The following is an edited transcript of the lesson audio:
Introduction: Why Are You a Christian?
The purpose of this exercise is to look at the cause of your believing yourself to be a Christian. If we're saying that we're Christians and somebody asks us, "Why are you a Christian?" we should be able to give some sort of answer.
Maybe your answer is something like, "I read the Bible and was convicted," or, "I've been going to church, and the messages really spoke to me." Whatever the reason, you should be able to explain why you believe.
But for our class today, I think there is an even deeper cause than that, and I think the cause is God.
Before we get into that, let me reiterate what we're doing, partly for your sake and partly for mine, so that I'm not too hardcore when I talk to you. I'm not necessarily concerned about converting you to Calvinism. I want to teach it and allow you to wrestle with it. It's okay to have questions.
I'm also not necessarily attempting to teach a balanced view. I'm arguing for Calvinism because I believe it is the most biblical and God-glorifying view.
So, with that, our cards are on the table as teachers.
The big theme I've been trying to emphasize throughout this class is that God is King.
God Is King and Sovereign Over All Things
Notice that many of today's questions were about whether God is allowed to do certain things and whether He will do what He wants. Part of the reason is that I've been emphasizing this theme of God being King.
I think the Bible presents a picture of God as King over the universe and over our individual lives. I think that's a fair picture of God that the Bible paints for us.
We have God, we have Jesus coming back to rule and reign, and we have the kingdom of heaven. There's all this kingdom language throughout the Bible.
I think that part of being King entails that He gets to do whatever He wants and whatever He pleases. If you believe in the concept of God, then I think that being God means He can do whatever He wants and pleases. If God were unable to do that, He would cease to be God.
I think that's a fair definition of God: He can do everything. He's sovereign and in control. We use words like omniscient and omnipresent to describe Him. I think these attributes define God.
Even if you're not a Christian but are simply thinking about the concept of God, that's what I would want God to be. I want Him to possess all these attributes and to be in control of all things.
Thankfully, or perhaps fittingly, the Bible paints us a picture of exactly that. This is what I'm trying to show you as we talk about Calvinism: God is King over the entire world, over our entire lives, and over our salvation.
To say that God is King is to say that He is sovereign. This entails power, control, and authority.
God, being King, has given us His Word. Since this is a Christian class, we're going to look at the Bible as God's Word. The question, then, is whether we're going to submit to what the Bible says.
Whenever somebody presents something to you from the Bible, you have a choice: believe it or not believe it. Of course, I want you to believe it. But I can't convince you or convict you to do that. I think that's the work of God in your heart, and that's what I'm going to pray for you.
A Review of the Five Points of Calvinism
Total Depravity
Total depravity means that we have pervasive corruption.
As Tiff said, we can't save ourselves, and that's true. It also means that we won't desire God. God has a plan of salvation for us, but we won't choose to accept it unless God changes us.
That's what total depravity means. We have a propensity to sin. Similar terms include radical corruption, moral inability, and human brokenness.
Unconditional Election
Because we are totally depraved and sinful, and because we don't choose God or have hearts inclined toward Him, God needs to choose us and change us.
The Reformed view of election is unconditional. This means that God doesn't choose us based on something He foresees us doing. Rather, He is the one who causes that change. He called us and chose us before the foundation of the world to be saved.
There are no conditions we meet that cause God to choose us. God simply chooses because He loves.
Election rests on God's sovereign decision to save whomever He is pleased to save.
Do you see how this language has been baked into our definitions from the beginning? God is pleased to do these things. It makes Him happy.
I believe this comes from the Bible, and I'll show you more verses. But consider the passage from Ephesians:
Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
It's interesting that holiness is part of this picture. God does want us to be holy.
The passage continues:
In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.
In other words, this is what God wanted to do. I'm trying to get us to think in biblical terms and biblical language. This idea was there from the beginning: God wanted to do this. He willed to choose some to save.
Is It Fair That God Chooses Some and Not Others?
We also talked about whether it's fair for God to choose some people and not others. I think this is a major concern for many people.
The answer, from this perspective, is that if God were truly fair, we would all receive death because that's what we deserve.
That is fairness: getting what we deserve. And what we deserve is punishment for our sin.
But God is merciful and gracious, so He sends His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins, providing a way of escape and a bridge to God the Father for those who believe.
Remember when I said it's kind of strange how we use human words like willing and wanting when we apply them to God? In the same way, it's difficult to apply our human understanding of fairness to God.
If God is truly King over everything, then whatever He says is fair. It's not up to us to determine these things. At least, that's what I believe the biblical viewpoint is. The world would disagree, of course.
Consider the example of Israel. God chose Israel even though they weren't a great or mighty nation. That's the point in the Old Testament: He loved them because they were His people, and He entered into a covenant with them.
Now, under the new covenant of grace, we have Jesus and the church.
Limited Atonement
Last time, we discussed limited atonement.
If we believe everything we've discussed about election and total depravity, then Jesus' death on the cross means that His blood covers the elect. If His death covered everybody in the world in the same way, then everybody would be saved. But we know that's not the case. Some people go to hell, and some die in their sin, which is sad.
Jesus' blood covers the elect: those who believe and are chosen by God to be saved.
This is the point of reconciliation, which means repairing the relationship between God and humanity. That's what Jesus does.
Other terms for this doctrine include definite atonement and particular redemption. The idea is that Christ's work accomplishes redemption for particular people, namely, the church and those who are elect.
This is important because, from my perspective, the alternative raises an intellectual problem. If you don't believe in limited atonement, it can seem to imply that God doesn't know in advance who's going to be saved.
But God is King and in control of everything. God knows everything. I find it difficult to reconcile God's sovereignty with the idea that He doesn't know who's going to be saved.
Irresistible Grace
Who Gets the Praise When Someone Is Saved?
Let's continue that train of thought. I'm teaching you Calvinism, so let's consider the alternative. If God doesn't choose people and isn't in control, then we face this question:
If Jesus died for everyone, and you get to choose whether to be saved, while God isn't the one determining who will be saved, then who gets the praise, the credit, or the glory when you become a Christian? Who gets to boast?
Think about what we put on the boards. When you explain why or how you became a Christian, is your fundamental answer that you were smart? That you took in information from the church, your parents, and your friends, and then made the decision yourself?
You might say, "Yes, I made that decision. I am a Christian now."
At the most fundamental level, you're saying that you willed your heart to embrace God and choose Him. You did that.
If you have some knowledge of the Bible or are familiar with what we teach and preach here, that might present a problem.
It's kind of strange to say, "Yeah, I did this," when we pray for God to change our hearts, open our eyes, and change people.
So I want you to ask yourself honestly: Is that what you really believe? Did God change you at the deepest level, or were you the one who decided, "I did this. I'm a Christian"?
Who gets the praise, credit, and glory? Who gets to boast?
We'll come back to that at the end.
The Holy Spirit Never Fails to Bring His Own to Faith
The main definition of irresistible grace is this: The Holy Spirit never fails to bring His own to faith.
If you are elect, chosen, or predestined to be a Christian, the Holy Spirit guarantees that it will happen. He ensures it. He makes sure of it.
The way He accomplishes this is by changing your heart. That's how it happens. The Holy Spirit does it. This is saving grace, and it inevitably produces conversion.
The Holy Spirit transforms the unwilling into the willing.
Remember that point when you weren't a Christian and then became a Christian? I'm giving you the language to understand that transformation as the Holy Spirit changing your will so that you want to become a Christian.
Somewhere along the line, Jesus began to look glorious and beautiful to you, and you wanted Him. In this understanding, that desire was the result of God changing your heart.
God's grace cannot fail to convert the elect.
This is also called effective grace. When God pours out His grace upon people, it is effective. It will work.
God doesn't simply say, "I'm going to give some grace to some people. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't." No, God is God, and His grace is effective.
God Overcomes Human Resistance
John Piper puts it this way:
Wherever God pleases, he overcomes your resistance.
Notice the language of pleasing. Whatever God wants to do, He will do because He's the King. He's God. He'll do whatever He wants, and He can overcome human resistance.
Piper continues:
He can let you resist him as long as he wants. But when he decides, he triumphs.
He then says:
He did that for me. If you're a Christian, he did it for you.
God gets all the praise for overcoming our rebellion. We didn't overcome our own deadness, rebellion, and blindness. He triumphed in our lives.
We want to give Him glory for this, and we want to know how secure we are in Him.
That's the whole point of irresistible grace: when God wants to save people, He will, and He does.
Nobody can ultimately resist Him if He has determined to save them. God doesn't simply say, "I want to save you, but if you don't want to be saved, that's fine."
No. If God wants to save you, He will save you.
Biblical Support for Irresistible Grace
There are many biblical passages that address this idea. Let's look at a few.
John 6:44
Jesus says:
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
Jesus presents the idea that if God the Father wants people to be saved, He draws them to Himself. The language of drawing means pulling them in. God draws people toward Him.
Acts 13:48
The passage says:
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
God appoints certain people to eternal life, and those appointed believe. You could think of it as an appointment God ensures will be fulfilled. In this understanding, God doesn't appoint people and then leave the outcome uncertain.
John 6:65
Jesus also says:
This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.
Again, Jesus is talking about someone's desire to come to Him. The Father must grant it. God changes that person's heart and will so that they want Him.
I'm trying to show you that this language is found throughout the Bible. There are many more examples.
Why Does God Do This?
A natural question is, why does God do this? Why does He choose some and not others?
The Bible says:
It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
God changes your will. He works in you so that you desire Him and act according to His purposes. He does this for His good pleasure because He wants to.
This is the same language I've been using from the beginning: God does what He wants, and He is pleased to do it.
Does God Turn People Away?
People often ask, "Aaron, if you're saying that God appoints people and grants them the ability to believe, what if someone wants to be a Christian but God doesn't grant them that?"
Jesus' answer is that whoever comes to Him, He will never cast out.
That's how we have to understand this. If somebody wants to come to Jesus, then, in this view, God has already worked in that person's heart to make them want to come.
God does not cast people out. The question isn't whether someone sincerely wants to come to Christ but whether that desire itself is ultimately the result of God's work in the heart.
It's all happening at the deepest level. God is the cause of it.
Think about this whenever we present the gospel to people. We ask, "Do you want to believe? Do you want this?"
If the person says yes, we recognize that God has been working in their heart. If they say no, we continue to pray, asking God to work in that person.
A Practical Example: Lydia's Heart Is Opened
Here's a practical example from Acts 16:14:
One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
This is the kind of language we use every day as Christians. We talk about God changing people's wills so that they want Him, transforming people, conforming them to Him, and opening their hearts to Him.
When you look at the Bible and the language we use, this is the same idea we're discussing. I'm simply framing it in terms of irresistible grace.
Has Your Heart Been Overcome by God?
Here's the question I want to leave you with: Has your heart been overcome by God, or is your heart still in resistance?
I try not to teach as if everyone in this class is a Christian because I know that's not necessarily the case. I also don't want to assume that everyone is a Christian because I don't know what's in your heart.
So if you're not a Christian, or if you know in your heart that you're not one, I want to ask you: Why aren't you?
If you want to come to God, you can simply say, "God, I want to."
God can change your heart. He can overcome stubbornness and our sinful desires. God changed me, and He can do the same for you.
There is no obstacle that God cannot overcome.
Do you remember when we talked a couple of weeks ago about North Korea? We asked whether that was too hard for God.
No. Nothing is too hard for God. Even the most stubborn person is not beyond His ability to overcome.
That's what we pray for. We pray for God to overcome people's resistance and change their hearts and minds.
Why Irresistible Grace Matters to Me Personally
Every week, I've been trying to make these doctrines personal. Here are my personal reasons for why irresistible grace matters to my life.
Irresistible Grace Makes Prayer Make Sense
Irresistible grace makes prayer make sense to me.
If God were unable to do whatever He wants and pleases, why would I pray in the first place?
When I pray, I ask God to make things happen. I pray, "God, help me do well on this test," because I believe He can help me.
When I pray, "God, help me do well in this job interview," I genuinely believe He can help me say the right things.
When I pray, "God, help me take care of my kids, provide for my family, and be a good husband," I believe He can enable me to do those things.
If God were unable to accomplish even something as seemingly small as changing someone's will or heart, why would I pray to a God who couldn't do that?
Irresistible grace means that God can overcome anything and does whatever He wants and pleases. That makes prayer make sense to me because God is capable of doing these things.
No One Can Outwill God
Irresistible grace also means that no one can outwill God when it comes to salvation.
Think about someone who seems to have an incredibly strong will. Some people seem completely opposed to Jesus, opposed to goodness, or committed to a secular worldview. We might think they're too stubborn ever to change.
But people can change overnight. People can change in seconds because God can bring about that change.
Think about why you cry. You cry because you're overwhelmed by emotion. Do you think God can't bring emotion into people's lives if He wants to?
God can change people. He can change their emotions and their wills. All these things are within His power.
My Will and God's Will Can Coincide
Finally, irresistible grace means that my will and God's will can coincide, and I can know that I can please Him.
When we talk about God changing people's hearts, that includes my own heart.
When I pray, "Change my heart, O God, and make it like Yours," I genuinely believe God can do that.
He can conform me to the image of Jesus. My will and God's will can become aligned. I can live according to God's will in a way that pleases Him.
For me, as a Christian, that's everything.
I want God to be happy with me. I want Him to be pleased with my life. I want to walk according to His ways.
The doctrine of irresistible grace gives me hope that God can change my will and that my life can be lived for His glory.
Who Gets the Glory for Our Salvation?
This is the final question I want to leave you with: If Jesus died for everyone and you can choose whether to be saved, who gets the praise, the credit, and the glory?
At the end of the day, if you can say, "I made this decision for myself because I'm smart, or because of my life circumstances. It was me," then I want you to wrestle with that.
Consider the familiar passage from Ephesians 2:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
God does not share His glory with anybody. For some people, it's difficult to understand that God is King and deserves to be worshiped, while humanity does not deserve that worship.
I hope you'll consider whether the best way to give God the credit and worship He deserves is to attribute everything to Him.
I don't just think God wants this glory. I think He can handle it. I want to be able to say, "God, You get the glory for everything. I get nothing."
I think that makes God happy. And I think God is pleased to share His glory with us.
When we are conformed to the image of Jesus and are with God in heaven, we get to rule and reign with Him. That's more than we could ask for and more than we deserve.
Conclusion: A Life of Worship
Thank you for being here and for listening. Tiff will explain more and give you additional Bible verses later.
But at the end of the day, I love talking about these things. I love talking about God being King.
You guys know I'm a worship leader. You know I play music and all that. But worship isn't just about music. It's my whole life. I believe God should be worshiped in everything we do.
And that includes saying, "God, You do whatever You want."