(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

In Acts chapter 9, we're continuing our series on the Protestant Reformation, and if you've been here for the series, you know that basically I've shown that the Protestant Reformation was pretty much just Catholics only slightly reforming the Catholic Church. It wasn't our Baptist heritage. Now next week is going to be the sermon that's going to really show our Baptist heritage, which is the one I'm excited about, because there's a lot of history of basically our people 500 years ago being persecuted and killed by both the Catholics and the Protestants. This is the last sermon in terms of the false branches of the Protestant Reformation, and this is on the John Calvin branch. This is on the one that's really kind of endured time, because this doctrine of Calvinism named after John Calvin is still around today. It's very common in Baptist churches here in the Philippines. Many Baptist pastors here believe in Calvinism. They teach Calvinism, and we're going to see in this sermon that that's a false doctrine. Before I show you the problems with that philosophy, though, I'm going to kind of give you a bit of the history of John Calvin and show you that the Presbyterians were just Catholics, just changed a very slight bit. John Calvin was born on July 19, 1509 in France, and he was basically a hardcore Catholic, but in 1530, he separated from the Catholic Church, much like Martin Luther and other Catholic priests that kind of formed the Protestant Reformation. In 1536, he wrote what was known as the Institutes of the Christian Religion. This is one of the most famous Christian so-called books, one of the big commentaries on the Bible where it's a whole book on basically his Calvinistic philosophy. He died in 1564 in Geneva, and one of his big followers was a guy by the name of John Knox. So John Knox believed kind of the same things as John Calvin, and John Calvin, he didn't really form the Presbyterians, but the Presbyterians kind of formed based off his legacy. So it's a little bit different than Martin Luther, because Martin Luther kind of started the Lutherans, whereas Presbyterians kind of came after John Calvin based on his teachings, but he didn't really necessarily directly form them. Now one thing I want you to know and understand about him, because obviously Presbyterians today, they're very liberal, they're very similar to United Methodists and the Lutherans, but one thing is this, I'll prove to you that they were very much Catholic. I'll show you a verse here in a second, but here's a quote on the Apostles' Creed, which is read every week at Westminster Presbyterian Church, which is a famous Presbyterian church, and this is going to be read pretty much in every single Presbyterian church. Every week they say something like this, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, He descended into hell, the third day He rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic church. So every week in the Presbyterian church they say, I believe in the holy Catholic church. Now I grew up Protestant, and every single week you say, we believe in the holy Catholic church, and then when you ask them, why are we saying, I mean we're not Catholic, so why are we saying we believe in the Catholic church, and it's like, well we're just talking about the universal church, okay? Well here's a problem with that, the Bible does not teach a universal church that we're all members of, okay? Notice what it says in Acts 9 verse 31, I'm only going to show you one verse on this, because I've talked about this in the previous sermons, but notice what it says in Acts chapter 9 verse 31, Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified in walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied. Notice in verse 31, it talks about the churches, plural, because there's multiple churches. We're not all part of the same universal church, the Bible does not teach that. The analogies in the Bible are the fact that we are a body. Your body must be together, okay? Look, if part of your body's in Europe right now, there's a problem with that, okay? Your body must be together, and the members are the parts of that body, and so the church body is the local body. The Bible never teaches a universal church except when it talks about being in heaven. The difference is, everybody in heaven is in a localized church together. They're together as one, okay? But we're not part of the same body as somebody who lives in Iraq or Afghanistan or India or South Africa or whatever country you want to name. Those are different churches, and praise the Lord for all the saved people around the world. We love them, and if they visit our church, we're glad to have them, but they're not part of our church. It's great having people that watch online from the United States, but they have their own church in the US. They're not part of our church. This idea that we're part of this universal church, why do the Protestants and Presbyterians believe this? Well, because they came from the Catholic church. That's what the Catholic church taught. Now turn in your Bible to Matthew 6, Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6 is the middle chapter of the Sermon on the Mount, probably the most famous sermon that's ever been preached. As I said, every week the Presbyterians say that, and what happens is it becomes what's called a vain repetition, when every single week you're just repeating the same thing without any feeling. And look, if you've been to Protestant churches or Catholic churches, you know that the chance they have, they sound like zombies or robots saying it. It's like, we believe in the holy Catholic church, amen. I mean, isn't that true? I mean, many of you grew up Catholic. I grew up Protestant, and guess what? That's the way they do it. Okay? No, I mean, I've seen, like in the US there's this channel, it's EWTN, which is like a Catholic channel, and you can see the nuns chanting like the rosary and everything like that, and you can tell that they're having such a terrible time. They hate it. They're just repeating it, and it's like they hate their life. It's like, well, you decided to become a nun. It's like nobody forced you. And so notice what it says, though, in Matthew 6, verse 7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. See what the Bible says is that when you pray, it's not to be a vain repetition, meaning you don't just chant the same thing over and over again without any feeling. It comes from the heart. Look, every false religion in the world does this. Pretty much every false religion does vain repetitions. The Muslims, the Hindus, look, the Buddhists, all these, I mean, you can study any religion around the world, and they all have these vain repetitions that they repeat, just the same mantra over and over again. They'll say a mantra or a chant, and they believe if they chant that one specific phrase, then they're somehow more godly. The really hardcore Orthodox priests that I believe it's their holy mountain is Athos, I think it is, or something like that, they have like six hours a day of praying, but it's the same prayer. Look, when we've had prayer time as a church, it's not, okay, here's what you're gonna pray. Say these words word for word. No, it's what's from your heart. What do you wanna pray? It's not a vain repetition. It comes from the heart. And so people are confused about the Lord's Prayer because they're asking Jesus, how do we pray? And what he's doing is giving an example. He's not saying, I want you to say word for word, this is exactly what you're gonna pray. No, he says, here's an example, and in that example, what he's saying is, don't use vain repetitions. So what do all the Protestants and Catholics do? They vainly repeat the example that he said not to vainly repeat. But Jesus says, here's an example for the things you pray about, and yet in these churches, they have a vain repetition, they just word for word repeat it. That's exactly what Jesus said, don't do. He says that in this passage, okay? So look, the Presbyterians, they're not really much different than the Catholics or the Protestants in that example. Go to Luke chapter 20, Luke 20, Luke chapter 20. And just like the other Protestants we've mentioned, the clothing, the clothes that the clergy or the ministers or whatever you want to call them, the elders wear of the Presbyterian religion, it's exactly what Jesus says, don't wear. It's exactly the example of the people that are hypocrites, the Bible says. Notice what it says in Luke 20 verse 46, beware of the scribes which desire to walk in long robes, okay? Notice that how he says you desire to walk in long robes, okay? So what he's saying is, the people that are part of these false religions, a common theme is the fact that they're wearing long robes. They're wearing clothes that basically are showy, okay? They're showing off to everyone, they wear long robes. And look, if you've ever been at the airport and you see a Buddhist monk, don't they have just this, I mean, you see this bright orange thing that's sticking out of the corner of your eye and then you look, oh, it's a Buddhist monk with their bright orange outfit. Why are they wearing clothes to try to draw attention to themselves? Do you realize when I go to the grocery store, I don't wear a suit and a tie? I say, Brother Stuckey, aren't you professional? Yeah, but you know what, when I go to the grocery store, I wear normal clothes. I wear a suit and a tie here because I'm trying to be professional and show that I care about the work of the Lord. But you know, I don't wear a suit and tie at home. Look, when I'm working out, right, because I like to work out, you know, I'm working out, I'm doing bicep curls with a suit and tie, that's ridiculous, right? I mean, it's like, you know, I wear this because of the fact I'm here at church, but you know, I don't try to show off in public by wearing, look at me, I'm a reverend, I'm a pastor, I'm trying to show off, I don't do that. I dress like a normal person, and you know what, if somebody saw me at the grocery store, the only thing that would stand out about me is my skin color, okay? That's the only thing that would stand out about me here in the Philippines because I look like everybody else, okay? I mean, I look like a normal person, you say, why? You're not supposed to draw attention to yourself, but the Bible says that people that are part of false religions, they wear long robes. I mean, isn't it true with the Catholic priests, they got their collar turned around, it's like, why don't you just dress normally? But they're trying to draw attention to themselves and say, look at me. And it's not just with the Catholics or the Protestants or the Buddhists, it's any religious leader of false religions, they always do this. You can look at any religion of the world, and they're gonna stand out from a mile away where you say, hey, that person's a holy person, that guy's a spiritual one because they're dressed just obnoxiously weird. No, you're supposed to dress like a normal person, okay? Turn to Acts chapter 8, Acts 8. But I'll tell you, the worst one, there's a religion from India, and look, all the weird religions come from India. This is not Hinduism, but it kind of derived from the same source. It's spelled Jain as in Jainism, but it's pronounced, I think, Jainism. And they have two denominations of their religion, but one of their denominations, their leaders, they literally walk around with no clothes, nothing that they're wearing, no clothes whatsoever. And they're just basically trying to become a one with the universe so they can escape reincarnation. And so they literally walk around with no clothes and they go door to door begging for food. And people that are part of that religion are supposed to let them in and feed them. It's like you got some guy without any clothes on and it's like, that's the way they walk. Boy, that's kind of stands out in public, doesn't it? I mean, it's like, it's pretty obvious you see that from a mile away. It's like, why are these religious leaders always trying to dress and act weird? That's not modest. Modest means you fit in. And if you're intentionally dressing really strange, you know what? That's not modest. And the Bible gives that an example of people that are clearly trying to be seen of men. Okay. Another thing the Presbyterians do is they do infant baptism. It's funny how all of these Protestants baptize babies when it's clearly not taught in the Bible. Here's a quote from John Calvin. He says, but I reply first of all, that infant baptism is not a recent introduction, nor are its origins traceable to the papal church. Papal church means the church of the Pope or the Catholic church is what he's saying. He's saying this didn't derive from the Catholic church. He says, for I say that it has always been a holy ordinance observed in the Christian church. There is no doctor, however, ancient who does not attest that it has always been observed since the time of the apostles. When he says doctor, he's saying a doctor of the law, like a religious leader. He's not saying like, you know, check your temperature to see if you have COVID or whatever. He's saying, you know, a doctor of the law. Okay. And so I'd like to ask John Calvin if he was around today, show me that verse of the baby being baptized in the Bible. I love to see that verse because I've read the Bible many times and apparently my King James doesn't have it in there. I don't know. And so then he says this. I wanted to touch on this point in passing for the sole reason of informing the simple. So he's saying people that are Bobo, like us, if you don't believe in infant baptism, you're simple. You're dumb on the Bible. Okay. That's what he's saying. Informing the simple that it is not an impudent, that it is an impudent slander. So we're slandering them. And he says, for these fanatics, okay. People that are against infant baptism, we're fanatics and we're slandering them. Then he says of these fanatics, the Anabaptists, what is he saying? People like us, cause that's our heritage. Isn't it funny? The people that were hated 500 years ago, we're the same as them today. Look, if you live 500 years ago, the false religions of the world would hate you. And they would, they would, I mean, in with these Protestant churches we'll see next week, they would kill people that did baptism by immersion as adults. They were the enemies of all these false religions. And in today's world, isn't it true, all these false religions, we would be the enemy. Why? Because we're preaching what the Bible says, okay. He says these fanatics, the Anabaptists, to make others believe that this ancient practice is a recently forged superstition and to feign that it derives from the Pope for the whole ancient church held infant baptism long before one ever knew about the papacy or had ever heard of the Pope. So I would love to see one example of it, just one example, because what it says in Acts chapter eight in verse 36, Acts chapter eight verse 36, notice what the Bible says. And you know, it's funny when you, when you pay attention to what John, Calvin, how he's talking, he's a very arrogant person, right? These simple people that don't know the Bible, it's kind of funny because Calvinists today are pretty arrogant. They like to talk down to people and say, you're stupid, even though they've never read the Bible cover to cover. And they say, you're an idiot. You don't understand. I mean, you would believe what we did if you just understood, okay. Acts eight verse 36, and as they went on their way, they came onto a certain water and the eunuch said, see, here's water. What doth hinder me or what's stopping me? What's preventing me to be baptized? And so the eunuch wants to be baptized because he's just heard the gospel and I'm sure he's heard about baptism and maybe Phillip talked about it a little bit. I'm not sure. But then he's like, what's stopping me from being baptized? And Phillip said, if thou believe is with all thine heart thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. You know, this is the same thing we do today. If somebody wants to get baptized, I mean, do you believe if they believe they don't have to do a baptism class, they don't have to wait six weeks. They just get baptized. Okay. If they believe. Now, here's the funny thing. When I ask someone and make sure that they know salvation, they're saved and everything, you know, it's very easy for people to say, I believe. But did you know it's kind of hard for a baby to say, I believe? Did you realize that? Right. Did you realize that if I were to double check, like my son's salvation, who's two and a half years old, it's like, son, what do you believe about the resurrection? Do you believe in it? It's like, he doesn't know why he's too young. Okay. So how are you going to baptize a baby when they don't believe? They cannot believe. Okay. They're not at a point to fully comprehend this. Don't tell me a two and a half year old has the comprehension of everything we're talking about. Now, I do believe that the young children, they can sit in a church like this, and they can learn a lot of stuff, even if they don't comprehend everything, because they're going to see the structure of a real church. They're going to learn there's a time to play and a time to pay attention. They're going to hear the songs that they need to sing when they get older. They're going to hear the kind of preaching they need to hear. It's going to be different to them than some fun center that's different, but look, they're not going to be able to understand all of this, and they're not going to be able to understand salvation when they're two and a half years old. Okay. How young it is for each person, that could vary depending on the person and their background and things such as that, but nobody three years old or younger is going to understand this. Okay. And so a baby, why would they be getting baptized? They don't believe this. Okay. Look, babies don't have original sin to get rid of. See, original sin is not the fact that we've all sinned. Okay. People try to make you say, well, we all have original sin because we're sinners from the womb, but you're not guilty from the womb. Do you understand the difference? Yes, we're sinners from the womb. We're not guilty from the womb, and see, original sin teaches you're guilty when you're born, and you're going to die and go to hell unless you get baptized as a baby. That's what original sin teaches. We don't believe in original sin. You say, why? Because yes, babies are makulit from the womb, my friend, but you know, they're not guilty from the womb. They're not going to be guilty until they can comprehend these things. And so look at this church, we do not baptize babies. And look, the truth is people have asked before about, you know, having a baby dedication. We don't do that at this church. Now I understand that every Baptist church probably here in the Philippines doesn't. We don't do it because I'm not trying to look like I'm Catholic. I'm trying to draw a hard line to say, you know what, I'm not a Catholic. Praise the Lord if you dedicate your life to your kids, and we're going to have them serve God and do everything we can. But the reason why we don't do baby dedications here is because it looks a little bit too much like the Catholic Church, okay? Now I'm not necessarily saying that's wrong or sinful. I understand other churches do it, but I'm just telling you why we don't do it, because I don't want to appear to be like the Catholic Church. And you know what, it'd be very easy to say, you know what, we'll change our standard because, you know, people are coming from different backgrounds, we want them, you know, to love our church. We don't change our standards for specific situations. That's a belief that we have, and if you disagree, that's fine. You're welcome to stay at this church. You don't have to agree with me on every topic, but I'm just saying at this church, we don't do baby dedications, okay? Now there's a lot of nice people that come to our church, they come from different backgrounds and they want to serve God, and they've asked me that question, many different people. And I've tried to be as polite as possible and they understood and things such as that, but we don't do that because we're not even trying to appear like we're Catholic or appear like we're baptizing babies. Notice what it says in verse 38, and he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. So notice they went into the water. This is why the Orthodox Church, they actually dunked the babies in the water, okay? It's like, in the name of the Father, boom, in the name of the Son, boom, and in the name of the Holy Ghost. I mean, they slammed those babies in the water. It's like, what are they doing? But it's just like, you know what, it's complete hypocrisy for Protestants not to baptize babies by immersion, because if you believe in baby baptism, it should be by immersion because you're picturing the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Look, I've been to burials before, and one thing that is true at every burial is the body's fully under the water. You don't have an arm sticking up. You don't have a leg sticking up out of the ground, right? A burial means they go fully under. The Bible teaches, I don't have time to go into it, but the Bible teaches that baptism, it's a symbol of the death, burial, and resurrection. That's why you go into the water and you come up out of the water, because what you're saying is, I believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again, so why is it that when they baptize babies, and they claim babies can understand this, why don't they put them fully under the water? You know why they don't do it? Because it's a bit of a health hazard. It's a bit dangerous to slam a baby under the water. Now, the Orthodox Church doesn't really care. They just slam those babies in, but it's like, that's the reason why they don't do it, but if you're going to tell me that you believe in baptism for babies, you ought to be dunking that baby under water, because baptism is the death, burial, and resurrection. Notice they went down both into the water. Now, you see pictures sometimes where you'll have the people in the water, and then all of a sudden there'll be a cup, and they'll pour it on the top of them, and it's like, what in the world? It's like you make the effort to be standing halfway in water, and then you just pour water on the top of the head. Once again, that's not a burial. Turn to 1 Corinthians 5. Now I will say this, that although I don't agree with that practice, and we would never do that here, throughout history some churches have done that for a few reasons. One is because they had unhealthy water, and it wasn't really safe to have your head fully submerged under water, and other times it was hard to have an area to find to baptize people, and so that is why some people have done that where they just pour water on the head. It would save people through the ages. When they didn't have a place to baptize, they would resort to pouring because it was a health hazard in some of the water. We wouldn't do that here, but we're not even in that situation. We do have water. We can baptize someone. So I would disagree with her, but I'm just saying that is why some people have done it. We're actually going to talk about that a little bit next week, but baptism is meant to be the death, burial, and resurrection. I don't believe we have exceptions for that. Another thing about John Calvin, before we kind of get into the philosophy of Calvinism, is strange beliefs that he taught, and I understand this is subjective, but when I see something I've never heard anybody teach before, I'm like, I've got to bring it up. Just really, really strange beliefs. This is what he says about the Lord's Supper communion, and we're going to be taking the Lord's Supper here in probably the next couple weeks, and so it's important to kind of understand what does that mean, and what the Lord's Supper is is a memorial. We remember the death of Jesus Christ. So you have two things. You have grape juice, because wine, alcoholic wine, would be sinful, so you have grape juice, which represents the blood of Jesus, and then you have unleavened bread, because leaven is a picture of what in the Bible? Sin, right? So it's important that when you take communion, you don't use Skyflakes. I love Skyflakes. I really do, but we don't use that for communion, my friend. We use unleavened bread, and it's just like you can't substitute the grape juice and say, well, we're just going to have Coca-Cola. It's like we love Coca-Cola, so we're going to have Coca-Cola or Cobra or something like that. No. It's like you use grape juice. You say, why? It's picturing the body and the blood of Jesus. Well, not really according to John Cowan, though. He says whether the bread is leavened or unleavened, the wine red or white, it makes no difference. These things are indifferent and left at the church's discretion. Now look, you know, I've seen blood from a lot of people before. I've never seen white blood before. Maybe if you look at bugs or something like that. But in terms of human beings, did you know we all have red blood? Okay. I don't know what that is, but we all have red blood, right? And so look, the wine must be red and not white. Okay. I don't know what's going on. We got like a demon or a cat or something back there. I'm not sure. Maybe a really, really large angry cockroach or something. I don't know. Hopefully not. All right. He says it does not matter whether the bread is leavened or unleavened. But notice what it says in first Corinthians five verse eight, therefore, let us keep the feast not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Okay. And he's referring to the feast of the Passover, but the Lord's supper replaces the Passover. So it's one in the same because of the fact in the Passover, they would have a lamb that they would eat. We don't eat lamb at the Lord's supper. You say, why? Because hopefully you already did that when you believed on Jesus Christ. I did that when I was 18 years old, and that's why we don't have a lamb anymore. We don't kill animals at this church. Okay. And so here's the thing about this. I mean, look, if you want to kill them and eat them apart from religion, I'm not against that. I'm not a vegan. Okay. That's not what I'm saying, but we're not going to do it as part of a religious ceremony. We need a blood sacrifice. Okay. It's like, no, that's, that's kind of what the, that's what the heathen do. Okay. As it's said in first Corinthians five verse eight, it said the unleavened bread. And so the bread we partake in for the Lord's supper, it must be unleavened. It must be bread that is unleavened. You can't just substitute it. Oh, we don't have any bread. We're going to eat mashed potatoes. No, it's like you use unleavened bread. Okay. And look, I've never heard anybody say that. And look, they believe in alcoholic wine, which we don't, and that's another subject, but I've never heard anybody say that it can be white. It's like, what in the world? It's like, it pictures the blood of Jesus. Why would you use a drink that's white? Does that make any sense to you? But according to John Calvin, it doesn't even matter. It's like, what in the world? I've never heard somebody believe that. Turn to first Timothy chapter three, first Timothy three, first Timothy chapter three. Now another thing with the Presbyterians, and this is actually different than the other Protestants, at least, you know, somewhat different is their system of government or their system of rule. Now what we believe at Verity Baptist Church or Verity Baptist Church Manila, we believe in what's called a pastor run church, where basically a pastor runs a church and he's the one who makes the rules. He doesn't have to ask the church members, Hey, do you mind if I preach on the subject? I was thinking about preaching on salvation, Mr. Deacon, but is it okay if I preach on salvation? Now, what we are at Verity Baptist Church Manila is we are a church plant out of Verity Baptist Church. So when it comes to our beliefs and what I teach, this is something that we do have full approval from Pastor Menes, and I report to him about everything we do at this church and make sure things are okay with him, and he's entrusted me with his position. Now if one day, for whatever reason, Pastor Menes says, I don't want Brother Stuckey to do this, I don't want you to preach this sermon, then I wouldn't preach it. You say, why? I'm not the pastor of this church yet. One day, Lord willing, as my kids are older, then I'll become the pastor of this church, but I'm basically the evangelist running this church. But what the Presbyterians teach is simply this. They teach in basically a governing body of elders. They don't believe in one person being in charge. They believe in kind of a corporate rule. Local people are kind of co-equal. They're part of the presbyterian, which is where they get the name Presbyterian. They're part of the presbyterian, and so basically it's kind of like a voting system. It's like, well, what are we going to preach on on Sunday? Well, let's take a vote. And it's just like, that's not the way we run things here. Notice what it says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 1, 1 Timothy 3, verse 1, and look, this is a good thing for you guys to realize, I preached one day. You have to be ready for any distraction. You just do not know what's going on. I'll tell you the worst one. I was helping on a nursing home ministry in Arizona before, and they had put us in the section where people were a little bit ballyu, a little bit crazy. And so every opportunity you get to preach, okay, that's always been my philosophy. And this guy, we're doing the singing of the hymns, and all of a sudden he just starts mumbling at me, and he's mumbling, but there's no words coming out. And I'm like leading the music, and he's just like walking at me like a zombie, and he's like really mad. And then he like slams the hymnal on the ground, and he's getting closer and closer and closer. I mean, I was afraid. It's like, you got to be ready for anything. You just do not know what's going to happen, okay, whether it's a crazy rat or whatever's going on, I don't know. But anyways, so 1 Timothy 3, let me show you what the Bible teaches about how a church is run in verse 1. This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. And a bishop is basically synonymous with a pastor or elder. They do have different roles, but it represents the leader of a church. And it says if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. So number one, if you want to be a pastor one day, besides being saved, and the qualifications we're going to see, you must desire that office. I would never try to convince someone to become a pastor who says, I don't want to be. Say why? If you don't want to be a pastor, you should not be according to the Bible. And there's nothing less godly about being a church member that's serving God. There's nothing wrong with being a godly church member. I never try to say, well, look at me, I'm better than somebody else because I'm a pastor. Okay, I don't believe that, okay? I don't believe just because you're preaching the sermons that makes you better. The Bible says you must desire the office of a bishop, okay? Verse two, here's the thing, just the desire alone is not good enough. And see, at a lot of churches, they kind of teach, especially here in the Philippines, as long as you have the desire, that means you're called of God and you're chosen. So no matter what, you get to be the pastor. Whether you've committed adultery, whether you've committed these wicked sins, it doesn't matter as long as you have that desire. Well, that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible says there's qualifications. Verse two, a bishop then must be blameless. The husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. The Bible says that a bishop must be blameless, okay? Let me ask you a question. If you have a pastor who's committed adultery and everybody's aware of it, is he blameless? Not a chance. Now, look, we're all sinners and I don't claim to be perfect, but let me tell you something, if I committed a wicked sin like that, I'm no longer qualified to be the pastor, okay? And so look, you have to be blameless. That's what the Bible said. And look, somebody can be, because I do believe that certain people, God says he's given them abilities and desires and maybe they want to be a pastor and that's great. Here's the thing though, you can disqualify yourself if you screw up. Just because God wants you to be a pastor, just because you have an ability to preach or teach or whatever, you can disqualify yourself from that position though if you mess up. Let me tell you something, many people disqualify themselves from that position. They're no longer qualified. The Bible says you must be blameless. One thing is this, you're the husband of one wife. So basically you're married, you're a guy married to a woman. Not that complicated. Not the wife and then she has a husband. No, no, no, no, no. You're a husband, you're a man who's married to a woman, okay? And look, the Presbyterians, it doesn't matter if you're a guy or a girl. It doesn't matter if you're a guy married to a guy or a girl married to a girl in the Presbyterians. Just whatever, I mean they have open lesbians, they have open tomboys in Bakhla that are running the churches and it's no big deal to them. It's no big deal. It's okay as long as you're called from God, right? No, the Bible says that you can be disqualified. You must be a guy married to a woman. And so look, there are plenty of guys that are godly guys that are not married and praise the Lord for them and look, they'd be welcome to come up here if I'd invite them to preach from time to time and praise the Lord and they can preach, but they are not qualified to be a pastor, okay? Look, that's why I never call myself a pastor and if you've ever called me that, I know you're being respectful. I'm just trying to help you understand something. I don't say, well look at me, I'm a pastor because I'm still Brother Stuckey, okay? One day, Lord willing, I will be the pastor of this church but I'm not at that point yet. The Bible says you must be the husband of one wife. That's not the only thing it says. It says, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. The Bible says you need to rule well your own house with your children in subjection with all gravity, okay? So here's the thing. If you have a location to be in a pastor, have you proven that you can run your house well? Now look, at my home, I'm the head of that home. It's not a joint rule. Like I don't call you guys up, it's like, hey Brother Raffi, I was thinking about asking my wife to do something. Do you think it's a good idea? We got this press material, we got this committee to decide what I'm going to eat for dinner. I need like six guys so we can vote on it and say, what are we going to cook for dinner here? It's like I have my own home and you have your own home. And there's a lot of churches and pastors that want to run people's lives. I don't understand why they want to do that, to be honest. I'm perfectly happy just worrying about my own family and look, that's a full time job being a husband and a father and I don't understand pastors that want to make it a point to tell other people their church is like, hey, you know, you're not allowed to buy that car. Hey, I know that you got these two jobs and that one pays more and everything, but you know what? You're not allowed to take that job. I've decided that you're only, that's ridiculous. And look, I preach a lot of stuff and it might make you think where it's like brother Stuckey is just like forcing us to do everything. I have never gone to anyone at this church outside of the pulpit and said, you're not allowed to watch this. You're not allowed to do this. That is completely up to you. I would never walk up to someone at this church and say, you know what? You know, you've got to change this and this. Now I preach from the pulpit what the Bible teaches, but you know what? I'm not going to Lord over God's heritage, the Bible says. It's up to you what you do. You have free will and that's not really what John Calvin teaches, okay? That's later on in the sermon, but you have free will to make your choices, okay? Now obviously I want you to do certain things, but look, I'm not perfect. So why would I look down on you if I don't agree with everything? And here's, here's the truth. When people are new at church, if they're going to stick around at a church like this, there's going to be a lot of changes. You say, why? Because they're not used to this kind of preaching and they're like, a lot of this stuff's new to them. But look, we need to give people a chance. Look, I don't get mad at my son and be like, son, you should have been dunking a basketball by the age of two. It's like, what's wrong with you, Zeph? You're barely getting off the ground. It's like, I was expecting, you know, behind the back windmill dunks. It's like, you're two and a half. You're not dunking yet. Hey, I think it would be great to see my son dunk one day. It would be awesome. But you know what? It's like, he's obviously not going to do that when he's two. We need to give people a chance to grow, okay? But it says you have to rule well your own house, and it says, for man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? The Bible also teaches you need to have children that are faithful children, which is multiple children, okay? And so there's not this system of rule in the Bible. There's one person running the church. Look, if you own a business, this is common sense. You can't have five people arguing about it. Now, it's not bad to have a committee of trusted people at a company, but one person has to make the ultimate decision. There's got to be one CEO that says this is how it's done, or one manager that says this is how it's done. You can't always stop to vote on everything, okay? You need one person. That's what the Bible teaches. Turn to Romans 1, Romans 1, Romans 1. And let's get into the theology of Calvinism, and I spent more time than I wanted to already because obviously the theology can be very in-depth, but basically what John Calvin taught was that basically we do not have free will, okay? Now, what people believe about that has different levels. Some people literally believe every single action you do is ordained by God. So whether or not I decide to step with my left foot or right foot, it's 100% up to God. I don't have free will to do that. Basically we're robots. That's what some people believe. Some people that go to the extremes, which is a logical conclusion, some will believe we have free will, but we don't have the capacity to get saved because we're just wicked reprobates. That's what they teach. That's what Calvinists teach, that everybody is a reprobate, a child of the devil before they're saved. That's what they teach. And so the only way to get saved is if God just, bam, regenerates you. So you can be taking a nap, you're going to bed, you wake up, and boom, you got saved in the middle of the night. That's what they teach. That's what they believe. And we're going to see that in this. And so basically there's this acronym called TULIP, T-U-L-I-P. This is the deadliest flower in the world, my friend. You might not realize that, but TULIP is the deadliest flower in the world. Now let me say this, that John Calvin did not come up with TULIP. It was basically come up with, you know, afterwards. And basically the people that are his followers, they're trying to remember his teachings of Calvinism and what he taught. And so it's basically a way to remember the theology that he taught. So it actually came afterwards, okay, the teaching of TULIP. And I don't have time to go into each of these letters because they all kind of come from one another. But basically what they teach is that we don't have free will. It's all been decided from God. You'll often hear the word sovereign a lot of times. So look, if you're at a church and your pastor's always saying sovereign, that's a big red flag, my friend. Okay, because what they usually mean by that is that you're like a robot and it's all up to God's choice and you have no free will or whatever. And so basically you'll hear this oftentimes, sovereign, we don't have free will. Now here's a quote from James White, okay, and this is a video you can find on YouTube. James White is one of the most famous Calvinists in the world. He's got a big apologetics channel to reach people of various religions. And this is what he says. And this shows you what Calvinists actually believe. He said when a child, he was asked this question, when a child is raped, is God responsible? Did he decree that rape? So basically, did God just make sure that this person, this child got raped is what he's being asked. And he tries to avoid the question. And eventually he says, yes, because if not, then it is meaningless and purposeless. And though God knew it was going to happen, he created without a purpose. So what James White is saying is that James White wanted that child to be raped. That is what Calvinism teaches, my friends, okay, a lot of people don't realize that because here's the thing, your Calvinist pastor, for a lot of you, your old pastor, they don't want to be honest about what they believe. That is what they believe, though, that basically everything, you know, basically it comes from God because the way they look at it is either every actions chosen by God or the fact that since God's in full control, it all comes from him anyway, okay? So all the, you know, serial killers, pedophilia, and all this stuff, it's all coming from God is what Calvinists actually teach, okay? So notice what it says in Romans 1, and notice what it says in verse 28, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Now notice in verse 28, it mentions people that are given over to a reprobate mind, meaning before that, they did not have a reprobate mind. See, the Calvinist teaches that every baby from the womb is just this wicked devil. Look, for some of you, you're going to be new parents soon, and you're so excited to have a child, you know, you've waited for a long time, that child comes out, according to Calvinism, that child is like a spawn of Satan. That's what they actually teach, okay? They believe that child is a wicked devil. That is what they teach. They believe every single person has the capacity to be a pedophile or a serial killer, that it's in your normal human nature. I don't believe God put in your normal human nature a desire to kill people. And you know, I've heard some of these Calvinists, there's this famous one, what is his name? I think it's Douglas something, okay? I don't want to, I think I know his last name, but I don't want to guess because, you know, it might not be him. But this guy is a famous Calvinist, and he basically said, this is what he said, every single person before they get saved has a desire to kill God. Now look, I have never had that thought even come into my mind. What kind of a person has a desire to kill God? It's like, you got to wonder about that pastor who before he gets saved is like, I wanted to kill God and then I got saved. It's like, what in the world? It's just like, and you have all these pastors say, yeah, you know, before they get saved, it's like, yes, part of your human nature, you have a desire to molest kids. It's like, what in the world? It's like, don't get near my kids. It's like, you're saying that that used to be part of your desires. It's like that desire never came in my mind. And it's like, that's what they actually teach. Now it is true that a lot of Calvinists or people that say they believe in it are confused about what they actually teach. But if you actually believe in all of Calvinism, like John Calvin taught, that is what you believe, that before you're saved, you have the desires to be someone who would be like a serial killer or a pedophile, like I'm capable of anything. That's what they teach. That's not what the Bible teaches because in verse 28, it talks about people being given over to a reprobate mind. This is not when they're born. These are people that chose to rebel against God. See, people think we're harsh with the reprobate doctrine. It's like, man, do you know what the Calvinists teach? They teach everybody's a wicked reprobate. Everybody's a child of the devil. Look, the reason why you cannot lose your salvation, when you get saved, you become a child of God. My son is always going to be my son. My daughter's always going to be my daughter. So once you become a child of your parents, when you're born, they are always your parents. When someone becomes a child of the devil, they will always be a child of the devil. If that was from birth that you are a child of the devil, then you could never get saved. And that's what Calvinists teach. You can't get saved. So God's got to force you to get saved. That's what they teach. I'm not taking them out of context. Anyone who knows about Calvinism, that's what they teach. You are not capable of getting saved because you're a wicked child of the devil. The only way you can get saved is if God just, bam, regenerates you. That is what Calvinists teach. Look, any Calvinist that actually believes in five points, that's what he believes, and he's an unsaved wicked devil. Now there are people that are confused, but I'm saying people that are pastors that are five point Calvinists, we believe in this, they're a wicked evil person. Now most people that will tell you, I believe in Calvinism, most of them don't realize all this stuff. So you have to realize when you talk to people about the Bible, most people you talk to don't know that much about what they believe. So they're saying, yeah, you know, I'm a Calvinist, but they don't go, wait a minute. I don't have a desire to molest kids though. It's like, well, you don't know what they teach or I don't, I don't hate God yet because you know, you don't know what they teach because they believe reprobates hate God. It doesn't say haters of God here in Romans one, that's what they believe everybody is before they get saved. You say, why do you hate Calvinists so much? This is why, okay, now I don't hate the people that are confused, but I hate this doctrine. This is my number one most hated doctrine. Notice what it says in verse 18, verse 18. It says in verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. The Bible speaks about people that hear the truth and they hold it in unrighteousness. This is not a baby. Babies are innocent, okay? Babies naturally have compassion and a conscience and anyone who's had children knows that. But my son, when he sees things and someone gets hurt, he has compassion. He feels really bad, okay? People that are reprobates, their conscience is seared with a hot iron. The Bible says, look over what it says in verse number 29, when it talks about these people, it says in verse 29, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers. Look, is it possible for a person to commit murder or fornicate or be covetous? Absolutely. But someone who's full of murder enjoys it. That's not your average person. Now is it true some people that were safe committed murder? Yes, but they weren't full of it where they're just like, man, I just love killing people. It's like, you know, you wake up, it's your off day from work. It's like, well, what do you want to do, man? I just want to find someone to kill. It's like, what in the world kind of a person would want that? Okay. It says in verse 30, backbiters, haters of God. So they believe that everybody before they're saved, they hate God. Okay. Verse 31, without understanding covenant breakers, without natural affection. They don't have a natural affection. That's disproven from a young child. Young children, they have natural affection and care. It's I mean, anyone who has a parent, it's obvious to them, okay? Your child's not a wicked devil when they're a baby. That's ridiculous. Okay. Now, turn to Romans 10, Romans 10. We've got to hurry for sake of time, Romans 10. And so look, their philosophy of just like, it all comes from God. God is sovereign. Hey, that sounds good until you start boiling it down to what they're saying. They're saying that every time a child's raped, God wanted it to happen. That's what Calvinists believe. Okay. That's not what I believe. I hope that's not what you believe. I'm kind of concerned if that's what you believe. Okay. But that is what they believe. Now they're not honest about it because when you're trying to convert someone to your religion, that's not the first thing you bring up. You're not going to bring up, hey, well, this is what we actually believe. This is the end road. Look, they say this is true and this honestly isn't true, but it's a cool expression anyway, that when you put a frog in boiling water, it jumps out. When you put it in cold water and slowly heat it up, it will be boiled to death. Okay. That's actually not true. The frog will jump up when it gets hot. That's actually been proven, but the expression is a good one and that's what they use with false religions. Like Mormons, especially. I mean, I remember one time I was in Utah for a summer, I was helping a Baptist church and I was going jogging with this other Baptist preacher and we stopped and talked to these girls that were teenage girls that were basically selling lemonade and they were all Mormons. They were 12 years old, 13 years old, and 14 years old. And I remember we started to bring up some of the crazy things they believe and I remember like the 12 and 13 year old are like, we don't believe that. What are you talking about? And then the 14 year old girls like, no, actually, actually we do believe that you're going to learn that in school this year. And it's just like, why? Because they don't tell you when you're 12 years old. It's like they slowly teach you. I mean, most people don't realize this, but what the Mormons teach is that God slept with Mary. That's their version of the virgin birth. In fact, many of you didn't realize that. In fact, most Mormons probably don't realize it. That's what Joseph Smith taught. That's what Brigham Young taught. That is what they teach. Okay. I don't know why they say that and what they say, Virgin, they say, wow, you know, she never slept with a mortal man. That's why it's Virgin. That's what they teach. And look, I encourage you to check anything I say, because you know what? I'm very careful when I say stuff, and I'm not saying I'm perfect. I try not to make mistakes, but look, I know a lot about Mormonism. I've read a lot of stuff on Mormonism. I used to, because I had a friend who was Mormon. It was like the first thing I really spent a lot of time studying. That is what they believe. But I promise you, not every nine year old in the Mormon church realizes that. Not every 10 year old realizes that. And some people that are new, they're going to say, we don't believe that. Oh yeah, you do. And it's like, same thing with Calvinism. They're very careful of the things they teach you, but that is the end of it. Okay. That's what they believe. Another thing you're going to see with Calvinists is crazy conversion stories. Whenever you hear about a Calvinist getting saved, you're never going to hear somebody knocked on my door and gave me the gospel. I believed it, and I got saved. See, my conversion story is probably not that exciting. I was 18 years old. I didn't know if I was going to heaven. My friend Mike Milutich explained to me how to get to heaven. I believed it, and I asked Jesus to save me, and I'm saved. Not that exciting, right? But that's how people get saved. If you're saved in this room, it's because of the fact somebody explained the gospel to you, and you believe, and you got saved. You didn't just... You were going to sleep, and then all of a sudden you wake up like, oh man, what happened? Was it thunder? Was it light? Oh no, I got saved. Oh wow. That's ridiculous. Okay. John Calvin, he has two different conversion stories. Here's John Calvin's conversion. God by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame, which was more hardened in such matters than might have been expected from one of my early period of life. Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness, I was immediately inflamed with so intense a desire to make progress therein that although I did not altogether leave off other studies, yet I pursued them with less ardor. Did you notice the salvation? Because I didn't hear anything about somebody getting saved or hearing the gospel. He just said, my mind was... What did he say? Let me go back there. He said, was more hardened in such matters. Why? Because what he taught was you're a wicked evil person before you're saved. So he's probably really against a hater of God, became a reprobate. But he said, I mean, there's no instance of salvation. His other example that he said was this, being exceedingly alarmed at the misery into which I had fallen and much more at that which threatened me in view of eternal death, I duty bound, made it my first business to betake myself to your way, condemning my past life, not without groans and tears. And now, O Lord, what remains to a wretch like me, but instead of defense, earnestly to supplicate you not to judge that fearful abandonment of your word, according to its desserts from which in your wondrous goodness you have at last delivered me. Did anybody notice salvation? I certainly didn't, okay? Let me show you what salvation is. Romans 10. I got to hurry for sake of time. When I talk about Calvinism, I'm long winded because I absolutely hate this doctrine. But verse eight, Romans 10, verse eight. But what sayeth it? The word is naive, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. So it says basically we're preaching the word of faith. It's in your mouth and in your heart. You explain to people you got to believe, you got to believe, you got to believe. If somebody believes, naturally, what are you going to do? If you believe that you're drowning, if you believe you're in a burning building and you're going to die in that building and you see somebody outside, you're going to say, hey, save me. If you're drowning in the water, even atheists cry out, save me, help me. It's natural. And if somebody realized they're on their way to hell, it's natural if they believe. So in verse nine, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with a heart man believeth unto righteousness and with a mouth confession is made into salvation. Look, if I believe in Calvinism, let me explain something to you. We would cancel every single soul winning time. Every single one. Why? Look, if God just regenerated people, if God does not need us and we're just robots, we would not go soul winning. You say, why? I have plenty of hobbies I could do. If it's all a game, I have plenty of hobbies. I'd rather work out, play basketball, play soccer, whatever. Just go to the park with my family, you know, whenever the lockdown's over, whenever you're allowed to do that or whatever. Look, I do whatever, but it's like, I'm not going to go soul winning if there's no purpose. But what I believe and what we teach is that the work we do out there actually matters because God will not regenerate a single person. Why? He's left to us the ministry of reconciliation. That's what the Bible teaches. There's not a single person who will get saved without a soul winner preaching the gospel. And when you know that, you know what happens? You realize your life has a purpose. When I got saved, a few things happened to me. One, I had the greatest relief ever. I was like, man, I would have gone to hell. And now I know I don't have to worry about it. But you know, I also realized very soon, I realized, man, I have a purpose in life. And I got saved. I was like, you know what, there's a purpose. Because you know, I was kind of going through life. I was in college, I was in engineering, doing whatever, playing basketball with my friends. And I'm not saying those things are wrong to do. But I was just literally in my mind, what's the purpose of life? But when you get saved, and you realize that God didn't regenerate me like that, I mean, He regenerates you after you hear the word of God, and you're made alive, quickened by the word and quickened by the Spirit, I understand that. But God uses a man to preach the gospel, you will always find that in the Bible. Verse 11, for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Verse 14, notice how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? Did you know the Bible teaches? It is impossible to get saved without a soul and to preach the gospel to you. It is impossible that a natural man cannot understand. I mean, you notice in the Bible with Cornelius and Peter, God sends Peter to preach the gospel to Cornelius. God doesn't just send an angel to preach the gospel. No, Peter goes and talks to Cornelius. Same thing when you look at Philip, right? I mean, if somebody could have gotten saved, it would have been the Ethiopian eunuch. You know why? Because he's reading about the death of Jesus in the Old Testament, and he's like, I don't know what this is about. Why? He's the natural man. Okay? So one thing I do agree with the Calvinists, the natural man cannot understand the word of God. But what the Bible teaches is that when they hear the word of God from someone who's saved, they do have the free will and ability to believe on Jesus, and they must make that choice, okay? John Calvin's commentary. This is what he says about the mouth confession is made unto salvation, okay? With the mouth confession is made unto salvation, it may seem strange that he ascribes no part of our salvation to faith. He ascribes no part of our salvation to faith. Is that what you believe? None of our salvation has anything to do with faith is what he just said. That's not what I believe. I believe all of our salvation is faith. The reason why you call is because you believe. It's 100% faith. That's what the Bible teaches. He says that he ascribes no part of our salvation to faith, as he had before so often testified that we are saved by faith alone. But we ought not on this account to conclude that confession is the cause of our salvation. His design was only to show how God completes our salvation. So it's basically all emotion because God's just shown us how he completes our salvation. Even when he makes faith, which he implants in our hearts, to show itself by confession, nay his simple object was to mark out true faith as that from which this fruit proceeds, lest anyone should otherwise lay claim to the empty name of faith alone. It's the empty name of faith alone. It means nothing. Your faith means nothing. For it ought so to kindle the heart with zeal for God's glory as to force out its own flame. What is he saying? The faith on your part is nothing because God just gave you that faith. You didn't believe. God forced you to believe because no one can believe on their own because they're a child of the devil. They're a reprobate. Their mind is seared according to him. Right? This is what he says on Romans 8 verses 28 through 30, and I don't have time to go there for sake of time. I'll just quickly read. He says, but the foreknowledge of God, okay? The foreknowledge of God, which Paul mentions is not, because the Bible speaks about God having foreknowledge that you would believe. That's the context. Okay? And he predestines you to do good works and be obedient and be peculiar, a child of God. But the reason why he predestines you is because he has foreknowledge. He knows ahead of time. That's what that word means. Okay? But he says the foreknowledge of God, which Paul mentions is not a bare prescience as some unwise persons absurdly imagine. But the adoption by which he had always distinguished his children from the reprobate, because if you're not a child of God, you're a reprobate. Okay? That's why he used the word reprobate. It used to be a more common word. He's saying, you know what? It's not just, hey, you believe. God has to be able to distinguish. What does John Calvin teach as a distinguishing thing between a child of God and a reprobate? You're worse. Not what you believe, but you're worse. That's what he teaches. We'll see that here in a second. Go to Romans 6. Romans 6. Romans chapter 6. You say, why, brother Stuckey, is Calvinism your most hated doctrine? I hate it because it's confusing to people, and they're dishonest, and they don't know what Calvinists actually believe. And let me tell you something. I have always taught this and believed this. Once I came to knowledge of this, and this has been for over a decade. Let me tell you something. I preached this at Verity Baptist Church, and my stance has always been there is not a single safe five point Calvinist on the planet. It actually believes this. Why? Because Calvinism inherently teaches work salvation. It's not that they might be. No, no, no. It inherently teaches work salvation within what they believe. We're seeing from the mouth of John Calvin what a Calvinist actually believes. And this is someone I wouldn't want near my children when they're saying, you know, everybody, like I used to desire to molest children, or I could have had that desire. I could have killed 50 people. It was possible. It's like, what in the world? Okay, Romans 6 verse 23 talking about the mark of true salvation, Romans 6 verse 23. What does the Bible say, though, about the mark of true salvation because the Bible says for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The gift of God is eternal life. Salvation is a gift. Okay, turn to Hebrews 11 Hebrews 11. If I buy you a basketball for Christmas as a gift, it doesn't matter whether in six months that basketball is really worn away and dirty because you've been using it or whether or not you haven't used it at all because it was given as a gift and it's yours. It's completely yours. Okay, that's what the Bible teaches. And so the mark of true salvation, you say, what is that? Well, the mark of true salvation is what you believe. Notice what it says in Hebrews 11 verse 1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is the evidence of things not seen, the Bible says. We talked about about a month ago about salvation, and I showed about how the fact that, you know, your body has not been regenerated and we're waiting for that day, but it has not happened yet. Okay. The Bible says this, the evidence of things not seen, it's your faith. When we go soul winning, we try to find out if somebody's saved. How do you figure that out? What do they believe? Right. Right. Right. But according to John Calvin, the way you find out if somebody's saved is, well, wait a minute. I mean, are they singing the hymns? They must be saved. They're reading the Bible. If you walk up to that door and they're reading the Bible, they must be saved because there's their works. That's not how we judge salvation. And let me tell you something. There are drug addicts and drunks that are on their way to heaven just as much as you are and as I am. I mean, in the Bible, Rahab was a prostitute. Rahab the harlot. There are prostitutes on their way to heaven. That's what the Bible teaches. You say, why? Salvation is based on what you believe, not what you do. And I'm not going to go to a gray area on this topic. If Rahab the harlot was saved, then let me tell you something. There are harlots and prostitutes and whores and whoremongers saved today. Now we hope that they, we would love for them to come to our church and clean up their lives, but you know what? They're just as saved because salvation is faith and they received eternal life when they got saved. And if a harlot in the Bible was saved and the people that committed murder in the Bible were saved, you know what? People like that exist today. I don't judge someone's salvation based on what they do. I judge it based on what they believe. That's what the Bible teaches. Turn to Jude chapter one, we'll look at a few more verses and then we'll conclude with John Calvin's thoughts on what I have to say, all right? And look, Calvinists believe the same thing today. People that actually believe in Calvinism, they believe in everything John Calvin taught. In fact, they worship him as a god. And I want to ask them, who is your god? God the father or John Calvin? Because they really do worship John Calvin. I mean, they're probably going to try to get a beard just like him, right? I mean, they'll just get this really long, really kind of gnarly beard because I want to look like John Calvin, right? Jude one verse one, Jude one verse one, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to them that are sanctified by God the father is very important. Look at this, and preserved in Jesus Christ in call, preserved in Jesus Christ in call. Look, when you have vegetables and fruits, there's ways to preserve those vegetables and fruits so they'll last for a long period of time. There's canning and things such as that, and I'm not an expert at this stuff, but you know, there's ways to preserve vegetables and fruits for a very long period of time. But the reason why you have to preserve them is because if you put a banana on your table it's not going to be preserved on its own. You understand what I'm saying? In six months that banana goes rotten. In six months that mango goes rotten. In six months, I mean less than six months, those vegetables and those fruits, they become rotten so you must preserve them. Why? They do not persevere on their own. Do you understand what I'm saying? What Calvinism teaches with their fifth point of Calvinism, they teach the perseverance of the saints, meaning you persevere on to the very end, meaning you're going to be living a godly life until the day you die and getting more and more godly and you're not going to commit bad sins. What the Bible teaches though is this, I understand persevere and preserve are spelled kind of similar but think about a fruit does not persevere, meaning it doesn't make it to the end on its own power. You've got to preserve it. We only keep our salvation because God preserves us. He keeps us saved. You see, one sin condemns you to hell. I mean, right? Isn't it just one sin that condemns you to hell? All liars? Look, if you commit one murder, you're a murderer. If you tell one lie, you're a liar. All liars are condemned to hell so look, if you could lose your salvation, how many lies would it take to lose your salvation? One because only one sin condemns you. One little white lie would make you lose your salvation but you know what, you're preserved in Jesus Christ. You don't have to persevere on to the end and in the Bible, there's plenty of saved people that don't persevere. Turn to 1 John 3, 1 John chapter 3, 1 John chapter 3. This will be the last verse we look at then I'm going to conclude by giving John Calvin's thoughts. So look, I believe next week's sermon is important because we're going to talk about basically you saw him ripping on the Anabaptists. All of these Protestants hated Anabaptists which are our brethren in the faith from 500 years ago and in other times. And look, there was people during that time that were in other denominations because it wasn't like you had the internet to look up what is a Baptist. So people would be believers in one area, sometimes they're called the Waldensians and various different names but the biggest one were the Anabaptists and you can see where the name comes from. Anabaptists as in rebaptizers and look, people would accuse us of the same thing today because if you were in a Catholic church, yeah, when you get saved, you got to be rebaptized because that baby baptism didn't mean anything, okay? But this sermon is very important because this system of theology, Martin Luther's theology didn't really last. His name recognition did but John Calvin's theology did last. Now we understand there's no new thing under the sun so there was people before John Calvin who taught the same things but he's the big guy that they look at and this doctrine is becoming more and more prevalent especially in Baptist churches. Here in the Philippines, many of you, your old pastors were Calvinists. They believed all these things and look, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings but if that's what your old pastor believed, he wasn't saved. And look, if your pastor's not saved, he's a devil. There's no in between. I mean you're either a man of God, I mean if you're the one teaching every week and you believe, they are a devil then. Now they'll act nice. Doesn't everybody act nice? But they're a devil because of the fact this doctrine is a very wicked and evil doctrine. Now I understand some people can be a little bit confused on some of these things but if someone's a full blown, I'm a five point Calvinist, they're a bad person my friend. They're a heretic and I've always taught that from day one of this church before I was at this church. I've always taught this. I've always believed this about Calvinism. I believe this is the most wicked and subtle and dangerous doctrine. In fact, when I was in the US for example, it was actually from our preaching at the schools, there was actually a hardcore five point Calvinist that came and visited this church when I was gone. And I remember Brother Chris told me about it, he messaged me and he said he just came in to check it out and he's like, yeah, I'm a Calvinist, just come and check it out. And I told Brother Chris, well, let me know if he comes next week because if he's still here when I get back, I'm going to deal with this. You say why? Because of the fact if he's really a five point Calvinist, he can either hear the gospel right now and get saved, but don't try to tell me you're saved and then come into this church and you're a five point Calvinist. I don't believe it. It's like you're going to have to listen to the gospel and get saved. If you're not willing to get saved, it's like you're not going to come in here and subtly bring in Calvinism. Because see, here's the thing, people from other backgrounds, other cults, we welcome them to come in here. You're welcome to come here even as an unsaved person, but you know, it's the Calvinists that always subtly bring in their doctrine. I mean, don't you believe God's sovereign overall? Don't you believe God's in control? Oh, it sounds good, right? I mean, yeah, we'd say, yeah, God's in control. They're subtly, slowly, I remember even in Sacramento, I was going soul winning and there's this guy that I went through the gospel for a long time and he was struggling with it and after about 25 minutes, he gets saved. Or so I thought. He was a Calvinist. Then all of a sudden, like over the next week and stuff, he's trying to, he messaged me really confusing verses in the Bible and verses I was aware about, but I'm not going to answer through text messages. He's like, hey, let's meet over coffee, talk about these verses. He's like, yeah, this verse in Jeremiah, I'm trying to figure out. Look, it's like, I'm not Bobo. You're subtly trying to get me to believe in Calvinism. It's like, that's what he was doing. It's like he pretended to get saved and I just, after a while, because I answered a few of those ones and then it was very obvious to me, okay, he's not confused. He's clearly trying to subtly, he's like, oh, okay, but what about this? And he was trying to bring up confusing stuff and I just quit messaging him. It's like, okay, you just fake being saved because you're trying to convert me to Calvinism. It's like, and they do that. That's the truth. So notice what it says in first John three, nine and like, it's very easy to do that because all you have to do is say, well, don't you believe God's sovereign? He's getting control of everything. Look, I don't believe God is responsible for the rape of a child. If that's what you're saying, if that's what you mean by sovereign, no, I don't believe that. Okay. I don't believe God's responsible for serial killers. No, I don't believe that. I believe we have free will. First John three, nine, the Bible says, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Now born of God means a child of God. You're saved for a seed remain of him in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Notice what it says in first John three, nine. It says he cannot sin. If it says he cannot sin, is it possible for him to sin? No, it's not. He cannot sin. Now, is it true that we're all sinners? Absolutely. So how do you reconcile that? There's a difference between the body and the spirit. You can't lose your salvation because your spirit never sins. Look, if you have eternal life, no matter what sin you commit, spiritually, you're still perfect. Right? Because look, when the Bible speaks about it, kalawun kamataion, an impure note, look, that's spiritual. Right. Whenever it speaks of buhay na wolang hangan, that's spiritual. It's a spiritual promise of God and your flesh might choose to do things that are wrong and that's your body. Your flesh making that choice. But look, don't tell me the spiritual man, the spirit of God inside of you decided I'm going to kill someone. No, your spirit of God is perfect. It does not sin. Now, here's the thing. Calvinists do not teach that people are 100% sinless after they get saved. They teach you still sin, but you're continually getting sanctified and closer to God. Well, there's a problem with this. This verse says they cannot sin. It does not say they cannot sin as much as they used to. It says they cannot sin. You say, what's that talking about? It's talking about your spiritual side. It's not really that confusing. He cannot sin. What the Bible's trying to drive home is the fact you have eternal security, once saved, always saved. You cannot sin. Why? Because you're born of God. You've saved your spirit, and God will never look at your sins. So, look, you don't have to worry about, I'm going to go to Judgment Day, and God's going to look at all my sins. They're forgotten. They're gone. You cannot sin after you're saved. So look, when you choose to do something wrong, that's not the spirit of God that forced you to tell a lot. People like to say these Calvinistic type of phrases. People will go down a road. They'll cheat on their spouse. They'll get a divorce. They'll become a drunk. And then 20 years down the road, they get out and get back in church. It's like, well, God just led me down this path. It's like, no, he didn't. It's like you led yourself down that path. Don't blame God for the fact you committed adultery and became a drunk. It's like you made those choices. And look, when you mess up, it's your free will. That's not God doing it. That's ridiculous. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible says here you cannot sin. Okay, so what is it talking about? It's saying spiritually you cannot sin because you're perfect, even though we know that you still sin on a daily basis. We're not perfect. The thought of foolishness is sin. We all think foolish thoughts. But what does John Calvin think about this? We're going to conclude here with what John Calvin says, and he says, and he cannot sin. Here the apostle ascends higher for he plainly declares that the hearts of the godly are so affectionately governed by the Spirit of God that through an inflexible disposition, they follow his guidance. This is indeed far removed from the doctrine of the papists, the sore bones. It is true confessed that the will of man, unless assisted by God's Spirit, cannot desire what is right. But they imagine such a motion of the Spirit as leaves to us the free choice of good and evil. I understand this is like Makalumong English. He lived 500 years ago. It's like I don't have a modern translation of this. It is what it is. Okay. And so he says, hence they draw forth merits because we willingly obey the influence of the Spirit, which it is in our power to resist. In short, they desire the grace of the Spirit to be only this, that we are thereby enabled to choose right if we will. John speaks here far otherwise. So basically what he just said is people say you have free will. He's like, no, no. John speaks here far otherwise. Different than that. You don't have free will. Okay. He says, for he not only shows that we cannot sin, but also the power of the Spirit is so effectual that it necessarily retains us in continual obedience to righteousness, nor is this the only passage of scripture which teaches us that the will is so formed that it cannot be otherwise than right. For God testifies that he gives a new heart to his children and promises to do this, that they may walk in his commandments. Now I'll keep going here in a second, but the problem with this is there's many characters in the Bible, including the New Testament, including Paul the Apostle, if you're doing your memorization in Romans, who talks about every day he messes up. I want to do what's right, but my flesh is fighting against me. He said, I'm carnal. Calvinists say you can't be a carnal Christian, and yet Paul the Apostle said he was carnal. The Church of Corinth, they're carnal. That's what it said. So he says here, for God testifies that he gives a new heart to his children and promises to do this, that they may walk in his commandments. Besides, John not only shows how effectuously God works once in man, but plainly declares the Spirit continues his grace in us to the last so that inflexible perseverance, the perseverance of the saints, is added to newness of life. Let us not then imagine with the sophist that it is some neutral movement which leaves men free either to follow or to reject. So he says it's not a neutral thing where you can either choose to follow or reject. So what he's saying is God forces you to follow. No, my friend. You have free will when you leave here to do what you want to do. If you decide to listen to rock music, which I preach against, it's your choice. Don't sit here and say God made you turn on the rock music. That's ridiculous. It's your free will. You make a choice. But let us know that our own hearts are so ruled by God's Spirit that they constantly cleaved to righteousness. And why do we still sin if they constantly cleave to righteousness? That's ridiculous. Moreover, what the sophists absurdly object may be easily refuted. They say that thus the will is taken away from man, but they say so falsely. For the will is a natural power, but as nature is corrupted, it is only depraved inclinations. It is hence necessary that the Spirit of God should renew it. Because your depraved reprobate, the Spirit of God renews you in order that it may begin to be good. And then as men would immediately fall away from what is good, it is necessary that the same Spirit should carry on what He has begun to the end. That's perseverance of the saints. Now I understand that's makalu among English. I try to explain the best I could. But look, what he's saying is that if you're really saved, the mark of a true Christian is the fact that he has works. Is that not what he said? If you're really saved, you're going to live a good life and to the very end, you're going to be more sanctified and live for God. So look, let me, let me explain something to you. And this is a hard thing because I made a video over a year ago, a long time ago. We first started this church, five, four or five reasons why Calvinists are not saved. I stand by every word I said. I believe this for like over a decade. Okay. Here's the thing. If you believe in Calvinism, and I'm not talking about someone who's confused because they go to a church where some devil's preaching them. I'm saying if you really believe in all this, it is literally impossible to know you're going to heaven. Right. Calvinists can lie about this, but if you talk to them off the record and they're honest with you, they're going to say it's true. Why? Because the only way you know if you're really saved is if you persevere under the end. We haven't made it to the end. In fact, when you talk to them, this is what Calvinists will say. And look, I've watched so many hours of them talk about various things and all these verses. What all of them will say that John MacArthur's, the James White, they're very subtle about this. If you really teach Paul Washer, John Piper, whoever you want to name, whoever's big in the Philippines, this is what they're going to say. They're going to say this. That you know what? It is possible. R.C. Sproul was like this. He always would say this. It is possible because the Bible says there are people that think they're saved, but they're deceived. It is possible to think you're saved, but you're actually just deceived. Okay. And so when you ask them, well, is it possible that you could be? And look, I've heard them admit to them, it's possible. Well, then you don't know if you're a child of God because it's possible. You say, I'm 100% I'm convinced that I'm right, but it's possible I'm one of the ones that's deceived because the Bible speaks about people that are deceived. Let me explain something. I know I'm going to heaven because I believe. It's not, I might be deceived. No, no, no. I know what the Bible teaches about salvation. I'm not deceived about it. I know I'm going to heaven. They will admit it is possible you're one of the deceived. They just don't believe they are one of them. Because notice what you'll see, you will never find a Calvinist. And look, if you prove me wrong, then man, I'll be shocked. You will never find a Calvinist who says, you know what? I am not one of the elect. I believe that you've got to be chosen by God to go to heaven, but you know what? God didn't choose me. I have never run into that. Has anyone ever run into that? It's like, you've got to be one of the elect, but you know what? I'm not one of them. It's like Charles Spurgeon saying, you know what? You've got to be one of the elect, but you know, I'm not one of them. You'll never find that. Why? Because they always believe, you know what? I'm one of the elect. And they're so convinced they're saved. And if you listen to them talk, it's always because of the fact they have works. We determine someone's salvation based on what they believe, not based on their works. I'll close on this. R.C. Sproul, which was a famous Calvinist, he, and let me say this about R.C. Sproul. Calvin was going to take over his ministry, Ligonier Ministries. His son's a hardcore Calvinist and his son turned out to be a drunk. He got caught drunk and driving like 10 times and all kinds of terrible things. He got caught on the Ashley Madison website, which is like an adultery website, you know, hook up if you're married, hook up with other people, whatever. And yet Calvinist would say that guy's saved. I mean, you could still see R.C. Sproul's Jr's sermons online, even though he, you know, was a bad person. But since he believes this doctrine, we still believe he's one of the elect. I thought it was based on your works. Let's talk about hypocrisy. Let me tell you something. R.C. Sproul, and it's a funny video. We made a long time on Verity's website. He went to Bible college or seminary or whatever in a Calvinist seminary and he talked about how, you know, when I was a student, he's like, there's this great debate that swelled around the campus. Is it really possible that you can say, you know, without a shadow of a doubt that you're going to heaven? He goes on and on and says, you know what? There's this big debate where people are kind of arguing, is it possible to know you're going to heaven? It's like, well, look, if you don't know you're going to heaven, let me tell you something. If you don't know you're going to heaven here this morning, it's because you're not. If you're saved, you know, you're safe. Why? Because it's by faith. If you don't know, you say, I think I'm going, I'm 99% look, if you're not sure you're going to heaven, it's because you're not. And there is not a single Calvinist who act because if you actually believe in their doctrine, you cannot know you're going to heaven unless you persevere under the very end and they're not at their deathbed. Maybe you wanted to deceive, they teach. Let me tell you something, you cannot know if you're going to heaven or not. So look, this doctrine, why do I hate it so much? I hate this doctrine because it's a very subtle doctrine and I showed you the end of it. These people actually believe that you hate God, you can be a pedophile and all these wicked things, but they say, well, we just believe it all comes from God. It sounds good until you actually see what they believe. Look, John Calvin was a wicked person and let me tell you something, I understand there's a lot of Baptist pastors that are Calvinists here in the Philippines. But because they have Baptists on their name doesn't mean they're saved. Look, I don't believe you have to go to a Baptist church to be saved. I think it comes down to what you believe and I believe we get people saved that go to Catholic church each week, or at least they did four months ago before the lockdown. But I believe that there's people in whatever denomination, we get people saved and they believe the right thing because salvation comes down to what you believe. It doesn't matter if they have on their name Baptist, unless they believe salvation by grace through faith, they're not saved and you have to understand something. When it comes to religious leaders, they're one of two categories. They're saved or evil. They're either teaching the right thing or they're a devil. Look, if somebody teaches this, they're a five point Calvinist. Calvinism is work salvation, they're not saved, they're a bad person. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see what you have to say about this topic of Calvinism and it's an important thing to be aware about. This is a very famous and common doctrine and it's spread in a lot of Baptist churches. Help us to realize, God, that it is our job to get people saved. You will not just, you know, hand select people to be saved apart from their free will. We've got to put in the work and they've got to make a free will choice if they believe it or not. It's up to us to do the work, God. And when we sin and we do wrong, we cannot blame God. God didn't lead us down that path. That was our choice. And we pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.