Let me just make myself very clear that we are not a Calvinist church, okay?
We reject all five points of Calvinism.
We don't believe in predestination or election or any of these doctrines that they teach.
And in fact, many of them have contacted me and said, hey, I went on your website and
you said you reject all five points of Calvinism.
I caught you, you know, kind of thing.
And it's just like, yeah, but I'm an independent fundamental Baptist.
I'm not a Calvinist, you know, because there are Baptists out there that claim that they
are Reformed Baptists.
They'll claim, you know, they believe in Reformed theology, but they're Baptists as well.
Well, we're not one of them, okay?
And we're very open about that.
Now, let me preface everything I'm about to teach right now by saying, first and foremost,
let me go over this introduction.
Let me say that there are certain doctrines that Calvinists teach that are actually right.
There are certain things that they actually believe that are right.
And the reason I want to make that statement is because, you know, sometimes we're accused
of just being so one-sided and, oh, you guys think you're just always right, there's no
one else who's right.
No, actually, the truth is, is that we love the truth.
We love the truth.
We embrace the truth.
So we actually have no problem with looking at another religious group, another denomination.
And if they have something right, we have no problem with saying they're actually right
about that.
Whereas a lot of the independent fundamental Baptists of old, they'll just throw out the
baby with the bathwater and say they're just all completely wrong.
And it kind of skews their integrity because people look at it and say, well, they're actually
right about this, but you're just not willing to admit that.
No, I'm willing to admit that there's some things that the Reformed Theologists actually
believe that are correct, certain things that the Calvinists teach that are actually correct.
And I'm going to give you some of those right now, okay?
What are some of the things that Calvinists believe and teach that are actually right?
Well, number one, covenant theology is actually right.
Now you're like, what is that?
Well, we would teach, we wouldn't say, we wouldn't call it covenant theology, we call
it replacement theology, which is the teaching that believers have replaced the Jews and
the nation of Israel as being God's chosen people.
They're actually right about that.
They believe that.
Now, the reason they call it covenant theology and not replacement theology is over some
little nuances, you know, but at the end of the day, when you look at how they describe
covenant theology to be, it's exactly what we believe.
Because they'll say, well, we call it covenant theology because of the fact that, you know,
the Jews were the branch that were broken off and we're the branches that were grafted
in.
And to that I say, amen.
That's absolutely true.
You're absolutely right about that.
You can read that in Romans chapter 11.
We see that in Ephesians chapter two, that of twain, one new man was made.
We were grafted in.
We became fellow citizens of Israel, according to the Bible, according to Ephesians chapter
two.
So they're right about that.
The difference is this, is that we have a tendency to emphasize the fact that they were
actually replaced because Jesus said that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you
and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof.
So yeah, we were integrated into the vine, which is Jesus Christ, therefore we're partakers
of that promise.
But more accurately, it would be to say they were actually replaced because the Bible actually
says in Romans chapter two, verse 28, for he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither
is that circumcision outward in the flesh made of hands, but he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly.
So circumcision is that of the heart and of the spirit and not of the letter, whose praise
is not a man, but of God, right?
And in fact, I remember years ago when I first started reading my Bible, I came across Romans
chapter two and I saw that and obviously I was going to a dispensational church, a mild
dispensational church.
And I remember reading, I'm like, oh, okay, that means we're the Jews then.
You know, I just kind of threw that out there and I was like, I guess we're the Jews.
And I remember we had a Calvinist who used to go to our church and we were out sowing
one time, which shows that some Calvinists actually go sowing.
And I remember him telling me, hey, Bruce, did you know that we're actually the real
Jews?
And I remember now that I look back at it, I think he was trying to like test the waters
a little bit, but my reaction was just like, oh yeah, Romans two, I just read that.
And he's just like, yeah, exactly.
So we found common ground and I was thinking to myself, what's the big deal?
But then later on, of course, I found out the reason why it was a big deal is because
independent fundamental Baptists believe that the Jews are God's chosen people.
And it's almost like blasphemous to say that they're not, okay?
They hold that up there with like the doctrines of Christ, okay?
But replacement theology, covenant theology, we agree with them and they're actually right
about it.
Now, are there little nuances that are different?
Yeah, they might refer to believers as the church.
We don't necessarily use that term because the Bible talks about churches.
I think it's more accurate to say that all believers have replaced Israel.
All believers are part of that new covenant, those who have believed in Christ, okay?
And so they're right about covenant theology.
I love that doctrine.
Replacement theology is biblical.
It's found throughout the scriptures.
You can read Hebrews chapter eight, Galatians three, Galatians four, Romans two, Romans
11, Romans chapter 10.
I mean, it's found throughout the word of God that Jews are no longer God's chosen people.
The Bible actually says, but ye are a chosen generation, referring to those in Cappadocia,
Bithynia, Galatia, Pontius, right?
It says, ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people,
that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light.
And who's he talking to?
Not Galatians, or yeah, Galatians, but he's referring to Gentile believers.
And that's a statement that's taken from Deuteronomy when he's talking to the Jews, talking about
being a chosen people, that's reiterated in First Peter to Gentile believers.
So that's an easy one right there, but they're right about that.
And so we agree about that.