Your conscience unaided, alone, cannot explain to you how to live and how to love rightly. No, only if God reveals Himself, only if God speaks, can we possibly know Him. And without it, we are completely in the dark. Well, good morning to each of you. What a joy it is to be back with you again at the Jacksonville Pastors Conference. And thank you, Dr. Brunson, for the privilege of being here. And Trey, it's an honor to be here every year that I've been. And I thank you for this opportunity once again. I want to introduce to you someone very special to me. She's here today. On October the 22nd of last year, I married this young lady named Kate Finley. And she's right here. And I want her to stand. I want you to see her because I'm proud of her. And I want you to get to know her so very well. And God has been good to us, brought us together. Kate is a financial advisor for Edward Jones and she and I have a wonderful opportunity now serving the Lord together. And I just love her to death and glad that she is here. And I want you to meet her if you don't, haven't met her yet, a few of you have, but come by afterwards. She loves people and she wants to meet you. So be sure and do that. Well, you know, Dr. Brunson and Trey asked me to come this year and they also said, you wrote this little book on the extent of the atonement. Some of you may have heard about that. And they said, why don't you feel free if you want to go ahead and preach on that subject and that topic. And so you know me, I don't believe in being controversial at all. You know how I am on that. And, but nevertheless, I am going to do that today. I'm going to preach, bring a message from 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 14 through 21. And let me invite you to turn with me in the Word of God, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 14 through 21. And I want to bring the message this morning entitled, Why Belief? in unlimited atonement matters. Why belief in unlimited atonement matters? 2 Corinthians chapter 5, we'll begin reading in verse 14 and read through verse 21. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all. Therefore, all died, and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore, from now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. Now, all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 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. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God were making an appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. The cross of Jesus Christ. The atonement of Christ accomplished on that cross is the heart, the centerpiece, and the essence of Christianity. Take away the cross and you have no Christianity. What Jesus did on that cross for a world and its sin is the centerpiece and all that Christianity is the stack pole around which it all hangs. Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 14 through 21. What I want to do this morning is an exposition, an application of these verses thinking specifically about what is Paul telling us today about the extent of the atonement. Now the question of the extent of the atonement is the question that answers or the question that seeks to provide an answer to this question, for whose sins did Jesus die? The extent of the atonement asks the question, for whose sins did Jesus die? There are only two answers, two possible answers to that question. Either Jesus died for the sins of some people, or Jesus died for the sins of all people. And what does Paul have to say in this passage of Scripture in answer to that question, for whose sins did Jesus die? When you come to the subject of the extent of the atonement or the subject of the atonement, there are three things that you need to keep in mind. Number one, God's intent in the atonement. What is God intending to do? Number two, the extent of the atonement. For whose sins did Jesus die? And number three, the application of the atonement. What are the conditions that the Bible gives upon which the atonement will be applied to anyone's life? Those three key things are vital to an understanding of the atonement. The atonement's intent, the atonement's extent, and the atonement's application. My primary focus this morning from these verses is on the middle of those three, the question of the extent of the atonement for whose sins did Jesus die? And why does it matter? Why does it matter how we answer that question? Well, I think when we follow Paul's trajectory of thought, we will discover why it is important to believe that Jesus died for the sins of all people. And so I want you to notice with me, I'm going to show you seven truths out of these verses. Paul is developing an argument and he's basically teaching us seven things from these verses. The first thing that he teaches us in verses 14 and 15 is Christ's love is demonstrated in a universal atonement. The love of God and the love of Jesus is demonstrated for the world in the fact that Jesus died for the sins of the world. Look with me at verses 14 and 15. For the love of Christ controls us. Having concluded this, Now watch, look at Paul's conclusion. Paul says, the love of Christ controls us and is the ground for the conclusion that he is about to draw. And he therefore says, and we conclude, have concluded this, that one died for all. Christ's love is demonstrated in a universal atonement. The question must be asked, how can it be said that Jesus loves all people if he did not die for the sins of all people? It's not possible for you to say Christ loves everyone but he only died for the sins of some people. You have to have an odd, quirky, unusual kind of definition of love that can only be expressed in a temporal sense and that the rain falls on the just and the unjust and the sun shines on the just and the unjust and so God gives temporal love to some people, but then He doesn't love them enough to die on the cross for their sins. I believe the scripture makes it crystal clear that is hugely problematic. John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. What about 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verses 4 through 6? There we learn that God not only loves the world, but He desires the salvation of all people. Notice what He says, 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 4, that God, who is, look at verse 3, this is God, good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Here comes verse 4, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. God has a universal saving desire. He doesn't just desire that some people be saved. The scripture clearly teaches God desires that all people be saved. Verse 5, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. And then, of course, 2 Peter 3, 9, God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. You see, God has a universal saving desire. It is His desire that everybody on the planet be saved. And that desire is also reflected in the universal atonement that He has made. Christ has died for the sins of all people. And that's what Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 14. And notice that Paul is connecting the ground of the atonement on the love, with the love of Christ. He is connecting love and the atonement. Christ's love is demonstrated in a universal atonement. Listen to this definition in the Westminster Confession. The description and the definition in answer to the question, who is God? God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, truth. Now I affirm every word in that statement. But did you notice there is something missing? There is a glaring omission. Where in that statement is the love of God? the huge doctrine of the love of God as taught in the New Testament. First John 4, 7 through 11, God is love. All that we are taught about the love of God, certainly love, is a critical part of who God is, His very nature and attributes. And yet in the description and definition in the Westminster Catechism, who is God? There is no mention of His love. Something is amiss there. The love of God is crucial. Paul says it right here in verse 14, for the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all. It is not possible exegetically or hermeneutically in these verses to take that word all and massage it and use some hermeneutical ledger domain to create, out of that word, some of all kinds of men. That is not what Paul says. He says, not that Jesus died for some of all kinds of men, no, he says he died for all. He is the representative, as the representative of the human race, the God-man, comes into this world, he's taken on human flesh via the incarnation, and he suffers and dies in our place on the cross, and he does so for all. And he does it in such a sense that notice what Paul says in verse 14, therefore all die. There is a very real sense in which Jesus having taken on the sins of all humanity by corporate solidarity in the Old and New Testament concept of corporate solidarity Jesus has come and he has died in the place of all. And there is a sense, therefore, in which it can be said that all have died in him. So we have the second use of the word all. Verse 15, we have the third use. And he died for all. Notice the three uses of the word all, all, all. And now watch carefully, verse 15. So that they who live. Now do you see the distinction? You have He died for all, He dies for all, He dies for all, and now you have a category expressed in a different grammatical construction so that out of all of those for whom He has died, those who live. That is, of course, a reference to believers. That is, of course, a reference to those who have appropriated the death of Christ on the cross, or who have believed the gospel, and are in Christ, and have been regenerated, and have been converted, and thus they are believers, and thus they are described as those who live. So Paul says that those who now live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. I don't have the time to do a full exposition here, but basically Paul is saying that when you come to know Christ, suddenly everything changes. It's now no longer about you, it's all about Him. And all of our ministry and all of our life as J.R. Vassar was very clearly saying to us last night. in the message on this passage of scripture as well. We are now given over to Him. His agenda becomes our agenda. His life is our life and we preach and we teach and we minister and we serve and we do it all for Him and for His glory. But I want you to notice carefully that Paul says the death of Christ is for all people. It is a universal atonement and it is based on God's love. But then number two truth, verses 17 and 18. Though Christ died for all, only believers are in Christ and reconciled personally to God and thus are saved. Look at verses 16, 17, and 18. Therefore from now on We recognize no one according to the flesh, even though we've known Christ according to the flesh. Yet now we know him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, new things have come. I wish I had time to develop that, but we don't have time to cover all of that carefully. So let's look carefully now at verse 18. All these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Though Christ died for all, it is only those who are in Christ who are personally reconciled to God and who are saved. This is what Paul is saying. And therefore, verse 17, if anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation. Look at the phrase, in Christ. Those who are in Christ. That's Pauline shorthand. Used that phrase in Christ. Used about, what, 70 some odd times in the New Testament. 168 times if you add in Christ Jesus or in Jesus or in Jesus Christ. All of those phrases together. This is Pauline shorthand for believers. Only believers are in Christ. But those who are in Christ have experienced His salvation. They are reconciled and they are saved. The third truth that Paul teaches in these verses is this, all Christians are given the ministry of reconciliation. Now it is true here in verse 18, all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. The first application or the first referent of the word us there would be Paul and the apostles, but then by extension, entailment, That includes all believers. We are, as we're going to find out a little bit later, ambassadors for Christ. And so the third truth is all Christians are given the ministry of reconciliation. That is stated here. It's going to be explained more in verse 20. That's the third truth from this text. Look at the fourth truth in verse 19. Through the death of Christ, God reconciled the world to himself objectively. Listen to that again. Through the death of Christ, God reconciled the world to Himself objectively. Look at verse 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. Nowhere in Scripture Does the word world or kosmos in Greek ever mean the elect? Nowhere. D.A. Carson, who himself is a Calvinist who affirms limited atonement, says in his commentary on John as well as other places, nowhere in Scripture does the word world ever mean the elect. No, in this case the word world means exactly what it's what the word itself generally means. It means the world of all people. And that's what Paul is talking about here. Notice that there is a sense in which the world is objectively reconciled to God through Christ. that that is an event that has occurred. And thus God is said, look at it carefully, He is not currently counting their trespasses against them. There is a temporary stay of execution against every unsaved person because of the cross. God has made it possible for all people to be reconciled to Him. Now He will make it certain that those who believe will be reconciled to Him. And what we learn in this passage of scripture is that the beautiful biblical word and concept of reconciliation carries with it both an objective and a subjective sense. There is an objective sense in which God has reconciled the world to himself And there is, he has made it possible for all people to be reconciled to him. There's a temporary stay of execution. All of the legal obstacles against our salvation have been dealt with by Christ at the cross. There is, the law has been fully satisfied by Jesus, God's perfect penal substitute on the cross for the sins of all people and therefore in that sense The world is objectively reconciled to God. When you study this word reconciliation and read about it in theological studies, you will see that theologians will talk about this objective part of reconciliation and then the subjective part. Now be careful. Though the world is objectively reconciled to God in the sense that He is not currently imputing their trespasses and their sins against Him, then if that's the case, why is it people die and go to hell? It's not that the world is subjectively reconciled. No, it is objectively reconciled. But no one benefits from the atonement until they meet God's condition of salvation. And what is God's condition of salvation? It is repentance and faith. Only those who are in Christ. You see, Christ died for the sins of the world, but only those who are in Christ, only those who have repented of their sin and by faith believed in Christ receive the benefits of the atonement and are thus subjectively reconciled to God. You see, salvation is all of God. It starts with Him. It's His plan. Unless God seeks us, we would certainly never seek Him. Reconciliation is all the work of God. It's what God does. Nowhere in scripture are we said to reconcile ourselves to God, nor are we told, commanded to do that in that sense. It is always God who reconciles. But what we are told in scripture is we are commanded to be reconciled to Him by grace through faith in Christ. And that's the subjective aspect of this reconciliation. And this is what Paul means when he says, that through Christ God has reconciled the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses and sins against them. The legal obstacles have been removed. Now, one of the arguments against a universal atonement, the most famous argument, is called the double payment argument. It's an argument that was popularized by John Owen in his famous book, The Death of Death and the Death of Christ. It's a very simple argument. It's based purely on logic. It is not found in Scripture. It is an argument that says this, that if Jesus paid the debt for the sins of all people, then God cannot punish anyone for their sins. That would be a double payment. That would be unjust, and therefore Jesus didn't die for the sins of all people. Sounds logical, but it's full of major problems. Number one, it's not biblical. Nowhere in scripture is that argument ever used. Number two, it confuses the extent of the atonement with the application. The atonement itself, listen carefully. I mean, tweet this out all you want, but be sure you quote me accurately. The atonement itself saves no one. It is only when the atonement itself is applied by God the Holy Spirit at salvation that the atonement saves. Ipso facto, the atonement itself doesn't magically save people. You've got an atonement out there, but nobody is saved by that atonement until they meet God's condition of salvation, which is repentance of sin and faith in Christ. That's the biblical teaching. So, there's an objective and a subjective aspect to this that come together, but this double payment argument confuses the extent of the atonement with the application of the atonement. The double payment argument proves too much. If the debts of the elect, if you want to put it in Calvinistic terms, terms of Reformed theology, if that debt is paid at the cross, then why are they not saved at the cross? You see, Ephesians 2, 1 through 3 says, even the unbelieving elect are still under the wrath of God. And if they do not come to Christ, if they do not believe, even though they're in a state of unbelieving, they are the unbelieving elect in terms of reformed theology, they're still under the wrath of God. They're not saved by the cross. Only when the cross is applied to them, only when the atonement is applied to them are they saved. The ground of their salvation is for sure the atonement. No one's ever saved apart from the atonement. The death of Christ on the cross is the reason why anybody can be saved, but no single person is going to be saved apart from repentance of sin and faith in Jesus. That's the clear teaching of Scripture. The double payment argument basically says that therefore the elector owed salvation. That's what John Owen says in his book, The Death of Death and the Death of Christ. Wait a minute, I thought salvation was by grace. I didn't think anybody was owed salvation. It's all by grace. The double payment argument negates grace. It's also based on commercialism. It's based on a false understanding of how what Christ did on the cross for our sins works. Let me illustrate it this way. Here's what the double payment argument is built on. If we go to lunch today and Dr. Brunson takes me to lunch, and there we are, and the bill comes to the table. The restaurant owner doesn't care who pays the bill as long as the bill is paid. Once the bill is paid, the debt is released. That's called a commercial transaction. Now, the Scripture uses debt language metaphorically. It talks about sin as debt. But the way the cross works is not in a commercial fashion. Because God has said that the payment for sin is there, but it is not applied to anyone until they believe. You see, sin, watch it, is not only a debt, it is that, but it is also a crime. And so the issue of God's justice is actually involved. Let me illustrate it this way. If I come to your store and rob your store of a thousand dollars, and I get away. And say someone who is a friend of yours steps up and says, you know, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm going to reimburse that $1,000. And they give you back the $1,000 that I stole from you. And then later, I am apprehended. When I am apprehended because the debt was paid, am I okay with the law? No. because I have committed a crime. There was a debt involved, but there was a moral crime, a moral issue involved as well. And sin is the same way. There's a debt involved, absolutely, but it's also, there's also the legal aspect of justice. And so I am not exonerated just because that debt was paid. And furthermore, the double payment argument creates a problem because it undermines the urgency of preaching. Because if all of the elect, they're going to be saved anyway. They were either saved, justified at the cross, which is of course a false doctrine. But the problem with the double payment argument is it undermines and undercuts the urgency of the preaching of the gospel to all people. Now, there are many other problems, and if you're bored to tears one night, pull out that book, and when you've been using it as a doorstop, pull it off the door and read a little bit about what the Bible is teaching about how salvation actually works. But the point of Paul is that through the death of Christ, God has reconciled the world to himself objectively. He's not counting their trespasses and sins against them, but notice He's given to us the word of reconciliation, the mandate for evangelism in the latter part of verse 19. He has committed to us the word of reconciliation, and that leads to the fifth truth. As ambassadors for Christ, we plead with people to be reconciled to God. You see, God is objectively reconciled to the world. God is in a posture where he can receive people now into his love. He can receive them into his salvation. He is objectively reconciled. Christ has paid the penalty for sin. The legal debt is paid, but we must repent of our sin and believe in Christ. And therefore, gospel preachers are given by God to the world to preach the gospel to the world, to function as ambassadors for Christ, and to call people to salvation. That's the fifth truth that Paul is teaching here. As ambassadors for Christ, we plead with people to be reconciled to God. Look at verse 20. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God were making an appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Now there it is. Here is the subjective reconciliation. Objectively, God is in a position to be reconciled with the world. Christ has made that possible. But subjectively, no one is personally reconciled to God and their sin dealt with until they repent of their sin and by faith believe in Christ. That's what the scripture teaches. That's what Paul is teaching right here. And this truth is so vital as ambassadors we plead with people to be reconciled to God. Now notice this. Our pleading with people, our preaching the gospel is grounded in and based on a universal atonement. We are preaching the gospel to all people because there is an atonement made for all people and an ambassador for Christ as ambassadors representing God. We plead and I want you to look at that terminology. A lot of preaching, I don't care where you are theologically, I'm just going to say on all sides of the aisle theologically on this stuff, a lot of preaching lacks the passion and the begging and the pleading with people to come to Christ. But that's exactly what Paul says here. He writes, we're ambassadors as though God were making an appeal through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. But now watch it. Not only are we as ambassadors for Christ pleading with people to be reconciled to God, the sixth truth, as ambassadors for Christ, God himself appeals through us to all of the unsaved. God himself, he has a universal saving desire, 1 Timothy 2, 4 through 6. Here as well. His love is universal for all people. The atonement is a universal satisfaction for the sins of all people, demonstrating the love of God. And now, notice when you stand and preach. Oh, look at this. It is not only you who is preaching. It is not only you pleading for souls. It is not only you offering the gospel of salvation to every person under the sound of your voice. No, it is God himself doing that. Look carefully at that verse. He says very clearly, as though God were making an appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ. God is making the appeal, and on behalf of Christ who is making the appeal, and on the grounds of the universal atonement, the appeal can be made. Therefore God is offering salvation to all, and he's not just offering it, he's Not just calling, he is pleading with them. The word in Greek, look it up, don't have the time to walk you through it. But it is a word that means to plead and to beg with passion. God and you are calling people to Christ. Begging them to come to him. And therefore truth number seven. Our appeal and God's appeal to the unsaved. is grounded in a universal atonement. Which is why Paul concludes this passage in verse 21. He made him, Jesus who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Our appeal and God's appeal to the unsaved is grounded in a universal atonement. And therefore, I'm reminded of Andrew Fuller, that great Baptist leader. Andrew Fuller wrote the Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation. He had two versions of that, 1785 edition number one, 1801 edition number two. In between, Andrew Fuller had a conversion experience on this subject. In the first edition of the Gospel Worthy, Andrew Fuller was committed to a limited atonement He believed that Jesus only died for the sins of the elect. But as a result of his debates with the General Baptist, Dan Taylor, Andrew Fuller came to see that that was untrue. In fact, he says in his writings, I found myself not just arguing against Dan Taylor, but against the very Word of God. And so in the second edition of Andrew Fuller's Gospel Worthy, in the section on the atonement, on the extent of the atonement, all of the limited atonement language is removed And Andrew Fuller is now arguing for an unlimited atonement. And Fuller did not appeal to the mere sufficiency of the atonement as a ground of faith, but on the atonement itself, the fact that Christ had died for the sins of all people as the ground of faith for all men. What is that ground of faith? It is the substitutionary death of Christ for the sins of all people. So I'm going to draw three conclusions. Number one, God's love for all people is the motivation for his death, for the sins of all people. If you're going to take God's love and divide it up between a saving love for a certain group of people and something short of a saving love, a non-saving love that says, here, you're nice and I'm gonna let the sun shine, but then you're going to die, there's no atonement for your sins, you're gonna spend an eternity in hell. I don't see how that can be described as the love of God. In fact, I'm going to go so far as to say that that understanding entails, I'm not accusing anybody, I've got lots of my friends who believe in limited atonement, but I'm saying that that view entails the fact that you wind up impugning the very character of God because God says he loves everybody And the scripture clearly says in a dozen places in the New Testament, Jesus died for the sins of everyone. And furthermore, there is no statement in scripture that says Jesus died only for the sins of some people. I've asked a thousand of my Calvinist friends who hold to limited atonement, where is the text that says Jesus died only for the sins of the elect? And there is none. And they will admit that. There is no text. It's a logical deduction based on other aspects. But yet it flies in the face of scripture. Why not just take what scripture says? Jesus died for all people. God loves all people. And God's love for all people is the motivation for his death for the sins of all people. That's conclusion number one. Conclusion number two. Only those who have an atonement for their sins are savable. Can anybody be saved apart from the atonement of Christ, yes or no? Well, let's try that again. That was pitiful. Let's try that one more time. Can anybody be saved apart from the atonement of Christ? No, the scripture is clear. Therefore, it's simple. If there is no atonement for some people, preach to them all you want to, it's not even possible they could be saved because there's no atonement for their sins. If there is no atonement for your sins, you are no more savable than the fallen angels. You are no more savable than if Jesus had never come into this world in the first place. Pretend for a moment, this scenario. Jesus never died on the cross. And so I come to you and I preach to you, if you will believe in Jesus, you can be saved. Is that true? Is what I just said true or false? It would be false. Because no matter how much I tell you, if you believe in Jesus, you can be saved. If there's no atonement in the first place, it's not possible for you to be saved. You are not savable. But you see, God loves everybody, and Jesus died for the sins of everyone. And because that's true, as Paul says, and a dozen other verses in the New Testament state, therefore all people are savable. God loves them all, and all can be saved. Now, all will not be saved. Why? Not because there's not an atonement for them, but because they willfully reject the gospel. So conclusion number two, only those who have an atonement for their sins are savable. Number three, only those who have an atonement for their sins are offerable. You cannot offer salvation to anyone for whom it does not exist. I will repeat that. It is not possible in any genuine way to offer salvation to people to whom an atonement does not exist as the ground for their salvation. You say, well, David, you know, you really are confused here, son. You're missing, you don't understand. We don't know who the elect are. Precisely, we don't. But God does, and it's not just you offering, it's Him. And if God is offering something to someone that He Himself knows doesn't exist for that person, and He's offering that through you, then God's character is impugned. God Himself is not speaking truthfully. It is not possible to offer something to someone that doesn't exist. It's like Jesus' parable of the banquet table. And he says, come for all things are ready. But yet for all of those for whom there is no atonement for their sins on the limited atonement scheme, there is no table at the chair. There's no place setting at the table. There's no food offered. Because by definition, limited atonement teaches there is no salvation for some people's sins. No atonement for some people's sins. Therefore, offer salvation to them all you want to, all through your preaching. They can never be saved because there's no salvation available for their sin. And that is a problem for preaching. It's a problem for missions. It's a problem for evangelism. And frankly, it is totally contrary to Scripture. Scripture affirms a love of God. Christ died for all. And that's what Paul is saying. Ty Cobb, meanest man in baseball, .367 lifetime batting average, 4,191 hits, 892 stolen bases, 12 times earned the batting title. Nine consecutively. Did you hear that, men? I said 12 batting titles, nine consecutively. Unbelievable! That will never be done again in the history of the universe. But Ty Cobb was the meanest man in baseball. He was hated by everybody. Even his own teammates hated him. Once in a tight race at the end of the season for the batting title, his own teammates rooted against him and for the other guy because they hated him so much. He was married three times in all occasions of marriages. He verbally and physically abused his wife. He was a racist. He would hurl racial epithets at people of color. Toward the end of his days, Ty Cobb received a knock at his door and a preacher by the name of John Richardson showed up to visit Ty Cobb. When Cobb found out he was a preacher, he cursed him. Get out of here. I don't want to talk to no preacher. Two days later, Richardson returned, and this time Cobb let him in. And John Richardson told Ty Cobb of the love of God for him and how Jesus had died on the cross for the sins of the likes of the Georgia peach. Ty Cobb. Tears began to well up in his face, in his eyes, and rolled down his cheeks. And Ty Cobb came under the conviction of the Holy Spirit And the preaching of the word of God and Ty Cobb responded in faith in Christ. And what you may not know is right before his death, a couple of weeks before his death, Ty Cobb became a follower. of Jesus Christ. Three days before he died, he told John Richardson, I feel the strong arms of God underneath me. Ladies and gentlemen, you cannot send yourself beyond the love of God. There's nothing you can do to make God love you any more than he loves you right now. There is nothing you can do to make God love you any less than he loves you right now. Jesus Christ has provided an atonement for the sins of all of the world and all people are savable because of that atonement. She was blind, but Fanny Crosby saw it clearly. To God be the glory, great things He has done. So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, who yielded His life and atonement for sin, and opened the life gates that all may go in. That's universal atonement. But look at the next verse. O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood to every believer the promise of God, the vilest offender who truly believes that moment from Jesus a pardon receives. There is particular redemption. Universal atonement. applied to all who believe. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. Oh, come to the Father through Jesus the Son and give Him the glory. God's maximal glory is in a universal atonement. And give Him the glory, great things He hath done.