Matthew 11:25; 16:15-17
John 1:13; 3:1-13; 5:21; 6:29; 37, 44; 17:2
Acts 2:39; 11:18; 13:48; 16:14
Romans 1:6; 8:28-30; 9:16
1Corinthians 1:8, 18-31
Galatians 1:6
Ephesians 1:19; 6:23
Philippians 1:29; 2:13
1 Timothy 1:12-17
2 Timothy 1:9; 2:25
1 Peter 2:9; 5:10
1 John 5:1
Jude 1:1

Irresistible Grace is God’s work of renewal in our hearts, which necessarily brings about saving faith.

Grace can be resisted until God wills to overcome resistance. As soon as he chooses God is able to overcome your resistance.

Argument 1: Faith and repentance are a gift of God.

Argument 2: We cannot come to Christ unless God draws us.

Argument 3: God’s effectual calling overcomes resistance to the gospel.

Argument 4: The new birth enables us to receive Christ.

Argument 5: The New Covenant promises grace that will triumph over resistance.

Argument 6: Who then can resist his will?

Genesis 6:5; 8:21
Psalm 14:1-3; 51:5; 58:3
Proverbs 22:15
Ecclesiastes 7:29
Isaiah 53:6
Jeremiah 4:4, 22; 6:10; 9:26; 13:23; 17:1, 9
Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26
Matthew 12:33-35; 15:19
Mark 10:27
John 3:3, 5, 19-20; 5:44; 6:44, 65; 8:43-45, 47
Acts 7:51
Romans 1:18-3:20; 5:10; 7:5; 6:6, 12, 14, 17; 8:7-8
1 Corinthians 1:18; 2:14
2 Corinthians 4:4
Ephesians 2:1-3; 4:17-19
Colossians 1:21
2 Thessalonians 2:7
2 Timothy 2:26
Titus 1:15
2 Peter 2:14, 19

Total Depravity means that apart from any enabling grace from God, our hardness and rebellion against God is total, everything we do in this rebellion is sin, our inability to submit to God or reform ourselves is total, and we are therefore totally deserving of eternal punishment.

1. Depravity affects every human.

2. Our rebellion or hardness against God is total, that is, apart from the grace of God there is no delight in the holiness of God, and there is no glad submission to the sovereign authority of God.

3. In his total rebellion everything man does is sin.

4. Man’s inability to submit to God and do good is total.

5. Our rebellion is totally deserving of eternal punishment.

If we think of ourselves as basically good or even anything less than totally at odds with God, our grasp of the work of God in redemption will be defective. However, if we humble ourselves under this terrible reality, we will be in a position to see and appreciate the glory and wonder of the work of God. 

Deuteronomy 7:7-8
Isaiah 40:13-14
Matthew 11:25-26
John 6:37; 10:15-16, 24-28; 15:16, 19; 17:2-4, 8, 9, 24; 18:9
Acts 13:48; 16:14; 18:9-10
Romans 8:28-30; 9:11, 16; 11:5
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Ephesians 1:3-5, 11
1 Thessalonians 1:4-5
2 Thessalonians 2:12-13
2 Timothy 1:9; 2:10
Titus 1:1

Definition From the Westminster Confession of Faith (Unconditional Election)

3.5 Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His will, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving Him thereunto; and all to the praise of His glorious grace.

3.6 As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath He, by the eternal and most free purpose of His will, foreordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore, they who are elected being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ; are effectually called unto faith in Christ by His Spirit working in due season; are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by His power, through faith, unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only.

When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48)

1. God’s justice or righteousness is his unwavering commitment to uphold and display the worth of his glory. 

2. His freedom from all external constraints is an essential aspect of his glory. 

3. Therefore, to act in freedom is essential to his glory and thus to his righteousness. In exercising that freedom for the upholding of his glory, in choosing Jacob over Esau, he is acting in complete justice. He was doing what justice demands of him — what the infinite worth of his glory requires. If he would not have acted in freedom here he would have been unjust; he would not have justly acted in accordance with the worth of his glory. 

Matthew 1:21; 20:28; 26:28
John 6:35-40; 10:10-11, 15-18, 24-28; 12:32; 17:1-4, 9, 19-22, 24; 18:9
Acts 20:28
Romans 5:8-9, 12-21; 8:32, 34
2Corinthians 5:14-15
Ephesians 1:7, 14; 5:25-27
Hebrews 7:22; 9:12, 15, 28
Revelation 1:5; 5:9

The atonement is the work of God in Christ, by his obedience and death, by which he cancelled the debt of our sin, appeased his holy wrath against us, and won for us all the benefits of salvation.

Both Calvinists and Arminians.

Arminians limit the effectiveness of the atonement by denying that it purchased the promises of the New Covenant for irresistible grace.

Calvinists affirm this purchase of the promises of the New Covenant for irresistible grace, and therefore limit the full blessings of the atonement to those God irresistibly brings to faith.

Calvinists believe that the death of Christ accomplished or purchased something more than Arminians believe it did, namely, the effectual grace to believe and come to Christ. All the irresistible grace (or effectual calling) that we saw in previous lessons, Calvinists believe, was purchased by the death of Christ.

Jeremiah 32:40
John 5:24; 6:37-40; 10:27-29
Romans 5:10; 8:23, 28-38
1 Corinthians 1:8; 10:13
Ephesians 1:13-14
Philippians 1:6
2 Thessalonians 5:23-24
2 Timothy 1:12
Titus 1:2
Hebrews 7:24-25
1 Peter 1:3-5
1 John 2:1-2
Jude 1:24-25

Definition of Perseverance from the Westminster Confession of Faith

17.1 They, whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.

17.2 This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ; the abiding of the Spirit, and of the seed of God within them; and the nature of the covenant of grace: from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof.

17.3 Nevertheless, they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalence of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins; and, for a time, continue therein: whereby they incur God’s displeasure, and grieve His Holy Spirit, come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts; have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded; hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves.

The doctrine of perseverance does not mean, you are saved no matter what you do — that’s not what the Bible teaches. This is a “mechanical” understanding of eternal security. Instead, perseverance teaches that you’re secure because he keeps you; you won’t make shipwreck your faith because he is holding on to you. 

Falling away from faith and holiness shows that we never belonged to Christ. 

They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. (1 John 2:19)

Hyper-Calvinism is a technical phrase from the 18th century. It referred especially to people in England who carried the doctrine of election and irresistible grace to an unbiblical conclusion, namely that the only to whom you should preach the gospel and offer its benefits are those in whom you see evidence of election. Hyper-Calvinism is an example of human logic trumping Biblical clarity. 

1. These truths make me stand in awe of God and lead me into the depth of true God-centered worship.

2. These truths help protect me from trifling with divine things.

3. These truths make me marvel at my own salvation.

4. These truths make me alert to man-centered substitutes that pose as good news.

5. These truths make me groan over the indescribable disease of our secular, God-belittling culture.

6. These truths make me confident that the work which God planned and began, he will finish – both globally and personally.

7. These truths make me see everything in the light of God’s sovereign purposes – that from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be glory forever and ever.

8. These truths make me hopeful that God has the will, the right, and the power to answer prayer that people be changed.

9. These truths remind me that evangelism is absolutely essential for people to come to Christ and be saved, and that there is great hope for success in leading people to faith, but that conversion is not finally dependent on me or limited by the hardness of the unbeliever.

10. These truths make me sure that God will triumph in the end.