The Full Atonement – Part 2
Selected Scriptures
August 6, 2017
I know you are typically used to a verse that we are going to walk through, but tonight I just want to sort of follow up again on what we were talking about two weeks ago. And to do that we are going to look at a lot of different scriptures, not just one in particular.
Let’s pray to get started…
As you know we are working through those 5 SOLAS of the Reformation
And we have been spending a great amount of time on SOLA GRATIA
It is the belief that we are saved By Grace Alone.
Not Grace A lot, but Grace Alone.
We believe salvation to be a totally monergistic effort (the work of one)
It is not a synergistic effort (a cooperative work)
God saves us.
And of course we’ve talked about several issue here already.
We’ve looked at ABSOLUTE INABILITY, which reveals WHY salvation must be a monergistic effort.
Namely because man can’t choose God and even if he could, he wouldn’t.
He is dead in sin as a result of the fall and there is none who seeks for God,
Not even one.
We’ve looked at SOVEREIGN ELECTION, which reveals that in spite of our wickedness God has chosen His elect to be saved according to His own free will.
It is not that God is picking some and excluding others,
It is simply that none would come if God didn’t choose to save some,
And by His grace, that is exactly what He has done.
We’ve looked at EFFECTIVE CALL, which reveals that God does not save sinners against their will.
That is to say that He does not drag them kicking and screaming into heaven,
But rather God first changes their will and causes them to desire Him
So that when He calls they always respond.
And two weeks ago we looked FULL ATONEMENT.
I call it full atonement because on the cross Jesus provided an absolutely full atonement for the elect.
It is often referred to as LIMITED ATONEMENT
(because it is limited only to the elect)
And of course this is a highly debated topic.
The reality is that the atonement is certainly limited.
We know that because not everyone goes to heaven.
Hell is full of people whose sin has not been atoned for.
Revelation 21:7-8 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Revelation 22:14-15 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”
Obviously these people are in hell because of their sin.
Their sin is even listed.
They are cowardly and unbelieving and immoral and sorcerers and murderers and idolaters and liars.
And these people who have committed such sins
And who have not had their sins atoned for by Christ
Will go to hell and pay for those sins for all eternity.
Paul said:
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”
It is clear there that people who commit sin go to hell and pay for that sin.
People who are fornicators and idolaters and adulterers and effeminate and homosexuals and thieves and covetous and drunkards and revilers and swindlers.
These people go to hell
Where they suffer God’s wrath on their sin for all eternity.
The difference for the redeemed is that they have been washed and sanctified and justified through the atonement of Christ.
Christ paid for their sin
So that they will not have to pay for it themselves in hell.
Even Jesus said to the Pharisees:
John 8:24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
People who go to hell do so because their sin has not been atoned for.
They then die in their sins and pay the penalty for that sin for all eternity.
And the point to that of course is to reiterate the fact that
THE ATONEMENT IS ABSOLUTELY LIMITED.
Not all people are saved.
Not all people go to heaven.
The questions we have to ask are these:
• HOW IS IT LIMITED?
• WHO LIMITED IT?
Last week I told you of the CURRENT VIEW regarding the atonement.
It is quite popular to say today that CHRIST DIED FOR EVERYBODY.
• They like to say that Christ already paid the sin debt for every single person.
• They like to say that the atonement of Christ is absolutely unlimited as to its
extent; it is for everyone.
• That when Christ died on the cross He paid for the sins of every human being
who has ever lived.
And that sounds good,
Especially if you refuse to think about it a little deeper.
The problem with that is this:
Not everyone who Christ died for then goes to heaven.
Under that view you have Christ paying for everyone’s sin,
But whatever He did wasn’t enough to keep them out of hell
Since most people that He died for are still going there.
That is to believe that
On the cross Jesus paid in full the sin debt of all men and satisfied God’s wrath on all men who are still in hell paying that debt and suffering under God’s wrath.
And it forces you to ask the question:
THEN WHAT DID CHRIST ACTUALLY DO ON THE CROSS?
And under that view, you have to say:
“Well, actually, He didn’t do anything”
In fact, He did the exact same thing
For people in heaven as He did for people in hell.
What they are really believing in is a POTENTIAL ATONEMENT.
That Christ potentially died for all men, but He actually died for no one.
Their atonement is limited, and it is limited as to its effect.
What Christ did is not effective until the sinner chooses to activate the atonement to their account.
SO… (Are you ready for this?)
Under that view, the atonement is limited as to its effect
And it is limited by the will of the sinner.
Under that view, sinners decide who partakes in the atonement.
So it is sinners who limit the effect of the atonement.
• Under that view we have a multitude of sinners who render the atonement of Christ null and void because they refuse to accept it.
• The death of Christ is rendered powerless on their behalf because they don’t choose to make it powerful.
And friend that is a disturbing notion…
That salvation would be up to the will of the sinner.
Because we have already learned that
“There is none who seeks for God, not even one.”
If salvation is up to the sinner then no one is going to be saved because no one is going to choose God apart from God’s divine intervention.
TRUST ME: You don’t want any aspect of salvation dependent upon the will of the sinner.
• You don’t want election up to the sinner…
• You don’t want the response up to the sinner…
• You don’t want atonement up to the sinner…
• You don’t want security up to the sinner…
If it is, then it won’t happen because the sinner will always choose sin.
If salvation hinges upon the cooperation of the sinner
Then the sinner is in a world of hurt.
But what we believe and WHAT SCRIPTURE TEACHES is that
It is not up to the will of the sinner, it is up to the will of Holy God.
• He elects
• He causes the response
• He atones
• He secures
We believe that all of salvation is by grace alone, even the atonement.
We believe the atonement is also limited (since people are in hell)
But we believe it is limited to its extent, not its effect.
We don’t believe that Jesus paid the debt for every single human,
But we do believe that those humans for whom He did pay the debt,
He totally paid it.
This we saw in passages like:
Isaiah 53:11-12 “As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”
Matthew 26:27-28 “And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”
Hebrews 9:28 “so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”
Christ didn’t potentially die for everyone, He actually died for the elect.
On the cross He actually and totally and finally
Paid for all the sin of the Redeemed.
We don’t believe there was anything potential about what happened there.
• We heard Christ say, “It is finished!”
And we even saw that as we looked briefly at the crucifixion account.
• We saw that on the cross Jesus was actually bearing the wrath of God.
• We saw that on the cross Jesus was actually separated from the Father.
• We saw that on the cross atonement was actually being made.
There was nothing potential about it.
Jesus did it.
He certainly did not pay for everyone’s sin on that day
(Or else no one would go to hell,)
But for those whose sins He did pay for, He paid them in full.
SO WE SAY the atonement is limited as to its extent, but absolutely unlimited as to its effect.
Our question then is the same as the others.
WHO LIMITED IT?
And the only possible answer here is: GOD LIMITED IT.
God limited who the atonement would reach to,
He’s the only One who could have done it.
And I’ll be honest, I find much more comfort there
Than I do with some notion that sinners
Are limiting the atonement by their own will.
That idea really causes me to question how powerful the atonement was
If it can be so easily nullified by willful sinners.
On the cross Jesus fully atoned for
All those whom God chose to redeem.
And look, I’m well aware that
THAT PUSHES OUR TOLERANCES RIGHT OUT TO THE MAX.
I’m aware that this is difficult for many to wrap their minds around.
I’m also aware that if this is the first time you’ve come across this doctrine
That there are probably a host of verses that popped into your head that you’d like dealt with.
And because I certainly want to be exhaustive
I thought tonight we’d hit this topic again
With the idea of addressing some of those passages.
I know the words that we need to deal with are the word “WORLD”
Like in:
John 1:29 “The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
And we have to address the word “ALL”
Like in:
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”
So let’s look at some of those.
We’ll start with the idea that Christ died for the whole WORLD
Now, in order to grasp what the Bible writers are saying
I have to remind you of the Jewish mindset of the day.
And what I want you to understand is the absolute racism of the Jews.
• They hated Gentiles
• They hated Samaritans
• They hated Romans
• They hated Greeks
• They hated Barbarians
They did not at all see them as common heirs of the kingdom of God.
If you’ve read through the book of Acts,
It is impossible to miss the tension that quickly arises
When Gentiles start believing.
We could read Acts 10 and see
• Peter’s hesitancy to even go to Cornelius’ house,
• The half-hearted gospel presentation Peter gave,
• Peter’s amazement when God did the unthinkable by giving these Gentiles the Holy Spirit.
When you come to Acts 11
• Peter is actually in trouble for going to Cornelius’ house to begin with and is left having to defend himself.
And then of course we find the tension that arises
Regarding how much of the Law these Gentiles should have to follow.
Some demanded full adherence starting with circumcision
And that is what prompted the meeting of the Jerusalem council
In Acts 15 and such letters like the letter to the Galatians.
IT WAS A HARD TIME.
Jews had a very difficult time understanding that
Gentiles could be common recipients of the grace of God.
In fact, Paul calls that reality a mystery.
Colossians 1:26-27 “that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Ephesians 2:11-19 “Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called ” Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands — remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,”
Jews just didn’t think Gentiles would be or could be saved.
It was a massive stumbling block for them.
And that is what is being addressed most of the time
When you see the word “world” being used.
It is simply the New Testament writer’s way of indicating that Jesus is not just the Savior of Israel,
But also the Savior of the world.
It DOES NOT INDICATE that He is going to save everyone in the world (obviously the Bible doesn’t teach that)
But that He is a Savior for MORE THAN JUST ISRAEL.
Jesus will save people from every tribe and nation and tongue.
He is the world’s Savior.
Let’s look at some:
TURN TO: JOHN 1
You read it first there in verse 9;
“There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”
Obviously there “world” simply means the scope of humanity.
Christ came into the human realm, that’s all it means.
You keep reading and you find that He did not come to save the whole world, but rather only those who would receive Him.
(Read 10-13)
It wasn’t everyone He saved, but only those who received Him
(and we know why they received Him; because they were chosen)
And these are the ones who received the right to become children of God.
You see it again in verse 29;
“Then next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
And all you have to do is use your brain a second.
If Jesus did what so many imply here; namely that He atoned for the world, then what does this verse teach?
If He did in fact take away the sin of the whole world then what would be the effect of that?
• Everyone would be saved.
• There would be no hell
• There would be no condemnation
• There would be no judgment
Obviously the Bible doesn’t teach that.
No, John is not indicating that Jesus took away everyone’s sin,
He is merely making the point that
Jesus is the Savior for the whole entire world.
TURN OVER TO CHAPTER 3.
And of course you are familiar with verse 16.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
People jump on that again and say, “See, God loves the whole world!”
But what does “world” mean?
It simply means the scope of humanity.
Certainly God has shown love to humanity, to the whole world.
He did in fact send His Son into this world, that was an act of love.
But that passage DOES NOT INDICATE
That Jesus somehow paid the sin debt for every single human.
In fact, we see in this verse exactly who the atonement was limited to.
Who in this passage is being saved? “whoever believes”
See, the forgiveness and atonement of Christ is limited to believers.
It is limited to the elect.
TURN OVER TO CHAPTER 4
Jesus has the conversation with the Woman At The Well and she goes home and tells everyone in the city about Him.
And we read in verse 42, “and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”
If you take that to mean that He is saving everyone in the world then you have a bigger question to answer, which is:
Why are they still going to hell?
The reality is that these are simply statements which John used
To break Jewish racism and reveal that
Jesus is a Savior to more than just Israel.
TURN OVER TO CHAPTER 12
Jesus has raised Lazarus and He is at the height of His popularity. Everyone wants to see this Jesus, and look at the response of the Pharisees.
(19) “So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.”
Certainly that doesn’t mean every person in the world.
It’s just a statement to indicate
The scope of Jesus’ ministry and popularity at the time.
Just because you read verses that talk about Jesus saving the world,
You certainly understand that if that were true in a universal sense
Then no one would go to hell.
What it is really saying is simply that Jesus is the world’s Savior
And not just that of Israel.
Let me GIVE YOU ONE MORE, and one that was a big question for me when I first heard this doctrine.
TURN TO: 1 John 2:1-2
Now that can be read to sound very much like Jesus died for everyone,
But you really need to wait a second and understand what John is saying.
Definitely there is that same notion of addressing racism where John is indicating that Jesus is more than just a Jewish Savior, but literally a Savior to the world.
But there is even another important clue in this passage
That must be noticed.
John says that Jesus is “the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only but also for hose of the whole world.”
“propitiation” is a very strong word.
It means “appeasement” or “satisfaction”
If John is saying that Jesus did in fact die for the whole world
Then He is saying that Jesus actually fully satisfied
God’s wrath toward the whole world.
But we know Jesus did not do that because so many still go to hell.
This word “propitiation” is not a potential word, it is an actual word.
Whoever John is referring to here have no more wrath on them at all
Because Jesus has fully placated the Father.
You can read that verse flippantly, “See Jesus died for the whole world!”
But if you’ll be responsible and think it through
You quickly see that this is not at all what John is saying.
John is again merely revealing that Jesus is a Savior for the world
And not just Israel.
And I’m sure there are other uses of the word “WORLD”
But I think you’re getting the point.
Another word that seems to give people fits is the word “all”
The idea that Jesus died for “all”,
Indicating that He must have died for every single human.
But again, I need you to tap the breaks.
You and I know that the word “all” doesn’t always mean “all”
“I went to church and they all laughed at me” – well not everyone in the world and probably not even everyone in the church, it’s just a phrase that means there was an overwhelming response.
You always have to be careful about strictly applying “all” to everyone.
But let’s look at some.
TURN TO ROMANS 5
We already looked at this passage a couple of weeks ago when we talked about the absolute inability of man.
And we learned the overwhelming point of the passage is that
Paul is explaining how 1 man’s actions can affect everyone else.
He is trying to explain how Jesus can make you righteous
And in order to do that he first explains how Adam first made you sinful.
It is an analogy.
But people read verse 18 and try to push it beyond it’s intent.
Look at verse 18, “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.”
Now there many would say
“See! It’s for all men. What Adam did was for all so what Jesus did was for all.”
And that’s not true.
Adam’s transgression did not affect all men.
It affected all but one.
Who was the one that it did not affect?
Jesus, because He was not born of Adam, He was born of a virgin.
But what that does mean is that Adam’s transgression
Affected all who came from Adam.
And that understanding fits perfectly for we realize that
Just as Adam affected all who came from him,
SO ALSO DID JESUS AFFECT ALL WHO CAME FROM HIM.
And to make sure that you don’t push the “all” concept too far beyond what is intended, look at what Paul does in verse 19.
“For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”
See how careful Paul is there
To make sure you don’t misunderstand the point?
He is not preaching some sort of universal atonement.
TURN TO: 2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-15
And again people focus in on the “all” there, but look at it closer.
Paul says that “one died for all, therefore all died”
Now let me ask you, who is “all” in that passage?
The “all” He died for is the same “all” who “died”
He is talking about believers.
That verse isn’t talking about all humanity,
It is talking about all believers.
(15) “and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”
You just can’t push those words too far or else you end up with the doctrine of universalism, which the Bible does not teach.
The reality is that
• Christ came and actually atoned for all believers,
• And those believers were more than just Jews, they were people from
the whole world.
• And when He died He actually atoned for them, it wasn’t potential.
And it is important that you understand that
So that you won’t go around thinking that
The atonement someone was the result of your own efforts.
That you are saved because Jesus died
AND
You activated it by accepting it.
We are talking about salvation by grace alone.
Jesus did it all, you didn’t contribute anything
Except the sin that made it necessary.
Salvation is totally God’s doing.
Titus 3:4-7 “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
So we say that the atonement was absolutely limited as to its extent,
But it is totally unlimited as to its effect.
And let me tell you another reason this is so important.
IT ABSOLUTELY CHANGES YOUR PERSPECTIVE IN EVANGELISM
(I’ve got on my list to talk about how evangelism fits in all this later,
But I can hit you briefly with it here.)
One of the main objections to these Doctrines of Grace
Is that it kills evangelism.
I mean, after all, if God has already chosen then why bother?
Well, first of all, because we are commanded to.
• The Great Commission is the command of God to every believer.
• We are absolutely to go and share the gospel with this entire world.
And let me hit you one better.
Every single person you share the gospel with
Is receiving a 100% valid offer.
If you are looking at it like: “Well, I’m sharing with you, but it might be in vain because you might not even be chosen” then you are totally misunderstanding.
You can pick any sinner in the world and approach them
And tell them that if they will repent and believe in Christ
They will be saved, and that is a 100% true offer.
I mean even Jesus gave that offer, over and over and over.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden…”
What we have learned is that the only people who will respond are those whom God performs a supernatural work in their heart.
But let me also remind you of this important thing.
Chosen or not chosen; Elect or not elect
NO ONE WILL COME APART FROM HEARING THE GOSPEL.
The gospel is the means through which God calls out His elect.
And so we go and we share the gospel relentlessly with the lost,
Offering salvation to every person on the planet
And trusting that God will use that gospel to save His elect.
WHAT DOES THAT DO FOR YOUR EVANGELISM?
It totally takes the pressure off.
Aren’t you glad to know that salvation is not up to the will of the sinner?
If it were, then people who reject the gospel
Do so because you weren’t persuasive enough.
And that’s why people don’t want to share the gospel.
• “What if I mess it up?”
• “What if I’m not good enough?”
And that’s why people always want to go get the preacher to do it because they somehow assume the preacher is better at it and will be more effective.
But evangelism is NOT the art of convincing sinners to accept Christ.
If that were evangelism, no one could do it.
Evangelism is merely the commitment
To preach the gospel to all of Creation.
And if people respond – Glory to God, He did it.
And if people don’t respond – don’t be surprised, sinners never will.
This doesn’t nullify evangelism it merely gives us
The proper perspective when we evangelize.
Here is a passage with a beautiful balance.
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Again, don’t get caught up on the word “world” there, we’ve already talked about that.
But who does this verse say is doing the “reconciling”? Christ is.
What is our job? “the word of reconciliation”
Christ is saving, we are merely out there proclaiming His salvation.
And so, how should we go forward with this?
“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
Should we really beg sinners to be saved?
ABSOLUTELY!
Paul knew all about election and limited atonement and all those things,
But he also knew his role in the whole process.
His role was to preach the gospel to all creation
So that God could use that gospel to draw out His elect.
Romans 1:14-16 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
That is us, unashamed of the gospel and committed to preaching it.
It’s just that we know that those who are saved
Are not saved because we were convincing or manipulative.
They were saved because of God’s GRACE ALONE
The only reason they are saved is because God chose them, called them, and atoned for them apart from any work on their part.
And we rest in the fact that as we go and share the gospel with all creation
That as many as have been appointed to eternal life will believe.
