Conversion to Jesus Christ (10)

First Baptist Church Leominster

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We want to draw your attention just to a couple verses in that passage we read in Romans 8.

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We'll be reading them again here shortly. Our study on this matter of conversion, of course this is the tenth

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Lord's Day we're giving to this matter, but the last three Sundays, the last three

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Lord's Days, we focused on the work of God preparing the heirs of salvation for their conversion unto

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Jesus Christ. God prepares sinners for conversion even before he bestows his regenerating grace, his grace that results in their conversion, so we're considering how

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God prepares people to come to Christ. Now, if we could envision that person at this point in the process of the

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Lord bringing him to salvation, we would still see that he's estranged from God due to his sin.

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Oh yes, he's come to understand some matters now quite clearly, of which he had been formerly ignorant.

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The Lord had caused him to see himself as a sinner, that was preparatory work, of course, and even a helpless, egregious sinner, that was part of his preparatory work as well, and he saw that he was, of course, under the wrath of God due to his sin.

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The Lord, up to this point, may have caused him to hear the word of God and even to understand the nature and meaning of the gospel to a degree, but he had not yet been transformed by that gospel.

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He understands a lot, but he has not embraced it wholly through faith, he's not demonstrated repentance as of yet, he had not seen yet the wonder, the beauty, the power of the gospel to bring him salvation.

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He sees his need, he sees maybe his need in a very terrible light, he's fearful, perhaps even terrified at this point, but he's not yet converted.

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But today we want to begin to consider the actual work of God when God begins to change that sinner into a saint, into a

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Christian, one who's converted to Jesus Christ, and of course this is the act of God's will, his free and sovereign will in saving a sinner who is both unable and unwilling to come unto

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Christ of his own self, of his own will. It's the work of God. And so when the time arrives that God had purposed from eternity to bring that person to salvation, that chosen one that he'd set apart in eternity,

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God affectionately calls that one to himself through Jesus Christ, particularly through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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And we may see that this is the initial work of God in actually transforming the sinner when he begins to become more like Christ, when he becomes a

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Christian, by what is set forth in Romans 8, 28 through 30, we read these verses but in a larger context.

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Paul wrote, we know that all things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.

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He mentions the word those who are called and then he describes what calling is within the scheme of God's work, within the manner in which

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God deals with souls for whom God foreknew, and that was from eternity.

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He foreknew the ones that he saved through Jesus Christ. When you became a

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Christian, you came to know Jesus Christ, but he foreknew you, even from eternity.

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Not just knew about you, he knew you, relationally. That's what he's talking about.

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For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son, and that predestination was from eternity.

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He foreknew you, if you're a Christian or will be a Christian, he loved you, and because he loved you in eternity, he determined, he decreed, you're going to be like Jesus Christ.

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And so, he purposed, he predestinated you to be conformed to the image of his son, and then we have a purpose clause, so that he, that would be

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Christ, might be the firstborn among many brethren, the elder son in the household, the head of the household, on behalf of the father, he takes that role, assumes that role.

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And moreover, whom he predestinated, again, that would be in eternity, these he also called, and there you have the point where that individual is brought to salvation in Jesus Christ.

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And whom he called, he also justified. Everyone he calls, he justifies, and that would speak about his forgiveness of sins, and the fact that he was one moment guilty, he's now pardoned, he's now righteous in the sight of God, justified freely by grace through faith alone, and those whom he justified, those he also glorified.

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That's the end in sight, mentioned, by the way, in the past tense, because it's a certain day, although it's, of course, future that will be glorified when we leave this life.

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And so here are the steps of grace in which God brings his own to salvation. He chooses them to become saved, election and predestination.

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At a point, he, in time, in time, he calls them to himself to receive salvation, and that's what we're addressing now,

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God's calling of a sinner unto salvation. And then he, of course, justifies that one, that is, he forgives that one of his sins, regards him, credits righteousness to him, to Christ, and then

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God glorifies each of them that he has justified. So let's begin to consider now this work of God's calling, and I hope, by the way, that this is familiar to both of, or to most of us, because we've considered these things before, but maybe with a few more details today, if we get through it.

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I know there's more notes than time, but we'll do the best we can. And so let us consider, first, the sovereign grace of God calling us to salvation.

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The grace of God in bringing individuals to believe on Jesus is through his work, of course, his work of grace, in his chosen people, upon and in his chosen people.

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These actions of God are commonly described as the work of God's effectual calling.

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Now, it just says calling in our text, but it's often preceded by that adjective, effectual calling, and we'll describe what that is shortly.

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And so here's a very good, concise statement of God's call to salvation, and this is from the

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Westminster Shorter Catechism. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace

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Jesus Christ, freely offered us in the gospel. And that's an excellent definition of the biblical teaching regarding effectual calling onto salvation.

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It's the answer to question 31 in the Catechism, and the question and answer that follows gives a more full understanding of what results from God's effectual call onto salvation.

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Question 32, what benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?

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And the answer, they that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification.

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We see that in the passage, of course, that we read. Adoption that occurs at justification when

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God begins to regard us as his children, we're children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

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Sanctification, speaking of that process by which he makes us more like Jesus Christ through life, and the several or different benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them.

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And so that explains the benefits of calling. Now it does speak about, of course, those benefits of saving grace in this life, and that question and answer, number 32, is restricted to the benefits that we enjoy in this life.

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God brings salvation from sin's penalty, justification, salvation from our estrangement from him due to our sin, taken care of in the matter of adoption, reconciliation too, and salvation from the power of sin, sanctification.

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And so in this definition set forth in the Catechism, we read that the word calling is preceded by the word effectually.

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They are effectually called. And this speaks, therefore, of God's effectual calling.

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This word effectual is used for, I think, at least two reasons. First, the word sets forth the truth that this calling of God always accomplishes the end to which

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God purposes in that call. It's effective. God doesn't fail. It's an effectual calling.

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God is always successful in bringing the one he calls effectually onto his or her salvation.

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And so everyone whom God effectually calls comes to him. God never fails in this matter.

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And we see this truth set forth in a number of places in Scripture, but our Lord Jesus himself declared, everyone who has heard and learned from the

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Father comes to me. That heard and learning from the Father is the same as effectual call, everyone.

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Not some, not a few, everyone that hears and learns from the

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Father comes to Christ. Now there's a second reason, I believe, that the word effectual precedes the word call, and that's to distinguish this kind of call, which always results in salvation to the one elect by God before the foundation of the world, from the general call of God, which is given to all people everywhere.

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And this general call is to everyone everywhere, every creature, to repent of sin and believe the gospel, believe on Jesus Christ.

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And so when you read in the Scriptures of the calling of God, you must identify whether the

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Scripture is talking about an effectual call or a general call, because sometimes just the word call or calling is found, but the context will tell you as to which is being distinguished.

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And so there's a general call, there is an effectual call. The general call is a call of the gospel, proclaimed by preachers.

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We call people to repent. When you witness, you give them a tract, you're issuing this general call.

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It's a call of God, but it's a call to the preacher, a call to the witness, a call to the book, the tract.

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And this is a witness that goes to all people in the world. That's why we strive, we work, we do whatever we can to make the word of God known to as many people as possible, as God enables us.

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Because we know that through that general call, God will issue an effectual call, and he's going to save his people.

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William Carey, the father of modern missions, beginning in the latter years of the 18th century, was there in England.

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At that time, there was no missionary movement except for some Moravians that had gone out a generation before, and he challenged people.

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I think God would have us take the gospel to the heathen. And of course, there was a hyper -Calvinistic attitude and belief among the

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Baptists there in London, and they discouraged him, but he persisted. He wrote tracts, he preached sermons, and then he went himself to India, and he became known as the father of modern missions.

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And it's because he was reformed in his thinking, he knew that God had a chosen people out there in India too, and they'd come to Christ, they'd come to God, they'd come to salvation.

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If he got there and preached the gospel to them, some would come, and so he went.

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And everyone who seemed to follow after him would go to him first there in India and see how it was done.

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But he was confident in a powerful God who would save his people, because he believed in the effectual call of God of sinners.

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God would summons them through this general call that goes out, this gospel call that goes out to all the world.

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And so God makes his general call to all people everywhere to come to salvation, and he does so through a different way.

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He does really through nature, there's a, you know, even nature gives a sense of warning to people, there is a

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God, and he's a powerful God, and, you know, and we're his creatures, there must be some accountability there.

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Now there's not clarity there, but there's some teaching, some warning there. And then, of course, through human conscience, why are people religious everywhere?

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You know, even if they've never heard the Bible or seen a Bible or the gospel, why are people religious?

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Because they're made that way, and God is placed within their conscience, a sense of his, of his, you know, reality, and a sense of accountability to him.

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You know, people aren't born atheists, you've got to be educated to become an atheist, because people are born theists, aren't they?

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They, many of them are polytheists, but everybody born into this world is a, is a religionist of some form.

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And so there's a sense in which God is calling people everywhere that they've got an answer to this

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God, and so they invent all manner of religion and whatever to try and solve this problem.

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But, of course, the general call of God is most clearly set forth in the gospel that is set forth, inviting people to come to Christ and receive freely the salvation that is in him.

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And anybody, any sinner throughout the world may receive salvation if he or she comes, repents of sin, and believes on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

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Now we know, of course, that that general gospel, that general call of the gospel will not be received by anyone, for that matter, unless an effectual call goes forth, but we'll be seeing that a little later,

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I believe. And so the general call of God to turn from sin and turn from God is a gracious call.

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God freely and sincerely offers life to all who repent of sin and turn to him.

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But again, because of the nature of man's sinful condition, the general call to salvation is insufficient in and of itself to bring salvation.

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The fact is, the general offer of the gospel is insufficient to bring salvation apart from an inward work of the grace of God, leading and enabling a sinner to receive and respond to the gospel.

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So the general call of the gospel alone is simply insufficient to bring people to salvation.

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People need more than just hearing the gospel with the ear. They need the

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Holy Spirit applying the gospel to his mind and heart before salvation can take place.

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And so there is a general call, but there must be an effectual call or salvation won't happen.

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And so those who come to Christ in salvation receive more than just an external invitation to come to Christ, they hear another call.

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And this effectual call is referred to in the scriptures. It's described as a holy calling, 2

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Timothy 1, a high calling, Philippians 3, and a heavenly calling,

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Hebrews 3, verse 1. And this is the call of God through Jesus Christ, made powerful by the

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Holy Spirit, convincing them of sin, convincing them of certain judgment, convincing them that salvation is in Jesus Christ alone, and convincing and moving them to desire and to seek

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Jesus Christ. And again, this call of God is effectual. It always accomplishes the purpose for which it was issued, and that is the salvation of God's chosen ones.

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Paul described his own experience of this effectual call in Galatians 1, you've heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how

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I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceeding zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

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But when it pleased God, not when it pleased Paul, when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, that's the effectual call, to reveal his son in me, just not to me, in me, that I might preach him among Gentiles, immediately

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I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem, see I didn't get this from them,

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I got it from the Lord. I was called to the Lord, I went to Arabia and returned to Damascus.

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And so here in these words, Paul describes his conversion, his coming to salvation was according to the good pleasure of God, when it pleased

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God. If you're saved, it's because it pleased God to save you. God's designs upon Paul were before he was born, who separated me from my mother's womb, that was his effort to say that it was all of the

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Lord, it wasn't because of him. All of his life didn't qualify him to come to Christ, it disqualified him further.

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But it was in God's purposes even before he did anything in his life. And when the time came,

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God determined Paul would become converted, he called me through his grace. This effectual call issued, and everyone who is saved responds to this effectual call.

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It was an application of Christ as Lord and Savior to Paul individually. And of course, this calling of Paul was through grace, he called me through his grace.

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As Paul, in another place, described God's grace working in others, he could say the same of himself, it was

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God working in him both the will and to do of his good pleasure. And so salvation is, of course, a result of the sovereign grace of God.

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The 18th century Baptist pastor and theologian John Gill, who pastored the church

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Spurgeon would pastor a century later, he wrote of the result of the effectual call of God unto salvation.

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They were slaves to their sinful lusts and pleasures, were brought into bondage by them, held under the power of them as in a prison.

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But in effectual calling, the shackles of sin are broken off, the prison doors opened, and they are bid to go forth and show themselves.

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Sounds like the Charles Wesley hymn, doesn't it? They become free from the tyranny of sin, and sin has no more dominion over them.

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In their state before calling, they're under the power and influence of Satan, the strong man armed, who keeps possession of them, by whom they are kept in bondage and led captive by him at his will.

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But when effectually called, they're taken out of his hands and are turned from the power of Satan unto

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God, and are delivered from the power of darkness, and are translated into the kingdom of God's dear

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Son, where they are Christ's free men. They are called and allowed to make use of a liberty of access to God through Christ by one's spirit, and to enjoy all the privileges of the gospel, and the immunities of a gospel church state, being fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God."

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Beautiful statement. He had a tendency to run on long sentences, but he was very, very thorough in his explanation of biblical teaching.

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Now within the scope of God's effectual call, we can get a little bit more detailed. There are several aspects of God's work of saving greats, and one deals with ignorance and the other deals with really aversion to the gospel.

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And so today we want to deal with the matter of ignorance in this effectual calling, and that has to do with the illumination of the sinner unto salvation.

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And then next week we'll deal, Lord willing, we'll deal with in God's effectual call to regeneration, how he changes the person's obstinacy to a, you know, to a submissiveness to the

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Lord. This is his work in and through the gospel. And so we want to give consideration to God's grace and illumination of the sinner.

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God's grace and illumination of the sinner unto his salvation. When God extends this inward effectual call to salvation, he calls his people to understand, but not just to understand, but to value spiritual reality, spiritual truth.

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It's not just to inform the mind, but it's to stir the heart. Both things are important, as we'll see in a little bit.

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We might consider Peter's words, but you are a chosen generation. There's election.

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A royal priesthood and holy nation of peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

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There's the calling again, and here we have a calling of illumination. There's illumination wrapped up in this, in which

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God dispels the ignorance and absence of interest and appreciation of a true understanding of one's sin, of God's righteousness,

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God's certain judgment. It speaks of an inward awakening to the glorious gospel of Christ and how one can come to know

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God through that gospel. However, we need to be careful here, for when we speak of God's illumination of the elect sinner unto salvation, let us remember that God is able, in fact he does frequently illuminate people to spiritual truth, but that illumination does not result in their salvation.

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Unconverted people can be taught by God, the scriptures tell us, and yet they never come to salvation.

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That's kind of scary when you think about it. God can reveal the people who never become saved, understanding of his ways as well as insight into their own spiritual needy condition, and yet they are never converted to Christ.

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And this is set forth for us in a passage of Hebrews 6, in which it's, you know, many people debate over this passage, they have difficulty with it.

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I don't think it's that tough, frankly, but we want to give attention to it, because here the writer's describing some who are very blessed of God and yet they did not have salvation.

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He's urging his readers to move onward to Christian maturity. Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection or maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment, and this we will do if God permits.

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And then he gives an explanation as to why. For it is impossible for those who are once enlightened, notice the passive verb there, once enlightened, that's

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God having enlightened them, who are once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the

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Holy Spirit. That's a troublesome one, isn't it? Partakers of the Holy Spirit and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, and this falling away is a full apostasy, turning away.

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They went for a while, maybe for quite a while, but then turned away from Christ and rejected him wholly, completely, finally, and fully.

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It says it's impossible for them to be restored, to renew them again on the repentance, and then he gives the explanation, since they crucify again for themselves the

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Son of God and put him to an open shame, like they're crucifying Christ all over, rejecting him.

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Verses 1 through 3 show the writer's expressed desire for his readers to grow in the Christian faith, therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the

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Christ, let us press on to maturity. Although he had previously said that they could not handle hard to understand teaching, nevertheless, they were to push forward, move onward.

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No purpose was served in going back, again, why? Why did he do it?

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Why was he dealing with them? Perhaps he was trying to stretch them and move them onward. People do need to be challenged, don't they?

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With regard to the need for advancement onto maturity.

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And then in verses 4 through 6, the writer says that they needed to go forward anyway, for it is useless to rehash the basics before those who have turned away from Christ.

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It's impossible to renew them to repentance, for it's impossible for those who are once enlightened.

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And so this is the reason in the writer's mind why it is pointless to lay the foundation again. Apostates are irrecoverable.

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Now again, many Christians are troubled by this passage. And so various teachings are presented, some of those including, well, one who's come to true saving faith can lose his salvation.

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And those who teach you can lose your salvation will often come to Hebrews 6, because they assume these people are truly

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Christian, but then they lose it, which is a ridiculous notion, by the way.

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You know, when you become a Christian, you're justified. God declares you to be righteous, your sins are pardoned.

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You're seated in the heavenly places in Christ. You know, God says he's got your salvation, your final full salvation reserved in heaven.

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Nobody's going to take that away. And he's keeping you by his power through faith unto that end. To say a person can lose his salvation, you think what that means.

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It means in spite of all of God's desires and efforts to keep you, he couldn't do it.

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In spite of the fact that you're righteous in his sight, you come to the point you're no longer righteous. It really renders

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Christ as righteousness, as incapable of saving you. It's really dishonoring to God.

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It takes away from his glory. It says that although you're seated with Christ in the heavenlies, you're wrested out of the heavenlies from Christ and you're back in your lost condition.

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It's ridiculous when you think about it. You know, the Lord saves those who are his and he keeps them, he sees to it.

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And yet some will argue someone who has true saving faith can lose their salvation. That's wrong.

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Second, some argue this is only a hypothetical situation. I think this is a laughable interpretation, frankly.

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When you read commentaries, you'll see them jump through, you know, hermeneutical hoops in order to get across this idea.

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In other words, they say if it were possible, but it really isn't, that if anyone experienced these spiritual blessings and they did fall away, but they wouldn't fall away, then it would be impossible to renew them to repentance.

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But the writer's not talking about hypothetical situations here. He's warning these people, don't let this happen to you.

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And regarding those to whom it did happen, you can't help them anyway. You need to move onward. There is another view, in fact there's a third or fourth, and either one of these could possibly be right.

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I'm not absolutely convinced as to which. Third, apostates were never truly born again. That certainly isn't truism.

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God has abandoned them to their sin and will not reclaim them. There's no use for you to try and do so.

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There are others, however, who would say that there is hope for these people. And so the fourth position, apostates were never truly born again.

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And so humanly speaking, they cannot be reclaimed, but God may bring them recovery if he so wills, but it's not likely.

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And so either the third or fourth suggestion is the right interpretation.

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Now we read four characteristics of these apostates, and again they appear so much like the real thing.

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In fact, there was a time when you could not distinguish them from true Christians. That's the whole point of the description. They look like true

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Christians. They seem to experience everything a true Christian experiences, yet were never saved.

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We know they were never saved because of verse nine in Hebrews chapter six, in which the writer says in contrast to those we've just described, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you.

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Yes, things that accompany salvation, whatever they had, they didn't have some things that come with salvation, namely the grace to persevere, we would argue.

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They didn't have salvation, but his readers, he was actually confident of them, even though he says we're speaking in this manner.

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And so whoever these ones were described in verses four through six, they did not have the things that accompany salvation.

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And so what had these lost people experienced? Well, four things. They who had once been enlightened, they tasted the heavenly gift, they'd been partakers or sharers of the

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Holy Spirit. They've tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come. So some would argue that these four characteristics could only be said of the true

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Christian who'd been born again of the Holy Spirit. But this is not so, we would argue.

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The first speaks of God enlightening people to truth. This is why I brought it up. Here you have illumination.

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We're speaking about God's effectual call that illuminates the sinner to his sin and his need for Christ and he comes.

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But there is times when God will illuminate an unconverted person to these realities, and yet that person doesn't experience conversion, and that's what happens to this person.

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He's enlightened, and that passive verb speaks of God having enlightened him. And then secondly, they tasted the heavenly gift.

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This also could be said to be the experience of unbelievers. They've come to some knowledge of Jesus Christ.

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They've tasted of the Lord and have proved that he's good. We read in 2

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Peter that there are false teachers who were as dogs who returned to their vomit pigs to their wallow, and yet they had cleaned up their lives through the knowledge of the gospel.

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Unconverted people can experience a measure of change in their lives to where they look like Christians.

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But again, the proof is in their persevering in grace. And Peter said they returned because it was their nature, like pigs, they were like dogs, they returned to what was natural to them.

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While they were cleaned up for a while, it wasn't natural to them, and they went back to their original habitation.

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And so unconverted people can experience a great deal of what appears to be a work of saving grace, and yet they fall short.

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What about the matter of being made partakers of the Holy Spirit? Does that mean they were born again by the

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Spirit? No, it doesn't. It does mean that they experienced the blessing of the

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Holy Spirit, maybe even the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You know, Paul, you know, said some argue that, you know, having the gifts of the

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Spirit is proof you have salvation. Paul argued just the opposite, why you can have faith to move mountains, you can have knowledge of all things, you don't have love, you've got nothing.

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We would expect, you know, we would think that Judas Iscariot had all kinds of gifts by which he, you know, showed himself to be an apostle, and it would seem used of the

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Lord for a time. But he, of course, was the son of perdition.

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He never had salvation. He didn't lose his salvation, he never had it. But the Holy Spirit was operating upon him.

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Paul talked about keeping his body under, lest after having preached Christ, I myself might be cast away.

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There are people standing up and preaching the Word of God, and yet are in reality unconverted.

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And you'll hear stories sometimes about a preacher standing up and preaching from the Word of God, and the

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Holy Spirit does a wonderful work, and he gets converted by his own preaching. It's a mysterious thing sometimes, but I've heard stories about that in the past.

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I had a friend in Germany, Jaroslav Ban, and his father, he was one of four sons living in communist

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Slovakia back in the 50s, and his dad was in a bar one night, and a guy from Romania came up into the barge, preached the

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Gospel, and hired Jaroslav's dad to translate for him. So he's translating this sermon in the bar, and he gets converted, and raised these four sons as Christians under Stalinist communism there in eastern

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Slovakia. And they're preachers that stand up, and they're converted through their own preaching.

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They come to realize they never had a true transforming experience of Christ bringing them salvation.

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We would argue these four experiences of these people could be perhaps said of Simon Magus, the stony ground hearers of Matthew 13, again the heretical teachers of 2

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Peter 2, maybe even Hymenaeus, Philetus, Alexander, that's mentioned.

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Unregenerate people, that is unconverted people, may have a form of godliness, 2

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Timothy 2 .5. They may pray frequently and long, they might outstrip you in praying.

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They fast often, they hear the word gladly, you know who that's spoken of? King Herod, he heard the word gladly when

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John the Baptist was preaching to him, teaching him. They can be zealous for the work of God, Matthew 7, be very knowledgeable about the word of God, Nicodemus, and they can even teach others the word of God, Jude, and 2

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Peter 2. Now, we might ask the question or attempt to answer the question, why would

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God illuminate people to gospel truth and truth about their lost condition and yet not bring them to experience salvation?

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And I would argue, and who knows all of the reasons in God's providence, but I would argue one main reason is to put the fear of God in you.

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So you don't let that happen to you, and this is one of the means of grace that he preserves his people.

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Better men than I have walked away from Christ, better women than you, that have been in Christ longer or claim to be in Christ longer have walked away,

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Lord don't let that happen to me. I see my heart growing indifferent, I'm not as zealous to the things of Christ as I once was,

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Lord don't let this happen to me. You see, and as we hear and we see and we read about people like this, it should put the fear of God in us and cause us to be humble and seek grace, it should.

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And so the Lord preserves us from those who have presumption, for presumption of salvation is dangerous.

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There's some people that think they have a solid basis for their assurance of salvation, oh they're assured, but actually it's just presumption, and that's scary.

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And so when Christians see others about them, seem to go far in the way of the Lord, but then fall away, it causes them to be more careful and watchful for their souls.

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And I think that's one reason why God does that. And we've seen it ourselves in the life of this church, haven't we?

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People that express and seem to show forth devotion and commitment for decades and walk away from Christ, it scares the bejeebies out of me.

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And it, you know, it should cause us all to be watchful, right? Certainly not careless and indifferent, but watchful.

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But thankfully there is God's illumination of the sinner that does result in salvation, and that's what we're emphasizing, focusing.

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When God brings salvation to an individual, God himself teaches that person that he's a sinner, and that Christ is the

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Savior. This is not to take away the instrument of the Christian preacher, teacher, or the witness, because God uses that.

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When the individual whom God intends to save hears the word of God taught or preached, and if it's in God's timing,

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God himself opens the eyes of that person to understand the reality and the importance of the truth.

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And so, for example, we read in 1 John 1, 27, But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth and is no lie, even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in him.

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We don't have time to go into great detail, but I believe the anointing that he's talking about is a knowledge that God gives to every one of his people of the truthfulness of the identity of Jesus Christ.

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And these people coming along and declaring that Jesus wasn't really, you know, a man, but he just appeared to be as a man, you know,

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John is saying, hey, you know better than that, because God's giving you an anointing, you know better than that.

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If I stood up here and said that Jesus is God, but he's not really a man, why, I would venture to say most of you would walk out.

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I would hope you would, and why, not just because you've been taught by me differently, but you've been taught of God differently, haven't you?

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And nobody can convince you otherwise, because you have an anointing from the holy one, from the

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Lord himself. And so there's this illumination that God imparts to his people.

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We read in the scriptures that this grace of illumination is credited to all three persons of the blessed holy trinity.

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God the Father gives spiritual understanding to sinners, God the Son, the Son of God illuminates sinners, and of course the

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Holy Spirit reveals to the sinner spiritual truths regarding God and himself. For example, consider these verses that speak of God the

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Father illuminating people with regard to salvation. These are Jesus's words, no man can come to me except the

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Father hath sent me draw him. There's the calling, I'll raise him up in the last day, it is written in the prophets they shall all be taught of God, everyone that hath heard from the

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Father hath learned and come to me. See the Father illuminates people and they come to Christ as a result.

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Matthew 16, Jesus answered and unto him, blessed art thou Simon Barjona, son of Jonah for flesh and blood hath not revealed unto thee that he was the

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Christ, the Son of the living God, but my Father who is in heaven. The Father illuminated

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Peter, hey this Jesus is the Son of the living God. People didn't teach

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Peter that, the Father taught him that. And then 2 Corinthians 4, 4 and following, it speaks of unconverted people in whom the

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God of this world, that's the devil, the God of this world hath blinded the mind of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them.

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But it's impossible for an unsaved person to convert himself. The devil's got him bound, the devil's got him blind.

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And so Paul declared, we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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That's a glorious statement. It's declaring that the same power that God employed in creating this world and universe was employed in bringing you salvation.

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That's what it took to raise life out of your dead spiritual condition.

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He shined in our hearts. The spiritual illumination is also attributed to God the

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Son, Jesus Christ. Luke 10, in that hour Jesus rejoiced in the

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Spirit, said I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth that you've hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes.

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Some try and present God as trying to save everybody in the world while he just loves everybody and he's just trying to save everybody as hard as he could and he just wishes more people would give their hearts to him.

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Now Jesus says he rejoiced in this, that the Father did not reveal himself to those who were proud, self -righteous.

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That was a good thing, all right? Nevertheless, you revealed them to babes.

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Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. All things have been delivered to me by my

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Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father and who the Father is except the

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Son and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal him. There you have illumination. When you became a

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Christian it was because the Son willed to reveal himself and reveal the

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Father to you. The non -Christian is characterized as having spiritual blindness.

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This can only be cured by the great physician who has an eye salve that may bring healing. Revelation 3 .18,

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our Lord said, I counsel thee to buy of me eye salve that you may see. It has to come from Christ.

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And we read in 1 John 5 of the illumination of the Son of God. We know the Son of God has come, he's given us an understanding.

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There you have illumination. For what purpose? We have a purpose clause. That we may know him that's true.

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You can't know him who's true unless he gives you the understanding. We are in him that is true, even in his

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Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. And then of course spiritual illumination is attributed to God the

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Holy Spirit. First Corinthians 2 .9, but as it's written, I have not seen nor ear heard nor entered into the heart of man the things which

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God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to us through his

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Spirit. See the Spirit illuminates, reveals, and he's not talking about heaven and what not, he's talking about salvation.

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And it never enters the mind of a fallen man about the salvation that is set forth in the scriptures.

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It takes the Holy Spirit to reveal that to a sinner is what he's declaring. And that's done for everyone who comes to Christ.

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Now let's quickly, and we're running out of time, and again I've got a lot more pages left, but we're probably going to carry this one over into next week, but let's consider the nature of God's grace and the illumination of the sinner unto his salvation.

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Again let's recognize that the grace of God and illumination that results in salvation is a sovereign act of God's power.

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Again as we already alluded to, it's as great as God's work of creating this world and universe as we read in 2

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Corinthians 4. Paul described his ministry of the word, therefore having this ministry by the mercy of God we don't lose heart.

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But we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways, he's referring to people that were corrupting the teaching of God's word in order to gain disciples.

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He says we don't use those ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.

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We're open about this. We don't make any apologies for it. I don't apologize for God's sovereign grace,

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I don't apologize for the teachings of election. Many people do. Many people are embarrassed about it.

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I've had two pastors in this area come up to me, I'm reformed like you are but I can't teach that here in my church.

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You know they won't receive it. And they whispered that to me. Paul says I'm not that way. I'm not ashamed of it.

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I'm going to speak it. This is it. I commend it. But even if our gospel is veiled, in other words if it's not seen, understood, it's veiled to those who are perishing.

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Again we read this earlier. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel.

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They cannot see. They cannot understand. The devil has them bound, has them blind.

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We proclaim for what we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

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For God who said let light shine out of darkness is shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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And so Paul contrasting his ministry with all those others, with those who were deceptive, flawed, told half -truths, who had corrupted the word of God before the people, who sought to manipulate people's feelings and actions in order to gain their confidence and their following,

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Paul said he'd have none of their methods. He rejected their message. He would be faithful to proclaim the word of God fully and faithfully.

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He would not be silent on doctrines because they would upset people and turn them away. He would speak boldly and clearly the word of God.

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Oh yes, some would not understand. He recognized that. But it wasn't because of him and not making it clear.

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It'd be because of the devil blinding them to prevent them. And so he would be forthright.

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Secondly, let us recognize that spiritual illumination is more than a knowledge of biblical words and theological ideas.

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I emphasize the faith a great deal, needing to know the faith, a body of teaching that was delivered to us.

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And we are to inculcate that into our thinking and to live it out, of course, in the way we live.

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But salvation, of course, illumination is more than this. The fact is, the essential message of the

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Bible is readily understandable by all. You really don't need the illumination of the

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Holy Spirit to understand the Bible as to what it is saying. I have met, you know, and sat under some seminary professors who

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I don't think were converted that could, you know, far outstrip me in their understanding of the

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Bible. The reason the

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Protestant reformers of the 16th century emphasized so much translating the Bible into the language of the common people is they believed in the perspicuity, the clarity of the

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Scriptures. You can read it and understand it. Now this does not negate the need for teachers of the

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Word, but it does mean that reasonable readers of Scripture may understand its message because God has put it in an understandable form in the

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Bible. And so people can obtain knowledge of biblical ideas and theological concepts of sin and salvation, the person and work of Christ, apart, you know, from the illumination of the

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Holy Spirit. And yet they're still unsaved. And so spiritual illumination is more than just acquiring understanding of the

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Scriptures. And thirdly, let's recognize that spiritual illumination is both through the

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Word of God as well as the operation of the Holy Spirit. Both are necessary.

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And we've already considered this reality. John Flavel, who wrote in his classic book,

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The Fountain of Life Opened, and I wish I was half tempted to take his sermon and preach it to you, tell you

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I was doing so, but it was so wonderful. In his book, The Fountain of Life Opened, in chapter 10, he's dealing with the prophetic office of Christ.

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Absolutely wonderful. In fact, I included an appendix with some practical exhortations of application that we could benefit from this, but we don't have time to address.

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But that's at the end of your notes, and I hope you'll take time to read it, some very practical advice about these matters.

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But he wrote of this passage in 2 Corinthians 4, it implies the utter impotency of man to open his own heart and thereby make the

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Word effectual to his own conversion and salvation. He that at first had let there be light and it was so must shine into our hearts or they will never be savingly enlightened.

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A double misery lies upon a great part of mankind, that is, their impotency and pride.

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They have not only lost the liberty and freedom of their wills, but with it have so far lost their understanding and humility as not to own it.

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But alas, man has become a most impotent creature by the fall, so far from being able to open his own heart that he cannot know the things of the

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Spirit, 1 Corinthians 2, cannot believe, John 6, cannot obey, Romans 8, cannot speak one good word,

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Matthew 12, cannot think one good thought, 2 Corinthians 3, cannot do one good act,

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John 15. Oh, what a helpless, shiftless thing is a poor sinner. Suitably to this state of impotence, conversion in Scripture called regeneration, a resurrection from the dead, a creation, a victory, which does not only imply man to be purely passive in his conversion to God, but a reticency, you know, a rejection, a refusal, an opposition made to that power which goes forth from God to recover him.

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You know, the, you know, the question posed, you know, to the Southern, you know, black preacher, what did you do to contribute to your salvation, you know?

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Well, Christ came to me and I fought against him, and when he tried to overcome, I ran away from him, and he overtook me and tackled me and subdued me.

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That's what I contributed to my salvation, and that's about right. This is, it's all of the

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Lord, salvation is of the Lord, first to last. And then thirdly, let's recognize, and finally, we'll close with this, recognize that spiritual illumination be understood as involving two stages.

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They're an external illumination in which the Lord informs the mind as to the truth of Scripture, but there must also be what some have referred to, and I don't necessarily like this distinguishing description, but an internal illumination.

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And this is when God gives an understanding of his word so as to transform a person.

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The difference being the Holy Spirit gives understanding, but illumination of the

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Spirit also causes the heart to value that truth, so as to desire it, embrace it, and submit to it, and that comes with illumination by God, and perhaps we'll take some time next

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Lord's Day to consider that. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word.

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Thank you for your grace in bringing us salvation, and we recognize that all glory belongs to you,

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God. We'll not take a bit of credit for it, because we were in our sin, lost, undone, ignorant, blind, bound, incapable, and unwilling to respond to you and all your kind overtures and goodness to us.

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But you purposed, Father, that you would not allow this humanity be lost in its entirety, but you purposed to save a people unto yourself, and we praise you, our

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God, that you purposed to save us, we who are Jesus Christ.

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May we each, Lord, who know Jesus Christ, be careful to give you all the glory for what you have done and are doing, and have promised to do for us in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.