of the atonement, the greatness of the atonement depends on the person who's making it. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ, called in 1 Corinthians 2, the Lord of glory. Called in Acts 3, the Prince of life, our author of life.
The value of the atonement, everyone must agree, is great. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God which he obtained with his own blood.
Christ's death was of great value. By the way, if Christ wanted to die for a billion trillion planets full of people, his death would have been valuable enough to do it. It would have been of infinite worth, of infinite value because of the person of Christ Jesus.
Nothing can limit the greatness of Christ's death. If one person was sinful, Adam and Eve, let's say, two people, they sin, what would it take to rescue them and redeem them? It would take a vicarious substitutionary death on their behalf of the person of Jesus Christ.
Our sin is great, therefore the atonement has to be greater. We've offended a thrice holy God, the atonement has to be able to assuage such a holy God. When you want to think about the death of Christ, for whom did Christ die, the first thing you need to do is you have to say the value of Jesus' death is great, sufficient to save a billion trillion planets and more.
Secondly, how to think rightly about the most important event. There's a podcast I listen to and Malcolm Gladwell and it's called Revisionist History. Ever listen to that? I'm not trying to say even you should.
How do you revise history? If you don't think about the atonement this way, I think you're going to kind of revise the most important event in the world, the death of Jesus Christ. His atonement is of great value.
Second way to think about it properly is Christ's death was substitutionary. Christ's death was substitutionary. And by the way, if you see that point, you are going to believe that Jesus didn't die for each and every person.
You are going to believe that he died for the bride, for the body, for the elect. Christ's death was a real substitute for those for whom he died. Turn your Bibles to Mark chapter 10, please. We're going to go outside of Hebrews for a little bit and look up a few verses as we consider the greatest event in the world.
Now, we're going to look up more verses than normal. You know me by now, my MO is we don't go to a lot of different verses. We try to park ourselves in the book of Hebrews and maybe go one place else.
I'm kind of afraid of preachers that go to 15 different verses every Sunday. I call that audible preaching. What does a football quarterback do? He sees the line and he's like 424, 618, 4238, and it's like before you know it, it's like, where was I?
I had the Thompson Chain Reference Study Bible and I didn't know where I started and I don't know where I ended, but we looked up a lot of verses. If you don't know the verses context, it makes it difficult.
But today I want to go a little bit more audibling than normal. Okay, could you grant me that? Would you grant me that? Thank you. And if you say no, I'm going to do it anyway. Mark chapter 10. This is the verse that summarizes all the book of Mark.
What is the book of Mark about? For even, chapter 10, verse 45, the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. That is substitutionary language. The nature of substitution is Jesus dies for people.
They are saved. If you say it's for everybody, if you say Jesus died as an actual substitute for all the people, then they all will be saved. We believe in hell. We believe that there are people in hell.
You ought to believe that Judas is in hell. Christ's death was a substitutionary sacrifice. He dies in the place of the guilty, satisfying the just requirements of God. And if you have the just requirements of sin paid for by Jesus as a substitute, you are going to go to heaven, my friend.
It's not a real substitution to die for someone, and then they don't go to heaven. Substitution forces limited atonement. Now you say, what's all this limited atonement? Horrible language, I think. Limited atonement, unlimited atonement.
We're talking about the death of Christ. And here's the real question. Did Jesus die for each and every person? And by the way, that's what's mainly taught in the West today. Three hundred years ago here in New England, you would be taught something different, that Jesus died for the bride, the chosen ones, the elect, for a certain group of people, the some, not the all.
And everyone would teach that. The Mathers would teach it. Edwards would teach it. William Carey would teach it. Adoniram Judson would teach it. John Calvin would teach it. Hudson Taylor would teach it.
They all taught it. So limited and unlimited, we're going to learn a little bit later, that it's not really good terms. Did Jesus die for His bride or did He not? Did He die for the elect or did He not?
What did Jesus accomplish on the cross? And if it was a substitutionary death, those people for whom He died will be in heaven. If you really believe in substitutionary atonement, gracious substitution, you believe in limited atonement, there's no logical denying of it.
You might still deny it, but it's illogical. Number three, how to think rightly. His death is great, we'll all agree. Since it was substitutionary, it had to be limited. Now, number three, everyone limits the atonement.
Number three, everyone limits the atonement. That's why I don't like the words limited and unlimited, because everybody, no matter what you believe, limits the atonement. The person that says Jesus dies for the bride only, the elect only, he limits the extent of the atonement for how many people.
It's not everybody, it's limited to a smaller group. That's limited atonement. But the person who thinks that Jesus dies for each and every person, he limits the power of Christ's death. She limits the effectual nature of Christ's death, because Jesus now is dying for people who don't go to heaven.
You will either deny the atonement qualitatively or quantitatively. Qualitatively, Jesus dies for people that don't go to heaven. Quantitatively, He doesn't die for each and every person. Everyone limits the atonement.
The Arminian says Jesus died for people, and He didn't really save them. They're not actually saved. They're possible to be saved, waiting to cooperate, and the person who believes in limited atonement says He died for people, and He effectuated salvation.
B .B. Warfield said, the things we have to choose between are an atonement of high value or an atonement of wide extension. The two cannot go together. Everyone limits the atonement, I guess except for the Universalist.
The Universalist teaches that each and every person whoever lived will go to heaven. Even if you say to me, Mike, I think He died for each and every person, you limit the atonement by its application, don't you?
You realize not everybody goes to heaven. You realize people go to hell, and you would realize the application of Christ's death is limited. Even the unlimited person, the person that says, you know what, Jesus died for everybody.
Everybody means everybody. All means all. The world means all. Well, you have a limit to it because it's not applied to everyone. Spurgeon, we are often told that we limit the atonement of Christ because we say Christ has not made satisfaction for all men, or all men would be saved.
Now our reply is this. On the other hand, our opponents limit it. We do not. Arminians say Christ died for all men. Ask them what they mean by it. Did Christ die so to as secure the salvation of all men?
They say, no, certainly not. We ask them the next question. Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of any man in particular? They say, no. They are obliged to admit this if they are consistent. They say, no, Christ has died so that any man be saved if, and then follow certain conditions of salvation.
We say then, we will just go back to the old statement. Christ did not die so as, beyond a doubt, to secure the salvation of anybody, did he? You must say no. Now Spurgeon says, now who is it that limits the death of Christ?
Why you. We say Christ so died that he infallibly secured his salvation of a multitude that no man can number. You are welcome to your atonement. You may keep it. We will never renounce ours for the sake of yours.
So I don't like the words limited atonement and unlimited. I like words like a particular redemption. Jesus redeemed a particular people. I like it when we say Jesus had a definite atonement. He definitely died for some people.
I like to use the word personal. It was a personal atonement. He died for particular people. How do we think about this great event? So we don't do revisionist history. Number one, remember Christ atonement is of great value.
Two, it was substitutionary. Three, everyone limits it, and now we come to the big one. Number four, there are small waves on the beach, and then there's the Mavericks wave in Northern California. How many people here have surfed Mavericks?
That's what I have. Who surfs Mavericks and lives? Not many people. Did you know the Mavericks wave is so big in the winter? 60-foot wave, when it smashes and crashes down in Northern California, you can measure it on a Richter scale.
This is the Maverick wave. When you're saying, you know, I grew up, Jesus died for the world, I thought that meant every person, each and every person, and I don't really want to think about Goliath and Judas and these other people, but I'm confronted with this fact.
I don't know what to do. This is the one that's the Maverick wave that comes upon you. The purpose of God limits the atonement. You've got to remember that, and please turn your Bible to John 6. We're just going to survey John a little bit.
Pastor Steve has been preaching through John, so some of this will be a recap. We're going to look at three particular passages in John that will show you the plan of God limits the atonement. The purpose of God limits the atonement.
The design of God limits the atonement. Nobody comes up with, like, I'm going to just start the universe and have no plan. There's a plan. There's a decree. There's a working out of the divine mind. And if God intended for every person to be saved in His plan, friends, they'll be saved.
If He didn't design it, then that's His prerogative. Only the intention of God could ever limit the atonement. Was it God's intention to save each and every person who's ever been born? And friends, if you say yes, I tell you, I think that shows God's a failure.
God dies for people. They don't make it. If God dies for people and secures their salvation and it's all the plan of God, I know the Bible teaches that, in fact, these people will be in heaven. Well, let's see what Jesus says.
John 6. We're going to look at three passages, John 6, John 10, and John 17, thinking about what's the purpose of Jesus' coming. Did Jesus die to make people potentially saved? All they have to do is now believe.
Or did He die to redeem sinners? And if you're thinking, you know, Mike, I don't like where this is going. Friends, once you just kind of give in to this and say, God gets His man, God gets His woman, God gets His boy or girl, you're going to think with a better thought about the greatness of the atonement.
John 6. Verse 37. Jesus came to rescue who? To whom did He rescue? All that the Father gives Me will come to Me. Verse 37. And whoever comes to Me, I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me, but raise it up on the last day. This is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day.
Do you notice there in verse 39, I shall lose nothing? I mean, to me, friends, isn't it inconceivable to think that the Father said in eternity past, we'll choose some and not all? The Spirit of God in time regenerates those same some and not all, and yet the Son comes and says, by the way, I know you chose the some and not the all, the regeneration power of the some and not all, the Spirit will do, but I will go above and beyond.
I'm not going to die for the people only that you gave Me, I'll die for everyone else as well. Really? And then if He dies for someone and loses them on that day, what does it say about the power of God?
Did not Jesus say, I should lose nothing of all that He has given Me? And if the Father says, go redeem each and every person who has ever been born, that was God's prerogative to do, and Jesus would have done it, but it did not happen.
And of course, before we think too far, we should be saying, nobody deserved it anyway, this is all the grace of God to go rescue. God could save all, some, or none, and still be just as righteous. John chapter 10, please.
Thinking rightly about the atonement. I think too often we hear words like world and all or everyone, and we forget there's a Jew-Gentile difference. Jesus doesn't just come to save the Gentiles, excuse me, the Jews, He saves Gentiles too.
We'll probably learn about it next time when we're here. For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. What do you mean world? Who's the world? John chapter 4 tells us who the world is. It's Samaritans as well.
God doesn't just save Jews, He also saves Gentiles. And by the way, that's the way you should... Here's my side sermon. There's one race in America. And when you are taught to think there are two races, five races, six races, you are abandoning Scripture.
There's one race in Scripture, and it's the human race. And you're either in Adam, or you are in Christ. The second you begin to think, well, white, black, brown, yellow, all these different things, you are stepping outside of biblical categories, and frankly you're causing trouble because Jesus dies not just for Jews, but for Gentiles.
And I'm not a very good... I don't have great perception of looking at a person saying, you're not Jewish, you look like a Gentile, but from my perception up here, you pretty much look like Gentiles to me.
I'm probably wrong on some of you. We live in this world where all has to mean all, and everyone has to mean everyone, and the world has to mean every person in the world, when those words aren't correct when you think about them biblically.
What did Jesus do? What was His intention? John 10, 10. The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy. I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly. I'm the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the goats.
Sorry, did that say that? He lays down His life for the wolves. He lays down His life for the sheep. Verse 14, I'm the Good Shepherd, I know my own, and my own know me. Even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father, I lay down my life for...
This is limited atonement, limited to the people that the Father has given Him, for the sheep. Verse 26, but you do not believe me because you are not of my sheep. That's fascinating. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give eternal life, verse 28, to them.
They'll never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. That is called particular redemption.
That is called definite atonement. That is called the Father gives the sum and not the all, and the Son says, I will rescue the sum and not the all. The others are hirelings and thieves, wolves. I'm going to lay down my life in a special way.
Chapter 17, please. Did Jesus die for each and every person? I know what you're thinking. You're thinking maybe yes. Well, then why aren't they in heaven? Well, isn't faith, a lack of faith, sin? We'll get to that.
But now John 17. What's the intention? What's the purpose? If you say to yourself, the purpose of God is to rescue just the sum, this will be easier for you to take. By the way, if you can't take what I'm saying today, Pastor Steve will clean it up next week when I'm in California.
I hope my keys work. This isn't working. We're not splitting the church over limited, unlimited. To a man, the elder board is limited. But I know men who are unlimited. And, you know, we have to be patient with them.
They'll come along eventually. But seriously, there are unlimited and limited. And if you're grappling with this truth, all I have ever heard in my entire life is Jesus dies for each and every person.
Well, we want to be patient with you and want to show you. I want to try to convince you to think rightly about the atonement. We're not starting two camps in the church. Verse 1 of chapter 17. When Jesus had spoken these words, remember, we're asking the question, what's the purpose of the atonement?
Why did Jesus come? He lifted his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son that the son may glorify you. Since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
And this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorify you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. He did not say, I made it possible.
I procured it all, and now it's up to them. Father said, you go rescue the bride, and the son says, Father, I would love to go do that. And here, close to death, Jesus prays, you have given me these, and given me the authority to give them eternal life.
We could go elsewhere, but the Bible explicitly says Jesus dies for the many, Isaiah 53. The children of God, John 11. Those given him by the Father we've just seen. His church, Acts 20. His bride, Ephesians 5.
Many sons, Hebrews 2. His brethren, Hebrews 2. The seed of Abraham, Hebrews 2. The people, Hebrews 2. His friends, John 15. His sheep, John 10. Us, Titus chapter 2. If God wanted you to think that Jesus dies for each and every person, then why would he use all those words?
The many, the few, the sheep, not the goats. Jesus' death was not an accident. It wasn't random. Jesus' suffering was not unplanned. This man, Jesus, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross.
I have a question for you. Does God have the right to say, I will send Jesus to ransom some only? Does God have the right to say, I will not send Jesus? Does God have the right to say, I'll send Jesus to ransom every person?
And we have to say, God has the right to do whatever he wants. Reminds me of Job when he had all those questions for the Lord. The Lord said to Job now, Shall a fault finder contend with the Almighty?
He who argues with God, let him answer it. The atonement is limited in purpose and in application. And if we don't like it, well, we submit anyway. Canons of Dort, section 2, article 8,. For it was the entirely free plan and very gracious will and intention of God the Father that the enlivening and savening effectiveness of his son's costly death should work itself out in all his chosen ones.
If God wants to save people by sending Jesus to die for them and they don't get into heaven, then God doesn't have the power to save them? How could we talk that way? How could we say those kind of things?
Every rational being except Dr. Frankenstein has a plan on what to do. And God's plan in eternity past was to send Jesus to go rescue the sheep. And the work of God is never in vain. Turn to Hebrews 10, it's our final passage for today, Hebrews chapter 10.
What about the plan of God? Was Jesus' plan to go rescue the some and not the all? Or was it to rescue the all? Was it to make everyone possibly saved? To create a level playing field and now the ball's in your court?
What was Jesus actually doing? And since it'll be 10 years before we get to Hebrews 10, I thought we'd try a little bit now. I'm loving the book of Hebrews. We'll even see next time just the Old Testament passages that they bring forth.
I get to know the Old Testament. As I'm studying the New Testament, I'm thinking this is the best. I don't know how long I'll live, but if I die preaching Hebrews, I'll be a happy man. In the old days, by the way, when people really loved their pastors, they buried them under the pulpit.
You don't have to do that. There's like a little leach field in the back. I'd be really happy. Leach field. And you take a little walk, you know. The little kids, the four-year-old kids, they hold the ropes, you know, for Sunday school and they follow the teacher.
And you go past the leach field and you say, Pastor Mike's there in the leach field. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. God has a plan. And that plan is going to come about. You say, yes, but it's just difficult.
I think only... I'm going to try to be gracious, but I think it's only our man-centeredness that pushes against it. It's only our background that pushes against it. Some of us have been taught a certain way our entire lives.
That pushes against it. It could be one of those three or none of those three. But it's difficult. Here, you ask yourself the question, Hebrews 10 .5, why did Jesus show up? What was his purpose? I think it'll be easier for you to understand then that Jesus only died for the elect.
Consequently, Hebrews 10 .5, when Christ came into the world, he said, this is Jewish expression here, when Jesus came into the world, when he was born. By the way, what did you say when you were born?
I mean, Jesus is the eternal son. And now he's on the mission. And what's the mission? To be our representative, to be our substitute. He's got to be human to do that. Sacrifices, verse 6. And offerings.
Don't you love to eavesdrop between the father and the son? That's like my best thing in life. What's the father and the son talking about? Inquiring minds would like to know. Eavesdropping, you know, you're kind of on your tiptoes thinking, what did they say again?
And by the way, I am so deaf these days, I don't know how many times I say it to my wife and kids, what did you say? Can't hear you? We don't have to worry about how we hear things because it's right there recorded for us by the author.
Eavesdropping between the father and the son. The son says to the father, upon his entry into the world, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. You don't want animal sacrifices anymore, father. Those were all pictures pointing to something.
Here's the real sacrifice. The sacrifice where I add humanity so I can die on behalf of sinners. A body is needed because I have to perfectly obey as a man. A body is needed because I have to die for my people.
A body is needed because it has to be a perfect sacrifice without spot, without blemish, without sin. I need a body to atone for the sins of all those you will give me. And the question you should be asking is this, when did the father give the son people to go rescue?
Was that when Christ came into the world? Was that when the Spirit of God descended like a dove at the inauguration of Jesus' ministry? Was that at the transfiguration? This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.
Was that on the cross? I mean, really, why you've got a thief and a thief and Jesus they treat like a thief. Jesus' death is great enough to save both. Isn't it? Of course. Neither of them deserved it.
Of course. Why was one saved and the other not saved? And if the answer for you is in the will of the thief that repented and the mind of the thief that believed, if it's found in him, you've missed it.
The cause of salvation is God alone. How did that particular one repent and believe? It's because it's all the plan of God. Most of the church here, we would get unconditional election. God did not look down the corridors of time.
By the way, what is a corridor of time? It sounds cool, but I don't know. In my mind, I think it's some kind of wormhole effect, black hole kind of strange thing going on. Look down the corridors of time.
That thief will believe, so I'll choose him. That's not the God-centered way. God said, Son, I want you to go rescue the elect. And upon Jesus entering into the earth, into the atmosphere, as it were, through his mother, the Virgin Mary, he had a plan to rescue each person, including that particular thief.
In eternity past, in the eternal covenant of redemption, the father gave the son the bride and said, Go rescue the bride. It was all planned. You say, well, what does this mean? It means that if you are evangelizing someone, the power for them to repent and believe, friends, isn't within their own self.
We know if God is going to have his son die for the person, they are going to get saved. If God gives Christ equality to die for all men, Christ's death isn't powerful to save them. We wouldn't want to say that.
We don't want to go there. I said I wasn't going to... This was the last passage, but I'm going to go to one more. Turn to Romans chapter 8, please, just quickly. I think I want to end it here instead.
If somebody gives you the greatest gift, will they give you the lesser gift? I think the answer is yes, especially when we're dealing with Romans chapter 8. How is God actually for us? To what extent is God for us?
Romans 8, 32. Isn't this one of those verses you just lay your head down on the pillow at night thinking I'm thankful for this? Romans 8, 32. He who did not spare, we're talking about withholding. This is the language of Abraham sparing Isaac in Genesis 22.
This is talking about the death of Christ. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all. And you say, see, all means all. He delivered him up for every person, for us all. How will He not also with him freely give us all things?
God gives the greatest gift. He gives all the lesser gifts. Is that true of the unbeliever who dies without Christ? God gives him the death of Christ, and He gives that unbeliever the Spirit of God, illumination for the Word of God.
He gives him intercessory prayer. He gives him glorification. The answer is no. If Jesus dies for you, you get Jesus and everything else. And if Jesus doesn't die for you, you don't get Jesus and you don't get everything else.
Look at the passage again. Romans 8. How will He not also with Him freely give us all things? If Jesus dies for you, you get everything. Every blessing of election, every blessing of salvation, every blessing of sanctification, perfect bodies, faith, heaven, assurance.
Every other blessing flows from the death of Christ by necessity. R .L. Dabney, quote, Christ's sacrifice is purchased and provided for the effectual calling of the elect with all the graces which ensure their faith, repentance, justification, perseverance, and glorification.
And friends, that isn't true for people that go to hell. So therefore, Jesus could not have died for them. There's a link between Jesus' death and the gift of everything else He gives to believers. So maybe that's the best way to encourage you as we leave.
Jesus died for you. You're believing in the Lord's death for you. He died for you. You get everything else besides the death of Jesus. Everything else. And if He didn't die for you, you wouldn't want it any other way, would you?
No unbeliever says, by the way, I want all the benefits of Christ. I want all these things. I want to love Jesus, but I just can't. There are a lot of wonderful things in this world, great events, but the greatest event in the world is the death of Jesus.
And it is great because of the value of Jesus and His person. And it is great because every single person that Jesus dies for believes. More next time, let's pray. Thank you, Father, for today. I praise you that we have such a great Savior.
I pray for those here who would readily admit Jesus died for the elect. Father, we didn't come up with this on our own. It's not some hidden secret. It was all your revealing. And there are other people here, I'm sure, Father, who think, well, wait a second.
God so loved the world. What about that? And other verses. I just pray as we work through it, you would help every one of us to be biblical, to think rightly about the atonement. The most important event in the world is something we should all strive for, to think that out of grace your Son tasted death.
We thank you for that. And, Father, it is worth singing about. In Jesus' name, amen.