What about Calvinism?
By Dr. Jerry Lloyd
“Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.” II Peter 1:10
There are two significant words in this verse that we need to understand. The first is “calling” and the second is “election.” To begin with let us consider when these two things take place. In your mind put your hands out in front of you and separate them by about three feet. Envision your left hand as the “calling.” Then envision a huge group of people just to the left of your left hand. That group would represent every man, woman, and child ever to be born throughout history. Now envision your right hand as the election hand. Envision a much smaller number of people there. These are the people who have become the “elect” or “chosen.” The reason for the space in between the two groups is not that they are not closely related, but because there is a movement from one group to the next. You see, God chooses to call all mankind to the privileged position of a chosen one. However, Jesus lamented that “Many are called, but few are chosen,” in Matthew 20:16. The problem is this wonderful place of honor and blessing is conditional upon two basic things. First of all one must choose to trust Christ as His Savior. That step assures us of the absolute certainty that we will go to heaven, because the gift of God which is eternal life is provided by Jesus Christ based upon His payment for our sins on the cross and our trust in His death, burial, and resurrection to completely accomplish that. However, to become one of the chosen, it takes another step. To become an elect servant, a believer must be faithful to Christ’s church and ministry.
In the Old Testament during the Patriarchal Age God chose the firstborn to obtain the birth right as the family priest and head of the clan. However, many times the firstborn was not faithful or not even a believer. So the elect position would pass to a younger sibling.
Under law, God once again chose the firstborn, but the children of Israel balked at that prospect, so God gave that privileged position to the Levites. The Levites became quite corrupt and unbelieving by the time Christ came, so God chose the church. The offer to be priests and rulers went out to all believers, but not many in the church will receive this honor, because they are unfaithful to God’s church and His ministry.
If we, as believers, will do what the context of the above verse says (V4-8), then we will make our calling and election sure.
Dr Jerry Lloyd
To find the missing words to fill in the blanks, compare this outline with the completed outline on that follows this outline.
Foreknowledge, Predestination, and Election
I- Why preach on this?
A-II Timothy 4:2-3
1-V2-Good preaching
2-V3-They avoid or are not concerned with doctrine
3-V4-Results
B-Review
1-II Corinthians 4:3-4-Satan is trying to blind
2-II Corinthians 3:12-Therefore make it plain
3-II Corinthians 11:3-Make it simple
C-I Corinthians 14:8-9-Therefore make it easy
II-Definitions
A- ___________________ – προέγνω (Prognosis)
1-Know beforehand
2-It is an attribute of God (Not an act of God)
B- ____________________ – προώρισε (Predetermined position)
1-Example: An airplane
2-Decide upon beforehand to predestine someone to be something (Crown prince or president elect)
C- _________________ – ἐκλεκτῶν (Pick out, choice,) “chosen, elect”
III-Warning against Calvinism
A-Developed during the ________________________
B-Calvinism ( ___________________ salvation)
IV-Familiar ____________________
A-It’s a ___________________
B-A system of ______________________ – , not exclusion
C-Really a system of _______, arrogance, and supposed deeper knowledge
D-Example: Gate to heaven
V- _______________________ plan
A-Chose the ___________________ -passed down to firstborn
B-Chose _________________to reach the Gentiles
C-Chose the ____________________ (All believers)
D-His choice was conditional upon ___________________ and obedience
VI-Truth
A-God in His sovereignty has chosen to make His will conditional upon ______ response.
B- ____________________ ploy (Tulip)
1-Total depravity of man
2-Unconditional election
3-Limited atonement
4-Irresisitible grace
5-Perseverance of the saints
Conclusion:
God in His sovereignty has chosen to provide salvation for all men. All we must do is choose to believe it.
Foreknowledge, Predestination, and Election
I- Why preach on this?
A-II Timothy 4:2-3
1-V2-Good preaching
a-Motivate you to be instant in and out of season
b-Reprove, rebuke, exhort
c-With patience and doctrine
2-V3-They avoid or are not concerned with doctrine
3-V4-Results
a-They turn from the faith
b-To fables and stories
B-Review
1-II Corinthians 4:3-4-Satan is trying to blind
2-II Corinthians 3:12-Therefore make it plain
3-II Corinthians 11:3-Make it simple
C-I Corinthians 14:8-9-Therefore make it easy
II-Definitions
A-Foreknowledge- προέγνω (Proegno)
1-Know beforehand
2-It is an attribute of God (Not an act of God)
>I know for sure that I am going to heaven.
B-Predestination- προώρισε (Predetermined position)
1-Example: An airplane
2-Decide upon beforehand to predestine someone to be something (Crown prince or president elect)
C-Election- ἐκλεκτῶν (Pick out, choice,) “chosen, elect”
III-Warning against Calvinism
A-Developed during the reformation
1-Just left Catholicism
2-Were reforming doctrine
a-Resulted in Armenianism
b-Calvinism
B-Calvinism (Lordship salvation)
1-Perverted view of the sovereignty of God
2-God makes (through His divine decrees)
a-Man sinfully depraved
b-Man to commit sin
c-Man unable to stop sinning
d-Man unable to find a remedy for sin
e-Unable to seek God’s remedy
f-Unable to avoid the lake of fire
3-Makes God the author of sin
IV-Familiar statements
A-It’s a mystery
B-A system of inclusion, not exclusion
C-Really a system of injustice, arrogance, and supposed deeper knowledge
D-Example: Gate to heaven
V-God’s plan
A-Chose the father-passed down to firstborn
B-Chose Jews to reach the Gentiles
C-Chose the church (All believers)
D-His choice was conditional upon faith and obedience
VI-Truth
A-God in His sovereignty has chosen to make His will conditional upon man’s response.
B-Satanic ploy (Tulip)
1-Total depravity of man
a-Sin blinds
b-Sin hardens
c-Righteousness reveals
d-Righteousness softens
2-Unconditional election
a-Without man’s merit
b-Not without man’s responsive choice of faith
3-Limited atonement
a-Christ paid for all sin
b-Christ offers salvation to all
4-Irresisitible grace
5-Perseverance of the saints
Conclusion:
God in His sovereignty has chosen to provide salvation for all men. All we must do is choose to believe it.
Foreknowledge, Predestination, and Election
Introduction
There is a religion, today, teaching that God has decreed or approved of lying to accomplish His will. He has approved of terrorism to accomplish His will. He has approved of murder to accomplish His will. Ultimately, that makes God the author of sin in order to accomplish His divine decrees. This religion has received Presidential commendation by our nation, and widespread acceptance by Southern Baptists, Independent Baptists, Fundamentalists, and evangelicals, and is promoted in the doctrine of Lordship salvation. We are talking about Calvinism as it came down from the reformers. We need to see why the heresy of this doctrine is so important to be taught.
God Has Put Us in Charge
In II Timothy 4:1-4 God says, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2: Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3: For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4: And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
God’s Sovereign Will
We need to understand that, while God is sovereign over all things, there is still the possibility that we will not accomplish His will, because God has chosen to make His will conditional upon our response. We need to see the importance of this, but we also need to see how this applies to our lives. We need to trust God to guide our hearts and quicken our thoughts so that we can receive the things God desires for us to have.
Plain truth
This is really a plain and simple truth. There is no mystery about it, but there are those who have confused the truth to such a degree that they cannot reconcile Biblical teaching about the will of God with Biblical teaching about the character and attributes of God to the extent that, rather than admitting their contradictory errors, they will arrogantly scoff at those who understand the truth and simply dismiss their own ignorance by claiming that these revealed truths are “mysteries.”
Seek God’s Guidance
Look for God’s guidance through His Word, and do not be deceived by human rhetoric.
In II Timothy 4:1 we see the words, “I charge thee…” We do not do that much any more unless we have a good credit card.
Actually, this is a favorite passage that is often used as the “charge” of a man who is being ordained into the ministry. What we are doing is we are, actually, putting him in charge of something.
God inspired Paul to write this to the young pastor named Timothy. Since this same responsibility, really, is given to all of us, let us consider with what we have been placed in charge.
The Quick and the Dead
In II Timothy 4:1 God says, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead…”
I have taught at Solid Rock Theological Seminary, Dr. Birbal Boodram’s Bible Institute, and a number of churches during several mission trips to Trinidad, and, as we traveled around the island, I discovered the meaning of the term “quick and the dead.” That’s the term I used for the traffic there; although, I must say that they drive a sight better in Trinidad than the people in India did when I taught at the seminary there.
Of course, God is talking about the “living” (like the living part of the fingernail is called “the quick”) and the dead.
So with what has God charged us? He says in verse 2, “Preach.” What are we supposed to preach? “Preach the Word.” This is what we are responsible to do.
What Makes Good Preaching
Remember, God says in Galatians 2:2 that Paul preached “among the Gentiles, but privately…” That means that he preached one on one. In other words, when you witness, you are preaching the word. You are proclaiming (That is what the Biblical term for “preaching” means) the Word of God.
Preach the Word
What are we supposed to do? We are supposed to preach the Word. We are supposed to preach the Bible.
I used to have a wonderful pastor who would get up and read a verse or sometimes only part of a verse, and then the rest of the sermon he would tell stories and give illustrations. He was not preaching the Word was he? He had a Biblical text, but he was not preaching the Word. That is a way of preaching, but that is not the way God has called me to preach. I try to preach the Word of God.
Whether You Fell Like It or Not
What should preaching include? God says to be “instant in season an out of season. We are told that to be “instant” means to be diligent. So to be instant in season and out of season means to be diligent when you feel like it and when you do not feel like it. You need to do what God has said. You do not wait for feelings. The fallacy of waiting on feelings is the fact that, generally, feelings follow action. That is the law of nature. With every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The reaction is the feeling, so, if you are waiting for a feeling before you obey God, you will never obey God, because the feeling comes after the obedience. So God says to be instant in season. That is when you feel led…And out of season. That is when you do not feel led.
Elements of Good Preaching
Next, we see the elements of good preaching. They are the command to “reprove, rebuke, and exhort.” “Reproof” is telling people where they went wrong. Rebuke is almost the same thing, but it includes the confrontation of sin. Simply put, it would be like telling someone they lied, and then pointing out that lying is a sin. Some might say that that is being judgmental, and I suppose it is. God has commanded believers to judge other believers’ sins. We do not have a choice about that. That is the rebuke. Reproof is explaining exactly what sin is. These two things must permeate our dealings with other Christians, but there is another area of communicating God’s Word.
We are also to Exhort. “Exhortation” means to “warn and instruct.” It includes the idea that, through the warning and instruction you may be encouraged. Good preaching should encourage you through what the Word of God says. How? The rest of the verse tells us. “With all longsuffering and doctrine.” What should we use to encourage believers to be instant in season and out of season to reprove, rebuke, and exhort? We must use doctrine. What is doctrine? Doctrine is simply the teaching of Bible truth. I have been told that I am a good teacher, but not a good preacher; and I say, “Praise God, because that is exactly what God has commanded a preacher to be. He has commanded that His ministers be good teachers of Bible truth.
Teaching Doctrine
How are we supposed to teach doctrine? Sometimes we teach doctrine like it was a hammer used to beat someone over the head with it, but how does God say to teach doctrine? We must teach it with longsuffering. That means with patience. Do not write someone off too quickly. Maybe they are convinced that what you are saying is right. Show them the truth and let them apply it to their life, but realize, it may take a while before they become convinced.
With Good Reason
Verse 3 tells us the reason we do this: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” They will get away from doctrine.
I have, actually, heard it taught that we do not want to teach doctrine in the assembly. “We’ll let that take place in small groups. If we preach doctrine from the pulpit, then we are going to alienate people.” They may be right. “If we get someone to come with an alternate faith or different religion, we might offend them.”
Whether that is true or not, God has commanded us to preach doctrine; and according to what God has said there will come a time when they will NOT endure sound doctrine.
Results of Lack of Sound Doctrine
When people quit teaching doctrine, what is the result? The obvious result is we will have doctrinally ignorant people. God tells us what we can expect in verse 3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
Teaching of Fables
4: And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
They begin to enjoy theory, philosophy, and the latest life applications; and they would rather hear touching stories, success stories, and, rather than getting a lot of meat of the Word, they get into fables. God has warned us against that.
Damaging Doctrine
However, at this time, I want to warn of a particular heretical doctrine that has done great damage to the cause of Christ. We need to see why these things are important.
In II Corinthians 4:3 God says, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost in whom the god of this world hath blinded them minds of them which believe not.”
Satan’s Primary Goal
What is Satan’s primary goal in this world? We get the idea that Satan is running around trying to get people to sin, but that is not the case. To the contrary, his primary goal is to keep the lost from understanding the gospel.
How Does He Do That?
How does he do that? Well, first of all, how do the lost understand the gospel in the first place? The Holy Spirit comes inside of them and speaks to them, right? Absolutely not! If the Holy Spirit came inside of them, they would be saved. The Holy Spirit does not come inside of a lost person. The Holy Spirit is inside of the saved person. So how do the lost become convicted by the Holy Spirit?
How Does the Holy Spirit Speak to the Lost?
The lost hears the speaking of the Holy Spirit from the mouth of a saved person sharing the gospel. So where is Satan going to work? He is going to work on the saved person? Why? He distracts the believer from explaining the gospel clearly by confusing the believer with unclear terms and unsound doctrines.
How does he do that? In verse 4 Gods says that Satan wants to “blind the minds of those who believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them.”
How Does Satan Blind the Lost?
God is telling us that Satan is wanting to hide the gospel from the lost. How does he do that?
Satan Encourages Believers to Keep His Mouth Shut
The first way he does that is he keeps the mouth of the believer shut. He works to keep the believer from seeing the need, the necessity, or the command to share the plan of salvation with the lost. If he can keep the believer from talking about the plan of salvation, Satan is a happy camper. He will never bother that believer, try to get him to sin, or try any other way to rock the boat of the life of that believer. Satan has him right where he wants him.
He Gets the Saved to Muddy the Message
The second way Satan blinds the mind of the lost is he will get the believer to muddy the message. If he cannot keep the mouth of the believer closed concerning the gospel, he will influence the believer to make the plan of salvation unclear so that the unbeliever may make a commitment, turn from his sin, or try to take up his cross and follow Christ, rather than understand that salvation has nothing to do with what he does, has done, will do, or intends to do. It depends simply and completely on the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the only thing required to get to heaven.
The Believer’s Part
So what should we do about this? In II Corinthians 3:12 God says, “Seeing than that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.” As we give the gospel, we need to make the plan of salvation plain. In II Corinthians 11:3 God says, “I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so you minds should be corrupted from-or literally- “away from” the simplicity that is in Christ.” The next verse tells us the subject of this verse. “For if he that Cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel.” So we are still talking about the gospel.
Make It Plain and Simple
So Satan, in his subtlety, blinds the minds of the lost by corrupting the gospel by influencing believers to get away from the simplicity of the gospel. So God is encouraging us to make the gospel plain and simple.
Make It Easy
In I Corinthians 14:9 God explains the problem. “So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For ye shall speak into the air.”
So God commands us to make the gospel plain, simple, and easy to be understood.
Satan Tries to Destroy the Testimony of a Faithful Christian
The third thing Satan tries to do, if the saved person continues to give the plan of salvation with simplicity, is he will try to get the saved person into some blatant sin to destroy his testimony before the lost.
Satan Does Not Want the Lost to Sin
You see, if Satan gets the lost person to sin, he might come under conviction and then he might see his need for a Savior. If he can just make them think that they are O.K., and keep them from falling into blatant sin, then they will never see their need for a Savior.
These two facts make it really hard on the rest of the Christians, because what is it that draws the lost to Jesus Christ?
What Draws the Lost to Christ?
It is the changed life of a believer. If the believer’s life is just like the lost person’s, there is nothing to draw the lost person to the gospel.
What Hardens a Person’s Heart
It is the deceitfulness of sin that hardens the heart of a lost person (Hebrews 3:13). So we, as believers, need to have a different kind of life so we can draw the lost to the gospel.
If not, when we try to witness, there is not a changed believer’s life to bring conviction on the lost and convincing of the lost person’s need for a Savior.
The most faithful clear soul winner that I have known ended up having an affair. Suddenly all of his clear teaching began to fall into question. Believers’ excusal, acceptance, tolerance, and open mindedness toward sin simply hardens the heart of the unbeliever. God says in Hebrews 3:13: “Exhort one another daily, while it is called today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
The Gospel
Now, what is the plain and simple gospel?
All Have Sinned
We have all sinned. We have done things wrong.
Sin Corrupted God’s Incorruptible Creation
Sin is terrible. When Adam and Eve sinned, the universe which God had created to last forever and was not corrupt in any way, was corrupted by their sin. Corruption means that it is going to age, die, and rot. God created the universe to last forever, and as soon as sin entered the universe the whole universe began to run down. It began to deteriorate. Now, the laws of nature say that everything is running down. Everything is wearing out, and we are under the sentence of death. That is what sin does. It causes everything to age, die, and rot. That is the natural results of sin.
The Payment for sin Is Death
Therefore, God said that the wages of sin is death. Since that was a statement by God, that truth became a decree from God. However, that was really a no-bainer, because that is what sin does. God was stating the obvious. However, by stating that the wages of sin is death rather than the wages of the sinner is death, God made a distinction between the sin and the sinner; and could, consequently, separate that sin from the sinner. So, Jesus took the sin upon Himself.
Now the decree about sin not only told us what sin does and demonstrates that the sin can be separated from the sinner, it also decreed the means of destroying sin. Since the wages of sin is death, death destroys sin.
Jesus Removed Our Sin from Us and Placed It Upon Himself
So when Jesus died on the cross with our sin placed upon Him, He destroyed our sin in His body on the cross. That killed sin. So, with the sin problem resolved, Jesus came back from the dead. The payment of death for sin had been finished. If He had not come back from the dead we would assume that He was still paying for sin, and wonder if the wages of sin would ever be completely paid.
God Proved That the Penalty for Sin Was Completely Paid by His Resurrection
So Jesus came back from the dead completely paying for all of all mankind’s sin for all time. All that is left to do is for us to do what is required to receive that payment. There if nothing you can do to get yourself to heaven, but He already did it all.
The Condition
So what do we have to do? All we have to do is believe it. God says is John 3:16, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The Results of Trusting His Payment
If we believe that, then what is the result? We can know we are going to heaven.
What Happens When We Believe?
Lewis Speary Chafer wrote in his book on salvation a list 75 things that are finished the moment we trust Christ as our Savior. And they are all done by God. He lists 75 things that God accomplished that are true the moment we trust Christ as our Savior. All we must do is believe it. So He did it all. He paid for all sin. Since he did it all, we can know that we have eternal life. God says in I John 5:13, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life.”
What Must We Believe?
That is what we need to believe. We simply believe that God took on flesh and took our sin upon Himself, then He died to pay for it and came back from the dead. Therefore, we can know that we have eternal life. It is all because of what He did. That is what He said. I believe it. Since He said to believe it, I believe it.
It’s That Easy
That is the gospel we are talking about.
If you make the gospel plain, simple and easy to be understood this way, then you will fall into a group of people that others will say that you believe in easy believism. I believe that the simple plan of salvation is easy believism, because God calls it easy, plain, and simple.
What is Satan trying to do? Satan is trying to make it confusing.
The Heresy of Lordship Salvation
One way the gospel is confused is through the doctrine of Lordship salvation, and one of the key elements of Lordship salvation is Calvinism.
Bible Doctrines
Since there is a wide variance of what people believe about these doctrines, rather than teaching these false doctrines, we are going to look at what the Bible says about these doctrines.
Foreknowledge
The first doctrine we want to define is the doctrine of foreknowledge. The word kind of defines itself. To have foreknowledge simply means that you have knowledge about something before it takes place. Foreknowledge is simply an attribute of God. It is not an act of God. He acts out of His foreknowledge, because He knows what to do about something before it happens because of His foreknowledge. This attribute does not mean that God caused something to come to pass, it simply means that He knew it would. Foreknowledge simply means knowledge beforehand.
The word in the Greek is προέγνω (Proegno). This is where we get the term prognosis.
If you want to know what a disease is going to do before it does it to you, you might ask a doctor for a prognosis. He might tell you “If this disease runs the normal course, you will be over it in fourteen days, but if you do not take your medicine it will last you two weeks.” That is a prognosis. It means to know beforehand. It does not mean the doctor did anything to cause the outcome.
I have foreknowledge about certain things. In some cases I have supernatural foreknowledge. For example I know that the sun is coming up tomorrow, but let me say that I have nothing to do with that. I will not and cannot do anything to cause the sun to come up. I have that foreknowledge, but I cannot cause it to happen. I also have an even more certain knowledge than that. I know that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back to earth. That is supernatural foreknowledge. However, there is nothing I can do that will affect when, where, or how it will take place. Foreknowledge is an attribute. It is not an action.
Understand this about God. Foreknowledge is an attribute of God. It is not an action of God.
Predestination
The second word we need to understand is “predestination.” That word indicates that it is a predetermined destination. That is not quite the meaning of the word. The Greek word that is translated predestination is προώρισε (praorise). Predestination as found in the Bible is a little bit like an airplane.
When I went to India to teach at the seminary there, I boarded Emirates Airlines to fly to Dubai. The airplane I boarded had a predetermined destination of Dubai. Now let us say that I did not want to fly on Emrates, so I board an American flight headed to Charlotte. Each flight has a predetermined destination, but it is my choice which plane I choose to board. You see, predestination does not mean that you do not have a free will.
So the meaning of predestination is to decide upon beforehand. So, the meaning of the Biblical term “predestination” really is not a predetermined destination; it is really a predetermined position. It is a position to which you have been chosen ahead of time.
Predestination Is a Predetermined Position
How did God choose us? In the Old Testament whom did God choose? Whom did He elect? Originally, God elected the father to be the priest. That was a special position. It was called the birthright. The predetermined position was like a crown prince or President elect. He was, usually, the firstborn male of that family or that king and therefore he was predetermined to be the next king. That is the idea. It is a position. It is not really a place.
As the President elect, a person has been elected in the second week in November, but he is not inaugurated until the beginning of the next year. Yet he has no real power until he is inaugurated. He is the elect from the time the voting takes place until he becomes the President at the inauguration. In the interim he has been predetermined to be the next President of the United States.
That is what we are talking about when we refer to Biblical predestination. It is a predetermined position.
The Elect
The next word is the word “elect.” The Greek word for that is ἐκλεκτῶν. Ek means “out of” “lec” means an election. It has been said that election is where God votes for you. The devil votes against you, and you cast the deciding vote. Biblical election is a little bit like that.
In salvation God wants to choose everybody to be saved. The devil wants us to get on the wrong flight or plan of salvation that will not take us to heaven, but it is your choice which one you board.
The Church Is the Elect
The Greek word for church is pronounced elklesia, and it has a Spanish counterpart. It is Iglesia which is the Spanish word for church. In this age the church or body of believers is the elect. In other words those who have trusted Christ as Savior are the elect.
In the Old Testament it was not the church, but it was the same principle.
Chosen
The meaning of the word for election means “to pick out, choice,” and it is also translated “chosen” which is pronounced “eklekton” which is also the word for “elect.” They both are translations of the same word.
So when you choose to trust Christ, that choice makes you one of the elect.
If you go to the Emirate Airlines website and look at their first class amenities you see that in your first class “suite” you can punch a button, and the door closes. You can go to sleep on your bed, work at your desk, or watch a big screen TV. You are elect.
The Elect Go Free
Well, it’s the same thing with God’s elect only the amenities are much better and longer lasting than an airline flight, and while the first class flight on Emirates is well over ten thousand dollars, when you choose to be one of God’s elect, the cost is absolutely free to you. Plus, everything you need to get you to your destination is provided for you.
Doctrines of Men
With that understanding, we need to be warned against Calvinism. John Calvin himself was, actually, a pretty sound guy; but those who developed Calvinism after John Calvin added five heretical teachings that Calvin did not believe. These doctrines developed during the reformation. The fact that they were developed during the reformation should be a warning in itself.
Reformers Were Trying to “Reform” Doctrine
I read well over a dozen commentaries on what the doctrines of foreknowledge, predestination, and election mean. Surprising enough, many of the commentaries differed completely one from another. Then there were some that quoted some of the reformers word for word, but did not say they were quoting from the reformers. So rather than depending on the commentaries for the doctrinal interpretations, I decided I would go to the meaning of the words. Then I found that when you depend on a commentator to give a meaning of a word, in order to prove their doctrines they will go on for paragraphs and sometimes even pages about the meanings of words.
Words Have Synonyms
Let me give you a word of advice. If somebody goes on for pages and still cannot narrow down the meaning of a word to one or two words, then he probably has an ax to grind. Words have meanings. Words are not doctrines, and the meaning of a word should also have a synonym.
However, many of the reformers changed the meanings of these words into doctrines that, ultimately, denied the meaning of the word.
Simplicity of Faith
As an example, take the word faith. The meaning of the word faith is “trust.” That is the way the word is usually translated in the Old Testament. Another one word definition could be “believe.” However, some commentators will start with the word “trust” or “believe,” but by the end of their definition they will have added commitment, dedication, following, sorrow, turning, and any number of other works to simple faith. To make that quantum leap, it may take them two or three sentences or even a couple of paragraphs. I have even seen some writers go on for pages about the meaning of one word.
A Problem with Reformers
Those who believe in works for salvation and Lordship salvation seem to have a preoccupation with the reformers and their writings. Here is the problem with that. The reformers were reforming doctrine. They came out of the Roman Catholic Church, which through the years had developed a religion which clearly and definitely taught works for salvation. All the doctrines of the Catholic Church taught human works for salvation, and they also taught that you could also lose your salvation if you sinned too bad or did not do enough works. As the reformers came out of the Catholic Church all of their books taught Catholic doctrine of works, so the reformers had to reform doctrine. Some of the reformers would reject only a few teachings of the Catholic Church, while others would reject almost all of the teachings of the Catholic church. Those differences caused the differences in the denominations. There were two main camps.
Armenian Blasphemers
There were the Armenians who, eventually, came to believe contrary to Arminius’s teachings. Arminius did not believe you could lose your salvation through sin or lack of work. The teaching that bears his name fell back into that error of the Catholic Church. What does that say? That says that God did not do enough. He did not finish the job, and, therefore, salvation really depends on you. Your work is more important than the finished work of Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. You can see the blasphemy in that.
Calvinist Blasphemers
The other main group was the Calvinists which, contrary to John Calvin’s beliefs, did not believe in the free will of man, because they believed that that would lead to the belief that you could lose your salvation. They believed that there was no work of yourself to get saved, and there was not work or anything that you must do to stay saved. Salvation is all of God. That is right, is it not? However, they continued to teach that you could not do anything to get saved, or to stay saved. In fact you did not even have a choice to get saved. That was up to God, too. They had a perverted view of the sovereignty of God. They believed that everything comes under the divine decrees of God. In other words He has already decreed everything that will ever take place and you have no choice in the matter. What will be will be. You have no choice in anything. You cannot even choose to seek God.
God’s Sovereignty
They fail to understand that God in His sovereignty has chosen to make His will conditional upon man’s response. If He is sovereign, He can do that, because He can do whatever He wants.
However, the Calvinist believes that nothing is dependent upon man’s response. It is all under the divine decrees of God. But that makes God the author of sin.
Unscriptural Sovereignty
The teaching goes like this. If it takes place, God decreed it to take place, and, therefore, it came to pass. If you lie, it is because God in His sovereignty decreed that you would lie. So God is the author of that lie. God decreed that man is sinfully depraved. He does not even have the capacity to make a choice to seek God. There is no amount of convicting or drawing that will change that until God performs an act of regeneration to give life to a man’s unbelieving spirit so that he can seek God, respond to God’s drawing, and trust Christ to save him. God foreordained that man would sin. Man had no choice in the matter. Man is unable to stop sinning. He decreed that man would not be able to find a remedy for sin. Man was not able to avoid the lake of fire by any choice or effort of his own. This, ultimately, makes God the author of sin. However, God in His grace would choose some to be saved, and He would choose that the majority of mankind would go to the Lake of Fire. They had no choice in the matter. It was not the result of anything that they had chosen to do. It was all by the divine decrees of God. That makes God an ogre.
The Mysteries of God
When you try to reason with a Calvinist, some will simply say, “Well that’s a mystery. We can’t really understand it.”
All mysteries in the Bible have been revealed. The very name of God, “Jah,” includes the idea of “The Almighty Revealer.” His chosen purpose is to reveal these things. When He talks about a mystery, it means: “A truth revealed at the proper time.” So He comes and reveals these things about Himself and His plan for man.
Double Speak
I have heard Calvinists say that their view of election is a system of “inclusion” and not “exclusion” when confronted with the fact that God only chooses to give faith to a select few so that they can be saved. They will say that nobody deserves to go to heaven. That is true enough, but then they say, “But God is going to choose to save a few.”
If you are including a few and excluding a bunch, than it is far more exclusive than inclusive.
Proving Doctrine by Illustrations
They love to prove their doctrines by illustrations rather than Scripture. One example is the picture of a gate to heaven. As you approach the gate to get into heaven you see written over the gate, “Whosoever will may come,” but as you look back at the gate after entering it reads, “Chosen before the foundation of the world.”
Who Did God Choose to Be Saved?
Yes, God chose all who would be saved before the foundation of the world, and His method of choosing was He chose to save all that would put their trust in Him for salvation.
Common Faith
God has given you the kind of faith that can save you. He has given it to all men. He calls it common faith, because it is common to all mankind. However, it is your choice what you trust to save you. Are you going to trust yourself, or are you going to trust Jesus Christ?
God has done everything it takes to get you to heaven, but He does not force you to put your trust in Him.
Choice Is What Glorifies God
God could have made billions of computers and programmed them what to do. That would have been something amazing, but God made billions of people and gave them a choice to trust Him to get them to heaven or not. That way each one of those choices to trust Jesus truly glorifies God. The only thing we have to glorify God is the choice of our free will, and when Satan would take away your choice he takes away our only potential to glorify God.
You Have the Right Kind of Faith to Be Saved
Lack of salvation is never a problem with your faith, because God has given to every man the measure of faith needed to save him according to Romans 12:3, and since God gave us the faith, that faith is good enough faith to save us. So in whom are you going to trust? Are you going to trust in Christ alone and completely to get you to heaven, or are you going to trust your own works, goodness, commitment, or perseverance?
God in His sovereignty has chosen to provide salvation for all men, but He has chosen to make His will conditional upon your response. So it is your choice whether or not you will respond by trusting Jesus Christ as your Savior.
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Memory Verse
“But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” II Thessalonians 2:13
How does God choose whom He will save?
“God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and ______ of the truth.”
When did God decide that He would choose believers as the ones He would choose to save?
“God hath _________ ______ ______________ chosen you to salvation.”
What did God do to make you fit for salvation?
“God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through _____________ ___ ____ ___________ .”
Read verse 14: “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
What did God use to bring you to salvation?
“He called you by our ________________ .”
Who is responsible to deliver the message of salvation?
“He called you by _____________ gospel.”
What is the end result of this process?
“To the obtaining of the ___________________ of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Memory Verse
“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” I John 2:2
Jesus paid for whose sins?
“For the sins of the_____________ ______________ .”
The word “propitiation” means “satisfactory payment.” We might think of it like buying a car with cash rather than making payments. It is pictured in the Bible by the high priest going into the holy of holies to offer the blood sacrifice on the mercy seat of the arc of the covenant year after year which could never take away sins. But Jesus by one offering of His own blood entered into the holy of holies to pay for sins once for all.
That phrase not only means once for all sins, but also once for all time and once for all men. There is no such thing as the heretical teaching of limited atonement in the Bible. Jesus made a satisfactory payment for our sins, but not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.
Memory Verse
“Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” I Timothy 2:4
It is God’s will that what men to be saved?
“Who will have ________________ men to be saved.”
What must happen before men can be saved?
“To come unto the ________________________ of the truth.”
Therein appears to be the problem. It is not that God wants certain people to be saved, and certain people are left out of God’s plan and provision for salvation. The problem is that it is God’s plan that they receive the knowledge of the truth through other believers.
What is that truth that we are responsible to share? It is the truth that salvation is through faith alone in Christ alone.
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Memory Verse
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” II Peter 3:9
How many does God will to come to repentance?
“Not willing that any should perish,
but that __________ should come to repentance.”
What can we be certain is not God’s will about the lost?
“Not willing that _____________ should perish.”
Question: Is it possible for man to thwart God’s will? If it is God’s will that all be saved and that all come to repentance, why do some remain unsaved?
Answer: God in His sovereignty has chosen to make His will conditional upon man’s response.
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Memory Verse
“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”
John 15:16
To what end does God choose men?
“I have chosen you, and ordained you,That ye should go and _________ ________ _________.”
How does God equip us to accomplish this purpose?
“Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, _____ may _____ it you.”
Notice that the choice is not for salvation, but for service.
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Memory Verse
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 6:44
What must happen before a person can come to Christ?
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me ___________ him.”
Read John 6:36 and tell how we come to Him.
“He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that ________________ ________ _________ shall never thirst.”
Our coming to Christ for salvation does not involve our sorrow, following, committing our life, or giving our heart to Him. It is simply faith alone in Christ’s work alone.
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Memory Verse
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
John 12:32
How many does God draw to Himself?
“I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw ____________ men unto me.”
The idea that God chooses to draw some to be saved and not others is foreign to the Bible. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to draw the world to God. This He has done according to John 16:8: “When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”
But exactly how does He do that? The Holy Spirit lives inside the believer. When people see the changed life of a believer, they come under conviction. If the believer’s life remains unchanged after he has trusted Christ, then there is little conviction of the lost and few come to Christ.