This morning, we want to continue our study of the five points of Calvinism, considering limited atonement. I had to think twice here because I think I confused people the first time, saying we continue our study of TULIP, which is true, but we're following the canons of Dort, which takes them in the order of ULTIP, U-L-T-I-P. So this morning, limited atonement. Turning in the back of the Psalter, Himmel, to page 99, the second head of doctrine, as we consider Articles 3 and 8. Articles 3 and 8. And turning to John chapter 10, reading together verses 22-30 of that portion of Scripture. John chapter 10, 22-30. as we give our attention to the Word of God. Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon's colonnade. The Jews gathered around Him saying, How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered, I did tell you. but you do not believe. The miracles I do in My Father's name speak for Me, but you do not believe because you are not My sheep. My sheep listen to My voice. I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and the Father are one. And I ask you to follow along as I read Articles 3 and 8, beginning on page 99. You can see the title under the second head of doctrine says, The Death of Christ and the Redemption of Men Thereby. And Article 3 says, The death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sin, and is of infinite worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world. In article 8 on page 100, 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 even to the end, should at last bring them free from every spot and blemish to the enjoyment of glory in His own presence forever. Dear people of God, if I were to ask all of the boys and girls here this morning, what is so special about Jesus? What is so important about Him? What did He do? I'm sure that many, if not all, the boys and girls would say that He died on the cross for my sins. He saved me from God's punishment for my sins. And boys and girls, that would be correct. But we could fill this out a bit. There's a little more. Jesus Christ stood in my place. He substituted Himself for me and took the punishment I deserved by sacrificing Himself on the cross. and because of His perfect life and His suffering and death and His powerful resurrection He paid for my sins so that I am no longer guilty before God He satisfied God's wrath so that His anger is removed He has won a victory over sin death and the devil a victory that will never be overturned and set me free from the bondage of sin and the devil and gives me His perfect righteousness and restores me to covenantal life in eternal fellowship with the living triune God. That's a mouthful, isn't it? There's a lot there. In theological language, we call this the atonement. The atonement deals with all of Christ's work from beginning to end. His work on behalf of you and me. His work for us in relation to God. His work in relation to the devil. Atonement. To simplify this, we might be able to say that the atonement is about satisfaction and reconciliation with God and how that was accomplished. God has been satisfied in relation to His people in that what had been taken from Him, perfect obedience, was restored and the offense of sin was punished and paid for and His people have been reconciled to Him. We are no longer separated from God. And you see, congregation, Jesus Christ accomplished all of this. All of this is included in His saving sacrifice and He did it through His blood. There's power in the blood of Christ. And we're reminded of that in the sacraments, aren't we? Take, drink ye all of it. Remember and believe that the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ was shed unto a complete remission of all our sins. And as the baptismal form reminds us, when we are baptized into the name of the Son, the Son seals unto us that He washes us in His blood from all our sins. Beloved, there is power in the blood of Jesus. And of course, many of you are familiar with the fact that throughout the life of the New Testament church, there have been many different theories about the atonement. As to, for example, for whom did Christ die? And then was His sacrifice sufficient? These theories, you see, attack the power of Christ's blood and they attack the glorious perfection and effectiveness of Christ's saving work except for one. And that's the truth of the teaching of Scripture. And therefore, I preach to you this morning this Word of God, the power of Christ's blood recognized in its sufficiency for all in the first place. And secondly, in its effectiveness only for the elect. The congregation, the Bible teaches, a limited atonement. As you can imagine, there's some contradiction here because again, we believe, as I just said, that the Bible teaches a limited atonement, yet we say that Christ's sacrifice is sufficient for all. Limited, yet sufficient for all. How does that work? How can that be? It doesn't seem to go together. But we need to understand this sufficiency in two ways. First of all, the blood of Christ was sufficient for all men, for all people. When we speak of limited atonement, limited does not mean that Christ's blood was not powerful enough to save everybody in the first place. God only saves some, not because Jesus only had so much blood to go around so that He could only save some and not all. It would be wrong for us, terribly wrong for us to say that God only elected some because the blood of Jesus was only powerful enough to wash away so much sin and when it was all used up, well, those who were in the back of the cleansing line missed out. And now they are hell-bound. It would be blasphemous for us to say that. What is the power and sufficiency of Christ's blood? Who could He save? What is the worth and value of Christ's saving sacrifice? And just how powerful is it? When we speak of limited atonement, is it the power of Christ's sacrifice that is limited? Well, Article 3 corrects us, sets us straight from the very beginning from that kind of erroneous thinking. It says, The death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sin and is of infinite worth and value abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world. The blood of Christ is not limited as to its power. It is powerful enough and sufficient enough to wash away all the sins of every man, woman, and child from the beginning to the end of time. Paul says in Romans 5, that the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. And he says in Romans 10, for whoever calls on the name of the Lord, There is no limitation as to how many people Jesus is able to save. His blood is sufficient for absolutely everyone. But then, as we can well imagine, there are some in the history of the church and still today who have taken this truth and teach that since Christ's blood is powerful enough to save everyone, then that's exactly what will happen. Everyone will be saved, no exceptions. A teaching, as you know, is called universalism. And beloved, it is absolutely contrary, absolutely opposed to what the Bible teaches. God's Word never says that everyone would be saved. In fact, the clear teaching of Scripture is that not everyone would be saved. We began to consider that with the election and reprobation last week. In Matthew 25, our Lord teaches about the sheep and the goats, and there He makes it clear that the wicked and the unbelieving will not enter heaven. In verse 46 of that chapter, Jesus says that the wicked will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. And many times in His parables, Jesus talked about those who would be cast into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And I trust you recall the distinction in Psalm 1 between the righteous and the wicked. The righteous are like the tree which is planted by the rivers of water, which brings forth fruit in its season. The wicked are like chaff, the garbage which is blown away, that which is useless, unnecessary. The blood of Jesus is sufficient for all. He suffered the full wrath of God against sin. If God had chosen to save only one person, our Lord would not have suffered less. And if God had chosen to save everyone, He would not have suffered more. His blood is sufficient for all. But again, this is a deep doctrine of the Bible. A deep doctrine. And not all will be saved. We must also understand its sufficiency in a second way. Not only is Christ's blood powerful enough for every person, but it is also powerful enough to actually accomplish the work. In other words, beloved, nothing needs to be added to Christ's work. Those for whom Christ died do not have to and indeed are not able to add anything to His work in order to secure salvation. He didn't only accomplish 99% and leave 1% that you and I are responsible for that we have to do. There are some who use the analogy of a drowning person to say that while that person is drowning, well, you throw them a life preserver That's the 99%. But they still have to reach out and put that life preserver on themselves. They have to do their part, otherwise they're not going to get saved. Well, if you want to use that analogy, then we have to speak of it properly. When God throws that life preserver, in a sense, it's a dead ringer. He lands it right on His people. Christ's work is 100% complete and effective and secure. Again, as Article 3 says, His most perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sin is of infinite worth and value. Abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world. As the article clearly says, Christ's sacrifice is the one and only. There is no other. In Acts 4, verse 12, we read, Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And since the canons of Dort were a Reformed response to the Arminian heresy, here's where we need to talk about their position as we understand it. The Arminian teaching is that of a universal atonement, yet not a strict universalism. Their position is that Christ died for all men and for every man, yet they believe that not all men will be saved. Who will be saved? Only those who believe in Christ because they made a decision for Him. Because they chose for Him. And of course, this fits with their view of conditional election that God has chosen those who meet the conditions of faith by their own free will. In other words, with this position, Jesus Christ only made salvation possible for everyone. but He didn't secure it for anyone in particular. It is only secure for those who themselves make it secure. Christ's atoning work doesn't provide salvation then for a particular people such as those the Father is pleased to give to the Son. His atonement makes salvation only makes it possible and available but not really real for anyone. It's there for the grabbing. It's there for the granting. Christ died on the cross, beloved, but the rest is up to you. There's no certainty that Christ atoned for anyone in particular such as you or such as me. Beloved, with that view, the Arminian really has to admit that God's plan was spoiled by man. God wanted to save everyone. Christ died for everyone, but some won't believe and therefore God cannot save them. Arminianism reduces the power of God and it minimizes Christ's victory at Calvary. And beloved, this is heresy. Scripture describes Christ's atoning work as actually accomplishing and actually applying salvation by His Spirit, not simply making the salvation of His people possible. Scripture speaks of what Christ has done and not what He would like to accomplish, not what He would like to make available to His people for their taking. Scripture speaks of blessings secured and not blessings yet to be obtained or blessings hanging out there in the balance. Christ did not make reconciliation obtainable, but He secured it. Paul says in Romans 5, verse 10, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And he says in 2 Corinthians 5 that God has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ. In the same way, Christ did not make redemption possible, but He actually redeemed and purchased His people for Himself. Colossians 1, verses 13 and 14 says, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Notice, it's not a potential. It's an already accomplished fact. Has delivered, conveyed, we have redemption. Hebrews 9, verse 12 says, Not with the blood of bulls and calves, but with His own blood. He entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. And then Paul says in Galatians 3.13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. Dear people of God, Jesus Christ did not come to initiate the salvation of His people, but to effectively save them, to actually rescue their feet from the miry pit and to set them on heaven's shore. The angel made the announcement to Mary, you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. And Jesus said in Luke 19, For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost, not to possibly do this, but to do it. And in John 10, 27 and 28, as we had read together, My sheep, listen to My voice, Jesus says, I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of my hand. Beloved, my salvation is secure in Christ. But Arminianism seeks to strip that security out of my hand by saying that Christ's work isn't enough. It's up to me. We must understand that the very nature of Christ's saving work requires that it either secure the salvation of those for whom it was done, Or it has no saving effectiveness. There can't be a mix. It's got to be one or the other. But the Word of God is clear that Christ died with the design of not possibly saving anyone with no certainty, but actually and effectually saving those whom He does actually and effectually save. That means, congregation, there's no mystery to this. There will be no surprise in heaven And as to who is there, it's clear. Who are they? The elect. The power of Christ's blood is recognized in its effectiveness only for the elect. This is the limited part of limited atonement. Christ's atonement isn't limited by its power, but it's limited by those for whom it was accomplished. Who are the elect? The sheep of the Good Shepherd. Jesus said, my sheep listen to my voice. Boys and girls, are you a sheep? Are you a sheep of Christ? How do you know? Do you listen to the voice of Jesus? Do you follow His voice? We talked about that unconditional election last week that from the foundation of the world, God of His own good pleasure chose a certain amount out of all lost sinners to elect unto salvation. As powerful and sufficient and infinite as Christ's blood is, yet according to God's eternal decree, Christ's blood only washes away the sins of a very select and limited, yet uncountable number, the elect only. This is indeed a deep doctrine of the Bible. Article 8 points this out, that the saving death of God's 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. This article reflecting the teaching of Scripture makes it clear that Jesus Christ gives to the elect. He gives it to them, the salvation full and complete and free that He earned for them. He gives it to them. A gift which we will see with the doctrine of irresistible grace cannot be rejected. God's grace is evident that He has chosen a definite number of definite people totally unworthy to save through the blood of Christ. And He gave these to Jesus before time began. And that's why Jesus could say to the unbelieving Jews, but you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. As well, He could say in John 6, all that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the One who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given to Me, I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day. And verse 14 of John 10 says, I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. And in Acts 20, verse 28, Paul talks about the church which Christ purchased with His own blood. And then Peter gives that most remarkable description of the church in 1 Peter 2, verse 9, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Beloved, the comfort of the Bible's doctrine of limited atonement is that if you believe in Jesus Christ by grace through faith, that you gain eternal life in harmony and in fellowship with God, and you need not fear the grave, not because of anything that you have done, but because of Jesus Christ and His work which was sufficient and perfect. He not only accomplished salvation, but He applied it and applies it to His people. That's certain. Because as Jesus says in verse 28, I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. Why is this My comfort? Because by the grace of God, I belong body and soul in life and in death unto my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. And only one who is regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit, only one to whom this atonement has been applied can make this confession. And beloved, that's why it is such an error to preach indiscriminately to anyone you come in contact with, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. We cannot say that. We must not say that. Of course, that's true if one is elect, but we don't know the mind of God. Hell is not such a wonderful place for one who is not elect. There's no comfort in that. Indeed, the Gospel proclamation is to go out to all sinners, but what is it that is to be preached? To repent of sin and call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And beloved, that is pretty wonderful. That's an awesome thing to be able to proclaim. What is to be preached? The death of Christ, promising the benefits of His death only to those who repent and believe. You see, the Gospel is to be preached not as a blanket of comfort that is thrown over all indiscriminately, assuring them of Christ's death on their behalf, no questions asked. But it is to be preached as an urgent appeal, commanding all to repent and turn to Christ in faith. Because it's only within the framework of repenting and believing that we are authorized, that ministers are authorized, that any of God's people are authorized to declare with confidence the love of God and the riches of His mercy toward one who is in Christ. And therefore, if you repent of your sins and confess the Lord Jesus Christ, and you believe in Him, I can say to you with hearty confidence, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. But if you don't, I cannot say that to you. But instead, I must call you to repentance and faith and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And eternal life will be yours. Beloved, when you wipe out limited atonement, you also wipe out unconditional election and total depravity and irresistible grace and preservation of the saints. There's no security with Arminianism or any other theory of atonement other than Scripture's truth. Because if you can name it and claim it, then think about this, you can also abuse it and lose it. If you and I must do something in order to get saved and be assured, we can also do something to lose that salvation. The Bible teaches us as we have seen that the power of Christ's blood is recognized in its sufficiency for all and its effectiveness only for the elect. But someone might still be surprised that since Christ's blood is powerful enough to save all, that He doesn't save all. Why? Well, we don't know why God has only chosen some and not others. But we shouldn't be surprised that some will perish and be condemned to hell forever. Because that's what we all deserve. That should not be a surprise to us. The real surprise is that any are saved at all. The question is not, why didn't God provide numerous ways to be saved? But the real question is, why did God bother to provide even one? That's the surprise. Not that some will perish, but that some are saved. If you want to talk about fairness with regard to salvation, it's really not unfair that some are not saved. But the truth is it's really unfair that some are saved. Congregation life is in the blood. The power of Christ's blood is sufficient to give and indeed does give eternal life. He is an all-sufficient Savior who has left no part of the work of salvation undone. He's left none of it for us to do. He has mercifully done that high priestly work of sacrificing Himself and shed that precious and powerful blood for those who repent and believe by grace through faith. And if you think that you must add something to His work, you're sadly mistaken. And if you think that you are able to add something to His work, you're wasting your time. Because think about this too. If I am able to add something to Christ's work, It's a work that's not worth having. But today is still the day of God's grace in which He says to you, Repent of your sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Beloved, that's a guarantee carved into the wood of the cross. That's a guarantee sealed with the open tomb. So many callously respond to unconditional election and limited atonement by saying that, well, if I'm elect and I'm atoned for, then I'm saved. If not, I'm not. What can I do? Why worry about this life? Why worry about how I live? Why bother with the preaching of the Gospel? Well, there's no comfort in that kind of attitude or reasoning. But, beloved, the comfort is in believing. And God has chosen and is pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. God, in His grace, gathers in and gives assurance through His Word to the limited number of those who are saved by the power of Christ's blood. And far from making this careless people of God, this ought to drive us to greater humility and a greater desire to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Far from keeping ourselves secluded and alone with the Gospel message. It ought to drive us to the highways and the byways to missions and evangelism. to truly desire the salvation of everyone with whom we come in contact. Do you believe? Do you know the voice of the shepherd? Do you hear that voice? If you do, then recognize in Christ's powerful blood, amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree. The good news of the Gospel message with regard to limited atonement is of the glorious perfection and effectiveness of Christ's saving work, salvation, redemption, accomplished and applied. The blood of Christ does not make salvation possible, but actually real and true and certain for those who believe. Amen. Shall we pray? dear heavenly father as you have given to us the privilege of considering another deep doctrine of the bible we stand amazed oh lord that in your infinite wisdom and mercy you would choose to save any for not one has deserved the salvation of our lord jesus christ not one has deserved to be redeemed and reconciled with our Heavenly Father. And Father, when we do recognize that Christ's atonement is limited, may we be driven further to our knees in humble thanksgiving that You have seen fit to reveal Yourself to us as Your people. And Father, as well may we be lifted higher in the joy of this salvation so full and free. Father, we praise You for Your goodness. We ask that you would hear our prayer for Jesus' sake and in His name, Amen.