How does God apply the gospel? Those whom He has chosen for salvation He irresistibly calls to Christ. In this message we focus on the Originator, Objects, Omnipotence, Outcome, and Order of this great and mighty call of God.

God’s Irresistible Call

Romans 8:28-30

Imagine a famous and wealthy architect who specializes in designing masterpiece custom homes.   He has this uncanny ability to picture the finished home in his mind, and then lay out the blueprints for it on paper. All of the homes he builds are mansions fit for Better Homes and Garden magazine shots. His son happens to work for him. He’s the purchasing agent. It is his job to go down to the supply yard, and purchase all the materials which will be needed and deliver them to the job site. His grandson owns a construction company. After the Purchaser delivers the materials to the job site, he goes out and takes his work crew and begins to actually build the home according to the blueprints laid out by his grandfather. Similarly, God the Father is the great Architect of salvation. He planned our salvation from the foundation of the world and knows exactly how all His chosen ones will turn out – masterpieces of His grace. The son who is the Purchaser, is Jesus Christ who purchased our salvation by paying the penalty for sin on the cross. The construction company is the Holy Spirit. He takes what Jesus Christ has purchased for His people, and actually builds the finished product according to the Father’s predetermined plan.  You see the role of the Father in salvation is Election. The role of the Son in salvation is Redemption. And the role of the Spirit in salvation is Calling.

Last Sunday morning we studied Romans 9, and saw that only those people God chose before the foundation of the world will be saved. Well, if that’s true, and it is, how will those chosen ones come to faith in Jesus Christ? How will they be saved? How will they be converted?

Remember from last week that David and Courtney both heard the same gospel message from the same preacher at the same church at the same time, and yet Courtney came to faith in Christ, while David remained in his sin and unbelief. Last week we traced the reason for this. God chose Courtney to be a vessel of mercy and prepared her beforehand for glory. But, how did Courtney come to faith? What was God doing that enabled her to believe the gospel?  The Biblical answer is, “Through His irresistible call.”

Before we begin our study on God’s Irresistible Call I need to make one thing clear – regeneration and irresistible calling amount to the same thing in Scripture. So, when I speak of irresistible calling, you understand that what I mean by that is the new birth, and when I speak of the new birth, you understand that it is the same thing as God’s irresistible call.

This morning we are going to look at the doctrine of God’s Irresistible Call as seen in the Book of Romans, and see the role the 3^rd person of the Trinity plays in our salvation. So, although we could look at 43 other New Testament passages which speak of God’s call to salvation, we are going to limit ourselves to just a half dozen texts in the book of Romans.

1.  The Originator of the Call

Let’s look at Romans 9:24 to answer the question, “Who does the calling?” Romans 9:24 says, “even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.” The Originator of the call is God Himself. He is the Author of the call. Its source is God. All of that to say this. We are not the author of our own call. We do not call ourself. We do not birth ourselves again. Sean and Kelly and Kevin and Cecilia recently had babies. Tell me, how much did Katy or Cierra have to do with being brought into existence? Zip. Nada. Zilch! They didn’t do anything. It was all done by their parents. Peter says  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again” (1Pet.1:3). Our calling or regeneration had nothing to do with us. It was the work of God alone. Sometimes theologians use the terms “monergism” and “synergism”. Monergism means there is only one agent doing the work. Synergism means that two agents are cooperating together to accomplish the work. In the New Birth, is it Monergism or Synergism? It’s Monergism!

You see, Regeneration and Salvation are not the same thing. Salvation speaks of Benefits. Regeneration speaks of Life. Of course we receive salvation at the same time we are regenerated. But salvation speaks of the benefits we receive, like being rescued from God’s wrath, whereas  regeneration speaks of life and power. If I were to ask you, “What does a person have to do to be saved?” you could answer, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved.” Or you could answer, “he must confess with his mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in His heart that God raised Him from the dead.” Faith is the human condition to receive salvation. However, if I asked you “What must a person do to be born again?” what would you say? You couldn’t say anything, because the Bible never gives an answer to that question. Do you know why? Because there isn’t anything you can do to produce regeneration. The Bible says the lost man is dead in sins. The Bible refers to the New Birth as a spiritual resurrection and a new creation. A dead person can’t bring himself back to life. Something that doesn’t exist can’t create itself. That’s why God must do it, and God is the only one who can do it. The Irresistible Call is issued from the King of Kings.

Imagine that you are just one of those many people crowded around the sepulcher of Lazarus. It’s easy to spot Mary and Martha. Their tear-stained cheeks tell of the heavy toll of sorrow they have experienced this last week. The group assembles in front of a cave with a stone lying against it. Then Jesus gives a very strange command, “Remove the stone!” Martha cries out in alarm, “Lord by this time there’s going to be a stench, for he’s been dead 4 days.” Jesus only replies, “Didn’t I say to you, if you believe, you will see the glory of God.”  Then, after uttering a short prayer of thanksgiving that God heard Him always, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” And old Lazarus came hobbling out of that tomb, looking just like a mummy from head to foot. Now, tell me, where did the power come from for Lazarus to come to life? Did it come from Lazarus? Of course, the question is absurd. No, the power to grant life to this dead man came in the call of Jesus Christ. The same is true of every person who has been born again. The power to go from spiritual death to spiritual life comes in the call of Jesus Christ.

2.  The Objects Of The Call

Who does God call?  Let’s examine Romans 9:23-24 to see if we can get an answer to this question. “And He did so in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”  According to this text, the ones whom God called were the vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory. Now, what does Paul mean by those whom God prepared beforehand for glory? Let’s see what the rest of the New Testament teaches on this subject.

Eph.1:3-4, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.”

2 Tim. 1:9 “who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity”

2 Thess.2:13-14 “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. And it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Mt. 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’”

The Word of God is clear that from the beginning of time God has already determined to save a definite number of the human family by Jesus Christ. The Bible refers to these people as the “elect.” It’s important to distinguish Election and Calling. Election marks them out for salvation, but they will not actually receive salvation until they are called. Election happened in eternity past. Calling happens in time, when the Holy Spirit changes the heart and inclines the will to embrace Christ in the gospel.

Let’s look at Romans 8:28 and 8:30 to see another text that would answer the question, who does God call? Romans 8:28 speaks of those who “are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:30 says “and whom He predestined, these He also called.” There’s your answer. God calls those, and those only, whom He has predestined in His eternal purpose. Predestined for what? Verse 29 says they are predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son.” Well, take it a step back. Who are the ones whom God has predestined? Verse 29 begins this way, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined.” So here is the order:  First God foreknows, then He predestines, then He calls.

Now what does it mean when it speaks of those whom God foreknew? Well, it is not talking about what God foreknew. It’s not speaking about what God knew people would do of their own free will. The text says whom He foreknew. To “know” in Scripture refers to an intimate relationship of love. Genesis 4:1 says literally, “Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain.”  In this passage Adam “knew” Eve in the sense that he was sexually intimate with her. In Amos 3:2 it literally says, “You only have I known among all the families of the earth.” Well, what does the Bible mean by that? Is it saying that God only knew about Israel, and didn’t know anything about the Edomites, Moabilites and Phillistines? Of course not! The NASB renders it, “You only have I chosen.” The NLT renders it, “From among all the families on the earth, I have been intimate with you alone. Again, the idea of intimacy of relationship is in view. Then again look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:23, “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” Are we to understand Jesus as saying that He didn’t know about these people? Does Jesus turn to Gabriel and say, “Really Gabriel, you have to keep me better informed. I can’t keep track of all these people on earth. Somehow this one slipped through the cracks. I never knew about this one!” No, what Jesus is saying is that He never had an intimate, saving relationship with them. So Scripture uses the word “know” in the sense of “love” or “intimacy.” Therefore those whom God foreknows are those He foreloves, or those whom He has planned from all eternity to draw into an intimate, saving relationship.

So here is the order of salvation. First God chooses those whom He will enter into an intimate, saving relationship. Then He predestines them to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Then at a particular moment in time, He actually calls them into that relationship. Who does God call? The elect, those He has predestined, the vessels of mercy He has prepared beforehand for glory.

3.  The Omnipotence Of The Call

How powerful is this call?  Let’s take a look at Romans 4:17, “God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.” In this passage Paul is speaking about Abraham’s faith. God had told him he would have a son. Abraham’s faith fastened on God who gives life to the dead, and calls into being that which does not exist. Abraham needed a God who could give life to the dead, because verse 19 says his own body was as good as dead since he was about 100 years old. How could he ever father a child, being almost 100 years old? God was able to make that happen. Further, his faith fastened on a God who calls into being that which does not exist. What did not exist for Abraham? A son. God called him into being. When it was humanly impossible, God brought it to pass. Here Paul shows something of God’s Omnipotence – He is the God who can raise the dead and create something out of nothing. Now, when we read of God “calling” into being that which does not exist, this is not speaking about the New Testament call of the sinner to salvation. However, it does illustrate that call. You see, in Scripture there is a very close tie between Isaac and New Testament believers. Gal.4:28, “And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise.” Paul is saying that every Christian is just like Isaac. Just as Isaac’s birth was a miracle, so too is the Christian’s new birth. So, when Paul says that God calls into being that which does not exist, although He is referring to Isaac, he is providing an illustration of God calling Christians into existence, who previously did not exist.

The Call of God is an act of creation. God calls into being what previously did not exist. How much power did it take for God to call into being the universe? Infinite power! We can’t even conceive of the kind of power needed for Him to create the world. So too, God’s call comes with omnipotent power. Let me ask you another question, “how much power is needed to raise the dead?” Again, the only answer we can give is Omnipotence! Now God’s call (or regeneration) is likened to both a new creation, and a spiritual resurrection.

2 Cor. 5:17 “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Eph. 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”

Eph. 2:5 “even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ.”

Do you realize that for a person who is dead in trespasses and sins to become a Christian requires as much power as a resurrection or an act of creation? When you became a Christian, you were not just making a simple decision, or deciding to believe. You were being quickened by Almighty God; you were being raised to newness of life; you were being created in Christ Jesus; you were being called out of darkness into His marvelous light!  The Puritan Thomas Watson put it this way, “God puts forth infinite power in calling home a sinner to Himself; He not only puts forth His voice but His arm. The apostle speaks of the exceeding greatness of His power, which He exercises towards them that believe. God rides forth conquering in the chariot of His gospel; He conquers the pride of the heart, and makes the will, which stood out as a fort-royal, to yield and stoop to His grace; He makes the stony heart bleed. Oh, it is a mighty call! The effectual call is mighty and powerful. God puts forth a divine energy, nay, a kind of omnipotence; it is such a powerful call, that the will of man has no power effectually to resist.”

4.  The Outcome Of The Call

What happens to those who are called? There are 4 results of God’s call given to us in the book of Romans.

1)  They experience the obedience of faith: 1:5-6 “to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name’s sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ.” Paul is saying that when God called these Roman Gentiles they experienced the obedience of faith. The very first response to God’s irresistible call will be saving faith in Jesus Christ. When Paul speaks of the “obedience of faith” he is making sure that we understand that this is true, saving faith. True faith in Christ will always result in obedience to Christ. If you find someone who says they are a Christian but does not seek to obey Jesus Christ in their life, you have found someone who is self-deceived. True faith results in a transformed life. James tells us as much when he says that faith without corresponding works is dead faith. It is not the faith of God’s elect. The faith we are speaking of is not some nebulous “belief in God.” Rather, it is trusting Jesus Christ alone to save you from sin.

2)  They discover they are loved by God: Romans 1:6-7 says, “to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints.”  You say, what do you mean they discover that they are loved by God. Isn’t everybody loved by God? Well, in one sense yes. God loves all of His creatures with a general love of compassion. He feeds them, sends the rain on the just and the unjust. However, there is a different kind of love He has for His elect. Those who are called discover that they are loved with a special, discriminating, eternal, sovereign, saving love that will never let them go. In Ephesians 5 Paul describes the love of Jesus for His church as the kind of love a husband has for his wife. Now let me ask you men and husbands, “Do you love all the women in your neighborhood?” Of course, you’d have to answer, “yes”, because as Christians we are to love all people. But if I asked you, “Do you love all the women in your neighborhood in the same way that you love your wife” you’d answer “No, of course not!” The kind of love you have for your wife is a covenant love, a special love, an intimate love. So it is with Christ and His elect. Yes, he has a general love of compassion and good-will for all people, but He has a very special love for His chosen people that far surpasses His love for the world. When a person is called, He begins to understand just how much He is loved by God

3)  They change from a sinner to a saint: Romans 1:7 says “to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints.” A saint is a “holy one.” Roman Catholics teach that only a few select persons in heaven are saints, but the word of God teaches that every true child of God is a saint. When someone is called, they go from being a “sinner” to a “saint.” They go from being a person with a nature bent towards sin, to a person bent towards holiness. You see, when God calls a person, he partakes of God’s own nature. Well, what is God’s nature like? It is holy. When a person is called or born again, they experience God’s own life within them, changing them from a sinner to a saint, from a person who loves sin to a person who loves holiness. Of course this doesn’t mean that Christians don’t sin any more. But it does mean that in the core of their very being, they long to live a holy life, and if they could, they would gladly never sin again. What kind of food do pigs love? Slop! You put a bucket of slop in a trough, and all the pigs will squeal with delight and run to the trough to gobble it up. But what would happen if somehow that pig who was eating that slop were all of a sudden be changed into a man? He would lift himself out of that trough in disgust and utter revulsion and probably vomit all over the place. Then he would clean himself off and never go back to the trough to eat again. Well when God called you he changed you from a pig into a man. He changed your nature from a sinner to a saint. He gave you holy desires, so that you find your joy and delight in God.

Without this change from a sinner to a saint you could never enjoy God or heaven. There was a group of pastors on a train coming home from a Bible conference talking about the things of God together. Two girls got on the train, and everywhere they looked were people holding Bibles. So they kept going to the next car. They saw the same thing on that car, so they went on to the third car. Here again the car was full of people holding Bibles and talking together. The girls said, “Everywhere you look you see Bibles. You would think you would get enough of this on Sunday.”  One elderly pastor said, “Young lady, are you a Christian?” She said, “Well I’m just as good a Christian as you are, even if I don’t carry a Bible around.” He asked her, “Do you think you’re going to heaven when you die?”  She said, “Well I don’t know, but I hope so. I have just as good a chance as you do.”  He said, “You wouldn’t like it there.”  She said, “What do you mean I wouldn’t like it there?” He said, “What do you think people do there? What is heaven like? Heaven is where people worship, and serve, and enjoy God forever. If you don’t enjoy doing that now, you won’t like heaven one bit.” You see death doesn’t change our basic nature. Nobody dies and wakes up with a desire to be holy. If you don’t have a desire to please Jesus Christ tonight, dying won’t give it to you. You can be as moral and orthodox as is possible, but you need a new birth.  It fits us for the presence of God. If you don’t love to worship God now, if you died, you would be lost.

4) They begin to love God:  Romans 8:28 tells us “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.” In this verse we have God’s call linked with people who love God. You see, prior to the New Birth, we hated God. Now, you may try to argue with that statement, but you’ll be arguing with Jesus Himself. Jesus said in John 15:18, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.” You will run into unregenerate people who will swear up and down that they love God. Actually they do. They love their “god”, which is no god at all. They have created a god in their imagination, and they love that god. The only problem is that their god is not the God of the Bible. The Bible says that lost people are enemies of God, and they are hostile toward God. When a person begins to delight in the True and Living God, you know he has been called!

5.  The Order Of The Call

Does our faith produce the call, or does the call produce our faith? Notice the order of salvation – Foreknowledge – Predestination – Calling – Justification – Glorification. Notice that calling comes after  predestination and before  justification. Now, when does faith take place in these events. Romans 5:1 says we are justified by faith. So when we believe we are justified. However, the call precedes justification. Therefore, God’s call precedes and produces faith. Now I’m not saying that God calls you when you are two years old, and you come to faith when you are 20. No, God’s call and our faith happen simultaneously, but His call produces our faith. Let me ask you this, “Does a baby cry in order to be born, or because he has been born?” Well, of course, because he has been born. So why do sinners cry for mercy? Not in order to be born again, but because they are born again. If you go out to your car and put the key in the ignition and find out you’ve got a dead battery, and your radio won’t play and your lights won’t work, do you say, “If I can just get these lights to shine then my battery will be regenerated?” Of course not. You say, “If I regenerate this dead battery, then my lights and radio will work again.” Well, our soul needs to be regenerated, which means “to put new life into again.” Our spiritually dead souls need to have God’s life put into them again. That’s what God’s call does for us. The playing of the radio, or the shining of the lights are like our faith and repentance. They are caused by God infusing His own life into us. If you took a gun and shot a bullet through a door, would you say “that hole caused the bullet” or “the bullet caused the hole”? Of course you’d say that the bullet caused the hole. Well the bullet of God’s call causes the hole of faith. There is no gap in time between pulling the trigger and a hole appearing, but the bullet caused the hole. So too, there is no gap in time between God’s call and our faith, but His call causes our faith.

Application:

How Can You Know If You’ve Been Called (Born Again)?

There was a famous trial in which a woman was trying to prove that a certain man was the father of her child. He denied it. This child had a deformed head – it was a little bit flat and a little bit at an angle. Interestingly, the man on trial had a head which was almost identical. The lawyer didn’t introduce the child or the mother into the court case at all.  He didn’t cross examine them at all. Every day court was in session he simply brought the mother and child and sat them next to him at the attorney’s station. He didn’t say a word. The jury was over here and they looked at the man in the stand, and then they looked at the baby, and they said “Guilty!” Why? Because the child bore the man’s image. Those who have been born of God bear God’s image.  There are some indelible marks of every child of God – confession of sin, repentance, faith in Christ, love for Jesus, love for the Word, desire for salvation of lost, and desire to please God. If you don’t know anything about warm-hearted love and devotion for Jesus Christ, you’ve never been born again.

If I asked you to prove that you are alive, you wouldn’t go and pull out your birth certificate and show it to me! What would you do? You’d move your fingers, or speak, or do something. So too, you don’t prove you’ve been called of God by pointing to your baptismal certificate, or pointing to the aisle that you walked up to pray the sinner’s prayer? No! You would say that you know you are spiritually alive because of the communion with God that you experienced today! Did you pray today, worship today, have communion with God today? Confess sin? Grow in sanctification? Pray for salvation of lost? Is there evidence this week that God is in your life? When I ask you if you have experienced God’s irresistible calling I’m asking if you are spiritually alive right now.  If not, may God call you by His grace and make you alive together with Christ today!  Let’s pray.

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