The Crook in the Lot

January 24, 2012 By 6 Comments

Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?  (Ecclesiastes 7:13)

This excerpt is a bit longer that what I am accustomed to posting here, but it is worthwhile. In his commentary on Ecclesiastes, Philip Graham Ryken provides a brief biography of the great Puritan Thomas Boston. He then discusses his life in light of his classic sermon, “The Crook in the Lot” which was prepared shortly before his death. For anyone suffering the frustration of life in a fallen world, this will encourage your heart.  It also highlights the difference between the despair of fatalism and the hope that is found in the Sovereignty of a God who is working all things together for our good.

“Thomas Boston was a melancholy man, prone to seasons of discouragement in the Christian life. He was often in poor health, even though he never missed his turn in the pulpit. His wife suffered from chronic illness of the body and perhaps also the mind. But perhaps the couple’s greatest trial was the death of their children: they lost six of their ten babies.

One loss was especially tragic. Boston had already lost a son named Ebenezer, which in the Bible means “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12, kjv). When his wife gave birth to another son, he considered naming the new child Ebenezer as well. Yet the minister hesitated. Naming the boy Ebenezer would be a testimony of hope in the faithfulness of God. But what if this child died, too, and the family had to bury another Ebenezer? That would be a loss too bitter to bear. By faith Boston decided to name his son Ebenezer. Yet the child was sickly, and despite the urgent prayers of his parents, he never recovered. As the grieving father wrote in his Memoirs, “it pleased the Lord that he also was removed from me.” 

After suffering such a heavy loss, many people would be tempted to accuse God of wrongdoing, or to abandon their faith, or at least to drop out of ministry for a while. But that is not what Thomas Boston did. He believed in the goodness as well as in the sovereignty of God. So rather than turning away from the Lord in his time of trial, he turned toward the Lord for help and comfort.

Boston’s perseverance through suffering is worthy not only of our admiration but also of our imitation. One way to learn from his example is to read his classic sermon on the sovereignty of God, which is one of the last things he prepared for publication before he died. Boston called his sermon The Crook in the Lot. It was based on the command and the question that we read in Ecclesiastes 7:13: “Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?”

Here the Preacher invites us to consider God’s work in the world. Then he asks a rhetorical question: Who has the power to straighten out what God has made crooked? The answer, of course, is no one. Things are the way God wants them to be; we do not have the ability to overrule the Almighty.

When the Preacher talks about something “crooked,” he is not referring to something that is morally out of line, as if God could ever be the author of evil. Instead he is talking about some trouble or difficulty in life we wish we could change but cannot alter. This happens to all of us. We struggle with the physical limitations of our bodies. We suffer the breakdown of personal or family relationships. We have something that we wish we did not have or do not have something that we wish we did. Sooner or later there is something in life that we wish to God had a different shape to it. What is the one thing that you would change in your life, if you had the power to change it?

According to Ecclesiastes, God has given each of us a different situation in life. Thomas Boston explained it like this: “There is a certain train or course of events, by the providence of God, falling to every one of us during our life in this world: and that is our lot, as being allotted to us by the sovereign God.”

We all have our own lot in life. Furthermore, we all have things in life that we wish we could change. Boston continues:

In that train or course of events, some fall out cross to us, and against the grain; and these make the crook in our lot. While we are here, there will be cross events, as well as agreeable ones, in our lot and condition. Sometimes things are softly and agreeably gliding on; but, by and by, there is some incident which alters that course, grates us, and pains us.… Every body’s lot in this world has some crook in it.… There is no perfection here, no lot out of heaven without a crook.

When some people hear Ecclesiastes say this, they assume that the Preacher is being fatalistic. Some things are straight in life, other things are crooked; but whether they are crooked or straight, there is absolutely nothing that we can do about it. It all comes down to fate, or maybe predestination. Therefore, this passage is about “the powerlessness of human beings over against God”—a powerlessness that can only lead to fatalism.

There is another way to look at these verses, however—not as an expression of fatalism but of Calvinism! In other words, the Preacher is telling us that whether things seem crooked or straight, we need to see our situation in terms of the sovereignty of God. According to Thomas Boston, if God is the one who made the crook in our lot, then we need to see that crook as the work of God, which it is vain for us to try to change. “What God sees meet to mar” we “will not be able to mend.” “This view of the matter,” said Boston, “is a proper means, at once to silence and satisfy men, and so to bring them unto a dutiful submission to their Maker and Governor, under the crook in their lot.”

“We cannot change what God has done unless and until God wants to change it. We are under the power of the sovereign and omnipotent ruler of the entire universe. We do not have the power to edit his plan for our lives. But far from driving us to despair, the sovereignty of God gives us hope through all the trials of life. We do suffer the frustration of life in a fallen world. But the Bible says that we suffer these things by the will of a God who is planning to set us free from all this futility and who is working all things together for our good (see Romans 8:20, 28).”

Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word, Ecclesiastes: Why Everything Matters, Wheaton: Crossway, 2010, pages 162-166. (Logos)

Click here to read Thomas Boston’s The Crook in the Lot in it’s entirety.

Filed Under: Philip Graham Ryken, Thomas Boston

Recovering Community

January 20, 2012 By 19 Comments

It’s very popular these days, even among professing Christians, to resist membership at a local church. While this thinking might initially sound right, it actually flies in the face of everything the Bible teaches. While finding the right church can take time and prayer, NOT joining a church is never an option.

In his book, Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace? James Montgomery Boice talks about recovering community. As someone who was nurtured back to spiritual health by a community of believers, I can only concur with the statements that are expressed here.  May God help us to get beyond our individualism — the individualism that is so deeply ingrained in our culture, and free us to love and care for others.

“A fourth area in which we need to seek renewal is for our churches to become true spiritual communities: “community” because it is only as a community that we can model relationships, and “spiritual” because what we want to model is the unique qualities of life that being Christian brings.

The church of Jesus Christ can model community as no secular organization can – not businesses, not schools, not the centers of entertainment or social life, not government or city agencies- only the church! Because the church gets us outside of ourselves as those who together have been made into the one body of Jesus Christ, we can think about and care for others. Churches have an extraordinary opportunity for reaching people for Christ through their communities at a time when other forms of community have broken down. There is no better place than the fellowship of Christians for embracing those suffering from ruptured marriages, fractured homes, and other destroyed relationships.

Christianity offers something different at this point.  God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18). Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). Both of these statement concern relationships and show how necessary and desirable relationships are.

What makes a community?  A community holds together because of some higher allegiance or priority. Christians are the community of those who are formed by Scripture alone and who, because of that, know that they are all sinners saved by grace alone because of Christ alone. They are not wrapped up in themselves. Therefore, they love each other and are able to stand together and welcome all types of people and races to their fellowship.  They have a commitment that goes – or should go- beyond mere individualism; and if they do, they inevitably model genuine community in church settings. Such communities provide an unsurpassed opportunity for reaching the unsaved world for Jesus Christ.”

James Montgomery Boice, Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace? Rediscovering the Doctrines that Shook the World, Illinois: Crossway,  pages 177-179.

Filed Under: Church, James Montgomery Boice

The Protestant Work Ethic

January 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Peter Lillback, President of Westminster Theological Seminary and author of  George Washington’s Sacred Fire, discusses the Protestant work ethic and the spirit of capitalism. I thought this was a good follow-up to my earlier post on vocation.

Filed Under: Capitalism, Vocation

The Christian Doctrine of Vocation

January 16, 2012 By 6 Comments

Gene Edward Veith, Jr. explains the Reformation doctrine of vocation:

“When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, observed Luther, we ask God to give us this day our daily bread. And He does give us our daily bread. He does it by means of the farmer who planted and harvested the grain, the baker who made the flour into bread, the person who prepared our meal. We might today add the truck drivers who hauled the produce, the factory workers in the food processing plant, the warehouse men, the wholesale distributors, the stock boys, the lady at the checkout counter. Also playing their part are the bankers, futures investors, advertisers, lawyers, agricultural scientists, mechanical engineers, and every other player in the nation’s economic system. All of these were instrumental in enabling you to eat your morning bread.

Before you ate, you probably gave thanks to God for your food, as is fitting. He is caring for your physical needs, as with every other kind of need you have, preserving your life through His gifts. “He provides food for those who fear him” (Psalm 111:5); also to those who do not fear Him, “to all flesh” (136:25). And He does so by using other human beings. It is still God who is responsible for giving us our daily bread. Though He could give it to us directly, by a miraculous provision, as He once did for the children of Israel when He fed them daily with manna, God has chosen to work through human beings, who, in their different capacities and according to their different talents, serve each other. This is the doctrine of vocation.”

Gene Edward Veith Jr., God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life, Illinois:Crossway, 2002, pages 13-14.

Filed Under: Vocation

The Role of the Church in the Civil Rights Movement

January 15, 2012 By 3 Comments

For many, yesterday was the start of a 3-day weekend, to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr, the leader of the Civil Rights movement, and those who stood against racial segregation and inequality. History is replete with men and women of faith who, in the struggle to lay hold of the eternal, broke human tradition and brought about revolutionary change.  Indeed, our own American history is testimony to that.  We cannot speak of the founding of this great nation without acknowledging the relationship between independence from Great Britain and freedom of religion.  The founding fathers understood that the very root of independence is respect for others.  Yet, the actors on the stage of human history are imperfect men who, despite their greatness, sin and “fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Had the founding fathers acted in accord with conscience when the issue of slavery presented itself, this evil and all its ugly repercussions would have been dealt the death-blow.  Instead it spread like cancer.  Unconfessed and unrepented sin doesn’t just go away. I believe that if the founding fathers could speak today, they would confess this as their greatest failure.  Yet, the grace of God is greater and the eternal purposes of God, in the affairs of men and of nations, cannot be thwarted. God, at the frontline of every quest for freedom and justice, always has a people.

It is absolutely impossible to talk about the Civil Rights movement without acknowledging the church. Even the secularists agree. The church was the engine that powered the revolution. More than just a meeting place where strategy sessions were held, the community itself was a picture of the freedom being sought. There was unity among the members (Eph 4:3), direction from the pulpit (Tit 2:1), prayers for deliverance and protection (Phil 4:6), songs to rejoice in the God of their salvation (Eph 5:19), encouragement to persevere in the face of opposition (Heb 3:13), reminders to keep looking forward by faith to the city with foundations “whose builder and maker is God” (Heb 11:10). Men, women, and children received grace to be humble before God and bold in Christ. The church was the place where the principles of the Kingdom of God were up and running. Is it any wonder then that the church was the target of great white supremacist opposition?  More important, should it be any surprise that it was Christians, motivated by faith and Scripture, who were not only among the most ardent supporters of this movement, but who made up most of the leadership?

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is more than just another Federal holiday.  It is a time to thank God for the Civil Rights movement and the brave men, women, and children who understood that it was “for such a time as this” (Est 4:14) that they had been called. May we give glory to God for His providential hand in American history and for the members of the body who, by faith, stood for truth at great cost.

Without the guiding force of religion and more principles rooted in faith and Judeo-Christian ethics, the Civil Rights movement, and the broader freedom struggle, would not have become the cornerstone of social change in modern America.  Indeed, for the better part of a century the faith-based struggle to eradicate racial discrimination and injustice in the United States has been a major source of spiritual and more regeneration, of hope and renewal, for oppressed people across the globe. Though much work is left to be done, both at home and abroad, doing God’s work in Alabama, Mississippi, and other parts of the South through such worldly pursuits as sit-ins, freedom rides, and voter registration drives has spread the power and the glory of faith and righteousness to the end of the earth, giving a measure of hope to us all. 1

1 Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr, The Role of Religion in the Civil Rights Movement. Presented at the Faith and Progressive Policy: Proud Past, Promising Future Conference, sponsored by the Center for American Progress, June 9, 2004.

Filed Under: Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr.

A Few Noteworthy Items

January 14, 2012 By 4 Comments

Hello everyone,

I wanted to pass on a few items of interest.

John Samson has a new eBook publication called “Twelve What Abouts: Answering Common Objections Concerning God’s Sovereignty in Election”. In this book John provides answers to the twelve most common objections to the Doctrine of Election. For anyone seeking to understand the sovereign grace of God in our salvation, I believe this book will be an invaluable resource.  John has an ability to break down complex theological concepts and present them in simple and practical terms.  The teaching on his blog has helped equip me to teach the Doctrines of Grace to the women at our church. You can visit Monergism to learn more about, and purchase his newest publication.

In-keeping with the biblical mandate of “equipping of the saints for the work of service” (Ephesians 4:2), I finally got my hands on our beloved Jon Cardwell’s recent publication, “Christ and Him Crucified”.  Long story short, my package, which contained 6 copies, was sitting in the loading docks at work since before Christmas!  Thankfully, I was able to locate it and Lord willing, in February, I will post a review and also give away 2 copies.  If you’d like to check it out and even purchase beforehand, visit here. Jon Cardwell not only had a huge hand in teaching us the Doctrines of Grace, but beyond that he lives out what he preaches. To God be the glory!

Lastly, make sure you return on January 30th to read my review of Simonetta Carr’s, Weight of a Flame: The Passion of Olympia Morata.  If you remember, last month I had the privilege of interviewing Simonetta here at Heavenly Springs. You can read that here if you missed it.  Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of reading this delightful yet scholarly book which provides historical insight into the Italian Reformation. While the Chosen Daughter series is clearly written for young women, there can be no denying that Simonetta’s work will benefit everyone! If you are interested, you can purchase here. 

That’s all for now my friends!

Love and blessings!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

An Upcoming Series and a Book Giveaway!

January 11, 2012 By 5 Comments

Hi everyone,

I thought I’d pass on a couple of tidbits for you!

Diane Bucknell, who blogs at Theology for Girls will be re-visiting a 5 part series that ran last year on a topic called “Bibliology”. As she explains,”Bibliology” is the fascinating study of how we got our Bible and why we can completely trust most of the translations we have in our hands today.” Diane will post every Thursday, starting tomorrow, for 5 weeks.  This is a great series for anyone interested in countering doubts regarding the veracity of God’s Word. Click here to learn more about this series.

Also, this month, Persis, who blogs at Tried by Fire is giving away a copy of Josiah’s Reformation by Richard Sibbes. Originally written in 1629, Josiah’s Reformation contains 4 sermons based on 2 Chronicles 34:26-28. These are:

1. The Tender Heart
2. The Art of Self-Humbling
3. The Art of Mourning
4. The Saint’s Refreshing

Click here to enter your name!

That’s all I got!

Filed Under: Book Giveaway, Systematic Theology

Please Pray for NYC Churches

January 8, 2012 By 9 Comments

This is one of the most flagrant displays of anti-Christian sentiment that I have ever had the misfortune of observing in my beloved city. Sadly, not many in Christendom are talking about.  Not surprisingly, the MSM is barely covering it.

On December 5th, 2011 the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case of an evangelical church’s plea to overturn NYC’s ban on public school’s renting to churches.  The immediate and long-term implications of this are sobering.  For now, it means that dozens of churches have been suddenly catapulted onto the streets and have no meeting place. Looking further down the road, we are headed towards something that runs contrary to the intentions of our founding father’s. People of faith, particularly Christians, are quickly and illegally being blotted out of the public square.

What is the logic behind this deeply contentious decision to keep people of faith from gathering to worship on Sunday’s where, by the way — they pay rent to often-time cash strapped schools?

You see, most Christian churches worship on Sunday.  The Second Circuit Judge Pierre Level breaks down for us why this is a problem.  Allowing churches to rent from schools, he explains, results in an “unintended bias in favor of Christian religions.”  ”How is that?” you ask. Why, that’s because, ”Jews and Muslims generally cannot use school facilities for their services because the facilities are often unavailable on the days that their religions principally prescribe for services,”  Here’s the proof:  ”At least one request to hold Jewish services [in a school building used for Christian services on Sundays] was denied because the building was unavailable on Saturdays. This contributes to a perception of public schools as Christian churches, but not synagogues or mosques.” And this perception of course could do grave damage to “impressionable” children.

The judge also took issue with the evangelical church’s membership. “Bronx Household acknowledges that it excludes persons not baptized, as well as persons who have been excommunicated or who advocate the Islamic religion, from full participation in its services”.

This is a matter that ought to concern us all.  This mountain of contention against faith and freedom grows.  For the record, the notion that the words “wall of separation between church and state” are found in the Constitution is a falsehood.  The only mention concerning this topic is found in the First Amendment which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”  That’s it!

Please pray that : (1)  this is overturned (2) that God use this time of trial and persecution to strengthen and purify the church (3) that Christian ministers in the US repent and start preaching a crucified Christ from once compromised pulpits (4) that Christians in NYC and the US be bold in their witness for Christ.

Filed Under: New York, Persecution

The Doctrine of Irresistible Grace

January 7, 2012 By 13 Comments

Today I will be teaching the women at our church’s Bible study the doctrine of Irresistible Grace. It is the fourth doctrine of The Doctrines of Grace, otherwise known as The Five Points of Calvinism. We will be meeting at 10am EST. If you remember, please say a prayer for us. Below are some of my notes. As you will see, they are a little choppy. I’ve tried to consolidate but the challenge remains…

We have been working through the doctrines of grace in acrostic order, and it is here, at Irresistible Grace, that I have come to truly appreciate how each of these doctrines build upon each other. Simply put, the doctrines of grace stand or fall together. If T is true, then U is true, and if L is true, then I is true, and if I is true then P must be true.

My eyes are also being opened to the glory of the Trinity and the fact that the unity of the Triune God is at the core of our salvation. Providentially, this week I was introduced to Herman Bavnick and some of his writings. In his discussion of the Trinity he states, “In the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is contained the whole salvation of men.”1 If a skeptic were to ask me to provide the best theological evidence I could muster for the sovereignty of God in, and over our salvation, I would have to point to the unity of the Triune God. The “eternal covenant” (Hebrews 13:20), in which the Triune God covenanted to rescue and redeem a particular people from sin, is at the center of our salvation. Nowhere do we see the perfect harmony of the Trinity as clearly as we do than in the doctrines of grace. Rightly did Herman Bavnick say, “ We can truly proclaim the mighty works of God only when we recognize and confess them as the one great work of Father, Son, and Spirit.”2

When we studied Total Depravity we saw that man, as a consequence of the Fall, is spiritually dead in his transgressions. Apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, he is incapable of freely chosing God. Definition of free will:  “the ability to equally choose between spiritual good (turning from sin and following Christ) and spiritual bad (that which is opposed to godliness).” (Source) As a consequence of Adam’s sin, all of our choices stem from a sin nature that has infected every part of our faculties.

When we studied Unconditional Election we saw that God, the Father, before the foundation of the world, marks out those people who are to be saved and gives them to the Son to be His people. God’s election of certain individuals is not conditional upon any foreseen faith. Men believe because they are elect, not the other way around.

When we studied Limited Atonement we saw that God, the Son, at the appointed time, comes into the world and secures the redemption of the elect by living a life of perfect obedience and making atonement for their sins.

Now, we are studying Irresistible Grace and we will see how God, the Holy Spirit applies the benefit of Christ’s finished work to the elect whom Jesus has redeemed. The Holy Spirit draws them and then keeps them.

The Westminster Confession of Faith defines Irresistible Grace:

“All those whom God has predestinated unto life, and those only, he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by his Word and Spirit, out of that state of death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone, and giving them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good; and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ, yet so as they come most freely being made willingly by His grace.”

“…effectual calling is the point at which the eternal foreknowledge and predestination of God pass over into time and start the process by which the individual is drawn from sin to faith in Jesus Christ, is justified through that faith, and is then kept in Christ until his or her final glorification.”3

Irresistible Grace assures us that everyone who is chosen by God, the Father, and for whom God, the Son redeemed, WILL be made willing and able to believe by the God, the Holy Spirit.

Irresistible Grace asserts that the Holy Spirit will never fail to bring to salvation those sinners whom He personally calls to Christ. The Holy Spirit will, at the appointed time, apply salvation to every sinner whom He intends to save…and it is God’s intention that all of the elect come to repentance and salvation!

Moreover, Irresistible Grace assures that when God calls us to faith in Christ He calls effectively. His grace is EFFICACIOUS, meaning He will succeed in His purpose to save us.

2 Kinds of Calls:

(1) The General Call: This is what we hear every Sunday from the pulpit and from every true church. It is the Gospel invitation to all persons to repent of sin, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved.

It is Matthew 11:28: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.

It is John 7:37: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink

It is a universal call. It is for everyone as described in Revelation 5:9: “… for every tribe and language and people and nation.” There is no such thing as a religious type when it comes to the elect.  He saves ALL kinds!

The General call, in and of itself, cannot save.  Left to our own devices no one could respond. Incidentally, many times the elect hear the General Call and don’t respond right away.  God has to issue the inward call for the gospel to become desirable to a spiritually unregenerate person.

(2) The Internal Call: This call not only involves the outward or the general call plus the INTERNAL, SPECIFIC, AND EFFECTUAL. This is the call that provides the willingness or the ability to respond. It is God bringing to spiritual life that which would otherwise remain spiritually dead. It is God overcoming a rebellious will and the enmity that is against Him in us.

The greatest illustration of God’s grace in calling a dead sinner to life is the raising of Lazarus in John 11.  We’re told that Jesus arrives in Bethany where Lazarus has already been dead for 4 days.  Lazarus is a decaying corpse who we’re told smells – this is a picture of our own decaying sinful soul.

But then Jesus calls out:  “Lazarus Come Forth!” And a dead man comes to life.  This is the effectual call.

Listen as Boice and Ryken explain this:  “That is what the Holy Spirit does today. The Holy Spirit operates through the preaching and teaching of the Word to call to faith those whom God previously has elected to salvation and for whom Jesus specifically died.  Apart from those three actions – the act of God in electing, the work of Christ in atoning, and the power of the Holy Spirit in calling – there would be no hope for anyone. No one could be saved. But because of those actions – because of God’s sovereign grace – even the worst of blaspheming rebels may be turned from his or her folly to the Savior.” (page 139)

What God does when he regenerates is He (1) breaks our rebellious wills, (2) causes us to believe, (3) He gives us faith and causes us to overcome.

The Canons of Dordt state the Holy Spirit, “opens the closed and softens the hardened heart, and circumcizes that which was uncircumcised; infuses new qualities into the will, which, though heretofore dead, he quickens; from being evil, disobedient, and refractory, he renders it good, obedient, and pliable; actuates and strengthens it, that, like a good tree, it may bring forth the fruits of good actions”

The Fruit of Regeneration: The results of regeneration or the fruit of effectual grace is this: (Source)

1. DON’T HAVE A TASTE FOR SIN LIKE YOU USED TO: 1 John 3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

2. YOU OVERCOME AND YOU ARE VICTORIOUS: 1 John 5:3-4 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

3. YOU ARE KEPT BY GOD: 1 John 5:18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

Effectual grace involves the process of being conformed the image of Christ…

Below is a list of some evidence of regenerated life:

1. trust in Christ for salvation

2. assurance of the forgiveness of sins

3. a desire to read the Bible

4. a desire to pray, communicate with God

5. a delight in worship

6. a desire for Christian fellowship

7. a desire to attend church services

8. a desire to be obedient to Scripture”5

If you have observed these traits at work in your life then that is the effectual or irresistible grace of God at work in you!

Irresisitible Graces confirms that Regeneration precedes faith. This is a Scriptural fact that many people trip over and it is paramount to understanding the sovereignty of God in our salvation:

• John 3:3 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

• John 3:5-8, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit”

APPLICATION: (Source)

MAN CANNOT REFUSE IT: The doctrine of irresistible grace means that the believer cannot boast of his faith because it is a gift.

(1)          Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”

(2)         Philipians 2:13 “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

This is good news! Were it not for the grace of God overcoming all of our rebellious wills none of us would be here.

Listen to John MacArthur explain”  “Nobody would will that [coming to God]  unless God first willed it and activated it. It isn’t because the sinner comes to his senses. It isn’t because the sinner is persuaded byclever preaching or an emotional appeal, those are all deceptive illusions. It isn’t because you’re so nice or you’ve made Jesus look so nice. People are saved because God summons them and He summons them under the proclamation or the understanding of the gospel. Forget all the nonsense, the gospel alone is what God uses to awaken the sinner and He makes him willing whereas he has never been willing before.”

SATAN CANNOT DEFEAT IT: Man can’t refuse the grace of God and the enemy can’t defeat it.

In the book of Job, Satan asks permission from God to attack Job. Satan wants to prove that if he wanted to, he could cause Job to fall away. The Lord grants Satan permission and the enemy attacks. He takes his flocks and herds. He kills his sons and daughters. He makes Job physically sick, and even turns his wife against him. Satan throws EVERYTHING that he has on Job and Job remains faithful.

Here’s why:  “Satan failed to reckon with one fact. There was a power in Job that is greater than all the power of darkness. There was a power in Job which is greater than the winds of the desert or the waves of the sea. There was a power in Job which is greater than the power of sin, death and hell. And that power was the sovereign, irresistible grace of God.”

The sovereign and irresistible grace of God will never be defeated by Satan. The elect can bank on the sovereign, irresistible power of God to keep them.

TEMPTATION CANNOT UNDERMINE IT: The grace of God is irresistible, because temptation cannot undermine it.

John puts it this way in his Gospel, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5)

One illustration is the temptation that Satan came to Jesus with: He offered to give him all the kingdoms of the world but Jesus answered, “It is written, `You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only.” Jesus resisted the temptation because he was “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14)

“This then is the grace of God. Man cannot refuse it. Satan cannot defeat it. Temptation cannot undermine it. The free, unmerited, irresistible grace of God. My salvation is a free gift from God, for He knows that I can never repay Him. It is an unmerited gift, for surely I did not deserve it in any wise. It is an irresistible gift, for it was necessary for God to break my rebellion before He could save me. And now that He has saved me, I can be certain that all the powers of darkness shall not take the gift of God from me, for all the hosts of sin and hell cannot defeat the power of God.”6

1. Herman Bavinck, The Divine Trinity (Online)

2. Ibid.

3. Steele, Thomas, Quinn, The Five Points of Calvinism, page 52

4 Rev Gordon Girod, Irresistible Grace (Online)

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.


Other Sources:

Edwin Palmer, The Five Points of Calvinism,

James Montgomery Boice & Philip Graham Ryken, The Doctrines of Grace

Fred Butler, Irresistible Grace (Online)

John MacArthur, The Doctrine of God’s Effectual Call (Online)

Filed Under: Doctrines of Grace, Irresistible Grace

Give Me Jesus

January 5, 2012 By 9 Comments

HT:  Ed Slonksnis, FaceBook

Filed Under: Music

Lazarus, Come Forth!

January 2, 2012 By 5 Comments

Yesterday I shared on the two kinds of calls that we find in Scripture.  The general call, we learned, is the call to repent from sins, turn to Jesus, and be saved. This is the invitation that flows from every true Christian pulpit, and every Christian who bears witness to Christ. Then there is the internal call.  This includes the general call and the effectual call of God who makes sinners willing and able to respond.

The best illustration of the internal or effectual call is recorded in John Chapter 11.  Here we are told that Jesus arrives in Bethany where Lazarus has already been dead for four days.  It is a grotesque but terribly accurate picture of our own spiritual and moral decay.

“But Lord,” said Martha, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there for four days.” 

In John 11:43 Jesus calls, “Lazarus, come forth!”

Then we read, “The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (John 11:44).

One of the greatest misconceptions regarding the doctrines of grace or Calvinism is that is undermines zeal for evangelism. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, the doctrines of grace, rightly understood, will actually produce a holy boldness because the truth of salvation has been settled in eternity past. It does not rest in the hands of man. Once again, I’d like to share something from Boice and Ryken’s, The Doctrines of Grace. Here they explain how the raising of Lazarus from the dead is a picture of  the Triune God at work raising a spiritually dead sinner to eternal life in Christ.

“That is what the Holy Spirit does today. The Holy Spirit operates through the preaching and teaching of the Word to call to faith those whom God previously has elected to salvation and for whom Jesus specifically died.  Apart from those three actions – the act of God in electing, the work of Christ in atoning, and the power of the Holy Spirit in calling – there would be no hope for anyone. No one could be saved. But because of those actions – because of God’s sovereign grace – even the worst of blaspheming rebels may be turned from his or her folly to the Savior.”1

If you are praying for the salvation of someone who looks very far gone, I pray that you would take heart in the truth of this doctrine. The miracle work of conversion belongs to God and God alone.  It is His sovereign work and no plan of His can be thwarted (Job 42:2).  What is impossible with man is possible with God! (Matthew 19:26)

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. – Isaiah 55:10-11

1 James Montgomery Boice and Philip Graham Ryken, The Doctrines of Grace: Rediscovering the Evangelical Gospel, Illinois:Crossway, 2009, page 139

Filed Under: Doctrines of Grace, Irresistible Grace

Two Kinds of Calls

January 1, 2012 By 11 Comments

This upcoming Saturday, January 7th, the women’s Bible study will continue our study of the doctrines of grace.  I will be teaching on the doctrine of  ”Irresistible Grace.” Lord willing, I will post my notes late Friday, or early Saturday morning. In the meantime, I wanted to share this quote from Boice and Ryken’s, The Doctrines of Grace. If anyone is looking for a solid resource, I can’t tell you how helpful this book has been to me.

In this chapter, the discussion involves the two kinds of calls. There is the general call or the outward call.  This is the call that flows from every true Christian pulpit, and every Christian who shares the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is the invitation to repent of sin, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved.  Then, there is the effectual call or the inward call. This call involves the general call or the outward call, but also the sovereign grace of God who supernaturally provides the willingness and ability to respond.  It is God bringing to spiritual life what would otherwise remain spiritually dead.  Listen as Donald Grey Barnhouse, who served as minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church from 1927-1960 explains the differences between the two calls.

“If men heed no more than the outward call, they become members of the visible church.  If the inward call is heard in our hearts, we become members of the invisible church. The first call unites us merely to a group of professing members; but the inward call unites us to Christ himself, and to all that have been born again.  The outward call may bring with it a certain intellectual knowledge of the truth; the inward call brings us the faith of the heart, the hope which anchors us forever to Christ and the love which must ever draw us back to him who first loved us.  The one can end in formalism, the other in true life.  The outward call may curb the tendencies of the old nature and keep a soul in outward morality; the inward call will cure the plague that is in us and bring us on to triumph in Christ.”

James Montgomery Boice and Philip Graham Ryken, The Doctrines of Grace: Rediscovering the Evangelical Gospel, Illinois:Crossway, 2009, page 141.

Filed Under: Doctrines of Grace, Irresistible Grace
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