What is God's Call? - Learning with the 1689 Confession (12)

Scripture: Acts 16.11-15

Confession: Chapter 10: Effectual Calling

1  1At a time appointed by and acceptable to God, those whom God has predestinated to life are effectually called by His Word and Spirit out of the state of death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. 2Their minds are given spiritual enlightenment and, as those who are being saved, they begin to understand the things of God. 3 God takes away their heart of stone and gives them a heart of flesh. He renews their will, and by His almighty power He sets them to seek and follow that which his good. 4And to all these changes they come most freely, for they are made willing by divine grace. 


Deut. 30.6, Ps. 110.3, Song 1.4, Ezek. 36.26, 27, Acts 26.18, Rom. 8.30, 11.7, Eph. 1.10, 11, 17, 19, 2.1-6, 2 Thess, 2.13, 14.


2  1God’s effectual call is the outcome of His free and special grace alone. 2Until a man is given life, and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is dead in sins and trespasses, so is entirely passive in this work of salvation, a work that does not proceed from anything good foreseen in him, nor from any power or agency resident in him. 3The power that enables him to answer God’s call and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it, is no less than that which effected the resurrection of Christ from the dead. 


John 5.25, 1 Cor. 2.14, Eph. 1.19-20, 2.5, 8, 2 Tim. 1.9

John Frame: God’s call ‘is the work of God the Father, summoning you into the fellowship of His Son.’ 

(Salvation belongs to the Lord, p.184)

Questions

                                i.            What does God call His predestined people from, and to, according to 1.1?

                              ii.            Why do people say that predestination is unfair? How would you respond biblically to that?

                            iii.            How does God call people, according to 2 Thess. 2.13-14, and  Conf. 1¹? How does this match your experience of putting your faith in Christ?

                             iv.            ‘So we’re robots, are we?’ How does this paragraph help us deal with this question?

                               v.            Compare 1.2-3 with Read Deut. 30.6 and Ezek. 36.26-7. What features do we see of God’s grace in Christ?

                             vi.            According to 2.1-2, where does our salvation not come from? Be specific! Where does it come from, then?

                           vii.            Read 1 Cor. 1.25-30. What should humble us about God’s call in this passage, and what should amaze us?

                         viii.            What is the meaning of Acts 18.9-10? How does it encourage us as we seek to share the Gospel in Huddersfield?