Earlier this year I jotted down a short three-point sermon which I titled "Calvinism Refuted by the Bible". Look up these verses in your Bible, Calvinists may be surprised to find these verses in their Bibles too!
So here it is, my short three-point sermon titled "Calvinism Refuted by the Bible":
- God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but wants all to be saved (Ezek. 18:23, 32, 33:11; 2 Pet. 3:9).
- God does not show personal favoritism or partiality (Acts 10:34; James 2:9).
- God prepared Hell for the devil and his angels, not for unsaved people (Matt. 25:41; Rom. 2:4-5).
Jon, why do some people equivocate Calvinist Perseverence of the Saints with Eternal Security? i often hear people say since Calvinism is false, and Calvinism teaches Eternal Security, ES must also be false! why do they think this? they seem to think that because the Calvinist understanding of OSAS is false, all OSAS must be false. why?
ReplyDeleteYeah good question. I think maybe some people are just not informed that eternal security is not based on Calvinism. The Calvinistic doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is a separate doctrine; there may be some overlap but the two teachings are not the same. I believe the Bible teaches eternal security, but not the Calvinistic doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, at least not the way they define it. I like to say that I believe in the perseverance of the Savior! The Bible says, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Timothy 2:13).
ReplyDeleteThe Bible says that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and as such He will not lose any of His sheep! As sheep we do indeed follow the Shepherd, but if you know anything about sheep, they are not very good followers and they often go astray. As the song says, "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love." In Bible times, sometimes the shepherd has the break the legs of a sheep that was prone to wander and the shepherd would then carry it on his shoulders until the broken legs healed. In the book of Hebrews the writer may have this in mind when he admonishes his readers to "make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed" (Heb. 12:13).
Here's a good Bible verse to show that sheep do indeed go astray, and are "prone to wander", as the song says. The Bible verse is Isaiah 53:6 (which incidentally is a prophecy looking forward to Jesus Christ), and verse 6 says: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isa. 53:6, KJV)
ReplyDelete