EFFECTUAL CALLING

Romans 8: 28 – 30

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,
28 

who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also
called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Introduction

I am reliably informed that you are studying the Doctrine of the Application of
the Work of Redemption or simply the way in which the blessings of salvation
come to us. If you are saved this series of studies will help you to understand
how God saved you from bondage to sin and if you are not saved, the Lord
willing these studies will make you realise that only the Lord Jesus Christ can
save you from your sin.

Recap

Why do you need to be saved? Answer: Because all of us have sinned and fallen
short of the Glory of God (Romans 3:23). And because we are all born sinners,
we are all spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1)

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you
once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among
whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just
as the others.

Now this state of being dead in sins and trespasses is often referred to as Total
Depravity. Total depravity means that mankind because of the effects of the fall
is corrupted to the core of our being so that we sin naturally because we are
sinners.

Effectual calling therefore answers the question: How do you bring a spiritually
dead person to life? A dead person can’t hear and can’t do anything for
themselves so something has to happen to make them able to come out of their
Spiritual Dead State.

Last week in South Africa, “Prophet” Alph Lukau purportedly brought a dead man
back to life.
The Context

Romans 8:28 is a great encouragement to Christians that ALL THINGS that

happens in your life as a Christian work together for good. That regardless of
what difficult circumstances you may be going through, there is good that is
being worked out for your sake. We also learn in this passage that those who
love God are also known as those that are CALLED. If you are a Christian today
then you are among those that have been called.

But what have you been called from and who calls you?

This calling can generally be defined as that Gracious act of God whereby He
invites sinners to accept that salvation that is offered in Christ Jesus. Therefore a
Christian is called out of a life of sin into a life into a life of holiness.

Our text goes on to describe those that are CALLED, as being called according to
His purpose. God had purposed that those who are the CALLED will be saved.
This is called predestination.

You will notice that in verse 29, that those He foreknew, He also predestined to
be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. He foreknew them which means that if you are saved today,
then God knew you even before you believed. It’s not that God only became
interested in you because you believed in Him but that God became interested in
you while you were still dead in trespasses and sins.

Romans 5:6 says that “While we were still without strength, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly”.

In John 10: 14, the Lord Jesus Christ tells us that He knows His Sheep and He
lays down His life for the Sheep. So the Lord Jesus Christ when He was dying on
the cross knew beforehand who He was dying for and it is for those people that
He lay down His life. This is called Limited Atonement.

But when did this predestination take place?

Ephesians 1:4 tells us that “Just as he Choose un in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
having predestined us to be adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself
according to the good pleasure of His will.”

In verse 30, we learn that it is those that God predestined, that He Called and
those that are Called He Justified and Glorified. So if we had to put the events of
our salvation on a time line, then we would say:

(i) God in Eternity Past, before the foundations of the world, choose a people
whom His Son would die for and to predestined these to be conformed to
the image of His Son.
(ii) In time, God CALLS these people in a saving way. This is called the
Effectual Call. Through this effectual Call, God wakes these people from
their Spiritual Death by bringing them to life so that they can hear and
respond to the Gospel.
(iii) Those He Calls, He also justifies which means He pardons their sins and
accounts the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ to them so that He
accepts them as righteous.
(iv) Then those that are justified, He will glorify at the end of time by
transforming their corrupt bodies through the removal of all remaining sin
and the effects of sin.

What then does the Call Look like?

The Call of God can be classified into the external or universal call and the
internal or effectual call.

The External Call consists in the presentation and offering of salvation in Christ
to sinners, together with an earnest exhortation to accept Christ by Faith in
order to obtain the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. In short the external call
goes out whenever the Gospel is faithfully preached. The external call is
universal in that it goes out to all men.

The Effectual Call is essentially the external call made effective by the
operation of the Holy Spirit. The effectual call comes to the sinner through the
Word of God applied in a saving manner by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

 This is a powerful call which will result in Salvation because the one that
calls is the Almighty God Himself.
 The person who is effectually called will surely be saved.
 It is not subject to change and is never withdrawn. Romans 11:29 “For
the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.”
 The Spirit operates through the preached Word by making its persuasions
effective so that man listens to the voice of God.
 It addresses itself to the understanding which has been enlightened by the
Holy Spirit so that the called person is conscious of the message of the
Gospel.
 It is a call to fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, to inherit blessings, to
liberty from sin, to peace, to holiness, to eternal life and to God’s kingdom
and Glory.

What is our response to this teaching?

1) If you are a Christian, you must be grateful that God has created such a
great and glorious way of Salvation. That God knew you from the
foundations of the earth and sent His Son to die for you.
2) We must be faithful in sharing the Gospel because it is through the
external sharing of the Gospel that the call of God’s people is made
effectual.
3) If you are not a Christian, you must realise that each time you hear the
Gospel, it is God who is calling you and you are responsible for how you
respond to the Gospel. God will judge you based how you respond to His
message of love each time that you hear it. God has loved so much that
He gave His only begotten Son that if you believe in Him, you will be
saved. If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved.