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Remonstrance (Part 3)
Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.
Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.
Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. Michael Lee Abendroth here with Steve Buchanan Cooley. Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson, Steve Buchanan Cooley. Yes.
What a great, fine, middle name. I thought, you know, if I could do it all, if I could go back in time, because it�s funny you mention names, if I could go back in time, I would name my son Ulysses Simpson Cooley so that his initials would be U .S. Cooley.
U .S .C., his initials. Oh, the initials, I gotcha. Well, when I was at Costco yesterday up in Nashua, I saw the U .S. Grant book, Ulysses Grant book, and I thought, you know, this is the one Steve�s probably talking about, but it was such a large book, I thought, well, it�s 21 bucks, I�ve got some other books to read, and so I�ll give it some time.
No, that�s not the one I was talking about, because the one I was reading was a couple years old. The one you probably saw is by Chernow, and it�s brand new.
Yeah, I saw it. It�s about 700 pages, 21 bucks at Costco. Yeah, it�s big.
Yeah, I downloaded the Kindle version. I haven�t read it yet.
Now, I like the Nashua, New Hampshire Costco. It takes us about 45 minutes to get there. That�s the closest Costco to our house, but the one in Santa Cruz when I�m visiting seems to have better snacks.
Which is key, right? Well, you know, it�s that whole granola thing. I know.
Well, you know, Santa Cruz has some mango with a little chili con lim�n sprinkled on top, and here I got like a little tiny piece of an airhead or something.
Or dried banana squash, you know.
Steve, anything you want to tell our listeners about what�s going on in Sunday School, or would you please do that so they can go to bbcchurch .org and listen to what�s the latest series, etc.?
Well, you know, I am personally, me, I�m having a great time in Sunday School right now, going through the 1689 Confession, and just talking about salvation this last Sunday morning.
We were talking about, you know. And you blew people out, even. I heard people ran off in a ruckus. Don�t forget that story. That�s my job, by the way.
Yeah. You know, I don�t know why. He seemed to be, I don�t even remember what his question was about, but we�re just talking about the sovereignty of God and salvation, and this last Sunday morning even talking about infants and whether or not they go to heaven, and then we were talking about effectual calling, and I don�t remember what his question was about, but I think he misunderstood what I said, and we talked after the class and he seemed fine with that, but then he left.
So, you know, I don�t know what the deal was.
So besides running people out, you�ve been going through the 1689, what�s the response been with the congregation?
I think it�s been very good. I mean, you know, we seem to be holding steady or picking up some more people and, you know, things have been good. I mean, sometimes I think, boy, and maybe I�ll do that this week.
I need to have like a quiz format because I�ll ask true-false questions, and I think people are afraid to give the wrong answer because sometimes they do. And then we laugh. No, I don�t. On the inside.
I don�t laugh. Oh, you know, it�s coming back to me. What he was concerned about is, I said, �Can people get saved apart from Scripture, you know, apart from reading or hearing Scripture or having it explained to them
And he said, �Yes. And I was like, and I said, �Well, okay. I said, �It�s kind of interesting, though, that Paul in the book of Romans. And so we went to Romans 10 and we talked about that. And I think it�s very difficult to see how, you know, how somebody could get saved, because all they would have then is natural revelation, and we need supernatural revelation to, you know, to cause us to recognize our sinfulness and to know about who God is.
How can you get saved apart from understanding the Bible, what the Bible says about Him?
Well, you�re going through the 1689. That�s the year that this confession was, I don�t know if it was finalized or starting, but I have the preface here in front of me.
Yeah, it was actually printed in 1689, but I think it was written, now I�m going to forget, it was in the 1670s, though, but it was against the law to print it until 1689.
And then what about the 1644 edition? It was banned in Boston. It was. �We, the ministers and messengers of, and concerned for, upwards of one hundred baptized congregations in England and Wales, denying Arminianism, being met together in London from the third of the seventh month to the eleventh of the same, 1689, to consider of some things that might be for the glory of God and for the good of these congregations.
There�s still one sentence here, it�s the same sentence. �Having thought meet for the satisfaction of all other Christians that differ from us in the point of baptism, to recommend to their perusal confession of our faith, granted for and sold by John Marshall at the Bible in Grace Church Street, which confession we own as pertaining, containing the doctrine of our faith and practice, colon, and do desire that the members of our churches respectively do furnish themselves therewith.
That was a nice way of saying, �We�re about to plunder the Westminster Confession of Faith, you know, and to make a few changes, a few additions, we�re going to, you know, use some of the Savoy, and we�re just going to go on our very nice little way here.
Well, at least they didn�t plunder the Remonstrance or something like that. No, no. They plundered well. You know, they did well. Then the next page, and I thought under the introduction, Steve, that it said, �Covetous Reader.
It says, �Courteous Reader. And then it�s got some stuff about 16th.
No wonder you went with the big screen iPhone, you know.
So the last two Tuesdays, we have been talking about the five articles, our introduction to the five articles of the Remonstrance. Many of you know the five points of Calvinism. It was in response to this Remonstrance.
Arminius was dead, and his followers got together and put together five articles in 1610. And then after that, there was the response to the five, what we call the five points of Calvinism. And we have gone through the first five, no, excuse me, the first four out of five.
Article one just generally says, �Election isn�t conditional. It makes it very vague. Article two, �Unlimited Atonement is what we would call it. Article three, �Man�s Depraved. I�ll just give it, they don�t say to what extent, but man�s depraved.
He�s mostly dead. And then at article four, you�ve got, �No Irresistible Grace. It is not irresistible. It�s cooperative. And the reason why, because some people resisted the grace of God.
Yeah, you have to cooperate with the grace of God, according to you.
So before we go to five, this number four here, Paul is on his way to ravage more Christians, right? He�s, his name�s Saul, and he�s on the Damascus Road, and there�s that bright light and everything.
And he could have resisted that.
Jesus met him on the road. Jesus says, �Paul, excuse me for a moment. I wonder if you would mind, because I don�t want, I�m too much of a gentleman to force myself upon you. Yes. �Nevertheless, would you consider this offer
Yes. �I know I don�t want to make you like a robot or anything. Right.
�I would like to extend to you eternal life in exchange for your filthy garments. Yes. �Would you be interested in this No. �And by the way, if you are, I�ll give you your eyesight back.
Yes, yes. You�re going to be blind, I know, and stuff. But this is just all part of the cooperative nature of this. I wonder if the horse then would have acted like Balaam�s ass and said, you know what, �Hey, why are you doing that?
You should believe. �Don�t be silly, Paul, Saul.
Maybe we could make a VeggieTales out of that. Good idea.
�Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me And the horse says, �Don�t be silly, Saul, give the right answer.
This is bad. This is why. Bad theater. This is, I know, I know, really bad. Article 5, Remonstrance, I quote, �That those who are incorporated into Christ by a true faith, and have thereby become partakers of His life-giving Spirit, have thereby full power to strive against Satan, sin, the world, and their own flesh, and to win the victory.
I thought faith was a victory that overcomes the world. Back to it, quote, �It being well understood that it is even, excuse me, ever through the assisting grace of the Holy Ghost, and that Jesus Christ assists them through His Spirit in all temptations, extends to them His hand, and if only they are ready for the conflict, and desire His help, and are not inactive, keeps them from falling, so that they, by no craft or power of Satan, can be misled, nor plucked out of Christ�s hand, according to the word of Christ.
John 10, 28, �Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. But whether they are capable through negligence, or forsaking again the first beginnings of their life in Christ, or again returning to this present evil world, of turning away from the holy doctrine which was delivered them, of losing a good conscience, of becoming devoid of grace, that must be more particularly determined out of the holy scriptures, before they can teach it with the full persuasion of their minds.
End quote.
I would like to utterly destroy Article 5 by using the reference they give there, John 10, 28, and then reading verse 29. Jesus speaking says, �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 the Father�s hand. I and the Father are one. That�s also verse 30. Now, my question is, where exactly is human cooperation in there?
In other words, there is a predisposition to a hermeneutic of one�s own imaginings. They have forced free will into this passage where it isn�t. You know, if you back up to verse 27, �My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life. There is nothing, you know, I guess you could say they follow me as an act of will. Well, that�s true. There�s nothing here that says it�s an, that indicates free will. They�re just making that up and putting it in there.
Steve, how can they put in John 10, 28 into their whole section here that basically says your eternal security, perseverance is conditioned upon your own� Obedience. Yeah. Yeah.
I don�t know. It doesn�t make any sense at all, because what this is teaching is, you know, eternal security and the fact that God is sovereign in salvation. So yeah, that�s just bad, bad theology.
As you know, I do not think that the warnings in Hebrews, in the letter of Hebrews, are because you can lose your salvation. But if I were to try to argue the loss of your salvation and put it in article five of the remonstrance, I wouldn�t put it in John 10, 28, I�d try to put it in Hebrews, if you hold fast.
Yeah, I would use something else, right? I mean, maybe they�re, well, like, if you�re going to talk about Jesus and quote Him, it would be something like, you know, no one who, having put his hand to the plow, you know, looks back, you know, that kind of thing.
So to make it at least appear that it was based on your faithfulness.
Or, you know, what the articles like to do in the remonstrance at the end of article one, and according to other passages of Scripture also. The little catch-all phrase. And then at the end of article four, and elsewhere in many places.
Many, many places. I mean, that�s the kind of argumentation that I�m used to reading from esteemed theologians like Dave Hunt. On Facebook. Yeah, there are many passages that indicate free will. And then he just talks about one, and it�s, you know, basically, �Somebody choose you this day, whom you will serve.
Okay? How does that prove free will? You know? That we make�nobody denies making choices, you know?
But it�s� Yeah, like with Moses, when he said to the Israelites, �I put before you, you know, life and death. Choose life. See? There you go. Case closed. Calvinism�s wrong. I don�t have any Dave Hunt books here at all in this library.
The only one I have is half-written by him that is debating Calvinism. But I just don�t like his shoddy scholarship. So I just was going to get rid of that, too, even though James wrote the other side.
Well, I�ve told the story before, but, you know, I read that book in California. And it is�if you�re having trouble going to sleep, do not read that book. Because it will keep you�the Dave Hunt part, I couldn�t sleep after reading it.
It was so bad. And I mean, I found myself just grumbling and disputing on every page, right, you know, and underlining things and putting all kinds of exclamation points in the margins and writing bad things in the back of the book, like, �I can�t believe he did that there and here and there.
And then my wife would say, �Are you going to bed And I�m going, �I have to read James White before I can go to bed. I can�t sleep after reading that. Nonsense. I mean, it�s like reading a comic book or something.
What they don�t say in Article 5 regarding John 10, 28, many people do say, �No one can pluck you out of God�s hand, but you�re able to jump. In other words, Satan can�t take you out, and the Pharisees can�t take you out, and the Jehovah�s Witnesses can�t, but you could jump.
And then, of course, I just think Romans chapter 8, right, what can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Well, if you�re a created thing, nor anything else in all creation, right, because death and everything else can�t separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
And by the way, I think if you can jump out of a hand, you are created, and then you can�t jump out of His hand because nobody can snatch Him out of your hand. And friend, do not forget this, and even some of my Calvinistic friends forget this part.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That�s not our love. That�s the love of God, not love for God, love of God. And when God sets His love on people, chapter 8 already had said, �If He foreknows you and foreloves you, He�s going to glorify you.
Well, that�s because too often we have a human viewpoint on what love is, that love is some kind of emotion. And when we look at the love of God, even going back to Ephesians chapter 1 and how He set His love upon us, right, before we even were, it wasn�t an emotional choice.
It was a decision that He made, and He fixed His love, His favor, His however you want to put it, upon us. And that�s unchangeable. His purpose is unchangeable. He doesn�t, you know, look for a while and go, �Ah, you know what, I�m kind of done with Steve.
You know, He is not like us. When I counsel married couples, sometimes I get the idea that they would like to just say, �Ah, you know, I can�t take it anymore or whatever. And I�m like, �Does God look at us like that?
Does He ever say, �Ah, I just can�t take it anymore. No, because love is not what society says it is, it is what the Bible says it is, it�s action. He takes action in our favor.
Steve, I think you know the very famous song written by Graham Hamilton Lyle and Terry Britton. And someone else made it popular, but they wrote it. Mary Poppins? Mm-hmm. �Ooh, got to do with it. What�s love but a secondhand emotion?
What�s love got to do, got to do with it? Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken? What�s love got to do with it, got to do with it? What�s love?
Tina Turner with, I think, Eric Clapton on guitar, but anyway, I digress.
What�s love got to do with it? It�s got everything to do with it, because when God sets His affection on someone, He does it in spite of them already, and He already knows what they�re going to do or not do.
And His love will, not because of we�re lovable, but His love will see us through and will end up doing what its first accomplished goal was to complete. I can�t talk!
So back to Article 5 of the Romance. Some people have a way with words, other people have not way. Is that Stephen Wright? No, that�s Steve Martin. Oh, that is. Other people, hmm, well. See, I need to pause, hmm, well.
They have not way. They have not way.
I was at the Terminal B, I think, in Logan Airport, Boston Airport, and saw Stephen Wright. Oh, yeah. He had a black leather jacket on, looked like Stephen Wright. I�m not saying I�m depressed, but. When he would give those punchlines about, you know, he just asked the question, and I can�t do it like he could, but he talks about those Styrofoam packing things.
If you�re going to ship a box of those, you know, what do you pack them in?
It occurs to me, you know, send a box of packing peanuts, what do you pack that box in? Although, I sound more like Shaq right now.
Anything else you want to say about John Timm? Is this Shaq line? This is Shaq. Shaq, didn�t he, isn�t he like the prognosticator or something?
The big prognosticator? The big Shaq-nator?
Okay, here�s a Stephen Wright joke I�ve just found online. Oh, no. �It�s a small world, but I wouldn�t want to paint it. See, that�s pretty good. �I almost broke both my arms trying to hold open a revolving door for a woman.
That�d be a bad move. And then here�s my last one. �I got a new dog. He�s a paranoid retriever. He brings back everything because he�s not sure what I threw him. That�s pretty good. It�s better than the remonstrance.
Well, here�s what I�d say about all, you know, to summarize the remonstrance. And as we often look at bad theological systems, their major problems can be summarized this way. Too low a view of God, too high a view of man, and too little understanding of what God�s Word says about both, right?
So if we actually exhume, if we dig up all that Scripture says about God, we�re going to be amazed. We�re going to be in awe of who He is. And if we see what Scripture says about us, about mankind, we�re going to be like, �We�re hopeless.
And that�s the right view. We are hopeless. Apart from God, we are hopeless. It�s not God gives us a little nudge, God gives us a little shove, God takes us by the hand, even as it says there, right, that God is�it basically says that, that Jesus takes us by the hand, kind of holds our hand and kind of skips along with us.
Nothing can be further from the truth. God regenerates. God brings us back to life. God, as it were, breathes the breath of life into us so that we can see spiritual things, we can see our true spiritual condition.
And we are, at the moment of salvation, we are terrified because we recognize the distance between us and God, right? Isn�t that the reality? We have that Isaiah chapter 6 moment where we just go, �I�m undone.
I have no hope. There is no way I can be right. And then we see Christ. And we aren�t dragged to the cross, kicking and screaming. We flee to the cross. Why? Because we see our salvation. We see our hope, and we run.
Hmm.
When John, in John chapter 6, talks about drawing, the Father drawing, yes, it could be translated some type of dragging. It�s been used that way in other translations and ideas outside of Scripture. But I like it, Steve, when the theologians will talk about it is used of an irresistible force, right?
And I�m not calling God a force and the Holy Spirit�s not an �it� or anything like that, but there�s a superior and an inferior. And the superior wills and draws and brings to Himself, and that is what has to happen because we are by nature fallen and are not lovers of God.
We love ourselves, and we don�t want God to rule over us.
It�s true. I mean, while you were speaking, I even thought about, you know, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. You know, they�re saying we always get our man. And yet the presumption is, among many, is that God will not get His man, that God, you know, before the foundations of the world, He may have chosen some people, but He�s not going to get them.
Either that or, you know, He chose on the basis of some foreseen faith or good act or willingness. The only thing God could ever foresee is dead people refusing to respond, because that�s what would happen if He were passive in salvation.
But thanks be to God that He is not passive in salvation. And again, I would point the readers even to 1 Peter 1, where it says, �Thanks be to God who caused us to be born again to a living hope. This is what God does.
If He just left us and was hoping that we would be born again to a living hope, guess what? We�re just going to remain dead in our sins and trespasses, and we�re going nowhere but to hell.
Steve, don�t you think that if we go to the paradigm of the Old Testament salvation, that is to say, the physical salvation of Israel out of Egypt through the Red Sea, that would be a good template for us to think about our spiritual salvation?
And what happened? The people, yes, they did respond, and they did walk through the water. They did walk through the, you know, the parted sea. With great joy. Yeah. But there has to be something done first.
The waters had to be parted. God had to�that�s how God saved. It was a saving act of God. The mountains are on the left, the mountains are on the right, the sea is in front of you, and the Pharaoh�s army is behind you, and then stand back and see the salvation of the Lord.
It was God who did it. Have you brought us out here to drown, right? I know. You know, and then have you brought us out here to starve? I mean, all they did was complain, and all God did was save them and provide for them.
Well, that�s a good picture of our salvation in Christ Jesus. In spite of our sins, God saves, and even though we are dead in trespasses and sins. You can read The Remonstrance on your own, if you�d like.
The five articles. We�ll have some more shows in follow-up to it. Steve, any email advice?
Yes, just write us about Jesus� life, Jesus� death, and His resurrection. That�s what we want to hear about.
No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God�s Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.
Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We�re right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.
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