Transcript

First, Peter, chapter one. As we continue with part two of perfect redemption. One. Peter, chapter one. Before I read the text, let me just admonish you once again to understand why God gave you a brain. He gave you a brain so you could think hard on the glories and the mysteries and the wonders of God himself.

What we have about God in the scriptures is perfect, but it’s not complete. As I’ve said to you many times, when we get to heaven, we’ll have a perfect mind. Not an infinite mind, but a perfect mind, so that for all eternity, we’re always taking in more of the wonders, the glories, the perfections, the truth of who God is and what he has done, and it will increase our treasure and our joyous and our pleasures for all eternity.

But you’re to get started down here. You’re to start using your brain. My brain. What little there is left of it down here to marvel over him. So I charge you to engage in the highest form of worship, because I don’t want this just to be an academic treatise, though it is in some ways more academic than maybe typical sermon I might preach.

But it’s rich with the truth of our salvation. Um, someone had asked me about expositional preaching. They were not familiar with our ministry and said, do you preach expositionally? Because I haven’t done that in a few weeks because we just finished one and two, Timothy and Titus. And I said, yes, I’ve preached through 27 books of the Bible since I’ve been your pastor.

And that’s really not correct, because when the secretary told me 27 books sometime back, that included Romans and Psalms, which I just picked up where our former pastor left off when he left, and I finished those books. So, actually, I preached through completely 25 books, and then two more partially, and then, um, countless numbers of sections of scripture we’ve exegeted together.

All right. But for this time, we’re in between books. I’m still working on Zephaniah, one, uh, of the minor prophets. I’m looking forward to that, and we’ll see how that comes together in the next couple of three weeks. All right? Unless the Lord shows me something else, I want to preach between now and then.

All right. First Peter, chapter three, verses 1819. And I’m going to add 20. Just thinking on the flow of this, I’m going to add 20 for this morning. All right. Verse 18. 1st Peter, chapter one. Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life, inherited from your forefathers.

And that means in your physical lineage and history, you know all about the slave market, which was common in this day. And you know all about people gathering up, saving up silver and gold, that they might purchase a loved one, our dear friend, out of the slave market and set them free.

He said, you know all about that, but you were not redeemed from the slave market of sin. And Satan’s dominion was something like silver or gold. From this futile way of life, this physical, temporal sin marred life. We have down here verse 19. But what a glorious, conjunctive word, but with precious blood, as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless.

The blood of Christ. And then referring to Christ, look at verse 20. For he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, that is that God the Father selected Jesus the son to fulfill the office of messiah, our Christ. Messiah, the hebrew word, Christ, the greek word. And the office of messiah, our Christ was to the end of, uh, redeeming, reclaiming children.

All right. Christ was marked out from eternity past to fulfill the duties and the responsibilities of the role or the office of the Christ. He was foreknown for the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. He had to come to this sinful sod and trod upon this land and be one of us, that he might carry out perfectly his role, his duties, his responsibilities as the Father’s Christ.

His primary job, obviously, was to redeem and secure the children, and he has done that. Now, we were talking about perfect redemption, and we talked about this redemption being based on the, uh, the illustration, rather. It’s based on the slave market of the day. And you would go pay the, the funds that were, uh, required to purchase the slave, and then you would set them free.

So Jesus went and he paid the redemption price to the father on our behalf so that we can be cleansed and forgiven and we can be free from Satan’s dominion, sins, power, and have eternal life with God. Starts now and lasts forever. Now, maybe two particular thoughts about redemption comes from, from Bible believing christians through the years.

Maybe some not so Bible believing might just say from Christendom through the years. Some would say, well, the redemption of Christ was a potential redemption. He didn’t actually secure anyone when he died. There was just the possibility that you might, could get saved. I reject that wholly and categorically.

That’s not what the text teaches. Jesus death was not some sloppy effort at spilling a bunch of precious and powerful blood so that some might somehow get in on that and be saved. I like the word particular redemption better that Christ died in a particular or, uh, specific way for a particular or, uh, specific group.

And when he died, he did finish the redemption price. You talk about eternal security. I don’t understand our baptist friends who don’t study their bibles very well or, uh, very thoroughly, who would not grasp the glories of the sovereignty of God in using Christ in history, in time and space history 2000 years ago to have finished the transaction.

That’s where security is, brothers and sisters. If he didn’t finish it, we’re sunk. If he didn’t finish it, you would sure fail at it. If you could lose your salvation, you would.

So even better than potential redemption, even better than perfect or, um, particular, uh, redemption. I like the word perfect redemption. So that’s why, excuse me, I’ve entitled this perfect redemption. Now we looked at roman one and I’ll skip through this very quickly. Roman one was the perfect man and the perfect plan.

Jesus, the son of God, was God the father’s perfect man to carry out his wisdom and his will to secure for them a, uh, children, let me say this again for the 5000th time. It’s all about the glory of God. And God is going to be glorified by the way in which he secures those that he wants to love and treasure and have for himself for all eternity.

When you get to heaven, you’re going to glorify God perfectly. You’re just trying to get good at it down here, all right? And then also we will have pleasure and joy and loving and treasuring God for time and for all eternity. And that’s why God brought all this about.

It all makes sense. If you’re glory of God focused. If you’re man centered and man focused, you can start playing with this thing of, uh, well, who does what? Man gets some credit and all this nonsense, but when you realize that it’s for the glory of Goddesse, specifically through his purpose and plan to secure for himself a people called the church that might treasure him and love him, and he will treasure them and love them for all eternity.

All right, so now we come to, um, Roman actually two. And that’s what we’ve been working on, Roman one, a perfect man and the perfect plan. Secondly, the perfect execution of the plan by the perfect man. The perfect execution of the plan. Now a under roman two is unlimited liability assumed and fulfilled.

Jesus came down a and he says, I’m going to take on myself. I’m going to assume all the liability. All the responsibility necessary for the children to be secured have their full redemption, and all of them make it all the way home in the eternal state. So we begin working on that.

We talked about the big theological words propitiation and expiation and atonement. They somewhat overlap in how Jesus fulfilled all of those truths. And now we come to B under Roman two, and B, under Roman two, a was unlimited liability that Jesus assumed for us on our behalf. Secondly, b, this is where a lot of the controversy comes in.

Limited application to the elect. When Jesus died, there’s a limited application that goes toward those whom he chose to save. Now, all agree that the death of Christ is sufficient, should God degree it so, to redeem a thousand worlds full of sinners. There’s no limit to the power of the blood of Christ to cleanse sin.

His blood has infinite power and infinite value. Yet it’s interesting, no matter where you are on the theological, uh, perspective, every single person believes in a limited atonement, a limited redemption in one form or fashion. Everybody says, well, there’s limits to it in some ways. Now, the first major group, there’s two.

The first major group is what I would call the catholic or the evangelical armenian position. The catholic or the evangelical armenian position. And they would say the effects of Christ’s death or atonement is limited by men, man himself. The individual limits the work of Christ’s atonement. The effect, you might even say, the power of the atonement to save.

For example, they might say, if men choose to believe, and over on the catholic leaning side of it, if they choose to believe and faithfully receive the mass every Sunday, or as much as they can and perform certain amounts of good works, then they have determined whether or not the atonement, Christ’s redeeming death, has effect for them or nothing.

So they leave the security of the church, the security of the people God wants for himself, they leave it in the hands of man, but they do limit it to man’s choice, man’s behavior. So, in effect, they’re saying, Christ’s death did not actually redeem anyone. It just made men redeemable.

It only made redemption possible, they would say. So there’s a real possibility under that line of thinking that Jesus death could have been rejected by everyone, and then his death on the cross would have been a colossal failure.

Trust me, friends, Jesus is not sitting in heaven wringing his hands about whether or nothing. Sovereign man will choose to get in on the work he did for man on the cross. That’s not what is happening in heaven.

So the catholic system, for example, has what they call the sacrifice of the Mass. Every Sunday you go to the catholic system and you go down in front and the priest administers the wine and the bread, and they believe in transubstantiation. And they’ll tell you that that’s the blood of Jesus.

That literally becomes the blood of Jesus again. And the bread literally becomes the body of Jesus again. And so you get saved again every week, or at least you get secured again, that you’re saved. So, so Jesus, in effect, dies on the cross for you again every week. And I’m telling you, brothers and sisters, the bottom line of that theology is power and control.

If I can convince you that you got to come to Jeff Noblett as your priest and go through some motion and do what I tell you to get into heaven, you’d be shocked at the number of people that would buy in on that, because that’s our fallen nature. We want something we can do.

We want something tangible. We want to leave and say, now, I did that. When really salvation is not. I did that. Salvation is. He did that.

And I just get in on it. I have a lot of notes, and I’m going to have to quit getting off my notes. We’re not ever going to get through. Okay. The first group that believes in a limited atonement, a limited redemption, is the more Catholic or, uh, evangelical Armenian.

And you might say, who’s the evangelical Armenian? Well, the Methodist, um, free will Baptists, some good folks that I know love Jesus, but their theology is of such that they leave man in power, and that limits whether or not they get the effects of the atonement. Now, the second group is what I’d call the protestant and early baptist position, and that is that the death of Jesus on the cross was all sufficient for all it was intended to save.

It’s all sufficient, I should say it this way, for all those to whom it was intended to save our redeem. Romans eight one reminds us, there is therefore now, not later, not contingent upon what man does. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews one three reminds us that Jesus made purification for sin, and then he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Why did Jesus sit down with a world full of sinners not yet saved? Because he’s already done what he’s going to do to save those who are going to be saved.

Jesus, the great high priest. The Bible says, the book of Hebrews. And when he went and presented his sacrifice, he went and sat down, because it’s done. Redemption was perfectly completed for the children. But if you go down to the catholic system or any other system who teaches a priestcraft, you know what that priest does on Sunday after he gets done?

He goes back and gets ready for the next Sunday. And gets ready for the next Sunday. Because it’s never done. There’s no time for sitting. There’s more sin to be forgiven. They might get lost this week. We got to get them saved again next week. What a dependent, uh, demeaning, crushing, joyless system that would be to be trapped in.

Hebrews 912 reminds us, and not through the blood of bulls or goats or calves. That was the Old Testament law. You had to bring all these offerings for all these sins in your life, not through the blood of goats calves, but through his own blood. He entered the holy place once for all.

Listen to this past tense phrase. Having obtained a obtained, rather eternal redemption, he didn’t die, uh, to make redemption possible. He died to obtain redemption for the children.

My goodness. That’s good stuff.

We do not in any manner, any shape or any fashion add to our redemption. It was procured for us, finished for us in Christ’s death. It’s not a subjective thing. It’s an objective thing. It’s performed independently from us, outside of us. And we are the grateful beneficiaries of his redeeming work.

Again, folks will say, pastor, if you preach that kind of sovereign grace, that kind of security, how you gonna get your people to serve God? You gotta keep them scared that they might go to hell to get. Oh, no, no, no. If the spirit of God breaks their heart in gratitude for what’s been done for them, they will serve the Lord faithfully.

God doesn’t want to coerce you with arm twisting to love him and serve him. He wants you to joy in what he’s done for you, and therefore, from your heart. Not to gain anything for you, but to gain glory for him. From your heart. Serve him faithfully. His church.

He bore our sins. He purged them. He did not make a down payment on our sins and leave the rest to us. Our debts are not just canceled, they are liquidated. They are expiated. Hebrews 1014. For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

For by the one offering he has past tense perfected. You see, in the eternal mind of God, the elect of God are already cleansed, redeemed, holy, blameless. Before him

the elect children bask in a holy liberty. Having been freed from sin, I freed from guilt, free from condemnation, free from death, free from hell, free from the hold of the grave. Oh, no wonder Fanny Crosby wrote perfect submission.

All is at rest. I and my savior am happy and blessed. You know why you can be at rest no matter your state? Because you have a perfect redemption that’s already been done and settled. No matter where you are, what you’re facing, or what you’re going through. If you will rest in Jesus, you will find rest, be done with anxiety and worry and fears.

Just say he owns me, he controls me. He died for me. He keeps me. It’s a finished thing. So as the scripture says, what can mere man do to me? Well, he can’t do anything unless Christ allows it. So Armenians and Catholics, some Baptists, some evangelicals, say the atonement of Christ’s redemption is limited by man.

Man has to believe, man has to receive it, then he has to do these works to keep it. And ah, by contrast, those who hold the sovereign grace say that the atonement of Christ is not limited by man, it’s limited only by God.

Those for whom he intended to save are saved, and it’s limited to that chosen elect. Now on the other side of the coin, atonement, uh, is sufficient for all that it was purposed and intended to redeem. We’ve said that before, but I’ll say it again, atonement is sufficient for the purposes God made.

Now think about it for a moment. Could God, the way the Bible describes him in any way, shape or fashion, do something whereby he’s limited concerning the outcome?

He would be less than God. Well, just scrolling through some scriptures now to talk about more this specific or, uh, limited application of the atonement. When God the angel, rather, spoke to Joseph about Mary, his betrothed, being with child, you know, Joseph was very concerned about that, as any man would, because he had not had relations.

He thought she had committed an adultery. But the angel said, joseph, she’s going to bear a son and he will save his people, limited group from their sins. You know, one of the interesting things is that we make this thing of election and choosing and predestination such a big, big deal.

Do you understand? It was not a big deal in the ancient world. It was not an issue. Every jew believed they were God’s elect and the gentiles were not. They grasped election thoroughly. It’s never discussion. Every gentile knew that the Jews believed that God chose the descendants of Abraham and did not choose their descendants.

So God electing a certain people to be his and not choosing or electing others not to be his. Or rather to be outside of his covenant blessings that was common in jewish thinking. Now here’s what blew everybody’s mind, not the fact that God elects. Here’s what blew everybody’s mind that God has elected non Jews also.

That’s what blew their mind that gentiles were coming to Christ. Gentiles were believing on Jesus and they had to all of a sudden change their theology and their thinking that the sovereignty of God is true. The election of God is true, but it’s not limited only to Israel.

John 1014 and 15. Jesus speaks and says, I am the good shepherd. I, uh, know limited group my own and limited group my own know me even as the father knows me and I know the father. I, uh, laid down my life for a definite article. The sheep. John 17 nine.

Jesus high priestly prayer. Before he goes to the cross, he’s praying to the father and he says, father, I ask on, um, their behalf. Now don’t miss this. I, uh, do not ask on behalf of the world. What are you going to do with that? That’s limited. This is Jesus limited.

Why would Jesus intercede for those for whom he did not die? He wouldn’t. He says, this is a limited application prayer. I ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom thou has given me, for they are thine. Everything about this is a limited application.

Revelation five nine. It’s a scene from heaven. And they sang a new song saying, where the art thou? To take the book and break its seals, for thou was slain. And didst purchase past tense for God with thy blood, men from every tribe, tongue and people and nation. And literally, the greek means, out of God you sent Jesus, and in his death and his shed blood, he’s redeemed people for himself out of all the people’s tongues, tribes and nations.

Not every single one, but out of them. A limited application. And by the way, there’s no record in hell speaking of Christ dying for or, uh, redeeming those who are in hell. Obviously, they were not given redemption. Obviously, their sins were not atoned, because they are being punished for their sins in eternal punishment.

Ephesians 525 27. Husbands, love all wives. We know better than that. The picture of, uh, marriage is a picture of Christ in his church. Husbands, love your wife. Limited application. Just as Christ also loved the church. Limited application. And gave himself up for who? For her. Limited application. That he might sanctify her.

Limited application. And cleanse her limited application. By the washing of water with the word that he might present to himself all the world. No, no. He might present to himself the church. Limited application. In all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and blameless.

But this mystery is great. But I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. It especially is more powerful when you understand the jewish context, which was obviously the background for statements like this. In the jewish context, you are almost always betrothed to someone before you are born.

So you are considered that person’s betrothed, uh, in one sense, you could say, from childhood. So there was a limited. A particular choice made concerning who would be your one and only. And when the Bible says you’re to love your wives the way Christ loved, uh, the church, there’s a lot of application to that.

But the foremost foundational application of that is that she’s your one and only to the exclusion of others. She’s the one you care for. She’s the one you protect. She’s the one you provide for. She’s the one you live for. She’s the one you love differently than when you love anyone else.

Limited application. Which is the way Jesus loves his bride, his church. In the marriage supper of the lamb, revelation 19 nine. Blessed are those that are invited. Not everyone’s invited, only those whom are his, whom he has redeemed. The Old Testament sacrificial system was very limited. You brought your lamb or turtledove or goat, or on the day of atonement, your spotless lamb, you brought it for you are and your family limited.

And there was no concept in the Old Testament sacrificial economy that you brought your sacrifice for the whole world. Again. To Jews, this was well nailed down and clear cut. That’s the way they thought of it. That’s the way it was taught to them. Colossians 121 22. And although you were formerly alienated, hostile in mind and engaged in evil deeds, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.

Hebrews 217. Therefore, he had to be made like limited application, his brethren in all things that’s becoming human like we’re human, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Hebrews 915. And for this reason he’s the mediator of a new covenant.

And all that since a death has taken place. For the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called limited application may receive the promise of eternal life. Now, one of the ways the Bible describes this is by using the metaphor of the two atoms.

It’s literally true, but it’s metaphorical. I think at the same time, you’re either only of, uh, the physical Adam that started the human race, or you’re one who was of the physical Adam who started the human race, and the second Adam, Jesus, who’s recreating a new human race. If you’re a Christian, you’re part of a new human race, of God’s people, God’s church, that he will keep for time and then for all eternity.

What’s the point? Again, it’s a limited application. You’re either of the second Adam or you’re nothing. Those who in the second Adam are those for whom he died and redeemed. Now, I know what some are thinking, probably not many of you. But you ask about what? About those all inclusive terms in the New Testament, words like all men and all the world.

Well, these seemingly all inclusive words are not really all inclusive. We can see that abundantly throughout the scriptures that this is true. Three things here about those seemingly all inclusive words of all people are all the world when referring to Christ’s death or Christ’s salvation. Number one, these words, all in the world, are commonly used throughout the scriptures as figures of speech.

It doesn’t mean every single person, and they have a restrictive sense if you understand them in their context. For example, in Romans chapter five, verses 17 and 18. Romans 517 and 18. I’ll do 17 first and then 18 to show you how one, uh, uh, modifies and

corrects, uh, not amplifies. That’s okay. Let me go ahead and do it. Romans 518. So then, as through one transgression, there resulted condemnation to all men. Even so, through the act of righteousness, there resulted justification of life to all men. Is that true? Is every single man, all men, going to be justified?

No, it’s a figure of speech, because you look at 17 and you know that the limited application of it. Romans 517. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, that’s Adam and all his descendants, he was one. And death, spiritual death, reigned through all of us, including physical death.

Much more. Those who receive limited group, the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. So he uses phrases all, uh, mendez, all men, twice in 18. But in verse 17, he says, but there are those limited, not all, who receive the abundance of grace.

So obviously it’s a figure of speech. Uh, Hebrews, chapter two, if you will. Verses 1112 and 13 for both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one father, for which reason he’s not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will proclaim your name to my brethren.

Notice the limited application. Again, in the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise, and again I will put my trust in him. And behold I and the children whom God has given me. Not all, but a specific group. There’s, uh, some more examples of this being a figure of speech.

In revelation two nine, Satan deceives the whole world, the Bible says. Does he? Those who believe are no longer deceived. So it can’t mean every single person. First John 519. The whole world lies in the power of the evil one. That’s no longer true. Is it at all? If you belong to Christ, you’re under the power of Christ.

You’re no longer under the power of sin. The scripture clearly teaches that. First, John 414. He’s the savior of the world. Are we universalists now? Is everyone going to be saved? No, it’s a figure of speech. First John 313, he talks about, the world will hate you. Doesn’t mean every single person.

Many will, but many will not. We see in the scriptures that often God gives favor to believers and the righteous from those who are absolute pagans and ungodly. John 21 25. The world itself could not contain the books. If everything was written down that Jesus did, that’s not literally true.

He was limited himself to a physical body and the constraints of time. There’s no way you could fill the entire world with the book. It’s a figure of speech. It doesn’t mean literally all the world. John 1219. The Bible says the world has gone after him. Well, the whole world hadn’t gone after him, but a lot had gone after him.

It’s a figure of speech. So first of all, be careful when you say the word all or all the world, that you’re not understanding the flow of the context. And you come up with some sort of universalist, arminian view of Christ’s work, which is not biblical at all. Secondly, when you’re dealing with these all, uh, exclusive, seemingly all exclusive terms, it’s really referring to Jews and gentiles.

That’s the way they would look at it. Because again, the great shock to the Jews was that God would actually save someone who’s not a jew. And so often when they talked about the world or all the people, they meant Jews and gentiles. The rest of the world is included in this redemption.

Um, to the jew of this day, there are only two categories of people. They’re the descendants of Abraham or Israel or the Jews, and then everyone else. Romans 323 says, all have sinned. What it means there, I’m convinced it’s Jews and gentiles. Because the Jews had, uh, a tendency, especially in Jesus day, of saying, now we’re not really the dirty dog sinners.

They called gentiles dogs, you understand? Because that’s about as low as you could get in defilement and wickedness and spiritual uncleanness was a dog. So what Paul is saying when he writes that to the Romans is all Jews are sinful and all, uh, gentiles are sinful. All the world.

That’s the main, of course, all the world is. In that case, it involves every single person. But the contextual flow emphasizes, he’s talking about Jews and gentiles all needing the same savior. Um, that’s why the Bible says in two corinthians 519 that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

Did he. Did he fail? No, it’s a figure of speech. He means Jews and gentiles. Not every single person in all. Ah, the world. That’s why second corinthians 516 tells us, we recognize no man according to the flesh. We don’t walk up and say, are you a descendant of Abraham?

Cause we gotta know if you’re God’s child. See, that’s a fleshly human way of discerning it. I could see if you’re a jew or not, but we only recognize men, no matter what their ethnic or nationality is. They’ve come to know Jesus Christ as lord and savior. Are, uh, some of y’all getting uncomfortable?

Are you okay?

This is what Paul meant when he told the ephesian elders, before he departed from them with tears, I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. If you read Ephesians, you know he did. Not he flat did. So under all inclusive terms that we hear the arminian or the catholic viewpoint, that Jesus died the same way for everyone and everyone’s included.

Uh, that sounds good from our selfish human fairness perspective, but it’s not true from a holy and just God’s perspective. First of all, it means it’s a figure of speech commonly used throughout scripture. Sometimes it may mean every single person, but many, many, many times it’s only a figure of speech.

Secondly, it was meant to, um, emphasize both Jews and gentiles. And thirdly, these seemingly all inclusive phrases speak to the temporal benefits of Christ’s death for all men. That there are temporal benefits of Christ’s death for all men. I believe that there’s a sense in which Jesus died for all and that he is.

His death in a temporal sense, is holding back the imminent judgment of God until God saves all of his elect. So there’s a holding back of wrath and judgment that all men get in all that Jesus purchased on the cross. But it has only a temporal benefit for all mankind.

It has an eternal saving benefit for God’s chosen and the elect.

Also, I think there’s a powerful truth in that those who are saved are agents in the earth that causes God to bring blessing and not the curse and the judgment, at least to the extent he would have brought. So there’s a holding back of curse and judgment through God’s saving, his elect in the earth that all men get the benefit of.

I mean, if you’re associated with the righteous man, you’re blessed, but the companion of fools suffers harm, the Bible says.

So. The question is not, are there benefits and blessings of Christ’s death for all men? There certainly are. Christ died for all men. In a sense, there’s temporal benefits for all men. And the question is not, does Christ have a great love for all men, and will he save any who repent and believe?

Absolutely he will. That’s not the question. Anyone, anyone, anyone in this hearing of mine today or over the Internet or anywhere else, you may hear my voice. If you will turn to Christ, he will save you. So that’s not the question. Will Christ save any who turned him in saving faith.

Now, uh, ground that into your bone marrow that I said that because he will. The question is not, are there any benefits for all men in Christ? Yes, certainly there are. But it’s temporal for many, not eternal for some. The question is not, does Christ have a great love for all men and will save any and all who will repent and believe?

Yes, he will. But the question is, whom did Christ redeem when he died? Did he actually get anything finished? Was anything procured,

sealed, settled, done when he actually died?

For whom did he purge of sin when he died? Whom did he cleanse of guilt when he died? Whose place did he take in judgment when he died? Did he actually complete redemption when he died? That’s the question.

I’ll say to you again that Jesus death was not a sloppy effort at hopefully getting some folks to feel sorry for a dying Jesus and turn to him in faith. I’ve heard evangelists preach it much like that, and it makes me sick at my stomach.

The redemption of Christ is unlimited in the sphere for which God ordained it. The redemption of Christ is perfect, for the redeemer is perfect. In Isaiah 53 ten, as the prophet foretold the work of the coming messiah. It told of his suffering and his bruising and his bleeding and his dying.

It talk about God the Father crushing him on the cross. But through all that, this savior does. Now, listen to me. It says he will see his offspring. It’s an, uh, anthropomorphic, physical phrase for a spiritual truth. All those for whom he suffered to secure, he’ll see every single one of them with himself in heaven for all eternity.

Y’all remember Bill Stafford? Remember what Bill used to say? I’m so saved, it’s pitiful. That’s what he says. I’m just so saved, it’s pitiful. That’s because he does all the saving. I’m glad you didn’t help save yourself. You’d be more pitiful

if Christ died for all the exact same way and died to redeem all, then all the millions who go to hell prove that Christ failed. But he didn’t. Of course. But if all for whom he died are indeed saved, secured, redeemed and inherit eternal life, then Christ did indeed succeed, as the Christ of God sent to do the duties and responsibilities of securing the children for all eternity.

As I’ve said before, I’ll say again. John 639, and this is the will of him who sent me. Jesus is speaking, that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day, thus, again, perfectly fulfilling the duties and responsibilities of the office of the Christ.

You see, Jesus alone hung on the cross in darkness, physical and spiritual darkness, all alone by himself, the son of God incarnate to the exclusion of the father and to the exclusion of the spirit and to exclusion of angels and of men. There in that darkness, finished my redemption.

There’s no indication that demons and devils were there fighting or raging over Jesus. This was the work of God the Son and God the Son alone before the Father, who the Bible says had turned his back on the Son. In a sense, Jesus is the only one qualified to be redeemer, because he’s the only one commissioned by the Father.

He is the one and only faithful high priest who always lives to make intercession for us. Now, that means he didn’t just. He wasn’t just faithful to get to the cross to redeem the children. He’s faithful. After he rose from the dead to secure the children, he also became sin, the Bible says, and shed his precious blood, knowing that you are not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold, from your futile way of life, inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

He alone, after his death, ascended into heaven. He alone entered the one true holy place, the holy place in heaven. Having obtained for us eternal redemption, Hugh Martin said, and I quote, the atonement is one solitary, matchless, divine transaction, never to be repeated, never to be equaled, never to be approached.

Colossians 214 reminds us, having canceled out the certificate of debt I consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us, and he’s taken it out of the way. All the listing of the sins and transgressions that ought to judge us and cast us into eternal wrath. All the certificate against us, he’s taken it out of the way and nailed it to the cross.

Doctor Roy Beaman was my New Testament professor in graduate school. And Doctor Roy Beaman was a simple country boy from Mayfield, Kentucky. Ever been to Mayfield, Kentucky? There’s not much in Mayfield, Kentucky, country boy, but God gave him a genius brain. I mean, he literally was a genius. Doctor Beaman studied in over 30 languages.

And we’d be in class, he’d be lecturing, and we called it bemonology because it didn’t matter what the course description said. Doctor Beaman just got up and talked, and if you’d listen, you’d learn a lot. But he’d come across a thought and he’d say, you know, Edwards said that I believe.

Let’s see, it was page 284, the third paragraph down, and then he’d quote it. He probably hadn’t read it in 20 years. That’s the kind of brain he had, uh, studied in over 30 languages. But even with such a sophisticated, elite intellect, and you would want to debate with doctor, he could take either side of something and beat you in a debate because he just had such knowledge.

But even in the depth of his great academic achievements and intellectual, uh, esteem doctor Beman kept a simple, cherished, joyous, treasured devotion to Jesus Christ. I’ll never forget time after time in his lectures he’d stopped.

He paused for a moment. He said, I’m just a sinner saved by grace.

Now, uh, don’t you get caught up in the intellectualizing of these glorious truths. Where to get that and lose the treasure and the joy and the wonder that we’re just sinners saved by grace. And you’re either saved by grace or you’re not saved at all. You go see all the priests you want.

It’s not going to save you. You can come down and talk to Jeff Noblet. It’s not going to save you. But Christ will. Doctor Beaman’s favorite song was majestic sweetness sits enthroned. Listen to these words. Majestic sweetness sits enthroned upon the savior’s brow his head with radiant and glorious crowned his lips with grace o’erflow no mortal can with him compare among the sons of men.

Fairer is he than all the fair who fill the heavenly train. He saw me plunged in deep distress and he flew to my relief for me he bore the shameful cross and carried all my grief. Survey the beauties of his face and on his glories dwell. Think of the wonders of his grace and all his triumphs tell.

That’s what I’ve been trying to do this morning. Talk about his triumphs. To him I owe my life and breath and all the joys I have. He makes me triumph over death and saves me from the grave. And saves me from the grave. Let’s bow together.

Would you call out to the Lord this morning from your heart and say, oh Christ, this is too great, this is too wondrous. It’s too big for my brain. But like a simple.