GRACE FOR TODAY Radio Message #451
THE BLAPHEMIES OF
UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION
Pastor
Don Fortner
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road
Danville,
Kentucky 40422-9438
The notion of universal
atonement is as blasphemous as it is unscriptural, because IT REDUCES THE WISDOM OF GOD TO FOOLISHNESS. We worship and serve
the all-wise, omniscient Lord God, wonderful in counsel and infinite in
knowledge. But where is the wisdom of forming a plan for the salvation of a
people whom he knew would never be saved? Where is the wisdom of God in
sacrificing his darling Son for people who were already in hell when he made
the sacrifice?
That is not the wisdom of
God which Paul describes and glories in as he declares the everlasting purpose
of God toward his elect in the Book of Romans (Rom. 8:28-39; 11:33-36).
Universal redemption is A DENIAL OF THE JUSTICE OF GOD.
According to the Word of God, redemption is primarily and act of divine justice
(Psa. 85:8-13; Pro. 16:6; Isa. 45:20-21; Rom. 3:24-26). If Christ was punished
for my sins and I must also bear the punishment for them, the justice of God is
gone! However, by the revelation of God in the gospel, we learn that the
justice of God gives us as much hope as the grace of God. Justice satisfied
demands the release of those for whom satisfaction has been made.
From whence this
fear and unbelief?
Has not the Father put to
grief
His darling Son for me?
And can the righteous Judge
of men
Condemn me for that debt of
sin
Charged to my great Surety?
Complete atonement
Christ has made
And to God’s utmost justice
paid
All that His people owed.
Payment God cannot twice
demand,
First at my bleeding
Surety’s hand,
And then again at mine!
Those who preach universal
redemption blaspheme God in their preaching by REDUCING THE OMNIPOTENCE OF ALMIGHTY GOD TO IMPOTENCE WEAKER
THAN THE WILL OF MAN! Isaiah declares that the Lord’s arm is not short that
it cannot save. But the Arminian tells us plainly that God cannot save
multitudes for whom Christ died because, though it is his will to do so, they
will not let him save them!
Those who preach universal
atonement blaspheme God by ASSERTING
THAT THE IMMUTABLE GOD IS, AFTER ALL, FICKLE, MUTABLE, AND CHANGEABLE. We
are told that God loves all men now, while they live on the earth, but that he
will cease to love them when they die and cast them into hell! Does that sound
like God to you? Oh no! Our God changes not! Read Malachi 3:6, Job 23:13, and
James 1:17.
I lay the charge of
blasphemy against all who teach that Christ died for all, even for those who
perish in hell, because IT ROBS
GOD OF HIS GLORY IN SALVATION. The primary aim of the Triune God in saving
sinners is his own great glory (Eph. 1:3-14). But these men tell us that man
has every reason to boast because it is he, not God, who makes him to differ
from others! Whereas, Holy Scripture makes the difference between the saved and
the damned to be a difference made by God’s distinguishing grace alone.
AMEN.