Doesn't This Make Man a Puppet?; HyperCalvinism

Driving home: They cry out, But doesn't this make man a puppet? Doesn't it simply make him a creature who's held at the end, at the end of the strings of divine sovereignty? Where is man's responsibility? Where is man's freedom?

The common objection is illustrated by comparing man to a puppet on strings, manipulated by a hidden hand, to convey the idea of a lack of free, spontaneous movement under divine sovereignty.

Ephesians 1.11 declares, He works all things. And after the counsel of his own will, then people are perplexed and say, Well, if that's true, then doesn't this make man sort of a little robot or just a little puppet, sort of moved at the end of the strings of divine sovereignty? You ever watch a puppet show?

4:54 - 5:14 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But God dare not ever bring his hand from behind his back and stretch forth that hand in power and lay hold of a sinner and say, I'll make him mine, because I want to make him mine. We dare not have a God who ever acts a…

Martin uses the metaphor of God standing back with 'arms bound behind him,' wishfully hoping for man to accept mercy, to critique the common, man-exalting view of God that fears His intervention.

God can be robbed of his godhood year in and year out, even in professing Christian churches, the preaching can be such as to give the impression that God sent his son to die on the cross, and now he stands back like a helpless spectator, his arms bound behind him, wishfully hoping that somebody amongst the sons of men will please accept the mercy that he offers in his son. But God dare not ever bring his hand from behind his back and stretch forth that hand in power and lay hold of a sinner and say, I'll make him mine, because I want to make him mine. We dare not have a God who ever acts anyw...

6:21 - 7:06 Read in full sermon

Driving home: But God dare not ever bring his hand from behind his back and stretch forth that hand in power and lay hold of a sinner and say, I'll make him mine, because I want to make him mine. We dare not have a God who ever acts a…

The story of God preventing Abimelech from taking Sarah is used as a biblical example of God's direct, sovereign control over the actions of an unsaved king, demonstrating His right to intervene.

And some people, when the very thought is suggested that God has a right and actually controls the actions of men, this is very repulsive to them. But this is taught to them. This is taught throughout the length and breadth of the Bible. You remember that instance where Abraham lied and said that Sarah was his sister and not his wife, told a half-truth that in that situation was a lie, and that heathen king took Sarah to himself and was going to make her his wife, and he didn't?

8:21 - 8:48 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin expresses disturbance at how often this objection is raised, indicating a generation that exalts man's rights over God's. He provides biblical examples (Abimelech, the…

The story of God guiding an archer's arrow to kill a wicked king in his weak spot is used to illustrate God's sovereign control over seemingly random events and human actions to fulfill His purposes.

You remember God had told a certain king that he was going to die. And he was going to die in a certain way. The dogs would lick his blood. And so what does God do?

9:53 - 10:05 Read in full sermon

The point: Settle it as a cardinal rule that we will never fully comprehend the antinomy of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility this side of eternity.

Martin quotes J.I. Packer's concept of 'antinomy' from 'Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God' to explain how two apparently irreconcilable truths can both be valid and must be accepted by faith.

And at the outset, settle it down as a cardinal rule that we shall never be able, this side of eternity, to fully comprehend how God can be absolute sovereign in his world and how man can be a wholly responsible creature in that same realm. Mr. Packer, as many of you know, in his excellent little book, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, has an introduction that is very helpful in dealing with this problem, and he uses the word antinomy. He says this doctrine of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility is an antinomy.

11:26 - 12:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Settle it as a cardinal rule that we will never fully comprehend the antinomy of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility this side of eternity.

The scientific antinomy of light being both wave and particle is used to illustrate how experts accept two seemingly contradictory truths without fully understanding their reconciliation, paralleling the theological antinomy.

Now, an antinomy is an apparent, irreconcilable set of facts. Taking all the evidence, you come up with this conclusion in this area. Taking equally valid evidence, you come up with another conclusion in this area, and the two don't seem to fit, and yet both of them stand or fall on their own evidence. And then he gives an illustration from the realm of physics.

12:03 - 12:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Settle it as a cardinal rule that we will never fully comprehend the antinomy of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility this side of eternity.

The metaphor of truth being 'tucked away under a stone in the River Jordan' is used to emphasize that God's sovereignty is not an obscure truth but one that lies plainly on the face of Scripture.

We've looked at passage after passage in the Old and the New Testaments. As one of the ladies said in the home the other night when we were talking about this, she said, Pastor, how could I have read my Bible for so many years and not seen it? It's not some little obtuse thing tucked away under a stone in the River Jordan. I mean, if it were one of those truths that you had to dig down into Jordan and turn up the stone and pull it out like a drug somewhere, why, then we might overlook it for years.

13:25 - 13:50 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not make the ability of your mind to squeeze things together the measure of your faith or belief; follow where the Word leads.

The analogy of parallel railroad tracks that appear to meet in the distance is used to illustrate how God's sovereignty and man's responsibility, though seemingly parallel and unreconciled to us, meet in God's infinite wisdom.

So we have this antinomy. We're in the realm of that which to us is mystery. And the illustration is often used, like the railroad tracks that we know are parallel and as we stand within those four foot, what, four foot ten, whatever they are, tracks, we see that they're parallel and yet looking down some hundreds of yards we see that the two parallel lines meet and so these truths of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility to us seem to be parallel lines that do not meet but there in his mind, in his heart, in his infinite wisdom, they meet and perhaps one day God will let us know how they...

16:18 - 17:00 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He's a person who's holding the truth of sovereignty with two hands and he doesn't have a hand left to hold to the truth of responsibility. That's what he is. He's a man who's holding something with one hand too many.

The anecdote of a hyper-Calvinist telling William Carey that God doesn't need his help to convert the heathen is used to illustrate how rejecting human responsibility leads to a loss of evangelistic passion.

So they lose all evangelistic passion. It was a hyper-Calvinist who said to William Carey when he got concerned about reaching those heathen across the sea, got concerned about reaching people in other lands, he said, son, when God's ready to convert us, when God's ready to convert the heathen, he'll do it without your help or mine. Now what was wrong with that man? He was a hyper-Calvin.

18:45 - 19:09 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He's a person who's holding the truth of sovereignty with two hands and he doesn't have a hand left to hold to the truth of responsibility. That's what he is. He's a man who's holding something with one hand too many.

A parody of a man falling down stairs and saying 'thank the Lord, that's over with' is used to illustrate the fatalistic attitude that can result from an unbalanced view of God's sovereignty.

Perhaps some of you have heard the common, what is it, parody, really, abuse of this truth. A man fell down the stairs, and when he got to the bottom, he said, well, thank the Lord, that's over with. You see, this was something he felt, well, this was decreed, my fall was decreed, so I'm glad it's over with, you see. It had to be.

19:29 - 19:50 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Beloved, I'm not concerned about that. My concern is, has Almighty God broken into your life and performed a miracle of grace?

A crude song lyric ('And if someday you should decide, just let him in and he'll abide') is quoted to illustrate the man-centered 'decisionism' that arises from rejecting God's sovereignty in salvation.

Because we've got people who've been sold a bill of goods for two generations that has as its beginning, middle and end, the responsibility of man and the sovereignty of God has been well nigh lost in the rubble of our religious mess. And so you have the curse of decisionism. It's expressed rather crudely in songs like this one. I have a wonderful friend at my house who makes my home a heaven every day.

22:06 - 22:34 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second key is understanding the biblical definition of freedom: the absence of external coercion. Man is free to act consistent with his nature, but not contrary to it. An…

The analogy of free flight model airplanes versus controlled flight models is used to distinguish between freedom as absence of external coercion (free flight) and being manipulated by an outside force (controlled flight).

Now, what is freedom in a biblical sense? Freedom is the absence of external coercion. We talk about the difference. Some of you fellows perhaps have flown some models.

37:23 - 37:34 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second key is understanding the biblical definition of freedom: the absence of external coercion. Man is free to act consistent with his nature, but not contrary to it. An…

The analogy of a sparrow being 'free' to build a nest underwater but unable to do so due to its nature is used to illustrate that biblical freedom means acting consistent with one's nature, not contrary to it.

Picture little Johnny Sparrow that lives about eight feet outside of our kitchen. And we have a bird feeder there that they decided to turn into a bird apartment. They ate all the seed out and then began to bring...

38:51 - 39:05 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Beloved, free will leads to hell. Free grace leads to heaven. Hallelujah. Grace that takes the rebel will and turns to Christ.

Adam's pre-fall state is described as a 'neutral plane' where he was truly free to choose between good and evil, contrasting it with fallen man's non-neutral state.

Adam stood on a neutral plane and before him was the path of good, the path of evil. He had no evil nature. He had no darkened mind. He had no perverted affections.

43:54 - 44:06 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Through an anecdote, Martin illustrates that even Christians need God's work to choose rightly, let alone unbelievers. He emphasizes that God's 'interference' with man's will…

A counseling anecdote about a man realizing his own heart's inability to choose right, even as a Christian, is used to emphasize the necessity of God's work in the heart for both believers and unbelievers.

You'll want to build monuments to free grace. I had someone tell me in counseling a few weeks ago this very thing and I'll close with this anecdote.

46:10 - 46:19 Read in full sermon