Calvinism Sermon: Irresistible Grace (Part 6 in series)

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

Calvinism Sermon: Perseverance of the Saints (Part 7 in Series)

00:00

It is amazing that Pastor Jeff would ask me to continue a sermon series.

00:06

That's pretty unusual. You know, normally it's, you know, do whatever you want, go some other direction, but you all have been doing the proverbial,

00:17

I'm sure he explained, five points were not exactly how Calvin put it, and it's, from my perspective, not actually a really full explication of what needs to be said.

00:28

I've always called myself a six -point Calvinist, I like stulip, you need to start with the sovereignty of God these days, because people just don't assume that.

00:39

But initially when he contacted me, I guess he thought he was going to be at the Perseverance of the

00:44

Saints, I just did a debate on that subject a week before last with a Roman Catholic up over in Atlanta, but you didn't get that far.

00:53

So it would be sort of silly for me to, what would that be? Tulpe would be if I did that first, and that would be very confusing to some people, so we don't want to do that.

01:04

So I'm going to press on with irresistible grace, hopefully

01:10

I won't have, well that's a whole other subject there, but we'll press on with that for our time this afternoon, and hopefully then when

01:20

Jeff gets to listen to this, if he will even bother to listen to this, then he can come back and fix anything that he'd like to fix on the far side.

01:31

So it is an honor to get to address such a subject, I'll be honest with you, because when you think about it, in our conversations with fellow believers, and I certainly believe that there are fellow believers who disagree with us on these issues,

01:46

I have spoken, I've done a number of debates on these issues with people that I would say are my brothers and sisters in Christ, but most of the vitriol is aimed at this particular point.

02:01

You might say, oh no, no, no, it's limited atonement, well, but when you think about what the real objection is in some of the strongest language, some of you have seen a book that I wrote coming up on, wow, 17 years ago now, called

02:17

The Potter's Freedom. There have been a number of books that have come out since then that are just shameless plays on the title that we used, but one just came out called

02:26

The Potter's Promise or something like that, they didn't even bother to come up with a different picture on the front, it was pretty cheesy, but in The Potter's Freedom, I responded to Dr.

02:37

Norman Geisler, and when you looked at the language that Dr. Geisler used in describing what he called extreme

02:46

Calvinism, he called himself a moderate Calvinist, which is an interesting way of describing an

02:52

Arminian, but that's exactly what he was and is. The real focus was here on the issue of, all right, we've looked at, you know, we probably talked about the sovereignty of God, his decrees, his purposes, we've looked at the total depravity of man, his incapacity, his inability, we've looked at unconditional election, the sovereignty of God in electing a particular people, we've looked at the provision in the

03:17

Son, in particular redemption or limited atonement, the perfection of that atonement, the fact that there has to be perfect harmony between the

03:25

Father and the Son, those that the Father has elected, the Son is now the one who is going to provide perfectly for them, and now you have the

03:33

Spirit and His harmonious act with the Father and the Son in the fact that He is going to bring to fruition what the triune

03:43

God has decreed from eternity past in time, but here's where people really, really get upset, because especially the philosophically minded who are focused upon the idea of the autonomy of man's will, the idea of free will in the sense that they understand, that an autonomous human will that can frustrate

04:05

God's will, this is really where the rubber meets the road, because this is where all that God has done in eternity and in the past and the accomplishment of the cross comes into time, because God has chosen the time, the means by which each one of His elect are going to experience spiritual rebirth, and what the point of the acrostic is saying is that when

04:34

God chooses to move in the life of His elect to draw them to Himself, the reason it's called irresistible is that there is no power in heaven or in earth that can stop the

04:49

Spirit of God from accomplishing His intended act of bringing those elect individuals to spiritual life, and so this is really the point where you have the most direct clash against the absolute necessary corollary of synergism and all the synergistic systems which posit salvation as being a cooperative effort between the will of God and the will of man.

05:20

Since the will of man has to be in charge, God's will, God's power can do 99%, but the deciding factor has to be the will of man.

05:31

All of man's religions require this. The debate that I just did in Atlanta, what

05:38

I found very useful about it was that there was only a small amount of specifically

05:46

Roman Catholic element to my opponent's presentation. The vast majority of what he said could have been said by any synergist in arguing against the monergistic perspective.

05:57

It was a wonderful illustration, it's what I wanted it to be, a wonderful illustration of the reality that those people who are not

06:05

Roman Catholics but reject Reformed theology are paddling around on the far side of the

06:11

Tiber River. They are much more in harmony with Rome when it comes to man's will and the grace of God than they are with Luther when he wrote on the bondage of the will or with Calvin or with meaningful

06:23

Reformed theology. That was very clearly illustrated in the encounter that we had.

06:30

And so it's right here when we talk about how it is that God brings his elect people.

06:36

He's chosen them in the past, the Father has elected them, the Son has died in their place, and at the time that the triune

06:43

God chooses, the Spirit of God comes and he takes out that heart of stone, he gives a heart of flesh.

06:49

In fact, let's take a look at that. I wanted to start off with reading that portion in Ezekiel chapter 36.

06:57

Go with me to Ezekiel chapter 36 in your Bibles. And let's start at verse 24,

07:06

Ezekiel 36, 24, for I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land.

07:13

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I hope you're always, when you're reading these texts, you're thinking about how many times the

07:21

New Testament writers grab hold of these illustrations, these ideas, and utilize them.

07:28

Paul does in Titus chapter 3, and this is probably the background of Jesus' words about being born again in John chapter 3.

07:36

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

07:41

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

07:55

I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances.

08:01

You think about Jeremiah chapter 31 and the new covenant and the fulfillment of that in Hebrews chapter 8.

08:08

This is where the New Testament writers derived their understanding from the Old Testament text and the fulfillment of these things, and it's a radical promise.

08:18

I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

08:25

Now, when you think about what that means, you think about the next chapter. Remember Ezekiel's vision of the valley of the dry bones, and he is asked, can these dry bones ever live again?

08:37

And Ezekiel's response is, only you know, Lord God. And the wind blows, the spirit, pneuma, ruach in Hebrew, the same term it's used.

08:46

The spirit blows, and they come together, and new life is given. This is radical. When you look at the dry bones, there's not 99 %

08:58

God, but they needed to do their part. You know, the bones needed to be in the right place, and the bones needed to cooperate.

09:04

No, they're dry bones. Dry bones can't cooperate. There has to be a completely divine action taking place.

09:15

In the same way, hearts of stone do not voluntarily allow themselves to be taken out.

09:23

Hearts of stone like being hearts of stone. It is only a heart of flesh that can believe, that can be repentant, and yet in so many, and I would imagine many of you in this room, when the gospel was first presented to you, it was probably presented to you not in a way that you are dependent upon God doing something within you.

09:47

You probably were not exhorted to pray to God, to be merciful to you. Instead, it was probably presented to you, you know, you have the ability to do these things.

09:57

If you'll just believe, if you'll just repent, well, we call men to believe and to repent.

10:02

There's no question about it, but we recognize if you allow the entirety of scripture to speak, not just portions of it, that there has to be a supernatural act taking place for that to happen.

10:14

Why is that? Well, I know you probably covered this, but let me just make sure that we mention it because I think it's relevant, but if you look at Romans chapter 8, listen to what the apostle says in verse 5.

10:29

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit.

10:37

For the minds on the flesh is death, but the minds on the spirit is life and peace. Why? Because the minds on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.

10:52

And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

10:57

So the contrast here is not giving a heart of flesh. That's a different terminology than Ezekiel was using.

11:04

Here, the contrast is between being in the flesh and being in the spirit. And the heart that is fleshly, the heart that has not been born again, the heart that has not been raised to spiritual life.

11:15

What's the description? Well, it's that minds on the flesh is hostile toward God. It's hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God.

11:26

And then you have the real problem, for it is not even able to do so.

11:31

Now, I'm sure a few weeks ago you went over many of the not able to do so passages when

11:37

Jeff talked about total depravity resulting in total inability. There are far more of those passages than people really understand.

11:46

We don't like to memorize them because they're sort of depressing, and we happen to know they're true as well. But we probably need to memorize them because so many people have the idea that we have the innate capacity, the innate ability to be able to do these things.

12:00

But the scripture says those who are according to the flesh, they do not even have the ability to subject themselves to the law of God.

12:07

So you ask yourself the question, well, what's the commandment of scripture? You are to repent and believe. That's the commandment of the law of God.

12:13

Are you able to do that? This says no. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. If you repent and believe, does that please

12:19

God? Of course. And something has had to have happened. There has to be resurrection power.

12:24

That heart of stone's been taken out, a heart of flesh has been given. And the guidance that is given to that heart of flesh, once you become born again, then you need guidance as to what you as the new creature in Christ Jesus are to do.

12:38

That's why you have all of the exhortations, repentance and belief and so on and so forth that is given to that individual.

12:45

So when we talk about irresistible grace, we need to define what we're talking about here. We are not saying that God's grace is never resisted.

12:55

God's grace is resisted. Now, theologians have come up with different kinds of grace, and it's appropriate to do so, because God acts in grace and mercy toward the entire world.

13:13

But there is a difference between what is called common grace, God's providential care for His creation,

13:21

His patience. I mean, if God did not have common grace, then His wrath would break forth immediately upon every single individual upon birth, if they're a fallen son and daughter of Adam.

13:33

But that doesn't happen. So there is patience, there is mercy, there is that kind of grace. Theologians have made up a kind of grace called prevenient grace, where this is the grace that tries to save but can't really do it on its own grace.

13:48

And I've looked all through the Bible to try to find it. I can't find it anywhere. I've read books from people defending it, and every text they went to,

13:57

I was like, really? No, that's not what it's talking about. But the grace that saves is saving grace.

14:04

And what we're saying is, when God intends to bring His people into relationship with Himself, bring them—they're children of wrath, as all the rest.

14:16

Ephesians chapter 2. They're walking in the flesh. They still have a heart of stone. But the time comes in His time, and it can be very, very early in life.

14:27

It can be very, very late in life. It can be at all points in between. I mean, the history of the church will point you to every aspect.

14:36

There are what seem to be serious deathbed conversions. There are conversions late in life that frequently bring tears on the part of people of the number of years they wasted.

14:48

But then again, there are people who at a very early age come to know Jesus Christ, and they do so in such a way that it changes their life, and they are always aware of that relationship and that calling and so on and so forth.

15:02

So God chooses when that time is. But what we're saying is, when God moves by His Spirit, that saving grace is irresistible.

15:13

And why is that? Well, because we're dead in sin. I've used the illustration many times. Back when

15:18

I was in college, I was a department fellow in anatomy and physiology at what was then

15:24

Grand Canyon College. It was much smaller than it is now, I assure you. And I had the privilege as department fellow to demonstrate the cadavers.

15:37

We had cadavers before ASU did. And we performed the dissections on them, and then we would have demonstrations where, for example, high school classes would come in if they were looking at possibly coming to Grand Canyon.

15:55

And any of you old enough to remember Quincy, the medical—Quincy, remember the—yeah, just a few.

16:01

It's probably on Me TV somewhere now, which I discovered while I was in the hospital. It was great. About three o 'clock in the morning, oh, all these cool programs.

16:08

It was great. It was wonderful. Manics and all that kind of stuff. Anyway, I'm showing my age here. But there used to be a program called

16:14

Quincy where he was a medical examiner. And in the opening scene, he would pull a sheet back from a dead body, and you'd see these cops passing out and throwing up.

16:25

Well, they didn't show them throwing up, but you could tell that's what they were doing and all that kind of stuff. Well, I got to do that with high school students.

16:30

It was a whole lot of fun. And at first, you know, they'd stand way far away. But by the end of the demonstration, they were right up next to it, and they sort of got used to the look and the smell as well because they weren't cold stored.

16:43

They were chemically stored. And I've heard that the chemical we used was later identified as a carcinogen, so I'm undoubtedly doomed.

16:49

But anyway, we knew their names, their real names, Willie and Clara.

16:55

And my greatest fear was I was going to pull that sheet back, and some poor kid was going to go, Grandpa, you know, that would be a really bad thing if it happened.

17:03

But thankfully, it didn't. So we knew their real names. And Willie, I know exactly why he died.

17:09

It was from smoking. You could open his chest up, and man, cut anywhere in his lungs, it was black as pitch.

17:15

You could point to the part on his heart where the myocardial infarction took place.

17:20

It was just that bad. And so I could do anything I wanted to Willie and Clara.

17:27

We used Clara to demonstrate the brain, and so I'd pop off the top of her cranium, and there's the brain, and we could pull a part of it out and show people, and the whole nine yards.

17:36

And you know what? Neither one of them, first of all, they never helped with their own dissection.

17:42

They just laid there. And then they never complained. I could take body parts off, do all sorts of, they never once complained.

17:52

Didn't need their cooperation at all, because, of course, they're dead. And we don't take seriously the

17:59

Bible's teaching that we're dead. Well, we're not, we're not really dead. We're in rebellion, so that's not really dead.

18:05

But the point is the capacity of a heart of stone is what? Well, what's a heart supposed to do?

18:12

Supposed to pump blood. Stones don't do that well. That's the whole point. There's an incapacity that is clearly indicated there.

18:20

And that's really what bothers mankind, is if we truly have that incapacity, then we are completely dependent upon God's saving grace.

18:32

And that means we cannot have any control whatsoever. And so all the questions come flooding in, well, why does

18:38

God save one person and not another, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And that's why this is, that's why

18:44

Norman Geisler refers to this belief as divine rape. Divine rape is what he calls it.

18:51

So offended is he at the idea that we believe that we must be resurrected to spiritual life.

19:00

And yet this has been the argument from the very beginning. I was asked to give a text.

19:08

Summer demanded that I give her one. My first text I gave her, of course, was 1 Chronicles 26 .18,

19:14

King James Version, which if any of you have not, I'm sure you've all memorized 1

19:20

Chronicles 26 .18. In the King James Version, it says, four at Parbar, three westward and four at Parbar.

19:28

That's what it says. And it's a great text. And when I gave it to her, she said, would you please get serious?

19:33

And so I did. And 1 John chapter 5, you all are, how many of you are looking at 1

19:39

Chronicles 26 .18 right now? I bet you a number of you are. You're tapping on over to see if that's actually what it says.

19:45

And it does. It's, you know, it's still the Word of God, but it needs to be taken in context.

19:51

And it's probably not the most edifying verse. Unless you're one of the guys that is talked about there, who was at Parbar, and then you're very thankful that the

19:59

Lord made mention of what you did. Anyways, 1 John chapter 5, verse 1. Whoever believes that Jesus is a

20:06

Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. Now, most people can read right past this verse.

20:14

And all they hear is, well, if you believe that Jesus is a

20:19

Christ, then that person is born of God. It's a descriptive thing. Unless you read it in the original language, and unless you've paid very close attention to previous verses in 1

20:36

John. Because, and I'm not going to go into depth on this, but the point is that if John is consistent with himself, what he's saying here is, whoever is believing right now that Jesus is the

20:52

Christ, the Messiah. And of course, for John, who is the Antichrist? The one who rejects that Jesus is the

20:59

Christ, Jesus come to flesh, the false teachers that have gone out from the true church. If you are believing that Jesus is the

21:07

Christ, you have been born of God. In other words, when you ask what the relationship is between believing the truth and being born of God, the world will tell you, you believe the truth, and the result of that is that you're born of God.

21:26

That would create a bit of a problem, because if you look back, let me see, I believe it is verse,

21:35

I thought it was in verse, chapter 4.

21:41

There are two places in 1 John. Well, I know it's 229, so I guess I can pop back to that one here.

21:48

In 1 John chapter 2, if you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of him.

22:02

So let me ask you a question. How do you get born again? By practicing righteousness?

22:10

Is that how you get yourself born again? I mean, talk about contradicting the Bible. So hearts of stone can practice righteousness, and that's what brings about you being born again.

22:19

No, being born again is why you practice righteousness. The one gives rise to the other. And in the exact same way in 5 .1,

22:28

being born of God is what gives rise to a continuing faith in the truth that Jesus is the

22:35

Christ. It's so often that people have such deep traditions about how all of this works that they can read, for example, in John chapter 8, when

22:50

Jesus says to the Jews, why can you not hear my words? It's because you don't belong to God.

22:58

You don't belong to God. And the world, or the evangelical world goes, why do you not hear my words?

23:06

Because you choose not to. Not because you do not belong to God. If you would just choose to hear my words, then you belong to God.

23:13

Reversing the order of the biblical text. It happens all the time. There is a consistent testimony to this truth in Scripture, but even many of us, given our upbringing, sort of switch it off or just read it in such a way that we re -translate it into a more synergistic, man -centered way of reading.

23:37

But the consistent way through 1 John is to recognize that the reason you believe is because God has done something in you, he has caused you to be born again.

23:49

Well, that, of course, raises one of the big questions. And one of the big questions that people have is, well, are you saying that faith is a gift from God?

24:00

And yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. Saving faith is a work of the

24:05

Spirit of God in the heart of the elect. That is why I can look at a text like he who endures to the end shall be saved and continue to believe in salvation by grace through faith alone.

24:20

Because you can either look at it as, well, I need to work up this enduring faith, and that's what's going to save me.

24:28

Or you can recognize that saving faith is a gift of God, and it's going to endure because it is the gift of God.

24:34

It's a spiritual work. It's not something I can take any credit for. We say, well, where do you get something like that?

24:40

Well, there are a number of passages. Philippians 129 says it has been granted to you not only to believe in him but to suffer for him.

24:48

And it's interesting because generally our mind is automatically attracted to the, well, attracted not in the positive way, but our mind is automatically brought to the idea of suffering.

25:01

And we skip over the, what do you mean it's been granted to us to believe in him?

25:07

Oh, that just means that, you know, God has graciously given us the gospel. Well, wait a minute.

25:14

It has been given to us in the term as a gift to believe in him and to suffer in him.

25:20

Do you believe that the sufferings that we experience in our life are a part of God's providence, his purpose in our lives?

25:28

It seems to be what Romans chapter 8 says, of course. So it's been given us to believe in him as well.

25:35

It's described there as a gift. And in 2 Peter 1, faith there is described as something that we have received from God.

25:45

It is something that comes to us from God. That's why it endures. But of course, what's the big text that we've all gotten involved in?

25:54

Well, maybe some of you haven't, but most of us have gotten involved in arguments about the key text.

26:02

And that's Ephesians chapter 2, right? That's probably what most people were thinking of when I asked, well, does the

26:07

Bible describe saving faith as a gift of God? And everybody knows Ephesians 2, 8 through 9.

26:13

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

26:25

And so we need to be very, very careful and very, very accurate here. Because there have been some people who have said, well, when it says, for by grace you've been saved through faith, and that, not of yourselves, the that is faith.

26:43

It is the gift of God. That would be an argument that would be fairly easily refuted.

26:51

And sadly, what I saw, for example, from Norman Geisler and many others, is they'll focus upon that and say, no, no, no, no, no.

27:00

Because you see, that, not of yourselves, that is neuter. Faith is feminine.

27:07

And so faith can't be the antecedent. And they'll just stop there and move on. See, we've dealt with it.

27:14

I hope you recognize that's a rather shallow way of argumentation.

27:22

Because I'm hoping when you hear someone say that, and by the way, everything I've said so far is true. It is perfectly appropriate to point out that, not of yourselves, that's neuter.

27:34

And faith is feminine. And there needs to be some type of correlation between the two.

27:42

But if you just stop there and don't answer the question, well, what is that then?

27:48

What is the gift of God? If you don't explain what that is, then there may be a reason why you're not explaining what it is.

27:57

Because the reality is, the neuter is frequently used to wrap up an entire preceding phrase.

28:04

And that's what's going on in Ephesians chapter 2. In Ephesians chapter 2, you have grace, you have salvation, you have faith.

28:21

Two of them are in a masculine form, one in a feminine form. And so there is no neuter antecedent to that.

28:30

That is wrapping all of it up. And so faith is part of the gift, as is the grace and the salvation.

28:40

It's all the gift of God. It's none of it of works, lest any man should boast.

28:48

And so Ephesians chapter 2 is presenting to us the idea that the faith that saves is the work of the

28:57

Spirit of God in the heart of God's elect people. It is the work of His Spirit.

29:03

And because of that, we have no ground of boasting. We cannot look to someone else and say, well, and I have a number of friends, and they get upset with us when we make the emphasis that this is vitally important, lest there be a grounds of boasting.

29:20

And they say, we're not saying, we're not boasting, we just accepted a gift. But they just can't seem to hear what our real objection is.

29:31

What is going to make a difference in eternity to come? When the final judgment is all done, and the final separation of the sheep and the goats has taken place, and we're 10 ,000 years into eternity, if that's even a meaningful phrase.

29:49

And you have the people of God, those who are in Christ Jesus, they are surrounding the throne, and they are absorbed in worship and praise and love of the triune

30:01

God. And yet, in hell itself, you have image bearers of God.

30:10

And by the way, I don't think there's going to be any parties in hell. Hell is called the outer darkness.

30:17

I don't think you're going to run to anybody else there. You're not going to see your friends there. I've had so many people say, well, we're just going to have a great party down there.

30:25

No, you're not. And I think what's going to happen is once the restraining hand of God is removed from the evil of the heart of man, once that heart of stone is allowed to do its thing in totality, and yet you can't hurt

30:48

God, you can't hurt his creation any longer. There's only one thing left, yourself, made in the image of God.

30:57

And so the only thing you can lash out against is yourself. I don't think God has to sit up at the border of hell and cast fiery darts down at people.

31:08

Once that restraint is lifted, I think all the suffering you need will be found in that final rejection and that self -destructiveness of sin.

31:19

Think about how often sin has destroyed your life and brought pain and agony into your life.

31:25

Now take away grace and the restraint, and imagine what that's like. And so when you think of what's going on in hell, if the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God now, what's it going to be like then?

31:46

And so what separates those two bodies of people? I'm not talking about the great chasm fixed or anything like that.

31:55

What's the difference between them? If you say that God's grace does 99 % of it, but it's our 1%, it's our free will, it's our faith that anyone is capable of that makes the difference, then those who are in heaven were in some way, shape, or form the cause of why they're there and not someplace else.

32:26

It's not just grace. In some way, they were more spiritually sensitive, more spiritually inclined, in some sense being better than the others.

32:43

That's the only possible conclusion. And I just can't get my synergistic friends—well,

32:50

I can get some of them. Those that are more blatantly synergistic don't have a problem, but the ones who want to keep the list of things you've got to do to a small number, they just can't seem to hear what my real objection is on that particular level.

33:08

And so only grace differentiates between those two groups.

33:15

Everyone that's around the throne knows in their heart of hearts that had it not been for the grace of God and the raising to spiritual life of each and every one of those individuals around the throne of God, that's exactly where we would be, and justly so.

33:35

Justly so. So when we talk about irresistible grace, all we are talking about is the fact that what we have seen in the preceding points, in the sovereignty of God, in the inability of man, in his electing of a particular people, in the provision of salvation for them, all those things must come to fruition, and God chooses the means that he's going to use.

34:08

Now, normatively, God uses the Word and the

34:14

Spirit. The Word and the Spirit. The normative fashion is that you're born again through the

34:21

Word of God, through the preaching of the message. That's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, that God in his wisdom has chosen through the foolishness of what the message preached, the kerygma, to save the believing ones.

34:39

That's the normative means. But there's always been the question, and I suppose this is where we need to address it.

34:51

Can there be a period of time, and how long can it be, between the work of the

35:00

Spirit of God in a person's heart and mind that results in spiritual life, and that person closing with Christ?

35:11

For the vast majority of people, these are, in essence, simultaneous events.

35:20

Logically speaking, and there's a difference between speaking logically and temporally. Logically speaking, the work of regeneration comes first, and hence the person who has regenerated that regenerated heart naturally turns to Christ, naturally acts in repentance.

35:42

But we've all probably read some stories of maybe some of the Puritans. Maybe you've read about Spurgeon, and you've read about people in the history of the church who struggled greatly with this issue of salvation, who suffered for long periods of time, not having any peace, who felt conviction of sin, who spent great periods of time in prayer, and it took quite some time before they received any kind of peace with God, and assurance, and a coming to know that they had entered into relationship with Him.

36:34

Well, where were they in that intermediate time? Could God have a purpose in bringing someone to new life, and yet withholding from that person for a period of time the gift of assurance, the gift of understanding what their place was in Jesus Christ?

36:57

Could that make them in later life a more sensitive individual to others who are going through similar circumstances?

37:04

I don't know. But there does seem to have been those in times past who

37:11

God worked in their life, and then for His own purposes brought them through a period of time where they did not have clear knowledge as to exactly what they needed to do.

37:25

As I said, the normative way that almost all of us in this room experienced was

37:32

God began dealing with our hearts, the gospel was presented, we had a clear understanding of what we needed to do.

37:40

We know that Romans chapter 1 says there is no God seeker, and so if you encounter someone who's seeking

37:47

God, there's one of two possibilities. Either they truly are because they've already received a work of grace in their life, or they're seeking the benefits of God without dealing with God Himself.

38:00

There are a lot of people that want that. There are a lot of those kinds of God seekers. There are a lot of people that want the benefits of sort of the great grandfather in the sky without having to deal with those really nasty things like holiness and sin and repentance and things like that.

38:18

They want the benefits without actually dealing with God. And so when we try to put together the whole counsel of God on this issue,

38:30

I'll tell you, I'll be very, very honest with you, it concerns me greatly when

38:37

I encounter Christians who respond with anger to the idea that God had to raise me to spiritual life.

38:51

I'm a little concerned about someone like that. I am concerned about anyone who could look at the miracle of what

38:59

God does in saving His elect people and be angry about it. You know, one of the favorite stories that Reformed writers have used down through the years to illustrate this truth is the story of Lazarus.

39:19

Now, I know people complain, and they say, no, no, no, you can't use Lazarus. That application isn't made, and there's just too many differences, so on and so forth.

39:31

The reality is, well, I'll tell you a story.

39:37

And some of you may have even heard this, but I sort of doubt it because it was many, many years ago. We used to have a program on,

39:45

I think it was KPXQ. We were on a, there used to be KRDS, and there was another station way out east,

39:52

I've forgotten, or way out west, I forgot what the name of that one was. But we've been on a number of different stations over the years.

40:02

And we were talking about this subject, and we actually had a woman call in.

40:11

And so I went through John chapter 11 with her, and I said, well, let me ask you a question. You're telling me that God was trying to save you, and He's actually trying to save everyone equally, right?

40:25

Right. He's trying to save everyone equally. Sort of look around the world, and I go, seems that He's doing a better job in certain countries than others, but it seems a little strange to me.

40:36

But okay, you want to say that God's trying to save everyone equally. All right. But He can't save everyone unless you allow

40:46

Him to do so. You can just simply say no. Yes. This is the standard position.

40:53

This is what my Roman Catholic opponent said when

40:58

I talked about John 6. Catch this. If you haven't seen the debate yet, when

41:07

Jesus says, I've come down out of heaven to do the will of my Father, and this is the will of the one who sent me, that of all He's given me,

41:12

I lose none of them, but raise them up on the last day. You know what his response to that was? Well, yeah, it's the will of the

41:19

Father for the Son that He lose none of them, but there's a lot of things God wants to do that He doesn't get to do.

41:30

I mean, isn't it God's will that all the elect never sin? And so he confused the prescriptive will of God in the law of God with the decretal will of God so that the

41:42

Father's will for what the Son should accomplish could be frustrated by the actions of human beings.

41:51

It's the very essence of synergism. Now, we all sit around and go, well, he's a Roman Catholic.

41:56

What do you expect? Except, except there is a group amongst

42:03

Southern Baptists today called the Traditionalists. That's the name they've decided to use themselves.

42:09

I think it's a pretty lousy name, but they decided to use it for themselves. And they pretty much control two of the major seminaries,

42:17

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Jeff just asked, oh, no,

42:25

I just saw this. Everything turning out okay? Well, I suppose.

42:30

I'll let you know when I'm done. Anyway, they ransack

42:39

Scripture, looking for any verse they can come up with where Jesus dies for someone and they go to hell.

42:54

They have to. They're big on Judas, man. And they go to John chapter 10.

43:00

They're trying to find, they have to find some place where Jesus fails to save someone he dies for because then you can have universal atonement and atonement doesn't actually save unless we do something to allow it to save.

43:19

What's the difference between that and what my Roman Catholic opponent said? There really isn't. Because I've heard many a non -Roman

43:27

Catholic synergist say the exact same thing. Yeah, yeah, God's will is, but you know,

43:33

God's will isn't always done. Confusing the will of the

43:38

Father for the Son with God's prescriptive will found in Scripture where it reveals his holy character, and yet we know that the

43:46

Scriptures, for example, in Genesis 50, Isaiah chapter 10, Acts chapter 4, explain that you have the prescriptive will of God, you have his decree, and to try to conflate the two results in horrific contradiction in the

44:00

Bible. You can't go there. But that's what he said. That's, that's where he went.

44:07

So you can see why they simply cannot even begin to accept the idea that God's saving grace is solely responsible for an individual being born again.

44:26

Because if that is the case, if the Spirit of God, well,

44:32

I forgot to finish the story of the lady. So she was being consistent, and so here's the question

44:38

I asked her. I said, so if you're consistent when Jesus raised

44:44

Lazarus from the dead, you're telling me that Jesus could have said,

44:51

Lazarus, come forth, and a voice could have come out of the grave.

44:59

No, thank you. Lazarus, come forth.

45:05

Lord, you don't know what those two sisters are like. I'm standing here. You know what she said?

45:14

You know what she said. Yes, Lazarus could have chosen to reject the commandment of the

45:24

Son of God. The Son of God commands life to come forth. It's more of a strong suggestion,

45:33

I guess. It's not really a commandment. Let me tell you something.

45:39

When Jesus says to the dead, rise up, guess what they do? They rise up.

45:48

And I worry about anyone, I really do, who says, yes,

45:54

I have been raised with Christ, I have spiritual life, but it really wasn't because God by His Spirit commanded me to come to spiritual life.

46:07

He just sort of made it possible, and I cooperated. I'm not sure how that's a resurrection, because most of those folks don't really believe they were dead in the first place.

46:20

Anyone who knows their heart knows well that what I needed was a resurrection.

46:26

I didn't need medicine. I didn't need therapy. I needed resurrection.

46:34

And that's what irresistible grace is. When the grace of God that brings salvation comes, there is no power in heaven and earth that can stop it.

46:44

You know what? That's the only reason why I was standing out in Mesa, passing out tracts at the

46:51

Easter pageant when I first met Jeff Durbin, because I'll be honest with you, there's no reason to do that if you don't believe this.

47:04

There really isn't. I can't argue people into the kingdom of God. If I can argue them in, somebody else can come along and argue them out.

47:13

If they are truly dead in their trespasses and sins, I'm just flapping my jaws.

47:18

But if, in point of fact, God has His elect people, even amongst the

47:26

Mormons that are attending that presentation each spring, then

47:33

I can be used of Him to bring that message, and there is no power in heaven or on earth that can stop the

47:41

Spirit of God from drawing His people unto Himself. This takes so much of the unbiblical pressure off of people because, man,

47:53

I've been in churches. I've been in churches where the pressure was put upon you, you know, if you don't show up for Monday night outreach, there might be children who will end up bathed in flames for eternity because you didn't come.

48:13

And the absolutely necessary corollary of that is, well, even if I come, if I don't do it exactly right, it still may end up in those poor children ending up in hell.

48:23

It's all on me. It's all performance -based. Oh, don't tell people that because then they won't show up, and they won't witness, and they'll become

48:32

Calvinists. Right? Believe me, I've seen it over and over and over again.

48:41

Is there a danger of an abuse of Reformed theology to stop doing evangelism?

48:47

Of course there is, because any of God's truths can be abused in rebellion. But is there any consistent danger that a person who truly believes the whole counsel of God on this subject is going to go, huh, great, wonderful,

49:03

I can just go and do whatever I want to now. I never have to worry about being a witness. Of course not.

49:09

God commands us to be his witnesses, and it's our glory and our joy to be his witnesses.

49:20

Any truth of God can be and has been misrepresented and abused. There is no question about it.

49:28

But it does not result in the destruction of evangelism. In fact, as we noted for the 18 years that we went up to Salt Lake City, the general conference, we saw lots, lots of synergists come and go.

49:47

We were the ones that were there consistently, because they got the idea pretty quickly, you know, there's a lot easier places to go.

49:55

And yet we saw God save some pretty hard cases in those years that we were doing that kind of thing, and you've probably seen the exact same thing.

50:05

So irresistible grace flows naturally from what has come before. It has nothing to do with passages like Acts chapter 7, you always resist the grace of God.

50:16

Well, that was talking about Israel, and it was talking about the sending of the prophets, and anybody who quotes to you from Acts chapter 7 to try to defeat irresistible grace doesn't know what they're talking about, but it's very, very, very common that you'll hear that.

50:30

All that we're saying, all that we're saying is that when God chooses to save His elect people, the

50:38

Spirit of God is capable of accomplishing what the Father and the Son and the

50:45

Spirit together have determined to do. And because of the electing grace of the Father, the accomplishment of redemption in the

50:51

Son, then the Spirit comes and makes that application, once again demonstrating the triune nature of the gospel and the triune nature of its accomplishment in our experience.

51:05

By that Spirit, we are given new life, we are raised to spiritual life, and we desire, therefore, to be obedient to God.

51:14

And because of the nature of that faith, that leads to whenever, I don't know if Jeff's going to try to do this next week or whatever, that leads inevitably to the perseverance of the saints.

51:28

That is, when the Spirit of God comes, the ones He brings to true spiritual life are the ones the

51:36

Father has elected and the Son has died for. So what about people who make false professions of faith?

51:49

Well, were they elected by the Father? Did the Son die in their place? You see, the reason that the saints persevere is because the work of God in them is perfect.

51:59

And again, in all of this, the focus is never upon us and our accomplishment. The result of the work of God in our life is perseverance in faith, but that's because that faith is a divine faith.

52:12

It's the gift of God that has been given to us. It has results, as James chapter 2 says.

52:19

It's God's intention to conform us to the image of Christ, and that's why we press on in the

52:26

Christian life. But never, never can one of the elect of God claim any credit, any boasting against anyone else, because we recognize that even our obedience is the result of the work of the grace of God within our hearts.

52:43

There's never a ground for boasting. And if you're a Reformed person today, and you can look at your life, and you can honestly, honestly, when you think of your attitude toward non -Reformed believers, if there is ever an attitude of superiority on your part, check your heart.

53:06

Check your heart. There are few things uglier than Reformed orthodoxy without love, mercy, and grace, because there's few things more contradictory.

53:19

You didn't figure this stuff out on your own. You didn't earn any of this stuff.

53:24

You're not better than someone else. Just because you've read more books on theology than somebody else doesn't mean anything. The only reason you even wanted to read those books is because God had graciously worked within your heart.

53:37

And so we need to defend the truth of God's irresistible grace, but we need to do so graciously.

53:47

We need to adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ in the way in which we do these things.