What, then is the difference between the external call and the kind of call which has become effectual? This is an INTERNAL (vocatio interna<\/em>), spiritual call. It is not merely something that comes to a person from the outside. In addition to that external call that comes to all, there is an internal call that comes to those who are going to be Christians, and it is an effectual call. God sovereignly \u201cinvincibly and irresistibly\u201d call someone to faith in Christ.<\/em> The contrast, therefore, is between external and internal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taught of God<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joh 6:45  It is written in the Prophets, \u2018And they will all be taught by God.\u2019 Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be certain people who shall be taught by God himself, not taught by men only but in addition to that taught by God, taught by the Spirit. Some internal work is going to take place. The people who come to Christ are those who have been taught of God, who have learned of the Father by the Spirit, and they alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joh 6:61, 63-65  …knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling… It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.\u201d (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, \u201cThis is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spirit of Wisdom<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eph 1:17  that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We cannot have knowledge of him unless He gives us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation\u2014they are absolutely essential. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Php 2:12  Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 
Php 2:13  for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God does an internal work and it is as the result of that that we are enabled to will and to do according to His pleasure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not in Word Only<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1Th 1:5  because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1Th 2:13  And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God<\/em>, which is at work in you believers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is this internal work that turns people from sinners into saints; this is preaching in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2Ti 2:25  correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth<\/em>, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul\u2019s logic in instructing Timothy to continue to correct his opponents gently is that God may perhaps grant them repentance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its context is the wedding feast, many are called (external call) to the wedding, but only few are chosen (internal call) and able to enjoy and come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without this work within, no one would ever become a Christian; it is an utter necessity. \u2018For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit\u2019 (Rom. 8:5). But the natural man or woman \u2014 those \u2018after the flesh\u2019 \u2014 are not interested in the things of the Spirit at all. They find them dull and boring and uninteresting. They regard them as a waste of time and they hate them. But they that are after the Spirit are interested in the things of the Spirit: \u2018For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because\u2019 \u2014 and this is the final argument \u2014 \u2018the carnal mind is enmity against God\u2019 (vv. 6-7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin Lloyd Jones<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The internal work of the Spirit is an absolute necessity before any sinner can come to Christ. Without the working of the Spirit, none can and will respond to the call of the gospel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Natural Man<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Corinthians 2:10-15 ESV These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the statement that the natural man or woman not only does not receive it, but cannot receive it because these things are spiritually understood, judged, and discerned. There cannot believe because they are blinded by the enemy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2Co 4:3-4  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.  In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is clear that the gospel is hid to certain people; they hear it like everybody else but they see nothing in it, they do not want it, they blaspheme it, they treat it with scorn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eph 2:1  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou cannot have anything stronger than that, that is their position spiritually. All these are statements to prove the absolute necessity of this internal work of the Spirit before the call \u2014 the external, general call of the gospel \u2014 can possibly be effectual.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lloyd-Jones<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It only proves that regeneration precedes faith. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

INTERNAL CALL, then, is the exercise of the power of the Holy Spirit in the soul. It is a direct operation of the Holy Spirit within us. It is immediate, it is spiritual, it is supernatural, miraculous. And what it does is to make a new mode of spiritual activity possible within us. Without this operation we are incapable of any true spiritual activity<\/em> but as the result of this operation of the Holy Spirit upon us, we are rendered capable, for the first time, of spiritual activity and that is how this call now becomes effectual, that is what enables us to receive it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lloyd-Jones<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediacy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Act 16:14  One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what happened to Lydia. When the call comes to men and women effectually, the result is not simply a general moral effect. It is an operation of the Spirit upon the men and women themselves, in the depths. It is not merely that the Holy Spirit heightens our natural faculties and powers, it is more than that. It is the Spirit acting upon the soul from within and producing within us a new principle of spiritual action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n