Gospel of John [Joh 16:12-15]. The Doctrine of the HS, part 17. Rom 1:7; 8:28, 30; Tit 3:5.

Title: Gospel of John [JOH 16:12-15]. The Doctrine of the HS, part 17. ROM 1:7; 8:28, 30; TIT 3:5.

 

Announcements/opening prayer:  Conference and cancelled classes

 

 

Efficacious grace: completely effective call of the one who has believed in Christ as his Savior.

 

In every case where efficacious grace is not given, common grace has been spurned.

 

God did not ask us what we would like to be called to. When we believed the Christ of common grace He called to something of His own will.

 

God did not ask Saul what he would like to be called to and neither did He ask any one of us. He presented His Son to us in common grace and asked us if we would believe in Him; "if you are a child of God then an heir also." In the second we believed He set in motion His own work of salvation. He knew the minute it would happen in our lives from ages past and He was ready to call us to a change that none of us could have ever imagined and so had no choice in. Because of this wonderful and gracious truth the hyper-Calvinist has swept away all volition. Volition is involved in common grace, but the work of God in efficacious grace is from His omnipotence and therefore Sovereign and irresistible. We are called to a ministry of our own spiritual gifts, which were given by the Sovereign will of G/HS, as well as being called to divine good works that none of us could have ever imagined, asked for, willed for, chosen for, and are still discovering.

 

This call happened the minute we believed and is termed efficacious grace.

 

From a practical standpoint, there are few subjects more worthy of careful study than the work of the Holy Spirit in the salvation of the believer. For the one who believes in Christ, it is a glorious revelation of the working of God in his own heart, the foundation of his spiritual experience and the ground of his hope of glory.

 

Much of the confusion on the subject of the assurance of salvation would be eliminated if this doctrine were understood. It would destroy the man-made philosophy of salvation by works and deliver all believers from the erroneous position that salvation is always an emotional experience or some other kind of experience.

 

It completely eliminates the holiness movements as well as giving baptism, the one baptism of the Holy Spirit, its proper foundation.

 

The preacher, evangelist, and the witnessing Christian is delivered from dependence on self or homiletical skill, and this without diminishing the effort to preach the gospel in power. Rather, he is simply led into a conscious dependence on the power of God the Holy Spirit to give to anyone's faith a call in grace that is irresistible.  

 

The doctrine of efficacious grace is unmistakably biblical.

 

Christians are called to be saints; ROM 1:7; 1CO 1:2

 

ROM 1:7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

1 Cor 1:1 Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

 

1CO 1:2 to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

 

Called to eternal life; 1TI 6:12.

 

1TI 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

 

Called to an eternal inheritance, HEB 9:15.

 

HEB 9:15 And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called [under the new covenant] may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

 

Called out of darkness into His marvelous light; 1PE 2:9.

 

1PE 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

 

Called by His own glory and excellence; 2PE 1:3.

 

2PE 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

 

After salvation our education in the reality of efficacious grace becomes a lifelong endeavor.

 

2PE 1:10 Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things [Christian virtue - the life of the new creature], you will never stumble

 

Called according to His purpose; ROM 8:28.

 

ROM 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

 

Those whom He called, He predestined and justified; ROM 8:30.

 

ROM 8:30 and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

 

Christians are called to be Jesus Christ's; ROM 1:6.

 

ROM 1:6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ

 

Therefore, we see efficacious grace to be much like election, although the emphasis is not on what you have been called to, but in the call itself. It is a call that happens immediately when a person believes the common grace message, or the gospel, and it is totally apart from his free-will and depends completely on the omnipotence of God.

 

When some confuse the general call to the human race through common grace with this specific call of those who have believed it is then that we get false doctrines of hyper-Calvinism or Arminianism.

 

MAT 22:5

"For many are called, but few are chosen."