Biblical Calvinism

All right, so we are week 9 and our whole series is called what is a

Reformed Baptist. Now we'll say this most of the time if you're out there in the highways and byways or whatever if you hear someone say

I'm Reformed or I hold to Reformed theology probably what they mean or at least one thing they may mean is that they hold to the doctrines of grace.

I've tried to show you in this series that being a Reformed Baptist is so much more than just soteriology.

Soteriology is the doctrine of salvation so much more than soteriology however what we're going to talk about tonight is an important component of being a

Reformed Baptist and it's called Biblical Calvinism. So I don't know what when you hear that word what emotions you know maybe you're like well

I don't even know what that means maybe some of you are like well is that bad like what does that mean well hopefully I explain it tonight most of people

I would assume are on the same page but if not I'll have the opportunity to walk through some of this with you.

It wasn't long ago that Pastor Jacob taught on this in Sunday school we went through the five solas and the five points of Calvinism.

When was that brother was that like a year ago about a year ago or I don't remember. So okay so well it's been a little while then so anyway it's good be a good refresher

I'm going to try to do it in one I'm going to try to do it in one lesson so just to weigh in first Thessalonians 1, 4, and 5

I'm just going to read it we're not even going to come back to this text just kind of our starter text if you will Paul says to the church in Thessalonica for we know brothers loved by God that he has chosen you chosen that's the word for elect he has elected you he's chosen you well how do we know that you've been chosen because our gospel came to you not only in word but also in power and in the

Holy Spirit and with full conviction you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake

I read that just to say that this kind of language is unavoidable in the Bible it's in the Bible and we have to deal with it so one time

I remember a very sweet lady if I said her name some of you would know who she is she's never gone to this well maybe she used to go this church but way before way before I came here but anyway she said to me one time you know well

Quatro I just don't leave believe in predestination well we got a pause for a second if you're a

Christian you believe the Bible you believe in predestination now there are there are disagreements about what that word may mean but it's undeniable it's in the

Bible you understand you can't you just like well I don't believe in Corinthians or whatever like well

I mean that's it's a book of the Bible it's two books of the Bible right you have to believe now we may have disagreements about what it means but it's there so Reformed Baptists subscribe to the doctrine of grace or as popularly termed in some circles

Calvinism so I'll say this up front just get break the ice we subscribe to this we are

Calvinist however let me say two things about that one I wish the word wasn't necessary okay

I just wish it wasn't secondly the word is so often misused and hated that I don't use it very often but if you give it the proper definition if I get to define it well then

I am unapologetically Calvinist and so is our confession of faith the second

London Baptist confession but what's most important is it doesn't matter we could list all these names don't matter the confession doesn't matter so much as what the scripture if the

Bible doesn't teach this then we need to reject it okay so that's why

I wish the word wasn't even necessary because of what I want to say is you know people like you just follow a man and I've trust the

Bible and you're like stop I'm not following a man there's much about Calvin's life that is good and we should learn from and then there's some things he's saying yeah

I don't agree with that like baptizing babies but the point is

I believe the Bible I wish I could just say I'm a biblicist but fallen man has so misinterpreted and misapplied the scriptures that sometimes it's helpful to use terms we use labels so you understand what is meant and so tonight

I'm just going to give an overview of biblical Calvinism all right so what is what do we mean by biblical

Calvinism I want you so if someone says to you in the community if someone says you send you a message of like maybe some of you've got this

I know the stuff goes out there sometimes like oh it was a Calvinist you know you're like yes

I know and here's what that means you know it was like he doesn't believe you pray or evangelize or you're just robots well that's not true so hopefully

I've proved to you that I don't believe those things by my actions all right number one biblical

Calvinism we mean first that God is God now that sounds silly now let me explain that for just a moment what

I mean is that God really is who he says he is in the scriptures he is eternal he is unchanging he is all -knowing he is all -powerful he is love the attributes go on and on and on God is

God this means that God is sovereign now this greats against human pride you know

I want to be in control you want to think that you've got your whole life together and everything that's happened in your life you know by well yeah it's me and God helps me sometimes whatever you want you want to you want to be in control and the

Bible slaps you in the face and says you're not actually God's in control I'll give you a couple verses we can spend all night just on this but they're on your sheet

Isaiah 46 9 and 10 I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning now how can he declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose how can he declare the end from the beginning the text is not saying because he just knows it's going to happen but he's saying his what his counsel his counsel he will accomplish his purpose

Job at the end of Job we got to love Job at the end of it he puts his hand to his mouth and he's humbled and he says to God I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be afforded if anybody has the right to complain you think well maybe it's

Job but then God shows up to Job is like where were you when I put

Orion's belt on you know the stars in that amazing imagery where were you at when

I laid the foundations of the earth and and Job is humble and he says okay I get it you are

God and I'm not no purpose of yours can be afforded so biblical

Calvinism is not letting God be God you can't let God be

God right he's already God you don't give him permission biblical

Calvinism is acknowledging that God is actually God now I understand the arguments

I've heard him I've dealt with them I've held to this position for not 20 years but Steph and I have been married next week 19 years and so about 17 years then

I would say six 17 so I've heard all the arguments I've heard the questions like well

God has set up the world in such a way that he man has free will and he just knows everything that's going to happen well

I don't know of a better statement than the English in the English language than our own confession so this is on your sheet but go read it and read the proof text this is chapter 3 of our confession paragraph 1 and 2 from all eternity

God decreed everything that occurs without reference to anything outside himself he did this by the perfectly wise and holy counsel of his own will freely and unchangeably yet God did this in such a way that he is neither the author of sin nor has fellowship with any in their sin this decree does not violate the will of the creature or take away the free working or contingency of second causes on the contrary these are established by God's decree in this decree

God's wisdom is displayed in directing all things and his power and faithfulness are demonstrated in accomplishing his decree

God knows everything that could happen under any given conditions however his decree of anything is not based on foreseeing it in the future or foreseeing that it would occur under such condition so this is here's the easiest way you can think of it

God does not look down in time and learn something you know that you know God has never learned anything

God's never learned anything about you God's never learned about you know God doesn't have to do science experiments and learn and gather information he doesn't learn he decrees he knows so if you want a verse to go with this like well

I don't know is this true well look at Ephesians 111 it's in it's in your sheet Ephesians 111 in him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined that's a different issue we'll deal with that and later according to the purpose of him here's our issue who works all things according to the counsel of his will now

I'm not being silly here but what does God work according to the text what does

God work according to the counsel of his will all things is that hard to wrap your mind around I would actually argue that biblical

Calvinism is not hard to understand it's not for the elites or whatever it's not hard to understand it's hard for fallen man to accept and understand and to submit to so God has predestined his people and works all things works all things what does this mean well first the word for works is inner

Gao you could probably understand you could probably understand that word you could hear worth what

English word comes from that word inner Gao it's energy it's by the energy of God that's not a great way to put it it's his active working so works all things is not if this coming at God and he's just spinning all these plates and he's like oh man this is coming up and I didn't know

Joseph was gonna get sold into slavery and how am I gonna figure all this stuff out it just juggling juggling juggling throw him another chainsaw and you're like no that's not how he's doing it he's active he's working all things according to the counsel of his own will this is

God's universe it's not yours and he has ordered all things every particle of dust every presidential election every electric bill every water heater going out he has ordered all this from eternity past in his sovereign decree in his eternal unchangeable sovereign plan hi you're just making no no this is what the text says he works all things according to what the counsel of his will so this universe is not operating haphazardly it's not operating by the whim of Satan or whatever it functions every planetary orbit every raindrop every meteor in the far reaches oh yeah is there some sort of alien spaceship barreling towards Earth right now

I don't know I don't remember what's that one called h1b 625 whatever okay that's in the sovereign decree of God he's not caught off guard every nail driven in the hands and feet of our

Savior it's all part of God's decree well that makes me have some okay

I've got fun I've got some questions what about cancer what about childhood cancer what about leukemia they're reading a story today of George Bush senior daughter

George Bush jr. whatever however you say their names his sister I forget her name she passed away when she's less than four she had leukemia okay what about these things okay well

I have questions too but I'm gonna give you four responses to that question one God is unquestionably good he is never the author of sin he can never be accused of wrongdoing two there are things that God has left us just simply not to know you don't have a right to get to know all things that's why

Deuteronomy 29 29 says the secret things belong to who Yahweh the

Lord number three God uses evil and wicked things to accomplish his good purposes okay how is

God using leukemia to accomplish his good purposes I don't know but I do know this the the worst evil and atrocity in the history of man was the killing of the

God -man Jesus Christ nailed to a cross of wood and God has used that for the salvation of his people if God is able and he is to use the worst evil then he can use all for his good and he does and the good for sorry for the good of his people in some way mysterious and he does and then fourthly

I'm just kind of like if you have a question well what about this well here's the fourth answer if none of those answers work for you like I don't none of those those

I still have questions okay number four then you have no right to answer back to God I'm not trying to be mean with it but you're not

God God is not on trial don't treat God as though he's the one sitting on the bench and he's under oath and you're standing there and you're pointing your finger at him and you're accusing him you have no right he's the creator you're the creature if God is

God and he is that means we're not you're not the center of the universe he is his glory is we'll not read it here for time's sake but I would also encourage you to go read chapter 5 on Providence in the

Confession it's beautiful it's really good robustly biblical and the question you need to ask yourself is if God isn't in control of everything how how are you trusting him let's suppose there's one particle of dust

God is sovereign over everything but there's one particle of dust in Perry County that he's not in control of well how do you know that that one particle of dust is not going to undo your entire day tomorrow they could of course we understand that God is sovereign even over that so God is

God second point biblical Calvinism understands that all sound doctrine ties together all sound doctrine ties together

Tom Hicks says the five points of Calvinism are inextricably linked with the doctrine of God the

Bible's covenants the nature of Christ's work justification sanctification the church the last things etc so when someone says

Calvinism what they usually mean is you believe in predestination well I do believe in that it's in the

Bible I've already argued that it's a biblical term but the word means way more than that you know

I'm a thousand -point Calvinist in the in the sense that all doctrine fits together so you can't take a system and lay it over the

Bible and make the Bible fit rather what we're doing is we are taking the Bible for what it says and articulating it rightly in all that it teaches second

Timothy 316 says all scriptures breathed out by God all scripture breathed out by God and profitable so there is much to glean from second

Timothy 316 but one thing is all scripture is unified in its truth so we you can't just take one concept here one concept there and ignore the other parts you need to have one unified understanding of the scriptures and it all goes together this why there are some people who

I would call Calvinist you know what I don't mind telling you some people try to hide these things but they shouldn't the pastor at First Baptist Marlton he is a

Calvinist okay he would he subscribes to these five points

I'm going to say but I would argue there's a difference between being a Calvinist and being reformed so a

Calvinist is over here it's a subset reformed theology

Calvinism falls in that and I've tried to show you we've spent eight weeks looking at other aspects of reformed theology reformed

Baptist theology and Calvinism is a subset of that does that make sense so I differentiate between those two things so not all

Calvinist are reformed Baptist but all reformed Baptist are Calvinist does that make sense hopefully that makes sense to you okay so third point and this will spend the rest of time this can be a super quick overview biblical

Calvinism has a particular focus on soteriology biblical

Calvinism has a particular focus on soteriology so soteriology is the doctrine of salvation okay so it's much broader than soteriology

I just said that but it does have a particular focus on soteriology and this is where you get the so -called five points of Calvinism which are ordinarily summarized with the acronym

TULIP okay T -U -L -I -P so Calvinism I haven't told you this yet but I'll just explain it real quick it does get its name from John Calvin but he never wrote a book or anything like that called the five points of Calvinism he did write a monumental work called the

Institutes of the Christian Religion but he would not have called himself a Calvinist like if you saw John Calvin's like you're a you're the

OG Calvinist he might have slapped you right no it's like he wouldn't have he would not have saw himself as that and he would not have even liked that label so the term comes long after he's dead and it really the five point the

TULIP acronym at least the five points originates in the early 1600s in a in a meeting called the

Canon of Doric where or the Synod of Doric and the canons of Doric come out of the

Synod of Doric but the Synod of Doric was a response to a false teacher named

Jacob Arminius and so they he gave his five points they give their five points and that's that's how you get the five points of Calvinism but these five points that we're going to walk through are subscribed to by churches in various denominations

Southern Baptists Presbyterians Dutch Reformed in years gone by even the

Anglicans and the Methodists one of the early Methodists although he died before Methodism became its official thing

George Whitefield but it's a staple belief of Reformed Baptists and I would argue it's our

Baptist roots listen to this quote this is fascinating to me how far we've moved this is comes from Thomas Kidd he says in 1793 so think about that barely after the inception of this nation in 1793 956 out of the 1032

Baptist churches in America were Calvinistic I don't know the math there but I mean that's like I mean that's very close to 95 % right 956 out of 1032

Baptist churches at the founding of our nation were Calvinist churches so today what some people think is crazy

I just tell you one time I was out there preaching I was out there preaching and a lady came out there and she was visibly upset and I didn't recognize her at first then

I realized who she was and I was like you know hey is everything okay and she was like you're a Calvinist you know and I'm like look

I'm out here preaching the gospel like you want to have I mean we can have this discussion but can

I evangelize right now and then maybe you know but she was just she was just very very upset about that and so I understand that people think that's crazy but I would argue it's historical it's our roots it's and most importantly that and all that's whatever most importantly it's biblical

Tom Hicks wrote one may certainly believe the gospel without being a Calvinist but one cannot sufficiently explain and defend the gospel without those great biblical doctrines that go by the nickname of Calvinism so the idea is you don't have to be a

Calvinist to be a Christian I'm not saying I'll be clear clear clear clear clear you do not have to be a

Calvinist in order to be saved right everyone in heaven will be okay but you don't have to be it you understand what

I'm saying I'm not okay don't don't misunderstand me about that but I would say this all doctrine matters it matters and so as Hicks notes the consistency and the biblical fidelity it's going to be compromised when one rejects these scriptural truths so reformed

Baptist or Calvinist now what is biblical Calvinism well the focus on certain soteriology is often distilled to five points tulip t -u -l -i -p when

I walk through them it's gonna be real quick though so oh we got 15 minutes okay t -u -l -i -p like it or lump it it is what it is that's the acronym

I think we could maybe come up with better terms at times but these are pretty good so number one it's all on your sheet total depravity number one total depravity total depravity this is not saying that men are as sinful as they can possibly be but it is to say this total depravity the entirety of man is tainted by sin what is affected by the fall his mind his heart his will his affections his motivations all of it every unregenerate person some are more sinful than others we shouldn't balk at that but all are totally sinful in every aspect of their being this has rendered them do the judgment of God and it has also rendered them unwilling and unable to do any spiritual good read

Romans 3 10 through 18 and Paul reiterates none is good none is righteous no not one no one seeks for God Ephesians 2 says that we're dead in our trespasses and sins

Romans 8 7 says that those who are in the flesh that is they don't have the Holy Spirit those who are in the flesh they cannot please

God there's nothing a person can do an unregenerate person can do to please

God because whatever doesn't proceed from faith is sin that's Romans 14 even you help you help someone cross the street a little old lady you keep her from getting ran over is that good well from our perspective certainly it's a good deed and you ought to do that but it's not a meritorious deed it's not spiritually good because the part the unregenerate person doing it is not doing it in faith they're doing it in spite of God rejecting him on your sheet first Corinthians 2 14 the natural person does not accept the things of the

Spirit of God for they are folly to him and he's not able to understand them not able to understand them because they're spiritually discerned right

I understand people from our perspective they do nice things they do good things I used to use my dad as an example and I can't anymore because he went and got saved so anyway when he was lost

I would say about my dad that he was one of the nicest guys I knew and he would help you he would do you know quote -unquote from our perspective good things but these weren't spiritually good they're not bring him closer to God in his heart he rejected

God and he went his own way I'm not just picking on my dad that's all unbelievers that's with me before I was converted all of us and we would have nothing to do with God secondly unconditional election so we're walking through tulip t -u -l -i -p so the u stands for unconditional election you don't have a problem understanding those words election right

I choose this piece of paper and not that piece of paper okay unconditional I choose it based on my own prerogative nothing within the paper right okay

Romans 8 29 and 30 for those whom he foreknew he also here's the word pre destined it means in the

Greek what it means in the English what's it mean destined what what's the prefix feet pre mean before destined before and it's just what it means for those whom he foreknew he also pre destined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified now some people say well see it says for no there and so God foreknew everyone's choice but that's not what the text says look at it yourself for those whom he foreknew so not the choice but the people those that the pronoun those is the people so he foreknew a people in eternity past what does it mean to foreknow him means he look for love them he loved them he set his love upon his church he chose them out of the mass of fallen humanity he predestined them that is chosen beforehand that they would be saved unconditionally not based on what they did but on his own sovereign grace

Spurgeon put it this way some people are dreadfully frightened at that word predestination it is to be wisely handled but it is not to be gagged and sent into the corner as it is by some the whole of God's truth is to be declared and whatsoever we find in this book that we are to state and the keeping back of precious truth will be required of such as are guilty of it at the last great day they ever tell you about the time that I picked up the

Lifeway Sunday School curriculum and it was going through Romans and I thought well I wonder what they have to say about these verses

I'm the pastor of this church and I am responsible for the teaching so what is being said here so I flip them

I flip open I was like okay let's see what's being said and it stops at like Romans 825 and it doesn't it skips

Romans 9 which is another big passage of the sovereignty of God and it comes back in around Romans 10 like are you serious it just skipped it all why last two controversial well here's the reality

I'm not saying it's not controversial but I am saying we as your pastors have the responsibility to teach what the

Bible says this what it says so why do I believe in predestination it's in the

Bible it's plain you have questions that's fine you're wrapping your mind and your heart around this and that's fine that's fine but you can't deny it continue to wrestle with it our confession says it beautifully by God's decree and for the demonstration of his glory some human beings and angels are predestined or for ordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ this is chapter 3 paragraph 3 to the praise of his glorious grace others are left left

God doesn't have to force him to go to hell or whatever either they're left to their own sin that's what very good well -written others are left to live in their sin leading to their just condemnation to the praise of his glorious justice these predestined and foreordained angels are people and people are individually and unchangeably designated and their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be either increased or decreased those people who are predestined to life were chosen by God before the foundation of the world according to his eternal and unchangeable purpose and the secret counsel and good pleasure of his will he chose him in Christ for eternal glory purely as a result of his free grace and love without anything else about them serving as a condition or cause moving him to do so you can read 2nd

Timothy I put that chapter 1 verse 8 and 9 let me just read

Ephesians 1 verse 3 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as he chose us in him chose us in him so people say well he chose the vehicle of salvation our disanalogy one time he chose the plane the plane to go from point

A to point B he chose the plane he didn't choose the people that would get in the plane you make that decision okay that's a fine analogy yeah it's just not biblical it doesn't say that it does not say he chose the plane it says he chose us the passengers he chose us in him before when before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved it's very very very plain number three t -u -l limited atonement you might think

I was gonna spend the longest on this one I'm not it's very simple concept Ephesians 525 husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her who did

Jesus give himself up for the church now the atonement is not limited in power but it is in efficacy that is the intent was ultimately to save the church to save the elect in Christ before the foundation world that's

God's plan now if you say well how do you preach the cross I preach the cross that there's enough power in the cross to save any soul any soul that will look to Jesus Christ in faith they'll be saved guess what if they look to Jesus whosoever calls on the name of the

Lord you believe those verses John 316 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life not only do

I not only do I believe those verses you have heard me preach those verses not only do

I believe those verses you have heard me from this pulpit sometimes almost in tears pleading with people to come to Christ you have heard me on the streets you've heard me in the

Christmas parade and the other parades you've seen me go door -to -door you have seen one of your pastors pleading with people to be saved so if anyone tells you a

Calvinist doesn't believe in evangelism you can say well look maybe there's some out there somewhere but not our pastors you've seen it right well if you think that this means that you don't plead with people to be saved you misunderstand it some of the greatest missionaries in the history of the world have been a thousand -point

Calvinist right I made up that term thousand point but you understand okay number four irresistible grace so t -u -l -i irresistible grace this is not saying people don't reject

God of course they do of course they resist God but what this particular phrase means is that the only way sinners come to Christ is when

God effectually draws them by sovereign grace John 644 no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him okay no one can no one has the ability to come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and listen to this now and I will raise him up on the last day so you say well

God draws everybody no no the text says that the ones God draws are the ones he what raises up so there is a specific effectual drawing that happens upon God's people it's not giving grace or faith to all persons this way this how some people think they just haven't really pushed it to the end they said just kind of let it sit here simmer at the top of their little brains and then they haven't pushed it through and that is

God just gives grace and faith to everybody and then we choose to act upon it hmm problem what is the ultimate decider in the salvation of men it's not the grace of God it's men they're the ultimate yeah but God gives it's all grace and then you choose to act upon it no

I give you an analogy real quick real quick you got two people one person is overweight he goes to the doctor the doctor says you're fat and he's just a blunt doctor it's

RFK and he says you're fat and you need to lose weight and the guy leaves the doctor's office and he says that hurt my feelings but he's right

I'm fat I need to lose weight so he starts jogging he starts eating good he lifts weights he does all that six months later he goes in and he's lost 30 pounds the doctor's like see good job who gets to glory the doctor no not the doctor the doctor just said hey he gets to glory okay the second scenario though is the man has a heart attack and he's laying he's coated he's on the operating table the doctor does everything in his power and he is able by his work and all the things that he's able to do and it's a six hour surgery and he finally everything's good and he brings the man back and healthy and the man lives another 20 years who gets to glory then the man what he do nothing he coated he was dead he was on the operating table you know he gets the glory of the doctor now listen he said not a analogy but this is the analogy of God's work and irresistible grace we are not the fat guy we're not the fat guy say okay this is what we got to do okay

I'll do it no we're the dead guy we're the dead guy and God is the one that brings us to life that's irresistible grace okay salvation is by grace alone

God draws his elect by his grace when he issues that effectual and irresistible divine summons they come just like Lazarus Lazarus of your own will reach inside yourself and decide if you want to come out of the tip that's not that's not it

Lazarus come forth okay number five t -u -l -i -p perseverance of the

Saints now I joke everybody's the one not everybody but every Baptist well that's not true either sorry there's a free will a lot of people subscribe to this one at least perseverance of the

Saints so back to Romans 830 those whom he justified he also glorified meaning those justified how many of the justified people are going to make glorification

I'll give it to you in a percentage to understand one hundo all of them a hundred percent you cannot lose your salvation why did you say all this fits together because you didn't earn it you didn't achieve it you didn't even come up with it you couldn't have even come up you didn't even want it in and of yourself it began in eternity past with the triune

God you had no control over choosing you in Christ in time the

Son of God took on flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary he kept all righteousness he fulfilled all righteous he kept the law where you have failed you shook your fist at God he opened his hands to God serving him you failed miserably he succeeded he went to the cross and he took your sins very personal upon him he died not merely for you but there's another way to think of it he died as you under God's wrath the wrath you deserve he's the propitiation the wrath satisfying sacrifice the wrath of God that hung over you that you deserve

Jesus Christ propitiated he was buried on the third day he rose again from the dead and all of this happened before you were even thought about before your great -great -great -great -grandparents were even thought about and in time in time you think of all the sovereign things that had to happen one single person in your ancestry line one bullet in the

Civil War goes the wrong way and kills your great great great great grandfather you're not here today you think about that and yet here you are and in time

God you lived however you wanted he's lived in your sin and your misery rejected

God loving your sin loving yourself deserving of wrath but then the gospel came to you

I don't know how your parents told it to you it came in a track it came in a sermon it came in a conversation probably several times and something began to change the

Holy Spirit came upon your cold stone heart and he broke down every fortification of resistance he used the law to just plow over your wretched stone heart until you were broken and then he gave you life uniting you to Christ showing you his mercy showing you his glory and his beauty and you repented of your sin he forced me to repent no he didn't you chose

Christ you're not a Christian unless you chose Christ the only way you chose Christ is God first chose you and the

Holy Spirit worked in you first and then you were justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone you were adopted into Christ's family right now you're being sanctified made more and more into the image of Christ seeking now to obey

God with his law as your standard out of love for Christ by the Holy Spirit of God at work within you so guess what all that to say you're not going to fall away those in Christ never fall away they may fall into sin it happens they may fall under discipline it happens but God will persevere them to the end through the ordinary means of grace through the church and reading of Scripture and prayer and all these things now

I'm just going to tell you here's the deal we can argue about it it's fine it's fine we can argue about it you want to argue with me about it

I'm not trying to be arrogant but this is one area that's like you want to argue with me about it you'll have it to do okay like I'm I didn't just come up with this tomorrow night or last night definitely not tomorrow night this is the way that this is the way that it is this is what the

Bible teaches y 'all this is the truth long held by faithful Christians throughout the centuries we stand in line with Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield and Charles Spurgeon and Martin Lloyd -Jones and John MacArthur and R .C.

Sproul and John Gill and Benjamin Keech and Adoniram Judson and the list just goes on and on and on but more importantly and most importantly it puts us in alignment with the

Scriptures this is what God has taught us in His Word and you say well I'm just not sure if I understand all this on one hand let me say this so two hands one hand that's okay we all need to grow any kind of foolish we should not expand we better be patient let's say you already understand this stuff you better be patient with others you didn't just come up to this yesterday this is something that God had to work in you and maybe even

I'm thinking about one person that's in our church now he's not here tonight think about one person that actually pointed his finger at us like I don't y 'all are

Calvinist and he left you probably know I'm talking about then he came back and he got saved and God used that okay we ought to be patient and if you are wrestling with these things it's okay on one hand wrestle away but on the other hand that's what

I'm saying don't stay there wrestle read study love the

Bible pray search the truth gonna end with it's a long quote from Spurgeon but it's just so good

I'm gonna end with that then we'll stop the recording we can have probably well we could have if there's a major question that you want to ask we can do that but we got to go okay quote from Spurgeon I'm reading

Spurgeon's words but there are some who say it is hard for God to choose some and leave others now

I will ask you one question is there any of you here this morning who wishes to be holy who wishes to be regenerate to leave off sin and walk in holiness yes there is says someone

I do then God has elected you but another says no I don't want to be holy

I don't want to give up my lust and my vices why should you grumble then that God has not elected you to it for if you were elected you would not like it according to your own confession if God this morning had chosen you to holiness you say you would not care for it do you not acknowledge that you prefer drunkenness to sobriety dishonesty to honesty you love the world's pleasures better than religion then why should you grumble that God has not chosen you to religion if you love religion he has chosen you to it if you desire it he has chosen you to it if you do not what right have you to say that God ought to have given you what you do not wish for supposing I had in my hand something which you do not value and I said

I shall give it to such and such a person you would have no right to grumble that I did not give it to you you could not be so foolish as to grumble that the other has got what you do not care about according to your own confession many of you do not want religion do not want a new heart and a right spirit do not want the forgiveness of sins do not want sanctification you do not want to be elected to these things then why should you grumble you count these things but as husks and why should you complain of God who has given them to those whom he has chosen if you believe them to be good and desire them they are there for thee

God gives liberally to all those who desire and first of all he makes them desire otherwise they never would if you love these things he has elected you to them and you may have them but if you do not who are you that you should find fault with God when it is your own desperate will that keeps you from loving these things your own simple self that makes you hate them in quote so here's

Christ you want Christ never one time is a person called to reach into the recesses of the minds of God to find if we could just find the

Lamb's Book of Life and I could buy found my name in there then I would come never never never never are you told to do that you're told to come to Christ I can promise you this never one time has

Jesus Christ turned away a sinner who has looked to him and called out to him in faith not one time if you say

I try to do it but he told me I was not elect I say sir ma 'am you are a liar he will not turn you away look to Christ you come to Christ you realize something

God had a plan for you before the foundation of the world you're chosen in him from eternity past predestined before the foundation of the world brothers and sisters

I love you and I'd love to talk about this more and wrestle with this more and I'm not trying to be arrogant I'm not trying to be a jerk

I'm sorry for the joke earlier I'm just trying to say this is what the