Featured On God Loving And Christ Dying

Go to the New Testament and you will find that the word 'elect' does not refer specifically to Jewish believers alone. Most of the time it speaks of people chosen of God from among Jews and Gentiles alike.You can spread the net even wider with a search for 'election.'

Look up Matthew 24:22,24,31
Mark 13:20,22,27
2 Tim. 2:10
Titus 1:1
1 Pe. 1:1
2 Pe. 1:10

 

Faith and Regeneration by CHS on 3/5/1871

I do not believe in Jesus because I am persuaded that his blood was shed for me, but rather I discover that his blood was shed especially for me from the fact that I have been led to believe in him. I fear me there are thousands of people who believe that Jesus died for them, who are not born of God, but rather are hardened in their sin by their groundless hopes of mercy. There is no particular efficacy in a man's assuming that Christ died for him; for it is a mere truism, if it is true as some teach, that Jesus died for everybody. On such a theory every believer in a universal atonement would necessarily be born of God, which is very far from being the case. When the Holy Ghost leads us to rely upon the Lord Jesus, then the truth that God gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him might be saved, is opened up to our souls, and we see that for us who are believers, Jesus died with the special intent that we should be saved. For the Holy Spirit to assure us that Jesus shed his blood for us in particular is one thing, but merely to conclude that Jesus died for us on the notion that he died for everybody is as far as the east is from the west, from being real faith in Christ.

...Whether the Redeemer died especially and particularly for me or not, is not the question to be raised in the first place; I find that he came into the world to save sinners, under that general character I come to him, I find that whosoever trusteth in him shall be saved, I therefore trust him, and having done so, I learn from his word that I am the object of his special love, and that I am born of God.

 

This extract is from J. I. Packer's work called :Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. (pages 67,68)

It is obvious that if a preacher thought that the statement, 'Christ died for every one of you', would be unverifiable, and probably not true, he would take care not to make it in his gospel preaching. You do not find such statements in the sermons of, for instance, George Whitefield or Charles Spurgeon... For preaching the gospel... means inviting sinners to come to Jesus Christ, the living Saviour, who, by virtue of His atoning death is able to forgive and save all those who put their trust in Him. What has to be said about the cross when preaching the gospel is simply that Christ's death is the ground on which Christ's forgiveness is given. The fact is that the New Testament never calls on any man to repent on the ground that Christ died specifically and particularly for him. The basis on which the New Testament invites sinners to put faith in Christ is simply that they need Him,...and that those who receive Him are promised all the benefits that His death secured for His people. What is universal and all-inclusive in the New Testament is the invitation to faith, and the promise of salvation to all who believe.