Doctrines of Grace: Effectual Calling

Driving home: Either we say there is something different in the people to whom the call comes which makes the difference, or there is something in the way in which the call comes to those who respond which differs from the way in whic…

Martin uses the analogy of a coroner's report to describe the universal spiritual deadness of all sinners, emphasizing that while external manifestations may differ, their underlying condition is the same.

The general call comes to all men indiscriminately. It finds all men in the same condition as we heard yesterday. When we pull the report out of the pocket of any sinner, the coroner's report, the physician's report, and then the summation and the autopsy, it's the same. The stink of death may be more strong in some than others.

1:12 - 1:37 Read in full sermon

Driving home: If we thought more biblical, we could drop the adjective irresistible, I mean, I'm sorry, effectual calling, for the very term call, if we thought biblically, would convey the whole concept of a call that actually effect…

This analogy illustrates irresistible grace: God doesn't save a sinner against his will (like a mother dragging a boy from candy to spinach), but changes his desires so he freely chooses what God offers (the boy now desires spinach over candy).

Now, just very briefly, I want to clear away two caricatures that are often found when one begins to discuss the aspects of grace that is irresistible. One is the caricature of the sinner saved against his will. It's the picture of a youngster who's just been deposited in an ice cream parlor, candy parlor, with three dollars in his pocket. He's ordered his banana split.

8:47 - 9:12 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section clarifies 'irresistible grace' and 'effectual calling' in light of man's spiritual inability. Martin defines effectual grace as overcoming natural resistance…

Martin mentions wearing out two copies of Professor Murray's 'Redemption Accomplished and Applied' to emphasize its value and his agreement with Murray's statement on perseverance and the Spirit's workings.

Professor Murray has a great statement on this in his chapter on perseverance in his book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied. This is my second copy. I just wore the other one out until it fell apart and this one's begun to fall apart. Can't commend it too highly.

12:24 - 12:37 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Here you see is a voice within a voice, an internal efficacy in the external sound without which the gospel makes no saving impression.

Martin quotes John Flavel to distinguish between the external, ministerial voice of Christ (preaching) and the internal, energetical voice of Christ (power), explaining that the external is merely an instrument for the internal, efficacious voice.

hears Christ. Now I'm going to read, use this terminology. I don't know what there is. I like some of this antiquated terminology. It just falls very softly upon my ears, so I'll pass it on to you. There is an internal, energetical voice of Christ consisting not in sound but in power and betwixt these two. There are two remarkable differences. One, the external or ministerial voice of Christ is but the organ or instrument of conveying His internal and efficacious voice to the soul. In the former, the external, He speaks to the ear and in or by that sound conveys His spiritual voice to the hear...

28:37 - 29:33 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Here you see is a voice within a voice, an internal efficacy in the external sound without which the gospel makes no saving impression.

Flavel's analogy of Jericho's walls falling at ram's horns is used to illustrate that the gospel's power to change hearts is far more marvelous than any external force, requiring an internal efficacy.

It was marvelous to see the walls of Jericho falling to the ground at the sound of the ram's horns. But there was certainly more than the force of an external blast to produce such an effect.

29:34 - 29:45 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that a salvation wholly of grace does not kill the nerve of evangelism, but rather fuels it, as God's mandate to preach is upon us.

Martin uses the metaphor of God's truth being 'knit' rather than 'woven' to illustrate the profound interrelatedness of doctrines; pulling one 'stitch' (like effectual call) will eventually unravel the entire fabric of biblical truth.

As I intimated earlier, there are many practical implications, great theological implications. Since all of the truth of God is of one fabric, and there's an interrelatedness of truth, a man who's not clear on calling won't be clear on the other doctrines. God's truth is not woven on a loom. It's knit. When you've got a piece of fabric that's woven on a loom, you can pull out threads and still have the substantial fabric before you. Something that's knit, I don't care where you pull a stitch, eventually you'll destroy the whole fabric.

38:52 - 39:24 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that a salvation wholly of grace does not kill the nerve of evangelism, but rather fuels it, as God's mandate to preach is upon us.

Martin quotes Harold Ockengay's assertion that 'the nerve of evangelism is a practical synergism' to highlight and refute the idea that a salvation wholly of grace kills evangelistic fervor.

Harold Ockengay, in a paper delivered at the World Congress of Evangelism in Berlin, made some of the most blatant statements that I've ever read. If I hadn't had them in writing before my own eyes, I'd have said somebody who didn't like him quoted him wrongly. He said in essence this, that the nerve of evangelism is a practical synergism. If we hold that in the impartation of spiritual life, God acts sovereignly and exclusively, and that man in that sense is morally passive, he says we kill the nerve of evangelism.

41:10 - 41:46 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that a salvation wholly of grace does not kill the nerve of evangelism, but rather fuels it, as God's mandate to preach is upon us.

Martin cites these historical figures as counter-examples to Ockengay's claim, arguing that their fervent evangelism demonstrates that a belief in sovereign grace does not kill, but rather fuels, evangelistic passion.

And he said, I'll go on record, I'm paraphrasing, as one who is committed to a practical synergism. Not only unscriptural, it's an unsound conclusion. Poor Whitfield. All his nerves of evangelism were killed, weren't they?

41:49 - 42:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Fall at God's feet and offer yourself as an unworthy instrument of mercy, knowing He uses redeemed servants to call out His precious ones.

The narrative of Paul being forbidden to preach in Asia and Bithynia, then receiving the vision of the Macedonian man, illustrates God's sovereign direction in evangelism, guiding His messenger to His elect.

The Lord has one of his sheep in a certain area of the great Roman Empire. And as the gospel is spreading out in ever-widening circles of influence, there's one of those sheep that he wants to bring to himself. Now the messenger of the gospel, who has general orders from the Lord that he's to bear witness to the Gentile world is out preaching. And as he surveys the situation, he feels, well, the next place I believe I ought to go is.

44:03 - 44:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Engage in prayerful, thorough, and scriptural evangelism, both in message and method, without running about in a helter-skelter flurry, trusting God's purposes will not be frustrated.

Martin recounts Paul's period in the wilderness, then in a church ministering to the Lord and fasting, to illustrate the importance of prayerful waiting, thorough preparation, and proving oneself before embarking on evangelistic endeavors.

Illustrations from the book of Acts, let me suggest that time won't permit working it out in detail. In Acts 9, you have the record of Paul's conversion, and his commission. He was going to be a minister to the Gentiles, and there was the Gentile world in the Stygian darkness of pagan night. What does Paul, what does God do? He shoves him off after a brief visit to give his testimony to his relatives down at Jerusalem. He shoves him off in the wilderness for a period of time. Then he sticks him down in a church where some men were further along than he to work on perfecting his gifts, to learn...

49:19 - 50:19 Read in full sermon

The point: Preach the whole counsel of God, engage in thorough evangelism, and establish sound, biblically oriented churches with true elders and deacons.

Martin shares an anecdote about a school head mocking missionaries who spent days in prayer during a revival, calculating how many souls 'could have been won' instead, to illustrate a shallow, man-centered theology of evangelism.

I shall never forget sitting in the chapel of a school that I attended on one occasion and the head of that school was belittling the reports that had come of a revival. In a certain mission field, where missionaries had been held in the grip of God for a period of two or three days, brokenness, getting the backlog of sin and the garbage of carnality cleared out and getting right with God and one another. And he was mocking this thing. He said, oh my prayer. Three days, four days in prayer. Do you know how many souls could have been won during that time? And he had calculated it that five thou...

52:03 - 52:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not be deceived by calls to be 'contemporary' by diluting the message; speak in the language of the man in the street, but maintain the integrity of the gospel.

Martin summarizes Paul's difficult time in Corinth and the Lord's comforting vision ('Be not afraid... I have much people in this city') to show how the doctrine of effectual calling provides a powerful deterrent to discouragement in ministry.

You see the example of this in Acts 18. I can only quickly summarize. Paul's having a rough time down in Corinth. And he had fears at times and he got disturbed.

54:12 - 54:21 Read in full sermon

The point: When God gives fruit, get on your face and own that you are nothing, giving all glory to Him.

Martin presents a scenario of two brothers praying and preaching fervently, but only one sees immediate fruit, to illustrate how the doctrine of effectual calling prevents jealousy and pride, as God alone gives the increase.

And lo and behold, you and your brother meet and gather to pray. God, revive the doctrines of your grace in our community. Congregations, very similar. Background, very similar. You pray earnestly. He prays earnestly. You preach fervently. He preaches fervently.

59:10 - 59:24 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Finally, the doctrine cuts off all pride and jealousy in the face of fruitfulness or lack thereof. Martin uses 1 Corinthians 3 to argue that God alone gives the increase, leaving…

Martin references John the Baptist's response to his disciples' jealousy over Jesus' growing ministry ('A man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven') as an example of humility rooted in this doctrine.

If you don't understand this doctrine and lay hold of it, you'll begin to burn with jealousy. They tried to get John the Baptist hung up that way. In John 3, they said, hey, John, everybody's going after Jesus.

59:53 - 60:05 Read in full sermon