The Reprobate and the Elect

The issue is not whether or not you KNOW that there is "ONLY ONE GOD IN ALL OF EXISTENCE", for such a fact CANNOT be denied.

You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
James 2:19 NKJV

It is also an illusion that any man can "accept Jesus into their heart"or "make Jesus Lord of their life". Jesus IS LORD over EVERY life, WITHOUT exception. Is what does happen is that the regenerate person is changed, and he glorifies God as God. Herein is the line drawn between the elect and the reprobate, between salvation and abiding under God's wrath.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Romans 1:20-21 NKJV

What then does it look like to glorify God as God?!

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it  is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is  within my heart.”
Psalms 40:6-8 NKJV

This is the work of God alone as Jesus is manifest in our lives through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. This is what "the remission of sins" looks like.

Rules and Ordinances

Did you know that there is plain and clear Scripture where we are commanded to NOT observe rules and ordinances?! If your denomination or church says things like "You can't play cards. You can't dance. You have to get married in the temple. You can't drink caffeine. You have to worship on Saturday. You have to worship on Sunday. You have to... blah, blah, blah. You can't... blah, blah, blah." You might want to read this section of Scripture. Such things are man made religion, and have nothing to do with Christ.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.  Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.  If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
Colossians 2:13‭-‬23 ESV

The Trinity in Scripture

I have heard the foolish explanation that the Hebrew word Elohim that Moses uses here in Genesis proves that there are multiple gods.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26 NKJV

You MUST use Scripture to interpret Scripture just as you MUST use math to interpret math. Google the substitution method for a prime example.

Listen. Moses wrote Genesis, and Deuteronomy. Either Moses what a man with serious dementia, or he was consistent in his theology and knowledge of God. Obviously the later must be true, else you might as well throw your Bible in the garbage. Since the later is true, we can safely use this verse to interpret Genesis 1:26.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord  is one!"
Deuteronomy 6:4 NKJV

Sola Scriptura is a MUST in order to abide in Truth. The Triune God is ABSOLUTELY in Scripture.

John 3:17

OK... What is John 3:17 saying?

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
John 3:17 NKJV

The entire world is currently under condemnation, for all have sinned. The purpose of the Law is to make ALL guilty and condemned before God so that NO FLESH may glory before Him.

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:19-20 NKJV

EVERY MOUTH has been stopped, and all are condemned to Hell. This is just, fair, and righteous for ALL have sinned.

When Jesus came to the earth in the form of a man He had come specifically to redeem His people, those the Father has loved from the foundation of the world. This redemption is COMPLETE, NOT potential. All that the Father will call to Jesus will believe, and they are saved from the condemnation.

Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Romans 8:30 NKJV

Wishing None to Perish

Who is He speaking of here in Peter? If it were all people, hell would be empty since God does all His pleasure.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, NOT WISHING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, but that all should reach repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 ESV

Do you know who He is talking about? His sheep. His little ones.

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?  And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.  So it is NOT THE WILL OF MY FATHER who is in heaven THAT ONE OF THESE LITTLE ONES SHOULD PERISH.
Matthew 18:12-14 ESV

Who then are the "little ones"? Little children? No. It is those who are "like children", the believing ones.

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and BECOME LIKE CHILDREN, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself LIKE THIS CHILD is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,  but whoever causes one of THESE LITTLE ONES WHO BELIEVE IN ME to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."
Matthew 18:3-6 ESV

God will not lose a single one of His sheep, because He wills that none of them shall perish. Period

Blasphemy of Holy Spirit

You made me really think this morning. As I was praying over it these things came to mind.

We know that a person must be born again in order to enter the Kingdom of God, so this obviously has something directly related to the sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. This sin and not being born again are THE ONLY LIMITING FACTORS for eternal life and eternal damnation according to Jesus' own words, so they must be one and the same.

Is this why Jesus went to the elect that had died before His resurrection, so that they would be born again (made alive in the Spirit).

For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

I Peter 4:6 NKJV

Could this be the same the same reason that He appeared to those in prison, so that the sin of unbelief was solidified in their spirit?

by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

I Peter 3:19-20 NKJV

We know that the heart of stone is the heart of unbelief, and that when God changes out the heart of stone for the heart of flesh is the same time a person is filled with the Spirit (being born again). Does it not make since that the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is retaining the heart of stone (unbelief)?

Revelation of God

You are asking me to separate what God has given me, and to tell you how it makes things different. That is all I know. I was raised Wesleyan (arminian/pelagian), and in a Nazarene church. It wasn't until I was in jail in 2010 and on my way to prison that God brought me to the Truth.

I didn't have anyone to teach me how to believe, or what to believe. I had never even heard of the Doctrines of Grace or the 5 pillars. I had my Bible, and the Holy Spirit.

I threw myself at Jesus feet and I cried out to Him to just make me the man He made me to be. I asked Him to show me what He wanted me to see, and that I was willing to let go of anything and everything that was not of Him.

After spending 6-8 hours a day for 20 months in the Word and in prayer, God had firmly established Truths on my heart that no man will ever move me from. I have still never read any of John Calvin's works. In fact, the only two books I have read outside of the Bible is "Humility" by Andrew Murray and "Attributes of God" by A.W. Pink. I didn't take anything new from these books, but rather God used them to confirm everything He had just shown me over the previous 20 months.

Right before I got out of prison the Chaplin told me "You are a Calvinist, aren't you?" Well, my response was "What the heck is that?"

I just believed what the Bible says, and I was shocked to find out that so many who considered themselves genuine believers didn't believe the same way. Since I have been out I have learned the theological terms that summarize all the things God has solidified in my heart.

My faith allows me to diligently be at rest, to speak with confidence, and to trust in God like never before. When I speak the Word of God, I KNOW that it will accomplish EXACTLY what He pleases REGARDLESS of how the one hearing may "feel" about it.

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in  the  thing for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:11 NKJV