TOTAL DEPRAVITY-
“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ “Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ “Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’
IRRESISTABLE GRACE-
“And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ “And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ “And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
‘For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'” (Emphasis added.).
The Arminian thinks all we need to do to bring people into the kingdom of God is invite them. Surely, they think, they are wise and good enough to accept an invitation to something as good as a heavenly feast.
The Calvinist recognizes the Total Depravity of man as described in Scripture. The Calvinist recognizes the need for God to exercise His sovereign power of Irresistible Grace to bring people to Christ and to the heavenly feast.
See my web site www.reformeddoctrine.org for a much fuller explanation of Total Depravity, Irresistible Grace, and the other Five Points of Calvinism known as TULIP.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 