[0:00] Y'all have been so faithful. You will be the ones that will hold the line! and help pass these on to other people in the church here.!
[0:30] God, thank You that as we do this, You get bigger and bigger and bigger. And yet, in Your greatness and sovereignty, You condescend to help us know You in Your Son, Jesus Christ.
[0:49] We thank You for Jesus and His wonderful Gospel, His sacrificial life and death, and even His glorious resurrection that promises us an eternity in heaven with You.
[1:02] Thank You for these blessed truths that warm our hearts and keep us in a hopeful spirit. In Jesus' name, Amen. Okay.
[1:14] I'm going to go ahead and let these gentlemen help me pass these out here. You and Mike, maybe? Thank you, Mark.
[1:29] Now, the way that I'd like to begin this evening is where I left off last week.
[1:42] I didn't get to this. This is how I planned to close. I want to quickly add this. So we are going to do it quickly. And I'll pause before we get into Irresistible Grace to ask if you have any questions of what I'm going to share with you now.
[1:57] But it's pretty straightforward. Okay? All right. So what we're going to start with then, as you see there on your sheet, is what I'm calling a kinder, gentler Calvinism.
[2:10] And we're starting with the cage stage problem. All right. Some of you are familiar with this. On one side of the equation of this, as people begin to learn about Calvinism, about the doctrines of grace, they can become so excited that they think, where in the world has this been, my Christian life?
[2:31] Why have I never seen this before? And it's so revolutionary for them in terms of how it opens up the bigness of God that they can get a little bit like this about those doctrines.
[2:43] And they want everybody to immediately appreciate and adopt. And sometimes we forget that we were on a journey to get to these doctrines. Most of us probably didn't come from churches that taught this.
[2:56] I know I didn't. I didn't get saved until I was in college. But once I did, I was part of a wonderful church, my wife's home church, great pastors, but they did not teach the doctrines of grace.
[3:09] Now, I didn't know any better. But once they became clear to me, sitting under John MacArthur's ministry, there was no turning back after that.
[3:19] And I'm sure you can relate. So we want to deal with the reality that we can, in our enthusiasm for the doctrines, but also in our enthusiasm for our brothers and sisters to adopt these doctrines and have the Lord become so much more great in His sovereignty.
[3:39] We can say and do things that, unfortunately, push people away rather than draw them in. That's the cage stage. And so we need to put them in a cage for a while until they get over themselves and then release them and say, let's temper that enthusiasm and channel it in a way that will be a blessing to others.
[3:59] So I wasn't as guilty of the cage stage. Mine came on very modestly and gradually so that when we finally got names for these doctrines, I just, Suzanne and I just said, oh, okay, now we know what to call it.
[4:15] It was just like that for us. We went back to Georgia about a year after we'd been out at Grace Church and we shared with our friends the things we were learning and they got so upset that we were at a dinner together with about four or five couples we'd put three years of our lives into and they wouldn't talk to us.
[4:42] They shut us down and wouldn't talk to us and haven't had anything to do with us since. That's been 20-something years. It broke our hearts. And it happened sitting right there at the table.
[4:56] All the men got up and one of them said, I need some air and he walked out and the other guy said, yeah, me too. And all my friends got up and walked out and left me sitting there with the women.
[5:08] And I had no idea what I'd just said or done. We went home brokenhearted and didn't understand it until much later. So this can happen.
[5:19] These things can happen. So let's real quickly then, let's run through a little bit of this stuff so I can help us think carefully about the fact that what we're teaching here at Grace is biblical, but not everybody subscribes to it.
[5:34] Not everybody is fortunate enough to have pastors who were taught in a conservative seminary so that they got out and had this under their belt and were ready to impart it to God's people.
[5:48] Most of our colleges and seminaries are liberal in this manner. They're not adopting this. And so we have pastors graduating and going into the pews and they teach this and they actually, some of them teach against it and tell people buzzwords to listen for.
[6:05] And if you find people that believe this, disfellowship them. I'm serious. That's actually taking place. So anyway, let's run through this together.
[6:18] Election is a very difficult teaching for Christians to accept. Pride, fear, prejudice. Of course, it's impossible for non-Christians to believe it.
[6:30] Some people save people who love the Lord Jesus and will be with us in heaven because they're our brothers and sisters. They don't like these doctrines and some of them even hate it and fight it.
[6:41] Do you know people like that? Yeah? I see Jeff smirking back there. I know his story. If you're interested in hearing a tragic but very real life story of how pervasive this is in church life and how prominent it can be in leadership, I would invite you to ask Brother Jeff and he might be willing to share some of it.
[7:03] I don't want to put you on the spot. His testimony is he and Clyde and a couple of others. Mark was on the tail end and didn't receive, I don't think, Mark as much in the way of the animosity they did.
[7:18] But anyway, this can be a very challenging thing. So anytime you encounter disagreement regarding issues of theology, whether it's these doctrines or others, because there are other things we believe, like church membership that people don't subscribe to.
[7:35] So they leave here and go find a church they don't have to be as accountable for their life. Anytime you encounter those, first, understand the specific nature of their disagreement with what you believe in.
[7:49] So you want to use specific terms. You want to get specific. What is it that they believe that is wrong with your view? So you're on the front end of inquiry.
[8:02] Now listen, you've got to get past the emotionalism. But some people hate these doctrines so much, they'll call you names. I've had people look me square in the eye and say, you're a baby killer.
[8:15] And I thought, what? And they say, you're one of those people, a Calvinist that believes that every baby that dies goes straight to hell. And that's what I did.
[8:26] I went, where did you get that? But people think all kinds of things about Calvinism and Calvinists. And that's one of the milder ones.
[8:36] There's some I can't tell you from the pulpit because it would be lewd to do so. So understand the specific nature of their disagreement. On the front end, you're trying to understand what their issue is.
[8:49] And there are ways that you need to go about that. First of all, you need to pray for understanding for both of you. I'm suggesting that if you're meeting with someone or this encounter is happening between you and another person or two, pray out loud.
[9:02] Let these people hear your heart in your prayer. Let them hear your heart for truth. Let them hear your humility that you want to be a useful servant to God.
[9:14] You want doctrine to help you love God and Jesus more deeply. You don't want doctrine because you want to weaponize it and use it against God's people. Understanding comes from listening well and from applying the truth and the gentleness of the wisdom of Jesus.
[9:32] And so you see this scripture from James 3, who among you is wise and understanding? All right. Now just bear with me. That's what you're looking for in this encounter. You want to be wise and understanding.
[9:42] So the rest of the verse, we'll let him show that wisdom and understanding by his good behavior. In what sense? In the deeds that he will perform in the gentleness of wisdom.
[9:54] But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. Notice, peaceable. It's gentle. It's reasonable. It's full of mercy and good fruits. It's unwavering and it's without hypocrisy.
[10:06] So you don't have a double or hidden agenda in this encounter with this person who's disagreeing with you. You simply want to see God honored and truth upheld.
[10:18] And so it's incumbent upon you to speak the truth in love. Second, if they are able, let them take you to the verse or verses or passages that they use to support their disagreement and explain to you their concerns.
[10:33] And so again, this requires patience and careful listening. And sometimes it's going to be hard, especially if you see them butchering passages of scripture, pulling verses out of context that will be hard for you to sit through that because you're in a church where context is king and we are trying to model for you how to use solid principles of interpretation to come to an understanding of a verse or verses.
[11:02] You have that modeled for you no matter who gets up here to teach or preach. And so not everybody has that. A lot of people out there are existing on mostly stories, anecdotes.
[11:17] You know, you guys know what I'm saying, right? And that's one of the reasons you're here at Grace and not there. All right, so let them try their best to explain to you.
[11:28] Third, ask them then at that point if you could share your views. Now, if they say no, then let it go. Let that ring in your mind.
[11:39] If they say no, let it go. If they say yes, then gently and patiently let the Bible speak for itself. Did you hear me? Let the Bible speak for itself.
[11:50] You're going to use the weight of the truth of scripture to make the argument for the truth. So share the truth in love with them about the Bible's teaching concerning their specific disagreement.
[12:04] If they're going to argue, make them argue with the Bible. All right? And let them see a gentleness in you. Do not argue. Do not argue with them.
[12:15] Be sure to use good, solid principles of interpretation which you've learned and have seen here, modeled for you, as you patiently and calmly present the Bible's contextual evidence from within the passage.
[12:32] Now, this is incumbent upon you then to know how to do this. How do I allow for the context to rule the way that I handle explaining the passage or the verse?
[12:44] If there's a verse within a context because they're going to use proof text verses on you. We've seen some of them. Well, I've walked you through the context and helped you see how you can do that.
[12:57] You say, now just hold the phone. This verse is within the context of many verses within a chapter, within chapters, within a book, within 66 books. So let's take a look at that.
[13:09] And if they look at you and say, that'll take years. You going anywhere? You got anything better to do than to sit here and talk about the truth of the Lord and grow in Christ? I don't either.
[13:20] So let's do that. All right. So don't argue with them. Let the Bible do its talking. Trust the Holy Spirit to teach both of you the truth of God's Word over time.
[13:34] Resolve in your heart not to lean on your own understanding. You're not there to argue. You're not there to try and convince. The Holy Spirit's job is to convince and convict.
[13:47] Not yours. So much. And then finally, repeat these steps as the Holy Spirit gives you direction and opportunity. Understand this is a marathon with some people.
[14:00] With others, all they're going to want to do is argue. They're mad. They don't like the doctrines. They've already made up their minds. The doctrines are not biblical. And so, they're already moving past that.
[14:14] Those people, I don't counsel you to sit down with. That's not going to be good for you. It's going to end in frustration for both of you. If people are not truly open to look into the Scriptures with you, let it go.
[14:29] All right. I've been hurt too many times not using this wisdom. And I don't want to see that for you. Remember, remember that there's a difference between people who ask because they seek understanding and people who ask because of self-serving reasons.
[14:48] Some people just like to argue. You must discern. And it works both ways. Be sure that if you ask questions, it's to clarify your understanding of their position.
[15:06] If they're open to compare interpretations and seek the true counsel of God, discuss the issue with them with much prayer being shot up to the Father. You can actually be listening and at the same time praying and asking God to give you wisdom.
[15:22] That's a good thing. In this process, do not argue, demean, or assign motives. All right. Let's look at 2 Timothy.
[15:35] Now, again, we won't camp out here, but I do want to give you some scriptural wisdom about how this can happen because you may be thinking, as I did, Lord, how in the world can people who love Jesus, who are my brothers and sisters in Christ, have such a vehement hatred for what is in the Bible?
[16:00] They can't stand election. They can't stand limited atonement. They might meet you halfway on total depravity, but they hate election and they hate limited atonement even more.
[16:11] When you say that God has limited the atonement, they think that you're one of these people who don't believe that everybody has an opportunity to come to Christ. And so you're going to be one of those people that keep people from coming to Christ.
[16:25] Will we hate the unbelievers? We don't evangelize and all these things about us. So 2 Timothy 2, verses 22 through 26.
[16:37] I'm going to ask my brother Greg if he would read that passage for us. All right. 2 Timothy 2, So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
[16:54] Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant, contrabanding. You know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently, enduring evil, correcting his opponents as gentlemen.
[17:13] God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, but they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by them to do his will.
[17:24] Now, that verse 26, what do you think about that? Did you know that could happen to believers? This is not talking about unbelievers.
[17:36] This is talking about a relationship between believers this is happening to. Right. That's a good question. That's why we're here.
[17:47] That's why we're here. Is it because they don't believe all the scriptures? It's because they're deceived. That's the short answer. And that could be part of it, is that they pick and choose.
[17:59] Right. If they pick and choose and they're not believing every single word, then they will be deceived and they will fear and... They'll be vulnerable. And be ill. That's right, Dora. So, what we're talking about here, this is why Paul is telling them in verse 22, flee youthful lust.
[18:18] The youthful lust here is not a reference like I used to think when I was first saved. I memorized this verse to help me deal with lust as a young man. But I was thinking of sexual lust.
[18:30] You know, lust for a woman, the opposite sex. What this is actually speaking about, contextually, youthful lust refer to the pride of youthful wrangling.
[18:41] Wanting to argue and make your point. Young seminary students will... If you've never been on a... Okay, you're smiling. If you've never been on a seminary campus and sat around with some of the young bucks, the gray-haired guys, not so much.
[18:56] They've learned. They've been knocked around a little bit. But the young bucks get there and they want... They're full of, you know... They want to... They need to be caged.
[19:08] But they love arguing this stuff. They love getting into the gnarly stuff and trying to figure it out and discuss it and argue with each other. They're not mad at each other. They really get into that whole scene.
[19:23] I've seen it many, many times. And so he's saying here, you need to free from this desire to pridefully wrangle and quarrel about things and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
[19:41] You see? Those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Be one of those people too. So refuse foolish, ignorant speculations because they only produce more fighting.
[19:54] The Lord's bondservant needs not be quarrelsome. See, there's the thing. Don't argue. But be kind. Kind to all. Able to teach. That's awful on you now.
[20:06] You need to be able to go into the Scriptures and help them see. And then notice, patient when wronged. Yeah, I like that one. Isn't it good? Because we all could be wrong. Oh, absolutely. They'll call you names.
[20:18] The veins will pop out in their neck. Their eyeballs will get big. And they'll treat you like the enemy. With gentleness correcting those who are in opposition to you.
[20:29] If perhaps God may grant them. Do you see who's doing the work here? That God may grant them repentance. Repentance is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Leading to what?
[20:42] The knowledge of the truth. So this is where you're doing your work. In the truth. And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil.
[20:56] That is, he's ensnared them, having been held captive by him to do his will. You'll see the same kind of theme in Hebrews 12 when it talks about you running and not allowing sin to ensnare you, to wrap around you and trip you up.
[21:14] Because we all have that. Your Achilles heel for sin, Dora, may be different from mine, but we all have them. Things that trip us up. So he's saying, realize that in this case you may be facing a brother or sister that has an aversion to this doctrine because they haven't really dealt with it from Scripture in the manner that somebody would...
[21:37] I remember the first time a pastor sat down with me, a friend. He invited me to come to an evening at his church to teach. I was between... It was the first time I'd ever been run off from a church.
[21:50] And I was... He knew I was dejected. I didn't know what to do. Young guy. And he invited me and said, come teach at my church. So I did. But the way I taught at that time was I was big into props.
[22:02] So I had cereal boxes that I'd... You know, and I don't remember what I taught on. Isn't that something? But I used all my props and I taught them and I thought it was very clever.
[22:14] And we were just sitting there chatting after everybody had left and he said, you know, you got good stuff. And I said, thanks, man. But you need to lose the cereal boxes.
[22:26] That's what he said to me. And I went, what? I'm like, that's the best part. And he said, that's the problem. That's the problem. My cleverness, see, instead of the truth.
[22:41] And so that's the first time a brother ever took time to challenge me and say, are you more confident in what you're using or more confident in the truth and the work of God and the Holy Spirit? Oh my goodness.
[22:52] I never forgot that lesson. I did. It convicted me because it hit right to the heart of, that's right, do I trust the truth enough to just tell the truth, preach the truth, the unvarnished truth and let the Holy Spirit use the truth in the hearts of his people?
[23:11] That was the beginning of my journey from a conscious perspective. Things have been happening before that. And I never forgot that lesson. But thank God for that brother who's willing to stay after and kindly and patiently sit with me and talk to me.
[23:26] I've never forgotten that love because that was hard for him to do. All right. There you go. So cage stage. It took a little longer than I thought.
[23:37] No surprise there, Jeff. All right. It's all good. We good? All right. I'm not going to ask for a show of hands of those who've been in the cage stage.
[23:49] Yeah, yeah, I know. It's hard. It's very challenging for us. So be patient with our brothers and sisters who might come here and learn these things and be incredulous and kind of you see the red rising, you know.
[24:04] Why hasn't anybody ever taught me this? I can't believe I, you know. And you just, really? Well, I'm glad you're excited. Let's talk about that excitement for a minute and what that needs to look like.
[24:15] All right. And we just love them and take them down a notch. Okay. Let's talk about irresistible grace here. The I in Tulip. My brother Greg will be handling perseverance of the saints or the saved next week.
[24:31] God willing and wrapping all of this up for us. I don't envy him in trying to wrap all that up and do perseverance too, but he's got it. So irresistible grace or you see this word underneath it that may not be familiar to you.
[24:44] That is the word efficacious. Efficacious grace. We're going to talk about what that means. It's another way of talking about irresistible grace.
[24:55] So this doctrine stresses God's work to effectively apply his saving grace in the life of a sinner rather than stressing the response of the person saved. You know what I mean by that.
[25:08] Irresistible grace is not putting the emphasis on the response of the sinner. It's putting the emphasis on God's work toward the sinner and in the sinner.
[25:19] Okay. Some people put too much emphasis on this issue as being something that we respond to and again, they see this. The fact that it's irresistible means that it's violating my free will.
[25:35] Right. And that they camp out there. And so I say to them, quit putting so much emphasis on that end of things and run over here and let's put the emphasis on God's side of things and let's see what he does and if that'll help iron that out.
[25:50] Just bring them over to the truth side. Right. Just try to keep them there. They may not want to go there, but... So irresistible has to do with God's power to fulfill his electing will.
[26:04] Doesn't that make sense? It's irresistible because God is going to fulfill his electing predetermined will for those marked out for salvation.
[26:18] So if you look in Job 42, will you go there with me? All the way back before Psalms. So the last page before Psalms starts.
[26:31] Job 42, verse 2, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
[26:43] Job is talking to God. Verse 1, Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
[26:57] There is no power in the universe that can thwart the will of God. Now, when we're talking here about God's electing will, right? So there's nothing going to thwart the fact that he's marked out for salvation these people.
[27:12] They're going to get saved. So it makes sense for us to say they're going to experience a grace that is irresistible or, if you use the other word efficacious, effective.
[27:25] That's what that word means. Okay? Psalm 115.3. Is there anybody there already? No? Okay. And these are just a couple.
[27:36] You can use your Bible to look up the cross-references and find many more verses like this. Here's just two. Mark, you there? Go ahead, brother. There you go.
[27:51] He does whatever he pleases. Alright, why is God saving grace for his elect, a power of God which cannot be resisted? Why is that the case? Defining the terms, efficacious, producing a desired effect.
[28:08] Are you there with me? I don't want to lose anybody. Okay. Producing a desired effect is what efficacious means. Again, you can shorten it to effective.
[28:24] Grace is God's undeserved saving favor towards sinners by the merits of Jesus Christ. So, efficacious grace, a little bit longer definition here, is effectual, effective, successful grace.
[28:42] Grace is favor. favor. The favor of God on the merits of Jesus. God is favoring you. Now, listen closely, please.
[28:53] God is favoring you with the merits of his son because you have no merit of your own to stand before the Lord. That's grace. You have to add that.
[29:05] Yes, it is the divine favor of God on you, but it is the divine favor of God to favor you with the merits of his son. God is and that's what allows you to be holy and stand before the Lord.
[29:21] So, this is what we're talking about. It is the divine work of God accomplishing what he designed and what he desires his saving favor to bring about in the lives of undeserving spiritually dead sinners who've been elected by God for his salvation.
[29:38] salvation. Now, I know that's a little bit to unpack, but I hope that you see the emphasis here. God is bringing about what he has already decreed.
[29:51] And so, the irresistible part is a way of saying it cannot be overcome. There is nothing in the will of man or the universe that can overcome the will of God, and so it's irresistible.
[30:07] It cannot be conquered. It will be effective. It will conquer. This is the idea that we're trying to put forward here. The Bible teaches then that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit acted together to safeguard and guarantee.
[30:25] Those are so important. That their covenant to save some was effectively carried out. Of course. What kind of a God would he be if he'd make a decree and people could resist it?
[30:42] So, as part of that holy pact between the Trinity, those marked out for salvation by the kind intention of his will would find this saving grace irresistible at the time God draws them to himself for the forgiveness of their sins.
[31:02] So, I wouldn't necessarily encourage you to think about this in the common way that we use the word irresistible like Suzanne found me irresistible, Addie, when she met me.
[31:14] Don't roll your eyes. Don't use it like that. Use. You. Are you watch out? I can say whatever I want.
[31:25] She's not here. Oh, it's being recorded. We have to edit that out. I did. I did. So, don't think of it as much like that.
[31:36] Think of it more in terms of, like I said, it's not conquerable. This is an overwhelming grace in your heart.
[31:48] It overwhelms your heart. It floods your heart. We're going to define it in just a few minutes. I'm going to show you some verses about this. All right. Let me get to this. Four main teachings of scripture help us structure this doctrine in our minds and hearts.
[32:04] So, I'm going to do this with you. The first one is the covenant of the Godhead that we just mentioned. That's why I'm going to start here because we just talked about this.
[32:18] All right. So, the Trinity, God the Father, the Son, Jesus, God the Holy Spirit took counsel to together before they made the world and they decided to provide salvation for some through Jesus' death on the cross.
[32:30] All right. Now, we've covered this. You remember this is election, isn't it? This is God marking out. This is predestination and election coming together. And some of the verses that we've looked at, let's just real quickly, John 6, and I think I wrote down the wrong reference here.
[32:50] That should be 45. Yeah. John 6, 45. Forgive that error. Let me get to John 6.
[33:06] I'm in the wrong. All right. What does that verse say, someone? It is written in the prophets and they shall be. No, maybe I did do it right. Ah, I did.
[33:17] I'm sorry. 635 is right. Michelle, will you read that one? Go ahead.
[33:30] Go ahead. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you did not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not pass out.
[33:44] For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing.
[33:57] But raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day.
[34:09] So we've used that to suggest to us the doctrine of election and God giving to Jesus these people, this certain group of people, the Father gave them to the Son.
[34:23] Okay, remember that? I won't go over a lot of that here. And then Ephesians 1. Now, I don't want to read this whole thing, but I just want to point, because you're familiar with this, I know.
[34:36] There's some other things here I want to pull in and make sure I have time to do that. Ephesians 1, you know, is critical to our understanding of the Godhead forming this pact, this decree, before they ever made the world.
[34:53] In verse 5, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus to himself, according to the kind intention of his will. That's the rationale or motive that we're given behind this electing grace to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in Jesus, the beloved.
[35:11] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight, making known the mystery.
[35:22] And all of this is because of what is said earlier in the passage, look up with me at verse 4, just as he chose us in Jesus before the foundation of the world.
[35:37] See, that is so clear. That is so clear. And so we have this covenant that was made in the Godhead before the foundation or the laying down of the world, the making of the world.
[35:51] that is the first main teaching that we need to hold on to when we think about irresistible grace. The second would be the way that this election is borne out in the teaching of the Bible, the electing will of the Father.
[36:11] And you see here, God the Father then chose from among all the rebellious sinners of the world those whom he desired to save from their sins. So, election, remember, didn't save them, but it marked out those whom the Father was pleased to draw to himself to save at a point in time.
[36:31] Election marked you out before the world was made, but then the faith that you needed to exercise in Jesus came at a certain point in time in your existence.
[36:43] And the Holy Spirit brought that to you as God drew you to himself. The irresistible nature of that was God decreed that you'd be saved, you're going to be saved.
[36:54] There you go. It just makes sense too, doesn't it? Now, again, we don't base our faith on logic as such, we base it on just the plain truth of the scriptures, which are logical.
[37:08] But sometimes we come across things that we read and we go, wow, that's so deep, I can't get my brain around that one. And we take it on faith that it means what it says, right?
[37:21] That God made the world in what we know to be six 24-hour days. When we read about God in the rest of the Bible, we say that's just not a big thing for God.
[37:32] But for some Christians it is. So they've got to help God out by putting gaps in millions of years in between those days. Things like that. These verses that I've given you here at the bottom, Romans and Colossians and 1 Thessalonians and 1 Peter, you have those in your book.
[37:50] We've already looked at those verses. They all refer to electing grace. There are many more. There are probably four or five times as many of those that are direct references and then there are so many in the Old Testament like him choosing Abram.
[38:08] Whatever, over such and such. Choosing Israel. Okay, so I don't want to go through all those. Is that okay? If we don't do that and I can move on to number three here with you.
[38:19] The redeeming work of Jesus is number three of these four main teachings. Jesus then came to earth at the appointed time. That would be God's appointed time.
[38:32] Here we see God once again marking out, acting sovereign over all that he's done. He did that to redeem free, or to free, God's elect sinners from their sins.
[38:47] Redemption means that Jesus Christ delivered us from the pain and punishment of our sins by paying the penalty for our sins for us on the cross. That's caught up in redemption.
[38:59] The cross then was the place where Jesus suffered and died on behalf of those whom God chose for salvation. Through his sinless life, his silent humility and suffering, his obedience in death, and his glorious resurrection, Jesus fulfilled his mission to do all that was needed for God's chosen people to receive God's gift of forgiveness from their rebellion against him.
[39:27] In other words, what we talked about in limited atonement, Jesus is not dying for the world. He is dying for his people marked out for salvation, and he is specifically doing what is necessary for those elected, marked out people to be saved.
[39:45] He is dying in a specific way for a specific purpose. He's not dying to offer the potential for salvation, he's dying to purchase it for his people.
[39:57] Big difference. This is what we believe in limited atonement. We'll say more about this in just a second. So then I say through the offering of his blood shed for us, Jesus purchased our spiritual freedom.
[40:12] To redeem is to buy back. He purchased our spiritual freedom to live in a right relationship with God. The reason I'm doing this with you is I'm rehearsing some of the gospel that we believe and showing you how it is so dependent on these doctrines that we're studying.
[40:34] They're not mutually exclusive. They're all part of the way that we understand and talk about how we're saved. It's as simple as that. And this is one of the reasons we want our brothers and sisters to come around to understand and see this.
[40:49] It's so glorious and it gives God so much glory and makes God so big. We don't want them to miss that in their hatred of these. Sure.
[40:59] So when you were saying about that he died for those that God showed, there is scripture on that? Yes.
[41:10] Okay. So if you were talking to somebody who doesn't believe in this and you showed him the scripture that he said this is what he did, why wouldn't they believe him? Well, there could be a number of reasons.
[41:22] What do you guys think in terms of a reason you've come across? Michelle? Well, I'm thinking of the overall sense that the only way you can believe it is if God opened the eyes to the truth.
[41:35] Yes. So a Christian, let's say a Christian who has the Holy Spirit, why wouldn't they believe what you plainly showed them in the scripture, particularly this one that says Jesus died for his specific people, not for the whole world?
[41:53] They're under deception. Because all means all. So Jeff has brought up what they use. Were you here last week? I don't think you were.
[42:04] All right, that's why you're asking this. So last week, this is what we talked about. Yeah, because in John 3, it says, for God so loved the world that he gave up the Son, so when we read this, we think, okay, everybody that opens up their hearts to believe in God will be saved.
[42:24] That's right. And this is how they argue, and so when it says all will come or I want all, Jeff says they say all means all. We have seen that contextually that's not true.
[42:38] Contextually, it can take on a very different meaning and it means all meaning not just the Jews, for example. Gentiles and Jews, people from every tribe, tribe, tongue, and nation.
[42:50] Not just people who are Jews who think it's exclusive to them. Yeah.
[43:07] That's right, Addie. That's right. Yes. And those pulls, those family pulls and ties, we've seen this with moms.
[43:20] moms who really struggle coming to these doctrines because of their children. Yeah. And if you think about what she says, then they often say, well, I just can't believe in a God who would be so cruel to not allow that.
[43:34] That's right. To pick some and not others. Right. Why would he do that? These are tough things to get around. So, yes, Mark? So, just kind of going back to the first question you were asking, why would a believer not see this?
[43:52] I mean, God does reveal things to people in his own time. Yep. And so, it may not be that person's time to be with that truth to be revealed.
[44:03] That's right, brother. So, I was saved in my early 20s in college and I didn't come to these doctrines until I was in my late 30s.
[44:16] And I was in the Lord. I was saved. I didn't know. I didn't know I was Arminian. I didn't even know what that term meant for the longest time. So, you're right, brother.
[44:27] Jeremy? Jeremy? Yeah, I'm actually going to start out with you. If you're raised as a free will person from a child, that's all you have heard in church.
[44:38] And now you're 34, 50, you did it for the first time. People are not in it's 57. And it's the first time. Wow, what? I can't do that. Maybe God admit that you were wrong.
[44:52] Woo! That's a big one, isn't it? So, these are good reasons. Greg? Just a reminder for the recording because I listened to the recording last week.
[45:02] You could repeat some of the questions. Oh, yeah. Does the answer get picked up? Only what you say. Only what I say. So the question had to do with why is it that people who are Christians would see these doctrines and reject them, particularly the one that we're talking about a second ago, limited atonement, that Jesus died for just a chosen group of people, the ones marked out.
[45:27] There have been several responses. Jeremy's was, well, if you've grown up being taught something completely different from that and now you're older, it's very hard to admit you're wrong and go in a different direction.
[45:39] And we've seen that. There have been several other responses. PJ? PJ? Just speaking of what Jeremy said, when you go to a church that the head of the church knows or has a teaching or a student and doesn't believe it, they're going to preach around it.
[45:57] So when you're going and you're not singing all the time and you're sending the Bible and you're not going to discover it if you're going to that church because they're not going here. I mean, and it's purposeful.
[46:10] You're right. And that's tough. That's heartbreaking. One of my things I have to calm myself down about for most of it doesn't.
[46:20] Yeah. But it also lies on us because we should be in the Word. Absolutely. No. There are two reasons there. I'm just one. Yeah. And also people that don't have the teaching, my input or view on it is that they evangelize different.
[46:40] So it's kind of something you said previously in some of your surveys is that you're under a false religion. You know, and he just doesn't want you to be in Christ.
[46:52] I think that came from you. But so if people are evangelizing, say they're truly a believer, but they're evangelizing falsely, like they will do this prayer or do this or do that, and someone thinks that that's what salvation is, they're not giving a correct gospel of what, then Satan doesn't care because here is all these false assurance people, you know, holding them back under that.
[47:19] Yeah. Okay, so we've said before, Jill, to that point, what you win them with is what you win them to.
[47:34] So if you win them with an argument of this will give you a better marriage, this will do this, this will do that, then people can come to Christ on a very utilitarian, pragmatic idea and not really deal with the fact that they have offended a holy God and they need the forgiveness of God through his son.
[47:54] Marievi, I think I saw your... What I was going to say is a lot of times when we're talking about why believers don't hear it or the first time they hear that when they're 50, it shows the importance of learning good Bible study habits in that when I come to the Word, I don't come with my efficiency by meaning it.
[48:18] And then I'm coming that I come with looking what the context is really saying and having the context show me what the words mean, not coming in with my filter that I already have and filtering the words through the filter I already have.
[48:34] Yes. Yes. Yes. Amen. And I hope you see that modeled here and supported here. but there are many pastors that are educated in a very different way from what we're believing and so they get out and they teach it because this is how they've been taught to handle the word and deal with these passages that we believe teach this and they say no it teaches this and then they teach it and then things start getting friction because their people are interacting with people like us and the next thing you know what's going on is their pastor is saying you need to disfellowship from those people because they're going to create disunity.
[49:16] Right? So now you've got brothers and sisters in Christ dividing over doctrine and from those pulpits they're going to say see this is why we don't deal with doctrine around here because it divides.
[49:32] Okay. Okay. See that's these are real life things you know we could go on and on tonight with these stories about how people respond to this but I think those responses give you ideas it does come down to what Mark said the bottom line is deception our enemy loves to keep it stirred up our enemy loves to deceive and scheme.
[49:58] I think control has a little bit to do with it as well. Okay. When you have to realize that the free will thing is gone that's the control aspect of our flesh that gives us control to say I want him not he chose me.
[50:17] Yeah. That's hard to give up control when you go back to that other scripture in 2 Timothy what usually goes along with an argument. Control of the argument.
[50:27] Yeah you're right brother. That's our default isn't it? Our prideful default. You guys are tracking really well. Let me give you some scripture here. It's coming up right here in the bottom.
[50:40] So Jesus' death was sufficient. This is what we're saying now. And again Dora last week we taught on this at length. Jesus' death was sufficient to save everyone who has or will ever live.
[50:55] But Jesus' death was offered for and it was aimed specifically at securing the salvation of those chosen by God.
[51:07] This is when I said Jesus did not die to provide the potential for people to be saved as if people can reject him or accept him based on their free will.
[51:22] Jesus died to secure the salvation for his elect. Now I do want to look at these verses. Can we do that? Let's look at Titus and if you guys will just some of you might want to look ahead and finger some of those passages and be ready to read from that.
[51:42] Let's go to Titus 2. Okay go ahead Michelle. Titus 2.14 Who gave himself for us to redeem us from every law of need and to purify for himself a people for his own possession.
[51:58] So do you see where that lines up with securing the salvation of those chosen by God? Do you see that in that verse? That's right.
[52:14] That's right. All right. How about Galatians 1, 3, and 4? Anybody? Who's he writing to?
[52:39] Believers. Yep. who gave himself for our sins so that he might rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father.
[52:50] It was God's will to save some and Jesus would save those. Galatians 3.13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law having become a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.
[53:13] Again, this is just speaking to the reality that he's writing to believers and speaking to believers so that the us, the all, the we refers to those who have been marked out for salvation by the Lord and saved.
[53:28] This is God doing what he gave Jesus the decree to do. Save his people. 1 Peter 2.24 Amen.
[53:54] And then John 17 is long but it's the high priestly prayer. Right? So if we go to the book, did you bring your book? I'm just going to point this out again for the time I want to be able to move on but we can come back to questions you might have.
[54:11] Page 47 is where I'd like for you to go. You have an explanation here that they give on page 47. He says in number three there, Jesus in his high priestly prayer prays not for the world but for those given to him by the father.
[54:32] In fulfillment of the father's charge, Jesus had accomplished the work the father had sent him to do, a specific work for a specific people, to make God known to his people and to give them eternal life.
[54:47] If you go down that paragraph, that next section, where the verses are mentioned, you'll see the italics there for emphasis? You see that?
[54:58] So the first one, since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to? All means all.
[55:11] Who's the all? Yeah, those who've been given to him. Not everyone in the world. Making a distinction. The next, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent, right after that, below it, accomplish the work that you gave me to do.
[55:32] So you see the father's decree being fulfilled here? Next, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.
[55:42] Not the whole world, the people you gave to me out of the world. And then finally, the last one, there toward the bottom, I am praying for them.
[55:53] I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. Folks, is that not clear? I am not praying for the world.
[56:05] I'm praying for those whom you gave to me. Now, why would Jesus do that? That just seems cruel, doesn't it? He won't pray for the whole world. He's praying for those whom the father gave him.
[56:16] God would create anyone who would have faith. Okay. Yeah.
[56:27] Yeah. This is one of the reasons that you'll hear people like Sproul and MacArthur say, election is the harshest, hardest doctrine in all of Scripture and it is the most glorious doctrine in all of Scripture.
[56:44] expressing the love of God in His electing grace. Why would He elect anybody? Yeah.
[57:03] Yeah, to merit. That's right. Howdy, right. Yeah. To do the forbidden thing. Yes.
[57:14] Yes. So these are verses that speak to some of that and you've got that in the book. And then I give you the fourth one here of this main teaching, the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. The regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
[57:28] Since we've already been talking about regeneration and redemption, here's what we mean. The Holy Spirit acts on the counsel of the Godhead just like Jesus is doing by bringing to fulfillment.
[57:43] There's your efficacious, your irresistible. By bringing to fulfillment the electing will of God, He applies the perfect work of Jesus Christ on the cross to our lives.
[57:55] I need Jesus to apply that work of merit to my life, my soul, in my stead and for my good.
[58:07] All of this effectively accomplished by supernaturally giving God's elect new spiritual life. So from a spiritual corpse there in Ephesians 2, 1-3, children of wrath, dead in our trespasses and sins, to new spiritual creation, but God.
[58:30] And then 1-Peter 3, 18. I'm there in 1-Peter so I'll read that for us. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.
[58:54] That same thing according to Romans 6 is what's happened to us. Put to death in the flesh, made alive in the spirit. You have died with Christ and you have been made alive in Christ.
[59:07] Romans 6. From spiritual death to spiritual life. And all of this being affected by His efficacious grace, His effective successful grace.
[59:22] regeneration simply means to regenerate or to generate again.
[59:34] Re generate again. It means to cause to happen or to begin. And so I give you an example here from Genesis.
[59:46] Generate. Genesis is the book of beginnings. regeneration is the beginning of new spiritual life. I do want to read this one from 2 Corinthians 5.
[59:59] We love this passage don't we? 2 Corinthians 5. You'll immediately recognize this.
[60:11] Beginning in verse 17 and going down through 21. Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature.
[60:24] Well that begs for you to understand that he wasn't that before. And so now he is. He's new. The old things passed away.
[60:35] New things have come. Now all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
[60:47] Namely God was in Christ reconciling the world the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation therefore we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making an appeal through us we beg you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God that's exactly how we preach it when we make a gospel appeal we say we beg you be reconciled to God because I'm not God I don't know who the elect are so we make the appeal to everyone now notice how he uses the world namely that God was in Christ verse 19 reconciling the world to himself now we already know reconciliation means that he brings together so in Jesus Christ he is bringing together back to himself a people believers so what does the world mean here given the teaching of scripture and what we know how do we understand the world this is a verse they'll use
[61:57] Jesus is reconciling the world Jeff hello the world this is what they do okay that's right the world not just the Jews believers from every tribe tongue and nation they're being reconciled to God we know that this can't mean the world as in the world of people because he's not reconciling everybody in the world I know unbelievers I know people in my family who've died in unbelief one of the hardest things I've ever done is I love my grandfather with all my heart and soul he was almost like a second dad to me growing up on his farm with him and he taught me many things but he was a rank unbeliever and I witnessed and witnessed to him and he died in unbelief and I had to preach his funeral that was tough it was tough to preach the funeral of somebody
[62:57] I dearly love but could not speak to the security of his soul and at the same time I didn't want to trash him in front of all his relatives the place was packed alright so the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit this renewed regenerated spiritual life brings a renewed desire so that one's affections are warm toward God this renewed regenerated spiritual life brings a renewed direction in the life so that one's goal in life is to honor God and this renewed regenerated spiritual life brings a renewed power that enables you to overcome the temptation of sin and live to please God these are basic things that we believe isn't that true it is from this renewed desire to please the
[64:06] Lord that we obey him Colossians 1 10 speaks to that Paul prays that for the Colossians by God's love for us we can love God we love because he first loved us and so we'll see that in first John we'll turn there first John back of the Bible we'll be in first John after this as well so you'll want to hang there a little bit first John 4 9 and 10 by this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent his only begotten son into the world so that we might live through him in this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins God exhausted his wrath on his son in order to save us and then if you look over at verse 19 we love because he first loved us if you'll go with me one more time to the book on page 53 this is a good place to insert this part of our text
[65:33] I think page 53 we're going to hit that first paragraph break there five or six lines down therefore the Holy Spirit in order to bring God's elect to salvation extends to them a special inward call in addition to the outward call contained in the gospel message so you hear your pastors making an outward call to everyone present in this room when we give a gospel appeal come to Christ that's the outward call through this special call the Holy Spirit performs a work of grace within the sinner which inevitably brings him to faith in Christ so that's not the outward call that's the inward call this is taught in the Bible the inward change wrought in the elect sinner enables him to understand and believe spiritual truth in the spiritual realm he is given the seeing eye and the hearing ear the spirit creates within that person a new heart new nature new creature this is accomplished through regeneration or the new birth this is why we're doing this by which the sinner is made a child of
[67:03] God and is given spiritual life where he was spiritually dead right his will his will notice that the person's will is renewed through this process so that the sinner spontaneously comes to Christ of his own free choice did you think you'd read that in a Calvinist book but do you see how he's explaining this we're not robots irresistible grace is not robots I'll say that in just a minute now look how this happens because he is given a new nature so that he loves righteousness and because his mind is enlightened so that he understands and believes the biblical gospel the renewed!
[67:58] sinner freely and willingly turns to Christ as Lord and Savior you see how that works thus the once dead sinner is drawn to Jesus by the inward supernatural call of the spirit who through regeneration makes him alive and creates faith and repentance within him so he's explaining the efficacious call or the effective call of the holy spirit as an aspect of irresistible grace you and I have said yes to the spirit because the spirit has opened our eyes and our hearts to regenerate us and give us what we need to be able to say yes to God or we keep saying no that's the work of God he gets all the glory for that all we brought to that equation was sin and death and rebellion and so he had to regenerate us in order for us to begin this process so he gets all the glory in it okay I just wanted to point that out and show you that's in the text there for you you got it so you can hang on to it and read it 50 times if you want let the
[69:07] Lord use it in your life all right let me see where I am here let me see how far I am in where did I have used the book the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit irresistible grace does not make us robots or puppets being forced to believe in God we believe this is so important folks I hope you'll underline this we believe because in bringing us from death to spiritual life God has given us the free gift of faith it is us doing the believing we are making a choice it is a choice empowered and enlightened by God or we would never make it but we are believing we are putting faith in Christ he's not doing that for us he has made it possible for us to do it he has made it guaranteed that we will do it and it is a wonderful gift of his love and an expression of his power as well did I finish all of that yes when God takes a person who has lived in spiritual blindness and opens their spiritual eyes to the love and splendor of God that new vision of the love and grace of God in Christ compels the person to embrace the Lord by God's gift of saving faith
[70:57] I have some additional verses that I want to share with you before we look at the next set of verses for this just listen to this real quick and then I'll give you the references I added these after we had all printed all this out the first one this is Jesus speaking in the gospel of John and he says if you love me you will keep my commandments now listen to this one just a few verses later he who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and will disclose myself to him Jesus answered and said to him if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him this is about the love of God today in a text conversation with someone that I'm attempting to lead to Christ they said something to me about a passage of scripture and I wrote back and shared these verses with this person and I said please remember that what this is about in terms of the
[72:33] Christian life is you walking with Jesus Christ in loving obedience make sure you put that love thing first in loving obedience we obey him because we're growing to love him we love him and I reminded him of that as he seeks as he goes through scriptures as he's trying to work out in his heart whether he's in the Lord or not he told me last night he didn't think he was and so today in texting I'm trying to help him see there's a loving God who is drawing you to himself and any obedience you offer him will be because you've come to love him or it's wood hay and stubble yes right he does the work of love in your heart and then he teaches you and grows you in a love for his word for his truth because what do we know
[73:36] I just wanted to share those with you I didn't want to skip them all right let me show you these the new direction of our will brought on by our new birth causes us to reach out to God whoops let me go back one I want to do those real quick that was I'm sorry that was John 14 and that was verses 15 21 and 23 you're welcome yep and so now I want to go to 1 John 4 did we do that already we didn't do that but we did part of it we did part of it sorry I get I need to stop looking at that and just look at my notes that's not gospel this is okay 1 John 4 15 and 16 if you're there anybody there okay
[74:42] PJ you got it amen you see the tie there with belief and love and this is what we're trying to emphasize right now we're saying when God takes a person who's lived in spiritual blindness and opens their spiritual eyes to the love and splendor of God that new vision of the love and grace of God in Christ compels the person to embrace the Lord by God's gift of saving faith God God is loving us to himself and that's why we come he opens our eyes to that love and we're compelled to come 2nd Corinthians 4 4 through 6 this is a challenging passage let's see what it says right anybody there 4 4 through 6!
[76:12] do not preach ourselves to Christ Jesus of Lord but ourselves as divine for Jesus faith for God for God who said light shall shine out of darkness is the one who will shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of life in the place of Christ now this is really interesting you'll see the quote there on the bottom of the screen I'll catch up with you so that I can read that God causes the glory that is the self authenticating truth and beauty of Jesus Christ to be seen and savored in our hearts God causes the glory of Christ to shine with irresistible beauty this is irresistible grace I want you to understand what God is!
[77:10] doing! God causes is why I told you at the beginning of this lesson this is an emphasis on what God is doing not so much what the sinner is responding to the irresistible grace is a work that God is doing in the sinner to bring that person to salvation and so God is causing this and what he's causing is he's causing the glory this verse tells us the glory of Christ to shine with an irresistible beauty but notice notice the difference in what he says what Jeremy read in verse 4 what's the case in verse 4 how is that different from what happens down in verse 6 okay there's an unbeliever and what's happening in that unbeliever's life can you believe that in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see what the light of the gospel of the glory of
[78:14] Christ that is exactly the opposite effect that God causes in a believer he does cause us to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and that glory draws us in great love to confess!
[78:28] our need and fall before the Lord and bow and say I want to be your child forever I want to serve you with all that I am this is why I tell people when I take them through these exercises about whether or not they're in the Lord and they've been living like the devil for years and years I look straight into their eyes and tell them after they've read the verses are you seeing you that we can't even tap the end of if that same God came to live in you do you agree there would be something of a radical change in you that would be visible to the people who know you best yeah and do they see that no do you see it no are you saved no it's not rocket science I won't tell!
[79:26] them they're!! saved but I'll lead them to the word and I'll talk to them in a way that's very sober because their soul is at stake and I don't want anybody sitting under my ministry Greg's ministry to end up standing before the Lord and him say nope I never knew you so It's very sobering God causes it alright now I'll give you this the new direction of our will brought on by our new birth causes us to reach out to God so as much as we say that we are making a free choice that free choice has been purchased for us by Jesus it has been given to us as a gift otherwise there is no free choice we're enslaved to sin and dead to God right okay Titus 2 I'll take you here as we close because
[80:29] I want you to see how they use one of these verses the wrong way Titus 2 11 through 14 for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men there you go there's no such thing as election instructing us to deny ungodliness do you see how the all and the us come together he's still talking about the same people let me read it again for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly righteously and godly in the present age looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession zealous for good deeds verse 11 is wrongly used to teach against election and they
[81:42] Mark saying that they pull the verse out of context and if you pull a verse out of its context you can make it say lots of stuff right so you see those who hold firmly!
[81:58] to the doctrines of grace do not believe that people cannot resist the grace of God sinful people do resist God's gracious love don't they sinful people I resisted the Lord for many years I had people share the gospel with me I sat in a church service for I don't know how many weeks and weeks in Germany as a young guy about 14 years old but you had to go to church to be part of the youth group and the youth group was going to Birches Garden and going on a ski trip and so I showed up and I was in the student group at church and I was as dead in my sins as you could be and I went to Birches Garden and went skiing amen lost alright I give you all those so people can resist God in their unbelief but those who have been marked out for salvation know so irresistible grace means that the Holy
[82:58] Spirit will succeed in applying the merits of Christ life death and resurrection to each person whom God elected for salvation and for whom Christ died okay by the predetermined will of God his elect will gain the full effect of God's love applied to them through his saving grace and then I had this quote and I don't remember where I got it sorry effectual grace is grace that affects what God desires it's good that's a very brief way to kind of wrap that up but here here's the better one and I'll end with this final thing here you go irresistible grace makes the unwilling willing John Piper okay okay any questions or quick comments before we pray we can we can talk about this afterward you're welcome to come up to
[83:58] Greg or myself and just ask Greg the hard stuff yes for next week if you'll read the section on perseverance of the saints or the saved is what I call it perseverance of the saints that'll get you ready for Greg we reserve the right if Greg sees anything else he wants you to read from the text and the appendices or whatever we'll shoot you a deal and tell you on Sunday are you guys on the midweek letter thing that we okay good because that would be where we would put out any of that info thank y'all yeah thank you yeah we did we did well most of it I mean there's lots more that we want to do we're probably going to circle back around because we didn't talk about some very important doctrines associated!
[84:50] with this like double predestination and reprobation these are very important doctrines that are going to come up why does God pass over some and why did he elect some and what does that mean and then theodicy the idea that God is on trial and has to be vindicated because it's not fair what he's doing so all of those doctrines relate to and we didn't go into that yet that's a whole other series of lessons okay thank you guys let me let me pray and then do we have anything today goodies oh yeah you guys teaming up all right let's pray together oh almighty God we thank you father for these glorious truths that we can read directly out of your word and many of them so clear in expressing your sovereignty and salvation and we pray for our brothers and sisters
[85:54] God we truly do we bow our hearts and ask you to send people to bring people here to this place where they can sit under the word of God and they can listen and be taught these doctrines in the safety and security among a group of people who desire that they would grow in you and love you and have their eyes open to the marvelous greatness of how you save people to take them beyond what they think they know and help them to see the reality of what is written there plainly in the Bible please continue to send families to us Lord even in the messiness we desire to come alongside of them and be part of their lives and patiently endure in teaching them the truth of the gospel and helping them to see you for who you really are I pray that we would be a room full of worshipers taking the gospel into our sphere of influence and trusting you for the difference that the
[86:56] Holy Spirit will and can make in people's lives thank you for these truths in Jesus name Amen