138 – Efficacy and Resistibility

EFFICACY AND RESISTIBILITY

  § 138. The operations of God,1 or, by appropriation, of the Holy Ghost,2 performed through the means of grace,3 though in all cases equally earnest and efficacious 4 are in no case irresistible,5 but the grace and power of God, as exerted through the means of grace, may be, and often actually is, frustrated by man’s obstinate and continued resistance.5

1. The operations of God,…

  Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

  Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.

2. …or, by appropriation, of the Holy Ghost,

  I Corinthians 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

3. …performed through the means of grace,

  Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

  James 1:18 Of His own will begat He us with the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures.

  I Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.

  Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.

4. … though in all cases equally earnest and efficacious

  Mark 16:15 And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

  Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it IS the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

  Luke 10:16 He that heareth you heareth Me; and he that despiseth you despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me.

  Romans 10:16, 21 But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? (21) But to Israel He saith, All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

  Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

  Luke 19:41–42 And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

  Acts 7:51 Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

  Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

  Isaiah 55:10–11 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

5. … are in no case irresistible, but the grace and power of God, as exerted through the means of grace, may be, and often actually is, frustrated by man’s obstinate and continued resistance.

  Romans 10, 21: But to Israel He saith, All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

  Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

  Acts 7:51 Ye stiff–necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.

  Acts 13:45–46 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.

  Romans 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

  John 3:19–21 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil, hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

  John 1:5, 11 The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (11) He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.