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SUBJECT: 38 MAT 20:28 Particular Redemption
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Particular Redemption
February 28, 1858
by
C. H. SPURGEON
"Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but
to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Mat_20:28).
When first it was my duty to occupy this pulpit, and preach in
this hall, my congregation assumed the appearance of an
irregular mass of persons collected from all the streets of this
city to listen to the Word. 'Twas then simply an evangelist,
preaching to many who had not heard the Gospel before. By the
grace of God, the most blessed change has taken place; and
now, instead of having an irregular multitude gathered together,
my congregation is as fixed as that of any minister in the whole
city of London. I can from this pulpit observe the countenance of
my friends, who have occupied the same places, as nearly as
possible, for these many months; and I have the privilege and the
pleasure of knowing that a very large proportion, certainly three-
fourths of the persons who meet together here, are not persons
who stray hither from curiosity, but are my regular and constant
hearers.
And observe, that my character also has been changed. From
being an evangelist, it is now my business to become your
pastor. You were once a motley group assembled to listen to me,
but now we are bound together by the ties of love; through
association we have grown to love and respect each other, and
now you have become the sheep of my pasture, and members of
my flock; and I have now the privilege of assuming the position
of a pastor in this place, as well as in the chapel where I labour
in the evening.
I think, then, it will strike the judgment of every person, that as
both the congregation and office have now changed, the teaching
itself should in some measure suffer a difference. It has been my
wont to address you from the simple truths of the Gospel; I have
very seldom, in this place, attempted to dive into the deep things
of God. A text which I have thought suitable for my
congregation in the evening, I should not have made the subject
of discussion in this place in the morning. There are many high
and mysterious doctrines which I have often taken the
opportunity of handling in my own place, that I have not taken
the liberty of introducing here, regarding you as a company of
people casually gathered together to hear the Word.
But now, since the circumstances are changed, the teaching will
be changed also. I shall not now simply confine myself to the
doctrine of faith, or the teaching of believer's baptism; I shall not
stay upon the surface of matters, but shall venture, as God shall
guide me, to enter into those things that lie at the basis of the
religion that we hold so dear. I shall not blush to preach before
you the doctrine of God's Divine Sovereignty; I shall not stagger
to preach in the most unreserved and unguarded manner the
doctrine of election. I shall not be afraid to propound the great
truth of the final perseverance of the saints; I shall not withhold
that undoubted truth of Scripture, the effectual calling of God's
elect; I shall endeavour, as God shall help me, to keep back
nothing from you who have become my flock. Seeing that many
of you have now "tasted that the Lord is gracious," we will
endeavour to go through the whole system of the doctrines of
grace, that saints may be edified and built up in their most holy
faith.
I begin this morning with the doctrine of Redemption. "He gave
his life a ransom for many." The doctrine of Redemption is one
of the most important doctrines of the system of faith. A mistake
on this point will inevitably lead to a mistake through the entire
system of our belief.
Now, you are aware that there are different theories of
Redemption. All Christians hold that Christ died to redeem, but
all Christians do not teach the same redemption. We differ as to
the nature of atonement, and as to the design of redemption. For
instance, the Arminian holds that Christ, when He died, did not
die with an intent to save any particular person; and they teach
that Christ's death does not in itself secure, beyond doubt, the
salvation of any one man living. They believe that Christ died to
make the salvation of all men possible, or that by the doing of
something else, any man who pleases may attain unto eternal
life; consequently, they are obliged to hold that if man's will
would not give way and voluntarily surrender to grace, then
Christ's atonement would be unavailing. They hold that there
was no particularity and speciality in the death of Christ. Christ
died, according to them, as much for Judas in Hell as for Peter
who mounted to Heaven. They believe that for those who are
consigned to eternal fire, there was a true and real a redemption
made as for those who now stand before the throne of the Most
High.
Now, we believe no such thing. We hold that Christ, when He
died, had an object in view, and that object will most assuredly,
and beyond a doubt, be accomplished. We measure the design of
Christ's death by the effect of it. If any one asks us, "What did
Christ design to do by His death?" we answer that question by
asking him another--"What has Christ done, or what will Christ
do by His death?" For we declare that the measure of the effect
of Christ's love, is the measure of the design of it. We cannot so
belie our reason as to think that the intention of Almighty God
could be frustrated, or that the design of so great a thing as the
atonement, can by any way whatever, be missed of. We hold--
we are not afraid to say that we believe--that Christ came into
this world with the intention of saving "a multitude which no
man can number;" and we believe that as the result of this, every
person for whom He died must, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
be cleansed from sin, and stand, washed in blood, before the
Father's throne. We do not believe that Christ made any effectual
atonement for those who are for ever damned; we dare not think
that the blood of Christ was ever shed with the intention of
saving those whom God foreknew never could be saved, and
some of whom were even in Hell when Christ, according to
some men's account, died to save them.
I have thus just stated our theory of redemption, and hinted at
the differences which exist between two great parties in the
professing church. It shall be now my endeavour to show the
greatness of the redemption of Christ Jesus; and by so doing, I
hope to be enabled by God's Spirit, to bring out the whole of the
great system of redemption, so that it may be understood by us
all, even if all of us cannot receive it. For you must bear this in
mind, that some of you, perhaps, may be ready to dispute things
which I assert; but you will remember that this is nothing to me;
I shall at all times teach those things which I hold to be true,
without let or hindrance from any man breathing. You have the
like liberty to do the same in your own places, and to preach
your own views in your own assemblies, as I claim the right to
preach mine, fully, and without hesitation.
Christ Jesus "gave his life a ransom for many;" and by that
ransom He wrought out for us a great redemption. I shall
endeavour to show the greatness of this redemption, measuring it
in five ways. We shall note its greatness, first of all from the
heinousness of our own guilt, from which He has delivered us;
secondly, we shall measure His redemption by the sternness of
divine justice; thirdly, we shall measure it by the price which He
paid, the pangs which He endured; then we shall endeavour to
magnify it, by noting the deliverance which He actually wrought
out; and we shall close by noticing the vast number for whom
this redemption is made, who in our text are described as
"many."
I. First, then we shall see that the redemption of Christ was no
little thing, if we do but measure it, first by
OUR OWN SINS.
My brethren, for a moment look at the hole of the pit whence ye
were digged, and the quarry whence you were hewn. Ye, who
have been washed, and cleansed, and sanctified, pause for a
moment, and look back at the former state of your ignorance; the
sins in which you indulged, the crimes into which you were
hurried, the continual rebellion against God in which it was your
habit to live. One sin can ruin a soul for ever; it is not in the
power of the human mind to grasp the infinity of evil that
slumbereth in the bowels of one solitary sin. There is a very
infinity of guilt couched in one transgression against the majesty
of Heaven.
If, then, you and I 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 you and I have
transgressed? Nay, my brethren, 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 sea-shore, or count the drops which in their aggregate do
make the ocean, as attempt to count the transgressions which
have marked our lives.
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 restraint 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 your manhood, ye that have entered upon the prime
of life, ye may be more outwardly sober, ye may be somewhat
free from the dissipation of your youth; but how little has the
man become bettered! Unless the sovereign grace of God hath
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!"
And ho! ye that lean wearily on your staff, the support of your
old age, have ye not sins still clinging to your garments? Are
your lives as white as the snowy hairs that crown your head? Do
you not still feel that transgression besmears the skirts of your
robe, and mars its spotlessness? How often are you now plunged
into the ditch, till your own clothes do abhor you! Cast your eyes
over the sixty, the seventy, the eighty years, during which God
hath spared your lives; and can ye for a moment think it
possible, that ye can number up your innumerable
transgressions, or compute the weight of the crimes which you
have committed?
O ye stars of Heaven! the astronomers may measure your
distance and tell your height, but O ye sins of mankind! ye
surpass all thought. O ye lofty mountains! the home of the
tempest, the birthplace of the storm! man may climb your
summits and stand wonderingly upon your snows; but ye hills of
sin! ye tower higher than our thoughts; ye chasms of
transgressions! ye are deeper than our imagination dares to dive.
Do you accuse me of slandering human nature? It is because you
know it not. If God had once manifested your heart to yourself,
you would bear me witness, that so far from exaggerating, my
poor words fail to describe the desperateness of our evil. Oh! if
we could each of us look into our hearts today--if our eyes could
be turned within, so as to see 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.
How great then, beloved, 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 transgressions. 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 hath 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. Nay, more,
if it were possible for all the sins that men have done, in thought,
or word, or deed, since worlds were made, or time began, to
meet on one poor head--the great redemption is all-sufficient to
take all these sins away, and wash the sinner whiter than the
driven snow.
Oh! who shall measure the heights of the Saviour's all-
sufficiency? First, tell how high is sin, and, then, remember that
as Noah's flood prevailed over the tops of earth's mountains, so
the flood of Christ's redemption prevails over the tops of the
mountains of our sins. 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 whence the
brightness of their robes hath come, and where their purity hath
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. O ye troubled consciences! O ye weary and heavy-
laden ones! O ye that are groaning on account of sin! 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
for ever.
This, then, is the first measure of the atonement--the greatness of
our guilt.
II. Now, secondly, we must measure the great redemption by
THE STERNNESS OF DIVINE JUSTICE.
"God is love," always loving; but my next proposition does not
at all interfere with this assertion. God is sternly just, inflexibly
severe in His dealings with mankind. 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. No; Jehovah, Israel's God, hath declared concerning
Himself, "The Lord thy God is a jealous God." It is His own
declaration, "I will by no means clear the guilty." "The soul that
sinneth, it shall die."
Learn ye, 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 fulness of the atonement
till we have first grasped the Scriptural truth of God's immense
justice. There was never an ill word spoken, nor an ill thought
conceived, nor an evil deed done, for which God will not have
punishment from some one or another. He will either have
satisfaction from you, or else from Christ. If you have no
atonement to bring through Christ, you must for ever lie paying
the debt which you never can pay, in eternal misery; for as
surely as God is God, He will sooner lose His Godhead than
suffer one sin to go unpunished, or one particle of rebellion
unrevenged.
You may say that this character of God is cold, and stern, and
severe. I cannot help what you say of it; it is nevertheless true.
Such is the God of the Bible; and though we repeat it is true that
He is love, it is no more true that He is love than that He is full
of justice, for every good thing meets in God, and is carried to
perfection, whilst love reaches to consummate loveliness, justice
reaches to the sternness of inflexibility in Him. He has no bend,
no warp in His character; no attribute so predominates as to cast
a shadow upon the other. Love hath its full sway, and justice
hath no narrower limit than His love.
Oh! then, beloved, think how great must have been the
substitution of Christ, when it satisfied God for all the sins of
His people. For man's sin God demands eternal punishment; and
God hath prepared a Hell into which He casts those who die
impenitent. Oh! my brethren, can ye 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 He had not
poured it upon Christ. Look! look! look with solemn eye through
the shades that part us from the world of spirits, and see that
house of misery which men call Hell! Ye cannot endure the
spectacle. Remember that in that place there are spirits for ever
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.
And now can you grasp the thought of the greatness of your
Saviour's mediation when He paid your debt, and paid it all at
once; so that there now remaineth not one farthing of debt owing
from Christ's people to their God, except a debt of love. To
justice the believer oweth nothing; though he owed originally so
much that eternity would not have been long enough to suffice
for the paying of it, yet, in one moment Christ did pay it all, so
that the man who believeth is entirely justified from all guilt, and
set free from all punishment, through what Jesus hath done.
Think ye, then, how great His atonement if He hath done all this.
I must just pause here, and utter another sentence. There are
times when God the Holy Spirit shows to men the sternness of
justice in their own consciences. There is a man here today who
has just been cut to the heart with a sense of sin. He was once a
free man, a libertine, in bondage to none; but now the arrow of
the Lord sticks fast in his heart, and he has come under a
bondage worse than that of Egypt. I see him today, he tells me
that his guilt haunts him everywhere. The Negro slave, guided by
the pole star, may escape the cruel ties of his master and reach
another land where he may be free; but this man feels that if he
were to wander the wide world over he could not escape from
guilt. He that hath been bound by many irons, can yet find a file
that can unbind him and set him at liberty; but this man tells you
that he has tried prayers and tears and good works, but cannot
escape the gyves from his wrist; he feels as a lost sinner still,
and emancipation, do what he may, seems to him impossible.
The captive in the dungeon is some- times 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 his 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 burns 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 burns still, and
do what he may he cannot quench it.
O, ye sons of weariness and woe, this that you feel is God's
justice in full pursuit of you, and happy are you that you feel
this, for now to you I preach this glorious Gospel of the blessed
God. You are the man for whom Jesus Christ has died; for you
He has satisfied stern justice; and now all you have to do to
obtain peace of 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! There stands the cross; there hangs the bleeding
God! Hark to His death-shriek! See Him die! Art thou not
satisfied now?" And when thou hast done that, thou shalt have
the peace of God which passeth all understanding, which shall
keep thy heart and mind through Jesus Christ thy Lord; and then
shalt thou know the greatness of His atonement.
III. In the third place, we may measure the greatness of Christ's
Redemption by
THE PRICE HE PAID.
It is impossible for us to know how great were the pangs of our
Saviour; but yet some glimpse of them will afford us a little idea
of the greatness of the price He paid for us. O Jesus, who shall
describe thine agony?
"Come, all ye springs,
Dwell in my head and eyes; come, clouds and rain!
My grief hath need of all the wat'ry things,
That nature hath produc'd. Let ev'ry vein
Suck up a river to supply mine eyes,
My weary weeping eyes; too dry for me,
Unless they get new conduits, new supplies,
To bear them out, and with my state agree."
O Jesus! thou wast a sufferer from thy birth, a man of sorrows
and grief's acquaintance. Thy sufferings fell on thee in one
perpetual shower, until the last dread hour of darkness. Then not
in a shower, but in a cloud, a torrent, a cataract of grief, thine
agonies did dash upon thee. See Him yonder! It is a night of frost
and cold; but He is all abroad. 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." He rises: He is seized by traitors and is dragged
away. Let us step to the place when just now He was engaged in
agony. O God! and what is this we see? What is this that stains
the ground? It is blood! Whence came it? Had He some wound
which oozed afresh through His dire struggle Ah! no. "He sweat,
as it were, great drops of blood, falling down to the ground." O
agonies that surpass the word by which we name you! O
sufferings that cannot be compassed in language! What could ye
be that thus could work upon the Saviour's blessed frame, and
force a bloody sweat to fall from His entire body?
This is the beginning; this is the opening of the tragedy. Follow
Him mournfully, thou sorrowing church, to witness the
consummation of it. He is hurried through the streets; He is
dragged first to one bar and then to another; He is cast and
condemned before the Sanhedrin; He is mocked by Herod; He is
tried by Pilate. His sentence is pronounced-- "Let Him be
crucified!" And now the tragedy cometh to its height. His back is
bared; He is tied to the low Roman column; the bloody scourge
ploughs furrows on His back, and with one stream of blood His
back is red--a crimson robe that proclaims Him emperor of
misery. 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?" 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.
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. Daughters of Jerusalem!
He faints in your streets. They raise Him up; they put His cross
upon another's shoulders, and they urge Him on, perhaps with
many a spear-prick, till at last He reaches the mount of doom.
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 are 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 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.
But see the Saviour's limbs, how they quiver! Every bone has
been put out of joint by the dashing of the cross in that socket!
How He weeps! How He sighs! How He sobs! Nay, more hark
how at last He shrieks in agony, "My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?" O sun, no wonder thou didst shut thine eye,
and look no longer upon a deed so cruel! O rocks! no wonder
that ye did melt and rend your hearts with sympathy, when your
Creator died! 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. Believe me, brethren, the
inward was far worse. What our Saviour suffered in His body
was nothing compared to what He endured in His soul. You
cannot guess, and I cannot help you to guess, what He endured
within. Suppose for one moment--to repeat a sentence I 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
all eternity? And recollect that Christ had to suffer an equivalent
for all the hells of all His redeemed. I can never express that
thought better than by using those oft-repeated words: it seemed
as if Hell were put into His cup; He seized it, and, "At one
tremendous draught of love, He drank damnation dry." So that
there was nothing left of all the pangs and miseries of Hell for
His people ever to endure. I 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. Now can ye
dream, can ye guess the great redemption of our Lord Jesus
Christ?
IV. I shall be very brief upon the next head. The fourth way of
measuring the Savior's agonies is this: we must compute them by
THE GLORIOUS DELIVERANCE WHICH HE HAS EFFECTED.
Rise up, believer; stand up in thy place, and this day testify to
the greatness of what the Lord hath done for thee! Let me tell it
for thee. I will tell thy experience and mine in one breath. Once
my soul was laden with sin; I had revolted against God, and
grievously transgressed. The terrors of the law gat hold upon me;
the pangs of conviction seized me. I saw myself guilty. I looked
to Heaven, and I saw an angry God sworn to punish me; I
looked beneath me and I saw a yawning Hell ready to devour
me. I sought by good works to satisfy my conscience; but all in
vain, I endeavoured by attending to the ceremonies of religion to
appease the pangs that I felt within; but all without effect. My
soul was exceeding sorrowful, almost unto death. I could have
said with the ancient mourner, "My soul chooseth strangling and
death rather than life." This was the great question that always
perplexed me: "I have sinned; God must punish me; how can He
be just if He does not? Then, since He is just, what is to become
of me?"
At last mine eyes turned to that sweet word which says, "The
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin." I took that
text to my chamber; I sat there and meditated. I saw one hanging
on a cross. It was my Lord Jesus. There was the thorn-crown,
and there the emblems of unequalled and peerless misery. I
looked upon Him, and my 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." Then said
I within myself, "Did this man die for sinners? I am a sinner;
then He died for me. Those He died for He will save. He died
for sinners; I am a sinner; He died for me; He will save me." My
soul relied upon that truth. I looked to Him, and as I "viewed the
flowing of His soul-redeeming blood," my spirit rejoiced, for I
could say,
"Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to this cross I cling;
Naked look to Him for dress;
Helpless come to Him for grace!
Black, I to this fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die!"
And now, believer, you shall tell the rest. The moment that you
believed, your burden rolled from your 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
your joy since then? You have sung on earth, hymns of Heaven,
and in your peaceful soul you have anticipated the eternal
Sabbath of the redeemed. Because you have believed you have
entered into rest. Yes, tell it the 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 Gods' elect.
Tell it upon earth, that God's redeemed are free from sin in
Jehovah's sight. Tell it even in Hell, that God's elect can never
come there; for Christ hath died for them, and who is he that
shall condemn them?
V. have hurried over that, to come to the last point, which is he
sweetest of all. Jesus Christ, we are told in our text, came into
the world "to give his life a ransom for many." The greatness of
Christ's redemption may be measured by the
EXTENT OF THE DESIGN OF IT.
He gave His life "a ransom for many."
I must now return to that controverted point again. We are often
told (I mean those of us who are commonly nicknamed by the
title of Calvinists--and we are not very much ashamed of that;
we think that Calvin, after all, knew more about the Gospel than
almost any man who has ever lived, uninspired). 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. The Arminians say, Christ died for
all men. Ask them what they mean by it. Did Christ die so as to
secure the salvation of all 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 has died that any man may be saved if"--and then follow
certain conditions of salvation.
We say, then, we will 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 grace, and perish. 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, my 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.
Now, beloved, when you hear any one laughing or jeering at a
limited atonement, you may tell him this. General 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, I had rather put my foot
upon a bridge as narrow as Hungerford, which went all the way
across, than on a bridge that was as wide as the world, if it did
not go all the way across the stream.
I am told it is my duty to say that all men have been redeemed,
and I am told that there is a Scriptural warrant for it--"Who gave
himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." 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 Christ? "Then went all
Judea, and were baptized of him in Jordan." Was all Judea, or all
Jerusalem baptized in Jordan? "Ye are of God, little children,"
and "the whole world lieth in the wicked one." Does "the whole
world" there mean everybody? If so, how was it, then, that there
were some who were "of God?" The words "world" and "all" are
used in seven or eight senses in Scripture; 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 either Jew or Gentile.
Leaving controversy, however, I will now answer a question.
Tell me, then, sir, whom did Christ die for? Will you answer me
a question or two, and I will tell you whether He died for you.
Do you want a Saviour? Do you feel that you need a Saviour?
Are you this morning conscious of sin? Has the Holy Spirit
taught you that you are lost? Then Christ died for you and you
will be saved. Are you this morning conscious that you have no
hope in the world but Christ? Do you feel that you of yourself
cannot offer an atonement that can satisfy God's justice? Have
you given up all confidence in yourselves? And can you say
upon your bended knees, "Lord, save, or I perish"? Christ died
for you.
If you are saying this morning, "I am as good as I ought to be; I
can get to Heaven by my own good works," then, remember, the
Scripture says of Jesus, "I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance." So long as you are in that state I have no
atonement to preach to you. But if this morning you feel guilty,
wretched, conscious of your guilt, and are ready to take Christ to
be your only Saviour, I can not only say to you that you may be
saved, but what is better still, that you will be saved. When you
are stripped of everything, but hope in Christ, when you are
prepared to come empty-handed and take Christ to be your all,
and to be yourself nothing at all, then you may look up to Christ,
and you may say, "Thou dear, thou bleeding Lamb of God! thy
griefs were endured for me; by thy stripes I am healed, and by
thy sufferings I am pardoned." 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 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, "Art thou
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?" We can answer, "Great God, thy justice and thy love are
both guarantees that thou wilt not punish us for sin; for didst
thou not punish Christ for sin for us? How canst thou, then, be
just--how canst thou be God at all, if thou dost punish Christ the
substitute, and then punish man himself afterwards?"
Your only question is, "Did Christ die for me?" And the only answer we can
give is--"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ came into the world to save sinners." Can you write your name down
among the sinners--not among the complimentary sinners, but among those
that feel it, bemoan it, lament it, seek mercy on account of it? Are you a
sinner? That felt, that known, that professed, you are now invited to
believe that Jesus Christ died for you, because you are a sinner; and you
are bidden to cast yourself upon this great immovable rock, and find
eternal security in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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