We can gather together and we
lift up these requests to you and pray that your will would
be done, Lord. And if it's your will to put
a healing hand upon the saints mentioned and others mentioned,
we pray you would. But if it's your will to give
them grace and strength to make it through whatever they will,
we pray that you would do that too. Whatever your will, we just
bow to your sovereignty. We bow to your will. We pray
you'd be with us today as we meet together. We pray that the
gospel message would go forth with power, that you would give
me liberty and freedom to preach your gospel, and all that the
saints would be built up in that we would look to you, Lord Jesus.
We want to see you. We go through a week of being
in the world and the things about us and hearing things in the
world and seeing things in the world and Lord, we just want
to see you. You must increase and we must
decrease. So Lord, we pray that you'd be
glorified, that you'd be magnified in the preaching and in the singing
and just in our worship that you would receive all the glory
and all the honor and all the praise in Jesus' name, amen. Out in the back of the track
rack, I printed out a little bolt, and we're gonna go through,
for the next five weeks, we're gonna go through a study on the
tulip. Calvinism is so much more than
just the tulip. Folks often ask me, they say,
well, do you believe in the tulip? And I say, well, yeah, I do,
but I also believe much more. There's much more to what I believe
than just five points. I'd like to start a study this
week, and I believe that these are foundations of the faith.
These are foundations of the faith. And grace believers believe
these foundations. And as I said, someone recently
asked me if I believe all five points of Calvinism, and I replied,
yes, I do. And I like to call them the doctrines
of grace. So the study is gonna be called Study on the Doctrines
of Grace. Study on the Doctrines of Grace. And I told them, I said, well,
there's much, much more to what I believe than just five points.
There's so much more. And what we believe is a theology
and a body of what we believe, as I said, but it can be summed
up. It can be summed up in these five points. And remember
this, too, when someone asks you if you believe the five points,
Qualify them to what they mean. Ask them, well, what do you mean
by the five points? Because a lot of times, I've
discovered this in talking with people through the years, it
isn't what I believe. They've been told something that
isn't even what I believe. So always qualify them. It's
important for us to do that. Now, we like to call ourselves
grace believers. I remember talking to Brother
Donnie, and he said, somebody talked to him one time and said,
well, what do you guys call yourself? And he said, well, we call ourselves
grace believers. And I like that, because we do. We believe in
the grace of God in Christ. Because we believe that the fountainhead
of what we believe is found in the grace of God in Christ. That's
where it springs from. What we believe springs from
God. and from His grace. And the message proclaimed from
the pulpit is always the free grace of God in Christ. This
is what we believe, and so this is what we proclaim. And we believe
it because the scriptures say it. We don't believe it because
some man said it. We believe it because the word
of God says it. That's what's most important. Salvation is
of the Lord. and it's in the Lord Jesus Christ
and him alone, and this is what the scriptures proclaim. Now
some, when you tell them you're a Calvinist, they immediately
recoil. Had it many times, oh, oh, and they just recoil, and
it's, I like what Spurgeon, I got a quote by Spurgeon that he said,
he said, there is no such thing as preaching Christ and him crucified
unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a
nickname to call it Calvinism, Calvinism is the gospel and nothing
else. I do not believe we preach the
gospel if we do not preach, and this is the tenets of what we
believe, justification by faith without works, nor unless we
exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering
love of Jehovah. Nor do I think we preach the
gospel unless we base it upon a special and particular redemption
of his elect and chosen people, which Christ brought out on the
cross. So let us always remember this. Let us remember this. All Calvin did was take truths
from the scripture and put them in a way that my mind could understand. He sorted them into a systematic
theology, which we could understand. And
the doctrines of grace did not spring from Calvin. It finds its foundation in the
Word of God. It finds its foundation in the
Word of God, and in Christ, and in the marvelous things that
He has done. In these precious truths, They
exalt the sovereignty of God and they humble the pride of
man. They show us natural man's condition
before God. They show us God's electing grace.
They show us Christ's atoning sacrifice for his people. They
show us God's irresistible, or I like to call it invincible
grace. You can't resist it and it's
invincible. It will accomplish what it sets
out to do. And it shows us God's keeping
power. And the five points which we
believe as a church are presented this way. Number one, total depravity. Also known as total inability
and original sin. So that's the T of the tulip.
Unconditional election. God chose the people according
to his good pleasure. Limited atonement, also known
as particular atonement. That when Christ died, he died
for his sheep. He didn't die for everyone. He
died for his people on Calvary's cross. Irresistible grace or
invincible grace. Oh, God will save His sheep.
In perseverance of the saints, also known as once saved, always
saved, but God's keeping power. Those He saves, He keeps. He won't lose one of them. That's
a good thing, because we sinners, we wander off, but He keeps us. And going through this study,
we'll see that they all come from Scripture. And we'll also
see that they're all linked together, too. You take one out and the
whole, it doesn't sustain itself, but it's all linked on God's
truth, too, and it's all linked together. It's all linked together. And these doctrines were held
by many in the past, and are held by great churches all around
the world. From Calvinism started this Bible translation, Wycliffe
and Tyndale. Literature distribution, Huss,
Luther, Tyndale, and Calvin, all believers in the doctrines
of grace. Preaching countrywide evangelism, George Whitfield,
Jonathan Edwards, also great preachers in the faith. Charles
Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, strongly believed the gospel
and the doctrines of grace. Modern missionary movement. Cary
and Fuller and Bernard and Livingstone and Judson and Hudson Taylor.
These men were strong, strong believers of the doctrines of
grace. And some people say that if you believe these points,
it'll kill evangelism. No, it doesn't. It doesn't. I'll
tell you, it doesn't. It gives you more of a heart
for evangelism and more of a heart for missions, because you know
that the word's going out and God will accomplish what he sets
out to do. We trumpet the gospel and God does the saving. And
that's what happens. Salvation is of the Lord. We're
to support and pray for missionaries that God would use them for his
glory. And we rejoice when we hear the
great things he's doing. We rejoice when we hear that
God has given our brothers liberty in the mission field to preach
the gospel. So let's look at the first point, total depravity.
Total depravity. These precious doctrines, as
I said, they're all linked together. We'll look at what the word of
God says, not man's opinion, what the word of God says, what
does it say, and we'll appeal to scripture alone and for the
glory of God alone. He gets all the glory and all
the honor. So the acronym of TULIP is, the
first letter is total depravity, the T. So what do we mean when
we say that man is totally depraved? Totally depraved. It is a teaching
that as a result of the fall of Adam, that we're all sinners.
We come into this world dead in trespasses and sins. Now,
that sin is in our heart, and in our mind, and in our emotions,
in our body, and everything that we do is tainted by sin. One thing that I'd like to point
out is that total poverty does not mean that a person is as
bad as they could be. It doesn't mean that. God restrains us. And we are
affected by sin in every part of us. Sin has affected all parts
of man. It's total inability. Total depravity
means we have no ability on our own to come to God. None at all. None at all. We lack the ability
to come to Him, and we lack the ability to save ourselves, and
we are completely sinful in everything that we do. It has so tainted
us that we are sinners. Turn, if you would, to Jeremiah
17, 9, and also Mark 7, 21 to 23. We are completely sinful
in everything we do. And we believe that the scripture
declares this. And hopefully this will give
us, when folks ask us questions about what we believe, this we
can say, well we believe that man has no ability to come to
God. And hopefully this will give
us the scriptures that we can show that to folks. So what is
the state of man in his natural lost condition? Let's look at
some scriptures which describe our state when we're unbelievers.
before we're born again. And often we hear the phrase,
just let Jesus into your heart, right? You hear that all the
time, don't you? Just let Jesus into your heart. Well, the problem is man's heart's
wicked. And if God does not do a work
in us, we'll never come to Him. Look at Jeremiah 17, verse 9.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? So here before
us the heart of man is deceitful and above all things desperately
wicked. Who can know it? And in Mark,
if you turn over to Mark chapter 7, so man's heart is evil and it's
sinful. And that's scripture that declares
that. That's not my opinion or your opinion, that's what scripture
says. Mark 7, 21 to 23 says this, for
from within, out of the heart of man proceeded evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, theft, covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evils come from within
and defile the man. And this is pretty sobering what
we're gonna look at. But it'll show us that man has
no ability. So this is the state of natural
man's heart when we're born into this world. And because of our
state, and because sin taints all that we do, then man is a
slave to sin, right? We're a slave to sin. And we
do not desire the things of God. I remember before the Lord saved
me, I did not desire God and the things of God. And scripture
says in Romans 6.20, I'll read this, but if you want to write
it down for reference, or if you want to turn there, you can.
Romans 6.20 says, for when ye were the servants of sin, you
were free from righteousness. When you were the servants of
sin, you were free from righteousness. So think of this. In our natural,
unregenerate state, we are slaves and servants of sin. Free from righteousness means
that we had no interest in righteousness. No interest in the things of
God. And was it not that, was that
not so for us, who the Lord saved later in life, and we realize,
oh my goodness, I had no care for God, or for the things of
God. I had no desire for Him. So this is the state of natural
man. And it's the state of all of us, how we were born into
this world. Man does not also seek God. Turn,
if you would, to Romans chapter three. And we'll look at a little
portion in Romans chapter three. Folks always say, well, just
come to Jesus. Well, you can't unless he makes your will. Because
no man seeks God. We saw the shepherd seeks the
sheep. Romans chapter three. Now, religious hucksters will
try to get folks to pray a prayer, right? They say, oh, just bow
your head and repeat this prayer. Now you're a child of God, they
say. That's nothing but what we call decisional regeneration. That's not Holy Spirit regeneration.
That's decisional regeneration. And that person, if they don't
repent and if God doesn't save them, they'll go right to hell. Man is a slave to sin and will
never come to God as we do not seek him. Look at Romans chapter
three, verse nine. What then, are we better than
they? Know in the wise, for we have before proved both Jews
and Gentiles that they are all under sin. So this verse shows
man's total depravity, right? We all fell in Adam, we're all
under sin. When Adam fell in the garden,
we fell with him. Look at verse 10. As it is written, there is
none righteous, no, not one. Not one of us are righteous.
We saw that last week. We can't weave our own robe of
righteousness like filthy rags. So not one of us can stand in
God's presence based upon our works or our merit. Look at the
next verse. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. So here we have that no
one can understand the things of God in their natural state. And then scripture declares there's
none that seeketh after God. Do you see the total inability?
We have no ability in ourselves to come to God. None, and this
is what scripture declares. So man is dead in his sins, a
slave to sin, heart that's deceitfully wicked, and has no desire for
God and cannot seek him. Verse 12, they're all gone out
of the way, they're all together become unprofitable, but there
is none that do it good. No, not one. Well, that's everyone. We're all sinners. Sin has affected
us in everything we do. And these are scriptures that
we can use to show people their inability. Also, man in his natural state,
he does not understand the things of God. Turn with me, if you
would, to 1 Corinthians 2, and also put your finger in Ephesians
2. Now, some folks have head knowledge
of doctrine. They can tell you stuff. I used to be able to tell
you all kinds of stuff. But no heart knowledge. No heart
work has been done. You've got a head knowledge,
but no heart work. Man is natural, lost, they cannot
understand spiritual things. Look at 1 Corinthians 2.14. But
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. You must be born again.
I remember reading this book before the Lord saved me, and
it was just ink on paper. But then the Lord saved me. It's
a whole new book. It's a whole new book. And in Ephesians 2, we're familiar
with this, but this is a great verse to take folks to, to show
our natural state when we come into this world. Ephesians 2. And you, verse 1, and you, Hathikwikon,
who were dead in trespasses and sins, dead in the Greek there
means graveyard dead, dead. where in times past ye walked
according to the course of the world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversations
in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children
of wrath, even as others." That was our state before the Lord
saved us. And that's the state of every single person that comes
into this world, dead spiritually. And that ties in with 1 Corinthians,
we could not discern the things of God. So man has no ability, think
of this, can a dead man seek things? Nope, he's dead. Can a dead man hear things? No,
he's dead. Can a dead man see things? Nope. Nope. Can a dead man understand
things? Nope. That was our state. So the answer,
so the question in light of scripture that declare the man's true nature
is being utterly lost and incapable of coming to God on their own.
We cannot on our own. So how is it possible for anyone
to desire God or to flee to God? The answer is he cannot on his
own. Remember scriptures we looked
at, but with God, with man it's impossible, with God all things
are possible. So this sums up what we've looked
at, sums up the T, right? Total inability, total depravity. Man cannot come to God on his
own. He's totally depraved. But here's the good news. God
can't leave us there, right? Here's the good news, here's
the good news. God must save us if we're ever to be saved.
Turn with me if you would to John chapter 1. John chapter
1. Because of our fallen nature,
we are born dead in trespasses and sins. And if we're born again, we're
born again not by our own will, but by God's will. Look at John 1 verses 10 to 12. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto
His own, and His own received Him not, but as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. Even to them that believe on
His name, John 1, verses 10 and 12. God's people are made willing
in the day of His power. But as many as received him to
them, gave he power to become the sons of God. It's God's work. It's his work. Those who are
unable to come to God are made willing to come to God. And then
look a little further down in verse 13 and 14, which were born
not of the blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of
man, but of God. And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So we
are trusting and resting in Christ and Him alone. And God must save
us if we're ever to be saved, because we saw our state, our
natural state. He must grant us faith. Turn
to Philippians 1. God must grant us faith. Philippians chapter 1, verse 27 to 30. Only let your conversation be
as it become of the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and
see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you
stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for
the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your
adversaries. which is to them an evident token
of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you
is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but
also to suffer for his sake. For unto you is given. God must
grant you faith. It's given to you. Heaven, the
same conflict which you saw in me, And now here to be in me. So verse 29 shows us that faith
is given. It's a gift from God. It's a
gift from God. And he gives it to his people.
He gives it to his people. Turn, if you would, to John 6
and then also 1 Peter 1. I know I have us moving around
a lot, but these are scriptures that we can use to show folks
and say, look, this is salvations of the Lord. It's all He's doing.
This was our state, and God saved me. What a wondrous work He's
done. And He gets all the glory. See,
we can't glory in any of this. It's amazing. He gets it, and
we wouldn't want to. He gets it all. He gets it all.
John chapter 6. It's a work of God when he saves
a saint. John chapter 6. Verses 28 and
29. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? You want to
do something. That's natural man. What must
I do to be saved? Paul just says, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Look what our Lord,
look what our master answers. Jesus answered and said to them,
this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has
sent. Oh, it's the work of God. His
Holy Spirit regenerates us and we flee to Christ. It's the work of God that you
believe on. born again by the Holy Spirit, and then we believe
on Christ. And the new birth is a divine
work. It's a divine work. This is the
work of God. It's his doing. It is accomplished by the will
of God, by the Holy Spirit supplying the word and living power to
our heart. Look at first Peter chapter one. Verses 23 to 25. Being born again. Remember in
John chapter 3, our master said, you must be born again. You must
be. You must be. Being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed, by the
word of God, which liveth and abideth forever, For all flesh
is as grass, and the glory of man is the flower of grass. The
grass withereth, and the flower thereof fadeth away. But the
word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you." Oh, it's wonderful. And who are the ones who will
believe? Next week, we'll look at unconditional election. And
turn with me, if you would, to Acts 13, and we're closed with
this. Who are the ones who believe?
The ones who are ordained by God to believe. If you're saved,
it was ordained by God that you believe. That's wonderful. Because we
know, remember the text we were looking at? We could never seek
God on our own, could we? But if you believe, God's ordained
it. It's a work of God, and he's
ordained it. And those who believe are chosen
in Christ. They are blood bought by the
precious blood of our Savior. He paid it all, and we're chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. And look at what
Acts 13 says, verse 47 and 48. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
when the Gentiles heard this, verse 48, and when the Gentiles
heard, when they heard this, oh, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord. And look at this, and as many
as were ordained, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world, based upon absolutely nothing in us, but simply by His mercy and His
grace and His pleasure. And this still stands today.
We preach the gospel, we put the gospel out, and as many as
are ordained, as many as were ordained to eternal life. Glory to God.