Do Arminians Preach a Sufficient Gospel?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Our 144th consecutive week of episodes
00:00:09.960 | comes to an end today with a question
00:00:11.660 | from a podcast listener named Benjamin,
00:00:14.440 | who writes in, Pastor John,
00:00:16.080 | in his defense of Calvinism, Charles Spurgeon said this,
00:00:19.720 | "There is no such thing as preaching Christ
00:00:23.360 | "and Him crucified unless we preach
00:00:25.280 | "what nowadays is called Calvinism.
00:00:28.360 | "I do not believe we can preach the gospel
00:00:30.440 | "if we do not preach justification by faith without works,
00:00:34.860 | "nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God
00:00:37.040 | "in His dispensation of grace,
00:00:39.280 | "nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable,
00:00:42.660 | "eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah,
00:00:47.400 | "nor do I think we can preach the gospel
00:00:48.940 | "unless we base it on the special
00:00:50.740 | "and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people
00:00:53.980 | "which Christ wrought out upon the cross,
00:00:57.800 | "nor can I comprehend a gospel
00:00:59.200 | "which lets saints fall away after they are called
00:01:02.000 | "and suffers the children of God to be burned
00:01:04.160 | "in the fires of damnation
00:01:05.700 | "after having once believed in Jesus."
00:01:09.440 | Now back to Benjamin's question.
00:01:12.360 | He asks, "Now I love Spurgeon.
00:01:14.680 | "He is one of my most valued teachers,
00:01:17.440 | "but it seems as though this would render,
00:01:19.020 | "if true, ineffective the gospel that Arminians preach.
00:01:23.640 | "Pastor John, what is your opinion?
00:01:25.040 | "Can an Arminian preach the gospel effectively,
00:01:28.280 | "Christ and Him crucified?"
00:01:29.960 | - Okay, I love Spurgeon too,
00:01:33.360 | and as he was unpacking those points
00:01:37.320 | about the foundations and the riches
00:01:40.560 | and the heights of gospel truth, I was saying amen.
00:01:45.560 | However, my answer is,
00:01:48.280 | can an Arminian preach the gospel effectively?
00:01:51.840 | Yes, he can.
00:01:54.440 | Now notice, Benjamin did not ask,
00:01:58.360 | "Can an Arminian preach the gospel fully?"
00:02:02.120 | He didn't ask, "Can an Arminian preach the gospel
00:02:07.560 | "without implicit or explicit theological defects?"
00:02:11.880 | He didn't ask, "Can an Arminian preach the gospel
00:02:15.000 | "without tendencies that lead the church
00:02:17.880 | "in harmful directions?"
00:02:19.920 | He didn't ask, "Can an Arminian preach the gospel
00:02:23.360 | "in the most Christ-exalting way?"
00:02:26.100 | And my answer to all those questions would be, no, they can't.
00:02:31.800 | What he asked was,
00:02:33.480 | "Can an Arminian preach the gospel effectively?"
00:02:38.480 | Which I take to mean,
00:02:40.080 | can an Arminian speak enough of gospel truth
00:02:43.480 | so that God is willing to use it to save sinners?
00:02:47.000 | And the answer to that is yes.
00:02:49.680 | Now, let me say something about why I say this,
00:02:53.100 | 'cause this is important.
00:02:54.480 | We need to not understate or overstate the issues here.
00:02:59.480 | Why do I say that?
00:03:03.120 | Spurgeon said, "There is no such thing as preaching Christ
00:03:08.120 | "and Him crucified unless we preach
00:03:11.600 | "what nowadays is called Calvinism."
00:03:14.120 | And then he impacts on what Calvinism means.
00:03:17.000 | The problem with this way of saying it
00:03:20.960 | is that it creates an unrealistic picture
00:03:24.780 | of what really happens in preaching.
00:03:27.700 | He treats gospel preaching as all there
00:03:32.700 | or not there at all.
00:03:36.060 | And when he says it this way, it's misleading,
00:03:39.340 | because in fact, preachers, Arminian and Calvinist,
00:03:43.820 | always preach aspects of the gospel,
00:03:47.980 | different ways of saying the gospel,
00:03:50.780 | different emphases of the gospel.
00:03:54.420 | And all of us use language in preaching
00:03:59.180 | that at least sometimes is not perfectly clear
00:04:04.180 | as to whether the words that we're using
00:04:07.660 | carry a Calvinistic meaning or an Arminian meaning.
00:04:11.040 | They could go either way,
00:04:12.060 | depending on what you're intending by the words.
00:04:14.880 | We don't always specify.
00:04:16.820 | We can't, we can't qualify that often.
00:04:19.580 | So whether you're a Calvinist or an Arminian,
00:04:23.500 | you can't qualify every sentence you speak
00:04:27.220 | as you preach Christ to make sure
00:04:30.420 | that every sentence carries a distinctive Calvinist
00:04:33.820 | or a distinctive Arminian meaning,
00:04:36.780 | which means that the same Bible sentences
00:04:40.800 | about the death and the resurrection of Jesus
00:04:43.160 | will be quoted by both preachers,
00:04:45.460 | both Calvinists and Arminians,
00:04:47.140 | and God can use those Bible sentences to save sinners,
00:04:52.140 | even if all the Arminian
00:04:54.900 | or all the Calvinist implications of those sentences
00:04:57.540 | are not made explicit.
00:05:00.120 | So here's the gospel.
00:05:01.300 | Let's see if a Calvinist and an Arminian
00:05:04.180 | could say what I'm about to say.
00:05:05.660 | I'm gonna preach the gospel now.
00:05:07.620 | God is a glorious, all holy, all righteous, all just God,
00:05:12.340 | and created us for his glory.
00:05:15.940 | All people have sinned by not living for the glory of God,
00:05:20.940 | but preferring other things over God
00:05:23.900 | and thus dishonoring God,
00:05:25.620 | and we are by nature rebellious,
00:05:28.020 | and we cannot change ourselves without divine help.
00:05:32.940 | Therefore, we are all under the just and holy wrath of God.
00:05:37.940 | We will all perish eternally
00:05:40.820 | if we cannot be saved from his wrath.
00:05:43.420 | But God, in his mercy,
00:05:46.380 | has sent his own Son into the world, Jesus Christ,
00:05:50.020 | to bear the sins and to endure the wrath
00:05:53.580 | for all those who believe on him.
00:05:56.460 | Faith alone unites us to Christ
00:05:58.980 | so that his death counts for us
00:06:02.220 | and his righteousness can be imputed to us.
00:06:04.860 | Everyone, therefore,
00:06:06.320 | no matter how terrible your background has been,
00:06:09.100 | no matter what your ethnicity is,
00:06:11.280 | or intelligence, or gender, or socioeconomic status,
00:06:15.380 | or family background,
00:06:16.860 | everyone who believes, simply believes on Jesus,
00:06:20.760 | that is, receives him as Savior and Lord and treasure,
00:06:24.140 | will be saved and have eternal life.
00:06:26.260 | So turn from your sins and give up all self-reliance
00:06:30.660 | and trust in Jesus.
00:06:32.480 | End of gospel presentation.
00:06:35.500 | Now, I think both an Arminian and a Calvinist
00:06:40.700 | can say every word that I just spoke.
00:06:44.580 | Now, of course, we know that at several points
00:06:49.580 | in that gospel presentation,
00:06:52.060 | our beliefs will take us in different directions
00:06:56.980 | as we explain those sentences,
00:06:59.980 | and those differences really do matter
00:07:03.100 | as people grow in faith.
00:07:05.820 | These things are not, Calvinism and Arminianism
00:07:09.340 | are not a matter of indifference,
00:07:12.420 | but even before we make those differences clear,
00:07:16.500 | these gospel sentences are true as they stand,
00:07:20.660 | and God can make them effective
00:07:23.340 | in the mouth of both Calvinists and Arminians.
00:07:27.060 | What people who hear believe,
00:07:29.780 | now, this is a crucial statement.
00:07:32.860 | What people who are hearing the gospel
00:07:36.280 | believe when they hear those sentences,
00:07:39.300 | what they've believed about what God really is like,
00:07:44.300 | that will become clear as people are taught
00:07:50.500 | the fuller, deeper truth.
00:07:53.940 | And if the God they believed in,
00:07:57.580 | the God that appeared to them as glorious and desirable,
00:08:02.580 | proves not to be the true God
00:08:07.140 | and the true Christ of the Bible,
00:08:09.700 | that will become plain as truth is unfolded to them,
00:08:14.300 | and the false believers will be revealed,
00:08:17.560 | and the true believers will be confirmed.
00:08:20.120 | So my answer is yes, in this sense
00:08:24.380 | that I've just tried to unpack,
00:08:26.500 | an Arminian can preach the gospel effectively,
00:08:30.180 | Christ and Him crucified.
00:08:32.680 | - There it is, wonderful.
00:08:35.580 | Thank you for breaking that down for us, Pastor John.
00:08:37.620 | And if you're listening to this podcast
00:08:39.500 | and you have never trusted in Jesus Christ
00:08:41.740 | for your salvation, maybe the gospel is new to you,
00:08:45.260 | I would encourage you to listen to this podcast
00:08:47.300 | one more time and pray that God would give you faith
00:08:49.900 | to embrace this most glorious and most magnificent truth.
00:08:54.580 | Well, the weekend is upon us now,
00:08:56.940 | a good time to formulate that sharp and concise question
00:09:00.100 | you've been wanting to send in to Pastor John.
00:09:02.020 | And it's a good time to catch up on past episodes,
00:09:04.620 | all of which you can do through our free mobile apps
00:09:07.180 | and through our web home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:09:12.180 | John Piper returns with us Monday to talk to students
00:09:16.780 | who are feeling pressured at school
00:09:18.480 | for standing against the widespread celebration
00:09:21.220 | of gay marriage in our culture.
00:09:23.540 | I'm your host Tony Reinke, we'll see you then.
00:09:25.540 | (upbeat music)
00:09:28.120 | (upbeat music)
00:09:30.700 | [BLANK_AUDIO]