In What Sense Did Christ Die for the Non-Elect?
Chapters
0:00:13 How Does Christ's Atoning Sacrifice Apply to the Non Elect
2:38 I Am the Good Shepherd
5:56 How the Death of Christ Expresses Itself for the Elect and the Non Elect
00:00:00.000 | Well, the Apostle Paul says that Christ died for all people, even the non-elect.
00:00:09.080 | And of course, that raises some very delicate questions for us Calvinists to answer.
00:00:13.820 | So how does Christ's atoning sacrifice apply to the non-elect?
00:00:17.780 | Question is from an anonymous listener to the podcast who writes in to ask this.
00:00:21.120 | "Hello, Pastor John.
00:00:22.120 | Many times I have heard people say, 'Yes, Christ died for all people, but not all people
00:00:27.800 | in the same way.'"
00:00:29.600 | I know Reformed theology teaches that Christ's atonement is particular in that the extent
00:00:34.600 | of the atonement to save souls is limited to the elect only.
00:00:39.080 | However, I am having trouble adequately explaining how Christ died for all people, but not all
00:00:45.040 | people in the same way.
00:00:47.280 | For what tangible reason did Christ die for the non-elect?
00:00:53.640 | Let's start with 1 Timothy 4.10, which captures the "both/and."
00:01:00.720 | Goes like this, "For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hopes set on the
00:01:08.600 | living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe."
00:01:19.280 | Savior of all, especially of those who believe.
00:01:24.160 | Or as Paul says in Titus 2.11, "The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for
00:01:31.280 | all people."
00:01:34.280 | And he would add, "Especially, especially those who believe."
00:01:39.080 | He brought salvation for all, especially for those who believe.
00:01:43.640 | Or we can see the "both/and" in the Gospel of John.
00:01:47.560 | Start with John 3.16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever
00:01:53.720 | believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
00:01:57.920 | John 3.16.
00:01:59.600 | So Christ came as an expression of God's love for the world.
00:02:04.800 | Verse 17, "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
00:02:13.200 | might be saved through him."
00:02:16.320 | So the offering of his Son is the offering of salvation to the world.
00:02:22.800 | Now we'll come back to this in just a moment to answer the question, "For what tangible
00:02:27.960 | reason did Christ die for the non-elect?"
00:02:31.240 | But first, we need to see the other side of the coin in the Gospel of John besides saving
00:02:38.900 | the whole world.
00:02:40.840 | I am the Good Shepherd.
00:02:42.020 | This is chapter 10, verse 14.
00:02:43.880 | I am the Good Shepherd.
00:02:45.280 | I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father.
00:02:51.600 | I lay down my life for the sheep.
00:02:55.640 | I lay down my life for the sheep, the ones who know me, the ones that the Father's given
00:02:59.600 | me.
00:03:00.600 | And I have other sheep that are not of this fold.
00:03:02.620 | Those are the elect scattered throughout the world.
00:03:05.120 | I must bring them also.
00:03:06.560 | They will listen to my voice.
00:03:09.120 | That's what marks them out as sheep.
00:03:10.520 | I go out, I preach, I call, and the sheep, the ones whom the Father has, who gives to
00:03:15.640 | me, they recognize my voice, they come to me, so there will be one flock and one shepherd.
00:03:21.600 | So the Father has the sheep, he gives the sheep to Jesus, they are his own, they know
00:03:26.880 | his voice, he calls them, they come, he lays down his life for them, uniquely for them.
00:03:33.960 | Paul says the same thing in Ephesians 5.25, "Christ loved the church and gave himself
00:03:41.360 | up for her."
00:03:43.480 | A husband loves his wife uniquely and in a special way, and that's the way Christ loves
00:03:49.840 | the church and dies for the church in a unique way.
00:03:54.720 | Now, what's the effect of this focused, particular redemption for the bride, the sheep, the elect?
00:04:03.920 | What does the death do that's unique for the bride?
00:04:09.280 | I think Romans 8.32 gives the answer.
00:04:12.840 | "He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all."
00:04:19.080 | Now, pause.
00:04:21.200 | "Us all," in the context of Romans 8.32, is clearly the elect.
00:04:27.400 | It's not the whole world, it's the elect.
00:04:30.300 | He did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all.
00:04:33.040 | You can see it in the next verse.
00:04:34.520 | Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
00:04:36.880 | It is God who justifies.
00:04:39.000 | Who is to condemn?
00:04:40.000 | And that's how verse 32 is being fulfilled.
00:04:43.320 | And you can see it in the rest of this verse.
00:04:45.080 | So let me start over and read the rest of the verse.
00:04:47.480 | "He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with
00:04:55.960 | him graciously give us all things?"
00:05:00.560 | In other words, the death of Christ for his people secures and guarantees for them every
00:05:10.920 | saving blessing that there is.
00:05:15.840 | Will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
00:05:21.040 | Yes, he will, because that is what the death of Christ guarantees for all the elect.
00:05:28.760 | If God gave his son in this same way for every person on the planet, then that promise would
00:05:36.760 | attach to every person, because it's attached to the blood of Jesus, to the sacrifice of
00:05:42.240 | Jesus, and that means every person would be saved, would be guaranteed every possible
00:05:48.240 | blessing, which Paul says clearly is not the case.
00:05:52.320 | Second Thessalonians 1.9.
00:05:55.240 | So what can we say about how the death of Christ expresses itself for the elect and
00:06:03.640 | the non-elect who reject him?
00:06:06.080 | How is it different?
00:06:08.280 | For the elect, the blood of Jesus is the blood of the new covenant, which purchases for them
00:06:14.880 | a new heart, new life, faith, and obedience.
00:06:19.560 | Jesus says that in Luke 22.20, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood."
00:06:26.800 | So the blood of Jesus is purchasing the new covenant, and the new covenant is not an offer
00:06:34.160 | of salvation, it's an accomplishment of salvation in the hearts of God's people.
00:06:39.060 | He gives them a new heart and a new spirit, a gift of life, gift of faith, gift of obedience.
00:06:46.040 | Now back to John 3.16 for the other side of how the death of Christ relates to the world
00:06:52.920 | or to the non-elect.
00:06:53.920 | I think the wording of John 3.16 provides the answer how to speak of the gift of Christ,
00:07:03.560 | the death of Christ, for the non-elect, the whole world.
00:07:09.320 | Here's how he puts it, "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that whoever
00:07:18.440 | believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
00:07:22.880 | He loved the world so that everyone who believes would have life.
00:07:31.720 | So the way to speak about the giving of the Son as an expression of love to the world
00:07:39.300 | is to highlight the word "so that."
00:07:42.860 | So that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
00:07:48.760 | That's the connection we make between the death of Christ and every person on this planet.
00:07:56.120 | Christ accomplished a completely full and satisfactory and effective redemption for
00:08:04.520 | whosoever believes.
00:08:08.260 | You may look everyone in the eye, absolutely everyone in your neighborhood, at your church,
00:08:14.260 | at your work.
00:08:15.260 | You can look everyone in the eye, and you should look everyone in the eye and say, "Believe
00:08:21.040 | on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will never perish.
00:08:25.320 | Believe on him.
00:08:26.480 | You will become a full and complete participant in the perfect salvation, the perfect payment
00:08:34.980 | for sins, the perfect propitiation of the wrath of God, the perfect obedience for imputation,
00:08:43.320 | the perfect deliverance from death and hell and Satan and into the everlasting glory of
00:08:49.800 | God.
00:08:50.800 | All of that is yours.
00:08:52.160 | It's yours for the believing because of Jesus' death."
00:08:58.240 | We could never talk like that to people.
00:09:02.680 | We don't know who the non-elect are, so let's just assume there's lots of them that are
00:09:07.000 | listening.
00:09:08.000 | We could never talk like that to the non-elect if Jesus hadn't died the way he did.
00:09:14.440 | That is a great and awesome gift that we are indebted to give to the entire world.
00:09:22.240 | Oh, that God would put fire in our hearts to take that message to the ends of the earth.
00:09:30.640 | Amen.
00:09:31.640 | What a glorious gospel meant for the free proclamation to all people in our families,
00:09:38.400 | neighborhoods, communities, all the peoples around the globe.
00:09:42.240 | Pastor John, thank you for this reminder.
00:09:45.000 | Thanks for listening and for supporting this podcast.
00:09:47.080 | You can subscribe to our audio feeds and search our past episodes in our archive and send
00:09:51.800 | us an email of your own, even questions related to Reformed theology and Calvinism and how
00:09:57.020 | the implications of it all shake out.
00:09:59.720 | You can do all that through our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:10:05.680 | Well a tablecloth full of animals descended from heaven before the eyes of Peter and from
00:10:10.960 | that moment no animal is now unclean.
00:10:15.120 | And since that precious incident in Redemptive History, the kitchen doors have flung wide
00:10:20.440 | open to all kinds of delicious dishes like lobster and coconut shrimp and bluefin tuna
00:10:28.400 | sushi and bacon wrapped everything and juicy porterhouse steaks and bacon wrapped juicy
00:10:35.680 | porterhouse steaks and on and on and on it goes.
00:10:39.240 | But there's still a lingering question over whether veganism more closely maps on to God's
00:10:45.400 | original dietary design.
00:10:47.600 | Hmm.
00:10:48.600 | It's a good question and it's the question on Friday.
00:10:52.680 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.
00:10:54.200 | We'll see you Friday to talk food.
00:10:55.920 | [End of Audio] Duration: 5 minutes 33 seconds
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