[0:01] Glutton. Guys and gals. Thank you for coming tonight. I want you guys to know that Greg and I truly, when we say this,! we do not take you being here for granted.
[0:13] When you come on Sundays, Wednesdays, whenever we're teaching, thank you for coming and availing yourself. We work at this. And so to have you come is an honor to the Lord and in a roundabout way, an honor to us.
[0:27] So thank you for that. Thank you for honoring the Word and honoring the Lord. If you're not, you're welcome. If you're not providentially kept from here, you know, sometimes we can't make it.
[0:39] There's stuff going on and life happens and we understand that too. Okay, let's pray. I feel like I need to take that moment and take a spiritual breath here.
[0:49] We've been running and gunning for the last few hours. Hey, y'all. Come on in. Is it raining yet, Jeremy? Okay. When we came in, it was threatening.
[1:01] That was at six. So, wow, half an hour. Okay, let's pray together. Father, again, we thank you for the souls that are here.
[1:12] And we know that we have you to thank because of your providential care and sustaining grace for your people. You have given these folks a desire to sit under your Word and to learn about the way that you save people and to be encouraged and reinforced in that reality, that truth.
[1:30] And God, we have you to thank for all that you do for us through Jesus Christ. We want to carefully open the Word tonight and look into the Scriptures and ask for your insight, the Holy Spirit's guidance as our counselor to enlighten the eyes of our understanding and help us to grasp the point of the passage, help us to do careful exegesis and not read into the passage our bias or our prejudice or what we think we want it to say.
[2:00] Help us to establish in our own hearts, Lord, does the Bible say these things? And I pray that in doing that, we will bring you much glory.
[2:12] Thank you again, Father, for your grace, your mercy, your kindness, and the goodness of your heart toward us as you have brought us this truth in your Son. In his name we pray. Amen. All right, quiz. Pop quiz.
[2:24] So, why is it helpful and important to God's people to study, understand, and apply the doctrines of sovereign grace?
[2:39] Why are we doing this? This specific study. Not generally, why do we study the Word and come on Wednesday night. Why are we studying the doctrines of grace? Yes, Michelle.
[2:52] I think it talks about things about God. It helps us learn about God. Okay, so in a more general sense, it helps us learn about God because they do speak to the work of God.
[3:06] This is all the work of God in salvation. All right, what else? Kevin? To find the truth in the Lord. Yes, to establish for our hearts the truth of the Lord on these matters.
[3:19] All right, anything else? It would be hard to fail this test. If you come off with something outside the Scripture, then you'll get a... I think it's like what God decides or what man decides.
[3:33] Okay, and we're distinguishing, aren't we? Is that what you mean, Michael? Yes. Very good. All right. Greg? To equip us, because unfortunately or fortunately it's a hot topic in the church culture.
[3:47] Good. To equip us. That answer biblical. Yes. Amen. There is so much misinformation, misunderstanding, misapplication out there. There is even malignment where people hate this doctrine.
[4:01] These doctrines overall. Okay, good. Let's sum all those up. Let's bring them all together and put an equal sign and talk about the fact that this helps us deepen our love for a saving God.
[4:17] And we don't want to miss that. This should make our hearts sore with the goodness of God towards sinners. He didn't have to do any of this.
[4:29] He could have left every one of us to be in our rebellion, in our sin, in our deceit, in our pride. But God did something about that before He even made the world, before sin ever entered the world, before there were any people, before He made this place a habitation for humans.
[4:52] God secured our salvation in His Son before any of that. What a big God. What a God who knew all things.
[5:03] All right, well, we're going to jump in this evening. And we're going to do a little bit of review. And then I'll be saying some things that you'll be marking through on your student handout.
[5:15] And we'll be doing the slides. And then again, as I've done the last couple times, it'll be toward the latter third or so of our study that we'll jump into the Scriptures and start seeing how these things come together.
[5:29] All right? So the student handout. Mark, would you help with that, brother? Go ahead, Brenda. You can grab a couple for you guys. There's plenty. So I think everybody can have one if you want one.
[5:47] Yes. Not with us. But we can get them. You want them Sunday? Oh, you want one for last week? Well, what we can do, Mona, is maybe send them to you. Just send you the lot.
[5:59] Because Mona, she's going to be out of town the next couple times, too. So we'll send them to her. One of the reasons that we're recording this is because we recognize we were going to have people who told us in advance there were going to be conflicts with their schedule.
[6:12] But they didn't want to miss the material. Okay. One caveat that I'll remind you of. It's okay for you to be looking over the student sheet, but please don't run ahead of me.
[6:26] Okay? Stay with me. Don't read ahead and be curious about where we're going. Stay with me so that you can stay involved in the content as it develops. I have written this in a way that it builds and repeats.
[6:41] Repetition is a good thing. I've said the same thing in different ways in different areas as we change up some of the theme so that it'll kind of hit you from the side and up and down.
[6:54] We'll see how all that works out. All right. So as we start, remember our acronym. We're working off the acronym of TULIP. And right out of the gate, thorns, thistles, and weeds in the TULIP garden is where we left off last time talking about this.
[7:11] And this is the Arminian objections to total depravity. There are many other objections that they have to the other aspects of the doctrines of grace, but let's stick there.
[7:21] So in Arminian theology, the effects of sin have not been so grave as to render the sinner totally incapable of reaching out to God for help.
[7:35] Now you remember what we're doing is we're talking about how Arminians object to what we taught last week. The total inability of man. So I'm not reviewing all of that.
[7:46] I'm just building on what they say. Arminian anthropology asserts man's freedom to will his way to God. And Arminian theology renders God as a mere bystander who can only hope that the person will choose to reach out to the Lord for salvation.
[8:05] Now, pause there with me and let me say this to you. Greg and I are not in the habit of teaching error. Not intentionally.
[8:16] And so if you're thinking that we're going to have a time where we're going to walk over here to the side and teach you Arminian theology, think again. It's not going to happen.
[8:27] We can point you to references that teach Arminian theology and compare it and contrast it with the doctrines of grace as we understand them. And those works are very good.
[8:38] And it would be good for you to know what they teach. But we're not going to reinforce that with you. What we're going to do is teach you the truth. And then when you hear something that opposes the truth, you'll recognize it.
[8:49] You'll understand. All right. So what I'm doing here is not teaching you Arminian theology. I'm telling you how they disagree with the first doctrine that we've studied, total depravity. The reason I'm doing that is because this baseline on total depravity sets the course for everything else that we talk about in the way of how God saves us.
[9:10] If we're not totally unable to save ourselves, help ourselves, or reach out to God, then the rest of what we study in this acronym is off. Okay.
[9:21] So this is one of the reasons I'm showing you this. All right. Next in line, R.C. Sproul explains the Arminian view of man's need for God as that of cooperative grace.
[9:32] Now, once you write that, I want to ask you a question. Pop quiz. Again, I don't do many of these, so you're going to get a couple of them tonight. All right. Yeah, Greg. See, Greg's the hard prof.
[9:44] So if you take his course, it's going to be hard to get an A. With me, I'm too much of a, I don't know. I'm too soft. Greg says I'm a softy. He loves pop quizzes. Can you go to point one again?
[9:55] Because mine's looking really weird. Uh-oh. Did we print it wrong? I don't know. It says that Arminian theology, the effects of sin have not been so great that surrender to sinners totally incapable of reaching out to God for help.
[10:08] Yes. That's the Arminian view. I'm teaching you. I'm telling you what they believe. They believe that. All right. You're with me. I'm going. So we're. This doesn't make any sense. This doesn't make any sense.
[10:18] Amen. Well, praise the Lord. She's spitting this out as we say it. She's not having it. That's good, Alonza. So, yeah, we're contrasting this with the Calvinistic view.
[10:29] The view that we hold to. Okay. Now we got it. All right. So, R.C. Sproul explains the Arminian view of man's need for God is that of cooperative grace. Does that statement reflect a monergistic or a synergistic view of salvation?
[10:46] Good. Good, you guys. Excellent. We're working together. Together. And what did we teach about how God saves? It's monergistic or synergistic?
[10:58] Monergistic. Monergistic. And one. Mono. God. He's the mono in mono. You're right, right? All right. So, the synergistic comes in under what doctrinal heading?
[11:12] Begins with an S. No. Sanctification. There you go. The process of us growing in Christlikeness is a cooperative effort as we repent and surrender to the power of the Spirit.
[11:27] Right? And as we put off and put on, as we strive. Remember all that? From last time? Okay. Good. You guys. Man in his fallen state must reach out and grasp this grace by an act of the will, which is free to accept or reject this grace.
[11:46] Some exercise the will rightly or righteously, while others do not. This is the Arminian view. Spruill was quoting J.I. Packer in O.R.
[12:00] Johnston, and he states that the Arminian picture is that of God and man approaching each other almost on equal terms, each having his own contribution to make to man's salvation and each depending on the dutiful cooperation of the other for the attainment of that end.
[12:21] That's a quote from them. So, see, we're not the only ones saying this stuff and recognizing this. And then, the principle Arminian disagreement with the doctrine of total depravity.
[12:35] What is it? It's the idea of the complete corruption and total inability of man's will. Arminianism asserts the free or uncorrupted will of man.
[12:47] It's often expressed as man as a free moral agent. A free moral agent. Arminianism contends that man's will is essentially unaffected.
[13:04] You see that there. Unaffected. By the fall. And therefore, man is able to choose to move toward God. Now, I have to be fair. There are some people in the Arminian camp who don't go quite that far.
[13:19] And they will say that man has been affected by the fall and in a profound way. But not so much that man is without the ability to reach toward God.
[13:32] So, he's not quite dead. He's just mostly dead. But not quite all the way dead. Alright? So, there are those who... And in terms of the other points, the other four points, there are Arminians who kind of wax and wane at different levels of belief with those.
[13:50] Okay? So, this isn't always so cut and dry. Talking to other people who don't subscribe. You'll hear people say, I'm a four-pointer. I'm a four-point-fiver.
[14:03] And I just tell them, well, then you're not a pointer, dude. Or dudette. It's a package deal. One of the problems with you being a four-pointer is you're not taking it as a package deal.
[14:14] You have to... That's right. You have to look at the bigger picture of how God saves and take these doctrines together. Our book makes a very strong point of that.
[14:26] If you try to pull them out and analyze them and get into the weeds of every one of them, you're going to start losing yourself in those weeds. You need to pull back and look at the big picture and keep it in mind.
[14:39] These all support and feed off of one another. So you can't just pick one out and make it the thing. Okay? Alright, let's keep moving here.
[14:50] This is in the way of review then. After saying all that stuff, we need to deal with this. So we believe and teach here at Grace, we believe and teach that the total inability of mankind first of all means that all human faculties, faculties, your ability to think through issues, before you're born again, are dominated by sin and controlled by Satan.
[15:22] Now what that leads to is this, that the fallen human will, not free, fallen, being dominated by sin, cannot, it's not just a matter of even will not, it won't because it can't, desire salvation nor accept Christ on its own initiative without a miracle of the grace of God.
[15:45] Salvation is a miracle. It is the miracle working power of Almighty God to resurrect a dead thing. Boy, that's something. We also believe and teach that the new birth is a sovereign act of God in which the sinner is entirely passive until the gift of saving faith is granted by God.
[16:11] We are not able to respond to God until we are regenerated and given the gift of faith and then use that faith toward the object of believing in Christ. So it's not because we have faith that we are born again.
[16:25] We have faith because we are born again. You see the difference there? The human will is not the cause of the new birth.
[16:36] We are not born again on the basis of our own will. The Bible says no one seeks for God, not even one. None are righteous, not even one, right?
[16:49] Alrighty. Okay, and then finally, this quote, the instant we realize that our will is not the grounds of our salvation, then the meaning of grace becomes clear.
[17:03] We learn that we did not convert ourselves and that salvation is not a cooperative work between God and man. Salvation is of the Lord, according to Jonah 2.9.
[17:19] Now for you guys, you hear this every Sunday in some form or another. But to many people in our community going to church every Sunday, they're not hearing this.
[17:32] In fact, they're hearing something quite different. Okay? Since we are spiritually dead to God and incapable of moving toward the Lord or doing any spiritual good for ourselves or others, God must act.
[17:47] He must initiate any change in our spiritual condition. God must do that. He must move to us or draw us, as it were, to Himself.
[17:57] We'll see that later. This movement of God to save us begins with God's electing grace, His choosing grace.
[18:10] Alright? So here's what we're saying, and we're going to say it again and again. Our salvation is based on God's will, not our will. He willed to choose.
[18:23] Our will is our choice element in our life. And so God willed, He chose us before the foundation of the world.
[18:33] And that choice is the basis of our being able to come to know Him. It's the basis of His electing grace, His choice, His choosing of us.
[18:45] Okay? Very important. Alright, any quick questions on any of that so far? Was that review okay for you? Enough to counter all that Arminian nonsense that we read at the first?
[18:59] Alright? What I'd like to do with you now is have you, I'm going to put it up there. So that's what we're going to do. Unconditional election.
[19:11] God gave because He chose to save. And so what we're going to do is unpack those two words. The first thing I want to do is take you to pages 27 and 28 in the book.
[19:25] Greg and I, we're not just going to read the book to you and talk, because you have, the book is the text. This is how, now this is how you get, when you get in upper graduate school and seminary and upper, so they give you the text, they expect you'll read it and do the assignments, but when you go to class, you get lectures.
[19:46] You get taught. They don't just open the book and read it. If you get a class like that, you probably need to find a different class. And so, we're not going to read this whole book to you. We're going to trust you're reading it.
[19:58] Look at page 27, Unconditional Election. Now, notice what he says. Because of Adam's transgression, his descendants enter the world as guilty, lost sinners.
[20:09] Alright, so we're talking about original sin now. As fallen creatures, they have no desire to have fellowship with the Creator. He is holy, just, and good, whereas they are sinful, perverse, and corrupt.
[20:21] Left to their own choices, they inevitably follow the God of this world and do the will of their father, the devil. Consequently, men have cut themselves off from the Lord of heaven and have forfeited all their rights to His love and favor.
[20:35] It would have been perfectly just for God to have left all men in their sin and misery and to have shown mercy to none. Now that's important.
[20:46] I underline that. God was under no obligation whatsoever to provide salvation for anyone. So it's in this context that the Bible sets forth the doctrine of election.
[20:59] This is very important because Arminians will argue that mankind has a right to or that mankind stands on some sense of entitlement toward salvation.
[21:14] And what we're saying here is that's not true. God did not have to save anybody. He wasn't obligated to do that. He chose to do that.
[21:26] Alright? The doctrine of election declares that God before the foundation of the world chose certain notice individuals from among the fallen members of Adam's race to be the objects of his undeserved favor.
[21:40] These and these only. God purposed to save. God could have chosen to save all men for he had the power and authority to do that.
[21:51] Or he could have chosen to save none for he was under no obligation to show mercy to any. But he did neither. Instead he chose to save some and to exclude others.
[22:04] others. What we're focusing on is the choosing part. He chose to save some. So we're talking about electing grace in that choice right now.
[22:15] The doctrine of to exclude others is also something we'll need to look at at some point. His eternal choice of particular centers for salvation wasn't based upon any foreseen act or response on the part of those selected but was based solely on God's own good pleasure and sovereign will.
[22:41] Thus election was not determined by or conditioned upon anything that men would do I would add or not do but resulted entirely from God's self-determined purpose.
[22:59] Those who were not chosen for salvation were passed by and left to their own evil devices and choices. It is not within the creature's jurisdiction to call into question the justice of the Creator for not choosing everyone for salvation.
[23:17] This is the first thing you'll hear from people in the Arminian persuasion. That's not fair. I don't want to serve a God who wouldn't save everyone. Why didn't He choose everybody?
[23:31] What did He just say? It's not within our jurisdiction to ask that question. It is enough to know that the judge of the earth has done right.
[23:43] Do you see how this reflects on whether God is good or not? Whether God is just or not? Do you see how this calls that into question for some people? This is what's at stake. This is why we study this.
[23:56] because what the Arminians are saying reflect on the character of God and it's not good. It should however be kept in mind that if God had not graciously chosen a people for Himself and sovereignly determined to provide salvation for them and apply it to them none would be saved.
[24:17] The fact that He did this for some to the exclusion of others is in no way unfair to the latter group unless of course one maintains that God was under obligation to provide salvation for sinners a position which the Bible utterly rejects.
[24:32] Now here's the key paragraph. The doctrine of election should not only be viewed against the backdrop of human depravity and guilt but should also be studied in connection with the eternal covenant or agreement made between the members of the Godhead the Father Son and Holy Spirit for it was in the execution of this covenant that the Father here's the Father's work chose out of the world of lost sinners a definite number of individuals and gave them to the Son to be His people.
[25:10] What was the Son's function then? The Son under the terms of this compact this covenant this agreement agreed to do all that was necessary to save those chosen and given to Him by the Father.
[25:25] How about the Holy Spirit? The Spirit's part in the execution of this covenant was to apply the elect the salvation secured for them by the Son. That's what we're going to look at tonight.
[25:39] Election therefore is but one aspect though an important aspect of the saving purpose of the triune God and thus must not be viewed as salvation for the act of election itself saved no one.
[25:54] What it did was to mark out certain individuals for salvation. Consequently the doctrine of election must not be divorced from the doctrines of human guilt redemption regeneration or else it will be distorted and misrepresented.
[26:11] Folks that is exactly what happens in all the other views that are in error about this doctrine. This is one of the things that people can't stand about people like us who believe in the doctrines of grace.
[26:25] They can't stand this doctrine because they misrepresent it by not understanding human guilt, redemption, regeneration. In other words if the father's act of election is to be kept in its proper biblical balance and correctly understood it must be related to the redeeming work of the son who gave himself to save the elect and to the renewing work of the Holy Spirit who brings the elect to faith in Christ.
[26:57] Okay? That's gold. It's succinct, well written, and very, very good. It would be worth you reading that every day for the next 30 days along with the other stuff until that is coming out of your pores.
[27:12] It's very, very good. All right? Now, building on that, I want to say some things. Yes? Yes.
[27:28] Let me get there with you. Am I on page 28? Okay.
[27:41] Read to me the part you want to ask about, Vanita. It should not be the voice from the doctrines of human guilt and generation. What do you mean by human sin?
[27:53] So, they're talking about the reality that we carry in ourselves born into guilt before the Lord.
[28:04] So, that we're not guilty because we sin. sin because we're already guilty. So, we carry a human. See, they think we still have a free will.
[28:18] They think that not all of us, every part of us was corrupted. Right. Right. So, we have to understand where human guilt plays a part in our basic need, our fundamental need for God to work in our lives for us because we carry that guilt from birth.
[28:38] Yes. So, there's two ways to answer that. Two aspects of that.
[28:49] Original sin, the doctrine of original sin tells us that we are born in sin because of what Adam did originally.
[29:01] It doesn't simply refer to the first sin. It refers to the aspect of this is the origin of. We are sinners by origin and that origin is in our posterity, our father, our spiritual father, Adam.
[29:19] Does that help? And then the total depravity part is an expression of that reality in us. That by original sin, we are fully corrupt people.
[29:30] Total. And that renders us unable. Did that help? So the human guilt part has everything to do with the aspects of our need for God to reach out to us because we are dead in our trespasses and sin carrying the guilt, the weight of that rebellion, that pride against him.
[29:53] And if the Arminians don't latch on to that and hold on to that reality at the very beginning, they're going to be off compass worse and worse. By degree, they're going to get worse and worse off course as they move along because it compounds on itself in error as you go out further and start talking about these others.
[30:16] But if we're truly dead in our trespasses and sins, there's no way that we can reach out to God. We're dead and there's no spiritual good in us and we're carrying a guilt that will send us to hell.
[30:26] We're guilty. We are truly guilty people. It's not imagined. It's true guilt. It can.
[30:54] One of the reasons. Yes. Because error compounds on error. Well, how do we know that? Because we have an adversary who's trying to do that to us. We have deceitful hearts that want to default to pride.
[31:11] Election and predestination destroy human pride. Choke all the air out of human pride. And leaves us humble before the Lord as dead creatures looking up into heaven and saying, why would you ever save me in the rottenness of my sin?
[31:28] I was a rotten carcass. What do the hominians do with the scripture that talks about pre-destination and forewarning and the elections?
[31:40] What do they do with it? Yeah. Stay tuned. Good question, brother. Those are the questions that beg, aren't they, Michael? Once we start understanding the truth, you want to ask yourself, well, what do they do with these truths when they come across them?
[31:54] Have you ever been in a service where somebody was preaching through a section of scripture that talked about predestination or choice and did one of two things? They just went, Mike said they just went right through it and kept on going or they went back and they explained it in a way that exalted man's free will.
[32:16] Right? They twisted it. I've heard both. Okay. Good questions, you guys. You're tracking very well. All right, where were we? Oh, so the first thing that we want to deal with then is this aspect of unconditional.
[32:32] So Michael, we're going to start getting into some answers here. Unconditional. So this is God's choice, His electing grace, that's what we mean by electing grace, His choice of who to save and it is not conditioned by man in any way or at any time.
[32:52] This is an answer to Michael's question about foreknowledge. What do they do with that? This is what we're talking about. So God's choice, sorry, God's choice is not limited or impelled by anything or anyone in His choice of who will be saved.
[33:17] another way to say that. He chooses whom He chooses based solely on His good pleasure and the kind intentions of His will.
[33:32] Now these are just statements that we draw from the teachings of Scripture under this heading of unconditional election.
[33:44] I'm talking to you now and defining for you in statement form what unconditional means. God is under no preconditions to save anyone.
[33:57] So Michael asked about foreknowledge. Arminians take the foreknowledge foreknowledge. That we are going to see in a passage in Romans 8 in just a minute. They take that idea of foreknowledge and they say God looked into eternity future and He saw all the people who would by their own free will choose Him and so He chose to save them.
[34:22] And that puts man in the driver's seat. God is just simply in the passenger's seat watching and saying well wait and let me sit here for a little while and see where you take this thing and then once we get there I'll make a decision about what to do with it.
[34:37] I'm just along for the ride. What an impotent God. What an impotent God. Yes. Right.
[34:58] Yes. That's one way that they would talk about it. But it still renders God because He knew they were going to choose Him. He is acting on what they have chosen to do.
[35:15] Right. Exactly. And so Scripture won't sustain that. Well, some of them will say they do They don't understand sovereignty the way we understand it as taught from Scripture.
[35:36] But not all of them are going to deny sovereignty. They're going to do exactly what I've told you before. They're going to try to spin it. All right. This is why it's important for you to understand, as Greg said, what does the Scripture say?
[35:52] Stick with what it says. And when they start doing these little spins, take them to the Bible, read it to them, and say, help me understand how you view how that jives with this passage.
[36:05] Let's read it together. Now, tell me how what you view jives with this. As they do that, then you can follow their train of thought, and you can see how they're taking it out of context. How they're reading into rather than allowing it to read to them.
[36:21] All right? We'll get there in just a minute. We're going to do this together. Okay? Good questions again. He chooses whom He chooses based solely on His good pleasure.
[36:31] Okay? While God knows, here's Michelle's point, while God knows all possible outcomes, those outcomes do not dictate God's actions.
[36:44] So yes, He knows who's going to be saved, but it's not because He looked into eternity future and saw they would choose Him. They wouldn't.
[36:55] They can't. They're dead. So He looked into eternity future and saw nothing but corpses laying in a battlefield of death. Right? And so what did He decide to do?
[37:07] I'm going to breathe life into some of them. I choose you and you and you and you and you. Well, what about all the rest? What about them? Aren't you going to choose them?
[37:19] them? They're dead. And so we'll leave them that way. Well, that's not fair. By whose standard? Do you believe all those carcasses deserve to be resurrected?
[37:34] Well, yeah. Based on what? They hate me. They despise me. They murdered my son. Based on what?
[37:46] Do you see where that goes? We're in bad trouble and we're in way over our heads when we start going in that direction where we want to put God on trial and tell him justify to me why you could do that.
[38:05] That is not where you want to be. But in the pride of life, that is where many, many people put the Lord. God gets put in the dock and we become the judge.
[38:16] Michelle? Right.
[38:30] Why did he choose even one? Because nobody deserves it. And the answer comes back? Because of the kind intention of his will.
[38:41] That's the only answer scripture gives us as to why God chose anybody. He did it by the kind or good pleasure of his will. Okay? And that was the one that we just did one or two ago.
[38:54] So God's knowledge and actions are not limited, controlled by, nor contingent upon human decisions to accept or reject him. So God didn't look into the future to see what man would do and then make his decision.
[39:08] No. In brief, in brief, God knows all contingencies, but his knowledge is not contingent. That's R.C.
[39:20] Sproul saying that to a bunch of seminary guys. So how do we break that down? God knows all possibilities, but his knowledge is not dependent upon or subject to any of that.
[39:36] God doesn't answer to anybody. He doesn't have to wait on anybody. He doesn't need anybody to do something or not do something for him to act in righteousness.
[39:48] That's what we're saying. So while he knows all the possibilities, he's not affected by a single one of them in a single way such that he could be manipulated or controlled into doing something that he doesn't want to do or didn't realize he was doing.
[40:07] That is so ludicrous. What a little bitty small God. Yeah. Yeah, we don't want that. All right. What about the election? Oh, yes, Alonza.
[40:19] Why don't they look at the Old Testament and see how much God chose? Why don't they look at the Old Testament and see how much God chose? Israel.
[40:31] Chose. Left and condemned all Canaan. All everybody that they killed. Right. It's like it's right there. Yes. Once you learn this doctrine and you read the scripture through you will see election everywhere.
[40:48] Right. This has happened to many of you. So I don't have an answer as to why Alonza. I've asked people that many times and sometimes they explain it as well that's talking about a nation not individual people.
[41:05] And that's what they neglect. And Romans 9 is about to make that case in a big way. Okay. Again good good questions there. All right.
[41:15] So election God's sovereign choice of who he will save and who he will leave to their own evil consequences. God's sovereign work whereby before he created the world God acted God acted to freely choose some human beings to be saved.
[41:31] He did this according to the good pleasure of his will and not based on some foreseen merit on the part of those whom he chose. all right.
[41:48] The next one predestination R.C. Sproul said that the word predestination provokes more theological discussion than perhaps any other word in the Bible. That was R.C.'s opinion.
[42:00] Now as to the definition predestination means God's sovereign decree to determine beforehand what he would do with those people whom he chose are elected to salvation.
[42:12] So predestination is a decree of God. And the pre part obviously is talking about beforehand or in advance of in advance of saving them.
[42:28] That's a good way to think about it. doctrine. How do predestination and election differ as doctrines because they are not exactly the same?
[42:45] How do they differ? They differ because they're not exactly the same. Election. Look at this. Election and predestination are both decrees of God and both pertain to God's work to save us.
[43:01] Predestination is the more general, election the more specific. So in predestination God arranges the circumstances to bring about his decrees which he established before the foundation of the world.
[43:18] So God is predetermining, prearranging, prealigning, predetermining. Okay?
[43:31] Election has to do with God's decree to call out from among lost humanity certain individuals to be beneficiaries of the gift of salvation.
[43:47] So election is the calling out, the marking out. Predestination is the decree to arrange the circumstances for that marking or calling out to take place.
[44:00] He predetermined this would be the case. And in that predetermination he elected and marked out to see that what he predetermined would come to fruition.
[44:13] So these are just ways that we're understanding the work of God. Now to God, they're not steps like this because he's God and he has the big picture and all of it in a big ball of control.
[44:23] Right? But we have to try to understand it in the way that it comes to us. And so we break it down like this. Let's see where I am. So predestination is big G God.
[44:41] Sorry, we missed that one. Predestination is God's work. Let me find my place. Of predetermining, deciding beforehand or decreeing to provide that salvation to his elect people before they were ever created.
[44:58] Again, I'm saying similar things in different ways, repeating things. And then finally, election is God's work of marking out individuals for that salvation which he decided or decreed or predetermined to gift to them before they were ever created.
[45:18] Do you see that? Now, does that help? You don't have to be too concerned with making a very nuanced and precise distinction between these two.
[45:30] They do differ. But a lot of people use them interchangeably to talk about the same concept that God is the one in control. of this aspect of choosing who will be saved.
[45:44] And sometimes they say he predestined them. And they're using it almost in an electing way. It's okay. We don't want to get hung up on that and tell people, no, wait, wait, I think you're talking about predestination there.
[45:59] Don't do that. Just let it ride. Okay? Just let it ride. It's okay. They're close enough and we're close enough. We don't want to be like that around here. Nitpicking each other.
[46:10] Okay? We don't need that. All right? Just to move on a little further now, just to keep this rolling for you, electing grace is God's predetermined favor set on certain individuals for future salvation.
[46:25] But keep in mind that election does not save us. It marks us out for salvation. We're going to make sure you understand that. though predestined for salvation, though predetermined for salvation by God's decree and elected or marked out for salvation by God's favor, we still need to be what?
[46:51] Spiritually transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, applying that same grace to our spiritually dead hearts. Do you see that? We are justified by faith, not by election.
[47:09] Justified means God declares us righteous in Jesus. So although all the elect will be justified, won't they? If you're elect, you will be justified. You will be saved.
[47:21] God will make sure of that. You'll see more of that as we get into the other aspects of the doctrines of grace. Limited atonement, etc. You're going to see that this was a very specific way that God marked out His people and then moved to make sure those people would be saved.
[47:41] Because that was the pact, the covenant, that God had made with each other. And they weren't, they're God, and so they're not going to fail in what they all compacted or agreed or covenanted to do to save sinners.
[47:57] And remember, that's why I read in the book, each one had a role, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And they're all working toward this. So remember, we're not saved by election. We're not justified by election.
[48:12] Okay? that application, that application, where I'm at, under number six? I keep looking up and missing my place. Hold on.
[48:25] Yes. That application of grace by the Holy Spirit involves our calling, regeneration, and faith, just to name a few. Each of these aspects of our salvation are ministered to us by the Holy Spirit at a specific moment in time in our life.
[48:43] And that moment was set by God before He ever made the world. He knew Jeff Jackson and He said, at this moment, in this time, in His life, I will save Him.
[48:55] What I marked Him out for, what I predetermined for Him, what I sent my Son to do for Him on the cross, and what I'm sending the Spirit to do for Him in His heart, will happen at this second in His life, before He ever made the world.
[49:15] And I want to serve a God like that. Because that's a God I can go to and say, God, help me be a godly husband. Help me be a godly dad. Slay my pride.
[49:26] Help me get through this trial, this challenge in my life. I want to pray to a God like that. I want to serve a God like that. I want to know a God like that.
[49:37] Do you see how this deepens and enriches us? It slays my pride and puts me before a holy God. And saying to that God, I want you to be God, not me.
[49:49] You are obviously God, not me. And it tears our pride down. It's so humbling. So humbling. And it also, it spurs me, it encourages me to want to tell other people about this God.
[50:07] Far from squelching evangelism, it frees it. It breathes life into the desire to tell other people about this marvelous, saving, forgiving, merciful God.
[50:19] God. So we want to talk about Jesus. Yeah, amen. From darkness to light, Michael said. All right, now we have some scripture.
[50:32] Let's turn to the scriptures. John. Now, I'm going to choose, huh? No pun intended. I'm going to choose to do more with some of these scriptures than others.
[50:44] I just can't do all of them. We can always circle back around if we want to at another time. But we're in John 6. And you can probably guess where we're headed.
[50:57] John 6, 44. Now, we're just going to read these and then we'll pull them into our discussion in a few moments. words. In John 6, 44, Jesus is speaking to a group of Jews in verse 41 who were grumbling about him because Jesus said he's the bread that came down out of heaven and they're getting it.
[51:20] They're understanding what he's saying. And they don't want to believe it. And so Jesus comes down to verse 44 and he says, no one can come to me as the bread of life unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day.
[51:46] So who's doing all the work here? The sinner or God? God. Very important. And Jesus is telling the Jews that very message.
[51:57] You are not in the Lord because you're Jews. You think you are but you're not. You flip over a couple of chapters in eight and he's going to say you're of your father the devil.
[52:11] Get real specific. Here he's saying you can't come to me and believe in me as the bread of life unless the father draws you. And the father's not going to draw anybody he hasn't chosen.
[52:24] That's what we're going to see. We're going to tie all these together. Yeah. Yeah, I know. It's very clear. If you let the scriptures speak out not you speak in.
[52:36] Don't put your bias in but let it let it mean what it means by what it says. Exegesis not eisegesis. Okay.
[52:46] X out from ice in. No. Look over at 65 verse 65. And then Jesus was saying for this reason I have said to you.
[52:58] No one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the father. Now what we're studying tells you when did he grant it from the father.
[53:10] At what point. Right. Right. That's so we know that. Okay. Now flip over to Romans. If you would.
[53:22] Romans 8. You know we got to go there. Romans 8. And we'll start reading in verse 28.
[53:36] And we know. This is so important. And we know. That God causes. See those look. That's those are six words and I'm already challenged.
[53:51] Do I know? Does God really cause? Do I know that? Do I believe that? Do I live like that? And we know that God causes all things.
[54:03] No. Not the bad things. Yes. All things to work together for good to those who love God. Now notice the list.
[54:15] The sequence. To those who are. So those who love God are those who are called according to his purpose for those whom God foreknew he also predestined predestined predetermined for what?
[54:36] To become conformed to the image of his son. For what purpose? So that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom he predestined he also called.
[54:50] And these whom he called he also justified. And these whom he justified he also glorified. And then the rest of this is just wonderful.
[55:02] What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us who is against us? Do you see why he would say that? Do you see how he could ask that question? If this is true, if God's done all of this, and if God is working together everything for good, even the hard things and the bad things and the difficult things and the things we don't understand, if God is using all of that for the good of those who love him so that he can conform them more and more to the image of his son, what then shall we say to all these things?
[55:37] If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?
[55:48] See how this preaches? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Elect there is a one word summary of the people who were described in the previous verses.
[56:07] The predestined ones, the called ones, the justified ones. That's the elect. You with me? Now that's very clear when you let the scripture speak out and you don't read in.
[56:24] Well, this can't mean election. When he says God's elect, he's got to be talking about something else there. Not if you read the context carefully. The whole argument hinges on the reality that he's just described the elect.
[56:39] None of this before that happens if you're not elect. If God hasn't chose you, you won't be called because you're not predestined and you won't be justified because you're not elected.
[56:52] Blah, blah, blah. There it is. It's not rocket science if you just let it speak to what it says. It gets even more clear. Romans 9.
[57:03] Now this is the quintessential definitive passage that just about every sound teacher of reformed doctrine turns to when they're talking about the issue of election.
[57:16] This is where the Bible gives us the most definitive answers about election. So let's read this together and then we'll see how far we get. If I don't finish I'll pick up and we'll start again next time.
[57:31] So Romans 9 and let's begin in verse 10. And not only this but there was Rebecca also. So he's giving examples.
[57:42] Okay? He's giving examples. He's already given several and named them. You know Isaac your descendants. He's talked about Sarah. Now look and not only this but there was Rebecca also when she had conceived twins by one man our father Isaac.
[58:00] For though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good they hadn't done anything bad so that God's purpose according to his choice his election would stand not because of the works of men but because of him who calls.
[58:20] Do you already have the argument in your mind right now? This has nothing to do with whether or not a person did something or did not do something. This has everything to do with what God has decided and how God would then call them out.
[58:39] So this calling depends completely on God's sovereign choice so far not by anything that these two people that he's using as an example have done.
[58:52] Verse 12 It was said of her the older will serve the younger. Now here's where it comes out. Who's he talking about? Just as it's written Jacob I loved but Esau I hated.
[59:07] That is a way of saying Jacob I chose Esau I didn't. Jacob I chose Esau I didn't. That's it.
[59:18] That is what it means. That's what he's saying. One of these men God made for salvation. The other of these men God did not make for salvation and he's not going to save.
[59:34] What shall we say then? Now here comes the question because everybody's going to get that. Whoa wait a minute. They haven't even been born yet. They're still in the womb and he's chosen one and not the other.
[59:46] He's going to save one and use one and not the other. And so what's the question that they're going to ask right now? What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God is there? May it never be.
[59:58] Why? Because they're going to say what's the first thing they're going to say? That's not fair. That's not fair. In other words, God's not just. Injustice means not fair. Paul immediately says, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute.
[60:13] There is no injustice with God is there? No, may it never be. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
[60:26] So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs does works but on God who has mercy.
[60:38] Boy, is that clear or what? Absolutely, Michael. Michael said that should explain the free will. Now he goes on. He's not finished. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I created you, I raised you up for what?
[60:53] To demonstrate my power in you that my name may be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. And we say, well, that's not fair. He actually made a human being so that the human being would rebel against him and God's name would be made great.
[61:07] Okay? So then he has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires. That's the answer. That's it. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault?
[61:20] That's not fair. For who resists his will? On the contrary, who are you, oh man, who answers back to God? The thing molded won't say to the molder, why did you make me like this, will it?
[61:33] Or does not the potter have the right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and the other for common use? But what if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
[61:49] What about that? And he did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory.
[62:01] Even us, whom he also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. As he says also in Hosea, I will call those who were not my people, my people.
[62:14] And her who was not beloved, beloved. And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there they shall be called sons of the living God.
[62:26] Who's he talking about? Us! Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved.
[62:38] Uh-oh! Not all Jews are saved. Just because you are an Israelite or a Jew doesn't mean that you're in the Lord. There will be a remnant of Jews that he will save.
[62:51] What is he going to say? For the Lord will execute his word on the earth thoroughly and quickly. In other words, nothing can thwart what God has predestined, predetermined.
[63:03] And just as Isaiah foretold, unless the Lord of the Sabbath had left us to a posterity, we would have become like Sodom and would have resembled Gomorrah.
[63:13] That's good. What shall we say then? Here's the next question. See, this is the third time. What shall we say to all this then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith, but Israel pursuing a law of righteousness didn't arrive at the law?
[63:31] Why? Why? Is that what we're going to say? Are we going to say, Gentiles, are you kidding me? Gentiles get to come into this thing? And there are Israelites who won't?
[63:44] Why? Why? What are you? Paul, how can that be? Verse 32, because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works.
[63:55] They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it's written, behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in him will not be disappointed.
[64:08] He who believes in him, not a nation, a person, anybody who believes in him will not be disappointed.
[64:21] Now, what is all of this? What is, as you look at Romans 9, what is the issue that's concerning salvation here? What is Paul bringing forward?
[64:34] All right? And we want to look at that. We want to answer that question. Let me put this up here to catch up. what is the issue Paul is dealing with as I read that to you from 10 down through 33?
[64:47] What is the issue concerning salvation that Paul, if you follow the argument back and forth, there's one thing, and I want to show you what it is. The issue is that God gets to decide who he saves and who he does not save.
[65:06] Now, the question is, why did God say in Romans 9, 22, that he prepared some people for destruction? The answer is in verse 23.
[65:19] What if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? That's asking the question, he made some for wrath, holy anger, and destruction.
[65:36] All right? There's the deal. So, what if he did that, and what if he showed great patience in that? Why did he do it? Verse 23, he did it to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy.
[65:52] Contrast. Contrast. Which he prepared beforehand for glory. When did he prepare those vessels for his mercy? Beforehand.
[66:03] Yes. Predestination. It's everywhere. And here it is in an argument about God getting to choose whom he saves. That's the point of this.
[66:16] God gets to make the decision about who gets saved. Now, notice his saving purpose is even set on, and again, you got to remember who's reading this, and this is going to be kind of shocking to some of these people, Gentiles.
[66:32] His saving purpose is even set on Gentiles. Look at verses 24 through 26. Even us, us, whom he also called not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
[66:53] This is us being grafted in, isn't it? He said that through Hosea. There's going to come a time, this is a prophecy, there's going to come a time when I'm going to call a people who are not yet my people, my people.
[67:06] The Gentiles, they're going to get grafted in. So every one of us sitting in here are those people. Dora? Dora? Yeah, is that in that verse where Jesus says in the tariff about the wedding banquet, when he calls, and some of them say, oh, I don't have time to come in, but now go over and bring them to the banquet.
[67:30] Yes. Yep. Bring them to the banquet. Alright. But now there's a fly in the ointment. You ready for it?
[67:43] Alright. We'll probably get through some of this and then we'll have to stop. Fly in the ointment and it's in chapter 10. After this wonderful discussion from chapter 8 to chapter 9, dealing with God's choice, etc.
[67:58] We come to 10.13. Somebody read 10.13. Now that sounds a lot like anybody can be saved, period.
[68:15] That is not a statement necessarily reflecting on elect people, Jeff. Oh, really? How do we answer this fly in the ointment considering Romans 9?
[68:31] And here's the answer. What did you say? You, studious seminary student. Yes.
[68:44] How do we answer this in light of Romans 9? Watch what happens, Mark. Context. Amen, brother. Very good. Mark said context.
[68:55] That's right. Context is king. And so here's what's happening here. Follow what I'm going to do here with you. I'm not going to put all this in slides because I want you to follow this.
[69:07] Paul is developing his point of salvation being by the will or the choice of God. So that salvation is not by the will or works, the merit, of mankind.
[69:23] if you look at verse 11 in chapter 9, for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to his choice would stand, not because of works, that is, the works of people, that they were born and they did something or didn't do something, and so because of what they did or didn't do, God chose one of them.
[69:51] No. His choice stood before they were ever born. God had already made his choice and eternity passed. And it wasn't because of any works that mankind would do, but by him who calls.
[70:09] And then if you look at verse, what did I say, 16? So then, this is what Michael pointed out, so then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
[70:24] And by his mercy, God made a choice. And that choice stands. So Paul is developing his point, it's by God's will, so that salvation is not by the will or works of man.
[70:36] Now, this concerns God's electing choice to save individual people as he wills. Individual people as he wills.
[70:48] I thought we had to have the Holy Spirit before he called me. Okay, we'll... So that would be why everyone is right. The only people who will respond to...
[71:01] We'll get to this, it's the effectual call. The only people who will respond to the call of God on their life are those who are elect and those who have been regenerated. They've been brought to life to be able to respond.
[71:13] Because remember, we're dead. So we have to get that in the right order. And so God then, and that call, God gives us what we need to respond to Him. As He makes us alive and we can exercise faith.
[71:26] So we have to be given the gift of faith. And the object of our faith becomes Christ. And so when He says we are justified by faith, really what He's saying is we are justified by the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ in which we now believe and have been unioned into.
[71:44] I don't want to get too technical sounding with this. Because union with Christ is Greg taught on the home. Man, I'm so glad you did that one.
[71:55] I think you took two Wednesday nights to do it, didn't you? Yeah. And that's, we have that on the website, by the way, if you want to know more about that. Okay.
[72:08] Where am I? This concerns God's electing choice to save individual people as He wills. I have some verses there, but I'm going to move on to share this with you. Alright, so salvation is not a Jewish thing.
[72:23] And it is not a man thing. Salvation is a God thing. Can I say that kind of in a slang way? That's Romans 9.
[72:35] Okay? It's not about you being a Jew. It's not even about you willing your own way to God. No, that won't work either. This is about God doing what God does.
[72:47] And so if you respond, it's because God has chosen you. So look at the helpful content. We're still talking about whoever. I'm still working on the whoever.
[73:00] You with me? Okay? The helpful context of Romans 10, 1 and 2 helps us further define the whoever in 10, 13.
[73:12] Look at Romans 10, 1 and 2. Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them, Israel, is for their salvation.
[73:23] For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God but not in accordance with knowledge. They are lacking a certain knowledge.
[73:34] They have a zeal and they have some knowledge. But this obviously is a different kind of knowledge that they lack. It's not a knowledge that leads them to salvation.
[73:45] So what's going on here? We need to understand the dilemma that Paul is in. I want to see these people saved. And they're zealous for God.
[73:56] But that zeal is misplaced. And it is not a saving knowledge of who God is. They're not pursuing the Lord in a saving way. How do we understand the difference?
[74:07] If this is a whoever, we're starting to shrink the pool of whoever. Obviously, it ain't all of Israel. Right?
[74:18] So the pool is narrowing. So what do we do with that? Well, if you'll look at 10, 11 through 13 with me. We'll just start in...
[74:31] Yeah, let's start in 11. For the Scripture says, whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.
[74:45] For the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him. For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
[74:57] Now, what are we to say about this? The heart of Paul's point comes out in verse 12. 12. And what does verse 12 say? There is no distinction between Jew and Greek.
[75:12] Are we starting to nail down the whoever a little more now, perhaps? Think about that with me. If you look at Romans 10, 9, and 10, remember what he said in 10, 1, and 2.
[75:27] My heart's breaking and I would be willing to forfeit my own salvation to see these people, my brother Israelites, come to faith in Jesus Christ, but they're not.
[75:37] Many of them are not. They have a zeal, a religious zeal, but they're not in the faith, and it's breaking my heart. And now I'm going to make an argument about that. Why is that?
[75:48] What's going on? Romans 10, 9, If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
[75:59] For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation, and then he makes the argument. For the scripture says whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.
[76:11] It doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Greek. Whoever out of Jews or Greeks calls on the name of the Lord will be saved if you believe Jesus Christ is Lord.
[76:22] So who is the whoever? Whoever is called by Christ, she said. Whoever is called by Christ. Does all of this refer to a nation or to individual people?
[76:37] Individual people. He's breaking it down. The helpful context of 10, 14 through 21. How then will they call on Him in whom they've not believed?
[76:51] How will they believe in Him whom they've not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it's written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news, the gospel.
[77:05] In other words, if they're not preached to, they won't be saved. But there's something even more important than that that won't allow them to be saved. However, they did not all heed the good news. Why not?
[77:16] Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. But I say, surely they have never heard, have they?
[77:27] Indeed, they have. Their voice has gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. But I say, surely Israel didn't know, did they? Well, first Moses says, I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation.
[77:41] By a nation without understanding will I anger you. Isaiah, though, is very bold. And he says, I was found by those who didn't seek me and I became manifest to those who did not ask for me.
[77:52] But as for Israel, he says, all the day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. Now, who does the whoever refer to as defined by what you now see from the context?
[78:10] Who are the people there? Answer, if you look at 9-11, for though the twins were not born and had not done anything good or bad, God's purposes according to His choice would stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls.
[78:26] Verse 16 again, it doesn't depend on man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. Think thematically. Verse 18, so then God has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
[78:40] And then verse 23, what does it say? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory.
[78:52] Who is the whoever He's talking about? Whoever He chooses, Michelle said. The elect. The context tells us the answer.
[79:05] Are we splitting hairs here? Are we playing word games? Or when you step back and just do in 15 minutes what we just did?
[79:16] And we didn't do some deep dive. We just read the Bible and asked pertinent questions. And we let the Bible answer them. And the questions we wanted to know is very fairly, God who is the whoever that will call on the name of the Lord and be saved?
[79:31] Given the context of what Paul's been teaching, who is that whoever? Is it just anybody in the whole world? Because this is what, as a pastor, I've done interviews for churches.
[79:44] And there have been some churches that have interviewed me and in one case, I was on the phone being pre-interviewed because they didn't want to go to the expense of flying me to go see them if I wouldn't.
[79:56] So guess what the question out of the gate was? Jeff, what does the whoever refer to in Romans 10, 13?
[80:10] And I said, well, what do you mean? You're asking me who are the people whoever it refers to? I'm just asking you, do you believe that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved?
[80:23] And you know what I said? Absolutely. Isn't that what the Bible says? Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved? He said, yes. I said, I believe that with all my heart. Why would I not believe that?
[80:35] I just turned it and put it right back on him. And I said, why wouldn't I believe? I don't understand why you're asking me this. And so the discussion on that ended right there.
[80:47] And we went on from there. Now, they didn't do anything with me for other reasons, but nevertheless, do I believe that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved? Some of you have been here long enough to hear me preach for 10 years.
[81:02] Have you ever heard me give a gospel call qualifying it for the elect only? What do I say? Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Why? Because I don't know who the elect are any more than you do or they do.
[81:15] They don't know their elect till they're saved. They don't even know. So I make the gospel call to everybody without prejudice, without qualification.
[81:28] I beg them with tears to come to Jesus Christ. Don't I? every opportunity I have, that's how I make a gospel appeal. And I'll always do that.
[81:40] The scripture doesn't tell me to stand up here and explain election to everybody and then invite them to come to Jesus and tell them, oh, by the way, you won't do that unless you're the elect. Why would I do that?
[81:52] Why would anybody do that? The whoever here, this is probably the cream of creams for verses that they use to say to us, this is not about election and limited atonement.
[82:07] It can't be, there cannot be election and there cannot be limited atonement because God said whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. There is no such thing as the elect. You have to.
[82:25] Yes. Be studious. Nope. So if you lift, Doris is saying if you read everything it comes together.
[82:37] Contextually, yes. If you lift that verse out of its context, you can make it say whatever you want. Right. Right.
[82:49] But follow the argument that Paul is making. I took you back to eight. If we had time and we don't have time, I have a little more to do with you.
[82:59] I only had about ten minutes more to do with you. Where I was going to take you back into some of those verses and show you how the argument hinges on what he's been saying from 828 on.
[83:11] And 828 is based on seven chapters of him arguing the theology of God's salvation to sinners. sinners. So he's had a lot to say before he says, whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
[83:25] But they just lift that out and make it say that means anybody. Well, what we need to understand is, no, we'll make the gospel appeal to everyone.
[83:36] But we understand that the only people who are going to respond to this calling are the people whom God has chosen before the foundation of the earth, the elect. But we don't know who they are.
[83:50] Yes? So there's quotations around, it says for the scripture from, everyone who believes in him will not be the same. And so it's from a prophecy in Joel and it says, it is a punted path that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
[84:09] For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape. As the Lord has said, it's limited to those whom he's called.
[84:25] And he doesn't call anyone whom he hasn't predestined and elected. Now this is the way these doctrines work together. And so that's why we get in a lot of trouble when people who don't want to submit to these doctrines lift pieces of them out, criticize them, and take them apart.
[84:47] And then use them as weapons against folks like us. And tell us they would never be part of a church that believes in a God like that. Who only saves certain ones.
[85:01] And when you press them to explain to you who are the certain ones, they start telling you all kinds of nonsense nonsense. That has to do with nothing that we believe. So we need to be careful with as Mark said, the context.
[85:16] The context will help us. And so I've tried to now. Romans 9 then becomes an answer for many of the Arminian objections that will use other verses. That's where we were headed tonight.
[85:27] I don't have time to do it. I'm going to end in just a second. But I had some more thorns, thistles, and weeds. I wanted to give you some verses because I told you I would that the Arminians used to argue against the doctrine of election and limited atonement.
[85:41] But all of their objections basically revolve around what's answered for us in Romans 9. If you understand the argument and thematic flow of Romans 9, you are ready to answer Arminian objections pretty much across the board.
[85:58] Because Romans 9 does that for us. Okay? So hold on to the reality that dealing with the context is very, very important for understanding how people will lift out of its context and make it say what they want it to say.
[86:15] But that's irresponsible and it dishonors the Lord for us to do that. Because this is His book and these are His truths and we don't have a right to monkey around with them, do we? Alright, any other questions or comments?
[86:28] I have to stop there, I'm sorry. But I only had a little bit more to do and we'll try to add that for next time when we talk about limited atonement. Anything else?
[86:40] Pretty quick, huh? Yeah. The question?
[86:56] Yeah. Yeah. Yep. It's very humbling. In that passage about the twins, God loved one and hated the other and you said that was actually a question that happened and you sort of did it, but you said that it's basically referring to those who elect and those who doesn't elect.
[87:27] So does God hate? The question is does he hate the people he is not going to save?
[87:39] Alright. Two quick answers for that, Michelle. Very, very pertinent question. The first answer is God has a creator love for every person he's created who bears his image.
[87:55] We can make a case for God loving through a creator love. Every single person he's ever made. That is the love of our father for the people that he's created.
[88:10] The other half of that though, the other side of that is God tells us that his wrath rests on everyone who is not justified by faith in his son.
[88:24] Right? So the hate part there emphasizes God's holy wrath remains on people who are not born again, who don't come to faith in Christ.
[88:38] And so that is a burning hatred against rebellion, pride, sin. And so that hate kind of is a one word capsulization of God saying my holy wrath abides on, stays on, resides on that person.
[88:55] And it's very real. it's not imagined, it's not some kind of weird ethereal bubble floating out there somewhere that we can't get our hands on. God hates sin.
[89:17] Yes. Yes. But he's very patient. We'll see later. He has a will to see people come to know him. And we've got to deal with verses that talk about that from Peter, from Timothy.
[89:29] We'll deal with those coming up. But it is important to directly say to you, the doctrine of reprobation, which we didn't get to tonight, is the other side of election.
[89:41] If he elected some to salvation, did he also elect some to damnation? Isn't that the inference? It would make sense. But we need to try to understand what that means.
[89:54] In other words, the question then becomes, did God elect to damnation in the exact same way that he elected to salvation? Does the Bible bear out any distinction?
[90:06] That's what we need to answer. So the doctrine you're looking for in part of your answer is reprobation. And then the other one is double predestination.
[90:20] That's the idea the Arminians come at us with. By inference, if you have election to salvation, you must have election to damnation. And that's double predestinate.
[90:32] He predestined some to salvation. He predestined some to hell. And then that brings up, I'll get to you in just a second, then that brings up the question of, see this is where all this goes and I don't have time to do it all.
[90:45] The question of theodicy, it concerns the justice of God, God being on trial. Is God just to do this in the way He's chosen to do it?
[90:56] Theodicy has to do with the justice of God. And that's born out of the question, is it fair? Not to our minds, it's not. It's not.
[91:09] It sounds terrible. John Calvin said this was a terrible doctrine and at the same time, this was a glorious doctrine. It was both sweet and bitter. Sweet to those who are saved and bitter is gall to think that He didn't choose to save everybody.
[91:26] Alright, Alonzo, I'm going to give you the last one here. Isn't the wrath that He has for those that remain dead the same wrath that we're under until we are saved?
[91:37] Yes. So, we all start on the same plane. Right. We're all under the wrath of God. We're all, as spiritually dead, rebellious sinners, we're all under God's eternal judgment.
[91:55] So, isn't that one of the things that our beings don't think that we are? Is what? That we're not that sinful, that we're not that mad at us, that we can overcome that wrath in order to decide to believe in Him that?
[92:13] So, I don't know exactly how they would answer the part about how mad He is at us, but they would answer our nature is not so corrupt that we can't will our way to God.
[92:30] We can exercise our will to choose, to reach out to God. So, their illustration is you're drowning and a boat comes by and it happens to be God and He throws a life preserver out to you and you're just about to go under for the last time and you reach out and you grab the life preserver and you pull it into yourself.
[92:54] That is the Arminian view of salvation. God threw you the thing that would save your life, but you had to reach out of the water in your gasping dying breath and grab it and lay hold of it to make it useful for you.
[93:09] That's your free will in exercise. Do they believe that Satan could turn and save and save their lives? No. This is just a human thing. So, what they're saying in that instance is simply that there is a part of you that is not so dead or corrupt that it can't reach out to God.
[93:29] They do not believe in total deadness, complete spiritual deadness. Right. Yeah. So, the Arminian then moves out of that and it's a Calvinist answer to that if we want to counter it and this is like what Spruel would do.
[93:59] Spruel would and I think we have a slide on Sundays that say something like this. But Spruel would argue and say no. What you are in that ocean is so dead you're on the bottom and you're rotted and there is nothing that you can do because you're a rotten corpse on the bottom of the ocean.
[94:20] You can't even lift a pinky finger to reach toward that thing because you're rotting on the bottom of the ocean. And so what God does is plunge his hand down into the depths of that darkness and grabs your cold rotting soul and pulls it up out of the depths and breathes new life into it and makes you a new creature in Christ.
[94:41] That preaches doesn't it? And who gets all the glory in that? So now we go back to our quote that I gave you in the first session. Remember the quote?
[94:53] Whatever exalts man does not give glory to God cannot be in truth. Basically that's the quote.
[95:03] I can't bring it up right now. So that's what we want to keep in mind. Man should not get any credit or glory for the salvation that God gives us in his son Jesus Christ.
[95:15] Jesus should get all the glory for what we are in him. And we should get nothing. We bring sin to the equation. Death and sin and rottenness.
[95:28] God takes that ugly terrible thing that hates him, squirms even as he's trying to save us. I ran from the Lord.
[95:39] God scared me to death. I was dead. I didn't know how to think about God. Well you guys did great tonight. You kept me on my toes.
[95:51] Good questions. Excellent thinking. So how is this impacting you? What do you think? What's it doing to you? Anything?
[96:04] Okay. Apart. Doris said opening her mind. Solidifying, humbling. Yes.
[96:17] Because God is powerful enough to save anyone. Do you hear me say that? A Calvinist is saying that. God is powerful enough to save anyone.
[96:28] good Calvinists. So Calvinists can be guys or girls, right? So you don't have to call them Calvinias or Calvinistas.
[96:44] Alright, God bless y'all. We've got goodies. At least Dora brought some. And Mark, you brought some stuff? What'd you bring, bro? Well, Jennifer couldn't be with us tonight.
[97:02] She's got a boatload of stuff she's trying to take care of because under a timeline, but Mark and Jennifer brought some goodies. So he was the bearer of goodies as well as good answers. So let's pray together.
[97:14] Father, I thank you for these precious, precious friends. They delight my soul and no matter where I am when I come before them and see the eagerness of their hearts. You do such a blessing in my own life.
[97:27] So I'm so thankful to them and mostly to you for who they are and what they are and what you're doing in them that Greg and I get to see the beautiful, beautiful sparks of joy just radiating out of them as they take your word into their souls, as they glorify you, as they're humbled before you, and as their faith enlarges in who you are and how you work.
[97:52] God, we give you all the glory tonight as you well deserve. We thank you for your word that clarifies for us your bigness and we know that even then we are just scratching the bare surface of your saving grace and the character that caused you out of your goodness of heart to send your son Jesus to die for us in this squalor that we are as sinners so that we could know you.
[98:18] God, we're so grateful and so thankful and humbled by your goodness. Thank you for your word and the treasure of Jesus who is our wisdom, our redemption, and our life.
[98:29] In his name we pray. Amen. Thank you, dear friends, and God willing, we'll see you on Sunday.