Here is what this Calvinist believes about the process of salvation

charles e whisnant

Yes, God does the saving of a lost sinner. A sinner could not be saved without the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the sinner. And the sinner could not be saved without hearing the Gospel presented to him by someone. The sinner needs to know what it means to be lost, what it means to be a sinner, and why he is a sinner and needs to be forgiven.

I believe the person needs to know that he can cannot save himself from the wrath of God, there is nothing he can do that would justify God saving him.

I believe the sinner needs to hear the preaching or teaching of the Gospel maybe a number of times to know what it is that he is to believe. Yet he is not able to believe it because at this point he is unable to respond in his spirit to this idea of being lost and the need to be saved from the wrath of God.

I believe the scripture teaches that only when God opens his spirit to believe will he believe what he has heard about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Since God does not just zap a person saved without some knowledge of what he is to believe, the gospel must first be preached. But the sinner could not believe the gospel until God opens his heart to believe.

I believe the scripture teaches that when God reveals Himself to a sinner, and opens his mind to the truth, he will believe.

Therefore, a sinner believes because God opened his mind to believe. And whom ever God opens their mind will be saved. Because a man could not believe without the work of the Holy Spirit in him.

I believe the scripture teaches that all those whom God calls will be saved. I do not believe Scripture teaches that a person can reject the inner call of God to be saved. Because God brings about salvation first and then that person is able to believe.

Yes a sinner can reject the presentation of the Gospel, and does. He is unable to receive the truth about himself because he is blinded to the truth. He is unable to believe because he is a sinner.

I believe that the Scripture teaches a person does not have to believe first and then God saves him. He believes because God saves him.

Belief is an inner process. If he has previously rejected in his spirit the gospel of salvation, how could he now believe what he has heard many times? He can not have faith, or trust, or even confidence in someone when he is spiritually dead to the gospel. As hard as he might desire to believe and take faith in, he is unable until the Holy Spirit brings in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the Lord brings about His saving grace in many ways. God leads others to show what being saved is like. God leads a person to a place where they will hear the Gospel. God uses divine Providence to intervene into the life of a sinner to bring him to salvation.

But what I do not believe Scripture teaches is that a man must first come to a belief of the gospel before God will save him. And I do not think Scripture teaches that man can reject the inner call of God. But that is not to say that he comes to a full understanding of what is happening in his life.

It is possible that God will bring about salvation in one's life and then it may be over a period of time before that person is able to grasp the impact of this new found salvation. Salvation is a process that does take a while to grasp and understand and to obey. And it takes others in their life to bring to reality what God has done for them.

　

T -Thus we believe that scripture teaches that man cannot on his own bring himself to believe with truth and faith and confidence in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

U - And that God before the foundation of the world has chosen those whom He will bring to salvation. Man does not on his own choose to be saved without the work of the Holy Spirit in him to believe.

L - When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He actually provided the means whereby those whom God elected would be saved. Christ's death on the cross was not in vain, Jesus did not die for the whole world, if He had all would be saved.

I - When the Holy Spirt comes into the mind of a sinner, and awakens him from this unbelief he receives it, he does not reject the inner call of God.

P - And God will preserve those whom He has choosen and those whom Jesus died on the cross for.

T.U.L.I.P