Well we've established I think
pretty clearly from Ecclesiastes and then over the last few weeks
that life without God is futile. Vanity, vanity is what Solomon
said. And we've concluded that we must
know God. To live this life you must know
God and be reconciled to God. Be a friend of God. be on good
terms with God, the God who made and upholds all things. But you
see, sin, which is what we are, and holiness, which is what God
is, cannot be reconciled. But for one way, there's only
one way that sin and holiness can be reconciled, and that's
by the gospel. That's the gospel, the word gospel,
you know it means good news. There are various things out
there in the world of religion, Christian religion, which claim
to be the gospel. Lots and lots of gospels, but
only one is true. You read the scriptures, it's
quite, Jesus said, there will be false Christs, there will
be false gospels, there will be false teachers. Be aware,
look out for those who are really wolves, and they're dressed up
as sheep. Beware of them. They look like
sheep. They look like they wouldn't,
you know, we say they look as though butter wouldn't melt in
the mouth. They look so innocent. They're ravening wolves, warns
the scripture. We need to be careful. And so
we're asking the question, the gospel that we believe, my gospel,
is my gospel the true gospel? And we've been looking at those
that are not. What the business were about
is what John writes in his epistle in chapter 4, 1st epistle chapter
4 verse 1. Try the spirits. Test. What he's
saying there is test the preachers. Test their doctrine. Whether
it be true. Whether it be in accordance with
the scripture. For to the law and to the testimony.
If they speak not according to this word, they've made it up
for themselves, and there's no light, no truth in them. And
the people that follow it, and the people that are swayed by
it, and the people that are influenced by it, to give their money and
their time and their effort and everything to it, are going to
find, come the day of judgment, that they'll hear that voice,
that dreaded voice, that Jesus said himself, Matthew 7, 25,
depart from me. I never knew you. You thought
you obeyed the gospel. You thought you obeyed my word. But in actual fact, it was your
own. Lord, didn't we do these things
in your name? It wasn't my gospel. And I didn't
save you. And you're lost. Depart from
me. We've looked at the universalism of churches which promulgate
and propagate the Alpha course and we found that to be totally
wanting compared to the Word of God. We looked at reformed
legalism with its pride and its arrogance about its doctrine.
but its addition of law works to sanctify, and we found it
to be lacking. We looked at Pentecostalism with
its enthusiasm and with all of its other things that it adds,
particularly its added additional revelation, they claim, from
God, and we found it to be false, to be completely untrue. We're
going to look finally this week, though we could look at much,
much more, and we could spin every single one of these out
for many weeks each, but I don't want to just for the sake of
time and not wearing you but I want to look at what I'm going
to call this week the one that I think is one of the most pernicious
one of the most disturbing which is that which is called moderate
Calvinism. Oh that sounds so reasonable
doesn't it? moderate Calvin, how can anybody get offended
by that? Calvinism's good, isn't it? It's the word, it's the summary
of the, and to be moderate, oh, isn't that such a good thing?
We like moderate people, don't we? Well, let's have a look at
moderate Calvinism. You see, moderate Calvinism has
been around for a long, long time. As with all these other
things, it's a product of religious human philosophy. In the 1500s,
1583 to 1645, was a man called Hugo Grotius on the continent,
and he peddled these ideas. Those ideas were taken up by
Andrew Fuller, who lived between 1745 and 1815, and he wrote his
book, which was, well, he wrote many things, but one of his book
was, A Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation. And the writings of Andrew Fuller
have been taken up by many today and are promoted by many people
and many organisations that even 20 years ago wouldn't have touched
the error with a barge pole. And yet now they're completely
hook, line and sinker and they've swallowed it. What's the issue?
What's the issue? The issue is this. How are sinners
reconciled to God who is holy? How is God's justice satisfied
in the salvation of a sinner? Now, all who claim to be a Christian
agree that it's by the death of Christ
that sinners are... You ask a Catholic, how are sinners
reconciled to a holy God? By the death of Christ. You ask
an Anglican, oh it's by the death of Christ. You look at their
liturgy, it's all about the death of Christ. But that needs clarification
as to what do we mean. What is the moderate Calvinist's
view? What is the doctrine defined
and promoted by Andrew Fuller? I keep picking him out because
he's the one who stands as the landmark in history that they
all refer to, and his writings are the ones that they quote.
They regard Andrew Fuller as the greatest theologian of the
late 17, early 1800s. They regard him as a giant who,
if it wasn't for Andrew Fuller, the modern missionary movement
wouldn't have taken place. This is the sort of claims that
are made. and the writings of Andrew Fuller and the doctrine
and the philosophy of Andrew Fuller is perpetuated by modern
writers in publications like you would hardly credit it. You
know in the 1970s when we were in Liverpool and I was helping
with the book stall and getting books from the one A set of books
you could rely on was The Banner of Truth. Ah, there'd be true.
The Banner of Truth is one of the main promoters of the doctrine
of Fuller. Evangelical Press and Evangelical
Times, of which Bill Clark was director for all those years. And you read their, I was looking
the other day at their website, articles, series of articles
written in 2015, the wonderful teaching of Andrew Fuller. It's
completely opposite to what Bill Clark stood for. Some people
are putting articles by Bill, who's coming up 20 years since
he died next year, They're putting articles by him in their bulletins,
and I put one in ours last week, you might have seen it. And Bill
was so clear, and yet these publications are now completely gone over
to this Fullerism modern form of Calvinism. What does Fuller's
doctrine say? Concerning Christ's death, he
says, now listen, important you listen, He says, there is such
a fullness in the satisfaction of Christ, in other words, what
he did by dying on the cross, as is sufficient for the salvation
of the whole world, were the world to believe in him. Were
the whole world to believe in him, what Christ has done was
enough to save absolute, go and get anybody at random off the
street. And if only they will believe, anybody, without exception,
anybody, what Christ did was sufficient to say that. That's
what they say. And that's why they say they're
moderate Calvinists. But then Fuller goes on to say,
in actual fact, it will only be the elect of God who will
believe in him and be saved. So basically, moderate Calvinism
is universalism pretending to be sovereign grace. You see,
Fuller's scheme, and the scheme of all those that follow this,
it allows for a certain ability in fallen, natural man. To do what? To exercise his will
in God's direction. But falls back to saying, ultimately,
only the elect will believe. You see, they don't really believe
in total depravity. They don't really believe And
Paul says to the Ephesians, you were dead in trespasses and sins. They don't really believe that
people are like that valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 that
he saw, very dry bones, dead, absolutely dead, no ability whatsoever. So then why does it matter? What's
the outworking of moderate Calvinism? What do those who follow moderate
Calvinism do in response to their doctrine? This is what they do.
They adhere to what they call the free offer of the gospel
and duty faith. And I'll tell you, why is this
relevant to us? Because there are some just up the road from
us who say that they cannot have fellowship with us and they refuse
to have fellowship with us because of our position on the free offer. They promote the free offer and
duty. Now you sort of think, well,
what's wrong with that? Surely the gospel is a free offer, isn't
it? They credit everyone, without exception, with the natural ability
to obey the Gospel of Christ. And they make belief in the Gospel,
belief in Christ, into a work that all are duty-bound to perform. And in so doing, they demonstrate
a denial of total depravity, and they adopt Arminian methods
of evangelism, and they appeal to the senses and they use the
tricks of business sales. I always remember Bill Clark
used to say when it came to evangelism, no gimmicks. Do you remember
that? He used to say, no gimmicks.
Yet, last year I was walking up the road past said church
when I had people proffering burgers for me to go across the
road and eat burgers on their front car park. because that's
the way of appealing to the senses and getting people to go along
with them. It converts at any cost. And they charge people
who believe like we do with dereliction of the call to go into all the
world. They say you're not prepared to go and preach the gospel.
They charge us pejoratively. You know what that word means?
It means in a nasty way, in a demeaning way, with hyper-Calvinism. What is hyper-Calvinism? You
look up, what is hyper-Calvinism? somebody put it very well. I
looked it up, I googled it to see what the definition was and
somebody was very honest and very succinct. He said, hyper-Calvinism
means anything that is to the right of your view of doctrine. Anything that is an extreme version
to the right of your view of doctrine. And because we reject
the idea of duty-faith, that it's the duty of all men everywhere
to believe the gospel, you know, they've got the ability to perform
this work and it's their duty to do it and they're only lost
because they don't do it, they say that we're antinomian in
denying responsibility on man's part for his sin. Now then, all
sounds very negative so far, I know, just hang in there just
a few more moments. The key question concerns the atonement, the atonement. Atonement, break it down, at
one meant. Who is made at one in the atonement? God and his sinful people are
made at one. That's what the atonement is.
The key question concerns the atonement. What was accomplished
by the death of Christ is the crucial question. Is it what
Fuller said, and what these modern, moderate Calvinists say, that
it was sufficient for the salvation of the whole? When Christ shed
his blood, did his death satisfy God's law and justice for the
sin of everybody that has ever existed? Because that's what
they say. or was it limited to the redemption of the elect only? Now then, what do we do when
we get to a point like that? Well, let's sit down and have
a debate and we go, well, Peter, what do you think about it? And
you can give your opinion. No, we don't do that, do we?
What do we do? We ask the scriptures. We look
at the scriptures. What does the Old Testament teach?
The Old Testament teaches particular redemption. The Old Testament
teaches that God in Christ made satisfaction to his justice just
simply for the particular people that he chose in Christ before
the foundation of the world. You can start at the beginning
of the Old Testament. It is all about God's sovereign
choice and calling. It isn't very long before we
read in Genesis chapter six, and Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. That was sovereign grace. Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Abraham was called out
of his idolatrous society. Abraham was chosen of God. Abraham had more than one son,
but he had only one, Isaac, because it was in Isaac that the seed,
the true seed, would come, the seed that was promised, the seed
of the woman that would redeem his people, that would make atonement
for his people. Isaac had two sons, Jacob and
Esau, Esau the older, Jacob the younger, and God said, Jacob
have I loved, and Esau have I hated. have I left to himself, to his
own devices, because God in sovereign grace chose Jacob. The promised
seed came from him, and in union with the promised seed, little
s, that's all of his people who believe him, in union with the
promised seed, capital S, the seed who would come, God accomplished
their salvation. We read again and again about
who did God save from their sins? Jacob, Israel, Judah, all terms
used interchangeably. They were saved in the Lord. Israel was brought out of bondage
in Egypt by the Passover lamb. Israel was. Do you know the firstborn
of everything died that night in Egypt? The firstborn of everything,
except the Israelites. Because something died there
as well. What died there? A lamb. A lamb that had been chosen without
blemish and without spot. And had been kept and examined
for fourteen days. And on that night they killed
the lamb. Because in every household one
must die. Why? Because of sin. Because
of the justice of God. One must die. And God says here
it is now, we're going to bring this bit of it to pass it's all
coming to pass eventually but this night the first born in
the land of Egypt every first born except where a substitute
has died in their place and the angel of death comes and where
the angel of death sees the blood on the door posts of the Israelites
he passes over because one has already died there but in the
Egyptians houses that was not the case is it not speaking of
a particular redemption Israel, and not the other nations, was
given the oracles of God, the word of God. The Psalms speak
of God's sovereign grace to a particular people. He says, blessed is the
man whom God chooses. Blessed is the man whom God chooses
and causes to approach unto him. Blessed is that man, particularly
As opposed to all the others that are not, blessed is that
man whose sins are covered, to whom no iniquity is imputed. Who is it that God seeks to comfort
by his word? You listen to modern religion,
and everybody is the object of the comfort. No, it's not. God
says this, Isaiah 40 verse 1, Comfort, comfort ye my people,
says your God. Speak peaceably to Jerusalem.
Tell them that their iniquity is pardoned. They've received
of the Lord double for their sins. In other words, He's paid
for their sins. Turn to Isaiah 52 and 53 that
we just read. Look at Isaiah 52 and verse 9,
where we read this. break forth into joy, sing together,
ye waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted his
people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem." Does it not show how specific
is the action of God in saving his people. Look in chapter 53
that we read earlier and begin at verse four. Surely he has
borne our griefs. We did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God. He was wounded for our transgressions. Hold on, who is the we and who
is the our for which he's speaking? Let's carry on, maybe we'll know.
Is it all the world? Is it all of us as the children
of Adam? Is it all the human race? Is
that what he's talking about? He was wounded for the transgressions
of all the human race? For all the human race's iniquity?
The chastisement of all the human race's peace was upon him? And
with his stripes all the human race's... Is that what it's saying?
Is it what it's saying? All we, all the human race, like
sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
All the human race... Is that what it's saying? Yet
he was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he open not his mouth, he
is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers
is done, so he openeth not his mouth, speaking of Christ, going
meekly to the cross, obediently, obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was, remember this was written about 800 years before he actually
came and did it, for he was cut off out of the land of the living,
for the transgression of Here it is. Here's the key. This tells you what the we and
the us and the are are. For the transgression of my people
was he stricken. He died. He bore the punishment
of God for the people of God's choice and nobody else. Look
further down. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. as a substitute, to make his soul an offering for sin.
He shall see his seed particular. Not everybody, his seed. He shall
prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. He shall, verse 11, the end of it, my righteous servant
shall justify many. Not everyone, without exception,
for he shall bear their iniquities. Verse 12, he bear the sin of
many. Look at Isaiah 55, the first
few verses. This is what they say, the moderate
Calvinists, they say, ah, you're failing to preach the gospel
to everyone. You're failing to call everyone
to their duty to believe the gospel. And here is the missionary
call to go out and preach. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. Is that not speaking to everybody?
No, it's not. Who is it speaking to? Who is
it that that verse is addressing? Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
that thirsteth. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. It's
those who are thirsting for the righteousness and the truth and
the blessing of God. Come to the waters. Because there
it is. It's a declaration that if you
come to the waters, the waters will satisfy. Ho everyone that
thirsteth. This is who the gospel call us
to. Are they right saying we won't go and preach the gospel?
Of course not! We'll preach to anybody and everybody
who will listen. But we declare salvation accomplished. We don't make an offer and call
men to fulfill their duty to believe the gospel. We declare
salvation accomplished for the elect of God. And we say, are
you thirsty? If you're thirsty, you're thirsty
for a reason. You're thirsty because God has
made you thirsty. And being thirsty, here's where
to come. Come to Christ. Everyone that
thirsteth. Then you go on into Jeremiah.
Very, very quick overview of the Old Testament. Who is saved
and named with the name of her husband? Jeremiah 33, 16. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name wherewith
she shall be called. She, the church, the bride, the
people of God. This is the name with which she
shall be called, the Lord, our righteousness. Ten chapters earlier,
it's Christ who is the Lord. He shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. But because his particular people
are wedded to him, she is called the Lord our righteousness. Does
that even hint at universalism? It clearly tells us that what
Christ did, he did for his bride, for his people, for his church.
Ezekiel 34, we could look there, but we won't now. God's sheep
and the shepherd of his sheep. It's very specific. God's sheep,
he doesn't talk about everybody. In Ezekiel 37, I mentioned it
earlier, the valley of the dry bones. What are these dry bones?
Everybody that ever existed? No, the whole house of Israel. And Paul takes that up in Galatians
6.16, where he talks about the church of God being the Israel
of God. All through the prophets, particular
redemption of a specific people is what is talked about. That's
what's talked about. Yet it's strongly hinted, speaking
to Jews, that the true Israel of God is much wider than the
nation of those days. It includes Gentiles. You'll
see it. Read Isaiah. It talks again and again about
the Gentiles coming. And what's the result of all
of this? What is the result of it all?
Who gets the glory for salvation? That was our first message in
this series, my gospel, who gets the glory? God gets all the glory
for salvation. Not men for believing, not men
for exercising their duty to obey the gospel, so that the
psalmist says, Psalm 115 verse 1, not unto us, O Lord, Not unto us, but unto thy name
give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. The New
Testament then teaches particular redemption. The whole scripture
does. The whole scripture does. The
whole scripture denies the doctrine of Andrew Fuller and everybody
that walks in his steps. Matthew 1.21 The angel to Joseph,
you shall call his name Jesus. Why? For he shall save his people
from their sins. His people, not everybody without
exception. Mark 13 verse 27, and in other
places, he talks about gathering his elect. The scriptures are
not ashamed to talk about election. The scriptures are not shy about
talking about God having a sovereign choice. He will gather his elect
from the four winds. Look over in John chapter six,
just turn over to John chapter six with me. You know these verses very well,
but starting at verse 37, all that the father giveth me shall
come to me. Does this not speak of a particular
people out of all other people that were ever created and existed
that will come to Christ? Of all people, there is a people,
a specific particular people that the Father has given to
the Son in eternity, in covenant mercy. All of them, says Jesus,
shall come to me. What if I'm not among them? You
just come and see. He that comes I will in no wise
cast out. I came down from heaven not to
do mine own will but the will of him that sent me and this
is the will of the father which hath sent me that of all which
he hath given me all of the people he's given him I should lose
nothing but should raise it up again at the last day you see
in the scheme in the scheme of universalism and in the scheme
of what's called moderate calvinism it's a bit of a lottery as to
who will believe but not according to the scriptures Every single
one the Father gave to the Son will come to Christ. They will
come because he will draw them, verse 44, no man can come to
me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and I will raise
him up at the last day. And every single one of them,
with not a solitary one being lost, will be brought to Christ. Every single one of them, without
exception. He should lose nothing, but should
raise it up at the last day. And you can go on down through
there. And they get offended by this doctrine. Turn over to
chapter 10. Many of them go away. Many of
them leave. Many of them say this is an unreasonable
doctrine. It's a hard saying. Who can bear
it? That this is the offense of the
cross. This is the thing that causes offense. That Christ didn't
die for everybody, but that he did die for the people the Father
gave to him before the foundation of the world. That's the offense
of the cross. That's why the gospel is an offense.
That's why Jesus said, don't be surprised if they hate you,
they hated me. Why did they hate such a good
man? Surely, surely the only reason they hated such a good
man was because he preached this gospel of sovereign grace and
particular redemption. And that's what the modern religious
person doesn't like, cannot stand. They cannot stand the fact that
God is God, and God is sovereign. Look at John chapter 10 and verse
11. I am the Good Shepherd. This
is echoing Ezekiel, wherever it was, Ezekiel 34, about the
shepherd and his sheep. He said, I am the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd gives his life, what does Andrew Fuller say?
For the whole world. What does Jesus say? I am the
Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. He gives his life for the sheep.
And his sheep are those that hear his voice, verse 27, and
follow him, unlike the ones who believe not, verse 26. You, he
says to the Pharisees, you believe not. Why? Because you are not
of my sheep, as I said to you, not the other way around. In Acts chapter 13 and verse
48, we read of the apostles preaching. And they're declaring salvation
accomplished. And it says, when certain of
the Gentiles heard that, they were glad. And in verse 48 of
Acts 13 it says, and those that were ordained to eternal life
believed the gospel. Declaration, Holy Spirit works,
brings to life, and they believe the gospel. Is that speaking
about universalism? Or particular redemption? Romans
8. And again, you ought to know
these verses without having to look them up. Verse 28, we know
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. Not everyone,
those who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son. that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom
he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. And so what shall we say then
to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Paul's not ashamed of election,
is he? Paul's not ashamed of it. Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? God's justified them. How? How? He justified them from all eternity
in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world who must come in
time to accomplish in this space-time existence the redemption of His
people by the shedding of His own precious blood when He bore
the sins of His people in His own body on the cursed tree.
Who is He that condemneth? Christ has died for them, for
His people, the called according to His purpose. Who shall separate
us, his people, from the love of Christ? No, we're more than
conquerors through him who loved us. Glorious, glorious passage
of scripture. We know, don't we, that in 2
Corinthians 5, 21, it Speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ,
He who knew no sin was made sin for us, His people, the same
people. That His people might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. He wasn't made sin for the whole
world. He was made sin for the people
the Father gave Him. Psalm 69 verse 5. We're jumping
back into the Old Testament. Psalm 69 verse 5. There, somebody's
talking about the waters going over his head. And my sins bearing,
do you know who's speaking there? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
What, he did no sin? No, he did no sin whatsoever.
But at Calvary, God made him the sin of his people. And being
made the sin of his people, he talked about his sins, my sins. He made our sins his own sins. He made the sins of his people
his own sins. And there he bore the justice
and the wrath and the punishment of God that the law of God and
the justice of God might be satisfied for his people. Not for everybody without exception. What is the extent of the death,
the shed blood of Christ? It's to redeem, it's to pay the
price, it's to pay the ransom price for the sins of his people
only, the people the father gave to him before the beginning of
time. If they want to call that hyper-Calvinism, go ahead and
do it. I'm a hyper-Calvinist, go ahead
and do it. because the simple answer is
that's the teaching of scripture and nothing else nothing else
at all how do you then make that appealing you don't make that
appealing you declare it the spirit of god makes it appealing
to the one that is ordained to eternal life the one out of that
multitude that no man can number so that when we all get to glory
Revelation 5 verse 9, they sung a new song saying thou art worthy
to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou was
slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every
kindred and tongue and people and nation. That's those redeemed
people, the elect of God, praising God in heaven for salvation accomplished. You would say and many would
object, ah but what about the scriptures that clearly teach
moderate Calvinism. There are those that clearly
look as though they're saying that Christ did die for everybody
who ever existed. Well, there are ten or so New
Testament texts which at face value might be taken as teaching
that Christ's atonement was for everyone without exception. And
in the bulletin, I've just done a little article, that article
there is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, there's 8 of them there, 8 of
the texts there. and a little comment about each
of those for you to take away, because we haven't got time now,
but I'll just give you an example. Hebrews 2, 9 and 10, that he,
Christ, by the grace of God, should taste death for every
man. Ooh, doesn't that say what the moderate Calvinists are saying?
He tasted death for every man. Well, no, actually, because that
is not a good translation. Every man should be every one.
Every man suggests every man that ever lived. Everyone begs
the question, who are the ones? Everyone, who are the ones? Well,
just read on one more sentence. For it became him, for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
to glory. they're the many, the every one
is the every one of the many sons he's going to bring to glory. The context of it, read down
the chapter later on, is the seed of Abraham, not the seed
of Adam, the seed of Abraham. In every other case where you
see world used, in the scriptures they always talked about of the
Gentile nations in general, means out of every nation, not just
Jews. Many were made sin and many being
made righteous. Those ones where it looks like
there's a numerical equivalent. No, there isn't. It's not implying
that at all. Not in the slightest. Anyway, read that. So, we come
to the end of it. So what? So what? How can you
have assurance that on judgment day you will be found justified
with no sins for which you have to make eternal payment in hell?
Is that not the most important question? How can you have assurance
that on judgment day, because it's appointed to man to die
once and then the judgment, that on judgment day you will be found
justified, with no sins, for which to make eternal payment
in hell? How can that happen? only by the atonement made particularly
by Christ for the elect of God which he finished that's what
he said it is finished at Calvary once for all for all his people
for all his sheep for all time so that Paul writing to the Thessalonians
says we are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you brethren
beloved of the Lord how do you know they're beloved of the Lord
Paul because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation
how do you know Paul through sanctification of the Spirit.
The Spirit of God set you apart and given you life and caused
you to believe the truth of the Gospel of His grace. So what
about evangelism then? Do we not do any evangelism?
Do we just leave it to God's Spirit? No, it's by the foolishness
of preaching that it pleased God to save his people. We don't
offer the chance to exercise duty-faith to people who don't
have the natural ability. That's ridiculous. But we do
declare salvation accomplished for the people of God's sovereign
choice who he makes conscious of their sin so that he might
draw them with cords of love to Christ who has accomplished
redemption for them. And when they hear it, they are
glad. And like those in Acts 13, 48,
those ordained to eternal life believed. And believing, they
praise God. They praise God. They give all
the glory to Him. They rejoice in the fact that
they can sleep at night in safety. I will lay me down and sleep
in peace, for Thou, Lord, only make me to dwell in safety. Psalm
4. Why? Because I know that I'm in the
everlasting arms of the one who has already specifically paid
my debt to the law and justice of God. That is the truth. Moderate
Calvinism, my friends, is not the truth. It's a lie and it's
a delusion which is sweeping many, many away in these days. Oh, may God preserve us from
it and keep us faithful to his truth. Amen.