In the scriptures this morning, we're going to read a few short selections from the gospel of John. Beginning in John chapter three at verse 11. John 3, 11 through 17. Here Jesus says, verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen and he received not our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you receive if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Next, let's turn to John 6, verse 35. We'll read John 6, 35 through 40. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Now, one that I'm adding to what was put in the bulletin, John 15. Turn to John 15 and read the first five verses. I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing. Lastly, let's turn to John 17, and we'll read verses one through 10. These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth. I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou gavest them me, and they have kept Thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given me are of Thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. Grounded upon these passages of scripture and the rest of the Bible, once again we look at our catechism's instruction, now in Lord's Day 7. This morning we're going to focus our attention on question and answer 20. Are all men then, as they perished in Adam, saved by Christ? No. only those who are engrafted into him and receive all his benefits by a true faith. Beloved in the Lord, you'll recall that as we've looked at Lord's days five and six, we've used the illustration of the construction of a house to help us understand Christ and His work of salvation. Lord's days 5 and 6 have laid out for us the four cornerstones of the house of salvation. Those four cornerstones consist of Jesus and His work. His work of satisfaction, paying for our sins by bearing the penalty that our sins deserve, and thereby obtaining forgiveness, righteousness, and salvation for us. Satisfaction is that first cornerstone, and that was Lord's Day 5. And the Lord's Day 6 explained to us the three other cornerstones for this house of salvation. And the three other cornerstones are the essential qualifications of our Savior. That is, who He must be in order to do that work of satisfaction. And we've seen that Jesus Christ alone is our Savior and Mediator. He alone is qualified to make satisfaction because He is fully human, perfectly righteous, and at the same time in one person, fully and truly God. And upon the foundation, with those four cornerstones, the house of our salvation is built. On that foundation, All of the building blocks of salvation, the distinct yet connected blessings, forgiveness of sins, regeneration, conversion, justification, sanctification, all of it is built on that foundation of Christ and his work. But now on Lord's Day 7, logically the catechism leads us to this question, who is saved by Christ? We've seen that Christ is the only Savior. We've seen what he does to save. Now, whom does he save? To continue with the illustration, who is brought to live inside this house of salvation built upon the foundation of Christ and his work? Who? Every human being head for head? Catechism on the basis of scripture says no. But all those and only those who are engrafted into Jesus Christ and receive his benefits by a true and living faith. Question and answer 20 as it answers that question of who is also the transitional question that is going to lead us into the grand subject of saving faith. What saving faith is. For this morning we're going to look just at question and answer 20. Because this question and answer gives us an opportunity to study and think upon a couple of very important doctrines of the Christian faith that are revealed in the scriptures. Important truths of the gospel that we as Christians are to be grounded in. Truths that help us understand the outworking of our salvation that Jesus has obtained for us. And these truths are the truth of election and the truth of limited or definite atonement. and those truths in relationship to the saving faith that we are going to look at in more detail next time. So let's look at these important truths, taking as our theme, whom does Jesus save? Whom does Jesus save? That's the question here in question 20. Our first point is all those given to him. There we're going to start with election. The second point is all those engrafted into him. And there we're going to see how from election flows the saving operation of the Holy Spirit, grafting the elect into Jesus Christ. And then thirdly, we will see that those whom God has given to Christ and then engrafted into Christ will in due time believe in Christ. So that in the Holy Scriptures, it is so often said, Who is saved? Those who believe. Christ is the Savior of believers. That's the expression we find repeated throughout the selections of John that we read this morning. Christ came to save all those who believe in Him. But that believing, that faith, is not some condition that we fulfill. It's not something that we marshal up and produce of ourselves. But faith is a gift of God which is the infallible fruit growing out of our engrafting into Christ the true vine. Which engrafting flows from the eternal decree of God's election. Whom does Jesus save then? All those given to him, all those engrafted into him, all those believing in him. As we begin, it's important to see and understand that the Bible teaches that a countless multitude are saved in Christ. That is where the Bible places the emphasis. It is true, as the Catechism says, and the Bible says it many, many times, not all who fell in Adam are saved. And that is a manifestation of the justice of God. And before that reality, we bow. And we say, but for the grace of God, that would be me. But where the emphasis falls in the scripture is that God in His grace saves. And saves many. Indeed a countless throng represented by that 144,000 in the book of Revelation. Which is not a number to be taken literally. But stands for a countless multitude from every nation, tribe, and tongue. The Bible speaks of salvation very broadly. Very widely. It contains many statements teaching that the scope of salvation in Christ is very broad. So when Jesus appeared on the banks of the Jordan River at the very onset of His public ministry and John the Baptist by the Spirit saw Him for who He was and pointed at Him, John the Baptist said in John 1.29, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. John had no problem saying that. Jesus is the Lamb of God who lays down his life to make satisfaction for the sin of the world. Jesus himself says to Nicodemus in John 3.16, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Those are beautiful expressions in the Bible of the expansiveness, the wide scope of God's salvation. Though God would have been just saving none, Though God's grace would have been magnified and glorious if he had saved only one, yet God is pleased. He saved not one, not two, but so many. But now as we read the scriptures, right alongside these wide and sweeping broad statements about the scope of salvation, there are also statements that are more definite, which serve to clarify and define the wide and expansive statements. And so in John 6 verse 39, the Lamb of God himself explains his mission of taking away the sin of the world. The Lamb of God explains Himself what He is going to do according to the will of the Father. And in John 6 verse 39 Jesus says, This is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. Here, the Lamb of God explains in His own words, who the world is, whose sins He takes away. All those the Father gave me. And now there is a whole bunch packed into that word, all. And yet that word, all, does not contain every human being head for head. There is a body of people that God has given Jesus. He gave them to Jesus in eternity. That's God's decree of election, which simply defined is God's decree to save certain persons by giving them to Jesus Christ, And those certain persons Jesus Christ in the fullness of time came for and redeemed by the shedding of his precious blood. And those certain persons given to Jesus, redeemed by Jesus, are preserved and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ throughout the entirety of their life until they are presented without spot or wrinkle in the assembly of the elect in life eternal. The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. by keeping and raising up at the last day all those the Father gave him, all those who are gathered from all the world. And so Jesus says in John 10, his good shepherd discourse in verse 11, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And there is that loving designation, that gracious title that is given to that group of people given by the Father to Jesus. They are his sheep. But the sheep are distinct from the goats. And here in John 10 verse 11, we see again clearly that the world that Jesus saves does not consist of every human being head for head that has ever lived. For in this same discourse in verse 26, Jesus turns to some of the goats and he says to them, but ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep. Jesus looks at those stubborn, proud, self-righteous Pharisees and he says to them, you're not my sheep. You are not given to me by the Father. And thus you are not among the number of those for whom I am come to lay down my life. In Jesus' great intercessory prayer as our High Priest, the night before He went to the cross, Jesus makes yet clearer that those given to him are a definite number of persons chosen from out of the whole world. John 17 verse 2, Jesus prays to the Father, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he, and he's talking about himself, should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And then, When you turn to verse 9, you see how in Jesus' usage, the word world does not mean every human being head for head. but every human being given to him from out of the whole world. A vast number of persons from the whole world, from every nation, tribe, and tongue that are given to him. Jesus says in verse nine of John 17, I pray for them, I pray not for the world. Is Jesus there saying, I do not pray for every single person throughout the world? No, of course not. There he's using world to denote fallen, unbelieving humanity. But who does Jesus pray for here as the great intercessor and savior? He says, but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine and all mine are thine and thine are mine. And so we pull these threads of biblical revelation together and it sets before us the beautiful work of God's salvation that is at the same time most expansive and broad and also very particular and personal. The key to harmonizing these statements of scripture is that fundamental concept that is expressed in the first point, all those given to Him. This is God's eternal purpose in which His unfathomable graciousness and infinite justice are at the same time magnified. It is God's will to save a vast number of persons whom He according to His good pleasure in eternity sets His love upon and gives to the Lord Jesus Christ to be redeemed by His precious blood. This is the new humanity gathered from the nations of the world. This is the flock of the Good Shepherd. These are the sheep of Christ, the people of God's pasture. But God is also pleased to manifest his justice by judging and condemning others. Not unjustly, but justly for their sins and for their rebellion and for their unbelief. God is not obligated to save any. He would do no injustice consigning the entirety of humanity to perish. In his justice, He condemns sinners. But in His graciousness, He rescues and redeems and saves so many whom He is pleased to give to His Son, Jesus Christ. Here is the doctrine of election. Which is so very warm. It is not a cold, scholastic, icy doctrine. But one that throbs with the love of God. God sets His love upon His people. Love that they have demerited. Love that they can never merit. He sets his love upon them purely because he is pleased to. And election, in Jesus' words, is a kind of intra-trinitarian gift giving. God the Father giving to the Son a people to be His own, to be His heritage, to be redeemed with His precious blood, to be saved, to be rescued, to be sanctified, to be perfected, to be brought into heavenly glory, to live with Him and the Father in the splendor of life everlasting. That's what election is all about. It's a manifestation of God's love. God gave. His people to Christ. And in the fullness of time, Christ came into the world for all those the Father had given Him. And He went to the cross and He shed His blood to pay for the sins of all those the Father gave Him. He took all of the sins of all of those that the Father gave Him. And He bore those sins. He took the curse for those sins. He made satisfaction of the justice of God for those sins. He merited forgiveness for those sins. And all of the blessings of salvation, this He did for all those the Father gave Him. And so you see, election governs and directs the atonement of Christ. In election, God the Father gives a definite group of persons to Jesus to be saved. And in the atonement, the satisfaction of God's justice through the cross of Calvary, Jesus the Good Shepherd lays down His life for them, for the sheep, for those the Father gave Him. And having done so, Christ, having ascended, now pours out His Spirit and His blessings upon those that the Father gave Him, and those whom He has redeemed, so that the Spirit dwells in them, and applies unto them all that they have in Christ, and preserves them, and keeps them to the end, so that Jesus' words in John 6, verse 39, infallibly come to pass. All those that the Father gave Me, I lose nothing. And so, we see that though the fact that not all human beings head for head are saved, that not all are saved is a humbling truth. It is not a truth that we take delight in. But it is a truth before which we bend our knees And we look to the majesty of God as He displays both His grace and His justice. And we say, who can search the depths of God's understanding? His judgments are past finding out. This truth also has a very positive side. It means that Jesus really saves. In Reformed theology, limited atonement sometimes is looked at negatively, not by those who hold to this truth, but by those who do not. Limited? Some would say. Limited? From a certain point of view that term is regrettable because it seems to imply that there is some limitation to the power of Christ and his work and that's not the idea at all. Christ's satisfaction, his atonement is a sacrifice of unlimited value. And the fact that not all men are saved is not due to some defect or limitation in the value of Christ's death or the power of his work. But rather, that word limited refers to the scope of its application. Which is according to the good pleasure of God, which is governed by election. The atonement of Jesus Christ is only applied to those that the Father gave to Christ to redeem. But now the positive is that limited atonement means definite atonement. Jesus came into the world to save definite persons and he definitely saves them. The popular notion which is admittedly more palatable to natural man and our nature The popular notion that Jesus' atonement is universal. He came into the world to die for every human being head for head. Is really not a comforting truth. Because it means Jesus doesn't actually save anyone. The notion of universal atonement is that Jesus shed his blood for every human being head for head. And yet many perish. because they fail to avail themselves of that blood. And Jesus is either unwilling or unable to exert His power such that they do avail themselves of that blood. So that many whom Jesus came to save, He loses. And therefore, according to this view, the only confidence that we can ultimately The only place we can ultimately place our confidence is in ourselves. We have to avail ourselves of the blood of Christ and make sure we hold on to Him till the end. Because He died for all, but His death guarantees the salvation of none. The biblical reform doctrine of limited definite atonement means Jesus actually saves. He definitely saves the definite group of people He came for. That of all that the Father gave Him, He shall lose none. Not a drop of His precious blood will go to waste. Not one of the pangs of His agony on the cross will be for naught. Not one of those whom He calls His sheep will perish. Because He is the Savior who saves. His people were given to Him. He laid down His life for them. He paid in full for all of their sins. And He merited for them every blessing of salvation, the quickening spirit, preservation of the saints. And He, the Good Shepherd who laid His life down for the sheep, will shepherd them through the rest of their earthly life to the house of the Lord. And He will see to it that they get there. Everyone, every one of them, shall be saved. The Father gave them to Him. And the day will come when He presents them to the Father. Glorious church. Perfect. That's election and limited atonement. Though these reformed doctrines, which really are the truths of scripture, though they are unpopular, and though our own flesh may chafe at certain aspects of these truths, let us hold fast to them. And let us hold fast to them seeing especially the positive side, the preciousness, the comfort. Jesus is the Savior who definitely saves. He is not merely an opportunity provider. He is, in truth, the Savior. Whom does Jesus save? All those whom the Father gave Him. And definitely so. But now, that first point of the sermon is really the theological and biblical backdrop, background for what the catechism is focusing on here. The catechism focuses on engrafting Which is something God performs in time in the heart of the redeemed child of God. And so election and the atonement of Christ stand behind and really are the cause and source of this engrafting now that the catechism speaks of. Are all men then, as they perish in Adam, saved by Christ? No, only those who are engrafted into Him. The catechism here makes a very important point. If a person is to be saved, that person must be made a partaker of Christ Himself. Salvation is profoundly relational and personal. It is not a transaction. It is not the beaming of spiritual benefits to us and into us. But salvation takes place in and through personal union and relationship with the one who is our Savior. There is no salvation apart from the person. Christ. Yes, salvation from sin and from death is a work that God has objectively accomplished through the obedience and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Christ has merited that whole package of salvation blessings. All of those building blocks, so to speak, that are erected on the foundation of his person and his work. But now just as the structure of that house could not exist apart from the foundation, so too none of the blessings of salvation could be ours or could be enjoyed by us apart from the person of the Savior who earned them, who possesses them. It is only in union and communion with Him that we receive and enjoy any of these blessings. Ephesians 1 verse 3 says that all spiritual blessings are in Christ. And those blessings become ours only by us becoming His. They become ours only when we are united to Him and in a spiritual way, in a mystical sense, become part of Him. Members of His body. One plant with Him. Here's where the familiar imagery of the vine and the branches comes in. Here's why we read those first verses of John 15. There we have one of the scriptural passages that presents to us this Truth of our engrafting into Jesus Christ. Where an agricultural image is used to teach us a profound spiritual reality. Which is very difficult for us to wrap our creaturely minds around. Very challenging to understand apart from an earthly figure. In agriculture the process of engrafting involves taking a branch from one plant and merging it with another. So for example, a husbandman or a farmer or someone who is cultivating an orchard might cut a notch into the trunk of a tree and insert a branch from another tree into that notch. That's engrafting. And now that living tree grows into the branch in a certain sense. It embraces that branch as part of itself, pulls the branch into itself so that the engrafted branch becomes a part of that tree and the sap and the nutrients of the tree flow through the graft into that branch. Even in a certain sense, that engrafted branch, once it has become part of the tree, that engrafted branch can be said to draw from the tree its life. The nutrients that it needs to be a fruitful branch, to sprout leaves and to bear fruit. And that agricultural illustration, allows us to visualize this profound spiritual reality which is otherwise so hard to understand. Union with Christ. God, by His grace, joins us to Christ. In a spiritual way that can be likened unto a branch being joined to a tree. So that that engrafted branch now abides in the tree and partakes of all of the life that is in the tree. So it is with all those that the Father gave to Jesus. All those that Jesus then came into the world to redeem. All those for whom Jesus laid down His life. All those in due time are engrafted into Christ by the operation of the Spirit. This is the very first application of the benefits Christ has earned for us on the cross. The very first one that takes place in time. The Spirit joins us to Christ and at that same time infuses into us the new life of Christ. That's regeneration. Union and new life. Grafting into Christ. Establishing a spiritual bond that connects us to Him and keeps us in union with Him. It's like links of a chain. All those in eternity elected, given to Christ. Christ comes and he redeems that definite number of persons. Meriting all of the blessings of salvation for them. And now all of those blessings are in Him. And by His Spirit that He pours out, in due time He grafts each one of His sheep, each one of His elect, each one that the Father gave Him and for whom He died, grafts them into Himself. And the same spirit, as it were, causes the sap of salvation blessings to be pumped from Christ the tree. To flow from Christ the head into us, his branches, and his members. And thus, through this engrafting, we become a new creature with a new life. Our citizenship which was once here below becomes citizenship that we can already say is in heaven. Because we have a heavenly life coursing through us. And grafted into Christ. And now that leads us to the last link in the chain that we're going to look at this morning, briefly, because Lord willing, next week we'll look at this link much more closely, and that's faith. Whom does Jesus save? All those that the Father gave Him. Who He died for. Who He engrafts into Him by His Spirit. And now, in consequence of that engrafting, in due time, all those who believe in Him. The Catechism mentions two distinct benefits which are inseparable from each other. Here in answer 20. These are those who are saved, those who are engrafted into him and receive all his benefits by a true faith. Now, one way of reading that is the second phrase, reading it as a further explanation of the first. And that's legitimate. We are engrafted into Jesus Christ and through that engrafting, we receive all of his benefits. There's something more here. Having been engrafted into Christ, the idea is that we now actively receive and embrace and enjoy the benefits of Christ by means of a true and lively and active faith. Faith which the catechism will go on to describe as the activity of believing, knowing, and resting and relying upon Christ Jesus as our Savior. It is that activity of faith which is the believer embracing the Christ to whom he or she is united and drawing from Christ all spiritual blessings. just as a grafted branch draws from the trunk of the tree the life-giving sap it needs to flourish and bear its fruit. The activity of faith is a gift of God that springs from our union with Christ. When the child of God is grafted into Christ, united to Him, and given His new life, regenerated with that new life of Christ, comes what we call the faculty or the power of faith. That is the ability to believe on Christ. And in due time the Holy Spirit who dwells in the child of God who has been united to Christ. The Spirit dwells in the head and therefore dwells in all of his members. The Spirit activates that faith. The Belgic Confession uses the word kindles. That is brings it to life. Brings it to conscious expression and activity. And the rest of Lord's Day 7 is going to explain to us what that activity, what conscious faith looks like. How it acts. How we experience it. Believing arises from engrafting, which flows from having been given to Jesus Christ. God's work of salvation has so aptly been called a golden chain. Where each link is inseparably and unbreakably joined to the one before it and the one after it. And we see that here. Where does faith come from? The faith by which we embrace Christ and all of His benefits. It's not something we produce of ourselves. It's not the fruit of man's willing and running. Faith is a gift of God. It's Ephesians 2 verse 8. But faith is not a static thing. Faith comes to lively spiritual activity. God has designed it this way. Because again, salvation is a relational thing. We receive and enjoy the blessings of Christ in union and communion with Him. And faith is the conscious activity of that union and communion. It is our God-given spiritual receptive organ. The hand and mouth of the soul. By which we receive and appropriate and apply to ourselves all that we have in Christ. By which we draw our strength from Him daily. The faith by which we know that our sins are forgiven. The faith by which we hear the word of God's love in the gospel and we receive it as a personal word for ourselves and we feel the joy of knowing that love of God who gave me to Jesus my Savior. Faith which lays hope on the promises of God so that hope, hope now and forever, stands strong in the midst of our lives no matter how sin-embattled we are or affliction-battered we feel. Faith. Faith is the outstanding manifestation of the grace of God in the life of the child of God. And thus faith is the proof, the visible evidence of election. Sometimes people might wonder, how do I know that I am among those given to Christ? Sometimes God's people can worry about that or be vexed by questions, but here God gives us, the gospel gives us a very simple and comforting answer. Do you believe? Do you believe in Jesus? The simple gospel message is all who believe in Jesus Christ have everlasting life. Have it now and shall have it forever. That's John 3.36. Because that faith is an infallible fruit of having been engrafted into Christ. Which is the consequence of having been given to Christ. Now maybe someone says, but my faith is so weak. My faith is so brittle. I can barely see the light of it. The Holy Spirit kindles faith, but where is the flame of my faith? Now the gospel comes to you in the words of the prophet Isaiah, which says, God will not break the bruised reed, nor will he ever quench that smoking flax. It's not the quality of our faith. Sometimes our faith is very small and very weak. How often does Jesus say in the gospels, O ye of little faith? He says that a lot. How often does he say, O ye of great faith? You're not going to find that very often. O ye of little faith. Little faith is still real faith. A gift of God. An inextinguishable flame. That cannot go out. So take heart believer. Take heart struggling believer. Hold fast to Jesus Christ. And rest assured, it's not your holding fast to Him that guarantees your eternal well-being and security. Your holding fast to Him is only the fruit of Him holding you fast. Because believing comes from having been engrafted. flows from belonging. If you believe, you belong. You belong because you were given, given to Christ. What a truly wonderful and simple message then the gospel is. God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Amen. Faithful God and Father, we thank Thee for our Savior, for His work. We thank Thee for giving us lively faith Faith which springs from our union with Christ. We thank Thee that Thou has given us to Christ and that we may know this by faith and rest assured in this reality. So that throughout the life that we live in this world, its storms, its dark places, its troubles and its trials, Even amidst the waxing and the waning of the strength of our faith, nonetheless, we may rest our souls upon this rock that we belong, belong to Jesus. Body and soul, life and in death, forever. Amen.