GENUINE REVIVAL IS MARKED BY FAITHFUL GOSPEL PROCLAMATION"...God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."

For we are the circumcision, 

who worship by the Spirit of God 

and glory in Christ Jesus 

and put no confidence in the flesh—

-Phil. 3:3

I was watching a very disturbing live-broadcast last evening on www.God.tv which was featuring what has come to be known as The Florida Healing Outpouring. Some are saying this is genuine revival; others say there is real cause for concern. I am in the later camp on this. In fact, some things surrounding this "outpouring" are not only unbiblical, but grievously bazaar and cultic.

If you are a student of some of the great revivals throughout church history, there are a few common marks to them all:

1. a return to Christ-centered, God glorifying, Sprit filled biblical worship 

2. unrelenting Prayer 

3. Repentance from sin 

4. Recovery of the genuine gospel preached (justification by faith alone) 

5. Evangelism (the harvest of souls being saved) 

6. and, the lasting fruit of holiness and Christlikeness

This Florida Healing Outpouring is strained on most of these things. Is there worship? Yes, but it is far from being biblical. It is more hyped than holy. Is there unrelenting prayer taking place? Yes. But is more about getting something from God, mostly physical healing, than the prayer of contrition. Is there repentance from sin? Yes, but it is tertiary not primary. Is there the preaching of the genuine gospel? I haven't heard it yet though it may have occurred at some point. Is there evangelism taking place? Apparently, but it is difficult to know if this is easy believe Finneyism run a muck or genuine conversion. Time will tell. And lastly, is there holiness and Christlikeness being exhibited? Maybe in part, but certainly not from the platform. It is more of an arrogant, showy, entertaining, cockiness than one of a Christlike humility, brokenness, contrition, and a rejoicing with reverence.

What would mark genuine revival preaching? What would reformation proclamation embody? Here is the greatest sermon I could point to as a source of encouragement to you. We need revival beloved - no question. We need another sovereign move of God among His people in our nation. May we, by God's grace, see this happen in our day! Oh for another Great Awakening - amen?

Here is the greatest sermon I know on revival and reformation:
Acts 2:14 ¶ But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words.
Acts 2:15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day;
Acts 2:16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:
Acts 2:17 ‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says,
‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND;
AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY,
AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS,
AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS;
Acts 2:18 EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN,
I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT
And they shall prophesy.
Acts 2:19 ‘AND I WILL GRANT WONDERS IN THE SKY ABOVE
AND SIGNS ON THE EARTH BELOW,
BLOOD, AND FIRE, AND VAPOR OF SMOKE.
Acts 2:20 ‘THE SUN WILL BE TURNED INTO DARKNESS
AND THE MOON INTO BLOOD,
BEFORE THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS DAY OF THE LORD SHALL COME.
Acts 2:21 ‘AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’
Acts 2:22 ¶ “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—
Acts 2:23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
Acts 2:24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
Acts 2:25 “For David says of Him,
‘I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE;
FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN.
Acts 2:26 ‘THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED;
MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE;
Acts 2:27 BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES,
NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.
Acts 2:28 ‘YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE;
YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.’
Acts 2:29 ¶ “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
Acts 2:30 “And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE,
Acts 2:31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY.
Acts 2:32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.
Acts 2:33 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.
Acts 2:34 “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says:
‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD,
“SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,
Acts 2:35 UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.”’
Acts 2:36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Acts 2:37 ¶ Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”
Acts 2:38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:39 “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
Acts 2:40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”
Acts 2:41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.
Acts 2:42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Acts 2:43 ¶ Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.
Acts 2:44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common;
Acts 2:45 and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.
Acts 2:46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,
Acts 2:47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

NOT I, BUT CHRIST...the insufficiency of works righteousness vs the efficacy of the perfect righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ by faith

The Cross: 

Christ's Righteousness Only Saves Sinners

When we speak of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, 

we are speaking of the entirety of His ministry. 

He is God - perfectly holy, righteous and just from all eternity;

 He was born of a virgin - Immanuel, God with us; 

He came to fulfill the Law and all righteousness; 

He lived a sinless life because He is absolutely holy; 

His perfect righteousness is comprised of His passive 

and active obedience - perfect in life to the standard of the Law, 

perfect in death to the demands of the Law; 

He was our divine substitute, our propitiation, resurrected for our justification, 

our redemption; we are clothed with His perfect righteousness 

by grace through faith; He reigns as the King of Righteousness, 

and one day He will return for His church

that He is purifying to be without spot, or wrinkle or any such thing.

Therefore, it is right to say of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ that it 

can be defined as Christ's Righteousness Only Saves Sinners.

May the following exposition of Gal. 2:11-21 be an encouragement to you 

causing you to glory afresh in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ 

to which we have been crucified to this world and this world to us.

Galatians 2:11-21

A Brief Exposition

"Not I, But Christ..."

THE REPRIMAND (2:11)
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.

Peter stood blamed and rightly so. It was a just verdict. He had forgotten the great salvation by which he was saved. Not by virtue of poor memory, life, or doctrine, but by virtue of fear and intimidation. The Apostle Paul opposed him to his face and the confrontation was necessary. Peter could not conveniently hide behind Apostolic title or claim immunity by religious rank when the truth of the gospel was being jeopardized. Paul did not take his position or personality into consideration; but was motivated only by the glory and gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.


THE REASON (2:12)
12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.

What was the issue Peter was blameworthy that incited this confrontation? That observance of the Jewish rites (the Law) was necessary to salvation.

Peter, out of fear of the Judaizers - the circumcision party, had retreated to teaching or practicing a works righteousness. He was guilty of this. Though Paul approached him out of love here as a fellow Apostle and minister of the gospel, Peter needed to be reprimanded. It is serious to depart from proclaiming the genuine gospel of sola fide to appease ones opponents.


THE RESULT (2:13)
13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

A little leaven leavens the whole lump. No congregation will ever rise to a level in their commitment to Jesus Christ than what they see in their leadership. As the prophet Hosea says, "like people, like priest." Barnabas was even led astray by their insincere and hypocritical religious acts. That is how profound theological deception can go when sound doctrine and the gospel itself is abandoned.

THE REBUKE (2:14-16)
14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” 15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Here is the wheelhouse issue: Peter was forcing Gentiles to live like Jews rather than to freedom in Jesus Christ by faith. Works righteousness is the great Satanic deception within Christian churches. Penance, it will say, is something we must do to be saved - something we must add to the finished work of Jesus Christ. It is hell's addition to the once for all finished work of Jesus on the cross and His bodily resurrection from the grace. But grace is the great conqueror of all such hellish notions. Grace robs man of his self-importance; self-righteousness; and self-reliance. Grace silences Satan's impotent roars against the elect.

But yet the battle rages on; for our flesh craves glory and we are all too quick to think that our own actions, nay our own faith has saved us and not solely Christ alone. From such worm infested thinking we must be cleansed.

Thus Paul's great statement: we are justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law. A sinner may only have a right standing before a holy God because of the finished work of Christ, not because of our performance by works before Him. All of our righteousness are filthy menstrual rags. They stink with the smell of religious pride - the worst of all sins. But they are a stench to His holy nostrils. They are the rot of man's best efforts to achieve heaven apart from faith in Jesus alone.

May I inquire, what are your filthy rags of righteousness that you might be trusting in for your salvation?

Are you trusting in baptism to save you? It is filthy rags. Are you trusting in religious works to save you? It is filthy rags. Are you trusting in your religious heritage to save you? It is filthy rags. Are you trusting in law-keeping, ceremonies, philanthropic kindness and acts of charity to your neighbor to save you? It is all filthy rags. You might even say today, "but Steve, I do trust in Christ Jesus for my salvation. It's just that I trust in Jesus plus those things too." Then may I say to you, it is still filthy rags. I say to you, that if you accept those things as well as necessary for your salvation, then "Christ will be of no advantage to you."

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ -Matthew 7:21-23

Jettison all good works from you as your security and hope and cling to Christ Jesus the Lord! For there is no assurance of eternal life for you except by grace through faith, in Jesus alone.

THE REACTION (2:17)
17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!

That is, only marked by a life of sin. Not still struggling with sin for in this life we will always wrestle with sin until glorified and home with Christ. But this is more the unbridled practice of sin - sinners by character. If it be seen not only that we are not pardoned and made new creations by the gospel, but are actually made worse and are freed from all moral restraint, then what is the conclusion of such a duplicitous faith?

Is therefore Christ the minister of sin? Is it to be traced to Him? Is it to be charged on Him?

God forbid. For this is not the proper effect of the gospel of Christ, and of the doctrine of justification by faith. Remember beloved, that "a righteous man falls down seven times; but gets up seven times." The new life is not marked by sinlessness or perfectionism, but by daily repentance. We are new creations incarcerated in unredeemed flesh. And there the battle rages on. And it is there that we must by grace-given obedience "present our bodies as living sacrifices; holy, acceptable, pleasing unto God. For this is our just and spiritual worship."


THE REGRESSION (2:18)
18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

To trust in that which has been destroyed is lunacy. To do so is to prove ourselves as transgressors. IOW, we are not saved and are fallen from grace. Therefore, how utterly foolish for any of us to return again to the ruins of our own religious commendations once they have been torn down instead of trusting fully and wholly in the living God/Man, Jesus Christ our Lord?


THE REALITY (2:19)
19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.

The Law was my executioner. It put me to death. I was found guilty for I had broken its commands and am deserving of its penalties for all eternity.

A dead man is incoherent to all around him. He hears nothing; sees nothing; and nothing affects him. So when we are said to be dead to anything, the meaning is, that it does not have an influence over us. In this sense Paul was dead to the law - we are dead.

But what is the blessed result? That we are to live to God! What great joy, freedom, relief, and hope. No longer condemned, guilty before a holy God; but fully forgiven and brought into relationship with Him. "What manner of love has He bestowed on us that we should be called children of God?"

There is no grace or mercy in the law. Only justice. And in that justice it is absolutely holy and good. The law shuts us up into sin; and as a tutor points us to Christ Jesus for our salvation. For in all ways and in all things He fulfilled the Law. In His sinless life Jesus perfectly obeyed all of its commands fulfilling all righteousness; and in His perfect death, He satisfied all its penalty. So in that by faith alone in Christ alone, we are no longer under judgment nor His divine wrath, but sheltered in the grace of His sovereign electing love.

Rejoice in this friend and take great comfort in this hope. You are complete in Him! Perfect love casts out fear. Amen! Dead to sin and alive to Christ so that we might live for God.


THE REDEMPTION (2:20)
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Crucified. Paul fully identifies with our Lord. All who know and love Him as their Lord have been crucified with Christ. Not in physical actuality; but with Him by fact that He is our Federal Head in the covenant of grace; our Divine Substitute. We have died with Him. Our old nature has been put to death. The old man has been given a death sentence and it has been carried out. Once dead in trespasses and sin; but now crucified with Christ. And it is I who no longer lives but Christ who lives in me! Blessed resurrection hope. Is there any other cause for eternal rejoicing than this beloved? Christ in you the hope of glory.

"Not I... but Christ." Sing it with praise to the Lord in your heart's voice with me, "not I... but Christ." Is there any sweeter refrain from the hymnbook of heaven? Not I.. but Christ! In those four brief words we see before us the banquet of salvation: the depravity of man, to be certain; but more chiefly the unfathomable sufficiency of Jesus for us. IOW, we are great sinners, but He is a greater Savior.

Not I... we are dead in sins; by nature children of wrath; sons of disobedience; corrupt from conception and in sin conceived. I needed to die; I needed to be crucified so that I could live.

But Christ... Christ lives in us as His children when we by grace through faith trust in Him alone for our salvation. And even that is the gift of God. There is no room for boasting in any thing we have done; even our faith is a gift. Our repentance from sin is His gift to us. Our regeneration is by the sovereign ministry of the Holy Spirit. We are brought to humility in every aspect of our redemption: chosen by God before the foundation of the world; redeemed by Jesus on the cross and through His resurrection and by imputation of His perfect righteousness; and we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. All to the praise of the riches of the glory of His grace!

Can you say that with me today beloved? Not I, but Christ! Or are you still wed to yourself and the idol of your own heart where your lips can only in true honesty utter: It is and Christ too. Repent from such hellish folly. Deny yourself; come to the end of yourself; take up your cross and follow Him.

Are you crucified with Christ? Then you have no cause for a second of carefree boasting in yourself for your salvation. You will no longer sing "I have decided to follow Jesus." But rather, "He save me!"

"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." -Titus 3:4-7

THE REVOCATION (2:21)
21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

God's grace was not made of no effect. For it took nothing less than the totality of God's grace exemplified in the sinless life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ to obtain our salvation. Anything less would result in our damnation. Salvation is not a cooperation or joint venture of our works and His grace. If belief for salvation is placed in even one drop of our own works righteousness mixed with an ocean of God's grace, it is a gospel sufficient only to damn and not to save. Therefore, Paul states with absolute authority, if justification could be obtained by the law, then Christ had died in vain. So for Peter to assert, even out of fear, the necessity of the observance of the Jewish rites in salvation was to rather destroy the gospel, and to render it vain and useless.

But alas my friends, His death was not in vain. It was perfectly efficacious in every way for the redemption of the elect. And this realized in full for all who believe by faith in Jesus alone.

John 6:35-44:

"Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

this has been an encore presentation

THE HOPE OF THE GOSPEL...protected by the power of God

1Pet. 1:3 ¶ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1Pet. 1:4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

1Pet. 1:5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1Pet. 1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,

1Pet. 1:7 that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

1Pet. 1:8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

1Pet. 1:9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

YOUR WEEKLY DOSE OF GOSPEL...how God saved us from Himself

On the cross, God through Christ saved us from Himself. The true Christian never has to face the fear of eternal judgment; why? Because Jesus faced it for us already on the cross. God treated Christ on the cross as if He lived our life, so that we by grace through faith in Him, can be treated as if we lived His life (2 Cor. 5:21). Our sin imputed to Him; His perfect righteousness imputed to us. This is called "the doctrine of imputation."

The culmination of the Lord being punished in our place and the satisfaction of God being accomplished was when Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why has thou forsaken Me?" Christ was forsaken in that He bore our sin, its guilt and penalty. But also He bore the wrath of God against us. The Father faced the Son and the Son faced the Father on the cross and He “took it—all of it” for His own. When Jesus cried, "IT IS FINISHED" He had:

• fulfilled the Law;
• went beyond the veil;
• satisfied God's wrath;
• fulfilled all righteousness;
• exalted grace;
• took away the guilt and penalty of our sin;
• destroyed Satan's hold of death;
• abolished death and its sting;
• secured for us eternal life;
• brought us into intimacy with God;
• instituted a new covenant;
• and made for us peace with God forever!

The death of Christ was both a propitiation and an expiation of sin.

Propitiation refers to the turning away of wrath by an offering. God's wrath is satisfied, His justice is met by the sacrifice.

Expiation refers to covering sins. By the atonement the penalty of our sins are removed from us. The atonement satisfies both the demands of the Father and the needs of Christ's people (1 Pet. 1:2). That such a double transaction can be achieved by one Person, in one event is a matter of eternal glory reserved for Christ alone.

This great work of redemption which began in eternity past, was realized in time through the Virgin Birth, His sinless life lived in fulfilling the Law, the once for all complete atoning sacrifice on the cross by our Lord fulfilling all righteousness, triumphantly culminated in His bodily resurrection from the grave. He was, as Paul said, "raised for our justification."

May the Lord strengthen your hearts and minds today in the propitiatory work of the Jesus Christ on the cross and cause you to glorify and love Him with the full affections of your lives.

Because He lives...
Steve
1 John 4:10

THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST...the Word became flesh and dwelt among us

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 

and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. 

All things were made through him, and without him was 

not any thing made that was made. In him was life, 

and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, 

and the darkness has not overcome it.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, 

and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only 

Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 

For the law was given through Moses; 

grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

No one has ever seen God; the only God, 

who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. 

-John 1:1-5, 14, 17-18

"The biblical teaching regarding the incarnation of Christ and the person of the Mediator is awe-inspiring. This doctrine amazes us not simply because it is mysterious and somewhat beyond human comprehension, but because there is a sense in which the hypostatic union of the two natures in Christ is the greatest miracle in Scripture. In order to save us God had to become man. The Son assumed a genuine human nature in order to: perfectly obey God’s law (in order to fulfill the covenant of works), suffer and die on the cross as a vicarious atonement and rise again victorious over Satan, sin and death. Even now the God-man sits enthroned at the right had of God interacting and applying redemption to His people. It is a tremendous blessing to us that the Mediator will forever and ever be both God and man. For eternity we will be able to look at the scars in our Lord’s hands, feet and side. His glorified human body will be an eternal testimony to His supreme love; the love that caused Him to descend from the room of heaven to the filthy manger in Bethlehem and the painful road to Golgotha.

If you are not a Christian, then it is now time to behold the God-man with the eyes of faith. Believe in His person and His work of redemption. There is no other name given among men by which we can be saved (Ac. 4:12). There is only one mediator between God and man, the Man Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5). Dear Christian, you know that there is no other greater motivation for obedience and good works than our love and adoration for Christ. Lord enable us to be continually faithful to our precious Lord and Savior—Immanuel. Amen."

- Brian Schwertley

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS...repent and believe

by Ichabod Spencer

Mark 1:15 "Repent ye, and believe the Gospel."
These are the words of our blessed Saviour, addressed to poor guilty sinners like you and me. But what is repentance? It is a work of the Spirit of God upon the heart, producing such an inward sense of the evil and guilt of sin, as makes a man wonder that he is out of hell; such a hatred of sin as causes a man to forsake it; and such an apprehension of the consequences of sin, as makes a man willing to be saved wholly and solely through what Jesus Christ has done and suffered for lost souls. The penitent sinner is convinced that sin deserves punishment; that he himself, as a sinner, is liable to the wrath of God; that sin must be pardoned or punished; that he can make no amends for the least of his transgressions; and consequently that his salvation must be all of grace.

The man thus humbled, is prepared to welcome the news of a Saviour who came to seek and to save that which was lost (Matt. 18:11). Such is the Gospel. It is glad tidings to a lost, guilty world. The sum and substance of it is this, that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim. 1:15). He died to make satisfaction for their sins; and being God and man in one Saviour, "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him" (Heb. 7:25). His blood being the blood of God incarnate (Acts 20:28), was infinitely meritorious; and it was shed for this very purpose, to take away sin; so that if your sins, poor self-condemned sinner, are more in number than the hairs of your head, or the sand on the sea shore; if they are great and aggravated, and red like scarlet, yet there is hope. "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth (hath virtue to cleanse) us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

But how am I to become interested in this, and get comfort of it? "Believe the Gospel:" rely on what the Word of God says about Jesus Christ, and His willingness and power to save sinners. But may I without presumption believe that Jesus Christ came to save such a wretch as I am? Yes, "this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 3:23). There can be no presumption in doing what God has commanded, and taking God at His Word.

I'M A CALVINIST, NOT A HYPER-CALVINIST...my first response to David Allen per his remarks following the John 3:16 Conference

I was forwarded a statement by a fellow blogger and friend who recently informed me that David Allen had called James White and I Hyper-Calvinists in some follow-up remarks post his appearance at the John 3:16 Conference. Apparently Allen encouraged people not to link to my blog, read my blog, or basically partner with me in ministry because of what he perceives to be Hyper-Calvinism in my beliefs.

Here is his quote: For example, Ascol, on the Founders Ministries website, even links to Steve Camp, who also denies God's universal saving desire, with the additional explicit denials of common grace and general love. Can anyone say that Steve Camp does not meet Phil Johnson's criteria on hyper-Calvinism?

For the record, I am not a Hyper-Calvinist; and I do agree, for the most part, with Phil Johnson's primer as well.  

And to David Allen, if you are reading my blog today I want you to know that my door, email and phone are always open to you. I would also like to extend an invitation to you to debate this issue publicly in the spirit of Christian charity and fidelity for the truth in any venue of your choice. The only thing that I would request of you is that we defend and proclaim our beliefs on these issues ultimately by the authority and veracity of the Word of God. I await your reply.

Here is, however, what I do believe, in part, on this issue: 

• I do believe in the doctrines of grace (Roms. 3:21-31); 
  
• I do believe in the Sovereignty of God in the salvation of men's souls (Eph. 2:1-5); 
  
• I do believe there is an elect people, chosen by God in Christ Jesus in times past eternal before the foundations of the world (Titus 1:1; 2 Tim. 1:9; Eph. 1:3-6); 
  
• I do believe that God has chosen some as vessels of mercy and others as vessels of wrath (Roms. 9:11-23); 
  
• I do believe that God's desire and His decrees are in perfect unity and that His will be glorified and His power magnified either by lavishing the riches of His grace upon the elect unto salvation or His eternal wrath upon the nonelect unto destruction (Roms. 9:18-23);
• I do believe that salvation is all of grace and entirely of the Lord; that faith is a gift; and that man does not, nor cannot, cooperate with God in salvation (Eph. 2:1-9); 
  
• I do believe that regeneration precedes faith and is entirely a ministry and work of the Holy Spirit (John 3:1-16; Titus 3:4-7; 1 Cor. 12:3); 
  
• I do believe that faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ (Roms. 10:17);
• I do believe that God grants a common kindness and benevolence upon all people - saved or not (Matt. 5:40ff; Psalm 145:2)); 
  
• and that the gospel is not an offer, but a command to follow Christ Jesus as Lord, repent of your sins, and a compelling to be reconciled to God freely given to all hearers by His servants indiscriminately (Matt. 16:24-26; 2 Cor. 5:13-21; Acts 17:30ff; Roms. 10:9-10). 

But also, that sound doctrine and biblical theology does not make any believer in the Lord Jesus silent about "the faith" (Jude 3; 2 Tim. 2:10; 1 Cor. 9:16; Roms. 15:20; Acts 20:24). On the contrary, it makes us more vocal, unashamed and bold to proclaim the gospel and gives us a burden for all to hear and receive the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life (cp Roms. 9:1-5)! I am passionate about evangelism and have preached the gospel all around the world for the past 30 years calling people to repentance in the Lord Jesus Christ by grace through faith alone for salvation.

My first installment of a sort of rebuttal to David Allen's nefarious charge, is to point historically to the "birth-place" of Calvinism - The Canons of Dort. What follows below is section one of Dort's findings in response to the error of Arminius (David Allen's Calvin); and to some of the doctrinal essentials on what Allen would almost surely label as Hyper-Calvinism. I simply refer to them as nothing less than biblical Christianity.

More to come this week...

Article 1: God's Right to Condemn All People
Since all people have sinned in Adam and have come under the sentence of the curse and eternal death, God would have done no one an injustice if it had been his will to leave the entire human race in sin and under the curse, and to condemn them on account of their sin. As the apostle says: The whole world is liable to the condemnation of God (Rom. 3:19), All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), and The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).*

--*All quotations from Scripture are translations of the original Latin manuscript.--

Article 2: The Manifestation of God's Love
But this is how God showed his love: he sent his only begotten Son into the world, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Article 3: The Preaching of the Gospel
In order that people may be brought to faith, God mercifully sends proclaimers of this very joyful message to the people he wishes and at the time he wishes. By this ministry people are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified. For how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without someone preaching? And how shall they preach unless they have been sent? (Rom. 10:14-15).

Article 4: A Twofold Response to the Gospel
God's anger remains on those who do not believe this gospel. But those who do accept it and embrace Jesus the Savior with a true and living faith are delivered through him from God's anger and from destruction, and receive the gift of eternal life.

Article 5: The Sources of Unbelief and of Faith
The cause or blame for this unbelief, as well as for all other sins, is not at all in God, but in man. Faith in Jesus Christ, however, and salvation through him is a free gift of God. As Scripture says, It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8). Likewise: It has been freely given to you to believe in Christ (Phil. 1:29).

Article 6: God's Eternal Decision
The fact that some receive from God the gift of faith within time, and that others do not, stems from his eternal decision. For all his works are known to God from eternity (Acts 15:18; Eph. 1:11). In accordance with this decision he graciously softens the hearts, however hard, of his chosen ones and inclines them to believe, but by his just judgment he leaves in their wickedness and hardness of heart those who have not been chosen. And in this especially is disclosed to us his act--unfathomable, and as merciful as it is just--of distinguishing between people equally lost. This is the well-known decision of election and reprobation revealed in God's Word. This decision the wicked, impure, and unstable distort to their own ruin, but it provides holy and godly souls with comfort beyond words.

Article 7: Election
Election [or choosing] is God's unchangeable purpose by which he did the following:

Before the foundation of the world, by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will, he chose in Christ to salvation a definite number of particular people out of the entire human race, which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin. Those chosen were neither better nor more deserving than the others, but lay with them in the common misery. He did this in Christ, whom he also appointed from eternity to be the mediator, the head of all those chosen, and the foundation of their salvation. And so he decided to give the chosen ones to Christ to be saved, and to call and draw them effectively into Christ's fellowship through his Word and Spirit. In other words, he decided to grant them true faith in Christ, to justify them, to sanctify them, and finally, after powerfully preserving them in the fellowship of his Son, to glorify them.

God did all this in order to demonstrate his mercy, to the praise of the riches of his glorious grace.

As Scripture says, God chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and blameless before him with love; he predestined us whom he adopted as his children through Jesus Christ, in himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, by which he freely made us pleasing to himself in his beloved (Eph. 1:4-6). And elsewhere, Those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified (Rom. 8:30).

Article 8: A Single Decision of Election
This election is not of many kinds; it is one and the same election for all who were to be saved in the Old and the New Testament. For Scripture declares that there is a single good pleasure, purpose, and plan of God's will, by which he chose us from eternity both to grace and to glory, both to salvation and to the way of salvation, which he prepared in advance for us to walk in.

Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith
This same election took place, not on the basis of foreseen faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, or of any other good quality and disposition, as though it were based on a prerequisite cause or condition in the person to be chosen, but rather for the purpose of faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, and so on. Accordingly, election is the source of each of the benefits of salvation. Faith, holiness, and the other saving gifts, and at last eternal life itself, flow forth from election as its fruits and effects. As the apostle says, He chose us (not because we were, but) so that we should be holy and blameless before him in love (Eph. 1:4).

Article 10: Election Based on God's Good Pleasure
But the cause of this undeserved election is exclusively the good pleasure of God. This does not involve his choosing certain human qualities or actions from among all those possible as a condition of salvation, but rather involves his adopting certain particular persons from among the common mass of sinners as his own possession. As Scripture says, When the children were not yet born, and had done nothing either good or bad..., she (Rebecca) was told, "The older will serve the younger." As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated" (Rom. 9:11-13). Also, All who were appointed for eternal life believed (Acts 13:48).

Article 11: Election Unchangeable
Just as God himself is most wise, unchangeable, all-knowing, and almighty, so the election made by him can neither be suspended nor altered, revoked, or annulled; neither can his chosen ones be cast off, nor their number reduced.

Article 12: The Assurance of Election
Assurance of this their eternal and unchangeable election to salvation is given to the chosen in due time, though by various stages and in differing measure. Such assurance comes not by inquisitive searching into the hidden and deep things of God, but by noticing within themselves, with spiritual joy and holy delight, the unmistakable fruits of election pointed out in God's Word-- such as a true faith in Christ, a childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow for their sins, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on.

Article 13: The Fruit of This Assurance
In their awareness and assurance of this election God's children daily find greater cause to humble themselves before God, to adore the fathomless depth of his mercies, to cleanse themselves, and to give fervent love in return to him who first so greatly loved them. This is far from saying that this teaching concerning election, and reflection upon it, make God's children lax in observing his commandments or carnally self-assured. By God's just judgment this does usually happen to those who casually take for granted the grace of election or engage in idle and brazen talk about it but are unwilling to walk in the ways of the chosen.

Article 14: Teaching Election Properly
Just as, by God's wise plan, this teaching concerning divine election has been proclaimed through the prophets, Christ himself, and the apostles, in Old and New Testament times, and has subsequently been committed to writing in the Holy Scriptures, so also today in God's church, for which it was specifically intended, this teaching must be set forth--with a spirit of discretion, in a godly and holy manner, at the appropriate time and place, without inquisitive searching into the ways of the Most High. This must be done for the glory of God's most holy name, and for the lively comfort of his people.

Article 15: Reprobation
Moreover, Holy Scripture most especially highlights this eternal and undeserved grace of our election and brings it out more clearly for us, in that it further bears witness that not all people have been chosen but that some have not been chosen or have been passed by in God's eternal election-- those, that is, concerning whom God, on the basis of his entirely free, most just, irreproachable, and unchangeable good pleasure, made the following decision: to leave them in the common misery into which, by their own fault, they have plunged themselves; not to grant them saving faith and the grace of conversion; but finally to condemn and eternally punish them (having been left in their own ways and under his just judgment), not only for their unbelief but also for all their other sins, in order to display his justice. And this is the decision of reprobation, which does not at all make God the author of sin (a blasphemous thought!) but rather its fearful, irreproachable, just judge and avenger.

Article 16: Responses to the Teaching of Reprobation
Those who do not yet actively experience within themselves a living faith in Christ or an assured confidence of heart, peace of conscience, a zeal for childlike obedience, and a glorying in God through Christ, but who nevertheless use the means by which God has promised to work these things in us--such people ought not to be alarmed at the mention of reprobation, nor to count themselves among the reprobate; rather they ought to continue diligently in the use of the means, to desire fervently a time of more abundant grace, and to wait for it in reverence and humility. On the other hand, those who seriously desire to turn to God, to be pleasing to him alone, and to be delivered from the body of death, but are not yet able to make such progress along the way of godliness and faith as they would like--such people ought much less to stand in fear of the teaching concerning reprobation, since our merciful God has promised that he will not snuff out a smoldering wick and that he will not break a bruised reed. However, those who have forgotten God and their Savior Jesus Christ and have abandoned themselves wholly to the cares of the world and the pleasures of the flesh--such people have every reason to stand in fear of this teaching, as long as they do not seriously turn to God.

Article 17: The Salvation of the Infants of Believers
Since we must make judgments about God's will from his Word, which testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature but by virtue of the gracious covenant in which they together with their parents are included, godly parents ought not to doubt the election and salvation of their children whom God calls out of this life in infancy.

Article 18: The Proper Attitude Toward Election and Reprobation
To those who complain about this grace of an undeserved election and about the severity of a just reprobation, we reply with the words of the apostle, Who are you, O man, to talk back to God? (Rom. 9:20), and with the words of our Savior, Have I no right to do what I want with my own? (Matt. 20:15). We, however, with reverent adoration of these secret things, cry out with the apostle: Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways beyond tracing out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or who has first given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen (Rom. 11:33-36).

THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST...in salvation and in judgment

"Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I tell you?" (Luke 6:46)

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day t many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons v in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matt. 7:21-24)

"Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." (Roms. 10:9-10)

"If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Savior, while they are wedded to their idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel, insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness." -C.H. SPURGEON

"Grace is a provision for men who are so fallen that they cannot lift the ax of justice; so corrupt that they cannot change their own natures; so adverse to God that they cannot turn to Him; so blind that they cannot see Him; so deaf that they cannot hear Him; and so dead that He Himself must open their graves." -G.S. BISHOP

"Pride is self contending with God for preeminence." -CHARLES BRIDGES

WHY SALVATION MUST BE SUPERNATURAL...the chief of sinners saved

In all our proclamation, study, defining 

and defending of the gospel--

we must never forget that it is 

a work of the Spirit of God in regeneration; 

a work of the Son of God in redemption; 

and a work of God the Father in election.

By Stephen Charnock
(An excerpt from The Chief of Sinners Saved)

The insufficiency of nature to such a work as conversion is, shows that men may not fall down and idolize their own wit and power. A change from acts of sin to moral duties may be done by a natural strength and the power of natural conscience: for the very same motives which led to sin, as education, interest, profit, may, upon a change of circumstances, guide men to an outward morality; but a change to the contrary grace is supernatural.

Two things are certain in nature:

(1.) Natural inclinations never change, but by some superior virtue.
A loadstone will not cease to draw iron, while that attractive quality remains in it. The wolf can never love the lamb, nor the lamb the wolf; nothing but must act suitably to its nature. Water cannot but moisten, fire cannot but burn. So likewise the corrupt nature of man being possessed with an invincible contrariety and enmity to God, will never suffer him to comply with God. And the inclinations of a sinner to sin being more strengthened by the frequency of sinful acts, have as great a power over him, and as natural to him, as any qualities are to natural agents: and being stronger than any sympathies in the world, cannot by a man's own power, or the power of any other nature equal to it, be turned into a contrary channel.

(2.) Nothing can act beyond its own principle and nature.
Nothing in the world can raise itself to a higher rank of being than that which nature has placed it in; a spark cannot make itself a star, though it mount a little up to heaven; nor a plant endue itself with sense, nor a beast adorn itself with reason; nor a man make himself an angel. Thorns cannot bring forth grapes, nor thistles produce figs because such fruits are above the nature of those plants. So neither can our corrupt nature bring forth grace, which is a fruit above it. Effectus non excedit virtutem suae causae [the effect cannot exceed the power of its cause]: grace is more excellent than nature, therefore cannot be the fruit of nature. It is Christ's conclusion, "How can you, being evil, speak good things?" Matt. 12:33, 34. Not so much as the buds and blossoms of words, much less the fruit of actions. They can no more change their natures, than a viper can do away with his poison. Now though this I have said be true, yet there is nothing man does more affect in the world than a self-sufficiency, and an independence from any other power but his own. This attitude is as much riveted in his nature, as any other false principle whatsoever. For man does derive it from his first parents, as the prime legacy bequeathed to his nature: for it was the first thing uncovered in man at his fall; he would be as God, independent from him. Now God, to cross this principle, allows his elect, like Lazarus, to lie in the grave till they stink, that there may be no excuse to ascribe their resurrection to their own power. If a putrefied rotten carcass should be brought to life, it could never be thought that it inspired itself with that active principle. God lets men run on so far in sin, that they do unman themselves, that he may proclaim to all the world, that we are unable to do anything of ourselves towards our recovery, without a superior principle.

The evidence of which will appear 

if we consider,

1. Man's subjection under sin.
He is "sold under sin," Rom. 7:14, and brought "into captivity to the law of sin," ver. 23. "Law of sin:" that sin seems to have a legal authority over him; and man is not only a slave to one sin, but many, Tit. 3:3, "serving divers lusts." Now when a man is sold under the power of a thousand lusts, every one of which has an absolute tyranny over him, and rules him as a sovereign by a law; when a man is thus bound by a thousand laws, a thousand cords and fetters, and carried whither his lords please, against the dictates of his own conscience and force of natural light; can any man imagine that his own power can rescue him from the strength of these masters that claim such a right to him, and keep such a force upon him, and have so often baffled his own strength, when he attempted to turn against them?

2. Man's affection to them.
He does not only serve them, but he serves them, and every one of them, with delight and pleasure; Tit. 3:3. They were all pleasures, as well as lusts; friends as well as lords. Will any man leave his sensual delights and such sins that please and flatter his flesh? Will a man ever endeavour to run away from those lords which he serves with affection? having as much delight in being bound a slave to these lusts, as the devil has in binding him. Therefore when you see a man cast away his pleasures, deprive himself of those comfortable things to which his soul was once knit, and walk in paths contrary to corrupt nature, you may search for the cause anywhere, rather than in nature itself. No piece of dirty, muddy clay can form itself into a neat and handsome vessel; no plain piece of timber can fit itself for the building, much less a crooked one. Nor a man that is born blind, give himself sight.

God deals with men in this case as he did with Abraham. He would not give Isaac while Sarah's womb, in a natural probability, might have borne him; but when her womb was dead, and age had taken away all natural strength of conception, then God gives him; that it might appear that he was not a child of nature, but a child of promise.

IF YOU AREN'T PREACHING JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE, YOU ARE NOT PREACHING THE BIBLICAL GOSPEL

Romans 3:24
and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Romans 3:28
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Romans 4:1
What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?

Romans 4:2
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we[1] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:9
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Romans 6:7
For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Romans 8:30
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Galatians 2:16
yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Titus 3:4-7
"But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Reformation
This is at the heart of the Reformed faith (Calvinism) and more importantly - biblical Christianity. Salvation is of the Lord - it is all of grace! We add nothing to it and do not cooperate in it to obtain it. It is God's free gift to sinful men. It is a Sovereign act of a holy God upon unregenerate people who are by nature children of wrath, sons of disobedience, and dead in trespasses and sins. We must "made fit" for the inheritance (Col. 1:12-14); because in and of ourselves we are hostile to God; enemies of Him and His truth, with all our own righteousness being nothing but dirty, filthy rags. But because of His great love, unfathomable grace and never-ending mercy - by grace through faith in Jesus we may be clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ our Lord.

This is no spoony faith. This is Christianity; this is what the Reformation was chiefly concerning: a recovery of the biblical gospel of justification by faith alone, through grace alone, because of Christ alone. Theological systems may come and go, but what has become known as Calvinism, symbolically and truthfully, represents the biblical gospel and an exalted sufficient view of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Word.

As the Apostle Paul say in Romans 4:5: "To the man who does not work, but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness." Look at these seven great truths on justification mined from this one verse by our dear late brother, Dr. John Gerstner:

1. The justified one does "not work."
2. The justified one "trusts."
3. The justified one trusts not in himself but in another: "God."
4. The justified one confesses himself to be "wicked."
5. The justified one does not have faith in his faith.
6. The justified one sees his faith only as "credited" to him.
7. The justified one sees his faith credited as "righteousness."

Amen?

As we read some excerpts of these men below, may their words encourage us all to proclaim His gospel of grace, not by the authority of Calvin or the Reformation, but by the authority of God's Word alone to which they gave their lives!


Martin Luther:

"This doctrine [justification by faith] is the head and the cornerstone. It alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and defends the church of God; and without it the church of God cannot exist for one hour…. For no one who does not hold this article – or, to use Paul's expression, this 'sound doctrine' (Titus 2:1) – is able to teach aright in the church or successfully to resist any adversary . . . this is the heel of the Seed that opposes the old serpent and crushes its head. That is why Satan, in turn, cannot but persecute it."

"Whoever departs from the article of justification does not know God and is an idolater . . . For when this article has been taken away, nothing remains but error, hypocrisy, godlessness, and idolatry, although it may seem to be the height of truth, worship of God, holiness, etc."

"Of this article [justification] nothing may be yielded or conceded, though heaven and earth and whatever will not abide, fall to ruin; for 'there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved,' says St. Peter (Acts 4:12); 'and with His stripes we are healed' (Is. 53:5). And on this article all that we teach and practice is based, against the pope, the devil, and the world. That is why we must be very certain of this doctrine and not doubt; otherwise all is lost, and the pope and the devil and all things gain the victory over us and are adjudged right."

"In short, if this article concerning Christ — the doctrine that we are justified and saved through Him alone and consider all apart from Him damned — is not professed, all resistance and restraint are at an end. Then there is, in fact, neither measure nor limit to any heresy and error."

JI Packer

“Now the real nature of Calvinistic soteriology becomes plain. It is no artificial oddity, nor a product of overbold logic. Its central confession, that God saves sinners, that Christ redeemed us by his blood is the witness both of the Bible and of the believing heart.

The Calvinist is the Christian who confesses before men in his theology just what he believes in his heart before God when he prays. He thinks and speaks at all times of the sovereign grace of God in the way that every Christian does when he pleads for the souls of others, or when he obeys the impulse of worship which rises unbidden within him, prompting him to deny himself all praise and to give all the glory of his salvation to his Savior.

Calvinism is the natural theology written on the heart of the new man in Christ, whereas Arminianism is an intellectual sin of infirmity, natural only in the sense in which all such sins are natural, even to the regenerate. Calvinistic thinking is the Christian being himself on the intellectual level; Arminian thinking is the Christian failing to be himself through the weakness of the flesh.

Calvinism is what the Christian church has always held and taught when its mind has not been distracted by controversy and false traditions from attending to what Scripture actually says; that is the significance of the patristic testimonies to the teaching of the ‘five points’, which can be quoted in abundance.

So that really it is most misleading to call this soteriology ‘Calvinism’ at all, for it is not a peculiarity of John Calvin and the divines of Dort, but a part of the revealed truth of God and the catholic Christian faith. ‘Calvinism’ is one of the ‘odious names’ by which down the centuries prejudice has been raised against it. But the thing itself is just the biblical gospel.”

CH Spurgeon:

“I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.

I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus. Such a gospel I abhor."

HT: The Irish Calvinist