What he did on the cross was not a partial atonement. What he did was not a potential atonement. It was not some kind of virtual atonement. It was a real actual atonement. There is no such thing as an atonement by Jesus Christ on the cross that is less than a true and actual atonement.
Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Today John will help you understand one of Christianity's most important doctrines, the doctrine of the atonement. Along the way, he'll help answer some difficult questions like, what does it mean that Christ died for sinners? And how can you be sure that Christ died for you?
It's all part of one of John MacArthur's most thought-provoking series called The Doctrines of Grace. Today's lesson will not only help you evaluate your own spiritual condition, it will help you give the gospel to others more effectively and more biblically.
So now with a lesson, here's John. If I asked the average Christian for whom did Christ die, the traditional answer would be everybody. Everybody. Christ died for the whole world. He died for all sinners.
And most people then in the church Believe, and I'm sure many people outside the true church, many people associated with Christianity, believe that on the cross. Jesus paid the debt. Of sin For everyone. Because he loves everyone and he wants everyone to be saved. That's.
That's pretty much the common evangelical view. Jesus died for everybody. He paid the price for the sins of everybody. And all we have to do is tell sinners that he loves them so much that he paid the price. And he wants them to be saved.
And all they have to do is respond.
Now if that is true Then on the cross, Jesus accomplished a potential salvation. Not an actual one. That is, sinners have all had their sins atoned for potentially. And it's not actual until they Activate it. By their faith.
The final decision is up to the center. And it kind of carries the the notion that God loves you so much. You're so special. He gave his son And he paid in full the penalty for your sins, and that's supposed to move you emotionally to love him back and accept. This gift.
And so you kind of work the sinner and kind of manipulate the sinner in that direction, trying to find a psychological point, a felt need point, play the right organ music, sing the right invitation hymn, grease the slide and get him moving in the direction of making the choice.
Now we got a problem here folks. We had a big problem. We saw in our last study That no sinner On his own. can make that choice, right? This is the doctrine of absolute inability.
Can't make it. You cannot make that choice. All people, all people are sinners. And all sinners are dead in their trespasses and sins. All of them are alienated from the life of God.
All do only evil continually. All are unwilling and unable to understand, to repent, and to believe. All have darkened minds, blinded by sin and Satan. All have hearts that are full of evil. All are wicked.
Desperately wicked. All desire only the will of their father, who is Satan. All of them are unable to seek God. They are all trapped in absolute. inability and unwillingness.
The doctrine of uh absolute inability. Means that people will only be saved if God saves them. And therefore Salvation is based upon the decree of God, the sovereign doctrine. of election. No one could be saved unless God saved him, and God saves those whom he chooses to save.
You cannot expect the sinner. On his own, no matter how he's emotionally prodded or psychologically prodded, no matter how he's threatened. No matter what you say to him, on his own, you cannot expect him to quote unquote decide for Christ. Those who will come to Christ. Are those whom the Father draws and the Father gives to the Son because He's chosen to do so.
Now, with that in mind, looking back at those doctrines, the doctrine of election, the doctrine of absolute inability, we can ask the question again: for whom did Christ die? Did he die a death that is a potential salvation for everyone? And therefore, on the largest part, it was useless? Or did he die a death that is an actual atonement? Not a potential one.
For those who would believe. Because God calls them. And God grants them Repentance and faith because God An eternity passed chose them.
Well, the only answer to the question that makes any real sense is that Jesus Christ died and paid in full the penalty for the sins of all who would ever believe.
so that his atonement is an actual atonement. And not a potential one that can be disregarded. If Jesus actually paid in full the penalty for your sins, you're not going to go to hell. That would be double jeopardy.
Now, someone is going to say, well, wait a minute. That sounds like limited atonement. You say the word limited atonement and people's antennas go up and Because we're used to that kind of evangelical idea that Jesus paid the sins in full, paid the price for the sins in full of everybody. But that is fraught with so many obvious problems. But that's what the the evangelical church believes, and that's why it uses manipulation to move people emotionally and according to felt needs and by what other means they might come up with, believing that the penalty is paid in full for everybody.
So that most of the people that Jesus died for are in hell. Then what in the world kind of atonement did he provide for them? And so you say, well, you must believe the atonement is limited. Of course, so do you. You say, I believe in an unlimited atonement.
Well then you must be a universalist. A universalist believes that everybody's going to heaven. There is no hell. Everybody is going to heaven. And that's consistent.
If you believe that Jesus paid in full the penalty for all the sins of all the people who've ever lived, then you have to be a universalist. But we know better than that. We know the atonement is limited. We know not everybody's going to heaven. To be a universalist, you have to ignore Scripture.
So let's just give you just a handful of points, okay? We'll see how far we go. Number one: the atonement is limited. And by atonement, I mean the sacrifice of Christ, by which he paid the penalty for sin. The atonement is limited.
Now, let's look at this in just some obvious. Passages. Matthew 10. Matthew chapter 10, and I'm not going to wait for you, so you might want to write these down. Matthew 10:28, we got to go.
Verse 28, gird up your loins. Here we go. Matthew 10, 28. Yeah. Do not fear.
Do not fear those who kill the body. but are unable to kill the soul. But rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. There is a hell, and God is going to send people there. That tells me the atonement is limited.
There is a hell. And God is going to send people there. In Mark chapter 9. And these are just samples that tell us that the atonement is certainly limited. In Mark 9, verse 43, If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.
It's better for you to enter into life crippled than having your two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. And some texts say where the worm doesn't die and the fire is not quenched. Again, another reference to hell. Verse 48 again repeats verse 47 and 48. If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out.
Better to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell where their worm doesn't die and their fire. is not quenched. You come to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12. You have the same statement as in Matthew 10:28, but go to the Gospel of John, and I just want to take you.
Sort of briefly to this gospel and a few glimpses of The obvious reality of the atonement being limited. It is Limited. Chapter eight makes it Very clear. Chapter 8, verse 12. I am the light of the world.
Jesus said, He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Here's a condition: you have to follow Christ. It is limited, then, to those who follow Christ. You find over in verse 24 a similar saying, I said therefore to you that you shall die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins.
There is a hell, and people are going there. In fact, Matthew 7 says, many are going there. And the only way to avoid going there, the only way to avoid dying in your sins, that is, dying without a sacrifice for your sins. The only way to avoid that is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. How could Jesus say you shall die in your sins if their sins had been paid for?
They had not been paid for. If they died without believing in him. And there are other parts of John. If you go back to. Chapter 3.
God did not send his Son, verse 17, into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged, but he who does not believe has been judged already because he's not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. There is a hell, and people go there who don't believe in Jesus Christ. And then There are so many other places where you can see this very same emphasis made. I don't want to.
Burden you with an endless list of them, but there are perhaps a couple of others maybe to think about. Matthew 22, 13, the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. A further description of horrific punishment and judgment. Chapter 25, verse 30, cast the worthless slave into the outer darkness, in the place where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And then in a Pauline letter, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 talks about. The coming of the Lord Jesus from heaven, 2 Thessalonians 1:7, with his mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, and these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power.
So the Bible promises there is a hell. The only way to avoid it is to not die in your sins, and to not die in your sins, you have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you don't, you're going to pay the penalty of eternal destruction. That proves that the atonement is limited. It does not apply universally. God did not intend to save everyone.
He is God. He could have intended to save everyone. He could have saved everyone. He would have, if that had been his intention. The atonement is limited.
Now we all have to accept that. or be universalists. We know not everyone is going to heaven. In fact, it is a little flock, it is the few. Which, if we were to hold on to this sort of evangelical idea, means that the vast majority of people.
for whom Christ died and paid in full the penalty for their sins are going to go to hell. And that's just something very difficult to believe.
So, we do believe in a limited atonement. It is limited to those who believe. How is it limited? That's the second point. Number one.
Is the atonement limited? Answer: yes. Number two, how is it limited?
Well, first of all, it's limited because not everybody is saved. Only those who repent and believe. That's how it's limited. Only those who believe in Christ and confess him as Lord. are saved.
Only those have their sins atoned for. It is limited to those. Who believe. That's how it's limited. Okay.
Very important that you grasp that. Come back to that.
Now here comes the key question. By whom is it limited? We know it's limited. We know how it's limited. It's limited to those who believe.
It is only applicable to those who believe. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is the Lord, believe in your heart, God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved.
Now, by whom is it limited? And the popular view would say this. The atonement of Jesus is unlimited. But sinners limit its application. And we're back to what we said before.
It is a potential atonement. the actuality of which is limited by the sinner.
Now We have to believe then. That God has provided. a sacrifice for sins in his Son, that in and of itself is not Sufficient. In and of itself is not actual. In and of itself is not real.
Because the sinner can neutralize it. I don't mind believing God can limit the atonement. God does limit the atonement. But listen carefully to me. He limits the atonement as to its extent.
You have to believe that. Because he didn't choose everybody and not everybody's going to heaven. And that's in the divine mind, and that's the decree of God, and that's the purpose of God, and you have to come to grips with that. I don't have any problem at all saying the atonement is limited. I don't have any problem at all.
Saying How it's limited, it's limited to those who believe. And I have no problem saying, and those who believe are those whom God grants faith. And therefore The atonement is limited because God limited it. I'm much more comfortable with that than that sinners can limit the atonement that Christ has provided. Or that the atonement that Christ has provided is wasted on the vast majority of people.
If you say That God provided an atonement. Which is only potential, which only removes a barrier so that the sinner can be saved if he chooses to be. You know what you've done? You have said that God not only limited the atonement. As to its Extent.
And you have to believe that. But he limited it as to its effect.
Okay. In other words, If you believe in an unlimited atonement and you think you're one of those magnanimous people who believe Jesus died for everyone, then by saying the atonement is unlimited as to extent, you have just also said it is limited as to effect. It covers everybody, but not potently. It covers everybody, but not powerfully. If you're going to say that the extent of the atonement is unlimited, then the effect of the atonement is limited.
If you're going to say that the extent of the atonement is. Limited. Then you're going to say the effect of the atonement is unlimited. For those to whom it extends, it has no limits.
So, when you say, do you believe in a limited atonement or unlimited atonement? I believe. In a limited atonement as to its extent, it is limited to those who believe, who are those who are called. Who are those who were chosen? But I believe it is unlimited as to its effect.
For those to whom Yeah, it is. is granted, it is a full Atonement. Jesus did. Pay It all.
So you know these people who who want to say, well, you know We believe the atonement is unlimited. You say, well, wait a minute. You mean Jesus died for everybody in the whole world? Yes.
Well, you may think it's unlimited as to its extent, but you have just confessed that it's limited as to its real Effect. Because people are going to go to hell, even though he died for them. What kind of an atonement is that? But even people who say we believe it's unlimited. Don't believe that.
They don't mean that. They know God limited it to those who believe, and they believe that sinners limit it by making wrong choices. And then they believe that there's some limits in the very atonement itself.
So, that it really doesn't do the work of atonement, it just makes it possible for the sinner to activate it. You know, you look at the Bible and it's pretty clear. The hymn writer got it right, and that hymn is a pretty simple hymn. And I don't know what was in his mind when he wrote it, but when he wrote Jesus Paid It All, he meant that. What he did on the cross was not a partial atonement.
What he did was not a potential atonement. It was not some kind of virtual atonement. It was a real actual atonement. It was limited in its Extent to those who would believe who are the called and the chosen, but it was unlimited in its effect. For them, it was a full and complete Atonement.
There is no such thing as an atonement by Jesus Christ on the cross that is less than a true and actual atonement. There is no such thing as some kind of potential atonement, some kind of halfway atonement. There is no such thing as Jesus paying in full for your sins and then you paying in full for your sins forever in hell. That diminishes the work of Christ. That mocks the work of Christ.
It is not biblical to limit the atonement by making it potential. And not actual. It is not biblical to limit the atonement by the will of the unwilling and unable sinner. The atonement is limited.
By God. to the elect. But It is. Unlimited. As to its effect.
For them, it is a full and complete. Atonement.
Now the sum of it comes down to this. Is the death of Christ a work that potentially saves Willing sinners. Or is it a work that actually provides salvation. For unwilling sinners who by God's sovereign grace will be made willing. The only possible answer.
is that God provided a sacrifice in his son A true payment. In full. For the sins of all who would ever believe. And all who will ever believe. will believe.
Because the Father will draw them. And he will grant them repentance. And faith and regeneration. Jesus' death, then, is to be understood as a full satisfaction. To God's holy justice on behalf of all whom God will save.
The atonement is an actual atonement. Not a potential one. It is a real atonement. Not simply a barrier removed. And it is in behalf of of all who would ever believe.
And since the sinner is unable and unwilling to believe apart from divine intervention and regeneration, it comes then down to the power of God based upon the decree of God. People say, well, how do you know whether Christ died for you? The answer is that whosoever will may come, and if you come and believe in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, then the death of Christ was for you. And don't hold back. Come to Christ.
You're listening to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. Our current study is titled The Doctrines of Grace.
Well, friend, the issues John talked about today are complex, to say the least, and perhaps you still have some questions about the atonement.
Well, we received a related question on our Q ⁇ A phone line some time ago, and I think you'll find John's answer helpful.
So let's hear that question now and then hear John's response. Yes, John, I wanted to ask you. about election. The scripture that says that Christ died for us. and not for us only.
but for the sins of the whole world. How can you rectify that Christ died for the sins of the whole world? with there are only some who are elected. Appreciate your time. Have a good day.
Yeah, a really good question, Monty. Uh it depends on what you mean by world. It's the world. in the sense that There is only one Saviour. There's only one who died.
for the whole world. it doesn't mean that his death purchased salvation for the whole world. But it does mean that in the whole world there is only one Saviour. He is the Saviour of the world, the only Saviour the world has.
So, when we talk about that, he died for the whole world, we are not saying. that He provided a full atonement, or that He paid the penalty for the sins of every human being who would ever live, in human history. Because if that happened then nobody would go to hell. If Christ actually died, as an atoning sacrifice. for the sins of every human being who ever lived, there would be no one in hell Because Christ died for them already.
Now the the way to understand that is this. If Christ died for the whole world, and that meant every human being, then in reality He died for no one in particular, and everyone potentially.
So you have Christ dying potentially, For those who would believe. But he didn't really atone for anybody specifically.
So he died for the people who would not believe in the exact same way he died for the people who would believe. That makes his atonement only a potential atonement and not a real atonement. But the fact of the matter is, He actually paid in full the penalty for the sins of all who had ever believed through all of human history. It was a true and real atonement. for people from every tongue and tribe and nation, the world.
has only one Savior who actually atoned for their sins on the cross. That's right, friend. If you're a Christian, you can be sure that God chose you and that Christ died to pay the penalty of your sins. And what a wonderful truth that is.
Now, you might still have some questions about this challenging subject. If so, let me make a suggestion. Go to our website today and download all 10 messages from John's series titled The Doctrines of Grace. It's a great series to review at your own pace and with an open Bible in front of you. The Doctrines of Grace is available for free along with more than 3,600 other sermons by John, so start listening today.
Our web address is gty.org. Again, you can listen to any of John's sermons from his 56 years of pulpit ministry. All of them are free of charge in MP3 and written transcript format. And our website also has an online store with resources like the MacArthur Study Bible and the MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series. You can see all that's available at gty.org today.
Now friend, if I could ask a favor, if John's teaching has helped you understand Scripture more deeply, or if you've benefited from a book or a booklet that we sent you in the mail, would you let us know? Your letters encourage the whole staff.
So when you have a minute, write a note and mail it to Grace2U. Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. Or you can reach us by email at letters at gty.org. That's letters at gty.org.
Now, for the entire Grace DU staff, I'm Phil Johnson with a question. If salvation is limited to those whom God has chosen, Does it matter if you randomly call people to repent and follow Christ? What is the point of evangelism? Consider that tomorrow when John MacArthur returns with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on grace to you.
