Bible Readings:
1 Peter 4:1 – 19
John 6:41 – 59
Sermon Outline:
Romans 8:28–30 (NKJV)
28And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
29For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
I Predestination
Ephesians 1:4 (NKJV)
4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
Philippians 3:20–21 (NKJV)
20For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
Colossians 1:18 (NKJV)
18And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Revelation 1:5 (NKJV)
5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
Colossians 1:15 (NKJV)
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
II Calling
Matthew 20:16 (NKJV)
16So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”
Matthew 20:24 (NKJV)
24And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.
1 Thessalonians 1:5 (NKJV)
5For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.
Westminster Confession of Faith
CHAPTER X. Of Effectual Calling
I. ALL those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by his word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good; and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.
II. This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from any thing at all foreseen in man; who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.