You SHALL Come!

By Justin Edwards

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. - John 6:37

In listening to Steven Lawson's five-part series on TULIP, I have been richly blessed in learning more about the sovereign work of the Holy Trinity in my salvation. In his fourth message on the irresistible grace of God (also known as effectual calling or sovereign grace), Lawson quotes (in part, below) from C.H. Spurgeon's sermon, Heaven and Hell. What truth there lies within these words of Spurgeon! Even though some might resist for a time, our omnipotent God will overcome even the fiercest resistance in His stubborn sheep through the regeneration of the Holy  Spirit. Alas, all for whom Christ died, to some extent, resisted the mercy of God until He worked His grace in us. For as Lawson said in this message,

Free will rises no higher than fallen man. 

If left to our own corrupt will, not one of us would choose God. Therefore, it is out of His own sovereign, absolute, and powerful will, derived from His own counsel, to fulfill His own pleasure, to the glory and pleasure of His own Son (Ephesians 1:3-14), that He reaches down from the throne room of heaven to save His sheep, who have all gone astray for a time. But when He calls each of us by name - individually, uniquely, and specifically - we will rise from the dead, having been given ears to hear, and respond to the sweet calling of the grace of our Lord to be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, once and for all (John 5:25).

Hallelujah what a Savior!

C.H. Spurgeon

(Excerpt broken into paragraphs for easier reading)

Oh! I love God's "shalls" and "wills." There is nothing comparable to them. Let a man say "shall," what is it good for? "I will," says man, and he never performs; "I shall," says he, and he breaks his promise.

But it is never so with God's "shalls." If he says "shall," it shall be; when he says "will," it will be. Now he has said here, "many shall come." The devil says "they shall not come;" but "they shall come." Their sins say "you can't come;" God says "you shall come." You, yourselves, say, "you won't come;" God says "you shall come." Yes!

There are some here who are laughing at salvation, who can scoff at Christ and mock at the gospel; but I tell you some of you shall come yet. "What!" you say, "can God make me become a Christian?" I tell you yes, for herein rests the power of the gospel. It does not ask you consent; but it gets it. It does not say, Will you have it? But it makes you willing in the day of God's power. Not against your will, but it makes you willing. It shows you its value, and then you fall in love with it; and straightway you run after it and have it.

Many people have said, "we will not have anything to do with religion." yet they have been converted. I have heard of a man who once went to chapel to hear the singing, and as soon as the minister began to preach, he put his fingers in his ears and would not listen. But by-and-by some tiny insect settled on his face, so that he was obliged to take one finger out of his ears to brush it away. Just then the minister said, "he that hath ears to hear let him hear." The man listened; and God met with him at that moment to his soul's conversion. He went out a new man, a changed character. He who came in to laugh retired to pray; he who came in to mock went out to bend his knee in penitence; he who entered to spend an idle hour went home to spend an hour in devotion with his God. The sinner became a saint; the profligate became a penitent.

Who know that there may not be some like that here? The gospel wants not your consent, it gets it. It knocks the enmity out of your heart. You say, "I do not want to be saved;" Christ says you shall be. He makes your will turn round, and then you cry, "Lord, save, or I perish." "Ah," might Heaven exclaim, "I knew I would make you say that;" and then he rejoices over you because he has changed your will and made you willing in the day of his power.

If Jesus Christ were to stand on the platform to-night, what would many people do with him? "O!" say some, "we would make him a King." I do not believe it. They would crucify him again, if they had the opportunity. If he were to come and say, "Here I am, I love you, will you be saved by me?" not one of you would consent if you were left to your will. If he should look upon you with those eyes, before whose power the lion would have crouched; if he spoke with that voice which poured forth a cataract of eloquence like a stream of nectar rolling down from the cliffs above, not a single person would come to be his disciple. No; it wants the power of the Spirit to make men come to Jesus Christ.

He himself said, "No man can come to me except the Father who hath sent me draw him." Ah! we want that; and here we have it. They shall come! They shall come! Ye may laugh, ye may despise us; but Jesus Christ shall not die for nothing. If some of you reject him, there are some that will not. It there are some that are not saved, others shall be. Christ shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands.

Some think that Christ died, and yet, that some for whom he died will be lost. I never could understand that doctrine. If Jesus, my surety, bore my griefs and carried my sorrows, I believe myself to be as secure as the angels in heaven. God cannot ask payment twice. If Christ paid my debt, shall I have to pay it again? No.

"Free from sin I walk at large

The Saviour's blood's my full discharge;

At his dear feet content I lay,

A sinner saved, and homage pay."

They shall come! They shall come! And naught in heaven, nor on earth, nor in hell, can stop them from coming.

The Dead Will Hear and Live

By Justin Edwards

I am so thankful and humbled that God would continue to reveal His sovereign grace to me. Since surrendering my life to the Lord Jesus Christ in March 2009, He has slowly unraveled the mysteries of His divine providence to me in ways that I could handle, in small bits at a time. As I began reading through the New Testament, realizing God is indeed sovereign over man and if it were not for His sovereign grace no one could be saved, I marveled at the vast distinction between the traditions of men and the clear teaching of the Word of God. As fallen creatures, there is nothing good in us that gives us even the ability to respond to His outward calling for all men everywhere to repent and believe the Gospel. It is impossible.

Spiritually dead. Blind. Deaf. Unrighteous. Depraved. Wicked. Rebellious. Lawbreakers. Hell-bound. That describes every baby born into this world. We are corrupt creatures with corrupt desires, corrupt emotions, and corrupt wills. If one accepts this truth about man's condition, rather than supposing man is not naturally sinful and has the ability to choose God apart from His divine work (which is heresy mind you), then one must accept that apart from God's sovereign and effectual calling on a person, no one could possibly be saved. Why? Because we are dead, blind, deaf, unrighteous, depraved, wicked, rebellious lawbreakers hell-bound on the fast track.

Speaking of being dead, two days ago Al Mohler tweeted the following Scripture from John 5:25:

Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.

I may or may not have recognized the meaning of this verse before, but Tuesday I was astounded by its richness in speaking of the effectual calling of God. I read it several times over, went to the chapter to engage the context, and rejoiced in yet another treasure being revealed to me. There are three "simple" things going on here so let's take a look at them.

The Dead.

Who are the dead Jesus is speaking of here? Going back to John 5:24, we see Christ is speaking of our spiritual condition:

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Those who believe the words of Christ and God the Father who sent Him will receive eternal life, passing from death into life. Understanding this, every born again believer was once dead in their sin,

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, - Ephesians 2:1

and unable to discern spiritual things:

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.- 2 Corinthians 2:14

These statements are absolute. The natural man cannot receive the things of God and he cannot know them. Christ, therefore, is speaking of spiritually dead people who have absolutely no capacity to understand and accept through saving faith the truth of the Gospel. It is impossible for a dead man to live. Unless!

The Voice of the Son of God.

Unless the dead hear the voice of the Son of God! The Father has given Christ all authority, as we see in John 17:1-2,

Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.

Jesus has the power to give eternal life to everyone given to Him by the Father, "for as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself" (John 5:26).

The Dead Will Hear and Live.

Every person who hears the voice of the Son of God will live! Every person. Jesus said the dead will hear, and those who hear will live. What are the implications of this, then? Is it that Christ calls all dead men, and all dead men will hear and be made alive? Or is it that Christ only calls those given to Him by the Father (John 17:2), and those He calls forth will indeed live? I must go with the latter. Furthermore, none who hear the voice of the Son of God are able to resist His voice. Although John 5:25 can support itself in this regard, we can also look to John 6:37, 44 (emphasis added):

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

The emphases here are critical. Tying in to John 5:24-25, we find that no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him; and all who are drawn by the Father will indeed come, which is to say every dead man or woman drawn by the Father will hear the voice of Christ and will live and will pass from death to life. Isn't that marvelous!?

Borrowing from a quote I used from John Samson in the post Can Man Choose God?, the story of Lazarus is a primary example illustrating John 5:25:

Lazarus, being a lifeless corpse in the tomb, did not cooperate with Christ with regard to his own resurrection. Jesus simply cried out “Lazarus come forth!” and this call was powerful and sufficient in and of itself to bring dead Lazarus back to life. Christ did not interview the dead man Lazarus and ask if he would like to be resurrected, and once he got the “all clear” went ahead with his plan, now having obtained Lazarus’ permission and assent. Nor did Lazarus, once brought back to life, immediately take Jesus to court in attempt to sue him for violating his free will – his libertarian rights as a dead man to stay dead! No, for the rest of his earthly life, Lazarus was deeply grateful for the unspeakable mercy he had received from the Master.

This is a beautiful picture of what God does in our regeneration from spiritual death. Man, once receiving this grace of regeneration, then infallibly responds in faith to the effectual call of God.

Lazarus was dead, just as we are spiritually dead. While we may seek the god of religion and spirituality, we have no capacity to seek the God of the Bible without He drawing us to Himself. Just as it is impossible for a dead man to resurrect himself to life, so it is it impossible for a spiritually dead man to resurrect himself to spiritual life.

For purposes unknown to us, God has chosen to redeem a people for Himself for His glory alone to the praise of the Lord Jesus Christ alone (Ephesians 1:3-14). Our flesh hates this doctrine, but that does not make it any less true. If you are one who struggles or even detests the absolute sovereignty of God in our salvation, please go before God and plead with Him to reveal these magnificent truths to you. I cannot tell you how blessed I am knowing that God called me forth from death to life, not according to anything I had done (including any such "foreseen faith" I might would have), but according to His divine providence out of the counsel of His own will. Knowing this, I can rest in His grace all the more, being confident of the work He started in me will indeed be finished by Him.

Soli deo Gloria!

For further reading, please see:

Circumcision of the Heart and the Irresistible Call

God's Light Must Shine in Us. First.

According to the Foreknowledge of God

Chosen from the Beginning

Edwards and Spurgeon on Divine Sovereignty and Election

God's Light Must Shine in Us. First.

By Justin Edwards

In studying last night I came across a passage in God's Word that illuminated from the pages. Like a gold nugget glistening from the riverbed, it drew me in with curiosity and excitement. I absolutely love it when something new is revealed to me in Scripture!

As mentioned in Monday's post, Circumcision of the Heart and the Irresistible Call, no man can come to God until God first circumcises the heart. This open-heart surgery must be performed to awaken us from spiritual darkness in order for us to see the Light of our salvation. What struck me last night was yet another testimony to this sovereign truth whereby God must first move upon us before we can, not may, respond to Him by repentant faith. 2 Corinthians 4:6,

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

In the first work of His creation, it was God who willed the light to shine forth from the darkness. So to does He will for His light to shine forth from the heart of the unbeliever. The graceless soul of man is in darkness and desperately wicked, confused, and conformed to the things of the world. But when God shines through our hearts, doing so out of the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 1:11), He gives us eyes to see the knowledge of the glory of God in Christ Jesus! Yet, why is it necessary for God to first shine through us before we can come to knowledge of the truth? Just prior in 2 Corinthians 4:4 we see,

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

It is impossible for unbelievers to see and receive the light and truth of the Word of God. The Lord has ordained Satan to blind the minds of the lost, and this statement is absolute for every human. As such, how can a dead man live? How can a blind man see? How can a deaf man hear? None of these can just will themselves to be made alive or be cured. It is only by the miraculous work of God that they may live, see, and hear!

Those rejecting the biblical truth that the Holy Spirit must first make us a new creation before we will believe cannot work themselves around this passage. Because man is dead in his sins (Ephesians 2:1) and blinded by the god of this world, God must circumcise our hearts (Deuteronomy 30:6) and shine in us so we can be spiritually made alive (Ephesians 2:4-5). It is not that He makes salvation possible for all men because in doing so He would have to circumcise every heart, quicken every spirit, and shine through every soul of man. If this were true, it would contradict the omnipotence of Almighty God, thus reducing Him incapable of finishing every work He starts (Philippians 1:6).

Just as God created everything out of nothing, so to does He create repentance and faith out of the emptiness of the soul and the heart of the dead man. On Genesis 1:3-5, Matthew Henry wrote:

God said, Let there be light; he willed it, and at once there was light. Oh, the power of the word of God! And in the new creation, the first thing that is wrought in the soul is light: the blessed Spirit works upon the will and affections by enlightening the understanding. Those who by sin were darkness, by grace become light in the Lord. Darkness would have been always upon fallen man, if the Son of God had not come and given us understanding, 1Jo 5:20. The light which God willed, he approved of. God divided the light from the darkness; for what fellowship has light with darkness? In heaven there is perfect light, and no darkness at all; in hell, utter darkness, and no gleam of light. The day and the night are the Lord's; let us use both to his honour, by working for him every day, and resting in him every night, meditating in his law both day and night.

As I reflect on this sovereign work of God whereby He spoke "Let their be Light" in my own heart, I rejoice and praise Him! For if it were not for His mercy and sovereign will to save me, I would still be a wretch on his way to an eternal hell. I believe it was John MacArthur who I recently heard say that the doctrine of election is the most humbling doctrine of Scripture - I must wholeheartedly agree, and I thank God for His saving grace through my Lord Jesus Christ!

Soli deo Gloria!

Circumcision of the Heart and the Irresistible Call

By Justin Edwards

If not for the sovereign and effectual grace of God, not one person in all the ages of the earth would be saved from the wrath of God, and deservedly so. Each of us has broken the perfect Law of God and no one is righteous before Him in their own regard (Romans 3:10-11). In our fallen, sinful state, we are all unrighteous, unholy, and utterly separated from the goodness of God (Isaiah 59:1-2). It is for this reason each of us are dead men walking along a path of destruction leading to the epitome of God's wrath in a place called hell, but for His mercy and grace!

Because we are all spiritually dead and condemned as natural men and women (Ephesians 2:1, 5; Colossians 2:13), it takes a supernatural act of God to awaken us spiritually. Moreover, all those who are awakened from their natural, dead state will respond by repentant faith and submit their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is essentially what is known as effectual grace in that all those who are called by God will come to Him through His Son. God's saving grace is therefore irresistible and effectual, or consequential, in all those who are called by it (John 6:37).

The Old and New Testament are rife with this truth that God must first perform open-heart surgery on a person before they can respond in saving faith. One such passage is found in Deuteronomy 30:6, which destroys any argument from Pelagians or Semi-Pelagians that man can choose to love and obey God without God first making that possible. Furthermore, it shows God does not circumcise every heart because all men do not love God, obviously. This is a problem for those who reject the doctrines of grace (Calvinism) because they claim that God makes salvation possible for all men, or that He draws all men to repentance but man's autonomy (exercising free will) allows for Him to resist God's drawing or calling. To support their position, they would be forced to say God circumcises all hearts though lacking biblical evidence to support that claim.

I have been thoroughly enjoying Dr. Steven Lawson's Foundations of Grace where he journeys through each book of Scripture showing where the doctrines of grace are clearly thrust forth as eternal truths of our sovereign God. This first installment in a projected 5-book series by Dr. Lawson will be offered in a future gift giveaway here on airō as it has richly blessed me in learning more about the sovereignty of God in our salvation. I therefore invite you to read the following excerpt from chapter 3 titled, "Sovereign Grace in the Wilderness", where Dr. Lawson expands on Deuteronomy 30:6 (pages 97-98):

Doctrine in Focus: Irresistible Call

"In Deuteronomy, Moses also taught the fourth main heading of the doctrines of grace - God's irresistible call. Hundreds of years before Moses, God commanded Abraham to circumcise all the males in his household. For Israel, circumcision was a picture of what God must do to the unconverted heart. In the new birth, God must circumcise the sin-hardened heart if sinful man is to love Him with saving faith. By a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, God must cut deeply into the unconverted heart and supernaturally set it apart to Himself. This is the omnipotent work of the Spirit in regeneration. Again, then, we see that God is the sole initiating cause of regeneration. Man is passive while God is active in this vital step in the process of salvation:

"And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. - Deuteronomy 30:6

"Moses presented God's sovereign work of grace as a spiritual circumcision, a cutting away of the foreskin of the unbelieving heart. It is a penetrating work of grace that removes man's inability to believe and replaces it with true repentance and faith. Regeneration is open-heart surgery, a soul-reviving work of the Spirit that probes to the deepest level of a person's being. Concerning this work of regeneration, Anthony Hoekema writes, 'What does the Bible teach about regeneration? Already in the Old Testament we are taught that only God can bring about the radical change which is necessary to enable fallen human beings again to do what is pleasing in His sight. In Deuteronomy 30:6 we find our spiritual renewal figuratively described as a circumcision of the heart....Since the heart is the inner core of the person, the passage teaches that God must cleanse us within before we can truly love Him.' Explaining the irresistible nature of this divine work, Craigie writes, 'It is seen rather to be an act of God and thus indicates the new covenant, when God would in His grace deal with man's basic spiritual problem. When God 'operated' on the heart, then indeed the people would be able to love the Lord and live.'"

If you would like to learn more about the doctrines of grace in a controlled and amicable environment, I invite you to join John Samson at Effectual Grace as we go through TULIP over the next several weeks. Click HERE for more details.