Romans chapter 8 and verse 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own Son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Have you ever noticed how every
now and again you come upon a verse or a passage that is so full
of powerful doctrine, so laden with sublime language, that you
feel that it would take forever to climb the heights and plumb
the depths of the glorious teaching that it contains. I think that this is one of those
verses, and no doubt one of those passages. I dare say that despite hearing
as we have that all things work together for our good, and despite
learning of the wonderful mercy that enables us to love God who
first loved us, to love him whom once we feared and who once we
despised. I don't think that even having
heard these things, we are even yet out of the foothills of the
towering truths that are contained in this passage. Paul is now
going on to speak about the called. He's speaking about a distinct
and a discrete group of people. Those who are called to salvation
according to the sovereign decrees and the everlasting counsel of
Almighty God. And this is what is going to
take our attention today. But before I begin, I want to
say something that I hope will reassure and encourage us when
we come to the Word of God. And perhaps especially when we
meet with these soaring passages, like this one that we are thinking
about in Romans chapter eight. And this is what I want to say.
The Word of God is not complicated. It is not difficult. It may be profound. It may be
overwhelming and awe-inspiring. There may even be some things,
as Peter says of Paul's words, hard to be understood, which
they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do also the other
scriptures, unto their own destruction. But we are not unlearned and
we are not unstable. We are the people of God, we
are led by God the Holy Spirit. We have learned the simplicity
that is in Christ and these things are written for our comfort and
for our good. They make us wise unto salvation. That is spiritually wise to learn
and to discover the nature and the wonder of the salvation and
the redemption and the reconciliation and ultimately the glorification
that the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished for us. These things
are profitable to us. They are profitable for doctrine,
they are profitable for reproof, they are profitable for correction
and instruction in righteousness. They are profitable that the
man and woman of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all
good works. So It doesn't matter how young
you are or how old you are. It doesn't matter whether you've
been brought up in a so-called Christian home and you've been
introduced to the scriptures from a young age or whether you
are coming to the scriptures for the first time in older years. Never be intimidated by the word
of God. Never be afraid of the Scriptures. They are yours. Read what they
say. Think about what they say. Ask the Lord to teach you what
they mean and the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth
as the Lord promised that he would. The Bible is not given
to the church to confuse us or to confound Christ's little ones. It is a lamp to our feet and
a light to our path through this dark world on our journey to
heaven. Now here's what we have to say
about the cold. The Apostle Paul addresses the believers at Rome
as the called. And as we've seen, this is not
the first time that he has identified them as such. I drew attention
to this before. In chapter one, verse six, he'd
spoken of these saints being among the called of Jesus Christ. And by these phrases, the apostle
is introducing us to a category of people. We're led, we're being
led to understand that the called are a discrete group of people
to whom the grace of God abounds freely with blessings of divine
love, light, and life. The called are men and women,
boys and girls who have been saved by the grace of God. Sometimes they are called the
elect. Sometimes they're called the
redeemed of the Lord. Sometimes they are called the
Lord's little flock. But these are people who have
been regenerated by God the Holy Spirit and called to spiritual
life. They have been made partakers
of the heavenly calling. And this calling is the powerful,
efficacious calling of sinners, dead in their sins, to spiritual
life in Jesus Christ. And what Paul is doing here is
he is emphasising the divine initiative in this matter. We are the called because it
is God who has done the calling. I want us to just flip over to
another passage of Scripture that the Apostle Paul wrote,
where this is enlarged upon, although actually the word, the
called, or the phrase the called is not used, but the same meaning
is conveyed to us in Ephesians chapter two, where Paul writes
this. He's writing to the Ephesians
on this occasion rather than to the Romans. But his doctrine
is the same. His message is the same. And
he writes, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sin. And then he goes on to explain
what that state was. He says, wherein in time past
ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
the children of wrath even as others." So that Paul is telling
the Ephesian church here that the Holy Spirit has quickened
them from this state in which they lived as children of wrath,
fulfilling the desires of their mind, the desires of their flesh,
the lusts of the flesh, and walked amongst the children of disobedience. But he goes on in verse four
of that passage to say this, But God, see it is God who takes
the initiative. It is God who does the calling
out, the calling forth. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are saved. and hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. So that
here in Ephesians, the Apostle Paul enlarges on what it is to
be the called. The calling, the quickening,
the regenerating work that is imparted to this distinct and
discreet people is a divine act of enlivening grace. I used the word efficacious a
few minutes ago and every time I use that word I think to myself,
do people know what that means? And I feel that I always need
to go back and explain it. But it just means that it has
effect. It accomplishes what it is intended
to do. The other way is effectual. It's called an effectual call
because it does the job, it does the business. An effectual call
is something that the power of God brings to pass in the lives
of those to whom it is made. And this calling that Paul is
referring to here in these verses, it is something more than the
outward message of the Gospel in the Word of God because it
is an internal work. It is the first dawning of spiritual
light and life in the soul of one who is dead in sin. It's
the result of the enlightening and the transforming influence
of the Holy Spirit irresistibly drawing men and women to Christ,
inclining and predisposing our will, making us willing and enabling
us to receive the truth when we hear it. We are called to
salvation internally by efficacious grace, and we are called externally
by the preaching of the Gospel and the hearing of the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's as if we hear it spiritually
and then we hear it with our ears and we hear it with our
understanding and we have the grace to receive it and believe
it, where once we had no desire after these things. Now I wrote
a little on the subject of the called in my introduction yesterday
to today's service. And I mentioned that it was a
spiritual work. I mentioned it was an effectual
work. I mentioned it was purposeful
and consequential and providential. And I'm not going to repeat these
points today, but I'm going to leave you to read them if you
have not already. I hope we all understand that
our calling to salvation is a divine act, powerfully and successfully
undertaken by God the Holy Spirit. which is the reason why the Apostle
Paul says that we are the called according to his purpose. That is God's purpose. The called
according to his purpose. This calling results in the conversion
of God's elect. And it will culminate in our
eternal glory. Effectual calling is a strong,
glorious component in the Gospel of Sovereign Grace. It exposes
the weak, insipid but sadly widespread false gospel of man's natural
ability to choose God and exercise free will and salvation that
is so prevalent in churches today. We do not believe that men and
women have free will as far as choosing God for salvation is
concerned. That contradicts what the scriptures
teach about being dead in our sins, spiritually dead towards
God. So men have no free will in spiritual
matters until that will is taken and changed and altered at the
instigation and initiative of God. And that is the calling
and the quickening and the regenerating work that we are speaking about
here. And the called are those upon whom this work has been
effected. What I am going to do today,
having told you what I'm not going to do, is to draw some
implications from Paul's emphasis upon our calling, to highlight
some of the ways in which we are enabled to experience and
enjoy, while here in this world, the fruit and the effect of our
calling, and thereby make our calling and election sure. which is a little phrase that
Peter uses. So here's the first thing. Well, let me just tell
you what they are. I've got four points I'm going
to make. Here's the title for each of them. Calling brings
conviction. Secondly, calling brings conversion. Thirdly, calling brings conformity
to Christ. And then lastly, calling brings
completion. So those are my points. A little
bit of alliteration going on there, but that's what we're
going to be thinking about today. So here's the first point. Calling
brings conviction. The first indication of our calling
is an awareness of sin. and a reaction against sin. The internal call of grace, this
quickening work that we read about in Ephesians, the quickening
call to life manifests first in a felt sense of sin that we
never felt before, that we never knew existed. Perhaps for the
first time ever we become aware of the true nature and significance
of sin upon this first calling, so that our calling brings conviction. Sure, we are aware of the difference
between right and wrong. I hope we, in our society, in
our education system, in our being raised and reared from
children, there's a certain element of what is right and what is
wrong that is taught. But before we were called, we
were more concerned about not getting caught and more content in convincing
ourselves that there was always somebody worse than me. We had no concept of being dead
to God, dead in trespasses and in sin, as we read in Ephesians,
dead in our abilities to please God. We walked according to the
course of this world and thought nothing of it. We danced to the
music of the prince of the power of the air. He led us blindly. Our desires were satisfied with
the vain pastimes of this age, and the lusts of the flesh and
of the mind. Again, as Paul pointed out in
Ephesians, we knew no better, and we could not care less. Until our calling changed that. With the presence of the Holy
Spirit in our soul, sin became offensive to us. Law and duty
became a burden to us. Guilt brought a new experience. Not even guilt towards those
that we had wronged. We read a little bit about Zacchaeus
earlier and how Zacchaeus was aware that he had wronged his
neighbours by the things that he'd done. He'd stolen from them.
And there was an element of reparation that he desired to perform because
of that. But this isn't even a guilt towards
the people we've wronged. It's a guilt towards God. and being as yet unaware of what
these feelings mean. We often resolve to live a better
life. We want to sin less. We try to
turn over a new leaf. We find that we're not happy
anymore in the things that used to satisfy us. and yet no matter
how hard we try, how diligent we are in our efforts to change
our behaviour, we discover that the good that we would, we do
not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Spiritual conviction for sin
is the first experience of grace, but it brings no joy and it brings
no peace. And therefore, the Lord, having
begun a good work in us, now returns to the task. And this
is our second point, that not only does calling bring conviction,
calling brings conversion. and bless God he does not leave
his people under this weight of guilt and conviction, but
he provides liberty. He gives us a way of escape by
bringing us under the call of the gospel and the message of
forgiveness and cleansing and righteousness by the blood of
Jesus Christ. This is what we sometimes call
the external call, by which the person and work of the Lord Jesus
Christ is made real to our heart and our mind. There was a time when we felt
no need for forgiveness. Now it is urgent, and in Christ,
a blessed reality. There was a time when we saw
no need of cleansing. Now we discover the power of
Christ's blood to wash away our sins and cleanse our guilty conscience. Once we imagined we had sufficient
righteousness in ourselves and some to spare. And now we see
nothing about us is pleasing to God. except what he graciously
imputes to us and places within us. We see Christ with the eye
of faith in ways we never understood before. We discover that he is
a substitute for us in dying on the cross, that he represented
us there before God. We discover that he is interceding
on our behalf We learn gratitude, we experience joy, we offer praise,
we receive by faith the righteousness that he alone gives and the cleansing
that he brings. We see Christ as we never saw
him before, a worthy saviour for all that he has accomplished. Our rightful King, over the kingdom
that he has established, of which we are pleased to call ourselves
citizens. We see him as our shepherd to
lead, our wisdom to guide, our provider to sustain us in all
our ways. And in those early days of that
first flush of conversion experience, the world seemed brighter. Faith
was strong, enthusiasm bubbled up and spilled over. We felt we could change the world
and bring all our friends to discover what we had found, and
some of our enemies too. But we also find that it doesn't
last long, or it didn't last long. First, our friends were
not interested. and they rejected us and sent
us away. And second life became harder.
The old passions that we'd been happy to leave behind weren't
so far back as we thought. And temptations took on a new
ferocity and seemed not only to present without, but to lay
hold within. and new trials appeared, unexpected
conflicts that we'd never even imagined, disappointments, and
hard work. In our Christian experience,
we had begun to learn something. We had begun to learn point three. that calling brings conformity
to Christ. Calling brings conviction, then
calling brings conversion, and then calling brings conformity
to Christ. Paul says we are called to be
conformed to the image of Christ, God's Son. Now some people think
that this conformity to Christ is gained by increasing holiness
or progressive sanctification and striving for a victorious
Christian life. You know, you can buy a thousand
how-to books to teach you the best methods to improve your
prayer life and to develop your soul winning techniques and to
prepare you for church leadership. And some people think that this
is the essence of our conformity to Christ. except these activities
have very little to do with following Christ at all in this world. Deeper spiritual awareness, let
us use Bible language and call it growing in grace, does not
come from studying outwardly. It does not come from outside
of us. but from the internal battle and struggle of the soul,
as when our flesh wars against our spirit, and our spirit against
our flesh. Holiness isn't accumulated on
a gradual incline, on the slope, by the things that we do and
don't do. Holiness is a gift from God.
It is entire, it is complete. It is the righteousness of God
in the soul of a believer, apprehended by faith and derived entirely
from Jesus Christ. It is our birthright, it is our
inheritance. And likewise, the graces and
the fruits of the Holy Spirit who indwells us. such as love
and joy and peace and long-suffering and gentleness and goodness and
faith and meekness and temperance. They are ours according to the
good pleasure of God who delights to give good gifts. And again, they are ours by right
and inheritance as the children of God in the body of Christ.
But they don't dwell in us. untouched or unaffected by our
fleshy nature. They are assailed, they are assaulted,
they are contradicted and confronted, they are exercised and they are
drained by forces beyond our strength and power to resist. And consequently we have to learn
to return to Christ. That's what we were talking about
with the younger people earlier and that verse from Isaiah 50.
We have to learn to return to Christ daily, daily for new supplies
of grace, for greater wisdom, for enlarged views of our Saviour's
power to cleanse us from all sin, for strengthened faith to face
the challenges brought against us by this world's temptations
and our own fleshy desires and Satan's deception. We need patience in suffering
and pain. We need comfort in loneliness.
We need riches in poverty. We need restoration in failure. The test, the proof of a believer's
conformity to Christ is his faith to persevere in adversity. The faith that enables us to
persevere in adversity. And we grow in grace and the
knowledge of the truth as we learn to trust Christ more. As we renew our faith and lean
into the Saviour during life's hard knock times. Again, that's what it means to
stay, like the little dog. That's what it means to stay
on him. But all is not gloom and doom
and weariness, because the calling of God does one more thing. Calling brings completion. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Our calling, our designation
as the called, the called in Jesus Christ, is a sure and certain
promise of glory. Soon, every one of us here who
trusts in the Lord Jesus for cleansing and righteousness will
enter his presence with joy and praise. Every single one of us
here today will soon, as we trust in the Lord, be entering his
presence with joy and praise. And I know some of you are going
to be there pretty soon. Heaven is set before us. And we shall struggle here until
we enter there. Nevertheless, we are being called,
even now, into our final rest. We are being called to trust
Christ. We are being called to have joy
in Christ. Our physical and spiritual struggles
may even intensify as we get closer to our heavenly home. Think of it as Satan's last hurrah. But we shall not be disappointed. Not one will be lost. Not one will be left. Not one
will be late to that appointment. There will be perfect fulfilment
of all God's promises. There will be a complete securing
of every grace, a full enjoyment of every blessing. And he will
give us every good thing, nothing will he withhold. Brothers and sisters, we are
the called because the Lord has chosen us to salvation and predestinated
us to glory in Jesus Christ. It is a free gift of grace and
mercy that he should do so. Between the first secret internal
call of effectual grace and the final call to leave this earthly
body and enter into our heavenly rest. We shall be called constantly
and continuously to conviction. We shall be called constantly
and continuously to daily conversion. We shall be called constantly
and continuously to conformity, and ultimately to completion.
The Lord convicted us of sin the day we were born again, and
he will be convicting us of sin the day that we die. He converted
us by grace under the preaching of the gospel, but he is converting
us and transforming us every day we live in this world. We
are Christ's body and we are becoming more conformed to his
image in our human nature day by day as the Lord preserves
us in this world and subdues the old man and we are complete
in him even as we move ever closer to the completion and the consummation
of all things. The Apostle Peter says in 1 Peter
chapter 2 verse 9, May the Lord bless these thoughts to us today.
Amen.