The Five Points of Calvinism

by William J. Baldwin

(8-22-97)

INTRODUCTION

This is a list of proof texts only for the Five Points of Calvinism. I have put in a minimum of explanatory notes. This document, or any part of it, may be copied and distributed freely. The only thing you may not do without my permission is offer these notes for sale, whether individually or as part of a package.

Since these are proof texts only, it is expected that the user will be familiar with the 5 points already via another source.

These proof texts have been quoted from the New King James version of Scripture.

A word of caution: I have been reluctant to publicize this due to the poor character of many so-called Calvinists. I have met more such than I care to count who are belligerently and arrogantly Calvinistic. These very doctrines which ought to produce in us the greatest humility have, too often, been sown by the wayside. The birds of the air have eaten the kernels and left the husks. There will be no advancement of true doctrine if its advocates are disputatious, proud, rude, and more concerned with winning the debate than winning their brother. Or if they are concerned with winning their brother at any cost, even the cost of brotherhood itself should they fail.

I say this almost despairing, because I was once disputatious, proud, and rude concerning these doctrines. Yet, at that time, I would have read and heartily approved of the above paragraph. I would even have felt I'd taken that paragraph's admonitions to heart. Indeed, I had heard such admonitions, sometimes from those who seemed, in retrospect, to be in need of such exhortation themselves. And having heard them, it may even be that I became imperceptibly gentler.

But it wasn't enough.

Still I would have been characterized as arrogant and dogmatic. Because I was. Please, if a man levels that charge against you, believe him. Don't assume he's just attacking your character because he has no answer for your invincible doctrines. That is an arrogant attitude indeed. Perhaps you have it. I know I did, and, alas! sometimes still do.

I needed and need to love not the doctrines, but the Christ of whom they spoke. And so do you, dear reader. Do not study these things so that you know how to refute. Study them so you will believe, and believing, have life.

Without further ado, here they are in the familiar TULIP acronym:

POINT 1 - TOTAL DEPRAVITY

Gen 6:5-8,11-13 - Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.... The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth."

Gen 8:19 - Then the Lord said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

Job 9:2-4 - Truly I know it is so, but how can a man be righteous before God? If one wished to contend with Him, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered? [Note that man has the natural ability to harden himself, but not to be righteous.]

Job 9:14,15,28,30,31 - How then can I answer Him, and choose my words to reason with Him? For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge.... I am afraid of all my sufferings; I know that You will not hold me innocent.... If I wash myself with snow water, and cleanse my hands with lye, yet You will plunge me into the pit, and my own clothes will abhor me.

Job 14:4 - Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!

Job 15:14-16 - What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous? If God puts not trust in His saints, and the heavens are not pure in His sight, how much less man, who is abominable and filthy, who drinks iniquity like water!

Psalm 14:1-3 - The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one. [emphasis added]

Psalm 25:11 - For Your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.

Psalm 51:5 - Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. [David, whom the Bible calls "a man after God's own heart" writes this]

Psalm 58:1-5 - Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones? Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men? No, in heart you work wickedness; you weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear, which will not heed the voice of charmers, charming ever so skillfully. [Even so, no amount of human reasoning will convince the wicked of his sin. Note, though, that it is the cobra who stops his own ears, and he is held responsible for that.]

Psalm 94:11,12 - The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile. Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord, and teach out of your law.

Psalm 130:3,4 - If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.

Psalm 143:2 - Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for in Your sight no one living is righteous.

Prv 20:6,9 - Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man?. . . Who can say, "I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin"?

Ecc 7:20 - For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.

Ecc 9:3 - This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Is 1:5,6 - Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment.

Is 6:1-6,9,10 - In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of host; the whole earth is full of His glory!" And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said: "Woe is me, for I am destroyed! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged."... And He said, "Go and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed."

Is 48:8,9,11 - Surely you did not hear, surely you did not know; surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb. For My name's sake I will defer my anger, and for My praise I will restrain it from you, so that I do not cut you off.... For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; for how should My name be profaned? And I will not give my glory to another. [Here God purposes to redeem Israel for His own glory, although they themselves are worthless.]

Is 53:6 - All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Is 64:5-9 - You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, who remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned--in these ways we continue; and we need to be saved. But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like a filthy garment; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever; indeed, please look - we all are Your people!

Jer 2:22,29 - "For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before Me," says the Lord God.... "Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me," says the Lord.

Jer 10:23 - O Lord, I know the way of a man is not in himself; it is not in the man who walks to direct his own steps.

Jer 13:23 - Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.

Jer 16:12 - And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one walks according to the imagination of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.

Jer 17:9,10 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Mic 7:2-4 - The faithful man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net, that they may successfully do evil with both hands - the prince asks for gifts, the judge seeks a bribe, and the great man utters his evil desire; so they scheme together. The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge; the day of your watchman and your punishment comes; now shall be their perplexity.

Mat 7:17-19 - Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [What are we by nature--good trees or bad?]

Mat 12:33-35 - Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. [c.f. Rm 3:12]

Mat 15:19 - For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

Lk 1:79 - [Jesus came] to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the way of peace.

Jn 3:18-21 - He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.

Jn 5:37-47 - And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you - Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would have believed Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?

Jn 8:23,24 - And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."

Jn 8:34 - Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin."

Jn 14:16-18 - And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

Rm 2:1 - Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

Rm 3:9-23 - ⁹What then? Are we better than they [i.e. those in v. 8 whose "condemnation is just"]? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. ¹⁰As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one; ¹¹there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. ¹²They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. ¹³Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; ¹⁴whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. ¹⁵Their feet are swift to shed blood; ¹⁶destruction and misery are in their ways; ¹⁷and the way of peace they have not known. ¹⁸There is no fear of God before their eyes." ¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. ²¹But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²²even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Rm 5:6 - For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Rm 6:6,20 - knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

Rm 7:5,6 - For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Rm 7:17 - For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

Rm 8:5-8 - For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally [fleshly] minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. [c.f. Heb 11:6, which says "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." If those who are in the flesh cannot please God, then it follows that they cannot have faith and they cannot believe, for those things please God. That faith and that belief, then, must come from God Himself.]

Rm 8:13,14 - For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Rm 11:32 - For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.

1 Cor 2:14 - But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

2 Cor 3:4,5 - And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.

Gal 3:22 - But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Gal 5:17 - For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

Eph 2:1 - And you were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Eph 4:17-24 - This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to licentiousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned in Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus; that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.

Eph 5:8 - For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

Eph 5:14 - Therefore He says: "Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light."

Col 1:13 - He has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.

Col 1:21 - And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled....

Col 2:13 - And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.

2 Tim 2:25-26 - in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.

Tit 3:3-7 - For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Js 2:10,11 - For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble on one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

1 Pt 2:25 - For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

1 Jn 1:8,10 - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.... If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

1 Jn 3:10 - In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. [c.f. Rm 3:10]

1 Jn 5:19 - We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
 

POINT 2 - UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION

Ex 9:16 - [The Lord says to Pharaoh via Moses] But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.

Ex 33:19 - Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

Deut 4:37 - And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power.

Deut 7:6-8 - For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. [c.f. 1 Pet 2:9]

Deut 10:15 - The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.

Deut 14:2 - For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Jos 11:18-20 - Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. All the others they took in battle. For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Jos 24:13-15,22 - "'I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.' Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord...." So Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against yourselves , to serve Him." And they said, "We are witnesses." [We should note that this exhortation is made to the covenant community and not to the outside world. Space does not permit me to develop this theme. So instead I will set forth a simple question: should we interpret all the other quoted scriptures in light of this passage? Or should we interpret this passage in light of the overwhelming witness of Scripture? c.f. Ezk 36:26-28]

1 Sm 2:25 - [Eli said to his sons], "If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him?" Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father, because the Lord desired to kill them. [c.f. Mk 4:11,12]

1 Sm 12:22 - For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people.

1 Kn 3:8 - And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted.

1 Kn 12:15 - So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of affairs was from the Lord, that He might fulfill His word, which the Lord had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

2 Kn 21:7b-8 - In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever; and I will not make the feet of Israel wander anymore from the land which I gave their fathers­­only if they are careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that My servant Moses commanded them. [c.f. Rm 3:19,20.]

1 Chr 16:13 - O seed of Israel His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

2 Chr 6:6 - But I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.

Ps 33:12 - Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom He has chosen as His own inheritance.

Ps 65:4a - Blessed is the man whom You choose, and cause to approach You, that he may dwell in Your courts.

Ps 78:67,70-72 - Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved.... He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes that had young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people and Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

Ps 89:3,4 - I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: "Your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations."

Ps 105:6,43 - O seed of Abraham His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones!... He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with a joyful shout.

Ps 106:5 - That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your inheritance.

Ps 119:30,173 - I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me.... Let Your hand become my help, for I have chosen Your precepts. [Again, should we interpret all these scriptures in the light of two verses, or shall we interpret these verses in the light of the rest of Scripture?]

Ps 135:4 - For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His special treasure.

Prv 16:4 - The Lord has made all things for Himself, yes, even the wicked for the day of doom.

Is 14:1 - For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob.

Is 41:8,9 - But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham My friend. You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest regions, and I said to you, "You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away."

Is 43:10 - "You are My witnesses," says the Lord, "and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He...."

Is 44:1,2 - Yet hear now, O Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you: "Fear not, O Jacob My servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen."

Is 45:4 - For Jacob My servant's sake, and Israel my elect, I have even called you by your name [Cyrus]; I have named you, though you have not known me.

Is 66:3b,4 - Just as they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations, so will I choose their delusions, and bring their fears on them; because when I called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight. [So we see that this doctrine does not negate human responsibility. God is just when He judges. Also, God's choosing their iniquity for them does not make Him the author of their sin.]

Jer 1:4,5 - Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet to the nations." [c.f. Rm 8:29,30]

Ezk 16:3-14 - Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: "Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor swathed in swaddling clothes. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born. And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare. When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine," says the Lord God. "Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil. I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you," says the Lord God.

Ezk 20:5 - Thus says the Lord God: "On the day when I chose Israel and lifted My hand in an oath to the descendants of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, I lifted My hand in an oath to them, saying, 'I am the Lord your God.'"

Ezk 36:25-28 - Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.

Joel 2:32 - And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the remnant whom the Lord calls.

Mal 1:2,3 - "I have loved you," says the Lord. Yet you say, "In what way have You loved us?" "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" says the Lord. "Yet Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness."

Mt 11:25-27 - At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. All things have been delivered to me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."

Mt 13:11-17 - He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their heart and turn so that I should heal them.' But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

Mt 16:16,17 - And Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."

Mt 19:24-26 - "And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When His disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Mt 20:16 - So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen. [Majority text]

Mt 22:12-14 - [Parable of the Wedding Feast] So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?' and he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are called but few are chosen.

Mt 24:22 - And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.

Mt 25:33,34 - And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." [Note the analogy of sheep and goats. A goat can never become a sheep, nor a sheep a goat.]

Mk 4:11,12 - And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that 'Seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.'"

Mk 13:20,22,27 - And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days.... For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.... And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.

Lk 4:24-29 - Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." Then all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.

Lk 8:10 - To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that "seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand."

Lk 10:20-22 - "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."

Lk 18:7 - And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?

Lk 24:47 - and that repentance and the remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Jn 3:18-21 - He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.

Jn 5:21 - For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

Jn 8:42-47 - ⁴²Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. ⁴³Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. ⁴⁴You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. ⁴⁵But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. ⁴⁶Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? ⁴⁷He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

Jn 12:37 - But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart, lest they should turn, so that I should heal them."

Jn 13:17,18a - If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. I do not speak concerning all of you [disciples]. I know whom I have chosen.

Jn 15:16,19 - You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.... If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Jn 17:2,3,6-12,14,20,24,25 - You have given [your Son] authority over all flesh, that He shall give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.... I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom You gave Me, I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.... I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.... I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.... Father I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have know that You sent Me. [Majority text]

Ac 9:15 - But the Lord said to [Ananias], "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel."

Ac 13:17,48 - The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm He brought them out of it.... Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

Ac 22:7-16 - And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" So I answered, "Who are you Lord?" And he said to me, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting." Now those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of him who spoke to me [c.f. Mk 4:12]. So I said, "What shall I do, Lord?" And the Lord said to me, "Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do." And since I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus. Then one, Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, came to me; and he stood and said to me, "Brother Saul, receive your sight." And at that same hour I looked up at him. Then he said, "The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the just One, and hear the voice of his mouth. For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord."

Rm 1:5,6 - through [the Spirit] we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ

Rm 8:28-30,33,9:6-29 - ²⁸And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. ²⁹For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. ³⁰Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.... ³³Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.... 9⁶But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, ⁷nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, "In Isaac your seed shall be called." ⁸That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. ⁹For this is the word of promise: "At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son." ¹⁰And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac ¹¹(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), ¹²it was said to her, "The older shall serve the younger." ¹³As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated." ¹⁴What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! ¹⁵For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion." ¹⁶So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "Even for this same purpose I have raised you up, that I might show My power in you, and that My name might be declared in all the earth." ¹⁸Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. ¹⁹You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?" ²⁰But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" ²¹Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? ²²What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, ²³and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? ²⁵As He says also in Hosea: "I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved. ²⁶And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' there they will be called sons of the living God." ²⁷Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved. ²⁸For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth." ²⁹And as Isaiah said before: "Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.

Rm 10:12,13 - For their is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." [c.f. Joel 2:32]

Rm 11:2-10 - God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, "Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life"? But what does the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were hardened. Just as it is written: "God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day." And David says: "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them; Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always."

Rm 16:13 - Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord....

1 Cor 1:26-29 - For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

1 Cor 2:7-14 - But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Eph 1:4-16 - just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has bestowed grace upon us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in Him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. [Q. - Why does Paul thank God for their faith? A. - because God gave it to them.]

Eph 2:8-10 - For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Php 2:12,13 - Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Col 3:12,13 - Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

1 Th 1:2-5 - We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. For [i.e. because] our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance....

1 Th 5:9 - For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Th 2:11-14 - And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Tm 5:21 - I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality.

2 Tm 1:9-11 - [God] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

2 Tm 2:10 - Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Tit 1:1 - Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which is according to godliness....

Js 1:17,18 - Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Js 2:5 - Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

1 Pt 1:2,20,21 - elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.... He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1 Pt 2:8b-9 - They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they were also appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

1 Pt 5:13a - She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you.

2 Pt 1:10 - Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble.

1 Jn 4:19 - We love Him because He first loved us.

Jude 4 - For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rev 13:8 - And all who dwell on the earth will worship [the beast], whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Rev 17:8b - And those who dwell on earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world....

Rev 17:14 - These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.
 

POINT 3 - LIMITED ATONEMENT

Note: This is the most disputed of the 5 points. For a defense of the truth and necessity of this doctrine, please see A Brief Defense of Limited Atonement.

Ex 12:3,13 - Speak to all the congregation of Israel [about the Passover].... Now the blood [of the Passover lamb] shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. [c.f. 1 Cor 5:7]

Ex 24:8 - And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Behold, the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words. [c.f. Mt 26:28]

Lev 4:21 - Then he shall carry the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull. It is a sin offering for the assembly. [Note: The New Testament word for church, "ekklesia," means "assembly." Christ is the real sin offering of which this was a shadow. c.f. Heb 13:11-13]

Lev 9:7 - And Moses said to Aaron, "Go to the altar, offer your sin offering and your burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and make atonement for them, as the Lord commanded." [c.f. Heb 7:27]

Lev 10:17b - God has given [the sin offering] to you to bear the guilt of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord.

Lev 16:15-17,33,34 - Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, which is for the people, bring its blood inside the veil, do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting which remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. There shall be no man in the tabernacle of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, that he may make atonement for himself, for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. Then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tabernacle of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the congregation of Israel. [c.f. Heb 9:22-24. The atoning sacrifice was only for the congregation. Christ is the true atoning sacrifice of which this was a shadow. Note also the way the word "all" is used. Keep that in mind.]

Lev 17:11 - For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your soul; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

Num 15:22,24-26a - And if you sin unintentionally, and do not observe all these commandments which the Lord has spoken to Moses.... Then it will be, if it is unintentionally committed, without the knowledge of the congregation, that the whole congregation shall offer one young bull..., and one kid of the goats as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for the whole congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them....

Ps 32:1,2a - Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity....

Ps 85:2 - You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin.

Ps 107:2,3 - Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

Is 45:25 - In the Lord all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory. [c.f. Rm 9:6-8 under point 2]

Is 53:4-6,10-12 - Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by god, and afflicted. but he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.... Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Ezk 45:17b - [The prince] shall prepare the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.

Mt 1:21 - And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

Mt 20:28 - The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. [c.f. 1 Tm 2:6]

Mt 26:27,28 - Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." [Mk 14:24 says the same. c.f. Ex 24:8]

Lk 22:19,20 - And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you." [1 Cor 11:23-26 says the same thing. c.f. Ex 24:8]

Lk 24:46,47 - Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. [c.f. 1 Jn 2:2]

Jn 1:29 - The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

Jn 3:26 - And they came to John and said to him, "...behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!" [c.f. 1 Tm 2:6]

Jn 6:53,54 - Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

Jn 10:11,26 - I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.... But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep.

Jn 12:32 - And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself.

Jn 17:9 - I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.

Ac 10:43 - To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.

Ac 13:39 - and by [Jesus] everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Ac 20:28b - the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

Rm 1:5,6 - through [the Spirit] we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ

Rm 3:24-26 - being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Rm 5:1,8,9,15,18,19 - Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.... But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.... But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.... Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.

Rm 6:8 - Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.

Rm 8:32,33 - He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.

1 Cor 1:23,24 - but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

1 Cor 2:7 - But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory.

1 Cor 5:7b - For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. [c.f. Ex 12]

1 Cor 6:20 - For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

1 Cor 7:23 - You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.

1 Cor 15:3 - For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

2 Cor 5:14,15,18,19,21 - For the love of Christ constrains us, because we judge thus: that if one died for all, then all died [c.f. Rm 6:8]; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.... God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.... For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Gal 1:4 - [Jesus] gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

Gal 3:7,8 - Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed."

Gal 4:4-5 - But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Eph 1:6b-8a,14,19 - He has made us accepted [bestowed grace upon us] in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us.... [The Holy Spirit] is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.... [That you may know] what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power. [Q. - What is the "purchased possession"? If He has paid for the whole world, then this says He will redeem the whole world. We know this to be false, so the "purchased possession" must refer only to His elect.]

Eph 2:13 - But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ.

Eph 5:2 - And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Col 1:14,19-22 - In [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.... For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless, and irreproachable in His sight.

1 Th 1:10b - Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

1 Th 5:9,10 - For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

1 Tm 1:15b - Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

1 Tm 2:1-7 - 1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, 7 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle - I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying - a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. [c.f. Mt 20:28, Rev 5:9]

Tit 2:14 - [Jesus] gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Heb 2:9,14-17 - But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.... Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham [c.f. Rm 9:6-8 in Point 3]. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Heb 5:9-11 - And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek," of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

Heb 7:26,27 - For such a High Priest [as Jesus] was fitting for us, who is holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

Heb 9:7,11-28, 10:10-18 - ⁷But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance.... ¹¹But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. ¹²Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, ¹⁴how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? ¹⁵And for this reason He is the Mediator of a new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. ¹⁶For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. ¹⁷For a testament is in force after men are dead since it has no power at all while the testator lives. ¹⁸Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. ¹⁹For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you." ²¹Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of ministry. ²²And according to the law almost all things are purged with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. ²³Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴For Christ has not enter the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; ²⁵not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with the blood of another- ²⁶He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifices of Himself. ²⁷And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, ²⁸so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.... ¹⁰By [God's] will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all ¹¹And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹²But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. ¹⁴For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. ¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ¹⁶"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," ¹⁷then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." ¹⁸Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

Heb 12:24 - to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Heb 13:11-13 - For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify [set apart] the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. [c.f. Lev 4:12]

1 Pt 1:4,5,18-21 - to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.... knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1 Pt 2:24 - [Jesus] Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by whose stripes [wounds] you were healed.

1 Pt 3:18 - For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit.

1 Jn 1:7 - But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 Jn 2:2 - And He Himself is the propitiation [atoning sacrifice] for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. [c.f. Jn 3:26, 12:32, Heb 9:19. It must be understood that the Arminian view of atonement is not an option in interpreting this verse. The verse either means universal salvation (for if Christ atoned for all the world's sins, then everyone is justified) or "the whole world" refers to the elect from every nation (c.f. Rev 5:9). To say that Christ atoned for the sins even of the unbeliever is to speak nonsense; for that is to say that Christ redeemed even the unredeemed. The statement is false by definition.]

1 Jn 4:10 -In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Rev 1:5b - To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.

Rev 5:9 - And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation."

Rev 7:9 - After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

Rev 14:6 - Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth - to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.

POINT 4 - IRRESISTIBLE GRACE

Is 55:5,6,10-12a - "Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you." Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.... For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to me void [empty, without fruit], but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace....

Jer 31:3 - The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

Ps 65:4a - Blessed is the man whom You choose, and cause to approach You, that he may dwell in Your courts.

Mt 4:18-22 - Now Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Then they immediately left their nets and followed Him. And going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. And He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Mt 11:27 - All things have been delivered to me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."

Mt 22:14 - For many are called, but few are chosen. [c.f. Ac 16:14,15.]

Mk 4:11,12 - And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that 'Seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.'"

Lk 10:22,23 - All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." And He turned to His disciples and said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see."

Jn 3:26,27 - And they came to John and said to him, "...behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!" John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven."

Jn 6:37,44,45,64-66 - "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.... No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God,' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.... But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father." From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.

Jn 8:43,47 - Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.... He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.

Jn 10:26,27 - But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

Jn 12:32 - And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself.

Jn 17:7,8 - Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent me.

Ac 16:14,15 - Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized....

Ac 22:7-16 - And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" So I answered, "Who are you Lord?" And he said to me, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting." Now those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of him who spoke to me [c.f. Mk 4:12]. So I said, "What shall I do, Lord?" And the Lord said to me, "Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do." And since I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus. Then one, Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, came to me; and he stood and said to me, "Brother Saul, receive your sight." And at that same hour I looked up at him. Then he said, "The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the just One, and hear the voice of his mouth. For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord."

Rm 1:5,6 - through [the Spirit] we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ.

Rm 8:14,28,30 - For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.... And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.... Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these he also glorified.

Rm 9:19 - You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?"

Rm 11:29 - For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

1 Cor 1:9 - God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Cor 12:3 - Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

Gal 1:15,16 - But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mothers womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood.

Php 1:29 - For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.

Php 2:12,13 - Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

1 Th 1:4-6 - knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit.

1 Th 2:12,13 - that you would have a walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectively works in you who believe. [Q. - Why do they thank God that the Thessalonians received the word? A. - Because the word can only be received by the grace of the Holy Spirit. c.f. Jn 6:44]

2 Th 2:11-14 - And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Tm 1:9 - [God] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

Heb 9:15 - And for this reason He is the Mediator of a new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

Js 1:18 - Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

1 Pt 1:23 - having been born again...through the word of God.

POINT 5 - PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

Nu 23:19,20 - God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Behold, I [Balaam] have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

1 Sm 15:29 - And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent [i.e. change His mind].

Job 23:13,14 - But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such things are with Him.

Ps 119:89-91 - Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides. They continue this day according to Your ordinances, for all are Your servants.

Prv 19:21 - There are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless the Lord's counsel­­that will stand.

Ecc 3:14 - I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.

Is 50:2b - Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?

Is 59:1 - Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.

Lam 3:22,23 - Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

Mal 3:6 - For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.

Mt 13:24-30 - The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares [weeds] among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, "Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?" He said to them, "An enemy has done this." The servants said to him, "Do you want us then to go and gather them up?" But he said, "No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, 'First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

Mt 25:33,34 - And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

Jn 6:37,39,40 - All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me, I will by no means cast out.... This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Jn 10:28,29 - And I give [My sheep] eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.

Jn 15:16 - You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

Rm 5:10 - For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Rm 8:1,33-35,38,39 - There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.... Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rm 11:29 - For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

1 Cor 1:4-9 - I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Eph 1:14 - [The Holy Spirit of promise] is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Php 1:6 - being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

2 Tm 2:11-13,18,19 - This is a faithful saying: "For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself."... [Hymenaeus and Philetus] have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: "The Lord knows those who are His," and, "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity."

Heb 6:13,17-19a - For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself.... Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel [unchangeableness of His purpose], confirmed [guaranteed] it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast....

Heb 9:13-15 - For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of a new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

Heb 10:14 - For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

Js 1:17 - Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

2 Pt 1:1-11 - ¹Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained [received] like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: ²Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, ³as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, ⁴by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. ⁵But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, ⁶to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, ⁷to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. ⁸For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. ¹⁰Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; ¹¹for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

1 Jn 2:19 - They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

William J. baldwin is the Pastor of Redeeming Grace Presbyterian Church of Mission Viejo, California.