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Irresistible Grace – Ephesians 2:1‐10

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Irresistible Grace – Ephesians 2:1‐10 The Five Points of Calvinism Irresistible Grace – Ephesians 2:1‐10 INTRODUCTION – Total Depravity will lead to the doctrines of Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement and the irresistible Grace of God when God saves a sinner from his sin. Diminished Depravity will lead to Abrogated Election, Impersonal Election and Sedentary Grace when God saves a sinner from his sin. The former is the Calvinistic understanding of salvation whereas the latter is that of an Arminian. The concept of a sedentary grace is a grace that can be resisted by sinful man. It is sometimes called Resistible Grace. The starting point is key to one’s understanding of the doctrine of salvation. If the person begins with the view that man contributes to his own salvation in terms of his acceptance of Christ, then he will be Arminian. If he begins with the understanding that he is totally depraved and is not able to save himself and accept Christ without Christ’s help, then he is Calvinistic. Irresistible Grace is defined as the blessings which believers receive from God that they do not deserve. Grace in general is defined as unmerited favour. The covenant of Grace began the moment man fell into sin. God gave man the first gospel in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” I. Evaluating Sedentary or Resistible Grace – “Universal Atonement – Jesus died for everyone. His death opened the door for salvation. It provided access for “whosoever will” to come to Him and receive eternal life. This does not mean, as we will see later, that Christ’s death is applied to everyone, therefore making everyone “saved.” It simply means that Jesus’ sacrificial death made a relationship with God available. “Saving Faith – This is where too many Calvinists caricature the Arminian position. Classical Arminianism does not say that man can come to God whenever and however he wants. The version developed by Wesley does not say that either. Both views hold that man is depraved and cannot come to God apart from His grace working in their life. Wesley fully developed how this worked with his idea of prevenient grace. God knows that everyone is dead in sin and cannot respond to His call in their current status, so He extends prevenient grace to everyone enabling them to make a free will decision on the Gospel. God provides the way and the sinner is responsible for recognizing his condition and committing himself to Christ. “Resistible Grace – Because prevenient grace is extended to all, we know that it can be resisted because not everyone accepts the Gospel. Again, this idea places all the blame for rejecting salvation on the human. It is not that they were not chosen by God. It is that they were offered grace, had the ability to respond and freely chose to ignore Christ and live in their sin instead. “Falling Away – Since believers have the free choice to accept Christ, they also have the free choice to leave Christ and go back to their sin. Classical Arminianism holds that those who do so have no other chances. They have sealed their fate. Wesleyan Arminiansim says that believers may fall away and come back numerous times.” [emphasis added] [http://thewardrobedoor.com/2010/08/pushing‐up‐daisy‐arminianism‐in‐brief.html] The biblical support would be the many occasions when Christ preached the Word, and some of the multitudes who heard the Word like the scribes and Pharisees rejected the message of Christ. They were offered the gospel but they refused to accept of their own accord. 1 The Five Points of Calvinism Evaluation – The distinction between the common grace, common love and the special grace and the particular love of God must be recognised and accepted. The Bible does not teach a one dimensional aspect of God’s grace and love. When this distinction is ignored or rejected then the Word of God will be misunderstood. This is the error of the Arminian view concerning the grace of God. II. Common Grace – a. It is not prevenient grace. – “Prevenient grace is a term that was used in the Remonstrance, a seventeenth‐century document formulated by Jacobus Arminius and others, to protest the Calvinistic soteriology of the Reformers. The term itself simply means ‘grace that comes before’; but the Remonstrance cast it in terms of the grace of God given to all mankind without exception, which enables all men to respond to God’s invitation and believe in the gospel. Whether or not anyone in particular does believe in the gospel then is conditioned upon whether he chooses to improve upon the grace which has been given indiscriminately to all. Prevenient grace, therefore, is not irresistible for the elect; it is merely persuasive ad enabling, but may freely be accepted or rejected by the arbitrary choice of its subjects. This doctrine of resistible, indiscriminate prevenient grace for all men is held today in many Arminian/Wesleyan theologies and denominations throughout Christianity. [https://www. monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/qna/prevenient.hyml] b. It is Common Grace – Common grace refers to the common goodness that God bestows upon the earth as a whole without distinction. Believers and unbelievers are treated the same way as far the common grace of God is concerned. For example. it does not mean that when the economy of the land suffers a down turn, only the companies of unbelievers suffer loss and the companies of believers are not affected at all. When the sun shines, the sun shines on all alike. When the rain falls the rain waters the earth inhabited by both believers and unbelievers. Matthew 5:45 “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Romans 11:12 “Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?” – The common grace here is the riches of the world that God gave to the world when Israel rejected Christ that terminated the national witness. Our world today has been touched by the gospel which has resulted in a world that is relatively safe for all to travel and return safely. The impact of Christianity is seen and felt all over the world which God calls “riches.” This is due to the common grace of God which provides man with nations that exist in relative peace. III. Irresistible Grace – Irresistible grace is that grace that saves. It is focussed and when it falls upon a sinner he will definitely be saved. No matter how hard his heart is the irresistible grace of God has the power to save to the uttermost. Some of the biblical passages that teach the irresistible grace of God in salvation include:‐ Ephesians 2:1‐10 “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 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: 3 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. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And 2 The Five Points of Calvinism hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” – Man cannot, i.e. has no power at all to save himself as he is dead in sin. God loved man even when man was dead in sin. God initiated man’s salvation from the beginning to the end. Man did not contribute, not even one iota, to his salvation. There is absolutely nothing good in man at all that his salvation needs to come from him, not even in his ability to respond! It is by grace alone that man is saved from sin, death and hell. Jesus died on the cross for sinners and rose from the dead for sinners’ justification. This is grace and ensures that no one can boast of his salvation. He did not receive because of anything that is in him. It was all of God. He has nothing to boast of. He needs to be eternally grateful that God has saved him by His grace. The faith that the believer has to be saved comes from God and is God's gift to the sinner. John 3:1‐6 “There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
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