GRACE FOR TODAY Radio Message #452
THE BLASPHEMIES OF
UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION
Pastor
Don Fortner
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road
Danville,
Kentucky 40422-9438
Universal atonement is a
blasphemous doctrine because IT DENIES
THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. It denies that Christ, by his precious blood
shed at Calvary, has satisfied anything. According to this heresy Christ did
not satisfy the prophets, because the prophets declare that, “He shall not fail.”.They would have us
believe that he did not satisfy a single Old Testament types, because in the
Old Testament types every soul for whom a ceremonial sacrifice was made was
ceremonially forgiven and accepted of God.
The Arminian blasphemers, by
their hellish doctrine, assert that Jesus Christ failed to satisfy the law and
justice of God by his sacrifice, insisting that many for whom he suffered and
died must yet suffer the penalty of the law themselves under the everlasting
wrath of God. They tell us plainly that the Son of God shall never see of the
travail of his soul and be satisfied, as the Scriptures everywhere affirm,
because, according to their folly, there are vast multitudes for whom he
endured his soul’s travail who shall never be brought to life as the result!
Universal redemption is a
blasphemous, damning heresy for it affirms that THERE ARE MULTITUDES IN
HELL FOR WHOM THE LORD JESUS CHRIST DIED IN VAIN! If Christ died in vain
for any, if there is even one for whom Christ shed his blood in vain, then he
is a failure to be pitied, not God to be worshipped. If his blood was shed in
vain for some, then his death really accomplished nothing by itself. If his
blood was shed in vain for one, then his blood was shed in vain for all. If
Christ died for those who perish in hell his blood is meaningless, his
sacrifice is mute, his work is worthless, both to God and to men. Such nonsense
is utter blasphemy!
Universal redemption is a
doctrine most clearly unscriptural and blasphemous inasmuch as IT SEPARATES THE PRIESTLY OFFICE AND WORK
OF CHRIST, declaring that Christ
sacrificed himself for and died in the place of a people for whom he refused to
pray (John 17:9, 20). Nonsense!
Universal atonement is a
blasphemous doctrine in that IT MAKES
THE CROSS OF CHRIST A MISCARRIAGE AND ASSERTS THAT HE SHALL NEVER SEE OF THE
TRAVAIL OF HIS SOUL AND BE SATISFIED (Isa. 53:10-11). The glorious good
news of the gospel is that the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ shall never be
discovered a miscarriage.
Universal redemption is as
useless as it is blasphemous, because IT
GIVES SINNERS NO REASON TO LOOK TO, TRUST, AND HOPE IN CHRIST. The basis of
our hope is redemption accomplished (Ps.130:7; Isa. 40:1-2), not redemption
made possible.
This doctrine is as useless
as it is blasphemous because IT OFFERS BELIEVERS
NO REASON TO LOVE, OBEY, AND GLORIFY CHRIST. In the kingdom of God the
motive for everything among God’s saints is gratitude (Rom. 12:1-2; 1 Cor.
6:19-20). But if Christ did the same thing for those in hell as he has for me,
I have no motive at all to worship and serve him. Instead I have a right to
expect him, as Arminianism teaches, to reward me for my decision and deeds!
Above all else, I lay this
charge against every preacher of universal redemption. He blasphemes God in
that he DECLARES THAT JESUS CHRIST IS A
FAILURE, a weak, frustrated, defeated failure, rather than the sovereign,
effectual Savior of his people! At its very core, the blasphemy of universal
redemption denies the very Godhood of our Savior. As I stated before,if Christ
failed to accomplish what he purposed and tried to accomplish in his death, he
is not God. A denial of Christ’s effectual, accomplished redemption is no less
blasphemous and damning than a denial of our his virgin birth!
AMEN.