Is Calvinism Good for the Church? - Burk Parsons

let's pray our Father we thank you for your truth we thank you that you've revealed it to us your people and we pray father that through this time in this conference that we would have a face-to-face encounter with your truth and you are lord and savior for your glory not our own in Christ's name we pray amen as Chris mentioned there has been no little amount of talk about Calvinism in these past years there has been indeed a resurgence of sorts and talking about Calvinism and reformed theology several years ago you perhaps remember the Christianity today cover story titled young restless and reformed followed up by a book by Colin Hanson and editor a journalist with Christianity today and then just a couple of years ago we saw a Time magazine cover story called ten things that are changing the world right now number three on their list as many of you know is the new Calvinism I realized that many who are here perhaps a bit skeptical when you begin to talk about Calvinism and here Calvinism bantered about by all these young new Restless and reforming new Calvinists but I think that there's something far more grand on the horizon and I think that this resurgence that has come about in the past few years has actually been a resurgence that we've seen for the past few decades it's a resurgence that I think is not short-lived some look at this as a mere fad they think that this will come and go in this generation they think that these young restless and reformed are here for but a short temporary time I think otherwise for the primary reason that God's Word does not return void and anytime God's truth is preached and proclaimed and defended and understood in a time that God is known through his word and for his glory as not wasted and God doesn't waste it but it's through this truth and through his word and through our knowing him and our deepening knowledge of him at conferences like these throughout the world that God's truth is truly bringing Reformation not only to these United States but throughout the world now it's never really been my habit to call myself a Calvinist and I know that may sound strange here I work for probably the world's foremost known Calvinist dr. Sproul I have the great privilege of editing the world's probably most well known reformed magazine that is thoroughly Calvinistic but the reason I've never really referred to myself as a Calvinist is primarily for the reason I don't think Calvin would like it and foremost because I don't think the Lord would like it now I realize that in saying that I'm offending a whole host of you and that's not my intention my intention is for us to rethink not only our language but to rethink so much of the Calvinism that has been bantered about so much of the Calvinism that we see on display not only in our churches but throughout the world and so that we the people who are gathered here today in this week for this conference and those who are watching via the live web feed would come away from this conference not with a bold brazen gun-slinging Cowboys Calvinism that takes every dissenter onto the streets and shoots them down with our five-shot revolver z' but that we would be a people who come away from this conference with a more thoroughly biblical Calvinism knowing God's truth and defending his truth in the name of Christ so that we would not come away from this time in this conference promoting a man but the only god man Jesus Christ our Savior I recognize that in using the language of Calvinism using the language of Reformed that some of you are saying now we need to find our terms now dr. MacArthur did that well for us the other night teaching through Romans nine he defined Calvinism per se as we look at it through Romans chapter nine but you say well he only looked at a particular aspect of Calvinism he only was considering salvific Calvinism or Calvinism so geologically he wasn't looking at the full orbed Calvinism that is far beyond the five points of Calvinism and I understand where you're coming from I'm a confessional Presbyterian I look to the Westminster standards Westminster Confession of faith larger and shorter catechisms as my basis as my authority those subservient and subordinate to the scriptures is that confessional document that I look to I believe is thoroughly Calvinistic and reformed so what do I do with these fine men who are sitting here in the front row like dr. Lawson dr. Mohler men who are teachers of mine men whom I greatly respect there are differences are there not and no one's pretending otherwise as you look at the panel who is here last evening for the question and answer session they were plain differences among these men not only in doctrine but in ecclesiology and polity and the way we go about various things but there is a common doctrinal thread that runs throughout all these men and that is an insistence on the God of the Bible and that's not just looking at one aspect of the God of the Bible it's not just looking at how God saves it's looking at a God who is sovereign who governs all all things good things bad things and all the in-between things and this common doctrinal thread that not only runs throughout these men of the word but this common doctrinal thread runs throughout this entire place though we come from different denominations and different backgrounds and we have different confessions those of us who are Calvinistic in our theology have a theology that says God is God Charles Spurgeon said this I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and him crucified unless we preach what is nowadays called Calvinism it's a nickname to call it Calvinism Calvin is the gospel and nothing else I do not believe we can preach the gospel if we do not preach justification by faith without works nor less we preach the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace nor less we exalt the electing unchangeable eternal immutable conquering love of Jehovah nor do I think we can preach the gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of God's elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets Saints fall away after they are called and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus simply put Calvinism is the belief that God saves sinners but not everyone thinks that this Calvinism is biblical and of course there's the rub John Wesley wrote Calvinism destroys all God's attributes at once it overturns both his justice his mercy and truth yes it represents the most holy God is worse than the devil as more false more cruel and more unjust one pastor missionary writer probably self-published wrote this Calvinism evolved from paganism Gnosticism and Roman Catholicism Calvinists and all others holding the doctrines of unconditional salvation or listen to this or the doctrine of once saved always saved our major enemies of the cross of Christ and lastly the Calvinist makes God a lying deceiving bigoted malicious unjust and confused hypocrite when you say you're preaching to the choir here pastor we are all Calvinists well I don't know if that's the case this is my 15th National Conference for years as a student in Bible College even in high school coming to hear dr. MacArthur and dr. Sproul and John Piper I wasn't convinced I thought Calvinism was unbiblical heresy I thought Calvinism was against God that had maligned God and I wanted to guard and protect the God I knew from Scripture albeit with my presuppositions in hand and at the forefront of my mind I wanted to guard the God that I knew of Scripture I wanted to protect the God I knew is that loving God who not only desired all men to be saved but was working diligently for every man to be saved I had wrong presuppositions I had misconceptions I had my own theology that I was bringing to Scripture but as Aquinas said and Burke Office said and dr. Ferguson has said theology proceeds from God it teaches us about God and it leads us appropriately back to God and if our theology dear friends doesn't come from God that it's not theology its humanism its whatever else but if our theology doesn't come from God and thus teach us about God it's not from God and if it doesn't lead us back to God in doxology in our understanding and love of God then our theology was never biblical to begin with if our theology drives us to ourselves and our own hearts and our own minds if it puffs us up with knowledge thinking that we ourselves have gained this truth that we ourselves know our pathway to God and know precisely how to get there we know exactly the right words and the right phrases and the right qualifiers and just the right tones and just the right verbal accents and just the right facial expressions in order to save souls ourselves then we need to repent and what we're being sold on these days is a theology that doesn't come from God but comes from men and dear friends what we need whether we are converted or not as the Word of God and whether we think we are thoroughly equipped in these doctrines what we need is the Word of God we need a Bible Calvinism we need a Calvinism that emanates from scriptures not from our own minds we need a theology that drives us to our knees it's been said that Calvinism is Christianity on its knees but it doesn't begin there it begins a Calvinism with Christ on his knees I'd plan to look at Ephesians chapter 1 for our time together today but since dr. MacArthur did such a wonderful job Thursday evening look at Romans chapter 9 thought it would be appropriate for us to look at a different passage so I want you to turn with me to John chapter 17 John Knox on his deathbed asked his wife to bring the scriptures and to open to the great high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ which he said was where he cast his first anchor and we could spend weeks and weeks looking at this most glorious prayer of our Savior a couple of years ago I had the wonderful privilege of going to Kampala Uganda with my family and a dear friend to spend time with Palmer Robertson and Ian Campbell teaching through John 17 I spent 7 sessions hour long sessions teaching through John 17 and we were just scratching the surface and unfortunately that's all we'll be able to do today but as we read through this text I'm going to do something I don't typically do and sort of look at the phrases and the words and sort of give an exposition and a running commentary as we look through it it's not the ideal way to preach but for times sake I ask you to look at your scriptures that are in front of you and read along with me as we make our way through this glorious prayer of our Lord Jesus in this Upper Room discourse in his final farewell discourse ends chapter 16 as we have it here in our New Testament Scriptures saying to his disciples very plainly but be of good cheer you'll have tribulation in your life and in the ministry that I will send you out to into this world but be of good sure why for this very reason Jesus said because I have overcome the world so he spoke these words and he lifted his eyes up to heaven John 17 verse 1 and said father the hour has come glorify your son that your son may also glorify you as you have given him authority over all flesh and we're familiar with this language aren't we from the Great Commission Jesus said very plainly all Authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth and therefore we are to do what go because Jesus has authority over all the earth because he has the power not we are not we as his emissaries not we as those whom he's called to go out into all the world but because he has power because he has Authority and because he has sent that second comforter to help us and to be our advocate and to go before us preparing hearts and minds he says go jesus says very plainly to the father acknowledging to the father in the third person this is the son about whom I'm speaking and the son has authority over all flesh it's a Hebrew a ism for all people you've given him authority over all flesh that he should give or grant or bestow eternal life to as many as you have given him now this is the language of the gospel the language of John throughout from John chapter 6 John chapter 10 over and over and over again every time we see Jesus talking about the people that the father has given him the son Jesus is speaking about a particular group of people he's saying father you have given me a people I have authority over all the flesh over all the world over all creation but you've given me a people out of this creation this made so many of his followers although nominal steamed as they left him in droves in John chapter 6 and then he even pressed them further in John chapter 6 saying do not murmur amongst yourselves know this that only the father who sent me who will draw his people this group of people out of the world that it's only the father's doing it's only the father's drawing not the father's wooing not the father's hoping and wishing but the father's drawing it's only that the father and his work through the Spirit drawing out sinners from this miserable dark and sad world it's the only means by which any sinner can come to Christ dear ones so often we really have a most unfortunate view of ourselves we don't have a high enough for our depravity we don't properly understand just how dead we are you can't even qualify deadness as you know we are a dead people we come into this world dead on arrival and we need to understand and we need to remember regularly that in our natural States we're not seeking God we're not running after him in fact we're doing just the opposite we're going and running away from him and hiding from him behind trees and gardens we don't want him to come and see us we don't want to see his face that one who came down and accommodated himself to us and if you will came down out of the heavenlies and the beautiful picture the Genesis gives us in Genesis 2:7 and it is an historical account wherein the God of all creation comes down and breathes into man's nostrils the breath of life in this God with whom we were face-to-face with is the same God that we're running away from we're not only running away from him but we hate him not only do we hate him but if he came down here we would kill him that's precisely what we did but jesus said I have come to take and to save and to reveal to the people whom you have given me for your glory that I should give eternal life John 17 verse 2 that I should give eternal life to as many as you have given me Jesus said verse 3 and this is eternal life we have so many poor understandings and misconceptions about what eternal life will be like dear friends we don't know the Scriptures well enough Jesus here defines it is prayer to the Father as the disciples listened in and as we listened in here now 2,000 years later to what Jesus says what eternal life is listen to what he says this is eternal life definition very plainly the most simple way he could possibly say it that they may know you not that they might simply think nice thoughts about you not so that they might simply have happy lives or their best life now not so that they might simply have a certain direction in their life or a certain amount of purpose in their life but that they might know God and if dear ones we are not going about our entire lives helping others know God parents their children husbands your wives pastors your people then you are failing them miserably and sending a whole host right to hell Jesus said very plainly this is eternal life that they may know you that they may be face to face with you again and that they might have an intimate personal love and knowledge and experience eternally forever and ever not just living forever and ever in this body and in this means and in this way that we're so used to but living in an entirely different way in an entirely different form that they might know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent verse four I have glorified you on the earth I have finished the work which you have given me to do and now a father glorify me together with yourself with a glory which I had with you before the world was verse six Jesus moves on from praying regarding himself in the third person to the father and praying for those whom God the Father had given to the son most particularly perhaps just speaking of the eleven perhaps speaking of the 72 perhaps speaking of those who are right around him his followers who had not left him and deserted him perhaps speaking to all those whom the father had given to the son who were presently in real time in real space his and Jesus said I've manifested now stop there Jesus said I have manifested I have revealed I have made plain now usually when we read this language here in John 17 we come away thinking well it's simply a matter of well Jesus spoke the truth he preached the truth well he did that to everybody and many left and many rejected him and many went away jesus said very plainly I have manifested your word to them I have revealed your word to them I have opened their eyes and I have enlightened the mine's to your word these whom you have given me by the spirits work have had your truth and your word revealed to them as they're listening in and Jesus is praying these prayers so that they can hear he continues and says I have manifested your name to the men whom you've given me out of the world they were yours why didn't Jesus pray they are yours why does he use a past tense verb in speaking to the father and mind you Jesus spoke every word as he meant it but why did you use the past tense for so many when it comes to the doctrines of grace when it comes to this whole business of Calvinism when it comes to the whole matter of election and reprobation they hang up for so many is that they have come to a point where they have relaxed in a doctrine that suggests that God before the foundations of the earth didn't choose a people but instead look down the corridor of time and peered down that tunnel of time and said ah I see that John or Bob or Suzanne I see that I see that he's going to muster up enough strength and I see that he had just the right parents I see that he was in just the right place I see that he was really smart and he figured it out or I see that he had nothing and had nothing else on which to depend and I see something in him that and then I see in a future point on this timeline that he repents of his sins and recognizes that there's a god and recognizes that he needs salvation and I see that he's going to believe on me and because he repented of his own volition because he came to me and because he had faith of his own will and of his own natural instincts that one I'm going to choose if you believe that friends you don't know the gospel because you've never come to a point you've never come to a point in your lives when you've thrown up your hands in the air and said Lord why me and when we get to heaven and the angels or why should I rather say when heaven comes to us in the new heavens and new earth as revelation 21 describes it but when we get there and the angels are all gathered around us and they look at us and they say you know we've been we've been examining this whole matter of a Redemption we've looked into it deeply and intensely our entire existence could you tell us why are you here and we look at these angels that are gathered about and say well angels let me tell you it's very simple I believed say okay well that's what we've heard is the way you get here and we've heard the Westminster Confession of faith that says this is the sole instrument of our salvation faith but why isn't your neighbor here why isn't your child here why isn't your spouse here it's at that point when we will immediately turn to the grace of God it's at that point we'll say well the reason I believed is it's because of God's grace the reason I believed is because he worked in me belief that he overcame my will that he overcame my stubborn hardened way against him that wanted to kill him and he took a hold of my stony heart by the Holy Spirit he took me and he dragged me to my knees and he said you're mine you're mine from all eternity and I love you and at the end of the day angels the only answer I really have is that the reason I'm here is by the grace of God I'm usually not much for clapping but it gives me a chance to get back around the podium to continue with the text Jesus continues verse seven now they have known that all things which you have given me are from you for I've given to them the words which you have given me and they received them and have known surely that I came forth from you and they believed that you sent me John 1 tells us very plainly that he came to his own his own rejected him they didn't receive him but to those to whom it had been appointed we read elsewhere in John he gave eternal life but to those who didn't believe Jesus says in some strange way to those who didn't believe it's because they were already condemned here ones these are hard words and anyone who comes to you and says that they're easy doesn't know the scriptures anyone who comes to these things and calls them easy doesn't know the Word of God these things are not easy there's a reason I despise these things for so long the reason there's a reason that so many of you here and in your churches at home hate these things understand that what they're wrestling with is who God is these are hard sayings these are hard questions but the Bible gives us the answers Jesus continues in his prayer verse 9 I pray for them I do not pray for the world but for those whom you have given me for they are yours and all mine are yours and yours are mine and I'm glorified in them verse 11 now I'm no longer in the world but these are in the world and I come to you Holy Father keep them preserve them through your name all those whom you have given me that they may be one as we are one Jesus here and praying for their unity is indeed praying for that which is a clear unity in him Paul makes the point in 1st Corinthians 1 doesn't he that Christ can't be divided because Christ can't be divided we as his people aren't divided but don't make the mistake that this is only a spiritual unity it is at the foundation at the very establishment a spiritual unity but it has visible components to it now that is not our God today the mantra of the evangelical church and a vacuum n assists everywhere is that unity is God it is our Idol and we must strive for unity at all costs but never at the cost and never at the expense of truth never at the expense of the gospel of Jesus Christ which we must defend with everything that is within us it's not ours we ought not trifle with it Jesus says very plainly that they are yours preserve them in your name that they may be one as we are one not in spite of the truth but precisely because of the truth verse twelve while I was with them in the world I kept them in your name those whom you gave me I have kept and none of them is lost except the son of perdition and Jesus goes on to explain that this lostness is not a temporary lostness it's not that Jesus lost control or lost power or lost authority or that his word was ineffectual in the heart of one but that he was lost as the son of perdition so that in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled of course speaking of Judas but now I come to you verse 13 and these things I speak in the world that they may have listened carefully these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves he doesn't say simply that they might be joyful he doesn't simply say that they might have a joy that they're able to conjure up when they're feeling really good on one particular day or in a particular hour of a day he's not saying that they would have a joy that is conjured up because they're about to do something really great he's talking about his own joy Christ's joy that it would be theirs not even our own joy it's fascinating how when he speaks of his burden and his yoke he doesn't speak about our burden he's not speaking about our yoke he's speaking about his own yoke that he gives us and that's precisely why it is light that's precisely why it is easy dear ones because he's already done it and so when we take upon ourselves the yoke of Christ and the cross of Christ daily in our lives it's because he has done it he has gone before us and so when someone asks you friend are you saved by works your first answer should not be no your first answer should be yes a qualified yes indeed but an answer of yes we are saved by works by the works of Christ not by my own he went before me Jesus didn't simply come and die he came and he lived and he lived for us and He fulfilled all the righteous demands of the law of God and he did it for us he lived on this earth and he showed forth manifested plainly his perfection in his obedience to the law of God and it's for that reason that when he went to the cross and died that his death meant something and so it was on that cross that Paul says our sins were nailed it's on that cross where Christ paid the penalty for our sins and accomplished life for us didn't simply pave the way didn't simply provide a medium or a pathway didn't simply provide a hypothetical possibility that some might be saved but he went to the cross so that he might save a people and let me just point this out very plainly when we think about these doctrines and when we think about the definite or particular Redemption or the particular Toman of Christ so often what that leads us to conclude is that there are people all around the world neighbors across the street and beside us who are in fact simply and weak make the conclusion that they're absolutely reprobate you see we don't want a lot of people to be saved we're up to us half the world wouldn't be saved if it were up to us an election truly was not unconditional but condition based upon how we favoured people and most of the world wouldn't be saved all those in the past with whom we've been at war wouldn't be saved and we would even drop certain individuals and we say there's certainly no possible way that he could ever be the elect of God some of you are going to hate what I'm about to say you're going to hate me for it but if you do not understand that even Osama bin Laden could be the elect of God then you don't understand the gospel he can save a murdering blasphemous hater of Christ and turn him in to a man who gave us Romans and Ephesians then he can save anyone Jesus says in verse 15 I don't pray that you should take them out of the world but that you should keep them from the evil one for they are not of the world just as I am NOT of the world sanctify them by your truth beautiful language isn't it he doesn't say make them feel better about themselves by your truth he doesn't say cause them to think nice things about me by your truth he doesn't even say make them more able to theologizing speculate speculate about me he says sanctify them by your truth he doesn't say that truth is anything else but his word and he doesn't say that your word contains truth merely he doesn't simply say that your word talks about the truth but in fact that your word is truth that your word in fact defines truth that your word is the means that you have ordained to sanctify to set apart and to consecrate not only definitively at our salvation and our justification but also progressively unto death and that progressive sanctification dear ones don't be sold that this is about waking up every morning and putting on your boots and pulling yourselves up by your own moral bootstraps and saying I'm going to take on the day it is a constant and daily reliance upon the spirit it is a constant in daily prayer saying Lord this day I am still a synergy here RC jr. yesterday we're still sinners and we need the gospel just as much today as when we weren't converted it's our greatest need now as it was our greatest need then yet also don't be sold to lie that our obedience and our holiness doesn't matter what we do dear friends as Christians in our sanctification pleases or displeases God and just as a father can be displeased with his children so our Heavenly Father displeased is displeased with us when we sin but he doesn't hold us at arm's length he doesn't turn his face away and walk the opposite direction saying let's see if they can figure this one out and solve this and come back around as that loving father he draws us closer to himself and he opens up his arms and he says come to me I'm your father don't run away from me I'm not hiding myself from you I'm not running away from you I'm not going back and sitting on my easy chair and seeing how far you take this and how much you mess up run to him as he is with open arms and say lord I need your loving fatherly chastisement and discipline because I know Lord that only your loving hand of chastisement will get me through this it's only your conviction it's only your pricking of my conscience it's only of that love which you show me in disciplining me and bringing me to the end of myself when I can find you so it's a daily reliance a daily dependence a daily gospel need sanctify them by your truth O Lord for your word is truth when we fully begin to understand Calvinism we begin to understand that we can rely on the means that God's given us in the world today whether it's in the church or the world I think it was MacArthur said several years ago that in our day the church is becoming more worldly in the world's becoming fascinatingly more churchy when I was 15 16 years old and tempted with the entertainment world I'm not saying that everyone in the entertainment world is of the devil simply but when I was tempted with the entertainment world at 15 and 16 there were many many Christians around me who are saying that how to take this opportunity I ought to go and sing with a boy band and shake my body on a stage for a bunch of nine-year-old and thirteen-year-old girls and make millions off their mothers they were saying this is God's open window his open door where you can go and He will give you a platform you see you see how they think when we were sold on the world's ways and we and we don't understand the sovereignty of God and that we can we can rest on his means in his ways on those very simple and ordinary means that he's given us that to the world seem boring and odd when we just rely on very simple things like preaching the Word of God in prayer which many of us are still looking for things beyond this relying on the very simple means of grace like the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper when we go beyond these things and we start looking for different ways and means beyond God's Word then we will fall into the same condemnation as those false teachers who came along saying this isn't enough you need to do more and you need not be satisfied in these simple ordinary means of grace you need to go beyond jesus said the way in which were sanctified the way in which were set apart the means that God has given us is his word sanctify them father Jesus prays by your truth for your word is truth the word goes forth and it accomplishes precisely what the Lord intends for it to accomplish friends so don't be bashful with it proclaim it to yourself daily to your spouses to your families to your friends and to everyone with whom you come and contact every day and every hour of your lives Jesus continues in verse 20 he says I do not pray for these alone for those immediate disciples that are right here with me that those whom you have already given me in real space and real time those who are presently mine who have already heard the gospel call who have already had the spirit waken their stony rebellious hearts and minds to the gospel I don't only pray for these but also for all those who will believe in me through their word Jesus is now praying for those second and third fourth and fifth and thousandth generation disciples who will receive the Word of God because his disciples and I know this is going to be terribly confusing but just listen speaking to a bunch of Calvinists they will receive His Word based on our taking his word to them we're sanctified by His Word and when we take his word in his gospel to the rest of the world those who are Christ's out of the world will hear his word will respond to his word by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit will open their eyes will rebirth them into a spiritual existence and will make them fall on their knees on their faces and say God have mercy you Father are in me Jesus praise and I in you that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that the nation's would hear and that they would believe from every tribe from every tongue from every people it matters not our socio-economic class it matters not how wealthy we are or how poor we are it matters not where we come from what our parents were like it matters not how smart we are and how much we're able to figure things out it matters not what we're able to muster within ourselves to believe it matters that God is working within us and choosing those who are his based on his four ordained well and his good pleasure that's the point isn't it Ephesians 1 over and over and over again Father Son and spirit it's all according to his will all according to his good pleasure and for what purpose for what end the end of salvation is not for our salvation the end of salvation is not so that we might feel good about ourselves the end of our salvation is that God would be glorified so Jesus prays that the world may believe that you sent me and the glory which you gave me I have given them that they may be one just as we are one I in them you and me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them just as you have loved me it's a fascinating thing Jesus says and his prayer here that the Father loves us his people as he loves Christ think on that and in his conclusion to this prayer father I desire verse 24 for father I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which you have given me for you loved me before the foundation of the world we were chosen Paul says in Ephesians 1 before the foundation of the world we were chosen in a past time we were known before the foundation of the world that's the reason that Peter says we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God that's the reason Paul says in Romans 8 that it was by his for knowledge not foreseeing that we would believe but by for knowing us that we have salvation that they would behold my glory which you have given me for you loved me before the foundation of the world verse 25 o righteous father the world has not known you but I have known you and these have known that you sent me in verse 26 and I have declared to them your name and I will declare it that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them now the obvious question that we have here that I really haven't answered is is Calvinism good for the church of course it's a plain thing if we answer the question to say well it's good for the church if it's biblical right the Bible says there must be good for the church and here we have Jesus on his knees before the Father at a most significant point in his life in ministry before those he's about to leave and praying to them a prayer that is thoroughly dyed-in-the-wool Calvinistic but we really still haven't answered the practical question and that question is how is Calvinism good for the church Paul lays it out plainly in Ephesians 4 look with me there after verses chapters 1 through 3 as Paul has laid out very plainly the mystery of God from all eternity about the way in which God has saved a people so many of us when we concern ourselves with these doctrines of grace and Calvinism we look at this matter and we look at these questions and as I concluded my freshman year of college writing for my English professor a paper entitled Calvinism and Arminianism a controversy that shouldn't exist not knowing that she was a Calvinist at the time I wrote this paper thinking well this is a mystery we can't know it haven't you read in my theme verse of course was Romans 11 the mind of God his ways are far beyond our understanding far beyond our knowing his ways are beyond us searching we need to settle that this is a mystery to us and that's where many of you are today even you think well this is a mystery we can't understand that look at the use of mystery in the New Testament Paul here in Ephesians over and over again says I'm explaining to you dear friends the mystery of God listen and if you go away saying well it's a mystery I still can understand that you're not being faithful to scripture Paul saying I'm giving this to you Ephesians this is the mystery of God unfolded so after he's done all this and chapters 1 through 3 ending it very plainly at the end of chapter 3 verse 21 with this amen he begins therefore in chapter 4 I the prisoner of the Lord beseech you I urge you I call to you with this great admonition to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called what is he talking about here he just spent three chapters talking about our calling being called out of this dark sad world into his marvelous light and made able to stand by his power and his spiritual invigoration every day of our lives through eternity so he's called us out of darkness and into his light not so that we might simply bask in the light but so that we might go back into the world shining as his lights into this dark world illumining this sad and dark world with people whose eyes are closed and blinded by the god of this world as Paul says in Corinthians I'm a prisoner and I beseech you to walk worthy of that calling that electing grace by which you are called out of this world walking this way dear friends and for most of us this is where we stop so where he put down our Bibles we say that's enough I've heard it it sounds nice and I would rather just walk away from this conference thinking nice thoughts about God thinking nice thoughts about myself Paul never stops there God never stops there and nor should we Paul says very plainly this this electing grace that I've now explained to you this whole matter of the doctrines of grace this whole business about Calvinism that I've just explained to you in chapters 1 through 3 this is what it does listen walk worthy of the calling with which you are called with all lowliness not arrogance and audacity in a brazen boldness that is elitist and makes us think and even sometimes say that we're better than all other true children of God that we are somehow more loved by God than our neighbor who trusts Christ and loves and with all his breath and preaches the gospel and knows God but is saved by a happy inconsistency and not yet understanding these things and not yet studying scripture in its depths as where most of us at some point with all lowliness with all humility in a word to my friends and you are my friends who are among this young restless and reformed I guess I'm still kind of young but I've been a part of this for maybe 14 15 years now but do those who are just coming to these things dear ones these doctrines should not make you more bold and more brazen but more humble we walk in lowliness as God's people we walk Paul says continuing on in chapter 4 we walk with gentleness Paul understands friends he understands what these doctrines can do he understands that we'll think we've we've got it now we now understand the mystery of God which we do but in understanding it it makes us and should rightly make us fall on our knees it should rightly make us come to our faces with God every day of our life saying Lord why me use me although I don't deserve to be used with all lowliness with all gentleness with all long-suffering with all patients not only patience with ourselves patience with other Christians he's speaking to the church that we would have patience within the church with one another just as people were patient with me and so many patient with you as you rejected these things and strove against these things for so long but be long-suffering suffer long and hold back any anger and any wrath as God does with us rather than bringing it to full bare bearing with one another in love holding one another up and undergirding others within the church in love verse 3 endeavoring listen carefully endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit being eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit some of you could care less about the unity of the spirit in your church when you take vows in your churches to strive for and too eagerly maintain the peace purity and unity of the church you're not really concerned about that and you show it every time you cause an unnecessary division in an unnecessary way within the body of Christ don't forget that many of the people that you come into contact with in your churches and in our churches you'll be with together for eternity so watch how you speak about him Christian endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace there's one body in one spirit and you were called with one hope of your calling one Lord one faith one baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all and then he goes right from that talking about the gifts explaining very plainly as he does in 1st Corinthians 14 very plainly as he does in Romans chapter 12 that there are no celebrity body parts that there are even parts that seem weak and unnecessary but they are vital to the right functioning of the body of Christ so Christ has given gifts to men and he uses all these gifts in different ways and he uses pastors and teachers and evangelists and apostles in the first century all of these things for the equipping of the Saints for the work of ministry for the edifying the building up the equipping of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith verse 13 and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ that we should no longer be children but that we should grow up and be mature in our faith and mature in our lives and our callings that we would grow up that we verse 14 should no longer be children tossed to and fro carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting but verse 15 listen carefully as we conclude but speaking the truth in love that we and this is the point so we walk away from this conference and conferences like these as we walk away from these doctrines and as we walk away from this whole matter of Calvinism and trying to determine if it's good for the church true Calvinism true biblical Calvinism is in fact good for the church for this precise reason I've taught you these things Paul says all of these things that I've laid out before you is not to make you more arrogant it's to make you more lowly in your walk it's to make you more gentle it's to make you bear up one another's burdens so that you might know God and in knowing God make him known that you might love God and loving God loving your neighbors as yourselves so that you might walk every day as a gospel child of God trusting that promise in the God who is a covenant of God who keeps his promises that we as the people of God that we as his church might grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part doesn't share causes growth of the body for the body edifies itself in love our Calvinism if it is biblical Calvinism will be a thorough ever deepening knowledge understanding and love of the God whom we worship and if your version of Calvinism doesn't do that then your Calvinism is not the bible's Calvinism and it's certainly friend isn't good for the church our Calvinism is not to be a Calvinism that we wear on a t-shirt on a bumper sticker it's not a Calvinism we wear on our sleeves it's not a badge that we put on say I've been to a Ligonier conference see I truly am a Calvinist it's a gospel religion in which we close ourselves and drape ourselves with his word daily so that when we walk what the world sees and what the church sees and what your spouse sees and what your children see is your love and heart soul mind and strength of your God who has saved you because friends God saves sinners and by His grace he saved us let us pray our Father we thank you that you've saved us the only response that we have is why me and the second response is adoration an unending doxology Oh Lord lift our hearts may we truly be lost in your love and your care for us and may that case same love and care stand to your people for the building up and love of your body and true growth and true maturity all for your glory and not one ounce of it for ourselves and Christ's precious name we pray amen

Channel: Idea Pump

Views: 28,082

Rating: 4.2823219 out of 5

Keywords: Calvinism (Religion), Reformed Baptists (Religion), Christianity (Religion), Ligonier Ministries (Organization), R. C. Sproul (Author)

Id: FlwwwwrRVJo

Length: 57min 45sec (3465 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 10 2013