Episode 122: Predestination and Calling Part 2 with Spurgeon

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

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?

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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Jesus in a local - Welcome to the Ruled Church Podcast. It is

June 18th, 2025. Summer is rolling along.

I guess technically not. We haven't actually approached the official start of summer.

But so far as church ministry goes, summer is pretty much June, July, mostly

June and July, and then August, maybe some of August, all of August. Anyway, you get the point.

Summer is rolling along. Some of you probably have already been to church camp.

We actually this week, or while you're listening to this podcast maybe, we'll be having

Vacation Bible School. So, happy summer to the Ruled Church Podcast listeners.

In today's episode, we are going to continue that sermon on calling and election with Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

I'm going to pick up, really, just discuss and commentary. That sermon is actually called

Predestination and Calling, Romans 8 .30. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called.

And so last time, we looked at an illustration of calling. And this time, we're going to pick up in point two of Spurgeon's sermon, and we'll just see how far we get.

So, unless otherwise noted, I am reading from Spurgeon's sermon. So here we are, point number two.

I'm reading now from Spurgeon. He says, I have thus illustrated effectual calling, and now, as a matter of examination, let each man judge himself by certain characteristics of heavenly calling, which

I am about to mention. If in your Bible you turn to 2 Timothy 1 .9, you will read these words,

Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling. Now here is the first touchstone by which we may try of our calling.

Many are called, but few are chosen, because there are many kinds of call.

But the true call, and that only, answer to the description of the text. It is an holy calling, not according to works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given in us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

This calling forbids all trust in our own doings, and conducts us to Christ alone for salvation.

But it afterwards purges us from dead works, to serve the living and true God. If you are living in sin, you are not called.

If you can still continue as you were before your pretended conversion, then it is no conversion at all.

That man who is called in his drunkenness will forsake his drunkenness. Men may be called in the midst of sin, but they will not continue in it any longer.

Saul was anointed to be king when he was seeking his father's asses.

And many a man has been called when he has been seeking his own lust. But he will leave the asses and leave the lust when once he is called.

Now, by this shall you know whether you be called of God or not. If you continue in sin, if you walk according to the course of this world, according to the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience, then ye are still dead in your trespasses and your sins.

But as he that hath called you is holy, so you must be holy. Can ye say,

Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I desire to keep all Thy commandments and to walk blamelessly in Thy sight?

I know that my obedience cannot save me, but I long to obey. There is nothing that pains me so much as sin.

I desire to be quit and rid of it. Lord, help me to be holy. Is that the panting of Thy heart?

Is that the tenor of Thy life towards God and towards His law? Then, beloved, I have reason to hope that Thou hast been called of God, for it is a holy calling wherewith

God doth call His people. Okay, now I'll give some commentary. A few thoughts here.

Again, as we looked at last time, Spurgeon and Reformed theology differentiates between the general call, the gospel call, the call that goes out to all mankind to repent.

You, sir, take hold of salvation, turn from sin, and believe on Christ. That should go out to every man, every woman, every boy, every girl.

But the effectual call that Spurgeon speaks of is a call that draws us to Christ.

And his argument there is a calling that draws us to Christ ultimately pulls us out of sin.

It's like 1 Corinthians 6 where Paul lists the sexually immoral and the homosexual and the murderers and all these.

And he says, such were some of you. That may be who you were, but because God has called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light, that is not who you are anymore.

Think about a recent, well, I'm going to preach this Sunday on Acts chapter 2, and we're talking about speaking in tongues.

That's part of what we're talking about. And there are a lot of places today that would say that they have the

Holy Spirit simply because they speak in tongues, but they'll speak in tongues and then they'll go home and watch pornography or they'll have an affair on their life, on their spouse, or they will embezzle money or whatever the case may be.

They have excitement at church, but they leave and there's no change.

Now Spurgeon's not addressing that specifically, my analogy, but he is addressing the same theological point, and that is the calling, the effectual calling of the

Holy Spirit produces in us a holiness of life. We don't obey in order to be saved, but because now we've been transformed, we've been changed.

Do we still sin? Yes, but we desire to follow God's commandments. If you love me,

Jesus says in John 14, 15, you'll keep my commandments. So this is what we desire to do because the

Holy Spirit is in us and has called us and has united us to Christ. Okay, let's continue on with Spurgeon's words.

Another text, in Philippians 3, 13, and 14, you find these words, Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those which are before,

I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Is this, is then your calling a high calling?

Has it lifted up your heart and set it upon heavenly things? Has it lifted up your hopes to hope no longer for things that are on earth, but for things that are above?

Has it lifted up your taste so that they are no longer groveling, but you choose the things that are of God?

Has it lifted up the constant tenor of your life, so that you spend your life with God in prayer and praise and in thanksgiving and can no longer be satisfied with the low and mean pursuits which you followed in the days of your ignorance?

Recollect if you are truly called, it is a high calling, a calling from on high, and a calling that lifts up your heart and raises it to the high things of God, eternity, heaven, and holiness.

In Hebrews 3, 1, you find this sentence, Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,

Here's another test. Heavenly calling means a call from heaven. Have you been called not of man, but of God?

Can you now detect in your calling the hand of God and the voice of God? If man alone call thee, thou art uncalled.

Is thy calling of God, and is it a call to heaven as well as from heaven? Can you heartily say that you can never rest satisfied till you behold his face, and never, never sin, but from the rivers of his grace drink endless pleasures in?

Man, unless thou art a stranger here, and heaven is thy home, thou hast not been called with a heavenly calling.

For those who have been so called declare that they look for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is

God, and they themselves are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth.

Okay, let me now give more commentary. This is an excellent point from Spurgeon, and it is a point that needs to be addressed in our day today.

There are so many people who profess to be Christians who are carnally minded, who are worldly minded.

Their heart and their affections and their desires and their goals remain on the things of this world.

Spurgeon is saying if you've been called of God, if the effectual call has been issued upon your life, if God has drawn you to Christ and you've truly repented of your sin and put your faith in Christ and been united to Christ, been justified and adopted and are being sanctified, well then your affections are stirred for the things that are above.

Not that you don't ever enjoy anything here below, your family, your friends, your country.

These are good things, gifts of God, but your delights are more and more upon the things of God and the things of heaven.

You long to be in that city whose builder and foundation, or the city,

I'm thinking of Hebrews 13, the city that is to come. You begin to make your goals and your plans and your thoughts and your aspirations centered around the things of heaven.

There's this old adage, or at least in the South, and probably you've heard it if you're a rural church podcast listener, maybe you've heard this one, that is, don't be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good.

But in all honesty, that's an impossibility. You can't be so heavenly minded that you're no earthly good.

Those who are heavenly minded are the most earthly good. If you set your thoughts and your affections upon the world that is to come and upon the things of Christ and upon heaven, then you'll be the best good in this world.

And Spurgeon is arguing here that those who have been called effectually by God have their heart set upon the things above,

Colossians 3. Now he mentions the difference between the calling of man and the calling of God, and practically this can be quite challenging, especially for those who are maybe coming out of a man -centered theology.

But this idea of how you get someone to cross the finish line, as it were, how do you get someone saved?

What is it that you have to do? And we've come up with all these kind of techniques where we can get someone to say a prayer or get someone to walk an aisle or get someone to sign a card or get someone to raise their hand.

And then we feel better about it. In the modern era, you see a lot of pictures on Instagram or Facebook or X, and it has all these people came to Christ tonight.

Well, then you revisit these people maybe sometimes just a week later or a month later or a year later or five years later, and where are they?

They've wandered from the faith. Why? The call they received was not the call of God. It was the call of man.

And so sometimes, well, all the time we need to be patient and wait upon the Lord and be confident in Him to work.

As we preach the gospel, we plead with sinners to come, we counsel sinners, we walk through the

Scriptures with them, but we are unable to bring them over the finish line.

That's what God does. God does that in His own timing. So we need to be careful, those we're counseling and discussing, and even with our own children, that we're not the ones that bring them over.

They don't receive the call of man, but they receive the call of God. Okay, let's continue on with Spurgeon's words.

He says, Now, if I cannot say the first things because of the diffidence, though they be true, yet can

I say this, Self -righteous man, whether thou hast any evidence of election,

I tell thee, no. Christ never called the righteous. If He has not called thee, and if He never does call thee, thou art not elect, and thou and thy self -righteousness must be subject to the wrath of God and cast away eternally.

Only the sinner, the awakened sinner, can be at all assured that he has been called.

And even he, as he gets older in grace, must look for those higher marks of the high, heavenly, and holy calling in Christ Jesus.

So what Spurgeon is saying there is, if you want to know if you're called of God, if you want to know if you're receiving the effectual call of God, do you see yourself as a sinner?

This is something, especially I think about with children sometimes, church children, children growing up with Christian parents.

And that is, they never understand their sin, or not never, but early on sometimes they don't understand their sin.

And they really trust in the fact that they come to church, they memorize Scripture, they do catechism questions, they do family worship.

Well, so of course, God's going to accept them. And so there can be a real danger of self -righteousness building in their hearts.

And Spurgeon says, God's not calling the self -righteous. That is, if you don't feel your need of Christ, if you think, well,

I'm okay. Well, yeah, sure, everyone's a sinner. No, the effectual call really is surrounded by or results in, and theologically we could parse that out, but it's going to be associated with the conviction of sin.

Maybe not the conviction of every sin that you've ever committed, but there is a realization there that I'm a sinner.

I can't do this on my own. I need Christ. And so Spurgeon parses through that with us.

And another theological point I should make, he makes the distinction that God only effectually calls those that he has predestined.

So this is just the theological reality. And just for biblical clarification, let's read

Romans 8, 29, and 30. For those whom he foreknew.

And by the way, the text says those whom he foreknew. Not the choices. Those. For those whom he foreknew.

He did not foreknow a choice, which of course is true. We know he foreknows all choices. But this text is explicitly saying he foreknew a people.

For those whom he foreknew. The idea is those he loved in eternity past in a particular and special way.

He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. In order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he called, he also justified.

And then those whom he justified, he also glorified. So this has been called the golden chain of redemption.

But the idea here is that you need to understand there's an order here. God loved in eternity past a people.

He predestined them a people out of the mass of fallen humanity. He predestined those people.

And as a result of that predestination, he called those people. In this particular effectual call that Spurgeon's talking about.

Those people that he called, he justified. So all that he foreknew, he predestined.

All that he predestined, he calls. All that he calls, he justifies. All that he justifies, he glorifies.

You cannot break this chain. This is the golden chain of redemption. And this is

Spurgeon's argument. But most importantly, it's the argument of Scripture. Okay, let's go back to Spurgeon's words.

He says, Is that your call?

Were you once darkness in regard to Christ? And has marvelous light manifested to you a marvelous redeemer, marvelously strong to save?

Say, soul, canst thou honestly declare that thy past life was darkness, and that thy present state is light in the

Lord? For you were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light.

That man is not called who cannot look back upon darkness, ignorance, and sin, and who cannot now say that he knows more than he did know, and enjoys at times the light of knowledge and the comfortable light of God's countenance.

Yet again, another test of calling is to be found in Galatians, the fifth chapter and the fifteenth verse.

Brethren, ye have been called into liberty. Let me ask myself again this question. Have the fetters of my sin been broken off, and am

I God's free man? Have the manacles of justice been snapped, and am I delivered, set free by him who is the great ransomer of spirits?

The slave is not called. It is the free man that has been brought out of Egypt who proves that he has been called of God and is precious to the heart of the

Most High. And yet once more, another precious means of test in the first of Corinthians, the first chapter and the ninth verse, he is faithful by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his

Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Do I fellowship with Christ? Do I converse with him?

Commune with him? Do I suffer with him? Suffer for him? Do I sympathize with him in his objects and aims?

Do I love what he loves? Do I hate what he hates? Can I bear his reproach? Can I carry his cross?

Do I tread in his steps? Do I serve his cause? And is it my grandest hope that I shall see his kingdom come, that I shall sit upon his throne and reign with him?

If so, then I am called with the effectual calling, which is the work of God's grace and is the sure sign of my predestination.

So again, Spurgeon just walking through here, different biblical test of, this is my commentary by the way, a different biblical test of whether or not a person has been effectually called.

And it is a sad reality that many believers never consider, well, yeah, first of all, believers, all believers should consider their calling and election, that's 2

Peter 1 .10. But it's a very sad state that many people who profess to know

Christ never examine their lives to consider whether or not they're truly in the faith.

And there will be some, there will be many, according to Matthew 7, that will stand before the Lord one day and they'll have been assured in this life, but in reality they weren't saved.

And that's not because there's not real assurance that comes with the gospel, but it's because they've trusted in false assurance.

At the Roman Catholic debate I was asked, you know, do I have assurance? Can we have assurance? Well, of course we can have assurance.

First John 5 .13, John writes, I write these things to you that you may know that you have the

Son of God, that you know that you've believed. So we can know, we can have assurance. But this, these assurances, so this is how a lot of people deal with assurance.

They never consider their calling biblically. They just say, well, did I say a prayer? Did I really mean it?

Okay, do I feel saved? And that's their judgment. But Spurgeon is walking through these biblical tests.

Do you love the light instead of darkness? Do you have freedom in Christ?

Not freedom to sin, freedom to obey. Freedom away from sin and away from self -righteousness.

Do you have fellowship with Christ? Do you live for Him? Would you suffer for Him? Would you die for Him?

All of these things are just these biblical examinations that Spurgeon is trying to do. Some of you listeners, some of you need to consider this.

All of us need to consider this. We need to examine our life in accordance with the Word of God. The Word of God is a mirror.

We must examine our lives according to the Scriptures and not according to culture or according to our own feelings.

These are serious matters and Spurgeon is helping us here. All right, let's go back to Spurgeon.

He says, let me say now, before I turn from this point, that it is possible for a man to know whether God has called him or not.

And he may know it, too, beyond a doubt. He may know it as surely as if he read it with his own eyes.

Nay, he may know it more surely than that. For if I read a thing with my eyes, even my eyes may deceive me.

The testimony of sense may be false, but the testimony of the Spirit must be true. We have the witness of the

Spirit within, bearing witness with our spirits that we are born of God. There is such a thing on earth as an infallible assurance of our election.

Let a man once get that, and it will anoint his head with fresh oil. It will clothe him with the white garment of praise and put the song of the angel into his mouth.

Happy, happy man who is fully assured of his interest in the covenant of grace and the blood of atonement and in the glories of heaven.

Such men there are here this very day. Let them rejoice in the Lord always. And again

I say, rejoice. What would some of you give if you could arrive at this assurance?

Mark, if you anxiously desire to know, you may know. If your heart pants to read its title clear, it shall do so ere long.

No man ever desired Christ in his heart with a living and longing desire who did not find him sooner or later.

If thou hast a desire, God has given it to thee. If thou pantest and criest and groanest after Christ, even this is his gift.

Bless him for it. Thank him for little grace and ask him for great grace.

He has given thee hope, ask for faith. And when he gives thee faith, ask for assurance.

And when thou gettest assurance, ask for full assurance. And when thou hast obtained full assurance, ask for enjoyment.

And when thou hast enjoyment, ask for glory itself. And he shall surely give it thee in his own appointed season.

Now, let me make some commentary here. This is his finished, his second point.

So, let me make some commentary here. And then we'll close the episode and we'll leave the last point for a final episode on this.

But you can have assurance of faith. But I've said this often in counseling situations.

If you're in sin, if you're living in active rebellion to God, if you are neglecting the church, if you are enslaved to pornography, if you are cheating on your money in some way, whatever the case may be, you have no right to assurance.

It's not that you may not actually be saved, you're just caught in sin. You may be converted.

Christians can fall into grievous error. But you have no right to assurance.

And so if you say, well, I'm doing this sin repeatedly, unrepentantly, but I know

I'm saved. Well, you are deceived. Because God does not comfort his children in assurance when they are in a pattern of sin.

So you can have assurance. But the assurance, a lot of people think the assurance is, well, I just got to reach deep down and find that assurance down there somewhere.

Actually, not that there's no aspect of inward assurance. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we're the children of God.

There is an aspect of that. But God gives us assurance also through outward means.

Several outward means. One of those being the local church. I think about Hebrews 3, 12 and 13, where the author of Hebrews talks about that we need to be on guard from the deceitfulness of sin and that we should encourage one another every day so that we won't be hardened and deceived.

Well, what's he talking about there? That's the church. Vibrant, active, fruitful, practical, biblical membership in the local church is a great aid to our assurance.

Because it's there that we, not just showing up on Sundays, but living life with one another.

It's in these places that we have the conversations and get to know one another and help one another and spur one another along in the faith.

And then, of course, showing up on Sunday is important because we're sitting under the preaching of the Word. We're partaking of the

Lord's Supper. We're singing the songs. We're listening to the Scriptures. We're praying together. We're giving.

All of these things are designed by God to aid in our assurance. So, if you're neglecting the church, you're neglecting a great means of your assurance of faith.

There is the aspect of the internal. There is the aspect of feeling or whatever.

You can't trust your feelings in and of themselves. But if you are saved, there is an aspect that you feel saved.

But if you feel saved and you examine your life in light of Scripture and you're not lined up, then your feelings are wrong.

I hope that makes sense and not too fuzzy the way that I said that there.

But to go back to the biblical test that Spurgeon walks us through or even reading 1

John, this is not morbid introspection or just fruit -checking, fruit -checking, fruit -checking because sometimes believers can have a sensitive conscience and we can be real sensitive and understand that, look,

I can't measure up. And that's true. We can't measure up and we need Christ. But there are aspects of your life that will be bearing fruit for the

Lord if you are in Him. And that's something else to consider too. Do you believe that God is faithful?

Do you believe that He is true to all

His promises? Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Do you believe that? Okay, so one question to ask yourself is not to just go back to the moment that you think that you were effectually called, but the question to ask yourself now is, do

I trust Christ? Because we can go back and say, well, 10 years ago, 5 years ago, was

I really saved? Well, more important than that is, are you trusting Christ now?

Are you resting in Christ now? Do you believe the promises now? Do you understand that His righteous life and His death on the cross for sinners and His resurrection,

His death on the cross as a substitute, bearing the wrath of God, dying, laying in the borrowed tomb, raising again on the third day, do you understand that's the only way that we can be reconciled to God?

And those who come to Christ in faith, they're pardoned, cleansed, justified. Do you trust that now?

And does your life align with these things that we've been talking about from Spurgeon's sermon?

Now, with some of that, I get it. It is important to know when you were saved because that affects our baptism.

So, for example, if you said you were saved 10 years ago and you got baptized, but now you just now realize that you are converted now in the last 3 years or 2 years or a month, well then, yes, you need to talk to your pastors and you need to follow the

Lord in biblical baptism. But I'm just making the argument that the

Scriptures never tell us to go back in time per se and consider, but to consider now.

Are you trusting Christ now? And I guess the most important thing in this episode is just to press home that there are biblical evidences of whether or not you've been called.

And if your life does not align with these biblical evidences, then you have no right to say that you've been called.

Many are called. Few are chosen. All, or not all, but many receive that outward call of God.

That outward, yes, all men, boys, girls should listen. And it's a genuine well -meant offer.

If they repent, they'll have Christ. If they'll trust Christ, they may have

Him. In and of themselves, they never will. So what does God do? He effectually calls.

He effectually draws. Meaning He calls with the production of the intent of the call.

He actually brings sinners home. Is that true of your life? Well, examine your life in accordance with the

Scriptures. I'm not sure when this last segment of Spurgeon's sermon on predestination calling will air, but it will be sometime later this summer or maybe early fall.

And I hope that you've enjoyed our time. It's been helpful sometimes to examine theologians of the past. And, of course, we're big fans of Spurgeon here at Providence Baptist Church.

You want to know more about a church, you can look at ProvidenceBaptistAR, like Arkansas, ProvidenceBaptistAR .com.

Thank you guys for joining us on this episode of the Rural Church Podcast. May Christ receive the glory in your life.

Christ is worthy of a healthy church. Catch you guys next week. If you really believe the church is the building, the church is the house, the church is what

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