Is Limited Atonement Biblical? w/Dr. James White (Part 4)

if you would like to turn in your bibles to romans chapter 8 we will be getting there or i know this is a very special congregation you have it right on the front of your bulletin so i don't i would expect most of you don't really need uh your english bible uh you have it right there on the front of your bulletin from manuscript p-46 from around 175 to 200 a.d this is the earliest we have the earliest manuscript copy we have of romans chapter 8 this contains everything we're going to be looking at today except for sort of a part of one side there's a papyri this is what they look like they're 1800 years old if you think they look bad what are you going to look like in 1800 years okay every time someone gets gets on the papyri i'm like they're doing better than you um but that is actually the earliest that is uh housed currently um in dublin ireland at the chester beatty library i got to see it a number of years ago and uh so that's p-46 uh the earliest collection uh of that we have of paul's epistles and um i'll go ahead and make this if it is the earliest collection we have of paul's epistles then do you think it contains hebrews or not because see we don't know who wrote hebrews does it say right so if the earliest collection we don't we don't even have any fragments of romans 8 before p-46 so this is the earliest we have so do you think it contains hebrews or not so if you think it contains hebrews put your hand up if you think it doesn't contain hebrews put your hand up and how many of you just refused to answer my question the vast majority of you every time i ask that question literally around the world i have asked audiences in zambia ukraine south africa uh australia russia uh samara russia in january of 2019. and even when i say now please it hurts me when you don't answer my question and i and i lay it down thick and they'll still just sit there going i'm not answering you cannot make me answer i'm not i'm not putting my hand up one way or the other i don't you're going to mock me aren't you there's a camera on me right now it's going on youtube isn't it yeah no it's not going on youtube but it does contain the book of hebrews right after the book of romans so the few of you who were kind enough compassionate enough loving enough to participate in my little vote and said that it did you'd be right all that means is someone around 175 to 200 years after the time of the birth of christ seemingly believed that paul wrote hebrews and included it therein that's all that means but there you go so that's what's on the front of your bulletin and if you were wondering you may have been thinking the photocopier just had a problem today and it spit something out didn't make any sense but actually that is the earliest copy we have of this section we are going through a series on the doctrines of grace this is not the first time that we've done so in fact i remember it was only a few years ago that as a non-member of apologia i was invited to speak on the next point of the acrostic on irresistible grace a number of years ago back at the vineyard fellowship location when we were there in tempe and so it hasn't been too long but we have so many people coming in and out that it is always good to make sure that people understand where it is we stand and when we come to what i i wrote an article back when well i wrote an article back when jeff was probably a young teenager um uh called the terrible horrible l the terrible horrible l and this was back when we we did a newsletter uh again on a photocopier and uh i'm not even sure we had uh i don't know if we even had laser printers yet i think we were still in the dot matrix age back then but um i call it a terrible horrible l for the simple reason when you think of tulip the one that even reformed people are a little afraid of are a little hesitant about i mean if you were to ask everybody if we put a t and a u and an l and an i and a p up here and you i asked you to get in line in front of your favorite letter i think the l would be lonely it would be all if lonely l they would fit together because they would be lonely i'm not lonely because zach is giving me some cold water isn't that wonderful but it doesn't have a straw in it which is really good i'm not going to say anything about that but anyway i don't think many people would line up behind it i remember i was i was speaking at a historic baptist church in london a few years ago sure i'm glad i got to do all that traveling over the past decade because i'm not sure i'm going to be doing much of it in the future the way things are going but i was speaking at a historic baptist church it's so historic that right about there or so because it's similar similar laying out right about there or so was it was a pew i have a picture on my phone and there is an indentation in the seat of the pew and they like to show people it because during world war ii during the battle of britain the germans were bombing london and they would drop these incendiary devices and they were on timers so they wouldn't all go off at once they'd go off at different times so that the people trying to stop the fires would have different places to go they wouldn't be able to go to one area and put the fires out and see so this one had come crashing through the ceiling and had landed on that pew and indented the surface of the pew thankfully a guy on a bike it was obviously like a tuesday night or something like that there wasn't a church service going on guy on a bike going by outside heard it happen and ran into the church and got it out before it burned the church down but the indentation of that device is still in the pew that's how historic you go you go over to london and everything is just soaked in history and i was preaching at that church and the fellowship hall was sort of out similarly actually it was out through this direction now i think about it and this woman came up to me in this narrow hallway so there was no escape and she she says i'm not sure but listening to what you were saying you don't believe in limited atonement do you and it was sort of like because if you do i'm going to shoot you you know that type of thing or i'm going to scream i'm going to faint i'm going to die right here blame you you know what whatever it was it did not look like it was going to be a real positive situation and that's not the only time i've had someone you you don't believe in that do you and you've probably experienced the same thing and if you haven't you will now i'm here to tell you that if we did do the t and the u and the l and the i and the p i would stand up and i would stand in front of the l because of the title of the sermon trinitarian harmony in the atonement trinitarian harmony in the atonement when we think of the preceding points we've looked at the sovereignty of god he is creator of all things he is he has woven the very fabric of time itself the very fabric of time he is the one described in ephesians one as the one who works all things after the council of his will so we have the sovereignty of god then we have the depravity of man made in the image of god and yet fallen in adam and the scripture teaches us that he is a slave to sin and the son must make that slave free slave to sin unable to come to christ outside the drawing of the father incapable of hearing the words unless you belong to god this is the teaching of scripture we've looked at the unconditional election of god the god's not just peering down the corridors of time it's not the two rails of the railroad that eventually meet in eternity because of the two rails of a railroad ever meet the train crashes in time or eternity it is the unconditional electing grace of god it is free on his part he is under no compulsion that's why it's grace but when you think of each one of those once you get to the atonement now you begin to see the interplay of the divine persons in bringing about the glory of god you see the relationship of father and son the harmony that exists between the work of the son and the decree of the father which is going to then feed into the next point which is the irresistible grace of god that power of god the spirit of god that at the time of god's appointment comes and brings us to spiritual life based upon what has been done in the behalf of the elect at the cross what you and i need to understand is that limited atonement not the best term not the most i mean obviously the the synod of dort did not have a marketing term a marketing team working on the various words they're going to be using but what they were affirming is one of the most beautiful realities of biblical revelation think about it when you think about the atoning work of christ remember our catechism question the atonement most people when they think of the term atonement think only of the cross they think only of the sacrifice because most people today don't think about what the duties and realities of the priest really were but obviously those who knew their old testament knew what yom kippur was all about they knew what happened on that high day of atonement they knew the priest first had to offer sacrifice for himself and then he offered that sacrifice for the people the people who would draw near in worship and when he would take that blood in the bowl can you imagine what that bowl felt like it was heavy but what else was it was warm that blood would have been warm in the hands it had just been drained from the now dead body of the sacrifice and for the one time in the year the high priest enters the veil that thickly woven veil that separated the people from what you've probably heard called the holy of holies holy of holies is just that's a hebrew way of speaking it just simply means the holiest place and he enters into the holiest place you have the ark you have the mercy seat and he sprinkles that blood upon the mercy seat and he can see the blood of every sacrifice that has come before you think it ever made him wonder this must be pointing to something more there must be something greater than this but he had to enter into the presence of god with the sacrifice to intercede for the people for whom the sacrifice had been made this is his function as the high priest and tradition tells us by the days of jesus they were so concerned about the high priest not being struck dead when he entered in before god that they would they would put a rope on his ankle so that if he died it was struck dead in the holy place they could at least get the corpse out somewhat of a lack of confidence might be expressed by that idea if that's actually what happened some of the traditions that's the case this was the act of intercession and what you need to understand so many of your friends your relatives your family members have been given a complete misunderstanding of what this point is actually saying it's always presented negatively it's always presented you're saying that jesus's death is limited it's not sufficient you're just saying he only died for the elect there's always some level of truth to any representation or it's not a representation at all but what should we be saying when we present this truth to some what should our understanding be because if if we don't understand it ourselves if we're not passionate about ourselves we're not going to be passionate about presenting it to anybody else and people can tell i can tell i can tell most reformed people they want to talk about the sovereignty of god oh yes and they want to talk about unconditional election but they just want to get past limited atonement as fast as they can a little bit of a a problem in confidence i think it's a problem in understanding because what we need to say to someone let's say you're at you know the holidays are coming believe it or not this year will be over someday um it's hard to believe but it seems like about three years right now um but the holidays are coming and if we're allowed to meet with our families for the holidays and the gestapo isn't coming after us um you might be sitting there and this conversation might come up and some i just can't believe you believe in that limited atonement thing and you know what my response would be nobody in my family's going to do that most people who know me don't do that ever actually it's weird even when i want them to but my response would be i find the harmony that exists between the election of god the father and the work of the son to be a beautiful thing why would you want me to believe that the father and the son are not seeking to accomplish the exact same things in redemption at which point you're gonna get this look what which means now you can explain what you just said you've got the conversation going but did you hear what i said think about it unconditional election says that god the father has a specific decree that names a specific people who are going to be redeemed to his honor and glory long before they ever come into existence when we sing that song my name was graven on his hands we actually mean it we don't mean it i engraved my name upon his hand long after he died that's not what we're singing elliot is that the words it's mine i'm just checking because you're you're the official guy here i just scared elliott to death from the pulpit folks i just want you to i want you to know his heart rate has increased 40 beats per minute right now he talked he's talking to me from the pulpit what's going on here think about the theology of our music my name was graven on his hand it's a personal atonement so if god the father has decreed the identity of the elect and the only way to bring about their salvation is christ's death in their behalf why would christ's death be made for anyone that the father has not decreed to save or let's put it this way if the son appears before the father and presents his sacrifice could the father ever not be appeased by the perfection of the sacrifice that christ presents so if you have something called a universal atonement where christ bears in his body the sin of every single human being who has ever lived or ever will live including every one of the amorites and the jebusites that were wiped out by the people of israel in their sin as a judgment from god if he bore in his body the penalty of their sin and he now appears in the presence of the father in their behalf there's only two possibilities if that happens one universalism everyone's gonna be saved because his sacrifice in their behalf is enough to bring about their salvation or be there is disharmony between the father and the son because the son is seeking to get the father to save individuals that the father has not degree decreed to grant his grace to in the first place which is it going to be oh i know somebody said well actually what it means is jesus does bear all their sins but that's not enough that only makes their salvation potential it's a possibility now it's possible for them to get saved if they will and then the list can be very short or the list can be very long maybe they only have to do this number of things so they have to do a bunch of things but the point is the death of christ is not enough and so you can have god desiring everyone's salvation the son dying to accomplish everyone's salvation but it's all up to the almighty will of man so you can literally have the son interceding before the father in behalf of individuals and god the father does everything he can god the son does everything he can the spirit of god does everything he can and they fail miserably because of the all mighty will of man that's a real popular viewpoint it's almost never expressed that way because people are never pushed to think through what it means that they're saying but that's a very popular viewpoint what i'm saying to you is the scriptures present to us perfect harmony between the father son and spirit the father elects a specific people unconditionally the son dies in their place what is the key term ephesians chapter 1 10 times in 13 verses in him in the beloved one in christ we are united with him in his death burial and resurrection he knows for whom he is dying we die with him we don't experience that until his chosen time in our life but the reality is the atonement is personal we are united to him this is the result of the father's decree the son takes our place his death is our death his resurrection our resurrection and then the spirit of god at the time of god's choosing of his ordaining comes to us removes that heart of stone gives us a heart of flesh causes us to be born again and gives to us the gifts of faith and repentance perfect harmony the son is not doing something outside of the father separate from the father trying to accomplish something the father isn't trying to accomplish spirit is is is applying everything that's done by the son and by the spirit by the father it is a trinitarian gospel now there are people watching this right now who will probably be doing three or four hour responses to this sermon which will not be three or four hours long itself i can assure you of that i would never live it down by a certain person with a large beard anyways if i did but that's why we're doing two of them get to split over two sundays there are those who will respond and try to say well that's just a theological position you're imposing that upon the text that's why i want to do a deep dive with you i believe the bible doesn't just imply this the bible teaches it necessarily so turn with me to romans chapter 8. you all know the text very very very well i am going to move quickly through what you think is the key part yes it's important but we know the beginning of verse 28 we have the start of the golden chain of redemption don't have time to exegete it all right now i'm going to run through it quickly though for we know that to those who love god he causes all things to work together for good to those who are the called according to his purpose just one thing to emphasize those who love god and those who are called according to his purpose are the same group they're the same group so that means the loving god part is the result of his having called us you can tell where somebody is in their understanding of grace if when they read a verse like this their first their first thought is oh i've chosen to love god and therefore he has chosen me as a result you can tell where somebody is if that's what they think and it makes me wonder do you know your own heart do you do you know the depth of your own sin the reason you love god what does first john say we didn't love him first he loved us first we love him because he first loved us and so the point is in romans 8 those two groups are equal to one another they're the same group but they're they exist because of the result of god's grace and all things work together that's the term for synergism that's the greek word synergism they work together for good god causes that to happen why because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed the image of his son so that he might be the firstborn amongst many brothers once again very briefly for no does not mean to know a fact beforehand this is an active verb every time god does it it's a person that he knows it's either jesus israel or the elect this is not god looking down the corners of time and learning something this is god choosing this is god loving when adam knew eve she conceived a child god says of israel you only have i known he knew about all the other nations on the on the globe he created them but he chose to enter into relationship covenant relationship with one those whom he foreknew he predestined not just simply to give them a ticket to heaven but to conform them the image of his son there is a purpose in all of this there is a purpose that god is accomplishing to his glory and it is making the body of christ conforming us to the image of his son the incarnate god man so that he might be the firstborn the one having preeminence amongst many brothers many brothers and then you have the golden chain for those whom he predestined these he also called and those whom he called these he also justified those whom he justified these he also glorified you already know this but i'll repeat it you can not break this chain as paul writes it without contradicting the apostle he is very specific he is very clear in the language and grammar that he uses that this is the same group all the way through all those predestined are called all those who are called are justified all who are justified are glorified this is the golden chain this is god's work of redemption it is not an exhaustive description of everything that god does but it is the foundation that paul is giving to the church at rome to recognize that this work of salvation is divine it is powerful it is what god does it is not a hoped-for thing it is what god is doing to glorify himself that was the prologue i'm learning from jeff he's smiling over there that's good my eyes are still good enough to see that that's that's that's that's good therefore what shall we say to these things what shall we say follow the pronouns to be vitally important follow the pronouns what shall we say to these things these things that god has done you notice there wasn't anything in there about us doing anything that determines the outcome god foreknew god predestined god called god justified god glorified he's the subject of all those verbs so what shall we say to these things in light of a recognition of what god himself has done what shall we say if god is who pair him own for us who can be qatar jemon against us if god is for us who can possibly be against us i mean you can get the whole roman empire in there they're nothing in comparison to the creator of all things if god is for us who can be against us now who is the us well we know verse 28 love god called cory's purpose for known being conformed the image of his son we are the many brethren we are the ones predestined called justified and glorified that's the we and so god is for us therefore no one can be against us he who did not spare or hold back his own son the emphasis there is upon the personal relationship not just a son of god my muslim friends like to say god has sons by the tons not in this fashion when jesus used this same type of language and in the gospel of john john chapter 5 the jews wanted to kill him because they knew he was calling god his own father in a special way that no one else could ever use he who did not hold back spare his own son but who pair jemon the exact same two words he just used in verse 31 if god is who pair him on for us who pair is the normal term for substitution taking the place of if he did not hold back spare his own son but in our place delivered him up for us all for us all is this all of humanity speaking here many people will try to say that it is they will have to constantly be switching out the speakers in this text let me suggest something to you he who can walk through a text consistently from beginning to end in the way that the author originally intended it to be heard is the person who is honoring the original intention of the writing if you have to break out of what the original intention of the writing was you have a tradition that's getting in the way of truly following the text that's how you determine it that's how you detect it and so there will be some who will say yes delivered him up for us all and in fact is that not the standard evangelical theology in the united states today that the sun was delivered up for every single human being who has ever lived or there might be some who would say well every single human being who has lived since the cross they might do some dispensational things or something to change how that works but there are different views so just just be aware of that the term delivered him up is the same term used of judas's betrayal of jesus it is a term used of delivering up of the sacrifice in the old testament paradigma but he delivered him up for us all i suggest you and we're gonna get a few words down the sentence here and it'll be made very very plain i suggest to you that this is a limited group there are many people today who don't speak these words they do not love god they are not being conformed the image of his son they hate his son and there are many who will die this day in that enmity toward god but the scripture says he gave his own son delivered him up in our behalf that's sacrificial language that substitutionary language how shall he not also together with him freely give us all things so if he has given his son in our behalf would he withhold anything else that we would need to be conformed to the image of his son to make it to the completion of what the intention of that sacrifice was can there be anything that will not be provided to us in light of the fact that his son has been delivered up in our place it's a rhetorical question the answer is supposed to be very very clear of course not of course not then you have i think the portion of the text that seals the deal seals the deal who will bring a charge against god's elect now the term to bring a charge i spent a little time this week refreshing some of my studies from the past it is a term that is used in numerous papyri that we have discovered contemporaneous with the time of the new testament in a legal context it is the normal term that would be used if you were to bring a charge against someone in a court of law and that's going to be the context right here the context here is the heavenly courtroom so that's the best translation that's the best translation who will bring a charge against the elect of god now just before this it was said who can be against us katah here it is again who will bring a charge qatar against the elect of god who has the standing who has the ground to enter into the place where god sits as judge and bring a charge and accusation against those whom god has chosen well that's a good question that's a good question because the whole idea here is going to be that something special has been done in their behalf that precludes any kind of condemnatory charge and that special thing is the death of jesus and his resurrection and his intercession so if it's a universal atonement then no one can bring a charge against anyone but we know that's not the case unless you're universalist there are only two possible ways to read most of these texts either as a reformed person or a universalist the person in between has to continually switch their interpretive hermeneutic and methodology to make it all work because it just doesn't fit the text it just doesn't who will bring a charge against god's elect god is the justifier it's only three words in greek theos ha dick i own to chios righteous just this is a participle god is the justifier god is the one declaring righteous he is the one bringing down the gavel and saying not guilty in behalf of whom the elect of god god brings down the gavilan says that one those people as a group are right with me why because he did not spare his son delivered him up for us all god is the one who justifies what now i'm not going to ask if we have any attorneys here because i have a lot of attorney jokes and i don't want to start that but what attorney with a with a brain is going to bring a charge against the elect of god when god has already brought the gavel down and said not guilty righteous who can bring a charge god is the one who justified but that's not that would be the most simple law court illustration you could have very very very simple but this law court situation is more complex than that because you have the you have god the judge who is the one who condemns so god has justified the opposite of that is to bring condemnation who can be the one who brings condemnation because we have another person in the law court another person in the law court christ jesus now it's interesting when god the father is described in verse 31 a participle is used it's an articular substantive participle the justifying one and now when jesus christ jesus is mentioned there are there is a participle here that says the died one it's in direct parallel the one who died the one who gave his life the one that was delivered up he now comes into the picture this is a sacrificial context this is about the atonement christ jesus the one who died he actually gave his life the god man gave his life in behalf of his people the one who died but rather more than that beyond that in addition to that was raised up was raised up the one who died yes but he can stand in the law court because he's been raised up this is the same beautiful picture remember revelation chapter 5 remember it wasn't too long ago we preached on that remember when the lamb is seen what is the description he stands before the throne the lamb as if slain the stain of the bloods still upon the animal but he's standing because he's been raised up he's defeated death christ jesus the one who died rather who has been raised up who is also at the right hand of god who also is interceding who per hemon for us same language we've already seen we dare not miss because this is going to come up elsewhere in paul when he writes to timothy he uses the same type of language about the intercessory work of christ it is in the context of his being given in our behalf and so in the apostles mind there could be no separation the intercessory work and the sacrificial work are one and the same that's because that's how the high priest had to do it that's how it had been set up that's how this is fulfillment language and so you have god righteous justified who will condemn and there is christ jesus who has died he's been raised up and now he stands before the father interceding for the very same ones that's why there can be no sentence of condemnation once again only two possibilities universalism everybody gets saved the biblical teaching god's elect why are we saved is because we've cleaned ourselves up it's because we pull ourselves up by the bootstraps no oh yes god's at work within us to will and to do according to his good pleasure we are des we are to desire to recognize good works within us because god is foreign that we should walk in them but the only reason any one of us ever stands in the presence of this holy god is because what has been done in our behalf by the father the son and the spirit he intercedes for us who is jesus interceding for some of you have heard some of the debates i've done on this subject and sometimes i'm debating people who don't really want to discuss the subject or they're trying to get around it sometimes i'm having conversations with brothers it's always amazed me how they really struggle at this point when i push home upon them who is jesus interceding for is it not clear that he would have to intercede for everyone for whom he died how could it be possible that jesus provides a universal atonement a substitutional universal atonement on the cross and then does not intercede for a certain portion of those people before the father that would be like the high priest taking the blood into the holy place and instead of just sprinkling the mercy seat well that one's for bob and that one's no that's a he didn't have that right he didn't have the capacity he sprinkled the one blood on the one mercy seat the high priest intercedes for everyone for whom he died for whom he died and so here you have i believe the direct statement of particular redemption specific atonement it is laid out for us who will bring a charge against the elect of god no one can because the father has justified them and the son has died in their place has risen again and intercedes for them in the presence of the father himself this is trinitarian harmony in the atonement in bold letters it is amazing the depths to which people will go to try to get around the clarity of a statement such as this but there's no way to do it and if you think that this is just well you know it's a lot of deep theology you're talking about today look at the next verse who [Music] will separate us from the love of christ you want theology when you're at the death bed of the loved one you better have theology and this better be the theology you have who will separate us from the love of christ who's the us it's been clear all the way through hasn't it this goes all the way back god's election we love god this is what he's done this is how he did it and the result is no one can ever separate us from the love of christ which as he will say in [Music] verse 39 once again none of these things will be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord all the nakedness all the peril all the famine none of the things in this world can separate us from love of christ why because nothing in this world united us with christ in the first place that was the grace of god and the world cannot destroy that grace the triune god is going to glorify himself in the salvation of a specific people and the surety of your salvation can never be any more certain than that god is going to accomplish his purposes and once you try to kick open the door for your accomplishments and your free will and your autonomy you destroy the foundation of assurance that is found only in surrendering yourself completely to the goodness of god i remember so clearly years and years ago my mom who's not with us any longer went to a funeral we have a lot of sda folks in our family seventh-day adventists on both sides interestingly enough and no i i don't know that i'm actually related to ellen g white okay who was married to james white my name's not doing me a lot of good these days on any front really but i i don't remember if this was a specific sda funeral or whether it was a roman catholic feeling it was a funeral where the theology of that particular group was that you had to keep your nose clean you had to be all confessed up because you could lose your salvation like that and i was just i i think i was in about second grade at this point in time maybe first so i was young and yet it made such a huge impact upon me that she was saying it was so sad to hear the people talking and how well i hope he made it i hope he made it i i hope he didn't have a bad thought right before the end i hope he's going to make it there was no assurance there was no ground for rejoicing because once you kick that door open and you insert that human element in you lose all ground for assurance and hope because i don't know about you but if god does 99 of it and leaves one percent up to me i'm going to find a way to mess it up anybody else like that yeah yeah yeah i am so thankful for a perfect savior and any time brothers and sisters anytime you start feeling like god isn't being fair to you god's lost track of you not blessing you the way he's blessing other people i want you to remember something but if you're actually a believer if you're in christ you know what your savior is doing right now he's representing you before the father he's representing you before the father he could be doing anything that he wants he's representing you before the father knowing everything about you knowing you better than you know yourself knowing the sins you will commit this coming week knowing the number of times having heard god's truth you're going to ignore that and fulfill your own desires representing you is there really anything in this world that could possibly be as precious sometimes we experience deep pain and sorrow in our lives and the bible doesn't say it's not real deep pain and sorrow it is sometimes we have horrible things happen in our bodies because we live in a fallen world by the way the mortality rate of life is 100 percent we're all dead men walking and so sometimes things go wrong with these bodies and it's so easy for us to become so focused upon that pain and that loss you see the christian christian has a gift the world cannot understand he's in the presence of the father for me i have an anchor within the veil that beautiful language in hebrews chapter 6 i have an anchor within the veil and it's going to hold for me no matter how long i have to suffer he intercedes for me he represents me the world can't understand it we can offer it until the spirit of god changes the heart and mind and there can be no conception of it very often brothers and sisters we allow the world to steal that gift from us when we set our hearts and minds to love the things of this world what we give up theology matters because it's this theological truth that says there isn't anything in this created universe that can separate you from the love of god which is in christ jesus because of the sovereignty of god the depravity of man the unconditional election of god and the particular atonement of jesus christ that's why i'm not saying those reject these things don't rejoice in romans 8 and what it says i'm just simply saying they don't have any firm foundation for it when i read nothing will separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus i know that's true because there's an empty tomb and a cross that proves it and it's not about me it's all about him that's the difference between man-made religion where you're always working it up inside yourself in the biblical faith that says you look away from self you look only to him he has accomplished all everything you do you do out of love for him not to add to what he's done but because you rest solely in what he has done in your behalf so if we put the letters up the t the u the l the i the p be a few more people join me in front of the l you're going to be ready to explain over thanksgiving dinner oh mom dad cousin uncle what you've been told about limited atonement let me tell you something it's actually the glorious truth that nothing can ever separate god's people from the love of christ because of the perfect unity of the father and the son in providing everything for us so that my high priest right now is in the presence of the father his finished work avails for me that's why i have peace that's the beauty of what we have revealed to us in scripture let's pray together our heavenly father we bow before you knowing right now that our blessed savior he who was in the beginning the one who made all things as the god-man now is in your presence representing your people and we are amazed we are astounded we are humbled that such a one who holds all things together would intercede for us would give himself for us all the beauty of the gospel we confess we have not lived worthy of it we desire in this coming week lord that by your spirit you would work within us that you would remind us over and over again of the glory of the gospel the beauty of our savior we thank you for the harmony that exists between father son and spirit for it is that harmony that is the foundation of our hope father thank you thank you for loving us thank you for saving us use us to your honor and glory we pray in christ's name amen

Channel: Apologia Studios

Views: 21,331

Rating: 4.7633138 out of 5

Keywords: jeff durbin, apologia studios, apologia church, jeff durbin sermons, james white debate calvinism, calvinism debate, james white sermon, james white dave hunt, limited atonement, limited atonement debate, calvinist movie, calvinist debate, is limited atonement true, r.c. sproul calvinism, the five points of calvinism, did jesus die for the world, who did jesus die for, the doctrines of grace, tulip, tulip debate

Id: N57nbTLTCWE

Length: 62min 52sec (3772 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 10 2020