Sermon Cloud

Doctrines of Grace: Limited Atonement

Various Texts

Grace Fellowship Church

May 13, 2007

Isaiah 53:1-6

Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? ² For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.  ³He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. ⁴Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. ⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Introduction

We have taken a break from our normal way of preaching, that is through books of the Bible verse by verse, and have taken on the task of a doctrinal series on the Doctrines of Grace.  These doctrines are not popular in much of what is evangelicalism in America today. 

 

But we live in a day where doctrine and theology is not very popular.  To preach Scripture and teach the doctrines found therein is something that many people in Christian circles will say is not the right thing to do.  After all, doctrine divides. 

 

Doctrine is the reason that we have so many different types of churches.  You have Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Baptists, Methodists, Christians, and the list goes on and on.  Why?  Because of doctrine.  No matter what a church may say about doctrine, they have doctrine that they teach.  Their doctrine may not be biblical.  But they still have doctrine. 

 

Because of the fact that doctrine is so divisive, should we really spend time in a study like this?  Should we, for the sake of getting along, shun the teaching of theology and doctrine for just what is called practical application?  After all, people need to know how to make their marriage work and how to raise their kids properly.  They need to know what God says about giving and how we as Christians are supposed to spend our money.  They need to know how to get along in a hostile world and how to do evangelism.  But all of these things, as important as they are, divorced from the bedrock of biblical Christian doctrine are nothing more than what is taught down at the Unitarian Universalist Church.   

 

All of the practical application for living a Christian life must spring from a mind that is soaked in biblical Christian doctrine.  If you do not understand the character of God and His ways then you are not going to understand the why of practical application.  This is why evangelistic pleas have morphed from look to Christ to basically you need God in your life. 

 

We have made a commitment at Grace Fellowship Church to teach the Bible and to teach doctrine.  And this is not because the elders are all theologians because we are not.  Why do you think we read either a creed or part of our statement of faith?  How many of you would ever come in contact with those documents on your own?  Why do you think that we encourage the use of catechisms for training your children in the faith?  Because they teach doctrine. 

Who made you?  What else did God make?  Why did God make you and all things?  Are there more gods than One?  These all teach doctrine.  These are the basis for your children and my children coming to an understanding of the Lord, what He has done, and what God requires in light of that. 

We have made that commitment here at Grace Fellowship but we also have to ask the question; “Is the teaching of doctrine a biblical command?”  Let me let you decide for yourself.  Listen as I read some passages of Scripture.

 

Listen to Ephesians 4:11-16.

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. ¹⁴ As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; ¹⁵ but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

 

1 Timothy 1:3-7. 

As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, ⁴ nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. ⁵ But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. ⁶ For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, ⁷ wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

 

1 Timothy 4:6-10

In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. ⁷ But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; ⁸ for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. ⁹ It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. ¹⁰ For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

 

I Timothy 6:3-5.

If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, ⁴ he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, ⁵ and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

 

 

And then the famous passage of Scripture that most are familiar with and that is 2 Timothy 4:1-5.

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. ³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, ⁴ and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. ⁵ But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

 

And then in Titus chapter 1 and 2 doctrine is mentioned four times.  First an elder must be qualified to teach sound doctrine.  Titus was to speak sound doctrine.  He was to have pure doctrine. And then we have Titus 2:9-10.

Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative , ¹⁰ not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

 

We all have doctrine.  But the question is, “Do we have the doctrine of God?”  Is HE pleased by our theology?  Are we working hard to understand our Lord and His ways?  Is what we do not only on Sunday morning but the rest of the week guided by sound doctrine?  Are the practical applications that many seek flowing from the fountain of biblical theology or are they merely the wisdom of men? 

 

This is why we have undertaken this particular study of doctrine.  Particularly the study of the doctrines of grace.  These are important because they are either the doctrines that help us understand how God has acted in the world in salvation toward men, particularly us or they are the traditions of men. 

 

Over the last three weeks, we have been looking at what is commonly called the five points of Calvinism.  These were constructed in an acronym called TULIP.  The first week we spent time looking at the biblical doctrine of the sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God is the overarching doctrine when we look at salvation.  The second week, getting into the acronym and the letter T we looked at total depravity.  Man, because of sin, are now incapable of coming to Christ for salvation apart from a miraculous work of God.  Before we are regenerated to spiritual life, the Bible tells us that we are dead in our sins and trespasses.  Romans 3 gives us those results and because our mind and our wills have been ruined by sin we are unwilling to seek God and can not even understand the things of God.  Last week we looked at the U in tulip and that doctrine is the doctrine of unconditional election.

 

This doctrine teaches that God has elected certain persons to eternal life based on His own will and choice and this election is decided by God’s good pleasure and is not based on anything within a person or how God perceives that they will act toward the gospel.  It is based on God’s choice alone and that is why it is called Unconditional Election.  I told you last week that unconditional election was one of the most hated of all biblical doctrines.  This week we are going to see a doctrine that most people have the hardest time with.  This doctrine is the L in the tulip and it is called Limited Atonement.

 

In my opinion as in others, the name is unfortunate.  Some have renamed this doctrine particular redemption.  And what they mean by that is that Christ’s death secured the salvation of not all people but all God’s elect people. 

 

I believe that this is the lynchpin doctrine of salvation.  The Sovereignty of God, the depravity of man, and the unconditional election of people to salvation would mean nothing without the atonement.  The atonement of Christ was the payment for sins committed by the elect of God.  The elect of God deserve hell just like the non-elect but the Lord Jesus in His life, death, and resurrection secured the eternal redemption of God’s people. 

 

I have said this before but this is what Scripture teaches.  Our salvation is in Christ but properly understood our salvation is seen in Trinitarian terms.  Before the foundation of the world God elected certain people to salvation.  The plan was for Christ to die on the cross and make the atonement for those people.  Then the Holy Spirit would apply that salvation to the people that God elected and Christ died for. 

 

But what about this idea of redemption or atonement?  This goes back to the Genesis account and after Adam and Eve sinned and hid themselves God killed some animals to make a covering for them. The Hebrew word that expresses this idea of atonement is “kaphar.”  It comes from a root that means the price of life.  The meaning of “kaphar” is to cover or to make propitiation.  The word propitiation is the New Testament term for the atonement.  It is satisfaction.  Christ satisfied the Father in two ways on behalf of His people.  1.  He kept the righteous standard of God’s Law completely.  2.  He satisfied or propitiated the wrath of God on sinners who had broken God’s Law and deserved God’s wrath. 

 

The atonement is for the forgiveness of sin.  It is for being reconciled, another New Testament word, to the Father. 

 

If you think like the world then you will never fully appreciate this.  When sin is minimized to mere mistakes or bad choices then you can never fully appreciate or understand the extent of the atonement.  Look at Isaiah 53:1-6 again.

Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? ² For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.  ³He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. ⁴Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. ⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

How serious are our sins?  Isaiah says that the Lord Jesus Christ was wounded (Hebrew word chala which was the word for being pierced through) for our transgressions (Hebrew word for rebellion).  The Lord Jesus Christ was crushed for our iniquities (the trampling of God’s righteous Law).  The discipline or chastisement for our shalom, our peace, was put upon Him.  I believe that at this moment on the cross that the Lord Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”  Then look at verse 6 again.

⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

This goes back to the statement of John the Baptist when Jesus Christ walked to where John was baptizing.  John declared, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” 

 

The sins of the world would be laid on the Lord Jesus Christ as He suffered, bled, and died.  He is the atonement.  He is the redemption.  He is the only way of salvation. 

 

We are looking at the doctrine of limited atonement.  And we have to ask two questions? 

1.  Is the atonement really limited? 

2.  If it is then how has God limited it?

 

PNP

What I would like for us to do this morning is to look at two applications of the atonement.  Here are the two points I would like to cover this morning. 

1.  The sufficiency of the atonement is the application for evangelism.

2.  The efficiency of the atonement is the application for salvation. 

 

Purpose

My obvious purpose in preaching this doctrine is to show you what the doctrine of limited atonement or particular redemption means and to show that really all evangelical positions actually hold to this doctrine even if they do not admit it. 

 

So look with me at these two applications of the atonement.

 

1.  The sufficiency of the atonement is the application for evangelism.

When people hear the term limited atonement they automatically, provided they know some Scripture, think about all of the “all men” passages.  Look at 1 John 2:1-2.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ² He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

 

There are numerous other passages of Scripture that we could turn to this morning that point to what seems to be an unlimited atonement.  John is very clear.  Christ is the satisfaction or propitiation for our sins and not only ours but for the sins of the whole world. 

 

But this statement has to be qualified given the purpose and content of the First Epistle of John.  John is clear that his purpose in writing this letter is so that we will know that we have eternal life.  Which makes it logically possible that we indeed may not have eternal life.  It is a letter of not only security of salvation but also against self-deception.  There are some statements in this Epistle that negates the idea that all are saved.  Look down at verses 9-11.

Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. ¹⁰ Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. ¹¹ But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

 

Look at verses 15-17. There is a contrast between the lost and the saved.  The lost love the world and the things in the world and the saved do the will of the Father.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

 

I believe what John is informing us of is the evangelistic nature of the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Look at Acts 17:30-34.

³⁰ The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹ because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” ³² Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” ³³ So Paul went out from their midst. ³⁴ But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

 

Here is where most people get the Gospel wrong.  The Gospel is not an offer.  It is a command.  It must be obeyed.  Some of the old Puritans called this the Law of the Gospel.  God’s universal command to all people everywhere is to repent.  Paul is echoing the command of Isaiah 45:22.

²² “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

 

So if the atonement is limited, then how can God in Isaiah and Paul in Acts 17 command all to obey the Law of the Gospel and repent? 

 

It is because of the Lord Jesus Christ.  When John the Baptist cried out, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world..” he understood the infinite value of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

We are in this point talking about the sufficiency of the atonement.  By Christ’s very nature, fully God and fully man, one drop of His blood was enough to save any and all worlds that are in or ever would be in existence. 

 

Understand that one sin against an infinite and infinitely holy God brings about an infinite punishment.  “The wages of sin is death!”  So the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient to save all.  There is no limit to an infinite God and when God the Son was nailed to that cross bearing the curse of sin and the Law His sacrifice was infinitely valuable. 

 

This is why the apostles can proclaim freely the Gospel of grace.  This is why we as believers can and should command all people everywhere to repent and believe the Gospel.  That is why we do not ask people to accept Christ or even to try Christianity.  There is no option.  The propitiation has been accomplished and it has been accomplished infinitely by an infinite holy God.  So every man every where in every time is commanded to repent and believe the Gospel.

 

There is a very small strain of Calvinism that is called hyper-Calvinism that believe the Gospel should be offered only to the elect.  So they do not really preach the Gospel.  They would never evangelize.  But this goes against Scripture.  Listen to 2 Corinthians 5:17-19.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

 

God has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  Therefore we are to be ready to proclaim the Gospel and command people everywhere to repent, to turn to Christ. 

My personal preaching hero, the 19^th century Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon, caught quite a bit of grief from the hyper-Calvinists of  his day because he constantly commanded his hearers to turn to Christ.  His favorite passage for evangelism was the passage that God used in his own conversion and Spurgeon used it often.  It is Isaiah 45:22.

²² “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

 

Because of the sufficiency of the atonement we can command all people everywhere to repent and believe the Gospel.  It is there only hope.  And all are under obligation to believe and if they do not it is their own fault. 

 

So far we have seen that the sufficiency of the atonement is the application for evangelism.

 

Second I want you to see that:

 

2.  The efficiency of the atonement is the application for salvation. 

The question that we must answer now is whether or not the Lord has limited the effectiveness of the atonement in the application of salvation.  In other words, did Christ secure the salvation of some of all humanity or did He merely make it possible for salvation? 

 

I told you that all evangelical Christians hold to limited atonement whether they admit it or not.  Even Arminians will tell you that all do not ultimately get saved.  There are a few outside the borders of orthodox Christianity that believe all will ultimately be saved.  But they are not orthodox Christians and have denied a whole host of Scripture passages in coming to that conclusion. 

 

The second to the last chapter in the Bible, Rev. 21:8 says:

"But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone , which is the second death."

 

So you can’t believe that everyone goes to Heaven and still believe the Bible. 

 

So if all do not get saved then the atonement is indeed limited.  But how is it limited?

 

Those who deny the doctrine that we looked at last week, unconditional election, will say that it is people who limit the effectiveness of the atonement.  By people not choosing to believe the Gospel and repent that limits the effectiveness of the atonement. 

 

But what have we learned so far in our series.  First God is ultimately and supremely sovereign over all the universe including the affairs of man which ends up over their salvation as well.  And he has to be supremely sovereign over salvation because of the second week of our series and the doctrine of Total Depravity.

Man has plunged his own self into depravity and sin and because of this according to the Bible, apart from a supernatural work of God, we are spiritually dead.  Romans 3 showed us that our minds were ruined by sin, our wills were ruined by sin and left to our own mental and spiritual faculties we would plunge further and further into sin.  We would never choose God. 

“None is righteous, no, not one; ¹¹ no one understands; no one seeks for God. ¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

So God is sovereign and man is unable to do anything spiritually saving on his own. 

 

Last week we saw that God has, based upon His good pleasure and not on anything a person has done or will do, elected certain individuals to salvation and have left others to ultimately destroy themselves. 

 

Those who do not hold to unconditional election have to saw that the atonement is only limited by man’s reaction to the Gospel.  They have to say that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ only made it possible for man to be saved.  So in their understanding it is possible for Christ to have died and not one single person be saved. 

 

But does the Bible teach this?  Turn to Matthew 1:18-21. 

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. ²⁰ But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

 

This is a definite action.  He will save His people from their sins. 

 

Listen to Peter’s words in Acts 2:39 as he preaches on the day of Pentecost.

For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off,

This is unlimited evangelistic sufficiency. But listen to the rest of the verse.

everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

This is the God orchestrated limit of the atonement.  Only the ones whom God calls to Himself will experience the benefits of the atonement provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

The last passage I would like for you to look at with me this morning is John 6:35-40.

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ³⁶ But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷ All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

 

Jesus tells those who are listening that He is the bread of life and whoever comes to Him will never hunger.  This is the unlimited evangelistic plea.  And then in verse 37 He says that “All that the Father gives me will come to me.” 

 

Those that receive the benefits of the atonement are limited by the Father who has unconditionally elected before the foundation of the world! 

 

Let me say to you this morning that if you do not grasp these essential doctrines about salvation then you will never fully appreciate the atonement of Christ.  You will never understand that in the atonement Christ did not make it possible for people to be saved but that He secured fully and finally the salvation of God’s elect for all eternity. 

 

The Old Testament was filled with different types of sacrifices.  They were constantly going on in the temple.  There were sin offerings and then once a year there was the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur.  The high priest would offer a bull for the sacrifice of his own sins.  Then he had two goats.  One he would slaughter on the alter as the sacrifice for the sins of the people and the other he laid his hands on so that goat would carry the sins of the people symbolically into the wilderness.  This was the scapegoat showing that the sins of the people were carried far away from them.  Then he entered the Holy of holies and sprinkled the blood on the mercy seat for a pleasing sacrifice to God to show that the blood covered the sins of the people.  And the high priest did this year after year, decade after decade, century after century.  It was never a complete sacrifice.  The sins constantly had to be covered again and again.  Hundreds and hundreds of bulls and goats were slaughtered.  But then we come to Hebrews chapter 9 verses 11-14.

¹¹ But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle , not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; ¹² and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

 

This is why we can sing the hymn “Hallelujah. What a Savior!”

Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, Who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
“Full atonement!” can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Conclusion

We have seen that:

1.  The sufficiency of the atonement is the application for evangelism.

2.  The efficiency of the atonement is the application for salvation. 

 

A series like this will often times bring about doubts in someone about their salvation.  They will ask questions about whether or not they are one of the elect.  Many of you probably have thought at some point, “Am I really saved?” 

 

Here is where we have to go back to Scripture.  How do we know, how can we make our calling and election sure? 

 

If you are doubting let me tell you the greatest evidence for being one of the elect.  First, you are not looking at your own righteousness.  You are not looking at anything you have done or accomplished.  Outward obedience is not necessarily an indicator of saving faith.

 

At Camp Dixon we sang a little song and all I remember is this part.  “Obedience is the very best thing to show that you believe.”  There is truth in that but I disagree respectively. 

 

Let me illustrate this and show you how you can know if you are elect.  Remember the Pharisee and the tax collector at the Temple praying? 

 

The Pharisee said, “'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² 'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.'

This is a man who can claim biblical obedience.  He is not, outwardly, a swindler, he is just, he is not an adulterer, and he is most definitely not like this tax collector over here.  He participates in self denial fasting twice a week and paying tithes of all that he has.  These Pharisees would have a meal with someone and before they would eat or drink they would ask, “Did you tithe the grain, the dill, the cumin.  Did you tithe the wine?”  And if not they would not eat because they wanted to be obedient in all things. 

 

This Pharisee would be accepted in most churches today as a Godly man.  But Jesus said this man was not justified.  He was not saved.  So if the measure is obedience and Jesus shot that down then what is the measuring stick for salvation. 

 

The measuring stick is the tax collector, the filthy sinner.  The Bible says, "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast,

Here is a man unwilling to approach the temple, not out of pride but out of conviction of the depth of his own depravity.  His sin is before his eyes and he realizes that he is not worthy to even approach the throne of grace.  Here is a man unwilling to even lift his eyes to heaven in prayer.  He pounded on his chest because he has been shown his sinfulness and depravity before God.  Then listen to the words of his mouth.

saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'

Are you elect?  The best way to know for sure and experience the full benefits of the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ is to ask yourself this question; “Am I more like the Pharisee looking at my outward righteousness or am I more like the tax collector who has been shown the depths of my own sin and depravity?”  Are you looking to be justified by how good you are or do you realize that you are in constant need of God’s mercy and grace?  Have you done what the tax collector has done and cast yourself face down before God pleading for His mercy on you? 

 

The truth of the Gospel is that you can not earn your way in.  You must come crawling on your belly before the throne of Grace.  Listen to verse 14 of this passage as Jesus gives His answer.

¹⁴ "I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

 

Isaiah 45:22, Look to me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other.”  And when you look to Christ you see holiness and righteousness and you know that you deserve justice.  There is no self righteousness, there are no good works, there is no internal merit, there is only a realization and a pleading for the mercy of God.

 

The elect are those who realize their need for the mercy of God found only in Christ.