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Who here has ever heard of Calvinism? It's the belief that God has chosen some people to go to heaven and that God chose some people to go to hell. So you have no say in your salvation, only God can choose whether you're gonna be saved or not. John Calvin was the person who founded Calvinism and he said this. He said, one should not be content with just killing such people, heretics, but burn them cruelly. So John Calvin said that his goal in life was to burn and martyr people who believed different than he did. Now is that very loving? If Robert came in here and had a different opinion on end times or something and I say, Robert, you should be put to death. That'd be terrible, we don't believe in that. We believe that we're supposed to show love to every single person. But John Calvin said this, he says, of whatever time we are baptized, we are washed and purified for the whole of life. We must recall our baptism so as to feel certain and secure of the remission of our sins. It wipes away all our defilements. John Calvin would baptize babies and he said that if you baptize your baby, your baby will ascend into heaven someday and that's how you know that they're saved. Well, what does the Bible say? And as they went on their way, they came onto a certain water and the eunuch said, see, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? So this guy in the Bible is saying, I want to be baptized. Look at what the Bible says, it says, and Philip said, if thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest and he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. In order to be baptized, you have to believe with all your heart that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Do little babies believe that Jesus is the son of God? They don't even know Jesus, they have to be told who he is. But in Calvinism, they believe in these five points, they call it the Tulip theory. Point number one is total depravity and they say that we have no ability to make choices. We have no ability to choose to do anything, we're literally robots, this is what they believe. Why did God say, choose you this day whom you will serve if God already made all the choices for us? God literally says, choose you. Oh no, just kidding, I chose, I made the decision, I'm controlling everything. These Calvinists, they believe that God is literally a puppet master up in heaven controlling everything. That's literally what they believe, it's not of God. They say there's no free will in the Bible, you can't make a choice. Well, why is there a free will offering in the Bible then? God literally said, you could bring a free will offering to me if you want to, but there's no free will? God knew ahead of time, I believe that false religions would come along and say, well, God has foreordained everything, God has chosen everything and we can't choose to make choices. Look, anybody in this room probably knows every one of us can choose to do right or wrong. We have the ability to make a choice. Calvinism denies just basic common sense. Jesus said this, he says, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together? Even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. So Jesus is saying, look, I wanted to gather you together, I wanted to save you, but you would not. You have a will and you chose not to be saved. Look, if you're here this morning, you can choose to be saved. But Calvinists believe that you cannot choose and this is why Calvinism is so dangerous. This is why I'm preaching against it this morning. Because there are families in the Southern Baptist Convention, and look, I believe a lot of people in the Southern Baptist Convention are saved. Brothers in Christ, wonderful people. I'm not slamming them, but what I am saying is a lot of them, 30% of the Southern Baptist Convention teaches in Calvinism that we don't have the ability to make choices, okay? So what they do is they tell their kids, kids, you can't choose God. You can't choose to be saved. If God wants to save you, he's going to force you to be saved. This is what they tell their kids. He's going to force you into salvation, and if you're one of his, you're going to be a good person. It's a sign that if you're a good enough person, that must mean that you are chosen of God. It is such false doctrine. Jesus said, I would have gathered you, but you would not. They're calling Jesus a liar. Bible says, whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever will may come. This is what the Bible says. This is basic grammar. But a lot of intellectual Calvinists on TV, people think they're so smart, don't even understand the most basic grammar. They can't even read the Bible right. Look, Calvinists often claim that people are saved before they believe. So what they'll say is, God chose you. You couldn't make the choice to believe, and so therefore, God justified you. He saved you before you trusted Jesus, before you even knew about Jesus. You were saved. That's not true. Let's look at what the Bible says about this. Jesus said, if you believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. Jesus said, you have to first believe and receive the Holy Spirit. Bible says, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. So if you're not believing in Jesus, you're condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. So if you go to hell, it's only because you have not believed. If you are saved, it's only because you have believed. You don't get saved before you have trusted Jesus. This is just basic common sense. Bible says, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. But they would read it like this. Before that ye believed, notice the yellow words in the middle. Before that you believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. They believe that before you come to know about Jesus, you were already saved. God chose you, he forced salvation upon you. You can't make a decision to accept or reject it. You're just saved. And let me say this, if God said, well, I'm gonna send Robert to heaven, but I'm gonna send Jamie to hell because, oh, I just don't wanna save everybody. I've chosen who I'm gonna save. Is that a loving God? That's cruel. And it's no wonder, if we go back to the beginning here, that John Calvin said this. One should not be content with just killing people, but burn them cruelly. Cruelly, he believed in a cruel God. John Calvin was a very cruel man. But a lot of people say, well, Matt, don't you believe in the doctrines of grace? That's not the doctrine of grace. That's not the doctrine of mercy. The Bible says, for the grace of God hath appeared to all men. So it appeared to Jamie, it appeared to Robert, it appeared to me. It's appeared to everybody. Everybody has an opportunity to be saved. Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. And after you believed, the Bible says, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. So you receive the Holy Spirit after you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Calvinist point number two, this is what they believe. They will hold to it wholeheartedly, no matter how hard you try to talk to them. They say God chooses who is saved. Well, that would make God a respecter of persons. The Bible literally says God is no respecter of persons. God would be playing favorites. But does God play favorites? Is God a respecter of persons? Did God foreordain that some people would go to hell for his pleasure? The Bible literally contradicts that. Here's a famous Calvinist, R.K. McGregor Wright. He said this, he said, if God had elected to save everyone without exception, all would certainly be saved. But God never had the slightest intention of saving everyone. Mr. McGregor, you must have never read the Bible. Jesus literally said this, this is his last commandment. He said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to a few people. Bible says preach the gospel to every single creature. Amen. Jesus literally said that if you wanna follow him, and if you wanna fulfill his final commandment, what was the final commandment? To preach the gospel to every creature. But if every creature is not gonna be saved, if they're not gonna have a chance to be saved, why would he say preach the gospel to every creature? Oh, just kidding, you can't be saved. I mean, it's insane. Bible says who will have all men to be saved? Notice this, this is God's will for our lives. And to come into the knowledge of the truth. Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to who? To all people. Arthur Pink, another Calvinist theologian says, when we say God is sovereign, we mean that he loves who he chooses. God does not love everybody. John Calvin said, God is cruel. He said, I am cruel, they should be put to death if they disagree with me. And this guy comes along follower of John Calvin, and promotes the idea that God does not love everybody. Well, as far as I know, most famous verse in the Bible that we quote over and over at this church, for God so loved who? Just a few people that he decided to save in his foreknowledge? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, that's you, that's me, that's everybody, believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Bible says, and behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood. This lady had blood problems for 12 years in the Bible. And people say she couldn't have made a choice. Nobody can make a choice to come to God. God is a puppet master, he just chooses it all for us. Okay, this woman who was diseased with an issue of blood for 12 years, came to Jesus and she said, within herself, if I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. And he said unto her, daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole, go in peace. Amen. Jesus is saying, because you've received me, because you had faith in me, because you trusted me to take you to heaven, you're saved. Thy faith have made thee whole, be comforted my friend. That's what he told her. He says, you're my daughter, notice the wording. He says, daughter, what is he calling her? He's calling her a child of God saved. Be of good comfort, thy faith hath made thee whole, go in peace. He didn't say, well, I chose that you would be made whole ahead of time. And you were made whole before you even touched the hem of my garment. No, he said that thy faith hath made thee whole. Point number three that Calvinists believe in and teach is limited atonement. They believe that Christ didn't die for everyone. They believe that his blood was only good for certain people, but not for everybody. 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. Let me tell you this morning that he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Bible says he's the propitiation for our sins, the saved, but not just for us, but for who? The whole world. That means that every single person could be saved. If a soul winner and a preacher comes and shares the gospel with them. And people always say, and these Calvinists always tell me, Matt, you can't save anybody. You don't do the saving, only God does the saving. Okay, that is partially true, but let me say this. God, Paul, the apostle Paul literally said, he says, for I have become all things to all men that I might save some. Did you catch that? I might save some. That's what Paul said. He says, I have the power through the Holy Spirit to give people the gospel and to see them get saved. That's what the Bible is telling us. Bible says for others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. So you have the ability to help save souls. Don't ever think that you can't. The Bible says, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that winneth souls is wise. The Bible literally says that, you can look it up. You, if you go out and win people to Jesus Christ, you are a wise person. According to the Bible, Jesus died for all of our sins. The blood of Christ is not cheap. It didn't have a certain limit to it. It has unlimited power. This is from a Mormon. He says, there are some serious sins for which the cleansing of Christ does not operate. And the law of God is that men must have their own blood shed to atone for their sins. Right now in Utah, Mormons are killing each other, left and right. There is police case after police case after police report of Mormons killing each other right now. You know why? Because they believe that Jesus didn't die for everyone. They believe in Calvinism as well. Mormonism is Calvinistic. Check this out. Islam is also a Calvinistic religion. They say in the Quran, Allah will send those to heaven whom he pleases and will send to hell whom he pleases. They literally say in the Quran, Allah has predestined those. Predestination, what we hear about all the time. Look, this stuff, they're trying to bring it into a fundamental Baptist movement. I literally had one of these guys wanting to meet with me and saying, we need to talk about the doctrines of grace, Matt, we need to get on the same page. No, I'm not gonna agree on the doctrines of grace, which are really the doctrines of hate, saying that God hates people. This is in the Quran. Allah fixed all the events, actions, thoughts, and man is powerless to change anything. Calvinism is Islamic, it is Mormonistic, it is satanic. Do not be deceived when people from the Southern Baptist Convention try to come in here and say, and look, I've heard maybe there are some people who believe in the Southern Baptist Convention here. I'm not taking any jabs, okay? I love them, I don't know who they are, if they're even in this room. But we've had people tell us that the Southern Baptist Convention is of God. Well, if they're of God, why did they just ordain their first transgender pastor? The Southern Baptist Convention just ordained their first transgender pastor. 35% of graduates from the Southern Baptist Convention believe in Calvinism, that God chose everything, that God is a puppet master in heaven, that God is controlling everything. God is not controlling every single action of man. We are responsible for certain actions that we commit. We have the ability to choose. And people say, well, why did God make it this way? Why did God give us a choice? Why did God create a world where evil can't exist? I'll tell you why. Because God is not gonna create robots. Love requires free will. God does not force anyone to be saved. God isn't gonna force you into his presence against your will. Did you know that? God loves us so much. They say, why does evil exist? Because God loves us, and he's giving us a choice to do right or wrong. You can't know what darkness is unless you know what light is. You have to understand both sides. You have to know a difference between what's right and what's wrong, what's good and what's evil. I don't mean to get super philosophical, but that's the answer that we need to be sharing with people. Number four, they believe in what's known, essentially might be number five, in the tulip, right? Let's go back to the tulip. They say, oh, I believe in tulip theory. It sounds ridiculous. I believe in the Bible theory, amen. I believe in biblical, they say, are you a Calvinist? Nope. Are you an Arminius? Nope. I'm a biblicist, amen. I believe in the Holy Bible and that it's been preserved. And number four was irresistible grace. So like I said, God is just gonna force himself onto you. This is what they believe. They believe it's irresistible. You can't make a choice to reject the grace of God. If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen. Number five, perseverance. People who are saved will endure to the end. This is what the final point of Calvinism is. So they believe that in order to be saved, you have to endure to the very end. And John Piper, famous Calvinist, you can see him on TV today. He says, no Christian can be sure he is a true believer. Let's stop right there. What does the Bible say? These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may think that you have eternal life. I can hope, I can't really know I'm a true believer. That ye may know that you have eternal life, amen. But John Piper says, no Christian can be sure, you can't. He says, hence, there is an ongoing need to be dedicated to the Lord and to deny ourselves so that we might make it. We might make it. Do you see the wording here? This guy deceived so many people. I go out and I knock doors and I talk to people about Jesus. I might make it to heaven. These things have I written that ye may know that you have eternal life. He says, we must endure to the end in faith in order to be saved. Bible says, but to him that worketh not. But believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He didn't say, oh, I'm forcing you over here. He says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, amen. Jesus loves us so much that he gives us the option to accept him or reject him. And let me tell you, no person will go to hell. No person will go to hell unless they've been first given the option to go to heaven. We're gonna end with this. A lot of people believe and a lot of these false religions believe that you have to make it to the very end. You've gotta be a Christian until Jesus comes back to be saved. But the Bible says that Lot, Lot was a saved man. Lot committed all sorts of horrible sins. I'm not even gonna name them because it's just terrible what he did. And I'm embarrassed. I turn red when I think of the horrible things that Lot did. He is a saved man. I'm gonna see Lot in heaven, not because he was a good guy, not because he was worthy, but because Jesus' blood that can apply to everybody, the ticket was paid for, for everybody, applied to Lot and saved the soul of Lot. King Saul in the Bible, who here knows about King Saul? He was a king in the Old Testament who turned his back on the Lord. He says, I don't want this anymore. He said, I'm not gonna obey God. I'm gonna go hang out with witches. Saul literally hung out with witches. I mean, witchcraft is a horrible sin according to the Bible, terrible sin. And the reason that it's a terrible sin is because it hurts people. People that get into these Ouija boards, it hurts them, causes them to have these paranormal experiences that can harm them forever. You're consulting familiar spirits and demons, you ought to be ashamed. You shouldn't do that. You shouldn't go to a psychic to get answers. We got the answers in the Holy Bible. But Saul went to a psychic, he went to a witch. The witch raised up Samuel and Samuel was upset with Saul because Samuel is a prophet. Samuel looked at Saul and said, Saul, tomorrow at this time, you're gonna die and you're going to be with me. Do you know what Samuel was saying to Saul? Saul, you did wrong. God's your enemy. You did terrible things in your life. And Saul committed suicide the next day. But where is the Bible say he is right now? In heaven. Do you know why? Because Jesus died for every single sin that has ever been committed or that ever will be committed by man. And if I couldn't do good works to get saved, I can't do bad works to lose it. But most of Christianity today, Hillsong Church, all these big name churches, they say, if you wanna go to heaven, you've got to be a good person. Bible says, as it is written, there is none righteous. The Bible literally tells us that he that thinketh he standeth, let him take heed lest he fall. But I go to these events and over and over and over and over and over again, who do we run into? Promoters of reform theology, followers of John Piper, Calvinism. And let me say this, I'll end with this point. We are kind to them. We do not yell at them. We do not, we don't really yell at anybody. Might yell at you occasionally from the pulpit and I'm not yelling at you, I'm just trying to yell at the devil, amen. But I'm telling you, I'm trying to fight for the faith. The Bible says earnestly contend for the faith, right? So we're supposed to be fighters in the spiritual world. Yeah, and that's what the debate thing is about, right? Debating is being able to contend for what you believe. When we run into Calvinists, what's the answer? I would say this, a lot of them are probably saved. I've met some people that believe in reform theology that are saved, they're messed up, but a lot of them are not saved. They're not trusting Jesus. They're trusting that they were baptized as a baby. They're following the doctrines of men founded by John Calvin. They're following Islamic, Mormonistic, Calvinistic, satanic ideologies. It is all tied in together. John Calvin was in the Catholic church for pretty much all of his life. He tried to reform Catholicism. So when you meet them, you need to try to educate them a little bit on this, but you need to also open the Bible and tell them, we can know we're saved because of our choice to accept Jesus. God said, choose. God literally said, choose. If God says to choose, but He's already made the choice for us, is that an honest God? That's not an honest creator. Bible says He's willing that none should perish but that all should come to what? Repentance, right? The Bible literally says that He would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. He died and took my sins upon Him. And He didn't just take my sins upon Him. He took the sins of every single person. And that's the most loving message. That's the most powerful message. People always tell me, Matt, you need to be quiet. You shouldn't come to our parades or our community events. You shouldn't go to the school board to confront the school board about what they're teaching the kids. You shouldn't do all that. You should be afraid. You should have fear because you're just a Christian. Look, Christianity is the most powerful message in the whole world. Look at what they're saying. They're saying we came from fish. I'm saying, the Bible's saying we came from two people. That's a fact. The world says there's more than two genders. Let's celebrate pride. God says, be humble, don't be proud. Do you know what pride is defined as? Pride, if you look it up in the dictionary, means a feeling that you're more important or better than other people. People are celebrating that? Feeling better that you're better than others? In Calvinists, I'll end with this point, okay? And we're done. Calvinists will say you can't, and that Muslims say, you can't choose to do anything. You can't help anyone. Everybody's just gonna have their own path. God has already chosen it ultimately. Well, do you know how many people are shooting up right now? A lot. Do you know how many people are overdosing on alcohol right now? A lot. People are dying left and right. And if you indoctrinate a child and say there's nothing you can do to help them, there's nothing you can do. It's all predetermined. Is that gonna help our society or hurt our society? Calvinism, in closing, hurts the entire world. It is satanic. There's a lot of kids that get bullied at school. Think about it. There's nothing I can do to help them. Yes, there is something you can do to help them. God has given us the chance to help each other. You should be a friend to people. You should try to help people while there is still time on this earth. God has given you a certain dash between two dates to live out your life for Him. And you can take that dash of time to help people, or you can take that dash and hurt others and yourself in the process. Sin hurts you. Alcohol hurts you. Going around and doing drugs not only hurts you, it hurts your kids, because then your kids will follow in your footsteps. You have to set a strong example. We have to be willing to take the reins and help lead people into the truth and into true love, not this fake love where people say love is love, Matt. No, it's harmful when you're saying love is love and then mutilating another person on a surgery table. They say, Matt, you don't accept me for who I am. One of these trans people came to me, Matt, you don't accept me for who I am, screaming in my face. I said, actually, I do accept you for what you are. I'm not gonna pretend that you're something that you're not. I'm not gonna play charades. If you're a man, you're a man. If you're a woman, you're a woman. And we just saw in the Olympics, who heard about the boxer that just boxed the harm into this woman. It was a man. A man got in there, boxed this woman, fought her, hurt her very bad. The world goes, yay! 50 years ago, that man would have been thrown in jail. The morality of America and of the world is declining so fast. The only thing that we can do is look to Jesus and get our morality from the Bible. When people come to you and say, you're not very loving. No, say, you're not loving because you're encouraging people to hurt themselves, to mutilate themselves. I'm telling people, accept God, accept yourself for who God made you to be. Amen. Let's close with a word of prayer. Dear Lord.