Part 1
Calvinism: understanding John 6 and the rest of scripture regarding your
sin, your salvation, the power of God, the power of man, the power of the
cross, and how to get out of bed in the morning a believer
I.
Intro
A.
Questions of Provocation
B.
Submitting to the bible
i.
Knowing God as he has revealed himself (2nd
commandment)
1.
“Probably the most crucial kind of knowledge is
the knowledge of what God is like in salvation. That is what the five points of
Calvinism are all about. We do not begin as Calvinists and defend a system. We
begin as bible-believing Christians who want to put the Bible above all systems
of thought.” (Piper)
2.
The aim of this study is to explore biblical
teaching on the sovereignty of God in salvation. Probe the depths of the
gospel.
3.
Heidelberg
Catechism Q1-2
ii.
John 6:60-71
C.
This is hard teaching and takes deep thought and
much study and wrestling with Scripture. To be “in process” is ok.
D.
Sovereignty of God
E.
Questions:
i.
How were you saved? How should we pray? How
should we do evangelism?
II.
History (brief)
A.
Arminianism
i.
In 1610, a remonstrance was presented to the Dutch Church
ii.
The remonstrance demanded a change in the
current church confessions of the Belgic Confession and Heidelberg Catechism.
iii.
5 points of Arminianism
1.
Free Will
2.
Conditional Election
3.
Universal Redemption/General Atonement
4.
The HS can be resisted
5.
Falling from grace
iv.
Their foundation
1.
Philosophical (STQ: 3)
2.
Pelagianism, Semi-Pelagianism (STQ: 9-11)
B.
Calvinism
i.
In 1619, the Synod of Dort gathered and wrote
the Canons of Dort in response to the Arminian Remonstrance.
ii.
Not a new system, but the long-held teaching of
Augustine, the Reformers, and the current church.
iii.
5 points of Calvinism
1.
Total Depravity
2.
Unconditional Election
3.
Limited/Definite Atonement
4.
Irresistible Grace
5.
Perseverance of the Saints
iv.
Preliminary Conclusion: Calvinists emphasize
that God alone saves sinners, while Arminians emphasize their free choice to be
saved.
III.
Total Depravity
A.
Definition
i.
WCF: Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath
wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation:
so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin,
is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself
thereunto.
ii.
Total does not mean that each sinner is as bad,
evil, or corrupt as he could be.
iii.
Total inability: the sinner is so spiritually
bankrupt that he can do nothing pertaining to his salvation.
B.
Scripture
i.
Sin is always related to God
1.
Sin is not simply an imperfection, an example of
‘no one’s perfect’.
2.
It is always a transgression of God’s Word. That
is why “sin is lawlessness” -1 John 3:4
3.
Sin is opposition, hatred, rebellion against
God. Ie: Adam, thief on cross.
4.
1 Cor. 10:31 – It is not by eating or drinking
that you sin, but by the motivation or direction of the inner person. Godward
vs. selfward. (cf. Rom. 14:23)
5.
Ie: Israel honored God with their lips
but their hearts were far from Him, Pharisees.
ii.
Human Depravity is Total in at least 5 senses
Depravity affects every human.
All
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
There
is no man who does not sin.
And do
not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no man living is
righteous.
If we
say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Our rebellion or hardness against God is
total, that is, apart from the grace of God there is no delight in the holiness
of God, and there is no glad submission to the sovereign authority of God.
What
then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that
both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, “THERE IS NONE
RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS
FOR GOD . . . THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”
This is
the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the
darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who
does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his
deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so
that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.
For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
In his total rebellion everything man does
is sin.
Whatever
is not from faith is sin.
And
without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must
believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
For I
know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is
present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
Man’s inability to submit to God and do
good is total.
For
those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the
flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For
the mind set on the flesh [literally: “the mind of the flesh”] is death, but
the mind set on the Spirit [literally: “the mind of the Spirit”] is life and
peace, because the mind set on the flesh [literally: “the mind of the flesh”]
is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it
is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of
God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does
not belong to Him.
Jesus
answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the
Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God
But
thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from
the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been
freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
And you
were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too
all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with
Christ (by grace you have been saved).
So this
I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the
Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their
understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is
in them, because of the hardness of their heart.
No one
can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up
on the last day.
But a
natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually
appraised.
The
heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately [incurably] sick; who
can understand it?
Our rebellion is totally deserving of
eternal punishment.
Among them
we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of
the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the
rest.
[God
will] deal out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal
destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His
power.
These
will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
C.
Explained
i.
Original and Actual Sin
1.
Romans 5:12-19
2.
Adam imputes sin to his children the same as
Christ imputes righteousness to his spiritual children
ii.
When confessions say ‘no freedom of will’
1.
Man’s will is enslaved to his evil nature
2.
Spiritual Freedom: freedom to choose what is
spiritually good
3.
Action Freedom: freedom to act voluntarily
without coercion
4.
Fish Tank illustration
iii.
Canons of Dort :
1.
Pt. 1, A. 1
2.
Pt. 3-4
3.
Pt. 3-4, A. 3
4.
Pt. 3-4, A. 1-4
5.
Pt. 3-4, RE.
D.
Conclusion
i.
Human beings are so spiritually dead in sin that
we are bound for eternal destruction and cannot do anything about it (on our
own).
David N. Steele, Curtis C. Thomas, and S. Lance
Quinn, The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, and Documented (Phillipsburg : P&R,
2004).
John Piper, TULIP: The Pursuit of God's
Glory in Salvation (DVD series)
Canons of Dort
Belgic Confession
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