This is a sermon manuscript for January 31, 2021. This is the final lesson in a four week series on The Grace of God.
Introduction
I did not grow up with a truly evangelical understanding of the gospel. Though I was not familiar with the term, I was raised a thorough-going Pelagian, and when God’s Spirit opened my eyes and heart to the wonders of free grace, I had been laboring as a minister of the bad news of legalism for a long time. Coming to recognize that God saved men by grace through faith alone, apart from works, meant acknowledging that I had been wrong about many things I thought and taught for many years. But if I had been wrong about many things, I could take some comfort in the fact I had not been wrong about everything. After all, I knew there is a God, the Bible is his Word, and that Calvinism obviously could not be true. It wasn’t long before I joined the Society of Evangelical Arminians. Having repented of making war on evangelicals, whose side I had now taken, I was eager to redouble my errors to expose and refute Calvinism. Since I no longer had to worry about proving the average Southern Baptist was not really a Christian, I could focus my full attention on those unbiblical Presbyterians.
I stayed away from Romans and Ephesians, not because I thought either of those epistles actually taught Calvinism, but because I knew there were so many pesky proof-texts there which the Calvinists used. I was sure I would be safe teaching Genesis and Revelation and reading the OT prophets devotionally. There couldn’t be any emphasis on the sovereignty of God there.
I had always been told that Calvinism was a cold, logical, philosophical system and not the result of careful exegesis. So I was more than a little shocked to find that within the Society I had joined, most of the arguments were philosophical, not exegetical. The case against Calvinism did not involve thorough analysis of biblical texts but rather frequent assertions that if Calvinism was true, God would be a moral monster, indistinguishable from the Devil and unworthy of worship, followed by an appeal to John 3:16. On the other hand, the Reformed authors I was being exposed to were constantly quoting Scripture, a multitude of Scriptures, demonstrating from beginning to end that the whole Bible testified to the sovereign, free grace of God who chooses, renews, and saves whomever he wills. At the same time, I can’t say my classes in Genesis and Revelation were going particularly well. One Monday evening a student in one of my classes raised his hand and objected, “What you’re describing sounds a lot like Calvinism!” That couldn’t be--I was not a Calvinist! I only wanted to be biblical. But here is the danger in seeking to be thoroughly biblical: it tends to make a person a Calvinist.
I had no desire then to be a Calvinist, and I have no desire today to be one either. None. I appreciate many things John Calvin wrote and said; I have learned much from him. But I don’t particularly care what he believed, and I certainly have no desire to be his disciple. I only want to follow Jesus, and it was following Jesus that eventually led me to embrace the kind of sovereign grace that most people today refer to as Calvinism. I have to confess, I don’t like that term. But it is what most people call it, and I am not trying to be deceptive or hide the ball. If you think what we have been talking about for the last four weeks sounds a lot like Calvinism, you’re not wrong. But the question is not what men may call it. The question is: what do the Scriptures say?
What if God is more gracious than you have imagined? What if he not only made salvation possible but actually, effectually, decisively saves his children? What if the only thing you and I contribute to our justification is a need for it? We bring our sinfulness, and Jesus brings everything else, all that is required. What if you are not saved by the strength of your faith, but rather by the strength of the One in whom you have faith? What if even that faith you have is the gift of God? What if it remains not by the strength of your will but by God’s grace? What does our passage say? How can Jesus say it? And will you believe it or deny it because you imagine it cannot be true?
The Reformation was Never About the Necessity of Grace
It surprises some people to hear it, but the Reformation five hundred years ago was never about the necessity of God’s grace. Every Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian agrees God’s grace is necessary for salvation. We cannot be saved without it. If you take the time to read the Roman Catholic Catechism, you will find extensive discussion of God’s grace and its role in the salvation of the Church. It is not only incorrect to say that Rome does not believe Christians are saved by the grace of God, it is slanderous and sinful. The Reformation wasn’t about the necessity of grace. It was about the sufficiency of it.
What is the difference between necessary and sufficient? Necessary describes something that is required, but sufficient describes the conditions that actually bring something about.
“A necessary condition is a condition that must be present for an event to occur. A sufficient condition is a condition or set of conditions that will produce the event. A necessary condition must be there, but it alone does not provide sufficient cause for the occurrence of the event. Only the sufficient grounds can do this.”
All Christians agree that grace is necessary. But is grace enough? Can grace alone save anyone, or is something more required? You may say, “Obviously something more is required, because man must believe!” Yes, we all agree man must believe. But how does man believe? Is it something we do on our own? Is faith a property we contribute to the equation independent of God’s grace? In other words, must God’s grace be combined with my effort? Does God do his part and I do my part and together we accomplish what neither of us could do on our own?
The Bible certainly says we must believe in Christ, and no one will be saved who does not believe. But how does the Bible describe this faith? When Paul says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8), just what does he include when he says it is “not of yourselves”? In Philippians he said: “to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Php. 1:29). What does the word granted imply? We are granted the privilege of suffering for Christ, but we are also granted grace to believe. How does the Bible describe the event of coming to trust in Christ? What happened in Paul’s life to bring him to faith? Did Jesus appear on the road to Damascus and say, “I’ve come to show you your errors and ask you to let me be Lord of your life?” Not exactly.
Acts 9:4-20: Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” …
Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.” Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized…. Immediately he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.
Can I ask a silly question? How did Jesus know Saul would agree to believe and obey him? How did he know he would be a chosen vessel? How did he know that he would suffer for preaching Christ? Couldn’t Paul have declined? Couldn’t he have killed himself like Judas or run away like Jonah or simply refused to believe like so many of the chief priests and scribes? What happened?
A little later in the Book of Acts Paul and Barnabas visit Antioch in Pisidia and preach about Jesus there. The text says: “Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). Who believed? As many as had been appointed to eternal life. A little later Paul and Silas are in Philippi and meet a woman named Lydia. When they tell her about Jesus, Scripture says: “The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul” (Acts 16:14). What happens when the gospel is preached in the Book of Acts? Some refuse to believe and reject it. Some get angry and persecute the apostles. And some believe. Are those who believe better people, more honest, less sinful, smarter, or more deserving of everlasting life? Or does the Lord do something to bring them to faith? What does the Scripture say? And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
What if grace is not only a necessary condition but a sufficient one? What if it isn’t just an offer or opportunity but an actual power and work God performs to save his people? What if grace not only forgives sin and unites a person to Christ but also opens the heart, enables sinners to see the glory of Christ, and grants them the ability to believe?
Looking Carefully at the Text
Every sentence in these verses is precious and pregnant with significance. Every part needs reverent contemplation leading to worship. Jesus is making promises. Those who come to him (in faith) will never hunger, never thirst. But not everyone who saw and heard him would come. Only those whom the Father gave to the Son would, but none who did come would ever be lost. How could they be? The Son came into the world to do the Father’s will; he would not fail, but succeed. And what was the Father’s will? That all of those he gave to the Son to save would be saved, that not one would perish, that all would be raised to eternal joy on the last day. Everyone who sees the Son, who sees his glory and beauty, and who believes, is and always will be saved. But who will see him? Those given by the Father to the Son. If you believe in Jesus, that includes you. These verses are a peek behind the veil, allowing us to see what we could never otherwise know.
How Can Jesus Say What He Did?
I frequently use John 6:37 when dialoguing with people from the churches I grew up in, and there are three questions I usually ask them. First, did the Father give certain people to the Son prior to their coming to him in faith? Second, will all of those whom the Father gave to the Son come to him in faith? Third, will any of those the Father gave to the Son be lost? The answer to each of these questions should be obvious.
All that the Father gives me will come to me. Some are given by the Father to the Son, and their being given grammatically and necessarily precedes their coming to the Son in faith. This gift is referenced many times in the Scriptures, including in Jesus’ High Priestly prayer: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him” (Jn. 17:2-3). Notice that the Father gave individual persons to the Son to save, not just nations, not categories of people, not those who meet certain conditions, but specific individuals who then come to trust in Christ.
“They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.” (Jn. 17:6-9)
All that the Father gives me will come to me. All of those given will come to Christ in faith. But what if they decide not to? What if Saul of Tarsus decides he doesn’t want to be a preacher but would rather remain a persecutor? No, Jesus doesn’t come to bargain or beg; he knocked Saul to the ground and commanded him: “Stop that! Go preach!” and Saul did. Whenever and wherever the gospel was preached “as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed” (Ac. 13:48). God did not force them against their will or coerce them into serving him. No, they believed. They saw the beauty and glory of Christ, the horror and hopelessness of their sin, and they trusted in God’s Son. They believed because God opened their heart, just as he did with Lydia. Does everyone who hears the gospel believe it? No, many reject it. Why? Because they were not given by the Father to the Son. “He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God” (Jn. 8:47). The text is very plain. Whoever is of God hears his word and accepts it. You do not become God’s by believing; you believe because you were chosen by God.
“The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (Jn. 10:25-27)
We get this backwards. You do not believe in order to become his sheep. Only the sheep believe.
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. But what if they don’t believe? If they were given by the Father to the Son to save, they will. What if they stop believing? If they were given by the Father to the Son to save, they won’t. What if they sin in great and grievous ways? Do you mean like Noah did in drunkenness, or Moses in pride and anger, or David in adultery and murder, or Peter in denying Christ? They will sin in great and grievous ways, but if they were given by the Father to the Son to save, they will not be cast out. The same grace that brought them to faith will continue to bring them to repentance. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand” (Jn. 10:28-29). They are “kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1Pet. 1:5). And if they are kept by God, what power can take them away from him? Is the Devil strong enough to cause any of those to be lost whom the Father gave to the Son save? Is your will strong enough to thwart God’s purpose? Is your sin so powerful that God’s will for your life will fail? Are you more powerful than he is?
What are the Implications of These Promises?
These promises can only be true if certain things are also true. Jesus can only say that all of those given to him by the Father will come and will be saved in the end if both their faith and their perseverance are the result of his grace and not their own efforts. If I decide for myself whether to believe or not and if I am entirely neutral in that decision, then Jesus cannot say for certain that all of those given to him by the Father will come. But if he opens our heart so that we might believe, as he did Lydia, and if he convicts and converts us, as he did Saul, then he can promise what he does in our text. This is not coercion. It is not God believing for us. It is a new birth, a new heart, an effectual persuasion of the soul by the beauty, power, and grace of God. “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (1Jn. 5:1). Not whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ will be, consequently, born of God. Look carefully at what the Bible says. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is already born of God. That’s how he is able to believe, and it is why he believes. His heart has been transformed by grace. God is not forcing him, but persuading him, so he believes.
This promise can only be true if God preserves those who come to Christ in faith. We have to believe, but we can only believe if God renews our hearts. And we must continue to believe. No one who turns back, who denies Christ and refuses to repent, can ever be saved. But all those who were given by the Father to save will be saved, because the same power that changes their heart and brings them to faith will keep them in that faith to the very end. Again, it is not coercion. It is not God forcing someone against their will but persuading us of his will and sustaining our trust in him, even though we continue to sin and fall short.
These promises imply that God decided who he would save long ago and their salvation is a foregone conclusion. And what does the Bible say? When did God choose them? When did he record their names in the Lamb’s Book of Life?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will (Eph. 1:3-5)
It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. (Rev. 13:7-9)
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Rev. 17:8)
Everyone in the world will worship the beast, everyone, that is, except those whose names are in the Book of Life. Their names aren’t written because they chose not to worship the beast. They did not worship the beast because their names were written in the Lamb’s Book.
But don’t those who will be saved still have to make a choice? Yes, of course. The question is not whether they must choose to believe, but how they can choose to believe. Is it fair for God to choose to save some and not others? We have to decide whether we are talking about fairness or grace. Grace is not about what is fair. It is an undeserved and demerited favor. It is a power and gift that God applies to save those who deserve to be lost. Hell is fair, not heaven. God doesn’t owe us anything. We can’t complain if he only gives grace to some. The marvel is that there is grace at all.
Will Jesus accomplish the Father’s will? He already has. His work is secured by his death and resurrection two thousand years ago and by his continual intercession for the saints even now.
“This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (Jn. 6:39-40)
Will the Son fail? He can’t. He won’t. What could cause him to do so? Are you strong enough to thwart him? Is the Devil powerful enough to overcome him? Yes, evil men resist him, but will their resistance be ultimately effective so that God is unable to save those whom he plans to save?
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:31-39)
Conclusion: What If It Is True?
I’m not interested in theological labels and categories. I’m not here to convince you to join a particular tribe or team. But I am here to show you more about Jesus, more of his beauty, his grace, his goodness than you may have seen before. I don’t remember a time in my life when I did not consciously love Christ. My earliest memories include a perceptible love for the Lord. I do not belong to him because I eventually embraced the doctrines of grace, what many people call Calvinism. God’s people are not saved by their good works, and that means we’re also not saved because we have good theology. God’s people are saved by Christ. You don’t have to believe the doctrines of grace in order to believe in the Lord, but look carefully at what Scriptures says. You only believe in the Lord because these doctrines of sovereign, powerful, undeserved grace are true.
This isn’t about battling proof-texts. Read the Bible from beginning to end, and then end to beginning, and then again and again. You will see over and over that men must repent and believe in the Lord to be saved. They must do good works and live a life of worship and obedience. But you will also see that they do so not because they are better than others, not because they are smart or wise or strong, but because God is good. They repent and believe because of grace, and even when their strength and obedience fails, grace does not fail nor does God abandon them. You do not have to give up the idea that men are responsible to believe and obey God to admit that these ideas are true. You only have to give up on the idea that you are the reason you are saved, that your strength, effort, and goodness are the reason God accepts you. Faith and obedience are necessary, but grace is sufficient; it accomplishes everything God desires to do.
What if God is more gracious, more merciful, more powerful than you ever imagined? What if your salvation is part of a larger story, one that was written before God created the world? What if Jesus did not merely die for sin in general but had your name and many others in his mind as he hung on the cross? What if that were true? What a difference it would make in your heart and love and life. Good news: the Bible says it all is true. Love and follow Christ. Amen.
