This morning I would ask you to please turn to Romans chapter 3, Romans chapter 3, our text will be verses 21 through 26, and it's not indicated in your bulletin, but I would ask you also to turn following that to page 100 in the back of your Psalter to article 8, second head of doctrine and the limited on the death of Christ and redemption of men thereby. We will read article 8. I will just read that article following that. Romans 3 beginning at verse 21 and let us give our attention to the word of God. But now a righteousness from God apart from the law has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe there is no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance, He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Therein ends the reading of God's Word. Page 100. Article 8. For this was the sovereign counsel and most gracious will and purpose of God the Father, that the quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious death of His Son should extend to all the elect for bestowing upon them alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to salvation. That is, it was the will of God that Christ, by the blood of the cross, whereby He confirmed the new covenant, should effectually redeem out of every people, tribe, nation, and language all those and those only who were from eternity chosen to salvation and given to Him by the Father, that He should confer upon them faith, which together with all the other saving gifts of the Holy Spirit He purchased for them by His death, should purge them from all sin, both original and actual, whether committed before or after believing. And having faithfully preserved them to the end, should at last bring them free from every spot and blemish to the enjoyment of glory in His own presence forever. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, well, this morning we're considering the doctrine of limited atonement. The biblical truth that Christ came to this earth and died only for the elect. That Jesus' death was specifically intended to save a definite certain number of persons given to Him by the Father before the foundation of the world to atone for their sins and theirs alone. We believe in a limited atonement. That's exactly what we confessed and just read in this church. These have been precious truths to Reformed Christians, but I have to say, at least in my years of being in the Reformed church, I've noticed a real backlash against these teachings. Many are witnessing in their Reformed churches their young people leave and question these things, all with the feeling that maybe we're missing something. Maybe we're missing something. Isn't this just dry old dogma that belongs to the theologians? How does that apply to everyday life? Maybe we've been sort of partly to blame for this. I have not witnessed in our circles a real passion, a real desire to know and love and tell others about these great reform doctrines of grace. We really haven't given relevance to them. More often than not, we simply do not diffuse a sort of joy and excitement over what we believe. I mean, if I asked you that question this morning, why should I or why should you believe in something like limited atonement, what would be your answer? If we don't know, if we don't express any excitement over these doctrines, should we really expect our children and our heritage to do that later? Or even now? For the most part, just the mere mention of limited atonement and it seems to put people in an immediate state of irritation, doesn't it? Maybe even anger. And most of us on our part at times feel so ill-equipped and unequipped to know how to handle the strong sentiments by those expressed that don't believe in this doctrine. There's a great pressure even amongst us who confess these things to feel that they're maybe outdated and simply not helpful in bringing people into the church. Don't they belong to the 16th century? Let's just leave them there. Let's leave it in the back of our Psalter. Maybe we're all too familiar with how the conversation goes with people. Where do you attend church, they ask? I attend the Reformed Church. Reformed? Aren't they the people who believe in that doctrine called limited atonement? Why are you trying to limit Christ's death? I mean, how could you really stand out on the street corner and offer anyone good news? Why are you trying to advance a teaching that keeps people out of heaven? Well, the Bible teaches it. And that sort of ignites the fire all the more. Now, we know how the conversations go. They're the aggressors and we're immediately sort of placed on the defensive. And more often than not, it just sounds so negative, doesn't it? I believe that Christ's death is only for those whom He came to save. And that is not for everyone. Immediately, it seems as if they're on a better ground. It seems as if they have the really good news. Something far more glorious to offer to the world. And we're left to feel that really we may not have so good news. That our news hinders the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It limits His death. But our news is sad and scary. Where's the gospel in that? Where is it? These questions aren't answered. We don't have a passion and an excitement over what we believe. Our children won't either. Nor will people understand why we believe these things, and soon enough it will die, as it already has in many Reformed churches. Sure, it's not so much, I guess, this morning, at least with this body, that we don't believe these things, right? But we become sort of embarrassed about them. A kind of shunning of these doctrines of grace. An uncomfortability and an easiness when it comes to discussing them. Well, this morning, I would like, Lord willing, to consider why we believe it. And I want to say to you first that limited atonement should be the greatest news to your ears. It should be the greatest news for that missionary out in the far ends of the earth giving the gospel to others. It should be the greatest news for the believer who faces sickness and death in all areas of life. What we want to see this morning is that by believing in this doctrine, we have the truly good news. We have a reason to live in excitement over the fact that when Christ came to this earth, He accomplished what He set out to do. That He actually paid for our sins by becoming our substitute and freeing us from condemnation and death. And that must, it must, result in the salvation of our souls. Before we look into our passage this morning, it should be said that usually the hang-up lies in this word limited. It's that word that seems to cause all the problems. But surely, we don't mean to say that the atonement is limited in its power. It is unlimited in its power since it makes certain that those for whom Christ dies will be saved. But I submit to you that a right understanding of this doctrine should never be concerned with how many. Never. That is not the issue at stake. That is not the heart of it. It's true, I guess we could say, the Scriptures make clear, they make unequivocal statements that Christ's death is not for all. I think of something like John 10. I am the Good Shepherd and I know my sheep and I am known by my own. And the Father knows me, even so I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep, or better translated, my sheep. It goes on to say, the Pharisees, you do not believe because you're not of my sheep. Did not die for those who are not his sheep. Or, I think of something like John 17. I've manifested your name to the men whom you've given me out of the world. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you've given me, for they are yours. Specifically stated here, all men were not given to him to die for. Only those given to him by his Father, and he does not pray for all men in the world. Ephesians 5.25 Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. We take that analogy on its own terms and apply it to the modern-day conception. You, by necessity, need to apply this universally. Christ died for the church and for all people, every human being, by way of analogy, I am to love my wife and all women. Darcy's here today. She wouldn't like that. Married to one wife. I'm called to love her. I'm called to give myself specifically for her. And when I do that, you see, I model what Christ did in giving Himself specifically for His church and not all people. I could go on. I could heap text upon text to prove this. But I submit to you, the who is not the foremost issue. What I'm passionate about, what the Reformers were passionate about, What you should be passionate about is what Christ accomplished when He went to the cross. That is the issue. That is what you're faced with when you consider Christ's death. And I submit to you that if you rightly understand what He did and what He accomplished, you will be compelled to understand that His death, His poured out blood, was only for those whom He came to save. Before time, Jesus agreed with His Father. He covenanted to be the Lamb of sacrifice. That He would do all that was determined for Him to do to bring to ultimate a glory those who had been given to Him by His Father and not everyone. So we answer that question of what Christ accomplished. We must look at the cross. Go to the cross. And there's no place better to do this than Romans chapter 3. And my main focus really, if you look down at the Scriptures, is really one verse. And that's verse 25. But it's a really long sentence, beginning at really at the middle of verse 22 and ending at 26. So let's pick up at the beginning of verse 22 and read there. For there is no difference. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Now, I want to hone in on this. And I know in the NIV, it uses the word sacrifice of atonement, I believe. I'm going to change that word in translation to the beautiful old word. That's what it says. Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness. Because in His forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness and that he might be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. The first thing that's really important here to see is Paul's emphasis on sin, of course. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Now, we just don't understand the ramifications for such a truth. In our sinful natures, we cannot grasp just how serious this is with God. How in trouble we all really are. Our just and our holy God demands righteousness and perfection. And all He finds when He looks down upon us is sin. Ugly sin. Totally depraved. All of the thoughts, only evil continually. I love what William Bridge once said. Pure minister, for if the guilt of sin be so great that nothing can satisfy it but the blood of Jesus and the filth of sin be so evil that nothing can fetch out the stain except the blood of Jesus, how great, how heinous, how sinful must the evil of sin be. He's exactly right. The filth of sin, of course, extending to every part of who we are, has utterly offended God that at any moment He has the right to drop us into the hellfire forever. We sit under the firestorm of His wrath. A lightning bolt of anger flashing over our heads, ready to strike in righteous judgment. He is an angry God. That is the terrible reality that the world has to come to grips with. But God knows our helplessness. And the amazing truth of the Gospel that we proclaim and that we are so overwhelmed with is that an angry God simultaneously shows His love and provides the only sacrifice that is able to pacify Him. The only offering that He will accept. The only shedding of blood that will remove His wrath and expiate sin. The offering up of His only dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ. The Lamb without spot. There's this word, propitiation, that we need to meditate upon for a moment. It's unfortunate in our day with so many translations, it's lost. But it's something vital to maintain here. It's a beautiful word. It's a powerful word. It's so special in our understanding of the Gospel. The word means to appease or to satisfy. In the ancient Greek and Roman literature, it served to explain the thing that was used for regaining the goodwill of the gods when they were offended. And here it's used to explain the great initiative taken by God Himself to remove the barrier, that great offense that has disrupted our relationship with Him, sin. Sin. And here it's so beautifully said that the means of expiation, The means of wiping away our sins is the shed blood of Christ. We have sinned. The fact is God is angry. We have to say at this point that the world has such an innate sense of this, don't they? There is something in all of mankind that tells us that this is a reality. God is angry. And although it may be dim, although the world has this innate sense, they can't quite figure the whole thing out. The fall has so corrupted their understandings, as the Scriptures say, that all of us have become futile and our thoughts and the foolish hearts have been darkened. There still remains an innate sense that something's not right. Think about the other world religions. In some way or another, they are all trying to propitiate. They are all trying to make right their relationship with an angry God. Remember in 1 Kings, the prophets of Baal, when Elijah called them out into Mount Carmel to get the attention of the thunder god, Baal, remember what they did. They called upon him to send down fire from heaven to the sacrifice. And what did they do? They danced around the altar, cutting themselves, letting their blood gush out, hoping to appease Baal so that he would be propitiated in here. The Celts and the Germans and the Danish would sacrifice humans in the bogs to appease the gods. Every year the Aztecs, of course, would take a young man up on top of those steppe pyramids and literally cut out his heart with an obsidian knife, offering it to their god, the sun god, to keep the sun rotating. The Dutch, in the dark, damp rainforest of northern Europe, would worship their god, Woden, trying to pacify him. Hindu holy men, they say, will lie on beds of nails every year washed in the Yellow River hoping to purify themselves for the gods. We're living in a day, of course, where the Muslims will initiate holy war all with the hope that they will be killed so that their shed blood will guarantee heaven for them. We could go on. All of which tells us that there is an innate sense in all of us, somebody's angry. And you've got to make it right. There's a need to propitiate a God. But our God won't accept any of them. Why? Because all of them are insufficient. All of them stem from corrupt sacrifices and offers. All of them stem from that sinful offer. None of them, not one, can propitiate the God of heaven and earth. And yet everyone's trying by their own works to do it. Even in our circles today. What did God do? What did He do? He did the most unimaginable thing. Look at verse 25. God set forth Christ as a propitiation by His blood. That is the gospel. That an angry God set forth. The word means to plan. It means to purpose. that God planned and purposed from His own resources to set forth the propitiation. That's why it's the Gospel. Because God provides it. It will do the job. Here's the most amazing thing. He had to be one of us for God to accept the sacrifice. But He also had to be true God to be able to do it. One who is true God and true man. And the Father who sends His Son to do it will accept it. The righteous God who is rightly angry provides the only one that's able to pacify Him. This is known to what we call the substitutionary atonement. Jesus came and He stood in your place. He is your head. He filled in for you so that all of your debt, all of your sin, all of your misery fell upon Him and God collected His righteous justice from the substitute. The ransom is paid through this great substitute, Jesus Christ. All of God's righteous anger is poured out upon Him instead of you. Remember in the Old Testament, when God accepted the sacrifice, what happened? Well, fire would fall from heaven and consume the sacrifice to show His approval. His wrath would fall upon the sacrifice. We might think of, when we think of propitiation, we are reminded of the covering over the ark of the mercy seat that the blood would be sprinkled upon and God's wrath would be turned. All of it pointed to Christ. All of it pointed to our high priest. In his forbearance, he had passed over the sins that were committed before Christ came so that now, through the great revelation of his righteousness, he might demonstrate it, that he is the one who must provide that which will appease him. that He is the one who justifies those for whom Christ substituted by faith alone. What does all that have to do with limited atonement? Well, when we ask the question of what Christ did when He went to the cross, what He accomplished, we have to say He propitiated the wrath of God. He satisfied God's wrath. What that means is that God's wrath is turned away. Upon whom? Those for whom He substituted. Now what that means is if Jesus shouldered the curse of the law, there is no more curse. What that means, if Jesus has taken the punishment upon Himself, there can be no more punishment. If the very sacrifice of Christ has pacified the wrath of God, there cannot be any more wrath for those for whom He substituted. The Father has accepted the sacrifice of His Son. Why? Because it's a perfect sacrifice. It comes from Him. I can't emphasize this enough. The ransom was paid. He was propitiated. That's what Paul says here, that Jesus was set forth as the propitiation by His blood. Done deal. Done deal. that's the case this was done for every single human being as is so adamantly believed today what this means think of the implications of this what this means is that God's wrath has been propitiated for everyone his anger has been turned away from everyone there is now no condemnation for anyone this teaching taken to its logical conclusion must end in universalism has to in fact the Bible is clear hell will be populated on that day we read in Matthew 25 he will say to those on his left hand depart from me you cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels if Jesus has already become the curse for someone took their place and shouldered it God's wrath is satisfied I submit to you today it should terrify you it should terrify you that it is possible that on the last day you may have to shoulder that curse for an eternity even though Jesus already paid for it that means Jesus becoming a curse just wasn't quite good enough I can't speak for you that's not good news that is not good news the word gospel means good news And today's message isn't good. That Jesus can go to the cross for me. Die for me. And then I could still find myself ending up in hell for an eternity. That the entire thing is dependent upon what I do. And what will distinguish me is if I'm a little wiser and I do what is right. And that will determine my eternal destiny. To me, that's no gospel at all. Christ died for you, but you're on your own. You're on the edge of the cliff, so to speak. You might fall. God says, I've already done my part. You have to do yours. News is not good if God can deliver up His only begotten Son, put Him through the intense and suffering that He went through, pour out the hottest wrath upon Him, and have His own wrath satisfied, propitiated, and then on judgment day, punish some of those again in hell for an eternity. Think about what this says. Does that teaching really teach the justice of God? It would seem that if God has been satisfied at the cross with the death of Christ, how then could He require another punishment on Judgment Day? People have to think through the consequences of such a teaching. The death of Christ today is sort of treated like a great bank. The money is there. His blood is there. But we have to draw it out and then it will become effective. Beloved, picture the Christ. Picture the Christ. Think upon His determination to seek and to save His sheep, His entire ministry. Leaving the 99 and going after that lost one as is so beautifully pictured for you. Walking so carefully. Keeping the entirety of the law. Placing Himself under it to keep perfect obedience for His own that it might be imputed to them by faith. Think of Him actually being baptized in the Jordan for what? To fulfill all righteousness. Think of Him intently setting His face towards Jerusalem, knowing what was to come, constantly telling His disciples, I will be betrayed and condemned to death. Think of the garden. Think of the garden. The sweat like drops of blood. The agony, the intense agony of His suffering in body and soul when His own Father's wrath had fallen upon Him. Think of Him crying out on the cross, I thirst! My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me? When at that very moment, just like the fire falling on the Old Testament sacrifices and consuming them, the fire of God's hottest anger and wrath was falling upon His soul and He was enduring it. He was enduring it. And finally, think of Him crying out, It's finished. It's finished! All of the sins for those whom He died was paid. He finished the work that His Father had given to do. And then think upon the glorious resurrection, triumphing over the grave so that He might be the life-giving Spirit. And then, on Judgment Day, after all of that, after He said that all of those whom the Father would give to Him, He would lose none. On that day, actually witnessed those some of those for whom He shed His blood go to hell forever. Scary. Not good news. Someone will say to you, you have to believe though. You have to believe. Of course one has to believe. You have to embrace these things by faith. But this is so important. When somebody treats salvation like a bank to be drawn from, the whole thing dependent upon my acceptance, my works, we have made faith itself. The thing that propitiates God's wrath instead of Christ's sacrifice. Your faith, your acceptance of Jesus Christ does not give the cross its power. Your faith, your acceptance of Christ doesn't give the cross its power. Yes, one must believe, but your belief doesn't make Christ's sacrifice pleasing to God. The sacrifice is offered to Him, not to you. God accepts the sacrifice because it's the sacrifice of His dear Son. And it's offered to Him. You're out of the equation when it comes to what God will accept. It's not because you somehow make it all powerful through your own faith. I love what our Heidelberg Catechism question and answer 61 says. Why do you say it's by faith alone that you're right with God? It's not the answer. It's not any value that my faith has that makes me right with God, but it's only Christ's satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness that makes me right with God. So beautiful. Faith is the instrument. It's instrumental. It's the chosen instrument that God has determined so that you might receive these blessings. But God being propitiated wasn't determined upon your own faith. Your own choosing. theologians call the cross an objective forensic event one pastor says it this way Christ does not become your sacrifice because you believe in him you believe because he made a sacrifice for you and God's wrath was propitiated in AD 30 he's right our belief is evidence that he's died for me and you that my sins have been paid for For faith itself, faith itself is one of the gifts that Christ has secured for me on the cross. That's exactly what our canons say in Article 8 of the second head. Now, what's the good of believing this? What's the good? Hope you see it. You have the greatest news. You have the wonderful news. Again, do you want comfort and assurance of your salvation? Everyone's on this quest for assurance. Do you want that? Embrace the understanding of definite atonement. Because it means that you have been given by God Himself a sacrifice that actually redeems you. That actually satisfies and propitiates God and that turns His wrath away from you forever. Why do you think Paul could provide those ultimate verses of assurance that we so cling to. There is now, Romans 8, 1, there is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. At the root of that is His understanding of the cross. Romans 8, 31, what shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare up His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? Paul is so confident that no charge can be brought against the elect. Why? Well, because the penalty has been paid. And Christ has been delivered up for all of us. That is so comforting that you believe today that you've embraced these things by faith because Christ died for you. And that can only result in the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. But pastor, how do I know that's for me? How do I know? Would our Lord have said to such a claim? Would Paul have said if somebody came up and said that to him? What do you think? Believe. Believe in the gospel. The cross and resurrection is sort of being placated before your eyes right now through the preaching. Do you believe? It's been told that a man was in a heavy discussion with his doctor, his medical doctor, over the issue of limited atonement. He would not believe. He would not believe in it. So he said, I'm going to live a notoriously wicked life. Because he thought, well, if it's true that Christ died for me, then I'll be saved. If not, I will be lost regardless of how I live. So one night he was critically ill. And he called for his doctor and he asked for his help. His temperature was so high that he seemed near to death. When the doctor arrived, he said to the man, Ah, if it's your time, it makes no difference whether I give you the medicine or not. It won't help. If you're foreordained to die, you're going to die. Why do you even want to try? Sick man lying there said, Look, talk. You don't give me the medicine. I'm not going to make it. Immediately he understood what the doctor had done. The issue is the same with salvation. The issue for you, the issue for Him, lie in the fact that if He was to be saved, He needed to believe in Jesus Christ in true faith. And if you have placed your faith and trust in Him, that is the surest evidence of His death for you. You have a promise. You have a promise. What a gospel, isn't it? Rejoice, your gospel does not leave people in hell for whom Christ died. May we be concerned to proclaim that what one drop of Christ's precious blood was spilled in vain. And by embracing these things in true faith and belief, you know Christ is yours. He is yours. He is, as the Reformers said, the mirror of your election. That is why evangelizing gives you hope. When you look upon this Christ, you see His love for you in these great redemptive events. You know, it's so true, in closing, Christian piety, your commitment to God, your own spirituality will flow from certainty. And the fact that your faith has been awakened by the Spirit through the Gospel is the surest evidence that He has gone to that cross for you. And that kind of assurance will breed a life as one who is justified freely by grace through faith of true sanctification, of true joy over this marvelous, propitiatory sacrifice given to you through Jesus Christ's spilled blood. It's my prayer, this teaching is revitalized in us, that we announce it to all without embarrassment in our homes, in our churches, our school tops, everywhere. when people challenge it on the street corners that we would give to them the wonderful news that Christ's atonement will actually bring to salvation and final glory those for whom He died. Isn't that good news? May you bring with you today great joy. May you meditate and think upon as you leave here today the infinite worth of Christ's death on the cross, His work on the cross, and that every last one of your sins has been expiated and wiped away and God's wrath has been propitiated that once was upon you now His righteousness is revealed and demonstrated because of your Savior's marvelous propitiatory, propitiating sacrifice Amen Our Father in Heaven we glory over such a doctrine glory over what you have revealed to us we thank you the infinite worth of Christ's death on the cross thank you that it gives us such hope that we know that every last one of our sins has been wiped away now oh Lord teach us not to doubt oh doubt is unbelief give us true faith to trust in these things to look upon that sacrifice and know that faith says I believe because I have a promise and in all of this oh Lord comfort your people comfort them as they leave this day to allow them to see this Jesus and all of the great lengths he went to to save them from death so that now there might never be any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus in Jesus name we pray these things Amen