Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12. I forgot
to greet y'all from Brother Drew Dietz and Brother Norm Wells. They wanted me to send greetings
to y'all. So I've been talking to them
both this week. And they wanted me to pass along
a greeting to the sheep of God here at Elmont. The name of the
message is effectual calling pictured by the call of Abraham. Effectual calling pictured by
the call of Abraham. Have you ever considered you
who are the people of God, you who are born again by the spirit
of God, you who are washed in the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, Have you ever considered before you were saved that you
had absolutely no interest in the gospel? That you had no interest in the
work of Christ. Now, you may have said you believed
in God. But we really did not know God.
We did not know who he was. We had no interest in the word
of God. I was talking to someone this
week about how a dear sister who attends here and how we were
both raised in a religion where the Bible sat on the table. And that's all it did. It was
never opened. It collected dust. And you know
what it held? Family pictures. Family pictures. It would never cracked open.
I'd go in there the odd time. I'd go to look at the pictures,
the family pictures. I didn't go there to read the words. I
went in there to see the family pictures when I did, when I was
a little guy. But the Bible was never opened, but it sat on my
dad's dresser. Never opened. Never opened. And none of us had any interest
to open that word. None at all. None of us had any
interest in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Was it so
with you? Some of you may came out of religion, maybe. But those
of us who didn't, or those of us who were in a religion where
there was really nothing ever talked about reading the Bible
at all, had no interest. None at all. But then, the Holy Spirit started
to woo us. Brother Matt and I talked about
that this week in our meeting. The Holy Spirit started to woo
us. Started to give us an interest in the things of Christ. Started
to give us an interest in his word. Started to give us an interest
in his gospel. And have you ever marveled at
how that was so? At how at one point you had no
interest at all, Or you may have been reading
the Bible, you may have been religious but lost, but not really
knowing who Christ was. So just as lost as we were who
didn't read the Bible. Have you ever marveled how that the
wooing of the Holy Spirit to point you to Christ was all a
result of God's sovereign grace? Of God's sovereign power? And now you who are born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. What do you love now? Well, you
love the gospel, don't you? You love the Christ of the gospel.
You love the one who's spoken of in the gospel. And why? Because God has, by
an effectual call, called you to Christ and you're born again
of the Holy Spirit of God. And now By his effectual calling
and his regenerating work, he has revealed to you, and to me,
who believe, Christ's perfect work. His perfect work. Brother Matt
hit on that in Sunday School. And we've talked about it many
times. His perfect work. That Christ has done it all. We preach and proclaim a perfect
salvation in Christ, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done. So not by anything we do, but
according to his mercy, he has saved us. Saved by grace. And grace alone. Not by any kind
of works, which we do, we're not even kept by our works, beloved.
We're kept by the power of God. Now, are we obedient to the Word
of God? Absolutely. Because the love
of Christ now constrains us. And we have a love for the Savior
that we never had before. Because of God's almighty power
being worked out in us. And the believer is clothed,
every single believer in Christ is clothed with the perfect,
spotless righteousness of Christ. Now this is an element that's
missing in modern day preaching. The righteousness of Christ. Do you know why it's missing
in modern day preaching? Because they are trying to establish
their own righteousness. By what they do. But the Bible
proclaims a righteousness that is perfect. That is complete. That is Christ. And the Lord
Jesus Christ is our righteousness. He is all our acceptance before
God. No one will be accepted by anything
we do by God. It's all because of what Christ
has done. And there was a time when we
did not know this. We did not know that He shed
His blood for us on Calvary's cross. We had no idea. But God, by His effectual calling
and by His grace and mercy, has called us to Christ. And we're born again. And the
Lord, the Master Himself said, ye must be born again. You must
be. You must be. So think of this. Wonder of wonders. God calls
us by His effectual grace. Or with an effectual call. All
by His grace. And then He grants us what? He
grants us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Always
remember that regeneration proceeds faith. You're not born again
because you believe you believe because you're born again. It's
a work of God. It's a work of God. It's his
work. It's all his work. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
completed the work of salvation for his people. And this is glad
tidings to sinner. It's glad tidings to this sinner.
Is it glad tidings to you who are born again? Who's your sinner
too, just like me? Is it glad tidings for you? It's
wonderful, isn't it? To know that Christ has completed
the work, that it's not depended upon me. And He did it all. This is wonderful, absolutely
wonderful news for sinners. The question is, are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? Oh, I pray
that God would reveal to you. You don't think you're a sinner
that he would reveal to you that you are, and you're in desperate
need of Christ, because that's what he's done to all all of
us who believe. And we're but saved sinners saved
by the grace of God in Christ. So with that in mind, let's look
at Genesis chapter 12. And we see here a picture of
God's effectual calling. and how he reveals Christ to
us, and that's what he does. When he calls us by his grace,
he calls us out. He calls us out of Egypt, doesn't
he? He calls us out of this world that we're in. Look at this in
Genesis 12, verses one to nine. Now the Lord had said unto Abraham,
get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from
thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee, and I
will make of thee a great nation, And I will bless thee and make
thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless
them that bless thee, and will curse him that curses thee. And
in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abraham
departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him. And we know from Hebrews 11 that
Lot was a righteous man. He was a believer. He was a believer.
Lot went with him, and Abram was seventy and five years old
when he departed out of Haran. And Abram took Sarai, his wife,
and Lot, his brother's son, and all their substance that they
had gathered, the souls that they had gotten in Haran. And
then they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. And into
the land of Canaan they came. And Abram passed through the
land unto the place of Sychim, unto the plain of Moriah. And the Canaanite was then in
the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abraham,
and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there buildeth
he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. And he moved
from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched
his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Haran on the east. And there he buildeth an altar
unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abraham
journeyed south, going on still toward the south. We have here before us in scripture
a call by God by which Abraham was removed from the land of
his birth. And he was taken into the land of promise. And we see
here before us the effectual call of God. This call was appointed
by God. It was appointed by God, and
He is the one who commanded Abraham to come out from that land. And it was all by His command. Turn,
if you would, to the book of Acts, chapter 7. The book of
Acts, chapter 7. And we will see Stephen speak
of Abraham being called out from his kindred, just what we've
read here. He was called out from his kindred
and from his father's house into a land that God would show him.
So God called him and he was taken there. He would take him
there. Look at Acts seven. We'll read
all the way to verse. We'll read verse two to seven.
And he said, men. Brethren and fathers, hearken,
the God of glory appeared unto our father, Abraham, when he
was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Sharon. and said unto
him, which is what we just read, Get thee out of thy country and
from thy kindred, and come into the land which I show thee. Then
came he out of the land of the Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charon. And from thence, when his father
was dead, he removed him into this land wherein ye now dwell. And he gave him none inheritance
in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on it, yet he promised
that he would give it to him for a possession and to his seed
after him, when as yet he had no child. And God spake on the wise that
his seeds should be joined in a strange land, that speaks of
when they go to Egypt, and that they should bring them into bondage
and entreat them evil four hundred years. And the nation to whom
they shall be in bondage will I judge, and God, or said God,
and after that they shall come forth and serve me in this place. Now note, God did not ask Abraham
to come. He didn't say, well would you
please come out from your family, did he? He didn't say that at
all. He commanded him. He commanded
him. And yet, Abraham went willingly,
didn't he? Know why? Because he was made
willing in the day of God's power. That's why. That's why he went. What a picture of the effectual
call of God when God makes his people willing to flee to Christ. Makes us willing to flee to Christ.
Now we know from studying scripture that Abraham is described as
the friend of God, the father of them that believe, and that
man through whom all the nations of the earth are blessed. And
therefore, it would do us good to look at his life and experience
a grace in his life, and we'll see a picture of the grace of
God at work. These things make Abraham a man
whose life and experiences in the grace of God are worthy of
careful study. And I would encourage you to
read, continue to read after today, even the story of Abraham. And you'll see how God guided
and directed him and protected him. Now whenever we look at
Bible characters such as Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham,
and David, and Paul, and Peter, and John, we must always remember,
beloved, we must always remember that they were sinners just like
us, saved by the grace of God. People vault these guys up, and
they're wonderful, aren't they? They're amazing, but they were
just like us. Sinners saved by the grace of
God. What does the scripture say about Noah? Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. What does every believer find
in the eyes of the Lord? Grace. In and through Christ
Jesus our Lord. Grace. They struggled with sin
just as we struggle with sin. If you read further down in the
chapter, Abraham took off to Egypt. Oh my. And then he lied about who his
wife was. But God took care of them. God
delivered them. So always remember that they
were just like us. They were sinners saved by the
grace of God. Always remember that the faith
that they had in Christ, in God, all came from God, just like
us. Just like us. all their ability
to walk and to trust God and to rest in Him, all came from
God. All came from God. So always
remember that when you're reading about Peter and John and James
and Paul, they're just flesh like we are, saved by the grace
of God. And Abraham, Moses, David, Peter,
and John would all say what Paul would say in scripture concerning
himself and what every believer says. By the grace of God, I
am what I am. Can you say that? By the grace
of God, I am what I am. Think of that in light of your
salvation. By the grace of God, I'm saved. God didn't leave me
alone. By the grace of God. And this
is the confession of every believer. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. All we who know God, we delight
to turn our attention away from ourselves. And give God all the
glory. Give him all the glory, give
him all the honor, not under us, O Lord, not under us, but
under thy name, give glory and mercy for thy true sake. He gets
all the glory, doesn't he? He gets all the honor, all the
praise. Because He's the one who saved
us. We couldn't save ourselves. No. So Abraham, Moses, David,
Paul, Peter and John, they all looked to Christ, just like we
do. They're saved the same way, beloved. They're saved by grace. And you know what? They went
through trials, didn't they? Many trials. Many trials. Just like we do. Just like we
do. You know, they struggled with
unbelief, too, just like we do. They did. Peter cried what? Lord, help my unbelief. Help
my unbelief, Lord. Oh. I was having lunch with Sister
Karen and Brother Travis, and Sister Karen brought out a point
that Scott Richardson used. You've heard me say it three
or four times now. I'm going to keep saying it. The ground at the
cross is level. We're all sinners. In desperate,
desperate need of Christ. And that's where we meet as believers,
isn't it? We're like that, we're like that gathering demoniac
who had all them demons cast out of him. What do you see?
He's sitting at the feet of Jesus. And he's clothed with pictures.
He was naked before. And he's clothed with pictures,
that perfect, spotless righteousness of Christ. And what's he doing?
He's looking at the Savior. He's just gazing at the Savior. Gazing at the Redeemer. And that's
what we do through the preaching of the Word, isn't it? We just
look to Christ. We just look to Christ. The Gospel
Preacher only has one message, really. Christ. Christ and Him
crucified. Christ and God's people love
it. We love it. We absolutely love that message.
It's wonderful. Tell me about my Savior. Tell
me about the one who is my righteousness. Tell me about my Redeemer. So
the ground at the foot of the cross is level because we're
all sinners. We're all sinners. We're born that way. Dead in
trespasses and sins. In desperate need of a Savior.
But praise be to God, the Lord Jesus Christ came. What did he
come here to do? To save sinners. To save sinners. We see that Abraham was called
by God's effectual calling just like every single blood-bought
born-again believer is called with an effectual calling. Turn,
if you would, to Exodus chapter 13. We're going to read one verse
there. Exodus 13. I was reading this this week.
And this is absolutely wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Exodus chapter 13. 13, verse
3 and 4, but we're focused on verse 3, but we'll read the two
of them here. And Moses said unto the people, Remember this
day, verse 3, Exodus 13, 3, Remember this day in which ye came out
from Egypt out of the house of bondage, for by the strength
of the hand of the Lord brought you out from this place. There
shall be no leavened bread be eaten. This day came ye out in
the month of Abib. Now notice in verse 3 that the
Israelites were in bondage. We know that they were in bondage
in Egypt, weren't they? What a picture of how we're in
bondage to our sin. We're in bondage to our sin.
We're held captive by our own sinful natures in our natural
state. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. But take note of the words in
verse 3. This is marvelous, beloved. This
is wonderful. For by the strength of hand,
the Lord bought you out from this place. Look at that. You know what, beloved? We are
bought out from the bondage of sin. How? How are we bought out
from the bondage of sin? By the strength of the hand of
the Lord. That's amazing. We are bought
out from the bondage of sin by his strong hand. By his strong
hand. And never forget that all through
the trials of life, which we go through, don't we? We have
many trials. Many trials. We are kept by the same strong
hand. Right here. We're kept by the
same strong hand. We are kept by the strong hand
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who what? Who's God incarnate in
the flesh. And one day that strong hand
will take us to glory. You can count on that, beloved.
He will take us, because it's not, we're not keeping ourselves,
are we? He keeps us. And think of who
we're kept by. The strong, sovereign hand of
God. That's who keeps us. That's who saved us. Look in Genesis. Genesis chapter
14, verse 22. I was reading this this morning,
prepping for the message here. And look at this in Genesis 14,
verse 22. And think of this. Think of who saved you. The Lord Jesus Christ, the word
of God, God incarnate in the flesh, right, is the one who
saves his people from their sins. Who is he? Well, look at this in verse 22. And
Abraham said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto
the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth. That's our redeemer. The possessor
of heaven and earth. You see how by a strong hand
these rites were delivered? By a strong hand were delivered,
beloved. The hand of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our God, who keeps us, is the possessor of heaven and earth. This is wonderful news for sinners,
isn't it? Oh, may God reveal to you that
you're a sinner in need of Him, in need of Christ. For by a strength of the hand
of the Lord brought you out from this place. We are bought out
of the bondage of sin by the strength of the hand of the Lord,
by His strong hand. Never forget that, beloved. Never
forget that through the trials of this life, that He is the
one who keeps us. Let's go back to Genesis chapter 12. We'll
read verses one to five again, keeping all this in mind. looking
at the call of Abraham and seeing pictured in this call, the effectual
call of God of a sinner to come to Christ. Now the Lord had said
unto Abraham, Get thee out of the country, and from thy kindred,
and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show
thee. And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee,
and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And
I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curses
thee. And indeed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot
went with him. And Abraham was seventy and five
years old when he departed out of Aaron. And Abraham took Sarah
his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance
that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in
Aaron. And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. Into
the land of Canaan they came. And let's first consider this,
that the call of Abraham, just like the effectual call of a
sinner to Christ, was a result of the sovereign grace of God.
A result of the sovereign grace of God. Now God, God chooses
His people because it pleased Him to do so. And He chose us
in Christ, we know the scripture says, in eternity. And we know
here, we see here that Abraham was called out amongst his family. God had chosen him. God had chosen
him and Christ from before the foundation of the world. Now there is no cause in Abraham,
is there? That God would choose him? No,
God's eternal love had been set upon him. Just like there's no
cause in us that God would choose us. But his eternal love has
been set upon us for eternity. It's marvelous. And we are called
by grace with an effectual calling. And God reveals Christ to us,
and it's all by the grace and mercy of God. It all comes from
the sovereign strong hand, beloved. It all comes from the sovereign
strong hand. Turn to Joshua 24, if you would.
Joshua 24, and we'll look at verses 2 and 3. And we're seeing
in verses 2 that Terah, the father of Abraham, he was an idol worshiper,
beloved. He was an idol worshiper. That's what he was. Look at Joshua
24, verses 2 and 3. And Joshua said unto all the
people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt
on the other side of the flood, in old time, even Terah, the
father of Abraham, and the father of Nechor, and they served other
gods. He was an idol worshiper. And so therefore we can conclude
that Abraham was an idol worshiper. And look at the next verse. We
see the sovereign grace of God moved in the life of Abraham.
He was called out of the adulterous state that he was in. He was
called out of that. And I took your father Abraham
from the other side of the flood and led him throughout all the
land of Canaan and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac.
Called and chosen. Called and chosen. Called with
an effectual call by the sovereign hand of God. by the mercy and
grace of God, brought forth by the sovereign hand of God with
an effectual, invincible call. And what a picture we have. What
a picture we have. The born-again believer called
by the Holy Spirit of God and granted faith and repentance
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the object of
our faith. And what do we do when God calls
us? We follow Him, don't we? We follow where He leads. We
follow wherever He leads. I told you gospel preachers,
we go where the Lord tells us to go, don't we? We follow His
lead, wherever He leads us. It's amazing. It's all by God's
amazing grace. God calls every single one of
His people out. of darkness, the darkness of
our sin, dead and trespasses and sins into the marvelous light
of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's all a work of God. It's all his doing. It's all
his doing. That's why he gets all the glory
and honor and praise. So we see here before us an instance
of the sovereign of God carrying out a divine declaration, right? What does he tell us in the New
Testament? I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. And I'll
have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. And we know
because it's not of us, not of our will and not of our works,
but it's of God we show with mercy. All by his grace, we do
not get what we deserve. We deserve wrath. But we receive
mercy. Wonder of wonders. Let us notice
here also in this, let's go back to our text in Genesis chapter
12 and notice and consider that Abraham's call was divinely applied
and enforced. Divinely applied and enforced. Look at verses 4 and 5. So Abraham
departed as the Lord had spoken unto him. He did what the Lord
told him to do. Remember, he was in an adulterous
state. What does the scripture declare? There's none that seeketh
after God. There's none that understandeth. All of a sudden
he's like following what God's telling him to do. He's a new
creature in Christ. He's been called with an effectual
call. Oh my. So Abraham departed as
the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him. And Abraham
was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
And Abraham took Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and
all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that
they had gotten in Haran. And they went forth into the
land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came. Remember
over in Acts chapter 7 where we read the God of glory appeared
unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia? God revealed
himself to Abraham. God revealed himself to Abraham.
It wasn't an angel or a prophet, it was God himself. He revealed
himself to him. He called him with an effectual
call. Beloved, God reveals himself
to poor, bankrupt sinners. That's who he reveals himself
to. Poor, bankrupt sinners, people who have been shown their state
through the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And then he calls us to Christ.
He calls us to Christ. And this call is effectual. And it's irresistible. Because
it comes from the strong, sovereign hand of God. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 4. Romans chapter 4. And we see this scripture here
is so fitting. It ties right into the fact that
Abraham believed God. He believed what God said. And
as Brother Norm says, that's the problem today. People don't
believe what the Bible says. And I've seen it many times.
You talk to people about election. You talk to people about God's
sovereignty. And they say, well, I don't believe
that. Well, no, you don't. Because God hasn't given you
faith to believe it. There was a time when I didn't
believe it. Was there a time when you didn't believe it? Of
course there was. We're not born Christians. No. No. God saves his people by his grace
and reveals Christ to us. And look at this in Romans chapter
4. Ties right into our text here.
Verses 1 to 7. What shall we say then, that
Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For
if Abraham were justified by works, he hath were of the glory,
but not before God. See, man will always boast in
what they do. Always boast in what they do. But not one work that we do can
save us. It'll damn us. For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath wore up the glory, but not before God. He
gloried before men, but he wouldn't glory before God. For what saith
the scripture, Abraham believed God. He believed God. He believed what God said. He
believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Oh my. The effectual call of
God that would turn an idolater to believe in what God says.
Happened in this man's life. Oh my. Glory be to God. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. We trust Christ. We look to Christ
and him alone. Even as David also described
the blessedness of the man. Look at this. Unto whom God imputed
righteousness. Look at this. Without works.
without works. That means that the Scripture
means what it says, not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to His mercy, He has saved us. And we believe
that, don't we? We who are to speak, we believe
that. We believe that. Oh my. And this is the missing
note, beloved, count it, this is the missing note in modern
day preaching. The righteousness of Christ. and how that we are
saved by His work and not by anything we do. This is the missing
note. I came out of that stuff, I know.
It's constant work, work, work, work, work. But oh, what the
scriptures proclaim about Christ. Look and live. Look to Him and
live. He is our righteousness. He's
our righteousness. And David also described the
blessedness of the man. All God's people are blessed
unto whom God imputed righteousness without works. That's the righteousness
of Christ being imputed to us. He bore our sin and his perfect
righteousness is imputed to us. Wonder of wonders. Look at this,
look at verse seven. Saying, blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. How many of
my sins are covered? If you're a believer, how many
of your sins are covered? All of them. Past, present, and future. What a Savior! Does that give
us a license to go? No, no. Doesn't give us a license
to go crazy, does it? No. No. The love of Christ constrains
us. But oh, look at this verse here.
Blessed, blessed are they, men and women, whose iniquities are
forgiven, whose sins are covered. What are they covered by? The
blood of Christ. What did God say about the blood on the lentils? He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over thee. That's what God does to every
one of his people. Christ is our Passover lamb. Wonder of
wonders. Blessed are they whose iniquities
are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Is this not glad tidings?
It's wonderful news, isn't it? It's absolutely wonderful news.
And so Abraham had revealed to him the existence and the character
of the one true God. And who revealed this to him?
God himself. God himself did this. He revealed
to Abraham just as he reveals to us that salvation's all of
the Lord. Every one of God's people believe that. We believe
that. Salvation's of the Lord. He takes those who are dead and
trespasses sins and what? Grants us life, beloved. Grants
us life. We know that no man or woman
can know God unless He reveals Himself to us. And praise God,
He has revealed Himself to His people. So effectual calling
then springs from the divine purpose of God. From the divine
purpose of God. It's worked by divine power,
by that strong hand that we looked at earlier. It's worked out by
the strong hand of God. And think of this, the gospel
preacher proclaims the glad tidings of salvation in Christ alone.
We proclaim a complete salvation by Christ alone. We proclaim
a righteousness that the believer is clothed in, that's Christ's
perfect spotless righteousness. We proclaim that all believers'
acceptance with God is in and through Christ alone. We proclaim
that this is a gift from God. And that faith is a gift from
God, not based upon our works, but based upon the work of Christ
as a sinner's substitute. But until God puts his hand to
those words and the work, then nothing's done. God, the Holy
Spirit, must make it effectual. He must woo the sinner, and he
does. He turns the hearts of his people
who are dead and trespasses sins, who have no idea that they're
the sheep of God. And he points them right to Christ.
Thy people shall be made willing in the day of his power. So our
calls to dead souls, leave them in their sleep. If my voice is
the only voice you hear, then you're prophet nothing. You're
prophet nothing. But the voice of Jesus Christ,
what does it do? It brings Lazarus out of the
tomb, doesn't it? Lazarus was dead for three days. And the voice of Christ brings
Lazarus out of the tombs. We're gonna look at that later
on. Brings him right out of the tomb. How? By the effectual call of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go back to Genesis chapter
12. Genesis chapter 12. We'll read verses one, four,
and five. And then we're gonna put your
finger on John 11, because we're gonna be going there right after
that. Genesis chapter 12 verses 1, 4, and 5, and then we'll look
at John chapter 11. This leads to our next point,
what we've been looking at, which is Abraham's call was personal.
It was personal, and it was effectual. It was personal, and it was effectual. Look at verses 1, 4, and 5. Now the Lord had said unto Abraham,
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from
thy father's house into a land that I will show thee. Look at
verse 4 and 5. So Abraham departed as the Lord
had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him, and Abraham was
seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. And
Abraham took Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and
all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that
they had gotten, and Haran. And they went forth to go into
the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.
Now turn if you would to John chapter 11. John chapter 11.
John chapter 11. We'll read verses 38 to 44. Jesus therefore again groaning
in himself, coming to the grave, it was a cave and a stone lay
upon it. Jesus said, take away the stone, Martha, the sister
of him that was dead. Saith unto him the Lord, by this
time he stinketh, where he's been dead for four days. So she
says, Lord, he's been dead. He stinks by now. And remember, he's graveyard
dead. He's dead. There's not a breath of life
in him. Nothing. Nothing at all. Jesus saith unto
her, said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou
shouldest see the glory of God? Oh, if we only believe what God
said. Then they took away the stone
from the place where the dead was laid and Jesus
lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou
hast heard me. And I know that thou hast heard
me, hears me always, but because of the people which stand by,
I said, that they may believe that thou has sent me. And when he had thus spoken,
he cried with a loud voice. And remember, this is a picture
of the effectual call of God, calling dead sinners to Christ. He didn't say come forth, did
he? Just those words, no, it was personal. As one preacher
said, if he said come forth, every grave would have split
open. But this was personal. This was a personal, effectual
calling. And when he had thus spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. Now remember, he's
dead, right? He can't say, well, no, I'm not
gonna come forth. He's dead. There's no life in
him. Do you see the folly of when
people say, well just come forth and pray this prayer, and just
come forth, just... You know what we believe? When
God's working on a sinner, just leave him alone. God does the
work. God does the saving. You're not
saved by praying some prayer, you're saved by the grace of
God in Christ. And the Lord says, Lazarus! And what does Lazarus,
Lazarus comes forth. The dead is alive. The dead is
alive. Think of this. We're born dead
in trespasses and sins. We're called with an effectual
call of God. And we who were once dead spiritually
are made alive in Christ. What a picture we have here.
What a picture we have here. Lazarus come forth. And he that
was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes,
and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to
him, loose him and let him go. Now see there, he's bound with
grave clothes. Norman and I like to talk about
how sometimes when we come out of religion, because both of
us came out of religion, we still have some grave clothes attached.
Certain things we gotta do and certain things, well you know
what the preaching of the word does? You know what the preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ does? It makes them grave
clothes fall off, beloved. They just peel away. They just
fall. And sometimes you go for a long
time as a believer and you don't realize you're carrying a piece
of grapefruit and you still are. It'll fall off one day and you're
like, oh, praise God. I'm free in Christ. I'm free
in Christ. He completed the work. It's all
done in him. It's all done. But no, he that
was dead came forth. How? By an effectual call of
the master. God incarnate in the flesh, the
Lord Jesus Christ. called Lazarus. He says, Lazarus,
come forth. And Lazarus came forth. He came
forth. Oh, how the truth of the scripture
comes comes alive. Our master's words, when he said,
my sheep hear my voice and what they follow me, they follow me,
they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall
never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Now the difference between the Lord's call, the
Lord's effectual call and a common call, common call of men and
women when you're called to bow your head and repeat this prayer
or walk this aisle, and then they declare the person saved,
those calls are just the call of a mere professor. They're not called by the grace
of God. But they've been called either
by the eloquence of a speaker, or by the excitement of a meeting.
Beware of a salvation. Beware of a salvation which finds
its source not in the work of God the Holy Spirit, and which
does not point you to God alone and to Christ alone, but leads
you to something which you must do. Beware of that. Beware of
that. It's poison. It's poison. Because we are born dead in trespasses
and sins and Lazarus is a picture of what our state is when God
calls us by His grace. He calls us with an effectual
calling. We come out of that tomb just
like Lazarus came out. Stumbling along, clothed in grave
clothes. Oh my. We believe it's God who worketh
in us both the will and the do of His good pleasure and that
we are saved according to the working of His mighty power.
All His mighty power. And we believe that the operation
of God, salvation is an operation of God. Faith is given to us. Faith is given to us. And this
is all pictured in the call of Abraham. He was called and he
obeyed. All by the hand of God. Let's
go back to our text quickly. We see this call of God was effectual.
It was a call of separation. It was a call of separation.
Call of separation. Abraham had been granted faith
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and he was obedient to
that call. He was made will in the day of
God's power. Look at verses 4 and 5 again.
So Abraham departed as the Lord had spoken unto him. He did what
the Lord told him to do. He was made willing. Remember,
he was an idolater. And now he believes God. He's
following God. All by the power, the almighty
power of God. By God's sovereign power. It
was a call of separation. Abraham had been granted faith
to believe God, and he was obedient to God because he had faith in
God, which was given to him. Oh my. So Abraham departed as
the Lord had spoken unto him, and Lot went with him. And Abraham
was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
And Abraham took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and
all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that
they had gotten in Haran. And they went forth to go into
the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.
Beloved, we've seen here today how this text has pictured the
effectual call of lost sheep of God by the call of Abraham. And let us conclude with this.
This is also a picture of the final perseverance of the believer
in Christ. Look at the end of verse 5. Look
at the end of verse 5. They went forth to go into the
land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came. This is true of every child of
God who is really converted, not
just mere professors, but those who are really converted and
receives the faith of God's elect. It is God who has saved us. It's
God who has called us. He is the captain of our salvation. And it brings all him glory and
honor and praise. His brother John has said in
the past, when the Lord saves one of his sheep, we need to
take them aside and tell them now the battle begins, now the
warfare begins. Because it does, doesn't it?
Now the trials are coming. But we are kept by the sovereign
hand of God. And we believe in the final perseverance
of every man, woman in Christ. All who are born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. And because Christ lives, we
live. We live. And one day we'll breathe
our last breath in this world. And again, we'll be taken by
the sovereign strong hand of God to glory. To Canaan. To Canaan, beloved. Remember,
this is a wilderness. We're on a pilgrimage through
this world. We're strangers in pilgrims, the scripture says.
We're on our way to Canaan, beloved. And we're led, and we're kept,
and we're directed by the sovereign hand of God. And who do we look
to all the time? We look to Christ, don't we?
We look to Christ alone. Faint not you who are the beloved
of God. Will we pilgrimage through this
life? We will face many trials. many trials, but always remember
that the very strong arm of God that brought Israel out of Egypt
is the same strong arm of God which has saved you, which has
called you with an effectual call, which has saved you, which
has granted you faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this very same strong arm will keep will keep you. No matter what you face in this
world. No matter what you face in this pilgrimage. He will keep
us. The Eternal God, the Scripture
declares this. The Eternal God is thy refuge
and underneath are the everlasting arms. We're in His arms, beloved. We're in His arms. Praise be
to God. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for the wonder of the Scriptures. for the wonder of your effectual,
sovereign, calling grace, for the wonder of salvation in and
through thee alone, Lord Jesus, and how you call us out of the
deadness of our sin into life. Oh, you have mercy upon we who
are but sinners, and then you continue to have mercy on your
people all through our pilgrimage in this earth. continuously guiding
us, continuously directing us, watching over us like a shepherd
watches over his sheep. Oh Lord, we marvel in glory in
this, and we seek to give you all the glory and honor and praise
for our salvation. In Jesus' name, amen.