A Primer on Calvinism

So, as most of you guys know, on January 21st, we're going to be having a conference on Calvinism here in this room.

We're going to do breakfast and watch the presentations. But it's not going to be a conference that explains

Calvinism. The presentations are going to answer objections to Calvinism, answers to the problem of evil, how does

Calvinism handle those things. So tonight what I wanted to do is just quickly go through the tenets of Calvinism, just to get everybody up to speed and start refreshing our minds.

So what is the acronym we use to describe Calvinism?

Tulip. What did you say? Bacon. Yes. Tulip. And what would the

T stand for? Total depravity. What would the U stand for?

Unconditional election. What would the L stand for? Limited atonement. We're all on the same page.

Beautiful. I. Irresistible grace. And the P. Perseverance of the saints.

Okay. So that's our acronym. This gives us the structure of all five doctrines that we're going to talk about today.

So let's start in with total depravity. What I'm going to do is just give a quick definition, a couple, two scriptures maybe, to go through it just to get everybody's mind going, and then we're going to go through a comparison because that's really what we need to know as Calvinists, how the other

Protestant beliefs hold to some similar type of doctrine.

So definition of total depravity. Man is constituted a sinner by his relationship with Adam and is by nature unable to positively affect his salvation.

Sin has touched every faculty of man such that he is dead in his sin and trespasses.

So total depravity doesn't mean that people are as evil as they could be. Okay. It's a total...

I just lost my train of thought. Sin has touched every faculty, our mind, heart, soul, every bit of it.

Not to the depth that it could have. A good verse to go through this is

Genesis 6, verses 5 and 6. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Every and only. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and he grieved him to his heart.

Right? So we see right out of the gate, out of Genesis, man's heart was corrupted. Okay? Such that every thought was evil and only evil.

Ephesians 2, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

Our hearts are at enmity with God such that when we come out of the womb, I think

Votie Bauckham says, we're vipers in diapers. Right? We are born in a state of sin.

And we sin because that's our nature. We don't sin and that becomes our nature.

Follow? Okay. On to the U, which is unconditional election.

God elects sinners to salvation apart from anything in the sinner himself and is based solely upon the mercy and grace of God.

Okay? It is not based on what a sinner does, who a sinner is. God is no respecter of persons.

The only reason someone is saved, the answer to that question is found inside of God, not inside of man.

Now, opponents of this, of this particular doctrine are going to say, well, that makes it frivolous or arbitrary.

And we'll go through in a little while, why that's not true. So Deuteronomy 7, 6 and 8, the

Lord, your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the people who are on the face of the earth.

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord said his love on you and chose you for you with the fewest of all the peoples.

But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping an oath that he swore to your fathers. So again, he's keeping an oath.

He loves you not because of anything in you, but just because of who he is. He chooses, he chose

Israel, right? Most people don't have a problem with God choosing Israel. People have a problem with God choosing his church.

Oddly enough. Romans 8, 29 and 30, we should all know this one. 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.

Those whom he predestined, he also called. Those whom he called, he also justified.

Those whom he justified, he also glorified. Notice in that verse who's doing all those verbs.

Those are all accomplished by God, not by us. He's the one foreknowing, he's the one predestining, he's the one calling, he's the one justifying, and he's the one glorifying.

He's doing these things to us, okay? Such that he gets the glory for the work of salvation in us, and he does it unconditionally.

It's not based on anything we've done. L, limited atonement. This is the one that causes people all kinds of issues.

It's also known as definite redemption, okay? God makes a full payment for his people.

God makes complete satisfaction for the sins of those he elects to salvation, while leaving others in their sins.

Election is mercy, okay? So when God, when

Jesus dies on the cross, he pays in full the sins for those people who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and have faith in him.

If he paid for everyone's sins, beginning to end, who would get into heaven?

Everybody, but not everybody gets into heaven. Now again, the opponents to this position are gonna say, well that's because they didn't choose

Jesus. They didn't repent and place their faith in him. And the question would be, well is that a sin?

Yes. Well wasn't that paid for on the cross? No. So Jesus didn't pay for all the sins. He didn't pay for the most important one, your unbelief, right?

Okay, so let's take a look at a couple of verses. Isaiah 53, yet it was the will of the

Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt. He shall see his offspring.

He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.

So Jesus is going to see those whom he saved and be satisfied with the atonement because it accomplished what it was supposed to.

By his knowledge shall the righteous one say, my servant make many to be accounted righteous.

He shall bear their iniquities, yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors.

He bore the sin of many, not all. Okay, in John chapter 10 he says,

I know my sheep, my sheep know me. I lay my life down for the sheep. He doesn't lay his life down for the goats. Ephesians 5, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the words, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Now are you to love your wife the way you love any other woman in the congregation?

You better not, right? You love your wife differently than every other woman in the congregation.

That's why the love Jesus has for his bride is a special love, a covenantal love, a marital love.

This verse is about the church and what does Jesus do? He cleanses her. He presents her to the church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy, without blemish.

That's what the atonement of Jesus does for us. It cleanses us. It purifies us. Okay, I, irresistible grace, or I like to call it invincible grace, because this is a grace that conquers.

It actually accomplishes what it's intended to do. It's not a grace that gives you an opportunity to be saved.

It's a grace that actually saves you. The new birth or regeneration is the monergistic work of God, apart from man's effort, that accomplishes what it sets out to do.

You're saved by grace through faith. Okay. Salvation is by grace.

It's not the opportunity by grace. And then you choose it's salvation by grace.

Deuteronomy 36 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 all your soul that you may live. Why does he circumcise us so that we would love him with all our heart and soul and live?

He doesn't wait for our hearts to be circumcised and then say, okay, now, now

I'll save you. He saves you. He circumcises your heart, which is alluded to in Romans, not alluded to, quoted in Romans chapter 2, 28 and 29, that circumcision is circumcision of the heart, not done by the hands of man, but done by the

Spirit. Right? So spiritual circumcision changes your heart so that you would love

God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Because you're unable in and of yourself to do that apart from the

Spirit changing your heart. God doesn't wait for you to change your heart or change your mind and then say, oh,

I'll save you now. Ezekiel 36. And I will give you a new heart and a new

Spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Okay. Again, I think Romans 8, 28 alludes to Ezekiel because these are all the

I will statements. These again are all things that God is doing. We're not doing these things. He's the one who gives us a new heart.

He's the one who compels us to keep his laws. He's the one who puts his Spirit within us and causes us to walk with him.

Ephesians 2. You know this one very well. For by grace you have been saved through faith and this not of your own doing.

Underline. And this not of yourself. It is the gift of God not as a result of work so that no one may boast.

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Now if it was that God's grace opened your understanding okay and then you were able to choose at that point somebody chooses

Jesus the other one rejects Jesus. Would that person be able to boast in their decision? Of course.

Right. This says so that no one may boast. Let him who boasts boast in the

Lord. It's the Lord's work from beginning to end. He's the one who opens our eyes areas and our hearts so that we believe.

Right. God doesn't wait for dead men to get sight hearing and a voice.

Dead men don't speak. Dead men don't see or hear. Okay. That's the eye.

Last is the preservation of the saints or the perseverance of the saints. God will preserve all those whom he sovereignly elects regenerates and adopts through to the very end.

In other words once a son always a son. Some people like to throw out the phrase once saved always saved.

I don't quite like it because you don't know who's saved and who's not but once you're adopted once you're

God's son that can never change. My wife and I gave birth to two kids no matter what they do they will always be my children.

They could rob a bank I'm not giving you any ideas. They could do all these bad things.

They will just be my children my disobedient children but they're my children that can't change.

Once God gives birth to his children that can't change either. There's nothing you can do at that point that makes you not his child.

It's very important. Ezekiel 36 again I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues and be careful to obey my rules and I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.

Now listen this is really important again it is not for your sake that I will act declares the Lord God. Let that be known to you be ashamed and confounded for your ways

O house of Israel. God is doing this for the sake of his name he's redeeming a people for his glory not for yours okay this is not like Amway you work the circles to go direct right this is

God rescuing you for what for the sake of his name he's the savior he's the redeemer he gets the glory.

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

Jesus Christ right who begins the work God who completes the work God it's his work from beginning to end he's the one who begins the work we don't begin that work.

Jude 24 and 25 I love this benediction 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 to the only

God our savior through Jesus Christ our Lord he keeps us from stumbling so far away from him right people can and do sin

Christians can and do sin and may fall away for a period but ultimately if the spirit of God lives within and they are

God's children they will repent and eventually come back to God acknowledging their sin and asking for forgiveness okay all right so that covers all five doctrines pretty succinctly so now what

I want to do is go through each of these doctrines there's three major positions

Calvinism, Arminianism, and then the third on the scene is Provisionism and Traditionalism okay

Calvinism we just went through Arminianism actually was the impetus for Calvinism to be codified the way it was

Jacob Arminius came up with five points of Arminianism okay they held a council a synod synod of Dort and reformers went in and countered each one of the points that he made and came up with the five points of Calvinism okay and then there's also a position called

Provisionism or Traditionalism and this was actually birthed in the Southern Baptist Convention they tried to come up with a lot of people are opposed to Calvinism because it takes away man's free choice and that's not fair right so they try to make it more fair although they think they believe in their heart of hearts that they're holding a biblical position they believe that Calvinism is unbiblical okay so we'll go through this step by step and I'm going to read right from their literature to tell you exactly what they believe because I don't want to misrepresent it

I want to paraphrase and I'm going to read it there was there's a a website called the Society of Evangelical Arminians okay so this is

I'm going to read right from there and for the provisionist position I'm going to read right from Leighton Flowers Soteriology 101 website and he codifies all these things real easy so total depravity on Calvinism yes right we hold to total depravity we're dead in our sins and transgressions and apart from God moving upon our minds and hearts and raising us to new life we would never choose him right we would never have any affection any inclination towards God except that he open our eyes our ears and our hearts and draw us to him now on Arminianism they actually hold to what they call total depravity and they say it like this same as Calvinism thus human beings are not able to think will or do anything good in and of themselves we are unable to do anything that merits favor from God and we cannot do anything to save ourselves from the judgment and condemnation of God that we deserve for our sin so far so good we cannot even believe the gospel on our own

John 6 44 if anyone is to be saved God must take the initiative God uses here's their phrase prevenient grace to enable the sinner to respond he or she can then freely accept or reject the offer so they're going to use the same term total depravity okay with a slightly different meaning the grace that God shows the sinner on Arminianism is a grace that enables and gives man the choice now the question is this if the man is dead in his sins and transgressions and God by his grace does something to illuminate their mind is their mind are they now spiritually alive in order to make this decision right do they actually know who

Jesus is at that point in order to be able to accept or reject him because if they know who he is what is the definition of eternal life this is eternal life that they may know you the one true

God in Jesus Christ whom you sent so they would actually have to receive eternal life in order to reject it they would have to be brought to spiritual life in order to know who

Jesus is and actually reject him and then at that point now they're they're they're still not

Christians so this is a grace of enablement not a grace that conquers your heart and actually saves you you see the difference okay so the question that I have when

I'm talking to Arminians or even the provisionists is when the spirit does that when the

Holy Spirit moves upon the heart and is using the gospel to illuminate you the question you want to ask also is are you in the flesh or are you in the spirit if you're in the spirit then you're born again if you're in the flesh what does

Romans 8 tell us you can't do in the flesh you can't please God so if you're still in your flesh you can't please

God you cannot make the decision to choose Christ because that would be a good decision those who are in the flesh cannot please

God they will not submit to God's law nor can they that's why we believe that God has to do something greater than just enable us okay he has to raise us to new life the provisionist he does not believe in total depravity okay what he what they affirm is that because of the fall of Adam every person inherits a nature and an environment inclined towards sin and that every person who is capable of moral action will sin each person's sin alone brings the wrath of a holy

God broken fellowship with him even worsening selfishness and destructiveness death and condemnation to an eternity in hell they basically don't hold to original sin okay they don't hold to federal you're not born in Adam you don't have

God's wrath abiding on you until you actually sin okay they say we deny that Adam's sin resulted in the incapacitation of any person's free will or rendered any person guilty before he has personally sinned while no sinner is remotely capable of achieving salvation through his own effort we deny that any sinner is saved apart from the free response to the holy spirit's drawing through the gospel so God is going to save you based on your response not his election of you in Christ before the foundation of the world goes on to say we affirm that God as an expression of his sovereignty endows each person with actual free will the ability to choose between two options which must be exercised in accepting or rejecting

God's gracious call to salvation by the holy spirit we deny that the decision of faith is an act of God rather than a response of the person we deny that there is an effectual call for certain people that is different from a general call to any person who hears and understands the gospel okay so you see the difference in the three positions one