Introduction

Today we begin a new series of messages on the doctrines of grace. These doctrines are summarized in the five points of Calvinism. The five points are only a summary. And as you probably know, they come to us in the form of answers to five objections to reformed theology traceable back to John Calvin (1509-1564, hence the name: Calvinism). After Calvin’s death in 1564, the theology associated with his name was embraced by many and opposed by others. In the Netherlands, this opposition was forged by the followers of James Arminius, a Dutch theologian (1560-1609, hence the name: Arminianism). These opponents of reformed theology raised five complaints which were answered by a council of theologians and pastors that met for about six months (1618-19) in the city of Dordrecht (thus, the council or Synod of Dort). For short, their five replies are called the Canons of Dort.

You will recall that one of our main doctrinal requirements for an elder/pastor is that he embrace and preach the doctrines of grace defined historically in the Canons of Dort. Requirements for members are quite simple. Membership in the church involves faith in the risen Christ and discipleship/baptism under the authority of the triune God speaking in the sixty-six books of the Bible. In this context, being a member involves one other thing by implication: a willingness to be taught within the framework of reformed theology (cf. the reformed confessions as teaching guides), especially the theology of grace. It is in that spirit that this series will concentrate on these canons (to keep this commitment).

So, today, I am introducing the series with a message titled, "The Gospel of Grace." It is the grace of God; it is good news of God’s grace. We want to see what it is that is good news and in so doing see why it is good news. Now let’s explain these doctrines beginning with the meaning of grace (the title could be the gospel of grace explained point for point in outline).

1A. Grace

1) Grace refers to a unity with diversity

We should note that though the single word, tulip, is used to help us remember the five points there is a better single word for these doctrines. It is also a five lettered word; it is grace.

This entire series is about the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24). We will begin with the implications of Acts 20 with Paul’s address to the Ephesian elders, go to his letter to the Ephesians, his other writings, and to the NT as a whole. These passages will point us back in theme to Acts 20:24.

What I want to do is stress that these doctrines are like five fruit bearing branches on a healthy vine. There is much fruit and the branches are tightly intertwined. And what type of vine is it? It is a grace-vine. We can make distinctions about the fruit but it is all grace-fruit. It is all sweet and nourishing. I want to keep the unit in mind while identifying the distinct elements that make it up.

Every passage of Scripture on grace speaks to the whole but from different angles. We can illustrate this with a rectangular box or a cube (labeling the front grace). When you look at a cube, how many sides can you see at once? Straight on you can see only one side at a time. If you turn the cube slightly to the left or right, you can see two sides at the same time. If you turn and tilt the object, you can see three sides at once. But no more than three can be seen at one time. Our perspective is limited. The perspective we get from Scripture on the doctrines of grace is likewise limited. One passage may give us three aspects at once and another passage may only have two or a different combination of three. But no passage gives us all the doctrines in one paragraph. This is a rich topic, so rich that it is pleasantly difficult to take it all in at once. (Actually, all the doctrines of Scripture are presented to us in this way like a diamond with many reflections.)

2) Grace includes total depravity

A cube has six sides and there are five points of Calvinism. So it seems simple enough to place a name on each of the five remaining sides of the cube. Using the tulip acrostic the five points are total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. If we label the front of the cube grace, then we have five remaining sides to label. However, we have an immediate difficulty with the very first label. How is total depravity a doctrine of grace? This doctrine is the odd man out. Depravity speaks to human sin. Total depravity is a doctrine of sin rather than a doctrine of grace.

If we look at the meaning of grace and the larger context of Acts 20:24, we can easily see how total depravity is incorporated into the grace cube. Grace is an attribute of God. And it characterizes God’s actions. He does things graciously or by grace. For whom does He do these things, to whom does He give grace? He is gracious, obviously, to sinners. Here in Acts 20, the fact that sinners are the recipients of the gospel of grace is everywhere presupposed (cf. the threat to life posed by violent sinners, vs. 19, 22, 23, 24; the call to repentance from sin, v. 21; and the sacrificial death of Christ because of sin, v. 28). The gospel is therefore good news of God’s saving grace, the saving of sinners by grace (front side: grace to sinners).

3) Grace is sovereign

Grace is God’s favor to sinners; by grace God is good to sinners who do not deserve His goodness. He is under no obligation to do good to any sinner. It is free and unmerited grace. In Romans, Paul thus quotes the Lord as saying, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion" (Rom. 9:15). This leads to a powerful conclusion: "So then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills" (Rom. 9:18). With this conclusion in mind, we can appreciate the parallel of kingdom proclamation with gospel proclamation cited by Paul in Acts 20:25. The grace of God in the gospel is kingdom grace. It is therefore sovereign grace. It is the grace of a king who has ultimate authority, absolute rule, and final say over all that He created.

Thus we can fill out the label on the cube to read: grace to sinners. It is sovereign grace to sinners. Of course, this permeates the entire cube and intertwines with every part. It is the entire cube and could be written on every side.

2A. Total Depravity

But what does total depravity mean? What does this tell us about sinners? It is hinted at in the depth of sin indicated by the fact that in the name of religion people plan murders (Acts 20:19) and show themselves to be "fierce wolves" (v. 29; note the spiritual blindness evident). Paul is speaking here to the church at Ephesus (v. 17). In his letter to the church, he makes it clear that grace is given to people who were dead in sin (Eph. 2:1-3). Being dead physically means that you are unable to respond in any physical way. Being dead spiritually means that you are unable to respond in any spiritual way. Thus, it is by grace that God saves and makes the dead alive (Eph. 2:4-6). Total depravity means that fallen sinners are dead and are totally unable to repent or believe.

3A. Irresistible Grace (effectual calling or regenerating grace)

On this critical point, it is God’s saving grace that explains faith and with it repentance that is demanded by the gospel of grace (Acts 20:21; "testifying" means to solemnly charge and insist on with warning; there is more than an invitation or offer here, it is the command of a sovereign). For Paul goes on to say, "By grace you have been saved through faith" (Eph. 2:8a). It is important to note the sense in which we can say that we are not saved by faith. We are saved by grace through faith. Actually, we are saved by God in grace through faith (it is personal, sovereign, powerful, and wise). This helps to see how faith is a gift of grace (Eph. 2:8b). We were unable to believe but when God made us alive He gave us the ability to believe and caused us to embrace Jesus Christ (cf. WSC, A 31: Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.).

Salvation is not simply an offer of something good to sinners in need. It is that and more. It is a gracious bestowal by a sovereign king who freely gives life and faith to sinners in desperate need. For this we can only thank God continually.

We have entered here into the essence of the gospel of God’s grace. But our graph has two sides labeled (grace to totally depraved sinners on the front and irresistible grace or regenerating grace to totally depraved sinners on the top side). Four sides remain yet to be labeled and we have only three more points (unconditional election, limited atonement, and perseverance of the saints). Does this end the usefulness of the cube analogy? We can still use the cube illustration if we draw attention to the "sixth point" of Calvinism.

4A. The sixth point of Calvinism

By speaking of the sixth point of Calvinism we are simply trying to account for the fact that the gracious act of divine election (unconditional election) can be distinguished from the covenant of grace (not separated but distinguished). Consider our Lord’s high priestly prayer of John 17. Jesus speaks of His covenant people when He speaks to the Father about those that the Father gave to Him (the given ones, those given to Christ and for whom He was given all authority for a purpose: to give them eternal life, v. 2). This is called the covenant of grace.

Note further that these people who were given to Christ by the Father are people that belonged to the Father: "Yours they were and you gave them to me" (17:6). The Father owned them as His and He gave them to Christ. This prior ownership speaks of God’s election of sinners as Paul told the Ephesians, "before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:4; linked with grace, v. 6). Thus the Father owned a particular people and gave them to Christ. This owning in election and giving in covenant agreement explains the coming of Christ into the world. His mission was the fulfillment of His part in this eternal covenant of grace. He came to save those given to Him by the Father. Therefore, we find ourselves inescapably in the middle of the doctrine of atoning grace.

5A. Atoning Grace

Sovereign grace given to totally depraved sinners is called limited atonement when that grace is viewed from the perspective of the work of Christ on earth. Calling the sacrifice of Christ on the cross limited atonement has limited usefulness. It does convey a truth and it conveys it boldly and forcefully. Namely, Christ did not die on the cross for every single person from Adam and Eve to the end of time. Jesus told us plainly that in going to the cross as intercessor by priestly sacrifice He did not pray for the world (Jn. 17:9). His priestly mediation on the cross was for those given to Him by the Father and to whom He will give eternal life (v. 2). This is an important truth sometimes called particular redemption because the salvation of a particular people (the elect) was secured by Christ on the cross.

But that is only part of the picture as it is only part of the high priestly prayer of John 17. We have to think about what it is that Jesus petitioned, purposed, and thus accomplished in His mediation by death. He petitioned the protection of His own of all ages (the disciples and all the given ones down through the ages, v. 6, 20) from destruction (v. 11, keep them), and from the evil one (v. 15). He petitioned their sanctification (v. 17) and set Himself apart for sacrifice to that end (v. 19). His sacrifice secured their final arrival in glory (v. 24).

So it is good to call this limited atonement. But that terminology has its limits and does not convey enough; this doctrine of atoning grace is much richer than that. We can make this point by emphasizing the word secured in this statement: atoning/accomplishing grace means that the salvation of a particular people (the elect) was secured by Christ on the cross. The death of Christ in fact obtained the church (Acts 20:28). As the writer of Hebrews puts it, Christ our high priest "obtained" eternal redemption by His own blood (9:12, KJV). Redemption (freedom from sin) was obtained and forever settled and secured for those for whom Christ interceded on the cross, for those given to Him (Heb. 2:13-14). The issue here is not merely the extent of the atonement but the nature of the atonement; the issue is not extent only but more importantly accomplishment, nature, and richness.

6A. Persevering Grace

Finally, there is a bond between the eternal covenant, the cross and persevering grace. According to Hebrews 13, it is the blood of the eternal covenant that led to the resurrection of Christ and His exaltation as great shepherd of the sheep (v. 20; in Acts the church is God’s flock purchased by blood, 20:28). It is that sacrificial blood that grounds the benediction of peace and the equipping of the saints for the doing of God’s will. The doctrine of persevering grace is derived from passages like this one. It means that believers must endure in the way of obedience in order to enter into glory and they will endure in the way of obedience all the way to glory because "God is working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ" (v. 21b). Our working and His working in us are rooted in the blood of the eternal covenant (the cross of Christ flows out from the covenant of grace in which the Father’s elect were given to the Son).

Conclusion

1) In summary, there is a richness and fullness to the gospel of grace. The doctrines of grace can be summarized as different perspectives regarding the same thing. These doctrines constitute a single piece of cloth with all these threads interwoven together. They are inseparable but yet distinguishable. Sometimes we see two or three strands in the same context; sometimes only one or two strands.

Sovereign grace to totally depraved sinners can also be summarized by the language of plan, accomplishment, and application. From the perspectives (sides of the cube) of the eternal covenant and eternal electing grace we get a look at sovereign saving grace planned for totally depraved sinners. In the atoning grace of the cross, salvation was accomplished (Jesus obtained the eternal redemption of those given to Him in the eternal covenant, Heb. 9:12; 13:20; Jn. 17:2; Acts 20:28). By regenerating (quickening/making alive) grace, the salvation God planned for His elect and secured by Christ is efficaciously applied in bringing about the transition from death to life, from darkness to light, and from blindness to the seeing of faith (Jn. 3:3; 2 Cor. 4:4-6). By persevering grace, this efficacious application not only begins but completes our salvation: we are called to work out our salvation because God is working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-13; Heb. 13:21).

2) Interestingly, one doctrine that interfaces with all of these doctrines is the death of death in the death of Christ. The death of Christ is described as the blood of the eternal covenant that secured eternal redemption. It is the death of Christ that grounds the gift of faith in regenerating grace (Jn. 12:32) and the gift of obedience in persevering grace (Heb. 13:21). In other words, the cross of Christ secured the application of God’s plan. We cannot separate plan, accomplishment, and application. What was planned by election and covenant was accomplished by Christ on the cross and what was accomplished by Christ is being applied by the Holy Spirit. Thus, the application of the plan was secured by Christ on the cross. We have to say that the cross is at the very center of the gospel of grace. Of the five points of Calvinism, therefore, the doctrine of limited/certain/accomplished atonement is hardly the least important point. It is hardly marginal, peripheral, or optional as a doctrine of God’s saving grace to totally depraved sinners. It is the capstone of the grace of God in the gospel!

3) Therefore, it is called the gospel of the grace of God. It all depends on God. We contribute nothing so our weakness is not a factor in our salvation. Our salvation depends on the power, love, wisdom, of the triune God completely and totally. Thus, it is good news to know that Jesus secured the application of the Father’s plan by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit.

4) It is good news that humbles and comforts at the same time. The doctrine of grace unpacked in the doctrines of grace leads the way to praise and worship.

5) Finally, this good news affects how we live. The Calvinist, the one who believes in these doctrines of grace, is the person who is "determined to preserve the attitude he takes in prayer in all his thinking, in all his feeling, in all his doing." Thus as Warfield puts it, "Calvinism is, therefore, that type of thought in which there comes to its rights the truly religious attitude of utter dependence on God and humble trust in his mercy alone for salvation" (Shorter Writings I, 389). If you truly believe in the doctrines of grace, it will show up in your daily living for the glory of God by obedience to the law of your sovereign.