The Design and Extent of Christ's Atonement

Today we're on lesson 13 and we'll be looking at the design and the extent of the atonement. Last week we looked at the nature of the atonement. Here we're going to look at its actual design — who was it intended for? And we'll begin with Bible point number one.

The atonement of Christ is chiefly an objective work focused on God as the party who is wronged. This should be familiar from last week. The chief focus of the atonement is on God; it's not on man. We often think, "Who did Christ die for?" And we think about the church, we think about humanity in general. But the first and chief object of the atonement is that Christ died for God, because God is the party who was wronged. The atonement was made to propitiate God. We talked about this term last week. Propitiate means to satisfy or to appease the God whose holiness was offended by our sins.

We also talked about the word expiate. Both words describe the atonement. Expiate is God's exit plan for our sin — it's where God removes our sin from us. He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And propitiate is the same atonement, but it's in reference to our relation to God, where God has made us acceptable to Him. We who were His enemies, who were justly the objects of His wrath, have now come into the very favor of God through His Son, Jesus Christ. So the atonement was made to propitiate God and to reconcile Him to the sinner.

Scripture teaches that the chief purpose of Christ's atonement was that God might be righteous while He pardons the believing sinner. We get this from Romans 3:25–26. We read last week that great classical passage of the atonement, that Christ died so that God may be just and a justifier of men.

The atonement did not bring about change — that's the first blank — did not bring about change in God's being, for He is immutable. When we studied theology proper, the nature and attributes of God, we looked at the immutability of God, that God does not change. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. There's no change in God.

It did bring about change in God's relation to the objects of His atoning love — that's the second blank, objects of His atoning love. Think about Adam and Eve. They were created upright. They were created holy in the image of God. But when they sinned, when they rebelled against God, God can no longer treat them as holy. He must treat them as sinners and therefore objects of His wrath under the curse. The change wasn't in God — God was always holy — but the change was in man.

So it did not bring about change in God Himself, but in God's relation to the objects of His atoning love. The atonement brought about a change in the very object of His love, and that is us. The atonement removed all the obstacles in the divine mind to the manifestation of God's love — that's the third blank, love — and the pardoning of sinners, by satisfying His offended holiness. God can now freely show us His love. He can freely show us His grace and pardon and mercy because His holiness had been satisfied, had been propitiated through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.

When the question is asked, "Whom did Christ die for?" we are quick to answer: it's chiefly for God — that's the fourth blank — God that Christ died.

Romans 3:21–22 says, "But now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and all who believe." We could never have kept to what the law and the prophets witness to. We can never fulfill the perfect, holy character of our Lord Jesus Christ. But that righteousness apart from the law is imputed to us in Christ because it's Christ's righteousness — it's His perfect obedience to the Father by which His holiness is satisfied. Flip over on the back.

1 John 2:1–2: "My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation" — He is the appeasement, He is the satisfaction of holiness, He is the place for God's wrath — "the propitiation for our sins and not for our sins only, but also for the whole world."

Flip over to the front.

The application for point number one is: how does God think of us according to John 3:16? What does He say? "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." God can freely show us His love, and He does show us His love in the person of Jesus Christ.

But point number two: the atonement of Christ secured for Christ a manifold reward for the mediatorial author of salvation. Reward is the first blank. Christ as a mediator — remember, He was God made flesh — by perfectly obeying the Father, He obtained a reward. If you go back to Deuteronomy 28 in the old covenant, it establishes both the blessings and the cursings for either keeping the law or for disobeying the law. And we know from Galatians that Christ was made a curse for us because we could not keep the law. We disobeyed God, and so Christ became our curse for us. We talked last week about both the active and passive obedience of Christ. The passive obedience of Christ is His suffering on our behalf, and His active obedience is His obtaining all merit for us. He perfectly kept the law. So all the blessings of the law are fulfilled in Jesus Christ and then are given to Jesus Christ — not just as the Son of God, but as the Son of God made flesh. It is through the God-man, through the mediator Jesus Christ, that the blessings have been given to humanity. They were earned by Christ in His humanity as the mediator of our salvation.

The atonement of Christ secured for Christ a manifold reward for the mediator, a mediatorial author of salvation. Having perfectly fulfilled the law in obedience to the Father, the God-man is exalted as a heavenly — that's the second blank, a heavenly — man and a life-giving Spirit. Spirit is the third blank.

We know from Philippians that great passage that talks about both His humiliation and His exaltation. It says in Philippians 2:8–9 that Christ was obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him. And it goes on to say how He has made Him above all, and that at every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. When Christ was exalted to the Father's right hand, a new thing was happening. It wasn't just that the eternal Son of God was coming back to His throne, but it's that humanity was lifted up in the God-man — God who has been made flesh. It was humanity that was exalted alongside deity in the person of Jesus Christ. Humanity receives Christ's reward.

We have four bullet points here. Christ's glory was restored and shared with humanity, and we see that in John 17. That's the high priestly prayer of Christ. This was after the Lord's Supper and perhaps on the way to Gethsemane, where He prayed that the Father now restore to Him the glory that they had from the very beginning of time.

This was the divine right of the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. But this is now shared with humanity because in His exaltation, He's exalted as the God-man. Humanity receives the reward of Christ. Bullet point number two: Christ imparts His gifts to the redeemed. We have two scripture references there — Psalm 68:18 and Ephesians 4:8. Let me read to you from Ephesians 4:8. This is a really important passage that is linked directly to His atonement.

"Therefore He says" — and here he's quoting from the Psalms — "when He ascended on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men." Verse 9: "Now this 'He ascended' — what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the one who ascended far above the heavens, that He might fill all things." "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ," verse 13, "till we all come to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

When Christ was exalted to the right hand of God, He defeated death, He defeated sin, He defeated the flesh, He defeated Satan. He led captivity captive. Those things that had confined men, those things that had imprisoned man — He defeated them all, and He gave gifts to men. Those are the gifts that were His from the very foundation of the world and, in His humanity, are given to Him in His exaltation. And He shares them with us, with the church, to the end that we may be more like Him — to His glory and praise.

Bullet point number three under point number two: Christ sent the Spirit to apply the fruit of His work. And we see that in Acts chapter 2. This is the great sermon of Peter at Pentecost. Verse 33: "Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this, which you now see and hear." Part of His pouring out of these gifts to men is the pouring out of His Spirit.

And bullet point number four: Christ was crowned with all dominion. He was seated at the right hand of God, given all authority over all things. We find this in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews 2:8–9: "Having put all things in subjection under His feet, for in that He put all things in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. Now we do not yet see all things put under Him, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone."

Christ is crowned with glory and honor, and He shares that glory and honor with us. 1 Corinthians 15:45 says the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. He can impart His gifts that He has won, and His honor and His glory He willingly shares with us. Flip over on the back.

Acts 2:32–36 — which we just read from this passage of Peter at Pentecost — says, "This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this, which you now see and hear." The context is, of course, the day of Pentecost. Worshipers from all over the region have come, and at least 16 different language groups are mentioned as people hearing the gospel in their own language, proclaimed miraculously by the Holy Spirit through His church. "For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, 'The Lord said to my Lord, sit at My right hand till I make Your enemies Your footstool.' Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

The application for number two is this: is Christ's dominion and honor shared — that's the blank, shared — with us? Yes, it is indeed shared with us. And that should humble us. He's given us every good thing and blessed us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It should fill us with gratitude and humility.

But point number three: the atonement of Christ not only made salvation possible for the sinner, but it actually secured — this is the first blank, it secured — salvation for His particular people. People is the second blank.

Now, we may not use the term "particular" that often, but what we mean by particular is that He died for a specific people. He died for a definitive people. Scripture says that He died for a peculiar people, that He died for a chosen people. Christ united to Himself His people in His death, burial, and resurrection, regenerating them with His life and forever setting them apart for Himself. He died to secure the salvation of a given people, of His chosen people. There are some verses in Scripture which seem to intimate that Christ died for all men, and we'll look at those shortly. But there are also a large number of verses that show that Christ died for a particular people, a given people of His choosing.

This is the secondary and subjective work of the atonement as it regenerates the sinner. The primary objective of the atonement, of course, is the propitiation of God's holy wrath. While the atonement of Christ is unlimited in its value — this is the third blank — its application, application is the fourth blank, is necessarily limited in its redemption.

All men are not saved by it. We do not believe in universalism. What does Christ say? The road that leads to destruction is broad, right? Narrow is the way that leads to life.

All men are not saved by His atonement. Christ's atonement is only applied to believers set apart by Christ in regeneration, and described variously in Scripture as — we have several bullet points here. Christ died for His sheep. That's one way of talking about His particular people, or His chosen people. And we find that, of course, in the Gospel of John, chapter 10.

Verse 11: "I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep." Christ is saying, "I'm the Good Shepherd and I'm giving My life for the sheep" — not for the goats, but for the sheep. Verse 15: "As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep."

Bullet point number two: Christ died for the church. The church is another way of describing God's chosen people. The word "church" is the word ekklesia in Greek and means "the called-out ones."

Let's look at Acts, chapter 20, verse 28. This is where Paul, on the return of one of his mission trips, is speaking to the Ephesian elders whom he thinks he will not see again, and he's pleading with them to be careful that wolves do not come in and destroy the flock. He says, "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church" — the ekklesia — "the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood." So it's talking about specific people that He purchased with His own blood.

We also see Ephesians 5. We're not going to read that, but you know it. Pastor Casey has preached on that just recently as we've been going through the book of Ephesians. "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her." Christ gave Himself specifically for a particular people — for the church.

We see that Christ died for His people in Matthew 1:21. This is that beautiful passage announcing the Savior's birth. And here we find in verse 21: "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." The whole purpose of Christ's coming was that He might atone for the sins of His people — He'll save His people from their sins.

You might say, "Well, who is His people?" Again, it's His chosen people. It's not even just Israel here, which many people assume. Remember in John 8:44 — let me see if I wrote it down here. Yes, verse 44. He tells the Jews — they're arguing that they've never been slaves, that they have Abraham as their father. He says, "I'm not differing with you in the sense that you are indeed the descendants of Abraham, but he is not your father." He tells them, "You are of your father the devil, and you do the works of your father. That's what you want to do."

So it doesn't matter about your birth or your heritage — what matters is God's choosing, and that's who He died for. He died for His people.

Christ died for His friends. We find that in John 15. Let me read this to you. John 15 says, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, and that whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. These things I command you: that you love one another." We're to love others with the same love that Christ loved us when He died for His friends.

Romans 8 tells us that Christ died for the elect. What does it say? "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?" That means God's chosen people, the people that He has set His love upon. Christ died for His chosen. We find that in Ephesians 1:4 — flip over on the back. "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will" — not according to our merits or our righteousness or our deeds, not our will, but according to the good pleasure of His will — "to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." Here yet again is another place where His atonement is directly linked — in this case to His chosen people.

2 Timothy 1:9–10 says, "Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."

The same high priestly prayer we quoted from earlier, in John 17: Jesus prays, "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world." He's talking about His disciples and those who would believe in Him. "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world" — so He's making a distinction here, showing a particular people — "but for those whom You have given Me." The Father gave His Son a people before time began. "For they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them."

John 17, the same chapter, verse 24: "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me." Again, this is talking about a particular people, a chosen people, a special people, a definite people. "That they may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world."

John 6:37 — back on the front: "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me." All that the Father gives Me will come to Me — that's a promise from God. God has given the Son a specific people, and they will all come to Him. "And the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." It's the blessed promise of the saints.

The application is this: be humble — that's the first blank. Be grateful — that's the second blank. And give Christ all the glory. Glory is the third blank.

We haven't spoken much about election at all during the series that we have been doing — I think we're on the 65th lesson or so, having started two years ago. And the reason is because it hasn't fallen into the proper place yet. When we get to soteriology, that's where we'll talk about election in depth. That's the study of salvation. But we have kind of glazed over and mentioned it going all the way back, of course, to the attributes of God — God's holiness, God's omnipotence. We talked about it in theology proper part two, the decrees of God. We have discussed it briefly when we talked of anthropology, of man's will, and hamartiology — man's sin, how sin has corrupted our will.

It's a very humbling thing. It's the secret of the believer. We're to encourage all men — plead with all men — to repent and to believe, to use every power that they have to throw themselves at Christ and on His mercy. "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." We're never to encourage passivity, but to encourage people with all their might to seek the Lord Jesus Christ.

And once they have, once they're converted, it is then that they realize that it's God who has gone before them — that God has turned their hearts to Him, that God has saved them from the very beginning, that it wasn't by their will, it wasn't by their efforts, but it was God who has saved them. Salvation is of the Lord. It's a very comforting thing to know that God got you into this and you can't fall away from it, because salvation is done perfectly by the mighty right hand of God.

But point number four: some deny the limited application of Christ's atonement and assert universal — that's the first blank — universal redemption. In other words, they say that Christ's atoning work satisfied God's holy demand, so everybody is saved. Well, we just refuted that in depth, looking at the atonement that was made for a specific, a peculiar, a chosen people — the church.

Others deny the limited application of Christ's atonement on the basis that they reject the doctrine of election. That's the second blank, election.

Election is but a special application of the decrees of God. If you don't recall that lesson, please go back and look at theology proper part two. We have a whole lesson on the decrees of God, and that's a great starting point to learn about election. We're not going to talk about it here because of the nature and the time, but we will in just a few weeks when we get to soteriology.

We studied this in theology proper and we'll visit this in depth in soteriology. Those who deny election assert that Christ made provision for all sin for all men, and that salvation is therefore only contingent on man's belief. It puts the turning point of salvation on man's belief. We reply that if unbelief itself is sin, then logically, in their view, Christ's atonement is deficient as it doesn't sufficiently cover and remove the sin of unbelief.

Even unbelief is a sin, and Christ's atonement covers that. We further reply that if all men's sins were covered in the atonement, then God would be unjust to punish sinners — if Christ has already suffered God's full wrath in their place. If we say that Christ's blood covers every man's sin in actuality, and it's only up to them to turn to God to receive it, then God can't punish them, because He's already punished Christ. God would be an unjust God. That would be double jeopardy — punishing people for the sins that have already been paid for by the atoning work of Christ. Romans 6:10: "For the death that He died, He died to sin once and for all." His atonement is perfect.

This is mind-blowing to us — to think of how God's sovereignty and man's freedom coexist, but they do. And we'll discuss this when we get to soteriology, when we talk about conversion, when we talk about regeneration, when we talk about election. But some things are just unrevealed to us and we don't understand them. But we trust in God's Word. Flip over on the back.

Psalm 92:5: "O Lord, how great are Your works! And Your thoughts are very deep."

Romans 11:33–36: "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?" — quoting Isaiah — "Or who has first given to Him that it should be repaid to him?" — quoting Job — "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen."

The application is to praise God for His perfect atonement. Praise God that the atonement of Christ perfectly paid for the sins of His people.

Bible point number five: while the atonement is limited in its application to the redeemed, the atoning sacrifice of Christ is unlimited in its value, unlimited in its sufficiency, and unlimited in its publication. We're going to unpack these here.

The intrinsic and real value of the atonement is unlimited. Remember, Christ perfectly fulfilled the law and He perfectly obeyed as the God-man. So what He did in His humanity has the same effects as His deity, in the sense that He is infinite — of infinite value, of infinite worth. His righteousness totally satisfies God's holy requirements. Christ's death is sufficient — that's the first blank — sufficient in value to satisfy the eternal justice of God for all humanity.

Every sin that everyone has committed from the beginning of time cannot outweigh the righteousness of Christ. Christ's righteousness is greater and is sufficient to cover indeed all sin.

As an infinite atonement, it has infinite value. That's the second blank. It's not something you can buy. It's not something you can purchase. It's not something you can obtain by trading the world for it. No.

The atonement is thus unlimited in its publication because it's sufficient to cover the sins of all men, and because it is of eternal weight. It should be, and must be, unlimited in its publication. As the atonement is sufficient in value to expiate the sin of all men everywhere, this fact must be heralded, as there are no claims of justice not yet satisfied. Therefore, the call to come is universal.

The gospel is not "repent and God will forgive you and love you." The gospel is — God has shown — that's the fourth blank, shown — love and mercy. Only believe, and it's yours in Jesus Christ. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We can boldly proclaim God's love and Christ crucified to all men.

Some may say, "Well, what if God didn't die for them? What if they're not the elect?" As we studied in the decrees of God, we are not shown that by God. God does not reveal His decrees to men unless He chooses to. But He hasn't. Those are part of His secret counsel. So we declare the value, we declare the sufficiency, and we declare the announcement — or the publication — to all men, because in that sense the atonement truly is unlimited.

Mark 16:15 says — this is the commandment of Jesus in the longer ending of Mark — "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

Sometimes to satisfy a particular interpretation, we know that "all" doesn't always mean all and "world" doesn't always mean world. "Forever" doesn't mean forever in every case — most times it does, but not in every case. In this case, I can assure you that "all" means all, "world" means world, and "every" means every. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Flip over on the back.

1 Timothy 2:3–7. Paul speaks about this: "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."

Look at 1 Timothy 4:10: "For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe."

Look at 1 John 2:2, which we read a little bit earlier: "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world." These verses show us that in a sense Christ died for all men.

The application is simply this: preach God's love — that's the first blank — and Christ crucified, that's the second blank, to all men. Without hesitation we can declare to every man that God has shown you love and mercy in Jesus Christ — only turn to Him and it's yours. We can preach His love and preach His crucifixion, His atonement for all men.

But with point number six, Christ can also be said to have died for all men in the sense that the atonement of Christ secured for all men the only basis by which common grace is dispensed. Common is the first blank.

You may be saying, "Well, David, you just said that Christ died for a specific people in Bible point number three — a particular people, a definite people, a peculiar people. And now you're saying in another sense Christ died for all men." Yes, it's kind of like the Trinity. We can say that God is three and yet He is one. He is one in essence and three in persons. We're not saying that one equals three — He's one in one way and He's three in another way. Christ can also be said to have died for all men in the sense that the atonement of Christ secured for all men the only basis by which common grace is dispensed.

Common grace — which we talked about when we discussed God's providence, way back in theology proper part two, the works of God — is His grace that He allows everyone to share in the goodness of this life. When we hold a newborn baby and we experience that joy, when we eat of the sweetness of honey, when we smell flowers, when we have human touch — whether it's an embrace or a kiss, how sweet that is, and how, how good that is — something that God has allowed us all to enjoy. That's His common grace, and we're all allowed to experience that.

Because of the atonement, and in that sense we can say the atonement was made for all men. It's the only ground by which common grace is dispensed — the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. In view of God's fiery holiness, humanity should have ended at the first sin.

We have the reference here, Genesis 2:17. God says, "In the day you eat it, you shall surely die." Not "you might die," not "you could die" — "you shall surely die," is what God said. Humanity, if strict justice had been applied, should have ended right then and there. They forfeited all rights to all good things in this life. They forfeited the garden. They should have been extinguished at that point.

That humanity continues is solely — that's the second blank, solely — due to the cross of Christ. Again, we find that in Romans 3:25–26. We looked at that last week: that God passed over their sins in times past because of the cross of Christ.

The divine pretermission — that's a big word we don't use a lot. It's a legal term often used in wills. Let's say there is a wealthy grandmother, and one of her grandsons she thinks is a ne'er-do-well, and she doesn't want to pass anything on to him. That's called pretermission — of skipping over, or passing over. Well, the divine pretermission of man's sin is possible because God is propitiated by Christ's atonement. That's what Romans 3:25–26 is about. We read last week how God overlooked sins in times past when He should have ended it right there in the garden if strict justice had been done. But He's able to overlook those sins — not because He's an unjust judge, not because He's laying down on the job — but because He knew the cross of Christ was coming and that propitiation would be made. And it's in light of that divine satisfaction and the holiness of Christ that He could delay judgment. He could pass over because He knew the cross was coming. That was part of His plan from the very beginning of the world — that the Lamb of God would be slain.

His death provides — that's the third blank — His death provides all men — this is another sense in which His death was made for all men.

First bullet point: a delay in the execution of the sentence against sin. We just talked about that. He can delay and wait until the day of judgment because His wrath has been propitiated by Christ. A space for repentance — this displays God's long-suffering by not immediately ending humanity but allowing humanity to continue.

He's allowing for people to repent. That's His goodness. That is His mercy. Don't ever forget that. That's one of the chief things in God — His love. The cross is a display not only of His holiness but of His love. Christ laid down His life to meet the holy demands of God. We see this even in the Old Testament. Remember when Moses asked to see the face of God? God said, "I'll let you see the backside of My glory." And as He put Moses in the cleft of the rock, Moses heard the voice of God saying that He is long-suffering and patient. That's who God is.

Third bullet point: Christ's atonement not only provides for a delay in the execution of justice against men and a space for repentance, but allows for a continuance in the common blessings of life, which sin had forfeited. Every time that we have goodness — a cool breeze, a great hearty laugh — that's all part of the common blessings of life that God has given to us. The goodness of God is meant to lead to repentance.

That should lead us to repentance — all the good things that this world is filled with. A lot of times you'll hear people who are agnostic or atheist say, "I don't believe in God, because why do bad things happen to good people? Why do the innocent suffer?"

Of course, the answer is that they have a defective view of humanity. Man is not innocent. "There is none good, no, not one." John Gerstner, the late John Gerstner, who was a seminary professor and the mentor of R.C. Sproul — he has an essay in one of his books called Primitive Theology. It's a primer of different theological subjects. And in it he talks about not the problem of pain — which is put forth by the agnostics as an argument against God — but he flips that on its ear and puts forth the problem of pleasure. He's saying, "How could wicked men deserve to have any of the goodness in life that God gives — any of this common grace?" The answer is that it's because of the atonement of Christ.

Also, bullet point number four: the atonement of Christ provides for all men the great influence of the church as salt and light in the world.

The atonement of Christ purchased His church, and He gave gifts to His church. And the church acts as salt — which is a preserving influence — in a dying world, and as light in a dark world in which people are stumbling. The church is put there to be a preserving influence and a great blessing, and it has been the greatest influence for good of any human institution. Think about education — all of our great educational institutions here in America, such as Harvard and Yale and Princeton, were founded as seminaries. In the area of public education, the very first public school was founded by John Knox in Scotland. The flaming Scot, the great reformer, said he wanted to have a land where every boy and girl could read the Bible in their native tongue, and that's why he founded public education.

Think of all the advances in medicine. I was born in a Catholic hospital, had knee surgery in a Baptist hospital — probably a common experience for most of you. All the great medical institutions have been founded due to Christianity. All the great charitable agencies — even ones that have drifted from their moorings, the Red Cross, the YMCA, the Salvation Army — are all founded in the church. And it's because of the church that this gracious influence goes throughout the entire world, and that all men receive the benefits of the atoning work of Christ. Flip over on the back.

Luke 2:8–14 says, "Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.'" The birth of Christ was good tidings — good news, glad announcement — of great joy for all people. "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

"And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!'" This heavenly angelic army, instead of declaring war on humanity and bringing humanity to an end in judgment, is declaring peace and goodwill toward all men, because Christ came into this world to save us.

Flip back over to the front. Titus 2:11 says, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men."

The application is this: are you living as salt — that's the first blank — and light, that's the second blank, in a dying world? Are you living as salt and light in a dying world? We have great news to declare. It's truly good news — glad tidings, great joy to all men. We can declare to all men, unashamedly and boldly, that God loves us in Christ Jesus, and that Christ died for us, and whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.

Have you lost your seasoning? If so, turn to Christ, turn to God. He will make you a witness for Him. Just give your heart to Him in obedience and be a light in this world. Wherever God has placed you — whether it is in the middle of a broken, dysfunctional family, you can be a light there. Whether it's in a workplace from hell where everybody treats you with gnashing of teeth, and it feels like outer darkness, and you feel so far away from God and in darkness — it's okay. You can be a light there. Wherever God has placed you, you can be salt and you can be light. We're in a dying world, and they need to hear that God loves them and Christ died for them.

Have a good evening. Thank you.