Does Irressitible Grace Make Men into Robots?

Comment: Irresistible grace makes men into ROBOTS

Response: I never heard the Bible make this argument. In fact, it makes the opposite argument, that is a great act of love to help people who cannot help themselves.(Isaiah 42:7; Rom 9:16-21). Its called mercy. It no more makes people into robots than parents who save their disobedient children from danger makes their children into robots. You don't leave your children to themselves. And whether your children want your help at the time or not, you know better than your children what is good for them. Most people call this love. How much more does God know what is good for his children?   Continue at John Hendryx

Predestination Destroys Legalism

Predestination destroys legalism. If salvation is by Christ alone, it leaves no room for boasting or trusting in ourselves, even a little. It strips us bare and forces us to abandon all hope in our efforts or rules ... man-made rules non-predestinarians tend to make to demonstrate they are more worthy than others of God's grace (an oxymoron). The Scripture declares: "It is because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor 1:30-31)

This is not to say that Reformed people cannot be legalistic. Human beings find any way possible to do so, Reformed included. It means to say, rather, that if UNDERSTOOD CORRECTLY the doctrine of Grace ALONE in Christ ALONE will have the real effect of stripping us of legalism etc. Again only God's grace can do so. This likewise was not an attempt to show Reformed superiority but the effect of a true understanding of the Bible will have on someone who beholds the majesty of God and is struck down by the fact that God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy.

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After I wrote this, I had the following discussion ensue which I believe worth posting.

Visitor: Please explain to me what you mean by God will have mercy on who he will have mercy on. Would you try to say that God would send someone to hell without a choice of accepting and serving Him?

 

Response: Thank you for your question. First, "He will have mercy on whom he has mercy" is not my words but a direct quote from Scripture (Romans :9:15, 16). That being settled, let me answer your question.... everyone who hears the gospel are presented with the command or summons to believe.   Continue at Reformation Theology

Mercy Always Comes Running

I know that illustrations always break down at some level but I still think the following one makes a good (albeit, not perfect) point. At the very least, it’s kind of funny in a corny way!

A friend of mine recently told a silly story about a man standing at the gates of heaven waiting to be admitted. To the man’s utter shock, Peter said, “You have to have earned a thousands points to be admitted to heaven. What have you done to earn your points?”

“I’ve never heard that before: but I think I’ll do alright. I was raised in a Christian home and have always been a part of the church. I have Sunday school attendance pins that go down the floor. I went to a Christian college and graduate school and have probably led hundreds of people to Christ. I’m now an elder in my church and am quite supportive of what the people of God do. I have three children, two boys and a girl. My oldest boy is a pastor and the younger is a staff person with a ministry to the poor. My daughter and her husband are missionaries. I have always tithed and am now giving well over 30% of my income to God’s work. I’m a bank executive and work with the poor in our city trying to get low income mortgages.”   Keep Reading...

“I Hope You Rot in Hell!”

Yesterday, a terrible tragedy struck Northern Nevada.  Many of you have probably seen the news about a man who fired on several people, ultimately killing four of them, before taking his own life.  Five of the people who were shot were Nevada Army National Guardsman, three of which died.  Many find themselves utterly dumbfounded by this evil act.  Of course, compounding the issue is that, with the death of the shooter, we may never know why he did it.  There is a tremendous sadness, and even anger over this tragedy.  In fact, one commenter on a news website summed his anger toward the shooter by stating, “I hope God doesn’t show you mercy.  I hope you rot in Hell.”

I have found myself thinking about that phrase over the last twenty-four hours.  What should we think of someone who has committed such an atrociously evil act?  Should we truly desire for someone to “rot in hell?”  Should we really desire that God never show that person mercy?  Ultimately, I believe the answer is no.   Keep Reading...

Remember Lot’s Wife

There are few warnings in Scripture more solemn than this. The Lord Jesus Christ says to us, “Remember Lot’s wife.” 

Lot’s wife was a professor of religion: her husband was a “righteous man” (II Peter 2:8). She left Sodom with him on the day when Sodom was destroyed; she looked back towards the city from behind her husband, against God’s express command; she was struck dead at once, and turned into a pillar of salt. And the Lord Jesus Christ holds her up as a beacon to His church: He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.”

It is a solemn warning, when we think of the person Jesus names. He does not bid us remember Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob, or Sarah, or Hannah, or Ruth. No: He singles out one whose soul was lost for ever. He cries to us, “Remember Lot’s wife.”

It is a solemn warning, when we consider the subject Jesus is upon. He is speaking of His own second coming to judge the world: He is describing the awful state of unreadiness in which many will be found. The last days are on His mind, when He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.”

It is a solemn warning, when we think of the Person who gives it. The Lord Jesus is full of love, mercy, and compassion: He is One who will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax He could weep over unbelieving Jerusalem, and pray for the men that crucified Him; yet even He thinks it good to give this solemn warning and remind us of lost souls. Even He says, “Remember Lot’s wife.”  Keep Reading...

Tsunami, Sovereignty, and Mercy

“The waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me. . . This God—his way is perfect” (2 Samuel 22:5, 31). 

After the loss of his ten children owing to a “natural disaster” (Job 1:19), Job said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). At the end of the book, the inspired writer confirms Job’s understanding of what happened. He says Job’s brothers and sisters “comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11). This has several crucial implications for us as we think about the calamity in the Indian Ocean.

1) Satan is not ultimate, God is.

Satan had a hand in Job’s misery, but not the decisive hand. God gave Satan permission to afflict Job (Job 1:12; 2:10). But Job and the writer of this book treat God as the ultimate and decisive cause. When Satan afflicts Job with sores, Job says to his wife, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10), and the writer calls these satanic sores “the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11). So Satan is real. Satan brings misery. But Satan is not ultimate or decisive. He is on a leash. He goes no farther than God decisively permits. Keep Reading>>>

The Doctrines of Grace and “Against Calvinism”

It’s been almost three years since I have come to embrace Reformed Theology and the doctrines of grace.  While my theology is still being formed and I am still growing in knowledge, I can say with absolute certainty that I have never been on such solid theological footing as I am now. The doctrines of grace, or Calvinism, teach that salvation is all of grace.  From beginning to end, salvation is a free gift of God for which no man is worthy.  Salvation is a gift that is offered to everyone but not given to everyone.  Once received however, it can never be lost, and it can never be taken away.  Whether I was capable of articulating it or not, embedded deep within my theology was the proud, lofty idea that there was, in me, something good and worthy that God saw fit to save.  At some level, I truly believed that God saved me because He saw something good in me.  Nothing could be further from the truth. Apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit there is nothing in me that could ever choose anything good or desire God.  I am, by nature, a sinner and worthy of nothing but eternal destruction. This erroneous understanding of salvation spilled into and colored everything in my theology. Continue reading>>>

Mercy When Justice Is Deserved

How Were Judas and Peter Different

My point to you is this:

The ONLY difference between you (if you belong to Christ) and all the poor wretched souls who are and will spend an eternity in hell - that outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth - is that you have God Himself on your side, and they do not. You have a Mediator between yourself and the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. They do not. You have been given to the Son by the Father. They have not. You have been born from above by the Holy Spirit. They have not. You have been spared the cross. They have not. You have received mercy. They have received justice.

I hope and pray that you will realize that your salvation has nothing to do with what you have done, or what you have decided, or what you have prayed, or what aisle you have walked. You have not been reconciled to God because of your repentance. You have been reconciled to God because the Father chose certain people, and He gave those people to the Son, and the Son lived perfectly and died vicariously and rose victoriously for them, and the Spirit regenerates them in God’s perfect timing.

The difference between you and all the damned in hell has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with God. Praise Him for His wonderful grace! (Voice of the Sheep)