Take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, and just let me say that it's been a real joy to be with you this weekend and a real honor and privilege to share the Word with you as well. I hope that those of you who already know these things, that they are affirming. Those of you who have ever struggled with them, hopefully they're also being encouragement to you. Hebrews chapter 10, and beginning in verse 9. If you would please stand as we read God's word. Verse 9 through 14. Then he said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first that he may establish the second. By that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never be can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, and from that time, waiting till his enemies are made his footstool, for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Amen. You may be seated. Well, limited atonement, also perhaps better known, particular redemption is another term that is often used. The definition limited atonement teaches that Christ, as our brother mentioned a moment ago, his atoning sacrifice on the cross is applied only to those whom God has chosen from the foundation of the world. One of my favorite texts is Matthew 121. You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." There is a particular people for which the redemptive work of Christ was applied. Every true Christian limits the atonement in one degree or another. And to some extent, I mean. Non-reformed Christians, as we might call them, Armenians, believe the atonement is limited by the will of man. And that when you make a decision, they would say that when you place your faith, when you utilize that God-given faith from your birth, that you can utilize it. And when you do, that's when the atonement is applied. Reformed Christians believe the atonement is limited by the will of God, not by the will of man. That God is the one who's chosen, therefore does the elect along that receives the benefit of the atonement. Now there's another third option, which is heretical, in which it would be called universal atonement, and then that would, and some actually out there do believe in that, that Jesus died for everybody, and so thus everybody's sins are forgiven and paid for, thus everybody goes to heaven. Now, the Reformed position holds that Christ's atonement is not limited in its power, but in its intent. In other words, Christ's atonement is sufficient to cover the sins of all people who've ever lived, but it's only applied to the elect. There are many proof texts in favor of the particular redemptive view. I just quoted the one in Matthew 121. He shall save his people from their sins. Go to John chapter 10 and we'll see some more in that section. John chapter 10, the Lord speaks about his sheep. You know that the Bible speaks of sheep and it speaks of goats. John 10, 11, here you'll see our Lord speaks of the atonement that is his dying on the cross. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life. There's your atonement. Gives his life for the sheep. Look down at verse 14. I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and I'm known by my own as the father knows me, even so I know the father and here it is again, I lay down my life for the sheep." Very particular, specific, does not lay his life down for every person who's ever lived. More proof texts, listen to these, we won't turn to them. The word many, which Pastor Riddle mentioned a moment ago, is a significant term. Imagine 2028, just as the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. The Greek word is not pas, which would mean all, and even that word sometimes means all of certain types, not all universally. But the word means much or large, as in Matthew 26, 28, for this is the blood of my covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. Also from Isaiah in the Old Testament, chapter 53 to 11, 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. and he will bear their iniquities. Another favorite of mine. And if you want to jot it down, look it up later, I'll just read it to you. But Revelation chapter five in verse nine. They sang a new song, saying, worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals, for you were slain, there's your atonement, and purchased for God, that is the active work of the atonement, purchased for God with your blood, men from, men from every tribe, tongue, and nation, people, and nation. He didn't purchase every tribe and every tongue and every people and every nation, but people from these different groups. Another way to understand and recognize the doctrine of limit atonement is the doctrine of Christ's inaccessory work. That is that he, by his redemptive work, now sitting at the right hand of the Father, he intercedes for the elect. Christ does not intercede for all people. We just looked at it a moment ago back there in Hebrews 10. What does a priest do in the Old Testament? The Old Testament priest would do what? He would intercede. He would offer the sacrifices and then he would intercede to God for and behalf of the people. That's what a priest does. And Christ is the great high priest who is not only the one who intercedes, but who is himself the sacrifice. So when the priests of the Old Testament would pray for the people and would give sacrifices for the people, he didn't give the sacrifices for the Canaanites, for the Philistines, he gave it for the Israelites, the chosen people of God. And when they interceded, they didn't intercede for the Philistines, they didn't intercede for the Canaanites and all the Ammonites and the Moabites, they interceded specifically for the people of God. So the intercessory work of God is a major part of understanding that it is a limited atonement. Romans 8, 34, who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died. There's your atonement. Furthermore, he is also risen and who's at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us. Who's the us? Paul's writing to who? The church, which is at Rome, not the entire world. A major difference in the reformed and the non-reformed position is that the former teaches that the atonement is actual and not hypothetical. In other words, the non-reformed position, the Arminian, teaches that the death of Christ does not actually secure the salvation of anyone particularly, but everyone potentially. It says it's only a potential salvation, whereas the Reformed position teaches Christ's death actually secured the salvation of all the elect. He gave his life for the sheep. Call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And I'll never forget, as I was first studying this particular subject, the struggle that I had with all of them to some degree, I guess, but it was overwhelming to me to think that Jesus Christ could have died in vain. He could have died in vain. That is, if it's only potential, and if it's only going to be applied if man, by his own willpower, chooses to utilize it, what if all men, all women, all who ever lived decided, what if they would have decided to not have, quote, utilized their faith? poor Jesus would have come into the world, died on the cross and suffered as an innocent man, the God man, for nothing. The Armenian has to stand back and say, God, you and I have to really thank a lot of these people over here who utilized this hypothetical, this potential salvation. And you can see why that would be a great problem in thinking about God. God saves his people and he secures their salvation through the death and resurrection of his son. Galatians 1.4. who gave himself for our sins, that he might rescue us from the present evil age according to the will of God our Father. Galatians 4.4, but when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Not everyone is adopted. The atonement is connected to the adoption, I mean, to the redemption, the redemptive work of Christ upon the cross. Not everyone is a son of God through faith. The non-reformed position teaches that Christ's atonement was given in behalf of every single person in the world. And you will often hear this in their evangelistic approach. Jesus died for everyone. Jesus died for you. If you were all sitting here today, and I don't know where your state is before the Lord, but let's just pretend that all of you were lost. An Arminian preacher would stand up here and look at every one of you and say, Jesus died for you. I don't find that in Scripture. I cannot find one preacher or one Christian who looks at a unsaved, an unbeliever and says, Jesus died for them. I can say Jesus died for sinners, the Bible does say that. Jesus died for sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So they come up with this. And why do you say, well, why is the big struggle out there? Why are there so many people? And they probably actually among evangelicals have a majority opinion. Of course, that doesn't mean that they're right. And by that, I mean, there are probably more people, more professing believers in America that would believe in and a general atonement rather than a particular one, but we certainly would want to follow the scripture. But they have this belief because of the very few verses that speak of the all or the world passages that make it only appear that when you read them on the surface, that the atonement was given to every single person that has ever lived. Go to 1 John and I'll show you one of the passages that they will quote. 1 John chapter two. He Himself, and He Himself is the propitiation, that's the satisfaction that's required, the payment for sin. He Himself is the propitiation for our sins. Look at this now, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. See, there it is, right? But the problem is this, is that if Jesus actually died, paid the sin for everyone who's ever lived, then there would be no reason for them to go to hell. There would be no reason for them to stand in the judgment. Well, what do they say? Well, they say, well, there's one sin for which causes them to go to hell, and it's the sin of unbelief. And I would ask them, was that not included on the cross? When Jesus died on the cross for sin, did he die for all the sins of all the people except that one little sin called unbelief? And you would ask yourself, where do you find that in the scripture? Well, while we're in 1 John, I think we can show, and looking at chapter five and in verse 19, The whole idea of the world has to be understood in its context. Every time the word world is mentioned, does it mean every single person who's ever lived or will ever live or even every individual on the earth at present time? For here, even this very text, there's a distinction. Verse 19, we know that we, John says, the apostles speaking to Christians, that we are of God, a particular people. And the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. So does the whole world lie under the sway of the wicked one? The whole world of the unsaved lies under the sway of the wicked one. You see the distinction? And you can do this with all the passages, which there really are not that many. 1 Timothy 2.4 is another one that they're speaking of. God wills that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. If God willed that all men would be saved, all men would be saved. Because that's what God would will, it would happen. And we won't take the time to go to that. Another passage that's often thrown up to us is the passage in John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believed in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And The word world there, again, is just automatically assumed that what he's talking about there is every single person that's ever lived. And you have to understand the context of our Lord talking to a Jewish rabbi named Nicodemus. Nicodemus grew up in that religious realm of Judaism. And the Jews, you know how they felt about Gentiles, even the half Jew, the Samaritan, they would walk around on the other side. They wouldn't even go through the town. They really felt they were the only people. They were God's people, special people. And the Gentiles, they had to stay away. It was very significant that when Christ came and he opened up the gospel to Jew and Gentile, that Nicodemus would understand that it's not, this gospel, this death of Christ was not only going to be for those of ethnic Israel, some of them, but also for the Gentile. You read in the Old Testament, there was the promises laid throughout the writings of the prophet that when he would come, that he would also be a light to the Gentiles. The doctrine of regeneration affirms the teaching of limited atonement. The spirit moves where he wills. You hear the sound thereof. You must be born again. And without the redemptive work of Christ, that would not be the case. Now, the free call of the gospel is often brought into play here. It's not limited because of this doctrine of particular redemption. The gospel of God's call, calling out His elect, only the elect will respond. We don't know who they are, therefore we're called to preach the gospel to everyone. Okay, they always assume that because we preach this predestination that God's chosen a certain people. and that we assume that we automatically know who they are. No, we don't know who they are. We preach to everyone. Mark 16, 15, and he said to them, go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. Not every creature is gonna get the gospel given to them. God could get it to them if he wanted to. In the faraway jungles of South America or Africa, there are many people who will be born and die and will never hear the gospel. will never hear. And how shall they hear? Unless they preach. And how shall they preach? Unless they're sent. And so they will perish. But this is a legitimate call. When the Bible gives a call, there's this outward call of God, and then there's the inward call, which we'll talk later, and the effectual call of the Lord. But everyone who repents and believes will be saved. That is a promise. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Jesus says, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And so the lost sinner is not to concern himself whether or not they are let, but whether or not they believe they need a savior, as we talked about last night. All of these doctrines were a real wake-up call to me as I thought about, when I look back, because I was raised first as a, well, I was brought up in my 20s around Arminianism. I didn't know the difference. I didn't know what Calvinism was or Reformed faith. And so I kept spreading that particular message that Jesus died for you, died for all people, and that if you will... Make a choice for Jesus and you will be saved. It's the best decision you'll ever make in your life. And the decision actually was a promoted thing. We'd have baptisms and people would stand up and this would be, this is the greatest decision you'll ever make in your life. And all the praise and all the glory was focused on what? It was focused on the man's decision. But the glory all goes to the Lord who calls and who justifies and who sent his son to redeem. But the call of the gospel is a legitimate call for all who would repent and believe. So what happened to me was, is I had to go back and realize, was it, was my conversion, Can I go back and look and say, was I leaning on something that I did? Do I think that I was saved because I made a decision to give up my sin and to decide to follow Jesus and go to church and be baptized? And that's how come I know that I'm a Christian? And I had to go back and realize, no, I have to go back and look, did God do a supernatural work on my heart? because resurrection is a radical thing. Now, it's radical not only in the day when Christ comes back and the dead are raised in Christ and so forth, but it's radical when you are born again. That is the spiritual resurrection. Any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. There's a radical change within the things that you used to love you don't love anymore. And that was the case for me. And so I had to go back and it was a real eye-awakening thing to think that it wasn't my decision that did it, but that God actually showed up in my life and made me alive in Christ. And we'll talk about that in the next section. We'll have a lot of other things to consider when we go into that particular part. But again, just one more little thought, go to John 17, just to affirm that these passages where the word world is spoken of does not mean every single person who's ever lived. So even in John 17, our Lord would bring this out in verse nine, John 17, nine. I pray for them, speaking of his disciples, I do not pray for the world, There's a distinction, there's a particular people. Pray for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. and he will keep them. We'll talk about that in the last section, where the Lord talks about keeping us and that he loses none save the son of perdition that the scriptures might be fulfilled. So again, the doctrine of a limited atonement, that the atonement of Christ is limited to, that it's applied only to the elect of God. Jesus Christ did not die for Adolf Hitler, who is in hell, Jesus Christ did not die for Cain, who died as an angel. He died for his people, the blood of Christ. Now, as I said, when we evangelize, we can say Jesus died for sinners. But I personally do not say, and Pastor Rilla may have something else to say regarding this later, but I don't typically say or like to say to a crowd of people where there may be lost people, if I'm preaching an evangelistic message in an evangelistic form, Jesus died for all of you. Jesus died for all of you. He died for the whole world. Because I think that lends to think, well, you know, what happens when they start teaching and preaching this way? A person begins to think, well, why do I even need to repent? Jesus has already died for me. Oh, that's wonderful news. Jesus paid for my sins. Yes, he did. But you've got to believe. So you say Jesus died for me and paid for all. Yes, but you've got to believe. What if I don't believe? Didn't he die for that one too? So their system just does not hold up. And I think I've shared, of course, in the limited time that we have, that there are just numerous, numerous scriptures that validate that the doctrine of unlimited atonement is very clearly taught in the scripture. Well, let's have a short prayer and then we'll take a small break.