The saving of the sinner DEMANDS great power. The devil must be defeated; a rebel must be subdued; a heart of stone must be made a heart of flesh; a new creature must be brought forth; the dead must be raised. This work calls for great power, power that is beyond the power of a mere creature: miraculous power, supernatural power, divine power.
On the part of God, GREAT power is required. Mere begging, pleading, or coaxing of men will not do. There must be the exercise of almighty power, such power as was exhibited in the creation of the world. Really every child of God is living evidence of the almighty power of God. On the part of anyone who has been the object of the saving grace of God, there can be no question of the sovereignty of God. Anyone who by God’s grace knows himself, KNOWS the sovereignty of God.
Granted that the power of grace is a great power, the question remains whether or not it is IRRESISTIBLE power. Granted that the sinner is dead, granted that God must work in salvation, granted that His work is powerful, could it not yet be that this work can be resisted and frustrated by the sinner? Could it not be that God works to give all men the ability to come to Christ if they choose to do so? Might not grace only enable men to come to Christ, always conditioned on their free will, so that man could very well choose not to come to Christ, and to resist His grace? The crucial question remains this: Is the grace of God IRRESISTIBLE?
The answer of the Scriptures and the Reformed faith is , Yes!
Grace, if it be grace, must be irresistible grace. Because God is an irresistible, all powerful, totally sovereign God, His grace is irresistible, powerful, and sovereign. God and God’s grace cannot effectively and ultimately be resisted by the most obstinate of sinners. When God’s grace operates to save the sinner, that grace will triumph in the salvation of that sinner. He will be saved. God will have the victory. Not the power of the devil, not the power of the wicked world, not the power of the sinner himself, shall be able to prevent, overthrow, or frustrate the work of God’s grace. The God of the Scriptures is the God of whom Isaiah says in Isaiah 46:10, 11, “I am God, and there is none like ME, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” He is the God before whom Daniel says in Daniel 4:35, “All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?”
The god of resistible grace is not the God of the Scriptures. The former is a weak god, an ineffective god, a powerless god. In reality, he is no god at all, but an idol. This is the seriousness of the denial of God’s irresistible grace!
Ronald Cammenga
Ronald Hanko
Saved By Grace, pp. 126-128
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