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Effectual Calling At a time appointed by and acceptable
to God, those whom God has predestinated to life are effectually called by
his Word and Spirit out of the state of death in which they are by nature,
to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ.
Their minds are given spiritual enlightenment and, as those who are
being saved, they begin to understand the things of God.
God takes away their heart of stone and gives them a heart of
flesh. He renews their will,
and by his almighty power he sets them to seek and follow that which is
good, at the same time effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ.
And to all these changes they come most freely, for they are made
willing by divine grace. God's effectual call is the outcome of his free and special grace alone. Until a man is given life, and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is dead in sins and trespasses, so is entirely passive in this work of salvation, a work that does not proceed from anything good foreseen in him, nor from any power or agency resident in him. The power that enables him to answer God's call and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it, is no less than that which effected the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
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