James Foote
Effectual calling is a holy calling. So it is expressly described in 2 Timothy 1:9: God “hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling”. It is holy, as it is the work of the Holy Spirit, as it is the beginning of all true holiness in the soul, and as it is the sure forerunner of all progressive holiness in the life.
Effectual Calling is a holy calling, as holiness is the great object to which believers are called. Thus Paul addresses the Christians at Rome as “the called of Jesus Christ . . . beloved of God, called to be saints,” that is, holy persons. And he addresses his First Epistle to the Corinthians “unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints”. So Jude addresses his Epistle “to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Christ Jesus, and called”.
Holiness is conformity in heart and life to the image and will of God. Its author, or the agent who produces it, is the Holy Ghost; hence it is called
1Taken, with editing, from Foote’s Treatise on Effectual Calling. Foote (1781-1856) was a minister in Aberdeen, latterly in the Free Church. January’s section emphasised that this calling always prevails.
“sanctification of the Spirit”, and the means by which He produces it is “the belief of the truth”, according to the prayer of the Lord: “Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth”. When a man is effectually called, he is brought to receive the truth, which is the means of sanctifying him; or, as it is expressed in the words already quoted, he is “called with a holy calling”. In conformity with this, we have these exhortations: “This is the will of God, even your sanctification . . . . God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness”; “As He who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy” (1 Th 4:3,7; 1 Pet 1:15,16).
Now right consideration of the holiness of effectual calling leads directly to sound views, both of the gospel way of attaining to holiness and of holiness itself – as a consequence and evidence of our being in a state of salvation, or saved and called. Whatever regard men may profess for holiness, and whatever exertions they may make after it in their own way, they are here taught that it is only attainable through obeying the gospel call – the offer of salvation by Christ. The people of God are not described as holy in order that they may be called, but as called in order that they may be holy – not as saints first and then called, but as called to be saints.
Here also we are taught that holiness is the great external evidence of effectual calling. Where holiness is missing, it is altogether preposterous for men to imagine that they are converted; but where it is found, there is proof that they are saved and called. Where the works of the flesh are manifest, there the flesh, or the carnal mind itself, is also manifest; but where the works of faith and the fruits of the Spirit are seen, there faith itself and the indwelling of the Spirit are certainly seen also. Thus the true scriptural doctrine of effectual calling is, in all its bearings, a doctrine “according to godliness”.
If you then acknowledge, according to the clear declaration of Scripture, that without holiness “no man shall see the Lord” and if you desire to “follow” holiness, see that you comply with the invitation of mercy, in order to attain true holiness. Remember that you cannot have the character of a Christian without getting into the state of the Christian. You cannot become holy merely by saying, I shall be holy. Nor can you become holy by any independent resolution or effort – even through means which God has appointed and blesses to make a holy change in sinners. As a man who is labouring under a severe bodily disease cannot become well, or perform the work of one who is in health, by any mere act of will or by any bodily effort – that is, he cannot feel and act like a man in health till he is really restored to health – so it is spiritually!
It is certainly better that men who are still under the guilt of sin should
restrain their temper and conduct than give way to unbridled iniquity. But you can have no success in prosecuting genuine, acceptable holiness as long as you continue under a sentence of condemnation. The gospel is devised to save sinners, not only from wrath by faith in Christ, but from sin itself, by kindling up the love of God in their souls and so leading them willingly and cheerfully to obey His laws. Receive then the Lord Jesus Christ, so that you may so walk in Him. If you get rid of the burden of guilt, you will get free from the bondage of corruption. If you glory in the cross of Christ, then the world will be crucified to you and you to the world. Do not resist the grace of God that brings salvation; this grace teaches sinners to deny ungodliness. Proceed in this most important pursuit in the right manner, and proceed forthwith. Now is the time for acquiring that holiness which is found to be inseparably connected with happiness.
Now the outward call is given; now the Saviour is ready to receive you; now the Spirit is ready to purify your soul through the blood of the everlasting covenant: but no one can tell how soon you may pass where no watchman lifts up the voice, no Saviour can be found, no Spirit strives; but where the decisive words shall break on every ear: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still”.
Desires for Grace (1)1
Thomas Brooks
True desires for grace is grace; true desires after Christ and grace and holiness is grace. He who sincerely desires to believe, he does really believe; and he that sincerely desires to repent, he does really repent; and he that sincerely desires to obey the Lord, to fear the Lord and to serve the Lord, he does really obey the Lord, fear the Lord and serve the Lord.2 It is the first step to grace for a man to see his heart empty of grace; and it is the first degree of grace for a man to desire grace.
Mark, all true desires of grace have the very nature and truth of grace in them, as there is true fire in a spark as well as in a flame, and true water in a drop as well as in a stream, and true light in a beam as well as in the sun, and true gold in the very filings of gold as well as in the whole wedge of gold; the least of anything partakes of the nature of the whole (Is 55:1,2,
1Taken, with editing, from A Cabinet of Jewels, in Brooks’ Works, vol 3. This is the first of two instalments.
21 Pet 2:3,4; 2 Chr 30:18,19; Mt 7:8; Ps 42:1,2, 63:1.
65:1; Jn 7:37). True desires of grace argue a state of grace and salvation: “Lord, all my desire is before Thee, and my groaning is not hid from Thee” (Ps 38:9); “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Mt 5:6), or as the Greek runs, “they that are hungering and thirsting” – intimating that, wherever this is the present disposition of men’s souls, they are blessed: “And let him that is athirst come. And who-soever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17).
Sincere desires of grace are those holy seeds, those divine beginnings of grace in the soul, out of which grace springs and grows up to its measure and perfection.3 Look, as no man can sincerely seek God in vain, so no man can sincerely desire grace in vain. A man may love gold, yet not have it; but no man loves God, but is sure to have Him. A man may desire wealth and yet never be the nearer for it, but no man ever sincerely desired grace and missed it. And why? It is God that has wrought this desire in the heart, and He will never frustrate the desire that He Himself has wrought there. Let no man say, I have no faith, no repentance, no love, no fear of God, no sanctifying or saving grace in me. Does he see a lack of those things in himself? Yes, this is what so grieves him: he cannot love God, stand in awe of Him, trust in His mercy, or repent of sin as he should. Yes, but does he seriously and sincerely desire to do so? Yes, he desires it above all things in the world, and would be willing, as it were, to buy even with a whole world the least measure or drop of such grace.
Now let me ask him, Who is it that has wrought this desire in him? Not the devil, for he would rather quench it than kindle it in him; not his own corruption, for that is naturally averse to everything that is good; it must then be the work of the Spirit of God, who works in us “both to will and to do of His good pleasure”, and who pronounces all them blessed that thus desire grace. “When I have a good desire,” says one, “though it does scarcely show itself in some little, slender sigh, I must be assured that the Spirit of God is present, and works His good work.”4 Wicked men do not desire the grace of the Holy Spirit, whereby they may resist sin, and therefore they are justly deprived of it, for he that earnestly desires the Holy Ghost has it already, because this desire of the Spirit cannot but be from the Spirit.
“Our faith”, says another, “may be so small and weak, as it does not yet bring forth fruits that may be lively felt in us; but if they who feel themselves in such a state desire to have these feelings of God’s favour and love, if they ask them from God by prayer, this desire and prayer are testimonies that
3 Augustine: “Where there are sincere desires of grace, there are the seeds of grace, the conception of grace, the buds of grace”.
4 Ursinus’ Catechism.
the Spirit of God is in them, and that they have faith already, for is such a desire a fruit of the flesh or of the Spirit? It is of the Holy Spirit, who brings it forth only in such as He dwells in.5 Then those holy desires and prayers, being the motions of the Holy Ghost in us, are testimonies of our faith, although they seem to us small and weak. As the woman that feels the moving of a child in her body, though very weak, assures herself that she has conceived and that she goes with a live child; so if we have these holy affections and desires already mentioned, let us not doubt that we have the Holy Ghost dwelling in us, who is the Author of them, and consequently that we also have faith.
Again, says the same author, (1) If you have begun to hate sin and flee from it; (2) if you feel that you are displeased at your infirmities and corruptions; (3) if, having offended God, you find a grief and a sorrow for it; (4) if you desire to abstain from sin; (5) if you avoid the occasions of sin; (6) if you make endeavours against sin; (7) if you pray to God to give you grace; all these holy affections, proceeding from none other than the Spirit of God, ought to be as so many pledges and testimonies that He is in you. It is as impossible for us naturally to do the least good, or to desire the least grace, as it is for a toad to spit cordials (Phil 2:13, 2 Cor 8:12). Sincere desires after God and Christ and grace are sometimes all that the people of God find in themselves.
This was all that Nehemiah could say of himself and the rest of his brethren (Neh 1:11) that they desired to fear God’s name. And so the Church: “The desire of our soul is to Thy name, and to the remembrance of Thee. With my soul have I desired Thee in the night” (Is 26:8,9). So the spouse (Song 3:1-3). So David (Ps 27:4, 42:1,2, 63:1)
They should be sure of grace that have an unfeigned desire of it. This is a maxim that we must live and die with: no man can truly desire grace but he that already has grace; certainly he that desires grace has grace to desire it. It is an infallible sign: the man already has some measure of grace that seriously desires to have it. He would never seriously desire to fear God who does not stand in some awe of Him already; nor would he ever desire seriously to love God who has no love to God already; nor would he ever seriously desire to believe who has no faith already; nor would he ever seriously desire to repent that has not already repented; nor would he ever seriously desire sanctifying grace whose heart is not in some measure already sanctified by the Spirit of grace.
5John Taffin of Amsterdam, whose searching little treatise, Of the Marks of the Children of God, and of their Comforts in Afflictions, was translated by Prowse in 1590 and was long a favourite among the Puritans (A B Grossart).