The King arrives in his rowboat, and from the water can see what’s going on. He shouts to the pirates, “Stop now, and I will be merciful to you, and forgive you!” (desire for all to repent, and not to die in sins).

The Pirates bring out his family and rape and murder them on the deck, while laughing at the King. As they get drunk on the wine from the ship they do even more perverse things with the bodies all while the King watches in horror, and rage. They yell insults and taunts at the King and light the sails on fire. The ship begins to go up in flames.

In their drunkenness they pass out, fall overboard into the water and begin to drown. The King yells to their unconscious bodies “Climb into my boat, if you want to live!” (universal call to spiritually dead people who can’t and won’t respond [dead in sins and tresspasses]).

The King is moved in his love and decides, in order to show how merciful he is, to save three of the pirates. He could have saved all ten, but rightfully decrees that the others will die for their sins. He pulls the chosen three from the water, moments before they die, and gives them CPR. All three are revived (regeneration).

When the pirates come to, the King commands them to repent and bow before him as Lord (Inward call to the elect). All three wretchedly guilty pirates realize what they’ve done, and how the King saved them, and they begin to weep. They wail with tears and express how sorry they are, and how they now know what a great King he is. They then request to become his slaves (faith and repentance). He forgives them completely, takes the boat to his castle, adopts the pirates, and makes them all princes. They are forever changed by his mercy, and from that day forward they rule with him in righteousness.

When you see the severity of man’s sinfulness you can no longer ask “Why didn’t the King save all ten pirates?”.

When you see men for what they truly are, that question is completely eclipsed by “How could a righteous, angry King give such amazing grace to the three?”.

There is much talk in today’s Church about being balanced. While this is a healthy idea, there are many ways to understand balance. Do we mean balance in terms of giving room to both sides of Biblical teachings, or are we recommending some idea of doctrinal agnosticism?

It’s nearly impossible to get into any kind of meaningful conversation about doctrine today without hearing something like, “People have been arguing about these things for centuries. Who are we to think we’ve figured it out.”. Is God mysterious?

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever…” –Deuteronomy 29:29

While appealing to mystery is necessary when we talk about God and His ways (The secret things belong to God.), we have to be careful not to pull the mystery card prematurely. We have to look at all that the Bible tells us about a topic, so we’re sure we understand what’s being said (The things that are reveled belong to us). Then, where the Bible stops, we stop and worship the God who is beyond our comprehension.

Human Responsibility and God’s Sovereignty – the Seeming Paradox

The issue at hand is the idea that while God is sovereign, meaning that he orchestrates all events in time for His purposes, man is also held accountable for what he does or doesn’t do. This should strike us as paradoxical.

If God is making everything happen, how are we still doing anything? Or conversely, if our choices are real, and subject to God’s judgement, how can God be orchestrating those choices and events? The Bible seems to simply present both of these ideas, says they’re true, but doesn’t tell us how exactly they work together. So we’re left with an appeal to the mysterious power of God.

Human Responsibility and God’s Sovereignty in Salvation – The Misunderstanding

This correct doctrinal paradox of responsibility and sovereignty seems to have flowed over into categories today, that it was never intended for. And it appears, for the sake of political correctness, mystery is being appealed to in areas that the Bible is not mysterious.

Today’s ‘autonomous free will’ oriented Church has taken historic orthodox language and misused it to help it’s own faulty theology. A misrepresentation of the conversation is the result.

Today we find preachers teaching that since the Bible teaches that we have to come to Christ to be saved, this means that man has a free will, but the Bible also teaches that God is in control… and this is mysterious. They’ll produce verses that indicate a universal gospel call, commanding all men to come, using them as proof texts to demonstrate free will.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” –Matthew 11:28

“And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve…” –Joshua 24:15

“…And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” –Revelation 22:17

So, there is undoubtedly a free offer to all men to come to Christ. And they go on to demonstrate that God is also in control of these things:

“…having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” –Ephesians 1:11

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” –Romans 8:29

Some will rest here, simply saying “Man has free will, and God is sovereign… we just have to deal with it.”(which is admirable, especially when we consider the more common alternative).

Usually at this point the ‘free will’ preacher will redefine predestination and election, and teach that God simply foreknew who would believe, and elected them based on their choice. Sadly, they don’t realize that they’ve actually left their original argument at this point, they’ve rejected mystery, removed God’s choice and set up man’s choice as the sole deciding factor. No more paradox… just an unbiblical doctrine of foreknown decisional salvation.

Human Responsibility and God’s Sovereignty in Salvation – All the Biblical Data

We’ve already established the parts that modern free will Christianity has right:

1. Christ has made a free offer to all men to be saved, and man must come to be saved.

2. God is in control (to varying degrees, depending on tradition), and he is working all things to the council of his will.

But we can’t simply rest here and attribute to point 1 the idea that man is free to choose, until we’ve weighed all the data. Is man free to accept or reject this offer? Jesus says no.

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” –John 6:44

“…no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” –Matthew 11:27

Paul supports this idea of man’s inability to obey God and come to Christ:

“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” –Romans 8:7-8

“…no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.” –1 Corinthians 12:3

The Bible’s ACTUAL teaching is that yes, a free offer is made, but no one CAN come unless they’re first chosen, enabled, drawn, and enlightened to truth of the gospel. An inward change, by God, is necessary. And until that change occurs man is unable to come.

Is man responsible for the choice he makes concerning Jesus? Yes.

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” –John 3:18

Is man able to actually choose Christ, apart from the electing, regenerating grace of God? No.

“This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” –John 6:65

“…but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.” –John 10:26

Conclusion

We need to clarify terms that seem to have been cross. Human responsibility to believe (clearly taught in scripture) is not the same as human ABILITY to believe (strictly taught negatively in scripture). So as far as free will… we have none. We make choices, but our will is bound to our sinful nature.

The question of how God and man work together in salvation is not a paradox. ALL of salvation is God’s doing, as man is incapable of contributing. Every part of our responsibility being fulfilled is a gift from God to His people. Man and God DO NOT work together in salvation. Man is a passive recipient of God’s free gift, then man exercises the faith he’s been gifted.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” –Ephesians 2:8-9

The paradoxical discussion of mans’ responsibility and God’s sovereignty was never about ‘free-will’. it’s about how we can keep from being puppets, when God is the orchestrator of everything. How are we accountable, when God makes everything happen? When we correctly understand the argument we ask the obvious (Biblical) question:

“You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” –Romans 9:19

The question is profound… but the answer is heavy and glorious, and should press the unbiblical concept of free will in salvation out of us, as we’re humbled like the creatures we are.

“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 no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?” –Romans 9:20-21

Here, my friends, is where we rest. In God’s right to do what He wants with what’s His. Mysterious as it all may be.

The idea that in order to become born again, we must first express faith in the gospel, is a popular one. Most Churches today teach that you must choose Jesus, then the Holy Spirit will come in and make some changes in you.

I would like to take a moment to think through this process logically, and see if it is a Biblical concept, or one that simply helps support certain traditions. I invite comments and further discussion, as I feel it’s an incredibly important topic.

Here are a few of the limitations of man in His natural, unregenerate state. Before we are born again:

• we can not submit to God, or do anything pleasing to Him.

“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” –Romans 8:7-8

• the gospel is foolishness to us.

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing…” –1 Corinthians 1:18

• we do not seek for God

“no one understands; no one seeks for God.” –Romans 3:11

With these concepts in mind. Let’s think through what it would look like for a man to believe in Jesus for his salvation, before the Holy Spirit is indwelling that man.

The Scenario

There you are. A sinner, that suppresses the obvious truths of God around you (Romans 1:19-20). Someone comes to you and shares the gospel. They tell you a story about God becoming a man, and dying for anyone who will believe in Him, then coming back to life and ascending into Heaven. Unless you are some exception to the human race, you aren’t interested in seeking this God (Romans 3:11), and this story is sheer nonsense to you (1 Corinthians 1:18).

At the very most, you’ve received information about a religion. You need to make a decision between the Christian religion, the Jewish one, the Muslim one, the Buddhist one, and the secular worldview that everyone else believes. Your gospel-preaching friend shares some historic facts about Jesus, which are nice, but he’s obviously biased. There is no real supernatural help (other than any help God already gives to everyone equally) until you make your profession, so you’re on your own to weigh the facts. Now, let’s say your friend is a good salesman, and is rather persuasive.

Now he commands you to repent and believe the gospel. He’s asking you to do something very strange. You’ve heard what is no more than a fairy tale to you, and in reality, you don’t really believe it. You need to take an absolutely blind leap into darkness and place your trust in something that your mind is convinced is not actually there. You need to lie to yourself, to your kind friend who brought you the message, and indeed to Jesus Himself, and say you believe that Jesus died for you, and rose again.

So you accept the superstition and decide to try it. You recite what is really no more than a God-ordained magical incantation. THEN the Holy Spirit comes in. He basically turns the magical spell into a true statement, and now you REALLY believe Jesus because of your born again experience and all the other applied work of the Holy Spirit.

Is this really how we think it works? Is salvation initiated by a hokus-pokus prayer or confession that gets God to do something? Or is the order that the modern Church has come to embrace actually reversed? Is it actually God who opens your eyes first, followed by your true confession of faith?

What Does Scripture Have to Say About It?

“Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.” –1 Corinthians 12:3

Scripture tells us that until we are indwelled with the Holy Sprit, it’s impossible for us to make a true confession of faith. We are not told to blindly profess a lie, but that once God has given us His Spirit, we, without exception say “Jesus is Lord”.

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” –John 6:44

Again we see that we are incapable of coming to Jesus without God’s doing the work.

“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” –John 3:3

Once again we see the absolute limitation. We “cannot see the kingdom of God”, until we are born again.

We are so spritiually deaf, blind and indeed dead (Ephesians 2:5) that we need to be brought to spiritual life BEFORE we are able to believe, and be saved.

“everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.” –1 John 5:1

Even for a moment old believer, they have been “born of God” – past tense.

No Spritual Limbo

One easy misunderstanding that may come from this kind of language is that there is actually some amount of time that a person is regenerated, and hasn’t expressed faith in Christ yet – sort of in between stage. This is not the case.

Regeneration and the subsequent faith are instantaneous in time. Scripture never puts any time in between the two, because they are a package deal

Here’s a helpful way to think about it: Regeneration and faith are like a light switch and a light bulb. God is the one who proactively flips the switch on, and you, the bulb then produce the light of faith. So when I say ‘regeneration precedes faith’ I don’t mean in a temporal sense, but I mean that God makes you spiritually alive first… and a ’spiritually alive’ person necessarily has faith.

The Implications of a Right Understanding

Why does it matter which comes first? The answer is very simple. If we understand who produced the faith in us, then the right person gets the glory for it.

If YOU, in your spiritual sensitivity and wisdom, saw that this gospel business made sense, when all the rest of the world reject it, you deserve some commendation. At least in part, your whole time in Heaven is based on that smart decision you made to choose Jesus. Some of the glory God demands in salvation would go to you.

If, as the Bible tells us, GOD chose to have mercy on you, open your eyes to Him, and give you the gift of faith… then all the glory goes to it’s rightful place. Let’s not attempt to share in God’s glory. Let’s praise God for opening our eyes by grace alone, and not by our own doing or willing (Romans 9:15-16).

Let’s praise God for his Sovereign regenerating work, and not see it as a threat. Because without it, none of us would ever come to Him.

“And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”” –John 6:65

It’s very often the question Christians immediately ask when election is explained to them: “If God is just going to choose people, why would you waste your time sharing the gospel?”. It’s understandable, especially in the american evangelical landscape. The idea that God isn’t in Heaven worrying that some people might not choose him, is startling. It sounds like you’re uprooting everything the average church teaches, including evangelism.

The truth is: God is allowing us to participate with Him, our loving Father, in His work of saving men. It’s an honor and a privilege… not just a duty.

The Means of Salvation

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” –Romans 1:16

You see, the gospel isn’t just information. We’re not simply telling someone what Jesus did, and hoping they accept it (although we are doing that). The gospel is very, very special. The words themselves have power. Through the working of the Holy Spirit, the message of Jesus is the power of God that saves men. It is, in fact, the ONLY way that God had ordained men to be saved.

So first of all, don’t misunderstand this: the Biblical teaching of election does not deny the absolute necessity for all men to hear the gospel. No man will be saved unless he calls upon the name of, and trusts in the work of, the Lord Jesus.

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” –Acts 4:12

God has not only chosen a people to be saved, but has also chosen the means by which they will be saved, namely through the hearing, and receiving of the gospel. When the elect hear the gospel, the Holy Spirit regenerates their hearts, and they believe.

“And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” –Acts 13:48

Preaching to the Elect

So how do we know who the elect are? Why would we waste our time with the non-elect? Again, the average Christian already knows the answer, but has just never applied it in the correct context.

In Jesus’ parable of the sower (Luke 8:4-15), Jesus tells of a man that spreads seed all over the ground, on different soils, and only the seed that falls on the good soil grows to fruition. Jesus also explains the parable to His chosen disciples. The seed is the word of God (the gospel) being shared with all kinds of people. Some of the people don’t receive it at all because of the devil. Some get excited about it, then fizzle out as they move on. Others seem like they’re growing, but get choked out by the cares of the world. And finally, those whom Jesus calls the “good soil” receive, believe, and produce fruit.

Now, we see that the sower was not specifically searching out good soil, or being stingy with the seed. So, was he wasting the seed, or was he trusting that it would grow where it should?

This is what the kingdom of God is like. We are to share the gospel with everyone, and we just assume that they are all elect. We know that many will reject the gospel, but those whom God has prepared – the good soil – will receive it. So we preach confidently knowing that God will move on His people, and save them. Our job is to simply be obedient, and know that it isn’t our convincing that saves people.

“So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” –1 Corinthians 3:7

An Overly Semantic Calvinist?

Ok, so I’m saying that we should preach the gospel to everyone, but only some will believe. Isn’t that what the Christian who denies sovereign election teaches? Aren’t we saying the same thing, but from different perspectives? No. Here is where the theological rubber meets the road.

If you believe that the offer is simply made to all men, but God isn’t working to irresistibly save His chosen people, the catalyst to salvation then lies in your words. You must be convincing, you must be smooth, you must be a better salesman than the Buddhist, and Jehovah’s witness that your audience has heard philosophies from. And anything that isn’t chalked up directly to what the preacher says, is in the hands of the hearer. They must be spiritually sensitive, and innately willing to have faith like a child. When these two human traits (salesmanship and receptiveness) kiss, magic happens… right?

This is the gospel according to the flesh. The gospel of sinner’s prayers and decision cards. No matter how much lip service is offered up to the Holy Spirit working in these situations, He is discredited as unable to make you do anything against your will. Man is the deciding factor.

Worst of all, this kind of philosophy, mixed with a zeal to save lots of people, produces a bad gospel. As anyone who has preached the bloody Christ of scripture quickly learns:

“…the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…” –1 Corinthians 1:18

When your main task becomes convincing someone to “make a decision for Jesus”, you have no choice but to remove the offense. You need to water down the sin, blood, wrath and Hell of scripture, or remove them completely. That kind of offensive talk has no place in the seeker-friendly gospel. When it’s about your words, and not strictly dependent on the Holy Spirit’s work in the sinner’s heart, the flesh will always compromise the message.

No, my friends, salvation is not a cooperation between lovable men and a lonely God that just wants you to choose Him. Salvation is of the Lord, and the Lord alone!

Necessity is Laid Upon Me

“For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” –1 Corinthians 9:16

We do not have a quota to meet, we are not doing God a favor, and God does not need us to save His people. He compels us, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to preach His gospel, and save souls. The Saints are not only blessed with forgiveness, adoption, and eternal life, but we also are invited to participate in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ to establish His kingdom and save more men and women from their sins. It’s no easy task, but it is not a burden, as all of the heavy lifting is done by God. All he requires of you is your mouth. If you are His, you will naturally present it as part of your living sacrifice.

“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season…” –2 Timothy 4:2

Christians, I encourage you to practice your gospel preaching. Be fully prepared to explain God’s holiness, man’s sinfulness, Christ’s perfect life, substitutionary death, and resurrection from the grave. Let the hearer know that through faith in Christ they can be forgiven, and receive eternal life. Don’t water it down. And trust that ‘all who are appointed to eternal life will believe’. Not because of your words, or their obedience, but because of God’s grace, alone.

If there is, indeed, anyone who feels that they don’t need to work for God’s harvest, that is a clear sign that you are not one of God’s workers. And you need the very message you refuse to preach: Repent, and believe.

There is a solid Christianity that has been fought for, that people have died for. There have been Church councils, and controversial men, who stood up to revolt against corrupt practices, and unbiblical doctrines. We aren’t left in the dark to figure Christianity out all over again. The truth has been opened to, and passed down to us by, Saints past.

Not only has reformed theology opened my eyes to new things, but it’s cleared up so many thing that I believed, but I never really understood.

10. My Sin

I knew I was a sinner. I knew I needed to be forgiven. But just how much of a sinner, I had no idea. Sometimes I would say, “Wow, I didn’t sin much this week.”.

Now I know that it’s quite possible that I have never, for a second, obeyed the command “Love the Lord, your God, with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.”. I never took seriously Jesus’ words that looking at a woman with lust is to commit adultery, or that hating a man in your heart is murder. I ignored the fact that Jesus said “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” -Matthew 5:48

I finally understand that I sin every day, every hour… on some level I sin every moment of my life. This is how sinful I am. But God! Oh how merciful He is to such a sinner.

9. God Works All Things for My Good

This seemed like a nice idea, God works stuff out in the end. I don’t need to worry too much, because God can clean up the messes and put it back together.

But once I understood sovereignty, it all changed. God doesn’t just react to what people are doing, or the messes that pop up in life. He is “working all things” for the good of His people. He orchestrates everything, and my life isn’t left to chance for a split second. Nothing surprises Him, not because He knows it all, but because He’s actually in control.

8. Why We Pray for the Lost

This is something everyone does. We pray for our family and friends to be saved. We say things like “soften their hearts” or “reveal yourself to them”. It’s not something I ever thought about as incosistent with my beliefs, but now I see how strange it was.

If God couldn’t override people’s free will, how could He save them? How could He do anything different than the 100% He was already giving everyone, waiting fo them to make their decision. What does it mean to “soften a heart” other than “do more than You are doing to change their mind”?

Now I can pray fervently for God to override a family member’s sinful will, because I know that it’s their only hope. If God can’t touch our wills, we all go to Hell. God, destroy their will, and MAKE them love You, so they can be saved from Hell!

7. There is Now No Condemnation

I was always on the fence on the “can we lose our salvation?” question.  I’d seen and heard of epic backsliding and people who walked completely away from faith. So it only seemed logical that there were certain sins that could push us too far away from God.

The Bible says nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love that is in Christ, let alone the very thing he died to forgive. The gospel teaches that everything, past, present, and future is forgiven. So what could undo the work of Jesus and make us accused again?

Now I understand that sins aren’t counted against me, anymore. God convicts me to cease from sinning, but the condemnation and marks against me have been paid for. I’m truly free.

6. Jesus Took My Place

The idea that Jesus was in my place on the cross was another nice thought, and was truly my object of faith. But I believed He took everyone’s place on the cross, even people who would be in Hell. What kind of assurance can I find in a substitution that didn’t help such a large number of people it took the place of?  What does it mean to die in someone’s place, if not that they are pardoned?

I understand, now, that Jesus was laying His life down for His sheep… perfectly. Not one of the people who’s place He took on the cross will be in Hell. Anyone who does end up in Hell has not been atoned for.  Jesus truly, perfectly, and finally took my sins on Himself, not because I applied His blood to myself, but because the Father placed my sins, specifically, on His Son.

5. The Necessity of Prayer

I used to pray. I would pray especially hard when I messed up, or when something was completely out of my control. When I knew there was nothing I could do about a situation, I’d give it over to God. Other than that I’d pray very generally that God would help me in my life.

Reformed theology has opened my eyes to the truth that I am completely helpless. I’m 100% at God’s mercy. God could, if He wanted, take the faith out of my heart tomorrow. I’d wake up, shake my head, and say, “Wow, that Christianity faze was weird.” and get right back to my sinful life. God promises to never do that, but that’s how much we are  at His mercy.

I NEED God to live, I need him in every area because I’m powerless without Him. He’s the power that makes me flea from sin, help people, open His word, and even pray. Yes, we should pray that God would give us the desire to pray. God is truly our strength, so we must pray without ceasing if, or we are relying on our powerless flesh.

4. Being Born Again

When I look back, I don’t even know how I would have defined being born again.  I knew it was a change, maybe a feeling. I definitely knew that you needed to be born again to be saved, and I even knew the moment it happened to me. What it was, though, I’d be hard pressed to answer.

Oh boy! I could tell you now. It is the supernatural change of a God-hater into a God-lover. It’s the work of God to change a man’s entire nature. We are set free from slavery to sin, and made slaves of righteousness. We are new creations. Without it man can not believe the gospel or repent. Praise God for the free-will smashing new birth!

3. The Holy Spirit

What a mystery the Holy Spirit was. I believed in the trinity. Father – The one who calls the shots. Son – The one who came to earth to die for sin. Holy Spirit – um… it’s like a mist, that like… is everywhere. Kinda like the wind, I guess. And it… helps us.

Praise God for His Holy Spirit! The third Person of the trinity that works in God’s people. He’s IN me! It’s amazing! He’s the One that produces the fruit, the One that makes me understand the Bible, the One that makes me cry “Abba, Father!” The Holy Spirit confirms to my spirit that I’m in Christ. He perfects my broken prayers and praises. Without God’s Spirit inside us, we’d never know God.

2. The Necessity of the Gospel

I would, from time to time, share my faith. I would talk about how Jesus died, but the most important thing I was seeking was a decision. Offensive parts of the gospel, about sin and wrath… those don’t make people want to accept, so I’d minimize them. I would let people know that Jesus wanted to make them happier, and fulfill their lives, certainly not that He demands their submission and will take away their rights.

Now I know that apart from the clear, complete gospel, nobody can be saved. Anybody who signed a decision card or said a prayer based on a promise of ,”The Bible tells us that we can know where we go when we die. Come to Jesus and He’ll forgive you.”, is not going to heaven. They were deceived. People must hear about their sinfulness, the forgiveness on the cross, and the repentance God requires. This is how we are saved, through the gospel.

1. The Meaning of the Universe

God’s creation, I would guess, was an experiment in free-will. How will people respond to God becoming a man and dying? God was trying His hardest to save as many people as possible, but inevitably some would go to Hell, since it was their decision. Jesus died to make salvation possible, and God was going to be eternally frustrated by all the people that He loved who would be in Hell for eternity. In the back of my mind, I always had a theory that God would forgive them all and bring them into Heaven in the end, and we’d all rejoice.

Oh, how glorious God’s plan truly is. God’s number 1 priority is to show off His majesty and be glorified. God is beautiful, and when we see His beauty and respond in worship, we are fulfilling our entire purpose.  When we fail to love God, we are spitting in this glorious King’s face, and we will be punished.

The purpose of this creation is for God to demonstrate His power and mercy. The fall of Satan and Adam are all part of this amazing story. God’s righteous hatred toward sinners will display His awesome power for eternity. God became a man and redeemed mankind from His own wrath. All who He has mercy on will worship Him for eternity because of this amazing love displayed on the Cross. Heaven will be the most amazing pleasure imaginable, fulfilling the purpose of  creation. We will worship God, forever, because we’ll know what we were saved from. He displayed love beyond our comprehension! Praise God!

One thing any Bible believing Christian must agree on is that some people go to Hell when they die. God’s just wrath against some sinners is not forgiven, and they take the wrath themselves. If Jesus died so that people could be saved, and God is powerful enough to do whatever He wants, why doesn’t He make everyone go to Heaven? Do people go to Hell because they just didn’t make the right decision?

Does God Choose?

The Bible teaches, from beginning to end, that God does whatever He pleases. He creates things out of nothing. He gives, and takes away. He parts seas, and makes pillars of fire. And He most certainly chooses to use people for His purposes.

The Old Testament tells the story of a Chosen people called Israel. God chose a single Pagan, named Abraham, out of all the other Pagans in the world, to reveal Himself in an intimate way. God made huge promises to Abraham, and said that the whole world would be blessed through his seed. Abraham believed the promise. A couple questions come to mind: First, why did God choose Abraham?, and second, Could Abraham have just said, “No thanks.”? Did God leave the selection of the person who would Father His people, and ultimately be a cradle for the Messiah, up to chance? With God there is no chance.

God has planned all of history, from beginning to end, and He will accomplish all His purposes (Isaiah 46:10). Nothing, especially not the will of creatures, can stop the Creator’s plans. He plans the ends, and chooses the means. God is in control, and we are at His mercy.

Does God Choose in Salvation?

Paul tells the Church of Thessalonica:

“For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ…” -1 Thessalonians 5:9

and again

“But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” -2 Thessalonians 2:13

Jesus, speaking of the end of the world says this:

“And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.” -Mark 13:20

He shortens the days for “The elect, whom he chose”.  Some people believe that this “election” is actually just a response of God from outside of time, when he sees who would choose Jesus. Obviously this completely redefines the word election. If God chooses man simply because man chose God, who is ultimately in control of our destinies, us or God? To say God’s salvation is based on our decision completely opposes scripture.

“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 loved, but Esau I hated.”” -Romans 9:11-13

Scripture clearly states that the election of God is NOT based on Him seeing what we’ll do, but is based strictly on God’s purposes.

“…I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” -Romans 9:15-16

I’d like to repeat that, to make sure we aren’t missing the point here. God’s mercy or “salvation” depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

Why Doesn’t God Save Everyone?

Could God have saved everyone? Absolutely. God is all powerful. The sacrifice of Christ could have saved a million earth’s worth of sinners. Through it, God could have forgiven every sin from Adam to all the people who will be alive when Christ returns. Every rapist, murderer, thief, adulterer, gambler, and goody two shoes who thinks he doesn’t need Jesus could have the blood of Christ applied to them, and they could all go to heaven. So why doesn’t God do it?

God hates sin, and will reveal His power by pouring His eternal wrath out on those who blaspheme His name. God is holy and sinners deserve Hell, we have to never forget this. And the Bible teaches that in order for God to reveal His power and wrath against sin, He will not have mercy on some. It’s not because they were worse, or less spiritual than a saved person, and it’s certainly not because they just didn’t make a good decision about Jesus. It’s because they deserve to go to Hell, and God will pour out His judgement… that’s the bottom line. When we truly appreciate how guilty man is, it makes this question pale at the more mind bending question…

Why Does God Choose to Save Some?

“What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make 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?” -Romans 9:22-24

God chose a people, before the foundation of the world, to be “vessels of mercy”. Not because we deserve it, or because He saw something that He liked in us, but just to show “the riches of his glory”. Praise God! We were “prepared beforehand for glory”!

“…He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” -Ephesians 1:4-6

Can you believe this?! He chose that we should be “holy and blameless before Him”. He “predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ”… why? “According to the purpose of his will, to the praise of His glorious grace.”. That’s why. He loves us because He chose to love us. To show off how AMAZING He is! We will forever praise Him for his grace! Hallelujah!!

Isn’t That Unfair?

“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 no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?” -Romans 9:19-21

Again, we return to where we started. God is God. He can do, and indeed does, whatever He wants to. All deserve Hell, who are we to question Him for saving some of us?

I beg you, anyone who has a problem with God’s electing grace, do not despise God’s right to choose. If you are a Christian, this truth secures you. You didn’t choose God, He chose you, and He will never let you go. He is truly working all things for your good, including your salvation. You know Him because He allowed you to know Him. All the glory goes to God alone!

What About the One’s Who Aren’t Elect?

First of all, remember that we don’t know who the elect are. From our perspective, we need to treat everyone as if they were elect. We preach the gospel to everyone we can, and pray that God would save them. We should trust that the Holy Spirit will work in the people we share the gospel with, so we don’t worry about watering down the message to suit someone’s sensibilities. Preach the true gospel, and God will save His people. The best thing you can do for someone that looks like they aren’t saved, is share the gospel.

Secondly, remember that there is nobody that will desire to be saved and be turned away. We all hate God naturally, and are spiritually blind, so when any person desires to know Christ, it’s only because God opened their eyes. That doesn’t mean there won’t be people that claim to love the “jesus” of their imaginations, and just want a happier life. Everybody wants that. It doesn’t mean they want to be saved. So preach the real gospel to them, and pray for God to move.

Finally, we must trust that God is wise. Our God is good and loving. Some people will go to Hell… bluntly, some people that you know will go to Hell. But we must trust that God is just and will do what is right, even if we don’t understand His purposes.

If God were fair, we would all go to Hell. Praise God that he chose to pull some of us from the flames!

So naturally, when I started to hear James White linger on the topic of Calvary Chapel for a few episodes of his radio show The Dividing Line, I shared it with Andrew to see what he thought. Here’s a clip from one of the episodes.

In the clip one of the Calvary guys says, “I’ve often said about Calvinism, that it’s Christianity without Jesus. They just take certain statements of Paul and read their own theology into it.”.

Andrew thought it was an interesting statement, and thought it might make an interesting challenge.  I know him well enough to know that he doesn’t have any malicious thoughts in mind. He doesn’t think that ‘red letters’ have more canonical weight, or that I’m misunderstanding Paul. But, as lots of non-reformed Christians point out, we do rely a lot on Paul. So he has challenged me to prove Calvinism without Paul. It sounds like a lot of fun, so I accepted.

He allowed me the gospels, Acts 1-8, James, Jude, Revelation, and 1 & 2 Peter. I countered with the fact that just because Paul is IN Acts shouldn’t exclude it. Since Acts was written by Luke it’s not a Pauline work. He agreed.

Basically I’m looking for election, absolute sovereignty, man’s inability, etc. After starting to look through random new testament books, and seeing the overwhelming amount of texts, I realized we wouldn’t be able do it in just a week or two.  So each week we’ll look at one book, starting tomorrow with Matthew. I’ll post my findings here. Maybe a top 5 texts from each book, along with a list of all the rest from that book. If I miss any, hit me up.

Check back tomorrow for ‘Proving Calvinism Without Paul Part 1: Matthew’.

My Top 5 Texts From Matthew

Matthew 11:25-27
“At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Matthew 13:10-11
“Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”

Matthew 15:13
“He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.”

Matthew 19:25-26
“When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.””

Matthew 20:23
“He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.””

Other Notable Texts

Matthew 1:21
“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 4:19-22
“And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

Matthew 7:17-18
“Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.”

Matthew 7:22-23
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

Matthew 9:38
“therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Matthew 10:29-31
“Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

Matthew 13:18-23
Parable of the Sower (Only the fourth ground “understands”, and therefore produces fruit.)

Matthew 16:16-17
“Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.””

Matthew 24:24
“For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

Matthew 25:34
“Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”

My Top 5 Texts From Luke

Luke 1:15
“for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” (In reference to John the Baptist.)

Luke 8:10
“he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ’seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.””

Luke 10:21-22
“In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.””

Luke 12:6-7
“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

Luke 13:24
“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

Other Notable Texts

Luke 12:20
“But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’”

Luke 12:32
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Luke 12:51-53
“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Luke 15:4-5
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”

Luke 15:8-9
“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’”

Luke 18:26-27
“Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.””

Challenge Update

This exercise has been pretty amazing so far. I’m going through at least one book of the Bible each week and confirming the things I believe, in the places people say it doesn’t exist. The talks with Andrew are incredibly insightful. I think he is profiting at least as much as I am from the critical debate.

This week I went through the Gospel of John, easily the most blatantly reformed of the four gospels. I had so much material, It was taking forever to decide which to put in the top 5. There were just too many powerful verses, so I’m changing the format for this post. Here are the top 10 verses from John, followed by some other amazing verses, then the normal other notable texts.

The red letters in the Gospel of John leave no question about God’s electing love. As John MacArthur puts it, “Jesus is no Arminian”.

My Top 10 Texts From John

John 1:12-13
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

John 5:21
“For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.”

John 6:37
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

John 6:44
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:63
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

John 6:65
“And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.””

John 10:25-30
“Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.””

John 14:16-17
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

John 15:16
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

John 17:9
“I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.”

Runners Up

John 3:27
“John answered, ”A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.””

John 8:42-45
“Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.”

John 10:14-16
“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

John 14:22
“Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?””

Other Notable Texts

John 3:3
“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:5-6
“Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:18
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

John 3:21
“But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.””

John 3:36
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

John 6:39
“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”

John 6:45
“It is written in the Prophets, ’And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—”

John 6:70
“Jesus answered them,  “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.””

John 9:39
“Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.””

John 10:3-5
“To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

John 11:51-52
“He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.”

John 13:18
“I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. Butthe Scripture will be fulfilled, ’He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’”

John 15:5
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

John 15:19
“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

John 17:2
“since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.”

On to Acts

How does God start saving people once the Holy Spirit is given to the world and Christian evangelism is activated? The lack of choice talk is glaring when you are actually looking for it. God seems to be opening eyes that are blind, and making all those who are appointed to eternal life believe. Soli Deo Gloria!

This is a controversial book as far as the challenge goes. Paul, of course, is a major character in the writing, and some of my best texts come from places where Paul is doing his thing. But I would still argue that the doctrinal aspects would come from the Holy Spirit indwelling the writer, Luke. I welcome any feedback on whether you think those texts should be counted.

Without any further ado, let’s prove Calvinism from the Book of Acts.

My Top 5 Texts From Acts

Acts 4:27-29
“for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.”

Acts 9:15-20
“But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.”

Acts 10:44
“While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.”

Acts 11:18
“When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.””

Acts 13:48
“And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

Other Notable Texts

Acts 2:23
“this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

Acts 5:31
“God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”

Acts 8:17
“Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 13:41
“‘Look, you scoffers,
be astounded and perish;
for I am doing a work in your days,
a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”

Acts 15:7
“And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.”

Acts 16:14
“One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”

18:27
“And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed,”

Acts 22:14
“And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth;”

Acts 26:15-18
“And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles— to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’”

Acts 28:26-27
“‘Go to this people, and say, You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed;
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’”

The Trickiest Book

This was the most difficult book to pull reformed ideas from, at least in the plain text. That is certainly not because the book sounds Arminian, but because it sounds like it’s denying justification by faith, itself.

I’m always a little shocked when people say that James is their favorite book of the Bible. But, then again, some people like to flagellate themselves with whips, too. This book is so painful, and convicting. Any Christian that reads this book and still holds his heads high when he’s done is lying to himself.

I would say, however, that the theology James is presenting is fully reformed. Namely, that if you aren’t doing good works, you aren’t saved. I don’t believe he’s saying that we’re saved through works, but when a man is saved, good works follow without exception, which is exactly what the doctrine of regeneration teaches.  It’s not an easy thing to demonstrate with proof texts, though.

I don’t want to warm my house by using the book of James as fire wood, but I can feel Luther’s sentiment.

Anyhoo, Let’s do this thing.

My Top 5 Texts From James

James 1:17-18
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”

James 2:5
“Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?”

James 2:7
“Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?”

James 4:15
“Instead you ought to say,”If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.””

James 5:16-18
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.”

Turns Out Peter’s a Calvinist, Too

Think about it, Peter was a member of Israel, God’s chosen people, and one of the apostles, Jesus’ chosen individuals. How in the world could he not believe in election?

Proving Calvinism with Peter in 3… 2… 1…

My Top 5 Texts From First Peter

1 Peter 1:1-2
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:”

1 Peter 1:3-5
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

1 Peter 1:20-2
“He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

1 Peter 2:7-8
“So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
and
“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.”

1 Peter 2:9
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Other Notable Texts

1 Peter 4:18
“And
“If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?””

1 Peter 5:5
“Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.””

1 Peter 5:10-11
“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

1 Peter 5:13
“She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son.”

My Top 5 Texts From Second Peter

2 Peter 1:1
“Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:”

2 Peter 1:3-4
“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

2 Peter 1:21
“For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

2 Peter 2:9
“then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment”

2 Peter 2:19
“They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.”

John Talks Salvation

John demonstrates, more than any of the other gospels, how selective Jesus is in His self-revelation. Now when he goes on to talk about what salvation looks like he continues to drive home the difference between being in Christ, and outside of Christ. He makes the clear point that’s it’s not a profession, or a decision, but a supernatural working in a person. If these things aren’t true of you, the Spirit never came into you, and you aren’t saved.

The second and third letter are so short that I combined the three into one post. Enjoy.

My Top 5 Texts From John’s Letters

1 John 2:19-20
“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.”

1 John 2:29
“If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.”

1 John 3:9
“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.”

1 John 4:13
“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.”

3 John 1:11
“Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.”

Other Notable Texts

1 John 2:5-6
“but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

1 John 2:9
“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.”

1 John 2:11
“But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”

1 John 2:27
“But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.”

1 John 3:1
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

1 John 3:24
“Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”

1 John 4:4-5
“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.”

1 Peter 4:6
“For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.”

1 John 4:10
“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

1 John 4:13
“By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.”

1 John 4:20
“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”

1 John 5:18
“We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”

2 John 1:1
“The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth,”

2 John 1:2
“because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever”

My Top 5 Texts From Jude

Jude 1:1
“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:”

Jude 1:4
“For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Jude 1:10
“But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.”

Jude 1:12-13
“These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.”

Jude 1:24-25
“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

Other Notable Texts

Jude 1:18-19
“They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.”

The Sovereign Ending

So it turns out there’s this book that was written before the earth was created. It contains all the names of the people who will be saved, and excludes everyone who won’t be. Doesn’t that mean that the destinies of men are decided by God before we were even made?

While we’re talking about the end, here’s a question. When non-calvinists talk about sovereign election they use terms like “robots”, “puppets”, or the occasional vulgar, emotion-pumping analogy, “Forced love is rape, and God is not a divine rapist.”.

So here’s my question: Do we have the choice to turn from God once we’re welcomed into heaven? …Answer carefully.

If you say no, then you have a God that is doing what the Calvinist claims He’s doing here on earth, making His people love Him somehow. If that’s the case, what do you do with your programming, puppeteer, rapist claims? If you say yes we can turn away from God, then eternal life is not eternal at all, it’s conditional and at best potentially eternal based on the perseverance of your will… Your “eternal” life is proportional to your willpower.

I digress. Let’s take a look at sovereign grace and angry wrath as the Bible comes to an end.

My Top 5 Texts From Revelation

Revelation 7:4-8
“And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.”

Revelation 17:8
“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.”

Revelation 17:17
“for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.”

Revelation 19:9
“And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Revelation 13:8
“and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.”

Other Notable Texts

Revelation 5:9-10
“And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.””

Revelation 16:6
“For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!””

Revelation 17:14
“They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.””

Revelation 13:5
“And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.”

Revelation 13:7
“Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation,”

Revelation 13:10
“If anyone is to be taken captive,
to captivity he goes;
if anyone is to be slain with the sword,
with the sword must he be slain.”

Revelation 13:15
“And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.”

Taken from St. Augustine’s Confessions – Book 2, Chapter 4

The gospel means good news, and it is just that, the greatest news mankind has ever known. A problem has been solved. A terrible fate has been changed. A people have been sent a Savior.

I can assume that anybody who has internet access and can read this has also heard this much of the message and probably more. So is knowing this much information what it means to be a Christian? Does knowing that Jesus “died for our sins” get us to heaven? What does that mean?

The purpose of this series is to lay out the absolute basics of what we must believe to be saved. I believe we can summarize the gospel by explaining no less than 3 topics: What is the problem? How did Christ solve that problem? And how is that solution applied to us? I would argue that if anyone has not clearly understood these 3 issues, they have not heard the gospel, and no matter how many decision cards they’ve signed or aisles they’ve walked, they can not saved. In this post I’ll discuss:

What is the problem?

We have to start in the beginning to see the severity of the situation. And in the beginning was God. God is holy. This means that he is without imperfection. God’s mercy,  wrath, love and justice are perfect. This is very good for us, His creation. We would have no source for absolute truth, if God compromised. Now let’s talk perfect justice.

When someone commits a crime against us, we want justice, and hopefully we receive it. Justice is good. It means that people get what they deserve. If a murderer didn’t get penalized because the judge was feeling merciful that day, we would throw the judge in prison. The popular concept of karma isn’t far off. We must get what we deserve, it’s only fair.

But here’s the problem. What do we deserve? God’s law demands perfection, or we are punished. Not only are we not perfect, but we are desperately wicked. We sin in thought and deed. We deny God in everything we do. We take credit for things He has done, and we suppress the obvious truth that He exists and rules over us.

The Bible teaches that the problem started in the garden. Adam had a “free will” to obey God or disobey with the consequence of death. When he ate of the fruit, he brought spiritual death upon himself, the world at large, and all of his descendants that were in him. Adam was our representative. Now we are not born with the same neutrality to sin that Adam had. We have a bent toward sin, indeed, we can’t do anything but sin. Everything we do, even “good” things in the eyes of other fallen people, is sin.

When an unbeliever volunteers at a soup kitchen, they can not give the glory to God for working through them. No, they receive the glory, they feel righteous in themselves. Their goal is not to serve the Creator, but to look good in the eyes of others and even to justify themselves. Everything we do is sin, and we can’t stop.

This perpetual sin will not go unpunished by a perfectly just God. We choose to sin and deny God, and the punishment is death. God is angry toward sin and his anger is ultimately poured out on us in Hell. This is called God’s wrath. God has wrath against everyone, because everyone sins.

Religions teach that we can undo the bad stuff with good stuff and make it to God. But our own concepts of justice demonstrate that this isn’t true. Does driving the speed limit make your speeding violation go away? Does not killing more people lead us to forgive the serial killer who stopped 6 years ago? Does obeying the law erase our illegal activity? No, and worse yet, as I’ve demonastrated, you can’t even do the bare minimum to keep the law.

“…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” -Romans 3:23

Contrary to popular opinion, most people are not headed to Heaven, save the really bad few. The Biblical account is that every single person who has ever lived is in sin and is headed straight for Hell. No one is innocent, no one is going to Heaven.

This is a big problem. What on earth could possibly help this condition? We need a savior…

What is the solution?

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, sent His son. Jesus Christ, the eternal second person of the triune God became a human. God miraculously made a virgin woman pregnant with a God/human child. He came with a mission: to redeem a people.

Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life. He obeyed God’s law perfectly, and fulfilled all the scriptural prophecies of the promised suffering Messiah. When He began His ministry, He performed miraculous healings and signs. He taught about the mysteries of God and Heaven, and confronted the hypocrisy of the religious leadership.

Jesus also brought the law, that the Jews were to live by, to a whole new level. He taught that looking at a woman with lust was adultery, hating a man in your heart was murder, and he said that unless you were as perfect as God Himself, you could not enter Heaven (Matthew 5:48). Jesus did not make things easier to get to God. He drove the nails into our coffins, making sure we understood that we were doomed.

Jesus’ ultimate claim is that He was equal with God. This claim brought the religious leadership into a blind rage and they brought about a plan to kill Him.

Jesus was betrayed, arrested, illegally tried, and brutally beaten. No charges were brought against Him except that He taught false doctrine and that He claimed to be God. The Roman government found no guilt in Him, but were persuaded to kill him to appease the Jewish cries for His death. The legally, morally, and religiously innocent man was put to death by the most humiliating, prolonged, cruel death of the time. His body was nailed to wooden crossbeams and lifted up to be seen by the public.

After a dramatic three hours Jesus proclaimed, “It is finished!”, and died. His body was placed in a tomb, sealed, and guarded, so it would not be stolen by propagators of His movement. His body lay lifeless for nearly 3 full days.

Amazingly, on the third day he came back to life. He showed himself to His disciples and told them to spread the message of his death, burial, and resurrection to all the earth.  He then lifted off the ground and ascended in to Heaven. He is now at the right hand of the Father God, in pierced human flesh, interceding for His people.

This is the solution God executed to solve our problem. Now how does it apply to us? What was Jesus doing on this planet? What was He doing on that cross? How can sinful men be saved through the death of God’s son?

How does this apply to us?

The work of Christ, and the subsequent work of the Holy Spirit, solves every problem that keeps us from God. God’s agreement between Himself and mankind was this: If you obey me, I will bless you with life. If you don’t, I will punish you with death and wrath. Again this is the natural law we see everywhere, we get what we deserve, and God is just to fulfill His end of the bargain, but we only disobey, and are all running mad straight to Hell.

Imputed Righteousness

Christ’s first work in our world was his perfect life. God became a man and fulfilled our end of the bargain for us, because we couldn’t. Where we were disobedient, He was obedient. Where we sinned, He was innocent. Where we hated and denied God, He loved and pointed to His Father. He did what was required of us to do. He earned a status that no man can earn on His own, “righteous”.

Now the Father actually gives that earned righteousness to every person who believes in Christ. A Christian is looked at by God as if he actually lived the perfect life that Christ lived. We know we’re sinners, but God looks at us as if we were Jesus. This giving of Jesus’ perfect life to believers is called “imputed righteousness”.

Substitutionary Death

The death of Jesus on the cross is where we see how much God loves His people. The crucifixion was a greater sacrifice than it might appear on the surface. He was actually receiving a punishment more torturous and humiliating than any man has ever received. The sovereign King of the universe was stripped, beaten, mocked, and destroyed by His subject. Worse, God Himself was allowing, even orchestrating, His own Son’s death. So what good came from this seemingly senseless and barbaric murder?

In the first post, I talked about God’s wrath toward sinners. God is angry with our sins and justice must and will be served for our crimes. We deserve to die, but Jesus died in the place of believers. The wrath God owed to us was being poured out completely on the Son, who laid His life down for us. Our sins were laid on Him, and those sins were completely paid for by His death. A believers sins are totally forgiven, past, present, and future because they were atoned for in Jesus. The work of Jesus on the cross completely satisfied God’s angry wrath toward believers. This satisfaction of God’s wrath is called “propitiation”.

How can I be saved?

Jesus lived and died for every person who would believe in Him. And all of those people have been forgiven, justified, and will receive eternal life in Heaven with God. All you must do to receive this perfect work is turn away from your sinful, selfish life (repent) and believe in the good news of the saving work of Jesus. All the people who believe in Jesus were somehow united with Jesus on the cross. We, on a spiritual level, lived His life and died His death. All the work to reach God has been completed by someone else. What you couldn’t do, God came and did for you.

This is what a Christian must believe: Jesus’ work is perfect.  The life and death of Christ was 100% sufficient to reconcile us with God. There is no work we can do to add to His work. God is satisfied by Jesus, and loves everyone who believes, just like He loves His Son. Jesus promises we can never be taken away, if indeed, we are in Him.

I’m not inviting you to pray a prayer or just say that you believe. Becoming a Christian means to sacrifice your whole life to God. To see what Jesus did and die to yourself. To live the rest of your life being directed by God, the Holy Spirit, God’s word (the Bible) and looking forward to the day you can see Him and love Him more fully. You can not do this on your own, you are weak, and you need God to do the work, just as Christ did all the work to redeem believers. The Holy Spirit is the person of God who comes inside us and lives our Christian life with us. Yes, when we become Christians, God literally takes up residence in us… how can we fail?

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” -Galatians 2:20

The rickety wooden door swings open and the blinding sunlight shines onto your face. You quickly raise your hand to cover your eyes, but you’re looking, squinting, terrified, past your hand to see who’s breaking into your room.

The figure in the doorway doesn’t hesitate, it starts walking toward you. He’s walking strongly, he’s intent, he’s confident. When he comes close enough to block the glaring light, he looks down at you and you can see his face. He looks strangely familiar. He sort of looks like the Jesus you’ve heard about, but you know he was a myth. There’s something different about him, this man is strong, he has a mission, and, well, he’s real.

He kneels down and looks into your face. You’re afraid to the point of shaking, but you’re not shaking. Your mouth hangs open and your eyes don’t blink. Your mind races, ‘Will he destroy me? Will it be worse than that?’.  But he smiles kindly and a rush of trust comes over you. You know you’re in good hands.

The air in the room gets thicker, pressure builds, you can almost hear wind rushing into the room as the moment becomes very intense. The man slowly lifts his hand as he continues to kindly smile at you. Then it happens… He quickly and violently plunges his hand into your chest. In shock you look down and see the blood as he wraps his fingers around your heart. You can feel the tightening as he firmly grasps it, and in one quick  motion he tears your still beating heart from your chest. Blood flies everywhere.

He holds your heart a few inches from your face. It’s black, it’s diseased, it’s absolutely disgusting.  It’s still beating, attempting to circulate it’s black poisonous blood through you. For the first time, you see what was inside you, and you hate it.

The man then pulls out a hammer and large nail. A cross appears in the room and the man drives the spike through your filthy, sinful, prideful, God-hating heart. Black ooze pours down the cross. You hear the heart screaming blasphemous sins. It’s telling you to put it back in, it’s telling you to continue in the life you’ve enjoyed for so long. Your arms and legs twitch as they hear commands from the only master they’ve ever known, but you hold them back, you know that wretched thing is no longer your king.

The man turns back to you, and you anxiously await his next move. You’re in pain, but you’re breathless with anticipation. Even if it’s equally as violent, you are convinced it will be for your good.

He glances down and reaches his hand slowly into his own chest. He pulls out a duplicate of his own heart and holds it out for you to see. It’s beautiful. The heart shines with purity, it’s spotless and perfect. He gently places it into the gaping hole in your chest and when he removes his hand the wound perfectly heals around it.

Immediately you feel the holy blood pumping through your veins. Your desires are changed. Everything is new, and your allegiance is inextricably linked to this man. You are a new creation.

Together, you walk out of the room, into the light.

“The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” -Genesis 6:5

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” -Jeremiah 17:9

“And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,” -Ezekiel 11:19

Now, I must admit that I had the same feelings when God sent people into my life to show me the doctrines of grace. I actually once said, “If God chooses who He wants to save, I want nothing to do with Him.”. I thank God that all of my sin is covered, including my rejection of His character. Of course, He has since mercifully revealed how beautiful it really is, and now I can’t imagine a better way for God to redeem mankind.

So why? Why did I get so upset? Why is the idea of a God who chooses certain people over others so offensive, when the Bible we read every day is crammed full of situation where God does just that? How did I go 6 years, knowing this God, yet never truly understanding how the Bible clearly says He interacts with man?

I believe all born again Christians honestly want to know the truth about God. We want the fullest understanding of how He works, so we can worship Him best, and so we’ll be most fulfilled by Him. But I also see, and have experienced, that we are only willing to examine so much. We’ll look at areas of our understanding of God that we’re comfortable with, but no further.

Most people would have no problem asking questions about spiritual gifts, for example. They could honestly listen to other opinions and compare with scripture to find the most Biblical understanding. But, generally, we’re not willing to do that with more controversial issues.

The way it worked out in my mind, when I started questioning why I reacted to reformed theology the way I did, is – it’s like a house. It starts with the foundation. All the things we learn at first, right or wrong, make up the foundation. It’s the bedrock of our salvation in many ways. Pending it’s sound, doctrinally, it should be protected. Paul makes it clear in Galatians:

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” –Galatians 1:8

So we protect those foundational truths. Next we start getting serious about Church and study, and we build our theological house. From hearing and reading scripture, we build our rooms (individual doctrines). We might start with the ‘what is tithing’ room, on to the ‘end times’ room, a ‘how we should worship’ room, etc..

If, after a room is established, we see inconsistencies, we examine them. We say, ‘Wow, this room really doesn’t look the way scripture says it should , I’d better rearrange it.’.  Sometimes it’s just a quick makeover, other times we need to completely remove the room from the house, but we’re willing to make the changes to stay faithful to God’s word.

But now, someone comes along and questions you on something. It isn’t one of  the rooms. It’s something mingled into the foundation of the house. Someone comes along and says, ‘Man is unable to come to God, on his own.’, they add, ‘Jesus only died for those he intended to save.’. Our memories are immediately filled with super dramatic readings of “God SOOOOOO loved the world… WHOOOOOSOOOOEVER believes…”. This seems to be a threat to the entire house we’ve built.

We are not willing to examine down there for scriptural accuracy, because it’s too sacred. It shakes us to the core. We shutter at the thought of what might happen to the house if those things were even looked at. When someone brings us clear scripture that shows God’s choosing grace, we think, ‘that looks like predestination, but I know everyone chooses, because I’ve always heard it. I have to explain it away.’.

To all those who this is hitting home with – to all those who are angry that I would say such things, I’d like to throw down the gauntlet on the issue. Ask yourself this simple question: ‘if God wanted to show me that he elected a chosen people to salvation before the foundation of the earth, apart from anything good or bad they would do, or any decision they would make, would I be willing to believe it?’. Ask yourself, “If God were to show me that my concept of “free will” is not scripturally sound, would I be willing to let it be removed from my foundation and let that alter my house accordingly?”. I’m not asking you to agree, I’m asking you to ask yourself, “Could I believe it, if it were true?”.

If you’re willing to sacrifice anything to God, come back to scripture and let it speak in context. Allow yourself to be confronted with the innumerable texts that deal with election. Let the the scripture speak for itself. Set your traditions aside and let the Word of God break up your foundation, if necessary. Make absolutely certain that your house is built on Christ’s foundation.

Taken from A Defense of Calvinism by C.H. Spurgeon