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Especially for Amanda pt II

ESPECIALLY FOR AMANDA Pt. 2
Mike Cunningham
June 1, 2014

It’s been my prayer-filled hope that today’s sermon is pleasing to the Lord and that it will be helpful to you folks who are reading it, and especially to the ones [Amanda and her Dad, Mike Jr.] that posted their comments on my blog concerning last weeks sermon. For instance, the following is what my good friend and former pastoral assistant Guy Rossi posted:

The particular scriptures chosen do a very good job of showing the meaning of election from a strictly Calvinistic viewpoint. Respectfully, I must say that this view is unbalanced and tries to remove the tension that exists in scripture regarding the responsibility of man in choosing to follow Jesus Christ. Not one scripture was quoted that speaks of the necessity of believing. Does mankind have any choice in the matter? Following the line of reasoning outlined in the sermon one would have to conclude that it was God’s purpose to condemn the majority of mankind to hell. Double predestination is the logical outcome based on the argument presented. But is this the overwhelming tenor of God’s Word? Is this what Jesus taught? Did Jesus weep over those who He purposed to send to hell? Is Jesus proclamation in John 3:16 in error? (“For God so loved the World, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life). Is there a hidden meaning (i.e.: For God so loved the “Elect,”that when I cause them to irresistibly believe, they will have eternal life).

I have held to the Calvinistic Doctrine of Election for many years, but over the past 3 years or so I have been challenged by scripture to re-think this view. Even among Calvinists this view varies in degree….I must say it has been a confusing and trying journey to discern God’s Will in this matter. While I am not ready to completely through Calvinistic Election under the bus, I see many inconsistencies based on the careful study of God’s Word.
Here’s something to think about. A true Calvinist would not be able to look someone in the eye and say to them that “Jesus Loves You.” He could say that “Jesus loves sinners like you. If you are one of the elect who He will irresistibly cause to believe apart from any free choice on your part. And if not, He actually hates you and has hated you before you were even born and had predestined you to spend eternity in hell.”
This is just one of the many disquieting realities of Calvinism.
Mike, I am a bit surprised by the one sided viewpoint you presented in the message…In our conversations you express a much more balanced view of salvation…I expect that part two of this message will touch on man’s responsibility regarding salvation.
Blessing in Christ,
Guy

Ernest Reisinger in his insightful book, “God’s Will, Man’s Will, And Free Will” explains that,

“The gospel command-“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved”-is addressed by divine authority to every creature, and therefor it is the duty of every man to obey it. There are some who deny this upon the grounds that man does not have the spiritual ability to believe in Jesus. However, it is altogether an error to imagine that the measure of the sinners ability is the measure of his duty.”

“There are many things which men ought to do which they have now lost the moral and spiritual (though not the physical) power to do. A man ought to be chaste; but if he has been so long immoral that he cannot restrain his passions, he is therefor free from the obligation. It is the duty of the debtor to pay his debts; but if he has been such a spendthrift that he has brought himself into hopeless poverty, he is not exonerated from his debts on account of his ability to pay.”

“Every man ought to believe that which is true, but if his mind has become so depraved that he loves a lie and will not receive, is he therefore excused?”

“If the law of God is to be lowered according to the moral conditions of sinners, we would have a law graduated upon a sliding scale to suit the degrees of human sinfulness. In fact, the worse man would then be under the least law and become consequently the least guilty. God’s requirements would be of variable quantity, and, in truth, we would be under no rule at all.”

“The command of Christ stands good, however bad men may be; and when He commands all men everywhere to repent, whether their sinfulness renders it impossible for them to be willing to do so or not. In every case, it is man’s duty to do what God bids him.”

“But, one may ask, how can a person be a free and responsible agent if his actions have been foreordained from eternity? Again, a free and responsible agent means an intelligent person who acts with rational self-determination. Foreordination means that from eternity past God has made certain the actual course of events which take place in the life of every person and in the realm of nature.”

“It is important to note at the outset that the true solution of this difficult question respecting the sovereignty of God and the freedom of man is not to be found in denying the sovereignty of God; neither is it found in denying the responsibility of man. The same God who has ordained the events has ordained human liberty and human responsibility in the midst of these events. The Bible teaches that it is just as important to assert the true validity of the secondary agent (man) as it is to assert the ultimate validity of the final cause (God).”

“One can readily see that we have as our solution either fatalism on the one hand, or the intelligent plan and purpose of an almighty, personal God on the other. The Bible clearly teaches that God has a plan and that He has the wisdom and power to execute that plan.” Pages 30-32.

“God did not make men in order to damn them. He did not make the angels “who kept not their first estate,” in order to damn them. He did not make Lucifer for the purpose of casting him out of Paradise. He did not make Judas for the purpose of sending him to his own place. God made man-every manand every thing-to glorify Himself. Every creature, man, and angel must do this, either actively or passively, either willingly, or unwillingly: actively and willingly in Heaven, or passively and unwillingly in Hell. This is God’s purpose and it shall stand. God may have many other ends in creation, but this is the chief one, the ultimate one-the one which is above all the others and to which all the rest are subordinate.”

“In this sense, then, obviously, God did not make men either to destroy them or to save them. He made them for His own glory. If the question is asked, did God make the Devil and his angels only to damn them? I answer He made them for His own glory. They are lost forever, but does that prove that He made them to destroy them? He kept their companions from falling (and so they are called the “elect angles,”) while He did not keep them. But does this prove that He made them only to destroy them? They fell, and in a moment they were consigned to everlasting chains. He made no effort to save them; He sent no redemption to them. But does that prove that He made them only to destroy them. If ever such an accusation could be preferred against God, it must be in the case of the angles, to whom no salvation was sent. It cannot be said of man, to whom salvation has come.”

    Whatever is right for God to do, is right for Him to decree. If God’s casting sinners into Hell is not wrong or unjust, then His proposing to do so from all eternity cannot be wrong or unjust. So you must either deny that there is a Hell or admit God’s right to leave sinners to themselves to go to their own place to dwell there forever. There is no middle way between Calvinism and Universalism

.”

“Let me call your attention to two passages of Scripture which would be good for those to ponder who ask such a question:”

Proverbs 16:4 (TLB)
4 The Lord has made everything for his own purposes—even the wicked, for punishment.

“For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth…What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?” (Romans 9:17, 22).”

“Texts like these are not to be explained away or overlooked. They are part of God’s holy Word as much as “God is Love.” And if one class of texts is to be twisted or turned away from, why not another? Our first duty is to believe, but there is nothing in the Bible which we need to shrink from believing.”

“A stupid man will get understanding when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man!”
Job 11:12 (ESV) Pages 52-53.

“I have been referring to those doctrines that set forth a God who saves, not this little “God” who just helps man to save himself. I mean those doctrines that reveal the three great acts of the Trinity for the recovering of poor, helpless, lost sinners: election by the Father, redemption by the Son, and calling by the Spirit. All are directed to the same individuals and secure their salvation infallibly. Away with this wicked idea of giving each act of the Trinity a different reference i.e. the objects of redemption as all mankind; the objects of calling as those who hear the gospel; and the objects of election as those hearers who respond.”

“Let us instead return to those doctrines which:

Give all the glory of saving sinners to God and do not divide it between God and the sinner

See the Creator as the source and the end of everything both in nature and in grace.

Teach that history is nothing less than the working out of God’s preordained plan.

Set forth the God who was sovereign in Creation, sovereign in redemption (both in planning it and perfecting it), and sovereign in providence-both historically and right now.

Reveal a Redeemer who actually redeems; a God who serves by purpose and by power; the Trinity working together for the salvation of sinners (the Father plans it, the Son achieves it and the Holy Spirit communicates and effectually applies it to God’s elect.

Proclaim a God who saves, keeps, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners-and loses none in the process.”

“God saves sinners! We must not weaken this great truth that God saves sinners by disrupting the unity of the work of the Trinity, or by dividing the achievement of salvation between God and man. Jonah had it straight: “Salvation [past, present, and future] is of the Lord” (2:9). These doctrines trace the source of every spiritual blessing-faith included-back to that great transaction between God and His Son, which was carried out on Calvary’s hill.”

“The Spirit’s gift is not just an enlightening work. It is also the regenerating work of God in men: taking away their hearts of stone and giving them hearts of flesh, renewing their wills, and by His almighty power, determining and causing them to come-not against their will but freely, being made willing by His grace.” (Psalm 110:3)

“Blessed is the man you choose, and cause to approach You, that he may dwell in Your courts” (Psalm 65:4) It is in this sense that grace proves to be irresistible. Why? Because grace subdues man’s power to resist.”

“Though this is all the sovereign work of God, let us not suppose that God’s decision to save a man by a decree leaves man passive and inert. It is the opposite that takes place:

The covenant of grace does not kill man; it takes possession of a man.

It does not regard man as a tin can, a piece of wood, or a robot; it lays hold of his whole being with all his faculties and power of soul and body, for time and eternity.

It does not annihilate his powers but removes his powerlessness.

It does not destroy his will but frees it from sin.

It does not stifle or obliterate his conscience but sets it free from darkness.

It regenerates and recreates man in his entirety; and in renewing him by grace, it causes him to love and consecrate himself to God freely.” Pages 67-68.

John 3:16 (TLB)
16 For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 11:25-26 (TLB)
25 Jesus told her, “I am the one who raises the dead and gives them life again. Anyone who believes in me, even though he dies like anyone else, shall live again.
26 He is given eternal life for believing in me and shall never perish. Do you believe this, Martha?”

Acts 16:31-32 (TLB)
31 They replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, and your entire household.”
32 Then they told him and all his household the GoodNews from the Lord.

John 20:31 (ESV)
31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Can you imagine someone telling the grieving mother of a nine-month old baby who died a crib death(SIDS)that unless; back in eternity past, God chose to elect her child to eternal life,then her little girl or boy is suffering excruciating agony in Hell? Or how about a four-year old child who is killed in a tornado, or an autistic girl who dies when she is twelve years old, or a twenty-something suffering from Downs Syndrome. Can you imagine telling the parents that their children will suffer eternally in Hell after they die because God didn’t love and elect them back in eternity past?

“Can you believe that “because God the Father has not chosen to elect some sinful unborn baby to eternal life in His Son, a baby that never saw the light of day and who never had an opportunity to learn of God’s law, much less personally break it; that that tiny baby who never even had an opportunity to plead for mercy and beg for forgiveness of the one sin it committed in Adam; that that poor child has been preordained to suffering an eternal separation from the One who is the very personification of love.” See my sermon: “Defending Your Christian Faith In College.”

Can you look someone in the eye and say that “Jesus loves you” only if you are one of the elect who He will irresistibly cause to believe apart from any free choice on your part. And if not, He actually hates you and has hated you before you were even born and had predestined you to spend eternity in Hell.”

Reisinger says, “It should not surprise us or discourage us that there is divine foreknowledge of all human actions on the one hand and free agency on the other hand.”

“We have a similar problem with God’s commanding men to do what they do not have the will or ability to do since they must act in accordance with their nature. For example, when God commanded Lazarus to “come forth from the grave,” he was dead and did not have the ability to obey or respond to our Lord’s command-unless God did something for him.”

“Another example is the poor man in the gospels who had been powerless for thirty-eight years and had no native ability to obey our Lord’s command to “take up your bed and walk.” The power came from the one who gave the command.” Page 38.

Lord willing, next week….

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June 1, 2014 Posted by Categories: Uncategorized 2 comments

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