The Five Points of Calvinism

Sovereign Grace Family Church iconSovereign Grace Family Church

2 views

0 comments

00:00
regard to being expressed in this form the tulip is was something that was not used by Calvin Calvin didn't write the tulip neither did Theodore Beza neither did their successors neither did the the synod of Dort the the the tulip language was used much much later but yes no no no Rasmus would have been contemporaneous with Luther not Calvin Calvin was younger than Luther no no no not Rasmus not the five points of Calvinism Rasmus is Rasmus did debate Luther on the bondage of the will but this language here I think the first time this was used was in a book in the 1920s but since I don't have that specifically I can't or I can't tell you for certain but in my notes and from a previous class I remember talking about the history of the tulip and it was first introduced in this form and in the books I may have been Lorraine Batner who wrote it but it was specifically the it was used in a book describing the teachings of Calvinism and it became popularized as the tulip understanding the history of Calvinism really takes more time than we have so let me just jump right into the definitions of these terms in the simplest way possible total depravity means that a person is unable to believe in Christ apart from an act of God's grace a person is unable to believe in Christ apart from an act of God's grace total depravity means that sin has so totally affected a person that they have an inability to believe now we could go into this further because I was actually on my podcast I was asked to to critique a distinction between total depravity and judicial hardening and if you want to go back a few months and listen to that I think it's worth your time to discuss the difference because all people are totally depraved in the sense that all people are unable to believe but not everybody has a hardened heart in the sense of like Pharaoh's heart was hardened the difference would be people by nature do not want to believe the truth so it's as if they're covering their eyes with their hands or they're plugging their ears with their fingers they don't want to see they don't want to hear because they choose not to believe they have no desire that was so we would say total depravity might also be referred to as moral inability they don't want to believe it's a moral inability but if you call it moral inability instead of total depravity it becomes mullet and that doesn't sound as good as tulips so total depravity can be described as moral inability yes sir yes yes that is saying that faith is not something that you can bring about yourself it has to be given to you so yes faith is a gift is a is a simplified way of saying that but the most important verses in this regard I think particularly come in John chapter 6 when Jesus is looking at people who have come to him and he says to them no one can come to me unless the father draws him that's John 6 44 and then he says it again no one can come to me unless the father grants it to him and we would say that's John 665 so John 644 John 665 are and and dr.
04:07
Sproul points this out I don't know if it's in the book but I don't remember reading it in the book but I remember in his lesson in the book chosen by God which is a very good outline of the of the five points of Calvinism chosen by God's a great book he explains this in regard to total depravity and moral inability as when Jesus says no one can come to me it's it's referring to a inability no one has the ability to come it's it's it's because they morally will not come you can't do that which you don't want to do you cannot do what that what you don't want to do now let me explain that because the first thing people want to do is argue that statement when Jonathan Edwards wrote his book on the freedom of the will which again I would commend you reading when Jonathan Edwards wrote his book on the freedom of the will Jonathan Edwards says this man is free but he is only free as far as his nature will allow he cannot do that which he does not want to do and here's you say but I do things I don't want to do all the time I don't want to go to work yeah but you want to eat more than you don't want to go to work your desire to get paid outweighs your desire to not go to work therefore you go to work so your strongest desire at the time will always win out if a man points a gun at your chest and says give me your money you don't want to give him your money but your desire to live outweighs your desire to keep your money therefore you give him your money so you will always do the strongest desire at the time and this was really the heart of of of Edward's argument, it was an argument of will.
05:51
You have will and even freedom, but freedom only in the sense that you can only do what you want.
05:57
And the problem with our nature is we don't want to believe.
06:03
And until God gives us the ability, until God gives us the ability to want, we will not believe.
06:10
So total depravity is an issue of our will.
06:15
We do not want to believe, and we cannot do that which we do not want to do.
06:19
Yes.
06:20
Augustine said that, Augustine said that the only power of free will is the power to sin.
06:27
Yes, yes.
06:29
And I believe that's true.
06:31
Our freedom is to follow our nature, and our nature is one of sin, absolutely.
06:38
So total depravity says that we cannot because we will not.
06:43
We do not want to, therefore we cannot.
06:46
Unconditional election then is the natural result of total depravity.
06:51
If we cannot want to go to God, God must, if he is going to save, come to us.
06:58
And he comes to us by choosing, first choosing to come, and then choosing to whom he will come.
07:07
Because God is not obligated to save any.
07:16
One of the most difficult things for us to, I think sometimes wrap our mind around, is that God is not obligated to save.
07:26
You see, we have painted a picture of God as a God who is desperate for us to believe in him.
07:37
That God is, you know, it's the picture of Jesus standing beside the noblest door, right? I can't come in unless you let me.
07:44
That's the picture that we have of Jesus.
07:48
You know, we base it on Revelation 4, behold, I stand at the door and knock.
07:52
Not understanding that that passage isn't about salvation at all.
07:55
That passage is about an apostate church.
07:58
Christ is saying, I'm at the door of the church knocking.
08:01
If any man receives me, I will come in and sup with him.
08:04
The point there is not, the people say, Jesus stands in the heart, door and knocks.
08:08
That's not about an individual, that's not about the heart, that's about a church.
08:14
Behold, I stand at the door and knock because the church itself has abandoned the gospel.
08:20
So don't allow that passage to be the passage that confuses you.
08:27
Jesus does not beg us to come, he commands.
08:35
And then he chooses whom will in the sense of giving them the ability.
08:42
Here's an example of, probably the best example I've, and I've used this before, so maybe you've heard it.
08:51
King is away from his kingdom.
08:57
He goes away from his kingdom.
08:59
While he is away, the people in his kingdom rebel against his standards, rebel against his laws.
09:05
They destroy his kingdom, they burn down his palace, they rape his bride.
09:11
He comes back and he sees his kingdom in ruins, he sees his wife has been murdered, he sees his palace has been destroyed.
09:22
He has no obligation at all to save anyone.
09:27
And any act of salvation he chooses will be an act of mere grace.
09:32
And the fact that he chooses to not condemn all to the sword is an act of grace.
09:39
No one would receive injustice if he went through and slaughtered them all.
09:45
But if he saved some by an act of mere mercy, that would be a demonstration of his grace and benevolence.
09:54
So when someone says, well, God must save everyone to be truly gracious.
09:59
No, God doesn't have to save anyone.
10:01
And the fact that he chooses to save any is an act of amazing grace.
10:08
This is why John Newton wrote, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
10:16
I'm not a good person that God chose to save because of my goodness.
10:20
I'm a wretch that God chose to save in spite of my sin.
10:26
Yes.
10:27
This is what Paul was addressing in the chapter? Absolutely, absolutely.
10:43
He chose us in him before the foundation of the world.
10:47
That key passage, he chose us, that's the object of the choice, the in Christ, that's the instrument of the choice.
10:58
He chose us in Christ before, that's the timing of the choice, before the foundation of the world.
11:10
Yeah, and it goes on.
11:11
He repeats it several times, having been predestined according to what? According to our goodness? No, according to the counsel of his will.
11:22
Not according to our will, but according to his will.
11:27
So election is God's choice.
11:30
Unconditional means he doesn't choose based on you.
11:34
He chooses based on his will.
11:38
I wanna come back to limited atonement.
11:40
So put a, well, I wanna tell you something about limited atonement.
11:46
I believe in limited atonement so much that even if I wasn't a Calvinist, I'd still believe in it.
11:54
Because here's the thing, you'll hear some people call themselves four-point Calvinists and what they are normally excluding is this one, the L in TULIP.
12:07
They normally exclude limited atonement and my issue with that is great, but for the lack of time, I'll say this.
12:23
Even if you are not a Calvinist, limited atonement would still make sense and I'll explain why in a minute.
12:29
But I want that one to be last.
12:31
The only reason why I'm circling and I'm gonna come back to it is because limited atonement is the one that's most aggressively argued against.
12:39
So we're gonna come back to it.
12:41
Irresistible grace.
12:43
Irresistible grace is the method by which God saves the sinner.
12:50
This is his choice.
12:53
This is the expression of that choice.
12:56
He saves by what we would call irresistible grace.
12:59
The other term often used by reformed theologians is effectual calling.
13:03
God calls and that call produces an effect in the heart.
13:08
So you come because you're called and the heart is changed.
13:12
We would equate irresistible grace with the gift of regeneration.
13:18
God changes the heart and you believe.
13:23
The best, probably the best illustration, biblically speaking, is Lazarus.
13:31
Lazarus is dead in the tomb.
13:33
Jesus says, Lazarus, come forth.
13:37
And Lazarus is given life and is able to respond by coming out of the tomb.
13:46
Yes.
13:48
Right, yes.
13:49
You got all these dead bones.
13:52
God gives them life.
13:55
I've often loved, I forget who said it.
13:58
It was an old preacher.
13:59
He said, the reason why Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth is because if he would have just said, come forth, all the graves would have opened and all the people would have come forth.
14:06
So he had to distinguish.
14:07
Lazarus, come forth.
14:09
I don't know how true that is, but I like it.
14:11
But the point is, Jesus gives life to Lazarus and therefore he comes.
14:18
It wouldn't have made any sense for Lazarus to say, no, I'm good.
14:21
You know, I'm gonna hang out here for the rest of my life.
14:25
No, once the call produces the effect, the result is the coming.
14:33
Therefore, we say the result is irresistible.
14:35
You would come.
14:35
There's no reason for Lazarus to stay in the tomb anymore.
14:39
You come because of irresistible grace.
14:42
Perseverance of the saints sometimes is referred to as the preservation of the saints.
14:49
And I was even asked just last night by a friend.
14:53
He said, which do you ascribe to? Do you ascribe to the preservation of the saints or the perseverance of the saints? And I said both because I believe both are true.
15:03
Preservation is God's act of keeping you in the faith.
15:09
Perseverance is your act of remaining faithful.
15:12
And this I think is clearly expressed to us in Philippians where it says, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works within you both to will and to do his good pleasure.
15:24
So both sides are given your perseverance, work out your faith with fear and trembling, God's preservation, for it is God who is working in you to will and to do his good pleasure.
15:34
Yes.
15:39
One saved, always saved.
15:41
Yes, yes.
15:42
I would say perseverance is God's persevering you in the faith and conforming you to the image of Christ.
15:49
I thought you were gonna say one saved, always saved.
15:50
Cause that's the Baptist, the Baptists really like OSAS.
15:57
One saved, always saved, O-S-A-S.
16:00
And I don't particularly prefer that language only because that language tends to produce a wrong understanding of this doctrine.
16:11
Cause what a lot of people say, well, if I prayed a prayer when I was six, I got my ticket punched and now my life doesn't have to change.
16:19
Nothing has to change.
16:20
I just go back to living like the devil and my ticket is punched.
16:24
Now you may say people don't believe that.
16:26
Surely they do.
16:27
I've preached enough funerals to know that.
16:29
I've had people stand up in funerals and say, I know, you know, Billy Joe was so awful, but when he was six years old, he trusted in Jesus.
16:40
So we should all believe he's in heaven today.
16:45
I tell you, there was one time I was very proud of a Catholic priest.
16:48
That just, this doesn't come often, but down in Mexico, there was a priest who made the news because he had to do the mass of a drug dealer who had died, kingpin type guy.
17:07
And he got up and he said, men like this will bust hell wide open.
17:12
He, yeah, I mean, straight out, this man was awful and he is in hell today.
17:19
Yeah.
17:20
I was like, get it.
17:23
I don't know how long he lived after that, but at least he was willing to say what so many are not, that there was no evidence of faith in this man's life.
17:36
And so Perseverance of the Saints is that you don't just get saved, but you stay saved.
17:44
If that's a easy way of putting it.
17:46
Yes, sir.
17:46
He who began that good work in you.
17:48
Will complete it.
17:49
Absolutely.
17:50
And what a wonderful verse that is, a good reminder.
17:53
All right, let's go back to limited atonement.
17:55
I have a story because I always have a story.
17:58
And some of you heard this story.
18:01
Years ago, I was in a Lifeway bookstore and I was reading the book, Five Points of Calvinism.
18:08
I was just happened to be holding the book and a man came and stood next to me and I could tell he was a preacher because he was wearing a preacher outfit.
18:17
You know, nice tie, nice suit.
18:18
You know, I could tell he was a preacher and you can never tell I'm a preacher.
18:23
Even when I'm here, I'm not usually dressed the part.
18:26
But he came up to me, he looked at the book, he looked at me and he looked forward and I was like, oh, he's gonna talk to me.
18:32
Lord, don't let him talk to me.
18:33
Nobody can pray as fast as I can.
18:35
I was, Lord, don't let him talk to me.
18:39
The Lord did not answer my prayer in the positive because he started talking to me.
18:44
And he said, so what you reading? And I showed him the book.
18:51
I said, well, it's this.
18:52
And he said, oh, what do you think about that? And I said, well, at this time I was in seminary.
18:58
I was 25 years old probably.
19:00
I was still in seminary.
19:01
I said, well, I'm in seminary right now and I'm studying the subject and this is a good book and I'm just gonna use this book to try to understand it better.
19:09
And he said, oh, okay.
19:10
And he stood there another minute and I'm like, he's still here.
19:16
I'm not engaging, I'm not even looking at him.
19:18
I'm looking down, I'm looking ahead.
19:20
I'm really trying to express my desire not to talk.
19:25
And he said, well, I'll tell you what I think.
19:33
I know you will.
19:36
He says, I don't like it.
19:38
I don't like that Calvinism.
19:40
I said, okay.
19:42
And he said, I'll tell you why.
19:45
He said that limited atonement.
19:49
I don't like that limited atonement to which I responded.
19:56
And I said, sir, do you believe in hell? And he says, yes, I do.
20:04
But I believe everybody gets a choice.
20:07
I said, well, then your problem is not with limited atonement.
20:10
Your problem is with unconditional election.
20:13
You really should study this more before you have a conversation about it.
20:18
To which he angrily said, well, I think it's all bad.
20:22
And he walked away.
20:25
But see, that's the issue.
20:27
Limited atonement could be true even if you're an Arminian because limited atonement simply says that Jesus in his death substituted only for those who would believe.
20:38
And the only way that's not true is if Christ in his death substituted for everyone.
20:45
And as John Owen wrote in the book, The Death of Death and the Death of Christ, if Christ died for all men, then no one would go to hell.
20:53
So Christ either died for all men, therefore all men not going to hell, or he died for no men, therefore no one goes to heaven, or he died for some men.
21:05
And some will receive the benefit of his atonement and some will not.
21:10
Those who receive the benefit of his atonement will be saved.
21:15
And those who do not will be damned.
21:19
So atonement is limited if you believe in hell.
21:22
You have to believe in limited atonement.
21:26
Yes.
21:26
I like how John MacArthur put it.
21:28
He said, with limited atonement, a change of the atonement.
21:34
That's right.
21:35
And that's actually what is often said.
21:38
They'll say, in fact, I've heard Arminians say this specifically, that the death of Christ saved no one.
21:44
It simply made salvation possible.
21:47
No, and they say that with no embarrassment.
21:52
The death of Christ saved no one.
21:54
It simply made salvation possible.
21:57
I'll give you an example of an argument I heard from an Arminian opposing limited atonement.
22:04
We'll draw to a close with this.
22:06
An Arminian was teaching opposing limited atonement.
22:10
And he said this.
22:12
He said, imagine you go to dinner with someone and the check comes at the end of the dinner.
22:20
And the person reaches across and takes the check and pays the check on your behalf.
22:30
You could still pay for yourself.
22:35
And that's what people do when they know that Jesus has paid the price for his sin, but they don't believe it.
22:40
They wanna pay for it themselves.
22:42
What's the problem? This was a guy who was arguing against limited atonement.
22:45
What's the problem with that analogy? It's already been paid.
22:50
That's right.
22:50
The company could not, in good moral standing, accept the second payment, unless the first payment was either no good or denied.
23:03
They would have to refund the first payment to accept the second payment.
23:07
Either way, there's not two payments made.
23:10
I remember a guy came to our church one time and he was not a reformed guy, but he came here to visit with us and asked, he was leaving, you're a Calvinist? Yes, I'm a Calvinist.
23:19
And he says, oh, I have an issue with limited atonement.
23:22
I just don't, you know, I think Jesus paid the price for everyone's sin.
23:26
I said, you believe people go to hell? He said, yes.
23:29
I said, so you believe God is unjust? He says, no.
23:33
I said, you believe God extracts two payments for one sin? A payment from Christ and a payment from the person? No.
23:42
Well, then you believe in limited atonement.
23:46
Unless God is unjust, limited atonement is true.
23:51
All right, let's pray.
23:53
Father, thank you for your word.
23:54
Thank you for your truth.
23:55
Thank you for giving us this opportunity to study it together.
23:59
In Jesus' name, amen.
24:00
Amen.