Who Can Pluck Us Out His Hands?

You must take the 5 minutes to listen to this song! The lyrics are conveniently written there for those of us who need a little help.

This is awesome.

Bob your head.

This is by a Boyce College graduate (SBTS undergraduate school), Marcus Gray, aka Flame. Have you ever heard of solid, orthodox, reformed rap music? You just did!

O Sacred Head

O sacred Head, now wounded,

With grief and shame weighed down,

Now scornfully surrounded

With thorns, Thine only crown;

How pale Thou art with anguish,

With sore abuse and scorn!

How does that visage languish

Which once was bright as morn!

What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered

Was all for sinners' gain:

Mine, mine was the transgression,

But Thine the deadly pain;

Lo, here I fall, my Savior!

'Tis I deserve Thy place;

Look on me with Thy favor,

Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.

What language shall I borrow

To thank Thee, dearest Friend,

For this Thy dying sorrow,

Thy pity without end?

O make me Thine forever,

And should I fainting be,

Lord, let me never, never

Out-live my love to Thee.

Text by Paul Gerhardt, 1676, melody by Hans Leo Hassler, 1612 and harmony by J. S. Bach, 1750. 1991 Baptist Hymnal #137

J. S. Bach was a Reformed Baroque composer.

Soli Deo Gloria!

For just a tid bit of music history, the Baroque period of classical music ended with Bach's death. Although the Classical era of music was beginning to come on the scene more and more (Mozart) Big Bach remained steadfast to compose music in the Baroque style until his death, completely unaffected by the progression toward simple harmony under a single melody characteristic of the Classical style.

Scriptures For Saturday

I will cry to God Most High,

To God who accomplishes all things for me.

Psalm 57:2

This passage hit me today as I was reading along. Notice the utter dependence on God, looking to Him only, resting on His power and ability to accomplish all things. See that this verse is not speaking of the health/wealth prosperity "gospel" preached today in some churches, but in the context of the remaining verses of the Psalm and the book as a whole, it speaks of spiritual things: refuge, salvation, mercy, lovingkindness, grace, strength, vindication, the application of righteousness and holiness. This verse reminded me of the following two passages:

Bless our God, O peoples,

And sound His praise abroad,

Who keeps us in life

And does not allow our feet to slip.

Psalm 66:8-9

In Him you also, having heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation - having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise who is given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Ephesians 1:13-14

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:4-6

Salvation is a work completely begun and finished by Almighty God. God's grace for salvation is not a reward for repentance, it is the cause. And likewise the application of sanctification and perseverance in the faith. We can rest in the accomplished work of Christ on the Cross knowing that God is the one who keeps us from straying out of His hand.

"My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."

John 10:29

Everything Is Theological

Is it possible to separate what is spiritual from what is physical? Is it possible to go read the Bible and live life completely disconnected from what was read?

In one sense, yes. There are many people who go to church, listen to solid exegetical sermons, read the Bible (even daily) and divorce the gospel from their practical living. These individuals don't consider their sinful patterns in terms of personal sanctification (i.e. they still gossip, lust, and indulge the flesh after hearing convicting sermons about the same issues).

However, the true answer is no. God, who is spiritual, created everything that is physical. So then, the physical cannot be estranged from the spiritual. (See Genesis 1:1ff, Romans 1:20, Colossians 1:15 and 1 Timothy 1:17.)

"Wait . . . but I'm no theologian!" Ahh, but you are! What one thinks about God is theological by definition, for everything we say and do reflects an implied theology of God whether we admit it or not. This always manifests itself in our behavior towards Him and His Church. What we believe about God ultimately dictates how we live day-to-day.

For example, if we don't think that God is powerful, then our actions will reflect that. We will not pray. We will not depend on His strength and grace to make it through the daily grind; we will rely on our own strength. We will conclude that there are hearts that are just too hard for God to change, and we won't evangelize. Eventually, we will surmise that the gospel is impotent; over time we may even reject the faith.

In another example, if we don't think that God is omnipresent, then we convince ourselves that we can go on sinning because God doesn't see. We will begin to doubt the existence of God, for to be God is to be omnipresent. Moreover, if we think that God is not all-together wise, then we will concoct our own means when difficult situations arise. Soon, we succumb to some type of naturalistic humanism.

Again, another example: Equating the love of God with benevolent sentimentalism instead of with objective authoritative truth is destructive. To do so denies reason, power, righteousness, and justice because such absolutes are founded upon an Absolute God who has spoken to us in an intelligible way. That individual will eventually become a moral relativist, which is the philosophy that says whatever is good to you is good and what is right for one person is right for that person. It's just another form of religious pluralism, which, ironically is a religious system in and of itself that has made itself a form of absolutism without an absolute on which to be grounded. This person may not condemn homosexuality, abortion, pornography, alcoholism, anxiety, bitterness or anger, but they will create other things to condemn. They will arbitrarily condemn whatever they personally disagree with. In reality then, they are being exclusive and not inclusive, for the denying of one thing is by default the endorsing of another.

Again we ask: Why does it matter what we think about God and how we understand His methods in redeeming humanity? Can't we truly enjoy fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ without all the intellectual stimulation? Why do we need to define terms? Why can't we all just believe what we believe without letting there be division amongst us? "Can't we all just get along?"

If we follow that line of reasoning, we set ourselves up for a false peace. For example, if we don't want to differentiate between arminian and reformed theological viewpoints, then how do we evangelize? What will we say? What will we avoid saying? How could we possibly have a clear conscience that we are speaking the truth of the gospel in love? What benefit is there to the believer to know the manner in which God applies salvation? The answers to these questions will dictate behavior.

Ultimately, knowing God rightly will empower us to love Him as He truly is. The more we worship Him as He truly is then the more we are transformed into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18). This then allows us to operate freely in the realm of His righteousness, liberated from the bondage of sin.

(This post was written with help from my wonderful husband:-)

Wow!

That's all I could say after watching, hearing this snippet message of why a sinner should repent. I think the preacher is Kevin Macleod.

God deserves our worship even if we don't get heaven in the end. He demands our obedience. God will get no glory out of a life lived in human wisdom, human strength, human effort and He will receive no glory out of a humanist philosophy: one that lives for Him just to get good things from Him. Why am I a Christian? What is my motive for reading God's Word, memorizing Scripture, claiming allegiance to Christ, prayer, rejecting evangelical feminism, worldly philosophies and all the like? Why does anyone repent? Salvation is by grace through faith, both of which have been given as a free gift in and through Christ. As a gift, it is our own; He will not take it back from us. What thoughts dominated my mind when God granted me the grace of godly sorrow that led me to repent and surrender to the Lordship of Christ? I remember thinking that Christ had given His all for me and I hadn't given myself totally to Him and He deserved all of me.

What The Gospel Is Not

The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is not simply behavior modification.  God is primarily interested in the condition of our hearts, not simply our outward habitual practices.

It is true that a changed heart is evidenced by a changed life, i.e. the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25, Romans 6, etc.).  But what is the event that is causing this change, something God did or people did?

Changing our outward behavior of our own effort will not justify us before a holy and righteous God when the Day of Judgment comes.  It is only through faith, trust and hope in Christ alone, His work of redemption and resurrection, that secure the way to eternal life.  And this is all a work of God's grace alone which He does within His elect, His beloved Church.

The motives of the heart change dramatically and are now driven by a desire to please God and remain aligned according to His will, glorifying His name.  Behavior modification is just exchanging one idol (drugs, gangs, self autonomy) for another (hobby, AA, family & children).  The Bible calls us to worship God alone.  Jesus Christ came to redeem those who He has chosen; to free them from the power and slavery to sin and give them eternal life.  

Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.

John 17:3

A Simple Prayer

"Lord, give what Thou commandest

and command what Thou wilt."

St. Augustine of Hippo

An Unexpected Confrontation

Today Jeramy and I decided to take a walk around our neighborhood and get some exercise.  As we were heading up the hill from our townhouse a black man with a book in his hand, determined to speak with us, began admiring our children.  Immediately he asked us if we were Bible readers.  After naming specific books, Proverbs, Psalms, Romans and Ephesians, he continued to speak with us regarding spiritual things.  

My first immediate inclination in response to how quickly he began to speak of divine things cautioned me to think that he was either a Jehovah's Witness or a Mormon.  After offering us an extra-biblical book, Jeramy asked by whom it was published and my suspicions were confirmed - Jehovah's (FALSE) Witness.

Perhaps you've been stopped by them before, even at your doorstep.  My Dad was an object of such proselytization before he came to the Creator and Redeemer, who is God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, as revealed in Scripture.  The only infinitely valuable being able to endure infinite wrath against a Holy God as He became sin on our behalf.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

John 1:1-3

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

George Santayana

This heresy is just the Arian heresy (300AD) recycled in 1872 by Charles Russell.  The Church addressed Arianism back in the 300's but when it later revived, where was the church leadership at that time to refute it and herald a Sovereign Savior, Lord and God, Jesus Christ?  This sect of false religions have totally taken certain Scriptures out of context and preached a bad news gospel.

They know their bad translated text very well and can 

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

1 Peter 3:15

In fact, I believe this man might have been a preacher of such heresy.  But these individuals won't go back to the original Greek and Hebrew.  They don't spend time learning those languages to understand that their "scriptures" are full of calculated heretical support for the propagation of this false teaching and as a result make it very difficult to be dissuaded by actual Truth, who is the Great I AM, Jesus Christ.

The eye is the lamp of the body;  so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Matthew 6:22-23

Do you ever feel like living and preaching the Gospel is an uphill battle?  I think that it's more difficult to correct someone's false doctrines than to preach to those who've never heard.

Praise God that it is HIS grace that saves individuals and not our efforts to work with Him, but only our obedience to His glory, which He affects anyway, again, all to His glory!

The Mover

O Supreme Moving Cause,

May I always be subordinate to thee,

be dependent upon thee, 

be found in the path where thou dost walk,

and where thy Spirit moves,

take heed of estrangement from thee,

of becoming insensible to thy love.

Thou dost not move men like stones,

but dost endue them with life,

not to enable them to move without thee,

but in submission to thee, the first mover.

O Lord, I am astonished at the difference

between my receivings and my deservings,

between the state I am now in and my past

gracelessness,

between the heaven I am bound for and

the hell I merit.

Who made me to differ, but thee?

for I was no more ready to receive Christ 

than were others;

I could not have begun to love thee hadst thou not

first loved me,

or been willing unless thou hadst first made me so.

O that such a crown should fit the head of such

a sinner!

such high advancement be for an unfruitful

person!

such joys for so vile a rebel!

Infinite wisdom cast the design of salvation

into the mould of purchase and freedom;

Let wrath deserved be written on the door of hell,

But the free gift of grace on the gate of heaven.

I know that my sufferings are the result of my

sinning,

but in heaven both shall cease;

Grant me to attain this haven and be done

with sailing,

and may the gales of thy mercy blow me safely

into harbour.

Let thy love draw me nearer to thyself,

wean me from sin, mortify me to this world,

and make me ready for my departure hence.

Secure me by thy grace as I sail across this 

stormy sea.

[Amen!]

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

Sing the glory of His name;

Make His praise glorious.

Say to God, "How awesome are Your works!

Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to You.

All the earth will worship You,

And will sing praises to You;

They will sing praises to your name."

Psalm 66:2-4

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

John 1:1-3

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Sprit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 

Romans 8:6-8

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works so that no one may boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-10

(The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. Ed. Arthur Bennett.  Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1975.  pp 12-13.)

Desires

O Thou that hearest prayer,

Teach me to pray.

I confess that in religious exercises

the language of my lips and the feelings 

of my heart have not always agreed,

that I have frequently taken carelessly upon

my tongue a name never pronounced above

without reverence and humility,

that I have often desired things which would

have injured me,

that I have depreciated some of my chief mercies,

that I have erred both on the side of my hopes

and also of my fears,

that I am unfit to choose for myself,

for it is not in me to direct my steps.

Let thy Spirit help my infirmities,

for I know not what to pray for as I ought.

Let him produce in me wise desires by which 

I may ask right things, 

then I shall know thou hearest me.

May I never be importunate for temporal blessings,

but always refer them to thy fatherly goodness,

for thou knowest what I need before I ask;

May I never think I prosper unless my soul prospers,

or that I am rich unless rich toward thee,

or that I am wise unless wise unto salvation.

May I seek first thy kingdom and its righteousness.

May I value things in relation to eternity,

May my spiritual welfare be my chief solicitude.

May I be poor, afflicted, despised and have 

thy blessing,

rather than be successful in enterprise,

or have more than my heart can wish,

or be admired by my fellow-men,

if thereby these things make me forget thee.

May I regard the world as dreams, lies, vanities,

vexation of spirit,

and desire to depart from it.

And may I seek my happiness in thy favour,

image, presence, service.

[Amen.]

(The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. Ed. Arthur Bennett.  Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1975.  pp 194-195.)

The New Birth

Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."  

John 3:5-6

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Sprit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8:6-8

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of the flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were, by nature, children of wrath, even as the rest.  But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) . . . 

Ephesians 2:1-5

Have you ever watched a woman in childbirth?  I've not, but it must be a really awesome (and kind of gross) sight!  The infant is completely, helplessly being pushed out of the birth canal without contributing any effort to the woman's labor (though we might wish he would!).  Have you ever watched the Holy Spirit birth life into a person?  It is truly an awesome and exciting thing to watch!  Imagine . . . weeks, months and years praying, ministering, preaching to and living the gospel before a loved one who is completely opposed to the things of God suddenly show interest in reading God's Word, asking spiritual questions and awakened to the vanity of chasing after the wind to a desire to chase after Christ!!  

The Spirit is birthing one of our loved ones now and Jeramy and I continue to pray fervently for him that God would open His eyes to see the beauty of the holiness and righteousness of Christ and put off the world and pursue Christ, trusting in Him alone for salvation.  This spiritual birth comes as a work of the Holy Spirit in subjection to the will of God and not man.  No person can merely pray a prayer, walk an isle, sign a certificate or take a public bath (baptism) and receive spiritual life if the Holy Spirit has not breathed it into him/her.  There is no work a person can do in order to receive salvation in Christ.  Just as we are powerless over our physical birth, we cannot contribute anything to our spiritual birth.  Even our ability to believe is a gift of God's grace as a result of the new nature in Christ.  All the work of salvation - the new birth of regeneration, grace unto repentance, belief, justification, obedience, sanctification, perseverance, glorification - is ALL the work of God in those who walk according to the Spirit of Christ.  Realizing this makes watching the new birth all the more exciting!!!  And it makes our praise and worship of God all the more glorifying to Him!!! 

God the Creator

I was reading a little in Calvin's Institutes and this quote stuck out to me, in reference to God as the Creator and how this relates to salvation for followers in Christ,

In conclusion, whenever we call God the Creator of heaven and earth, let us remember that he can give us whatever he chooses and that we are his children, whom he has undertaken to care for and bring to himself.  We can expect good things from him alone and have full assurance that he will never let us be without everything necessary for salvation, so that we have to turn elsewhere.  We can turn to him in prayer with all our longings and see his hand in every blessing.  As we praise him, drawn by his great goodness and generosity, we must apply ourselves wholeheartedly to love and to serve him.

It impacted me because it goes along with Ephesians chapter 1.  In verse 3 Paul speaks of how blessed God is and how He has "blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."  And the remainder of the chapter lists those blessings: 

• our choosing in Christ before the world was created, 
  
• our justification before the judgment seat, 
  
• our predestination and adoption into the family of God out of His love, 
  
• His grace that He freely bestowed on us in Christ, 
  
• redemption through Christ, 
  
• the forgiveness of our trespasses, 
  
• how we've had God's grace lavished on us, 
  
• the knowledge of the will of God, 
  
• in Christ we have an inheritance b/c of our predestination, 
  
• our existence is for the praise of God's glory, 
  
• how our salvation has been sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee,
  
• we are God's own possession,
  
• we have hope in our calling,
  
• we have glorious riches of God's inheritance, as saints,
  
• the surpassing greatness of God's power is at work in us who believe,
  
• because Christ is raised from the dead, we partake in the resurrection also.
  
• In Christ we are not subject to earthly rule, authority, power or dominion in the spiritual realm.
  
• We are the Body who has Christ as our Head, we are the fullness of Him
  
• and He fills all in all.
  

These blessings are incredible!  We don't have to turn anywhere else, including ourselves, for anything necessary for salvation - including the ability to believe, which we never possessed until God changed our hearts so that we could believe.  What an encouragement!  How grateful we should be for all these things that we don't deserve.  God was not obligated to give us any of these things; He could have left me hardened in my sin, but He chose to save me.  What a great Creator, originator, Savior and regenerator!

(John Calvin, The Institutes of Christian Religion. Edited by Tony Lane and Hilary Osborne. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1986. Baker Book House: Fifteenth printing, 2004. Book 1, Chapter 14, Paragraph 22, pp. 59-60.) ISBN 0-8010-2524-9

Defining the Terms

Until I went to Seminary, I had no idea that there were labels for different lines of Christian thought.  Neither did I know the specific interpretations of Scripture when taking any one of these views to it's natural conclusion.  So, for our mutual benefit I have reviewed my notes to define the following terms:

Arianism: heresy that arose in the 4th Century that denied the deity of Christ.  This same theology crept up again in the late 19th Century as the Jehovah's Witness.

Pelagianism: heresy condemned in the Council of Carthage in 412 A.D.  It denied Original Sin, i.e. the sin nature, and it denied death as the consequence of sin.  According to this line of thinking man does not need God's grace to stand righteous before God.  Man has the ability to choose to do righteously of his own effort because Adam's sin did not affect his progeny but were born perfect in the likeness of Adam's original creation.  Salvation by grace through faith is unnecessary.  Man is born well and just needs a little guidance from Christ.

Semi-Pelagianism: The synergistic approach to salvation, i.e. God and man cooperate together to affect the man's salvation.  Man has the ability to believe the gospel and therefore receive salvation as a reward of belief.  Belief is the work man does and the grace of God meets man at the point of his/her belief.  Man is born sick and can affect a cure with the help of a physician, who is Christ.

Arminianism: The Remonstrance in 1610 developed these 5 points within the Protestant church.  The controversy that ensued was disputed in a series of meetings called the Synod of Dort.  This is historic Arminianism.

1. Partial depravity.  Man is not affected totally by the Fall; his free will is preserved.
2. Conditional election, otherwise known as foreseen faith.
3. Unlimited/Universal atonement.  Christ only suffered on the cross for humanity.
4. Resistible grace, i.e. Common Grace.  God's grace comes and man has the free will choice to accept or reject it.  (Man has the ability to resist the will of God for his own salvation.)
5. Man can lose his salvation.  He must persist in good works to remain saved.

Calvinism: The elders, pastors, teachers, etc. which met at the Synod of Dort recognized the seriousness of this Arminian heresy and responded with these 5 points which is the same historical position since Christ.  In this view, man is born dead and needs life from the miracle worker, life-giver, who is Christ.

1. Total depravity.  Man is completely affected by the Fall: mind, body, will, emotions, etc.
2. Unconditional election.  Everyone is equally deserving of wrath in Hell, but God chooses some to be saved not based on man's merit nor foreseen faith but based on foreknowledge (i.e. predetermined covenant love).
3. Limited atonement. Christ paid the penalty for the sins of the elect only, not the unrepentant.  He did not merely suffer for sins.
4. Irresistible grace.  God's first work of grace comes to regenerate the sinner, who then sees the beauty of Christ in His holiness and therefore repents.
5. Perseverance of the saints.  The grace of God keeps the believer so that he/she cannot lose salvation, i.e. eternal security by the grace of God.  As a result, the believer will bear spiritual fruit.

Hyper Calvinism: what Calvinism is not.  "It was a system of theology, . . . which was framed to exalt the honour and glory of God and did so at the expense of minimising the moral and spiritual responsibility of sinners to God."  (Peter Toon, The Emergence of Hyper Calvinism in English Nonconformity 1689-1765 (London: The Olive Tree, 1967), 144,145.)  A man may not be exhorted to do anything he is spiritually incapable of doing because Adam was not created with the capacity for faith, having walked in God's presence before the Fall.  "Since, therefore, [saving faith] was no part of his powers in the unfallen state, it could not now be required of him in the fallen state." (Thomas Nettles, By His Grace And For His Glory (Cape Coral: Founders Press, 2006), 428.)  This is the system of thought that kills evangelism for obvious reasons.

My notes are courtesy of a Survey of Systematic Theology course taught by Dr. Bruce Ware of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.  Visit the Desiring God website and search for "5 points of Calvinism" and you will read about it more in depth.  An excellent church history is found in the aforementioned Nettles text.  The DVD entitled, Amazing Grace: The History and Theology of Calvinism, is a wonderful resource developed by the Apologetics Group.

Calvinism's Current Rise Recognized

Time magazine has published a series of articles: 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now. One of those has been the "resurgence" of Calvinism. Evangelicals in the U.S. are buzzing about this recognition and it's truly amazing to me that this biblical worldview has caught the attention of the secular American public. Albert Mohler and others have commented on this article in their blogs (click on the web link to the right for Mohler's blog or the link below for the full article).

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1884779,00.html

Calvinism is another term for Reformed biblical thought, which is how Protestantism originally left the Catholic Church. Reformed theology is opposed to the modern version of inconsistent Arminianism that is more accurately described as Semi-Pelagianism. There are several points of contention between the Reformed and Semi-Pelagian (Arminian) views with the major one being the Doctrine of Election or Predestination. Modern Semi-Pelags consider the human free will to be the determining factor of one's salvation. The Scripture is very clear in Romans 8 and 9, Ephesians 1 and 1 Peter 1, that God is the One who chooses, by His grace alone, who receives salvation. In the end, it is God's free will that overshadows ours. After all, He is God.

"But that's not fair!!! We have the right to choose for ourselves where we will end up for eternity." In a sense, yes, every individual has a personal responsibility before God for their sin: once a person has heard the Gospel and rejects it, they will receive greater condemnation than those who haven't heard. But over and above this, God is the one who changes the heart when it hears the Gospel call. Isn't that what we pray for when we want to see our loved ones repent? "Lord, please open their eyes, that they might see the beauty of Christ, repent and turn to You." Truly we are "dead in tresspasses and sins," not wounded, and the only one who can give life, new birth, is Christ by the predetermined will of God. When someone is "born again" (John 3:3-8) does that person choose to be born or is birth something that happens to them, by which they have no active role? Read the text just as someone reads the newspaper. Just because the Truth is hard to accept doesn't make it any less true.

Because someone calls themselves a Calvinist doesn't mean they have a "holier than thou" attitude. It makes us more humble and grateful!!! When someone realizes that God, out of His love and kindness, chose any person to be saved from the effects of sin makes God a VERY gracious God. He could have left me hardened in my sin, completely exposed to the cup of His wrath, justly receiving what my sins deserve, but by His grace alone He regenerated my dead soul and quickened my heart to see the beauty of the holiness of Christ. Praise the Lord!!!! because I was once dead and now I'm alive! I totally did not deserve it! There is no reason why He should save me, except that He chose me. This is what makes God's grace so amazing!!