Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 143 ｜ TULIP

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Hope everyone's having a wonderful day. Today we are going to

00:00:05.300 talk about TULIP, or what is known as the five points of Calvinism, which is really the heart

00:00:11.720 of the biblical theology that I hold. They describe how we view God, how we view man,

00:00:19.160 how we view salvation, Christ's atonement, regeneration, assurance, worship, missions.

00:00:24.300 Uh, these are really focused on the central act of God saving sinners. So we discussed in our

00:00:32.720 five solas episode, Martin Luther, the Protestant reformation, Martin Luther, a German monk, uh,

00:00:38.960 turned accidental kind of revolutionary who spoke out against corruption in the Catholic church at

00:00:44.640 the time. He pointed people to the word of God and showing the world that, uh, salvation is not

00:00:50.240 through indulgences is not through works, but is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone,

00:00:56.120 according to scripture alone for God's glory alone. Now, if you have any questions about that,

00:01:02.480 or if you have any pushback on that or questions, if you really have any questions regarding this

00:01:08.260 episode or anything that you hear me say, that's like, Oh, I wish she would have explained that more,

00:01:12.860 or I don't believe that or whatever. Um, I would go back before you email me. You're always welcome

00:01:19.300 to email me, but before you email me, I would go back. If you haven't listened to the five solas

00:01:23.860 episode, I would listen to that. And if you haven't listened to the predestination episode,

00:01:28.480 I would listen to that. So I recommend before listening to this podcast, listen to the predestination

00:01:33.800 episode and listen to the five solas episode. Um, and because a lot of what we're talking about in

00:01:39.640 this, we don't get as in depth on those things as we did in those podcasts. So that's just going to be

00:01:46.960 my primer. Um, so we're going to talk about a specific branch of Protestantism, uh, that grew

00:01:53.940 from the Protestant reformation called Calvinism. The reason this is important is because Calvinism

00:01:59.600 accounts for the views of the vast majority of reformed Protestants today. So reformed Protestants

00:02:05.720 hold to the five solas that we discussed, uh, and most also hold to tulip, which, uh, came from those

00:02:11.940 who adhere to the theology of John Calvin, who was a French theologian at the time of the reformation,

00:02:17.440 who was also influenced by Martin Luther, who created a system of theology, uh, that was founded

00:02:22.920 on the spirit of the reformation and the five solas that we have discussed. If you, uh, like I said,

00:02:28.460 if you want to know more about that, go back and listen to those episodes. Uh, so let us set up

00:02:33.260 tulip with a quote from John, uh, Calvin or not, sorry, not from John Calvin, but from Martin Luther

00:02:39.160 himself, um, in his work, bondage of the will, I condemn and reject as nothing but error, all

00:02:46.840 doctrines, which exalt our quote free will as being directly opposed to this mediation and grace of

00:02:53.520 our Lord Jesus Christ for since apart from Christ sin and death are our masters and the devil is our

00:03:00.460 God and Prince. There can be no strength of power, no wit or wisdom by which we can fit or fashion

00:03:07.520 ourselves for righteousness and life. And that is a very good summation of what reformed Protestants

00:03:13.580 and Calvinists believe. Uh, of course, we know that these words that Martin Luther uttered to be

00:03:19.360 true, according to scripture, Ephesians two says that we are dead apart from Christ and that, uh,

00:03:24.500 neither the grace that we're given nor the faith that we hold are our own doing, uh, but are a gift

00:03:31.620 from God so that no one may boast. Uh, the passage even says that the good works that we do, we're actually

00:03:36.500 prepared beforehand by God. Uh, Romans five says that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

00:03:43.360 We talked about this in the previous episodes. Uh, we don't get to take credit for our salvation

00:03:48.780 because even the faith that we hold was given to us by grace, uh, John Piper. We're going to refer

00:03:55.760 by the way, a lot to, uh, John Piper's work in this. He has a whole work on tulip, the five points of

00:04:02.240 Calvinism. So we're going to refer to a lot, uh, to his quotes in this book that he wrote, uh, John

00:04:09.020 Piper interprets what Martin Luther meant in the quote that I just read that says, uh, as long as

00:04:14.100 someone insists on ultimate human self-determination, they fail to grasp the depth of our need and the

00:04:20.280 obscure greatness of the free and sovereign grace of God, which alone can give life and faith. Um,

00:04:27.220 so to give ourselves any credit for our salvation fails, uh, to, or allows us to, it does not allow

00:04:35.600 us to really understand, uh, our lostness, our corruption to the core, our absolute and utter

00:04:42.040 inability to save ourselves. Now, Martin Luther is best known for the idea of sola fide, however you

00:04:49.320 want to pronounce that or, uh, by faith alone. So being justified by faith given to us by grace rather

00:04:57.160 than good works, works of righteousness or indulgences. And that one simple thought, which

00:05:03.140 is founded in the word of God had a profound impact on other thinkers throughout Europe, which

00:05:10.140 of course is the cause of the reformation. And John Calvin was a significant player in this

00:05:15.660 reformation. Uh, Anglican author, J.I. Packer wrote about John Calvin. It is doubtful whether

00:05:21.160 any other theologian has ever played so significant a part in world history. Baptist preacher, Charles

00:05:27.920 Spurgeon said, the longer I live, the clearer does it appear that John Calvin's system of theology

00:05:33.400 is the nearest to perfection. American historian, John Fiske wrote, it would be hard to overrate

00:05:39.580 the debt, which mankind owes to Calvin. He must occupy a foremost rank among the champions

00:05:45.480 of modern democracy. The promulgation of this theology was one of the longest steps that

00:05:51.560 mankind has ever taken toward personal freedom. And I've talked about this before about how

00:05:57.400 the Protestant reformation, specifically Calvinism were hugely instrumental in the American

00:06:02.660 revolution. The idea that men and women were not beholden primarily to the church, but to

00:06:07.880 God himself, that, uh, they were free to read the Bible for themselves, that they had an

00:06:12.680 individual and a personal responsibility to God. Uh, those ideas changed everything. The spirit of

00:06:19.040 free inquiry, of free speech, of debate, of personal responsibility, uh, understanding the sovereignty of

00:06:26.380 God above earthly institutions were all products of the Protestant reformation and were incredibly 0.87

00:06:33.140 influential in the American revolution. So Calvin was a very big deal over the course of his life.

00:06:40.040 He wrote over 48 volumes of books, of tracks, sermons, commentaries, letters that were dedicated

00:06:45.840 to expositing, uh, expositing God's word, displaying the majesty of God, uh, in the scriptures, according

00:06:52.840 to John Piper, Calvin's main contribution, whereas Martin Luther's main contribution, a lot of people

00:06:58.520 say is by faith alone. Calvin's main contribution, uh, was the principle of the sovereignty of God.

00:07:04.680 So he believed, this is according to John Piper again, that the whole of a man's life is to be lived as

00:07:10.380 in the divine presence. Uh, this is a fundamental thought of Calvinism that really, uh, shapes his

00:07:16.680 theology and shapes the, the theology of those who add here to his teachings. So TULIP, which we're about

00:07:23.880 to break down, became the five points of Calvinism or the creed, uh, that Calvinists follow. But it was not

00:07:30.640 until actually, uh, the 1600s after John Calvin had died that this really, that TULIP was known as the

00:07:38.340 pillars of Calvinism. There, uh, came a controversy between those who were called Arminians in Holland

00:07:43.940 and those who considered themselves Calvinists. So in Holland, during the 1600s, the founder of the

00:07:49.440 Arminian party, if you will, was Jacob Arminius. He was a student of Calvin's successor. Arminius,

00:07:56.620 uh, came to reject certain reform teachings. He began teaching those rejections, particularly his

00:08:02.420 opposition to how Calvinist interprets, uh, Romans seven and Romans nine, which talks about God's

00:08:07.940 sovereignty, uh, particularly in chapter nine. So verse 16 of Romans nine says this, so then it depends

00:08:13.680 not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. And then verse 18 says, so then he has mercy

00:08:20.040 on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills. Calvinists take this to say that it is God's

00:08:25.520 sovereign choice. It doesn't have to do with man's efforts. Arminius disagreed with that.

00:08:31.060 He did not believe that these, uh, passages pointed to predestination in the way the Calvinists

00:08:35.980 did. So he wrote a book called declaration of sentiments. And within the second section on

00:08:40.960 theology, he attacked the reformed understanding of election. I, I don't mean attacked to try to say,

00:08:46.880 I think people a lot of times use the word attacked when they're trying to use it as a pejorative

00:08:50.440 against people who disagree with him. I'm not saying that, but he really did. He went after,

00:08:54.640 uh, the Calvinist doctrine. So he says this doctrine, uh, completely subverts the foundation

00:09:00.240 of religion in general and of the Christian religion in particular. Uh, Arminius died on

00:09:05.380 October 19th, 1609, but the controversy was already sparked. It ended up spreading all over

00:09:11.020 Holland where the majority of Christians belong to the reforms church. As a result, the Arminians, 0.98

00:09:17.080 as they are called prepared a petition to the civil government and they summarize their creed

00:09:21.520 in five articles and they laid them before the state of Holland in 1610 under the name of

00:09:27.980 remonstrance. I'm not totally sure how to pronounce that. Um, and it was signed by 46 practicing

00:09:34.640 ministers. So the five articles of Arminianism, this is a brief summary of these articles. Article one

00:09:41.660 is conditional election. The elect are predestined to salvation by exercising their free will

00:09:47.260 and choosing to follow Christ. Article two, unlimited atonement. Uh, God offers atonement

00:09:53.660 to all humankind. Article three, deprivation. The fall of Adam is responsible for man's sinful state,

00:09:59.800 but humanity is not incapable of choosing between good and evil. Article four, resistible grace. The

00:10:05.160 free will of man allows him to accept or reject God's call and choose for himself salvation or

00:10:10.500 damnation. Article five, assurance of security. When an individual chooses salvation, they may also

00:10:15.780 choose to ignore the call of the Holy spirit by returning to their sinful ways. Man is in control

00:10:20.340 of his eternal destiny and God has foreseen those who will accept his grace. So that is the view of

00:10:26.940 Arminians. Uh, the reformed church Calvinist, uh, then gave a response in the synod of Dort. Um,

00:10:33.900 I think that's how you pronounce that the examination and consideration of the creed lasted from November

00:10:40.100 13th, 16, 18 to May 9th, 16, 19. So it took them a long time to write their rebuttal. Uh, the synod's

00:10:46.880 official response has become known as the cannons of Dort or the five points of Calvinism tulip. Um,

00:10:54.160 it is also known to sometimes, or they're also known as the, uh, doctrines of grace. So these were

00:11:00.580 a response to the five articles of, uh, of Arminianism. They've become the Calvinist pillars. They didn't just

00:11:07.380 come out of nowhere. They actually came amidst this controversy. So let's start with the T of tulip.

00:11:13.140 The T of tulip in these five points of Calvinism is total depravity. So this is the state of man

00:11:20.100 before salvation. Now, once you hear this, if you're hearing this for the first time, you will

00:11:25.000 probably start to think about my theological episodes and be like, Oh, I understand where

00:11:30.940 Ali is coming from or where the foundation of Ali's interpretation of scripture, not my interpretation

00:11:35.700 of scripture, but my understanding of scripture is coming from, and it's really coming from these

00:11:39.720 five points. So T is total depravity. That's the state of man before salvation. John Piper says it

00:11:45.260 like this in summary, total depravity means that our rebellion is sinful. Our inability to submit to

00:11:50.980 God or reform ourselves is total. And we are therefore totally deserving of eternal punishment. Uh, man's

00:11:58.760 depravity is total in at least, at least four of these ways. Um, our rebellion against God is

00:12:05.440 total apart from the grace of God. There is no delight in the holiness of God. There is no

00:12:10.380 glad submission to the sovereignty of God. Uh, Romans three, nine through 11. No, no one is

00:12:15.960 righteous. No, not one John three, 20 through 21. Everyone who does wicked things hates the light

00:12:21.260 and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed. But whoever does what is true

00:12:25.980 comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

00:12:31.740 So apart from the work of God, uh, we hate the light of God. Uh, we will not come to him

00:12:36.580 because we don't want our evil to be exposed. So we are totally rebellious to God. Um, in our

00:12:42.880 total rebellion, everything we do is sin. So Romans 14, 23, whatever does not proceed from

00:12:49.100 faith is sin. So we are in total rebellion. Everything that we do is a product of sin without

00:12:54.640 faith. The Bible also says it is impossible to please God. Uh, Romans seven, 18, this is Paul

00:13:00.980 speaking. I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. So nothing in us is actually

00:13:07.320 good. Uh, we have an inability to submit to God and to do good. That is completely and totally true

00:13:15.400 of us. Romans eight, seven through eight, the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God

00:13:20.900 for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed. It cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please

00:13:27.000 God. So in our natural selves, we have a mindset that is not able, not even capable, uh, to submit

00:13:34.640 to the Lordship of Christ. Ephesians two, one says that we are dead in our trespasses and sins.

00:13:40.840 We are dead. So we are incapable of any spiritual life in God because a dead person is not capable of

00:13:47.260 doing anything. Uh, we have life, but we have physical life, but our hearts, our spiritual hearts

00:13:54.100 are like stones to God. And Ephesians four also, uh, talks about this as well, that we are callous.

00:14:01.340 We are darkened in our understanding. We are alienated from the life of God. So we are totally

00:14:06.660 cut off, totally depraved apart from Christ. And because of that, our rebellion is totally deserving

00:14:14.440 of eternal punishment. Ephesians two, three, we all once lived in the passions of our flesh,

00:14:19.560 carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. So just our natural selves, we're carrying out what

00:14:25.580 we want. And we were by nature, by our own nature, we were children of wrath. So this means that apart

00:14:32.540 from Christ, our very nature is under God's wrath. Our very nature is condemned like the rest of mankind,

00:14:39.120 the verse says. So we were children of wrath. We were destined towards damnation, uh, because we were

00:14:45.340 dead in our sin. That is who we are completely corrupt, completely depraved apart from God. 0.96

00:14:50.840 As John 3 18 says, those who do not believe in Christ are condemned already. So we are completely

00:14:56.860 worthy of blame apart from the grace that God gives us, uh, through Jesus Christ in hell is the

00:15:03.780 punishment, uh, that our sin and that our rebellion in our natural state deserves. Now, as Calvinist point

00:15:11.620 out, this does not mean that everyone who is apart from Christ, everyone who is a Christian are as bad

00:15:17.440 as they could be. Of course, that's not true. Uh, as we've said before, there are non-Christians who 1.00

00:15:23.000 live moral lives, who abide by biblical principles without even realizing it. They love their neighbors

00:15:28.980 as themselves, for example, but total depravity speaks to both our capacity for evil and our complete

00:15:35.280 unworthiness before a holy God in our natural state. Uh, the only way to be made clean, uh, in our

00:15:42.880 natural state is through Christ and Christ alone. So that is total depravity. We are totally depraved.

00:15:49.640 We are totally dead in our sin. We are totally incapable of saving ourselves. Um, the you in tulip is

00:15:56.300 unconditional election. So this is the work of the father in salvation. So because we are totally

00:16:02.200 depraved apart from Christ, because, uh, the Bible says that apart from Christ, we can do nothing.

00:16:07.320 And apart from Christ, we are dead in our sins. That means that we are only saved through God's

00:16:12.880 choosing, through God's power, through God's election, not our own effort. As Ephesians two says,

00:16:18.020 this is not a result of works so that no one can boast. We covered this point in particular on the

00:16:24.540 episode of, uh, involving predestination or on predestination. So again, go back and listen to that.

00:16:30.480 If you have questions about this particular point, uh, we are so depraved to depended on God,

00:16:36.080 uh, for his grace to be born again, which was purchased by the blood of Christ. Uh, the success

00:16:43.220 of our salvation is then dependent on God's election. So John Piper says that election refers

00:16:49.600 to God's choosing whom to save. It is unconditional in that there is no condition man must meet before

00:16:55.840 God chooses to save him. And we know this from the biblical text, that election does not happen

00:17:01.720 because of our faith, but it happened. It actually happens before our faith. So Acts 13, 48. And when

00:17:08.460 the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as were

00:17:14.440 appointed to eternal life, believed. So as many as were appointed to eternal life, believed John 10,

00:17:22.140 26, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. Jesus says, John 8, 47, whoever is

00:17:30.080 of God, here's the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.

00:17:36.380 John 18, 37. Then Pilate said to him, so you are a King. Jesus answered, you say that I am a King

00:17:42.440 for this purpose. I was born. And for this purpose, I have come into the world to bear witness to the

00:17:47.720 truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. So God's election actually precedes faith.

00:17:55.100 This is why some believe and some do not. Romans 9, 1 through 23. John Piper interprets this particular

00:18:02.920 text, which we've read before as saying, or he has his commentary on this text is that God's election

00:18:08.400 is preserved in its unconditionality because it is transacted before we are born and have or have done

00:18:15.640 any good or evil. The text says this, for he says to Moses, God says to Moses, this is God through

00:18:22.540 Paul. Um, I have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

00:18:28.380 So then the chapter says it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy for the

00:18:37.040 scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose, I have raised you up that I might show my power in you

00:18:42.320 and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So then he has mercy on whomever he wills

00:18:48.100 and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, why does God still find fault for who can

00:18:54.220 resist his will? But who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder?

00:19:00.680 Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump

00:19:06.180 one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God desiring to show

00:19:13.000 his wrath and to make known his power has endured with much patience, vessels of wrath prepared for

00:19:18.500 destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has

00:19:24.360 prepared beforehand for glory. You get almost all the five solas in that one passage. Um, key text

00:19:31.120 number two that is referred to in this particular, uh, point of Calvinism. Uh, so Ephesians 1, 3 through

00:19:37.680 6, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every

00:19:43.540 spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world

00:19:50.580 that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us for adoption as sons

00:19:57.800 through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace.

00:20:02.260 So as John Piper says, Christians come to faith and are united to Christ and covered by his blood

00:20:07.920 because we were chosen before the foundation of the world for this destiny of holiness.

00:20:14.780 Romans 8, 28 through 33, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image

00:20:22.600 of his son. Um, it goes on to say, who shall bring any charge against God's elect. It is God who

00:20:28.280 justifies who is to condemn first Corinthians 1, 23 through 24, but we preach Christ crucified,

00:20:34.380 a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles, but to those who are called both to Jews 0.96

00:20:39.280 and to Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Um, so his justification,

00:20:46.740 his choosing of us actually precedes our faith. He chose us before we had faith in that faith that

00:20:55.420 we are given is a gift of grace. The L of tulip is limited atonement. So this is the work of the

00:21:02.720 son in salvation. Christ's death, uh, was for the redemption of a particular people, a particular set

00:21:11.020 of people. Um, Christ's death was sufficient, but efficient. That is a phrase you might hear in

00:21:16.260 relation to this point. It was sufficient, but efficient. So it was sufficient for the entire

00:21:20.680 world, but it was efficient, uh, for those whom God called to himself before the foundation of the

00:21:26.520 world. So limited atonement means that Christ's death was not limited in power, but it was limited

00:21:32.920 in purpose. So John 17, nine, uh, says, I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world,

00:21:38.720 but for those whom you have given me for, they are yours. We believe that Christ died for his bride,

00:21:45.940 for the church, and did not simply create a possibility for salvation, uh, but purchased for

00:21:51.700 them all that is necessary for salvation. So Matthew 26, 28, for this is my blood of the covenant,

00:21:58.240 which is poured out for, uh, many for the forgiveness of sins. Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34,

00:22:05.360 the days are coming declares the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the

00:22:09.880 house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers, my covenant that they broke, 0.66

00:22:14.440 though. I was their husband declares the Lord for this is the covenant that I will make with the

00:22:18.620 house of Israel. After those days declares the Lord, I will put my law within them and I will 0.72

00:22:24.000 write it on their hearts and I will forgive their iniquity. And I will remember their sin no more.

00:22:29.600 Jeremiah 32, 39 also talks about giving them a new heart and a one heart in one way that they might

00:22:36.680 fear God forever. Ezekiel 36, 26 through 27 says that God will give us a new heart, a new spirit.

00:22:43.980 He will, he will remove the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh so that we can walk

00:22:48.880 in obedience to his rule. So God promises in the new covenant to Christians, uh, that he will give 0.97

00:22:54.940 us a new heart. This is his initiative. This is his prerogative. This is his choice. So if someone

00:23:01.560 is a believer, it's because God has had mercy to forgive their sins, to remove their heart of stone,

00:23:06.880 to give them a heart of flesh, to give them the ability to obey and to follow him. Uh, John Piper's

00:23:12.920 commentary is every promise in the covenant is, uh, is, is a blood brought, a blood bought

00:23:19.640 promise. Uh, they will come true for us because Jesus died for them to come true for us. There is

00:23:25.500 a definite atonement for the new covenant of people. And so this covenant is sure it is limited,

00:23:31.200 is efficient while also being sufficient. John 10, 15 says, I lay my life down for the sheep.

00:23:37.460 John 6, 37 says, all that the father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me,

00:23:42.280 I will never cast out. Um, the rest of John also speaks to this, that Jesus died for those that the

00:23:48.220 father has given him. Uh, another key text on Christ atonement is that Romans eight passage that

00:23:54.760 we already read. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also

00:24:00.920 with him graciously give us all things? Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed

00:24:06.860 to the image of his son. So the death of Christ happened and was designed, uh, for the elect in 0.93

00:24:14.220 mind. He purchased not a possibility to be saved, but a belief in a promise that they will be saved.

00:24:20.320 Uh, the eye of tulip is irresistible grace. So this is the work of the Holy spirit in salvation.

00:24:25.680 Uh, this is from a really good resource. I think it's an awesome resource. It's called

00:24:31.360 got questions.org. It sounds like really cheesy, but it's a very awesome biblical resource. Again,

00:24:37.400 not inerrant because it is not the word of God itself, but it offers really good commentary.

00:24:41.700 And this is how they describe it. Irresistible grace. Uh, God has elected to a particular people

00:24:46.740 to be the recipients of Christ atoning work. These people are drawn to Christ by a grace that is

00:24:52.020 irresistible. When God calls man response, this teaching does not mean that God saves men against

00:24:57.420 their will. Rather, God changes the heart of the rebellious unbeliever so that he now desires to 0.75

00:25:02.640 repent and be saved. God's elect will be drawn to him. And that grace that draws them is in fact

00:25:08.240 irresistible. God replaces the unbeliever's heart of stone with a heart of flesh and reformed theology.

00:25:14.380 Regeneration precedes faith. Um, irresistible grace means that God is sovereign and he

00:25:21.760 can overcome all resistance by giving you a new heart when he wills. Daniel 4 35 says he does

00:25:29.220 according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can

00:25:34.940 stay his hand. Job 42 2 says, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be

00:25:41.720 thwarted. So irresistible grace is the Holy Spirit's work of bringing us to faith. Um, that Romans 9

00:25:50.440 passage that we already read, but who are you, Oh man, to answer back to God? Well, what is molded

00:25:55.880 say to its molder? Why have you made me like this? So the potter has control over the clay to make the

00:26:01.720 clay as he wills, either a vessel for wrath or a vessel for mercy as Romans 9 says. So irresistible

00:26:09.260 grace is a sovereign work to overcome the rebellious heart that we have naturally and to bring us

00:26:16.400 through grace, uh, to faith in Christ so that we can be saved. So when we are totally dead in our

00:26:24.120 sins, which is what total depravity says, which is what Ephesians two says, if we are dead in our

00:26:29.020 sins, we will never be able to believe in Christ unless God himself through his power, through his 0.96

00:26:34.740 grace, through his election overcomes our rebellion. Uh, the Bible doesn't teach that the Holy Spirit

00:26:41.680 draws. And then, uh, one has the freedom to resist or to accept that, uh, we will always use the freedom

00:26:49.280 that we have in our natural state to choose what is wrong, uh, to choose sin over God and to resist

00:26:55.960 him. As Romans 8 says, the mind that is set on the flesh is actually hostile to God. It can't please

00:27:01.960 God. It is, uh, against its nature to please God. The father is the only one who draws people, uh, to

00:27:10.760 salvation. So John 6 44 says, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him a John

00:27:18.200 6 65 says, and he said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him

00:27:25.520 by the father. So this means that even our repentance is a gift from God. A second Timothy

00:27:31.920 2 24 through 25 says in the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to everyone able to

00:27:37.440 teach patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant

00:27:42.380 them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. So repentance is a gift from God given to

00:27:49.600 us by grace so that we might have faith in Christ. Act 16 talks of God opening the heart of Lydia. So

00:27:57.360 it is God who changes hearts. Uh, so this is an act, all of this, an act of sovereign grace.

00:28:04.680 And then P of tulip is perseverance of the saints. So this is the state of man

00:28:09.740 after salvation. So, uh, the people that God has elected, the people that God has drawn to himself

00:28:16.620 through the Holy spirit are going to persevere in faith. Uh, the people that God has elected are not

00:28:23.640 going to be lost because he has given them the faith and the strength to persevere. Um, some people

00:28:29.820 use the term, uh, preservation of the saints rather than perseverance of the saints, because

00:28:36.640 it puts the responsibility on God rather than on the saints. Uh, they believe that this choice of words

00:28:42.320 is a more accurate description of what this actually means. Um, Christ continues to intercede for his

00:28:49.620 people. Even after we are saved, this continues to give believers the assurance that those who belong 1.00

00:28:56.440 to Christ are eternally his, that we cannot be plucked out of his hand. Uh, first Corinthians

00:29:01.480 15, one through two. Now I would remind you brothers of the gospel. I preached to you, which you received

00:29:06.460 in which you stand in by which you are being saved. If you hold fast to the word, I preached to you

00:29:11.940 unless you believed in vain. So presser or, uh, preservation or perseverance is a signal of true

00:29:19.300 faith given to us by grace, given to the elect, uh, by God revelation to seven. He who has an ear,

00:29:26.980 let him hear what the spirit says to the churches, to the one who conquers. I will grant to eat of the 0.99

00:29:31.960 tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. So this preservation or perseverance or fighting

00:29:37.340 to the end, working out our salvation in fear and trembling through the power of the Holy spirit,

00:29:43.280 which is given to us by grace through faith in God that we cannot take responsibility for is vital

00:29:50.960 as we become sanctified. And as we reach the proverbial end of our race. And now you might be

00:29:57.680 asking at this point, well, where does free will come in? Is there such thing as free will? Do we

00:30:03.600 really choose anything or is everything just predestined? If God has predestined everything,

00:30:07.940 then what does anything really matter? Well, we talked about this on the predestination episode.

00:30:12.700 So again, I would go listen to that, but there is this doctrine or there is this principle called

00:30:18.080 concurrence where two things that seem to be opposed in each other happen at the same time.

00:30:22.580 What we know from God's word is that he does unconditionally elect us, that there is an

00:30:26.860 election, that there is a predestination, not simply a foreknowledge, but in the sovereignty of

00:30:32.140 God that he has chosen believers, but he also calls us to evangelize. He also calls us to persevere.

00:30:37.600 He also calls us to fight. He also calls us to stay true to him. There is verbiage. There are

00:30:44.400 commands in the Bible that we are supposed to follow. And so it is confusing, I think, to our

00:30:50.660 finite minds to say, how is God sovereign predestining everything? How does he also hold

00:30:55.100 us responsible for our actions and tell us things to do? Why would the Bible even be written? Why would

00:31:00.200 he even call us to holiness and obedience if he already predestined everything that we do?

00:31:05.820 And there's not necessarily an easy answer to that, except for the fact that we know that the Bible

00:31:10.920 says both. And if the Bible says both, then both have to be true rather than giving up one for the

00:31:18.620 sake of the other, rather than saying, oh, well, maybe God doesn't predestine things. And we really

00:31:22.900 do have all this free will to choose salvation or not choose salvation. Instead of throwing that away,

00:31:29.720 we say, okay, well, both are true. We also don't go to the other end and say, well, nothing that I do

00:31:34.880 really matters because God predestined it anyway. The Bible doesn't support that either. The Bible

00:31:38.920 supports both. So both have to be true. We live in obedience to God's word and we understand that

00:31:44.480 he is sovereign over everything and that everything is done by his power and for his glory. I'm not

00:31:50.860 saying that we have to fully understand that to live in obedience to it, because I don't think we

00:31:56.720 do. We just have to realize that the word of God is sovereign, that the word of God both tells us

00:32:01.200 things that we have to do and say that God is sovereign over absolutely everything, especially

00:32:05.400 in regards to salvation. I would resist the temptation to say that you chose your salvation

00:32:11.260 because the Bible is so clear and so ardent against that, that you cannot take credit for what you have

00:32:18.360 in. I know a lot of people think about predestination and it scares them. They're

00:32:22.560 uncomfortable with it, but really it should give us so much comfort that our salvation is not dependent

00:32:28.380 on ourselves because if we had the power to earn our salvation, we would never do it. And if we had

00:32:33.320 the power to lose our salvation, uh, we would definitely lose it. If it was dependent on me, I would

00:32:38.600 not be saved. Even my motives for the good works that I do, uh, in and of myself are wrong. Even the

00:32:45.040 so-called good that I do, even the so-called love that I have when I am in my flesh, when I am in my

00:32:50.280 natural state, uh, even those are corrupt. If I had to save myself, if it was dependent on me to

00:32:56.540 have true regenerative, a justifying saving faith, I wouldn't be able to muster it. I would be totally

00:33:04.360 out of luck, but because I know it's on God, it's dependent on his faithfulness and not mine. It's

00:33:10.540 dependent on his choice and not mine. All I have to do is submit to his sovereignty and understand that

00:33:16.340 he is in total control and we can have peace and assurance and worship God because of his power.

00:33:22.320 And because of this amazing plan of redemption that he has written are that he wrote, uh, before

00:33:28.020 time began that you were chosen before the foundation of the world. It's an amazing reality

00:33:33.260 that should, um, allow us and move us to worship and to glorify God. So that is what is the heart

00:33:39.700 of Calvinism. And again, I'm not saying that all of these things are easy for us to understand. I

00:33:43.600 think I am still working through a lot of them and trying to reconcile them to the parts of the

00:33:47.640 Bible that I'm like, does this go with this? Of course, that's what we do. And again, my word is

00:33:52.780 not inerrant. John Calvin's word is not inerrant. John Piper's word is not inerrant. The word of God

00:33:57.540 is inerrant. So anything that pushes us to study more of God's word and to reconcile our confusion

00:34:03.460 and seeming contradictions with God's word, um, I would say that that's productive. So do that,

00:34:08.940 study God's word, uh, for yourself and remember to submit to the sovereignty and control of God rather

00:34:14.720 than to our own feelings and our own ideas of what should or shouldn't be. I would say that's a

00:34:20.620 really, uh, safe bet. So thank you guys for listening. As always, if you have any questions,

00:34:26.180 let me know, please leave me a review. If you love this podcast, uh, it would mean a lot to me.

00:34:30.740 Subscribe on YouTube and I'll see you guys soon.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - July 29, 2019

Ep 143 ｜ TULIP

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