Please stand with me. We're going to read 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. We're going to read verses 13 and 14. Brethren, if there's anything we should be thankful for, if we lift up our hearts and voices to say thanks to God for anything tomorrow, it should be for his word, that he has given us his truth, that we know Jesus Christ through the blessed and infallible words set before us. May we be grateful that he has given us his word. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 beginning in verse 13. This is God's Word. But we are bound to give thanks all way to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord. Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word, our holy God, our righteous God, our pure and loving Heavenly Father. How we pray through Christ in the power of thy spirit and according to thy word, that thou wouldst draw near to us tonight. Thou hast promised, if we draw nigh to thee, thou wilt draw nigh to us. Thou hast promised that if we ask, seek, and knock, that thou wilt give, thou wilt hear, thou wilt answer our prayers, especially as we plead with thee. for the power of thy spirit. I need it, O God. Thy people need it. We're praying for that mighty spirit that comes and brings joy unspeakable and full of glory. We don't want this just to be words, Lord. We want the living power of thy spirit, of thy presence, and of thy word. Overcome the weakness of this flesh, and may the glory be all thine. In Jesus's name, amen. Please be seated. In this short letter, Paul thanked God for the Thessalonians' growing faith in Christ. He thanked God for their love for one another. They were suffering persecution and they endured their trials with patience and faith in the Lord Jesus. With pastoral care, Paul comforted them. He pointed them to the blessed truth of Christ's second coming. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." A strengthening word in the fires of affliction. While they were in a fiery furnace, as we might say, Paul encourages them that the day is coming when flaming fire will consume the enemies of God. And we should take the same comfort. Apparently someone had told those suffering believers that the day of Christ's judgment had already arrived. That had caused confusion in the congregation. Paul corrected that false teaching. He reminded the Thessalonians of a great apostasy before Christ returned. He also reminded them of that man of sin, the son of perdition, who would be revealed. That man of sin would work powerful satanic signs and wonders. But Paul declared that the Lord Christ would return in astonishing brightness and consume him. Our great king will destroy the man of sin and all his followers. Paul then solemnly said that those who did not believe the truth would be given over to believe a lie. Now you need to let that sink in. If you do not believe the truth, You are going to believe a lie. And it will be a damnable and damning lie. And it will be God sealing you off to your desire for lies. Those who do not believe the truth will be given over. God will then damn them for all eternity. What a sobering encouragement. That's not generally our thinking of an encouraging word. But Paul wants them to know and we need to know. Satan is not going to win this war. He may still mop up some battles. But he is a defeated foe, and the day will come when he and all those who do not love Christ will be judged and forever damned. Now that brings us to our text. The structure of this passage is very simple. One, Paul thanked God for the Thessalonian believers. And by the way, we should thank God for believers anywhere that we find them. And thank God that there are believers. Number two, God loved them. Number three, God chose them. And number four, God called them. That's the structure. Paul gave thanks, God loved the Thessalonians, God chose them, and God called them. Now with this verse, Paul made a sharp contrast between the damned who refuse the truth and believers who receive it. Now that raises an important question. Why did some believe a lie? If you walked up to the man on the street and say, would you like to believe a lie? I would imagine you wouldn't get anyone except someone who was perhaps mentally incapable of responding in an appropriate way. I don't imagine anyone would say, well sure, I mean, haul off, tell me the biggest lie you can, and I'll enjoy it. Even people who lie hate to be lied to. So why will some believe a lie? They will believe the lie. And they will think that it's the truth. And why do others believe the truth? Well, the answer is this. the life of God in the soul of man. That's why. It is either there, and you will believe the lie, or it is not there. Or you will believe the truth, or it is not there, and you will believe a lie. That's the difference. That's the difference between all people, plain and simple. The life of God dwells in your soul or it does not. There is no middle ground ever. There is believing, there is unbelieving. There is righteousness, there is unrighteousness. There is salvation, there is damnation. Now, the title of this message is The Life of God in the Soul of Man. Now, I borrowed that from a book written by Henry Scougal, a 17th century Scottish minister. Now, we're not going to be outlining his book, but I did borrow his title. You need to be aware of that. I will use its title for the point that I'm making. The difference between those who are saved and those who are lost, those who believe and don't believe, those who will be damned and those who will be forever with Christ is the life of God in the soul of man. That's one of the reasons we need to pray daily that the Spirit of God will visit this congregation and open the hearts and souls of them who do not believe. And that he will encourage those that do. So. Sinners repent. They repent of their sin. And they believe in Jesus Christ. Because of God's spiritual work. In them. the life of God in the soul of man. That's the point. And that's what Paul is ultimately driving out here. Because of God's spiritual work, their lives are forever transformed. Those that have been born again understand this. They know that. So may our loving Heavenly Father grant us the light of His Word, the power of His Spirit, and may our hearts receive the truth of Jesus Christ. Our first major thought is this, effectual calling is an act of God alone. Effectual calling is an act of God alone. This is abundantly clear in this sacred text. Because of the last day's dangers of which Paul spoke, he encouraged the persecuted Thessalonians. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you. The word but makes a sharp contrast between two groups. Those who received not the love of the truth, that they may be saved. And those who believe the truth. That's the only kind of people that exist in this world. Doesn't matter what the race is. Doesn't matter what the age is. Doesn't matter what your health condition is. It doesn't matter of any of the things that make us different as human beings. There's only two sorts. Those that believe the truth and those that believe lies. Those that will not believe the truth. And I say to you, for those of you who have not repented of your sins and believed on Christ, You don't want to be turned over to lies. And that is what God is going to do. That's a very sobering thought. So where you sit right now, you believe the truth or you do not. I know that Pastor Clarence's desire I know that my desire and I know that the desire of every regenerate soul here is that the Spirit of God would move and help people to see the truth. It is God's judgment when He does not come and open hearts. Do we get that? God's not trying to do anything. He's not trying to save people. He's saving them or leaving them in what they want. It's one of the reasons Paul is so thankful for the Thessalonians. God didn't leave you in your idolatry and your darkness, Thessalonians. He came to you and turned you from idols to serve the living God. That's what 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 says. That's why he's thankful God had mercy upon them. They repented of their sins. They believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Every day that you refuse to repent and believe, you grow harder. And the day may come when God says, that's it. I have given you space to repent, you refuse. I leave you in what you desire. There were some that received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Now, what is that telling you? They heard the gospel. but would not believe. They heard about the crucified Savior. They heard about the risen Savior. They heard about the witnesses that all saw Him. But they wouldn't believe. It was a willful rejection of the truth. Paul then comforts the believers. He called them brethren beloved of the Lord. That's a precious title. Brethren beloved of the Lord. I like to be loved. That doesn't always come with the office and appointment to which the Lord has given Pastor Clarence and me. Because there are times when we may speak of the sweetness, the honey out of the rock, the glory and the beauty of Christ, but there are times when we must have to preach hard things. Paul himself could say, behold the goodness and severity of the Lord. We all like the idea of goodness. Not too many of us are fond of the notion of severity. But Paul says to them, Brethren, beloved of the Lord, we're united. We are a family in Christ. Each and every one of us loved of the Lord. Now he's not just picking out a nice religious thing to say. He's saying something that's true about them. They are his brethren. And those of us that are born of God's spirit here, we are united as brothers and sisters in the Lord. This is the family that's going to live forever. Our earthly families, Many, maybe all of the members of our family will be with us for eternity with Christ. But there's also the same likelihood that some may not. But our family, as Christ made plain when he was on the earth, is those who do the will of the Father. We are united in that. And we are beloved of the Lord. You are loved. You are loved by God regardless of who does or who does not love you. I know there have been certain times in my life when I have utterly desired the love of someone. Not to get it. That ever happen to you? You want to be accepted by certain people? You want to be even just liked? They don't have to love you, just like you a little bit. But in this world it doesn't happen. Doesn't always happen. But Paul is saying, listen, you're undergoing great duress. You are tempted. You are being tried. You are being persecuted for your glorious testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are my brothers and sisters in the love of the Lord. Paul's use of the word Lord here, the title Lord, most probably means the Lord Jesus Christ. Loved by Jesus. What a wonderful thought to lie down with at night. Loved by Jesus, however your day went. Loved by Christ. Our God loves us. He loves us. He wants us to know that. And he wants us to express the love that we see from Paul here. Brethren, beloved of the Lord. The Apostle comforted these suffering believers with Christ's love for them. And that great love governs the rest of the verse. Christ's love governs the rest of the verse. After encouraging them, Paul gave the reason for his thanksgiving. Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. In sovereign grace, God had chosen to save these pagans from their bondage to sin, death, and idolatry. How? Through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Wait, who did that? God did that. We hear that? That doesn't come out of a lot of pulpits. A lot of pulpits are going, all right, God's all done. He's done all he can do. Now the rest is up to y'all. Poor God. He'd like to save some people, but they're so big and bad and their wills are so humongous that he can't save them. That's heresy. Now, it is by their will that they reject God. And it is because of their will that he will damn them. But when somebody turns from their sin to the Lord Jesus Christ, it's because God in his grace, God in his mercy, God in his love. Has set them apart by his spirit. And they believe the truth. That is the doctrine of election. Resulting in conversion. Now we must be clear about what Paul is saying here. God does not love the Thessalonians because they believe the truth. That's not what he's saying. It's the other way around. He loved them and now they believe the truth. Sanctification of the spirit basically means setting someone or setting something apart to belong to God. When that sinks down into your soul, you can't get over it. Because in his work, as he deals with you, he makes you see what you are. And it's very difficult for us to believe that in our filth, in our nastiness, in the dirtiness of sin, that God loved me and came and showed me and then showed his son to me. Now, how did he show his son to me? How did he show his son to you? Wasn't dreams. Wasn't visions. It was the preaching of the gospel. It is the preaching of the holy, unchanging Word of God. God loved them. God chose them. God set them apart by the Spirit. That is amazing grace. That's what John Newton was singing about. It's absolutely astounding that people who hate the doctrines of grace love to sing Amazing Grace, which is all about the doctrines of grace. That saved a wretch like me. It was, I once was lost, but now, wait a minute. It doesn't say, but I found God. It says he found me. He found me. He came to my darkness. He came to my cesspool of life. And He showed me what I was. There was no dream, no vision. I wasn't hearing voices. But the power of God's Word began to make clear to me, I am a sinner. I deserve nothing but for God to damn me. And that's the same for you. But in His mercy, He reveals His Son in the gospel. I used to work in a Christian bookstore. Some of you have heard this story, but I remember A man coming in once and saying, oh, yeah, I went to this tent meeting and, you know, this evangelist took his coat and swung it and knocked me down. And when I got up, I was saved. That's not the way God does it. It's right here, it's set apart by the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God deals with someone. Now, it doesn't mean that you feel something falling on you. But you begin to understand who and what you are and what God has done in Christ. And you believe it. You rest your immortal soul on that truth. They, the Thessalonians, believed the truth. But God's love came first. He chose them from the beginning. He then set them apart for himself. That is the difference between the deluded unbelievers and Christ's believing people. That's the difference. It's not that one group is better than the other. It's not that one group is smarter than the other. I mean, anybody here really want to raise your hand and say, I'm a Christian because I figured this thing out. Do you really, really believe that? You can't be reading the Word of God. The natural man can't receive that truth, and he won't receive that truth. Oh, he can sit and nod his head to it if it gets him to do some religious stuff where he feels better about himself. I walked the aisle, I took the preacher's hand, I filled out the card, I had the liver quiver and felt better about myself. It's when God makes you see that you are lost and that the only hope you have is Jesus Christ. That's God's work. Notice Paul follows this with where unto and this is crucial. He called you by our gospel. He called you by our Every time you hear the gospel, God is calling. That means he called you to this salvation by the gospel we preached to you. Notice he doesn't say some of you were sitting there and all of a sudden you had an electrifying experience. Well, I'm not gonna tell you what kind of experiences God may bring you in your conversion, but here's the one that no one can miss. You understand your lostness, you understand that Jesus is the only hope, and you believe that with all your heart. That means the gospel is data. The gospel is a report from heaven. The gospel is news from God. The first part of the news is you're lost. You deserve hell. But I am merciful and I've sent my son and you believe him or you do not. And if you continue in not believing, the day quite likely will come when you'll be given over to your unbelief. What a horrifying thought. Now, when someone preaches the gospel and it comes home to your heart, it's what we call effectual calling. That's a theological term. Paul just uses the word calling. So the structure of the verse tells us why Paul was bound to give thanks for the Thessalonians. God loved them. They were raw pagans. God loved them, God chose them, God set them apart, and God brought them to full and free salvation in believing the gospel. He called them through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Lord. That glorious gospel. Now there are two kinds of calling in Paul's writing. We want to talk about this for just a moment. We refer to one as the general call. Again, that's another theological term. There's general revelation and special revelation. Both of them have a call. We'll talk about that. Number one, let's talk about general revelation under the general call. Now, I don't want to lose any of you, so let me just put the punchline out right here. The general call is what goes into your ears. You hear the call of the gospel. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became flesh. Why? To keep the laws we've broken and to pay the penalty for the laws we've broken. God poured out his fury, his wrath, his outrage on Christ. Our substitute, our surety, our propitiation, which turned away his anger. And when we believe, we are saved. But a general call about Christ comes to the ear every time you hear the gospel. That's the general call. It goes to everybody. It's to go out to the whole world. General call is made up of general revelation. What do I mean by general revelation? That's God's call to human beings from created things. You look at creation and you know there's a God. Paul describes it this way. That which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. How? For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. So the general call comes from the general revelation of created things. Creation teaches sinful human beings enough about God to be damned. but it does not reveal how to be saved. You look at the glories of the universe. You look at the greatest and most immense things out there and you get in some kind of a electron microscope and look at the smallest particles from those smallest particles to the greatest. It's all testifying God is there. Somebody did this. Somebody created these things. It didn't just happen. Oh, but I don't wanna believe in God, so I've got to have another theory. In fact, it's not even a theory, it's just a fact. We've been here zillions of years. Okay? But this is what we see. The general call is there. They're even taking the time to say, I don't wanna believe in this creation, this creator. God calls sinners in created things. Creation teaches sinful human beings, but it does not reveal salvation. Now, they can resist that call, and they do every day. There are people, there's generally one of two responses. There are people that look at the glories of it and say, isn't the world just beautiful? It's amazing that it just happened. Or the others are, there's a God, he must be in the tree, or he's in the rocks, or he's in the river, or he's a fish, or he's this or that or the other. And they'll worship the creation rather than the creator. Paul talks about all that and it's there, it's still here in our world. And we could go on, and I could probably say it more eloquently, but eloquence fails me. So God calls sinners, and he calls them in a general way by creation, but he also calls them in the preaching of the gospel. Every time a sinner, as I said earlier, every time a sinner hears the gospel, God is saying, this is my son. He died upon Calvary's cross for sinners like you. You will believe Him or you will not. When we say, repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, He will save your immortal soul. What's wrong with us that we go, um, next? We're simply showing what we are. We are hardened sinners and we will die in our sins except amazing grace seeks us out. That's why Paul is thanking God for the Thessalonians. I have to thank the Lord for you. He set you apart. You heard it in the gospel and you believed it. Now that's why darkened, by the way, this is why when I explained about general revelation and the general call, that's why darkened hearts desperately need special revelation. General revelation is by and large that in created things. The general call comes from created things and even the preaching of the gospel. It can come to the ears, it can come to the eyes, it can come to the senses, but men can reject it and they do. Now a special revelation for our purpose. This is the revelation of God's purpose of redemption in Christ. And it is revealed to us in the spirit-breathed, infallible word of God. God has given us a word. He's given us a revelation that never changes. It never changes. Tomorrow it will say exactly the same thing as it says today. It still says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now, you're either, in your mind, you're either saying, I believe that. I will rest my immortal soul on that. Or you're saying, not today. I've got something else I want to do. In other words, your life is saying, Jesus, you're a liar. I'm not believing you. Not today. Not any other option, is there? Come. Why do you wait? Well, I don't know if I'm in that book of election. The gospel is not figure out if you're the elect. We get that? Now, there's a lot of churches that believe in the glorious grace of God and believe in election, and they virtually preach the thing like, well, if you can go home and figure out you're the elect, then you're okay. That is not true. That is not the gospel. Paul never, at any point, Paul never says, all right, y'all, I've said what I've got to say. Y'all go home and think about it and see if you can figure out if you're the elect or not. the elect repent and believe. That's it. Because God calls by the gospel. He's not waiting for your feelings to get in gear. He's saying believe the gospel. Believe the truth that God's son died for sinners. Are you a sinner? Then you qualify. I mean, we'll make it as theologically difficult as we possibly can, but the gospel is clear. Here's my son. Believe him. Believe him. I don't know if I'm the elect. Believe him. Well, I'm not sure I have. Believe him. He's not a liar. All of us are. He's the liar. I mean, Christ is the truth. We're the liars. special revelation tells us. We can read Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and we see the Savior. We see Him in His glory. We see Him walking from city to city, healing the sick, raising the dead, speaking life where there's nothing but death, shining light where there's nothing but darkness. We go, well, I don't know. No surprise that God says, the day's coming, well, I'll turn you over to your lies. In fact, I'll turn you over to the lie and you'll believe an antichrist instead of the true Christ because you won't have my son. That's sobering. Do you understand that the Bible that you're holding in your hand tells you all the truth you need to know to be saved for eternity and to know the blessings of all your sins washed away? It's right here. In fact, there's no excuse. John says in his gospel, I've written these things so that you might believe and be saved. There's no excuse. Everything you need to know is in the pages of this book because it presents before you Jesus the Christ. Well, I'm bothered by that doctrine of election. You should be bothered that you're not believing the gospel. God's not going to open up the book and say, here's your name right here on page 1003. There you are. He cries out through his preachers. He gives the word. He pleads with souls. Through the gospel. Special revelation. God declares through his servants that he has sent the Savior. Do you believe him? Do you believe that he was beaten bloody? Beaten unrecognizable? Because of my sin? Because of the sins of people just like me? For all of his people, Jesus Christ bore the punishment that they deserved. Yeah, but I don't know about that. He says, come. He doesn't say, figure it out. He says, come. I am the Savior. Believe me and you will have everlasting life. That Savior is the God-man. That Savior is Jesus Christ the Lord. That Savior died in agony upon Calvary's cross according to the scriptures. And he rose again the third day to save sinners according to the scriptures. That's what Paul argues, 1 Corinthians 15. Here's the gospel that he says, if you believe it, you will be saved. And it's amazing how often we will then follow that glorious truth that is the entrance into the joy of eternity with a but. Really? God's setting his truth before you, just like he did with the Thessalonians. Some believed, some did not. You see, I'm getting confused. If God's sovereign, that's right, God is sovereign. He's made that as clear in the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation as possible. He doesn't begin with, in the beginning, man. He begins with, in the beginning, God. And you trace that all the way to Revelation and you will see a God that saves sinners. If he says to you, come, why would you say, well, not now? It's a command from heaven. Come. He welcomes sinners. That's the only kind of people he's interested in. To save sinners and those that won't come. He will give them what they want. Life without him here will be life without him for eternity. Christ died. Christ rose. Sinners who repent of their sins and believe on Him will be pardoned for all their sins. You don't have to believe me. Believe Jesus. Believe Matthew. Believe Mark. Believe Luke. Believe John. Believe Paul. They're all saying the same thing. Repent and believe. Stop waiting. You don't know that you don't have another day. Just talking with my daughter today and she shared that someone she's been working with got sick a couple of days later, gone. Someone that works with both of them went to see him today. He was alive last night. He didn't make it today. You don't know that you have 10 more minutes. I don't either. God has not shown me my hourglass. I'd take most of the sands out of it. You don't know. I used to think when preachers would say that, preachers of any stripe, I thought, uh-huh, that's like the car salesman. He's waiting just for that moment to hook you. Like, oh, that's a preacher trick to get people, especially young people, to make some kind of religious decision. No. That's true maybe about some that are wolves in sheep's clothing, but the fact of the matter is you don't know what life you have. You may be sitting there planning out this glorious life that will leave you tomorrow. You don't know. I don't know if I'm going to make it another day. That's why when you hear this gospel, repent, believe, come to Christ. He is a willing Savior. or he would not have put out a call. Go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. And we read the ends of the Gospels and we see him commissioning them and telling them what to say. Luke 24, repent of your sins and believe on the risen Christ, you'll have life. Why won't people believe? Because they're dead in trespasses and sins. Their thinking is vain. Their understanding is darkened. Their life is alienated from God because they are ignorant. They are alienated because their heart is blind. They will not and they cannot receive the things of the Spirit for they are foolishness unto them. Neither can they know them because they are spiritually discerned. That's why we need the Holy Spirit. when the Word of God is being preached. That's why we should be praying daily that when we gather, the Spirit of God will come and open the hearts of the lost. How will I know if He's opening my heart? You'll repent and believe. You will repent of your sins and believe. And you will trust Christ with your immortal soul. The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. We need God to intervene in our lives, but He does. I wouldn't be here, and many of you would not be here, if God had not come to you in your darkness and opened your eyes. Even some of you that have been brought up in Christian families, you hear the truth, you hear it daily, you watch it, you see it in your parents. I don't know. I know what that I don't know feels like, but I also know that you have an enemy, and he will do what he can to blind your mind. You need to hear the truth, and you need to consider the truth. You need to understand the truth, and you need to believe the truth. Now that will be an act of your heart. You will refuse it or you will believe. If you believe God's already at work. He's not waiting for you to just do something. Just do some religious thing. He brought you here to hear his word. You're hearing it. You are hearing the words of life. Well, I've been brought up in a in a rough family. I've been brought up in a Christian home. I've got strict parents. So what? Jesus is speaking. Well, I've had some bad things happen to me in churches. In America? Who hasn't? Satan will give you every excuse you want to put up for not believing. But you're not in neutral. There isn't any neutral. You're believing or you're not. And you've got to deal with that. Well, let's talk about the effectual call. We've talked about the general call. That's a call that goes out to everybody. I've been giving the general call. That's something that preachers do. That's something that Christians do to other people. It almost sounds bad. It's something wonderful. It's something wonderful to tell someone about Christ. That's the general call. But the effectual call is God's work. The amazing thing is that He uses human beings in it. Paul says that God has chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. Then he adds, whereunto he called you by our gospel. You cannot say, well, he's talking about election. I don't know if I'm elect. He said, no, but he called you by the gospel. He's calling you now. He is calling you now. Repent, believe, be saved. He's willing. He's glorious. He is the Savior. Numerous uses of the word call exist in Scripture, but Paul and the other New Testament writers often use it to describe the effectual calling of the Holy Spirit. What do we mean by effectual? That means that which gets the job done. It's effectual. It's like when we talk about something being effective. It has the ability to get what's done, what's needed done. Now, taking the Scripture's testimony, the Shorter Catechism and Spurgeon's Catechism, define effectual calling this way. Listen carefully. The work of God's Holy Spirit, doesn't say the work of men, It says, it is the work of God's Holy Spirit whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he does persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel. I mean, Paul says to the Galatians, Jesus was evidently set forth by my preaching. What does he mean by that? I preached God's word and Christ in the preaching of that word was set before you. He is set before you right now in this room from this word. And he uses weak and pathetic vessels of dust to do it. I don't have any effectual call for you. But I have the gospel that he uses. Listen to his truth. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. He's not playing a game. Oh, you wanted to come. Ha ha. You weren't really the elect. Now, that's what Satan will tell you. No. Believe the gospel, and it is what the Spirit does. Did you hear that? Convincing us of our sin. We know we're sinners. Enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ. We hear about Him, we say, if that's true, I want Him. I want the Savior. I want the one who can wash my crimes away. I'm dirty. I'm filthy. I am a sinner before God. If he were to take my last breath from me right now, I would drop into hell. But he's setting his Son before me, evidently set forth, the God-man, crucified, resurrected, reigning in glory, coming back. Won't you have him? He's wonderful. Effectual calling is God the Father's act of speaking through the proclamation of the gospel. Now you're going to hear a voice, Jim, it's your day. It's not going to happen. But you will see that you're lost and that God in his love has given his son as the Savior. And this is what we mean by set apart by the Spirit. The Spirit comes. And you're not sitting there going, oh, OK, I'm feeling a little different than yesterday. Maybe it's the Holy Spirit. No, your mind will be connected to one thing. I'm a sinner. There's a Savior. And I want him to save me. The gospel isn't like a trick. Believe all, well, it wasn't really for you. That's the way people who reject God's election love to talk about it. Oh, here's this person over here weeping and crying over his sins. Oh, he wants to get into heaven, but God goes, oh, no, sorry, you're not the elect. He will never be weeping over his sin until the Holy Spirit opens his heart, and that was the work of God. That's never going to happen. It's never going to happen that somebody just wants to. Oh, I want Jesus. Oh, Jesus, save me. Sorry, I've got a list here and you're not in the list. Now, the gospel goes everywhere and it says, come, come, come. He says, ah, it is what where into he called you indicates and that it is fundamental. That's that's fundamental to Paul's theology. He's constantly talking about the call. He's talking about the gospel. When I mean, read every Pauline letter. And try to find him just once saying now. God's got a big game going on here. If you can sit down and figure out if you're the elect, you can get in. It isn't there. The elect repent and believe. They hear the gospel, they repent and believe. We see it in Romans 8, verse 29. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified. This call isn't the general call. This is the effectual call. All those who are called this way are justified. All those that are called this way are glorified. What's the entrance? Repent and believe. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. How many tears do I have to cry? The Lord doesn't put a number. Well, what kind of feeling do I have to have? Stop waiting for a feeling. Are you a sinner or no? If you are a sinner, do you want to be pardoned from your sins? Come to Christ. Well, our verse is very clear. God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. There's election. He set you apart by the Spirit and called you by our gospel. That's effectual calling. This setting apart by the Spirit is indeed the life of God in the soul of man. Why does anyone repent? Life. Why does anyone believe? Life. Raised from the dead. Salvation is a resurrection in this life. God sees you in your blood and says, live. You say, well, I'm waiting for that voice. It's in the gospel. Repent and believe. We must consider resistible grace for just a few moments. When we speak of effectual calling or irresistible grace, we do not mean that every act of God's grace is effectual. It isn't. Can sinful human beings resist God's grace? Absolutely. They do it every time they hear the gospel and refuse to believe. It's God's grace that you hear the gospel. There are people around the world who will die never hearing it. How? People can resist God's grace in the general call of created things. Ah, it just happened. No, it's been seeded by aliens. That's how it all got here. So the general call in general revelation does not reach them. They resist God's grace in the general call from his word. Come to Christ, come to Christ. Come to Christ. Pastors can be sweet. Pastors can thunder. Pastors can beg. But we can't give you new hearts. And you can't give yourself a new heart. But when you hear the gospel, you can cry out to God. The martyr Stephen said to the Jews, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost. Would that not be a dreadful thing to hear from the throne, the great white throne that Christ sits on? Sheep on one hand, goats on the other. You always resisted the gospel. Well, regeneration is an act of God alone. Effectual calling is an act of God alone. He's the one that sends his gospel out. He's the one that raises up men to preach and to teach his gospel and to preach his word. This isn't just about getting information from the Bible, as important as that is, but it isn't just information, it's to set Christ before people. Whatever we're preaching on sooner or later, gotta get to Christ or we've run off the rails. But regeneration is the same. It is also an act of God alone. Modern evangelicalism seems to think that men have a switch inside that they can either flip or not flip. Free will. Okay, I'll let him save me today. Hmm. You won't let God do anything. He's just doing. He's always doing. He's always in his glory. He's always setting truth before some, and he leaves some in their darkness. He calls all, but he calls effectually others, not everyone. In the history of theology, effectual calling and regeneration have sometimes been viewed as the same thing. But the Puritans made a very clear distinction between effectual calling and regeneration. They're two distinct things, but they go together. It's like faith and repentance. They're not the same thing, but they're always together in the saved. Effectual calling is the summons, the work of the spirit. You're being summonsed by God. God is saying, here is my son. Will you have him? He's glorious. He saves sinners. It's a summons. The gospel is truly a summons from heaven. From the banqueting house. From the house of wine. Come. Regeneration is the moment that the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual life at the soul. The gospel comes and the life of God in the soul of man responds by saying, I'm a sinner, I want Christ. The Old Testament refers to regeneration with a number of interesting terms. Circumcision of the heart, heart of flesh, a new spirit, a new heart, a heart to know God. Those are all beautiful terms. The New Testament speaks of being born again, born of the Spirit, born from above, born of God, born of Him. What's going on with the birth? Somebody finally appears, right? There's something that's been going on. Gestation within the mother and the glory and the beauty of that birth is wonderful. And God delights to birth people into his kingdom. How does he do it? He sends the spirit. And they repent and they believe because there's life. We're dead waiting to be buried without Christ. We're dead just waiting for hell. What a terrible thought. I don't want a soul that ever hears me to go to hell. Now, why all of this about the new birth? Because that's the heart and soul of what's going on here. When you look out at the world, what you're looking at is a great spiritual cemetery. People are dead in their trespasses and sin. This is what Paul said to the Ephesians. You know what you are? What you were before Christ? You were dead. You were just living in your pagan life. But spiritually, you were dead. And then what happened? You were quickened together with Christ. But is that something that just happened now? They heard Paul preaching and Paul's preaching was made effectual to their souls. Oh, that God would make effectual work here. Well, let me hurry on. Christ himself taught us about regeneration. It should strike all of us with a sense of solemnity that Christ delivered the most important passage of scripture on the new birth to a religious man. Now, I've said that before. In fact, I've said it over the years, but it's something that I repeat. Do you stop and think about the fact that the clearest discussion of the new birth in the New Testament is Jesus talking to a religious man? Not a drug addict, not a murderer, not an alcoholic, not a prostitute, not a liar, not a thief, not an adulterer, not a homosexual. but a highly religious man. God even saves the religious. He saves them out of their dead religion. The scripture rightfully asks, who can say, I have made my heart clean? Not one. You can't save yourself. The only hope you have is that message that God sends from heaven. Repent of your sins and believe on my son, my son the God-man, my son the crucified, my son the resurrected. Believe him and you will have everlasting life. Who can say I'm pure from my sin? No one. Christ Himself boldly taught, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts. Oh, we're all done right there. He didn't have to go any further. Right? Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witness, blasphemies. These are all things which defile a man. We're defiled. It's over for us then. Unless we get some good news. And there's good news. Jesus Christ saves sinners. Paul said Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He's not looking for good people. If you think you're righteous, you'll never get to Christ. You got to know what you are. Dead, depraved and doomed. That's what you are. That's what I am without Christ. Man can do nothing to save himself. And with that in mind, consider Christ's word to Nicodemus. Except a man be born again. Except a man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said, how can a man be born when he's old? How are you going to do that? Jesus said, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom. And then he tells Nicodemus that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Christ's words to Nicodemus were eternally significant. And he rebukes Nicodemus for not knowing what he's talking about. He said, Are you a teacher of Israel? And you don't know this. Brethren, do we say that we are Christians and not know that God must birth us? Do we not know that God sets his son before us in the gospel? He's been set before you this evening. I'm sure when Paul was done, some could say, Wow, Christ was set forth. I don't know if that ever happens when I'm preaching, but I can tell you that's what I'm going for. I want to say he's right here. He is the living Christ. He's here tonight. Oh, that some of you would realize. Wait, don't pass me by like the blind man. Wait, wait. Jesus is out there. Don't go by. Everybody around him is going, shh, quiet, man, be quiet. And he's going, no, I need Christ. I want Christ. I can't settle. I can't see unless I have Christ. Is there anything like that in you? Christ is here. Plead with him. Stop. One of those beautiful verses in the whole Bible is this. And Jesus stood still. He heard him. Cry to Him. Plead with Him. I'm a sinner. I hear you save sinners. I'm one. I qualify. Natural human birth produces sinful children in this sinful world. But human birth does not and cannot produce children of God. Only the Spirit gives birth to Spirit. And I repeat for the third time, that's why we need to be praying regularly, daily. Lord God, meet with us. We're going to be meeting on the Lord's day. Lord, be there. Be there in power. Wait. I read in this book that if we pray and if we ask and seek and knock, he will give the Holy Spirit. Well, we should be doing that. That those that are here might know. I can believe Christ. What's holding you up from coming? What's holding you up from coming if you will not come to Christ? You need to answer that. Well, I need to bring this to an end. It's eight o'clock. So let me just say this. We may pick this up. In fact, we will. We'll come back to the issue of conversion. What we're talking about ultimately is the very power that brings conversion. Conversion. God promises a new heart, He'll give a new heart. Not talking about the muscle thumping in your body. He's talking about transformation of who and what you are so that you will want Christ, want the Word, want to serve Him. He's a willing Savior. We'll take back up with that, effectual calling and regeneration. We'll talk about that. That's what we'll pick up next time. Christ saves sinners. Are you a sinner? Settle that tonight. He saves sinners. Pray, go to the scriptures, read the gospels and see how often Christ is willing to help the sick, to feed the hungry, to raise the dead, to save sinners. Paul was thankful for the Thessalonians because that's what God did there in that raw pagan culture. They turned from their idols to Christ. And he was grateful for God's electing mercy that was made known through the preaching of the gospel. Amen. Father, the life of God in the soul of man is a real thing. It's real. Come in thy mighty power, course through this place. Father, Father, birth. Send thy spirit, awaken the lost, raise them from the dead. Lord, help them to see their need of Christ. And may they know that the very gospel sets that blessed one before them. Now, take us from this place. May we think on Christ Jesus and thy life in our souls. Amen. OK, if you please stand with me. But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to him be glory both now and forever. Amen. Let's go in the name of the Lord and let's be in prayer for the Lord today.