Effectual Calling, Part 1

Dennis Tuuri

Outline: 1 Cor. 1:1-2:1 Effectual Calling, Part One To God Be The Glory! Canons of Dort -Third And Fourth Heads Of Doctrine The Corruption Of Man, His Conversion To God, And The Manner Thereof (Total Depravity) Sermon Outline for June 3, 2007 by Elder Dennis R. Tuuri 1. The Trinity and Salvation The Father Loves and Elects, The Son Atones, The Spirit Effectually Calls (Article 11) 2 Irresistible Grace and Effectual Calling (Articles 11 and 16) 3 The Logical Basis for Effectual Calling 4. The Biblical Basis for Effectual Calling A. Various Scriptures - Rom. 8:28-30; Jn. 6:44, 45; John 1:12,13; Lk. 15:5; Jn. 15:16,17w/2Th.2:13,14; Jn.10:3,27, Ac. 2:39; Ro. 9:23,24; Ac. 13:48; Acts 16:14 B. 1 Corinthians 1:1-2:1 1.) An Effectual Call (Distinct From A General Call) 1:24 2.) Called Through the Will and Power of God 1:1, 18, 24 3.) Called Apart From Ability – 1:18-20 4.) Called through the Means of Gospel Preaching 1:17, 21 5.) Called To: a. Humility - 1:26-29 b. Sainthood – 1:2a c. Call on the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord - 1:2b d. The Fellowship of the Son – 1:9 e. Glorify God – 1:31 5. Implications A. For Our Sanctification B. For Our Evangelism C. For Our Worship D. For Our Vocation (Fruit) Joshua 1:3,4 E. For Our Psychology (That Abides) 1 Cor. 15:58 F. For Our Prayer G. For Our Community Conclusion: Matthew 11:20-30 Dort - Human Corruption, Conversion to God, and the Way It Occurs Article 10: Conversion as the Work of God The fact that others who are called through the ministry of the gospel do come and are brought to conversion must not be credited to man, as though one distinguishes himself by free choice from others who are furnished with equal or sufficient grace for faith and conversion (as the proud heresy of Pelagius maintains). No, it must be credited to God : just as from eternity he chose his own in Christ, so within time he effectively calls them , grants them faith and repentance, and, having rescued them from the dominion of darkness, brings them into the kingdom of his Son, in order that they may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called them out of darkness into this marvelous light, and may boast not in themselves, but in the Lord, as apostolic words frequently testify in Scripture. Article 11: The Holy Spirit's Work in Conversion Moreover, when God carries out this good pleasure in his chosen ones, or works true conversion in them, he not only sees to it that the gospel is proclaimed to them outwardly, and enlightens their minds powerfully by the Holy Spirit so that they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God, but, by the effective operation of the same regenerating Spirit, he also penetrates into the inmost being of man, opens the closed heart, softens the hard heart, and circumcises the heart that is uncircumcised. He infuses new qualities into the will, making the dead will alive, the evil one good, the unwilling one willing, and the stubborn one compliant ; he activates and strengthens the will so that, like a good tree, it may be enabled to produce the fruits of good deeds. Article 12: Regeneration a Supernatural Work And this is the regeneration, the new creation , the raising from the dead, and the making alive so clearly proclaimed in the Scriptures, which God works in us without our help. But this certainly does not happen only by outward teaching, by moral persuasion, or by such a way of working that, after God has done his work, it remains in man's power whether or not to be reborn or converted. Rather, it is an entirely supernatural work , one that is at the same time most powerful and most pleasing, a marvelous, hidden, and inexpressible work, which is not lesser than or inferior in power to that of creation or of raising the dead , as Scripture (inspired by the author of this work) teaches. As a result, all those in whose hearts God works in this marvelous way are certainly, unfailingly, and effectively reborn and do actually believe. And then the will, now renewed , is not only activated and motivated by God but in being activated by God is also itself active . For this reason, man himself, by that grace which he has received, is also rightly said to believe and to repent. Article 13: The Incomprehensible Way of Regeneration In this life believers cannot fully understand the way this work occurs; meanwhile, they rest content with knowing and experiencing that by this grace of God they do believe with the heart and love their Savior. Article 14: The Way God Gives Faith In this way, therefore, faith is a gift of God, not in the sense that it is offered by God for man to choose, but that it is in actual fact bestowed on man , breathed and infused into him. Nor is it a gift in the sense that God bestows only the potential to believe, but then awaits assent--the act of believing--from man's choice; rather, it is a gift in the sense that he who works both willing and acting and, indeed, works all things in all people produces in man both the will to believe and the belief itself. Article 15: Responses to God's Grace God does not owe this grace to anyone. For what could God owe to one who has nothing to give that can be paid back? Indeed, what could God owe to one who has nothing of his own to give but sin and falsehood? Therefore the person who receives this grace owes and gives eternal thanks to God alone ; the person who does not receive it either does not care at all about these spiritual things and is satisfied with himself in his condition, or else in self-assurance foolishly boasts about having something which he lacks. Furthermore, following the example of the apostles, we are to think and to speak in the most favorable way about those who outwardly profess their faith and better their lives, for the inner chambers of the heart are unknown to us. But for others who have not yet been called, we are to pray to the God who calls things that do not exist as though they did . In no way, however, are we to pride ourselves as better than they, as though we had distinguished ourselves from them. Article 16: Regeneration's Effect However, just as by the fall man did not cease to be man, endowed with intellect and will, and just as sin, which has spread through the whole human race, did not abolish the nature of the human race but distorted and spiritually killed it, so also this divine grace of regeneration does not act in people as if they were blocks and stones; nor does it abolish the will and its properties or coerce a reluctant will by force, but spiritually revives, heals, reforms, and--in a manner at once pleasing and powerful--bends it back . As a result, a ready and sincere obedience of the Spirit now begins to prevail where before the rebellion and resistance of the flesh were completely dominant. It is in this that the true and spiritual restoration and freedom of our will consists. Thus, if the marvelous Maker of every good thing were not dealing with us, man would have no hope of getting up from his fall by his free choice, by which he plunged himself into ruin when still standing upright. Article 17: God's Use of Means in Regeneration Just as the almighty work of God by which he brings forth and sustains our natural life does not rule out but requires the use of means, by which God, according to his infinite wisdom and goodness, has wished to exercise his power, so also the aforementioned supernatural work of God by which he regenerates us in no way rules out or cancels the use of the gospel, which God in his great wisdom has appointed to be the seed of regeneration and the food of the soul. For this reason, the apostles and the teachers who followed them taught the people in a godly manner about this grace of God, to give him the glory and to humble all pride, and yet did not neglect meanwhile to keep the people, by means of the holy admonitions of the gospel, under the administration of the Word, the sacraments, and discipline. So even today it is out of the question that the teachers or those taught in the church should presume to test God by separating what he in his good pleasure has wished to be closely joined together. For grace is bestowed through admonitions , and the more readily we perform our duty, the more lustrous the benefit of God working in us usually is and the better his work advances. To him alone, both for the means and for their saving fruit and effectiveness, all glory is owed forever. Amen. Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors of those VI Who teach that in the true conversion of man new qualities, dispositions, or gifts cannot be infused or poured into his will by God, and indeed that the faith [or believing] by which we first come to conversion and from which we receive the name "believers" is not a quality or gift infused by God, but only an act of man, and that it cannot be called a gift except in respect to the power of attaining faith. For these views contradict the Holy Scriptures, which testify that God does infuse or pour into our hearts the new qualities of faith, obedience, and the experiencing of his love: I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts (Jer. 31:33); I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring (Isa. 44:3); The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (Rom. 5:5). They also conflict with the continuous practice of the Church, which prays with the prophet: Convert me, Lord, and I shall be converted (Jer. 31:18). VII Who teach that the grace by which we are converted to God is nothing but a gentle persuasion, or(as others explain it) that the way of God's acting in man's conversion that is most noble and suited to human nature is that which happens by persuasion, and that nothing prevents this grace of moral suasion even by itself from making natural men spiritual; indeed, that God does not produce the assent of the will except in this manner of moral suasion, and that the effectiveness of God's work by which it surpasses the work of Satan consists in the fact that God promises eternal benefits while Satan promises temporal ones. For this teaching is entirely Pelagian and contrary to the whole of Scripture, which recognizes besides this persuasion also another, far more effective and divine way in which the Holy Spirit acts in man's conversion. As Ezekiel 36:26 puts it: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; and I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.... VIII Who teach that God in regenerating man does not bring to bear that power of his omnipotence whereby he may powerfully and unfailingly bend man's will to faith and conversion, but that even when God has accomplished all the works of grace which he uses for man's conversion, man nevertheless can, and in actual fact often does, so resist God and the Spirit in their intent and will to regenerate him, that man completely thwarts his own rebirth; and, indeed, that it remains in his own power whether or not to be reborn. For this does away with all effective functioning of God's grace in our conversion and subjects the activity of Almighty God to the will of man; it is contrary to the apostles, who teach that we believe by virtue of the effective working of God's mighty strength (Eph. 1:19), and that God fulfills the undeserved good will of his kindness and the work of faith in us with power (2 Thess. 1:11), and likewise that his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). IX Who teach that grace and free choice are concurrent partial causes which cooperate to initiate conversion, and that grace does not precede--in the order of causality--the effective influence of the will; that is to say,that God does not effectively help man's will to come to conversion before man's will itself motivates and determines itself. For the early church already condemned this doctrine long ago in the Pelagians, on the basis of the words of the apostle: It does not depend on man's willing or running but on God's mercy (Rom. 9:16); also: Who makes you different from anyone else? and What do you have that you did not receive? (1 Cor. 4:7); likewise: It is God who works in you to will and act according to his good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter X. - Of Effectual Calling 1. All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, (Rom. 8:30, Rom. 11:7, Eph. 1:10–11) by His word and Spirit, (2 Thess. 2:13–14, 2 Cor. 3:3,6) out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ; (Rom. 8:2, Eph. 2:1–5, 2 Tim. 1:9–10) enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, (Acts 26:18, 1 Cor. 2:10,12, Eph. 1:17–18) taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh; (Ezek. 36:26) renewing their wills, and, by His almighty power, determining them to that which is good, (Ezek. 11:19, Phil. 2:13, Deut. 30:6, Ezek. 36:27) and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ: (Eph. 1:19, John 6:44–45) yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace. (Cant. 1:4, Ps. 110:3, John 6:37, Rom. 6:16–18) 2. This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from any thing at all foreseen in man, (2 Tim. 1:9, Tit. 3:4–5, Eph. 2:4–5,8–9) who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, (1 Cor. 2:14, Rom. 8:7, Eph. 2:5) he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it. (John 6:37, John 5:25) WLC Q 67 What is effectual calling? Effectual calling is the work of God’ s almighty power and grace, (John 5:25, Eph. 1:18–20, 2 Tim. 1:8–9) whereby (out of his free and special love to his elect, and from nothing in them moving him thereunto) (Tit. 3:4–5, Eph. 2:4–5,7–9, Rom. 9:11) he doth, in his accepted time, invite and draw them to Jesus Christ, by his word and Spirit; (2 Cor. 5:20, 2 Cor. 6:1–2, John 6:44, 2 Thess. 2:13–14) savingly enlightening their minds, (Acts 26:18, 1 Cor. 2:10,12) renewing and powerfully determining their wills, (Ezek. 11:19, Ezek. 36:26–27, John 6:45) so as they (although in themselves dead in sin) are hereby made willing and able freely to answer his call, and to accept and embrace the grace offered and conveyed therein. (Eph. 2:5, Phil. 2:13, Deut. 30:6) WLC Q68 Are the elect only effectually called? All the elect, and they only, are effectually called: (Acts 13:48) although others may be, and often are, outwardly called by the ministry of the word, (Matt. 22:14) and have some common operations of the Spirit; (Matt. 7:22, Matt. 13:20–21, Heb. 6:4–6) who, for their willful neglect and contempt of the grace offered to them, being justly left in their unbelief, do never truly come to Jesus Christ. (John 12:38–40, Acts 28:25–27, John 6:64–65, Ps. 81:11–12) Questions from “” for Young Hearers 1. The “I” in TULIP stands for irresistible ___ ___ ___ ___ ___. 2. The ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ loved us and chose us. 3. The ___ ___ ___ died for us, and made atonement. 4. The ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ called us. 5. The Spirit uses ___ ___ ___ and the ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ to save us. 6. The Bible compares God saving us to fishing with a ___ ___ ___. 7. Being saved is totally by God’s ___ ___ ___ ___ ___. 8. When we tell others abut Jesus, we don’t need to use ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ words or human wisdom. 9. Since God saves us He gets all the ___ ___ ___ ___ ___. 10. Jesus’ sheep ___ ___ ___ ___, by God, respond to His call. 11. When God saved Lydia, He opened her ___ ___ ___ ___ ___. 12. Paul was called by the ___ ___ ___ ___ of God. 13. God wants us to be ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___. 14. We are called to serve and ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ God. 15. God says we are called to bear ___ ___ ___ ___ ___. 16. He says that our lives ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___. 17. When people rejected Him, Jesus ___ ___ ___ ___ ______ ___ God.