Romans 11, verse 33. O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. Let's just ask the Lord to bless our time together. Our Heavenly Father, as we come to lift our hearts and minds to You again this morning, we pray that we will gain a fresh sight of You. We thank You for over these last number of days as we have seen You on Your throne, as we have seen the Lamb of God as He has triumphed for our salvation, as we have heard of our service for you in this life is not vanity, but it's full of meaning when it's done for the Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray that as we look at your word again, as we look at these great doctrines of grace, these doctrines which remind us of your great love and grace and mercy toward undeserving sinners, that we will leave here with our minds and hearts full of you, that we will leave here challenged to reach a world which needs to hear the doctrines of grace and which supremely needs to hear the God of the doctrines of grace. So as we gather this morning, teach us and instruct us, prepare our hearts, apply it to our lives so that we might be people who are faithful in service to you. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, as you know, as has already been introduced, my subject is the practical implications for of the Doctrines of Grace. Now, before we can talk about the practicality of the Doctrines of Grace, we must first understand what they are. Now, I know that most of us here are very familiar with the Doctrines of Grace. It's what we rejoice in and we want to teach and proclaim, but we never want to take that for granted. We always want to make sure that we properly understand what they're teaching us and what they're saying to us. You know, it's true in our day there's many people who are in churches and don't have the foggiest notion of what the doctrines of grace are all about. We live in a very biblically illiterate age, a theologically illiterate age, and so it's very important that we understand them. And also we run across people who maybe think they understand the doctrines of grace, but You know, when we talk to them further, we begin to realize that what they proclaim are the Doctrines of Grace are something that we who love the Doctrines of Grace don't even realize. We don't even understand them. Often they misunderstand them and caricature them. That is why it's very important to carefully delineate them and define what we are dealing with. But you know, it's also sad but true that in our day there are some people, and it's not a huge number, but there are some who do know the Doctrines of Grace. and they reject them. Not out of ignorance, not out of misunderstanding, not because they've heard a caricatured version of them, but because they think that they are obsolete, they're old-fashioned, and they need to be given into the dustbin of history and dropped there. They say something like, yes, we live in the modern age, or we could say in the modern language of today, we live in the post-modern era. We don't live in the age of believing of a God out there who needs to save us from sin, a God who elects, a God who is sovereign. We believe in a God in here. We live in the age of technology. We live in the age of science. We live in the age of psychology. We live in the new age. And of course, often they think that these doctrines that present us with a God that is majestic and sovereign and holy, a God that we must rely upon and depend upon, is not the teaching of the day. Now, of course, we want to deal with in these messages over the next couple days. I want to remind you of many things we want to accomplish. But one thing I want to remind you of is that the doctrines of grace are not obsolete. They're not irrelevant. They're not to be consigned to the dustbin of history, but they are absolutely crucial for us. And they're crucial because they present us with the biblical truth. They present us with the gospel, the heart of the gospel. And they present us with a God of truth, who alone is our health and help and salvation in our day. But before we can get to things like that, let us first define what these doctrines are. Let's first remind ourselves about them. Now the Doctrines of Grace, or the Five Points of Calvinism, that is two phrases that are interchangeable. We must always remember that the Five Points of Calvinism, or the Doctrines of Grace, were conclusions of the Synod of Dort as they came to wrestle with the teachings of a Dutch seminary professor, Jacob Arminius. In 1610, one year after Jacob Arminius's death, his followers gathered together his teaching and they came up with five points. Five points that they wanted to emphasize and present to the state of Holland and to the churches of Holland. They wanted to present these five points so that they would revise some of the great Reformed confessions of the faith, such as the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Confession. And so they brought them to the churches of Holland and they said, we want you to discuss these points that Jacob Arminius has taught us. We want you to revise the teachings in light of this man's teaching. And so, in 1618, a synod got together in the city of Dort, and it met for seven months, and it met for 154 different sessions, and it analyzed from the scripture the teachings of the Arminians, those who followed Jacob Arminius. And the result of those sessions, the result of those meetings, was that they rejected those five points as unbiblical. But they just didn't want to reject it. They said, we need to put counter-affirmations. We need to make counterpoints. We need to present the biblical truth in light of what these proposals are. And that is where we get the five points of Calvinism. You ever wonder why there's five of them? It's because they're responding to the specific five points that were brought to the Council. Now, that's, I think, an important lesson to remember in that sort of historical overview there. You know, some people view the Doctrines of Grace as very speculative. They're systematic theology. Now, systematic theology is a bad name in our day. They're very speculative. They're not in touch with what the Bible has to say yet. They're people who systematize things more than they should. But if we see what's going on here in these five points of Calvinism, the doctrines of grace, they were men who were bringing the Bible to bear in their lives. They wanted to understand what the Bible had to teach about these five points that were addressed to them. They're not speculative. They're biblical. But it's also important to remember that the five points of Calvinism, the doctrines of grace, are not all that can be said in terms of biblical truth. There are specific responses to specific points that were brought to them. They indeed summarize great massive amounts of biblical truth. But you know the Bible is larger than the five points of Calvinism, the doctrines of grace, the breadth and the height and the depth of the scripture sometimes goes beyond it. We want to make sure that we emphasize the five points and we take great delight in doing so. We must make sure at the same time. that we understand the height and depth and breadth of all of the biblical teaching. We want to be people who proclaim the whole counsel of God. Now with that said, let's look at the specific points of the Doctrines of Grace. And of course, we want to summarize this in that famous acrostic tulip. I'm not Dutch at all, but many of you here are Dutch, and tulips are very familiar to people in Holland, and it's also familiar to the doctrines of grace. Now, of course, the first letter, T, of the acrostic tulip stands for total depravity. This simply means that man is a sinner. That man is a sinner, that he is guilty before God, that his sin has so rendered him powerless and helpless and unable to respond to God and the gospel. Because of the fall, we are depraved. Every aspect of our being, that's why we have the adjective total. Our mind, our will, our emotions, our heart are all affected by the fall. We are rendered spiritually dead, unable to respond in obedience and faith. That's not to say that we are utterly depraved, that every aspect of our being is depraved, in the sense of we are as bad as we could be. It's true that every aspect is, but often God in His common grace keeps us from being as bad as we could be. But it is to say that by nature we are guilty. We come before God without one plea. We stand under His judgment and we have nothing to come before Him and say, I have something to boast or I can earn my salvation. We are depraved. We're needing Him in every way. Thankfully, God didn't leave us in that condition. We come to You. Unconditional election. God the Father, solely on the basis of His own sovereign and gracious choice. It's a gracious choice because it's an undeserved choice. Chose certain individuals, the elect, a certain people, to be saved. He didn't have to choose anyone. But he chose certain individuals to receive his salvation. And as we heard the other night, there are individuals from every tribe, nation, people and tongue. It's a universal. But it doesn't, of course, save everyone. And we're seeing that, of course, in God's choice and God's election. It was unconditional. It wasn't based upon any foresight of God looking down the corridor of history and saying, yes, Joe Blow is going to receive the gospel when it's proclaimed to him, and therefore I'll elect him on that basis. All that God sees when he looks down the corridor of history, when he looks at you and I, is depravity, is corruption, is hearts that run from him, rebellious hearts. But out of His own sovereign good pleasure, He chooses us and sets His love upon us and calls us to be His children. But that brings us to L, limited atonement. God the Father, having chosen us to eternal life, now sends His own dear Son to secure that election. We are sinners. We need a Savior. We need one who will bring us before the Father. We need one who will take our place, who will bear our sins, who will satisfy the righteous demands of God's justice. And that is what the Lord Jesus does. He provides atonement. He bears our penalty in Himself. He takes our self as a substitution. He turns away God's wrath. He puts away our sin and He secures all the blessings of salvation for us. We've been looking at it in the evening. The blood of the Lamb is our hope. The triumph of the Lamb is our hope. And it's in His atoning work that He accomplishes our salvation. Everything necessary for our salvation is found in the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now it's limited. Now what does that mean? It's limited. Is it limited in its value? It's certainly not. It's not limited in its value. It's the Lamb of God. It's the Lord of glory who dies. It's of infinite value. Is it limited in terms of effectiveness? No, it secures all those whom Christ died for. What it means by limited is limited in terms of its intent, in terms of its purpose. It was intended to today those whom God had elected. Then we come to irresistible grace. This is the work of the Holy Spirit and applying the work of God to our lives. Because we are dead in our sins and unable to respond to the gospel, God the Holy Spirit comes to us sovereignly, graciously, irresistibly. He takes away the will and the urge to resist. He gives us new hearts. He gives us new minds. He takes away our hearts of stone and gives us hearts of flesh. He grants unto us the gifts of faith and repentance so that we are able to believe the gospel and to respond to God and to throw ourselves on our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, what distinguishes us from non-Christians is not because we were somehow more clever, not because we somehow came around and realized that we are sinners and that we need the Lord Jesus, but it's because He chose us. He set His love upon us. He opened our blind eyes. And He loved us before the foundations of the world. But then we come to P, perseverance of the saints and the preservation of the saints. This simply is the assurance that when we come to Christ trembling, stumbling, disobedient, that we can have the assurance that He will keep us until the end. That's glorious news. Perseverance and the preservation of the saints. You know, often as Christians we say, oh, I've made a royal mess of things. And I've failed the Lord again. How is it that I can be sure that He will keep me until the end? We can know that the same God who has elected us, the same God who has redeemed us, the same God who has regenerated us and opened our eyes, is the same God who keeps us until the end, who preserves us. That doesn't at all minimize our responsibility, our activity. We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, but we have that assurance that God works in and through us to accomplish His good pleasure, and that at the end of the day He will present us faultless before His throne with exceeding joy. And that's our great comfort as Christians, that He will keep us until the end. If He has gone to such great lengths to secure our salvation, He will never let us go. Now those are the five points of Calvinism. Those are the doctrines of grace in a very thumbnail sketch. And in a sense, Jerry Packer, in his introduction to John Owen's The Death of Death, He makes the point that these five points are really simply one point, aren't they? They simply emphasize one truth over and over again, that God is sovereign in salvation. Salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end. We have no reason to boast. We have no reason to come before God and somehow think that we have something to merit before Him. No, salvation is from beginning to end His work. Unless He did the work, unless He acted on our behalf, we would not be Christians today. Now, what are the practical implications of those doctrines? What should the doctrines of grace mean to us living in Canada, here in Canada, in 1994? There's many ways that we could approach this issue. And of course, I think if you were to ask somebody to speak on the subject of the practical implications of the doctrines of grace, everyone would approach it in their own way. Many might go and look through each of the individual acrostic letters, tulip, and begin to flesh out the implications of total depravity and unconditional election and so on. Now, I haven't chosen to do that this morning. What I've decided to do is look, in a sense, at the broad picture. to, instead of looking at the trees and the individual details, look at the forest. And to begin to ask a question that I want to deal with the rest of our time this morning. The question is simply this. What kind of God is presented by the doctrines of grace? What kind of God is presented by the doctrines of grace? Or more specifically, what kind of God is presented by the doctrines of grace which has been lost sight of in our day? which we must believe in and proclaim with great force and vigilance in our day? That is the question that I want to look at as we think of the practical implications of these doctrines. What kind of God is presented that we need to have a fresh sight of, that we need to proclaim in our day? Now there are three truths that I want to look at. The first truth is this. The God presented by the doctrines of grace, indeed the God presented by the Bible, is a God of unrivaled sovereignty. The God presented by the doctrines of grace is a God of unrivaled Now, I think it's clear that the Doctors of Grace present us with a sovereign God. I mean, just going through the acrostic tulip reminds us of that. That salvation from beginning to end is His work, unless He acted on our behalf, unless He took the initiative in election, unless He sent His Son to provide that triumphant work. Unless He had the Holy Spirit apply to our hearts and open our blind eyes, we would not be Christians, we would not be saved, there would be no hope for us. Salvation from beginning to end is His work. Now what the doctrines of grace present in terms of our salvation, God as being sovereign in our salvation, the Bible presents is true of God in all of His affairs in the universe. God is not only sovereign in salvation, but he's true, he's sovereign in every aspect of his created world. Isn't this what Paul states in Romans chapter 11? Romans chapter 11, in that great doxology, of course it has its direct application to the discussion that Paul was talking about in the great epistle of Romans, where he's dealing with sin and election and the atonement and the accomplishment of that atonement and the application of that atonement But, of course, it applies not only to salvation, but all things. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. From him. He is the creator of all things, not only of our salvation, but the whole universe. He's the creator. He is the originator. As we saw in Revelation 4.11, when we saw him on his throne, by him all things were made. Nothing was made that was not the result of his creative action. He spoke and everything came from nothing. Let's sink in a little bit. We love to affirm creation, ex nihilo, out of nothing, and we should. We think of the God who speaks behind creation, the God who sovereignly, just in words, creates, who flings the stars into the universe, who creates the intricacies of the human body, He makes all things. He is sovereign. From Him, all things come. Through Him, He is the sustainer of all things. He not only sustains us in our redemption, but He sustains the very universe. He is the One who flings the stars into space, but He keeps them there by His powerful Word. Hebrews 1 tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ sustains things by His powerful Word. He sustains you and I. Remember Paul when he speaks to the Athenians in Acts 17. He says of God, He says He is not served by human hands as if He needed anything. He's independent. He's self-sufficient. He's the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He doesn't need us. He's perfect in Himself. But He gives to men life and breath and all things. He sustains us. And to him are all things, time, life, history. We've been looking at Ecclesiastes in the morning, and we've seen that it's God who is over all. When we lose that, of course, life becomes meaningless. But when we keep our eyes on him, we see that time and life and history are not progressing randomly, without purpose, but with design and order. They're going according to his plan. And this plan of God will never be thwarted by chance or by fate or by even short-sighted men. It will be accomplished for His own glory. And a plan which includes you and I, not just the universe in general, but you and I. It accomplishes good for us. That's why Paul can say in Romans, as God's people, whether we experience trouble or hardship, persecution, famine, danger or sword, In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Now, is that just pious talk? You know, often we treat it as pious talk. But it's true precisely because He is sovereign over all things. The God of unrivaled sovereignty. Or Paul can say, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Well, that's quite a statement. How could he say such a thing? Unless the God who is over all is sovereign over all. Do you remember King Nebuchadnezzar? He had to learn this lesson, didn't he? He was the king of Babylon, a mighty man, probably the most strongest man in the whole world at that time. He was proud of his accomplishments. He was a very boastful man. He goes out and says, look at the kingdoms that I've built. It's so wonderful. I am so great. And so God, of course, reduces him to the likes of an animal. And he goes around for years eating up the grub of the fields. And then God brings him back to his sanity and he confesses really what it means for God to be a God of unrivaled sovereignty. God's dominion is an eternal dominion. His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples on earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him, what have You done? That's a God of sovereignty. Now, I say, is that God that we need to believe in and proclaim in our day? If you look around at society around us, do they believe in a sovereign God, a God of unrivaled sovereignty? No, they don't. Look at the polls. It's amazing to see the polls. In the United States, over 90% of people believe in God. McLean's poll that I'll be referring to throughout the message that was done a year ago. God is alive. Maybe you read that in McLean's magazine. The religion poll in Canada. High 80s or 90% of people believe in God. But is it a sovereign God? Is it a God of unrivaled sovereignty? I don't think it is. Look at the New Age movement that is flourishing in our day. A billion dollar industry in publishing. This New Age movement, of course, ultimately teaches that you and I are God. Well, that's hardly a sovereign God. I don't know about you, but I don't feel very sovereign. Of course, the New Age movement, teaching this, and people saying, I believe in this kind of God, I believe in me. It's not sovereignty. Or you think of people who at the same time say, oh, I believe in God, but then they live their lives, they create their own values, their own meaning, and they live without following His demands and coming under His Lordship. Do they believe in a sovereign God? Well, hardly not. You know, what came over and over again through in that Maclean's article was that They said, most Canadians are Christians, but they have a quiet and private faith. It's very quiet, it's private, it's not very public. They don't go to church, but they worship God in their own way. What does it mean to have a quiet and private faith? Well, it simply means that your faith is irrelevant, doesn't it? As Dr. Carson said, it's been pushed out to the periphery, out to the outside. It doesn't mean anything to you. The God that they worship and serve doesn't make demands in their life. He's not a Lord. He's not sovereign in any way. He's a God of their own making, a God of their own choosing. And I say, in our society at large, people do not believe in a sovereign God. But you know, also I'm afraid in the church that's the case too. You know, if I could caricature something, If I could present the modern view of God that we see in our day in the church, I'd present it something like this. Imagine an expert cook. God is like an expert cook. He's cooking for a lot of people, and he's busy in his kitchen. Everything seems to be under control. The bread is in the convection oven, the vegetables are defrosting in the microwave, the meat is cooking in the oven. The potatoes are simmering on the stove. The dessert is chilling in the freezer. Everything is going fine. The guests aren't supposed to arrive for a couple of hours. No problem. He's going to have the dinner ready. But then as time gets closer, some unforeseen things happen. The phone rings. So he goes over and answers the phone. And he gets into a long conversation and he realizes that 10, 15, 20 minutes has gone by and begins to sniff something. The bread's burning. So he tries to get off the phone, he gets the phone down, and he goes over and takes care of the bread. As soon as he takes care of that, he sees the potatoes all boiling over. Okay, he's getting a little frazzled here, and he goes and gets his potatoes and takes care of them, and then he hears a knock on the door. He goes, I hope it's not the gas. Sure enough, he opens the door and they say, surprise, we're early. He goes, Oh my goodness, I wasn't expecting you for an hour, an hour and a half. And he says, but you know, he doesn't want to show himself to be disturbed by this. And so he comes in and gets them situated and puts them down and sits them. And he comes back in and running through his mind. He forgot the base, the meat, the vegetables haven't been defrosted properly. The dessert hasn't been taken out of the freezer, but he's an expert cook. I mean, he's done this many years. He knows what he's doing. And so he pulls pulls out a few tricks of the trade. And these unforeseen circumstances are overcome, and somehow he pulls it all together. No one really knows quite how, but somehow he does it. And some of those things that took him by surprise, he overcomes. Now I say, I think to a lot of people, God is like that in our day. He's often surprised by unforeseen circumstances. Now there's many in our day who are beginning to teach that God He doesn't even know what the future holds. He can't even predict what we will do in the future. He's given us human freedom. And, you know, human freedom is very unpredictable. It's very hard to know what we'll do. I mean, sometimes the guests arrive early and we can't predict those things. Often he responds to needs and doesn't control them. But, you know, he can console us, he can sympathize us, he can meet us in our time of suffering and difficulties. But we're never quite sure if he's powerful enough to overcome those circumstances. And so sometimes the words of that Rabbi Kushner who wrote his book, When Good Things Happen to Bad People, he had a God who wasn't very powerful to overcome evil and suffering in this life. Often the church reflects that same view of God. But we're quite convinced that he's bigger than us. I mean, he is the expert. And so he will work out all things in the end for our good, but we're not just sure just quite how. We're a little nervous about it, but he is the expert. We'll let him do that. Now you might say, well, you're exaggerating the case. You're caricaturing it, and I admit it is a caricature. But I think I could document people who in the evangelical world believe a God like that. And if we're not so Easy to confess that we believe in a kind of God like that. You know, often if we're honest with ourselves, if I'm honest with myself, often practically I believe in a God like that. That's why I don't trust Him the way I should. That's why I don't call upon Him in prayer in the way I should, because sometimes I think He can't really meet my time of need. He can't really do something in the world that He has created. Maybe people do frustrate Him. But often we act like that where people sometimes are brass enough to admit it. Is it any wonder that I think the church in our day seems so lifeless? I think we've lost sight of God. And I'm not just talking about the church out there. I'm talking about you and I. Is it any wonder that the prayer meetings that we go are so empty? Because we really, sometimes down deep, don't believe that God will answer our prayers. Is it any wonder that our trust is found not in God? We often so trust counselors, government. In the United States, we're going through a whole health care crisis, and we're going through the rethinking of a socialized medicine, much like you have here in Ontario. And people, I think, put their confidence in government. The Church puts their confidence in government. We do, more than we do in God. Is it any wonder that the gospel in our day seems so powerless to change sides, to give people lives that are more than just a quiet and private faith? God's not looking for a quiet and private faith. He's looking for a faith which engages the world, which takes Him seriously, which has a vision for Him, which does His work trusting Him. Now, it's no coincidence that throughout the Bible, throughout church history, men and women who have done great things for God have always had a sovereign God before them. Let's look through the Bible. Think of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. How on earth did these men stand before the kings? Go to the lion's den. Go to the fiery furnace and say, you can cast me in the fiery furnace. Or you don't. It doesn't matter. My God will protect me. Let me believe in a sovereign God. Or think of Paul, who was stoned and shipwrecked and imprisoned, yet he keeps on preaching over and over again. What makes him do those things? Or you think of the Reformers, or the great missionaries. Think of William Carey, who this conference is named after. Men who gave their very lives to go to the mission field, who took great risks for God. The reason they did so was they knew that their God wasn't a risk-taking God. He said He had all things in His hand, and they could trust Him, and they could do great things for Him. These men throughout Scripture, these women throughout Scripture, and throughout church history, were not just stubborn people. They just didn't want to go up against the king because they had nothing else to do. They weren't superheroes. Often we view these people as somehow so distant from us, super people. They were just weak and ordinary people. They were just like you and I. But these weak and ordinary people had a very strong and extraordinary God. And that is what gave them the strength to do it. They didn't get up in the morning and eat their Wheaties or go to the gym and pump their iron and think that that's what's going to give them the strength to carry on God's task as they looked to Him and trusted Him. If you look through old scripture and church history, you'll find that to be true. They feared God more than men. They stood against the status quo. They took God at His word. And that is what we need to believe in and proclaim today. You know, the U.S. Marines have a saying, we're looking for a few good men. Of course, today you'll probably have to say, we're looking for a few good men and women. But you can't leave the women out. But you know, this morning, the sovereign God is looking for a few good men and women and teenagers and boys and girls. Not because he needs us. He doesn't need us, but he delights to use us. He's looking for a few good people who will take him at his word, who will trust him, who will have the vision of him as a sovereign God who can do all things, who will stop playing religion, who will get out of their little quiet and private faith, who will witness the gospel, and who will stand against the status quo. That is the kind of people that God is looking for today. That is the need of the hour. And the question is, will we be people like that this morning when we leave this conference? Will our vision be of Him who is on His throne and of the Lamb of God who triumphed? But then the second truth that we want to emphasize about the God presented by the doctrines of grace is simply this. The God presented by the doctrines of grace, indeed the God presented by the Bible, is a God of absolute authority. He's the God of absolute authority. Now, sovereignty and authority are very closely linked to one another. When you think of, say, the old kings who had in the feudal system their domains, they were the authority. Why? Because they were the sovereign, right? They were the ones in control. Their words were final because they were the ones who controlled things. Sovereignty and authority are linked. Now, of course, in the highest sense, God is the authoritative God because He is the sovereign God. He is the creator, He is the sustainer, He is the author of all things. And because He is the author, He is the authority of all things, right? Scripture tells us God has a plan. It's an eternal plan. It's a plan for the foundations of the world. It's an all-comprehensive plan and it covers all the details of His world. But God also is sovereign. He can enact that plan. He can bring that plan to pass. You know, I can have all kinds of plans of what I want to do in the world and what I want to go and what I want to accomplish. But if I don't have the ability to bring it to pass, the plan is no good. But God has a plan and He is also sovereign. He can bring that plan to pass. It will never be amended. It will never be thwarted. It'll never be changed. And as such, God has complete knowledge of all things. Nothing will take Him by surprise. He won't learn down the road that a new discovery has been made. He won't say, I'm going to have to rethink my plan, my knowledge on these things. He knows all this. He's omniscient. And because of all of this, His Word will never change. The very fact that we have an authoritative Word is because we have a God who stands behind that Word, who is a God of absolute authority. Now the Doctors of Grace present us with such a sovereign God, such an authoritative God. The Doctors of Grace present us with a God with a plan, right? He's an electing God. He's a God who plans out our salvation. He sends His Son. He accomplishes our redemption. He replies to our lives. He secures us. He has a plan, a plan before the foundations of the world. He's a God who reveals and communicates that plan to us in Scripture. He's a God who elects, as I've said. He tells us of our depravity. He tells us of our grace. He acts on our behalf. And He opens our blind eyes and hearts by authority. Remember with the Lord Jesus when He was on earth. They would say, what authority He has. What authority He has to cast out the evil spirits. What authority He has to forgive sins. Of course, our God has the authority. to open our blind eyes and to give us new hearts. He has the authority to say that all the charges against us have been dropped. When we stand before the Holy God and we stand under the blood of Christ, He can say, you are forgiven. You don't have to go to another court of appeal. I am the authority, I am the judge, and I declare you not guilty. Now again, what is true of the doctrines of grace is true of the Bible as a whole. You remember in Romans 11, as we looked there, it says in verse 34, who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? What is that? It's rhetorical language asking us, who can know more than God? Who is a higher authority than Him? Or we see in Isaiah 40, where these words come from. Who has understood the mind of the Lord or instructed in him as his counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him? And who taught in the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding? He's a God of authority. Remember, God speaks out of the whirlwind to Job. Who is this that darkens my counsel? With words without knowledge, brace yourself like a man. I will question you and you shall answer me." That's authority. Remember Paul when he opposes those who have a problem with election. Who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, why did you make me like this? He's appealing to a God not only of sovereignty, but of authority. There's no more final court of appeal. He is the Lord. And we're very thankful that He is a loving God. He is a loving Lord. He is a gracious Lord. But we must remember that He is the boss. He's the authority. He's the God of absolute authority. There's no supreme court above Him. There's no throne above His throne. He is the final court of appeal. And because he is the authority, he determines what is true in contrast to what is false. He determines what is right in contrast to what is wrong. He's the authority. Now, I tell you, if we understand this, this should mean something to us in our day. If we understand this and grind it into our bones, it should really make a difference in how we live in 1994 and beyond. The sociologists have said that our generation is characterized, our society is characterized as a society in a crisis of authority. What characterizes our society more than anything else is two words. Relativism and pluralism. Relativism is, simply say, that it's the idea that there are no absolutes, there's no standards, whether that be in morality, there's no rights and wrongs, there's no way to judge that a certain behavior is more correct than another, or whether that be in knowledge. We don't know what's true in contrast to what is false. We need to get our thoughts together, but we never, in our thoughts and in our interpretations, never come to the truth. Because there is no such thing. That's relativism. Or pluralism is the flip side too. Pluralism, because relativism is true, because there's no standard, there's no absolute, whether it be in morality or in knowledge or in truth, then all opinions are equal. How can you say that this person over here who is a Jew or a Muslim or a Hindu Or a person over here who wants to engage in homosexuality, or who wants to do an abortion, or who wants to commit suicide is wrong. I mean, who's to say? There's no God's eye point of view on these things. He's removed from us. He's not the authority. We are. And so we can live our lives where we want. We can have absolute freedom. We can do what we want and act like we want. And that is our society today. You know, there was a poll taken. not too long ago in the United States, and it asked this question. Do you believe that there is such a thing as absolute truth? Do you believe that there is such a thing as absolute truth? Two-thirds of those who were asked said no. That's a lot of people. 72% of those between 18 and 25, our college age, said no, even higher. They do not believe that there's such a thing as absolute truth. These are the same people that believe in God. These are the same people that believe that the Bible is the Word of God. You see these incredible polls of people who, 70 to 80% of those in America, and I'm sure in Canada too, say they believe in the Bible. They believe that Jesus is the Son of God. They put these things together because they don't believe in truth. It's relative. It's meaningless. I mean, you can believe opposites. And it makes no difference. We live in a crisis of authority. And it's no wonder that we see the moral crisis in our day. Everyone is screaming around us, what happened to morality? Divorce rates are up, abortions are continuing, euthanasia, homosexuality. It's no wonder. Our society has lost its moral anchor. It's lost God. You know, I'm 30 years old. I'm a lot younger than most of you. Many of you can say in your lifetime that you've seen a great change in society. I've seen it in my own lifetime. Let me give you an example. When I was in college, in the early to mid 80s, in Rochester, New York, I was at a free Methodist school there. It was a free Methodist camp, Roberts Wesleyan College. And I was studying science and biology. And at that time I had to do a paper on AIDS. Well, I didn't even know what it was. And then I began to do some research and they were still calling it GRID at that time. GRID it was called because it was called the Gay Related Immunodeficiency Disease. Of course they changed that because that wasn't politically correct, so we had to call it AIDS. And at that time, I mean, it was something that was just coming on the scene, just spawning, just burgeoning in the United States and Canada. Now, of course, you can't read your newspaper without it. Now, of course, you can't see the homosexual agenda that is going around us. Even in my short lifetime, I've seen a great change, and it's because of this. The ideas that were presented over the years have now had consequences, and relativism and pluralism have infiltrated our society. It's in truth, it's also in religious belief. It used to be that people argued about religion. that they argued about the truthfulness of religion. Think of the Reformation era. You read Luther. He's got a tongue on him that you wouldn't imagine. He lashes out at people, and they respond to him, and you wonder, what kind of conversation is going on here? Part of it's the time, but part of it's because they were passionate for truth. They believed that if you didn't believe in justification by grace through faith, then you were going to hell. And the other one said, if you don't believe in Mother Church, Then you're going to hell. They were passionate about it. They thought about these things. But today, oh no. It's your preference. Do you want God to be feminine today? Well, go ahead. Do you want Him to be masculine? Do you want Him to be all loving and get rid of the vengeful, wrathful gods? Well, go ahead. It's your preference. No one's going to hurt you. No one's going to say that you're wrong. That Maclean's article that I referred to. Listen to this graduate student from the University of British Columbia. I accept the idea of a supreme being, but I don't accept the notion that Christianity is the only avenue to God. My personal tradition is Christian, and I believe that it is a valid way to engage in spiritual belief. But I also see other faiths, such as Judaism, Islam, Native American Spiritualism, as equally valid. Diversity of faith is part of God's plan. At the heart of it is the loss of the God of authority, of absolute authority. Now there's many reasons for it, but that of course is the heart of it. But you know what's really sad? Is that in this same poll that was given, do you believe that there's such a thing as absolute truth? Those who identified themselves as evangelicals, 53% of those who did, said no. And that's sad. Even the church has given up, in our day, the idea that God is the authority. And I wonder about us this morning. Are we one of those 53%? Are we people who truly believe that He is the authority? That I can take His word and believe it, because it's true? That I can so guide my life by it, that it will not lead me astray? that I can so read it and obey it and find in it life, that it truly is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path, that I can begin to take it and think God's thoughts after Him, and I will not be led astray. I will not be going down a wrong path, but I will be knowing the truth. Of course, we do not have exhaustive knowledge, but we have true knowledge. And do we believe it? If we do, we will read it. We will memorize it. We will guide our lives by it. We will think through it. We will delight in it. We will want to understand the mind of God more and more and more. We will also pose a challenge to our day. That we will stand for the God of truth. That we will move out and those who love the doctrines of grace should be the ones who lead the call. that we must say there is a God who has revealed Himself, He has communicated Himself, He is the truth, and there is no other. Now, of course, we must speak the truth in love, but we must speak the truth. We must realize that in our evangelism with people, that people do not believe in standards, and we have to take them back to the elementary teachings of the Scripture, take them back to creation, take them through the Scripture. We must stand. No, this is not a day for wishy-washy Christians. It's really not. If you want to be wishy-washy today, don't bother. I say that of myself. We need people who will be inflamed with the truth of God, who will lovingly confront the world, who will say like the Luther of old, unless I am convinced from the scripture that I am an error, I will not recant. I cannot recant. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise, so help me God." We need to be convinced of that today. And the doctrines of grace present us with such a God, a God of absolute authority. Will we be such people today who stand for truth? Who, to our poor and aimless and meaningless world, present a message of hope? That is our calling. But then lastly, and very quickly, our time is running on. The God presented by the doctrines of grace, the God presented by the Bible is a God of unapproachable holiness. The God presented by the doctrines of grace in the Bible is a God of unapproachable holiness. Now, if you've been tracking with me, maybe you're thinking to yourself, I could guess what that last point was going to be. He's talked about a God of unrivaled sovereignty. He's talked about a God of absolute authority. I bet you he's going to talk about the God of grace. Well, I almost did. I was thinking about doing that, but the more I thought about it, the more I prayed about it, I kept having something come over and over in my mind, which you're familiar with, but we need to be reminded of. What is grace but something we don't deserve? That's the very definition of grace. Undeserved favor towards us. Now the question is, why don't we deserve grace? We know. We're totally depraved. We're sinners. We're people who come under the judgment of God. We don't deserve anything from Him. We're corrupt through and through. But why is it that sinners can't come into the presence of God? Again, we know. It's because He's the God of unapproachable holiness. We've seen that in the last number of evenings in the vision of God on His throne. John saw that. is that God is the God who's high and lifted up. He's the God is distant from his creatures. He's the one that we can't just walk into his presence. He's separate from us. He's transcendent. He's morally pure. And sin and this holy God are incompatible, and we can't come into his presence. He's not a savior. And this God will not compromise His character. He will not compromise it for anyone. That's the message of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Now, it's not until we understand this, that God is the God of unapproachable holiness, that the doctrines of grace, that the gospel make sense. Why did God go to such lengths to save us? Why did He go and elect us? Why did He send His own dear Son to die for us? Why did He have to die at all? Why didn't He just give us a moral code like all the other religions? Why didn't He just tell us how to live and how to get along in this life? Why did He have to provide, as we've talked about, a bloody atonement? Let me tell you why. If God didn't elect, if Jesus didn't provide a bloody atonement, If he didn't cry in the garden, if there be any other way, allow it to be another way, but not your will, but not my will, but yours. If he did not cry from the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Oh, dear Son, the Lord of glory. If he had not provided all that, if he had not provided an atonement which secured our redemption, which guaranteed us, which propitiated God, which justified us, which reconciled us, all these great terms of Scripture, then we would have no salvation. We would not be able to come into the presence of this God. We would not be able to come and say, overlook my sin. You're great on the curve, don't you, God? You're a God who, it's your job to forgive, as one freethinker once said. We're reminded that it's not God's job to forgive. He doesn't have to forgive. And He cannot forgive unless there be atonement. Unless there be atonement which is effective. An atonement of value. An atonement which secures an atonement which really saves. Or I could say it another way, unless the Father elects, unless the Son redeems, unless the Holy Spirit applies, there would be no such salvation for sinners such as you and I. And that needs to be drummed into our heads and into our hearts. And it must be believed and proclaimed in our day. You know, why do people seem to be bored with the Gospel? Why do people take grace, the word grace, so lightly? It always amazes me in the United States of America, where amazing grace has become a national song. And people sing of grace so lightly. Why is that? Why is it that people have a problem with unconditional election? Why is it that people have a problem with limited atonement? and with irresistible grace. Well, I'm sure there's all kinds of reasons for that. I think the heart of the reason is we've lost sight of the unapproachable God of holiness. Once you see that God is holy, and you can't approach Him, and you cannot save yourself, then you're very glad that He elects. You're very glad that He redeems and secures your salvation. You're very glad that He applies it to your heart and to your life. Until we see Him and gaze upon Him who is awesome in His holiness, unapproachable in His holiness. Until we gaze upon Him who no man can gaze upon. Until we realize that we profoundly deserve nothing. It's only then that grace makes sense. It's only then that the doctrines of grace make sense. Wonder of wonders. God has provided such a salvation. God has provided atonement. God has provided the Lord Jesus Christ to be the just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus. He hasn't compromised his character, but he's provided an atonement which satisfies his holy character and at the same time forgiving us. That's an explosive message. He remains morally pure at the same time the justifier of those who believe in Jesus Christ. That's the message that the world needs to hear. And when we realize that, we will have a message to proclaim. We'll have a message about a sovereign God who saves. We'll have a message of hope. We'll have a message that will change the rebel hearts and who will bring them to the feet of the cross, to the Lamb of God without any pleas, and find the Lamb of God there all in all. We need to proclaim in our day a God of unapproachable holiness that has been lost. And we who believe in the doctrines of grace, who pride ourselves in them, need to profoundly understand that He is a holy God. If we're to understand the wonder of the gospel, the exclusiveness of the gospel, we need to return here over and over again. What kind of God is presented by the Doctrines of Grace? What kind of God is presented which needs to be believed in and proclaimed in our day? A God of unrivaled sovereignty. A God of absolute authority. A God of unapproachable holiness. Are the Doctrines of Grace old-fashioned? Are they obsolete? Are they from a bygone era? I hope you've seen this point or not. They're not all that can be said about biblical truth, but at the heart of the only hope of the world, because they present us not with just doctrine, but they present us with the God who can save. the God who can open eyes, the God who can communicate and reveal Himself, the God who can save, the God who can usher in His purposes at the end in a new heavens and a new earth. If we want to speak to our world, if we want to be relevant, if we want to proclaim the Gospel in all of its glory and grace, if we want to exalt God and lower ourselves, then we need to return to this God, the God of sovereignty and authority and holiness. We need to shout His name from the rooftops And we need to go forward with confidence on our knees. That is the God who is presented by the doctrines of grace. And those are some of the practical implications of it. And may God impress them upon our hearts this morning for His glory and our good. Let's just pray. Our Heavenly Father, we confess that we take your word yourself too lightly. Renew our vision of you as you have been doing this week. Help us to realize that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. that this world that we live in needs to hear the truth of God. It needs to see it in our lives. It needs to see it lived out with our lives. It needs to be proclaimed with gladness, with confidence, knowing that the Lamb of God has triumphed. That the end is sure. That your plans and your will will never be thwarted. that even the most powerful men are like dust in the balance. Send us from here with confidence, looking unto you, the author and the finish of our faith, knowing that you are the great God, the great God worthy of our praise, worthy of our service, worthy of our obedience and worthy of our hearts to lift our praise to you and to tell others about you. May we be such people this morning. And we ask all this through the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Does the doctrine of total depravity teach that all men are equally guilty before God? Make sure I think carefully here. I would say all men would be equally guilty before God. Are you thinking of something else? Say that again? Yes, all men are equally depraved. In God's eyes, yes. Their depravity, of course, would show itself sometimes more. God's common grace keeps us from showing the full depravity of our hearts. But in God's eyes, I would think there's no scale that, well, this guy's more depraved, he's going to have a worse spot than another guy. Depravity is depravity. Break the one spot of the law, you break all of it. But, of course, depravity can take its effect in greater to lesser extent because of God's either restraint in holding someone back or allowing them to sin more than someone else. I guess the standard of our depravity, of course, would be the great commandment of our Lord is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. And I would think that Socrates and Jeffrey Dahmer failed equally in that. Do you have anything else? Does it matter? Well, in the sense of, I guess it doesn't make a difference in terms of our, I mean, you can say to somebody, well, you're going to be in a worse position in hell if that were true, if what you're saying is true. I guess hell is hell. So I guess it's good to think through that. I'm just wondering if it really does matter if we cannot come before God unless we have a substitute and a redeemer. I'm not sure if there's degrees of punishment in hell, whether that really matters a whole lot. If you could say that the degrees of punishment which you're talking about are not only based on your depravity, but also if you think of Matthew 11 in light of the extent of the light that has been given to people as well. So there are varying factors that would come into the depravity or into the judgment. Okay, why don't we move on to our next question. Brother in the green shirt. because you were talking about how you affect or how should a person live in the life of a sovereign warrior. That came to mind when I started thinking about my name and the history of the country. So I'm going to first of all, I'm going to talk to you about the war. And then I'd like to talk about the ministries of the family. And in light of Star Wars, how do you feel that should affect Christians in making their decisions regarding what are called family friends? I don't know who's going to have more difficulty, Steve, answering the question or me repeating it. But the scripture read was Isaiah 66 verse 9. Do I bring the moment of birth and not give delivery, says the Lord? Do I close up the womb when I bring delivery, says your God? And as I understand the question is, how do we understand that verse and family planning in light of the sovereignty of God? I would say that God's sovereignty involves both means and ends, and sovereignty in no way reduces our responsibility. And because that is so, God has given us minds. He's given us minds that can think through issues of where we are in life and what we are to do. And I would have no problem saying that we are in family planning to plan as best we can families. It doesn't contradict the sovereignty of God because He is a God of means and ends, and we are responsible before Him to act responsibly, just as we are responsible to evangelize and not leave it. to His sovereignty to do that, just as we're responsible to respond to the Gospel. So in this area, we are also responsible to come before the Lord, to think through what He would have for us. Of course, all of our plans don't always come to pass. Some of my children weren't planned that way, and so I take it as a gift of the Lord that His sovereignty is overruled. Even my faulty thinking, but I think before the Lord you think of all kinds of factors in life where you are in your situation and bring that before Him and let Him take care of that and family planning can evolve. There can be a proper family planning without sort of saying, well, it's up to you, and I'm not responsible to engage my mind and think through some of these issues. Do you have something to respond to that? Well, that's fine. We can have disagreement. I think the questions that you raise are very important. I think that's too much in our day, that we have succumbed to the teaching around us, the idea that children aren't very valuable, they're a hindrance, they're children that we shouldn't have. Some of it's rooted in selfishness, because we want to live our own ways. I mean, those are all concerns that are absolutely relevant and fine and good. My point would be to say, though, is to say to someone who says, I have three children, two children, three, four, and I feel that given maybe my wife's health, given my circumstances, given You know, a lot of things that we're going to cease having children now, the Lord has blessed me with these, and before Him bringing that, and if no more children come, I wouldn't say that they'd be wrong. I'd say that that would be something that is part of God's sovereignty and plan and ways that He accomplishes His ends. It seems to me that in the last 18 months I've had more people who tell me they are a four-foot carolers that come out of the walls at me. Do I just imagine this growing, or is this seeking of our rights, or am I just imagining this? Okay, the question is, our speaker has seen more four-point calvinists coming out of the woodwork in the last 18 months. Now, which is the, maybe to help the question, which are the four points or the one that they're not holding to? Well, we all know which point it is. It is limited atonement. It's a hard question to answer in terms of are there more now than before. Let me just give you from my experience. And my experience is very limited. So there's other people that have far vaster experience than mine. At seminary, I ran into a lot of people that call themselves four-point Calvinists. There's a number of theological institutions that promote that, and a lot of popular good teachers and pastors on the radio that label themselves as four-point. So it seems to be a very popular position. Whether people are moving in that direction, it seems to me that certainly in the academic institutions and also on even a lay level, people are moving not towards four points, but they're moving away from any point. And they're moving towards a God who doesn't know much of anything. That's happening at the academic level. We have our own famous Dr. Clark Pinnock at McMaster University, who denies that God knows the future. and the future actions of men, free actions of men. Now, you say, well, that's just an extreme view of one person. No, it's not. It's all throughout the theological journals and it'll be in the churches soon. Now, in terms of the four points, I think there's a lot of people that do that. Some well institutions do that. I think Dallas Theological Seminary tends in that direction, Moody Bible Institute tends in that direction, and some other institutions. Why they do that is unbeknownst to me. Well, usually the response I hear is that we are more faithful to Scripture than you. Yes, it logically follows from unconditional election that there is such a thing as limited atonement. That logically follows systematically. But when we have the text of Scripture, we do see these emphases on world and a universal call of the gospel. That's where people stumble over that. More and more people are moving in that direction. It's hard to say. There are a lot, though, that I've come across. Next question. There is a job going on, as we know it, and it's got to stick together and grow this nation, not just for occupational or anything, but for the country and the world around us. And I think if we do it, the nation's going to be strong enough to do it. And if we do not do it, we're going to have to change and we're going to have to do it this way ourselves. OK, there was more or less just a comment there that there's some concern on how many evangelicals are getting together with Catholics and formulating statements of faith. You know, that's, is everyone aware of that document? It's some very famous evangelicals. Now, some of these evangelicals who have signed it have now taken their name off of it. John White from Geneva College has done so. I think Dr. Packer has backtracked quite a bit. The question really would be, it's a good question, a good comment, and I think Dr. Carson would be a good one to ask on something like this because he knows all these fellows and the issue at Trinity has come up. Now, from my understanding of it, when I first heard of this sort of Catholic-Evangelical alliance, I had a person come to my church, and they brought me a newspaper clipping from Aberdeen South Dakota News. And they had a picture of people there, and they said, what do you think about this? Because these people were from a Roman Catholic background who had now since come to our church. And I said, well, I didn't read the article. I thought, I'm sure that is just they're getting together on moral causes and working together. And she says, OK, I sound a little bit more than that. I said, but you give me the article and I'll read it. I read it that afternoon and called her up and said, I'm sorry, it's more than moral causes. They seem to be trying to get together on doctrinal issues. And it's hard to say whether they're trying to say it doesn't matter, or they're just trying to say that we really are closer than we are. So it doesn't seem that they're giving up the sense of truth, but they're trying to say that the evangelical teaching, the biblical teaching, and the Catholic teaching has been modified, and so that they're very close. Now, I think that's very, very questionable. And I think we need to disagree with them. strongly on that and and I think some things are have been done recently to have some of those guys backtrack but it is something to keep watch of and it is a sign of the times and I think a lot of the reason this is just from limited experience in these things and I think dr. Carson be far better to analyze some of the motives of some of these things is But I think it's because we are reacting out of fear. Our society is collapsing. We want to feel that we are the moral majority, the old Jerry Falwell term. And we want to join together with as many people and say, hey, let's stop this thing. Let's stop this moral crisis. Let's get together. Let's stop fighting one another. And there's a good motive there in the sense of an ecumenical motive among true believers. You know, there are divisions with denominations and this and that, that sometimes we have to say, you know, on the essentials, we work together and we do have our differences and we hold to our differences, but we are brothers and sisters in Christ. But there's a danger that we go too far, and that seems to be the case in this situation. I think a lot of it is out of fear, is that we want to see ourselves as a majority, as something that we can promote to the government of the United States. Here's the Catholics, here's the evangelicals, you better listen to us. And I feel for that in the sense of we do feel our freedom slipping from us, but we do have to really have confidence in God's work and, in a sense, rebuild again. And I think that's what we've been hearing in the evenings, too, which I think needs to be done. Another question? See, with the sworn unit process, the practical implications of the doctrines of grace, in the reformed churches today, do you feel that there's too much emphasis on the doctrines per se and not enough preaching on the practical implications of the doctrines? Where do you do that? Is there a balance there, or is there something that you need to change? The question is, in our churches today, is there too much emphasis on the doctrines themselves and not enough on the implications of those doctrines? Well, again, this is a hard question to answer, and I'm very limited in experience. And one of the reasons I'm limited in experience is I haven't been, you know, I've been in the main evangelical camp for a number of years at the seminary, and now at a broadly evangelical church, the Evangelical Free Church of America. There, we don't have any people who know what the Doctrines of Grace are. So my experience in the past with the Reformed churches, yes, the doctrines are presented, and they should be presented. Whether it's not practical enough, I'm not sure. I think what I know from Pastor Payne and sitting under his ministry, I've heard, you know, that's about the greatest experience I've had, is it very practical. And so, you know, I guess it would all depend on each individual church. I guess what we want to do with the Doctors of Grace is, and I think this is the heart of all of what we want to do, I don't think it's one more than another, is to is to see the God of the doctrines of grace. That's what they're for. That's what doctrines are for. It lifts us to God. It lifts us to His truth and being amazed by His grace and then moving out. I think that's the motivation that we all want to have. take the doctrines of grace and realize that we do have a great God, who is the true God, who is on his throne, who is working his ways, and we can have confidence in this world, and we need to move out properly. And so I think that's the heart of what we're trying to do. Each individual church might be a little different, but I think the doctrines of grace are essential of what it is, you know, the doctrine of salvation. As I said, I think there's The Bible speaks of more truth than just those. Of course, you can't get away from those truths. But we need to take the whole counsel of God and apply it to our world and really be people who aren't afraid, even though I'm often afraid. And I'll speak on that tomorrow. Move out with confidence. And I think what is needed more than anything else in our Reformed churches as well as our Evangelical churches is we need the movement of God's Spirit to really, to enliven us, to take the truth of God and really run with it. And that doesn't come from just sitting and talking about doctrines, that comes from the Spirit moving us out. And that's what we need to really be praying for too. I think we'll have one more question. Anyone have a real burning question in their hearts? Okay, your hand's higher. That fellow with the beard in the back? The question is, can you relate the doctrines of grace with infant death and whether they go to heaven or not? I guess my response on that, of course, is that this is some unknown areas that scripture doesn't directly deal with. We leave things in the hands of the Lord, the judge, who does all right. And it's a very practical question for myself, because my wife and I experienced a miscarriage a number of months ago. Now, of course, the baby wasn't born fully, but it's still a human being. And that was a question you wonder about. And so, I think what the doctrines of grace give us is that God is gracious, he's holy, he's sovereign, and we leave it in his hands. There's no higher court of appeal. And I've taken comfort in David's words when his son died, is that I will go to be with him. And so, you know, I can't say dogmatically that I know, but I can say dogmatically we leave it in the hands of the Lord. And I think we do have confidence that infants could very well be in the arms of the Savior. I just can't say it was dogmatic. I mean, it's the same thing really that we have with children who are older. What do we appeal to? What do we trust? We trust that God be gracious. And how he works all that out, how he applies the atonement to them, I don't know, but it's the same confidence that we have that we trust God who does what is right. And whatever he does will be right and he will be honored and glorified. And we do have instances in scripture where there's confidence that children are in the hands of the Lord. But it's very hard to say that dogmatically. that that's the case. And I think, in one sense, Presbyterians, of course, have gone with their infant baptism in that. Of course, the best of Presbyterians would never admit that infant baptism regenerates, but it does bring you into the covenant community. And we have gone and said, no, that's not the case. But there's a sense where I want to try to keep the best of the Presbyterian in the sense of It's not infant baptism that saves you, it's personal faith in the Lord. But these children that God gives us, we try to nurture and raise, teach them how to pray, teach them how to worship God, even though they might haven't exercised personal faith. They're not covenant children, but we teach them and lead them into God's presence. trusting that the God of all grace will open their eyes and their hearts, challenging them and calling them to personal faith and obedience, and leaving that in the hands of the Lord. I don't know if that has answered anything. I'm not sure if anyone has an answer here. If you do, I'd love to hear it. Is there just one more question? We'll take it if there's several we'll have to pass. Just the last one there. For you to comment, most of the people here are obviously not in the ministry. We're all practical lay people. The implication of the document, the rank of a minister or colleague has referred to vocational and are accomplished with the expertise. Well, we can talk about that this afternoon if you'd like. You're saying that you understand that in the ministry we have a sense of a call, and what about in vocational work, whether there's that sense as well? Is that the heart of the question? How can you know whether your career is in the will of the Lord? No, the practical implications of this process are great. Fifth, finally, is the amplification of the impact of all the plight that you've heard us touch on before. And I just want to comment on how badly impacted it was to see what would come from calling. And that is, everyone had to be calling people simultaneously, and then enacting that calling to their specifics, their focus, and so on, and so forth. Certainly, the Doctors of Grace present us with a God who is sovereign over all affairs. He is sovereign over the calling of individuals. The Doctors of Grace also lead us to the great teaching of the Priesthood of All Believers. Every vocation is to be done to the glory of God. And I think the scriptural teaching on this is that it seems to be, and someone can correct me if they have some more understanding on this, is that we rest in where God has placed us in His sovereignty until we really feel that we should move out of there. So if we're called to a certain calling, We are to do that to the glory of God and until we feel that he's moving us out in some other direction for some major reason, either to the call of the ministry or something like that, we should stay where we are and work with all of our might and do everything we can to the glory of God. Not one calling I think is higher than another. It's a very high calling to be in the ministry and preach God's word, but it's also a very high calling to work with your hands as a carpenter or a farmer or work in a factory or work in business. And the implications of the Doctrines of Grace, I would think, would be that We take the truth of God and the grace of God and the sovereignty of God into all areas of life and see the kingdom of God expanded and grown, whether it be in whatever field that might be, whatever vocation. That might be, it's not directly just applied to the ministry, but all areas. Now I know that you probably have a lot more questions on that, and so we can talk about that later. We're going to close at this time. Let's close our session with a word of prayer. Our gracious Lord, again we give You thanks for this time that we have had. Lord, we confess that much of what has been said this morning by Your servant is not new to us. Lord, we would pray above all this morning that the things that we have been taught, the things that we do know, would be things that would, Lord, empower us to live faithfully and confidently and victoriously for You. That, Lord, that we would see that no matter what we face in this life, if we are in Your hands, if we are doing Your will, then we have a majority. And, Lord, may we go forth with that knowledge and be empowered by that, O Lord.