19 of 34 - The Gospel Call

What is the Gospel message? How does it become effective in the lives of those who hear it? How important is it in light of the biblical teaching of election and predestination from our previous lesson?

In Romans 8:30, Paul indicates a definite there is a definite order in God’s saving purpose: “Those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified”

According to this passage, all who are “predestined to believe” also receive God’s call, and all who are thus called are also justified. Has that been your experience? How does that fit in with the apparent rejection of the Gospel call by so many who hear it?

The Doctrine of the Gospel Call is the subject of lesson 19 of my 34 lessons in systematic theology. Anyone who reads the Bible on a regular basis has begun to develop a “theology” of who God is and what he has revealed of Himself to man down through history. But is it organized to the point where you can confidently say “this is what the Bible teaches” on a particular topic, or do you just base your beliefs on random verses that could well be misunderstood because they are taken out of context?

My confidence in going out to share the Gospel with strangers comes largely from my study of “Systematic Theology”, which I’ll define as learning what the whole Bible teaches us about a given topic. I’m confident that I’m not misrepresenting God as revealed in his Word, and I’m confident when people make unbiblical claims about God that challenge my own beliefs. I’m increasingly amazed by the consistency of the Bible, written by so many human authors but without contradiction, that I can only conclude it was written by divine inspiration.

I’ve gained so much personally from my systematic study of theology that I’m teaching a 34-week class on it at church, based on Dr. Wayne Grudem’s books “Systematic Theology” and “Bible Theology”. I’m excited to dig deeper personally as I prepare the outlines and lessons, and I want to take as many people along with me on this journey as possible. So I am recording the class and posting the videos to my YouTube channel, and making downloadable PDF chapter outlines and audio recordings available on a Google Drive folder as well.

Care to join me? Links to my YouTube channel and shared resources are as follows:
Video: YouTube.com/c/JeffReiman
Shared Resources folder: https://tinyurl.com/yxy2kb56