Why don't we turn in our scriptures
to Psalm 116. You have a technologically challenged
pastor and I'm thankful to Norm for sorting things out to this
extent and we'll no doubt as time goes on maybe become more
proficient at this. Our theme for this morning's
time together is that verse in Acts 22 verse 15 where Ananias
22 verse 16, I'm sorry, where Ananias
says to Paul, now why tarryest thou? Arise and be baptized and
wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. I'd like
us to turn to Psalm 116, which is one of my favorite verses,
favorite Psalms that has sweet, sweet things to say about our
Lord, about the fact that he hears our cries. about the fact
that he is gracious and he calls his people in to rest with him
and because of who he is and what he's done. Psalm 116. I love the Lord because he hath
heard my voice and my supplications, because he hath inclined his
ear unto me. Therefore will I call upon him
as long as I live. The sorrows of death come past
me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me. I found trouble
and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of
the Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is
the Lord and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. The Lord
preserveth the simple. I was brought low, and he helped
me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul,
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered
my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from
falling. I will walk before the Lord in
the land of the living. I believed, therefore have I
spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are
liars. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto
the Lord now in the presence of all his people. Precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord,
truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son
of thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to Thee the sacrifice
of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. I
will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His
people, in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of
Thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord. This, like all the Psalms, first
and foremost, speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ, speaks of his agonies,
and speaks of his offering to God on behalf of the sins of
all of his people. He will offer to thee the sacrifice
of thanksgiving, and he called upon the name of the Lord. My
prayer today is that you might find yourself calling upon the
name of the Lord. calling upon the name of the
Lord. Let's pray together. Heavenly
Father, we do thank you for the opportunity we have to gather
together in these times, these times of so much uncertainty
and so much difficulty and so much pain and uncertainty in
this world, Heavenly Father, and we do pray that as we spend
some time together looking at what it is to call upon your
name, that you might work that in our hearts, Heavenly Father,
that we might call upon you. We might be among that extraordinary
number of the whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Oh, our Father, we pray that
in these times that you have brought to this world that causes
so much consternation and so much uncertainty and anxiety
that you would cause us to rest our souls in the fact of who
you are and what you have done and find our rest, rest for our
souls in the Lord Jesus Christ and his perfect and completed
and finished work. We do pray for the preaching
of your gospel throughout this world. Heavenly Father, we pray
for our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout this land
and throughout this world, Heavenly Father, that these might be times
when we have so much of our lives disrupted, that that changed
circumstances might be a cause for us to spend more time with
Thee, to cling to who You are, to find Your love growing to
us in our experience, Heavenly Father, that we might find ourselves
at rest in a stormy and troubled world, because our rest is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Bless us today, Heavenly Father,
for we've come to you with thankfulness, because we can come to you in
the name and in the person of your dear and precious Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ. I thought I might read one of our favourite hymns,
if you have one of our hymn books with you, it's hymn number 49,
There is a Fountain. There is a Fountain, it's written
by William Cooper a long time ago, but it's still as precious
now as it ever was. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stains. Lose all their guilty stains. lose all their guilty stains,
and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day, and there have I, though vile as
he, washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away, washed
all my sins away, and there have I, though vile as he, washed
all my sins away. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power, till all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. Till all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more. E'er since by faith I saw the
stream thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die, and shall be till I die, and shall
be till I die. Redeeming love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die. When this poor lisping, stammering
tongue lies silent in the grave, then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. They're singing in heaven. They're
singing in heaven. Worthy art thou, Revelation 5-9,
worthy art thou to take the book and open the seals thereof, for
thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God. By thy blood out of
every kindred and tongue and people and nation hast made us
unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth. I'd like you to turn in your
scriptures back to Acts chapter 22. The scene is one that we
are familiar with. Paul has been rescued by a sovereign
hand of God. from completing a vow with those
other four men, a blood sacrifice vow, and he's been rescued by
that sovereign hand of God who shut the doors of the temple
and sent a Roman army into that crowd that was seeking his death. Sent a Roman army there, and
in the remarkable providence of God, Paul, who had no seeming
opportunity to speak, to these Jewish crowds. Now, under the
command and under the captivity of the Roman captain, he now
stands on the steps of that fort in Jerusalem near the temple,
and he delivers this testimony. He delivers his defense, his
apology. And it's remarkable, these remarkable
words that Paul has brought here. And when you think it's some
of the things that are remarkable about it to me is that he had
the opportunity to go into all sorts of theological discourses.
He could have given remarkable histories of Israel. He could
have shown Israel how that Abraham was a Gentile. Noah was a Gentile. Adam and Eve and Abel and Enoch
were all Gentiles. He could have shown them from
their own history that in the lineage of their great king was
Rahab the harlot, a Gentile, was Ruth the Moabitess, a Gentile. But Paul, in his defense, simply
gives a history, a history of meeting the Lord Jesus Christ,
a history of meeting him, a history of him being called to this office
as one who is to bear witness to him. The crowd, as we know,
becomes enraged. In verse 22 they cried out and
cast off their clothes and threw dust in the air. They became
enraged at this testimony of the poor and they saw him as
a man not fit to live. Let's read from verse 6 of Acts
22. And it came to pass that as I
made my journey and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon,
suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
And I fell under the ground and heard a voice saying unto me,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, who art thou,
Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw
indeed the light, and were afraid, but they heard not the voice
of him that spake to me. And I said, What shall I do,
Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise,
and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all
things which are appointed for thee to do." Which is including
this speech. And when I could not see for
the glory of that light being led by the hand of them that
were with me, I came on into Damascus. And one Ananias, a
devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the
Jews which dealt there, came unto me and stood and said, Brother
Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up
upon him, and he said, The God of our fathers has chosen thee,
that thou shouldst know his will, and see that just one, and should
hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness
unto all men, of what thou hast seen and heard. Now why tarriest
thou? Arise, and be baptised. and wash away thy sins, calling
on the name of the Lord." What a remarkable declaration
from Ananias, that our sins can be washed away. Our sins can
be washed away. There can be, for those who are
enemies of God, there can be complete deliverance from our
sins. And that deliverance here is
linked to the fact that people call on the name of the Lord. There is that great promise,
isn't there? Whomsoever shall call upon the name of the Lord.
We'll look at that later on. It's quoted out of Joel chapter
2 in Peter's speech in Jerusalem. But here we have this history
that Paul relates. You know the story. I'm sure
you know the story well of Paul. And it's very interesting to
think about what it must have been like for him to have those
three days of blindness. He saw that great light and he
was blinded by that light. He saw the light of the glory
of God and he was blinded. And we can but contemplate what
must have gone on in Paul's thoughts and anguish, he may well have
thought that his life was forfeit. Out of the depths of despair,
he must have cried. His whole world was turned upside
down. In reality, his whole world was
turned the right side up for the first time in all of his
life. He must have wondered why this God, who is such a shining
light and spoke with such power and authority from heaven, had
preserved his life, when in the history of Israel we have seen
on numerous occasions, as with Korah and Dathan and Abiram and
with Aaron's son Nadab and Abihu and Leviticus 10, that they were
devoured. The first lot went down into
the pits of the earth alive, and Nadab and Abihu were devoured
by a fire from the Lord without much apparent warning. Paul had heard Stephen's sermon
and the declaration of who the Lord Jesus Christ was, and he
was enraged against Stephen and his Lord. And this is the same
Lord that Stephen saw standing in heaven at the right hand of
God, the just one, the just one who had been betrayed and murdered. Paul was blind, but he knew in
the very recent history of Israel, for the first time in all of
the history, there was someone that cured blindness. It was
a messianic miracle reserved for the Messiah. There were men
in Jerusalem, men no doubt Paul had heard about and maybe even
met. His eyes were opened by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul was there in the darkness. He had this letter in his hands,
a letter for the murder of God's people, a letter which just showed
the depths of his sin and condemnation. What a remarkable word it was
from Ananias that someone like Paul, someone like Saul of Tarsus,
this Pharisee of the Pharisee, this self-righteous religious
man, could have his sins washed away. have his sins washed away, completely
gone forever, that he might stand before this God that he met,
complete, whole, holy, unblameable, unapprovable in his sight. What a great sinner. He called
upon the name of the Lord, What it is, I want us to look at this
verse Acts chapter 22 verse 16 in some sense in reverse. I want
us to look at what it is for us to have the name of the Lord. Who is the Lord? The name is
not just some letters put together. The name is a description of
the character of our God. and what it is to call upon him.
I want us to know what it is to call upon him. And to get
that very clear in our minds, there are some remarkable pictures
in the scriptures of those who call upon him, and one of the
ones that we finds so evocative and so clear, and shows you that
calling is such a simple thing, comes from Matthew chapter 14
verse 30. You know the story, Jesus sent
his disciples away and then he came, and having sent the multitude
away, he spent that evening quietly by himself. And the ship with
Peter and the others on it was in the middle of the sea, tossed
with waves and the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the
night, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. But straightway Jesus,
and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were
troubled, saying, it is a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
And straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, be of good cheer,
it is I. Be not afraid. But don't be afraid
of the wind and the waves. Don't be afraid of who I am.
And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come
to thee on the water. And he said, come. And when Peter
was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go
to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous,
he was afraid and beginning to sink, he cried. This is what
it is to call upon the Lord, isn't it? Lord, save me. Lord, save me. It's a simple
cry. from the heart of someone who
can't say it themselves. It's a simple cry from the heart
of someone who needs the Lord to do something which is impossible
for him. So often we sink beneath the
waves and we look around at this world and we see it bigger and
more frightening and we see the depths of our sin in closer and
deeper and more horrifying reality. And we cry out, and I trust it's
a cry that the Lord has brought to your hearts. It's a cry that
I cry so often. Lord, save me. And listen in Matthew 14, 31
to the Lord's response, and immediately. And immediately Jesus stretched
forth his hands and caught him and said unto him, O thou of
little faith, Wherefore didst thou doubt? Bartimaeus called upon the Lord. I love that story of Bartimaeus. I love the story of him. He may
not have had a whole lot of theological training, Bartimaeus, but he
knew one thing. He knew one thing that he was
blind. For so many other people who weren't blind, Being blind
was a theoretical exercise, but for Bartimaeus it was a desperate
need. To call on the name of the Lord
like Peter is to say, Lord save me. To call on the name of the
Lord like Bartimaeus is to cry. In Luke 18 verse 38 he cried. He cried saying, Jesus thou son
of David, have mercy on me. The cry is a personal cry, Lord save
me, Lord have mercy upon me. Even like Bartimaeus, those who
cry might be rebuked. We might be asked by this world
to hold our peace. But he cried, verse 39 of Luke
18, he cried so much the more, Thou son of David, have mercy
on me. In Peter's example, the Lord
reached out his hand. In Luke 8, 18, verse 40, it says,
And Jesus stood. The God of this universe stood. and commanded him to be brought
unto him. And when he come near he asked,
saying, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And he said, Lord,
that I may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive
thy sight. Thy faith has saved thee. See, calling has an object. If you'd asked Bartimaeus as
he went back, he followed the Lord on his journey to Jerusalem,
but if you'd asked Bartimaeus as he was rejoicing with those
who knew him and loved him and were rejoicing with him, if you
said to Bartimaeus, your faith has saved you, Bartimaeus, he'd
say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, they're the words of the
Lord, but the Lord saved me. The Lord delivered me. I'd like
us to go back into Acts chapter 22 and if we're going to call upon the
name of the Lord, we're going to call upon a God who is defined. His name is the definition of
who He is. It's the character of God. And
the first thing I want us to see about our God is that He's
a God who sees, in Acts chapter 9 verse 11, God saw Paul. He had met him on the road. He
had seen him in every step of his life. He'd seen him as a
self-righteous Pharisee. He'd seen him as the brilliant
scholar. He'd seen him as the enemy of
his people. Our God sees us. He is ever-present. We're calling
on the name one who sees us and what did he say Paul in Acts
9 11 in this time of darkness behold he prayeth behold he prayeth
Paul's recorded as doing four things in those three days of
darkness he didn't eat he didn't drink and he was sitting or lying
down blind men find it difficult to walk around, and he was praying. Behold, he prayeth. So Saul the
Pharisee had prayed for many, many years, and he'd been seen
of men, he'd been esteemed of men, and I'm sure some of his
prayers were theologically so correct that you would be in
awe of them today. But he'd never prayed. To call upon the Lord It's like
praying, isn't it? It's to pray. He, Saul of Tarsus, would have
prayed the prayers of the Psalms, and that Psalm 116 that we quoted
earlier, he would have known off by heart, no doubt. But he'd
never prayed. He'd never prayed. Behold, he
prayeth. The God who sees acknowledges
his prayers. The other thing that I want us
to be mindful of is that our God sees and our God is a living
God. See Paul had known of the Lord
Jesus Christ in his earthly life and Saul looked past this no
doubt like the others would have thought that it was a right and
just thing for the Pharisees to put the Lord Jesus Christ
to death. And Saul and the others would have scoffed at all the
stories of the resurrection. It's something very significant
and weighty to notice, isn't it, that the Lord Jesus Christ,
in his resurrected glory, only ever visited his people. He only ever visited the children
of God. He had the most remarkable opportunity
to display himself before the Pharisees and Pilate and all
the others in Israel as a resurrected Lord. But he only meets with
his own. So Paul now knew him as the living
God. And it's a rebuke to us, isn't
it? It's a rebuke to me. How often do we spend so much
of our time without a serious mindfulness and awareness of
the reality that our God is alive. Our God sees, our God knows,
our God is alive. And it's with a start sometimes
that I have to shake myself out of my unbelief to know that he's
alive and he's now present He's present with all of you. He's
present with all of us. I love what Hebrews 7 speaks
of our Lord Jesus Christ in verse 16. It speaks of him being a
priest, a priest that's not made under the Mosaic law. He's a
priest after the order of Melchizedek. He's a priest forever, but he's
a priest, verse 16 of Hebrews 7, who is made not after the
law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless
life. The God we call upon is a God
that sees. The God that we call upon is
a God who is living. Paul met a living God and God
evidenced the reality of his being alive and being present. by the other glorious attribute
of our God. He's a speaking God. He speaks. It's one of the great distinctions
between our God and all the dead and dumb idols of this world
that man creates. God speaks. He speaks words of
truth. He speaks words of promise. He
speaks words of conviction. He speaks words of judgment.
He speaks. And when God speaks, He always
speaks. through the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is God who speaks. It's God who speaks. It was God,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who spoke to Adam. It was the Lord Jesus
Christ who spoke to Noah. It was the Lord Jesus Christ
who spoke to Abraham. It's the Lord Jesus Christ who
met and spoke with Moses. When God speaks, he always speaks
through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God speaks always through
his son. We call upon a God who speaks. And one of the things that's
remarkable in the scriptures is how the people of God speak
in such extraordinarily familiar and intimate ways with the Lord
of glory. Just look down in our, come back
to Acts chapter 22 with me. Paul speaks of him meeting this
Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus speaking to him. And just
listen to the condescension and the communion that they have. He says in verse 17, and it came
to pass, he said to this crowd, this crowd that wanted his death,
that it came to pass that when I was come again to Jerusalem,
even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance. I think it's
the trance he speaks about in 2nd Corinthians 12 too, and saw
him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem,
for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And
I said, Lord, Lord God of this universe, they know that I imprisoned
and beaten every synagogue then that believed on thee. And when
the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I was also standing
by and consenting unto his death. and kept the raiment of them
that slew him. And he said unto me, Depart, for I will send thee
far hence unto the Gentiles. The children of God called upon
a God who sees and hears and speaks and communes with his
people. To call upon the name of God
is to call upon him in the wonder of his sovereignty and his holiness. Acts, verse 6 of Acts 22 says,
as Paul was making his journey, as Paul was making his journey,
God interrupted his journey and says, suddenly, suddenly there
shone from heaven, shone a great light from heaven a great light
round about me. See, Saul wasn't seeking the
God, the great God of the universe. He wasn't seeking the Lord Jesus
Christ. But God, the great shepherd of the sheep, comes to his own. Ezekiel 16 declares it to be
the time of love. He comes to his own. And he saw,
Paul saw a great light, a glorious light. It's a reflection of the
holiness of our God, a supernatural light. Not a light from this
world, but a supernatural light from heaven, brighter than the
noonday sun. 1 John 1.5 speaks of our God. God is light. God is light. and in him there is no darkness
at all. It's a description of his holiness,
his absolute holiness. To call upon God is to call upon
a sovereign God, is to call upon a God who is absolutely holy. 1 Timothy chapter 6 speaks of
our God, a God who will be shown, who is
the verse 6, 15 of 1st Timothy 6 says, Who is the blessed and
only potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords, who only,
who only hath immortality, dwelling in light, which no man can approach
unto, whom no man has seen nor can see, to whom be honour and
power everlasting. Amen. to be in the presence of this
God is to be there hidden in the Lord Jesus Christ who is
God himself. So to call upon the name of the
Lord is to call upon a God who sees, a God who is living, a
God who speaks, a God who reveals his sovereignty and his holiness. A God who is omniscient. He sees all, he knows all, he
rules all. Verse 6 he says, Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me? All of the persecutions that
had come upon all of those believers in those days and all of those
ones that were martyred at the hands of Paul and his zealous
religious crowd. They were persecuting He says,
I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecuted. You're persecuting
me. To call upon the name of the
Lord is to call upon the Lord, who is one with his people. He's bone of our bones and flesh
of our flesh. He is the head. We are the body. We are members of him. We are one with him. All of his
people are one with him. To call upon his name is to acknowledge
the reality of that. And we saw last week that to
call upon him is to call upon him as a just God. It's the just
one. See, Paul knew that the Lord
Jesus Christ was crucified as a cursed man. No doubt No doubt
in their zeal to have the Lord Jesus Christ put from them, they
were anxious. They were anxious to have the
Lord Jesus Christ crucified. They were anxious to have him
hanging on a tree because cursed is anyone that hangs on a tree.
They were anxious to him to suffer the most cruel and vicious and
agonizing death that man had invented to that time. So they
knew he was a cursed man under the law. And yet now, yet now,
Paul sees this one coming with the Shekinah glory of God. Then
the justice of God must have been satisfied. The law of God,
which had cursed the Lord Jesus Christ when the sins of all of
God's people were laid on him, The law of God now says that
he is to reign and to rule and that sin is gone. He is now in
glory. The reality is, of course, that
on that cross, the holy wrath and fire of God's holy justice
fell upon the Lord Jesus Christ when sins were found in him.
And he consumed the wrath. He consumed the wrath. And he died. Because the wages
of sin is death. But now he's risen. Now our glorious
God is risen. A just God. A just God and a saviour. To call upon him is to call upon
him acknowledging. that in justice he must save
his people. In justice he must bear their
sins. In justice he must reign again. And the very law and the very
justice of God which stands against God's people to condemn them
is now our great friend. The character of God is so perfectly
suited to all the needs of sinners. To call upon him is to call upon
his character. He's a gracious God. To call
upon him is to call upon him who is gracious. And it's sovereign
grace. Paul had done nothing to cause
God to come to him. In fact, everything Paul had
done was in opposition to the God of glory. It was in opposition
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was an open public enemy of
him. And like all saved sinners, Paul
sinned against light. He sinned against all the evidence
that was laid out before him and all the Jews, that this Jesus,
this particular Jesus, was exactly who he claimed to be. He was
the Messiah. He raised the dead. He performed
those miracles. He acted as a creator in this
world, revealing himself to be the creator. He's the one that
could still the wind and the waves and control all of this
creation with just a word. Paul had sinned against him. Paul is laid before
us in scripture as a pattern, a testimony to how God saves
sinners. Paul called in those hours of
darkness, no doubt, as a sinner. And he only was revealed as a
sinner to himself when the Lord Jesus Christ was revealed to
himself in the glory of who he is. You see, light from heaven,
light from heaven is needed to reveal, to reveal who we are
to reveal who we are in the sight of God. It will never come. It will never come by natural
means. The preaching of the gospel is
the power of God under salvation, and the power of God under salvation
reveals the glory of God, reveals the depths of sin, and reveals
the glory of that mediator who takes away sins. You can wash
your sins away. Your sins are washed away in
this blood. To call upon the name of the
Lord is to call upon a gracious God. To call upon the name of
the Lord is to call upon a God who is a God of electing sovereign
grace. So people think election is a
hard doctrine. People think election shuts the
doors of heaven to people. But election is the one thing
that opens the doors of heaven. Election aids our calling. Election
gives us hope. If he saves sinners like Paul,
the chief of sinners, maybe if I call upon him, he can save
me. Acts 22 verse 14. Paul must have been amazed at
these words from Ananias' lips. He says, The God of our fathers,
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of all the Jews,
the God you thought you were worshipping in that temple, the
God you thought you were obeying by all of your legalistic obedience,
the God of our fathers has chosen thee, has chosen thee. Ananias begins in this commissioning
and conversion of Paul by declaring the glorious doctrine of election. We don't hide the character of
God. I want to reveal the character
of God. I want to magnify the character
of God. I want you to know when you call
upon the name of the Lord, when you put yourself with those whosoevers
and you call upon the name of the Lord, I want you to know
who you're calling upon. See, faith, saving faith, has
an object. He is the elect one. Isaiah 42
describes him as mine elect one. The servant of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is the elect one and all of God's children are
elect in him. Yeshua has chosen thee. Sovereign grace. The God of sovereign grace that
we call upon is a God who has discriminating grace, isn't it?
The voice of God came to Paul, but those others who were with
him heard not the voice of him that spake unto me. To call upon him is to say, Lord,
speak to me. I need you to speak. I need to
hear what you say. In the preaching of the gospel,
We want to remove ourselves and all fleshly activity as far from
the scene as possible. I love how John the Baptist ministry
is described, isn't it? They heard John and they followed
Jesus. They hear, to hear him in discriminating
grace is to be called to follow him. How God, in his sovereign
grace, is a God who creates. He creates out of nothing. And
Saul of Tarsus was made to be a nothing. He was made to be
a nothing. He was a something in the eyes
of the Jews. He was a something in his own eyes. And here he
is made a nothing. He's led by the hand into Damascus
and he's told what he must do. He's told about the things appointed
for him to do. We are made. We are made the righteousness
of God in Him. We are made righteous. In Romans 15, 9, by the obedience
of this one man, many are made righteous. Made righteous. We call upon a God of sovereign
grace, electing grace, discriminating grace, creating grace, cleansing
grace. Paul was told that his sins could
be washed away as he called upon this glorious God. So if you
meet the Lord of glory, two things will necessarily follow. Either
you'll be consumed by his holiness or you'll be made as holy as
he is holy. Only holy things can exist in
the presence of our God. Our God is a God of justifying
grace. Our God is a God of revealing
grace. So he came and he revealed himself
to Paul and throughout the rest of Paul's ministry he would come
again and reveal who he was and give him words of comfort and
words of promise. He reveals, our God reveals who
we are. We are but dust. All of our righteousnesses
are nothing other than filthy rags. We are just sinners. And we only know those things
as God reveals himself as he did to Paul on that road to Damascus.
He reveals himself in the reality of his being and he reveals how
he saves sinners by the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a just God
and a saviour. To call upon this God, to call
upon the name of this God is to call upon him as a saviour. Sovereign grace is saving grace. We cut off in those verses in
2nd Timothy, I'd like you to turn there. These are glorious
words of testimony of Paul at the end of his life, at the end
of his ministry, which we read about the beginning of here in
Acts chapter 22 again. He says to Timothy, In chapter
1 verse 8 of 2nd Timothy, Be thou not ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord, the declaration of who he is, nor of me his prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. We call upon God's people to
call upon the Lord, and we don't call upon them to come to a life
of ease. call upon him is to know that
there will be afflictions. Paul was told, wasn't he, at
the beginning of his ministry how much he must suffer for the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The power of God will ensure
that it happens and the power of God will ensure that there
is, as there is in this instant before us in Acts 22, there comes
out of that opposition a great opportunity for the proclamation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But listen to what he says in
verse 9, 2 Timothy chapter 1. He has saved us. This is our
God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling. So we call upon him because he
calls upon us. He's the first cause of everything,
our great God. He's called us with a holy calling. He calls us into the presence
of his holiness. He calls us that we might live
before him in the Lord Jesus Christ as holy people. That's
what it is to be a justified person, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. I love the order in chapter nine,
the saving, comes before the calling. The saving becomes before
the calling. When we are saved, brothers and
sisters in Christ, you are saved before the foundation of the
world. Saved. You are saved in that
eternal covenant. You are saved on Calvary's tree.
You are saved when the Lord Jesus Christ comes and gives you light
from heaven and life from heaven. that you see who the Lord Jesus
Christ is and you see who you are but now verse 10 but now but
is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who
has abolished death abolished death brothers and sisters death
is gone for believers the greatest day and the most blessed day
of our lives is a day when we leave here and go into the very
presence of our God forever. And hath brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. What a glorious thing. What a
glorious commission Paul was embarking on. What a glorious
thing to look back on as he was about to await his death in Rome. He says in verse 11, whereunto
I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the
Gentiles, for which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless,
I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed. See, saving
calling brings you into the presence and into the knowledge of a whom,
not a what, not a doctrine. If you know whom you believe,
your doctrine will be sorted out. you know whom you believe
you'll know what you believe and the very character of God
and I'm persuaded I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I've committed unto him against that day there is much much more isn't
it to speak about the name of our God to call upon the name
of of the Lord is to call upon this sovereign, omniscient, holy,
living, seeing, speaking, electing God of justice and grace and
mercy and love for his own. A God who saves and a God who
makes the most extraordinary promises to his people. So what is it to call upon the
name of the Lord? I said earlier, to call is to
be like Peter. Lord, save me. To call is to
be like Bartimaeus. Lord, Jesus, have mercy upon
me. You can think of the many visits
that people had with the Lord Jesus Christ in those gospel
accounts and how glorious they are. The first mention of this word
calling upon the name of the Lord is in Genesis chapter 4
and I'd like you to turn there briefly with me. It is the story of the birth of
Seth and Seth having a son and Seth is the son of that lineage
of the saved children of God. He's not of the children, he's
not of that lineage of Cain. He is the replacement for Abel.
In verse 25 of Genesis 4 it says, And Abel knew his wife again,
and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God, she said,
has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. And Seth, this one, this substitute. And to Seth, to him also there
was born a son, And he called his name Enos. Then began men
to call upon the name of the Lord. Then began men to call
upon the name of the Lord. See Seth is the substitute. The name Enos means weak, frail,
poor, and miserable. We don't have
time to look into it in great detail today, but it's a remarkable
description, isn't it? The children of the substitute,
the sons of the substitute, the poor, the weak, and the frail,
they call upon the name of the Lord. They called. They called in their
weakness. They called in their frailty.
They called in their need. To call upon the Lord, the name
of the Lord, is to be needy. It is to be needy. In all of these things, in all
of these examples, we have to remember that our Lord Jesus
Christ was one who called upon the name of the Lord. You might
recall him in the garden calling upon the name of the Lord. He
looked into that cup. He looked into that cup that
the Father had given him. He looked into that cup that
he must and he alone must drink. He looked into that cup which
would not pass away unless he drank it. He looked into that
cup and saw the sins of all of God's elect. He looked into that
cup with horror and he cried out to God, if you can take this
cup from me, if you can take it from me. He cried as those
great drops of blood from his broken heart stained the ground
of Gethsemane. And he cried upon Calvary's tree. He cried, didn't he? He says in Psalm 40, for innumerable
evils have compassed me about, mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me. They say that I'm not able to
look up. They are more than the hairs of mine head. Therefore
my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. That's that word that's used
and translated in the New Testament to save me. O Lord, make haste
to help me. Make haste to help me. He says
in verse 17, Psalm 40, he says, but I am poor and needy. Yet the Lord thicketh upon thee. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tarrying, O my God. You might recall those words
that the Lord Jesus Christ cried from Calvary's tree. I wanted
to see that he called. And we call upon him as he calls
us and reveals himself to us. Psalm 22 those extraordinary
words that he called in the darkness I'm not sure and God has hidden
from us what Paul cried in the darkness and we don't know much
of the transaction from the light of this world of what happened
to the Lord Jesus Christ in those hours of darkness upon Calvary's
tree and it's a good thing It's a
good thing, because the light that we have on it is the light
of the scriptures, that we might find our hope and our rest in
the word of God, the word of his promise, that we might not
speculate upon things, but we might have a sure word from our
God. He cried out, didn't he, our
saviour? He says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why? Why art thou so far from helping me,
and from the words of my roaring? See, calling upon the name of
the Lord is to cry with a passion, is to cry as someone needy, is
to cry upon someone who can help you. He says in verse 2 of Psalm
22, Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hear us not, is to keep
on crying when it appears that God is not hearing us. And in
the night seasons am not silent. Why? Is the great question from
Calvary's tree. And the answer is in verse 3
of Psalm 22. But thou art holy. It was a holy
God who turned his back on his son when he was made sin. And
the wrath of God, he is who is of pure eyes and to behold iniquity. But the Lord Jesus Christ cried.
He cried, but in his cry he acknowledged, didn't he? that God is holy,
though thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. He goes on to say, Our fathers
trusted in thee, they trusted and thou didst deliver them.
They cried unto thee and were delivered, they trusted in thee
and were not confounded. And he acknowledged who he was
in his cry, but I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men, and
despised of the people." Paul rehearses before this crowd that
had treated the Lord Jesus Christ as promised by God. He rehearses
before them the calling of the Lord upon his life. and his calling
upon the Lord. The calling upon the name of
the Lord is evidence that we are the children of God. In Acts
chapter 2, Peter quotes Joel, doesn't he? And he makes this
remarkable promise and this remarkable declaration from our God. And
it shall come to pass, Joel 2.32, that whomever shall call on the
name of the Lord shall be delivered for in mount zion and in jerusalem
shall be deliverance as the lord had said and in the remnant whom
the lord shall call your call when god calls you call upon
him to call upon you that's what peter declared didn't he this
promise this promise is fulfilled as this church of this gospel
age is birthed as it were through the preaching of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ in Jerusalem and said in Acts 2 21 and it
shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved shall be saved I love the whosoever I might
have told you that when I wanted to fix up my internet account
I looked for the Angus fishers and I thought there wouldn't
be very many of us there aren't many around here at all and by
the time I found a number that suited me I'd got down to 25
25 there are a lot of Angus fishers
but the whosoever the whosoever has a depth and a breadth whosoever all the whosoever's
will call that whosoever was prefigured in this gospel age
that whosoever the call upon the name of the Lord is now rehearsed
here before us in Acts 22 why tarryest thou says Ananias arise
and be baptized and wash away their sins calling on the name
of the Lord. Calling on the name of the Lord. You call on the name of the Lord,
you'll keep calling. You keep on calling. Acts 2.21 is that promise from
Peter, isn't it? And it is shunned to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. This glorious declaration of
calling upon the name of the Lord is repeated in Romans 10. Let's turn this for a little
while so we can understand something of what it is to call and what
it is to have our sins washed away. Paul speaks and he wrote
this letter possibly just months before this time of this speech
in Jerusalem before this Jewish crowd. He loved his people. And he says in verse 1, he says,
My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved, for I bear them record that they have a zeal
of God, but not according to knowledge. Paul describes his
own activities as ignorance. Ignorance of who God was, ignorance
of what the scriptures say about the Lord Jesus Christ, ignorance
of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, ignorance
of his own sin and his self-righteousness. The most blinding thing in this
world is religion without Christ. A zeal of God without the knowledge
of the true and living God. A religion that hasn't brought
you to call upon him. A religion that allows you to
think that you have called upon and think that you're in right
relationship with a God who is not described as the God of this
scripture is described. They being ignorant, verse 3
of Romans 10 now, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
You see, to have the righteousness of God involves a humbling, and
Paul had experienced this humbling on the Damascus Road. And the
humbling work of God is a work that continues throughout our
lives, and our humbling causes us to call, and our calling Our
calling causes us to realise the depths of us being needy. We're always needy. You're never
not in need. For Christ, Romans 10.4, for
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. Christ is the termination of
the law. As far as the law goes, if you
believe, the law is satisfied in the Lord Jesus Christ perfectly
and completely. For Moses described as the righteousness
which of the law, that the man which doeth those things shall
live in them. If you want to live in the law,
if you go back to the law for anything at all, you will live
in it. you'll live under it, and you'll
be cursed by it. But the righteousness which is
of faith speaketh on this way, say not in thine heart who shall
ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above,
or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring Christ
up from the dead. See only Christ can go into heaven. by his own merits, and only Christ
can enter death and hell and come back. The picture here is
that you are not saved, and you do not enter into the presence
of God by anything that you do. But what saith it, verse 8, the
word is neither even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the
word of faith which we preach. We preach the faithfulness of
the Lord Jesus Christ, His faithfulness, It's the power of God under salvation. It's from faith to faith, from
His faith to our faith. As Acts 26 says, it's the faith
that is in Him. We are sanctified by the faith
of Him, His faithfulness. The word of faith, that if you
confess, verse 9, if you confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. thou shalt be saved. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference
between Jew and Greek. The same Lord over all is rich
unto them that call upon him. rich and then we have this promise
again for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord And
Paul goes on to make some statements, doesn't he? How shall they call
on him whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on
him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? Which is why we want to preach
the Lord Jesus Christ. Which is why we want to define
the character of our God as revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ from
the scriptures. We want to define him with clarity. We're not embarrassed
about the character of our God. In fact, we find it delightful
and comforting. And how shall they preach, except
they be sent? Paul was about to be sent. The
very first thing we read of him doing is that he preached Christ.
You can read about it in Acts chapter 9. He preached Christ.
He preached Christ from the scriptures, testifying that this Jesus is
the Christ. And how shall they preach, except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, that bring
glad tidings of good things. And the summary of it is in verse
17, isn't it? So faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. To call upon Him, to call upon Him
is to rely upon Him, to trust Him. If you believe in your heart,
Believing in your heart is not contrary to believing in your
mind. The contrast between believing
in your heart and not believing in your heart
is between an outward show of religion and inward reality. If you'd asked Saul of Tarsus
on his road to Damascus, do you believe in the Christ of God?
He would have been able to define him, as he saw him in the scriptures
and yet he hadn't met him and he didn't know who he was to
believe and confession I love that word confession it is two
simple Greek words together in one word homo legaio it means
to say the same thing homo is the same legaio is to speak to
confess is to say the same, to say the same as God about his
son, to say the same as the scriptures declare him to be, a successful
reigning saviour, to be the one that will save all that the Father
gives him, to save them in justice, to save them as a just God and
a saviour, to save them and to robe them with a righteousness
with the heart we read it in Romans 10 10 the heart man believeth
unto righteousness the very righteousness of God so you confess with your
mouth you confess the Lord that now seated on heaven's throne
is the Lord of glory the Lord Jesus Christ the Christ who is
the Jesus of Nazareth really a man really suffered, really
died, and he bore all the sins of God's children, and he bore
them away forever. He was put to death because of
our sins, says Romans 4.25, and he was raised because of our
justification, because we are already justified. In a resurrected
Christ, his church is now one with him. And all of my hope,
all of my hope, is in what Christ has done. All of my hope for
my life now is what Christ is doing and what he will do in
the future. With the heart one believes under
the receiving of his righteousness. With the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. We just confess Christ. We call
upon him. He is all my standing. before
God is all my coming to God. I come to God in Him. I'm totally dependent upon Him
for everything. And if that means losing everything
that this world has, it's gain. It's gain to have Him. It's called
upon Him. Whosoever believeth on Him shall
not be ashamed I love the promise that Romans
10 12 says the God is rich unto all that call upon him if you've
called upon him you will know him to have been rich towards
you he's rich in glory he's rich in grace He's rich in mercy. He's rich in understanding. He's
touched with the feeling of our infirmity. He's rich in compassion
toward us. He's rich in love. He's rich
in power. And as Peter cried out, didn't
he, Lord save me, as he sank beneath those waves. He looked
at the things of this world and took his eyes off the Lord Jesus
Christ and he was sinking beneath that wave. to his death and destruction
and he said Lord save me and the Lord reached out his hand
his riches his riches to us Romans 9.23 speaks of the riches of
his glory he wants to make known the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy which he has afore prepared under glory even
us whom he hath called not only of the Jews, but also of the
Gentiles. And when he calls them, Romans
9.25, as he said in Hosea, he says in Hosea, I will call them
my people. I will call them my people, my
possession. I will call them mine, which
were not my people. And her beloved which were not
beloved. In the darkness of those days
and in the light that followed Paul, after this time of the
Lord taking those scales from his eyes, how many of these verses
would have been the most sweet refreshing to his soul, that
he had met God in all of his glory. He had called upon him
and he had been saved. See, he wasn't. He didn't appear
to be the people of God, just like we Gentiles didn't appear
to be people of God. And God says, I will call them
my people. How these verses must have rung
in Paul's ears, and how must they have delighted him. No wonder
he couldn't wait to preach Christ out of the scriptures that testify
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't shut someone up who's
been saved, who's called and been saved. And they, verse 26
of Romans 9, they shall be called the children of the living God. Calling. Have you called? See, calling is a personal matter
between you and God. Ananias couldn't call for Paul. Paul was made to call for himself. Paul was made, like all those
who call, Paul was made to be needy. Are you needy? Are you needy? Do you need him
to be rich? Are you poor? Like those children
of the substitute that call on the name of the Lord in Genesis
4. Are you poor? But he's rich. Are you in need? Are you in need? Being in need
implies that you have no ability of yourself. It means that all
you relied upon has been taken away from you. That you have
no self-sufficiency. The world continually says to
us, we can do this. If we all pool our resources
together, we can do it. We can do it. No we can't. No
we can't. has shaken this world and for
the Lord's people I pray that it will be a time for him to
reveal himself as one who comes to us in our need. Cursed said
Jeremiah 17 5 is the man that trusts us in man that taketh
flesh his arm and departs from the Lord and he goes on to say
in verse 9 blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord whose
hope the Lord is. To call upon Him is to be needy. To call upon Him is to look. To call upon Him is a cry. To call upon Him is to be saved. Calling, like
your salvation, is a personal matter between you and the living
God, the living and the true God. Only sinners call. I repeat that story of the publican
in Luke 18 often. He just cried, didn't he? He
called upon the Lord. He called upon the name of the
Lord. He said, Lord, have mercy upon me. Have mercy upon me,
the sinner. He wasn't looking to anyone else.
He wasn't looking for anything from anyone else. He was looking
to the Lord and he was acknowledging the Lord is a God of mercy and
a God of grace. Are you needy? If you knew the
gift of God, you would ask. I'd like us to close our time
by thinking about some of the extraordinary promises of our
God we read them in Psalm 116 I'll love the Lord because he
has heard the voice of my supplication because he has inclined his ear
under me therefore I will call upon him as long as I live calling
is an ongoing activity Lord save me Lord save me Psalm 50 verse 14 says offer unto God
thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most high and call upon
me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee I will save
thee and thou shalt glorify me God's glory is great God's glory
is very great in the salvation of his people He rejoices to
save needy sinners. I trust that you're one of the
whosoever who calls upon the name of the Lord. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for your word of promise in your scriptures. We thank you for
the revelation in your word of who your dear and precious son
is. and what extraordinary wonders
of salvation were wrought by him shedding his precious blood
and his life and that broken body on Calvary's tree. Oh, our
Father, we thank you that you come to your people and cause
us to be needy and cause us to cry. Father, you alone, by the
revelation of yourself in your dear and precious Son, can cause
us to see what we really are as sinners, and also to see what
we really are in your dear and precious Son. We do call upon
you, Heavenly Father, to make these words, Spirit and life,
to your people, that the blessed Holy Spirit might take the things
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the wonders of his redemption, the
wonders of the wonder of his character as a sovereign, gracious,
redeeming saviour, a just God and a saviour of all of his people.
You might take those things and reveal them to us. We do pray,
Heavenly Father, for your witness in this world and we do pray
for what's going on in this world and the troubles that have come
upon so many. Make us to be sympathetic, cause
us to pray for our leaders, Heavenly Father, and help us, Heavenly
Father, to wait, to wait upon you and to see your hand of grace
and mercy upon your people. You've promised that all things
are worked for the good of those who are loved, those who are
called by you, called according to your purpose. Bless your word
to our hearts, Heavenly Father, and we pray in Jesus' name and
with thankfulness that we can come into your presence, robed
in his righteousness, our lives hidden in him, our Father. Amen. We're going to finish with
those words from Revelation, I mean Jude chapter one, that's
just before the book of Revelation in your scriptures. And it says,
now unto him now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling
and present you faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Saviour,
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Thank you for being with
us. you