In other words, man chooses only that which is evil, and man does not seek God of his own will. This is clearly stated in Rom. 3:11. "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." Man of his own will never seeks God, but Arminianism that is prevalent
today everywhere teaches that man does seek after God and has a free will to choose God. They overlook one fact, that man by nature is religious – man is a religious being. The fact that man is a religious being doesn't mean that he seeks after God, but he seeks after a god of his own imagination,
a god that he has created within his own mind, and back of that imaginatively created god is a demon spirit, which he is seeking. All of your religious seeking, apart from Holy Spirit conviction, is nothing more than natural man in his natural, depraved state, held captive by Satan, seeking after the
god of his own imagination, back of which is a demon spirit or demon spirits, which give him religious experiences and religious feelings, and which imitate or try to imitate the Lord God of Heaven, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. They can and do imitate every work of the Lord.
Unsaved depraved men and women, not knowing the true God, believe then that man is seeking after God because they've never sought after God themselves, but after the god of the world, Satan, which is behind the god of their own creation. Did you ever hear a fellow say, "All right now, get
your faith image." That is a god of your own imagination! That is not the true God! Wake up, my friend, before it is too late. Now that is a pivot truth, and if you don't know that thing, brother, you had better get out of the pulpit. If you can't tell the difference between a man seeking after a
god of his own imagination and one seeking after the true God, one who is under Holy Spirit conviction, you had better get out of the pulpit because you are blind, and the blind can't lead the blind, but they will both fall into Hell (Matt. 15:14). Now there is out trouble today. Brother, I am not ashamed
of the doctrines of God's Word. I am not ashamed to stand up here, if I stand alone, and proclaim these great truths.
Now let's notice another great fact about Calvinism, and that is, that Christ died only for the elect in a saving sense. Now, I know a lot of you fellows champ your bits when I talk about God saving only the elect and Christ dying only for the elect in a saving sense, that He died only for those elected from the foundation of the world, which leads to the belief of a limited atonement. And you say, "I don't believe in any such thing!" All right, wait a minute; I want to show you how inconsistent you are. There is no such doctrine taught in God's Word that Christ died for everyone.
If Christ died for everyone, and everyone's sin-debts were paid, there would have to be universal salvation. Now, there would have to be! There is a group of people who do believe in universal salvation, that Christ died for everyone and that every sinner will be saved and no one will ever go to Hell. Now, if Christ died for everyone, then they are right in their conclusion that everyone would ultimately have to be saved. Brother, if Christ died for every individual and paid every individual's sin-debt on Calvary's tree, then God would be bound to save every individual and to take every individual to Heaven.
Yes, that teaching of universal salvation is greatly prevalent today. Listen to John 10:15, "As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep." He didn't say He laid down His life for the goats, but He laid down His life for the sheep – that is, God's elect – and Christ died in a saving sense according to the Scriptures for only His elect. This truth is also brought out in I Pet. 2:24, 25, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness:
by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." So we see here that Christ laid down His life as the Good Shepherd for His sheep. Now who God's elect are only Christ knows, but He died for God's elect only. NOw, I don't know who they are, but He does. That's Bible truth that you can't get around if you have any spiritual sense at all. A blind dog in a meat house could see that.
Then in connection with this truth, there is another great truth that stands out in God's Word, and that is, Christ saves whom He wills. That makes Him Lord. Listen to John 5:21, "For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will (makes alive whom He will)." You see, a sinner is dead in trespasses and sins. That's our major premise that we started on from God's Word. We have to keep that fact in mind. A sinner is dead in trespasses and sins, and, preacher, you can't awaken him! Sunday School teacher, you can't awaken a sinner and I can't either
– that is the work of the Holy Spirit. All right, who commands the Holy spirit? You don't. I don't. He is sovereign – He has a will of His own, and He "quickeneth whom he will." That's a truth that makes Arminians so angry – that God is sovereign and Christ is Lord – and they think that is one of the greatest evils of the Calvinistic system of doctrine. But that's God's Word. My friend, this same truth is brought out in Rom. 9:18, "Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." Now you turn to Rom 9:18 and read it. That is in the bible.
It's right there! And it is just as much God's Word as John 3:16 is. You put that down! Now either God's Word is true, or God is a liar; but the Word of God says, "Let God be true, but every man a liar" (Rom. 3:4).
Now let's consider that statement again that if Christ died for everyone, then everyone would have to be saved, because He paid the sin-debt for everyone and God cannot collect a sin-debt twice! Suppose here is an unrepentant sinner who is not saved, but Christ died for him – Christ paid his sin-debt in full for him. Now, mind you, He went over there and signed that bond. He paid that bond in full. That sinner one day comes up to the Great White Throne Judgment, and looks God in the face and says, "Listen, Christ paid my sin-debt – You can't send me to Hell. You can't collect that debt twice. You can't collect it from my Surety and them collect it from me."
God would have to let that rebel go to Heaven because his sin-debt has been paid. Do you see how warped and twisted your thinking is? And yet you are using God's Word to support your own idea.
Brother, let me tell you something – God is sovereign! If I went to the bank and paid your note in full, the banker could not collect it from you. You have the receipt that I paid it; he can't collect it from you. If Christ paid your sin-debt in full, let me tell you, brother, God could not send you to Hell! He couldn't. Do you know that thing? That would mean universal salvation. How warped and twisted you Arminians are! I am hewing right to the line here, and you are going to sit there and listen to me! Yes, you are, and God is going to open the eyes of some of you to see the truth of this thing. God has laid these messages on my heart for someone.
These truths being facts, we face another fact – that the Holy Spirit creates, or gives, real repentance and saving faith in the hearts of those for whom Christ died. Heb 12:2 says that He is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and II Tim. 2:25 says, "God peradventure will give them repentance." Acts 5:31 says, "Him hath God exalted... to give repentance to Israel," and Acts 11:18 says that He "granted repentance unto life" to the Gentiles. So then Repentance and faith are gifts of grace to the sinner that God raises from the dead by His power unto salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You ask, "Is there any hope for me?" Listen man – listen, little girl sitting there – listen, thousands of others who have been touched by the Holy Spirit! If God has touched your heart and awakened you to the fact that you are a lost sinner, then look to Him, because God paid your sin-debt in full through Christ. Why don't you just look to Him? That is all you can do. You can't pay that sin-debt, not one penny of it, so why don't you look to Him, and let Him show you that He has paid that sin-debt in full? Will you do it? Will you believe as He has awakened you and showed you your condition? That is the only way I know; that is the only means God has to save you. God doesn't tease a sinner. god doesn't laugh at a sinner that He is dealing with. Look to Him.
"Ah," you say, "I have done this, and I have done that." Friend, salvation is by grace, and not by your merits. You cannot merit a thing in the world before the Lord. Your sin-debt is paid in full and given to you freely. May God show you that thing today and bring you to rest completely upon Him and look to Him. It is Christ alone.
Now let me give you this closing thought. The great truth of the Sovereignty of God is the foundation doctrine of all the teachings of God's Word, the foundation doctrine of Calvinism. Christ crucified, buried, and risen is the central doctrine of all the doctrines of God's Word. Christ crucified, buried, and risen as our Lord, our Saviour, our Surety; our Mediator is the center, the central doctrine of all the teachings of Calvinism and of God's Word. Did you get that thing? Do you know Him? Is He magnified in your heart and your life? My friend, may He be today.
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