“For Calvinism, in this soteriological aspect of it, is just the perception and expression and defence of the utter dependence of the soul on the free grace of God for salvation. All its so-called hard features—its doctrine of original sin, yes, speak it right out, its doctrine of total depravity and the entire inability of the sinful will to good; its doctrine of election, or, to put it in the words everywhere spoken against, its doctrine of predestination and preterition, of reprobation itself—mean just this and nothing more. Calvinism will not play fast and loose with the free grace of God. It is set upon giving to God, and to God alone, the glory and all the glory of salvation. There are others than Calvinists, no doubt, who would fain make the same great confession. But they make it with reserves, or they painfully justify the making of it by some tenuous theory which confuses nature and grace. They leave logical pitfalls on this side or that, and the difference between logical pitfalls and other pitfalls is that the wayfarer may fall into the others, but the plain man, just because his is a simple mind, must fall into those. Calvinism will leave no logical pitfalls and will make no reserves. It will have nothing to do with theories whose function it is to explain away facts. It confesses, with a heart full of adoring gratitude, that to God, and to God alone, belongs salvation and the whole of salvation; that He it is, and He alone, who works salvation in its whole reach. Any falling away in the slightest measure from this great confession is to fall away from Calvinism. Any intrusion of any human merit, or act, or disposition, or power, as ground or cause or occasion, into the process of divine salvation,—whether in the way of power to resist or of ability to improve grace, of the opening of the soul to the reception of grace, or of the employment of grace already received—is a breach with Calvinism.”
~ B.B. Warfield, was professor of theology at Princeton Seminary from 1887 to 1921, Taken from an article: “Calvinism Today”
“They whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually call and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally, nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end and be eterenally saved. This perseverance of the saints depends, not upon their own free-will, but on the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father, upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ; the abiding of the Spirit and of the seed of God within them; and the nature of the covenant of grace: from all which ariseth also the certainly and infallibility thereof. Nevertheless they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins; and for a time continue therein: whereby they incur God’s displeasure, and grieve His Holy Spirit; come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts; have their hearts hardened, their consciences wounded; hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves.”
This is a further discussion in many ways of the purposes of God in salvation. Whatever God purposes He must have the power to carry out. A God who calls ( 
Mornings for me have seen some changes of this past year as I received news from my doctor that “Hot Tamales” and “Junior Mints” were not a food group. This meant a change in diet and early morning exercise. The diet change was no big deal, but the exercise was something else. So, in order to assuage the boredom of peddling a recumbent bicycle I turn on the TV and watch the news while I sweat and peddled.
I can remember a time before I came to know the Lord when I was told that my salvation did not depend on my goodness or good works but on Christ. I just found that incomprehensible. Once I came to know Christ I thought I understood the Biblical principle that I was saved by the Grace of God because of the work of Christ on the cross. My understanding was that I added no work or effort to my salvation. While that is true, what I didn’t really get, was that the phrase “not of works” (
a pardoned person and accepted with God while you still sin in this way?’ If I listen to this I drop into despondency , and if I continued in that state I should fall into despair, and should commit sin more frequently than before; but God’s grace comes in and says to my soul, ‘Thou hast sinned; but did not Christ come and save sinners? Thou art not saved because thou art righteous; for Christ died for the ungodly.’ And my faith says, ‘Though I have sinned, I have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and I am a child of God still.” And what then? Why the tears begin to flow and I say, ‘How could I ever sin against my God who has been so god to me? Now I will overcome that sin,” and I will get strong to fight with sin through the conviction that I am God’s child.”
Not long ago I was out on visitation to visit a family who had recently visited the church. But before I went out I used “Google Earth” to locate the address and print out a map. I even went so far as to zoom in on the earth map to get an idea of what their house looked like. I was confident I knew where to go and had the right address. That night it was raining and seemed especially dark. But I was sure that between my research, printed directions, and GPS navigation I would find the right address. I was really proud of myself for thinking ahead as I headed out that evening. I just knew I would find the address and arrive on time for my visit with the new family. All was going well until I came within striking distance of success. As I was approaching their house, in the rain, I miss read a street sign and turned down the wrong street. Even my GPS could not help at this point because I was so close. But the house at the address I pulled up to didn’t look anything like the picture I had seen on “Google Earth.” I was now a bit confused but proceeded to get out of my car and walk up the drive way for the visit. Part way up my doubts grew stronger so I turned around and walked back down the driveway and up to the street corner to double check the street address. I was on the wrong street! The street I needed was a couple hundred feet away.
For me, there is no more glorious a thought than to know that I rest in the saving hands of God (
man does not live differently from what he did before, both at home and abroad, his repentance needs to be repented of, and his conversion is a fiction. Not only action and language, but spirit and temper must be changed. … Abiding under the power of any known sin is a mark of our being the servants of sin, for ‘his servants yea are to whom ye obey.’ Idle are the boasts of a man who harbors within himself the love of any transgression. He may feel what he likes, and believe what he likes, he is still in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity while a single sin rules his heart and life. True regeneration implants a hatred of all evil; and where one sin is delighted in, the evidence is fatal to a sound hope. …
Not long ago I wrote an article about a church that sent out a flier inviting people to their church based nothing more than the felt needs of the individual (Java, A Core Value). It was a church where “the band is loud, and gallons of coffee are a core value.” The idea here was to lay aside any fears one might have and see that the church was for regular people ( at least those considered regular in the Puget Sound region). The invitation was laced with; “ no perfect people allowed”, “ a place to be yourself, grow spiritually, build friendships, make a difference, and have a blast”, and “its imperative to find and fulfill your unique purpose in life”. This has become the common mantra of the Evangelical church under guise of evangelism. John MacArthur, writing on this phenomenon states; “That’s all great if you’re a coffeehouse. But anyone who claims to be calling people to the gospel of Jesus with those priorities is calling them to a lie” (John MacArthur, “Hard to Believe”, Thomas Nelson Publishing, 2003, pg. 2). A few pages later, commenting on 
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