Ephesians chapter two, and we're
going to read from verse one. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
ye are saved. and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. This is the fourth study in the
series that we have been having on the doctrines of grace. Now, the doctrines of grace are
summarised for us, cleverly or otherwise, perhaps helpfully,
with a little mnemonic which has to do with a flower, a tulip. And we've spoken about this in
the past, how that these doctrines which flowed out of the Reformation
time and out of the studies that were made into the scriptures
at that time, the recovery of some of these great doctrines
from the darkness of the medieval church and the Roman church of
that age, and the recovery of gospel doctrine at the time of
the Reformation in Europe. And these doctrines were brought
together by preachers and teachers of that age and that time. And
in due course, they were summarized. And this little acrostic, this
little mnemonic called tulip is used to teach us something
of these reformation truths or what is sometimes called Calvinism. But it's the doctrine of grace,
Calvinism after that. French teacher John Calvin. The T in the tulip stands for
total depravity or total inability of men and women to save themselves
because of the fall and because of the sin and the nature of
sin which is in our lives. The U speaks about unconditional
election. The fact that God has chosen
a people for himself, made that choice in his eternal purpose. and has decreed that he will
save that people for himself. He has elected them, he has chosen
them and the unconditional part of that choice means that he
has done so without reference to any quality or ability or
attribute in the individual themselves. So he didn't choose them because
they had good work. So he didn't choose them because
they had more love for God than somebody else. He didn't choose
them because they were better than other people. He chose them
entirely according to his own good purpose. He chose them because
he loved them. And he loved them particularly
and peculiarly out of the fallen mass of humanity. All those that came from that
headship of Adam who were fallen, who were by nature sinners. God chose a people out of that
fallen race. that fallen Adamic race to be
his own and he chose them unto salvation. That's what we mean
by unconditional election. The third little letter that
we had and we thought about this last week was limited atonement
or particular redemption, but we need the limited atonement
for the benefit of the little mnemonic. So limited atonement
speaks to us about the fact that there is a limitation as to the
extent of those for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died. He didn't
die for everybody. He didn't take everybody's sins
onto his shoulders on the cross, but rather he died for those
that God had chosen out of the fallen people of this world. He died for those that God had
committed into his care and keeping in what we sometimes call the
everlasting covenant of peace or the covenant of grace. And
this agreement between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
as to how this plan of salvation would work and how it would outflow
to the benefit of these chosen sinners, required that the Lord
Jesus Christ take responsibility for those chosen individuals
and that he go to the cross and substitute himself for them. Take their sins upon his shoulders
and die for them. Shed his blood to cleanse them. Not everyone. Not to take every
sin away because then God would be guilty of charging sins upon
Christ and sins upon the unrepentant sinner or else we would have
to end up in some sort of universalism where everybody is saved regardless
of what they do and how they live in this world. Well, that's
just not the Bible teaching. And so we see the T-U-L of these
doctrines beginning to form before us in this little mnemonic, this
little phrase tulip. So last Sunday, having spoken
about limited atonement, we reminded ourselves that that was consistent
with the purpose of God, or what is called in scripture, according
to election. That the death of Christ and
the extent of the death of Christ, the people that were saved by
the blood of Christ was according to the elective purpose of God. And it is God's purpose, to save
that people and to glorify His Son in the saving of that people. In John 6, verse 38, we saw that
this was well understood by the Son of God, by our Lord Jesus
Christ, when He came into the world, because there He speaks,
John 6, 38, and He says, for I came down from heaven, not
to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. So
He came to accomplish the will of the Father. which was, according
to the election of grace, to save those that had been chosen
by God and committed into the care and safekeeping of Christ. I came down from heaven, not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me, I should lose none, I should lose nothing.
So here is the will of God, as it were, being accomplished by
the work of Christ. And when we speak about Christ
achieving and accomplishing that purpose which he was sent to
do, it is in this particular redemption, in this limited way,
as far as the mass of humanity is concerned. So as sure as God
willed the salvation of his elect, Christ secured and accomplished
their salvation on the cross. And today we're going to see
how that is applied to the lives of individuals out of Adam's
race in this world. Because these things having been
accomplished, having been planned by God in eternity, having been
accomplished by Christ in time, now have to be applied to the
lives of individuals. And that's what is the subject
of our eye today. The I in tulip stands for irresistible
grace. Irresistible grace. So we have
total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement,
and irresistible grace. And just in case you're the kind
of person that gets impatient next week. The Lord will speak
about P, which is the perseverance of the saints, and that'll bring
these five little studies to their conclusion. we have irresistible
grace and we are going to see how the grace of God or the purpose
of God and the atonement, the redemption of the Lord Jesus
Christ upon the cross is applied to individuals, people like you
and me. And this this item, this part
of the study, is useful to remind us that all three persons of
the Godhead, the triune God, is at work in this plan of salvation. So we've seen the Father's choice,
we've seen the Son's redemptive work, the atonement, and now
we see the Holy Spirit taking the benefits of Christ's accomplishments
and applying them variously, personally, individually, to
men and women. So here we have irresistible
grace, by which means a calling is made, and we call that an
effectual calling, and a new birth is established in the lives
of individuals. So this little phrase, irresistible
grace, is accomplished or is made to be effective by this
call of God the Holy Spirit. And we've been thinking a little
bit about the power of God already this morning. And here we see
the power of God at work in this individual way, in this personal
way in the lives of men and women. And we call it an effectual call. And that word effectual just
means that it has effect. It does, it accomplishes the
work. So when the Holy Spirit makes
a call and he calls an individual to himself, that call is effectual
because God is called. And that's where we get back
to this subject of the shalls and the wills. I shall, says
God, And you will, because God has power. God has authority. God has at his disposal the omnipotence
of his eternal being. And when God says something shall
happen, it will happen. Now, the alternative to that
is that man's will is greater than God's will. And that's what
many people tell us today. Many people tell us that, oh
no, man has free will to do what he wants to do. Well, listen,
my friend, you can come up with any arguments you like as to
why man should have free will, but as far as I can see, the
immensity of God, the glory of God, the omnipotence of God,
the omniscience of God, the mass characteristics of our eternal
God's attributes, compared to the little tiny individual that
each of us are personally on the face of this one little world
in this mass creation that God has put in place. You're not
going to tell me that that little individual's will has greater
power than the will of the Almighty God. And that's exactly what
people preach. in our churches today. They say,
oh no, God won't overthrow man's will. Man has free will to do
what he wants to do. Well, you might think you have,
but do you remember what we spoke about last week about the heart
of man being deceitful and desperately wicked? Who can know it? It is
out of that deception that men claim their own free will. And
they're deceived by their own wicked nature to imagine that
they have the ability to choose for themselves how they want
to do things. The effectual call is God's call
which brings His chosen people to Himself. And it is effected
through the experience of God's grace. And that's why we call
it irresistible grace, because it is the effectual call for
individuals to experience the grace of God. And to that extent,
it is irresistible, because God will have his way. Now, we speak
about a number of calls in the Bible. There's a call of duty. There's a call to separation.
There's a call to service. There's a gospel call that goes
out in the preaching of the gospel. But the effectual call is a special
call. It's an internal call. All these
other calls you hear with your ears, all these other calls are
made through the reading of scripture or the declaration of the gospel
or the preaching of a minister and a pastor. But the effectual
call is a secret call, a silent call, an internal call, a call
that happens deep in the soul of an individual. It's imperceptible. Not one of us here today, though
we may have been Christians for many years, have any idea where
and when that effectual call was made in our lives. And yet,
it happened because God the Holy Spirit was at work bringing an
ability, bringing an enabling, bringing a power to bear in the
souls of dead sinners in order to bring new life and a new creation
and a new birth into existence on behalf of that individual.
1st Colossians chapter 1 and verse 23 says, We preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness,
or the Gentiles foolishness, but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom
of God. So you see that we preach Christ
crucified. That's what a preacher does.
He preaches Christ crucified. And the world thinks, I can't
understand that. I'm not interested in that. I
don't want to know anything about that. It finds it a stumbling
block or it finds it foolishness. But the apostle says, but unto
them that are called. unto them that have had that
effectual call in their heart. These are the ones who find the
gospel that is preached in the general call, in the audible
call. They find that gospel to be meaningful
in their hearts, to answer the questions that they have, and
they find it to be the wisdom of God unto salvation. And by this means of the effectual
call, all who are called effectually by the Holy Spirit, are brought
into that relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ upon hearing
the general call and the preaching of the gospel. John 6 verse 37
says, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. So here
we see this continuity, this consistency in the work of the
triune God. As God the Father calls, God
the Son redeems and atones for the sins of those who are the
elect of God, and God the Holy Spirit brings that effectual
call, that irresistible grace, into the heart and life of individuals. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. All the Father giveth me shall
come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out. See that's the shalls and the
wills again right there. That's the shalls of God. This
is the shall of God. I shall, you will. And it's a sure thing. It's not
founded upon man's will, but it's founded upon God's will.
It's not founded upon man's will because he will not, because
he would not, because he cannot, because that's the nature of
our fallen state. Remember the T in total depravity?
That's where we're sunk. That's what our condition is.
There is no desire in the heart of man. There is no ability in
the heart of man until this effectual call, this new birth, this new
life is implanted by God powerfully. Some people find the term irresistible
problematic. as though God calls a sinner
against his will and drags him to faith when he doesn't want
to go. Well, that's half true. That's
half true. God does call sinners against
their will because nobody's willing to hear. That's why it has to
be a powerful, irresistible call. But he won't grab your hair and
pull you into the family of God. He doesn't beat you up in order
to do that. He woos you. He woos you. He shows you Christ. He shows
you grace. He shows you yourself. He shows
you in the preaching of the gospel that there is a way of salvation
for those who are lost in their sins and those who are apart
from Christ going to hell. And he reveals that there is
a gospel message whereby the eternal God has chosen a people,
redeemed that people, and is bringing that people to himself
through the preaching of the gospel. And suddenly the gospel
appears as a door, as a door of escape, as a way of escape. And in that gospel and in that
door, Christ is evident, Christ is seen. And the Lord Jesus Christ
is seen as the way of escape for sinners who are made aware
of their dire condition and the need that they have to be redeemed
and forgiven and brought into that peaceful relationship, that
reconciliation with God. In our fallen nature, we don't
want God, so God has to make us willing, and that he does
through the preaching of the gospel. He shows us in the gospel,
having changed our approach to that, having made us sensitive
to our need and our condition, he shows us in the gospel that
way of escape, which is Christ, and he makes man willing to hear
the truth and he makes him desirous of receiving that truth and he
makes the Lord Jesus Christ the most desirable lover that we
could ever have. The call of God is not frustrated
by the will of man or else no one would ever be saved. In this
effect you'll call, it is the spirit that is active and man
is passive in this initial work of grace in the soul. That's
why we sometimes speak of it as being a secret work. And Paul
tells us in Ephesians 2 verse 1, you hath he quickened, that
means to make alive, you hath he quickened who were dead in
trespasses and in sins. Well that's irresistible grace.
Right there, you hath he quickened. You have been made alive. That
new birth isn't our conversion. It's that work of God the Holy
Spirit preceding our conversion. The conversion happens when we
hear the gospel. The conversion happens when that
call goes out. The general call of the gospel.
The gospel that is coming to all men that we preach. We preach
to all men. Listen, I wish this church were
full this morning. I wish, well, apart from the
social distancing, right? Okay. That notwithstanding, I
wish it was full. I wish these seats were all full
of people. who longed to hear the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who valued the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, because God the Holy Spirit had given them a
hunger after righteousness and a thirst after righteousness,
had made them desirous of knowing something of forgiveness and
reconciliation with God, showed them what that Philippian jailer
saw when he drew his sword and was about to destroy himself
and tumble down into the jaws of hell. And then to hear the
words, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And what does a man do when he hears that? I'll tell you what
a son of Adam does when he hears that. He says, I'm not interested.
Believe in Jesus? Come on, I've got more important
things to do with my life. But the one who has had that
effectual call says, tell me about this Jesus. I want to know
more about this, Jesus. I want to know more about this
way of salvation. It's not about me. It's not about
the preacher. To the extent that any preacher
stands in front of the Lord Jesus Christ, he has failed in his
task. But to the extent that he can show sinners the Lord
Jesus Christ, that's his purpose. That's his message. God doesn't try to save sinners. And he doesn't hope that they
will be saved. He effects salvation by instilling
a desire into the heart and to the soul of a sinner by which
they must have Christ. Sirs, we would see Jesus. Lift him up before us and we
will follow him. And the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't
offer salvation. He doesn't offer salvation and
wait to see who amongst the sin-hardened children of men will find his
offer acceptable. That's just nonsense. God saves
sinners by the application of efficacious grace. And salvation
is God's work, the triune God. And it's a work of covenant purpose.
The Father has chosen whom he willed to save, and he has sent
the Lord Jesus Christ to die for the sins of those people,
to accomplish their redemption, to accomplish their atonement
by his substitutionary sacrifice on their behalf before the Holy
God. That is why we are told that
there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus. That Christ is the only way of
escape. That Christ is the only way of
salvation. And any individual upon the face
of this globe, any individual who has ever lived, must come
to God by Christ. And can only come to God by Christ. having been first touched by
that effectual call to that new birth and that new life, ye hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins. He applies by the work of the
Holy Spirit that irresistible grace to achieve the purpose
of God, the I shall of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let me just think briefly about the language of grace for a moment
and show you this, if I may, in one or two verses. The language
of grace speaks about the way in which God accomplishes his
will. And it shows us how the Holy
Spirit would have us understand the power of God's grace, God's
irresistible grace. Scripture speaks of salvation
as the new birth. Remember the Lord Jesus Christ
spoke to Nicodemus about the new birth. He said, you must
be born again in John chapter 3 verse 7. And he uses the example
of a natural birth. And we're all familiar with a
natural birth. It's a process in which the newly
born is completely passive. The little baby, I have a new grandson in Australia
and he just was born. week or so ago, and he's just
lovely. There he is, he's just lovely,
and he's all wrapped up in his swaddle, and there he is, and
he can't do nothing for himself. He can't do anything for himself. He has to be weighted on hand
and foot, and he's got some loving parents that are happy to do
that, for which I'm very grateful, because I'm a long way away.
but he can't do anything for himself. So if he can't do anything
for himself as a newborn, what could he do for himself before
he was born? What did he have to do with respect
to his conception? There was nothing in this baby
in which he had any say in the matter at all. He has been brought
into the world because of the will of somebody else. And that new birth is a beautiful
example of the way in which God, the Holy Spirit, brings an individual
into the experience of grace. You must be born again. Spiritually that new birth is
not your will and it's not your work, it's God who wills and
works and it's the sovereign irresistible act of God's will
and purpose. And scripture speaks about salvation
as a new creation. And the same applies again. Creation
is an act of God. Creation is an act of God. We
see that. Genesis speaks to us about everything
being created by the Lord Jesus Christ out of nothing. And he has created all things
for his own pleasure. And amongst the things that are
amongst the all things are the saints that he creates from amongst
sinners, who are created anew and who are by the will of God,
by the purpose of God, made anew in the Lord Jesus Christ, made
a new creation so that the Lord Jesus creates us unto himself. For any man who is in Christ,
any woman who is in Christ is a new creation. And Jesus Christ
is the sole creator of all things. And so the Holy Spirit would
have us know that we can no more resist grace than Adam could
resist the breath of life in the garden of Eden. God formed
him out of clay and he breathed the breath of life into him.
Adam didn't ask for that breath of life and he didn't resist
that breath of life. He just breathed and life was
created by God. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ does in the new creation also. And the Bible tells us
about the resurrection from the dead. It's another picture that
is given, it's another word picture that is given with respect to
this grace that is irresistible. And the picture of death, it
moves us beyond this idea of someone who is merely sick, or
someone who can decide that they're going to take the medication
or not. or someone that is deformed or incapacitated in some way
and is therefore restricted about what they're able to do. They
can do something, but they can't do much. You see, there are so
many permutations of gospel preaching that says natural man in his
fallen condition can do something, but he can't do much. And then
all of the errors of man's free will teaching is how much he
can do and how much he can't. Well, let me tell you what the
Bible says. He's dead. He's dead. And he can't do anything. And he needs a resurrection.
And that's what the Holy Spirit does. He raises the dead. The Bible tells us about resurrection.
And he's speaking about the way in which the dry bones in Ezekiel's
valley of vision, as that Breath of life as that wind of life
blows over them, they rise up and it's a picture of this new
life, this new birth from the dead. Or the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking at Lazarus' tomb. Life from the dead reinforces
that picture of irresistible grace. And so the Holy Spirit
has chosen the words. He's chosen the words of birth
and creation and resurrection to describe the effects of this
grace and to demonstrate that grace accomplishes the purpose
unaided and unhindered by man. Now there are some objections
to irresistible grace. It would be foolish to think
that there wouldn't be amongst natural men and women. But some
say that it means that men and women will be saved against their
will. Well, we've already touched upon
that, but that's quite contrary to the truth. No one is ever
saved against their will. God makes them willing to be
saved. He makes them, he puts a desire,
a hunger and a thirst into their souls by which they clamour after
salvation. They crave peace with God because
they've seen their true nature and they've seen their heart.
And by showing us, by convicting us of our sin, the Holy Spirit
allows the sinner to see the evil state of their heart. And
he sparks within the sinner that desire to find a better way. And that sinner may not know
that way. He may be wandering around. He
may be wandering around looking for the way of salvation. And guilty sinners long for freedom. They long for freedom from condemnation. They long for cleansing in the
blood of Jesus Christ. And whether they know it or not,
they long for fellowship with God the Holy Spirit. and they
desire to be converted. We go thinking that we're having
to construct a message, we're having to be clever with our
vocabulary, we're gonna have to have a good illustration in
order to convey this message and get this message across so
that people will hear it and understand it and maybe accept
it. Listen, I'll tell you what. Those
whom the Holy Spirit has touched are like parched earth out there. And when the gospel is poured
out, they just soak it in. That's irresistible grace. And that doesn't mean that we've
got to be flippant or thoughtless about the way in which we bring
our message. The message must be prepared. It must be honest. It must be true. It must be sincere.
And it must be conveyed with a certain clarity and desire
to honour God in its declaration. But we don't have to convince
men against their will. That's the Holy Spirit's job
and he's well capable of doing it. No, God doesn't convince people
who don't want to be convinced. They are allowed to continue
in their ignorance all the way to a lost eternity. But God brings
that quickened sinner, sensitive of his lost state, into that
experience of grace. He sees himself as a lost sheep,
as a prodigal son, as a storm-tossed ship in a wild sea. If you ask anybody who is a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, if they are sorry that they were
ever saved, you'll hear them saying, oh no, oh no, I didn't
want salvation, but I am so pleased I've got it. That's the testimony
of the Lord's people. No one is saved against their
will. And some argue that irresistible grace makes the preaching of
the gospel redundant. Well, we've kind of dealt with
that too. If God is going to save an individual, then he will
renew, recreate, he will bring that resurrection into the soul
of the individual, and then the preacher brings the message.
And that message is, it's a privilege that God has committed into the
hands of his church, into the experience of men in that church
to be preachers of the gospel. But this is the work of the Holy
Spirit to create in man a new spirit. And once that spirit
is created, then the gospel is the teaching, it is the leading,
it is the Information, it is the wisdom by which we see and
lay hold upon the work of the Lord Jesus Christ by that faith
which has been implanted in us by the divine spark of the Holy
Spirit. And again, that's quite contrary
to Scripture. Some people say, well, irresistible
grace opposes the free will of man. Yes. That's that point finished with.
Yes, it does. Yes, it does. Fallen man. hasn't really got
free will at all. It's only free to be disobedient. It's only free to flow and run
and hasten as far from God as it possibly can to indulge its
own passions. He's enslaved to sin. Martin
Luther wrote a book many years ago called The Bondage of the
Will. And if people were just in any
way aware of doctrine and theology and the history of the church,
they would know that talking about free will as if it's an
accepted, obvious, universally agreed subject, it just is not. There's not a Confession of faith
by any of the historical churches that believe that. This is a
modern innovation. Free will is a modern innovation. And if it's all you've ever heard
in churches, it's because churches have lost any sense of their
history and their identity and their heritage in the gospel. Salvation is a gift from God.
And there will be attacks on this doctrine of irresistible
grace. I'm not going to go into them
at the moment because we've kind of mentioned one or two of them
in the past, but things like the teaching of common grace,
which is now very prevalent in our churches, whereby they say
that God's grace is common for everyone. I'm very happy to say
that God reigns and sends his sunshine upon men and women,
whether they are elect or whether they are reprobate. But don't
tell me, don't tell me that God's grace is common to all men. I'll accept providences are common
to all men. I'll accept mercies are common
to all men. I'll accept goodness is common
to all men. But don't tell me about common
grace. Grace is particular and it comes to the elect alone. We have to define our terms and
don't speak to me about free offers of grace. Don't tell me
that that God desires everybody to be saved. and he is sending
out his gospel call in the hope that everybody will be saved
although he hasn't actually effected salvation for everyone. I'm not
prepared to accept such notions and these may be hot buttons
as far as some people is concerned and it may put me in a certain
box and category as far as some people are concerned but bring
it on. We'll take that on the chin because this is not acceptable
teaching. The fee offer implicitly declares
that God does not achieve what he wills. Well, we're not having
that. The I shall is you will. And what God wills, God will
have. The gospel does not accomplish.
If the gospel does not accomplish, for unto it is sent, then it's
not. the real gospel of power that the Apostle Paul speaks
about to the Romans. Now, God's preachers, God's prophets,
they know better. Isaiah could say in 55 verse
11, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth.
It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that
which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto
I sent it. Wherever common grace is held
and taught, wherever the free offer is held and taught, it
will result in the dilution of the preaching of sovereign grace. And you might have a man that
is able to bob and weave and twist and turn and try and show
how you can hold these two things in tension, how you can hold
these two things in parallel without doing damage to either
one. But you let that guy get out of the pulpit and somebody
else get in and you've got Arminianism. That's all that'll happen. the
free will of man will take precedence in that pulpit and in the future. We've seen it, it's the mark
of history, it's the testimony of once faithful churches. His
irresistible grace is a central pillar of God's saving purpose
and despite the debilitating presence of sin in the lives
of men and women, not one of the elect, chosen by God and
for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died, will fail to be saved because
God the Holy Spirit will irresistibly bring and apply that grace to
the hearts of men and women. The blood of Christ will not
fail for it will cleanse to the uttermost those who have been
committed into his care. God accomplishes this great salvation
by the irresistible application of his sovereign grace and in
so doing the three persons of the Godhead work in complete
unanimity to accomplish in perfect harmony the salvation of the
chosen people of God. I have over the past couple of
weeks given you a number of verses And I was going to put these
verses onto the website and then people will have them. But since
this is recorded and since people might be hearing these verses
from a long way away and far, far away, I'm going to just read
you some verses now. So I'm going to take an extra
couple of minutes at the end of the sermon to read those verses
just so that we have them recorded as part of the sermon. So if
you'll just be patient with me, here we are. With respect to
the effectual call, we've spoken about that. Here are some verses
that I've not mentioned which give us biblical support. 1 Corinthians
1, verse 23. We preach Christ crucified, unto
the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto
them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power
of God and the wisdom of God. Ephesians 2.1, we read it together
earlier. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sins. Ephesians 2, verse 5. Even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved. Ephesians 1, 19 and 20. And what
is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe
according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought
in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at
his own right hand in the heavenly places. to Timothy 1 verse 9,
who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus
Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18, For
the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but to us which are saved it is the power of God. John 5,
25, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and
now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live. John 6, 39, And this is the Father's
will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. Ephesians 2.10, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them. 2 Corinthians 5.17, therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. John 3.8, the wind bloweth where it listeth. Thou hearest
the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and
whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. 1 Peter 1, 23, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. John 6, 63, it is the
spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. Psalm
110, verse 3, Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness. From the
womb of the morning thou shalt hast the Jew of thy youth. 1
Peter 5, verse 10. But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish strength,
and settle you. To him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen. Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. We spoke about God's shalls and
wills. Isaiah 46 verse 10 says, declaring
the end from the beginning and from the ancient times, the things
which are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I
will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executed my counsel from a far country,
yea, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it, I will also do it. Deuteronomy 30 verse 6. And the Lord thy God will circumcise
thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy
God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest
live. Isaiah 55, verse 11. So shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Ezekiel 36, 26. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart
of flesh. Ezekiel 36, 27, and I will put my spirit within you
and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments
and do them. John 6, 37, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh unto me I will
in no wise cast out. John 6, 45, it is written in
the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. Every man,
therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh
unto me. Hebrews 8, 10 to 12. For this
is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts. And I will be to them
a God and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not
teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for all shall know me, from the least to the
greatest, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Let
me just give you a couple more verses about the creative power
of God and then we're done. Colossians 1.16, for by him were
all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. Revelation 4.11, thou art worthy,
O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for thou hast
created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. 2 Corinthians 5, 17, Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. Genesis 2, 7, And the Lord God formed man out of the dust
of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and man became a living soul. Daniel 4.35, And all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. And none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest
thou? Romans 9.19, Thou wilt say then
unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted
his will? So there we are friends. Thank
you for allowing me these last few minutes to put a little bit
of biblical authority to the things that we have spoken of.
But these doctrines are not the whims of an individual idea or
notion. This is the very truth of God.
There is depth to this message and by the grace of God he will
lead us to believe it and trust upon the God who doeth all things
well. Amen.