Doctrines of Grace: Effectual Calling

The Problem: Why Do Only Some Heed the Universal Call?

0:03 On Tuesday morning, I sought to set before you the scriptural warrant for what we called at that time a sincere and universal call or invitation to faith in Jesus Christ. We considered the biblical evidence that such a call is warranted, that such a call is indeed based upon the command of God, the expressed desire of God, and the adequate provision of God on behalf of sinners.

0:37 However, the teaching of scripture confirmed by human experience is that only some heed that call and embrace the gospel offer. In fact, both scripture and human experience confirm that relatively few of those who hear the universal call do indeed embrace the gospel offer. Embrace it as it is given. Now, the question to which we address ourselves today is simply this.

1:08 Why? Why?

1:12 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.

1:38 The open sores may run with a bit more pus in some than others.

1:45 But nonetheless, they're all in the same condition. And yet as that gospel comes, some embrace it. The blindness goes.

1:57 The deafness goes.

2:00 And life is imparted. Why? And in answer to that question, it's ultimately resolved by one of two. Ways.

2:11 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 which the call comes to those who do not respond. We're right back to the basic issue that theologically we crystallize in the words monergism or synergism. Either the answer lies in something different in the activity of the God who sends the call or in the creature who receives the call, who makes them to differ. Now this is not an impractical subject. I perhaps can already read the thinking of some of you, oh, here we go again. Back to ultimate causes.

3:06 Back to reason. Why can't we just be simple Christians, preach the gospel, some believe, some don't believe and get on with the job. All this impractical theological reasoning. Well, nothing more practical than this issue has great practical implications.

3:26 Great practical implications in terms of our concept of the God who issues the call. Great practical implications to the one who responds to the call. Great practical implications in terms of the instrument through whom the call has come.

Clarifying Terms and Clearing Caricatures

3:43 Great implications. And so on. So I want you to gird up the loins of your mind and to think with me very seriously on this subject and the manner in which we're going to try to think our way through the subject is as follows. First of all, we're going to clarify and delineate our terms.

4:01 Secondly, clear away some caricatures and misunderstandings and then consider some biblical data and in the last place draw some practical conclusions from that data. First of all, then a clarification of terms. My part in this conference for this morning was announced as irresistible grace. What does that term mean?

4:26 We hear the term effectual call. What does that mean? We heard yesterday morning that the state of all men to whom the gospel comes is one of blindness, ignorance, death, rebellion. They are bound.

4:40 They can't even get to the remedy. That's the saddest state to be in. To be in a place where you can't help yourself. And to be in such bad shape, you can't even get to the remedy by yourself.

4:51 No man can come to me. He's the remedy. But he says you can't even get to the remedy except the Father draws.

4:58 If such people are to embrace the gospel, they must be given sight in place of their blindness, light in place of their ignorance, light in room instead of death and there must be a state of submission of the will in place of that rebellion. They must be released from bondage that they might embrace. This is the offered mercy. This indisposition of the heart and the will and the affections, this disinclination must be overcome and conquered.

5:30 Now the same grace that was operative in the design of salvation and in the objective provision of salvation is the grace that is operative in the application of salvation. Now we've heard much in the conference by inference, direct statements, of the grace that is operative in the application of salvation. the sovereignty of the design of God in salvation. That encompasses the words predestination, election, foreknowledge.

5:59 We heard so graphically last night and in past nights the objective provision of God. God set forth His Son of propitiation. He did it, uncoerced, freely out of the infinite love of His own heart. And I submit that Scripture teaches with equal authority that the same God who acts sovereignly in the intent and planning of salvation, in the objective provision of salvation, acts sovereignly in its application so that the blessings of redemption are actually conferred upon and appropriated by those for whom it was purchased in keeping with the eternal purpose of the Father. So you have a tradition. Permanentarian salvation. The Father purposing, the Son purchasing, and the Spirit applying with power.

6:57 Now the moment we move into that third realm of redemption applied, having considered its purpose and purchase, when we get into the realm of its application, then we confront such terms as irresistible grace, effectual calling, regeneration, and then the outworking of those in conversion, repentance, and faith, progressive sanctification, and these other biblical doctrines. And that grace, then, which actually applies redemption, overcoming in men all of that natural resistance that is found in them when the gospel comes, that grace is an irresistible grace. It disposes men to freely embrace the Savior and thereby to enter into the blessings of their purchased salvation. Now what we're going to do this morning is to focus upon one major aspect of that general theme of irresistible grace, namely the doctrine of calling. 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 effects something. It is more than a summons or invitation.

8:24 It effects a change in the one to whom it comes. So we're narrowing down the field. We're taking a sub-point under the general theme of irresistible grace, which would include the matter of regeneration, and we're focusing upon the issue of calling. So much, then, for a clarification or delineation of our terms.

8:47 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.

9:13 He's at the counter picking out his candy, and all of a sudden his mother comes in and grabs him by the back of the neck and the seat of the britches and hauls him out. And sits him down at a table spread with spinach and half-cooked liver and says, Now, eat.

9:32 The term irresistible lends itself somewhat to this caricature.

9:39 No, what God does is what a mother would do if she had the power is so operate upon the judgment of that boy regarding ice cream as opposed to spinach and liver in terms of its nutritive value and so operate upon his taste buds so that when she said, Johnny, you're in the ice cream and candy parlor, but we've got liver and spinach at home, that he says, Wonderful! And he runs away from his ice cream and candy and sits down and devours his spinach and his liver.

10:11 Now, that's the doctrine of irresistible grace, you see. That God effects a change in the mind and affections, the spiritual taste buds,

10:22 so that we gladly come to that which he has spread at his table. This is brought out, of course, very clearly in the confessional statements and the catechetical statements on what effectual calling is. The little phrase occurs so that they come most freely and willingly being made so by his grace. And then the second caricature is that if we talk about irresistible grace, we conjure up the idea that there is no form of resistance whatever to any of the overtures of grace and the strivings of the Spirit.

10:57 And immediately, if we know our Bibles, we think of verses like Acts 7.51. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do ye.

11:10 We read in the Old Testament, they vexed his spirit. We read in Hebrews 6 of those who tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come.

11:22 Some say, well, where then is your irresistible grace? Well, we're not saying that there are not mighty, powerful, at times, operations of the Holy Spirit which are resisted by men who ultimately perish or, in case of those who are effectually called, strivings of the Spirit that are resisted for a period of time, months sometimes, even years.

11:48 No, Scripture teaches that there may be deep and powerful workings of the Holy Spirit that fall short of that irresistible grace that brings men unto salvation, particularly in times of revival, when it's as though there are geographical effusions of the Holy Spirit and people come into certain geographical areas and they are gripped with an awesome sense of the presence of God. And the conscience is made sensitive and it's as though the day of judgment is drawn near and they tremble at the thought of having to stand before such a God.

12:24 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.

12:38 And he has a great statement on this fact in dealing with the subject of perseverance. No, we are not saying that there are not certain operations of the Holy Spirit which may not be resisted. So much then for a delineation of our terms, a clearing away of the caricatures. Now let's come to the core of our study, the consideration of the biblical data on effectual calling.

Biblical Data: The Two Senses of 'Call'

13:00 Now the word call, and its derivatives, is used in two general senses in the New Testament. There is a general usage which breaks down again into two definite categories. The word call is sometimes used as a synonym for designate. Thou shalt call his name Jesus.

13:22 His name shall be called Emmanuel. He shall be designated. Sometimes it simply means to summons. Herod called.

13:32 The wise men. Matthew 2, 7. Matthew 25, 14. A master called his own servants.

13:39 Well, it's obvious that when we're talking about the application of redemption to men, we're not thinking of the usage of the word call in its general sense. Then there is the second great category of its usage, where it has reference to the offers of grace and mercy through the gospel. And here again, the word breaks down into two usages. The first one, is only found in two, possibly three texts in the New Testament.

14:07 It is by far the infrequent use, the exceptional use. And in those cases, it means a mere summoning, a mere inviting of men to the provisions of the gospel through the preaching of the truth of God. It's this sense in which the word seems to be used in that well-known parable of the marriage feast found in Matthew, Matthew 22, and again in Luke 14. And you will notice in Matthew 22, verses 3 and 8, And he sent forth his servants to call, there's the word, call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not come.

14:49 Verse 8, Then said he to his servants, the wedding is ready, but they that were bidden, same word in the original, they that were called were not worthy. Here were people called, invited, to the marriage feast, but they did not come. This call was an invitation, sincere, yes, indiscriminate, yes, but a call that was ignored, resisted, and despised. It may be in this sense that the word is used in Matthew 22, 14, many are called, invited, summoned, but few are chosen.

15:30 Now when you've exhausted those passages, you've exhausted those passages, you've exhausted this very limited sense of the word call. And the moment you come to the epistles, I believe it's accurate to say, without exception, this word, when it's referring to that call related to the preaching of the gospel and the application of redemption, never means to simply summon, to simply invite, but it always means that call which actually translates to the call which actually translates to the call which actually translates to the call which actually translates to the call which actually translates to the call which actually translates to the call which actually translates sinners from darkness to light and ushers them into the fellowship of Jesus Christ.

Biblical Data: The Special, Effectual Call

16:14 Now, that's the focus of our study for the bulk of our time that remains before I come to application. That special call to his own. We've looked at the text which deal with the general invitation, now the special call to his own. Now, how will we study the many verses?

16:32 Well, we're going to make several general observations and then a specific analysis of the use of this word. Several general observations. In the first place, we notice that this term call or called becomes one of those distinguishing titles of the people of God. The term holy ones, the sanctified ones, became a term by which the apostle often identified the people of God.

17:02 He writes to the saints that are at Ephesus or to the saints at Corinth. Well, this word called became a word, a peculiar descriptive word of the people of God. You will notice this in Jude verse 1. As Jude sits down to write concerning this common salvation, he addresses his letter to these who are designated in the following way.

17:30 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, the brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. The called ones are paralleled with the sanctified and preserved ones. Well, you see, if you weaken the word to mean mere invitation, you've got everyone who's ever been invited sanctified and preserved.

18:01 Universalism, at least as far as the preaching of the gospel has extended, can't mean simply summoned. It means those who've actually been translated out of darkness into the kingdom of light, brought into union with Christ. It's in that sense that we find it used in Revelation 17 and verse 14. One of these days I'm going to preach a sermon on that description of a Christian, one of the most comprehensive descriptions anywhere in the Word of God.

18:31 Revelation 17, 14. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that are with Him are called and chosen and faithful. And here you have calling tied together with chosen and faithful. They are the called ones.

18:56 Why are they called? Because God chose them. Well, how do you know God chose them and they're called? They persevered.

19:01 They're faithful. And there you have the whole compass of salvation brought together.

19:07 One of the descriptive titles of the people of God is the called. And then, of course, that classic text in the 8th chapter of Romans with which all of us are familiar. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, then He also called. Well, if you stop there, the word might possibly mean summoned, because anyone who's predestinated before He actually comes into life, He's got to be summoned.

19:33 But you have problems when you continue on. Moreover, whom He called, then He also justified. This calling always issues in a conferral of the blessings of grace. So you can't use the term invite as a synonym.

19:50 It just absolutely breaks down in the light of the rest of the biblical revelation. Whom He did predestinate, then He also invited. And whom He invited, He justified. No, those whom He actually brought into vital union with His Son were justified.

20:05 And whom He justified, He glorified. So we may, and I'm, I'm using now the definition given by Professor Murray in dealing with this subject, conceive of this call as, an act of God whereby sinners are translated from darkness to light and ushered into the fellowship of Christ. An act of God whereby sinners are translated, not just invited and summoned, but translated from darkness to light and ushered into the fellowship of Christ. So much then for these general observations as to the weight and intent of the word.

The Author, Means, Results, and Source of the Effectual Call

20:46 Now let's consider a specific analysis of this call by simply taking verses in which it finds and seeing what it tells us about the various aspects of the call. In the first place, who is the author of this call? And Scripture answers with clarity, God the Father.

21:07 Turn to 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 9. 1 Corinthians, 1 and verse 9. God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And here the Father and the Son are set in distinction so that it's the Father who initiates the calling which results in this vital union with and fellowship with the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

21:47 We find essentially the same thought in 2 Timothy 1 verses 8 and 9. Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling. Well, who is the who? Well, if we just look back to verse 8, I quoted a part of verse 9.

22:04 We have the answer. 2 Timothy 1 and verse 8. Be not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me as prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Of God who hath saved us and called us.

22:21 So again, the author of this call is God the Father. And then in the text we quoted earlier, Romans 8.30, the same God the Father who foreknows and predestinates, Paul says, whom he predestinated, them he also called. Now you say, what difference does it make?

22:42 Well, if God's revealed that he is the author of this call, again, it must be significant that he has revealed that. And may I suggest two things that flow out of this. He is telling us, first of all, the sovereignty of the call. It is God's work to call.

23:00 We no more call ourselves than we elect ourselves, purchase ourselves, regenerate ourselves, justify or adopt ourselves. God is saying to us that the work of redemption is just as sovereign in application as it was in provision and in determination.

23:22 It's God who calls us. And then in a special sense, he lets us know that it's the Father. It's the activity of this particular person of the Godhead in order that we might not think that, well, God's involvement in salvation was very active in eternity when he was the peculiar agent of foreknowing and electing. He chose, he chose us. And the Son was the peculiar person through whom redemption was purchased. And now the Spirit applies it with power as though the Father sort of drifts off into the shades. Oh no. Right here in initiating the application, the Father is active in initiating the call. And I quote now

24:11 from Professor Murray in Redemption Accomplished and Applied. It is God the Father who is the specific agent in the effectual call. We think of the Father as the person of the Trinity who planned, etc., thoughts that I've just conveyed to you. But we fail to discern other emphases of Scripture and we do dishonor to the Father when we think of him simply as planning salvation and redemption. The Father is not far removed from the effectuation of that which he designed in his eternal counsel and accomplished in the death of his Son. He comes into the most intimate relation to his people in the application of redemption by being the specific and particular actor in the inception of such application.

25:05 We're more or less cursed in our evangelical circles with a Jesus-only cultism, whereas the way to biblical evidence in the New Testament is that biblical Christianity is a Christocentric but vigorous theism. We come to the Father by the Son. He is able to save all who come unto God by him. In that sense, you see, the motions of our heart in love and worship do not merely terminate upon the Son, but they mediate through the Son to the Father.

25:45 And this will help check that tendency if we remember, are we one of the cold ones? It's not merely because the Father chose us. He chose us in eternity, and the Son purchased in time, and the Spirit is powerfully wrought in my heart. But the Father was there, as it were, anxiously concerned that that work be initiated, that would open my blinded eyes and unstop my deafened ears, and bring me out of darkness into marvelous light. So much then for the author or originator of the call God the Father. Now, what is the means by which the call comes? And I would suggest that Scripture teaches it's the gospel of God's salvation in Christ. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, please. 2 Thessalonians

26:34 chapter 2.

26:37 And if from here on in I don't turn to the references, please don't misunderstand. It's not that I'm afraid to have you actually looking and checking, but I've looked at my watch and I want to be a realist, and I feel I want to get through this material. So please understand that if I quote the verses and just give the reference and don't take time to turn to them from here on in. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13 and 14.

27:00 We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Where unto? Here are the privileges that He has designed for us, and He's called us to them by our gospel. Where unto He called you by, through the instrumentality of our gospel.

27:35 As the general call comes with its universal overtures, it's in the midst of that general pronouncement that that special activity of the Father is initiated which actually brings men out of darkness into light and union with Jesus Christ. But the gospel must come but to some it comes not in word only, as Paul says, but it comes also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance and something happens to them and ye became. Ye became. Flavel has a great statement on this and I just will read a paragraph from volume 4 of his recently reprinted works. He says there is the external voice of Christ, there is the internal. The external voice of Christ we may call His ministerial voice in the preaching of the gospel. The scriptures are His word, ministers are His mouth. He that hears them

28:37 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 heart. Secondly, the external voice is ever more ineffectual and successful. When it is not animated by that internal spiritual voice. And then He gives an analogy.

29:34 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.

29:47 But more marvelous it is to see at the sound of the gospel not only the weapons of iniquity falling out of sinners' hands but the very enmity itself falling out of the hands of the hearts. We will not allow this concept for we turn to a verse like Romans 16.13 and we find the apostles' concept of election is very particular. For here He's not just calling a church elect, but notice Romans 16.13 Salute Rufus shows falling out of their hearts. Here you see is a voice within a voice, an internal efficacy in the external sound without which the gospel makes no saving impression. By what means does this effectual call of God come through the general call? He called you by the preaching of our gospel. Having then considered

30:56 who is the author of the call, the Father, the means of this call, the gospel of His Son, let's address ourselves to the question what are the results of this call? And scripture sets before us, three basic results. First of all, the immediate effect of that call is fellowship or union with Christ. 1 Corinthians 1.9 God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The issue of that call is holiness of life. He hath saved us and called us with an holy calling. Second Timothy 1 and verse 9. Romans 1 and verse

31:42 6. Called to be saints. 1 Thessalonians 4 7. He hath called us not in uncleanness but unto holiness.

31:52 1 Peter 2.9. He hath called us out of darkness into light that we should show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. So it effects immediately fellowship or union with Christ. It issues in holiness and it will culminate in glory hereafter. For whom He called He justified and whom He justified He glorifies. Romans 8.30 and 1 Peter 5.10.

32:25 Peter calls or designates God as the God who hath called us unto His eternal kingdom and glory. But the God of grace who hath called us unto the His eternal glory by Christ Jesus. So this is the result of that call. Effecting fellowship with Christ. Issuing in holiness. Culminating in glory. God the author. The gospel the means. These results.

32:57 And then we ask the question well what's the source of this call? From whence does all of this flow? Oh yes from God. His person. But what is there in the heart of God that would move Him to make such a call to do more than just summon men? That He should summon men is an act of infinite condescension and grace. But we should actually seize upon some and bring them to embrace the summons. And scripture answers the question of the source of the call.

33:27 It is eternal purpose rooted in the springs of grace and focused in electing love. It is a call of grace. Galatians 1. 15. But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His summoning. It's a call of grace. It's a call of eternal purpose. Romans 8.28.

34:00 Even to them who are the called according to purpose. The His is supplied. It's in italics in our Bibles. It's a calling according to purpose. And that purpose then immediately flows on and suggests to Paul moreover whom he did predestinate. Then he also called. 2 Timothy 1.9 states essentially the same thing. He hath saved us and called us not according to our works but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And then it is a call that focuses upon or issues in this electing love of God. 2 Thessalonians 2.13 God be thanked that He hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Then He goes on

34:52 to say and He called you by our gospel but the calling was consistent with the electing love and purpose. We saw that in Revelation 17.14. Those that are with Him are called.

35:04 Why called? Because chosen. And the issue of it in experience. They are faithful. We see it stated differently in the words of our Lord. John 6.37 All that the Father giveth me in the covenant between the Father and the Son as the doctor spoke of it last night and you read much of it in the old writers. There was this gift or grant of a people to the Son and of that people Jesus says all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. There is the effectual call. There is the grace that is irresistible. Well suppose there is blindness, deafness, bondage, indifference, indisposition standing between the sinner and Christ. The Lord says all of that must be swept away for all that He gives to me shall come.

35:56 Well suppose there are thousands of miles between one of those given and the nearest gospel preacher. I'll get the word to him. All that the Father giveth shall come. And whatever stands between an elect sinner and a gracious Savior, God will overcome. Whether the obstacle is within his own sinful disposition, whether the obstacles are there in natural surroundings, whatever they be, all that are given shall come. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And when the one who says that says I have all power in every realm heaven and in earth and over every sphere, whether the obstacles are moral, spiritual, physical, natural, national, international,

36:47 he controls all of us. Isn't that what he precisely meant when he said in John 17, you've given me authority over all flesh. To what end? That I should give eternal life to all whom you gave me. That then in brief compass is the teaching of scripture on effectual calling. I would suggest for an interesting study that you go through 1 Corinthians 1 and trace the way the apostle ties together these thoughts. He says in verse 18 that the gospel is the power of God. Preaching of the cross is the instrument God has used to bring salvation.

37:34 Some are saved, some are lost. To those who are lost, it's foolishness. To those who are saved, the power of God. Then he goes down in verse 21 and says it becomes the power of God to those who believe.

37:45 And then someone asks the question, but who are those that believe? And in verse 24 he introduces the word calling. For as you see, you're calling brethren. Well, who are the called?

37:53 And then he traces it back beginning in verse 26 to election. He hath chosen. So he moves from the fact that we see continually. Some believe, some don't believe.

38:04 Well, who are the ones who believe? The called. Who are the called? The chosen.

38:08 And what should this issue in? He says, verse 30 and 31, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus. It is God's activity. Beginning in election.

38:20 Coming to life in your experience. In your effectual call. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, him that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now, in the time that remains, will you think with me in trying to work out some of the implications of this doctrine that we've just briefly surveyed?

Practical Implications: The Nerve of Evangelism

38:52 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.

39:27 And you pull the stitch of effectual call and make it something less than this, and eventually you'll undo the fabric of the biblical teaching of the design of the atonement, the terrible state of man, the eternal purpose of the Father. You're not clear on the state of man and God's electing grace, and pull the stitch there, eventually you'll pull the stitch of effectual call and all the rest. There is a great interrelatedness of truth.

39:53 You come at any one of these doctrines, and you end up tracing them backward to the others or forward to the others. Why? Because God made it that way. And I'd like to work out some of the theological implications, but we can't do it. Great implications to the individual saint of God.

40:10 Do you bow down to a shrine of free grace or free will?

40:16 In essence, that's to ask, do you truly bow down and worship the Lord or in some degree yourself? Great implications for the church, but I want to limit my application of the implications of the doctrine to the realm that is very real to all of us here, that of evangelism and the propagation of the gospel. The theme of the doctor's closing message is going to be the subject of evangelism. I want to relate it to that subject. What practical implications does this doctrine of effectual call, which comes under the general canopy of that grace which is irresistible, what implication does it have upon our methodology and the content of our evangelism? I want to suggest four things. Number one, it slays the objection that a salvation holy of grace kills the nerve of evangelism.

41:10 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.

41:49 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?

42:04 God give us some dead nerves. Poor Edwards. Poor Carey. Poor Brainerd.

42:16 If his nerves of evangelism were dead, and he knew what it was to lay in the snow and weep and pray until the snow melted around him, what would he have done if he only had some living nerves of evangelistic passion?

42:35 No.

42:37 This doctrine sways the objection that a salvation holy of grace kills the nerve of evangelism. Why? Because acknowledging the sovereign God who chose man's and the sovereign God who sent his son to purchase a people, that same God is ordained to call them out by the preaching of the gospel, and his mandate is upon me. I must preach.

43:01 Woe is me if I preach not because of the poor God theology. If I don't preach, poor God will be frustrated. If I don't preach, poor me.

43:15 Who am I to do anything but fall at his feet? And say, here, Lord, take this unworthy wretch, faltering, stumbling lips,

43:29 and make this instrument an instrument of mercy. For you've chosen to call out the precious of your heart through the fumbling mumblings of the lips of your redeemed servants. Kill the nerve of evangelism? No. That is the nerve of evangelism. Illustrated in scripture, alright, and I want to do this in each case from the best book on evangelism, the book of the Acts. Acts 16.

44:03 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.

44:31 And he starts to go in that direction and listen to what God did. In Acts 16, we read verse 6, now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. He said, alright, we'll go down to this next place. And when they came to Mysia, they assayed, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the spirit suffered them not. This gives me great comfort that Paul didn't bat a thousand in this matter of guidance. And if he didn't, I ought not to feel that I'm going to or be disappointed when I don't. As he used his rational faculties in the light of the general commission of God and the circumstances, he said, this looks like the door. And when he began to push on it, God slammed it shut and said, no, not there.

45:19 So what does Paul do? He said, go out in a flurry, in a frenzy and say, oh, those souls are going to hell without me. I've got it. No, no. Apparently he said, alright, Lord, I'll wait for my next orders and goes to bed. And in the middle of the night, he gets a vision. And he sees a man amassed in Macedonia, praying, apparently from his dress and his countenance and the rest. Paul recognized him as a Greek, a Macedonian. And the man says, come over and help us. Now, I can't help but interject this in the light of all the foolishness that goes on in the name of Christ today. He didn't say, come over and preach to us. He said, come over and help us. Now, what conclusion did Paul and his companions draw from that? When you look at verse 10, and after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to reconcile alienated brethren, the social ills of Macedonia, to penetrate the structures of society. No, sir. When he saw a man saying, come and help us, he said, we concluded one thing.

46:24 The best help we can give and the help God's commissioned us to give will come through declaring a message. So we immediately essayed to go forth, assured that the Lord had called us for to preach, to preach the gospel unto them.

46:47 That's their idea of evangelism and all this other business is nothing but a lot of religious garbage. And God help us if we get brainwashed like a lot of evangelicals into trying to parrot that kind of terminology.

47:03 We have no social consciousness in all of this business. You preach a gospel that Paul preached under the power of the Holy Ghost that changes men, there'll be a social consciousness which is simply in the individual Christian's life, an expression of the second table of the law.

47:24 Now, why did God do all of this? Well, verse 14 tells us, and a certain woman named Lydia, seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God heard us, whose heart the Lord opened that she attended to the things that were spoken of Paul. God had a Lydia down here in that region, and he had a preacher up here.

47:48 He had chosen her in eternity. And when the Son of God, died of a broken heart, Lydia was in his heart. But the call had to come through the message. And God got the messenger to that elect sinner, and effectually called her by his grace.

Practical Implications: Encouragement for Thorough Evangelism

48:14 Cut the nerve of evangelism? That is the nerve of evangelism. Secondly, this biblical doctrine forms the basis of and gives encouragement to prayerful, thorough, and scriptural evangelism, both in message and in method. Some of you are taking notes. I want to repeat that. I have carefully chosen my words. This doctrine forms the basis of and gives encouragement to prayerful, thorough, and scriptural evangelism, both in message and in method. If it's the call of God rooted in eternal purpose, if Jesus said, I must bring them, then I don't need to run about in this helter-skelter, flurry of dust kind of activity, feeling that if I don't do something quickly, no matter how shallowly, somehow God's purposes will be frustrated.

49:19 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 how to get along with other people, to learn how to be a follower so that he earns the right and privilege of being a leader. And then one day, Scripture records, that this man called to minister to heathen in the terrible darkness of paganism is not even teaching Christians to help them, not even witnessing to the lost to try to save them, but it says they're ministering to the Lord and fasting.

50:21 That's a waste of time. Isn't there a Roman world to be conquered for the gospel of Christ? Shouldn't we have a committee meeting on the latest methods we can use in order to get this job done? Ministering to the Lord and fasting.

50:35 In a context of careful preparation and proving himself and then the Holy Ghost says separate Saul and Barnabas to the work we're on to at call. There it is. All in that chapter. Prayerful waiting upon God for direction.

50:54 It's my own conviction that Paul and these others were praying and fasting in terms of that commission, asking the Lord precisely when and where. But they weren't going to move until they got directions. He was the head of the church. He had his sheep.

51:11 He would call them. Therefore they could afford to wait prayerfully. And then when they go out to evangelize, what do they do? Take a minimal structure of truth and spread it amongst the maximum amount of people in a minimum amount of time, not on your life. He says, I preach the whole counsel of God. Eighteen months at Corinth, three plus years at Ephesus. Thorough evangelism. And then he goes back periodically and visits all the churches to see that sound, biblically oriented, structured churches are established with true elders and deacons.

51:52 It sounds so contrary to so much of the missionary and evangelistic endeavor of our day. Why? Because the theology that undergirds it is rotten to the core.

52:03 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 thousand souls could have been won by the X number of missionaries. I heard it with my own ears.

52:53 What's behind that? I'll tell you what's behind it.

52:56 No understanding of this doctrine and of the doctrines which are integrally tied to it.

Practical Implications: Deterrent to Discouragement

53:04 Third implication, it provides a powerful deterrent to discouragement in the difficult circumstances of ministry. What are we going to do when we preach and pray and no fruit comes? Ah, listen. Know what we're tempted to do?

53:17 Find a new method. The message. Make it a little rounder so it'll slip through a little easier.

53:29 Fulfilling demands of the naked embrace of saving faith.

53:36 The moral implications of faith that it involves the subduing of the heart to Christ as Lord as well as the resting of the heart on Him in faith.

53:51 You know, just tear that away. Dreamline it. We've got to have fruit. No, no, listen.

53:56 I'll not be wiser than God if He's given me a message and a method and He'll call His sheep according to that message and method. I can keep praying on, preaching on. No fruit. God will give it in His own time.

54:12 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.

54:23 And how does the Lord comfort him? Verse 9 of 18 of Acts and then spake the Lord to Paul in that night by a vision. Be not afraid.

54:33 Your message, to make it a little more vulnerable to the intellectual in Corinth. You can't talk to them. About these jagged, antiquated, Old Testament Jewish terms of justification and all the rest. Make your message contemporary.

54:50 Not on your life.

54:53 Men, brethren, I plead with you. Don't be deceived by all stuff that comes at us. We've got to be contemporary and all the rest. Sure, we've got to talk in the language of the man in the street. Any man in his right mind does that.

55:06 You don't talk to China men in Arabic.

55:11 Love will make you accommodate your speech. To the level of your people. I wouldn't talk to ten-year-olds with the vocabulary I use with you. That's common sense. I don't need a PhD in communications to tell me that. The Lord comes to him and what does he say? Speak and hold not thy peace. I'm with you, if you know that.

55:41 Who can be against you? And I have much people in this city. Paul, I'm not done calling out my sheep here. It might look like I am. Not much fruit the past few days and weeks. I've still got many more to call out. So what does he do? Look at the next verse.

55:57 And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God. How is God going to call his sheep? By the teaching and preaching of the pure Word of God from a pure prayerful life. And if he won't use that, then they won't come.

56:17 And we refuse to budge from the centrality of preaching from the platform of a holy life. Oh yes, preaching with literature, books, oh yes, but communicating a message. This is our task. What a deterrent to discouragement.

56:33 I saw something in studying this in our Lord's life that I never saw before in Matthew 11, just this morning. Here he's seen the unbelief of those cities where he's preached in Matthew 11. And he upraised them because of their unbelief. That'd be discouraging.

56:48 Perform miracles and people still don't believe. What is his comfort? It says, at that season, verse 25, he's prayed, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You have hid these things, and the wise and prudent revealed them unto babes. For even so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. Then he goes on to say that all things are delivered unto me of my Father. No man knoweth the Father save the Son. No man knoweth the Son save the Father, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal.

57:21 He comforts himself in this doctrine, and what does it lead to? What's the next verse? Come unto me, all ye that live. See the unbelief. You're preaching, pouring out your heart. What am I going to do? Quit! No, Lord.

57:35 You have your own. You'll reveal yourself to them in your way, in your time, so you come from that place of aloneness with God, thinking of this glorious truth, and once again you're encouraged to stand and say, come, come. Lord, you have them out there, and when it pleases yourself, you'll reveal yourself to them. Great deterrent to discouragement.

Practical Implications: Cutting Off Pride and Jealousy

57:58 And then my last interpretation is this. It cuts with the sword of great power and great sharpness all pride and jealousy in the face of fruitfulness.

58:14 Some men are ruined by lack of fruitfulness. More are ruined by apparent fruitfulness. But if you believe this doctrine, there's no room for pride if you're the instrument of fruitfulness, or jealousy if your brother's the instrument. Why?

58:28 1 Corinthians 3.

58:30 Who is he that planted? What? Water. God said he's a cypher.

58:35 So then, neither is he that planted anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the ignorance. So the Lord is pleased to call home some of his sheep, and what do you do? Begin to say, well, you know, I kind of thought maybe I was preaching better recently. I kind of thought that maybe my outlines were a little clearer, my illustrations a little more lively.

59:01 No, when God gives you fruit, that's just a reminder you're nothing. Get on your face and own it. Get on your face and own it. Get on your face and own it.

59:07 Get on your face and own it. Get on your face and own it. Get on your face and own it. Get on your face and own it.

59:07 Get on your face and own it. Get on your face and own it.

59:10 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.

59:24 You seek to preach clearly. He preaches clearly. Lo and behold, you get together that next Monday morning, and his eyes well up with tears. He says, oh, brother, God answered prayer Sunday. In the middle of my sermon, I looked out, and there was that old hardened sinner, tears coming down his face. And Monday night, one of my young people came and said they didn't sleep much last night. The pressure of God was upon them. They're seeking mercy.

59:48 You didn't have that happen to you Sunday. What are you going to do?

59:53 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.

60:09 Is that what they said? He's baptizing over there. Everybody, he's going after him. How does John answer? A man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven. If God was pleased to give me a period of fruitfulness, he gave it. He can withdraw.

60:31 Well, the chairman is looking at me.

60:36 I do trust that God will burn these truths into our hearts, and that we'll feel the power of their implication in our lives and in our ministries.