WEBVTT 00:00:31.869 --> 00:00:33.710 Let's start us off with some prayer. 00:00:35.710 --> 00:00:38.909 Lord, thank you for this time we have together. 00:00:39.149 --> 00:00:43.789 Lord, thank you for the tie that binds us, that is our Redeemer, Jesus. 00:00:44.109 --> 00:00:53.469 Help us this morning as we reflect on Him as the Redeemer, the redemption he accomplished, and the redemption that's applied to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:00:53.789 --> 00:01:10.670 Lord, as always, we our hope this morning is that you would not just fill our heads, but you would fill our hearts, that you would give us a better grasp of what you have done for us in Christ, so that we can live in better response to it and share it with others as we go about our lives. 00:01:10.829 --> 00:01:12.750 Help us this morning, send your spirit now. 00:01:12.909 --> 00:01:14.430 We pray in Jesus' name. 00:01:14.670 --> 00:01:15.310 Amen. 00:01:16.509 --> 00:01:27.549 Alright, so last week we um we turned from the person and the work of the Redeemer to the application of his benefits to us. 00:01:27.949 --> 00:01:32.670 Question 29 asks, how are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ? 00:01:32.750 --> 00:01:41.789 And the answer is that we are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit. 00:01:42.030 --> 00:01:45.789 So we're partakers in that we have a share in Christ. 00:01:46.030 --> 00:01:48.590 We're united to him, we have communion with him. 00:01:49.870 --> 00:01:55.310 We have redemption in that he has paid the price of redemption through his blood. 00:01:55.550 --> 00:02:10.669 And it is effectually applied to us in that God applies the benefits of redemption to us effectively, powerfully, sovereignly by his Holy Spirit. 00:02:10.990 --> 00:02:14.430 So today we ask how the Spirit does that. 00:02:14.590 --> 00:02:15.469 Question 30. 00:02:15.550 --> 00:02:18.909 How does the Spirit apply to us redemption purchased by Christ? 00:02:19.229 --> 00:02:28.030 The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ by working faith in us and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. 00:02:28.270 --> 00:02:33.710 So we'll talk some about the Spirit working faith in us, and we'll also talk about effectual calling. 00:02:33.789 --> 00:02:37.710 We'll be covering questions 30 and 31 in the shorter catechism today. 00:02:38.030 --> 00:02:38.830 So, faith. 00:02:38.990 --> 00:02:43.629 The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ by working faith in us. 00:02:44.030 --> 00:02:48.030 What does it mean for God to work faith in us? 00:02:49.629 --> 00:02:50.909 He gives us faith. 00:02:51.229 --> 00:02:52.269 He gives us faith. 00:02:52.429 --> 00:02:52.750 Okay. 00:02:54.429 --> 00:02:56.189 You want to add anything to that? 00:02:56.509 --> 00:02:57.229 We like that? 00:02:57.310 --> 00:02:58.509 We like Randy's answer. 00:02:58.750 --> 00:03:06.349 He gives us confident expectation that he will accomplish what he said he was going to accomplish. 00:03:06.750 --> 00:03:07.229 Mm-hmm. 00:03:07.709 --> 00:03:10.109 So he doesn't just give us faith, he gives us hope. 00:03:10.429 --> 00:03:12.590 Because what you're describing there is Christian hope. 00:03:13.870 --> 00:03:15.870 Because you have to have faith in something. 00:03:16.189 --> 00:03:16.909 Right, right. 00:03:17.069 --> 00:03:18.109 Yeah, that's right. 00:03:18.590 --> 00:03:23.949 Faith is the assurance of things hurt uh hope for the conviction of things unseen, right? 00:03:25.229 --> 00:03:36.030 I would say, in my own experience with you, that you know, as you walk with God, you see him move in your life. 00:03:36.669 --> 00:03:42.509 And that increases my faith as I see his hand in everything. 00:03:42.909 --> 00:03:49.069 My faith gets stronger, and um and that's what I experience. 00:03:49.549 --> 00:03:49.629 Yeah. 00:03:49.789 --> 00:03:53.310 Yeah, I was gonna say something about providing evidence for faith. 00:03:56.509 --> 00:03:56.750 Yeah. 00:03:56.909 --> 00:04:04.349 Yeah, so God doesn't just give the faith, he gives the conditions of faith, and he enables us to exercise faith too, right? 00:04:04.590 --> 00:04:07.389 Because faith is something we have to do, isn't it? 00:04:07.549 --> 00:04:07.870 Right? 00:04:07.949 --> 00:04:09.069 You you have to believe. 00:04:09.229 --> 00:04:10.989 God doesn't believe for you. 00:04:11.150 --> 00:04:17.310 We acknowledge from Ephesians 2, 2, 8 through 9, by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. 00:04:17.470 --> 00:04:21.550 It is the gift of God, not a result of work, so that no one may boast. 00:04:21.709 --> 00:04:24.430 The gift there refers to both the grace and the faith. 00:04:24.590 --> 00:04:26.189 God gives us faith. 00:04:26.430 --> 00:04:29.550 Well, having faith, we have to exercise our faith. 00:04:29.709 --> 00:04:33.870 But it's really important that we don't confuse faith with a work. 00:04:34.590 --> 00:04:42.350 As yes, we have to have faith, but faith is not the thing we do in order to merit our redemption. 00:04:43.470 --> 00:04:44.590 Now think about that. 00:04:44.670 --> 00:04:51.230 How does that compare to how you've maybe been taught about faith or thought about faith in the past? 00:05:05.870 --> 00:05:07.470 So often, go ahead. 00:05:07.950 --> 00:05:08.350 Faith. 00:05:09.310 --> 00:05:10.670 And believing. 00:05:11.230 --> 00:05:14.350 And what you read about and what God is teaching you. 00:05:14.750 --> 00:05:17.550 And you believe, and you know, I obey. 00:05:17.950 --> 00:05:18.990 Yeah, that's true. 00:05:19.310 --> 00:05:19.550 Yeah. 00:05:19.950 --> 00:05:21.629 Yeah, faith is believing. 00:05:21.870 --> 00:05:25.470 Believing is the the verb form of the noun faith. 00:05:25.629 --> 00:05:29.550 In Greek, they're they're the same word, just in slightly different uh forms. 00:05:29.710 --> 00:05:31.390 It is so it is a response, really. 00:05:32.110 --> 00:05:38.030 It's not just believing that God exists because James tells us the devil do that. 00:05:38.350 --> 00:05:38.830 Right. 00:05:38.990 --> 00:05:48.750 Um, it is it is what the vision or the knowledge of God's character elicits from us. 00:05:49.230 --> 00:05:49.629 Right. 00:05:50.350 --> 00:05:53.310 That to me is believing faith. 00:05:53.470 --> 00:05:55.390 That's biblical faith. 00:05:55.710 --> 00:05:55.950 Yeah. 00:05:56.990 --> 00:06:04.910 He gives us a glimmer of himself, and the response that goes back to him is this biblical faith. 00:06:05.390 --> 00:06:08.990 Yeah, there's an important point in there in what you were saying. 00:06:09.230 --> 00:06:18.670 It's not just believing in God, it's believing God when he reveals himself, when he reveals who he is and what he's done and what he requires of us. 00:06:19.069 --> 00:06:20.510 So it's got content. 00:06:20.670 --> 00:06:22.189 It's got definite content. 00:06:22.590 --> 00:06:23.230 Brennan. 00:06:24.030 --> 00:06:32.030 That's similar to Adrian's book or going on in chapter one day. 00:06:36.990 --> 00:06:37.870 Yeah, that's right. 00:06:38.750 --> 00:06:46.270 I mean, I think a lot of times I don't know about it. 00:06:46.350 --> 00:06:46.830 Yeah. 00:06:50.510 --> 00:06:50.670 Yeah. 00:06:54.750 --> 00:06:54.910 Right. 00:06:55.150 --> 00:06:56.830 It's the head, it's the heart, it's the hands. 00:06:57.150 --> 00:06:57.470 Yeah. 00:07:02.910 --> 00:07:03.230 Yeah. 00:07:03.710 --> 00:07:08.030 Versus the thing that we need is the righteousness. 00:07:08.270 --> 00:07:08.670 Right. 00:07:08.830 --> 00:07:14.430 And it's the righteousness that we receive by faith, by believing God as Abraham believed that. 00:07:14.670 --> 00:07:14.990 Yeah. 00:07:15.390 --> 00:07:20.189 But there is a sense that we put our faith in our faith. 00:07:20.270 --> 00:07:23.470 And remember that it's the righteousness that we need. 00:07:23.629 --> 00:07:23.870 Right. 00:07:24.110 --> 00:07:25.310 That we actually think that we have. 00:07:25.629 --> 00:07:25.790 Right. 00:07:25.950 --> 00:07:28.830 And Jeff is getting at what I was getting at in my question. 00:07:28.910 --> 00:07:29.790 He's a he's a plant. 00:07:29.870 --> 00:07:31.710 I paid him five bucks for coming class. 00:07:33.390 --> 00:07:42.910 Oftentimes the way we're taught about faith and the way we think about faith in evangelical churches is faith is the one work that you do in order to be saved. 00:07:43.150 --> 00:07:54.910 It's not generally articulated in that way, but faith becomes the thing that, you know, I write the date in my Bible and I look back to the day I put my faith in Jesus, and that's where I place my confidence. 00:07:55.230 --> 00:08:06.750 As opposed to faith being the open hand that lays hold of Christ, faith being the instrument by which we receive the redemptive benefits of Christ. 00:08:07.069 --> 00:08:13.230 See, it may sound like a bit of a distinction without a difference, but it's actually all the difference in the world. 00:08:13.470 --> 00:08:18.510 Because on the one side, what you have, what you ultimately end up with is faith in your own faith. 00:08:19.470 --> 00:08:20.350 Why am I saved? 00:08:20.510 --> 00:08:22.750 Because I've decided to follow Jesus. 00:08:25.710 --> 00:08:27.470 Because I have believed in him. 00:08:27.790 --> 00:08:34.350 Okay, what about on the really hard days when your doubt is assailing you or when things aren't going the way they should? 00:08:35.069 --> 00:08:37.309 How do you feel about your faith then? 00:08:38.029 --> 00:08:39.149 I don't know. 00:08:39.389 --> 00:08:43.789 As opposed to, you know, why, you know, why are you saved? 00:08:44.029 --> 00:08:45.549 Why do you have eternal security? 00:08:45.710 --> 00:08:47.309 Why do you have assurance of faith? 00:08:47.629 --> 00:08:50.590 Because Jesus loved me and gave himself for me. 00:08:52.269 --> 00:08:53.629 That one is faith. 00:08:53.870 --> 00:09:02.509 It is an articulation grounded in faith, as is an exercise of faith that doesn't rest our salvation in that faith itself. 00:09:02.750 --> 00:09:03.710 Does that make sense? 00:09:05.870 --> 00:09:17.069 So it it's so when the Spirit applies the benefits of Christ to us, when God works faith within us, that's the kind of faith that he's working within us. 00:09:17.230 --> 00:09:27.949 He's giving us the spiritual perception, he's giving us the sensitivity of heart and mind to hear what he said and to understand what he said, to receive what he said, to respond to what he said. 00:09:29.309 --> 00:09:32.189 Your first description is stuff that we do. 00:09:32.829 --> 00:09:34.750 Your second description is what Jesus did. 00:09:35.230 --> 00:09:35.549 Yes. 00:09:35.789 --> 00:09:38.589 So it's not about at all what we do. 00:09:38.909 --> 00:09:39.149 Right. 00:09:39.309 --> 00:09:41.549 Yeah, we are saved by works. 00:09:42.110 --> 00:09:42.829 Jesus' works. 00:09:43.870 --> 00:09:46.029 And faith is how we lay hold of those works. 00:09:46.110 --> 00:09:51.870 It's not the work that we do in order to, you know, complete or actualize Jesus' work. 00:09:52.029 --> 00:09:56.429 It's the organ by which we receive what Jesus has already done for us. 00:09:57.069 --> 00:10:01.469 So that's the kind of faith that God works in us. 00:10:01.709 --> 00:10:06.269 And ordinarily, how does he bring that faith about? 00:10:06.669 --> 00:10:07.949 Think biblically. 00:10:08.189 --> 00:10:11.549 What does God use to elicit faith from us? 00:10:11.949 --> 00:10:12.669 Preaching. 00:10:12.990 --> 00:10:13.949 Preaching. 00:10:14.669 --> 00:10:16.110 Romans 10, 17. 00:10:16.269 --> 00:10:20.189 So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. 00:10:20.509 --> 00:10:25.789 Now there's a pretty, in that sense, it's kind of an expansive understanding of the word preaching. 00:10:25.949 --> 00:10:30.509 There's the kind of formal preaching that happens in a worship service that I do up there in the pulpit. 00:10:30.589 --> 00:10:37.469 But there's also the kind of informal preaching that the whole church does in terms of our Christian testimony, in terms of our witness. 00:10:37.629 --> 00:10:41.469 And God uses that witness in order to elicit faith. 00:10:41.789 --> 00:10:47.629 Christ speaks in and by the word of God as it is spoken by the truth. 00:10:47.709 --> 00:10:51.469 And he uses that to grow the word of God, to grow the church. 00:10:51.709 --> 00:10:55.389 And so that kind of raises the question as we're thinking about this. 00:10:55.949 --> 00:10:59.709 What about people who aren't exposed to preaching? 00:10:59.949 --> 00:11:06.189 Or people who aren't capable of hearing that preaching with normal understanding? 00:11:07.469 --> 00:11:18.349 And our confession is actually pretty modest and helpful in how it summarizes the Bible's teaching in that respect. 00:11:18.509 --> 00:11:21.549 It's confession chapter 10, paragraph 3. 00:11:21.709 --> 00:11:24.269 It says, because think of the categories. 00:11:24.349 --> 00:11:26.589 What categories of people come to mind then? 00:11:27.069 --> 00:11:36.509 Infants and the mentally infirm, people who also people who are kind of on the frontiers where maybe the gospel hasn't penetrated yet. 00:11:36.829 --> 00:11:38.669 Or where you don't see churches yet. 00:11:38.829 --> 00:11:49.789 And 10 3 says, elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who works when and where and how he pleases. 00:11:50.110 --> 00:11:57.549 So also are all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word. 00:11:57.789 --> 00:12:07.629 In the chapter on the church, it'll also talk about the visible church of Christ out of which there is no ordinary expectation of salvation. 00:12:08.029 --> 00:12:17.549 There are still extraordinary cases in the world that I think we can admit that you may not see the ordinary preaching of the gospel. 00:12:17.709 --> 00:12:21.230 You may not have a person coming into a church service on a Sunday morning. 00:12:21.789 --> 00:12:30.509 You may have an infant who hasn't had the possibility of sitting through a sermon and hearing the external calling of the gospel. 00:12:30.829 --> 00:12:31.549 What are we saying? 00:12:31.709 --> 00:12:32.829 That they're not saved? 00:12:32.990 --> 00:12:35.629 No, what we're saying is that God is capable. 00:12:35.949 --> 00:12:39.549 God is able to save people in those situations. 00:12:39.709 --> 00:12:49.870 And especially in the case of the infant, we have the witness of Scripture, David, and his baby by Bathsheba, 2 Samuel 12, 22 through 23. 00:12:50.269 --> 00:12:59.149 David said, While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live? 00:12:59.389 --> 00:13:00.669 But now he was dead. 00:13:00.909 --> 00:13:02.029 Why should I fast? 00:13:02.189 --> 00:13:03.789 Can I bring him back again? 00:13:04.029 --> 00:13:07.709 I shall go to him, but he will not return to me. 00:13:08.269 --> 00:13:17.789 David had the expectation that this child, being his child, being a child of the covenant, was a child that he would be reunited with. 00:13:18.029 --> 00:13:22.029 And he could have that expectation on the basis of the covenant promises. 00:13:22.349 --> 00:13:28.509 Like Peter says in Acts 2 on Pentecost, for the promise is to you and to your children. 00:13:29.309 --> 00:13:38.669 So that's the kind of hope that Christians can hold out or hold on to if you've been through miscarriage or the loss of a child. 00:13:38.990 --> 00:13:46.349 It's also something we can hold out to each other when we go through, you know, with when our brothers and sisters go through that kind of thing. 00:13:47.230 --> 00:14:05.789 So ordinarily faith comes by the preaching of the word, but that is not, that does not necessarily mean that someone who's in a condition where they could not receive that outward call in a way that we would or that we would expect, it doesn't mean that God can't reach that person either. 00:14:08.029 --> 00:14:08.990 Alright. 00:14:10.189 --> 00:14:18.509 The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ by working faith in us and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. 00:14:18.750 --> 00:14:20.189 Uniting us to Christ. 00:14:20.349 --> 00:14:27.069 We spoke about that at length last week, so we don't necessarily need to rehash all of it. 00:14:27.309 --> 00:14:32.829 We can simply reiterate that the whole of our salvation is comprehended in Christ. 00:14:33.389 --> 00:14:42.189 John Calvin, one of the most famous quotes he has from the Institutes of the Christian Religion, comes from Book 3, chapter 1, paragraph 1. 00:14:42.429 --> 00:14:57.549 He says, we must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us and we are separated from him, that all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us. 00:14:58.750 --> 00:15:04.990 Union with Christ is the great gift within which all of the other gifts of God are comprehended. 00:15:05.230 --> 00:15:18.110 We did this little exercise last week where we read Ephesians 1 and we raised our hands every time something like in Christ or with Christ or through Christ came up in the text, and it's like we're raising our hands the whole time. 00:15:18.349 --> 00:15:27.069 Because the reality is that Jesus is not some vending machine from which we draw the benefits of redemption. 00:15:27.230 --> 00:15:31.230 Jesus is our covenant head, he's our covenant Lord, he's our covenant redeemer. 00:15:31.389 --> 00:15:37.309 So everything we have from him, we have by way of union with him personally. 00:15:37.789 --> 00:15:39.549 So what he did, we do. 00:15:39.709 --> 00:15:41.870 What happened to him, happened to us. 00:15:42.029 --> 00:15:43.709 When he died, we died with him. 00:15:43.949 --> 00:15:45.789 When he rose, we rose with him. 00:15:46.110 --> 00:15:49.469 When he now lives, we live with him. 00:15:49.870 --> 00:15:55.469 And when he comes back in glory, we will rise in fullness with him. 00:15:56.029 --> 00:16:03.309 So our union with Christ is absolutely central to the application of the benefits of redemption to us. 00:16:05.629 --> 00:16:10.750 So the last bit of this answer talks about effectual calling. 00:16:11.949 --> 00:16:19.949 The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ by working faith in us and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. 00:16:20.189 --> 00:16:21.789 1 Corinthians 1 9. 00:16:21.870 --> 00:16:28.269 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:16:28.589 --> 00:16:29.389 So what is that? 00:16:29.469 --> 00:16:30.589 What is effectual calling? 00:16:30.669 --> 00:16:32.990 This is shorter catechism 31. 00:16:33.069 --> 00:16:34.909 And it answers this way. 00:16:53.309 --> 00:17:02.029 So again, it's the work of God's Spirit, but there are a number of things that God does in that process. 00:17:02.669 --> 00:17:05.870 So getting ahead of myself, it's effectual calling. 00:17:05.950 --> 00:17:07.870 Why is it important that we call it effectual? 00:17:08.029 --> 00:17:11.069 What kind of work is the word effectual doing there? 00:17:13.230 --> 00:17:16.349 In what sense is God's calling effectual? 00:17:17.390 --> 00:17:18.190 Guaranteed result. 00:17:18.829 --> 00:17:19.710 Guaranteed result? 00:17:20.110 --> 00:17:20.750 Yeah. 00:17:21.630 --> 00:17:27.950 It's yeah, it's a it's a work or it's a calling that accomplishes exactly what it intends. 00:17:28.269 --> 00:17:32.269 So to look at something like this, let's turn to John 11. 00:17:32.910 --> 00:17:38.589 And if somebody wants to read for us, John 11, verses 41 through 44. 00:17:50.670 --> 00:17:53.549 John 11, forty-one through forty-four. 00:17:58.670 --> 00:18:03.869 This of course is the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. 00:18:08.589 --> 00:18:17.389 So they took away the stone, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard that you have heard me. 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:29.230 I knew that you always heard me, but I said this, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me. 00:18:29.629 --> 00:18:36.509 When he said these things, he cried, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. 00:18:37.710 --> 00:18:45.789 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet were bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. 00:18:46.029 --> 00:18:49.389 Jesus said to them, Unbind him and let him go. 00:18:51.789 --> 00:18:54.750 Did Jesus have a conversation with Lazarus? 00:18:56.589 --> 00:18:56.909 No. 00:18:58.029 --> 00:19:00.349 Did Jesus ask for his permission? 00:19:00.509 --> 00:19:00.829 No. 00:19:01.470 --> 00:19:01.789 No. 00:19:02.269 --> 00:19:04.829 Did Jesus wait for his reply? 00:19:06.029 --> 00:19:10.829 Jesus simply said, Lazarus, come out. 00:19:11.549 --> 00:19:12.509 And he did. 00:19:13.549 --> 00:19:16.190 That's effectual calling in a nutshell. 00:19:17.149 --> 00:19:21.950 And it's a powerful illustration of what Jesus said in John 10. 00:19:22.190 --> 00:19:25.309 My sheep hear my voice, they know me, they follow me. 00:19:25.549 --> 00:19:31.069 What he said in John 5 about the day coming when all the dead will rise from the tombs. 00:19:32.190 --> 00:19:35.549 And proves it in his very own resurrection, right? 00:19:36.509 --> 00:19:41.950 But Jesus' calling is a bad book, but it's also effectual. 00:19:46.750 --> 00:19:47.549 Thank you, friend. 00:19:47.710 --> 00:19:48.589 Appreciate that. 00:19:48.909 --> 00:19:51.549 Jesus' calling is effectual, right? 00:19:51.629 --> 00:19:52.909 God's calling is effectual. 00:19:53.549 --> 00:19:55.789 Isaiah 55, 10 through 11. 00:19:56.029 --> 00:20:08.990 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. 00:20:09.230 --> 00:20:16.909 It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 00:20:18.029 --> 00:20:22.349 So God's speech is efficacious. 00:20:22.670 --> 00:20:25.869 God's speech is actually an action. 00:20:26.190 --> 00:20:29.710 And the first place you see that is in the very beginning, the creation of the world. 00:20:38.349 --> 00:20:43.389 So God speaking, God calling, it accomplishes exactly what God intends. 00:20:43.629 --> 00:20:49.869 In some cases, it confirms sinners in their rebellion, and it condemns. 00:20:50.190 --> 00:20:54.990 Like Isaiah 6, you know, hearing they will not hear, seeing they will not see. 00:20:55.710 --> 00:20:59.869 But in other cases, in our case, it saves. 00:21:00.670 --> 00:21:04.829 And so here we're talking about the effectual call of Christ. 00:21:06.029 --> 00:21:12.190 His voice is conveyed to us by the Holy Spirit who prepares our hearts and minds to receive it. 00:21:13.149 --> 00:21:14.670 So thinking about that, right? 00:21:14.829 --> 00:21:17.309 Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit. 00:21:17.470 --> 00:21:21.309 There were plenty of people who heard Jesus' audible voice. 00:21:21.629 --> 00:21:23.230 Jesus preached to the crowds. 00:21:23.470 --> 00:21:27.309 He called to the crowds, and yet they didn't respond to him. 00:21:27.629 --> 00:21:28.430 They didn't follow him. 00:21:28.589 --> 00:21:29.470 They didn't believe him. 00:21:29.950 --> 00:21:30.829 Why not? 00:21:42.190 --> 00:21:43.629 They did not have a unit. 00:21:44.829 --> 00:21:46.430 They had no inclination. 00:21:49.389 --> 00:21:50.509 Anything to say. 00:22:15.309 --> 00:22:23.549 Philippians 2, 2 Corinthians 3 and 4 talk about a people who walk in darkness, right? 00:22:23.710 --> 00:22:24.670 John 3 as well. 00:22:24.750 --> 00:22:25.950 It's kind of all over the place. 00:22:26.190 --> 00:22:30.829 A people who walk in darkness who are self deceived on account of their rebellion. 00:22:30.909 --> 00:22:34.430 Romans 1 is Suppress the truth in unrighteousness. 00:22:35.629 --> 00:22:40.349 That's our default state of mind, that's our default state of heart. 00:22:40.670 --> 00:22:43.869 Unless and until the Holy Spirit does a work in us. 00:22:44.109 --> 00:22:47.149 John 6.63, it is the Spirit who gives life. 00:22:47.309 --> 00:22:48.990 The flesh is no help at all. 00:22:49.230 --> 00:22:52.990 The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 00:22:54.029 --> 00:23:05.149 The Spirit, in order for someone to respond to the call of God, the Spirit needs to be working in their heart and mind to actually prepare them and to enable them to respond to that call. 00:23:05.470 --> 00:23:11.789 And that's a really, really important thing for us to keep in mind when we're talking to people about Jesus. 00:23:12.509 --> 00:23:14.029 Why do you think so? 00:23:19.149 --> 00:23:20.750 It takes the weight off of us. 00:24:39.230 --> 00:24:45.389 Keeping this in mind, it takes the weight off, like Brandon was saying. 00:24:45.710 --> 00:24:47.950 But it also gives us a confidence. 00:24:49.069 --> 00:24:57.230 So there's an urgency that you can feel in evangelizing people or in having apologetic conversations. 00:24:57.710 --> 00:25:00.909 There's an urgency that you should feel, right? 00:25:01.069 --> 00:25:03.389 You're contending for people's souls. 00:25:03.549 --> 00:25:07.869 You're trying to communicate the life, light, and love of Jesus to them. 00:25:08.029 --> 00:25:10.269 There should always be an urgency there. 00:25:10.750 --> 00:25:26.509 But having a good sense of the Spirit's work in that transaction gives you freedom to engage it as a faithful instrument of God's word and not as someone who thinks that they have to argue this person into the kingdom. 00:25:27.549 --> 00:25:41.470 So the practical benefits of that are, you know, less stress and anxiety for you, but also, you know, it sets you free from being a jerk for, you know, for lack of a better way of putting it. 00:25:41.629 --> 00:25:48.509 Because if you approach evangelism or apologetics with this sense of like, if it's meant to be, it's up to me, you're gonna go hard. 00:25:49.149 --> 00:25:51.389 And you're gonna try to unload the truck at them. 00:25:51.549 --> 00:25:53.389 Yeah, if you die tonight, what's it? 00:25:53.629 --> 00:25:54.670 If you die tonight, yeah. 00:25:54.829 --> 00:26:06.670 And I'm not saying there aren't contexts in which that's necessary or good, but if you go into it knowing that this is the work of God's Spirit, you're actually free to pay attention and to listen. 00:26:06.909 --> 00:26:10.829 Alright, and to know maybe it's not not is now isn't the moment to press. 00:26:10.990 --> 00:26:14.909 Or maybe now is the moment to press, right, as the case as the case may be. 00:26:15.069 --> 00:26:21.149 And you can do that with the confidence knowing that God actually does work in those situations. 00:26:21.470 --> 00:26:24.029 This is how God reaches people. 00:26:24.349 --> 00:26:45.950 So however you might feel about your own intellectual or rhetorical gifts, however equipped you might feel to engage that moment or ill-equipped to engage it, you can lean in knowing that in the providence of God, he put you in that place for a reason, and that you do your best to share what you can share, but you're gonna flub it at moments. 00:26:46.109 --> 00:26:56.750 You're gonna not think of things you should you should say, you're gonna replay the conversation in your mind later and say, Oh, I wish I said this, I wish I said that, I wish I went here, so on and so forth. 00:26:56.990 --> 00:27:06.670 But set all that aside, the Holy Spirit's going to work in and through that interaction in order to accomplish his goodwill in that person's life. 00:27:06.990 --> 00:27:07.950 So you're free. 00:27:09.230 --> 00:27:18.430 I'm thinking of I used to fly a lot, going to conferences and whatnot, and you talking about that reminds me of Francisco. 00:27:18.589 --> 00:27:26.190 He was, I was flying to Texas somewhere, and this young Hispanic man got playing at BA with me. 00:27:26.349 --> 00:27:35.549 And so I always say, Lord, if you mean me to keep my mouth shut, please don't let me open my mouth. 00:27:35.710 --> 00:27:40.029 But if you want me to say something, please help me do that. 00:27:40.589 --> 00:27:48.909 And so he he seemed to, I smiled at him, he smiled back, he seemed friendly enough, so I said, Hey, uh, what's your name? 00:27:49.069 --> 00:27:50.430 He said, Francisco. 00:27:50.750 --> 00:27:54.349 I said, Francisco, that's a great name, that's wonderful. 00:27:54.589 --> 00:28:00.269 And the conversation, uh, I said, France Francis is one of my favorite saints. 00:28:00.430 --> 00:28:03.710 He was, he loved all the animals just like I do. 00:28:04.509 --> 00:28:14.349 And um he said, When I die, I'm going to heaven because I've already lived hell on this earth. 00:28:14.589 --> 00:28:18.349 And that was welcome to the party. 00:28:18.750 --> 00:28:21.069 Yeah, he was a street kid. 00:28:21.230 --> 00:28:29.950 He was a street kid in Mexico, he was he was beaten and abused and whatnot, just this little riffraff. 00:28:30.589 --> 00:28:36.670 And I still think that the Lord put me there just to listen, because he just unburdened. 00:28:36.990 --> 00:28:48.670 And never had any resolution, never any big come to Jesus moment, but just he had at least one person that cared by listening to him and paying attention. 00:28:49.069 --> 00:28:51.950 Yeah, and in the providence of God, we can be okay with that. 00:28:52.190 --> 00:28:58.269 Yeah, and he that may have set him up from later on during the gospel saying, Oh, yeah. 00:28:58.509 --> 00:28:58.670 Yeah. 00:28:58.990 --> 00:28:59.869 Just that see. 00:29:00.509 --> 00:29:01.389 Yeah, most of the things. 00:29:01.629 --> 00:29:08.829 If you come with that weight of anxiety where you really think it's up to you, you're gonna try to turn, you're gonna try to close everyone. 00:29:09.309 --> 00:29:09.710 That's true. 00:29:10.029 --> 00:29:14.029 When you know, God may not have ordained that you would be the closer. 00:29:14.109 --> 00:29:14.269 Yeah. 00:29:14.909 --> 00:29:16.909 You're warming up a lead, right? 00:29:18.509 --> 00:29:21.629 And somebody else is gonna come along in the future and close it. 00:29:21.789 --> 00:29:30.190 And sure, you can take that as an excuse to like lean out and only, you know, only talk to people about Jesus when you feel super comfortable about it. 00:29:30.509 --> 00:29:38.509 You know, if you're taking this as an excuse to not feel the urgency and not to engage, then you're mishearing and misunderstanding what the Bible actually calls us to. 00:29:38.750 --> 00:29:40.190 Again, there's urgency there. 00:29:40.269 --> 00:29:48.190 We ought to be seeking the Spirit's leading and having the conversations, but you know, let Him dictate how those conversations go. 00:29:49.309 --> 00:29:50.109 Be free. 00:29:50.349 --> 00:29:50.990 Yeah. 00:29:51.389 --> 00:29:52.029 Yeah. 00:29:52.589 --> 00:30:00.990 So Yeah, be passionate about how good the Lord is and how His love is just beyond comprehension. 00:30:01.230 --> 00:30:08.430 And but be sensitive to how that can be expressed in this moment in this context. 00:30:08.670 --> 00:30:09.950 Right, exactly. 00:30:10.509 --> 00:30:14.349 So the Spirit works through those situations, right? 00:30:14.670 --> 00:30:19.950 Uh effectually calling people in and through the sharing of God's word. 00:30:20.509 --> 00:30:24.909 Um in that, you know, you have regeneration, right? 00:30:25.069 --> 00:30:37.149 Ezekiel 36, the taking of the heart of stone and the granting of the heart of flesh in its place, and the giving of the spirit to receive the word of God in our hearts and to desire to respond to it in the right way. 00:30:38.269 --> 00:30:49.710 It's important we don't think of that as a kind of mechanical, sort of uh a mechanical transaction or even a kind of coercion. 00:30:50.190 --> 00:31:05.789 Where God strips us of our agency that we you know we cease to be humans and we become automatons, or that's not even right, but robots, or the reformers would say, He does, he doesn't treat us, he doesn't work with us as though we were stalks and blocks. 00:31:07.230 --> 00:31:11.710 What God does by his grace is he changes us. 00:31:11.950 --> 00:31:15.950 He changes our hearts, he changes our minds, he changes our affections. 00:31:16.190 --> 00:31:26.029 Uh when we were in the flesh, in our fallen nature, apart from the grace of God, void of the Holy Spirit in us, we didn't want anything to do with God. 00:31:26.589 --> 00:31:40.509 So we retain the freedom of our will in the sense that we can do what we want and we can go where we want to go, we can make the decisions that seem right to us, but in a deeper sense, our will is in bondage to our sin. 00:31:41.069 --> 00:31:45.710 So what God does in regeneration is he sets us free from the bondage. 00:31:46.029 --> 00:31:53.549 He renews our wills and he gives us a desire to respond to Him and a desire to do what we're supposed to do. 00:31:53.789 --> 00:32:03.629 And the catechism answer begins to talk about that process with a conviction of our sin and misery. 00:32:03.869 --> 00:32:09.869 Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery. 00:32:10.190 --> 00:32:15.549 So giving us the bad news about who we are apart from Christ. 00:32:15.710 --> 00:32:48.670 And not just informing us of the bad news, but actually convincing our hearts, bringing about a spirit of conviction of all the things that we talked about in questions 17 through 19 of Catechism, how the fall brings us into a state of sin and misery, we lack original righteousness, we're guilty, we're corrupt, we um we've lost communion with God, we're under his wrath and curse, we're made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, to the pains of hell forever. 00:32:48.829 --> 00:32:49.389 All of that. 00:32:49.549 --> 00:32:50.430 It's always true. 00:32:50.589 --> 00:32:55.789 It's objectively true of our state apart from the healing grace of God. 00:32:55.950 --> 00:33:03.230 What the Spirit does is not just give us a notional truth about these things, but actually bring them home to our hearts. 00:33:04.269 --> 00:33:08.109 So that we're convicted of I'm guilty. 00:33:08.909 --> 00:33:16.190 I'm fallen, I'm corrupt, I lack righteousness, I've lost communion with God, I'm under his wrath and curse. 00:33:16.349 --> 00:33:19.309 I'm not going upstairs, I'm going downstairs. 00:33:19.789 --> 00:33:26.269 That's what the Spirit does within us, dealing with us as rational creatures. 00:33:26.509 --> 00:33:28.029 Isaiah 1.18. 00:33:28.190 --> 00:33:29.869 We see God do this with his people. 00:33:30.029 --> 00:33:33.149 Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. 00:33:33.389 --> 00:33:37.470 Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. 00:33:37.629 --> 00:33:41.470 Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. 00:33:42.109 --> 00:33:46.990 It's essentially what's happening in that first component of effectual calling. 00:33:47.230 --> 00:33:53.230 God is reasoning with us and convincing us and persuading us of our need for salvation. 00:33:54.190 --> 00:34:02.269 The next component of that is, you know, he convinces us of our sin and misery, and then he enlightens our minds to the knowledge of Christ. 00:34:02.509 --> 00:34:04.750 So he communicates the truth to us. 00:34:04.990 --> 00:34:09.950 He communicates the things that are to be believed in the gospel. 00:34:10.110 --> 00:34:12.190 It's not a mere sentiment. 00:34:12.269 --> 00:34:13.869 The gospel is not just a vibe. 00:34:13.950 --> 00:34:16.590 The gospel is news, the gospel has content. 00:34:17.230 --> 00:34:21.550 And the gospel is power. 00:34:21.950 --> 00:34:23.869 The gospel is power. 00:34:27.230 --> 00:34:29.309 It's a powerful word, though, right? 00:34:29.470 --> 00:34:31.710 It gets that effectual calling, right? 00:34:32.030 --> 00:34:34.110 God does not just zoink us, right? 00:34:34.349 --> 00:34:35.309 He informs us. 00:34:35.470 --> 00:34:36.670 He tells us about himself. 00:34:36.909 --> 00:34:38.430 He tells us what he's done. 00:34:38.750 --> 00:34:46.269 Creation, how he's made the world and he's made us to know him and love him and to serve him, to glorify and enjoy him, fall. 00:34:46.429 --> 00:34:50.670 He tells us about what happened to break our relationship with him, redemption. 00:34:50.750 --> 00:34:59.309 He tells us about who Jesus is and what he has done through Christ and the blood of his cross to reconcile us and all things to himself and consummation. 00:34:59.389 --> 00:35:00.590 He informs our hope. 00:35:00.750 --> 00:35:10.429 He tells us where everything is going and how the story ends, and how he brings about the full consummation and the making of all things new. 00:35:10.750 --> 00:35:14.829 So he convinces us of our sin and misery, but he also enlightens us. 00:35:15.630 --> 00:35:24.110 He casts away the darkness and allows us to understand the great and precious truths of the gospel so that we can respond to them to us. 00:35:24.750 --> 00:35:26.509 He renews our wills. 00:35:31.389 --> 00:35:42.110 The spirit enables us to accept the truth of the gospel by renewing our will and giving us a desire to accept it. 00:35:42.909 --> 00:35:45.389 Because we didn't want to apart from that. 00:35:45.949 --> 00:35:48.989 He persuades and enables us. 00:36:01.869 --> 00:36:03.630 There's a mystery here. 00:36:35.230 --> 00:36:38.750 So we have to believe, we have to respond to the gospel. 00:36:38.989 --> 00:36:44.110 Yet we can only respond if God graciously enables us to do that. 00:36:45.630 --> 00:36:47.309 Okay, Lord of the Rings. 00:36:47.469 --> 00:36:47.949 What's that? 00:36:48.190 --> 00:36:49.469 Lord of the Rings example. 00:36:49.710 --> 00:36:50.670 Alright, bring it. 00:36:51.150 --> 00:36:53.630 Houses of healing, just finish reading it. 00:36:54.269 --> 00:37:01.070