you
you you
you
you you
you
you you
you
you you
you
you you
you
in my heart
a melody
and I know it's there
to stay
in my heart
there rings a melody
in heaven's harmony
in my heart
there rings a melody
of love
alright, we're on the last verse now
I know you guys can do better than this
ok, I feel like I can't hear
anybody singing out there
and we've got a lot of instruments, I get that
but let's sing this out
in our heart, look, you've got a melody
alright, we say praises to the Lord
you're happy to be here this morning, I hope you're happy to be here this morning
let's sing it out
let me hear it on the last verse
there will be my endless
evening glory
when the angels
I will sing
there will be a song
with glorious harmony
when the
courts of heaven
ring
in my heart
there rings a melody
with heaven's harmony
in my heart
there rings a melody
of love
amen, alright, very good
much better, this time we're going to pass the offering
plate around
and while the plates are being passed around
you can turn in your Bibles
to Romans chapter number 9
Romans chapter number 9
and as our custom is here at Strong Old Baptist Church
we're going to read the entire
chapter, Romans chapter 9 out loud
and you can follow along silently
I'm going to ask brother Michael Ricardo to come up here
and read the passage for us
you can follow him silently while he reads
once again that's Romans chapter 9
Romans chapter 9
the Bible reads
I say the truth in Christ
I lie not
my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost
that I
have great heaviness
and continual sorrow in my heart
for I could wish that myself were accursed
from Christ, from my brethren
my kinsmen according to the flesh
who are Israelites
to whom pertaineth the adoption
and the glory and the covenants
and the giving of the law
and the service of God
and the promises
whose are the fathers
and of whom as concerning the flesh
Christ came
who is over all
and blessed forever
not as though the word of God
hath taken none effect
for they are not all Israel
which are of Israel
neither because they are the seed of Abraham
are they all children
but in Isaac
shall thy seed be called
that is they which are the children of the flesh
these are not the children of God
but the children of the promise
are counted for the seed
for this is the word of promise
for this time will I come
and Sarah shall have a son
and not only this but when Rebekah
also had conceived by one
even by our father Isaac
for the children being not yet born
neither having done any good or evil
that the promise of God
according to election might stand
not of works but of him that calleth
it was said unto her
the elders shall serve the younger
as it is written
Jacob have I loved
have I hated
what shall we say then
is there unrighteousness with God
God forbid
for he saith to Moses
I will have mercy on whom
I will have mercy
and I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion
so then it is not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth
but of God that showeth mercy
for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh
even for this same purpose
in thee and that my name might be
declared throughout all the earth
therefore hath he mercy
on whom he will have mercy
and whom he have
whom he will have hardened
thou will say then unto me
why doth he yet find fault
for who have
he have resisted his will
nay but old man
who art thou that replies against God
shall the thing form
say to him that formed it why has
thou made me thus have not
the pot of power over the clay
of the same lump
to make one vessel unto honor
and another unto dishonor
what of God willing to show his wrath
and to make his power known
endured with much long suffering the vessels
of wrath fitted to destruction
and that he might make known
the riches of his glory
on the vessels of mercy
which he had afore
prepared unto glory even us
whom he hath called
not of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles
as he saith unto Osi
I will call on them my people
which were not my people
and her beloved which was not beloved
and it shall come to pass
that in the place where it
was said unto them
ye are not my people there shall
they be called the children of the living God
as Zias also cries concerning Israel
though the number of the children of Israel
be as the sand of the sea
a remnant shall be saved
for he will finish the work
and cut it short in righteousness
because a short work will the Lord
make upon the earth
and as Zias said before
except the Lord of Sabaoth
had left us a seed
we had been as Sodom
and been made like unto Gomorrah
for what shall we
say then that the Gentiles
which follow not after righteousness
have attained to righteousness
even the righteousness which is of faith
but Israel which followed after the law
of righteousness have not attained
to the law of righteousness
wherefore because they saw it not by faith
but as it were by the works of the law
for they stumbled at that
stumbling stone as it is written
behold I lay inside a stumbling
stone and rock of offense
and whosoever believeth on him
shall not be ashamed
let us pray
Father God we thank you for your
word we thank you for today
and God allow for our ears to be attended
to your word allow for the distractions
to be minimal and God
fill past the burdens of power from you
and also boldness to speak what he has to say
that comes from your word
we thank you for the King James Bible we thank you for
all that you do we say this all in Jesus name Amen
Alright so this morning
we'll be continuing my series debunking
Calvinism one
one petal at a time as it were by the
the tulip flower so
I've already covered the total
depravity point
in Calvinism
the unconditional election the limited
atonement and this morning we're going to look
at irresistible grace that's the
I in that acronym tulip
that kind of defines or describes
the Calvinistic doctrine
of at the
end of the day it surrounds
what they believe about predestination
and that God essentially
is the one who's choosing who gets
saved and who doesn't and only those
whom God chooses get saved
and those that God does not choose
do not get saved and it's
a very wicked doctrine
it's a damnable
heresy it's not just a
difference of opinion you know there's
many doctrines and many things that while every
doctrine is true every doctrine is important you know
the word of God all of God's words
are important all the teachings everything
is important in the word of God but some
are definitely way more important than others
and doctrines
that have an impact
on salvation
particularly are the most
important and doctrines
that relate to what it
what it takes to be saved or what it means
to be saved or how we get saved
like these are the most critical
and these are the ones that
I consider to be you know when people
taint or corrupt
what it takes to be saved
those are damnable
damnable because
it's a false
gospel at the end of the day or it's a false
God at the end of the day
right the doctrine
that Jesus Christ is not God is another
damnable heresy
because you have to believe that Jesus
Christ is who he said he was
he is the you know he is
the son he's the son of God
he's God incarnate you know
there's the deity of Christ
is non-negotiable and
and to think otherwise to come up with some
other man named Jesus
that's not God is
a false God and it's
damnable and people who don't believe in the
deity of Christ are going to hell
so this doctrine is
I put it on the same category
the same level
because we're talking about
on a God that's just
literally it's like our
entire life is just one big charade
because
when you really break down
the teachings of Calvinism
it's God is just in charge
of absolutely everything
and we're just doing
like robots and they
hate when you say that and they'll try
to say oh no we don't believe in this
robots but at the end of the day it really is
I mean that really what it has to boil down
in order for these things to be true
so
we're going to cover this concept
of irresistible grace and
I'm going to
explain what they mean
by this
because I have read
Calvinistic literature and
try to get their viewpoint
in order to
present
what they believe
fairly because it doesn't do anybody
any good to just make stuff up
if that's not what people actually
believe
now
Romans 9 is very
critical to all of
Calvinism so I wanted to spend a little bit more time
than I have already in the past in my other sermons
on this but before
we get deeper into
Romans 9
on the very surface
this irresistible grace
you might be thinking
well this is really stupid because the Bible
very clearly has
examples of people resisting
the grace of God
and that is a fact and that
is true now I
want to just cover this really quickly I'm going to read
a few verses for you and if you want to keep your place
here in Romans 9 you can turn to
Proverbs chapter 1
there's a few passages that
just undeniably demonstrate
that people
very
I would say even frequently
are able to resist
God's will they're able to resist
God's grace
so even just calling
this irresistible grace you might be scratching your head like
why did they even call it that and
I'll tell you I'll explain why in
a minute but these are still
important passages
to bring up because
it is relatable even in
light of their own definition
of what they mean by irresistible
grace these are still
important passages that you just can't
overlook because it's setting an example
and a precedent of what we actually see
in scripture as opposed
to their definition which again I'll cover in just a
minute which isn't in scripture
at all it's in their minds
so we're looking at
biblical passages that will cover
is it even possible that
God has this irresistible grace is
this even a thing right
just literally from the Bible if you were just to read the
Bible and say okay well obviously there's people
resisting here case closed
but they come up
with this other idea of how
the grace can be irresistible
but it's only in like special
cases under certain circumstances
when God is actually doing the saving then it
becomes irresistible
but the problem is we don't
see that in scripture anywhere
it's a deduction from their
other doctrines that they hold
it's an exercise
of logic with them
not a doctrine derived
specifically from scripture because like I said if you look at
scripture you know for example
2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 8 the Bible says
now as Jannes and Jamborees withstood Moses
so do these also
resist the truth
men of corrupt minds
reprobate concerning the faith
and it's uncanny as we
cover Calvinism and their
beliefs how many
times the reprobate
doctrine is going to appear
and come up and I think
at the heart of this Calvinism is a
gross misunderstanding of the
reprobate doctrine because
they apply it to essentially every
unbeliever as opposed to just specific
people that God has
rejected that
at the end of the day it's kind of a big sum
of the extreme
error in this
Calvinist doctrine but
2 Timothy 3.8 it says
there's people that resist the truth
right they're resisting the word of God
they're resisting the preachers of God
they're resisting the
truth of God. Acts 7 verse 51
Stephen remember the martyr
Stephen he's preaching that great sermon
against the Pharisees and the people there
that couldn't withstand the wisdom of his words
they had nothing they could say against
he's preaching the word of God powerfully
boldly I mean he's just
on fire tearing it up preaching
the word of God and he says
this in verse 51 you stiff necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears
ye do always resist the
Holy Ghost as your fathers
did so do ye
and Calvinism specifically will say
it's the Holy Ghost that's
drawing people and that's doing
that work and he's saying you're resisting
the Holy Ghost
he says you always resist the
Holy and he's speaking under the inspiration
of the Holy Ghost preaching the
word of God to these people
it's pretty evident
we have people
that God created man with the
ability to resist the
Holy Ghost the Holy Ghost
is trying to work the Holy Ghost
is trying to do its thing it's providing truth
it's you know
calling people
but these people are refusing
which is what we see in Proverbs chapter 1
look at verse number 24
the Bible says because I have called
and ye refused
I have stretched out my hand and
no man regarded
but ye have said it not
all my counsel and would
none of my reproof
I also will laugh at your calamity
I will mock when your fear cometh
when your fear cometh as desolation
and your destruction cometh as a
whirlwind when distress and anguish
cometh upon you
then shall they
call upon me but I will not answer
they shall seek me early but they shall not
find me for that they
hated knowledge and did not
what did not choose
the fear of the Lord
a plain reading of
scripture I mean
this is one example
and I am not going to belabor this point there's many
other things I want to get into this morning
but plain reading of
scripture is going to tell you in addition
to life experience here on this earth
as a human being
you have a choice
in things you have
a will
that God has given
to you to every man that
breathes on this earth has
a will and
you can choose whether or
not you will fear the Lord and
here the Bible is saying
that God is calling look I've
called but you
refused if it's so
irresistible how can God be
calling in them even be
able to refuse
that's ridiculous you say oh well
God sovereign and the will of God is always
done well it sounds to me like
he's caught like
it's such a weird
paradigm
to think that well it's God's
will to call and have them
refuse
like it's this whole play
or orchestra of saying like well I'm going to
pretend like you could even have a choice
and I'm going to call but I'm already
making sure you're not going to answer
but I'm going to call anyways
just to play this whole
thing out for whatever reason
I want to in
my heart or whatever
right like
it so doesn't
make any sense
to think of things from the Calvinist point
of view on how all of this
would have to play out when you could
literally just go to scripture and it says look
hey I've called you refused
I tried to correct you I tried to
approve you I tried to give you the truth I'm trying
to help you I love you I want to do this for you
but you know what you keep rejecting
so at the end
of the day there comes a point when people
continue to reject reject reject
where God's just like you know what fine
there's going to come a day and you're going to
call on me and I'm going to laugh at
you and I'm going to mock you because you
didn't choose the fear of the Lord now
you're going to deal with it now you're
going to suffer and that day
when you call on me I'm not going to answer you
I've been calling and
calling and calling and you didn't want to
hear it so there you go
and that's what
scripture says that's
what the Bible says we could base
doctrine on what the Bible
actually says
but they see passages
like this so they can't just say like well
any time
that the Holy Ghost
is working that
it's irresistible
obviously not
so what they say is well
but I mean you know
when God's saving
grace is is
going forward to someone and when
God really means it when God
is going to just save somebody
then it's just irresistible at that point
it's it's
it's ridiculous
is what it is because then it's like
well well show me that in
the Bible
where is
the grace resistible because we've seen examples
where it's where it is resistible
multiple examples where
it's it's clearly resistible
and I would say even in regards
to a saving faith it's
resistible
because that one key element God's given us a free
will
now the only place
that they have at all
is going to be in
Romans chapter 9 where we started
let's look at that passage again
we're going to start reading verse number 18
now I had previously
covered a lot of
this where
we took the time
to look at the biblical
references that were being referenced
about Jacob and Esau
Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated
and we looked at the two
nations that were in
in the womb
and we looked at
all the
underlying scripture and
how at the end of the day it continually
is talking about two nations two groups of people
two nations right and
I went through this passage
with that in mind which is
important to understand the underlying passage
but let's look at this again
in another light
okay let's just without
doing all of that
heavy lifting
of digging into the Bible
and a Bible study that way
let's
again just look at the surface and see how this
can even be applied verse
number 18 therefore hath
mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom
he will he
hardeneth now showing mercy to
people first of all
this
isn't just talking about
like God saving our soul it's
having mercy
and
we'll
get to the hardening in just a minute but
think about
anyone
in this world you know
you're
you're capable
everyone is capable of extending grace and mercy
to people that doesn't always
have to be equal
right like even if you're with my own children
sometimes
I may extend grace or mercy
to a child in a situation that
another child gets punished for in the
same situation
I'm not evil
because I show mercy on one
and not another
they're still responsible
for what they've done at the end of the day
does that make sense
right I mean maybe at work
you do something wrong you make a mistake
and your boss shows mercy on you
but then someone else makes the same exact mistake and they
get written up or whatever right like
these things happen
so you can have
that ability
to show
extend mercy to people versus
not extending mercy to people
and there's nothing wrong with that
but that's also not picking and choosing
someone's salvation
and this is where you know this is the big problem
is that they're applying
this type of
this passage or this type of reasoning
to a person's
individual salvation
verse number 19 it says thou wilt say
then unto me why doth he yet find
fault for who hath
resisted his will now
that's a question
who hath resisted his will
first of all like
and if you're going to start basing all of your doctrine
on a question
I would question your doctrine
because there ought to be some very clear
passages in order to make
a conclusion and say okay we're
going to believe this
but
okay
you say
well I mean if God wants something to be done
he's going to make sure it gets done
that's fine and
not a problem
and
God is all powerful
we're not taking anything away
from the power of God
even when it comes to salvation
God has the power to save souls
right?
but
the fact
that the way he made everything
is he gave mankind
a will and the requirement
or the criteria is actually
conditional in the sense that the man
has to put their faith in Jesus Christ
that's the way God made it
so it's not that
all of a sudden well how can God
if he's really all powerful
then he can just no
but he's also holy
okay and God doesn't contradict
himself
so it's not that God
is limited in his
power like just raw
power but if
God makes constraints
on the way things will be done
and orders things
it will be done that way
so if God is saying you
must believe in your heart
on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved
he's not going to go outside of that
that's what needs
to be done it doesn't make him any less powerful
and say well then some people don't get saved because
that's right but it doesn't
it's not this point of he has to
just disregard your
will and save people
anyways and that
is tied into the total depravity and everything
else and we're going to cover some of that
this morning again
but and
even in my mind I know
how these conversations go
and it's very
circular you're going to end up
covering the same things over and over
again because
they literally need all five of their points to
to prop up their doctrine and they
all rely on each other
but they're all wrong
so this is
verse number 20
let's keep reading here
nay but oh man who art thou that
replies against God shall the thing form
say to him that formed it why is thou made
me thus
hath not the potter power over the clay
of the same lump to make one vessel into
honor and another unto dishonor
what if God willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known endured
with much long suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction
and that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels
of mercy which he had
afore prepared unto glory
even us
whom he hath called not of the Jews
only but also of the
Gentiles as he saith also in
Ozi I will call them my
people which were not my people and her
beloved which was not beloved now
again in the context here
what are we looking at what are we talking
about we still see
groups of people being talked about
we still see a nation and
another nation a whole nother group
of people that are called by my name and that this
was prophesied before and that God
had the foreknowledge of all of these things
which is why he chose
this nation which is why he chose that
nation he chose people to bring forth
his word
but it's not this
it's never done
in a way where God is
removing your
will
to impress
himself on you
and just it doesn't even matter
what you want
God is saving you regardless
and you can't
that's the conclusion of Calvinism but
how do you derive that from the passage in context
it really
it just isn't there
and you can say yes
God's will is being done and he's doing
certain things and he's causing
some things to happen and he's
maybe even intervening in people's lives
but none of this can
conclude with
well therefore he is just automatically
saving some and not saving others
it's a
bad conclusion with the evidence
that we have now
I'm gonna cover this right
now
before I get into John 6
John 6 is huge for this particular
doctrine of theirs
but
turn if you go to John 12 and then we'll
go to John 6
because I think this is
key to understanding
or for the misunderstanding
and the confusion
that comes
from Calvinism and
again it's tied into the concept
of a reprobate so
even in Romans chapter 9 it brings
up Pharaoh and it talks about
God hardening
people's hearts
and in the hardening
of the heart that
is God
sealing somebody and
making it incapable for them
to believe
but
it's not at random
it's not
for no reason
it's people who have already
of their own will
hardened their own heart
it's people who have already
chose to reject we saw the
pattern in Proverbs chapter 1
the people always start off
by doing the rejecting
by resisting the Holy Ghost
by not wanting to receive
the things of God by hearing them
and wanting to have nothing to do with it
they hear the truth they hear the correction
they say no and they harden
their own heart against the things of God
every example in Scripture of
people becoming reprobate you see this happening
you see it happen with Pharaoh
even literally in the language and I've
taken the time to go over that in the past I'm not going to do it this morning
read the story
read how many times
when Moses approached
Pharaoh saying hey let my people go
right thus saith the Lord and every
plague and you're going to see the
progression now God
said look I'm going to harden Pharaoh's heart
but in the Scripture it tells us
at what point God starts
hardening Pharaoh's heart
because at the beginning
Pharaoh's hardening his own heart
Pharaoh's just saying well who is the Lord
and he doesn't want anything to do with it and he doesn't want to hear it
and he doesn't care about it
and eventually it gets to the point
where you know what God is hardening his heart
and then it kind of goes back and forth between Pharaoh
hardening his own heart and God hardening Pharaoh's heart
and that
is a perfect example
of God
saying okay look you're done now
and
he's made it impossible
for Pharaoh to believe
which then allows God to
perform all of the
miracles and show his strong arm
to deliver his people
and to demonstrate that God is
all powerful and for his
purpose to bring a great
deliverance unto his people
and that his name would be spread far
and wide
but the only time we see
this happening
is with people who have been
rejected with people who are
given over to this reprobate
mind where God hardens their heart
we do not see
the example
of
in the way that the Calvinist
would say it of someone just
being irresistibly saved
I mean I would say even when
the Apostle Paul had his experience
on the road to Damascus
with Jesus Christ himself
he didn't get saved in that instant
on the road still
he had that vision and he had that
conversation but he still had the scales
on his eyes he was still blinded
and he had to go
and receive his sight by
the minister by whom
he believed that was
there to
preach the truth unto him
and then he got saved
and baptized just like
everyone else who gets saved and
baptized
he still had the choice for himself
to make as
anyone else did
now God prepared him
God knew from the
foundation of the world that the Apostle Paul
would believe
because God knows everything
like I covered that before
but he didn't force him to
he didn't just say
well no that's it I don't care if you don't even want
to be saved you're just saved
like that never happens in scripture
and even the people God hardens
they're not looking
for God
they are not seeking God
they are rejecting God they are actively
rejecting God they want to have nothing to do with God
and God's just like well then fine
I'll reject you
so the only examples are
and the way
that the Bible talks about the reprobate
lines up perfectly as the equal
opposite of the person who gets saved
because the person who gets saved is by
their choice essentially
I'm going to put my trust in my faith
I'm going to receive the truth
I'm going to seek God
I want to know what the truth is
you seek the Lord
and even those who don't seek
when you hear the truth you respond to it
you receive it and say yes
and you put your trust in Jesus Christ
and you make that decision to do that
and from that moment you're born again
you can never lose that salvation
you are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise
Amen
and on the opposite side
the people who reject
and just don't want to have anything to do
with the Lord that hate God
they've heard it
they know it
don't want to have anything to do with it
He's called, they refused
didn't want to have anything to do with it
well then now they're sealed the other way
when they become born again
unto Satan
when they become children of the devil
a believer becomes a child of God
and the reprobate becomes a child of the devil
and that's the two categories
of people once they've hit that
point in their life
that determining point
of just of making the decision
one way or the other
now in John chapter 12
let me find the
excuse me the reference
okay
yeah actually let's get this in context
because I'm looking for verse number 39 here
but
let's
go up to verse number 31
the Bible reads
now is the judgment of this world
now shall the prince of this world
be cast out
and I if I be
lifted up from the earth will draw
all men unto me and I brought this up in the past
and I'm just going to bring it up again since we're right here
Jesus being lifted up from the earth
is talking about him being lifted up
on that cross
he was lifted up from the earth his body was hanging on that cross
and this did happen
so you know what he did he drew all men unto him
because he's dying for the sins of all men
go back and listen to the
limited atonement that sermon I preached
where I covered this because it's not just
for the sins of some it was for the sins of all
then he said
this he said signifying what death
he should die so if you didn't know what it meant by
lifting up from the earth well the next verse
obviously is telling us it's about his death
the people answered him we have heard
out of the law that Christ abideth forever
and how sayest thou the son of man must be
lifted up who is the son of man
then Jesus said unto them
yet a little while is the light with you
walk while you have the light
lest darkness come upon you
for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not
whither he goeth while you
have light believe in the light that you
may be the children of light these
things spake Jesus and departed and it
hide himself from them
but though he had done so
many miracles before them yet they
believed not on him
that the saying of
Isaias the prophet might be fulfilled
which he spake Lord
who hath believed our report and to whom
at the arm of the Lord been revealed
therefore they could not
believe because
that Isaias said again he hath
blinded their eyes and
hardened their heart that they should
not see with their eyes nor understand what
their heart and be converted and I should heal them
now
these are people
let me put it this way
we know from scripture actually intended
on getting this reference that
satan is the god of this world
satan is blinding
people to the truth right satan
is trying to draw people away to not hear
the truth there's ministers
of the devil that are actively
trying to get people to not hear
the truth and to
accept anything
other than the truth
they wouldn't need to do that
at all if god had already
hardened every person's
heart
I say this
because it's like this is
this is brought up in scripture
as a special event when god hardened
someone's heart it's
not something that happens from
birth right and their total
depravity doctrine is
stating that every person
is just automatically
in this condition
well they can't believe they can't
believe and that nobody can
believe unless god
grants
the ability to
believe to the person that he wants
to save
as opposed to
no you start
off with the ability to
believe
from birth because god's not willing that
any should perish but that all should come to repentance
because jesus christ died for the sins of all
men
and then there can
come a point after
the attempts after the calling
after the effort put
forth where
okay now you're not going to
and this is where the
people get to where they don't want
accept anything that they've heard
the people who are around christ they
saw the miracles
right they are seeing everything being done
but they still have rejected
and then at that point it doesn't matter
anything more that they see because then
god has just shut their heart
and hardened their heart and made it so that they
can't believe
on the one hand you've got christians who
don't want to believe that this is possible that god
makes it so that some people can't believe because they
want to think that a person can get saved until the day of
their death
that's not always the case sometimes that's the
case the thief on the cross he had
till the time of his death he was able to believe
because he did believe
but that's not the way it is for everybody
for some people
they get to this point where
their heart is hardened
and their eyes are blinded by god
not just the devil see everyone
every unbeliever they have their eyes blinded
by the devil
by this world by the things of this world
but when god blinds your eyes
you're done
it's over
so let's flip back
to john chapter 6
john 6 verse number 25 we're going to pick up reading there
the bible reads and when they had found
him on the other side of the sea they said unto
him rabbi when camest thou hither
jesus answered them and said
verily verily i say unto you you seek me
not because you saw the miracles
but because you did eat of the loaves and
were filled so this is after one of the miracles of
jesus feeding thousands of people with the loaves
of bread right
and these certain people
were looking for jesus
so they're asking about him they found out he crossed the river
or crossed the lake
and he's gone this other side
and they're looking for him and jesus
flat out says look you're not looking
for me because i am a miracle
worker you know because spiritual
things you only cared about
the food you're looking for another hand
out you're looking for another meal
you're thinking wow look at this guy we could just
let's just follow this guy along and he'll just keep on
giving us food like
you're missing the whole point and you're
seeking the wrong thing
and it says in verse 27 and he teaches
he said look labor not for the meat which perishes
but for the meat for that
meat which endureth unto everlasting
life which the son of man shall give
unto you for him hath god the father
sealed so the reason we're even
starting here this these are not the passages
that the calvinist is going to use
to show irresistible grace
it's later on but
we start off with the context
of who he's speaking to and who it is
that's seeking him and why they're seeking
him it matters
it matters if you're going to make the deduction
that the calvinist want to make regarding
this this topic
so this context of this part
of the passage shows who jesus
is speaking to they're only
looking for jesus for the
carnal for the physically being fed
not for any other purpose they
weren't amazed at his doctrine it's not the
spiritual meat they were seeking
let's keep reading verse 28
then said they unto him what
shall we do that we might work the works of god
jesus answered
and said unto them this is the work
of god that you believe on him whom
he had sent and
look they're they're still focused
on carnal they're still focused
on works it's like well what do we need to do then
and
he just simply just says well look
all you need to do is believe
this is it here's the work believe
you know and some
fools will say oh see look believing is a work
like
no he's answering
you don't have to work because
it's believe like here's
the work that's it oh you want to work
at believe
they said therefore unto
him what sign show
us thou then that we may see and believe
thee what does thou work
these
people they already saw
a sign they
already saw the food
and knew where it came from and that's why they were
even there
this doesn't look like the sign of a sincere
person who's actually seeking
the truth to me
because it doesn't
take much to put two and two together here
you've got the message being
clearly taught to them I mean it's
you couldn't ask for anything clearer
Jesus is not speaking
darkly here
he's not even just
using a parable he's
literally just saying here's the work
believe like that's what
you need to do very clearly
and now it's like well I mean
you know what what work do you do
our fathers did eat manna in the desert as
it is written he gave them bread from heaven to
eat and
they're literally going back to
to the manna
and well that's how we knew Moses was
of God really
the manna came way after
the deliverance from Egypt
anyways but
let's keep reading it
verse number 32 and I mean here
they're just more combative
and what do they bring up they bring up food
they're like well Moses fed the people with food
right every day
so Moses
did that work and that's why we can trust Moses
now what about you are you going to feed us
every day like Moses gave them food for free
every day
verse 32 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
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 but I said unto
you that ye also have seen
me and believe not
so
he's telling he continues to tell
the truth but he's saying look you've you've
seen and you still don't believe
like this is your problem
you've seen not only me you've seen the
miracles you see they've seen this stuff
all that the father giveth me shall
come to me and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out so this is
one of those passages
though that the Calvinists are going to say see
look all that the father giveth me shall come
to me and they're going to say
well then these guys
the father didn't give them to him because
the father doesn't want them to be saved
but that's that's you're starting to read
into what the Bible is
actually saying here
right you can see where they come
to this deduction
but
who is even talking about when it says
all that the father giveth me
shall come to me
and how does that happen right
there's a lot of logical leaps that need to be
made to support the Calvinist doctrine
before you can get to that point
let's keep reading because this is important
there's a couple other passages in the same context
that they're going to use
but again
God the father in his
foreknowledge giving people to Jesus
is
another thing to consider
if we're going to read things
into things that aren't literally specifically
stated there so the Calvinist
is going to say that oh
well it's because
God doesn't want them to be saved
right I'm going to say it's because
God already knew
their heart just as Jesus
could see their heart
that they weren't
genuinely believing anyways and they
didn't want to have anything to do with Jesus they just wanted
the food
that's all they cared about and that's all they were seeking
verse 38
for I came down
from heaven not to do mine own will
but the will of him that sent me and this
is the father's will which had sent me
that of all which he hath given me I should lose
nothing but should raise it up again at the last
day and this is the will of him that
sent me that everyone which seeth the son
and believeth on him may have everlasting life
and I will raise him up
at the last day and
I mean just as scripture does
everywhere
it's believe believe believe believe believe
believe believe look if you believe
everyone that believes
it kind of sounds
like you have a choice in the matter
it's not just making a statement
of fact that like well who believe
well I mean but you can't do that unless God makes you believe
like where do you come away
with that
literally just reading scripture
I mean all the time however many times
you've read the Bible you read the New Testament
and you see all these great truths
well hey it's whosoever whosoever
believeth whosoever shall call upon the name
of the Lord who's it kind of makes
it sound like anybody can do it
how
deceptive of a book
to make it all completely
sound like you actually have a choice
in the matter if you don't really
have that choice
and there's really nothing
that you can do because everything
in your heart is completely wicked
all the time you never
would even have it in you
the ability to put your trust
in Jesus Christ
that's what the Calvinist believes
is that it is impossible for an
unregenerated man for an
unsaved man to
put their faith in
Christ
that is
the problem here and that's why
they say it has to be
irresistible grace
it has to be
because mankind
is completely incapable
of making
a decision that would be
one that would
be the right decision
towards God
because they say you're incapable of doing anything
right
that is
ludicrous and insane
and literally just
goes against the common
regular reading that anyone
would have of reading
the scripture and just
coming to a conclusion on doctrine that is
thinking way too hard about things
and coming up with goofy
doctrines
but let's keep
reading here where did we leave off what verse did I leave
off on
38
well let's
just start reading at 38 again
for I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me
and this is the father's will which had sent
me that of all which he hath
given me I should lose nothing
but should raise it up again at the last day
and this is the will of him that sent me
that everyone which seeth the son and believeth
on him may have everlasting life I will
raise and I will raise him up at the last day
the Jews then murmured at him because he
said I am the bread which came down from heaven
and they said is not this Jesus the son of
Joseph whose father and mother we know
how is it then that he saith I came down
from heaven Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them murmur not among yourselves
no man can come
to me except the father which has sent me draw
him and I will
raise him up at
the last day and this is why
I'm you know when we started reading John 12
we already see
that it was God's
intention that everyone would be drawn to
Christ as I'm going to draw all men unto me
through his death through his crucifixion
verse 45
as it is written in the prophets and they shall
be all taught of God
every man
therefore that hath heard and hath
learned of the father
cometh unto me and this is
a great clarification of the people
who are coming to him right
you say well you can't come unless the father is drawing you
well how is he
going to draw them through the word of God
not magically
it's not some weird magic thing
that just happens that nobody knows
about because that's what they're going to try to say well it's the
Holy Spirit just just moving that we just
don't even know and it just he
just does it no how does
God draw he draws through his word
he's drawing people
by telling the truth by giving
you the information he's drawing
you which is why he says it is
written in the prophets he's telling
us what the word of God said
when he's doing
the drawing
and they shall be
all taught of God
everybody's going to
hear the teaching you're going to receive
the word of God
every man therefore that hath heard
and hath learned
so it's not just everyone that heard
it's everyone
that heard and learned of the father
cometh unto me
so everyone's
supposed to hear the word of God everyone's supposed to
get the word of God preached to them that's the
drawing from the word of God
but once you hear and learn
of the father he's saying well now you're coming
to me why because if you have
the son you have the father and this is
Jesus speaking on this earth hey
you're going to come to me because you've
already gone to the father people
who are already saved are going to Jesus
I believe
this too there are plenty of people on this
earth that were saved before
Jesus ministry
right just as there were
before his birth into this world but just
as there has been throughout all
history people have been saved and people
getting baptized who were the first people getting
baptized by John the Baptist I believe it's people who
are already saved
probably people
who are just loving to preach and wow this is great
and baptism was a new
thing yeah I'll get baptized I've
been saved for 10 years I'll get baptized
you got to start sometime right
and that's why you're going to have
these huge numbers of people getting baptized
not just new believers
I'm not saying there wasn't a bunch of new believers sure
there was a bunch of new believers also but it wasn't just
solely new believers
that's our frame of thinking
because
we're all way past the beginning of
baptism
but at that time there were plenty of people
and people who then were responding
to Christ were people
who already knew the father
so they've
already been saved by
the Lord they've
already had their trust in the Lord
and
now they're following Christ
but
that's another sermon for another day
like were his disciples even saved
some people say stupid things like his disciples
weren't even saved until
after the death of Christ
no they were saved
there were some things they didn't understand
as it was happening right there
but it doesn't
mean they were unsaved
but again that's a whole another
can of worms Calvinism is enough of
a can of worms to deal with so
I want to cover
one last point before we're done
turn if you would to
Romans chapter 10
and I think one of the things that exposes
Calvinism for how
weird and bizarre of a doctrine it is
is understanding this
this teaching in this
the only the thing that has to be true
for Calvinism to be true
is that
regeneration
precedes
faith
because
what they say and if you don't understand
what I'm saying I'll explain it here
an unsaved person
is incapable of putting their trust
in Christ
the only way a person
can put their trust in Christ according to Calvinism
is they have to already
God's already have to have
saved them
to have that new man
to be able to then
put their faith in Christ and do something
good and do something
that they're even capable of doing
they have to already have
that new man to then
put their faith in Christ
now
they try to downplay this by saying well it's like
instantaneous it's like so
close to just it's all
it's all just combined as one thing
but no
you actually can't put your faith
in Christ without being regenerated
first
now what's that word
regenerated what's the genesis or generation
of something it's a birth it's a
beginning right it's a start
so you have to have that new start you have to have that
new beginning it's that new
birth
it's being born again
and
John the book of John
John chapter 3 clearly explains what
this means but before we
get to John 3 Romans 10
clearly outlines how people
get saved
Romans 10 verse 13
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved how
then shall they call on him
in whom they have not
believed
now does the next part
say and how shall they believe in
him who have not been
regenerated
it doesn't say that
but I mean they're so
staunch on this is what has
to happen yet the Bible doesn't tell us
that it's their own
vain philosophy
and their own damnable heresy that's
teaching them that it's a
made up doctrine
it's not coming from the word of God
because the word of God simply says hey look
all you have to do is
call upon the name of the Lord well how are you going to call on the name
of the Lord if you don't believe in him and then how are you going to believe
if you haven't heard you have to hear the
word of God in order to be
taught of God in order to learn
of the Father in order to learn of Jesus
and learn of these things
and then to believe and
then to call
and how
shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach that they be
sent as is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel
of peace and bring back tidings of good things
but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah
saith the Lord who hath believed our report
so then which is funny it brings up that
same passage that we talked about in John chapter
12 who hath believed our report
where God has caused some people not to be able to
believe so then faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God how does
faith come by hearing
by hearing does faith come
by God choosing you and regenerating
you and then allowing you to put your faith in God
no
it comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword
the word of God is able
to do that work but look
you have to still
make the choice
and an unregenerate man
yes an unsaved man can make
that choice
that was claimed they can't but
the truth of the matter is they can and
when you and the evidence of
them being wrong is this
ridiculous doctrine that
says well you can't even put your faith
in God unless you're regenerated first
because that is so
contradictory
to when we're saved
we are not saved before we put our
faith in God
we are not born again before our faith
is put in Christ
doesn't happen that way anywhere in scripture
John chapter 3
and this is I mean this is the most
basic doctrine this is the most fundamental
doctrine I show this to people who are unsaved
at the door because it's so fundamental
and basic this understanding
of being born again
John chapter 3 verse number 3 that's what
regenerated means and let's
see if the Bible is teaching us that
well once this happens
to you then you put your faith
in Christ or
the other way around
John 3 3 the Bible says Jesus
answered and said unto him verily verily I say unto thee
except a man be born again
he cannot see the kingdom of God
obviously we have to be born again in order to be
saved in order to see the kingdom of God
Nicodemus saith unto him
how can a man be born when he is old can he enter the
second time into his mother's womb and be born
that's physically
minded that's carnal minded just like the
people who were thinking about the bread
were just thinking about eating real bread instead
of the spiritual aspect
of it Jesus answered verily verily I say
unto thee except a man be born of water
and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom
of God that which is born of the flesh is flesh
which by the way is born of water
you are born of water
born of spirit two
births only two
the next verse verse 6 says
that which is born of the flesh
is one birth that which is born
of the spirit is the other birth
well that which is born of
the spirit he already referenced
in the previous birth
right born of water born of the
spirit born of the flesh born of the spirit
well born of the spirit born of the spirit are the same thing
you know what that means
born of the water and born of the
flesh are the same thing born of the water
is not baptism
born of the water is
like when
Leslie texted me last night saying hey
Mrs. Johnson's water broke
and then she had a baby
amazing
it's a water birth it's a physical
birth that which is born of the flesh
so that child has its first birth
and
you know hopefully
we pray that the child
will live long enough and receive
Christ and have a second birth as well
Marvel not that day
you must be born again
so how does a person become
born again how do they become regenerated
well John chapter 1
spells this out for us
John 1 verse 12 but as many
as received him
to them
gave you power to become
the sons of God even to
them that believe on his
name
and
is
a believing coming before or after
those
that believe on his name are
the ones that have the power
to become
a son of God
those that believe
on the name of Christ
then have the power
to become a
son of God which is
when that regeneration takes
place after
you believe
scripture teaches
that clearly
you must believe
first and
then you become a son of God
then you become a child
of God that is when you have that
regeneration
it cannot happen before
Calvinism
relies on
their thoughts or their false
idea that you have to be regenerated
first and then
you put your faith in Christ
it's ridiculous
we've covered
a lot of scriptures over I've got one more
sermon left to finish off the Tulip
but
seriously
some of these
things are just so obvious
you know don't let
the Calvinists try to spin your head
around in Romans chapter 8
and Romans chapter 9 and
Ephesians chapter 1
because you know where it leads
it leads to the
nonsense of saying well you've got to be
saved before you believe that's
at the end of the day when you boil
down everything that you believe that's what it
boils down to and are you
really going to say oh yeah that's true
no way
not a chance
it's a different
God
it's a different
salvation
it's a different means of
salvation
everything about it is
inherently at the fundamental level
different than the truth it's a lie
it's a lie out of the pit of hell
and this evening I'm going to
cover the the the P part
and we'll close up this whole series
on Calvinism but you know
make notes you know
when you run across people because sometimes you
run across people that I think
are sincere are very sincere
in wanting to know the truth but
they've gotten their heads screwed around
by this stuff
and they just need to
see clearly
how it's demonstrably
false that they
can repent of that
weird doctrine and get
right on the subject and
see yeah I'm not going to mess around with that at all
because it is so so weird
but it needs to be spelled out
so so use some of these passages
if you don't already know them
to to help explain
that to other people and show the error of
Calvinism show show them
for what it is Spyroheads have a word of prayer dear Lord
excuse me
we love you and thank you so much
for making your word
overall just on the
surface very clear and easy to understand
in the sense that
we we know you're not a god that's that's
trying to be deceitful and subtle
and use words and guile
to make us suppose or think
that we might actually have a will
in this life to be able to choose
but that you're
you're not some some god that's just
trying to be deceitful to make us
have that appearance when we don't in fact
actually have a choice to
make we thank you for giving us that choice
thank you for the free will you've given us
you've allowed us to
willingly love you
and to give you the only thing that
we that we even have
is that will and that desire to serve
you dear Lord and
we thank you for doing
everything for us
and making salvation so easy
and free and that free gift
of just trusting you
for our own salvation
and god I pray that you please help
us to destroy these damnable
doctrines of devils that are out there
and help us to
bring to light the truth
from your word and I pray that
you would you would just help us in that
endeavor and help us to to have clarity
of mind and soundness of speech
and and be able to
just express
the truth from your word and in
a way that that makes sense and
isn't confusing for people or we love you
Jesus name we pray Amen
all right we're gonna sing one last song
before we're dismissed
let's turn to song number three hundred
and six
so number three one
six down the volume
of the page
I have decided to follow
Jesus
I have decided to follow Jesus
Jesus
I have decided
to follow Jesus
I have decided
to follow
Jesus
I have decided
to follow
Jesus
No turning back
No
Go with me
Still I will follow
No
Go with me
Still I will follow
No
Go with me
Still I will follow
No turning back, no turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me.
No turning back, no turning back.
Amen.
The world behind me, the cross before me.
Amen.