October 25, The Great Missionary Hope.

Even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ by

grace who have been saved.

Ephesians 2.5.

The great missionary hope is that when the gospel is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit,

God himself does what man cannot do.

He creates the faith that saves.

The call of God does what the call of man can't. It raises the dead. It creates spiritual

life. It is like the call of Jesus to Lazarus in the tomb. Come out, and the dead man obeyed and came out. The call created the obedience

by creating life. John 1143, that is how anyone is saved. We can waken someone from sleep with our call, but God's call

can summon into being things that are not, Romans 417. God's call is irresistible in the sense that it can overcome all resistance.

It is infallibly effective according to God's purpose, so much so that Paul can say,

those whom God called, he also justified, Romans 830,

even though we are only justified by our faith.

In other words, God's call is so effectual that it infallibly creates the faith through which a person is justified.

All the called are justified, according to Romans 830.

But none is justified without faith, Romans 5.1.

So the call of God cannot fail in its intended effect.

It irresistibly brings into being the face that justifies.

This is what man cannot do.

It is impossible.

Only God can take out the heart of stone, Ezekiel 3626.

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