Pastor Babij teaches today on the third doctrine of grace, limited atonement (also known as particular or definite atonement). Pastor Babij contrasts the biblical doctrine of limited atonement versus the commonly taught doctrine that Christ died for all. Pastor Babij examines various Scriptures that explain why Jesus died, for whom Jesus died, and why the work of salvation belongs completely and exclusively to God. Pastor Babij concludes his sermon with a call for those who hear this sermon to savingly repent, believe, and receive the gift of the entire work of salvation that God offers through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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okay this morning I’m going to continue on to look at the doctrines of grace and we are on the third one and that would be limited atonement in particular Redemption that particular one would be probably done more than just in one message and I planned on doing these all in one message but limited Selman because there’s so many other passages that you are wondering about I’m going to I’m gonna look at those passages next week and of course we already looked at the first two and today we are looking at the third one and then we’re going to look at double grace and then finally the perseverance of the saints and then I am looking forward to doing what I usually do go through a book and I will be I’m heading towards first Peter and and that’s what I am going to do so let’s pray and we’ll look at this this morning Lord this morning I pray that you would give us more understanding Lord about the reasons why you died for whom you died and I pray Lord that we would see the evidence right in Scripture that you would convince us Lord that this great plan of salvation started long before we were ever born it started in eternity in the council rooms of the Trinity and Lord we know that there you planned out everything and that all those that you chosen there in Christ will come to know you in time as they hear the gospel repent of their sins and believe by faith in the only sacrifice they have to forgive their sins wash it away and be made right with God so I pray Lord all of us would know this morning where we stand with you that we would know for sure that if we were to die today that we would know we would go into your presence and I pray that answer would be clear to us that we would be convinced of that and I pray that you would help us as we look at these truths the core of the gospel to be just strengthen them in them grow in them and become convicted of them and I pray this in Christ’s name Amen all right so as we move through these doctrines I have already mentioned that these are important to understand for our Christian faith they do really inform our view of God our view of who we are our view of how someone actually gets right with God and then of course today we’re going to look at it how it informs our view of the nature of the atoning work of Christ’s atonement remember is is the covering that the blood of Christ provides for all those who come to believe in him as Lord and Savior and so today that’s what we’re looking at we’re looking at this great doctrine of what it’s called limited atonement another way of saying it is particularly demson and then also another way would be even definite Redemption all those have been used to describe this doctrine and from my last message on unconditional election I must say election itself saved no one it only marked out particular sinners for salvation those chosen by the father and given to the son had to be redeemed if they were to be saved that means no one can be saved apart from believing the gospel the common view is though in life in general is that people Jesus died for everyone limited atonement particular atonement definite atonement does not mean that Christ’s death was limited in value the gospel is to be offered to all and it is often said the atonement was sufficient for all and efficient only for those who believe are only for the elect now according to RC sprawl great theologian especially on doctrines like this he said that the most important question was what was the original purpose of of Christ’s death what was the original purpose was that purpose first of all – was that purpose to make possible the salvation of all people on the condition of their believing which secured salvation for no one people who are of another persuasion theological II would say the atonement was not designed by God to purchase the specific people for himself but to make salvation possible for any person who will of his will of his own will free will repent and believe and of course or the second would be or was it to ensure the salvation of his people which was definite in design and accomplishment now this doctrine states that the death of Christ actually put away the sins of all God’s elect and ensured that they would be brought to faith through regeneration or through being born again and kept in faith until glory that’s what it says now from this definiteness and the effectiveness follows its limitless limitlessness that Christ did not die in this efficacious sense for everyone in other words and all would agree with this not everyone is saved not everyone gets saved now the issue of limited atonement the atonement the atonement is limited in its design that is the original design of the atonement was to provide a definite sacrifice for the elect a definite shedding of blood that washes away sin and cover sins forever for God’s chosen that their sins would be covered and washed away so that God’s children could be made right with God forever all right so in this particular truth there is no losing your salvation because once you are saved you are saved forever because of not what you’ve done but everything that God has done so we need to answer some basic questions concerning the definiteness of Christ’s atonement and of course those questions would be my things not working right I don’t know why well anyway we’ll follow along to just look at there’s five basic reasons to answer the first question let me see if it works now all right yes here we go we’re back up technology I don’t like it I don’t know about you I never feel comfortable with technology there’s always something that goes wrong and nobody knows how to fix it except one guy in the room you know and he’s got all those degrees and stuff like that right Greg and then Lyndon over there too so there’s two guys in the room they know how to fix it so it’s still not there he goes right there all right so so what’s there’s five reasons for the reason for Christ’s death and the first one is to justify the many justify the many now I would like you to take your Bibles and turn to several versus this one I’m gonna have on the screen for you and it’s this that the Lord actually a second reason would be that he died to redeem and to cleanse sinners by paying the price for their sin thereby purchasing a people for himself the first passage of scripture in Isaiah 53 see the bearing of iniquities means that all whose iniquities Christ bore must be justified it says as a result of the anguish of his soul he will see see it and be satisfied by the knowledge of the righteous one my servant will notice what it says justify the many how does he justify the many the last part of the verse by he will bear their iniquities that’s how he justifies them so the the fact of Christ’s death resurrection and intercession means that no one for whom Christ died and was raised to intercede for or pray on their behalf may be condemned that’s a given in Scripture that it says in Romans chapter 8 verse 34 who is the one who condemns Christ Jesus is he who died yes rather who was raised who has at the right hand of God and noticed the last part who also intercedes for us now who is the US the US is his children the US is of course the elect also so Jesus priestly work of Prayer on the night before his death was directly connected to his priestly work of sacrifice now I would like you to take your Bibles and turn to the Gospel of John chapter 17 and verse 2 we can’t read all of it verse 6 and then verse 8 and 9 now in saying this that this is where the Lord prayed and of course this prayer was for to the father but it was particular this prayer notice what it says in John chapter 17 verse 2 it says even as you gave him authority over all flesh that to all whom you have given him he may give eternal life right and then no down go down to verse 6 I have manifest that your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world they were yours and you gave them to me and they have kept your word and verse number 8 go down to verse 8 for the words which you gave me I have given to them and they receive them and truly understood that I came forth from you they believed that you sent me and then verse 9 I ask on their behalf I do not ask on behalf of the world but of those you have given me for they are yours now you notice the stress that the Lord puts on this particular prayer that he doesn’t pray for everyone alright he prays for specifically for those who are his and so the Old Testament high priests of Israel always offered sacrifices for specific sinners and a specific multitude so on his shoulders on the high priests olders and on his chest the high priests bore the names of the tribes of Israel engraved on precious stones Aaron word says shall carry the names of the sons of Israel in the breasts piece of judgment over his heart when he enters the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually in other words it was specifically for these people that the high priests offered his atoning sacrifice multitude of specific people in the same way Jesus presented his life of sacrifice for the same people for whom he had been praying in the Gospel of John record they’re in Chapter 17 that the death of Jesus Christ actually accomplished the salvation of all those whom the father had given to him see that is what the point is now that second point is that the reason why the Lord died is to wreath redeem and cleanse sinners by paying the price for their sin thereby purchasing a place of people for himself now so the fact that Christ bought us and purified us means that those for whom Christ died are his own possession and cleanse for his presence now if you notice the passage up up there in Titus chapter 2 verse 14 it says who gave himself for us who’s the us the elect to redeem us the elect from every lawless deed and purify for himself a people for his own possession and those people then would be zealous for good works so that means that Jesus death paid the debt once and for all for the sin of his sheep there’s no further payment necessary in other words God will not demand a double payment for sin in other words once for by his son and once by the sinner that’s not going to happen Jesus death was completely effective in paying off the debt for all the sins of his children forever even the worst sin and of course the what is the worst sin the worst sin is really the sin of unbelief if somebody remains in unbelief they’re still under God’s wrath and condemnation but if you turn to Jesus and repentance of course there is a change that happens to the person because they believe in Christ if you never believed in him be sure of this this fact that he did not die for your sins of unbelief he did not die for the unbelief of all people he died only for the sins of unbelief committed by the people who would eventually come to believe in him that’s what he came to do to redeem and then to cleanse them completely forever and then of course there is the next thing that he did and that’s the third reason and it would be it would be this that he came to propitiate the father to propitiate the father let me see if this is gonna work this doesn’t want to work the way I wanted to today but anyway to propitiate the father now what this propitiate is a big word propitiation simply means the turning away or the appeasement of God’s wrath therefore by definition the father has no more wrath against those whose sins have been propitiate it Jesus death removed the wrath of God from sinners now an ex reason would be that God died and I’ll come back to the passage that goes with that is to make reconciliation between an offended God and an offending sinner and of course the first passage of Scripture found in 1st John of chapter 4 and verse number 10 where it says in this is love in this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be a propitiation for sin so in other words Jesus absorbed in himself the full wrath of God for a great multitude of sinners sin received the full four Jewellery of the holy of holy God at the crust of Christ and that’s what Christ bore that particular day on the cross a good example would be in Luke chapter 18 turned there Luke chapter 18 verse 13 and 14 this is the the story of the story of the tax collector or the publican used another passage of Scripture who cried out to God for mercy on him and he was asking for God to actually be propitious towards him he saw himself a sinner under God’s wrath notice notice what it says in verse 13 of Luke chapter 18 it says but the tax collector standing some distance away was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner a right and mercy and propitiation are very closely linked because mercy is asking God to have compassion on you in your helpless state as the center you can’t do anything to rid yourself of the of your sin or the condemnation which sin brings and then verse 14 it says this is what Jesus says I tell you this man went to his house noticed justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled but He Who humbles himself will be exalted in other words God heard his cry of mercy Lord be merciful to me a sinner and as it is found in the person of Jesus Christ he removed his wrath from that person who calls upon him for salvation and he declares that person righteous and justified before God and that would be forever in Christ Jesus and so that becomes very important so what needs to be removed is God’s emnity against sinners now you didn’t know that before you became a believer you were an enemy of God right and if you’re not a believer you are an enemy of God all right and of course so here is the question or here’s the statement what needs to be removed is God’s emnity against sinners and of course the passage of Scripture would be found in the Word of God in Romans chapter 5 verse number 10 where it says for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by his life so that next reason is not only that he Jesus died to propitiate the father so the father’s wrath can be turned away from you forever but also now to make reconciliation between an offended God and an offending sinner and be sure of this you don’t need to reconcile friends you need to reconcile enemies right we were enemies of God and so that reconciliation had to come through Jesus Christ and of course there is one last thing and that is the the last reason well there’s more reasons but these are the ones I’m mentioning this morning is that of two rays to be raised to new life in other words if Christ died for someone then with no other conditions that person died with him and then also will be raised with him see that’s what the scripture tells us in this passage of Scripture for the love of Christ controls us having concluded this that one died for all therefore all died and he died for all so that they whom who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who died and rose again and noticed on their behalf so he is dying on behalf of a particular specific group of people he’s not dying for every single human being ever lived all these five reasons mean that his death had a purpose which was which was intended for some and not for others his death had an effective intent that was limited to certain persons that’s what me it would it means by limited atonement or particular or definite atonement it was limited to a specific group a certain group of persons and of course from Ephesians those persons were elected in Christ before the foundation of the world now there’s a another question that we need to ask and of course it would be for whom then did Christ die and I’ve been saying the purpose was to redeem a certain people not others so that second question is for whom did Christ die now Christ gave His life in particular for certain people now I would like you to take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 6 and verse 35 John chapter 6 and verse 35 and I’ll read down the verse number 40 it says Jesus said to them John 6 verse 35 I am the bread of life he who comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in Me will never thirst but I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe all that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me verse 39 this is the will of him who sent me that of all that he has given me I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day for this is the will of my father that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life and I myself will raise up on the last day now that passage of Scripture of course tells us something it tells us of course of course that the Lord definitely died for certain people and of course that passage of Scripture I’m trying to get it up alright so the last part of that of course in verse number 40 it says everyone who bolt beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life and I myself will raise him up on the last day so in other words in this passage of Scripture there’s actually a sequence found and that sequence would be first of all that all that the father gives are drawn secondly all who are drawn come thirdly all who come Jesus receives so in other words this whole context where where the Lord says if you anyone who comes unto me I will in no wise cast out well anyone who comes to Christ and believes in him and receives him as who he is and what the father has done through him he will turn no one down he will turn no one down and also all who are drawn are raised up to eternal life so from from the day of conversion till the day that you pass out of this world the whole plan of salvation is taken care of this is not because you and I are inherently desirable we are not desirable we are ungodly we’re unholy we are not desirable at all it is because you and I are a gift from the father to the son that is the main reason why anyone will be saved of course then the John passage of Scripture that all that he has given me tells that none of these will be lost so all those given by the father to the son as a gift will not only be saved but none of them will ever be lost so there’s the security that comes in one salvation and of course I’ve already mentioned that Christ intercedes in particular for certain people from the John 17 passage and that also that Christ intercedes were praised for the same people for whom he offered himself up as a sacrifice where it tells us in Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 therefore he is able to save forever those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make interception intercession for them and why does he do that and he did it when he offered himself up for this particular group of people now that is those whom the Lord purpose to redeem include all who believe sorry about that all right so Christ’s saving work is commonly spoken of in terms of all and world people say well didn’t doesn’t the Bible said Christ died for everyone or all people and of course the passage of Scripture that does come come to mind is in John chapter 16 probably a verse that I’ll not look at this morning for the sake of time but we do know this that verses that do use the word all whole or world are interpreted in a certain way in other words on the screen does all mean all all the time see we must not forget while reading through the scripture that its language is sometimes figurative and hyperbolic all right universal terms are used when we don’t mean universal in fact for example if a husband or wife says to each other you always leave the towel on the floor in the bathroom and never hang it up now that may be true some of the time or even most of the time but it is not true all of the time all right even though we may use all so we use all when we really don’t actually mean all the scripture the scriptural point is that the reason these general terms are used in the Word of God was actually to correct a false notion of salvation that salvation was somehow just for the Jew alone and it wasn’t for the world of all men of all nations and every creature all these are used to correct the mistaken notion that salvation was for the Jew alone Christ died for the Jews and the Gentiles without distinction but they are not intended to indicate that Christ died for all men without exception he did not I for the purpose of saving each and every lost sinner if he did everyone would be saved but everyone is not saved now I’m gonna look at some verses that actually show that’s death Scripture sometimes uses all world and whole in a very specific way could you see that I’m gonna read it to you I think next week I’m gonna um I can widen the picture to include the whole screen there I have to learn how to do that though alright Luke chapter 2 verse number 1 if here’s the passage now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that’s a census be taken of all the inhabited of the earth now did they mean in that passage all the world the people or did it mean all the Roman world it meant all the Roman world alright also this another passage would be Luke 2:10 but the angel said to them do not be afraid for behold I will bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people now did it mean for every person or all ethnic groups well if it meant all ethnic groups that all different kinds of people from all different places that it would be good news it’s not good news Christ is not good news for every people a person right people reject Jesus all the time it’s not good for them they want to avoid it they don’t want to even consider it they think it’s foolish and then Colossians chapter 1 in verse 5 and 6 it says because of the hope laid up for you in heaven of which you previously heard in the word of truth the gospel which has come to you just as all the world also is constantly bearing fruit and increasing even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth now just as it has come to all ethnic groups it was not talking about just geography there all over the world all the geographical world know all ethnic groups in the world and then another passage of scripture is John 12 and verse number 19 so the Pharisees said to one another you see that you are not doing any good look the world has gone after him now does it mean there every person in the world has gone after him or a lot of people have gone after him all right and and specifically a lot of people from different ethnic groups besides in fact Israel was not even coming to Christ very few were coming to Christ they weren’t coming to Christ nationally they were coming to Christ individually all right now I do want you to consider this next passage of Scripture what does it does what does the world mean in one of the most famous passage of scriptures in all the Bible what does the world mean in John 3:16 now look what it says John 3:16 all right it says for God so loved the world right that he gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life now let me set up the context for you Jesus in John chapter 3 is talking to Nicodemus right and who is Nicodemus Nicodemus was a Jewish teacher right he was a Jewish teacher and of course he was also a teacher of the law and of the prophets Nicodemus was in a culture that was obsessed obsessed with race and ethnicity that is salvation belong in his mind just to the physical descendants of Abraham not to all the other nations not to all the other ethnic groups of the world so he was looking for a messiah who would come who would just be for the Jews just be for the Jewish nation it never dawned on Nicodemus or even the Jews even if you read the Gospels you’ll see that it even dawn on the Jews it didn’t dawn on the Jews that in on their mind that the Messiah would pay for the sins of Romans and for Greeks and for Samaritans and for Gentiles it didn’t dawn on them why because they were defiled people they needed to be thrown out and removed from God and destroyed and sent to hell it was inconceivable to the Jew that a Gentile could be saved could be forgiven of sin and could be made right with God see that was in the mind of Nicodemus to understand what this word world means in John 3:16 it doesn’t mean that the Lord died for every single person who ever lived in the world doesn’t mean that it means that he died for certain people people outside the nation of Israel and in the nation of Israel both listen when Pastor John Gill old Puritans said about this verse he says now I quote in opposition to such a notion our Lord addresses this June Nicodemus and it is as if he said you Nicodemus say that when Messiah comes only the Israelites the particular favorite of God shall share in the blessing that came by and with the Messiah and that the Gentiles shall reap no advantage by him at all being hated by God and rejected of him but I tell you God so loved the Gentile as well as the Jew so the Lord was driving out of the mind of Nicodemus this wrong notion that when the Messiah came he would just come for the you in Israel know when the Messiah came he was going to come for all ethnic groups aren’t you glad about that because if he weren’t glad about that you couldn’t if well you couldn’t be saved if this didn’t happen you understand you couldn’t be sitting here today knowing Christ as your Lord and Savior if this did not take place now hopefully the next time you read John 3:16 you will consider in that particular passage of Scripture that the world does not mean every single person it does not mean every single person so in other words we have to be conditioned to read the Word of God and look at the details of the text remember the Holy Spirit of God used words to communicate to us so are there any particular passages of scripture that would seem to limit the atonement to less than every single person yes there are several and I listed them on the screen and I just want to see if the highlight comes up all right Isaiah 53 verse number 11 it says there will justify the many I’ll just read the part in yellow as he will bear their iniquities and then also isaiah 53:12 yet he himself bore the sins of many and interceded for the transgressors in matthew chapter 20 verse number 20 it says just as the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many and then revelation five and verse number nine which is a very good and pointed passage of scripture about this particular subject and it says this and they sang a new song saying worthy are you to take the book and break its seals for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men notice from every tribe and tongue and people and nation in other words he will pick men from tribes tongues people nations out of every one of those sections of humanity not every single person and then of course John 10:11 I am The Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the Sheep he is paying off the ransom on behalf of the Sheep now I do like you to turn to another passage of scripture in John chapter 10 and verse number 24 John 10 24 in verse 3 verse 26 let me just read that follow along with me because again this passage of Scripture is saying something very important in John 10 24 it says the jews then gathered around him and were saying to him how long will you keep us in suspense if you are the Christ tell us plainly verse 25 jesus answered them I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my father’s name these testify of me and then in verse 26 he says you do not believe because you are not my sheep you see that there see that’s looking at it that the reason why they didn’t believe is because they were not the Lord’s sheep in the first place and that’s why they did not believe and so looking in Scripture there are several things that comes to mind on this number one the sheep are those to whom he gives eternal life also secondly they are those for whom he lays down his life thirdly they are not all because he tells those who were rejecting him they were not his sheep and then of course the whole language used implies that the salvation of the sheep alone is the object for which he laid down his life so Jesus did not lay down his life for the wolves and for the goats just for the sheep so then when Jesus was dying on the cross he was substituting himself paying the price for their sins for a particular specific people all those the father had given him was on his heart but all also those who do not believe that would retort well what about the passage that suggests that Christ died for all people you know you know what I mean you know what I’m talking about because I had some of the same questions but what about this passage and what about that passage which seems to point that in some way Christ died for all people like John 3:16 like first Timothy 2 3 and 4 and chapter 6 verse 4 to 10 and 2nd Peter chapter 1 to 2 verse 1 in 1st Corinthians 15:22 see what about those passages well I’m gonna look at every one of those passages but not today next week I’m gonna look at those passages right now I was going to be considering the next the first passage which is John 3:16 but I am NOT going to do that right now so I’m gonna go down and and just relate to you a story alright because there’s one thing that remains in all that I say here this morning and it’s this the one thing that remains clear is that the death of Christ actually accomplished the salvation of all those whom the father had given him and he would lose nobody he would lose not one person so if you today are a believer in Christ if you today this morning are a believer in Christ it is because he had your name on his heart as he offered himself in sacrifice to the Father if you have not believed according the scripture you remain under the damning sin of unbelief however if you humble yourself and cry out for the mercy of God towards sinners as found in Jesus Christ you can be like the tax collector you can be declared righteous before the tribunal of God despite your sin and you can rest assured that the death of Jesus has removed the wrath of God from you once and for all so there needs to be a change there needs to be a change that takes place in everyone all right and of course that change according to the Bible we can never please God merely by the things that we think and do we can’t please him by merely believing Orthodox truth about him also we cannot please him a passage of Scripture there recorded is pointing to that particular direction and also we can’t please him by merely pulling up ourselves by our own bootstraps we can’t do that c4 says but for by the grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God lest any man should boast their worship ended up being worship but nothing but rote learned by Road that’s how they worshiped God and God was not pleased with that and then of course a next thing would be what will the change involve when someone comes to Christ well our our inability to please him please God by ourselves means that the real change of Christian conversion must involve relying on Christ alone and repentance and of course in belief now that means to turn true repentance means that you turn away and turn to you turn away from the many individual sins by which you have offended God’s character and broken his law you turn away from secondly from any attempt whatsoever to justify yourself before God by appealing to your own Orthodox beliefs or acceptable behavior or what is called today moralism there’s a lot of moralism today but it’s not salvation we turn to God also and look to him to pardon our sin to give us right standing before God and to bring us into close fellowship with him so true belief also would be include that that it’s not only repentance in Christ but it’s also belief in Christ and of course true repentance and true belief means that we trust only in the person the death the resurrection of Jesus Christ that also when we think of that we trust Jesus as God’s appointed provision for the forgiveness of sins we trust Jesus for moral power to effect real change in our thoughts and our attitudes in our motives in our desires and our affections in our words in our actions in the patterns of relating to God and to others in a godly and a only way also we trust Jesus to keep us in this saving belief until he takes all of us away to heaven where faith will become sight no longer will we need faith we’ll see him for the Bible does tell us that the sorrow according to the will of God produces repentance without regret leading to salvation but the sorrow of the world produces death now you may be in a place right now where you say I’m a little confused right I’m a little confused some say don’t need to do anything to be saved God’s job is to forgive Christ died for all people without exception so we all have been saved already regardless of whether or not we ever make a decision to become Christ’s disciples others say that our salvation is up to us we simply need to make the decision to follow and obey Christ which we have full power to do of our own free will and then of course some the Bible not some the Bible presents conversion as God giving us the desire to repent and believe biblical conversion does involve our repentance and belief but it is God who’s behind this behind the scenes working in our hearts to bird’ produce that repentance and belief in us it says in Scripture work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work of his good pleasure conversion must be God’s work because we are unable to produce repentance and belief on our own we cannot do that whatsoever we can never do that on our own so when preaching the gospel the Bible tells us the preacher is really preaching to a bunch of life lifeless corpses therefore whether we stand in the pulpit or sit in the pews we are dependent on God to produce this repentance and belief in someone else we can’t do it ourselves we can’t sell save people our ourselves we could never do it now in saying all that I like to really relate a story to you that actually happened to one of my family members in the past couple weeks his name is Chris he and his wife Jenny planned a vacation with some friends in which they were going to attend a Country Music Festival route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas a group of 8 attended the nightly concert together and booked rooms in the Mandalay Bay Hotel one of Chris’s friends Georgina co pansy said it was really just a wonderful event until the very last hour just before it was over when the shooting happened when the gunfire started their group was split in two Georgina’s husband Mark and others stayed back on the lawn in the outdoor concert venue while Georgina joined her friend Jenny and Chris in standing only in the standing only area to get a closer look at the show like many concert goers we thought the rapid-fire shooting was actually firecrackers Georgina said my friend Chris Bobby who was standing next to me fell to the ground he had been shot but he was alive when it became clear what was happening people panicked and ran anywhere and everywhere in order to find cover Chris ended up across the street from the concert at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino his father texts me yesterday his son is not a believer and he said that his son told him that while he was running having been shot he was thinking in his mind that the second shot may be fatal and the next thought that came into his mind was this if I die where will they go heaven or hell now how is it that someone who has rejected the gospel many times would have that thought in their mind at that point I would say that God the Father was drawing him was showing him that the most important thing in life that’s already you already know who Christ your career recruiter is it’s already in your heart the most important thing in life would be to answer the question if I died today where would I go heaven or hell no purgatory sorry it’s not in the Bible where would I go and to ask a second question if you were to die and stand before God and God would say to you why should I let you into my heaven what would you tell him if you tell him that you’re a good person if you tell him that you’re immoral you don’t kick the dog you try not to hurt anybody if you tell him that that’s good things I’m glad you’re doing that but that’s not going to get you into prescence the only thing that is going to get you into his presence is to believe completely and totally in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you get there by repentance and faith in him alone right that’s the only way now just to pick the story up again Chris did end up across the street at the Grand Hotel and Casino there he was safe and we received some help however they realized that he was shot in the shoulder and needed more expertise medical help but by that time the hospitals in the area were so overwhelmed they could take no one else and so the likelihood of Chris getting into an area hospital was very slim then someone stepped up an anonymous donor paid for Chris to be flown back to his home in California in a medical helicopter in order to have surgery on his sole shoulder and have the bullet removed his wife was traumatized but unharmed Chris’s friend said I never really thought I would ever be in a situation like this no one ever does the scariest part was not knowing where the shots were coming from and how many shooters there were 59 dead and well over 500 wounded that just happened not too long ago right and so you and I could probably say that share some kind of story in our life in which we knew God the Creator who made us in His image was speaking to us was drawing us and then if it be that you came to Christ and believed in him as your Lord and Savior after conversion it became clear to you that the Lord was indeed speaking to you and he brought into your life a happening an event a person to do one thing to draw you to himself that’s what he does see so a sinner needs to be changed the sinner needs to be changed and of course how does that change great change happen well first God calls people to himself enabling them to hear and understand the gospel all right that’s what he does a second thing is that God graciously grants those he calls the free gifts of repentance and faith those gifts are given to us by God and then what happens this is what happens we pray we pray so Chris Bobby his father and mother being Christians actually got saved out of our ministry here Calvary his son asked them dad will you share with me the gospel and so I believe that he trusted Christ but I prayed that it’s true conversion I prayed that it’s conversion not just after the event fades from his mind he goes back to his old way but he produces fruits of repentance see saying all that for this reason God is at work conversion is a work of God and he sovereignly grants life to our spiritual dead hearts and produces in us a willingness to repent of our sins and believe the gospel if that did not happen no one would get saved you realize that so everybody is head heading to hell and by God’s mercy electing mercy God chooses from that group of people of all ethnic groups and all nations people to be saved because the father already gave those people to the son a gift now the son had to die in the place of those people so their sins could be wiped away right and so the Spirit of God can grant unto them faith and repentance and they come to believe in Jesus Christ be saved eternally so you see that if someone is saved like this they cannot lose their salvation they have it forever because it came from God who is the source God is the one who saves us keeps us causes us to persevere and what takes us to glory right that’s what happens so that’s part one of this and I hopefully next time this works better I don’t know why didn’t work so well let’s pray I blame myself nobody else on that Lord this morning I do ask you that I do ask you Lord Jesus that today that you would give us a greater understanding of this truth this is not an easy truth but it is a truth from Scripture and this is exactly what you have done Lord and the so I pray Lord as we consider these doctrines that they would expand in our mind that our understanding would become clear as we come across passages of Scripture that indicate that you died for your sheep that you redeemed and cleanse them that you propitiated the father that you made reconciliation for people who were your enemies and that you justify them by dying in their place and now you intercede for all those who come to know you as their Lord and Savior I pray Lord this would become clearer every day of our life and as it does Lord I know it only does one specific thing it causes us to worship you and praise you for who you are and what you have done because all honor does go to your name and only your name and all glory goes to you we could take no credit for anyone’s in our own salvation so we bow before your mighty hand and we pray that you would bless us and thank you for the Word of God strengthen us by it this morning and if there’s someone Lord who as of yet has not come to believe in you as their Lord and Savior I pray you would have mercy on them they would cry out for mercy and like the publican they would walk away justified because they believed alone in Christ Jesus to save them and I pray this in your name Amen let’s