Acts chapter 2. Acts the 2nd
chapter. And we'll be looking at verses
39 down to 41. 39 to 41. And the Scripture says,
"...for the promise is unto you, and unto your children, and to
all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall
call." And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying,
Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly
received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added
unto them about three thousand souls." The title of the lesson
this morning is The Call of Grace. The Call of Grace. Now Peter,
when he preached this message that we've been studying for
the last couple of Sundays, the sermon of Peter, he preached
the gospel of Jesus Christ. He preached, the summation of
what he had preached was in verse 36 where he said that God hath
made this same Jesus both Lord and Christ. These then that were
convicted of their sins, these that were convinced of their
sins, and that Jesus was both Lord and Christ, the Scripture
says that they were pricked in their hearts. And we saw last
week that that word pricked means to be run through. It is as though
the Spirit of God took the sword of the Word, the Gospel, and
ran it through their hearts. And they cried to them, men and
brethren, what shall we do? In other words, is there any
hope? Is there any hope for us? And his answer was clear, repent
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus for
the remission of sin. Repent and believe. Remember
we saw that last week that repentance and faith always go together. We can't have one without the
other. You can't repent without faith and you can't have faith
without repentance. They are the same entity. He
said repent and believe the gospel. And he said all that repent and
believe. He said, this promise, the promise
of salvation, the promise of eternal life, is yours to all
that the Lord our God shall call. To all that the Lord our God
shall call. Now this call is vitally important. If the promise is even unto as
many as the Lord our God shall call, The promise is not to everyone. The promise is to those whom
the Spirit calls. To those whom the Spirit calls.
This call is the irresistible call of the Spirit. When a sinner
is under the preaching of the gospel of Christ, he may hear
with his ears. Every one of you hear my words
this morning. But in order for them to be effectual, in order
for them to be powerful, in order for them to change a man, they
must come by the power of the Spirit of God. They must come
by His Spirit. He calls a man. If a man sits
under the ministry of the gospel for many years and he only hears
the preacher, he may get a good education in doctrine. If he's baptized, he may get
a good bath. If he eats the Lord's table,
he might get a good meal. But if the Spirit of God does
not come and say to our hearts, behold, the Lamb of God, we're
wasting our time. The Spirit of God must come.
The Spirit of God must move. If a man doesn't move by the
Spirit of God, he'll never come to Christ. He'll never receive
the Word of God by faith. Now, if a man must be called,
if a man must be called, then this call is vitally important
to understand what it is. What is the call? What does it
mean to as many as the Lord our God shall call? What is this
call of God? I have four things. There are
many things that can be said about this, but I have four things
that are very simple and very plain according to the Scriptures. First of all, this call of the
Spirit is a call from death to life. That's what it is. These
people that were pricked in their hearts, they were called by the
Spirit of God and they were called from death to life. Second of
all, they were called from darkness to light. Third, they were called
to faith in Christ alone. And fourth, this call is an irresistible
call. This call is an irresistible
call. First of all, let's look at this, that the call of the
Spirit of God is from death to life. These men in our text,
just like all men by nature, were spiritually dead. Spiritually
dead. By birth, we were spiritually
dead. This is the condition of all
men brought into this world. as a result of the curse of God
upon our race. The human race has a curse upon
it, and the curse is death. That's the curse of God. God
cursed Adam when he fell. What was the promise that God
said to Adam? In the day thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die. Adam lived to be 900 and something
years old. What did he mean? He said, in
the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die. He said, regarding
spiritual death. Spiritual death. And when He
had died, He not only died Himself, He not only died... When I say
Adam died, I'm not just talking about Adam, but I'm talking about
Adam's race. You and me, by nature, by birth,
are spiritually dead. in our trespasses and sins. You
see, this thing is passed on. In Lamentations this morning,
we'll study the fall in greater detail. But in Lamentations chapter
4, it tells us that the destruction of my people was not as Sodom
and Gomorrah. What did he mean? He's saying
by the fall of man, it's not confined to one simple act. You see, every one of us, from
every generation, this death is passed from one to the other
so that we are all born dead. Dead and trespassed in sins.
Romans 5.12 tells us plainly, Wherefore, as by one man, Adam,
sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed
upon all men. You see, man doesn't have a moral
problem. He doesn't have a religious problem.
He has a death problem. He is dead in trespasses and
sins. And therefore, as by the offense
of one, judgment came to all men to condemnation. You see,
we didn't have to do anything to be condemned. We were condemned
already. Children today, though they are
small and seem innocent to the eyes of the world, they are under
the condemnation of God. They are under the condemnation
of God because the death has passed from me to my children. Death has passed. Spiritual death. You think about a dead man. You
see, as a dead man, when a man becomes dead, he loses all love,
doesn't he? He loses all power, all feeling
of emotion. He loses his will to do anything,
isn't that right? Tell a dead man to do something
and say, if you'll just be willing. Talk to a dead man and say, if
you'll just be willing to do this, you'll be okay. You see,
he cannot do anything while he's dead. He's dead. He must have
someone come and give him life. And that's what this call is.
This call is a call from death to life. That's what the call
of the Spirit is. From death to life. These men
had the Lord of creation in their day. They had Him in their midst.
Think of this. Paul said to these people, he
said, Jesus, a man approved of God by many signs and wonders,
in your midst. They had Him right in front of
them. The Lord Jesus Christ. And yet
what did they do to Him? What was their chant before Pilate? Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Why would they say such a thing?
Because they were dead. And they could not know who He
was. They were dead and they had no love or affection for
Him. You see, when a man is dead,
his love for God is dead. His power to come to God is dead. His feelings for God are dead
and he can only feel things for himself. He only loves self.
The human nature is a lover of self only. That's it. Why? Because we're dead. Yet when
the Word is preached, when Christ is evidently sent before men,
the sovereign Spirit of God moves where He wills, and He calls
men to life. He calls them to life. This was
pictured by Lazarus in John's Gospel when the Lord Jesus Christ
came before that tomb, and they rolled away the stone, and He
spoke with a loud voice, and He said, Come forth. Do you realize that if the Lord
Jesus Christ said, come forth, and He meant everyone, every
one of them would come out of the grave? He had the power to
raise everyone. But He didn't, did He? He called
this man by name. He called him by name. This is
particular redemption. This is a particular call. He said, Lazarus. And so as He
says, Lazarus, He called me by name when He called me from death
to life. You that believe, has He not
called you by name? I'll tell you what, if you've
not come from death to life, you are still dead. If you've
not come from death to life, you've not been called by the
Spirit of God. The Spirit of God calls men from death to life.
He called me by name. And He said to me, live. And what did I do? What did I do? Did I sit around
and think about it? I sit around and say, well, let
me just sit back and make my decision about this. I don't
know if I want to be alive or not. No. No one that is called
of the Spirit of God by to life has any power to resist. Lazarus came forth at the call
of Christ, and so will everyone that is called by the Spirit
of God. I want us to notice that the
life comes by the voice of the Son of God. You know, I heard
many preachers before I was saved, many preachers, I sat down in
a pew just like you're doing today, and I heard many men talk
about Jesus Christ. There are many times I've heard
preachers, but when God, in His sovereign mercy, chose to come
to me and give me life, it was then that I didn't hear the voice
of the preacher, I heard the voice of the Son of God. The
Scripture says, The day is coming, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live." They that hear what? The call of the Spirit. The call
of the Spirit from death to life. Wonder of wonders, God called
us, my brethren, from death to life. From death to life. Once I was cold and dead. and could not nor would not come
to God. But what happened? What turned
my world upside down? There was a call. There was a
call and it came not from the preacher, it came from God Himself. And He said to my soul, live. And I lived. That's what it is
to be called. Have you been called? I'm not
talking about a decision, I'm talking about life. Has someone
given you life? It's altogether different than
changing or turning over a new leaf, isn't it? It's altogether
different. You see, Jesus Christ is not
part of my life, He is my life. He is my life. Have you been
called from death to life? Number two, it is a call from
darkness to light. What is that? Go to 1 Peter chapter
1. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9. Scripture says, But you, ye,
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a
peculiar people. that you should show forth the
praises of Him who hath called you," here it is, "...out of
darkness into His marvelous light." Have you been called from darkness
to light? Well, what is that? What is it
to be called from darkness to light? Well, because we are spiritually
dead by birth, by nature, we are spiritually dead, we also
have a spiritual darkness about us or a spiritual ignorance. You see, all men are born spiritually
ignorant. I was born spiritually ignorant.
And I'll tell you, as I grew up in church, I learned a lot
of doctrine, and I knew a lot of doctrine when I was a child.
I knew a lot of the things that I know now. I've known for many
years. But you see, that's not just
getting an education. What I'm talking about is spiritual
light. Spiritual light. Because we were
dead, we were spiritually ignorant. In Romans 1, it tells us about
who we are. It tells us that we, knowing
there's a God, worshipped Him not as God. We didn't worship
God as He is to be worshipped. I sat in a Calvinistic Baptist
church all my life, but I didn't worship God as God. I didn't worship God as God because
I was spiritually ignorant of my sin. You see, I thought there
was... I knew I had sin, but I didn't
know how great my sin was. You see, I knew God was holy,
but I really didn't know God was holy. I knew judgment was
coming, but I didn't think it to be real. I was ignorant. The natural man
views God much like himself. Men view God and His love and
His affection and His justice much like they view another man's
love and affection. Therefore, he thinks nothing
of reconciliation. He thinks nothing of redemption.
He sees the gap between him and God as something his will or
his works can fill in. He said, yeah, I'm a sinner,
I know God's higher than I am, but if I just do my best, if
I can just work it out, God will accept me. That's the natural
view of things. You know, if I just determine
in my own self to love God, that's all He expects of me. No, my
friends, He doesn't. That's spiritual ignorance. You
see, what God demands of us is not a best that we can do. He demands perfection. Do you have it? Are you perfect? Are you holy as God Himself? Because God will accept no man
unless he is as holy as he is. You see, in our spiritual ignorance,
we think that we can do something to earn God's favor. I know I
did. I spent many years trying. I
spent many years in it. Joining church and walking the
aisle and did all that. Every time I felt guilty, I did
that. Oh my, how ignorant was that
to think that that would bring me to God. You see, I needed
something more than myself. And when the Spirit of God gave
me light to see my sin, He also showed me that Christ is the
only hope. Christ is it. He's the only acceptance
with God. He's it. If I'm to go to God,
I must go to God by Him and Him alone. It's not Jesus Christ
plus anything. If any man believes Christ and
believes something else is going to get them to God, then that
is spiritual ignorance. It must be Christ alone. His
blood and righteousness alone. Isn't that what He revealed to
us when He called us? It is! I see it! The light kicked
on and I saw my sin, and I saw the holiness of God, and I saw
the only place to come to God was by Christ. I saw He was the
only one, the only hope. To illustrate our spiritual ignorance,
I like this. I was watching a movie one time.
This guy was laying out and he was looking at the moon. And
he put his thumb up to the moon. And he moved his thumb and he
covered it. He moved his thumb and he covered the moon. Now,
if that man were to sit there and say, well, you know, I speculate
that the moon is very small. I speculate that the moon is
small because I can cover it up with my thumb. Look at this.
I can cover it up. What would we say to a man like
that? He said, if I'm right next to the moon, I'm sure I could
put it like a marble in my pocket. We would say that man's ignorant,
wouldn't we? We would say that man is foolish. Why? Because
we've had a rocket ship go to the moon. It landed on there.
They've taken measurements. The moon is big. It's not small. So it is with a man that views
God much like himself. He thinks God to be very small. He thinks God to be very small.
And yet God has sent His Word, He has sent His witnesses, many
infallible proofs to see that Jesus is the Christ who is both
Lord and Christ. God had declared Him so, and
yet men still say that they can earn God's favor. How ignorant
is that? It's ignorant if you've been
given light to see. Believers in Christ, God had
declared Christ to be our wisdom. How do we know these things?
How do you know Christ is the only hope? How do you know that
the blood and righteousness is the only way? Some man comes
to you and says, well, that's good for you. That's a way. But I think there's another way
over here. How do you know that's the only way? Is it because you
learned it by education? Is it because we're so smart?
No. We're ignorant. It is only because
God said to our souls, let there be light. Let there be understanding. And you know what happened? There
was understanding. There was light given. But who
gave it? God did. God did. God gave us
light. And He made Jesus Christ the
wisdom of God to us. How can God be just and justify
you? Isn't that the question of the
ages? Isn't that the central question that the gospel alone
can answer? How that God can be just and
still accept worthless sinners as we are? How can God do that? God hath made Christ to be our
wisdom. I see the wisdom of God in Christ
alone as to how He made Him. to be sin for us who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
I see it! It's plain as day to me. It's
clear. You see, in Him was life. He
gives us spiritual life. And life was what? The light
of men. The light of men. Jesus Christ
is the light of men. And we know this because of God's
great grace on us. Number three, the gospel of the
Spirit calls us to faith. Faith. The gospel is preached to every
man everywhere. In all the world today, the gospel
is preached, is declared. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. That's the gospel message that
is preached. And we say to you, believe. Rest in Christ alone. Look to
Him for all the forgiveness of your sins. And many will hear
this message with their ears. But I'll tell you this, only
the Spirit of God will give life, light, and faith. Faith. Everyone who is given life into
the soul, who hears the voice of the Son of God. Everyone that
is given light to see that Jesus is the Christ will also come
by faith. Everyone. If you've been given
light, you will also be given faith. Faith is just as necessary
as light and life. And you know what? I've mentioned
all these as three different entities, three different things,
but I'll tell you this, they're all three come together. You
can't have one without the other. Have you ever seen anybody that's
alive and doesn't know who Christ is? Have you ever seen anyone
that has faith, but they don't have life? You see, they all come together.
You can't have faith. You can't walk around and say,
I have faith, and then Christ, you don't know anything about
Christ. You can't say that. You can't
have that. Faith is necessary as life and light. And guess
where faith comes from? Modern religion begins to tell
us that faith is generated within the will of man. That's not what
the Bible says. You and I are not born with faith. Remember, we were born dead.
What good is a dead man's faith? What good is that? Useless. You see, when life comes, so
does faith. For by grace you are saved. Ephesians 2.8. For by grace you
are saved through what? Faith. And that A little English
lesson again. What is the antecedent of that?
It's faith. That faith is not of ourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. You see, faith is a gift of God. Do you have faith? Do you believe? It is a gift of the living God
and not a product of our will. It's not a product of our will. Faith, life, and light are all
given together. Not one of these stand alone.
I'll tell you what, most people say two out of three ain't bad.
Well, I'll tell you what, two out of three means you're lost.
Two out of three means you're lost. If you don't have all three
of these things, you're not called of the Spirit of God, period. Number four, and lastly, this
call is irresistible. When I call upon men to believe,
you see, you may either accept or reject what I'm saying. Physically,
morally, you may either accept what you
are hearing or you may reject it. That's true if you hear me. you hear me, you may reject it
or accept it. Either way, it doesn't really
matter to me because you accept or reject anything I say. Somebody
else will come along later and change your mind about it. But. Those who are called by the sovereign
spirit of God, they can do nothing but go and believe. You see, God doesn't make salvation
possible. He accomplishes it. You see,
He didn't leave salvation to chance based on the hinge of
our flimsy will, did He? He did not. He accomplished salvation. God accomplished salvation in
Christ and He will bring it to pass to everyone that Christ
died for. Every one of us. Every one of
us sitting here that believe. My friends, we were lost as everyone
else. But when God came and called
us to life, faith, and light, we did what? We came! And we came gladly and received
Christ, received the Word of God. This is where men object
and say, well, that's not fair. What you're saying, preacher,
is that God drags men to heaven by the hair of their head. I
didn't say any such thing. Nobody says anything like that.
You see, every man that is called to the Spirit of God will be
much like these people in Acts chapter 2, when it said they
gladly received His Word. They gladly received His Word. Everyone that is called to the
Spirit of God gladly receives the Word of God. All the called sinners will gladly
receive Christ, but not because of his free will, not because
of the preacher made him cry, not because his family pushed
him into it. See, all those things were pushing
in me at one time, and I tried everything within my power. Nothing
accomplished that but one thing, the Spirit of God, when He came
and called me. I didn't care if anybody else
came or not. I came and I came willingly. I came willingly. Why? Because God changed my will. He changed my heart. It was a
heart of stone set against God. And now I love him. Now I love
him. Why? What happened? God made
me willing. That's what He did. Psalm 110
says, Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. You see, all men everywhere do
constantly reject the Holy Spirit. Always. By nature, that's what we do.
Not the effectual power of the Spirit. What we reject is the
Word of God. We reject God's Word. By nature. But what happened to us now that
believe the Word of God? The Spirit of God called us.
And just as Lazarus came forth out of that tomb, so did we. And there wasn't any chance of
failure. That's what I love about the
salvation of Scripture. There's not the me factor. You see, if there's a me factor
in salvation, there's always a chance it's going to flop.
Isn't that right? 100% chance. 100% chance it's
going to fail. But God has taken the me factor
out. He's done everything. He's done
everything. Is this our call? Have we been
called like this? Or do you have a different call? If you have a different call,
your call is not to salvation, but to deception. God has given us life if He's
called us. He's given us light. He's given us faith. And this
call is irresistible. Praise God for that. Praise God
for that. Hope Lord bless it.