Alright, with those words, let's read from Ephesians chapter 1. I will read the first 14 verses. Ephesians 1 verse 1 to verse 14. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. making known to us the mystery of His will according to His purpose which is set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulfillment of time to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory. Well brethren, last week I came to the end of my series of expositions in the epistle of Paul to the Romans and chapter 9, 10 and 11. We had been looking at that for quite some time, seeing how the Apostle Paul wrestled with the whole question of why there was such a resistance to the gospel of God, especially from the Jews, almost a complete resistance to it. And we saw that the Apostle Paul first of all shown that it was according to plan, according to God's sovereign election. And then he went on in chapter 10 to say it was because from the human angle they were stubbornly continuing to hold on to their view of salvation, that it is through obeying the law. And then in chapter 11, the apostle Paul takes all that and shows how it is being worked out in God's sovereign goodwill in bringing the Gentiles in great numbers and in due season again according to his will somewhere across history to bring in the Jews in great numbers too so that ultimately the full role of God's elect will be filled. Apostle Paul ends with that powerful doxology that we looked at last week. Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and his path 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 God be the glory forever. Amen. I emphasize the fact that that's the way our Christianity should be. It must be filled with that kind of excitement. But it can only be so if we study God's way of salvation. which will knock us out of circulation. In other words, He doesn't owe us anything and ultimately it will land us in that place where we give God alone the glory and praise as is the case with the Apostle Paul here. I decided therefore it's a good place to take a break so that we handle other subjects and then in due season we will come back and pick up chapter 12 all the way to the end of the book of Romans. In taking this break I thought perhaps the first task that I should occupy myself with is to deal with what has been called historically the doctrines of grace. I thought it was a good time for us to just do a doctrinal study and then we will see how the Lord leads us beyond that. And part of the reason why I thought so is because we have a new generation of Christians who have been getting saved, joining the church and others perhaps coming in by way of transfer into town and consequently already saved but wanting to join Kabwatha Baptist Church. And I think it's just important for such individuals to know what we stand for, who we are doctrinally. the truths that possess in our souls that make us who we are and perhaps you might be in that category and so it is helpful to just once in a while listen to that which makes Reformed Baptists, Reformed Baptists. And so You may have heard of the phrase, the doctrines of grace, as you've been mingling with friends within the context of the church. But the question invariably must be, what do we mean? What do individuals mean when they speak about the doctrines of grace? Let me remove the mystery for you this evening, once and for all. That little phrase, the doctrines of grace, simply refers to, I'll use another phrase and then explain afterwards, the Calvinistic rather than Arminian understanding of the way in which God saves sinners. Now, when we say Calvinistic, don't worry, we'll obviously come and explain that in a moment. But clearly, when we say Arminian, your brain must be going, now what on earth are those things? It's part of church history. Christianity did not begin with us. We are 2,000 years down the line. Somewhere in the 16th century, there was a revolution in the Christian Church. There was a revolt, a rebellion, something that can be likened to Zambia's independence. You can't just overlook it if you belong to Zambia. Every so often, people will say independence. There or right now, everybody's singing jubilee, jubilee, jubilee, because we have entered into our 50th year. Well, in the 16th century, something like that took place. And historically, it has come to be called the Protestant Reformation. Basically, under the hands of individuals like Martin Luther and John Calvin and others, there was a breakaway in what is referred to as the Western Church. You don't need to get involved in those details. But there was a breakaway from the Roman Catholic Church. And that breakaway cost a lot of lives. Many Christians died. Many of them were burnt at the stake. But it still finally took place. And one of the main leaders of that entire rebellion was this gentleman by the name of John Calvin. who lived somewhere in a place called Geneva, Switzerland. Most of you will know at least that place. As he was teaching the Word of God, he finally died. And one of his disciples, in due season, did not quite agree with the way in which he and the churches that came out of the Protestant Reformation, what was being taught as the way of salvation. and consequently began to teach otherwise. And his name was Jacobus Arminius, and hence the name Arminia. His followers are the ones who finally put together an argument that they presented to the churches together, the Dutch churches particularly. And they were arguing in the Netherlands. that in fact God's way of salvation is different from the way in which Calvin and others had been teaching. The church took their argument seriously and put together a synod. That was now at the beginning of the 17th century. That synod took place in the Netherlands in a town called Dordrecht. And after well over 150 sessions, they proved that the rebellion that was now taking place within the Protestant churches was wrong. and that the position that had been taught by the earlier reformers was still correct. And it was the documents that were put together during that synod that are referred to as the canons of DOT. And the canons of DOT are the ones that when people looked at the five different lines of argument that came up with what has now been called TULIP. Now I'd ask my friends to, oh good, there we are. Thank you very much. I'd ask them to put that on the board for us. Basically, all they did was to take each of the arguments that was brought by the followers of Arminius and then they said no to that and instead put the opposite. So for instance, the followers of Arminius were saying that human beings actually possess a free will whereby they can on their own choose to become followers of God or not. Everybody has that kind of will. After the hundred plus sessions of this synod, they said no. Instead, they came up with total depravity. that in fact all human beings are born totally depraved and lack any capacity whatsoever to choose God. That left to ourselves, we will choose sin. Over the second one, People, I'm trying to avoid the technical phrases by which they were called, the followers of Arminius specifically said that God chose, yes, but what he did was to look into the future, see those who were to obey him in terms of choosing that way of salvation. And consequently, they are the ones he chose to save. Well, we go to the second one. The synod of God in their canons came up with the opposite, which was unconditional election. In other words, the election of God was completely sovereign. He did not look to see those who would choose Him, and then He chose them. He did it unconditionally. It was completely sovereign. Then, to the statement that Jesus Christ in fact died for everybody that has ever been born on this planet, the synod came up with limited atonement. That although Christ's atonement had enough value to save anybody and everybody because Jesus is God and consequently is infinite, he deliberately came to purchase only those that the father had chosen before the world began. They're the ones he died for. And then, against the view that human beings, that is what the Armenians were saying, that human beings have the power in and of themselves to resist God's call because God's call just goes generally to anybody and everybody and anybody. The church leaders that met in the Synod of God came up with irresistible grace. In other words, when the day and time arrives, when God in eternity had decided He was going to save you, His grace is irresistible. Yes, you've been stubborn all along, but on that day, He makes you willing to receive him as your savior. And finally, to the teaching of the Armenians, that a person can be a Christian and lose his salvation somewhere along the way because it's up to him to choose God. It's also up to him to un-choose God. they came up with the perseverance of the saints. In other words, those whom God saves, He keeps to the very end. He brings them to glory. So it is these five teachings that are in the acronym of TULIP that have in due season been referred to as the doctrines of grace. And the reason why this phrase has become popular is simply because the church has wanted to avoid using the name Calvinism because it gives the impression that Calvin is the one who came up with his teachings. And yet all he was doing was expounding the scriptures. That's all he was doing. and bringing out what the Scriptures teach. The fact that it was his disciple who rebelled against him is a historical fact, but it does not mean that these truths began with him. So whenever you hear the phrase, Doctrines of Grace, remember the little acronym, TULIP, told depravity, Unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and finally, the perseverance of the saints. Now, in this introductory message this afternoon, I want to answer two questions, just two. And with that, we will be done. The first question is, are the doctrines of grace biblical? Does the Bible teach that which we find in tulip? The second is this. Are the doctrines of grace important? In other words, can't we just say, okay, that's a nice thing. Thank you very much. Keep it to yourself. Let's get on with evangelism or whatever else it is. Those two questions, let me begin with the first. Are they biblical? Now what I propose to do in the next few weeks is basically answer that question in more detail. In other words, we will go doctrine by doctrine and show from scripture in depth that this is what the Bible teaches. However, Today, I want us to have a bird's eye view of these doctrines. I want us to simply as it were, hold our hearts and fly through them. So there will be no depth today, but I want us to see that this is what the Bible teaches. And it is in order to do so that I have drawn your attention to Ephesians chapter 1. Nobody can understand Ephesians 1, which is the basis for everything else that the Apostle Paul goes on to teach, unless he springs from this doctrinal understanding. So, we go backwards to T. total depravity. In which way can we say that Ephesians 1 teaches total depravity? Let's begin with verse 3. The apostle Paul rejoices there and says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us and I'm interested in that little phrase, us, in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Even as it shows us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. Who are the us that Paul is referring to and what is our state before we become holy and blameless. Because that's the ultimate. That's what he wants to do with us. He wants to make us holy and blameless. So, what is our previous condition? Thankfully, Paul gives us the answer himself. And the answer is found for us in the next chapter. Chapter 2. Chapter 2. And this is the condition. And you were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived, in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. The Apostle Paul there is clearly teaching a desperate condition. in which we were before God saved us. And he describes it as a three-fold bondage. A three-fold bondage. First of all, he refers to it as a bondage to the world. The world's philosophy the world's understanding, the world's worldliness, that we were enslaved to it. The second enslavement is an enslavement to the devil, Satan. We're not just neighbors with him, that he could suggest some things to us, no. He says, We were not just following the course of this world, we were also following the Prince, now that's a word of power, of the power, that's power again, of the air. The spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. The spirit that drives this fallen humanity. That's the second enslavement. enslaved to the devil, doing his bidding. And enslavement is not something that if you are tired, you write a resignation letter and hand over and say, look, I'm not coming tomorrow. I've quit. No. Enslavement is at the mercy of the one who enslaves you. And then the third is enslavement to our own fallen natures. And that's what he goes on to speak about when he says, among whom we all lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body, And the mind, the fallen body, the fallen mind, and consequently by nature we were children or objects of the wrath of God. That's the last bit. We are all born with a fallen nature. A nature that loves sin, that loves the world. A nature that cannot obey God, as the Apostle Paul says in the book of Romans. Now friends, surely, can individuals who are enslaved to the world, enslaved to Satan, enslaved to their own sinful natures, just decide to choose God? Of course not. They are not a pendulum that is simply hanging in the middle of nowhere and could go either way. No, there is a pull that is downwards. That's the reality. And so our spiritual forefathers began there. They said the state in which we are is a state of depravity. Then how do we become Christians? Back to Ephesians 1. Now that we have seen our condition, we ask the question, what is the first act that brings about our salvation? And that's how we come to unconditional election. Listen to this, verse 3. 3, 4, and 5. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Listen to this. Even, or because, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him, In love, He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. I could go on reading, but that's enough for now. He says, the first act of our salvation is that in eternity, God chose us in Christ. Despite all this reality screaming in his face. He's still in love. Predetermined our end. That's what predestination is. Predetermined our end. That we should be holy and blameless before him. That we might be adopted as his sons. That's the first step. It's unconditional election. The second step is limited atonement. And we find that fairly easily in verse 7. In Him, that is in the Beloved, in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have redemption through His blood. To redeem means to buy. It means to buy back. And the apostle Paul is saying, when Jesus died on the cross, that's what he was doing. With his blood, he was buying back to God those that should have gone the way of ruin. Now, that begs the question, therefore, who are those whom he bought back? Simple. who've just come from the previous verses. It is those whom the father chose from before the foundations of the world whom he predetermined that they would be adopted as his sons. Those are the ones now whom the son, the beloved one, comes and buys back. There's no fitting in other people there. limited to those who were chosen from before the beginning of the world and predestined to be adopted as his sons. The son comes and buys them back to God. He pays the price for their sins and comes to the father now and says, those whom you have given me, I've now paid the debt that they owed you. I've paid it. And of course, the Apostle Paul goes into glowing terms concerning what he will do with this. But let's proceed. What about irresistible grace? Verse 11, in him, still referring to Jesus, we have obtained an inheritance. Notice, we have obtained it. We have come into the inheritance. We've experienced that which we had been promised. How have we done it? Having been predestined, so that's where everything has come from, according to the purpose of him, and this is the point now, who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Let me try and put it this way to you. What Paul is saying is this, that God had already predetermined an end He had already determined what our inheritance was going to be, this great salvation. And then in history, because he works out everything according to what he had planned, he's now done it. He has fulfilled it. We have come in. And we are now enjoying that which is said we would enjoy. The point there is this. It's not us determining. That, OK, yeah, this looks nice. We'll choose it. I know that one. I don't really like it. It is him now fulfilling his plan. That's all. And as I said to you at the beginning, on the day appointed, which in eternity past He had already decreed that that would be the day of your salvation. He now comes to work out according to the counsel of His will, according to plan, that's all, by the Holy Spirit who now comes to carry out that work. In fact, if you've ever done a study on this chapter, it's an amazing chapter because verse 3 down to verse 6 is what God the Father does. Verse 7 down to verse 10 is what the Son does. And then verse 11 down to verse 14 is what the Holy Spirit does. Very neat. And each one of them ends with the phrase, to the praise of His glorious grace. You find it in verse 6. You also find it in verse 7, according to the riches of His grace. And then you find it in verse 14, to the praise of His grace. So clearly, in each one, the Father gets the praise for His grace, the Son gets the praise for His grace, the Holy Spirit gets the praise for His grace. When the Holy Spirit comes to save, you cannot resist Him when that day arrives. He simply comes to give you your inheritance in Christ. Finally, the perseverance of the saints. Verse 13 and 14. against stealing Christ. You also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, listen, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is a guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory. Now if words have meaning, This is about the fact that when God has begun His work, He will take you to the very end. You will enjoy the fullness of your salvation in glory. He seals you, and it's a deposit guarantee. Both of those arguments are about us persevering to the end. The sealing has to do with a document on which there is a seal. A seal speaks about guarantee. This is genuine. It's real. But it's also a seal that is put on an envelope. that you can only open the envelope when it reaches its end, where it's supposed to reach. It's sealed. Sealed. That seal guarantees that that document will arrive at the end and be opened only by the rightful recipient. The Holy Spirit in us guarantees that we'll get to glory. Now, President, look, I've only done just a simple section of Scripture. I haven't taken you anywhere else in the Bible. You've simply been in Ephesians 1, went into 2 to just find out who these people are, their condition, and back into chapter 1. And somebody should tell me that, no, the Bible doesn't teach these things. Are we reading the same Bible? Huh? This is God's way of salvation. It's the only way in which God saves His people. Which quickly draws me to my second question. Is this important? Clearly the question arises again because we're dealing with a new generation that are inheriting a Reformed movement. And it's very easy to simply come in and simply enjoy battles that have already been fought. A quarter of a century ago, there were hardly any Reformed Baptist churches in the whole of Zambia. And when the Reformed Baptist Churches began, it was under hellfire, with a lot of accusations and warnings. If you go that way, your churches will die. It has been divisive. Let's all just be one nice happy Baptist, general Baptist family. Forget those things. In fact, don't even teach them because they are very hard teachings, strong doctrines. God's people cannot handle them. No, that's for Bible colleges only. But a number of us felt this was verily the truth of God and must be taught. And because historically the wider body of truth is referred to as reformed from the Reformation, we'll pursue the path of being reformed Baptists. and braved the storm. It's very easy for a new generation to come up and just enjoy now the benefits of it. We go to a conference and see thousands of people and say, wow, it's nice. And it can just be a label, a mere label, nothing worth fighting for. So I want to give five quick answers as to why these doctrines of grace are important. First of all, it is God's way of saving sinners. There's no other way. And if God's truth is not important to you, I'm asking, what is? Is it honoring to God? to say that he first of all peeped into the future, saw the answer, and then came backwards and said, yeah, I've chosen you. Is that honoring God? What do you do to those individuals who leak examination questions? They peep there first, and then they come to write. What do you say? That they are honorable citizens of your country? And then that's what we begin to say concerning God. just so that we can argue that it all depends on human beings. Friends, truth matters. Truth matters. Truth matters. And if God has said, this is the way I serve sinners, who are we to argue with him? Who are we to say it's not important? It is. And we must fly flags high in saying this is God's way of salvation. Here's a second reason. The Arminian route invariably takes us in the direction of psychological tactics, which cause churches to bring in gods into their midst, saying that these people are shit. And that's what happens. Because you now start thinking that it depends on human beings on their own. You know what you do? Simply come up with nice semons. The semons that are emotionally moving, even if they are not really giving the gospel, but emotionally moving. And while people are in some psychological whirlwind, they're not quite sure what's happening, get the keyboard going. Turn down the lights. Say to people to close their eyes while it's playing, just as I am without one being played there. We don't want to embarrass you, but if you're here, And the Lord has touched your heart. Just slip up that hand. And even when no hands are coming up, I see that hand. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Another one. Thank you. OK, now I don't intend to embarrass you, but just come forward. Come forward. And it's your ushers whom you planted there who begin coming forward first. And that's what's happening. And in the process people are making such decisions and being quickly announced to be Christians and ushered into the Christian churches and consequently the Christian churches are full of unbelievers who've gone through the factory made system. There's no godliness, there's no godliness, it's nothing but the same total depravity continuing. And then you tell me that it is not important. It is! We are turning churches into a back door into hell. People are coming into churches being told they are Christians and then waking up with a rude shock when they die. Only to find God saying to them, I never met you anyway. You never called upon my name. You and I never met. Get away from me. Go into hell. Friends, God's way of salvation matters. If you honestly believe that men and women are totally deprived, then you know it doesn't depend on them. It depends on God. If you know that God has chosen those whom he is going to save, you don't resort to psychological underhanded tactics. No! You preach the good old gospel. After all, he has said that that's what he will use to save sinners. That's what he has said! So he simply preached the gospel! No pressure tactics! Preach the gospel! And sinners get saved. I've been in this pulpit now for over a quarter of a century. Not once did I ever make an altar call. But I look in pew after pew after pew, and I see individuals who've gotten saved in this church. No altar call. Sometimes an entire pew full of individuals who've gotten saved here. a full pew. I sit here and I bless God because He serves those whom He has elected to serve through the Gospel. The Doctrines of Grace also keep us dependent on God because you know it's the Holy Spirit who must serve It's not some special guy who knows how to tie together stories that will make you laugh one second and weep in the next until you are drenched in your own tears and then make you laugh again and before you know what's happening you are ushered into the front. No. It's God. And therefore, it's to him we must pray. He's the one we must ask, that as the gospel is preached, his spirit might act. That's enough. It's him. And therefore, our concern also is the purity of the gospel, because we know that's the means he uses. Is this the gospel? Therefore, when the doctrines of grace are believed in, you can't miss the true gospel. Men are sinners. Jesus has paid the price on the cross. Call on him and be saved. It's a very clear message again and again. The Doctrines of Grace also assure us of success in our labors because the elect will get served. They will. So we are like fishermen who go to fish with lines and hooks. And our only interest is to put that hook under the lip of the fish. That's all. We know that when the Holy Spirit begins to do this, it can re-go and re-go and re-go in the water. Nothing finally pops out of the water into the fire on the plate. Our job is to ensure that men and women hear the gospel. When the Holy Spirit begins to pull, His pull is irresistible. They will come to Him. Let me give you a fifth one quickly. I could go on, but in fact you'll notice the fifth one is a conglomerate of reasons. The doctrines of grace give us greater assurance of eternal salvation make us adore God more for His grace and cause us to consecrate our lives to God. Let me quickly say that again. First of all, they give us a greater sense of eternal assurance. In other words, since I'm saved, I'm going to heaven! Let all hell break loose on my soul. He saved me! He sealed me! It's a guarantee! So don't spend half my life navel-gazing, wondering what might happen to me if I make the wrong turn. No! I'm free! He saved me! It's His job to get me to heaven. And consequently, my energies are spent, first of all, in adoring Him for His grace, His superabounding grace. a grace that picked me from eternity, a grace that has come to bring His own Son, to pay the full price for my sins, my past sins, my future sins, all my sins, paid for in the person of His Son, His grace that one day sent the Holy Spirit, while I was kicking and screaming and calling Him all kinds of names, to convict me of my sins. until I cried out to Him to save me, that same grace will take me to glory. The sweetest word on the lips of those who've come to know this truth is that phrase that John Newton put together, amazing. So I worship Him, and then I consecrate myself to Him. Friends, such love makes me want to love Him back. Those who genuinely believe the doctrines of Christ, they don't save the Lord out of a sense of slavish fear. It is in view of God's mercies, in view of God's grace, let me offer myself as a living sacrifice to this God. So it's out of love, love loving Him back. Is it important? Are the doctrines of grace important? Yes, they are. Look at the difference they make. I mean, look at the difference they make. Friends, this is biblical Christianity. It is. Anything else is false. It just fills the church with God. It doesn't fill the church with the sheep of Christ. It fills the church with worldliness. It destroys true worship. Because people are just there wanting to enjoy the same enjoyment they were having in the baths, in the taverns, and in the discourse. They drag it into the church. It kills preaching. Because instead of preaching the good old gospel, men are reduced to motivational speakers. That's all they are. Motivating dead men to do dead work. until finally the deluded souls wake up with a rude shock in hell. You read about any major missionary movement in history, you know the main architects behind it have been individuals that believed the doctrines of Christ. And people tell me that when you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you stop evangelizing. Give me a break. History proves otherwise. There have been individuals that have been inspired by love to go and search out God's elect in every nook and cranny. They've gone. By hiding these truths and neglecting them, we are losing Christianity while our eyes are wide open. Look at how Arminianism is everywhere around you. Look at it. And we who know the truth are silent! We are silent. We are not speaking. We are not glorying in this God of glorious grace. We are not. We are losing Christianity while our eyes are open. I want to plead as we begin this series that we may seriously put on our thinking caps and realize that this is indeed, verily, the faith of God's elect. We should rejoice in it. claim it far and wide until the truth of God fills the land as the waters cover the sea. Amen.