Some key points of Reformed Doctrine are:

God is absolutely sovereign over all creation, and that He has foreordained all things that come to pass.

God is not the author of sin, nor does He in any way approve of it.

All moral beings (angels and humans) have free will, and will be held accountable for all of their actions on the great day of judgement.

That all man-kind, born of natural generation, fell into sin when the federal head of the race (Adam) committed the rebellious sin of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. All humans are therefore born sinners, have no inclination for the things of God in their natural state, and are not merely tainted by entering a sinful world.

The three members of the Trinity have covenanted together from all eternity to Elect, Justify, and Glorify His elect individuals throughout the ages, according to His grace and sovereign plan. His choice of His elect is the result of His choice, and is not based on any personal merit in the person.

The perfect Sacrifice of the Life and Death of Jesus Christ was offered to God to pay for the sins of His people. Though the sacrifice of Christ was of infinite worth, the sacrifice was only efficient to pay for the sins of the elect. In other words, the sins of the unbelieving, unregenerate, who will enter into hell for all of eternity were not paid for by the sacrifice of Christ.

The work of salvation is a monergistic work performed by God alone. In other words, salvation is not something that the Christian helped with. All the descriptions of salvation within the Bible mirror acts that have been done to a person….”Born Again”, “Brought from death into life,” “Saved”, etc etc. The third chapter of the Gospel of John is explicit… “those who are born not of flesh, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Once the person is given new life, they have a heart that IS inclined to God, and the work of sanctification begins, in which man MUST cooperate (from his own free will) with the Holy Spirit, to obey God, to keep His commandments, to strive against sin, and to bring glory to his Savior.

Those whom the Spirit of God has brought to spiritual life (i.e. saved, regenerated, born again), though they may stumble and fall along their Christian life, yet will never fall away from faith in a way that their salvation is lost. Just as Jesus said to Peter that “But I have prayed for you” and “After you return, strengthen your brethren,” Jesus prays for all of His elect. Though they may and will endure much trial, tribulation, periods of lack of faith, and will continually battle with sin and temptation, yet they shall not lose faith to the point of not continuing in faith and the loss of their salvation.