The World's Propitiation #1a

Welcome to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hello, I'm Bill Wright. Thanks for joining us as we continue teaching God's people God's Word. Don begins a new message today, so without further delay, let's join him right now in the Truth Pulpit. What we're coming to this morning is a theologically controversial passage. And as much as I like the preaching dimension of being in the pulpit, there's a certain emphasis on teaching that needs to come with this, if you know the distinction that I'm trying to make. The truth of the matter is, on a passage like this, what's before us this morning, no matter what you say about the passage, someone will disagree with you.

Someone will have multiple criticisms about what you did or didn't say, and so I recognize that and am happy to embrace that aspect of what's before us. So let me just state my goal for today as we come to 1 John chapter 2 verse 2. My goal for today, and this is important to frame the context, I am not trying to give the last word on this passage that settles all issues for all time.

That would be very arrogant for me to think that I could even do that. What I simply want to do today is to help you think through some key issues about this passage so that you will have greater clarity about the nature of your salvation. The way that we live our Christian lives flows from what we understand that Christ did or did not do for us, and the contribution that we did or did not make to our own salvation.

What we have to say here goes to the whole matter of the way that you view yourself in light of the presence of God. And so looking at 1 John chapter 2 verses 1 and 2, where we spent a good bit of time over the past few weeks, beginning in verse 1, the Apostle John says, My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for those of the whole world.

What does that mean? Well, last time we talked about the concept of propitiation. In verse 2, Christ himself is the propitiation for our sins. And we saw that that refers to the fact that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, he was standing there, he was hanging there as the substitute for those who would believe in him. He absorbed our sins in his body, as it were, and God poured out his wrath in satisfaction of divine justice against all of the law-breaking that you and I have been guilty of. Christ stood in our stead, absorbed the punishment for that, and in so doing turned away the wrath of God from us. So that we stand no longer fearing the wrath of God because Jesus has borne that wrath on our behalf. God punishes sin judicially in order to uphold the integrity of his moral law. And so when Jesus turned away his wrath, he made it so that we could receive eternal life.

That is why he did that. There was a purpose to his death on the cross. Now in the context of these verses that we're looking at, verses 1 and 2, John, we said, is emphasizing the propitiation aspect of Jesus's work.

The fact that the Father's wrath has been permanently turned away. He is emphasizing that so that we as Christians can know that we have a settled forgiveness. He says in verse 1, he says, Speaking to believers, if you sin as a believer, he reminds you, he reminds us that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who himself is the propitiation for our sins. It's a glorious concept that he is explaining there.

It is so rich and multifaceted that we haven't wanted to rush through it. But he says that we have a representative in heaven who represents us before the Father. Having settled and having fulfilled the demands of divine justice, Jesus represents us before our Holy Father, and they have fulfilled their joint purpose of divine love in securing your salvation. These are glorious truths, too magnificent for human speech if it weren't for the revelation of the Scriptures.

And the context of that is John saying, I'm writing these things so that you wouldn't sin, but if you do sin, understand that the wrath has already been turned away. You stand in a position of permanent reconciliation with the God of the universe as a Christian. Wow, that is a phenomenal truth. That is amazing truth. And he bases it, Jesus's advocacy, his representation of us in heaven.

This is very important for what I have to say today. He represents us in heaven based on the grounds of the fact of his propitiatory work on the cross. Having settled the demands of divine justice, he can now represent us before the Father in heaven with no claims of the law left to be asserted against us. It is all settled because Jesus truly paid it all on our behalf.

That was what we talked about last week. Now, what happens here in verse 2, look at verse 2 with me again. John says, he himself is the propitiation for our sins.

That's what we just covered. Now, what he is going on to do, what happens here in the rest of verse 2 is, he is somehow expanding on the significance of the propitiation of Christ. He's expanding it and expanding the sense and the understanding of it in some way because he says he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only.

It's not limited to our circle here, but also for those of the whole world. There is a worldwide dimension to that propitiation. He's expanding it out. He's lifting our eyes, as it were, to look beyond our own situation, to consider Christ in relationship to the rest of the world. Now, when he says that, what does that mean?

That's the question. Not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. What does that mean as he talks about the death of Christ on the cross? Well, this verse takes us very deep into the doctrine of the atonement. By atonement, we simply mean the sacrifice of Christ by which he paid the penalty of sin. On the cross, Jesus was acting as a substitute for those who would believe in him. He was paying for their sins.

Now, question. Whose sin was actually paid for at the cross? Stated somewhat differently since we're talking about this. He's talking about the concept of propitiation more specifically.

Stating it the question somewhat differently. Jesus's death on the cross turned away the wrath of God. Question. From whom has the wrath of God been turned away? That's the question that is before us. Now, there are many Christian writers and many Christians in general, perhaps a majority of them, that think that this verse is a silver bullet that destroys the Calvinistic doctrine of particular redemption or limited atonement as that term is rightly understood. It's the idea that God intended to actually save some men when Jesus died on the cross but not others.

And the argument goes something like this. Look at 1 John chapter 2 verse 2. It says that he's the propitiation for those of the whole world. Christ is the propitiation for the whole world, teacher. Therefore, any limitation on God's saving intention at the cross is necessarily false. Is that the implication of this verse?

There's a lot to consider here and that's why we're going to take our time. Now, based on this verse, there are two ways that you could argue that the work of Christ extends salvation to all men without exception, that his propitiation was intended on behalf of all men everywhere for all time without exception, without exclusion. And what we're going to do today is structure today's message around two questions to help you take notes to kind of think through these issues and then we'll leave some other things for next week.

Actually, I'm going to explain to you what in my understanding this verse does not mean today, and then next week talk about what it actually does mean. If I tried to combine it all into one message, it would be very difficult for us to treat it all with the care that it deserves. So question number one. This will be the easiest one for us to answer today.

Question number one. Does 1 John 2 2, does this verse teach actual salvation for all men? Does it teach actual salvation for all men without exception? In other words, did Jesus accomplish salvation for everyone who ever lived so that all men everywhere will end up in heaven one day? You could argue that if you just looked at this verse in isolation. You could argue that John is teaching here that all men without exception will be saved.

Some people have asked me about that even. And that's the concept known as universalism, that everyone ultimately will be saved based on the work of the cross. Now, if Christ is indeed the propitiation for the sins of all men in the world in an absolute sense, then this verse would teach that all men will be saved in the end.

Now, there are multiple reasons to reject that understanding of this verse. Some of them will apply later on as we get into our second question as well. I just want to walk you through this carefully and I'll be honest with you.

You know, I needed to step through this carefully myself. And so I'm just giving you the fruit of my own study that has helped clarify some of these things in my own mind. The reasons for why we believe what we believe. Does this teach actual salvation for all men? The answer is no, it does not. And I want to give you two specific reasons why it does not.

First of all, sub point of this question. The context of 1 John refutes universalism. The context of 1 John refutes universalism.

The book of 1 John itself makes it clear that he's not teaching that all men everywhere without exception will be saved, certainly and without fail. Let's just look at a few verses that help us see that. 1 John chapter 2 verse 19. Actually, we'll start in verse 18. 1 John chapter 2 verse 18. He says, Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared.

From this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us, but they went out so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. He's saying there were people that were within the, they were within our body, but they went out and they started teaching contrary doctrine to what we said and what we have taught. They taught contrary and believed contrary to apostolic doctrine. What John is saying there is that is proof positive that they never really belong to the body of Christ. Because they would have persevered in the faith if they were true Christians. The fact that they left exposes the fact that they were never really part of us from the beginning.

That's the idea. There's this group of true believers and there's this group of false believers. Look at chapter three, verse one. Chapter three, verse one. He says, see how great a love the Father has bestowed on us that we would be called children of God and we are. For this reason the world does not know us because it did not know him. There's the us that is part of, that are the children of God. There's the world who does not know us who does not know God.

There are separate spheres going on here. Chapter three, verse 10. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God nor the one who does not love his brother. There is the sphere of the children of God.

There is the sphere of the children of the devil. And one more, chapter four, verse one. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

This is the spirit of antichrist of which you have heard that it is coming and now it is already in the world. True prophets, false prophets, apostolic doctrine, those who detest it and oppose it. The question we're asking is does this teach universalism, first John two, two, does this teach that all men without exception will be saved? Well you have to understand that isolated phrase in the context of what John says in the rest of the book. The whole point of truth versus error, children of God versus children of the devil, it would all be meaningless and irrelevant if everyone was going to be saved in the end.

He says there are true believers and there are those who walk away from the faith. The world does not know us. There are children of the devil. They don't let practice righteousness.

They don't love the brethren. All of that would be meaningless if it was all going to wash out in the end. There would be no significance to making the contrast and giving the discernment necessary to see those things. And so even in the context of first John, this is so important. Even in the context of first John, he does not paint a picture of universalism. And so we could reject the idea and we can and we must reject the idea of universalism based on first John 2.2. We reject that. We say that's not biblical. We say that you're twisting what John said and you're making him contradict himself when you say such things. The context makes that clear. You understand one verse in the context of the greater whole. That's the way it works. That's the way we think about these things. Now secondly, not to leave it at just that, but secondly, in answering the question no, does this teach universalism?

The answer is no. We reject it based on the context of first John. Secondly, we also reject that conclusion for this reason that the biblical teaching, this is point number two, sub point number two, biblical teaching on hell refutes universalism. The whole context of the Bible indicates that we are moving toward a day of judgment at which those who know Christ will enter into heaven and those who do not know Christ will be sent into hell.

And as you expand your consideration of the question of universalism into the rest of the Bible, you find conclusively that that idea, that concept that all men without exception will eventually be saved, that the Bible rejects that most emphatically. Turn back in your Bibles to Matthew chapter seven. Matthew chapter seven, I'll give you a moment to turn there.

It always warms my heart to go back into the Sermon on the Mount after we spent so much time there in years gone by. But in Matthew chapter seven verse 13, here it is straight from the lips of Jesus himself where at the conclusion of this magnificent sermon, he calls for a response from his audience and he tells them verse 13, Matthew 7, 13. He says, enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through it for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it. He says, talking in the context of coming judgment, eternal life and eternal damnation, he says look for the narrow gate because that is the way into eternal life. If you allow yourself to be sucked into the broad way and you just walk along that way, that way ends in destruction. There are few in the narrow gate, there are many going down the broad way, point being that all men are not saved by God's general mercy. Jesus himself made that very clear and so he goes on to say at the end of the chapter verses 24 through 27, he talks about how the rain will fall on the house of those who have not acted on his word, will slam against the house and that house will fall and its fall will be great. Verse 27, judgment is coming, judgment is coming. The Apostle John says in Revelation 20 verse 15, Revelation 20 verse 15, if anyone's name was not found in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Now we have to take these things seriously. Listen, I like to say this, Jesus as he taught on judgment was teaching for keeps. He meant what he said. He was not bluffing.

He was not creating a scenario that wasn't really going to play out in the end. It would be impossible for him to do that, God cannot lie. When Jesus was teaching on eternal judgment, when he was teaching about the reality that there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place, he meant it, beloved. And what that means is, is that there will be people suffering the punishment of God in hell for as a just result of their sins, as a just penalty for their sins, not everybody's going to be saved. The Bible makes that clear.

This is just a small sampling of other passages that we could have looked at. The Bible teaches that hell is real and God is really going to send actual real people into that place for all of eternity. Universalism is a lie that causes people not to take the gospel seriously. So, does this verse teach universalism? The answer is no, absolutely not.

It doesn't teach anything like that. The context of the book denies it, the context of the entire Bible denies it. It'd be fitting for me at this point to ask you, beloved, where are you?

Which camp are you in? Do you know Christ or do you not? There is no excuse for anyone under the sounds of these words this morning.

No one can come and say, well, no one ever told me. I didn't know about the threat of eternal judgment. I didn't know about the guilt of sin.

That excuse is gone. You are all guilty before God and either you have put your faith in Christ for forgiveness and have a settled forgiveness based on his propitiatory work on the cross or you are still in your sins for, as far as you know, walking down the road that leads to eternal destruction. We offer no false hope to those who reject Christ and I plead with you to take that very seriously. Well, my friend, thank you for joining us here on today's broadcast of The Truth Pulpit where we love to be teaching God's people God's word.

And I just want to send a special invitation to you. If you're ever in the Midwest area, come to see us at Truth Community Church. We're on the east side of Cincinnati, Ohio. We're easy to find, easy to get to. We have services at 9 a.m. on Sunday and 7 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday evening for our midweek study. You can also find us on our live stream at thetruthpulpit.com.

That's thetruthpulpit.com. But we would love to see you. And if you do happen to be able to visit us in person, do this if you would. Come and introduce yourself to me personally. Fight your way through the people and tell me that you listen on The Truth Pulpit and that you're here visiting. I would love to give you a word of personal greeting. So hopefully we'll see you one day in person at Truth Community Church.

You can find our location and service times at thetruthpulpit.com. That's Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank you so much for listening to The Truth Pulpit. Join us next time for more as we continue teaching God's people God's word.