Catechism Question #35
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What is Effectual Calling?
What is Effectual Calling?
What is effectual calling?
Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, He does persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the Gospel
Main Proposition:
Statement of Doctrine or Application
To be called by God is to be convinced of your sinful nature and know that Christ is the only way that you can overcome your wordly desires and sinful transgressions
Intro:
Statement of proposition
Effectual calling is the inward work of God that summons only particular individuals to receive the blessings of his redemption
It is not dependent on any activity of the recipient it is solely based on us coming to the recognition that Christ had died for our transgressions and we are imputed His righteousness on our behalf.
In Romans 3-4 over the last few weeks we have talked about how it is faith that proceeded works.
From the Abraham to 2024 God’s effectual call is always based on faith in Christ
In a sense it is the time where you realize “I cannot do this on my own”
It is the first time that our eyes are opened and we can see the world and ourselves as it truly is through the lens of God.
That world looks a lot like Romans 1:18-32
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
When you are called by God you are going to embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and because of that you are wanting to abide in Him.
This because of the regenerated heart that you have been given
My brother’s girlfriend asked “what if somebody is called to be God’s elect, but they don’t want to follow what he says?”
Well when you are called you have a new regenerated heart that loves God and wants to be obedient to Him.
You are essentially a new person in Christ. You have a new heart, new outlook on life and recognize that the life you lived before was not glorifying God.
At this point you want to glorify God.
You want to love God
Other texts that support
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Why does this matter?
This is a very important doctrine and one that is debated by many evangelical Christians today.
If you were to walk up to someone on the street and ask them “who goes to Heaven?” What do you think their answer would be? “Everybody or good people” are going to be the two most popular answers
So with that secular outlook Christ died for everybody that has ever lived or as humans we are naturally good people
Both of those answers are incorrect because Scripture is very clear about who God sent his son for.
If we are naturally good people than why did Christ have to atone for our sins? Why did he have to suffer the humiliation, pain and agony of the cross?
The correct answer is one that is not very popular and that is God has a remnant of people that he will call to know Him and His Son.
As we have read in John 10 :16
16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
Illustrations
I remember crystal clear the moment I was being called to Christ. Sarah and I had a friend come to faith a few weeks prior and that sparked questions that I had deep down?
What was my assurance? How do you know your assurance is guaranteed? Am I saved?
It is at that moment where I had this super dark realization that I was a sinner and I was not saved. It was like a light switch just turned on and I could see my own sin.
Main Point #1: Who is called by God?
Statement
God sovereignly and freely elected some sinners to be saved and predestined them to be saved at the right time
Not every person that has walked the earth are called to God, This is a deception of the world today and one as believers we must understand.
We do not know exactly which ones are truly elect and that is why we are to preach to everybody.
Who is going to hear the call from God?
You cannot ignore God when he tells you to follow His Son.
Prove
As we have learned in Romans over the last few months that anybody can be called to follow Christ. It doesn’t matter race, place or face. When God calls He is calling them for eternity.
We can look at someone like Paul who before he literally heard Christ was persecuting Christians to two fisherman in Galilee (Peter and Andrew) to a woman in Samaria
We might say “well that isn’t fair, why do some people get to be saved and enjoy eternal life with God and Christ and some have to suffer eternal death?”
Because God is the potter and we are just the clay. It is not up to us who gets saved or not.
Nobody deserves eternal life. Nothing is guaranteed, Nothing is deserved
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
We have received every spiritual blessing that there is to receive from God, but we have received these blessings first of all in Christ and in heavenly places.
We see Paul use the term “In Christ”
When Paul preaches the gospel to unbelievers, they were encouraged and called to believe in Jesus
The importance of this doctrine is the fact that God in Heaven in His mind chose HIS elect. How amazing is that? God said I am going to call _____ to me when the time is right.
This process starts with God, but notice as we read in John 17 that Jesus thanks the Father for those who the father has given him.
In John 6 Jesus Says all whom the Father has given Him come to Him.
There is no exception. There is not a rebellion within God’s elect where some are called, but are resilient to coming to Him.
Before the foundation of the world, before any of us ever chooses Christ, we are first chosen by the father, in Christ, to be Christ’s
The question that I ask myself and I know Sarah asks herself is “Why out of my entire family am I the only one that God chose?”
We were brought up the same way, we had the same parents, same lifestyle growing up. Why did God just choose me? I don’t understand.
Well first thought now is that we don’t know that God didn’t elect certain family members. The story isn’t over yet. God chooses on his own timeline.
To reframe the question: “Why do I believe and my siblings don’t at this point in time?”
Is it because I am more righteous? Not at all. We have gone through that enough in Romans 3 to understand that no man is righteous or just to earn God’s blessing of eternal life.
I do not have an answer for that. I cannot come up with a reason for why God would redeem me and not someone else. That is one that as the older I get the more I think about it.
How special is that? GOD PICKED YOU!
I don’t deserve that and I surely have not earned that.
Lets look at Paul:
He persecuted Christians and God saved him, but not Pilate? Why not Herod? or Caiaphas? Why me?
Paul was the Apostle of Grace because he realized that he did not deserve to be saved.
We are gifts of the Father to the Son.
6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Illustrations:
It is not like the lottery where numbers are randomly drawn and if you get some luck you’ll win $100
Or a lottery scratch off ticket.
Apply or Confront
In the world today we are going to fight against is Heaven real? Do most people go to Heaven? Hell is only for the terrible people like Hitler, Stalin and Jeffrey Dahmer
In reality Hell is going to be filled with people that never drank, smoked, cursed, worked hard in life, but in reality were not elect and did not get the call to be one of God’s chosen.
Because of that reality if you are one of God’s chosen you should be glorifying Him, praising Him, honoring Him.
Your parents shouldn't have to drag you out of the house to get you here on Sunday morning and evenings.
We should always be trying to honor and worship God, but Sunday is the Lord’s Day and this day is always perfect to honor and worship God and His Son.
Main Point #2: What happens when you are called by God?
Statement
People that are called to God are going to live a life that glorifies Him
They are going to want to be obedient to God and Christ
Prove
There is something that happens to us when we come to Christ. It isn’t a stagnant move that we just cross the line and that’s it. It is done and finished. This is just the start of our new life in Christ
With that we have a few new tools in our spiritual toolbox that we have access to: First off, we have a new heart, We have assurance of our salvation, we live to praise God, we have humility that reflects the life that Christ lived and we love who loved us first
Our New Heart:
What is the importance of having a new heart?
Our old heart was unable to love, glorify God and ultimately couldn’t be obedient to Him
But our new heart is indwelled by the Holy Spirit
Our heart is our driving force behind everything we do, think, say and act.
It is our engine
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
So we can look at this from two different perspectives. The first is someone who is not indwelled by the spirit and then one who is.
The person that does not have a regenerated heart is not going to be able to live a life that is glorifying to God and will only appease the world and themselves.
This person does not have the ability to fight sin or temptation. They are slaves to these impulses. That has to be tough and exhausting.
The other side we have someone that has accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit is alive in their heart so now they are able to fight temptation and sin, they are able to act in a way that glorifying to God.
They went from at war with God to fighting the war with God
God has placed His Spirit within us to give us a new life and therefore new ethical inclinations.
This does not mean once you are indwelled with the Spirit you are free from all temptations and impulses, but what it does mean is that you know have the resources and the spiritual muscle to follow the Spirit rather than the flesh
You are no longer walking dead in the world you are walking alive with Christ
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
As sinners we walk in the pollution of our sin, the thick smog of our sinful nature
It is a lot alike Romans 1:18-32 in the sense of we think we are living a life that is good, righteous, but we are not honoring God. We are only honoring and glorifying ourselves and the world
Our Assurance of Salvation:
The Bible explicitly tells us that we can be 100% sure if we are elect.
This is a lot different then the Arminian and Roman Catholic view where they think you can never be 100% confident that you are saved.
You’ll know when you know from their standpoint and has to be a tough and exhausting way to live life… “Well I hope I’m going to Heaven.”
We do not have to wait until we arrive in Heaven to know God chose us.
The caveat to that is someone cannot know he is elect before he believes in Christ.
Reformed theology teaches that there are certain identifiable spiritual markers or tests that we can look for in ourselves that are evidence that we are regenerate and, therefore, called and elect.
They may be more evident in some Christians than in others, but all have them to some extent
How Do I know that I am among the elect? How do I know I am a loyal American citizen? How do I distinguish between the colors black and white?
The Scriptures and conscience give clear evidence of whether or now we are among God’s people.
Everybody who is a child of God should be fully conscience of the fact
11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
The born again Christian welcomes the Gospel in his heart, but the unregenerate push it away
What is your attitude to Christ?
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
Here Peter is laying out traits that we can ask ourselves: knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, love of your Christian brothers and sisters
We can see the growth of our Christian life in these 6 qualities
Are we steadfast in our faith? Do we blame God for tough times in our life
Do we have self-control when we are being tempted by the world?
Do we have a genuine love for our brothers and sisters in Christ or do we try to build ourselves up by stepping on them?
Verse 9 summarizes it up pretty well: “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.”
Where did we start? As sinners and by God’s grace we have been given a beautiful new life and heart. That is nothing to be prideful because without God’s grace we are no different than the people that say they do not believe in God
This assurance is eternal which meaning forever. You cannot lose your salvation and nobody can take it from you.
We need to understand that. That is such an important quality of our election and that it is permanent.
Flowers in texts
18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
Illustrations:
Car illustration: It is like taking out the engine of a Ford Fiesta and putting in a Ferrari engine.
Everything about that car is going to run different, accelerate, brake, turn, different gas is required. Its the same shell of a car, same body, but everything about how that car runs is going to be faster, stronger, better.
300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon (No One Can Taste Christ in His Natural State (1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 Peter 2:2; 3:18–19))
See if the dead can taste. Bring the most pungent drugs; do these arouse the palate? Give them a foul drink, and see if nausea can be produced. Now, put sweets to the dead man’s tongue; do the eyes glisten? It is long since that corpse has fed; does it show any satisfaction in the presence of food? No, it is dead, and taste has fled with the once-sentient soul.
Truly, no man can taste Christ in his natural state, and if you or I know Christ to be precious, we may be sure that we are alive through the Holy Spirit.
Apply or Confront
Main Point #3: Why does God call us to Him?
Statement
God calls people to Him in order to glorify Himself
Prove
He doesn’t do it to prove that certain people are better than others. He is able to show His power, His grace and His love
Something that we need to keep on the forefront of our minds is that God does not need any of us.
He was never like “Man, without Michael I could not have brought all those people to faith.”
He never looked at us and thought that “wow, that person is so much more righteous than some of those others down there, I am going to save him.” Never happened and never going to happen
The reason that God calls us to Him and His Son is so that they (God’s elect) will become Holy and blameless before Him in love.
It is an election with a purpose
It is not a random, throwing darts at a board and seeing what dart lands on who. God is not playing games with humans. It is done so in love.
When God redeems us, He redeems us not because we are perfect, but so that we may become perfect.
This work of redemption is for God’s glory, that this world that has fallen into sin and has transgressed against Him will be redeemed and us lowly humans will be raised up
This is the purpose of divine election.
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Another point that Paul makes in Ephesians is that when we are elected we become sons and daughters that are brought into God’s family.
This is not something where everybody that has lived in the world is apart of.
We are brought into His family by adoption (Which we will get into in more detail next week)
That can be a tough pill to swallow because most people in the world thinks that God will eventually call ALL the “good” people to Him.
Paul uses the term “according to the purpose of His will” multiple times
The truth to that is if I am a believer, it is because of God’s determining power.
Flowers in texts
9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
Application Points:
Nothing is owed or deserved
God does not call people because of their righteousness, but only Christ’s
Once you are called you can have all the confidence in the world that you are eternally saved