Sermon Cloud

Doctrines of Grace: Irresistible Grace

1 Corinthians 1:17-25

Grace Fellowship Church

May 20, 2007

 

¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. ¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” ²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 

Introduction

There is a lot of debate in the Christian world over salvation.  Specifically how a person comes to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  How many times have you heard this Christian cliché, “Most people miss heaven by 18 inches.  The distance between their head and their heart.”  Over and over people say things like, “That person needs a heart knowledge of the Lord so they will be truly saved.” 

 

So how does a person get this so desperately needed heart knowledge?  How do they make the move from mere head knowledge to heart knowledge?  Or the bigger question would be, can they even do it? 

 

We have been studying the Doctrines of Grace, often referred to as Calvinism, over the last several weeks and we are now in the “I” of the acronym TULIP. 

 

Previously we looked at the sovereignty of God and how everything is definitely and fully ordered by Him trickling down to the salvation of sinners.  The “T” in tulip represents total depravity which describes man’s condition before conversion.  Men, apart from a miraculous work of God are unable and unwilling to do anything spiritually good before God on their own which includes repenting of sin and believing the Gospel.  The “U” in tulip represents unconditional election.  This is the action by God the Father as He decided before the foundation of the world whom He would choose from the world to save.  His choice was not based on any human merit or anything within a particular person but was based on God’s will and good pleasure. 

 

Last week we looked at the “L” in tulip which stands for Limited Atonement.  We saw that the atonement provided by Christ on behalf of God’s people was both sufficient to save all but God has limited the effectiveness of that atonement to His elect people. 

 

Today we turn our attention to the “I” in tulip.  The “I” represents irresistible grace. 

 

I thought this morning I could give you a quick overview of where this acronym TULIP came from. 

 

There was a serious controversy that arose in the Dutch reformed churches.  A theology professor by the name of Jacob Arminius had opposed in his teaching the doctrines of the reformed faith particularly the extent of sin, predestination, and security of salvation.  After his death, his followers presented their views in 1610 in a document called the Remonstrance.  Now I want you to remember all of this because next Sunday we will have a pop test.  In this work and in later documents the Arminians taught election based on foreseen faith, universal atonement, partial depravity, resistible grace, and a possible lapse or falling from grace and losing one’s eternal salvation.  The Synod of Dort met in 1618 and 1619 to dispute this controversy in the city of Dordrecht in the Netherlands. 

 

So you can see that what we find in the TULIP is reactionary to these statements by the followers of Jacob Arminius. Which over time has become misunderstood by many as they look at the names of these doctrines instead of reading and studying their explanation.  Especially limited atonement and irresistible grace have been misunderstood. 

 

It would be helpful at this point to tell you what irresistible grace is not.  When you read the name you automatically think that what the men at Dort meant was that the Holy Spirit of God can not be resisted in His offer of grace.  But that is not what they meant at all. 

 

So what this doctrine of irresistible grace does not mean is that God’s grace can not be resisted.  In Acts 7:51-53 Stephen tells the men who are about to stone him to death that they and their forefathers have resisted the work of the Holy Spirit. 

 "You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. ⁵² "Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; ⁵³ you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it."

 

You have all seen this resisting in action.  You have witnessed to someone only to see them reject the Gospel over and over. You have provided evidence after evidence, proof after proof only to see them resist the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.  So you look at a doctrine like irresistible grace and you say, “Well those guys at Dort didn’t know my friend or family member.  They have proven that God’s grace can be resisted.”

 

What the doctrine of irresistible grace means is that the Holy Spirit of God, because of the unconditional election of sinners to salvation by the Father and the atonement accomplished on their behalf by the Son, will overcome any resistance by those elect sinners and do so in such a way that the elect will freely and happily come to Christ because they have been made willing by His grace. Our confession of faith, the Second London Confession of 1689, picks up on the truth of the doctrine in this way.  We read it this morning. 

 

“Those whom God hath predestinated unto life, 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.”

 

If you do not think this is true let me ask you Christians a few questions this morning.  How many of you are not thankful this morning that you are saved from eternal hell?  How many of you have ever said, “I wish I were not a believer and can just go on to Hell?”  None of you have ever said that.  You may have said that the Christian life is difficult.  You may have said that it is hard to be a Christian but you would not trade all the gold that used to be in Fort Knox for your eternal salvation.  Why? 

 

Because you have found the pearl of great price.  You have discovered what is truly infinitely valuable and you would lay down your life for the Lord because of the life that He has given you. 

 

The best earthly illustration that I can come up with is something that Dani did for me about two years ago.  In Kansas City, specifically in reformed circles and in seminary circles there was a craze going on over fountain pens.  Everyone was going out and buying these pens.  I was obstinate and ridiculed these guys because they had ink stains on their fingers and they were always either running around with a bottle of ink or putting in new cartridges.  I was resisting the pressure to break down and buy one.  I refused.  I laughed at them and even at times persecuted these fancy pen users. 

 

Then for my birthday I got a package in the mail.  It was from Dani.  I opened it up and it was a very fancy fountain pen.  I had no idea how to ink it or anything.  I have to tell you that I was a little disappointed.  But then I figured out how to use it and I started writing with it.  It was so smooth.  I loved it.  One day in a class my pen ran out of ink and I borrowed a pen from a friend it was one of those cheap pens you get in a package of 100 for 2 or 3 dollars.  I was disgusted that I had to write with such a terrible writing instrument.  It was like trying to write on sandpaper. 

 

Now I have to confess that I love fountain pens.  I own three of them and ink them with Private Reserve ink, velvet black.  I did not come willingly into the kingdom of fountain pens.  I was forced in by Dani, but now that I am here, my days of using cheap pens are over. 

 

Remember the words of the Lord, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”  In irresistible grace we are drawn into the Kingdom of Christ and we willingly and happily remain there.   

 

The lost can not understand this.  They can not grasp what we experience in Christ.  They do not recognize the infinite value of Christ and the glory that is to come.  They can not fathom the depths of the change of our hearts when Christ became Lord of all in our lives and there is good reason for that. 

 

The Lord Jesus was asked why He spoke in parables.  The answer was this found in Matthew 13:13-17.

"Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ "In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ' YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND;  YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; ¹⁵ FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.' ¹⁶ "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. ¹⁷ "For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

 

PNP

Today from our text, 1 Corinthians 1:17-25, I want you to see two effects of the preaching of the Gospel.

 

1.  To those perishing the preaching of the cross is foolishness.

2.  To those effectually called the preaching of the cross is infinitely valuable. 

 

Purpose

My purpose in preaching this passage is to show you that first the preaching of the cross is the only methodology that is biblical for the conversion of sinners and I want to show you that even though many are outwardly called only the elect are effectually called to salvation. 

 

Last week, we saw clearly in Acts 17:31 that God has commanded all men everywhere to repent and to not repent violates God’s law of grace.  We also saw that Christ’s atonement was limited by God to savingly benefit only the elect. 

 

RPNP

So in our text this morning look with me at these two effects of the preaching of the cross which proves in my mind beyond a shadow of a doubt that irresistible grace, properly understood is a biblical doctrine.    

 

1.  To those perishing the preaching of the cross is foolishness.

Notice verse 17 first. 

¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

I want you to first see the mission of Paul.  Christ did not send him to baptize.  He was not sent to wow an audience with words of eloquent wisdom.  His oratory ability was not the instrument by which the Lord would draw the elect to himself.  What was Paul’s mission?  Look at verse 17 again. 

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Paul was to preach the gospel in such a way that the cross would not be emptied of its power.  The way Paul preached would either bring full strength to the Gospel or it would empty it of its power. 

 

If you will allow me to delve into some very practical application for the church here in light of what Paul is saying I think we can establish some biblical methodology for Grace Fellowship Church.  If the Arminians are correct then what we have to do is to make every possible arrangement to move the will of those who we witness to or preach to.  We have to in some ways, give them what they desire in order to get them to listen to the Gospel and receive it.  If the Gospel response is left entirely to the human will then we must employ human methodology in order to see some people saved.  We have to make the Gospel relevant in our day to the people that we minister to.  We have to even change the message some so that it will not be offensive. 

 

We need to begin to have children’s church and provide clowns and other entertainment so that the kids will be moved to make a decision for Christ early.  We need a youth group and take all the youth to Six Flags and Disney World once a year so that they will know how much we care about them and make a decision for Christ.  Maybe we should start wrestling matches at church to get a crowd here and then slip in the Gospel between matches.  I will work on my oratory ability and maybe even learn a few jokes.  I could work on a stand up routine and who knows, Christian comedy may be my new career. 

 

That is if Paul is wrong and the Arminians are correct.  Paul plainly says here in verse 17 that he is to preach the Gospel and not with persuasive words of wisdom.  The reason is, because any thing that he adds to the message of the cross will simply empty the preaching of the Gospel of its power. 

 

I think preaching would be far different with far different results if preachers would get a vision for what Paul is saying.  Paul is not saying that you can’t be interesting or eloquent.  He is not saying that you must talk in a monotone voice and bore people to death while you preach. 

 

The Roman Emperor Nero would play and sing for hours on end and people were forced to sit and listen.  People would fake their own deaths to be carried out just to get away from him.  You don’t want to have to do that. 

 

The point is the power is in the message not the messenger.   

 

And when we understand and comprehend this, we will also understand the results of true gospel preaching.  The first result is for the ones who are perishing.  Look at the first part of verse 18.  ¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing,

The perishing ones view the word of the cross, the gospel, as mere folly or foolishness.  

 

Here we find the general call of the Gospel message.  Paul told the Athenians that God has commanded all men to repent.  The Corinthians heard the message of the cross and many viewed what Paul said as mere foolishness and folly.  What we have is natural man doing what natural man does.  They are using worldly wisdom to try and discern spiritual truth.  But it is futile because worldly wisdom always puts man at the center of all that we do. 

 

This is why you find so much foolishness and folly in pragmatic man centered churches that proclaim a man centered Gospel.  They refuse to see the power of the proclaimed gospel that God uses to rescue sinners from destruction.  The truth is probably the reason they refuse to preach the Gospel correctly is because it would drive away many of the goats in the congregation.  Numbers are attractive and it gets the attention of the world.  But I don’t recall the Lord ever saying that the duty of a pastor was to herd goats.  It was to tend and feed the Lord’s sheep.  And the Good Shepherd has also provided the pastor with the correct pasture in His Word.    

 

But when our gospel proclamation is correct then we have God at the center not man.  Christ crucified is the focal point of the message not people.  But this always places a huge division between the lost and the saved.  But I also want you to see that this is the intention of God.  This is part of the two fold results of the preaching of the cross.  Look at verse 19.

¹⁹ For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Here is God performing the action of nullifying man centered wisdom.  Look at verse 20. 

²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

There are four questions here in verse 20.  The answer to the first three questions is “he has come to nothing” and the answer to the fourth question is verse 21.  The answer of course is yes.  God indeed has made foolish the wisdom of the world in the cross of Christ.  Look at verse 21.

²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

Notice that the world could not come to know God through Sophia or knowledge.  This is the philosophical ramblings of depraved people who think they are great thinkers when in fact they are great fools.  These are the wise people who ask questions like, “How many angels can fit on the end of a needle?”  To which the answer is, “Who cares?”  These are the people who write that we can never actually get to the other side of the room because the world is in constant change and by the time we get there we are in a different universal spot than what we picked out to begin with because of the revolution of the earth.  If I had to deal with that kind of meandering to try and discover God then I would sit in one spot for the rest of my life and not move only then to discover that I have been moving the whole time because of the orbit of the earth around the sun and the spinning of the earth. 

 

But this was God’s plan, to thwart the wisdom of man and make it impossible for man to understand God through their own depraved wisdom.  That is why non believers do not get it.  Notice that God has intentionally made it impossible to grasp the Gospel by human terms.  So even a person with the highest IQ in history can not on their own accord believe the Gospel savingly.  Look again at verse 21.   

²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom

 

Now notice verse 22. 

²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,

Man’s wisdom always places demands on the Gospel message refusing to adhere to the demands of that Gospel message.  For the Jews, they wanted signs.  How many times did the Jews demand a sign from the Lord Jesus?  Isaiah proclaimed the sign would be the virgin with child who would bear the Savior.  Sign ignored.  The sign of the prophet Jonah, three days and nights, sign ignored.  Jesus said that He would rise again on the third day after His death He did, sign ignored.  Let me say this, if there was a video camera from CNN running at the tomb on the morning of the resurrection these people still would not repent and believe.  The soldiers saw the Lord and did not believe.  They reported to the Jewish leaders what happened and they paid them to lie instead of falling on their face in repentance. 

 

The Gentiles are no better.  They want to be wowed and entertained.  They want show business and great oratory ability.  They are not so much interested in the message.  What they want is a great delivery.  They want to become emotional.  And the preaching of the cross does not naturally do that. 

 

So if the Arminians are correct and salvation is ultimately up to the human will then we must employ every possible effort to bring people into the Kingdom.  We need to get involved in the signs and wonders movement.  We need to give some really good entertainment value.  We need to make church services geared toward the lost world because we need the world to like us and if they like us then they will want to be in our club and be Christians too and we can all hold hands and sing Kum Bay Yah on the way to heaven.  They Jews need signs.  Maybe we can take some magician classes.  The Gentiles need entertaining.  Maybe we can hire some celebrites. 

 

In spite of all these desires by Jews to see signs and Gentiles to be entertained what did Paul do? How did the Apostle react to these needs of humanity?  Look at verse 23.

²³ but we preach Christ crucified,

In spite of what the world wants, Paul gives them what God has told him to give them, Christ crucified. He gives them the only message in the universe for salvation and he does it without a show.  No tricks, no slight of hand, and no song and dance. 

 

Here is why.  Paul understood that the wisdom of God is magnificent in the offense of the cross.  The worst way and the most dishonorable way for a person to die in that society was to die on a cross.  And the Savior would do just that and the message would be that Christ was sacrificed on a Roman cross for the sins of the world to reconcile sinful man to a holy God and on the third day He rose again from the dead to everlasting life.  And because of that all people everywhere are commanded to repent and believe and to not do so is to violate God’s grace and reap your just reward, eternal hell.

 

So how do these that are perishing perceive the message of the cross?  Look at the rest of verse 23.

 a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,

The Jews trip over it and the Gentiles, they say its foolishness.  Why?  Because they have not been effectually called to Christ.  These are the ones who have not been drawn to Christ by the Father.  They have not been rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of Christ.  They are still dead in their trespasses and sins waiting to reap the eternal punishment for their sins.  They are men most to be pitied.  They are natural men incapable of understanding spiritual truth. 

 

They are the perishing who view the message of the cross as foolishness. 

 

Now I want you to see that:

 

2.  To those effectually called the preaching of the cross is infinitely valuable. 

In our text we have two hyperordinating conjunctions, the word “but.”  One is in verse 18 and one is in verse 24.  These are key in understanding irresistible grace.  Look at verse 18.

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

 

If you are a thinker then you can’t help but ask this question.  “Why do I perceive the message of the cross the way that I do? Why do I see it as the power of God and not foolishness?  What turned me from darkness to light?  Why do I have family and friends that see the Gospel as foolishness?” 

 

Look at the second hyperordinating conjunction in verse 24. 

²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Verse 23 said that to unbelieving Jews the message was a stumbling block and to unbelieving Gentiles it was foolishness. 

 

But to the called, those who have been unconditionally elected and now effectually called by the Holy Spirit of God through the preaching of the message of the cross, view the Gospel as the power of God and the wisdom of God.  But there is more in their new way of thinking.  Look at verse 25. 

²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

And only the elect, the called, those being saved understand this.  To the elect of God the grace of God is irresistible.  It is overpowering.  The grace of God breaks through all of the natural defenses that the elect can put up against the Gospel message and allows us to see the beauty and magnificence of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. But this beauty, this power and this wisdom has been hidden from the non-elect.   

 

Let me prove this from other texts of Scripture.  Turn to Matthew 11:25-30.

²⁵ At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding

What are these things?  It was the person and the work of the Lord Jesus.  Look at verses 16-19.

¹⁶ “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, ¹⁷“ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ ¹⁸ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ ¹⁹ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

 

They did not get the message of the cross.  Why?  It is not naturally discerned.  Look at the rest of verse 25.  “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;

Why was this eternal life hidden from some and revealed to others?  Was it because God looked and saw who would believe and then hid it from the unbelievers?  Absolutely not.  Look at verse 26. 

²⁶ yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

It is the will of God for some to have the beauty and wisdom and power of God in the Gospel hidden from them while others have it revealed to them.  Look further.  Verse 27.

²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

In order for the message of the Gospel to have a saving effect on anyone, it must be granted by the Father.  A revealing must take place that does not take place in the general call of the Gospel message.  That is why the results of our proclamation are not based on our personal persuasiveness or ability to out debate the atheists and unbelievers.  We are simply the messengers of the Lord delivering the message of the cross to the spiritual cemetery of the world.

 

And then in verses 28-30 we find the beauty and magnificence of the message. 

²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

 

The ones effectually called will come.  They will get rest.  They will receive the yoke of Christ and they will learn from Him.  They will find Him gentle and lowly in heart and rest for their souls.  They will find his yoke easy and his burden light. 

 

The rest will never find this.  Why?  It has been hidden. 

 

John 6:65 says, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. 

 

There is one more passage that I would like for you to see in dealing with this doctrine of irresistible grace or effectual grace.  Turn to John 10 and look starting in verse 22. 

²² At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. ²⁴ So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

Here the Jews are going to nail the Lord down.  Tell us plainly they say.  What they did not realize is that He had told them plainly on many occasions.  Word had spread through the believers that the Lord was with them.  Jesus answers them in verse 25.  Look at the verse.

²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,

They should have searched the Scriptures to see the works that the Lord did that bore witness of His messiahship.  But they were blind.  Why could they not see and believe?  We read the Bible and are able to believe without being an eyewitness.  Keep in mind that the water had already been turned to wine at the wedding in Cana.  He had healed a nobleman’s son just by speaking a word.  He healed the lame man at the pool of Bethesda.  He had fed over five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. HE walked on the water.  He had been brought the woman caught in adultery and had forgiven her and sent her on her way to sin no more.  He had proclaimed Himself the light of the world.  He healed a man born blind and finally in John 10 He calls Himself the Good Shepherd.  How much more could he do or say to prove to these people who He was? 

 

So why did they not believe?  Look at verse 26. 

²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.

Wait a minute.  So is Jesus saying here that God did not predestine these who are questioning Him to life?  Is Jesus saying that these who have rejected Him are doing so because they have been blinded or at best they are trying to apprehend the Kingdom of God by human reasoning?  The grace of God is before them in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and they are asking Him, who has performed all these miracles and spoken the truth of salvation to them, to tell them plainly whether or not He is the messiah or not, and He did so and they still did not believe.  So who will believe?  Look at verses 27-30.

²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ 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. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”  

 

Next week we will look at the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints and see this passage in more detail. 

 

The chain of salvation is a beautiful thing.  God elects unconditionally in spite of man’s depravity.  Christ pays the price for the redemption of the elect, and the Holy Spirit of God effectually draws a dead sinner to life and in response to this work called regeneration the elect of God come to Christ willingly and happily. 

 

Some have equated this doctrine with forced love.  God forces Himself upon us and makes us love Him in spite of our will.  They have said that election and effectual grace makes robots out of people and people do not love God because they want to it is because they are forced to. 

 

Let me give you a better and more accurate illustration of this.  As sinner’s we do not have correct vision.  We are blind to true spiritual things.  I have to wear glasses.  As a matter of fact without these glasses you do not want me driving on the same road as you.  When the optometrist checked my eyes for the first time I thought I had pretty good vision.  I had grown so accustomed to poor vision that I did not even notice all that I was missing.  He ordered my glasses and I was not happy that I needed them.  I did not want them. It is hard to be cool with spectacles.  But then I put the glasses on.  I did not realize all that I had been missing.  Things that seemed so far away and hard to read I could now clearly see.  Signs on the road became something that I could read.  Details of things were now something I could notice.  Leaves on trees were not fuzzy but were full of remarkable detail. 

 

This is like the result of effectual grace.  We were unable to discern spiritual things but now we can sing with John Newton.

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

 

Let’s pray.