Before I move to some scriptures that demonstrate that God's irresistible calling, known as God's effectual calling historically, giving us biblically the most accurate depiction of God's work of redemption in our lives, I would use an example of the parent and child relationship to bring it home. Our adoption as sons (and daughters) into God's kingdom is unequivocally identical, biblically, to the natural born son in the eyes of God, specifically, in that we become heirs to the promises of God (Romans 8:15, 23; Galatians 4:5-7; John 1:12). Abraham complained once that before he had the son of promise his servant was heir to all his possessions. But God contradicted him by saying that a son from his own body would be the heir. The servant was never the heir, it was God's choice - it was out of Abraham's hands. Once God calls, it is good as done. So as I am adopted into God's kingdom it is as I had a child by natural means. He is my son forever. He can never not be my son, even if he was to go away from me. But the difference with God is that there is a whole host of promises and covenants associated with this tie that delves far deeper than mere human blood ties. He vows that these covenants and promises will be strong enough to see me through until the end; and to prove it He swears by Himself (Hebrews 6:13-20) and demonstrates it by the sacrifice of Christ's blood the perfect Lamb of God; anything less than this diminishes His reality in our lives. Now when we enter humanistic elements into this picture it shows just how unrealistic (and illegal for that matter!) the picture is. If we disobey, does our Lord God withhold His love and blessings from us? Well, yes to a point. But the scriptures always show God retrieving those whom He loves who have gone astray (enter The Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son). We go and get lost; we go and indulge ourselves in sin for a season. But perhaps some might say that the Prodigal Son parable proves that we have certain responsibilities we must do in order to cooperate with God's will. I might point out that the prodigal son was already a son. He belonged in the house of his father. He was already adopted or a natural born member with all the inherent rights given to natural heirs. Furthermore, what can we take from our Heavenly Father that would cause us to loose the rights we have been given, when He called us, persuading Him to now reject us? And if we believe we are depraved, lost people; dead in our sins, indicating our total inability to choose the good over the bad (seeing our natures are bent only to do evil all the time) what caused the prodigal to come back home if he was not already a child of his father who (as Christ said, now resides in our hearts) expected his return and patiently waited for his return? Does not the Spirit of our Lord and Savior compel us to "come to ourselves", thus proving our natures have been changed, as he remembers the good things that he left behind? Does not the Spirit do this for us when we fall into sin? Yes! And we repent and turn back to discover Christ has been right there with us all along! The beautiful passage found in Psalms 32:8 expresses this, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you." Our Lord never lets us go. He is right there with His eye fixed upon us. The deistic model has God giving us the tools necessary to win salvation for ourselves by the good choices we must make. When we take hold of these tools and successfully utilize them then salvation is secured. But a more accurate portrayal of God's work in our lives is seen in the way the potter takes a lump of clay and shapes it according to his own vision. He does not seek counsel from the lump but makes it into the vessel he has in his mind.
-Joe
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