(Transcription and marked divisions are the work of Mr.
Andrew Magni.)
I.
Introduction
I.1.
I.2. Why the question “ Whether or not a denial of the ‘Well Meant Offer of the
Gospel’ is 'hyper-Calvinism'? ” is important of itself and particularly to the
PRCA in light of the fact that the denial of the 'Well Meant Gospel Offer' is,
in part, the raison d'être of its inception as a denomination.
I.3. False
accusation by many, in primarily the British Isles,against the PRCA, that its opposition to the 'Well
Meant Gospel Offer' constitutes,necessarily, and, by
most, without any appropriate investigation of or response to the PRCA’s argumentation for its position,'hyper-Calvinism'.
I.4 Setting forth of
four questions the answering of which shall constitute the substance of the
lecture
II. First
Question and Answer - "What is 'hyper-Calvinism'? "
II.1. Inappropriate definitions of and so misapplication of the
term 'hyper-Calvinism'
II.2. Historical
precedence of 'hyper-Calvinism' in the history of the church, particularly in
the
II.3. Quotations of Welsh 'hyper-Calvinists'
II.4. Explanation
of 'hyper-Calvinism'
III. Second
Question and Answer - "What is meant by the expression 'The Well Meant
Offer of the Gospel'? "
III.1. PRCA does not reject the use of the term ‘offer’ per se,
even as it is used in the Canons
3/4:9, & the WCF
10:2, though it does not appear in either the Belgic
Confession or the
III.2. 'Heart and
Core' of the 'Well Meant Offer' summarized
III.3. Necessary implications of the 'Well Meant Offer' and
accompanying teachings of the proponents thereof
III.4. Proponents
of the 'Well Meant Offer', such as the 'Christian Reformed Church', necessarily
maintain a universality to the atoning death of Christ in order to be
consistent with the same.
III.5 Proponents
of the 'Well Meant Offer' necessarily assert two contradictory wills in God,
opponents of the 'Well Meant Offer' strenuously, and carefully maintain the
singularity and inner logical consistency of God's will, cp.Calvin
in his "A Treatise on the Eternal Predestination of God
"
IV. Third
Question and Answer - "What in the opinion of the ‘Protestant Reformed
Churches’ is the biblical and confessional truth concerning the preaching of
the gospel? "
IV.1. PRCA's dogma of evangelism founded upon Matthew
22:1-14 & Canons
2:5
IV.2. Exposition
of Canons 2:5's evangelism dogma
IV.3. Canons 2:5's answer to the question "What is the
Gospel? "
IV.4. Canons 2:5's dogma of the universality
of the application of the command of the Gospel, and the PRCA affirmation and
application thereof.
IV.5. Explanation of the historical, orthodox definition and so
use of the term "offer ", in relation to evangelism, of which the
PRCA affirms, which is founded upon its Latin etymological basis.
IV.6. Explication of the position that the judicial basis for
the universality of the evangelical command is founded upon the creation
ordinance, contrary to the position of the proponents of the 'Well Meant Offer'
who allege that the judicial basis for the universality of the command as an
'offer' in their gospel is in the universal nature of the atonement. Canons
2:8 [ in accordance with Romans
8:32,33 ] is explicit, emphatic and unambiguous in its declaration that the
atonement is for the elect, and them
only.
V. Fourth
Question and Answer "Why is the position of the PRCA with respect to the
preaching of the gospel crucially important for the welfare of the ‘
V.1. Answer to the
subordinate question, "What is the Gospel?
"answered by Christ in Mt.22:14, “few are chosen”, that is, the
gospel is rooted in the eternal, sovereign, unmerited, predestination of the
elect.
V.2. Answer to
subordinate question, "Why is the Gospel the power of God unto salvation? "The preaching of the
true gospel is the means whereby God powerfully and unilaterally converts, and
sanctifies the saints.
V.3a. Answer to subordinate question, "If the preaching of
the gospel is for the conversion and sanctification of the elect, why then does
God command the reprobate to repent and believe thereby?
"The preaching of the gospel is God's sovereign means to expose and
elicit the hatred of the gospel from the hardened heart of the reprobate.
V.3.b.
Notwithstanding the preacher of the gospel desires the salvation of all who
hear it to repent and believe in Christ, he is not discouraged by those who
refuse to do so and their inflamed animosity against the gospel, for he knows
that this reaction of the reprobate to the preaching of the gospel fulfills the
righteous purpose of God for evangelism, as 2
Corinthians 2:14-16.
VI.
Conclusion
VI.1. Emphatic
assertion that there is only one gospel and it alone is to be
preached in all places and under all circumstances, as it is always
relevant regardless of the physical or spiritual age
or development of the hearer, as is the practice of and has been and
is true in the life of the speaker.
VI.2. The
speaker preaches the one gospel, he'd been explicating ,
to his audience gathered in
Thus far we read
together from the Holy Scriptures, may God bless His Word to our hearts.
In fact, when
‘Well Meant Gospel Offer’ proponents, defend the ‘ Well Meant Gospel Offer’,
they insist on the fact that those who hear the gospel are not only the objects
of an attitude of favor on the part of God towards those who hear it, but that
God actually confers grace upon them in their hearts. Such a grace, indeed,
which gives them, as the ‘Marrow Men’ were insisting upon, and as many Puritans
insisted, and as is a fundamental doctrine of all revivalism, such grace is
communicated through the preaching of the gospel to those who hear, that they
can even become convicted of sin; that they can become sorry for sin; that they
can bewail their sins; that they can see that hell lies open before them; that
they can see the need for deliverance, and for salvation, but that’s all apart
from saving grace, because those same people who are under conviction of sin,
and can even cry out in their miseries, they nevertheless never accept the
‘Gospel Offer’. They may still go lost, or if I may use the expression
current among Puritans, they still may not close with Christ, and receive
Christ as their Savior.
III.4. Another doctrine that is
crucial to the ‘Well Meant Offer of the Gospel’, and if you give this a moments
thought you can understand why, is the extent of the atonement of Jesus Christ.
This is the big controversy that took place in Wales, between the Arminians, the Wesleyans, the Calvinistic Methodists,
sometimes known as the ‘Presbyterian Church of Wales ‘, that were consistently
torn to pieces by controversies over the doctrine of the atonement, because
they were interested in the ‘Well Meant Gospel Offer ’. Let me give you here a
couple of quotes: two professors in Scotland in 1841 wrote: “There is a
two-fold reference in the death of Christ, that He had died for all in such a
way as to establish the basis for a general call and invitation to all mankind
without distinction to receive salvation through belief in the gospel, and to
remove all obstacles in the path of man’s salvation other than that which is
due to his own unwillingness to receive it .” And,at the same time, they held firmly to the view that
particular individuals had been given to Him by the Father to be saved: [there
were] some given Him of the Father to be saved, [and] others, to whom God
[only] expresses His desire of salvation, for whom Christ died, in a certain
sense of the word.
Here’s another
quote from John Roberts, “The scriptures teach us that temporal blessings are
provided for sinners in general through the sufferings of Christ; that only
with a view to Christ’s death does God extended a sincere offer of salvation to
all sinners in general` that the same relation pertains between the blood of
Christ, and sinners in general, as exists between the call of the gospel and
sinners in general.”
In other words,
if God desires the salvation of all who hear the gospel, there has to be some
judicial basis for that. If God loves all men, there has to be a judicial basis
for that. God cannot and will not love sinners. He is a holy God, who hates
sin, and who hates the sinner. And, by the way, if I may interject that, in
parenthesis, that miserable distinction between hating sin and loving the
sinners is nonsense, and impossible for you, and impossible for me, and fully
impossible for the God of heaven and earth. God hates sin, and God hates the
sinner. If He loves them, there has to be a judicial basis for that love. That
judicial basis is to be found only in the cross, because there Christ died for
sinners and no matter how you cut it, and no matter how you want to express it,
and no matter what distinctions you may want to make between efficacy and
intention and sufficiency, with regard to the atonement, it all comes down to
this, as Owen Thomas’book makes clear: if you hold to
a ‘Well Meant Offer of the Gospel’, you must hold to a universality of the
atoning death of Jesus Christ.
I remember a
number of years ago in the mid-1960's, the same ‘Christian Reformed Church’
which had expelled the leaders of our ‘Protestant Reformed Churches’, were
denying the ‘Well Meant Offer’ based foursquare on the doctrine - "For
whom did Christ die? " It had come to the
synod by way of protest and appeal, because some in the church, in fact a
professor in the seminary, was teaching a universality to the atonement, and
the case was appealed to the highest judicatory in the ‘Christian Reformed
Church ’. I was present at that synod because I was interested in the
discussion. The discussion went something like this: many at the synod were
simply arguing for an universal atonement, but many
were not. They were still Calvinistic. They still understood that a crucial
doctrine of Calvinism was limited atonement, or particular redemption. The
majority seemed to be that way: “We believe men, we have always believed, in a
particular redemption. That’s Calvinism; that’s one of the five points. We
can’t have a universality of the atonement.”
And as the debate
rocked back and forth, one wondered what the outcome would be, until one
minister got up, and in a long speech, because he said many other things, he
said this, and I quote, “Brethren of the synod, don’t we believe in a ‘Well
Meant Gospel Offer’? ” That was the end of the debate. Universal atonement was
approved. You can’t separate the two. That’s impossible, and to this day, the
‘Christian Reformed Church’ teaches a universality to
the atoning death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
III.5. In addition to that there is another doctrine implied
in the ‘Well Meant Offer’, which is crucial to an understanding of it, and that doctrine is this: does God have one will or two
wills? Those who hold to a ‘Well Meant Gospel Offer’, hold to two wills in God.
They have to hold to two wills in God if they’re going to maintain any
semblance of Calvinism, because Calvinism teaches, and has always taught from
the time of the reformation, not only under Calvin, but under Luther, that God
wills the salvation of the elect only. It’s fundamental to the doctrine of the
reformation. Think, for example, of Luther’s controversy with Erasmus, which
was concerning the free will of man, but it involved the whole question, “Is
there one will in God or are there two wills in God?”.
Think of Calvin’s controversy with [Jerome] Bolsec or
with [Albert] Pighius and the same question was at
stake, so much so that Calvin addresses that question at length in the pamphlet
I mentioned a few moments ago, “A Treatise on the Eternal Predestination of
God”.
God wills the
salvation of [only] the elect, but God also wills the salvation of all men. How
are you going to explain that? You can’t, except by saying that there are two
wills in God: God has two wills, one will to save [only] the elect, and another
will to save all men. Now don’t you see that by teaching that sort of a
doctrine you make not only two wills in God, which Calvin insisted, and the
scriptures insist, is not true, but you put those two wills in diametric
opposition to each other: ‘God wills to save [only] the elect. No, God wills to
save all men. No, God wills to save [only] the elect. No, God wills to save all
men. ’Or, ‘What does He will?’‘Both.’ Both? God? The one true and living
God, two wills, diametrically opposed to each another? That is serious
business. That’s a denial of the unity of God; the doctrine that lies as the
very foundation of all religion.
That doctrine is
implied. If you confront one who defends the ‘Well Meant Offer of the
Gospel’ with that dilemma, with that contradiction, the answer that
you get often times is - “That’s a paradox. We can’t understand that. In God
there is harmony between those two wills, but it's beyond our understanding.
That belongs to the hidden things of God. We can’t deal with that, so we just
have to live with paradox ”. That’s not paradox,
that’s nonsense. Paradoxes are not nonsense. Nonsense is to say that God has
two flatly contradictory wills, and it’s not only nonsense, it’s a denial of
the fundamental unity of God. The ‘Well Meant Gospel Offer’ is serious
business. It does not touch on the periphery of the Christian faith. It strikes
at the very heart of the gospel.
IV.1.What is the position of the ‘Protestant Reformed
Churches’ with regard to this question? I want to be as clear as I possibly
can. We take our answer to this from the parable which I read, and the
conclusion of the parable in verse 14 of
IV.2. We take our position also on the Canons of Dort` Chapter 2, Article 5 {note 3} ; Chapter 2, Article 5 of the Canons teaches that it is God’s will that the gospel be preached, and this is the word that Canons 2:5 uses, “promiscuously”, that is, far and wide, generally, without regard to elect or reprobate. That it be preached promiscuously to all those “to whom God out of His good pleasure sends the gospel.” I don’t know what the percentage is, but I would guess, roughly speaking, that seventy to eighty percent of the world’s population, since the time of Adam, had never heard the gospel. God isn’t pleased to send the gospel to everyone in the whole world. By the time the end of the world comes every nation would have heard the gospel, but what of all the nations in the Old Dispensation that never heard it? What about all the nations that have not heard in the gospel in the New Dispensation, except until our more modern era? God isn’t pleased to send the gospel to everyone to begin with. And so the Canons add, ‘ God wills that the gospel be preached promiscuously to those to whom He in His good pleasure chooses to send it. ’
IV.3. In the second place, Canons 2:5 answers this question, “What is the content of the gospel?” When Canons 2:5 defines the contents of the gospel, it defines the contents in this way, that the gospel promiscuously proclaims that all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ shall surely be saved. That’s the content of the gospel. Every minister must preach that. He must preach [that] all who believe will be saved: that’s Romans [10 verses 9 and 11], along with many other passages. ‘All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’[ cp. Romans 10:13] without exception, without regard to nation, or tribe or tongue, without regard to age,without regard to sex, without regard to richness or poverty, without regard to people of high standing or low standing, without regard to kings and rulers or paupers and bums, without regard to those who give millions to philanthropy or to those who are murderers,and thieves, and prostitutes: whoever. Whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. That’s the content of the gospel. That’s the content of the gospel preached in ‘Protestant Reformed Churches’.
IV.4. The Canons, in addition to that, says that to that promise of the gospel, that whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved, is added, and here we come to a crucial point, enunciated in the Canons, laid bare by our Lord Himself, that everyone to whom the gospel is proclaimed is commanded by God to repent of sin, and believe. Everyone, without regard to elect or reprobate, without regard to believer or unbeliever, everyone who hears the gospel, stands confronted in the gospel with the command: repent, [and] believe. It’s not your choice. It’s the command of the king.
We teach that. We believe that. We preach that. I preach that. I preach that in our congregations. I preach that right here to you now. I preach that to the little children in catechism when I teach them at five years old. I teach that to my children in my own family when they sin. “You must repent. You must believe in Christ. ” I teach that to people who come to me for counseling because their marriage is on the rocks. “ Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the command of the scriptures. Repent of your sins that brought your marriage into trouble. ”We preach that to those who are afflicted with mental problems: depressed, incapable of being assured of their salvation, torn by inner conflict. We bring the word of God, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” “Repent of your sin, believe in Him.” That’s the gospel.
IV.5.Now let me be very specific about this. I want no misunderstanding about it at all. This is the position of the scriptures. This is the position of the ‘Protestant Reformed Churches’. We are not, as I say, opposed to the use of the word offer, but, I immediately add a caveat: when we use the word ‘offer’, when the Westminster Confessions use the word ‘ offer’, when our own Canons use the word ‘offer’ [it is] in the sense of the Latin etymology of that word ‘offere’; which word means,‘to present’, ‘to make known’,‘to hold high’,‘to set forth’ ; in that sense of the word Christ is offered. Paul speaks of that in Galatians Chapter 3 [verse 1]. He says that in so many words, “O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you.” So strong is the Word of the preaching, that in the preaching “Jesus Christ is set forth crucified among you” through faith in whom salvation shall surely be given [ cp. Acts 3:16 ].There is no other name under heaven whereby men can be saved but the Lord Jesus Christ[cp. Acts 4:12 ]. Not the god of the Hindus, not the god Buddha, not the god of Judaism, not the god of Islam - Jesus Christ, that’s proclaimed in the gospel. Along with that proclamation is the promise ‘ whoever believes in Him will be saved’. That’s the gospel. In addition to that is the command, that goes to all who hear, “Repent of your sin, and believe.” God commands that.
IV.6. Now I want to say a little bit about that command, because that’s the heart of the issue after all. God is serious when He commands all men to repent and believe. There isn’t one moment when God, if I may put it that way I speak as a man, when God speaks guilefully, or when God speaks without serious intent. God commands all to repent and believe in Christ. What is the basis for that command? That’s the question. All of those who defend the ‘Well Meant Offer of the Gospel ’, who want to make that command of the gospel an offer, say that rests in the cross of Jesus Christ and in the universality of His suffering and death. That’s not so. The simple fact of the matter is that the scriptures teach, and the Canons express emphatically, in Canons 2:8 {note 4} [ cp. Romans 8:32,33 ], Christ died for the elect, and then the Canons add, and for them only. No room to wiggle, no room to squirm, no room to hesitate. It says emphatically, the death of Christ is for the elect, and for them only. In what is the command of the gospel rooted?
The command of the gospel is rooted, and let’s get this straight, in the original creation ordinance. God created man good and upright. God created man capable in all things [to be] willing the will of God, living in obedience to Him. Man fell. As a result of the fall, man became totally depraved. He cannot, and will not, obey God. He cannot obey God in the least regard. He cannot obey God in any of God’s commands. He lost the spiritual ability, because of his own foolishness, and the disaster and catastrophe which he brought upon Himself in Adam. What is God’s reaction to that? Does God, as the Arminian likes to say, look down on poor Adam, and on a poor fallen human race, and say to Adam, and to those who have fallen into sin, the human race at large,“Oh, I feel so sorry for you. I know that you aren’t capable of serving Me. I know that you lost your ability to do what I command. I won’t ask you to do that anymore. Let’s just forget about what I originally commanded you to do. I’m going to be merciful. I’m going to be gracious. I’m going to let bygones be bygones, and give you another chance, a new start.”? Does God do that? Of course not. God is a holy, and just God. And so God maintains His original command that He gave to Adam, “Love me with all your heart and mind and soul and strength.” And if Adam says, “I can’t. I can’t do it.” Does God say “ Oh, okay, we’ll forget it.”? Oh no! God says, “Never mind. It’s your own fault that you can’t. Love Me. Keep My commandments. Repent of your sin. And this above all is My command, believe in Christ.” That’s the command of the gospel rooted in the original creation ordinance.
Let me use an illustration to make that clear. It’s an illustration I often use. It’s an illustration I use in preaching. I want people to understand this point. Supposing that you were going to build a new house, and say that house was going to cost you a hundred thousand pounds, though really you might not be able to buy much of house with that today, but let’s use the figure. And you contract with the builder, and the builder said to you, “I am perfectly willing to build your house` but I don’t have any money. So in order for me to build your house, you’re going to have to advance me half the price of the house, fifty thousand pounds. You advance me fifty thousand pounds. I’ll build you the house.” So you do that. You agree with him. You give him fifty thousands pounds; you write out a check. So what does he do? He takes that fifty thousand pounds check, and he goes with his wife on a round the world cruise, and visits all the exotic places: Cape Town in South Africa, New Delhi in India, Singapore, other places in the southwest, southeast of Asia, Australia, New Zealand. Finally he comes back after visiting America, and Spain, and you say to him, “Well, are you going to start building my house now? ” And he says, “I’m sorry. I can’t. I haven’t got any money.” Then you say to him, “Yea, but I gave you fifty thousand pounds to get started.” And he says, “I know, but I spent it. I don’t have a dime left.” What do you say to him? “Well that’s okay. Let's let bygones be bygones. Here’s another fifty thousand pounds.” Is that what you say to him? Of course not! You say to him, “ Build my house! That’s the contract!” And if he says to you, “I can’t. I can’t.”, you say, “Never mind. I gave it to you didn’t I? And the fact that you can’t is your fault isn’t it? You are bound to the contract. You build that house. ”>
Now is God going
to do anything less than that? Of course not. He
maintains the demands that He made upon man in paradise, and man’s inability
does not make one particle of difference. The demands of God remain the same.
The gospel, with the commands that are attached to it,
remind man: ‘God made you capable of serving Him. You were the one that
squandered His gifts and now endure the judgment of God. You [are to] obey God,
and the fact that you can’t makes no difference, because your inability is your
own fault.’
V.1.
What then is the gospel? Jesus says the gospel is this, “Many
are called` but few are chosen.” “You have to go back to eternity”, Jesus says,
“to understand the gospel.” You have to go back to eternity, because in
eternity God chose to Himself a people; a people that would be His own peculiar
people, that He loves with an eternal, unchangeable love, for no other reason
than His own sovereign good pleasure. He gives that people to Christ, His own
Son, and He says, as it were, to Christ, “This is a fallen people, dead in
trespasses and sins, but it is my purpose to reveal in the salvation of this
people all the riches, all the attributes, of my own divine being, the infinite
depths of my love, the untold riches of my grace, the multitude of my mercies,
to reveal them in the richest and highest possible way. So I lay upon you the
responsibility for doing everything that is necessary to be done for the
salvation of my people.” Christ goes to the cross, and dies for them, and for them only.
How does John the
Evangelist, the gospel narrator, open that gloriously beautiful chapter of John
[Thirteen] of the last supper, of the foot washing? With these words: “Having
loved his own..., he loved them unto the end.” His own! Those
who had been given Him of the Father. For them He died. He died not only
to pay for all their sins, all of them, but He died to earn for them all the
rich and glorious blessings of salvation to be bestowed upon them in this life
( which is just the beginning)[and] for ever and ever in the glory, in the
kingdom which He came to establish. How does He save that elect people? He
saves that elect people through the preaching of the gospel. That’s why the
gospel goes where God in His good pleasure sends it, because God knows where
His elect are. We don’t.
God knows. God
knows where they are in the palaces of kings. God knows where they are in the
alleys of the world’s cities. God knows where they are in the houses of
prostitution. God knows where they are in covenant families, but they’re elect.
That’s crucial, and because they are elected, because Christ died for them, the
power of the preaching is in the cross of Jesus Christ, and in the eternal
decree of election, as revealed in the cross.
V.2.The gospel is not an expression, therefore, to all, “ God loves you. God wants you to be saved. What are you
going to do about it? ” No. The gospel, Paul says, is
something of which I am not ashamed, and I am not ashamed of the gospel, even
though it is “the foolishness of preaching”, as he writes to the Corinthians, [
1
Corinthians 1:21 ], because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes [ Romans
1:16 ]. That’s what it is. Why is the Gospel the power? Because along with
the outward call of the gospel that includes the command to repent and believe
in Christ, comes the inward, irresistible, efficacious call of the Spirit in
the hearts of the elect, which they cannot resist, and by the power of that
Spirit, as He ties Himself to the gospel, the sinner is brought from a cursing,
blaspheming sinner to a humble saint on his knees praying. That’s the Spirit.
That’s the cross. That’s the power of the gospel. It brings a prostitute to
become the bride of Christ Himself. It brings a fallen, filthy sinner, such as
you are, and such as I am, to be one clothed in the white garments of the
righteousness of our Savior.
The gospel calls
powerfully out of darkness into light as Paul expresses it in Colossians [1:13]
“Out of the kingdom of darkness into the
The gospel is a
lamp unto our feet, and a light upon our pathway to show us the way we ought to
go in the midst of this world of darkness and sin. The gospel shines into a
covenant home, and says, “This is what you teach your covenant children, for I
establish my covenant between thee and Me.” And by the
power of that gospel preached in the home, and in the church, and in Christian
schools, covenant children are prepared for a life of service in God’s world,
as citizens of the
You can’t be
ashamed of that if you’re a preacher. You do tremble. If you’re a preacher,
you’re aware of the astounding calling that is laid upon you, and fills you
with awe. There are times when I stand before a congregation, and I almost wish
I wasn’t there when I ponder the forces that are unleashed through power of the
Spirit, through the preaching of the gospel. What Paul calls “
the foolishness of preaching”. It’s a power that is heavenly in origin,
and that’s transforming in its greatness. I am not ashamed of that gospel. If I
had to preach an offer, I would be ashamed. To stand before an audience and beg
of them to receive the gospel, I would be ashamed to preach that. I would be
ashamed to present to the ‘Body of Christ’ a god who is helpless to save.“He loves you, and He wants
to save you, but is unable to do it, and leaves it up to you.” I would be
ashamed of a god whose power is resistible, because I heard a man,
internationally recognized as a Calvinist, with my own ears say, “In election
unto irresistible grace, there is an irresistible grace that is resistible.”
That is nonsense! I would be ashamed to preach such a message, but I am not
ashamed of the gospel [because] it’s the power of God unto salvation.
V.3.a.
But why then does God command all
men to repent? Why does He hold before them the original creation ordinance?
Why does He do that? Because God is sovereign. He’s
always sovereign. He always does His good pleasure, and election includes
reprobation, sovereign reprobation, by means of the gospel, and the command of
the gospel to reprobates hardened in their sin, hardened in the way of their
unbelief. Haven’t you ever noticed that? Haven’t you seen that? Witness once,
witness to the truth of the gospel, what’s the effect? The effect is this, if
you witness not in wishy washy, willy nilly, sulky ways of
a free offer. Witness to [a man] the truth, and God will use that witness to
bring him to repentance, or that man will come to hate you. “That’s enough!
Shut up! I do not want to hear it any more. That doctrine which you preach I
hate.” That’s what he will do. That’s why there are so many in the church that
won’t believe. It mustn’t alarm you. God works His purpose.
V.3.b. But,
oh, let me say this, that as far as the preacher is concerned, who does not
know who in his audience are elect or reprobate, his desire is that all who
hear the gospel would believe. He can’t express God’s desire to save only the
elect. He doesn’t know who they are. When I’m preaching to my congregation, and
one of those in my congregation goes astray, it breaks my heart. I plead with
them, “Repent of your sin. Turn from your evil ways. Believe in Christ. This is
the road your walking [on]. Oh! can’t
you see that? ” Yet, in the end, I can only say the command of the gospel with
all the passion of my heart. God knows those who are His. Remember Paul,when he wrote to Timothy, and
he talked about heretics that discourage the soul of Timothy, he said [2
Timothy 2:19 ] “Timothy, you mustn’t be discouraged, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knows those who
are His. ” That’s clear. God uses that gospel to accomplish His purpose. Paul
makes it very clear to the Corinthians [ 2
Corinthians 2:14-16 ] [tha ] the gospel is the
savor of life unto life, and the gospel is also a savor of death unto death.
Paul has, as it were, another response, “Who is sufficient for these things?” When the wicked rise up against the gospel, and turn fury against
the church, persecuting the bride of Christ, their wickedness is complete.
The wicked have filled the cup of iniquity. God is righteous. In the Great Day
of Days the wicked are sentenced to everlasting darkness.
VI.1.That Gospel is the one gospel that is preached
everywhere. No revivalism, no gospel of revival, no gospel for the mission
field, and a gospel for the church. No morning service in the church that is an
exposition of the doctrine, and an evangelistic sermon at night. That’s a
denial of the gospel. The same gospel is preached in a church of a hundred
years standing, where the church has been faithful to the cause of God. That
gospel is preached among the heathen on the mission field. It makes no
difference where, and how, and under what circumstances the gospel is preached.
There’s only one gospel, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. ”[ Acts
16:31] Repent of your sin, and believe in Christ.
I preach that. I
preach that in a congregation where there are people of seventy and eighty
years old who have drunk the reformed faith with their mother’s milk and have
walked all their lives in the way of obedience and holiness. They too must
every day, as I must, repent of sin and turn from my evil way, and believe in
Christ, because I am still, though a child of God, and only in principle,
nevertheless a wretched, wretched sinner, who has only a beginning of the new
obedience, and who must constantly be softened by the call of the gospel: “Turn
from your evil way, and believe in Christ.” When I hear that gospel, and hear
Christ Himself speaking to me in that gospel, I say, “Oh, I hate my sin.” I
turn from my wicked way. I flee to the cross, because in the shadow of the
cross is the only place where there is a refuge and a hiding place in this
world from sin. And that’s true of me: that’s true of me at seventy-four years
old. That was true of me when I was one year old. That was true of me all my
life. That’s the same gospel that is proclaimed on the mission field. Do you
worship Buddha? Repent. Repent of your sin. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and they will be saved. That’s the gospel I bring in all my pastoring.
That’s the gospel I bring to the children in catechism, no matter how young.
There is no other gospel that’s the power of God unto salvation. Repent.
VI.2. And I say therefore to you
tonight, repent, don’t say to me you have no sin: you’re not Pharisees are you?
Repent. Repent of your sin. Turn from your evil way. Believe in Christ. Cast
your all upon Him. Cling to Him. Forsake all your good works. Throw them on the
ash heap, away with your good works. Believe in Christ. Put your trust in Him
in all the circumstances of life. Believe that He will provide you with all
things necessary for body and soul, and He will lead you safely into your
everlasting habitation to be with Him for ever and ever. You and I, tonight,
stand before that gospel. God will take care of the rest. “Many are called, but
few are chosen.” Thank you.
Notes:
1. Westminster Confession of Faith
10:2 This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from any
thing at all foreseen in man, who is altogether passive therein, until, being
quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this
call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.
2. Canons 3/4:9. It is not the fault of the
gospel, nor of Christ, offered therein, nor of God, who calls men by the
gospel, and confers upon them various gifts, that those who are called by the
ministry of the word, refuse to come, and be converted: the fault lies in
themselves; some of whom when called, regardless of their danger, reject the
word of life; others, though they receive it, suffer it not to make a lasting
impression on their heart; therefore, their joy, arising only from a temporary
faith, soon vanishes, and they fall away; while others choke the seed of the
word by perplexing cares, and the pleasures of this world, and produce no
fruit. - This our Savior teaches in the parable of the sower.
Matthew
13.
3.Canons 2:5. Moreover, the promise of the gospel is, that whosoever
believeth in Christ crucified, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
This promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be
declared and published to all nations, and to all persons promiscuously and
without distinction, to whom God out of his good pleasure sends the
gospel.
4. Canons 2:8.
For this was the sovereign counsel, and most gracious will and purpose of God
the Father, that the quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious death of
his Son should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone the gift
of justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to salvation: that is, it
was the will of God, that Christ by the blood of the cross, whereby he
confirmed the new covenant, should effectually redeem out of every people,
tribe, nation, and language, all those, and those only, who were from eternity
chosen to salvation, and given to him by the Father; that he should confer upon
them faith, which together with all the other saving gifts of the Holy Spirit,
he purchased for them by his death; should purge them from all sin, both
original and actual, whether committed before or after believing; and having
faithfully preserved them even to the end, should at last bring them free from
every spot and blemish to the enjoyment of glory in his own presence forever.
Last modified; 22-Nov-2007