TULIP - IRRESISTIBLE GRACE - An Offer You Can't
Refuse
John 6:38-51
INTRODUCTION: We have been looking at the doctrines of
Grace and have seen that grace is truly unmerited favor - God's Riches At Christ's Expense. TULIP, forms a system of doctrines in which each of the five
points supports and compliments the other points. All of these points demonstrate and prove
that salvation is by God's grace alone.
Man
is totally ruined because of his sin.
God took the initiative to save the elect by unconditionally electing
some in eternity past before the foundation of the world. Christ came, and in a very specific sense,
died for those who were elected before the foundation of
the world. Next we come to irresistible
grace or efficacious grace.
THESIS God's Spirit, sovereignly and
powerfully, calls and enables a sinner to come to Christ for salvation.
Those
elected unconditionally in eternity past, are the VERY ones who are called and
enabled to come to Christ.
TEXT
·
Jews grumbling because Jesus said he was the bread of life.- Differing and confusing opinions about who Jesus was…
·
Some had already decided that he should be put to death John 5:18 For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the
more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was
calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
·
Some still undecided
about him… John
·
John
·
Now Jesus gets to the really hard part of His teaching. He is not
talking about physical bread, about manna or even the barley loaves He provided
in the wilderness for the multitude. He is talking about something “spiritual,”
something
from heaven which results in spiritual life.
·
VERSE 44 - NO ONE CAN COME TO ME (no one has the
ability, no one ever has had the ability…to come to Christ for salvation)
·
UNLESS (Only one
condition, only one exception to the rule already mentioned)
·
FATHER DRAWS HIM -
GREEK - helkuo hel-koo'-o;
to drag (literal or figurative) :-
draw.
·
I WILL RAISE HIM UP ON
THE LAST DAY - If a person is drawn they will be resurrected by Christ…
·
We like to feel as though we are in charge; and that we are giving
ourselves to God. In truth, He calls and we come.
·
The Jews thought that they were all chosen by God, by virtue of their
old birth. Jesus makes it clear that they must be drawn by God if they are to
come to Him.
·
John
DOCTRINE EXPOUNDED
Q31: What is effectual calling?
A31: Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing us
of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ,
and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus
Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel
Charnock defines regeneration as, "A mighty and powerful change, wrought in the soul by the efficacious working of the Holy Spirit, wherein a vital principle, a new habit, the law of God, and a divine nature are put into, and framed in the heart, enabling it to act holy and pleasing to God, and to grow up therein to eternal glory" (14).
WITH THIS EFFECTUAL CALL COMES REGENERATING LIFE IN OUR HEARTS THAT ENABLES US TO RESPOND TO THE GOSPEL
TWO CALLS - UNIVERSAL EXTERNAL CALL - ALWAYS
REJECTED
Proverbs 1:20-23 Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; [21] at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: [22] "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? [23] If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you
and made my thoughts known to you. [NIV] Proverbs 1:24-26 But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,
[25] since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke,
[26] I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you--
EFFICACIOUS CALL UPON THE ELECT - ALWAYS ACCEPTED
Romans 8:28-30 And we know that God causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29For
whom He foreknew, He also predestined to
become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born
among many brethren; 30and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom
He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also
glorified.
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race, a
royal priesthood, a HOLY NATION, a people for God's own possession,
that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of
darkness into His marvelous light;
1 Peter 5:10 And after you have suffered for a
little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in
Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
Rev. 17:14
"These will wage war
against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords
and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful."
CHARACTER
OF REGENERATION
·
God alone is the author of regeneration
·
We are entirely passive in regeneration
·
Regeneration is not a
process like sanctification
·
An instantaneous change
affecting the whole person
·
Change produced by regeneration is
in the very root of our being;
·
,Occurs on the hidden, and subconscious level
·
. It is the giving of a new
heart and the removing of a heart of stone
·
All The fruits of new life
(sanctification) flow from regeneration
THE
NECESSITY OF REGENERATION
Our
Lord said in no uncertain words, "Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless one is
born again, he cannot see the
George
Williams says, "One piece of ground
under careful cultivation will produce flowers; another will be full of weeds
when left to nature. However, the ground in both cases is similar and shares
equally in the curse God placed upon it. So it is in human society. No man is basically righteous in his nature,
but after regeneration he can bring forth the 'flowers of grace.'"
·
We are in a state of
sin and death in our natural state …God gives the soul spiritual life
·
We are in a state of
blindness and ignorance…God turns on the light of truth…
·
We have a stubborn
heart of stone…God puts within us a heart of flesh..
·
We have a will set
upon rebellion and sin…God renews our wills and gives us power to choose…
·
We have a nature set
against Christ and his truth…God draws us to the cross…
(Eph.
2.1-5). 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 lust of our flesh,
indulging the desires of our flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children
of wrath, even as the rest. BUT God, being rich in mercy, because of His 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)"
CONCLUSION
God's
Spirit, sovereignly and powerfully, calls and enables a sinner to come to
Christ for salvation.
AMAZING LOVE
HOW CAN IT BE
Long my
imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature's
night;
Thine eye diffused
a quickening ray; I woke: The dungeon flamed with light!
My chains fell
off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and
followed Thee"
C.
Wesley (1)
AMAZING GRACE
Amazing race-how sweet the
sound That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am
found-Was blind, but now I see.
T’was grace tht taught my
heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved,
How precious did that grace
appear The hour I first believed!
Again - We find that every point of the five points of TULIP - leads us away from trusting ourselves to only trusting in Christ..and God's grace alone…