TULIP: Limited Atonement - Christ Died To Save Us
John 10:11-21
INTRODUCTION: I remind you about what we have seen of grace
in the last two weeks. We use the
acrostic TULIP to summarize these foundation teachings of the Scripture about
the nature of God's mercy and grace. The
"T" stands for total depravity.
Man is ruined spiritually by sin and has lost natural ability to do
anything purely good in the eyes of God.
Man is corrupt and can not save himself.
Therefore, as we saw last week, God took the initiative to save us by
making a choice in eternity past, before the foundation of the world. God elected certain ones to everlasting life,
and he predestinated them to salvation.
We come to the "L" in the TULIP this morning. The "L" stands for LIMITED ATONEMENT.
THESIS: There is a particular design in the saving
work of Christ limited to those elected before the foundation of the world.
TEXT
·
Here is an allegory which the Lord Jesus uses to confront the blind
Pharisees following the healing of the man born blind.
·
Jesus is probably rooting his allegory on what the prophet said in -
Ezekiel 34:2 "Son of man,
prophesy against the shepherds of
·
Notice Jesus' claim -
Greek, ""I am the shepherd, the good one..."
·
The word for good is not…agathos in Greek
which means moral quality
·
The word is kalos which means total
beauty and loveliness
·
, "I am The Shepherd...I am the preeminent, excellent, lovely,
beautiful one."
·
THE CONTRAST HERE IS WITH THE SHEPHERD OR PASTOR - THE PERFECT AND REAL
ONE VERSES THE HIRED HAND - A FAKE…
·
HERE IS A WORD TO ANY WHO WOULD BE PASTORS…THE GREATEST INSULT YOU CAN
MAKE IS TO SUGGEST THEY ARE ONLY IN IT FOR THE PAY - THE MONEY!!!
·
IF A PASTOR OR SHEPHERD LOST A SHEEP HE HAD BETTER HAVE EVIDENCE THAT
HE WAS WILLING TO GO TO THE WALL TO SAVE IT..
·
Amos 3:12
Thus says the Lord, "Just as
the shepherd snatches from the lion's mouth a couple of legs or a piece of an
ear, So will the sons of Israel dwelling in Samaria be snatched away--With the corner of a bed and the cover of a couch!
·
Exodus
·
IT IS A REAL SHEPHERDS DUTY TO GIVE HIS LIFE FOR THE SHEEP…
·
Here we see the
specific design of the death of Christ- a dying for the (HIS) sheep.
·
In the context the
Jews, who, not being his sheep, do not accept him, “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep”
(John
·
John 15:13, “Greater
love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends.”
·
Acts
·
Ephesians 5:25 the
Apostle names the Church as the object for which Christ died, “Husbands love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it.”
·
John 17:19-20 "And for
their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves
also may be sanctified in truth. [20] "I do not ask in behalf of these
alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; [NASB]
·
John 17:9 I pray for them: I
pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. [KJV]
·
Heb. 9:28: "so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the
sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to
sin, to those who eagerly await Him."
THESIS: There is a particular design in the saving
work of Christ limited to those elected before the foundation of the world.
JOHN OWEN WRITES:
The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for, either:
All the sins of all men. why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins? You answer, "Because of unbelief." I ask, Is this unbelief a sin, or is it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!"
Some of the sins of all men. all men have some sins to
answer for, and so, none are saved.
All the sins of some men, in their stead suffered
for all the sins of all the elect in the whole world, THIS IS THE BIBLICAL POSITION…
1. Christ's
atonement is sufficient for all. Christ's death is sufficient to atone for the
whole race of fallen Adam, whatever may be the number….
"All
Calvinists agree that Christ's obedience and suffering were of infinite value,
and that if God had so willed, the satisfaction rendered by Christ would have
waved every member of the human race. It would have required no more obedience,
nor any greater suffering for Christ to have secured salvation for every man,
woman, and child who ever lived that it did for Him to secure salvation for the
elect only. But He came into the world to represent and to save only those
given to Him by the Father. Thus Christ's saving work was limited in that it
was designed to save some and not others, but it was not limited in value for
it was of infinite worth and would have secured salvation for everyone if this
had been God's intention" (THE FIVE POINTS OF CALVINISM, P.39, paragraph 3).
2. CHRIST'S DEATH ACTUALLY
SAVED A PEOPLE - NOT JUST PROVIDED AN
HIS DEATH
WAS>>>
SUBSTITUTIONARY
"By
His stripes we are healed" Isa. 53.
Substitutionary atonement, also called by some writers
vicarious atonement, is the work of Christ in which He freely and graciously
took the place of His people and bore the punishment of their sins:
"Just
as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life
a ransom for many" (Mt. 20.28). The word "for" is the Greek word
anti, and is used almost exclusively in the sense of "instead," or,
"in the place of."
PROPITIATION OR ATONEMENT
"Being
justified as a gift by grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith' (Rom.
3.24-25) .
To
propitiate means to placate, pacify, appease, conciliate.
REDEMPTION
The
biblical idea of redemption means to set free by the payment of a price.
Redemption presupposes someone or something is in bondage. In the atonement,
Jesus Christ, by His blood, purchased God's elect and secured life. Rev. 5.9:
"Worthy art thou to take the book and to break its seals; for Thou was
slain and didst purchased for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and
tongue and people and nation."
RECONCILIATION
Reconciliation
is another biblical image defining the nature of the atonement. The Scriptures
plainly say that through the death of Christ we are reconciled to God But God
demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us . . . For if while we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to God
through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be
saved by His life" (Rom. 5.8, 10).
(17).
APPLICATION: When we see what the Bible actually says
about the sacrifice of Christ, it is clear His death actually saves, actually
delivers from condemnation and wrath, not just an opportunity to be saved.
John Owen, in Death of
Death,
says: "Christ then, by His death, purchased, for all whom he died, all
those things which the Bible says were the effects of His death. The value of
His death purchased deliverance from the power of sin and God's wrath, from
death and the power of the devil, from the curse of the law and the guilt of
sin. The value of His death obtained reconciliation with God, peace, and
eternal redemption. These things are now God's free gifts, because Christ
purchased them. If Christ died for all men, then why do not all men have these
things? Is the value of His death not enough? Is God unjust, not to give us
what Christ bought for us? It must be immediately obvious that Christ cannot
have died to purchase these things for all men, but only for those who actually
enjoy them"
SPURGEON
WRITES….:” Now, who is it that limits the death of
Christ? Why, you. You say that Christ did not die so as to infallibly secure
the salvation of anybody. We beg your pardon, when you say we limit Christ's
death; we say, "No, my dear sir, it is you that do it." We say Christ
so died that He infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can
number, who through Christ's death not only may be saved but are saved, must be
saved, and cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being anything but
saved.
Now, beloved, when you hear
any one laughing or jeering at a limited atonement, you may tell him this.
General atonement is like a great wide bridge with only half an arch; it does
not go across the stream: it only professes to go half way; it does not secure
the salvation of anybody. Now, I had rather put my foot upon a bridge as narrow
as Hungerford, which went all the way across, than on a bridge that was as wide
as the world, if it did not go all the way across the stream.
THESIS: There is a particular design in the saving
work of Christ limited to those elected before the foundation of the world.
DO
YOU TRUST HIM FOR SALVATION? DO YOU
BELIEVE IN HIM FOR EVERLASTING LIFE?
TRUST HIM TODAY.