"The
Outward and Effectual Call"
The
Lord's Day, December 26, 1999
|
The ECF Pulpit |
If you would, open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 4 please.
It seems as though from the very beginning of things this morning we've been confronted over and over with the incomprehensible majesty of what is to be understood when we think of the salvation of fallen men through Jesus Christ. The miracle of His incarnation, the amazing life, and then His atoning sacrifice. These are, if we can say it properly, mysteries-divine mysteries-that were hidden. Things that the angels desired to look into that you and I have at our disposal, at our fingertips, and they are divine truth. Things to anchor our souls in.
Well, we look at no less a mystery as we come to this passage of Scripture this morning, Matthew chapter 4. As you know, we are trying to work our way chronologically through the life and the ministry of Christ. And as we come to this second part of the fourth chapter of Matthew, we come to a part that's a little controversial. I say controversial, not in terms of the subject matter, but in terms of arrangement.
If you are prone to read harmonies of the gospels, and there are several of them out there, and if you are familiar with Calvin's in particular-in his parallel, as you look through his harmony of the gospels, he takes the account that we read in Matthew this morning and the account that parallels it in Mark and links it together with the one that we read in Luke, chapter 5. Some of the newer men go off in different directions and, in fact, some feel or think that the account in Luke 5 is not the same as the one that takes place in Matthew and in Mark and I think they're probably correct in that. We're going to see why that's important in just a minute. So, if it's tough for you to depart from Calvin, just batten down the hatch for a minute. You'll be OK.
In today's church, and especially in modern evangelicalism, I hear a word coming back, over and over and over again, when we talk about evangelism and that is, 'We need a strategy'. We need a strategy as though evangelism and the fruit of evangelism is the product of human planning. Now that doesn't mean that there isn't preparation and there isn't labor. We're going to see that exposed in these passages in just a minute. But in this whole concept of strategy, there is - and forgive me if you've said this, but let me get the sentence behind the phrase - sometimes someone will come to me and they'll say, "How can I effectively evangelize my husband or my wife?" Now what they have actually said is 'what is the secret to making them convert?' That's really what's behind it. "How can I effectively evangelize my wayward teenager?" And what you're asking is 'how do I club them over the head and drag them to the altar and get them saved?' That's what you really want to know.
And that is exactly the question that is asked often when we go off into the world. "How can we be the most effective evangelists?" And what we're saying is, "What's the secret to getting men to flip over... to come and see it our way too, to finally surrender. What's the magic phrase? What's the right technique? What's the proper strategy? Do I need to go through 'these' various steps? Do I go back and read Francis Schaeffer and make sure I've got all my pre-evangelism in place? What is it that we need to do in order to prepare this?" There are a lot of great things that we can do. But ultimately, as we're going to see as we work through these three passages, I think were going to see them-I hope you'll see them and understand them as being laid out sequentially. That it isn't the strategy that's at the base of it but once again we are thrown back to the reality that it is God who sovereignly saves and that must inform our evangelism more than techniques and strategies and plans and programs.
Now, we're going to see that unfold in these 3 passages. We're going to see it though - and I want you to make sure you get this in your mind before we get there - that is, that the events we are looking at take place in a very small amount of time. They aren't drawn out over years. So when I say, as you'll see in a second, that we're working through a process, at the same time understand that we aren't aware of that process when it's taking place with us generally. That's something that as we look at Scripture, unfolds to us the secret working of God with the heart of man and we get a chance to see how that happens and we see that, so that we can properly approach the whole process.
Three events take place in front of us and I want you to jump over first to John - chapter 1. Now we've already covered this so what we're doing is, we're taking a retrospective and we're going back to John 1 to see something and then move on to Matthew 4 which is really where we are in the narrative. Then we have to jump ahead a little bit to Luke 5 so that we can tie it all together for ourselves.
So, John chapter one. As I said, we've already covered this but let me go back and briefly reiterate what we saw. For our needs we are picking up in verse 19. Here we have the ministry of John. "And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" And he denied that he was the Christ and pointed them, in fact, to Jesus." And by the time we get down to verse 35 it says, "And again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples." Now, we only know who one of these was. We don't know who the second one was and we don't know if the second one remained, which is something that you want to keep in the back of your mind. Some commentators say that the second one was John himself-not John the Baptizer-but John, the apostle who's writing this particular narrative. "But again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked upon Jesus as he walked, and said, "Behold the Lamb of God!" And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus." And what they did was, they heard, and if I can go back and borrow the terms from the Westminister, they heard the 'outward call'. The outward call is the simple proclamation of who and what Christ is! And that's what John was a master at. He didn't want anything for himself. As he saw Jesus coming, he said, "This is the one that I've been preaching about. He's the one. There's the Lamb of God. He's the one who takes away the sins of the world. You were baptized under repentance but He's the one who actually does the sin cleansing. That's the man!" That's the way all of our evangelism should begin, all of our preaching. All of our Gospel preaching should be pointing to Christ, not pointing to our church, not pointing to our method, not pointing to our particular club, but pointing to Christ! That always has to be the ultimate goal. And so He did that. And this is the... and I won't go back and read the Westminister on that, but also the Canons of Dort-if you go to the fourth head and the eighth article it'll deal with the effectual call and it breaks it up into several sections. You're going to see why that's important in just a second. Those ideas come from passages like this one.
Anyway, these are the two and so these two disciples heard Him speak and they followed Jesus. "And Jesus turned and He beheld them and He said to them, "What do you seek?" and they said to Him, "Rabbi, (which translated means teacher), where are you staying?" So He said to them, "Well come and you will see." And they came therefore and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was the tenth hour." Now, one of those who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother." So, we've got one identified.
So from v35 and v36 we know that there were two disciples and when we get over to v40 we find out that one of them was Andrew. And then Andrew, in v41, found, first, his own brother Simon and he said to Him, "We have found the Messiah (which translated means the Christ)." And now we have two that we can identify. We have Andrew and we have Peter and we have a third possibly unknown.
But then we drop down to v43. "And then the next day he purposed to go forth into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, "Follow me." And, now we have three by name and one possibly in addition to that.
And then in v45, "Now Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus, the son of Nazareth." And now you've got four by name and possibly a fifth without a name.
But this is typically the beginning of what happens with an individual as they are being brought to Christ. That is, they hear the 'outward call'. Someone tells them the reality that Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and there is an interest stimulated in them and they begin to pursue somewhat. Now, some don't always stay. Some don't always continue in the pursuit. If we were to go back over and look at the parable of the four soils, I think we'd see that very clearly, but we're not going to spend the time on that this morning. But, some hear the outward call. Many hear the outward call but not all of them respond and not all of them follow. This group followed. This small group and it's this small group, then, that accompanies Him to the temple when He cleanses the temple. It's this small group that works with Him and helps go back to Galilee and goes through Samaria with him. It's this small group whom then seems to disband and go back to their ordinary work, which is fishing. But, first, they left John.
This is important to see. They left the one who had preached to them and they started to follow Christ. And that's the beginnings of the work in the heart of the man. It's what happens with you and me. We leave, and I know this is hard for us as preachers and teachers and especially those of you, who witness and work with someone, but the truth is, we don't want them to follow us, we want them to follow Christ. And sometimes we'll look at them almost askance because after the outward call they haven't stuck with us. They aren't supposed to. They're supposed to be following Him, and that's what these men did. They started to follow Jesus. They had this first entry level, if you will, personal interest and inquiry. And we don't discourage those who begin to make those inquiries after Christ but we take up His own approach to it and we say 'come and see'. We feed them the truth. We help them see Christ clearly. We want to introduce them to Him as much as we possibly can. But that's the first or the general outward call. Now, you might want to add Matthew and say this is also part of the outward call but I think we see a subtle difference here, so that take us back over to Matthew chapter 4 because now we are in a slightly different circumstance.
Now we had covered the first part of this, well at least V12-17 last week. We saw that Jesus enters into the synagogue and makes this great pronouncement concerning Himself from the book of Isaiah. And then Matthew breaks immediately to this scene, picking up in v18. "And now walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Now, they had already followed Him once. You remember John had said, "There's the Lamb of God!" And they went and sought Him out. They've already had an encounter with Him. They've already met Him, to a certain degree, but now they've gone back to their normal life. They've put themselves back on the Sea of Galilee and they're doing exactly what they're suppose to do; they're supporting their families. They are fishing. But Jesus comes along in the midst of this so they're familiar with Him already and, yet, now He issues something different. Now He comes specifically to them-He does-and He says to them personally, "Follow Me." Now something has moved a notch here. This is a little different. And not only does He say, "Follow Me" but now He appends something to it, "and I will make you fishers of men." "I have an intent for you. I have something for you to do. There's a place for you to go. There's something to be accomplished." And so, we see a number of things that unfold when this personal call comes. And, all of us, if we can look back and retrospect, if we've come to the saving knowledge of Christ, can see some shades of these taking place to us. Again, when you are going through them you don't recognize them but they do take place. Some of you were exposed to the Gospel, for the first time, a long time before you ever really had a sense that Christ was calling you Himself.
It was interesting; I was recalling just two incidences this past week that made this very clear to me. One, over long periods of time, as well, back when the quartet was together, and we were singing and we had a pianist who was with us, Cecil VanHouten, a very gifted man. But no one in his family knew Christ. No one: None of his cousins, none of his sisters or none of their family. His mom, his dad...nobody knew Christ. And he wondered and wondered and he said "How is it that one guy out of a family comes to the saving knowledge of Christ? It seems so strange!" And he was a good witness and a gifted musician. He wrote wonderful hymns and songs that we sang together. And then one day he came in on an afternoon and said, "I've got to show you something." And he opened up an old hymnbook. And in this old hymnbook, back in this one particular hymn written back in the 1820's, was written by 'so and so' VanHouten. And as he did the research and went back, he found out, that indeed, his old family had been people who had followed Christ for generations and it was only recently that they had fallen away. He said, "I wasn't alone. People had sown seeds back there. People had been praying back there for the generations to come." We seldom come to Christ in isolation.
Just the other day Tom Beich and I were talking and he had received a bunch of papers after his grandfather had passed away and he had gone down to go through all of his belongings. And as he went through the belongings he found a number of letters written back and forth from two of his ancestors who had been in the Civil War. He and his brother, Will, have always kind of wondered how is it that "just us" out of the family are Christ's? And as they read these letters, back and forth, between brothers in the Civil War, they were writing, 'God's providence was so gracious to me today'. And, 'how I had strayed from Him until I came into the battle'. And, 'how I've renewed my life to Christ and I'm seeking after the fullness of His will'. And, unfolding the great depth of spiritual quickening that had come to that family. He said, "we weren't alone. Long before, people had been praying, people had been preaching, people had been teaching." That's usually true for you and me as well, if we knew the truth. See we don't know it when we are going through it. We don't understand it at that time but these men had first been exposed to the Gospel. First they've been exposed to the hear truth but now there is something different. Now there is a personal call. Christ approaches them.
Now look at some of the elements of this in verses 20 and 22. We see it twice. And when He came along and said, in verse 19, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men", it says, "And they immediately left their nets and followed Him." There was a sense of immediacy. I don't know if you can remember back then when the call pricked your ear like that and you said, "I need to do something about this." There's urgency to it. Something has to happen. Then go over to verse 22. The same thing happens when He moves on and sees James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, two guys we haven't seen before. "And He called to them. And they immediately left their boat and their father, and followed Him". And, now, there is that sense of that personal call.
You might even be there this morning. You've been dabbling with the Gospel and you know the Spirit of God has been dealing with your heart over a period of time. And you have just kind of been going along your way and yet, this morning, when you're hearing this message again, the reality is-Christ is calling you! And He says something extremely specific. "Follow Me!" Because that's the life of a disciple! We follow Christ!
But there's a second thing that happens also in v20 and v22. "They immediately left their nets." Isn't that interesting? "And immediately they left their boat and their father, and followed Him." There is a leaving, in a sense, when we begin to respond to the Gospel. It's not a complete forsaking but it's a leaving and it's a transition, if you will, of those things, which become important in the life. Now there's a level of involvement that takes place that wasn't there before. Now there is a pursuing. Now there is a needing to be in the house of God. There's a needing to be at worship. There's a needing to find out what prayer is about. There's a need to study the Word of God to understand spiritual truths-to be around Christians-to begin to grow in some manner and to get a hold on all that's going on. If you will, and you know how it was when you first started to come to Christ, all of a sudden you were getting up on Sundays and going to church. You really weren't completely sure why, but you knew you were going. And you bought a Bible. You didn't have a Bible before. Well, you had that big 'Thing' that you had on the coffee table but you blew the dust off every once in a while when someone came to visit. But now you were interested! Some sort of an investment appears here and you start separating your time and you say, "Hey this is important! This has to be, not just something that I'm aquatinted with; but some dimension, some aspect, some entire portion of my life."
Look at verses 23-25. It goes on. And they immersed themselves in listening and attending and observing Christ. "Jesus was going about in all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. And the news about Him went out into all Syria and they brought to Him all who were ill and taken with various diseases and pains, and demoniacs, and epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. And great multitudes followed Him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, from beyond the Jordan". There's an immersion into the life of Christ that you begin to take on. Something switches and I need, again, to draw distinction here.
It's interesting, there are three groups of people who are listed as following Christ-three distinct groups. There are the multitudes. The multitudes would wax and wane. Sometimes you had lots of multitudes; sometimes you didn't. And then there were the disciples and then the disciples were given to us in several different categories. There were the twelve apostles but they're a subset of the disciples. There were also seventy that were anointed to go out to preach and teach and when we get over to the Book of Acts there were a hundred and twenty gathered, coming near the day of Pentecost. There was a group of these disciples. But then there's also something else that happens with people that are sometimes numbered among the multitudes at one particular point in time, because all they've ever heard is an outward call. Maybe all you've really ever heard is a personal call but there has been no change in the individual...yet. Maybe change in lifestyle. Do you realize that there are people who are Christians in the same sense that there are people who are Hindus, and people who are Islamic, Moslems, and people who follow other religions because "that's their religion"? They have a changed lifestyle, but if that's all, it's a dangerous place to be, because that's still not a transformation.
As a matter of fact, when we read in John 6, v65 and v66, once, when Jesus was particularly narrow about how it is that men come to saving knowledge, in fact, that only those come who the Father draws. It says from this point on, many of His disciples stopped walking with Him. Interesting. But some make that move, make that switch.
But then there's a third group that moves on. And that's what's actually given to us over there in Luke chapter 5. So, if you'll turn over to Luke 5, we'll follow this to its conclusion. And hopefully we'll be able to make this all make sense for you.
Now this account is different. It's different than the one we just read in Matthew. It comes a little differently, chronologically. It's a little later down the line. Apparently, they left their nets. They left John the first time and then they left their nets the second time. This time we are going to read at the end of the chapter, they left everything. There's the difference. But look at what makes the difference: "Now it came about that while the multitude were pressing around Him, listening to the Word of God, He was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret (that's also Galilee) And he saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and they were washing their nets. And so He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and he asked him to put away from the land. And He sat down and began to teach them, teaching the multitudes from the boat." Now we're going to come back and we're going to visit this passage in detail when we hit the chronological spot, so bear with me if I jump over some things here. "And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Well, "Simon answered and said Master..." and I've always wondered what the tone was in Simon's voice at this particular moment. You kind of wonder if he was saying to the Carpenter, "now Jesus, we are the fishermen, after all. We do know the right way to do this", but Simon answered and said, "Master, we have worked hard all night and we have caught nothing, but with your bidding I'll let down the nets. And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break. And they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and to help them and they came and they filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, "Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and also James and John, the sons of Zebedee who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to him, "Do not fear from now on. You will be catching men." And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him."'" Here's the difference. THAT'S the 'effectual call'.
Now, what do we mean by that? Let me read to you from the Shorter Catechism because it's the shorter definition. What is effectual calling? "Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery; enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ and renewing our wills, He doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the Gospel."
Let me read it to you from the actual document that we took as a part of our own Statement of Faith at this church. When we go to the heading of 'Salvation by Grace' we say that "we believe salvation is a pure work of unmerited grace alone. That it is that permanent, sovereign work of God without which no man shall see God. That wherein, the Holy Spirit convicts the individual of his sinful nature and lost estate, convinces them of God's judgment of sin and sinners and reveals the righteousness and deity of Christ. The will being renewed, the elect individual is infallibly enabled and drawn to repent from his sins and to have faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ."
Now, let me spell out what the difference is here. In the first two, the men heard but they were still the same. No change. And the truth is, we can hear the Gospel until the cows come home, and not be changed. And it will never be a matter of saying it more convincingly. It's not a matter of saying it more clearly. It's not a matter of organizing it in a more perfect way and it'll never be an issue of whether or not we have approached the strategy precisely as we should. The question is this. Has Christ come and changed the individual that they might come? That's the effectual call. And that's what happens in this passage. How do I know that? Look at what takes place: Three things that are primary to your thinking. There's four that we're going to look at, but three that are primary and Jesus echoes these for us in John chapter sixteen but we're not going to go back there and look at it, simply because we don't have the time.
But look at the difference here when you get down to verse 8. "This time, when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" No one has ever come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ but that there has been a revelation of his or her personal sinfulness and unworthiness before God. Never! That's what the effectual call does. That's when Christ stands at the graveside of Lazarus and says, "Come forth!" and all of a sudden life comes in and he says, "I'm in the grave!" If you have never known the reality of the conviction of your own guilt and shame before the living God, listen to me, you know nothing, yet, of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It's the first thing that happens in the effectual call - a knife to the heart in the reality of our sinful state. What does he do in this moment? Now Jesus didn't preach to him a great sermon at this particular time. A bunch of fish showed up in the net. But it was Christ who commanded him to put down the net. And, in that moment's time, he realizes, not that Jesus is a great fisherman, but that he, Peter, is sinful. That's the effectual call. When the Spirit of God begins dealing with the heart and revealing to a man his sinfulness.
I know we don't like to camp on that topic a lot - the reality of our sinfulness. You never really think that much about your sinfulness until you've come to Christ. And the more you grow in Him, the more your sin bothers you. It's one of the proofs that the call has been effectual. It has 'affected' something. It's changed you. It's given you a reality that you didn't have before. But there is a second one.
In his response to Christ, when he says, "I am a sinful man", first he says, "Depart from me." What's he saying? I'm not worthy to be in your presence. You are righteous; and I am not! I know that we can get tied to outward demonstration of things. It's always dangerous. But, I tell you the truth folks; there is something which has been greatly missing in the church today when we hear the preaching of the Gospel. This is a purely subjective observation from a very faulty and failing man: There's no brokeness over sin. And there is no stunning revelation that Christ is so righteous, we're unworthy to stand in His presence! Instead, men and women come tripping lightly down to the altar call to say, "Yeah, me too." That isn't the effectual call. That's a human response to the outward call and it doesn't save. The effectual call changes the heart of the hearer. That's where Peter was at this moment. He is stunned by two great things at this moment. Number one, he is sorely sinful. But, number two? He stands in the presence of the Holy One.
There's a third. Notice this, why does he want Jesus to depart? Whenever we know our guilt, and we are in the presence of righteousness, there is also that sense of impending judgment-'I'm not worthy; and I should be judged for who I am!' In John 16, Jesus says when the Holy Spirit comes, three things He's going to do. He's going to convince the world of righteousness because I've ascended to the Father; He's going to convince the world of sin because they don't believe in Me; He's going to convince the world of judgment because the prince of darkness has already been cast out. That's exactly what you see in Peter, right at this moment. That's the effectual call. That's the work of the Spirit in converting the heart and the souls of men. Now, the screaming reality behind that is, there is no strategy which can accomplish that. What that takes is a revelation of Christ to the soul and that's a sovereign work of God! Our problem isn't strategy. Our problem isn't that we don't have enough money to throw into evangelism. Our problem is - we don't believe the Gospel of Christ and REALLY believe that He saves men sovereignly, and trust Him.
There's a fourth aspect to this, if you will. It is that simple, but profound, transition that comes at the end this narrative in verse 11. "And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him." There's a radical reorientation of life. And if I might, I put that in a sentence there for you. "Following Christ becomes the dominating motivation and the defining reality of life." And when it says they left all, they forsook everything that moment, immediately, and took off.
Does that mean they sold all their goods and they just went backpacking for three years with Jesus? No! We're going to find in the narrative in just a few segments a little further down the line that Jesus leaves the synagogue after he preaches the next time and He goes right to Simon Peter's house and heals his mother-in-law. We know from Paul's writings, that Peter, when he was going around preaching and when he was itinerant, he was taking his wife with him. We know, in a very interesting sideline, that after Jesus had been crucified and the disciples weren't sure what to do with everything, Peter said, "I go a fishing." And where does Jesus find them again? He found them on the same lake and in the same boats. They hadn't left everything in that sense. Neither do we when the effectual call takes place. But what we do, is we are completely separated. We forsake an old life for one that is dominated by the pursuit of Christ, where the following after Christ informs how I do my daily work. Where following Christ informs how I act at the office; and how I act when I'm out at a restaurant; and how I deal with people on a day to day basis; and how I treat my husband and my wife and my kids; and how I conduct ALL my affairs. That following Christ is the informing principle of everything that I do. Because there has been a change. I've been transformed by His Spirit-something that only He can do.
Now, if you are trying to work your way up to it, let me tell you that it can't be done. If you're trying to think you're going to leave this place today and go home and say, "Well, that's it, doggone it! I'm going to pray a half-hour everyday; and I'm going to read five chapters in my Bible everyday; and I'm going to attend three services a week; and I'm going to memorize the Westminister Confession; and I'll even flog myself when no one is lookinga and I'm going to get myself into that place!" Forget it right now, it doesn't happen. But I will tell you this. If this morning, you know that you are a sinner, I can tell you that the Spirit of God is the only One who is able to make you know that, and that that's the effectual call being wrought in your heart. Won't you fall on your knees and acknowledge your sin? Cry out to Him who is your only righteousness and forsake all the junk and follow Him!
I gave you a few applications there at the bottom. I don't have time to develop them by any stretch; I've gone over them, as it is, but might I say that in understanding that, that's how it's accomplished... that it takes Christ speaking life where there is none. And, oh please, if you have the chance this afternoon, go back and read Ezekiel chapter 37, that wonderful narrative of the dry bones, how by type and shadow, He prefigures this very thing for us. Even as he speaks and preaches to the Israel while they are in the Babylonian captivity.
But a correct understanding of this does a number of things for us. And the first is, it gets us away from all the stupid stuff. And, thinking that if we print it in the right font, put it on the best paper, say it with the sweetest words, use the best musicians, put it in the right books, that that's going to change men's hearts. It's Christ who changes men's hearts.
Now, did they labor all night? Yeah they did. Were they supposed to? Yes, they were. But it's Christ who gives the harvest. When He speaks and when He calls-hearts are changed. And might I say, that it would do us well to be patient with people? Don't rush people. Let me put it another way. Don't let them rush you into giving them confidence that they're saved. Let God deal with them. We want to give everyone a stamped envelope at the end of the service and say, "There it is, you've done it!" We don't have that right. Only the Spirit of God can change the heart like that. Don't speak peace to people too quickly. Let God do that. Let Him deal with their souls. Let Him bring them to that place.
And lastly, don't spend your day beating yourself up. That, "If you'd only had said it better! If only if that verse would have come to my mind then! If only I had prayed enough ahead of time, that would have turned the tide!" No! Rely on Him. Rely on HIM! Believe His Word. Give the outward call and leave the effectual call up to Him and He'll bring the harvest when He says, "Just let down the net!"
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we've gone in a little different direction this morning. You know this is not where we we're been planning to go originally, and yet, we need to hear it. We need to go back and remind ourselves because we're so prone to fall into the system again; into the pattern, Father. We spend our lives more like Uzzah trying to steady the ark on the cart, than preaching Christ. Forgive us for dabbling in your area for trying to insinuate ourselves into the equation. We're learning slowly but surely, Father, that it's never because of us but inevitably in spite of us. But you do such a great work. Father, help us to have our hearts and minds anchored in sound confidence in your Gospel in the power of your Word and Your own Spirit to bring it to past in the lives of men - and stop fretting where we cannot do something. Father may we give the outward call clearly. May we give it responsibly. May we issue it every opportunity that is given to us. But, O God, we come to You this morning on bended knee and we pray," God, change hearts!" Because, only You can save. We bring those loved ones before You, who we've tried to witness to for so long. Father, we can't save them. YOU change their hearts! We bring those relatives to you that we've prayed for, for years! And we've sent them all that literature, and it seems to have had no effect! Only if Christ will come and speak! Is there any hope God? Only in you. Save them! That child that we've worried about for so long, we cant bring them into Your Kingdom Father. We come to You! Send Your Spirit to transform them. That husband, that wife who we love more dearly then we love ourselves, and we want so desperately to have them come to Christ. We cant do it Father, we come to You. Please speak by Your Spirit and grant that effectual call that changes and makes them Your children. Father, we abandon our human tactics and we come back to the basics and we call upon You. Salvation is of the Lord...save, O God! Save! We pray in Jesus Name, Amen.
Transcribed by Jude Heberger
Copyright © 2000 Reid A. Ferguson. Permission granted to quote in context.