Now let's turn together to the letter of Paul to the Romans chapter 11, and also in a moment to Romans chapter eight, and to one or two verses in 2 Thessalonians. Romans 11, we are going to read solely verse seven. And all of these passages you will notice from the scriptures are on the subject of the call of God or of the effectual call as the Westminster Confession chapter so denominates it. Romans 11 verse seven, where we read concerning God's purposes regarding Israel, what then? what Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain but the elect did the others were hardened and turning back to Romans 8 verse 30 which is very familiar to every biblical Christian I'm sure Romans 8 verse 30 one of the verses from this chapter that simply must be memorized. And those he predestined, he also called. Those he called, he also justified. Those he justified, he also glorified. And if you will turn with me then to 2 Thessalonians 2, we will read verses 13 and 14. Thessalonians follows Corinthians, Galatians and Ephesians, and Philippians, then on to Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 13 and 14. We also thank God continually because when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe. For you brothers became imitators of God's churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus. You suffered from your own countrymen the same things those churches suffered from the Jews. May the Lord indeed bless to our understanding these several short sections and passages from his own word this evening. Now, will you turn with me to the 10th chapter of the Confession of Faith? You'll find this on page 678 in the Trinity Hymnal. And it is again important that you should have this in front of you, chapter 10 of the Confession of Faith. And the subject is concerning effectual calling. Now, as we come to these four short sections, which you remember were read publicly in our morning worship service today, I want to say two things fairly briefly by way of introduction and then as usual, to look with you at these four sections. The first thing by way of introduction is to remind you of the very wonderful and biblical layout of the confession of faith. You have probably become a little tired of my saying at the beginning of these sessions that there is a logical and a biblical order in the chapters, but I never fail to admire the way in which these godly men so approached the subject of expounding the Christian faith. And if I can put it simply to you this evening, all that we've read about so far in the first nine chapters of the Confession is about what God has done for us in our salvation with the emphasis upon for us. Beginning with chapter 10 and onwards, we are beginning to see what God is doing in us as he brings salvation to us. Now, if you remember, chapter one dealt with the holy scriptures and how God reveals himself to us. Chapter two, the doctrine of God, who he is. Chapter three, the decrees of God, what his purposes are. Chapter four, how he works out those decrees in creation. And chapter five, in providence. Chapter six, about our fall into sin. Chapter seven, about God's covenant with man. Chapter eight, about the mediator. and chapter 9 that we looked at last week dealt with the subject of free will. Now all of these subjects really are comprehended under what God has done for us and how we are to understand this. With chapter 10 we begin to look at what God is doing in us. That salvation, in other words, that he has provided through his revelation and through his decrees and through his work as creator and as redeemer must become actual in our experience. And the question then that we've arrived at this evening at chapter 10 is what is necessary to happen within me in order that I might be saved? And I think you'll find this helpful as we go on from this chapter to the next one about justification and the one after that dealing with God's mighty work of grace and salvation within us. It begins then to look at salvation from what God does within us. Now the other introductory thing that I wanted to say was that you remember there is no chapter as such on the work of the Holy Spirit. And one of the reasons why the confession of faith has been criticized, particularly in the modern church and often by liberal theologians, is that it is so deficient, they say, in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. There isn't a single chapter, they say, among the 33 chapters dealing with the work of the Spirit. But I want to remind you that in many of the chapters, and particularly in this one before us this evening, there are copious references to the work of the spirit. In fact, apart from the spirit work, this chapter would not be in the confession at all. And if you look, you see in section two tonight, and in section three tonight, and in section four tonight, the emphasis predominantly is upon the work of God's spirit in our salvation. and that charge, that the confession is not interested in the Spirit of God, simply does not stick. Well, with these true, prefatory remarks, let's look together at section one that is before us in the light of the scripture that we read together a little earlier in the service. The theme of the first section and indeed of the second one too, is that God calls sinners to salvation in Christ effectually. And the word effectually, as we've seen in these earlier studies, means powerfully, efficaciously. In other words, when he issues a call to salvation to a particular individual or individuals, that call is carried out. There is no doubt about it, there is no dubiety about it, there is no uncertainty about it regarding the results. The call of God is effectual in the sense that it accomplishes the purpose for which it is designed. Now, as we look at section one and indeed section two, we need to ask some questions as we go through here. For example, who are called effectually? When does that effectual call work? How does God effectually call his elect? What is the effect of the Spirit's call? And so on. And with these questions in mind, I want to go through the wonderful phraseology of these beautifully scriptural and succinct summaries of the doctrine of effectual calling. Now we notice in section one all those whom God hath predestined unto life and those only he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time effectually to call by his word and spirit. Now the question is answered at once, who are called by God to salvation? And the answer is, those whom God has predestinated unto life and only those. The emphasis is clearly made here. No others are caught. And it shows what we read in Romans 8 verse 30 is reflected here, whom he predestined, those he also caught. And that great verse of Romans 8 is like, as someone has described it, the links of a golden chain. You break one single link of that chain and the whole chain is shattered. Those whom he predestined and none other, the second link in the chain, he calls Those whom he called, he justified, the third link in the chain. Those whom he justified, he sanctified, he glorified, the fourth link in that golden chain. So there is no question that the call of God effectually is limited only to those as we have seen in the mystery of God's decree he has appointed to everlasting life. Now, when does this calling of men to faith in Christ occur? Well, it is in his appointed and accepted time, you notice, but they are effectually called. You ask me, when is that appointed and accepted time? And I answer, I don't know, you don't know, except in your own experience, you very definitely know, usually, the point of time and the way by which he brought you to Christ yourself. And in some instances this may be in later years of life, in some instances it may be in childhood, in some instances it may be as a teenager or as a young man or woman, but in his appointed and accepted time he calls each one of his elect to himself. Now, beloved, evangelistically, to realize and to understand this takes a great deal of the fleshliness out of evangelism, doesn't it? Because so often in many churches of non-reformed tradition, the message that is communicated is something like this, that you are responsible to share the gospel with such and such a person, or else he might be lost eternally. And this is a half-truth. And a half-truth taken as a whole truth so often becomes an untruth. Whereas the biblical truth is that God in His accepted time and His accepted way will effectually call that person to faith in Christ. And if in his eternal plan he has purposed that this should come through my witness, he will put me in the place and at the right time to speak the very word that that person needs. And if I am not to be the instrument that he will use, then I can rest in the assurance that he will have another instrument at another time and in another place that he will effectually use. And so there is a beautiful balance in this emphasis in the confession upon the sovereignty of God. The salvation of someone is not in my hands to manipulate. I am the instrument of an almighty hand and my prayer day by day should be Lord, put me in the place according to your appointment. where it may be the accepted time for such and such a one to come to faith in Christ. And if this is not your will, Lord, grant that I may be one of the many links in the long chain of witness that usually leads to someone's conversion. Not just one link, but many links. Lord, make me one of those links, and it doesn't necessarily have to be the last one, so that the glory, as it were, of that person's conversion I can take to myself. In His appointed and accepted time is when this happens. Now, how does God call someone effectually to faith in Christ? Well, the normal means are then stated by his word and spirit. And I want to emphasize again this evening that there is usually no other way in which God draws sinners to himself. There is one set of exceptions that we're going to look at when we come to section three a little later on this evening. But the normal way by which the spirit works is through the word and by the spirit. And this is why in our reformed tradition, we emphasize so much the teaching and the preaching of God's word, not because it glorifies a pastor or an elder or an officer who is leading a Bible study or conducting some teaching in a church group, but because these are the instrumental means that God uses normally. to bring sinners to faith in himself. There must be knowledge of who Christ is. There must be knowledge of one's condition. There must be the conviction that the Holy Spirit brings of our sinfulness and desperate need and danger. And the Spirit uses the word of God to witness to others. Now this is how God effectually calls his elect. But then the other question that is answered in this section is the effect of the Spirit's call. What is the effect of the Spirit's call? Now you notice that the effect is that we come out of one condition and we come into a totally different one. We come out of the state of sin and death in which we are by nature into the state of grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. Now do you my dear friends this evening recollect what we were saying last Lord's Day evening on chapter nine about the fourfold state of man? One of you at least is asked to borrow my copy of that marvelous book by Thomas Boston the fourfold state of man, and here it is again. Our salvation, biblically understood, is that at the moment of being called to faith in Christ, we come out of the sin, state of sin and death by nature, into the state of grace and salvation by Christ. And we saw last evening, Sunday evening, I think, so clearly and effectively that this too affects our whole understanding of the subject of free will. So this is what the Spirit does to us. He creates within us a completely new state of heart and mind and soul as we now see. enlightening our minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone and giving to them a heart of flesh, renewing their wills 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. Now you say, is that really necessary to spell out in detail what happens when the Spirit of God by the Word of God effectually calls us to faith? And the answer is most definitely so. If I can illustrate it, what is happening here in this part of section one, the remaining part, is the biblical and theological explanation of what Jesus explained pictorially in John chapter three. When he talked with Nicodemus, you remember, he said, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirits. And he said, the work of the spirit is as mysterious as the blowing of the wind. You hear the sound thereof, Jesus said, but you cannot tell from whence it comes or whither it goes, but you see the effects of it as the trees sway around you and the dust swirls up from the street. and you know that something strange and wonderful is happening. So is the work of the Spirit upon a man's heart when he is regenerated, when he is born again. Pictorially, Jesus is describing the work of the Spirit. Theologically and biblically, here the Westminster divines are explaining the same mighty, mysterious work of the Spirit. What happens when I come to faith in Christ, out of the state of sin and bondage, into the state of salvation and grace? First of all, my mind is enlightened spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God. Now that's a very important emphasis, my dear friends. God reaches us primarily through the mind. And you know it's because we have inverted the biblical order of the work of the Spirit that we have pseudo evangelism today. You go to some of these great crusades and evangelistic meetings and revivals with a small r so called, what do you find? That the first appeal of the gospel supposedly is through your emotions. Get the people into the right emotional state. Get them worked up. Get them to come forward in answer to an impassioned appeal to turn to Christ. It doesn't matter really whether they've understood the fundamentals of the gospel. The appeal is through the emotions. Beloved, that is pseudo evangelism, false evangelism. And the divines rightly describe what Jesus pictorially said. when they say the first work of the Spirit is enlightening the minds spiritually and saving them to understand the things of God. It is through the mind that God addresses the heart. It is through the mind that the emotions are stirred. It is through the mind that the will is empowered to change. The truth of God communicated to the mind is the main instrument by which we are effectually called to faith in Christ. Then you notice the effect of this is taking away the heart of stone and giving them a heart of flesh. The hardness of the heart is softened by the hammer of God's word. As it breaks that heart open, and it begins to feel the influences that are heavenly and divine and gracious as God is known, not only to be the judge before whom we must stand, but the savior who has provided a way of salvation. He renews our wills and by his almighty power determines them to that which is good. Remember we saw that we can never in our own state of sin and death turn to God, our will is wholly perverse, turned away from him. It says to him, I will not walk in your ways, I will not receive your Christ, I will not respond to the offer of the gospel, but the effectual call of God coming by the word and spirit. affects the mind, and through the mind the heart, and through the heart the will is determined now to choose that which is good, and the end result is the effectual drawing of those who are elect to Christ. Yet so as they come most freely. Isn't that beautiful? Being made willing by his grace. We said last Sunday evening that we do not believe in determinism. Here is not a God who is a tyrant, who is forcing man's will into a course that it does not want to go into. But in that very moment, when the sinner is being convicted of his sin, when his eyes are being enlightened to see the beauty of Jesus, the solemnity of judgment, and all these other truths, he is moving from the state of sin and death into the second state of grace. of that movement is that graciously God is drawing his will out to come most freely to Christ, being made willing by his grace. And you know that's one reason why in the Reformed Church we don't speak of someone giving their heart to Jesus. How can you give your heart to Jesus? You can't in a state of sin and death. We speak of a person being enabled to come to Christ, being enabled to turn his life over to the control of the Lord Jesus. And that is the scriptural language that we should use, recognizing that it is the grace of God that enables us freely to do what would otherwise be utterly and totally impossible for us to do. Well then we must come on to section 2. Now section 2, 3 and 4 I'm going to touch upon much more lightly. This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone. Not from anything at all foreseen in man. Now again, we're being reminded of what we've seen in chapter three and at other points, that in terms of our salvation, beloved, we do not contribute anything as we come to Christ. As I've said on more than one occasion, in respect of salvation, our only contribution is the sin that made it necessary. And when God's effectual call comes to us by his special grace, Then we see that we have no righteousness in ourselves. It was not as though God looked down the corridors of time and foresaw that I would have faith, therefore he called me, but he didn't call my neighbor because that man hadn't got the natural ability to believe in Jesus. It is not from anything foreseen in man, but his sole sovereign choice on the basis of unmerited favor. And then we go on to read, who is altogether, that is 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 it's simply an elaboration of what I said to you a moment ago, by the quickening action, the enlivening action of the Spirit, the renewal of the Spirit within us through the Word, we are enabled to answer the call to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it. Now, it's interesting that there is an offer of the gospel, and we very firmly believe that we should offer the gospel to all men. We believe in what is called the free offer of the gospel. And you might say, well, this is contradictory if you believe that no natural man is able to respond to that offer. Why do you make it? And the answer is that in the moment of that sinner's being convicted by the spirit of God, through the word of his need of Christ, he is enabled to embrace that offer of the gospel that is conveyed in the word of God. And that, of course, is why we very definitely believe in and preach the free offer of the gospel. Well, section three, elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the spirit who worketh when and 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 beautiful section and I know that there is one family here this evening within our own congregation who were greatly comforted in the death of a little child who fell under this category. And we have every reason to believe in the mercy of God was among his elect. But you notice what it says, that elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ. Now isn't that interesting? The confession does not say that a child dying in infancy is innocent of any actual transgression and God will immediately let the child into heaven? This is humanism. We have seen already that we are all condemned as descendants of Adam through a sinful nature that we have inherited from him. We all suffer from original sin, even the tiny little infants. from the moment of his or her conception in the womb, in God's eyes, he or she is a member of a sinful race, doomed to the wrath of God and his justice pleasure, unless that infant is regenerated on the basis of Christ's work for him or her. And therefore the confession is very wise. It does not say that all infants will be saved by Christ. It says elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated. Who are the elect infants? We do not know because scripture does not tell us. And I do not know and I cannot say to you because scripture does not say it that every child dying in infancy is saved. Nor can I say that none dying in infancy are saved. But what we do believe is that there are elect infants and God is merciful as he is just. And as believers, we particularly have every ground of confidence, but as our children are covenant children, so if death should snatch them in early years, we rest in the assurance that they are the subjects of the work of Christ so far as we understand this from scripture. Now He works when and where and how He pleases. In contrast to our Baptist brethren who say, Ah, you must come to age of maturity before you can confess Christ as your Lord and Savior, we say that the Spirit of God works when and where and how He pleases and is able even to regenerate a child in the womb. if this is his sovereign purpose. So also are other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the word. Well, that is simply referring to people, for example, who suffer from serious mental deficiency. who cannot normally have the gospel presented to them, even in the simplest form, that they are sinners, that Christ is the Savior, that there is a judgment day, that God has made a provision for them through the death and sacrifice and substitution of His Son. They cannot understand this. And so the confession very beautifully reminds us that God has his elect people, even among these who are incapable of listening in the nursing home this afternoon to an exposition by our teaching elder Kevin Hall, who could not understand it. And we have people there in the nursing home in that way. It's beautiful to know that God is able to call them by other ways than His Word, since they don't understand it, but evidently by a work of the Spirit, regenerate them and call them to faith in Christ. Well, finally, and our time is gone, 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. Now, who are being described here? Well, I've no time in detail this evening to explain this passage, but I would exhort you to read the opening verses of Hebrews 6 that describes the condition of some who had heard the gospel, who had come into the Christian church, who showed many marks of what appeared to be regeneration, yet according to the writer, they are apostates. They never were in a condition of regeneracy, They never had been effectually called to faith in Christ. And I want to say to you that this section, in my opinion, is one of the most important sections in the Confession in dealing pastorally with conditions that we meet every day in the Christian church. in a day of pseudo evangelism. We're going to see more and more of this. People who have been called outwardly by the gospel. There is an outward call as well as an inward call. And it's possible to be outwardly called in the sense that you can see certain spiritual truths so clearly that you never saw before. You can taste of the powers of the world to come as it says in Hebrews 6. You can know that it's better to be godly than ungodly, righteous than unrighteous, to be among God's people than the people of the world, and yet you can do all of this without a change of heart, the outward call without the inward effectual call that has come through the Word and the Spirit. And it is a work of God's Spirit to illuminate the minds of such people, to bring them to a certain level of spiritual awareness. But that work has stopped short of the regeneration of their hearts. And these are the people within the church usually. who are being described here. They have received some common operations of the Spirit, yet have never truly come to Christ, 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. In a word, what the divines are saying is that there is only one way of salvation. It is through Christ and through him alone. I am the way, the truth, and the life No man comes to the Father except through me. All other religions at best are broken lights shining dimly in the darkness, unable to direct your feet safely in the pathway of life, and usually pointing in different directions from the direction that leads to the one Savior, that only name given among men, whereby we must be saved. And with sadness of heart, we have to say this today in an age of pluralism, in an age of ecumenism, that there is only one gospel message. There is only one Savior. There is only one path to becoming right with God. And that is through the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that he came to bring. Well, let's pray as we conclude this study. Our Father in heaven, we're thankful for these sections of the confession this evening and pray indeed that they may open our minds to understand the privileges that have come to us in Christ and open our hearts in compassion toward others who either follow a false gospel and a false religion or in some cases, while they are Christians, have not yet entered in to the uniqueness and the glory of the only gospel of God and understood the effectual call which alone leads to Christ. Father, hear us in this prayer. Bless us all as we part from one another in Jesus' name. Amen.