Go with me if you would back
to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. I want to open this
message. Being as honest. And it's clear. And it's straightforward. And as truthful as I can possibly
be. I want to tell us a few truthful
things and then we're going to prove it in the Word of God. You do not have to make a decision
in order to be saved. That's a big one. That's a big
one. Oh, I wish people could hear
this. You do not have to make a decision to be saved. Isn't that so contrary to what's being said, what's told
natural man? You do not have to make a decision
to be saved. Is that shocking? You do not have to come down
front to be saved. Is this true? Absolutely. You do not have to come down
front to be saved. You do not have to change your
life to be saved. You don't have to do that. You do not have to clean up your
life to be saved. You don't have to do that. You do not have to give up anything
in order to be saved. You do not have to stop sinning
in order to be saved. I think I'll repeat that one.
You do not have to stop sinning in order to be saved. If our salvation is dependent
on whether or not we're sinners, none of us will be saved. And
the reason is because All of us are sinners. Right now, right
here, starting with me. All of us are sinners. If my salvation is dependent
on me not sinning, I have no hope. If my salvation is dependent
on me not sinning, I have no hope, but thank God it is not
dependent on that. Thank God. There is nothing that
we can do or not do in order to be saved. Nothing. Salvation
is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Now there are four words in our
text that I want us to focus on this morning. Hebrews 11 verse
8 says, By faith Abraham, and then here
are the four words, when he was called. When he was called. Sinners are called to salvation. God is the one who does the calling. Many people believe that God
spoke this world into existence. Many people believe that. Many
people. They believe he spoke the heavens
into existence. They believe he spoke everything
on this earth into existence. They believe he formed man from
the dust of the ground. They believe he was able to do
every bit of that. But for some reason, I don't
know why. But for some reason, they don't
believe he's able to save. Able to do all these other things,
but not able to save. People naturally do not believe
that He alone is able to save their soul. They believe that
they have to help Him. He didn't need my help creating
this world, did He? He didn't need my help creating
my body. He didn't need my help creating
my soul and putting my soul in my body. But people believe that they
need to help him. They believe they need to let
him. They believe they have to set
everything up just right. They believe that they have to
make all the conditions just right. They have to tip everything
in his favor before he's able to save them. They do not believe
that God is God. That's the problem. They don't
believe God is God. And we're either going to find
out that God is indeed God right now, or we're going to find out
that He is God when we go stand before Him. One of the two. And
when we go stand before Him, if we are notified of the fact
that he did not call us to eternal life, then we're going to spend
an eternity, an absolute eternity in damnation, in destruction,
in God's hell. That's strong language, isn't
it? Strong language. And we'll do that no matter how
much we cleaned up our life. Isn't that right? We'll do that
no matter how much we made our decision and were confirmed in
our decision. We'll do that no matter how much
we thought we weren't sinning. The only hope that we have is
to be called of God. That's the only hope we have.
called of God. The title of this message is,
Has God Called Me? Have I been called? Now, I want to show you four
things about God's call, and then we'll try to answer that
question for every one of us in this room. Has God called
me? Let's start with four things about His call. Number one, God's
call is a particular call. Turn with me if you would to
Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1 verse 1 says, A servant of Jesus Christ called
to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. He said, I
was called to it. Verse 6 says, Among whom are
you also the called of Jesus Christ? He said, If God saved
you, you were also called. He said, God called me. And he
said, if God has saved you, he called you. And now he says,
this is who I'm writing to. Verse seven, to all that be in
Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. Grace to you and
peace from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Every
loved, chosen saint of God. is called to be a loved, chosen
saint of God. Look with me if you would at
1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 9 says, God is faithful. By whom you were called unto
the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Salvation is
union with Christ. That's what salvation is. Union
with Christ. If we're going to be a part of
that union, we must be called to it. Must be. Look right here
at 1 Corinthians 1 verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called." Does that mean what I think it means?
Yes, it does. This is a particular calling. Well, what does he mean by not
many mighty, not many wise, not many noble are called? He means
not many mighty, not many wise and not many noble are called.
That's what he means. That brings us to the next thing
about God's call. It's a sovereign call. It's a sovereign call. Verse
26, For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called,
but God hath chosen, and that's the key, God hath chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath
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, yea, and things which are not,
to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory
in his presence." Now what does that mean? That means God calls
who He wants to call. That's what it means. God does
what He wants to do And God saves who He wants to save. That's
what it means. Look with me at Galatians 1. Galatians 1. The Apostle Paul
right here is talking about all of his own ignorance and his
own arrogance and his own self-righteousness and his own sin. He said in verse
15, but when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me. He said, that's the moment my
eyes were open. That's the moment my ears were
open. That's the moment I heard the
voice of God Almighty right then and there when he called me by
his grace. Called me by his grace. Can't
we say the same thing? God came and called us by his
grace. God calls who he wants to call
when he wants to call. It's his timing, who he wants,
when he wants. It's a particular call. It's
a sovereign call. And the third thing is it's an
effectual call. Look with me at John 11. There are many examples in the
scripture. of God's effectual call. All of them have the same
outcome this one does. We could look at any of them.
We'll just look at this one. John chapter 11 verse 1 says, Now a certain man was sick, named
Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary, and her sister Martha.
Verse 3. Therefore his sister sent unto
him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. Verse
6. When he had heard, therefore,
that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place
where he was. Verse 17. Then when Jesus came,
he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. Verse 38. Jesus, therefore, again,
groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave and
a stone lay upon it. Verse 41. Then they took away
the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus
lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou
hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest
me always, but because of the people which stand by I said
it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he
had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth,
bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound
about with a napkin, Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let
him go." God's call is an all-powerful command. His call is always an
all-powerful command. It is not an invitation. God's
call is not an invitation. Not at all. He did not say, now,
Lazarus, if you will accept me as your personal savior, I would
like to raise you from the dead if you would be okay with that.
He didn't say that. He said, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. God's call is an
almighty, all-powerful command. We're commanded to be saved. When He calls, sinners come. They come. God is not trying
to save anybody. God is not trying to save anybody,
nobody. When he purposes to save a sinner,
he sends his alarming, it is so alarming, he troubles the
soul. It's so awakening. It's a call
that the soul of a sinner has no choice but to respond to. That sinner will respond. If
God calls, that sinner will respond. David said, when you said, seek
ye my face, my heart said, thy face will I seek. That's the
exact moment my soul was moved. I had no choice. I'm going to
start seeking your face. If God ever calls, we're coming. We're coming. This is a notification. If God has called us, we're coming. We're not inviting anybody to
come. If God has called us, we're coming. We're coming. That's
the fourth thing about this call. God's call is a saving call. It is a call unto salvation. Turn with me to Romans 8. Romans 8, verse 28 says, and we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, and the word translates elect. 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. How can a sinner be justified
before God? Meaning, when a sinner stands
before God, and every sinner will stand before God. When a
sinner stands before God, what will it take for God to look
at that sinner and say, well pleased? Well done. What will it take? The only way
a sinner can be justified before God is in Christ. That's the only way. In, he must
be standing. If he's standing outside of Christ,
if he's standing inside of Christ. He must be in Christ. He has
to be covered in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has
to be robed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
call is a call to come inside Christ. Verse 30. Moreover, whom he did
predestinate, them he also called. In whom He called, them He also
justified in the blood and righteousness of Christ. In whom He justified,
them He also glorified. What did they do? They just got elected. They just
got called. They just got justified. They just got glorified. Christ
did it all. Christ did it all. Every soul
called into Christ is going to be glorified with Christ. Now,
here's what I want to know, and I would imagine this is what
you want to know too. Have I been called? Have I been called? Has God called me? If this is
my only hope of salvation, have I been particularly Sovereignly,
effectually, savingly called. We're going to find the answer
to that out by looking at Abraham. Okay, looking how Abraham was
called verse eight back in Hebrews 11. It says, By faith, by faith. Abraham, when he was called to
go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance,
obeyed and he went out not knowing whither he went. Romans 4 says
that this way. Galatians 3 also says that this
way. And James 2 also says that this
way, Abraham believed God. He believed God. He believed
what God said, only the called believe God, only the call. Almost everybody believes that
you have to make a decision in order to be saved. Almost everybody
believes that it's because everybody's being lied to. Bless their hearts. Everybody's being told you have
to make a decision to be saved. Almost everybody believes that
somehow man's will plays a role in salvation. Well, now you have
to make a decision now. You have to want it. You have
to will it. You have to want it. All right,
well, let's see what God has to say about it. Look with me
at Romans 9. Romans 9 verse 15 says, For he
saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth. God says it is not our decision.
That's what God says. It's not our decision. God says
man plays no role. Have I been called of God? Has
God called me? Well, man says it's of my will. God says it's of his will. Who
do I believe? Abraham, when he was called,
he believed God. He believed God. Almost everybody
believes that the things we do play a role in salvation. Almost
everybody believes that. Almost everybody believes that
in order to be saved, you have to do this, Do that, run here,
run there, work, work, work. Almost everybody believes that.
Let's see what God has to say about it. Right here in Romans
9 verse 16. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1, who
hath saved us and called us with an 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. Has God
called me? You've got to be called. Has God called me? Well, man
says do. God says it's done. Who do we
believe? Who do we believe? Abraham, when
he was called, he believed God. The lie of religion tells people
you're going to have to stop sinning. If you want to be saved,
let's start right here, okay? You're going to have to stop
sinning. Before you can be saved, you
have to stop sinning. Let's see what our God has to
say about it. Go to Romans 5. Romans 5, verse 6. For when we were yet without
strength, In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Have I received God's true saving
call? Has God called me? Well, the
lie of false religion says, the lie of false religion says,
Christ came to call the righteous. God says, Christ said, I came
to call sinners. Who do we believe? Who do we
believe? As the truth of this word comes
to me, here we read it, we listen to it, as it comes to me, has
God given me a heart to bow to it? I know I haven't been told
that my whole life. Nobody told me that, but that's
what it says. Has God given me a heart to believe
it, bow to it, seek Christ to be my only hope in it? Has he
given me a heart to come to him, not go to my works, not go to
anything, anybody, but him alone, his blood alone, his righteousness
alone, his work alone? If he has, the answer's yes. Have I been called of God? Yes. If he's caused me to believe
his word, bow to his word and see Christ as my all, yes. Yes. And if you can say the same
thing, then let's close with this. I want to close by telling
you this. Go to Ephesians 2. If God has given us a heart to
believe what He has written, bow to what He has written, and run to Christ alone, then
this is what He has to say to us. Ephesians 2 verse 1 says,
And you hath He quickened. who were dead in trespasses and
sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as
others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love, wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace
you are saved." You're saved. If God has quickened us together
with Christ, caused us to believe Him, believe on Him, By His grace,
we're saved. We're saved. Abraham believed
God. It was counted unto him for righteousness.
Amen. Let's all stand together.