Sermon on Calvinism: God is Sovereign (Part 1)

but open your bibles to romans chapter 9. as we're doing a series on particular doctrine and truths and not an exposition of scripture it's difficult to decide where do you even begin when you're talking about what the bible says about grace what the bible says about the atonement what the bible says about our condition what the bible says about god's sovereignty it's hard to decide like where do i start and in particular when you're talking about the grace of god and salvation our condition and the sovereignty of god and the power of god to save it's a difficult decision i mean do you it's entire passages it's not a verse here or there it's not just pot shots just picking out little ones here or there it's entire discourses on this subject whole chapters on this subject when it comes to the sovereignty of god over everything and the sovereignty of god and salvation when it comes to the condition of every human being every son or daughter of adam when it comes to our abilities when it comes to the atonement of jesus christ when it comes to god's promise to keep us and to guard us because of that salvation he's granted to us the bible is abundantly clear are there things in scripture that are mysteries yes it is highly arrogant to pretend to fully know the mind of god are there things that are incomprehensible absolutely god is incomprehensible and we're going to be trying to discover all of his beauty and complexities for all eternity and will never ever end it forever we're creatures he's god but the bible says that the secret things belong to the lord our god and we think that's lovely and wonderful and amazing but it says what he has revealed belongs to us and to our children we can have certainty certainty about the bible teaches about who god is about salvation about his word what he's revealed belongs to us and it belongs to our children and so when we're talking about this subject of the grace of god and salvation god's sovereignty the atonement of our lord jesus christ god's effectual grace the salvation that he's given to us my challenge to us is this let's go to the word of god and ask the question what does god's word teach us about these truths be willing to be challenged i am are you willing to have your traditions challenged are you willing to have your very cherished beliefs challenged i remember many years ago we'll get into the text here in a moment but just to sort of illustrate the challenge many years ago i was listening to the radio debate between our pastor and dave hunt pastor james was challenging dave hunt who's with the lord now on his position and brought up the issue of traditions and dave hunt said i don't have any traditions james like i believe the bible i believe god's word i don't have any traditions and one thing that stuck with me ever since that conversation that pastor james has said many many times is the people who have who say that they have no traditions or the ones that are plagued with the most of them because it means you're not willing to examine them it means you're not looking for them and testing them we as believers have to always be willing to be corrected by god's word no matter how cherished the belief is no matter how long we've held it we have to be willing to be challenged what does god's word say and so with that i've chosen romans 9 to begin this study on the doctrines of grace we could have gone a number of different places john 6 john 10 ephesians chapter 1 ephesians 2. i mean we could have gone to many many places i've chose chosen romans 9 for a reason because i also want to involve a challenge in the midst of romans 9. and so we're there in romans 9 but i want to um challenge you with this as you go through this series be willing to be corrected by god's word be willing to hear his word and let it sit and transform and challenge and convict hear all the perspectives and to stand on god's word so we're getting into romans 9. romans chapter 9 this is from the apostle paul in his systematic explanation of the gospel the apostle paul has spent time in the book of romans unpacking man's condition what is the gospel what has god accomplished how are we justified before god and god get and then the apostle paul gets into romans chapter nine after this very very detailed explanation of salvation justification our condition god's plan and purpose and salvation and in romans 9 he gets into the discussion of god's sovereignty over salvation it's a challenging section of scripture but very very clear so romans chapter 9 verse 1. hear now the words of the living and the true god i am speaking the truth in christ i am not lying my conscience bears me witness in the holy spirit that i have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart for i could wish that i myself were accursed and cut off from christ for the sake of my brothers my kinsmen according to the flesh they are israelites and to them belong the adoption the glory the covenants the giving of the law the worship and the promises to them belong the patriarchs and from their race according to the flesh is the messiah who is god over all bless forever amen but it is not as though the word of god has failed for not all who are descended from israel belong to israel and not all are children of abraham because they are his offspring but through isaac shall your offspring be named this means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of god but the children of the promise are counted as offspring for this is what the promise said about this time next year i will return and sarah shall have a son and not only so but also when rebecca had conceived children by one man our forefather isaac though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that god's purpose of election might continue not because of works but because of him who calls she was told the older will serve the younger as it is written jacob i have loved but esau i have hated what shall we say then is there injustice on god's part by no means for he says to moses i will mercy i will have mercy on whom i have mercy and i will have compassion on whom i have compassion so that it depends not on human will or exertion but on god who has mercy for the scripture says to pharaoh for this very purpose i have raised you up then i might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth so then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills you will say to me then why does he still find fault for who can resist his will but who are you o man to answer back to god will what is molded say to its molder why have you made me like this has the potter know right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use what if god desiring to show his wrath and to make his known his power has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he has called not from the jews only but also from the gentiles as indeed he also he says in hosea those who were not my people i will call my people and her who was not beloved i will call beloved and in the very place where it was said to them you are not my people there they will be called sons of the living god and isaiah cries out concerning israel though the number of the sons of israel be as the sand of the sea only a remnant of them will be saved for the lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay and as isaiah predicted if the lord of hosts had not left us offspring we would have been like sodom and become like gomorrah what shall we say then the gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it that it is a righteousness that is by faith but that israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law why because they did not pursue it by faith but as if it were based on works they have stumbled over the stumbling stone as it is written behold i'm laying in zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense and whoever believes in him shall not be put to shame as far as the reading of god's holy word let's pray father please bless this entire series we seek to honor you your word your truth we seek to give you the glory for salvation you are to be glorified and praised for the salvation that you've accomplished we seek to defend your word against those who would seek to rob you of your glory we seek to teach the truth from your word what do you say about your sovereignty about your grace about the work father of your son challenge us teach us we humbly ask that you would lord get the teachers out of the way and the you by your spirit would challenge your church here and globally with your word all leading to your praise and glorifying your name in jesus name amen i have to confess i'm going to open up the series today i'm going to talk a bit about the doctrines of grace we're going to talk about tulip we're going to talk a little bit about the history but i have to confess this particular sermon might be kind of boring for some people in terms of i have no slides i have no quirky interesting stories about the pastor i am going to lay out text after text after text after text of god's word that has to be the foundation when you ask the question about god's grace and salvation when you ask the question about god's sovereignty what i want to demonstrate today in the question of god's sovereignty i want to demonstrate that scripture is consistent from genesis to revelation about the one and only true and living god and his complete and total sovereignty over every single molecule in the universe and in history god in scripture is not kind of sovereign mostly sovereign the god of the bible cannot be thwarted by anything in creation he cannot be thwarted by any creature he is in the heavens and he does all that he pleases in heaven and on earth we are a part of the on earth parts and he does what he pleases my hope is to fill you with the word of god the difficult the challenge in a series like this in the doctrines of grace is this where do you start and where do you end because scripture is so abundantly clear about god as the sovereign it is so abundantly clear about the condition of fallen men and women it is so abundantly clear about god's grace as truly gracious and as truly effective it's difficult to know where do i start and where do i end so i just want to forewarn you in this series you will get a lot of the dump of scripture and i want to just challenge you to be taking notes to record to challenge yourself to go into the text itself i'll give you a book recommendation you'll probably get a few through this series but i want to challenge you to get a book it's called the reform doctrine of predestination by lorraine bettner the reformed doctrine at predestination by lorraine buettner and again as i said to you guys in the beginning of service today if you got that book just for the references themselves it would be a well worth the purchase so get that book the reformed doctrine of predestination i'm sure you're going to have lots more before we're done and start working through that it'll challenge you so the purpose of this study is to bring glory to god we want to defend the biblical view of grace we want to defend the biblical view of grace here's the challenge when you talk to christians today are you saved by grace let's say you're saved by grace through faith in jesus apart from works of law salvation is the grace of god but the challenge here is to go a bit deeper how gracious is grace is grace something that is offered and god desires to save and he tries so hard but the creatures resist his will the creatures can thwart the plan and the purpose of almighty god and the atonement how gracious is god's grace the purpose of this study is to defend the biblical view of grace it is this view of grace in ephesians chapter 2 the apostle paul says this in verse 1 and you were dead in your trespasses and sins dead in which you once walked following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work and the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and listen to this and we're by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind but god but god being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with christ by grace you have been saved for the inspired apostle the grace of god in saving us is like this you were dead not sick not wounded not limping along one of the things uh interesting lately august augustine is uh he's he's strong goodness gracious he's strong he has some big strong hands and legs man when he kicks me at night when i'm sleeping it hurts like really physically hurts he's really strong but he hasn't quite figured up yet how like to get on his knees and like walk on the knees so he gets on his knees he does a lot of planking all day he's like doing pull-ups and you know he's like but he can't quite figure out how to crawl like on his knees and so like you know we're cheering him on and like he's he's he's dragging his body so he gets in his knees he plops down and then he drags his body right and so all day long in the durban household augustine is slithering around the floor everywhere he's just his legs are dangling behind him and he's just pulling himself right just with the legs we're not in that kind of condition spiritually speaking just sort of like sort of limping along dragging ourselves along kind of helpless the bible's definition of our condition it's the inspired apostle this is it we've not just been wounded by our sin and our condition before god we're not spiritually sick we're dead dead spiritually alienated from god and here's the thing we don't want to hear today and it's not preached today like it ought to be with force because it is the very thing that can lead people to salvation what god uses to expose our sin is we are outside of jesus by nature children of wrath we don't want to talk about that today but this is vitally important for us to get if we're going to understand god's grace and salvation and how glorious this gospel truly is and how majestic god is and powerfully is in salvation we have to understand this biblical definition of grace and this is it you are dead but god made you alive together with him by grace you've been saved so we know from our experience as believers i was just walking along somebody gave me the gospel whatever the context was i heard the gospel i was challenged all of a sudden jesus was lovely to me i felt the need for my savior i trusted in jesus that's my perspective that's what i experienced but the truth is behind that story for each of us is this story dead child of wrath god made you alive by grace you've been saved so the purpose of this study is to defend that the biblical view of grace the purpose of this study is to defend the biblical perspective of man's problem i've already sort of illustrated it there i hope you're catching it already what's our condition spiritually sick wounded no what's our condition dead we are dead spiritually and by nature children of wrath we don't like to think about people like that we don't want to walk around and be arrogant about that well you're just dead right we know that's a condition of all of us you're either an adam or you're in jesus romans chapter five that's paul's view of that's his anthropology you're in you're an adam you're dead condemnation or you're in jesus gift of eternal life and righteousness in jesus so if you're outside of jesus you're not made alive you're dead spiritually and the condition needs to be explained we need to defend the biblical perspective of man's problem problem like romans 3 there is none righteous no not one none who does good none who here it is seeks for god here's the problem a lot of times as christians in history and in today in the west evangelicals will say i believe that romans 3 i preach that when i tell someone the gospel no one righteous no not one no one does good and no one seeks for god that's why you really need god's grace and jesus alone and it can't be law that saves you but have you thought about what that means our condition is like this not righteous not good so we're condemned and it says there is none who seeks for god none who seeks for god that's the condition well brothers and sisters if god's word says that there is none who seeks for god then what pray tell are you doing here why are you here why are you in this room seeking for god why are you in this room believing in jesus do you do it is it better parents did you just figure it out are you more wise maybe more spiritually sensitive than your neighbor maybe you're the kind of person that digs deeper than others you're concerned with spiritual things right maybe that's our interpretation of the circumstances i believed in jesus because i just thought deeper thoughts or i was more concerned with mortality and thought about the future no the bible says there is none who seeks for god and yet here we have a room full of god seekers people who seek for god who love jesus so the question is how did you get here why are you in this state why are you trusting in jesus is it something where you cooperated with god in some way he was trying really hard but limited in his capabilities and somehow he worked together with the the will of the creature who is seeking him no the bible says there is none who seeks for god you're dead in your sins and trespasses by nature children of wrath romans 1 enemies of god that's the condition the purpose of this study is to defend the biblical perspective of man's sin problem it's much worse than we think it's much worse than we preach it's much worse than we tell people about it's the kind of problem that jesus illustrates in john chapter 6 where he says no man can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him now i want you to think about that for a moment in terms of condition this is the mouth from the mouth of the lord jesus the incarnate god man he says no man is able to come to me no man can come to me no man has the ability to come to me unless the father who sent me what draws him now here's the problem please hear me on this many christians and modern evangelicals will give the passing tilt to the hats right they'll give the nod to oh right we need god's grace we need god's grace to empower us to believe in jesus yes i acknowledge that we're all sinners god has to move god has to act but that wasn't jesus perspective was it he said no man is able to come to me there is no ability to come to god we're not limping we're dead we have no ability and it says what unless the father who sent me draws him and here it is from the mouth of the lord jesus and i will raise him up i will raise up the one the father draws the one who was unable to come no ability unless the father draws and jesus raises up everyone the father draws for salvation if your view of god's grace is not consistent with jesus then it needs to be challenged because those are the words of the lord jesus his grace is effective when god draws god saves so our purpose is to defend the biblical perspective of man's problem our purpose in this study is to defend the power of god in salvation and therefore empower missions i want you to hear that for a moment just two passages two discourses john 6 and john 10. go read them later bury yourself in those texts listen to the words of the lord jesus in john chapter 6 jesus says this i've come down from heaven not to do my will but the will of him who has sent me and he says this and this is the will of him who has sent me this is the will of the father for me this is my mission this is why i came he says of all that he has given to me i should lose nothing so there were people given to jesus by the father and jesus says i've come down from heaven to do his will with respect to them and it's this that i should lose none of them but raise them up on the last day jesus says in john chapter 10 that he's the good shepherd and the good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep other sheep he says i have which are not of this fold gentiles them i must also bring and they'll become what one flock with one shepherd and he says they're in my hands and nothing can snatch them from my hand that's the portrait of god's grace and power and salvation and i want to challenge you with this i believe with all of my heart that calvinism the doctrines of grace these truths are what empower missions as a matter of fact in history you can do your research on this yourself and you'll see just in the last couple of hundred years some of the greatest missions efforts and missionary societies of the last couple of hundred years some of the greatest moments we've had in the west in terms of the great awakenings and all the rest those are done by calvinist so you're welcome why is that well here's the reason because when we go out into a hostile world full of spiritually dead people we know that none of those spiritually dead people can thwart our almighty god when god wants to save rebel sinners he saves rebel sinners and it's all according to his mercy what do all the rebel sinners deserve judgment condemnation the fact that any one person is saved is the mystery why would you ever do such a thing what everyone deserves is justice that's a biblical view of god's holiness justice and our sin none of us deserve salvation people say well why doesn't you just save everybody wrong question why did he save one when we go out there into a hostile world of rebel sinners we know that no one is able to come to god unless the father who sent jesus draws him and he will raise them up which means when i go preach the gospel i'm going to cast out seed gospel seeds knowing that if god has prepared the ground it's getting in the ground and it's going to bear fruit i know that god saves rebel sinners because i know my story personally and i know the stories of our heroes the man who wrote these texts the apostle paul was breathing murderous threats against the church he was so zealous against destroying the church he says that he persecuted the church tried to destroy in galatians 1 and what did jesus do with that rebel he appeared to him and he opened his eyes and he saved him and there wasn't anything that could have stopped that power of god he is the almighty sovereign powerful god who saves and so i know when i go preach the gospel it's the power of god for salvation and all these dead people out there when they hear the gospel and god chooses to give them life he can raise the dead and i want to challenge you with this when jesus was going in his ministry and he's raising people from the dead little girl's dead he says little girl arise and she comes to life again when he goes to lazarus's tomb and he says lazarus come forth all those were literal real historical physical resurrections they all were but don't forget they died again which is really weird thought right they all died again and so i want to say the miracles of resurrection in jesus life and ministry were not merely feats to say oh wow what a miracle worker it was testimony to his ability to raise the dead now spiritually and at the end of time physically in the final resurrection of the just and the unjust jesus can speak to dead people and raise them to life and that's why we should be fearless and bold when we go out there to preach the gospel now i want to talk just a bit about this tulip t-u-l-i-p i'm going to tell you in a minute we actually should talk about it in a different way but i'm not going to spend a lot of time in the history of tulip and calvinism versus arminianism in terms of giving historical survey and all the rest i think we need to keep it fairly simple and stick to the text and the truths themselves because i think that's what matters when we talk about this doctrine the history of the church we've had some amazing fights some good fights we need to praise god for the fights and the heretics that have come into the church that we've had to deal with in history the second century of the church you're dealing with particular heresies at the time you're dealing with heresies of people saying we should detach the old testament from the new testament sounds similar to some things today the marcy knights you're dealing with in the second century with people who are denying the trinity and you've got tertullian and others in in a fairly rudimentary way dealing with those issues of defending the trinity itself and as time goes by you get into other issues where heretics like pelagius comes into play you've got augustine and other believers who are fighting against uh people who are distorting the nature of man how fallen is he those sorts of things you've got augustine with the reformers in terms of grace and what god's power is in salvation but we've had some great fights and i thank god for those fights the trinity that pelagian heresy is rampant even today plenty of people hold to it today even pretending like they don't and you've got issues in history where we had to fight these great fights these have led to the sanctification of god's church please hear me on this the whole scope and history of the christian church is is amazing it truly is it's amazing and it's glorious what god has done to protect his church and to cause her to persevere but i want you to hear this god has allowed fights to happen in history so that the church gets around the word of god knows what god's word says about that thing and can defend the truth better you've heard me say many times that if you gave me a choice in history of who i would want next to me defending the trinity against error would i want to go say with a second century christian somebody who is closer even to the time of the apostles maybe even a disciple of one of the apostles my answer would be no i'll take one of the 21st century christians who has actually had the entire history of the church and error behind us where the church has gotten together around the scriptures to precisely define and to precisely communicate what god's word says about that thing i would rather stand next to dr james white dr brown defending the trinity by the way you see that debate if you haven't seen it make sure you go see it i saw it live dr brown dr white colorful men you didn't even you didn't even prepare for that james you didn't even prepare for that debate did you guys you guys just sort of like sat down and you went at it it was amazing but if you watch that debate you'll see the benefit of 2 000 years of church history behind you these fights added the ability to clearly see and to get to all the texts that are relevant to precisely defend and define and in the particular instance of the fight here between arminianism and calvinism i think it was a banner moment for the church in terms of you have now history behind us of how fallen is man how gracious is god's grace what exactly happened with the atonement and what happened was with the fight at the synod of dort was you had people who were essentially followers of disciples of impacted by the teachings of a man named jacob arminius and they protested the church at large at the time they protested they said we're not sure sure we agree with all that everybody is saying formally in this confession so we'd like to we'd like to argue with that here's here's some points we'd like to argue about in terms of man's condition how fallen is he is he really completely unable to cooperate is he really completely unable to come to god what exactly did jesus accomplish with the atonement was it an atonement that made people save a bowl or did it actually accomplish salvation was it a real atonement that actually accomplished salvation can you lose your salvation well maybe we think possibly let's take a look at these texts so christians got together in a lot of gatherings and a lot of meetings theologians scholars missionaries pastors got together to formally respond to the remonstrance the protest and when they responded it's known historically in history as tulip t-u-l-i-p and this particular tulip stands for t total depravity i'm going to argue this because when you hear that you think people are totally depraved completely and absolutely like the image of god is erased that's kind of what it sounds like there but what they were referring to was total inability they are absolutely unable to come to god on their own they're dead next was the you unconditional election does god in choosing people because it's all over the bible when he predestines when he elects on what basis does he elect him predestined is it on the basis of foreseen faith like he looks through the corridors of time and he sees who will choose him so on that basis he chooses them is that why god elects or how god elects or is election predestination a sovereign act of god's grace upon undeserving and unwilling people unconditional election the l in this is limited atonements now i wanted to say ahead of time we should really get at what they were specifying what they meant was definite redemption that when jesus died on the cross it was a once for all sacrifice that saves perfectly those who draw near to god through him the sacrifice was an actual atonement a real atonement that accomplishes atonement and here's a deal somebody will say limited atonement i like all the doctrines of grace i'm i'm like a i'm like a four-pointer people say i'm a four-pointer i just can't hang with limited atonement i don't believe god limits the atonement we'll just let's be real for a second here okay if you believe jesus died and rose again and he had an atonement everybody limits the atonement do you get that every christian limits the atonement every christian limits the atonement if you hold to the perspective that jesus accomplishes an atonement that makes people save a bull it is limited in its ability to save anyone because of them as the creature having to essentially appropriate it or make it effective on their behalf so it's limited there in its power to do anything or you limit the atonement in terms of saying the number of people that it perfectly saves is limited every christian who believes in the atonement believes that it's limited in some way and if you're a post-millennial like me you get to say that most of humanity will be saved so take that um as a little eschatology joke some of you guys aren't eschatology nerds apparently okay some of you got it okay next is irresistible grace what they meant was effectual grace is god's grace able to accomplish salvation or can it be resisted here's the deal here's the question can the sovereign god really really really want to save and he tries so desperately and so hard but he's thwarted by the creature there is a perspective that says yes god can want desperately to save have jesus die for sinners can try to apply that salvation and can be thwarted by the creature it can be resisted this grace can be resisted or is god's grace effectual or effective next was the la it was the final one the p was perseverance of the saints when god saves and saves perfectly does jesus ever lose any of his sheep that's the question we can go to many taxes defend that and we will but i would just point you at this point read john 10. so we can't really start this study and i appreciate how pastor james has explained this over the years and um i believe what i believe because the word of god but i've been so thoroughly equipped and challenged in many ways over the years through pastor james ministry and if i get anything wrong you can blame him but over the years he said really you need to start this discussion with the study of the sovereignty of god in scripture so if you're going to put it together it shouldn't just be tulip and plus how we have to define it in terms of total inability definite redemption rather than limited atonement and effectual grace you really need to start with this sovereignty of god so i have studip studip sovereignty of god total inability unconditional election definite atonement effectual grace and perseverance of the state saints we believe in studip that's what we're doing now here i'm going to start this to answer one objection you've heard me say and some people get really offended by this and when they're offended i'm thinking i should probably make sure they understand before they get offended or before i offend them you've heard me say that paul was a calvinist that jesus was a calvinist and some people take real offense to that how can you say that the lord of glory was a calvinist following a man named john calvin and it shows a misunderstanding of this entire discussion i'm going to just go on the record here and say this i have purposefully never read john calvin there's been times where i've been tempted so he'll say hey you're willing to read this he did a good job here and i've said not going to do it why because when i defend these truths i want people to know they're from the bible they've got nothing to do with a man named john calvin and when we label this controversy arminian versus calvin or calvinism arminianism versus calvinism what we're really doing is just putting a title over the discussion where are you at on these particular points of doctrine in history if you were over here you were well you're in the armenian camp and if you're over here you're in the calvinist camp and it has to do with reference to what you believe about these particular truths is man deadness sin why does god save how does he save what was accomplished in the atonement and so when we talk about calvinism versus arminianism please know this it's got ultimately nothing to do with a man named john calvin and nothing to do ultimately with a man named jacob arminius has to do with these particular truths for example i say that jesus was trinitarian [Music] but the word trinity wasn't a part of his context it's a word later that was coined to define what christians believe what the bible teaches about these truths i say that in some aspects of jesus teaching he was augustinian well how can you say that pastor jeff augustine wasn't even alive yet well because when augustine fought these battles this is what he said and so jesus was augustinian and so when i say jesus was a calvinist what i'm referring to is read john 6. read john 10. that's the doctrines of grace through and through explained by jesus and i'll say it again john 6 and john 10 is 110 proof calvinism baby some people don't like that i've said that so here's one challenge i want to give you before we get into the text i told you today might be seen by some as boring but i want to give you the the the text from scripture on all these issues i want to give you this challenge as your brother and a pastor when we talk about this subject i started with romans chapter 9 today i think paul was arguably the expert on this discussion to the sovereignty of god and salvation would you agree would you agree he's the expert he's the inspired apostle so he'd be the guy you want to go ask pastor james would want to sit at his feet and say tell me explain to me help me to understand right as much as he's defended this view around the world and written books and all the rest i think we'd all agree that the apostle paul is the expert on these issues he's the inspired apostle that's where we've learned so much but i want to point you to what the apostle paul says in light of his gospel of god's grace through faith and jesus christ apart from works of law god's perfect strength and salvation all that stuff here and in romans 9 of god mercies whom he wills and he hardens whom he wills and there is no injustice with god no there isn't here's what he says i am speaking the truth in christ i am not lying my conscience bears me witness in the holy spirit that i have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my hearts for i could wish that i myself were accursed and cut off from christ for the sake of my brothers my kinsmen according to the flesh i mean this entire this entire book is about the sovereignty of god and his grace and salvation i mean he's illustrating every detail of it he's the inspired apostle he's the one saying here god mercies whom he wills he hardens whom he wills he makes one vessel for honorable use and one for dishonorable use he accomplishes salvation perfectly and here with all of that he says and i wish that i could be damned to hell if it meant their salvation now i've been willing to say this there's not one person in this room including me who's ever prayed that prayer god damn me to hell forever if it means their salvation take me and damn me if it means they'll be saved he has unceasing anguish in his heart for the lost and yet he knows that god is the one who mercies and god is the one who hardens and he's still in his heart is so passionate about the lost that he even wishes to be accursed for their sake so i want to challenge you as calvinist and to reform folks who fully embrace the sovereignty of god and salvation to allow your heart to be changed to that to be so passionate about the lost that you see yourself as less than them and their needs it's a challenging thought it's challenging for me because i can be honest and say that i've never thought like that i'm so in love with jesus i can't imagine an eternity without him and yet paul says let me be damned for them if it could be possible so i want to challenge you with that thought here we go sovereignty of god i said to you before it's hard to know where to start and where to stop so what i'm going to do is i'm going to try to encourage you and wet your appetite from lorraine bettner's book all right i'm going to give you the scripture dump right now you can go back and reference them later or go buy the book but let's go through scripture here and this is a little older book and so a lot of these are from the authorized version king james version still a good book pastor james loves king james version i want to make that very clear for the record he loves it so do i okay judas white and jeff durbin love it what's that derek bin that's what i said yeah just said about dirt bin yes if you listen to um the uh the dividing line if you've listened to um uh radio free geneva you've heard the new intro i i play it just to listen to that be honest pastor james um listen to this number one point that betner makes is this four ordation for ordination is explicitly stated in scripture acts 4 27 28 for other truth in this city against the holy servant jesus whom thou didst anoint both herod and pontius pilate with the gentiles and the peoples of israel were gathered together to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel for ordained to come to pass what's that say the murder of jesus all these different groups god foreordained the murder of jesus and yet they were guilty it's what they wanted to do ephesians 1 5 having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through jesus christ unto himself according to the good pleasure of his will ephesians 1 11 in whom also we were made a heritage an inheritance having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who works all things after the council of his will romans 8 29 and 30 for whom he foreknew he also predestines to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the first born among many brethren and also whom he predestined them he also called and those whom he called he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified first corinthians 2 7 but we speak god's wisdom and a mystery even the wisdom that hath been hidden which god foreordained before the worlds unto our glory acts 2 23 him jesus being delivered up by the determinate counsel and for knowledge of god ye by the hands of lawless men did crucify and slay acts 13 48 and as the gentiles heard this the gospel they were glad and glorified the word of the lord of god and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed as many as were ordained to eternal life believed ephesians 2 10 for we are his workmanship created in christ jesus for good works which god afford prepared that we should walk in them so that's for ordination it's explicitly taught and stated in scripture this point bender makes the point god's plan is eternal ii timothy 1 9 it is god who saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to works to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in christ jesus before times eternal psalm 33 11 the council of jehovah standeth fast forever the thoughts of his heart to all generations isaiah 37 26 hast thou not heard how i have done it long ago and formed it of ancient times isaiah 46 9-10 i am god and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done ii thessalonians 2 13 god chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth listen to this one matthew 25 34 the lord jesus powerful this section here then shall the king say unto them on his right hand come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the worlds and we could keep going but next point god's plan is unchangeable james 1 17 every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom can be no variation neither shadow that is cast by turning here's a powerful one isaiah 14 24 jehovah of hosts hath sworn saying surely as i have thought so shall it come to pass and as i have purposed so shall it stand isaiah 46 10 and 11 my counsel shall stand and i will do all my pleasure yea i have spoken and i will also bring it to pass i have purposed i will also do it numbers 23 19 god is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent hath he said and shall he not do it or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good malachi 3 6 i jehovah change not therefore you sons you sons of jacob are not consumed so what's powerful here is just this thought come with me for a second here this is powerful one of the things that you've heard us talk about often that separates the biblical god from man-made gods and religion is just this issue of divine sovereignty please hear me on this the issue of divine sovereignty is what separates man-made gods and religions from the true and living god and in this section i've already read a couple of verses from the battle between the true god and the false gods in isaiah and this is critical don't lose this it's a glorious thing it'll give you hope it's not just the debate between the armenians and the calvinists this is the thing that gives the christian hope it gives you hope when you've lost a loved one it gives you hope when you're dying of disease in the hospital it gives you hope when you look at the circumstances around you with community collapse difficulty evil and all the rest god challenges the false gods in isaiah read isaiah 40 through 46 read that section and one of the things that god does is he challenges the false gods of the world to tell the future now remember as we've said many times before false gods have a hard time telling the future because they're deaf dumb and blind they don't speak they can't speak and god even mocks the idol makers he talks about basically he gives a picture like what do you know you basically you take money you go pay a craftsman he builds the idol out of stuff that i made and then he builds it with his own hands and you put it up there on the shelf and it doesn't move and there it sits and he's like can you worship it it's ridiculous it's illogical it's irrational it's foolish and god says have your gods tell you the future they can't and one of the tests that god has in his word in deuteronomy 18 18 through 20 is the way to know a false prophet from a true prophet is if a false prophet tells you the future the name of the lord and gets it wrong one time that's how you know because the sovereign god can tell you future events before they happen because what he is the sovereign over all of it he decrees the end from the beginning he's in control and then the hope he challenges false gods to tell the past and why why did it happen you see here's the deal all of us can read a history book and say here's what happens right we can read a history book and say i can tell you the events of history i can tell you what happens but no one has the ability to say why and only the sovereign god can tell you why you see here's a powerful thing i don't know what this is going to look like these are the incomprehensible things the mysteries of god i don't know what conversations with god in heaven are going to be exactly like but i'm really looking forward to them you know one of the powerful things that all of us have as children of god is that we can ask god why why you ever had that question sitting at the edge of a hospital bed with someone you love who's dying standing over a casket right or watching something on the news that's evil and you've asked that question why why or maybe something tragic has happened to you or you're experiencing some awful thing and you're saying why why god why are you letting this happen the beautiful thing about this sovereign god the true god is because he's sovereign he can answer that question because there is no purposeless and meaningless evil in our lives as god's children in this world god has a purpose for every thing that has happened in the world and you might be tempted to say even the evil things and all i would do is point you to what i already illustrated there from acts the murder of jesus was without question the most evil act committed by the hands of men in the history of mankind because jesus is the one who is truly righteous and truly innocent and it says in the text gathered against your holy servant jesus pontius pilate herod the peoples of israel and gentiles to do what whatever your hand had predestined to occur god predestined the murder of jesus the murder of the son of god on a tree those people who did it all had different um reasons for it they all wanted to do it god didn't make them do it but he predestined that they would murder jesus even that evil event god has full control over for the good of his people and for his glory amen so the good beautiful news of the sovereignty of god isn't something to be feared it's something to be delighted in and rejoiced in next the divine plan includes the future acts of men daniel 2 28 but there is a god in heaven that reveals secrets and he hath made known to the king nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days john 6 64 for jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who it was that should betray him matthew 20 18 and 19 behold we go up to jerusalem and the son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and the scribes and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him unto the gentiles to mock and discourage and to crucify and the third day he shall be raised up another thing to point out here and betner does it is a powerful thought is it's my favorite thing to talk about i wish it was the only thing we had to talk about because it is truly my favorites all of the old testament is about jesus it's all about jesus did you catch that talk about is god truly sovereign ah think about all the crazy events that had to happen for jesus to come into existence at that point of time and all that had to happen to be delivered over all those things god what was he wielding one decision changes everything one think about this this is a crazy thought it's trippy it's a trippy thought i was supposed to go be a pastor in south carolina my house was boxed up literally eating off paper plates even our silverware was boxed up i was in a year-long search process the search committee unanimously decided you're the guy you're the pastor i went to south carolina for like a week at a time we're moving to south carolina i'm on my way out i'm leaving and next thing you know i get a weird phone call hey there's this hospital drug addicts will you come preach the gospel tonight because we lost our pastor i was like wait what it's a room full of people that can't leave i can tell about jesus i'm in i'll be there seven o'clock all right so i come preach the gospel i see a room full of people that were like me preach the gospel people come to jesus next thing you know i end up staying in arizona no plans to play an apology at church never in my mind was i like i'm a church planter i'm a planet church i resisted planting this church so hard i did not want to plant this church i'm glad i did but i did not have this plan i didn't want to do it i was resistant i resisted hard and long i really did now think about this those decisions that were out of my control something god foisted upon us and completely altered the course i want you to consider this i'm looking at faces right now of couples that are married now because jeff durbin didn't go to south carolina i know people in this church that have children now because jeff durbin didn't go to south carolina i'm not taking credit for your children but you get my point it's a decision right you came here you met your spouse here and your children were born here because of that spouse and they're a unique person that only exists because it's the two of you together genetically that made this unique amazing special creation but if one person's decision had changed you wouldn't have met here at this church and had those children that are unique in their own way they wouldn't see what i'm saying it's a trippy thought and it's one person's decision it's one person's events that alter the course of the rest of human history and jesus is prophesied in the old testament down to so many specific details to when he's coming how he's going to die who he is where he's going to be born all the details there are spectacular and god upheld all that and controlled that and jesus says to them if you believed moses you'd believe in me because he wrote about me and he challenges the disciples on the road to damascus about what not believing all of the scriptures foretold that's a sovereign god and think about the details pastor white was mentioning recently on the dividing line the butterfly effect like one little flap of the wings that alters everything can we stop and just think about it a little bit more in terms of god sovereignty i don't want to make this personal but i mean it's this is so important this isn't just arminianism versus calvinism and tulip and limited atonement and this is my team and your team i mean this is vital it is so vital think about all the children who are alive today because this specific church exists because this specific church was called by god to save children's lives because this specific church not me but this specific church work together to raise up other believers other churches to encourage them to save lives how many children are going to live next week because of the work of this church because this church is laboring in this way think about the effects of one decision one move one one life one person that's a sovereign god that's a sovereign god and we can't even begin to imagine the complexities of this beautiful doctrine of the sovereignty of god but i'll keep going some events are recorded as fixed or inevitably certain luke 22 22 for the son of man indeed goeth as it hath been determined but woe unto that man through whom he is betrayed john 8 20 these words spake he in the treasury as he taught in the temple and no man took him because his hour was not yet come i love that i love it i seriously love that where in jesus ministry like they pick up stones to kill him right they're gonna kill him and then all of a sudden they don't kill him he slips out of the crowd right and it's only when he says all right i'm going to jerusalem they're going to betray me they'll kill me in three days i'll rise again it was only when god had sovereignly appointed it and nobody was allowed by god to kill jesus until god says okay now okay now you'll be evil so god is restraining the wicked people in israel and the others he's holding back their hatred of jesus he's holding back the desire to murder he holds back the events that could lead to the murder of jesus until god's appointed time he says okay now now i'll let you have what you want it was only when god had determined to allow it which is why i love what whitfield said i we put it in the soul food last week was it last week every christian is immortal every christian is immortal until god's appointed day of their death it's some something like that right you think about that gives you some courage to go don't be stupid okay but it gives you some courage in terms of god's sovereignty like i'm immortal until my work is done until god's purpose and plan for my life is done i'm immortal it's a powerful thought in terms of thinking about god's sovereignty over our lives and the future and the events of the future luke no sorry matthew 24 36 but of that day and hour knoweth no one not even the angels in heaven neither the son but the father only the appointed day with the father only genesis 41 32 and for that the dream was doubled unto pharaoh it is because the thing is established of god and he will shortly bring it to pass habakkuk 2 3 for the vision is yet for the appointed time and it hasteneth toward the end and shall not lie though at terry wait for it because it will surely come it will not delay so scripture teaches those truths daniel 4 35 about god and his will he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what have you done that's a powerful text it's a powerful text nobody can stay god's hand or say unto him what have you done jeremiah 32 17 ah lord jehovah behold thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thine outstretched arm and there is nothing too hard for thee ephesians 1 22 and he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church ephesians 1 11 in whom we were made a heritage having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the council of his will pause it's one of those things where like we'll see glorious truths in scripture but not think about the impact or think about the implications when we see a text like that god works all things all things after the counsel of his will do you believe that all things that all things he works up to the council of his will all things means what all things i think a lot of times as christians we like to say well i i i don't want to i don't want to make god look bad so i want to protect god from his own sovereignty so when there's bad things that happen in the world that's the devil and when there's good things that happen in the world that's jesus right and there's bad things that happen in the world and god can't do anything about that because well you got people and they're sinful and evil and they've got this thing called free will and god doesn't have anything to do with that but when there's good things that happen in the world that's because jesus because that's really that's god moving that's not what the bible says brothers and sisters he declares the end from the beginning and nobody can stay his hand thwart his purposes god's the one that determines every detail of history and he works all things after the council of his will all things means all things which includes all things meaning death decay disease sickness pain sorrow suffering and don't you know that's your hope that's your hope when evil happens in the world or i fall into tragedy or evil that's my hope god works all things after the council of his will i'm the called according to his purpose this will be for my good and god's glory nothing is getting at me apart from my father's will and purpose god has a good and perfect purpose in all that happens in this fallen and sinful world nobody thwarts his purposes more we can go for days here but i know it's getting hot and i'm going to wrap up here but just in terms of more on this particular point listen to this isaiah 46 9 10 11. remember the former things of old for i am god and there is none else i am god there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and i will do all my pleasure yeah i have spoken i will also bring it to pass i have purposed i will also do it i read that before i'm reading it again so you can see in terms of testimony of scripture god says that he is the one who is the sovereign over the future and the past is anything hot too hard for jehovah genesis 18 14. is anything too hard for god answer the question no including the salvation of dead sinners amen welcome to calvinism job i said job 42 too okay [Laughter] it's like when dr clark was like have you read malaki too okay have you read job joke 42 2 i know that thou canst do all things and that no purpose of thine can be restrained psalm 115 3 that's what we did today our god is in the heavens he hath done whatsoever he pleased psalm 135 6 whatsoever jehovah please pleased that he hath done in heaven in earth in the seas and in all deeps isaiah 55 11 so shall my word be that go goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not return unto me void but it shall accomplish that which i please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto i sent it we could go on talking about god's sovereignty over the details of history down to animal creation the nations themselves or the nature of the physical world but brothers and sisters we'd be here for weeks of sermons talking about all those details i want to challenge you all to get that book the reformed doctrine of predestination by lorraine bettner if you can't afford it we'll buy it for you and again if you got the book simply for the references to scripture it would be well worth it my let me just put it this way the thing i started reading scripture wasn't raised in a christian home started reading the gospel according to john that's where i started my first couple of months in the bible it was just john over and over and over and over again after that it was romans over and over and over again i believed these things long before i ever heard of something called calvinism or arminianism when i got into a particular church tradition went to bible college i was taught an opposing tradition and i started to adopt some of those things yeah i guess free will is a thing and i guess you know god can try to save and not but i thought that doesn't really make sense with john 6 and so i really struggled i had such a hard time because i knew what i saw in john i knew what i saw in romans i knew what i saw elsewhere but now i had sort of a tradition and some conflicting beliefs that were causing problems and i was in angst over it struggling and there was a particular point in time where i finally determined i am just going to go to the texts i am just going to see what do the text say what do the texts say and i buried myself in the text themselves saying what does the text say not what is everyone else saying not what the debate is what's the bible say what are all these verses saying about god's sovereignty and our condition and all what's the bible saying and i remember one day after just working through verse after verse after verse after verse i came bursting out of my bedroom and candy's in the living room and i was like babe i'm a calvinist and she was like oh no and now she's she's calvin's now by the way okay um but i want to just express to you it wasn't the important aspect is not this please hear this it's not about a camp it's not it's not about a camp it's not like you know you've got to pick a camp and be in a camp these truths not only protect what the bible says about god's grace and what the bible says about the atonement and the gospel itself these truths don't just protect those things they're not just biblical truths that you need to stand on and they protect these things i want to encourage you with this these truths changed my life they gave me the courage to trust god when he was asking me for hard things they gave me courage to face a hostile world with the gospel i i just want you to hear that from me in a very personal level going out and doing the hard ministry like going to the mormon temple going out to do public debates with atheists going out to abortion clinics where they're throwing things at you pulling guns out trying to run you down with their cars the courage to do those things is not just you're a really special person you're a really strong person the courage to do those things comes from theology matters it'll change how you actually face difficult things in your life it'll change your perspective of tragedy and difficulty in the world it'll change how you actually answer when god calls you to do a very hard thing these truths are not just biblical these truths are transforming and that's why we're doing this study it's not because we're firming up our commitments to our reformed clique sometimes i don't even like the reform clique these truths are the truth truths of god and they transform god's people they protect the gospel i will say this as a challenge do you need to be a calvinist to be saved no no it's faith in jesus that saves us it's faith in christ that saves us some of my favorite christians are not calvinists however i will say this that this debate between calvinism and armenianism is ultimately a debate that protects the heart of the gospel when you get these issues wrong it begins to muddy or obfuscate the gospel and it could end up destroying it please hear me on that do you need to be a calvinist to be saved absolutely not but when you lose these truths and lose the biblical foundations under these truths it leads to things like pelagianism universalism and other heresies so do how important are these truths i think they're worth dying over but they are not worth dividing with a true believer over we can have these debates in house especially the time we're living right now when we've got to surround the essentials of the faith and we've got to fight against a hostile culture we need each other we need each other but we definitely need to make sure that these truths are guarded and upheld and you should be passionate about them just don't be a punk be passionate don't be a punk don't be pompous don't be arrogant some people say reform folks are very arrogant sometimes and i would say you know what that's that's true there are people who are reformed that are very arrogant i actually experienced the other side of that i believe these truths about god's sovereignty our condition and his grace and salvation humble you they are the truths that humble you and bring you low they show you that you weren't deserving of any of this and there's nothing special in you that caused any of this to happen i think these truths actually bring about the most humility before god and others because when i go out there to preach the gospel to a hostile world i know that the only difference between me and the person i'm talking to is grace it's not me it's nothing in me it's grace i should be on the other side of the conversation i don't know why i'm over on this side and that's a powerful thought this study will protect and defend the gospel of god's grace and that's why we should dedicate our lives to it let's pray father i pray that you would bless this study as we prepare it for this body and for those who hear it help us as pastors as elders as teachers to clearly communicate your truth i pray that you would lord bring preservation of your truth through this study protect the gospel i pray that you'd bless all the pastors who are going to be speaking through this series even begin preparing pastor james now as he gets ready for two weeks from now i pray that you would use this series to humble us as a church and to embolden us in your mission to bring this world unto your feet in jesus name amen

Channel: Apologia Studios

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Keywords: jeff durbin, apologia studios, apologia church, jeff durbin sermons, james white sermons, r.c. sproul sermons, doctrines of grace, calvinism, calvinist movie, calvinism debate, james white debate, james white calvinism, sovereignty of god, tulip, tulip debate, five points of calvinism, calvinism debunked, calvinism refuted, calvinism proven, total depravity, synod of dort, reformed theology

Id: yHP_bVu_Yag

Length: 76min 55sec (4615 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 14 2020