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T.U.L.I.P.
LIMITED ATONEMENT
Text: "Even as the Son of man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a
ransom for many"
(Matthew 20:28).
"For this is my blood of the New Testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins"
(Matthew 2628).
"As thou hast given him power over all flesh,
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
him."
(John 17:2).
INTRODUCTION
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For whom did Christ intend to die? Whose sins
did Christ actually pay for? For whom did Christ go to hell?
Whom did Christ reconcile to God? For whom was Christ a
substitute? What was His intent, His purpose, in dying? To
save everyone or only those whom God elected? When the
Missionary Baptist uses the term limited, he does not mean
that the atonement is limited in its power to save. On the
contrary, he believes that the atonement of Christ is
unlimited in its power, that Christ saves to the "uttermost,"
and that the atonement is of infinite worth of value. But he
does believe that the unlimited atonement of Christ is limited
in its scope, that Christ intended to and actually did remove
the guilt of the sins of a limited number of people--gamely,
those whom God has loved with a special love from eternity.
The atonement of unlimited value is limited to certain people.
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The term limited atonement may confuse people,
some have preferred the terms definite or particular instead.
These latter terms emphasize the objects of the atonement.
They stress that the atonement, which is unlimited in its
power, is limited to a definite, particular number of people,
namely, the believers. It makes no difference whether one uses
the term limited or definite or particular, as long as these
distinctions are kept in mind.
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Missionary Baptist, on the other hand, says
that Christ died only for the believer, the elect, only for
those who will actually be saved and go to heaven. According
to Missionary Baptist, Christ intended or purposed that His
atonement should pay for the sins of only those the Father had
given Him (John 6:37-40). The Missionary Baptist appeals to
those passages that state that Christ died, not for everyone,
but for "His people" (Matthew 1:21), "His sheep"
(John 10:15,26) "His friends" (John 15:13), "the
church" (Acts 20:28), and "the bride" (Ephesians
5:25).
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Christ's redeeming work was intended to save
the elect only and actually secured salvation for them. His
death was a substitutionary endurance of the penalty of sin in
the place of certain specified sinners. In addition to putting
away the sins of His people, Christ's redemption secured
everything necessary for their salvation, including faith
which unites them to Him. The gift of faith is infallibly
applied by the Holy Spirit to all for whom Christ died,
therefore guaranteeing their salvation.
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Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)--Pastor,
Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle, London, England. Edited The
Sword and Trowel magazine, author of the 63 volumes of sermons
from Genesis to Revelation, Treasury of David; An Exposition
of Matthew. The Soul Winner, Morning and Evening; Lectures to
My Students; and more than 200 books and booklets. Acclaimed
by all denominations (Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox,
Lutherans, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Congregationalists,
Methodists, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Churches of
Christ, Pentecostals, Cults, American Baptists, Southern
Baptists, Fundamental Baptists, Modernist Baptists, General
Baptists, Free Will Baptists, Conservative Baptists, Bible
Baptists, General Association of Regular Baptist Churches,
Baptist General Conference, United Baptists, National Baptist
Convention, Missionary Baptist, American Baptist Association,
Baptist Missionary Association of America, Landmark Baptists,
Independent Baptists, Orthodox Baptists, North American
Baptist Conference, Primitive Baptists, Reformed Baptists,
Churches of God and etc.) as the greatest preacher since the
Apostle Paul says,
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"Many divines say that Christ did something
when He died that enabled God to be just, and yet the
Justifier of the ungodly. What that something is they do not
tell us. They believe in an atonement made for everybody, but
then, their atonement is just this. They believe that Judas
Iscariot was atoned for just as much as Peter, they believe
that the damned in hell were as much an object of Jesus
Christ's satisfaction as the saved in heaven; and though they
do not say it in proper words, yet they must mean it, for it
is a fair inference, that in the case of multitudes, Christ
died in vain, for He died for them all, they say and yet so
ineffectual was His dying for them, that though He died for
them, they are damned afterwards. Now, such an atonement I
despise--I reject it. I may be called Antinomian or Calvinist
for preaching a limited atonement; but I had rather believe a
limited atonement that is efficacious for all men for whom it
was intended, than a universal atonement that is not
efficacious for anybody, except the will of man be joined with
it." (The New Park Street Pulpit, by Charles H. Spurgeon,
Volume IV, page 70.)
I. THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST
WAS NO LITTLE THING,
BUI MEASURE IT, FIRST, BY OUR OWN SINS
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One sin can ruin a soul forever, it is
not in the power of the human mind to grasp the infinity of
evil in the bowels of one solitary sin. There is a very
infinity of guilt couched in one transgression against the
majesty of heaven. If we had sinned but once, nothing but
an atonement infinite in value could ever have washed away the
sin and made satisfaction for it. But has it been once
that we have transgressed? Our iniquities are more in number
than the hairs of our head; they have mightily prevailed
against us. We might as well attempt to number the sands upon
the seashore, or count the drops which in their aggregate do
make the ocean, as attempt to count the transgression which
have marked our lives.
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Let us go back to our childhood. How early we
began to sin! How we disobeyed our parents, and even then
learned to make our mouth the house of lies! In our childhood,
how full of wantonness and waywardness we were! Headstrong and
giddy, we preferred our own way, and burst through all
restrains which godly parents put upon us. Nor did our youth
sober us. Wildly we dashed, many of us, into the very midst of
the dance of sin. We became leaders in iniquity, we not only
sinned ourselves, but we taught others to sin. And as for our
manhood, you that have entered upon the prime of life, you may
be more outwardly sober, you may be somewhat free from the
dissipation of your youth; but how little has the man become
bettered! Unless the sovereign grace of God had renewed us, we
are now no better than we were when we began; and even if it
has operated, we have still sins to repent of, for we all lay
our mouths in the dust, and cast ashes on our head, and cry,
"Unclean! Unclean."
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If God had once manifested your heart to
yourself, you would bear us witness, that so far from
exaggerating, our poor words fail to describe the
desperateness of our evil. If we could each of us look into
our hearts today--if our eyes could be tamed within, so as to
sec the iniquity that is graven as with the point of the
diamond upon our stony hearts, we should then say to the
minister, that however he may depict the desperateness of
guilt, yet can he not by any means surpass it.
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How great then, brethren, must be the ransom of
Christ, when He saved us from all these sins! The men for whom
Jesus died, however great their sin, when they believe, are
justified from all their transgression. Though they may have
indulged in every vice and every lust which Satan could
suggest, and which human nature could perform, yet once
believing, all their guilt is washed away. Year after year may
have coated them with blackness, till their sin has become of
double dye; but in one moment of faith, one triumphant moment
of confidence in Christ, the great redemption takes away the
guilt of numerous years. More, if it were possible for all the
sins that man have done, in thought, or word, or deed, since
worlds were made, or time began, to meet on one poor
sinner--the great redemption is all sufficient to take all
these sins away, and wash the sinner whiter than the driven
snow.
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In heaven's courts there are today men that
once were murderers, and thieves, and drunkards, and
whoremongers, and blasphemers, and persecutors; but they have
been washed--they have been sanctified. Ask them when the
brightness of their robes had come, and where their purity had
been achieved, and they, with united breath, tell you that
they have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood
of the lamb. The great redemption now proclaimed to you is
all-sufficient for your wants; and though your numerous sins
exceed the stars that deck the sky, here is an atonement made
for them all--a river which can overflow the whole of them,
and carry them away from you forever.
II. MEASURE THE GREAT
ATONEMENT
BY THE STERNNESS OF DIVINE JUSTICE
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The God of the Bible is not the God of some
men's imagination, who thinks so little of sin that He passes
it by without demanding any punishment for it. He is not
the God of the men who imagine that our transgressions are
such little things, such mere peccadilloes that the God of
heaven winks at them, and suffers them to die forgotten. Learn
you, my friends, to look upon God as being as severe in His
justice as if He were not loving, and yet as loving as if He
were not severe. His love does not diminish His justice,
nor does His justice, in the least degree, make warfare upon
His love. The two things are sweetly linked together in
the atonement of Christ. But, mark, we can never understand
the fullness of the atonement till we have first grasped the
Scriptural truth of God's immense justice.
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For man's sin God demands eternal punishment;
and God had prepared a hell into which He casts those who die
impenitent. Can you think what must have been the greatness of
the atonement which was the substitution for all this agony
which God would have cast upon us, if we had not poured it
upon Christ. Remember that in that place there are spirits
forever paying their debt to divine justice; but though some
of them have been for these four thousand years sweltering in
the flame, they are no nearer a discharge than when they
began; and when ten thousand times ten thousand years shall
have rolled away, they will no more have made satisfaction to
God for their guilt than they have done up till now.
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There are times when God the Holy Spirit shows
to men the sternness of justice in their own consciences. The
captive in the dungeon is sometimes free in thought, though
not in body; through his dungeon walls his spirit leaps, and
flies to the stars, free as the eagle that is no man's slave.
But this man is a slave in the thoughts; he cannot think one
bright, one happy thought. His soul is cast down within him;
the iron has entered into his spirit, and he is sorely
afflicted. The captive sometimes forgets his slavery in sleep,
but this man cannot sleep; by night he dreams of hell, by day
he seems to feel it he bears a burning furnace of flame within
his heart and do what he may he cannot quench it. He has been
confirmed, he has been baptized, he takes the sacrament, he
attends a church or he frequents a chapel, he regards every
rubric and obeys every canon, but the fire bum still. He gives
his money to the poor, he is ready to give his body to be
burned, he feeds the hungry, he visits the sick, he clothes
the naked, but the fire bums still, and do what he may he
cannot quench it.
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You are the man for whom the Lord Jesus Christ
has died; for you He has satisfied stern justice; and now all
you have to do to obtain peace and conscience, is just to say
to your adversary who pursues you, "Look you there! Christ
died for me; my good works would not stop you, my tears would
not appease you: Look you there! See him die! Are you not
satisfied now?" And when you had done that, you shall have the
peace of God which passeth all understanding, which shall keep
your heart and mind through Jesus Christ your Lord; and then
shall you know the greatness of His atonement.
III. MEASURE THE GREATNESS
OF
CHRIST'S ATONEMENT BY THE PRICE HE PAID
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It is impossible for us to
know how great were the pangs of our Saviour, but yet some
glimpse of them will afford as a little idea of the greatness
of the price which He paid for us. See Him yonder! It is a
night of frost and cold. It is night: He sleeps not, but He is
in prayer. Hark to His groans! Did ever man wrestle as He
wrestles? Go and look in His face! Was ever such suffering
depicted upon mortal countenance as you can there behold? Hear
His own words? "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto
death." Mark 14:34.
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He is hurried through the streets; He
is dragged first to one bar and then to another, He is cast
and condemned before the Sanhedrim; He is mocked by Herod; He
is tried by Pilate. His sentence is pronounced--"Let him be
crucified!" John 19:14-18. He is taken into the guard room;
His eyes are bound, and then they buffet Him, and say,
"Prophesy, who it was that smote thee' Luke 22:64. They spit
into His face; they plait a crown of thorns, and press His
temples with it; they array Him in a purple robe; they bow
their knees, and mock Him. All silently He sits; he answers
not a word. "When He was reviled, He reviled not again," but
committed Himself unto Him whom He came to serve. 1 Peter
2:23. And now they take Him, and with many a jeer and jibe
they drive Him from the place, and hurry Him through the
streets. Emaciated by continual fastings, and depressed with
agony of spirit He stumbles beneath His cross.
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Rough soldiers seize Him,
and hurl Him on His back; the transverse wood is laid beneath
Him; His arms are stretched to reach the necessary distance; the
nails arc grasped; four hammers at one moment drive four nails
through the tenderest parts of His body, and there He lies upon
His own place of execution dying on His cross, It is not done yet.
The
cross is lifted by the rough Roman soldiers. There is the socket
prepared for it, It is dashed into its place they fill up the place
with earth; and there it stands.
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But see the Savior's limbs. how they quiver!
Every bone has been put out of joint by the dashing of the cross into that socket! How
He weeps! How He
sighs! How He sobs! Yes. more, hark how at last He shrieks in
agony, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matthew
27:46. Never man suffered as this man suffered. Even death itself
relented. and many of those who had been in their graves arose
and came into the city. This however, is but the outward
Brethren, the inward was far worse. What our Savior Suffered in
His body was nothing, compared to what He endured in His soul.
You cannot guess, and we cannot guess, what He endured within.
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Suppose for one moment--to repeat a sentence we have often
used--suppose a man who has passed into hell--suppose his
eternal torment could all be brought into one hour, and then
suppose it could be multiplied by the number of the saved, which
is a number past all human enumeration. Can you now think what a
vast aggregate of misery there would have been in the sufferings
of all God's people, if they had been punished through ail
eternity? And recollect that Christ had to suffer an equivalent
for all the hells of all His redeemed. We can never express that
thought better than by using those oft-repeated words: it seemed
as if hell was put into His cup. He seized it. So that there was
nothing left of all the pangs and miseries of hell for His
people ever to endure. We say not that He suffered the same. but
He did endure an equivalent for all this, and gave God the
satisfaction for all the sins of all His people, and
consequently gave Him an equivalent for all their punishment.
IV. COMPUTE THEM BY THE
GLORIOUS
DELIVERANCE WHICH HE HAS EFFECTED
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Once our souls were laden
with sins, we had revolted against God, and grievously
transgressed. The terrors of the law got hold upon us, the pangs
of conviction seared us. We saw ourselves guilty. We looked to
heaven, and we saw an angry God sworn to punish us; we looked
beneath us and we saw a yawning hell ready to devour us. We
sought by good works to satisfy our consciences, but all in
vain. We endeavored by attending to the ceremonies of religion
to appease the pangs that we felt within: but all without
effect.
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Our souls were exceeding sorrowful, almost unto
death. We have sinned: God must punish us. How can He be just if He does not? Then, since He is just,
what is to become of us? At last our eyes turned to that sweet
word which says, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us
from all sin." I John 1:7-10. We saw one hanging on the cross.
It was our Lord Jesus Christ. There was the crown of thorn, and
there the emblems of unequalled and peerless misery. We looked
upon Him. and our thoughts recalled that word which says, "This
is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners." I Timothy 1:15.
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Did this man die for sinners? We are sinners; then
He died for
us. Those He died for He will save. Our souls relied upon that
truth. We looked to Him, and as we viewed the flowing of His
soul-redeeming blood, our spirit rejoiced. for we could say,
"Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to this cross I cling;
Naked look to firm for dress; Helpless, come to Him for grace!
Black. I to this fountain fly, Wash me, Savior, or I die!"
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The moment that you believed, your burden rolled from shoulder,
and you became light as air. instead of darkness you had light,
for the garments of heaviness you had the robes of praise. Who
shall tell you joy since then? You have sung on earth, hymns of
heaven, and in your peaceful soul you have anticipated the
eternal rest of the redeemed. Because you have believed you have entered into rest.
Yes, tell it to the whole-wide-world over; they that believe, by Jesus'
death are justified from all things from which they could not be
freed by the works of the law. Tell it in heaven, that none can
lay anything to the charge of God's elect. Tell it upon earth,
that God's redeemed are free from sin in God's sight. Tell it
even in hell, that God's elect can never come there, for Christ
has died for them, and who is he that shall condemn them' it is
God that justifieth.
V. CHRIST'S ATONEMENT MAY BE MEASURED
BY THE EXTENT OF THE DESIGN OF IT
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Our Lord Jesus Christ. we
are told, came into the world "to give His life a ransom for
many" Matthew 20:28. We must now return to that controverted
point again. We are often told that we limit the atonement of
Christ, because we say that Christ has not made a satisfaction
for all men, or all men would be saved. Now, our reply to this
is, that, on the other hand, our opponents limit it: we do not.
Our enemies say, Christ died for all men? Ask them what they
mean by it. Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of ail
men? They say, "No, certainly not." We ask them the next
question--Did
Christ die so as to secure the salvation of any man in
particular? They answer "No." They are obliged to admit this, if
they are consistent. They, say "No, Christ had died that any man
may be saved if'"--and then follow certain conditions of
salvation We say. then, we will just go back to the old
statement--Christ did not die so as beyond a doubt to secure the
salvation of anybody. did He? You must say "No," you are
obliged to say so, for you believe that even after a man has
been pardoned, he may yet fall from graze, and perish.
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Now,
who is it that limits the death of Christ? Why, you. You say
that Christ did not die so as to infallibly secure the salvation
of anybody. We beg your pardon, when you say we limit Christ's
death, we say, "No, our dear sir. it is you that do it. We say
Christ so died that He infallibly secured the salvation of a
multitude that no man can number. who through Christ's death not
only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved, and cannot by
any possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved. You
are welcome to your atonement, you may keep it. We will never
renounce ours for the sake of it
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Now, beloved brethren when
you hear anyone laughing or jeering at a limited atonement, you
may tell him this. General or Universal Atonement is like a
great wide bridge with only half an arch, it does not go across
the stream: it only professes to go half-way, it does not secure
the salvation of anybody. Now we had rather put our feet upon a
bridge that as narrow as Governor Generoso bridge in Davao City,
Philippines, which went all the way across the Davao river, than
on a bridge that was as wide as the world, if it did not go all
the way across the stream.
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Now, we are told it is our
duty to say that all men have been redeemed, and we are told
that there is a Scriptural warrant for it--"who gave Himself a
ransom for all, to be testified in due time." 1 Timothy 2:6.
Now, that looks like a very, very great argument indeed on the
other side of the question. For instance, look here. "The whole world is
gone after him." Did
all the world go after Chest? "Then went all Judea, and were
baptized of him is Jordan." Matthew 3:5-6. Was all Judea, or
all Jerusalem baptized it Jordan, without exception? "The whole
world lieth in the wicked one." 1 John 3:19. Does "the
whole
world" there mean everybody without exception? If so, how was it
, then that there were some who were of God? 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. The words "world" and
that "all" are used in some seven or eight senses in Scriptures: and it is
very rarely
that "all" means all persons taken individually. The words are
generally used to signify that Christ has redeemed some of all
sorts--some Jews some Gentiles, some rich, some poor, and has
not restricted His redemption to ether Jew or Gentile.
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The principal subject of
John 3:16 is Christ as the gift of God. The first clause tells
us what moved God to "give" His only begotten Son, and that was
His great "love," the second clause informs us for whom God
"gave" His Son, and that is for, "whosoever
believeth;" while the last clause makes known why God "gave"' His Son, and that
is, that everyone that believeth "should not perish but have
everlasting life." That "the world" in John 3:16 refers to the
world of believers (God's elect 2 Thessalonians 2:13), in
contradistinction from "the world of the ungodly" (Read
2
Peter 2:5), is established, unequivocally established by a
comparison of the other passages which speak of God's "love."
But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). "Love not the
world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love
the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15).
CONCLUSION
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Leaving controversy,
however, will you answer us a question or two, and we will tell
you whether He died for your redemption. Do you want a Savior?
Do you feel that you need a Savior? Are you this day conscious
of your sin? Has the Holy Spirit taught you that you are lost
according to the Bible? Then Christ died for you, and you will
be saved.
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And then see what peace of
mind you will have; for if Christ has died for you, you cannot be
lost. God will not punish twice for one thing. If God punished
Christ for your sin, He will never punish you. "Payment, God's
justice cannot twice demand, first, at the bleeding surety's
hand, and then again at mine." We can today, if we believe in
Christ, march to the very throne of God, stand there, and if it
is said, "Are you guilty?" We can say. "Yes, guilty." But if the
question is put, "What have you to say why you should not be
punished for your guilt?"
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We can answer, "Great God, Your justice and Your love are both our guarantees that You will not
punish us for sin; for did You not punish Christ for sin for us?
How can You, then, be just--how can You be God at all, if You punish Christ the substitute, and then punish man himself
afterwards?" Your only question is, "Did Christ die for us." And
the only answer we can give is, "Surely He hath borne our
griefs,
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted, But He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we
are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned
everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the
iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:4-6).
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