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We turn back in your Bibles to 
Ephesians chapter one. This morning, we looked at three 
of five truths that demonstrate God's glory. The first was, though 
our depravity is total, God has shown mercy to us or the doctrine 
of total depravity. The second was God has sovereignly 
chosen a people for salvation or unconditional election. And 
thirdly, we noted Christ has redeemed his people from their 
sins or limited atonement or particular redemption. And this 
evening we'll look at the Holy Spirit is stronger than we are 
or irresistible grace. And then fifthly, God has promised 
to keep us to the end preservation by God and perseverance of the 
saints. I'll just read the verses again. 
It cannot be too much to read Ephesians 1, 3-14 twice in one 
day. Blessed be the God and Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual 
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us 
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should 
be holy and without blame before Him. in love, having predestined 
us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according 
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of 
His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him 
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, 
according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound 
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery 
of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed 
in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times 
He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which 
are in heaven and which are on earth. in him in him. Also, we have obtained an inheritance 
being predestined according to the purpose of him who works 
all things according to the counsel of his will that we who first 
trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory and you 
also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel 
of your salvation. in whom also, having believed, 
you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the 
guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased 
possession, to the praise of His glory. Amen. Well, hopefully 
you can appreciate the movement in these points. We see man as 
he is by nature as totally depraved, undone in his sin. God in eternity 
past unconditionally chooses him for salvation, election or 
predestination, that in the fullness of the times Christ comes and 
he performs or he functions as the surety of a better covenant. 
It is him who is the covenant head. of the new covenant or 
of the entirety of the covenant of grace. He comes and he lives 
in obedience to God's law. He does what the first Adam was 
unable to do. Adam sinned. Christ the second 
or last Adam didn't sin. He fulfilled all of the law of 
God, and then he rendered up himself as a sacrifice to take 
away our sins. And so we have that finished, 
completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in this fourth point, 
in the fact that the Spirit is more or is stronger than we are, 
or what we might call irresistible grace. That redemptive work of 
Christ is applied by God to the elect sinner in time, in history, 
at a particular place, through the preaching or through the 
reading of Scripture, through learning what the Bible says 
concerning who Jesus is. God convinces us or convicts 
us of our sin, and he shows us the glory of Jesus Christ. And then God draws us savingly 
to his son. And we refer to this as irresistible 
grace, because those whom God has chosen, those for whom Jesus 
has died, those people will, in fact, be saved when the spirit 
comes upon us. He brings us to the Lord. He brings us savingly. He doesn't 
do it against our will, but rather he changes us from the inside 
out. And we can praise the Lord for 
this work that God engages in an irresistible grace is a doctrine 
that is taught throughout the scriptures in Psalm 65. We sang it this morning in Psalm 
65 at verse four. Says, Blessed is the man you 
choose and cause to approach you that he may dwell in your 
courts. We shall be satisfied with the 
goodness of your house, of your holy temple. I actually think 
all these five truths are taught in Psalm 65. I mean, that's not 
the purpose for the psalm. It's not as if David penned this 
as a defense of five point Calvinism. But they are certainly that the 
depravity of man, the election of God, the atoning work of Jesus, 
the irresistible grace of our God. And this is what he says. 
Blessed is the man you choose and cause to approach to approach 
you, that he may dwell in your courts. We shall be satisfied 
with the goodness of your house of your holy temple and then 
someone can probably one of the most familiar passages. When 
we discuss this particular doctrine, Psalm 110. We remember this is 
an enthronement psalm, a messianic psalm that is speaking about 
the Lord Jesus Christ. This psalm is the most quoted, 
the most alluded to psalm in all of the New Testament. In 
several places, there are direct quotations. In several places, 
there are allusions to Psalm 110, very specifically verse 
one. The Lord said to my Lord, sit 
at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. 
The Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion rule 
in the midst of your enemies. Now notice in verse three, your 
people shall be volunteers in the day of your power in the 
beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning. You have 
the do of your youth. The Lord is sworn and will not 
relent. You are a priest forever, according 
to the order of Melchizedek. Oftentimes, when we get into 
the presentation of this doctrine, people say, well, this irresistible 
grace. Does that mean that that God 
draws a man kicking and screaming? No, God changes the man. God changes the heart, and when 
he changes the heart, everything else follows his will, his affections, 
his desires. All those things are changed 
when God takes out the old stony heart and puts in its place a 
fleshly heart that responds to the Lord Jesus Christ. Ezekiel 
36. Ezekiel 36, probably one of the 
clearest Old Testament presentations of what it means to be born again. In fact, I think this is the 
text that is the backdrop or background for John 3 when Jesus 
is discussing these things with Nicodemus. Remember, Nicodemus 
came and Jesus said, unless a man is born again, he shall not see 
the kingdom of God. Nicodemus asks the question, 
can a man enter back into his mother's womb so that he can 
be born again? What's Christ's response? Are 
you the teacher of Israel and you don't know these things? 
I think what Christ is implying is that he should know these 
things, because this is precisely what Ezekiel 36 says, that God 
changes the heart, that to be born again does not mean that 
we in our strength, we in our initiative, we in our power or 
wisdom made a choice for Jesus, and therein God caused us to 
be born again. Remember the scriptural teaching. 
We are dead in our trespasses and sins. We cannot believe the 
gospel as dead men and women. We must be born again first. This is the clear mark that divides 
Calvinism and Arminianism. The Calvinist says that regeneration, 
or being born again, precedes saving faith. In other words, 
God causes us to be born again. He regenerates us and based on 
that, from that vantage point, then we're unable to believe. 
Arminianism asserts that we believe and then we're born again. Well, 
how does a dead man believe? If you went to a physical funeral 
and there was a man in a casket and you told him to jump up out 
of there and to go have supper, he could not respond to that. He is dead. That's the language 
that we saw this morning in Ephesians 2. We are dead. We are gone, 
we're not a little hurt, we're not a little put off, we're not 
a little lame, we're not a little injured. We are dead, goners 
in trespasses and in sins. Before we can believe the gospel, 
before we can repent of our sin, God must cause us to be born 
again. He must regenerate us. And then faith and repentance 
themselves are gifts given by God. The Bible says that over 
and over. These are not natural powers 
in a dead sinner. These are supernatural graces 
given by our good God. But in Ezekiel 36, we already 
read verses 22 and 23 this morning, where God said that through this 
activity, he would be glorified among the peoples among the nations. Now notice in verse 24. For I 
will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all 
countries and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle 
clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you 
from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Again, I 
think this is the text that we ought to be considering when 
Jesus speaks of being born of the spirit and of water in John 
three. Born of the spirit and of water, 
water is a cleansing or a purifying agent. We must be cleansed from 
our sin. I think this is the background 
for that statement that we are born or we must be born of the 
spirit and of water. And then notice in verse 26, 
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. 
I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you 
a heart of flesh. If anyone ever asks you, what 
does it mean to be born again? You come right here. You can't 
explain it any better than this. You are dead in your trespasses 
and sins. God takes out that old stony 
heart, rips it away, casts it far from you, takes a fleshly 
heart, puts it in your chest cavity and puts in you the ability 
to believe and repent. This is a demonstration or an 
illustration of what it means to be born again. Perhaps some 
of you children have read John three or you've heard it preached 
the new birth or born again or regeneration and you wondered 
what it means. Come to the prophet Ezekiel and 
he will teach you. I will give you a new heart and 
put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone 
out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put 
my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statues and 
you will keep my judgments and do that. Then, you shall dwell 
in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people 
and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your 
uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and 
multiply it and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply 
the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields so that 
you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the 
nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds 
that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own 
sight for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your 
sake do I do this, says the Lord. Let it be known to you. Be ashamed 
and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. You have to 
notice the primacy of God's will in this passage. God says over 
and over and over again, I will, I will, I will, I will. When 
we come to consider the doctrine of salvation, there are two approaches. One is called monergism. The 
other is called synergism. I'm not trying to confuse people. 
I really want you to learn these things because it's helpful. 
It's very helpful, especially in the light of Colossians 2. 
Remember those heresies we looked at last Sunday night? Those heresies 
are out there today. Roman Catholicism still teaches 
synergism. Synergism does not mean sinner, 
me, Jim, the sinner, jism. It's SYN. It means to work with 
someone. And synergism teaches that sinner, 
the sinner, and God work together in salvation. That's not what 
the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches monergism. Mono refers to one. God is the operative one in salvation. With reference to being born 
again, with reference to justification, with reference to salvation, 
redemption, all those things, it is monergistic. God saves 
sinners. Remember the prophet Jonah. He 
said all too clearly, and something that we need to take heed to, 
salvation is of the Lord. That's monarchism. That's what's 
rooted here in Ezekiel, chapter thirty six. Turn over to John 
six. John six. Where Jesus teaches 
this doctrine of irresistible grace, John, chapter six. John six, verse thirty five, 
and Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes 
to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never 
thirst. But I said to you that you have 
seen me and yet do not believe. Now, notice in verse thirty seven, 
all that the father gives me will come to me. Don't miss that. We may preach the gospel in a 
lot of places. You in your workplace, you in 
your home, you with your family may testify to a lot of people 
about the gospel of Jesus Christ. You may see little result. You 
may see little fruit. You may begin to wonder if God 
really is ever going to save anybody. Jesus tells us assuredly 
that all that the father gives me will come to me. What does 
this mean? All that the father gives me, 
it means that doctrine of election. The father chose and he gave 
to his son and the son says all that the father gives me will 
come. There's no two ways about that. 
There's no contingency there. There's no plan B built in. All 
that the father gives me, Jesus said, will come to me. And then 
he says in the one who comes to me, I will by no means cast 
out. And then dropping down to verse 
forty four, he says, no one can come to me. Remember, total depravity, 
total inability, unless the father who sent me draws him irresistible 
grace. He states clearly, man and himself 
cannot come to me. And in the context, this makes 
a lot of sense because they're not coming to him. I mean, they're 
coming to him insofar as he's giving them bread. They're coming 
to him insofar as he's feeding their bellies. But in terms of 
believing him, in terms of following him, in terms of submitting to 
him, they're not coming. And Jesus acknowledges that. 
And Jesus says as much, says no one can come unless the father 
who sent me draws him. You can bank on that. Those whom 
God has given to the Son will be drawn irresistibly to the 
Lord God so that they may know the blessings of everlasting 
life. It is irresistible, and we need 
to make sure we qualify this or not qualify it, but explain 
rather that God does not bring the sinner irresistibly kicking 
and screaming and arguing, but rather he makes them willing 
in the day of his power. When he changes the heart, the 
will follows. This is why Luther wrote the 
book The Bondage of the Will, talking about the fact that we're 
enslaved, that our sin is in bondage. When the heart is changed, 
it is freed, it is liberated, and then the will responds favorably 
to our God. And in this, the Lord is praised. In this, the Lord is glorified. In this, the Lord is honored. Well, fifthly and finally, God 
has promised to keep us to the end. Most of the times the tulip 
refers to the pea and tulip refers to perseverance of the Saints. 
We can't forget its preservation by God though. Preservation by 
God so that the Saints will persevere. I think we ought to have a tulip. 
A tulip with two peas. A tulip with two peas. I was 
telling Kelly she ought to have more floral children. She's got 
a lily. She should have a tulip. It's 
not a name you hear very often. I think his Calvinist, though, 
would be a lovely name for a little girl. Probably get picked on 
a few times being called Tulip. But that P generally refers to 
the perseverance of the saints. But I always want to make sure 
that we understand this doctrine in its biblical context. We don't persevere in some sort 
of contributory manner. Our perseverance is not what 
finalizes or ultimately brings our salvation to completion. There are some theologians today, 
very similar with Roman Catholicism, teaching that our obedience, 
our faithfulness to the covenant is helping or is determinative 
of our final salvation. That's not true. Jesus saved 
us. Jesus paid it all. Jesus secured 
our salvation when we believe. Of course, we will persevere, 
but we must acknowledge the sovereignty of God in preserving us. And of course, Ephesians one 
verses 13 and 14 highlights this reality. Paul explains or demonstrates 
the way of when a sinner is converted. He said in him, you also trusted 
after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. 
In whom also having believed. You see those steps there. Not 
steps like you got an A, B, C, D. But the Bible comes, the truth 
comes, the revelation comes. You hear it, you believe it. 
You hear it, you believe it, you're saved. Now you hear it 
and believe it and are saved because God has chosen you and 
Christ has redeemed you and all those other truths. That's the 
reality. You hear the word, you respond 
in faith, and you are saved. That's what Paul says. And then 
notice, he says, in whom also having believed you were sealed 
with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance 
until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his 
glory guarantee. You're not going to lose your 
salvation. You're not going to be lost as 
a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, you cannot 
break the new covenant. If you are in by grace alone, 
through faith alone, in Christ alone, you are safe and secure 
and you will go to heaven. There are several passages that 
highlight this gracious work of God in preserving his people 
couple from the Old Testament that I think are helpful with 
just a sort of illustrate God's love for his people and Isaiah 
forty nine at fourteen. He says that Zion said the Lord 
is forsaken me and my Lord has forgotten me. That was their 
earthly or that was their response to the goodness and the mercy 
and the kindness of God. How does the Lord respond? They 
say, well, that's right. I did forget you. That's right. 
I don't care about you. That's right. I have forsaken 
you. He says, can a woman forget her nursing child and not have 
compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget. Yet I will not forget you. I 
love that image. It's beautiful. Could it be the 
case that a woman lactating is going to forget her baby who's 
hungry? Is it possible that she and that 
discomfort, I mean, just from a discomfort standpoint, is going 
to neglect that little one, let alone all the motherly love and 
all the motherly compassion and the pressure she feels to alleviate 
this child. Of course, she's going to come 
to his aid. She's not going to forget. She's 
not going to neglect. He says, though, surely they 
may forget. And, unfortunately, I think we 
see that in our own barbaric age. We hear of men, we hear 
of women committing atrocities, crimes, vicious crimes against 
their little children, abortion when they're in the womb, and 
then homicide or murder when they're outside the womb. God 
acknowledges that surely they may forget, yet I will not forget 
you. See, I have inscribed you on 
the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before 
me. Your son shall make haste. Your 
destroyers and those who laid you waste shall go away from 
you. Lift up your eyes. Look around and see all these 
gathered together and come to you. As I live, says the Lord, 
you shall surely clothe yourselves with them all as an ornament 
and bind them on you as a bride does. In Jeremiah 32, Jeremiah 
32, a text that illustrates both aspects of this fifth point. Preservation by God and perseverance 
of the saints. Jeremiah 32 and verse 40. Jeremiah 32 will pick up at verse 
36. Now, therefore, thus says the 
Lord, the God of Israel concerning this city of which you say it 
shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the 
sword, by the famine and by the pestilence. Behold, I will gather 
them out of all out of all countries where I have driven them in my 
anger, in my fury and in my and in great wrath. I will bring 
them back to this place and I will cause them to dwell safely. They 
shall be my people and I will be their God. Then I will give 
them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for 
the good of them and their children after that, and I will make an 
everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from 
doing them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts so that 
they will not depart from me. Beautiful, great. Spurgeon said that gospel that 
teaches that men can fall away and finally be lost. He says 
that gospel, I abhor. How do you get that Christ has 
secured your salvation, but you're going to lose it? How do you 
get that Jesus paid it all except your apostasy, your final departure? God says, I will make an everlasting 
covenant with them that I will not turn away from doing them 
good. You'll love that statement, but I will put my fear in their 
hearts so that they will not depart from me. God puts the 
fear of God in our hearts so that we will persevere so that 
we will not depart from him. John ten, the statement, the 
teaching of our blessed Lord, the Good Shepherd, John ten, 
verse twenty five. I told you and you do not believe 
me. The works that I do in my father's name, they bear witness 
of me. But you do not believe because 
you are not of my sheep. As I said to you, that is an 
amazing statement. It doesn't say you're not my 
sheep because you do not believe. You do not believe because you're 
not my sheep. Not elect. You've not been chosen. 
You've not been predestined. That's why you don't believe. 
Verse twenty seven. My sheep hear my voice and I 
know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life 
and they shall never perish. You're in Christ. You shall never 
perish. God so loved the world that he 
gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall 
not perish, but have everlasting life. How do you come into this 
gracious covenant and then lose it and be cast into hell? Verse 
twenty eight. And I give them eternal life 
and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them 
out of my hand. My father, who has given them 
to me, is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them 
out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. And of course, Paul's teaching 
in Romans eight. Romans, chapter eight, that beautiful 
statement concerning the golden chain of salvation and what it 
results in. Romans, chapter eight, verse 
twenty eight. Familiar portion. We all like 
to cite when we bad things are going on and we want to encourage 
one another. We come to Romans eight, twenty eight. That's great. 
We should. But we ought not to miss the fact that it's in a 
salvific or esoteric context has to do with our eternal well-being. Yes, if you stub your toe or 
broke your leg or broke your arm, yeah, God even works that 
out for your good and you're going to benefit and all of that 
sort of thing. You want to minimize that or 
trivialize that we're dealing with salvation. We're dealing 
with the soteric reality. We're dealing with God's mercy 
to his people. Verse twenty eight. We know that 
all things work together for good to those who love God, to 
those who are the called according to his purpose for. Whom he foreknew, 
he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that 
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom 
he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these 
he also justified. And whom he justified, these 
he also glorified. There's no breaking that chain. 
There's no stopping the progress there. If you've been called, 
you've been justified, you will be glorified by the grace of 
God. You're not going to be lost believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Verse thirty one. What then shall we say to these 
things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did 
not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall 
we not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring 
a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who 
is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore 
is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also 
makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the 
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, 
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 
As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We 
are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. You see, God acknowledges 
in this world these bad things happen to us. In this world, 
some of us may have tribulation. We will have distress. We will 
have persecution. Some may undergo famine, or nakedness, 
or peril, or sword. What's the conclusion? God isn't 
for us, God doesn't care, we're going to be lost. May it never 
be! He says in verse 37, Yet in all 
these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved 
us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor 
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to 
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall 
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ 
Jesus our Lord. Why anybody would question the 
doctrine that God preserves his people is utterly beyond me. One final passage that brings 
out both elements preservation by God and perseverance of the 
Saints is found in Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 and 13. Last text we'll look at this 
evening on this fifth point, Philippians 2, 12 to 13. May 
I suggest that you take these texts and write them down or 
internalize them or put them in your mind or in your heart? 
Because they're very important texts. They're very comforting 
tax. They're very encouraging tax. 
And as you know, doubt will have opportunity to discuss these 
concepts with people. It would be helpful for you to 
be able to go to the Scriptures and ground what you believe in 
the word of the living God. Philippians to twelve. Therefore, 
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence 
all only. But now, much more in my absence, 
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling perseverance. Notice, he doesn't say work for 
your salvation. You cannot work for your salvation. You are working out that which 
God has worked in. You are working out that which 
God has given, but you are to work it out. You are to read 
your Bibles. You're to memorize passages. 
You're to attend a Bible study. You're to go to church. You're 
to pray. You are to fast. You are to meditate. You are to contemplate. You are 
to engage in good works. You are to be kind to your brothers 
and your sisters. You are to love your wife as 
Jesus loved the church and gave himself for her. If you are a 
woman, you are to be submissive to your own husband as unto the 
Lord. If you are single, you are to 
be content. You are to glorify God. You are to be faithful. 
You are to love God more than the idea of having a relationship. You are, as a child, if you are 
converted, to be obedient to your parents. You're to honor 
your parents. You're to honor civil authority. 
You're to glorify the living God through obedience, not for 
your salvation. Because you've been saved, you 
do these things. That's the divine progression. 
For by grace you have been saved through faith, that not of yourselves, 
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. 
Four, Paul says, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good 
works, which he prepared beforehand that we should walk in that Ephesians 
two, eight to ten. We've been saved by grace. We 
therefore go and do good works. They don't contribute to our 
salvation. They are not determinative of our salvation. We are not 
helping the Lord save us. We are simply by God's grace 
doing what he saved us to do. So, work out your own salvation 
with fear and trembling. You're not to be a blob. As a 
confessor of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are to do what 
God says. You are to put on the Lord Jesus 
Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its 
lusts. Romans 13, 14. You are, in the 
language of 1 Peter chapter 2, to abstain from fleshly lusts 
which war against the soul. The language of all of Scripture, 
you are to follow the Lamb of God wherever He calls you to. 
Where does He call you to? He defines it in His Word. It's 
not going to give you some symbol in the sky. It's not going to 
string the stars together and give you an individual idea of 
how you're supposed to serve it. He is given his word. Our responsibility, our privilege, 
our blessed task is to take the scripture, to study it and to 
hide it in our hearts that we might not sin against God. So 
God preserves us to be sure. But we are to work out that salvation. He's saying you're saved, James 
says. You don't do anything. You sit there, you're like everybody 
else, you're like the world. That faith isn't the genuine 
article, that's not the real deal. But notice, Paul highlights, 
even in this statement, the preservation by God. Notice verse 13, for 
it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good 
pleasure. Here's synergism. Here's God 
in the center working together. You are working out your salvation 
in fear and trembling. It is God who is at work in you 
both to will and to do for his good pleasure. This refers to 
sanctification. Make sure in your minds justification 
is over here. Sanctification is over here. 
We'll deal with that God willing in another another sermon. We 
dealt with it a little bit last week, but just know this is dealing 
with sanctification. As a saved sinner, as one who 
believes on Jesus Christ, you are to work out your own salvation 
with fear and trembling. That doesn't mean you hide under 
the piano. It means you respond to God in a biblical manner. 
The fear of God is the beginning of life. The scripture teaches 
us God is holy. God is righteous. God is just. 
God is most glorious. And we are to respond to him. 
on those terms. So fear and trembling are befitting 
for the saved sinner. For it is God who works in you 
both to will and to do for his good pleasure. So we have total 
depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible 
grace and perseverance of the saints and preservation by God. Well, brethren, I think this 
ought to produce first thankfulness. There's a pastor, preacher, theologian 
of some some popularity in our day that's written that gratitude 
isn't one of the primary things that should motivate Christians. 
I disagree. Gratitude or thankfulness, I 
know in the three forms of unity, you've got sin, deliverance, 
thankfulness. Why? What's thankfulness do? It keeps you looking back. We need to look back. We need 
to look at the cross. That thankfulness, that gratitude, 
that realization that God has dealt with us graciously at the 
cross. ought to be the wind beneath 
our wings to spur us on to work out our own salvation in fear 
and trembling. Of course, we look forward. Of 
course, we look to Christ now. Of course, we consider the second 
coming. Of course, we take those things 
into consideration. But we ought not to downplay 
the place of thankfulness or gratitude in the Christian life. One of the marks of being a spirit-filled 
believer, according to Ephesians 5, is to be thankful to the Lord 
God. In Colossians, it is repeated 
four times that the Christian is to engage in thankfulness. See, thankfulness always emphasizes 
the grace-based nature of God's dealings with men. When we say, 
thank you, God, we are acknowledging that he has given us a gift. 
When we live in light of that reality, when the cross is shadowing 
over us, it is then that we can pursue biblical holiness. It 
is then that we will persevere by God's grace and for his glory. We need to understand these five 
points because they do refute synergistic views of salvation. God and sinner working together 
in order to be saved. As I mentioned before, this is 
the problem with Roman Catholicism. They teach faith plus words. 
Don't miss this. They acknowledge grace. They 
acknowledge faith. You read their stuff. They say 
as much. But they smuggle in this plus 
works element in order to be saved. Well, if you understand 
these five truths, you will realize there is no plus. It is God who 
saves sinners. In fact, Packer describing the 
work of God in salvation. Somebody asked me about Packer 
this morning. He has done some very good things. His writing 
in the past. The older he gets, some things 
I wish he wouldn't say. It's an odd thing. As men get 
older, they get a little sloppier, a little fuzzier, and they don't 
come as clear and as technical and as precise and as biblical. 
But back then, years ago, he wrote the introductory essay 
to John Owen's Death of Death and the Death of Christ. And 
that introductory essay itself is a beautiful piece of theology. 
And one of the things he says there for Calvinism, it's really 
just one point. God saves sinners. God, the triune 
God of Holy Scripture, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who is counseled 
in eternity past to save a people from their sin. He goes on to 
say, saves not makes them savable, not makes them a little better 
off, but actually secures their salvation. And then he says, 
sinners as men, as God finds them undone, rebellious, guilty, 
vile, helpless. These five points can be reduced 
to that one statement that God saves sinners. Understanding 
that we can refute the false doctrine that is out there and 
hopefully be on guard against entertaining such a false doctrine 
in our own hearts and in our own lives. Some of these people 
are not dummies. They come along, they construct 
an argument. It sounds very good, but to the 
law and to the testimony. If they are adding that human 
element, the truth of God is not in them. And then finally, 
this is the foundation upon which we preach the cross. Believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved because God 
has chosen, because Jesus has died and risen, because the spirit 
is at work. This is why we call men everywhere 
to believe and repent. Because our triune God has purpose 
to save a great multitude, which no man can number men from every 
tribe and tongue and people and nation. And if you are here this 
evening and you don't understand these five points, understand 
this one point. Look to Jesus and you will live. Look to Christ and you will live. 
And then you can learn all this great theology and it fills your 
soul with joy and love. And you'll be able to sing. Heaven 
came down and glory filled my soul. For good days in my youth, 
when I used to preach at a halfway house and it was all black guys 
and they'd sing that song. Heaven came down and glory filled 
my soul, filled my soul. So I think of these doctrines 
of grace. That's a taste of heaven to see that God, to see that 
Christ, to see that glory and to know by his grace you are 
a partaker of it. Believe on him and you will be 
saved. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for the 
Holy Scriptures and for the clarity of these things. God, we know, 
as Peter says, some things are hard to understand in the Bible, 
but those things concerning your glory and concerning the salvation 
of sinners are clearly sat down. They are very obvious, Lord God. And we see that from first to 
last, you are the one who receives the glory for the saving of sinners. And we pray, Father, that you 
would have mercy on a great multitude. We pray that more and more people 
would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And we ask 
in His most blessed name. Amen.