Effectual Grace

A blog by John Samson

The Assignment

Posted on November 22, 2010 by John Samson

Illustration given by Ray Comfort:

For Preachers: IMAGINE – Its 9/10/2001 – and you are are given an amazing assignment – the privilege of preaching to all on the 11th floor of one of the Twin Towers in New York City… and somehow, you will really like it” idea? If you have to adjust your sermon from your normal one – what does that tell you about what you normally preach? Does your normal sermon seem just trivial now? Or does what you normally preach carry with it the weight and urgency and power of the Gospel? Quite a thought, isn’t it? Continue reading →

Election and Evangelism

Posted on November 17, 2010 by John Samson

Question: What would be the point of evangelism if some people are “elect” and some are not and don’t have the free will to choose Christ? Doesn’t this make evangelism a farce?

Well may I first alter the question? In that I am convinced that Divine election is clearly taught in Scripture, I believe it would be better to ask, “Since Divine election is true, why are we told to evangelize?”

The first obvious answer to this is because God tells us to. The same Bible that teaches Divine Sovereign Election in Romans chapters 8 and 9, also gives us Romans 10, saying “how shall they hear without a preacher?” Romans 10 is in no way a contradiction to Romans 8 and 9.

The simple answer to this question is that God has ordained both the ends and the means. The ends are His elect coming to Himself in saving faith. The means is the proclamation of the Gospel. Continue reading →