NOW LET'S

LOOK AT THIS

MATTER OF

ATONEMENT:
part two

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Here are a few questions we need to answer:

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(one bookcase of books in Library)

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· Did God because of something within His own nature or something intrinsic to man have to save sinners?


· Did God's attributes of love, mercy and compassion necessitate or force Him to act?

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· Could God have left the whole human race to perish in their sins if He so desired?
Here is the answer to these questions:

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· The scriptural answer as I understand it: God's decision to save a people for Himself was a free choice that was not determined by any internal or external necessity.
> Paul says that God's predestination of the elect to salvation in Christ was "according to the good pleasure of His will" Eph 1:5. "Jesus Christ..gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, Galatians 1:4. In Colossians, Paul said, "it pleased the Father..to reconcile all things to Himself by Him."(1:19).

These verses I believe clearly show that God's decision to save sinners was a free sovereign choice

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Have you wondered why the Bible often speaks of salvation, being born again, as a "free gift" from God? So what does this mean? It doesn’t mean that achieving redemption was without cost. I Corinthians 6:20, 7:23 Christians are "bought at a price." Christ redeemed the church with His own precious blood (1 Peter 1:19). So this free gift refers to the fact that God imparts salvation to the elect freely or voluntarily.

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God was not obligated to save anyone, but out of His own good pleasure He gave "freely".

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God did not have to save anyone! What do you mean by that? But He "freely" did. As Paul said that believers are "justified freely by His grace." Romans 3:24; that God will "freely give us all things," Romans 8:32,; that the Holy Spirit enables us to "know the things that have been freely given to us by God"I Corinthians 2:12. This is what happened when the Holy Spirit enabled me at seven, I believe, to understand what Jesus Christ was freely giving to me, salvation.

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God’s free spirit in giving salvation to the elect, (that is a term I have used forever to mean that God elects people unto salvation, He personally brings people unto Himself, not by anything we do but wholly by His own free will), is directly connected with the biblical concept of grace.

What do you mean?

GRACE as I understand, is that God gives His favor and salvation to those who deserve wrath and hell-fire, to those who hate God and are His enemies. Salvation that is presented in the Bible is never given by obligation or debt. Nor given by God seeing before hand one’s faith, good works, or bloodline, or nationality. Those things have nothing to do with God’s free choice to give as He Himself is glorified. Remember that verse in Romans 9:18 "Therefore He has mercy on whom He will, and whom He will He hardens."

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So was this sovereign good pleasure of God just a decision that was done purely arbitrarily. No. This atonement, the means whereby God could bring one to salvation,was by an act that was rooted in His nature. That was ‘love." John 3:16 "For God so loves the world that he gave His own begotten Son." And I John 4:9-11, "In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the World, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loves us, we also ought to love one another."

Here it is about atonement, the love of God is the spring from which the atonement flows. Jesus’ death was the absolute manifestation of God’s love. "But God" in Romans 5:8, "in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." That is love.

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In Romans 8:29 Paul writes that God’s love preceded election. He loved us first, then elected us to Himself. "For whom He foreknew , He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son." "To love before hand."

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Why did Jesus come and die? He didn’t have to. We were all His enemies. No one, nobody loved Jesus. He loved us so, that He did come, and die on the cross.

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God so loved, that He by His free sovereign choice, freely gave grace to those who by His good pleasure, He chose to bring to Himself. Why He set His love on me, I don’t know; but I know it was He who first set His love on me.

THE ATONEMENT OF JESUS CHRIST THE MOST IMPORTANT AND SIGNIFICANT EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAS THE CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST

Part One

When I was saved!

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Most people know that Jesus was crucified almost 2000 years ago in Palestine. Some people even have an idea as to why Jesus was crucified, or at least what Christians say He was crucified. They seem to know that his death on the cross had something to do with ones salvation, and going to Heaven.

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When you question folks regarding the biblical, theological significance of Jesus's person and work most people are quite ignorance of God's Word.

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Terms like "atonement" and "substitutionary work" and "reconciliation" are unknown to most people today.

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I am not sure that as a youth I understood those terms. As a fundamental Baptist those terms were way too big. I think I was in college before I heard those terms. Yet the library that dad had was filled with theological books, and Charles Spurgeons books were on the front row. I even read Spurgeon a lot, and used his outlines as study tools to teach the Psalms, and other sermons I would preached.

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The word "atonement" is a theological term that is used to describe the substitutionary work of Christ. The word occurs in the KJV in Romans 5:11, and the basic meaning of the term is "reconciliation." (another big word).

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The word "atonement" is takes on the meaning of Christ's work of redemption on behalf of His people. From Genesis 3:15 to the New Testament, the theme was about Christ and His need to become the Savior.

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THE DEATH OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS

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The center of the Christian faith is the death of Christ on the Cross. Its the very heart of our faith. The New Testament writers ascribe the saving efficacy of Christ's work directly to His death, or sometimes used "His blood," even sometimes "His cross."

• Romans 3:25
• Romans 5:9
• I Corinthians 10:16
• Ephesians 1:7, 2:13
• Colossians 1:20
• Hebrews 9:12,14
• I Peter 1:2, 19
• 1 John 1:7, 5:6-8

Now this whole topic would take a book or two to fully address. People have a number of ideas as to why Christ died on the Cross. And a number of reasons are giving as to what happen as a result of Christ dying on the Cross. Why was it necessary for Christ to die? Why did God require Himself to die on the Cross? And what did the shedding of his blood have to do with salvation? And many can't figure out all that went on in the Old Testament with the blood, the killing of animals. And why was it necessary to redeem people as a result of what Adam did in the garden?

Most of us were saved as a youth, and had no idea of the atonement. Many of us couldn't understand why we would even go to Hell and not to Heaven. Why would God let any of us go to Hell? Why we needed to be "saved?? Saved from what we would ask? And that term "sin", we were "sinners" where did that come from? I knew that I had taken some candy from across the street, but that was'n real bad, besides I got caught and punish by Dad, but I didn't think it would cause me to go to Hell. You know?

I had a hard time knowing who Jesus Christ was! Of course I must say I slept a lot in church. Thank goodness Mom was a good Sunday School teacher. But I didn't get a whole lot out of preaching (sorry Dad). But I did learn about sin, and Heaven, and Hell, and the need to "get saved." I knew if I didn't do something I was really in trouble about getting to Heaven. I wasn't really ready to go to Heaven at five or seven.

Now when Evangelist Bob Obton came to our church, and the preached, the old fashioned way, and he did some really neat stuff to get our attention. He would bend a two penny nail and would get into a bag and have it locked, and we would escape. That was impressive.

At the end of his sermon, he would ask, "WHO WANTS TO GO TO HEAVEN?" Well of course who wouldn't, right? So I went to the front of the church to see how I could get to Heaven from Roanoke, Virginia. (had to do that,sorry).

Here is what I remember: "Charles do you know John 3:16?" "No." I said. "And you are a preachers son and you do not know John 3:16?" I really felt bad about that. So I went back into the back room to learn that verse. Then I believe someone help me to learn the verse and what they believed the verse meant. We are sinners, and need to be saved, and Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, and if we had faith to believe that by Jesus dying on the cross He made it possible for us to be saved. I believed that for sure. That is about all I remember.

Was I saved that Sunday Morning? Good question. I didn't understand the "atonement." I really didn't know why it was necessary for God to have His Son Jesus to be born, and live and die for me in the first place. But you know, something happen in my life that day, that really changed my ability to understand all this about Jesus Christ. And when Mom would teach and Dad would preach, I got it. Of course, not theologically.

Looking back, knowing what I know now, theologically, I believe I was saved then. Because of God's grace, He saved me the moment my heart was open to His grace, and the faith to believe was not mind but Christ.

Part Two later: