Brian Russell subtitles this book ‘the sovereignty of God and our experience of his saving grace’. So he seeks, not only to make clear what the Bible teaches about God’s complete sovereignty in our salvation, but to apply it to the life of the believer from conversion to glorification. His concern is to show that the doctrines of grace, traditionally known as the five points of Calvinism, are the very heart of the biblical gospel and that these great truths, rightly understood, far from being an enemy of evangelism, are a spur to gospel peaching and give us assurance and confidence in the triumph of the message we proclaim. Moreover, this is the authentic gospel which gives all the glory where it belongs – to God.
As he briefly outlines, these truths have been a battleground for Christians over the centuries. However, he does not write in a contentious spirit, but humbly and graciously, yet in the conviction that much modern preaching falls short of showing sinners their need of God’s free and sovereign grace, As he says, the need for such preaching cannot be too strongly emphasised.
This book is for you is you have recently come to an awareness of these doctrines, or if you have long held them as your doctrinal position but want to be sure of their application in your Christian life, or if you want to consider seriously what the Bible does teach about ‘the grace of God that brings salvation’, (Titus 2:11)