We want to continue in our study of the doctrines of grace, and as you are probably aware, there are five doctrines of grace. It begins with man, with the first one, and then the last four deal with God. radical corruption that is our ruin in sin, and that is what we looked at at the beginning of our conference last night, that the entirety of man, and that's what total depravity means. It does not mean that every person is as totally depraved as they could possibly be. It means that the totality of their personhood has been plagued by sin. Their mind is darkened by sin, such that they are unable to see the truth. Their affections are defiled by sin, and they do not desire the truth. And their will is plagued by sin, and is bound by sin, and is unable to come to Christ. And so mind, affections, and will, and the totality of that is, they are dead in trespasses and sin. They cannot see the truth. They cannot hear the truth. They cannot believe the truth. That is the devastating effect of the human race. So if anyone is to be saved, if anyone is to be in Christ, God must take the initiative. And God must do more than just take the initiative. God must choose those who cannot choose for themselves. and God must send His Son to die for their sins upon the cross, and God must send the Holy Spirit to awaken them, and convict them, and draw them, and birth them into the kingdom of heaven, and grant to them gifts of repentance and faith. It is all a work of grace. The only thing we provide in our salvation is the sin that was laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, all whom He brings to Himself, He preserves in His grace, the eternal security of the believer, and they will continue to pursue godliness, the perseverance of the saints. So, there is total depravity or radical corruption, that's man's part. The next three deal with the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. There is unconditional election, that's God the Father. Definite Atonement, that's God the Son. And then Sovereign Regeneration, that is God the Holy Spirit. Each person of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together in perfect unity and harmony to one end. which is the salvation of a people that is the chosen bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the final doctrine of grace, Father, Son, and Spirit work together to preserve these who have come to faith in Jesus Christ. So, the question for us in this session is very simply this, for whom did Christ die? And by way of introduction, I want to ask the question, what did Jesus accomplish in His death upon the cross? You tell me what Christ accomplished, and I will tell you for whom He died. In other words, The intent of the cross defines the extent of the cross. Did Jesus die for those who were already in hell? What purpose would it have been to have laid down His life and to bear the sins of those already in hell? Does any drop of the blood of Christ fail to achieve the purpose for which He sacrificed Himself Did He die in vain for any for whom He died, or was it a triumphant death upon the cross in that for all those for whom He died, He actually secured their salvation? And the issue really boils down to Jesus at the cross, did He merely make man savable, or did He actually save? Did he merely make God potentially propitiated, or did Jesus actually propitiate the righteous anger of God? That's the issue on the table. Did Jesus merely provide a potential reconciliation dependent upon man's response between holy God and sinful man, or did Jesus Christ actually reconcile holy God and sinful man together. If so, and if He died for all, then all will be reconciled, and there will be none in hell. So I want to walk through this with you. This is usually the most challenging of the five doctrines of grace, but perhaps I can lay this out in a manner that is helpful for you to see. So I want to begin in John chapter 1, if you would take your Bibles and turn with me to John chapter 1. I hope by the end of this conference your Bible just automatically opens to the gospel of John. Worst things could happen. John chapter 1, and I want to begin with what would be considered maybe the most difficult of the verses to address. This is the first mention of the cross in the Gospel of John, and it begins at its broadest level of terminology. John the Baptist sees the Lord Jesus as He approaches His baptism in the River Jordan, and John the Baptist says, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So, the question is, for whom did Christ die? First, some historical background for this statement, which is the Old Testament Levitical sacrificial system, which all pointed ahead to Christ. In the Old Testament sacrificial system, Christ is represented as both the sacrifice that is offered as well as the high priest who makes this sacrifice. And specifically here, the background is the Day of Atonement. In Leviticus chapter 16, there were two sacrifices that were made. The first was a blood sacrifice in which the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat And God's Son is pictured in that as placating or satisfying or appeasing the righteous anger of God towards sin. But there was a second sacrifice, and it was the scapegoat, in which the high priest laid his hands on the scapegoat, and it pictured what would one day take place at Calvary's cross where there would be the transferring of the sins of the people to the innocent sacrifice. The scapegoat would then be released into the wilderness, never to be seen again, and this pictured all the sins of God's people being transferred to Christ and Him taking them far, far away that our sins would never be seen again. The rest of the Bible affirms this, that He has taken our sins and buried them in the sea of God's forgetfulness. He's taken our sins and placed them behind His back where He can see them no more. He has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. It was a perfect sacrifice that Jesus made when He offered Himself up upon the cross. Now, three observations that I want to make regarding this verse as it relates to, for whom did Christ die. The first is, this was a real or actual taking away of sin. Please note the language of what John the Baptist said. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. not potentially takes away the sins of the world, contingent upon men actually believing upon Him. No, there was a definite transaction with definite results. All for whom He died, He took away their sins. James Montgomery Boyce writes, Jesus did not merely come to make salvation possible, but actually to save His people. He did not come to make redemption possible. He died to redeem His people. He did not come to make propitiation possible. He actually turned aside God's wrath for each of His elect people forever. Boyce continues, "...he did not come to make reconciliation between God and man possible. He actually reconciled to God those whom the Father had given to him. He did not come merely to make atonement for sins possible, but actually atoned for sin." So please note the language that John the Baptist uses. There was a definite transaction with a definite result, the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world. I want to tell you, for all for whom He died, He took away their sins. He died a victorious death. He did not die in frustration. He did not die in disappointment. He died in glorious victory. And all for whom He died, He took away their sin. Now, if Jesus died for all, then therefore you are left with universalism, that all will be saved in the end. If He took away their sins, there is no more sin left on them. But the fact is that Jesus died for a specific group of people. He took away all of their sin. So, number one, it was, I want you to note, the language that John uses here, it was a real and actual taking away of sin. Second, in the Old Testament, the Levitical sacrifice was made only on behalf of God's people, not the whole world. In the sacrificial system, there was not a sacrifice being made for the Canaanites. There was not a sacrifice being made for the Egyptians. There was not a sacrifice being made for the Assyrians, nor for the Babylonians. It was a sacrifice in the Levitical system that was made exclusively for the people of God. And what John is saying here, that he takes away the sin of the world, he is saying that in the death of Christ, it is a death not only for the elect in Israel, but for the elect in the entire world. In other words, both Jews and non-Jews, for both Jews and Gentiles. So here is an atonement that reaches beyond Israel to people out of every tribe and out of every tongue and every nation and people. The third thing I would want you to know about this verse deals with the word world. So often when someone reads the Bible who is maybe new to the Bible, or who has not sat under careful expository preaching, whenever they see the word, world, they immediately, automatically jump to the conclusion that whenever the Bible uses the word, world, that it must mean every person in the world, and that is a naive understanding of the Bible. The word world, kosmos, is a word that is used most by John in his writings. The word is used 185 times in the New Testament, and 78 of the 185 are found in the Gospel of John. By contrast, 8 times in Matthew, 3 times in Mark, and only 3 times in Luke, but 78 times in the Gospel of John, and when you throw in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, as well as the book of Revelation, you add another 27 times, and so this is a word that is predominantly used, not by Matthew, Mark, or Luke, but by John. So, with such a broad use multiplicity of use of this word. The question then is, so what does John mean when he says the word world? And it would be important for us to understand this morning that in the Gospel of John, the word world is used ten different ways, and only one of those ten would mean the entire human race. So it would be very naive to rush into any passage and immediately assume that the Word means every person. I'll just quickly walk you through these, and if you want to jot these down, that's great. The first use means the entire universe. Sometimes when John uses cosmos, he means the entire universe. John 1.10, the world was made through Him, and that refers to the entirety of the created order, the sun, the moon, the planets, the vast universe, the solar system, as well as this earth. The second time is the physical earth. In John 13, 1, we read, Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father. It doesn't mean He departed out of the human race, as though He lost His humanity. That's heresy. No, it just means He left planet earth to return to heaven. The third way it's used in the Gospel of John is the world system, to refer to the organized evil system over which Satan rules as the god of this age, John 12, 31. Now is the judgment of this world. now will the ruler of this world be cast out." Well, the ruler of this world, Satan is not the ruler of the planet, and he's not the ruler of the universe. He is the ruler of an evil conspiracy, of an invisible war against God and against Christ. Fourth use is all humanity minus believers. So, all humanity minus believers. John 7, verse 7, Jesus said, "...the world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify about it that its works are evil." Well, the entire human race does not hate the disciples. It's only the unbelievers. that hate the disciples. So in this case, and there are others, John 15, 18, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. That does not refer to every single person on the planet. It only refers to unbelievers who hated Christ and who hated the disciples. Fifth use of the word world, and I think it's really worth our taking a few moments here to walk through this. It just simply means a large group. World can refer to a large portion of a group. It can mean the population of a small region of the world. John 12, 19, the Pharisee says, look, the whole world has gone after him. Well, that wasn't true. If you take it as every single person in the entire history of the world, people who were not yet born did not go after the Lord Jesus. And of those who were born, the Eskimos did not go after Jesus. The Aztec Indians did not go after Jesus. The Incas did not go after Jesus. The Native Americans in America did not go after Jesus. The word world here, the whole world's gone after Him. simply means it's a large group. It doesn't mean every single person in the world. It's just a large group. Then six, it can refer to general public. the general public, as distinguished from a private group, a public group as opposed to a private group. The brothers of Jesus said to Him in John 7, verse 4, "'For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.'" Well, what Jesus' brothers were saying is, show yourself in the open public. Go to Jerusalem, go into the temple area, perform these miracles, show yourself to the world. Well, that doesn't mean that He would be showing Himself to everyone in South America and South Africa, that everyone in Australia and New Zealand, that He would be showing Himself to them. That would be, obviously, an unwise interpretation in handling a Scripture. So the word world can simply mean a large public group. Seventh, it can refer to Jews and Gentiles together. In other words, beyond just Israel, but to be inclusive of other nations. For example, in John 4, verse 42, the Samaritan woman, after she came to a saving knowledge of Christ, remember she went back into the city and told them about a man who had told her everything she had ever done, and she then said, he is the Savior of the world. Well, if He's the Savior of the world and you take world to mean every single person in the entire history of the world, then hell will be empty and Jesus will be the Savior of the world. No, that's not how she meant it. She meant it that she, a Samaritan, who is outside the commonwealth of Israel, that salvation has come to her, and she has gone into the Samaritan village and testified of the Lord Jesus to them who are outside of Israel. You remember the Samaritans were, in essence, half-breeds. They were half-Jew, half-Assyrian. They had been When the Jews were taken off to Assyria, in the Assyrian captivity, they co-mingled and co-married, and there was a mongrel race, if you will. There was a race that was half Jew, half Assyrian, that now occupied this land of the Samaritans. And so her exuberance was that salvation has gone beyond the borders of Israel, that there is grace for someone like her who is not a full Jew. And so that is why she says, he is the Savior of the world, meaning there are not national boundaries to this salvation. So, the word can refer to both Jews and Gentiles. It can refer, eighth, to the human realm. The word, world, can describe just the realm of mankind as contrasted with the realm of heaven or the realm of angelic beings. In John 1, verse 10, it says, He was in the world. The idea there is He wasn't in heaven. He was in the world, the human realm. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. He entered into the human realm. He was in the world, and the world which He had made in the world did not recognize Him. Ninth, the word can refer simply to just the non-elect, not the elect but the non-elect. So that's a sub-compartment of every human being. And that's how he used the word when he prayed in John 17, verse 9. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world. So there's a contrast between them and the world. He's drawn a line in the sand. There is the them and there is the world. And the them refers to all the elect. The world, therefore, thus refers to the non-elect. And then a tenth use would be the elect only, John 3, 17, for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. The intent of the Father in sending Christ into this broad human realm was to save the world of the elect. So these are the ten different uses of the word world. If you care for a fuller treatment in my book, Foundations of Grace, I have all ten of these listed. So, just a careful Bible student, Number one, we'll be aware of the diversity of uses of the word kosmos in the Gospel of John alone. So the question is, which is it in John 1, verse 9, when he says he will take away the sins of the world? Is he talking about taking away the sin of the universe, the planet? What is he referring to? And the reference here is for world, not only Jews, but also Gentiles. Jesus died not only for those in the nation Israel, but He died also for believers outside the nation, wherever they would be found. And the reason that we take that option is because in His death, He actually took away the sins of the world. That is true only of those who will believe, and the only ones who believe are those who are chosen by the Father and given to the Son and who will believe in Christ. So that's where we begin. Second, if you'll come to chapter 3, I want you to see that it was not only an actual atonement or a real atonement, as opposed to a potential or hypothetical, but second, I want you to see that it was an international atonement. Beginning in verse 14, as Jesus lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And you're no doubt familiar with this passage in Numbers 21, where God sent serpents to bite the people of God. and to inflict their deadly poison into them because of their rebelliousness, and the people were dying. And so God, out of His mercy and by His grace, told Moses to make a brass serpent and put it on a pole and to lift it up, and everyone who looks to the brass serpent will be healed, will be saved from this deadly poison. The brass serpent pictured Christ upon the cross. The serpent represents sin, brass represents judgment, and a brass serpent is a picture of God's judgment upon sin, or sin under judgment, and that's what took place at the cross. Our sins were transferred to Christ, and as He bore our sins in His body, He died in our place, and God poured out His wrath deserving us. It fell upon Christ, and He suffered what you and I would suffer in an eternity in hell. He suffered in that compressed period of time upon the cross, and He became sin under judgment. He bore our sin and suffered our judgment upon Calvary's cross. And so that is what it was picturing. At the end of verse, or in verse 15, he says, "...so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life." And so Jesus died to save all who believe upon Him. then verse 16, the very famous verse, "...for God so loved the world." And the world here I take to mean not every single person in the world, but the world, what we would say at large, meaning both Jews and non-Jews or all kinds of people, both Jews and Gentiles. God so loved the world, the general realm of humanity. that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. And so the question is, in verse 16, is it to be taken that Jesus died for every sin of every person who would ever live? And many take it that way, and I lived the first part of my Christian life thinking that that is what it meant. But let's give more careful thought to this. If Jesus died for every person who ever lived and bore their sins, even for the non-elect, even for the unbelievers who will be in hell, then we would have to say He died for the sin of unbelief, for their sin of unbelief, right? And if Jesus died for the sin of unbelief of unbelievers, then how could God hold that against them if Jesus died for the sin of unbelief? Well, the reality is, or the truth is, Jesus did not die for all the sins of all people. He died for all the sins of some people, and He never died for the sins of those who would never believe in Him. And Charles Haddon Spurgeon helps us in our understanding of this. He preached a sermon on January 14, 1855, when he was only 20 years old, called, The Sin of Unbelief. And in that sermon, Spurgeon said, quote, "...there is one sin for which Christ never died. It is the sin against the Holy Ghost. There is one sin for which Christ never made atonement. Mention every crime in the calendar of evil, and I will show you persons who have found forgiveness for it." So he is saying, for prostitutes, for tax collectors, for thieves, for robbers, for homosexuals, for effeminate, for lesbians. There has been made an atonement for those sins, and there are people in the kingdom of heaven who have been saved out of those sins through the blood of Christ. And Paul says that in 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9 to the Corinthian church, when he gave that catalog of sin, he goes, "...and such were some of you." But Spurgeon now continues this quote, "'But ask me whether the man who died in unbelief can be saved.' And I reply, there is no atonement for that man." There is an atonement made for the unbelief of a Christian because it is temporary, but the final unbelief, the unbelief with which men die, never was atoned for. You may turn over this whole book and you will find that there is no atonement for the man who died in unbelief. There is no mercy for unbelief." Close quote. A.W. Pink also is insightful in which he writes, "...if all the sins of all men were laid upon Christ, then the sin of unbelief was too. That unbelief is a sin which is clear from the fact that..." 1 John 3, 23, we read, "...and this is the commandment that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ." Refusal to believe in Christ is, therefore, an act of flagrant disobedience. It is rebellion against the Most High. But if all the sins of all men were laid upon Christ, as it is now asserted by many, then He also endured the penalty for the Christ-rejector's unbelief. If this is so, then Universalism is true. But it is not so. The very advocates of the view we are now refuting would not affirm it. And therein may be seen the inconsistency and untenableness of their teaching. For if unbelief is a sin and Christ did not suffer the penalty of it, then all sin was not laid upon Christ. Thus, there are only two alternatives. a strictly limited atonement availing only for believers, or an unlimited atonement which effectually secures the salvation of the entire human race." So, What these great men are arguing is, I think, the proper handling of all of Scripture, that Christ laid down His life for those whom the Father gave to Him as a result of election and eternity past. Come, if you would, to John chapter 6 and verse 37 through 39, and I want you to see that it was an exact atonement. Jesus died in perfect obedience to the will of God the Father in order to save the elect. In John 6, verse 37, which we looked at last night, I want us to look at it again through the lens of the atonement. We see in John 6, 37, Jesus saying, all that the Father gives Me. We noted last night that this refers to the elect. It can only refer to the elect. They were the Father's possession by sovereign choice, and then He gave this group to the Son, and He says, they will come to Me. Please note the certainty, the absolute certainty of this. All that the Father gives Me, every single one of them will come to Me, no more, no less. Now, in verse 38, He will begin to talk about, it is these for whom He laid down His life. It is for these that He came to save. Not the entire human race, but for those whom the Father gave to Him. Verse 38, For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. Jesus is saying that The Father has given a specific assignment to the Son, and the Son is not free to come do His own thing as He comes into this world. He will be in strict obedience to the Father to carry out the Father's saving mission here in this world. upon the earth. And there will be perfect unity. It's a very important point. Perfect unity between the Father and the Son. In other words, the Father will not choose one group to be saved, and the Son will then go in His own direction and lay down His life for a different group. There is perfect unity in the Godhead. And those whom the Father chose and gave to the Son, these will be the very same ones whom the Son will lay down His life for. Several years ago, I was in London and spent the night at London Theological Seminary, which is the seminary that was founded by Martin Lloyd-Jones. And I woke up the next morning and went down to have breakfast with the student body and talked to different ones. And unknown to me, there was a conference that was being held at that time in which the leading authority on John Owen was lecturing on campus. and specifically Volume 10 of John Owen, The Death of Death and the Death of Christ. And so as these pastors and students were sitting at the table with me and I with them, I asked them, all right, give me the number one reason to believe in death and atonement. Throw down the ace of spades. Tell me the principal reason to hold to definite atonement or particular redemption." And they immediately said this, which is the argument of what we're looking at. The unity of the Godhead. The unity of the Trinity. that God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit act as one Savior. And if you hold to a universal atonement and hold to the doctrine of election, you have created a fracture in the Godhead. and have divided the saving work of the Father from the saving work of the Son and put them at cross purposes. Because the Father has chosen His elect. The Father has not chosen all in the world. He has chosen out of the world those whom He will save. If you then say that Christ has died for all, you have the Father and the Son working to save two different groups of people. Then when you throw in the Holy Spirit, to teach something less than sovereign regeneration, you actually have the Holy Spirit attempting to save a third group, or a totally different group, all those who actually hear the gospel. Not everyone hears the gospel, you understand that. But only those who come under the sound of the gospel would the Holy Spirit, according to their view, be tugging on their heart or wooing their heart. So you have three different groups, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that they are trying to save. is intending to save only the elect, but Christ intending to save every single person laying down a universal atonement, and then the Holy Spirit, a halfway house between those two, attempting to save only those who hear the sound of the gospel, some of whom reject the gospel. Well, Jesus said in John 10, verse 30, the Father and I are one. and that does not mean one person. It means we are of one purpose, one mission. We are of one intent. They are one, and they're saving purpose. And so, for that reason, The Father has chosen the elect. He has given them to the Son and commissioned the Son to come into this world and to lay down His life for the very same group of people. That is what Jesus is alluding to here in verse 38 of John 6. I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent me." So, what do you think the will of Him is who sent Christ? The next verse tells us that Jesus was not a maverick Messiah, off doing His own thing. He wasn't a disobedient son or a wayward son. No. He worked in strict compliance with the will of the Father, which was to save those whom He gave to the Son. So look at verse 39. This is the will of Him who sent Me. This is the eternal, sovereign will of the Father. And what he will be talking about here in the will of the Father, he's not referring to Jesus is supposed to be in Galilee on Thursday, and then Friday get in a boat and go across the sea, and then by the weekend he's supposed to be in Jerusalem. That's not what he's talking about. When he says the will of the Father, he is talking about the saving will of God. He is talking about the eternal, sovereign grace of God. So he says in verse 39, this is the will of Him who sent me. that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing." Why did Jesus come into this world? Why did Jesus lay down His life at the cross? Answer, that He would lose not a one whom the Father gave to Him. So secure is this salvation that at the end of verse 39, he says, "...and I raise it up on the last day." Jesus has tunnel vision here, if you will. He has myoptic focus. He has singular focus. His eye is upon those whom the Father has given to Him. And it will be these He will lose, not a one. It will be these whom He will raise up on the last day. It will be these for whom He lays down His life." This was the mission of Christ coming into the world. That's why I said in the introduction, you tell me why He came, and I'll tell you what He did. The reason that He came was in strict obedience to the Father. to save those whom the Father had given to Him. Come to John chapter 10 and verse 11, and the focus, I think, comes even more into tight view. I want you to see in John 10, it is an exclusive atonement. In John 10, verse 11, and as we're going through the Gospel of John, it's like this. It's like the focus is becoming tighter and tighter and tighter. It starts at its broadest. He takes away the sins of the world, referring to Jew and non-Jew, and then the focus is becoming tighter and tighter. And as now we come to John 10, in verse 11, It's like when I take an eye exam and they put the letters up on the wall and they dial in the prescription that I need, things are becoming more clear or clearer and clearer and clearer. That's what's happening in the Gospel of John. And so now in John 10 and verse 11, it is abundantly clear. Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. The word good here means excellent and noble. I am the good shepherd." And what does a good shepherd do? Well, the good shepherd cares for and protects those entrusted to him. If he did not do that, he would not be a good shepherd. So, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Well, the sheep are those who were chosen by the Father to be His. The sheep are those who enter through the door into the sheepfold. The sheep are those that He calls by name. They're His sheep. Now, let me just tell you several things about the sheep in this context. We know regarding these sheep for whom He laid down His life, we know in verse 3 above that the sheep are those who are called individually by name by Christ. It's not an anonymous group. It's not a blob of people. It's not a whosoever. It is a specific number with a specific individual name. The sheep are called individually by name by Christ. Second thing I would have you note is in verse 27, the sheep are those who recognize the voice of the shepherd, and they will come to Him. Verses 3 and 4 also Teach this. Christ's sheep are those who recognize the voice of the Shepherd and come to Christ and follow Him. Third, these sheep are not only among Jews, but there are other sheep from another fold. Verse 16, Jesus says, I have other sheep, and that is a reference to Gentiles. beyond the commonwealth of Israel. Jesus has sheep outside the national borders or boundaries of Israel, and it refers to Gentiles. Fourth, I would have you know that not everyone is one of the Lord's sheep. We see in verse 26, that's very clear. Jesus says, the reason that you don't believe is you're not one of My sheep. So very obviously, not everyone is one of Jesus' sheep. Verse 29, fifth, He identifies the sheep as those who are given by the Father to the Son. This refers to those whom the Father chose. So, question, for whom did Christ lay down His life? Well, He laid down His life for those whom the Father gave to Him. He laid down His life for those He calls by name. He laid down His life for those who hear His voice. He laid down His life for those who come to Him by faith. He laid down His life for those who follow Him yet not everyone is one of His sheep," verse 26. So it becomes clear this is an exclusive atonement. Notice verse 15. This is so important that Jesus repeats it. And one thing you need to know about this sermon, too, Jesus was not preaching to the choir. He was not giving this to everyone who was in agreement with Him. John 10 is an extension of John 9, and the huge controversy after Christ has healed the blind man and provoked strong resistance against Him by the spiritual leaders of Israel, Jesus is now delineating these doctrines of grace. This isn't a Wednesday night crowd where it's a safe group to preach this to. Jesus is pulling this out in the open and showcasing this, really, to those who are His enemies, So, for those who say, well, we should only preach this in-house, that doesn't even match up with the ministry of Christ Himself. So, verse 15, Jesus now cinches the knot. Jesus tightens the screw. Jesus anchors this with yet another nail being driven down regarding those for whom He died. And in verse 15, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father, That's as intimate and close and united of a relationship as there can be. Jesus then, at the end of verse 15, in that context says, "...and I lay down my life for the sheep." You know what Jesus is saying? I know the Father. The Father knows me. We are one. Who do you think I'd die for? I lay down my life for the sheep because I know the Father and the Father knows me. And because we are one, we work together in perfect unity and in perfect harmony in our saving mission of rescuing lost sinners. Jesus came to die for those whom the Father has chosen to save. Look at verse 16. Jesus said, I have other sheep, which are not of this fold, referring to Gentile sheep, I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice, and I will become one flock with one shepherd. Ephesians 2 talks about Christ removing the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile and making them one body. That's what his reference is. But now, note verse 17 and 18, for this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it from me, verse 18. In other words, Jesus was not a victim. The circumstances did not get out of control. He came from heaven to die for His people. That was announced at His birth, Matthew 121. You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. So no one has taken it from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. Now note the end of verse 18, this commandment I received from my Father. What commandment? The commandment to come into this world and to lay down His life for the sheep. Jesus came in obedience to the Father, in submission to the will of the Father. He has come for His sheep. He has come to lay down His life for the sheep. He has authority to lay it down. He has authority to take it back up again. And all of this is in obedience to the commandment that He received from the Father. I can never come to the Lord's Supper again the same way. Now that I understand how intentional Jesus was in dying for me on the cross, now that I see my name was written upon His heart, that He knew me and my name was written upon His heart, that as He went to the cross, He did not die simply anonymously or for an anonymous group of just everyone, but intentionally those whom the Father had given to Him. How personal the atonement is to me. How humbling this is that it was His intent in His death to save me." Now, if you would, look, if you will, at verse 27 in John 10. My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me." This is who the sheep are. This is for whom He died. And I give eternal life to them, not to the world, but to the sheep, and they will never perish. The world will perish, but the sheep will not perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all." So we are held in the hand of the Savior, and in the hand of the Father is, in essence, encompassing the hand of the Savior. We are doubly secure in the hand of the Son and in the hand of the Father. And it would take someone greater than the Father to pry open His hand in order for us to be removed. But such is impossible, for none is greater than the Father. So, verse 29, 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. Verse 30, I and the Father are one. Listen, when Jesus went to the cross, He didn't go in His own way. He didn't take another path. He is one with the Father. And at the cross, He carried out the saving will of the Father, which is the salvation of the elect. While we're looking at this verse, let me give you just this bit. The word, one, I and the Father are one. is not in the masculine. One is not in the masculine gender. If it was, it would say, I and the Father are one person, or the meaning would be that. Well, that's heretical. That's modalism. That's an early heresy in the early church. Instead, Jesus is very precise with His language, and the word one is in the neuter. which means one in mind, one in will, one in mission, one in purpose. So, for whom did Christ die? He died for those whom the Father gave to Him, because He is one with the Father. Come to chapter 12, verse 32, John 12, verse 32, and I want you to see that it was an effectual atonement. By effectual, meaning there's a cause and effect, and the cause of the atonement produces a certain effect. all for whom Christ died will be drawn to Him." John 12 and verse 32, and I, if I am lifted up, referring to lifted up upon the cross, If I am lifted up upon the earth, I've been in church services before where the pastor will say something like, well, if Christ is lifted up in the preaching of the Word, He will draw all men to Himself. That's not what this verse teaches. That's sloppy interpretation. The next verse, verse 33, makes it abundantly clear. But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die. So when Jesus says, if I am lifted up, He's not talking about the preaching of the gospel, He is talking about the death of the Savior. Now notice what He goes on to say, and I, if I am lifted up from the earth, and the idea is when you were crucified, this goes back to the inventors of crucifixion, that the One who is crucified, His feet will not even be touching the earth. So He is crucified in mid-air, as though suspended between heaven and earth. So that is the idea, lifted up from the earth. It's not referring to the ascension, it's referring to the manner of His death. And again, verse 33 makes it clear, but notice the effect of His death. If He is lifted up upon the cross, I will draw all men to Myself. Now we have only one of two options here. Either all means all without exception, or it means all without distinction. If it means all without exception, if I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself, then all men will be saved, and no men will be in hell, and all men will be in heaven. If you take all to mean all without exception, well, that's heretical, because hell is a real place. that God has created for Satan and his demons, but also for all who will die outside of Christ. So we must understand that the word, is sometimes used in the Bible to refer to not all without exception, but all without distinction, meaning all kinds of people, all types of people. And the context actually justifies this, because here in John chapter 12 is the first time Greeks begin to come to seek after Christ. Earlier, in verse 20, of John 12. Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast. These then came to Philip and said, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. And Philip came and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus, and Jesus now goes into this short discourse on the nature of His death, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit." He's talking about the cross, His death. It is in this same context, in verse 27, my soul has become troubled for what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, referring to the hour of His death? No, but for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name. He's referring to the glory that the Father will receive through His death upon the cross. So when we look at verse 32, it becomes clear that the word, all men, is to be inclusive of all groups, both Jew and Greek, mentioned in verse 20. Otherwise, if you take our Lord's words at face value, you are left with a universal atonement that leads to universal salvation. Well, such is heretical. It was a definite atonement that leads to the salvation of all those for whom He was lifted up to die. Verse 32 is a very important verse that must be addressed. come to chapter 15, verse 13. I have just a couple more verses to set before you, but I think the nature of the atonement is very important. Paul says, we preach Christ and Him crucified. Paul said, for I resolve to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's very important that we understand the saving death of Jesus Christ upon the cross. And so, I want you to note here, it's a particular atonement. John 15, I want you to note verse 13, and Jesus continues now to tighten the focus and tighten our understanding for whom He laid down His life. John 13, greater love has no one than this, that one laid down his life for his friends. To lay down His life is metaphorical language for the death of Christ upon the cross. I mean, we know that from John 10, that He's laid down His life for the sheep, referring to His death. Here, He says He laid down His life for His friends. So, we'd say, who are His friends? Isn't everyone in the world His friends? Well, no. Verse 14 tells us who His friends are, and you want to be one of His friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you." He's talking about a lifestyle of obedience to the Father, and all who are genuinely born again from above have been given a new heart and a new nature, and God has written His Word upon their heart, and they will now walk a new path, and they will now pursue obedience. No obedience, no going to heaven. Now we're not saved by our obedience, but all who truly believe will live obedient lives to the Father, not perfectly, but a new direction. So Jesus lays down His life for those whose lifestyle is marked by the habitual practice of obedience to His Word. This is in sharp contrast to verse 18, where there are not only friends, but there are enemies. And the enemies are those who are of the world who are hostile to those who are in the kingdom of God. So he says in verse 18, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. So there are the friends of Jesus and there are the hostile enemies of the world against Jesus. For whom did He die? He laid down His life for His friends who once were enemies. but who have been reconciled through the blood of His cross and brought into the family of God and made to be friends of Christ who will now walk the narrow path that leads to life. But taking John 15 at face value, he laid down his life, verse 13, for his friends. His friends are those who are obedient to his commandments, verse 14, in total contrast to the world that hates Christ as well as hates the disciples, verse 19. For whom did Christ die? Not for the world that hates Him, but He died for His friends. who were chosen out of the world. In fact, he goes on to say that. Look at verse 19 before I let go of this passage. He says, if you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, that's for whom Christ died, those whom He chose out of the world to be His friends, in verse 14. Verse 19 and verse 13 are inseparably bound together in our understanding of this. He chose certain ones out of the world, a world of hostility against Him, to be made His friends. In verse 13, it is for these chosen friends that He has laid down His life. Well, finally, come to John 17, in verse 2. This is known as our Lord's high priestly prayer as He makes intercession before the Father on behalf of His people. This entire prayer is Jesus interceding with the Father on behalf of the elect, on behalf of those who are chosen. He'll tell us bluntly in verse 9, I do not pray for the world. I pray for those whom you have given to me out of the world. So this whole prayer, He is riveted in His intercession before the Father on behalf of all of the elect and only the elect. So in verse 2, which we looked at last night, even as You, referring to the Father, gave Him, He refers to Himself humbly in third person, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that refers to all mankind, that to all whom you have given Him, He may give eternal life." That's the intent of His death upon the cross. It was to give eternal life to those to whom you have given to Him. It wasn't, He didn't die for all flesh, the first part of verse 2. He died to give eternal life to those whom you have given to Him at the end of verse 2. Now, fast forward to verse 9. I ask on their behalf." Their refers to the elect. Their refers to those who have been given to Him by the Father. I do not ask on behalf of the world, and here the world refers to the non-elect, but of those whom you have given Me, for they are yours. Jesus makes intercession not for the world, but for those whom the Father has given to Him. Now, understand this. He made intercession in this prayer for the elect. Right now, He is at the right hand of the Father, making intercession only for the elect. Upon the cross, He made intercession for the same group. there is a consistency in His intercession. Upon the cross, He stood between the Father and us, and He made intercession. There is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And upon the cross, Jesus made priestly intercession through the sacrifice of Himself and He made intercession for precisely the same people that He prayed for in this prayer, and for the same group that He is making intercession at this moment at the right hand of the Father. There is a consistency between these three intercessions. Then look at verse 19. This is an important verse. for their sakes. That refers to the elect. for their sakes, as opposed to for the sake of the world. For their sake refers to those who were the fathers and they were given to the Son. For their sakes, note this, I sanctify myself. That's a reference to His death upon the cross, that He sets Himself apart unto the Father upon the cross. It was for their sakes. It was for the elect, for the same group. that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth." Verse 19 is a very important verse. He sanctified Himself unto the will of God in His death upon the cross, not for all flesh, verse 2, but for those whom You have given to Me, verse 2, verse 6, verse 9, and now here. Finally, in verse 24, we see the final effect of this death of Christ upon the cross. He says, Father, at this point, there's a summation now of this prayer. It becomes intensely personal. Father, I desire that they, and the they refers, again, to those for whom Jesus prays, those for whom He dies. I desire that they also whom You have given Me be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory." It's a reference to heaven, which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. This begins an eternity past, and it ends an eternity future. And in eternity past, Jesus was foreknown by the Father, 1 Peter 1.20. He was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world in the mind of the sovereign will of the Father. and it is for these He laid down His life at the cross so that one day these for whom He died will be around His throne in heaven and will sing the praises of His glory throughout all of the ages to come. what John is saying is a very narrow focus, a tight focus regarding those for whom He died. Spurgeon has put it this way, everyone believes in a limited atonement. Either you believe that Jesus died for a limited number of people securing an unlimited blessing and effect, or Jesus died for an unlimited number of people, but with a very limited effect. You either limit the extent or the effect. Even those who believe in a universal atonement limit the application of the cross. to only believers. We have an unlimited application of what He did at the cross to the limited number of sheep for whom He laid down His life. He died in total victory. Not one drop of His blood was shed in vain. There was a transaction at the cross between the Father and the Son, and the Son bought His church at the cross. He paid the price. He has received from the Father what He purchased, which is His church. If Jesus died for all, but only receives the church, then Jesus was shortchanged at the cross. There was an inequity at the cross. We would say in America, colloquially, Jesus was gypped at the cross. If He laid down His life for everyone and paid for everyone, but He only receives a limited number. In America, I don't know your coinage here, but in America it would be like, I give you a dollar bill, but you only give me one quarter in return." It was not an equitable exchange. At the cross, it was a perfectly equitable exchange. Jesus received what he bought at the cross, and no one for whom he died will not be given to him.