Rev D A Ross
Effectual calling is initiated by God, not by man, but evidence of it will appear in the saved sinner. The state of the dry bones, in Ezekiel 37, was intended to highlight the national calamities of Israel, and it also brings home to us the extent of spiritual death in the soul of man. And their resurrection shows the power of the Almighty to reverse the situation.
Again we are told in Ezekiel 11:19-20 of a total change in the hearts of those who previously were thoroughly devoted to abominable idolatries: “I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: that they may walk in My statutes, and keep Mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be My people and I will be their God”. Thus when the Holy Spirit calls sinners effectually, He convinces them of their sin and misery and their lack of the perfect righteousness that the moral law demands. He further brings them to understand that this perfect righteousness is found in Christ alone, and finally enables them by faith to receive Christ and His unspotted righteousness as the one answer to their guilt and condemnation.
As well as saying something further about effectual calling, we wish to show that such is the awful spiritual darkness and corruption in the heart of man that it is necessary for the Lord to bring about the saving change in a sinner. We have already pointed to man refusing gospel invitations; we will now show a little of man’s spiritual corruption and darkness.
The doctrine of the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul of man is clearly taught in the Scriptures; Psalm 110 states, “A willing people in Thy day of power shall come to Thee”. We are not looking at persons who are in any way willing to adopt God’s way of salvation, or who have some degree of grace tending to the salvation of their soul, or who through great oratory may be persuaded to receive Christ as Saviour. They are in fact deeply opposed to the way of salvation; so they need to be renewed in the whole man after the image of God, “by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Tit 3:5).
Indeed we can have no conception of the abysmal spiritual state of the human soul. It is not merely that man is unable to recover himself; there is also strong opposition to any such deliverance. Fallen man has no desire to be delivered from sin, or for God to work a spiritual change in him. He is
1Last month’s section of this Theological Conference paper showed that effectual calling is based on the complete salvation wrought out by Christ.
perfectly happy to continue in sin. “Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways” (Job 21:14). This shows the need for God to work.
The more we ponder the spiritual darkness of the soul, the worse it appears. All the spiritual corruption in the heart is in active rebellion against our Maker. This is spiritual death – but a spiritual death that is by no means dormant. It does not matter who the person is, whether amiable, polite, mild-tempered – even if he is the gentlest of people – in him there is the carnal mind, which is enmity against God. Our spiritual disposition is in constant opposition to God. As those who lived before the flood were evil continually, so it is with us. There is a total rejection of God’s dominion and holiness. It is war against God, as represented in Christ’s parable: “His citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us” (Lk 19:14). The highest point of this rebellion was the crucifixion of Christ, the Son of God. Thy said, “Away with Him”, and, “Crucify Him”. Evidently some extraordinary intervention is needed to rescue such a creature from this bitter frame of mind. Noah found grace in the sight of God, but this grace was from God. This is what we also need.
Pilate, the heathen judge, discerned the deep enmity of the people to Christ, but he wondered: if he gave them a further opportunity, would they perhaps prefer to release Christ, since it was the custom at the time of the passover to release a noted prisoner. The people, however, did the opposite of what Pilate expected; they chose Barabbas the thief and rejected Christ. They cried, “Not this man but Barabbas”. This was true to God’s description: man will call evil good and good evil.
To make matters worse, they spat on the Saviour, the source of gospel blessings. This testifies loudly to corrupt man’s spiritual disposition towards Christ and His Word, for they spat on the fountain of salvation, pardon and eternal peace. Such are the realities of depravity, and they speak loudly of the necessity of a saving change.
I have intentionally been repetitive, again and again speaking about rejecting the gospel, as well as the corruption of the human heart that lies behind this rejection. This was to emphasise the fact that nothing short of a saving change will save man from the spiritual darkness to which he is hopelessly in bondage. I may say too that the fact of Christ Jesus coming into the world to save such sinners will be an eternal wonder to the saints in glory, as will the fact of the Holy Spirit entering into such a cesspool of spiritual corruption to give a clean heart. Not an iota of praise is due to those who are saved; the praise all belongs to the Triune God who chose these vile sinners, redeemed them and applied redemption to them.
Fallen angels are eternally lost, but mankind also is lost. And were it not for the wisdom of God in providing for a new creation, man would be eternally lost. The Prophet Ezekiel said of the dry bones of the valley: “Lo, they were very dry”. The Lord then asks, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel, knowing the wisdom of the Lord, said, “O Lord God, Thou knowest”. Afterwards God directed Ezekiel to prophesy to these bones: “Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live”. Then there followed a wonderful resurrection of these bones, which had been so “very dry”.
While the first intention of the vision was to show that God would revive Israel from its political, religious and social poverty, the vision also reveals the Most High’s purpose to bring about a great saving change in the souls of sinners, by making the outward call of the gospel take effect in their souls and bringing them to repentance and new obedience. The Most High brings this about in those He has elected to eternal life. He has set His love on a particular number of those to whom the gospel comes, to bring them to a saving interest in Christ.
The Bible tells us that God made such a choice, while other sinners were passed by. Christ told His disciples: “I have chosen you out of the world” (Jn 15:19). Paul reminds the Ephesian believers: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph 1:3-6). This is entirely the doing of the Lord. “Ye have not chosen Me,” He says, “but I have chosen you” (Jn 15:16).
This doctrine is very much detested by sections of the visible Church, who put their own interpretations on such statements of the Saviour, to make it mean something other than what was intended. But had there been no election, no one would be saved. Where would Zacchaeus be were this not so, to whom Christ said, “This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham” (Lk 19:9)?
Election does not mean those who were chosen to eternal life have certain moral qualities that made them fit to be chosen, in preference to others who do not have these qualities. Not so: rather from the one corrupt mass of mankind it pleased God to choose a particular number of sinners and leave the rest to perish in their rebellion. And why did God choose one sinner to eternal life and leave another to a sinful lifestyle? Paul tells us: “Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth”
(Rom 9:18) – that is, He leaves them to their own sinful wishes, and justly so: God has done them no wrong. But is it not true that those elected have this sinful disposition, and why then did God chose them? The answer is the same: “Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy”. A great wonder indeed! And more so, because among them were those who wickedly slew the Lord of glory, as is evident from Christ’s prayer: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).
It is not only that they were chosen to eternal life, but the Father chose Christ Jesus to be their Redeemer. Which means in turn that the atonement for sin made by Christ is specifically for those elected to eternal life. Christ speaks to the Father about “them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine” (Jn 17:9).
This, however, does not mean that the gospel call is limited to those elected to eternal life, as hyper-Calvinists maintain. Rather, as we have already noticed, it is to be proclaimed to all. One reason for this is that the atonement is suited to all sinners to whom the gospel comes, but it is chiefly so that those elected may hear the gospel way of salvation. For it is impossible for them to be saved apart from hearing about sin and salvation. Thus Ezekiel was directed to prophesy, or preach, to the dry bones: “O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord”. Yes, a sincere offer of salvation is made to all who hear the gospel; but only the elect, by the effectual work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, will receive Christ as their Saviour. As we have pointed out, the unregenerate always refuse this sincere offer of Christ as their Saviour.
There have always been those in the Church who object strongly to a limited [or, definite] atonement, and strive to prove that the atonement is universal – that Christ died for all men equally. But this must mean that Christ died for sinners who go at last to a lost eternity. In the light of the Word of God, this is totally untenable. It demeans all the offices of Christ and the effectual work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of all for whom Christ died.