Well, you want to turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. And what I hope to do here is to show that Isaiah 53 clearly teaches that Christ's atoning work infallibly secured and guaranteed the eternal salvation of the elect of God, and it is for these and these alone that He died. Let's pray. Our dear Heavenly Father, we believe that the most astounding thing in all of human history is that the Son of God took on human flesh, not simply to live in this world, but to die on the cross. And in dying on the cross to atone for sin fully, completely, so that no sin that he atoned for can ever be laid to the charge of any he died for. And that he secured a righteousness for those that he came to save, so flawless and so perfect that they can be fully justified. because of the righteousness of Christ. And so our God, our theme, and our subject is a great one, the most important of all that we can preach. We ask that you might glorify Jesus Christ this afternoon, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, I need to kind of frame the issue that I'm speaking to. Of the doctrines of grace, or as we call them the five points of Calvinism, it is that third point called the doctrine of limited atonement, or as we would prefer to call it particular redemption or full atonement. that is the point most often that people struggle with. It is probably the one that many who even believe in this doctrine feel the most unease about defending when challenged. It is too often the one that people are hesitant about. It's the one that perhaps many who claim to believe the five points of Calvinism, while they might preach on the others quite fluently, when it comes to this one might kind of tone it down a bit or proceed in a tentative way. None of this is necessary. In fact, I would suggest to you that it is this point of Calvinism that holds all of the others together in many ways. Isaiah 53, and particularly verses 10 through 12, is one of the clearest texts that you can go to in the entire Bible to show that this doctrine is biblical. Now, we must be clear, however, on what we mean and what we do not mean when we say that we believe in the doctrine of limited atonement, because we certainly do not mean that the atonement of Christ was meager or that it was inadequate in any sense at all. We believe that Christ's atonement was fully efficacious, it was fully successful, it was fully saving, and we believe that it was so for a multitude so great that no man can number. That is not meager and that is not inadequate. When we say that we believe in a limited atonement, we only mean that Christ's atonement was limited in this one sense, that Christ did not atone for every sinner in every age of the world. And this is why we prefer to use the term particular redemption or a full atonement. It is a full and complete atonement for this particular multitude that no one can number. Now, by contrast, the Arminian who denies particular redemption would hold to a general atonement, actually, in truth, also believes in a limited atonement. And you say, how so? Well, it's because of the simple fact that there are really only three options when you consider the atonement of Christ. The first option is that Jesus Christ died for every person, accomplishing a full atonement for every single person, whoever has lived, ever will live, and so infallibly secures their salvation. Now, if we believe that, we would believe what is called universalism. You would believe that every single person who has ever lived, ever will live, will be saved, and that there will be no one in hell, that there is no hell, there is no need for a hell, because everyone will be saved. Well, that doctrine of universalism is one that no one can hold to without denying the plain and clear teaching of the Bible, and for that matter, you can't believe it without denying that the Bible is the Word of God. Nothing could be clearer in the Bible than the fact that some will not finally be saved. And so we can more or less dispense with that possibility because we would in fact have to deny the fundamentals of Christianity. So that leaves only two other options. And the second option, the second of the third, the three options, which is the one that the Arminian holds to, is that Christ did in fact die for every person. but he only died to make atonement for sin possible. He did not fully atone for any sin, and he did not secure the salvation of any person. That would be a general atonement. That would be what the Arminian teaches. Now, there's a slight variation on that that I'll not take a lot of time on, which is to say that he died for every sin of every person except the sin of unbelief. And only that sin was left unatoned for. And that breaks down very quickly when you realize that every sin is a sin of unbelief. So that doesn't get you very far down the road. The third possibility, and the one that we believe, is that Christ died for certain persons, but not all, but for these that he died for, he accomplished a full atonement, infallibly securing their eternal salvation. Now the greatest misunderstanding, and actually probably the greatest amount of confusion that comes out when we're debating the subject of a particular or a general redemption, a limited or a general atonement, is to focus on the question of who Christ died for. That actually is not the big question. In truth, the difference between the Arminian and the Calvinist in the doctrine of atonement is more about what Christ accomplished than it is about who he died for. And frankly, you will waste a lot of time arguing over who he died for that you could save if you simply talked about what Christ accomplished. If we determine what the Bible says he accomplished when he died, then we will know who he died for. it will be an automatic answer. You will see that in a moment. Isaiah 53 has much to say to us about what Christ accomplished in His atoning work, and we're going to be focused on Isaiah 53 today, though I hope to also branch off to Romans 8. So with this introduction, I want to look at Isaiah 53 and consider this question of what Christ died to accomplish. And we see in Isaiah 58, what I would say are three points. The first is absolute certainty with full assurance. The second is efficacy with no contingency. And the third is a total, complete, and unqualified success. Let's look at each of these. First, absolute certainty with full assurance. And here I direct your attention to verses 10 through 12. and the prominent use of the word shall. And it occurs to me that I failed to read the chapter. Let's do that now. And when I get to verse 10, note this repetition of the word shall, all right? Or it may be in some of your translations, the word will, same sense. Beginning at verse 1 of Isaiah 53, Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form nor comeliness, and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely, he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare his generation for he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people he was stricken, and they made his grave with the wicked, But with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, watch it now, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days. The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death. And he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. seven times, seven times in three verses, we see it used. He shall, he shall, he shall, he shall. Now, if it was once or twice, that would be one thing. Seven times in three verses is trying to make a point. And when used with that kind of repetition and that kind of emphasis, we cannot avoid the message. He will accomplish these things. It is absolutely certain. It cannot be otherwise. It is beyond question. There can be no other outcome. It is absolute certainty. You can be fully assured that all of this will be accomplished. There's no question mark. It's all absolutely certain. Now, think for a moment. Those who teach a general rather than a particular redemption, the Armenian, who yet acknowledges the clear teaching of the Bible that many will be lost, that there is a broad way that leads to destruction, The Arminian is forced to view the atonement of Christ in less definite terms than this. Jesus died for every person, but obviously it was not to absolutely save them. He only made salvation possible for them. If all the human race got together and said, we're gonna stick it to the eye of Jesus, none of us will believe, he would have come away empty-handed. He secured absolutely nothing. There is nothing certain about what he did. And so the wording of Isaiah 53 in verses 10 through 12, from that perspective, should not use the word shall, It should be something like he desires to see his seed. He might be satisfied. He hopes to justify many. He may have borne their iniquities. But you see, we don't know. We don't know. We just don't know how it all will turn out. You see how utterly incompatible This view of Christ's atonement is with Isaiah 53. What Christ accomplished, he settled, done, certain, no question. It's absolutely certain with full assurance. The second point is an efficacy to what he did with no contingency. In other words, the effectiveness of what Jesus did on the cross is not contingent on something we do. What we see in Isaiah 53 is that the sufferings and death of the servant of Jehovah will fully and did fully, I should say did fully take away sin. His sufferings and death bore sin away so that it is canceled and found no more. And this is solely a matter of divine prerogative and decree. The thing will be accomplished by the servant of Jehovah and is in no way contingent on anyone or anything. And Isaiah here is saying this, yeah, hundreds of years before Christ will come. Again, note the repetition. There is no contingency stated. Verse four, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Done deal. Verse five, the chastisement for our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed. Verse six, the Lord has laid on him the iniquities of us all. Verse 8, For the transgressions of my people he was stricken. Verse 10, When you make his soul an offering for sin. Verse 11, My righteous servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Verse 12, He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. You miss a lot of the impact of that idea of him bearing iniquities if you don't put this against the backdrop of Old Testament ceremonial law. And in particular, the scapegoat. And the sins of Israel were by the priest confessed over the scapegoat and those sins were laid on the scapegoat and he bore the sins away. He went off, that scapegoat went off into the wilderness. The sins are gone. They're carried away. That's what Isaiah is referring to when he says he bore the sins. You remember when an offering was, the burn offering was made, the one offering that put their hands on the head of the lamb. That lamb was standing in their place. He bore things for them. He stood in their place. It's the idea of a vicarious atonement, laying iniquities on him, bearing iniquities. in that Old Testament context means that these sins were laid on Christ and born by him so that we do not carry and bury them. You can't go off into the wilderness, find the scapegoat and say, let me take those back and I'll do it all over again. No, it's done. Now in giving the promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah, we see the same concept but stated in new covenant terms. God makes clear what those Old Testament types and shadows were representing because he promises, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin, I will remember no more. It's gone, it's borne away. Now again, an Arminian view of the atonement has a problem. It cannot speak of that kind of efficacy in Christ's death, because the sins aren't borne away. If you don't make Christ's atonement efficacious, if you don't make it effective, guess what? You have to bear the sin. In their view, Christ did not, in fact, bear away any sin when he died. His sufferings and death did not, in fact, absolve anyone of sin. It did not remove the guilt from anyone. Jesus, in their view, Jesus died for sin, but only to store up what we might call inert pardon. It's pardon for sin that's potential. It has potential, but there is no actual pardon in it. It's forgiveness for sin that lacks the active ingredient. It's like if I had a mixture of chemicals that when I add a particular chemical, it's gonna go boom, right? But until I add that particular chemical, you can keep it on your shelf for years, and it never goes boom. But you put that chemical in, boom. Well, that's the idea. Christ died, but only to put forgiveness in a bottle. that has no effectiveness until you add the ingredient that makes it work. Now, let me ask you, what then really bears away sin? It's not Christ's atonement, it's my active ingredient. In essence, I become the savior. Christ could only make it possible, but I am the one who saves by adding my faith to what he did. Without my faith, nothing happens. The third thing that we see in Isaiah 53 is total, complete, unqualified success. Again, I direct your attention to verses 10 through 12. I'm not gonna reread those verses, we've read them. I just call your attention to the fact that everything in verses 10 through 12 speaks of success, of entire success, of nothing short of success. in all the purposes of Jehovah in the suffering and death of his servant. We see that the pleasure of Jehovah prospers in the hands of his servant. The servant of Jehovah is fully satisfied with the results of the work of the servant of Jehovah. Christ, you see, is the victor. He has won the victory. He has secured the redemption of his people. Now, I would suggest to you that again, none of those statements can be true unless Jesus was successful in all that he set about to accomplish. If even one person that he intended to save is not saved, he's not successful. You know, sometimes we go about to do something and we don't quite get it all done. But that's because we're human beings. We're infinite, or we're finite. But when you're the son of God, anything short of everything that you intended to accomplish is utter failure. Now here again, the Armenian struggles. The plain truth, let's just be real, the plain truth is that according to their concept of the atonement, the vast majority of those that Christ purposed to save will be lost. He went to the cross intending to save everyone with his atonement. At least to make it possible. But by far the majority, it doesn't happen. That does not sound to me like him being successful. In fact, it's hard for me to imagine with an outcome like that, that we could speak of Jehovah being pleased, or the servant of Jehovah being satisfied, or Christ being victorious. I'm not going to have you turn there yet because we will go there before we're done, but this is not the teaching of Isaiah 53 alone. We could go to many other passages, but one that I think many of you are familiar with is Romans 8, 31 through 34, and I read this to you. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. He said, if Christ died, that sin is done. No one can lay that to the charge of God's elect. God himself cannot raise one sin of the elect that Christ died for against them. That means a total, complete, full, efficacious atonement. This being the case, if this is what Christ accomplished on the cross, it's obvious that he didn't do this for everyone. That's why I say, settle the question of what he did, and you've settled the question of who he died for. Having seen that the purpose of Jehovah was to infallibly secure the full pardon and justification of everyone for whom the servant of Jehovah suffered and died, we are constrained by logic alone to conclude that Christ suffered and died for a particular people, his people. Not every person, but for his people. But we're not left to logic alone. Isaiah makes clear that Christ did not die for everyone. Isaiah focuses on what he did and what he accomplished, but he doesn't leave open the question of who he died for. And here again, look at Isaiah 53, look at verses four through six in particular, and note the repeated use of the words, our, we, and us. 10 times in three verses. What does that tell you? There is a particular people, there is a distinct people marked out by those pronouns, and it is those that he atoned for. The second thing that you can see is to note the use of the word my people in verse eight. For the transgressions of my people, he was stricken. That's a definite particular redemption. The third evidence is to note the use of the word many in verse 11. My righteous servant shall justify many for he shall bear their iniquities. Now whose iniquities does he bear then? Well it's their, the many. At no point in Isaiah 53 do you find anything that even remotely indicates a general atonement. There's just nothing in the chapter that speaks of that. Never is there any hint that Christ bore the iniquities and transgressions of every human being. There's nothing like that in the chapter. Now again, it's not that Isaiah 53 is this odd occurrence in the Bible. In the New Testament, we have echoes of Isaiah 53. Here's Matthew 121, and she will bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sin. He did not come to save all men. He came to save His people and to save His people from their sin. Matthew 20, verse 28, the Son of Man came to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. You say, yeah, well, what about all the verses that talk about whole world and all and whatnot? Well, I got 30 minutes, can't go into all those. But I will tell you, look at the context, look at the usage, it will be clear in all those cases that we're not talking about Christ dying for every man. Now, let's go to Romans 8, because I want you to now see all this tied together in this that I hope is a familiar passage to you. Looking at Romans 8, see how here Paul addresses both what Christ died to accomplish and then draws a straight line from that to who he died for, all right? I'm gonna start reading at the very familiar verse, verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. I want you to notice in Romans 8.28, A particular group of people is being identified. It's not every person. It's those who love God and those who are the called according to his purpose. Of those two, more important is the fact that they are the called. That has a lot to do with why they love God. All right? Now look at verse 29. For whom he foreknew. Who's he talking about? Whom? Well, verse 28. It's the same group. Whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren, again, a specific people. It's the same people as those spoken of in verse 28. In fact, now we know more of why they love God, why they are the called, because he foreknew them, he predestined them. They are the called. because God predetermined and decreed that these people would be conformed to the image of his Son. Read on verse 30. These he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified. Whom he justified, these he also glorified. This is a key verse. Don't get caught up in the cadence of the verse and miss the impact of it. What's happening here is that it's the same group of people. It's not one more, it's not one less. You don't gain any along the way, and you sure don't lose any. And that has everything to do with how he ends the chapter. Who can separate us from the love of God? It's impossible. The same group he foreknew ends up glorified. He doesn't lose any along the way, and he doesn't gain any along the way. It's one group all the way through. Let me belabor the point. If they are glorified, they must have been justified. If they were justified, they must have been predestined. If one was not predestined, they will not be justified. If they were not justified, they will not be glorified. Now, note that word justified, all right? Justified is right in the middle there. Now, note that and then follow on to read again 31 through 34 that I read before. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, who's the us all? It's that same group. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Wait a minute, who does he justify? Those he predestined, those he called. It's the same group of people, same group of people. Who will bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Why can't you bring a charge against them? Because those that he justifies are those that Christ died for. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. It is clear from verses 33 through 34 that those that Christ died for are the same to a person, same ones to a person as those who are justified. And remember from verse 30 that those who are justified are the elect. Those predestined, not one more, not one less. So simply by following a line of thought from verse 28 to verse 34, I submit to you that it is inescapable that Christ did not die for every person, but only for those who are predestined and elected by grace. The case is not a shaky one. It's not one to be nervous about. We stand on solid biblical ground when we believe that Christ accomplished a full atonement for all of his elect people, that great multitude that no one can number. Now, all this is good doctrine, but it's not a matter of doctrine alone. Good doctrine makes good practice, we say. I remember that someone once said to me that the thing that was most striking to them when they first became exposed to sound reform preaching was how the cross of Christ seemed to be in the center of everything. And that's good. That's the way it ought to be. It's the way it ought to be. It was on the cross that Jesus Christ secured all good for his people. And you see now how when we say that, we mean he secured it. It's not an if, maybe, possibly. It's a done deal. Every provision of grace for our calling, for our conversion, for our justification, for our adoption, for our sanctification, for our eternal glorification, every bit of it was purchased for us by the blood of Christ. We cannot fail to receive all of it, all of the saving benefits of redemption we will receive as we are united to Christ in faith, none of it can fail to come to anyone for whom he died. Now listen, if your faith must rest in the potential of salvation, not a guarantee, but a potential of salvation, and a potential that's finally dependent on whether you provide the necessary ingredient that was lacking in what Christ did, then your faith does not rest on a firm foundation. In the final analysis, your salvation would have to rest on you being a cut above the average sinner because you had what was necessary to unlock the door to the treasures of Christ's atonement, namely, your faith. What happens on the day that your faith looks pretty crummy? What then? You see, Romans 8 doesn't end at verse 34. And what follows in 35 through 39 has to do with our everyday life. As we, the just, live by faith, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter, yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What ensures that you arrive safe in heaven at last? Is it your faith or is it that Christ set his love on you? It begins, the golden chain begins with whom he foreknew. The ones that he loved from eternity, nothing can separate them from his love. And because that love was set on them from eternity, all the rest follows through. On your worst days, on your best days, it really doesn't matter. It's His love that you cannot be separated from, and it is that that your faith rests in. Well, let's pray. Our dear Heavenly Father, the more we see of who we are, the more we see of our sin, of our failure, the more we see of the perfect righteousness of Christ and how far short of it we fall, the more we grasp tightly this as our hope, as our faith, as our assurance that Christ has died and that he has purchased us for himself, and that he cannot fail to bring every one of those he died for to heaven at last. Our faith is entirely in him. We have nowhere else for our faith to rest, but in this it rests secure. In Jesus' name we pray it, amen.