{"id":19144,"date":"2017-03-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-26T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/soteriology-053\/"},"modified":"2017-03-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-26T05:00:00","slug":"soteriology-053","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/soteriology-053\/","title":{"rendered":"Soteriology 053"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[88],"series_event":[459],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19144","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-john","series_event-soteriology","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Soteriology 053","sermon_date":"20170326","sermon_month":"3","sermon_year":"2017","sermon_notes":5077,"sermon_slides":4479,"sermon_mp3":4483,"sermon_id":"326171029550","series_or_event":459,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":88,"chapter_and_verse":"3:16","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSoteriology 53, Acts 11:14\n\nMarch 19, 2016\n\nAs you guys may have remembered we finished Soteriology last time in 52 lessons; that\u2019s a lot of teaching, isn\u2019t it\u2026 52 hours!\u00a0 I don\u2019t even think the Sermon on the Mount went that long.\u00a0 One of the things I did is I put together a test for you guys to take at home; did anybody take this test at home?\u00a0 Quite a few, good.\u00a0 If you didn\u2019t get one we have some extra copies, just put your hand up.\u00a0 And sort of the temptation in Bible teaching churches is to finish a subject and then rush into the next one without really getting a chance to assimilate over the course of 52 weeks some of the things we\u2019ve learned.\u00a0 So the test really is not designed to traumatize you, or scare you; it won\u2019t be graded, we won\u2019t put your grades up on the screen or anything, but it\u2019s just for your own enrich\u00adment and edification and it\u2019s sort of a tool to kind of force you to go back and try to reflect on some of the themes that we talked about throughout the 52 weeks that many not be on the frontal part of your mind.\u00a0 So that\u2019s sort of the spirit in which it\u2019s offered.\u00a0 I tried not to throw any trick questions in there; I never liked it when teachers threw trick questions in.\u00a0 The questions are straightforward and multiple choice most of them.\u00a0 So you guys ready, let\u2019s go through this.\u00a0 Does everybody have a copy of it?\n\nThe first section is definitions, define the following by circling the correct answers.\u00a0 And even before we do that,\u00a0 just to remind you here are all the categories we looked at under the doctrine of salvation:\u00a0 We\u2019ve defined salvation.\u00a0 We\u2019ve looked at the issue of election versus free will.\u00a0 We\u2019ve looked at the concept of atonement.\u00a0 We\u2019ve looked at salvation words. We\u2019ve looked at God\u2019s one condition of salvation.\u00a0 We\u2019ve looked at what happens to a person once they get saved, that\u2019s the results of salvation.\n\nAnd then we spent a lot of time, probably most of our time on Roman numeral VII, once you have salvation is it forever yours or can you lose it and that gets into the doctrine of eternal security.\u00a0 And then finally the last couple of sessions I talked about a couple of false views of salvation.\u00a0 So that was our big outline.\n\nAnd now let\u2019s take a final exam and the first three questions really are about this chart here; you guys familiar with this by now?\u00a0 The three phases of salvation: justification, the past tense of salvation; sanctification, the present tense of salvation, glorification the future tense of salvation.\u00a0 And as I\u2019ve said many times the word \u201csaved\u201d is a very broad word in the Bible.\u00a0 It\u2019s used in the past, present and future.\u00a0 So in justification I\u2019m saved from sin\u2019s penalty in an instant at the point of faith in Christ.\u00a0 In sanctification, the middle tense of salvation, I\u2019m being gradually delivered from sin\u2019s power as my life is becoming more and more Christ like.\u00a0 And then in glorification I\u2019ll be delivered from sin\u2019s presence and all I have to do there is to die.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Paul said \u201cFor me to live is Christ, to die is\u201d what? \u201cgain.\u201d\u00a0 So he longed for that future time where he would be outside of his body and he wouldn\u2019t be tainted by his sin nature any longer.\n\nSo the Scriptures are at the bottom, saved\u2014past tense; saved\u2014present tense; saved\u2014future tense.\u00a0 So if someone asks are you saved the proper is I have been saved,\u00a0 I am being saved and I will be saved.\u00a0 So that\u2019s all kind of review.\u00a0 So justification, the correct answer is A, that\u2019s where you\u2019re saved from sin\u2019s penalty, that\u2019s number 1.\u00a0 And if\u00a0 you guys think the answers are wrong feel free to challenge me on these if you want.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had students challenge me in class and I\u2019ve had to agree with them because I\u2019m not infallible, the Bible is infallible but I\u2019m not.\u00a0 Number 2, sanctification, the correct answer is B,\u00a0 you\u2019re being saved from sin\u2019s power.\u00a0 And number 3, the glorification, the correct answer is C.\n\nNow question 4 deals with the whole issue of election and we got into that early on, you remember; does God choose us or do we choose God?\u00a0 I think the right answer to that is YES!\u00a0 It\u2019s a lot like a marriage, I mean, aren\u2019t we analogized to the bride of Christ?\u00a0 I mean, did you choose your bride or did your bride choose\u00a0 you?\u00a0 And I hope the answer is both or you might need some marital counselling.\u00a0 So the Bible teaches both concepts.\u00a0 This is looking at it from the election side, what is election?\u00a0 It is\u00a0 (it won\u2019t be the correct answer) A, number 4, God chooses who will be saved.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t negate the fact that Jesus said \u201cWhosoever\u2026\u201d let him come, and don\u2019t try to ask me to explain that to you because I can\u2019t understand it, I just know the Bible teaches both.\n\nAnd then we talked about atonement which takes us into question number 5, what is the atonement and really the key word to understand about atonement is substitution.\u00a0 So when Jesus died on that cross it should have been me hanging there and you but He stepped into the line of fire and absorbed the wrath of a Holy God in our place.\u00a0 We used different illustrations to get this point across, we talked about the Secret Service men in the movies, like Clint Eastwood jumps into the line of fire when the President is being assassinated, and takes the bullet for the President.\u00a0 That really is what is bound up in the concept of the Talmud.\u00a0 So Jesus didn\u2019t just die on that cross to be a good example for us or to teach us how to be self-sacrificial, all those are true but His ultimate purpose in dying on the cross was to step into the line of fire and to absorb the wrath of a holy God in our place, and that\u2019s what\u2019s meant by atonement.\u00a0 So number 5, the correct answer would be A.\n\nAnd then we get into question number 6, Lordship salvation, and Robert Lightner defines Lordship salvation as the belief which says the sinner who wants to be saved must not only trust in Christ as His substitute\u2026 now that should scare you right there, when anyone says faith in Christ is great but\u2026 you also need something else, that immediately tells you you\u2019re dealing with a false gospel.\u00a0 Lordship salvation refers to the belief which says the sinner who wants to be saved must not only trust Christ as his substitute for sin but he also must surrender every area of his life to the complete control of Christ.\u00a0 So if you don\u2019t do those two things you\u2019re not a Christian, is what Lordship salvation people argue.\n\nAnd when we talked through this I gave you basically seven problems with Lordship salvation.\u00a0 Probably the biggest problem with it is it changes the gospel and it\u2019s not a denial of Christ as Lord, we all believe Christ is Lord.\u00a0 The issue with Lordship salvation is you make submission to Him as Lord a condition for justification.\u00a0 And our theological camp says you don\u2019t do that because that\u2019s not what the New Testament says.\u00a0 You don\u2019t find this in John 3:16, \u201cFor God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever\u201d what?\u00a0 submits to the Lordship of Christ shall have everlasting life????\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say that!\u00a0 Whoever believes.\u00a0 And so our problem with Lordship salvation is that it\u2019s taking the gospel, which is a free gift, which is received by faith, and it\u2019s introducing a subtle alteration to that.\n\nNow the issue of Lordship, you start to learn about that not in justification but in sanctification.\u00a0 Lordship is a middle tense salvation issue.\u00a0 In fact, over in 1 Peter 3:15, I was just listening to Facebook, which I don\u2019t recommend you do too much, but they have those live feeds on there and I was listening to a guy preach this morning and he was sharing out 1 Peter 3:15 which says, \u201cbut sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts,\u201d so Lordship and the submission to Christ as Lord is not an issue for justification, but an issue for sanctification.\u00a0 It says it right there in 1 Peter 3:15.\u00a0 So what we would say with number 6 is Lordship salvation, the correct definition of it is Lordship is required for justification.\u00a0 So the correct answer would be D, right.\n\nNumber seven is regeneration, now this gets into the results of salvation so once I\u2019m saved what happens to me?\u00a0 Well one of the things that happens to me is the moment I trust in Christ I am regenerated.\u00a0 Regeneration is the result of faith; it is not the cause of faith.\u00a0 And there are many, many people that will tell you that you can\u2019t believe on your own, so God has to regenerate\u00a0 you first and that\u2019s really not the way we teach it here.\u00a0 We teach that regeneration, the way it\u2019s described in the Bible is something that comes as a result of faith.\u00a0\u00a0 So once you trust in Jesus Christ immediately you receive certain benefits, one of those is regeneration.\u00a0 Regeneration simply means the impartation of divine life; we call that the spiritual birth.\u00a0 And we desperately need that impartation of divine life because what are we prior to coming to Christ, spiritually what?\u00a0 Spiritually dead.\u00a0 We talked a lot about regeneration and this is what Jesus is getting at with Nicodemus.\u00a0 You can\u2019t see or hear unless you\u2019ve been born spiritually.\u00a0 So far so good.\u00a0 So the correct answer would be on number 7, B.\n\nNumber 8, imputation refers to transfer.\u00a0 Now there are three transfers in the Bible; have we talked about this?\u00a0 Number 1, Adam\u2019s sin has been transferred to us, Romans 5:12, we call that the doctrine of sin.\u00a0 [Romans 5:12, \u201cTherefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned\u2014\u201c]\u00a0 So I am guilty under Adam\u2019s sin.\u00a0 Now aren\u2019t you glad that\u2019s not the only transfer in the Bible.\n\nNumber 2, my sin has been transferred at the point of faith to who?\u00a0 Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:21, \u201cHe who knew no sin became\u201d what? \u201csin,\u201d it\u2019s not really saying He became a sinner, He became a sin-bearer, and I think I said that wrong, did I just say a second ago that it happens at the point of faith?\u00a0 I was wrong to say that, it doesn\u2019t happen at the point of faith, it happened when Jesus died on the cross.\u00a0 So it\u2019s already taken place and it\u2019s just there for people to receive.\u00a0 So we would call that Christology, the doctrine of Christ.\n\nThe third transfer in the Bible is at the point of faith Christ\u2019s righteousness is transferred to me, we call that soteriology, the doctrine of faith.\u00a0 A great verse on that is Philippians 3:9.\u00a0 [Philippians 3:9, \u201cand may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,\u201d]\u00a0 So if\u00a0 you are \u201cin Christ\u201d today, whether you feel like it or not, or acknowledge it or not, God the Father looks at\u00a0 you as if you are just as righteous as Jesus. Do you guys know that about yourself, that as God looks at you, you are just as righteous as His Son.\u00a0 And you say well, I certainly don\u2019t deserve that, and that\u2019s true, you don\u2019t, none of us do; it\u2019s given to us by grace, unmerited favor, and it\u2019s as a result of that third imputation.\n\nSo imputation number 1, Adam\u2019s sin transferred to me, Romans 5:12, I\u2019m guilty in Adam.\u00a0 Transfer number 2, the sins of the world are transferred to Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:21.\u00a0 We call that Christology.\u00a0 The third transfer, imputation number 3 is Christ\u2019s righteousness is transferred to me at the point of faith, Philippians 3:9.\u00a0 So if I were stuck on a desert island and I only had one verse they\u2019d let me take to the desert island, (these are weird things I think about) what verse would you pick?\u00a0 I would pick Philippians 3:9 because Philippians 3:9 explains Christianity better than any other verse, in my humble opinion.\u00a0 Paul says, \u201cand may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.\u201d\u00a0 So humanity is either standing before God in their own self-righteousness and lots of luck with that, or they\u2019re standing before God in His righteousness.\u00a0 You stand before God in your own righteousness by works; you stand before God in His righteousness by grace through faith.\u00a0 So pick your avenue.\u00a0 So therefore when we look at question number 8 the correct answer is A.\u00a0 So far so good. \u00a0See how easy this is.\n\nAnd questions 9 and 10 deal with a couple of false views of salvation.\u00a0 What does universalism teach?\u00a0 Everyone in the end will be saved; that would contradict a lot of verses, wouldn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Inclusivism teaches you\u2019re saved as long as you\u2019re a sincere seeker, so it really doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re a Muslim, Buddhist, whatever.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve gone through those and showed how both of them are not biblical.\u00a0 So the correct answer to number 9 would be A. Universalism, everyone in the end will be saved.\u00a0 And the correct answer to number 10 is B, all sincere seekers will be saved.\n\nOh boy, and then we get into this word \u201crepent.\u201d\u00a0 I like the title Dr. Randy White gives to one of his articles on this; he says we need to repent of our use of how we use the word repentance.\u00a0 That\u2019s sort of sums it up, doesn\u2019t it, because when people see the word \u201crepent\u201d they think that means some kind of emotion,\u00a0 you\u2019ve got to have some kind of emotion, not that emotions are necessarily wrong.\u00a0 Or\u00a0 you\u2019ve got to have some kind of contrition, you\u2019ve got feel really bad about yourself, or something like that.\u00a0 And that really is not what repentance means in the Bible.\u00a0 The Greek word is metanoe\u014d<\/em>, now you recognize the word meta<\/em> as in your cancer has metastasized, which means changed from one part of your body to another; metabolism, where we take food in and metabolism sort of changes it and sends it to the parts of our body that need those various food groups.\u00a0 Metamorphosis, you recognize that, where we get the word change. \u00a0And then noe\u014d<\/em> means what? mind, from the word noe\u014d<\/em> we get the word notion or idea that comes from the mind.\n\nSo repentance literally means to change your mind.\u00a0 It does not mean to feel sorry or guilty; feeling sorry or guilty could be the fruit of repentance but that\u2019s not the root of repentance.\u00a0 It could be the after effect of repentance but that\u2019s not really what repentance means because in Greek there\u2019s a totally different word to describe feeling sorry for yourself, or guilty, and that\u2019s metamelomai<\/em>, do you recognize that word melo<\/em>, we tell little kids that are hyper to mellow out, mellow is an emotion.\u00a0 So metamelomai<\/em> means feeling sorry.\u00a0 And if the biblical writers want to use emotion they could use that, there\u2019s a different word for that, but they don\u2019t when describing the one condition of salvation they use metanoe\u014d<\/em> and when held out to the unsaved and the unsaved are told to repent that becomes a synonym\u2026 now what\u2019s a synonym?\u00a0 Different word, same meaning, right.\u00a0 That becomes a synonym for what?\u00a0 Faith!\u00a0 So when a person believes in Christ he or she is simultaneously repenting at the same time because what has happened is they\u2019re changing their mind about what they\u2019re trusting in.\n\nSo when I became a Christian at the age of 16, I heard the gospel and I trusted in Christ, I believed and at the same time I repented simultaneously because I shift my confidence for my eternity away from myself and my own works to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 So as we\u2019ve presented it, metanoe\u014d<\/em> becomes a synonym for faith when held out to unbelievers.\u00a0 And if you don\u2019t get this straight you get very confused on this because we tell people to believe and repent today many times, to get saved.\u00a0 So we give them the impression that they\u2019ve got to do two things, and we don\u2019t sit and explain to them what repentance is so they think I\u2019ve got to believe and I\u2019ve got to feel really bad about myself.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got to believe and I\u2019ve got to start to cry, and that\u2019s not what the Bible conditions salvation on\u2014ever!\u00a0 It\u2019s never conditioned on emotion; it\u2019s always conditioned on trust in Jesus Christ.\n\nSo two hundred times the Bible tells unbelievers to believe in Christ and when they believe in Christ they simultaneously repent.\u00a0 So the gospel is believe AND repent; the gospel is believe and when you believe you have also automatically what?\u00a0 Repented.\u00a0 So the operative word the Bible uses is to believe.\u00a0 So unless in your evangelism you have time to explain to an unbeliever what repentance means my suggestion is you don\u2019t even use the word\u2026 unless you have time to unpack its meaning because what\u2019s going to happen is you\u2019re going to use the word \u201crepent\u201d and you\u2019re going to mean one thing by it and without adequate explanation they\u2019re going to interpret it differently; they\u2019re going to think it means don\u2019t smoke, don\u2019t chew, don\u2019t go with girls who do, get rid of my tattoo\u2026 that rhymed didn\u2019t it?\u00a0 I\u2019m a poet and I didn\u2019t know it!\n\nSo I would tell people to believe and if you have time to explain to them that believing also means repentance, it\u2019s included in the definition of believing, changing your mind, then you can use the word repent but if you don\u2019t unpack it for them you\u2019re going to end up preaching a works oriented gospel without even realizing it.\u00a0 So we want to make the gospel so crystal clear and easy that anybody can understand it.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what Randy White in his article, which you can Google online and find it, means when he talks about we need to repent of our use of how we use the word repentance.\u00a0\u00a0 So having said all that the correct answer to number 11 is what?\u00a0 B.\n\nNow 12-16, this is just basically\u2026 I\u2019m not making a value judgment about Calvinism I just wanted to see if you understood what Calvinism is.\u00a0 Calvinism is a really interesting system defined by the acronym TULIP, T stands for total depravity, U stands for unconditional election, L stands for limited atonement, I stands for irresistible grace, P stands for perseverance of the saints.\u00a0 So the correct answers for 12-15 is 12-B. 13-A. 14-C. 15-B. 16:D.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0And people ask me all the time, Andy, are you a Calvinist?\u00a0 And I always sort of bristle at that because what version of Calvinism are\u00a0 you talking about?\u00a0 If you\u2019ll allow me to define each of these terms I could probably end up being, maybe a four point Calvinist, the L, (Limited Atonement) which I\u2019ll explain in a minute, I think is unbiblical on its face.\u00a0 But the problem is when you go back to what is [can't understand word], where they define these original points they mean something very different than the way I use it.\u00a0 When they use the word \u201ctotal depravity\u201d they mean you can\u2019t even believe on your own, even if you\u2019re under the influence of the Spirit as a matter of conviction.\u00a0 So therefore God has to believe for you and they call faith a gift and they say regeneration does not follow faith but regeneration what?\u00a0 Precedes faith.\u00a0 Now if you want me to sign on to that for P I can\u2019t do that because that\u2019s not in the Bible.\u00a0 That\u2019s a case where a manmade philosophy is taking over the Bible.\n\nUnconditional election, I don\u2019t have too much of a problem with that one.\u00a0 L, Limited atonement, I have a big problem with that one, as I\u2019ll explain.\u00a0 Irresistible grace, basically what the Synod of Dort means by that is you\u2019re drawn to Christ irresistibly because God has already given you the gift of faith and your regeneration has already happened.\u00a0 Now if that\u2019s what you mean by it I have a big problem with that because John 16:12-13 talks about the Spirit\u2019s ministry to the unsaved, and one of the things\u2026 as a matter of fact let\u2019s just look at that for a moment, what does the Holy Spirit do in the unsaved?\u00a0 Jesus, in the Upper Room, saying I\u2019m going to leave and the Spirit is going to come and when He comes He\u2019s going to fulfill certain ministries and he starts to talk about what the Spirit does to the unsaved. \u00a0\u00a0John 16:12, \u201cI have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them<\/em> now. [13] But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; [for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.\u201d]\n\nI\u2019m sorry, I wanted verse 7, let\u2019s go back to verse 7, \u201cBut I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 8 is a key verse, \u201cAnd He, when He comes, will convict the world\u201d of what?\u00a0 \u201csin,\u201d now is \u201csin\u201d there singular or plural?\u00a0 It\u2019s singular, it\u2019s talking about one sin, \u201cconcerning sin and righteousness and judgment;\u201d now fortunately verse 9 goes on and verse 10 and verse 11 explains what each of those terms means.\u00a0 [9] \u201cconcerning sin,\u201d singular \u201cbecause they do not\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cbelieve in Me; [10] and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; [11] and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.\u201d\n\nThe Spirit of God is doing three things constantly in the life of the unbeliever.\u00a0 He\u2019s convicting them of a sin, which is what?\u00a0 Unbelief, which is the only sin that can send you into hell.\u00a0 He\u2019s not trying to fix them in terms of their profanity, or their gambling.\u00a0 Now once they get saved, believe me, the Spirit of God will start working on some of those other issues but that\u2019s not what the Spirit of God does to the unsaved;\u00a0 He works on them over and over, convicting them of a sin that they are committing against God which is unbelief.\u00a0 He convicts them of righteousness, in other words, they don\u2019t have it on their own, they need the what of Christ?\u00a0 The imputed righteousness of Christ.\u00a0 And He convicts them of the fact that this world is going down in judgment because Lucifer has already been condemned.\u00a0 So when you look at these verses it\u2019s very clear that the Spirit of God does not believe for people.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what the Synod of Dort is basically saying, that grace is irresistible because the Spirit of God comes into you and regenerates you\u00a0 before you even believe so you wake up one day irresistibly not drawn to Christ and Calvinism is a\u2026 what you have to understand about it is it is a system of logic.\n\nJohn Calvin, who developed many of these ideas as a very young man in his 20\u2019s, a brilliant man, a lawyer by the way, set up a logical syllogism and the logic is only good at it\u2019s starting point.\u00a0 So the starting point in the Calvinistic system is T, total depravity, and I agree with total depravity but not the way they define it.\u00a0 What they mean by it is you\u2019re like a rock, you have no responsiveness to God at all, even if the Spirit of God convicts you it wouldn\u2019t do any good.\u00a0 So they\u2019ve overblown the doctrine of T<\/u>otal depravity so therefore how do you become a Christian.\u00a0 Well, the U<\/u>, the L<\/u>, the I<\/u>, the P<\/u>, logically follow.\u00a0 God unconditionally elects you; God didn\u2019t die for the whole world, just for the elect; He irresistibly draws\u00a0 you to Himself because He regenerates\u00a0 you so that you can believe and then you always have to be persevering in good works.\n\nSo my problem with this is it\u2019s a great logical syllogism, I just don\u2019t find it taught exactly the way they\u2019re explaining it in the Bible.\u00a0 The Spirit of God does not regenerate people so that they can believe; we saw the verses.\u00a0 John 16:12-13, [John 16:12-13, \u201cI have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them<\/em> now. [13] But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.\u201d]\u00a0 The Spirit of God places men and women under conviction, constantly, and I don\u2019t think a person could ever get saved without that conviction.\u00a0 But once you\u2019re under that conviction whether you respond to that conviction or not is your call, and God is not going to override the decision that you make any more than you would want to be married to a person who doesn\u2019t want to be married to you.\u00a0 Have you ever gone through those breakups before you find your significant other; they are painful, aren\u2019t they?\u00a0 Have you ever gotten this speech from somebody, I got this one from a lady that broke up with me, praise God, so I met Anne after, she gave me this speech, well, I love you but I\u2019m not in love with you.\u00a0 Ever gotten that one?\u00a0 Or maybe you guys have given that to other people; maybe in your trail of this string of broken hearts, well, I\u2019m thinking to myself man, I\u2019m glad you told me that because I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d want to spend the rest of my life with somebody that I love that doesn\u2019t love me.\u00a0 See?\n\nSo this is how it is with the Lord; I mean, God has made\u00a0 you an image-bearer of Him, which means as an image-bearer\u00a0 you have free will.\u00a0 That\u2019s the most awesome thing we have as human beings is free will.\u00a0 So when God leads you to Himself He is not going to coerce\u00a0 you against your will.\u00a0 If He were to coerce\u00a0 you against your will He would be overriding how He created you.\u00a0 See that?\u00a0 And these ideas are lost in the Calvinistic system.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what they mean by irresistible grace.\n\nAnd then perseverance of the saints, what do they mean by that?\u00a0 Well, if you mean by that eternal security hey, I\u2019m on board with that, but that\u2019s typically not what they mean.\u00a0 What they mean is if you are really one of the elect who has been given the gift of faith, who has been regenerated so that you can believe and have been irresistibly drawn to Christ, there has to be fruit and a lot of it and if there\u2019s not physical, visible, tangible fruit in bucket loads in your life then you should second guess whether you\u2019re one of the elect who has ever received the gift of faith.\u00a0 And this is why when this doctrine takes hold in Calvinistic circles it leads to this almost ruthless fruit inspecting.\u00a0 You know, so and so didn\u2019t show up to Tuesday night prayer meeting, man, maybe they\u2019re not one of the elect.\u00a0 Did you hear about so and so?\u00a0 Their daughter got a tattoo\u2026 oooh, man, the Bible says you\u2019re supposed to raise up children to be godly, they may not be one of the elect.\u00a0 And the fact of the matter is I could show you many verses in the Bible of people that are saved, as a matter of fact we\u2019ll get to some in a minute, that had a lot of ups and downs in their Christian life.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 King David being one.\u00a0\u00a0 And there\u2019s no doubt that David is saved.\u00a0 So what I prefer is the expression, not perseverance of the saints but the preservation of the saints.\u00a0 God preserves us through the doctrine of eternal security which means that my salvation doesn\u2019t rest on my shoulders but on whose shoulders?\u00a0 God\u2019s!\u00a0 So if they want to define \u201cP\u201d as perseveration of the saints then I guess I\u2019m on board, but I\u2019m not really on board the way they\u2019re defining the perseverance of the saints.\u00a0 Are\u00a0 you following me?\n\nSo I started looking at these points of Calvinism and I started to see\u2026 well, I agree with that one but I\u2019ll tweak it a little bit, I agree with this other one but I\u2019ll tweak it a little bit, and finally I was doing so much tweaking that I really could no longer consistently consider myself a five point Calvinist.\u00a0 I was talked out of five point Calvinism at one point in my life, I became a four point Calvinist, and then later on in my Christian life I became a three and a half point Calvinist, and I kept getting bartered down, three point Calvinist.\u00a0 Now once I got to two points I\u2019m like saying well, why even call myself a Calvinist at all.\u00a0 I\u2019m a\u2026 not a Calvinist but a Biblicist, that\u2019s what I am.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t want to read the Bible through someone else\u2019s philosophical lens, particularly when their lens might be off.\n\nAnd so I have a great respect for what a Calvinistic heritage has accomplished but I\u2019m troubled by some of the points and I\u2019m particularly troubled by the lack of assurance advocates of Calvinism and Arminianism come to.\u00a0 Most of them steeped in these two systems, when they struggle in their Christian life with any issue they think they weren\u2019t one of the elect.\u00a0 Or they think if they go into Arminianism that they lost their salvation.\u00a0 And one of the things that I feel very strongly about, I\u2019ll give you some verses in a minute, is that one of the rights of the child of God is the assurance of salvation.\u00a0 That is your right in Jesus, He wants you to know that you\u2019re saved and He wants\u00a0 you to serve Him, not out of fear of your eternal destiny, which has already been taken care of because Jesus says \u201cIt is finished!\u201d\u00a0 You serve Him out of worship and so from a pastoral angle that\u2019s why I\u2019m sort of troubled by the dominance of Calvinism.\u00a0 Calvinism has taken off among the young people today; they call themselves the Neo-Calvinists or the New Calvinists and millennials are completely wrapped up in Calvinism.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why it\u2019s taken off in that age group the way it has but it\u2019s really something you need to be aware of.\n\nSo that takes us to number 17, part 2, match the concept with the scriptural address.\u00a0 Now we have limited atonement which is a Calvinistic teaching.\u00a0 Why would they believe in limited atonement?\u00a0 Because it\u2019s philosophical, they say Christ\u2019s blood can\u2019t be wasted so therefore Jesus didn\u2019t waste His blood on the unbelievers who weren\u2019t going to receive it anyway; He only shed His blood for the believers and so what they\u2019ll say with \u201cL\u201d is Christ only died for the elect.\u00a0 And there are certain verses that seem to hint at that, Matthew 20:28, \u201cjust as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.\u201d\u00a0 And they say aha, He didn\u2019t die for the whole world, He just died for the elect.\n\nThe strongest verse is John 10:15, \u201ceven as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.\u201d\u00a0 If\u00a0 you\u2019re talking to a Calvinist they love that one, see Jesus didn\u2019t die for everybody, He just died for the sheep.\n\nEphesians 5:25, \u201cHusbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,\u201d so they say aha, Jesus only gave Himself up for the church, He didn\u2019t give Himself up for the world.\u00a0 So therefore the verses they use for limited atonement would be all of the above.\u00a0 So the correct answer to number 17 is D.\n\nNow having said all that I completely disagree with how they\u2019re using these verses because does it read this way?\u00a0 John 10:15, \u201cEven as the Father knows me and I know the Father, I lay down my life for the sheep,\u201d does it say and only the sheep?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say that, does it.\u00a0 It\u2019s like saying this,\u00a0 you\u2019ve got two kids and you say to one kid wow, I\u2019m really proud of you, and I love you and the other kid says well, don\u2019t you love me?\u00a0 Aren\u2019t you proud of me?\u00a0 And you say to the second kid well I never said I wasn\u2019t proud of you, did I?\u00a0 I never said I didn\u2019t love you, right now I\u2019m just focusing on kid A.\u00a0 So we take statements that are focused in a particular direction and we take those as excluding somebody else, yet that\u2019s not the intent of the statement.\u00a0 Now if I were to say I loved kid A only that would be different, but I didn\u2019t say that.\u00a0 So that is how the Holy Spirit is using these verses.\n\nThat gets us into question number 18, what are the verses for unlimited atonement?\u00a0 John 3:16, For God so loved the elect that He gave His only begotten Son\u2026.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say that does it.\u00a0 \u201cFor God so loved the world,\u201d He gave Himself for the world.\u00a0 [John 3:16, \u201cFor God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.\u201d]\n\nHebrews 2:9 says that \u201cChrist might taste death for\u201d the elect.\u00a0 No, \u201ceveryone.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 2:9, \u201cBut we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.\u201d\n\nAnd the killer, and they really, when you look at Calvinist commentaries they really trip all over themselves trying to explain this one away, 1 John 2:2, \u201cand He Himself is the propitiation for our sins;\u201d us apostles, \u201cand not for ours only,\u201d did you see that?\u00a0 \u201cand not ours only\u201d\u00a0 one more time, \u201cand not ours only but also for the sins of the\u201d North American Continent, it doesn\u2019t even say world, it says \u201cthe whole world.\u201d\u00a0 How do you explain that away?\u00a0 I mean only if you want to read the Bible through a philosophical lens can you rewrite that one.\n\nSo the bottom line is we do not believe in limited atonement, we believe in un<\/u>limited atonement; because of what Jesus did on the cross the whole world as I speak today is savable.\u00a0 Every person that is living on planet earth today is savable because of what Jesus did.\u00a0 Now whether they get saved or not depends upon whether they respond to the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit by believing in the provision.\u00a0 But the whole planet is savable.\u00a0 And when we were in this section, you might remember, I put up the quote from Jay Adams, I have a lot of respect for Jay Adams because he was a pretty big figure in the restoration of biblical counseling to the church, but he was also an adherent of five point Calvinism and he wrote a book called Competent to Counsel<\/em>, and it\u2019s a direct quote in the book.\u00a0 He says you know when I counsel people and I don\u2019t know whether they\u2019re a Christian or not I never tell them \u201cChrist died for you.\u201d\u00a0 Why don\u2019t you tell them Christ died for\u00a0 you?\u00a0 Because I\u2019m not sure if they\u2019re one of the elect, because the blood of Christ only covers the elect.\n\nNow how is that for counseling?\u00a0 I mean, isn\u2019t that the greatest counseling you could ever give somebody, that Jesus \u201cdied for you,\u201d that Jesus, when He died on that cross was thinking about you because He loves you so much.\u00a0 And here is this world renown counsellor holding that back from people because he is wrapped up in this philosophical system called five point Calvinism.\n\nYou might look at some of these ideas as arcane and this is just a bunch of gobblety-gook, but it relates to how you actually share the gospel.\u00a0 You ought to get in front of people and\u00a0 you ought to tell them with total confidence that Jesus died on the cross for you 2,000 years ago.\u00a0 You don\u2019t even have to know whether they\u2019re going to respond to the gospel or not because the world is savable.\u00a0 So the correct answer to number 18 would be what?\u00a0\u00a0 D, which is all of the above.\u00a0 So far so good.\n\nAnd then we come to number 19 which is testing your knowledge of adoption, which is a result of salvation, right?\u00a0 When you get saved instantaneously you are adopted into the family of God.\u00a0 \u201cIf a son then an\u201d what? \u201can heir.\u201d\u00a0 I mean, would\u00a0 you rather be\u2026 I don\u2019t know who Bill Gates kids are, Bill Gates who invented Microsoft, right, he\u2019s rich, it made him a lot of money, he\u2019s a gazillion millionaire, a pretty liberal guy, by the way, he\u2019s the guy behind Common Core but we won\u2019t get into that.\n\nWould you want to be Bill Gates CEO?\u00a0 Think about how much money you would make as CEO and the benefits you would get?\u00a0 Or would you rather be Bill Gates son?\u00a0 I\u2019d rather be the son because I could just sit on the stock the rest of my life and never have to work again and I could\u2026 you know, give my whole life to the ministry, right?\u00a0\u00a0 You know, when you are a son you are an heir of God, and that\u2019s your status as a child of God.\u00a0 The verse that communicates that very well is (A) Galatians 4:5-7, \u201c[so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. [6] Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, \u201cAbba! Father!\u201d\u2019] \u00a0[7] \u201cTherefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God\u201d\n\nNow you go before God in your prayer life and have a warm theology, gee Lord, it\u2019s just little ole me down here, could you condescend to listen to my shaky voice\u2026 I mean, is that how a parent responds to their children?\u00a0 A parent can\u2019t wait to hear from their children and so God is the same way with us, He can\u2019t wait to hear from us, because you\u2019re not some kind of groveling slave working in the yard or in the kitchen.\u00a0 I mean,\u00a0 you\u2019re an heir to the whole estate.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the significance of adoption.\u00a0 So the correct answer would be Galatians 4:5-7.\n\nAnd then that takes us into question 20 where we\u2019re back to regeneration.\u00a0 Regeneration is the impartation of divine life.\u00a0 What verses would you pick for regeneration?\u00a0 Certainly not Galatians 4 because that covers what we just talked about which is what?\u00a0 Adoption.\u00a0 Regeneration is the impartation of divine life.\u00a0 The key verse on it is John3:5, \u201c[Jesus answered, \u2018Truly, truly, I say to you,] unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.\u201d\u2019\u00a0 That\u2019s a great verse, that\u2019s what the whole conversation with Nicodemus is about, it\u2019s a chapter I like to call Nic at night.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that cool, Jesus is talking to Nic at night and He\u2019s talking to him about regeneration.\n\nAnd then another great verse on it is Titus 3:5, \u201cHe saved us \u2026 by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, [\u201cHe saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,\u201d Titus 3:5]\u00a0 By the way, this is why I said Genesis, do you know what the Greek word is for regeneration?\u00a0 Palin genesia<\/em>, palin<\/em> means again, you recognize the word genesia,<\/em> what book of the Bible\u2026 Genesis, the book of beginnings.\u00a0 So regeneration literally means birth or beginning again.\u00a0 See, you\u2019ve already been physically born into the world; regeneration is the date of your what?\u00a0 What kind of birth?\u00a0 Spiritual birth.\u00a0 Does regeneration precede faith?\u00a0 No, it\u2019s the result of salvation rather than the cause of salvation.\n\nIn fact, notice John 1:12, this is one of the verses Pastor Jim used yesterday when he was sharing the gospel at the Ladies\u2019 Luncheon.\u00a0 Notice the order here, \u201cBut as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, [13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.\u201d\u00a0 Now notice it\u2019s talking about regeneration there but he only gives it to \u201cas many as\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026received Him.\u201d\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t regenerate your first so you can believe; that idea is a philosophy that you don\u2019t find in biblical teaching.\n\nWhat we teach is it is the result of salvation, not the cause.\u00a0 And I used to think we\u2019ve got the Presbyterian Christians over there, and the Methodist Christians over there and the Baptist Christians over there, oh, and then there\u2019s the born again Christians.\u00a0 So I\u00a0 used to look at born again Christian as just one of many denominations.\u00a0 The reality of the situation is there\u2019s only one type of Christian, the what Christian?\u00a0 The born again Christian.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t been born again you\u2019re not a Christian, right?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter where you go to church, you could be a Metho-Catho-Bapterion or a Bapte-costal-fundamatic, whatever your denominational loyalty is that\u2019s not the issue.\u00a0 The issue is have you been regenerated, have you been born spiritually.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t been born spiritually then you\u2019re not a child of God.\u00a0 So that\u2019s the significance of regeneration.\n\nCan I just throw this also at you?\u00a0 The word \u201cregeneration\u201d is used only two times, Pauline genesia <\/em>in the Greek New Testament.\u00a0 It\u2019s used in Titus 2:5 which we\u2019ve already talked about.\u00a0 [Titus 3:5, \u201cHe saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.\u201d]\u00a0 But it\u2019s also used in Matthew 19:28 in a different context to talk about the millennial kingdom. \u00a0Take a look at Matthew 19:28, \u201c\u2018And Jesus said to them, \u2018Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration\u201d that\u2019s palingenesia<\/em> \u201cwhen the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.\u2019\u201d\n\nNotice regeneration is used to describe the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 Now let me ask you a question: what comes first, the return of Jesus or the millennial kingdom?\u00a0 The return of Christ comes first, right, because we\u2019re what kind of millennialists?\u00a0 Not panmillennialists, it\u2019s all going to pan out in the end, we\u2019re premillennialists; Jesus comes first and then the regeneration of all things follows.\u00a0 If I were to put the millennial kingdom before the return of Christ I would be an amillennialist.\u00a0 See that, because a lot of people are that way, they think we\u2019re in the kingdom now and we\u2019re setting it all up for Christ and when He comes back we\u2019re just going to turn the keys over to Him and say Jesus, have a great time governing the world that we set up for You.\u00a0 How are you doing with that, by the way, if that\u2019s your theology.\u00a0\u00a0 They don\u2019t look at the internet or the newspaper ever.\u00a0 So you see what regeneration is doing?\u00a0 First Christ comes and then the kingdom follows.\n\nNow follow that same word into soteriology; I just used it in eschatology, follow it into soteriology. \u00a0First Jesus comes into your life when you what?\u00a0 Believe, and then what follows is what?\u00a0 regeneration.\u00a0 So both eschatologically and soteriologically regeneration is a result of the coming of Christ; it is not the cause of the coming of Christ.\u00a0 Are you with me on that? \u00a0\u00a0If I were to teach it\u2019s the cause of your belief then I would have to be reading the Bible, not through a biblical lens but through a philosophical lens.\n\nWell, that\u2019s an even number so we\u2019ll stop at question 20.\u00a0 I hope you\u2019re enjoying this and we\u2019ll do the rest of the questions next time.\u00a0 You all have any thoughts, comments, questions, anything like that.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t