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1 Studies in the Lord's Merciful Grace Lesson 3: Scriptural and Historical

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1 Studies in the Lord's Merciful Grace Lesson 3: Scriptural and Historical Studies in the Lord’s Merciful Grace Lesson 3: Scriptural and Historical Backgrounds Part 3 Total Depravity, Pelagianism, Semi-pelagianism, & Arminianism Scriptures Considered in Lesson 2: 1. The responsibility of man: John 1:9, 12 [All men are responsible. Rom 1:18ff – the creative order declares the glory of God and all men turn from Him; Rom 2 – the conscience of man condemns each man.] 2. The work of God in man’s heart: John 1:13; 3:3-8 [The Lord must grant the new birth before man has the capacity to receive Him, to see the kingdom of God to embrace it – compare John 1:12 to Joh 1:13 “who were born”; this is a past tense verb indicating the new birth comes before not after faith.] 3. Why do we need to be born again? Gen 2:15-17; 3:1-9; Gen 4:8; 1 Tim 2:14; Gen 6:1, 4-8; Romans 5:12-21 (Death has reigned and now reigns on all of fallen mankind because of the sin of Adam.) All of us are born dead in trespasses and sins Eph 2:1-3. [All mankind fell when Adam fell. He was our representative head. When he died, we died. Man, therefore, being dead in trespasses and sins needs more than persuasion to believe, he needs a spiritual resurrection provided by the Lord through grace for His elect.] 4. Are men as evil as they can be? Gen 20:1-6 [All men do not show the effects of the fall in the same way, nonetheless, all are dead spiritually to God and need grace to believe. Acts 13:48] 5. Why do we need God’s grace to be born again? 1 Cor 2:14; Romans 3:9-20 [Without grace, and not just the grace of getting to hear the gospel, but grace to open the heart (Acts 16:14 – “Lydia… whose heart the Lord opened”) unto faith and salvation – Eph 2:8,9] 6. Who can be saved? Romans 10:13 [Whoever calls on the name of the Lord in sincerety.] 7. Who wants to be saved apart from the saving grace of God (see Romans 3;9-20 again)? [None want to be saved on the Lord’s terms to hate and forsake sin, to love and obey the Lord.] 8. Can God’s goodness be known in a world of sin? Psalm 145:9; Ps 65:9; Matt 5:45 [God’s goodness is shown to all in common grace, but only to the elect in saving grace – “it rains upon the just and the unjust.”] Lesson3, Total Depravity, Pelagianism, Semi-pelagianism, & Arminianism: In this lesson we will seek to accomplish three things. 1. Establish yet further, the inability of man to believe because of the nature of His fall in Adam. This doctrine historically has been named Total Depravity. Without a proper understanding of this doctrine, the glory of God is severely truncated and the ability of man is tragically inflated, hence the pride of man is flamingly fueled. 2. Review R.C. Sproul’s treatice “Augustine and Pelagius” in its entirety. 3. Consider the answer of the Synod of Dort to a few claims of the Remonstrants (followers of Arminus) regarding the depravity of man. Lesson 3, point 1: Consider the implications of the following statements of Scripture.1 1 Corinthians 2:14: The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged. Genesis 2:17: But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Romans 5:12: Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned. 1 This list of verses was compiled from a fuller listing of verses provided by Loraine Boettner in ch. 10 of his Reformed Doctrine of Predestination. http://www.full-proof.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Boettner-Reformed-Doctrine-of- Predestination.pdf 1 Ephesians 2:1-3: And you did He make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins, wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience; among whom ye also all once lived in the lusts of your flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Ephesians 2:12: Ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Jeremiah 13:23: Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. Psalm 51:5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; And in sin did my mother conceive me. John 3:3: Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Romans 3:10-12: As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one; There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God; They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good. no, not so much as one. Job 14:4: Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. 1 Corinthians 1:18: For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God. Acts 13:41: Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish; For I work a work in your days, A work which ye shall in no wise believe, if one declare it unto you. John 5:21: For as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom He will. John 8:19: They said therefore unto Him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye know neither me, nor my Father; if ye knew me, ye would know my Father also. Matthew 11:25: I thank thee, O Father Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes. John 14:16: (And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever,) even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; ye know Him; for He abideth with you, and shall be in you. John 3:19: And this is the judgment, that light is come unto the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. [After reading these texts, do we not see that we desperately need the Lord’s merciful grace if we are ever to escape the death accompanying our depravity, to repent of our sins, and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation. To God be the glory!] Abbreviated Timeline of Church History related to Augustine and Pelagius; The Reformers and Arminius Adapted from http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/100-key-events-in-church-history/ 387 – Augustine of Hippo is born, the one who would answer Pelagius and whose writings would be studied by Luther. 419 - Pelagius is condemned as a heretic at the Council of Carthage. (Pelagius did not believe that the sin of Adam was passed on to mankind. He believed that we did not need grace to obey the commandments of God.) 529 - Semi-pelagianism is declared heresy at the Council of Orange. (Semi-pelagianism states that man fell, but not so much that he cannot cooperate with God in salvation. He has enough life in him to put his faith in the Lord Jesus. Man was severely wounded by the fall, but not completely dead in his spiritual capacities.) The declaration of this council can be found at: http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/councilorange.html 1517 - Martin Luther nails the 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg. 1536 - John Calvin publishes The Institutes of the Christian Religion, the most substantial theological work of the Reformation. 1560-1609 - Jacobus Arminius life. Ministered in Amersterdam for 15 years from 1588-1603. Taught at the University of Leyden from 1603-1609 2 1610 – The Five Points of the Remonstrants are declared. (These points are quoted in full in Lesson 2). [Article 1. Conditional Election 2. Unlimited Atonement 3. Deprivation. 4. Resistible grace. … But with respect to the mode of the operation of this grace, it is not irresistible, since it is written concerning many, that they have resisted the Holy Spirit (Acts 7, and elsewhere in many places). 5. Assurance and security. (They actually left this position in question for further study.) 1618 – Convening of the Synod of Dort to answer the Remonstants Lesson 3, point 2: Augustine and Pelagius, By R. C. Sproul (Quoted from http://www.leaderu.com/theology/augpelagius.html#) "It is Augustine who gave us the Reformation." So wrote B. B. Warfield in his assessment of the influence of Augustine on church history. It is not only that Luther was an Augustinian monk, or that Calvin quoted Augustine more than any other theologian that provoked Warfield's remark.
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