The Doctrines Of Grace From The Lips Of Our Lord

The doctrine of salvation is the watershed doctrine of Scripture. Flowing from that doctrine will be not only all other doctrine but also personal practice and Christian ministry. The major controversy concerning salvation is whether it is a result of the sovereign grace of God alone or a mixture of "God's part" and "man's part." Addressing that issue is absolutely critical to the very foundations of Christianity itself. Whichever one of those premises is correct, we should expect to find it everywhere we look in Scripture, and that is precisely what we find. There is no truth that permeates the Bible more than the doctrines of God's sovereign grace. From Genesis to Revelation, in literally hundreds of verses, these doctrines call, capture, and command our attention.Of the many books of the Bible we could choose, the Gospel of John is among the most compelling because of its foundational nature. It is there we find some of the most profound teaching on the Doctrines of Grace in all Scripture. Examining more than one hundred verses in John, this small volume presents these great biblical and historical doctrines directly from the lips of our Lord.

The doctrine of salvation is the watershed doctrine of Scripture. Flowing from that doctrine will be not only all other doctrine but also personal practice and Christian ministry. The major controversy concerning salvation is whether it is a result of the sovereign grace of God alone or a mixture of "God's part" and "man's part." Addressing that issue is absolutely critical to the very foundations of Christianity itself. Whichever one of those premises is correct, we should expect to find it everywhere we look in Scripture, and that is precisely what we find. There is no truth that permeates the Bible more than the doctrines of God's sovereign grace. From Genesis to Revelation, in literally hundreds of verses, these doctrines call, capture, and command our attention. Of the many books of the Bible we could choose, the Gospel of John is among the most compelling because of its foundational nature. It is there we find some of the most profound teaching on the Doctrines of Grace in all Scripture. Examining more than one hundred verses in John, this small volume presents these great biblical and historical doctrines directly from the lips of our Lord.

An eight chapter study on the doctrines of grace using Scriptural proofs and review questions to teach these specific doctrines: Sovereignty of God, Inability of Man, Justification by faith Alone, Election by Grace, Sacrifice of Christ, Unity and Universality of the Church, and Security of the believer.

There is no question that we live in an age of weak theology and casual Christianity. We have substituted intuition for truth, feeling for belief and immediate gratification for enduring hope. Evangelicalism desperately needs to return to the doctrines that once before reformed the world: radical depravity, unconditional election, particular redemption, efficacious grace and persevering grace. James Boice and Philip Ryken not only provide a compelling exposition on these doctrines of grace, but also look briefly at their historical impact. The authors leave no doubt that the church suffers when these foundational truths are neglected and that she must return to a Christianity that is practical-minded, kind-hearted, and most importantly, biblically based.

My own private opinion is that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and him crucified, unless you preach what now-a-days is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering, love of Jehovah: nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the peculiar redemption which Christ made for his elect and chosen people; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having believed. Such a gospel I abhor. The gospel of the Bible is not such a gospel. We preach Christ crucified in a different fashion, and to all gainsayers we reply. "We have not so learned Christ." (Charles Spurgeon)