Irresistible Call: A New Heart

Today, on Renewing Your Mind. Well, here's what we're going to talk about in this session. We're going to continue to focus on the irresistible call of God.

And here's why this is so important. You remember when we looked at total depravity, radical corruption? We talked about how man is bound in sin and bound by Satan, how he's spiritually blind and cannot see, he's spiritually deaf and cannot hear, he's spiritually dead in his trespasses and sins. The obvious question for all of us to ask is, if that is true, which it is, and if man's will is bound in bondage, how is anyone saved? How does anyone ever believe?

How does anyone ever repent of their sins? The answer to that is what we're going to look at in this session. The answer to that is the irresistible call of God, that what we cannot do, God does in us and through us, and God graciously and lovingly enables us to believe upon Christ.

In fact, He even gives us the gift of faith and repentance and draws us to Christ. That's where we're going in this session. And we've got a lot of verses to cover, so I hope your fingers are licked and you're ready to turn the pages of your Bible and you're ready to go with me.

So here we go. We've already looked in John 1 and in John 3. I want you to come to John 5, verse 25. I love hearing the pages of your Bible turning, too.

Someone has said it sounds like a flutter of angel's wings just to hear those Bibles being turned. But there is something about seeing it in your own Bible and having a real ownership of these truths in our heart. I want to talk about spiritual resurrection, that the new birth is like a spiritual resurrection. In fact, it is a spiritual resurrection. In John 5, verse 24, Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, and ours coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. This is what it is to come to faith in Christ. It is when we were dead in trespasses and sin to be raised out of the grave of sin and to be raised out of the grave of sin and to be raised out of the grave of sin and to be raised out of the grave of sin. To be resurrected, to be given life, to be enabled to believe upon Jesus Christ.

Now, we need to understand the order. It's not believe and then be born again. It is be born again and then believe.

I want to ask you this question. In John chapter 11, you remember when Jesus went to Bethany and He stood before the tomb of Lazarus. And Jesus said, Come forth. Did not Jesus have to raise Lazarus before He could come forth? Did not Jesus have to impart life to the dead corpse of Lazarus before He could come out of that tomb?

The answer to that is yes. And so it is for those who are spiritually dead when the gospel goes out to them dead men cannot hear. It is only those who are made alive, only those whose ears are opened, and the new birth is represented here from the lips of our Lord as a spiritual resurrection. Let me tell you, it is the greatest miracle in all of human history whenever someone believes upon Jesus Christ. The spiritual is always greater than the physical, and when God spoke everything into being out of nothing in the physical creation, as great as that was, I think the new creation is even greater. When God raises men from the grave of sin to believe upon Jesus Christ.

What a powerful work of God it is. Of course, the rest of Scripture confirms this. Ephesians 2, verse 1, you were dead in your trespasses and sins, but God, being really dead, rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. Colossians 2, 13, when you were dead in your transgression and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him. This is what it is to come to Christ. It's to be resurrected from spiritual death to spiritual life. And when He does so, He gives the gift of repentance and faith.

Let me just give you a couple of verses on this. Acts 11, 18, God granted to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life. Repentance does not self-originate.

We don't work up repentance. Repentance must be granted to us, given to us as a gift by God, and He gives it to all His elect. Ephesians 2, verse 8, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.

What is the gift of God? Both the grace and the faith to believe in Christ. Philippians 1, 29, for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake to believe in Him.

It has to be granted to you to believe in Him. Hebrews 12, verse 2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. Who authored saving faith within you? Jesus is the author of saving faith. And we could turn to many more verses.

But the new birth is a spiritual resurrection, and we could not resurrect ourselves to life. God had to in order to enable us to respond with saving faith. Now I want you to come to John chapter 6.

The other heading is sovereign drawing. And in John chapter 6, verse 37, and this is one of the passages we've looked at several times, but there's a key element that I want you to see that we've not yet addressed. In John 6, 37, Jesus said, all that the Father gives Me will come to Me. Question, how is it that they are made to come to Christ? Because we all, like sheep, have gone astray.

We have gone His own way. There is none who seeks for God, no not one. So how will anyone come to Christ? The answer is in verse 44. And there's one word in verse 44 that is rich in theological truth that I want you to see. Jesus said, and again now, this is our Lord speaking. He had more to say on the sovereignty of God and salvation than anyone else.

We've already talked about that, the moral spiritual inability of the sinner to come and believe upon Christ. Now watch the rest of this sentence. Unless the Father who sent Me draws Him, that is the drawing power of God the Holy Spirit to bring to Christ those who are chosen by the Father. Now that word draw, critically important. Draw a circle around that word in your Bible because that means much more than to attract. It means much more than to urge or to woo. Now this word means literally the idea of dragging by force. The word was used of hauling bricks or towing a heavy load. Now I want to give you some verses where this very same Greek word is used elsewhere in the New Testament.

And each one of these will paint a picture on the canvas of your mind of what it is to be drawn. Acts 16 verse 19, it was used when they physically drug Paul into the marketplace. They literally apprehended him, laid hands upon him, and just drug him into the marketplace right before they put him into prison. Dragging Paul out of the temple to apprehend him and to powerfully drag him out.

How about this one? John 21 verse 6. You remember after the resurrection, Jesus tells His disciples to go to Galilee.

They're, wait for Me. They get in the boat. They go back to their fishing.

Jesus on the seashore and is cooking breakfast. Do you remember that? And Peter looks up and is pulling in his nets before he goes running. To the Lord when he was drawing that net. Now John is careful to tell us there were 153 fish in that net. Not a small catch.

153. Peter pulled that heavy load with his strong arms. He drug that net ashore. It's the very same word that is used. Unless the Father draws people to Christ. You see, God must overcome their resistance to the Gospel. And of course, in the miracle of the new birth, He's also giving them a new heart as well. We're not drug kicking and screaming into the kingdom because He's giving us a new heart as well at the same time. But we are being powerfully drawn into a saving relationship with Christ. This word is used in Acts 18 verse 10 of Peter drawing a sword. In fact, I think that's John 18 verse 10, excuse me, of Peter drawing a sword. James 2, 6 was used of physically dragging the poor before a judge.

Here's the point. I think it should be obvious to you that in the work of the Holy Spirit, it's not just a little love tap He gives. It's a massaging of the heart. It's not just an attraction. It is a powerful, sovereign, supernatural, irresistible drawing of those out of the world whose hearts have been married to the lust of their flesh. And they are drawn into saving relationship with Jesus Christ. The saving power of God.

And we must continue to proceed. I want you to note also in John chapter 10, the sovereign calling. We've already looked at John 10 as it relates to the death of Christ.

I want you to see it as it relates to the call of the Spirit. In John chapter 10 verse 1, Jesus says, The Pharisees that were not appointed by God, that did not speak the truth, later they're identified in this same chapter as thieves and robbers. In fact, in this very verse, thieves and robbers, they're not the true owner of the sheep. Verse 2, but he, referring to the true shepherd, but he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. That refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, notice verse 3. Here is the thunder.

The thunder of this. To him the doorkeeper opens. I think it's referring to John the Baptist recognizing the Lord Jesus Christ and his ministry as a forerunner, but continue to read, and the sheep hear his voice. Referring to the good shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. Verse 4, he puts forth all his own. He goes ahead of them and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

This is the powerful call of the Holy Spirit. It is the voice of the shepherd. And I told you earlier in this series about the community sheepfold and all of the sheep who are in that sheepfold eating and the good shepherd comes to the sheepfold and the doorkeeper lets him in.

The thieves and robbers are trying to climb in unlawfully. From the backside and they're being kept out and Christ now appears and he calls his own sheep by name. And as he calls them by name, that individual sheep just pops his head up. That is my shepherd who's calling me. And he stops what he's doing, begins to separate himself from the other sheep that were mixed in with this community sheepfold and is drawn to the voice of his shepherd.

That is my shepherd. Who is calling me. That is my name that is being called out. And then he calls another sheep and that sheep lifts its head and he is drawn to the voice of the shepherd. And then he calls all of his sheep out.

Not a one is left behind in the community sheepfold. And they come because he calls. There is power in that call.

And so it is with you and me. You may have been in your bedroom as a young person when that call came. You may have been sitting in church and it just suddenly you heard it.

You saw it. You came to see that you're a great sinner and he's a great savior. And God gave you ears to hear what you'd been hearing all along but now it comes home to the heart. And while you just continued to sit on that pew inside your heart, you were being drawn to Christ. Your ears were being opened. Your ears were being opened and it was brighter than 10,000 sons.

You at last saw him for who he is and the offer that is being made. You saw yourself for who you are, how much you need him and in your heart you came to Christ. And when you left church that day, you left totally different than the person who walked in. That was the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart. Being called out by name into glorious fellowship with him. Remember Romans 8, 29 and 30, for whom he foreknew, these he predestined, and whom he predestined he called, and whom he called he justified, and whom he justified he glorified. God's golden chain of salvation, those five links in salvation. Those whom he began with in eternity past is whom he concludes with in eternity future. There are no dropouts along the way.

There are no additions along the way. He starts with the sheep. He ends with the sheep. He foreknew them. He predestined them. He called them, drew them to himself and justified them at that moment of conversion.

And their glorification is so certain it's put in the past tense as though it's already happened. They are glorified though they're not even yet in heaven. It speaks to the certainty of all the sheep being before the throne.

Of God above. But look at verse 5 in John chapter 10. Verse 5, a stranger they simply will not follow but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.

Frederick Gaudet is a noted French commentator in his commentary on the gospel of John. He tells the story of a Scottish traveler who came to the Middle East, who came to Jerusalem back many, many years ago. And he saw a shepherd leading his flock down a little dusty trail and he noticed how the sheep followed the shepherd. And so he walked up to the shepherd and he said, let's just try an experiment.

Let me put on your clothes and you put on my clothes. And let me call out to the sheep. So the shepherd knew what was going to happen, that the sheep would not follow anyone else.

They exchanged clothes. The garments of the shepherd and the Scottish traveler then began to cull those sheep. They weren't buying it. Not a one would lift its head.

Not a one would come to him. In fact, they remain loyal to their own shepherd. That's what Jesus is saying in verse 5 here. A stranger they simply will not follow. Listen, the voice of Brigham Young, they're not going to follow.

They do not know the voice of a stranger. The voice of the Pope, they will not follow. The voice of a false prophet, they will not, they will not, they will not follow. The sheep will only follow their good shepherd.

A.W. Pink writes, let a man of the world hear two preachers, one giving out the truth and the other giving error. And he can discern no difference between them. But it is far otherwise with a child of God. He may be but a babe in Christ, unskilled in theological controversies, but instinctively he will detect vital heresy as soon as he hears it.

And why is this? He says because he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit and a stranger he will not follow. This is the work of God within Jesus. He draws us, he births us, he gives the gift of repentance and faith, and we begin a binding personal eternal relationship and he will transport all of his sheep safely home. Well, these are glorious truths, are they not? That the Lord will secure the salvation of all of his sheep. Did he die for us?

But he calls us out and he calls us by name. What a glorious thing it is to be one of his sheep, to be the object of his love, to be the object of his care. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. There was once a lady who was somewhat distraught and a little mentally challenged. She gave her a pastor one day and she said, there are two men following me wherever I go. I get on a bus, those men are there.

I go home to my apartment, they're following me. And he could tell that she was not necessarily connecting all the dots in her mind, but to put her at ease. He said, oh, those are two of David's men.

She said, explain. Mercy will follow me all the days of my life. He said, that's goodness and mercy that's following you wherever you go.

Well, she was so comforted to know that those were two of David's boys who were following her and would to God we could all be that mentally deranged. To be content to just trust that our good shepherd will follow us every step of the journey. He loses not a one of his sheep, not a one of us will ever perish and he will safely transport us home to glory.

He who has begun a good work in us shall perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Oh, to hear the voice of the shepherd. You say, do you hear the audible voice?

Oh, no. It's much louder than that. It is so strong and it is so powerful when it calls out to us and we are made to apprehend that that is my shepherd who is calling me. And when we're called out of the world, we are joined to Christ. He puts the new life within us. He takes out the heart of stone. He puts in us heart of flesh. He writes his word upon our hearts and he causes us to walk in his statutes. He puts his spirit within us. This is all of God. That is why when we get to heaven, we're given crowns.

We don't wear them and parade them around. We go look at my crowns. We cast them back at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ because we understand he's the one who chose me. He's the one who predestined me. He is the one who bought me at the cross. He is the one who has called me. He's the one who drew me. He's the one who regenerated me.

He's the one who brought me into saving relationship with himself. The only thing I have brought to the table is my sins. The sin for which Christ died upon Calvary's cross. And we will take our crowns and cast them back at his feet and it will be symbolic that from him and through him and to him are all things. And we will understand even more clearly how it is that we have come to find our place before the throne of God. That it was all orchestrated in eternity past and carried out by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Only then can we truly say, to God be the glory forever and ever.

Amen. Today, and over the next couple of days here on Renewing Your Mind, we are featuring the series The Doctrines of Grace in John by Dr. Stephen Lawson. In Twelve Messages, he explains the five main biblical doctrines that reveal God's plan for salvation. Understanding what's been accomplished for us in salvation sets the tone for everything else in our Christian walk.

It's critical that we know what God says about it. So to help you in your study, we'd like to send you Dr. Lawson's complete series. There are twelve messages on two DVDs, and you can request it with your gift of any amount when you call us at 800-435-4343. You can also make your request online at renewingyourmind.org. This series will help you understand what Scripture teaches about essential Christian doctrines like man's total depravity, God's electing grace, and much more. So again, request The Doctrines of Grace in John when you give a gift of any amount to Ligonier Ministries. Our web address again is renewingyourmind.org, and our phone number, 800-435-4343.

We'll continue Dr. Lawson's series tomorrow. God will never give eternal life and then take it back. This is irrevocable. This can never be reversed. Once we have received eternal life, it is ours both through time and eternity. Still, there are many who believe you can lose your salvation. I hope you'll join us tomorrow as Dr. Lawson looks to Scripture to defend God's preserving grace. That's Thursday, here on Renewing Your Mind. .