Good morning, everyone. I realize what time it is. I am aware of that. It looks like it has escaped us today. But I trust you will be blessed as I have been blessed as we continue to look at the subject of the doctrines of grace. And before we look at our fourth point of the five doctrines of grace, let me go to the Lord in prayer. Father God, are humbled as we peer into these great truths that our minds cannot fully comprehend. Indeed, we can only scratch the surface of the mysteries of your love for us in Christ Jesus and the glory that awaits us that we only get a taste of here on this earth. I pray, Lord, that as we taste this morning, we would taste and see that You are good, that we would delight in Jesus Christ and the salvation we have in Him, that we are accepted as righteous in Your sight and pardoned of our sin. And we pray for the blessing that only You can give as You open our hearts and minds to understand Your truth, that You might speak through me, Lord, this morning, and be with us all as we receive your truth. In Jesus' name, amen. So far, we've looked at the first three of the five doctrines of grace, and what we come to today brings together the first three doctrines of grace. The first, which was total depravity, which showed us man's condition, that man is dead in his sin, but he's not sick, he's not injured, but he's dead in his sin. So unwilling and unable to come to God. He doesn't have affections for the things of God because he is spiritually dead. He is not spiritually alive. And that's the necessary foundation for understanding what God's grace is. And we looked at next, unconditional election. which was God's sovereign plan in eternity past to redeem a people for His own possession, for His own glory. So this plan is in place to rescue and redeem, and we saw in last week in limited atonement, which is better called definite atonement, the accomplishment of this plan, the whole basis of our salvation, was purchased by Christ on the cross. The cross is where God wins salvation for his own. It's no good to have a plan without the plan's actual execution and accomplishment. And today, we see how that is personally applied to us in this fourth doctrine of the five doctrines of grace, that is irresistible grace. sometimes called effectual calling. What irresistible grace concerns is this application of salvation, this applying salvation. God's bringing about His will, His decree, His plans through Christ to His own. Irresistible grace concerns how God's gracious choice takes effect in the heart of the believer at conversion. So it's very practical and relevant for each one of us who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what happens at conversion. This is what God's grace does. It answers the question, what does it mean that we are saved by grace alone? which was at the center of the Reformation. What does grace actually do? And that's why it's called effectual calling as well, because God's call to salvation has its effect. That's what effectual calling means. He calls a man or woman or child to salvation, and that call has an effect. It accomplishes something, right? Just like last week when we looked at the atonement, Christ's death on the cross in the place of sinners actually accomplishes something. It accomplishes the Father's end to which he designed it. So it is with irresistible grace. Irresistible grace or effectual calling in some means all whom God draws for salvation come to him. they come to him not by force or coercion, but they come to him joyfully and willingly, because they have been given a new heart and a new nature, one that is reborn by the Holy Spirit." So we'll look at that today. I have two simple points for us this morning, but these simple points only make sense within this framework and this structure of understanding God's sovereignty in salvation, what His intentions are, and what He actually accomplishes. So the first point is that all whom God calls to salvation come to Him. There's no exception. All whom God calls to salvation come to Him. Now we're not talking about, just to be clear, the outward proclamation of the gospel when we're talking about God's call. God calls all men everywhere to repent and believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. That is what theologians describe as the outward call, but by contrast we're talking about that supernatural, inward work of the Holy Spirit whereby He enlivens a man's heart, freeing him and drawing him to himself for salvation. And this is all based on God's grace. That's why we call these doctrines the doctrines of grace. Irresistible grace, also being called effectual calling, is because it's a calling that has its intended effect. That's how we understand God's call. That's how we understand His design. It is a plan well executed. It is a mission accomplished. God doesn't fail in His intentions. He doesn't fail in His mission, and that is right in line with this. Put differently, maybe, from another angle, if the salvation of a sinner is determined by God and God is intent on saving specific persons, then it can only be that those persons who are called do indeed come and are saved. God's grace in saving a sinner flows from God's purpose. and all his purposes are accomplished. We're gonna look at what scripture has to say about this today. This isn't mere conjecture or something that some theologian in the 16th century designed, but this is what the scriptures teach. So irresistible grace means grace does something. Grace is not merely offered to sinners, but it's actually the basis of them coming to God in faith in the first place. And they certainly come. Why? Because His call is effective. This is at the heart of the Reformation. This is what the contention was, the Reformers, with the Catholic Church of the day. This is not a debatable matter to them, but flows straight from their conviction that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. It's because in salvation God has a purpose. Salvation is not willy-nilly or general and impersonal, but salvation is for the purpose of God glorifying Himself in the very salvation that He accomplishes of undeserving sinners whom He has set apart for that very purpose. God wants, this is how it looks, this is what it looks like. It's very, it's actually very simple. It's not complicated. God wants to save a people for himself. We read that in the scriptures. And a people he has chosen before the foundation of the earth. So he wants to save a people, and he intends to save that people for himself. And so, what does he do? Well, he does save that people for himself, according to his will, and for his glory. He wants to save, he intends to save, and he accomplishes all his holy will. So effectual calling is simply God bringing about his will to save, and the calling and drawing of his objects of mercy. You don't have to turn there, but Isaiah 55, 10 through 11, very plainly teaches this point. Isaiah 55 says, for as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Again, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. What happens? It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Many will say, well, no, it doesn't do that. The gospel call goes out and many do not believe. The gospel call goes out and many sneer at it. Many reject it. Many walk away. But the text doesn't say it accomplishes it for some. It says it shall not return to me empty. It is God's intention. As Romans 9 plainly says, as we've read before, It accomplishes God's will in glorifying his name, on showcasing his attributes in salvation. It does not return empty. It does accomplish that which he purposes. If God knocks on the doors of men's hearts, and it is ultimately up to men to answer or to resist, then this verse simply isn't true. How can we say God's Word accomplishes His purposes if we say He intends salvation for a person and that person does not end up saved? How is that possible? That is not His Word being accomplished. That is His intention going out and being thwarted, right? Do we see here in this verse a God who hopes that his will is done in the world and that it is up to man whether he complies with and fulfills God's holy pleasure or if he desires to thwart God's holy pleasure? Or in this verse, do we see a God who purposes something and brings it about? Ultimately, is God sovereign or is man sovereign? That's what this issue is about. That is the centrality of this very issue. Effectual calling is a necessary consequence of God's own free choice, His own sovereign election. It naturally flows and follows God's election of a people for Himself. So what does Romans 8.30 say? And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. This is the golden chain of redemption. Those whom he predestines, what does he do with those whom he predestines? He calls them, right? That's what the text says. And what does he do with those whom he calls? He justifies them. Otherwise, what is he predestining them to? Predestined, or predestination by definition, means that a course is set and certain before it ever begins. When God predestined you and me, if you have truly believed in him, he did so before the foundation of the world. This might be a mystery that we cannot fully grasp. This might be a difficult point of doctrine to digest, but one thing is certain, the scriptures clearly teach it. This salvation that you and I enjoy today was a certain course that was set before you and I were ever born. There is no rejecting his call to salvation when the course is already set. Our salvation is the unfolding of God's will. And that's what predestination means. And so, those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. One follows another, as Romans 8.30 clearly describes. If you would look at 2 Timothy 1-9-10, we're going to look at 2 Timothy 1-9-10. And as you turn there, just a reminder, Romans 9 very clearly addresses the objection, that's not fair, that's not fair, that's not fair. And it puts it in proper context that what is fair, what we need to understand, what we should struggle with, what should cause us consternation, is how can a holy God accept any sinner as righteous at all? How can a holy God not send everyone to hell? Do we really believe in the holiness and righteousness of God? And if we do, that is the real struggle. How is everyone not condemned to die? How is everyone not condemned before a holy God? So with that in mind, and thinking of this great grace that is ours in Christ Jesus, and thinking about from God's perspective, not from a man-centered perspective, but a God-centered perspective, let's see what Paul has to say in 2 Timothy 1, verses 9 through 10. He says, and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of His own purpose and grace. That's the whole basis, His own purpose and grace. That's why we were called, that's why we were justified, which He gave us in Christ Jesus, when? Before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, this course was set according to God's own good pleasure before the foundation of the world and His purposes come about in our lives in real time for His glory. That's what Paul's talking about here. How could it be said that these things were decreed before there ever was breath in any of us and yet we could thwart this eternal plan of God's? Where does the text ever suggest such a thing? This gracious choice of God's in redeeming undeserving sinners boggles the mind. We can't fully comprehend this, but the scriptures plainly teach these things. and it leads us to worship. That's what our response should be. That's why we're studying the doctrines of grace. We give all praise to Him. Why me? Why did you choose me, Lord, according to His own good pleasure and His own gracious will? Nothing that I did. I'm not smarter. I'm not more moral than anybody else. I wasn't able to say, I'm not able to say I made the right choice because I just saw that this was the right thing to do for my life. God rescued me from my sure and certain damnation. And so J.I. Packer appropriately says, men treat God's sovereignty as a theme for controversy. But in scripture, it is a matter for worship. Ask yourself if that's true. Read through the prophets. Read Ezekiel. Read Isaiah. Read Jeremiah. Read their bold proclamation, and God and His might on His throne. And ask yourself, is Scripture treating God's sovereignty, God's kingship over all the earth, God's lordship, as some controversial issue to be embarrassed by? Or in Scripture, is it the basis for worship? Is it a matter for worship? Because again, we're asking ourselves, this is central in the Reformation, they're asking themselves, what do the scriptures teach? Not, what am I comfortable with first, and then let me sift the scriptures through that. But, what do the scriptures teach, because God is speaking with sufficient clarity in his word, and how do I conform my life to what his eternal word says? And this is what it means that salvation is by grace alone. There is no other basis. What other basis could this calling and coming to Christ be but by grace? And if it is grace, then it is not one's own doing. This is how the Bible regularly understands grace. In Romans 11, 6, Paul defines grace for us. He said, but if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. It's not on the basis of works. It wouldn't be grace otherwise. But if God's grace is enacted, so this is kind of the typical American evangelical outlook. If God's grace is enacted, its power goes forth only on those who will it, only of those who want it and accept it. And on that basis, then the basis of God's grace and salvation is a cooperative effort between God and man. That is the Roman Catholic system of salvation. That's how they understand salvation. It's what is called synergism. It's this cooperative effort between God and man. And it's no longer entirely grace, as Paul says in Ephesians 2, 8 through 9, because salvation is a gift. Grace and faith are a gift from God. But let's get more explicit to our point, because that's a lot of just what we've already discussed in the framework for understanding irresistible grace. Let's see irresistible grace and effectual calling, these ideas, where they're laid out in Scripture. So if you would, look at John 6. John 6, verses 37 and following we'll look at. John 6. What we see here is again, it's the fleshing out of what we see in Romans 8 and in Ephesians 1. God has a people and he's got a plan to save those people. I mean, if you're lost in some of this or if the framework is a little fuzzy, it's that simple, the doctrines of grace. God has a people. They're his people by his own choosing and he has a plan in place to bring those people to himself. And ask yourself, is that what the scriptures teach? John 6, starting in verse 37, Jesus says, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. So we see very plainly, all that the Father gives me will come to me. There's no exception. All that the Father gives me will come to me. It's certain. Does the Father give them to the Son? Yes, okay, then they come to the Son. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And then one might say, okay, I'll come to Jesus. And they have the choice to follow Him or not. Is that what the text says? No, it says whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. So who does Jesus save? He saves all who come to Him, all who are given to Him, all whom God calls to salvation come to Him. Verse 38, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. It's God's will to save a people for His own possession, for His own glory, and that is what the Son's mission is. Go to earth and save those people. Verse 39, and this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. So you can't circumvent these verses and say, well, they all come to Jesus, or they're all given an opportunity in some way. No, Jesus says, all that the Father gives me will come to me, and I'm not gonna lose any of those that the Father has given me, but I will raise it up on the last day. And then verse 44, as if that wasn't clear enough, Jesus makes it unmistakably clear. And we see how the doctrine of total depravity relates here, that man is completely dead in his sin and unable to come to God. Verse 44 says, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. and I will raise him up on the last day." We don't see in these verses all coming and some being saved. We don't see some coming and some being saved. What we see are all those who are given by the Father according to His purpose coming to the Son and the Son saving all that the Father gives to Him. This is God's irresistible grace, His effectual calling, His Word going forth and His Word accomplishing not some but all for that which He sends it. Does God accomplish all His holy will or some of it? That is the question. The initiative in salvation is God's, and so its accomplishment is God's. And so all glory is God's. Effectual calling is simply another way of saying that God's will is indeed done. It actually happens in the life of the ones whom he has chosen for himself. How could it be any other way? So our second point, now that we have established that all whom God calls to salvation come to Him, there are many other verses we can go to, but this is really where the heart of the issue comes into play, and if there are things that are loose ends right now in your mind, or a little foggy, this is where things should become clear. So we look now at this idea that God's own come to Him, and why? On what basis? Because they are a new creation. by His grace. They are a new creation by His grace. God's grace and salvation is entirely outside of ourselves. And that's what makes salvation by grace alone. The point is, we contribute nothing. We are passive. We're recipients. wholly and completely, not 99%, but 100% recipients of God's grace. Because God's grace in the Bible is a radical transformation. It is a supernatural work of God taking those who are dead and making them alive. It is rescue from an otherwise entirely hopeless situation. Here's how the Bible pictures it. We are dead by nature. And so we do not reach out our arms for rescue from God. That is not the picture of salvation. It's God plunging himself into the cold, murky waters and bringing our corpse up from the bottom and making it alive. That is the picture of salvation that we see in the scriptures. The point is, the condition of man is hopelessly lost in his flesh. He's unable and he's unwilling to come to God for salvation. We saw that explicated so clearly in Romans 3, 10-18, in Ephesians 2, 1-3. Also, as we looked at previously, 1 Corinthians 2.14, if there's any doubt about man's condition and why it needs to be all God's grace, even the basis of his faith in Christ Jesus for salvation, we look at 1 Corinthians 2.14. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him. and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. If the gospel call is spiritually discerned, how can a natural man in the flesh respond to the gospel call? He's in the flesh. He's dead in his sins. The text says the gospel call itself is not accepted by the natural person. It's folly to him. He's not able to understand it. Why? Because he's dead. Romans 8, 7-8 says, For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. The contention of Romans 8, 7-8 is this, a dead man is in the flesh and as such he cannot do any spiritual good. Faith is a spiritual good, pleasing to God. Therefore, only a man regenerated by the Holy Spirit, no longer in the flesh, can exercise faith. And what is the basis of all this but God's grace, God's saving grace, God's powerful working in a sinner's heart and bringing him to life? Well, I'm touching on all these things. We'll flesh that out in a little bit, but before God brought us into his glorious light and saved us. We need to understand that we were by nature children of wrath. We were rebels condemned to die. We were not bad people with some good. We were not sick with some ability. No ability. Dead. Haters of God. Hostile to God. Enemies of God. We must understand that if we are to understand what his grace is. We were rebels condemned to die. And we were on our way to certain miserable destruction. And we were completely unaware of our fate. We were like a sleeping man surrounded by robbers with machetes and clubs, totally unaware of our fate, totally unaware of our certain end. That is what we are saved from. That is why we give all praise to Him. It's not my cleverness that got me where I am today. It's all His grace. So the Bible offers pictures of what this great salvation is, and that's what we're going to look at right now. is three pictures. Three pictures of this salvation. It's very easy to listen to these words and say, that's not what I was taught, that's not what I'm used to hearing. What we want to ask is, how does the scripture portray salvation? How does the scripture talk about these things? That's what's important. And the first picture we see of salvation is death to life. death to life. The Bible describes salvation as a crossing over from death to life. So what does this mean? Well, it means that just as physically dead men do not do things, spiritually dead men do not do what is spiritually good. That's the parallel. If you're dead, you can't do anything. If you're spiritually dead, you can't do any spiritual good. Spiritually dead men, and this is where people get tripped up, men have a will. We all have a will, of course. And we all have a free will, if you will. But it's in accordance with our nature. Spiritually dead men can make choices. They make choices every day, of course. But they only make choices in accordance with their spiritually dead nature. That's the idea. Look, 1 Corinthians 2, 14. So he's making real judgments about God. He's making real judgments about spiritual things, but they're always the wrong judgment. They're in accordance with his own nature. That's the point, and that's the idea. They can't see God as spiritually dead men because they are blind. Their eyes haven't been opened. So one picture we think of, and I'm not going to read it this morning, but it is this picture of the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel's vision. You know, what is God illustrating with that when He shows that to Ezekiel? Is He trying to illustrate to Ezekiel, you know, you and Israel, you guys are all in a bad way, you just need some medicine, you need a pick-me-up, that's what you need. No, God's people are, they are a valley of dry bones. These are God's people and they're a valley of dry bones, they're dead. And only God can give them life. The dry bones are completely unable to do anything about their condition. That's the point. It's all God, completely and totally. We see also a clear picture of salvation as being death to life found in Jesus' raising Lazarus from the dead, which we read earlier. It's a miracle of Jesus' foreshadowing His own resurrection and the resurrection we all experience. It's a picture of salvation. How so? Well, if the Bible describes us as spiritually dead, dead in our trespasses, dead in our sins, not seeking after God, well, Jesus shows us this picture of what this looks like in the physical realm. Does Lazarus, for instance, but let's put this in perspective, because here's where people get tripped up. They say, well, there is a real response. We're called to have faith, right? We're called to believe in God. We're called to make a choice. We're called to make a decision. Well, that is true, but here's what we need to understand. Lazarus, for instance, I read the passage earlier. Does Lazarus respond to the voice of Jesus? Does he respond and come forth? Yeah, right? Of course he does. He came out of the tomb, didn't he? So Lazarus does indeed respond to the voice of Jesus and come forth. There is a real coming, right? There's a real belief. There's a real faith, yes. But what is the necessary condition for Lazarus's coming? How can Lazarus come? He needs to be made alive, right? Lazarus has to be made alive first. And who is it that brought about making Lazarus alive? It's God. It's a supernatural work, holy and completely. And that's in accordance with whose will? Was that Lazarus's will that he would be made alive? Did Lazarus in his dead state make this decision? No, it was God alone. That is a picture we have of salvation. There is no surveying of the dead person. There's not asking for a response, because that is not a possibility. The dead are brought to life, and they're brought to life by God's own gracious will, according to His own power and good pleasure. Now, why is this? It makes less sense if we think of salvation from a man-centered perspective. But the Bible is about displaying God in all of His glory and might and majesty. Salvation is primarily, as we read this in Ezekiel 36, if you wanna go back there from a few weeks ago, salvation is primarily a demonstration of God's glory and power. He's vindicating His holy name for His name's sake. And the greatness of His love and grace, He's displaying that. And we're merely passive, undeserving recipients, so that He gets all the glory, He and He alone. Like I said, again, we have to get this picture in our minds. I live my whole life, I die and I go to heaven, my neighbor next door, let's just say, we live in the same street, same place. and he dies and he goes to hell. What's the difference between us two? If God did the same for both of us, Jesus loved us both the same, and we had all the same opportunities, he went to hell, I went to heaven, who's the difference? It's me, I'm the difference, not Jesus. Jesus isn't the difference, I'm the difference. Because I'm the one who made the right choice. God chose both of us. He wanted both of us. He tried to get both of us. He only got me. Why? Because of me. I have something to boast in. I do. I made the right choice. Whatever that reason might be, I made the right choice. That's not the picture of salvation in the Bible. The picture of salvation is God, and God alone is the author of salvation. Another picture we see, and this is from Ezekiel 36, so we won't read the whole context, is the heart of stone to flesh. So the first picture is death to life, right? That's pretty clear, dead and alive. And the second picture is a heart of stone to flesh. I'll just read the passage, Ezekiel 36, 25-27. This is the Lord speaking through Ezekiel about the promise of a new covenant, which we know, of course, is ratified in the blood of Christ. A new covenant with His people, where He forgives their sins. Ezekiel says, or rather the Lord says through Ezekiel, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness. and from all your idols I will cleanse you. Verse 26, what's he say? And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. If the man has a heart of stone, hard, cold, dead, why or how could he ever choose to receive a heart of flesh? He does not, and he cannot. God's grace is in giving a dead man a new heart and making him alive. The point is, there is no cooperative effort between God and man in conversion, nor could there be. He has a stony heart. It's dead. It's cold. There's only God and His free grace according to His free and sovereign will. Stone hearts do not cry out to God for rescue. Stone hearts do not see the goodness of God and desire Him. Stone hearts do not consider the cost and feel drawn to God. They're stone hearts and like stones, they're cold, they're dead, they're unfeeling. It's a bleak picture, yes, but that is the very point. The picture is supposed to convey the idea that man is completely unable and unwilling to come to God. And it is God alone who can rescue him from this ill fate. He is completely helpless. He cannot come to God for salvation, and he is not willing to come to God. He is hostile to God. You know, I gave you this picture a few weeks ago. We pictured a man, he's drowning and God rescues him and he's crying out for help. No, the picture of man in his natural state is he's firing shots at God. He's saying, get away from me. He's cursing his name. He's trying, he's running away. He's running towards destruction. God in his mercy must save him or he is utterly lost in this state. His heart is not partially working or filled with a little light. It is all darkness. His heart is a stone. This is why the gospel is so amazing. It is real rescue on God's part. That's what salvation means. It means rescue. Scripture gives us a picture of what happens in salvation, and it's that God radically changes a person's nature from one of death to life. He gives them a new nature with a new will, new desires, and this is what is meant by irresistible grace. Regeneration precedes faith. Regeneration, being born again, is the basis of faith. I'll tease that out in a few moments. But let me just address kind of a canard about irresistible grace. Some people don't like the term irresistible grace because it makes it sound like God is forcing us to love Him, and forced love indeed is not love. But here is the idea, and we don't believe that. We don't believe that God forces people to love Him. God, in fact, what happens is, God is so beautiful, and God is so inexpressible in all His loveliness and magnificence, that a heart that is set free can only run to Him, to our Creator. Once the shackles of sin's enslavement are removed and a person is given that new heart, that heart of flesh and eyes to see, what is the inevitable result? The natural result is he is irresistibly drawn to God, His Creator, His Spirit now being reconciled to him. as his creator. So that's the idea here. Coming to God in faith is not forced love in any way. No, what it is, is this is a new nature and a will set free. A will that once loved darkness by nature, but now loves light by nature. It's a changed nature, right? Why do squirrels like acorns? Because it's in their nature to like acorns. A spiritually changed person, reborn and bought by the precious blood of Christ, loves the things of God because he has a new nature. Children of darkness remain in darkness because that's what their nature desires. They are blind. But by God's grace, and only by His grace, children of light, those who have been changed, those who have been transformed, come into the light. That's the idea here. Now, it's important to understand also that for the Reformers, as we are studying the doctrines of grace, because we want to understand what is the Reformed and Reformed Baptist, what does that mean, for them, And I would argue, of course, scripture, this is what Paul means by grace. It is not here is grace, now make the right choice based on your fleshly will. That is a Roman Catholic view of salvation. Yes, if you grew up with that view of salvation, that's exactly what the reformers were refuting and speaking against. But Paul's view of grace is here is grace, changing and freeing your heart and your mind so that the very first fruit of regeneration is faith, belief, trust in God, receiving and resting in Him alone. It's completely God's doing. That is what sola gratia means. It's a real choice a man makes, yes, but it flows from a heart regenerated by God according to His will. All right, well, a lot of this leads up to our last picture I want to look at in John 3. Hopefully, this will make sense of all this and bring things together, if it has not thus far, though I hope it has. John chapter three. Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night, and we read here in verses one through eight, how Jesus describes entrance into the kingdom of God. How does he describe salvation? Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered him, just bypassing the flattery, Jesus gets to the point. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit. Just as a child does not choose to be born, neither does a man choose to be born again. Jesus says entrance into the kingdom of God requires a spiritual birth. This is what Nicodemus does not understand. Babies do not ask to be born. They are not given a vote, nor could such a thing even be possible. It is the will and action of their parents that determines their existence, and they are simply brought into this world. They're passive in the whole thing. And if one says, you know what, that's a stretch. Really? What is Jesus saying in verse 6? Whose will is initiating this whole process? Whose will is bringing this about? Is it the flesh or the spirit? It's the spirit. Unless this is confusing, he even adds in verse eight, the wind blows where it wishes and you hear it sound. But you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. It is the Spirit's choice. It is God the Father sending God the Son to accomplish salvation and the Spirit applying that salvation to those who have been given by the Father to the Son. This is the clear and plain and consistent teaching of the New Testament. What we are used to hearing is, but everyone who chooses God gets born again. That's how it works. You choose God, you believe in Him, and then you get born again subsequent to that. Not for the Reformers, and not what the Scriptures teach. Where does the text teach that here? Where does any text teach that? That's reading into the text, not only what is not there, and this is important. When we speak that way, that you exercise faith and then you get born again as a result, that's not only reading into the text what is not there, but it's also what is plainly contradicted by the text itself. Now, before we look at some other texts that support this point, let me just say, of course, many texts say, believe and be saved. That's all throughout the New Testament. That's not disputed by anyone. There's no question that faith is the instrument that God uses in bringing his people to salvation. Of course it's through faith. But the question is, how are they brought to that point of faith? Who is it that believes? What is the basis for their belief? Why does anyone come at all? If the natural person's mind is set on the flesh and he's hostile to God, why does anyone come at all? What is the necessary thing that needs to happen before a spiritually dead person will have faith? And the answer is, it's new birth. It's regeneration. That can only come about by the will and working of God and God alone. So we shouldn't be surprised when we read in John 1, 12 through 13, for instance, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. There you go, there's the means, there's faith. They believed in His name, He gave them the right to become children of God, but we don't stop there. Verse 13, who initiated this faith? Who initiated this relationship? Who brought it about? Verse 13, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. It is in accordance with God's will, because salvation is the unfolding of His eternal plan from before the foundations of the earth. This is the freeing of a will that is enslaved to sin. This new birth is the opening of a sinner's eyes. It is beautiful. It is the will and the heart being set free to believe. As a natural consequence of new birth, being freed, the now spiritually alive person runs to God and takes delight in Him because his heart has been set free. We have to remember, God is our creator. We were created in the beginning to delight in Him, to love Him by nature, but then the fall happened, radically corrupting our nature. This is what salvation does. It brings us back. It reverses the curse. Jesus Christ restores this fellowship we once had with our Creator. And once the curse has been lifted and God works on a man's heart to free him from his bondage, Giving him a heart of flesh, he comes willingly because he has been set free. It's now in accordance with his nature. His coming, he's been reborn by the Spirit. So what does his nature cry out for? Run to God. Run to the one who is the author of your salvation. He has a new nature. And his new nature loves spiritual things. He is reborn. All right, a couple more scriptures, and then I will close here. But let's just test this idea of new birth. This idea that regeneration precedes faith. That is so foreign in modern American evangelical circles, but this is at the heart of what the gospel is for the reformers. Regeneration preceding faith. Regeneration coming first, being the basis of faith. 1 John 2, 29. John says to his readers, if you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. Everyone who practices righteousness, present tense, has been born of him. Is it righteousness? Is it righteous and good to believe upon God for salvation? Well, yes. Is practicing righteousness something that flows from the flesh? Well, no, it flows from the Spirit. And so John says, everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him. In other words, the new birth precedes faith. Everyone who practices righteousness presently has already been, it's a precondition, he's already been born of Him. Now, if you think that's, Okay, maybe that doesn't apply to simple childlike faith. Well, let's look at 1 John 5.1. 1 John 5.1 says, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. All right, so a person believes. Present tense, they've been born of God. Past tense, everyone who believes, present tense, that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. So if you talk to someone and they've just believed in Jesus Christ for the salvation of their sins, they've genuinely believed just five seconds ago, they had already been reborn. That's what John is saying. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. New birth precedes faith. It's what scripture teaches. It's what this text is saying. Salvation. And why would we think of it any other way when salvation is planned by God and brought about by God on whom he chooses? according to his good pleasure." Now, with these sermons, I was tempted in the beginning, and here we're already over time, but I was tempted in the beginning with these sermons to deal with at least two or three verses that are often leveled against these different doctrinal points. And maybe I'll devote a whole sermon to that sometime, but I felt it necessary to positively present what these doctrines are. But there is one exception I just really quickly want to point out. passages like Acts 7.51, so we can understand, well, what are these counter texts that are brought forth? Some have liked to point out that passages like Acts 7.51 undermine this very thing, where Stephen says to Israel, he says, you stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. So they say, here we see the Holy Spirit is calling them and he wants them for salvation, but man's will trumps God's desire to save him. See, they're resisting the Holy Spirit. And doesn't this undermine irresistible grace? Well, first of all, you're gonna have to deal with a lot of texts that speak contrary to that notion. And secondly, we must ask ourselves, is that really what's going on here? When Stephen says, you stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did, so do you, Stephen is describing the Holy Spirit's bringing a person to salvation whom God has ordained for himself before the foundation of the world, and that person is rejecting the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation? That's what's going on here? Or is it more likely that this comes in a speech Stephen is giving to the nation of Israel about their continued rebellion as a people and their rejection of the God they claim to serve. Stephen is describing, more naturally we read this, that Stephen is simply describing what the Jewish nation as a whole has done for centuries. Walking in disobedience to God's commands. Ignoring his prophets. Resisting the universal call for all men everywhere to repent. That's still a universal call. All men must repent. So in that sense, yes, they do resist the work of the Holy Spirit among the people, but this is precisely because they're uncircumcised in heart and ears. In other words, unregenerate. Far from contradicting God's irresistible grace, his effectual calling, this passage actually supports it. An unregenerate person can only resist the Holy Spirit because he is in the flesh. His heart is stone, and he must be given a new heart. His will must be changed, and he must be made regenerate before he can ever come and rest in Christ. So in closing, rather than despair, this gives us hope. This gives us hope that those in our lives whom we think most lost are never outside of God's reach. And so we pray and we plead with God, the only one who can change a man's cold, dead heart, to open their heart and open their minds to understand. As we remember from 1 Corinthians 1, God chose the weak of the world. He chose the foolish of the world to demonstrate His power. We can and should plead with God in the salvation of a sinner's soul, because only He can. I just wanted to end with a story. of the life of one of my favorite preachers, George Whitefield, great preacher, 1700s in England. Some have said if you calculate all the numbers of how many hours a week he preached that he preached more than he slept, and I would believe it because he sure did preach a lot. But his preaching was so effective, he would, of course, encounter opposition to his preaching. And there was a man by the name of Thorpe in Bristol that when he came, when George Whitefield came, he would come into a town all throughout England, he went to Ireland, he came to America, and he would do open-air preaching. He was one of the first open-air preachers, and he would preach to whole crowds of people. And Thorpe had this group called the Hellfire Club, so a bunch of great guys you can imagine, and they would taunt and tease Whitfield. They would follow him around wherever he went, wherever he preached, even at one point throwing dead cat parts at him as he preached. I mean, this is like in your face. They were really trying to unnerve Whitfield. They were not It was not a good group of guys. So Thorpe was their ringleader, and Thorpe was the best at making fun of Whitfield. He was one of those guys, right? Just a wisecrack, and he just always did the best impressions of Whitfield. Whitfield was cross-eyed, so he was easy to make fun of. They called him Dr. Squintum. And he did the best impressions of Whitefield. So one night after Whitefield had preached in Bristol, they were at a bar, and they're drinking and just having fun, making fun of Whitefield. And what does Thorpe do? But Thorpe gets up on the table, all attention on himself, and he starts doing this impersonation of Dr. Squintum, as he called him. And he's reading or reciting a sermon of Whitefield's, and he gets to Luke 13.3. Which says, I tell you, nay, but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And at that moment, as he's cross-eyed, making fun of Whitfield, all his friends are laughing, he's cut to the heart. And he sits down and he starts crying out to God. He's cut to the heart and he's crying out to God for God's forgiveness because he knows his sin. He knows his fallen state. He knows his condition. Right then, right there, while he is mocking and making fun of George Whitefield, the Holy Spirit, who inspired those words, used those words to grip his heart and to bring him into a saving understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a true story. It's not just fanciful. He went on to talk to Whitfield about this. He became a preacher of the gospel and even an evangelist for the rest of his life. And the point is, when God wants to save a man, no matter how wicked or vile, he will save a man. No one will thwart God's plans. We can rest in that and we worship him for it. Let's pray. Well, Father God, we thank you for our time together. I pray that this would encourage our hearts, not just today and this morning, but that this is something we would chew on as we reflect on this great salvation that we have in Christ Jesus, one which we do not deserve. And as we see the lost around us, that we would be eager to evangelize and proclaim this gospel call, that your lost sheep would come to you. that men would turn and be saved. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.