Serious Call or Well-Meant Offer? (3)

As it comes to the sinner, whether elect or reprobate, the preaching of the Gospel is a call to the sinner. Not only does the Bible name the saving summons to the elect "the call," but it also describes the preaching itself, unaccompanied by the secret operation of the Spirit in the heart of the hearer, as a "call." Jesus teaches that the preaching by God's servants is a call in Matthew 22:14: "For many are called, but few are chosen." Indeed, the entire parable of the marriage of the king's...