In Summation

"If any man ascribes anything of salvation, even the very least thing, to the free will of man, he knows nothing of grace, and he has not learned Jesus Christ rightly." 

- Martin Luther

"No true Christian is his own man." 

- John Calvin

"He came to set the prisoner free, a message of simplicity." 

-Ted Kirkpatrick of Tourniquet

I hope that through these last five posts it has become clear just what I believe. It is no secret that I am a Calvinist through and through. Make no mistake. I don't think John Calvin was some sort of crazy prophet. But I do think he pretty accurately systematized the theology of the Gospel. What I'm saying is that I'm no follower of Calvin. I'm a follower of Christ. Calvin just understood the words of Christ better than most back in his day.

But what we know today as Calvinism, the theology itself, predates John Calvin, the man. Another name for Calvinism could be classical Christianity, or true Christianity.

The will of man has always been hotly debated among...well...men. For every group of orthodox Christians, through the ages, there seems to be group of people on the fringe, claiming "freedom of the will". At times this group of outsiders has had control. Catholicism before the Reformation had nearly snuffed out true Christianity. And even now, Arminianism has a good grip on the hearts of men once again. Charles Spurgeon quoting George Whitefield said, 

 

"We are all born Arminians." It is grace that turns us into Calvinists."

Ultimately, if we can learn anything from a solid study of the Bible, we can learn that God is in complete and utter control. To the lost, who hates God, this is dark news indeed. I would wish the Wrath and Judgment of God on no man.

But to the believing sinner.

The one that God has saved.

His great goodness and mercy know no boundaries. There is no limit to the blessing for those in Christ Jesus. His glorious grace has saved you. His love is set upon you. Unconditionally and without merit.

Paul said,

"In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."

Do you number yourself with the elect of God? Have you learned of your sin? Do you put your faith in Christ for the removal of your guilt? If you have not, then do not delay. Christ will return for His church like a thief in the night. At a time when no man may know. Do not be bogged down in debates and arguing. Flee at once to Christ. There is no better time than now and there is no better God to serve.

He is truly the most gracious and good God-only-wise.

Sola Deo Gloria

Perseverence Of The Saints

 "Our perseverance is not dependent on our good works but on God's grace."

-Loraine Boettner

 "I shall lose none of them."

-Jesus Christ

I used to argue with my friends about this idea.

The idea commonly known as "Once saved, always saved".

Honestly (humorously) , it was always my Baptist friends.

There are a surprising number of people who would disagree with nearly everything I've written here, but would confidently assert that once you are saved, you cannot lose your salvation.

I didn't get it.

At least not back in those days.

It wasn't logical to me. It didn't make sense to believe that we are free to choose or reject God at anytime, until we become Christians. Then we are stuck. In my head it sounded like this:

Say we're all criminals (we are, so that's not hard). And say that in between our heinous crimes we sometimes run into a cop who tells us of our crimes, or we step in the Police Station every now and then just feel a little better about it all. But sometimes, some of us, the ones who aren't quite as bad, make the decision to actually step in the jail cell. We let them lock us up. We stare through the cold bars as we watch them throw away the key. Of course once we've settled into our caged life, we realize that it's not so bad in jail. It's actually quite wonderful. The bed is more comfortable, the friends are nicer, we all pray for each other, and it turns out the the "jailer" is really our savior. He loves us and we love Him, so we stay there forever, because once we're jailed, we're always jailed.

But you see, in my confused head, I thought that if we're choosing go to jail, we should be able to choose when to leave. We can be saved for as long as we want to be saved. I thought, we turn the key to lock ourselves in, but we put that key in our pocket, and if at some point, we decide we like our heinous crimes again, or we stop loving our savior, we just pull that key out of our pocket and we leave. Back to our life of crime and sin on the street.

This is a terrible analogy.

Here's a better analogy.

The reality is that we are born "dead" in that jail cell. Captive. Our sins have put us there. We all deserve to be there. We are lifeless rotting corpses. To our captive eyes the cell looks nice. We can't see the maggots eating everything around us. We don't even know that everybody sits on death row. We are happy, but we are chained. Blissfully waiting to be put to death for our crimes.

Bound.

Enslaved.

Dead.

Together we are worthless.

Then.

Our Savior comes.

He pulls us out of that cell. His Spirit breathes life into our spiritual lungs. We see the maggots and death as He brings us out of captivity. We have life. Our Savior tells us of how He served our jail sentence for us. He sat on death row. He died in our place. Death on a cross. Our will is changed. Where it was bound to sin, now it is bound to Christ. We are led out to freedom never to see that jail again. Never to feel the wrath and consequence of our crimes.

Free.

Alive.

Servant of Christ forever.

There is no going back once God has saved you. He has done the work of freeing you. You have no glory to share. It's all His doing. It's all for His glory.

Jesus said,

"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 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. 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.” (Italics mine)

Once God has given you to Christ, Christ will not lose you. Period.


The Book of Jude in the Bible is really quite short. It's one chapter. One page. Jude finishes his letter by saying this,

"Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever."

Jude knew that the power of Salvation lay with God alone. Jude knew that man was not able to keep from stumbling, but that God is able to keep you from stumbling. God will present you blameless in the Glory of Himself.

There are 3 predominate ideas concerning this issue.

1. We decide when we are saved. We decide if we are not to be saved. (ultimate free-will)

2. We decide when we are saved. God keeps us from deciding not to be saved. (mix-n-match)

3.God saves us. We are saved. (God is the author and finisher of our Faith)

You should know by now I believe the 3rd option.

There are certainly sad situations of folks who professed faith, attended church, only to leave, and ultimately reject Christ in their heart. To these poor people Christ will say, "Depart from me for I never knew you." The wool was still over their eyes. If you know somebody who has left the faith, pray God would be pleased to draw them to Christ. Share the Gospel with them. It is the power unto salvation.

If you have forsaken the field of Christ's sheep, remember your first love. Peter said,

"...brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Seek the Lord. Only He has the power to save.

So once saved, always saved.

I still dislike that moniker. I don't feel it accurately represents the Gospel that is found in the Perseverance of the Saints. The Gospel is this...That while we were still sinners, Christ laid down His life for us. The penalty has been paid. Our sins are covered.

Christ has removed the guilty stain.

There is no new guilt.

If you can say this of your sins, then you can be sure of your calling and election. You can be sure of your salvation. You can be sure that because of God's mercy and grace, you will always be saved.



Coming Soon: In Summation.

Calvinism and Alice in Wonderland

My better half and I finally made it to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. I enjoyed this movie. I felt like it was fun and dark and had plenty of that creepy secret sauce Tim Burton injects into his films. The 3D experience was decent at best. The last 3D movie I saw was Spy Kids 3D. Alice in Wonderland was quite a bit better. I still think the technology for 3D has some ways to go before it's truly a worthwhile experience. Though I must admit that the 3D glasses have improved greatly. I found that sometimes the 3D image was quite fantastic and nicely done. Other times it seemed to completely fall flat. The effect being so poor that it took away from the movie itself. During a scene very early in the film I noticed a pixalated green-screen pop in view at the base of Alice's father's neck. It only happened in that one shot. But it was one more thing that distracted me causing my disbelief to lose it's suspension. Also, sometimes the action was a bit too fast for the 3D effect to really have an effect, so it seemed lost at times. I'm not fully sold on 3D yet. Stu Maschwitzhe said, "How exactly is 3D "immersive?" Is there stuff behind me? Should I turn around? You know what's immersive? Good movies."

As for the story...

This was a good movie. I didn't care that it didn't follow the original story. In fact, I'm glad it didn't follow the original story. I liked this story. It reminded me of a certain theology I believe. You see, Alice falls down a hole after being drawn to that hole by a Rabbit. She finds herself being told who she is, what she's there to do, and how she's going to do it. Of course, Alice's natural reaction is to reject the notion that she is who they say she is, and that she will do the things they say she will do. For the next hour and a half we watch as Alice is "circumstantially" placed in situations that drive her toward the goal that is laid out before her. The entire time she is making decisions that she believes are contrary to the path that leads to her slaying the dreaded beast, Jabberwocky.

I don't believe Alice is Jesus, or that the Jabberwocky is Satan or even Sin. I just think this was colorful movie that dealt fairly with the idea that we all believe this is "our dream" and we can do whatever we want but that in the end, if we're honest, we can look back on our life and see the work and guidance of something else. This is Calvinism as I believe it.

I am called to an end.

Daily, I make decisions concerning my life. I decide whether or not I will go to this town or that town and if I will do business there. Yet, I also say, "Only if the Lord wills shall I do these things."

Do not misunderstand me. I am no more a robot or a puppet anymore than Alice is in her dream. But whatever happens and wherever I go, The Lord must receive the credit for all of it. This is, I assure you, His world. Nothing goes on in His world beyond or outside of His control.

Alice was shown a scroll that quite specifically laid out Wonderland's history and her slaying the Jabberwocky. Alice then goes "her own way" only to find herself facing the Jabberwocky in the end. I propose had she studied that scroll, she would have seen her own rebellion, her decisions, and the path that led to the end (of the movie). I think if we saw a scroll of our lives, we might shudder and reject the notion that God would direct our actions. We might run in the other direction. We might say repeatedly, "This is my dream. I decide the end." But, in the end, if we were to see the details of that scroll, we would find our situations and decisions written down. We would see that God has worked out every detail in favor of His glory and our good (if you are a Christian. If not, seek Christ. The work He has done on the sinner's behalf redeems every portion of sinner's sin who puts their faith in Him. That is truly good).

I recommend the film. The 3D experience is truly not necessary, but it's novel. You choose.

Or do you?

* I must admit that the preview for Tron looked mighty good.