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Calvinism 4.0: Purchased by the Son

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Introduction

The doctrines of grace are a set of doctrines which describe the three persons of the Trinity as working in concert to secure our salvation. Those whom the Father chose, the Son purchased with His own blood. Those whom the Son purchased with His own blood, the Spirit effectually calls when He converts. At every turn, we are talking about the same group of people. The Father decided, before all worlds, the Son sacrificed before your world, and the Spirit regenerates, ushering you into a new world.

The Son does not try to save different people than the Father has chosen. The Spirit does not try to quicken different people than were bought by the Lord’s blood. The doctrines of grace are doctrines of triune harmony. All three have an identical cross-purpose, which means they are not working at cross-purposes.

The Text

“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14–15).

Summary of the Text

The Scriptures teach us that Jesus died for individuals. He did not die for a cluster or a mass of people. He died for His sheep. He died to secure the salvation of particular persons. He is the good shepherd, and a good shepherd counts his sheep (Prov. 27:23). His sheep know Him, and He knows His sheep. “And am known of mine” (v. 14). His sheep know Him, the Father knows Him, and in the same way He knows the Father. This is how and why He lays down His life for the sheep. Note this—“even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep” (v. 15). The sacrifice of Christ for His own sheep is a sacrifice that emerged from His knowledge of the Father.

What Shall We Call It?

We will simplify all this if we begin by rejecting a term that is commonly applied to this doctrine. The rejected phrase is that of limited atonement. It should be rejected for two reasons. One is that it is misleading with regard to the teaching of the Bible, and the other is that it misrepresents the nature of the debate. One of the most obvious features of the atonement in Scripture is its universality. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the world. God so loved the world.” Consequently, a phrase which seems to deny that universality on the surface is really not all that useful.

Secondly, every Christian who holds to the reality of eternal judgment believes (in some sense) in a limited atonement. The debate is over which aspect is limited—is it the efficacy or extent of it? But more on that shortly.

If you tell someone that you believe in limited atonement, and he disagrees with you, what will he say he believes in? Why, in unlimited atonement—which certainly sounds more biblical. But if you say that you believe in definite atonement, what does he have to say? He has to disagree by saying he believes in indefinite atonement—Jesus died for no one in particular.

So present the question to yourself in this way. It is not a choice between limited and unlimited atonement. It is a choice between definite and indefinite atonement. Did Jesus die in order to secure the salvation of particular individuals? The biblical answer is yes.

Vicarious Atonement

The universality of the atonement in Scripture is not the only obvious thing about it. Another truth, equally precious, and equally clear, is that the atonement is substitutionary.

This means that if Christ died for someone, the for means instead of. It is not a “potential substitution, if only . . .” It is an actual substitution, and therefore efficacious. In our text, Christ lays down His life for the sheep—not the goats. For more on this, consider:

“Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:25–27).

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

It all comes down to this. Christ did not die trying to save anybody. Christ died to secure the salvation of His sheep. The debate centers on the meaning of the word for in the phrase, “Jesus died for sinners.” What does that for mean? One position is that Jesus died to give a chance to sinners, if they only believe, which they probably won’t. The biblical position is that Jesus died instead of particular named sinners, in order to secure and guarantee their salvation.

Christ Died For . . .

Following the great John Owen, we should understand we have only four basic options. Christ died for:

  1. All Sins of men;
  2. All if sins of some men;
  3. Some sins of all men;
  4. Some sins of some men

If we opt for #3 or #4, then we have to say that no one is saved, because all have some sins still to account for. If we say that #1 is the case, then the question becomes why some men are lost. If the answer is “because they do not believe,” is this unbelief a sin, or not? If not, why are they condemned for it? If so, then did Jesus die for it? If so, then why are they not saved? If not, then Jesus did not die for all sins—leaving us with the glories contained within #2.

So some believers limit the efficacy of the atonement, while we do limit its extent. But for us, this limitation is not a tiny limitation. It has borders, but it is an expansive reality. Compare a great wide bridge going across a chasm, which all human beings can fit on, but which does not reach the other side. Contrast this with a narrower bridge, but which crosses the chasm. That does not require the narrow bridge to be a rope walk, or a zip line.

But What about Those Universal Passages?

Doesn’t the Bible say that God so loved the world? Yes, it does, and yes, He does. But let’s take a look at how the Bible uses the term world (Grk. kosmos).

  1. Kosmos describes the universe as a whole (Acts 17:24);
  2. Kosmos describes the earth (John 13:1; Eph. 1:4);
  3. Kosmos describes the world-system (John 12:31);
  4. Kosmos describes the entire human race (Rom. 3:19);
  5. Kosmos describes the entire human race minus believers (John 15:18);
  6. Kosmos describes Gentiles as opposed to Jews (Rom. 11:12);
  7. Kosmos describes a redeemed humanity (John 1:29; 3:16-17; 6:33; 12:47; 2 Cor. 5:19).

In the backdrop of this discussion, remember what you have been taught about the greatness of the Great Commission. The earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The Bible does teach that the world is the object of God’s redemptive and salvific intention. This does not mean that every last person is saved, but it does mean that Christ has secured the salvation of an innumerable host, too big to be counted, and He did it name-by-name.

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17).

And every last member of this saved world has been given a white stone, and a new name along with it, a name known only to God and the one receiving it (Rev. 2:17). And that name is only possible because it is followed by the apposition “purchased by the blood.”

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Calvinism 4.0: Man as Fallen

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Introduction

The nature of the problem dictates whether or not there can even be a solution, and if so, what that solution might be. Among evangelical Christians, the nature of the “problem” salvation that salvation solves can be described in two basic ways. Either man is sick in his sin, needing to take the medicine, or he is dead in his sin, needed to be resurrected from the dead.

Our purpose here is to examine which of these two options is the Bible’s teaching on this subject.

Free Agents

As we have already considered, because all men are free agents they are free to do as they please. But because they are sinners, what they please to do is sin. They cannot please to choose contrary to their nature, because if they could, it wouldn’t be their nature.

“For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:21–23).

The source of all the evil things we do is the unflattering fact of the evil creatures that we are.

As creatures, men are free to do as they please. As sinners, men are not free to do right. If a man could repent his sins and believe in Christ with his old heart, then this would be proof positive that he didn’t really need a new heart. He could do all that God requires of us (repent and believe) with his old heart. Apparently the old heart just needed a little encouragement.

Spiritual Death

Now the Scriptures expressly describe the unregenerate condition as being one of death. This does not mean that unbelievers are dead in every possible respect—but with regard to spiritual things, they certainly are in a condition of death. For example, sinners can be physically alive while spiritually dead.

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Eph. 2:1–3).

We walked in accordance with the pattern of the world. The spirit at work in the children of disobedience worked in our conversation (that is, in our manner of living). So clearly we were moving about—all while dead in our trespasses and sins.

Spiritual Slavery

Another picture that excludes “free will” with regard to salvation is the picture of slavery. Dead men do not walk out of the grave, and slaves do not walk away from their masters.

“For when ye were the servants [douloi, slaves] of sin, ye were free from righteousness” (Romans 6:20).

This is a different image, but one that also communicates a sense of utter inability to break free from sin. Dead men can’t reach life. Slaves cannot reach liberty.

No Autonomous Seekers

Now we all know that people do not become Christians unless they seek the Lord. The debate between Christians on this point therefore is not over whether we need to seek the Lord. It is over why we seek the Lord, if and when we do. Men, left to themselves, relinquished to their own devices, will not seek after God. And this is what the Bible explicitly and expressly teaches.

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10–12).

How many are unrighteous? All. How many seek a way out of their unrighteousness? None.

An Important Qualification

This doctrine I am setting before you is sometimes called the doctrine of total depravity. This is a poor name for it because it makes people think you are maintaining a doctrine of absolute depravity. But we are not saying that unbelievers are the orcs, and we are the elves. It is not like that. We are saying that unbelievers are, apart from a gift of grace, on their way to Hell. We are not maintaining that they have already arrived there.

We are saying that because of Adam’s sin, and our complicity in it, our fall into helplessness was total. There is a total inability to save ourselves, to prepare ourselves for salvation, or to request salvation.

One other qualification. An unregenerate person can love the Lord, but only by radically misunderstanding and misconstruing Him. An unregenerate person can understand the Lord in His holiness, but this results in a simple recoil away from Him. The only way a sinner can understand who God is, and also love Him, is if the Spirit of God has granted him a new heart.

This basic point is seen in the Bible’s description of the minds of unbelievers. They are seen as hostile to God (that is, to God as He actually is).

“Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:7–8; cf. 1 Cor. 2:14).

Who Then Can Be Saved?

The problem with all this is that it leaves us without hope of salvation, right? No, it leaves us without hope of salvation from man. What is impossible for men is possible for God.

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).

“And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father” (John 6:65).

If the Father does not do the drawing, if the Father does not give it, a man cannot come. Another translation for the word for draw (elkuo) is drag or haul. “How did you come to Christ?” “Oh, I was hauled.”

But does this mean that no one ever comes? No—it means that everyone who comes (and remember that the entire world will eventually come) has been hauled in by God.

“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

What man cannot do with any success, God can do with no failure. And what is that? The resurrection of the dead.

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The Authority of the Spirit (Pentecost 2018)

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Introduction

Today we are remembering the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. We will be considering the convergence of all things in the Father, coming to Him through the Son, and enabled to do this by the Spirit. But though this must be our central focus, coming to the Father, we do not want to let this true scriptural emphasis become a superstition for us. Stephen addressed Jesus when he was dying—“And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). And if we invoke the presence of the Spirit now, we do so only because we want Him to fulfill His vocation, which is that of glorifying the one who brings sinners to His Father.

The Text

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:13–15).

Summary of the Text

Jesus had many things to tell His disciples, but He knew that they were not up to it yet (John 16:12). But the Spirit will come, and He is called the Spirit of truth, and it is not surprising that He will guide them into “all truth” (v. 13). The Spirit will originate nothing on His own. He will not speak “of himself” (v. 13). Whatever He hears, that is what He will speak, and that is how He will reveal to the disciples what is to come (v. 13). This will glorify Jesus, because the Spirit will receive what He says from Jesus (v. 14). Then He will show it to the disciples. Everything the Father has is also Christ’s, and everything that Christ has will be passed on by the Spirit (v. 15).

Background Reminder

As we have considered this topic in the past, we have noted that the Son’s mission is to bring us to the Father. He teaches us to pray our Father (Matt. 6:9). No man comes to the Father but by Him (John 14:6). If we have seen Christ, we have seen the Father (John 14:9). And in a similar way, the Spirit is given in order to bring us to the Son, glorifying Him, so that He might bring us to the Father. So we come to the Father by the Son through the Spirit (Eph. 2:18). The Father is the destination, the Son is the road, and the Spirit is the car. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36).

The Spirit of All Truth

The Spirit of all truth is necessarily one who wields true authority, true power. And this is why the Scriptures describe Him this way. Jesus spoke with authority, and not like the scribes (Matt. 7:29), and it was because the Spirit was with Him. And the great things He did were because the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,” (Luke 4:18).

Jesus therefore had anointed authority to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach opened dungeon doors to the prisoners, to declare the recovery of sight to the blind, and to usher the bruised into liberty. This is a lot of authority; it requires a universal authority.

And at the day of Pentecost, the Lord Jesus shared His authority with His bride. He did this by pouring out His Spirit upon us.

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Authority for What?

Our two fundamental duties are to repent and believe, and the Holy Spirit equips us for both.

“But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin” (Micah 3:8). This is a Spirit-given repentance.

The second way is for the Spirit to quicken our faith. “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Gal. 3:2). When the Spirit was given, one of the more visible consequences was that cloven tongues of fire rested on each of their heads. One reasonable interpretation is that this made each of them an altar, with the fire of consecration burning on them. Present your bodies a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1-2), with a constant fire burning.

When Worship Wrecks Us

There are two ways that worship can wreck us. One is when our fire has gone out, and we go through liturgical motions in the dusty places, with a few broken bottles scattered around. That is when we have lost our first love, and our worship services do more harm than good (1 Cor. 11:17).

But there is another way that worship can wreck us. A really good way.

“When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8). “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5).

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:12–13).

The word opened there refers to pulling the neck of the sacrificial animal back, right before you cut its throat. The sword of God’s Spirit cuts up the worshiper, and God carefully arranges the pieces on the altar. And then it is that we ascend into Heaven in a column of smoke.

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They Loved the Glory of Man More than the Glory of God

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The Text

“So Jesus said to them, ‘The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.’
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 

“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, 
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 
39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 
40  ‘He has blinded their eyes 
and hardened their heart, 
lest they see with their eyes, 
and understand with their heart, and turn, 
and I would heal them.’
41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. 42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God” (John 12:35-43)

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The Father Seeks Worshippers

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The Text

“When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.4 And he must needs go through Samaria.5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink . . . “ (John 4:1-26)

Christmas Desires

While the Samaritan woman does not usually make the list for Advent passages, this story illustrates the deep longings of humanity and the One sent from God to satisfy these desires. This woman desired water, and Jesus offers water that provides eternal life. She wanted men, and Jesus reveals God as a Father. She sough to worship rightly, and Jesus explains that God is seeking her as a worshipper. The story of the Samaritan woman forms part of the larger story that begins at Christmas with the good news of great joy that the Father is seeking people to worship him in spirit and truth.

Journey to Samaria (vs. 1-6)

Jesus along with his disciples trek from Judea to Galilee in northern Israel. Verse 4 states that “Jesus had to go through Samaria.” In a practical sense, Jesus did not have to pass through Samaria. Many strict Jews avoided Samaria, but Jesus intentionally travels to Samaria and rests at a well outside Sychar.  Since it’s around lunchtime, Jesus sends all the disciples to the town for food. He arranges

A Samaritan Woman at a Jewish Well (vs. 7-9)

A Samaritan woman comes alone to the well to draw water. Culturally, most women draw water in the cool of the morning. Her arrival at noon reveals a clue of her situation. She’s on the outskirts of the Samaritan social scene. If the Samaritans shun you, you’re really hurting. Then Jesus asks the woman for a drink. She responds. “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?” About 750 years of hatred are bearing down on this request for a drink of water.

Living Water and Cracked Cisterns (vs. 10-15)

Jesus continues with his surprises, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that said to you ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water” (vs. 10). Notice that Jesus initiates with a known desire of the woman––water. This woman is an expert on the water in this well. She knows the stats. She knows the urban legend of Jacob. But this woman who everyday lugs her pot to the well knows the need and preciousness of water.

Jesus is offering the woman not something that can be put in  a bucket, but he is offering himself. Jeremiah the Prophet compares living water and cracked cisterns, “Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13-14). Living water is found in the Lord, and in him alone. But those who refuse to drink from this source must dig from their own cisterns that can hold no water. Jesus now identifies the cracked cistern of men that has left her soul thirsty.

Husband Thirst and Wrong Worship (vs. 16-22)

“Go, call your husband, and come here.” She becomes a linguist, “I have no husband.” Jesus confronts her spiritual thirst by pointing out that she has had five husbands and now a live-in boyfriend. The woman is dumbfounded that Jesus knows the details of her life and assumes he is a prophet (vs. 19). A prophet reveals a person’s place in the eyes of God and the way to make things right between God and man. The woman recognizes her sin and the necessity of repentance, but she has been worshipping wrong.

Worship the Seeking Father (vs. 23-26)

Worship of God is possible because the Father is seeking people to worship him. When was the last time this woman experienced a father? Over the years, she had experienced men as husbands, but not a father. God the Father is not distant or scornful but actively seeks to find people. God’s desire for you realigns the desires of your life. What does God want? He wants you to know him as your Father. He wants you to worship him as your God in spirit and truth. This woman has a deep thirst that can only be satisfied in the worship of the Triune God and by the work of the Triune God.

What does the Father want? A world of worshippers. And so the Father has sent his Son Jesus to a world full of people with messed up desires and wrong worship. This is the joyful announcement the angels shouted to the scruffy shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:11) This great news of great joy came to the Samaritan woman. And we join in this celebration even now in the season of advent that the Messiah, the Savior of the World, the Desire of the Nations, has come.

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