Word of Salvation – February 2025

 

Effectual Calling

 

Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on W.C.F. ch.10:1-3 & Isaiah 43:1-2

Reading: Romans 10:5-15; Isaiah 43:1-2; Westminster Confession – ch.10:1-3

 

Singing:        BoW.171       Stand up and bless the Lord
–                       BoW.379       My God how wonderful You are
–                       BoW.380       My Lord, I did not choose you
–                       BoW.241       Lord, dismiss us with your blessing

Theme: The effectual call of a sovereign God is necessitated by human inability and comforts God’s people.

 

Introd:  Christians are quite familiar with the terminology of God calling us.

We say that God has called us to be His people… or that He calls us together for worship.

We say that we have been called out of darkness into God’s wonderful light.

 

We find that language of calling right throughout our Bibles.
In Romans 8:30 we have that wonderful verse that links a number of things together.
And God calling us has an important place in the middle of that chain of events.
Those whom God predestined He also called… and those he called he justified..!
In Eph.4:1 we are told to live a life worthy of the calling we have received.
1Cor.1:9 speaks about God calling us into fellowship with His Son.
And Paul says to Timothy that God has called us with a holy calling.

 

So God is a God who calls.
But how does God actually do that calling?
Is it a bit like Samuel in the O.T.?  We wake up one night and hear God call our name…?
Some Christians today insist that God does precisely that.
I’ve met people who say that they have heard God call them in an audible voice.
(I’m always tempted to ask them what kind of accent God has – British or American?)
Okay, I’m sceptical…!  God does not normally call us that way.

 

So let’s have a look at what the Bible means by God calling.
And again we’ll take our starting point in Isaiah.
Because the idea of God calling is very common in Isaiah.

 

A]        THE EFFECTUAL CALLING OF GOD.

 

1. Let me give you a very quick overview of some ways God calls in these chapters of Isaiah.
   Here in our text in 43:1 it is Israel which is called … and notice: called by name.
   Similarly in 48¹² God says: Listen to me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called.

   In Isaiah 45 it is stated several times (45^3,4) that God called Cyrus.
   God called that pagan king… called him by name to restore Israel to their own land.
   In Isaiah 42⁶ it is the Servant of Yahweh who is called by God.
   The Servant of the Lord… whom we know as our Lord Jesus Christ… was called by God.

 

In all these instances God is not just speaking or communicating.
Rather He is very specifically calling someone into fellowship with Him or into a special task.
Calling here is almost equivalent to God raising these people up.
It’s as if God is purposefully appointing them to some special relationship with Him.

 

Of course we also have some very general calls given by God thru the prophet Isaiah.
’Times when God calls to people in a very general and public way.
I could find you many calls issued by God which are not directed at any particular person.
IOW – God is calling… but in those instances He is not calling by name.

Think of those well-known and lovely calls from God in Isaiah 55.
Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat.
And a little later in the same chapter:
Seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while he is near. (55^1,6)
So over and over in Isaiah God is presented as a calling God.

2. But now the remarkable thing is that when God calls it is not just in the vague hope of a response.

God does not just call in the hope that something will actually happen.
For example, God calls the pagan king Cyrus but what if Cyrus didn’t get the message?
No!  The whole thrust is that God’s call is powerful and effective.

God’s calling is like at Creation.
He spoke and it happened… He commanded and it was done.
God literally called all of creation into being.
And in the same way God raised up Cyrus as Israel’s deliverer.
And in the same way God raised up The Servant… our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

So God’s call actually accomplishes what He purposes.
The Lord spells that out in the 55^th chapter when He says:
My word will not return to me empty but it will accomplish what I desire.  (55¹¹)

 

Here in 43:1 the calling by name has to do with the formation of Israel.
God called this nation into being… He formed it at a command from His mouth.
I have called you by name; you are mine.

 

So in Isaiah we repeatedly have God calling.
Sometimes it is a very general call from God, for people to listen and obey.
At other times it is a very specific call that is much more focused.
At those times God calls and He calls by name.
And for the express purpose that what God calls for will actually happen.
To create Jacob… to form Israel to be His own people.

 

3. But that leaves us with a difficulty: God called Israel but many in Israel perished, also spiritually.

Here we need to think of the context – the big picture in Isaiah.
Israel has become apostate… she has rebelled and deserted God for other idols.
And so God threatened them with the invading forces of that great superpower, Babylon.
When that happened many perished in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem.
Others fled to Egypt and perished there.  Many more died in exile.
And many of these people died in rebellion against God.
So where does that leave us with God’s calling Israel to be His people?

 

It’s a big jump from talking about God calling a nation as a whole… to Him calling individuals.
In our text in Isaiah we’re talking about God calling a nation into being.
But the West. Conf. is talking about God calling individuals into relationship with Himself.

 

Let me show you, though, that the difference is not really that great.
We know that right thru the exile God preserved a remnant.
There was just a small part of the nation that came out of Babylon… a remnant.
And in Isaiah it is repeatedly that faithful remnant that is being specifically addressed.

So we could look at it this way:
God’s general call – as in Isaiah 55 – is addressed to the whole nation, to all people.
Everyone is called to seek the Lord while He may be found.
But God’s specific call especially zeroes in on the faithful remnant.
It is these called ones whom God will guard and lead thru rivers and deserts.

 

When the West .Conf. talks about God calling it also distinguishes two kinds of calling.
God calls today through the ministry of the Word… through the gospel message.
But even though many hear that message… that general call – they never come to Jesus.
On the other hand when God calls His elect by name it transforms their lives.
In those instances God’s call is truly effective as God powerfully calls people to Himself.

 

B]        THE NECCESITY OF THAT CALLING.

 

1. But let’s ask ourselves: why is there this emphasis on God calling in the Bible?

I referred earlier to half a dozen instances in the N.T. that refer to God’s calling.

And we have at least another half a dozen instances in these chapters of Isaiah.

 

Why all this stress on God calling?
We can understand the idea of God inviting people to come to Him.
And so that call to “seek the Lord while He may be found”… that’s fine.
A general call… in the sense of an invitation to come and serve God… that’s great!
But why do we have this stronger idea… that God calls in order to actually make things happen?

 

Our text throws some light on that.
Remember… it is talking about the people of Israel… the nation.
God created Jacob… He formed Israel to be God’s special people.
But we know from their history that this was never their doing.

It’s not as if this was a nation which decided that they wanted to be God’s special people.
A little like this:            The people talked about it for a while… and then they had a ballot.
And the vote went against all the other gods and for Yahweh God.
We know from their history that it was the exact opposite.
This nation constantly wandered away from the Lord and went after other gods.
That’s why they were in so much trouble – they were unfaithful to their Lord.

 

In fact let’s go back a little earlier to their origins.
God chose a wandering nomad, Abraham and his wife Sarah.
And he promised them that they would become a great nation thru a son He would give them.
But Isaac was born to a couple of geriatrics.
Paul says in Romans 4 that their bodies were as good as dead – sexually that is.

And when Abraham’s people did grow into a nation, what happened?
The nation was enslaved for centuries in Egypt, threatened by Pharaoh.
And it almost didn’t survive the forty years in the wilderness.
And now Babylon threatens them with extinction..

 

2. The point is that the calling of God happens in the context of our human inability.

It happens in circumstances of human frailty and weakness.
God calls Israel by name.
God even refers to this nation here as Jacob… the name that meant ‘deceiver’.
It’s as if He is reminding them that of themselves they would never have amounted to much.
But because God called them into being they are His special people.

 

We can see the same thing in another way.
The whole thrust of Isaiah from chapter 40 onwards is that saving people is God’s work.
These people are going to be redeemed from Babylon.
God says it quite specifically in our text: I have redeemed you!
And a little later: I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead.
Because He loves them God gives people in exchange for them.

 

That is the awesome thing about God’s dealings with Israel.
Humanly speaking their future looked impossible.
Nations that went into exile were generally assimilated into other peoples.
That happened with the Ten Northern Tribes.
They blended with other nations and became the later Samaritans.
But God will not let that happened now to Judah… He redeems them from exile.

 

3. Do you see the parallel? This nation could never have brought itself into being.

They would never have survived Babylon on their own terms.

They owed it all to God who called them to be His special people.

 

So too as a fallen human beings you could never bring yourself into relationship with God.
That is absolutely impossible.
You can hear a thousand invitations and listen to hundreds of ‘altar calls’.
We know that: we can plead with people… pester them… and hound them about God.
But we cannot turn them into Christians.

 

Does Paul not say in Ephesians 2 that we were spiritually dead… dead in our sins…?
Well, there is one very obvious thing about being dead – the dead are incapable of anything.
But the Lord has the power over life and death.
And He can call dead people in such a way that they hear and become alive.

 

Here I often think about the raising of Lazarus.
You’ll remember that Jesus had the stone rolled away and then He called into the tomb.
But He called Lazarus by name.  He cried out: Lazarus, come out!
Why did Jesus specifically call him by name?
Can you imagine what would have happened if He didn’t…?
Ever dead person in all the other tombs would have walked out of the grave as well.
Because the Lord’s call is effective… it is a word breathes life into the dead.

 

And that is just as true for us spiritually.
Paul says in Romans 10 that faith comes through the hearing of the Word (Rom.10¹⁷).
And that word is the gospel of Christ.
God does not normally call in dreams and visions… He calls thru the Word of the gospel.

So the wonderful thing is that invitations are accepted… and ‘altar calls’ do work.
But only if the context is the presentation of the gospel of Jesus;
Because God calls effectively through the gospel of Christ.
Thru the gospel He called you by name.
And He does that for all those whom has chosen for eternal life.

 

C]        THE COMFORT OF THAT CALLING.

 

1. All of this is not just some neat theology for Bible students.

This is not a bit of unimportant theory.

It is not just a bit of teaching to help us understand the process of us being saved.

 

No!  This whole matter of God calling us is to comfort and encourage us.
Isaiah has some wonderful comfort for these people in their times of distress.
(By the way – if you want a picture of their distress read Psalm 137.
It’s a psalm of lament from this period of Judah’s exile in Babylon.)

But now God speaks of calling them by name to be His, so as to encourage them.
The basis for God’s loving care of them is that He has called them to be His people.

 

And so look at the comfort God draws from this truth about His calling of them.
When you pass thru the waters I will be with you.
And when you pass thru the rivers they will not sweep over you.
They still have to pass thru the rivers – but God will guard them thru it.
When you walk thru the fire you will not be burned.
The flames will not set you ablaze.
What a marvellously practical truth it is that God has called His people to be His.

 

2. Today we need to take this teaching to heart.

This is not just theory, brothers and sisters, for some specialist theologians.

This teaching about God’s effectual calling is a wonderfully reassuring teaching.

 

It is of immense comfort that God has called us and made us His.

And I could show you that in many ways this afternoon.

 

Think of Romans 8³⁰ where we get that chain of events.
Those whom God predestined He also called and those he called he justified..!
That’s a powerful reminder that what God starts He also finishes.
Those chosen in eternity are called in time.
God will make sure that every last one of His elect is gathered into His church.

 

Or go back to that reading from Romans 10.
How can we be sure that those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved?
Because faith comes by hearing the message.
God calls us through the gospel of Christ and when we embrace that we will be saved.

 

Over and over in the Bible God’s calling of us is meant to encourage and comfort us.
God has done what we could never have done in a million years.
We could never have brought ourselves out of darkness into His marvellous light.
But God did that by calling us through the gospel of His Son.

 

And now we can be as certain as those people that Isaiah was writing to…
that nothing can ever separate us from His love….
because we are the people whom God has called by name.

 

3. In our Westminster Confession the keynote is also one of comfort.

Chapter 10 spells out the wonderful results of God’s calling.
It lists (para.1) what happens when God calls us out of sin and death into grace and salvation.
It says: He enlightens our minds spiritually.
He takes away our heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh.
He changes and renews our will so that we want what God wants.
We now come voluntarily to Jesus as God’s call has made us willing to come.
And all of this… because God has called us by name.

 

The humbling thing is that all of this happens…
not because God saw beforehand how worthwhile we were
but simply because He, for His own good reasons, set His love upon us.

 

This chapter even adds some special comfort to those who have lost a child in infancy.
And keep in mind that infant mortality was a major problem back in those days.
Here is special comfort for them… and for those who have a mentally handicapped child.

God normally calls through the gospel of Christ.
Faith normally comes thru the hearing of the message of Christ.
But now the West. Conf. makes an exception… not the kind of exception many would expect.
That in some special circumstances God may call you in an audible voice or in a dream.

No the exception is that the children of believers who die in infancy are included in God’s call.
Not in the normal way of God working thru the Word… but God working thru His Spirit.

 

Effectual calling!  It’s a lovely teaching.
But how do you know God has called you by name?  Well, the answer is easy.
Have you responded in faith and repentance to the message of Jesus?
If you have… then you are called and all these blessings are yours.                         Amen.