Second: Irresistible & Resistible Grace

Irresistible Grace
• saving grace is always effectual, efficacious, or operative
  1. God will not be thwarted in His purpose of saving the elect.  Every one of His chosen people was redeemed by Christ and will certainly be efficaciously called to faith by the Holy Spirit.
  2. Distinguishes the external call of the Gospel from the internal call of the Holy Spirit.
  3. The Calvinist doctrine of Irresistible Grace specifically deals with the regenerating grace of salvation; it does not mean that we cannot resist the grace of God in our daily lives.  We certainly can and do!
  4. The objection: No regeneration is required prior to faith, because God's Word alone can be effective in drawing.
     The answer: God's Word works with the Holy Spirit to accomplish regeneration (efficacious calling).
  5. Does a person decide to be physically born?  Does a person decide to be spiritually born?
  6. Consider John 6:44,65: "No one can come unless the Father draws him."  The word "DRAWS" is the Greek word "ELKO."  It means literally "to compel."  Consider "drawing" (ELKO) water from a well.  Can you woo it out?

• Scripture:

  "So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11)

  "I have surely heard Ephraim's moaning: 'You disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I have been disciplined.  Restore me, and I will return, because you are the LORD my God.'" (Jeremiah 31:18)

  "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

  "Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life.  He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.  But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.  All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.  For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.  And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. …It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.'  Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me.'" (John 6:35-39,45)

  "The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice.  He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. …I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me--just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.  I must bring them also.  They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. …My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand." (John 10:3-4,14-16,27-29)

  "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed." (Acts 13:48)

  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." (Romans 8:28-30)

  "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.  No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me." (1 Corinthians 15:10)

• Conclusion: God's saving grace always accomplishes its purposes.  It will not fail; it cannot fail.

  Resistible Grace

• saving grace is not always effectual or efficacious; it is co-operative

  1. The Sovereignty of God does not apply to salvation; man’s will can permanently thwart God’s purpose.  God is trying to save every sinner, but He is helpless to save any sinner who will not let Him.
  2. The Word is adequate to bring a person new life.  The Gospel is the persuasive grace that is resistible.
  3. The objection: If grace doesn’t work alone, what makes it effective?  Does God woo all men equally?  Why do some respond favorably?
  4. If God wants to save me, and I do not let Him, am I then more powerful than God?  Does God have control of my salvation?

• Scripture:

  "But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you." (Proverbs 1:24-26)

  "But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John." (Luke 7:30)

  "For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit." (John 3:34)

  "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." (John 12:32)

  "You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears!  You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!" (Acts 7:51)

  "But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers." (Acts 14:2)

  "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools." (Romans 1:21-22)

  "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men." (Titus 2:11)

  "How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:29)

• Additional Scripture (Psalm 78:41; Matthew 10:14;21:32)

• Conclusion: God's saving grace is offered to all men and forced upon no man.

Third: Predestination

Refers to God’s determining before there was time where people would spend eternity!  This either applies absolutely (certainly) to individuals as Calvinists claim or conditionally to groups of people known as believers and unbelievers as Arminians claim.  Predestination falls under the category of God’s Sovereignty.  Election, along with Reprobation, falls under the category of Predestination.

Unconditional Election
• God chose to save some people based on nothing to do with them

  1. God the Father graciously chose and predestined some sinners to salvation.  His choice was in no way conditioned upon foreseen good or merit or belief or faith of the chosen ones.
  2. Unconditional Election refers to:
     • Individuals, not a particular nation.
     • Salvation and service.  (We are saved to serve God.)
     • Unto faith, not based on faith.

• Scripture:

  "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God.  The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.  The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.  But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.  Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands." (Deuteronomy 7:6-9)

  "The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.'" (Jeremiah 1:4-5)

  "At that time Jesus said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.  Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.  All things have been committed to me by my Father.  No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." (Matthew 11:25-27)

  "He replied, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.'" (Matthew 13:11)

  "Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?  Or are you envious because I am generous?" (Matthew 20:15)

  "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it." (John 5:21)

  "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed." (Acts 13:48)

  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." (Romans 8:28-30)

  "Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.  Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls--she was told, 'The older will serve the younger.' Just as it is written: 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'" (Romans 9:10-13)

  "God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew.  Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah--how he appealed to God against Israel: 'Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me'?  And what was God’s answer to him?  'I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.'  So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.  And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.  What then?  What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did.  The others were hardened." (Romans 11:2-7)

  "But when God, who set me apart from birth [or my mother’s womb] and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man…" (Galatians 1:15-16)

  "For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thessalonians 5:9)

  "But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.  He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14)

  "So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner.  But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.  This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.  And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher." (2 Timothy 1:8-11)

  "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures.  We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.  But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:3-7)

  "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout … Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance." (1 Peter 1:1-2)

  "Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.  But to those who do not believe, 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,' and, 'A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.'  They stumble because they disobey the message--which is also what they were destined for.  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:7-9)

  "All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world [or written from the creation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain]." (Revelation 13:8)

• Additional Scripture (Psalm 33:11-12;65:4; Isaiah 65:1; Amos 3:2; Haggai 2:23; Matthew 22:14;24:22-24; Mark 13:20-22; Luke 10:21-22;18:7; 1 Corinthians 1:26-30; 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5; 2 Timothy 2:10,19-21; 2 Peter 1:3; Revelation 17:8)

• The Calvinist considers election in light of two critical theological elements:
  1. Total Depravity – None will choose God, so God couldn’t have foreseen any choosing Him.
  2. The Covenant of Redemption made before time between the Father, Son, and Spirit.

• The Calvinist notes that ELECTION SAVES NOBODY.  Rather, election by God the Father marks a people to be saved by the work of the Son and Holy Spirit.  Election is a merciful act of God; God is not obligated to save anyone.

• Election is a condition for faith.
  The Reformed View: God elects based on nothing in man
  
  "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.  And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.  In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory." (Ephesians 1:4-12)

• Conclusion: God chose some people to save as vessels of mercy and left others in their sinful state as vessels of wrath.  He was not obligated to save anyone.

• Debates within Calvinism:
  1. Was Election the first thing to happen before God created?  (Note that eternity is not in time!)
     1. Supralapsarianism (before the fall) offers the following order of pre-creation divine decrees:
        to elect some men (who were yet to be created) to eternal life and to condemn others (yet to be created) to destruction; to create; to permit the fall; to send Christ to redeem the elect; and to send the Holy Spirit to apply this redemption to the elect.
     2. Infralapsarianism (after the fall) offers the following order of pre-creation divine decrees:
        to create; to permit the fall; to elect a great multitude out of this mass of fallen men to eternal life and to leave the others, as He left the Devil and the fallen angels, to suffer the just punishment of their sins; to send Christ to redeem the elect; and to send the Holy Spirit to apply this redemption to the elect.
  2. Is reprobation (leaving the non-elect in their sinful state) positively affected by God?
     1. Hyper-Calvinism says YES.  God works evil in the heart of the non-elect, or at least prevents the non-elect from believing.
     2. The orthodox Calvinist says that God does not have to work evil in the heart of man or prevent belief, because sinful man is evil from conception and will not believe.

  Conditional Election

• God chose to save those sinners whom He foresaw having faith

  1. Election to salvation involves both the sinner choosing God and God choosing the sinner.  God’s choice was conditioned upon man’s choice, as God chose before creation those whom He foresaw in time believing in Jesus Christ for salvation.
  2. Conditional Election refers to:
     • Individuals, not a particular nation.
     • Salvation, not service.  (Election to service is unconditional.)
     • Based on faith, not unto faith.
  3. Both sides agree with election and predestination!

• Scripture:

  "From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth – he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do." (Psalm 33:13-15)

  "After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: 'Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.  God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.  He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.'" (Acts 15:7-9)

  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." (Romans 8:28-30)

  "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout … Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance." (1 Peter 1:1-2)

• The Arminian considers the Calvinist view of election unfair.  The Calvinist replies with Romans 9:10-24:

  "Now Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.  Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls--she was told, 'The older will serve the younger.'  Just as it is written: 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'  What then shall we say?  Is God unjust?  Not at all!  For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'  It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.  For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: 'I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.  Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.  One of you will say to me: 'Then why does God still blame us?  For who resists his will?'  But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?  'Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?''  Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?  What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction?  What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory--even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?'"

• Faith is a condition for election.
  The Prescient View: God elects based on foreseeing those men who will believe.

• Conclusion: God elects those whom He foresees having faith.  The Calvinist suggests that the Arminian view of Election shows that Election to salvation is both merited by faith and meaningless, as it is just an acknowledgement of the obvious.  What is God's purpose in election to salvation?