Calvinism Sermon: Irresistible Grace (Part 6 in series)

It is amazing that uh... that uh... pastor jeff would ask me to continue a sermon series uh... that's that's pretty usual you know normally it's out you know do whatever you want to go go some other direction.

But uh... you all have been doing the uh... proverbial i'm sure he explained. Five points were not exactly how calvin put it. And it's uh... uh... from my perspective not actually a really full explication of what needs to be said.

I've always uh... called myself a six-point calvinist uh... I i like stu lip uh... you need to start the sovereignty of god these days because people just don't assume that. But um... initially when he contacted me i guess he thought he was going to be at the perseverance of the saints.

I just did a debate on that subject uh... week before last with a roman catholic uh... up uh... over in uh... atlanta. But uh... you didn't get that far so it'd be sort of silly for me to what would that be.

Uh... would be if i if i did that first. And that would be very confusing to some people. So we don't want to do that so i'm going to press on with irresistible grace.

Uh...

Hopefully i won't have. Well that's that's a whole other subject there but uh... will press on with that for our time this afternoon uh... and hopefully then uh... when jeff gets to listen to this if he will even bother to listen to this uh... then he can come back and fix anything that he'd like to fix uh... on on the far side.

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

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

They might say no no no it's limited atonement. But when you think about what the real objection is and some of the strongest language.

Uh...

Some of you have seen a book that i wrote coming up on wow seventeen years ago uh... called 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 the potter's promise or something like that.

They didn't even bother to come up with. Like a different picture on the front it was pretty cheesy. But in the potter's freedom uh... i responded to doctor norman geisler. And when you look at the language that doctor geisler used in describing what he called extreme calvinism uh... he called himself a moderate calvinist which is an interesting way of describing an arminian uh... but that's exactly what he was and is.

Uh...

The real focus was here on the issue of all right. We've we've looked at you know we've 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 sun in particular redemption or limited atonement. The perfection of that atonement the fact that there has to be perfect harmony between the 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 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 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 of of free will in the in the sense that they understand that an autonomous human.

Will.

That can frustrate 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 in 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.

The point of the acrostic is saying is that when 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 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 posits salvation as being a cooperative effort between the will of god and the will of man since the will of man has to be in charge god's will god's power.

Can can do. Uh... ninety nine percent. But the deciding factor has to be the will of.

Man.

All of man's religions require this uh... the debate that i just did uh... in atlanta what i found very useful about it uh... was that. Uh... there was that there was only a a small amount of specifically 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. It was a wonderful illustration. It's what i wanted to be. A wonderful illustration of the reality that those people who are not roman catholics but reject reform theology are paddling around on the far side of the tiber river.

They are much more in harmony with rome when it comes to man's will and the grace of god. Then they are with luther when he wrote on the bondage of the will. Or with calvin. Or with meaningful reform theology.

Uh... that was very clearly illustrated in the encounter that we had. And so it's right here when we talk about how it is that god brings his elect people. He's chosen them in the past. The father has has elected them.

The son has died in their place. And at the time that the triune god chooses the spirit of god comes and he takes out that heart of stone he gives a heart of flesh. In fact let's take a look at that i i wanted to start off with reading uh... that portion in ezekiel chapter thirty six.

Uh... go with me to ezekiel chapter thirty six in your bibles. And let's start at verse twenty four. Ezekiel thirty six twenty four for i will take you from the nations gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land.

That i will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I i hope you're always when you're reading these texts you're you're thinking about how many times the new testament writers grab hold of these uh... illustrations these ideas and utilize them.

Paul does in in in titus chapter three. And this is probably the background of jesus' words about being born again uh... in in john chapter three i will sprinkle clean water on you and you'll be clean.

I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 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.

I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. You'll be careful to observe my ordinances. You think about uh... jeremiah chapter thirty one and the new covenant and the fulfillment of that in hebrews chapter eight.

This is this is where the new testament writers derived their understanding from the old testament text in the fulfillment of these things. And it's a radical promise. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Now when you think about what that means you you think about uh... the next chapter. Remember ezekiel's vision of the dry the valley of the dry bones. And he has asked you can these dry bones ever live again.

And ezekiel's response is only you know lord god. And and the wind blows the spirit. Pneuma uh... ruach in hebrew the same term it's used. Uh... the spirit blows and they come together. A new life is given.

This is this is radical. There there there is there is. When you look at the dry bones there's not ninety nine percent god. But they needed to do their part. You know the bones need to be in the right place.

And the bones need to cooperate. No there's.

Their dry bones.

Uh... dry bones can't cooperate. Uh... there has to be a a a completely divine action taking place. And the same way parts of stone do not voluntarily allow themselves to be taken out. Uh... 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.

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. If you'll just if you'll just believe. If you'll just repent.

Well we call men to believe and to repent. 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.

Why is that. Well i know you probably covered this uh... But let me just make sure that we mention it because i think it's relevant. But if you look at romans chapter eight listen to what the apostle says in verse five.

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. For the mindset on the flesh is death. But the mindset on the spirit is life and peace.

Why. Because the mindset 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. And those who are in the flesh cannot please god. So the contrast here is not giving a heart of flesh.

That's a different terminology that Ezekiel was using 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.

What's the description. Well it's that that mindset on the flesh is hostile toward god. It's hostile toward god. For it does not subject itself to the law of god. And then you have the real problem. For it is not even able to do so now i'm sure a few weeks ago you went over many of the not able to do so passages when Jeff talked about total depravity resulting in total inability.

There are far more of those passages than people really understand. We don't like to memorize them because they're well they're sort of depressing. And we happen to know they're true as well. But uh... we we probably need to memorize them.

Because so many people have the idea that we have the innate capacity innate ability to be able to do these things. 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. 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. Are you able to do that. This says no. Those from the flesh cannot please god. If you repent and believe. Does that please god. Of course then something has had to have happened.

There has to be resurrection power. That heart of stones been taken out. A heart of flesh has been given. And the 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.

That's why you have all of the the exhortations repentance and belief and and so on and so forth that is given to that individual. So when we talk about irresistible grace we need to define what we're talking about here.

We are not saying we are not saying that god's grace is never resisted. God's grace is resisted. There is something now there 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.

But there is a difference between what is called common grace god's providential care for his creation and 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.

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.

And i've looked all through the bible to try to find it. I i can't find it anywhere. I've read books from people defending it and every text they went to. I was like really? No that's not what i was talking about.

But the grace that saves is saving grace. 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, Ephesians chapter two.

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. 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 there. There are what seemed 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.

But then again there are people who at a very early age come to know Jesus Christ. And they 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 so forth.

So god chooses when that time is. But what we're saying is when god moves by his spirit that saving grace is irresistible. And why is that? Well because we're dead in sin. I've used the illustration many times.

Uh... back when i was in college i was department fellow anatomy and physiology. What was then grand canyon college uh... was much smaller than it is now i assure you. And uh... uh... i had the uh... the privilege as department fellow to demonstrate the cadavers.

We had cadavers before ASU did. And uh... we performed the dissections on them. And then we uh... would have demonstrations where for example uh... high school classes would come in if they're looking at possibly coming to grand canyon.

And uh... any of you old enough to remember quincy. The the the medical quincy. Remember. Yeah just a few it's probably on me tv somewhere now i think. But uh... which i discovered while i was in the hospital it was great.

About three o 'clock in the morning. Oh all these cool programs. 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 quincy where he was a medical examiner.

And uh... 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. And 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. It was a whole lot of fun.

And uh...

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.

They were chemically stored and i've heard that the chemical we used uh... was later identified as a carcinogen. So i'm undoubtedly doomed. But anyway we knew their names their real names willie and clara.

And i was uh... 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 but thankfully it didn't. So uh... we knew their real names.

And uh... willie i know exactly why he died. It was from smoking uh... You could open his chest up and man cut anywhere in his lungs it was black as pitch you could point to the part on his heart where the myocardial infarction took place.

It was. It was just that bad and uh... so i could do anything i wanted.

To willie and clara.

Uh... 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 and you know what.

Neither one of them. First of all they never helped with their own dissection. They just they just laid there and then they never complained. I could take body parts off do all sorts of things they never once complained didn't need their cooperation at all because of course they're dead.

And we don't take seriously the 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 but the point.

Is the capacity.

Of a heart of stone is what. Well what's a heart supposed to do. Supposed to pump blood. Stones don't do that. Well that's that's the whole point. There's an incapacity that is clearly indicated. And that's really what bothers mankind is.

If we truly have that incapacity then we are completely dependent upon god's saving grace. And that means we cannot have any control whatsoever. And so all the questions come flooding in. Why does god save one person not another.

Et cetera et cetera et cetera. And that's why this is. That's why norman geisler refers to this belief as divine rape. Divine rape is what he calls it. So. Offended is he at the idea that we believe that we must be resurrected to spiritual life.

And yet this has been the argument from from the very beginning. I was asked to give a text. Summer demanded that i give her one. My first text i gave her of course was first chronicles twenty six eighteen.

King james version. Uh... which if any of you have not i'm sure you've all memorized first chronicles twenty six eighteen. In the king james version it says four at parbar three westward. And four at parbar.

That's what it says. And uh... it's a great text. And uh... when i gave it to her she said would you please get serious. And so i did. And uh... first john chapter five. You all are. How many of you are looking at first chronicles twenty six eighteen.

I bet you a number of you are. You're tapping on over to see if that's actually what it says and it does.

Uh...

It's uh... you know it's it's still the word of god but it needs to be taken in context. It's probably not the most edifying verse uh... unless you're one of the guys that is talked about their uh... who was at parbar and then you're still very thankful that the lord made mention of what you did anyways.

First john chapter five. Verse one. Whoever believes that jesus is a 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.

And.

All they hear is well if you believe that jesus is a christ.

Uh...

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 first 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 christ the messiah.

And of course for john who is the anti christ the one who believes the one who rejects that jesus is the christ jesus come to flesh. Uh... the false teachers that have gone out from the true church. If you are believing that jesus is the 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.

That would create a bit of a problem. Because if you look back let me see i believe it is verse uh... i thought it was in verse chapter four there are two places in first john. Well i know it's two twenty nine.

So i guess i can pop back to that one here in first john chapter two uh... if you know that he is righteous you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of him. So let me ask you a question how do you get born again by practicing righteousness.

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 no being born again is why you practice righteousness.

The one gives rise to the other. And in the exact same way in five one being born of god is what gives rise to a continuing faith in the truth that jesus is the christ. It's so often that people are are so have such deep traditions about how all this works that they can read.

For example in john chapter eight when jesus says to the jews why why. Can you not hear my words. It's because you don't believe belong to god.

You don't belong to god.

And the world or the evangelical world goes why do you not hear my words. Because you choose not to. Not because you don't belong to god. If you just choose to hear my words then you belong to god 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 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.

The consistent way through first 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. 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. And yes that is exactly what i'm saying. Saving faith is a work of the 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. 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.

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. It's a 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.

Well there are a number of passages. Philippians one twenty nine says it has been granted to you not only to believe in him but to suffer for him. And it's interesting because generally our mind is automatically attracted to the idea.

Well attracted not in a positive way. But our mind is automatically brought to the idea of suffering. And we skip over the you mean what do you mean. It's been granted to us to believe in him. Oh that just just means that you know god has graciously given us the gospel.

Well wait a minute. It has been given to us and the term as a gift to believe in him and to suffer in him. Do you believe that the sufferings that we experience in our life are part of god's providence his purpose in our lives.

It seems to be what romans chapter eight says. Of course so it's been given us to to believe in him as well. It's described there as a gift. And in in uh... Second peter one one faith there is described as something that we have received from god.

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

And that's Ephesians chapter two. Right. That's probably what most people were thinking of when i asked. Well does the bible describe saving faith as a gift of god. Everybody knows Ephesians two eight through nine.

For by grace you've been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of god not of works lest any man should boast. 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 it is the gift of god. That would be an argument that would be fairly easily refuted. 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.

Because you see that not of yourselves that is neuter faith is feminine. And so faith can't be the antecedent. And they'll just stop there and move on. See we've dealt with it. I hope you recognize that's that's a rather shallow way of argumentation.

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 and faith is feminine.

And there needs to be some type of correlation between.

The two.

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

Because the reality is. The neuter is frequently used to wrap up an entire preceding phrase. And that's what's going on in ephesians chapter two. In ephesians chapter two. You have grace you have salvation you have faith.

Two of them.

Are in a masculine form one in a feminine form and so there is no neuter antecedent to that that is wrapping all of it up. And so faith is part of the gift as is the grace and the salvation. It's all the gift of god it's none of it of works lest any man should boast.

And so ephesians chapter two is presenting to us the idea that the faith that saves is the work of the spirit of god in the heart of god's elect people it is the work of his spirit. And because of that we have no ground of boasting.

We cannot look to someone else and say well i have a number of friends and they they get upset with us when we make the the emphasis. This is vitally important lest there be a grounds of boasting. 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. 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 and we're ten thousand years into eternity. If that's even a meaningful phrase. And you have the people of god those who are in christ jesus they are surrounding the throne and they are absorbed in in worship and praise and love of the triune god.

And yet in hell itself you have image bearers of god. And by the way i i don't think there's gonna be any parties in hell. Hell is called the outer darkness. I don't think you're going to run into 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. 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 to do its thing in totality. And yet you can't hurt god you can't hurt his creation any longer. There's only one thing left yourself made in the image of god. 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. Once that restraint is lifted i think all the suffering you need will be found in that final rejection in that self-destructiveness of sin.

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

And so what separates those two bodies of people? I'm not talking about the great chasm fixed or anything like that. 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 it's not just grace. In some way they were more spiritually sensitive more spiritually inclined in some sense being better than the others.

That's the only possible conclusion. And I just can't get my synergistic friends. Well I can get some of them. Those that are more blatantly synergistic don't have a problem with that. 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.

And so only grace differentiates between those two groups. 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 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 now normatively god uses the word and the spirit the word and the spirit the normative fashion is that you're born again through the 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. That's the normative means.

But there's always been the question and i suppose this is where we need to address it. Can there be a period of time and how long can it be between the work of the spirit of god in a person's heart and mind that results in spiritual life.

And that person closing with christ. For the vast majority of people these are in essence simultaneous events 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 is regenerated that regenerated heart naturally turns to christ naturally acts in repentance.

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.

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

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