Although the external call of itself is insufficient for salvation, yet they to whom it comes are privileged above those who never have heard of God’s Word. It invites men to faith and to salvation. For “how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” (Rom. 10:14). Moreover, the external call leaves such impressions on the conscience that those who are thus called are kept from many sins, and enjoy many temporal blessings. By the preaching of the Word of God the kingdom of God has come nigh (Luke 10:11). Yet, many shall not enter that kingdom, and many shall remain disobedient to the gospel. “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them ... that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:8).

The Word must be preached to all without exception; the gospel must be offered to converted and unconverted. Some object to this as if it would make the offer of grace too general. But the Lord Jesus has commanded it. “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14; 20:16). “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matt. 28:19). “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

The Word speaks to sinners, warning them to “forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding” (Prov. 9:6), thus inviting sinners to salvation.

Indeed, God not only calls to all who hear His Word, but He also communicates various gifts to them. Speaking of persons who do not come to conversion, the apostle says that “those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come” (Heb. 6:4-5). God sometimes grants special gifts to reprobates, also relating to His Word, giving a cer­tain pleasure in it which nevertheless does not lead to salvation.

The pure preaching then is not a proclamation that Christ has died for all hearers, for all who are baptized, and that they all must believe that their sins are forgiven. Such preaching is deceitful. The preaching of God’s Word is, as the Heidelberg Catechism says, a key by which the kingdom of heaven is opened to believ­ers and shut against unbelievers. This preaching proclaims that God in Christ saves sinners such as the hearers are: Manassehs, Pauls, Timothys, Lydias, jail­ers. Preaching calls sinners to come to Christ.

The Pelagians differ with the Reformed who teach man’s state of death, man’s inability to convert himself, and they deny them the right to bring the invitation of the gospel to all. But the Lord Jesus Himself has commanded it (Matt. 28:19) and it has been the practice of the prophets and the apostles even though they had to cry out, “Who hath believed our report?” (Isa. 53:1) and even though only those believed who were ordained to eternal life (Acts 13:48). God does with His Word what He pleases, and He is glorified in those that are lost, as well as those that are saved (2 Cor. 2:15), so that His righteousness will shine the more gloriously on them who have known the way but have not walked in it. The external call makes each person responsible for the Word that is brought to him and for rejecting Christ who is offered in the Word. The coming of Christ took away all excuse for sin (John 15:22). The Holy Spirit shall con­vince the world of sin because they do not believe in the Lord (John 16:8-9). In flaming fire the Lord shall take vengeance on them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:8). He that believeth not hath made God a liar (1 John 5:10) and “the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).

No one is excluded from the invitation to come to Christ; no one is rejected because of the greatness of his sin. In Christ is an eternal righteousness, “abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world” (Canons of Dort Head II, Art. 3). He can save and He shall save everyone who by faith takes hold of His strength. “But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For it through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many” (Rom. 5:15).

The entrance to the kingdom of heaven is opened even to harlots and publicans (Matt. 21:31). Only the enmity which has dominion in us by nature prevents us from coming to Christ. “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40).

How righteous then shall the judgment of God be over those that do not obey the gospel! “For the time is come that the judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Pet. 4:17).

They perish by unbelief. “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it” (Heb. 4:1-2). “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Heb. 2:3).

The Lord pronounced an awful judgment over the cities in which most of His mighty works were done, because they did not repent. “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, have been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you,” etc. (Matt. 11:21-24).

In Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, Christ manifested Himself in a special way as the true Messiah by His words and works. His gospel sounded abroad. But it was not to the salvation of those cities because of their unbelief. But thus it is evident that they who — although saving grace has been withheld­ receive the Word of God, shall have the heavier punishment.

If the external call bears no fruit to true conversion, it is our own fault because of the hardening of our heart causing us to refuse to hear God’s call. On the other hand, it is only free grace if the Word of God is conducive to our salvation. At the Synod of Dort our well-known fathers have stated this very clearly in the five Canons of Dort (see Head III-IV, Art. 9-10) — articles that are very worthwhile to read and consider carefully, for they maintain the responsibility of man and testify of the sovereign grace of God.

This doctrine is far from encouraging carelessness. It is the duty of every man to hear the Word of God. God does not work in man as in stocks and blocks, but would persuade him by His Word as a means in the hand of the Holy Spirit who works irresistibly for the salvation of His elect. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13).

The Purpose of God⤒🔗

When we maintain the responsibility of the person who hears the gospel, the question arises as to the pur­pose of God when He calls us by His Word.

That purpose, as we have already noticed, is not to save all those who hear the Word. Then it would take place, for God always attains His purpose. In His immutable counsel in eternity God determined the result of the preaching, both the bringing in of the elect and the hardening of the reprobates, even though He truly offers salvation also to them. God has most earnestly and truly declared in His Word that which will be acceptable to Him; namely, that all who are called should comply with the invitation. He, moreover, seriously promises eternal life and rest, to as many as shall come to Him, and believe on Him (Canons of Dort, Head III-IV, Art. 8).

Now the question arises as to how God can seriously offer salvation to those whom He had earlier determined would never receive salvation. The solu­tion lies in the fact that God seeks His own honor above all else, and that honor shall shine forth in those that are lost under the gospel as well as in those that are saved by it.

Inasmuch as its purpose is to glorify His attributes, God’s offer of Christ and His benefits to all who hear the Word is serious and true. That offer serves to glorify God’s righteousness.

Moreover, no one shall be able to accuse God of unfaithfulness since, by means of the external call, He does not promise saving grace to all men. The fault that many who are called by the gospel do not come and are not converted does not lie in God who calls by the gospel and seriously offers salvation, but in them who neglect such a salvation. So then God’s servants “are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish” (2 Cor. 2:15).