Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on October 26, 2014

Turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 4:1-8. Today we are examining the doctrine of Irresistible Grace. Irresistible Grace is one of the five points of the Doctrines of Grace, otherwise known as Calvinism. As I stated last week, the five points are Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. An easy way to remember these five points is the acronym TULIP.  Last week we took a long hard look at total depravity, and it was not a pretty sight. We read text like Genesis 6:5.

• Genesis 6:5 - “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
  
  
• Romans 7:18 - “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”
  
  
• Hebrews 11:6 - “And without faith it is impossible to please him”
  
  
• Ephesians 2:1 - “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins “
  
  
• Romans 3:10-12 - “"None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." 
  
  

Through these text and others we came to one conclusion, we are sinners through and through. This doesn't mean that we are as evil and we can possibly be, but that it means that apart from the Grace of God all we can do is sin, and not only that, because of our sinfulness we have no ability to place our trust in Jesus, for dead men, are just that, dead. The verse that best summarizes this reality is Jesus' own words.

• John 6:44 - “ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
  
  

Today we will examine the second part of that verse, the drawing of the Father., otherwise known as Irresistible Grace. With that, let us read our text.

• 2 Corinthians 4:1-8 - “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. 4In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness, "has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” 
  
  

Let us start with a question. Why do you love God? What made you go from not loving Him to loving Him? Or what made you go from being an enemy of the cross to embracing it? What made you go from indifference towards him to the worship of Him? Have you ever thought about this? This 180 degree change is off the charts. One minute you are running from God with ever once of your being and the next you are running to God. Why? What is the cause to this radical effect? This is the question we are going to answer today.  In our text of 2 Corinthians 4:1-8, we are given a picture of total depravity in verse 4,

• 2 Corinthians 4:4 - “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. “
  
  

Who is the god of this world that Paul is referring to? Satan. Unbelievers are under the power of Satan. How are they under his power? Satan has blinded them. What does blind mean? It means you see nothing, zero, complete darkness. What are we blind to? The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. What does that mean? It means that you totally depraved. You have no ability in yourself to see Jesus for who He is and what He has done for you. You don't see him as God and you don't see Him as the one who saves you from Hell. He could be standing right in front of your face, just like he was with the Scribes, the Pharisees, Herod, Pilate, the Romans guards, the general populace of Jerusalem, and see Him as just a carpenter's son. This was last week's sermon.

Paul then says in verse 5, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.” So Paul says that we, meaning Christians, believers, go around and proclaim, or tell, unbelievers about Jesus. Specifically that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the one the world has been waiting for, their Lord. SO Paul is saying, he goes around and shares the gospel with the blind, the ones who are under Satan's power, the ones who are dead in their trespasses and sins. It is like Paul is walking amongst the tombs talking to himself. Then what happens?

Verse 6, “For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Where has God said let light shine out of darkness? What is Paul referring to here? Creation. Paul is drawing you attention back to God's work in the beginning.

• Genesis 1:1-3 - “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.”
  
  

The world was formless, void, dark, dead and then all the sudden, “LET THEIR BE LIGHT.” And from nothing God created light. Imagine the angels sitting around watching this unfold, “Where did that come from? Never saw that before.” Paul, in 2 Corinthians 6 is saying that is what happens in your heart when God shows up. God is the catalyst of a believer being a new creation. You are blind, in darkness, void, dead and then someone like Paul speaks the Gospel into your life and then God says “let their be light” and all the sudden you have eyes to see. It is a miracle. One minute you were in darkness, totally blind to Christ and the next minute, you see him standing before you and you look into his face and you say My Lord and My God, and you bow before him and worship. Why? Because God has mercy on you. Turn with me to Acts 9:1-6

• Acts 9:1-6 - “But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" 5 And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."
  
  

Saul in this story is Paul. Saul is the man who wrote 2 Corinthians 4. As Paul was on the way to Damscus, he was not seeking God. He was blind. In darkness. Dead in his trespasses and sins. He was on a mission to kill Christians. Paul was ISIS. And on that road, Jesus overcame Paul's resistance towards him and said, you are mine. No questions asked. Jesus didn't beg and plead with him to accept Him into his heart. He just commanded, and Paul obeyed. Granted, this is an extreme conversion, but make no mistake no ones conversion is less miraculous. This is what happens every time someone accepts Christ. God shows up and performs a miracle in your heart. Turn with me to John 3:3-8.

• John 3:3-8 - “Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" 5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
  
  

Before Jesus stood Nicodemus. He was a teacher of Israel. He was as religious as they came. He had read the Old Testament way more than any of you, but he was blind. He was unable to see the Kingdom of God, despite the King of the Universe standing before him. Why? Verse 3, “"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Why couldn't he see the Kingdom? He wasn't born again. You must first be born before you can see. In that order. Born first, then see the Kingdom. If you haven't been born, you can't see, your blind to it. So how is one born again? Verse 5, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The catalyst of being born is not your flesh. It is not inside of you that causes you to be born. It is God who causes you to be born. Listen to what John says in chapter 1.

• John 1:12-13 – “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
  
  

Once again, not man’s will, but God’s will. The author of John, John reiterates this reality in one of his letters to the Church.

• 1 John 5:1 – “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.”
  
  

Once again, words matter, what does this say? “Everyone who believes has been born of God.” So if you believe, it is because you have been born of God. Being born of God produces belief. Belief is the fruit or result or product of the new birth. Let’s see if Peter agrees with Paul, Jesus, and John

• 1 Peter 1:3 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
  
  

Once again, who causes us to be born? God. Because of his mercy he births us into spiritual existence, with spiritual eyes and then we see the hope in Jesus Christ, our Suffering King, and we believe. Let’s keep going?

• Ephesians 2:4-5 – “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved—“
  
  
• Colossians 1:3 – “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,“
  
  
• Philippians 1:29 – “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,”
  
  
• Acts 18:27 – “And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed,”
  
  
• Matthew 16:15 – “He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
  
  
• Acts 11:18 – “When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life."
  
  
• 2 Timothy 2:24-25 – “And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,”
  
  
• Deuteronomy 30:6 – “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”
  
  
• Matthew 19:25 – “When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?" 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." 
  
  

Turn with me to Acts 16:13-15. I want to end with a picture of this irresistible grace that God gives to us. Not many of us can relate to Paul’s conversion, we have never attempted to kill Christians and we were never blinded by the presence of Christ. This story in Acts 16 is more up our alley.

• Acts 16:13-15 – “And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. 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. 15 And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay." And she prevailed upon us.”
  
  

What did Paul tell Lydia? The gospel. Why caused Lydia to accept the gospel? Was it something inside of her? No it was because God opened her heart. You could say it other ways. Because the Holy Spirit blew into her life, because God birthed her, because God said, “Let there be light,” because God drew her, because God circumcised her heart, because God did the impossible, because God revealed it to her, because God made her alive.

The bottom line is that apart from grace, we are dead, unresponsive sinners. We are completely unable to repent and believe in Christ. It is impossible for us to get into Heaven apart from a miracle. And it is God who performs this miracle, not man.

I think it is so interesting, that as our country as slowly decayed spiritually over the years that what has increased more and more is the belief that your faith comes from somewhere inside your cold dead heart of stone. We love to say we are saved by faith and all for God’s glory, and just like Adam and Eve in the garden we look at faith and see that it is good and pleasing to the eye and was say, “MINE!” It is my faith, I get the glory!”

Was that the heart of the Apostle Paul glory? No, it was gratitude. He praised God for the miracle that God performed in his life that caused him to see the surpassing value of knowing Jesus. I can just hear Paul saying, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

Isn’t God good? Every single one of us deserves Hell. We fully and utterly rebel against our Creator, yet he mercifully, lovingly, graciously breaks the chains of our sin and showers us with irresistible and glorious grace. The gospel is such good news, it is such a treasure this gift of God’s Grace through Christ. With this in mind, let us come full circle and close with Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:7.

• 2 Corinthians 4:7 – “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us”
  

Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on October 19, 2014

Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 2:1-3. Today I will jump right into reading our text, we will pray, and then we will study the scriptures.

• Ephesians 2:1-3 - “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. “
  
  

Today we begin working through the Doctrines of Grace, otherwise known as Calvinism. Up to this point, I have attempted to prepare you for these next five weeks. Two weeks ago I attempted to show through Ephesians 1, one of the most Doctrines of Grace oriented passages in the entire Bible, that God desires us to know these doctrines. God wants us to know His immeasurable greatness when it comes to our salvation. The reason God desires us to know his power in our salvation is because he wants our praise. We saw three times in Ephesians 1 that the product of fruit or knowing God's eternal and specific plan for our salvation is “for the praise of his glory.” God will not share his glory with man, and he wants to set the record straight. If God saves you, then he gets the praise, not you. Thanks be to God.

Last week, I spent 45 minutes basically reading the Bible to you. If my counting is right, I quoted from 16 different books in the Bible, ten Old Testament and six New Testament. In one sense, it was one of the easiest sermons I had written, because it was just cut and paste. However, in another sense it was painstaking because the whole Bible points to the reality that God is sovereign over everything. I had to leave a lot of text on the cutting room floor. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that God is in control of all things, from the dice in Vegas to the hearts the Kings. It is all under his command. The reason for this is that, once again, God has a purpose, His glory.

• Romans 11:36 – “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
  
  

God creates all things and governs all things, so that he is glorified in all things.

With those two weeks under our belt, whether you are ready of not, we will step into the five points of the Doctrines of Grace: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. The easiest ways to remember these is the acronym TULIP. Today I am going to cover the doctrine of Total Depravity.

The Beginning of Sin

Total Depravity is about sin. So let us begin at the beginning of sin. Turn with me Genesis 3:1-6

• Genesis 3:1-6 – “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" 4 But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.“
  
  

Now to be accurate, this is not the beginning of sin, for sin existed in Heaven before it came to earth. Satan is the Father of sin and was the first creature to rebel against God and His Glory. However, that is perhaps another sermon, but once again, the fact that Satan rebelled in Heaven, in my opinion, is another piece of evidence that God is Sovereign and this is all according to His plan, including Satan’s fall. I can find no other way to explain how this is possible apart from God purposefully allowing it so as to display his Glory.

After Satan’s fall, which Jesus speaks about in Luke 10:18, “"I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” Satan shows up in the Soverign Creator’s Garden and tempts Adam and Eve to disobey the Soverign God. Up until this point everything was, according to God, “very good.” The freedom of their will was a freedom from the slavery of sin. In that freedom, Satan tempted Eve and she took the bait. She then offered it to Adam, and he took the bait, and at that moment their eyes were open to good and evil, and they lost their freedom in God and exchanged it for slavery to sin.

The Global Spread of Sin

From that point on, everything changed. No longer was everything “very good.” Everything was very bad. Through the sin of Adam, sin spread everywhere.

• Romans 5:12 – “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—“
  
  

And spread it did. All people born after the fall, which is everyone, are born sinners. We all inherit the disease of sin. David says it very well in Psalm 51:5.

• Psalm 51:5 – “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
  
  

The Hebrew word for “iniquity” is `avon. Avon means perversity or depravity. Every person is born depraved, morally corrupt. What does this depravity look like? It is not pretty. Listen to how Paul defines the universal condition of mankind in Romans 3.

• Romans 3:10-20 – “as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." 13 "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." 14 "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known." 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes." 19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”
  
  

Did you hear those words? “None righteous” that means zero. No one understands, that means zero. No one seeks God, that means zero. No one does good, that means zero. This message of worldwide depravity is something that the world is completely ignorant of. How many people are posting messages like this on facebook? Hardly anyone. Instead you see videos with young people will cool clothes saying that you are awesome, God loves you because you are so awesome. That is Satan masquerading as an angle of light. The truth is that we are worthless. Jesus doesn't die for you because your awesome, he dies for you because he is awesome, and through his blood and by His Spirit He will make you awesome. There is not one single person that is good. Jesus speaks himself proclaims this.

• Mark 10:18 – “And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”
  
  

The world is totally depraved. There is no hypothetical “sinless person in Africa”. Everyone is a sinner, and everyone deserves Hell. However, this is not the doctrine of total depravity. The total of total depravity is not speaking of the global spread of sin, but it is speaking to the truth of how completely, and utterly depraved we are as individuals.

The Totality of Sin

If we turn back to Genesis and listen to God’s warning to Adam and Eve about disobeying him, what does he say?

• Genesis 2:16 – “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
  
  

God tells Adam and Eve they will surely die. Did they die? Eventually, yes, they physically die. But God says, “For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” The day they ate the fruit did they die? No, not physically, but spiritually. When Adam disobeyed God’s word and took of the fruit, something inside him died, His love for God. In this moment Adam sided with Satan. He chose disobedience, not obedience, and his heart became stone.

• Ephesians 2:1-3 – “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
  
  

Ephesians 2:1-3 is not talking about Adam. It is talking about everyone on the planet. Verse 3, “the rest of mankind.” What does dead mean? It means dead, no life, no pulse, no heartbeat, completely flat-lined. What can dead people do? Absolutely nothing. Dead people have absolutely no ability to live towards God, to love God. Paul says it again in Ephesians 4:18.

• Ephesians 4:18 – “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.”
  
  

Dead, disobedient, dark, ignorant, hard hearts. This is the condition of man after the fall, completely dead to God. Let’s go back to Genesis and see how God explains it.

• Genesis 5:5 – “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. “
  
  

The depth of the sinfulness in each person is almost overwhelming in this verse, “every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” EVERY, ONLY, CONTINUALLY…evil. God is not hiding the ball. He is making it abundantly clear, that man is entirely depraved. And in case we don't believe God after one verse, which is just another peive of evidence of our sinfulness, God continues to speak this truth to us throughout the scripture.

• Titus 1:15 – “to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”
  
  
• Romans 7:18 – “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”
  
  
• Matthew 7:18 – “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.“
  
  
• Romans 8:7-8 – “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.“
  
  
• Hebrews 11:6 – “And without faith it is impossible to please him,”
  
  
• Isaiah 64:6 – “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.”
  
  

Apart from Christ, there is only one thing we do, sin. Everything, even what we call “good” is not good. Is this hard to accept? What about all the good things we see unbelievers do? Like building orphanages, and feeding the poor? How can those be sin? This should be easy for us at Cornerstone to answer. We just spent eight months walking through the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus again and again said it is not about what you do on the outside, it is about your heart. What is your motive to what you are doing? Outwardly your actions may conform, but inside, you are not doing them for the reason God created you, His glory. I don't care if you are Mother Theresa, if you are not doing it for the Glory of God, then all of those “good works” will be consumed by fire in the day of judgment. And on top of this, we are so depraved that we are unable to see the beauty of Christ, and give our lives to him. We are like blind people grouping in the dark, never finding the light switch.

• 1 Corinthians 2:14 – “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
  
  

Because of our sin, we are unable to come to Jesus. We need God to turn on the light so that we can see our sin and see our need for Christ and run to him.

• John 6:44 -  “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
  
  

Once again, no one means no one. In our sin, we are not able to come to Jesus. This is just like we saw in Romans 3, “no one seeks God.” We need God to give us the ability. This is why Jesus says in John 3

• John 3:3 - “ unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 
  
  
• John 3:6 - “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. “
  
  

So hopefully you have seen that it is not as if our heart is kind of bad, or needs just a little scrubbing, it is that our hearts are totally bad. Only, evil, continually. Worthless. Hostile. Only bad fruit. Dead. There is nothing that is good in us. We cannot love him, we cannot glory him. We deserve Hell.

The Desperation of Sin and the Praise of God's Glorious Grace

So where does this leave us? Exactly where God wants us, at a point of desperation. I believe that there is one word that sums up our total depravity, wretched. This is one of the most important revelations any person can have. And this is why Satan hates it. Satan does not want you to know that your heart is desperately sick. He wants to drug you with the world's morphine of self-worth. He wants to keep your from the Great Physician. Satan loves to whisper in your ear, you are awesome. Tickling your ears in his hospice for Hell. And I am here today saying, I will not side with Satan. I side with God's Word. I side with Paul who said:

• Romans 7:24-25 - “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! “
  
  

Who can pull us out of the darkness of our sin, God thought Christ. Who can bind up our broken hearts, God through Christ. Who can give us eyes to see and ears to hear, God through Christ. Who is the founder of our faith, God through Christ. I end with God's Words about total depravity and the answer to it.

• Ezekiel 36:26 – “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
  
  

To the praise of God's glorious grace!   

Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on October 12, 2014

Today we are going to tackle an immense topic, the sovereignty of God. We are examining this because I am, hopefully, Biblically laying a foundation for the next five messages on the Doctrines of Grace, otherwise known as Calvinism. The reason I say graciously is because this journey into the depths of God’s Word, and the truth of God’s Sovereignty is not an easy road. It is a road that will potentially flip your world on its head, but there is no doubt that it is a road worth traveling, and it is a road where the word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

John Piper, who many of you know I enjoy reading and listening to, said something that resonated with me. He said, “No one is born a Calvinist.” What does he mean by that? He means that knowing God and His sovereign power towards you in your salvation, is not like a great banquet that on day one of your Christian life you feast upon. Instead the Christian walk is more like daily rations. Whereby each day, after God has brought you into his fold, provides you, through his Word, new understandings of His greatness directed towards you. And when you think about your testimony, this makes sense.

We are born sinners. Meaning we are not God centered we are self-centered. Our world revolves around our own control and authority. Then someone preaches the gospel into your life, and for some reason, it splits you wide open and your feel the weight of your sin and your cry out yes to Jesus, “Save me.” In that moment you have no clue what happened. You have no way of explaining why you went from not caring about Jesus, to laying down your life for Him. If someone were to ask you why, what happened, perhaps all you could say is “I was blind, but now I see.” From that point on, you spend the rest of your life trying to figure out what happened to you. This is what we are trying to in the months of October and November, to figure out what happened to us to go from enemies of God to willing to die for Him.

In our short time today, we will barely skim the surface to this enormous topic of God’s Sovereignty. However, do to not be frustrated by this, because we will spend an eternity scratching the surface of the Sovereignty of God. This is because our God is an infinite God. He is immeasurable. His ways are above our ways. He is light unapproachable. He is a God who sits on his throne and demands our worship whereby we cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy.” So do not be frustrated today if it isn’t all clear immediately. Today, just let your heart be drawn into it and let God take care of the growth.



Last week I attempted to show you through Ephesians 1, that God desires you to know that the surpassing power in your salvation belongs to God, not man. And the reason that God desires this is so that you are left with only one option, to praise His glorious grace. The goal of God is to get you to praise Him. God delights in our worship of Him. He wants us to be God centered and worship Him and Him alone. This is what he designed you to do, to see His Glory and proclaim His glory.

So my aim today is to lift God up as high as I possibly can, so that your hearts will sing, in truth, Holy, Holy, Holy. There is only one way in which we can do this, and that is by the Word of God. For the Bible is God’s revelation of Him. Today, I am using more scripture than I ever have. I want the Bible to convince you, not Phil Parsons.

So let us start with the question, what does it mean that God is Sovereign? There are not many place that scripture uses the phrase Sovereign when describing God. One place, however, is Acts 4:24. This was a prayer of the earlier Church after they received their first taste of persecution. Listen to how they addressed God.

• Acts 4:24 – “And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, “
  
  So one way that God is Sovereign, is that he is the Maker of all things. Nothing exists that God did not speak into existence. God constantly reminds us of this reality throughout scripture, and in fact, this is the first truth he proclaims in the Bible.
  
  
• Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
  
  

Right out of the gates he wants us to know that he is the Maker of all. He owns everything. He continues to remind us of this throughout scripture. Here are a couple more examples.

• Revelation 4:11 - “"Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."
  
  
• John 1:1 - “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
  
  

So our first premise is that everything that exists because God wills it to exist. He literally created everything from nothing. And because God created everything, he has authority over everything. Therefore, like an author of a play, he has authority over the set, the scene, and the characters. Paul reminds us of this truth in Romans 9:21.

• Romans 9:21 - “Has the potter no right over the clay,”
  
  

Because God is the Potter, he has the right to do with the clay as he pleases. The Potter is sovereign over the clay, and not only does God have this right, but he exercises this right. Listen to how God rebukes Job for his pride in Job 38.

• Job 38:4 – “"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?...8 Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, 9 when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, 11 and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'? 12 "Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,  ... 22 "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, 23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? 24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed, or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?...36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind? 39 ..."Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, 40 when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in their thicket? 41 Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?”
  
  

So we can see that God is not only soverign in the authoritative sense, but also in the contorl sense. God is involved in the day to day of creation. The sun, moon, stars, seas, sparrows, livestock, grass, you name it. It is all under his sovereign control. Now let’s turn out attention to man.

• Genesis 2:7 – “then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”
  
  

Just like all other things, God created man. He created us out of dust. He gave us life. It is not something that we conjured up. Once again, he is the Potter and we are the clay. He is sovereign over our existence. And this is not only true for Adam and Eve, but for everyone of us.

• Psalm 139:13-14 – “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” 
  
  
• Job 10:11 – “You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. “
  
  
• Jeremiah 1:5 – “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.”
  
  

Therefore, we are no different than the rest of creation. God has authority over us. He made us, we did not make ourselves. We owe our existence to him. Therefore, God is sovereign over in one sense because he is our Maker. However, just like creation, it goes deeper than even this. For God not only determines our beginning, but he also determines our end.

• Psalm 139:16 – “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.“
  
  
• Job 12:10 – “In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.”
  
  

God is sovereign over when you are born and when you die. He forms the days for you. Everyone of your days is already written in a book. It is fate, it is destiny. You cannot change it, only participate in it. Jesus spoke of this truth to Peter in John 21.

• John 21:18-19 – “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.)
  
  

The death of Peter was pedetermined. Jesus didn't just know it, he orchestrated it for his glory. It was merely a matter of time when it would occur. God had orchestrated it so that he would die a certain kind of death that would glorify God. God was sovereign over the death of Peter and He is sovereign over your death.

So we see God's sovereignty stretching beyond just creating, but also into dieing. He holds life and death in his hands. Is this where the hand of God's power ends? Is this as far as God reaches into the World? Does God set the beginning and the end and stands back and watches to see what happens? No. God's sovereignty goes deeper.

• Psalm 33:10 – “The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples”
  
  
• Daniel 2:21 – “He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings;”
  
  
• Proverbs 21:1 – “The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.”
  
  
• Amos 3:6 – “Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it? “
  
  

Scripture overwhelmingly tells us that God is in control of world events. At this point, some of you are getting a little uncomfortable. What about Katrina? Did God do that? Absolutely. What about World War 2? It was the providence of God. Likewise, Syria, Iran, Iraq…all are moving in accordance to God’s will. These text are life changing. It changes what you complain about and how you watch the news.

So is there where God's sovereignty stops? Does God just see the World as one giant game of Risk? Does his control end with world events? What about individuals decisions of men, are they under the sovereign hand of God?

• Proverbs 16:9 – “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.”
  
  
• Proverbs 16:33 - “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”
  
  
• 1 Samuel 2:7-8 – “The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.”
  
  
• Genesis 11:7-8 – “Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech. “
  
  
• Philippians 2:13 – “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
  
  
• James 4:15 - “Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."
  
  
• Job 2:10 - “But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”
  
  

So now we see God establishing steps, making decisions, determining poor and rich, changing languages, working in us, and determining our fate, which involves good and evil. The Bible, once again, tells us that God is intimately involved in the details of our lives. His control is personal. Once again, we start to wonder, is this the end or limit to God's soverignty? What about sinful acts of men? Are these also also orchestrated by God?

• Acts 4:27 – “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”
  
  
• Exodus 14:17 – “And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. “
  
  
• Genesis 5:20 - “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive”
  
  

This is where your previous understanding of God may start to fall apart. Up until this point you saw God only as a Savior and not as Lord. God is not just a God who responds to Hell, or responds to sin. He is a God who orchestrates. We have a God who is above all things, nothing is above him, not the sea, not creatures, not nations, not man, not sin. He is the Author of this story that you are all a part of. He is truly Sovereign. The Bible wants us to understand this that as Psalm 115:3 says:


• Psalm 115:3 – “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.“
  
  
• Psalm 135:6 – “Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps”
  
  

Why? Why does God sovereignly control all things, because God has a goal in mind. Before he started he had an end in sight, there was something that he was going to achieve. Which makes sense. Do you ever start something without a desired outcome? No, so why would we expect randomness from God? God is not random. He is overwhelmingly intentional. So what is God's goal? Glory.

• Romans 11:36 – “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
  
  

God creates all things and governs all things to receive glory in all things. This is not something he leaves to chance. He ordains the rain, snow, winds, sparrows, your beginning, your end, your heart, your steps, your destiny, so that he can be glorified.

Some of you may really struggle with this today, and this is why I wanted to use so many Biblical text. I don't want you to believe God's sovereignty because I say so, but because God says so. And to be honest, as I said earlier, this is just the tip of the iceberg. If there is one thing that God wants to make abundantly clear to you in the scripture, it is that God is in control. Nothing is outside his reach. He is God. I leave you with one of the greatest verses in all the Bible.

• Isaiah 46:9-10 - “ for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,”
  
  

Isn't this a God that you want to worship? One that is Sovereign? One that is high and lifted up? One that deserves to have all the universe praise his glory now and forever?  

Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on October 5, 2014.

Today we are beginning a two month sermon series on the Doctrines of Grace. Some of you, if not most of you, have no clue what I mean when I say the Doctrines of Grace. Many of you, however, may recognize them by their other name, Calvinism. What is interesting is when I say Doctrines of Grace, all of us feel comfortable with this phrase, almost like we are sitting in an easy chair. However, when I say Calvinism, you tighten up as if you are sitting on a cold hard bench. So as we start, I want to be abundantly clear that this sermon series is not about labels, it is about the Bible. So do not get hung up on a word and the emotional response a word may cause in you. Charles Spurgeon said this about Calvinism, “It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.” These next two months I will use the term Doctrines of Grace, instead of Calvinism. The reason is not because of the emotional response, for I am not afraid to call myself a Calvinist, but it is because these five points that I will be discussing are doctrines, first and foremost, meaning that they do not originate from the mouth of Calvin but from the mouth of God, and second these doctrines are all about the Sovereign Grace of God in the salvation of man.

The second thing I want to speak briefly about is how these Biblical truths have shaped my life. Other than the revelation of Jesus Christ, there has been no greater enlightenment in my life than the Doctrines of Grace. There has been an entire re-orientation in how see the world and eternity. These doctrines are not academic to me, they life-changing. Last week we ended on our study on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount by examining Matthew 7:24

• Matthew 7:24-25 – “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.“
  
  

The rock of my life is the Sovereignty of God in my salvation through Christ. The Doctrines of Grace are like the rebar in the concrete that gives it strength; that holds it all together; each doctrine like a solid piece of iron running through the foundation of my life. When God opened up my eyes to His Sovereign will in my salvation, I couldn’t’ escape it. They are truths that I now see on almost every page of the Bible. When I see them and dwell upon them the result is trust, peace, comfort, hope, joy, love, and worship. These doctrines have been like pouring diesel into my heart that has already been lit on fire for Christ. So as we begin, I want you to know the path this sermon has taken. First it began in God’s Word, it has run through my heart and now I proclaim it to you.

Third, I want to say this. There are some people, maybe in this room, who do not believe pastors should preach on such things. That instead we should teach around the Doctrines of Grace, as if we could. This is because they believe Sunday morning is for the unsaved not the saved, and do not want sermons that may rock the boat. Instead they want sermons that tickle ears. Listen to what Paul says to the Church in Ephesus when he is departing.

• Acts 20:27 – “for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”
  
  

For Paul to say this, he must have recognized that some of God's Word is hard to handle. But as a Pastor, I believe that failing to preach the whole counsel of God is failing to feed the sheep that God has led to Cornerstone. In my opinion, failing to preach the whole counsel of God is insubordination against a Pastor's calling. God has entrusted me with the requirement to rightly handle His Word, to declare the whole counsel of God. I have no authority, or right, to filter God’s Word, it is my responsibility to preach it. I join Paul when he says in 2 Corinthians 4:7.

• 2 Corinthians 4:7 – “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”
  
  

So my aim over the next two months, as it is always, is to be a clay pot delivering the Word of God in as pure a form as I can so that you will see that the surpassing power belongs to God, not man. Let me say that again, my goal is to show you that the surpassing power belongs to God, not to man.

With that said, today I want to show you using the Bible that God wants you to embrace the doctrines of grace. So turn with me to Ephesians 1:1-23.

• Ephesians 1:1-23 - “ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
  
  

Many of you have read these passages before. Ephesians is a very popular letter in the New Testament, and for good reason. It has a lot of good stuff in it. However, many of you don’t realize how littered it is with the Doctrines of Grace. I believe that this is because, 1) we don't read the Bible or 2) When we read the Bible we skim, instead of thinking about what it means and the implications. This morning, I am not going to list the five doctrines of grace, and explain what they are. We will get to that in two weeks. Today I am going to instead draw your attention to certain scripture that is, for lack of a better word, calvinistic and ask the question why is God telling us this stuff. So lets go back and read a few text.

• Ephesians 1:1 – “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God”
  
  

So Paul was an apostle, not by Paul's will, but ultimately by God's will. For those who are not familiar with Paul's conversion story you can read it in Acts 9. Today, I would encourage you to do so, and you will see why Paul can easily say that it was God's will to make him an apostle.

• Ephesians 1:4 – “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world”
  
  

So Paul then says, before creation, so before Genesis 1:1. The Truine God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, chose us. God is picking people whom to bless before creation, before Adam and Eve, before the fall.

• Ephesians 1:5 – “he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”
  
  Once again, before the foundation of the world, God is setting up our destiny. That is what predestination means. The Greek word is proorizō , which literally means predetermined. God predetermines our adoption through Jesus. And this is all according to His will. God's pleasure.
  
  
• Ephesians 1:13-14– “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
  
  

When we hear the Gospel, and believe in him, which we just heard a few verses before is all according to God's plan, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is evidence that we are God's possession. Think of a letter that is stamped by the Kings ring and sealed so as to prove authorship. This is what sealed means here. And this seal of the Holy Spirit not only testifies that we are God's workmanship, but that the inheritance is a sure thing, it is eternally secure. Everyone who receives the Holy Spirit gets the riches of the glory of God.

So what have we seen in this opening letter? The will of God to chose us before time, and the determination of our destiny as his adopted children, through the blood of Jesus, and our inheritance as God's children we 100% guaranteed. The first 14 verse of Paul's letter to the Ephesians is dripping with the doctrines of Grace. They are inescapable. Paul pushing it into our face forcing us to deal with it. Forcing us dwell upon our salvation in, perhaps an entire new way, a way that may flip your spiritual paradigm.

So the question I have now is why? Why does God, through Paul, reveal to us that our salvation is ultimately dependent on God's Sovereign Grace? Why does he want us to know that the surpassing power of our salvation belongs to God, not man? God doesn’t have to tell us all these things. Remember it is God's inspired Word, he could have left Ephesians 1:1-14 out of the Canon, let these verses fall to the cutting room floor, like so many people. Why can’t he just keep these truths to himself; because they are just too abrasive for our modern day cowboy evangelism? Not only that, look at verse 16-20. Paul says this:

• Ephesians 1:16-20 – “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,”
  
  

After unleashing verse 1-14 and knocking us off our chairs. Paul’s prayer for the Church in Ephesus is that they would have the knowledge of Him, to have their eyes enlightened, to know the hope, the riches of his grace, the immeasurable greatness of his power, his great might.

Of all the things Paul could have prayed for, Paul prayed, without ceasing that God would reveal to us the immeasurable greatness of God's power when it came to their salvation. A salvation that began before before the foundation of the earth was laid.

Once again, why? Why do believers, new and old, need to be taught these doctrines. Why is it so important that Paul prays for it without ceasing? Because Paul is pursuing something. He has a purpose, and his purpose is the same as God’s purpose. I want you to look at verse 6, 12 and 14. What do you see?

• Ephesians 1:6 – “ to the praise of his glorious grace,”
  
  
• Ephesians 1:12 – “to the praise of his glory.”
  
  
• Ephesians 1:14 – “to the praise of his glory.”
  
  

Paul is pursing the same thing that God is pursuing, the praise of God's glory, specifically the praise of God's glorious grace, more specifically, the praise of God's glory in the sovereign grace in the redemption of man through Jesus Christ. You and I are created for one ultimate, or chief purpose, to glorify God. This is why God made you.

• Isaiah 43:6-7 - I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."
  
  

Just one chapter earlier God says in Isaiah 42:8:

• Isaiah 42:8 - “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other,”
  
  

God saved you to glorify himself. He saved you for His name. He ordained it from the beginning of time and He will not allow man to take credit for his surpassing power. It is God and God alone who deserves our gratitude. When we stand before God, we dare not say that we believed in Jesus because we are smarter than everyone else. For we must stand before God and say nothing but, “Grace, Your Sovereign Grace.”

So in these next two months, my purpose in preaching the Doctrines of Grace is Paul's purpose, and my prayer is Paul's prayer, that you will see that immeasurable riches of God's grace and be left with one option, to praise His Glorious Grace.