Morning, Christ family. I invite you to turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12, Hebrews chapter 12 with me.
And I see a lot of new faces today, and for those of you who may not know me, my name is Jonathan Hoffman. I do go by John, either or works for me.
I am a member of this church body, and I am also a recent graduate of the apprenticeship program that Nathan leads, which is a program.
It's about a year apprenticeship for those who are interested and have a sense of calling to do ministry vocationally.
And Nathan asked me to preach this morning as he takes the week to do some planning and vision and goal setting.
And he told me I could preach on whatever topic I wanted to, which I told him hopefully he will not regret afterwards.
And so through prayer and conviction, I have decided to preach on a topic of much theological controversy.
And it has been controversial through the history of the church.
For most of you, this won't be anything new, and you have studied God's Word on the topic.
You are well informed and have come to a conclusion of what you believe to be the truth in accordance to Scripture.
For others of you, you have heard the terms, you know the controversies, you know what your parents or your friends have told you of the topic.
But that may be the extent of your knowledge, because you have not searched the Scriptures yourself.
And so you may not be well informed, but you might even be very one-sided on the topic.
And you may even be a little hostile in your thinking towards the opposite view.
And for others of you, you may have never heard of these theological views or terms, and it may be completely new to you.
But ultimately, regardless of where you stand in the spectrum of these three, it is your duty, Christian.
And it should be, hopefully, your joy, believer, to search out the Scriptures for truth concerning the very character of your God.
And so, especially for those of you who may be hostile to or uncomfortable with terms such as Calvinism,
predestination, election, doctrines of grace, total depravity, and the like.
I ask you, and I beg you to please put that aside and just listen to what I have to say this morning.
And weigh out what I have to say against the Scriptures.
And not against what others have told you concerning the matter at hand.
And after the fact, if you have questions or concerns, please ask.
There are many here who are well-educated on the topic.
And who have strong convictions firmly planted from Scriptural foundations.
And if you see me around, please ask.
I love to discuss theology.
I love it.
So please, ask somebody if you have questions.
Search out the Scriptures yourself for truth.
And I pray that in the end, regardless of what your beliefs are,
that we can love one another and serve our Lord side by side.
Because ultimately, this is not about us.
It is not about us.
And so there are two reasons why I want to share with you as to why I decided to preach on this topic this morning.
And first of all, it's because I firmly, firmly believe that the current status of the church in America,
the reason for a watered-down Christianity and the growing number of false converts,
people who call themselves Christian, who believe themselves to be Christian,
but are not Christian, comes from a lack of knowledge.
And yes, specifically from a lack of knowledge of these glorious doctrines.
And secondly, I chose this topic because in my own walk with Christ,
nothing has spearheaded me further into true piety.
Nothing has so inclined my heart towards the pursuit of God.
And nothing has brought me down lower on my knees in dependence, worship, and adoration
than these truths found in these old doctrines.
And this, to me, seems to be a pattern with other Calvinist brothers that I know.
That is the same experience that they have had.
And for me, it began with a little book that a man from my Sunday school class gave me
called Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer.
I was a new convert probably not even a year into my conversion.
I was pretty zealous at the time for street evangelism.
And knowing that, this guy gave me this book.
I was very excited to read the book, and that's why I first encountered the term Calvinism
and these doctrines of election.
And I actually remember stopping, putting the book down, and thinking to myself,
this cannot be right.
This is not true.
Now, before I became a believer, I was an atheist.
Most of my life, up until I was converted at the age of 21.
And in the process of being drawn to Christ, I set out to look for truth.
I knew that logically speaking, there could only be one source of ultimate truth.
And I wanted to be honest and unbiased in the pursuit of it.
And ever since, that has been my mentality when it comes to the things of God, such as theology.
I want nothing but logical, unbiased, scripturally drenched truth.
And so I searched the scriptures on the matter of Calvinism and was convinced of their truths.
And I stand before you now to proclaim them.
And so my prayer this morning is that you would give all this in unbiased consideration
and determine whether or not it's biblical.
But my ultimate goal this morning is that all of you would walk out of this place with a higher view of Christ.
His person, His work, His love, and His mercy.
As we read of Him and exposit on just the first half of verse 2 in Hebrews chapter 12.
Where we read,
Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.
Let's pray together.
Father, I just thank You for this time, Lord.
And I just pray that You would be at work in us, Father.
I pray that You would work it in us to desire to search for nothing but truth.
Lord, I just pray that You would work through me.
And Lord, that love would just overflow from this place after the fact.
Lord, that we would be zealous to work for You regardless of where we stand on theological differences.
Lord, we love You because You first loved us.
And we thank You for all that You have done for us.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
It was Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a British pastor of the 1800s,
who's also known as the Prince of Preachers,
who once stated, and I quote,
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 can preach the gospel if we do not preach justification by faith without works,
nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace,
nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah,
nor do I think we can preach the gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect
and chosen people with which Christ wrought out upon the cross.
Nor can I comprehend the gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called
and suffers the children of God to be turned in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus.
Close quote.
It was Spurgeon's understanding of Calvinistic theology,
also termed the doctrines of grace,
that so magnified and lifted up the gospel in his mind
and so constrained his heart in an unquenchable zeal in the service of his God.
And in the history of the church,
there has been a long line of godly men who have held these truths.
Calvinism did not originate from John Calvin.
Calvin was but a preacher of these doctrinal truths.
Truths which giant contenders of the faith preached hundreds of years even before Calvin.
In his book, Pillars of Grace, A Long Line of Godly Men,
Dr. Stephen Lawson, who is professor of biblical and theological studies at Ligonier Ministries,
or Ligonier Academy,
and also professor of theology, or correction,
professor of preaching at the Master's Seminary
and founder of One Passion Ministries,
sets out to show how some of the most esteemed men of the faith
in the history of the church have upheld the doctrines of grace.
And through the careful study of the writings of the following list of men,
from the early church fathers to the reformers,
Lawson shows that these men would today be called Calvinists.
They being Clement of Rome,
Ignatius of Anioc,
Justin Martyr,
Irenaeus of Lyons,
Tertullian of Catheridge,
Cyprian of Catheridge,
Athanasius of Alexandria,
Basil of Cassaria,
Gregory of Nazianzus,
Ambrose of Milan,
Augustine of Hippo,
Isidore,
Gottschak,
Aslam of Canterbury,
Bernard of Claravaux,
Thomas Bradwaren,
John Wycliffe,
John Huss,
Martin Luther,
Ulrich Zwingli,
William Tyndale,
Heinrich Bullinger,
and John Calvin.
That was his list up to the reformers,
but we could add such names to that list,
such as Charles Spurgeon,
John Knox,
William Bradford,
George Whitefield,
Jonathan Edwards,
Robert Murray McShane.
The list goes on and on and on.
But there has been no greater preacher,
no greater proclaimer of the doctrines of grace,
than the very author of them,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is what we will see this morning
as we look at Jesus
as the founder and perfecter of our faith.
And so I have divided this text
into two main headings
with two subheadings each,
in which we will draw out
the five points of Calvinism.
Those being total depravity,
unconditional election,
limited atonement,
irresistible grace,
and perseverance of the saints.
These are also known by its acronym form,
TULIP,
although we will not be going through them
in that particular order.
So our first heading this morning
is simply,
Founder of Our Faith,
under which we have two subheadings,
the first one being,
He created a way for lost sinners.
So Jesus Christ is the founder of our faith
in that He created a way for lost sinners.
The message of the Bible is that of redemption.
It is the message of a loving, powerful,
just, holy Creator,
who out of love,
from the foundation of the world,
from before the foundation of the world,
creates a plan to redeem lost sinners to Himself.
He created Adam and Eve,
the first humans,
in His image,
in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
They were in perfect contentment
and communion with God
until they willfully disobeyed God
and broke His commandment.
Therefore,
sin entered the world,
condemning the whole human race
and enslaving the freedom of the will
to the depravity of a sinful nature.
Romans 5, verses 18 and 19
reveal this truth to us
as it says,
St. Augustine writes,
and I quote,
From the bad use of free will,
there originated the whole train of evil,
which, with its continuation of misery,
convoys the human race
from its depraved origin
as from a corrupt root.
Close quote.
Herein lies the doctrine of total depravity.
And let's get a wider picture of this from Scripture
because I believe this doctrine to be vital
in order for the rest to stand.
So turn with me to Genesis chapter 6,
Genesis chapter 6,
and look at verses 5 through 7.
Genesis chapter 6, verses 5 through 7.
We read,
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth,
and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually.
And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth,
and it grieved him to his heart.
So the Lord said,
I will blot out man whom I have created
from the face of the land,
man and animals,
and creeping things,
and birds of the heavens,
for I am sorry that I have made them.
Now listen to verse 5 again.
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth,
and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually.
Did you get that?
Every intention?
Every single intention.
Man could not even think
without the very inner foundations
of the intent being fundamentally evil.
But look even closer.
It says that they were only evil.
There was no trace whatsoever of goodness or righteousness.
And look even closer yet again.
The word continually,
meaning there was never any turning from this norm.
There was no repentance.
And this describes the entire human race to this day.
And so what did God do about it?
He wiped out the entire human race at that point.
But by grace,
only eight people were the exception.
Noah and his family along with a number of animals.
But were these eight also then
the exception to that description of depravity?
No.
Every one of those who were saved by the ark
was stained by the same sin nature
described in verse 5.
And through them it continued to be passed down to this day.
Now you might be thinking,
but that description in verse 5
is before the flood, not after.
Well then, let's go to chapter 8.
So turn a few pages with me to chapter 8
and see what it says after the flood.
Chapter 8 and verse 20.
The flood has subsided.
And then we read in chapter 8 verse 20.
Do you see that?
It doesn't say that the intentions of man's heart
was evil from his youth.
It says the intention of man's heart
is evil from his youth.
That's in the present tense.
And that's after the flood.
This is God declaring after the flood
the same pronouncement of depravity
in man as it was before the flood.
This is why David says in Psalm 51 5,
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
This is why Psalm 58 3 says,
The wicked are estranged from the womb.
They go astray from birth.
And who are the wicked?
The human race.
That is what Jesus says in Mark 10 18
when he says,
No one is good except God alone.
That's why Romans 3 verses 9 through 12 says,
Both Jews and Greeks are under sin.
As it is written,
None is righteous.
No, not one.
No one understands.
No one seeks after God.
All have turned aside.
Together they have become worthless.
No one does good.
Not even one.
This is what Ephesians 2 means
when it says in verses 1 through 3,
You were dead in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked,
following the course of this world,
following the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that is now at work
and the sons of disobedience,
among whom we all once lived
in the passions of our flesh,
carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,
and were by nature,
by nature,
children of wrath,
like the rest of mankind.
This is why Romans 8 7 and 8 says,
For the mind that is set on the flesh
is hostile to God,
for it does not submit to God's law.
Indeed, it cannot.
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
That's what Romans says.
Do you see that?
And so based on that alone,
let me ask you this.
Is not repenting
and placing your trust in Christ
something that is pleasing to God?
Just that act alone.
Is that not something that is pleasing to God?
Yet how can anyone who is dead
in trespasses and sins,
and therefore with a mind
that is hostile to God,
and unable to please God,
repent and trust in Christ
of their own will,
and thereby pleasing God?
Do you see that?
It is against the very nature
of the natural man
to freely and willfully
come to Christ,
as it is against the very nature
of a loving,
pregnant woman
to plunge a steak knife
into her own abdomen.
Now this may sound harsh,
but I believe it to be true
based on what we have just looked at.
This is the true state
of the unregenerate man.
That's what the Bible teaches.
This is the true condition of the heart.
Like sheep,
we have all gone astray
in this condition,
and in this condition
even our greatest works
are but filthy rags.
In this state,
we are all slaves
to the ruler of this world,
the devil,
completely in bondage to sin,
totally depraved,
hostile towards God,
utterly unable
to freely choose
to do anything pleasing to God.
Is that not a scary thought?
Yet,
is this not what
these scriptures teach?
And this is why God
had to be the one to act
to make a way for sinners.
And this is why Jesus
is the founder of our faith
in this sense.
In John 8,
verse 34,
Jesus says,
Truly, truly,
I say to you,
everyone who practices sin
is a slave to sin.
And in verse 36,
He says,
So,
if the Son
sets you free,
you will be free
indeed.
If who sets you free?
The Son.
And who
initiates the freeing?
The Son.
In John 6,
44,
Jesus says,
No one can come to me
unless the Father
who sent me
draws him.
God had to be the one
to make a way
because what would we have here
if He were to have left it
at this?
We would have all of mankind
going to hell
and yes,
originally condemned
by the sin of Adam,
but by no means
just by it.
Every single person
is responsible
for His own sin.
And so here we have
a picture of a God-hating,
self-loving,
depraved humanity
who would rather go to hell
than repent
and turn from their wicked ways.
In John 3, 20,
Jesus says,
Everyone who does
wicked things
hates the light
and does not come
to the light,
lest his works
be exposed.
And so if God
would have stopped there
and not saved anyone
and not have acted at all,
would He be at fault
for allowing
all of humanity
to end up in hell
for all eternity?
No.
And He would be
completely just
and completely
righteous
in that act
because His justice
and His holiness
would be put on display.
But praise be
to God,
brothers and sisters,
that He did not
stop there
and that out of
love and kindness
and pure grace,
He became
the founder,
the author
of our faith
by creating a way
for lost sinners.
Depraved,
God-hating sinners.
And so here we affirm
the next doctrine of grace
called
unconditional election.
Turn with me
to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2.
2 Thessalonians
chapter 2.
Verses 13 and 14.
It reads,
But we ought always
to give thanks to God
for you, brothers,
beloved by the Lord,
because God chose you
as the firstfruits
to be saved
through sanctification
by the Spirit
and belief
in the truth.
To this He called you
through our gospel
so that you may obtain
the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Christ.
Now,
we won't spend
much time on this one
because it's hard
to deny that Scripture
teaches election
and predestination.
That being,
that before the foundation
of the world,
out of a mass
of depraved humanity
to be,
without merit
or condition
or any future doing
on the part
of the sinner,
out of His grace
and love
and for His glory
and for His Son,
He chose a multitude
of them
to snatch them
out of the fire
of their own making
to demonstrate
His mercy
and His glory
and His grace
in them.
That's what Jesus means
when He tells His disciples
in John 15, 16,
You did not choose Me
but I chose you
and appointed you
that you should go
and bear fruit
and that your fruit
should abide.
And it's what He refers to
when He says
in Matthew 11, 27,
No one knows the Son
except the Father.
And no one knows the Father
except the Son
and anyone
whom the Son
chooses
to reveal Him.
This is what Paul
refers to in Romans 11, 5
when he says
that there is a remnant
chosen by grace.
And in Ephesians 1, 4
when he says
He chose us in Him
before the foundation
of the world.
And in verse 5,
He predestined us
for adoption
as sons
through Jesus Christ
according to the purpose
of His will
to the praise
of His glorious grace
with which He
has blessed us
in the Beloved.
That's why Peter
calls us
a chosen race,
a royal priesthood,
a people
for His own possession.
That is why Acts 13, 48,
as the gospel
is being preached,
it says,
And when the Gentiles
heard this,
they began rejoicing
and glorifying
the word of the Lord.
and as many
as were appointed
to eternal life
believed.
They believed
because they were
appointed
to eternal life.
They were unconditionally
elected
by a gracious
and merciful God.
And I want to,
once again,
just reiterate
that in electing,
God is merely,
by grace,
to give you
an illustration,
snatching people
out of a burning building
who actually
want to stay
in that burning building.
And when He does so
and snatches
the select few out,
He opens their eyes
and shows them
their foolishness.
And the ones
that stay
in the burning building
and were not
pulled out by God
do so
because they would
rather stay
in that building
than to come
to God.
Election
is unconditional.
Do you recall
the story
in Exodus
of the crossing
of the Red Sea?
God sends
a strong wind
parts the Red Sea.
The people of Israel
begin to cross
on dry land.
Pharaoh
and his Egyptian army
follow after,
pursue after Israel.
And if you could
just imagine
imagine
a bird's eye view
of this scene,
you have
both
the Egyptians
and Israel
on this dry land
and they are
perfectly paralleled
by massive
walls
of ocean
being held back
only
by the power
of God.
And let me ask
you this,
out of
all those
people
on that stretch
of land,
could any
one of them
stand
before
a holy God
and be considered
spotless
and righteous
out of their
own doing?
Of course not.
None of them.
Not one.
And so,
in this case,
God would have
been
just
in
even wiping
all of them
out.
But instead,
out of His grace,
He chose
to save the Israelites
not because
anything
that He saw
in them,
not because of
any goodness
in them
or any future
acts
on their behalf.
life.
But as we see
in Exodus 6,
it is God
who
unconditionally
elects.
It is God
who initiated
a covenant
with Israel
of His own
choosing.
And that's
the beauty
of election.
And that's
the beauty
and grace
of our Savior.
That though
we do not
deserve it,
and we cannot
in our own
ability
make the
massive
crushing
waves
of our
sin
part
so that
we may
make our
way to
the other
side,
Jesus,
the founder
of our
faith,
went before
us
and made
a way
so that
not one
drop
of that
ocean
would ever
touch
our heads.
Praise God
for His
electing
grace.
Spurgeon
put it
quite well
when he
says,
it's a good
thing
God chose
me
before I
was born
because He
surely would
not have
chosen me
afterwards.
Close quote.
What a
mighty
Savior,
a leader,
pioneer,
author,
founder of
our faith,
and that He
made a way
for sinners.
And this
leads us to
our second
subheading for
how Christ
is the
founder of
our faith,
that being
that Christ
is the
founder of
our faith
and that He
is the
giver
of the
new
birth.
He is
the
giver
of the
new
birth.
It is
the
emphatic
affirmation
of our
Lord Jesus
Christ in
John 3,
3,
that unless
one is
born again,
he cannot
see the
kingdom of
God.
And it
is the
unequivocal
teaching of
Scripture
that it
is God
that through
His
sovereign,
unconditional
election,
births within
those elect
repentance and
faith unto
everlasting life.
It is here
that we see
the doctrine
of grace
entitled
Irresistible
Grace.
Irresistible
Grace.
In John
3,
verses 3-8,
Jesus tells
Nicodemus,
a teacher
of the
law,
truly,
I say to
you,
unless one
is born
again,
he cannot
see the
kingdom
of God.
Nicodemus
said to
him,
how can
a man
be born
when he
is old?
Can he
enter a
second time
in his
mother's
womb and
be born?
Jesus
answered,
truly,
I say
to you,
unless
one is
born of
water
and the
spirit,
he cannot
enter the
kingdom
of God.
That which
is born
of flesh
is flesh,
and that
which is
born of
the spirit
is spirit.
Do not
marvel that
I said
to you,
you must
be born
again.
the wind
blows where
it wishes,
and you
hear its
sound,
but you
do not
know where
it comes
from or
where it
goes.
So it
is with
everyone who
is born
of the
spirit.
This shows
the utter
inability of
man to do
anything in
order to
enter the
kingdom of
God
on his
own.
Obviously,
you cannot
be born
when you
are old,
and you
cannot
enter your
mother's
womb again
and be
reborn.
There is
nothing in
your power
or ability
that you
can do
to be
born again.
There is
a reason
why Jesus
uses these
specific
words and
these specific
illustrations in
talking about
regeneration.
You had
nothing to do
with your
first birth,
and you
cannot have
anything to
do with
your second
birth from
above.
On this
effectual
calling,
which must
be initiated
by God,
Philip
Ryken,
the current
president of
Wheaton
College,
writes,
What makes
this illustration
especially
effective is
the fact
that in
the Greek
language,
wind and
breath and
spirit are
all the same
word,
pneuma.
The spirit
is the breath
of God,
whose influence
is like the
wind.
No one can
control the
wind or even
see it,
yet its
effects are
obvious wherever
it blows.
So it is
with the
Holy Spirit.
No one can
control his
gracious influences.
No one can
see when he
first slips
into a
sinner's
heart.
The
regenerating,
life-giving
work of the
spirit is
up to
the sovereignty
of God.
Close quote.
God
This
effectual
calling,
this
irresistible
grace,
is what
Acts 16,
14 alludes
to when it
tells of
Lydia's
conversion.
For it
says God
opened her
heart as
the gospel
was being
preached by
Paul.
Lydia didn't
open her
own heart.
It clearly
says God
opened her
heart.
She couldn't
have opened
her own
heart.
She was
dead in her
trespasses and
sins.
God
effectually
through the
gospel called
her, opened
her heart, and
gave her new
birth.
And it is
this that
John 1, 13
refers to when
speaking of the
children of God
where it says
they were born
not of blood
nor of the
will of man
or the
flesh but
of God.
Christ is
the founder
of our faith
because He
alone is
the giver
of the
new birth.
Now we
have reached
our second
main heading
for this
morning and
that is
perfecter of
our faith.
And for the
sake of time
I will give
you the two
subheadings and
try to move
quickly.
So Christ
is the
perfecter of
our faith in
that He has
perfectly
accomplished
His work.
He has
perfectly
accomplished
His work
and the
second
subheading
that He
will
complete
the work
He began
in us.
He will
complete the
work that
He began
in us.
Jesus came
to this
world with
a purpose.
He did
so to
accomplish
a work.
He came
to give
His life
a ransom
for many.
And it is
here that we
encounter the
doctrine of
grace called
limited
atonement
or particular
redemption.
It is the
belief of
some that
Christ died
to pay for
the sins of
every single
person who
has ever
and will
ever live.
That He has
bore the
wrath for
the sins of
Judas who
is now
spending
eternity in
hell as
He has
bore the
wrath for
the sins
of Peter
who is
now in
glory in
the presence
of the
Lord.
And though
I don't
have time
to get
into detail
about it,
I will
just say
this quickly
because some
of you may
be thinking,
well,
what about
those texts
that say
that He took
away the
sins of
the world,
of the
whole world?
Well,
those are
to be
understood
under their
particular
and respective
contexts,
which we
don't have
time to
examine this
morning.
So let me
just give you
quickly some
texts that I
believe help
repudiate those
notions.
Mark 10
45 says,
For even the
Son of Man
came not to
be served,
but to serve,
and to give
His life a
ransom for
many.
You see
that?
For many.
Not for all,
for many.
Matthew 22
14.
For many
are called,
but few
are chosen.
Hebrews 9
27 to 28.
And just
as it is
appointed for
men to
die once,
and after
that the
judgment,
so Christ,
having been
offered once
to bear the
sins of
many,
will appear
a second
time.
Once again,
many,
not all.
And one
last one.
Revelation 5
9 says,
Worthy are
you to
take the
scroll and
to open
its seals,
for you
were slain,
and by your
blood you
ransomed
people for
God from
every tribe
and language
and people
and nation.
This is
talking
particularly
about the
redemptive
work.
And it
speaks and
it says
that he
ransomed
people
from
every
tribe and
language and
people and
nation.
It does not
say that he
ransomed every
tribe and
people and
language and
nation.
We see that
the extent of
the atonement
here is
explicitly
limited.
Right here in
the pages of
Scripture.
Now those
who do not
hold to the
Calvinistic view
would have to
say and
believe that
Christ paid
the full
price for
the sense of
humanity
without actually
securing
anyone's
salvation
definitively.
Only a
possibility of
salvation.
So you
see friends,
while Calvinism
limits the
extent of
the atonement
by saying
that Christ
died for a
specific people
only, those
being the
elect, and
paid an
actual price
for an
actual people,
the non-Calvinist
view limits the
effect of the
atonement.
Because they
cannot say that
Christ died to
perfectly secure
the salvation of
anybody.
But to the
Calvinist, in
regards to the
effect of the
atonement, the
accomplished work
of Christ on the
cross, we
believe this, as
John Flavel, a
1600s Puritan,
puts it, and I
quote, he
finished it
completely and
fully.
All that was to
be done by way
of meritorious
redemption is
fully done.
No hand can
come after
this.
His angels can
add nothing to
it.
That is
perfectly to
which nothing is
wanting and to
which nothing can
be added.
Such is the
work which
our Lord
Jesus Christ
finished.
Whatever the
law demanded is
perfectly paid.
Whatever a
sinner needs is
perfectly obtained
and purchased.
Nothing can be
added to what
he had done.
He put the
last hand to
it when he
said, it
is finished.
Close quote.
Which arrives
us at the
final and
glorious doctrine
of grace
called the
perseverance of
the saints.
The perseverance
of the saints.
Otherwise known
as preserving
grace.
The Calvinist
affirms that
once saved,
always saved.
Because he who
began a good
work in you
will bring it
to completion
at the day of
Jesus Christ.
As we are told
in Philippians
1, chapter 1,
verse 6.
And the Lord
tells us in
John 6, 39,
And this is the
will of him
who sent me,
that I should
lose nothing
of all that
he has given
me, but
raise it up
on the last
day.
We cannot
be plucked
out of his
hands, for
God is a
good father,
and our
Lord is a
good shepherd,
who will not
let one of
his sheep
go astray.
And because
Christ is
almighty,
who lives
to intercede
for us,
and as
Hebrews 7, 25
so powerfully
puts it,
he is able
to save to
the uttermost
those who
draw near to
God through
him, since
he always
lives to
make intercession
for them.
And my dear
friends,
Christ will
not and
cannot fail
at his
intercessory
prayer.
And as
J.I.
Packer
puts it,
your faith
will not
fail while
God sustains
it.
You are not
strong enough
to fall
away while
God is
resolved to
hold you.
Close quote.
And as to
the importance
of this
doctrine of
preserving
grace,
Spurgeon
so
determinedly
writes,
and this
should be
on the
front of
your
bulletin,
quote,
if one
dear saint
of God
had perished,
so might
all.
If one
of the
covenant
ones be
lost,
so may
all be.
And then
there is
no gospel
promise
true,
but the
Bible
is a
lie,
and there
is nothing
in it
worth
my
acceptance.
I will
be an
infidel
at once
when I
can believe
that a
saint of
God
can ever
finally
fall.
Close quote.
Jesus
Christ
is
preeminent.
He is
all and
in all.
He is
founder and
perfecter of
our faith.
Therefore,
let us lay
aside every
weight and
sin which
clings so
closely,
and let us
run with
endurance the
race that
is set
before us,
looking to
Jesus,
the founder
and perfecter
of our
faith.
Salvation
and glory
and power
belong to
our God.
And if you
have not yet
trusted in
him,
repent and
believe the
gospel of
our Lord and
Savior Jesus
Christ today.
Let's pray.
Amen.