Have you responded to the
effectual call of God to salvation?
In his effort to encourage
suffering Christians, the apostle Paul wrote, “For
whom He [God] foreknew, He also predestinated to
become conformed to the image of His Son, that He
might be the firstborn among many brethren; and whom
He predestinated, these He also called; and whom He
called, these He also justified; and whom He
justified, these He also glorified” (Romans
8:29-30).
This beautiful golden five-link
chain of salvation demonstrates the awesome love and
grace of God reaching down to poor, lost, depraved
sinners and gives the assurance of eternal life.
The effectual call of God in
salvation brings about regeneration, or spiritual
birth in the person who is called. The effectual or
specific call to salvation comes through the general
call by means of the preaching of the good news in
Jesus Christ to a lost world. It is through the
preaching of the gospel that God calls sinners. As
the Word of God is preached some seed falls on
stony, shallow ground, and some on good soil. God
prepares the soil and gives life. The seed that
sprouts and takes up root in the good soil results
in a spiritual harvest and people are saved.
God calls the individual to
salvation by a specific and effectual call that
produces spiritual life in the one who hears the
call. The individual who hears the effectual call of
God will responds by faith. The effectual call
enables the person to respond to the Gospel. The
Holy Spirit produces the new spiritual life in the
person who is effectually called. The evidence of
that new life is repentance and faith in Christ
Jesus. When referring to faith and repentance
Spurgeon said don't make two old friends fight.
The effectual "calling" in the
New Testament is consistently used for the call that
ushers men into a state of salvation and is
therefore effectual.
Jesus said, “No one can come to
Me unless the Father who sent Me draw him” (John
6:44).
How do you know whether you are
of the elect of God? The best answer is found in
another question. Have you responded to the call of
God? The Bible says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31). Have
you? If you have believed then know that God has set
His love upon you to save you. Moreover, He will
continue to love you and keep you throughout
eternity.
Left to ourselves no depraved
sinner will respond positively to the general call
of the gospel. People hear the gospel message, a
general call of God to salvation, and turn their
hearts away. There is also the effectual call of God
to salvation that provides the willingness to
respond positively to the message of salvation by
grace through faith. It is God bringing spiritual
life to the individual who hears and comes to life
spiritually.
Donald Grey Barnhouse helps
with the distinction between the general call of the
gospel and the effectual call to salvation. “If men
heed no more than the outward call, they become
members of the visible church. If the inward call is
heard in our hearts, we become members of the
invisible church. The first call unites us merely to
a group of professing members; but the inward call
unites us to Christ Himself, and to all that have
been born again.
“The outward call may bring
with it a certain intellectual knowledge of the
truth; the inward call brings us the faith of the
heart, the hope which anchors us forever to Christ
and the love which must ever draw us back to Him who
first loved us. The one can end in formalism, the
other in true life. The outward call may curb the
tendencies of the old nature and keep a soul in
outward morality; the inward call will cure the
plague that is in us and bring us on to triumph in
Christ” (God’s Heirs: Exposition of Bible Doctrines
. . . , vol. 7, pp. 171, 172).
As fast as the called one
comes, God justifies that person. Have you responded
to His free grace and love and believed on Him for
salvation?
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author's written consent.
Unless otherwise noted "Scripture quotations taken from the NASB."
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE" © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://www.bible.org/. All rights reserved.
Wil is a graduate of William Carey University, B. A.; New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Th. M.; and Azusa Pacific University, M. A. He has pastored in Panama, Ecuador and the U. S, and served for over 20 years as missionary in Ecuador and Honduras. He had a daily expository Bible teaching ministry head in over 100 countries from 1972-2005. He continues to seek opportunities to be personally involved in world missions. Wil and his wife Ann have three grown daughters. He currently serves as a Baptist pastor and teaches seminary extension courses in Ecuador.
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