Well, in our last study, ours was the melancholy task of assessing the scriptural state and prospects of those sons of Adam and daughters of Eve who God's loving grace encounters in the invitation of the gospel.
And we discovered that as to our spiritual condition, we have become and are by nature morally bankrupt.
Thank you. How kind of you.
Indeed, of a terrible turpitude, inveterate transgressors of God's laws and mortal enemies of his person.
And as to our spiritual prospects of any ability to alter our condition for the good, even through a simple responsiveness to God's gracious gospel overtures.
Look and live. Numbers 21.
Come, everyone who thirsts. Isaiah 55.
Are absolutely nil. Absolutely nil.
We have no more capacity for a spiritual response, let alone overture, than a valley of dry bones.
The image is Ezekiel's from 37, chapter 37.
As to the spiritual realm, the scriptures call us deaf, blind, and dead.
Deaf is an adder to the call of the gospel.
Blind as a bat to our own decrepitude and the beauties of the Savior.
Dead as a doornail to any spiritual motions of the soul.
Such is our perverse and prospectless condition when God's grace meets us.
So the question for us this morning is how God's grace, meeting us thus, masters us out of such an estate.
How does God's all-prevailing, quenchless, deathless love, born in his ancient choice,
prevail to rescue us from out of such a spiritual miry pit, yea, slumbering tomb?
The answer is only by his own almighty unaided arm.
That it is so, and how it is accomplished, are the delightful contemplations of this hour.
So let us first consider the proposition that it is God who accomplishes our salvation,
and that he does so unfailingly.
So first, one that God prevailingly calls his elect.
Let us embark on a brief tour of Scripture's testimony to this great truth,
that it is God who prevailingly draws his elect savingly to himself.
And we've already argued and illustrated at length our utter incapacity to lend a hand to our own rescue,
other than the hand of active opposition.
If we are to be rescued, God must do it and do it all.
But we need not rest on inference,
for direct statements of this truth abound in Scripture.
As the Apostle assures the Corinthians,
no one can say Jesus is Lord,
that is, confess faith in Christ,
except by the Holy Spirit,
1 Corinthians 12.3.
To clarify, Paul is not claiming that none of us can spout those syllables on our own.
Rather, affirm them with conviction of faith.
And we may also take a stab at following religion's rules,
but apart from God's Spirit breathing spiritual life into us,
we remain spiritually dead.
And our rituals and rule following will only confirm the verdict of Scripture that the written code kills.
Only the Spirit gives life.
2 Corinthians 3.6.
This giving of spiritual life by the Spirit,
regeneration,
is so radical,
it is called a new birth.
There is no spiritual life without it,
and only God's Spirit can give it.
As Jesus told Dicadibus,
truly, truly,
I say to you,
unless one is born anew,
they cannot see the kingdom of God.
Do not marvel that I say to you,
you must be born anew of the Spirit.
John 3.
Such are born,
quote,
not of blood,
nor of flesh,
nor of the will of man,
that is,
not through any human means,
but born of God.
John 1.13.
And this was the prophetic hope and promise.
As God promised through Ezekiel,
a new heart I will give you,
and a new spirit I will put within you,
and I will take out the old heart of stone
and give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36.26.
Did you catch that?
No hope for us
without an organ transplant
by God himself.
No wonder
the apostle calls believers
God's workmanship.
Ephesians 2.10.
And this divine workmanship
of a new heart transplant
is spiritually speaking,
life from the dead.
As the apostle tells the Ephesian believers,
you,
God made alive
when you were dead
through your trespasses and sins.
Ephesians 2.1.
So the divine spirit
is the sole
operative agent
in this life-giving work.
What is the instrument?
I have some, Mom.
I have some.
Thank you.
The instrument
is the divine word
of the gospel.
As Peter asserts
of believers,
you have been born anew
through the living
and abiding word of God.
1 Peter 1.23.
As to this gospel word,
it comes
as an outward call
in the ears of hearers.
But this outward call
has no prevailing efficacy
on its own
against the heart of stone
it encounters
in the hearers.
A hard heart,
writes Jeremiah Burroughs,
gives the rebound
to God's word.
Our hearts
are like
the blacksmith's
anvil,
which can endure
many blows,
or like
the blacksmith's
dog
that lies
under the anvil.
Though the sparks
fly about his ears,
yet he can lie
and sleep securely.
And so,
we may preach the word
with all the fervor
of Savanarola,
yet hard-hearted hearers
will remain
insensate
and unmoved.
The gospel
will have
no more effect
than,
as Spurgeon puts it,
dew upon a rock.
How
fatefully
terrible
is this?
Oh,
how dreadful
are the
shriekings
of men
who have
a stone
in the bladder
or the kidneys,
writes Burroughs.
But,
oh,
to have
a stone
in the heart.
The outer
call of the gospel
would be
hopeless
against those
who have
made their hearts
as an
adamant
stone.
Zechariah 7.12.
Recall
Stephen's hearers.
They cried out
with a loud voice,
stopped their ears,
and rushed
together at him
and stoned him.
Acts 7.57.
Yes,
hearts
are hard
as stone
and they're
as slippery
as fish.
The heart,
writes Spurgeon,
is a fish
that troubles
all gospel
fishermen
to hold.
You may
sometimes
pull it
almost out
of the water,
but slimy
as an eel,
it slippeth
between your fingers,
and you have
not captured
it after all.
So much
for the efficacy
of the outer
call alone.
God adds
to this outer
call,
an inward
call,
which operates
upon the heart
directly.
And as we have
seen,
the operation
is a heart
transplant.
God's spirit
goes in
and opens
the heart
from the inside.
As it was said
of Lydia,
hearing the outer
call in Paul's
preaching the gospel,
quote,
the Lord
opened her heart
to pay attention
to what was said
by Paul.
Acts 16,
14.
This inner
call
is a personal
inward
illumination
or revelation
by God.
Peter received
this inner
revelation
of Jesus'
identity
as Savior.
When the
penny
dropped,
or should we
say denarius
maybe in his
case,
it was God
who dropped
it in his
heart.
Peter's
epiphany,
you are
the Christ,
the Son
of the
living God.
Jesus'
explanation,
blessed
are you,
Simon,
for flesh
and blood
has not
revealed this
to you,
but my
Father who
is in
heaven.
Matthew
16.
And Peter's
case of
divine
inner
illumination
is every
believer's
case.
I thank
you,
Father,
that you
have hidden
these things
from the
wise,
that is,
the inhabitants
of the
rejecting cities
Jesus had
just been
preaching in,
and revealed
them to
little children,
that is,
his disciples.
For such
was your
gracious will.
No one
knows the
Father except
the Son,
and anyone
whom the
Son chooses
to reveal
him.
Matthew
11.
25.
It was
thus his
disciples to
whom,
quote,
it has
been given
to know
the secrets
of the
kingdom.
Blessed
are your
eyes,
Jesus told
them,
for they
see,
and your
ears,
for they
hear.
Matthew
13.
11.
In other
words,
apart from
heaven's
blessing,
they would
be eyes
that could
never see,
or ears
that could
never hear.
The
prayer of
the apostle
that he
offers for
the Ephesians
asked what
would simply
be a
continuation
of what
had transpired
to bring
them to
faith.
The inward
call of
divine
enlightenment.
that,
quote,
God may
give you
the spirit
of wisdom
and of
revelation
in the
knowledge
of him,
having the
eyes of
your heart
enlightened,
that you
may know
the hope
to which
he has
called
you.
Ephesians
1.17.
Apart
from the
spirit's
inward
revelatory
work,
we just
wouldn't
get it
on our
own.
God
the
apostle
testifies
the
natural
person,
that is
without
the
divine
heart
transplant,
does not
accept
the
things
of
the
spirit
of
God,
for
they
are
folly
to
him,
and he's
not able
to understand
them because
they are
spiritually
discerned.
1 Corinthians
2.14.
As John
the Baptist
echoes,
a person
cannot
receive
even
one
thing
unless
it is
given
to
him
by
heaven.
John
3.27.
And what
is given
from heaven
is the
very means
of
reception,
faith,
and repentance.
And the
scriptures make
this abundantly
clear.
As to the
Jews,
Peter testified,
God exalted
Jesus at
his right
hand as
leader and
savior to
give
repentance
to Israel
and forgiveness
of sins.
Acts 5.31.
So also
the Gentiles,
quote,
to the Gentiles
also,
attests Paul,
God has
granted
repentance
that leads
to life.
Acts 11.18.
And so
believers are
described as
those who
through grace
have believed.
Acts 18.27.
So really,
the picture
scripture gives
us of
God's
rescue
is of
a dramatic
divine
intervention,
even a
jailbreak,
if you will,
to break
us out of
our captivity
in the
devil's
penal
colony.
Speaking to
Timothy
concerning those
opposed to
the gospel,
he encourages
him to hope
that,
quote,
God may
perhaps
grant them
repentance,
leading to a
knowledge of
the truth,
and that they
may come to
their senses,
the intervention,
and escape
from the
snare of the
devil after
being captured
by him to
do his
will.
2 Timothy 2.25.
And this
inner calling,
this calling
out,
is an expression
of grace.
And when we
reiterate this
again,
aware that
were it not
so marvelous
a truth,
it would be
monotonous
in its
incessant
repetition
through Scripture.
But let us
hear it again
anyway.
God,
Paul reminds
Timothy,
saved us
and called
us to a
holy calling,
not because
of our works,
but because
of his own
purpose and
grace,
which he gave
us in Christ
Jesus before
the ages
began.
2 Timothy 1.9.
So,
it is God,
by his
spirit,
through the
outer call
of his word,
joined to
an inner
illuminating
call,
which
regenerates
the heart,
from which,
thus renewed,
spring faith
and repentance.
presence.
By this
drawing us
to himself,
God accomplishes
unfailingly.
This inner
call is
all
prevailing.
And again,
given our
inveterate
resistance,
if any
are rescued,
God's
saving action
prevailed,
as it always
does with
his elect.
As Jesus
tells us,
all that
the Father
gives me
will come
to me.
Everyone
who has
heard and
learned from
the Father,
that is that
inner call,
comes to
me.
John 6,
37.
We're
speaking in
a metaphor
that has
always been
cherished by
his people.
I am the
good shepherd.
I know
my own,
and they
know me.
I have
other sheep,
not of this
fold,
that's us.
I must
bring them
also,
and they
will listen
to my
voice.
My sheep
hear my
voice,
I know
them,
and they
follow me.
I give
them eternal
life,
and they
will never
perish,
and no one
will pluck
them out
of my
hand.
My
Father,
who has
given them
to me,
given them
to me,
is greater
than all,
and no
one,
no one,
is able to
pluck them
out of my
Father's
hand.
John 10.
As Thomas
Brooks assures
us,
Christ is
to be
answerable
for all
those that
are given
to him
at the
last day.
And
therefore,
we need
not doubt,
but that he
will certainly
employ all
the power
of his
Godhead
to secure
and save
all those
that he
must be
accountable
for.
Taking in
this scriptural
panorama of
testimony,
little wonder
that God
is called
the God
of all
grace,
1 Peter 5
10.
And Christ's
gospel described
as grace
upon grace.
John 1
16.
Yes,
little wonder
that he
and his
gospel are
so called.
Ah,
but great
wonder
that it
is so.
So we
have seen
that it
is God
who overcomes
our resistance
to his
saving purpose
and that he
does so
infallibly.
let us
now consider
our second
question,
how does
he do
so?
How is
it that
he
prevailingly
draws his
elect?
Well,
we note
in passing,
though it
is the
inner call
that is
decisive,
God does
not dispense
with the
outer call
of the
gospel.
He brings
the message
of Christ
to all
that he
saves.
Because
salvation
exalts
the Son.
And God,
it would
seem,
will save
no one
apart from
their confession
of faith
in Christ.
Jesus is
Lord.
That exalts
the Son.
God the
Father will
not forgo
that means.
God will
direct Philip
into the
desert at
noon to
reach the
Ethiopian.
God will
push Peter
to overcome
ethnic prejudice
to reach
the Gentile
Cornelius.
He will
send his
disciples
to the
uttermost
parts of
the end
of the
earth
to declare
the gospel
and gather
in every
last one
of his
elect.
But the
how of
our attention
is the
how of
the inner
call.
And it
is animated,
our question
is animated,
not by
petulant
curiosity,
but by
a puzzling
concern.
For if
our natural
sinful
wills are,
as we have
seen,
inveterately
and
intransigently
set against
God and
his gospel,
how could
they ever
freely
come to
choose Christ?
Do you see
the paradox
here,
the tension?
does God's
prevailing
drawing
prevail
only by
forcing us
against our
will?
Overpowering
us
in a way
that does
violence
to our
freedom?
No,
not at all.
as Spurgeon
assures,
Christ never
compelled
any man
to come
to him
against his
will.
If a man
be unwilling
to be saved,
Christ does
not save him
against his
will.
Well,
how then
does God
draw us?
As Scotsman
Ralph Erskine
paradoxically put it,
we are saved
with full
consent
against our
will.
Full
consent
against our
wills.
What is
meant is
that a
choice
of Christ
will
always
be against
our
old
unrenewed
will.
But God
by his
spirit,
his
spirit's
work,
renews
our
wills.
Or gives
us a
new
will,
such that
they
freely
choose
Christ
with
full
consent.
As Psalm
110.3
expresses it,
your people
will offer
themselves
freely
on the
day of
your
power.
So we
wrongly
picture this
process of
drawing
as dragging.
Do not
imagine,
writes Spurgeon,
that any
man will
go to
heaven
kicking and
struggling
all the
way against
the hand
that draws
him.
Do not
conceive that
any man
will be
plunged in
the bath
of the
Savior's
blood
while he
is striving
to run
away from
the Savior.
As
Richard
Sibbes
puts it,
the Spirit
does not
force the
soul,
but strongly
persuades
the soul
so that
for all
the world
he would
not be
of any
other
mind.
We might
say the
Spirit's
drawing is
compelling
but not
compulsion.
Compelling
but not
compulsion.
how the
Spirit
secretly
works in
our hidden
inmost
being to
bring us
from
abhorring
to
adoring,
we can
neither see
nor know.
For,
as Deuteronomy
29, 29
tells us,
the secret
things belong
to the
Lord our
God.
It is a
deep
mystery.
but how
in the
visible
apparent
sense
we are
drawn to
Christ,
we can
see and
describe.
Because
the nature
of our
sinful
illusions
and evasions
often come
in a
patterned
weave,
so also
is there
a common
pattern
to the
Spirit's
unweaving
of them.
Many
sinners,
blithely
heedless
of their
sinful
condition
and
alienation
from the
Creator,
naively
imagine
all is
well.
What
trouble
could there
be between
us and
God?
Surely
I'm as
moral as
the next
man,
and I
dare say
likely a
bit better
than many.
If any
have to
worry,
I'm not
among them.
some
would even
put God
in the
dock,
the seat
of the
arraigned.
With the
life God
has given
me and
plenty of
others,
He is
the one
who better
give some
answers and
clear His
name.
This is
often the
self-righteous
condition of
the heart
that the
Holy Spirit
encounters.
And then,
typically the
first work
of the
Spirit is
that of
the conviction
of sinfulness.
The Spirit
pulls back
the concealing
veil,
revealing the
cabinet of
horrors that
is the human
heart.
He rolls
over the
log,
exposing
beneath the
defiling
putrescence and
rotting
corruption of
the heart's
soil.
Before this
jarring
revelation
of our
consuming
cancer,
we stand
aghast.
Suddenly,
we feel
the burden
of sin,
that it
is such
a load
as could
indeed
sink us
to hell.
evil.
This is
often the
first step
of the
Spirit's
saving
drawing.
But it's
only the
first step
in a
longer
journey,
for it
is
characteristic
of our
remember
Spurgeon's
slippery
fish,
it is
characteristic
of our
fallen race
to respond
to this
revelation
with moral
resolution.
I will
reform my
life.
I will
cease to do
evil and
commence to
do good.
And we
set ourselves
to self
improvement
and perhaps
take up
some moral
cause,
march for
world peace,
or even
take up
some religious
devotion or
deprivation.
We pull
up on our
moral bootstraps
determined to
ascend.
But soon
we discover,
very soon,
if we have
any
perceptiveness,
that goodness
or the
righteousness
of God
is not
merely
demanding,
it is
utterly
out of
reach.
And this
realization,
the Holy
Spirit imparts,
implanting in
the awakened,
now demoralized
heart,
the sober
clarity
that we
cannot save
ourselves.
us.
As old
Erskine
rhymes it,
rigid matter
was the
law,
demanding
brick,
denying
straw.
Or good
old John
Barrage,
sometimes
missuscribed to
John Bunyan,
also named
John.
Run,
John,
work,
the law
commands,
but finds
me neither
feet nor
hands.
And so
by the
illumination
of the
Spirit,
the
schooled
heart
confesses,
not the
labors
of my
hands
can
fulfill
thy
laws
demands.
Could
my tears
forever
flow?
Could
my zeal
no
respite?
No.
All for
sin
could not
atone.
Thou
must
save.
and thou
alone.
That was
good
toplity,
as you
well know.
Ah,
but where,
where,
for the
convicted
sinner,
is there
a fountain
open for
cleansing?
Asks
Zechariah
13.
Now
the
Spirit
sets
forth
Christ
as the
sinner's
Savior,
his
death,
as the
sinner's
substitute,
his
righteousness
as the
sinner's
only
robe.
Spurgeon
writes,
echoing
Bunyan's
pilgrim,
then
comes the
Holy Spirit
and shows
the sinner
the cross
of Christ,
gives him
eyes anointed
with heavenly
eye salve,
and says,
look yonder
to the
cross.
That man
died to
save
sinners.
You feel
you are a
sinner.
He died
to save
you.
In this
way,
the Spirit
gently draws
the sinner
to trust
in Christ
alone
for her
salvation.
He brings
the elect
sinner to
see the
necessity,
the reality,
and the
beauty
of the
Savior.
And I
think it
plain to
perceive
that this
is done
compellingly,
yet without
compulsion.
man is
as much
drawn
willingly,
writes
Spurgeon,
as if
he were
not drawn
at all
when he
comes to
Christ
with full
consent,
with as
much
consent
as if
no secret
influence
had ever
been exercised
on his
heart.
Now,
of course,
apart from
this all
prevailing
drawing,
no woman
or man
would ever
come at
all.
but he
prevails.
He prevails.
So we've
outlined a
common pattern
by which the
Spirit draws
the sinner
to Christ.
Now,
we must be
careful here
not to
rigidly
insist that
every sinner
must be
drawn in
this very
path,
a misapprehension
many good
divines have
made.
Jonathan
Edwards'
experience of
being drawn
to Christ,
for example,
differed from
this common
path and
typical Puritan
morphology.
And so
rigidly had
he been
taught to
expect God's
saving dealings
with sinners
to proceed
along these
specific and
precise lines
that he
long doubted
the reality
of his
generation
because it
mismatched
the prescribed
pattern.
He expected
to hear
first the
stormy
thunders
of Mount
Sinai
and then
hear in
his heart
the sweet
consoling
whispers
of Calvary.
But in
his case,
he was
struck by
a sense
of the
beauty and
excellence
of the
Savior.
A very
different
pattern in
his case.
So while
the Holy
Spirit's
drawing of
us often
reflects a
pattern,
it is
always
particularized
and personalized
to our
individual
uniqueness.
And just
as with
our sin,
there is
both
commonality
and uniqueness,
all we
like sheep
have gone
astray.
Commonality.
Each one
has gone
our own
way.
Uniqueness.
But just
with our
sin,
both
commonality
and uniqueness,
so with
our salvation.
There is
a common
pattern,
but also
a unique
particularity
to the
Holy Spirit's
drawing.
This
particularization
of the
Spirit's
drawing of
each one
of the
elect
should not
be a
surprise
to us.
Ah,
but it
should always
be a
wonder.
Always a
wonder.
Each son
of Adam
and each
daughter of
Eve
is their
own unique
person.
And the
entrance to
their hearts
has its
singular
lock.
lock, a
lock, the
countless
tumblers of
which have
fallen from
the lathe of
life's unique
experiences,
nurture, and
hammered out
upon their
unique genetic
inheritance,
nature.
Together, an
unfathomably
intricate
creation.
Such is the
heart of each
one of us.
Who indeed
could fathom to
open its
lock?
Who could
possess the
knowledge to
be the
heart
whisperer?
Ah, the
psalmist answers
this question.
Oh, Lord,
you have
searched me
and know
me.
You know
when I sit
down and
when I rise
up, you
discern my
thoughts from
afar.
You search
out my
path and
my lying
down and
are acquainted
with all
of my
ways.
Even
before a
word is
on my
tongue,
behold,
oh, Lord,
you know
it all
together.
Such
knowledge is
too wonderful
for me.
It is
high.
I cannot
attain to
it.
For you
formed by
inward parts.
You knitted
me together
in my
mother's
womb.
My frame
was not
hidden from
you when
I was
made in
secret,
intricately
woven in
the depths
of the
earth.
Your eyes
saw my
unformed
substance.
In your
book were
written,
every one
of them,
the days
that were
formed for
me.
What is
yet?
There was
none of
them.
Psalm
139.
Not only
does our
creator know
our heart,
but he
forms them.
He forms
them.
As the
psalmist
marveled,
God formed
every one
of our
days that
formed
us.
So,
when God
turns our
hearts like
channels of
water in
his hands,
that's not
simply at
some critical
culminating
moment.
That's all
along life's
way,
in every
detail.
So,
of course,
the Spirit
of God
has the
key to
our heart's
lock.
He
intimately
fashioned
the lock.
He is
the architect.
many a
saint has
seen him
pictured in
the words
of Solomon's
song.
My
beloved
put his
hand to
the latch
and my
heart was
thrilled in
me.
Song of
Solomon 5.4.
And each
saint has
had their
own latch,
which,
when the
Spirit opens,
their heart
thrills.
Boniface,
after whom
this church
was once
named,
in the
8th century,
stood and
declared the
gospel among
Germanic
warriors,
claiming that
Christ had
more power
than their
deity Thor,
the god of
thunder and
lightning.
Boniface
cutting down
the mighty
sacred oak
to Thor
in
demonstration
of that
claim.
And when
Thor proved
impotent to
respond with
lightning and
thunder,
their hearts
melted and
they turned
to Christ.
Christ.
But for
other warriors,
it was not
Christ's
strength that
won their
hearts.
It was
his scars.
For they
had known
and been
forever scarred
by the
whore of
the trenches
of World
War I.
As one
of them
expressed,
the other
gods were
strong,
but thou
wast weak.
They
rode,
but thou
didst
stumble to
a throne.
But to
our wounds
only God's
wounds can
speak.
And not
a god has
wounds,
but thou
alone.
Edward
Chilito,
Jesus of
the Scars.
Sometimes
saints are
drawn by
a drawing
or a
painting,
as was the
case with
King Boris
of the
Bulgars.
Missionary
Methodius
painted a
picture of
Christ and
the Last
Judgment,
which brought
the king to
conviction and
repentance.
Similarly,
Count
Zinzendorf had
his heart
latch opened
before a
painting of
Christ.
Ece
Homo,
Behold the
Man by
Domenico
Feti.
His depiction
of Christ in
his compassionate,
self-sacrificing
agony,
accessed the
Count's heart
and melted it
toward the
Savior.
One thinks of
the head-hunting
Sowie
cannibals of
New Guinea,
impervious to
missionary appeal
until it was
cast in terms
of a redemptive
analogy from
their own
ancient mythology,
the Peace
Child.
If you
don't know
that story,
Don Richardson,
booked by the
same title,
The Peace
Child.
Unbelievable.
Similarly,
attests the
late great
African
missiologist
here of
Yale,
Laman Sane,
of the
gospel's
progress in
Africa,
where the
water of
life came
to them
received from
their own
cultural
vessels.
Africans
sensed in
their hearts,
writes Sane,
that Jesus
did not mock
their respect
for the
sacred or
their clamor
for an
invincible
Savior.
And so,
when the
gospel came
to them,
they beat
their sacred
drums for
him until
the stars
skipped and
danced in
the skies.
And not
dissimilarly,
but with
its own
uniqueness,
upon Addison's
walk at
Magdalen
College,
Oxford,
C.S.
Lewis had
the latch
of his
heart opened
by the
seeded
thought that
the gospel
of Christ
was the
true myth
behind all
the resonant
myths that
have stirred
the longings
of people
across time
and the
And finally,
in a
remote South
American tribe,
it was the
practice to
give children
a secret
name known
only to
their parents
to guard
them against
the threat
of curses,
witchcraft,
and spells.
To one
such child,
the missionaries
tell,
Jesus revealed
himself.
As the
child reported,
Jesus called
me by my
secret name.
Ah,
shall we
not confess
with the
psalmist,
O Lord,
you know
me.
In all
these
and in
every
saint,
the
spirit
is the
divine
locksmith
of the
human
heart,
the great
drawer
and
wooer
of the
elect,
each one
of whom
he infallibly
knits to
Christ
through the
inner call
of the
gospel.
On what
grounds
can
sinners
be so
knitted
to a
holy
God?
God's
elect
are brought
because
God's
elect
are bought.
The
spirit
procures
what the
son has
purchased.
Christ.
And it
is this
purchase
with which
we are
bought
which we
shall take
up our
attention,
which shall
take up our
attention in
the next
session
when our
good brother
Tyler
will address
us on
that topic.
I'll end
there and
open it up
for any
questions or
comments.
We're
praising
Thanksgiving.
Yes.
Can you say
it's the
left,
right?
The left
is all that
also
those things.
yes.
Well,
the way
we
discover
God's
choice
is we
respond
to the
outer call
of the
gospel.
So we
don't,
Judy,
try to
discern
our election
in terms
of
God's
secret
choice.
So those
are the
secret things
of the
Lord.
What we
do,
Judy,
is when
the
gospel
word
comes
to
us,
all
the
elect
trust
Christ
and
repent
of
their
sins.
So that's
the outward
manifestation
of that
inward
work
of the
gospel.
So our
duty is
not to
discern
our
election.
Our
duty
and
delight
and
joy
is to
respond
to the
gospel
and look
to the
Savior
and come.
I think
what I'm
thinking
is that
God
wants
none
should
perish.
So I
feel like
all of
us,
He wants
all to
come to
Him.
That's
what I
want to
do.
Yes.
Right.
So there
is,
there are
a couple
of senses
in which
we can
speak of
God's
desire
or wanting.
And there
is a
sense in
which God
wants
all to
come.
In fact,
He commands
all to
come.
When
Paul,
in Acts
17,
where he's
talking to
the Athenians,
he says,
God commands
all everywhere
to repent
and come
to Christ.
So that is
certainly the
case.
So there
is God's
desire and
indeed God's
command
repent,
that we
all repent.
So that
is our
duty.
Alas,
we find
ourselves
delectably
devoted to
our sinful
ways.
So apart
from God
working in
our hearts
to transform
our desires
from the
delectable
doings of
darkness,
for us
delectable,
to the
love of
the good,
the true,
the beautiful
manifested in
Christ,
that's a
work that
He needs
to do in
our hearts.
And He
does for
His elect,
for those
that He has
chosen with
an ancient,
ancient love.
Yeah,
yeah,
yes.
I think
it's really
a divine
history that
you read out
here.
God is
about the
locksmith of
our hearts
and lumber
in the
parts.
He knows
the keys
to our hearts,
the very
fabric of
the shape of
who we are
and yet
the scripture
also describes
in this
process of
searching our
hearts,
timing and
on our
thoughts,
discerning the
thoughts and
attention to
the heart.
That's what the
Word of God
is doing in
us.
And so I
just wanted
to put these
two together,
I guess,
in a way.
So there's a
process of
Him transforming
us and
looking into
our hearts
and also
knowing our
hearts.
I just wanted
to hear what
you want to
say about
that.
So say a
little bit
more,
Richard.
Putting
together the
fact that He
changes our
hearts, but
He's also
asking us to
look into
them and
join with
Him in
that process
of having
those hearts
changed.
Sorry, I
meant He
looks into
our hearts,
knows the
searching.
Yes,
yes.
And then
there's also
how to
form our
hearts.
Yes,
yes,
yes.
I think
in Psalm
139,
which you
are making
reference
there too,
when at
the end
you say,
search me
and know
me and
see if
there be
any harmful
or wicked
way in
me.
I think
that it's
based upon
the psalmist's
knowledge that
I don't even
really know
myself.
I don't know
my own
heart.
You do.
You know
it intimately.
so really
for me to
understand
myself and
my own
heart,
you need
to reveal
what is
already clear
to you
because it's
not clear
to me.
So it's an
invitation to
come and to
search and to
know and to
convict.
And it's
something that
is wonderfully
fulfilled for
each believer
by the
indwelling
Holy Spirit.
So the
Spirit is
able,
indwelling
in us,
to have
that ministry
of both
manifesting the
character of
Christ in us,
love, joy,
peace, patience,
kindness, and
all these things.
But when
we are
wayward,
then the
Spirit changes
his ministry
of manifesting
the image of
Christ to
convicting us
that we are
failing to
do so.
And he
often uses
scripture to
do this.
So he
will,
2 Timothy 3.16
talks about
scripture,
and it's
proper for
instruction,
reproof,
correction,
sorry,
doctrine,
reproof,
correction,
instruction,
and righteousness.
That kind of
gives a pattern
of how this
doctrine.
What's the
way to go?
Reproof,
showing you
if you've
gotten of it,
correction,
getting you
back on that
path,
and instruction
of righteousness,
keeping you
on it.
So then the
Spirit then
will work
to do
those things
to make
us aware
of how
we've gotten
off the
path,
how to
get back
on,
and how
to stay
on it.
And that
will then
continue,
then we
go on
walking in
the light,
and then
that hopefully
then will,
that will,
that as we
respond,
which ultimately
we will as
believers,
that will
continue to
manifest.
So that
dynamic of
searching us
out and
knowing and
illuminating,
I think it's
fulfilled by
the Holy
Spirit in
the New
Covenant
believers.
Yeah.
Yeah,
yeah.
I'm also,
you mentioned
this idea of
it's compelling
not compulsion,
even Paul,
I think,
we seek to
persuade men,
like we seek
to give reasons
why you ought
to come.
And Jesus,
I was talking
this past week
with Melissa,
going for gentle
and lowly,
and the statement
that Jesus makes,
whoever comes
to me,
I will never
pass by.
Yeah.
And it's like
this emphatic,
I will never,
no,
never,
no,
never cast
out if you
come to me.
And it kind
of eliminates
all objections.
Well,
I'm too old.
I will never
cast you out.
I've sinned against
you.
I will never
cast you out.
And so Jesus
is giving an
assurance that
if you come
to me,
I'm not going
to reject you.
Yeah.
And it's
the same,
it's this
persuasion,
persuasion
that Jesus
is giving
us,
but the
spirit is
also working
it out.
So it's a
history,
as what Richard
described,
that we're
giving reasons,
we're seeking
to persuade,
we're praying,
Lord,
would you draw
your people
out to yourself?
Yeah.
It is,
it's not
that we don't
give reasons,
it's just
that these
things wouldn't
be effectual
apart from
the working
of the spirit
to make
them vivid
and decisive
in hearts.
Yeah.
John,
can you
open up
a little bit
more
the difference,
the way
you contrast
the
petulant
curiosity
against
Yeah.
That was
just,
yeah.
Yes,
yes.
So sometimes
I think
there is
a very real
question,
it's not
just,
well,
let's just
try to
figure this
out because
we're curious
about this.
There does
seem to be
a real
challenge
because
the Bible
addresses us
as free
individuals
and yet
if our
wills
are
so
adamantly
set against
God,
how could
we ever
freely
choose him.
So that
is genuinely
puzzling
and has
been a
difficulty
for many.
So that's
that I
wanted to
explore.
It's not
that we're
just trying
to be
curious
about how
these things
are done.
We are
trying to
preserve
the coherence
of two
truths
truths.
That God
unfailingly
draws us
and yet
we have
wills
that
are
real
and we
make
choices
that are
real.
So
those things
I'm arguing
can be held
together
and the
Bible
just
juxtaposes
these things
together
all the
time.
So we're
confident that
they can
both be
true and
gloriously so
simultaneously.
what makes
separate those
things apart
might be the
presence or
the actions
of humility.
Those two
things in
figuring out
yes I
think that
that's good
yeah that
would be a
good way to
put it.
Yeah.
Yeah Richard.
I was
interested to
hear what
you have to
say about
Edwards
because
although I
read in
Murray's
biography
I didn't
know that
about
Edwards.
So
Edwards
so there
was no
lack in
Edwards'
day of
preachers
who had
preached the
law
until the
sinner felt
the need
for mercy
and grace
but that's
not the
way Edwards
came to
the Lord
Jesus
right.
So
what do
you think
what do
you think
of that
should
preachers
preach the
law
until the
sinner begs
for mercy?
Well I
think that
yes we
certainly
do preach
the holiness
of God
the righteousness
of God
and his
demands
but along
with that
in one
sense
what we
might call
that is
driving
sinners to
Christ
by
the
terrors
of the
law
God
but I
think
alongside
that
you
could
also
speak
of
the
beauty
of
Christ
his
appeal
the
tenderness
of his
appeal
why would
you die
come live
choose life
these sorts
of things
where there's
along with
the driving
there's also
a drawing
so I
think
you could
use those
things
simultaneously
interestingly
like Edwards
you bring
up Edwards
we associate
him with
sinners in
the hands
of an
angry
God
and rightly
so
as kind
of a
driving
them to
the
terrors
but
probably
the majority
of his
sermons
are more
of a
drawing
kind
than a
driving
kind
so I
think
that it
should
be
a good
mix
and what
will keep
us
faithful
to
that
Richard
I
think
is
expositional
preaching
where we
just preach
the next
three inches
of the
text
whether
that's
drawing
or driving
or whatever
and that'll
be a good
ratio
that'll be
a good
ratio
so
I'm
for all
those
because I
think
scripture
is for
all of
those
both
the
driving
of the
law
and the
drawing
of the
appeal
does that
make sense
at all
I think
we'd
probably best
break
team
thanks so
much
and next
week
Tyler
will be
picking up
and
I wish
that I
could be
there for
that
congratulations
do
!
It was wonderful.
We didn't miss you.
We had some really fun discussions.
Good questions and that.
And people had hung out for a long time.
I said, we can dismiss.
We can dismiss if we wanted.
And a couple had to leave.
But they hung out for a while.
So it was a long time.
And the food was good.
Did I see if you didn't have a care earlier?
Yes.
She was at least here at some point.
And you said, we'll be here for Thanksgiving.
Or is this where you go on your couple's retreat?
We will be here for Thanksgiving.
Right after Thanksgiving.
So the next Sunday,
time with the other elder is going to just take my place.
Because we're going to get away from here.
Yes.
All right.
That's wild.
Good to see you.
I'm going to just need to move this back.
And this will come along the side.
She really knows how to do it.
She sees it.
Well, after about 25 minutes.
Nick, I'm going to give this to you.
Excellent.
Great to meet you.