WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.339 Welcome to the September 2025 session of Teaching 00:00:02.339 --> 00:00:04.719 Tuesday. Tonight we're finishing up our two -part 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:07.240 series on Salvation. If you missed the previous 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:08.820 session, you can check it out on our YouTube 00:00:08.820 --> 00:00:11.060 channel to see the version with slides and pretty 00:00:11.060 --> 00:00:13.080 much every podcasting platform if you just want 00:00:13.080 --> 00:00:15.279 to listen. But you'll be missing out on the amazing 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:18.219 pictures I borrow from the internet, so I recommend 00:00:18.219 --> 00:00:20.820 the YouTube version. Last month we talked about 00:00:20.820 --> 00:00:23.719 the what, why, when, and how of Salvation, and 00:00:23.719 --> 00:00:25.339 I'll start tonight's session with a brief recap. 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:27.579 But I mentioned last time that those four pieces 00:00:27.579 --> 00:00:30.839 of the salvation puzzle are relatively uncontroversial, 00:00:30.859 --> 00:00:33.200 with only two small disagreements between Christians 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:36.119 on those details. I also promise that this session 00:00:36.119 --> 00:00:38.380 will be a little more spicy, because it turns 00:00:38.380 --> 00:00:41.039 out that the who and where of salvation are much 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:43.600 more contentious topics. I also want to answer 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:45.840 several common but very important questions Christians 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:48.799 have about salvation. And that leads us to tonight's 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:51.310 resource. Last month, I introduced you to the 00:00:51.310 --> 00:00:53.450 Views type of book, in which Christians present 00:00:53.450 --> 00:00:55.210 and debate different understandings on various 00:00:55.210 --> 00:00:57.850 doctrinal topics. We're often familiar with what 00:00:57.850 --> 00:00:59.890 our own denomination believes on a topic, and 00:00:59.890 --> 00:01:01.689 we may think that it's the only possible interpretation. 00:01:02.189 --> 00:01:04.709 We may be missing out on a rich interdenominational 00:01:04.709 --> 00:01:06.650 conversation that could help us dive deeper into 00:01:06.650 --> 00:01:08.709 our beliefs. For instance, there are more than 00:01:08.709 --> 00:01:10.849 10 legitimate Christian interpretations of the 00:01:10.849 --> 00:01:13.489 creation story in Genesis, and more than a dozen 00:01:13.489 --> 00:01:15.430 different understandings of Christ's second coming 00:01:15.430 --> 00:01:18.209 in Revelation. Now, one downside of the views 00:01:18.209 --> 00:01:20.290 books is because they're targeted at a scholarly 00:01:20.290 --> 00:01:22.450 audience, they can be dense and hard to read. 00:01:22.590 --> 00:01:25.109 And I'll be honest, the first resource for tonight, 00:01:25.209 --> 00:01:27.650 called Perspectives on Election, Five Views, 00:01:27.670 --> 00:01:31.469 was interesting, useful, thorough, and miserable 00:01:31.469 --> 00:01:33.790 to read. So I'm also suggesting an alternative 00:01:33.790 --> 00:01:36.890 called Salvation and Sovereignty by Kenneth Keithley. 00:01:37.069 --> 00:01:39.750 It'll cover 95 % of what we're talking about 00:01:39.750 --> 00:01:42.049 tonight. And although the author openly endorses 00:01:42.049 --> 00:01:44.150 one of the positions, he's still fair in his 00:01:44.150 --> 00:01:46.659 presentation of the other perspectives. Even 00:01:46.659 --> 00:01:49.140 more importantly, it was fun to read, so it's 00:01:49.140 --> 00:01:51.780 not a slog to get through. Let's start with that 00:01:51.780 --> 00:01:54.459 quick recap. Salvation is the restoration of 00:01:54.459 --> 00:01:56.959 our intended relationship with God. We were meant 00:01:56.959 --> 00:01:58.780 to live in an intimate relationship with our 00:01:58.780 --> 00:02:01.219 Creator, but Adam and Eve's sin drove a wedge 00:02:01.219 --> 00:02:03.760 between man and God. We live with the consequences 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:06.519 of that sin now. Creation is not as it was meant 00:02:06.519 --> 00:02:09.039 to be. Things like natural disasters, disease, 00:02:09.319 --> 00:02:11.300 famine, and death are the result of God distancing 00:02:11.300 --> 00:02:13.759 himself from the world. And he didn't do that 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:15.539 because he was mad at us, but for our own good. 00:02:16.030 --> 00:02:18.490 The fall left us with a sin nature, a tendency 00:02:18.490 --> 00:02:21.009 to rebel against the one who made us. Because 00:02:21.009 --> 00:02:23.409 of God's perfect sense of justice, sin deserves 00:02:23.409 --> 00:02:26.289 the punishment of destruction. So, God's distance 00:02:26.289 --> 00:02:28.770 allows us to live, but leaves us in a tough spot. 00:02:29.090 --> 00:02:31.469 Fortunately, he knew in advance this would happen 00:02:31.469 --> 00:02:34.550 and had a plan ready. And Jesus was that plan. 00:02:35.180 --> 00:02:37.340 God worked throughout history to prepare humanity 00:02:37.340 --> 00:02:39.919 in the world for Jesus. We had to learn certain 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:42.240 lessons, and society had to progress a certain 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:44.460 amount before the message could be received and 00:02:44.460 --> 00:02:46.840 disseminated. That message, which we call the 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:49.060 gospel, makes the work that Jesus did on the 00:02:49.060 --> 00:02:51.439 cross available to all who choose to follow him. 00:02:51.639 --> 00:02:54.759 It is forgiveness from sin, rebirth, and regeneration 00:02:54.759 --> 00:02:57.159 into a person capable of an intimate relationship 00:02:57.159 --> 00:03:00.139 with God and the promise of eternal life in his 00:03:00.139 --> 00:03:03.270 presence. So with all that said, why in the world 00:03:03.270 --> 00:03:05.629 do we need a second session? It sounds like God's 00:03:05.629 --> 00:03:08.169 got it all taken care of. Well, rewind a few 00:03:08.169 --> 00:03:10.189 sentences to when I said, available to all who 00:03:10.189 --> 00:03:12.509 choose to follow him. Whatever the word choose 00:03:12.509 --> 00:03:15.210 means to you, disagreements over who can and 00:03:15.210 --> 00:03:17.229 does choose to follow Jesus have been brewing 00:03:17.229 --> 00:03:19.110 since the beginning of the church and have led 00:03:19.110 --> 00:03:21.490 to more Christians killing other Christians than 00:03:21.490 --> 00:03:23.669 anyone else has ever killed Christians, even 00:03:23.669 --> 00:03:26.239 at the height of Roman persecution. Ironically, 00:03:26.239 --> 00:03:28.000 there's also plenty of disagreement over how 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:30.400 to categorize these positions. Look at the resources. 00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:32.639 One of them has five perspectives, and the other 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:35.020 three. One of my systematic theology books has 00:03:35.020 --> 00:03:37.340 two, and the other has five. But one of the five 00:03:37.340 --> 00:03:39.439 is a subset of another, so it's really just four. 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:41.860 And four is the magic number tonight, because 00:03:41.860 --> 00:03:43.740 I think that categorization is the clearest and 00:03:43.740 --> 00:03:45.819 most logical. However, the final perspective 00:03:45.819 --> 00:03:47.919 can be applied to one of the others, or exist 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:50.780 on its own. So let's say 3 .5, just to be as 00:03:50.780 --> 00:03:53.349 nerdy as possible. We're going to begin with 00:03:53.349 --> 00:03:55.150 the one perspective that I think it's safe to 00:03:55.150 --> 00:03:57.710 totally discard. Universalism, or the belief 00:03:57.710 --> 00:03:59.530 that every person who has ever lived will be 00:03:59.530 --> 00:04:02.150 saved. This perspective has popped up from time 00:04:02.150 --> 00:04:03.870 to time since the beginning of the church and 00:04:03.870 --> 00:04:05.889 even found some support in a few early church 00:04:05.889 --> 00:04:08.870 fathers like Origen. It's recently exploded in 00:04:08.870 --> 00:04:11.729 popularity alongside post -modernism and relativism 00:04:11.729 --> 00:04:13.710 because if there's no such thing as objective 00:04:13.710 --> 00:04:16.069 truth, then it would be rude to imply that any 00:04:16.069 --> 00:04:17.990 single religion is correct and others are wrong. 00:04:18.459 --> 00:04:20.660 Therefore, to avoid hurt feelings, salvation 00:04:20.660 --> 00:04:22.920 gets handed out like Oprah handing out cars to 00:04:22.920 --> 00:04:25.139 her audience. Christians get saved. Muslims get 00:04:25.139 --> 00:04:27.300 saved. Atheists get saved. Everyone gets saved. 00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:30.300 Now, to be fair, there are a number of nuances 00:04:30.300 --> 00:04:32.500 within this belief, even when we restrict it 00:04:32.500 --> 00:04:34.839 to Christian universalism. Some believe that 00:04:34.839 --> 00:04:37.160 all are immediately perfected and glorified upon 00:04:37.160 --> 00:04:39.560 death and taken to God's presence, regardless 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:42.819 of their beliefs or actions in life. Others believe 00:04:42.819 --> 00:04:44.939 that those who follow Jesus go immediately to 00:04:44.939 --> 00:04:47.040 God's presence, but others go through a form 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:49.579 of purification, the duration of which will depend 00:04:49.579 --> 00:04:52.459 on their beliefs and actions. Some say that all 00:04:52.459 --> 00:04:54.439 non -Christians go to a holding area until they 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:56.500 decide to follow Christ, and that eventually 00:04:56.500 --> 00:04:59.180 all do. Here are the problems with universalism 00:04:59.180 --> 00:05:01.939 and why it's largely considered heresy. First, 00:05:02.060 --> 00:05:03.779 and most importantly, is that it goes against 00:05:03.779 --> 00:05:07.379 Scripture. Jesus in John 14 .6 in the NLT says, 00:05:07.600 --> 00:05:09.839 No one can come to the Father except through 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:13.569 me. Peter in Acts 4 .12 NIV also says salvation 00:05:13.569 --> 00:05:17.370 is found in no one else. Not to mention the countless 00:05:17.370 --> 00:05:19.670 times that Jesus says in the Gospels and the 00:05:19.670 --> 00:05:21.829 Apostles say in Acts and write in the letters 00:05:21.829 --> 00:05:24.230 that some will be saved and some will not be 00:05:24.230 --> 00:05:27.170 saved. Second is that it violates God's character 00:05:27.170 --> 00:05:29.910 and respect for free will. If God was just going 00:05:29.910 --> 00:05:31.529 to force everyone to be with him in the first 00:05:31.529 --> 00:05:33.930 place, there was no reason to allow people to 00:05:33.930 --> 00:05:36.560 have free will. He could have avoided the fall 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:39.319 and sin and all the problems we have now and 00:05:39.319 --> 00:05:41.100 just made a bunch of robots that automatically 00:05:41.100 --> 00:05:44.240 believed in him and loved him. Now let's be fair. 00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:47.319 It's easy to see why people like universalism. 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:50.199 It feels good. Nobody likes the idea of hell, 00:05:50.300 --> 00:05:52.459 and nobody likes the idea of someone they loved 00:05:52.459 --> 00:05:54.399 going to hell because they didn't choose to follow 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:56.980 Christ. I even see the incredible opportunity 00:05:56.980 --> 00:05:59.339 for glory for God, for someone like Hitler being 00:05:59.339 --> 00:06:02.019 purified and redeemed after death, to spend eternity 00:06:02.019 --> 00:06:04.459 showing love to the people he murdered in life. 00:06:05.180 --> 00:06:07.259 Unfortunately, it simply isn't compatible with 00:06:07.259 --> 00:06:10.120 Christianity, and Christians who promote universalism 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:12.839 may be well -intentioned, but they've not thought 00:06:12.839 --> 00:06:15.660 through the implications of their position. Okay, 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:17.379 it's time to move on to the biblically compatible 00:06:17.379 --> 00:06:19.959 answers to the question of who gets saved. The 00:06:19.959 --> 00:06:21.300 three we're going to learn about tonight are 00:06:21.300 --> 00:06:24.279 Arminianism, Calvinism, and Molinism, and we're 00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:25.459 going to look at them in the order they were 00:06:25.459 --> 00:06:27.720 developed. I wanted you to hear the names ahead 00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:29.500 of time because they're involved in each other's 00:06:29.500 --> 00:06:32.490 history somewhat. We're starting with Arminianism, 00:06:32.529 --> 00:06:34.470 which can be called the church's default position 00:06:34.470 --> 00:06:36.949 from the time of Jesus and the apostles, and 00:06:36.949 --> 00:06:39.670 remains the dominant position today. It's named 00:06:39.670 --> 00:06:42.310 after Jacobus Arminius, a Dutch theologian that 00:06:42.310 --> 00:06:46.310 lived from 1560 to 1609. Why wait until 1600 00:06:46.310 --> 00:06:48.579 years later to name it? while there were no serious 00:06:48.579 --> 00:06:51.139 contenders on the answer of who got saved until 00:06:51.139 --> 00:06:53.420 Calvinism emerged from the Protestant Reformation. 00:06:53.939 --> 00:06:56.839 Sir Arminius' work formalizing the church's historical 00:06:56.839 --> 00:06:59.779 position led to his name being immortalized as 00:06:59.779 --> 00:07:01.879 the name of the doctrine. And, as I mentioned, 00:07:01.980 --> 00:07:03.779 it remains the dominant position to this day, 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:06.019 with all Roman Catholics and somewhere between 00:07:06.019 --> 00:07:09.259 40 -95 % of Protestants falling into this category. 00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:11.819 It's also largely compatible with the Orthodox 00:07:11.819 --> 00:07:14.329 position, though not a perfect fit. As we learn 00:07:14.329 --> 00:07:16.029 more about Arminianism, you'll find that this 00:07:16.029 --> 00:07:17.910 is what Chris preaches at our church every week, 00:07:17.970 --> 00:07:20.389 so it should feel very familiar. If I had to 00:07:20.389 --> 00:07:22.910 summarize Arminianism with one thought, it would 00:07:22.910 --> 00:07:25.509 be that Arminianism emphasizes human free will 00:07:25.509 --> 00:07:27.329 in answering the question of who gets saved. 00:07:27.529 --> 00:07:29.649 But let's look at the position in more detail. 00:07:30.529 --> 00:07:32.870 The Calvinists came up with an acronym to describe 00:07:32.870 --> 00:07:35.009 their beliefs, and the Arminians did the same 00:07:35.009 --> 00:07:37.879 in response. The Calvinist acronym has the benefit 00:07:37.879 --> 00:07:40.220 of being read in the order of the letters, whereas 00:07:40.220 --> 00:07:43.800 the facts, or F -A -C -T -S, of Arminianism is 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:47.420 best understood as T -A -F -C -S. As we examine 00:07:47.420 --> 00:07:49.500 everybody's acronyms, we'll also look at one 00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:51.759 of the many verses proponents use to derive that 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:55.720 position. The T, in fact, stands for total depravity. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:57.939 Now that's a heavy term. It sounds so bad that 00:07:57.939 --> 00:08:00.100 the name alone can scare people away. But it's 00:08:00.100 --> 00:08:02.420 a very biblical concept backed up by verses such 00:08:02.420 --> 00:08:05.240 as Jeremiah 17, 9, which reads, The heart is 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.939 deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who 00:08:07.939 --> 00:08:11.079 can understand it? Both Arminians and Calvinists 00:08:11.079 --> 00:08:13.220 are quick to point out that total depravity doesn't 00:08:13.220 --> 00:08:15.199 mean that we're all as wicked as we could possibly 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:18.259 be or that there is no good in people. Instead, 00:08:18.379 --> 00:08:20.839 it harkens back to the idea of sin nature and 00:08:20.839 --> 00:08:23.540 how we're oriented away from God. Think of total 00:08:23.540 --> 00:08:26.279 depravity as the idea that we would not and could 00:08:26.279 --> 00:08:28.560 not pursue God unless he revealed himself to 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:31.860 us and did all of the work of salvation. The 00:08:31.860 --> 00:08:34.620 Arminian A, which stands for atonement for all, 00:08:34.759 --> 00:08:37.039 means that God has made salvation available to 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:39.480 everyone. Coming from our perspective, meaning 00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:43.340 us, HCV, and Vineyard, this probably sounds weird. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:46.120 What other way could it possibly be? Well, as 00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:48.159 we'll see when we look at Calvinism next, not 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:50.279 all Christians believe that. We look at verses 00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:53.330 like John 3 .16. For God so loved the world that 00:08:53.330 --> 00:08:55.610 he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes 00:08:55.610 --> 00:08:57.470 in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 00:08:57.870 --> 00:09:00.649 Focus on that first part, God loved the world. 00:09:00.870 --> 00:09:02.990 We understand this as God offering salvation 00:09:02.990 --> 00:09:06.509 to everyone. F, which stands for free to believe 00:09:06.509 --> 00:09:09.049 by grace, or free to believe by pervenient grace, 00:09:09.230 --> 00:09:11.110 is the solution to the apparent contradiction 00:09:11.110 --> 00:09:14.129 of total depravity and atonement for all. We're 00:09:14.129 --> 00:09:16.110 too wicked to believe, but God wants us all to 00:09:16.110 --> 00:09:18.690 believe. Fortunately, verses like Titus 2 .11 00:09:18.690 --> 00:09:21.409 offer hope. Paul writes, For the grace of God 00:09:21.409 --> 00:09:23.429 has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 00:09:23.809 --> 00:09:25.750 Last time we talked about the idea of effective 00:09:25.750 --> 00:09:28.070 calling, and that's a good way to understand 00:09:28.070 --> 00:09:30.610 pervenient grace. God touches our hearts and 00:09:30.610 --> 00:09:33.210 reveals himself to us, both globally and individually, 00:09:33.470 --> 00:09:35.590 in a way that is the most effective for each 00:09:35.590 --> 00:09:37.990 individual without violating their free will. 00:09:38.700 --> 00:09:41.100 The Arminian C, which stands for conditional 00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:43.500 election, can best be understood by examining 00:09:43.500 --> 00:09:45.919 a verse that's already on the screen, John 3 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:48.399 .16, and specifically the second half, which 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:50.519 reads that whoever believes in him shall not 00:09:50.519 --> 00:09:53.100 perish but have eternal life. We read whoever 00:09:53.100 --> 00:09:55.519 believes as the idea that people can choose whether 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:58.059 or not they follow Jesus. This is in contrast 00:09:58.059 --> 00:10:00.480 to unconditional election, the idea that people 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:02.940 can't choose whether they follow Jesus. More 00:10:02.940 --> 00:10:05.899 on that in the section on Calvinism. Finally, 00:10:05.899 --> 00:10:08.330 the S stands for security in Christ. There are 00:10:08.330 --> 00:10:10.269 a lot of different terms for this, such as perseverance 00:10:10.269 --> 00:10:12.710 of the saints, but they all refer to the idea 00:10:12.710 --> 00:10:14.830 that God will not allow someone's salvation to 00:10:14.830 --> 00:10:17.370 be taken from them. For instance, in Romans 8, 00:10:17.470 --> 00:10:35.169 38 -39, Paul writes, That leads to a follow -up 00:10:35.169 --> 00:10:37.750 question. We've ruled out external causes of 00:10:37.750 --> 00:10:40.409 lost salvation, but can a currently saved person 00:10:40.409 --> 00:10:42.950 give up their salvation? There's a lot of debate 00:10:42.950 --> 00:10:44.549 over the answer, which we'll examine in detail 00:10:44.549 --> 00:10:46.789 towards the end of the presentation, but we should 00:10:46.789 --> 00:10:49.149 examine the principles of Calvinism and Molinism 00:10:49.149 --> 00:10:52.889 first. We'll wrap up Arminianism by looking at 00:10:52.889 --> 00:10:54.909 some strengths and weaknesses, but we want to 00:10:54.909 --> 00:10:56.970 be careful that familiarity doesn't bias our 00:10:56.970 --> 00:10:59.830 analysis. Here are two positives and two negatives 00:10:59.830 --> 00:11:02.960 for you to consider. Pro number one. Arminianism 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:04.960 seems to be the default understanding of Jesus, 00:11:05.259 --> 00:11:07.600 the apostles, the early church, and most people 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:10.240 who read the Bible. Popularity doesn't automatically 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:12.259 make something right, and there are many parts 00:11:12.259 --> 00:11:14.159 of the Bible that require study and interpretation, 00:11:14.620 --> 00:11:17.299 but there's just something obvious about Arminianism 00:11:17.299 --> 00:11:21.340 that seems right. Pro number two. Arminianism 00:11:21.340 --> 00:11:23.519 is in line with God's value of human free will 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:25.580 and loving character. Why would he go through 00:11:25.580 --> 00:11:27.860 all this trouble to send Jesus if he wasn't giving 00:11:27.860 --> 00:11:32.190 us a choice in the matter? Con number one. Arminianism 00:11:32.190 --> 00:11:34.210 can be wishy -washy on the concept of election. 00:11:34.509 --> 00:11:37.870 The Bible does reference God selecting or electing 00:11:37.870 --> 00:11:39.889 people. There are debates over whether that is 00:11:39.889 --> 00:11:42.990 applied to individuals, nations, certain groups 00:11:42.990 --> 00:11:46.149 of people, or all people, or even all people 00:11:46.149 --> 00:11:48.929 that God knew would freely believe. But we simply 00:11:48.929 --> 00:11:51.289 can't ignore tough concepts like election because 00:11:51.289 --> 00:11:54.330 they make us feel uncomfortable. And con number 00:11:54.330 --> 00:11:57.120 two. Most Arminians aren't guilty of this, but 00:11:57.120 --> 00:11:59.240 some can take the focus on human free will to 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:01.779 such an extreme that it overrides God's sovereignty. 00:12:02.299 --> 00:12:04.500 Remember the open theism heresy we discussed 00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:06.519 last time, where some people believe that God 00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:08.799 doesn't have full knowledge of the future, or 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:10.860 that humans are capable of changing God's plan 00:12:10.860 --> 00:12:13.480 for the future? That's Arminianism on steroids 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:17.139 and taken to a ridiculous extreme. Next up is 00:12:17.139 --> 00:12:19.720 Calvinism. We've mentioned it a few times already, 00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:22.120 and now it's time to dig deeper on what it is 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:24.399 and why its proponents believe what they do. 00:12:24.970 --> 00:12:26.809 Many people are familiar with the name Martin 00:12:26.809 --> 00:12:28.730 Luther and the story of him nailing his complaints 00:12:28.730 --> 00:12:30.830 against the Roman Catholic Church to the door 00:12:30.830 --> 00:12:33.169 of a church. Nobody knows for sure whether or 00:12:33.169 --> 00:12:35.590 not that happened. But Martin Luther did write 00:12:35.590 --> 00:12:38.370 95 criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church and 00:12:38.370 --> 00:12:40.450 that event did spur the Protestant Reformation. 00:12:41.070 --> 00:12:43.110 Luther had a number of legitimate complaints 00:12:43.110 --> 00:12:46.070 which led to a re -examination of every bit of 00:12:46.070 --> 00:12:47.750 the Catholic Church's beliefs and practices. 00:12:48.389 --> 00:12:50.750 During this process, the French theologian John 00:12:50.750 --> 00:12:53.190 Calvin came up with a new answer to the question 00:12:53.190 --> 00:12:55.919 of who gets saved. Referred to as Calvinism, 00:12:56.019 --> 00:12:58.759 it focused primarily on God's sovereignty, and 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:00.980 you'll find this belief system primarily in churches 00:13:00.980 --> 00:13:03.460 and denominations that call themselves Reformed. 00:13:03.700 --> 00:13:06.580 What I find fascinating is that even though Calvinism 00:13:06.580 --> 00:13:09.100 and Reformed churches have had a massive historical 00:13:09.100 --> 00:13:12.419 impact, it remains a tiny minority, estimated 00:13:12.419 --> 00:13:16.139 at less than 3 % of Christians worldwide. Earlier, 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:17.899 I mentioned that Calvinists were the first to 00:13:17.899 --> 00:13:20.470 outline their beliefs with an acronym. That acronym 00:13:20.470 --> 00:13:23.789 is TULIP, or T -U -L -I -P. It has the virtue 00:13:23.789 --> 00:13:25.950 of presenting the beliefs in their logical order, 00:13:26.029 --> 00:13:28.470 unlike the Arminian acronym. One interesting 00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:30.870 thing about the Calvinist school of thought is 00:13:30.870 --> 00:13:33.269 its proponents tend to be heavy theological thinkers, 00:13:33.509 --> 00:13:35.309 who seek to enumerate their beliefs completely 00:13:35.309 --> 00:13:37.950 and accurately. You'll occasionally hear Arminians 00:13:37.950 --> 00:13:39.710 say that they don't agree with one or two of 00:13:39.710 --> 00:13:42.149 the points, but it's rare. Calvinists, on the 00:13:42.149 --> 00:13:44.350 other hand, commonly refer to themselves as five 00:13:44.350 --> 00:13:47.110 -point... four -point, or three -point Calvinist 00:13:47.110 --> 00:13:50.090 based on how many and which parts of Tulip they 00:13:50.090 --> 00:13:52.269 agree with. Now bear with me, because coming 00:13:52.269 --> 00:13:54.250 from a Romanian perspective, you're probably 00:13:54.250 --> 00:13:56.210 going to find at least three of these points 00:13:56.210 --> 00:13:59.669 quite foreign. But not the T, which also stands 00:13:59.669 --> 00:14:02.409 for total depravity in Calvinism. The understanding 00:14:02.409 --> 00:14:05.029 is also nearly identical with some minor points 00:14:05.029 --> 00:14:06.909 of disagreement that aren't relevant tonight. 00:14:07.629 --> 00:14:09.610 The first different letter is going to be the 00:14:09.610 --> 00:14:12.610 U, which stands for unconditional election. It's 00:14:12.610 --> 00:14:15.210 based on verses and passages such as John 1, 00:14:15.289 --> 00:14:26.309 12 -13, which reads, The key part of the verse 00:14:26.309 --> 00:14:28.649 is used to understand unconditional election 00:14:28.649 --> 00:14:30.929 are always the parts about human will versus 00:14:30.929 --> 00:14:33.759 God's will. Calvinists understand those verses 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:36.039 to say that when God chooses to save someone, 00:14:36.259 --> 00:14:38.879 they have no say in the matter. There is no element 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:41.580 of human choice or response, simply God choosing 00:14:41.580 --> 00:14:43.940 who to save and who not to save, and that choice 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:46.620 was made before creation. To fully understand 00:14:46.620 --> 00:14:49.399 the reasoning, the U, L, and I have to be examined 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:52.379 together, so hold on while we do that. The L 00:14:52.379 --> 00:14:54.600 stands for limited atonement, which basically 00:14:54.600 --> 00:14:57.019 means that when Jesus died on the cross, he was 00:14:57.019 --> 00:14:59.240 only dying for the specific people that God had 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:01.909 chosen to save. This is derived from verses such 00:15:01.909 --> 00:15:04.730 as Ephesians 1 -4, which reads, For he chose 00:15:04.730 --> 00:15:06.850 us in him before the creation of the world to 00:15:06.850 --> 00:15:09.690 be holy and blameless in his sight. Because it 00:15:09.690 --> 00:15:12.230 is Jesus' sacrifice that allows us to be holy 00:15:12.230 --> 00:15:14.370 and blameless, it can only have been made on 00:15:14.370 --> 00:15:17.929 behalf of the ones that God chose. Then, to tie 00:15:17.929 --> 00:15:19.750 these three concepts together, we have the I, 00:15:19.950 --> 00:15:22.429 which stands for irresistible grace. It comes 00:15:22.429 --> 00:15:25.330 from verses such as 2 Corinthians 4 -6, in which 00:15:25.330 --> 00:15:28.100 Paul says, For God made his light shine in our 00:15:28.100 --> 00:15:30.279 hearts to give us the light of the knowledge 00:15:30.279 --> 00:15:32.639 of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:35.500 The Calvinist interpretation of these verses 00:15:35.500 --> 00:15:38.240 is that when God saves someone, it is done to 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:40.820 them and without concern for their consent or 00:15:40.820 --> 00:15:43.820 agreement. And so, in contrast to Arminianism, 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:46.620 where Jesus' sacrifice is sufficient to save 00:15:46.620 --> 00:15:49.539 all and God makes the offer open to all, but 00:15:49.539 --> 00:15:52.629 only those who accept the offer are saved, Calvinism 00:15:52.629 --> 00:15:54.830 holds that God created the universe knowing who 00:15:54.830 --> 00:15:57.590 he would save, Jesus died only for those people, 00:15:57.730 --> 00:15:59.870 and those people are forced to be saved without 00:15:59.870 --> 00:16:03.230 any choice in the matter. Finally, Calvinism's 00:16:03.230 --> 00:16:05.330 P, which stands for Perseverance of the Saints, 00:16:05.509 --> 00:16:07.830 is almost identical to Arminianism's Security 00:16:07.830 --> 00:16:10.409 in Christ. In addition to Arminianism holding 00:16:10.409 --> 00:16:12.730 that no external force can remove someone's salvation, 00:16:13.250 --> 00:16:15.590 Calvinism asserts that because a person is saved 00:16:15.590 --> 00:16:18.690 irresistibly, they are also kept saved irresistibly. 00:16:19.259 --> 00:16:21.519 I'll give my perspective after we look at Molinism, 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:23.779 but even if the tenets of Calvinism seem odd 00:16:23.779 --> 00:16:25.600 to us, or we don't agree with their interpretation 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:27.960 of scripture, we should acknowledge some major 00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:31.120 strengths of the philosophy. One is that it includes 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:32.919 and accounts for different parts of scripture 00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:35.799 that talk about election. I criticized Arminians 00:16:35.799 --> 00:16:37.940 for being wishy -washy on election. The same 00:16:37.940 --> 00:16:40.179 can't be said about Calvinists. They will take 00:16:40.179 --> 00:16:42.360 those verses at face value and readily admit 00:16:42.360 --> 00:16:44.639 that God chooses who does and doesn't get saved, 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:47.120 no matter how it makes them or anyone else feel. 00:16:47.659 --> 00:16:49.639 I applaud that kind of honesty and conviction. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:52.980 And a related one is the proper respect for God's 00:16:52.980 --> 00:16:55.820 sovereignty. A lot of us have the bad habit of 00:16:55.820 --> 00:16:57.720 agreeing with God's plan when it's good for us 00:16:57.720 --> 00:17:00.559 and disagree with God's plan when it isn't. But 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:02.279 you're not going to find a Calvinist making that 00:17:02.279 --> 00:17:04.779 mistake. They know who's in charge, and that's 00:17:04.779 --> 00:17:07.039 another admirable trait we can all aspire to. 00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:09.460 But there are cons, and one of them can arise 00:17:09.460 --> 00:17:11.700 based on a person's interpretation of unconditional 00:17:11.700 --> 00:17:14.819 election. Most Calvinists would say that by default, 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:17.720 all people are unsaved, but God chooses to save 00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:20.079 certain people. Think of it like a Coast Guard 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:22.319 chopper coming to rescue the survivors of a boat 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:24.920 wreck. The guardsmen might prioritize the children, 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:27.299 knowing that some adults will die due to that 00:17:27.299 --> 00:17:30.019 choice. But there's an extreme version of unconditional 00:17:30.019 --> 00:17:32.539 election called double predestination, which 00:17:32.539 --> 00:17:34.720 states that God doesn't just choose not to rescue 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:37.119 certain people, but actually created them specifically 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:40.339 to be damned. That view leaves a sour taste in 00:17:40.339 --> 00:17:42.539 my mouth, because it has God holding people morally 00:17:42.539 --> 00:17:44.799 accountable for choices that he forced them to 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:47.299 make. It makes him cruel and it violates the 00:17:47.299 --> 00:17:50.920 many passages on free will. The second con is 00:17:50.920 --> 00:17:53.779 somewhat related. Although most Calvinists honor 00:17:53.779 --> 00:17:56.180 Jesus' great commission to make disciples by 00:17:56.180 --> 00:17:58.980 participating in evangelism, some see unconditional 00:17:58.980 --> 00:18:01.839 election as a reason to skip evangelism. They 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:03.859 say, if God's going to save who he's going to 00:18:03.859 --> 00:18:06.700 save anyway, what's the point? It seems to me 00:18:06.700 --> 00:18:08.519 that if your interpretation of scripture leads 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:11.359 to a violation of one of Jesus' most clear and 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:13.880 explicit commands for believers, that ought to 00:18:13.880 --> 00:18:17.660 be a red flag. And finally, we come to Molinism. 00:18:17.980 --> 00:18:20.220 Think of Louis Molina as the younger brother 00:18:20.220 --> 00:18:22.059 egging his older siblings on and getting them 00:18:22.059 --> 00:18:24.180 to fight, then getting extra ice cream when they're 00:18:24.180 --> 00:18:26.660 both grounded. He was a Jesuit priest who lived 00:18:26.660 --> 00:18:30.099 from 1535 to 1600. He was watching the Protestant 00:18:30.099 --> 00:18:32.339 Reformation and the debates between Calvinists 00:18:32.339 --> 00:18:34.160 and Armenians, and he didn't like what he saw. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:37.019 Jesuits are known for their intellectual pursuits, 00:18:37.099 --> 00:18:39.680 and Molina was no exception. He saw weaknesses 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:41.839 in both philosophies and began to work on what 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:44.119 would come to be known as Molinism, an answer 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:46.380 to the question of who gets saved and many other 00:18:46.380 --> 00:18:49.039 questions that resolve the apparent paradox between 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:51.700 human free will and God's sovereignty. He did 00:18:51.700 --> 00:18:53.640 this using a concept called middle knowledge, 00:18:53.799 --> 00:18:55.900 which we'll look at in more detail in the next 00:18:55.900 --> 00:18:59.039 few slides. Molinism is not particularly compatible 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:01.579 with Calvinism because it maintains the importance 00:19:01.579 --> 00:19:04.259 of human free will, but it can sit nicely on 00:19:04.259 --> 00:19:07.460 top of Arminianism. It keeps God sovereign even 00:19:07.460 --> 00:19:10.859 as people make real free choices. Molinists make 00:19:10.859 --> 00:19:13.460 up a fraction of a fraction of a percent of Christians 00:19:13.460 --> 00:19:16.380 worldwide, but it seems to be exploding in popularity 00:19:16.380 --> 00:19:18.779 with many contemporary theologians and philosophers 00:19:18.779 --> 00:19:22.380 seeing it as an emotionally, mentally, and spiritually 00:19:22.380 --> 00:19:24.640 satisfying answer to the salvation question. 00:19:25.319 --> 00:19:27.640 To get this out of the way, Molinism II has an 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:29.660 acronym, only I won't be using it because it's 00:19:29.660 --> 00:19:32.859 terrible. The Molinist acronym is ROSES, or R 00:19:32.859 --> 00:19:35.599 -O -S -E -S. Number one, you shouldn't repeat 00:19:35.599 --> 00:19:37.900 a letter in an acronym meant to represent complicated 00:19:37.900 --> 00:19:40.700 theological concepts. Number two, to get those 00:19:40.700 --> 00:19:43.180 concepts to fit into a flower name, whoever came 00:19:43.180 --> 00:19:45.700 up with it gave them the most confusing and obscure 00:19:45.700 --> 00:19:48.599 names possible. I go so far as to say that if 00:19:48.599 --> 00:19:50.960 I explained roses, you'd understand Molinism 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:54.200 less than if I didn't. So I won't. But here's 00:19:54.200 --> 00:19:56.950 the gist. When we describe God, we often use 00:19:56.950 --> 00:20:00.009 his omni -properties. We say he's omniscient, 00:20:00.069 --> 00:20:03.170 or all -knowing, omnipotent, or all -powerful, 00:20:03.269 --> 00:20:06.950 omnipresent, or everywhere, all the time, and 00:20:06.950 --> 00:20:10.289 omnibenevolent, or all -good. These attributes 00:20:10.289 --> 00:20:13.789 are universally agreed upon by Christians. Molinists 00:20:13.789 --> 00:20:15.890 see evidence in the Bible that God's omniscience 00:20:15.890 --> 00:20:18.730 is not limited to knowing what is, but also what 00:20:18.730 --> 00:20:21.569 could be. They call this type of knowledge middle 00:20:21.569 --> 00:20:24.289 knowledge, and the hypotheticals that God knows 00:20:24.289 --> 00:20:27.509 are called counterfactuals. A counterfactual 00:20:27.509 --> 00:20:30.390 describes how a free creature, like a human being, 00:20:30.609 --> 00:20:33.769 would react in any given situation, and God knows 00:20:33.769 --> 00:20:37.269 them all. Now consider what that means. It means 00:20:37.269 --> 00:20:39.549 that before God created the universe, he knew 00:20:39.549 --> 00:20:42.130 every possible outcome of that universe based 00:20:42.130 --> 00:20:44.329 on every possible variable that would influence 00:20:44.329 --> 00:20:47.750 any free creature's choice. The scale of this 00:20:47.750 --> 00:20:50.740 is staggering. Think of every decision you make 00:20:50.740 --> 00:20:53.160 on a daily basis and the butterfly effect of 00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:56.279 those decisions on the rest of history. Now think 00:20:56.279 --> 00:20:58.740 of the mental ability needed to calculate that 00:20:58.740 --> 00:21:01.140 essentially infinite number of permutations of 00:21:01.140 --> 00:21:04.440 possible universes. Within every possible universe, 00:21:04.700 --> 00:21:07.920 humans were acting with free will, and God sovereignly 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:11.339 chose to actualize this one. Molinism doesn't 00:21:11.339 --> 00:21:14.259 just maintain human free will, it shows God's 00:21:14.259 --> 00:21:16.950 immense care for it. And it doesn't just maintain 00:21:16.950 --> 00:21:19.329 God's sovereignty, but it paints a picture of 00:21:19.329 --> 00:21:21.789 God far grander and in more control than most 00:21:21.789 --> 00:21:25.369 people could imagine. So it sounds great. Is 00:21:25.369 --> 00:21:28.549 it biblical? Well, Molinists say it is. And I'll 00:21:28.549 --> 00:21:30.349 give you a selection of verses that support the 00:21:30.349 --> 00:21:34.309 main points. Luke 10 .13 reads, Woe to you, Chorazin! 00:21:34.509 --> 00:21:37.250 Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that 00:21:37.250 --> 00:21:39.690 were performed in you had been performed in Tyre 00:21:39.690 --> 00:21:42.170 and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, 00:21:42.289 --> 00:21:45.829 sitting in sackcloth and ashes. Similarly, Isaiah 00:21:45.829 --> 00:22:05.210 48, 17 -18 reads, These are two among the many 00:22:05.210 --> 00:22:07.710 verses in which God recognizes the consequences 00:22:07.710 --> 00:22:11.029 of human choices and appears to know counterfactuals. 00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:22.099 Then we have Psalm 139 .16, which says, If that 00:22:22.099 --> 00:22:24.440 verse is applied universally, it's clear that 00:22:24.440 --> 00:22:26.759 God knew the final outcome of the universe before 00:22:26.759 --> 00:22:29.259 creation. And when we take those verses amongst 00:22:29.259 --> 00:22:31.900 many others, we find that Molinism has a solid 00:22:31.900 --> 00:22:35.339 biblical foundation. Lastly, let's give Molinism 00:22:35.339 --> 00:22:37.960 the same pro -con treatment as Arminianism and 00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:41.569 Calvinism. Pro. Molinism attempts to include 00:22:41.569 --> 00:22:44.009 all of God's attributes in Scripture instead 00:22:44.009 --> 00:22:46.869 of hyper -focusing on one. When we talked about 00:22:46.869 --> 00:22:49.049 reading and interpreting the Bible, the fourth 00:22:49.049 --> 00:22:51.309 step was making sure your interpretation aligned 00:22:51.309 --> 00:22:53.569 with the rest of the Bible, and this was the 00:22:53.569 --> 00:22:57.390 motivation behind Molinism. The Christian faith 00:22:57.390 --> 00:22:59.250 is meant to be an intimate relationship with 00:22:59.250 --> 00:23:01.789 our Creator. It's not an abstract intellectual 00:23:01.789 --> 00:23:05.019 exercise. It's a relationship. There are many 00:23:05.019 --> 00:23:07.819 wonderful, godly proponents of Molinism, but 00:23:07.819 --> 00:23:10.119 there are also plenty who sound indistinguishable 00:23:10.119 --> 00:23:13.059 from secular philosophy professors. If you ever 00:23:13.059 --> 00:23:16.000 start thinking of your Bible as a textbook and 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:18.779 not a book that contains the way to have a relationship 00:23:18.779 --> 00:23:21.519 with our Creator, you've got to take a step back. 00:23:22.359 --> 00:23:25.339 Pro. There's exhaustive biblical evidence of 00:23:25.339 --> 00:23:27.680 God's knowledge and predictive power. Whatever 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:30.380 criticism someone may have of Molinism, it's 00:23:30.380 --> 00:23:34.039 got a solid scriptural foundation. And one last 00:23:34.039 --> 00:23:37.619 con. Molinism can be taken to such extremes that 00:23:37.619 --> 00:23:40.539 it leads right back to universalism. I once read 00:23:40.539 --> 00:23:42.480 an article by a Molinist who argued that since 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:45.200 God is also all good, he would take a person's 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:47.900 actions in all possible universes into account 00:23:47.900 --> 00:23:50.279 when judging them for their life in the universe 00:23:50.279 --> 00:23:53.539 he did decide to create. In other words, if Bob 00:23:53.539 --> 00:23:55.839 was saved in at least one of the other possible 00:23:55.839 --> 00:23:58.950 universes, but not this one, God would be required 00:23:58.950 --> 00:24:01.150 to save him because it was God's choice to create 00:24:01.150 --> 00:24:03.750 this universe that led to him not being saved. 00:24:04.230 --> 00:24:06.829 That's a huge leap, and there is zero evidence 00:24:06.829 --> 00:24:08.609 that anything like that is true in the Bible. 00:24:10.250 --> 00:24:12.509 So, what's the verdict? Well, the whole point 00:24:12.509 --> 00:24:14.609 of these sessions is to educate you on your options 00:24:14.609 --> 00:24:16.930 and empower you to make an informed choice. And 00:24:16.930 --> 00:24:19.289 ultimately, that's what you need to do. But I 00:24:19.289 --> 00:24:20.750 also think it would be a cop -out if I didn't 00:24:20.750 --> 00:24:23.109 explain my conclusion. So here's my present position 00:24:23.109 --> 00:24:26.250 as of September 2025. For reasons we already 00:24:26.250 --> 00:24:28.690 covered, universalism is out. It'd be awesome 00:24:28.690 --> 00:24:30.730 if it was true, but the best evidence says it 00:24:30.730 --> 00:24:33.130 isn't. I also don't find the Calvinist position 00:24:33.130 --> 00:24:35.950 convincing. That's not to say that I don't respect 00:24:35.950 --> 00:24:37.650 Calvinists or that I don't consider them fellow 00:24:37.650 --> 00:24:39.609 Christians. I have a lot of respect for their 00:24:39.609 --> 00:24:41.710 theological rigor and their honesty about their 00:24:41.710 --> 00:24:43.990 convictions. I wish all Christians showed the 00:24:43.990 --> 00:24:46.720 same levels of both. But when I read the verses 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:49.119 that they use to back up their positions, I simply 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:51.559 do not come to the same conclusions. The three 00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:53.779 verses I mentioned earlier, I just don't see 00:24:53.779 --> 00:24:55.599 how you could get the Calvinist conclusions from 00:24:55.599 --> 00:24:57.960 a plain reading of those verses. And in some 00:24:57.960 --> 00:25:00.079 cases, I see explicit disagreements with the 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:03.440 verses about free will. God as presented by Calvinism 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:05.599 just doesn't seem like the same God that saved 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:09.380 me. What I do find is that Arminianism and Molinism 00:25:09.380 --> 00:25:11.599 seem like reasonable, compatible interpretations 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:13.880 of the scriptures and my personal experiences 00:25:13.880 --> 00:25:17.670 with God. HCV leans Arminian, and Vineyard leans 00:25:17.670 --> 00:25:20.329 Arminian. The vast majority of present and historical 00:25:20.329 --> 00:25:22.890 churches lean Arminian. I think as long as you 00:25:22.890 --> 00:25:25.049 maintain the proper respect of God's sovereignty 00:25:25.049 --> 00:25:27.569 and you don't run from tough passages on election, 00:25:27.990 --> 00:25:30.170 Arminianism is a very reasonable conclusion. 00:25:31.190 --> 00:25:33.710 I personally find that Molinism's default inclusion 00:25:33.710 --> 00:25:36.609 of a satisfying answer to the free will -sovereignty 00:25:36.609 --> 00:25:39.869 paradox puts it slightly ahead for me. I don't 00:25:39.869 --> 00:25:42.089 know if I'd describe myself as a pure Molinist. 00:25:42.380 --> 00:25:44.700 or an Armenian with a Molinist hat, then frankly 00:25:44.700 --> 00:25:46.759 I don't think it matters because of how compatible 00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:49.400 the two systems are. I'm in full agreement with 00:25:49.400 --> 00:25:51.420 your average Armenian on the implications of 00:25:51.420 --> 00:25:53.279 our positions and what it means for ministry 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:55.480 and things like evangelism and outreach and how 00:25:55.480 --> 00:25:58.180 I teach the kids on Sundays. And I've never heard 00:25:58.180 --> 00:26:00.279 anything preached at our church or any other 00:26:00.279 --> 00:26:02.720 vineyard churches that would disagree with any 00:26:02.720 --> 00:26:06.240 of my convictions. But again, you're now empowered 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:08.599 to make this decision for yourself. You've got 00:26:08.599 --> 00:26:10.660 the resources and the skills to do the research, 00:26:10.859 --> 00:26:13.579 and I encourage you to do so. We've covered a 00:26:13.579 --> 00:26:15.359 lot of different information over the past two 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:17.400 sessions, so I'd be surprised if we've hit this 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:19.299 point and you didn't least have a few questions. 00:26:20.019 --> 00:26:22.519 Salvation is a big, complicated topic, and if 00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:24.339 you're anything like me, you probably had a lot 00:26:24.339 --> 00:26:26.579 of, but what about this situation moments as 00:26:26.579 --> 00:26:29.119 we talked about the general ideas. I wanted to 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:30.839 hit a few of the big ones, but also point you 00:26:30.839 --> 00:26:33.059 towards a great resource called gotquestions 00:26:33.059 --> 00:26:35.579 .org. I'm going to give you the Cliff Notes version 00:26:35.579 --> 00:26:38.200 for the answers to these questions, but gotquestions 00:26:38.200 --> 00:26:40.519 .org has an exhaustive list of scripture verses 00:26:40.519 --> 00:26:43.380 with in -depth analyses for these and thousands 00:26:43.380 --> 00:26:46.410 of other common questions on Christianity. Also, 00:26:46.549 --> 00:26:48.589 I love funny pictures, but there weren't too 00:26:48.589 --> 00:26:50.410 many opportunities for funny pictures in the 00:26:50.410 --> 00:26:52.450 first part of this session. So each of these 00:26:52.450 --> 00:26:54.869 questions is accompanied by a cute animal, such 00:26:54.869 --> 00:26:57.109 as these very inquisitive -looking meerkats. 00:26:58.269 --> 00:27:00.650 Okay, we're starting big with this monkey that's 00:27:00.650 --> 00:27:03.150 either deep in thought or staring longingly at 00:27:03.150 --> 00:27:06.089 a banana. This is the number one question Christians 00:27:06.089 --> 00:27:09.390 ask about salvation. How do I know that I'm saved? 00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:12.480 Why is this such a popular question? Well, there's 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:16.039 verses like Matthew 7, 22 -23 that give people 00:27:16.039 --> 00:27:31.539 some pause. In this verse, Jesus says, I consider 00:27:31.539 --> 00:27:34.039 this probably the scariest verse in the entire 00:27:34.039 --> 00:27:36.589 Bible. Because Jesus is saying that there are 00:27:36.589 --> 00:27:38.609 some people who think that they are saved or 00:27:38.609 --> 00:27:41.150 think that they are working for him when in fact 00:27:41.150 --> 00:27:44.170 they are not. So how do we know that we are saved? 00:27:44.589 --> 00:27:47.069 Well, I think John 3 .16 that we already saw 00:27:47.069 --> 00:27:50.299 earlier gives us a good hint. Let's read it again. 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:58.900 And then we compare this with a lot of other 00:27:58.900 --> 00:28:01.279 verses. For instance, we've got James who says 00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:04.119 that faith without works is dead. And Jesus himself 00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:06.380 says that it is the fruit of a tree that tells 00:28:06.380 --> 00:28:09.259 you if it is good or bad. And so if we sincerely 00:28:09.259 --> 00:28:11.700 believe, there should be visible effects on our 00:28:11.700 --> 00:28:14.640 internal and external lives. For instance, the 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:16.960 fact that this question concerns you, the fact 00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:18.559 that you're asking this and that you're worried 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:20.880 about this is a good sign. It means that you 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:23.559 are concerned about what is pleasing to God and 00:28:23.559 --> 00:28:25.440 you're concerned about your relationship with 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:28.480 him. That's one really good sign. Last time we 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:30.720 talked about sanctification, the process of the 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:33.539 Holy Spirit gradually making you more holy. This 00:28:33.539 --> 00:28:35.950 is also something we want to see. If you were 00:28:35.950 --> 00:28:38.230 the exact same person that you were when you 00:28:38.230 --> 00:28:40.869 were saved 10 years ago, that's not a good sign, 00:28:41.029 --> 00:28:43.589 especially if you're living in constant unrepentant 00:28:43.589 --> 00:28:46.630 sin. However, even if you are struggling with 00:28:46.630 --> 00:28:49.210 sin, if you are making an effort against it and 00:28:49.210 --> 00:28:51.210 you are seeing improvements, that's another good 00:28:51.210 --> 00:28:54.150 sign. When the kids ask me this question, I always 00:28:54.150 --> 00:28:57.150 ask them if their relationship with God is important 00:28:57.150 --> 00:28:59.109 to them and if they're actively working on it 00:28:59.109 --> 00:29:01.170 by doing things like reading the Bible and praying 00:29:01.170 --> 00:29:03.650 to get closer to God. And I tell them that that's 00:29:03.650 --> 00:29:06.140 a good sign. And I give them the same advice 00:29:06.140 --> 00:29:07.960 that I would give to anybody else who asks this 00:29:07.960 --> 00:29:09.900 question. If you ever get to the point where 00:29:09.900 --> 00:29:12.119 you no longer care what God thinks about something, 00:29:12.279 --> 00:29:14.619 where you're not spending time with Him, or you're 00:29:14.619 --> 00:29:18.000 happy to sin without feeling any guilt at all, 00:29:18.180 --> 00:29:20.720 that's probably a really good sign that there's 00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:22.740 something wrong with your relationship with God 00:29:22.740 --> 00:29:25.180 and you need to seriously consider your salvation. 00:29:25.819 --> 00:29:28.059 Then we've got this sad -looking cat here asking 00:29:28.059 --> 00:29:30.299 the number two question on salvation, which we 00:29:30.299 --> 00:29:32.259 already talked about a little bit earlier. And 00:29:32.259 --> 00:29:34.710 that's, can you lose salvation? Now, there's 00:29:34.710 --> 00:29:37.130 pretty much universal agreement amongst the different 00:29:37.130 --> 00:29:39.289 philosophies that we looked at that you can't 00:29:39.289 --> 00:29:41.849 have salvation taken from you externally. You 00:29:41.849 --> 00:29:44.609 know, the devil or a demon or another person 00:29:44.609 --> 00:29:47.170 can't just come down and take it from you. But 00:29:47.170 --> 00:29:49.250 the question did remain, could a person give 00:29:49.250 --> 00:29:51.630 up their salvation or lose their salvation by 00:29:51.630 --> 00:29:54.829 their own actions or attitudes? Well, let's look 00:29:54.829 --> 00:29:56.589 at one verse this time. And I want to look at 00:29:56.589 --> 00:30:00.740 2 Corinthians 5 .17 from the NIV. Paul says, 00:30:00.940 --> 00:30:03.759 therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:07.599 has come. The old is gone. The new is here. When 00:30:07.599 --> 00:30:09.960 you get saved, you are a brand new creation. 00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:11.960 You're a brand new person. You are not the same 00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:14.079 person that you were. Last time we talked about 00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:16.559 all the steps of the salvation process. Things 00:30:16.559 --> 00:30:18.920 like regeneration, adoption into God's family. 00:30:19.240 --> 00:30:21.619 You know, you are the heirs to the inheritance 00:30:21.619 --> 00:30:23.759 that Jesus earned. And part of that inheritance 00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:26.259 is eternal life. And I think that's the key. 00:30:26.879 --> 00:30:29.200 Eternal means forever, and it wouldn't be eternal 00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:31.819 life if God gave it to you and then took it away. 00:30:32.019 --> 00:30:33.660 And then when you decide to come back to church 00:30:33.660 --> 00:30:35.779 ten years later, he gives it back to you. And 00:30:35.779 --> 00:30:37.160 then maybe you fall away for a couple years and 00:30:37.160 --> 00:30:39.180 it's gone, and then you come back to church and 00:30:39.180 --> 00:30:41.339 then you get eternal life. Now, I think when 00:30:41.339 --> 00:30:43.160 we look at doctrines like the perseverance of 00:30:43.160 --> 00:30:46.039 the saints or eternal security, we know that 00:30:46.039 --> 00:30:49.180 God knows the outcomes of everything. So if a 00:30:49.180 --> 00:30:51.420 person falls away, what it most likely means 00:30:51.420 --> 00:30:53.720 is that they were never saved in the first place. 00:30:54.380 --> 00:30:56.839 God knows when a person commits if they're being 00:30:56.839 --> 00:31:00.039 serious and if it's going to last. And so, if 00:31:00.039 --> 00:31:02.500 a person sincerely converts and they're going 00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:04.680 to remain a Christian for the rest of their lives, 00:31:04.819 --> 00:31:07.640 at that point they are saved. They may have other 00:31:07.640 --> 00:31:09.400 moments in their lives where they thought they 00:31:09.400 --> 00:31:11.880 were saved, but they actually weren't. Now, I 00:31:11.880 --> 00:31:14.160 realize that may not be the most satisfying answer 00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:16.440 to this question, but that does seem to be what 00:31:16.440 --> 00:31:19.559 the evidence says. When you are finally saved 00:31:19.559 --> 00:31:23.299 for real, you cannot lose that salvation. This 00:31:23.299 --> 00:31:25.599 puffin standing on a remote island wants to know, 00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:27.960 what about people who never hear the gospel? 00:31:28.319 --> 00:31:31.279 Are they saved? Are they not saved? Is everybody 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:33.519 who never hears about Jesus just going straight 00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:36.900 to hell? Let's see. First, let's look at what 00:31:36.900 --> 00:31:51.019 Paul says in Romans 1 .20. He says, And so even 00:31:51.019 --> 00:31:53.759 if a person never hears the gospel, they never 00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:57.480 even hear the word Jesus, they are in some way 00:31:57.480 --> 00:31:59.900 accountable to God because he has made his presence, 00:32:00.039 --> 00:32:02.700 his existence obvious to everybody through what 00:32:02.700 --> 00:32:05.099 he does in creation. And there are tens, if not 00:32:05.099 --> 00:32:07.119 hundreds of thousands of testimonies showing 00:32:07.119 --> 00:32:09.339 that God responds to people who pursue him from 00:32:09.339 --> 00:32:11.759 this information. We have a lot of testimonies 00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:13.539 from Muslim countries where people have never 00:32:13.539 --> 00:32:16.220 read a word of the Bible. They've prayed to Allah 00:32:16.220 --> 00:32:18.660 for him to reveal the truth about himself to 00:32:18.660 --> 00:32:21.259 them, and they've gotten a vision of Jesus. And 00:32:21.259 --> 00:32:23.900 we have the same testimonies from countries all 00:32:23.900 --> 00:32:26.039 around the world where people never heard a word 00:32:26.039 --> 00:32:28.140 of the Bible, and they were given visions of 00:32:28.140 --> 00:32:31.019 Jesus. And so we know that if people are seriously 00:32:31.019 --> 00:32:33.599 pursuing the truth about God, he will give it 00:32:33.599 --> 00:32:35.640 to them. Now, we might consider it unfair for 00:32:35.640 --> 00:32:37.500 a person who didn't grow up in a Christian country 00:32:37.500 --> 00:32:40.180 to not be saved and to go to hell when they die. 00:32:40.359 --> 00:32:42.440 But we also have to remember that Jesus talks 00:32:42.440 --> 00:32:44.440 about different levels of rewards and different 00:32:44.440 --> 00:32:46.920 levels of punishment. He says the person who 00:32:46.920 --> 00:32:49.339 is given much will be held accountable for much, 00:32:49.400 --> 00:32:51.019 and the person who is given little will be held 00:32:51.019 --> 00:32:53.519 accountable for little. So there's evidence that 00:32:53.519 --> 00:32:55.880 a person who never was exposed to the gospel 00:32:55.880 --> 00:32:59.359 and chose not to pursue the obvious calling from 00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:02.539 God, that they may not be going to heaven, but 00:33:02.539 --> 00:33:04.759 they will not be punished, like a person who 00:33:04.759 --> 00:33:07.799 actively rejects the gospel. These cute puppies 00:33:07.799 --> 00:33:09.700 are asking one of the most impactful questions 00:33:09.700 --> 00:33:12.900 about salvation. What about babies, children, 00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:15.119 and the mentally or physically disabled that 00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:17.599 can't understand the gospel? In other words, 00:33:17.640 --> 00:33:20.079 what about people who are incapable of understanding 00:33:20.079 --> 00:33:22.849 the gospel? This question is rarely asked for 00:33:22.849 --> 00:33:25.130 purely philosophical reasons. I've been asked 00:33:25.130 --> 00:33:27.170 this question by a man with an adult son whose 00:33:27.170 --> 00:33:29.309 mental age never progressed beyond three or four 00:33:29.309 --> 00:33:31.849 years old, and a mother who just lost her child 00:33:31.849 --> 00:33:34.609 to a miscarriage. Fortunately, our God is good, 00:33:34.730 --> 00:33:36.829 and there is a lot of biblical evidence that 00:33:36.829 --> 00:33:39.250 he bestows grace and mercy on those who can't 00:33:39.250 --> 00:33:41.390 make the informed choice whether or not to follow 00:33:41.390 --> 00:33:44.450 Jesus. One of the most compelling pieces of evidence 00:33:44.450 --> 00:33:47.450 comes from 2 Samuel. In chapter 11, David sees 00:33:47.450 --> 00:33:49.650 Bathsheba bathing and invites her to the palace. 00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:52.359 Mysteriously, she soon falls pregnant with his 00:33:52.359 --> 00:33:54.900 child. In response, David brings her husband 00:33:54.900 --> 00:33:57.339 Uriah home and attempts to engineer a situation 00:33:57.339 --> 00:34:01.180 where the child can plausibly be his, but Uriah 00:34:01.180 --> 00:34:03.400 is wise to the king's efforts and refuses to 00:34:03.400 --> 00:34:06.539 play along. David responds by sending Uriah to 00:34:06.539 --> 00:34:08.739 his death on the battlefield. Shortly after, 00:34:08.860 --> 00:34:11.059 he marries Bathsheba, and she gives birth to 00:34:11.059 --> 00:34:13.880 a boy. As punishment, God strikes the child ill, 00:34:13.980 --> 00:34:16.500 and he dies seven days later. While the child 00:34:16.500 --> 00:34:19.079 was sick, David prayed, fasted, and mourned. 00:34:19.340 --> 00:34:20.880 But his servants were shocked that he returned 00:34:20.880 --> 00:34:23.699 to normal life as soon as the boy died. David's 00:34:23.699 --> 00:34:26.300 response? While the child was still alive, I 00:34:26.300 --> 00:34:29.500 fasted and wept. I thought, who knows? The Lord 00:34:29.500 --> 00:34:31.480 may be gracious to me and let the child live. 00:34:31.860 --> 00:34:34.420 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? 00:34:34.659 --> 00:34:37.519 Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, 00:34:37.619 --> 00:34:40.380 but he will not return to me. Despite his many 00:34:40.380 --> 00:34:42.880 sins, David was faithful to God, and he knew 00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:44.619 he would go to be in the Lord's presence someday. 00:34:45.099 --> 00:34:47.619 And, just as certainly, he knew that the child 00:34:47.619 --> 00:34:49.760 would already be there because of God's mercy 00:34:49.760 --> 00:34:51.579 to those who can't be held accountable for their 00:34:51.579 --> 00:34:54.579 choices yet. This leads to a concept called the 00:34:54.579 --> 00:34:57.059 age of accountability by theologians, but it's 00:34:57.059 --> 00:34:59.719 not limited solely to age. This idea, which has 00:34:59.719 --> 00:35:02.000 existed in some form for most of the church's 00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:04.739 history, is that God shows grace upon those that 00:35:04.739 --> 00:35:07.179 are incapable of understanding sin or Christ's 00:35:07.179 --> 00:35:09.500 saving work and brings them into his presence 00:35:09.500 --> 00:35:11.949 when they die. It's not universally accepted. 00:35:12.130 --> 00:35:14.750 There will always be some dissenters on any doctrinal 00:35:14.750 --> 00:35:17.030 stance, but I can give this answer confidently 00:35:17.030 --> 00:35:20.710 because of how good our God is. This picture 00:35:20.710 --> 00:35:22.710 from my average morning commute is going to help 00:35:22.710 --> 00:35:24.849 us answer the next question. What about people 00:35:24.849 --> 00:35:27.309 who commit suicide? Historically speaking, the 00:35:27.309 --> 00:35:30.090 answer wasn't great. The church taught that someone 00:35:30.090 --> 00:35:32.150 killing themselves was no different than a person 00:35:32.150 --> 00:35:34.170 committing murder, and because they hadn't had 00:35:34.170 --> 00:35:36.369 a chance to repent for that sin yet, anybody 00:35:36.369 --> 00:35:38.780 who committed suicide would go to hell. As we've 00:35:38.780 --> 00:35:40.940 learned more about the human mind and body and 00:35:40.940 --> 00:35:43.019 how things like chemical imbalances can make 00:35:43.019 --> 00:35:45.119 somebody's actions seem completely irrational, 00:35:45.559 --> 00:35:47.800 we've come to realize that people are not always 00:35:47.800 --> 00:35:51.900 in full control of themselves. Psalm 34, 18 says, 00:35:52.139 --> 00:35:54.619 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saved 00:35:54.619 --> 00:35:57.400 those who are crushed in spirit. And I think 00:35:57.400 --> 00:35:59.320 we can all agree that a person who has gotten 00:35:59.320 --> 00:36:00.800 to the point in their life where they feel like 00:36:00.800 --> 00:36:03.380 their only solution is to end their life definitely 00:36:03.380 --> 00:36:06.360 qualifies as brokenhearted and crushed in spirit. 00:36:07.070 --> 00:36:08.690 And so the teaching of the church has evolved 00:36:08.690 --> 00:36:11.889 on this to emphasize compassion. We know that 00:36:11.889 --> 00:36:14.610 God loves every single person, and he is especially 00:36:14.610 --> 00:36:17.409 close to those who are brokenhearted and crushed 00:36:17.409 --> 00:36:19.969 in spirit. And so people who commit suicide, 00:36:20.030 --> 00:36:22.590 if they are a saved Christian, when that happens, 00:36:22.730 --> 00:36:25.409 they will go to be with the Lord. That doesn't 00:36:25.409 --> 00:36:27.670 change the outcome for somebody who is unsaved 00:36:27.670 --> 00:36:30.010 when they kill themselves, but it is good news 00:36:30.010 --> 00:36:32.980 for those Christians who reach that point. This 00:36:32.980 --> 00:36:35.019 scary -looking snake here is going to help us 00:36:35.019 --> 00:36:37.599 answer one of the other really tough ones. What 00:36:37.599 --> 00:36:41.500 is the unforgivable sin? In Matthew 12, 31 -32, 00:36:41.800 --> 00:36:44.519 Jesus says, And so I tell you, every kind of 00:36:44.519 --> 00:36:47.139 sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy 00:36:47.139 --> 00:36:49.639 against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone 00:36:49.639 --> 00:36:51.619 who speaks a word against the Son of Man will 00:36:51.619 --> 00:36:53.800 be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the 00:36:53.800 --> 00:36:56.380 Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either this 00:36:56.380 --> 00:37:00.139 age or in the age to come. The context of Jesus' 00:37:00.380 --> 00:37:02.739 words here is that he's just been doing miracles 00:37:02.739 --> 00:37:05.840 and the Pharisees accuse him of working for Satan. 00:37:06.019 --> 00:37:09.099 In effect, they're giving Satan credit for the 00:37:09.099 --> 00:37:11.360 works of the Holy Spirit and that's what Jesus 00:37:11.360 --> 00:37:13.880 is referring to as blasphemy against the Spirit. 00:37:14.639 --> 00:37:16.900 Here's the tricky part. There's a debate between 00:37:16.900 --> 00:37:19.179 the theologians over whether this was only possible 00:37:19.179 --> 00:37:21.820 while Jesus was on earth and it was the Holy 00:37:21.820 --> 00:37:24.659 Spirit that was doing his miracles or whether 00:37:24.659 --> 00:37:26.909 this is something that is still possible. And 00:37:26.909 --> 00:37:29.190 whatever speculation people may have, there's 00:37:29.190 --> 00:37:31.610 no clear answer in the Bible about this. So my 00:37:31.610 --> 00:37:33.730 recommendation to people is to be very careful 00:37:33.730 --> 00:37:36.750 not to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. And finally, 00:37:36.829 --> 00:37:38.909 this adorable little dinosaur is going to help 00:37:38.909 --> 00:37:41.409 us answer, what about the people who lived before 00:37:41.409 --> 00:37:44.690 Jesus? Except, he's not going to answer it tonight, 00:37:44.869 --> 00:37:47.289 because this is actually a preview of next month's 00:37:47.289 --> 00:37:49.469 session, which is called, What the Hades? And 00:37:49.469 --> 00:37:51.530 it's all about the Jewish and Christian understanding 00:37:51.530 --> 00:37:54.139 of the afterlife. If you thought that it was 00:37:54.139 --> 00:37:56.559 just as simple as when you die, you go to heaven 00:37:56.559 --> 00:37:58.619 or hell, well, good news, because we have a lot 00:37:58.619 --> 00:38:00.440 to talk about next month, and I think that you're 00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:02.719 really going to enjoy it. I certainly had a great 00:38:02.719 --> 00:38:05.239 time doing the research for it. Now, that's going 00:38:05.239 --> 00:38:07.820 to wrap us up for tonight. I put the two resources 00:38:07.820 --> 00:38:10.360 for tonight back up on the screen. I've also 00:38:10.360 --> 00:38:12.960 got my email address on here. If you ever have 00:38:12.960 --> 00:38:16.579 any feedback or ideas, it's john at hcv .church, 00:38:16.579 --> 00:38:19.099 and you can find copies of these slides at hcv 00:38:19.099 --> 00:38:22.039 .church slash teaching. Thank you so much for 00:38:22.039 --> 00:38:24.500 taking the time to listen tonight. I'm very grateful 00:38:24.500 --> 00:38:26.380 for it and I always love hearing feedback and 00:38:26.380 --> 00:38:28.880 questions from people. Have a wonderful night 00:38:28.880 --> 00:38:29.719 and God bless.