I got a kick out of how he approached it, "I am looking at this text through the lens of a Calvinist!" (Those aren't his words exactly, but I can't listen to the audio right now to confirm, but that's the gist)
While I heard a couple gasps (not loud ones, mind you), I heard one, "Amen!" in the crowd. I got a kick out of it!
In our experiences that God has walked us through, that word "Calvinist" has been a hot-button word (that's putting it mildly), and I am thankful today that I can sit in a church under a pastor that confesses to be a Calvinist, and know that there won't be a church split over it. Maybe someone will leave, but that's okay. People can pick their side.
My husband was telling me that he couldn't preach if he weren't a Calvinist. He had a lot of things to say on that topic. May he'll blog about it.
Being a Calvinist is having the profound conviction that nothing, absolutely nothing, that I can do will save me. My faith, my salvation, and my security rests entirely on the grace and work of Jesus Christ on my behalf. I was dead in sin, and if it had not been for the divine act of God, I would not have responded to the gospel. The faith I have is not my own. It is a gift of God.
Whew! It's nice to get that off my chest! Yes. I am a Calvinist too. I confess.
One of my favorites (Listen here):
My Lord, I did not choose You,
For that could never be;
My heart would still refuse You,
Had You not chosen me.
You took the sin that stained me,
You cleansed me, made me new;
Of old You have ordained me,
That I should live in You.
Chorus:
My Lord, I did not choose You,
For that could never be;
My heart would still refuse You,
Had You not chosen me.
Unless Your grace had called me
And taught my opening mind,
The world would have enthralled me,
To heavenly glories blind.
My heart knows none above You;
For Your rich grace I thirst;
I know that if I love You,
You must have loved me first.
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