Recent NCC Blogs
- Love Being Yourself – 4/29/22
- Faithful Are the Wounds of a Friend – 4/22/22
The Elect
Believers and God’s elect are indeed one and the same group from God’s perspective. However, from man’s perspective, there may be an elected person that isn’t yet a believer (they will believe before they die, though, guaranteed).
Hope
When you place your unfettered trust in God, you have true hope. If you only say you will, but whenever your trust (aka faith) is tested, you shrink away from exercising it, your hope is lost.
Learn the Difference
Eph 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Col 3:21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
Righteous Hope
Your freedom is in knowing that it is by the Word of God and the Spirit of God alone that people are saved. Your hope is that God is just and righteous in His decision to save.
Don’t just SAY you trust in God - PLACE your trust in Him.
Hope
When you place your unfettered trust in God, you have true hope. If you only say you will, but whenever your trust (aka faith) is tested, you shrink away from exercising it, your hope is lost.
General vs. Effectual Calling
The Gospel seed (ref: Parable of the Soils) is sown indiscriminately throughout the world (ref: “general call” in Mt 22:3,14); however, the seed doesn’t always bear good fruit (ref: “effectual call” unto salvation in Ro 8:30).
God’s Call to Salvation
When God calls one of His children to salvation (those whom He foreknows), they respond affirmatively, making this call effective every time (ref: Jn 10:1-18). This is different than the “general call” of the Gospel, which many reject (ref: Mt 22:1-14).
Jn 10:3, 9
To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
-AND -
I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.God’s Call to Salvation
When God calls one of His children to salvation (those whom He foreknows), they respond affirmatively, making this call effective every time (ref: Jn 10:1-18). This is different than the “general call” of the Gospel, which many reject (ref: Mt 22:1-14).
God’s Justification
To be justified means to be declared righteous by God. Justification refers to the sovereign act of God in justifying the elect, implying the twofold satisfaction of God’s holiness (penalty of sin paid + perfect righteousness imputed).
God’s Glorification of Man
Refers to the completed course of a believer’s sanctification (aka “ultimate sanctification”), where their Christlikeness is maximized for all of eternity (e.g., glorified body, soul, spirit).
