We wish by the Spirit's work
in us and through us to proclaim our God that the very things
that we rejoice in are things that the natural man finds offensive. And the verse before us today
in Acts chapter 2 is at the conclusion of this
sermon. And as I said earlier, In every
verse of this sermon there is a shall or a will of God or an
act of God. And just Peter finishes. with
this remarkable promise, this promise, this promise of salvation,
this promise of redemption, this promise of deliverance from God,
this promise of eternal life, this promise of union with Him,
this promise of escape from hell. by the work of the Lord Jesus.
This promise is unto you and your children. You might recall
what those people at the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus said to Pilate.
They said, His blood be upon our heads and upon our children's
heads. This promise is unto you and
to your children and all that are far off. And the section
of the verse I'd like us to look at today is the last part of
that verse. Even as many as the Lord our
God shall call. even as many as the Lord our
God shall call. Peter wants to finish this great
sermon, this sermon which is full of the blessing of the Holy
Spirit upon him, and the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon him and
those who stood with him. This sermon exalts our God. in the most remarkable ways.
It is a foundational sermon of the Christian Church. It's the
foundational sermon until the Lord returns again. It is remarkable in its breadth. It's remarkable in its simplicity. There aren't any flourishes in
this. It's the simple words of a simple fisherman who's been
led by God the Holy Spirit to bear witness to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He has, as I said earlier, the
last words, this, as many as the Lord our God shall call,
is the last part of the verse in Joel 32. The first part of
it is in Acts 2.21, and this is where the promise is, isn't
it, that he spoke of. And it shall come to pass, Acts
2.21, it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. And then he has, in those intervening
verses that we've been looking at these last few weeks, he has
defined what it is for the Lord Jesus Christ to be both Lord
and Christ. He has defined what it is to
be the Name, to call upon the Name. You're going to call upon
the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll call upon Him as He is
described here, which is why I love how He describes it. I love how He describes Him. Do you see that personal pronoun? The Lord our God. The Lord our God. There is. There is a God who
is the God of the Church. There are false Jesuses, and
there are false spirits, and there are false Christ, and there
are false Gospels, and multitudes follow them. This is our God. I want for us as a church to
be able to say that this our God of Peter's is our God. I want something more than that.
I want for us personally to be able to say, this God that Peter
calls my God, and David calls, my God and my Lord, will be something
that I can say personally. This is my God. He has been defined
here. He's been defined in His absolute
sovereignty. He's been defined by His word
of promise revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's been defined
by accomplished redemption, saving His people from their sin. He's
been defined by the fact that He reigns in heaven right now.
He's seated in Heaven's glory and He has shed forth what these
people see and hear and the Holy Spirit comes and He takes the
things of the Lord Jesus and He makes them known and He breathes
life. He breathes life into dead sinners
and He brings, by that conviction of sin, He brings a message to
their hearts as we've seen. They are pricked in their hearts. This is a sovereign activity
of God, to reveal who He is and to reveal who He is in the hearts. This is a heart faith that these
people have, a heart faith. He brings them, He causes them
to hear, He causes them to respond in repentance and baptism for
the remission of their sins, and He adds to the church, He
adds them to His chosen. They were chosen of His in eternity,
but He adds them to this group that started with 12 and then
there's 120 in that upper room, and now 3000. 3,000 in one day are added by the Lord. It is that sovereign power that
we saw in Psalm 110, which is the psalm that's quoted there
by Peter. Psalm 110, Thy people shall be
willing in the day of His power. When His power is exercised,
His people will be made willing. This willing people call upon
Him as my God. He's our God. He's defined in
these verses that we're looking at. He's defined in the scriptures.
He's defined by His work in the hearts of believers. And it is
a declaration, it's a great declaration isn't it, that our God reigns. And as we'll see as we go on,
He reigns in calling His people. There will never, ever be a proclamation
of the Gospel without a perfect result from God. His word comes
to this earth, sent by Him with His sovereign hand, and it declares
Him to be a sovereign reigning God over all humanity, over all
time, and even over their rebellion. It is as a many that God will
call. It's interesting, isn't it, in
the declaration of the truth about who God is and the declaration
of the truth about how God saves, there necessarily is a repudiation
of all that stands opposed to it. Everything that stands opposed
to this in religion is necessarily a declaration that these people
are not saved and that they are not calling upon our God. One
of the missionaries in the Caribbean was asked by someone about what's
the Gospel and he spoke to her about the total depravity of
man and the glory of the Lord Jesus and irresistible grace
and particular redemption and the perseverance of God's children
until the end. that our God is absolutely reigns
and He chooses people and He saves people by unconditional
election. He saves people because He wishes
to save people. He sets His love upon particular
people because He sets His love upon them. And you've probably
heard other people say, as this woman said, she said, if I ever
meet a God like that, I'll spit in His face. And he said to her,
you have just proved, you have just proved what I said, you
have just proved total depravity of man. God makes His people
willing. You see, the declaration of the
sovereignty of God here means that all free will works religion
is damning to the souls of men because it is a lie about the
character of God. What did these people have in
their hands to bring to God? What could they offer God? What was their contribution to
salvation? All of their religion had led
them to be murderers of God. Free World Works religion is
put to death by this sermon. Legalism is put to death by this
sermon completely. No matter how much the Orthodox
Beliefs might be in so many other ways. If anyone adds a little
tiny bit of the leaven of human works and human legalism to the
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, they cannot say with
Peter, Our God. Our God. Our God reigns. Our God calls His own to Himself
and He calls His own to witness to His character. You long, don't you? You long
to hear people respond as people did in this day. Do you see in
verse 41, How did the people respond? How did this 3,000 people
respond? How did those who heard, how
did those who were pricked in the heart, how did those who
cried, what did they do when they heard this word of a sovereign
God who had redeemed a particular people for Himself? And of course
they gladly received his word. See this was not a matter. These
people were wounded in the heart. This is not a matter of doctrinal
orthodoxy. This is a matter for these people
of life and death. This is a matter of life and
death and the life and death of God's children is tied up
with the glory of God. The two are intimately linked,
aren't they? You cannot worship a God who
is not sovereign. And anyone who claims to worship
a God who is not defined as Peter defines, our God here, our Lord
Jesus Christ, is testifying to their unbelief. They are testifying
to the fact that they can't say with Peter that this is my God. God's children gladly receive
his word. I love, and I quote that verse
often in John 4 when the Lord Jesus spoke to the woman in the
well and he said that God seeks worshippers who will worship
him in spirit and truth. And when God seeks worshippers,
He finds them. Not only finds them, He makes
them. It is for these people who are
thirsty and barren, these people who have been pricked and wounded
in the heart, it is now this time. I love how Zechariah describes
this time of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it shall be in that day,
Zechariah 14.8, that living waters, that's what he said to the woman
at the well, isn't it? Living waters will flow out of you.
Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them towards
the former sea and half of them towards the hinder sea in summer
and it'll go in every direction and it'll go in every direction. place in every season, and the
Lord shall be king over all the earth." That's what the living
waters are declaring, aren't they? And in that day there shall
be one Lord and His name one. That's what the living waters
are declaring. I love how Joel puts it, and
we'll just go back and look at Joel briefly before we look at
this whole business of the calling of the Lord. In Joel 2.32, he
says, and it shall come to pass, just another promise of God,
isn't it? Peter has quoted it in Acts 2.21. It shall come to pass that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered, says
Joel. To be delivered is to be saved. It's to be saved from Messianic
judgment. It's to be saved, to be saved
by the Messiah. We need to be saved by God, from
the very character of God who demands perfect holiness and
demands perfect righteousness. He's a just God and a Saviour. And then Joel goes on to say,
for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance." It's lovely,
isn't it? In Jerusalem shall be deliverance. Mount Zion is that beautiful
mountain. We read about it just in Psalm
48 earlier. Beautiful for situation. The
joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion. Glorious things of thee
are spoken, thou city of God. Zion is a picture of the church,
isn't it? But it's also lovely what the
name means. The name means a monument raised
up, a monument raised up. We are, brothers and sisters,
if we are led by the Lord and gathered by Him, we are a monument,
aren't we, raised up. We raise up Him, a monument to
His grace, a monument to His glory, a monument to His name. Raised up now, it will be raised
up for all eternity. Zion, of course, is where David
built that city and Solomon built the temple, which is a picture
of Christ in his body. The Lord has founded Zion. See, Zion is the Lord's city,
and the poor of his people shall trust into it. He says, doesn't
he, as we quote so often, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation,
a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone. That's the stone,
isn't it? If you were building a huge,
huge building and you had to lay the cornerstone, you would
go to the most extraordinary trouble because that cornerstone
determines the direction in each side of the building and it determines
the height. you would go to a lot of trouble.
So it is with our God. When this foundation is laid,
it is laid with perfect clarity and perfect justice. It's laid
in such a way that anyone that comes to look at it will say
this is right and that the building that's built upon it is true
and square and He lays righteousness to the line and judgement to
the plummet. He does. He does lay in Zion
this precious, precious stone. And he's commissioned to tell
the Church, our great Apostle John, that this is Christ, isn't
it? It is that precious cornerstone.
We are built upon Him. We are built upon Him in the
declaration of who He is, as witnessed by the Scriptures.
And when we come to see Him in Revelation Chapter 14, we find
the Lamb standing on Mount Zion and He's surrounded with His
redeemed. So that's where we come, isn't
it? We come to Mount Zion, as Hebrews 12 says, the City of
the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable
company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn,
whose names are written in heaven. and to God, the judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the
mediator of the new covenant and the blood of sprinkling that
speaks better things than that of Abel. In the scriptures we
have blood promised as a covering. We have in the life and death
of our Lord Jesus on Calvary's tree, we have the blood shed.
But on the day of Pentecost we have this blood applied. It's
applied personally to the hearts of God's children. Which is why
these people gladly received His word. The ransomed of the
Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy upon their heads. Isaiah 35 10. They shall come
and sing in the height of Zion and shall flow together to the
goodness of the Lord. Again and again, all of this
is what the Lord, to continue in Joel 2.32, is what the Lord
has said. It's what He's promised. We bear
witness, brothers and sisters, to promises fulfilled, perfectly
fulfilled. Peter speaks of the many as the
Lord our God shall call. Joel finishes his verse by talking
about the many and in the remnant. in the remnant whom the Lord
shall call." What a great word that is for God's children. A
remnant. Have you ever been out to buy
carpet as we did last couple of years ago? We buy remnants
of carpet for things. Where do you find the remnant?
You go into the big showroom out there and it's all fancy
and it's laid out and just looks amazing. Where are the remnants?
Where are the remnants? We went to the remnant room.
Where's the remnant room? It's hidden around the back,
out of view of the world, isn't it? And there in the remnant
room are all the scraps. Big scraps and little scraps
and all different sort of colours all together. That's the remnant,
isn't it? It's a great description of God's
children, isn't it? It is God's description of God's
children. except the Lord of hosts hath
left us a very small remnant, says Isaiah. We should have been
as Sodom, and we should have been as like unto Gomorrah. But
also there's a promise, isn't it? The remnant shall return,
even the remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God. Micah 7.18 says,
Who is a God like unto thee? Who is the God that has done
these things? Who is a God like unto thee? Listen to what this
God does. Listen to what our God does.
That pardoneth iniquity perfectly and completely forever. He retaineth
and passes by the transgression. He passes by as that angel did. He passes by because the transgression
has been placed on another. As God says, He says, when I
see the blood, I will pass over. When He sees the blood of His
Son, He passes over these people. He pardoneth iniquity, He passes
by the transgression of the remnant, of His heritage. It is His heritage,
isn't it? They belong to Him. They are
His love from eternity. They are His blood brought to
Him. They are His gift to His Son. They are His Son's purchased
possession. They are the ones who are covered
and protected and cared for by Him. and he retaineth not his
anger for ever." This is a great description of our God, isn't
it? 4. Because he delights in mercy. That's why he does this,
brothers and sisters. He delights in mercy. This remnant,
isn't it? It's a remnant according to the
election of grace. It's a remnant that the Lord
Jesus describes as a little flock. He says, fear not little flock,
it's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It is
that many, it is that few that enter in at the straight gate.
It is that little city that few men find it, that it's delivered
by a poor wise man. It is this remnant, isn't it? Jeremiah 31, for thus saith the
Lord, sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief
of the nations, publish thee, praise you, and say, O Lord,
save thy people, the remnant of Israel. The remnant of Israel. That's how Joel has described
God's children, God's blood-born children. Peter says, even as
many as the Lord our God shall call. The Lord our God shall
call. It means to call to himself.
It's to beg people to come to him. It's a personal call. It's a powerful call. It reveals
the fact that our God distinguishes between His people and others. Peter wants the people on the
day of Pentecost to listen to his words and his many other
words in verse 40, did he testify and exhort saying, save yourselves
from this untowards this wicked crooked generation. He wanted
those people who responded to see that their response was an
act of sovereign grace. And he wanted those people who
didn't respond to know with absolute certainty that our God reigns. Their rebellion against him has
not affected his sovereign reign at all. God's children are particularly
called, aren't they? There is from God a call which
is distinguishing. It's the call of sovereign grace,
and it's a discriminating call. They are a people who heard in
verse 37. They are a people who were pricked
in their hearts. They are a people who cried out
to God, what shall we do? What shall we do to be saved? They are a people Ah, it's all
right, right? They are a people. They are a
people who are designated several times in the New Testament by
that name. They are the called. They are the same as the elected,
the redeemed of the Lord. They are those who are regenerated. They are those who are born of
God. They are those who trust the
Lord Jesus Christ. They are simply those who cry
out to Him and look to Him. There is a call from God, a personal
call. So He called His Son out of Egypt. The Lord Jesus called His disciples
to Himself and He calls sinners to repentance. He said, I didn't
come to call the righteous, but I came to call sinners to repentance. He calls both Jew and Gentiles,
he calls them us and he's called us, the call is to have fellowship
with his son. That's why Peter says it's our
God. Our God calls his people into
fellowship. I can't go through all the scriptures,
but he calls us to peace. It's a call in grace. It's a call, as we saw in Galatians,
it's a call to freedom. It's a call into his kingdom
and his glory. It's a call of holiness. It's a call to eternal life. It's a call to light. They are
the call of the Lord. Peter heard that call, didn't
he? He heard a personal call from the Master, didn't he? He
said, come after me, you come after me and I will make you
to become fishers of men. Peter had to wait for some considerable
time for all that to be fulfilled, but here he is on this day of
Pentecost proclaiming that. And the Lord made him to become,
and the Lord's blessed Peter's ministry because it came from
him, isn't it? It's a call as Peter describes
it in 1 Peter 2.9, it's a call out of darkness into his marvellous
light. And he describes the called in
2 Peter 2.9, he says, Now, the called out ones are now a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people,
a particular people, a distinguished people. Why? And for what purpose? That you should show forth the
praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His
marvellous light. That's what God calls His people
for. That's what Peter has done on this day, hasn't he? showing
forth the praises of Him. There is nothing in Peter's sermon
which exalts the apostles or exalts man of any sort. It's
all about Him. I love what John Gill says about
this calling. Christ stands in the Gospel ministry
at the door of men's hearts and knocks and calls. He's no Arminian,
John Gilders. Listen on. Having the key of
the house of David, he opens the heart by the power of his
grace and lets himself in. In this way, and by this means,
the Spirit and his graces are received. Men are called to both
grace and glory by the Gospel. As I said earlier, the many will
be the ones who bear witness to Him. They will be witnesses
of our God. They have received power from
on high. They are, these people, Peter
and these others speaking of the wondrous works of God, they
are immersed, they are baptized, full of the Holy Spirit, immersed
in Him. That's why We want again and
again for the scriptures and the scriptures declaration of
our God to be the paramount thing. There is no other purpose for
the church on this earth than to declare the praises of Him. That's what we're called to do.
I don't mind that other people do all sorts of other things
and I pray that where there are opportunities we will be involved
in all sorts of other acts of generosity and kindness wherever
we have situations. But the Church's call is a call
to declare the Gospel, and to continue to declare the Gospel,
and simply declare the Gospel and trust God. You see, he has
a many. Peter didn't know who the many
were, but he knew that God had a many. He knew that the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ was not some sort of accident. It's
not as if when you get to heaven there are going to be some empty
chairs, and some seats at the dinner table that aren't full,
and some crowns gathering dust and cobwebs. There'll be none
of that rubbish, will there? None of this nonsense about God
actually preparing this thing like a Christmas present, all
you have to do is come and open it and it's ready for you. This
is a declaration of a God who reigns and a God who rules and
God's children gladly receive this word. We bear witness to
Him. That's why we call Him our God.
That's why Peter says, the Lord our God. There are multitudes
of other gods out there, but this is the Lord our God, and
He's a God who calls. So this, again, as I said earlier,
this is not just a matter of doctrinal orthodoxy. This is
life and death for these people. This is deliverance from eternal
hell that is proclaimed here by the work of someone who they
had crucified on Calvary's tree. This is a call for these people
to turn away from Judaism into fellowship with the apostles,
to join with the rejected ones who are there because of the
rejected one, to go outside of the camp It's a call to suffer,
isn't it, outside of the camp, to come and be with his people
and outside of the camp of religion. It was a call that was going
to cost Peter his life. It was a call that was going
to cost the very lives of almost all who preached it in those
days. It was a call that was going
to cost these people dearly. You can read about their trials
in the latter chapters of the book of Hebrews. It's a call that comes from the
Church, our God. It's a call for them to come
into that fellowship. It's a call to the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a call because of the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a call because of the Spirit's
empowering the words of a man, and causing them to be the very
words of God. They hear the voice of the shepherd. The Lord Jesus promised that
his sheep will hear my voice and they will follow me and they
won't follow a stranger's voice. They'll hear that stranger's
voice and there'll be a discordant note with it. They'll follow
the shepherd's voice. It's a call into the hearts of
people. It's a call to a wounded heart. It's a call of a heart that's
in desperate need and it can only find peace in the one who
caused the wound. You see, when Isaiah calls upon
his people, the people of the Lord, who proclaim the Gospel,
he says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. It necessarily
assumes that those people are in need of comfort. You tell
them, you tell them that are in need of comfort, that their
warfare is over and the Lord has paid double for their sins. It's a call to those who are
at their weakest and at their helpless. What could these people
do? It's a call to beggars, isn't
it? Who have nothing in their hands
they can bring. There is a time of the Lord's
calling. There is a distinguishing grace. And it's a promise, isn't it?
I like how Peter described it. This promise, this promise, this
promise, that all who call on the name of the Lord shall be
saved. This promise of the blessing
of the Holy Spirit. This promise is unto you and
your children and far off. It covers all this earth. It's
not a promise just to the Jews. It's a promise to the whole world,
to the many that the Lord will call. It's given to some and
it's not given to others and it's because it's a call from
a sovereign God. It's a call of distinguishing
grace. It's a call that is powerful
and effectual because it's a call of God. It's a call that is these
days in the hands of His Church. It's a call that shows that the
Gospel that is proclaimed today, that God loves everyone and Jesus
died for everyone and the Holy Spirit is wishing to save everyone
and God wants to make you something special. And that you can come, you can
come at a time of your choosing. Felix trembled when he heard
Paul preaching the Gospel in Acts chapter 24. He trembled,
didn't he? And what was his response? He
said, I'll see you and I'll hear from you at a convenient time. Now, brothers and sisters, is
the time of salvation. This is the day of salvation.
Don't be fooled by those notions that salvation is something that's
in your hands. Paul, Peter here, has made it
abundantly clear that salvation is in God's hands, as many as
He calls. They'll be called powerfully,
they'll be called effectually, and they'll be called irresistibly. Nothing will resist the call
of God. It is not that I did choose thee,
for, Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee, hadst thou not chosen me. My heart owns none before thee,
for thy rich grace I thirst, this knowing, if I love thee,
thou must have loved me first. People want to reason these things
and debate theological issues. For these people on that day,
and for all of the Lord's people, this is not a matter of debate.
This is not a matter of doctrinal orthodoxy. This is a matter of
life and death, brothers and sisters. I don't know who wrote
it, but someone wrote something wonderful. I've written it out
here. Where reason fails with all her power, Faith believes
and love adores. We can't reason these things
out, brothers and sisters. Where reason fails with all her
power, faith believes and love adores. They are the called. I love what Romans 1.6 says.
It describes them again. They are the called of Jesus
Christ. They are called to Him. They
are called because they are His, isn't it? in 2 Timothy 1.9, He
has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. The calling is an eternal calling. to an infinite sovereign God. He was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and has
brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. Believers are the called of Jesus
Christ. They were redeemed by Him. He calls them to Himself. When God calls people, they are
called in such a way that all the glory goes to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto Thy name give glory for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's
sake. People are called, the called,
the many that Peter described, the remnant that Joel described.
They are called according to the purpose of God. They are
called by the grace of God. They are called into fellowship
with the Son of God. The question, and I'll finish. There are a couple of questions,
aren't there? How do I know if I'm one of the called? How do
I know if I'm one of the called? In Acts we are given some very
clear descriptions of it, aren't we? The called assembled under
the sovereign hand of God where the Gospel is preached. The called
are those who hear the Gospel declaring the wonderful works
of God in the life and death and resurrection of the Lord
Jesus. The called are those who are wounded in the heart being
made aware of who they are, being made aware of the God that they
stand before, being made aware to see that the God and the religion
that they thought they were worshipping was not God at all, made to be
aware of the fact that all they thought was religion and all
they thought in their religion which was helpful to them is
actually damning to their eternal souls and leaves them helpless,
standing before a sovereign God. And they are in His hands. But
the simple answer is, have you called on Him? Have you called
on Him? Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. These people call, don't they?
I love how Paul describes the sons of God. He says in Galatians
4.6, Because you are sons, your sons in eternity, God has sent
forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts. So the called are
a crying people. What do they cry? Abba, Father. If you're a son, you're an heir
of God through Christ. They are a calling people. They
are a crying people. They are described in the Book
of God with such clarity that we should be in no doubt as to
who and what they are. They were chosen. and predestinated
in the Lord Jesus Christ before the world began. 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
say then? What's the response? These people
on the day of Pentecost, they gladly received his words. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? If God be for us. He calls a particular people
at a particular time. They are the objects of election. They are the same objects, aren't
they? They are always the many, the
remnant. They are the ones chosen in eternity. They are the ones loved by God.
They are the ones redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. They are
the ones called. They are the ones who are preserved,
Jude. a servant, the servant of Jesus
Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by
God the Father. The called are sanctified by
God, not by their works, not by their legalism, preserved
in Christ Jesus and called. They are those who are in His
hands, who are in His arms. They are the ones that He shepherds. They are the ones that can call
out the Lord, my shepherd. They are the ones who are the
bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are the ones, as we say
so often, who were redeemed and purchased by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. All of God's graces All of God's
graces in the Lord Jesus Christ are particular and powerful and
effective and applied to a particular people. Election and redemption
and effectual calling are all as one. The Father chose us. The Son redeemed us and the Holy
Spirit comes and makes us to be aware that we are His from
the foundation of the world, that we were one with Him, created. But now thus says the
Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name. Thou art mine. The called are those who belong
to Him. And the called, like these people
on the Day of Pentecost, are the most unlikely sinners, aren't
they? The called. The called are real
sinners. They're guilty, helpless, damned,
doomed. They are ungodly, filthy, abominable
sinners. They are people who need just
one thing. They just need mercy. They just need God to save them
by grace. As the Lord Jesus said, the publicans
and the harlots are going into the Kingdom of God. Not good
religious people. The called are His. They are those who will be glorified
with Christ. The call of those who call upon
the name of the Lord. And if you've begun calling,
you'll be calling again today. And you'll be calling again tomorrow. And you'll be calling with the
same cry until you meet Him in glory. It's a good thing to begin
by calling. It's a good thing to keep on
calling. Am I called and can it be? Has
my Saviour chosen me? Guilty, wretched as I am, has
He named my worthless name? Violest of the vile am I, dare
I raise my hopes so high? Am I called? I dare not say. May not, must not, disobey. Here I lay me at thy feet, clinging
to the mercy seat. Thine I am, and thine alone. Lord with me, thy will be done. Am I called, what shall I bring
as an offering to my King? Poor blind and naked eye, trembling
at thy footstool lie. Naught but sin I call my own,
nor for sin can sin atone. Am I called an heir of God, washed,
redeemed by precious blood? Father, lead me in Thy hand,
guide me to that better land, where my soul shall be at rest,
pillowed on my Saviour's breast. God's children enter a rest,
ceased from their labours, and they rest in Him who comforts
His people.