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Now, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is there in verse 17 where the Bible reads, And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely. And what I want to preach about this morning is I want to cover the false doctrine of Calvinism. You know, there's a doctrine out there called Calvinism that basically flies in the face of this scripture because this scripture teaches that whosoever will may come and take the water of life freely. What does it mean whosoever will? It means whosoever is willing, whosoever wants to. It's available to all and God in this final chapter of the Bible is making one last invitation to the lost. He's making one last appeal to the unsaved, basically asking them to come to the water of life. It's their choice. It's their decision to be willing or unwilling to be saved. See all throughout the Bible, the concept of choosing is present. You know, all the way back in the book of Deuteronomy, God says, I've set before you a blessing and a curse. I've set before you life and death. He says, Choose life. In Joshua, he said, Choose you this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Let me just explain to you what Calvinism teaches and then I'm going to disprove it from the Bible. I'm going to use a lot of scripture this morning and teach you that all five points of Calvinism, all five of these doctrines are false doctrine. And unfortunately, this is a doctrine that creeps into a lot of independent fundamental Baptist churches today. It's a doctrine that you're going to be exposed to. It's a doctrine that the Presbyterians hang onto very strongly and we need to refute this with sound biblical doctrine, okay? First of all, Calvinism teaches that there is no choice involved in salvation. It's God who does the choosing. They do not believe that a person has the choice to be saved or not saved but that God has already made that choice and that it is not based on anything that we say, do, believe. It's just God's will. He just chooses to same some and damn the others, okay? Calvinism teaches that Jesus Christ did not die for everyone and that salvation is not offered to everyone but that rather it is only for an elect chosen few that God has already foreordained or predestined to be saved. Now Calvinism has five main points and these points spell the word tulip. Isn't that cute? But it spells the word tulip and these five points are all false doctrine. Let me tell you what they are. First of all, the T stands for total depravity of man. The U stands for unconditional election. The L stands for limited atonement. That's the part where they say Jesus did not die for everyone. I mean there are so many, well we'll get to that point. I stands for irresistible grace and P stands for perseverance of the saints. These are the five foundational doctrines of Calvinism. They are all false and you'll run into people who are a five point Calvinist or some people say well I'm a three point Calvinist but I'm here to tell you that all of the five points of Calvinism are all false and they are all easily disproven by scripture. So let's start out with the first one, total depravity. Total depravity is the point that they believe that takes the choice out of salvation. It basically eliminates man's free will, that man has no free will because what they believe is that total depravity is the condition of the unsaved that they are unable to even turn to God, to even believe on the Lord Jesus Christ unless God does it for them. I mean they basically believe that man is just totally depraved because he has no good thing in his flesh therefore he is unable to turn to God and be saved, unable to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So therefore God has to give him the faith to be able to believe on Jesus Christ. That's what Calvinism teaches. Now the Bible teaches that we have to make the choice or the decision to turn to Jesus Christ by faith, to believe on him, to come to him and take the water of life freely. Calvinism removes the free will out of salvation. Now let me show you some scriptures on this. Go back to John chapter 5. Maybe whosoever will may come, that doesn't jive with total depravity because they're teaching that whosoever will is unable to come. Because they teach you're unable to come unless God chooses you and then he makes you come. Well that's not whosoever will may come. Now look what the Bible teaches in John chapter 5 verse 39 because this total depravity teaches that man has no free will in regard to salvation. God chooses who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Let's see if that jives with what the Bible teaches. It says in John 5, 39, search the scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me, verse 40, and ye will not come to me that ye might have life. So right there the reason why people don't have life is because they will not come to him. And the will there is referring to their will. They don't want to come to him. They are not willing to come to him. He says you will not come to me that you might have life. Flip over to chapter 6, John chapter 6. Now in John chapter 6 you're going to find a verse that Calvinists will often use to prove their point of total depravity. They'll use this point to say well man is unwilling to turn to Christ. He's not willing, I'm sorry, they'll say goodnight. I'm saying he's not willing. They say he's not even able to. He can't. He can't believe on Christ. This is the one that they'll show you in John 6, 44. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. So that verse right there is a verse that Calvinists will use to say hey, see, you can't come to Christ. You cannot come to salvation except the Father draw you. You must be drawn of the Father. Okay, keep that in mind. Flip over to chapter 12. Because in John 6, 44 it says no man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. That's a verse that Calvinists love to quote, but here's the part that they didn't get to in the book of John. Chapter 12 verse 32. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. So he says well no man can come unto me except the Father draw him. See, unsaved people cannot be saved unless God chooses them and gives them the grace and the faith to bring. So, it says if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. This he said signifying what death he should die. Of course the Calvinists will just tell you that all doesn't really mean all. Well I wonder if believe doesn't really mean believe. I wonder if cross doesn't really mean cross. I wonder if heaven doesn't really mean heaven or hell doesn't really mean hell. I mean that's a pretty foolish argument to say all doesn't mean all. But I'm going to prove to you a little later in the sermon that all really does mean all. But he says here that he will draw all men unto him signifying what death he should die. Another scripture that Calvinists will point to is later on in the chapter in John 12 verse 39 where it says, Therefore they could not believe because the desire said before, He had blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them. But of course we know, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it, we can compare that with Romans 1. This is talking about people that are reprobate. This is talking about people that have already been rejected, they've already rejected Christ and so he's blinded their minds and given them over to a reprobate mind. You know, on your own time compare that with Romans 1 and it explains that perfectly. But if you would go to Ephesians chapter 8 because the Calvinists will take Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 and they will try to say that, you know, man is unable to turn to Christ for salvation, man is unable to believe on Christ, God has to give him the faith so that he can even be saved. So God chooses you, then he makes you believe. That's what Calvinism teaches. It's false. Look, people make their own choice whether they're going to be saved or not. They hear the word of God and they choose to either believe it or not believe it. That's what the Bible teaches. But look at Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, it says, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. Now Calvinists are grammatically challenged and so therefore they will actually tell you that the gift of God in this verse is faith. Now that is a complete failure of grammar both in English and in the original language. It's impossible for the gift of God be referring to faith. It just doesn't work, okay? Now look at this verse carefully. It says, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, okay? Now notice the phrase not of yourselves, okay? It is the gift of God. Now Calvinists will look at that and say, see, faith is the gift of God. Faith is not of yourselves. But hold on a second, look at the next verse. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Now look, obviously the not of yourselves and the not of works are both parallel statements. But guess what they're both referring to, salvation, that you're saved. Now just to prove this further, there are many scriptures that describe salvation as the gift of God. Go to John chapter 4, John chapter number 4. And there is not a scripture that teaches that faith is the gift of God, as much as Calvinists who are grammatically challenged would like to say that Ephesians 2.8 is telling you that faith is the gift of God. It says, for by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. What is not of works? Salvation's not of works. Now to say faith is not of works doesn't make any sense, because we already know faith is not of works. I mean faith is faith and works is work. He's saying salvation's not of works, salvation's not of yourselves, salvation's the gift of God. But if you would look at John chapter 4 verse 10, it says, Jesus answered and said unto If thou knewest what? 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. So here the Bible talks about asking for the gift of God, and what are we asking for? Living water. That's the water of life. That's eternal life. The Bible uses that description all the time. And he's saying you ask and you receive living water, that is the gift of God. And in Romans 6.23 the Bible says, for by grace are you saved, good night, I'm just getting everything wrong today, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is what? Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So all throughout the Bible, the term gift of God or the gift there, we see it referring to salvation, not to faith, and that also defies grammar to try to make the gift of God refer to faith in Ephesians chapter 2. Now Calvinists will often say, well, you know, the Bible never mentions free will. I've had Calvinists say that to me, somebody said to me recently, you know, show me free will of the Bible, show me where the Bible says free will. And I said, okay, here's 17 verses that use the word free will. Because I've had them say that the word free will is not found in the Bible, but yet it's found there 17 times. And I'm not going to read all of them for you. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 3, but while you're turning there I'll read for you some verses that use the term free will. For example, Ezra 8.28 says, and I said unto them, ye are holy unto the Lord, the vessels are holy also, and the silver and the gold are a free will offering unto the Lord God of your fathers. Psalm 119, 108, except I beseech thee the free will offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgments. So 17 times in the Old Testament, the term free will is used to talk about offerings that people bring. And it says, let him bring it of his own free will. You know, bringing free will offerings, basically these are things that are not necessarily commanded by God, they're just things that you decide that you want to give to God. That's your free will offering, okay. So the word free will is found in the Bible, even though Calvinists do not believe in free will. Look at 2 Peter 3, 9, it says, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So the Bible is clear that if it were God who decided who would be saved and who would be not, if it was according to God's will, then basically his will would be that no one would perish, and that all would come to repentance. So this idea that God only chooses certain people and it's all according to his will is false. It's our will that either causes us to believe on Christ or causes us to reject Christ. That's our own will at work, that's our own free will. Okay, so that's the first point of Calvinism, total depravity. It doesn't line up with Scripture. Jesus said, whosoever will, he said, you're not willing, you will not come to me that you might have life. The second point of Calvinism is unconditional election, that's the you and the tulip. Go to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9 is what they use to teach unconditional election. And when they talk about election, they're talking about being one of the elect, being saved. Well, let me say this, there is a condition upon being saved. It's not unconditional. And anybody who's a computer, who's a computer programmer, I know we have several in our church, one, two, three, four. So you know, I don't know why our church is filled with computer programmers, but it is. So we have four men in our church who are professional computer programmers, so they understand the concept of conditions, you know, the if-then, right, is important in computer programming. Well, the condition of salvation is found clearly in Romans 10. We're going to go to Romans 9, but just look at Romans 10, 9. It says that if, that if, this is why computer programmers like my preaching, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Is there a condition based upon, placed upon salvation? Yeah, there's a condition. You have to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead. That's the condition. So it's not just, well, I just save you because you're the elect and I chose you before the foundation of the world, so you're going to be saved no matter what. No. It's you. If you do it, you'll be saved. There's a condition there. Go to Romans 9. I'm going to show you the scripture that Calvinists use to teach unconditional election. Look at Romans 9, 10. It says, and not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac. Watch verse 11. This is their key verse. For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau 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. The scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power 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 will he hardeneth. So basically Calvinists will use this passage to teach that, you know, unconditional election in regard to salvation. God chooses you to be saved before the foundation of the world, not based on any of your own merits, not based on anything that you've said or done, or believed, it's just all based on God's will and God's election. But hold on a second, let's look at this more carefully, because the reality is that this passage that we just read is not referring to personal salvation whatsoever. Now you might look at it on the surface and say, wow, I kind of see their point. Yeah, if you're thinking about salvation because they told you, oh look, see, this is about salvation. If you have that false assumption in your mind that we're talking about salvation, then yeah, it looks like, okay, yeah, before they were even born. Let me prove to you right now that this has nothing to do with salvation. In fact, it's not even about Jacob and Esau, the people. It's about the nations. Let me prove it to you. Go back to verse 10. And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, verse 11, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works but of him that calleth, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger as it is written, Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated. Now look, let me give you a tip on interpreting the New Testament. Whenever you're reading the New Testament and he quotes the Old Testament, always go back and look up those quotes, because that will help you understand the passage. See here, there are two quotes given. Verse 12 has a quote, the elder shall serve the younger, right? And then verse 13 has another quote, as it is written, Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated. Let's look up those two quotes and then Romans 9 will be crystal clear. Go back to Genesis 25 and let's look up the first quote. So remember, this is about Rebekah. She's pregnant with twins, she's pregnant with Jacob and Esau, and the children are in the womb. Have your children done any good or evil at this point? No, they're just, they're in the womb, the children are there, and look what it says in Genesis 25 verse 22, and the children struggled together within her. So here's a woman that's pregnant with twins and her two children in her stomach are fighting with each other. Now you know, she doesn't want to be a walking battleground, so she, you know, she goes to inquire of the Lord and says, the children struggled together within her and she said, if it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord and the Lord said unto her, watch for the quote from Romans 9, two nations are in thy womb and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels and the one people shall be stronger than the other people and the elder shall serve the younger. Now let me ask you this, is this saying that the elder child is going to serve the younger child? It's saying that they are two nations and that the elder child's nation will serve the younger child's nation, because he says it twice. He says that there are two nations in thy womb and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels and the one people shall be stronger than the other people. Does it say that the one son's going to be stronger than the other son? No, it says people, people, people, nation, nation, nation, and he says the elder shall serve the younger. Now just to prove to you that that quote is not referring to the individuals, but is referring to the nations, all you have to do is read the book of Genesis and it gives you the rest of Jacob's life story and it tells you where Esau ends up and all the families and the kingdom that he sets up and let me show you something. Nowhere do we ever see Esau serving Jacob, nowhere. Nowhere do we ever see Esau being inferior to Jacob, serving Jacob, making obeisance to Jacob. In fact, the opposite is what takes place. There's a time where Jacob is bowing down to Esau, where Jacob is giving gifts and presents unto Esau. That's what actually happened in the story. So when God here is talking about the elder serving the younger, that never happened in these boys' lifetime. But what about the two nations? What was Esau's name changed to? Edom. What was Jacob's name changed to? Okay, so what about the nations of Israel and Edom? Did Edom serve Israel? Oh yeah. Okay. Was Edom weaker than Israel? Yep. So this prophecy came true about the nations, about the people, okay? Now go if you would to Malachi chapter 1. Let's look at the other quote from Romans 9. Malachi chapter 1. Malachi chapter number 1. You see, if you study the Bible, Esau was really not even that bad of a guy. Now Esau, yes, he did wrong in his life. Let's quickly go through the wrong things that Esau did. The first wrong thing that Esau did was, of course, he despised his birthright, okay? He sold his birthright for a bowl of pottage, for a bowl of food, okay? He did not understand the value of the things of God or of his heritage as the son of Isaac, so he sold his birthright. That was the first bad thing that he did, and that's a major thing that he's rebuked for in the New Testament also, okay? The second bad thing that he did was he married two women who were of the heathen of the land of the Canaanites. So first he sold his birthright, then he married two heathen wives, and when he saw that his parents were upset with the heathen wives he'd married, then Esau took on a third wife of the daughters of Ishmael, as if that would somehow make things better, okay? Obviously the Bible teaches we should only have one wife, and we should choose a wife that's saved, a godly wife. So that's the next mistake that he made. Okay, the third mistake that he made was that he hated his brother Jacob, and he desired to kill Jacob. Now, of course, we should not hate our brother. Whosoever hated his brother is a murderer. You know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. So obviously he was hateful to his brother, okay? We see these mistakes in Esau's life, but if we follow the scripture throughout Esau's life, later in life we see that Esau has forgiven Jacob, no longer hates his brother in his heart, and we see him being kind and loving to his brother Jacob, and we see him going off and founding his own nation and his own cities and being a successful person. I believe that there's a great chance that we will see Esau in heaven, which is blasphemy unto the Calvinists, but I don't really see any evidence that he did not believe in the Lord, because it's clear even the fact that he's so upset about losing the blessing that he believed that there was some significance to that blessing. And we also see that he was actually a good guy in the end of his life. I don't see that he was this horrible person. You say, well, the Bible says God hated Esau. Okay, but let's go to Malachi 1. I'm going to prove to you that God did not hate the person Esau, he hated the nation Esau, okay? Because we're not talking about the person, we're talking about the nation, I'll prove it to you. Look at Malachi 1 verse 2. I have loved you, saith the Lord, yet you say, where in us thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob and I hated Esau. Now right there you say, see, he hated Esau, but finish the sentence. And I hated Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Did God even do that in Esau's lifetime? Absolutely not. It says, whereas Edom saith, we are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, they shall build but I will throw down and they shall call them the border of wickedness and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever. So who did God have indignation against and hatred for? Was it the person Esau? No, it was the nation of Edom. God hated the nation of Edom. God hated the Edomites. He did not hate the person Esau. There's no evidence of that. Okay, who was going to serve who? Esau wasn't going to serve Jacob, but the nation of Edom was going to serve the nation of Israel. So go back to Romans 9. So by looking up both quotes in the Old Testament, both of them can easily be demonstrated to be referring to groups of people, nations, not the individual. So does this have anything to do with Jacob's personal salvation or Esau's personal salvation? Esau could have gotten saved. In fact, he probably was saved. He probably will be in heaven. I believe Ishmael is going to be in heaven. But see, both Ishmael and Esau are used in Romans chapter 9 as an illustration of an unsaved person. Okay, but here's what we have to understand, the difference between an illustration and a reality. Okay, for example, and I know I'm going deep this morning, but you know what, this is important doctrine that we need to understand. Noah's Ark. Is Noah's Ark a picture of salvation? It is, isn't it? Because remember the ark had one door on it? And there's only one way to be saved. There's only one door to salvation. Jesus said, I'm the door. If any man enter in by me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. See, Jesus is that one door. No man cometh unto the Father but by him. The flood represents, you know, damnation, destruction. Okay, so it's a picture of salvation. Getting on the ark is a picture of being saved. But let me ask you this, does that mean that every person on the ark was saved? In a spiritual sense, just because they're physically representing salvation? No. Is baptism a picture of salvation? Yes, because the picture of going under the water and coming out of the water is a picture of the fact that we are buried with Christ, we're dead with Christ, and that we will also be risen together with him. But hold on, is every person who's baptized saved? Is every person who's not baptized unsaved? No. Brother Dave was saved for nine years before he got baptized, okay? What about the animal sacrifice of the Old Testament? Did they picture salvation? Yes, but they were not salvation. It's not like, well, you do the sacrifice, you're saved. You don't do it, you're not saved. Okay, all throughout the Bible, there are illustrations of salvation, okay? There was a guy on the ark that was for sure not saved. His name was Ham. He was not saved, okay? And I believe there are probably people outside the ark who were saved, and the Bible makes that clear in the book of 1 Peter chapter 3. But the point is that Ishmael represents the physical seed of Abraham as opposed to Isaac representing the spiritual seed of Abraham. So Isaac represents the saved and Ishmael represents the unsaved because basically the Jews thought that because they're the physical children of Abraham that they are God's people. And of course in Romans 9 he makes it clear, no, you are not God's people because you are not saved. You don't believe in Christ. So he uses Ishmael to represent the Jews, and then he also uses Esau to represent the Jews. Now, this chapter, Romans 9, is about the nation of Israel. That's what it's about. He's explaining the fact, and if you go back, if you would, without going too deep into this, but back up a little bit. It says in verse number 6, "'Not as though the word of God had 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 an 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. And the word of promise that 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 purpose of God according to election might stand not of works, but of in the call.'" What's he explaining here? He's explaining that the choice was made in Rebekah's womb that the chosen people, God's chosen people of the Old Testament, would be the children of Israel, not the children of Edom. He made that choice before the children were born and before the children had done anything wrong. He made the choice that Isaac would be the seed, not Ishmael, because he wanted to use that as an illustration of the fact that Isaac was a spiritual seed and that Ishmael was a physical seed, begotten in the flesh. Isaac was begotten by a miracle because Abraham and Sarah were so old when he was brought forth. So he's using this illustration to teach, look, the children of Israel were the children of promise, not the children of the flesh. He differentiates between Isaac and Ishmael. Then he differentiates by saying it wasn't based on their works. He chose Jacob to be the chosen one, the chosen seed, the progenitor of Jesus Christ, the holy nation, before the children were even born. But this passage has absolutely nothing to do with personal salvation. That's just ripping it completely out of context. The whole chapter up to that point is explaining who is the true Israel, who are the true people of God. And he uses an illustration about the nation of Israel and the nation of Edom, how they were chosen in the womb before they'd even come about. So this is not a passage that is saying God chooses who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Now if you go into it just assuming that it's about heaven and hell, then yeah, I can see why you come out of Calvinist. But when you actually look up the Old Testament quotes, that falls apart. And it becomes obvious what he's actually saying here in Romans 9. Go if you would to Romans chapter 8. And I've got to hurry, I'm running out of time, I want to hit all these points quickly. Romans 8 explains what we know as predestination. And Calvinists will say, you know, God chooses, it's unconditional election, we're predestined to be saved. But what the Bible actually says in verse 29 of Romans 8, for whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, then He also called, and whom He called, then He also justified, and whom He justified, then He also glorified. Here's the key. He says in verse 29, whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. What does it mean that God foreknew? Doesn't that mean that God knew in advance? So that means before this world was ever created, God knew who would be saved and who would not be saved, didn't He? But see, here's where the Calvinists twist the truth. They say God chose who would be saved and who would not be saved, based on nothing but His own will. Wrong. God's predestination of His people to be conformed to the image of His Son is based on foreknowledge. Now if God's will was just based on His own will and that's it, what would be the point of foreknowledge? The fact is God knew who would be saved and then He predestined those people, you and I, to be conformed to the image of His Son, to be glorified, to be joint heirs with Jesus Christ. And whenever you look up verses that use the term predestinate, whether it's Romans 8, Ephesians 1, etc., you'll see it's always just He's predestinating us to glory or He's predestinating us that we'd be holy and without blame before Him in love. He's predestinating us to be conformed to the image of His Son. But it's based on His foreknowledge. Now people say, well if He knew, if He knew who would be saved, that means that He decided. Okay look, what if somehow, okay here's an illustration that my brother I think gave me. You know these days, I don't have a TV, I haven't had a TV in over a decade, but these days it seems like every TV, it records all the time, can't you, isn't that true? You can just go back and watch stuff from other days. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Pretty much, don't most TVs do that or DVRs, I don't know, thank God we live in a church or we have a church where nobody knows. But anyway, you know, apparently, apparently you can pretty much, when I was a kid you had to be there when that show was on or you're not going to watch it. But apparently now you just, you just, what's it called, TiVo or what is it? Yeah you just TiVo it or you go back in time and you can watch stuff from the other day. Okay, so what if, what if there was a, this is an illustration that my brother gave me, but what if, what if there was a sporting event, let's say a football game that happened a few days ago, right? And I know the outcome because I read it in the newspaper, what the outcome of that game was. You and I sit down and watch that game and you don't know the outcome and I do know the outcome and we're sitting and watching the game and I say, hey watch this, you know, this guy's about to make a touchdown. And then the guy makes a touchdown. Would you look at me and say, wow, you just made that guy get a touchdown. You're controlling the game. You have supernatural power to make things happen on the screen. Oh, watch, this guy's going to fumble the ball. It happened. You're controlling the game. No, because foreknowledge does not mean that you're in control of the game, does it? It doesn't mean that at all. And so the key to understanding predestination is to understand foreknowledge. God knew who was going to be saved. He chose what our destiny would be based on the fact that we have already believed in Christ. I mean, God knows who's going to get saved today out so many. It doesn't mean that God chooses that some will get saved and chooses to damn others. But let me get into the third point. I've got to hurry up here. I'm going to blow through these. But this is the one that I don't understand how any Calvinist could ever defend this point because it is so unscriptural, it's ridiculous, and that is the point of limited atonement. Limited atonement, this is the L in Tulip, they teach that Jesus did not die for everybody and this is the most unscriptural doctrine. Go to 1 Timothy chapter 2. I mean, there are so many ways to prove this doctrine wrong. And this is where Calvinism falls apart. You know, whenever I talk to a Calvinist, you know, I don't always want to take the time to go into a dissertation on Romans 9 and go back to Genesis 25 and Malachi chapter 1. The first thing I attack is limited atonement because it's just so without basis. I mean, it has no scriptural basis and whenever you ask them to defend it, what they'll do is just give you logic. They don't have any scripture on limited atonement. They'll just say, well, it just doesn't make sense. I mean, if Jesus already died for someone's sins, why would they have to die for their sins? That would be two people dying for the same sins and that doesn't make sense to me. I don't care whether it makes sense to you. That's what the Bible says. There's a lot of things in the Bible that might not make sense to your human puny brain. I mean, think about it. What about where the Bible says these three are one? I mean, what about when the Bible says great is the mystery of godliness? God was manifest. I mean, can you fully wrap your mind around how God could become flesh and dwell among us? I mean, that's difficult to comprehend, right? You know, can you understand how, you know, unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever? Therefore God, even Thy God? You know, I mean, look, these things are deep things of God and whether or not you understand them doesn't change the fact that they are true and that the Bible is true whether you understand. I mean, how can someone be twice dead? But the Bible says they're twice dead. How can someone be twofold more the child of hell? Look, it doesn't matter whether you get it or not. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ died on the cross for every single person in this world and you don't have any scripture to say that he didn't. And let me give you some scripture that says that he did and this limited atonement, it could be based on your logic of double jeopardy or double punishment, but let's read what the Bible says. 1 Timothy 2, 3 says this, For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. So what is God's will? He will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. That means He wants all men to be saved and to come to 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 to be testified in due time. Flip over to chapter 4, of course the Calvinist says to this, well all doesn't mean all. And let me show you a list of verses where all doesn't mean all. And let me prove to you that all doesn't mean all. Okay Calvinist, I know your game. Let's go to 1 Timothy 4, 10 and let's see if all doesn't mean all. It says, For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the Savior of all men. No, all doesn't really mean all, all is just the elect, all is just the ones that He chooses, all the ones that He wants. Okay read the next part, especially of those that believe. Okay so is He the Savior of those that don't believe? So look, He's the Savior of all men, including those who don't believe. Because guess what, you're not going to believe this, all means all, okay? Well all doesn't mean all. Okay go to Romans 5, and while you're turning there I'll read for you another verse that uses the word all. Titus 2 11 says, For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Earlier he said, If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me. Look what it says in Romans 5 18, because they'll say well all doesn't really mean all. Okay verse 18, Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Now this is referring back to Romans 5 12 where he says, Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. So I guess when the Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, all doesn't mean all there either. Or when the Bible says death passed upon all men for that all have sinned, that doesn't mean all either, right? Because look at verse 18 in the same passage. It says, Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. I think any Calvinist would agree that that all means all. That we're all condemned, we're all sinners, we're all children of Adam, but look at the next phrase. Even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. Now the Calvinist, the all in the first half of the verse, that means all. But the all in the second half of the verse does not mean all because we said so. Even though it's the same verse. Look if all are condemned in the first half of the verse, why isn't the free gift available to all in the second half of the verse? Because you're a Calvinist, that's why. Because you're rejecting what the Scripture teaches, that's why. Look what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 2, flip over to Hebrews chapter 2. And while you're turning to Hebrews chapter 2, I'll read for you from 1 John 2 verse 1. My little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not, and if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. The Bible says he's not just the propitiation for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world. Now, again, the Calvinists will look at that and say, well, he's just saying all are like the Jews. You know, he's not just the propitiation for our sins like Jews, but also for the sins of the whole world. Except that in the entire book of 1 John, 5 chapters long, he doesn't say anywhere or indicate anywhere that he's even talking to the Jews or about the Jews. I mean, where is that in 1 John where he distinguishes between Jew and non-Jew? That doesn't even exist in the book. There's no evidence that he's even writing unto Jews, okay? I mean, John, you say, well, John, man, he was just with the Jews. But read the three books of 1, 2, and 3 John, okay, and look at the people he's talking about. Demetrius, Diotrephes, these don't sound like Jews to me. And not only that, let's think about the big long, what's that big long book that John wrote at the end of the Bible? Revelation, right. And who did he write it unto? It's all to the Jews, right? No, it's written to the seven churches which are in Asia. Okay, so what evidence do you have that 1 John is written to the Jews? None, zero, nothing, okay? So therefore to say that that's what John meant is just to make things up because you don't want to let go of limited atonement. And the Bible says he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. When he says not for ours only, who's he writing to? Believers, the saved. So he's saying he's the propitiation for our sins, the saved, but not just for us, but also for the sins of the whole world. Where did I return? Hebrews 2, look at verse 9. Since all doesn't really mean all, let's see if every really means every. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. So did Jesus just die for certain people? I mean, how can you call yourself a Bible-believing Christian and say, I believe the Bible's the word of God, and then look at this verse, Hebrews 2, 9, and say Jesus didn't die for everybody. You're a liar is what you are. You're a false prophet is what you are. You don't believe this book. You believe in lies written by man. Whether that man's name is John Calvin or whatever his name is, you are believing in lies and heresy. Let me tell you something, Jesus Christ tasted death for every man. I believe it. Do you believe it? Anybody who doesn't believe it is rejecting the Bible. They're just rejecting the Bible. I mean, they're just looking at the Bible and saying, did he taste death for every man? They just say, no, he didn't die for everybody. That's a lie. And we've seen how many scriptures, 1 Timothy 2, he said it twice, 1 Timothy 4, Titus chapter 2, Romans 5, Hebrews 2, 1 John 2, he died for all. He died for all. He died for all. He died for all. He died for the world. He died for the world. Every man. Every man. Limited atonement. Let me explain to you why two people cannot be punished for the same sin. Shut up, you intellectual fool. You uber-intellectual, you Dr. Fat Bottom from so-and-so, the seminary, with all your degrees and all your accolades of man, you are a fool. And you know what? If any man think himself to be wise, let him become a fool. Because you know what? The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. And all these man-made, logical, rational arguments against Jesus dying for everybody are the foolishness of the world. It's nonsense. Look at 2 Peter chapter 2, I will prove to you yet again, I mean we've already proved it sufficiently, let's prove again that Jesus died for the unsaved. He died for everybody. He died for the lost. Look if you would at 2 Peter chapter 2. You say, well are Calvinists saved? It makes me doubt the salvation of anybody who can look at Hebrews 2, 9 and just not believe it. I mean look, if somebody walked up to me and said I believe in evolution, wouldn't you doubt their salvation? If somebody came to you and said I believe in evolution, wouldn't you doubt their salvation? I'd be like, well it doesn't sound like you believe the Bible. You know what I mean? You're coming to me and telling me you believe in evolution, that's not what the Bible says. It sounds like you don't believe God's word. And then somebody comes to you and says, well I don't believe Jesus died for everybody. They're not basing that on scripture, they're basically just denying the word of God. Why wouldn't I doubt the salvation of someone who believes this stuff? You say, well I can't believe you say that. Look, anybody who's saved can understand the word of God because the Holy Spirit will guide them into all truth. How can you read the Bible and not understand that Jesus died for everybody? So therefore it does make you doubt their salvation. Look at 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1, but there were false prophets also among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction. They're denying the Lord that bought them. So did Jesus pay for them? But are they saved? Well look at the last part of verse 3, their damnation slumbereth not. These people are described in Jude as being twice dead. These people for them is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. Yet the Lord bought them, yet He paid for their sins because He died for all. Let me just quickly, I'm going to have to skip a point for time, but the fourth point, irresistible grace, okay. You know, I'll just quickly point out Acts 7.51 where Stephen says you do always resist the Holy Ghost. According to them, you can't resist. Or what about Janus and Jambres who withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. Let's just go to one last place, Matthew 24, Matthew chapter 24. So they teach irresistible grace, that once God chooses you for salvation, once He decides that you can't resist, you can't stop from being saved, okay. And basically where they're getting this from is Romans 9 again, where it says in verse 19, thou wilt say this to them unto me, why did he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will? Now let me just say this, never base your doctrine on a question. There is so much false doctrine based on questions in the Bible. Base your doctrine on a statement of the Bible, not a question. Look at the question in James 2, can faith save him? Look how much false doctrine is based on a misunderstanding of that question. Look at the question found in 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul asks about baptizing people for the dead. And look at all the Mormonism and false doctrine that's based on using a question as the foundation of your doctrine. I mean all throughout the Bible there are all these questions, and look, the questions have a place, but they should not be the bedrock of what you believe. Base your belief on a statement, okay. The statement is that people resist the truth, the statement is that they resist the Holy Ghost, and then you've got a question, well who hath resisted his will? The person asking that question is rebuked in the next verse, but yet that question is the basis of your doctrine. I mean I can't figure this out, but again let's look at the final point which is perseverance of the saints. Because remember we've got a tulip, right? T-U-L-I-P, total depravity. Man is just basically a spiritual blob. Man is just incapable of doing anything good or turning to Christ or believing on Christ unless God does it for him, he can't do it. So God has to give him the faith, wrong. That's total depravity. That's a lie, we proved it false from the Bible. Unconditional election, that's false. There's a condition, faith, believe. And by the way, they say well no it's not even your faith that saves you. Okay then why did Jesus say in I believe what Luke 7.50, thy faith hath saved thee? I mean the Bible says, thy faith hath saved thee. And the Calvinists say it's not your faith, it's of God, it's the gift of God. It's not even your faith. No, thy faith hath saved thee. So the Bible says. Okay limited Atonement, Jesus didn't die for everybody. How many verses did we look at? That's the one that just defies all logic. Irresistible grace, we briefly touched on that, but the last point of Calvinism is perseverance of the saints. This comes from a misunderstanding of Matthew 24.13. Because in Matthew 24.13 it says, but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. So that verse right there, if you just looked at it all by itself, took it completely out of context of the chapter and just isolated it by itself on the surface, that looks like in order to be saved you have to endure to the end as far as that's how you're going to get to heaven. You got to endure to the end. A lot of times people will use a different word here, they'll say you got to persevere unto the end. Because otherwise we'd have a tule instead of a tulip, you know, if it was like endurance of the saints, that would not be a flower, that would be those long plants by the river. So they say instead of endurance of the saints, they call it perseverance of the saints, but this is what they're referring to. So a person who just looks at this verse, and look, this is the danger of not reading the whole Bible, and look, you say well Pastor Anderson, sometimes you preach individual verses, yeah but you're supposed to go home and read and make sure I'm applying it right. That's why you got to read the Bible yourself. Because look, this verse is not talking about your soul being saved and going to heaven, as evidenced by the fact that if you go down a few verses to verse 22, it says, except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. The Bible's telling us in Matthew 24, 22 that this is about your flesh being saved, and if you get the context of what he means by whosoever endureth to the end shall be saved, he's talking about the fact that they're going to be persecuted and killed for the cause of Christ. He says he shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, but he that endureth to the end the same shall be saved. What does it mean saved? Your flesh being saved, you're going to be rescued as it were. What he's saying is that if you endure the tribulation, you'll be saved by the rapture. I mean if you can endure to the end of all the persecutions and killing that's going on during the tribulation, you know, you're going to be rescued. Because he says if the days of the tribulation were not shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. You see, if the tribulation were allowed to run its full course, if the Antichrist mark of the beast system were allowed to run its full course, every believer would be beheaded. But it's going to be shortened, it's going to be cut short by Christ coming in the clouds at the rapture to save God's people out of here before he pours out his wrath. This is a physical salvation. For example, when Peter's drowning and says, Lord save me, he's not saying take me to heaven when I die. He's saying pull me out of the water. And here this is talking about being pulled out of this world when we're being persecuted and killed for the cause of Christ in mass numbers. So this misunderstanding here is a teaching that says you have to endure to the end to be saved. Now a lot of people will take this verse and teach that you can lose your salvation. And they'll say, you know, if you don't endure to the end you're going to lose your salvation. Look Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. So what the Calvinist does, he's a little trickier than the Arminian. And by the way, no, I am not an Arminian. Anyone who's a Calvinist will say, oh, you're not a Calvinist, that means you're an Arminian. But these are the same people that will tell you, oh, you're not a Republican, you must be a Democrat. Oh, you don't drink Coke, you must drink Pepsi. Look it's a false left right paradigm giving you two false options, two bad options, Republican or Democrat, Coke or Pepsi. There is almost, look, I don't care how dyed in the wool of a Coke drinker you are or Pepsi, it's the same drink. Get over it. What in the world is the difference between Coke and Pepsi? They're both just water, genetically modified high fructose corn syrup, sodium benzoate, phosphoric acid, caramel color, I mean, what is the difference? And artificial flavors, sorry. That's the difference. Have a little different artificial flavor. Chemically the thing's 99.9% the same. It's both bad for you, okay? So you got Coke, oh, you don't drink Coke, you must be one of those Pepsi drinkers. No, I drink milk, I drink juice, I drink water, okay? So this false option, Calvinist versus Arminianism, they're both false. So the Arminian teaches, yup, if you don't endure to the end, you're going to lose your salvation. We don't believe that. We believe in the eternal security of the believer. Calvinism teaches perseverance of the saints, meaning that anyone who does not endure to the end, well, it's not that they lost their salvation, but they just never were saved to begin with. You never were saved to begin with. So what will happen is basically somebody will be, you know, just they believe in Christ, they put all their faith in Christ, they join the church, they're serving God, and then they get backslidden and get out of church and it's just like, oh, that person was never saved. That's ridiculous. Of course they were saved. People get backslidden. Look how many people in the Bible didn't endure to the end in their lives. Look how many people failed late in life, you know, they started out good and failed later. A lot of people are coming to mind. King Saul, King Solomon, I mean a lot of people that started out good and then they went downhill. And how many people have you known personally that started out good, went downhill? And then you talk to them and they still, they're real strong on the fact they believe in Christ, but their lifestyle is not right. They're not enduring. And what's the, endure what? I mean they think that endure to the end is like a cardio workout, like you're just going to keep going, keep going, keep going, I've got great endurance. No, he's saying endure persecution. Endure the tribulation and if you endure through it you'll be saved. That's what it's actually saying in conduct. And I've got a lot more material here I don't have time to go into, it's just a complicated subject. Just to say this, don't be deceived by this Calvinism. It comes to you sounding smart, sounding intellectual, sounding intelligent, and you say well they're, you know, these guys are a lot smarter than you are Pastor Anderson. Say these guys are a lot more intellectual than you, they're a lot more intelligent than you are Pastor Anderson. Okay, well you know what, it don't take a genius to figure out that Jesus tasted death for every man. So you know what? Call me a fool. Call me uneducated. Call me ignorant. Call me a bumpkin. But you know what? I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for every man. And we'll see who's right on judgment day, won't we? When you're cast into the lake of fire for rejecting God's word and God says to me well done thou good and faithful servant. And you know what, am I the smartest person on the planet? No but I'm not the dumbest person on the planet either. And I'll tell you this right now, you don't have to be that smart to understand that man has the choice between death and life all the way through the Bible, Deuteronomy and forward. It's clear. You don't have to be that smart to understand that there's a condition upon salvation you got to believe. You don't have to be that smart to believe Jesus died for everybody. You don't have to be that smart to understand that people resist the Holy Ghost call to salvation and you don't have to be that smart to understand that you know what, just because someone gets backslidden doesn't mean that they never believed on Christ. Because there are plenty of examples of that in the scripture. All five of these points are false and they come from the minds of some people that are smarter than others but I'll say this, it's coming from the mind of the man who's unsaved. Because the unsaved man can't understand the Gospel so he perverts it. His name is John Calvin. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father we thank you so much for your word and we thank you for these truths and thank you for offering salvation to everyone. And Father I'll just be honest with you, if I believed that you already chose who was going to be saved and that there was nothing we could do to change, I wouldn't do much soul winning. But Father help us to understand that there are a lot of people that are up for grabs and we need to get out there and give them the Gospel. And we can make a difference. We can reach people for the Kingdom of God. Help us to give it everything we've got and in Jesus' name we pray.