Hyper-Calvinism Refuted

Pastor Martin continues the doctrine of calling by surveying the biblical uses of the word 'call.' He first disposes of the general non-theological usage (designating, summoning with authority, inviting, and occupation) and then focuses on the exceptional theological usage: the universal, free, general call of the gospel drawn primarily from the parables of Matthew 22 and Luke 14. This universal call involves four elements — the presentation of gospel provision, the command and plea to partake, the promise of forgiveness to every believer, and the sober warning against refusal. He then answers why such a call is given even though it does not always produce what it offers: it is the context in which the special call comes, it magnifies God's mercy, and it intensifies the sinner's responsibility. He closes with a charge to the bride of Christ to say 'Come' and to preachers to give the free offer with passion and without qualification.

Pastor Martin completes the doctrine of calling by considering its pattern and its means. Using homely illustrations of a mother's sewing pattern and a builder's blueprint, he shows that God's work in calling is never haphazard but always follows a fourfold pattern: eternal design, determinate purpose, electing love, and Christ-centered grace. Then from 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 he establishes that the divinely appointed means of the effectual call is the gospel: God called you through our gospel. He refutes the notion that sinners need a special inward revelation that they are elect — Lydia's heart was opened simply to attend to the things spoken by Paul — and closes with application to preserving the purity of the gospel, proclaiming it zealously, fusing it with prayer for the Spirit's power, and refuting the canard that sovereign grace cuts the nerve of evangelism.