Rebecca Stark is the author of The Good Portion: Godthe second title in The Good Portion series.

The Good Portion: God explores what Scripture teaches about God in hopes that readers will see his perfection, worth, magnificence, and beauty as they study his triune nature, infinite attributes, and wondrous works. 

                     

Entries by rebecca (4108)

Monday
May162011

A Short Explanation of Irresistible Grace

Do you remember how last week’s explanation of total depravity ended? Here’s a hint: It was bad news. Doubly bad, really. We left things at an impasse with no hope of a way forward, at least humanly speaking.

Since the fall, every one of us is both naturally unable to submit to God’s commands and unable to come to Christ for salvation. Out of a natural hostility to God, we persistently refuse to do what pleases him, and we don’t have the will or the power to change ourselves. It’s obvious that any solution to the problem, if there is one, has to come from God’s action and not our own. And this is where irresistible grace comes in.

This is another name, by the way, that I’d change if I could, because like the term total depravity, the term irresistible grace confuses people. The grace half is okay, reminding us that this act of God does not happen to us because we merit it. We don’t do something to call out this work from God. But irresistible suggests a force causing people to act against their wills, and that is, I suspect, where the famous “kicking and screaming into the kingdom” caricature of the doctrine of irresistible grace originates. 

A better and more accurate name for this gracious solution to the problem of our natural inability is effective callEffective because it gets the results, and call because that’s one of the words scripture uses for this work of God that overcomes our depravity.

For instance, call is what Paul calls it in 1 Corinthians 1:

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.  (1 Cor. 1:22-24 ESV)

Paul’s message of the gospel, he says, is going out to Jews and Gentiles alike and there are two responses to it. Generally speaking, people reject it. The reasons for the rejection differ depending on the ethnic and religious background of the hearers, but the outcome is the same: They refuse to come to Christ for salvation. You probably recognize this as the second half of the double whammy of the inability of total depravity—the inability come to Christ for salvation.

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Sunday
May152011

Lo! He Comes, With Clouds Descending

Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain;
Thousand thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of His train:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign.

Every eye shall now behold Him
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold Him,
Pierced and nailed Him to the tree,
Deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.

Every island, sea, and mountain,
Heav’n and earth, shall flee away;
All who hate Him must, confounded,
Hear the trump proclaim the day:
Come to judgment! Come to judgment! Come to judgment!
Come to judgment! Come away!

Now redemption, long expected,
See in solemn pomp appear;
All His saints, by man rejected,
Now shall meet Him in the air:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
See the day of God appear!

Answer Thine own bride and Spirit,
Hasten, Lord, the general doom!
The new Heav’n and earth t’inherit,
Take Thy pining exiles home:
All creation, all creation, all creation,
Travails! groans! and bids Thee come!

The dear tokens of His passion
Still His dazzling body bears;
Cause of endless exultation
To His ransomed worshippers;
With what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars!

Yea, Amen! let all adore Thee,
High on Thine eternal throne;
Savior, take the power and glory,
Claim the kingdom for Thine own;
O come quickly! O come quickly! O come quickly!
Everlasting God, come down!

—John Cennick and Charles Wesley

Other hymns, worship songs, sermons etc. posted today:

Have you posted a hymn (or sermon, sermon notes, prayer, etc.) today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by contacting me using the contact form linked above, and I’ll add your post to the list.

Friday
May132011

Round the Sphere Again: Some Weekend Fun

Quick Quirky Quotes
Ten things Yogi Berra really did say (mental_floss Blog).

Camel Case Considerations
Everything you need to know (Grammer Girl).