Our scripture reading tonight is from Ephesians chapter 2, reading the first 13 verses. Ephesians chapter 2, the first 13 verses. Let us give careful attention to God's own word. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. Following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. And raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. Not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus four good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands, remember that you were at one time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you, who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So far the reading of God's Word. Well, as I hope you remember, we are in the midst of a celebration, a two-year-long anniversary celebration of the Canons of Dort. And I've been trying to make the point that the Canons of Dort are not some narrow, obscure, peripheral, unimportant event in the history of the church, but in point of fact, it was The most important meeting of the largest group of Reformed churches that ever took place in history. And that that meeting was dedicated to the great cause, the necessary cause, the invaluable cause of preserving and saving the Reformation. It is nothing less than the Reformation itself that was under attack. We have often talked about the Reformation and summarized the character of the Reformation in terms of slogans, grace alone, faith alone, scripture alone. And I would submit to you that it was precisely those propositions, those slogans, those wonderful banners under which the Reformation marched that were being attacked and needed to be defended at the time of the Synod of Dort. The doctrine of predestination, to which we're finally going to get tonight, was the universal doctrine of the Reformation in the 16th century. Sometimes we can get the notion that predestination is somehow a reformed peculiarity. That's not at all true. There were many teachers of the church in the Middle Ages that taught predestination. The great church father in the ancient church, Augustine, taught predestination. Most importantly, of course, the Bible teaches predestination. Paul taught it. Jesus taught it. And at the time of the Reformation, which was a great rediscovery of the Bible, All of the great leaders of the Reformation in the 16th century embraced the doctrine of predestination. Luther did. Zwingli did. Utser did. Calvin did. Knox did. Debray did. Ursinus did. I can go on and on, and you're probably fearful I will. But all the great leaders of the Reformation, and even the obscure leaders of the Reformation, embraced the doctrine of predestination. And when it was attacked, the Synod of Dort came together to defend it. And in its first head of doctrine, not only labored to defend the truth of the doctrine of predestination, but labored to find a way to try to teach it clearly and understandably to the churches. And I think they succeeded wonderfully. And up to this point, we've seen how in the first article, in the first head of doctrine, the synod laid out the problem of sin, that we are lost in sin, unable to help ourselves. And in the second article, it lays out the truth that God in his mercy sent his own son to redeem sinners. And then article 3 talks about how God in his mercy sent out messengers, preachers, to declare the good news that Jesus had come to save sinners. And then Article 4 makes very clear that these messengers bear not only the gospel that Jesus died to save sinners, but they bear the appeal, repent and believe, come to Christ and be saved. And that's the necessary foundation of a proper biblical consideration of predestination. And as we move on, we never want to forget that foundation laid so clearly, so powerfully at the beginning of the first head of doctrine. But Article 5 then comes to answer what I'm going to describe tonight as three crucial questions about faith. Three crucial questions about faith. If we're called to faith in Jesus, the first question has to be, why do some believe and some do not believe? That's the world we live in, isn't it? We're all familiar with that. We live in a world where there are believers and there are unbelievers. We live in a world where some have accepted Christ as Savior and some have rejected Him or have not at least accepted Him. We live in a world where there are believers and there are unbelievers. And why is that? How do we account for that? And Article 5 of the First Head of Doctrine of the Canons of Dort begins to address that. And the first thing it wants to say is a very important thing. And that first thing is that people who are unbelieving have nobody to blame but themselves. People who are unbelieving are responsible for their unbelief. Now we might think to ourselves, well, isn't that self-evident? No, because there are some people who have wanted to find someone else to blame. Some have even wanted to blame God for their unbelief. And the canons of Dort want to make very clear that people who are unbelieving bear the guilt and responsibility for that unbelief. They have been called to faith. They will be welcomed by the Savior if they come to faith, but they have chosen not to come, and they bear that responsibility. And you can see how Paul is making that point in Ephesians chapter 2. There are sons of disobedience. In this politically correct age, I have to add, there are daughters of disobedience. They are sons of disobedience. What does that mean? They have committed themselves as people to disobeying God, turning their backs on God, refusing to serve God, refusing to believe in Him. They are sons of disobedience, and they bear the responsibility for that disobedience. Ephesians 2.3, they're called children of wrath. They're children on whom the anger of God remains because they have not turned to Him. And then Paul says very remarkably, this is where we all were once. Left to ourselves, we are all children of disobedience. We are all children of God's anger. We are all, as Paul put it, dead in sin. And I think sometimes it's very easy to read over these verses and read past them and not really reflect on them. And we need to do that. What is the character of people who are committed to disobedience? They're not very likely to change themselves, are they? But even more obviously, even more straightforwardly, what can the dead do for themselves? That's a sobering thought, isn't it? And if you've ever been to a funeral or ever been to a viewing, of a dead body. I know we're not supposed to say dead anymore. It's the only dirty word left in the English language. You can't say dead anymore. Everyone passes away, whatever that means. What does it mean to pass away? Do you know that? I'm getting off the track. My wife will shake her head at me. Do you know where the phrase pass away comes from? It was invented by Christian scientists as a phrase to avoid saying people died. In Christian science, nobody dies. That's why it is useful occasionally to look at a dead body. Because when you look at a dead body, they didn't pass away. They're right there. And they're utterly helpless, aren't they? It's one of the things that is so unavoidably true when you look at a dead body. Here is utter powerlessness, utter helplessness. And Paul is saying, that's the way we all were, left to ourselves. It's the way we all were in ourselves and we have no one to complain to but ourselves for that state. And yet the wonderful promise that we find in this passage, beginning at verse 4 of chapter 2 of Ephesians, But God, who can help the dead? Not the dead. Who can help the dead? God. God can act. God can intervene. And that's what we find here in Ephesians 2. It's what Article 5 wants to talk about. While we are responsible for unbelief, God is responsible for the gift of faith. God is the one who gives the gift of faith. And it's wonderful the way Paul expresses that. It's a gift. It's not a gift offered, as the canons of Dwart will make clear later. It's a gift given. It's a gift communicated. It's not a possible gift. It's an actual gift. It's not a gift that depends on conditions that we will have to fulfill. It's a gift that God sovereignly bestows on his own. So why is it that some believe and some do not believe? Well, it's because some determine to continue in their unbelief, and to some, faith as a gift is given. And here we see again, we're back at the very heart of the gospel, aren't we? Faith is at the very heart of the gospel. Faith, if we're saved by faith alone, if we're saved alone by looking away from ourselves to Jesus and trusting in Him, then the fact that that faith, that trust in Jesus, That connection with Jesus, that faith is, that reality is a gift from God. He has to give it to you. That's the truth. That's what Paul is saying in Ephesians 2. And I'm going to come back to this several times because what we need to see clearly is this is not some exercise in Calvinist logic. This is not some rational theological system that Calvinists dreamed up because they like things nice and tidy. The Synod of Dort taught this, Calvin taught this, Luther taught this, because it's what the Bible teaches. And it's the commitment to the Bible that drives this concern to see God as the author of the gift. In the Heidelberg Catechism, we say that we are not our own, that we are bought by the blood of Jesus Christ, that we do not belong to ourselves, but we belong to him. And why can we say that? Because that's God's saving action for us. He's taken us from belonging to ourselves, which leads only to death, and made us belong to him, which leads to life. Here is the glory of God for us in the gift of salvation and of faith. Now, Calvinists who taught that in the 16th century, and it wasn't just Calvinists who taught it, but the Calvinists who taught that in the 16th century were attacked. And they were lied about. Now, when we're criticized, I think it's always very important to pause and take criticism seriously. We're sinners, right? I know most of you, so there's no point in denying it. We're sinners. That means we can be wrong. That means we can make mistakes. That means we can need to be criticized. And so when we receive criticism, it's very appropriate not to be defensive, but to be reflective. We ought to think. We ought to ask, have I said that? Or have I done that? But the criticism that came against the Reformed in the late 16th, early 17th century, relative to the doctrine of election, was not a valid criticism, was not a fair criticism. In fact, it was a complete misrepresentation of what it is that we teach. And the Synod was so concerned about that that in the conclusion to the canons of Dort, they listed six specific lies that had been taught about Reformed theology by its critics. And they said, these are false claims. These are not things that we teach or have ever taught. And when it came to the gift of faith, one of them is very important because it's very illuminating. The fifth false claim rejected was the claim of some critics of Reformed Christianity that the Reformed taught, in the same way that election is the foundation and cause of faith and of good works, reprobation is the cause of infidelity and impiety. Now what are the critics of the Reformed saying there? they're saying that you Reformed people are saying just as God gives the gift of faith to the elect, he gives the gift of unbelief to the non-elect. And if ours was a logical system, we might be inclined to say, well, maybe that's true. But it's very interesting. The canons of Dort completely reject that notion. God does not give the gift of unbelief in the same way that he gives the gift of faith. We're responsible for unbelief. And God gives the gift of faith to his elect. And that's important to underscore because it's what the Bible teaches. And it shows, again, the commitment of the Reformed to the Bible and to uphold the Bible and to not go beyond what the Bible has taught. Unbelief is our responsibility. Faith is the gift of God. So if the answer to why some believe and some don't is that some receive the gift of faith and some don't, then the second question has to be, why do some receive the gift of faith and some do not receive the gift of faith? That's clearly the case, isn't it? If faith is a gift, it's clear some people haven't received the gift. As long as people are alive, those who don't believe, we should pray for them, we should be concerned about them, we should speak to them, we should call them to faith. We can never know when someone might come to faith. But it's clear that not everyone is given the gift of faith. And Article 6 begins to answer that question. Why do some receive the gift? And the answer is, it's a gift that God acts to give. It's the action of God that leads to the gift of faith. And Ephesians 2, again, makes that so crystal clear. Ephesians 2, verse 5. God made us alive. If the gift of faith is enlivening to people dead in sin, then where does that gift of faith come that makes us alive? Paul couldn't be clearer, could he? Ephesians 2, verse 5, God made us alive. Or Ephesians 2, verse 10, we are His workmanship. The work that makes us alive is not our work, but His work. Ephesians 2, verse 13, We who were far off were brought near. Notice the character of that verb. It's not that we came near on our own strength and volition and wisdom, but we were brought near by God and by his action in Jesus Christ. Verse 6 of chapter 2, God raised us up with Christ. And so, in so many different ways, Paul is making that clear. If you are alive in Christ, if you have faith in Christ, it's because God acted in your heart. This morning we talked about our responsibility to hear the word. And tonight we're saying that that hearing of the word comes from the action of God in our hearts. God must act first for us to hear. Now, on a natural level, we know that, don't we? In order for us to hear, God has to give us ears, naturally. But that's also true supernaturally, also true spiritually. God has to open our ears and give us that gift of faith. And then the scripture makes clear, God acts to give the gift of faith according to a choice, a decision that he makes. God gives a gift to those whom he has decided to give the gift to. God acts in the hearts of those in whom he's decided to act. And this is the point where we all get a little nervous, I think. because this is the human reflex. Well, that doesn't seem fair, that some get the gift and some don't get the gift. And, you know, it's not bad to step back and say what's fair. But ultimately, we have to let God say what's fair, don't we? We have to let God answer this question. And he does. In Ephesians chapter 1, what do we read in verses 4 and 5? He chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. God decided in himself, according to his own good pleasure, to whom he would give the gift. And Paul, in Romans 9, knowing that this is a hard truth for us, says, Okay, should you, as the clay, complain about the action of the potter? Are you really willing to take God on in a debate about what's fair and what's right and what's good? This is what God has told us. And then there are, of course, the people who say, well, yeah, that's the kind of stuff Paul says. He's so hard. Even Peter thought he was a little hard. It's not the kind of thing Jesus would say. Well, actually, it is exactly the kind of thing Jesus would say. In Luke 10, verse 21, we read, or who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. So you've got to see that the Synod of Dort, as it met to do its work, said, are we going to agree with those who talk about what seems logically fair, or are we going to agree with the Bible? Are we going to agree with what Paul teaches, with what Jesus teaches? That faith is a gift that is given to those whom God has determined, has decided, has willed, has purposed, has decreed to give the gift to. Those are all sort of equivalent terms. Somehow decree sounds, I don't know, more severe or more theological, but it's just a decision. It's God's will. It's what the Bible teaches. Because in the end of the day, if you compromise the truth that the gift of faith flows out of the will of God alone, you make the gift of faith dependent on who we are and what we do. And this is what the Reformation was most fundamentally about. Are we to have a God-centered religion that recognizes God does all to save? Or are we going to have a self-centered religion that is constantly talking about how we can manipulate and encourage and direct people to come to faith? Who's in charge? Who's sovereign? Who makes the decision? And the scripture makes clear it is God who makes the decision. Not in a way that eliminates responsibility from our lives, but gives him the glory. And that's why we come to the third question for the night. Why do we need to know about this decision? Wouldn't life be simpler just not to talk about it? That's what a lot of churches, even churches that call themselves Calvinistic churches, do. They just never talk about this subject. The trouble is, you have to skip an awful lot of the Bible to never talk about it. I remember, I probably told you this story, but, you know, that's what happens with old people, they repeat their stories. I remember so vividly when I was in graduate school, teaching an adult Sunday school class in a Presbyterian church, And this quite elderly man, he was probably in his 70s. He came up to me after several weeks of classes, and he said to me, I hardly dare ask, but is it possible that, and he sort of looked around, that you believe in predestination? And I said, well, yes, I do. Why are you so hesitant about this? He said, I've been a Christian a very long time, and I've never met anyone who believes in predestination. But he said, I keep reading my Bible, and I don't see how you can read the Bible and not believe in predestination. It was a wonderfully encouraging moment. The Bible speaks. It's so clear on this point. Well, why do we need to know about this decision that God has made? Isn't it kind of difficult? Well, it can be difficult. Isn't it kind of dangerous? Won't it confuse people? Well, isn't it interesting that the sixth article of the Canons of Dort addressed that question very directly. And the Canons say, yeah, it can be dangerous if it's twisted, if it's abused, if it's misused, if it's distorted. And that's what people who are perverse, impure, and unstable do. That's kind of mean, isn't it? Well, are there people in the world who are perverse, impure, and unstable? You betcha. And there are some of them in churches. It's not just out in the world. There are people who are in churches, and some of them mean well, I think, but they end up twisting the Word of God. and so the great answer is, why do we need to know about this? The great answer is because God's Word teaches it. That's what we need to know about. If God thinks we need to know about it, we need to know about it. And one of the great phrases in the catechism that I love so much is where it says, we must not be wiser than God. If God says we need something, we need it. And God says we need to know about this. And the canons of Dort, I think, exactly capture the truth of Scripture when it says we need to know about this because it's inexpressibly comforting. It's inexpressibly comforting. It's not a problem. It's not a difficulty. It's not a dangerous path to walk. God tells us that he is the giver of the gift of faith according to his eternal decree because it's comforting to know that. It's comforting to know that he has such great love for us. Such mercy toward us. That's what we see in Ephesians 2 verse 4. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us. This shows us how great the mercy is. How great the love is. How great the care is. How great the provision is. And when we see that, as we're told in Ephesians 2 verse 9, we have nothing to boast about. We have nothing to boast about. That's really important. It's very tempting for some Christians to say, do you notice how much better I am than other people? Because I've decided to believe, and they have failed to believe. and if it's up to me if it rests on me if it's a matter of my free will whether I believe or not then I have something to boast about because I use my free will wisely whereas they use their free will poorly with apologies to this side of the congregation but that's true isn't it you do have something to boast about if it's up to you but Paul says we have nothing to boast about because we depend entirely on the mercy and the love of God but it also means we have nothing to worry about because our salvation is in God's hand not in ours it's one of the great statements of Luther he said if I could have control of my salvation in my hand I'd never agree to it because I don't trust my hand. I trust God's hand. I trust his care. I trust his provision because God is the one who is always straight and pure and stable and reliable. And that's why it's valuable for us to know that the gift of faith comes from his hand according to his purpose. It really is true that the Synod of Dort was saving the Reformation. It was saving the heart of the gospel. It was saving the truth that we're saved by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. And that's what scripture alone teaches. And so let us go out of here tonight filled with gratitude to God for the gift of faith. And if there are people here who don't have the gift of faith tonight, don't despair. Turn to Christ, for everyone who comes to him, he will receive. And then you'll discover he's given you the gift of faith to the praise of his love and mercy. Amen. Let us pray. The Lord, how wise and how good and how merciful and how loving is your eternal plan for your people. And although sometimes we are confused and sometimes we are questioning, help us to just rest on the wonderful truths you have told us. That faith is your gift according to your plan, and it praises your glory and love. Fill us with joy in believing, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.