What Is Calvinism? Is It True?

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He would open the Word of God to the Gospel according to John chapter 10.

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John chapter 10, starting in verse 1.

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Hear now the words of the living and the true God. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.

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But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens, the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

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When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

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A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

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This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

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So Jesus again said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

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All who come before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not listen to them.

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I'm the door. If anyone enters by me, he'll be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

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The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

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I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

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He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees.

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And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he's a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

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I'm the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. Just as the

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Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.

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And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.

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So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the

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Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

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I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge

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I've received from my Father. There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said,

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He has a demon and is insane. Why listen to him? Others said, These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon.

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Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? At that time, the feast of dedication took place at Jerusalem.

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It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon. So the

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Jews gathered around him and said to him, How long will you keep us in suspense?

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If you're the Messiah, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you.

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And you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.

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My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

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I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hands.

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My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the

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Father's hands. I and the Father are one. Thus far is the reading of God's holy and inspired word.

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Let's pray. Father, we come into your presence praising you first and foremost in this moment for our salvation, that you love us, that you've called us your own.

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You promise that you'll never lose us, that you will never, ever, ever allow anyone to snatch us out of your hands.

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Lord Jesus, we give you praise for you're the good shepherd. You know your sheep, and we know you.

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You laid your life down for us. We thank you that you are the good shepherd who keeps us and guards us.

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Lord, we love you, and we thank you so much for our salvation. Thank you for this truth. I ask

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God today as we come to your word to unpack grace, that you would,

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Lord, work through the inadequacy and the failings of the preacher, and that you would speak to your people through your word, by your spirit, that you would challenge us, encourage us, draw praise from this study.

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That's our hope, Father. I pray that you would teach the Spirit of God your people, and that you would,

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Lord, allow this study of your power and your sovereignty and your grace in salvation, allow it to motivate us to go get those other sheep.

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We pray you would put your gospel on our lips, and that it would come out of us with the power of your

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Spirit. You'd use this church in the desert to expand the kingdom of the

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Messiah. In Jesus' name, amen. So John chapter 10, one of my very favorite sections of Scripture, I've mentioned probably several times during this study, that this is one of my anchors in Scripture, the place that I go to for hope, for healing, for my soul.

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And if you want to know what we're really talking about when we're talking about the doctrines of grace, and why would you do a study like this, it's

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John 10. It's John 10. I've said before that John 6 and John 10 really are the explanation of the doctrines of grace.

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It's the real foundation for the doctrines of grace. You can't get away from the sovereignty of God in salvation, the graciousness of God in salvation, and the sheer power of God in the redemption of God's people.

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You can't get away from it in John 6 and John 10. Why do a study like this?

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We've finished now the five points plus one. We've added sovereignty to that as the start of it all, because it really does need to be there.

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It's assumed in the five points themselves, but we did that. The five points, we talked about sovereignty as well, and now we're doing a summary, summarizing what does the

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Bible teach about God's grace in salvation? Why do this? We have it done. Dr.

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White has written books on this. If you haven't read The Potter's Freedom, you should read that as soon as possible.

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Dr. White has done debates on this subject. We had a series years ago on this. So why in the world would you do it again?

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Are you just firming up your commitments on Calvinism? Are you guys just trying to show everyone that this is a

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Calvinist church, we're a Reformed church? Why do it? Is it to cause conflict between Christians?

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The answer is no. We're doing this study because we believe, especially with so many new people as part of our body, that understanding the gospel of God's grace is essential.

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Being able to defend the gospel of God's grace is essential. If we're going to pass the gospel onto our children and onto the next generation in any meaningful way, we need to know what the

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Bible teaches about our condition, the God that we worship, His power to save.

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If we're going to have boldness in missions, and if we're going to do missions God's way, if we're going to avoid manipulating people as is so often done these days, we need to understand

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God's power and salvation, His ability to bring dead people to life and to save them because of the truth, the message of the truth.

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We have to be able to defend the gospel. The history of the church is riddled with moments of error, decay, heresy, and it's also riddled with moments of the power of God to preserve

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His church and sanctify His church. He gets His church around the truth. They proclaim the truth, and that's where you see transformation taking place.

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But the key issue there is truth. We need to know what it is. We need to understand the gospel itself.

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We live in a day, of course, where there is so much decay and erosion of the influence of the Christian worldview in the

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West, at the very top and all the way down, and you also have so much erosion in terms of religious erosion.

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You have historic organizations that once had a faithful commitment to the gospel, to God's truth and salvation, who have now abandoned that truth, who embrace all manner of wicked and evil things in terms of gender confusion, sexual confusion.

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Doctrine is pushed aside as not necessary for Christian unity.

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And so why do this study? Well, this study is necessary if we're going to understand how to defend the gospel of grace.

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And then here's the other issue, and I want you to hear me on this. This cannot just be about the head. You've heard Pastor James many times over the years talk about cage -stage

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Calvinists, right? And that's where you finally understand sort of your traditions. You finally realize your traditions, and you're like, wait, the text doesn't actually say that.

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And so the traditions start to fall off, and you see what the text says, and it's on every page. God is sovereign.

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His grace is effective and powerful and sufficient. Look what Jesus did for me. Oh, my goodness. So you go out, and you try to take heads, right?

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Cage -stage Calvinists. That's where Pastor James says you should take that person, maybe the first six months or a year, put them in a cage so they don't hurt themselves or anybody else, right?

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But here's the deal. Listen. Yes, this is theological. Yes, this is deep. Yes, this is heady.

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But if it stays there, you haven't been listening. And you don't understand it.

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I think that happens in the life of a person who finally understands their own unworthiness, the power of God in salvation, the meaning of the cross, the glory of God's grace.

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It begins to actually change your heart and your mind. These truths should bring you hope in your darkest moments.

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If they don't, you haven't understood it. These truths should bring more Christian unity.

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If they don't, you haven't understood it. These truths should truly meet you in your most painful moments.

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If they don't, you haven't understood it. If it remains in your head only, and it just becomes an exercise of Christian theological gymnastics, then this has been wasted time.

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Because what we should see through this study is our complete depravity and brokenness before God.

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The fact that we have nothing to offer God. That God is the one who saves, and He saves perfectly.

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The fact that God can save perfectly and cause you to persevere. The fact that God preserves

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His people. That's what we should understand, we should be seeing, and we should be changed by.

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These truths are truths that are worthy of your life. And what

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I mean is, I do believe when we talk about the doctrines of grace, and what we're talking about when we talk about the five points of Calvinism, we're talking about truths that protect the biblical gospel.

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They protect our understanding of the biblical God. And these are truths that you should let goods and kindred go, your mortal life also, for truths like these.

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Because it protects and defends the gospel. The question has been from the very beginning. Do you remember I asked it from the start?

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How gracious is God's grace? How gracious is God's grace? That's important because you have to understand that when we go out into the world to proclaim the message of Jesus as Messiah, the call to repentance and faith, to believe in Him.

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Understand this, we are going to come into conflict with many organizations, many movements that use our language.

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They speak Christian ease. They sound just like us. They do.

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And they'll talk about things like grace. They'll say, oh, no, no, grace is absolutely necessary.

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It is out. You can't do this on your own. You so need God's grace. Absolutely essential part of our religious tradition.

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You need the grace of God. However, grace is not sufficient in their system.

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Grace isn't sufficient when you talk to Mormons, they will even quote by grace.

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Are you saved? They'll say things like Christians. They'll sound like Christians by grace. Are you saved?

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And then they'll say, after all you can do, there's an acknowledgement because you can't get away from it in Scripture that God is a sovereign.

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He's the one that graciously saves people. So they'll say, oh, yes, we have to have that part, that component in our story as well.

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But it's not enough. It's not enough. There's something you must do. There's something you have to participate in and cooperate with God.

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You and God are working together to make this thing take place, whether it's through your own deeds of righteousness or some form of cooperation.

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Grace is necessary, but it is certainly not sufficient. Grace is not sufficient in Rome.

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Rome teaches a perverse, false gospel. I love Roman Catholics and I want them to know

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Jesus, but Rome has officially defined themselves away from biblical faith.

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And they'll say when you talk to them, no, grace is absolutely necessary. You need the grace of God.

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It is simply not enough. It's not sufficient. God's grace isn't powerful enough to save his people.

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When you talk to Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses, they will always say God is gracious. And I have suggested, listen, very important in the book of Galatians, that letter of the

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Apostle Paul, where he starts immediately, immediately with,

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I am amazed that you're so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ.

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That's the issue for Paul. The grace of Christ to another gospel, which is really not another.

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It's not another. Early on in the history of the church, the inspired apostle writes a letter to a church and the issue is grace being blurred, distorted, done away with to the degree that at the end of the letter he actually says that Christ is of no benefit to you.

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Whosoever of you attempts to be justified by law, you've fallen from grace.

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For Paul, at the beginning of the letter and the end of the letter, the issue is the grace of God and salvation.

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Probably one of the first letters written by the Apostle Paul and the issue is the defense of the biblical gospel of grace.

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That's the issue. You distort grace, you lose the gospel. You distort grace and you have something that Paul calls anathema, eternally condemned, accursed by God.

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This issue is essential. Christian unity is vital. It is so vital.

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We have members of our church body. They're Presbyterians. We don't see eye to eye on everything. People come to our church and they're members of our body and they're like,

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I'm not with you on the eschatology and that's okay. Give us time. Here's the deal.

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There's Christian unity over the essential unifying issues and the gospel is one of those issues.

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You distort the gospel. You don't know Christ. If you have a false gospel, it is a gospel that cannot save and for Paul in the first century addressing the

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Galatian heresy, he is addressing an issue that is actually distorting grace and here's the deal.

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You heard me say it before. Please hear me on this. Do we really believe that the Galatian heretics wouldn't have acknowledged that God was graciously bringing people into His covenants?

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Of course, they knew the God of Israel was the God of grace. They knew that they were sinners and they knew that grace was necessary.

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If you would have went to any of the Galatian heretics, I am fully confident they would have affirmed that you need the grace of God to be saved but it wasn't enough.

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There was this addendum, this thing that must be added. You must also do this one thing. Just keep the

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Jewish circumcision, just come on, keep that circumcision, just this thing. Paul says this, I hope these people who are bothering you, preaching this false gospel,

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I hope they go all the way with a knife. I hope they emasculate themselves and cut themselves off.

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That's how serious Paul was about this false gospel and he says, here's the deal. Christ has become of no benefit to you.

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None. And what was the issue? It was a theological idea. That's the key issue.

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It's just a proposition. It's an idea that disrupts the grace of God in the gospel.

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And Paul says this, look, I preach that may God send me to hell forever. So how gracious is

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God's grace? How important is this? It's vital. You see, this is not new. Understand this. This is so key.

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We're not going to do a big historic history of the church lesson here, although Pastor James could do that for days.

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The church has had to fight against errors on the condition of men and women in the fall.

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We've had to fight against errors in terms of those distorting grace in history of the church. This is stuff that's happened over and over again.

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We've had to fight against Pelagianism as the church. We've had to fight against semi

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Pelagianism. We see in the history of the church, there are mixed bags.

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You see some church fathers and respected pastors saying some amazing things that are so powerful and consistent with the gospel.

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You see that same church father doing an absolute terrifying face plant in other areas of their theology.

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Thank God we don't have as an ultimate authority uninspired and fallible men. We have the word of the living

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God. And in history of the church, we've had to fight against error after error after error, whether it's on the nature of God, the person of Christ, or the nature of man in the fall.

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And the amazing thing is that as history has gone on, God has sanctified his church.

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He's got us sharper in his word. We didn't discover with the five points of Calvinism, please hear me on this, novelty.

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Oh, this is new. Isn't this an interesting way to do this? Let's try something new here. No. The reformation itself down to the

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Senate of Dort was not a discovery of new stuff that had been missed. It was actually going back to the ancient record of the church.

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It was going back to historical moments of the church. The reformers were doing that.

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They were even pointing to Rome and saying, you're neither biblical nor are you historic.

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You disagree with this church father that you're supposed to agree with. Their argument wasn't this is new.

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And with the Senate of Dort, it was a moment where there was a conflict. The followers of a man named Jacob Arminius gave a remonstrance of protest with their points of disagreement.

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And after a lot of time together with a lot of people getting around the word of God, they offered a response that was sharp and clear and powerful defending the grace of God and salvation.

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Please hear me from beginning to end. What was the issue? We want to follow a man named

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John Calvin. The five points of Calvinism have ultimately nothing to do with a man named

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John Calvin. The five points of Calvinism are about John 6, John 10, Ephesians 1,

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Romans 9. We could go on and on. It's about actually very easily systematizing and explaining the grace of God and salvation from beginning to end.

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What do I believe about this? Do I believe that if you are someone who has repented and trusted in Christ, but not a

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Calvinist, you're not a Christian? No. But do I believe that these are truths that you should die for?

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Yes. Because they protect and preserve the gospel. Praise God. God saves us from our sin and our theological errors.

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Amen? Yes? This is a very important study. And if you're a member of our church body, you need to know how committed we are to defending the grace of God and salvation.

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Here's the most important aspect. God gets all the glory for salvation.

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And we ought to be zealous to preserve the glory of God in salvation.

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To cast away our boasting, our righteousnesses, our power, our cooperation to any degree.

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We will be before the throne of a powerful and holy God who will receive all the glory in salvation.

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And that's what we should be jealous for and zealous for. We started this study talking about the sovereignty of God in salvation.

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So here's what I wanted to do. I thought, okay, we need to do a summary. We need to do a summary message where we sort of go through these points quickly and concisely and sort of say, and here's why.

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Here's the belief and here's why. Here's the belief and here's why. But I also wanted to talk about some of the dangers in denying some of these doctrines.

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Now, mind you, we could spend a whole new series on each point in terms of the dangers of denial.

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If you deny this biblical truth, what are the implications? Where do the dangers start to flow?

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And so what I wanted to do today as quickly as I can is basically give us the point, give us the references, some of the references, and then talk about what

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I think are some dangers if you deny these things. So let's go right to it, and I'll try to go as quickly as possible today.

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Sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God is the foundation as we study this.

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The sovereignty of God that he rules, he reigns, he controls everything. What are the dangers of denying what we've taught about the sovereignty of God, the complete sovereignty of God?

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Well, here's a danger. Practically speaking, please hear me on this. This is so essential, especially for...

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Well, let me just get to it. Jesus anchors our peace in the sovereignty of God.

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Let's be honest. Many Christians really struggle knowing the truth of God, but not actually being able to walk with it and understand it.

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You have a life of anxiety behind you, a life currently where you're constantly anxious, you're constantly afraid, you constantly have worrying thoughts, you're always fighting with what might be the case and what if this happens and what about what

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I did this time, and you're worrying, you have constant worrying thoughts and you're always anxious.

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How do you do away with that? Jesus actually talks about do not be anxious with reference to, here at the sovereignty of God.

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How does the incarnate one address our struggle with anxiousness?

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He addresses it with the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign. I'll give you an example.

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Jesus says do not be anxious, and then he tells you here's the challenge. He says can you change the color of your hair through your worry?

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Are you that kind of sovereign? No. Can you add an hour to your life by being worried?

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And the answer is no, and the question would be well, why not? Because he's the sovereign.

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He controls when I live and when I die, when I breathe and the heart beats themselves.

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He's the full sovereign. So Jesus, the incarnate one, when he's dealing with our issue of anxiousness as believers, he says do not be anxious.

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There's the command by the way. Do not be anxious. Not a request. It's a command of Jesus.

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Do not be anxious. And then he says here's why. You see, the birds don't fall from branches apart from your father's knowledge.

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Just the little bird falling off the branch, dead to the ground, is all under the control of a sovereign

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God. The hairs on your head, they're numbered. The days of your lives, they are numbered.

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God's in control of them. And you're of more value than the sparrows. God is sovereign.

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So when you deny what the Bible teaches about the sovereignty of God, you are robbing yourself and others of the truth that Jesus says brings you peace and robs you of your anxiousness.

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This is not merely theological heady. It is very intimate and personal.

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It is very much practical. If you lose the sovereignty of God, I don't know what your hope is.

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I was a minister, the head chaplain at a hospital for years, and I'll tell you, listen, please hear me out as I mean this sincerely because they weren't the only ones being changed in front of me.

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I was being changed in that whole process. I'll be honest. I don't know how you minister in the context of the most brokenness at a hospital without being a

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Calvinist. I don't know how you do it. I've got to be honest. I saw and I heard things in that hospital that could drive a person mad.

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I would walk away. The first couple of months, I would walk away from the hospital at night time after ministering to like five patients for hours that day doing a group setting and counseling.

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I would minister and I would walk away and I would sit in my car and I would just cry.

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I would cry over the things that I heard. I could not believe the things that I was listening to.

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And you can ask Pastor Luke and those who were involved for the first couple of months or so being at the hospital.

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Sometimes I'd go to Sunday and they would see me. The leaders should be there. They'd see me just crying. We'd have a meeting as leaders and I would just burst out in tears because I'm filtering and thinking through all of the brokenness and horrible things that I've heard that entire week.

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And I have to be honest with you. You lose the sovereignty of God and the goodness of God and his control over all things.

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I don't know how you could minister in a context like a hospital in this fallen world. This matters and it matters a lot.

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You lose the sovereignty of God and you lose so much practically, but also I want to encourage you to understand that if you lose the sovereignty of God, that biblical truth, the total sovereignty of God, it leads to false perspectives of God.

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Right? Well, things like God looks through time and he sees who will believe in him based on his viewing of time and he figures things out along the way.

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God's learning things now apparently the all -knowing God is learning new things or you have errors that get far worse where you've got things like open theism and ideas where God doesn't even know the future.

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He doesn't even know it. Things could change and God wasn't even aware of it. People think that this solves the problem in scripture, those tensions of the sovereignty of God, so they create new systems that actually give you a false

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God. It's a God who's not even worthy of worship. Popular things today, systems that people just believe they think that they're protecting somehow

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God's reputation by making him not understand the future, know the future, or have any control of the future.

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I don't know how you worship a God like that. I wouldn't. So if you deny what the Bible teaches about the sovereignty of God, there are consequences.

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Here's some verses from scripture. Psalm 115 3. Our God is in the heavens.

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He does all that he pleases. Proverbs 16 9. The heart of man plans his way, but the

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Lord establishes his steps. Job 42 2.

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I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

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I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. How's that for power and missions?

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He's that kind of God. If God wants this accomplished, nothing can thwart him.

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No power on earth or elsewhere can stop the purpose and plan of God.

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He's that kind of sovereign. Isaiah 46 9 through 10. Remember the former things of old, for I am

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God and there is no other. I am God and there's none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purposes.

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You see, that serves to bring peace when we have a dead body here.

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You know it's coming, right? As a church, that if we have this building for a long period of time, we're going to have dead bodies right here before this pulpit.

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Maybe yours. That's a thought. I was recently in Florida and I really actually love the old way

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Christians used to do church and land where you'd have the church building where everyone built that church, they worshiped in that church, it was multi -generational, and then you had the graves of those who actually brought all that about.

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So you're coming to church with all the dead bodies of the saints who were before you who actually built the foundation of that church, maybe literally and figuratively in terms of the theological foundation.

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You come to church with a constant reminder of death and resurrection. Right? There's a reminder.

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We always try to hide death, don't we? We do really well in America to hide death. I was in Florida and I went to Dr.

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R .C. Sproul's St. Andrews, and I was really excited to see that his grave was right there at the church.

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All the land is there for the bodies of all those saints who built that church, and Dr. Sproul, his grave was right there.

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I think it's important to think about those things, to be reminded of death, and remind ourselves that before this pulpit there will be dead bodies.

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Again, maybe yours. Maybe seemed like a morbid thought, but you need to think about it. And you need to think about in those moments where we're struggling with grief and pain, and we're really facing down the worst this world has to offer, how are you going to handle it?

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Who is God? Did this surprise God? If one of our children goes out of a windshield and dies dead on the street, how are you going to manage that?

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Did God not see it coming? Is He sovereign even over that? When we have an unexpected death that hits us all in the morning, out of nowhere, and it's somebody who's close to us, how will you face that?

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Will you face it with an understanding of a God who has no ability to do anything about it, didn't see it coming, was maybe surprised by it as much as you are?

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Or will you actually come to grips with the scriptures teach about the sovereignty of God? That His counsel stands, and that He accomplishes all of His purpose.

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That's the sovereign God who rules over this universe. There is no other. Proverbs 19, 21, many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the

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Lord that will stand. Did you catch that? Woo, that is so great. That is awesome, and I am so thankful for that.

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Because there's times in the past where I had all kinds of plans, and I thought this is the thing that will accomplish the most of God's purposes, and I'm so glad that He took it down and He crushed it.

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At the time, I was like, why did you do that? And now I look back and I go, thank you for doing that. That you didn't let it happen.

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I like your story so much better. It's way better than I would have planned and devised it.

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It is so powerful. I am just a creature with a very small brain that barely works half the time.

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I can't see 24 hours in front of myself. And did you think about this? This is kind of crazy. Ready?

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This is a deep theological thought, okay? God's all -knowing, amen? Yes? Yeah? You ever think about that deeply?

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He's all -knowing? What would that entail? Well, you and I, I'll give you an example.

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If I wrote on a blackboard 1 plus 1 equals, ready? 1 plus 1 equals, what are you doing right now?

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You're thinking of the answer, right? So you're like thinking back to, you know, when you learned that, and maybe not thinking about it that far, but you're like, okay, 1 plus 1 equals 2.

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All the homeschool moms are like, I got this. Been doing it all week, right? 1 plus 1 equals 2.

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Your mind and my mind works on limited knowledge and we have to access information.

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We have to sort of put the things together. 1 plus 1 equals 2. And you can make it more complicated. You can say 562 times 10 ,792.

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You can make the numbers larger and then you have to start really computing and figuring out, okay, how do

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I put that together? And you could, watch, you could have the knowledge of how to work out the computation to put it all together to go, okay, here's the answer.

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And you may get the answer right, but what did you have to do? You had to actually think step by step working through to get to the final answer.

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Have you ever stopped to think that an all -knowing God never has to actually process information?

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Does that blow your mind? Because it blows mine. He doesn't have to think like you.

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Do you understand that? That God from all eternity, that in itself you can't comprehend as a creature, from all eternity,

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God has known everything and he's never had to think about it. He's never had to go, now what was

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I going to do? Oh yeah, got it. That God at all times knows everything.

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And God's decree itself is something that God has understood and known and planned from all eternity.

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So this is crazy, I know we're getting deep here, okay. Forever ago, forever ago, there was never a time ever, and that's weird in itself, there was never a time ever where God didn't know you.

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From all eternity, he had a plan to create and to save you.

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Nothing was going to change that. And he never had to, he's never processing thoughts, he's never like trying to catch up, you know what

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I'm saying? Homeschool moms really understand this, or moms trying to manage a home itself, you're trying to juggle 10 ,000 things and figure out how to put this in place and you're making lists and like check off the list, check off the list, check off the list.

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God didn't have to do that. Like in your life and mine, he's so sovereign, he accomplishes his purposes, nobody can thwart it and he never has to think and process did

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I get that right? Did I remember her? Did I remember him? Okay, make sure that you don't forget this, he is sovereign and it's incomprehensible.

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In Psalm 103 19, it says the Lord has established his throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all.

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Daniel 4 35, it says all the inhabitants of the earth, that's you and me are accounted as nothing and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done?

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Romans 8 28 and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.

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Psalm 135 6, whatever the Lord pleases he does in heaven and on earth in the seas and in all deeps the sea is a freaky place it's scary

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I hate it and my worst nightmare would be like to be on the middle of the ocean and someone just throws me off and then leaves me terrifying,

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I would probably just go under and start sucking water so I could just hurry up and get it over with because that's the most terrifying thing crazy thing

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God is so sovereign over everything he does whatever he pleases even in the seas there's a lot of weird stuff down there and a lot of sea and he does whatever he wants there is sand moving back and forth across the bottom of the ocean floor and God controls every grain every movement everything

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Ephesians 1 11 in him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him here it is who works all things according to the counsel of his will that's a sovereign

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God that's a sovereign God who works all things after the counsel of his will he's in control man is not in control the creature controls nothing

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God is in control Proverbs 16 4 the Lord has made everything for its purpose even the wicked for the day of trouble the

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Lord has made everything for its purpose even the wicked for the day of trouble we don't like that we don't like that and the answer ultimately if we accept the scriptures is too bad

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Proverbs 21 1 the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord he turns it wherever he will so much for free will

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Lamentations 3 37 who has spoken and it came to pass unless the Lord has commanded it

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Proverbs 16 33 the lot is cast into the lap but every decision is from the

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Lord Isaiah 46 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose last one we can keep going but here's the last one for this

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Isaiah 14 27 for the Lord of hosts has purposed and who can know it his hand is stretched out and who will turn it back that's a rhetorical question nobody so the sovereignty of God is the foundation of this entire study next we talked about total depravity and we mean by that total inability total inability you see this is a discussion that's been had before in the history of the church you understand that this is a big fight that happened early on of course

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Pelagianism is still around it is still a heresy it's still a really unbiblical view of our condition in the fall but we've had this fight before in history

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Pelagianism was a thing and a popular thing and the church had to come together collectively and get to the word and refute

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Pelagius and Pelagianism so we've been here before it's not new and thank

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God for Augustine or Augustine just depending how you know smart you are and his response he sided with the angels and the reformers before there were reformers on the issue of man's condition in the fall and God's grace and salvation but then we have

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Pelagianism going to semi Pelagianism let's compromise a bit let's take something that's not biblical and let's try to squeeze in that teaching with some biblical teachings so we have semi

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Pelagianism you see when we get our condition wrong we fall into error that will destroy the church our message and the mission of the church you see it's not the only thing in terms of this is our team this is my clique

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I'm a Calvinist and you're not and so this is my clique and I'm going to affirm my commitments to my clique this has consequences because listen please hear me on this early on in the history of this particular nation just this nation

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Calvinism reformed theology was the dominant perspective of the colonies and people were informed and it was just understood the

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Geneva study Bible was the most popular study Bible at the time erroneous theological views came in and began to become very popular and because of those erroneous theological views and soteriological views we started getting into versions of evangelism that were really just manipulation how do we get people to make decisions for Jesus well let's manipulate their emotions right

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I mean it takes them anyways cooperating with God the truth isn't enough to convert people that sinner can decide or not decide and so we gotta find some way to really appeal to them emotionally so what do we do well let's add some music some background noise that'll get them to make a decision for Jesus let's try to use terminology and tactics that will change their mind somehow so they'll give

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Jesus a try or a chance and they'll sort of you know come into the Christian community because they really love the service and the emotional stuff of it all you see when you mess this up total inability has practical consequences on missions and manipulation

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I'm gonna say something hard here but look if you come into a church and it looks like a

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Coldplay concert something's wrong something's wrong if the entire service is ordered around the visitors coming and making emotional appeals and emotional experiences so they make a decision for Jesus something is seriously wrong and I'm gonna say you don't get to the manipulation and missions without first having a distorted and unbiblical view of our condition in the fall and so get total inability wrong it disrupts missions and it leads to works based gospels works based gospels if you get our condition wrong couple things easy ones

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Romans chapter 3 there is none righteous no not one none who does good none who seeks for God no

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God seekers no one seeking for God that's it that's the inspired apostles version of all of humanity

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Jew and Gentile together that's who you are not righteous not good and you don't seek for God in the fall you are an enemy

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Romans chapter 1 you're suppressing the truth of God and unrighteousness you hate God and in Romans 5 you're in one of two representatives you're either in Adam where there is death and condemnation or you're in Jesus where there is eternal life and righteousness and that's it all of humanity not based upon color economic status none of those things but based upon your head

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Adam or Jesus where are you at Jesus says in John chapter 8 what whoever commits sin is a slave of sin so if you take even just those references and they're consistent through and through we are slaves of sin so therefore not free until what until the sun sets us free we are non

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God seeking haters of God not good not righteous enemies of God in Ephesians chapter 2

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Paul says you were dead in your sins and trespasses by nature children of wrath we don't like that story it's not impressive to the visitor when they come in you told me what about myself

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I thought that God wants my best life now I thought I am loved by God no matter what

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I thought don't judge God is the judge right and the judge has already given his judgment it's in this book and here's what he says you're a child of wrath outside of Jesus you're dead in your sins and trespasses spiritually dead you don't seek for God you are not righteous you are a hater of God you're worthy of his wrath you are suppressing his truth and you're a slave to your own sin and Jesus finally says in John 6 clear as can be he says no man can come to me no one has the ability unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day we could go on with that but we've already done this study total inability next unconditional election unconditional election here's a danger of rejecting what scripture teaches about God's sovereign grace in election that he does not choose people based upon something in them their good deeds their choice of him the danger of rejecting unconditional election is you create a false

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God who maybe learns things as he looks through history the danger of rejecting unconditional election is that you make man the center of God's redemptive work and not

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God please hear that you reject unconditional election that God chooses by his own free sovereign grace then you make man the center of God's story because what's the ultimate difference in that version well it looks like this

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I'm here with God because of something ultimately in me I was smarter I did this or I did that it was something in my own upbringing whatever the case may be it's something in me that makes me different from everybody else

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God wants to try and save everybody but I'm saved because me ultimately something in me man is at the center and not

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God when you deny unconditional election also denying unconditional election can lead also to a works based gospel not grace it's something in the creature that had to happen or must be done for salvation to ultimately take place it's not based upon God's sovereign choice and his grace his unmerited favor next sorry unconditional election let's do some verses there

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Acts 13 48 and when the Gentiles heard this they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the

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Lord and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed so a lot of people there heard the gospel a lot of people heard the gospel and the ones who believed were those who were appointed to eternal life according to Acts 13 48 that's encouraging for missions by the way as you know no power of hell is going to stop

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God saving people you go preach the truth God saves and he saves perfectly Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 even as he

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God chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him

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Romans 8 29 for those whom he foreknew and remember pastor

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James has constantly taught us it's very important to recognize foreknown by God is something that is intimate it is personal it is not

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God learning something it is God choosing to enter into intimate relationship with for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers 2nd

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Thessalonians 2 13 but we ought always to give thanks to God for you brothers beloved by the

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Lord because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth

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John 15 16 you did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the father in my name he may give it to you 2nd

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Timothy 1 9 who saved us God and called us to a holy calling not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace there it is again which he gave us in Jesus Christ Jesus before the ages began

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Ephesians 1 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will

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Romans 9 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue not because of works but because of him who calls we said the older shall serve the younger

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John 6 37 all that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me

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I will never cast out so which comes first the coming to Jesus or the father giving you to Jesus which is first according to Jesus everyone the father gives to me does what they come let's try it again everyone the father gives to me they will come isn't that essentially the message of the doctrines of grace the father gives the people to Jesus and they come to Jesus and what

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I'll never cast them out are we done can we go home now we're done John 6 37 just think about it for a second all the fathers gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me

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I'll never cast out isn't that a summary isn't that an essential summary of the story the father's giving people to Jesus they come to Jesus he never cast them out

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I think you have most of the components there to have an understanding of what we're getting at when we talk about the doctrines of grace onward limited atonement

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I'm thankful for pastor James and the extensive study he gave to us over two Sundays on definite redemption definite atonement but limited atonement what are some dangers of rejecting what

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I would say is the biblical view of the atonement we call definite atonement or limited atonement

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I can't spend all day on this but I'll say it quickly universalism you see there are people who are savvy and can think logically and they can realize wait you're saying that Jesus actually was the propitiation for the sins of every single individual who ever lived so he diverted the father's wrath and fully exhausted it on the behalf of every person who's ever lived and what they'll say is well that sounds fantastic and that means everybody's saved why because the wrath of God is fully exhausted in their place there is no wrath left and of course it is a worthy argument when someone says no no no the wrath of God has been satisfied for all their sins but you see they don't trust in Jesus and that's why they go to hell forever okay is failure to believe in Jesus a sin yes well then the wrath of God is taken away from that too the wrath of God is satisfied even for the sin of unbelief yes universalism you disrupt the atonement you get the consequence of universalism also when you reject limited atonement you bring disharmony in the work of the trinity and redemption is something that pastor

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James spent a significant amount of time talking about and I want to say that that is a key issue that you cannot lose when you teach that Jesus died for the sins of every person who's ever lived but they are not ultimately saved and they endure the wrath of God in hell then there is disharmony in the trinity people will say the father chose the father's trying to save Jesus died for the sins of people the

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Holy Spirit is trying to bring those people but they can be thwarted by the almighty will of the creature that means at some point there is disharmony in the trinity or the work and power of the trinity or you can have the son laying his life down for people but the father not accepting the sacrifice or you can have the son giving his life for the sins of people but the

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Holy Spirit not being able to apply that work you can have Jesus the lord of glory the high priest offering the father his life and work on behalf of somebody and it doesn't ultimately save them there is disharmony in the trinity when you deny definite redemption also and this is

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I think for me very important when you deny limited atonement it leads to the atonement please hear me this is so serious not being personal it's not personal see

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I think one of the glories of the atonement for me personally is Jesus is on that cross and he knows about me it was for me it's that personal the father was giving to Jesus the wrath due to me for my sin that Jesus went to the cross knowing his sheep and I'm one of them and he went to lay his life down willingly nobody was taking it from him it was his time and he says okay now for Jeff and yes if you're in Christ it's for you too but when

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I think about it when I think about it very personally and intimately my savior knew about me it was for me it was for my sins my life of sins my wretched life he went for me it wasn't a potential atonement to make people save a bull it was personal it was intimate it was shepherd knowing the sheep and giving his life for them you deny definite redemption and the atonement is no longer intimate and personal it is only potential so we've done a whole series on these

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I can't go into all the verses but let's just think through I read John 10 at the beginning of the service today I think it's very very important in terms of thinking about the atonement and the personal nature of the atonement

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Jesus knowing the sheep laying his life down for them saying to people you're not of my sheep

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I lay my life down for the sheep you're not of my sheep my sheep come they hear my voice one shepherd one flock that's powerful that's intimate

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Jesus knows who he's giving his life for the book of Hebrews pastor James took us through to understand what propitiation means and Jesus offering that perfect work that saves forever the people it was made for but John 17 9

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Jesus says I'm praying for them who us the people he's come to purchase

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I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me for they are yours there it is again

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Jesus knowing that the father's given to him a people and he says I'm coming for them and even in his high priestly prayer this is so powerful he says in his high priestly prayer you gave them to me

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I came to get them and he says I'm praying for them I'm not praying for the world

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I'm praying for the ones that you gave me out of the world that's intimate that's personal

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John 10 15 just as the father knows me and I know the father and I laid down my life for the sheep he knows who the sheep are and he says he lays his life down for them so more in terms of talking about the personal nature of this in John 17 6

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Jesus also says I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world yours they were and you gave them to me and they have kept your word

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John 6 39 and this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day

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I'm showing these verses to talk about the very personal nature of Jesus and his people and the mission he has for them

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Isaiah 53 11 out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied by his knowledge shall the righteous one my servant make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities the atonement is personal it is not merely potential next irresistible grace the danger in rejecting irresistible grace is once again man is at the center the danger of rejecting

01:00:12

I would say effectual grace is that it makes

01:00:18

God powerless think about it the father gives people to Jesus Jesus dies for them but God can't save them given by the father

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Jesus dies God can't save them that's what we would ultimately have to believe so makes

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God powerless he doesn't do according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth people can stay his hands and say no if you deny effectual grace or irresistible grace it gives you a false view of man's condition that man somehow has spiritual capabilities that the

01:01:02

Bible says he does not have also if you deny irresistible grace or effectual grace

01:01:09

I believe it leads to manipulation in missions why hear me on this this is vital

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I pray to God that we lay a strong enough foundation as elders of this church that this church and the generations that follow will be protected from this error listen we have to tell the truth can

01:01:30

I give you guys something this is important Kauai is one of the hardest places to plant a church we knew that going in but as the years have progressed we've only learned more and more and more that island is hard hard hard it's funny when people say you have a church in Kauai oh

01:01:53

I know why you're planting a church in Kauai I'll be honest it's awful spiritually a lot of darkness and it is a hard hard place the rule is you do not disrupt

01:02:05

Ohana don't that's family that's God there's a lot of beautiful things that we can all learn about how the

01:02:13

Hawaiians see Ohana family a lot of ways that they revere family in a way that's healthy that you should say that's actually good we should learn from that and other ways where it turns into idolatry it tends to do that with anything in this world and creatures who are in rebellion but the island of Kauai is such a difficult place because here's the deal you cannot disrupt

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Ohana do not say anything that will make people upset or divide families under any circumstance and so listen you gotta keep this stuff about Jesus being the only way to salvation and if you don't have him you're condemned you gotta keep that out of the message because that'll disrupt

01:02:49

Ohana this whole idea of like God having a standard for sexuality that male female and female male that's

01:02:57

God's way and that you can't have men and men and women and women together you can't disrupt our island with that message and so the heat we've taken over the years as a church on that island that we desperately want to see to come to Jesus hasn't been because of our behavior it's been because of what we believe you guys just need to be like the other churches on the island they tell us we've heard them say that to us be like the other churches here who are not here trying to tell people that they need

01:03:24

Jesus to go to heaven we had someone write us that they were like you guys aren't like the other churches on the island you're saying

01:03:30

Jesus is the only way to God you're not like these other churches I'm not saying there aren't faithful people on the island but in terms of how the community views us as a church and so we've had people tell us guys you gotta stop with the street preaching you gotta stop going out to the beach to like preach the gospel well

01:03:48

I have a video of us preaching the gospel on the beach or someone turns to Christ on the spot broken over their sin and trust in Jesus puts their faith in him on that beach should we not go to the beach?

01:03:58

should we not go to the beach with the truth? don't do anything that'll make people uncomfortable don't say anything that'll hurt people's feelings and listen if you have an unbiblical perspective of irresistible grace if you think some other way about it

01:04:15

God's effective grace effectual grace you may be willing to yield to what the community wants placate to their sensitivities and manipulate people on the mission rather than just saying this is the gospel the gospel is the power of God for salvation this is what saves people

01:04:37

God's truth by his spirit it's the proclamation of the truth that brings revival and reformation and resurrects people from the dead it's the truth not manipulating people's emotions not by placating to cultural sensitivities if you want to see the world change and people be saved you tell them the truth no matter the consequence and I thank

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God for Christians in history that died with that testimony

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I will not compromise I will tell the truth even if it means spilling my own blood because I love

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God and this person enough to tell the truth so they'll be saved and I want to say that's our mission as a church we're going to tell the truth and you might be saying you might get some really hard moments with that and I say absolutely and God is sovereign over every one of them even the suffering is in God's hands as a gift of his grace to us but we will tell the truth because we know that God uses the truth to save people and to bring the dead to life irresistible grace

01:05:43

John 6 44 no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day

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John 6 37 all that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me

01:05:55

I will never cast out Acts 16 14 one who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira a seller of purple goods who was a worshiper of God the

01:06:05

Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul what was said by Paul Romans 8 29 through 30 for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and those whom he predestined he also what called and those whom he called he also what justified and those whom he justified he also what glorified amen

01:06:34

Ephesians 2 8 for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God Acts 13 48 again when the gentiles heard this they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the

01:06:51

Lord and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed James 1 18 of his own will of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures next perseverance of the saints so important the danger of rejecting the perseverance of the saints or preservation of the saints is that it leads to a man centered gospel ultimately how is this finished or completed something in me something in me something in my cooperation something in my good deeds something in my works something in my efforts

01:07:39

I'll make it to heaven I may believe in Jesus now but I'll make it to heaven somehow through my cooperation my engaging in these particular sacraments or ordinances or and somehow my own good deeds and my ability to keep myself unstained so that I can make it into glory it's a man centered gospel next if you deny perseverance of the saints it diminishes the work of Christ it says that it wasn't ultimately enough it's not powerful enough to save and finally it leads to a work where it can often lead to a works based gospel why do

01:08:22

I say that listen we're almost finished here follow this because it's very very important if you believe that God can truly save somebody and then they could be lost afterwards it will lead to a works based gospel because what's the focus and emphasis not on the work of Christ it's not on his work and not on his life and death and resurrection it's not on what he does it's not in his power you're looking ultimately not to Jesus but to yourself and your ability to cooperate or obey or have enough good deeds and righteousnesses to get there ultimately to the ends believing that a truly saved person can lose their salvation does cause us to look in and not up not to him not to his work we look to ourselves this is probably one of my favorites because it's the hope of my soul if you listen here's the deal if you know your own heart if you know your mind if you know the holiness of God and you're aware of your own sin this truth of perseverance of the saints or preservation of the saints should be powerful to your souls it's my favorite

01:09:41

I love the atonement too pastor James I love it I love the L I love the

01:09:47

L I'll die for the L it's biblical but I love perseverance of the saints because it's where I'm at God keeps his people number one

01:09:57

Philippians one six and I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ John 10 28

01:10:08

I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hands how does the

01:10:17

Bible talk to us about people who do apostatize listen I've never understood why people have such a hard time with this truth when it's so clearly explained in scripture there are people who profess the faith and they fall away did they lose their salvation

01:10:33

Jesus says that on the last day he's going to say to people who say to him Lord Lord didn't we do this and this and this what's

01:10:41

Jesus say well I knew you and you didn't do it I knew you and you couldn't make it no Jesus says um

01:10:47

I never knew you I never knew you means these people who came to him and say

01:10:53

Lord Lord didn't we do all these things in your name Jesus never saved them

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I never knew you never were mine so we didn't lose those people they weren't known by God then lost

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I never knew you and the inspired Apostle says in 1st John 2 19 they went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us but they went out that it might become plain that they are not they all are not of us people abandon faith in Jesus not because they've lost their salvation their false profession was finally shown to be false 1st

01:11:40

Peter 1 5 who by God's power being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time

01:11:46

Ephesians 4 30 and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption

01:11:54

John 10 27 through 29 my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me

01:12:00

I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand my father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hands

01:12:13

Jude 1 24 now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy that's a sovereign

01:12:26

God who keeps his people he can keep you and guard you from stumbling and can we pause for a second aren't you grateful for that you know your heart you know your minds you know your own temptations

01:12:38

God is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy praise

01:12:49

God that he can guard you and protect you and keep you

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Hebrews 7 25 consequently he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them

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Romans 8 38 39 for I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor a height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our

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Lord that's the truth of God and his salvation that's his concern for his elect and my favorite one

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I'll end with my favorite by the way we could go for days but I know you guys are like alright Pastor Jeff let's go John 5 24 it's my favorite verse it is my very favorite verse in the whole

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Bible truly truly I say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life he does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life that's the message of Jesus and so I can't finish this study of the grace of God and salvation without challenging you on this do you truly believe in Jesus because there are people who have a knowledge that these things are true but they have not turned to him to trust in him to save them maybe they haven't turned from sin to him they want to keep their sin maybe they think they can purchase salvation through their good deeds there are all kinds of people that have all kinds of reasons for not coming to Jesus or even having false professions of faith in Jesus Jesus promise is

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I say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life he does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life have you come from death to life have you passed from death to life have you turned from sin to trust in Jesus Christ or are you in this room because your parents are believers so you're here because you're in a

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Christian home you've never truly turned to Jesus you're just in a Christian home you come to church because this is where your friends are this is where your family goes you like church you love the

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Christian community but you've never turned to Christ you're here because your parents are Christians have you ever truly yourself been aware of your own sin as someone raised in a

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Christian home your need for Jesus your need for eternal life you've heard the message today will you trust in Jesus now repent and believe the gospel where are you at with Christ are you one of those false professors who one day will go out from us in order to show they were never really of us in this moment are you that person who's had a mere profession of faith but not a real possession of it you've heard about the grace of God and salvation this free grace of God this sovereign grace of God but have you turned from sin to trust in Jesus where are you at with Christ because you see here's the deal you've heard the message we're all sinners he's a holy

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God the call of the gospel is the world is called to repent and believe the gospel that call goes out to the world turn from your sin trust in Jesus Christ for salvation and for forgiveness that's the call where are you at with Christ right now do you know him do you have eternal life are you being kept by him are you his sheep if you are then you've heard the words of the shepherd and my hope is that you come let's pray

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Father I pray that you bless the words that went out today for your glory use us in this church to be used by you to further your kingdom and your gospel

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I pray that we be transformed by the truths that we heard from your word I pray if anyone in this room is hurting any of your sheep are hurting in this room they've struggled with confidence in you or anxious thoughts

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I pray that the word that went out today would satisfy their souls and calm their minds