IRRESISTIBLE GRACE : Does God Force Us To Believe? (Calvinism Series: Part 5) | ask Theocast

Does God pull people into heaven, kicking and screaming against their will, not wanting to be saved?

And does God flick other people into the eternal abyss who want to be saved? Is that really what the doctrine of irresistible grace teaches?

Well, it's a great question, and we're going to get into it. Stay tuned. Hi, I'm John.

I'm the pastor of Grace Reformed Church and host of Theocast. This is Ask Theocast where we answer your questions from a

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Now, let's get into this topic. It seems like of the

Tulip, this is part five of our series on Calvinism or the doctrines of grace or Tulip.

We're going to be covering the eye part of Tulip, which is irresistible grace. Really, this builds upon everything we've already said before.

We're going to deal with some objections as it relates to how people are saved, the capacity of humanity,

God's will versus man's will. Let's go ahead and dive into it. If you have not heard episode two on this series, which is

Total Depravity, I would encourage you to go listen to that. You have to have that lens and that platform to understand this next discussion.

What we have been doing throughout this entire discussion is not allowing just cherry -picking verses and trying to use this lobbing one side against the other, the free will versus sovereign will of God.

You can't do that. You always have to look at what all of the Bible has to say and allow that to shape the way in which the

Bible talks to us about the nature of God and the nature of man. We are still dealing with the nature of God and the nature of man when it comes to this subject of grace and how we are saved.

First of all, this is not a new debate. It's been around since the 5th century.

You may not have heard this word, but Pelagianism is when this first started coming about. There was a debate between Pelagius and Augustine.

I would say the first Calvinism, which should be called Augustinianism.

It's the debate between the will of man. Pelagius believed that every man was born neutral and had the decision to either choose to do good or choose to do bad.

This has been rejected as heresy for many years by many councils. There's what's called semi -Pelagianism, where obviously no one is born sinless.

We know that we are born in Adam. But there is a capacity that's given to us by God.

In other words, He meets us kind of halfway. He allows us to see the gospel.

Then it's our job to meet Him the rest of the way. This is kind of the position that the Arminians were fighting for or the

Remonstrants as they presented it in the council going back to the first video. We're going to see here with Augustine and Calvin that Scripture really does not present this meeting of halfway, where God kind of draws us halfway.

He doesn't force us all the way in. Then He allows us to make that decision of whether we're going to accept this free gift of salvation or not.

The problem with that perspective is, again, it doesn't rightly give us the nature of man.

It doesn't fully explain to us God's role in salvation. Let's begin.

God does not force us to do anything against our own will.

If man were to be just allowed to do whatever he wants, he's going to naturally reject

God 100 % of the time. How do we know this? Well, let me just read you a couple of verses. 1 Corinthians 2 .14

says this, the natural person does not, so natural meaning someone without the spirit, someone who's born with the natural course of life.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are folly to him.

He is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

To even hear of the good news of the gospel, he can't do so because it requires the

Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 12 .3, therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the

Spirit of God ever says Jesus is accursed, and no one can say Jesus is

Lord or salvation or Jesus is the Messiah except in the Holy Spirit.

So they have to have something. They're missing something. This is the point of what Paul is writing.

So how does God's grace interact with us? Now, the whole word irresistible grace I understand is confusing, and they used it for the

TULIP anacronym, but maybe we should change or give it some other explanation. What we're talking about is that God's grace when given to sinners actually is effective.

It does something. Some would call it effectual grace, that it actually has power when used.

Irresistible means that the idea of it is that when someone sees the glory of Christ because their eyes have been opened, they want to go after it.

They want to see it. Here's an illustration for you. Have you ever seen those YouTube videos when someone puts on color -correcting lenses and for the first time they can actually see colors that they hadn't been able to see before?

And what is it that they're wanting to do with this? They just want to look at everything, right, and they start crying.

That is the idea that Scripture gives us. When it talks about the Spirit removing the blindness of our eyes or bringing us to sight or to life is that when you see

Jesus, you pursue him, you want him. It's not this idea that you're being dragged into the relationship.

Now, how is this determined? Here's where the debate happens. Is it God opens your eyes and then you must make the decision?

Or another way of some people saying it is that God sees who's going to choose him and then he chooses to open their eyes or to give them that grace.

So ultimately it's not God's will sovereignly choosing sinners, it's sinners' wills sovereignly choosing

God and then God responds. This is what the Bible has to say about that. John 1, verse 12 says,

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

So it's God's will who determined who would receive this new birth. We all know the famous Dicodemus passage in John 3, verse 16, for whosoever.

But there's an interesting dialogue that goes on that Jesus explains how it is that someone could believe this truth.

We seem to ignore all the context. Remember, that's a favorite verse, John 3, verse 16, but there's more to that context.

Let's back up to verse 6. He says, That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

What he's saying is these are two separate verses. They're not connected. Just like you didn't control your physical birth, you don't control your spiritual birth.

Nicodemus got that because he said, Well, how can I be born again? Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sounds, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. So you can't determine or manipulate the birth or this coming to life and believing.

Another passage would be later on in John 5, verse 21, where he says, For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, so also the

Son gives life to whom He wills. So this is connected to God's will and purpose, not human's will and purpose.

Probably a famous one would be Ephesians 1 .5. He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, not our will.

So here's where we have to start. First of all, men don't have the capacity.

Then something has to happen. They have to come to life. And who determines who comes to life?

Well, we've already seen multiple passages that it says that it's God's will who determines. And how does this happen?

Is it you believe, then God opens out your eyes? Or is it you have faith and then

God chooses to bring you to life? It can't be in that order. It has to be you are brought to life or you were given what's called regeneration.

Then you can believe and then you receive eternal life. But all of this happens at once. So the doctrine of regeneration literally means to be regenerated, to be brought back to life, right?

This is an old, old, old doctrine. It's been taught since the book of Deuteronomy.

So let me start in the book of the Old Testament, work our way forward. So you can hear God is telling humans unless they are brought to life through the work of regeneration and uses things like cutting away or circumcision.

So Deuteronomy 30 verse six, it says, and the Lord, your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love the

Lord, your God with all your heart and with your soul that you may live. So he's using this illustration.

They can't obey. He gave them the law. They failed the law. And he's saying that's something that God is going to do.

He's going to cut away that part of you that can't obey

God, that can't see and believe. Later on in the prophet Ezekiel wrote in chapter 36 verse 26, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit

I will put within you. And I will remove that heart of stone from your flesh.

And I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to obey my rules.

Notice who's the acting agent here. The acting agent is God. I will give you a new heart.

I will put this in there. He's not responding. He's making a prophecy of what regeneration will look like.

And then Paul gives us that explanation. It happens. Christ came. He sends the Holy Spirit.

And of course, this is what we learned. Colossians 2 .13, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh.

So he's using that language from the Old Testament. God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.

Or even Ephesians 2, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins, even when you were dead in your trespasses.

So that's verse one, verse five. Even when you were dead in your trespasses and sins, God made us alive together with Christ.

By grace, you have been saved. So the work of regeneration is God bringing us to life.

And then when we are brought to life, then we live. That's when you see faith and you see obedience.

I mean, Ezekiel literally says when he puts in that heart of flesh and he brings us to life, we will obey. And the first act of obedience is repenting to stop trusting in ourselves and faith in Jesus Christ.

So how does the Spirit do this? So, like, if God's just going to do this, why do we even evangelize or why do we even care about preaching the word of God?

Because that's exactly how God does his work. The Spirit uses the

Bible, the preached word, to bring people to life. 1 Corinthians 1 .18, For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

So Paul is saying it is the proclaimed word of the cross that brings people to life.

It is God's power within those words. 1 Peter 1 .23, Since you have been born again, not of perishable seeds, but imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.

How is it that he says you have been born again through God's word? All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.

Though the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

So the good news of the gospel, which we hear the Holy Spirit uses that opens up our eyes, regenerates our heart, and we can believe.

So yes, we have to proclaim the good news of the gospel. Otherwise, the Holy Spirit can't do his work.

This is why Paul literally says, how will they hear and how will they believe unless they hear? So we have to go out and preach.

So here's where a lot of people will say, I agree with you, John. I agree with everything that you've said, but I believe that God does that to every single human being.

All human beings hear the word, are drawn. Their spirits can feel this port of coming alive.

They call it prevenient grace, where God allows everyone the capacity to believe.

Here's a problem with that belief because if God draws everyone or he puts the spirit's power upon everyone, then

Jesus says everyone will be saved. And that's what's called universalism. And we're not universalists.

We don't believe that every single human's ever been born will turn to belief and faith in Christ. John six is probably the clearest place to see this.

Jesus is dealing with the Pharisees. He's dealing with an entire crowd of unbelieving people who do not see him as the Messiah. He has done miracles up to this point in John chapter six, water into wine, 5 ,000 people fed.

And they'd seen this, but they're trying to figure out, and they even say, Jesus speak plainly to us. Like tell us if you're the

Messiah. And Jesus responds in John six 37, all that the father gives to me will come to me and whoever comes to me,

I will never cast out. This is so important. So if someone comes to Jesus, he says he will absolutely not lose them or not cast them out or not reject them.

And how is it that someone comes to Jesus? Let's look down at verse 44.

It says, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.

That word draw, it's that same word that's used to draw water up out of a well. So it's not like a wooing or it's not like calling towards you.

You don't yell at water, come up out of the bucket. You draw the water out of the bucket. And that's exactly the word that Jesus used here that John wrote down, that unless God draws you up to Jesus, then you can't come to him.

He goes on to say, it is written in the prophets and they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me, this is verse 45, sorry, yeah, verse 45.

And then later on in verse 64, he says, but there are some of you who do not believe for Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who died and did not believe and who would betray him.

And Jesus said this, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the father.

So if God draws every single body to up to a point, like to, okay, all they need to do is believe.

If they believe they can have eternal life. The problem is Jesus says every single person that God draws, all of them believe and Jesus never cast them out.

So if you hold this perspective, which is kind of the Pelagian, a semi -Pelagian slash Arminian perspective, in essence are universalist.

God doesn't kind of bring people to a point, what some may call prevenient grace. He doesn't bring us to like a jumping point where all you need to do at that point is jump off and you can believe.

He makes it pretty clear that the only way that you're going to believe in Jesus is if the father does something, is if he draws you.

Going back to just the point here, they flat out ask him, how do we know that you are the

Messiah? And he's saying, look, I've done all of these works. You see these works and yet you still reject me. I mean, they put

Jesus on the cross. All of the Jews abandoned him because even after seeing that he had done all of these works, proving that he was the

Messiah, they could not believe unless it was the Holy Spirit who brought them to life.

This I know can sound scary, but there's a lot of these verses that are out there, even like John 3, 16, where it says, for whosoever believes, you know, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, whoever believes.

So, John, you're making it sound like that verse isn't true. Well, every time the

Bible says for you to do something or offer something to you doesn't mean you have the capacity to do it.

Here's a great example. You were told to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Have you ever done that?

Just because you were told to do that doesn't mean you have the capacity to do that. So, the question is, why did

John write John 3, 16? Why did Jesus say that? Well, it's the indicator of those who have been drawn.

It's the indicator of those who have been regenerated. It's the proof that you have been brought from death to life.

How do we know that we truly are God's child? Going back to 1

Corinthians, it says, no one can say Jesus is Lord unless it is by the Spirit. So, if you have faith in the

Gospel, you truly believe Jesus is sufficient to save you, that's because the

Holy Spirit through the Gospel has come and brought you to life. He regenerated you. You went from death to life, from blind to sight, and now you have the ability to repent, turn away from your own righteousness, to have faith in Jesus Christ.

And as Paul says, work out your salvation with fearing trembling because he it is who's at work inside of you.

Well, John, what about that verse that says he stands at the door in Revelation and he's knocking. If anyone hear his voice and he opens the door, he will come in.

Well, that could sound like it's salvation, but let's look at the entire context of that.

He's not talking about individuals like the individual heart for salvation.

He is writing specifically about a church, and it's very ironic, a church that's supposed to be about Jesus who put

Jesus outside the church. They lost their first love. They lost their focus of what church is all about.

And ironically, the picture is that Jesus is standing at the door saying, hey, can you let me back in? If anyone there, as ironic as it is, you shoved me out, if you let me back in, as gracious and as merciful as that will be,

I will come back in. So we have to be careful not to use it, but let's say it is. Let's say

Jesus really is standing at the door and he's knocking at the heart of every single human being. Well, according to what we've already seen, unless something happens to that heart, because it's dead, it's spiritually not alive, we have seen multiple times in scripture that we have not the capacity to see

Jesus and his call because that's spiritual discernment and we don't have the spirit. Our spirit is dead.

It needs to be brought to life. We're blind. We cannot see it. So even in that case, just because the offer is there or you hear

Jesus calling, it doesn't mean someone has the capacity to accept it. As a pastor,

I just want to encourage you with this. You may be sitting here saying, well, how do I know? How do I know for sure that I have been saved?

How do I know that I've been drawn? If you believe in the gospel and you're not trusting in anything else but other than Jesus Christ to be sufficient to save you from God's wrath and to take you home, to sanctify you, nothing else, but that's how we know.

This is why verses like John 3, 16 exist because Nicodemus wanted to know, how is it that I entered the kingdom?

He says, for those who believe that I am their Messiah. That's how they know. And anyone can believe.

It's not encapsulated to the Jews or to some birthright or to a gender.

He's saying it's everyone. This is why it says in Revelation, every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Not just the Jews will be saved, but every nation can be saved by Jesus Christ. So it is a good thing.

We want to believe this doctrine because without the spirit coming and bringing us to life, we have no hope.

And here's the last thing I'll leave you with. If you believe that you simply made the decision, you saw the gospel, it was made sense to you, and you believed, you actually do have reasons to boast because what's the difference between you and the person who didn't believe?

You were simply smarter. You saw the logic. You saw the reasoning, and you believed.

This person did not. According to what we see here in scripture, everyone is dead, and unless the spirit brings us to life, we cannot believe.

And that's what the doctrine of irresistible grace or effectual grace or regeneration is what we would say it.

Hopefully you found this helpful. Please leave us a comment. Interact with us down below. We try and answer all of those as much as we can, and we look forward to seeing you next week where we'll continue our series on TULIP.