PART FOUR

In Part 3 I discussed the special, unconditional love God has for His Elect. He so loved Elect sinners worldwide that He actually planned and predestined their salvation, carried out their salvation through His Son's work, and guarantees their salvation by His propitiatory sacrifice, prayer on the cross, resurrection, and mediatory office. He did all this without our affirmation, help or counsel! Christ and His righteousness is the basis of our salvation. It is by His grace we are saved, through our faith which are both His gifts to those He so loves, as He so wills.

Though John 3:16 is viewed by most Arminians as one of hope and love for all mankind, they neglect to read further. Verses 18 thru 21 condemn all who do not place their faith in Christ alone. It is here we again discover the dark side of human nature, called Total Depravity. The judgment of God upon men is this: man loves darkness above light. He loves evil over goodness. Because of this innate perverse love, man opposes Christ and all that He represents. He refuses to come to the light, Christ being the light of the world.

These verses condemn the doctrine which teaches man's free-will choice for Christ. Man, by nature of his first, fleshly birth, despises Christ and His truth. Man will not choose that which he despises. This is why Christ informed His disciples, I chose you, you did not choose me. The Elect are called Elect because God Almighty elected and chose them. They did not elect Him. God's choice of them was independent of anything they might have done, positive or negative. This is called Unconditional Election. Election has no conditions on the object of divine election. The decision to elect stems from the inscrutable, unbiased will of God. It stems from His will of good pleasure only.

That the sinner would never come to the light but for the drawing of the Father is further proof of Irresistible Grace. The special saving grace and love of God cannot be resisted by the Elect sinner. Just as the Universe could not resist the decrees of the Creator, Let there be light, etc., so, too, does the Elect sinner remain passive when the light of Christ enters his heart by the regenerating, omnipotent, creative power of the Holy Ghost.

That which God creates stays created. The Universe does not un-create itself. It will not pass away until God Almighty declares it so. The same is true of salvation, the greater creation and more wonderful work of God. Salvation cannot be lost by the Elect. It is impossible because salvation is the gracious love of God in action. And nothing can keep the Elect from the saving, gracious love of God. Paul goes to great lengths explaining this in Romans 8:35-39. Hell is the separation of the unbeliever from all benefits of the living God. Therefore, there is not one person in Hell whom God loves. If there were, then God's love, a major attribute of His Being, has failed. Sin is failure to hit the mark. If God has failed at anything, then God Himself is a sinner. If God is a sinner, then there is no true God. If there is no true God, then we Christians are deceived and doomed.

Jesus has made it known that he hates errant doctrine/teaching, (Rev. 2:15; 20). This ministry prays that through these short lessons in John 3 many Arminians will embrace the true doctrine in obedience to the Master, Jesus Christ.