Please turn with me for our reading of Scripture to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, we'll take up our reading at verse 6 and read down to the end of the chapter. Romans chapter 5, beginning our reading at verse 6. For while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, And so death spread to all men, because all sinned, for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted, for there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through the righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So far the reading of God's Word. In the next few Sunday evenings when I'm preaching, I want to look with you at the opening articles of the first head of doctrine as we find them in the Canons of Dort. One of the distinctives of our Reformed heritage is that we have always had an emphasis on the teaching and preaching of our confessional standards. That is usually done through looking at the Heidelberg Catechism together in our worship services, but from time to time we have also looked at the Belgic Confession and the Canons of Dort. And that part of our tradition has sometimes been a little controversial. Some people have said, well, we shouldn't spend so much time looking at our confessional standards and ought to spend our time looking only at the Scripture, and that's a point of view. But I think our tradition has helped make of us a more theologically informed people, and I think it has borne great fruit among us and is well worth maintaining. It's really since the 16th century that that practice has been followed among us and it allows us to return regularly to themes that are only occasionally treated in the Scripture and yet are very important for us. So we're going to look at the Canons of Dort and tonight we're going to look at the first two articles. We're going to see how closely they follow Romans 5, so we're not moving it all away from Scripture. We'll see how the Scripture supports everything that's being said in the canons of Dort. But I think it will be profitable for us to follow the thinking of the fathers at Dort as they prepared this first head of doctrine. There were very great theologians at the Synod of Dort. And Ben Goodhart this morning came up to me after the service and he said, you be sure and tell them tonight about Gomorris and Fouchis. Well, I hadn't really planned to do that, but I want to make Ben happy. So, Franciscus Gomorris was one of the leading figures at the Synod of Dort, a professor of theology. He had taught with Arminius at Leiden and then had moved from there, I think to Froniker by that point, and was a very distinguished man. he sometimes had a bad reputation. He was a little bit emotional. He was red-headed, you know. And so on the floor of the synod, he got agitated and challenged another delegate to a duel. That was kind of exciting for the delegates. The brethren calmed that down. He wasn't usually that excited or animated, but he was a great leader in the churches. And then Gisbertus Fouchis was a quite young minister at the Synod, but would later become one of the most distinguished theologians in the Netherlands, dominating theology in the Netherlands in the middle of the 17th century. So I've made Ben Goodhart happy, and I hope you see what really distinguished and learned people there were at the Synod of Dort. And the most important issue before the Synod was the issue of predestination. We usually talk about the five points of Calvinism, and that's certainly correct. And the Synod did talk about and write about and define total depravity and irresistible grace and definite atonement and perseverance of the saints. But the really focal and foundational issue that had led to the controversy in the Netherlands was the teaching of Arminius on predestination. And that's what the first head of doctrine is about. And so, in a sense, the first head of doctrine is the foundational head of doctrine, the most important one and the most crucial one. And it is in that head of doctrine, then, that the Synod of Dort defined for us the doctrine of predestination as it's presented in the Bible. Now, what has intrigued me in the times in which we live is that I actually meet people who claim to be Bible-believing Christians who say, I don't believe in predestination. And there's a part of me that smiles at that moment because I feel I've won the battle already. Because if they are Bible-believing Christians, they ought to be aware that the word predestination is to be found in the Bible. Not once, but over and over again. So if they say they don't believe in predestination, then we can, in a very nice way, say, so you don't really believe the Bible. And then, if they're Bible-believing, they'll say, oh, yes, I do, and we can show them where the Bible talks about predestination. Now, Arminius himself was too smart to fall in my little trap. So he would have said, oh, I believe in predestination. I just believe in it differently from the way you Reformed people do. He offered a different definition. And so it was precisely because Arminius claimed to believe in predestination, even though he didn't really follow what the Bible said on predestination, that the Synod of Dort had to speak to this issue and spoke not just for our churches, but really spoke for Reformed and Presbyterian churches all over the world ever since, because this definition offered is so biblical, so helpful, and so practically taught. Now, I was thinking as I was preparing this sermon, you all should be glad that I am retired from being a professor. Otherwise, I might have started this sermon with a test. And I might have handed out paper and pencils and said, all right, if you're going to write about predestination, how would you begin? You might think about that if you ran into somebody who said, well, I really don't believe in predestination, and you thought to yourself, how am I going to help this person understand predestination? Where would you begin? Your teaching. Beginnings are really important, aren't they? They set the whole direction of how you're going. And you can pick up theology books that begin the discussion of predestination in eternity in the mind of God. Now, that's a perfectly legitimate way to approach this subject, but we actually usually have some trouble understanding fully the mind of God. We're not in eternity. We're not in the mind of God. And so theologians who approach it in that way can soon find it difficult to explain what they're saying to common folk. And the Synod of Dort very much wanted to speak in a way that would be understandable and helpful to common folk. And so the Synod of Dort did not begin in eternity, but began in history. Began with the human problem. Began with the human condition. And we see that, don't we, right at the beginning of that first article. All people have sinned, and I think the synod is absolutely brilliant in beginning right there. All people have sinned, and I would be bold to say to you here at the beginning that if you really understand that statement, and if you really believe that statement, then you have to believe in predestination, and that's the way the synod proceeds. That's how the synod teaches. That's where the synod will lead us. All people have sinned. That's very much what we read in Romans chapter 5, isn't it? Romans chapter 5 and the verses that we read said, for example, in Romans 5 verse 12, Sin came into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sin. We might almost have been able to put quotation marks around these opening words of the first article because they are so very scriptural. They're so very much the teaching of scripture. The canons then begin with our problem, with our condition, that we are all sinners. Now, how serious is that as a problem? Well, the word sin in some circles in our time has become a sort of joke, hasn't it? As if sin were the fun stuff to do. But in the scripture, sin is taken with utmost seriousness. and quite rightly. And we sometimes talk about sin in terms of harming ourselves by what we do, and that's true. Or we talk about sin in terms of harming others, and that's true. Or we talk about sin in terms of violating the law of God, and that's true. We sang about those senses of sin, didn't we, in the second song in the song service, nearer to God, and there we talked about sin with its follies. I gladly resign. We talked about the foolishness of sin in that hymn. We talked about sin with its pleasures, pomp and pride in that, see, I was paying attention, in that song. Those things are all true, and those things are all important, But there's an even deeper and more important reality to sin that I think is in the mind of Paul as he writes Romans 5. It's in the mind of the canons of George as they're being written. And that is that sin is a rebellion and an offense against God. Sin is not just a matter of running up debits in a book of debts. Sin is personally offensive to God. God created human beings to be in fellowship with him he created us in his own image that we would know him and love him and serve him and have fellowship with him and the worst thing about sin is not what it does to us or what it does to others the worst thing about sin is its rebellion and offense against God who has been nothing but good and blessed in his creation. And that's what is really highlighted here. The seriousness of sin is that it's rebellion against God. And the synod wants to say that that's true of all of us. That's a great leveler, isn't it? People often want to distinguish themselves over against others. They want to make the point that somehow they're better than others. But Christianity says, nobody's better than anybody else as they stand before God. We are all sinners. And that reality has been true of mankind from the beginning when Adam fell. All people have sinned in Adam. And that's what Romans 5 says over and over again, doesn't it? says it so eloquently, says it so powerfully. Think of Romans 5, verse 15. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, that is Adam, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many. Or verse 17 and 18. For if because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men. You notice how those results of sin pile up? What does sin lead to? If we're all sinners, what does that sin lead to? well Paul says very clearly doesn't it it leads to death it leads to condemnation it leads to eternal loss that's why it's so serious you see the canons of Dort are not dealing with peripheral matters they're going to the very heart of our religion to the very heart of the questions of who are we as human beings and what is our relationship to God And the effect of sin, you see, as it's presented here, is devastating. Devastating. It's not bad enough, we might say, that we all have accumulated our own actual sins in offending God. But what we call the doctrine of original sin says that we're born that way. Right from the very beginning. Great church father, Augustine, said people love to ooh and ah at babies and talk about how sweet they are. And he said sometimes they talk about how innocent they are. And Augustine thundered, they are not innocent. Their innocence only appears to be the case because their bodies are weak. But the minute the bodies get stronger, the reality of sin will manifest itself. I see fathers nodding more than mothers, but it's true. It's true. This is the predicament, the human predicament. And then something really fascinating is said here. In the second sentence, God would not have been unfair to anyone if he had left everyone in sin and under the curse and had willed to damn them all on account of sin. That's a really important statement in terms of the whole way in which the doctrine will be taught and will unfold. Is that true? Do you believe that? God would not have been unfair to save no one. It's critically important. And perhaps it makes us a little uncomfortable. We hate to think that way, don't we? We hate to even imagine such a situation. But when Adam and Eve fell into sin, was God under any sort of obligation to save them or their descendants? He had created them good. He had revealed himself to them clearly. And they had rebelled against him and rejected him. And he was under no further obligation to them. That's critical to bear in mind. It makes us somewhat uncomfortable, but it's true. And the Synod of Dort, you notice here, says, in effect, at the end of this article, you know, these ideas aren't our ideas. These aren't things that we've just invented as we've gone along. It's not just because we're grumpy. It's not just because we live in a cloudy country and so have to be pessimistic. They want to make clear this teaching is the teaching of the Bible. This is the teaching of the apostles. This is the teaching of Jesus. This is the teaching of the church through all centuries. The wages of sin is death. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That's where we have to start in our thinking. But thanks be to God, it's not where we end. Because Article 2 goes on immediately to say, but God does have a saving plan. He would not have been unfair to leave us all in our sin, but that's not what he does. Article 2, truly God shows his love. Romans 5 talks about the love of God. The foundation of salvation is in the love of God, not a love that he was required to demonstrate, but a love that was truly going beyond what was at all required for him. He is, to be sure, in his very essence, a loving God. And so he shows his love in his determination to save. Truly God shows his love in this, that he sent his only begotten Son into the world So that each one who believes in him would not perish, but have eternal life. Isn't that interesting that right at Article 2, having painted sin in such terrible terms, just as the Bible does, the candidates of Dort want to state clearly and unequivocally the gospel for us. God has loved sinners, and God has given sinners His own Son, sent His own Son into the world. And of course, implicit in this has sent His own Son into the world to die so that everyone who believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life. If Adam brought death into the world, if Adam's actions meant that every one of us are sinners properly subject to death, then Christ comes into the world as a second Adam. That's the great theme of Romans chapter 5 and other parts of the New Testament. Jesus is the second Adam. Jesus undoes what Adam did. Where Adam brought death, Jesus brings life. And he brings it to everyone who believes. You notice how unequivocally the canon of Dort says that. And I think this is the point being made here. That those who criticize Reformed theology, and it's been in almost every century since the 16th that this criticism has been offered, those who criticize Reformed theology and say, if you believe in predestination, you can't really believe in the gospel. If you believe in predestination, you can't really call people to faith. If you believe in predestination, you can't celebrate life. The delegates to the Synod of Dort had heard all of these charges, all of these claims, all of these statements. And you see how cleverly they're answering them before they ever even get to the subject of predestination. They're clearing the path. They're laying a foundation. I drove in this morning by our new church building. I wondered if we were going to build a moat by the building now. There's some excavating there. I like moats myself. I think that's impressive. It may be a little extravagant for our new church. But it made me think about the foundation. What a firm foundation had to be laid for that building to be safe and secure. And what the Synod of Dort is laying the foundation here. And the foundation is this. You're all sinners. But the love of God says there's salvation for sinners. The love of God says that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The love of God says everyone who believes will be saved. And implicit in this, that is, if someone is sitting here and thinking, well, I wonder if I'm really elect. What the Synod of Dort is saying to you at this moment is, Don't ask if you're elect, ask if you believe. And what this first head of doctrine is eventually going to show us is, if we believe, we may know that we're elect, because only the elect believe. But here this wonderful gospel statement is given to us in Article 2. For the ungodly, for those who've rebelled against God, God, in his love, sent his Son into the world. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, Romans 5 declares. And each one who believes can know that he shares in the saving work of Christ and knows the love of God and has passed from death to life. And the Synod wanted to say, before we get into any other theological questions, we want to say that right up front. We want to make that crystal clear. We will not in any way compromise this declaration. Everyone who believes. will be saved. And so as we go forward to look at the canons of Dort, as we'll actually get in a few articles to the doctrine of predestination proper, we want to build that doctrine as the Synod did on this foundation, the foundation of our need, but much more gloriously the foundation of God's love for us in Christ and his call to every sinner believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved this is a much better way to begin the Canons of Dort than most of us would have thought of doing but it should be a great encouragement to us and encourage us to know that the gospel is not threatened by predestination but in fact the gospel is clarified and strengthened and deepened in its meaning by the doctrine of predestination and we'll see that in times to come. Let's pray together. Lord our God, we pray that we will be convicted of how great the problem of our sin is so that we can see how great and glorious the solution to our sin that you, our Father, has provided out of your love. That you have given your own Son to die for us so that if we believe in Him, if we trust in Him, if we look to Him, if we rest in Him, we might know that we belong to Him and have passed from death to life, that we have passed from eternal death to eternal life. Fill us with that hope and confidence in believing, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you.