Episode 119: Calling and Election with Charles Spurgeon (Part 1)

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Welcome to the Ruled Church Podcast. This is my beloved son, with whom

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I am well pleased. He is honored, and I get the glory. And by the way, it's even better, because you see that building in Perryville, Arkansas?

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You see that one in Pechote, Mexico? Do you see that one in Tuxla, Guterres down there in Chiapas? That building has my son's name on it.

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The church is not a democracy, it's a monarchy. Christ is king. You can't be

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Christian without a local church. You can't do anything better than to bend your knee and bow your heart, turn from your sin and repentance, believe on the

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Lord Jesus Christ, and join up with a good Bible -believing church, and spend your life serving

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Jesus in a local, visible congregation. Welcome to the Ruled Church Podcast. I am your host,

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Allen Nelson. I'm one of the pastors at Providence Baptist Church in Perryville, Arkansas.

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ProvidenceBaptistAR .com We are a Reformed Baptist church in a community of just under 1 ,500 people in central

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Arkansas. Today, we have a very special guest on the show,

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Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Okay, obviously, not really. It would be cool, or maybe it would be strange.

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Maybe it would be like Saul calling up Samuel. No, we don't want to do that. Samuel said, why did you disturb my sleep?

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So I don't want to be rebuked by Spurgeon. So, no calling Spurgeon up from the dead. Instead, what we're going to do is we're going to look at a sermon over the next couple of episodes.

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Let me give a caveat. I'm not sure that I will publish these episodes together.

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So it may have part one now, and then you may have part two in a couple weeks or something like that.

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So we'll see how that goes. But what I want to do is I want to work through a sermon.

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Actually, I don't have the information here in front of me. This is a sermon preached by Spurgeon on Romans 8 .30.

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The sermon title is Predestination and Calling. Romans 8 .30 says,

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Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. That's not all it says, but that's where he stops on the text.

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So he's going to preach on these two words, predestination and calling. And what we're going to do in these episodes, the ones that you see on predestination and calling with Spurgeon, is we're just going to work through this sermon.

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So however long that may take, that's what we'll roll with. I'll try to make it very clear when

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I'm reading Spurgeon's words, and then I'll offer some commentary as we work through this together.

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I think this is an important subject. I think it's a misunderstood subject. It is a subject that we have addressed many times on this podcast, and it's one that we'll address again with the help of Spurgeon.

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The thing about Spurgeon is that most conservative evangelical traditions love

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Spurgeon. I was actually at an event the other night, and a man that I'm not even sure if he actually...

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Well, he didn't actually share the gospel when he was preaching, but he did quote Spurgeon. It's just kind of interesting.

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So you have Calvinists who like Spurgeon, Arminians who like Spurgeon, Free Will Baptists who like Spurgeon, Southern Baptists who like Spurgeon, Reform Baptists who like Spurgeon.

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So Spurgeon is a helpful figure. And a well -liked figure, interestingly enough.

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All these people, if they were alive during his day, probably wouldn't like him so much.

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But he's very important, and he's been very influential in my life.

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And we're just going to see what he has to say about this important doctrine of predestination and calling.

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So let's get into the sermon. Again, I'll do my best to make it clear when I'm reading him versus when

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I'm offering commentary. So, I'm reading him. We're going to start.

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I'm going to read a little bit, and then I'll make some comments. Predestination and calling.

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More over whom he did predestinate than he also called, Romans 8 .30. Spurgeon says this.

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The great book of God's decrees is fast closed against the curiosity of man. Vain man would be wise.

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He would break the seven seals thereof and read the mysteries of eternity. But this cannot be.

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The time has not yet come when the book shall be opened. And even then the seals shall not be broken by mortal hand.

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But it shall be said, the line of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the book and break the seven seals thereof.

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Eternal Father, who shall look into thy secret will? None but the Lamb shall take the book and open every seal.

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None but he shall ever unroll that sacred record and read it to the assembled world.

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End quote. So now, I'll offer some comments here. What Spurgeon is addressing here at the very beginning and the very opening of his sermon is the reality that what

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God has decreed, he has decreed. I think, I'm not sure how long ago the episode will have been out, but we talked about, probably not long ago, about what it means that God is sovereign.

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And so from all eternity, God has decreed whatsoever comes to pass and Spurgeon is affirming this.

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Spurgeon is affirming that God has made his decree and God has ordered all of his intentions and that has been said, that has been done, that has been decreed.

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And who can look into that? Who can know? Who can know the future? Who can know even what's going to happen tomorrow?

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And in terms of this, who can know who is predestined? So that's where Spurgeon picks up here.

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I'll continue reading. Spurgeon says, Until this question be answered, my heart cannot rest, for I am intensely anxious about it.

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My eternal destiny infinitely more concerns me than all the affairs of time.

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Tell me, oh tell me, if you know, seers and prophets, is my name recorded in that book of life?

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Am I one of those who are ordained unto eternal life? Or am I to be left to follow my own lusts and passions and to destroy my soul?

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So, end quote. So Spurgeon is addressing the question that comes up sometimes.

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Sometimes actually this is used as an apologetic against Calvinism. Like, well if you're not elect, then you're just, you're doomed and you may want to be a

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Christian, but you never be able to because you've not been predestined unto life.

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Or it's been a question that's come up, people seriously more in good faith wrestling.

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Some people have said, well I want to believe, but I don't know if I'm elect and those sorts of things.

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So that's kind of the questions that Spurgeon is addressing. He continues. Spurgeon says,

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Oh man, there is an answer to thy inquiry. The book cannot be opened, but God himself hath published many a page thereof.

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He hath not published the page whereon the actual names of the redeemed are written, but that page of the sacred decree whereon their character is recorded, is published in his word, and shall be proclaimed to thee this day.

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The sacred record of God's hand is this day published everywhere under heaven, and he that hath an ear, let him hear what the

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Spirit saith unto him. Oh my hearer, by thy name I know thee not, and by thy name

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God's word doth not declare thee, but by thy character thou mayest read thy name.

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And if thou hast been a partaker of the calling which is mentioned in the text, then mayest thou conclude beyond a doubt that thou art among the predestinated.

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For those whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And if thou be called, it follows as a natural inference thou art predestinated."

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End quote. Okay, so a comment. Just want to make the point here that the scriptures are clear, and what

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Spurgeon is saying here is you can't read the book of life, and you're not going to find your name anywhere in the scriptures, but there are ways to know whether or not you are elect or not.

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And one of the things that he is going to address here is what he specifically says, calling.

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Are you called? Are you effectually called? The gospel call goes out to all mankind, all men, all boys, all girls, all women, every tribe, tongue, language, nation, all are called to repent and believe the gospel.

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But left to themselves, no man will partake of that call. No man, no person will accept that call.

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They will reject it. They do give a response. They do give a response, but the response is no.

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Okay, but the elect are effectually called. And this is what Spurgeon will deal with, so let us continue

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Spurgeon's words. Now, in considering this solemn subject, let me remark that there are two kinds of callings mentioned in the word of God.

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The first is a general call, which is in the gospel, sincerely given to everyone that heareth the word.

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The duty of the minister is to call souls to Christ. He is to make no distinction whatever.

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Go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The trumpet of the gospel sounds aloud to every man in our congregations.

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Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat.

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Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Unto you,

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O man, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. He's quoting scripture there. Okay, back to Spurgeon.

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This call is sincere on God's part. But man, by nature, is so opposed to God that this call is never effectual, for man disregards it, turns his back upon it, and goes his way, caring for none of these things.

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Okay, I'll make the comment. That's exactly what I just said. I always like to be in line with the theology of Spurgeon.

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But let me make an exhortation and comment to gospel preachers, to pastors. We are to call all men to repent and believe on Christ.

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It is a well -meant offer. In our congregation, on our preaching Sunday morning, we should command all to repent, all to come to Christ, that God will save any who turn to his son in faith.

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As we're going throughout our day, we are talking to all about Christ. We are passing out a gospel tract to all.

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We're not looking for signs of election or anything like that. We extend God's well -meant offer of the gospel to all mankind.

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Back to Spurgeon. But Mark, although this call be rejected, man is without excuse in the rejection.

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The universal call has in it such authority that the man who will not obey it shall be without excuse in the day of judgment.

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When thou art commanded to believe and repent, when thou art exhorted to flee from the wrath to come, the sin lies on thy own head if thou dost despise the exhortation and reject the commandment.

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And this solemn text drops an awful warning. How shall ye escape if ye neglect so great salvation?

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But I repeat, this universal call is rejected by man. It is a call, but it is not attended with divine force and energy of the

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Holy Spirit in such a degree as to make it an unconquerable call.

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Consequently, men perish even though they have the universal call of the gospel ringing in their ears.

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The bell of God's house rings every day. Sinners hear it, but they put their fingers in their ears and go their way, one to his farm and another to his merchandise.

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And though they are bidden and are called to the wedding, yet they will not come, and by not coming they incur

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God's wrath, and he declareth of such, none of those men which are bidden shall taste of my supper.

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Luke 14, 24. The call of our text... Well, let me pause there for a second again.

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Because sometimes it's leveled against Calvinism. Well, why does God issue a call that cannot be obeyed?

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Well, at first maybe that is a question that seems to be appropriate.

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However, let's just think through that for a second. It's not that the call cannot be obeyed.

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It's that the call will not be obeyed. It cannot be obeyed because it will not be obeyed.

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John 5, 39, Jesus says to the Pharisees, You refuse to come to me so that you will not inherit eternal life.

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So they cannot come, true, but it's because they will not come. And let me give you an analogy. It's just like this.

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The Lord Jesus says that the first great commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

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The second is likened to it, to love your neighbor as yourself. Now, you give this commandment is to all mankind.

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Yet, can they obey it? No, they cannot obey it. They will not obey it.

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They will not love God. They will love self. They will love other gods. They will love false idols.

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They will love and worship and serve the created things over the creator who is blessed forever.

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Amen. So, that's the idea here. Mankind will not obey any of God's commandments.

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They refuse. Similar, you have this command, this call, O sinner, repent. Repent and believe the gospel.

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Put your faith in Christ. And this is a command to all men everywhere. And yet, they will not obey it.

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They refuse. They reject. They want self and sin and the world over the beautiful things of Christ.

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And no amount of persuasion, no amount of 15 stanzas of just as I am, no amount of manipulation will actually bring a sinner from death to life.

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Because in his or her heart, he rejects God. He does not want

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Christ. He wants to live for self. Now, people have been manipulated into making some sort of profession of faith.

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And I've seen this all the time. And there may be tears and those things. But the idea is mankind really wants to get rid of his burden of guilt.

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I don't know if you've read Pilgrim's Progress or not. But that's aptly put by John Bunyan.

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Man has this great pack on his shoulder, this great burden of sin.

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He wants to get rid of that burden. And people will get rid of that burden in many different ways. It may be sexual morality.

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It may be drugs or alcohol. It may be any sort of kind of godless living.

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But there's another way that people will try to get rid of their guilt too. That's religiosity.

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That is, maybe they'll be a Muslim. Maybe they'll be Hindu. Or maybe they'll be Roman Catholic.

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Or maybe they'll be a false evangelical Christian. They'll attend church.

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They'll give their money. They'll do these things. But it's not from a regenerate heart. So, ultimately, mankind rejects this offer of peace with God and this command to repent and believe the gospel.

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So now, back to Spurgeon. He says, The call of our text is of a different kind.

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It is not a universal call. It is a special, particular, personal, discriminating, efficacious, unconquerable call.

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This call is sent to the predestinated and to them only. They, by grace, hear the call, obey it, and receive it.

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These are they who can now say, Draw us, and we will run after thee.

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Again, God is not under obligation to be gracious.

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For God to be under obligation to be gracious makes grace no longer grace.

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It makes it deserving. It makes it earned. So, all mankind rejects the call of God.

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And God, in His sovereign grace, chooses to not let that be the final answer for all.

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So, many He allows to continue in their own rejection of Him.

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He passes over them in the divine decree, as it were, and they stay in their sins forever.

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But others, we have this efficacious call. This call that pierces through the hardness of heart, that breaks down the fortress of sin, that knocks through the stubborn will of man, and opens up the heart, like God did in Acts 16 in Lydia, and draws the person to Christ in such a way that they come.

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So, all of that is a bit introductory for Spurgeon, and now we're about to get into his outline.

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So, I'll continue. Spurgeon says, In preaching of this call this morning, I shall divide my sermon into three brief parts.

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First, I shall give illustrations of the call, examine whether we have been called, and what delightful consequences flow therefrom.

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Illustration, Examination, Consolation. Roman numeral one.

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First, then, for illustration. In illustrating the effectual call of grace, which is given to the predestinated ones,

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I must first use the picture of Lazarus. See you that stone rolled at the mouth of the sepulchre?

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Much need is there for the stone that it should be well secured. For within the sepulchre there is a putrid corpse.

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The sister of that corrupt body stands at the side of the tomb, and she says, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days.

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This is the voice of reason and of nature. Martha is correct. But by Martha's side there stands a man who, despite all his lowliness, is very

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God of very God. Roll ye away the stone, saith he, and it is done. And now listen to him, he cries.

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Lazarus, come forth. That cry is directed to a mass of putridity, to a body that has been dead four days, and in which the worms have already held carnival.

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But strange to say, from the tomb there comes a living man. That mass of corruption has been quickened into life.

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And out he comes, wrapped about with gravecloth and having a napkin about his head.

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Loose him and let him go, saith the Redeemer. And then he walks in all the liberty of life.

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The effectual call of grace is precisely similar. The sinner is dead in sin.

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He is not only in sin, but dead in sin, without any power whatever to give himself the life of grace.

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Nay, he is not only dead, but he is corrupt. His lusts, like the worms, have crept into him.

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A foul stench rises up into the nostrils of justice. God abhorreth him, and justice crieth out.

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Bury the dead out of my sight, cast it into the fire, let it be consumed. Sovereign mercy comes, and there lies his unconscious, lifeless mass of sin.

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Sovereign grace cries, either by the minister or else directly without any agency by the

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Spirit of God. Come forth! And that man lives. Does he contribute anything to his new life?

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Not he. His life is given solely by God. He was dead, absolutely dead, rotten in his sin.

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The life is given when the call comes. And in obedience to the call, the sinner comes forth from the grave of his lust, begins to live a new life, even the life eternal, which

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Christ gives to his sheep. Alright, let me pause there and give some commentary.

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Beautifully written and a beautiful illustration. I would make the argument that this illustration is warranted in Scripture.

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That is the illustration of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. I would make the argument that it's actually the intent of the

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Scriptures that Lazarus' raising from the dead is a picture of our being spiritually raised in the effectual call.

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I would say it's not just a good analogy from the Scriptures. I would argue that it is an intended, it's part of the text.

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The part of the text is intended to show us new life. And my argument would be from John 11, 25, where Jesus says,

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Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet he shall live.

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And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? So, the

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Lord Jesus is setting the context. And then in the very next few verses, he's going to raise

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Lazarus from the dead. And I would argue that in order for someone to believe in Christ, it is necessary that they be effectually called spiritually like Lazarus was physically.

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And I think that is the whole point, or one of, not the whole point, but that is one of the points of the text. And it is apt to use, it is right to use this illustration of Jesus actually physically raising

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Lazarus from the dead. It is right for us scripturally to use this to talk about, or to give a picture of, like Spurgeon does, of the person raised spiritually to life.

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So, Lazarus is dead physically, just like we are dead, Ephesians 2, spiritually.

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Which doesn't just mean separated, though that is true. We are separated from God. But it means that our hearts, like Jeremiah says, are unfeeling like fat.

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Sorry, unfeeling like fat. I was trying to think through that. Unfeeling like fat. You poke a hunk of fat, it does nothing.

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It doesn't feel. Well, spiritually, that is the reality. Toward any spiritual good, we are dead.

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We are unfeeling. We are not spiritually inclined to do any spiritual good.

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We are unwilling and unable. And so, like the call comes and raises

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Lazarus from the dead, does he decide to accept the call before coming from the dead?

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Of course not. Does he say, well, yes or no? No, no, no. The call comes, and what happens to Lazarus?

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He comes alive. He wakes up. He gets up. And he walks out of the tomb. Similarly, Spurgeon is making the argument here.

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When the effectual call comes, you don't decide to accept or reject the effectual call.

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The effectual call comes into a dead, unregenerate heart, and it makes it alive.

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And then that's the means by which the sinner responds in repentance and faith.

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Now, I know that we could talk about temporal, like which comes first and all that. But logically, we know that regeneration precedes faith and repentance.

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But it's more like it produces faith and repentance. It's like turning on the light switch.

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What comes first? Does the switch go up, or does the light come on? Well, the switch goes up. But when the switch goes up, the light comes on.

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And from our perspective, it's basically simultaneous. Well, of course, that's what happens in the effectual call.

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It's even, temporally speaking, faster than the light switch happening, because it's not to be seen as a time gap.

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So the effectual call comes, and immediately in response, the sinner is alive and repenting and running to Christ.

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Now, Spurgeon mentions how this call comes. It may be administered through the actual sermon.

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As the sermon is being preached, as the gospel is being proclaimed, immediately the spirit may use that, and he may issue the effectual call through that.

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It may be through a gospel track. It may be through a conversation. Or it may be someone is just thinking about the gospel.

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They heard the gospel, and now they're at home, and they just happen to be thinking about it. They're cooking supper, and all of a sudden they're thinking about the gospel, and it's the

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Holy Spirit using that to issue the effectual call.

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The one point that I would make is it is always associated with the gospel, always associated with the gospel.

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So it doesn't happen in, say, someone's just trying to serve Allah the best they can, and then they're regenerated.

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That's not what we're talking about. No, it is always necessary for gospel proclamation, except we could talk about the case of infants dying in infancy, but that would be for another episode.

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Okay, let's get back to Spurgeon. Okay, Spurgeon's words now. Well, cries one, but what are the words which

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Christ uses when he calls a sinner from death? Why, the Lord may use any words.

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It was not long ago there came unto this hall a man who was without God and without Christ, and the simple reading of the hymn,

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Jesus, lover of my soul, was the means of his quickening. He said within himself,

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Does Jesus love me? Then I must love him. And he was quickened in that selfsame hour. The words which

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Jesus uses are various in different cases. I trust that even while I am speaking this morning,

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Christ may speak with me. And some word that may fall from my lips, unpremeditated and almost without design, shall be sent of God as a message of life unto some dead and corrupt heart here.

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And some man who has lived in sin hitherto shall now live to righteousness and live to Christ.

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That is the first illustration I will give you of what is meant by effectual calling. It finds the sinner dead, it gives him life, and he obeys the call of life and lives.

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But let us consider a second phase of it. You will remember while the sinner is dead in sin, he is alive enough so far as any opposition to God may be concerned.

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He is powerless to obey, but he is mighty enough to resist the call of divine grace.

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I may illustrate it in the case of Saul of Tarsus. This proud Pharisee abhors the

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Lord Jesus Christ. He is seized upon every follower of Jesus who comes within his grasp.

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He has hauled men and women to prison with the avidity of a miser who hunts after gold.

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He is hunted after the precious life of Christ's disciple, and having exhausted his prey in Jerusalem, he seeks letters and goes off to Damascus upon the same bloody errand.

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Speak to him on the road. Send out the apostle Peter to him. Let Peter say, Saul, why dost thou oppose

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Christ? The time shall come when thou shalt yet be his disciple. Paul would turn round and laugh him to scorn.

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Get thee gone, thou fisherman, and get thee gone. I, a disciple of that imposter

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Jesus of Nazareth? Look here. This is my confession of faith. Here will

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I haul thy brothers and thy sisters to prison, and beat them in the synagogue, and compel them to blaspheme, and even hunt them to death, for my breath is threatening, and my heart is as fire against Christ.

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Such a scene did not occur. But had there been any remonstrance given by men, you may easily conceive that such would have been

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Saul's answer. But Christ determined that he would call the man. Oh, what an enterprise!

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Stop him? Why, he is going fast onward in his mad career. But lo, a light shines round him, and he falls to the ground, and he hears a voice crying,

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Saul, Saul, why persecuteth thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

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Saul's eyes are filled with tears, and then again with scales of darkness, and he cries, Who art thou?

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And a voice calls, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is not many minutes before he begins to feel his sin in having persecuted

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Jesus, nor many hours ere he receives the assurance of his pardon, and not many days ere he who persecuted

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Christ stands up to preach with vehemence and eloquence unparalleled the very cause which he once trod beneath his feet.

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See what effectual calling can do. If God should choose this morning to call the hardest -hearted wretch within the hearing of the gospel, he must obey.

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Let God call. A man may resist, but he cannot resist effectually. Down thou shalt come, sinner, if God cries down.

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There is no standing when he would have thee fall. And mark, every man that is saved is always saved by an overcoming call which he cannot withstand.

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He may resist it for a time, but he cannot resist it so as to overcome it. He must give way.

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He must yield when God speaks. If he says, Let there be light, the impenetrable darkness gives way to light.

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If he says, Let there be grace, unutterable sin gives way. And the hardest -hearted sinner melts before the fire of effectual calling.

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I'll just make a quick comment here now. And that comment is, Our Lord Jesus Christ and our wonderful Holy Spirit and God the

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Father, our Triune God is in complete control of his universe.

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And he is unable to be stopped in the intention of his will.

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Psalm 115 .3 says, Our God is in the heavens. He does whatever pleases him.

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He is not able to be thwarted by the will of man. God is sovereign, not sinners.

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God is able to effect his grace when and where and how and in whom he pleases.

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Spurgeon makes this point. Now, I'll continue. Spurgeon says,

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I have thus illustrated the call in two ways. By the state of the sinner in his sin and by the omnipotence which overwhelms the resistance which he offers.

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And now another case. The effectual call may be illustrated in its sovereignty by the case of Zacchaeus.

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Christ is entering into Jericho to preach. There is a publican living in it who is a hard, griping, grasping, miserly extortioner.

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Jesus Christ is coming in to call someone for it is written he must abide in some man's house.

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Would you believe it that the man whom Christ intends to call is the worst man in Jericho? The extortioner.

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He is a little short fellow and he cannot see Christ though he has a great curiosity to look at him.

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So he runs before the crowd and climbs up a sycamore tree and thinking himself quite safe amid the thick foliage he waits with eager expectation to see this wonderful man who had turned the world upside down.

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Little did he think that he was to turn him also. The Savior walks along preaching and talking with the people until he comes under the sycamore tree.

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Then lifting up his eyes he cries, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down for today I must abide in thy house.

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The shot took effect. The bird fell. Down came Zacchaeus. Invited the

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Savior to his house and proved that he was really called not by the voice merely but by grace itself.

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For he said, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give unto the poor and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation

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I restore unto him fourfold. And Jesus said, This day is salvation coming to thy house.

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Now why calls Zacchaeus? There were many better men in the city than he. Why call him?

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Simply because the call of God comes to unworthy sinners. There is nothing in man that can deserve this call, nothing in the best of man that can invite it, but God quickeneth whom he will, and when he sends that call, though it come to the vilest of the vile, down they come speedily and swiftly.

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They come down from the tree of their sin and fall prostrate in penitence at the feet of Jesus Christ.

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Boy, this is glorious and wonderful, the sovereign grace of God. This is me back commenting again.

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Sorry, end quote there by Spurgeon. What a glorious, wonderful grace of God this is.

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This is our hope. God can save any sinner. There is no sinner too unworthy.

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There is no sinner too hard -hearted. As long as man has life in his lungs, we can pray for them, we can preach the gospel to them, we can point them to Christ, and we can have great hope that God is sovereign and able to effect his call as he pleases for his glory.

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We're going to continue now with Spurgeon's words. Spurgeon says,

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But now to illustrate this call and its effects, we remind you that Abraham is another remarkable instance of effectual calling.

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Now the Lord has said unto Abraham, Come, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred and from thy father's house, into a land that I will show thee.

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And by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into place, which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed.

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And he went out, not knowing whither he went. Ah, poor Abraham, as the world would have had it!

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What a trial his call cost him! He was happy enough in the bosom of his father's household, but idolatry crept into it.

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And when God called Abraham, he called him alone, and blessed him out of Ur of the

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Chaldees, and said to him, Go forth, Abraham! And he went forth, not knowing whither he went.

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Now when effectual calling comes into a house and singles out a man, that man will be compelled to go forth without the camp, bearing

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Christ's reproach. He must come out from his very dearest friends, from all his old acquaintances, from those friends with whom he used to drink and swear and take pleasure.

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He must go straight away from them all to follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth.

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What a trial to Abraham's faith, when he had to leave all that was so dear to him.

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And go he knew not whither. And yet God had a goodly land for him, and intended greatly to bless him.

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Man, if thou art called, if thou art called truly, there will be a going out and a going out alone.

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Perhaps some of God's professed people will leave you. You will have to go without a solitary friend.

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Maybe you will even be deserted by Sarah herself, and you may be a stranger in a strange land, a solitary wanderer, as all your fathers were.

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Ah! But if it be an effectual call, and if salvation shall be the result thereof, what matters it, though that thou dost go to heaven alone?

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Better to be a solitary pilgrim to bliss than one of the thousands who throng the road to hell.

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I will have one more illustration. When effectual calling comes to a man, at first he may not know that it is effectual calling.

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Remember the case of Samuel. The Lord called Samuel, and he rose and he went to Eli, and he said,

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Here I am, for thou callest me. Eli said, I called not, lie down again.

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And he went and lay down. The second time the Lord called him and said, Samuel, Samuel.

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And he rose again and went to Eli and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. And then it was that Eli, not

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Samuel. First of all, perceived that the Lord had called the child. And when

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Samuel knew it was the Lord, he said, Speak, for thy servant heareth. When the work of grace begins in the heart, the man is not always clear that it is

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God's work. He is impressed under the minister, and perhaps he is rather more occupied with the impression than with the agent of the impression.

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He says, I know not how it is, but I have been called. Eli the minister has called me.

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And perhaps he goes to Eli to ask what he wants with him. Surely, said he, the minister knew me and spoke something personally to me, because he knew my case.

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And he goes to Eli, and it is not till afterwards, perhaps, that he finds that Eli had nothing to do with the impression, but that the

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Lord had called him. I know this. I believe God was at work with my heart for years before I knew anything about him.

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I knew there was a work. I knew I prayed and cried and groaned for mercy, but I did not know that it was the

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Lord's work. I half thought it was my own. I did not know till afterwards, when I was led to know

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Christ as my salvation and all my desire, that the Lord had called the child. For this could not have been the result of nature.

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It must have been the effect of grace. I think I may say to those who are the beginners in the divine life, so long as your call is real, rest assured it is divine.

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If it is a call that will suit the remarks which I am about to give you in the second part of the discourse, even though you may have thought that God's hand is not in it, rest assured that it is.

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For nature could never produce effectual calling. If the call be effectual, and you are brought out and brought in, brought out of sin and brought to Christ, brought out of death into life and out of slavery into liberty, then though thou canst not see

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God's hand in it, yet it is there. Okay, now, that's end quote.

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And that's all of the sermon that we're going to read in this episode of the

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Rural Church Podcast. Let me just make some comments. I want to be clear. The effectual call, when it comes, it comes instantaneously, and it comes in a moment.

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I know you hear Spurgeon there talking about, you know, for years, wrestling and such, but you're not meant to understand that as the effectual call happens for years and years and years, and then you finally yield to it.

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Though we may could think through that better and talk about God's work with His elect before their conversion, but that would be for another discussion.

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What we want to emphasize here is that, yes, are the elect called before the effectual call?

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Well, yes, they're called, like all men are called with that general call. They're called, and they're called to repent and look to Christ, but they resist it.

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They reject it. They don't want it until the effectual call comes. When the effectual call comes, it breaks down the resistance, and they don't come to Christ with a free will so much as a freed will, you understand?

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It's not that they're forced to come to Christ when they don't want to, but all the resistance is taken away so that by grace they can freely choose

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Christ. They are made alive, like Lazarus, called from the grave and going to Christ.

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So I hope that this is helpful. I hope that as you think through the effectual call and predestination, as you listen to this episode, these will be things that will help you.

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If you've got questions, feel free to email me at quatronelson at gmail .com. That's c -u -a -t -r -o -n -e -l -s -o -n at gmail .com.

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I can't promise you that next week you're going to hear the rest of this sermon, so it may be a few weeks or who knows, but we will pick this up.

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So this is Calling an Election with Charles Spurgeon, Part 1, and we'll get to Part 2 eventually, and I don't know if there will be a

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Part 3 or not. It depends on how long it takes us to get through and how much commentary

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I wind up giving. Thank you guys for checking us out on this episode of the

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Rural Church Podcast. You can find out more about our church at ProvidenceBaptistAR .com,

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and I hope that you'll tune in next week. Until then, God bless. If you really believe the church is the building, the church is the house, the church is what

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God's doing. This is His work. If we really believe what Ephesians says, we are the poemos, the masterpiece of God.