Published: September 21, 2014 | Speaker: Chuck Hartman | Series: The Five Points of Calvinism - Part 3
Transcript
View Full Transcript →
0:06
now this morning we continue our discussion of the five points of Calvinism bottom our change will take a little change of direction this morning it seems to fit well with last week's
0:18
message on the philosophy of arminianism this morning I want to give you the philosophy of reformed theology but I want to read a passage to start in
0:32
kind of enclosing up what we talked about last week now this book right here debating Calvinism is a series of essays
0:44
between James White defending Calvinism and Dave Hunt what's the word not defending Calvinism and I don't believe
0:56
that the Dave Hunt is is necessarily our minion ism's best proponent but what he says in his essays is typical of the
1:09
Arminian position and his first essay begins like this never forget that the ultimate aim of Calvinism is to prove
1:21
that God does not love everyone he's not merciful to all and is pleased to damned billions according to Dave Hunt that's
1:34
the ultimate aim of Calvinism is that proved that God does not love everyone is not merciful to all and is pleased to damned billions if that is the God of
1:46
the Bible Calvinism is true if that is not the guide of the Bible who is love first John 4:8 emphases added Calvinism is false is false the central issue is God's love and
1:59
character and relation to mankind is presented in Scripture the central issue is God's love that that pretty much
2:11
puts the finger on the pulse of modern evangelicalism the essential issue in all matters is God's love
2:23
now the reformed theologian would disagree and say that the central issue is God's glory now that's a fundamental philosophical difference but at least we
2:36
have a common area of debate and that is the scriptures and it's to the scriptures that we have to go to find out whether in God's mind as it should
2:49
be in our own the central issue is God's love or God's glory and and I think there's there's probably no simpler
3:01
expose of the debate than that right there this is a debate between believers not a debate between believers and unbelievers between conservatives and liberals
3:12
that's nots not the issue this is a debate between people who profess faith in Jesus Christ and for all that we can tell we accept and should accept one
3:23
another as brethren but it's a debate about who our God is as as Dave Hunt uses the word ultimately is the
3:33
ultimately love or is he ultimately holy does that make sense that that concept it doesn't mean that
3:44
he's not love God is love but is that the attribute of God that is most descriptive of his essence the reformed
3:56
theologian would say no the armenian would say yes and so today I thought it would be a good idea to give you another
4:06
list of five these come from the Protestant Reformation I really don't know who first summarized them in this way but today instead of the five points
4:19
of Calvinism or the Phi remonstrance 'as of our minion ism we're going to talk about the five SOLAS of
4:30
the Reformation John Calvin was of
4:42
course a reformer he was a second-generation reformer he was younger than Martin Luther he was younger than Ulrich Zwingli by about 20
4:56
years Jacob Arminius was even younger he would have been third generation he was four years old when John Calvin died but these were Reformation Protestants this
5:07
was the era of the Reformation the sixteenth century sixteenth century going into the early 17th century so the five solos of the Reformation is basically what we would call oops
5:21
reformed philosophy this would be the framework that the reformed theologian
5:36
would put forward as saying okay this is how we're going to look at these issues the first Sola is Sola scriptura
5:55
now the word Sola is Latin for alone so the five SOLAS are five aspects of reformed theology that we believe to be the only truth the only expression of
6:05
the truth and so Sola scriptura tells us that truth comes from Scripture alone
6:25
not from tradition and this is the context of the Reformation by that time the church had had put equal weight equal Authority on the decisions of ecumenical councils on the traditions
6:38
that have developed in the church and on papal pronouncements they were all equally authoritative with Scripture and Martin Luther and others said no Holy
6:50
Scripture is the Word of God only Scripture is authoritative and all other teachings must align themselves with Scripture yes this oh no
7:15
this they did they had already broken away by the time that we're talking the Protestant churches had already broken from Rome the Lutheran Church was
7:28
already well established in Germany and Scandinavia and the Reformed churches were already dominant in Switzerland parts of France and Holland and even
7:40
over in England yes it's it's within the hundred years of the point in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the to the door
7:54
so it's within that century but things moved very quickly so that Protestantism was well established by this point in Europe and in fact this is also after
8:07
the Roman Catholic counter-reformation the Council of Trent where the Roman Catholics tried to put a good spin on the church and bring the Protestants
8:20
back into the fold this is even after that so these these are principles that were well established and I want to give you a scripture reference and and this
8:31
is is difficult because you always feel like okay this is just a proof text and I do want to ask you to think carefully about what I'm saying based on your own experience in the home your the teaching
8:43
that you've received over the years do these things ring true to the teaching of Scripture not not just one verse okay
8:53
there there's a lot that is said for example in eschatology about the Millennium how many verses talk about the Millennium in the Bible one in
9:04
Revelation 20 like you know you build an awfully big edifice from one verse and that's the problem with proof texts is that you can kind of make them say what
9:17
you want them to say and I don't want to do that so I'm giving you example text and I'm going to read them to you but second Timothy 3 now we're familiar with 2nd Timothy 3:16 talking about Scripture
9:38
but I want to to read the broader passage actually I'm going to go on to verse 17 verse 17 second Timothy 3 verse 14 through 17
9:56
Paul speaking to his son in the faith Timothy he writes you however continue in the things that you have learned and become convinced of knowing from whom you have learned them and that from childhood you have known the sacred
10:08
writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus all Scripture is inspired by God and
10:18
profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in righteousness that the man of God may be adequately equipped for every good work
10:29
so Paul puts a great deal of emphasis on the sufficiency of Scripture the Reformers would go to say it is all that we need for the
10:41
truth now that is not to the exclusion of other writings the the Reformers themselves read a custom they read Aquinas they ran at the Nations they
10:54
read the writers of the church during the first fifteen centuries and reformed theologians today read the writers of the church for the first twenty
11:04
centuries but our judgment our criteria on anybody's teaching or anybody's writing is does it comport with
11:15
Scripture is what they're saying true description that is the lens through which we understand and see all teachings so as we go into the series of
11:27
the five points of Calvinism each one of them needs to be weighed against Scripture and for well probably for each
11:39
one of them there appears to be Scripture on both sides of the issue and remember what we talked about last week that if there appears to be a
11:49
contradiction in Scripture if there are two doctrines that are taught that appeared to be contradictory then the problem is not with Scripture it's with our understanding and usually if we dig
12:01
deeper into the context of the passages we find out that they are not contradictory but that they do in fact harmonize very reasonably so we'll be
12:13
doing that Lord willing as we go into the study itself Sola scriptura the second and third really go hand-in-hand
12:25
but the order of them is very important Sola gratia and Sola
12:38
feed add and the reason I say the order is is important is because of the passage we're going to be looking at in
12:49
Ephesians chapter 2 but Sola gratia is translated by grace hello and then the
13:00
second one goes with it through faith hello by grace alone through faith alone
13:13
this is the Protestant formula we believe to be the biblical formula for any man's salvation Ephesians chapter 2
13:37
verses 8 and 9 again I'm going to read those although I believe you're probably very familiar with them for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God
13:49
not as a result of works that no one should boast Paul in that very short passage sums up a lot of the content of
14:04
the debate between the Arminian and the Calvinists especially in that last phrase that no one should boast think of
14:16
yourself as a redeemed sinner do you have anything about which to boast Paul
14:27
goes on in Corinthians to say that which you have that that which you have have you not been given then why do you boast he challenges the Corinthians they were
14:39
a very spiritual on at least on outward appearance appearances they would have classified in modern as a charismatic church and it's
14:50
interesting that that he does not chastise them for the fact that they are operating as the charismatic say in the gifts he chastises them because while
15:01
they were very spiritual they were still sinning outwardly and tolerating sin in their midst but I think even worse than that for Paul they were boasting they were prideful
15:16
they were holding their heads up and their nose in the air as if they had done something and Paul says that which you have have you not were you not given
15:29
so the question here is you know we realize it's grace and it's faith the Arminian and the Calvinists agree that salvation is by God's grace through
15:41
man's faith right the question is what is the source of the faith you're
16:22
and the what if what hinges on that neil whether they would say it's grace they would say it's grace they would say it's faith we say that this is Grace and this is fate but you also are correct it's how you define the term so we say grace
16:35
is unmerited favor to the Arminian that unmerited favor is the possibility of salvation through Christ's atoning work
16:53
through the cross okay the possibility of salvation is unmerited the Calvinists
17:03
would say no the unmerited favor is is salvation not the possibility of it does that make sense so yeah we must define
17:16
terms that's in any debate and in fact we ought debate last year in our Resource Center and one of the things I told the students was one you must at
17:26
the beginning of the debate in your first affirmative you must define terms and if you're the team that defines the terms and the other team fails to do so you will win the debate now in this of
17:40
course nobody's really judging but defining terms is crucial and being that we hold to the first principle Sola scriptura we must use the terms as they
17:53
are used in Scripture we cannot use them in order to fit our philosophy or our desired conclusion we must use them the way they're used in Scripture and so the
18:05
question is going to be especially when we get to the L the limited atonement did Christ die to make salvation possible the Arminian view
18:18
or did Christ die to save the cut in the Calvinist view okay and I hope and I ask you to let me know I really want to try
18:31
to make the points of difference between the Armenian and the Calvinists very clear because they are when we talk about God I've already said it divides
18:45
between is God ultimately love or is God ultimately holy when it comes down to man it's it's equally clear his man sick
18:58
or his man dead okay it's a big difference you know you've seen Princess Bride it's time to go through the
19:09
pockets and look for loose change okay he's he's not almost dead he's dead and then when it comes to Jesus Christ I mean go right down the list he is did Jesus die to make salvation
19:21
possible or did Jesus die to save okay so you know each of these points I think there's there's a pretty discernible
19:32
line between the views and we need to go to scripture to find out the answers and I really don't think that will find that
19:44
it jumps the light then that God is love but Christ died to save okay I think you're going to find that the the
19:54
biblical answers line up along either Arminianism or Calvinism because what God has done is a is an organic whole
20:07
it's a plan that was put forth from eternity past and so there there aren't disjoints there there are
20:17
inconsistencies in God's behavior it is very consistent there are many in finds his view to be very consistent but the Calvinist believes his view to be even
20:29
more consistent and more biblical now I mentioned that the order is important because this is not only the order of Ephesians it also tells us
20:40
which comes first faith or grace and this goes to another issue that I'll probably come in with the irresistible
20:53
grace you know this is kind of a chicken in the egg which comes first
21:11
faith or grace when we talk about regeneration being born again what is the cause and what is the effect if we
21:24
look at the two views the Armenian says that faith is the cause and the effect
21:37
is salvation is Grace we believe and God applies salvation through Jesus Christ to our hearts we are regenerated the
21:50
Calvinist says no that's not the order of scripture it is Grace the effect of which is faith in some respects the two
22:02
views are mirrors of each other and that's one of the reasons why I don't
22:13
dogmatically state as as Custance seemed to in his in his book that we're talking about an issue of whether or not someone's actually a believer I have found in in the years that I've been a
22:25
believer and in the years that I've been a Calvinist which are not coextensive I have found that at least in my opinion there is an issue of personality involved that there are some people who
22:39
are more what's the word by Nature
22:51
amenable to Calvinism and others that just just can't get their mind around it I use my family as an example not my children my siblings their three boys at one point in time all all three boys
23:04
were pastoring churches drove my father crazy you know I did I used to tell people you know you have a father has three sons and he wants them to be you know a doctor a lawyer and an engineer
23:15
you know very well one of them's gonna end up being a ballet dancer you know if he had tried to get his sons to do something but if there ever there was ever a man whom the divine and sovereign
23:28
humor of God would give three preacher sons it was my father so we had three we are very similar in many respects the three of us one is an
23:42
Armenian and the other two are Calvinists and for the preservation of family unity and harmony we don't talk about it but you know to me it's like
23:54
okay what what is it about me and my brother that we cannot see this major concept the same way when my other
24:07
brother and I do and I so I do think that that there there is an element in which we are all created uniquely with
24:18
personalities and in our minds the the paradigms of our minds accept certain things more easily than others and that's a danger on both sides on the
24:30
Arminian side the danger is I don't accept the the theology because I don't like it and on the Calvinist side the danger is i don't investigate the
24:40
theology because i do like it it it works for me I don't have a problem with a sovereign God sovereign in all his
24:51
but that doesn't mean I have the right to overlook in Scripture those passages that give man a great deal of freedom of
25:01
responsibility in his actions we have to take in that into account but you know that's that's why it's like a mirror we're no longer a whole man because of
25:15
the sin of the fall we're no longer complete so Sola scriptura Sola gratia Sola fidei then the fourth of the five
25:26
SOLAS Sola Christus well keeping them together in Christ alone classic passage
25:45
for this is Acts chapter 4 verse 12
25:58
that's it's hard to misinterpret this passage and again I firmly believe that among evangelicals there is total agreement between the Arminian and the Calvinists on this point where Peter
26:10
says and there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven which has been given among men by which we must be saved that is one of
26:21
the most blessedly clear passages in scripture with regard to Christianity there is no one else and no other name but Jesus okay so yes it's faith alone
26:35
once we've worked out how this happens what is ultimately important to our salvation is that we have faith in Christ alone now when it means Christ
26:48
alone or when it says Christ alone it means not Christ and something else now Paul encountered that when he died
27:02
the Judaizers those who were saying yes yes salvation that Jesus is the Messiah salvation is in Christ but you know there's still Moses and therefore you
27:13
Gentiles need to be circumcised and you Jews you you still need to observe the dietary laws its Christ plus the Roman
27:26
Catholic Church says it's Christ plus the church penance and the ordinances that the grace that is given from the Treasury of Merit through the operation
27:37
of the priests confession all of that it's Christ plus now I don't think the Arminian is guilty of that because in in history
27:51
then this is kind of a side note so I'm going to put it up hi Arminianism tends
28:02
to associate itself with antinomianism and that is literally lawlessness and
28:15
that doesn't mean they're they're wicked sinners that's not that's not the point but it is generally the Arminian theologian who will argue that we are no longer under the law and the law has no
28:27
place in the life of a Christian because we are under grace and that's a different lesson altogether it's it's it's really a completely different subject but I don't think the armenian
28:40
struggles with adding anything to christ the average Arminian tends to be once saved always saved they tend to to hold to once you're a believer in Jesus
28:52
Christ you're good to go for eternity has that been your experience as far as any Arminian teaching or preaching you know once you walk down the aisle raise
29:03
your hand sign the card baptize you good to go so you know that there's a problem with that too Simon Magus was baptised but it's really
29:13
hard to to bring Simon mages into the community of the Saints so there's you know there's a problem with that but that's a different issue we we agree however that there's nothing
29:26
else but Jesus as the object of our faith but finally and this is the one that I want to spend the remainder of
29:38
our time because I think it's where the rubber meets the road soli Deo Gloria to God alone be the
29:51
glory what is this all about
30:03
and I don't mean this class or even the debate between Calvinists and Armenians I mean this everything the universe the
30:14
fall of man the sending of God's Son in the flesh his life his death his resurrection the church the millennium you know the things that we don't really
30:26
understand what is it all about to what purpose do all things tend
31:11
that's a very good point that our choosing god of our own free will is giving glory to him in a sense or in a manner that is higher than than anything
31:22
else we can conceive of that we freely give ourselves to him and we will have to and I'm going to hold off on that because that that comes under the tea so
31:33
we'll be getting to that pretty soon that is one of the primary arguments of open theism that God receives ultimate
31:45
glory by not knowing what we're going to do okay and by allowing us to do what we
32:01
want to do he gets the glory you know in a magnified way as opposed to our conception of him having ordained
32:11
everything that's going to happen and I will admit there is the appearance that if I'm playing a game of computer chess
32:23
and I go in and I program it to always make the wrong move in response to every move I make it's hard to feel really
32:35
proud when I finally checkmate the computer right because the result has been forwarding and I'll grant that
32:45
that's that's definite philosophical struggle how is it that God gets the glory for being received by those who really
32:56
had no choice but to receive him and rejected by those who really had no choice but to reject him but I would submit that that's a misunderstanding of
33:07
our will it would be conceivably the greatest glory we could give God to choose him of our own free will if in
33:19
fact we could but what if we can't I mean we can conceive of things that are great and glorious but might not be
33:31
possible does that make sense so if I have a theology that says that God gets the greatest glory if man chooses him
33:44
from a completely free will but what if man can't do that what if sin biblically speaking has
33:56
rendered man both unable and unwilling to do that does God get the greatest glory when he doesn't get what he wants
34:10
when his purposes are not completely realized so what I want to try to do with with this class is look at those
34:21
questions a different way I happen to believe that while conceptually what you're saying makes perfect sense and I agree with it biblically and
34:32
experientially it's it's putting an obligation on man that he cannot fulfill that in his heart and by his nature he not only is unable he is unwilling to do
34:45
that and so that that anthropology or that theology will ultimately lead to nobody being saved I believe that our
34:57
minion ism if it is consistently applied with the script and it's teaching on man in sin could only lead to nobody being saved because
35:09
there are none that seek God no not one okay does that make sense I mean yeah oh well that's fine yeah
35:22
again I want to make it clear that this this is not a litmus test of fellowship okay you know I I really want to make that very clear this is theology we're not saved by theology we're not saved through John
35:34
Calvin or or Augustine or Arminius that that's that is not an issue and and I hope that those who have been in the church on our congregation for long enough would realize that there's no
35:45
hierarchy and Fellowship Bible Church based on your theology not at all I I do happen to believe and I would hope that every man who teaches from the Word of
35:57
God believes what he's teaching otherwise he's a hypocrite
36:23
right it's a that's why I said earlier it is a whole organic system it does very much work together when you begin to understand the parts the nature of God the atonement in Jesus Christ the
36:34
condition of man in sin it all starts to make sense Aaron
36:58
ultimately if God has done 99.9% of the work but cannot do the last tenth of a percent then ultimately the glory goes to man and that's a good point the
37:39
message of the Cross is foolishness to the unbeliever I want to use another analogy with regard and it's very personal I'm very fond of a doctor by the name of
37:51
John Manasi never met him before and our meetings was was a very sudden one he took place in the emergency room at Saint Francis Hospital he did a
38:02
wonderful job and I was in bad shape I had gone about a week and a half after my appendix had ruptured before going to the hospital so his comment was it looks
38:13
like a hand grenade went off in there it took two surgeries you know there's a certain glory that is ascribed to dr. Manasi for the skill of his hands but it
38:26
would have been even more glorious if I had gone in there dead and still be standing before you this morning okay to raise from the dead you know why did
38:38
Lazarus died and why did Jesus wait for days so that it would not be mistaken by anybody that the man was dead cold dead
38:50
stinking dead okay and that the power was of God right yeah so yeah I think when we look at total depravity we see
39:03
that yeah it B it would be us ascribing glory but who are we compared to God's glory God's glory is so great that we really can't
39:16
we don't contribute to it we we really just acknowledge it that's how we give glory to God is not by what we do for him but what we acknowledge that he has
39:28
done that that makes sense okay yeah and I think that when you when you understand the biblical teaching on the condition of man and sin you realize for
39:39
example that everywhere it talks about man a particular passage talking about man being saved it's always in the passive voice you being dead in your
39:51
trespasses and sins he saved it's it's never the man saved himself it's always the man being saved you must be born
40:05
again okay it's in the language it's like Nicodemus responded how can these things be the foolishness of the Cross
40:16
how can a grown man go back into his mother's womb okay and then there is there's a definite sense in which if we are teaching the true gospel then it
40:28
will not make sense to the sinner Paul's opponent in Romans nine who then finds fault for who can resist his will how can God judge us if it is his will
40:39
on whom he will have mercy and on whom he will not have mercy and Paul's response was classic who are you oh man to answer back to God okay
40:50
there is a certain that an element of humility and humiliation that comes from reformed theology the only danger and
41:03
there's always a danger of pride in anything man does the reformed theologian is not going to be prideful that he did something for his salvation he's going to tend to be prideful
41:16
based on his understanding oh I understand so much the Armenian is going to say well I believed there are the cowardice is what I understood and
41:29
frankly if that were the choice I'd rather be the Arminian than the Calvinist I'd rather be proud of believing than proud of understanding because I think there are a lot of unbelievers who understand that God is
41:41
sovereign a lot of pagans believe that too the passage here then we're going to close with this because it is in effect a doxology and a benediction Ephesians three verses 20 and 21 and I'll read
41:58
that passage and then we'll close in prayer this morning our Sunday School class Ephesians three verses 20 and 21
42:10
now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us to him be the glory in the
42:21
church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever amen let us pray