Irresistible Grace

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Sermon given by Pastor Keith Foskey Sovereign Grace Family Church www.SGFCjax.org

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Well good evening everyone.
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I want to remind you where we are and what we're doing in this part of our Wednesday evening study.
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We have been studying the doctrines of grace and the doctrines of grace are known as the five points of Calvinism.
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We had been in a study of soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, and I made as part of that study this study of the five points of Calvinism.
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I would say this, I would say the five points of Calvinism represent a miniature systematic theology all of their own because the five points of Calvinism are are focused on the doctrine of sin, the doctrine of man, the doctrine of God, the doctrine of salvation.
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All of those things are found in the five points of Calvinism and in the doctrines of grace.
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So I would say that while we've spent the last year and a half studying systematic theology, what we've done in the last few weeks is we've really looked at the the finer points and we've knocked some of the edges off and we've honed a little bit of what we've tried to do and trying to sharpen ourselves.
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As Brother Andy just said, seeking to study to show ourselves approved.
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I know a lot of churches, and I don't say this to deride or to be ugly, but I know a lot of churches where study is not the main focus.
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Study is an afterthought that comes after the things that matter like music and fellowship and all those other things and study becomes a secondary, tertiary, and sometimes not even tertiary importance or important subject.
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So years ago I was asked, what is this church about? And I said we teach the Word of God.
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That's what we're about.
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I mean that's our goal.
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There are churches that do other things really well and better than us, but when it comes to teaching of the Word, that's what we do well and that's what we want to do.
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So tonight we're going to look at the subject of irresistible grace.
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Remember there are five points.
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Each one of them spells out the acronym TULIP, T-U-L-I-P, and tonight we are at the eye of irresistible grace, but I do want to take a moment and just remind you.
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T stands for total depravity.
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The U stands for unconditional election.
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The L stands for limited atonement.
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Now in last week's lesson I failed to mention something.
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I often do.
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I tell you the one place that's to be married to me is in the car on the ride home on Sunday morning because my wife always has to hear all of the errors I made from me.
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As I say, oh I forgot to say this or I should have said that or and I trust the Lord and the Holy Spirit that whatever I said was what God wanted me to say, but at the same time I'm the worst of my own critics.
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At least, you know, well there are people who hate me so I guess I'm not the absolute worst, but I do criticize myself a lot and oftentimes I look back at a lesson I say, oh I forgot to say this and this was really important.
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One of the things I mentioned or didn't mention last week that I should have is that each one of these has a has a different way of saying it.
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So like with total depravity you might call that total inability or radical fallenness is R.C.
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Sproul's favorite way of doing that.
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Unconditional election might be sovereign election or sovereign choice, but limited atonement is a is really important because they're the other way of calling limited atonement is particular redemption.
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Particular redemption and the reason why that's important is because when the Baptists were becoming established in the 17th century there were two types of Baptists.
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There was the general Baptists and the particular Baptists.
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The general Baptists were the Arminians because they believed in a general atonement.
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The particular Baptists were the Calvinists because they believed in particular atonement or particular redemption.
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So I forgot to mention that last week and I wanted to remind you limited atonement you will also hear it be referred to as particular redemption.
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The same thing for tonight.
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Tonight we are going to look at irresistible grace, but there's another name for this one.
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Anybody know what it is? Irresistible grace is also referred to as effectual calling.
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And that is important for tonight's lesson because what you're going to find out tonight is that I believe the Bible talks about two calls.
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There are two calls.
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What we would refer to as the general call and the effectual call.
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And when we talk about irresistible grace we are talking about the effectual call of God.
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So yes we're talking about irresistible grace but the other nomenclature is the effectual call.
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And I think it's important because the term irresistible grace is apt for confusion.
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When you say God's grace is irresistible some people say but wait a minute people resist the grace of God all the time.
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Isn't that what Stephen said in his sermon when he was preaching or not sermon but when he was speaking before the Sanhedrin.
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You remember Stephen the first Christian martyr? He was brought before the Sanhedrin the Jewish leaders and he had an opportunity to address the Jewish council.
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And when he addressed them he said in Acts 7 51 you always resist the spirit of God.
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He was speaking to the Jewish leaders about the fact that they had rejected Jesus.
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They had rejected God's overtures of grace.
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They had rejected the word of God and he said you are always resisting God.
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You are always resisting the Holy Spirit.
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And so some might say well see there that's proof God's grace is not irresistible.
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Stephen himself said they were resisting God therefore God's grace is not irresistible.
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Understand this we as or I I was used the personal pronoun I.
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I as a Calvinist I do believe people resist the grace of God every day all day.
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I believe that people are objects of God's common grace and the Bible says the goodness of God should lead them to repentance.
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Romans tells us that.
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It says the goodness of God should lead men to repentance but it doesn't.
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In fact what do people do with the goodness of God? They reject it.
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They resist it.
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They don't want it.
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The very fact that we have sun shining down upon us the very fact that we have rain that falls upon us and the rain falls on the just and the unjust the Bible says and that tells us that God is good to all people.
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That's what Jesus's point was in Matthew chapter 5 when he said the rain falls on the just and the unjust.
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He's talking about the fact that all men are beneficiaries of God's goodness and the Bible says God is good to his whole creation and men reject it.
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Women as well.
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Men and women by and large reject the grace of God and apart from a heart change that's all that they would do.
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Let me say that again.
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Apart from a heart change the only thing men and women would do would be to resist and reject the grace of God.
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Isn't that what total depravity was all about? Isn't that what we learned four weeks ago when we first started this lesson was that the natural man receives not the things of God because they are what to him? Foolishness to him right? The Bible says the natural man cannot receive the things of the spirit of God because they are folly to him.
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He doesn't want them.
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If you don't think this is true go and preach to unsaved people and see how they respond.
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You see I preach in the church for the most part and I'm not going to say the church is filled with saved people but the reason why we come is because we expect to hear the Word of God but when I go with brother Mike and we go and preach on the street and people are walking by there is not the grand reception of smiles that I get from you all.
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It's the reception of hatred.
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It's the reception of I don't want to hear that.
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There's no place for that.
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Don't you understand this isn't the time or place for you to be doing that.
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I've seen people take gospel tracts and ball them up in my face and throw them onto the ground.
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I've been threatened with a knife.
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I was told I was going to be killed for sharing the gospel.
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It was at Jack's Beach.
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A man came out pulled a knife.
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It was actually a screwdriver I'm sorry.
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Stuck it right in my face said he was going to kill me.
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The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God.
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They are foolish to him.
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So when you hear irresistible grace you have to understand the context that that term is being used in because the issue at hand is this.
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If all men resist the grace of God which they do, how is it that anybody gets saved? If all men hate the truth and love darkness rather than light, how does anybody get saved? That's the question and the answer is irresistible grace.
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The answer is effectual calling because though the natural man rebels, God is able to overcome his rebellion and give him a willing heart.
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The term effectual calling is termed as such because God sovereignly calls a man by his irresistible grace that that man might be willing to come.
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He goes from being unwilling to willing.
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He goes from being a resistor of God to a willing recipient of the grace of God.
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How? By the overcoming, overwhelming, powerful grace of God.
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God's grace is more powerful than our ability to resist.
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So what I'd like to do in my time tonight is I want to show you passages that show you the general call and the effectual call because I do think it's important that we distinguish between the two.
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So we're going to look at the general call of the gospel.
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Nope, no we're not.
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Go back to your Brother Andy Sunday School lesson.
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We just need a bunch of boards is what we need.
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Just a bunch of boards.
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So we're going to have first the general and then the effectual.
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Under the general call if you want to turn in your Bibles you can turn in your Bibles to Acts 17.
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We'll begin there.
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Now I have a lot of scripture just like I have been with each of these.
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I brought a lot of scripture with me each week and because of time I'm not going to have you look up every passage but I do like to have your eyes set on some scripture so we're going to start with Acts 17 and then I'll jump around a little bit and I may have you follow me to some passages but not necessarily all of them just for the sake of time.
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But in Acts 17 we have an example of what I would call the general call of the gospel.
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What is Acts 17? Does anybody remember? Acts 17 is the Apostle Paul on Mars Hill.
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He is there.
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He is at the place where all of the Greek speaking philosophers are there and he is speaking to them and he has preached the resurrection to them.
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He has preached about Jesus and then in verse 30 Acts 17 verse 30 he says these words, The times of ignorance God overlooked but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
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Think about what that verse is telling us.
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The times of ignorance God has overlooked.
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What was the time of ignorance? The time of ignorance was the time before Christ came and at that point in time God has not overlooked in the sense of forgiving all sin but God has essentially been patient because God could have and in all justice would have been right to have destroyed man the very moment that he sinned.
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The very moment that Adam and Eve sinned in the garden God could have brought justice upon all men which at that point would have just been Adam and Eve but he could have brought immediate justice in the moment that the sin was done and he could have destroyed mankind and he would have been right for doing so.
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We would never known it because we would have never been we would never been here but he would have been right for doing so but he didn't destroy Adam and Eve and then along comes Cain and Abel.
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God didn't destroy them even though one of them was a murderer.
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God didn't destroy him.
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We go into the time of Noah.
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God does destroy a lot but not all.
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There are eight souls that survive and on down through history.
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God is gracious.
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God is patient.
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Why? Because the plan is in the fullness of time.
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God will send forth his Son born of a woman born under the law that he would redeem those who are under the law and give them the adoption of sons.
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That's what Galatians 3 tells us.
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That was the reason.
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God has been patient.
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He has overlooked not in the sense that he has forgiven but that he has not brought complete and utter destruction but now the Apostle Paul says now the time has come that God commands all men everywhere to repent.
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People say hey you're a Calvinist you only believe certain people are elect.
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How can you go and share the gospel with everyone? I say the answer is easy because I don't know who the elect are.
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Nobody has a tattoo on their back that I can go up and lift up their shirt and see if there's an E tattooed to their back.
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I don't know who they are but I do know this when the Apostle Paul preached he said to repent.
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So whether or not a person is elect they are commanded to repent.
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So I can tell any person I meet.
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I don't care if it's man or woman.
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I don't care what color they are.
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I don't care what nation they're from.
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I don't care how long they have been alive.
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I can tell every person that I meet God has commanded you to repent because God has commanded all men everywhere to repent.
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That is an example of the general call.
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When the preacher proclaims the message of repentance that is the general call of the gospel.
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It's the Great Commission.
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What is the Great Commission? Matthew 28, 19.
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Go therefore and do what? Make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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Go therefore and make disciples.
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How do you make disciples? You go out and you say repent.
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You command men to repent.
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And who will repent? The one whom God has given the ability because the natural man does not receive the things of God.
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The natural man does not want the things of God and therefore when I...
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Here's the thing that people say I can't believe you preached the truth and nobody responded.
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No, I can't believe it when I preach the truth and people do respond because the natural result is not responding.
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The natural result is not listening.
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When I preach the gospel and people walk away laughing I'm not surprised.
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When I preach the gospel and people get saved then I'm like thank God because this is the miracle.
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The miracle is not walking away because that's the natural.
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The miracle is when the gospel is preached and God changes a heart.
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And I've heard people tell this story.
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It didn't happen to me this way but I've heard enough people tell it I feel like I can tell it with enough sense of as if it were me.
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I've heard many people say that they were sitting for years in church hearing the sermons over and over and over and one day it was like a light switch came on.
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And what didn't make sense before finally made sense now.
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What they didn't embrace before they finally embraced now.
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And it was like God gave them new life which is exactly what he did.
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And at that moment they were saved.
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And some of them the ones who have the people come down the aisle it said they were like they couldn't sit in their seat.
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They just had to come.
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It was like they were being drug forward.
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You guys know what I'm talking about? You've heard people tell stories like this? I think it's true.
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I think it's very true.
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Because this is where it goes from being the general call to the effectual call.
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A man can hear the general call of God over and over and over and over again but until the effectual call of God works on his heart and opens it to believe he will sit in that seat and be unmoved.
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Think about the parable of the marriage feast.
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Matthew 22.
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Everyone's invited but nobody comes.
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So what does the king do? Go out into the highway and hedges and compel them to come in that my son's banquet will be filled.
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And what is the end of that verse? The end of that parable Jesus says Matthew chapter 22 verse 14 for many are called but few are chosen.
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Many are called general call.
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Few are elect us Greek elect chosen.
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So we see it even in the parable of Christ.
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So the general call is necessary should not be discounted.
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It is necessary.
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Romans 10 tells us what? Faith comes by hearing.
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The general call has to happen.
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People don't get saved without hearing the gospel.
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This is one thing.
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This is where I have issue with hyper-Calvinists.
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You see there is such a thing as hyper-Calvinism.
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And hyper-Calvinism is not a Calvinist who drinks too much coffee.
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Hyper-Calvinism says that people don't need the gospel.
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God's going to save them regardless.
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We don't go and share the gospel with people because God's going to save who he's going to save.
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I do not believe that because I believe that God not only ordains the salvation of the person but he ordains the means by which they get saved and the means by which they get saved is the hearing of the gospel.
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Therefore the general call and the effectual call are never divorced from one another.
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The general call is the pastor or the evangelist.
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You.
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You're speaking to your friends.
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You give the general call.
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My friend, I love you.
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Repent and believe.
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You become the evangelist at that moment.
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You are giving them the gospel.
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You're giving them the general call.
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And then it's between them and God.
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The natural man will not receive it.
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But if God is so merciful as to give them life they'll receive it.
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And how will you know the difference? Whether or not they believe.
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Whether or not they believe.
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But the initial response will be I believe what you're saying is true.
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And it's changed me.
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You know what I mean? It might not be something you see right away.
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I mean I was saved in my truck by myself.
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Nobody was around.
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I was crying my eyes out on Broward Road driving home to my apartment in Island Point Apartments in 1999.
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Green Dodge pickup all by myself.
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Balling.
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Snot coming out of my nose.
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I'd spent several weeks in a severe depression.
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Because I knew I wasn't saved.
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And I didn't know really what it even meant.
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And if it was even true.
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But when God was gracious to call me to himself and it became a reality and everything changed from that moment on my life changed.
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That was the effectual call of God.
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You say well where do you see the Bible verse that says effectual call? Well there's no Bible verse that says the effectual call.
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But what we do see is we see the term called used referring to believers as specific objects of God's calling.
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I'll give you an example.
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Romans 8.28.
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We know that for those who love God all things work together for good.
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For those who are called according to his purpose.
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That defines a group.
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Believers are called the call.
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Excuse me.
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Believers are referred to as the call.
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In fact that term called in Romans 8.28 has the definite article.
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So in the Greek it actually says to those who are the called.
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Believers are referred to as the call.
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Jude 1.
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Remember Jude that little short book close to the back of your Bible.
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Jude a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James to those who are called beloved in God the father and kept for Jesus Christ.
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How does Jude refer to believers? The called.
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To those who are called.
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First Corinthians 1.24.
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But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
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What's the context of that verse? Remember how that verse starts? Natural man cannot receive the things of the spirit of God for they are foolish to him but for those who are called Christ is the wisdom of God.
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You see for the natural man Christ is foolishness but to the called Christ is beautiful.
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That's the distinction.
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He's the power of God and the wisdom of God.
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To who? To the called.
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Hebrews 9.15.
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Speaking of Jesus it says therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.
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Who receives the promised eternal inheritance? Those who are called.
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What does that tell us? You reverse it.
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Who does not receive the promised eternal inheritance? Those who are not called.
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That's the logical deduction.
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If those who are called receive the promised inheritance who does not receive the promised inheritance? Those who are not called.
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This is why we call it an effectual call because it affects.
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It makes an effect.
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It actually does something.
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2 Peter 1.10.
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Therefore brothers be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election.
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Boy I tell you what if you've never heard that verse before write it down and go home and spend some time with it because I tell you what that's a great sister verse to what Brother Andy taught tonight.
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As Brother Andy talked about how important it is that we love the word of God and desire the word of God and I'm going to tell you something one of the things that lets us know that we are among the called that we are elect is that we do have a love and a desire for the word of God.
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And how do we make our calling and election sure? We ask ourselves has God changed my life? Do we see God having changed my life? Now does that mean I look for perfection in myself? No because if I look for perfection in myself I'm always going to see nothing but disaster.
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But I know this.
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I once was lost but now I'm found.
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I once was blind but now I see.
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I once was deaf but now I hear.
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Was that what the blind man said to the Pharisees? Who is this man? I don't know who he is but I know this.
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I once was blind but now I see.
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That's the call of God.
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The change.
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This is the same I know I've mentioned this verse several times over the course of the last four weeks but it's the same concept that we see in John 6.
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John 6.37 All the Father gives me will come to me.
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John 6.44 No one can come to me unless he's drawn by the Father.
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John 6.65 No one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father.
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So we have given, drawn, and granted.
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All three of those are synonyms of the concept of called.
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Drawn, called.
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Given, called.
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Granted, called.
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Same concept.
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All three of those are synonyms of the concept of called.
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Same idea.
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God calls with an effectual call and we come.
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Because it does the thing that it was supposed to.
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It effected the effect that it was supposed to do.
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And I want to throw another word at you.
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If you've been a part of this study, you remember several weeks ago I talked about the doctrine of regeneration.
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Remember what regeneration is? Regeneration is being born again.
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Effectual calling is effectual because it is accompanied by regeneration.
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I'll say that again.
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Effectual calling is effectual because it is accompanied by regeneration.
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God takes out the heart of stone and he gives you the heart of flesh.
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The heart that actually works.
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Listen to Martin Lloyd-Jones.
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If you don't know who Martin Lloyd-Jones is, tremendous author, preacher, commentator.
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If you don't know who he is, you should.
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Martin Lloyd-Jones said this.
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He says, what is it that the Holy Spirit does to enable those who, excuse me, what is it that the Holy Spirit does to enable those who become believers? To believe the truth.
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What exactly does he do in order to make the general call effectual? Answer, regeneration.
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What is it that takes it from here to here? What does this line represent? Regeneration.
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That's how the call goes from the ear to the heart.
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That's how the call goes from being general to being effectual.
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God gives new life.
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Therefore, irresistible grace, effectual calling and regeneration are all the same concept.
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God makes you able to receive it by changing your heart.
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Now, I want you to consider this as we begin to close.
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I'm going to draw to a close.
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Not closing yet, so don't close your eyes.
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I see it.
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Don't do it.
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For the next few minutes, I want you to think of this.
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Years ago, I wrote this outline.
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This is an outline of salvation.
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This is not a robust and complete soteriological outline, but this is what I think happens based on the concept of effectual calling and irresistible grace.
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A person is dead in their trespasses and sins.
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That person has no desires for the things of God.
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He may pretend.
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He may even go to church to satisfy some social commitment or placate his own conscience, but he has no desires truly for the things of God.
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He hears the gospel message, the general call.
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God the Holy Spirit regenerates his dead spirit and makes him alive.
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He is then enabled to respond positively to the gospel.
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That's the effectual call.
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And he exercises faith in the Savior and is identified as the called of God.
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That is the order that salvation takes place.
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No matter who it is, no matter what the situation is, we go from death to life on this line.
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We hear it.
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God does a work in our heart and we believe it.
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And we go from just hearing it to receiving it.
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A natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, but the spiritual man can and that's what happens.
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God gives him a spirit to believe, a spirit to hear.
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And here's the thing to remember, beloved.
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God is not forcing the person against his will.
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He's changing his will.
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You might say, well, you're splitting hairs.
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I'm not splitting hairs because some people who oppose this doctrine say irresistible grace is like spiritual rape.
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God is just forcing his love on someone.
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And yes, I'm using a voice of derision because I think such thing is foolish to even consider.
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But I've heard people say it.
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I don't like Calvinism because in Calvinism God forces his love upon people.
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That's like spiritual rape.
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Let me say this about that.
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One, even if it were true, aren't you glad? I mean, even if it were true that that's how we ought to see it.
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I'd rather God forces love on me than to go to hell.
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So even if it were right, I'd be like, okay, but it's not right.
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Yeah, that's it.
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Psalm 110 verse 3, your people will offer themselves willingly on the day of your power.
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Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day of your power.
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What's that verse remind us? It reminds us that when God's power, when God comes into the heart, when God changes the heart, he makes the heart willing.
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The best example of this, and it's the best example I can think of, is Lazarus in the tomb.
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Lazarus in the tomb is dead, D-E-D dead.
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Well, D-E-A-D dead.
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He's three days, four days dead.
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He's been dead a long time.
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By now he stinketh.
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That's the King James Renderer.
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Jesus stands outside the tomb of an empty man.
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It stands outside the tomb of a dead man, rather.
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And he says, Lazarus, come forth.
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Now what had to happen for Lazarus to come forth? He had to be made alive.
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The only way for Lazarus to get up and come.
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And I got news for you.
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Lazarus came willingly because he was made alive.
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And living men don't stay in the tomb.
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Living men get up and come out of the tomb.
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Lazarus is dead in the tomb.
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Jesus says, Lazarus, come forth.
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And what had to happen at that moment? Life had to happen at that moment.
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And that is what enabled him to come.
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He was made willing in the day of his power, yes? That's right.
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He was made alive.
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He couldn't do nothing but be dead and stink.
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And Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth.
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Two things I want to end with.
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Two thoughts for you to write down.
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And again, remember, I have all the notes up here.
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So if you haven't been writing but you want, I have a copy of tonight's notes.
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Every week I've just did one page.
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Because if I had four or five pages, we'd never leave.
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I brought one page of notes with me.
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And there's one page for each of the nights.
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There's total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, and irresistible grace.
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But two things to consider as we close.
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It is not just an irresistible grace.
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It's not just an effectual calling.
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But it is also an affectionate calling.
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God loves you.
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And that's why he calls you.
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It's affectionate.
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And it's an irrevocable calling.
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And that's what's going to lead us into next week.
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Because next week we're going to look at the perseverance of the saints.
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How do I know it's irrevocable? Because Romans 11, verse 29, the gift and calling of God are without repentance.
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The gift and calling of God will not be taken away.
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If God has called us to salvation, he will not renege on that calling.
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Let's pray.
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Father, I thank you for your word.
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I pray that tonight's teaching has been fruitful and encouraging.
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And Lord, by your grace, may you use this to not just make us better theologians, but to make us better lovers of you and lovers of your word.
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Help us to dive deeper, think harder, and love more longingly what your word tells us.
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In Jesus' name, amen.