This is Calvinism, God's absolute and unconditional decree to create men so as to save some, damn others based on nothing in themselves. That is a paraphrase built from their doctrine. Yeah. And remember, their forefathers, Calvin and Theodore Viza, that's their conclusion. That comes straight from them.
They spoke French, we speak English, and so in the translation, it's not verbatim, but that does sum up. The Doctrine. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through a topical series.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Calvinism vs. Arminianism is the title of Pastor Rick's message on today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. We have to be very. committed to the things we believe and why we believe them.
and be able to back them up.
Now Calvinists, of course, live under the influence Of wrong definitions. I've covered this already when we went through predestination, so I'll skip that. You can refer to that if you want to go to it for time's sake, we'll skip it. But free will is just too basic. For them.
It needs to be more complicated, and there are five points. have done just that, complicated, recategorizing Free will is works. It's fatalism and Christian gob. And when you hold them accountable to defining love and its characteristics, They cannot Say anything back has been my experience. When you hold them to the fire, say, wait, what kind of love is this?
Love, your love is fickle. It's unstable. God loves some, but the Bible says he loves all. But to support your doctrine, you have to change that, or else your doctrine dies.
So the origins of Calvin Well, the doctrine of Calvinism, I think, has brought nothing good to Christianity whatsoever. We would have been fine without it. It marginalizes reason. And then they said Cole Michael Sevirtus situation that I'm going to skip. Many believe Calvin was directly involved in his burning at the stake in fifteen twenty three on october twenty seventh, Others present arguments that, well, he was not really that much against it.
Actually, he was. Looking to be more merciful than that.
So rather than get bogged down with that. I only mention it in case you say, well, why didn't you bring up The burning of Michael Severitas, because it's just a It's a rabbit hole that I think distracts from the discussion of what is the difference between Arminianism and Calvinism. But God's absolute and unconditional This is Calvinism, God's absolute and unconditional decree to create men so as to save some, damn others, based on nothing in themselves. That is a paraphrase built From their doctrine. And remember, their forefathers, Calvin and Theodore Biza, that's their conclusion.
That comes straight from them. They spoke French, we speak English, and so in the translation, it's not verbatim, but that does sum up. The doctrine: God's love is only for God's liked people, the ones He likes, not the rest.
Now Arminius, Jacob Arminius. He was a A Dutch theologian. And as he was preaching on Romans 9 he began to develop opinions about grace. And predestination And free will that were not consistent with what Calvin and Beza were teaching. And he disagreed.
He said that Calvinism did not allow for lost souls. to even feel conviction of sin. Man's too depraved, he's too sinful. to even know when he's being told by God he's guilty.
Well Arminius said, That's not what I find in the Bible. And Arminius is the one that put five points together to refute Calvinism, and Calvinism responds back with their five points to refute Jacob Arminius.
So Arminius emphasized man's free will. That all humans are created in God's image. And When we realize that Calvinism's True teachings are what they are with shock. We say, who could believe that? Who could come to the Bible and believe?
That God says you're going to heaven and you're going to hell, and neither one of you have a say-so in it. It's unconditional election. And we said, nobody can believe that. And it is a very dominant doctrine.
Now, the hyper-Calvinists, that's another group of the Calvinists. They are at least honest enough with the doctrine to say. If God has already chosen who's going to heaven and who's going to hell, it makes no sense for me to witness to anybody.
So they don't bother trying to save souls. That's the proper conclusion to their own doctrine. And the other Calvinists look down on them and they've labeled them their hyper. They're running around all the time.
So the Bible condemns Calvinism before Arminianism does.
So let's look at the key principles. And I'll use as a verse to set this off. Acts chapter 8, verse 37, keeping in mind Joshua 24, choose you this day. Who you're gonna serve? Then Philip said, If you believe with all your heart, you may.
This is when the Ethiopian said, What stops me from being baptized? I believe in Jesus Christ. And Philip says, If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he said, He answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Calvinism comes along and says he couldn't say that unless God let him say that.
And the other people that didn't get baptized, God didn't let them. He didn't want them. Yeah what Jesus says this if I am lifted up from the earth will draw all peoples to myself.
Well, I'm never in the mood to let someone come along and say all does not mean all. It means all those preselected.
Well, show me where that is. Show me where man is so depraved from the Bible that he can't Respond to God. I'm going to show you in a minute from Genesis. And God thought otherwise. Again you need some one to teach you how to disagree with the verses.
And yet, because they have their solid in other areas like the Trinity and the deity of Christ, like that, we let our guard down with these people. Why bother drawing all peoples if it has already been decided? Both summarize these theologies. Are both summarized. I want to read one more verse and then we'll get to the difference of the five points.
Acts chapter 17, the Bereans, it says this of them. They received the word of God with all readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore, many of them believed. It doesn't say many of them were predestined. They're predestined to be like Jesus if they come to Jesus.
They're predestined to heaven. If they come to Christ, if they receive the invitation, yes, they are predestined. That is the course they're set. But if they reject Him, they're also predestined to go to hell. The sovereign election, well, with everything, God is sovereign.
Everything to Him is sovereign. He knows it all. We don't. Conditional election. Is the first one up.
And this is what the Arminians believe. And I side far more with them, way more. There's only maybe one point that I'll get to it. Conditional election. Arminianism says God elects individuals for salvation based on his foreknowledge of.
who will freely choose to believe in Christ. Election? is conditional on faith. And not an arbitrary divine decree. It's based on whether you say yes or no and not whether God has said, No, I'm letting you in and you can't do anything about it.
And which is what Calvinism teaches. When that's unconditional election.
Well, let's look at the scriptures again. 1 Peter. Chapter 1, verse 2: Elect according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, and sanctification of the Spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. according to the foreknowledge of God. God knew who he was going who were going to save.
He didn't do it. He made it available, knows who it is. Calvinism says God knows because he chose. without any input. From the center.
But that's not what Paul says, Romans 1:16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, or it is the power of God to salvation, for everyone hand-picked. No. For everyone who believes. You can't just take the word believe and arbitrarily say it doesn't mean that. Because it doesn't suit the doctrine.
And this is what they do. Everything I'm saying to you. They will counter with a twisted verse. And I already pulled the teeth on their predestination, so they can't throw that one at me. Because God chooses does not mean sinners have no choice.
1 Timothy 2 God, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, as I read. Earlier. 2 Peter 3:9, God is long-suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. Willing that none should perish, then how does Calvinism come up with his any, meeny, my mode? Who's going and who's not?
And they get offended by that. And their comeback usually is he's sovereign.
Okay, I believe he's sovereign. I don't believe it's tyrannical.
So, according to Calvin, God caused what he does not want. That does not make sense.
So, unconditional election is their response in response to. Conditional election, God chooses you based on the condition of you accepting salvation. Unconditional election is this. God chooses certain individuals for salvation. Based solely On his will and grace.
not on any merit or foreseeing faith in them, This election is unconditional and predetermined before creation. You it's preset. The manufacturer is set for the manufacturer, and you cannot change it, like Microsoft stuff. It's uh messed up and you can't change it.
So, you know, in other words, God picks who goes to heaven and who goes to hell and calls it grace. It makes it impossible for you to question that approach from the scripture because they say so.
Okay, so then. What does this mean? Come now, let us reason together. says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow.
Well, why bother reasoning? What a waste of effort! God tells us to love the sinner. Because he does too. Luke, Jesus said this.
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. God is saying this, I don't have this. You can't say there's a double standard. God wants me to love sinners, but He doesn't.
And they are insulted when you tell them this is dumb. That with this belief is dumb. It makes no sense. It goes against reason. And he gets so insulted by that.
Well then stop believing it. Doroth Vader, come over to this side. Universal atonement is next.
Now, I don't have them in their two-lip format. If you take all of their Five points. And you arrange them in an acronym, it spells tulip, which is a beautiful flower, but an ugly doctrine.
So next up is universal atonement. Arminians believe Christ's death on the cross was sufficient for all people and provides the opportunity for salvation to everyone, but It is effective only for those who believe, which I've been saying. First John 2.2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, Not for ours only but also for the whole world.
Well, we're used to hearing that in John 3:16, but 1 John 2:2, he says it again, the second witness. the whole world. What a Calvinist say to that?
Well the whole world of the whole elect. Yeah. It doesn't count everybody else.
Well, where do you get that from? From Calvinism. It's like, well, that's circular reasoning. Where did he get it from in Scripture? Or from here.
No, you don't get it from there. There are other verses, 1 John 4, 14, Revelation 22, 17, whomsoever will. And they say, yes, whosoever wills, if God has. Activated. Their choice button.
So, to defend their Reformed theology, the Calvinists are notorious for telling you that the Bible. What the Bible plainly says is not what it plainly means. You need them. You need this theology to underst put the pieces together. It's like an instruction manual with a Box or the puzzle get you.
Okay. You buy a puzzle and get an instruction manual. Put the pieces that fit together together.
Well, that's what we do. We've been the Nicolasians were doing this. In the early church And irritating everybody. They had the knowledge, no one else had it. In their case, it was Gnosticism.
Calvinism is Doing the same thing.
So, the Calvin's response to universal atonement is limited atonement. Christ's death on the cross was intended. to atone for the sins of the elect Only Not for all humanity. His sacrifice is sufficient for all, but effective only for those chosen by God. This is why they write these thick books insisting on you believing this.
It's like this never-ender.
Okay, try this way.
Okay, now try this one. Don't run. It's not there. They're looking for something they lost in the house, outside the house. Limited.
To the elect. And not the unelect. Reformed theology and And again, you say, who believes this stuff?
Well, you can look all of this up. Fact-check me all you want, you're going to come right there to this place where I'm. What I'm telling you. The elected become the selected. In contradiction to reason.
and love and scripture. The elected are the selected. and nobody else.
Well, the third point is total depravity, which is the first T of the tulip. total depravity. The Arminian says That there's a such thing Has Prevenient grace. Like, who uses that word? It's anticipatory.
It's God. Making It possible For grace to work. And people who would choose him. That's what they mean by that.
So we read. Total depravity, according to Arminian theology, due to the fall, humans are totally depraved and unable to save themselves without divine grace. I believe that. Jesus said, Without me, you could do nothing. That goes all the way back to Adam and Eve.
So, God, they continue, provides. Grace in advance. A universal grace that enables all people to respond to God's call to salvation, restoring their free will to accept or reject.
Now, some Armenians believe in a partial depravity. I ain't gonna get into that. I believe man is totally depraved, but not to the point where he loses his ability to choose. as nothing in the Bible that I know of that says man cannot choose. Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in me, and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.
In Titus 2:11, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. I would believe, I would see why they said these things that they say. If that word all didn't keep popping up. Every time we talk about Christ dying for all, wishing that all get saved. Again, it reduces God to a form of schizophrenia.
Total depravity counters. This is what they say it is. Humans are born in sin. and are spiritually dead. Incapable of choosing God or doing good apart from divine grace.
Pause there.
Okay, if they're dead, then they're also incapable of sinning, are they not? No, that one they can do. Every part of a person's nature, they say, is corrupted by sin. Though they can still perform outwardly good acts, which Doctrine theologically is common grace. I agree with that.
However, You talk about man being so depraved when Cain killed his brother.
Well, before, but right before he kills his brother, when God rejected his offering, because Cain chose. To bring fruit baskets and not a blood sacrifice. And God says, I'm not having it. And Cain is pouting now. and murder is going to soon you know, flow out of him.
So God says to him in Genesis 4, 7, if you do well, Will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. He doesn't say, oh, you're so depraved, Cain, you're going to be a murderer. You don't have a choice.
So early in the scripture, we see God saying, appealing to Cain. Choose. You should rule over this. You make the right choices. Cain went out and made wrong choices again on top of the other ones.
That's who he was. It would be a mean thing to say to someone. too depraved To choose to do go choose to do well. But I can't because you've made me You know, you've taken that ability away.
Well, God has not taken that ability away.
So the double standard again of Reformed theology. is that They can't choose God, but they can choose sin. And that's the whole story for those who are lost.
Now, God knows who's going to be saved and who's not. He knows who's going to receive it and who's not, but that does not mean he caused it. And we covered this in predestination. He knew Judas Iscariot was going to betray him, but he did not say, here's $5, go betray me. He did not cause Judas to do that.
Jesus said, I chose you all. I gave you all a shot.
Well one of you is a devil. Not because of God.
So By their logic, by their ill logic, I should say. If Pharaoh was totally depraved, then why would God have to harden his heart? Man is so depraved.
Well, then, God wouldn't have to harden his heart. He'd be so depraved, he'd do it on his own. The hardening of the heart of Pharaoh is actually God allowing the man to bristle up against God as much as he wanted to. And that's precisely what happened. Because God appealed.
Each time to him, and Pharaoh kept. resisting and lying about, Okay, I give in. And then he changes his mind. And God says, Fine, you're going to go the course you want to go, and I'm going to let you do that. It is not uncommon for God to turn the wicked over to their own delusions And that's what we read about in Thessalonians at the end of Isaiah.
If God says, okay, if you want to reject me, you can, but that does not allow you to decide how that rejection plays out. on everybody else. The fourth one is resistible grace. Yeah. What if you don't want to be saved?
Well Too bad. I know, it's so crazy, right? Where's the logic in this? Who would even want to ask such a question?
Well, resistible grace, God's grace. Which calls no no let me pause there. Remember Jacob Arminius was A Calvinist, and first he had a problem with it, then he seems to have come over to it, and then he's teaching on Romans 9. He says, Wait a minute, the Bible is not teaching what they're telling me. And that's when he comes out with this.
points of Rejection against Calvinism. And it seems like they then counter with their points.
Well, resistible grace, God's grace, which calls people to salvation, can be resisted or rejected through human free will. But the Calvinist says, no, he doesn't have free will. Hmm. Uh do they Do they willfully say that?
So, Stephen in Acts chapter 7, Stephen, the Bible says, a man filled with the Spirit and all wisdom. What did he say to the Jews? Before they stoned him to death, You always resist the Holy Spirit. According to Calvinism, you now have God resisting God. Because they can't do it.
unless God pushes the magic button in them. In Matthew 23, 27, Jesus lamented over Jerusalem. How I wanted to gather you together, but you were not willing. The language is critical because when, again, when they come to the Trinity, they have zoom in on the language. But when it comes to this pet doctrine, and these are.
Again, people like Alastair Begg. John MacArthur. They swim in these waters. And you just scratch your head. You say, God, come on, you're playing with me, right?
You fooling around with me. How can these admirable men in other areas Be so blind.
Well, it goes back to you can be very intelligent in some areas and stone cold wrong in other areas. Irresistible grace is their response to resistible grace.
Now, don't take that word lightly. Irresistible. You cannot Resist the salvation. just like the other one, can't get it. Because God is sovereign, According to Calvinism, and Reformed theology, and that's the end of the story.
So here comes the irresistible grace. When God extends His grace to the elect. The others don't get it. They fail to see that God elects those who believe. They've turned election and to selection.
with just some mysterious reasoning behind it.
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