Neverfades:

One of the acrostic used to describe the Bible's teaching on the Sovereignty of God in our relationship with Jesus Christ is T.U.L.I.P

Total depravity: We cannot respond to God's offer of salvation, since our will—indeed, our whole being—has been rendered incapable by sin (Rom. 3:9-10; Rom. 8:7-8; 2 Cor. 4:4) A better word might be extensive depravity. Every act, thought, and feeling is influenced and stained by our separation from God. The extent of our sin is total but the expressions of our sin vary from one person to another.

Unconditional election: God chooses to save some people, not because of anything they have done, but according to his sovereign will (Acts 13:48; Rom. 9; Eph. 1:3-6) Maybe sovereign election might be a better word than unconditional. God acts freely despite our sinfulness.

Limited atonement: Christ died for the sins of the church, not for the whole world (John 10:15; Mark 10:45; Rev. 5:9) Using the word limited might give the impression that Christ's death was not sufficient to save the whole world just those whom God has chosen. The issue isn't the atonement's sufficiency to save the lost. The issue is that its limited in its application. If Christ's death were applied to the whole world then all would be saved. God has chosen to save some rather than all and who are we to question God.

Irresistible grace: Those God elects cannot resist the Holy Spirit's draw to salvation (John 6:44; 1 Cor. 1:23-24; Acts 16:14) It might be better to say that God's people won't resist His grace rather than they cannot resist it. For His grace includes a change in our will as well as our sight.

Perseverance of the saints: By God's power, believers will endure in faith to the end (John 10:28; Rom. 8:30; Phil. 1:6) Again its not that God's people cannot turn away from God. It is more accurate to say they will not turn away from God.

TULIP is easy to remember but like all attempts to simplify complex and diverse Biblical truths we run the danger of being misunderstood. What do you think?

Chris

During a message on John 10 and our Lord's statement that He is the good shepherd, the danger of bad shepherds and hire hands was mentioned. Jesus is prepared to lay down His life for His people. The thieves and the hire hands are only interested in destroying the sheep or using the sheep to promote their own self interests.

Mentioned was made of Paul's warning to the Ephesian Elders in Acts 20:28-31

Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!

To me these are frightening words. The savage wolves, those who destroy God's people, can exist among us and can come from our own number. But how can we be so destructive amongst our brothers and sisters in Christ? One of the ways might be through sharing our doubts and questions in the wrong setting. Its not that doubts are wrong or questions should never be raised. Its the audience we share them with. We need to make sure the young in faith are growing strong and certain in the areas of God's Word where it is strong and certain.

So it seems there is a place for keeping our doubts to ourselves

Chris

We had some great teaching tonight at OCF (Overseas Christian Fellowship) Canberra. It was a talk on predestination from Ephesians 1 & 2 and Romans 8 & 9. The speaker told us that predestination was a biblical word used to describe the way God sovereignly decides a person's ultimate destination before they are even born.

He explained how according to the Bible this decision by God to save some was both necessary and unconditional. He used the analogy of a drowning man to illustrate his point. Some people like to describe the Christian faith as a drowning person reaching out to take hold of the extended arm of Jesus who has come into the world to rescue us. He said it would be far better to say that we aren't drowning people, we are dead people, dead in our sins and acts of defiance. We don't need Jesus to extend out His arm to save us. We need Him to breathe new life into spiritually dead people.

He also addressed some of the objections this aspect of God's saving nature raises. Such as the charge "it isn't fair" that God save some and not others. Yet, as he went to explain, grace is by nature free, unconditional, and not a right to be demanded.

He referred to Romans 9:14-16 (NIV)
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses,"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.

It was a great night of thoughtful and well prepared material.

Chris