This sermon delves into the complexities of Calvinism, exploring the doctrines of Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. It questions the idea of Christ's blood being wasted if not all are saved, the concept of irresistible grace, and the assurance of salvation for the elect. The sermon challenges the interpretation of scripture within the framework of Calvinism and its historical roots in Augustine's teachings.

If it's the gospel, if it's Bible, the Bible says that even a child can understand the scriptures. In 2 Timothy 3.15, Paul writes to Timothy, he says, from a child you've known the holy scriptures that are able to make you wise unto salvation. I've been a Christian for 63 years, studying the Bible on my knees, but I'm not competent to handle Calvinism. This is what they told me very sincerely. It must be very esoteric, it must be very complicated. And I would just ask you, how many children in Sunday school, when you read John 3.16 to them, how many Sunday school children with a heart open to the Lord would understand from the words of scripture that Christ didn't really die for everyone. That when it says God so loved the world, it only means he loved the elect. And he only gave his only begotten son to die for the elect. Where would you get this idea? How would an ordinary person come to this understanding? Limited atonement, Christ did not die for all. Dort declares, for this was the sovereign counsel and most gracious will and purpose of God the Father, that the most precious death of his son should extend to all the elect, all those and those only who were from eternity chosen to salvation, he purchased by his death. Now the Calvinists have many arguments, we go into them all in the book, we don't have time for that, but the Calvinists would say, you mean some of Christ's blood is wasted? I mean, if Christ shed some of his blood for people who will end up in hell, then his blood was wasted. Wait a minute, you can't divide the blood of Christ up and say some was shed for this person, some for that person, if there was only one sinner on earth, all of Christ's blood would have to be shed, is that not true? He paid the penalty for sin, not just for individual sins. Then the I stands for irresistible grace, let me quote the Westminster Confession, quote, all those whom God hath predestinated unto life and those only, he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time effectually to call by his word and spirit out of that state of sin and death, effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ, yet so as they come most freely being made willing by his grace. Now we have a problem and we go into it in quite some length in the book. Many Calvinists deny that man has a will, that man can even make a choice, even though Christ says, you know, if any man wills to do his will, he will know, John 7, 17, because the Calvinists makes God the cause of everything. They overdo sovereignty to the extent that no one, you can't even sin independently of God, that he is the cause of everything. So then, if you're going to be saved, God must irresistibly cause you to believe, so grace, I think that's a misnomer, how can grace be irresistible? It's not gracious to force something on someone, is it? And then they've got the will to deal with, oh well, he graciously changes their will without making them be willing. I don't know how you would do that. A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still. Now, unless we gave this person a new will, no, they don't say that. He has a will, and somehow this will has been changed without his agreement to it, but graciously he has been changed, so now his will wills something else. I don't think you can do that. That's like, you know, we'll talk about it I guess tomorrow, or maybe this evening, the Taliban. That's one of the problems with Islam. You don't even have to believe. You don't even have to be willing. They put a sword, today in Indonesia, a machete at your neck and say, you will confess. There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is his prophet, or off with your head. You don't even have to believe. But what does the Bible say? Well, Ethiopian eunuch says, here's water, what does it hinder me to be baptized? Well, Philip says, puts a sword at his throat and says, you will, or else. No, Philip says, if you believe with all your heart, with all your heart. And what does it mean, believe with my heart, if somehow God is going to cause me to believe what I didn't want to believe? Well, we'll get more into that, but we got a little problem with the will. Martin Luther wrote an entire book, The Bondage of the Will, and I've had Calvinists say to me, well, have you read Martin Luther's Bondage of the Will? Yes, I have, and I could punch enough holes in there to drive a fleet of trucks through it. I don't think too highly of Martin Luther's exegesis and logic, even. For example, he will take Psalm 73, where the psalmist says, I was looking at the prosperity of the wicked, and I became envious of them, and because there are no bands in their death, I mean, they seem to prosper, and here I am, I'm trying to please God, and things are just going so bad for me. And then the psalmist says, so foolish and ignorant was I. I didn't realize their end. In the end, they're going to get it. And he says, so foolish and ignorant was I, I was as a beast before thee. Oh, Martin Luther jumps on that, and he says, you see, the will of man is like a beast. If God rides it, it goes where God wants it to go. If Satan rides it, it goes where Satan wants it to go. That is not what that psalm is about. That is not what that psalm says, and Martin Luther does that continually in that book. And the Calvinist is very firm, I'm getting ahead of myself, but that man does not have a will. Well, the P, the I, irresistible grace, the P stands for perseverance of the saints. Westminster, that God will not allow any of the elect to lose the salvation which he has sovereignly given them. And I thought that I was at least a one-point Calvinist, because I believe in eternal security, and I'm sure probably some of you here don't. But Jesus said, I give my sheep eternal life, they will never perish. I think if I had eternal life today and I didn't have it tomorrow, it would be a strange kind of eternal life. And it's not to my credit, and if I somehow have to continue in the faith to such an extent that I keep my salvation, then I think I could walk the golden streets up there and boast a little bit. Lord, it was wonderful that you died for me, but I did do my part too. I kept myself saved. Jesus said, he that hears my word and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, shall not come into condemnation. That seems like a promise, but has passed from death to life. Now, I believe that I'm saved eternally because Christ promised that, and I have accepted his promise. But the Calvinist believes he's saved eternally because he's one of the elect. Whoa, now we got a problem. We'll get to that. How do you know you're one of the elect? That is a real problem. Plague the Puritans with doubts about their salvation, and I will even, if I get to it, I will even quote to you R.C. Sproul. I think that name would probably be known, expressing his doubts about his salvation because his performance wasn't quite up to what he thought it ought to be. Okay, so I don't think you could come to these conclusions just as an ordinary person reading the Bible. Now, Calvinism has been imposed on the Bible, and they have this framework of belief, and now they try to interpret the Bible in such a way that it says what they want it to say. Now, Calvinism comes from Augustine. All of the Calvinists acknowledge this. Calvin quotes Augustine in his Institutes about that thick, which I've gone through very carefully. John Calvin quotes Augustine more than 400 times, including phrases such as, by the authority of Augustine. Spurgeon said, quote, Calvin derived it, that is Calvinism, mainly from the writings of Augustine. John Calvin said, Augustine is so holy with me that if I wish to write a confession of my faith,