 |
| The wind blows where it wishes...John 3:8 |
Now the
minute you use the term “irresistible grace” someone will point out that people
resist God’s grace all the time. As Stephen said (right before he was
martyred), You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always
resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you (Acts 7:51). Of course
that’s true. Unsaved people always resist God and none seeks him (the subject
of my first post in this series: We Have Fallen and We Cannot Get Up).
But God’s
grace becomes irresistible when God decides to call a person to Himself, and
overcomes the sinner’s fallen resistance. And actually this sovereignly
compelling grace is the only way anyone ever comes to Christ.
As Jesus
said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him (John
6:44a). Two things are clear from that statement: no one is able to come to God
on his own, and it is only the “drawing” power of the Father that brings a
person to Christ. (By the way, the word “draw” in Greek speaks of
drawing water from a well. The power and initiative is in the person pulling
the rope, not in the bucket.)
Two kinds of "call"
We are commanded to
preach the gospel to everyone (Matthew 28:18-20). But while there is a sense in
which everyone is “called” to believe in Christ, according to Matthew 22:14,
few are actually chosen by God.
When you think about it, there are actually two “calls” of
God. The preaching of the gospel is an “outward” call which is resisted by men
who are dead in their trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-3). But God also
issues another call which cannot be resisted, in which He Himself by the power
of the Holy Spirit gives new life, faith and repentance, to His chosen ones.
This call is sometimes termed an inward call because it is a matter of the heart, and given inwardly. It is also referred to as an effectual call because God’s power makes it “effectual”—those whom He calls are always converted. His grace, when it is extended in this way, is always irresistible.
Think of the kids in the neighborhood playing outside. Billy’s mom goes to the door and yells, “Come home. Time for supper.” All the kids ignore her. Then she calls, “Billy, come home. Time for supper.” Billy immediately heads for home. The first one was a general call, but the special call is the one only Billy responds to.
This call is sometimes termed an inward call because it is a matter of the heart, and given inwardly. It is also referred to as an effectual call because God’s power makes it “effectual”—those whom He calls are always converted. His grace, when it is extended in this way, is always irresistible.
Think of the kids in the neighborhood playing outside. Billy’s mom goes to the door and yells, “Come home. Time for supper.” All the kids ignore her. Then she calls, “Billy, come home. Time for supper.” Billy immediately heads for home. The first one was a general call, but the special call is the one only Billy responds to.
Over and over again the Bible emphasizes how that,
from the whole human race, some are specially called by God. (I've added bold for emphasis).
- “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” Acts 2:39
- but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.1 Corinthians 1:23-24
- Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. Hebrews 9:15
Irresistible grace does not mean that people are forced into heaven against their wills. What it does mean is that God’s grace overcomes the unsaved person’s settled hostility to Him by giving that person new spiritual life, including the faith to believe (Ephesians 2:8-10).
R.C. Sproul has a good summary in his book Chosen by God:
For next time: He protects us and brings us all the way home.R.C. Sproul has a good summary in his book Chosen by God:
Natural man does not want Christ. He will only want Christ if God plants a desire for Christ in his heart. Once that desire is planted, those who come to Christ do not come kicking and screaming against their wills. They come because they want to come. They now desire Jesus. They rush to the Savior. The whole point of irresistible grace is that rebirth quickens someone to spiritual life in such a way that Jesus is now seen in His irresistible sweetness. Jesus is irresistible to those who have been made alive to the things of God. Every soul whose heart beats with the life of God within it longs for the living Christ. All whom the Father gives to Christ come to Christ (John 6:37).
