Made Men - Answering the Objection to Sovereign Grace: "God doesn't make you do anything"

For a paperback book in outline form which addresses over 150 difficult verses that Arminians use against Sovereign Grace, check out: Problem Texts for Sovereign Grace: Rooting Arminianism Out of Every Verse. Watch the video of this sermon on YouTube: Made Men A copy of the outline can be downloaded at the bottom of this page. For more information on Sovereign Grace, click here: Sovereign Grace Made Men I. Is it true, as some say, that God doesn't make us do anything? 1. When it comes salvation from sin, God had made us a lot things. 2. God is very active in the salvation of men. 3. Made ppl - I. Produced or obtained by ‘making’ as distinguished from other modes of origin or acquisition. 1. a. Artificially constructed or produced, artificial as opposed to ‘natural’. 4. Make v. - I. Senses in which the object of the verb is a product or result. 1. trans. a. To produce (a material thing) by combination of parts, or by giving a certain form to a portion of matter; to construct, frame, fashion. III. To cause to be or become (something specified). 48. a. With adj. as compl.: To cause to be, render. II. God's making men holy and acceptable began before the world began. 1. God, foreseeing mankind as a fallen lump, decided to make some of them into vessels of mercy (Rom 9:20-23). 2. The Lord did this by choosing them before the foundation of the world and making them accepted (Eph 1:4-6). III. God then made atonement for their sins by the death of Christ. 1. Jesus Christ was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God (2Co 5:21). 2. By Christ's obedience, up to and including His death on the cross, we were made righteous (Rom 5:19 c/w Phi 2:8). 3. Jesus made us free from sin (Rom 6:18,22). A. He made us free from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:2). B. He did this by condemning sin in His flesh (Rom 8:3). 4. Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us (Gal 3:13). 5. Jesus made peace between men and God by His death on the cross (Col 1:20; Rom 5:10). A. Christ was made like us so that He could make reconciliation for our sins (Heb 2:17). B. Reconciliation n. - 1. a. The action of reconciling persons, or the result of this; the fact of being reconciled. C. Reconcile v. - 1. a. trans. To bring (a person) again into friendly relations to or with (oneself or another) after an estrangement. IV. God makes His elect new creatures by regeneration. 1. God had created us in Christ (Eph 2:10). A. Create v. - 1. a. trans. Said of the divine agent: To bring into being, cause to exist; esp. to produce where nothing was before, ‘to form out of nothing’ B. This is why we are called new creatures (2Co 5:17). C. We are new men created in righteousness (Eph 4:24). D. Our new man is renewed in knowledge after the image of God who created us (Col 3:10). 2. God made us heirs of the hope of eternal life (Tit 3:7). 3. God made us suitable to be partakers of heaven (Col 1:12; Heb 3:1). A. We are made partakers of Christ (Heb 3:14). B. We are made partakers of the Holy Ghost (Heb 6:4). C. Partaker - 1. One who takes a part or share, a partner, participator, sharer. V. God practically makes His children into what He wants them to be individually and in the church. 1. Personally A. Paul desired to be made conformable unto Christ's death (Phi 3:10). B. Conformable adj. - 1. According in form or character to (a standard or pattern); similar, resembling, like. C. As our high priest, Jesus continually makes intercession for us (Heb 7:25). 2. In the church A. The Holy Spirit baptizes God's obedient children into the church and they are made to drink into the Spirit (1Co 12:13). B. Jesus Christ has made us free in the liberty of the NT (Gal 5:1 c/w Joh 8:32). C. With the coming of the NT, the Gentiles who were afar off from God were made nigh by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13). i. Jesus broke down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile and made them both one (Eph 2:14). ii. Jesus made in Himself one new man out of the two of them and made peace between them (Eph 2:15). D. God had made us kings and priests (Rev 1:6; 5:10). E. In the church, God makes us to abound in love toward another and toward all men (1Th 3:12). 3. In the ministry A. The Holy Ghost makes men overseers of the church (Act 20:28). B. God makes men able ministers of the New Testament (2Co 3:6). C. Paul was an example of a man whom God made a minister (Eph 3:7). D. Ministers then ought to make known the mystery of the gospel (Eph 6:19) and make it manifest (Col 4:4). E. Ministers are told to make full proof of their ministries (2Ti 4:5). VI. Lastly, God makes us fit to live with Him in heaven. 1. Though we are still living on earth, positionally, we have been raised up and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ (Eph 2:6). 2. God has made perfect those who are in heaven (Heb 12:23). 3. God will make the faithful man in this life a ruler of many things in the next life (Mat 25:20-23). 4. On the last day at the resurrection, all that are in Christ will be made alive (1Co 15:21-23). 5. On that day, Jesus will make all things new (Rev 21:5).