#12-ATONEMENT~ BIBLE DOCTRINE 9-29-12
Today we'll continue with our study on Bible Doctrine, and say a few things about "ATONEMENT".
A good and easy way to remember what "atonement" means is to break the word down into three parts, such as, [AT-ONE-MENT]. **
ATONEMENT is understood simple as once again being at- one with God.
* "Atonement" is not reconciliation, but the means of reconciliation.
Listen closely as the scripture explains this truth.
>> Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; ** that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; --
His death in our stead was the ATONEMENT; His death was the PROPITUATION for sin.
>>1 John 2: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
"Propitiation" means an atoning sacrifice; it means that only His Sacrificial death as the LAMB OF GOD totally satisfied Gods just demand that sin be punished.
Because of His ATONING death we are RECONCILED to God.
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Jesus bore in His body the punishment due us for our sin; in so doing He propitiated, He satisfied God's just demand that sin be punished.
The word "atonement" is found only one time in the N.T., in Rom.5:11
It means because of His ATONING death we're reconciled to God.
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The parents of all mankind were Adam and Eve, it matters not what nationality we may be, Adam and Eve are the parents of us all.
> > Genesis 3:20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
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We all know the record of the fall of Adam and Eve into sin as the devil working through the serpent cause Eve to disobey God's command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil".
>> Genesis 2: 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
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That was the law of God too Adam and Eve. We are not told what the fruit was, it really doesn't matter. Some one has said it wasn't the apple on the tree but the PAIR on the ground, what ever it was; it was desirable to look at
{ lust of the eyes,} and it looked good to eat, { the lust of the flesh} and not only that but according to the serpent it would make them wise. { the pride of life}
* Satan still uses these three tactics on people today.
>> 1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
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* Remember our thought today is to do with ATONEMENT.
God created man with a free will, men are not robots, we freely make choices and decisions, we have inherited Adams sin nature, mankind has a terrible blood disease, and it's called sin. The existence of sin in the world is an undeniable fact; as we watch all the evil activity of the news it's evident that there is something drastically wrong with man, even animals will often attack people.
>> Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: --
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God told Adam in Gen. 2:16 -- for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Therefore death must follow sin:
>> Romans 6:23 For the wages* {payment} of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Gods love and mercy are infinite and matchless, but still the penalty for sin must be paid.
>> John 3:16-18 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.
17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. {Mankind} 18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
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Some where in eternal ages past, before the foundation of the world, God determined and planned that atonement should be provided for fallen man who would be deceived by Satan. God knew that man would sin even before there was a man.
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When a person refuses to believe, his or her unbelief does not mean that salvation has not been provided, Jesus Christ died for all but all will not receive Him as their Savior, as their Substitute, but many will. God pleads with the lost sinners in;
>>Ezekiel 18:32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
Notice; - turn yourselves, and live ye, it's up to the individual to turn himself if he wants to live; God saves people that respond too His call. God don't force people too be saved.
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The Atonement is universal in its offer and provision, that is made clear in;
>> Titus 2:11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.
* The Apostle John said in;
>>1st John 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
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Christ Atonement is sufficient for all men, but it is efficient only for those who believe, the effectiveness of the Atonement in any one's life is conditioned according to their faith.
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God has done all that He can do and all that He's going to do in order for man to be saved, and yet there's far more going too hell than too heaven.
>> Isaiah 5:14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. -- To descend means to go downward, don't let any one tell you that hell is not a real place, it's downward.
People that continue to make light of the things of God will have forever more to remember how foolish they were, but then it will be too late.
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>> Proverbs 1:24-31 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; ** {not if but when}
27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: -- they won't call on Him now but THEY SHALL.
29For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
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>> Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
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In the eternal ages past, the counsels of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it was decreed that ONE should come and offer Himself as a Divine Substitute in the sinner's place.
>> 1 Peter 1:18 -- 20 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation* {behavior} received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
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And so for this to happen, it meant the Substitute would have to take upon Himself a human body because God can not die.
>> Philippians 2:5-8 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
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* The eternal Son of God was that Substitute.
>> John 1: 1-3 in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
-- 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
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>> I Timothy 3:16 And without controversy** {Without doubt} great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
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>> II Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; --
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The only explanation of the Atonement is the fact that Christ came into this world in order that He should die in the sinner's place.
>> Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
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He foretold His death and fully explained its objective. His death was an essential part of the Divine plan to justify condemned sinners.
>> Matthew 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
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Never think that Christ death was some kind of misfortunate happening, it was the plan of God that the so-called court trial would put Him to death, all they did was carry out Gods predetermined plan, although unknown to them.
>> Acts 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: --
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And let me say right here, that Jesus could not have been killed any other way than the way He died, He could not have be killed by being stoned to death, or by falling off a cliff or any other way, He had to die on the cross.
>> John 12: 32-33 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.
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And all men will be drawn unto Him, the saved at the Judgment seat of Christ, (Romans 14:10} -- and the lost at the White Throne judgment of the lost 1007 years later. -- {Rev.20:11-15}
>> John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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How could the suffering and death of Christ for others make full satisfaction to the Justice of God?
If the debt is a matter of dollars and cents, it matters little, or not at all, who pays it.
But Christ in His sufferings and death was not paying a commercial debt. He was paying a penal debt.
No finite, fallen man, who is an offender against God, could ever pay in time or eternity the obligation which he owes.
* The truth abides still today that;
>>Ezekiel 18:20 the soul that sinneth, it shall die, and since all have sinned, no sin-laden human being could pay the price for a fellow-being to the satisfaction of God.
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When a sinner bears his own penalty, he is lost forever. But when a sinner accepts Jesus Christ as His Sin-Bearer, he is saved forever.
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* The difference lies in the fact that God was behind the Atonement.
The penalty for sin can only be paid by one who is holy if the justice of God is to be satisfied.
The secret of God's satisfaction lies in the character of the One Who paid the debt for sinners.
God was satisfied with the work of the Cross because the One Who died at Calvary was His Only Begotten and Beloved Son.
>> 1 Peter 2:22-25 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
24Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. ** 25For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now **returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
