Sermon Tone Analysis

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Announcements
Tomorrow, from 11 AM til noon, the J.O.Y.
Connection Group will have their monthly “Lunch & Stuff” to prepare our seed packets for Soul Winning Saturday.
If we do not have enough volunteers, we will be unable to follow through with our Festival of Trees in December.
Make your plans to participate in Soul Winning Saturday this Saturday, November 5th.
What We Believe
Last week, I wrapped up my message by finishing out what we believe regarding Man.
The last part of our doctrinal statement, in that section, states:
We believe that consequently, his posterity inherit a corrupt nature, being born in sin and under its condemnation, and, as soon as they become capable of moral action, become actual transgressors.
I want to use this specific point of our doctrinal statement as an opportunity to open the door on another subject that I will continue to look at in the coming weeks:
Calvinism
This evening, I am just going to crack the door open, just a bit, to this subject.
As we continue through our doctrinal statement, I will address this subject in more detail.
What is Calvinism?
In his book, Forewarned & Forearmed, Dr. Chris Shepler wrote:
So, what is Calvinism?
It is a theological error of mammoth proportions that undermines the will of God for the lost, that restricts the death of Christ to only an elect few and that takes away the free will of man either to accept or reject Christ as his or her Saviour.
Ultimately it robs the Gospel of its open invitation to all men to be saved and dooms most men to a lost eternity with no Saviour to save them.
That, my friends, is not the message of the Bible!
With that, it should be obvious where I stand in regards to Calvinism.
I am not a Calvinist.
I had an individual, whom I’ve never met before, email me recently, and pointedly ask me, “Are you a Calvinists?” My response to them was simply, “No.”
The teachings of Calvinism are usually divided into five basic points.
While some individuals may consider themselves to be 3 point Calvinists or even 7 point Calvinists, most, I believe, would consider themselves to be 5 point Calvinists.
These 5 points make up an acrostic which spells:
T.U.L.I.P
Those 5 points are:
Total Depravity (or Total Inability)
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saved
Tonight, I will only use the first point to crack open the door to Calvinism:
The Total Depravity of Man
Now, it may surprise you - or not - but I also believe in the total depravity of man! (And this is the reason why I have opened this particular door right now.)
As one preacher stated,
“...all of mankind is morally corrupt, sinfully evil and completely defiled by sin from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet and throughout this innermost core being!”
I wholeheartedly agree with that!
However, this is why it is so important for us to, as I say, define our words!
In his book, The Dark Side of Calvinism, George Bryson points out another author who incorrectly equates the Calvinist doctrine of total depravity with the biblical truth that…all have sinned.
As long as Christians erroneously assume that the Calvinist distinctive of total depravity is simply that all have sinned, they will continue to think erroneously that they believe in or agree with the first point of Calvinism.
A Calvinist twists the truth that all have sinned beyond recognition.
Dr. Chris Shepler (whom I referenced before) wrote:
Calvinists take the point of unsaved man being dead in his sins to an extreme, claiming that man is so dead in his sin that he cannot respond to the Gospel in faith of his own will, even if he wanted to!
Dr. John Piper, who is a Calvinist and a supposed independent Baptist states that total depravity means:
People are spiritually dead and therefore unable to respond to God’s offer of salvation unless He first regenerates them.
Evangelist and Bible Teacher, Paul L. Freeman (who is now with the Lord) wrote:
The teaching of Five-Point Calvinism is that man is totally unable to do anything to obtain salvation.
Calvinists state very emphatically that man cannot repent or believe the gospel.
Their teaching is that man cannot believe until he is born again.
This new birth is brought about by God who chooses certain individuals and regenerates them.
Those whom He regenerates are then capable of believing by virtue of their new birth.
Man does not have a free will by which he is able to come to Christ for salvation.
We believe:
We do believe that man is totally depraved from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet and that he is unable to do anything to obtain salvation.
Mark 10:17 (KJV 1900)
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
Note: Calvinists would argue that the gift spoken of in Ephesians 2:8 is faith - the faith.
However, comparing Scripture to Scripture, we understand that, according to Romans 6:23, the gift of God is eternal life - not faith.
We do believe that man was created with a free will - the free will to either exercise faith in Jesus Christ for salvation or to reject God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.
So, tonight, I have cracked open the door to address that matter of Calvinism in the coming weeks.
Please understand - I as your pastor am not a Calvinist and therefore, I am going to lead this church in a direction away from Calvinism not toward Calvinism.
What we believe @ SALVATION
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ “died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried; and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
We believe that a person is saved when he repents of his sin and exercises faith by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.
We believe that salvation is a gift of eternal life wholly by the grace of God without any merit or works.
We believe that the atonement of Christ is not limited, but that God desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth; that it is not His will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
(I Corinthians 15:3-4; Romans 6:23; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 16:31; II Peter 3:9; Ephesians 2:8-9)
Why is it important?
Why is it important that we understand what we believe about salvation?
While all of doctrine is important (because our faith and practice is dependent upon our doctrine), the doctrine of salvation holds, I believe, a special place in the heart of God.
William Evans in The Great Doctrines of the Bible wrote:
The burden of the heart of God, and His one command to all men everywhere, is that they should repent.
1 Timothy 2:4 (KJV 1900)
Who [God] will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Charles Ryrie in his Basic Theology gave two reasons why it is important for us to understand the doctrine of salvation:
Reason #1: The Curse
There are only two instances in the New Testament where a curse is pronounced upon Christians for their failure to do something:
The first is when we do not love the Lord.
The second is when we preach a gospel other than the Gospel of the grace of God.
The second reason that Charles Ryrie gives as to why it is important for us to understand the doctrine of salvation is:
Reason #2: Our Responsibility
We have been given a command - a holy responsibility - to declare the Gospel.
Therefore, we must have at least a basic understanding of the doctrine of salvation if we desire to give a clear presentation of the Gospel which is the means by which people are saved.
Knowing and understanding the Biblical doctrine of salvation really is a matter of life and death!
With that, let’s turn our attention to our doctrinal statement...
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ “died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried; and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
This aspect of our doctrinal statement comes directly from Scripture:
Question: Why is salvation necessary?
While that question may seem silly to those of us here tonight, I submit that it is a necessary question because of the answer.
The answer to that question can be found in the previous section of our doctrinal statement dealing with man.
Answer: Salvation is necessary because we are sinners.
Romans 6:23 (KJV 1900)
For the wages of sin is death...
Allow me to explain the necessity of salvation just as Evangelist John VanGelderen has shared before (and which is in our tracts, Good News):
1 Corinthians 15:3 (KJV 1900)
...Christ died for our sins...
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