And our scripture text this afternoon is a very short one from the 8th chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans a very familiar passage to many of us here Romans 8 from verse 28 to verse 30 only Romans 8 from verse 28 to verse 30 Where we read these words And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 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, then he also justified, and whom he justified, then he also glorified. May God bless to us this short reading of his own words. Now as most of us realize on these Lord's Day afternoons we have been engaged for a number of weeks in a series of studies and expositions through some of the great and fundamental biblical doctrines, the doctrines of God's own inspired word. And so we've arrived this afternoon at the subject which we call in the Reformed and Christian Church, Effectual Calling and I'm going to relate, as usual, what I have to say this afternoon to the Westminster Confession of Faith, secondarily to Scripture primarily but the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 10 has the great title of Effectual Calling and for those of you who are boys and girls and young people in the service this afternoon you may be puzzled by the word effectual, a word we don't usually use and employ in our modern English language and terminology and it simply means the powerfully effective call of God or if you like, the effective, irresistible call of God, something that cannot be resisted or made of no effect. So the old English word effectual is a very wonderful word speaking of an irresistible work of God as he calls a sinner to faith in himself. Now you are probably aware that up to this point in our Lord's Day afternoon services, we have been considering mainly salvation from the standpoint of what God has done for us. That is to say, remember, for instance, in chapter 3 of the Westminster Confession, and obviously in Scripture itself, we looked at the doctrine of God's decrees, how God has made a decree an eternity past of predestination concerning those whom he has chosen to be saved by Christ, it is something that God has done for us, and again the great chapter on the covenant, one of the longest chapters, incidentally in the Confession of Faith, was a beautiful scriptural description, again, of what God has done for us in providing, through His covenant of grace, the way that sinners can be recovered from the disaster of the Fall. Once more in the subject of the Mediator, Christ the Mediator, we were looking again at what God has done for us. Now this afternoon, as we come to effectual calling, we begin to look at what God is doing in us. There is not only something done for us in terms of our salvation, there must obviously be something done in us as well. So the salvation which was accomplished for elect sinners by the Lord Jesus Christ having been purposed first by God the Father must be applied to the hearts of those sinners as we'll see this afternoon by the work of the Holy Spirit something wonderful has been done for us, something equally glorious, amazing and wonderful has to be done in us by the work of the Sovereign God Himself through His Spirit. So, a brief word of introduction as I continue. We have seen that God saves sinners. God the Father has chosen some for salvation, a great number but not all of the human race, that would amount as we have seen to universalism God the Son has accomplished the salvation of those whom the Father has appointed to salvation and now God the Holy Spirit will apply what Christ has accomplished to all those for whom it is to be applied. Now a number of you already will recognize that What I am saying, or what I have been saying in these last few minutes, is what we call today the doctrines of grace. I haven't, I think, used this term very much in my exposition so far. Many of you will be aware of the acrostic TULIP, T-U-L-I-P. We're in springtime and hopefully very soon the tulips will be blooming once more after the long winter rest. Well, the acrostic tulip, as many of you realize, is a summary of the doctrines of grace, the doctrines of scriptural salvation, and each of those first letters, you children, I'm sure you realize, stand for a particular thing. The T stands for total depravity, the U for unconditional election, the L for limited atonement, or definite atonement, as I prefer to call it, the I for irresistible grace, and the P for the perseverance of the saints. And all of these things are absolutely necessary to understand biblical salvation. we know that total depravity means that we are all fallen in all our parts mind and heart and will and affections all have been profoundly affected by sin so that we cannot do any good accompanying salvation or toward it we have seen God's unconditional election of us we have seen his definite choice from eternity of those who will be saved we're really coming, in a sense, this afternoon to part of irresistible grace the effectual work of the Holy Spirit although we're also, as we'll see, be touching on the perseverance of the saints as well in that those who are truly called and effectually called to faith in Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit will persevere to the very end sometimes called the five points of Calvinism I prefer really to use the term the doctrines of grace or we could say the five points of the biblical teaching of salvation because that essentially is what it is. Now any other view of salvation I think we'll see this afternoon which does not affirm all of these great truths is in the end defective and denies at least in part the true religion taught in the Bible. For instance, Arminianism does not believe in a number of these five great affirmatives, they would believe in only part of them, and I would not say that Arminians cannot be Christians, I would say that depending on the degree in which they have departed from scripture, they may indeed be Christians, although they have a seriously defective view of some of the scriptural teaching on salvation. Well, that my way of introduction to what we're going to look at this afternoon. We come to effectual calling, the direct work and activity of the Holy Spirit of God in enabling a sinner to come to Christ in the first place. We read from Romans 8 verses 28 to 30 and you may have noticed that in those short three verses the term the called or calling is mentioned twice. In verse 28 we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Now I know in some modern versions it omits the word the and simply says who are called according to his purpose but in the original Greek the definite article is there it describes a definite body of people who are the called according to his purpose and it is only to them in verse 28 that the promise is given that all things will work together for good a great promise of the final perseverance of believers. And again in verse 30 you notice, in what someone has called the golden chain of salvation, verse 30, whom he did predestine, or predestinate, them he also called, whom he called, it's twice mentioned in this verse, them he justified, whom he justified, them he also glorified. So you notice that following predestination there in verse 38 is the reference to the calling work of the Holy Spirit. How does a person then come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? We're living in a day and an age, as many of you realize, when many Christians would answer it is through repentance and faith. It is something that they do in moving toward God. Now I have to say to you that even prior to that there is a work of the Holy Spirit that is absolutely essential and they could not either repent of sin or believe in Christ without that prior work of the Holy Spirit taking place. Salvation in terms of what happens within us begins with the effectual calling work of the Holy Spirit. Now this is made very clear in verse 3. Predestination, which we've looked at in eternity past, must issue in the call of God to the sinner. A divine initiative. It's not ourselves calling upon Christ It is God putting into action his eternal purposes from the ages past, enabling us to come to Christ in faith and in repentance. And then justification follows, and then you notice sanctification is missed out, Paul moves immediately to glorification, and you notice even glorification is mentioned in the past tense. Why? Well because it is so certain in the Apostle's mind he views it almost as already having taken place. Now of course it hasn't actually taken place. Our glorification is in heaven itself. But you notice there is a golden chain and not one of the links in that chain can ever be broken. Those who have been predestined will be called, will be justified and will be glorified and no one will be there at the end who was not at the beginning and if someone was not there at the beginning he will not be there at the end a golden chain of salvation and of course there are many instances we have no time this afternoon to go into the depth of scripture and many of the references are given in the confession of faith and the good editions of it on effectual calling, but you may remember in Acts 16, when Paul went to Philippi, he met with a group of women for prayer down at the river, the river Gangites, as we believe it to be, outside of the Roman colony and city of Philippi. Among those who gathered was a woman called Lydia, a seller of purple, in Acts 16. And you find that the way she became a Christian was how? opened her understanding or her mind to understand the teaching of the Apostle Paul. And she was the first recorded convert in the city of Philippi. It was the Lord's calling of her that brought her into faith. Well, I want to look quite briefly then this afternoon at just some of the leading features of this great biblical doctrine of effectual calling. If you look at chapter 10 of the Confession, section 1, all those whom God hath predestinated unto life and those only he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time effectually to call by his word and spirit out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God taking away their heart of stone and giving unto them an heart of flesh renewing their wills and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ yet so as they come most freely being made willing by his grace and we'll look at section 2 in just a moment so first of all God calls sinners to himself effectually and we've seen it in Romans 8 verse 30, we've seen it referenced by a living example in Acts chapter 16 in the case of Lydia and when we read these magnificent words of section 1 of our Confession of Faith we need to ask who are called effectually? and you notice that it is those whom God has predestinated unto life and those only. Now many hear the gospel outwardly as we recognize they hear the call to repentance and faith but not all who hear outwardly with their ears are effectually called of God I'm sure you're aware of many scriptures that show this when Peter preached so powerfully on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 there were only some evidently who were cut to the quick at the end of that chapter and said men and brethren what must we do to be saved? When Paul preached later in Acts 17 in the great Greek city of Athens remember his magnificent address that ended up with the doctrine of the resurrection of Christ, many mocked, and only a few, a handful, are listed at the end of Acts 17, who responded to Paul's preaching and became believers. So who are called? Those whom God hath predestined unto life, and those only he is pleased, effectually, to call. When does this happen? now isn't this interesting, it's in his own appointed and accepted time you see some people have said, well if God has predestined us from eternity then surely our salvation is effective from eternity but of course it isn't. There must be an operation of the Holy Spirit in His appointed and accepted time. There's no such thing as our being justified or called from eternity. You know, I came to Christ, not in a Christian home myself, but in a non-Christian, though I'm thankful to say a moral and upright poem, and was converted as a young adolescent at the age of 13. I see in the congregation this afternoon children of all kinds of ages, and I have to say to you children, whatever you are, in adolescence, younger, that God, if you are one of his children, has an appointed and accepted time when he will call you. The wonderful thing about the effectual work of the Holy Spirit, and we're going to see this in a moment, is that he may operate at any time. There is no accident in his operation. He may even regenerate from the womb, although that is very unusual. In our reading in Luke chapter 1, in reference to John the Baptist, it does seem that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his womb. God is sovereign, he is able to do that although that is very unusual but often in childhood and adolescence and also in adulthood it may please the Holy Spirit to make that his appointed and accepted time. How does it happen? Well we read very wonderfully the means of the Holy Spirit normally calling a person to faith in Christ is by his word and spirit it is the Holy Spirit who must effectually call. The minister cannot do it. I can preach the Word, I can bear down on the doctrine of sin and the need for repentance and the fullness and sufficiency of Christ, but only the Holy Spirit can take that Word and effectually apply it to the hearts of those whose salvation He has determined. But this is normally through the word of God, by his word and spirit, he makes alive those who are dead in trespasses and in sins. And very wonderfully, as we read in that first section, the effect of the Spirit's call is that the sinner comes out of the state of sin and spiritual death into a state of grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. Did you notice that every part of our being is affected by this work of the Holy Spirit the mind must be enlightened it is in darkness, it cannot understand the things of God a new heart must be given to us we are said to have a heart of stone and as Ezekiel prophesied in his great chapter 36 God gives to his people a heart of flesh at regeneration, at the work of the Holy Spirit in effectual calling our wills are renewed we cannot choose Christ, we hear so much language, don't we today? you need to choose Christ, or I chose Christ well the truth is I had no ability to do that, I would have had no desire in my fallen and sinful condition unless God had renewed my will in effectual calling and that's what He does and we are savingly drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ as Christ said in John 6 verse 44 no man can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out So you see, effectual calling is God undertaking through the Holy Spirit's work to fulfill His purpose in the life of His chosen people. And that purpose that began back in eternity is accomplished at a certain point in time in the life of all of us. And no one who enters at the beginning is ever dropped along the way. nor is anyone ever added who did not start at the beginning. That's made very clear from our passage in Romans. So we have then effectual calling. Now you look at section 2 there, this effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, who is altogether passive therein, until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit he is thereby enabled to answer this call and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it. So the call is a work of God's sovereign grace not on account of anything foreseen in men. and really this section is addressed against the error of what we call today Arminianism. Arminianism, putting it very simply, really says that God was able to peer down through the mists of the corridors of time and see that at a certain point, in a certain place in human history, in certain times, there would be men and women who were able to believe in Christ and repent of sin and to desire Him and God seeing them with that ability chose them in Christ and appointed their salvation. The Bible, however, is very clear that salvation is not based on foreseen faith or on anything that we as fallen sinners can do. Incidentally, we read Romans 8 verse 28 And Arminians have taken the term foreknow, whom he did foreknow, then he did predestinate. Arminianism says, well there you have it, God knew ahead of time, he borne you. that certain people would desire to turn to Christ and forsake sin, and therefore he chose them on that basis. Now, anyone who knows the Greek language knows how completely untrue that is. The word for new literally means whom God loved beforehand, whom he knew intimately in terms of the purpose of his love. In other words, it's almost an expression of predestination itself, but in some ways richer. And so that is the correct meaning of the term for new, not foreseeing in any way. Otherwise salvation is not based on grace alone. Now it does say in this section, you may have noticed, that the sinner is altogether passive therein, until being enabled by the Holy Spirit, he answers the call and embraces the grace of God. and we need to understand that in the work of effectual calling the sinner is passive we are dead in trespasses and sins, there is nothing we can do but of course in the work of conversion which is our response to the effectual call of the spirit we are not passive at that point Calvinists don't deny that for a moment once the effectual call has been issued and our wills have been renewed and our affections changed and our heart a change from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh of course we respond we must respond it is not God who repents for us it is not God who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ for us we do that and that is the work of conversion but it's only possible because of God's preeminent or prevenient grace in effectual calling some of you know the words of Charles Wesley writer of many poems and in hymn singing churches these are used sometimes as hymns even he had grasped this truth I love these lines, long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature's night thine eye diffused a quickening ray I woke, the dungeon flamed with light my chains fell off, my heart was free I rose, went forth and followed thee but you notice how he begins long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused the quickening ray. I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. It wasn't anything in me that Charles Wesley is saying. Quite quickly on the third section, elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit who works when, where and how he pleases so also are all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word. Now this is a much disputed and controverted subject in the church still the salvation of infants dying in infancy. I don't know if anyone in the congregation has had this very sad experience. And then what about those who are mentally defective, or sometimes called the incapables? Now we have to say at once, the Bible does not have very much to say about the salvation of children who die in infancy, or the incapables, or if you like, prefer the word, an imbecile, who does not have the mental ability to come to know the Bible's teaching and to understand it in the normal way. The Bible doesn't have very much to say. But what we need to realize is this, that if salvation depended entirely and always upon a person's being able to hear and understand and respond to the gospel no infant or imbecile or incapable could ever be saved and that's why I praise God for this section of the Confession of Faith, because I believe it brings a scriptural answer that neither goes beyond scripture, nor does it fall short of what scripture itself clearly implies. Well, what does it say? It does not say that all children dying in infancy are elect and will be saved. what it does say and imply is that all are born in sin and so are under God's condemnation you notice that even the children dying in infancy need to be quickened they need to be, I'm sorry, regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God who works when, where and how he pleases so Coming from that basis, we have to say that infants, whether they are born into a believing family or not, and incapables, who die and have not been able to respond to the gospel because they lack the mental equipment to understand and so on, there is the possibility of salvation for them. if they are elect. Now do you notice that? Elect infants dying in infancy. So also are all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word. Now this is scriptural. The Westminster Confession stays with scriptural. It does not say that all infants dying in infancy are going to be saved, but elect infants and all other elect in other words, God reserves the right to apply the work of Christ sovereignly by His Spirit through the work of regeneration apart from the usual means of the Word of God being preached and believed on but even those infants who are elect need the regenerated work of the Holy Spirit and that's what I believe personally I cannot say, because scripture does not say, that infants, all infants dying in infancy, are going to go to heaven. Scripture does not say that. It leaves it as a mysterious thing. But clearly, I think in scripture there are indications that God may choose, may, I emphasize, choose, the children in covenant families who die in infancy to be saved and regenerated by Christ. Why do I say that? Well, when David's child died in 2 Samuel 12, remember, part of the judgment on David for his adultery was the death of the little boy who was born from that adulterous relationship. David does say there, I shall go to him but he shall not return to me. Now is that an indication by the Holy Spirit that David knew that his child was in heaven and David would see him there one day? Or did David simply mean the child has gone into the state of death that I know that I must pass into that state myself? Well, we have to leave a question mark I think that's a very interesting question there, and of course we know from New Testament teaching that children growing up in Christian homes have very special privileges given and extended to them, and I think there are some real grounds, and I emphasize some real grounds, for believing that covenant children within faithful Bible-believing homes, dying in infancy, are saved and regenerated by Christ through the working of his Spirit. But we cannot say definitively, because scripture itself does not say so. Finally, section 4. What about those who are non-elect, and we're nearly through? well, it's a wonderful section, there are others not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the word, and may have some common operations of the spirit, yet they never truly come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved, much less can men not professing the Christian religion be saved in any other way whatsoever, be they ever so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature, and the law of that religion they do profess and to assert and maintain that they may is very pernicious and to be detested well what this section is saying is that others though not elected may be called by the ministry of the word and have some common operations of the spirit what does that mean? well the gospel is to be proclaimed as we know freely we do believe in the free offer of the gospel the gospel being preached to all the nations and offered freely and some who hear the gospel may have an operation of the Holy Spirit upon their hearts and minds that stop short of a work of effectual court now you can see this very clearly in many parts of scripture for instance Jesus' parable of the soils or the parable of the sower as it's more commonly called in Matthew 13 the four kinds of soil and the seed of God's word only fell and grew and flourished in one kind out of the four it didn't flourish among the thorns or on the rocky ground and so forth, or on the pathway but only on the good ground and Jesus in explaining that parable evidently was aware that in the lives of some people the word of God does have effect, the seed sprung up, Jesus said until the thorns choked it there is the evidence of life even spiritual life, the evidence outwardly to us that clearly here was not a saving work of the Spirit. And what has helped me to understand this is that I've realized for many years that not all operations of the Holy Spirit are necessarily saving operations. I'll say that again. Not all operations of the Holy Spirit are necessarily saving operations. Now if you read in Hebrews 6 and I know some of you have thought of this passage and it's also a reference in the section of the Confession Hebrews 6 from verses 4 through 8 the writer describes such people even as having tasted of the heavenly things and having been subject to some working of the Holy Spirit in their lives and yet he says very clearly that they are not in Christ. How can this be? and the answer is the Holy Spirit does in his sovereignty sometimes illuminate a sinner's mind even with certain changes on a sinner's heart that stop short of regeneration not all operations of the Holy Spirit are necessarily saving operations you only need to read in the Life and Ministry of Jonathan Edwards how he enabled himself, and enabled us through his writings to distinguish between a true work of God, and that which often happened even in genuine biblical revivals, where sinners were awakened, but not regenerated, they were not effectually called. An illustration too, that has helped me understand this, is we have chickens on this property, and I'm sure your children have seen them, and I am always fascinated that a mother hen with little yellow chickens, fluffy chickens they be clucking calmly and quietly and the chickens are spread out some distance from her everything is well she sees a hawk in the sky and there is a change of tone it is an elective cluck, if you like and you see all the little yellow chickens rushing to their mother and hiding under her wing it's an effectual call there is an ordinary clock and there is an effectual clock. You see what I mean? And we need to remember that in all Christian ministry, it is only the Holy Spirit who can issue that effectual call to sinners. Well, you notice there, I'm finishing here, you notice the last expression here, to assert and maintain that other religions may save people when they live with great diligence according to what they profess, is very pernicious and to be detested. Now this is very strong language. We live in an ecumenical age, do we not? And this is very, very unacceptable language. It is being taught so widely, especially in the World Council of Churches, that all religions in the end are the same, there'll be a great homecoming for everybody. Not so. Thank God for the honesty of the Westminster Confession divines who say that the heathen who never hear or profess Christ, cannot be saved. It's a very solemn statement, and it reminds us, doesn't it, of our great responsibility to be bearers of the gospel into a very dark world, and to bring the knowledge of the one true way of salvation, the one true religion, the binding back again of man's relationship to God, the religare, the one true religion to bring that knowledge to all with whom we come into contact. We've seen that while some may be saved without the preaching of the Word of God, that is to say, elect infants and incapables, none can be saved by a different message or gospel. No way. So those not professing the biblical faith have no hope of salvation whatsoever however diligently they may follow it false religion well there is the great doctrine of effectual calling I finish with the words of Thomas Goodwin I love the Puritan Thomas Goodwin he says God's love is like a river or a spring that runneth underground and hath done so from eternity where does it break out first? he asks where bubbleth it up first? where doth this fountain begin to bubble up or spring forth? when a man is first called then that love which hath run from everlasting underground and through the heart of Christ upon the cross breaks out in a man's heart too and it is the fundamental mercy of all grace then glory whatever effectual calling We'll stand for prayer. O Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank Thee again for the passages of Scripture that we have looked at and discussed together, and the great teaching summarized in our subordinate standard, the Confession of Faith, on this wonderful subject of the Spirit's work in effectual calling. High these things to our hearts, in Christ's