I please God to bless us together
this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2, and we'll read verse 21. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter
2, and reading verse 21. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. It is surely very wonderful that
we have the Gospel, that we have the truth of God revealed to
us with regards to the saving of our souls. And isn't it also
very wonderful that the Gospel is very simple. And the Gospel
is very powerful. And the Gospel is that which
separates. And the Gospel, that which blesses.
The Gospel is that which helps us to press on and to continue. And it's through the Gospel,
and through believing the Gospel, that by the grace of God, His
people all at last attained to glory forever and ever. So we should be very thankful
this morning that we have an account like this recorded in
detail to encourage us to know that we have the same God that
prophesied through the Prophet Joel hundreds of years ago of
that which would come to pass. Peter rehearses those words and
you can look at them at your leisure. It's the end of the
second chapter in Joel. And they're very, very similar
to these words. Again, what a confirmation for
us today to realise those words which were indicted by the Holy
Spirit to be recorded in the Old Testament in due time came
to pass. God's Word does come to pass. God's Word never fails. And therefore, as we have this
glorious truth here, and it shall come to pass. And it did come
to pass. And so, in our lives, there may
be those perhaps promises, perhaps words which we perhaps look to
and perhaps cling to and rely upon to realise we have this
confirmation and it came to pass and it shall come to pass. It
shall come to pass. Let us lay hold upon the certainties
of the Word of God. We live in a day no different
from the day in which Adam and Eve were deceived by our great
adversary the devil, and his desire and his work is today
to deceive people, the same as it was when he deceived Eve on
that tragic occasion in the Garden of Eden. And he goes about today
endeavouring to deceive people about the truth of God, to deceive
people about the simplicity of the Gospel, to deceive people
about their hope and to endeavour to turn them away from the truth
of God. Well, we can be sure of this,
as much as he tries, and he is trying, desperately hard today,
but he will not succeed to turn the people of God away from the
glorious truth. And so we can rejoice today that
we have a word like this before us in the Word of God And not
only in the Old Testament, also in the New Testament, the Word
is true from beginning to end, and it shall come to pass. Bless God for the strength of
the Word of God. Bless God that it cannot be turned
aside. Bless God it cannot be overturned. And that's really what The devil
is doing today, trying to overturn the Word of God, to make us doubt
the truth of God's Word. And you see, he's been very successful
in our nation, turning against God. He's been very successful
in the lives of many people, turning them against God. Bless
God today, if God has given us grace, which it is, to hold on
our way. to not throw off religion, to
not come and think, well, it's of no consequence. It is of the
highest consequence, of the greatest importance. There is nothing
more important for you and me today to believe the great truths
which are contained in the Word of God. Those truths will remain
forever. The Apostle Peter tells us so
in his epistle. they will not change. And so
may we be able to come and to rely upon the truths in God's
Word, the glorious promises in God's Word. And this Word today
we have here is a glorious promise from Almighty God. And it's very
comprehensive. It tells us, Whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's simple,
isn't it? You don't need a dictionary.
You don't need someone to come and say, well, what does a man
mean? There are some parts of the Word
of God which are very difficult. Peter tells us there are parts
which are very difficult to understand. But bless God, there are also
some parts in the Word of God which are very simple. And this,
my friends, to us today, is a very great and simple statement. written by God. Whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, today, all
of us need to come within these words. None of us want to be
left outside. We all need to be found amongst
those who call on the name of the Lord. And that means, of course, to
pray unto the Lord. It means also to cry unto the
Lord. And I often think the word cry
is very relevant to the Church of God because as we are brought
before a holy God, realising our lost and ruined condition
because of our sin, which it is, and it's a great weight,
it should be a great weight, And it's good if it is to weigh
us down and realise that we're guilty before a holy God. And to cause us then to think,
well, what must I do? Indeed, the Philippian jailer
in that chapter, the Count, remember he said, what must I do to be
saved? What must I do to be saved? Well, here we have the answer. to call upon the name of the
Lord, to cry unto God in prayer for mercy, to cry unto God for
His favour to be known toward us, to cry unto God that He will
reveal to us that we are a child of God, that we do have an interest
in the sin atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ, that it was
for us that Lord Jesus came into this world and shed His most
precious blood. And we do have, therefore, a
hope in His mercy. And so may we realise the great
truth of this Word. And may we have found the relief,
the relief in crying to God. What does that really mean? It
means this, casting all your care upon God, for He careth
for you. And that's a very a very humbling
thought, isn't it? To think that almighty God, and
don't lose sight of the greatness of God, the ruler of the universe,
the creator of the universe, and yet that God who is so condescending
to hear our prayers, to hear our cry, to come down and to
look upon us, and to come down and to do us good. And so, may
we have that faith today to believe this truth. And let's realise
that God does give faith. He does give faith. Blessed be
God. He gives faith. We don't always
realise it. But the Lord gives us faith to
cry unto Him. Because we have nowhere else
to go. Because there's neither name
given unto heaven among men, whereby we must be saved. And you and I, my friends today,
must be saved. Must be saved. May that rivet
itself in our heart, because eternity stares us in the face. And if we are not saved, what
does that mean? It means we're lost. It means
there's no hope of an eternity in glory. It means that we're
lost and we shall perish in our sins and we shall spend eternity
in hell with that evil devil and all his angels and all the
hosts who have been unbelievers. Oh my friends, let us not be
found there. Let us be found amongst those who are blessed
with this living faith to believe the glorious truth, the Gospel
truth, which tells us, whosoever, that is very comprehensive, as
I said, it encompasses the very worst of sinners. It encompassed
the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul who confessed
he was the worst of sinners and the least and it encompassed
Him, and therefore it encompasses all the Church of God. And may
we have that confirmation, the evidence, as the Holy Spirit
may apply His Word that this Word applies to us. It is a great
truth, whosoever that therefore includes you and me. No one is
outside of such a Word as that, whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord, shall be saved. And the Apostle Paul, when he
wrote to the Roman Church, and of course to the Church of God,
he brought forth some very relevant and very important considerations. And he brings forth another whosoever
We come in the 11th verse of the 10th chapter. The Epistle
of Paul to the Romans, and it tells us this. For the Scripture
saith, again, proving the truth of God's Word, rely upon it. Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. We can say, well, what does that
really mean? It means this in very simple English. It means
that the Lord will not let us down. The Lord will not say something
and then not follow it up. The Lord is faithful. The Lord
is true to His Word. He's true to His promise. And
it's a good thing, therefore, when God gives us that grace
to lay hold of the promises of God. Don't forget, the devil's
a deceiver and he'll tell you, well, you can't rely on that.
You don't rely on that. My friends, He's a liar. Turn
to the Word of God. Believe the Word of God. Believe
on Him. Shall not be ashamed. And the Apostle in this chapter
to the Romans, there's a very relevant statement he makes in
this chapter. And he asks and he says, But what saith it? This is the
Scripture. The Word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth, and in thy heart. That is the Word of faith which
we preach. What a blessing it is when the
Holy Spirit gives us to realise that His Word is in our heart. No one else can put His Word
down apart from the Holy Spirit. Otherwise it sticks in your head,
just in your mind, just in a theory. The Lord puts it in our heart.
It has a gracious effect. It moves our spirit. And we have
the evidence that we are among the people of God because of
His work, that work of the Holy Spirit. And then he goes on to
elucidate this situation. He says, that if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart,
that God hath raised him from the dead, what? Thou shalt be
saved. A certain word of God. May God
give us all that wonderful grace to believe in our heart and to
speak with our mouth that God hath raised the Saviour from
the dead. If there's no risen Christ, there's
no salvation. Because if the Saviour had died
and been left in that situation, then there would be no salvation.
But God raised Him up. Oh, we have today a glorious
risen Saviour, now seated on the Father's right hand, interceding
for our cries, interceding for our prayers, hearing and answering
those prayers. The Apostle says, for with a
heart, man believeth unto righteousness. That means that God gives us
that heart to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has died in
our place. He's paid the price for all our
sins. Have a great. And what has he
done? He's satisfied the holy law of
God on our behalf. And He's taken away every sin. Indeed, what's happened really
is our sin has been placed upon Him. The word really used in
the Scripture is imputed. It's put upon Him. And what does
He give? What does He give us in exchange?
It's really beyond our natural belief. He takes our terrible
sins On the one hand, on the other
hand, He gives us His righteousness. My friends, rejoice in such a
great and glorious truth. It's a liberating truth. If the Son therefore shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed. And that is to be blessed with
this believing heart. And then the Scripture says,
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. That's very wonderful,
isn't it? It's wonderful, isn't it? You
see, the Lord won't leave us. He won't forsake us. We'll never
be ashamed if we are amongst those who truly believe. Perhaps
we have reason to be ashamed of the times when we have been
ashamed. When we've been ashamed of Jesus, that dear friend, of
whom our hopes of heaven depend? Well, the apostle goes on, and
he tells us, there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek,
for the same Lord over all is rich unto all them that call
upon him. How encouraging, isn't it? To
call upon the name of the Lord. To be blessed with that humble
faith to believe we have a God who hears our prayer who hears
our cries and does answer, rich unto all. To think of that, the
Lord God is rich toward you and me, unworthy sinners as we are.
And so he goes on to give us another, whosoever. In the 13th
verse, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. It's a confirmation, isn't it?
The Word of God doesn't often repeat the same words. But sometimes
it does. And when it does, my friends,
it's there for a real reason. And the reason, surely, is a
blessed confirmation that what the Scriptures say is true. And so may we indeed realise
that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. And then the Apostle illustrates
the way of salvation, the way that often the Lord uses. He says, How then shall they
call on him in whom they have not believed? Surely that's quite
simple, isn't it? To realise that you wouldn't
call upon someone you didn't believe in. You wouldn't ask
someone to come and do this or do that for you if you didn't
believe they could have the ability to do it. So here we have this
statement. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they have not heard? If we've never heard of the Lord
Jesus, never heard of His great salvation, why and how should
we ever call upon His name? How shall they call on Him in
whom they have not believed. Not possible, is it? And how
shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? The word of God is decreed that
it is through the foolishness of preaching. The Lord has ordained
his blessing and his favour and his word. Never despise the preaching
of the Gospel. Never despise hearing the truth
of God preached. Rejoice in God. Rejoice in the
Great Salvation when the preaching of the Gospel comes and touches
our hearts, which it will. The evidence of the work of the
Holy Spirit is when the Gospel touches our heart. We then have
a very blessed evidence that we are amongst the children of
God. And so here we have this statement. 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 and bring glad tidings
of good things. And then the apostle then sounds
a note of warning. He says this for they have not
all obeyed the gospel. They have not all called upon
the name of the Lord. They have not all prayed unto
God. You see, not all. This is where we see the sovereign
grace of God. And when we realise the sovereign
grace of God to such unworthy sinners, it's then that we are
so humbled to think that Almighty God, in His love toward us, has
looked upon us and caused us to cry unto Him, caused us to
hear His voice, caused us to turn unto Him. So here we have
this statement. And they have not all obeyed
the Gospel. Many people today have not obeyed
the Gospel. They've turned their back. They've
ignored the truth. They've said, really, we will
not follow this man. We will not hear His voice. We
will not obey His voice. Oh, bless God, then when the
Holy Spirit comes and humbles us to such a situation and such
a concern that we are willing to submit ourselves under the
mighty hand of God. It's good you know when the Holy
Spirit comes and gives us a gracious submission. Left to ourselves,
we're rebellious. Left to ourselves, we're hard-hearted.
But bless God when the Holy Spirit comes and takes away the heart
of stone and in exchange gives us a heart of flesh. A heart
which is prepared to bow down before God and to not dictate
to Him but to simply come and say in the words of the Apostle,
What would I have me to do? There was proud Paul marching
on that road, that Damascus road, until that time when the Holy
Spirit came and shone into his heart. That's really what occurs,
isn't it? The work of the Holy Spirit shines
into our heart. And what is it? It's light. And
it's glorious light. And it's heavenly light that
shows to us the great plan of salvation and it gives us then
that desire and shows us the need to come and to call upon
the name of the Lord and to be saved. Oh, what a wonderful thing
it is to be under the blessed influence and the power of Almighty
God and to rejoice therefore in His work and not to be found
amongst those that Paul was referring to there, here. We've not all
obeyed the Gospel. Lord, who hath believed our report?
Well, perhaps we've not believed the report of God. The Word of
God is the report for us to lay hold upon. It's there for us.
Bless God today. There are billions in the world
who do not have the Word of God. There are billions in the world
who do not believe the Word of God. Oh, what a mercy. if the
Lord has come and touched our hearts, so that we are made simple,
brought down from our own natural pedestal, laid down in the dust
of the earth to submit to the gracious will of God. Yes, he says, they haven't believed,
so then, he tells us then, faith cometh by hearing. and hearing
by the Word of God. Well, he says, Have they not
heard? Yes, verily, they are sound unto
all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. But
I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses said, I will provoke
you to jealousy by them that I know people, and by a foolish
nation I will anger you. Well, it's good, isn't it, when
the Lord provokes us, perhaps by jealousy. to earnestly seek
the favour of God and the mercy of God. And Isaiah tells us very
boldly, he says, I was found of them that sought me not. I
was made manifest unto them that asked not for me. Well, the reality
is that we've been in that position and yet what a mercy if we have
the evidence of God's love toward us which has caused us to cry
unto him so that we are numbered amongst some of those who are
referred to in this verse. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Just take notice of the two positives
there. Firstly shall call upon the name
of the Lord whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. And
the second positive is this, shall be saved. Now, my friends,
may God give us grace to be possessors of living faith, to lay hold
upon these truths, and to rejoice in the blessed, finished work
of God. And to know that the Lord Jesus
Christ did come into this world to save sinners. of whom, says
the Apostle, I am chief. The Apostle had been shown his
sinnership before a holy God. He didn't look round upon other
people. He didn't see if there were other people worse than
him. No, the Holy Spirit convinced him. And what a good job when
the Holy Spirit comes and convinces us. Real religion is the dealing
of God with our soul. It's individual. It's personal.
It must be. Because all of you, all of us,
need to have the evidence of that personal work of the Holy
Spirit within our hearts. It is the blessed work of the
grace of God. And all, my friends, rejoice
in it today. If you have the evidence of God's
wonderful work in your heart, and don't dismiss it, and don't
say, well I don't think that's of any value, Never turn away
the least favour from Almighty God. The smallest light that
is shone, my friends, is a great blessing. Now, the Apostle Paul,
when he wrote to the Corinthians, and he began the epistle by saying,
Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will
of God. Most clear, wasn't it? The will
of God. It wasn't the Apostle's will. Not at all. The Apostle
was content with his religion. But God, in his sovereign grace,
came. He pricked his conscience before.
He'd said it's hard for you to kick against the pricks, Paul.
But he had. Perhaps we've kicked against
the pricks of God in our heart. But here we have this statement. Called to be an Apostle of Jesus
Christ through the will of God. And it is through the will of
God. He calls us out of the darkness
of nature into the glorious light of the everlasting Gospel. That's
why we should come and praise God and thank Him for His love
and for His mercy in calling us out of nature's darkness into
the glorious light of the everlasting Gospel. And my friends, if we
haven't had it and we don't know it, plead for it. Pray for it. Cry for it. Give the Lord no
rest until, by His Spirit, you have received the favour of God
in your souls. The light has shone, the glorious
light of everlasting gospel. Oh, it's a wonderful blessing
when that light shines. It emanates from God. He says
here, unto the Church of God, which is at Corinth, to them
that are sanctified, In Christ Jesus, call to be saints with
all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ,
our Lord, both theirs and ours. Oh, he brings together in these
words the whole Church of God. It's wonderful to know, isn't
it? There's only one true Church of God. Oh, there's divisions
here and divisions there. There's only one true Church
of God. There'll only be one true Church of God in glory.
There won't be little corners for these people and that people.
We're all joined together, praising God for His mercy, praising God
for His love, praising God for His amazing grace. And that's
why the Apostle comes on and he says in this first chapter
of the Corinthians, Grace be unto you and peace from God our
Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always
on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by
Jesus Christ." Well, this morning, can we lay hold of the truth
of God's Word and to have searched our heart and found there that,
wonderfully, we are possessors of the grace of God, the free
unmerited favour But He looked upon us. He hasn't passed us
by. He looked upon us when He's seen
us in our blood and He said, Live! That's in everything. Ye are
enriched by Him in all utterance. and in all knowledge. You see,
it's what the Holy Spirit gives to us. And as He gives it to
us, what is it? Well, it's for His honour and
for His glory. The Apostle goes on, you know,
in this first chapter of the Corinthians speaking about the
foolishness of preaching and how wonderful it is to realise
these wonderful blessings that the Lord has given to us. He
tells us this. For the preaching of the cross
is to them which perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved it
is the power of God. So, very simple, isn't it? It
falls into two categories. The preaching of the gospel is
either foolishness, the cross, rather, is either foolishness
or The power of God. Well, may it not be foolishness
unto us, but may it be the power of God. Because the power of
God does... Do you know what it does? The
power of God? It raised Christ from the dead.
What does the power of God do? It quickens sinners into life. The power of God. And so the
Apostle goes on to tell us in these great and glorious words.
For the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek other wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews. A stumbling block. Yes, they couldn't, it didn't,
the Saviour hadn't come up to their expectations. It was a
stumbling block. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.
They wanted something fresh, no, but unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your Calling, brethren, how that not many wise men are
for the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But,
and here's a comfort to the Church of God, that God has chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God has
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty, and base things of the world and things which
are despised hath God chosen, and things which are not, to
bring to naught things that are. And he gives us a reason, that
no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. What a glorious truth that is,
to think that we are made by the blessed Spirit of God. And
so he concludes his first chapter, that according as it is written,
he that glorious, let him glory in the Lord. And the grace of
God, my friends, makes us glory in His great salvation, makes
us glory in His mercy toward us, makes us glory in His great
grace, makes us glory in His great love. So, my friends today,
may we go on our way, thankful and rejoicing that we have such
a God. And to be thankful, there is
a most blessed Word of encouragement in the Word of God, in these
words that we read together this morning for a text. And may we
lay it to heart and go in the strength of it. And it shall
come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Amen.