Paul’s First Epistle to The Thessalonians (7)

I want to thank Raymond for all the work he's done here in the sanctuary, he finished this while it was gone.

It looks great, wonderful. It's been a long time coming, but it's done now. We still have the sealing to do in the back with the quard back here, but it looks much better.

I appreciate that, but you did the lion's share Raymond, and thank you. Up there on that staging and thankfully without injury.

So yes, and thank you for everyone for all your help. Well here we are in First Thessalonians 3.

We're moving rather rapidly. You know, we could do it a different way.

We could zero in on a verse and maybe even single words and verses and extend this series out quite a long time, but I think it's better for our purposes to be able to stand back and understand the flow of the argument itself and to get the bigger picture of the matter.

Let's remember that you know these epistles when they were sent to churches, they were read probably in their entirety in one reading.

They were letters written, and so they need to be understood in context. Now again, our last time together was three weeks ago today, at which time we considered the contents of the second chapter of First Thessalonians.

We saw it was largely biographical in content, Paul talking about himself and his ministry to this church in Thessalonica.

He was telling about when he had first brought the gospel to them, and so through Paul's account we have set before us a wonderful pattern, really an illustration of what pastoral ministry should look like, and the way that Paul dealt with people, his attitudes, and his efforts in serving the

Lord among them. And so I want to read this chapter again, again to give us the larger context.

This is First Thessalonians 2. For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our

God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please

God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed.

God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil. We worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

You were witnesses, and God also. How holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers.

For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

And so we worked through this passage a few weeks ago, and we did so considering these three divisions.

Paul was confident of their salvation. We didn't come to you, and our ministry wasn't in vain. He was confident of the gospel that had brought them to salvation.

He expresses that in verse 2. And then verses 3 through 12, Paul reveals his commitment to God to proclaim the gospel faithfully.

But we now arrive to chapter 3. And this chapter, like the previous one, is also biographical in content.

Paul is describing his own ministry to this church at Thessalonica. But whereas in chapter 2 he rehearsed his ministry while among them, his past ministry among them, chapter 3 describes his ministry to them after he left their city.

In other words, whereas chapter 2 described his past ministry, chapter 3 describes his present ministry.

And we have referred to the content of this chapter in prior weeks, but now we want to consider it more closely.

And so now let us read 1 Thessalonians 3. Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone.

And we sent Timothy, our brother and God's co -worker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith that no one be moved by these afflictions.

For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, just as you know.

And for this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you, and our labor would be in vain.

But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us the good news of your faith and love, and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you, for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we have been comforted about you through your faith.

For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you?

For all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith.

And now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, and may the

Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our

God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Matthew Henry summarized this chapter rightly.

In this chapter, the Apostle gives further evidence of his love to the Thessalonians, reminding them of his sending

Timothy to them. With the mention of his design therein and his inducements to do so, verses 1 -5, he acquaints them also with his great satisfaction at the return of Timothy with good tidings concerning them, verses 6 -10, and concludes with a fervent prayer for them, verses 11 -13.

And so we may consider this chapter by considering these three divisions. We have

Paul's concern for the church, verses 1 -5, Paul's confidence renewed for the spiritual well -being of this church, verses 6 -10, and then we have

Paul's calling upon the Lord to keep his people secure in him, verses 11 -13.

And so, first, Paul's concern for the church, verses 1 -5. Paul, again, had been genuinely concerned for the spiritual well -being of this church.

Paul and his companions in ministry, you recall, had to flee this city, the city of Thessalonica, when persecution had come upon the

Christians by the unbelievers in that city. They had to flee. And Paul was concerned that fear of their own persecution might cause these professing

Christians to abandon their faith in Jesus Christ and return to the world, basically, to their life of unbelief, apostatizing from Jesus Christ.

And so he sent Timothy to assess their spiritual condition as well as to exhort and strengthen them in their faith.

And Paul assured them that through Timothy, the persecution that they were enduring was ordained of God.

God had declared that they would experience this, and so what they were encountering was not a surprise to anyone, certainly not to God.

God had purposed it. It was not unusual for them to experience hardship for being

Christians. In fact, God had destined that his people would encounter resistance and opposition because of their faith.

That is what true Christianity looks like in a fallen, sinful world.

The idea that you can have a church ministry shaped in such a way that the world is going to like us and be responsive to us is a compromise of the things of Jesus Christ.

Because if we represent Christ faithfully and we live for Christ faithfully, the world is not going to appreciate it because it will be a rebuke to them, a repudiation of them.

And so they will resist and react. Paul said in another place, all who live godly will suffer persecution.

And although Christians have been spared a great deal in our land because of our culture,

Christian culture, that has changed, hasn't it? And we can only expect it to increasingly become hostile to us in the future.

And we shouldn't be surprised by it. In fact, God has destined that it will take place.

It is no surprise to the Lord. Now, Paul viewed Timothy as a great asset to him in the ministry.

Timothy supported him. He called him his son. He also called him his brother here in this context, as well as God's co -worker.

And so although Paul, however, personally benefited from Timothy's companionship and service,

Paul was more concerned for the Thessalonians than he was concerned for himself. And so he, if need be, would be alone if it meant

Timothy could be among the Thessalonians. Now that's really saying something, isn't it?

So Paul was left alone in a pagan place, Athens probably, and he had some difficulty there.

Timothy had always stood by his side, but he sent Timothy to the Thessalonians because he knew that Timothy would be of help to them.

And so Matthew Henry wrote, in these words, the apostle gives an account of his sending Timothy to the

Thessalonians, though he was hindered from going to them himself. That would be the Apostle Paul. Yet his love was such that he could not forbear sending

Timothy to them, though Timothy was very useful to him, and he could not well spare him.

Yet Paul was content for their good to be left alone in Athens. And then, as Matthew Henry commonly does, he makes the application, note those ministers do not duly value the establishment and welfare of their people, who cannot deny themselves in many things for that end.

Paul denied himself of the benefit that Timothy could bring to him, and so he sent

Timothy to the Thessalonians. By the way, just as a side note, look at verse 4.

We'll refer to this, back to this, at some time in the future, maybe in a few weeks. In verse 4, we have the

Greek word θλίβεσθαι. That's how you pronounce that. And it's translated in the

English Standard Version as the word affliction. It is most commonly translated by the

English word tribulation. The New King James Version translates the verse in this way, for in fact we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation just as it happened and you know.

The reason I mention this is that soon in our epistle we'll be addressing the subject of the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Most evangelicals believe that there will be an end time tribulation period of seven years that will transpire before the second coming of Christ.

In fact, people don't even question that. We may get into that, I don't know. And most evangelicals very strongly believe that the

Lord will remove his church in a pre -tribulation rapture before that seven years.

They argue that's not really the second coming, it's the rapture of the church. Some argue it's the first second coming.

I remember my old friend Doug Moore, he had a way of confronting people with things. He said, now are you talking about the first second coming or the second second coming?

And that's what most evangelicals believe, that there are two comings of Christ, a first and a second.

One of their main arguments is that the people of God are not destined by God to go through tribulation.

And so they say the church will be taken out before the tribulation. This is the main argument.

Well here in the very epistle from which they argue their position, Paul declared that God has ordained that Christians suffer tribulation.

And so to argue that somehow the church isn't to experience tribulation, but God is going to take it out before the tribulation, it just does not follow, it's not taught in scripture.

And so 1 Thessalonians 3, 4 negates their false argument. But again, I suspect we'll be saying more about this in coming weeks.

There is one second coming of Jesus Christ. It's a physical, literal coming at the end of the age.

Certainly he's going to catch up his church to begin with, and then proceed to bring his judgment upon this world.

It's one event, one second coming. And thankfully, you know, the Lord is going to pull us out of here before the fullness of his wrath is unleashed upon this world.

Just like he caused Noah and his family to escape his judgment upon the world, so we'll be caught out as well.

But it's not with a seven year separation of time, there's one second coming. of Christ taught in the scriptures.

The idea of a two second comings is fairly recent origin. It actually originated with the vision of a young Scottish girl, 15 year old girl in the 1830s, if I recall,

Margaret MacDonald. And it became popular, and now it is the common position of most well -intentioned, godly evangelicals, but it's a spurious teaching.

Now, again, the apostle writing to this church was concerned about them because of the tribulation or the affliction under which they were laboring.

And Paul was concerned about the influences of the devil that he might have upon them, causing them discouragement, even leading them to forsake the cause of Christ.

He was afraid that the devil might have tempted them so that they would apostatize from Christ, that is, abandon their faith in Christ.

And as we've said so many times, the Bible nowhere promises salvation for the temporary believer.

And Paul was concerned that these might have been temporary believers. All the affliction that was coming upon them, he was concerned about them.

And so, verse 5, For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you, and our labor would be in vain.

It would have been absolutely useless. They wouldn't have been Christians if they believed for a while, and then, because of persecution, turned away from the

Lord Jesus Christ. But again, back in verse 1 of chapter 2, he confessed there that he was confident his labor among them had not been in vain.

But he was convinced of this concerning them only after he received a positive report from Timothy, after Timothy had gone up there, spoken with them, seen them, visited with them, then returned and gave

Paul the news. But before Paul had heard from Timothy, Paul had been fearful that he might have labored among them in vain.

And so, he feared that in spite of his labor of the gospel among them, although they had believed the gospel, if they failed to continue in faith, if they abandoned faith in Christ, they would not inherit salvation.

His labor would then have been truly in vain. Now, in verses 6 -10,

Paul's confidence is renewed for the spiritual well -being of this church. Paul's fears were alleviated upon hearing

Timothy's report of them. He learned that they continued in their faith in Jesus. They continued to show forth their love for one another as Christians.

And Paul was always looking for those twin evidences of salvation, their faith in the

Lord Jesus and their love for the saints. He states that in Ephesians 1, Colossians 1, and a number of places.

Not just faith in the Lord Jesus. There's a lot of people who claim to have faith in Jesus. But unless there's an accompanied love for the brethren, it's not true faith.

Because when a person is converted by God, not only does he love God who begot him, he loves others who are begotten of God, is what

John tells us. And that's one of the tests I commonly use myself. We had to employ it not too long ago here, where a person confessed or claimed to believe on the

Lord Jesus, but frankly had no love for the brethren. And that was a pretty clear indicator that there was something terribly deficient about this claim to have faith, saving faith.

Now, Paul learned that they had continued to have a high regard for him as well, due to his ministry of the gospel among them.

They appreciated him for that. They valued him because of the message he brought to them.

And we read of his confidence in them. Therefore he no longer had fear concerning their salvation.

But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us the good news of your faith and love, reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you, for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we've been comforted about you through your faith.

And so Paul's assurance of their salvation was reaffirmed.

This news greatly encouraged him. He seems to speak in a bit of hyperbole in verse 8, for now we live if you're standing fast in the

Lord. That's how important this matter was to him. Their salvation was the premier concern of his heart.

One described it this way. The thing that really rejoiced him, the thing that really strengthened him, the thing that gave him life, was the fact so clearly demonstrated by Timothy's mission that the

Thessalonians did indeed believe. Their lives were characterized by faith. This meant that they had a place in God's kingdom, and this in turn that Paul's work among them not in vain.

Elsewhere, Paul writes, to me to live is Christ. The present passage gives another facet of the same truth.

The service of Christ was no half -hearted thing but that which mattered most in his life. His service did not mean an idle contemplation of the excellence of the

Savior. It was an active, fruitful work of preaching him and his atonement among the

Gentiles. Thus Paul could equally say that Christ was his life, and that it meant life to him to know that his converts were standing.

It was his service of Christ to win men for him, and thus it was his life indeed to know that this had happened.

This was most important to him. Paul wrote of their standing fast in the

Lord. Their faith in Jesus Christ was a settled faith. It was a faith of conviction that endured hostility against them.

It had staying power. They were standing fast in the Lord. Nothing could deter them.

Nothing could beat them away from Christ. They would cling to him. Again, Paul wrote, for what thanksgiving can we return to God for you?

For all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith.

He thanked God for this. He knew that it was due to the grace of God that they were standing fast in the Lord. It wasn't because of some strength that was inherent in them, but it was the

Lord working his grace in them. So he enabled them to do so.

God had kept them by his grace, and for this reason Paul expressed his gratefulness to God.

What thanksgiving can we return to God for you? For all the joy we feel for your sake. But Paul did not presume upon the grace of God.

He prayed fervently and continuously that God would be gracious toward them. He didn't just take it for granted, did he?

But he prayed for them. God, be gracious to them. God, strengthen them. Don't allow the devil to tempt them.

Don't permit them to fail or to abandon Christ. 10.

As we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith.

So Paul not only understood that the Lord would need to sustain them, but that his own ministry of the word among them was also critical to their perseverance.

The Lord uses means, doesn't he, to keep his own. He uses prayer. He uses the ministry of the word.

And without prayer, without the ministry of the word, you are in great danger of abandoning

Christ. Well, in verses 11 and 13

Paul concludes this chapter with basically the expression of a prayer that he voiced to God on their behalf.

Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, and may the

Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our

God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Paul knew that the perseverance of these

Christians and their faith in them. He knew also God would keep his people under their final salvation through the word of God working among them and in them.

And so verses 11 through 13 is Paul's prayer on behalf of these people.

He prayed that the Lord would enable him to return to them so that he could minister the word of God to them, among them.

And he also prayed the Lord would enable them to increase and abound in love for one another and for all.

And notice the purpose of increasing in love is so that they would increase in holiness.

Apparently one aspect of our sanctification that is very important is our abounding or increase in love for one another.

Elsewhere Paul says I don't need to teach you to love one another. God himself has taught you to love one another.

Nevertheless you need to abound more and more in this. And so really a part of sanctification growth in the

Christian life is growing more deeply in love with Christian brothers and sisters.

That's an evidence of Christian growth and holiness. Again his concern to establish him in holiness was with view to the second coming of Christ.

And so in verse 13 the apostle introduces the subject of the second coming of Jesus Christ.

And this subject will shortly emerge as a major theme in the last closing chapters of the epistle but it's introduced here.

Now as we stand back and we consider what Paul wrote in this chapter, chapter 3. And his concern for them and his doubts concerning them until he heard word from Timothy.

It suggests a subject that is debated much among professing

Christians. And this is the teaching, the belief of many who wrongly believe and teach that true

Christians are capable of losing their salvation. And they would take say this chapter and argue their case.

See Paul didn't know if they were standing in the Lord. They had believed, they had been baptized, but he didn't know if they were continuing.

He was concerned about them losing their salvation. And so he prayed for them and exhorted them.

And many people teach this. And of course it's errant teaching. Because the scriptures clearly teach that a person who is truly granted salvation by the

Lord cannot lose that salvation. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

And so when the Lord saves a person he or she is saved everlastingly. In fact if you just think about it how absurd the idea is that a true

Christian can lose salvation. You know the scriptures say that a Christian is born again.

Given a new nature, a new life, a new heart, new desires. And that newborn

Christian is justified, that is declared to be righteous before God and pardoned of sin.

That Christian is declared to be adopted by God the Father into the family of God. You are a son or daughter of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

You are part of his church which he has promised to protect. The Lord Jesus said that he doesn't lose one of his sheep.

Every one of them. And if you are a believer you are a sheep. You may be an unbeliever and a sheep.

You know a sheep isn't necessarily a believer. A sheep is someone who is elect. And all his sheep will hear his voice and come to him.

And then the Lord of course promises to seal each Christian with the Holy Spirit. It is a seal.

Just like they put a seal on a letter to signify the authority of the one who sent it and to secure its contents.

God has secured you and me and our eternal destiny with the blessed

Holy Spirit. That abides with us. And he doesn't remove the

Spirit from us. He abides forever with us. And so when you argue that a person loses his salvation, consider what you are saying has to happen.

A person whom God has caused to be born again becomes dead once again in sin.

A person who has been justified by the grace of God, freely pardoned, justified because of Christ's righteousness in his death, ceases to be justified and is no longer righteous.

The one who has been declared to be adopted into the family of God is now excluded from the family of God.

You are no longer a son or daughter of God. The one who has been sealed with the

Holy Spirit, you have been unsealed by your own sin, by your faithlessness. Think of all the blessings and promises of God that have to be undone if a person loses his salvation.

The fact is that every true Christian has everlasting life. That's not to say that everyone who professes to believe has everlasting life, but everyone who truly believes has everlasting life and will not come into condemnation.

And yet Paul wasn't sure whether these people were truly of the elect, because he wasn't sure if they continued to believe.

And so he sent Timothy to check it out. He wasn't afraid that they had lost their salvation. He was afraid his entire work had been in vain.

In other words, it hadn't brought forth any true fruit in their lives. He had been deceived about them and they had deceived themselves.

He was not concerned they had lost their salvation. Now, again, this is a common teaching.

Many people believe that you can lose your salvation. Ultimately, what they're saying is their salvation is dependent upon them rather than the war.

And this teaching, false teaching, of course, goes back to church history.

And it can really be attributed as coming to the forefront by the teaching of the

Arminians. Which has been around since around 1600 or a little before.

And so in your notes, beginning with page 5 and all the way to the end, there's no way we can go through all these notes.

I don't intend to. But again, I'm mindful that there's people elsewhere that are reading these that would be helped by this.

And so I included them here. And so I just want to basically touch on these matters in the time we have remaining this morning.

And so let's consider the historical consideration of the doctrine of eternal security.

Once saved, always saved. That is, once who is truly saved is always saved. The doctrine of eternal security of the true believer unto his full salvation.

Again, the belief that true Christians, ones to whom God has granted salvation, can afterward lose their salvation is a teaching of classic

Arminianism. And let me give you the historic background to this. The modern era of Christian history may be dated to the

Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. The Reformation essentially was a movement to reform the

Church of Jesus Christ back to the Holy Scriptures as a sole authority to determine what

Christians are to believe about God and to instruct them on how to live before God.

The Scriptures alone. Sola Scriptura. And of course the Reformation was in reaction to and against the teaching of Roman Catholicism, which had departed from the faith of the

Scriptures over the centuries. And rather than the Scriptures governing the faith and practice of Rome, rather their tradition and the council, so called, was their governing authority.

And the Reformation brought about a great change. This was in the 16th century.

In fact, next year is the 500th anniversary, 1517, when

Martin Luther hung those 95 theses on the door at Wittenberg Church there in Germany.

And basically those 95 theses were primarily an expose of the

Pope's abuses and the practice of distributing indulgences for the forgiveness of sins.

You could even buy an indulgence to enable you to sin in the future.

You know, by this indulgence you got a license to sin, they taught. Or you could get your father or mother out of purgatory quicker, you know, if you bought an indulgence.

And Martin Luther just exposed this. And this really is viewed as signaling the onset of the

Protestant Reformation. Leaders emerged throughout Europe, Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich, John Calvin in Geneva, John Knox in Scotland, Martin Busser in Strasbourg, France, or probably

Germany at that time. Great men of God that God raised up who led the

Protestant Reformation. Calvin was born in 1509. He experienced a sudden conversion.

They were all Roman Catholic, born and raised. But he became the greatest theologian of the

Reformation. And he was able to systematize and express in writing the great teachings of Scripture.

And his famous work, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, he wrote originally as a young Christian.

But he edited it all his life. And so there are a number of editions. And it's one of the classic theologies of the

Christian era. And it really was an expression of Reformation teaching.

His teaching was not unique. It was an expression of what all the Protestants believed in the 16th century.

Well he died in 1564. And so there was a common faith among the

Protestants. I know there were a few differences between Lutheranism and the Reformed tradition in Geneva. But they were all united in their common understanding of the gospel and the nature of salvation.

Until a man arose toward the end of the 16th century. His name was Jacob Arminius.

And he had been Reformed. He used to teach it. And he was called to be a professor at the

University of Leiden in the Netherlands. And after a while he began to change his doctrine and began to teach it.

And he began to have quite a bit of influence upon others, his students. And so controversy arose when he began to teach publicly his views, particularly on predestination, against what

Reformed teaching was. And so the result, his students became divided into two parties.

There were debates and divisions and it was spreading across Europe. And so one formal disputation was being conducted to a stop short when

Arminius died in 1609. But the debate continued. And his followers continued to proclaim

Arminius' views. And Arminius' followers were referred to as Remonstrants.

And they promoted Arminianism, the teaching of Arminius. Well, finally a synod was convened at the city of Dort.

Again, after Arminius died. And this was a gathering of representatives from all the

Reformed churches of Europe. They came together in order to address the teachings of Arminius.

And they gave opportunity for the followers of Arminius to present their case.

And then they spent months analyzing the claims in the light of scripture.

And then the conclusions of the Synod of Dort repudiated

Arminianism as heretical, not biblical. And as a result of the

Synod of Dort, they answered the five teachings of Arminius. And basically what came out of the

Synod of Dort are what we call today the Doctrines of Grace, or the five points of Calvinism. And they were refuting the five points of Arminius.

He's the one who started the discontroversy. And so what were the doctrines of Arminianism?

Well, there are five major doctrines that they espoused. First, they argued free will.

The first point of Arminianism, that fallen man possessed a free will. And what they meant by that is not free agency like we believe.

We believe every person is free to choose. But what they meant by that is that every fallen man has the ability to basically determine his own course to return to God through Jesus Christ.

And of course the Reformed teaching, no, man's a sinner. He needs God's grace. And Arminius basically taught that no man, yes, he's a sinner, but he's not utterly fallen.

He's just been rendered weak. And so they taught that it's ultimately man who makes the final decision.

God cast his vote. Satan cast his. And the believer cast the deciding vote.

And that's a common view. I think I mentioned a few weeks ago, you know, a Christian brother down at Home Depot just last month presented that argument to me and Raymond when we happened to be going through his line.

He's a nice guy. He said, I'm Arminian. I said, I know you are. He said, you're

Calvinistic, aren't you? I said, yes, we are. But that was his argument. They believe in free will, that fallen man has the capability in himself to decide for Christ and to become saved of his own free will.

Secondly, they believe in, they espouse conditional election. In other words, yes, they argue that God has an elect people.

He chose them because he simply saw ahead of time because he's omniscient. So ahead of time, who would choose

Jesus and who would not? And he determined to elect the ones that chose of their own free will,

Jesus. And so they believed in conditional election. Basically, they're saying that God is a respecter of personness.

He will show favor on you if you do something, if you show some merit in something you're doing, or you're less sinful than somebody else.

And so God conditions his election on you. And then he taught, of course, universal atonement.

And that Christ died equally in the same way for all people. And so some argue everybody's sins are forgiven.

And I've heard it said many times over the years. For example, Adolf Hitler, when he dies, he goes to hell.

He won't go to hell for any of his sins, only for his sin of unbelief. For refusing to believe on Jesus.

Because all his sins were forgiven because Jesus died on the cross for all people alike.

That's just one step away from universalism. Everybody in history is going to be saved. Jesus died for all sins.

You know, how can God punish anybody? Double jeopardy. That doesn't work. And then he taught obstructable grace.

In other words, man has the ability to resist God's grace that brings salvation to people.

Although God wants all men to be saved. And God sent the Holy Spirit to help men, woo people to Christ.

Since man has absolute free will, he's able to resist God's will. And so the

Arminian order of teaching is that man first believes the gospel. And as a result, God causes him to be born again.

But the Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible teaches that God and his sovereign grace causes people to be born again.

And then they respond because of their new life. They respond in repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus told Nicodemus, you can't even see. You can't enter the kingdom of God until you're first born again.

An unregenerate person cannot, will not believe on Jesus. It takes a work of God's grace.

But they teach, Arminians teach, no, no, no. Man ultimately has the sovereign authority to resist the grace of God and reject it.

And then lastly, and here's the point that we were getting to. They teach falling from grace.

The fifth point of Arminianism is the logical outcome of the preceding portions. If man cannot be saved by God unless it's man's will to be saved, then man cannot continue in salvation unless he continues to will to be saved.

And so they teach that true Christians can lose their salvation. And so this is the teaching of Arminians.

Well, the Calvinists again wanted to settle this matter. So they petitioned the States General of the

Netherlands to convene a Senate, a gathering for this purpose. Representatives from the Reformed Churches of Europe convened to address the nature and substance of the teachings of Arminius done in the city of Dort over the course of seven months.

This wasn't a casual consideration. And so this conference came to be known as the

Senate of Dort. Reformed churches and governments from all over Western Europe were invited to send delegates.

The Dutch churches sent thirty -five clergymen and a certain number of elders. Six deputies represented the

States General of the Netherlands. In addition, some universities sent delegates. The state churches of many nations sent representatives, having twenty -seven from Switzerland, England, Scotland, and a number of smaller principalities.

The Remonstrants, they would be the Arminians, had sixteen representatives to represent and defend

Arminian theology. It was at the twenty -second session that the main business came to the forefront.

The Remonstrants wished to be allowed to debate publicly and challenge openly the positions held by the

Reformers. This was denied them. They were told to submit their grievances and their positions in writing.

There was refusal, challenge, proposals made. The Senate offered to respond to questions and challenges posed in writing, but the

Remonstrants refused. Finally, in the fifty -seventh session, the

Remonstrants were asked if they were going to submit to the procedure. They refused, and so the Senate expelled them.

But at this time, the Senate felt compelled to answer every issue, so they continued to convene and consider the doctrines until the one -hundred -thirty -sixth session, when they formally made their decision, and they determined the teachings of the

Remonstrants were heretical, being contrary to Scripture. At the same time, they issued five points that countered the five points of Arminius, and these are what have come to be known as the five points of Calvinism, or rather preferred the doctrines of grace.

These doctrines are at the heart of Reformed theology. They are biblical teaching. From that Senate onward, evangelicals can be classified as either

Calvinistic or Arminian. Some have tried to argue they are neither, but that is not possible.

Calvary Chapel, Chuck Smith said that they are a third way. They are trying to mediate between the two. No, they are

Arminian. There is no middle ground. Either these things are true or they are not true.

There is no third way. Well, what then are these five points of Calvinism? We do not have time to go into great detail, but I have listed them for you.

Here we have again an acronym for the acrostic TULIP, T -U -L -I -P, for if you have total depravity of man, which speaks of man's sinful condition.

He is a sinner. He is incapable, and he is unwilling. That is the main thing. He is unwilling to respond to God.

He needs a Savior. He cannot save himself. He does not just need a little help. He needs regenerating grace.

He needs to be raised from the spiritual dead to the spiritual life. Secondly, unconditional election.

God chooses people to be saved, not because of anything in them, but holy and due to His grace.

It is not because some people are more worthy than others. Some people are less sinful than others. In fact, Paul reasons in 1

Corinthians, look about yourselves, people. There is nothing but most of us are fools.

Most of us are terrible sinners. But this is what God purposed to do.

There are not many wise, not many mighty among us. Why? Because God chose the foolish things of the world in order to compound the wise.

And He did so in such a fashion so that no flesh may glory in His presence.

The Armenians can never say that. An Armenian can always glory in His presence. Look at me.

I was more wise than you were. I accepted Christ. You didn't. I was less sinful than you were because I determined what is right and true.

And I chose Christ. There is every reason for the Armenian to boast in what he has done.

There is no reason for the biblical Christian, the Reformed Christian, who understands this theology rightly, to boast.

He is humble and solely dependent upon the grace of God and gives God the total glory for it.

Thirdly, limited atonement. Limited atonement is better definite atonement.

Everybody believes in a limited atonement. Armenians believe in a limited atonement.

They believe, however, in the limitation of what Christ accomplished. The Armenian does not believe

Jesus accomplished the atonement of anybody when He died upon the cross. Rather, they reason that Christ only made possible the salvation of everybody.

But He did not secure the salvation of anybody. Their atonement is indefinite. But it is also limited in its ability to save.

However, the Calvinist, the one who holds to the doctrine of grace, the teaching of the scriptures, believes in definite atonement.

When Christ died on the cross, he declared it is finished. And although Christ's death is infinite in value, it is the

God -man who died. He could have saved a thousand worlds through His death. His death was intended to atone for His sheep.

He laid down His life for His sheep. And their sins He bore and He paid for their sins.

It was definite. And a lot of times, people when they are moving toward, and everybody who becomes a

Christian, they commonly start out as Armenian. I was for seven or eight years. And I became

Reformed in my understanding. This was back in 1980. And usually we embrace four of the five points.

But this is a sticker for a lot, you know, for many. Limited atonement. And I remember our teaching through Hebrews.

And I came across this verse. And this settled it for me. When the book of Hebrews talks about when the

Lord Jesus came to heaven, and He sat down having accomplished eternal redemption for us.

And I knew as an Armenian, we don't believe that. He didn't accomplish it. He only made it possible.

But the Lord didn't just make possible salvation. He secured salvation for His people.

Perfect and full and complete atonement. And then fourthly, irresistible grace.

Well, there is certainly grace that we resist. We always resist the grace of God. That's stated in Scripture.

You do always resist the grace of God. But when the Lord Jesus puts forth His grace to save a sinner, it cannot be thwarted.

It cannot be defeated. God never tries to save somebody and fails in His effort, does

He? The Lord Jesus said, He starts out with a hundred sheep. He's going to come home with a hundred sheep. Not ninety -nine.

He'll do whatever it takes to bring them home to His fold. And so His grace is irresistible in that He always saves the ones

He intends to save. And so this is commonly called effectual calling.

You know, you can resist God's call. I did. We were talking about atheists this morning in Sunday School and Pilgrim's Progress and how he laughed at Christian and hopeful as he was walking away from Celestial City.

And I'm thinking to myself, that was me before I was a Christian. I used to laugh and scoff at people.

I laughed at my wife when we were first dating before we were married because she drug me to a Bible study and she asked what

I thought about it. I laughed at her. Horrific. But I tell you what, when

God puts forth His grace to save a person, you try and resist that. You might do it for a while, but the

Lord always wins His battles, doesn't He? The Lord's never been defeated. He always accomplishes

His purpose in Christ. And then lastly, perseverance of the saints. And here it is.

The power will keep His own onto salvation. They will persevere. Now we have a responsibility to persevere.

We're to guard ourselves. We're to give heed to the Word. We're to pray. But in reality,

God uses these means to keep His own onto their final salvation. And so the idea that a true

Christian can lose his salvation is unbiblical, it is heretical, and it's been refuted soundly by many in history.

This is the teaching of Holy Scripture. I set forth some arguments of the Arminians who try to argue against that and show just how wrong they are.

And then bottom of page 8 onto page 9, I talk about just suppose if the teaching of the Arminians was true, what does that mean?

And then lastly, we spend a fair amount of time talking about the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, that underscores

God's willingness and ability to keep His own. He's reserved salvation in heaven for you.

This is what He said. It's kept in heaven. It's guarded by God. Anybody going to get up to heaven and rob

God of what He possesses? Well, your salvation is there, your inheritance. God has secured it.

And then God declares not only has He got your treasure secure, salvation secure,

He's reserved you and preserves you by His grace through faith onto the end when you and your inheritance come together.

And there's going to be no frustration, no defeat of God in this. He is going to enable

His people to persevere in faith onto their full and final salvation. And then lastly,

I gave a number of verses. We spoke about verses that speak of the capability of God and the certainty of God to keep

His own. Maybe some of you are younger Christians and you have doubts about your soul and you're standing before the

Lord. The Lord's got you secure. And if you've embraced Christ, you've come unto

Him, He says He'll in no wise cast you out. You are secure.

Relax. Enjoy the ride and be at peace. It's a struggle, but it's a struggle that God guarantees every one of His children are going to win the day.

Is that not right? And when we all get to Heaven, He'll say,

I told you so. How needless you were to worry yourself about this matter.

You're secure because I love you from eternity. I set my love upon you and I love you.

Thank you, Father, for your word and we thank you, our God, for the means of grace that you have appointed to accomplish the end that you've designed even our whole, complete, full salvation.

Help us, our Lord, to not be neglectful of these means of grace but to be prayerful for one another and be concerned about the tempter who tempts some,

Lord, to abandon Christ and help us, our Lord, to cling to your word and the promises of your word and so give joy, our