 Amen, so keep your place in Romans chapter 5, we're going to be coming back there in just a few minutes. But tonight we're continuing the Dammable Heresies sermon series and tonight we're going to talk about a very popular heresy, it was actually born out of the Reformation by a man named John Calvin in the 16th century and this teaching basically teaches in a nutshell that God chooses some to be saved and some to be damned and it's just kind of all decided. But they do have five points of Calvinism, like I said this should be really a deep study on all five of these points, it should be a five part series, but I'm going to preach through the five points tonight in one single sermon and the way I'm going to do that is I'm not going to go to a lot of verses that they take out of context, it's typical of most heresies, they just grab one verse and they run with it in some weird direction. But I'm not going to go to a ton of verses where they take those verses out of context, I'm just going to show you the belief from these five points from their own words and then basically just prove those from the Bible that those are not true. Calvinism is really kind of dumb, I know that seems silly to say that, but it's dumb in the sense that it goes against you say well you know what I'm just going to go this stupid you know, but I mean here's the thing like it goes against reason in many ways and the Bible never requires you, this is just a tip, the Bible never requires you to go against your own reason because God gave you reason, God gave you your reason as part of your conscience, so if there's something that's not making sense, somebody's teaching something you're just like, it just doesn't sound right, it's probably not because it goes against your own reason and then also another reason I say that Calvinism is dumb is because it goes against in many cases observable reality and especially if you're a soul winner you're going to know exactly what I'm talking about, I'm going to point those observable realities out very specifically tonight, but it's easy to prove from the Bible even if you know just a surface level understanding if you're saved you understand just a little bit of the Bible Calvinism is easy to refute, so Calvinism, we're going to look at these five points tonight of Calvinism, Calvinism has an acronym that they use called TULIP to explain the five points of Calvinism, this is your first clue right here by the way that there's some like magical acronym that someone has come up with that's you know not in the Bible you would think God would have that somewhere if it was important, it's your first clue that this is a man-made doctrine that there's this you know this clever little acronym called TULIP, so what we're going to do is we're going to just look at each of the T, the U, the L, the I and the P and look at what Calvinism is teaching and they just look at some Bible verses to refute that belief, but it's basically in a nutshell it's just this idea that it's already all decided that God you know has some people just created to be damned and some people created to be saved, right away you're like that doesn't sound right, well good alright, so let's just look at the TULIP methodology tonight or the TULIP acronym, I'm not going to give you a lot of their like I said a lot of their verses, it's very similar to Lutheranism by the way, where they just take one tiny verse and they just run with it in some weird direction and then they refer you to a bunch of papers that a bunch of Lutheran theologians wrote, right, so it's very similar to that, but I'm not going to go to a lot of the Bible, I'm just going to tell you the belief and I'm going to tell you what the Bible actually says, the first one is T, okay what are the five points of Calvinism, we're looking at TULIP tonight, the first one is T, which means total depravity, alright, this is from the words of the Calvinist right here, it's some Calvinist website, I forget what the website is, it's not important, but anyway total depravity, that's what the T in TULIP stands for and here's what their words say this belief means, total depravity asserts that as a consequence of the fall of man into sin, every person is enslaved to sin, people are not by nature inclined to love God, but rather to serve their own interests and to reject the rule of God, that means simply, now turn to Ephesians chapter 2, I'm going to look at a couple of their verses on this one, that means simply this is still their words, that man is dead, the Bible says that you and I are dead in trespasses and sins, now this is such a silly misunderstanding, it's ridiculous, but look at Ephesians chapter 2 and look at verse number 1, it says in Ephesians chapter 2 the Bible says, and you he hath quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, so quickened means made alive, so what this is talking about obviously in the Bible is that you were spiritually dead before you got saved, you were not physically dead before you got saved, you were spiritually dead, when you got saved, when you trusted on Jesus you became spiritually alive, you did not become physically better, like we didn't get, this is a spiritual statement right here, meaning we were physically dead, we had the wrath of God abiding on us, and we were quickened, we were made alive, we were given eternal life spiritually, we will be resurrected bodily one day, but now we are spiritually quickened, made alive, this is not talking about our flesh, we were dead in trespasses and sins, we were guilty before God, for sure, we were spiritually dead, we did not get physically younger and better looking when we got saved, I mean it has nothing to do with the physical, this is just talking about the spiritual aspect of salvation right here, so it says again, now this is the Calvinist words continuing, total depravity, we are spiritually dead in trespasses and sin, we are, no, you and I are dead, sorry, they didn't say spiritually, you and I are dead in trespasses and sins, they point to Ephesians 2 1, unless we are born again, dead, more than that, the man or woman who is dead in sin hates God, you are like whoa, what? And his carnal mind is enmity against God, of course they are referring to Romans 8 7, they will call out here where it says the carnal mind is enmity against God, meaning the carnal mind like the person that is just following their flesh and going into sin, that is against what God wants, nobody has a completely carnal mind, especially if you are saved, you have the spirit versus the flesh fighting, but they just take that one and say that, yeah, what that means in Romans 8 7 where it says the carnal mind is enmity against God, they say, if you are not saved, you hate God, or before you were saved, you hate God, I mean basically it is teaching that every man is a reprobate, is what we would refer that to, go to Romans 1, we know that the haters of God are a completely, it is another thing, it is another thing, but here is the thing, does this make any sense from anyone's observable personal experience? No, I mean how many of you here, I mean everyone here, I pray that everyone here is saved, how many of you here before you were saved hated God? Like please no one raise their hand, but nobody hated God, as a matter of fact, because you didn't hate God, because you didn't hate God, you were seeking God, you were seeking truth, and we'll look at that at Matthew chapter 7, but look at Romans chapter 1 verse number 30, this is the people that God that turned on God, that God gave them over to a reprobate mind, meaning God literally rejected these people, these are the haters of God, look at verse number 30, it says backbiter, haters of God, this is the end of Romans chapter 1, where the people at the beginning, the Gentiles that were talking about in Romans chapter 1, they turned the truth of God into a lie, they didn't give God the glory that he deserved, they basically turned on God and God gave them up, and then we see all the given over to unnatural affection and the homosexuality and all that, that's where that came from, it's people that first turned on God and then God gave them up, and it says, backbiter, haters of God, despite the proud boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents and on and on and on, but those people are the ones that hate God, it is ridiculous to think that everybody before they're saved hates God, and it is observably not true, it's not true for us personally, otherwise you know the irony of it is, you can see just the complete misunderstanding here, look at Matthew chapter 7, if you hated God, you never would have been seeking him, if you hated God you never would have been seeking out the truth, and you never would have ended up getting saved, Matthew chapter 7 verse number 7 says, ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you, that's what happened to everybody before they got saved, they were seeking, they were knocking, they were asking, look even Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, actually turn there, turn to Acts chapter 10, I think it's like the first verse, I think it's the first verse of Acts chapter 10, like Cornelius was not saved, God sent Peter to Cornelius, so it was kind of this cool chapter in the book of Acts, we just studied through this, where we had this cultural clash between the Gentiles and the Jews, and Jews were getting saved, and Gentiles were getting saved, but the Jews had all these traditions and they just, they weren't mixing and matching, and this is one of the times that God tells Peter, hey it's like kill and eat, quit being this person that separates yourself from these Gentiles are going to get saved too, that's kind of the main point of the story of Cornelius in Acts chapter 10, is that all these Gentiles, Peter goes in and preaches the gospel to all these Gentiles, they received the Holy Spirit too, like they could be saved too, everyone's like whoa, we thought we were just the only ones, but look at the verse number one, it says there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian band, it's verse two I'm sorry, it says a devout man, one that feared God with all his house, he's not saved, he's not saved, Peter gets him saved at the end of Acts chapter 10, is this, it's not like he hates God, no it says he feared God, look this is the person that you meet out in Fresno, like every time you go soul winning, just the Catholic guy, or the Catholic young man or young lady or whatever, they fear God, they fear God, do you believe the Bible, yeah they believe every word of the Bible, that's why it's so easy to get him saved, they fear God, they believe the Bible, they just don't know what it says, they just don't know the truth of the true gospel, they've been told a lot of things that are not true, but they fear God, I mean this idea that everybody hates God is like it's just like it's observably false, you can just see that it's wrong, all right, I mean how many times you go out soul winning, and you knock on somebody's door, and they're like oh and you ask somebody hey you know 100% if you're gonna go to heaven, you know if you died today, do you think you'd go to heaven, they're like oh man I was just thinking about that, how many times that happened to you, it happens all the time, oh oh yeah it's funny you're here right now, because we were just, I was just talking about that with my dad yesterday, wow, and now here you are asking me the same question, where the Bible in your hand, I mean these people don't hate God, they just don't know the truth, I've been really, I mean my wife met one just I think yesterday, just like I've really been worried about this, some lady says my wife I've really been worried about whether or not I'm gonna go to heaven, concerned about it, thinking about it, doing what, seeking, looking for the truth, because they're sitting here and they're reasoning in their mind, and what they've been taught, they at least don't know, sometimes they're just confused by all the weird unreasonable things, they've been taught, then they say, you know they get saved, and they're like I think God sent you here, and I'm like yeah he did, that's exactly what happened, that's how it goes, right, they continue, the Calvinists continue, so this idea that every man hates God, it's ridiculous, but T, the total depravity continues, it says can any man, see they will cut down the Baptist preaching the gospel because they will say this, this is their words, can any man accept, and look, this is what I used to believe as a Lutheran, so this one really gets me hot, right, because Lutherans believe this, I heard many Lutherans when I was growing up, like denigrating Baptist because of this, this is what they say, can any man quote accept Christ as his personal savior, so that he becomes saved after that, of course not, accepting Christ is a good work done only by a Christian, only after God makes a person alive can he and will he accept Christ, they're just like what? But what they're saying is, and I was taught the same thing when I was in catechism, when I was this tall, I was taught that there's nothing we could ever do ourselves to come to Christ, and the trick is, is that they say that trusting on Christ or believing on Christ is a work, as a matter of fact, when I argued with that guy at Faithful Word, when I visited Faithful Word over a decade ago, that's exactly what I told him. I told him I was like, accepting Jesus or believing on Jesus, that's something you do, and he looked at me like I was nuts, he just said, it's a belief, it's not a work, it's a belief, and you know what, he was right, you know what, I thought about that, I didn't get saved at that moment, but I thought about that, because what he said made sense, turn to Romans chapter 10. Choosing to believe on Jesus is a work, this is a major Protestant error right here. This is a major Protestant error, not just amongst Calvinism, but it's a major Lutheran error as well. That believing on Jesus is a work, but look at Romans chapter 10 in verse number nine. The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe, what do you believe with? Thou believe in thine heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. You believe with your heart, you don't believe with your arms, you don't believe with the shovel, you don't believe with your legs, it's not a work, it's a belief. It's like, you kinda have to like, I used to believe this, it's weird though. As if believing that that wall is white is some kind of work that I do. And then having somebody come and work and paint the wall red, then I believe that it's red, I didn't do any work, I just changed my belief. I just believed differently. You believe with your heart, not with your works. All right, so look, I mean, T's not every unsaved person is a hater of God. And look, the reprobate doctrine is like a super important doctrine. And so you really don't wanna mess that one up. It explains much of what we see today. It helps protect this church. I mean, it's one of the reasons God gave us that doctrine is to protect Christ's church. All right, let's go to you. So that's T, total depravity is total ridiculousness. You kinda goes with L, all right? And the funny thing about you is L only exists because of you because they got themselves into a logical problem with you so they gotta make up L. So I'll get to that in a second. But you means this, unconditional election. This is kind of the heart of the Calvinist doctrine right here. Unconditional election, you say what in the world? It asserts, this is Calvinist teaching right here, asserts that God has chosen from eternity, meaning eternity before the earth, before creation, before everything. He chose who was gonna exist and who was gonna, all of those people that were gonna exist, who's gonna go to hell and who's gonna go to heaven. It asserts that God has chosen from eternity those whom he will bring to himself not based on foreseen virtue, merit or faith in those people, rather his choice is unconditionally grounded in his mercy alone. He chooses that he's gonna have mercy on some and not on others. God has chosen from eternity to extend mercy to those he has chosen and to withhold mercy from those not chosen. Basically he chooses to have mercy on some and not others. Right, you're like right there, like you're like, that just doesn't sound right. That's why this one compared to Lutherans believe, I'm gonna bring up Lutheranism every now and then in this sermon, but Lutherans believe that in order for a child to be saved, they have to be baptized. They believe that your baptism kind of keeps you saved. It gives you that saving grace until you're old enough to whatever, believe on Jesus yourself I guess, but they believe that a child that's not baptized that would die would go to hell. Inevitably I'm just kind of like, I'm kind of like, okay, what about an aborted baby? And many Lutheran pastors will simply not answer that question, but I have had older, strict Lutheran pastors that have told me aborted babies will not go to heaven. It makes sense logically from the doctrine that they teach. If a child needs to be baptized in order to get that grace until they're old enough to believe Jesus himself, then you must conclude that an unborn baby that is not baptized and dies and is murdered is in hell. And like right away you're just like, something like that doesn't sound right. But it's not right. So you have to kind of like recognize these doctrines where you're just like, yeah, that doesn't sound right. Like God just chose people that weren't even created yet to go to hell. That just doesn't sound right. That doesn't seem like it matches the conscience that God gave me in Romans 2.15, all right? So who does God want to be saved? I mean this is an easy one from the Bible. Turn to John chapter six. Turn to John chapter six in verse number 40. You got God wants, just created certain people to go to hell and created certain people to go to heaven even before they were even created. Before eternity you just decided the winners and losers or you decide which one makes sense to a person's normal conscience. Look at John 640. John 640, the Bible says, and this is the will of him that sent me. Meaning this is God's will. This is the will of God the Father. That everyone would see at the sun and believe if on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter two. There's a lot of Bible we can go to on this one. You say, okay, God wants everyone that believes on him to go to heaven. That's what that says in John 640. However, what if he just didn't choose some people to believe on him. They could probably twist that one in that way. Twist this one. Look at 1 Timothy chapter two. 1 Timothy chapter two, look at verse number four. 1 Timothy chapter two and verse number four. The Bible says who will have, meaning God wants, this is the will of God. That's what this is saying. It says who will have, who does God want to be saved? Who will have all men to be saved? That means it's God's will. This is King James language for it is God's will that all men would be saved. And to come unto the knowledge of the truth where there's one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all. And this, I mean, the limited atonement, the L comes from the inevitable conclusion that if God chose some people to be damned and some people to be saved, Jesus clearly didn't die for everybody. I mean, it's just an inevitable, I mean, they kind of painted themselves into a corner so they had to make up the L. Like they painted themselves into the corner with the chose from eternity thing and now they're like, oh, but who did Jesus die for? Well, he obviously didn't die for the people there in hell. I mean, if it was chosen already and Jesus is God, so they make up this limited atonement that Jesus only died for a certain few. But how do you get across? How do you get past? He gave himself a ransom for all. Now turn back to Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five has a few verses that really slam dunk this one as well. But I mean, Romans chapter five is talking about our condition. It's talking about our condition with our sin nature and every man is condemned from his own sin. There's no original sin. But when creation fell, we inherited a sin nature from our fathers. That's what the Bible clearly teaches. This original sin, we're not in trouble for Adam's sin. Okay, look at Romans chapter five. Look at verse 14. Romans chapter five, look at verse number 14. The Bible says, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude, got it, of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. So it says, death reigned from Adam to Moses, but the similitude of Adam's transgression, it wasn't the same for everybody, meaning everybody had their own sins, meaning everybody death reigned because everybody was sinning. Is everybody just inherited this sin nature and they're just committing their own sins? And that's, I mean, it wasn't the exact same sin of Adam's transgression. They weren't in trouble for Adam's transgression. They're in trouble because they're sinning, even though it wasn't the same, that's what that means. It wasn't the same as Adam's, they had their own sin. So death reigned. Look at verse 15, but not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be dead, through that sin nature, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And you know, I guess the Calvinists could say, well that many doesn't, that could just mean the people that were chosen. But let's keep reading. As not only, and not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses onto justification, meaning the free gift is for all the offenses. The free gift is for the offenses that we all will commit. Again, you are condemned from your own offenses, not my offenses, your dad's offenses, or your grandpa's offenses. You are condemned by your own offenses. You know, the people in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the Bible keeps bringing up this statement, the sins of Jeroboam, the sins of Jeroboam, the sins of Jeroboam, generations later, they're talking about the sins of Jeroboam, but it's because that idol worship, those people were actually committing themselves. Yeah, Jeroboam led them into idol worship. He led them against the one true God, but they committed it themselves, and that's what they're in trouble for. That's what they're dead from. Look at verse number 17. For if by one man's offense, death reigned by one, through that sin nature, much more, they which receive abundance of grace of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. Just talking about how the sin nature of the fallen creation has condemned everybody through Adam's fault, and then how Jesus, that one man, you know, is gonna just fix it all. One person. Look at verse number 18. Therefore, as the offense of one judgment came upon all men through the sin nature, to condemnation, even so by righteousness of the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. Who did it come upon? Everyone. The free gift, look, and if you go to Rome, if you're there, I'm gonna quickly go there myself, but if you look at the next verse, it's a really cool set of couple verses here because the first one says, it says the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life, meaning the gift is offered to who? Everybody. All men. This isn't hard to understand, but look what it says in verse 19. It says, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. It goes from all to many. Why? Because not everybody's gonna want the gift. Now everyone's gonna receive it. Not everyone's gonna be like, hey, I'll take that gift. Many people you offer the gift to, they're just like, no thanks, I'm good. So look, the limited atonement attaches to this, God chose people, this, what does it even stand for again? Let me go, it's so confusing. The unconditional election, it goes with limited atonement because you must believe that Jesus didn't die for everybody. But how many times did I just read you? It's in 1 Timothy 2, it's a ransom for all. It is the will of God that all men be saved. It was this idea of the gift was offered to who? All men. How do you get around that? These aren't complicated end times prophecy verses here. It's just like, yeah, it was for everybody. The gift was offered to everybody. So that's T, U, and L. I mean, 1 Timothy 2 and verse number six is probably the biggest one against limited atonement. He offered himself a ransom for all. Let's pray and eat pizza, you know? I mean, it's like, what in the world? All right, I, tulip, we're spelling tulip here, I, irresistible grace. This is one that Lutherans believe too, irresistible grace. It's this, I'll read it to you. It asserts that the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom He has determined to save, that is the elect, and overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing them to saving faith. This means that when God sovereignly purposes to save somebody, that individual certainly will be saved. Meaning, God has chosen from eternity who's gonna be saved and who's gonna be damned. Already from eternity before the world was even here, before creation even happened, it was decided, and this is saying right here that God will make sure that it happens no matter what that person will get saved. It's irresistible. They just can't stop it. Basically, we're a bunch of robots, is what this is saying. Is that God is gonna just make, He's gonna pull the puppet master strings and the people that God has chosen will get saved. It destroys free will, is what it does. Go to Proverbs chapter 16 in verse number nine. There's anything that is abundantly clear in the Bible, it is man's free will. Look at Proverbs 16 in verse number nine. Proverbs 16 in verse number nine is a great verse here, but I mean the words free will actually come up in the Bible quite a bit as well. Talk about men just doing things, saying things out of their own free will. We have free will, folks. Look at verse number nine of Proverbs 16. The Bible says, it's basically saying that God is not only chosen, but He's gonna just make it happen no matter what. A person who's chosen to be saved could go out and just live the wickedest life and never do anything and just become a cannibal or whatever and God's gonna make sure that they become saved. He's just gonna make that situation work itself out. Look at Proverbs 16 in verse number nine. A man's heart devises his way. The Bible here is saying that my heart tells me what to do. The Bible here is saying that my heart, you know, I mean, doesn't that make sense from what we saw in Romans chapter 10? I mean, with the heart, I do what? With the heart, I believe stuff. With the heart, I believe the Bible or I don't. With the heart, I believe in some, you know, I believe in Buddhism or I don't. With the heart, I'm a Muslim or not. But with the man's heart, he devises his way. But the Lord directed his steps, but God tells you what to do. How? With the Bible. God directs our steps, not by like taking over our bodies and making us robots, by telling us what to do with his word. So God directs us what to do. But God's trying to, what was God trying to do this morning to our heart? He's trying to keep our heart soft. He's trying to keep our heart soft so the direction from his word will affect our heart and he can successfully direct our ways. Because we can, we can what? We can do what? What did Pharaoh do? He hardened his heart, hardened his heart, hardened his heart. Pretty soon God hardened his heart. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse number 19. I'll read for you Psalm chapter 119 verse 108 talking about free will. You're going to Deuteronomy chapter 30 in verse number 19. Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse number 19. Last advice in Deuteronomy chapter 30 for the children of Israel. Look at Psalm chapter one. You're going to Deuteronomy 30. I'm going to read for you Psalm 119, 108. Except I beseech thee the free will offerings of my mouth. Oh Lord and teach me thy judgments. You know, God wants, and when you see the words free will Ezra 713, I make a decree that they have all the people of Israel and all his priests and Levites in my realm which are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem. God wants us to come to him out of his own free will. He wants us to give him, give offering out of your own free will. He doesn't want us doing things like irresistible grace. He doesn't want that. That is not the nature of God. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 30 in verse number 19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. He's saying you got choices now. As you go forward without me, as you go forward children of Israel, you know, you go into the promised lands, you have a choice. And look what he says. He says, choose, therefore, choose life that both thou and thy seed may live. Choose to let God direct your paths. That's how the Bible all fits together. I mean, go back to Romans chapter 10. I mean, how does a person get saved? I mean, the Bible gives us, you know, how that's all gonna play out in Romans chapter 10. I know we've read Romans chapter 10 verse number nine, verse number 10 many times because, you know, we read that outsolely to people but read a few more verses and the Bible actually tells us how it actually happens. This is what the Calvinist needs to read right here. Romans chapter 10, look at verse number 13. The Bible says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Okay. I thought it was believe on Jesus and be saved. What are you trying to change it up on me here, God? What's going on? Let's keep reading. Let's not do this thing where we read one verse and go bonkers and create our own religion. Okay. Look at verse 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? Oh, in order to call on him, you have to believe. Here we go. Now we're tied to the gospel. And how shall they believe in him and who they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher? So it starts, it's kind of a cool way of saying it but it starts with a preacher. That's you. It starts by somebody going out and preaching the word of God. That's why, you know, Mark 16, 15, go on to the, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's us. That's where it begins with a preacher. And then what do they do? People hear it. People hear it at the door. They hear it in some foreign country. They hear it wherever we are, relatives, friends. But guess what? With many people that's where it ends. Because many people don't wanna hear. So let me ask you, soul winner, are people robots? No, they're not. They make a choice not to hear. They make a choice to not want to listen to the preacher, to the person carrying the gospel. Not because, not because they're a bunch of robots because of the reasons Jesus talked about. Because they're rich, because they're proud, because they're caught up in the cares of this world. That's why. It's not, it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that they're, you know, they don't have free will. As a matter of fact, they do have free will and that's the problem with many people. You know, I mean, you know, in some cases people don't wanna hear because they are reprobate. You know, those are very few cases, but you will see that outselling. You will run into people that they do hate God. They're angry just because you're there with the Bible. You know, they hate God. But look, if it continues, they believe. What? It's not work. They believe with what? With their heart. They believe with their heart and everyone doesn't believe. You know, many people will listen and some people will believe. And then, once people believe, God wants them to ask for it and then they call. You say, what if they believe and don't call? If they believe, they're gonna call. It's like two sides of the same coin. It's like, here's a great gift. Would you like it? No, then they don't understand. They don't believe. So calling and belief always come together, because it's a natural thing that you would do. But that's how it actually works. There's not this robotic control thing that God does. Let's go to P. So like I said, most of these points, you can see they're just observably not the case. Especially if you're a soul owner, you have a really good feel for these types of things and how it actually works, how people do get saved. It's not this way at all. P stands for perseverance of the saints. So you're like, that sounds pretty good. That sounds pretty good. Let me read for you what it means. This asserts, perseverance of the saints asserts that since God is sovereign and his will cannot be frustrated by humans or anything else, those whom God has called into communion with himself will continue in faith until the end. You're like, well, that doesn't sound that bad. Isn't that just talking about eternal security? Isn't that what that means? But let me ask you this. How do you see someone's faith? How do I as a man see somebody's faith? How do I see brother Edwin's faith? I see it through what he does. I mean, no one can take away anyone's salvation, but the way James chapter two says the way we see each other's faith, the way your brother sees your faith is through your works. So what this does, it's just this, it sounds like eternal security, but it's the same wickedness as lordship salvation. It's the exact same thing. It just means if you don't continue through your works, you were never chosen in the first place. That's what they mean by that. You were just, if you fall away, they'll literally say this on their doctrinal statements. If you fall away, you were never the chosen. If you get back slidden, you were just never the chosen. You see how it always ends at the same place? It always ends at the same place through what? Through works, through fear, through this salvation ransom, that if you don't continue, that you were just, you were never saved in the first place. So a question about Calvinism that I've been asked several times. Like I said, it's easily refuted. It makes no sense. It's not reasonable. It's not merciful. It doesn't match our conscience. It's not, it's observably false. Not everything in the Bible can be proven through observing things because there's a lot of supernatural things that God does in the Bible, but this one can be. You can just observe the world around you, observe people, and know that this is not true. The question I've been asked many times is, can you believe this and be saved? That's a good question. I mean, can you be a Calvinist and be saved? Well, I guess I answer it this way. If you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you trusted in Jesus and you believed on Jesus, and you believed that nothing you could do saved you and nothing you could do could make you lose your salvation and you're trusting only in Jesus, you're saved. Now what if you believe a bunch of dumb stuff like God chose me to be saved? I can almost see how some people could think that. I got saved later in life in my mid-30s, and when I got saved, I kind of had this feeling like, what in the world, that was close? I was like, I felt like I slid into home. I was like, what if I wouldn't have ever had that happen? What if I would have just continued for another year, two years pursuing worldly things? Would I have listened to that message? I kind of felt like, I felt like something supernatural happened to me. Because guess what? Something supernatural did happen to me. But I could kind of see, and then you take that gospel and you're like, you found this thing, you found eternal life. And you go and you take it to a bunch of other people that you know, a bunch of people that you love, no interest. Just like, you're just like, what in the world? Like, look what I found. You're like, I found this ruby sitting in the middle of the road. And they're just like, man, man. You could kind of sort of see how someone may be like, well, I must have just been one of those chosen people. It's ridiculous, but I can kind of see that part of it. It's from the point of it. Now, if you believe you have to continue and you have to do all these things, you're not saved. Because you're trusting in your works to stay saved. That's what it boils down to. So, I mean, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. The people that came up with this doctrine are definitely not saved, for sure. And you can say that for sure, the people that are teaching this doctrine, because you can almost, I mean, evidence for that is you can almost see their misunderstanding and their inability to understand the word of God through the way they're interpreting these verses, through the way that they're coming up with these things. But if you believe, if you're saved, you trust it on, so to answer the question, if you trust it on Jesus and you believe that's what saves you, you believe you're eternally secure from that, you're saved and you believe some dumb stuff like God chose you, quit believing dumb stuff and start believing the right things. But if you start getting into all the other stuff, you were never saved in the first place because you were always trusting your works is what it boils down to. So, I hope that kind of answers that question. But you're just like, confusing, right? I mean, it's confusing. Just go through these things. You're just like, it's kind of a mind-bender, but look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11 in verse number three. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, look at verse number three. This reminds me of the LCMS, the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod doctrinal statement. It says, I've got to kind of cliff notes version of it right here. There's a question on the LCMS website. This is what I used to be, where it says, can I lose my salvation and can I be assured of my salvation? And the Lutheran answer is, Luthers believe both are true. And then they say this. They say, if it seems paradoxical to human reason, it's because the Bible scripture itself is paradoxical to human reason. Run, run, get out of there. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse number three. That's kind of the road that this Calvinism is taking you down. It goes against your reason. The gospel is not a paradox. As a matter of fact, the Bible says it's the opposite. There was some doctrine I was reading written by a woman pastor when I was reading up on Calvinism, and she said, salvation is not a simple process. She starts out this explanation of Calvinism. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11 in verse number three. The Bible says, but I fear lest by any means. I mean, the Bible is literally telling us to look out for people like this. Look out for people telling you the gospel is a paradox that this is not simple, that it's complicated, and then they make it complicated. I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. What is the simplicity that is in Christ that we're referring to here? Jesus Christ was God, was he not? The word in the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ is God. Is there anything simple about God? What is it talking about here? It's saying the simplicity that is in Christ, what he's talking about is the simplicity to be in Christ. The simplicity to get saved. The simplicity of what? The gospel. The simplicity of what a child can understand that it's a free gift. That's simple. And the Bible here is saying, Satan is the one that wants to make it complicated. Satan operates through these, that's why this cemetery is called damnable heresies. Because it is Satan that is trying to take this simple thing and make it super complicated. That is a perfect verse for a lot of heresy right there. Is 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse number three. But back to, let me just wrap it up with this. It fails the reason and the conscience test, Calvinism. What did we learn? That everyone hates God. That just fails observable reality and our own observable reason that we have. It just, it doesn't make sense. And then, why would Jesus, here's another reasonable thing that it reasoned test that it fails. Why would Jesus command us to go preach? By the way, Calvinists don't go soul winning. Why would they? It's irresistible grace. Why would they go out soul winning? It's just gonna happen. God's just gonna make it work. I'm staying home. Why would Jesus command us to go preach if it's already done? I mean, a real heretical part of it is that it denigrates the sacrifice of Jesus to just a slim few. I mean, to a minority. Because I don't know what percentage of people you think it saved out there, but it's definitely not even close to a majority of people. So it's saying like Jesus came here to only die for a very small amount of people. That is blasphemy to a large degree. It just doesn't seem just. It doesn't, it doesn't match. It doesn't match what God gave us. It takes away free will, which we know is all over the Bible. God literally wants us to follow him of our own free will. It literally says that a pastor is just, you know what I'm supposed to do? I'm not supposed to not, I'm not supposed to lord over you. I'm not supposed to follow you home. What are you doing over there? I'm not supposed to follow you home. I'm not supposed to like, I'd quit if I had to do that. But I'm not supposed to lord over God's heritage. I'm not supposed to, you know, be up here just so I can take constraint of the congregation. I'm supposed to just preach the word of God to you. And hopefully your heart is in a state. I'm supposed to try to persuade you to keep your heart in a state where this word of God can direct your paths. And then you, by your own free will, can follow the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all about free will. Who would want, and that doesn't that make sense too, who would want a bunch of people with them on their team in their army that were just like forced to be there like a bunch of robots? No, you want people to believe in the cause. You want people to like have their hearts stitched to your heart. I don't want people coming to this church. I mean, as a pastor of the church, I wouldn't want people coming to this church because I'm like, I'm gonna take away your salvation unless you've come to church. That's why they do it though. That's why they do it. Cause they don't know how to get people the truth. They don't know what the truth is. But who would want a church where they're just like, like some, this is a Pentecostal church. These cults where they're like, you come here, you're gonna burn in hell. Where were you Wednesday? Huh, were you in hell? Cause that's who you're gonna be. I mean, this is how it works. This is what it is. I'm joking, but this is exactly what it is. It's salvation ransom. Nobody wants that. God doesn't want that. He wants you here of your own free will. He wants you serving him of your own free will. He wants offerings that you give of your own free will. He wants everything that we do in our lives to be serving him of our own free will. And you know what? Even when it's hard. Even when it's difficult. He wants us to be like, you know what? This is hard. Being a Christian isn't the easiest thing for me right now, but of my own free will, I'm gonna continue. Being a Christian. And again, like I said, it's not original, but it makes eternal security subjective to man. You know, subjective to whatever, you know, some man's definition of being backslidden is. And it's different. Any church you would go to, there's a list of sins in the Bible that can make you lose your salvation because you can't lose your salvation. So there's no chart. There's no, you know, there's no timetable and list of sins and, you know, magnitude of sins with arrows and vectors. That's what I would need. But it's not in there because you can't lose your salvation. But that's exactly what it does. It makes it subjective to whatever the false prophet is teaching. That, you know, if you do this, you're gonna lose your salvation. I mean, it's a damnable heresy. And it's easily proven, like just from our own observation, from our conscience, and especially from the Bible. And you can see the misunderstanding. When you, I didn't go to a lot of these verses that they quote, but you would go to these verses that they quote, and you'd just be like, whoa, this person clearly doesn't understand the Bible. That was John Calvin giving those verses. They don't understand the Bible because they're not saved and the Bible is spiritually discerned. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.