Those who believe and preach the message of God's sovereign grace are often accused of embracing something new and different. Let us set the record straight. Our message is exactly what the Savior proclaimed during the days of His public ministry.
1. TOTAL DEPRAVITY. The Lord Jesus set forth man's unwillingness to be saved and his utter inability to bring about salvation. "And ye will not come to me that ye might have life" (John 5:40). "No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw Him" (John 6:44).
2. UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION. We frequently hear the Master speaking of those chosen unto salvation and given to Him in covenant love. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are Thine" (John 17:9).
3. LIMITED ATONEMENT. Nowhere did our Lord ever say that He came to make salvation a possibility for all men; rather, He declared the certainty of the salvation of those given to Him by the Father. "I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep" (John 10:11). Christ's earthly name was given to Him as a declaration of what He would do. "Thou shalt call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). Of the work of saving His people, which the Father sent Him to accomplish, the Savior said, "I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do" (John 17:4).
4. IRRESISTIBLE GRACE. The Prince of preachers proclaimed the necessity of the invincible power of the Spirit to make spiritually dead sinners alive toward God. To Nicodemus He said, "Ye must be born again," and went on to declare that the new birth is a work accomplished solely by the sovereign authority of the Spirit (John 3:7-8). He told the unbelieving Jews who surrounded Him in Solomon's porch that though they would not embrace Him in saving faith, others would. "Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:26-27).
5. PRESERVATION OF THE SAINTS. To those same Jews, the Lord Jesus said concerning His sheep, "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand" (John 10:28-29). The Savior announced of those given to Him in electing grace, "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up against at the last day" (John 6:39).