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Primum Mobile is a quarterly web magazine. This issue and all its contents are © Copyright 2004-2009 by the editors. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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Irresistible Grace
by Paul Lytle
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
-John 6:37
Is it possible that God wrote my name in the Book of Life,
only to have His intention for me to be thwarted by my will,
or is His call always answered?
So far, we have looked at the Doctrines of Total Depravity and Unconditional Election, and these truths must bring us to a question. We have seen that we, in our sinful state, cannot choose God. We have also seen that God has chosen from the foundations of the world those who would have life.
So the question we must come to is this — once chosen, do I have the ability to refuse God?
And the answer must come quickly from what we have already learned, for it is nonsensical for God to have written my name in the Book of Life before the foundations of the world, only to have His plan for me thwarted in the early 21st century because I refuse Him. I cannot imagine God in Heaven, saying, “Well, I need that eraser again. I planned Lytle for life, but he refused me, so I have to take his name out of this book!”
We must draw back to His absolute sovereignty. If God has declared something, it will be. It is He who controls the currents of history. It is He who guides the lives of men. His will cannot be overcome by the fancies of men.
Therefore, those people whose names are in the Book of Life, will, without fail, be brought to Christ. Let us turn to Romans, for while our suspicion here is reasonable, it is not true if refuted by the clear word of Scripture.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
-Romans 8:28-30
We should take notice of something very important in these verses. In the first place, it is God in control, moving everything for the good for those who believe. He is moving the tides of history for His glory and our good.
The next verses explain what that good is. He predestined us for life, naming us by name in the Book of Life. After this predestination, He calls us in this life for Himself. As we have already learned, this calling comes with the preparation of the Spirit on our hearts, since in sin we are unable to choose Him for ourselves.
Those who are called then repent and believe in Jesus, thus bringing them to the justification mentioned in this passage. The justified then will be glorified in the next life.
Do you see how there is an unbroken line between the predestining and the glorifying? Did you notice that no one is lost in this process? Those who are predestined are called, and everyone who is called is saved. Furthermore, everyone who is saved is glorified, but we will discuss that further under the Doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints.
Take a look at Acts 13:48: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”
“As many as were appointed to eternal life.” This is a striking statement, one that is capable to shaking the theological ground of the modern Church. These people were called, and they replied to the call. Both the call and the response were written before the foundation of the world.
So it is not something we can refuse or thwart. But here is the important part. We wouldn’t want to.
When I repented and believed, it’s not like I was thinking, “Well, I really don’t want to follow Him, but try as I might, I cannot refuse!” Of course that didn’t happen! What really happened is that the ministry of the Spirit softened my heart to the truth and worked in me until I ran, broken, to our Lord.
The question of whether we cannot refuse this call is an academic one, because if we refuse Christ, then we were not chosen to begin with. If you rebel against God your whole life and die in that rebellion, then that is evidence that your name was never in that Book, and the Spirit never softened your heart toward the Word of God. Those who receive this call have been prepared to understand the choice, and they accept it upon their knees.
Ultimately, here is the point — I was chosen for Him, and so the Spirit softened my heart, though my situations and relationships, to want Him. The natural reaction of the Spirit’s work is obedience. That softened heart cannot help but to cry out for God! If the heart does not have that natural reaction, then it is not a softened heart, but a hard one, for only the hard heart rejects Him.
God has granted me that desire. That is part of His Grace. His Spirit has stirred that in me. And in that Grace, He has given me a way to respond to that stirring through the Cross. By Jesus’ sacrifice I am able to live. His plan for me is not dependant on my own wavering will or sinful heart, but only on the righteousness of Jesus. On this foundation is my faith built, and that work of the Spirit cannot fail.
What I Am NOT Saying
As always, we have to have a little perspective on these truths so as to not assume too much (or too little). God is not a man, and we should not try to limit His power to what we think a man could do. I have so often heard people respond to this Doctrine by saying, “Either God caused it or man chose it. It’s impossible for both to happen!”
Well, “impossible” is a word that we can use for ourselves, but we should be very careful when using it for God.
The fact remains that this is just not true. God can initiate a work in us to which we respond. The point here is that our obedience is the natural response to the Spirit’s work.
When a baby is born, the doctor will spank him, and the infant will cry. Did the doctor cause that? Yes, in that he initiated the cry with the spanking. Is it also true that the baby chose to cry? Of course he did! Both are true.
It is an imperfect analogy, since this baby would have been born with or without the help of the doctor. Not so when we are born again. Without our Great Physician, we would not be reborn at all.
God has the power to declare something and let us choose it at the same time, and have both choices line up perfectly.
I am absolutely not saying that we do not make the choice. In a very real way, I chose God. This may be a confusing truth, but only because we are used to seeing things on human terms.
I did choose God, yes, but in the realm of spiritual truths, I only chose Him because He first chose me.
How do we know whether we are chosen or not? If we believe, then we know that we were called. It’s that simple.
Scriptural Support
It is God that initiates Salvation, and none can exist without Him:
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
-John 1:12-13
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
-Acts 13:48
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
-Ephesians 2:1-10
Note first how we are dead in sin. Did we come out of it ourselves? Certainly not. Beginning in verse 4, we see the real reason we were saved. “God . . . made us alive together with Christ.”
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.
-John 5:21
One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
-Acts 16:14
The mercy God shows depends wholly on Him, not on our reaction to Him. If He chooses one, that one is saved.
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
-John 6:37
[B]ut you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
-John 10:26-29
For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
-Romans 9:15-16
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.
-Colossians 1:13
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses.
-Colossians 2:13
[H]e saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
-Titus 3:5
The renewal here is from the Spirit.
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
-2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Those who do not see do not because the Gospel is veiled from them. When God reveals that light to one of us, we respond.
who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.
-2 Timothy 1:9
This is not a task at which God can fail. He does not choose one out for Salvation, only to be defeated in that effort.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
-Romans 8:29-30
[A]ll the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
-Daniel 4:35
Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
-Psalm 115:3
[S]o shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; 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.
-Isaiah 55:11
From a human point of view, it is we who are making the choices, yet this does not acknowledge the spiritual efforts made beyond our understanding.
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
-Philippians 2:12-13
So, yes, we do work out our own salvation, but Paul is quick to note that “it is God who works in you.”
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
-John 1:12-13
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
-John 6:37-40
Note here that the same people who “believe” are also the same who have already been given to the Son by the Father.
Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.
-Psalm 110:3
Objections
Wait, doesn’t Matthew 22:14 say, “For many are called, but few are chosen”? Doesn’t this say that not everyone called is saved?
Great point, but we’re talking about different sort of callings here.
It is absolutely true that all are given the chance to choose Christ. Romans 1:18-20 also speaks of how all people have a chance to make this choice, and so no one has an excuse on the Day of Judgment. There is a universal call to Christ.
In other words, everyone hears the Gospel message in one way or another. Everyone hears that general call. But who responds to that call? Only those who recognize the voice of the shepherd (John 10:26-29 — see verses above).
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
-John 1:11-13
Notice in this passage that Jesus came to a group (”his own”), thus presenting a general call. But who accepted Him? Those who were “born . . . of God.” Look again and notice that our salvation does not depend on “the will of man.” Why do we think that our salvation depends on the will to choose Him when He explains clearly that it does not depend on our will?
So those who are not called have no hope to be saved? That doesn’t seem fair!
Let us be clear about this — outside of Jesus, not a single one of us has a hope of being saved. It is only by His Grace that we can hope to have life. We have all chosen Hell. We have all chosen rebellion in sin. God, in mercy, has provided a way for us to have life. We cannot be good enough for God, but in the Blood of Jesus we have a way to life.
Do you acknowledge that? Do you acknowledge that God has provided the only way to Heaven through the Blood of Jesus? If you do, then why complain that this narrow way is limited? We already knew it was a narrow way, and that it was provided by God.
The truth is this — the way is so narrow that we could not find it without His help. In fact, we are all running full speed the other way. God takes us, turns us, and guides us to the narrow way. This doctrine tells us merely that everyone who is shown that Grace takes it. No one is drawn through the narrow gate and turns back.
It is God who grants the gift of life, not us. It is not within our power to grab it, to earn it, or deserve it. We have earned death, and many will get exactly what they deserve, and exactly what they have chosen. For others, God has granted mercy. It is not unjust to give people what they deserve. It is greatly merciful to pardon some, however. In this we see His justice and mercy, but we cannot say that He is being unjust.
What happens if the Spirit is softening the heart of someone, but that person dies suddenly before he can repent? That person may have been chosen by God, but died before the process was completed.
One of the turning points in my own life was when I was involved in a terrible car wreck. The person in the car in front of me died in that wreck, and I was very close to it myself, as the fire that took his life was spreading to my own car. I was unconscious, but some construction workers nearby broke through my window, cut me out of the seatbelt, and pulled me out of the car before the fire got me.
That wreck helped me to understand that my life was not complete, and that I needed God. It still took some time, but that helped lead me to Christ.
Now, what if I would have died in that wreck? Well, as my name is in the Book of Life, God would have worked in me sooner, so that I would be in His presence now.
We must understand this before anything else will make sense: God is sovereign. He sees all of history clearly and guides its tides for His own glory. We see that in Romans 8:28, when He promises that He causes all things to work for the good of those who believe.
God was not surprised by that wreck. In fact, it was all part of His plan. He used that wreck for my good and His glory.
Think of the thief at Calvary. Two thieves were crucified with Jesus. At first, both were mocking Him (Matthew 27:44). But at some point one of the thieves saw Him as the Christ, and asked for mercy (Luke 23:40).
God, in His sovereignty, knew and ordained what was going to happen there. The Spirit’s work on that one thief was pretty quick. For me, it took longer, but God knew and ordained that I would not die in that wreck.
The good work God does in us will be completed. The God who holds all of history in His hand will see to that. The God who ordains when each blade of grass will rise and fall knows how everything will play out, and He will use all of it for the good of those who believe.
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