Now last time we talked about the teaching of election, identified what it is, and we got into the thing of the division over election just a little bit in the sense that we discuss logic. And I want you to know that I understand, I hope you realize this, that we all have to use logic in reasoning through the scriptures. You have to, it's how our brains work. And the intention of what I said about logic last time was not to say, throw out your logic. But to say there comes a point in our logic as we address the issue of election where we're in so far over our head that to go any farther and to come to any further conclusions becomes presumptuous and dangerous if you get really dogmatic at that point, because now you're dogmatic on speculation. And that is dangerous. And in that sense, when you begin to become dogmatic where the Bible is not, To me, it's a waste of time to be adamantly divisive over an issue that the Bible's not clear about, when there is so much in the Bible that is so clear that we have so much between us as Christians, issues that are so clear, there's so much to fellowship about and rejoice about. Why become narrow, sectarian, and dogmatic on speculation when there's so much good, clear teaching in the Bible we can rejoice together about? It's a much better way to live. So you have to be careful with your logic, but you don't want to throw your logic out. Is that clear? I, for one, am committed to the concept of logic on fire. I like thinking through the issues of election. I like thinking through the issues of the atonement. I like thinking as a Christian. But when we come to the place where we disagree with each other, May God help us to learn to disagree agreeably. And that is a wonderful way to live. Now as we move through all of this, we come to this whole debate of Calvinism and Arminianism. And if it hasn't come your way yet, it will someday be at your door. My desire here is not to try to manipulate you into any kind of theology so much as to lay out what's there today, give you the facts. You should be a Berean. You should search the Scriptures yourself and see if these things are so. And I wouldn't want to rob you from that thrilling experience. And if in searching the Scriptures you come at a point in time to a disagreement with me, that doesn't bother me. Unless it's on an issue of the virgin birth, you know, or Christ dying for a sinner, that kind of thing, raising from the dead. But on these other details where your logic short-circuits and you're in over your head, hey, if you have a different speculative conclusion than me, that's alright, check with me in 10 years. Maybe we'll both agree by then. Or maybe we'll disagree on opposite sides of the issue. So, come to your conclusions, but I want to help you along the way if I can. Now, I have never sat in church and been explained what Arminianism is, though I hear it bandied about all the time. I've never been taken through the five points of Arminianism. I was never told along the way who Arminius is. So I want to take you through that today. Arminianism versus Calvinism is effectively this, man and his responsibility is the focus of your theology, that's Arminianism. Calvinism is God and His sovereignty, His omnipotence and His glory and His might as the focus of your theology. That's Calvinism. The two have been at odds for a long time. Now where does Arminianism come from? Let's start with that. Well, it comes from a man by the name of Arminius. Arminius was born in 1560. And he was a Dutchman, he was born and given the name Jacob Harmanson. But in those days as you became a scholar and you grew in your learning, it was fashionable to change your name to the Latin equivalent of whatever name you had. So he went from being Jacob Harmanson as he became a scholar to being Jacobus Arminius. And thus, James Arminius is how he comes down to us today. In the beginning, he was, interestingly enough, a student of John Calvin's teachings. So he was a, quote, reformed theologian, his theology coming out of the Reformation time, and grew up, really, with the teaching of John Calvin. But as he went along in life, he had a hard time When he came to this issue of election and predestination, he had a very difficult time with it looking like it wasn't fair. So out of a concern for the mercy of God, Arminius began to come up with these new conclusions which have come down to us today known as Arminianism. The five points of Arminianism were actually formulated after his death. in 1609. His followers came together and they said, well, let's articulate what he was really saying. So they put together these five points. At that time in Holland, Holland was basically a Calvinistic country. For example, Austria today is a Roman Catholic country. Holland was basically Protestant Calvinistic country at that time. So after Arminius' death, his followers got together and they put together this thing called the remonstrance which was an argument against Calvinism and they took it to the government and they said we want you to officially change the position of the religion of this country to reflect the teaching of Arminius as opposed to the teaching of John Calvin and those before him. Well it created such a ruckus that they called together a synod or a council to deal with it. And the council that they called together involved over a hundred people, actually, that they brought together to examine the issue. And it was called the Council of Dort. It was in Holland in 1618, and they came together 102 men. to examine the teachings of Arminius and find out if they felt that they were actually scriptural. So the question is, what were the teachings? Let me give them to you now. There are five points of Arminianism. The first point is this, that man has free will, free will to choose in the matter of salvation. Now you may have never thought through these issues before, so we may be going into uncharted waters in your brain. So I'll try to move slowly so we don't damage anything. Free will. Arminius believed that the fall of man was not total in this sense. that there was enough good left in him to keep his will free. In other words, he wasn't so polluted with sin that his will was warped. So that the idea then is that every man has a free will to simply unhindered decide to have a relationship with God. That is the free will teaching of the Arminian. Second point. is conditional election. Conditional election. Arminius believed that election was based on the foreknowledge of God in this sense, that God basically, I'll put it this way, God basically took a big telescope in eternity, and He turned it out toward time, and He looked down through time with His big time telescope, and He began to see human beings. He saw them hearing the gospel. He saw what their response would be to the gospel. And here and there was one that decided to believe the gospel of their own free will and accept it. So when God saw that that's what their choice would be, He then made the choice to elect them to salvation, knowing that they would accept the gospel when it was given to them. That is conditional election. That is God looking at man and finding a reason in that man or that woman to elect them. That's the teaching of conditional election. It's based on the condition of the man. Revolves around the man more than God. The third teaching in the five points of Arminianism is universal atonement. We're talking about the blood of Christ here. Universal Atonement. Arminius held that the redemption of man was based on the fact, now follow this, that God loves everybody, that Christ died for everyone, And that the Father was not willing that any should perish, so that the death of Christ provided the grounds for God to save all men, but each must exercise, again, his own free will in order to be saved. So, basic idea of universal atonement is that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world. The fourth issue here. is obstructable grace. Arminius believed that since God wanted all men to be saved, he sent the Holy Spirit to woo all men to Christ. But since man has an absolute free will, he is able to resist that wooing. Therefore, if you talk about election, God electing someone to salvation, what the teaching is, is that you could overthrow that elective decree of God. Frustrate His will, obstruct His grace. So it's the doctrine of obstructable grace, able to resist the will of God for your life. So you believe God's will to save all men can be frustrated by the finite will of man. Now there's an issue attached to this, which ought to engage your thinking quite a bit. In terms of obstructable grace, he also taught that along with this, as part of the same issue, that man exercises his own will first to believe, then he is quickened and made alive, regenerated by God. So that you believe and then you're made alive. You're regenerated by God. Now just because I'm smiling doesn't mean I agree with any of this. Just giving you the facts today. In fact, I'm not even going to tell you what I believe about any of this until next time. So just hang on and we'll move through the facts. So that obstructable grace has to do with man making his choice. He can either reject or accept God's grace coming to work in him. And he exercises his choice first and then he is born again. The fifth point of the Arminian theology is falling from grace. In other words, if you come to an Arminian and you say, can you lose your salvation once you are saved, once you're born again? The answer from the Arminian would be, absolutely. Well, why? Why would you reason that way? Because the Arminian reasons that if man cannot be saved by God unless it is the man's will to be saved, then man cannot continue in salvation unless he continues to will to be saved. So that if you have been a Christian for five years and you fall into sin, you get a bad attitude, you go along another year and you're worse off, you go a little farther, your attitude is worse, and pretty soon you're just losing all appetite and love for God, and you decide, you know, I don't even like God anymore, then at that point you would lose your salvation, you would fall from grace. So these are the five points of Arminianism. Free will, conditional election, universal atonement, obstructible grace and falling from grace. These are the issues then that were discussed at the Council of Dorton Holland in 1618. They got together 102 men and they had 154 sessions to decide whether or not these five things were biblical or not. And to come to an overall conclusion on the matter, is this overall theology biblical? And it may interest you to know, just the facts now, that the conclusion was rendered that the teaching of Arminius was heretical, heresy, false teaching. So that is the conclusion that they came to. Now, in all fairness, the climate at that time was extremely influenced by Calvinism. And certainly that had an influence in the conclusion. Now, as we move from here, I want to go now and talk about Calvinism. I want to insert something into your thinking that I think is crucial. A lesson to learn in life. I believe that as you move through life and you face issues, that the truth about an issue usually lies somewhere between the spectrum of the extremes. Doesn't matter what issue you deal with in life, there's going to be extremes, right? And the truth usually will lie somewhere between, it has to lie somewhere between the extremes. And if you can just take that and make that a part of your thinking, it will help you in life. Not on only these issues, but on all issues. Why? Because the devil traffics in extremes. You can take a teaching on anything, any issue in the Bible, and have a good basic theological truth from the Bible, and if you push that over the edge into an extreme, then the devil has a perfect instrument now to start doing destruction. So anything pushed to an extreme becomes destructive. So please learn this lesson. If you've never thought about it before, the truth usually lies somewhere between the extremes in a given spectrum. There are those who say that Arminianism is the only right explanation of how salvation works and how God works in redemption. On the other side of the issue, there are those who say that Calvinism is the only right explanation. Now you notice how Arminianism is very man-centered. We're going to go now and talk about Calvinism, and you'll know it's very God-centered. You say, well, where did this whole business of Calvinism come from? Well, it came from a man who was born in France, in Neuilly-en-France in 1509, whose name at the time of his birth was Jean Couvain. Jean Couvain. He was a Frenchman, obviously it's a French name. But you see, as Calvin grew and as he learned and as he went to school, the popular order of the day was get your Latin down and apply the Latin to your name, so he too changed his name. Actually, he did it first because he was before Arminius. So he changed his name to the Latin equivalent and thus Cuven became Calvinus and thus John Calvin. If you want to get a fix in world history about where all this is happening, in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. You with me? You know where we are in history now? Alright, just about 17-18 years after that John Calvin was born. And from there, he grew, was converted, and began to exercise his ministry. He was a very dominating influence at his time. Now, just as I said to you that Arminius developed his theology out of a great concern for the mercy of God, Calvin developed his theology out of a great concern for the omnipotence, the power, and the sovereignty of God. Calvin is one of the most misunderstood persons in history. Secular or Christian or not, whatever approach you take, he is one of the most misunderstood and maligned individuals in history. As is often the case when you have a dominating personality. In terms of his personality, he was not the warm, winsome type individual. He wasn't the charismatic type of a passionate personality that Martin Luther was. Martin Luther was born 25 years before Calvin. And he had this passionate, fiery personality, an infectious type personality. Calvin, on the other hand, was a massive intellect. The guy was an absolute genius. So, he brought his ability to think and to reason to the Scriptures. And what he did was he began to take some thoughts that others had on the scriptures from previous times and to refine them further. All of that is to say this, that Calvin's theology was not new, he took it basically and effectively from Augustine. Augustine lived in the 5th century. Augustine, now follow me on this, there's a reason for me doing this. Augustine in the 5th century was one who really contended for the grace of God and the sovereignty of God in his ministry. In terms of his stance on predestination, election, and all of that. Now, a man arose in the time of Augustine who was very concerned about man's role in salvation. His name was Pelagius. He developed the doctrine, basically, that salvation rests on man's end. And his idea was that in Adam's fall, the only bad effect it had on the human race was that Adam was a bad example for the rest of the human race. Don't live in rebellion to God type thing. But other than that, the human stream was left unpolluted. so that every child born is born with the capacity of full free will, it's not affected at all by sin, so that every human being born has the capability to live out perfectly the law of God, you're born like Adam. That was his teaching. Well, Augustine refuted his teaching so tremendously and so thoroughly that everybody absolutely rejected it by the time Augustine was done refuting that heresy. But then along came a guy named Kessing, and he picked up the Pelagian thing, he said, that's a little too extreme, let's back off the issue, get a little more blending here of what Augustine says, a little bit of what Pelagius says, and we'll have a new thing, they called it semi-Pelagianism. That's where Arminius picked up his teaching, from the semi-Pelagians. Very man-centered theology. And I'm not going to drive you nuts with all the details, but I want you to have the picture. Calvin gets his theology from Augustine. So here we are. We're back in the 5th century. That's where we are right now, in case you wondered where we went. We're back in the 5th century, and Augustine and Pelagius are going at it in this discussion of sovereignty and man's responsibility. Now we, if we could come forward, We're in the 90s now, 1990s, 1995. We still have this division, this debate that goes on about God's sovereignty, man's responsibility. You say, why are you saying all this? Why are you taking us all over this time travel? I'll tell you why. We're talking about a division and a debate that goes on here that has been going on since the 5th century. If, as you grow in your theology, and you begin to come to some sharp conclusions, you think that you are going to change what has been an endless debate and battle since the 5th century, then you have the whole thing in a nutshell, and you're the nut, and your head is the shell. It's just not going to happen. You see, the debate was around before you got here, it'll still be around after you leave. And I think we need to keep that lodged up here in our thinking, it'll help us, it'll temper us a bit. So, we come to discuss this matter of Calvinism. There are five points to Calvinism, that's probably more well known than the five points of Arminianism. What you don't know is that the five points were never articulated by Calvin. The five points of Calvinism were articulated to combat and refute the five points of Arminianism before five points of Calvinism. So what the Calvinists did is they put together five points just to counter the Arminians, to try to show really what Calvin had been teaching in a crystallized form. They came up with an acronym to make it easy to remember and the acronym is, does anyone know? TULIP. It's easy to remember. It's five letters, it's a flower, tulip. Let me take you through the five points of Calvinism, summed up with the acronym tulip. First of all, we begin with the T. What does the T stand for? Total depravity. So that the teaching of Calvin, others before him and since, has been that the Bible teaches that man is in absolute bondage to sin and Satan, and that as such he is unable to exercise his own will to trust in Jesus Christ without the help of God. That's essentially the doctrine of total depravity. In other words, man when he fell, fell so far he fell right out into spiritual death and that being dead in his trespasses and sins, he is unable in an unaided state to make any move toward God whatsoever. That's the doctrine of total depravity. The second thing, which is the U, that's the T, let's go to the U. Unconditional election. Unconditional election. So that as the Armenians believe that God looks down through time, he finds something in that individual, in the act of faith that causes him, gives him a condition to elect that individual. The Calvinist says, that God's foreknowledge is based not on something in the individual, but on his own plan and purpose. On his own plan and purpose. Not on the decision of the man, but if there is a free will involved, it is God's free will to choose and do what He wants. So that is the doctrine of unconditional election. Coming to the L, T-U-L, total depravity, unconditional election, we come to the L which is limited atonement. Calvinists believe that Jesus Christ died to save those who were given to Him by the Father in eternity past, so that in the limited atonement view, all for whom Christ died will be saved, but He only died for the elect. He did not die for the sins of the whole world, He died only for the elect. so that he died for the elect and they will be saved and all for whom he did not die will be lost, the non-elect. That is the view of limited atonement. And then there is the I, T-U-L-I. The I stands for, it's the fourth thing, it stands for irresistible grace. So the Calvinists believe that the Lord possesses irresistible grace that cannot be obstructed. In other words, when He makes a decree, He sends out His grace to elect and save a man, that that is irresistible and that man will be saved. Now, tied into that is how salvation actually works. So that whereas the Arminian believes that teaches that you believe and then you're regenerated, you believe then you're born again. Calvinists will believe that what happens to you is that you are regenerated by the power of God and then you believe because you are. So you see the difference in the two teachings? That is irresistible grace, the doctrine of irresistible grace. And the idea is if a totally depraved person wasn't made alive by the Holy Spirit, Such a calling on God would be impossible. You couldn't come and believe unless God quickened you first. Again, I will hold my comments on what I believe about all this until next time. Try not to smile too much in the wrong place unless you interpret it to be a stand and then you go away and you say, He took a stand in front of all of us on that issue and it's just, oh man! He actually said that this and that when in fact all I did was smile or something. So it's trying to smile in weird places and you know. Okay, total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, that brings us to the P, to make tulip. And that is the last thing here, it's perseverance of the saints. Perseverance of the saints. That is to say that once you're born again, you will persevere all the way to the end of your life, you'll never turn away from Christ. Not in the sense of backsliding, but turning away to deny Him and reject Him. It's the perseverance of the saints. Calvinists believe that salvation is entirely the work of the Lord and that man has absolutely nothing to do with the process, so all of God start to finish. So the saints will persevere because God will see to it that he finishes the work that he has begun. So there you have it. You now know the five points of Calvinism and the five points of Arminianism. You can impress your friends, mention it at lunch in Cocos, just drop off a few points now and then when the waitress comes by. Seriously, you now know what's out there. And I think you realize by now, thinking through these issues, just hearing them articulated, that the whole picture is a little more complicated than you might have imagined it before. Now it is worth pointing out that some of the most outstanding scholars in the history of the church have been Calvinists. Men such as John Owen. Some of the most outstanding evangelists in the history of the church have been Calvinists. In fact, in my opinion, the greatest evangelist who ever lived was George Whitefield. And he was a Calvinist. Charles Spurgeon. Don't put words in my mouth now. Charles Spurgeon said that he followed after George Whitfield as his role model in life. He said, I follow faltering in his footsteps, but I do follow him. He is my example. Spurgeon was a Calvinist. Charles Hodge, B.B. Warfield, J. Gresham Machen, D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, J.I. Packer, the list goes on and on. Some of the greatest thinkers in the history of the church and some of the greatest Christians, preachers, evangelists, whatever, have been Calvinists. So, you begin to realize some very gripping issues here. I want to suggest to you that as you think through the issues, I've given them to you so you can think through them. that you will help yourself a lot if you will avoid the either-or mentality. In other words, the people who have it nailed down on both sides are going to call you over to their side. And they're going to convince you that if you don't come all the way to their side, that you're shallow, you're not enlightened, you're stupid, and that you don't understand the Scriptures. I don't go in for the either-or thing anymore. I would rather go for the both-and approach. The both-and. Now, I still haven't told you what I feel about these different positions. I just want to say to you this. Have a desire for balance. Have a desire for balance as it applies to election and these issues. I think the greatest example I've come across was an encounter that Charles Simeon had with John Wesley. It was in the time when Wesley was so used of God and his evangelism and one of the greatest revivals in history was going on and Wesley was at the heart of it, leading thousands and thousands to Christ. One of his best friends who pushed him out into open air preaching to where God began to use him was George Whitefield. who was preaching to 20,000 in the open air, 30,000, and God was using him in an unprecedented way. Here are two best friends. Whitfield was a Calvinist and Wesley was an Arminian. And what happened was, of course, as it always happens, their followers started squabbling with each other. They were not squabbling, their followers were squabbling. So during this time, Simeon is preaching and God is using him in a mighty way. Now, he had told his students, he said, it is my endeavor to bring out of Scripture, this is Simeon, to bring out in Scripture what is there and not to trust in what I think might be there. He also said, take the word as little children without inquiring what human system it appears to favor. Simeon made it clear to everyone around him that he was not a Calvinist. He didn't want that label and he was not an Arminian. He said he wanted to be known as a Bible Christian. He said, be a Bible Christian and not a system Christian. One day he had the opportunity to meet John Wesley. Everybody was really concerned, what's going to happen when Wesley meets Simeon? Now, if you had been listening to Simeon in those days, you would have listened and listened week by week and you would have come to the conclusion, this guy's pretty Calvinistic in his preaching. But if you sat down with Simeon alone and said, are you a Calvinist? He would say, no, I'm a Christian. So he's kind of, you know, you know how word goes around. The word goes around, hey, Simeon's a Calvinist. But he said, no, I'm not. I'm a Christian. I'm a Bible Christian. Don't call me a Calvinist. So, you know, here's the followers of Simeon, the followers of John Wesley. Oh, what happens if these guys meet? Man, there's gonna be an explosion. So they finally meet one day. This is so good. And they come together, and they recorded this in their journals. Simeon said to Wesley, who was an Arminian, he said, I understand, sir, that you are called an Arminian, and I have sometimes been called a Calvinist. And therefore, I suppose we are to draw daggers. But before I consent to begin with the combat, with your permission, I would like to ask you a few questions. Not from impertinent curiosity, but for real instruction. Pray, sir, do you feel yourself a depraved creature? He said to Wesley, so depraved that you would have never thought of turning to God, if God had not first put it into your heart. Yes, I do indeed, said Wesley. And, sir, do you utterly despair of recommending yourself to God by anything that you can do? And do you look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ? Yes, solely through Christ, said Wesley. But, said Simeon, supposing you were first saved by Christ, are you not now somehow or the other to save yourself afterwards by your own works? No, said Wesley, I must be saved by Christ from first to last. Allowing then, said Simeon, that you were first turned by the grace of God, are you not now in some way or the other to keep yourself in your own power? No. What then, said Simeon, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God as much as an infant in her mother's arms in terms of your salvation? Yes, all together. And, said Simeon, is it all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you from now all the way to the end of your life to bring you into His heavenly kingdom? Yes, said Wesley, I have no hope but in Him to keep me. Well, sir, then, with your leave, I will put up my dagger again, said Simeon, for this is all my Calvinism, this is my election, this is my justification by faith, my final perseverance, it is in substance all that I hold, and as I hold it, therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and phrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially unite in those things wherein we agree and bless God and fellowship together. I love that. You see, here are two great men. They have their opinions. They have their backgrounds. They're working through the issues. In the meantime, God is using both of them mightily to save many souls and bring them into the kingdom. They meet and they begin to discuss the ways of salvation. They're on opposite poles theologically, but they find they have so much in common in their Christ. And they end up fellowshipping in the wonderful power of God to save human beings. I want to leave you with that as an example in your mind. I came across that years ago. It always comes back to me. When I read that, I found it in Warren Wiersbe's book, Victorious Christians You Should Know. When I read that, I decided on the spot, at the time I had been wearing the label Calvinist, whereas before I had the other label Arminian but having come around and around I was wearing the label Calvinist and I decided on the spot I will never again wear another label except what they first gave the Christians at Antioch the label Christian it was the world they saw them they said they're like Christ they're one with Christ they're like their leader they're Christians and they called them Christians the world did because they were bearers of Christ I read that story of Simeon and Wesley and I vowed I will never again be called anything but a Christian. I don't want it. I reject it. And you know what that has done for me? It has left me free to move through the world unhindered. And I can go on the mission field, I can go to this church, that church, and I can sit with people and they love to tell you right up front what they're all about. Now, I'm a Lutheran. You say, blah blah blah, I follow Luther. I remember when I was a kid, this guy came over all the time and he was witnessing to my dad all the time, I'm a Baptist. I'm a Baptist. Well, so what? And then I met a guy who said, I want you to know I'm a Christian first and a Baptist by choice. I thought, that's a little better. But why are we so quick? I have a real concern about those who are always, always, always, always having their affiliation, their system, whatever, it's upfront. And they say, well this is all about the glory of God, but really that's all you hear from them. When really what needs to be up front is this honest passion for the glory of God and Christ. Would you rather go down to your grave known as a such-and-such theologian? Or would you rather go down to your grave known as one who passionately, dearly loved and proclaimed Christ, the Christ who saved you? You see, I don't believe we're called to be system Christians. And that doesn't mean I don't think we shouldn't be thinkers. We should. And you should spend the rest of your life sharpening your theology, but get rid of the labels. What do you need it for? What does it do for you? Well, I'm a Calvinist, and I'm incensed that you would even attack my label today. I'm not coming back here. If your label means that much to you, go to the label house and fellowship there, you know what I mean? I'm an Arminian and I don't like it. You know, I had a guy the other day call up shouting on the phone about how everyone can lose their salvation and how it's his ministry in life to go around straight and pastors out that you can lose your salvation. I'm sorry. The very thing I'm trying to help you avoid is all these mistakes I've made along the way. And somewhere between the extremes is the truth. Now sometimes the truth might be on an issue more over here, might be more over here on another issue, but somewhere in the extremes is the truth. Become mature enough and loving enough that you can work on figuring out where you think the truth is, and if you meet someone who disagrees with you, don't mess up their Thanksgiving dinner with your newfound conclusions. This is the thing that's so sad. I have a friend, he's a great author, he's well-known, all of you would know who he was if I told you by name, and he told me one day, he said, what is with these people? You can't go for a drive with them, you can't go to McDonald's with them, you can't show up at a birthday party with them, without them cornering you and getting red in the face with their system. Whatever happened to Christians getting together and saying, you know, I feel like I've known you so well, and yeah, it's because we both know Christ. Whatever happened to fellowshipping in His love and being excited, you're a Christian too? Instead we get together and we're like two dogs meeting on the street. You're a Lutheran, huh? I'm a Baptist, you know? Oh, you're a Baptist, I'm a charismatic, you know? Whatever happened to your Christian thing? God, He saved you too, what has He done in your life? You see, that's what Simeon was trying to do with Wesley. And I pray that God would lead us more and more in that way, and yet at the same time we'd be able to give an answer to every man for what we believe. We'd have a clear gospel, well articulated, well thought through. You'd have a theology, even a systematic one, but that you don't fall so much in love with your system, that you become known for the system you love rather than the Christ you love. And I believe there's a big difference between the two. Well, next time we'll go on and we'll go back through all these issues, and I'll tell you the conclusions I've come to, after thinking through them. And then you'll be free of course, as good Bereans, to come to your own conclusions. Let's bow for a word of prayer. Father, thank you for this time together. Thank you for your work of grace and salvation. Thank you that there is forgiveness for our sin. I pray for anyone here today that doesn't know you and ask, Lord, that you would so work in their heart that this could be the day of salvation for them, the chains being broken, the guilt being lifted, the filth being washed away, and the love and the light of God replacing it all. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you died for our sins. Thank you that any who is a thirst may come. And thank you, Lord, for those of us that know you this day that We can continue to go on to know You, and we can continue to go on to understand the Scriptures, and continue to rejoice in the God behind the Scriptures. I do pray, Lord, for every one of us that as we study, and as we learn, that our great goal would be to find the God behind the Scriptures. To grow, Lord, in our experience from young men to children to fathers, to plumb the depths of the knowledge of God and rejoice in this great relationship with You that we can find only in Jesus Christ. For we do ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.