Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: John 6 | Date: April 28, 2013 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Wonderful songs this morning. Wonderful singing. Wonderful musical accompaniment. I’m blessed already. John chapter 6. The Gospel of John chapter 6. Continuing our series on the doctrines of grace. The title of the message this morning is, “Who Will Come? Or, The Doctrine of Irresistible Grace.”

In John 6, as you may recall—we won’t take time to read the whole account, but you may recall that Jesus has fed the 5,000. A remarkable miracle that’s recorded for us in all four of the Gospels. He has now gone to the other side of the lake. Verses 16 and following, He has walked on water, another miracle. And now, those who were fed on the other side are looking for Him and they have come to Him, chasing after Him. They are quite excited about what He has done. Jesus was not so excited about their excitement because of their carnal motives, as we’ll see.

But now let’s pick up the reading with verse 22: “On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God has set his seal.'”

“Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to be doing the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ So they said to him, ‘Then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you?’—as if they had not seen it already—’What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it is written and gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.'”

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet you do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me. And whoever comes to Me, I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day.'”

Let’s bow for prayer. Our Father, what a blessing and an encouragement it has been to us these past weeks to be refreshed in the reminders of these great doctrines of Your Word. We ask that again this morning You will refresh the hearts of us, Your people, with the knowledge of Your saving grace given effectually to us. We pray for the special working and presence of Your Spirit to open the Word which He has inspired. May it be clear to us and may it grip us in a way that makes us better worshipers of our great, saving God, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Put It in Perspective

Before we begin the exposition of this doctrine, I thought it would be helpful again to back up and put it in perspective of the series that we’ve been going through. We began with the study of total depravity. You remember, we’re working through the acronym TULIP: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and then Perseverance of the Saints. Lord willing, we’ll be there next week. There’s much interesting history behind those terms and how it was developed and the acronym and all of that, but that’s for another time. Keep in mind, by the way, that we will be picking this up in our Sunday evening series next month. And I’d be glad for you to submit any questions, email me questions, anything like that; any attending questions with this if you want to continue, I’d be glad to take that up.

We began with the study of total depravity. And there we saw that the teaching is not only that humanity is evil or sinful in a generic sense, although that’s true, but the point of it was to show that because of our inherent sinfulness, there’s a predisposition to sin and a natural disinclination from the things of God. And so we read things like, “Because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me,” or “Men love darkness rather than light and will not come to the light.” They hate the light. Enemies of God. Expressions like that: stony heart, hard hearts, uncircumcised hearts. These kinds of expressions all through the Scriptures simply to point out this fact that not only have we sinned, but we in our natural condition have sinned because we ourselves are sinners. And it has left us in this condition of disinclination from God and a preference, a bias for sin so that the term “total depravity” comes to mean, in effect, total inability. Not only are we sinful and lost, but we don’t want it otherwise. And not only can we not help ourselves in this situation, we wouldn’t if we could. Total inability, lostness, a predisposition to sin. This is the Bible’s description of every one of us in our natural condition.

And so we move on to the next point, which is unconditional election. And it’s called unconditional election simply because there are no conditions that this sinful humanity ever would have met in order for God to choose us. If there is to be anyone saved, then clearly, given our disposition, our predisposition to sin, if anyone is going to be saved, clearly God must take the initiative and make the choice. And so we call it unconditional election, which as we saw speaks of God’s sovereign purpose in grace to save those whom he has chosen. Given our blindness, the choice must be his, and he has chosen those whom he will save. We saw that at some length.

And then last time we looked at the third point which is called limited atonement or particular redemption. It is simply the means by which God saves those whom he has chosen. In our universal and unanimous rejection of God, God has chosen those whom He would save. And to accomplish their salvation, He has sent His Son on a saving mission. And the Lord Jesus came from heaven with the purpose of securing the salvation of those whom the Father had given Him. His intention then in dying, as He said, was to save His sheep. “I lay down my life for the sheep.”

Now, all of that is to view salvation from the divine side—what God has done to secure our salvation. He has chosen to save us. He has sent his Son to secure our salvation. But the next step is the experiential side of salvation so far as we are concerned. That is, how is this salvation which the Son has accomplished for us applied to the hearts of God’s elect? Or very simply, how is it that we who are chosen were brought to experience the salvation that Christ has secured for us?

Now that question that’s raised is an important one, because in our depravity, as we saw, we refuse God. We are enemies of God. God then has chosen to save, and He has sent His Son to accomplish that salvation. But as we know also through the rest of Scripture, justification comes by faith. That is, we must believe in order to be saved. And so the question that comes up is: how is it that people who are bound in sin—hating the light, loving the darkness, refusing the truth, and so on—how is it that people who are bound in sin will ever be inclined to believe and so be saved? How is it we come to faith?

The Doctrine of Irresistible Grace

And so we come now to this doctrine of irresistible grace, which simply says that God effectually brings his elect to saving faith in Christ. God effectually brings his elect to saving faith in Christ. Having chosen us to salvation, having sent his son to accomplish our salvation, he further brings us then to Christ in faith in salvation. Now the idea here—and it might even be better stated this way—the idea here is God infallibly saves his elect. When we say “irresistible grace,” it might bring up some negative connotations that we’ll see in just a second. But the point here is that God infallibly saves those whom he has chosen to save. That’s the idea of irresistible grace.

And so it’s also called effectual calling. God calls those whom he has chosen and calls them to faith in Christ so that they in fact believe and are saved. So irresistible grace, or effectual calling, refers to the means by which we are brought into the fellowship of Christ. Irresistible grace is the grace of God given to His elect, which infallibly brings them into fellowship with Christ.

Now before we go on, we should also, by way of just clarifying the matter, deal with some misunderstandings and some mischaracterizations of irresistible grace, just to help clarify the point. Often it has been mischaracterized that what Calvinists believe in irresistible grace is that God saves people even if they don’t want to be saved. “I don’t want to be saved. I don’t want to be saved. No, no, don’t. I don’t want to be saved. Oh, stink, I’m saved. I didn’t want this.” Now, of course, no Calvinist believes that, but that’s often the way, on a popular level, it’s been mischaracterized.

And I think, well, a couple of things. One, the first way to answer that is simply to say that the point here is better stated than rather than “irresistible”—just to avoid those negative connotations—the better word might be “infallible grace.” It simply points to the certainty of the salvation of those whom God has chosen. The fulfillment of his decree in election to save is brought about in irresistible grace. And so again, we call it effectual calling.

Again, no Calvinist would ever say that people are saved even though they don’t want to be, although there’s a play on that that we should mention in a little while as well. But that would be ridiculous. Faith, by the very nature of it, is an act of the will. No one has ever been saved who didn’t want to be. Faith, by the nature of it, is an act of the will where we rest ourselves on Christ as a choice that we make. But the problem remains: given our depravity, how is anyone saved? How does anyone come to faith? How is anyone inclined to believe in Jesus given their bondage in sin?

And irresistible grace simply says that for all of the details that we’ll talk about in a minute, God infallibly saves those whom he has chosen. And he will bring them in such a way that they are willing and come to faith in Christ. Those of you who are parents know a little bit about this. For example, when your children are very young… well, like, let’s just pick on Gina. She’s not here. When she was young, we had a little trouble with some of the vegetables she didn’t like. And we had decided she should eat them. And she was—she has a strong will like her mother. Kim’s not here either. But she decided she wasn’t going to eat them. And so we would have our little struggles at mealtime. And once in a while, we’d put a little sugar in it to help it. I’m not sure that was so smart either.

But you have the same trouble when you’re trying to teach your children something. I remember when I was trying to learn in kindergarten, trying to learn to tie my shoe. It was a very traumatic experience. That’s why I remember it so well. It was awful. And we went through the thing in school, and I couldn’t get it for anything. I came home that night, and Mom’s going to teach me how to tie my shoe. And I remember distinctly sitting in the living room, I had one of Dad’s shoes out, trying to tie this thing, and you loop it like this, and you pull it, and I couldn’t get it. And I finally broke down and cried. How pathetic. “I’ll never get this.”

As a parent, when you have those kinds of situations, whether it’s wanting your children to eat their vegetables or trying to teach them something, you often think something like, “I wish I could just get on the inside and make them want to or make them understand.” That’s the doctrine of irresistible grace. What we can’t do, God does. And so when we say irresistible grace, all we’re saying is that God moves in the hearts of his elect in such a way as to draw them willingly to Christ, changing their heart, changing their desire, their appetite, and their disposition as well.

Another objection or mischaracterization of the doctrine of irresistible grace is people will often say, “Well, it’s obvious that people always, all the time, are resisting God. How can you say you believe in irresistible grace when people obviously resist?” And again, this isn’t a great objection, but it is a popular one. And so I think I should mention it. And we want to respond and say, well, of course people resist. That’s why we need the doctrine of irresistible grace. That’s the whole point. Because given our bondage and sin, we resist naturally and continuously until somehow God changes that disposition, or we might say removes that disposition to resist so that we come willingly. And so again, we call it irresistible grace or effectual calling. It has to do with God’s infallible accomplishing of His purpose to save. In the face of universal rejection and universal rebellion, God has chosen a people whom he will save for his glory, and they will be saved.

All That the Father Gives Me Will Come to Me

All right, so much for definition. Here in John chapter 6, we see Jesus not only proclaiming this doctrine, but actually taking comfort in this doctrine. These have come to see Jesus because he has performed this miracle. They have sought to make him king because of what he has done. Jesus is not impressed with their motives. They see him take a boy’s lunch and turn it into enough to feed a multitude. And so they’re thinking: five loaves, two fishes, feed a multitude. Let’s take three spears and four shields and we can equip an army. And Rome’s out of here. And it says they sought to make him king.

And Jesus leaves. And they come and find him. They’re still excited about all of this. And Jesus is saying, “You’ve got all the wrong motives. You should have seen something in those signs, and all you saw was something external for other kinds of purposes. But you didn’t see the Savior who had come to save you from sin.” And that’s the conversation which we have read here in verses 25 and following.

And so in verse 35, Jesus tells them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever”—there’s the universal offer—”whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you’ve seen Me and yet do not believe.” Here is the predicament that we are facing in all of these doctrines. Is it true that whoever will come to Christ will be saved? Yes. Can we say, “Whoever will, let him come”? Yes. That’s the Gospel offer. But the fact of the matter is there’s a universal “no” in response to that offer. And so Jesus says, “Whoever comes will never hunger, but you won’t.”

So what do we do? Is it a failure in the plan and purpose of God? God has sent his Son to save his people, accomplish worldwide redemption, and here it is a failure? No. Verse 36 again: “I said to you that you have seen Me and yet you do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.” A couple of things here. Notice who it is that will come. It is “all that the Father gives Me.” Who’s that? Oh, that’s the elect. We saw that a couple of weeks ago, particularly in John’s Gospel where he speaks of them as those given to me by the Father, those loved by the Father, those whom I love, my sheep, and so on. Those who have been given to me will come. “You won’t. You persist in your insane rebellion against me, but those who have been given will come.”

And notice again carefully, verse 37: “All that the Father gives me” might come to me? I hope will come to me? “All that the Father gives me shall come to me.” The infallible working of God’s purpose. Those given will be saved. Those given will come to faith in Christ. That’s simply the doctrine of irresistible grace. If you want to jump down, verse 44, he says it another way: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.” No one can unless the Father draws him. And then in verse 45 and following, he quotes the prophet Isaiah in support.

Turn over a few pages to chapter 10. John chapter 10, we see this again. In the earlier verses, Jesus is giving the illustration of Himself as the Good Shepherd who dies in the place of His sheep. Verse 11, lays down His life for them so that they’ll be saved. And then verse 16, He mentions, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold.” That is, not just Jews, not just Israel, but Gentiles as well. “I must bring them also and they will listen.” Notice: “I must bring them.” There’s a necessity, a divine necessity. He must go get them. And notice again, verse 16: “I must bring them also and they will listen to My voice.”

A little later in the chapter, verse 24, the Jews gathered around Him and said to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You’re the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I’ve told you. You don’t believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness about Me, but you don’t believe because you are not part of My flock. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give them eternal life.” You don’t believe. And ultimately, the reason is, you’re not My sheep. “My sheep—well, they would have been just like you too, but they’ve been chosen. They’ve been given to Me. And there’s a purpose that must be accomplished in them. My sheep hear My voice.” When I call them, they come. It is the sheep who are called, and when they are called, they hear and they respond.

To Those Who Are Called

Now quickly, 1 Corinthians 1. I considered just preaching from this chapter alone this morning and expounding Paul’s argument here; I decided to take the topical approach like I have with the others just to round out the discussion elsewhere in the scriptures as well, but we’ll take a little bit of time here in 1 Corinthians 1 as we’ve read it earlier this morning.

Before I begin here, I just want to note that you should keep in mind that the word “call,” or “calling,” or “called,” is a technical term in scripture that’s used with regard to the gospel offer. And it’s used in two senses. On one level, the word “call” is used in the sense of a general offer, a general call of the gospel that goes out to all. For example, Isaiah 65 and verse 12: “When I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not hear.” Matthew 22 in verse 3: “He sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding, and they were unwilling to come.” Luke 14: “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Clearly, this has to do with a general call that goes out. And that meaning, that sense of the word “calling,” is used frequently with Jesus’ usage of the term, and also in the Old Testament.

In Paul, his use of the term “calling”—and also in the other New Testament writers often—it has not a general call in view, but a specific and an effectual call in view. So it’s something like a summons, or more than a summons; it’s like a summons accompanied by the sheriff. When you’re called, you come. That’s the idea that’s used often. And I want you to see that in several passages beginning here in 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

First of all, verse 9: “God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son.” Notice the effectual overtones to it. This is the means by which you were brought into the fellowship of Christ. You were called in. How did I get in fellowship with Christ? You were called in. And the call was effectual.

If that’s not clear enough, let’s glance down to verse 17. Paul says he’s come to preach the gospel of Christ. Verse 18: “The word of the cross is foolishness.” There’s the total depravity again. “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” Now that’s an interesting thing. A lot of what Paul says through this passage, as we read it earlier, is just what he says here. The gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing. It’s a stumbling block to the Jews, foolishness to the Gentiles, he says, but to us, it’s the power of God to salvation. Isn’t that interesting? Now the question is, how did it become powerful to us when it remained foolishness to everyone else? Same gospel, same preacher. How did it become powerful, effectual with us?

Look at verse 23: “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, foolishness to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Alright, so we have the Gospel that is preached, and to the natural mind it’s foolishness and it’s rejected unanimously. But when that gospel is accompanied by a divine call, suddenly it becomes powerful and effectual, and it brings us to faith in Christ.

This is a very important concept we find in the Reformers’ emphasis very often. It is not just the gospel that is effective to save, nor is it just the spirit of God who is effectual in saving. It is the word and the spirit—the gospel and the spirit—working together. The spirit of God must work, but he doesn’t work in a vacuum. He works by means of the Gospel. And here Paul brings the two together. This Gospel call goes out. And it’s foolishness to the natural mind, but to those who are the called, it’s the power of God.

Now, that raises another question. Why was I called? And it’s interesting here. Paul actually answers that question. Success of the gospel depends on the calling of the Spirit of God in me. How is it and why is it I was called? Notice verse 26: “Consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.”

Now, if you would like—if you’re like me and you like to make marks in the passage to draw the line of the argument—you can underline some words and then connect them with other lines if you’d like. Let’s start at the beginning. Verse 18: we are saved. Verse 21: we are saved. At the end of verse 21: we believe. Those who believe are saved. Verse 24: called. Verse 26: calling. Verse 27: God chose. Again in verse 27: God chose. Verse 28: God chose. Alright, let’s work it out. Who are the ones who are chosen? Let’s work it backwards. Answer: those who are called. Well, who are those who are called? Well, it’s those who believe. And who are those who believe? It’s those who are saved. Well, who are the saved? It’s those who believe. Why do they believe? They’re called. Why were they called? Because God chose to. There it is. It all hangs together, doesn’t it? It couldn’t be more clear that it is there, is it? And that is simply the doctrine of irresistible grace or effectual calling. That God infallibly secures the salvation of those whom He has chosen.

And then in verse 30, He tells us again, just to emphasize it in other words: “Of Him you are in Christ Jesus.” Or, if you have it translated like in my version, “He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, that is, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” How is it all of these blessings came to us? Answer: God made it happen. Of Him we are in Christ.

Now there are many other passages that we should glance at, a few to emphasize this same point. One thing I’m trying to accomplish in these lessons, I don’t want anyone to have the idea that this doctrine is squeezed out of some obscure corner of the Bible, but it’s pervasive and it’s teaching everywhere. I’m taking a topical fashion for that reason to show you the pervasiveness of it.

Let’s look at Romans 8:28 again. We’ve seen this recently. Romans 8:28 and following. A familiar verse: “We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. Those who are”—here’s our expression—”the called according to their determinations”? No. They are “the called according to His purpose.” Now Paul says that little phrase, “His purpose,” and that just opens up a big thing for Paul. He can’t move on until he’s explained that a little further. So he gives an explanation. Notice the explanatory conjunction, verse 29: “For those he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he called. And whom he called, he justified. And whom he justified, he glorified.”

Again, I think we did this a couple of weeks ago, but let’s work it through both directions. Who are the ones who are foreknown? Well, it’s those predestined. Who are the ones who are predestined? It’s those who are called. Who are the ones who are called? Well, it’s those who are justified. And who are justified? It’s those who are glorified. Or we can start at that end. Who are the ones who in the end will have been glorified? Answer: all those who are justified are glorified. Well, who are the ones who are justified? Now, we might insert here, if you’d like, those who believe, who are justified by faith. But who are the ones who are justified? Those who are called. And who are the ones who are called? Those who are predestined and foreknown. Well, that’s simply the doctrine of irresistible grace, that God infallibly secures the salvation of His people.

For those of you who are taking notes, I’ll just mention a few more verses here: Galatians 1:6, “called into the grace of Christ”; 1 Peter 2:9, “called us out of darkness into his marvelous light”; 1 Peter 5:10, “called us into his eternal glory”; Jude verse 1, those sanctified and those preserved are those who are “the called.” This is the means by which we are brought into the fellowship of Christ. And so what you find in the New Testament—we don’t have time to chase this down any further at this point—but often in the New Testament, you find that the phrase “the called” is a title for Christians. We’re Christians. It’s those who are “the called.” The call of God is who we are, because that call is effectual.

A point in all of this, again, is that of particularism—that a certain accomplishment of God’s purpose to save those whom he has chosen. Now I wanted at this point to chase down several different passages that are related to this, but I clearly don’t have time, so let me take just one or two.

Look at Matthew 11. Through this chapter Jesus has been denouncing the cities of Galilee for their rejection of Him. They had seen Him, seen His miracles, heard Him preach, and so on. And He has denounced them in some scathing kinds of terms, for the light that was given them to have rejected Him is a horrible thing with horrible implications for eternity. But now, verse 25: “At that time Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was Your good pleasure.'” That is, even in their rejection of Christ, even that has not escaped the sovereign purpose of God. It was Your good pleasure to leave them in their blindness and to reveal grace to some. Why? Verse 26: “This was your good pleasure.” You were pleased to do it. That’s as far back as we can chase the purpose of God. He chose whom He chose. Why? Because He was pleased to do so. Why was He pleased to do it? The Bible doesn’t tell you that.

Verse 27: “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father.” What a statement! Nobody really knows Me except the Father. And, if you thought that was a lot, “no one knows the father except the son.” I have exclusive knowledge of God. What a claim. But then he goes further: “No one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.” This is my determination and I grant this sovereignty. Brothers and sisters, if that means anything, it means that if we are saved today, it is because God has granted us a privilege that He has withheld from others. For some reason known only to Him, because He was pleased to do so, Christ granted us this awesome privilege of knowing God while at the same time passing over others.

Well, let’s take one more. Look at Acts 13, verse 48, one which we saw, I think, a couple of weeks ago. Here’s one of those summaries that Luke gives concerning the evangelistic work of the Apostle Paul. And he says here, in summary, that when the Gentiles heard this—this is Acts 13:48—”when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the Word of the Lord. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” Now notice: not most of them that were appointed, but all that were appointed to eternal life believed. God had chosen a people to save. And in time, he brought them to the gospel. And when the shepherds spoke, they heard. And all of them came.

Well, there’s many more, much more of this. We could do it, again, maybe perhaps in our Sunday evening message. But the point is the same, that God initiates the work of salvation and infallibly accomplishes it. Those whom he chooses, he doesn’t just leave them to their own, to make it on their own, but he brings them to faith in Christ so that they’re saved.

Let me throw out a few points here before we move on, that the Bible approaches this doctrine in several different ways then:
1. Simple direct statements that the salvation of his chosen ones is certain. That’s why we began in John 6 as I did.
2. The Bible also approaches this from the standpoint of the necessity of divine initiative or the necessity of divine enablement because of human depravity. The natural heart thinks the things of God to be foolish. We have an interesting expression of this in Romans 6. It speaks of sin reigning. Sin reigns in the heart of the unbeliever. Why does he not believe? Because sin reigns. And if sin reigns, there he’s stuck until a higher authority and a higher power comes and conquers that. And now, he says, grace reigns. That is to say, irresistible grace.
3. Another way the Bible approaches this is simply the unity of the plan of salvation. God has chosen a people whom he will save. He has sent his son to save them, and now in time he brings them one by one into fellowship with Christ infallibly.
4. Another way the Bible approaches this is simply the point of salvation as a work of God. It is not something that man contributes to in any way, but God does this. And so John 5:21, the Son quickens whom He will. He gives life to whom He will.
5. Another way the Bible approaches this—and we will need to explore this in our Sunday evenings—is the means of salvation or the conditions of salvation as a gift of God. Is it required in order to be saved that we believe and repent—believe in Christ and repent of our sin? Is that required? Yes, of course that’s required. And so the New Testament often speaks of both faith and repentance as a gift of God, that God gives faith and God gives repentance. We’ll have to see more of that another time.

The point then is that salvation is a gift of God, not just that it’s freely offered, but that it’s effectually and freely conferred on those whom he’s chosen to save.

The Means of God’s Calling

Now, let’s take just a couple of minutes with this next point, and that’s the means of God’s calling. How does God go about bringing us to Christ? Now, of course, the first answer is He does this by the Gospel. And so 1 Corinthians 1 that we’ve already seen: this Gospel that is foolish to the lost is powerful to those who are the called. He does it by the Gospel. 2 Thessalonians 2:14: “He has called you by our Gospel.”

There’s a graphic depiction of this in 2 Corinthians 4 that I want you to see. Here Paul puts it in terms of his own testimony. 2 Corinthians 4, and I’ll begin reading with verse 1: “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful and underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word by the open statement of the truth. We would commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” That is to say, I preach the gospel that men think is foolish. But because I have confidence in God’s ability to work through the gospel, I don’t sell the Gospel short. I don’t change it, trim it, make it more palatable. I preach the Gospel as it’s given, as it’s been revealed. I handle it faithfully.

Verse 3: “If our Gospel is veiled, it’s veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case, it’s the God of this world who has blinded the minds of unbelievers.” There’s our total inability again. The God of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. I love this expression: “The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” What’s the gospel all about? It’s about the glory of Christ. And the glory of Christ is exactly what the unbeliever cannot see.

The Apostle Paul himself before he was converted—he understood the Gospel. That’s why he hated it so much. He understood the claims of Christ. That’s why he hated them so much. Because Christ to him was something awful. And so, my mind was veiled, my eyes were veiled, and I couldn’t see the glory of Christ as it was displayed in the Gospel. Verse 5: “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God who said, ‘Let the light shine out of darkness'”—that’s Genesis 1, let there be light—”has shown in our hearts to give us the light of what? The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

I was living in darkness. I heard the claims of Christ. I heard the Gospel and I hated it. The problem was not that Jesus was not glorious. The problem was not that the Gospel was not plain. Jesus is all-glorious. But I couldn’t see it. It was hidden. And the same God who said way at the beginning, “Let there be light,” shine in our hearts. Turn the lights on. And suddenly I saw Jesus for the first time. And that which before to me was so reprehensible, I saw as glorious. In my depraved, warped mind, I looked at Him, I looked at His claims, and I thought it awful. But God repaired my mind. Turn the lights on. And I saw in a different way.

And this is the means by which God calls. He sends the gospel message, and accompanied by the power of his spirit, turns the lights on, as it were. And we see Jesus, as it were. We see him as we’ve never seen him before. I want to point out, every time I come to this doctrine, I want to point out: this is not just abstract, theoretical doctrine. This is the experience of every believer. We continued in our indifference. We continued in our unbelief. In some cases, you might have continued in your hostility against the Gospel. You wanted nothing to do with it. You may have cussed the guy who gave you the Gospel the first time. And then one day, all of a sudden, it was different. It seemed to open up. And it’s as though you heard the Gospel for the first time. It’s as though you saw Jesus for the first time. And God opens our hearts and we come willingly. Or as Ralph Erskine said, “God saved me with my full consent against my will.” This is irresistible grace. It’s not irresistible in a negative sense. It’s irresistible in the sense that it’s infallible and conquering our sin, bringing us willingly to Jesus.

Irresistible Grace and Christian Worship

Well, quickly then, some implications of this irresistible grace and Christian worship. Turn back quickly to 1 Corinthians 1 that we’ve read. Paul stresses over and again here that the point of all of this—the point of God saving in this way—is so that he will be honored and glorified in it. As in everything else God does, He acts in salvation for His own glory.

So, we find verse 31: “Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let those who boast, boast in the Lord.'” God saves in such a way that only He receives the credit for it. Well, let’s look at the argument of verses 26 and following just quickly. Notice Paul says, “your calling.” Notice your calling. He’s simply going over the membership roles at the Church of Corinth. Reformed Baptist Church of Corinth. Going over the membership roles. Now what do you see in there? Do you see anything high and mighty? Do you see the world’s greats? The world’s leading intellectuals? The world’s most powerful? No, he says.

“Consider your calling. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. He chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are. So that”—the purpose clause—”so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

Paul’s going over the membership roles at the Church of Corinth and he says, “You want proof that God doesn’t need human wisdom? Look in the mirror. What do you think you contributed to this?” Now there are some exceptions to this, and it doesn’t say “not any.” It says “not many wise, not many noble.” There are some exceptions and some wonderful exceptions to it. But they stand out as exceptions, proving that as a rule, God has not chosen and God does not call those who are great and mighty by human standards. Because in determining whom he would save, God did not choose on the basis of human greatness, because if the church were a gathering of the world’s elite, it would just distract and confuse. People would think you’ve got to be somebody to be saved. You’ve got to contribute something. “Well, I’m not smart enough. I’m not great enough. I’m not powerful enough. I’m not influential enough.” And God says, “I won’t have that. I want everyone to know when it’s all said and done that I’ve done it.”

And so look in the mirror. Any greatness that you’ve contributed to this? No, God says, “I’ll save an unlikely bunch of nobodies.” And everyone will know that I’ve done the saving. And so verses 27 and 28: He’s chose the foolish, the weak, the base, the despised, zeros. You’re a Christian? Welcome to the class of the world’s nobodies. And this is the whole point, verse 28, so that no one will strut. And that everyone, verse 29, verse 30, verse 31, everyone in this must turn and give God all the glory for it.

Here again we see something of the importance of these doctrines. To deny these doctrines is to rob God of glory that is rightfully only His. And more than that, or beyond that, it is to steal from us a great part of the ground of our worship. It blinds us to the joy and the thrill that only particularism can afford. We want to be able to sing with real meaning, not just that grace relieved my fears, but God and grace came and taught my heart to fear in the first place.

We have a song in our hymnal that we have sung on occasion, “Who is on the Lord’s Side?” It asks the question and then answers it. It’s Calvinism with a vengeance. Have you ever thought through it when you’ve sung it? “Who is on the Lord’s side?” And the answer is in one of the stanzas:

“Not for weight of glory,
Not for crown or palm,
Enter we the army,
Raise the warrior’s psalm;
But for love that claimeth
Lives for whom He died,
He whom Jesus nameth,
Must be on His side.
By Thy love constraining,
By Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side,
Savior, we are Thine.”

Brothers and sisters, I’ve said this before: these doctrines ought to revolutionize and transform and shape our devotional life. It ought to be every morning: pinch me, is this real? That the great God of glory against whom I had sinned and rebelled, against whom I was determined in my rebellion, chose to save me, sent me His Son, and now has come after me and drawn me in to faith to save me. This ought to give us new passion in our singing, new passion and joy in our praying, and it ought to transform our worship. Amen.

Our Father, what a glorious thing it is You have done for us. We praise You for Your goodness and Your grace. What a great salvation this is. We sing to You with all of our hearts for the unimaginable love and the conquering grace that You’ve given to us in the Lord Jesus. In whose name we pray, Amen. Amen. Please stand together. Take out your RBC songbook and open up to number 106.