The
Reformation: Its Causes and Its Theology
Lesson
9: The Theology of the Reformation: Irresistible
Grace
By John C. Orlando, Jr.
“Come
and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done
for my soul.” Psalm 66:16
I.
Definition
A. It
doesn’t mean: God forces people
“kicking and screaming” to believe against their will, or that people do not
ever resist the working of the Holy Spirit in their life.
B. It means:
The Spirit applies to the elect the benefits of
Christ’s atonement by changing their hearts and renewing their wills, enabling
them to freely choose Christ. God
raises dead sinners to life.
II.
Two Views:
A. Man is spiritually sick. While still in his unregenerate state, he must cooperate with grace to be saved. Saving faith precedes regeneration. Faith is not a gift, but mans contribution.
B. Man is spiritually dead. In unregenerate state, he can’t cooperate with grace—he can only resist it. Grace overcomes our resistance. Regeneration precedes saving faith. Faith is a gift.
III. The Problem: Total Depravity/Spiritual bondage (Ro 8:7; 1 Cor 2:14; 2 Tim 2:24-26)
IV.
The Remedy
A. God’s sovereign will – All that God has determined to save will be saved.
B. God’s sovereign power – He raises His people from spiritual deadness to spiritual life.
V.
Quotes
"For so much is the will of the saints inflamed by the Holy Spirit, that they are able, because they are willing; and willing, because God worketh in them so to will." – Augustine
“Conversion
of the will is the effect of Divine grace inwardly bestowed.” – John Calvin
“Faith
does not proceed from ourselves, but is the fruit of spiritual regeneration.”
– John Calvin
“A
man is not saved against his will, but he is made willing by the operation of
the Holy Ghost. A mighty grace which he does not wish to resist enters into the
man, disarms him, makes a new creature of him, and he is saved.” – Charles
Haddon Spurgeon
“It is not a question of the
sinners willingness or unwillingness, for by nature all are unwilling.
Willingness to come to Christ is the finished product of Divine power
operating in the human heart and will in overcoming man’s inherent and chronic
enmity.” – A.W. Pink
“Divine birth can have only one origin: God.” - James White
VI. The Scriptures: Dt 30:6; Ps 65:4; Pr 16:9; Is 42:7; Ez 11:19-20,36:26; Mt 13:11,16:17; Jn 1:12-13; 3:3, 6:37,44,65; 8:42-47;10:26-27; Lk 24:45; Acts 2:39,13:48,18:27; Rom 8:28-30; 9:11,16,10:17;11:6-7; 1 Co 2:10;4:7;12:3; 2 Co 4:3-6; Ga 1:15-16; Eph 2:4-6, 8-10; Phil 1:29, 2:12-13; Col 3:9; 2 Thes 2:13; 2 Tm 1:9; Titus 3:5-7; 1 Pt 1:23
VII.
Conclusion
God supernaturally disarms our hostility toward him in regeneration. Salvation is all of grace.
It
is by grace through faith that we are saved…it is through grace that we
believe (Ep 2:8; Ac
18:27)