Reformed Theology
The God(ness) of God: The God of Glory – Week 1
The introductory sermon to our new series titled “The God(ness) of God” covering Romans 9-11. The series addresses three main subjects in these chapters: The God of Glory 9:1-29, The God of Gospel 9:30-10:21, and The God of Future 11:1-36. This sermon is week 1 of The God of Glory and is an exegetical treatment of Romans 9:1-6a addressing the themes of the place of Romans 9-11 in the book of Romans, the pain of Paul the author, the privileges of the Israelites, and God’s powerful word. This sermon was originally preached April 13th, 2008 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
Pressing Into Predestination
Blog | Pastor Duane Smets
This entry includes resources, both books, essays & online material for those who read more on predestination. The resources are not meant to be exhaustive but extensive. The bulk of the material supports and further explains the conclusions presented in Theo 101 and the God(ness) of God sermon series and is categorized as “reformed literature”. For the purpose of fairness, I have provided some materials from those who do not deal with the biblical material in the same way and end up with far different conclusions.
This introduction is kind, fair, easy to read, covers some of the history and key issues involved in this subject. From that point on, feel free to dive in wherever you like. The works which have influenced and persuaded me most are my dead friends: Augustine, Luther, Calvin and Edwards. Besides them John Piper, J.I. Packer and Charles Spurgeon have been the most passion imbuing, especially for how this doctrine relates to mission/evangelism.
Good Resources Available Online:
- A Treatise on Grace and Free Will, by Saint Augustine
- A Brief Declaration of Predestination, by Theodore Beza
- The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination by Lorainne Boettner
- The Institutes of Christian Religion by John Calvin (Book III, Chapters 11-14)
- A Treatise on Eternal Predestination, by John Calvin
- The Freedom of the Will by Jonathan Edwards
- Complete Works Vol.2 by Jonathan Edwards (see “Concerning Efficacious Grace”)
- Systemtatic Theology II, by Charles Hodge (See Part II: Chapters 9-10, and Part III: Chapters 8, 14)
- Of Effectual Calling, by John Gill
- The Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther
- Monergism Essays, Tons of solid stuff here.
- Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, by J.I. Packer
- Desiring God Ministries, Tons of really good stuff from John Piper
- A Defense of Calvinism, by Charles Spurgeon
- Some Thoughts on Predestination, by B.B. Warfield
Books (not already mentioned in online material above):
- “Systematic Theology” by Louis Berkoff (see Part 1: Chapter 2 and Part 4: Chapter 6)
- “Divine Election” by G.C. Berkouwer
- “Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views” by Gregory Boyd, David Hunt, William Lane Craig, and Paul Helm
- “Predestination” by Gordon Clark
- “The Cause of God and Truth” by John Gill
- “Systematic Theology” by Wayne Grudem (see Chapters 32-33)
- “Debating Calvinism” by Dave Hunt and James White
- “Lectures on Calvinism” by Abraham Kuyper
- “A Treatise of Effectual Calling and Election” by Christopher Love
- “The Holy Spirit” by John Owen (see book 3)
- “Why I Am Not an Arminian” by Robert A. Peterson and Michael D. Williams
- “The Pleasures of God” by John Piper (The appendices: “Is God Less Glorious that He Ordained Evil to Be?” and “Are There Two Wills in God?” are extremely helpful)
- “The Justification of God” by John Piper
- “Dogmatic Theology” by William G.T. Shedd (see Part 3: Chapter 6 and Part 4: Chapter 3)
- “Calvinism: Pure and Mixed” William G.T. Shedd
- “Still Sovereign” by Thomas Shreiner and Bruce Ware
- “Chosen by God” by R.C. Sproul
- “The Five Points of Calvinism” by David N. Steele, Curtis C. Thomas, and S. Lance Quinn
- “The Potter’s Freedom” by James White
Non-reformed Works:
- “The Works of James Arminius” Volume 3: A Friendly Discussion Between James Arminius & Francis Junius, Concerning Predestination, Conducted By Means Of Letters
- “The Remonstrants” by the adherents of Jacob Arminius
- “Foundations of Pentecostal Theology” by Guy P. Duffield and N.M. Van Cleave (see Chapter 5: Part 2)
- “Finney’s Lectures on Systematic Theology” by Charles Finney
- “Chosen but Free” by Norman Geisler
- “Systematic Theology” by John Miley
- “A Compendium of Christian Theology” by William Pope
- “The Other Side of Calvinism” by Lawrance M. Vance
- “Why I am not a Calvinist” by Jerry L. Walls and Joseph R. Dongell
- On Predestination, by John Wesley
- Free Grace, by John Wesley
- “Christian Theology” by Orton Wiley
Suffering and the Glory of God – Part VI
Part 6 of the “Suffering and the Glory of God” sermon series. Part 6 is an exegetical treatment of Romans 8:28-30 addressing the themes of God’s effectual calling, foreloving and predestination and how it relates to suffering and faith. This sermon was originally preached February 17th, 2008 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
The Five Solas
A historical theology sermon addressing the five solas resulting from the Protestant Reformation, that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone, revealed in Scripture alone, all for the glory of God alone. This sermon was originally preached October 28th of 2007 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
