he grace and peace to you from the lord jesus christ it is indeed a joy to be with you for this conference may i say that i truly love brazil it's in d-day yes a beautiful country [Applause] um behalf of our local church and g3 ministries it is a privilege and a joy to be with you many of you have already seen the book on the new calvinism much of what i will preach tonight and also tomorrow will be in this book and so if you do not have a copy of it i would encourage you to get a copy in the bookstore i will say that the goal of this book was for us to complement and critique the new calvinism study and so i do pray that the lord will encourage you this evening as we talk about the subject of the new calvinism calvinism tonight i will be talking about the the positive side of the new calvinism movement tomorrow i will deal with the failures of the new calvinism there are both positives and negatives of the new calvinism movement as we begin this evening i want us to talk about the the historic reformation [Music] when calvin went to paris to study law especially martin luther was about 50 years of age the doctrine of luther captivated calvin it left a mark upon his soul luther as you know was an augustinian monk he called into question the teachings of the roman catholic church but it would be through his opposition to the roman catholic church that the lord would save him my cd when martin luther became a christian his opposition took a distinctive turn when rather than just becoming an internal reformation it became an external protest illustrated former as we consider what it means to be protestant to be protestant means to protest is luther was called to stand before the dignitaries of the holy roman empire and he was called to answer for his teaching and for his writings they asked him to recant of everything that he had written he would come back before the dignitaries on the following day and it was there that he gave his famous speech where he said that he cannot recant of anything yeah foreign he would leave that meeting in 1521 and he would be taken to the castle and he would translate the bible into the german language it would be that very work that would spark the reformation foreign as martin luther was able to take the bible and deliver it to the people it sparked the massive explosion of the protestant reformation luther would impact other individuals like william tyndale tyndale would give his life to translating the bible into the english language and through the work of tyndale we see an impact on other individuals like john knox we see john knox and john calvin and william tyndale josemus and god used these men to to bring the bible to the people over many years the the the work of god would continue to go forward but after centuries of reformation the church would go back into a season a period of deformation and we could see this in the united states of america many churches far and wide started to decline expository preaching disappeared from the pulpits positive the churches increased in number but decreased in doctrine america and then suddenly there was a spark of a new movement it was originally called the young restless and reformed movement time magazine which is an influential secular magazine in the united states of america ran a series of articles titled 10 ideas changing the world right now agora number three on the list was the new calvinism soon there was an explosion of interest in the doctrines of this movement in the united states was led primarily at first by young people it was a common thing to go into a coffee shop and see a man with a long beard and a t-shirt with jonathan edwards with his laptop and he was studying the doctrines of grace this movement was young and it was restless by restless the meaning was that these young people were tired of the shallow evangelical church movement were dissatisfied with a low view of god as the movement would continue to grow there were two primary benefits of this movement i mean and they were also interested in the robust absolute sovereignty of god for the next few minutes i want to work through the benefits the positive side of the new calvinism but i did not fly from the united states of america to tell you a story about a movement i want to urge you to have a hunger for right biblical preaching is let us consider this movement let us consider their hunger for the right preaching of the words for many years families in the united states would choose their churches based on what the church could offer their children uh their choice of their church was not based on robust biblical preaching this is the new calvinism movement led individuals to have a hunger for true biblical preaching um keep in mind it was martin luther who once said quote the pulpit is the throne for the word of god foreign preaching is the centerpiece of the local church preaching is the first mark of an authentic church everything in the life of the church revolves around the pulpit as the pulpit goes so goes the a healthy pulpit will will result in a healthy church um the failure of pragmatism was one of the things that sparked the new calvinism in 1954 the largest protestant denomination in america the southern baptist convention they announced their theme for the year their theme was titled a million more in 54. so and they were willing to use all sorts of gimmicks and programs to to increase and to reach their goal of a million people yesterday pragmatism is like steroids it offers instant success and many pastors are willing to use pragmatism and so pragmatism asks this question into pragmatism what can we do that will work for them what can we do that will result in success and then oftentimes the pastors in the churches will follow after that very thing rather than looking to the word of god they look to the culture and so it is with pragmatism it leads churches to to look outside of the word of god rather than being committed to the scriptures the first wave of the new calvinism movement was not interested in pragmatism they were interested in hearing robust biblical preaching these young people were looking at their local churches this is they were seeing the the shallowness of the pulpits they were looking at the shallowness of the doctrine it is and it was the use of technology that introduced them to robust biblical preaching foreign in the 1990s there was a technological explosion technology by the early 2000s almost all of the homes in america had the internet the internet in the early days gave growth to search engines like yahoo and and these young people were searching things on the search engines and they were coming across sermons audio sermons and printed sermons they were being introduced to preachers like rc sproul and john macarthur established they were being introduced to the teaching of men like martin lloyd jones and james montgomery boyce it is uh john james montgomery voice james montgomery bison the other they were reading the works of men like john calvin and jonathan edwards they were reading the writings of john knox and charles spurgeon d charles spurgeon d john knox multitudes of young people were starting to be introduced to the doctrines of grace deutsche joaves is it happened through podcasts and blogs audio sermons online commentaries commentaries online these individuals were starving for something that was authentic and real but unfortunately they were not finding it in their local churches listen to second timothy chapter four verses one through 5 i charge you in the presence of god and of christ jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by his appearing and his kingdom preach the word be ready in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with complete patience and teaching for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching years they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths as for you always be sober minded endure suffering do the work of an evangelist fulfill just before he was beheaded in the streets of rome just before he was beheaded in the streets of rome let's just say homer the apostle paul wrote these words to young timothy but if you'll notice there he did not encourage timothy to engage in pragmatism as timothy was called to pastor a church in the city of ephesus paul did not encourage timothy to survey the community to see what they wanted he said be ready in season and out of season unknown his preaching ministry was to reprove and to rebuke he was to be a preacher of the word of god as we consider the calling of a pastor to be a preacher the church of jesus christ is not built upon cultural strategies the church of jesus christ is not built upon marketing schemes the marketing no the church of jesus christ is built upon the right preaching of the word of god all throughout history the church stands or falls with biblical preaching these young people had a hunger for the word of god the new calvinism movement in many ways had a good beginning they wanted to hear the word of god preached and that's a good thing yes boa jesus himself was a preacher jesus matthew chapter 4 verse 23 we find these words and he jesus went throughout all galilee teaching in their synagogues jesus in mark chapter 1 verses 14 and 15 we find these words that jesus came into galilee proclaiming the gospel of god jesus and jesus was saying jesus the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of god is at hand repent and believe the gospel is is the model preacher jesus in mark chapter six verse six we find these words and he went about among the villages teaching us in luke 4 44 we find these words and he jesus was preaching in the synagogues of judea jesus in luke 9 verse 6 we find these words and they departed and went through the villages preaching the gospel and healing everywhere jesus indeed was the prophet greater than moses uh his preaching had substance rather than shallow moralistic tales illustri [Music] jesus preached the word jesus he preached with authority and he preached with such power that the people were astonished the most famous sermon in the history of the world is the sermon on the mount said at the end of jesus sermon we find these words in matthew 7 28 and when jesus finished these sayings the crowds were astonished at his teaching as the younger people in the first wave of the new calvinism movement they were not hearing preaching like that in their local churches and when they were introduced to preaching from men like sprole or macarthur e cuando is consider how god honors the preaching of the word considering as we consider as we survey church history consider the preaching of the reformers consider the preaching of martin luther for example between 1510 and 1546 luther preached approximately 3 000 sermons he preached several sermons every week sometimes two or three sermons per day he viewed the word of god as the external word that it did not find its source in man. but that the word of god finds its source in god consider the preaching of john calvin basin you can summarize john calvin's ministry with one word expository is positive he began his series through acts in fifteen forty nineteen he preached 46 sermons through first and second thessalonians in first and second corinthians john calvin preached 186 sermons calvin preached 86 sermons through the pastoral epistles his series through galatians was 43 sermons calvin preached 48 sermons through ephesians he preached 159 sermons through jobs his series through deuteronomy was two hundred sermons long asari de lindeotero he labored through isaiah in three hundred and fifty three sermons is calvin preached through genesis in 123 sermons calvin had a high view of the word of god the reformers refused to put their confidence in silly gimmicks and but this first wave of the new calvinism also led through preaching to the sovereignty of god as they were listening to these sermons online and as these men like macarthur or sprole would quote from the historic reformers they would go back and begin to read those sermons and they were being introduced to the sovereignty of god they would read words from men like a.
w pink elizo awping describes the sovereignty of god by saying the following description god does as he wants when he wants with whom he wants fights in other words god does not have to ask anyone for permission god always acts with regard to his glory gloria the doctrine of god's sovereignty is the foundation of the doctrine of god the doctrine of god's absolute sovereignty governor listen to what the bible says about the sovereignty of god in job 42 i know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted listen to what paul said in romans 11 36 for from him and through him and to him are all things to him be glory forever amen r. c sproul said the following he said that the doctrine of god's sovereignty is god's favorite doctrine i did and he said that it would be your favorite doctrine if you were god in the bible we see that the word of god reveals the the characteristics and the attributes of god you do not have creation without a sovereign god you do not have the virgin birth apart from the sovereignty of god you do not have holy justice apart from the sovereignty of god you do not have the defeat of satan apart from the sovereignty of god was and apart from the sovereignty of god you do not have the salvation of sinners a w pink said the following pinky jesus the sovereignty of god is the foundation of all christian theology fundamentals it is the center of gravity in the system of the christian truth it is the sun around which all of the other planets circle it said the following he said god is god pink disdaise not merely in name no god is not only sovereign he is absolutely sovereign listen to what the psalmist declares jesus psalm 93 verse 1 the lord reigns he is robed in majesty it shall never be moved the psalmist declares in psalm 99 verse 1 the lord reigns let the peoples tremble when isaiah saw the majestic enthroned vision of the lord in isaiah chapter 6 god pulled back the curtain to reveal the enthroned lord seated upon his and as the prophet declares that the lord was high and lifted upon he was high which points to his sovereignty he said he was lifted up which speaks of his exaltation in first chronicles 16 31.
