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We've got the outline on the
first page, and you'll see it's four paragraphs in this chapter.
This is dealing with the subject of effectual calling. Now we're
more familiar, probably some of us, with the phrase irresistible
grace. In the so-called five points
of Calvinism, or in the doctrines of grace, we have five main doctrines
that are taught. under the acrostic of the tulip
we have total depravity or inability, we have unconditional election,
limited atonement, irresistible grace and perseverance of the
saints. The fourth one is irresistible
grace and this is just another title for the same doctrine,
effectual calling. The point is that when God has
chosen a person to salvation from all eternity there comes
a point where he calls that person into experiential fellowship
practical fellowship and this is what effectual calling is
we have many pictures of it in the bible Jesus walking by the
fishing boats and he says to Peter and to Andrew and to John
and to James come follow me and immediately they leave their
boats And humanly speaking, I often looked at that in the early days
as being a Christian and didn't quite understand it. But the
only way we can understand that is with this doctrine. That when
Jesus said, come follow me, there wasn't just words there. There
was an effectual call. There was something more than
words. There was a spiritual calling
as well as an outward calling. Now the Bible teaches two callings. There is the outward call of
the Gospel, which anybody that hears with their physical ears
can hear, elect or non-elect alike. But Jesus on some occasions
in the Word of God on different occasions uses the phrase, he
who has ears that hear. Now everybody in their presence
had physical ears, that's not what was meant. What was meant
was, he who has spiritual ears. In other words, he who has been
given that gift of faith that God gives to those who are effectually
calling. And the word effectual, this
calling cannot be resisted. That's the point. It's an effectual
calling. The outward call of the Gospel
is not necessarily effectual. It is just a general call. But
this spiritual call through the Holy Spirit is effectual. In other words, it has an effect.
Now there's two extreme views against this view. There's the
Arminian view, which basically denies this doctrine on one hand,
and then there's the hyper-Calvinist view which says that effectual
calling is not something that's directly connected to faith.
Now that's just as erroneous as the Arminian view. Some Calvinists
teach, wrongly, that somebody can receive the effectual call
years before they ever have faith. Where the Bible clearly teaches
that once somebody is effectually called, faith is immediate. There will be faith. Once that
call happens, they will come to faith. Now that's important
for a number of reasons, and especially because of one of
the paragraphs in this chapter which we will look at in a few
minutes. You will see in your outline
there two general divisions or two general breakdowns of the
four paragraphs. The first paragraph is the general
overview of effectual calling and in paragraphs two to four
are the specific issues about effectual calling. So in paragraph
one, we have the recipients, we have the author, the occasion,
the efficacy, the means, the transition, and the operation.
The recipients of the effectual call are only those whom God
has predestinated unto life. Its author is God the Father.
God is the one, God himself is the one who calls, is the one
who chooses people and then calls them into this relationship with
him and with his son. the occasion, his own appointed
and accepted plan. We don't know when it happens.
We can't choose the plan. We can't decide when someone
should be saved. It's only God who decides that. Then it's efficacy. In other
words, it does actually work, to put it in layman's language. The means by his word and his
spirit. That's very important. They are
the only means. Dan goes fishing. When Dan goes fishing, he doesn't
drop into a McDonald's and say, can I have a milkshake to put
at the end of my fishing rod to catch the mackerel. Because
if he did that, you know, the mackerel might sort of look wild
and say, oh that's interesting, and keep on swimming. You know,
there are certain things that will catch a mackerel. And the
only two things that will catch God's people, if you like, are
the only two things that God uses to catch His people are
His Word and His Spirit. That's why Jesus said the words,
My sheep hear My voice. They will not listen to another.
They hear My voice and they follow Me and I give unto them eternal
life. Then under it's transition, the
change that it makes in us, it brings us out of that state of
sin and death in which we were by nature and to grace and salvation
by Jesus Christ. Then it's operation, enlightening,
taking away, renewing, yet so as they come most freely. So turn over the page and we'll
look at some of these in a bit more detail. So the first part
of, and I might be asking some people just to read some of these
verses. The first part of the 2nd page
when you are on or at least page 1 on the main thing. You will
notice the part in the boxes are the actual confession of
faith itself and those in italics are actually scripture references
just to make that clear. So we have here the first part
of the first paragraph. Those whom God hath predestinated
unto life He is pleased and appointed an accepted time effectually
to call by His word. Then we have in Romans 8 verse
30 and Joe if you will read that for us. Then what we are going
to do is maybe Catherine you can read Romans 11 and Rita do
you want to read? No it's ok. Ok then Benny if
you can read Ephesians 1 10-11 and Liam then 2 Thessalonians
2. So thanks. Romans chapter 13, Moreover whom
he that predestineth them he also called, and whom he called
them he also justified, and whom he justified them he also glorified. So just stop there for a moment
again and then we want the next one. This is often being called,
and I preached on this recently or a few months ago, it's often
being called the golden chain of salvation. And what Romans
8.30 says really, in effect, is everyone who is predestinated
is called. Now, that's helpful, isn't it? Because there's many people who
hear the outward gospel who never get saved. So this calling here
must be something different. That's why theologians have come
up with this distinction between the outward call and the inner
call. Because everyone who is predestinated receives this calling,
which is not the outward call of the Gospel, but the inner
call of the Spirit and the Word. So, whom He did predestinate,
He called them, and whom He called, then He also justified. So everyone
that is called is justified, and everyone who is justified
will be glorified. And there can be no one left
out. In other words, there can be
no break in the chain. You can't have someone predestinated
who never gets called. Everyone who gets predestinated
will be glorified. That's the statement of verse
30. And that blows out of the water
the whole idea of salvation is in the will of man or salvation
is in the work of man. Because from eternity past to
eternity future and he glorifies then Romans
11 verse 7 very dramatic statement Romans
11 verse 7 it can't be misunderstood the election has obtained this
calling and the rest were blinded the active calling of God and
the reprobation of God in this verse. Then Ephesians 1 verses
10-11. Now the one thing the Bible never,
thanks plenty for that, The one thing that the Bible
never does for us, it never answers the question, why did God choose
me? Do you ever think about that?
I think about that all the time. I talk about it today. That's
true. But I often wonder, why did God
choose me? Because, you know, we all know
our own hearts. And I often see how badly I've
felt, even today, and how cold I am sometimes towards the Lord.
Now the answer is given in this verse. The question is answered. That's true, that is true. I
suppose you could look in John chapter 1, it says the flesh
gives birth to the flesh. So in the human term, when you
are out fighting with your parents or whatever, you say, well I
didn't ask you about it. In the fleshly terms, you didn't
ask. The same as in verse 11. You
see the answer though in verse 11, or in the second part of
that section. Thanks Liam for that. and whom
also we have obtained in inheritance, being predestinated according
to what? The purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will." So, the one
thing we can be convinced of, according to the Word of God,
is that God doesn't make any mistakes. Now I find that hard
to believe, because I see so many other people He could have
chosen, that He could have predestinated, that He could have called And
yet the Word of God tells us that God's work is perfect. And He works everything after
the counsel of His own will. And the whole point of this doctrine
is meant to leave us in a place of saying, wow, isn't God amazing? That's why I believe the devil
wants to make this doctrine a point of division, of debate, of argument. It was never meant to be that.
This doctrine was always meant to humble man. It was always
meant to leave man in a place of nothing left to do but to
worship. Nothing left to do but to adore
God. That God has done all this and has done it perfectly. Then
2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 13-14. We are all bound to give
thanks always to God for you. Now one of the arguments that
those who hold to Arminian theology will say to the likes of ourselves that when it comes to the issue
of election and being chosen and predestinated it's always
to do with national Israel or it might be to service or it
might be to some work. But they would argue that it's
never election to salvation. I think we've mentioned this
last week as well or maybe the week before. These are probably the clearest
verses in the Bible and I've probably said that as well the
last time. But it's worth saying it again.
Because these verses in 2 Thessalonians 2 make it clear what our election
is to. Notice what it says. God has
from the beginning chosen you not to serve us but to what?
To what? To salvation. Through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. So God chose us to believe
in the truth. So our faith is a gift of God. That's the point that Paul is
making here to the Thessalonians. And then he says, where unto
he called you by our gospel. Notice, not we called you by
our gospel, but he called you. Again, the effectual call was
more than what the Apostle Paul could give. Then the second section,
out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature
to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. The tremendous difference
that the effectual call makes. Remember one point where the
Lord said it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
I think this is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
His disciples said to him, I think that was the occasion where the
disciples said to him, Lord then who can be saved? The Lord gives
an interesting answer to that doesn't he? If salvation had something to
do with us making a decision, Jesus would have said, well all
they have to do is to receive me into their hearts. But that's
not what he says. Jesus says, with men it is impossible
to be saved, but with God all things are possible. And this
is where the whole importance of this doctrine comes in. That
this translates us from the nature and state we are in, to give
us all the glory and blessings of the gospel. Now we'll continue
on. Dan, would you mind doing the next, between the two, on
the next page here? And you, like a quicken, who are dead in the chest of
houses, and the saints, praying in front of us, we walk according
to the cause of this world, according to the principles of the law
of the air, the spirit were by nature the children of God who
is rich in mercy, great love for which he loved us even when
we were dead in sin. Stay with us, sit together in
heaven. Now I read a book a couple of
years, thanks for that Dan. I read a book by Mr Hunt, Dave
Hunt, a couple of years ago on, I don't know if you're familiar
with it, and it was against Calvinism. It was entitled What Love Is
This? Calvinism's misrepresentation
of God or something. It was a subtitle. And I remember
one of his arguments in the book was that when the Bible says
we were dead, it doesn't really mean we were dead. I'm reading
this going, wow, that's amazing logic. So when the Bible says
we were dead, it doesn't really mean we were dead. And the conclusion
he comes to was that this is only an analogy to say that God
needed to come and help us but we shouldn't take this too far.
Well, you know, I have a very simple view that God is not the
author of confusion. And if God says before we were
converted, before we were born again, we were dead, that means
we were dead. Now, he's not saying we were
physically dead. We were spiritually dead. And
just in the same way as a corpse, You remember in one point where
the Lord raised the girl from the dead. He says, now give her
some food. Could you imagine if the Lord
had said five minutes before He raised her from the dead,
give her some food? No. He raised her from the dead first.
Now give her some food. It was impossible. Nothing could
have helped her when she was dead. And this is the whole point.
Paul is stressing this. I mean, you read Ephesians 2
and he's stressing this whole point again and again and again
in this passage. convincing us. And then day upon
comes along and says, well no, actually Paul was mistaken. And
this is the importance of this subject of the effectual call
because that's our condition in which we were in. Now it means
we were dead to God. We weren't dead to sin. In fact,
we were alive to sin. We were totally immersed in sin
and we wanted to sin. We were under the ruler, the
devil who held us in his grasp. But then, we have this tremendous
book, Book of God. Absolutely, the great book. Book
of God, who was rich in mercy, for his great love, for which
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, had quickened us
together with Christ. Then the next phrase, enlightening
their minds spiritually and savingly, to understand the things of God. That's what grace is. Grace in
the Bible is, do you remember the time, we all remember don't
we, at least those of us who were converted at a mature age. We remember the time when the
light went on. Do you remember that? Do you
remember the moment when you opened the Bible and you said,
wow, this makes sense. I actually Now I'm not saying we understood
everything. We still don't understand everything. But there was a dramatic
change. We were talking last week, remember,
I think some of us, about what it must be like for somebody
who was born blind. Because you can do this now with
some people who were born physically blind. And they can do an operation
now to give them their sight. What an amazing moment that must
be. You know, they might have lived
for the first, I don't know, 15, 20, 25 years, whatever, of
their lives blind. And then suddenly the light goes
on. And that's what God does for us. He helps us to understand. Or, not helps us, but gives us
understanding. Who's next to read? Charlotte,
is it? Acts 26, verse 18. And then,
Michaela, do you want to read? Now we talked about this last week, didn't
we, in the context of prayer. Wouldn't it be amazing if Paul
turned around and said, well, you know, you have the ability
to believe yourself. you know, you have the ability
to understand. That's not what he says in Ephesians 1, 17 and
later. Paul's prayer was, and he knew, that unless the Father
of Glory gave them the spirit of wisdom and revelation and
knowledge of him, they would remain in ignorance. Unless God
gave them the eyes of understanding and enlightened them that they
would know what the hope of his calling and what of the riches
of the glory of his inheritance and the saints. If God didn't
give that to them. And the whole point is, and this
is the whole stress of the book of Ephesians. That we were something
by nature. I remember Bill Jackson I think
made the point. What God does in salvation is,
it's like we were dogs. And the difference between a
dog and a human being, it's only an illustration. And God comes to
the dog and transforms the dog into a human being. And I'm going
to give him a very funny illustration. He says, could you imagine if
the dog, before he was translated into a human being, if he went
and buried the bone. He went and buried this bone.
And you know, he dug the hole up, put the bone in, covered
it as they do, covered the bone over. And then someone comes,
or God comes along, changes him into a human being. Could you
imagine then the human being going back and digging the bone
up and eating it? And if that was a lovely illustration,
pretty simple. But see that's the difference
God has made in us. We were like the dog. We were a different
creature. We were a different being altogether
in one sense. And God has transformed us. And
God has made us so much better and given us so much more. He's
opened our eyes. So the bone in the ground now
to us is disgusting. Leave it in the ground. Before
we were converted, the bone was ugly. It was delicious. I'm leaving
that for later. I'm going to feed on that bone
later on. I'm going to get every little bit of meat out in between
the muck and chew it up. But now, we've been changed.
And we look at the ungodly and we see for where we were. And
we see what God has done. Our eyes have been enlightened.
Our eyes have been opened. And we see, as John Newton says
in that hymn, once I was blind. But now I can see. And you try
and go back to the blind person, you try to explain to them what
it's like and they say, what are you talking about? You're mad. But it's only
if then Paul has, that's what Paul is saying in Ephesians 1,
7, 8. I pray that God would give you this. Because only God can
give you this. I can't give it to you. Taking
away their heart of stone and giving unto them a heart of flesh. Renewing their will. Who's next
to read? Marie, or Lon, is it? Do you
want to read? No. Marie, would you mind? I promise with a new covenant that
God will take out their heart of stone. and by his almighty
power determining them to that which is good and effectually
drawing them to Jesus Christ. Would you mind reading? And the
Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of
thine own soul as thou griest now. And Ezekiel 36, 27 and I will put my spirit within
you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall know
the difference I will put my spirit within you and cause you
again this is the idea of being effective God is not saying here
I will encourage you I will try and sort of coach you I will
woo you that's not what he's saying I will cause you to walk
in my statutes so grace does something effectual in us. The devil often tries, and I
think this is where it becomes very practical and encouraging
for us. The devil will constantly tell us we're no different. Won't
he? It's like, you haven't really
changed. You know, you're still the same
old person. Listen, the Word of God tells
you this night, this is very important. The Word of God tells
us this night, you are not the same person. God has made an
eternal difference in your very soul. You are no longer the person
you were. Now, we're not the person we
will be, that's true. We will be perfect in heaven.
But we'll never be the person we were. And I believe this doctrine
is the most practical and the most inspiring doctrine for sanctification. that when I realise that God
has made such a difference and that the one who has begun a
good work in me will perform it onto the day of Jesus Christ.
That's the inspiration to keep going. Because if I think it's
all down to me, if I think it's all down to my strength, well
then I won't do it. I won't keep going. But when
I know God is doing in me, that's why Ephesians 1.19 says, Alex,
Ephesians 1.19. and it was the exceeding greatness
of his power to us. according to the working of his
mighty power. You see it almost not fair there Paul. You almost
see him bubbling over. Almost erupting in his soul as
he's writing those words. And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us who are to believe according to the working
of his mighty power. The same God who said let there
be light. The same God who has brought
the light of the glory of his Son into our very hearts. God
has begun this work. God has brought this work into
our hearts. And God will finish this work. Now, very important,
the last quote of the first paragraph. Nowhere does the Bible say that
God is pushing us. Right? That's not the emphasis. Quite often people will criticise
our belief by saying, oh well you're saying that God is dragging
you or something. Now there is an element to which
that word is used. But that's not the sense in which
the Bible uses it. Because the Bible also teaches
that when we do come to Christ, we want to come. It's not that
I don't want to come to Christ. Yes, I don't want to come by
nature. But God makes us willing. By changing us. Absolutely. He
changes our wills. So that our wills want to come.
Yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace. Who's next to read, Joe? Sam,
who's next? Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power, and the beauties of holiness from the
womb of the morning thou hast to view of thy youth. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. Tremendous verse. Tremendous verse. And then, Son
of Solomon, chapter 1, verse 4. Catch him. Now we go on to the next paragraph,
first clause. This effectual call is of God's
free and special grace alone. Not from anything at all foreseeing
a man. There is a temptation, isn't
there? God has chosen me. there must have been something
in me. This is what Arminianism says,
that really what predestination is, is that God looked into the
future, saw that I would believe, and therefore He chose me. That's
not what the Bible teaches. We were no different. If God
chose me because there was some little spark of faith, or some
little inclination, to come to God, well then there's some percentage
of my salvation that's attributed to me, isn't that true? If God
saw even that much, even a mustard seed of something in me that
was the cause of Him choosing me, well then, something is down
to me. That's an argument to use, because
it was true, God looked forward through time and saw the right
destiny or whatever at that moment in time. and he started reading
a book. Yeah. Right? Yeah. They state
that he died for all. Yeah. Well, his death was a tremendous
problem. No effective reason, probably.
Yeah. So he didn't die for all. Yeah. Even using their heritage.
Absolutely. He didn't die for all. Yes. Yes. Yeah, very good
point. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, because
I remember someone making a similar point to that is that Both Calvinists
and Arminians limit the death of Christ. But they limit it
in a worse way. They limit the power of it. We limit the intent of it. We
say the intent of the cross. But we don't limit the power
of it. They actually limit the power of it. They say that Jesus
died for somebody who is going to hell. I think it's not us
getting there. I think it's Scripture. Yes, true. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Exactly. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. That's a good point. Yes.
Absolutely. So, the disaffectual cause of
God's free grace And special grace alone, not from anything
at all foreseen of man. 2 Timothy 1 verse 9. And Ephesians
chapter 2 verse 8. It's only when we understand
that even the faith we have is a gift from God. That is the
cringing point, isn't it? That this very faith we have
is a gift. Because if we hold the view that
well, you know, This faith had it's beginning in me. I'm adding
something. But this faith itself that I
have is a gift. I believe that's the most humbling
thing. But the only reason I believe
today is because God has granted me the gift of faith. Some Christians
believe that they have to faith and then you'll regain it. God put the fear of God in us,
meaning that God took the fear of God out of us. It didn't come
in him. It was somebody in us. If you're
a Christian, tell your family you're a Christian. Which is wrong teaching. When you give birth to another
saint, it doesn't automatically say it's saved. That has to go
to the understanding of Christ. It has to be regenerated as the
Lord. It's the sovereignty of God that
must be... But the standard is from Sunday
to Sunday morning. You can't be late for speaking
the Lord. Then the next clause... nor from
any power or agency in the creature co-working with his special grace.
In other words, it's not just working with God, you know, cooperating
with God. The creature being wholly passive,
in other words, we're the subjects, or I'm sorry, the object, we're
the object of his grace, being dead in sin and trespasses until
being quickened and renewed by his Holy Spirit. The greatest
illustration of this, I believe, is Lazarus. Lazarus is dead, Lazarus is dead 4 days in the
tomb. Has no hope of coming out of
that tomb. He is going to rot. He is going
to decay. He is going to turn into dust
over a period of time. The Lord Jesus comes and Lazarus
comes forth. Does Lazarus have anything to
do with that? No. Everything in that is of
Christ. Everything of that is of Christ's
will, Christ's power. Lazarus, come forth. And that's
the great picture of salvation. We would have stayed there. We
would have been in eternity in the pit. Unless Christ would
have come and said, Dan, Liam, Benny, read it. Everyone in this
room, come forth, come to me. That's the dependency we have
on the grace of God. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14. Lame, I think, is it? Yeah, go
ahead. Just someone go ahead. Tremendous
argument from the Apostle Paul. How can we receive? Mr Hund in his book says, this
doesn't include the Gospel. Tremendous statement of logic.
So the only logical conclusion we can come to then is that the
Spirit of God has nothing to do with the Gospel. Because Paul
says, the natural man receives not the King, but the Spirit
of God. Now does the Spirit of God have nothing to do with the
Gospel? Does the Gospel not belong to the Spirit? Does the Lord
Jesus not say that when the Spirit comes, But you see, you have to use
these foolish arguments to try and get out of these verses.
The only way you can escape this verse is by saying that the gospel
is not included in this verse. Of course the gospel is included
in this verse. And then, we've already read
Ephesians 2 verse 5. John chapter 5 verse 25 please.
I've read the essay a few years coming and now it's Okay, now for the sake of time,
just on the next page, we're going to finish with the next
reference because we're going to leave Paragraphs 3 and 4 for
next week because there's an issue about Paragraph 3 that
will take us time to consider. Okay, so we'll finish this with
the next clause. He is thereby enabled to answer
this call and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in
it and that by no less power than that which raised up Christ
from the dead. This is a powerful statement
here. That the same power that calls us from the spiritual grace
is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. No less
power. You see, the problem with the
free will gospel is that it makes God's power almost redundant. The power of God is redundant
in the free will gospel. The gospel of the Bible, the
power of God is everything. Ephesians 1, and I'll read this
myself, Ephesians 1 And what is the exceeding greatness of
his power to whisper to the believers according to the workings of
his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him
from the dead, and set him in his own right hand? in the heavenly
places. Do you see? That's what the verses
are saying there. The same power that's working
in us is the same power that raised Christ from the dead.
And in fact, the scripture says that we were raised with Him. When Christ died, we died. When Christ was buried, we were
buried. And when Christ rose from the
dead, we rose with Him. Well, Christ could rise Himself
because He's divine anyway. Well, John chapter 2 tells us
that. destroy this temple and in 3 days I will raise it again. So we will leave it there because
again we have 2 more paragraphs in this chapter to get through
and then we will look at those next week.
Effectual Calling {Chapter 10} part 1
Series 1689 Baptist Confession
| Sermon ID | 91407621270 |
| Duration | 38:59 |
| Date | |
| Category | Midweek Service |
| Language | English |
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