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So you're there in Romans chapter two, Romans chapter two. And this chapter is a great chapter. It's sometimes people will take it out of context because what this chapter is teaching is that, yeah, if you keep the whole law and don't offend at one point, then you'll go to heaven. You'll have eternal life. The point it's making, though, is that everybody sinned. If you go to the next chapter says for all of us and it comes from the glory of God, that we concluded that all, you know, all have sinned, whether Jew or Gentile. But it's making a point that saying, yeah, you know, even if but if you're a Gentile and you keep the whole law, then then, yeah, you'd have eternal life and there's nothing to worry about. And it's really getting into the fact that you're you're you call yourself a Jew, but don't you break these commandments? You preach this, all that. And so this chapter sometimes is very misquoted or pulled out of context. And you're not looking at chapter one or chapter three when you're doing that. But that's not what I'm preaching on. So I'm preaching on Calvinism exposed. Now, I've done whole sermons on Calvinism in general. But what I'm going to do is kind of go through each point. So Calvinism has this tulip. OK, it's it's an acronym tulip. And basically each letter stands for something. Now, we've been accused of being Calvinist a lot of times. But there's two kind of camps. If you think of and this is more theological right now. But Calvinism and Arminianism, Calvinism is basically one extreme and Arminianism is the other extreme and Calvinism just in general. Obviously, there's different camps when it comes to this. There's like hyper Calvinist. There's other types of Calvinists and all that. But basically, they don't believe we have free will, that God is basically choosing who gets saved, who doesn't get saved. Arminianism says, well, we have free will, which means you have the free will choice to basically walk away and lose your salvation. OK, we're neither one of those. OK, we believe that you have the free will choice to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But once you believe on him, you have eternal life and he can't break his promise. And you're saved forever, meaning it's eternally secure. But you did have the free will choice to choose it. It's just an eternal decision. OK, so we're here where the Bible's at. OK, Calvinism is over here. Arminianism is over here. And so I really want to in the reason I bring I'm going through this is because someone sent me an email about a passage that Calvinism is trying to use to prove total depravity. OK. And so I answered that email, but I was like, you know what? I've never heard that argument, that specific arguments. I figured I'd bring it up. And if I'm going to go ahead and go talk about total depravity, might as well talk about the whole tulip. So I'm not going to do all that this morning. I'm going to go each sermon is going to be on each point of the tulip. So tulip basically the T stands for total depravity and the U stands for unconditional election. The L stands for limited atonement. I stands for irresistible grace. And the P stands for perseverance of the state of the saints. So I'm going to go through each one of these in its own separate sermon. And I would say limited atonement is probably the most heretical, the one I hate the most, because it basically states that Jesus didn't die for everybody. OK. And I don't like that, that doctrine. I hate that when they say that Jesus only died for certain people. But total depravity. Here's the one that has some truth. OK. It has some truth, but it needs to be in its right compartment. OK. Now, what they believe with total depravity, I'm just going to read off to you kind of a definition. Now, you know, Calvinists are going to be are going to be hitting on my YouTube video and be like, this is not what we believe. We believe this over here. So this is all in general. OK, what they believe total depravity means. And a lot of Baptists use this terminology, but it really depends on what they mean by it. OK. It's kind of like the word repent. You know, when someone says you got to repent to be saved. OK, well, what do you mean by that? Do you mean you have to stop sinning or do you mean that you have to stop believing in something else to put your faith in Christ? You know, and what do you mean by that? Do you mean that repent of your sins means that you have to stop sinning or do you believe that that means you have to realize you are a sinner and that that sin would condemn you to hell? And so you have to really see, OK, what do they believe? But here's just a definition for you that you could just find online. Total depravity, also called radical corruption or pervasive depravity, is a Christian theology doctrine derived from the concept of original sin. It teaches that as a consequence of man's fall, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin as a result of their fallen nature and apart from the the affectious, irresistible or prevent basically irresistible grace. OK. And that's that goes into another document. All these are kind of tied together. OK, so this one is needed to prove the other one, if that makes sense. And it says is completely. So this person, you know, any person, every person, if you will, it says is completely unable to choose by themselves to follow God, refrain from evil or accept the gift of salvation as it is offered. So what total depravity in the in the strictest sense of Calvinism basically teaches that you can't even accept the gift of God. You can't, you know, on your own believe on Christ and get that eternal life. What it's stating is that God has to do it for you. And, you know, that is where it gets heretical, because you don't have free will then. OK, basically, God is picking and choosing who's going to get saved and free will is out the door. Now, go to Romans chapter two, because what they teach is that basically an unsaved person can't do anything good. OK. And it's just not true. OK, the, you know, experience is just knowing people out there knows that this isn't true. And what they're going to do is over spiritualize and be like, well, yeah, I mean, they're doing good things, but deep down, it's not really sincere. They don't really mean it. You know all that. Well, I can say that about a bunch of Christians, too, to say, well, you're not really sincere. You didn't really mean it. You weren't doing it in complete charity. There was some selfish thoughts that were in there. But what I'm going to show you here is that the Bible clearly states that unsaved people can keep the law of God. OK. And this passage here in Romans chapter two and verse 12. Romans chapter two and verse 12. It says, for as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law, as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. So it's basically given a dichotomy of the Jews and Gentiles, right? So you have Israel that has the law, right? They have the oracles of God that were given to them, and they're a nation that is basically has has the Bible, has the laws of God. Right. And it's basically saying, OK, well, this nation over here doesn't have that right. They don't have you know, they're not basically have the same, you know, blessings from God to get these oracles, all this stuff. That doesn't mean they don't know them. OK. Meaning that Israel is supposed to be preaching the gospel to every nation. They were supposed to be getting people saved. All that stuff was supposed to be going on. But that being said, is that he's basically stating that if you sin without the law, you're going to perish without the law. If you sin in the law, then you're going to be judged by the law. So basically, it doesn't matter whether you're you have the law or you don't have the law. You know, you're still breaking God's commandments. You're still a sinner. OK, and keep reading there. It says for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. So the point he's making is that just because you know the law, that doesn't give you any more credence than the person that doesn't know the law. Right. Actually, the Bible says to whom much is given, much is required. So if you know the law and then you break the law, you're actually more accountable than the person that didn't know they were breaking the law and broke the law. OK, be like someone that goes over the speed limit out here and they get pulled over and be like, well, I didn't know that I was going over the speed limit. Does that change the fact that you're going over the speed limit? OK, but being ignorant is definitely maybe a lesser no in the Bible. Being it's sending ignorantly has a lesser punishment than those that sin presumptuously or willfully knowing what they're doing. OK, but they're both sin. OK, they both have broken the law. They transgress the law. OK, so that's what it's basically stating here. Verse 14, for when the Gentiles, which have not the law, notice this do by nature, the things contained in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves. What does it say there? The Gentiles do by nature, the things contained in the law. OK, now it's going to explain how they would do that or how that's possible. But it's saying that they're doing it by nature, not by God, by nature. OK, and that's what people will say is like, well, the natural man can't do anything good. OK, and but it says here that the Gentiles, they don't have the law. They do by nature, the things contain the laws that throws that outside that. Well, someone that's unsaved or just everybody that comes in the world just can't do anything right. They can't keep the law of God. And if they do keep the law of God, it's only because God allows them to do it or forces them to do it. It's saying by nature, they're doing this. OK, by nature, we're sinners. OK, by nature, the natural man, the carnal things, all this stuff. OK, now in verse 15 says, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts. The meanwhile, accusing or else excusing one another in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. So what are we talking about? Talk about people having a conscience. OK, did you know that everybody is born into the world is born with a conscience? OK, this is what separates us from animals, by the way. OK, animals don't have a conscience. OK, they don't have a living soul. OK, and I hate to say this, but they're not going to go to heaven. I'm sorry. You know, that's the spirit of the beast go downward, the spirit of man go with upward. But that being said, is that do you see here that they're doing by nature the things contained in the law? Why? Because their conscience has the laws of God written in their hearts. OK, now that's why if you were to go out to some like, let's say, well, what about this group of people on a desert island somewhere? They have a conscience with the laws of God. They know that murder is wrong. They know that stealing is wrong. They know that lying is wrong. OK, it's in it's in a natural thing that's given to them. Now, this is where total depravity is true. OK, what I'm trying to prove to you is that it's not everybody that's totally depraved, OK? Because people are born in this world with a conscience. Everybody is. But there can come a point where you don't have a conscience anymore. OK, actually, even in the secular world, Robert Hare, who's a leading psychiatrist, wrote a whole book called Without Conscience talking about psychopaths and the fact that people that become psychopaths literally have no conscience. OK, that's not a fundamental Baptist stating that. That's just a leading psychiatrist. It's interesting because it lines up with what the Bible teaches. But people aren't born psychopaths. OK. And notice, go to Titus, Chapter one, Titus, chapter one. So the reason this first point is so important, because if you're going to be a Bible believing Christian, that believes every line, every jot, every tittle. OK. Then there's going to be a lot of verses you're not going to understand if you don't understand what I'm going to teach you right now. OK. You either have to be a Calvinist and believe everybody in the world is totally depraved. And it's only because God gives them that ability to to believe or that ability to trust in him. You're either going to be that Calvinist there, or you're going to believe that there are people that can become that way. OK, because there are clear verses in the Bible where people cannot believe, where people are past feeling, where people don't have a conscience, to where people are totally depraved. Now, that term isn't used in the Bible, but that concept is there. And there are many verses that teach that. OK. So you have to find out which camp you're in, OK, when it comes to this. But you know what? Then you could be that other person that's just like, well, I just don't know how to answer it. You know, they don't believe in in the Calvinist doctrine, but they don't believe in the reprobate doctrine. So they're just like, well, I'm going to throw up my hands and I don't know how to answer those verses. OK, you can still be saved. I'm not saying you have to, you know, believe this or understand this to be saved. But notice in Titus one, verse 15, Titus one, verse 15. And this is more of a Bible study. I know Sunday mornings are usually the the ripping face kind of sermon or the exhorting type of sermon. But it's a Bible study. I'm sorry. It's it's going to be more of a doctoral sermon. But in verse 15 there. It says, unto the pure, all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. Now, notice that doesn't just say they're unbelieving, but they're defiled and unbelieving. OK, it says in their mind and conscience is defiled. Notice that in Romans two, everybody has a conscience. The law of God is written on that conscience. But there are people that can be that conscience can be defiled. Verse 16, they profess that they know God, but in works they deny and being abominable and disobedient. Notice this and unto every good work, reprobate. Now, that term reprobate just means rejected. Right. But it's basically stating that every good work is rejected of God. OK, so yeah, there are people out there that literally can't sleep unless they do evil. Proverbs four talks about this. There are people out there that are psychopaths that literally have no conscience. If they hurt somebody, feel nothing. They see someone get hurt, feel nothing. That's just missing this this portion of their their brain that would have some kind of conscience attached to it. Emotions, stuff like that. And but they weren't born that way. So Calvinism believes everybody's born that way. What we believe is that people can become that. OK, people can become psychopaths. So that's the simple gist of it is the fact that, hey, total depravity yet exists. But we believe that someone can become totally depraved. We don't believe we're all just originally totally depraved. OK. And go to Habakkuk chapter two, Habakkuk chapter two. So in your mind of prophets there. So Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah. Really, if you just go from Matthew and go back a little bit, you'll find it. It's not not too far back there, but Habakkuk chapter two. We're going to get a very famous verse here. OK, the Bible says in New Testament three different times that just shall live by faith. OK, and it's attached with salvation. And I'm going to show you those verses. But I first want you to see where this came from when it says, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Notice and what basically Calvinists will believe is that, did you notice that their definition is that the fact that they're completely unable to choose by themselves to accept the gift of salvation or to believe? And they'll actually say Ephesians two, eight, nine, when it says, for by grace, are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works of any man should boast. They'll say faith is the gift there. Even though we know that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord, that salvation is the gift and all that now. And I know James White will say that and he'll say that, you know, that that faith is a gift. But you know what? If you go back to the original great, which you don't have to, it's impossible for that to work. OK, so I'd like to see him explain that in the Greek. But I really question whether he even can read it in Greek or if he's just going to a concordance when he's doing that. Now, in Habakkuk chapter two in verse four, it says, behold, his soul, which is lifted up in him, lifted up is not upright in him. But notice this. But the just shall live by his faith. Notice that the just is the noun, the person we're talking about, right? The his is the pronoun. OK, so not too complicated here, but the pronouns replacing the noun. OK, so his faith. Who's the his referring to? The just right. The just shall live by his faith. That's a personal faith that that means it's not living by God's faith. OK, now what I'll say here, you know, people don't want to believe either. OK, and again, everything has to be in its own spot and it has to make sense. OK, I don't believe someone gets it can get saved without the word of God. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. OK, so obviously God has to be in there, right? You know, God has to be working with that person. You know, the Holy Ghost is reproving the world of sin. And it says, Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. We're born again, not a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. So, yeah, you can't get saved unless you hear the word of God and you can't get saved. And this is going to be controversial, too, unless someone shows it to you that's already saved. Go to Romans chapter one, Romans chapter one. So I'm not here to say that someone's just going to I don't even believe someone can just pick up the Bible, read it and get saved, because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Neither can he know them, for they are foolishness unto him because he spiritually discerned the Ethiopian eunuch was reading Isaiah 53. And Philip came up to him and said, Understand us without read us. And he said, How can I accept some man should guide me? OK, so don't get me wrong and don't take me too far here and be like, Well, OK, you could just look up into the sky and say, I believe on you, Jesus. No, obviously you need to. There's a progression when it comes to salvation. OK, but that doesn't mean that you're not putting your actual faith in him, that that that is something that had to be given to you or you didn't have a choice. OK, there is a prerequisite to salvation and there is a choice. Romans chapter one and verse 16, it says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. So I believe that there's an unbroken chain of saved people from from Abel, you know, from Adam, that people have been preaching the gospel, showing people how to get saved, and they've been getting saved because it says, For whosoever shall call upon him, the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call him in whom they have not believed? And how should they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how should they hear without a preacher and how should they preach except to be sent as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them to preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things? So the idea there is that there's a progression. Right. And even right after that, it says, you know, they have not all obeyed the gospel for these days that Lord, who hath believed our report. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So, yeah, you need a soul winner with the word of God to show them this is what you need to believe. And at that point, they have a choice. If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That if that's an if then statement. OK, any computer programmers out there know that that's a conditional statement. OK, and I'm kind of getting ahead of myself to the unconditional grace or unconditional election. But do you see here that Habakkuk, where this is quoting from, is saying that that's the just faith. OK. That the just shall live by his faith. Now, in the New Testament, it just says the just shall live by faith. I don't believe there's anything wrong with that. And if you don't like that, that's just, you know, then you don't like that how the apostles wrote it down in Greek. OK, so. But that being said, is that that's very plain, simple. Galatians three and Hebrews 10 quote that same passage for sake of time. I don't you could look at those later on, but it says in Galatians three, for sake of time, it says, but that no man is justified by law on the side of God. It is evident for the just shall live by faith. So it's giving you that dichotomy, OK, that you're not saved by the law. You're saved by faith. And Habakkuk is saying you're saved by your own faith. You're saved. The just is saved by the just faith. OK, now go to Romans Chapter 12, Romans Chapter 12. Now. I'm going to get to the question. Someone emailed me a question and had to do with Romans three. OK, and it's one I never heard, but I kind of like when I would read through Romans three, it kind of would pop in your head because I'm always kind of thinking of, OK, what? What would a cow want to say? What would be an argument? Because I'll say this when I when I believe a doctrine or if I'm teaching a doctrine, I try to destroy it. OK. I try to destroy my own doctrine because I don't want to eat crow. OK, I don't want to be wrong. And so what I'm doing is saying, OK, what's all their arguments? What all are they trying to say that would destroy my belief and what I'm saying the Bible says? OK, so you don't want to just be like, well, I think this is what it says. And you're just like, oh, I don't want I don't want to hear what anybody else has to say. No, I want to know what all the arguments are. OK. And when this one was brought up, I was like, oh, that's interesting. I've never heard someone say that or use that passage. And so, you know what? You know, I think it's something that should be brought up and we should talk about it. OK. But Romans chapter twelve, look at verse three here. It says, for I say, through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God had dealt to every man the measure of faith. OK, so you're going to come to these verses. I'm going to show you these verses, OK, when it comes to this aspect of God giving repentance or or just not have people not having faith. Right. And what it comes down to is I believe everybody is born with a measure of faith. OK, but it can be taken away. OK, and that's what it comes down to is total depravity on the Calvinist side says, OK, everybody is born that way. OK, where I'm saying, no, you can become that way to where you're totally depraved without conscience and to where you literally that measure of faith that was given to you is taken away. OK, before you die now, I would think everybody would realize that everybody in hell is totally depraved and and without hope. And and, you know, there's no hope for people in hell. That's that's a sad truth, but it's the truth. OK, when you when people die and go to hell, there's no way out. OK, but there are people that can become that way before they even die. OK, go to Second Thessalonians, chapter three, Second Thessalonians, chapter three. I know this is deep for a Sunday morning. OK. But like I said. Studying about you're going to be a Bible believing Christian, you're either going to be a Calvinist or you're going to believe in the doctrine. OK, it's one of those two. OK, and I believe that the Calvinist view does not represent what the Bible teaches, and it leads into other things, because if everybody's totally depraved and cannot even believe on Christ, that leads to that, that means he has to believe for you. That means he has to choose it for you. So the problem with that belief is what it leads to. OK, and so and then it leads to limited atonement, because then if if he chooses people to believe, then then he's not going to die for people that he didn't choose to believe. And and you get into this whole like snowball effect into all these other false doctrines. OK, so Matthew chapter, I'm sorry. Second Thessalonians, chapter three, it says, Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith. Now you may just say, well, this is just talking about not everybody believes. OK, which is true. So I obviously can understand that argument there. But you're dealing with unreasonable and wicked men. OK. I don't believe that that's there by accident, meaning that someone that doesn't have a conscience, OK, or someone that has a seared conscience, as the Bible says, or defiled conscience or what the Bible says, past feeling. You know, there's these terms without natural affection, these type of terms that the Bible uses for these people that. That means they're unreasonable. OK, you can't reason with them. OK. And I believe that that person had a measure of faith that was given to them. And it was taken away, meaning they don't even have the ability to believe now. OK, now this is as true as the day as long when you go through the Bible. The Bible says, you know, that they could not believe. You know, Jesus says that in John Chapter 12, that they could not believe. Go to Matthew Chapter 13, because I'm going to show you. A passage here, and you may wonder in the Bible, why does Jesus speak to to all these multitudes and parables? OK, and you're reading through all the gospels and you're like, why does he keep speaking to them in parables? Why doesn't he just speak plainly to everybody and tell them exactly what he means, exactly what he believes, you know, and just be very clear and plain. But yet he speaks in these parables, which parables. Another term for that is a proverb or a dark saying. OK, so they're not meant to be super clear. OK. And so that being said is that the Bible actually Jesus tells his disciples exactly why he speaks to them in parables. OK, so in Matthew Chapter 13 in verse 10, it says, and the disciples came and said unto him, Why speak as thou unto them in parables? So isn't that the question? Who here has had that question? Reading through the Bible for the first time says, why is everything in a parable? Right. I know I did. I was just like, why are all these parables? You know, you get to the epistles. You're like, all right, finally, no more parables, you know. But that being said, is that we've all had that question. Verse 11 says, And he answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Do you see two different groups of people that Jesus is talking to here? He says there's a certain group of people. He's like it's not given to them to know this. OK. But to you it is given. OK, notice in verse 12 for whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance, but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away, even that he hath therefore speak I to them in parables because they they sing, see not and hearing they hear not. Not do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah's, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they have closed less than any time. They should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, but they see in your ears, but they hear. So this passage is going to be perplexing if you don't understand the fact that there are certain people that God has blinded. OK, Pharaoh is one of the greatest examples of this. If you look at Romans nine, it talks about whom he will, he hardeneth and whom he will, he has mercy on. But Pharaoh, I believe God wanted to get saved. But there came a point where he was heartened and God hardened his heart. OK, there can come a point where someone that God is hardening that person's heart and it says, lest they should believe and be saved, you know, lest they should they should be converted and their sins be forgiven, it says in another passage. And it's a hard truth. But listen, you can't just like look past and be like, I don't have an answer for it and I'm not going to answer it. OK, so that's why I said you're either going to be Calvinist and be like, well, everybody's like that and only believers can now understand or it's who God chooses, right? So he chooses this group over here to just not hear, not understand, not believe. OK, he chooses that from the foundation of the world. Or, you know, and then the other group, he chooses them to believe and understand and all that. Or this, that he wants, he's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He'll have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. That he's the savior of all men, especially those that believe. So here's the thing, Calvinist, is you got to reconcile all those verses. Did he taste death for every man? By the grace of God, is he the savior of all men, especially of those that believe? Is, you know, you have to answer all of that. OK, so when you're looking at this doctrine, OK, what you have to look at is, OK, total depravity on the Calvinist realm, how do they answer those verses? How do they answer the fact that he died for every man, that he tasted death for every man, that he's not willing, that any should perish, and if it's God's will, won't it be done? Because Calvinists are all about the sovereignty of God, that if he wills it, it will happen. OK, well, if he will have all men to be saved, then everybody's going to be saved. Why are we even going out soul winning? OK. So but if you look over here and say, well, somebody can become that. That means that he wanted Pharaoh to get saved. He wanted Jeffrey Dahmer to get saved. He wanted Ted Bundy to get saved. He wanted everybody to get saved. But does everybody get saved? No, there's few there be that find it. You know, they ask that question, are there few that be saved? And his answer is straight as the gate and there is a way. And few there be that find it. And so you have to answer all the all the different verses. OK, so the reprobate doctrine, as far as someone becoming that, I believe answers everything. I believe it'll make everything fit hand in glove. OK, these verses do exist. There are people that that it's been taken away from them. That measure of faith, because not everybody has it right now. Not everybody has that measure of faith. There are people that cannot believe. Don't believe me. Go to second or go to Second Timothy, chapter two. Second Timothy, chapter two, because I know a lot of Calvinists will bring up this passage right here. But again, you got to take everything in context and you got to look at the whole epistle to know what's being said here. I know we got visitors, so I may be offending people in there. You know, that's not my intention. But at the same time, you know, you know, this is the truth. This is what the Bible teaches on this. And if you have any questions afterwards, listen, I'll talk. I'll talk to anybody about it. And, you know, nicely, OK, you know, when it comes to preaching, you know, I may get fired up, hit the pulpit and yell. Listen, that's not going to be productive on a one to one basis discussion. If we're getting hot and heavy, we should probably just end the conversation and walk away. OK. But at the same time, I do believe this is true is the day is long. And I believe I can defend it in every corner. But there are questions that come up and other verses that come up. And you know what? I I can't say that I've heard every argument. OK, if I if I said that I would have been eating crow today because there was another argument someone brought to my attention. And I'm going to be answering that here in a minute. OK, Second Timothy, chapter two and verse 24. So this is a verse that they'll bring up to you. OK. Dealing with the fact that that God is the one that's giving you that faith or that repentance and stuff like that. And I can understand if you were just to look at this in isolation and not understanding this doctrine I'm showing you right now to where you'd be like, yeah, what is what is this about? You know, in verse 24 there, it says in the servant, the Lord must not strive, but be gentle. And to all men have to teach patient and meekness instructing those that oppose themselves. Now, that's what I'm talking about. When you go out sowing and we don't yell and scream, you know, they're supposed to be gentle, be, you know, patient. And if it doesn't get if it goes past that and you're not patient, you're not gentle, then you need to cut off the conversation. Be like, have a nice day. And maybe we can all calm down and talk about it some other time. Right. But this next portion right here, it says if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will. So when you look at this verse, you may ask yourself, OK, well, what is this talking about? You know, it says if peradventure God and that's a term maybe we don't use as much peradventure, but maybe it's like perhaps, you know, perhaps God will give them repentance to the knowledge of the truth or something like that, you know, as far as the peradventure. But it's basically saying if God will give them repentance to the knowledge of the truth, so it's basically saying, you know, you just need to be gentle, meek and you don't know, you know, you don't know if they're going to repent, they're going to get saved. Now, the question you would ask is, you know, God's the one giving that to them, right? Or granting in other places will say that God is granted unto them repentance unto life. It'll use that terminology, granted unto them repentance unto life. We'll go to the next chapter, though. So in Second Timothy, Chapter three, Second Timothy, Chapter three, because we just ended Chapter two. And and listen, when when when Paul wrote the epistles, I don't believe he was like Chapter one of this epistle, Chapter two. By the way, the verses weren't there either. That wasn't until the Gideon Bible that they put verses, you know, in there. So that being said, you know, I'm all for the chapters, don't get me wrong, and I'm all for the verses. But don't like take stock in that and be like, well, that's a whole new thought in the next chapter. Unless you're dealing with Psalms, if you're dealing with the Psalms, then yes, I mean, there are different songs. OK, but a verse and I have the different verses on I want to get to. But let's just read from the very beginning there, just so you know, what are we talking about? So you just got done saying prevention. God will give them repentance to the knowledge and the truth. Notice in verse one there says this know also that in the last days, perilous times have come for men shall be lovers of their own selves. Covetous, boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient parents, unthankful without natural affection. Notice that term right there without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent fears, despisers of those that are good. So they they hate those people that are good. Traitors, heady, high minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away. So are we dealing with saved people here? Obviously not. Right. But I would say to you, and I'm going to show you here in a minute that you're not just dealing with a typical unsaved person. You're dealing with someone that's reprobate. OK, so you say, well, there's some things in there that I would commit. Yeah, well, they're filled with all unrighteousness. OK, so, yeah, I mean, all the things that we would naturally sin and naturally do would be on that list. But you know what? Most people don't hate those that are good. You know, I hate you because you're good, because you're nice, you know. Now, you know, you could make the argument like, well, you know, some people do. But listen, Abel, Cain, why did Cain kill Abel? Because his only works were evil and his brother's righteous. And it says he was of the wicked one. So he was a child of the devil, the Bible teaches. And so you're not dealing with typical unsaved person when you're dealing with Cain. You're dealing with someone that is past feeling without natural affection. Now, let's keep reading there, because these are the verses I want to get to. But I want you to see that where we're heading up to here. You're dealing with someone having the form of guidelines, but denying the power thereof, for of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive, silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts. Notice this ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now, as Janus and Jambres withstood Moses, so did these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith. So who are you dealing with here? People that are ever learning and never able. OK, so the Calvinists will say, well, that's that's everybody. It's unelect is ever learning and never able. OK, so people are born ever learning and never able to come up to the truth. Well, that would contradict all the verses that say that he's not willing to any should perish, that will have all men to be saved and that he's the savior of all men, especially those that believe. So that would contradict all those verses. But also, the fact is, is that when you couple this with chapter two, he's saying if per adventure God will give them repentance to acknowledge the truth, because in Hebrew Chapter six, it says that there's people that tasted the heavenly gift, tasted the good word of God, if they shall fall away, it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance, saying they crucified themselves, the son of God afresh and put them to an open shame. Why? Because they're twice dead. You know, every believer or I'm sorry, every person in this world is dead and trespasses and sins, but not everybody is twice dead. You know, trees whose fruit wither twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the seas, you know, foaming out their own shame. Wandering stars whom he's reserved the blackness of darkness forever. There are certain people that are that. And Janice and Jamboree's obviously was that, you know, back in their day. Now, who those people are? Maybe the priests, you know, that were that put the two serpents down. I don't know. You know, you know, it doesn't really say. But at the same time, they withstood Moses. So it was in Moses day. And so that being said, is that you have these people that are ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge of truth. So do you see how you have to take one side or the other? You either have to be a Calvinist and say, yeah, there's people that are just born unelect. God didn't choose them to get saved. That means they're never going to come to the knowledge of truth. OK, or you can say, well, no, everybody's born with that measure of faith to where God wants them to get saved. But they can hit a point where God rejects them, where God gives them over to a reprobate mind, as it says in Romans one. And at that point, they're ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of truth because they held the truth in unrighteousness and their foolish heart was darkened. So that's the two extremes. So, yes, I believe in total depravity. You heard it here first, folks. OK, I believe in total depravity, but I don't believe everybody's born in a total depraved state. OK, I believe someone could become totally depraved, like Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy or, you know, I'm mentioning all these people that are dead. I don't know. You know, I'm sure there are psychopaths today that are like those guys. But, you know, there's there are people out there that are completely, just completely wicked, can't do anything good. Everything they do is evil. They can't sleep unless they do evil and cause someone to fall. Those people exist. OK, I believe it's a minority. OK, you're like, man, I don't want to leave church right now. You go out into the world. OK, I don't believe that that's the majority of people. The majority of people, though, are dead and trespasses and sins. OK, the majority of people are not saved. The majority of people are going to go to hell. But there is there are people that are totally depraved that are out there that have a seared conscience without conscience, without natural affection that, you know, are past feeling, as the Bible would say, you know, that type of thing. Now, let's get to the argument that it was at hand. You're like, all right, finally, Romans chapter three, Romans chapter three. This was brought up to my attention. I know this is deep, but hopefully it's sinking in, you know, as far as at least what I'm trying to get across here is that Calvinism's tool of total depravity has truth to it. OK. There's truth in there. OK, you can't just say like they're out to lunch, you know this. But here this is the crucial point is that you have to realize there's two different ways to look at this in the Bible. You either look at it that everybody's born that way or someone could become that way. OK, those verses exist. OK, so that's in there. But how do you reconcile it? How does it fit? Where when does that happen? And that's when you have to try to reconcile all the verses in the Bible. Romans chapter three, look at verse nine there. I'm going to read this and I'm going to tell you what someone has said as far as dealing with Calvinism. What then? Are we better than they? No one know wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. There's none that understand it. There's none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become a I'm sorry, they together. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that do with good. No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher with their tongues. They have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways in the way of peace. Have they not known? There is no fear of God before their eyes. OK. Now, they brought this up to me because you'll see some things that have said they're like there's nothing to do with good. No, not one. We use this out all the time. So when you say, hey, we're sinners. OK, and then it will say things like the fact that there is no fear of God before their eyes. There's none that seek it after God. OK. Now, we just got done out of chapter two saying that they do by nature, the things contained in the law. OK, so what is this talking about? Well, go to Romans, Chapter seven, Romans, Chapter seven, Romans, Chapter seven. And I believe this is talking about the flesh. OK, and this is where I believe, you know, and we're going to get to the other points that a lot of Calvinists just don't understand. They don't understand the difference between the old man and new man, the flesh and the spirit. The outer man in the inner man, when someone gets saved and believes on Christ, it says, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he's born of God. OK, but it also says in chapter one of first John that if we say that we have no sin, we see ourselves and the truth is not in us. OK, two statements that seem to contradict each other. Right. One thing is if you're saved, you don't sin at all. OK, another one says you're you're not of the truth. If you say that you don't sin. OK, well, how do you reconcile those ones? The flesh, the other ones, the soul and the spirit. OK, because it says in Psalm 32, blessed is the man in whose spirit is no guile. OK, the fact is, is that when you get saved, your soul is purified, your soul is saved, but your flesh still has sin. And when we're dealing with verses in the Bible, sometimes it's dealing with the flesh and sometimes it's dealing with the spirit. And this whole chapter in Romans, chapter seven, is showing you that dichotomy. OK, it's kind of it's kind of a tongue twister when you're reading through chapter seven and you're like, all right, we get it, you know, but at the same time, it's showing you that, hey, part of Paul wants to do right. Part of him doesn't want to do right. But notice what it says in verse 14. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Now, as Paul saved. OK, because I know Paul Washer. Who's a heretic, says that there's no such thing as a carnal Christian. Well, riddle me this, when Paul was under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and writing Romans, he said he was carnal. Now he's going to explain what that means. OK, but he says I'm carnal. And I would say Paul is probably one of the best Christians to ever live. So, you know, if he's saying he's carnal, then I think we're going to all have to say that to a certain extent. OK, now, verse 15 says, For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that, which I would not, I can send them to the law, that is good. Now, then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. Notice in verse 18, For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. So what has no good in it? The flesh. That's true from birth. OK, this is why babies can die. OK, because I don't believe in original sin, meaning like holistically, meaning that if you look earlier in chapter seven, Paul says, I was alive once without the law, but then the law came, sin revived, and I die. I died. I believe that children are innocent, spiritually speaking, till they come to the knowledge of good and evil, till they can come to the knowledge of the law of God, and then at that point, they're dead in trespasses and sins, OK? But listen, babies die in the womb. Babies die at birth, and children die at young ages because sin, when it is finished, brings forth death, for the wages of sin is death, and everybody is born into this world with a sinful flesh, except for Jesus, OK? Obviously, he was born of the Virgin Mary. That's the exception, right? But everybody has sin physically, OK, in that flesh, OK? And go back to Romans chapter three there. I want you to notice something that may stick out a little more. I want you to notice if there's some physical attributes that are mentioned, some fleshly, bodily attributes that are mentioned, OK? Notice what it says in verse 13. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues, they have used a seat. The poison of abs is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way appeased have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Do you see something that's kind of sticking out there that you're talking about physical body parts? I don't think it's a coincidence that he's going through all these different parts, right? He's kind of going from the head, well, he kind of ended with the eyes, so it's not really going head to toes, but you get what I'm saying. He's basically hitting all these different parts of the body and stating that there's no fear of God in their eyes, talking about the flesh. There's no, you know, they don't do good because in the flesh, that is in my flesh, it says in me, that is in my flesh, being specific, dwelleth no good thing, okay? You know what, that's still true today as Christians, okay? Right now, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. But my soul was made perfect by Christ, and I have no sin, spiritually speaking, so I have the choice to walk in the new man or walk in the flesh, and every day, I have that daily battle to die daily, as Paul said. I die daily, why? Because you're putting off the old man, putting on the new man, and it's not automatic, okay? You say, well, give me an example of someone that feared God, okay? That wasn't saved, okay, because that's what, the argument that was brought to my attention specifically was that one right there. It says there is no fear of God before their eyes, okay? Go to Acts chapter 10, Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10, we're gonna deal with Cornelius. Now, like I said, don't take me too far, okay? You still need the soul winner, you need the word of God, you need the Holy Ghost involved to get someone saved, okay? I'm not taking those elements out of there, but to say that no one can fear God without God giving you that fear, or what they said, I'll say exactly the way they said it, and you may say, no one has, I've never heard this before, okay, I hadn't either, okay? They said that you can only fear God once you're saved. It's kinda like the idea of you have to have that gift to repent, or you have to have that gift, or God has to give you this, he's gotta give you the fear, all these different things, but that happens when you're saved, okay? So it's like this synonymous thing. I don't know, that's just what they told me that they were trying to state here, okay? But I'm gonna show you where Cornelius feared God, and actually all his house feared God before he was ever saved, okay? And this isn't, by the way, this is the narrator speaking, okay? So when you have the narrator speaking, you know it's true, okay? Because there's times in the Bible where the devil's speaking, and you'd be like, well, that's not true. So you gotta understand that when the narrator, or the person that's penning down the book, that is under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, those statements are true. Notice in verse one there, it says, there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God all the way. He saw in a vision, evidently, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming to him and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid and said, what is it, Lord? And he said unto him, the prayers in thine alms are come up before memorial before God, and now send men to Jop up, and call for one Simon whose surname is Peter. He lodgest with one Simon the tanner, whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. Now, you probably read this story. In the end, Peter does eventually come, and he preaches them, and if you remember, as he's speaking, the Holy Ghost is falling on them, and then they get baptized at the end of the chapter here. But what you may say was, well, was he already saved? I'm thinking of the arguments people would say to me. They'd be like, well, he must have already been saved, and he just didn't have the Holy Ghost yet, and it was like an apollos, right? He was just expounding the word of God more perfectly unto him. Well, go to Acts chapter 11, because Peter is recounting this when he comes back to Jerusalem, and it's gonna be crystal clear that when he came to him, he was preaching to him the gospel so that they'd get saved. Because in chapter 10, it just says, I'll show us what thou oughtest to do, and you could probably look at that and be like, well, he's just kind of telling them the things he needs to do as a Christian or something, right? But in verse 13 there, so Acts chapter 11, verse 13, it says, and he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. Is there any doubt that it was about salvation? It was about getting saved. And by the way, he feared God with all his house. That means that all his house feared God, and he was giving alms, okay? So to say that Cornelius was totally depraved before that point, I think is ridiculous. And to say that he couldn't fear God until he got saved, well, then how do you explain this? Okay, how did he fear God with all his house before they ever got saved? Now, like I said, I'm sure there's other arguments out there that I haven't heard, okay? But you know what, bring them to me. Actually, I'm doing a whole series, after we get done with the prophets, on so-called contradictions in the Bible. And you know how they have those big lists, they're like all these damning contradictions in the Bible, and it's like some Muslim or some atheist that's doing that or whatever. And we're gonna go through each one of them, and a lot of them, you're gonna be like, this is really stupid, but I'm gonna do that on purpose, because I'm gonna show you how dumb a lot of these so-called contradictions are. But some of them are harder to answer, okay? And when it comes to Calvinism, if you don't understand the Reverberate Doctrine, you're gonna be in a world of hurt to try to figure out what these verses are saying, okay? When I first got saved, I didn't know about the Calvinism, and I didn't know about the Reverberate Doctrine, okay? I was still saved. But when these verses would come up and be like, what is going on, how do you answer these verses, right? The unforgivable sin, just different things that you're just like, what in the world? Why doesn't he want them to believe? Why can't they believe? Why are they ever learning? And this is a very important doctrine to understand. Obviously dealing with Calvinism, but just knowing your Bible, okay? Do you wanna just know enough to be saved and just be like, all right, I'm good? Or do you wanna really know the Bible? Do you wanna know the ins and outs? Do you wanna know every doctrine? And the Bible says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason to the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. And so my goal in life as a pastor or just a Christian is that I can answer whatever question you bring to me, okay? I'm not perfect, okay? I don't know everything. But I'll say this, if a question's ever brought to me and I'm like, I don't have an answer to that, I'm going to find out, okay? That'll be my mission, to find out what that answer is. And so that's total depravity. So we're gonna go through the other ones as we go on. But like I said, this one, I think, when you look at this, you can see why a lot of people become Calvinists, because there's so much truth to that doctrine, okay? Like I said, I believe it's out of place, meaning that it's not all people, it's just some people that happens later, okay? But there's a lot of verses that support that, okay? And I know our church members, we believe in the reparate doctrine, and you know this when you're reading through the Bible, it's just everywhere, right? You're just seeing all these places where this is brought up. So you gotta reconcile this, or you're gonna have a hard time reading through your Bible and trying to reconcile a lot of verses, okay? But the other ones we'll get to, and we got a lot of baptisms coming up, so I'm gonna go ahead and close it up. But if you have any questions, obviously you can ask me later. Let's end with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for today, thank you for your word, and thank you for the Bible and just, obviously it's complex, but how it's all so simple at the same time, and Lord, just pray that you'd be with us, and then just thank you for the baptisms that we're about to have here, and just pray that you'd bless the fellowship, and be with us as we go out soul-winding this afternoon. Lord, we love you. Pray also in Jesus Christ's name, amen.