Answering Objections To Calvinism w/Jeff Durbin

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

If you would open your Bibles to Psalm 135. Psalm 135.

00:31

Psalm 135, verse 1. Hear now the word of the living and the true

00:38

God. Praise the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord.

00:44

Give praise, O servants of the Lord, who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our

00:51

God. Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good. Sing to his name, for it is pleasant, for the

00:59

Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.

01:06

For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all gods.

01:13

Whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

01:24

He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

01:33

He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and of beast, who in your midst,

01:41

O Egypt, sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants, who struck down many nations and killed mighty kings.

01:53

Thus far is the reading of God's holy and inspired word. Let's pray together. Father, I pray that you'd bless today.

02:02

Lord, it's my desire as a shepherd of your people to teach in such a way that we boast in you.

02:14

We treasure, Lord, your supremacy over all. That we would understand,

02:21

Lord, how gracious your grace is. That we would seek your voice above our own, above the voices of others who contradict your word.

02:35

We'd seek your voice above the voice of the enemy. We would look to your word, your revelation as the standard of all truth.

02:45

God, we give you glory and we are so grateful, Lord. We worship you and glorify your name for the salvation that you've given to us that we do not deserve.

02:54

Help me today, Lord, to speak your truth. Guard my heart and my minds from error.

03:00

And I pray that you would equip your church with the gospel of grace. We would proclaim it boldly and with humility.

03:09

In Jesus' name, amen. So we're on our final message in their series on the doctrines of grace.

03:18

Pastor James last week spent time going through the biblical arguments that are often mustered against the sovereign will and grace of God in salvation, the ultimate sovereign will and grace of God in salvation.

03:31

We spent weeks going through the sovereignty of God, the condition of man, and all the rest.

03:38

Why would we do this? I've joked, as many have before, why would you do a series on the doctrines of grace?

03:44

I've joked, well, we're trying to clear the church out, make more room in the parking lot, right? But in reality, the purpose of this study is pretty fundamental.

03:54

It's fundamental to everything that we believe about scripture from the very start. These are foundational things.

04:01

Our purpose in studying the doctrines of grace is so that we might boast in the graciousness of our sovereign

04:09

God. The purpose of this study has been to make little of us and much of God.

04:16

We are not the center of the universe. Human beings are not the center of the universe. God is supreme,

04:23

God is ultimate. We want to make much of him and little of us.

04:30

The purpose of this study has been to learn what God's revelation teaches about the graciousness of God's grace.

04:37

That sounds repetitive, but it's important because here's what we have to understand. As we go out into the world today, there are many people who use the word grace.

04:46

Many people who have, they speak Christianese. They've co -opted our language.

04:53

They may even hold this book up. They might have a stack of books on top of it or underneath it, whether it's man -made traditions or whether it's new revelation from God.

05:04

They'll point to this revelation and say, yeah, I believe that. Sometimes they'll say, kind of, but I believe that.

05:11

And I believe Jesus. And I believe in something called faith in Jesus. And I believe Jesus died.

05:17

I believe he rose again. I believe that he's gracious towards sinners. And you'll have people, many people all over the world that will say,

05:25

I believe in the grace of God. Grace is absolutely necessary.

05:30

You must have God's grace in order to have a coherent Christian message. I'm not denying grace.

05:37

God's grace is what saves us. But even in saying that grace is necessary, they'll deny that God's grace is sufficient, that God's grace is effective.

05:51

We've been arguing that God's grace is so gracious that it is actually effective to accomplish

05:58

God's purposes, his will. That God's grace is truly grace.

06:03

It is supremely a gift in every respect. It is not something that comes because of something inherent in us.

06:12

It is not something that comes because of abilities that some of us may have that others don't.

06:18

It's not something that comes to us and is effective because we have some intellectual capacity or some better parenting behind us that led us to a place where this grace is now effective in my life.

06:31

No, our argument has been that the Bible gives the portrait of a truly sovereign

06:36

God who does according to his will among the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and no one can stay his hand and say, what have you done?

06:48

Whatever the Lord pleases, he does. In heaven, and I was talking earlier about how everyone says,

06:56

I like that, I'm on board, punch my ticket, I'll wear the T -shirt. God does according to his will in heaven.

07:03

That's where he rules supreme. That's his home, that's his field, that's his arena of authority.

07:10

But scripture goes on in Psalm 135 and says, he does all that he pleases in heaven and on earth.

07:19

Here, whatever the Lord pleases, he does. Our argument has been fundamentally this,

07:25

God is sovereign, you're not. He's the center of all things and you are not.

07:31

You're a rebel, you're an enemy of God, you are a fallen son and daughter of Adam and Eve and you have no hope apart from the sovereign grace of God in salvation.

07:42

When God wants to raise a dead sinner to life, he does it because whatever he pleases, what?

07:50

He does in heaven and on earth and no human being can thwart the hand of an almighty

07:57

God. This is a message that offends people. It offends, of course, those who are at war with God to hear that their sovereign is truly sovereign and they can't thwart his purposes and unfortunately, it can also rub the wrong way, even professing believers who have a tradition about our condition and the sovereignty of God, understandings about the will of God in salvation that frankly, don't comport with the

08:28

Bible tells us about God's sovereign will and his grace in salvation. So we've done this, so this, here it is fundamentally, hear my heart in this, we have done this study so that you boast in the glory of God so that you can understand how much

08:45

God loves his people and how God moved heaven and earth to save and how nothing was gonna stop his purposes in saving his elect people.

08:56

We've taught this series so you would understand how little you are, how much of a creature you are, how helpless you truly were and how sovereign and mighty

09:08

God truly is. It's been our desire to cause you to boast in the glory of God, to boast in his grace.

09:18

It's been our desire to bring some of what will be in heaven into the now, what do

09:25

I mean by that? In heaven, we will be glorifying God and boasting in him and his grace for all eternity and we will be adding nothing to it in terms of our will and what we've accomplished.

09:39

It's been our hope to bring some of that worship into now because God is truly worthy of it.

09:45

Now, as we started this study, it's very, very important. We're talking about Calvinism. We're talking about Tulip and the doctrines of grace and you have this moment in history where we had the

09:57

Synod of Dort and you have the Arminians versus the Calvinists and oftentimes, as people enter into this discussion, they'll say, well, you're just following a man named

10:06

John Calvin. Now, my question to you is this, how many quotes in this series were given from John Calvin?

10:15

Did I point you to a man named John Calvin? Did I tell you to read his stuff? Did I tell you that he's our standard?

10:24

Did I actually even point you to the Synod of Dort and through a study of Dort, what have I done? What have we done in this study?

10:31

We've talked about the issue, the nature of man, our fall, our abilities, what's the

10:37

Bible teach about it? And we've run through scripture to say, what's the consistent testimony of scripture on the point of our condition in the fall?

10:44

We've talked about election, the Bible teaches it. If you don't like it, that's your fault.

10:51

The Bible teaches election, predestination, it says that God chooses to save and he chooses before the foundation of the world.

10:58

We've studied what the word of God says consistently about that. We've studied the atonement of Jesus Christ and asked the question, what's the

11:05

Bible say about the atonement? Was it potential? In other words, it's trying to save people but ultimately won't.

11:14

Is the atonement in scripture personal? Does the atonement according to scripture accomplish

11:20

God's purposes, what he intends to do in the atonement? We've talked about Jesus as the perfect sacrifice, providing a once for all sacrifice that perfects forever.

11:32

Everyone who draws near to God, this perfect sacrifice that Jesus offers that he presents before the

11:38

Father, that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit work together in redemption. There is no conflict between the

11:45

Father's will to save, the Son laying his life down for the elect people and the Holy Spirit being able to bring that salvation to fruition that is perfect harmony in the

11:57

Trinity according to the scriptures regarding the atonement of Jesus Christ. We've talked about God's electing grace and his ability to save dead people, to bring them to life.

12:07

We've talked about God granting repentance in scripture, granting faith. We've talked about God keeping his people.

12:16

My favorite point, perseverance of the saints. God keeping his people, giving the gift of eternal life.

12:22

We're in his hand and nothing can snatch us from his hands. That's what we've done. And the entire time we've done this series, our standard has been the word of the living

12:33

God. God's revelation has been our standard and it is our standard. The objective testimony of God's revelation is our standard, always will be our standard.

12:46

It's the word of the living God that must be the standard, the reference points by which everything else is tested.

12:55

That has been God's standard from the beginning of the Bible throughout the end of the Bible. And the Lord Jesus, when in conflict in his ministry, when he was not appealing to his own authority as the divine

13:07

Son of God, as Yahweh incarnate, and he absolutely did. When he was in conflict in his day, he would test people's claims by the revelation of God.

13:20

One example here in the life and ministry of Jesus, in Matthew 15, when Jesus was dealing with what they had said was essentially a divine tradition that the

13:31

Jews said was essentially orally given in a way, a divine tradition passed down that is binding.

13:37

Jesus said, you say, but Moses says. He says, thus you invalidate the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

13:47

The Lord Jesus gives us an example there of even testing what some claim is divine tradition.

13:53

Jesus taught us to use the revelation of God as their central reference point.

13:59

Our standard is and always will be the revelation of God. Now this is really, really important because as you do the discussion like this,

14:08

I think it's vitally important for us to understand something. God has been working in his church for 2 ,000 years of Christian history.

14:17

When we talk about the doctrines of grace and Calvinism, we're not talking about something new that entered into the church's mind that nobody had ever thought of before.

14:27

It's completely novel. Throughout the history of the Christian church,

14:33

Christians have taught about the grace of God consistently, have taught about faith that justifies us before God consistently, have taught about the atonement of Jesus Christ and its power,

14:45

God's ability to preserve his people. Throughout church history, God has sanctified his bride via, here it is, conflict.

14:55

Conflict is so good. It can be so good. I'll give you one example. I love what's happening right now in California with Brother MacArthur.

15:03

Praise God. Praise God. Praise God for that conflict. I know it stinks because Christians are being told not to worship, don't sing, all those different things.

15:13

I understand that conflict hurts, but conflict also purifies. It brings the church to the word of the living

15:21

God. It strengthens us. It makes us bold. And throughout the history of the church, God has used conflict to actually sanctify the church, to make her sharp, to make her clear.

15:32

It's that way with the doctrine of the Trinity. The Trinity is in the Bible all over, clearly taught.

15:38

But as error comes into the church, the church has to sharpen her ability using the word of God to put down error.

15:45

And as time went on through history, what happened during the time of the

15:50

Reformation and the Synod of Dort was not a novel conversation that nobody had ever had before in history.

15:56

It happened in parts and places. There wasn't always as much emphasis. But at Dort, there was an amazing moment where these things were put on the table and clarity with the word of God sharply was put to these issues.

16:09

But it's not new. And tradition isn't the ultimate. Although tradition, church history is amazing.

16:15

Can I give you some examples here? Just amazing stuff to think about. In terms of how church history is great, tradition can be so good, it is just not ultimate.

16:26

Because while you have in church history church fathers and apologists saying glorious and amazing things, you'll turn the page and they say something undeniably stupid.

16:39

Praise God that our standard isn't the infallible, uninspired words of men.

16:44

And praise God that he even works through our bad theology, right? I'll give you an example in terms of something like, say,

16:52

Sola Scriptura, Athanasius of Alexandria. In his 39th

17:01

Festal Letter, there's an amazing quote here. I love it, and in terms of some stuff that's happening right now,

17:06

I won't get into it right now. It's actually amazing that this person was used as an example of how tradition is supreme and all the rest.

17:15

He says this. These are fountains of salvation, speaking of the scriptures, that they who thirst may be satisfied with the living words they contain.

17:24

In these alone is proclaimed the doctrine of godliness. Let no man add to these, neither let him take ought from these.

17:33

For concerning these, the Lord put to shame the Sadducees and said, ye do err, not knowing the scriptures.

17:41

And he reproved the Jews, saying, search the scriptures, for these are they that testify of me.

17:47

Here's Athanasius. By the way, Athanasius Contramundum. By the way, my new tattoo is Athanasius.

17:52

So you know I like the guy, he's good, right? Athanasius against the world. There was a time in history, if you didn't know this, where a false teaching about God, about Christ, had really become very, very prevalent within the church, and the church was going in the direction of Arianism.

18:10

And so the famous saying, Athanasius Contramundum, Athanasius against the world, it was like Athanasius was the last man standing for the trinity.

18:18

After the church had defended it and fought for it and preached it all this time, error creeps in, and the church at large is saying, no, this is the way.

18:29

Athanasius Contramundum. How did he fight against it? With the word of the living God. What did he use as his standard?

18:36

The word of the living God. Praise God for Athanasius. I'll give you another example in terms of a doctrine like sola fide, faith alone in the fathers, in church history.

18:49

In other words, these aren't novelties. We sharpen in our ability to proclaim these truths using the word of God, but they aren't novelties.

18:59

Saint Clement of Rome died 101 AD, not long after the time of the

19:06

Lord Jesus. Here's what he says. Similarly, we also who by his will have been called in Christ Jesus.

19:17

How's that sound? By his will have been called in Christ Jesus.

19:23

That's at the turn, that's 101 AD, and here he is saying, similarly, we also who by his will have been called in Christ Jesus are not justified by ourselves or our own wisdom or understanding or godliness, nor by such deeds as we have done in holiness of heart.

19:45

That just about covers everything, right? That just about covers everything. He says this, but by that faith through which almighty

19:54

God has justified all men since the beginning of time, glory be to him forever and ever.

20:02

How's that sound? Sounds like a Calvinist, right?

20:09

So this isn't novelty, it's not new, and we appreciate statements like this.

20:14

They're glorious, but they aren't the standard. They're pointing to the standard. The words here are essentially pulled from scripture at many points.

20:24

Give you another example. This is Saint Basil the

20:29

Great. Indeed, this is the perfect and complete glorification of God when one does not exalt in his own righteousnesses, but recognizing oneself as lacking true righteousness to be justified by faith alone in Christ.

20:45

330 to 379 AD. Saint Basil the Great. So you get my point here.

20:50

In church history and the fathers, we have clear communication of the gospel. We have moments of stellar work communicating the truth of God, but church history is not our ultimate standard.

21:03

What is our standard? The word of living God. How do I know Clement was right? Because he's revered?

21:10

Because he's respected? Because he's somehow a church father in history?

21:16

No, how do I know he's right? Because his words agree with the words of the living God that have been handed down.

21:23

Scripture and scripture alone is our standard. I wanted to make that point. The word is the reference point.

21:29

Here it is now. This is where it can get challenging. So come back. You're like, I think I knew that, Pastor Jeff. I'm there with you all the way, but this is where it can get challenging.

21:38

The word is the reference point, not human tradition, not our preferences, and here it is.

21:47

This is the challenge one. Not our emotions. Not our emotions. It's so important because I know, listen, typical of Christians will say, this is the revelation of God.

21:59

These are the words of God. This is true. This is what I can be certain about. But let's be honest.

22:05

We're all impacted to some degree by our teachers. We're all impacted by some degree by our environment and where we grew up in church and the things that we've been told.

22:18

I'll give you one example from my own experience. When I first came to church, it was a

22:23

Bible study. I was a teenager. I'd never been to church. Wasn't raised in church. Didn't know anything about the

22:29

Bible. My first Bible study was that horrific movie that Dr. White was talking about. I came to a

22:35

Bible study. It was like eight o 'clock at night. I remember distinctly, I show up. It's dark outside. I walk through the door.

22:41

It's already happening. I walked into a room, sat on a couch, and there was a horribly bad

22:46

Christian film on television that scared me to death. That was mid -90s.

22:52

Mid -90s. And it was an awful movie, of course, but it was also really bad eschatology. But when

22:58

I entered into the Christian community, I'm making assumptions. This is from the word of God.

23:03

This is the truth. This is communicating what's to come. And so I believe that. And when

23:08

I went to Bible college, that was the eschatology that I was taught. I was the biggest fan of Tim LaHaye and Hal Lindsey and all the rest.

23:15

Those are my homeboys. I believed it. And then I began to actually go to the word of the living

23:22

God and say, what does it actually teach? What does it actually say? And I was challenged. But my tradition taught me one thing.

23:30

What was the way of testing that tradition? Within the tradition itself? No, by the word of the living

23:36

God. Emotionally, I was committed to that perspective. Emotionally, it was a very hard transformation to come out of something that you believe so strongly was consistent with scripture.

23:48

So we need to be willing as Christians, when we say this is the revelation of God, this is what I'm to believe.

23:54

We need to be willing to even test our very long cherished traditions and emotional commitments.

24:03

We need to be willing to challenge them by God and his revelation.

24:09

What does it consistently teach us? So what have we done over the last couple of weeks? Well, we've gone over stulip, tulip.

24:19

Well, we added the S at the beginning because it really is the foundation. We talked about the sovereignty of God and salvation, that God decrees the end from the beginning.

24:27

He does according to his will and the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and no one can stay at his hand and say, what have you done?

24:33

He does as he pleases in heaven and on earth. God is the sovereign.

24:41

He knows all things. He decrees all things. All things work together for good for those who love

24:47

God and are called according to what? His purpose, his purpose.

24:54

Next, we talked about the T, total depravity or total inability that people are not morally neutral towards God.

25:02

We're dead in our sins and trespasses. By nature, children of wrath, enemies of God, haters of God, slaves to our sins, unable to come to God apart from the father drawing us.

25:16

We've talked about unconditional election that God chooses his elect people before the foundation of the world according to his sovereign will and purpose and not according to any foreseen faith in them.

25:28

They couldn't accomplish it. If he looked through time, he'd look through a spiritual graveyard through history.

25:35

Nobody's coming to God. There is no God seeker. God chooses by his grace and elect people.

25:41

We talked about limited atonement or definite redemption that the atonement was personal.

25:47

It was not potential. The atonement was something where Jesus was accomplishing salvation for his people.

25:55

That when Jesus died on the cross, if you're in Christ, he was dying for your sins.

26:01

He was paying in full what you owed. It was an actual redemption, an actual atonement.

26:08

It is finished means that according to definite redemption.

26:15

Irresistible grace, we've talked about God's effectual grace that God raises dead sinners to life.

26:21

He brings them to life so that they can turn to Christ so they can see how glorious he really is, so they can see how lovely he really is and they can trust in Jesus, that God grants faith, that God grants repentance.

26:35

The Bible says that explicitly, it teaches that. And we talked about perseverance of the saints or God's preservation of the saints, that this is perfect harmony within the

26:46

Trinity. The father decrees to save a people. He chooses the people in Jesus Christ. Jesus pays the price for them.

26:54

All who are in Christ are found righteous in him and the Holy Spirit of God brings that salvation to fruition.

27:03

He makes that happen in the life of the person that God has chosen by raising them to newness of life, regenerating them.

27:12

It's perfect harmony in the Trinity. Pastor James did the overcoming objections to the biblical texts that are often mustered against the sovereign will of God and his grace and salvation last week.

27:27

My task is to deal with some of the popular emotional or philosophical and methodological baggage that we bring to these questions.

27:39

So, I don't know how long this will take. Some of these are just dealing, listen, here's the deal.

27:49

We've spent, thank you, I will. We've spent so much time, scripture upon scripture upon scripture, text upon text upon text.

28:01

When God talks about this, it's not a proof text here or there, which is often happening with the chestnut arguments against the grace of God and salvation and his sovereign will and salvation.

28:12

It's not that kind of thing. We've talked about there's a whole discourse here and then another one following it here and then yet another one following it here.

28:19

Whole discussions, discourses, unpacking of these truths by the Lord Jesus, by the apostle

28:26

Paul. It is throughout scripture. It's not a text here or there. It's entire discussions on this subject clearly, systematically put out in the inspired word of God.

28:39

So, when we talk about these emotional or philosophical arguments against the doctrines of grace, a lot of times we have to think and consider behind in the background what is the consistent testimony of scripture on this and now let's deal with the emotional baggage.

28:55

So, let's deal with some of these. Here we are. First, somebody will say,

29:01

God chooses to save some, but not all.

29:07

So, God chooses to save some people, but not everybody.

29:13

He has the power to save some, but he doesn't save others and that was his will. He chooses to save some, but not others and he was willing to do that.

29:24

That's not what? Fair. It's not fair. That's what people will say.

29:31

Now, what's loaded into that challenge? Well, false assumptions.

29:37

You got to deal with the false assumptions. First false assumption is that God is obligated as the divine judge of the universe to show mercy and give grace.

29:51

Now, stop and think about that for a second. I don't want to go through it too quickly. The false assumption is this. When someone says

29:57

God chooses willingly to save some, but not others, that's not fair. The false assumption is that God as the supreme judge of the universe is obligated to show mercy and give grace.

30:09

What's the problem with that? Nobody ever really thinks like that. On Monday, if we all went to the courthouse and it's happening constantly there, you realize that we hide ourselves from this often, but there are people who are being judged on Monday for rape, for murder, for theft, and a host of other evil things, crimes they've committed against other image bearers of God.

30:34

None of us have a ministry where we go to the courthouse every day of the week to tell the judge that he is obligated to give grace and mercy to all these criminals.

30:45

Nobody stands up in a court when the judge is giving the verdict and the sentence and says, your honor, you're obligated to give mercy.

30:54

We all understand in the human court context that there are victims who have rights, there are crimes, and there is justice.

31:03

God is not merely what modern day evangelicals and others say.

31:10

He is only love. God is just loving and he just so badly wants you to love him back. No, God is a

31:16

God of love, and he is a God of perfect justice, and we are the criminals in God's universe.

31:23

What must a holy and good judge give to a criminal in his court?

31:29

What are they obligated to give if they are just? Justice, a sentence.

31:35

So when someone says, God chooses some willingly, but not all, that's not fair.

31:40

Challenge them on the false assumption, you don't really believe that, because you don't act like that in human courts.

31:46

I don't see your ministry before the judge, telling these human judges that they are obligated to give criminals mercy and grace.

31:54

What does a good judge owe a criminal? Justice. What does God owe all of humanity?

32:00

Because all of humanity is in Adam. We're all dead in our sins and trespasses, all enemies of God, haters of God, not righteous, not

32:08

God -seeking. If we are the criminals in God's universe, what does he owe us? Justice, punishment, not grace and mercy.

32:17

The false assumption, when someone says it's not fair, is that God is obligated as the divine judge of the universe to show mercy and grace.

32:25

He is not. Second false assumption, it assumes that man, men and women, human beings, are worthy of mercy and grace.

32:37

What's the problem? What have we learned about the word of God from the word of God about our condition? Are we worthy of mercy and grace?

32:46

Are we in a condition where we are morally neutral to God? We are basically good people.

32:53

What's the Bible say about us? There's none good. Not one. None who seeks for God.

32:59

Romans 8 talks about our condition. Those who are in the flesh cannot submit to the law of God. Not able to please

33:08

God. We are slaves to our sin. Unless the Son sets us free, we're gonna be stuck.

33:16

We're gonna be stuck in that condition of slavery and sin. It assumes that man is worthy of mercy and grace.

33:23

Here's the situation about grace. What is grace? Let's think about the two categories here, brothers and sisters.

33:30

It's very important to know what they are. We talk about it all the time as Christians. What do we mean? What's grace? Unmerited favor.

33:36

You didn't work for it. You don't deserve it. What is grace? It's a gift. It's a gift that's even different than Christmas.

33:43

Christmas is coming and it's awesome. And Jason, you're going down. Holly, you too. What, Christmas is great.

33:51

Because Christmas is gift, gift, gift. And it's, you smell the tape and the wrapping and the smells, it's glorious.

33:58

I love Christmas. But even Christmas, even human interaction in Christmas, while it's gifts, a lot of times people are like, well,

34:07

I gotta buy them gifts because I know they're getting me gifts, right? There's sort of like a back and forth, like I gotta go to this

34:12

Christmas party, I gotta get gifts because everyone else will be getting gifts. I can't be the only schlub that shows up without a gift, right?

34:18

Because we have to pass out the gifts to one another. You even feel kind of an obligation at Christmas time, which is supposed to be all gifts.

34:25

The only people really who are really experiencing Christmas as grace and gifts are these freeloading children that just think they're just gonna wake up.

34:33

And they're just getting, they understand the gift that you're doing and they get up and my house, there's a candy trail.

34:42

My kids get up and there's a candy trail going to the tree. I spend Christmas Eve putting lights, extra lights all over the house, hanging off things.

34:49

And we put like stuff on the TV and Christmas music is blasting. So when they first wake up out of bed, they're hearing

34:55

Christmas music, there's a candy trail and they turn the corner and there's gifts. And we put like little gifts in ginormous boxes.

35:02

So when they come out, it looks obscene. Like they get it.

35:07

They're like, I didn't do anything for this. It's all gifts. That's gift, grace, unmerited.

35:12

You didn't labor for it. You don't deserve it. It's something given as gift. Think of grace as gift because that's what it is biblically defined.

35:21

The other category is mercy. Mercy is not getting what you do deserve.

35:29

You worked for something and you deserve a payment for it. You worked sinfully.

35:37

You engaged in unrighteousness and you deserve a payment, but you don't get what you ought to get paid.

35:45

What you do deserve with mercy. That's mercy, grace and mercy. And here's the thing.

35:52

Grace, in order to be grace, I'm quoting Pastor James here. Grace in order to be grace must be free.

36:05

Mercy can never be demanded because justice demands penalty.

36:13

Justice. Mercy is a category that is contrary to justice in terms of it goes the other direction.

36:22

It's not giving you what you do deserve, what you did work for. Next, somebody says

36:30

I couldn't worship a God who only saves a minuscule portion of humanity.

36:36

Here it is again. I couldn't worship a God who only saves a minuscule portion of humanity.

36:43

My first response to that as a post -millennialist is who said it's minuscule?

36:52

You see, I'm gonna respond to that, I think consistently from the scriptures. The Bible says about Jesus right now, 1

36:58

Corinthians 15, he's reigning now. And he must reign until all of his enemies are a footstool for his feet.

37:07

And after all those enemies are a footstool for his feet, the last enemy will be death. And then it says that Jesus delivers the kingdom to the

37:16

Father like look, Father, I finished, it's done, victory.

37:24

That's the story according to the Apostle Paul. And I seem to remember a promise made to Father Abraham where he was told to look up to the stars.

37:33

And he says, look to the stars, so shall your descendants be.

37:39

That's a heck of a lot of stars, brothers and sisters. It's a lot of stars, billions of galaxies, lots of stars.

37:48

That's a lot, that sounds like a victory lap for the Messiah to me. God talks about Abraham's descendants like the sand on the seashore.

38:00

If you ever get a chance to go to the beach, I challenge you next time you go, have this moment, have this moment, and I think it'll put fire underneath you.

38:10

Stick your hand in that sand, drop it, look at your hand and what's the rest of the sand that's stuck on your hand, and then look across that beach.

38:19

God says, your descendants like the sand on the seashore. That's a heck of a lot of sand, brothers and sisters.

38:25

Who in the world ever said that it's a minuscule part of all of humanity?

38:31

Who said it's minuscule? I actually believe that the larger portion of humanity will be actually saved in the end.

38:38

That's my own personal belief. I think I can defend that from the scriptures, but here's the deal. I've got lots of stars and lots of sand.

38:44

What are you talking about? A few. Number two, when someone says

38:49

I couldn't worship a God who only saves a minuscule portion of humanity, I wanna go to the heart of that challenge and bring it to a biblical place.

38:56

We're sinners, God is holy. Here's the better question you should be asking. The better question is, why does he save one?

39:07

We're challenging the grace of God and his sovereign will and salvation by saying, why does

39:13

God save so few? The better question is this. Why is he saving any?

39:19

If you know your own heart and you know how sinful you are, and you know how God's word and his revelation describes your condition before the fall or in the fall, then you ought to be asking the better question, the more biblical question, philosophically,

39:32

Christianly consistent question, and that is this. Why does he save any of us?

39:41

So, false assumptions at the bottom of that one as well. Unbiblical traditions attached to that one.

39:48

Next challenge. If God has chosen who he will save, that means some of my loved ones will be passed over and are going to hell.

40:00

It's a tough one. Why is it hard? It's a tough one because it's emotional. It's a tough one because we love our loved ones, our family, we love our friends, and this is a hard one.

40:14

I want you to think about it for a second. This is probably one of the hardest ones. Not hard to overcome biblically, philosophically from a

40:21

Christian perspective. You know what makes this one so hard? Is we can't see the answer coming from scripture at times because we prize our emotional commitment at this point more than we do the revelation of God.

40:35

This is a hard nut to crack, this one, because the emotions run deep, and wherever emotions run deep, this is where the word of God becomes very, very foggy because we won't see, because we don't want to.

40:49

So, if God has chosen who he will save, that means some of my loved ones will be passed over and are going to hell.

40:55

First answer, we're all sinners and worthy of justice. Your mom, your dad, your sister, your brother, your children, your best friends are in the same place you are before God.

41:16

Sinner, fallen son and daughter of Adam, rebel against the king, and so we need to take our emotional commitments for a moment and put them aside and remember what the

41:27

Bible teaches about our condition. We're all sinners and we're all worthy of justice. What does

41:32

God, the divine judge of all the universe, the God who will always do right, what does he owe sinners?

41:40

Justice. Next, this is an interesting one. This actually is,

41:46

I find these ones so compelling, and here's why. At times, these arguments would be used against Calvinists.

41:51

People don't even realize that while they're lobbying the argument of the Calvinists, they have the exact same problem, but they never thought about it because they found what they thought was a very strong emotional appeal to reject the sovereign will of God and grace of God and salvation.

42:05

They think it works against the Calvinists and they never stop to think about what it means about their position.

42:11

So when the person says to you, as a professing Christian who acknowledges the lordship of Christ, the deity of Christ, all the essentials, and says, but that means that God has chosen who he will save, and that means that some of my loved ones will be passed over and are going to hell, that that's their ultimate destination, and God knows it.

42:30

Well, every single Orthodox Christian who believes that God is all -knowing has to deal with this issue.

42:41

For the Calvinists, the reformed person, we say that God choosing and elect people comes with a meaning and a purpose, and it's the purpose of God, the all -knowing and powerful

42:52

God who is giving grace and mercy, and yes, that is an active decree, and God knows, he determines, he chooses, he's sovereign, he wields it all, and it all is with purpose.

43:06

But the Christian who believes that God also knows all things has to contend with the fact, ready, that God knew from all eternity that this person would be born, would live a life of rejection of God, and would ultimately go to hell, and God created them anyways.

43:29

Do you see? This isn't a problem for the Calvinists. It becomes an issue for Orthodox Christianity when you have an all -knowing

43:38

God. So, some people have thought about it and go,

43:43

I don't like that implication either, and so they try to rescue God by creating really, really unorthodox, heretical, and I think terribly destructive theologies about God, like open theism, where God doesn't know.

44:01

He creates things, he doesn't really know what the actual outcome's gonna be. Things could change tomorrow.

44:08

Pastor James had a debate with one of these devils, and I think he said something to the effect of Christ could have, what'd he say?

44:16

That Christ could have sinned, the atonement could have not happened, or God could have rejected, or something to that effect, because the deal is, is if God doesn't know the future, isn't in control of the future, then things could change at any moment, and I say that's a

44:32

God not worthy of worship. Here's the deal. If you affirm what all Orthodox Christianity affirms, that God is all -knowing, then this is an issue for all of us to deal with it.

44:42

Either God chooses and has a purpose in it, or God knew when he created, the person would live a life of rejection, and ultimately end up in hell, and God created them anyways.

44:54

This isn't a problem for the Calvinists, it's a problem for Orthodox Christianity. If God is all -knowing, you gotta answer the question, did he have a purpose in it, or is he thwarted by his creatures?

45:07

Next, well, let me give you the options with that one.

45:13

I don't wanna neglect this. Option A, with an all -knowing God, is this, God knows who will reject him and go to hell, or option

45:22

B, Psalm 135 .6. Whatever the

45:27

Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

45:35

And finally, my response to when someone says, if God has chosen who he will save, that means some of my loved ones will be passed over and are going to hell.

45:43

My final response, and this is the clincher, are you ready? Ephesians chapter one, it says he predestined us.

45:54

He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.

46:00

In love, he predestined us to adoption as sons. The Bible teaches that God chose, the

46:06

Bible teaches that God predestined. Next, why does God choose some and not all?

46:14

Why does God choose some and not all? My answer to this, coming from the

46:20

Bible as the foundation first, is he is love and justice.

46:27

He is love and justice. That's what I was getting at a moment ago when I said most evangelicals today, they say that God is a

46:35

God of love. He's just love, he just loves everybody. He's just a big old happy grandpa in the sky, he just so terribly wants people to love him back and he's just so sad for all eternity.

46:46

He's just love. They forget God is a God of justice. So why does God choose to save some and not all is because God is not simply love as an attribute,

46:56

God is also justice. Both will be glorified on the last day.

47:03

Do you hear that? Those attributes both will be glorified on the last day. God's love will be glorified for his elect and God's justice will be glorified in God giving justice to those who have hated him all of their lives.

47:24

And my answer to this when someone says why does God choose some and not all is because he wanted to.

47:34

Let that hang for a second because I don't mean it to be flippant and I don't mean it to be rude,

47:40

I mean it from a biblical perspective when someone says, well, why did God do that? Who are you, oh man?

47:48

Who are you, sinful, rebellious creature to look up to God and to demand that he come off his throne and perform for you?

47:59

Here's the response when someone says why does God choose some and not all? Because he wanted to.

48:08

For his glory. Man is not the center of the universe. God is.

48:16

God is the center. Somebody might say, but wait, hold on now.

48:22

Here's my response to the doctrines of grace and God's sovereign will and salvation and this sovereign grace of God and salvation, but man has a free will.

48:33

Man has a free will. Well, I think we've already dealt with that in total depravity or total inability so I won't do that whole sermon right now, but let's just go through it quickly and say this.

48:43

Man has a creaturely will. He's making choices. He is a creature.

48:48

He's not a robot. He's doing, she's doing what she wants to do. We're not robots.

48:56

God's not the puppet master. We don't have strings on us. We have a creaturely will. We're doing what we want.

49:02

However, what does the Bible say about the will? It says that our will is enslaved to sin.

49:10

And here it is. Our will operates on the basis of our nature.

49:16

If our nature is fallen, if our nature is enslaved in Adam, then the will, the choices that we make are made on the basis of the nature.

49:27

Fallen nature, fallen choices. Regenerate nature, regenerate choices.

49:34

We have a creaturely will, but our will is enslaved to sin. What does the Bible say about our will?

49:39

Quickly, that we are unable to come to God, John 6.

49:45

Enslaved to our sin, John 8. Unable to submit to God's law, Romans 8.

49:51

Cannot do what's pleasing to God, Romans 8. That's our condition. So when someone says we have a free will,

49:59

I would say that God is the only truly free being. We are creatures.

50:06

God is free. We are opposed to what's known as libertarian free will.

50:12

God is the only truly free being in existence. So then someone asks the next challenge.

50:18

They say this. If God is sovereign over everything, then that makes him the author of what?

50:28

Evil. Seems a potent one, right? All right, if God is sovereign, then that means that that makes him the author of evil.

50:38

It's a popular argument. It's not a good one. This argument doesn't understand the difference between primary means and secondary causes.

50:51

God's sovereignly decreeing things with the willing choices of sinful creatures.

50:57

The best examples that I can give that are quick ones, snapshots to give in terms of how this works out in history are the crucifixion of Jesus in Isaiah chapter 10.

51:07

I'll just do it briefly. In the crucifixion of Jesus, we've used this a lot during this study. It's very, very important because the early church was proclaiming this.

51:17

In the book of Acts, when the early church came together to pray, they said, gathered in this city against your holy servant,

51:25

Jesus, and then they start listing Pontius Pilate, Herod, the peoples of Israel, the

51:32

Gentiles, to do what? To do whatever your hand predestined to occur.

51:38

Jesus is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

51:44

God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. This isn't a plan that is ongoing and changing.

51:52

God is all -knowing. He decrees all things. And in this particular text in scripture, it says all these people gathered against Jesus with all their different motivations and intentions and sinful desires, each different.

52:07

Pilate's intentions and his motivations were different than Herod's. Herod's different than the leadership in Jerusalem and the

52:16

Gentile Roman soldiers, very different from all of them. And yet it says this, to do whatever your hand predestined to occur.

52:25

God predestined the murder of Jesus. The most sinful, wicked, treacherous act committed by human beings in human history.

52:38

We hate God so much that if he would come down from his throne and put on flesh, we would kill him.

52:46

And we did. And it says that the murder of Jesus was predestined by God.

52:53

And yet Pilate was doing what he wanted. God wasn't making

53:00

Pilate sin and be a coward. Herod was a despicable, wicked man and God wasn't making him be sinful.

53:07

God was allowing him to be what he wanted to be. The leadership in Jerusalem, please hear me on this, had tried to kill

53:15

Jesus a number of times. A number of times. And Jesus said, no one takes my life from me.

53:23

I lay it down of my own accord. And Jesus slipped out of people trying to stone him.

53:29

They couldn't kill him because it wasn't his time. And it wasn't until he actually set his face to Jerusalem and said, all right boys, modern vernacular.

53:40

I'm going to Jerusalem. They're gonna kill me. And then three days later, I'll rise again.

53:45

It was when he said he was going. It was only when he allowed them to kill him that they could kill him.

53:53

But notice this, no one made them sin. They did what they wanted, but God predestined it.

54:00

In Isaiah chapter 10, good example, go read it later, is an example there of where God actually sends the sinful people against the people of Israel.

54:08

It's like they're on a leash and he lets them go for a minute to have what they want. And then after his desire is done with punishing his people, he then turns and he judges the people he sent against them for the sinfulness in their hearts.

54:22

You've got rabid dogs. God's holding them back. God lets one go. And now for his own purpose, brings it back and then judges the viciousness and sin of those people.

54:33

Isaiah chapter 10, God is sovereign. And listen, God decrees all things, but there's also the cause of us, the creatures, our sin.

54:43

God does not make anybody sin. God didn't put a gun to anyone's head and say, kill

54:49

Jesus. They wanted to kill him so many times before, but God thwarted them.

54:56

It was only when God released his sovereign hands that they were allowed to do what they did to Jesus.

55:02

He's sovereign even over people's sin. One of the things Pastor James says all the time is that people complain about God a lot and his sovereign will, but they never thank him.

55:11

We're not thanking him enough for his withholding, for his holding people back from their sin.

55:17

All the times that God doesn't allow someone to have what they desire in their hearts.

55:29

The Bible says that he is sovereign. He's not impotent.

55:35

He's not ever frustrated. All things work together for good.

55:42

Next, here we go. This is more methodological. I think we're actually almost done. Yes, we are, okay. Now, these are the more popular ones and these tend to be the ones that come usually near the end.

55:53

As people are really having the scripture impact them, they start thinking about implications and it's good that they are.

56:00

The next is the methodological. When people think about the doctrines of grace, they start going into, well, what does this mean in terms of how

56:07

I preach the gospel and how I tell people about Jesus? Somebody will say, okay, well, wait a minute. You mean

56:13

I can't walk up to someone on the street and say, Jesus loves you.

56:21

Hey, Jesus loves you. Well, I'll say this. That's not how the apostles preached the gospel.

56:33

I'll challenge you with this. If you're emotionally committed to that methodology, then

56:39

I'll just challenge you with this. Go find that in the New Testament. Find it. Find the apostles in the book of Acts.

56:47

You have an entire narrative of the history of the early church in the book of Acts and how the apostles in the early church went into the public square, preached the gospel, saw so many come to Christ.

56:56

The church formed and grew and they just blew up over the empire. They started riots by being godly troublemakers and preaching the gospel.

57:05

And I want you to find me where in the book of Acts the apostles went into a place and said, hey, guys, Jesus loves you.

57:13

Find it. You won't. And I would challenge us with this. Maybe our methodology is wrong.

57:21

Maybe our methodology isn't biblical. Maybe our methodology in pandering to rebels against God by walking out into the public square and saying, hey, rebel,

57:31

Jesus loves you. Maybe that's not the way. Maybe we should proclaim the gospel the way the apostles proclaimed the gospel, where they said things like,

57:42

God commands men everywhere to repent. They went into a place saying, you're a sinner.

57:50

This is what Jesus accomplished. He died. He rose again. He's the king of the earth. Repent and believe the gospel.

57:56

It came as a command, not as a request, not as a, will you please let him.

58:03

The call was going into places to have people submit themselves to the lordship of Jesus Christ, trusting in him, fleeing from their sin, believing in him, receiving the gift of eternal life.

58:14

That's how the apostles went and preached the gospel. Maybe we need to rethink 21st century evangelism and our methodology, walking into places saying, hey, bro,

58:24

Jesus loves you, thinking that that has an impact. The apostles and early

58:31

Christians preached the law of God. They talked about people's rebellion, their sin against God, and they said, this is

58:38

Jesus. God has accomplished everything he promised in Jesus. He died. He rose again.

58:44

He ascended. Repent and believe the gospel. Come to Christ and live. Trust in Christ for forgiveness and salvation.

58:52

So that's not how the apostles preached the gospel, but I wanna say something at the end of this. Please hear me on this so that people don't think

58:59

I'm cold -hearted. Someone says, you mean I can't walk up to someone and say,

59:04

Jesus loves you? Well, I'd say again, that's not how the apostles preached the gospel, but can I remind us all of this?

59:10

It's so vital, and I gotta be honest. Sometimes reformed folks can really neglect this.

59:17

God is loving to those who hate him every day.

59:24

God has a salvific love for his elect, but God is loving to sinners every day.

59:34

Can we just talk about that for a moment? People who hate

59:40

God, people who spit on the scriptures, people who shake their fist at God, who despise

59:49

Christianity. There was, of course, a famous liberal recently. There was a tweet heard around the world wherein a person said, if you could do one thing in history or kill one person, what would you do?

01:00:00

Well, I'd go back and I'd assassinate Jesus. It's like, bro, they already tried that. I don't know what you're thinking that would accomplish.

01:00:08

But here's a person like, if I could have one thing in history, I'd go back and I'd kill Jesus again. Well, you'd rise again from the dead.

01:00:15

I don't know what that's gonna accomplish. And also, you have no power in yourself to kill anybody, but a person, that guy's still living.

01:00:22

He's still breathing. He's still putting food in his belly. God's still sustaining him and causing his heart to beat and still putting breath in his lungs.

01:00:33

Jesus said, God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.

01:00:40

God is loving and merciful and gracious every day to people who hate him.

01:00:46

But he has a salvific love for his people. You know what's funny about modern evangelicals oftentimes is they believe this completely, but they believe it with Israel.

01:00:59

They say, oh yeah, God chose Israel. That's a special elect people. Out of all the nations on the earth, he chose them. That was a very special love for Israel that wasn't for the

01:01:05

Philistines, wasn't for the Amorites, wasn't for the rest of them, it was for Israel. And you go, and it's the same thing for the church.

01:01:13

It's a salvific love for his elect, his chosen people. It's a consistent message.

01:01:19

But remember that God is loving every day to everyone who hates him when he causes their heart to continue to beat every single day.

01:01:28

Somebody says, and this is along the same lines as that last objection. Someone says, you mean I can't tell someone on the street, hey,

01:01:36

Jesus died for you. My challenge to that, again, is this. That's not how the apostles preached the gospel.

01:01:46

The apostles preached the gospel by proclaiming what

01:01:52

Jesus had done, talking about who Jesus was, and then they called people to repent and to believe.

01:02:01

They said, this is who Jesus is. This is what he's accomplished. Repent and believe the gospel.

01:02:07

The gospel, please hear me on this. This is vital, and I think you'll get it, brothers and sisters, if you hear this.

01:02:12

The gospel is a command. It is not a request. It is a command.

01:02:18

This is the good news of God. It's the good news of his kingdom. Jesus is the

01:02:24

Messiah. This is who he is. This is what he did. He died and he rose again. He's ascended and seated.

01:02:30

And now God commands men everywhere to repent, believe in Christ, come to him and live, trust in Jesus for salvation and for forgiveness.

01:02:39

The command to repent and to believe, Acts 17. So somebody then asked this challenge.

01:02:46

Why tell someone to do something God knows they won't do? That seems senseless.

01:02:51

God's sovereign, and yet he's telling people to repent and to submit to Jesus, to trust in him, when they aren't going to do it?

01:03:00

Well, I would just say from a biblical perspective, please hear this, this is Orthodox Christianity. We all have this issue.

01:03:07

Image bearers of God are morally responsible before God. Period.

01:03:13

Straight away. They're in the image of God. They're called to be reflections of the glory of God.

01:03:19

They're called to be his light into the world. God creates people in his image, and all image bearers of God are morally responsible before God.

01:03:31

Their sin and their challenging of God every day of their life doesn't change the fact that they're in his image, that they know

01:03:38

God, that they suppress the truth of God, Romans chapter one, in unrighteousness, that they don't want

01:03:44

God in their knowledge. They are culpable. They have no apologetic, no excuse, no defense,

01:03:52

Paul says in Romans chapter one. They know the true God, but they don't want him. But they are image bearers of God who are morally responsible before God.

01:04:02

They are culpable. They are responsible. But think about this in terms of the biblical worldview. Wherever you're at on this issue,

01:04:09

God gives his law. He gives his prescriptive will.

01:04:14

He tells us what he's like. He tells us what is righteous. He tells us what is holy.

01:04:20

He tells us what is just. He tells us his ways. And he gives that law to people he knows will disobey it in scripture.

01:04:31

He gives the law to people he knows will disobey it. Someone says, well, why does

01:04:37

God tell someone to do something that he knows that they won't do? And the answer is, you're in God's image.

01:04:44

You're in God's world. You're morally responsible before God. He gives his word and his law, and you're responsible.

01:04:51

So when I go into the world to preach the gospel to sinners who hate God, I'm calling the world to do what

01:04:58

God has commanded, repent and believe the gospel. But here's the kicker. Are you ready for this?

01:05:04

When someone says, why tell someone to do something that in themselves they can't do? I love this answer.

01:05:11

It's Paul, same chapter, Romans one. The gospel is the power of God for salvation.

01:05:18

It's what God uses to bring dead people to life. I know that this person in front of me has no ability in themselves to save themselves.

01:05:28

I know I can't manipulate them so they'll trust in Jesus. I know they're dead in their sins and trespasses.

01:05:34

So why give the gospel to somebody who is dead? Answer, the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

01:05:42

God empowers by his spirit the proclamation of that message. And then he opens the eyes of the blind.

01:05:50

He gives hearing to the deaf. He gives legs to the spiritually lame. He takes a dead corpse and he raises it to life.

01:05:59

That's what the gospel does. So why preach the gospel to people who are in themselves unable to believe it?

01:06:06

Because the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

01:06:13

Last one, just a quick one. So you're saying that God forces people to sin.

01:06:22

I saw that last week on one of our videos. By the way, I never pay attention to comments really because I'm trying to remain sane.

01:06:30

But I did see someone say, so you're saying God forces people to sin. And my answer is false, straw man.

01:06:37

No one teaches that. No one believes that. So if you hear that, that's not part of what we believe.

01:06:43

It isn't what the Bible teaches. It's just a straw man. Don't believe it, don't teach it. God doesn't force anyone to sin.

01:06:49

Here's the answer. People do what they want according to their will, coming from their nature.

01:06:56

People are doing what they want. So we're finished. Praise God.

01:07:05

So what do we do from here? Here's my answer. I wanted to make it very personal. When I first came to Christ, the first book

01:07:17

I had read over and over and over again was the gospel according to John.

01:07:24

So I had this tension happening within me because I can read, I can see what it says.

01:07:30

God speaks with clarity there. Whole discussions about Christ and his people and laying his life down for them and other sheep.

01:07:38

He will bring them, he'll never lose them. And you're unable to come unless the Father or somebody draws you and I'll raise you up.

01:07:44

All that, it was there, but I also was in the middle of a tradition, a communion that taught all these opposing things.

01:07:51

So when I would go out to do evangelism, it was tension there within me, knowing that God can do this, he can save.

01:07:58

But I had this other tradition conflicting and it was moments of difficulty and I have to admit some manipulation because of that tradition in terms of how is this person gonna come to Jesus?

01:08:11

And so you start to manipulate if you can to try to convince this person in some way, add things to the story.

01:08:22

But when I came to a place where I fully understood the consistent message of scripture from Genesis to Revelation about the sovereignty of God and salvation and his power to save sinners, it completely transformed my ministry and my evangelism.

01:08:36

People might ask, Pastor Jeff, you do some tough ministry. Seen you out there on the street, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, atheists, public debate, abortion mill.

01:08:46

You must be a really courageous and brave guy. My answer, no, no. I'm just a man,

01:08:52

I'm a sinner and there's times where I don't wanna be out there and there's times where I'll go there and I'll see crazy stuff happening and the same response you'd have,

01:08:59

I'd say this seems tough and scary even and nerve wracking, I don't know if I can do this and the answer underneath me every time that brings me to a place of boldness and confidence is the doctrines of grace.

01:09:13

I know what God is able to accomplish in salvation and so you wanna say what's the fruit, what's the fruit of the doctrines of grace in your life?

01:09:20

I would say, look around. This church, this ministry, all the tough ministries happening right now, all around us, everything coming out of this church wouldn't be the case,

01:09:32

I gotta be honest with you, if I didn't know what the Bible teaches about the doctrines of grace.

01:09:38

It's the fruit of the doctrines of grace and when I go out to the Mormon temple to stand on that sidewalk to preach the gospel to a group of people,

01:09:46

I can do it with humility, I can do it with compassion and I can do it with boldness because I know that it's not gonna be anything in me that saves this person.

01:09:56

I'm there to plant seeds and to preach the gospel which God uses to save people. I don't have to live my life in perpetual sorrow or fear about the future, thinking that somehow people can thwart

01:10:11

God's purposes or maybe he's not fully in control. I have complete confidence in what scripture says about God's sovereignty and his ability to save and so I know that when

01:10:21

I go out there as a minister of the gospel, I'm casting out seed, gospel seed, gospel seed and God is the one who is preparing the ground to receive the seed.

01:10:32

I know that sometimes I scatter that seed and it doesn't actually penetrate. I know that sometimes it looks like it did but it actually didn't, it wasn't real but I know that there's a

01:10:41

God behind that story that prepares ground to receive seed so that it bears fruit, sometimes 30 fold, sometimes 60 fold, sometimes 100 fold but we have a sovereign

01:10:52

God. So your job and my job is to live a life of godly trouble, preaching a bold gospel with humility.

01:11:01

Humility, you know what I think these things do? They humble you. If they haven't humbled you, you don't understand it.

01:11:10

Keep studying and stay in your cage. Don't go out there and try to start talking about these things until you first have been truly humbled by it because if you heard me in this whole series, if you've heard us in this whole series, then you've heard that you have nothing to boast in, nothing.

01:11:28

You're in this room right now because of the sovereign will of God and his love for undeserving sinners like you.

01:11:34

If you're here, you should be humbled by that truth and you should also be emboldened now to go out into that world, no matter the tyrannical context that exists outside right now and preach a faithful, bold gospel that will change the world.

01:11:55

We need to stop manipulating people. We need to stop pandering to people. We need to stop softening the edges of God's sword and we need to go out there and preach the gospel the way that God gave it to us, boldly and with humility and trust

01:12:15

God for the fruit, amen? So let's go preach it. Let's pray. Father, I pray that you'd bless the words that went out today for your glory.

01:12:24

Make us a church that is humble. Make us a church that is bold. In Jesus' name, amen.