The Atonement: Real or Potential? (Selected Scriptures)

As we approach the Lord's table this morning, I want us to think about the meaning of Christ's death. For years we have been working our way through the stories of the gospels, Luke and now Mark. And perhaps this morning to deviate from that a little bit and think perhaps more theologically about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will enrich ourselves and our experience at the Lord's table today. I want to begin by inviting you to turn to chapter 5 of Revelation... Chapter 5 of Revelation. We have participated in worship this morning, the worship of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have sung about his love and our love for Him. By the way, we will do this forever. This is just a preview of what our experience will be in each moment, in each sleepless moment of eternity we will be praising Him. The book of Revelation gives us an idea of ​​the praise of heaven. In verse 9 of Revelation 5 we hear the same expression of praise that is exalted. It is a new song, the heavenly song, the new song being the song of salvation. That is a phrase borrowed from the Psalms. And the words are like that. "Worthy are you," and this is sung to the Lamb who is slain mentioned in verse 6. "Worthy are you to take the book and break its seals because you were slain and purchased for God with your blood, men from every tribe and language, people and nation, you have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign over the earth.

And then he continues in verse 12: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power, riches, wisdom, power, honor, glory and blessing." Again in verse 13: "To Him who sits on the throne, that is, to God, and to the Lamb, be blessing, honor, glory, and dominion forever and ever." And the elders in verse 14 representing the church fell down and worshiped. Worship is the occupation of heaven. And the worship will be directed to God in gratitude for his saving plan accomplished through the sacrifice of Christ. Turn with me to verse 9 for Take a moment and keep this statement in mind: "You were slain and purchased for God with your blood, men of every tribe, language, people and nation." What this tells us is that the core and heart of heavenly praise is gratitude for Christ's purchase of sinners for God.

When we come to the communion table, the Lord's table, we look at the cross and we look at the great event, the great historical

real

ity of Christ paying the price to buy his people for God. Now, when we talk about the death of Jesus Christ, we are talking about a

real

purchase. We are not talking about a

potential

purchase, we are not talking about some kind of general act on the part of Jesus that in the future could become a purchase. We are talking about a real purchase. It is the act of Christ dying on the cross that pays the price to God, purchasing the people who will be redeemed from every tribe, tongue and nation.

Now what I want you to remember is that the death of Jesus Christ is an act by which He purchases his people. It is not a

potential

act, it is an actual act. It is not a general act, it is a particular act. Now all of that is very, very important because if you ask the average person, who did Christ die for? I think if you ask the average Christian, who did Christ die for? If you were to ask most pastors, who did Christ die for? The answer would be: "For everyone, for everyone." That is the typical belief.

You hear people say, "Christ died for the whole world," that means he died for every human being. And He wants you to receive that gift of death from Him personally in His own name. Jesus paid the debt for everyone's sins on the cross, he paid the debt in full, he loves everyone equally. He wants everyone to be saved. And He expects the sinner to turn a potential

atonement

into an actual

atonement

, or for him to turn a general atonement into a particular atonement, and the sinner can do this by an act of his will. Much of evangelism is driven by the will of the sinner, crafted and manipulated to bring the sinner to a certain place emotionally and psychologically so that he activates his own will and accepts what Christ has done and thus converts a potential and general atonement in a real and real atonement. particular atonement.

So that view is that Jesus' death on the cross was a death for everyone in general... listen... but a death for no one in particular. Well? That's the view. That's the standard view. We would call it an Arminian view, but it is the standard view: He died for everyone in general and for no one in particular. In fact, we have the most popular Christian book of the last ten years. The author says, "I can lead anyone to Christ if I find the key to that person's heart." So it all depends on our technique and how good we are at identifying what moves people psychologically and emotionally.

Now let's think about that a little. We need to work on sinners so that they receive the salvation that has already been purchased for them. That's the idea. That is the popular idea. The consequences of that idea are quite serious. That means hell is full of people whose salvation was purchased, right? That if indeed Christ paid for the sins of everyone who ever lived, his sins were paid for. He died for his sins. He was a substitute for his sins, therefore hell is full of people whose salvation was purchased, whose sins were paid for by Christ.

The Lake of Fire will then be filled with eternally damned people who will suffer forever for his sins, even though those sins have already been paid for. Christ then atoned and bore the punishment for the sins of the people in hell just as he did for the sins of the people in heaven. So the only difference between the people in heaven and the people in hell is that the people in hell are suffering double jeopardy on a legal level, their sins have already been paid in full and yet they are there suffering for sins that have already been paid for, and are there because they didn't have the common sense or someone didn't make the right approach to activate them emotionally and mentally to turn the potential atonement of Jesus into an actual atonement.

Therefore, people in heaven can spend eternal life congratulating themselves, or congratulating whoever it was who moved them emotionally or psychologically to make the right decision. Does that sound like biblical theology? Did Jesus Christ do exactly the same thing for all the people in hell that he did for all the people in heaven? And the only difference is that the people in heaven are in heaven because they of their own free will activated a general atonement and turned it into a specific one, or a particular one? That is a strange theology, that Jesus died for the sins of the redeemed and he died for the sins of the damned.

That He paid the penalty for everyone in full and the sinner is in hell because he did not make the right decision in his own condition. The bottom line is that not only have you created chaos at all levels of soteriology, but, particularly for our discussion, you have redefined the atonement. And if there is anything we want to understand when we come to the Lord's table, we had better understand the atonement. We could talk about the fundamental doctrine to understand regarding salvation and that is total depravity, right? The sinner cannot and does not want to, he is a block and a stone, he is a rock, he is dead, he is blind, he is in darkness, he is far from the life of God, he does not desire God, he does not seek.

God, he doesn't want God. There is no way to make the right decision to activate atonement on his behalf if it is up to him. So we have a major problem if we think that the sinner has the means within himself to get out of his own coffin, spiritually speaking, to open his own blind eyes, to get rid of the blindness that Satan has imposed on him, to literally overthrow the dominant normal lust of your own heart and somehow take the right step towards Christ. This is not understanding the essence of depravity. What it really means is that the sinner is incapable and, most importantly, he is unwilling.

He cannot will it and he could not do it if he could will it. You cannot make final atonement for the sinner or you will have Jesus dying for everyone in general and no one in particular. And therefore you have redefined what it means that He bought us. The notion that God loves everyone so much that he gave his Son for everyone, but only in some limited way, in some marginal way, in some halfway way, is contrary to what the Bible teaches. And the idea that God has done completely for the people in hell, the same thing that he has done for the people in heaven, is simply not possible...it is simply not possible.

The Bible says that all people are dead in trespasses and sins, alienated from the life of God, doing only evil continually, unwilling and unable to understand, repent and believe. They have darkened minds, blinded by sin and Satan, hearts full of evil, evil and desiring only the will of their father who is none other than Satan, incapable of seeking God. Now, how do you get from there to finding in yourself the power to activate a kind of potential atonement that Jesus has offered? Therefore, we have the power of salvation in the hands of the sinner. That is simply not consistent with Scripture.

John 1 doesn't take much time searching through the gospel of John to find this, chapter 1 verse 12, “All who received him, all who received him.”.listen…”to them he gave the exousia, the power to reach to be children of God even to those who believe in His name." Look, if anyone believes in His name, if anyone receives Him, it is because He gave them the power. They were born, says verse 13, not of blood, that is not by human inheritance speaking, nor by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man but of God. If anyone receives, if anyone believes, it is because it is the will of God by which God himself has given power to the sinner to become his son.

Ephesians 2:8 and 9, "For by grace you have been saved, through faith, which is not of yourselves, but is the gift of God." It is, 1 Corinthians 1:30, by the power of God that you are Christ, by his power so that if you glory, you glory in him. If you have life, it is from God. If you have light, it is from God. If you have sight, it is from God. If you have understanding, it is from God. If you have repentance, it is from God. If you have faith to embrace Christ, it is from God. It is the work of God.

Only God can give life. Only God can regenerate. And it is only the power of God that brings salvation to the sinner. Now, who does God do this to? Who are you doing this for? It is for those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. By his eternal election tied to the glorious truth of sovereign election, God has determined to save certain people and it is for those certain people that Jesus paid a real price, that Jesus made a real atonement, that He was a propitiation or covering real. , or satisfaction for the wrath of God, that He provided a specific and particular redemption for his people... for his people.

A potential atonement, the result of that would be... who would be saved? No one, in fact, is left to the sinner because the sinner is incapable. Just to seal this a little deeper perhaps in your mind. I want you to look at John chapter 10, John chapter 10, the importance of this particular passage cannot be understated. John 10 verse 11: "I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Verse 14, I am the Good Shepherd, I know Mine and Mine know Me.

Just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not from this fold, not Jews but Gentiles, I must bring them too. I must bring them." Why? "Because they are My sheep." How did they become My sheep? They are a gift of love from a sovereign Father to Me. "Everything the Father gives Me will come to Me," John 6. "And they will hear My voice and will be one flock with one shepherd." I mean, this is just a monumental statement. "I know My sheep.

My sheep will know me. My sheep have been called and identified by My Father. I receive them, they are Mine, it is for them that I lay down My life." Later in this same chapter, in verse 25, Jesus responded to His enemies and critics by saying, "I told you and you do not believe." the name of My Father. These bear witness of Me, but you do not believe because you are not one of My sheep." Wow! "My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me and I give them eternal life and they will never perish nor will anyone else.

I will snatch them out of my hand." That can't be more specific, right? There you have the words of the Lord Jesus Christ testifying of a specific atonement, a particular redemption, a real substitutionary sacrifice for his sheep. He knows them. The Father has identified them. They belong to Him by virtue of the Father. They are drawn to Him. They come to Him. It is for them that He died. Now, perhaps this is a new thought for you, as you have heard: "For to whom did Christ die?" and perhaps you thought you could give the standard answer: "He died for the whole world." It must be this, that He died for those who would believe because they would repent and embrace Him as the Father.

He would give them life because the Father had chosen them. Those who believe are those whom God calls. Those who believe are those whom God calls and grants repentance and faith. Those who believe are those whom God calls and grants repentance and faith because they are those whomup to here and many of you, most of you are corrupt and apostate, but you are in the congregation of those who were redeemed from Egypt, the same thing happens in Second Peter. You are in the church, you are part of the redeemed community. You are part of the church and almost sarcastically you deny the same Master who redeemed you, only in that superficial sense.

You know that Paul said, "No Israel is Israel," and certainly not the whole church is the church. Well, I know that's a lot to digest. But when you come to the celebration of the Lord's table, I want you to understand that what you are celebrating is a mighty work of God that began in eternity past on your behalf. And you need to now and always praise the Lord for this amazing and sovereign gift of grace. Let us bow in prayer. Father, we come to You now with hearts grateful beyond words to express. We have been caught up, again, in the rapture of the realities of salvation.

We thank you that because we were chosen, because a real price was paid, we are safe forever because we could never perish because you have taken full judgment in our place. We thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, because you suffered on the cross in just a few hours of darkness, an eternity of punishment on millions of souls. You took the full weight of divine wrath for those who wanted to believe. We thank you, Lord, for this true gift, this true atoning work. We will praise you forever because you were sacrificed to buy us. Pay the price for those that the Father had determined in eternity past to give you.

We want to be Your people in every sense, true and faithful, to that grace and that love, amen.