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Amen, it's great to be here tonight. Thank you everyone so much for coming out. And I know that there are a lot of people who are visiting from far away and who've driven in just for the weekend. But I also know that there are a lot of locals here tonight. And I just feel like this church plant is just sort of an idea whose time has come. And so I'm really excited about the fact that we're gonna have a great soul winning powerhouse type of a church here in Greenville, South Carolina. It's great to have a lot of my relatives here tonight as well. And so I'm looking forward to coming out and preaching at this church just so I can have an excuse to visit my cousins and visit my brother and different people that live out here. So tonight I'm preaching on the subject Calvinism Debunked. Calvinism Debunked. And I'm gonna be going through this point by point. And part of the reason that I chose this particular subject to preach on tonight is because I know that in this area, there has been a heavy Calvinist influence just geographically in this region. That seems to be the word on the street. And let me tell you something, I'm not a Calvinist and I absolutely hate Calvinism. I've never, I've hated it my whole life. I'll put it that way. I remember running into a childhood friend many years later who I went to fourth grade with. And she said, hey, I just remember you arguing about Calvinism on the playground, all right? So this is something that I've always felt strongly about and the reason that I feel so strongly about it is because I think that the Bible is crystal clear on this subject that God wants everyone to be saved. And so this motivates us to go out and win souls to Christ. And I like to think about the fact that God wants people to be saved just as much as they wanna be saved, just as much as we want them to be saved, God wants them to be saved. And so God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But I'm gonna go through the five points of Calvinism tonight because Calvinism is often described with these five points that spell the acronym TULIP, right? T-U-L-I-P. And so I'm gonna go through these one by one, starting with number one, which is the T, Calvinists believe in what's called total depravity. Now, make no mistake, there's always a little bit of truth in every lie, right? The devil will mix in some truth with the lie in order to make it more convincing, in order to make it palatable. So obviously, there are some truths in these things. For example, with total depravity, it's true that the Bible says, there is none righteous, no, not one, right? For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible says, wherefore is by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. It is also true that an unsaved person, a person who's just in the flesh, they can't really do anything to please God on their own, right? The Bible says in Romans chapter eight, verse seven, the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God, right? Now, this is not to say that an unsaved person cannot do anything good. Obviously, unsaved people will sometimes do good things or do nice things or kind things, but at the end of the day, even the good that we do as human beings is tainted by our sinful nature, right? We all are prone to sin. We all have that sinful nature, and so there's a little bit of truth there, but here's the big lie of this total depravity doctrine, is that Calvinists are basically teaching that human beings are incapable of actually believing on Jesus or choosing the Lord Jesus Christ unless God basically makes that choice for them, unless God just picks them out and makes them do that. Now, let me just break this down scripturally because they will love to quote John chapter 6, 44, and if you would flip over to John chapter 6, verse number 44 is the verse that Calvinists will always quote to defend their total depravity doctrine, claiming that people who are unsaved are just so dead spiritually that they cannot make the choice to believe in Christ. They can make choices to do bad things, but they can't make that choice to be saved. Well, let's see what the Bible says about this. It says in John chapter 6, verse 44, no man can come to me except the Father which had sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Now, let's flip over to chapter 12, but what they're saying there is that the Bible clearly says that in order for someone to be saved, God has to draw them, right? And so this is what they use to teach their total depravity doctrine, but look what John chapter 12, verse 32 says. It says, and I, this is Jesus Christ speaking, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. And so yes, it is true that in order for someone to be saved, they have to be drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ, right? The Father has to draw them, but Christ said, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me, and we're gonna explain how that works. Go over to John chapter 16, John chapter 16. Obviously, in order for someone to be saved, something supernatural has to take place, right? The Holy Spirit has to do a work in their heart. They have to be drawn to salvation by God, but the big lie of total depravity is that, well, God just picks certain people and he draws them. That's the only way they can overcome their total depravity, right? But what does the Bible say? Look at John chapter 16, verse seven. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth that is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you, talking about the Holy Spirit, of course, and when he is come, he will reprove the world. Okay, the Holy Spirit, when he comes, Jesus is saying, which is a New Testament phenomenon of New Testament believers being indwelled by the Holy Ghost or the Comforter, the Bible says that when the Holy Spirit comes, he is going to reprove the world. So the Holy Spirit has a ministry to everyone in the world. Now, the Calvinists, when they see things like all or the world, they'll try to say things like, well, that just means it's not just Israel. You know, it just means it's people in other countries too, but keep reading. It says he'll reprove the world of sin and of righteousness of judgment. Verse nine, of sin because they believe not on me. These aren't people that believe in Christ. The Holy Spirit's reproving people that don't believe in Christ because the Holy Spirit is reproving everybody. God is doing a work in everyone's heart. God is reaching out to everyone. God is extending his hand to everyone, Christ being lifted up from the earth. The goal is that all men will be drawn unto him. Obviously, God is not just picking certain people for whom the Holy Spirit to minister to. No, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more, of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. Now, go over to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10 is, of course, a really famous passage that we use a lot when we're evangelizing. Romans chapter number 10. And the Bible says in Romans chapter number 10, verse nine, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Now, the second point of Calvinism is called unconditional election. And the point of this is that God supposedly picks people unconditionally, right? Because what does election mean? Election, put an S on the beginning of it. Selection, right? Election is choosing. So, unconditional election means choosing based on no condition. Yet, the Bible makes it pretty clear what the condition is for being saved is that you have to believe in Jesus, right? But back to the idea of total depravity, this idea that somehow God only draws certain people. Look what the Bible says in verse 17. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You know, what is it that produces faith in the unsaved, lost, unregenerate carnal person? What is it that produces faith in them? It's hearing the word of God. So when the comforter comes, he's gonna reprove the world of sin. Why? Because saved Christians are gonna be dwelled by the Holy Spirit, and they're gonna be preaching the word of God to the whole world, and the whole world is gonna hear the word of God, and faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Okay, so how is God gonna draw people to salvation? How can people be drawn? It's by hearing the preaching of God's word. It's not because God just picked a certain person, said, well, I'm gonna draw you, but I'm not gonna draw you. No, he is opening this up to everyone because he's commanded his spirit-filled believers to preach the gospel to every creature, and as we preach the gospel to every creature, all men are, in essence, being drawn unto Christ. They can either respond to that by coming to Christ, or they can resist the Holy Ghost. Okay, this is what the Bible teaches. So that's what's wrong with the idea of total depravity, this idea of, well, man's not capable of making that decision. God has to make that decision for him. No, my friend, that decision is up to every individual. If God had his way, everyone would be saved because the Bible says God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. It is the fact that he has given us free will, why he makes statements like the famous statement in Deuteronomy, choose life. How could he tell you to choose life if you're incapable? Oh, just kidding, I already made that decision for you. So the T of Tulip is total depravity. There's a lot of truth in it, in the sense that we're all sinners, we all have a sinful nature, we can't really do right in our unregenerate, unsafe condition. But the lie of total depravity is claiming that human beings are not capable of believing in Christ without some kind of a special choice made by God that enables them to do that. Number two, the idea is unconditional election. That's the U of the Tulip. Now let me stop right here and just say, we shouldn't even have to explain what unconditional election is because the very phrase unconditional election is an oxymoron, it's on its face, it's just an absurd group of words. And just if you stop and think about these two words, unconditional election, you will find that this is absurd. There's never been an election in the history of mankind that was unconditional. No one's ever made a selection, no one's ever made a choice that was unconditional. That's stupid, it doesn't make any sense. What do I mean by that? If you don't have any condition, then it's just random. Stop and think about it. If there's no condition, it's random. And let me ask you this, how is randomness being chosen? If the Bible says that those who are saved are the chosen, well then explain to me how it could be random. But if you ask a Calvinist, they'll say, well, it's not random. God chose, but he chose unconditionally. That's not a choice. Like for example, if I open a bag of Skittles, right? And I say, hey, I'm gonna eat one of these Skittles and I'm gonna choose one of them. But I'm gonna choose one unconditionally. I'm not gonna base it on the fact that it's red. I'm not gonna go by that it's green. I'm not gonna go by that it's yellow. I'm not gonna go by size or take, I'm just gonna choose it unconditionally. You know what that means? That means I'm reaching into the bag and pulling one out at random. That's the only way to choose unconditionally. Otherwise, there'd better be a condition. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? I mean, can somebody explain this to these PhDs and these theologians and philosophers and experts that profess themselves to be wise, but have literally become fools by saying, oh, we're unconditionally elected. That's not an election. I mean, if we randomly choose the president, that's not an election. Is there, when people choose a president, when they elect a president, what are they doing? They're looking at certain criteria. And again, if you have no condition, then it's random. Then you'd have God just randomly choosing to save some and randomly choosing to damn the rest. And if that were the case, if you wouldn't call that, you've been chosen, okay? You've been drawn in a lottery would be more like it. And who here thinks that God is just in a lottery picking certain people to roast in hell for eternity and picking others to be glorified in heaven forever? It's madness. It is wrong. It is false. It is not biblical. The Bible makes it crystal clear what the condition of our election is, and that condition is that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the condition. If you believe, you'll be saved. If you don't believe, you will not be saved. If you believe, you're elect. If you don't believe, here's something that's interesting. Everybody who's elect believes in Jesus. And everybody who doesn't believe in Jesus is not elect. You know, it almost seems like believing in Christ is the condition for being elected. But then if you try to pin a Calvinist down and say, well, what is the condition? So is it random? No, it's not random. And then they'll just say, it's a mystery. But here's the thing about that. I just preached a sermon on Sunday morning where I went through every single time the word mystery is used in the Bible, and every single time, a mystery is something that we do know. It's only a mystery to the unsaved. It's only a mystery to people back in the Old Testament, but now it's something that's been revealed. So this thing of, oh, it's a mystery, that kind of cop-out's not gonna work. If God before the foundation of the world's making a choice, that choice is based on something. It's not just like, well, I'm just gonna save Stephen Anderson because I like his face. That would be a condition, his face. You know, there's gotta be a reason. Well, you know what? It's not a mystery. We're not in the dark on who God chooses to bring to heaven and who God chooses to send to hell. God chooses to save every person who believes in Jesus, and he chooses to damn every person who doesn't believe in Jesus. That's what the Bible says. And here's your condition. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and if thou shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised from the dead, here's the result, thou shalt be saved. But in this passage in Romans chapter 10, you also have a very clear order of events here that take place, because the Bible says in 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've not believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except they be sent? Now look, by looking at this backwards, we can get the order of how this works when someone gets saved, right? First someone is sent to preach the gospel. They preached the gospel to someone. That person hears the word of God. As a result of hearing the word of God preached unto them by a saved person, they believe on Jesus. And then they call upon the name of the Lord. So there's an order, right? Sending, the preaching, the hearing, the believing, the calling upon the name of the Lord, right? That's an order that we see broken down in chapter 10. Go to Ephesians chapter one with that in mind. Ephesians chapter number one. And how is God drawing the unregenerate man is through the spirit-filled preaching of his word by men, women, boys, and girls that are out there sharing the gospel and witnessing. Look at Ephesians chapter one. And we're gonna spend a little time here in Ephesians one and go through this in detail because this is a great passage on this subject. It says in verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who had blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According, watch this, as he had chosen us, okay? So again, the Calvinist says, see, he chose us. Well, my question is, based on what? Well, just, you know, it's a mystery. Just based on his will, whatever that is, we don't know. Well, I'll tell you exactly what it is and we're gonna keep reading and find out. But it says, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. So here's what's going on. The Bible says, for example, in 1 Peter one verse two, that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God. So we are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God. Now, if there's no condition, what would foreknowledge have anything to do with it? Like, I don't need to know what colors those skittles are if I'm not even basing my choice on what color they are. But if I wanna grab a red one, I need to know which one is red. I'm gonna have to have my eyes open. I have to look in the bag and say, I'm getting a red one, right? So we're elect according to the foreknowledge of God. So before the world began, God chose us. Why did he choose us? Because he foreknew us. What did he specifically foreknow about us that made us chosen? He foreknew that we would believe on Jesus. He foreknew, well, Stephen Anderson's gonna believe in Jesus, so he's gonna be one of my guys. And here's what I'm gonna do before the world began. I'm gonna predestinate him to be adopted to be my son. Right? So the Bible says in Ephesians chapter one here that he predestinated us under the adoption of children. He foreknew us, and based on that foreknowledge of who would believe in Christ, he chose that we would be without blame before him in love. We would be adopted as children. And you say, well, why is Paul emphasizing this in Ephesians chapter one, this thing of being chosen and being predestinated? Because what you have to understand is that the Apostle Paul is living in a time where a lot of people are mixed up on the subject of Jew versus Gentile, and they think that the Jews are still God's chosen people, and that the Gentiles are somehow second class, or, well, I guess we'll let them into Christianity, but they're kind of like not full fledged. And so the Apostle Paul is giving them assurance, saying, no, no, no, God has chosen you, God has predestinated you for this, that you would be part of the body of Christ. And so it says in verse number six, let's keep going through this passage, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted and the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to the good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, in him, in whom also we've obtained an inheritance, being predestinated, according to the purpose of him, who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Again, what's the context, okay? When he says here, that he would gather in one all things in Christ, this is further explained in chapter three, when he says that the mystery that's revealed, is that the Gentiles are gonna be of one body with the believing Jews. Jews and Gentiles who believe are all gonna be of one body. That's the mystery that is being revealed in chapters one and three of Ephesians. The idea here is that this thing of the Gentiles being saved, this thing of mass amounts of Ephesians and other Greeks getting saved, was predestinated by God, meaning that God didn't have this plan for Israel, and then Israel kinda dropped the ball, and then God kinda just gets with the Gentiles on the rebound, like Gentiles are plan B or something. No, Gentiles are plan A. God always planned, it was always predestinated, that God would gather all things in one in Christ. Jews and Gentiles would be members of the same body, fellow heirs of the same churches. We don't have a separate Jewish church and a Gentile church. We're all one in Christ Jesus. And so the Bible says here, in verse 12, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Now, this is super important, okay? Don't miss this. Verse 13 says, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. So just like in Romans 10, we see another order of events here, right? You trust in Christ, you believe in Christ, and then what happens? Then after you believe in Christ, you're sealed by that Holy Spirit of promise. That's the order that it takes place. Now let's back up for just one quick moment. And it says, in verse 11, in whom also we've obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will, that we should be to the praise of the glory. Hey, we've been predestinated. Why have we been predestinated? Because we first trusted in Christ. Don't miss this word first. In verse 12, what happened first? First we trusted in Christ, then we are to his glory, then we are now the chosen people, okay? Now obviously God knew which ones would believe before the world began, but get the order right. No, no, no, it's because we trusted in Christ, that's what makes us elect. If we did not trust in Christ, we would not be elect, because we trusted in Christ, we are the elect. Now you say, well that doesn't make sense, because if God, before the foundation of the world, knew everything, he must have chosen. Folks, how can you not see the difference between God knowing something and God controlling the outcome? It's like, if I'm watching a taped football game from yesterday, I know the outcome, and I can say, this guy's about to make a touchdown, and then he makes the touchdown. It's like, you're controlling the TV right now. But this is what Calvinism says, well if God knew, if God foreknew who would be saved, well then it's all predetermined anyway. If God already knows what I'm gonna do next week, then it's all predetermined, because that's what I did or whatever. Yeah, but that's what I did. Whatever I did next week is what I did next week. I know I haven't done it yet, but when I do it, it's gonna be me that's doing it. God already knows what I'm gonna do, but that doesn't mean that God made me do it. That doesn't make any sense, that's false. And notice that first we trust in Christ, then we're sealed by the Holy Spirit. First we believe in Christ, first we trust in Christ, then we inherit all these blessings. Now we have the inheritance and so forth. So he says first in verse 12, and then that's why it says after in verse 13. So don't tell me that we're not getting an order of events when we have a first in verse 12 and then an after in verse 13. These things are happening in a certain order. The Calvinist comes along and says, regeneration precedes faith. You get saved and then you believe in Jesus. Wrong, that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says you believe in Jesus and then you're saved. You believe in Jesus, then you're sealed by that Holy Spirit of promise. That's the order in which this takes place. Election is based on foreknowledge, which means that it must be based on God knowing something about us. He knew something about me that made him choose me. Otherwise foreknowledge is meaningless. Go to Romans chapter eight. I'm trying to hurry to get through all these points. Romans chapter number eight. And this is another famous passage that uses that term predestinated. Look at chapter eight of Romans, one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible verse 28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. So God, before the world began, he foreknows who's gonna believe in him and then he predestinates those people to be conformed to the image of his son. But he doesn't say, you know what? I'm gonna before the world begins, choose who's gonna be saved and who's not gonna be saved. And it has nothing to do with whether they believe in me. I'm just picking certain people and nobody knows why. It'd be like going to the hospital and looking at all those babies lined up at the hospital and saying, okay, keep this one alive, kill this one, kill this one, keep this one alive, kill, kill, kill, kill, alive, kill, kill, kill, alive. That's not what God did, my friend. That's not choosing. No, but actually what it is is, okay, everybody who believes, they're the chosen people. Testament, Israel was the chosen people. New Testament, here's the chosen people. Everybody who believes is chosen. Everybody who believes in Jesus is gonna be adopted as my son. Everybody who believes in Jesus is gonna have an inheritance. Everybody who believes in Jesus is gonna be part of one body, whether they be Jew or Gentile. These are the choices God is making before the world began. God's not saying, okay, Steven Anderson, you made the cut and Joe Blow over here, sorry, you're damned eternally, I don't like your face. But even saying I don't like your face is actually a condition. That's too logical for Calvinism. Calvinism's not even that logical. Calvinism's just like, no, it's just based on nothing. Wait, wait, so it's random? No, no, no, man, it's not random. Then what's it based on? Well, we just don't know. It's just a mystery. You know what? It's funny, because I keep reading my Bible, and there's no mystery about who's going to heaven. It's all the people who believe. And he that believeth not shall be damned. What's the mystery? It's been solved. One star for this mystery. I figured it out too early in the book. Romans 8 29, 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. Whom he called, then he also justified. Whom he justified, then he also glorified. So God predestinated that those who believe in Jesus are going to make it all the way to the finish line. Everybody who believes in Jesus, they're going to be justified. They're going to be glorified. They're getting the whole package. But again, choice must be based on something, or it's not choice. If I said to you, why did you choose to come to the service tonight? Think about where you ate lunch. Why did you choose that lunch? Well, I just, I didn't choose it based on any, it was an unconditional election of Chipotle or whatever. Chipotle was unconditionally elected. Oh, so you chose a restaurant at random? No. No, I mean, I made a point to go to Chipotle. Why? It was unconditional. That's not true. This would be absurd in any other situation. But the problem is that Calvinists, they try to reduce God to a human being type of mentality. Like, if we created a computer or a robot or a machine, it could only do what we programmed it to do. We could never program a robot to do what it wants to do, could we? No, it would just do what we programmed. But you could program the robot to do random stuff. But God has created us, and actually, we actually have free will, which makes us far superior to anything that a human could create, because humans can't create an AI with free will. They could create an AI with the illusion of free will, but they can't actually create an AI that cares about things and wants to do one thing and not wanting to do another. All right, let's move on for sake of time. Point number three, and this is the easiest point to debunk about Calvinism. The L in Tulip is limited atonement, okay? So they have their total depravity, unconditional election, which just on its face, the statement unconditional election is an absurd phrase that means nothing. But then we have the L, limited atonement, okay? If you would go to 1 Timothy chapter two, if you would. 1 Timothy chapter number two in your Bible. And the Bible says, while you're turning there, in Hebrews chapter two verse nine, the Bible says, 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. Now, how can you get any clearer than the Bible saying that Jesus tasted death for every man? But then the Calvinist comes along with limited atonement saying that Jesus did not die for everybody. They claim that Jesus only died for the people who get saved. He only died for the elect. Yet the Bible says that he tasted death for every man. Every single man. But not only that, 2 Peter chapter two verse one, the Bible says this. There were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies. Now let me ask you this. Do these sound like saved children of God to you? False prophets, false teachers bringing in damnable heresies, okay? Even denying the Lord that bought them. And bring upon themselves swift destruction. A minute later he said, these people's damnation slumbereth not. The Bible's crystal clear. These people are damned. They're doomed. They're false prophets. They're false teachers. They're crept in unawares. They're evil. And yet they deny the Lord who bought them. So in what way, shape, or form did the Lord buy them? They're not even saved. Here's how, because Jesus died for them. Jesus paid for their sins with his blood. But they're not saved because they didn't believe in Jesus. But how can you say Jesus didn't die for the unsaved when it says he even died for these false prophets who were doomed and damned? They're denying the Lord who bought them, who paid for their salvation. But limited atonement says the Lord didn't pay for their salvation. Limited atonement says, Jesus didn't taste death for every man. He only died for certain people, just the elect whom he chose based on nothing. It's not random. How about this? First Timothy 4.10. You don't have to turn there, but you can because you're in the neighborhood if you want. For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God who is the savior of all men. He said, well, you know, all here, it's just talking about the saved. What does it say though? He's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe, which means he's also the savior of the people who don't believe. Does that mean they're going to heaven? Nope. But Jesus is still the savior of the whole world. He still tasted death for every man. He still paid for everyone's sins. He's everybody's savior, but only the people who call upon him are going to be saved. It's like if I'm at the pool, he's everybody's lifeguard, right? But he's only going to save those who call upon him. That's a bad illustration because the lifeguard's supposed to save everybody. I get it. But no illustration's ever going to be perfect. At the end of the day though, you go to the pool, that lifeguard's everybody's lifeguard, but somebody still might drown in that pool. He'd say, well, that doesn't make Jesus a good lifeguard. I told you it's a flawed illustration. Get over it. The bottom line is, Jesus Christ has put a stipulation on salvation. God has put a condition on it, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. If you don't believe, he's not just going to save you if you don't ask him. He's rich unto all who call upon him. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But if you're just like, nope, you're not going to call on him, then he's like, nope, not going to save you. But he's still your savior because he's the savior of all men, but he's especially the savior of those who believe. Why? Because then it's actually, his salvation's actually effective for the people who believe, whereas the people who don't believe, it's just a potential salvation that's there. But it's only effective in those who actually believe. Go to 1 Timothy 2, verse one. Here's a passage that must be a struggle to read if you're a Calvinist. This whole passage. 1 Timothy 2, one, I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our savior, who will have, will means wants to, right, is willing, who will have all men to be saved and to come into the knowledge of the truth. God wants all men to be saved and all of them to come to the knowledge of the truth, for there's one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. Now, if you say, well, all there only means the elect, okay, so does that mean that we should only pray for the elect? Does that mean that the kings that are in authority, we should only pray for them if they're saved? Because I think most Calvinists would agree that, you know, he's just saying just pray for all people in general, pray for government in general, pray for leaders in general, not just only the ones that are saved. And yet the Bible says we should pray for the unsaved because hopefully they'll get saved. Why does God want us to pray for all men? Because he wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus gave himself a ransom for all. He tasted death for every man. He even bought and paid for false prophets salvation, even though they didn't accept it. Okay, nothing could be clearer. But let's move on for sake of time. Go if you would to 1 John chapter two, 1 John chapter two. So number one, we had the T in Tulip is total depravity. The problem with the total depravity doctrine is that they're claiming that humans are incapable of choosing Christ. Whereas the true story is that through the spirit-filled preaching of God's word that has gone throughout the whole world, now everyone does have the ability to be saved. As they hear the word of God, they can respond to it and be saved. That's why God says choose life whosoever will may come. That would be very disingenuous for God to tell people, I'm giving you a choice. I'm setting before you this day, life, death, blessing, cursing. Just kidding, I already made that choice for you. It doesn't make any sense, because it's a lie. Then there's you, unconditional election. Again, absurd on its face. There's a condition, it's if you believe you shall be saved. And if those who first trusted in Christ are the elect and are inherited. You say, well, if you're predestined, how do you believe first? Because God predestined that all believers would be saved. So then, okay, now that you've believed in Christ, now you're in on that group. It's not an individual election, it's a corporate, it's God corporately electing to adopt all believers. So as soon as you believe, you get in on that group. If somebody feels left out of election, all they have to do is believe in Jesus and they're in. They're chosen. It's that simple. Did God know they were gonna do that? Of course, God knows everything. I mean, from God's perspective, history's already over. From God's perspective, the events in the Book of Revelation have all already happened. From God's perspective, the second coming of Christ has happened, new heaven, new earth. That's how John could even see those things, because from God's perspective, they're already happened. So God knows the end from the beginning. God lives outside of time. We are experiencing this in real time. And so we're making these decisions real time. God knows everything, but we're making the choices, my friend. It's always funny to me when people claim that God's running the world, and I'm thinking like, well, what about all the weird, screwed up garbage in this world? Like, God's doing all this? It's weird. It's a weird doctrine when you think about all the horrific things in this world, to think that God is just in a control room somewhere, making these things happen. No, it's the sinful nature of man that's making all those crazy things happen. God has an overarching plan, but he's not controlling every weirdo walking down the street, that's absurd. And then we had the L, limited atonement. Folks, if you ever want to just debunk Calvinism, always go for the limited atonement doctrine, because it's like taking candy from a baby, proving that this doctrine is false. Because you've got so many great verses. He tasted death for every man. I'm not going to re-preach that point. And then the I, so we have total depravity, or unconditional election, limited atonement. Then the I is irresistible grace. And this is the idea that once God picks you, there's no way you could ever resist the call to be saved. And of course this is wrong, because God's drawing everyone. If I be lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all men unto me, and yet we don't see all men being saved. God's not willing that any should perish, but yet people are perishing every day. So apparently the grace is resistible. Stephen said this, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost. So the Holy Ghost is working in their hearts. He's reproving them, and yet they resist the Holy Ghost. Because it's resistible, my friend. But then I'm going to get to the last and final point of Calvinism, which is the P, which is perseverance of the saints. And again, there's a lot of truth in this one, but there's a little bit of a lie mixed in, usually. Look if you would at 1 John 2, verse 18. Let's look at the truth of the perseverance of the saints, first of all. It says in verse 18, little children, it is the last time, and as you have heard that antichrists shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. So what's an antichrist, according to the book of 1 John, the book of 2 John? An antichrist is someone who denies that Jesus is the Messiah, right? Who is the liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ, he is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son, right? There are many antichrists. There's a big antichrist coming, capital A antichrist, but there are also many antichrists, because anybody who believes that Jesus is not the Messiah is an antichrist in that sense, claiming that there's some other Messiah than Jesus, right? So let's say we have someone at our church, and next thing you know, that person says, I'm quitting the church because I'm converting to Judaism. I no longer believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and I am becoming a Jew. I'm becoming an Orthodox Jew. Now, what would you and I say about that person based on this passage? We would say, well, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, here's another word for manifest, exposed, that it would be exposed that they were not all of us, meaning that it's not that this person used to be one of us, and now they're not one of us. It's that, well, they were never one of us. Now they just got exposed for what they really were all along, okay? You know, we had a guy who went to our church for a couple years, and then he quit our church and joined the Russian Orthodox Church. And if you're not familiar with Russian Orthodoxy, it's basically just like Roman Catholicism, except a little worse. So it's total works-based salvation. It's not salvation by faith at all. It's not Bible-based at all. It's the same garbage of Roman Catholicism with a few other weird things mixed into the bargain, like where you can merge with God and become God eventually and stuff like that. But it has, everything we don't like about Catholicism is pretty much there as well, the idolatry, the works-based salvation, et cetera. And look, I talked to this guy after he left and joined the Russian Orthodox Church, and he was just hook, line, and sinker, believing in works salvation, believing the doctrines of the Russian Orthodox Church. And you know what? That guy was never saved in the first place. He was at our church. He was going through the motions, but he was not saved. I have a good friend who is a professor at the community college, and he's a philosophy professor. And here's what he says. Oh, I used to be an evangelical Christian. I believed in Jesus. I did all that. But now at this point, I'm an agnostic. And if you ask this guy, do you believe in Jesus? He'll say, no. Do you believe the Bible? No. Oh, but I used to. No, you didn't. You never did. Because let me tell you something, those who are saved are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and they're not going to just stop believing in Jesus. If somebody leaves the church and goes and becomes a Mormon or a Catholic or a Muslim or a Buddhist or a Hindu or an atheist, they were never saved to begin with. Because if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. This is not saying that they have to continue in our exact church. Obviously, they might switch from one Baptist church to another. Or they might just get backslidden and get out of church altogether, and they're not attending church, but they still believe that Jesus is the Son of God. They're not an antichrist. They're not teaching a false gospel. They're not a false prophet teaching works salvation. They're just backslidden. They're just lazy. They're just staying home for whatever reason. But they're still one of us, right? We've all known people who got backslidden. They got out of church for a while. But if you talk to them, they still know they believe in Jesus, right? That didn't change. And so look what the Bible says in 2 John, verse 9, just a couple pages to the right. So there is some truth to perseverance of the saints. Here's the truth of it. Anyone who believes on Christ today is gonna believe on Christ for the rest of their life. Why? Because they're indwelled by the Holy Spirit. They're saved. They're never gonna stop believing. Now, obviously, Christians are gonna have doubts. I think we've all had doubts. I've had doubts. You've had doubts. We're human. Our flesh is sinful. And so sometimes we'll doubt our salvation. We'll doubt that Jesus is our Savior. We'll doubt that the Bible's true. This is just the human factor of being a sinful mortal in flesh, is that we doubt. But it's different to doubt versus saying like, I don't believe in Jesus. I'm a Buddhist now. That person was never saved to begin with. They went out from us, but they were not of us. They would have continued with us. Look what 2 John, verse 9 says. Whosoever transgresseth, now let's stop and talk about this word transgress. Trans, the prefix trans there means across, okay? And then gress means go. Like, think about something that's regressive. It's going backwards, right? Regress, okay? So when we talk about transgressing, it literally means to go over or to go across, okay? So this is a word that's often used about sin because you're transgressing the law, meaning you're crossing lines, you're crossing boundaries by breaking laws that God has made. You know, you're transgressing. Well here, we're not talking about committing a sin. We're talking about crossing a different kind of line. The Bible says, whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son, okay? So let's think about this this way. Let's say there's a circle right here that's the doctrine of Christ, right? So we got a circle. Let's say it's like a 10-foot diameter circle up here that represents the doctrine of Christ, you know? The basic teaching is that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus is divine, right? Jesus is eternally, you know, co-existent with God the Father. He's not a created being or something, right? Jesus is God, okay? Jesus Christ died on the cross. He was buried. He rose again. He actually physically came here as a human being and literally died on the cross and had nails punched through his hands, you know? These are just kind of like basic essential doctrines about Christ. Everybody understand? Okay, whoever transgresses and abides not in the doctrine meaning that somebody gets outside of that sound doctrine not just being a little bit off or a little nuanced but getting outside of it like, hey, I don't even believe Jesus is God anymore, right? You're outside of the doctrine of Christ. You're like, you know, Jesus didn't even come to earth to be the Messiah, you know, or something like that, right? And just saying like, well, Jesus didn't really bodily rise again. He just sort of like spiritually rose again. It's like you have transgressed sound doctrine of Christ at that point. Whoever transgresses and abides not in the doctrine of Christ, have not God. So the guy who one day is claiming, oh yeah, I believe in the Trinity. Yeah, I believe in salvation by faith. Yeah, I believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ. And then a year later, he didn't abide in that. He left because what does abide mean? To stay. Whoever doesn't stay in the doctrine of Christ, it's because that person doesn't have God. Because if you have God, if you have the Holy Spirit inside you, you're not gonna be denying the Trinity five years from now. You're not gonna be a Hindu five years from now. You're not gonna be a Mormon five years from now. You're not gonna be an atheist five years from now. If you have God, you are gonna abide in the doctrine of Christ. Meaning that when we talk to you 10 years from now, you're still gonna believe Jesus is the Messiah. Now maybe you'll screw up your life, I hope not. Maybe you'll be backslidden at a church. Maybe you'll be living in sin. Maybe you'll be living in fornication or something stupid like that. But you're still gonna believe Jesus is the Messiah. And if you don't, then I'm gonna say, well, you were never saved in the first place. You were here on that night on July 5th, and I was preaching to you, and you were exactly who I was talking about because you didn't abide in the doctrine of Christ because you don't have God because you're not indwelled by the Holy Spirit because you went out from us because you were not of us. Otherwise you would have no doubt continued in the doctrine of Christ. That's the true story of perseverance of the saints. So if that's what is meant by perseverance of the saints, then amen. The saints will persevere in their belief in Christ. Absolutely, amen. And to be fair, that's what a lot of Calvinists mean by perseverance of the saints. But then there are a bunch of other Calvinists who will say, no, no, no, perseverance of the saints means you're gonna keep serving God. You're gonna keep doing works. And that's where I would take issue with perseverance of the saints, if it means you're gonna persevere in the works. Let's face it, my friend, there are a lot of Christians who are not doing the works that they should be doing. You know what? We all know people who we know in our whole lives who believe in Christ, and we know that there are times when, man, they're not doing the work. And then we know other people who are like, I don't know if this guy ever did the work. You know what's so funny? And if you would, this is the last place we're gonna turn, Romans chapter four, verse five. You know what's funny is that I feel like these theologians who come up with these doctrines, it's like they're not living in the real world. You know, it's like they get so geeked out in theology and book learning that they kind of forget about the real world and real life, you know? And if your theories don't actually match real life, you might wanna rethink those teachings. If I go outside and look around, it should match my doctrine. If I go outside and talk to people and look around and meet people, and it doesn't match my doctrine, well then, maybe there's something wrong with my doctrine because shouldn't the Bible actually reflect what I'm seeing in the real world? If the Bible is true, let me ask you this. Do you think the things that I experience in my everyday life are real, or am I living in a simulation? It's real, right? You know, the life that I lead, the people I meet, they're real people. I'm talking to people. Those things are really happening. But the Bible's also real, amen? If they're both real, then they should both match. Okay, so this is where the stupid doctrine makes no sense. This doctrine that says, oh, if you're saved, everyone who's saved is gonna live right. Everyone who's saved is gonna keep God's commandments. Everyone who's saved is going to keep following Christ all the way to the end. But here's the thing. Why is it that we all know so many people who believe in Christ who are just breaking so many of God's commandments all the time? And then if you say, I don't know anybody like that, well, go look in the mirror, and you might find one. You know what, but there, I mean, seriously, how ridiculous is this doctrine that says, hey, people who are really saved, they're gonna just have this radically transformed life, and they're gonna be following Christ and doing all the right things. That's funny, because if that were true, you know what Jesus said? Jesus said, if you follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. So you know what? If that were true, that would mean every saved Christian who's really saved would be out there winning souls. Now, let me say this. The vast majority of saved Christians don't win souls. 99% of people that are actually truly born again saved do almost no witnessing, they do almost no soul winning. Reality check, that's reality. So these Calvinists are like, oh, well, if you're really saved, you're gonna be following Christ. You're gonna persevere with Christ. If you're really saved, you're automatically gonna be following. Pastor Anderson preaches this doctrine that if you just believe in Jesus, you're saved, but that even if you're not following Christ, but you gotta be following Christ. But then I look at the Calvinist church and nobody's soul winning. Nobody's evangelizing, right? You look at the average Presbyterian church, you look at the average Reformed Baptist church, how many of those people are really going out and witnessing on a regular basis? It's funny because I constantly have Baptists try to evangelize me throughout my life. I've been at the gym over the last two years. I've had two different groups of people approach me at the gym. Funny, none of them were Calvinists and try to give me the gospel. I was already saved, of course, but I had Baptists, I had non-denom types come and preach the gospel. Look, it's funny how we've got a bunch of churches packed with people and I believe that many of these people are truly saved. Just think about the people that you know that you know are saved. You've known them for decades. How much witnessing do they do? You know, some of them do some witnessing, but I bet you you could probably think of some people that you know that you're really confident about their salvation and you're like, I don't think that person's witnessing anyone in five years. Do you think that Christ, when Christ said, follow me, I'll make you fishers of men, do you think he meant, hey, witness every five years? Give the gospel to one person a decade, but that'd be pretty good for a lot of Christians. Well, let me give you my own testimony. I got saved when I was six years old and I knew I was saved and I believed in Christ and I was confident about it. I got baptized at age nine, okay? How many people did I give the gospel to when I was nine? How many people did I give the gospel to when I was 10? How many people did I give the gospel to when I was 11? How many people did I give the gospel to when I was 12? How many people did I give the gospel to when I was 13, 14, very few. Very rarely I would make some weak attempt to give someone the gospel and then kind of pat myself on the back like, wow, I actually quoted a verse to someone or something. You know, yes. But it wasn't until I was 17 years old that I won someone to the Lord. You know, and that was only because I got in some red hot soul winning Baptist church. It wasn't because I was hanging around with Calvinists. Okay? So think about the foolishness of saying, oh, well anybody who's saved, they're gonna be living right, they're gonna be following Christ. Well that's funny because wouldn't that include evangelizing? You know? And by the way, if living for Christ were automatic, then why does God have to keep preaching to us all throughout the New Testament how we need to do works and we need to live for Christ and we need to stop sinning and get this stuff out of our lives? Because it's not automatic. That's why it's something we have to work at every day. And so this bizarre doctrine that says, well everybody who's truly saved is just living for Christ. And then you look, then you go to the average church that has the right gospel. Go to the average Calvinist church. Go to the average non-Calvinist church. And you find that like 90% of the people are doing like almost nothing for Christ. They're kind of just living their lives and just kind of show up at church once a week. But I'm supposed to believe that these people are all just, you know, just transformed and they're just following Christ. Well that's funny because they don't seem like fishers of men to me. You know? And I'll tell you right now, you wanna know why I was barely witnessing as a teenager? You wanna know why? Because I wasn't really super interested in the things of God. That's why I was saved. But I was pretty interested in girls and video games and ice cream and having fun and lifting weights and I wasn't super interested in the things of God. Does that mean I wasn't saved? No, it means I was the average Christian. Then I got into a zealous, red hot, on fire, soul winning church. All of a sudden I'm winning souls. All of a sudden I'm following Christ. All of a sudden I'm living for God. All of a sudden I'm doing, why? What changed? Did I just get saved? I got saved when I was six. Okay? Bottom line is found in Romans four, verse five. But to him that worketh not, but believeth. The Calvinist will tell you, well, faith alone saves, but faith is never alone. We're saved by faith alone, but faith is never alone. Well, riddle me this. If faith is never alone, then why does the Bible say, him that worketh not, but he does believe? You're not gonna believe this, because this guy's faith is alone. He works not, but he believes. His faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto God and puteth righteousness without works. It's possible to not work, but yet believe. And these are the people that God talks about in 1 Corinthians chapter three, when he says that all their works are wood, hand, stubble. All their works are burned up. They lose their reward. It says, but he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire. The person who gets into heaven, yet so is by fire. All their works are burned up. All their works were wood, hand, stubble. They did not do anything of eternal value, and yet he himself shall be saved. Why? Because him that worketh not, but believeth, his faith is counted for righteousness. You know, I don't have time to go into a big sermon on James 2. I've done a million of them, and that's outside the scope of the sermon tonight. But even just the phrase faith without works is dead is an absurd phrase if faith is never alone. If faith is never alone, then here's what James 2 should say. Faith without works doesn't exist. In order for faith without works to be dead, it has to be faith. There have to be no works there, and it has to be dead. In order for my car to be dead, it has to be a car, I have to have a car, and it has to be dead, and it doesn't work. The car that know worketh be dead. Amen? Car no work, car dead. Car still car. If no car, you know, and if you're saying like, well, you know, every car works. Every car worketh. If it doesn't worketh, then it's not really a car. No, because here's the thing. There could be a car that doesn't work. It's still a car. But let's pretend that we live in an alternate universe where every car always works all the time. Right? Let's pretend we're living in an alternate universe. Every car always works all the time. Then would this statement make any sense? The car that doesn't work is a dead car. You'd be like, what are you talking about? Cars always work. What do you mean the car that doesn't work? Cars all work. So to say, well, faith is never alone. Faith is always accompanied by works. Well, then what is James talking about? If people with faith always do the works, then what is James even talking about? What's he even bringing up? Some myth? Something, folks, him that worketh not but believeth, his faith is counted for righteousness. So perseverance of the saints, are we gonna believe all the way to the end? Absolutely. If somebody says they don't believe in Jesus anymore, take it to the bank, they were never saved in the first place. But do works all the way to the end? Any one of us can get lazy, can get backslidden and stop doing the work for Christ and sit around at home and we're still saved, but we're just kind of living our lives for ourselves and we're just kind of just doing our own thing. We're not witnessing, we're not in church, we're not reading the Bible. Look, I'm not gonna ask for a raise of hands. I guarantee you, a lot of people in here would say, yeah, I went through a phase like that after I was saved where I didn't do any works. And guess what? The people out there that aren't even in church, they're the ones who are really doing no works. Obviously, you're here because you're probably kind of dedicated to be here on a Friday night in a sauna right now, listening to a sermon in a literal sauna. No, I'm just kidding. And so, at the end of the day, God so loved the world. Okay, what does the world mean? The people in the world. You say, well, I know it says God so loved the world, but it's really just the elect. It's really just certain people. But the Bible says God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whosoever believeth in him, a different group, should not perish but have everlasting life. You see, otherwise, he could have just said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that the world would have eternal life. Because the world's just the elect, folks. Or he could have said God so loved whosoever believeth that he gave his only begotten son so that that same whosoever believeth should not perish but have everlasting life. That's not what he said. He said God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son so that this smaller group, whosoever believeth, would not perish but have everlasting life. And this is why God can say at the very end of the Bible, Revelation 22, 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 free. Whoever wants to, let him take the water. Oh, just kidding, it's just people that I picked. And if you're not picked, well, screw you! Amen. Is that how the Bible ends? Is that the last, you know, I mean, there's probably a version that ends that way, you know, with so many versions coming out. No, my friend, it says whosoever wants to, whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. It's up to you, man. It's up to you. And look, if you're here tonight and you don't know for sure you're going to heaven and you're not saved, you know what? If you go to hell, you have no one to blame but yourself. And it's not because God didn't magically choose you mysteriously based on nothing before the world began. It's because you didn't believe in Jesus. And if you did believe in Jesus, then you'd be in on this election package because he elected to save all those who believe. He foreknew the ones that would believe. And he said, not only am I going to save you, I'm not only am I going to justify, I'm going to glorify, I'm going to adopt you. You're going to be conformed to the image of my son. You're going to be an inheritance with Christ. You're going to have an inheritance in heaven and on and on and on. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you for all the wonderful people that have showed up tonight and listened to this sermon, Lord God. I pray that all of us would take these things to heart and stay motivated about reaching the lost because Calvinism is a doctrine of convenience for those who don't want the responsibility of evangelizing, Lord. It is a responsibility that we get out there and pull people out of the fire, Lord. Help us to do it. Help us to be faithful. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen.