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We continue our exploration and study of the book of the prophet Isaiah, and this morning we’re talking about a very familiar but very jam-packed and powerful portion of God’s Word found in Isaiah. That is chapter 52, verse 13, chapter 53, verse 12. You’ll find that beginning on page 729. in your pew bibles. This is what the scholars and theologians call the fourth servant song. So let us hear God’s holy word beginning at Isaiah chapter 52 verse 13 and reading through the end of chapter 53.

Behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him.

For that which has not been told them, they see. And that which they have not heard, they understand. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? for he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We’ve 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. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief.

When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.

The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the preaching of his word. Our Lord and Father in heaven, in this passage of your God-breathed, inerrant, infallible word, we are confronted with mysteries beyond human comprehension. And yet, Lord, we are also blessed in this passage with rich spiritual food to feed our souls. We ask, Lord, that these gospels today would indeed work deepened faith and love and hope and joy in our hearts and souls. We would ask Heavenly Father that by your spirit as it goes forth, implant this word by your spirit into our souls and illuminate our minds by your spirit that we might understand and behold wondrous things from your word this day. In all of God’s people said, amen. You may be seated.

Today the title of my sermon is The Suffering and Triumphant Servant, and taken from this fourth servant song in Isaiah. And the key words to be listening for today are the words suffering, atonement, and triumphant. Well, dear friends, in Christ this morning, we find ourselves considering a well-known and frequently referenced passage of God’s Word that is often pointed to as one of the clearest, if not the clearest, prophecies that predicts with exhaustive accuracy the sufferings and the victories of the promised Messiah, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, whom the Lord describes in this passage in chapter 22, verse 13, morning, as I mentioned, is the fourth of the so-called Servant Songs of Isaiah. And this particular Servant Song is arguably the prophetic climax and center of the entire book of the prophet Isaiah. And chapter 53, verses 4 through 6 in particular, is the climax, the central hub of this particular Servant Song.

The multiple details of this profound messianic prophecy are fulfilled with astonishing accuracy in the history of our Lord’s trial, the grievous unspeakable sufferings of his crucifixion, and his burial in a rich man’s tomb. The ultimate triumph of the suffering servant mentioned in this passage finds fulfillment, of course, in our Lord’s bodily resurrection from the dead, his ascension into heaven, and his reign, what the theologians call his session at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, where he intercedes for us as our great and heavenly high priest. The central portion highlights the messianic servant of the Lord as a suffering servant, is actually bookended with predictions of the servant’s ultimate victory, exaltation, and triumph. And so this, not with the humiliation of our Lord, but with his exaltation being predicted.

In chapter 52, verse 13, Isaiah opens up saying, behold, my servant shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. The closing portion of this found in chapter 53, verse 12, mentions this servant dividing the spoils. It says in verse 12, therefore I will divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, which again points to his victory, his triumph, his exaltation.

So again, This is not just the suffering servant passage. This is about the suffering and ultimately triumphant servant of the Lord. So again, here in this fourth servant song, we are presented with the promised Messiah as Yahweh’s suffering and triumphant servant. In fact, in God’s ironic plan, it is actually by means of our Lord’s vicarious sufferings that he ultimately triumphs. in resurrected, exalted victory.

And what makes all of this so astonishing is that the Holy Spirit moved Isaiah the prophet to record this prophecy multiple hundreds of years before Jesus the Messiah even entered into the history of the human race. Hundreds of years before Jesus was even born. These predictions of these astonishing and detailed predictions of his sufferings are given here in the prophecy that we have before us today. What a profound testimony this passage is to the divine inspiration and the supernatural origin of the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God.

Now there are so many spiritual riches, friends, so many details in this passage that we could take time to explore today. In fact, I would suggest to you that it would be possible to do an entire sermon series just on this particular passage. However, given our limited time this morning, today I want to have us focus on two important truths, gospel truths, that we learn from this prophecy about the vicarious sufferings and triumph of Yahweh’s messianic servant, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

First of all, we’re going to consider the nature of the suffering servant’s atonement, and then we will consider the beneficiaries of the triumphant servant’s atonement. So let’s consider the nature of the suffering servant’s atonement. through an introductory behold, which means pay attention. This is important, listen up. Through this introductory behold in chapter 52, verse 13, Isaiah directs our attention once again to the figure of God’s servant, the servant of Yahweh, the servant. servant song in Isaiah. So we’ve been learning a lot and hearing a lot and reading a lot and studying a lot about this particular servant of the Lord.

And in this passage it’s very clear that the servant of the Lord is not Israel corporately considered, but here the servant of the Lord is an individual, an individual who carries the sorrows and bears the sins of God’s people. the degradation and the awful suffering of Christ, a degradation and suffering that will lead some to mistakenly conclude that the servant was suffering for his own sins. In view of that, Isaiah begins this section by assuring us that the servant will indeed be exalted to a very high position as we’re in chapter 52 verse 13.

Though many were astonished at the appearance of Christ in his suffering, and though he was marred almost beyond by his suffering and death, nonetheless, he accomplished the priestly work necessary to sprinkle many nations, not just his people among the Jews, but to sprinkle many nations. And this one who was so degraded will be so utterly exalted that even kings will stand in awe of him. That’s the thrust of chapter 52. where it says, as many were astonished at you, the at you there is probably a reference to God’s people who were afflicted in the exile. Many were astonished that Yahweh’s people were suffering an exile, but as people were astonished at them, at the suffering servant of the Lord.

For it goes on to say, his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance. Think about what Jesus must have looked like after his flogging, how he was a mass of blood and torn flesh. Many were astonished. His appearance was so marred beyond human semblance and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. But the suffering had a purpose.

As we’re told in verse 15, so shall he sprinkle many nations. This points us to the sprinkling of blood, atonement for many nations. And not only that, it goes on to say, kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they shall understand. Even kings, foreign kings, those in high positions in foreign lands, when they hear of his suffering followed by his exaltation, will stand in awe of him. Now, Isaiah knew that it would be hard for people to believe that God would take his servant from such a deep state of humiliation in order to exalt him to such a high state of exaltation.

And that’s why he begins chapter 53 with a question, two questions. Who has believed what he heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? The arm of the Lord representing his strength in action, his power in action. In the words of one commentator, the appalling suffering of God’s own wise servant who deserved none of it, and the subsequent elevation of one so dishonored by men It would, in fact, produce incredulity in many hearing the report of these things. God’s way of doing things often does not seem to make sense to men.

Salvation through a crucified Messiah? Victory through death and suffering? Yes. as the representative of the people, Isaiah is here in chapter 53, verse 1, expressing dismay that so few believe the good news about the Christ, the servant of God. But Isaiah then goes on to describe what the servant is like in chapter 53, verses 2 and 3.

He says, for he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. In other words, from the human perspective, Christ came from a rather unimpressive background, rather unimpressive pedigree. We know, of course, that he is actually the incarnate Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born… …point of his contemporaries, he was just an ordinary Jew who was born in, of all places, or who came from, of all places, Nazareth. We know he was born in Bethlehem, as the scriptures predicted that the Messiah would be, but nevertheless he was a Nazirite, It says, he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was not an impressive fellow by human appearance. Not only that, it goes on to say in verse three, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, And we esteemed him not.

Jesus, at the height of his earthly ministry, had many followers, many who were clamoring to see him. For motives that were not holy or godly, but simply gawking at him, wanting to see him to do some miracles, or perhaps wanting to partake of the bread that he multiplied on that occasion, on several occasions. But whatever the case may be, we know that in his earthly ministry, Jesus ultimately was rejected by the majority of his fellow Jews. He was despised and rejected. That’s why, ultimately, he was nailed to a cross.

Dear ones, it is because this unbelief is so prevalent in our world that we sinners need a sinless Savior. We need a Savior who is able to accomplish an effective atonement, an atonement by which Christ overcomes our natural enmity, our natural unbelief. In this passage, Isaiah tells us that Christ, the suffering servant, offered just such an atonement. I just want to focus on three aspects of the Atonement We notice that Christ’s atonement was penal in its nature. That term penal is related to the term penalty. That is to say, Christ bore the penalty due to us for our sin. He suffered punishment for the guilt of our sin. In our therapeutic age, that’s a very unpopular message. The idea that God will actually punish sin Many folks today don’t want to believe that.

Oh, God’s a loving God. Yes, He’s loving, but He’s also just and also holy. And sin is cosmic treason. Every time we sin, we shake our fist at our Creator and say, Lord, not Your will, my will, be done. And that is an offense to the infinitely holy God who created us in His image and who calls us to live for His glory.

So Christ’s atonement was penal by nature. especially the language of verses four through six and following. In verse four, we’re told this, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. The unbelieving attitude towards Christ is that, well, he’s stricken by God because of his own sin, but in actuality, he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.

Verse 5, but he was pierced for our transgressions. Pierced. This obviously is ultimately fulfilled in the crucifixion of Christ, where he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Jesus was pierced through as punishment for our sins.

Again, the penal nature of his atonement for our sins is brought out clearly in this amazing prophetic passage. And then verse six, it says, 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.” The Lord has laid on him. He didn’t have sin laid on him, that his own sin laid on him, no. He was sinless. Yahweh laid our sin on the suffering Messiah, Jesus. God the Father laid on Jesus the punishment for the guilt of our sin.

And what was the result? Well, if you skip down to verse eight, it says, by oppression and judgment, he was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was what? Cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.

All of this language points to his penal sufferings, his penal vicarious sufferings for us and for our salvation. But this was God’s will, as we’re told in verse 10. Yet it was the will of the Lord to do what? Crush him. He has put him to grief. It was the father’s will to crush his son that we might be redeemed. And it was not that Jesus had to die to make an angry God loving. It was God’s love that motivated him to send his son into this world to pay the penalty for sin so that we who believe in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. It was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief.

And then verse 11, out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied again. The penal sufferings of Christ come out here. shall the righteous one my servant make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities. And then verse 12, yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors. All of this penal language regarding our Lord’s sufferings reminds me of what the Apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 3, verse 18, 1 Peter 3, verse 18, where Peter is writing to a group of Christians who were facing persecution, facing suffering for their faith. He reminds them, and the Holy Spirit through Peter reminds us that indeed Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh and made alive in the spirit, and so forth. But this is related to the next aspect of the atoning work that is highlighted in this suffering servant passage.

And that is to say that Christ’s atonement was also substitutionary. Jesus suffered the penalty due to us for our sin, but it’s also substitutionary in nature. That is to say, Christ bore the penalty of sin as a He bore our penalty in our place, in our stead.

Why did Jesus have to die such an awful, horrible death on the cross of Calvary? It wasn’t just to show how much God loves us, although it certainly does show that. It wasn’t just to be a moral example to us. No, He died to pay the penalty for our sin in our place, in our stead. He was the Lamb of God. He died as our Savior. our substitute, and the language of our passage brings that out. Just as the language of this passage brings out the penal nature of our Lord’s substitutionary work, or our Lord’s vicarious sufferings, it also brings out the substitutionary aspect of our Lord’s work.

Again, verses four through six, he has borne whose griefs? Our griefs. He has carried whose sorrows? Our sorrows. And verse five, he was pierced for for our transgressions. He’s our sin bearer, our substitute. He was crushed for what? For our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. All we like sheep have gone astray. We’ve turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has done what? Laid on him the iniquity of us all.

We see this substitutionary language implied and used also in verse eight. By oppression and judgment he was taken away as for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for what? For the transgression of my people. He was stricken for the transgression of my people. There’s substitution there. There’s sin bearing going on there. And this also comes out especially in verses 10 through 12. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt. Christ died as our guilt offering.

He shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. That points to his ultimate victory and exaltation in the resurrection. And then it goes on to say, In verse 11, by his knowledge, or by the knowledge of him as it could be translated, shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous. He shall bear, excuse me, he shall bear their iniquities. He bears our iniquities. And therefore, again, verse 12, he bore the sin of many and makes This is substitutionary language, very clearly.

Especially for a few moments, on the language that is used in verse 6, Isaiah 53 verse 6, it says, this language of the Lord laying on Jesus our iniquity. What’s in the background of Isaiah’s mind as he writes this? Well, it’s very possible that Isaiah is thinking of the scapegoat ritual that was commanded by God in the Old Covenant. If you’re familiar with that ritual and will read the passage where the Lord commanded his people to do this, just as the priest symbolically in that scapegoat ritual laid the sins of the people on the scapegoat by laying his hands on the goat and confessing over the goat the sins of the people, and then the goat was released into the wilderness to bear away the sins of the people. So God the Father has not just symbolically, but actually laid our sins upon his messianic servant so that he, the Lord Jesus Christ, may bear those sins away as our sin bearer, our substitute.

If you turn to Leviticus chapter 16, let’s look at verses 20 through 22. Leviticus chapter 16, verses 20 through 22, where this ritual is explained. This is what was to be done on the day of atonement of Leviticus 16. And when he had made an end of atoning for the holy place and the tent And Aaron shall lay, Aaron was the high priest, Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel. So there’s a symbolic transfer.

The sins of the people are laid symbolically on the goat, the scapegoat. shall confess the sins of all the iniquities, confess over all the iniquities of the people of Israel and all their transgressions, all their sins, and he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.”

What a picture, not only of substitution, of our sin being laid on Christ and Him bearing that sin, but also a picture of expiation, God sending away our sin. In Christ, our sins have been laid on Christ. He himself was the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, but our sins were laid upon him, and he bears those sins away. Praise be to God. This is what is being pointed to here in Isaiah 53, verse 6, where it says, the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And again, we are reminded of that passage that I read several times, actually, earlier in the service, in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, where the Apostle Paul writes, for our sake he, God the Father, made him, Christ, to be sin, who knew no sin. Christ was sinless, he knew no sin. But God the Father, in a sense, laid our sins upon Christ. For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So Christ’s atonement, his vicarious suffering, was an atonement that was penal in nature. He underwent the penalty for sin that we deserve, and it was substitutionary. He acted as our sin-bearer, our substitute. But I also want us to consider from our passage today, and there’s much more that we can consider, but briefly understand also that Christ’s atonement was efficacious. He accomplished and secured the redemption of God’s people. He didn’t just make us redeemable. He actually redeemed us. He didn’t just make us savable. He actually saved us, secured our salvation on the cross of Calvary.

And you say, well, where is that found in this suffering servant passage? The whole tenor of this whole passage highlights the fact that the suffering servant is indeed triumphant and his sufferings are efficacious in making atonement for our sins. For example, in verse, with his wounds we are healed. By his wounds we might be healed if we jump through enough hoops or if we do the right, make the right choices. No, by his wounds, with his wounds we are healed. Christ’s atonement is efficacious.

He actually atones for the sins of actual people. Now, a couple points of application before we briefly consider our final point. First of all, friends, if nothing less than the substitutionary sufferings of the sinless Son of God are sufficient to atone for our sins, then how great must our sin be in the eyes of God? We live in, like I said before, we live in a therapeutic culture, and we live in a culture that is constantly telling us, you deserve a break today. You’re a good person. I’m okay, you’re okay. Everything’s okay.

God is love, he would never punish anyone. And so we have a culture today that feeds us the lie that our sin is not really a big deal. You know, God is sort of this indulgent father in heaven who will just kind of overlook our sin. He’s not the God of the Bible. Yes, the God of the Bible is loving, he is kind, he’s compassionate, he’s gracious, but he is also a God of unbending holiness, infinite white-hot holiness, righteousness, and justice. And our sin, not loving him with all of our being, not loving our neighbor as ourselves, our sin nature and the expressions of that sin nature are offensive to God, so utterly offensive that they deserve punishment.

And the punishment that we deserve for our sin, you wanna know how great that punishment deserves to be? Well, think about the sufferings of Jesus. Endured, underwent the punishment. That was horrible, horrible punishment that he endured. Our sin, therefore, must be utterly horrible in the eyes of God. Only the vicarious sufferings of the Lord’s messianic servant will suffice to atone for human sin. But praise God. Praise God that he has mercifully provided a substitute for sinners. Are you, dear listener, trusting in Christ as your sin-bearer, your substitute?

But beloved in Christ, let us also take comfort in knowing that our Savior’s work of penal substitutionary atonement is an effective work. For the efficacy of our Savior’s atonement means that our salvation is assured. It isn’t just that Jesus died to make salvation a possibility. He is called Jesus, as we’re told in Matthew 121. told Joseph, you will call his name Jesus, which means the Lord is salvation. Why? Because he will save his people from their sins.

And that brings me to the next point, as we consider in closing the beneficiaries of the triumphant servant’s atonement. Who is this atonement intended to benefit? For whose benefit did Yahweh’s suffering and triumphant servant render this efficacious atonement? Did he offer this atonement for everyone without exception? Or is the scope of those who would benefit from the servant’s atoning work more limited in scope to a particular people, to, say, God’s elect people, to those who, by God’s sovereign grace, would actually come in due time to trust in him for their salvation? A simple way of putting it is to say, is to ask, does this suffering servant passage support universal atonement, so-called universal or limited atonement?

Now before seeking to answer this question, let me first remind all of us that all Biblical Christians, including Calvinists, including Orthodox Presbyterians, all Biblical Christians affirm that Christ’s atonement is of infinite value and therefore it is sufficient for the salvation of all mankind. Jesus Christ, the infinite Son of God, rendered an atonement on the cross of Calvary that is of infinite value and could atone for an infinite number of sins of an infinite number of people. So we do not say that the atonement is limited in its value, it’s infinite in its value. And it’s sufficient for all, that’s why we can go forth and affirm the free offer of the gospel and share the gospel with everyone.

However, again, the question here is, who was the atonement designed to benefit? For those whose sin, Christ, for whose sin did Christ actually atone? Well, in line with many other passages of scripture, this fourth servant song supports the view that is sometimes, in my view, unhelpful, limited atonement. I prefer to call it definite redemption or particular redemption.

And we see this in the language of verses four through six, for example. Surely he has borne our griefs, carried our sorrows. Goes on to say in verse five, he was pierced by our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. We like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquities of us all. Well, Pastor Jeff, it says us, it says all. Clearly that’s referring to everyone without distinction, without exception. Well, friends, again, this is where it’s important.

When we read the Scriptures, we need to read it in its context. We need to ask ourselves, who is Isaiah addressing? Who is the Lord through Isaiah addressing in the context of this particular passage? Remember, friends, that in this passage, Isaiah is addressing God’s people in particular.

And verse eight makes it clearer. It says in verse eight, by oppression and judgment he was taken away, and as for his generation who consider that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of who? Stricken for the transgression of my people. Not all people, but my people. That’s who is in view here in this passage.

And then verse 10 refers to the Lord’s Verse 10, it says, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days. And verse 12, yet he bore the sin of many. Again, this does not prove the doctrine of particular efficacious redemption, but it certainly, the language here in chapter 53 is certainly conducive to and supportive of the doctrine of particular redemption.

Our Lord Jesus himself, in that wonderful gospel that records John 3.16, which I’ll comment on in just a few moments, but John 10, verse 11, in the midst of the Good Shepherd discourse, our Lord Jesus says this about himself. He says, I am the Good Shepherd. In the Old Testament, God is the shepherd of his people. Here, Jesus is claiming deity by saying, I am the good shepherd. And he goes down to say, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Now, later on, he talks about those who don’t believe in him because you are not of my sheep. The implication being, I’ve not laid down my life for you who are not my sheep. I lay down my life for you. my sheep.” And then verses 14 and 15, Jesus says the same thing. He says, I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep who are not of this fold, those outside of the Jewish fold, those among the Gentiles, in other words. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

But Pastor Jeff, what about John 3.16? Well, let’s look at that very briefly.

John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that what?

Whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. God’s love for a lost, sin-cursed world is manifested in sending his son so that a limited number of people Those who believe, whoever believes in him. It’s universal in the sense that everyone is welcome, whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. What about those who do not believe in him? The son was not sent into the world to redeem them, to save them, only those who come by sovereign grace to believe in his holy name.

Now friends, two points of application. First of all, friends, the doctrine of definite redemption, as taught and implied in our passage for this morning and many other passages of scripture. This is a great comfort to the believer, especially to the believer who feels the burden of his own sin, for this is a doctrine that reminds us that our salvation is grounded not in our free will, not in our works, our will, or anything we do. Our salvation is ultimately grounded in an efficacious atonement. an atonement which actually secures eternal salvation, not just makes salvation possible for everybody, but makes salvation certain for a great multitude of sinners from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

Jesus did not shed one drop of his blood in vain when he died on the cross. And as the triumphant messianic servant of the Lord, he has secured the eternal salvation of even the weakest, most frail, most struggling believer. So be comforted, Christian, you who know Christ as your Savior. just to make you savable. He has secured your salvation. He who has begun a good work in you will carry it through to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

But some would object to this and say, well, wait a minute. If Christ’s atonement is particular in its nature, if it’s designed to benefit only specific particular people, then doesn’t that make evangelism and missions sort of irrelevant, doesn’t that weaken the church’s evangelistic and missionary witness? No, I would argue the opposite.

When the doctrine of definite redemption is correctly biblical, then it adds great power to the church’s evangelistic and missionary labors. After all, let me ask you this, how can you present as good news a message about an atonement that does not actually efficaciously atone? How can a Jesus who is merely a potential Savior, a Savior who died to, not to actually save me, but to merely make me savable, how can that be of any help to a sin-burdened wretch who feels the weight of his sin? But friends, a biblically consistent presentation of the gospel declares an efficacious, all-sufficient Savior, a Savior who offered up an efficacious atonement, a Savior who by His vicarious sufferings actually secured the eternal salvation of actual sinners, sinners like me, sinners like you. Only on the basis of a definite, efficacious atonement rendered by a perfect, all-sufficient Savior can the gospel call resound across the world in its full power, its full light, and its full glory. Let us take our stand on the efficacy of our Lord’s atonement. as someone who makes salvation possible, but a Savior who offers full and free and certain salvation to all who by sovereign grace would come in faith to Him.

Have you come to Him? Have you called upon His name? will carry it through to completion. If you have not yet turned to him, turn to him today. He will turn away none who come to him. And if he is drawing you to him, that means that he has died for you and he is drawing you with the cords of love unto himself. Praise be to God.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the richness of your word. We thank you for the good news of the penal substitutionary atonement of Christ, and we thank you that this atonement is an efficacious atonement. a redemption that actually redeems, an atonement that actually saves and secures the eternal salvation of all for whom it was offered. Lord, we ask that you would help us to receive and rest upon Christ as this perfect, all-sufficient Savior who rendered perfect obedience for sinners like us. And may you be glorified over us as we proclaim the good news of Christ who died for our sins and rose again that we might have eternal life. Indeed, that all who believe in him might not perish, but have everlasting life.

We pray these things in Jesus’ name and all of God’s people said, amen. Let us close our time of worship by rising and we’ll sing together this beautiful hymn that reflects upon the sufferings of our Savior. Let us sing this hymn, stricken, smitten, and afflicted with hearts filled with gratitude and love for the Savior who suffered for us. 342.