Published: September 28, 2014 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: The Five Points of Calvinism - Part 4
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I'll continue to pray everybody for that ministry especially the Thursday night ministry we we are very hopeful that it will allow our congregation to reach
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beyond these walls and help other congregations other Christians other pastors pastors who who are as Peter and John were unlettered men perhaps get
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some theological training so that is it's a it's a good ministry thank you David well this morning we're going to begin the actual discussion of the five
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points starting with the T total depravity or total inability but before we start that we need to give a bit of a
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caveat of course because as I mentioned in our first week the five points of Calvinism are not really a systematic
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treatment of reformed theology but rather a response to a historic challenge against the Reformed faith by the Armenians or the remonstrance in the
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early 1600s and so the order of tulip is
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primarily one of convenience because as I said the Synod of dort took place in Holland Holland is known for tulips and so tulip is is easy to remember and it's
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a good thing it helps us remember what we're studying but it's not really the proper order of how things occurred and then this is definitely humanly speaking in the mind
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of God the actual order is all tip
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whatever that is that doesn't very really help you go around saying the old tip the five points of calvinism doesn't do anything but this order that's up on the board now speaks more to what God
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planned from eternity past what is in the mind of God now whenever we speak of God we have to speak in human terms we speak of God being from everlasting we
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speak of the eternal counsels of God the Godhead the Father and the son then we have to speak in terms of time which
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terms do not really apply to him so he gets really mind-boggling but theologians like to talk about the order of the decrees what God has ordained we
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call a decree and God has ordained whatsoever comes to pass according to the Westminster Confession of faith and hopefully according to to our belief God
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is not arbitrary God is not surprised the question however with with the logical order of the decrees is whether
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God ordains or responds and that's that's another one of those issues does God ordained or does he respond
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and again when I mentioned I believe last week or maybe was the week before that many of the things that come out in the debate between our minions and Calvinists are very clear-cut is it this
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or is it that and almost always it has to do with God is God love is God holy okay sometimes it has to do with man is man dead is man sick okay so this is
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another one another one does God ordain whatsoever comes to pass or does God respond to what happens if you are days then his first and primary
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purpose was to lay out the plan for his own glory doing all things for his own glory and the question comes up among
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the theologians it's kind of a chicken in the egg which came first election or
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the fall which came first in God's
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decrees now we can't get in this morning to how God's predestination God's sovereign knowledge and power relates to
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the advent of sin in the world suffice it to say and I think this will be acceptable to most that he permitted it right there's more to it than that and I
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think it's something that many believers have struggled with for for centuries and that is the the relationship between a good and holy God in an omnipotent God an all-powerful God and the existence of
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evil we know from Scripture that he is not the author of sin but we also know that there is not some other equally powerful being that brought sin into the
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world that God is all-powerful and all sovereign and therefore the fact of sin touches upon his ordaining wisdom does
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it not even if we say he ordained - per minute that's as if saying it would happen and that's a real mind boggler
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right there but did he did the fall come first and then God laid out the plan for redemption or did he lay out the plan
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for the salvation of his people through his son and part of that plan is the fall of man now it may seem to be splitting hairs but I think it and I
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don't usually get into this discussion that we're going to have here in a moment except to make fun of it but I do think it impinges somewhat on what we're talking about with the five points
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especially the order in which we're studying them if the answer is election this is called super elapse arianism an
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excellent word for a spelling bee it just means above the fall lapse elapse was that's the comes from the Latin root
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for sinning basically lapsing and so super elapse arianism says that god elected his own and laid out the redemption in Christ before he ordained
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the fall if we say that the fall came first that is known as infra lapse Arianism and I remember when these
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things were discussed in class in seminary having this overwhelming feeling of what what are we talking about but I do think you know I do think
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you don't we don't know but we do have some scriptural evidence to decide between the two and to lay out in our own minds the logical order of the
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things the events the winces that we experienced understanding that God is not subject to sequence that all things are now to God he's not one
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who says well I think I'll do this and and then afterwards I'll do that now he's not that type of God and so by the very nature of our finite minds we're putting the infinite into finite words
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and terminology and so we we recognize our limitation but I think that this again is another one of those divisions the Calvinists will say this one and the
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Arminian will say that one and it's just one of those kind of dividing lines between the two camps within Christianity as to what God has planned
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and what God has done I'm not going to spend a great deal of time except to say that when we study the five points of Calvinism this is one of the organizing
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paradigms that we think about what was in God's mind in eternity past before he did anything as far as we know creation and and the sending of his son the
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Incarnation in support of super elapse arianism there are two primary points
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one the scripture and revelation that tells us that Christ was slain the lamb was slain before the foundation of the
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I'm gonna pass my mark the second one is that the elect Ephesians chapter one were chosen in him before the foundation of the world but those two scriptures
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aside it really comes down to this question right here in my mind what kind of a God are we
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talking about you know I read a passage from Dave hunt last week he said the ultimate attribute of God is love and
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what this really comes down to in the minds of individual believers is what what do they think about God what kind of a God do they divine from the
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scriptures from his revelation of himself because that's the God they worship that's the God they'll follow that's the God they'll seek to imitate and I will repeat the excellent quote by
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aw Tozer in regard to idolatry he said the essence of idolatry is thinking thoughts of God that are unworthy of him you know that's that's
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brilliant that quote right there that cuts through you don't have to have a little boot on the mantel you could be an idolatry in your head in your mind in your heart and so that doesn't mean that
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if we have wrong thoughts about God we're idolaters because we all have to some degree wrong thoughts about God his ways are passed finding out it's it's
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when we lock down on unbiblical thoughts about God and then we propagate them through teaching through instruction to our children or even just through
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vitriolic debate with fellow believers that we are basically idolaters you know when someone says that's not my god and that's us that's a bad statement to
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make okay we should be concerned about God as he has revealed himself in his word and to understand that God to the best of our ability as he gives us Grace
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and wisdom to do so always acknowledging as Paul did that his the depths of his wisdom are unfathomable and his ways past finding out one of my favorite passages is from
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the book of Job where job or actually I think it was alai him the young man who came in kind of you know enter stage
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left where did he come from but he had a lot of good to say and one of the things he does is he talks about all the things that God has done to show himself as real to mankind all of the works of his
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creation the works of his salvation and then he says but these are nothing but the fringes of your ways the depths are past finding out so that that is the the
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humbling acknowledgment so I want you to keep this in mind as we go through the five points what kind of a God are we talking about but we're going to stay
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with the the order of tulip with that little caveat aside we will go back to
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the easily remembered tulip and begin with the tea or total depravity also known as total inability this doctrine
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does paint a bleak picture of man's condition and I want to give scripture but as I mentioned before scripture
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verses are dangerous proof texts can be used to defend wrong doctrine and so I challenge you to be Bereans and to search the Scriptures and
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see that these things be so and not allow one or two scriptures to to dominate your theology but rather that you build a solid foundation of
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Scripture and as you study the Scriptures do these things ring true is this the way we see man portrayed in the Bible because this this doctrine right
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here is the reformed anthropology this is our doctrine of man it's it's how we
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see all men saved and unsaved regenerate and unregenerate and it is a negative statement but it is also a positive
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statement negative in that it speaks of the totality of corruption because of sin but it's positive because it also reflects as a mirror
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what man once was I mean we have we have a cat in our neighborhood who is a nasty cat and he's he's he's deceitful because
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he's one of those cats that will come up and purr and rub against your leg and make you think that it's a friendly cat and then we'll turn and grab your leg
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with all calls extended ruining a good pair of pants or if you do dare to reach down which you should never do to any cat pretending it's friendly you know you come back with just shreds
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it's a cat you know we don't we don't I don't apply moral standards to a cat I don't I don't reflect upon cat as he was
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originally created you know cat made in the image of cat I don't even think those thoughts but when I see man and when we see man portrayed in Scripture
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we see him fallen from incredible Heights and the depravity that is that is portrayed of man in scripture is not out of a vacuum
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in fact it is total depravity to reflect the total purity in the in the negative of the positive the total purity in which man was first created so it is not
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entirely a negative doctrine in fact it's probably the doctrine within all religions that most properly reflects man as he ought to be also man as he now
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is so we'll talk about this let me read to you the actual statement of the doctrine from the Synod of dort and then gives some scripture verses that we'll
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look at this morning since all men have sinned in Adam lie under the curse and are deserving of eternal death God would
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have done no injustice by leaving them all to perish and delivering them over to condemnation on account of sin the
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the doctrine touches God's justice in condemnation and that is something that
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you really don't hear much about in Arminian teaching or preaching when the focus is God being loved there's very little discussion about sin and the
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consequences of it and almost no discussion about the offended honor of a holy God that's we only talk about that it's all about man and what God wants to
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do for man and how God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life well maybe but is all of this about man or is all
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of this about God the reformed theologian says well really it's all about God and man's true as happiness is in recognizing that and reflecting the
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glory of God rather than trying to reflect the Torn glory of man so the reformed doctrine says that God would be just actually we
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could say perfectly just in leaving all men under the sentence of death there
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would be no injustice in that would there would there be any injustice in
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that no how about forgiveness is it incumbent upon God to forgive no it
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isn't that that's an interesting thought God's forgiveness is gracious is it not which means it's unmerited right and it
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is to be imitated as such so forgiveness is brought to us in the scripture not as an obligation or as essential to our
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nature but by way of example one who has forgiven us we having no merit to claim
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that forgiveness
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well I think we can do do we look at in the perfectness of God his love and his justice that he owed it to himself to forgive to to save I think we can say
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that only because of what has what he has done in interpreting what he has done and that is he has granted forgiveness through Christ and so he has
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done something that is true to his nature and helps us learn of his nature but being God had he not done any of these things would we have any claim on
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his forgiveness not our claim but even to claim that he owes it to himself would be a claim that man could possibly
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make and I would say he he does not even know it to himself that his his perfection would in no way be tarnished
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had he left all mankind under the sentence of condemnation had he just wiped out mankind and started over you
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know there's a number of options you say what God could have done this another interesting thought is to consider the Angels and consider that
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God's regime with the Angels is completely different than it is with man that those angels that fell have remained under condemnation and as far
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as we can tell from Scripture there is no hope of their Redemption and so we can't say that God is obligated by by anything even his own nature to do what
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he has done graciously if he is in any way obligated Paul says that anything that is due is a wage right it's not grace and so if there's any way we can
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come up come up with a an obligation on the part of God to forgive the offense that man has laid at him than we have we have diminished grace and we can lay
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claim and there are examples in scripture where men lay laid claim upon God upon promises he Moses laid claim upon God when God said stand aside I'm
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going to destroy these people and start a nation from you Moses reminded God of the promises made to the fathers not that God had forgotten I think he wanted to make sure
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that Moses hadn't forgotten or that we don't forget that we can lay claim upon God for those things that God has said in his word those things that God has
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revealed but when we take all that away and we just look at the bear instance of man the image bearer of God rebelling against God and choosing rather to
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worship himself than his creator then we can put God under no obligation to forgive or at least we cannot say that he would be unjust to leave all men
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under the sentence of death right he's a judge unjust in our society for leaving a man under the condemnation of the
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sentence given to him by trial and jury is a judge in our society obligated by anything to overturn that judgment
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matter of fact when that judgment is overturned we're usually outraged startling that a judge a single person a man would overturn the the decision of a
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jury usually upsets us okay so we we cannot say that that he would be unjust if he were to leave all men under the sentence
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of condemnation and therefore by extension he cannot be unjust
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to save some but not all now this comes into what we call fair play is not fair that's the main argument leveled against unconditional election and so we will
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touch upon that when we get to the you the unconditional election that it's not fair but fairness has to do with the distribution of Just Desserts fairness
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doesn't have anything to do with that which is entirely by grace Jesus used the same that he used a parable to teach this principle the parable of the
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vineyard workers those who came in at the ninth hour those who came in at the eleventh hour you know they you remember the parable all the different groups those who worked all day and those who
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worked an hour all received a Denarius a day's wage and those who have worked all day grumbled that this was unfair and
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Jesus's answer in the words of the vineyard master are reflective of God's words may I not do what I wish with what
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is mine is mine that that's what it comes down to may I not do what I wish with what is mine now what we have to establish though is this
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question here does man have any claim
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upon divine grace and the answer that
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Paul gives us is that if so if man has any claim then it's no longer grace he that's his teaching in Romans that if a
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wage is wage is - the man not it's not great if we in any way deserve salvation than it is no longer of grace if it is no longer of
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grace than it is no longer to the glory of God because we read about that a lot in Paul's writings to the glory of God's grace to the glory of the grace of God
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the grace of God is what redounds to his glory and so this doctrine of total depravity is seeking to answer this
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question does man have any claim upon divine grace now let me give you the scriptures I do want to read one of them they're all enrollments so be a little
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bit easier although there are others that we'll look at this morning or next week depending on our time but in Romans chapter 5 we have the classic passage
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for reformed anthropology beginning in verse 12 and following Paul lays out the
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principle of death because of sin in Adam when we would call original sin therefore just as through one man sin entered into the
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world and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned now
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he goes on to contrast the sin of Adam which transferred its guilt and penalty to all mankind with the righteousness of
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Christ which is transferred to all the elect and so you have a contrast here the one gives room for the other the one
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being our guilt in Adam gives room in God's plan of salvation for our being the righteousness of God in Christ without the one we don't have the other
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this is the Angels the Angels apparently again we can't say a whole lot about angels we could because there's not a lot written but it appears that each individual angel was created
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individually and stood or stands individually in his moral state and if he falls there is no one to redeem him
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there is no Messiah there is no Christ for the angels we stood in Adam the principle of federal
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headship applies here that when Adam was on probation in the garden when he was told of every tree of the garden you may eat except this one the tree of the
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knowledge of good and evil he was standing probation for the entire human race that was at that time in his loins and so when he sinned Paul says we
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all sin and death came into our lives
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universally and without exception except Enoch and Elijah which are interesting but rabbit trails death is the principle of life of our existence that reminds us
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of what happened at the beginning death is an invader and an enemy death is not the natural end of man it is the judicial end of man and every man's
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death reminds us that this was not the way it was supposed to be and it reminds us of Adam's sin and our complicity in
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that sin now there are those who don't think that's fair that we should not be judged for what our forefather did and I
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would grant that it isn't fair in fact it isn't even a principle of Scripture that a child be held accountable for his father's sin Ezekiel talks about the fact that for each man's own sin he will
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be judged the children will not be judged on on account of the father's the father's on account of the children and so we see that Adams situation was
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unique well but then that that's true an
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unsaved person won't even go there but of course we are talking about save people this is an argument between Armenian Christians and and reformed Christians right that's right that's a
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good point when we're going to be getting to the biblical doctrine of what man is in sin they under sin but the the fact that we may not like the idea that
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we are judged in Adam is really moot because it's undeniable by anybody of sane and rational mind that we are sinners that that our that our children
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are sinners that this sin manifests itself at the earliest possible age and I don't think we can point to anybody in our own experience and hopefully not to
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ourselves and say there went a sinless man we never experienced that in fact Pelagius who was battled by augustine back in the
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fifth century his doctrine was that there was there was the possibility within man to and to be saved on his own power and the council asked Pelagius do you know such
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a man and play jesus said no I don't know anybody like that but he blamed it on the environment so Pelagius would have been a good liberal you know the sin was blamed on the environment and
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you're right it is moot as to how that sin came to us but we begin there because of the scripture which says we
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were conceived in iniquity and born in sin the scripture begins there the scripture acknowledges man as a sinner from the womb and we explain that in
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Adam even though that was a unique condition because it sets the same principle by which we may be counted righteous not because of our own
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righteousness but because of the righteousness of the second Adam Jesus Christ okay so we can't say to God well I had no choice you know you made me a
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sinner because of what Adam did because then we could not say to God I I have no rights because I have no claim upon the righteousness of Christ so I have the
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the onus of Adam's sin on the one hand but that sets the stage the glorious stage for having a claim on the righteousness of Christ through faith the the to stand or fall together and so
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when we go to the scriptures and look at man the the question we're trying to answer here you know does this man have any claim upon divine grace and the
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answer is if yes then it's not grace but wages we're just getting paid for what
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we deserve and Paul very clearly says that's not the case if no then the question is how bad is man's
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condition so we go from one question to another man has no claim upon God
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several other verses and I just want to put down here 3:19 and verse 23 as well
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for your notes man has no claim upon divine grace otherwise it would not be grace but is there anything man can do is there anything that man can bring to
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the table the Westminster Confession of faith has this to say about the condition of man fallen in sin man by
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his fall into a state of sin hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation so
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as a natural man being all together averse from good and dead in sin is not able by his own strength to convert himself or to prepare himself thereunto
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in other words man is really bad off his condition is terminal no it's it's beyond terminal it's expired because of
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his fall in sin he has lost all ability so the answer is he has no ability to
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will or to do anything in regard
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to his salvation 2nd Corinthians
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I'm sorry 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 Paul speaks about the spiritual man versus the natural man and this is
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this is a passage that has been sadly twisted by Arminian teaching you've all heard of the doctor of the carnal Christian the carnal Christian is not a
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natural man and the natural man is not a Christian Paul is making a very clear distinction between those who have heard and received his message and those who
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do not and he says in verse 14 but a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them because they are
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spiritually appraised he is unable to understand them and he cannot and will not accept them his condition is that of
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a blind and deaf man he cannot see and he cannot hear until he has given eyes to see and ears to hear Ephesians
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chapter 2 verse 1 so we have 1st Corinthians 2:14 and Ephesians 2 verse 1
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Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 is pretty unequivocal in Paul's diagnosis he says and you were dead in your trespasses and
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sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience now
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this is a very interesting concept I want to I'm going to leave with it and leave it to your thoughts he just talked about a dead man walking
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and we are often deceived by the remnants and the vestiges of the glory of Adam that still exists within mankind man is capable of doing amazing things he is even capable of doing things that
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we consider good man continues to operate with his will his mind his emotions but in all things he is walking
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as a dead man and that very concept of dead man walking his transferred in Romans six over to us has baptized
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believers that we have been buried through baptism in Christ and now we rise to walk in newness of life so the
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concept of death here is not cessation of physical activity it's much deeper than that than that it's the death that Adams suffered in
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the day he sinned and obviously that was not physical death because that didn't come for another eight or nine hundred years so when we see unbelievers when we
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interact with unbelievers and we listen to them and we think well yeah that's right or or as Jesus said to the young man you're very close to the kingdom
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that does not mean that they will ever enter it when we see other people doing good things and we think we'll they they must be a Christian or they would make a good Christian I've heard that said they
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would make a good Christian I don't know what that is a good Christian that's somewhat of a contradiction of terms I believe but Paul says you were dead and that's the concept we need to grasp and
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get our mind around what does the scripture mean when it calls man dead in trespasses and sin let us close and