Most of the men with whom I went to Bible school basically believe what I preached this morning. Most Baptists believe what they call “eternal security.” They believe that souls are saved by the grace of God and kept by the grace of God. But those same men might have several different definitions of “grace” and a dozen different ideas about how God accomplishes that eternal salvation. I am convinced that one of the reasons that when a sinner is saved he will end up in his Heavenly Father’s house for all eternity, is due to the nature of the atonement which was made for him. Unfortunately there are a lot of Baptist preachers who have never really studied what the Bible says about the atonement. They only repeat what they have heard other men say about the subject. The atonement is one of those subjects which is so elemental to our faith, that a many people, preachers especially, think that they know all that there is to know about it, when the fact is, they don’t.
I’m not going to pretend that this will be a great sermon tonight – that it will be complete – that it will answer all the questions and arguments that men might have. I’m not going to suggest that I know all that there is to know about the atonement and that I can answer everyone’s questions. I’m not going to tell you that this will be a great sermon, but it is a great subject. Not only is it a great subject, but its an important one. And it begins simply enough.
That Jesus is the Christ requires special understanding, and it’s not understood by every professing Christian. We know that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, because this has been revealed to us by the Holy Ghost. “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” When He was talking to Martha just outside the village of Bethany, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.” The man called “Christ” is, and was, the Old Testament “Messiah” – the anointed, the ultimate King, the Lord. And Paul’s statement was to the effect that the Son of God, the Messiah, the Saviour died.
I won’t take a lot of time to prove it, but Christ’s death was thoroughly foretold in Old Testament prophecy. That death was pictured in the thousands of Old Testament sacrifices. And in verse 6 Paul says that “in due time Christ died.” Earlier he had written to the Galatians that “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Christ’s death was prophesied and illustrated in the Old Testament. Part of those prophesies even declared the approximate time of the Messiah’s birth. Then Jesus’ Himself prophesied that He would be taken and slain by the Jews and Romans.
This is not a particularly difficult thing to understand or to believe. The vast majority of Christendom believes that Christ died on the cross, was buried and rose again the third day. But a great quantity of the foolishness of the Easter season is due to the acceptance of this fact, without knowledge or faith in the very important supplementary material.
There may be have been other Jews who were convinced that Jesus was a lunatic and needed to die. But Jesus didn’t die for Himself, whether this be understood in a positive or negative way. Christ was certainly no lunatic or mad man – demon-possessed man or paranoiac. He had broken no law of God, and therefore was not worthy of death. It may have been denied by the ignorant, but He had never sinned, and did not deserve to die. The Jews might have said that he had broken their laws, but if that was the case, their laws were unjust. The Jews might have argued that Christ had broken Roman laws, but they really didn’t know what they were talking about. Christ did not die for Himself. And he didn’t die as a martyr for any kind of good cause. Neither did He die as an example of either how to live or how to die. “Christ died for the UNGODLY.”
Here’s a silly technical question: Is the word “ungodly” an adjective or a noun? In our English dictionary, it is an adjective; it is a word which modifies a noun. We might say that “blasphemy is an ungodly sin.” All sin is ungodly, but when some sin is a direct attack upon the Lord it is more clearly ungodly. We might say that certain people are particularly ungodly – “Herod the Great was an ungodly man.” The word “ungodly” is an adjective. But surprisingly, when we find that word in the Bible it metamorphoses into a noun. It is used a surprisingly slim eight times in the Word of God and is rarely connected to another noun. It is almost always used just as it is here in verse 6 – “Christ died for the ungodly.”that Paul always meant it about ungodly PEOPLE. “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers.” Peter uses the word in exactly the same way – “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” God “spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.”
What I’m trying to point out, for example, is the fact that Christ didn’t die for ungodly ANGELS. Are there such a thing as ungodly angels? There certainly are; those demons which inhabited the man called “Legion,” were all ungodly creatures. And despite their words, the demons which indwelt the soothsaying woman of Philippi, were all ungodly, wicked, sinful beings, intending no good whatsoever. Not one of the angels which fell with Lucifer – no demon – will ever be saved from his sin against God. When Paul said, “Christ died for the ungodly,” he clearly meant ungodly human beings – only. I could say that Christ’s death was limited in such a way to exclude the ungodly angels. I have never met a genuine Christian who didn’t believe in limited atonement – no demons allowed. Yet, do ungodly humans have more right to be saved than ungodly demons? No they don’t.
Well then, what does it mean that Christ died “on behalf of the ungodly?” I think that the Bible is quite clear on that subject. When Paul reiterated his gospel message to the Corinthians he said, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” When Christ died for the ungodly, he specifically died FOR their sins – ON BEHALF of – or in regard to their sins. Romans 4:25 – He “was delivered FOR our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Galatians 1:4 – He “gave himself FOR our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.” God “made him to be sin FOR us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” Christ Jesus “bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” The Bible teaches that Christ died as a substitutionary sacrifice for sinners – on our behalf of and for our sins. For each and every redeemed individual, when God the Father looked at the suffering of Christ on the cross, He could see their specific sins just before they were covered with Jesus’ blood.
Some people have the idea that nailed to Jesus’ cross was a blank check, and if anyone later chose to write his name on that check then he would be included in the sacrifice of Christ. First, this would make salvation dependent on the sinner rather than on grace. And second, If that is true, what would it do to all those people who lived and died before the death of Christ? Did Abraham and David know that Jesus of Nazareth was going to die on a hill just outside of Jebus? Did Noah and Daniel put their faith in the Son of God to deliver them from their sins? Those people were saved by grace through faith, but the emphasis should be on the grace, not the faith. They all “believed God, and it was counted unto them for righteousness.”
Someone might point to the word “ungodly” and ask, “Doesn’t this say that Jesus died for ALL the ungodly?” Let’s be reasonable, as well as believing. If the statement “Christ died for the ungodly” means that Jesus bore the sins of those ungodly, then all those ungodly must eventually be saved. If the word “ungodly” is to be taken in its fullest extent then it means that Jesus died to save demons and even the devil himself. Did Christ die to save those souls which are in Hell at this moment? No, He did not. If he did then His atonement for them somehow failed; they overrode and negated the power of Almighty. In Matthew 26:28 the Lord Jesus put it this way: “This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for MANY for the remission of sins.” First, He says that his blood was shed specifically for the remission, forgiveness and removal of sins. And secondly, He says that his blood was shed for many, but not all. Christ didn’t die to make salvation possible; He died to make salvation a reality.
When Paul speaks of the ungodly in verse 6, he was not referring to all the ungodly in human history. The context clearly says so. “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward US, in that, while WE were yet sinners, Christ died for – on behalf of – US. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, WE shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when WE were enemies, WE were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, WE shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but WE also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom WE have now received THE ATONEMENT.” Christ died for those who actually receive His atonement; for those who are actually reconciled and saved. I Peter 3:18 teaches much the same thing: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust.” Someone might argue that when Jesus died for the unjust – unjustified – it was for everyone who was unjust. But this argument sinks like a rock. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring US to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” The verse does not say, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might POTENTIALLY bring SOME us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” The people described as “us” have been quickened by the Spirit – made alive – born again. Christ died for all those whom the Holy Spirit regenerates, and only for those people. He gave His life a ransom for many, but not for all.
As I say, some people have the idea that nailed to Jesus’ cross was a blank check, and if anyone later chose to write his name on that check then he would be included in the sacrifice of Christ. No sir, it is more Biblical to say that Christ wrote, in this own sacrificial blood, specific names on His cross. But more Biblical than that – we should say that our names were written before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” I Peter 1 – “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”
I contend that it is difficult for anyone to believe in eternal security, who doesn’t also believe the doctrine of particular redemption. They may not admit that they believe this doctrine, but in fact in some ways they do. I say with joy, but at the same time with humility, I shall spend eternity with the Lord in glory because Jesus Christ died specifically to save my soul. And, of course, He successfully accomplished what He set out to do.