Dynamic Doctrines of the Faith

Topic #4: Effectual Calling

MAT 1:21. "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

JOH 10:14,15. "I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. "As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep."

JOH 17:1,2. Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him."

Q: For whom did Jesus die?

Q: Reformed Theology calls this L_________________ A___________________.

 

ISA 55:10,11. "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

Q: Will all those who hear believe? Why or why not?

ROM 8:28–30. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

The Ordo Salutis:

  1. The free offer of salvation in the gospel.
  2. Regeneration.
  3. Conversion.
  4. Justification.
  5. Adoption.
  6. Sanctification.
  7. Glorification.

 

The Westminster Confession of Faith

ChapterX. Of Effectual Calling

  1. All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ;] enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and, by His almighty power, determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ: yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.
  2. This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.
  3. Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated, and saved by Christ, through the Spirit, who works when, and where, and how He pleases: so also are all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.
  4. Others, not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit, yet they never truly come unto Christ, and therefore cannot be saved: much less can men, not professing the Christian religion, be saved in any other way whatsoever, be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature, and the laws of that religion they do profess. And to assert and maintain that they may, is very pernicious, and to be detested.

 

EPH 2:11,12. Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Q: Ordinarily, how does He accomplish His calling?

Q: Will everyone hear the Gospel?

Q: Will all the elect hear the Gospel?

 

JHN 3: 1–8.

Regeneration

  1. Precedes faith
  2. Precedes all spiritual activity (because before regeneration you were ______________).
  3. Is solely by the power of the Holy Spirit.
  4. Is Mysterious
  5. Is sovereign
  6. Is effectual.

LUK 18:15–17. Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him and said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."

ACT 2:39. "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

Q: What about the elect who cannot respond to the gospel?

Q: Some teach God just offers. What is wrong with that view? Why must God guarantee His call will be effectual?

Q: Why is God’s calling always effective?

Q: Reformed Theology calls this I___________________ G_________.