Chapter eight. And I did forget to mention earlier that young adults and kids who haven't professed their faith publicly yet, when you hear those vows, it's something you should think about, professing your faith, about standing up here before God's people and saying yes to those commitment and vows. But right now we're gonna read Romans eight, verse 28 through 30. There is a handout for this sermon in the back if you want a handout outline, and we're making our way through the doctrines of grace. We've been talking about depravity and election, and now we're gonna talk about irresistible grace. Romans 8, verses 28 through 30. Let's pray a moment for God's blessing. Father, again, we turn to your precious and holy word, and we pray for your blessing upon the reading and preaching today. We pray that your Holy Spirit would be at work now, that we would hear the voice of Jesus in these words, and that we would respond with faith, with trust, with obedience. So we pray that you would bless us in Jesus' name. Amen. So Romans 8, verses 28 through 30. God's word says, and we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, And those whom he justified, he also glorified." God's word. If you own a dog or if you have owned a dog, I'm guessing for you probably one of the most frustrating things about it is when your dog runs away and doesn't come when you call. You probably know what I'm talking about. The dog is at the end of the driveway. You look right at your dog and you say to him, come here, boy. And he looks back at you and he runs away laughing. We've had that if you've had a dog and you get so frustrated because what you say doesn't do anything. You're so angry even that maybe you want to throw rocks at the dog and you say, fine, don't come back, stay away. Or if you're our neighbor, you say some other things that I won't repeat here. Our words, though, when you think about it, they're usually not powerful to change and affect things. You know, we can't speak and whatever we say happens. We don't have effective words like that. But God's word, his speech, his speech is powerful and effective and it actually changes things. We know that God has a powerful voice and words because he created all things by speaking. His voice affects things and they come to pass. And so today we're gonna learn about, in God's great plan of salvation for his people, there's something that we call effectual calling. It's God's gracious, powerful call that gives life and faith to a sinful person. That's the word call in Romans 8 that we just read. So a couple of weeks ago, we talked about John 10, and that Christ died for the sheep that the Father had given him. And then the question would be, well, how does the Lord bring those sheep to himself? Well, it's by this calling. Jesus calls the sheep, they hear his voice, and they come. It's effectual calling. So we're gonna talk about effectual calling a little bit today. It has to do with irresistible grace, which we'll mention a little bit more next week. But today we're just gonna talk about different aspects of this call from Romans 8, those verses we just read. Now I do wanna note, first of all, I'm not gonna go into it, we don't have time this morning, but there's a general call. You know, you use the word call, like in Isaiah 55, seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. So there's a general call to all people to trust in Jesus and turn from your sins. That's a general call. But today, I'm speaking about the effectual call, that call that actually works. And so, first of all, I just wanna talk about this from Romans 8. I mean, we're gonna stick with Romans 8, verse 28 through 30 most of the time. But let's think kind of broadly then about this effectual call. Romans 8, the text that we just read, there's logic to Paul's teaching here. The people that God knew ahead of time, those people that he loved before time, the elect, Those are the ones he predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ, it says here in Romans 8 verse 29. And then the logic is the ones that he predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ, those are the ones that he called and justified and glorified. So that's the logic of the effectual calling here. If you think of that term call, the elect are called by God and justified and glorified. You know, they get to heaven, you might say. And so maybe you've thought about Romans 8, verse 28 through 30. This is a beautiful text of scripture, and some theologians even call it the golden chain of salvation, the unbreakable chain of salvation, how God works out salvation in the lives of his people. And so think of the word calling here, specifically in verse 30, or he called. Sometimes in the Bible, call means like you name something, you shall call his name Jesus. It doesn't mean that here, right? It doesn't fit. Those whom he named, he also justified, that doesn't work. Sometimes in the Bible, calling means like appeal to or entreat, like call on the name of the Lord. That meaning doesn't fit here in Romans 8 verse 30. The meaning here is this is an effective call to faith. Those whom he predestined, he also called to faith. Effectively, it's a call that gives spiritual life. I'm reading the story of a Mormon missionary, actually, who converted to Christianity. And he was, like Dad said, on the principles of Mormonism, right? They were just embedded in his bones because he grew up in the Mormon church. And he became a missionary when he was 18, and he met this Baptist pastor who actually shared the gospel with him and told him about faith alone. We're saved just by faith only. And that teaching, that word from that Baptist pastor left a mark on this Mormon man's heart. And later the Mormon became a Christian and he left the cult. That was an effective call. Those whom God has called, he also justified. That's kind of a real life example of what Paul is talking about in Romans eight. So that's been an effectual call, call to faith, call to salvation, kind of generally, broadly. But think about God's plan here. Okay, so God has this great plan of salvation for his people. We've been talking about this in election. And so if you do a deep dive into Romans 8, verses 28 through 30, you can kind of see this big picture plan of God's working of salvation for his people. We don't have all the details here. God is God. He doesn't give us all the details of election and calling and such. But we have enough here to understand something about God's great plan for us. So first of all, this text that we just read teaches that God has a chosen people he knew ahead of time. Those whom he foreknew, it says there in verse 29. And foreknew is not just know about, but know in an intimate way. You can even translate it foreloved. Those whom he loved before time. It's just like what Paul says in Ephesians 1. In love, we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. So that's God's big plan, right? He has a chosen people that he knew ahead of time. And those are the ones, it says in Romans 8, verse 29 and 30, that he predestined to be conformed to Christ. The ones that he chose, he will conform them to Christ. That's what Paul is teaching here, big picture. And then we also know that those whom he chose, not only will they be conformed to Christ, but in time they will be called and justified and glorified. That's God's big picture plan for the sheep, his elect. And Jesus teaches the same thing. We went over it in John 10. Of course, there's harmony in scripture. Jesus and Paul teach the same thing. In John 10, Jesus said, the good shepherd lays down his life to give eternal life to all the ones that the Father had given him, his sheep. They hear his voice and they come. They're justified and glorified, given eternal life. So if you compare and study Paul and Jesus' teaching of, you know, election and effectual calling, it's the same thing. because Paul got his teaching from Christ. So if you think about this big picture here, again, it's not too hard to see a big picture in Romans 8, verses 28 through 30, but you can see God's sovereignty in salvation here. There are no loose ends in God's plan of salvation for his people. There are no hypotheticals. It's not like God mostly has it planned out. He's got most of it, you know, kind of under control, planned out, but there's a little bit of contingency. But from start to finish, we read here, God has a definite plan to redeem his elect in Christ. And all things work together for the good of those who love him, because God's in control. It's all mapped out by God. And we're called according to his purpose, Paul teaches in verse 28. So once again, this is a deep and awesome truth to meditate on. These verses are some that you should just go home and read and even memorize. you can't find any uncertainties in God's plan of salvation. He's got it planned out and it will come to pass. I think in my view, you've got to like misinterpret or tweak Paul's teaching here to deny God's sovereign plan in election and salvation. Paul did not say some whom God predestined are called. He did not say some who are called will be justified and some of those will be glorified. I'm not sure. But it's planned out and mapped out by God. His plans will definitely come to pass for his people. It's in his sovereign hand and control. And I think sometimes this is, well, most of the time, this is hard for us to wrap our minds around, plans actually coming to pass, We make plans all the time, don't we? I mean, maybe if you have Saturday off of work, on Monday, you're planning on Saturday to go for a boat ride or biking or something like that, and you kind of plan the whole day. And all week long, you're looking forward to Saturday where you can do these great plans that you have. And then sure enough, you wake up on Saturday morning and it's raining. and your whole day is kind of scrapped because it ruins your plans, and sometimes you maybe even get grumpy. And that's just a reminder, we have to say God willing when we make our plans, because our plans don't always come to pass. Sometimes we have to change them. But it's not that way with God. His plans, His decrees always come to pass perfectly as He has decreed them. It just happens as He says it. So it kind of goes this way, when God made his plan and decree, he didn't say man-willing, because he's God, he's sovereign, and what he decrees come to pass. That's why in the prophets you read, I have purposed, I'll do it. I will accomplish all my purpose. No one can stop God's hand. That's a big, deep thought, that God's plans and decrees always come to pass exactly as he decreed and planned them. Sometimes Christians even kind of struggle with that. Maybe you've wrestled with that, that everything God plans and decrees comes to pass. Well, does that make our choices irrelevant? Can we just live however we want because God has a great plan and it's going to happen no matter what? That's not how we should think. When we think about God's big plan of salvation, including calling, remember, first of all, that God has means and methods to accomplish his purposes. Things happen or things that happen in life matter because God uses things that happen in life to carry out his plan. So life matters, choices matter. But also there is mystery here. That's another thing you got to think about. If you've wrestled with this fact that God has decreed all things that come to pass, including the order of salvation, you're not going to be able to fully understand it because you're not God. Because I'm not God. We talked about that before. We're finite humans. We can't even understand all the ways of things going on in the world. How much less can we understand the mind of God? So we have to submit to the mystery here. And we also then have to learn to bow humbly before the sovereignty of God. God decrees everything that comes to pass, including this great plan of salvation for his people, including calling that we're talking about today. And even when we can't understand that then, We just bow to the sovereignty of God. And remember what Paul taught elsewhere in Romans that we went over. He's the potter, we're the clay. He's sovereign, we bow to his sovereignty. But another thing, we'll get into this a little bit more in just a few moments, but there's good comfort here for Christians. God's plans and decrees will come to pass. And because of that, because God is sovereign to carry out his great plan of salvation for us, that's why verse 28 is such a golden text for Christians. Those who love God, all things work together for them. Whatever happens in your life as a Christian, God has it under control, he's planned it, he's decreed it, and it all happens for your good. Because he's sovereign. So if God wasn't sovereign, if this text, if you twist this text to teach that God doesn't have everything purposed and planned out, then you'd have to cross verse 28 out. Well, he's not sovereign. He can't make everything that happens turn to my good. He wants to. He tries to make everything work out to my good, but because he's sovereign, he can't. There's no comfort in that. And that's not even a God worth serving. But thankfully, God is sovereign and his purposes and plans will come to pass. And we can trust that he will work out everything for our good because he's sovereign. Okay, so that's kind of this big picture view of God's plan of salvation, including calling. Those whom he chose, those whom he predestined, he calls. He calls to faith in time. So you can think of it kind of, if you want to think of it in temporal terms, before the foundation of the world, God chose a people in Christ, Ephesians 1 says, and in time, in history, in God's timing, he calls those people to himself, to salvation and faith. That's effectual calling. So I wanna think a little bit more about the nature of this effective call. What is this call like? I know I've said it's a call to faith, it's a call to salvation, but think about the term effectual. We use that term in Reformed theology on purpose. It's a call that works. It's effective. If you have some kind of a sickness, and the doctor gives you a medicine, and you feel better in a couple days, you say, that was a very effective medicine. I'm feeling really good. And so this call is effective. And you can even see that in the text. Those whom he predestined, he also called, and the ones he called, he also justified, and were justified by faith. So you know that this calling means that person gets faith and believes. It's a call to faith. It's a call that brings a person out of darkness into God's marvelous light, the Bible teaches. Or in 1 Corinthians 1, God has called you into the fellowship of his son. Because when Jesus speaks, his sheep hear his voice, they come and they follow him. And it's this powerful voice of Christ, this divine summons that renews our hearts, that enlightens our minds and wills, and enables us to follow Jesus. It's effective that way. Remember when Jesus called his disciples in Mark 1? We went over this text a few months back. Jesus called James and John and others, and they left their net to follow Christ. They heard the shepherd's voice, and his call effectively brought them into his flock. That's the effective call. Sometimes he calls his people when they're very young, even in the womb. And sometimes he calls them later in life, but it's the same effective call that brings a person out of darkness into light and makes them willing and able and ready to follow Christ. So it's effective. But when we think about this effectual call, as it has to do with especially irresistible grace, we say it's a gracious call. Does the Bible teach that God calls people to salvation because they've earned it? No. It's not like God, you know, it's not like Paul is teaching here that God sees people who are really being spiritual and really working hard at being good and moral, and he calls those people who are trying hard. That's not what the Bible teaches. We already learned that all have sinned. There is none righteous. So when we talk about this calling, it's an effective call that God places upon sinners and changes their hearts and gives them life. So it's gracious. They don't deserve it. And 2 Timothy 1, Paul told this to Timothy, he says, God saved us and called us, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. It's very clear in the Bible, 2 Timothy 1, he called us and saved us, not because of our good works, but because of his grace and his own purpose. So that's why we say this effectual call is a gracious call. And Paul himself, who wrote Romans 8, remember he was the chief of sinners, he said, because he was persecuting Christians and trying to put Christians in prison and even have them killed sometime. And in Galatians 1, Paul says, he called me by his grace. Paul didn't deserve to be called out of darkness into life, but God is gracious and he calls sinners and gives them new life. And so it kind of goes with election and atonement, doesn't it? He chose some sinful people to salvation, Christ died for those sinful people, and in time he calls them to new life and faith. So this should keep us humble. If you're a follower of Jesus, if you're a Christian, we don't take credit for coming to Jesus. I can't brag and say, you know what, I was living a pretty good life, and I was trying really hard to obey God, and because he saw that I was working hard, he called me, and I'm thankful that I'm so moral. We don't think that way. But I think God has called me to salvation and faith, not because I'm so good, but because he's so gracious. It keeps us humble and focused on God's grace. Now one other aspect of this call, and this is awesome, is that God's effective call is unchangeable or immutable. And you can kind of see that in the logic of Romans 8 verse 30. Those whom he called, he justified. Those whom he justified, he glorified. He won't unelect his people that he elected. He won't uncall his people and unjustify them. But this is a golden, unbreakable chain of salvation. The ones he predestined and called and justified, he will glorify them. He will not uncall those whom he has called to faith. That's why later you can read in Romans 11, the calling of God is irrevocable. So let's just stop. Let's do some application here. Okay, you're a Christian. You've been called to salvation. God has shown light into your heart and given you faith, and now you're a believer. and you know from scripture then that God will never uncall you and the call will never change. How does that affect you? Well, when I think of it, it gives me great security and comfort and relief. God in love has chosen me, he has given Christ to die for me, he has called me out of darkness into light, and that will never change. What a great comfort. And that's why Paul says right before this in Romans 8 that nothing will separate me from the love of God and nothing will happen that will make him uncall me or change this effect of call. So that gives me a lot of comfort in a Christian life, deep comfort. You know, if you study Romans 8, the verses that we were looking at, you have to understand as a Christian, you could literally not be more secure I mean, your salvation is written in the plan of God, and nothing can change that. It gives you comfort, security. But one thing that this does, too, is when you think about your security through this great plan of salvation, it should kill legalism. You know what legalism is. Some Christians are leaning towards legalism, or they are legalists, and they're very big rule keepers, and they're always focused on the law. They follow the laws in the Bible very strictly. Plus they have their own kind of interpretation of those laws and their own other laws. And so some legalistic people actually think that their obedience will help secure their standing before God. They think, I read my Bible every day. I don't do all those bad things like the other people at work. I only buy clothes from Christian companies and my doctrine is really solid. Man, I'm pretty secure in that. That's like a legalist security. But there's other kind of legalistic people too that think if they don't keep all the rules, then they're a failure and their security decreases. There's kind of two sides to legalism. It's both are ugly. So this person who thinks that if they don't keep all the rules, they're a failure and they're insecure. They think this, if I, or I didn't read the Bible last week, I didn't bring a meal to the Smiths when their kid was in the hospital. I haven't shared the gospel with my neighbor yet, and I feel rotten like a bad Christian, and I'm very insecure in my faith." Both are legalists because they think it's their performance that gives them security. But then you stop and think about this beautiful teaching of God's calling and his great purpose and plan of salvation for his people, and you remember that you're already as secure as possible. that God's choice, He chose you, He sent Christ to die for you, He's called you, and He will never uncall you, and He will glorify you, and you're secure, so you can't get more secure by keeping all the rules. And when you try to do that, it just messes everything up, so stop. But also, on the other hand, you can't lose your security by not keeping all the rules, because you're already secure in God's plan. So don't beat yourself up when you can't keep all those legalistic rules, just stop on that whole treadmill. Remember, just submit this in your mind to give you comfort and security. He who calls you will glorify you. He who calls you, he will not uncall you, he will glorify you. You can rest in that and throw away your legalism. All right, there's more things I could say about this calling, but one more I want to emphasize here is that this effectual call that Paul talks about in Romans 8 here that we're reading is a holy calling or a call to holiness. 1 Thessalonians 4 says, God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness. So it's true, we were not chosen because we are holy. We were not called because we're holy, but we're chosen and called so that we might become holy. We're called to holiness. Conformed to the image of Christ is how Paul puts it in our verses. Or like the Apostle Peter said, he who called you is holy, so you too be holy. So yes, we have been effectually and unchangeably called by God's grace, and that should kill legalism, but it doesn't make us antinomians, and we can just live however we want, and disobey God's law and not care, because we know we've been called to holiness. And so think about it this way, when God effectively calls someone, he gives them a new heart, he renews their minds and wills, gives them the ability to believe and to obey, at least in the beginning. So these people who are called, you'll see the beginning of faith and obedience in them and maturity in that, because it's that kind of a calling. And so then that comes in our own life as Christians. So for me, I think I've been renewed by God's grace. You know, He's called me out of darkness into light, and now I want to live a holy life to thank Him. I don't want to go back into the darkness that he called me out of. I don't want to go back into the evil that he called me out of. I want to use this life that he's called me into to please him and obey him out of gratitude. And so that's what Paul is saying in Ephesians 4 when he tells us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. That's what you think as a Christian, of course. This is part of my identity. I'm called by God. What a great identity, called by God. Think of yourself that way as a Christian. I'm called by God to holiness, and that's how I'll live. I'm gonna be who God calls me to be by his grace and for his glory. And one thing about this too, you can fight temptation with that thought. Called by God. You as a Christian have been called by God, so next time a temptation comes your way, you think, no, no, he's called me to holiness. Not to this evil. So I'm gonna say no to that evil because I'm called to holiness and I'm gonna please God by avoiding that evil. Your identity as called by God should help you fight temptation. And you can think about some more things like that too. Well, so anyway, in conclusion then, the nature of this call, it's effective, it works, it brings sinners into new life and gives them faith. It's gracious. We don't deserve it, we don't earn it, but God graciously calls sinners out of darkness. It's unchangeable. God will not uncall those whom he's called, and it's a call to holiness, a call unto holiness. So just, I'll end by reminding you what I said at the beginning, that God's word is powerful and effective, isn't it? By his word, he created the world, light out of darkness. And by his word, he creates new hearts and lives. He shines the light of Christ in people's hearts. So, number one, if you're not a Christian today, I mean, this is something that you can think about, that God's voice is powerful. And if you have a darkness in your heart, God could call you out of that darkness and give you light, pray for that. Or if you know someone who's not a Christian, maybe you are a Christian and you've been telling someone about Jesus for so long and you think, well, that's hopeless. No, it's not. God's voice is powerful enough to change the hardest heart and soften it and give it new life. Keep praying, trust in God. And if you have been called like this, or if you know you've been effectually called and are a follower of Christ, live a life of praise to him. Pray, thank you, Lord, for this call, and thank you for the promise that those whom you call, you will bring to glory. We can rest in that truth. Let's pray.