Dale Partridge - July 05, 2024


Romans 9_19-24： How to Become a Calvinist with Dale Partridge


Episode Stats


Length

39 minutes

Words per minute

125.32303

Word count

4,995

Sentence count

255


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 Turn to Romans 9, 14, and follow along with me as I read the Word of the Lord.
00:00:06.960 Also stand, if you would, please, for the reading of the Word of the Lord.
00:00:30.000 might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all earth. So then he has mercy
00:00:36.200 on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. Verse 19, you will say to me then,
00:00:43.200 why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer back
00:00:48.600 to God? Well, what does molded say to its molder? Why have you made me like this? Has the potter
00:00:54.040 no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another
00:00:59.140 for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power,
00:01:04.420 has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known
00:01:10.980 the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory,
00:01:15.740 even us whom He has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?
00:01:19.500 This is the Word of the Lord.
00:01:20.660 Well, praise God. I want to remind us of Jesus' words. It says,
00:01:29.820 These people worship me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
00:01:34.020 I think it's easy when we're at church to just be here, say amen, but your heart is not there.
00:01:45.300 and so I just want to this has nothing to do with my sermon by the way this is
00:01:51.620 just calling you all to make sure your heart is here focused in a state of
00:02:00.620 worship it's a difficult thing it's actually tiring I don't know if you've
00:02:05.960 done this and you've actually worshiped truthfully with tears and sorrow it's
00:02:12.340 It's tiring, and that's why our flesh hates it, but our flesh needs to be in subjection
00:02:19.180 to our spirit.
00:02:20.860 And so as we listen to the sermon today, take note, mentally, physically, let your heart
00:02:30.000 be in it.
00:02:31.800 I've decided to call this message, How to Become a Calvinist.
00:02:36.900 Now, I know that's a little tongue-in-cheek, but this passage of Scripture may be the Bible's
00:02:43.900 most clear and convincing argument for God's sovereignty over salvation.
00:02:51.940 Now you guys know that I'm not here to win anybody to Calvin.
00:02:55.620 My goal is not to make more Calvinists.
00:02:58.100 I'm simply affirming what John Calvin and many others before him recognized in Scripture.
00:03:04.580 I see what he saw as it pertains to the sovereignty of God over salvation.
00:03:13.780 I've said several weeks in a row now, John MacArthur's quote,
00:03:16.640 I became a Calvinist because the Bible gave me no other option.
00:03:20.740 Charles Spurgeon actually once said,
00:03:22.860 I believe nothing merely because Calvin taught it,
00:03:25.660 but because I have found his teaching in the word of God.
00:03:28.920 If Calvin taught the doctrines of grace as indeed he did,
00:03:32.280 I am glad to be a Calvinist because I find these doctrines in the scriptures as well.
00:03:38.160 And so, Augustine, who was 1,200 years or 1,100 years before Calvin, was also a Calvinist.
00:03:49.060 No, it's that Calvin was able to codify these doctrines.
00:03:53.640 And for some reason, God has elevated his legacy that these doctrines be named after him.
00:04:02.280 and are remembered for his systematic devotion to the scriptures.
00:04:09.440 When you exegete the text with a literal, grammatical, historical hermeneutic,
00:04:16.100 when you are looking at the scriptures carefully, you end up at Calvinism.
00:04:22.780 That's just what happens.
00:04:25.380 I was not a Calvinist until I went to seminary.
00:04:28.540 And when I went to seminary, I was forced to exegete the text, historically, culturally, grammatically, literally.
00:04:39.720 And you end up at the doctrines of grace.
00:04:44.640 It's just what happens.
00:04:47.860 Most of the individuals that deny Calvinism, not all, but most of them are not careful interpreters of the word.
00:04:55.160 when you see someone who wrote a 700 page book on three passages of scripture it's generally done
00:05:05.560 by a Calvinist these people take the word of God seriously and that's what the doctrines of grace
00:05:14.520 do to a man or woman they make you reverent it is the most God-exalting and man-humbling system
00:05:23.580 of salvation that has ever been discussed.
00:05:30.520 I want you to pay attention to this chapter.
00:05:34.120 This chapter, Paul deals with three of the most critical questions that come against
00:05:41.540 Calvinism.
00:05:43.700 Number one, the question is, if God controls the salvation of His people, then why did
00:05:50.420 the vast majority of the Jews reject Christ?
00:05:53.140 We dealt with that in Romans 9.6 a few weeks ago.
00:05:56.960 Number two, is God unjust for choosing to save some and not others, regardless of their
00:06:04.760 behavior or foreseen actions?
00:06:07.780 We dealt with that about a week or two ago, Romans 9.14.
00:06:13.480 And then the third question, which we will deal with today, is how is it just for God
00:06:19.500 to condemn someone for not having faith if their unbelief is according to God's will?
00:06:27.000 It's a very difficult question.
00:06:31.160 It's Romans 9 19.
00:06:33.040 Ultimately, this chapter is dealing with the intersection between God's sovereignty and
00:06:40.160 man's responsibility.
00:06:42.800 It's a very difficult passage of Scripture.
00:06:47.340 You're going to see this is one of the great antinomies of Scripture or a paradox of Scripture.
00:06:54.740 It frustrates the human mind and surpasses our ability to understand every element of
00:07:00.000 it.
00:07:01.000 There is some mystery within this section of Scripture.
00:07:06.780 Now just to offer you guys some more context, we just came off of Romans 8, which claimed
00:07:12.980 that God is in total control of the salvation of His people.
00:07:15.280 heard in Romans 8, 28 through 30. And we know that God causes all things to work together for those
00:07:21.120 who love him are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknow or foreknew, he
00:07:26.060 predestined. And these whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also
00:07:30.800 justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. In chapter 9, Paul addresses the first
00:07:39.460 critical question. If God controls the salvation of his people, then why do the vast majority of
00:07:45.080 the Jews reject Christ.
00:07:48.740 And to this Paul responds, but it is not as though the word of God has failed.
00:07:53.200 It's not like God's word failed to convert the Jews.
00:07:56.580 No you're thinking of it incorrectly, for they are not all Israel who are descended
00:08:01.540 from Israel and they are not all children of Abraham because they are Abraham's descendants.
00:08:08.040 So he imposes a new paradigm upon the Jews that there are not spiritual heritage is not
00:08:19.360 a result of physical heritage.
00:08:24.260 He realizes if you're a Jew that there is a group within a group.
00:08:29.700 There is the covenant and then there are people in the covenant who are elect.
00:08:38.040 And so ethnic heritage, again, does not secure spiritual heritage.
00:08:42.440 In verses 8 through 12, he goes on to provide two examples.
00:08:46.460 We saw this over the last few weeks of this divine election.
00:08:50.380 And it's not just divine election.
00:08:51.960 It's divine election within the covenant.
00:08:55.560 And he shows us Isaac and Ishmael in contrast with Jacob and Esau.
00:09:04.620 And so what made this election so perplexing for many people, and it still stumbles many people
00:09:12.860 today, is that God's election was not based on any actions or forcing behavior in either of those
00:09:20.800 circumstances. Romans 9-11 said, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or
00:09:29.040 bad though they were not yet born and had done nothing nothing in the future
00:09:37.540 they had done nothing in the present they had done nothing either good or
00:09:41.820 bad in order that God's purpose for election might continue not because of
00:09:48.000 works but because of him who calls she was told the older will serve the
00:09:52.780 Younger, as it is written, Jacob I have loved, and Esau I have hated.
00:09:58.320 So God did not look down the corridors of time to see that Isaac and Jacob would choose
00:10:06.960 him and then decide to elect those individuals.
00:10:09.740 That's not what happened.
00:10:10.680 That's not what the scriptures teach.
00:10:12.900 No, God simply chose to have mercy on Isaac and Jacob and to pour out his wrath upon Ishmael
00:10:21.880 and Esau.
00:10:22.780 And he did this without regard to any action or behavior.
00:10:28.900 They had not been born yet, and there was nothing good or bad accomplished by either of them.
00:10:35.800 Now, we can confirm that this was the intended meaning of the text,
00:10:39.960 because if you look down to verses 14 through 18, Paul addresses that very concern.
00:10:45.700 Some people say, oh, well, that's not what he was talking about.
00:10:47.540 It's not that he hated Esau.
00:10:49.860 He just loved Esau less.
00:10:52.040 No, we can actually assume that the intended meaning was the offensive meaning
00:10:56.560 because he actually deals with the offensive meaning.
00:10:59.780 In verse 14, we have a God who elects without reference to human actions or human will.
00:11:07.680 We have a God who elects people without reference to human actions or human will.
00:11:18.640 Paul answers the second question.
00:11:21.100 He says, is God unjust for choosing to save some and not others without reference to their
00:11:30.940 behavior?
00:11:32.040 Is God unjust for doing that?
00:11:35.980 In other words, he expects his readers to struggle with the idea that election is solely
00:11:41.540 determined by God's will and not determined by human will.
00:11:45.740 He expects that to be offensive.
00:11:48.440 You're saying that I wasn't saved because I chose?
00:11:54.760 Correct.
00:11:55.600 I'm saying that you were saved because God chose you.
00:12:01.280 And as Dr. Moody often says, God changes your chooser.
00:12:05.860 He changes your ability to choose.
00:12:09.600 Yes, you do choose, but only after you've been chosen.
00:12:13.320 Yes, you do believe, but only after you've been elected.
00:12:16.220 Yes, you do repent, but only after you've been made alive.
00:12:24.520 To support Paul's argument, he cites the example of Pharaoh.
00:12:30.000 Pharaoh is like the most willful individual in the entire Bible.
00:12:36.720 And Paul references how God even controls Pharaoh's will.
00:12:42.820 if anybody was to say that they had a free will
00:12:46.520 it's going to be Pharaoh
00:12:47.400 and God makes it clear
00:12:49.640 that Pharaoh does not
00:12:51.820 have a free will
00:12:53.280 if God controls the kings of the world
00:12:56.460 it's foolish to think
00:12:58.360 that he won't control the ponds
00:12:59.680 I said last week that
00:13:03.380 if God only said he controlled ants
00:13:06.120 then it would be fair to say
00:13:07.260 well he doesn't control superior beings like humans
00:13:09.740 but
00:13:12.100 when God says he controls the stars and the galaxies and kings and rulers and
00:13:17.200 wars and weather, it's foolish for us to think that he won't control you. So Paul
00:13:25.960 concludes by saying, so then it depends not on the man who wills. Wait a second.
00:13:35.880 Does that mean we don't have a free will? Correct. It does not depend on the man who
00:13:41.180 wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. A few verses later, it says he has mercy
00:13:49.900 on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires. He hardens whom he desires. The apostle John
00:14:00.020 and John chapter one, verses 12 to 13 says, but to all who did receive him, to all who were given
00:14:07.660 In Christ, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
00:14:13.460 Verse 13, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
00:14:24.220 of man, but of God.
00:14:27.060 How were they born?
00:14:29.220 How did they come alive?
00:14:31.180 It wasn't by their own will.
00:14:32.840 Therefore, salvation is not repentance, faith equals born again.
00:14:42.880 No.
00:14:43.900 The Bible says that it's born again equals repentance and faith.
00:14:51.420 It's completely opposite.
00:14:54.360 Of course man would come to the conclusion that I can born myself again.
00:15:01.020 It's a ridiculous idea.
00:15:02.840 but it sounds very human, and the supernatural reality is that you cannot born yourself again.
00:15:11.920 How much involvement did you have in your first birth?
00:15:15.800 To think that God did not ask you for your choice to be created,
00:15:26.480 but he asks for your choice to be recreated is a foolish idea.
00:15:32.840 The whole reason that Jesus gave that metaphor of birth is to prove the point that you have no involvement.
00:15:43.140 You did not choose to be born, and therefore you did not choose to be born again.
00:15:48.880 It is a sovereign work of God.
00:15:53.280 Now in today's text, Paul addresses a third critical question.
00:15:59.140 how is it just for God to condemn someone for not having faith if their unbelief or their hardening
00:16:09.100 is according to his will in other words if God controls the wills of men and women as he did
00:16:17.420 with Pharaoh and causes or prevents them from coming to him in repentance how can God still
00:16:24.360 find fault. How can God find fault if he's the one doing the hardening? If our wills are
00:16:32.640 ultimately determined by God's will, how can he hold us accountable for not being willing to come
00:16:39.380 to him? That's an important question. That's a question that stumps many individuals in the
00:16:47.980 church today. Paul says it this way, you will say to me then, why does he still
00:16:55.840 find fault? For who can resist his will? Now this question, why does he still find
00:17:04.240 fault, is likely the most prideful question in the entire Bible. Why does
00:17:11.600 he still find fault? How could he harden me? How could he blind me to the path of redemption?
00:17:22.840 How could he condemn me? What they're really saying in this question is, if God is the promoter
00:17:30.040 and preventer of salvation, then shouldn't the fault of not coming to God be laid upon the
00:17:34.720 Almighty and not men? That's what they're really asking in that question. If God causes rebellion
00:17:43.700 or hardening or blindness, is it not God's fault that these people don't come to Christ?
00:17:51.200 And we know from the experience of Pharaoh that God's will is irresistible.
00:17:58.200 I don't know why we struggle with the doctrine of irresistible grace.
00:18:01.460 scripture says right there who can resist God's will it's a rhetorical
00:18:07.580 question no one and so anyone asking these questions or thinking this way has
00:18:20.180 forgotten the vital truth of Romans 3 23 it says for all have sinned and fallen
00:18:30.340 short of the glory of God. It says in Romans 5.12, sin came into the world through one man and death
00:18:36.200 through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned. So how could a just God prevent people
00:18:45.060 like Ishmael and Esau and Pharaoh from coming to him in repentance and redemption? That is the wrong
00:18:52.020 question. That is the wrong question. The correct question is how could a just God save sinners
00:19:00.540 like Isaac and Jacob and you? That's the right question.
00:19:08.380 The fundamental misunderstanding in Arminian theology is that they assume that God's grace
00:19:15.180 and mercy are owed to everyone. I was listening on the way in to a Calvary Chapel preacher.
00:19:22.020 Christ died for all of you Christ died for every man and woman in the world
00:19:27.460 those are the words that he said the fundamental misunderstanding in Arminian
00:19:33.360 theology is that they assume that God's grace and mercy are owed to everyone
00:19:37.060 rather than recognizing that they are owed to no one they're owed to no one
00:19:44.140 they believe if God is going to offer his mercy to some then for him to remain
00:19:50.360 just, he must offer his mercy to all. They cannot fathom the idea of God offering mercy to some
00:19:57.920 and not everyone. When God himself says, I have compassion on whom I have compassion and I will
00:20:04.600 extend my mercy to whom I will extend my mercy. He chooses who. But we want to believe that God,
00:20:15.940 if he's going to offer mercy to anyone, he must offer it to everyone. When in reality,
00:20:21.660 we should be asking the question, why do you even offer it to anyone at all?
00:20:30.100 Paul responds to these questions with what I call a checkmate response. A checkmate response.
00:20:37.600 Verse 20, he says, on the contrary, who are you, oh man, who are you to reply against
00:20:51.380 God?
00:20:53.300 Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, why have you made me like this?
00:21:00.260 Essentially, Paul is asking, have you forgotten who you are?
00:21:04.000 do shadows criticize the path of the sun do raindrops question why they are being dropped
00:21:13.240 on a person or a particular geographic region do the trees object to the way of the wind then why
00:21:20.560 does humanity reply against God it's basically the rhetoric that is going on there in Job we
00:21:29.840 see an almost parallel scenario. In the face of suffering, Job makes 10 prideful
00:21:39.720 replies to God. Keep in mind this phrase, who are you to reply to God? Okay. This is
00:21:47.800 Job being a fool. Job 3, 11 through 12. Why did I not perish at my birth and die as I
00:21:56.760 came from the womb. Where were the knees or why were the knees to receive me and breasts that I
00:22:03.560 might be nursed? Job 7 20 through 21. If I have sinned, what have I done to you? You who see
00:22:10.680 everything we do. Why have you made me your target? Have I become a burden to you? Why do you not
00:22:17.780 pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust. You will search for me
00:22:23.180 and I will be no more. Job 10, 2 through 3. I will say to God, do not condemn me, but tell me
00:22:31.600 what the charges you have against me. Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of
00:22:37.460 your hands while you smile on the plans of the wicked? Job 13, 23 through 24. How many wrongs
00:22:44.680 and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin. Why do you hide your face and consider me
00:22:50.180 your enemy. Job 23, two through four. Even today, my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy in spite
00:22:58.180 of my groaning. If only I knew where to find him. If only I could go to his dwelling, I would state
00:23:05.500 my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. We should be shocked that Job has remained alive
00:23:12.720 after this. To these questions, God does not provide any answers. None. Instead, he
00:23:25.480 offers 77 other questions. And he demonstrates his supreme power and Job's
00:23:37.440 spiritual and mental limitations. He asked questions like, where were you when I laid
00:23:47.860 the foundation of the world? Where is the way to the dwelling of light? Questions
00:23:55.680 like this that you just go, oh wait, I have no answers to these questions. And
00:24:01.140 And question after question, if you read in verses or chapter 38 and 39, God restores Job's perspective as a grain of sand.
00:24:14.860 And in chapter 40, verses 4 through 5, after God makes this great case, all Job says is this, I am foul.
00:24:26.160 How can I reply to you?
00:24:29.040 How can I reply to you?
00:24:31.140 He says, I put my hand over my mouth.
00:24:35.080 I spoke once, but I have no answer twice, but I will say no more.
00:24:41.620 Now, Paul certainly has in view that statement from Job when he's writing this.
00:24:50.080 He says, who are you to reply against God?
00:24:54.480 Do you not know the story of Job?
00:24:58.080 Will the thing formed say to him who formed it?
00:25:01.140 Why have you made me like this?
00:25:04.000 What an absurd question.
00:25:07.980 This is actually a quote from Isaiah 29, 16,
00:25:10.440 and also Isaiah 45, 9 through 11.
00:25:13.220 They both speak to this fundamental truth
00:25:15.480 that the potter has authority and dominion
00:25:18.500 over that which he creates.
00:25:21.240 Isaiah 29, 16 says,
00:25:22.700 You turn things upside down.
00:25:25.320 Shall the potter be regarded as the clay
00:25:27.240 that the thing made should save its maker?
00:25:30.700 he did not make me.
00:25:32.280 Or the thing formed, say of him who formed it,
00:25:34.440 he has no understanding.
00:25:38.560 We live in a very confused world.
00:25:43.580 We are disordered, maybe more than any other generation.
00:25:49.280 But is there anything more absurd than a created thing
00:25:51.720 critically questioning its creator?
00:25:55.940 Like would a painting demand explanation from the painter?
00:26:00.200 How ridiculous is that thought?
00:26:02.820 Imagine a loaf of bread being frustrated with the baker.
00:26:07.780 What?
00:26:09.180 It's an absurdity.
00:26:11.540 The idea of humanity demanding answers from God is arrogant and foolish.
00:26:18.040 And it's why Paul asks in verse 21, the rhetorical question,
00:26:22.640 Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use
00:26:29.200 and another for dishonorable use.
00:26:32.680 Now this is a reference to Jeremiah 18.
00:26:35.920 Why don't you guys turn there with me?
00:26:37.100 Jeremiah 18, one through six in the ESV.
00:26:43.380 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord,
00:26:47.040 arise and go down to the potter's house.
00:26:51.320 And there I will let you hear my words.
00:26:55.920 So I went down to the potter's house
00:26:57.740 and there he was working at his wheel and the vessel he was making of clay was
00:27:04.180 spoiled in the potter's hands and he reworked it into another vessel as it
00:27:11.540 seemed good to the potter to do then the word of the Lord came to me Oh house of
00:27:19.160 Israel can I not do with you as this potter has done declares the Lord behold
00:27:25.780 like the clay in the potter's hand,
00:27:29.000 so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
00:27:33.480 This is not a new concept to Christian history.
00:27:39.780 The question of what the clay will become
00:27:42.920 is determined by the potter.
00:27:45.820 This makes sense.
00:27:48.580 And the question of which individuals
00:27:51.140 will be shaped into vessels of mercy
00:27:55.460 through election, and which individuals will be shaped into vessels of dishonor and judgment
00:28:03.040 is not up to humanity, but up to God.
00:28:09.120 This is why God says, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and compassion on
00:28:15.780 whom I will have compassion.
00:28:17.800 Let me ask you a question.
00:28:18.860 Does God, the maker of heaven and earth, not have the right to work some vessels into jars for heaven and some vessels for jars of wrath?
00:28:36.960 Does he not have that right?
00:28:41.460 Are you going to judge God?
00:28:43.860 are you going to judge the justice of God while only having a framework of justice that you
00:28:54.440 received from God think about how crazy that just the only justice I know is from God yet I'm going
00:29:02.440 to judge God and his justice based off the justice that I have from him it's an absurd prideful and
00:29:10.000 arrogant position to take. Will you stand and demand equal mercy as one who
00:29:18.460 deserves justice? Have we forgotten that all deserve to be vessels of dishonor?
00:29:30.240 Every single created being deserves hell.
00:29:39.240 Unfortunately, many Christians are frustrated by the incomprehensibility of divine election.
00:29:44.440 It struggles the mind to think, how can God order the world this way and remain just?
00:29:53.800 and instead of embracing the unknown, embracing the mystery, they throw out the entire doctrine
00:30:02.460 of election altogether. They cannot fathom how God, before the foundation of the world,
00:30:08.260 could righteously elect some for mercy and righteously elect some for judgment. They can't
00:30:17.280 embrace that idea. And they forgot that Isaiah 55 9 says, for as high as the heavens are above
00:30:23.160 the earth. So are my thoughts above your thoughts and my ways above your ways.
00:30:32.120 Your mind is like a grain of sand standing next to Mount Everest.
00:30:43.100 Romans 11, 33 says, Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.
00:30:50.100 How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable are his ways.
00:30:58.920 Are we humble enough to trust that God can righteously elect some stars for light
00:31:10.200 and some stars for darkness?
00:31:12.640 but he cannot righteously elect some people for redemption and some for judgment.
00:31:23.400 Can God not choose to make our sun our sun and our moon our moon
00:31:28.720 and to create every galaxy that we've never seen
00:31:34.300 and to order the world in every perfect rhythm
00:31:38.400 and the weather patterns and the animals
00:31:43.100 and the microbiome and the cells in our bodies?
00:31:47.380 Can we trust him to order all of these things,
00:31:49.980 but not trust that God can righteously elect
00:31:54.800 some for mercy and some for judgment?
00:32:00.580 At the end of the day,
00:32:02.160 if you cannot fully rest in the hands of a sovereign God,
00:32:08.400 A God who, according to Ephesians 1.11, says that he works all things together according
00:32:17.580 to the counsel of his will.
00:32:19.660 If you can't embrace a sovereign God, you will always have a sense of fear.
00:32:26.720 You will never live in peace.
00:32:29.060 you will always assign incomprehensible outcomes to human fault or demonic entities.
00:32:41.120 You've seen this in your Pentecostal friends. There's always some sort of spiritual warfare
00:32:46.900 and dualism between God and man, or between God and the devil. You know, the devil is out to get
00:32:53.360 you and God can't do anything about it. Oh, that thing happened to me and, you know, God would
00:32:59.540 never, you know, want me to suffer. I can't say that these sufferings come from God's hand.
00:33:06.920 My child died. That can't be from the Lord.
00:33:10.480 Lord, the story of Job prevents you from thinking that way.
00:33:22.160 If you've read the book, you know that the primary cause of Job's trials were not Satan
00:33:30.120 or the people who committed those acts.
00:33:32.800 The primary cause of Job's trials was God.
00:33:38.040 Have you considered my servant Job?
00:33:42.480 Have you considered afflicting him?
00:33:44.980 Yeah, he does permit the enemy to attack him, but it's God who actually brings up the opportunity
00:33:54.120 of suffering for Job.
00:34:00.120 His material loss, his children's death, his own health was taken not merely by the work
00:34:07.100 of Satan and the men who carried out those acts, but it was also carried out by God.
00:34:15.080 God ordained and permitted those things to happen.
00:34:19.400 And people who cannot embrace God's sovereignty over tragedy, they have to deny the crucifixion.
00:34:27.240 They have to.
00:34:28.780 the Bible says in Acts 4, 27 through 28, for truly in this city, there were gathered together
00:34:35.180 against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along
00:34:40.120 with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had
00:34:46.960 predestined to take place.
00:34:48.720 So Jesus, the one who had no sin
00:34:53.480 Even his tragedy was predestined
00:34:57.380 But yours isn't
00:34:59.700 Isaiah 53 10
00:35:03.640 Prophesying
00:35:05.540 Of the cross says
00:35:08.480 Yet it was the will of the Lord
00:35:11.220 To crush him
00:35:12.940 The will of the Lord
00:35:15.340 To crush Christ
00:35:17.440 so until we can yield ourselves to a God who is the ultimate sovereign over all things
00:35:27.760 including our redemption you're not going to have spiritual peace if you always I say this often
00:35:36.140 if you believe that you can lose your salvation because you don't believe in a sovereign God
00:35:45.140 If you believe that you can lose your salvation,
00:35:47.920 that it's based on your choice or your maintenance
00:35:50.700 or your sustaining of your faith,
00:35:54.040 if you believe that you can lose your salvation,
00:35:56.180 you will always work to keep it.
00:35:58.820 You will always work to keep it.
00:36:01.660 Whether that means to...
00:36:03.500 Now, we obey.
00:36:05.860 We obey because we're saved.
00:36:09.360 We don't obey to be saved.
00:36:10.740 but if you believe that you can lose your salvation
00:36:14.740 because you have free will
00:36:16.120 and it wouldn't be loving for a God
00:36:20.800 to keep you saved
00:36:23.480 then you will always labor to keep it
00:36:27.860 you will always wonder if you've lost it
00:36:31.420 you will never have peace
00:36:33.640 that you rest in the hands of a sovereign God
00:36:35.640 now as I close here
00:36:38.460 I think that the problem, the greater problem, and I would say maybe even the ultimate problem
00:36:49.360 for why many reject Calvinism, the doctrines of grace or God's sovereignty over salvation,
00:36:56.780 whatever you want to call it, is because they do not know the nature and attributes of God.
00:37:05.480 They do not know these things.
00:37:07.240 Calvinism is downstream from theology proper.
00:37:14.080 Theology proper is just the study of God's character.
00:37:16.180 When a person has studied how the scriptures speak about God,
00:37:23.320 his holiness, his eternality, his sovereignty,
00:37:28.360 his immutability, his omniscience, omnipotence, his omnipresence,
00:37:32.840 When someone understands these dimensions of who God is,
00:37:39.860 Calvinism is the only reasonable conclusion of how God saves.
00:37:45.760 In fact, it's the Arminian view that is in contradiction with God's character.
00:37:51.820 God reveals himself as almighty, all-powerful, sovereign.
00:37:56.320 In other words, people who reject how God saves are typically based in not understanding
00:38:10.860 who God is.
00:38:14.900 When you see how the Bible systematically speaks of God, you cannot deny the doctrines
00:38:22.420 of grace.
00:38:23.060 So if you're struggling to embrace having a God that is sovereign over salvation,
00:38:31.080 I don't want you to just read the scriptures of the gospel.
00:38:34.660 I want you to read about the character of God.
00:38:39.460 Because when you go upstream and you see the almighty God,
00:38:45.040 the natural conclusion of salvation is the doctrines of grace.
00:38:50.140 I'll close with a quote from A.W. Pink
00:38:53.180 he once said
00:38:54.580 the foundation of all true knowledge of God
00:38:57.360 must be a clear
00:38:58.880 understanding of his
00:39:01.180 perfections as revealed in Holy Scripture
00:39:03.180 an unknown God
00:39:05.260 can neither be trusted
00:39:06.880 served or worshipped
00:39:09.000 if the heart be sound
00:39:11.400 in the doctrine of the sovereignty of
00:39:13.360 God the whole system of
00:39:15.280 truth will align
00:39:16.880 and be embraced amen
00:39:19.400 Amen.
00:39:19.920 Let's pray.
00:39:21.440 Father, we thank you that you are sovereign.
00:39:25.420 Lord, we trust you even when we don't understand.
00:39:28.120 We don't need to know exactly how when we know who you are.
00:39:33.260 Lord, we ask for your help,
00:39:35.340 that you would continue to put together the mosaic of who you are,
00:39:41.940 that we might understand and serve you and worship you.
00:39:45.200 We thank you for this passage of scripture.
00:39:47.300 We pray that you would continue to do this work
00:39:48.880 in our hearts and minds.
00:39:49.800 In Jesus' name, amen.