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Luke 14:15-24

In the “TULIP” system of Calvinism, the ‘I’ stands for Irresistible Grace.  If the Calvinist system were true (it is not), the whole thing would work like so:

1.       Before God made anything, He decided to burn some people in hell while others would eventually get to live with him in heaven and take turns dangling the “depraved” over the flames of hellfire (this is the stupid blasphemy of Jonathan Edwards who wrote “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God).

2.       God chose the ones that burn and the ones who would “turn.”  There is an exact number of “turns” – no one cares how many burns there are.

3.       The ones who will “turn” are eternal beings –more or less- and never really were human… They were gOdS that didn’t know their own gOdness for a while.  Like Mormons…sort of.

4.       Hellbent people (the ones that cannot “turn”) are trash that is good for nothing but to burn.  However, they mostly look and act very similar to the “turn” crowd (sometimes better).  “Turns” and burns all live in the same world together…beginning to sound suspiciously like Sneetches on the beaches!

5.       Burns can sometimes be fooled by the Holy Spirit into thinking they are “turns” or have a shot at being one.  (This is where Calvin went too far and proved that he was spending too much Pharisaical time with the devil!)

6.       When “turns” are injected with what they call “faith” (they should respell it as fiat-th) they turn from their cloudy condition and receive enlightenment (sounds like Buddha…).  This injection is done to them and there is nothing they can do to stop it.  God chooses them and inoculates them – they can offer no resistance.  So they claim to receive Irresistible Grace.  Never mind the cross of Jesus…they receive salvation that was always theirs anyway.

The biblical problem with this nonsensical system is that it fails to match the picture given to us in Matthew 22:1-14 (or Luke 14:15-24).  Isn’t it interesting that the called/chosen (“turns”) were able to resist the “sovereign” demands of their king?  If I were making a preaching outline of these verses, I would say:

I.The elect refuse.

II. The elect revile.

III. The elect ravage.

IV. The elect replaced.

V. The elect rejected.

Conclusion: It is better to be a reprobate (“burn”) than a Calvinistically elect reject.  God invites the reprobate and the reject to TURN.

The cross of Jesus Christ is the turning point.

Come to the cross.