Particular Redemption

A sermon delivered on February 28, 1858

By Rev. 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.” Matthew 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. I was 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 countenances 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 here 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 labor in the evening. I think, then, it will strike the judgment of every person that as both the congregation and the office have now changed, the teaching itself should in some measure suffer a difference. It has been my desire 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 the 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 endeavor, 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 endeavor 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 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 worthless. They hold that there was no particularity and specialty 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 as 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 anyone 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 what 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 His
blood, before the Father’s Throne. We do not believe that Christ made any effectual atonement for those who are forever damned. We dare not think that the blood of Christ was ever shed with the intention of saving those whom God foreknew never would 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 endeavor 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 endeavor 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 endeavor to magnify it, by noting the deliverance which He actually worked 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 from where you were dug, and the quarry where you were hewn. You who have been washed, 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 forever. It is not in the power of the human mind to grasp the infinity of evil that slumbers in the heart 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? No, 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 seashore—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 restraints 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, you that have entered upon the prime of life—you may be more outwardly sober, you may be somewhat free from the dissipation of your youth—but how little has the man become bettered! Unless the sovereign grace of God has 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 oh! you that lean wearily on your staff, the support of your old age, have you 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 has spared your lives. And can you for a moment think it possible that you can number up your innumerable transgressions, or compute the weight of the crimes which you have committed? O you stars of Heaven! The astronomer may measure your distance and tell your height, but O you sins of mankind! You surpass all thought! O you lofty mountains! The home of the tempest, the birthplace of the storm! Man may climb your summits and stand wonderingly upon your snows. But you hills of sin! You tower higher than our thoughts. You chasms of transgressions! You 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 sanctified 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, by God’s grace, all their guilt is washed away. Year after year may have coated them with blackness, till their sin has 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. No, 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 Savior’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 from where the brightness of their robes has come and where their purity has been achieved, and they, with united breath, will tell you that they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. O you troubled consciences! O you weary and heavy-laden ones! O you 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 forever. 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 has declared concerning Himself, “The Lord your God is a jealous God.” It is His own declaration, “I will by no means clear the guilty.” “The soul that sins, it shall die.” Learn, 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 fullness 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 someone or another. He will either have satisfaction from you, or else from Christ. If you have no atonement to bring through Christ you must forever 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 not revenged. You may say that this character of God is cold, 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—while 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 has its full sway and justice has 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 has prepared a Hell into which He casts those who die impenitent. Oh, my Brothers and Sisters, can you 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! You cannot endure the spectacle!

Remember that in that place there are spirits forever paying their debt to Divine Justice, but though some of them have been there these six 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 Savior’s mediation when He paid your debt and paid it all at once so that there now remains not one farthing of debt owing from Christ’s people to their God, except a debt of love? To Justice the Believer owes 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. That the man who believes is entirely sanctified from all guilt and set free from all punishment through what Jesus has done. Think, then, how great His atonement if He has 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 cruelties of his master and reach another land where he may be free. But this man feels that if he were to wander the whole world over he could not escape from guilt. He that has been bound by many irons can not find a file that can unbind him and set him at liberty. This man tells you that he has tried
prayers and tears and good works, but cannot get the shackles from his wrists. He feels as a lost sinner still—and emancipation—do what he may, seems to him impossible.

The captive in the dungeon is sometimes 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—do what he may he cannot quench it. O, you 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 and 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! Are you not satisfied
now?” And when you have done that, you shall have the peace of God which passes all understanding, which shall keep your heart and mind through Jesus Christ your Lord—and then shall you 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 Savior but yet some glimpse of them will afford us a little idea of the greatness of the price which He paid for us. O Jesus, who shall describe Your agony?—

“Come, all you springs,
Dwell in my head and eyes. Come, clouds and rain!
My grief has need of all the watery things,
That nature has produced. Let every vein
Suck up a river to supply my 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! You were a sufferer from Your birth, a man of sorrows and grief’s acquaintance. Your sufferings tell on You 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 Your agonies did dash upon You. See Him yonder! It is a night of frost and cold, but He is all abroad. It is night. He sleeps not—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 where 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! From where did it come? 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 you be that thus could work upon the Savior’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, you sorrowing Church, to witness the consummation of it. He is hurried through the streets. He is 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 comes to its height. His back is bared. He is tied to the low Roman column. The bloody scourge plows 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 You?” 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 stands. 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 fasting 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 most tender 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 Savior’s limbs, how they quiver! Every bone has been put out of joint by the dashing of the Cross into that socket! How He weeps! How He sighs! How He sobs! No, more—hark how at last He shrieks in agony, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” O sun, no wonder you did shut your eye and look no longer upon a deed so cruel! O rocks! No wonder that you 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 Savior 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 was 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 you dream, can you 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 your place and this day testify to the greatness of what the Lord has done for you! Let me tell it for you! I will tell your 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 got 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 endeavored, 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 chooses 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 my eyes turned to that sweet Word which says, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleans 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 crown of thorns 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 His Cross I cling.
Naked I look to Him for dress,
Helpless, I come to Him for grace!
Black, I to this fountain fly—
Wash me, Savior, 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 of 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 to the whole 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—none can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect. Tell it upon earth—God’s redeemed are free from sin in Jehovah’s sight. Tell it even in Hell—God’s elect can never go there—Christ has died for His elect and who is he that shall condemn them?

V. I have hurried over that, to come to the last point, which is the 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 uninspired man who has ever lived. 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 just 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 anyone 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 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? “You are of God, little children,” and “the whole world lies 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 some 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, who 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 Savior? Do you feel that you need a Savior? 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 Savior, 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, “You dear, You bleeding Lamb of God! Your griefs were endured for me. By Your stripes I am healed and by Your 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 twice 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, “Are you 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, Your justice and Your love are both our guarantees that You will not punish us for sin. For did You not punish Christ for sin for us? How can You, then, be just— how can You be God at all, if You 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—

Definite Atonement

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is not limited in its power to save, but in the extent to which it reaches and will save certain individuals it is definite.

Definite atonement is a theological term that has been used for centuries to define a very important aspect of the Gospel. It is a fundamental Christian doctrine which states that Jesus Christ came and died for a specific number of people. He did not die, or redeem, every individual for all of time, but for some individuals, i.e. His sheep and His church, those foreknown to the Father before the foundation of the world. This does not mean that the power of Christ's death could not have saved all men if He wanted to. The power and efficacy of His death in and through one drop of His blood could have saved a million-billion worlds, for as God is infinite in His nature so too is the potential power of the atonement to save all men universally. But that was not what God intended; indeed, that is not what God has done. The Scripture does not dabble in "possibilities." It does, however, state that the scope of His death is definite in bringing many sons and daughters to faith and salvation.

Jesus Christ, much like the lamb of the Old Testament sacrifice, died for some people, and secured the salvation of those people through His death which took away their sin and imputed (or accounted) His own righteousness to them. This is something Christ accomplished on the cross; not something individuals initiate. It is true, as the Scriptures state, that he died for "all men" and that God loves "the whole world". In these cases "all men" does not mean every individual inclusively for all time including Judas and Pharaoh. Nor does it necessarily follow that Christ died for the whole world because God loves the whole world inclusively. In context the Scripture is clear that the "all" is a reference to every type or better "all types" of people group (not merely the Jews): Jew, Gentile, male, female, rich, poor, educated, illiterate, slave, free, powerful, those without power. And the "us" frequently used by the New Testament writers is a reference to the elect who are known by their expression of faith. (For a study of these passages see "the all and world passages" in Owen's Death of Death or in Calvin's the "all" passages.) Jesus secured the salvation of those for whom He gave his life, and for those God imputes His righteousness upon them. Jesus does not infallibly secure the salvation of all men, for thence, all men would be saved.

As the Maxim goes:

God imposed his wrath due unto, and Christ underwent the pains of hell for either:

1) All of the sins of all men - which means all men are saved.
2) Some of the sins of all men - which means men are still in their sins.
3) All of the sin of some men - which is the biblical position.

Those who hold to a deviant "gospel" must grapple with the fact that Jesus does His saving on the cross. All those for whom he died will be saved in time and justified by GOD.

It is not that Christ's power is "limited" but rather His intent or use of that power is definite and effectual to those for whom He died, and chose to save.

The "limitation" of the extent is a deciding factor in the Gospel message as to whether one believes that the God of the Gospel saves, or that men save themselves because Jesus did not save anyone directly, but made it hypothetically possible that they could reach out and save themselves. Hypothetical salvation is no salvation at all.

Jesus died and secured the salvation of all those that the Father gave Him (elect), and that cannot be snatched out of the Father's hands. It is not that Christ "might save, but that He is the Savior. He does not lay His life down for all, but for His sheep. He does not give His life for Judas, but only for His friends. In His high priestly prayer in John 17 He does not pray for the "world" but for those whom the Father has given to Him (elect). It is the church, not the world, which Christ has purchased with His own blood.

John 6:37-40, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."

Matthew 1:21, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."

John 10:15, "As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep."

John 15:13, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Acts 20:28, "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."

Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;"

Puritan Quotations on Definite Atonement:

"Election is ascribed to God the Father, sanctification to the Spirit and reconciliation to Jesus Christ. This is the chain of salvation and never a link of this chain must be broken. The Son cannot die for them the Father never elected, and the Spirit will never sanctify them whom the Father has not elected nor the Son redeemed." Thomas Manton

"Application is the making effectual, in certain men, all those things which Christ has done and does as mediator." William Ames

"As for the intention of application, it is rightly said that Christ made satisfaction only for those whom he saved." William Ames

"[If Jesus died for all men]...why then, are not all freed from the punishment of all their sins? You will say, "Because of their unbelief; they will not believe." But his unbelief, is it sin, or not? If not, why should they be punished for it? If it be sin, then Christ underwent the punishment due to it; If this is so, then why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which he died from partaking of the fruit of his death? If he did not, then he did not die for all their sins." John Owen

"We are often told that we limit the atonement of Christ, because we say that Christ has not made 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. Now, who is it that limits the death of Christ? Why, you. You say that Christ did not die so as to secure the salvation of anybody. We beg your pardon, when you say that we limits 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."
Charles Spurgeon

Effectual Calling

by the Rev. Thomas White, LL.B.


"To them who are the called according to his purpose."—Romans 8:28.

The sacred scriptures are a Paradise, or "garden of delights." This Epistle to the Romans is a most interesting and artful knot in that garden. This chapter is the richest division in that knot, furnished with sweetest flowers of consolation, antidoting the remnants of corruption that there are in our hearts, and the various afflictions that we meet with in the world. This verse that I have read unto you, is the fairest flower in that division: for, what can sooner revive a drooping soul, than to be assured that "all things shall work together for good?" "We," saith the great apostle, "do not think, imagine, conjecture, but know, partly by divine revelation, partly by our own experience, that all things,—not only gifts, graces, ordinances; but all creatures, all providences, all changes, events, occurrences; even those things that appear most formidable; homo oppugnans, diabolus insidians, 'the persecutions of men, the temptations of the devil,'—shall work, not singly and apart, it may be, but together, for good."

For good! Yes; but it is unto those that be good. Hands off, wicked and profane wretches! You have no part nor lot in these heavenly consolations. Away, base swine, to your sties, to your muck and mire! These pearls are not for you. Out, ye dogs, to the garbage that lieth upon the dunghill! the children's bread is not for you. "We know that all things shall work together for good to them that love God." Why so? Because they are "the called according to his purpose." So Pareus expoundeth the place; and with him I perfectly agree.

That which God hath purposed, shall not be frustrated: "The Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" (Isaiah 14:27.) What man will suffer his purposes, those purposes that he taketh up with best advice and most mature deliberation, to be disappointed, if he have power to accomplish them? The holy purposes of God,—as they are ordered and directed by infinite wisdom, so they have infinite power to bring them to pass: so that if I can say, "God hath a purpose to save me," I may securely smile at all the attempts of men and devils against me; and if I can say, "God hath effectually called me," I may be sure God hath chosen me, and hath a purpose to save me. For all the links in the golden chain of salvation are even-wrought, not one of them wider or narrower than another: if God have chosen, he will call; if God call, he hath chosen. Once more: if I can say, "I love God," I may be sure I am called; for I cannot love God, except I have some acquaintance with him, some sense and experience of his love toward me. So, then, all our consolations are ultimately resolved into the "purpose" of God: this is the basis and foundation of them all. That purpose appeareth by our effectual calling; and that calling appeareth to be effectual by our love to God. Hence the conclusion is certain,—that "all things shall work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose."

But I forget myself. You have heard in former discourses, under what a sad, soul-killing disease poor man laboureth in his natural condition. You heard likewise of a sovereign remedy provided in the blood of Christ. I am now engaged to speak to the application of that remedy in our effectual calling.

This effectual calling, according to St. Augustine, is ingressus ad salutem, our "entrance into a state of salvation;" the first step whereby God's predestination descendeth to us, and we again ascend to the glory predestinated.

The DOCTRINE I present from my text maybe this:—

DOCTRINE.

There are some persons in the world that are effectually called; or, which is all one, who are "called according to the purpose of God."

There is a call of the gospel that is not effectual: of this our Saviour speaketh, when he saith, "Many are called, but few chosen." (Matt. 20:16.) How many of the poor ministers of the gospel may complain of multitudes in this generation, saying, with the children that sat in the market-place "We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not lamented!"(Luke 7:32.) "Neither the delightful airs of mercy, nor the doleful ditties of judgment, have moved you." But the election will certainly obtain; and the call that is "according to God's purpose," reacheth not ears only, but hearts also: "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God." (John 5:25.)

This work of grace is presented to our view in a various dress of words. In the scriptures it is sometimes a "teaching," sometimes a "drawing," sometimes a "conversion," sometimes a "regeneration" and all these in divers respects which I cannot stand to unfold. In the schools it is gratia prima, "the first grace," praeveniens, "preceding grace," operans, "operating grace." Among Divines of the Reformed way, it is "an internal and effectual call," vocatio alta et efficax, after the mind of St. Augustine.

When it is offered to our consideration under this notion, it presupposeth two things:—

1. That natural men stand at a distance from God.—We do not usually call those that stand close by us. This was once the condition of the Ephesians: "Ye sometimes were afar off." (Eph. 2:13.) "Sometimes;" when? Surely in the time of their unregeneracy. "Far off" from whom? From Christ, from the church, from God, and consequently from themselves. But how could they be "far off" from God? Not in spaces of place; for God "filleth all places with his presence" as to his essence and providential works, he is "not far from every one of us; for in him we live and move" (Acts 17:27, 28): but as to their hearts and affections, all natural men are far from God: "God is not in all their thoughts" (Psalm 10:4): they do not know him, fear, love, and delight in him; they do not breathe after communion with him. Even when they "draw nigh unto him with their lips, their hearts are far from him." (Isaiah 29:13.)

If it sometimes happens that we call those that are at hand, then usually they are such as are asleep. Sin is a deep sleep of the soul; and as sleep bindeth all the senses of the outward man, so sin all the powers of the inward. A man under the dominion of sin can do nothing for God, neither can he enjoy any thing from God. It may be, he dreams of great satisfaction [that] he receiveth from the world's dainties; but when "he awaketh, his soul is empty." (Isaiah 29:8.) Or, further: if they be not asleep, they are such as mind something else than He would have them. All natural men mind something else than God would have them: they "mind earthly things." (Phil. 3:19.) Herod mindeth the dancing of a lewd strumpet more than the preaching of the holy Baptist: the young man mindeth his great possessions; the epicure, his belly; the farmer, his barn; Judas, his bag; the silversmith, his shrines; the Gadarenes, their swine; Pilate, the favour and applause of the people. Let the best men speak ingenuously, and they must needs confess that there were many things (if I may call them "things," rather "nothings") which they minded more than God or Christ or heaven, more than the highest concernments of their immortal souls, the weightiest business of eternal salvation. They were all Gallios in respect of these things, they "cared for none of them," till they were roused out of their waking dreams by the effectual call of the most gracious God. This is the condition of every natural man.

2. It presupposeth, that it is an easy thing with God to bring us home to himself, though we be never so far distant from him.—To awaken us to his service, though in a dead sleep of sin; to raise our minds to higher objects, though they be never so deeply immersed in the things of this present world. Is any thing hard to the Almighty? With a word he made us, with a word he can renew us. When "darkness covered the face of the deep," he did but say, "Let there be light: and there was light"(Gen. 1:2,3): with the like facility can he "shine in our hearts, giving us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," (2 Cor. 4:6.) "He uttereth his voice," saith David, "and the earth melteth." (Psalm 46:6.) Let but God utter his voice, and the rocks and mountains of our corruptions will melt away like wax.

Come we now closer to the point: toward the opening of which, I shall entreat your attention to the resolution of Sundry QUESTIONS.

QUESTION I. What is this "calling?"

ANSWER. It is the real separation of the soul unto God; and a clothing it with such gracious abilities, whereby it may be enabled to repent of its sins, and to believe in his Son. It is our translation from the state of nature—which is a state of sin, wrath, death, and damnation—to a state of grace, which is a state of holiness, life, peace, and eternal salvation. This translation is wrought,

1. By strong convictions of the mind,

(1.) Of the guilt and filth of sin, of the danger and defilement of sin, of the malignity of sin, and the misery that attends it.—"Once," saith the soul that is under this dispensation of God's grace, "Once I looked upon sin as my wisdom: now it is madness and folly. Once I accounted it my meat and drink to 'fulfil' ta Jelhmata, all the wills of the flesh (Eph. 2:3); sin was a sweet morsel; I drank iniquity like water: now it is a cup of trembling to me, and I fear it may prove a cup of condemnation. Once I hugged, embraced, and delighted in sin as the wife of my bosom: now I clearly see that the fruit and issue of the impure copulation of my soul with her is nothing else but the shame of my face, the stain of my reputation, the rack and horror of my conscience, and (which is more than all these) the provocation of the Almighty; and therefore I begin to think within myself of an eternal divorce from her. I slept securely in the lap of this Delilah; she robbed me of my strength; she delivered me up to the Philistines, that dealt unworthily with me, that put me upon base and low employments: what now should I think of, but (if it please the Lord to give new strength) the death and destruction of them all?"

(2.) Of the vanity and emptiness of the creature which we have idolized.—Confiding in it, as the staff of our hopes; breathing and pursuing after it, as the perfection of our happiness.

(3.) Of the absolute need of Christ.—That if he does not save us, we must perish.

(4.) Of the absolute "fulness" of Christ, and that "in him we may be complete" (Col. 2:10.)—If we be guilty, he can justify us; if we be filthy, he can purge us; if we be weak, he can strengthen us; if we be poor, he can enrich us; if we be base, he can ennoble us; if we be deformed and ugly, he can make us beautiful and lovely; if we be miserable, he can bless us, and that "with all blessings in heavenly places." (Eph. 1:3.)

(5.) Of the clemency, goodness, meekness, sweetness, graciousness of his disposition; that if any man come to him, he will in no wise reject him. (John 6:37.)—These things the mind is strongly convinced of: yet if there be not a farther work, a man may carry these convictions to hell with him. Therefore,

2. In the second place, this translation is wrought by a powerful inclination and conversion of the will to close with Christ upon his own terms.—To embrace him as Sovereign, as well as Saviour; to take him, as men use to do their wives, "for better for worse, for richer for poorer;" to stick to him on Mount Calvary, as well as Mount Tabor; to welcome him into thy bosom by bidding an everlasting farewell to thy sins: in a word, to make a voluntary tender and resignation of thyself unto him; solemnly avouching that, from this time forward, thou wilt count thyself more his, than thou art thine own; and the more thy own, because thou art his. This work is carried on with a most efficacious sweetness; so that the liberty of the will is not infringed, whilst the obstinacy of the will is mastered and over-ruled.

If you ask me "How can these things be?" I never studied to satisfy curiosity; but if you can tell me "how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child," (Eccles. 11:5,) I also will tell you how the parts of the new man are formed in the heart. But, I suppose, silence and humble admiration will be best on both sides: if there be so great a mystery in our natural generation, surely there is a far greater in our spiritual regeneration: if David could say of the former, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made;" (Psalm 139:14;) much more might he say of the latter, "I am fearfully and wonderfully renewed."

QUESTION II. Who are "the called?"

ANSWER 1. Among creatures, none but men are of the number of the called.—"The angels that kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation," are never recalled, but "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." (Jude 6.) Lord, "what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou so regardest him?" (Psalm 8:4.)

2. Among men, none but the elect are capable of this grace.—The call is limited by the "purpose:" "Whom he hath predestinated, them he also called." (Rom. 8:30.) Touching these elect persons, divers things fall under our observation; as,

(1.) In regard of their internal condition.—Before this call, they are dead in sins and trespasses, blind in their minds, stony in their hearts, corrupt in their ways, even as others.

(2.) In regard of their outward condition.—Both before and after this call, they are, for the most part, poor and vile and contemptible in the eye of the world. God puts not the greater value upon any man for a gold ring for "goodly apparel," though the world doth: he hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him." (James 2:2, 5.) "Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:" (1 Cor. 1:26): some, it may be; but not many. God so orders his call, as that it may appear, "there is no respect of persons with him," (Rom. 2:11.)

(3.) Whatever the outward condition of these men be, there are but very few that are effectually called.—Few, I say, in comparison of those that are left under the power and dominion of their lusts: "One of a city, and two of a tribe." (Jer. 3:14.) I tremble to speak it, but a truth it is, and must out:—Satan hath the harvest, God the gleanings, of mankind. Which, by the way, may serve to convince them of their vanity and folly, that make the multitude of actors an argument to prove the rectitude of actions; as if they could not do amiss, that do as the most: whereas a very Heathen could say, Argumentum pessimi turba, "The beaten tract is most deceitful;" sheep go the broad way to the shambles, when a more uncouth path might lead them to fresh pastures.

QUESTION III. Who is he that calleth?

ANSWER. Who but God, that "calleth things that are not as if they were?" (Rom. 4:17.) All heart-work is God's particular work—the restraining and ordering [of] the heart. He withheld Abimelech, "not suffering him to touch" Sarah, Abraham's wife (Gen. 20:6): and the heart of Pharaoh, while it was least conformable unto the rule of his law, was absolutely subject unto the rule of his providence. And well it is for us, that it belongs to God to restrain and order hearts: otherwise, sad would be the condition of this nation, of the whole world. But now if it be God's particular work to restrain and order hearts, much more, surely, to turn, change, break, melt, and new-mould hearts. It is his sovereign grace which we adore as the only Verticordia, as the real "Turn-heart." Therefore we may observe that,

1. God doth especially challenge this unto himself.—You know whose expressions those are: "I will give you a new heart;" and again: "I will take away the heart of stone." (Ezek. 36:26.) Are they not God's? Who dares make any challenges against the Almighty? Hath not he a sceptre strong enough to secure his crown? Those that will be plucking jewels out of his royal diadem, and ascribe that to themselves or any creature which is his prerogative, shall find him jealous enough of his honour, and that jealousy stirring up indignation enough to consume them. But,

2. As God may justly challenge this work to himself, so it is altogether impossible [that] it should be accomplished by any other.—For,

(1.) This effectual vocation is a spiritual resurrection of the soul.—While we are in a state of nature, we are dead; not sick or languishing, not slumbering or sleeping, but quite "dead in trespasses and sins." When we are called into a state of grace, then are our souls raised to walk with God here, as our bodies at the last day shall be raised to walk with the Son of God unto all eternity. Now, if it be not in the power of any creature to raise the body from the grave of death, (upon which account it is used as an argument of the Divinity of Christ, that he raised himself,) much less is it in the power of any creature to raise the soul from the grave of sin. And therefore do all true believers prove the power of God, even that "exceeding greatness of his power," that "might of his power," as the Greek hath it, to kratoV thV iscuoV autou, whereby "he raised up Christ from the dead." (Eph. 1:19, 20.

(2.) This effectual vocation is a new creation of the soul.—Whence we are said to be "created in Christ Jesus," when we are called unto an experimental knowledge of him, and unfeigned faith in him. Upon which account it must needs be "God's workmanship;" (Eph. 2:10;) for power of creating is not, cannot be, communicated to any creature. Though the "angels excel in strength," (Psalm 103:20,) and wonderful things have been performed by them, when they have as ministers executed God's pleasure in the punishment of the wicked and protection of the righteous; yet the mightiest angel cannot create the lowest worm: that is the product only of infinite power. And let me tell you, if infinite power be manifested in the creation of the world, it is more gloriously manifested in the conversion of a sinner. There is a worse chaos, a worse confusion, upon the heart of man, when God undertaketh his new creation, than there was upon the face of the earth in the old creation. In the earth, when it was "without form and void," (Gen. 1:2,) there was only indisposition; but in the heart of man, there is both indisposition and opposition.

Well, then, I peremptorily conclude that the work is God's; God's by the way of a principal efficiency, and not only by way of motion or persuasion, as some would have it; wherein I fear a piece of cursed bargaining for their own glory. For, were it so, they would be but very shabby acknowledgments that does belong to God for the change of a most miserable and unhappy estate. Suppose I should go to some wealthy citizen, and present him an object of charity, using the most cogent considerations which my art and wit could invent to enforce a liberal contribution; thereupon he freely parts with his money for the relief of that indigent person: tell me now, To which of us is he mainly engaged to return thanks? To me, the mover; or to him, the bestower? I make no question but your judicious thoughts have made an award of the chief acknowledgment to the latter. The case would plainly be the same betwixt God and us, if his only were the motion, ours the act, of conversion; his the persuasion, ours the performance: and if we go to heaven, we should have more cause to thank ourselves, than to thank God, for all the happiness we meet with there.

Beloved, I beseech you, take heed of such an opinion as this: it hath blasphemy written over it. If it be rooted in your minds, it will breed in your hearts a confidence of your own power and abilities; and that is no better than a fine-spun idolatry, and shall find little better response from God than if you worshipped stocks and stones.

QUESTION IV. Upon what account doth God call? What moves the Divine Majesty thus to busy himself about a lump of sin and misery?

ANSWER. What but mere mercy? What but rich and abundant mercy?

1. It is mere mercy.—"When by our own merits we were begotten to death, by his mercy he begat us again unto life." "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he hath saved us." (Titus 3:5.) Indeed we cannot do any works of righteousness before our calling. That righteousness which natural men are subject to glory in, is rather seeming than real; and that which shineth so bright in our own eyes, and perhaps in the eyes of other men, is an "abomination in the sight of God." (Luke 16:15.) God and men do not measure our righteousness by the same standard. Men account them righteous that conform to customs, laws, and constitutions of men; if, at least, they be likewise conformable to the letter of the law of God. But God reckons none righteous beside those that have a singular regard to the spirit of the law, (if I may so call it,) which layeth an obligation upon the inward man as well as the outward, which binds the heart as well as the hand; and commands, not only that which is good, but that good be done upon a good principle, in a good manner, to a good end:—a pitch of obedience that no natural man can possibly arise to; so that, in the sight of God, "there is none righteous, no, not one." (Rom. 3:10.) "We are all by nature children of wrath, even as others." (Eph. 2:3.) "Children of wrath" we are by our own desert; if ever we become children of grace, it must be by His mercy.

2. As by mere mercy, so by rich and abundant mercy in God, it is that we are called.—There is a greatness of love in the "quickening of those that are dead in sins together with Christ." (Eph. 2:4, 5.) There is mercy, in that we have our lives for a prey; mercy in an the comforts and accommodations of life; mercy in the influences of the sun; mercy in the dropping of the clouds; mercy in the fruitfulness of seasons; mercy in the fulness of barns: "The year" is "crowned with the goodness" of the Lord. (Psalm 65:11.) But this is a mercy above all mercies, —that we are "called from darkness into marvellous light," (1 Peter 2:9,) and from the power of Satan to the service of, and fellowship with, the only living and true God. (Acts 26:18.) Other benefits are extended to the worst of men; nay, the very devils have some tastes of mercy: but this of an effectual calling is (as I said before) communicated to none but those that God hath chosen. Other blessings and benefits, though they be good in themselves yet they cannot make us good: they are but as trappings to a horse, which, if he be a jade, make him not go the better, but the worse. But here God works a marvellous change for the better. Once the man ran away from God and himself; but now he instantly returns. Once he was a hater, a fighter against God; but now the weapons of his hostility are laid down, and he thinks he can never do enough to express his love. Once he was darkness; but now he is "light in the Lord." Once [he was] dead; but, behold, he lives. Finally: other blessings and benefits can never make us happy; but, as they find us miserable, so they leave us: we may, and are too apt to, bless ourselves in them; yet God never intended to bless us in the sole enjoyment of them. But, O how happy is that man that God hath effectually called to himself! His bosom shall be his refuge in all storms; his grace, his sufficiency in all temptations; his power, his shield in all oppositions. But let the text speak: "All things shall work together for" his spiritual and eternal good.

Before I part with this point, I shall acquaint you with an exposition of my text utterly inconsistent with the doctrine I have delivered and the truth itself, and very unworthy of the authors of it. This it is,—that here we are said to be called, not "according to God's purpose," but "according to our own purpose" to hear and obey his call. And perhaps upon this the Papists have grounded their merit of congruity. But this must needs fall, if we consider but this one thing among many,—that those that have been farthest off the kingdom, have been fetched into it; and those that have not been far from the kingdom of God, have never come nearer it. God doth not always take the smoothest, but the most knotty, pieces of timber, to make pillars in his house. He goes not always to places of severest and strictest discipline, to pick out some few there to plant in his house: but he goes to the custom-house, and calls one thence; to the brothel-house, and calls another thence. And if yet you insist upon the purpose of man, as an inducement to the call of God, pray tell me, What was Saul's purpose, when God met with him in the way to Damascus? Had he any other purpose than to persecute the disciples of the Lord?—Enough of that.

QUESTION 5: By what means are we called?

ANSWER. Sometimes without means.—As in persons not capable of the use of them. There is highest caution amongst the people of God to avoid that sin—nay, the very appearance—of limiting the Holy One of Israel.

Sometimes by contrary means.—The greatness of a sin being ordered by God to set on the conversion of a sinner: as when a man is wounded with the sting, and healed with the flesh, of a scorpion; or as when we make treacle of a viper, a most poisonous creature, to expel poison.

Sometimes by very unlikely means.—As when by some great affliction we are brought home to God, which in its own nature, one would think, should drive us farther from God; as there is no question but it doth the reprobates, who are ready to tell all the world what king William Rufus told the bishop, if the partial monk doe not belie him: "God shall never make me good by the evil I suffer from him." Or, which is yet more unlikely, when we are brought home by prosperity; God overcoming our evil with his good; heaping, as it were, coals of fire upon our heads, and so melting us into kindly contrition. Gerson, in a sermon of his, tells us of a most wicked priest, that, when he was preferred to a bishopric, became exemplarily holy; but such a convert is rara avis, "seldom to be found."

Always this work is carried on by weak means.—Thus, I have heard it credibly reported, that a sentence, written in a window, and accidentally read by an inveterate sinner, pierced his heart, and let out the corruption thence. The sentence was that of Austin: "He that hath promised pardon to the penitent, hath not promised repentance to the presumptuous, sinner." Thus Austin was converted with a Tolle, lege: "Take up the book, and read." The book was the New Testament; the place he opened was the Epistle to the Romans, where he first cast his eye upon the thirteenth chapter; the words, these: "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying." (Verse 13.) This struck him home.

But the most ordinary means of our effectual calling is the preaching of the word.—Which, though the world account [it] "foolishness," is "the power of God" unto salvation. (1 Cor. 1:18.) And though by other means men may be called, yet seldom or never any are called that neglect and contemn this. God delights to honour his own ordinances, and to credit and encourage his ministers: and because he is pleased to make use of the word they preach as seed, therefore it is his will and pleasure that his people should own and reverence them as their fathers: "In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." (1 Cor. 4:l5.) And therefore I am confident, they can have no good evidences of their Christian calling, that secretly despise, openly revile, secretly undermine, openly oppose, the ministerial calling. Christ will not own them as his children, who refuse to honour his ministers as their fathers. "He that despiseth you despiseth me." (Luke 10:16.)

So much for answer to the fifth question.

QUESTION VI. What is the end of this call?

ANSWER. What but that which is the end of all things,—the glory of God? what but that which should be the end that all men should aim at,—the salvation of their souls? Here we may see the glory of God's free grace and mercy; the immutability of his purposes; the holiness of his nature, in that he makes us fit for communion with himself, before he admits us to it; (Col. 1:12;) the wisdom of his counsels; and, last of all, the exceeding greatness of his power. For though the effectual calling of a soul be no miracle, yet there is as much power manifested in it as in any miracle that Christ wrought; yea, as in all the miracles which he wrought, if they be put together. For here the blind eyes and deaf ears are opened, the withered hands and lame legs are restored, the bloody issue stanched, the leper cleansed, legions of devils cast out, the dead soul raised to walk before God in the land of the living: in a word, the water is turned into wine,—the water of contrition into the wine of sweetest spiritual consolation.

QUESTION VII. When is the time that God calls?

ANSWER. As the persons are chosen, so the time is appointed called therefore "the acceptable year of the Lord," "the accepted time," "the day of visitation," "the day of salvation." What hour of the day God will please to call any person in, is to us uncertain. This only is certain,—that we must be called within the compass of this present life, or else we shall never be called. There is no preaching to souls in the prison of hell, no constituting of churches there. If the Spirit of God be not our purgatory fire here, in vain shall we look for any other hereafter. Thus briefly of the seventh question.

QUESTION VIII. What are the properties of this call?

ANSWER 1. It is a holy calling. (2 Tim. 1:9.)—Holy is the Author of it, holy are the means of it, holy are the ends of it, holy are the subjects of it. God is the Author, the word is the means, holiness itself the end, none but holy men the subjects.

I cannot but wonder at the impudence of profane men, that they should call themselves "Christians," that they should call God "Father," that they should call Christ "Saviour." If they be Christians, where is the savour of those precious ointments, those special graces, that run down from the Head unto all his members, and give the only just reason why we should be denominated "Christians?"

I wonder the mere civil person can sleep so securely with his short covering. He boasts of a righteousness, and is a mere stranger to holiness: he separates those things which God hath perfectly and inseparably united. Holiness and righteousness God hath so knit and coupled together, that he reckons no service performed to him where either of these is wanting: "To serve him in holiness and righteousness." (Luke 1:74, 75.) It is a part of our righteousness to be holy in our converse with God: it is a part of our holiness to be righteous in our converse with men. Therefore I shall add the deceitful hypocrite unto the deceived equalist; the one drawing as near to God with his external righteousness, as the other doth with his pretended holiness: both stand at a distance from him; he "beholds them afar off;" and though he hath "called them to be saints." (1 Cor. 1:2,) yet they are not saints by an effectual calling.

2. It is a high and heavenly calling. (Phil. 3:14; Heb. 3:1.) —A learned critic supposeth that the apostle, in bestowing this epithet, "high," upon our calling, alludeth unto the Olympic Games; an allusion which, indeed, he much delighteth in throughout all his epistles. There the master or ruler of the game, who was also the keeper and bestower of the prize, (brazeuthV,) stood upon the higher ground, [and] called to those that were engaged to that noble exercise to begin the race. Proportionably unto this, Christians having a "race set before" them, which they must "run with patience," at the call of their great Director, (Heb. 12:1,) who utters his voice from heaven unto their hearts, they first start: so that the calling is high, because we are called from on high.

But this is not all: for, beside that, it is a high way, though it be no common way, that we are called to run in.—All the exercises and employments that a Christian is called to, they are exceeding high; such as are the service of God, the mortification of lusts, the fighting against principalities and powers of darkness, the trampling upon all the gilded, glistering vanities of this world. Such are the denial of a man's self, the taking up the cross daily, the following of Christ, and the showing forth all his virtues, that hath called us. Such are warm devotions, spiritual meditations, fervent supplications, holy breathings and aspirings after communion with the ever-blessed God, in a conscientious use of his ordinances. All these are employments too high for those that are skilled in nothing else but Satan's and the world's drudgery; too high for any but those that are endued with grace and power from on high to perform them.

Yet farther: this calling is high, not only in regard of the Director and the race, but in regard of the prize, as [to] the reward that we shall receive from the righteous Judge.—What is "the end of our faith," but, the salvation of our souls? "(1 Peter 1:9.) When we come to the goal, here we find no tripods, shields, or caps; but crowns; and no ordinary crowns, but glorious ones; no fading crowns, but everlasting ones. Who would not, with the apostle, but "press toward the mark?"

Lastly. That we may have greater comfort and assurance that we shall not "wax weary and faint" in our course, and consequently not miss of those glorious rewards; there is no calling that hath so high and heavenly assistances as this hath.—God, that calls to the race, engages his power to carry us through it: the Son of God intercedes for us: the Spirit of God is ready to comfort us. The angels of God have the charge of us, to keep us, so that we shall not dash our feet against a stone. "The spirits of just men made perfect,"—though they be not acquainted with our particular wants, yet in general they tender our conditions, and help us by their prayers. All the people of God are constant solicitors for us at the throne of grace; beside those helps [which] they afford us by their watching over us, by their counsels, instructions, admonitions, rebukes, examples; the cheerfulness and alacrity of some in the ways of God having a great and happy tendency to prevent the weariness and discouragements of others. Thus it is a "high calling."

3. It is a call without a sound.—Or, if it have any, it is heard by none but them to whom it is directed. A good divine calls it "an invisible call." Occultis itineribus sapor nobis vitalis infunditur, as Ennodius speaks: "By hidden paths and passages the vital savour is infused into us." The seed grows up we know not how. (Mark 4:27.) The Spirit secretly winds himself into the soul. Christ comes into our hearts, as he did into the house where his disciples were met, "the doors being shut." (John 20:26.) Thus it is ordinarily; though I will not deny but that sometimes it may be otherwise. The Spirit may come with a "mighty rushing," (Acts 2:2,) and Christ with holy violence break open the doors of our hearts. Saul could well tell the time and other circumstances of his conversion: but it is likely, the holy Baptist could not; in whom, the father saith, there was a Spirit of grace as soon as a spirit of life. The corruptions of some will out, as it were, by insensible breathings: but so obstinate and inveterate are the spiritual distempers of others, that they must have strong vomits, violent purges; and all little enough to clear them. For a man of a good nature, (as they call it,) liberal education, much restraining grace, to take and give notice punctually when his state is changed, is very difficult: whereas this is no hard matter for a gross and scandalous piece of debauchery, becoming afterwards an example of piety. We must not expect the same account from Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of our Lord in point of conversion: yet they both rejoiced in Christ as their Saviour.

This I have the rather spoken, that I might enter a caveat against those rigid and severe triers of men's spiritual estates, whom (as I have heard) nothing will satisfy but the precise time of conversion. I acknowledge these men great artists and good workmen; but it is in framing new racks for men's consciences, since the old Popish ones are broken. I make no question but a weak Christian's soul may be as sadly strained to give an account of his graces, as it would have been to give an account of his sins, had he lived in the days of auricular confession. Beware, my friends, of the devil's sophistry.

4. And lastly. It is an immutable call.—Immutable as God himself as his electing love, the living fountain from whence it springs. Not as the world loves, doth God love. They love to-day, and hate to-morrow; wearing their friends like flowers, which we may behold in their bosoms whilst they are fresh and sweet, but soon they wither, and soon they are laid aside. Whereas the love of God to his people is everlasting, and he wears them as a signet upon his right hand, which he will never part with. Not as the world gives, doth God give. Men give liberally, and repent suddenly; but "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." (Rom. 11:29.)

So much for the properties of this call; and so much for the opening of the point. Shall I speak a word or two of APPLICATION?

APPLICATION.

Beloved in the Lord, I have answered you many questions: I beseech you, answer me a few. "Me," said I? Nay, answer them to God and your own consciences.

1. Are you of the number of the called?—Called by the gospel I know you are; but that may be your misery. Are you "called according to the purpose?" That only can be your happiness. Is your calling inward and effectual? "We hope it is." Why? "We have some convictions, some inclinations to good." So had Herod, so had Agrippa; so may a reprobate [have] by the common work of the Spirit. I would be loath [that] you should be but almost Christians, lest you be but almost saved. Tell me, then, Is the whole frame of your hearts altered? Is sin odious? Is Christ precious? Doth the price of heavenly commodities rise in your hearts, and the price of earthly trumpery fall? Do you love God and his Son Jesus Christ in sincerity? Then I can assure you,—not in the word of a mortal man, which is as good as nothing; but in the word of God that cannot lie, even in the words of my text,—you are "called according to his purpose."

2. If you be effectually called, why do you not answer that call, in receiving Christ in all his offices, in obeying Christ in all his commands, in meeting Christ in all his ordinances? Why do you not "give all diligence to make your calling and election sure?" (2 Peter 1:10.) Shall the "children of this world" still be wiser in their generation than the "children of light?" They rest not till they have assured (as they suppose) their earthly tenements: why do not we bestir ourselves as much to assure a heavenly inheritance?

Why are you not more thankful for this grace? Why are you not more joyful in it? How did the wise men of the East rejoice, when they found Christ horn in Bethlehem! Is it not matter of greater joy to find Christ born in your hearts? Tell me, Is it nothing to have your names written in the book of life? to have God for your Father, Christ for your Husband and Brother, the Spirit of Christ for your Comforter, the angels for your servitors, all the creatures at your beck? These are the noble privileges of those that are "called according to the purpose of God." How can they but rejoice in them, and "sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever?" (Psalm 89:1.)

Why are you not more careful to "walk worthy of" this grace? (Eph. 4:1.) There is a decorum, a seemliness, that appertains to every calling. This made Scipio that he would not accept the offer of a harlot, because he was general of the army: and when Antigonus was invited to a place where there was none of the best company, he was well advised by one to remember [that] he was a king's son. When you suffer yourselves to be drawn away by your lusts, to be ensnared by the world, to be captivated by the devil, you forget the decorum that should attend your Christian calling: remember, I beseech you,

(1.) That it is a holy calling.—And therefore be ye also holy in all manner of conversation." (1 Peter 1:15.) Methinks, it should sound as harshly in our ears to hear of a wicked Christian as of a dark sun.

(2.) It is a high calling.—Do live high. Scorn baseness: blush to appear in your old rags; to be seen catering for your lusts as you used to do. Crown yourselves with the stars; clothe yourselves with the sun; tread the moon under your feet. Let the gospel be your crown; let Christ be your clothing; let the world be your footstool; let hidden manna be your constant diet. Keep open house to all comers: set your spiritual dainties before them; bid them feed heartily, and welcome: and, for discourse, tell them what great things God hath done for your souls. (Psalm 66:16.)

(3.) It is a heavenly call.—Let your "conversation be in heaven" (Phil. 3:20): you have a good Correspondent there. Maintain a constant trade and traffic thither: expect returns thence. "Lay up your treasure" there, "where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." (Matt. 6:20.) Be always preparing for your passage thither.

(4.) It is an immutable call.—Do not droop and hang your heads for the changes and mutations [which] there are in the world. "The foundation of God standeth sure," (though the foundation of states be overturned, overturned, overturned,) "having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his," (2 Tim. 2:19,) and will cause "all things to work together for their good."

3. But what, if now there be many amongst you that are not effectually called?—In the third and last place I address myself to them:—

Men and brethren, if you have any sense of the excellency of your immortal souls; any love to them, suitable to that excellency; any care and solicitousness, suitable to that love; do not "resist the Holy Ghost." Make the best use you can of the means of grace. "Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." (Heb. 3:15.) If he now knock at the door of your hearts, and you will not open, you know not how soon you may come to knock at the door of his house, and he will not open.

It is reported that Thales, one of the Grecian sages, being urged by his mother to marry, told her at first [that] it was too soon; and afterward, when she urged him again, he told her [that] it was too late. Effectual vocation is our espousal unto Christ: all the time of our life God is urging this match upon our souls; his ministers are still wooing for Christ. If now we say, "It is too soon," for aught we know, the very next moment our sun may set; and then God will say, "It is too late." They that are not contracted to Christ on earth, shall never be married to him in heaven.

Beware the Pretenders--The Destruction of Apostates--Part 2

by John MacArthur

Jude 5-7

Introduction

In verses 5 through 7 of the brief, but important Epistle of Jude, we find an historical record of God judging apostasy: "I will, therefore, put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."

There are many signs of the end of the age that indicate that the Lord Jesus is coming very soon. One of them, which is identified by the book of Jude, is apostasy. The word simply means "to depart or fall away." Throughout the New Testament we find that there will be a "falling away" from the Christian faith in the end times (2 Thess. 2:3). Even Jesus predicted that would happen in Matthew 24:10-12: "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold." Our Lord said that there will be a falling away in the end times. That event will occur not only within the church, but also within Israel during the Tribulation.

A. The Characteristics of Apostasy

There will be within the so-called church of Jesus Christ, a denial of the truth. In fact, the apostasy of the end times is basically a series of denials. There will be...

1. A DENIAL OF DIVINE POWER (2 Tim. 3:4-5)

Men will be "traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power of it...."

2. A DENIAL OF CHRIST (2 Pet. 2:1)

The false prophets of the apostasy will be "denying the Lord that bought them...."

3. A DENIAL OF CHRIST'S RETURN (2 Pet. 3:3-4)

"...there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."

4. A DENIAL OF THE FAITH (1 Tim. 4:1)

"...in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith...."

5. A DENIAL OF SOUND DOCTRINE (2 Tim. 4:3-4)

"...the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but, after their own lusts, shall they heap to themselves [false] teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

6. A DENIAL OF THE SEPARATED LIFE (2 Tim. 3:1-2)

"...in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers...."

7. A DENIAL OF FREEDOM IN CHRISTIANITY (1 Tim. 4:3)

There will be a reversion to legalism. Some shall teach doctrines "forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving...."

8. A DENIAL OF MORALS (Jd. 18-19)

"How they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These are they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit."

9. A DENIAL OF BIBLICAL AUTHORITY (2 Tim. 3:8)

"...so do these also resist the truth, men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith."

Strange as it may seem, those denials are going to come within the framework of Christianity. We are well aware that many of them are already occurring in what we know as theological liberalism.

B. The Cautions Against Apostasy

In the book of Jude we find the subject of apostasy being dealt with again. It firmly warns against it in much the same way that the book of Hebrews does. In fact, of all the books I've studied, Jude reminds me more of Hebrews than any other book. Throughout the book of Hebrews, there are periodic warnings to potential apostates: people who are close to coming to Christ, but are in danger of turning their back and walking away into apostasy and damnation forever.

Jude begins his letter with a greeting in verses 1 and 2. He gives a warning in verse 3. Then in verse 4, he gives a description of apostasy. Now in verses 5 to 7, he speaks of God's attitude toward apostates. He uses three illustrations to show God's judgment of apostates: the Hebrews, the angels, and the Gentiles.

I. THE HEBREWS (v. 5)

"I will, therefore, put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not."

Here is a bit of history that all of us know about. God delivered Israel from the land of Egypt by a series of miracles, freeing them from Pharaoh's hand. The young nation entered into the wilderness, having passed through the midst of the Red Sea; its waters had rolled back and then closed upon Pharaoh's army. On the way to the Promised Land, they were granted the law of God at the foot of Mt. Sinai. However, in the process of their journey, Israel turned their backs on God, becoming apostates. Therefore, God let them wander in the wilderness for forty years until the older generation had died off so that they would not enter the Promised Land.

A. The Reason for Remembering

Jude said, "I want you to remember that story." Remembering biblical truth is an important practice. We need to recognize that everybody forgets, for with the decaying process of death is also a loss of memory. There must be a constant reminder of the Word of God. In verse 17, Jude reiterates that very idea: "But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ."

The readers of Jude's letter had earlier apostolic teaching on the subject of apostasy. They also had the Old Testament, which recounted the history of Israel in the wilderness. They knew that from the book of Exodus. When anybody wanted to talk about the history of the Israelites, they always included the deliverance from Egypt, which was the great account of God's redemptive love. Hence, that story was most familiar to them. That is why Jude says, "I just want to remind you of two facts, even though you've known them all along: the Lord miraculously delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, and the Lord destroyed those who apostatized.

B. The Reason for Retribution

1. ITS ACCOUNT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

The account of that terrible destruction is recorded in Numbers 13--14. God's mighty hand had delivered Israel, whom He guided safely across the desert to the borders of Canaan. At the door to Canaan at Kadesh-barnea, spies were sent out to spy the land before the final invasion was to take place. Ten came back and gave "an evil report of the land" (13:32): "We can't handle those people; they're huge. They're giants and we're grasshoppers!" They had what I call the "grasshopper complex." But two of them, Joshua and Caleb, came back and said, "They will be no problem; God's on our side. Let's go."

Unfortunately, the people believed the negative reports, so God said, "All right, every single person over twenty--with the exception of Joshua and Caleb--is going to die in the wilderness without entering the Promised Land, because you didn't believe Me." What an illustration! The Israelites had been delivered by miracles and set free from the land of Egypt to enter into the land that God had prepared for them in Canaan. But because of unbelief, they died in the wilderness and never entered the Promised Land. Jude is simply saying to his readers, "God deals sternly with those who turn their back on what they know is true. They had every reason to believe God, for He had proven Himself time and again.

2. ITS APPLICATION IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

The writer of Hebrews exhorted his Jewish readers not to make the same mistake their forefathers had. Some of them were on the fence regarding their decisions about Christ. They knew the evidence about salvation. Yet they were hesitating to make a commitment, because they were threatened by persecution from their family and friends.

a. The Example

"Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit saith, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, [testing] in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers put Me to the test, proved Me, and saw My works forty years" (3:7-9). In other words, "Don't do what the children of Israel did: They were freed from the land, ready to enter into Canaan, yet they didn't believe that God could give them victory over the inhabitants of the land. They doubted the God who had parted the Red Sea. Those people continually wanted God to prove Himself." However, God had proven Himself so many times that their demand for further proof was was ridiculous. People who always look for miracles don't have great faith; they just have doubt looking for proof.

Numbers 14:22-23 records the original rebuke of God: "Because all those men who have seen My glory, and My miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice; surely they shall not see the land which I swore to give unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked Me see it." God said, "Look, I've proven Myself; that is unnecessary. Your unbelief is simply demanding more proof." Instead of believing God as they wandered in the wilderness, their hearts got harder and harder.

The phrase "the day of trial" (Heb. 3:8), refers to the entire wandering period when the Israelites tested God. As a result of that provocation, verse 11 records God saying, "So I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest [Canaan]."

b. The Exhortation

Warning his Jewish brethren (not fellow Christians) against becoming apostates, the writer of Hebrews says, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end, while it is said, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For who, when they had heard, did provoke? Did not all that came out of Egypt by Moses? But with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to who swore He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us, therefore, fear lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." (3:12-4:2). God cut off a whole generation, except for Joshua and Caleb and the younger generation of Israelites, because of their unbelief.

What leads people to apostatize?

An apostate is somebody who knows the truth. Maybe he has been to church, or even read the Bible. He may know the gospel but never mixes that information with faith. The fact that God destroyed apostates shows how much He hates apostasy. It's inconceivable to me that somebody could know everything there was to know about Christianity and then reject it. Nevertheless, the New Testament lists several reasons that people apostatize:

1. PERSECUTION

Some people become apostates because they're not willing to pay the price. They know what it means to be a Christian, but they're not willing be counted for Christ. That was part of the problem of those the writer of Hebrews addressed.

Matthew 24:9-12 says, "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you; and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall grow cold." What makes the love of many grow cold? Persecution.

2. FALSE TEACHERS

False teachers also cause people to apostatize. One of Satan's strategies is to confuse a person who is on the verge of making a decision for Christ with false doctrine. The passage just mentioned in Matthew 24 says that "many false prophets shall rise, and deceive many....the love of many shall grow cold" (vv. 11-12).

3. TEMPTATION

Some people can't handle temptation. They get to the place where they receive the gospel intellectually, but then Satan showers them with temptation and draws them away by their lusts. (Eph. 2:2-3)

4. WORLDLINESS

Worldliness makes apostates. Second Timothy 4:10 says, "For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world...."

5. NEGLECT

Some people become apostates and step outside of God's grace and into His wrath simply because they neglect to make a decision. Hebrews 2:3 says, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation...?"

6. HARDENED HEARTS

There are other people who turn away because they harden their hearts as the Israelites did in the wilderness (Heb. 3:7-19).

7. RELIGION

Religion can be like a vaccination people often get to inoculate themselves against the real disease: Some people have just enough religion to immunize themselves from a full commitment to true religion. Hebrews 6:4-5 says that such people "have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come." Although their involvement in Christianity has been external, it's usually enough to pacify them.

8. FORSAKING TO ASSEMBLE

Apostasy can be caused by not assembling with Christians. That's why Hebrews 10:25 says that we Christians should not be "forsaking the assembling of ourselves together...." That appears to be a warning to potential apostates as much as it is an exhortation to Christians.

So, all of those elements are factors in leading a person to become an apostate. The Israelites fell to apostasy and God destroyed them. If you know the gospel of Jesus Christ and you turn your back without giving your heart to him, then you are an apostate. And God's attitude today isn't any different than it was then.

Jude gives a second illustration of apostasy in verse 6. However, that one comes not from the realm of men, but from the realm of...

II. THE ANGELS (v. 6)

"And the angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."

That verse has created problems for a lot of people, because it is not easy to understand. Jude is saying that there are some apostate Israelites in history (v. 5), and there are also some apostate angels. But unlike the Israelites who left Egypt, wandered in the wilderness, and died there because of their unbelief, the angels weren't wanderers. They had their own domain and their own habitation. In fact, at one time, they were in heaven with God Himself, but they turned their back on all of that and were banished.

People often say to me, "Isn't it a terrible thing that people have to go to hell?" The fact of the matter is, if people don't want Jesus Christ, they choose to go to hell. There were angels in heaven, but they chose to leave and wound up in hell. That's essentially the same choice that a man makes. God isn't going to force a man to go to heaven who doesn't want to be there. He didn't force angels to stay when they didn't want to be there. They wanted more than they thought heaven could offer, so they joined in the prideful rebellion of Satan and were thrown out.

But what about those angels? Who are they and what is their sin?

A. Their Iniquity

1. FAILING TO MAINTAIN VIGILANCE

"And the angels who kept not their first estate..."

The Greek word for "kept" means "to guard or protect." There was a failure on the part of the angels to maintain proper vigilance. The word for "estate" refers to "rule, dignity, or domain." The angels failed to guard their first domain. Instead of sticking with the dignity and rule that God had given them and their accompanying responsibilities, the angels rebelled.

2. LEAVING THEIR HABITATION

The angels left the habitation in heaven that God had designed for them. Having deliberately turned away from that which was consistent with their nature, the angels became apostates by also turning their backs on the place that God had assigned to them.

3. COMMITTING FORNICATION

Verse 7 gives us some clues as to the specifics of their iniquity: "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, [these angels] giving themselves over to fornication...." Whatever those angels did, it was the same thing that Sodom and Gomorrah did, namely, committing fornication: "going after strange flesh" (v. 7b). The angels are described in verse 6. They appear to be a likely antecedent of the word "themselves" in verse 7. Therefore, I believe that verse 7 is saying that the angels were giving themselves over to fornication.

So, what did those angels do? They didn't keep their first estate. Second, they left the normal place that their nature and design by God required of them. Third, they gave themselves over to a gross kind of sexual evil in the same way that Sodom and Gomorrah did. Do you remember what the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was? The men of those cities lusted after the angels who were staying with Lot. The fallen angels in verse 6 did the same thing that Sodom and Gomorrah did, except in reverse--they lusted after humans. They entered into a terrible perversion of sex. The "strange [Gk. heteras = `different'] flesh" was of a different nature than theirs. Just as the men of Sodom lusted after the angels, so the angels lusted after human flesh and committed fornication with human women. That's why I believe that the record of Jude 6-7 gives us a clue about...

B. Their Identity

1. DETERMINED

The account involving those angels is recorded in Genesis 6:1- 4: "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all whom they chose. And the LORD said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men who were of old, men of renown." The following verses tell us that God destroyed almost all life on the earth because man had become so corrupt. I believe that "the sons of God" refers to fallen angels, who produced a race of mighty creatures: half demon, half man. One of the reasons God brought the flood was in order to destroy that half-breed race.

2. DEFENDED

Now some people object here. They say, "You can't have angels there in Genesis 6 because of Matthew 22:30." That verse says, "For in the resurrection they [people] neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven."

a. Their Presence on Earth

Where is it that angels don't marry? In heaven. That's the first distinction you have to make. Matthew 22:30 is limited to the holy angels, the ones in heaven. It's not saying anything about angels that had been cast out of heaven and are now on earth.

b. Their Appearance as Males

Matthew 22:30 only implies that angels cannot procreate among themselves. People will say that angels couldn't impregnate women, because they assume that angels are without sex distinction. But the Bible doesn't say that. On the contrary, whenever they took on a human body, they always took on that of a male.

The verse is only talking about the holy angels in heaven, and it merely implies that angels can't procreate among their own kind. It's not talking about the demons, and it's not saying that they can't unite with humans.

Let's go back to Jude 6, where we see three statements regarding the judgment upon the fallen angels of Genesis 6:

C. Their Incarceration

1. ITS STATEMENT

a. "...in everlasting chains..."

Those angels are being kept by God in chains. The Greek verb for keeping is tereo, which is used in the perfect tense (indicating past action with continuing results). That implies that the angels were placed in confinement by God and are still there today. Obviously, Jude 6 can't refer to all the demons (fallen angels) because many are still active. The angels that committed that terrible atrocity in Genesis 6 are still confined with escape-proof chains.

b. "...under darkness..."

This is an interesting word that only appears here and in 2 Peter 2:4 and 17. It speaks of a terrible, dense blackness.

2. ITS SUPPORT

Second Peter 2:4 describes the same incident: "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [Gk. Tartaros], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." Peter called that dark place "Tartarus" (the Greek netherworld). I don't know much about it other than that it is a terrible place of blackness, where those demons are eternally chained until the great judgment that will occur at the end of Christ's millennial reign. I believe that the judgment of those fallen angels will take place at the end of the thousand years, after Satan and his demons are unbound (Rev. 20:7-10). The angels who sinned in Genesis 6 have been in chains since that time. However, the chains they endure now are only a prelude to the judgment that's coming on the great day of the Lord.

So Jude says, "Remember the angels that were created to occupy a domain in God's heaven with dignity worthy of that position: They turned from their Creator, deserted their habitation, went after strange flesh, and as a result, they have been cast into awful darkness until final judgment.

3. ITS SETTING

a. 2 Peter 2:4-5

Peter gives an interesting insight into the passage in Jude: "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah...." Verse 4 talks about the sin of the angels and verse 5 tells us the period of time in which it occurred--the time of Noah. I think that is very weighty in establishing that Genesis 6 records the sin of those angels.

b. 1 Peter 3:18-20

Peter gives us another insight in his first epistle: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the spirit" (v. 18). When Christ was on the cross, His body was dead. Was His spirit dead? Of course not. What was His spirit doing then? Verse 19 tells us: "...He went and preached unto the spirits in prison." This has got to refer to the same incident that Peter talks about later in 2 Peter and that Jude talks about in his epistle. I believe that the spirits in prison are the angels that were bound because of their terrible sin. When Christ died on the cross, all of hell probably thought that the forces of evil had pulled off a victory. But it wasn't long until the spirit of Christ descended into the place where the demons were bound and proclaimed victory over them. What demons were they? Verse 20 tells us that they were the ones "who at one time were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah...."

c. Genesis 6:2-4, 8

"That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all whom they chose. And the LORD said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them, the same became mighty men who were of old, men of renown. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth....But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." I believe that it is best to identify the terrible sin of apostasy among the fallen angels mentioned in Jude 6 with Genesis 6, where demonic beings cohabited with women. It is possible that they were attempting to produce a cross-breed race that could not be redeemed by the God-Man Jesus Christ. But God said, "I can't have that--I'm going to wipe them out." That is why He brought the flood and destroyed that whole generation upon the earth.

You say, "But how can you prove that the term `sons of God' refers to angels?" That term is used in Job 1:6, 2:1 and 38:7 to designate angels. Furthermore, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, also translates the word as "angels." Nowhere in the Old Testament is the term "sons of God" ever used for God's people except in Hosea 1:10, and there it is obvious what it means. Therefore, I believe it refers to angels.

Isn't the apostasy of the angels inconceivable to you? It is hard to believe that they could experience heaven in the presence of God and yet fall with Lucifer and then commit the terrible sin of Genesis 6!

Not only did the Israelites and those angels apostatize, but so did...

III. THE GENTILES (v. 7)

"Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these }[angels] indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire" (NASB).

Sodom and Gomorrah did essentially the same thing the angels did. You say, "But how could you consider Sodom and Gomorrah to be apostate? Did they ever know the truth?" You better believe it: Romans 1 says that every man has the knowledge of God and that he is without excuse. There's no reason to believe that Sodom and Gomorrah were ignorant. They rejected the truth and gave themselves over to indulging in a gross kind of sexual evil (Gr. ekporneuo) and in going after strange flesh. Genesis 19 records a bizarre story for us:

A. The Presence of the Angels

One other reason that I believe Sodom probably had information about the truth is that two angels went to the city to rescue the few righteous people in it. I'm sure that Lot and his family weren't the only righteous people who had ever lived in Sodom. "And there came two angels to Sodom at evening; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night" (vv. 1-2). Evidently, the angels didn't know what they could expect from the citizens of Sodom. Did you know that angels don't know everything? They don't have the absolute omniscience of God.

B. The Pleading of Lot

"And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleaven bread, and they did eat" (v. 3). Now that's interesting, isn't it? The angels were eating so they must have had some physical form so they could consume food.

C. The Perversion of the Crowd

"But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter. And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men who came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them" (vv. 4-5). The people of the city had seen a glimpse of glorious angels in human bodies. In that case, the word "know" doesn't mean "to get acquainted." Rather, it is used euphemistically for sexual intercourse, such as when "Cain knew his wife; and she conceived..." (Gen. 4:17). "And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, and said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly" (vv. 6-7). Lot knew what the men wanted. Hence, the word "sodomy" came to refer to homosexual relations.

D. The Persistence of the Crowd

"Behold now, I have two daughters who have not known man [virgins]; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed hard against the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. But the men [angels] put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great; so that they wearied themselves to find the door" (vv. 8-11). Do you know what amazes me? Even after they were blind, those men were still determined to get inside!

E. The Punishment of the Cities

"And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Son- in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place; for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them has become great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it" (vv. 12-13).

The sin of the Sodomites was that they lusted after a different kind of being: When two angelic visitors came to visit Sodom and ultimately rescue Lot, the Sodomites tried to engage in homosexual activity with them. For that reason, God judged Sodom and Gomorrah and their sister cities by wiping them off the face of the earth.

Conclusion

God has set before us in Jude three great historic illustrations of unbelief and apostasy. God hasn't changed--His reaction to apostasy today is the same as it's always been. There is a serious warning about apostasy in Hebrews 10:29-31: "Of how much sorer [worse] punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." God was severe in what He did to Israel, to the angels, and to Sodom and Gomorrah. But, the person worthy who, knowing the truth of Jesus Christ, tramples the blood of the covenant and considers it an unholy thing, and rejects the wooing of the Spirit of God is worthy of much worse punishment.

God dealt seriously with Israel, with the angels that fell, and with Sodom and Gomorrah. But God is now dealing with apostasy more seriously than He ever has, because it is a rejection of Jesus Christ--the epitome of evil. There is nothing that ever happened in the Old Testament to compare with the severity of judgment for rejecting the revelation of Jesus Christ. God is no respecter of persons. He didn't respect His own people who were unbelieving; He destroyed them. He didn't respect His own angels who were apostate; He incarcerated them. He didn't respect the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah who knew the truth; He wiped them out. And He will not respect anyone who refuses Jesus Christ. He says through the Apostle Paul at the end of 1 Corinthians, "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema..." (16:22).