I just can't look at the cross and see Jesus at the very end of the cross looking up

and saying, it is started.

That's not what he said, is it?

Was the death of Christ a full and complete payment to God satisfying his just wrath for some

particular chosen people or was it a potential for nobody?

Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil

Johnson. It's probably the most well-known verse in the New Testament.

You've likely seen it on signs at sporting events, posters hung over highways, stitched

on hats and t-shirts. Of course, the verse I'm talking about is John 316, for God so loved

the world that he sent his only begotten son. The question is, what does scripture

mean when it says Christ died for the world? John MacArthur answers that question today on

grace to you, showing you who has benefited and who will benefit from Christ's death on the cross.

It's part of his study titled The Doctrines of Grace.

So now here's John with today's lesson.

Certainly, the doctrine of the extent of the atonement is one of those doctrines that takes

us way beyond where we will be comfortable to go.

It stretches our minds to the breaking point.

It takes our theology out to the perimeter of our tolerances.

And in the end it leaves us with some incomprehensible realities and that's as it should

be. Since we are finite and he is infinite, it should be.

Since we are finite and he is infinite, there should be a vast distinction between what we

can know and what God does know.

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