Garrett's Straw, Hay, and Stubble

Brother Garrett often criticizes Primitive Baptists for believing that the gospel is not of use to the non-elect. I agree that it is of no positive use, but more on this anon.

Now, Brother Garrett also claims that regeneration is "ordinarily" effected through the gospel, so he also disagrees with Primitive Baptists in the utility of the gospel to the elect. It is on this point that he will argue that Primitive Baptists have departed from the London Confession and John Gill, which they certainly have clarified their position away from the means position since the time of that document and Dr. Gill.

However, Brother Garrett goes beyond the above criticism in the post he made on his blog here: http://old-baptist-test.blogspot.com/2011/11/jesus-uproots-hardshellism.html, and in a blog post he made on "Addresses to the lost".

Brother Garrett quoted John 10 below, then stated the paragraph following:

""But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you...If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him." (John 10: 26, 37, 38) 

These words of Jesus uproot Hardshellism.  Jesus is clearly preaching to those who are not his sheep, not his elect, those who are not believers.  Let the Hardshell come forward and deny these plain facts.  Jesus is addressing a group who he says "are not of my sheep."  That much is clear.  But, the fact that they are not his sheep, are not believers, does not keep Christ from preaching to them.  This in itself shows that Christ was no Hardshell, for Hardshells do not address those who are not Christ's sheep, believing that gospel preaching is only to be addressed to the sheep.  Consider also the fact that Christ says to these "goats," these unregenerate souls, "believe the works that you may know and believe."  If Christ commands the non-elect to "believe" on him, then is it not their duty to do so?  How then can Hardshells deny that it is the duty of all to believe the truth about Christ?  How can they deny that all men are responsible to believe in Christ?"

I know many Primitive Baptists, like Elder Allen Daniels of OKC (I visited with him recently), who believe that all men, including the non-elect, have a duty to believe the gospel. Having a duty to believe is a separate issue from being able to believe. When Primitive Baptists make the claim that the gospel is for the sheep, what they are saying is that, in the final analysis, only the regenerate sheep will rejoice in it, they are not saying that it should not be preached wherever there is opportunity and the Lord leads. All Primitive Baptists that I know of, except for a radical minority, take this view.

Besides this, it is plain that the gospel has purpose to the non-elect anyway; albeit not positive purpose, but it does reinforce their duty before God. Every PB I have had opportunity to converse with agrees with me during the course of our conversation. I find in 1 Peter 4:6, that the gospel was with cause preached to the spiritually dead non-elect that they might be judged by Him who judges the quick and the dead (vs. 5).

One has but to read Paul's idea of the natural man "treasuring up wrath against that day of wrath" in Romans 2 to see that all the disobedience of the children of wrath will be returned again to them on judgment day when they are judged by their works.

Mark 16:16 speaks of damnation upon gospel rejection, and 2 Thess. 1:7-9 can be seen as the divine response to opposition to the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Add on to all of this that Primitive Baptists must logically concede that they do not know the elect from the non-elect, which, consequently, means they will inevitably preach to at least some who are damned. So, obviously, if it was not God's will that the non-elect hear the gospel, God failed to give gospel ministers key information to keep that eventuality from occurring, as even within the PB Church there could appear one of the devils making.

Finally, the manifest absurdity of such a position that Brother Garrett ascribes to "all PB's" is that the radicals that take this view also believe that most of the world is made up of regenerate children of God anyway! So, obviously, what would be the harm of getting on the street corner? The probability is quite high that a disobedient child of God is within earshot.