The Elect Obey God Because of Special Grace Given to Them

Whereas you say that some Scriptures seem to hold forth unto you that a man has a free-will, I desire you, for your better information, to take notice of these two Propositions:

Proposition 2.

The elect do indeed, with unfeigned willingness, obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and choose the Lord to be their God, but this they do when they are effectually called, and not before. This they do, not of themselves, not only by the well using of an ability or power given to all men, but by the special grace of God, afforded to them, Who works in them both to will and to do and this according to the good pleasure of His own will concerning them from all eternity. The truth of this appears in these places, Isaiah 54:13; compared with John 6:44, 45, 64, 65; Ezek. 36:26, 27; Romans 8:28-30; Ephesians 1:4, 5, 11; Phil. 1:29; Phil. 2:13; James 1:18.

Benjamin Cox-Some Mistaken Scriptures Sincerely Explained, in Answer to One Infected With Some Pelagian Errors 1646.

Calvinism is the Gospel

What many enemies of the cross of Christ and the Gospel of Jesus Christ do not realize, when reading the title of my blog post, is that in making such an assertion I am not claiming to be following a man. I also am not claiming to be following man made ideas of what the Bible teaches on the subject of the Gospel. What I am claiming is that I follow the gospel that is revealed in scripture and so clearly understood and taught by Calvin. This Gospel could very well have been called Augustinianism or Paulism. This is because Augustine and the Apostle Paul himself taught the gospel of which I believe and expound.

Therefore, if you are offended at my view of the gospel, then you are offended at Paul’s view of the gospel. You have problems with the very word of God itself. In my defense of the gospel, I want to point you to an article entitled:

 

Calvinism is the Gospel by Prof David Engelsma

Here are some quotes from his article:

“Calvinism is the Gospel. Its outstanding doctrines are simply the truths that make up the Gospel. Departure from Calvinism, therefore, is apostasy from the Gospel of God’s grace in Christ. Our defense of Calvinism, then, will proceed as follows. First, we will show that Calvinism is the Gospel. This is necessary because of its detractors, who criticize it as a perversion of the Gospel. Second, we will defend it as the Gospel. In doing this, we carry out the calling that every believer has from God. Paul wrote that he was “set for the defense of the Gospel” (Philippians1:17). I Peter3:15calls every believer to give an answer, an “apology,” or defense, to everyone who asks us a reason for the hope that is in us. As the name indicates, Calvinism is a certain teaching associated with John Calvin; it refers to Biblical doctrines that he propounded.”

“Calvinism is concerned to proclaim the Scriptures. The preaching of Scripture, both within the Church and outside the Church, is the central interest of Calvinism. It is false to conceive of Calvinism as a theoretical, abstruse science carried on by heady intellectuals in ivory towers. With the entire Reformation, it wanted, and wants today, to preach the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes.”

“The Gospel proclaims the death of Christ as a death that effectively redeems some men, rather than as a death that merely makes salvation possible for all men. Scripture teaches limited atonement. Jesus Himself taught this about His own death in John10:15“… and I lay down my life for the sheep.” A little further in the same chapter, the Lord specifically states that some men are not included among “the sheep”: “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you” (v.26). He died for some men, “the sheep,” in distinction from other men, who are not of His sheep. Jesus described His death similarly in Matthew 20:28: “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for (Greek: ‘in the stead of’) many.” The important point is not so much that He spoke of those for whom He died as “many,” not as “all,” as it is that he spoke of His death as the ransom given in the stead of others. By dying, He paid the ransom-price to God on behalf of many sinners. He did this by taking their place, giving up his own life where theirs was forfeit. The effect of this death is that everyone for whom He died is freed from sin, death, and hell. Not one for whom He died will perish. None may perish, for the ransom is paid. This Gospel (and there is no other) was preached already by the evangelistic prophet, Isaiah, in Isaiah 53: the suffering Christ bears away the iniquities of God’s people by being smitten of God as their substitute.”

Read the entire article here.

Soli Deo Gloria

Calvinism is the Gospel

I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified unless we preach what is nowadays called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the Gospel and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the Gospel…unless we preach the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah. Nor do I think we can preach the Gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of his elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend the Gospel which allows saints to fall away after they are called.

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Imputed Righteousness without Works

This article is a little lengthy, but if someone really wanted to understand this doctrine of imputed righteousness, then he will take the time to read this.

I leave you with this article:

The Doctrine of Imputed Righteousness without Works Asserted and Proved by John Gill

This Epistle is written on purpose to state, explain, and vindicate, the doctrine of a sinner’s justification before God, by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. In order to which, the Apostle takes up his two first chapters, and part of the third, in proving, that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin, that they have by sinning broke the law of God, and so are become liable to its curses and condemnation, and therefore cannot be justified in the sight of God, by their obedience to it; and then strongly and justly concludes, that a man is justified by faith, in the imputed righteousness of Christ, without the deeds of the law. This doctrine he confirms in the beginning of this chapter, by instances of two of the greatest men, for religion and godliness, that ever were in the Jewish nation. The one is Abraham, who was the friend of God, and the father of the faithful, and yet he was not justified before God by his works; for what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness, in verse 3. The other is David, a man after God’s own heart, raised up by the Lord to fulfill all his will. Who yet was so far from trusting to, or depending upon his own righteousness, for justification, that he wholly places the happiness of men, and so unquestionably his own, in a righteousness imputed to him by God, without works, as in the words I have read unto you. In speaking to which, I shall,

To read the rest of this article click here.

What is the Gospel?

As you know I usually write a piece on the gospel. However today I want to share a great article with you by Dr. Lorraine Boettner.

Dr. Lorraine Boettner does an absolutely wonderful job of articulating to us what the gospel is. Boettner clearly shows that the Reformed faith holds to the Biblical view of the gospel while Arminians hold to a distorted view.

Here is a quote from his article:

The Gospel is the good news about the great salvation purchased by Jesus Christ, by which He reconciled sinful men to a holy God. The purpose of this booklet is to set forth, in plain language and in terms easily understood, the basic differences between the Calvinistic (Reformed) and Arminian understanding of the Gospel, and to show what the Bible teaches concerning these subjects. An accurate understanding is crucial; the harmony that exists between the various doctrines of the Christian faith is such that error in regard to any one of them produces more or less distortion in all the others.

To continue reading this article click here.

You must be Born Again

There are multitudes today, who gather in our church assemblies every week, who do not understand the simple words that are presented in our title of this article. Multitudes have been duped into believing that they somehow can or have effectuated their relationship with God. They were told to sign a card and say a little prayer and you will be alright with God. Therefore through the deceitfulness of false teachers among us, who want to increase their church rolls, many have believed a false gospel.

The gospel of which we preach is the same gospel that Jesus preached. The gospel which we preach is the same gospel that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. The same gospel we preach is the same gospel which Paul preached on his missionary journeys. Our gospel is not a man made one. Our gospel is not a man centered one. Our gospel is centered upon the work of Christ on our behalf. It is a gospel that declares that a man must be born again, that he must bring forth or manifest the fruits of repentance, and that he must declare that Jesus Christ is both Lord and Saviour.

What does it mean to be born again, you might ask? We will turn to John 3 and see what Jesus tells Nicodemus. Let’s read John 3:1-8.

 

3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

 

First I want to say that we have many preachers today telling sinners that all they have to do to be saved is come to Christ on there on. They will tell them that Christ has taken 99 steps and if they will just take one, then God will save them. But Jesus told Nicodemus in the above scriptures that unless a man is born again, then he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus confused the natural birth with the spiritual birth by responding with his question about whether a man can enter a second time into his mother’s womb.

Jesus responded again by saying something similar to his first statement. Jesus said the second time that unless a man is born of water and Spirit then he cannot enter the kingdom of God. This really confused Nicodemus, but Jesus clears it up by telling Nicodemus that that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. In other words just as a man is born in the flesh, he is also born in the Spirit.

When we were born of the flesh we did not choose to come into this world. Yet this birth came about through a fleshly conception. There had to be a seed planted and there had to be a quickening of that seed by God. Even so when men are born of the Spirit there is a seed planted. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:6 “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” The seed is the word of God. Once this seed is planted God and God alone must quicken it and bring it to life. Paul told the Ephesians in Ephesians 2:1 “You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.”

Notice the word dead in Ephesians 2:1. Where did this deadness come from? We can go back to the beginning and look at Adam’s life to find out. God made Adam and Eve and placed them in a garden. God did so with only one restriction. God said that they may eat from every tree of the garden except for one and the day they eat of that tree, they shall surely die. Adam and Eve ate of the tree and died a spiritual death. A corrupt nature and spiritual death was one result of their punishment for disobeying God. They eventually died physically and had it not been for God’s mercy, they would have suffered eternal death in Hell.

When Adam and Eve had children, then their children came into this world, with the same nature as their parents. This nature is dead, blind, and ignorant to the things of God Eph. 2:1; 4:18. It is alienated from and an enemy of God. This nature refuses to seek God Romans 3:11. The only hope is for God too intervene and birth that individual into the kingdom. In the new birth one is given a new human nature. He is made alive to the things of God.

Jesus told Nicodemus to not marvel that he said one must be born again because just as the wind blows where it wants and all we can hear is the sound of it, but can’t tell where it comes from or goes, even so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. What is Jesus saying? Jesus said that when the Spirit begins to work on individuals and bring them to life, no one knows it, but all anyone can see is the results of what the Spirit has done. The results will be a changed person who bears the fruits of Galatians 5:22-23.

I have spent this entire article explaining to you what Jesus meant when he said that one must be born again. I will say that natural men who have not been born again cannot see the kingdom of God, nor can they enter it. First one must be born again or receive a new birth from God, then he can see to enter the kingdom. The ordo salutis or order of salvation is that a man is first born by the Spirit and is given faith in the process and then he reaches out for Christ.

 I will conclude by saying that unless a man receives the new birth, by God’s mercy, then he can sign all the Church cards he pleases and say all the little prayers that he chooses, and will still bust Hell wide open.

Hershel Lee Harvell Jr.

The Difference between Religion and the Gospel

The Difference between Religion and the Gospel by Tullian Tchividjian via (Christianpost.com)

Below is a very insightful comparison between “religion” and the “gospel” drawn from the sermons of Tim Keller (Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan). Tim does a remarkable job of probing hearts and revealing how easily we slip into self-dependence mode. As I have been saying each Sunday, real slavery according to the Bible is self reliance. So, read the comparison list below with humility and care. It will do your soul good.

 RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted.

THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.

RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.

THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God.

THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.

An Arminian ‘Spoof’ Text

Today I want to examine a ‘spoof text’ that is used by Arminians. I call it a spoof text because it is ripped from context and used to try to prove that God is trying to save everyone. This text of scripture is by far the number one scripture used by an Arminian when trying to prove that God desires the salvation of all men. So let’s look at the text:

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Now I will readily admit that on the surface, this scripture taken by itself would lead one to conclude that this scripture is teaching that God is not willing that anyone in the world perish, but that he actually is long suffering to them hoping that they will come to repentance.

In this scripture it speaks of the ‘will’ of God. Most do not realize that the Bible actually speaks of the will of God in three distinct ways. Before we get started on exegeting this scripture let’s look at these three distinct ways that the Bible uses the ‘will’ of God in context.

First the Bible speaks of the decretive, sovereign, or hidden will of God. This is so-called because it is the will of God that is hidden in himself. It is what he has decreed to come to pass. This will cannot be known by humans unless God reveals it by a prophet or until it actually comes to pass.

The second will of God is God’s preceptive will. This is God’s will that is revealed through law. It has been made known to us through God’s written word and it is written upon man’s heart. For instance: God commands men not to steal. We have the ability to violate this will of God, but never the right to do so. God may bring to pass his secret or sovereign will through our sin. Just as God’s sovereign will was worked out by the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. When God allows or permits us to break his preceptive will, it is not to be meant that God gives us permission to do so. He might give us the ability to do so, but never his permission.

Finally the Bible speaks of the will of God as the will of disposition. This use of the will of God describes God’s attitude. “For example, God takes no delight in the death of the wicked, yet He most surely wills or decrees the death of the wicked. God’s ultimate delight is in His own holiness and righteousness. When He judges the world, He delights in the vindication of His own righteousness and justice, yet He is not gleeful in a vindictive sense toward those who receive His judgment. God is pleased when we find our pleasure in obedience. He is sorely displeased when we are disobedient.” (1)

When we examine 2 Peter 3: 9 with these three aspects of God’s will we see that only one fits. God’s will of disposition could not fit because in the scripture it is not speaking of what God delights in. Secondly his preceptive will could not fit because the scripture states that God is not willing that any perish and God rewards those who breaks his commands with perishing. So it can’t be talking about that God is not willing that any perish, but when they do he gives them more perishing. The only will of God that would fit is God’s sovereign, decretive will. God is not willing that any perish and therefore is long suffering with them until they come to repentance. Let’s interpret this scripture and see if that is what it is speaking of.

When we look at verse 1 of chapter 3 we see that Peter is writing to the beloved. This shows us that he is speaking to those who are saved. This is made more clear by examining the first scripture of the entire book whereby he addresses it to those who have obtained like precious faith.

Next Peter warns them that scoffers were going to come. They would be scoffing at the second coming of Christ because they will say that the world just continues on as it always has. The fathers or old men have died and everything is still the same. Peter tells his readers that these who scoff are willingly ignorant of the fact that God destroyed the earth once with water. In other words they know this, but choose to be ignorant concerning these things.

As we skip on down we see that Peter addresses his audience directly again. In verse 8 he states, “But beloved be not ignorant….” Peter does not want his readers to be ignorant concerning these things. A day is with the Lord as a thousand years or a thousand years are as a day. Here Peter is not trying to work out a system of knowing when Christ will come back, as some teach, but is telling them: “Look God is not on our time table. A thousand years to him is nothing. He can come back when he pleases and when he does, it will be as if a couple of days passed with him because he is in eternity.

Now as we examine 2 Peter 3:9 we see why Christ has not returned. Peter encourages his audience by telling them that God is not slack concerning his promises. He says, Look you all, God is coming, but not on our timetable. He isn’t slack, but will fulfill the promises that he promised.

Next he goes into telling them that the reason Christ has not come back is because he is long suffering towards us-ward. Who are the us-wards? The us-wards are the same ones that he has already called beloved in verses 1 and 8. He is long suffering towards us-ward (the beloved or elect) not willing that any of them perish, but waiting until they all come to repentance.

So you see the sovereign decretive will of God fits this scripture and if left in context it is rightly interpreted as saying that God is not willing that any of his elect perish, but all to come to repentance. My exegesis is not forced, but instead flows from the context of the chapter. It is the Arminian that rips this from context and forces upon it a meaning that is not present within scripture.

Written by: Hershel Lee Harvell Jr.

Footnote:

(1) Taken from “Essential Truths of the Christian Faith” by R. C. Sproul and published by TYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHERS, INC. WHEATON ILLINOIS Copyright © 1992 by R. C. Sproul (page 68)

Reformed Theology is not just about ‘Tulips’

There is a move today within evangelicalism that seeks to reduce Reformed Theology to the theology laid out in the acrostic ‘TULIP’. This new move has been called ‘New Calvinism’. This movement called ‘New Calvinism’ centers all it’s theology on the five points of Calvinism. Though Reformed Theology believes and teaches the five points, nevertheless the five points do not begin to even break the husk of what lies within the theological understanding of what one means when he describes himself as adhering to Reformed Theology.
Reformed Theology is first and foremost theocentric rather than anthropocentric. This means that it is God-centered instead of man-centered. This is what distinguishes Reformed Theology from every other theology that is in the Christian world today. Reformed Theology defines all of it’s doctrines by how it defines God or it could be said that Reformed Theology applies the doctrine of God relentlessly to all other doctrines, making it the controlling factor in all theology. In other words God is sovereign and therefore if God is sovereign, then man is not autonomous. If man is not autonomous and God is sovereign, then God controls all things in this world, including who gets saved.
Also Reformed Theology is systematic. The science of systematic theology attempts to understand the Bible in a coherent and unified way. Therefore when the Reformed Theologian approaches scripture, realizing that it is the word of God and realizing that God is logical and coherent, then the theologian does not force upon the Bible a system, but instead recognizes the system that is apparent within the doctrines of scripture.
Reformed Theology has also been nicknamed ‘Covenant Theology’. The term ‘Covenant Theology’ distinguishes Reformed Theology from Dispensationalism. Dispensationalism teaches that the best way to interpret scripture is by rightly dividing the Bible into seven dispensations. But Reformed Theology believes that the best way to interpret scripture is by viewing how God dealt with man based upon the covenants God made with man. Reformed Theologians recognize that the covenants in scripture unify the teachings of the Bible.
These few points that I gave in this brief overview of Reformed Theology prove that Reformed Theology or Calvinism is not just about the ‘Tulips”. Instead the true Reformed Theologian can walk through the garden of Calvinism and pick a variety of flowers, seeing that Reformed Theology contains much more than just five points.

A Defense of Calvinism Pt 10

We have gone back to the old school; we can trace our descent from the apostles. It is that vein of free-grace, running through the sermonizing of Baptists, which has saved us as a denomination. Were it not for that, we should not stand where we are today. We can run a golden line up to Jesus Christ Himself, through a holy succession of mighty fathers, who all held these glorious truths; and we can ask concerning them, “Where will you find holier and better men in the world?” No doctrine is so calculated to preserve a man from sin as the doctrine of the grace of God. Those who have called it “a licentious doctrine” did not know anything at all about it. Poor ignorant things, they little knew that their own vile stuff was the most licentious doctrine under Heaven. If they knew the grace of God in truth, they would soon see that there was no preservative from lying like a knowledge that we are elect of God from the foundation of the world. There is nothing like a belief in my eternal perseverance, and the immutability of my Father’s affection, which can keep me near to Him from a motive of simple gratitude. Nothing makes a man so virtuous as belief of the truth. A lying doctrine will soon beget a lying practice. A man cannot have an erroneous belief without by-and-by having an erroneous life. I believe the one thing naturally begets the other.

Of all men, those have the most disinterested piety, the sublimest reverence, the most ardent devotion, who believe that they are saved by grace, without works, through faith, and that not of themselves, it is the gift of God.

Christians should take heed, and see that it always is so, lest by any means Christ should be crucified afresh, and put to an open shame.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)