🎵Music🎵
Great singing this morning. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for Steadfast Baptist Church, and thank you for the honor and privilege to come to church and to sing praises to your name. I pray that you would bless Pastor Shelley as he's preaching at Faithful Word this morning. Bring him home safely to us and bless this service. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right, song number 43, we're marching to Zion. Song 43, we're marching to Zion. Song 43, we're marching to Zion.
Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with speed of chord. Join in a song with speed of chord. And thus around the throne and thus around the throne.
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
Let those refused to sing who never knew are God. But children of the heavenly King, but children of the heavenly King, may speak their joys abroad, may speak their joys abroad.
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred streets. Before we reach the heavenly fields, before we reach the heavenly fields, or walk the golden streets, or walk the golden streets.
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
Let our songs abound and every tear be dry. We're marching through Emmanuel's ground, we're marching through Emmanuel's ground. To fairer worlds on high, to fairer worlds on high.
We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God.
Great singing at this time. We're going to go through our bulletins. If you don't have a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand and an usher will bring you one.
We have there our Bible memory passage on the front there. If you're 18 years or younger, you can quote this to myself, Pastor Shelley, or an usher, you'll get an ice cream after the Wednesday evening service.
And like I was praying after our first song, Pastor Shelley this morning is preaching at Faithful Word Baptist Church. Make sure to check out his sermon if you can, if you're on their email list.
I think there's a rumble going now that's going to have Pastor Anderson's channel on there, so hopefully it'll be easier to find the content of Faithful Word.
I think also if you just go to thepreaching.com, you can find that sermon as well there.
We have our service times on the left there, our church-wide soul winning times, which those meet at the building here and are led by Pastor Shelley.
And then our regional soul winning times, led by a variety of people in all sorts of different areas of the DFW.
So anywhere you live in DFW, there's probably a soul winning time that's pretty close to you. So get with those respective leaders if you'd like to attend one of those.
Make sure to please turn in your soul winning maps to the bin at the front of the church over there.
If it's complete, put it in the completed bin. If you went in the van, put it in the van bin. Otherwise, put it in the single bin. That's how that system works.
We have there our July stats and our year-to-date stats for salvation and baptisms.
Also, we have our prayer on the right. Please be in prayer for our expecting ladies there.
Our prayer list is definitely full, so there's lots to pray for there for sure.
Also, our weekly prayer list, and just remember if you'd like to keep your prayer request in the bulletin every week, please send an email weekly to me just so I know that you still want that on the bulletin.
The only other time, I mean, sometimes people just say, hey, please keep this on till X date, and that's fine too.
But otherwise, please just send that in weekly.
One pretty serious prayer that we have on there is for the Rudari family at Verdi Baptist Church. There is an update on that.
Unfortunately, the baby has been diagnosed with leukemia and is going to be receiving chemotherapy for weeks and weeks and weeks.
So that is an extremely serious situation. Please definitely be praying for them fervently and faithfully.
We have our upcoming events. This upcoming Wednesday, July 12th, we're having Pastor Steven Anderson preaching for us.
We're very excited for that. Invite your family and friends. That's going to be a great time.
We're hoping to pack this place out and support Pastor Anderson.
Also, August 17th through 19th is our Mighty Men's Conference.
There is a sign-up sheet on the front over there if you plan on going.
I know some people from other churches are going to be attending this as well, so we're definitely looking forward to that.
Hopefully, we don't have to drink warm Cokes if we have a men's competition. That sounds awful.
Also, October 12th through the 15th, we have a Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship here at Steadfast Baptist Church.
We're definitely looking forward to that.
Also, just take a look at those church reminders. Familiarize yourself with them.
The only one that's kind of news, our church has a quiet time between 2 and 4 every Sunday, so usually half the auditorium is dimmed.
That way families with young children can have their kids nap, so you just want to treat that time like you're in a library basically during that time.
If you want to party, there's parks around and stuff like that, but that is supposed to be a quiet time.
With that, we'll go ahead and go to our third song, Psalm 148 in your white handouts.
Song 148.
Praise ye the Lord, praise ye the Lord from the heavens.
Praise him in the heights, praise ye him.
All his angels praise him, all his hosts praise him.
Sun and moon praise him, all his stars of light, praise him ye heavens of heavens.
Any waters that he above the heavens, let them praise the name of the Lord.
For he commanded and they were created, he hath also established them forever and ever.
Ye have made a decree which shall not pass, praise the Lord from the earth ye.
Dragons and all deep fire and hail snow and vapor, stormy wind fulfilling his word mountains.
And all hills fruitful trees and all cedars feast.
And all cattle creeping pigs and flying fowl, kings of the earth and all evil princes and all judges of the earth.
Both young men and maidens, old men and children, let them praise the name of the Lord.
For his name alone is excellent, his glory is above the earth and heaven he also exalted the horn.
Of his people the praise of all his saints, enough the children of Israel, of people near unto him praise ye the Lord.
Great singing.
As the offering plates are being passed around, please turn your Bibles to Jude.
Jude, book of Jude.
And the book of Jude, the Bible reads, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father
and preserved in Jesus Christ and called mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied.
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believe not.
And the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness under the judgment of the great day.
Even a Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities.
Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
But these speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally as brute beasts in those things they corrupt themselves.
Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Corey.
These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots,
raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed
and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts, and their mouths speak at great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life,
and of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.
To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Father in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for our church, and I pray that you fill Brother Dylan Oz with the Holy Spirit now and just enable him to preach his sermon with boldness
and give him clarity of mind as he delivers the message to us, Lord, and help us to listen carefully, Lord, and apply the message to our lives so that we can be more complete Christians.
We love you, and it is in Jesus' name that I pray. Amen.
Amen.
All right. Well, first, thank you to Pastor Shelley for allowing me to preach this morning. It is an honor and privilege to preach to you guys.
We are here in the book of Jude, and let's go ahead and read again in Jude verse number 3 where it says,
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
You know, God teaches that it's very important for us to contend for the faith of Jesus Christ, that God cares about what we believe.
God cares about the doctrine that a church teaches.
So it's always important for a church to be shoring up good doctrine and preaching against bad doctrine that we could earnestly contend for the faith.
And this morning, my sermon title is Tulip Debunked. Tulip Debunked.
This is an acronym used by people that call themselves Calvinists to basically describe what Reformed theology believers hold to as far as doctrine, what people who believe in Tulip actually believe.
So I want to go through each of these letters of this acronym, Tulip, and debunk false teachings that's held by many people in our community and many people in America.
Many churches in our country would fall under a Reformed type theology and believe in this acronym, Tulip.
And so this morning is going to be kind of a little bit of a Bible study. We're going to be reading a lot of quotes.
I want to make sure that I'm not, you know, just creating any straw men here of what they believe.
So I'm going to just take their own quotes and show you exactly what they believe, and then show what the Bible actually teaches.
So most of the quotes I'm going to be reading from this morning is from a guy named R.C. Sproul, or Sproul, however you say his last name.
Do you guys know who I'm talking about, R.C. Sproul? Have you ever heard of this guy?
This guy's a very famous Calvinist. He runs Ligonier Ministries, and basically he gives a summary of what Reformed theology is.
And this is his summary of what Reformed theology is.
He says, the next point we make by way of negation is that Reformed theology is not anthropocentric.
Now already you're getting the idea of what Calvinists are like. They're really haughty.
They like to use great swelling words of vanity because they're not really interested in reaching the common man with the word of God.
They're interested just having their own little intellectual clubs, making themselves feel really smart, patting each other on the back.
And so they use words like this, anthropocentric.
So he says, Reformed theology is not anthropocentric. That is to say, Reformed theology is not centered on human beings.
The central focal point of Reformed theology is God, and it's the doctrine of God that permeates the whole of the substance of Reformed thought.
Thus, Reformed theology, by way of affirmation, can be called theocentric.
So let me just summarize what he said here. He's saying, when it comes to Reformed theology, here's what we believe.
We don't believe in a man-centered theology. We believe in a God-centered theology.
But right off the bat, I find that pretty funny considering that they're not King James only.
So what does that mean? They're original manuscript only, which at the end of the day, who's the authority when you believe in original manuscript only is a man is.
So actually they are a man-centered ideology. They are a man-centered doctrine.
And they don't actually get their beliefs from the word of God. They get it from preachers of the past that injected their false ideology into the text.
So right off the bat, I just find it hilarious that that's his summary of Reformed theology.
But number one, T in TULIP stands for total depravity.
And this guy R.C. Sproul, he gives his summary of what total depravity means.
And try to stay with me as I read these explanations this morning.
He says, virtually every church historically that has a creed or a confession has agreed that something very serious happened to the human race as a result of the first sin.
That first sin resulted in original sin. That is, as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve, the entire human race fell.
And our nature as human beings since the fall has been influenced by the power of evil.
As David declared in the Old Testament, and I'm going to insert the King James here. He doesn't use the King James.
In Psalm 51 5, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
He was not saying that it was sinful for his mother to have born children. Neither was he saying that he had done something evil by being born.
Rather, he was acknowledging the human condition of fallenness, that condition that was part of the experience of his parents, a condition that he himself brought into this world.
Therefore, original sin has to do with the fallen nature of mankind. Now, this is the important statement in this.
He says the idea is that we are not sinners because we sin, but that we sin because we are sinners.
Now, that's pretty semantic, and they like to use word games like this, but he's basically saying you're not a sinner by virtue of the fact that you've sinned.
Rather, you sin by virtue of the fact that you are a sinner. Now, here's the thing. Like most lies, there's some truth mixed in, right?
And let me just start off the bat of where I agree with him on this statement is that, of course, the general condition of mankind is sinful.
Everyone believes that. That's obvious, right? Of course, the general condition of mankind is sinful.
Go to Romans chapter 3, and I'll read for you. Jeremiah 17, 9 says this.
The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?
So that's a pretty extreme statement that the Bible is making, right? Saying, hey, your heart is desperately wicked.
It's deceitful above all things. Who can know it? Right? Man's heart is wicked. Man's heart is deceitful.
We've been going through Romans. You're turning to Romans 3. Let me read for you one more verse.
He quoted Psalm 51 5 where it says, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.
You have to keep in mind that this is a song. This is a song.
And oftentimes in the Psalms, hyperbole is used, meaning exaggeration.
Same thing with the Book of Job or Job saying like, man, I'm just praying that the day in which my mom conceived me could be blotted out.
That's not possible. Right. But he's being hyperbolic.
He's being exaggerative to just explain the level of despair that he's feeling in his heart.
And David is feeling like such a sinner, like such a horrible person for his sins that he's committed.
And he's saying, man, I was just shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.
This doesn't mean that when David came out of the womb, he was breaking God's commandments.
That's not what the Bible teaches. Romans Chapter three. We went through this recently.
Look at verse nine. It says, What then? Are they are we better than they?
No, in no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin.
And listen to the language that the Bible gives describing mankind. It's not pretty.
As it is written, there's none righteous. No, not one. There is none that understand it.
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher with their tongues.
They've used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways.
And the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.
It doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile.
The Bible is very clear that the default condition of mankind, of course, is sinful and very sinful at that.
I mean, that doesn't, God's not pulling any punches there. I mean, he's saying that mankind is very wicked.
That is true. You know, there's kind of a modern way of thinking that says, like, all people are basically good.
And they kind of have to be coached to do bad. That's not true. That's not what the Bible teaches.
All people are default bad. Kids have to be taught to tell the truth because they'll naturally lie.
Kids have to be taught not to steal because they will naturally steal. Right?
Mankind naturally wants to break God's commandments, and we have to subject our flesh. We have to obey God's commandments in order to not sin.
Now, where did sin come from? Flip over to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter number 5.
The Bible tells us how we got our sin nature in Romans chapter 5, verse 12. It says,
Wherefore, as by one man, who's that? Adam. Sin entered into the world, and death by sin.
And so death passed upon all men. Why? For that all have sinned.
Why is it that death passes upon you? It's because you've sinned. But has death passed upon you before you sinned?
No. Absolutely not. Here's another, let me just rephrase his quote here or repeat his quote.
He said, Therefore, original sin has to do with the fallen nature of mankind.
The idea is that we are not sinners because we sin, but that we sin because we are sinners.
Now, of course, it is true that man's sin nature is passed from Adam, but that does not mean that we're sinners out of the womb.
It doesn't mean that we've broken God's commandments just when we're born by virtue of being born.
You know, a baby, a child that comes out of the womb is not sinful. It's not fallen.
It's not in the condition of death spiritually. It's just it hasn't sinned yet.
Now, because this logic of saying that you're just a sinner right away, you know, as soon as you're born, you're sinner, it leads one to ask, well, what about babies?
What about if a baby dies? Would a baby go to heaven or would a baby go to hell?
Now, I did some research on this, and I've never heard this quote that I'm about to read you, but this was absolutely shocking to me.
And who has heard of Jonathan Edwards? In school, a lot of us probably learned about this guy.
You know, we were taught that this guy just led a great revival in America.
He wrote this, you know, doctrinal treatise that's several hundred pages long called The Miscellaneous.
And in this Miscellaneous, he has part N, and the title is Damnation of Infants.
Damnation of Infants. So I'm not using a straw man this morning.
This is what Calvinists believe, if they were honest, okay? Pay attention to what he said. Jonathan Edwards said this.
He says, one of these two things are certainly true, and self-evidently so, either that it is most just,
exceeding just, that God should take the soul of a newborn infant and cast it into eternal torments,
or else that those infants that are saved are not saved by the death of Christ.
For none are saved by the death of Christ from damnation that have not deserved damnation.
Wherefore, if it be very just, it is but a foolish piece of nonsense to cry out it as blasphemous to suppose that it ever is just,
because they say it is contrary to his mercy. So here's what he's saying. He's saying you have two options.
One of these things is true. Either babies go to hell and God is just in damning their soul to hell when they die,
or babies are saved but they're not saved by the death of Christ.
Because obviously a baby can't put their faith in Jesus Christ, a baby can't understand the gospel,
a baby can't call upon the name of the Lord. So Jonathan Edwards is saying, hey, one of two is true.
Either God is justly sending these babies to hell, or they're somehow saved by another means of salvation.
Now, can you be saved by any other way than Jesus Christ? No, absolutely not. Let's go on and see what he says.
He says, now such I ask whether it is contrary to his mercy to inflict punishment upon any according to their desserts,
and whether it was contrary to God's mercy to damn the fallen angels.
There was no mercy showed to them at all. And why is it blasphemous to suppose that God should inflict upon infants so much as they have deserved,
without mercy as well as upon them? If you say they have not deserved it so much, I answer,
they certainly have deserved what they have deserved as much as the fallen angels. Wow.
So he's saying, oh, you have all these scoffers saying babies don't deserve to go to hell, and he's saying, yeah, they do deserve it.
Wow. What a perverted, sick mind. And this is what Calvinism teaches.
This perverted teaching that, you know, men are just so totally depraved that even an infant, if it dies in its infancy,
God is just in damning that baby to hell. That's not the God of the Bible. That is a different God.
That is a sick, perverted, twisted God. And anyone that believes that is a sick person. It's disgusting.
Go to John, or I'm sorry, go to Romans chapter number seven.
What is sin? Because if we're going to ask, are babies sinners? Can babies be sinful? Well, what even is sin?
Let me read for you 1 John 3, 4. It says this.
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law.
Can a baby sin? Well, can a baby break God's commandments? Can a baby lie? No.
Babies just drinking milk and just cooing and doing nothing. It's not sinning. It's not stealing. It's not blaspheming.
It's not committing fornication. It's not committing any sin. It's a baby.
And so by virtue of the definition of what sin is, a baby cannot sin. A baby cannot transgress God's law.
Now, you're in Romans chapter seven. Let's read verse five. It says, for when we were in the flesh, this is a reference to being unsaved,
the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
But now we are delivered from the law. So once we're saved, we're not under the dominion of the law,
because in Romans chapter seven, he's using this analogy of a woman that's married to a husband,
how when her husband's alive, her husband has dominion over her, and even according to the law, her husband has dominion over her.
But as soon as the husband's dead, she's loosed from that law and the husband no longer has dominion over her.
Same thing with salvation. Before we're saved, the law has dominion over us. It has us captive. It's bringing forth death.
We are subject to the law of God. But as soon as we're saved, we're no longer under that dominion.
Why? Because grace is always going to cover our sin.
Now, let's keep reading. It says that being dead, wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
So he's saying, look, we were dead. The law did have dominion over us, but now it doesn't.
So what we should do is we should serve God with our spirit. We're not going to be like the Mormons saying,
hey, let's follow God's laws, because if we don't, we're going to go to hell.
Rather, we should want to follow God's laws because we love him and we want to serve him in our spirits.
What shall we say then? So this is leading to a question in Paul's mind. He's going to answer a question that a scoffer would say.
Is the law sin? He's saying, look, if the law is what brought dominion over us and if the law is what brought death to us,
does that mean that the law is bad? Does that mean that the law is sinful? What does he say?
God forbid. Notice this. He says, nay, I had not known sin, but by the law.
How is it that you know sin? You have to know the law of God.
So can a baby know the law of God? Absolutely not. The baby doesn't even know it's ABCs.
The baby doesn't even speak English. Of course, the baby does not know the law of God.
For I had not known lust, except that the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
But sin, and I love the personification in the King James Bible is beautiful,
but sin, taking occasion by the commandment, rod in me all manner of concupiscence.
For without the law, sin was dead. Notice this in verse nine.
It says, For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
Notice that Paul said that he was alive once. In order for that statement to be true,
there had to have been a point in Paul's life where he was sinless. And what time is that?
When you're a baby. When you are a child. You are not dead. You are alive.
Why? Because you're without the law. For I was alive without the law once,
but when the commandment came, when he got the law of God, when he understood the law of God,
when he received the law of God, what happened? Sin revived and I died.
And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceive me and by it slew me.
So Jonathan Edwards says there's two options. Either babies go to hell and it's just that that happens,
which is what he believes, or he says babies are saved, but they're saved by a different means of salvation.
Neither of those is true because babies are neither damned nor are they saved.
Because in order to be saved, you need to be saved from something.
And us, we have to be saved from our sin. We have to be saved from the punishment of our sin, which is hell.
But what if you have no sin? You have nothing to be saved from.
They're just, they're born in a state in which they are not fallen, and if they die in that state, they will go to heaven.
You know, people use this term, it's called the age of accountability.
People use that. And that's not a phrase that's, you know, specifically found in your Bible or anything like that.
But I believe that that is a true thing, that there comes an age in a child's life where, okay, they can understand right and wrong.
They can understand God's laws. They can understand that they've broken those laws.
And at that point, a child needs to believe on Christ and get saved.
They need to receive the gift of eternal life and get saved from their sin.
But before that time, no child is going to hell. No baby is going to hell.
Go to 2 Samuel chapter number 12, 2 Samuel chapter number 12.
And in 2 Samuel chapter number 12, in this context, King David's child had just died.
He was fasting for the child, trying to get God to have mercy on him, and for the child not to die, but the child did die.
Notice what the Bible says in verse 22.
He says, and he said, while the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live?
But now he is dead. Wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again?
Notice this. He says, I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
What's the implication here?
David's saying, I'm saved, and when I die, I'm going to go to my child in heaven.
I'm going to be reunited with my son in heaven.
He's not coming back to me. He's dead. He is in heaven.
But David will see his son in heaven.
And that's a great comfort, because there's many people in this world that lose children.
Either by miscarriage, or a tragic accident when the child is young, or health problems.
But praise God that we can take comfort that God is a loving and a just God, and is never going to send a baby to hell.
The baby will always be in heaven, and that is something we can look forward to.
And Calvinism, right off the bat, you can see is a perverted ideology that would teach that a baby is just and going to hell.
And a lot of them will lie and not want to face that fact, but if they're honest, that is what they believe.
They do believe that babies could go to hell.
So we talked about T in TULIP, total depravity. What's the U? It's unconditional election.
Go to Romans chapter number 4. Unconditional election.
Now, I'm going to read for you R.C. Sproul, his, basically, summary of what unconditional election is.
He said, the reformed view of election known as unconditional election means that God does not foresee an action or condition on our part that induces him to save us.
Rather, election rests on God's sovereign decision to save whomever he is pleased to save.
So he's basically just saying that God is just picking and choosing whoever is going to get saved.
Unconditional election is another term that I think can be a bit misleading.
So I prefer to use the term sovereign election.
If God chooses sovereignly to bestow his grace on some sinners and withhold his grace from other sinners, is there any violation of justice in this?
Do those who do not receive this gift receive something they do not deserve? Of course not.
If God allows these sinners to perish, is he treating them unjustly? Of course not.
One group receives grace, the other receives justice. No one receives injustice.
Basically, summing up what he teaches, he teaches that unconditional election is God arbitrarily picking and choosing who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.
Not by any virtue of our own choice, not by any opportunity that we had to get saved, but rather, God is just unconditionally choosing people for heaven and hell.
But what does this do? It ignores God's foreknowledge. It ignores God's omniscience.
And go to Romans chapter 4, like I said. Look what it says. It says in verse 17,
What does that mean? God talks about things that haven't even happened yet, things that are in the future.
He talks about those things as if they already had happened.
Why? Because God is all-knowing, and God has foreknowledge. He knows the beginning to the end.
He knows every single decision that will be made by every human being throughout all of history.
He knows all the events that are going to happen, and so he can talk about things that be not as though they were.
What's a great example of this? How about the gospel of Jesus Christ?
All the way from the beginning of creation, God knew that mankind would be redeemed by Jesus Christ.
I'll read for you a verse. Revelation 13, 8 says,
Now was Jesus Christ physically in his human body killed on day one of creation? Absolutely not.
But God calls those things which be not as though they were.
So on day one of creation, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was just as valid to save anyone
as it was that the day that he literally physically shed his body and was buried and went to hell.
Because God calls those things which be not as though they were.
So God has foreknowledge, but God is not arbitrarily picking and choosing and forcing people to believe on him
or forcing people to go to hell.
Let's go to Ephesians chapter number one. Ephesians chapter one.
This is a pretty, this is a favorite chapter of Calvinists to try to teach this point.
But it doesn't teach what they think it teaches.
Ephesians chapter one, let's start reading verse three, it says,
So God has chosen us, right? What did he choose?
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, notice this,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
God has chosen us.
And they'll say, oh, see right there, that says that God just chose who went to heaven and chose who went to hell.
No, it actually said that God chose us to be holy and without blame before him in love is what it says.
God chose that his people would be holy.
Why? Because we have the sacrifice of Christ imputed to us.
And our new man is completely holy.
It's completely without reproach in the sight of God.
That's what God chose for us.
Verse five,
There's a word that they love.
See, God predestined who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.
Hold on a second.
No, actually God predestined according to his will that people that get saved are adopted as children of God.
That's what God predestined.
He predetermined, hey, people that get saved will be my sons and my daughters.
That's what he predetermined.
They're adding things into the text saying, oh, this is teaching that God predetermined who's going to heaven and who's going to hell.
Absolutely not.
Of course, salvation is only by grace.
It's not by our works, right?
And Calvinists pride themselves in saying that they only believe in salvation by grace.
But we'll see later on in the sermon if that's actually true.
Again, we see that word predestined.
What did he predestinate?
He predestinated the fact that we would be to the praise of the glory of Christ.
That our salvation, what is it?
It's a testimony to the glory of God.
We didn't save ourselves.
We didn't work our way to heaven.
It's Jesus Christ that did the hard part.
He lived the perfect life.
He died on the cross.
He went to hell.
He rested on the cross.
He died on the cross.
He lived the perfect life.
He died on the cross.
He went to hell.
He resurrected from the dead.
So our salvation, what is it?
It's to the praise and to the glory of God.
That's what God predestined, that he would get glory by our salvation.
He didn't just predestinate who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.
Verse 13.
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that ye believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
Notice, this is a choice.
The saying, after you believed, you got saved.
Not after God just sprinkled pixie dust on you and just declared you to be saved.
No, after you willingly, your own choice, you recognized you were a sinner, you believed
in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you called out to him in faith and asked him to save
you, you made that choice and you're saved as a result of making that choice.
Here's another passage they love to use, Romans chapter number 8.
Romans chapter 8, flip over to Romans chapter number 8.
I wasn't really convinced with Ephesians 1 on what they're trying to say there.
Let's see if Romans chapter 8 is any different.
Verse 28.
So God had some sort of foreknowledge, right?
There you go.
God predestinated who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.
That's what they'll say.
No, actually God had foreknowledge of who was going to be saved and who was not going
to be saved and he predestinated something.
He made a decision in advance about those people that are going to be saved.
What was the decision that he made?
That those that would be saved would someday be conformed to the image of his son.
When does that happen?
At the rapture.
When we get our new bodies, we're glorified, we're put in our glorified bodies and we're
conformed to the image of Christ.
That's what God predestinated.
Verse 30.
Those people that he predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ, them he also called,
in whom he called, them he also justified, in whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Now, of course, all the people who get saved and who will get saved are in the category
of called.
Why is that?
Because every human being is in the category of called.
Let me prove that to you.
You can stay there.
I'm going to read for you.
Jesus said, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
God is calling everyone.
God has sent out the call to the whole world, to the ends of the earth, Romans chapter 10
says, of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and every single human being is called.
But does that mean every single person gets saved?
No.
Here's a great example.
I invited the entire church to a July 4th celebration in Hearst.
And those of you that were my friends that like me, you came.
And those of you that don't like me, you didn't come.
But all of you were called.
You're all called, regardless of whether or not you came.
Now, if you came, you were glorified, because you've got to see that awesome, that awesome
July 4th party.
Okay?
But you were all called.
It makes this idea of unconditional election, it makes God's command to believe on him completely
meaningless.
Why would God command someone to believe on him if God is just picking and choosing who
goes to heaven and who goes to hell?
It's like, hey, Ben, come to the 4th of July party.
Psych!
You can't come because you're not elect.
What kind of God is this?
This is bizarre.
I'll read for you, you can stay there, Mark 1, 14 says,
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of
the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, ye, and believe the gospel.
Jesus Christ gave the command to believe the gospel.
Oh, but no one could actually follow that command.
That command wasn't actually given in sincerity by Jesus Christ to all of humanity.
No, it was actually God just picking and choosing who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.
What a pointless statement this would be in our Bible, then, of God commanding us to believe
the gospel.
And think about this, if you believed this doctrine, doesn't that disincentivize you
from wanting to preach the gospel to someone?
Because here's the thing, God's already predetermined everything, according to them.
God's already decided who's going to hell and who's going to heaven, so why in the world
would we go out in 1000 degree Texas summer and preach someone the gospel if God has already
chosen if that person's going to hell or not?
No, the reason we do it is because we believe that we're presenting people with a real
choice that really affects their destiny for all of eternity.
That if they choose of their own free will to put their faith in Jesus Christ, to not
trust in themselves, to not trust in their works, to not trust in their religion, but
to trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ, that they will go to heaven.
And that if they choose to reject that, that they will spend eternity in hell.
But God is just and He gave us all the opportunity and the choice to make that decision.
He didn't just predetermine who was going to heaven and who was going to hell.
Titus chapter 2 verse 11 says, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared
to all men.
You know, at the beginning Sproul was like, so what if God decides to give His grace to
some people and some not?
Either He's giving them grace or He's giving them justice.
No, no, the Bible says that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all
men.
All men have seen the grace of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That was His grace to us by giving His Son.
But God commanded His love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.
That was His grace to us.
So, the U of Tulip, unconditional election, damnable heresy.
Damnable heresy.
And so is number three here, the L of Tulip.
This is also damnable heresy.
Limited atonement.
Go ahead and go to 2 Timothy chapter number 2 and I'll read for you what he defines,
R.C.
Sproul defines as limited atonement.
It says, The doctrine of limited atonement, also known as definite atonement or particular
redemption, says that the atonement or death of Christ, he uses those two words interchangeably
just so you know what he's saying, the atonement or death of Christ was limited in its scope
and aim to the elect.
Jesus did not atone for the sins of everybody in the world.
So, he is just openly saying Jesus Christ did not die for the world.
He's literally denying the most famous verse in the whole Bible and we'll go there in a
second.
He's saying Jesus did not die for the world.
That is damnable heresy.
That is twisting the nature of God.
That is twisting the doctrine of who Jesus Christ is.
That is twisting his atonement.
That is twisting the death of Christ.
That is damnable heresy.
He said, The Reformed view says that God from all eternity devised a plan that was not provisional.
Under this plan, God decreed that he would save a certain number of people out of fallen
humanity, people whom the Bible calls elect.
So, we just talked about that.
The people that God just chose to be saved, he's only going to die for them.
In order for that plan of election to work out in history, he sent his son into the world
with a specific aim and design to accomplish redemption for the elect.
This was accomplished perfectly without a drop of the blood of Christ being wasted.
Everyone whom the Father chose for salvation will be saved through the atonement.
What a wicked person this guy is.
Just basically saying that Jesus didn't die for all.
Jesus went on a rescue mission and he only took certain people that he predetermined out
and just left everyone else behind.
He wasn't going to waste his blood on the rest of humanity.
No, Jesus shed his blood for all of humanity.
And God's love was so deep and so much more profound than the type of love that any of us could show
that he knew that people would reject him and he still died for them.
God the Father gave his son to die for people that he knew would not believe on him.
That's actually how much love that God has.
And honestly, they're just trying to take away from the love of God by teaching limited atonement.
And think about this.
If that was true, if it was true that Jesus Christ did not die for everyone,
he just died for a certain number of people, that would mean that the untold multitudes
that are in hell right now and the untold multitudes that will be in hell someday,
that they never even had a Savior.
They never even had a chance.
It's not like they are there justly because they rejected God's free gift because God said,
hey, here's a free ticket to heaven, do you want it?
And they said no.
No, rather, they never even had a chance.
So, according to them, God is just creating people that he's going to choose to go to hell
and he's going to give them no hope and no chance ever to be saved.
That is wicked as hell.
That is disgusting.
That is not Christianity.
People that believe this are not saved.
Absolutely not.
2 Timothy 2 verse 3 says, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
who will have all men to be saved and to come under the knowledge of the truth,
for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
Who gave himself a ransom for all.
What do you not understand about that Calvinist?
He gave himself a ransom for all.
What's a ransom?
Think about it like a payment.
You know, some terrorist group captures someone and they've got someone captive,
they've got someone under their dominion and people pay a ransom to get them out.
It's like, okay, sin had us captive.
Sin had dominion over us and it required a ransom.
It required a payment to allow us to be free.
And who was that?
Jesus Christ.
And what does it say?
He's the ransom for all.
All of humanity had Jesus Christ as their ransom.
Go to John chapter number 3, John chapter number 3.
It's sad we even have to prove things like this,
but there's tons of churches in America that believe in Reformed theology.
Tons.
Most people that read the ESV subscribe to some level of Tulip, if not all five points.
John chapter number 3.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Jesus didn't die for the world.
Have you ever read John 3.16?
It's on signs at football games.
It's on signs at baseball games.
People have it tattooed on their body.
Everyone has seen John 3.16.
And you're going to say that Jesus didn't die for the world.
Wicked.
Verse 17.
For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.
Why is someone condemned?
Because they didn't believe in Christ.
Oh, they didn't believe in someone that was never there for them.
No, they actually rejected something.
It was the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It's not like there was this nothing that they had to choose to reject or accept.
No, they rejected Jesus.
They don't believe in Jesus.
That's why they're condemned.
And that's why it is just for God to send people to hell.
It is just for God to send people to hell because he gave them a free gift.
He gave them Jesus Christ.
He didn't say, be perfect and you'll get to heaven.
He says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And so if someone chooses of their own will to reject the free gift,
then at that point God is just in sending them to hell.
But how would God be just in sending someone to hell for all of eternity
when they never even had a choice, they never even had a savior?
It's a lie.
Verse 19, and this is the condemnation that light has come into the world
and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved.
It doesn't say, hey, they don't come to the light because they never had a chance
and Jesus never died for them.
No, they didn't come to the light because they didn't want their deeds to be reproved.
A lot of people don't want to hear the gospel or hear anything about God
because they don't even want to admit the fact that they're a sinner.
They don't want to even acknowledge the fact that they've broken God's commandments.
They don't want their deeds to be reproved.
That's why some people don't come to the light.
It's not because, oh, they just never had a chance, so that's why they didn't come to the light.
That's not true.
John chapter number 4, let's go to a few verses quickly here.
We'll go to John chapter number 4, Acts chapter 17 after that.
John chapter number 4 and Acts chapter number 17.
In John chapter number 4, verse 42, it says this,
And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying,
for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.
What a beautiful statement that is, that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world.
Praise God for that.
Thank God that God is merciful and loving and gave Jesus Christ to be the Savior of the world.
Acts chapter number 17, verse 30,
And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent,
because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness,
by that man whom he hath ordained,
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
God says he's going to judge all men someday based off of what?
That man, Jesus Christ.
All men are going to be judged on what they did with Jesus.
Did they believe in him or did they reject him?
Every single person's fate is resting on that,
and God is sending people to heaven for believing in him,
or sending them to hell for not believing in him.
It's not that, oh, everyone's going to be judged by God someday,
and some people just never had a choice, never had an option.
That's not true.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter number 4, 1 Timothy chapter number 4,
and I'll read for you 2 Corinthians 5.14 says this,
For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge,
that if one died for all, then were all dead,
and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them and rose again.
How are Calvinists getting this idea that Jesus didn't die for all?
When the Bible says he died for all, he died for all, he died for all.
It's because they're reading commentaries of unsaved men,
like Charles Spurgeon, you know, these false prophets from the past,
and letting them teach what the Bible says,
rather than just listening to the word of God.
That's where they're coming from.
1 Timothy chapter number 4, verse 10.
This is the coup de gras right here.
For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach,
because we trust in the living God, notice this,
who is the savior of all men, specially of those that believe.
Meaning that Jesus Christ is the savior of those that believe,
and the savior of those that don't.
Because over and over, we've already seen,
he's the savior of the whole world, the whole world,
he died for the whole world, he's the savior for the whole world,
he loved the whole world, he came into the world to give them life.
And what does it say?
He's the savior of all men, specially of those that believe.
Jesus Christ is truly the savior of all of humanity,
past, present, and future.
Every single human being will be judged by what they did with Jesus Christ.
Men like Jonathan Edwards and Charles Spurgeon
believe in damnable heresy and are sending people to hell by teaching this.
So here's the eye in Tulip.
I'll have you turn to John chapter number 6.
John chapter number 6.
The eye in Tulip, and some of these are pretty similar,
so just keep that in mind,
but the eye in Tulip is called irresistible grace.
This is what he taught about it, R.C. Sproul.
It says, in historic reformation thought,
the notion is that salvation precedes faith.
So, according to irresistible grace,
you get saved, then you get faith.
Which makes absolutely no sense, and we're going to debunk that,
but that's what he's saying.
This isn't a straw man.
This is what he's saying.
Salvation precedes faith.
We also believe that regeneration is monergistic.
Now that's a three dollar word.
It means essentially that the divine operation called rebirth,
or regeneration is the work of God alone.
Monergism.
Not by his 50% and man's 50%,
or even 99% God and 1% man.
It is 100% the work of God.
He and he alone has the power to change the disposition of the soul
and the human heart to bring us to faith.
And here's what they do to cover their false doctrine
is they try to be just like overly humble about it.
Like, we're just giving God all the glory.
God is 100% responsible for your faith.
You had no choice in the matter.
You're being prideful by saying that you believed in God.
No, no, no.
God gave you salvation, then you got the faith.
It's all God.
But that's a false doctrine.
That's what he said.
In addition, when he exercises this grace in the soul,
he brings about the effect that he intends to bring about.
When God created you, he brought you into existence.
You didn't help him.
It was his sovereign work that brought you to life biologically.
Likewise, it is his work and his alone
that brings you into the state of rebirth
and of renewed creation.
So, it just uses this false logic saying,
well, God created you physically,
so that means that everything having to do with salvation
is 100% God and nothing to do with you.
So, this is my summary, just to help you give a summary.
In my own words, this is a summary of what irresistible grace is.
God's forcible bringing about of salvation in a person
regardless of that person's will or cooperation.
This is God, he's like, I'm forcing you to be saved
regardless of your will, regardless of your cooperation.
God is just putting faith into you.
God is just putting salvation into you
regardless of your desire to be saved or not.
Irresistible grace.
You can't resist it.
It's just irresistible.
Well, let's go to, you're there in John 6.
Let me read for you Ephesians 2,
which Calvinists always misinterpret this passage.
They always use this passage to teach lies.
We all know these verses.
Ephesians 2, 8 says,
For by grace are ye saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God.
Let's stop for a minute.
For by grace are ye saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves.
What's not of ourself?
I would relate that to the word saved.
Salvation is not of ourselves.
It, what's the it there?
Salvation is the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast.
Here's how Calvinists interpret this.
They say, for by grace are ye saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves.
They say, faith is not of yourself.
You can't have faith of your own will.
You can't decide to believe or not to believe
based on your own decision.
No, faith is not of yourself.
Faith is the gift of God.
That's what they teach.
That God, as a gift, decides to just force you to have faith.
You will have faith.
You will follow this irresistible grace.
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Oh, you're saying you believed in Jesus Christ?
Why don't you stop boasting?
Why don't you stop bragging?
That's what they think.
That's what they teach.
That we somehow are teaching a works salvation
by saying that we chose, we believed in God.
They say that that's a works salvation.
No, folks, believing in Jesus Christ is not a work.
God compares being saved like eating a piece of bread.
You're there in John chapter number six.
This is what Jesus, it says,
Then Jesus said unto them, verily, verily,
I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven,
but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven,
and giveth life unto the world.
Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore,
give us this bread.
Why are you asking for the bread?
I thought it was irresistible.
I thought God's just gonna force you to eat it.
Verse 35, And Jesus said unto them,
I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger,
and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Look, salvation's easy.
It's like eating a piece of bread.
But God is not gonna pin you down by the neck,
open your mouth, and shove the bread into your mouth,
chew it for you, grab your jaw and chew it up for you,
cover your mouth and make you swallow it.
That's not salvation.
It's like, hey, here's a piece of bread.
Do you want it?
Yes, Lord, save me.
Eat the bread.
That's salvation.
It's your choice.
Go to John chapter number four.
Salvation also is like drinking a glass of water.
John chapter number four, the story of Jesus
and the woman at the well.
Look at verse 10.
Jesus answered and said unto her,
If thou knewest the gift of God,
and who it is that saith to thee,
give me to drink,
thou wouldest have asked of him,
and he would have given thee living water.
The woman saith unto him,
Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep.
From whence then hast thou that living water?
Art thou greater than our father Jacob,
which gave us this well and drank thereof himself
and his children and his cattle?
She's thinking carnally.
She doesn't understand the spiritual yet.
Verse 13, Jesus answered and said unto her,
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again,
but whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst,
but the water that I shall give him
shall be in him a well of water
springing up into everlasting life.
Jesus, compare salvation here.
It's like drinking water.
And this water that you drink,
once you drink it,
you're satisfied for forever.
Picturing the fact that Jesus' sacrifice for you
is good for all your sins, past, present, and future.
You're not gonna lose your salvation
and get thirsty again in the future.
You're not gonna lose your salvation
and get hungry again in the future.
God just offered you a glass of water
and all you have to do is drink it.
But the God of Calvinism
is like some CIA officer in Guantanamo Bay
interrogating terrorists and waterboarding them.
It's like, salvation!
You will drink the water!
Yeah!
What is that?
That's not salvation.
God's not gonna force you to drink the water.
He just offers it to you freely.
It's a free choice.
Man has free will.
Go to John chapter number 11.
Flip over to John chapter number 11.
John chapter number 11, verse 25.
John 11, verse 25 says,
Jesus said unto her,
I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me,
though he were dead,
yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me,
shall never die.
Believest thou this?
Why would Jesus ask this question to anyone
if not only did God already
predetermine who's gonna get saved,
He's gonna pick and choose who gets saved,
only some people had a Savior,
some people don't,
and those that will get saved,
God's forcing them to believe on Him.
Why would Jesus then need to ask someone,
hey, do you believe what I just told you?
That makes no sense.
It would be a complete waste of the breath of Jesus Christ
to ask that question
if He already was gonna force this woman to believe,
if He was gonna force anyone to believe,
He asked this question in sincerity.
He actually wants to know,
do you believe that if you put your faith in me
that you'll never die?
Do you believe that I am the resurrection and the life?
And that is the most important question
that every single soul that's ever been created
will have to answer.
Believest thou this?
And guess what?
It's your choice.
You actually have a real choice to believe on Jesus Christ.
God's not gonna force you to do it.
He's not gonna force feed you the bread.
He's not gonna waterboard you.
No, the choice is yours.
Believest thou this?
That is a real question that He asked.
Go to Ephesians chapter number one.
And, you know, the dumbest part about that statement
that R.C. Sproul gave about, you know,
what he believes about this
is saying that salvation precedes faith.
I mean, that is such a ridiculous concept to believe
that you're saved before you have faith.
Okay, but look at what Ephesians chapter one verse 13 says.
It says,
So when did salvation become?
Come about after you believed.
When did you get sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise?
After you believed.
To say that salvation precedes belief
is a complete just rejection of what God teaches.
Here's the last one of TULIP,
and it is perseverance of the saints.
Reservance of the saints.
Go ahead and turn to John chapter number five,
and I'll read for you what R.C. Sproul teaches
about perseverance of the saints.
It says,
Now, here's the thing.
I don't really have, like, a huge problem
with this statement in and of itself
because I can interpret what he's saying to mean
that he's teaching you can never lose your salvation.
And so I can't really attack this specific statement
unless I were to talk more with him
of what he believes on this.
But here's the thing.
Not all Calvinists are as vague
about what they believe about this
because I've known Calvinists personally in my life
that tell me that perseverance of the saints
does not just mean you can never lose your salvation,
but rather it means that once you're saved,
you're always going to be doing the works,
you're always going to be doing what's right,
you're always going to be living a good life,
and you're going to persevere in that good life
all the way to the end of your life.
Now, I'll prove this
because I have a quote from another Calvinist
that definitely believes like I just described.
Paul Washer.
This is what he said.
He said,
and, man, he has the most annoying voice.
I'm not even going to impersonate it.
Now men today are trusting in the fact
that at least one time in their life
they prayed a prayer.
Amen.
I am trusting that one time in my life
I prayed a prayer.
But guess what?
That prayer wasn't, you know,
Lord, give me money.
Lord, give me whatever.
That prayer was,
Lord, I believe in your son Jesus Christ.
Please give me eternal life.
I am trusting that one time in my life
I prayed that prayer.
Amen.
He says,
and someone told them that they were saved
because they were sincere enough.
And so in their salvation,
if you ask them,
are you saved?
Which if someone asks us,
are you saved?
What would you say?
Yes, because I've put my faith in Jesus Christ.
Yes, because I called upon him.
He says,
if you ask these people,
are you saved?
They don't say,
yes, I am,
because I am looking unto Jesus
and there's mighty evidence
giving me assurance of being born again.
These people aren't saying,
of course I'm saved.
I have such mighty evidence of good works
in my life
and I'm such a good person
and I've turned over a new leaf
and I go to church
and I save cats out of trees
and I help old ladies walk across the street
and I feed ham sandwiches to the homeless
and I give out Christian tattoos for free
We don't list all these mighty works that we've had.
No, we say we believe in Jesus.
No, they say one time in my life
I prayed a prayer
and they live like devils.
So what is Paul Washer's issue
with someone giving their salvation testimony?
He's saying,
I have an issue with someone
that says that they've prayed a prayer,
that they've believed in Jesus Christ,
that they've asked him to save him,
but they live like devils.
What is he saying?
He's saying that he's upset
that they're claiming to be saved,
but they believe in him
and that he's upset
that they're claiming to be saved,
but they don't have the works to match.
They haven't persevered until the end
and that's what perseverance of the saints is
for many Calvinists
is teaching that,
hey, if you truly believe
and man, Russians are like this.
When I lived in Vancouver,
if you truly believe,
it's like there's a belief that's not true.
If you are in saving state of grace,
you will have the works.
That's what they teach.
That's what Calvinists believe
and when I was giving the gospel
to a Russian friend of mine,
we'd always get hung up on eternal security
and he's like,
you're Armenian
and I'm like,
I'm American,
what are you talking about?
But really,
he's just basically saying
that he's a Calvinist,
okay,
and not an Armenian.
What does the Bible say?
John chapter number five,
verse 24,
verily, verily,
I say unto you,
he that heareth my word
and believeth on him
that sent me,
hath everlasting life.
How long does everlasting last for?
Forever.
He says,
right now,
present tense,
you have life that lasts for forever,
but not only that,
it says,
and shall not come into condemnation.
So, if you believe,
not only do you present tense have eternal life,
but you'll also never come into condemnation,
meaning you'll never go to hell.
Not only that,
he says,
but is passed from death unto life.
Not only if you believe,
do you have everlasting life,
not only will you never come into condemnation,
but it says that you are passed,
right now,
present tense,
is passed from death unto life.
He doesn't say,
someday you'll pass from death unto life
if you persevere to the end.
Someday you'll pass from death unto life
if you live a good life
all the way to the end of your life.
No,
he says,
right now,
you've put your faith in Christ,
you are passed from death unto life.
Doesn't matter what your works are,
good or bad,
after that.
Now,
of course,
we all know in here
that if you live a wicked life
after you get saved,
that God's gonna punish us for that.
That there's a punishment
that's on this earth for your sin
after you get saved.
But when it comes to salvation,
God is not taking away people's salvation
because of their sin,
because if He were,
we would all lose it
every day of our lives.
Including these prideful,
arrogant Calvinists,
whose sin of pride
is on open display for everyone,
because they think,
oh, I'm in a current saving state of grace
because I have mighty evidence
declaring that I've been saved.
You're going straight to hell,
Paul Washer.
You're teaching a false gospel.
And you're a prideful,
arrogant jerk
that's twisting salvation
taught in the Bible.
And that should make you upset.
But is it any wonder
that Calvinists believe this doctrine
when they use the ESV,
the extreme soy version,
which is why these men
are so effeminate all the time.
Let me read for you
out of this extreme soy version,
John 3.36.
This is what their version says.
It says,
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.
Now, I understand
you could interpret this verse
in a way to say,
well, believing the gospel
is a command from God.
And so you have to obey
that command to be saved.
I get that.
But that's not often
how Calvinists
interpret this verse.
They're saying,
well, right here,
I mean, it's basically saying
that if you believe in him,
you're going to obey him.
You're going to persevere
with good works to the end.
And if you don't,
well, then the wrath of God
remains on you.
Here's another verse
out of the extreme soy version.
1 Corinthians 15 says,
Now I would remind you, brothers,
of the gospel I preached to you,
which you received,
in which you stand,
and by which you are being saved,
if you hold fast to the word
I preached to you,
unless you have believed in vain.
And keep in mind,
when Calvinists here believe,
they're connecting
obeying God's commandments
with belief.
So they're saying,
hey, if you're really believing,
if you're truly saved,
through salvation,
then you're being saved.
Is what they're saying.
Which we just read,
John 5, 24,
it says,
Hath everlasting life,
shall not come into condemnation.
You are passed from death
unto life.
You're not in a process
of salvation.
Salvation is done.
You believed in him,
boom, you're saved forever.
You can never lose him.
Go to the King James,
in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1.
Let's read that in the King James.
He says,
Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel,
which I preached unto you,
which also ye have received,
and wherein ye stand,
by which also ye are saved.
Notice the difference there?
It's important to be
King James only.
There's a big difference
between salvation
being a process
and saying,
hey, you are saved.
That's a huge difference.
Man, if you go out sowing
and you run into someone
with the ESV,
that's a good verse
to show them right there.
It says,
If ye keep in memory
what I preached unto you,
unless ye have believed,
unless ye have believed
in vain.
Now, go to Galatians,
chapter number 2.
You probably have to be
the last place I have you turn.
What does it mean
to believe in vain?
Does it mean that you didn't
have mighty evidence
of works accompanying
your salvation?
Galatians, chapter number 2,
verse 16.
It says,
Knowing that a man
is not justified
by the works of the law,
but by the faith
of Jesus Christ,
even we have believed
in Jesus Christ,
even we have believed
in Jesus Christ,
that we might be justified
by the faith of Christ,
and not by the works
of the law,
for by the works of the law
shall no flesh be justified.
I think Paul wants
to get a point across there.
I don't know how many times
he has to repeat it.
Or say it by faith,
not by works,
not by the works of the law.
Works of the law
isn't going to justify everyone.
It's all by faith,
faith, faith, faith, right?
Skip down to verse 21.
It says,
I do not frustrate
the grace of God,
for if righteousness
come by the law,
then Christ is dead
in vain.
Christ's death
would be meaningless
if salvation could be obtained
by the law of God.
And believing in vain,
it would be vain
to believe in Jesus Christ
if you believed
that you had
to work your way to heaven.
If you had to do good works
to get to heaven,
then why are you
even believing on Jesus?
You've got it all figured out.
You've got it handled, buddy.
You're so righteous,
you've got such mighty
evidence of salvation.
It's vain to believe
on Jesus Christ
if you think that you need
to help him out.
If you think that you have
to live such a righteous life
to the end.
No, look, we should live
a righteous life.
We should follow God's
commandments to the best
of our ability.
We teach that at this church.
But look, if you don't
persevere in good works
to the end of your life,
if you've put your trust
on Jesus Christ,
you are saved.
End of story.
Look at Lot.
Did he persevere to the end?
But the Bible calls him
just Lot.
Okay, what about King Saul?
Did he persevere to the end?
What was the last act
of his life?
Suicide.
You can't really ask
for forgiveness
after that one.
It's over.
You committed suicide,
yet the Bible is pretty
dang clear that Saul
is in heaven.
I believe 100 percent
with all my being
that Saul is in heaven
that he was saved.
He didn't persevere
in good works to the end.
Because it's not
about his works.
It's not about our works.
It's about what Jesus
Christ did for us.
It's about him.
And for a system of ideology
to pride themselves
of being theocentric.
We do not want
to be anthropocentric.
They're saying,
well, we don't want
to be man-centered.
We want to be God-centered.
It's pretty funny how
your method of salvation
at the end of the day
is man-centered.
You better persevere
to the end.
If you're truly
in real faith,
no, guess what?
We're all going to persevere
to the end because we're safe.
Because we believe
in Jesus Christ.
And so it's a facade.
They're claiming
to be a God-centered theology.
It's a man-centered theology.
I can understand how maybe
people can misunderstand
total depravity a little bit
and maybe still be saved.
I'm not saying I know
anyone like that.
And I don't know,
maybe there's some people
that believe that you're
just inherently sinner,
but they don't believe
the part about babies
going to hell.
But I'm telling you,
a lot of this
is damnable heresy.
And I personally believe
that 99.99% of Calvinists
are all unsaved.
That is what I believe.
Could there be an exception
out there?
Yeah, I think that there
could be an exception.
Maybe they don't believe
all of these points.
But just know,
if you're out soul-winding
and you run into a Calvinist,
you're probably dealing
with someone that's unsafe.
Because they probably
don't even understand
the nature of God.
They probably don't even
understand the atonement
of Christ and who he died for
and the fact that we have
free will and that we could
choose to believe in
Jesus Christ or not.
Look, these are people
that we need to contend against.
Because we believe
Because Calvinists
are pretty influential.
And they like to trick people
and they like to snow people
because they appear really smart
and really intelligent
because they use words
like anthropocentric,
that many people
without a dictionary
wouldn't know what that means.
But that's what they
just try to do.
They try to trick you
by using fancy words,
but when you actually
open up the Bible,
everything they believe
is stupid.
Everything they believe
is wrong.
And it's like,
we didn't go very deep
this morning.
We didn't go to some obscure
passages of the Bible
to prove them wrong.
We went to John chapter 3
for crying out loud.
Like, it is not hard
to disprove these people.
But you need to be armed
and you need to be ready
to fight against these people
because these people
are enemies of Christianity.
They're teaching
damnable heresy.
They're not our friends.
And we need to contend
against Calvinism
and realize that
it's a false doctrine.
And also,
we need to read the Bible
without commentary.
Because these beliefs
would not exist
without someone
opening up a commentary
and listening to some
false prophet
teach that to them.
No one is gonna read
John chapter 3
and tell me that Jesus
didn't die for the world.
Where are they getting it from?
False prophets.
Turn off the false prophets
on YouTube.
Turn off the false prophets
on CBN.
Turn off the false prophets
in your commentary
and just read the pure,
unadulterated
King James Bible,
the Holy Word of God,
and let the Holy Spirit
of God teach you
in all things.
With that,
let's have a word of prayer.
Lord, thank you so much
for this day
and thank you
for the King James Bible.
Thank you that you are truly
a loving,
merciful,
and a just God.
That you've given everyone
on this earth
the chance to be saved
and the chance to truly accept
or reject your free gift.
I just pray that if there's
anyone in here this morning
that is not saved,
that they would talk to someone
before they leave
so that they can know for sure
that they're going to heaven.
And I pray that you bless
Pastor Shelley
as he's preaching this morning
and evening at Faithful Word.
Please bring him home safely
to us.
We love you.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right, let's go ahead
and go to our last song.
402, our best.
Hear ye the Master's call,
give me thy best.
For being great or small,
that is his test.
Do then the best you can,
not for reward,
not for the praise of men,
but for the Lord.
Every work for Jesus
will be blessed,
but he asks from everyone
his best.
Our talents may be few,
these may be small,
but unto him is due our best.
Our role...
Sing it out on the second.
Weigh not for men to love,
heed not their slight.
Winning the smile of God
brings its delight.
Aiding the good and true,
there goes unblest.
All that we think or do,
be it the best.
Every work for Jesus
will be blessed,
but he asks from everyone
his best.
Our talents may be few,
these may be small,
but unto him is due our best.
Our role...
Thank you all for coming.
God bless. You are dismissed.
.