Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:3–14
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.
Introduction
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
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,
Irresistible Grace in the Psalms
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.
Regeneration Precedes Faith
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.
Monergism Versus Synergism
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.
Irresistible Grace in John 6
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,
Preservation and Perseverance of the Saints
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,
Sealed by the Spirit
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.
God's Everlasting Covenant
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.
The Good Shepherd Keeps His Sheep
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.
The Golden Chain of Salvation
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.
Working Out Salvation: Philippians 2
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.
Application: Thankfulness and Holiness
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.
Closing Prayer
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.