1. Those whom God hath predestinated unto life, he is pleased in his appointed, and accepted 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 a 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, nor from any power or agency in the creature, being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins and trespasses, 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, and that by no less power than that which raised up Christ from the dead.
3. Elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit; who worketh when, and where, and how he pleases; so also are all elect persons, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.
(John 3:3, 5, 6; John 3:8)
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 not being effectually drawn by the Father, they neither will nor can truly come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved: much less can men that receive not the Christian religion be saved; be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature and the law of that religion they do profess.
(Matt. 22:14, 13:20, 21; Heb 6:4, 5; John 6:44, 45, 65; 1 John 2:24, 25; Acts 4:12; John 4:22, 17:3)
Philadelphia Confession of Faith 1742 – Chapter 10
1. God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice, that it is neither forced, nor by any necessity of nature determined to do good or evil.
(Matt. 17:12; James 1:14; Deut. 30:19)
2. Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well-pleasing to God, but yet was unstable, so that he might fall from it.
(Eccles. 7:29; Gen. 3:6)
3. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.
(Rom. 5:6, 8:7; Eph. 2:1, 5; Tit. 3:3-5; John 6:44)
4. When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, and by his grace alone enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet so as that by reason of his remaining corruptions, he doth not perfectly, nor only will, that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil.
VI. The Fall of Man, Of Sin,
And of the Punishment Thereof
1. Although God created man upright and perfect, and gave him a righteous law, which had been unto life had he kept it, and threatened death upon the breach thereof, yet he did not long abide in this honour; Satan using the subtlety of the serpent to subdue Eve, then by her seducing Adam, who, without any compulsion, did willfully transgress the law of their creation, and the command given unto them, in eating the forbidden fruit, which God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory.
(Gen. 2:16, 17; Gen. 3:12,13; 2 Cor. 11:3)
2. Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them whereby death came upon all: all becoming dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.
(Rom. 3:23; Rom 5:12,etc; Tit. 1:15; Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 3:10-19)
3. They being the root, and by God’s appointment, standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed, and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free.
4. From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.
(Rom. 8:7; Col. 1:21; James 1:14, 15; Matt. 15:19)
5. The corruption of nature, during this life, doth remain in those that are regenerated; and although it be through Christ pardoned and mortified, yet both itself, and the first motions thereof, are truly and properly sin.
1. Although temporary Believers, and other unregenerate men, may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes, and carnal presumptions, of being in the favour of God, and state of salvation, (a) which hope of theirs shall perish; yet such as truely believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good Conscience before him, may in this life be certainly assured (b) that they are in the state of Grace; and may rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God which hope shall never make them (c) ashamed.
2. This certainty is not a bare conjectural, and probable perswasion, grounded upon (d) a fallible hope; but an infallible assurance of faith founded on the Blood and Righteousness of Christ (e) revealed in the Gospel; and also upon the inward (f) evidence of those graces of the Spirit unto which promises are made, and on the testimony of the (g) Spirit of adoption, witnessing with our Spirits that we are the children of God; and as a fruit thereof keeping the heart both (h) humble and holy.
3. This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true Believer, may wait long and conflict with many difficulties before he be (i) partaker of it; yet being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may without extraordinary revelation in the right use of means (k) attain thereunto: and therefore it is the duty of every one, to give all diligence to make their Calling and Election sure, that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the holy Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and chearfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper (l) fruits of this Assurance; so far is it (m) from inclining men to looseness.
(i) Isa. 50:10; Psalm 88:1-18, 77:1-12 | (k) 1 John 4:13; Heb. 6:11-12 | (l) Rom. 5:1, 2, 5, 14:17; Psalm 119:32 | (m) Rom. 6:1-2; Titus 2:11-12, 14
4. True Believers may have the assurance of their Salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as by negligence in preserving of it, by (o) falling into som special Sin, which woundeth the Conscience, and grieveth the Spirit, by some sudden or (p) vehement temptation, by Gods withdrawing the (q) light of his countenance and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light; yet are they never destitute of the (r) seed of God, and Life (s) of Faith, that Love of Christ, and the brethren, that sincerity of Heart, and Conscience of duty, out of which by the operation of the Spirit, this Assurance may in due time be (t) revived: and by the which in the mean time they are (u) preserved from utter despair.
1. The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible (a) rule of all saving Knowledge, Faith and Obedience; Although the (b) light of Nature, and the works of Creation and Providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and His will, which is necessary unto Salvation. (c) Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that His will unto his Church; and afterward for the better preserving, and propagating of the Truth, and for the more sure Establishment, and Comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the World, to commit the same wholly unto (d) writing; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of Gods revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.
2. Under the Name of Holy Scripture or the Word of God written; are now contained all the Books of the Old and New Testament which are these,
Of the Old Testament – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, The Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
Of the new Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, The Acts of the Apostles, Pauls Epistle to the Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Phillippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, to Titus, to Philemon, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle of James, The first and second Epistles of Peter, The first, second and third Epistles of John, the Epistle of Jude, the Revelation. All which are given by the (e) inspiration of God, to be the rule of Faith and Life.
(e) 2 Tim. 3:16;
3. The Books commonly called Apocrypha not being of (f) Divine inspiration, are no part of the Canon (or rule) of the Scripture, and therefore are of no authority to the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of, then other humane writings.
(f) Luk. 24:27,44; Rom. 3:2;
4. The Authority of the Holy Scripture for which it ought to be believed dependeth not upon the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly upon (g) God (who is truth it self) the Author thereof; therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.
5. We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church of God, to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scriptures; and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the Doctrine, and the Majesty of the stile, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God) the full discovery it makes of the only way of mans salvation, and many other incomparable Excellencies, and intire perfections thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence it self to be the Word of God; yet notwithstanding; our (h) full perswasion, and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word in our Hearts.
(h) John 16:13-14; 1 Cor. 2:10-12; 1 John 2:2,20,27;
6. The whole Councel of God concerning all things (i) necessary for his own Glory, Mans Salvation, Faith and Life, is either expressely set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture; unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new Revelation of the Spirit, or traditions of men.
Nevertheless we acknowledge the (k) inward illumination of the Spirit of God, to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word, and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church common to humane actions and societies; which are to be (l) ordered by the light of nature, and Christian prudence according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.
7. All things in Scripture are not alike (m) plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for Salvation, are so (n) clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of ordinary means, may attain to a sufficient understanding of them.
(m) 2 Pet. 3:16; | (n) Psalm 19:7, 119:130;
8. The Old Testament in (o) Hebrew, (which was the Native language of the people of God of old) and the New Testament in Greek (which at the time of the writing of it was most generally known to the Nations being immediately inspired by God, and by his singular care and Providence kept pure in all Ages, are therefore (p) authentical; so as in all controversies of Religion the Church is finally to appeal unto them (q) But because these original tongues are not known to all the people of God, who have a right unto, and interest in the Scriptures, and are commanded in the fear of God to read (r) and search them, therefore they are to be translated into the vulgar language of every Nation, unto which they (s) come, that the Word of God dwelling (t) plentifully in all, they may worship him in an acceptable manner, and through patience and comfort of the Scriptures may have hope.
(o) Rom. 3:2; | (p) Isa. 8:20; | (q) Acts 15:15; | (r) John 5:39 | (s) 1 Cor. 14:6,9,11-12,24,28; | (t) Col. 3:16;
9. The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the (u) Scripture it self: And therefore when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold but one) it must be searched by other places that speak more clearly.
(u) 2 Pet. 1:20-21; Acts 15:15-16;
10. The supream judge by which all controversies of Religion are to be determined, and all Decrees of Councels, opinions of antient Writers, Doctrines of men, and private Spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit, into which (x) Scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved.
Last week we finished Chapter 18 in “Baptists and the Bible” and talked about the impact W. A. Criswell had on Christianity in general and Southern Baptists in particular during the 1960’s – 1980’s. He stood for the Bible when liberals and moderates were placing doubts on the very Word of God.
After he wrote “Why I preach the Bible is Literally True” he was ridiculed and mocked for trusting in a literal Bible. So much that when he published his next book “Look up Brother” his own denominational press put a disclaimer (the only one that I know of from Broadman Press) that read “views expressed are…not…an official statement of either the Southern Baptist Convention or Broadman Press.” What a mockery against the man of God who is definitely the grandfather of the conservative resurgence.
One thing I really admire about Dr. Criswell was that he appealed to his fellow ministers to engage in “verse by verse” exposition instead of topical preaching in the 60’s (if only they had listened). :-)
Tom Ascol (Founders Ministry) had found this sermon on youtube titled “The Bible Kind of Salvation.” He posted it on his blog and I think it is worthy of a repost here.
THE BIBLE KIND OF SALVATION:
THE EFFECTUAL CALLING OF GOD
Dr. W. A. Criswell
Romans 9:15-16
6-05-83 10:50 a.m.
The title of the message in the published bulletin here is The Bible Kind Of Salvation. It is actually a sermon on election, on the calling and choosing of God. And, as a background text—not as an expository passage, but as a background text, I read Romans 9, verses 15 and 16. Romans 9:15-16:
For the Lord said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So, then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
If we are saved, we are saved by His mercy and by His grace, not by our deserving or by our striving. It is God who saves us and God alone. Our salvation begins in Him, not in us. The initiation is in His mercy, in His elective choice, in His calling, in His will.
We are saved in His grace. The Scriptures say, such as in Ephesians 2:1: “All of us are dead in trespasses and in sins.” We are corpses in God’s sight, in the presence of His holiness. We are dead; we are corpses; we are dead. We are born in that death; we are born in sin—even conceived in sin. All of our propensities and affinities flow in the direction of sin. We are by nature set in a fallen direction.
Have you ever stood by the mighty Niagara? The great river falls over that precipice. It naturally does; it is uncoerced; it falls by nature. It cannot rise, it does not rise—it falls. And each drop of water pushes the other over the rim of that great fall. We are set in a fallen direction. Jeremiah 6:7 says we’re like a fountain gushing forth water, a fountain of wickedness, all of us.
I am bound, paralyzed between two steel rails: one, my fleshly lusts and the other, my fallen will. And I stand in the path of an inevitable judgment, inexorable death. I’m like a man paralyzed between two steel rails, and thundering down upon me is a great chain of cars. I can look at that locomotive and seek to argue with it, “You’re going too fast!” or, “You’re following too precisely these rails!” or, “Don’t you have pity, or understanding, or sympathy?” The only thing I can do is to drop, is to fall flat on my face as the great juggernaut rolls over me. I cannot save myself. I, with you—we are dead by nature in trespasses and in sins. We are corpses before the holiness of God and a corpse cannot raise itself, it is dead. A corpse cannot will itself to be born anew; it is dead. A corpse cannot raise itself to a quickened life, it is dead.
And I can stand and preach to a dead corpse and say, “Don’t you see?” But a corpse doesn’t see. And I can lift up my voice and say to a dead corpse, “Don’t you understand?” But a dead corpse does not understand. And I can say to a dead corpse, “Don’t you hear?” But a dead corpse does not hear. It cannot will itself to a quickened life. It cannot choose; it cannot see; it cannot hear; it cannot think; it cannot understand; it is dead!
We are shut up, like Nicodemus, to the power of the generating Spirit of God to born us anew. We are shut up, like Lazarus, in the tomb to the power of Christ to raise us from the dead. We are shut up, like those dry bones in the vision of Ezekiel in Chapter 37: “O breath of God, breathe upon these dry bones.”
The initiation of our salvation, of our calling, of our regeneration, of our new birth, of our salvation, is in God and not in us. Consequently, our new birth, our regeneration, our calling is a gift of God. It comes, in the mercy and grace of heaven, “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, God saves us.” So Paul wrote in Titus 3:5. If I am saved, if I am regenerated, if I ever see God’s face in heaven it is because of His election, His mercy, His grace, His effective call.
Up there in heaven, I look down into the abyss, into the burning hell of those who have committed just the sins that I have committed. But they are in damnation and I am with God in heaven. Oh, the grace and the mercy of our Lord that reached down even to me! I deserve to be damned but God has had mercy upon me.
A monument of grace,
A sinner saved by blood.
The streams of love I trace
Up to their fountain, God.
And in his mighty breast I see
Eternal thoughts of love for me.
[“Ready, Aye, Ready”; C.H. Spurgeon]
It is God who saves me. That is not an afterthought of the Lord. In Ephesians 1:4: “According as God hath chosen us in Him, before the foundation of the world, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children.”
And as Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1: “Elect, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” It is not an advantitious, a peripheral, an afterthought thing that God has done. Before He threw these worlds out into space, God knew us, called us by our names and wrote them in the Lamb’s Book of Life in heaven. “Foreordained before the foundation of the world,” the mercy of God extended toward us. All of these steps, and all of these virtues, and all of these glories of our salvation are in Him. He has done it, God has done it.
In the sixth chapter of the Book of John, it is Jesus who has chosen us. John 6:37: “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me.” And verse 44: “No man can come to Me except the Father which has sent Me draw him.” In verse 65: “Therefore said I unto thee, No man can come unto Me except it were given to him of the Father.” And in that great high priestly prayer of John 17: “As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to whom to as many as Thou has given Him.” In the sixth verse: “Thou gavest them Me.” In the ninth verse: “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou has given Me; for they are Thine.” It is God who reaches down, to save us in His grace, in His mercy, in His elective choice.
In the fifth chapter of the Book of Acts, we’re introduced to a great truth: when I repent, my repentance is a gift of God. In the fifth chapter of Acts, 31: God, who exalted the Lord Jesus, a prince and a Savior, to give repentance. He gives repentance to Israel and the Holy Ghost whom God gives “to them that obey Him.”
In the eleventh chapter of the Book of Acts: God gave them, says Simon Peter to us Gentiles—“God gave them the like gift as He did unto us.” And, “when they heard these things, they glorified God, saying, “Then [hath] God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” God did it, God gives the heart repentance: the spirit of turning. We are, by faith, receiving the gift of God and that faith is a gift from God Himself.
In the fifteenth chapter of the Book of Acts: “God giving them the Holy Spirit,” in their hearts, purifying their hearts by faith. The faith that purifies us is a gift of God. In the Book of Romans, chapter 12: “This I say through the grace given, to every man… God deals to every man the measure of faith.” Our faith is a gift of God. Ephesians 2:8 and 9:
For by grace are you saved—by grace, the goodness and mercy of God—by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God—it comes from God—not of works, lest any man—say, “I did it, look at me! Look at me, I achieved my salvation, I did it!”—Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Our salvation, our calling, our regeneration, our quickening, our being presented someday to heaven is a mercy, and a gift, and a grace of God. Now, when I read this in the Bible, I look in my heart. Is it confirmed in my experience? It is, and, not only in mine, but in every man who has ever come to know Jesus as his Savior. A man or a woman, every one of us, when we look back into our experience, our experience confirms what the Bible avows: that it was God who touched me. It was God who called me. It was God who reached for me. And it was God who saved me. It was His mercy and His grace that I came to know Jesus as my Savior and in Him I was born anew.
I look back over the years of my own life. One of the young men with whom I went to school, in high school, twice he was sent to the penitentiary and the last time, one of the convicts took a baseball bat and beat his brains out. He grew up in a beautiful Christian home, as I did. Why was it I was called and the grace of God touched me? Oh, the mercy of the dear Lord in heaven!
In my home, there grew up with me my brother, two years younger than I. I felt called of God to be a pastor when I was a small child in the elementary school. Why didn’t he hear the call? He never did, I did—God called me and, I heard it.
In my home, my mother taught me to say, when I was a little child, when people would put their hands on my head and say, “Son, what you going to be when you grow old, when you get grown?” My mother—my mother’s father was a physician. He was a physician in the Confederate Army, my mother’s father was a doctor—she taught me to say, when I was a little bitty kid, “What you going to do when you grow up?” She taught me to say, “I’m going to be a doctor, like my grandfather.” My father and mother were deeply disappointed when I gave my life as a child to be a preacher.
I love the medical profession. When I was in Baylor, I took half a dozen premed courses, made the highest grades in all six of them—I loved it. I love a physician because of the marvelous open door he has to witness for Christ but, I disappointed my father and mother when I avowed: “God has called me and I’ve given my life to that call of heaven.” God did it! In the story of in 1 Samuel, old Eli and the little boy Samuel lived in the same tent, in the tabernacle of the Lord. But it was the little boy that heard the call of God. Eli didn’t hear it—he did! It’s in the mercy and grace of our Lord that we’re chosen, elected, called. It’s God, in His mercy that does it. And every man’s experience will confirm the avowal of the Holy Scriptures.
When we move toward God, we later learn God first moved toward us. When we love and trust the Lord Jesus, we learn later that it was He who first loved us. When we answer the call of God, we later learn it was God who first called us.
Those old, great hymns of the long ago were just like that. Isaac Watts—you sang a song by Isaac Watts just a moment ago: “Alas! And did my Savior bleed, and did my sovereign die… .”—Isaac Watts wrote this hymn, in 1748:
Why was I made to hear Thy voice
And enter while there’s room,
When thousands make a wretched choice
And rather starve than come.
T’was the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly forced [us] in;
Else [we] had still refused to taste,
And perished in [our] sin.
Pit y the nations, O, our Lord!
Constrain the world to come;
Send Thy victorious Word abroad,
And bring the wanderers home.
[“How Sweet and Awesome is the Place”; Isaac Watts]
In like manner, long years ago, Josiah Conder wrote this hymn:
‘Tis not that I did choose Thee;
For Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse thee
But Thou has chosen me.
Hast from the sin that stained me
Washed me and set me free.
And to this end ordained me
That I should live for Thee.
T’was sovereign mercy called me
And taught my opening mind
The world had else enthralled me,
To heavenly glory’s blind.
My heart owns none above Thee;
For Thy rich grace I thirst,
This knowing if I loved thee
Thou must have loved me first.
[“Lord, ‘Tis Not that I Did Choose Thee”; Josiah Conder]
It is God who saves us! It is in His mercy that He reached down and touched us, and called us, and regenerated us, and saved us, and washed us, and cleansed us, and forgave us—it’s God who did it!
I think of a man struggling in the river. And he goes down for the third time, unconscious. And he finds himself on the bank of the river, safe. And as he lies there and looks up, he says, “Great, wonderful. In my struggling, I made one last effort, and I threw myself on the bank, and I’m saved.”
But the explanation doesn’t satisfy the heart or the mind, does it? Instead, as he lies there on the bank, and he opens his eyes and awakens, he looks up into the face of a man standing over him, wet, exhausted from the struggle. And the man says, “I saw you struggling in the river, going down for the third time, and I rescued you.” That explanation satisfies my heart. I understand.
It is the same with my soul. When I say to my soul, “Soul, you did good. You strove, and you tried, and you struggled, and you worked, and you achieved, and you’ve saved yourself!” Somehow it doesn’t satisfy my heart and it doesn’t satisfy my mind, but when I look up into the face of the Lord Jesus and I say, “Lord, in Your mercy, and Your goodness, and Your grace, and forgiveness, You did it! Thank you, Lord—You did it! When I do that, it satisfies my heart and my mind. I have come into the great truth of the mercy and grace in the elective calling of God. And not only is that true when I look back through the years of my life, confirming what the Book says, but when I look forward to the age to come when with you, God’s blood-bought redeemed, I stand in heaven.
We have in the Revelation, the Apocalypse, the songs that we sing. What are they? Are they, “All glory to me, I did it!” or are the songs like this: Revelation 1:5— “Unto Him who loved me and gave Himself for me and washed me in His own blood, unto Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen.” Or in that wonderful, wonderful song I love to hear our people sing: in Revelation 5:
Worthy is the Lamb who hath redeemed us by His blood, out of every family and tribe and nation.
And the whole creation fell down and worshipped Him who liveth forever and ever.
It is God in His grace and in His mercy who saves us; there is an effectual calling of the Lord. There is a general call, a universal call. You find an illustration of it in Revelation 22:17, the last invitation of the Bible: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come’”—The Holy Spirit of God and the church:
The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth repeat the glad refrain, just let the passer by say, Come. Let him is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
There is a general call. There were thousands who heard Jesus in His day saying: “Come unto me.” The general call: thousand heard Him. There are thousands who heard Martin Luther preach, John Chrysostom, Savanarola—thousands. There are uncounted thousands who heard George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. And there are thousands today who listen to these great evangelists like Billy Graham.
The general call—some of them heard and really heard. Some of them in the day of Jesus responded. Some of them did in the days of Luther, of Chrysostom. Some of them did in the days of Whitefield and Edwards. But the great vast majority of them refused. But some heard and some responded; the effectual call of God. It is so today; many, many hear, but some will always respond. In the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Acts, forty-eighth verse:
When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the Word of the Lord—and, listen—and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed, as many as were “ordained” to eternal life believed.
Look again in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, beginning in verse 13:
Brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation… whereunto He called you by our gospel.
There is a general call heard by thousands, most of whom will refuse. But there is an effectual call, an elective call, and there will always be some who respond with their lives. They hear God’s call, and they answer in commitment, and in glory, and in gratitude, and in love, and in trust, and in faith. God always has His own—always.
As you so well know, I read Spurgeon, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great London preacher. I just read him all the time. When Spurgeon was twenty years old, he was pastor of the New Park Street Baptist Church in London, England. It seated 1,200 people. And when he came there, there were 85 in the congregation—wasn’t long until the throngs couldn’t get in the house. They knocked out the back wall, rebuilt it, and they still couldn’t get in the house. One day he held his service out in the field. There were over 12,000 there and the service ended with a vast multitude bursting into song; they just burst into singing.
And Spurgeon later wrote of that meeting, he wrote: “That night, I could understand better than ever before why the Apostle John, in the Revelation, compared the new song in heaven to the sound of many waters. In that glorious hallelujah, the mighty waves of praise seemed to roll upward toward the sky in majestic wonder, even as the billows of the great ocean break upon the beach.”
A reading of the words of that sermon that was preached that night makes it easy to understand why the service just ended with hearts being raised heavenward in wonder and praise, just burst into song. He was preaching—and, I dug up the sermon that he preached that night in that field, 20 years old—he was preaching on the text in Matthew 8:11: “Many shall come from the east and the west and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” And the young preacher was glorying in the triumphs of grace, and here is what he said:
Oh, I love God’s “shalls” and “wills”; there is nothing comparable to them. Let a man say “shall”, what is it good for? “I will,” says a man, and he never performs. “I shall,” says he, and he breaks his promise. But it is never so with God’s “shalls.” If God says “shall,” it shall be. When God says “will,” it will be. Now God has said here, “Many shall come.” The Devil says, “They shall not come.” But God says, “They shall come.” You yourselves say, “We won’t come.” God says, “You shall come.” Yes, there are some here who are laughing at salvation, who scoff at Christ and mock at the gospel, but I tell you, some of you shall yet come.
“What?” you say, “Can God make me become a Christian?”
I tell you, “Yes!” For herein rests the power of the gospel; it does not ask your consent, but it gets it. It does not say, “Will you have it?” But it makes you willing in the day of God’s power.
You say, “I do not want to be saved.” Christ says, “You shall be saved.”
He makes your will turn around. And then you cry, “Lord, save me or I perish.” Heaven then rejoices over you, because Christ has changed your will. If Jesus Christ were to stand on this platform tonight, what would many people do with Him? If He were to come and say: “Here I am, will you be saved by me?” not one of you would consent, if you were left to your own will. Christ Himself said: “No man can come to Me except the Father who hath sent Me draw him.” Oh, we want that drawing and here we have it, “They shall come, they shall come!”
Ye may laugh. Ye may despise us. But Jesus Christ shall not die in vain. If some of you reject Him, there are some that will not. If there are some that are not saved, others shall be. Christ shall see His seed. He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands. They shall come; they shall come, and naught in heaven, nor in earth, nor in hell can stop them from coming.
No wonder that vast throng burst into singing and to hallelujahs—the grace of God, the effectual calling of God. Do I want to be saved? Then I can be, I’m one of God’s elect. Do I want Jesus in my heart and in my life? Then I can have Him, I am chosen in the Beloved. If I want to give my life to God, I can! He has chosen me, written my name in the Book of Life before the worlds were flung into space. Oh, the grace and the mercy of our wonderful Lord!
Now just once again, and I must close: may I confirm that in experience? When I came to be pastor of this church, soon to be 40 years ago, the church had ebbed over a period of many, many years. The great pastor was sought by the world and he was gone most of the time. And no man can build a church being gone.
And Dr. Truett was invalid, dying for a full year. And when I came to be pastor of the church, 43 years younger than Dr. Truett—when I came to be under-shepherd of this congregation, I fell on my face. I got down on my knees and I said, “Lord, dear God, if I am faithful in preaching Thy Word, and if I preach it as zealously and as earnestly and as fervently as I know how—Lord, if I am faithful in preaching Thy Word, will you send me souls? Will you?” And as though He had spoken audibly in my ear, I heard God say to me in my heart, “If you are faithful in preaching the Word of God, I will send you souls. I’ll do it.”
Nor can I tell you the thousands of instances in which I sit down with families, pray with them in my study, and they will say to me, “When we came to the city of Dallas, we never intended to join the First Baptist Church.” Or, “When we came to the city, and found our home located miles and miles away, we never thought to drive so far down to that church in the heart of the city of Dallas. But we’re here. God put it in our hearts. God spoke to our hearts and we have come.”
And when I hear them say that, every time, my heart goes back to that promise of God: “If you are faithful in preaching the Word, I will send you souls.” God does it. The Lord did it. God does it, He speaks, He calls. And He gives us these precious families and these immortal souls.
Dear people, I’ve been preaching here all these years and years and years. I have never preached at a service here yet but that God has given us souls. At the 8:15 o’clock service this morning, we had a bountiful harvest. God will do it again this hour, and He’ll do it again tonight.
“If you’re faithful,” says the Lord—“If you’re faithful, I will send you souls.” It is the calling of God. It is the effectual choosing of our Lord. It’s the most comforting thing in the world.
Somebody said to Spurgeon, “If I believed that doctrine you preach, ‘God’s going to call, God has elected…’ then I wouldn’t even try. If they’re going to be saved, they’re going to be saved anyway. And if they’re not going to be saved, no matter what you do, they’re not responding. It would be the most discouraging thing in the world,” said this man to Spurgeon.
And Spurgeon replied, “My brother, it’s just the opposite. It’s just the opposite. When I stand to preach, I know that not all will respond. But God will always give me some. Some will always hear. Some will always turn. Some will always respond. God will always give me some. That’s the most comforting assurance in this earth. God will not let His Son die in vain. God has a people He has elected and chosen for His glory. And God will not let His minister, who preaches the gospel faithfully, lift up his heart and lift up his hands and make his appeal in vain.”
God will always answer from heaven and give us souls. It’s the most precious assurance in this world. And we praise God for the mercy, for the love, for the grace that reaches down, even to us. May we stand together?
John tells us in 1 John 3:23 that we are to live out our faith in love towards our brothers and sisters just as He has commanded us.
“And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” (1 John 3:23, ESV)
The Lord Jesus has given us this command (not a recommendation) and therefore we are to obey it. However, we cannot obey it if we do not belong to Him. You see, it is one thing to say we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, and it is something totally different to live that out in true genuine love for one another.
This verse gives us a single command with two distinct purposes – have faith & love one another and these two cannot be separated. If we have true faith in Christ we will love our brothers and sisters and if we don’t love the brothers it shows that we do not have genuine faith.
John tells us in 1 John 3:19-20 that we shall know we are of the truth by loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.
“By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.” (1 John 3:19-20, ESV)
The lack of love today that is shown to our brothers and sisters from inside the church is unbelievable. People who worship together each week in a local church setting are treating each other like pagans.
The New Testament paints the image of church as a family, not a social club, not a social service. We must love our brothers and sisters more than we love ourselves because John has shown us (1 John 3:16) that we must lay down our lives for the brothers and that includes putting others ahead of ourselves.
When we do love the brothers we have added benefits, including assurance of our salvation and a picture of God’s amazing grace for His children, the believers themselves.
” For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” (1 John 3:11, ESV)
This past Sunday we examined this passage from 1 John 3:11 about loving one another. Some key points we need to understand are:
1. We must define the families before we can identify the siblings:
“By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:10, ESV)
” While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:46-50, ESV)
2. Once we identify the siblings then we are to be reconciled with them and have nothing in the way of our relationship with each other:
“So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24, ESV)
3. Our love for one another is the key to our evagelism and outreach:
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”” (John 13:34-35, ESV)
4. We are to show preference for one another over all other relationships:
“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” (Galatians 6:10, ESV)
This is a good start as we look at this section of 1 John 3.
I’ve heard from a number of Christians in the past 24 hours about yesterday’s election. Some are happy about some things. Many are unhappy, frightened, and even angry. The Lord has brought a number of things to mind this morning following the election. They encouraged me; perhaps they will you as well.
1. View the events of this election through the lens of Scripture.
“1Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.” (Romans 13:1-4)
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:28-29)
Remember, God’s plans are not always easy to understand. He works toward ultimate goals not immediate solutions. While we may not like or understand the results of this election and the conservative media may frighten us with its doomsday scenarios, the truth is, God is still in charge. I know it sounds simplistic, yet, this truth is at the very heart of our faith. God is Sovereign over all things! He is not pacing in Heaven today wondering what to do next. He is not wringing his hands wondering if the world is about to come to an end. So, what sense does it make for us to do those things? “Why are you in despair my soul…hope in God.” (Psalm 42:1-11)
2. Pray!
“1First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” (1 Timothy 2:1-2)
• Pray that the new president will be a bridge builder.
• Pray for the church to give the new president the honor that he deserves.
• Pray for God to protect the nation as we have a new Commander in Chief.
• Pray that the Sovereign God will display his grace and mercy and not give us what we deserve.
3. Stand up!
“I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; 15but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”
(1 Timothy 3:14-15)
• It is past time for the church to stand up for the truth! That means every Christian must stand up personally for the truth. Stand up where? Take a stand for biblical truth at work, school, home, and in your community. Don’t just ride off into the night quietly.
• We need to get up off of our seats and act like the church. At times, that can be uncomfortable, costly, and dangerous. Peter and James found that out when they were told to quit talking about Jesus by their public officials. After a beating, Peter said, in essence, if it comes down to obeying God or the government, I’ll obey God! (Acts 5:29)
4. Pray and speak out for our government to protect the poor and recognize the humanity of unborn children.
5. Pray that our circumstances will give us a greater opportunity to preach the gospel. Sometimes the best opportunities to preach the gospel are in the more stressful situations.
Now that I think about it, all of these truths were true four years ago when the political landscape with the opposite of what it is today! Politics swing back and forth rapidly but Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We can count on Him.
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