Should we use persuasion when we preach the gospel? What is the difference between a Calvinist and a hyper-Calvinist on this matter? There are churches which believe in the sovereignty of God, in divine predestination, and that in amazing mercy he elects people to life, and then works by his Spirit in an irresistible way in their hearts to bring them to conviction and to seek the Saviour. They believe that if God did not irresistibly work in our hearts, none of us would ever be saved, so bad are we. And then there are many that go too far, and believe that salvation is entirely God's work, and therefore we should not persuade anybody in case we suggest they have a power they do not have. That would be doing the Holy Spirit's work. There is a vast difference between these two positions. God speaking through Ezekiel used persuasion when he said, ‘Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?’ (Ezekiel 33:11). Christ used persuasion when he said, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28). Peter used persuasion when with many other words he exhorted the Jews, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this untoward generation’ (Acts 2:40). Such persuasion does not imply that we have power to come to Christ, but it certainly implies we have a responsibility to do so. We can have a responsibility to turn to God, even though, through sin, we have lost the power to do so. The hyper-Calvinist only grasps one truth from Scripture and loses the other because he is guided by human reason instead of divinely revealed truth.