 So we've been covering a Sunday school class on the doctrines of grace and I Mean for this to be a class time even though it's a we're kind of have a bigger group now So I would what I mean by that is I would like your interaction when I would ask questions or As some other teachers have said I might have to pick you out if you don't Raise your hand or speak up. So let's go ahead and review what we've covered in the past few weeks What is Total depravity, how do you define the total party pastoral Rick taught that that class? Yes, that's right. It's a total lack of spiritual good and inability to do good before God. Okay, so You're in this box and you have the total depravity disease of your soul Okay, next we have unconditional election. How is that defined? Chase? Yes, so completely by his grace He's gonna pick out and save a particular people a Certain number of people Okay, he's elected these two Not because they're the they've looked the best or because they are of any foreseen merit in them But only by God's mercy and grace. Okay. Now limited atonement Right. Yes, very good. Very good. So Here I'm gonna put that Christ paid a particular price for his elect and Now here we are at irresistible grace this grace that comes to a particular people is a grace that Cannot be resisted because it is a sovereign work of God to remove our resistance to remove our Hatred for him and instead give us a great love for him. So Let's think about How we define irresistible grace. Here's a quote from James White Irresistible grace then is simply the assertion that God's grace expressed sovereign and in the sovereign free act of regeneration is irresistible When God chooses to raise one of his elect to life He can do so without asking permission of the dead creature You're saying what he's saying? Saying that we are much worse than we credit ourselves to be We are dead creatures and that's why it resists grace is irresistible Because it's not a matter of you simply making the choice, but it's a matter of you being dead and he makes you alive some people have opposed the doctrine of grace the doctrines of grace with especially with irresistible grace and Saying such things as that it is God forcing himself upon people or some have so Gone so far as to say that it is cosmic rape That irresistible grace is God making people into robots and forcing them to believe Okay, I'm gonna read you a quote by C. S. Lewis Well-known author and then you got to tell me what's wrong with it. Okay? Okay, this is from his writing it in The trouble with X is the title God has made it a rule for himself that he won't alter people's character by force He can and will alter them But only if people will let him and that way he has really and truly limited his power Sometimes we wonder why he has done so or even wish that he hadn't but apparently he thinks it's worth doing He would rather have a world of free beings with all its risks than a world of people who did write like machines Because they couldn't do anything else the more we succeeded imagining what a world of perfect automatic beings would be like the more I think we shall see his wisdom What's wrong with that statement, right? Yes, so that's very well stated. It's not Man that's central in his will but God no yes No one yes, it's an impossibility because of how wicked We are he's underestimating how sinful we are We are so sinful and born this way that We would never come to him Unless he were to move in his grace You must be born again That's the bottom line of this lesson You need grace that's irresistible. You need grace that's right from God himself You need a miracle of the soul you must be born again You can't simply make yourself a Christian whenever you want you need a savior You don't have just you're not sick or broken You're dead in your trespasses and sins. You need a resurrection with the doctrines of grace has been well said that With these doctrines when you believe them and understand them they are the continental divide of theology and What that illustration means is there's like the Rocky Mountains, right on the in our continent When rain hits on one side of the Rockies, then it's gonna flow out to the Pacific Ocean When rain hits on the other side of the Rockies it grows down rivers and the rivers flow to the Atlantic Ocean And the idea is that on that one mountain you have the same raiding cloud drop Drops of water and they're either gonna flow out to The Atlantic Ocean or to the Pacific It depends on which side of the mountain they fall on that Continental divide the doctrines of grace are a continental divide of theology If you deny them then you begin become very man-centered in your thinking Very man-centered in your understanding of salvation very man-centered and you begin to become pragmatic easy believism Grows in the soil of Arminian ism Easy believism grows in the soil of Arminian ism Arminianism is not a heresy doesn't make you not a Christian, but it makes it very easy to Have heresy It begins a slide into man-centered ideas If God is the one who must save by irresistible grace if he must make people born again and if he does this because we are totally depraved and In order for these things to go together Think with me now if they're not true Okay, that man is not totally depraved and that he can decide for himself Then I can begin to change my message not to please God But instead I will change it to what can persuade people to repent Haven't you ever been preaching the gospel and someone comes up to you and says let me give you a word of advice You know, I know you just told me about the Bible and I know I've never read the Bible But let me tell you about how to reach people for your religion. You've got to do it such and such this way and Then you kindly explain to them. Well, the message that I've told you is not Something that I'm telling you because I want to woo you or because I believe I'm a salesman But it's instead. This is what God would have me to say See the differences there Are you a salesman? Trying to persuade people into the kingdom or are you a messenger an ambassador of God? Trying to speak the words of God in a way that pleases God Who is the one who saves? But yes, God saves now. Do you really believe that if you don't hold these doctrines there? There is a way in which you don't really believe that God saves You must be born again. Yes, Dan. Yes Yes we Yes, you're right. We do reason with people. We just reason with them the way the Bible shows us to reason with them Not the way the world tells us to reason with them Thank you for making that clear. Okay, so think here now about a couple more quotes that help make the definition of irresistible grace more clear This is from Bethlehem Baptist Church up in Minnesota, Minneapolis More specifically irresistible grace refers to the sovereign work of God to overcome the rebellion of our heart and bring us To faith in Christ so that we can be saved if our doctrine of total depravity is true There can be no salvation without the reality of irresistible grace if we are dead in our sins Totally unable to submit to God then we will never believe in Christ unless God overcomes our rebellion You understand that the key is the irresistible grace is that God himself Overcomes our rebellion. He doesn't move apart from our will He instead overcomes our rebellion To him quote number two when a person hears a preacher call for repentance. He can resist that call But God but if God gives him repentance, he cannot resist because the gift is the removal of resistance See the gift is the removal of resistance not being willing to repent is the same as resisting the Holy Spirit So if God gives repentance, it is the same as taking away the resistance. That is why this work of God is called irresistible grace Okay, so let's go ahead and we're gonna look at the general call and effectual call Then John 6 and then we're gonna look at applications So let's go ahead and turn to Matthew 22 14 Brian would you read Matthew 22 14? So where do we see the effectual call in that verse? Go ahead. Say what do you say that again Brian? So few are chosen. We see the effectual call in with election Where's the the general call? So many are called But it's only effectual with those that are chosen. Do you see that? So both the effectual call and the general call the effectual call is irresistible grace Where when God makes a dead sinner alive when someone is born again the general call is The gospel that goes out to everybody That distinction is helps you understand the difference between many of many of the objections with the irresistible grace Let's look at first Corinthians 1 9 and Lee would you read first Corinthians 1 9? Okay, now this is an introduction many of the introductions Have some key words that are used like slave of Christ or someone who is a Is called here here speaking to the church at Corinth The Apostle Paul refers to them as people who have been called Affectually God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ our Lord This is the effectual call Okay, let's look at Romans 8 28 to 30 Romans 8 28 to 30 He says Verse 28 and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God to those who are the called According to his purpose For whom he foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren Moreover whom he predestined these he also called whom he called these he also justified and whom he justified These he also glorified So how do we know the called in verse 28 and verse 30 is not the general call? So he justifies them he sanctifies them and glorifies them So with everybody who gets the general call Do they get sanctified justified glorified? No, no Yes, I believe so That's right Yep, the the called is those who are effectually called according to his purpose you see that That's what the purpose a little stick figure analogy is to see that he his purpose in Tulip his purpose and total depravity on unconditional election limited atonement irresistible grace his head is a Eternal purpose something that he has planned and that is why in the end we have perseverance We have assurance that we will persevere to the end Because this eternal work of God has begun and before time began Okay, so let's look now at 1st Peter 1 3 Since the effectual call Will always come to pass whomever God wants to save he will save In that is the idea of regeneration in that is the idea that you must be born again Go ahead. Josh. Would you read? 1st Peter 1 3 and 1 23 1 3 and 1 23 So there we see that he's begotten us again the same idea as that we have been born again In verse 23 So here how does someone get born again? through the word of God Through the word of God that's a beautiful picture that the the holy spirit rides in the chariot of his word So someone is born again, and it is a work of God the spirit. Let's look at John 3 in John 3 Versus 3 to 8 and Jesus answered and said to him most assuredly I say to you unless one is born again He cannot see the kingdom of God So we see that this is an absolute necessity. It's an absolute must You must if you want to go to heaven when you die, you've got to be born again Every single person in the room wants to be born again, right? You you've So how does this happen and Nicodemus says how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered most assuredly I say to you unless one is born of water in the spirit He cannot enter the kingdom of God That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that was which is born of the spirit is spirit Do not marvel that I said to you you must be born again The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it But you cannot tell where it comes where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the spirit So God decides who will be saved God decides in his election And in his irresistible grace he moves as the wind moves And no one can tell who he will save This these doctrines that we've been going over are really Some of the most offensive doctrines in all the bible Why is total depravity offensive? Yes pride. Let's let's work that out. Let's flush that out. Give us some details, too That's it. We could answer that that one to every question. Why is it having pride? So let's give it some practical example. Why is there a pride not like that? Yes, they they don't like the offense of its Unconditional election worked out that God has Elected and chosen a certain people and so he's paid the price for certain people and that offense continues on So what about irresistible grace? Why is that offensive? Yes, because it's in an affront to free will Now what I want you to see in all those offenses and thinking about all them They're all based in that you don't get the t right You see that If you get the t right Then it's going to set you a right Do you really see how sinful you are? I love the doctrines of grace I love to think about them. I love to sing about them. And you know why? Because they exalt the gospel In the gospel we see that we are wicked people Sinful people that we have been foolish people What we should have known to do We were fools To disobey God the way that we have We were ignorant we were disobedient what we did know Then we defied God in it We were slaves to our sin What we did know and what we didn't want to do all the time we We were overcome by our lusts and desires I know that we knew that it was wrong, but we're going to go ahead and do it anyway and all of this Worked itself out in our lives Lives full of envy Hateful and hating one another And in our best works We had all these sins of pride We have been totally depraved from the womb to the tomb But in sovereign grace In a grace that is completely Apart from us That it's a work of God Almighty Where he this acts he's the one who moves. He's the one who comes searching for us The idea of irresistible grace is pictured in the story of the The parable of the The lost son And his father who goes searching for him Who's the one who searches for the son? But the the father was the one looking down the road waiting for the prodigal son to return In the idea of the lost sheep who goes out but the the shepherd goes and finds his lost sheep That an irresistible grace is the idea that if God didn't come looking for us Then we would have never turned to him But because of that whoever God goes looking for He finds He's effectual for that He doesn't lose them But they persevere to the end All of his elect he will make sure that they are saved This is a very encouraging doctrine It puts trust in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's look in John 6 In John 6 we have the feeding of the 5000 Where the Lord has been preached to the gospel and the people have been with him for days And so he out of the Lord Jesus Christ out of compassion He considers how they need to be fed and he has them sit down in a grassy area and he begins to ask And in verse 5 he says to Philip our Lord says to Philip Where shall we buy bread that these may eat? And John lets us in in verse 6 to let us know that it was a trick question Jesus said but This he had said to test him for he himself knew what he would do He just wanted Philip to really think about it. What's going to happen and Philip answered 200 an area worth of bread is not sufficient for them That every one of them may have a little So In effect that Philip says, you know, 20,000 dollars wouldn't be able to buy lunch for all these people Where are we going to get 20,000 bucks? Jesus says this knowing this In order to set up this miracle and this miracle Is there to set up The doctrines Of grace to set up. What is the gospel really like? What is it like when someone gets converted? And what's it like when there's a false convert? He's going to set that up where there's a feeding of the 5,000 that miracle is a miracle of amazing grace the people And after he's done with the miracle Jesus sends the disciples over the sea of galley and he begins to at night He walks across the sea of galley and gets in the boat in the middle of the sea The next day they are in a synagogue on the other side of the sea of galley in capernaum in verse 26 We pick up the story Where the people have been looking for christ and they find him in They say in verse 25 rabbi, when did you come here in verse 26? Jesus answered it and said most assuredly i say to You you seek me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled Now i'm a mechanic at work and one thing the mechanics at work love is free lunch When there's free lunch everybody at work is is happy for just for a couple hours Complaining tends to go away when the bellies get full But then when it gets to be the next meal time The complaining comes back. I wish you get paid more Oh, this is such a stressful job But then when you get free lunch you kind of forget about it for a little while again The lunch doesn't solve the problem. The problem is a matter of the heart The miracle doesn't solve the problem here for these people It's a matter of the heart and the Lord is going to expose their hearts in this conversation He says in verse 27 do not labor for the food which perishes But for the food which endures the everlasting life Which the Son of man will give you because God the Father has set his seal on him The Lord Jesus is turning them away from stop thinking about free food and start thinking about what is in front of you The savior of the world You're coming to me because I got you lunch But I have eternal life Do they have eyes to see do they have ears to hear Jesus often does this especially in the book of John. John loves to Display how Jesus turns these life Pictures into spiritual lessons lessons Throughout the book of John. Well, can you think of a one or two where the Where Jesus does this in the book of John where he takes a like Water at the woman with the woman at the well And he says well, I have water For you to drink that you'll never thirst again And he takes this Imagery and he makes a eternal life gospel lesson out of it. What's another example in the book of John? No Yes, he has a An actual act that he does there where he raises Lazarus from the dead and he does that act As a picture and a statement about salvation through for the rest of time For people to look back and see for him to say i'm the resurrection of life So that we can read that now and we can be saved from reading that story What's another picture? Yes, that Jesus is the bread of life And he's going to get into that picture here. He also goes with nicodemus. He says about being born again Like like we read Throughout the book of John you see these pictures and here the bread of life is Is on display In verse 28 then he said to him what shall we do that we may works the work of God The people begin to say okay. What work do we got to do? What do we got to do in order to They they understand he's talking about salvation now What do we got to do? And he said this is the work of God that you believe in him whom he sent This is Something they're not ready to do we'll see in verse 30 therefore. They said to him What sign will you perform that they may see it and believe you? What work will you do our fathers ate the manna in the desert as it is written he gave them bread from heaven to eat Now like a typical evangelism Story the person who's lost here is quoting scripture and it's misquoted They're quoting the psalms And they've completely missed the whole idea Jesus says to them. Okay. You want to do the works of God believe on me and they say okay. We'll believe show us a sign moses gave us a sign free lunch And jesus says them in verse 32 you've you missed entire point Most assuredly i say to you moses did not give you the bread from heaven But my father gives you the true bread from heaven For the bread of god is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world Here you see in verse 33 is a limited atonement because it is an actual giving of life It's not a potential giving of life, but as an actual he gives life Then they said to him lord give us this bread always And jesus said to them plainly. He says in plainly. I am the bread of life He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe All that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will know I no means cast out. Where do you see the doctrines of grace in verse 37 That they will persevere we see the the p the perseverance of the saints they will He will not cast them out. What else my love Yes, we see unconditional election the father is the one who gives them to the son And what else yes, that's right They still won't believe That's right. It's not a doubt. It's gonna happen Because it's irresistible So continuing on in verses 38 Jesus says for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me This is the will of the father who sent me That all he has given me I should lose nothing But should raise it up in the last day. Where's the doctrines of grace in that verse? No one Yes, certain people that he's chosen What else? Yes, they He's going to he's not gonna lose a one. He's gonna raise them up in the last day. They will persevere Verse 40 and this is the will of him who sent me that everyone who sees the son and believes in him May have everlasting life and I'll raise him up in the last day Then the jew then the jews complained about him because he said i'm the bread of life who came down from heaven They said is this not jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know you remember where they're at they're in around the sea of galley. This is jesus his own hometown area How is it then that he says I've come down from heaven And the lord rebukes them in verse 43 and how does he rebuke them? But with the doctrines of grace Jesus therefore answered and said to them do not murmur among yourselves No one can come to me unless the father who sent me Draws him and I will raise him up in the last day Where are the doctrines of grace there? That's right. They they need Monergistic regeneration they need to be born again. That's right It has to be a work of the father drawing them and the drawing them is a word there that Some people who are many and tried to describe this drawing as if It was something that attracts you like oh wow look at that that's so beautiful And i'm drawn to it like you know the moth to the flame or the Mosquito to that blue light that zaps them. I'm drawn to the light, you know And that's not the word the right meaning to the word here The the word is described for in many places in new testament sometimes as dragging a fishnet As sometimes dragged being dragged before court That it's the idea that the lord comes and takes his elect and brings them saves them brings them home We also see the perseverance of the saints that he will raise them up in the last day In verse 45 it's written in the prophets that they shall be taught by god Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me What where do we see the doctrines of grace here? In verse 45 Sergio That's right Everyone who has heard and learned from the father Comes To him and he goes on to say That not everyone who has seen the father except he was from god He has seen the father We know that to be jesus right most assuredly i say to you he who believes in me has everlasting life I am the bread of life You notice while jesus preaches about the doctrines of grace Where does he put the responsibility? on them That's right. He's preaching about how you need a savior. You need to be born again But he presses upon them And convicts them and rebukes them For their wickedness For their refusal to come to him He says in verse 50 this is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die I am the living bread which came down from heaven if anyone eats of this bread and he points to himself If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever and the bread that i give is my flesh Which i will give for the life of the world Here this is a specific giving it's again. It's not a potential giving But he actually he gives his life for the world And the the world would be like the way that is A representative for mankind a representative. I'm sorry for for all those in mankind We also see the perseverance of the saints that he will live forever in this verse the one who has eternal life The jews therefore quarrel among themselves How can this man give us his flesh to eat? They they are offended They're offended at the idea many times when You're evangelizing Somebody who the person who's hearing you Has so many misunderstandings Um because of their sin that if you were to spend all day they're talking to them those misunderstandings would never go away They would still be offended at the end. Have you ever talked to somebody like that? Some of you spent all day talking to people apparently And they go away Miss completely misrepresenting you Saying this person says this crazy idea I remember jimmy and i were evangelizing somebody after a service before and then Of one of the ladies in church talked with them and they they said Um those guys were teaching that you could lose your salvation And they came and the person came to us to hear about the conversation afterwards And it couldn't be anything further from the truth. We tried to repeatedly make that clear You cannot lose your salvation in this particular evangelism conversation But the the point is that's what's happening here The people here are completely misrepresenting jesus Because of the total depravity they don't understand Because they're there for the wrong reason They want to use jesus They don't understand what he's talking about But by god's grace some of the people in that crowd do Some of those people who are his own Some of those people who know that they need the bread of life And that they're there not just for a meal but to be saved Not just to live for an afternoon off some food but to live forever Yes, they're there for dinner in the show Now jesus says them in verse 53 most assuredly i say to you unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood You have no life in you Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and i will raise him up in the last day There's the perseverance of the saints The person here jesus is speaking in pictorial language about the person who depends on the work that christ has done on the cross The person who admits that everything they've done has been corrupted Will see they need a savior Do you remember the story of the leper who comes to jesus? in mark one And that leper you remember leprosy is a disease that will kill you it leprosy is a disease that destroys your nerve ending So that you begin to wear away your own body because you don't feel what you're rubbing up against what you're how you're cutting yourself how you're I'm destroying your own body and you begin to wear away your face the leprosy attacks your organs The leprosy makes you um your fingers and digits become stubs. It makes the features on your face Melt away so that you your form of your face looks that like a lion Like the way that your nose melts away and it makes a stench So that when a leper comes you You smell them you see them you hear them cry unclean unclean unclean And you remember in mark one when the leper comes to the lord He comes with humility having to feel the shame of those who of walking through the crowd and they the people gasping The people throwing stones Rabbis used to say I wouldn't eat I wouldn't buy an egg on the street that a leper walked Rabbis would pride themselves in throwing stones at lepers Not being near them and the leper in mark one comes to christ And christ reaches out and he touches him And it's a very intentional touching as if he puts two hands on his both his shoulders and the man who hasn't felt a human touch in and years And the leper falls before him on the ground and he says if you're willing you can make me clean And the lord says to him with that touch. He says i'm willing to be cleansed Do you see your total depravity? That you are a leper of the soul? Do you humble yourself to come on your face before god and say i need god By his grace to draw me i need god to do a work in my soul to take away The resistance that i have in my soul That's irresistible grace where you come like a and admit you have a you're a leper of the soul And that it's going to take a work of god alone A work of god alone to save you Often used to analogy when i'm when i'm evangelizing about Cancer and the guy who's smoking and the guy was smoking and he gets lung cancer and he gets cancer in his mouth And then he says to the doctor pridefully Oh, i know i got cancer, but you know i'll just throw these things away. See i can quit whenever i want i got willpower I quit whenever i want and i can exercise too And the doctor says you fool your exercise and you're throwing away your cigarettes won't take away the cancer Humble yourself come and i will cut it out He says no, thanks doc. I got it covered What happens to that man? He dies He must admit he needs someone else to do the work He needs someone else and it is the same with the doctrines of grace. You must come to see i need god to save me I need his irresistible grace That's what christ is trying to describe these people here that they need to turn from their own self righteousness To depend on his flesh and blood that kind of humility that i need christ to pay for my sins He says in verse 55 from my flesh his food indeed and my blood is drinking need Oh, yes, the work of christ that christ has done Is the work that pleases god That's the work to pay for sins. That's what you need to cover your sin Verse 56 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and i and him as the living father sent me And i live because of the father so he feeds on me will live because of me This is the bread which came down from heaven not as your father is ate the manna and are dead He who eats this bread will live forever Now even the disciples found these things hard to hear Even many people who are christians find the doctrines of grace hard to hear And jesus says in verse 60 This is a hard hard sentence or the type will say this is a hard saying who can understand it and jesus knew in verse 61 In himself the disciples complained about this Does this offend you? Is this not fair? Is this hard to understand? He says in verse 63 It is the spirit who gives life the flesh profits nothing Do you see the irresistible grace in verse 63? It's the spirit who gives life The words that I speak to you are spirit and their life But there are some of you who do not believe jesus knew from the beginning Who they were who did not believe and again irresistible grace in verse 65 Therefore i've said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my father When god grants it Every sinner when god grants his grace that sinner will come to him. Yes, please Amen Yes So think with me now to close what are some applications of irresistible grace if you believe this What differences will it make in your life? No Yes Yes, the humility will stay with you for the rest of your life If you believe that you've been born again Not a flesh now of your own will but of god Then you would continually Every day you'd be thanking the lord that he saved you A wretched soul and you look out and you see so many people just like you That are lost And you would look at yourself you wouldn't look at yourself with pride, but you'd say That's right. That's the application that jesus brings here with the disciples They feel the shame of the thousands of people leaving and they feel a shame to be there alone And and jesus explains to them why are you so shame? I'm we're speaking words of the spirit Trust in the lord and who's converted and who's not it is a work of the lord It should make you fervent and depend on him with a with a great strength Let's go ahead and move close Dear lord god, we thank you That you have made your grace irresistible to us We know that if you didn't take away our resistance our Opposition and our hatred for you we would have gone on resisting you forever Even in how lord And we thank you for your grace Please help us to live with a fervency and a holiness and a trust in you And a worship of you that you would receive all the glory Please receive all the glory from this doctrine in our lives. Amen