Excellent, excellent post
You made a point that completely eluded me.. ( I am old and forget) ...The point is there is an outward general call to all men, so that when they stand before God in judgement they are without excuse..
The general call is the means the elect will hear, and the reprobate will spit out the name of God and hatred of Christ before going on with their life..
John 15: 15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. 23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
Look at the response to Britt Hume just saying the name of Christ.. The gospel has gone forth for generation yet men still hate the name of Christ
Amen, and thanks for the kind words and great scripture. :) I saw Brit do several interviews after his infamous Tiger remarks and in every case I could see these scriptures going through his head. By his wry smiling I could see him thinking: "We read that the world will hate us for our faith, but when we see it and experience it ourselves so explicitly and so publicly it's like "Wow". :)
I'm sure it was not lost on Brit that the hatred he received actually went toward proving Brit right! The word of God is perfect and just as true today as when it was given.