‘Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.’—Gal. iii. 13.

When we considered this passage in the last lecture, we did not complete the subject. We found who the Redeemer was, viz. the Christ. We found what it was that He redeemed us from, viz. the curse, or just judgment of God’s righteous law. We found also what was the redemption price, or great redeeming act, viz. the substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God for the sinner. But there is a fourth point of the utmost possible importance which we had not time to investigate, viz. the question for whom, or in whose behalf, this great work was accomplished by the Saviour. But there is no part of the subject more vitally affecting our own practical life; for unless the Lord Jesus was a substitute for ourselves, we as individuals may admire His mercy, but can never have a share in the blessing of His saving work. So far as we ourselves are personally concerned, our whole hope depends on our being included in that little word ‘us,’ when it is said, ‘Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.’ If we cannot each one make use of that sentence in the singular number, and say, ‘Christ hath redeemed me, being made a curse for me,’ the passage may call forth our admiration, but to our own souls it will bring no abiding peace. It is, therefore, a matter of the deepest personal interest to us all that we should clearly understand who is included, and who is not included, in that word ‘us;’ or, in other words, who are they that the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed by His blood.

It would have been strange indeed if a matter of such overwhelming interest had been quietly passed by without calling forth a very careful investigation, and accordingly it gave rise at one time to one of the most prominent controversies of the day. Indeed there has always been a division amongst the students of the Word of God on the subject. Some have believed in what is termed ‘particular redemption,’ a redemption limited exclusively to the elect; while others have most earnestly advocated the doctrine of a universal atonement, an atonement, i.e. made for the whole world in virtue of which a free offer of complete reconciliation is made without money and without price to every living soul.

It is my own belief that a great deal of the confusion respecting the subject arises from the indistinct use of words; and I am thoroughly persuaded that before we can ascertain whom He has redeemed, we must clearly understand what is meant by redemption. If we do not understand redemption itself, we shall never understand its limits. Now I cannot help thinking that I have proved that, throughout the word of God, redemption means deliverance; and in the case of the great salvation, deliverance through atonement. In some passages the delivering power is more prominent than in others, as, for example, in Luke, xxi. 28, and Rom. viii. 23; but in all it is there, and I do not know of a single passage in which redemption stands for atonement alone as disconnected with the consequent deliverance. Whenever it occurs it implies atonement applied, or atonement enjoyed, atonement made effectual for the actual salvation of the soul. But, though it is thus clear in the word of God, there is great confusion in many religious books. Many writers appear to speak of atonement and redemption as if they were the same, and so apply to redemption passages which speak only of atonement, and apply to atonement those texts which refer, not to atonement only, but also to the actual deliverance for which atonement has prepared the way. It is most important, therefore, that we should keep the distinction clearly in view, and never forget that the redemption of the Gospel includes two parts, deliverance and atonement. The two are bound together as intimately as it is possible. The deliverance is the consequence of atonement, and the atonement is the cause of deliverance, but both one and the other are included in the full idea of redemption, as we may see, for example, in the song sung before the throne, ‘Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.’ Rev. v. 9. That passage clearly goes far beyond the act of substitution in redeeming mercy, for it manifestly includes an actual separation and salvation by delivering power.

Now, if we consider redemption in its full and complete sense of actual deliverance through the precious blood of the Lamb, it is perfectly clear that none but the elect of God are included in the blessing. As a matter of fact the rest are not delivered. According to St. John, the whole world lieth in wickedness, and if it is still lying in wickedness in no sense whatever can it be said to be delivered. None but the chosen people of God can ever say, ‘Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.’ Col. i. 13. As for the rest they do not profess to be delivered. Some do not even wish for the great deliverance; some, though they may feel a certain languid wish for it, never in earnest seek for it; and others, if they do seek, seek in a wrong way, and so never find. The result is, that practically they are not delivered. Thus we all acknowledge a particular, or limited, deliverance. We none believe that all are saved; and we must believe that the Lord Jesus actually delivers those only who are His own, those whom He describes in the words, ‘The men which thou gavest me out of the world.’

But suppose we take redemption in the sense in which it is perpetually employed in religious books, viz., as meaning the same as atonement, there arises another question of incalculable importance which demands our most attentive consideration. Is the atonement limited as well as the deliverance? It is perfectly clear that none are delivered but God’s chosen people. They, and they only, are plucked as brands from the burning, and eternally saved. According to the 17th Article, God ‘hath constantly decreed by His counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour.’ But is nothing done for the remainder? In other words, did the substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ extend to the whole world, or did it not? Was atonement made for all mankind in that marvellous act of mercy, or were the great majority left out altogether most miserably to perish, without any hope of deliverance, and without the possibility of being saved in the Lord Jesus? It is impossible to imagine a question of more urgent importance to all those who are anxious about their souls.

Now I am perfectly aware of the argument frequently urged, that the Lord Jesus Christ is certain to save all those for whom He shed His blood, and I am quite prepared to acknowledge that, humanly speaking, there is great apparent reason in it. But I do not believe that it is according to Scripture; and after all we must rely in all such matters on the statements of God’s word, and not on our own conclusions. I would refer you, then, to two passages which certainly seem to be conclusive on that point. The one is 1 Cor. viii. 11, ‘Through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?’ The other is 2 Pet. ii. 1, where, predicting the dangers of the latter days, the Apostle says, ‘There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.’ The first of these texts seems certainly to teach very clearly that those for whom Christ died may perish, and the other that people for whom the Lord had given the redemption price of His own most precious blood may still deny Him, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. We must not therefore be guided in such a matter by our own conclusions. The whole plan from first to last is divine. The eternal purpose is divine; the Saviour is divine; the salvation is divine; the atonement is divine, and the revelation of the great purpose must likewise be divine. We must not attempt, therefore, to cut our system square by the rule of our own opinion, but must take God’s Scripture just as it stands, and receive God’s salvation just as He has revealed it in His Word.

What, then, has He revealed? That is the question. Has He taught us that the Lord Jesus Christ shed His most precious blood for the elect alone or for all? Blessed be God! the testimony of Scripture appears as plain as the sun in heaven that the atonement was made for all, and that in consequence of that atonement the door is thrown open to every sinner upon earth. I have no time now to attempt to bring before you the multitude of passages which abound in Scripture in proof of this position. I must be content to draw your attention to only three, the first relating to the fact itself, the second to the love that led to it, and the third to the offer made in consequence of it.

The first is from 1 John, ii. 2. But before you examine it, turn for one moment to the words of the same apostle in the fifth chapter of the same epistle, and 19th verse, ‘We are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.’ That verse shows with indisputable clearness who is meant by ‘we,’ and who by ‘the world.’ By ‘we’ is meant the people of God, believers, the elect. By the world the rest of mankind, those who live and die unconverted and unsaved. And now turn to the passage in the second chapter, ‘And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.’ Surely the ‘our’ in that verse must refer to the same persons as the ‘we’ in the fifth chapter, and ‘the whole world’ in the second chapter must be the same as ‘the whole world’ in the fifth. But if so it is perfectly clear that He died not for the elect alone but for all mankind; for the whole world that lieth in wickedness.

From the second passage we learn exactly the same respecting the love that led to it. I refer to John, iii. 16. But before we refer to it let us turn to another text in explanation, viz., that most wonderful prayer of our blessed Saviour in John, xvii. 6, ‘I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.’ You will observe in these words the clear distinction between the world and the elect. The mass of men are described as the world, while the elect are said to be given to Him out of it, set apart as a separate people, and given Him in the covenant of God. And now turn to the passage in John, iii., ‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ Surely we must take ‘the world’ here in the same sense as in the other passage. It is impossible to believe that by ‘the world’ he meant the elect of God given Him from out of the world, the peculiar people whom He Himself most carefully distinguishes from the world. Surely, then, we must conclude that the love which moved Him to make the atonement was a love for us all, a free love, an unmerited love, a compassionate love, a most merciful love, to every individual involved in the ruin of the fall.

We are brought to exactly the same conclusion if we look at the offer that results from it. Turn to that magnificent invitation which we find just at the conclusion of the book of life, Rev. xxii. 17, ‘And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.’ Now if you study that verse you find the Bride employed in proclaiming God’s invitation. Who then is meant by the Bride? Surely nothing else than the church of God’s elect; those who were chosen in Him before the world was. But how is the Bride to be employed? What is to be her work as described in this passage? Is it not to go forth in the Lord’s name, and proclaim to the perishing the free offer of His saving grace? ‘The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come: and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely.’ Would it be possible to construct a sentence which would proclaim more clearly a universal invitation? an invitation to be given by the elect to all the world?

Surely, then, we may every one of us accept that offer, and regard the atonement as an atonement made for ourselves. You may see no evidence of your election. You may look into your own heart, and find there nothing whatever to lead you to believe that you are one of God’s chosen people. But you are not called to wait till you have discovered such evidence; and if you do wait, you may wait for ever, for it is perfectly impossible that you should ever have evidence of your election till after you have trusted in His atoning blood. But without any such evidence you may fall back on the finished substitution of the Son of God for the sinner. You may take the words of this text, ‘Being made a curse for us,’ and, whatever you are, may put it in the singular number, and say, ‘Being made a curse for me,’ yes! ‘for me, even for me.’ If, therefore, you are really anxious about the salvation of your soul, do not stop to search into your own sinful heart for evidences of your election; but fall boldly on the fact that, whether you are elected or not, Christ Jesus was your substitute. Cleave to the fact that the propitiation was for the world, that the love that moved God to it was a love to the world; and that the offer made in consequence of it is an offer to the world. Trust that. Accept that. Rest in that, and leave it to God to settle the matter of your election; for of this you may be perfectly sure that you will never enjoy any evidence of your election unto life until you have learned to trust the Lord Jesus Christ, and His perfect work without it. You must learn a lesson from that poor woman of Canaan. She was apparently quite shut out by the doctrine of election, for she was not one of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and the Lord Himself said to her that it was not right to take the children’s bread and cast it to dogs. But she was not discouraged by the difficulty. She pleaded, ‘Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the Master’s table;’ and the result was that she did not merely pick up the crumbs, but she was made partaker of the feast itself, and went to her home rejoicing in our Lord’s approval, and her daughter’s cure.

Let us all then accept the fact that in His boundless mercy He was made a curse for us. But we must bear in mind at the same time, that He does not force upon us the blessings of that substitution. If we choose to live without the substitute we may. If people are so occupied by the world that they do not care for it; or so satisfied with themselves that they do not feel the need of it; or so unmindful of the holiness of God that they cannot see the necessity of it; they are at full liberty to reject it, and have full power to live without it. But then, it is obvious they must bear their own burden, and all the weight of it. The Lord Jesus has satisfied the law as their substitute; but if they decline to accept that satisfaction, it is perfectly clear that there is nothing left for them but to satisfy it for themselves. They must blot out their own curse in their own way, and how they are going to do it I cannot tell. I know of nothing but Christ the substitute that can remove the just judgment of a broken law; and if men live and die without Him, I see no prospect for them but that they live in their sin, and die in their sin, and go down into eternity with the whole of the awful weight of unforgiven sin resting on their poor unforgiven souls. And who can say that such a sentence would be hard, or severe, or unjust? If there were no substitute provided we might possibly think the law severe. But, now that in boundless mercy God has Himself provided the substitute, who can say that it is a hard measure if the sinner is crushed under the burden which he resolves to bear?