You want to turn in your Bibles
to the book of Genesis. I'm continuing actually in Hebrews
11, but I wanted to bring a message in between the account of Abel
and the account of Enoch because it occurs in the book of Genesis
between Abel and Enoch. And I felt I just couldn't pass
it up, even though the writer to the Hebrews did, I don't want
to leave it there. Genesis chapter four, as a background
before we get into this though, I want you to recognize that
in Hebrews chapter 11, God is giving to us the work of God
in our lives because of Christ, whose work for us redeemed us
from our sins and from the curse of God's law and from Satan and
all the world and everything that sin brings. Because of that
work of Christ for us, God's work in us is to produce faith
in Christ. And that's what Hebrews 11 is
teaching us. We are not of them who draw back
unto perdition. We, those who are the Lord's
people. But we are those who believe
to the saving of the soul. That's the way chapter 10 ends. But in Hebrews chapter 11, if
you notice the verbs, verbs do things. Verbs are words that
have an action. They take an action. And notice
the action that this work of God in us produces. Notice I'm
just going to refer to the way it goes in chapter 11 of Hebrews. It says, through faith we understand. The action there is our understanding.
In verse four, by faith Abel offered. So it was faith that
caused Abel to offer a more excellent sacrifice than Cain by the which
he obtained witness from God that he was righteous. So he
offered and he obtained by faith. In verse five, by faith, Enoch
was translated. He was no longer part of this
world. He was translated into glory. And he had this testimony before
his translation that he pleased God, or that he walked with God.
And so, you can see, if you keep following the pattern here, by
faith, by faith, by faith, and there was something. Abel offered.
Enoch was translated. Abel obtained witness that he
was righteous. Enoch pleased God. And then by
faith, Noah, being warned of God, prepared an ark. So he prepared an ark to the
saving of his house. And he condemned the world and
became an heir of the righteousness, which is by faith. And go on
through here, and you'll see it was by faith that all those
here in this chapter did something. and you see how faith operated.
Now faith is God's gift to us. Faith that's spoken of here looks
to Christ only. It's not a faith in the foundation
of our house. It's not faith in the science
that we were taught in college or as children. It's not faith
in the world. Not the world's philosophies,
it's not faith in the way the earth works, how God has set
it up in creation. We don't believe the principles
of creation, we believe in Christ, the one who set it in place and
whose word holds it up. But faith here is faith in God,
specifically it's faith in Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one
crucified for us. It is by faith in Christ that
these people then acted in this way. They lived their lives by
faith. And so that's why I want to take
you back to Genesis, because there's a progression here. First,
by faith we understand, or through faith we understand the worlds
were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are
seen were not made by things which do appear. God made them
out of his word, by speaking. And by faith Abel offered to
God. Now in that offering, remember, he was following The testimony
that God gave when he himself, God himself, offered and clothed
Adam and Eve, covering their sin and nakedness before him
by the skins of that offering. God himself offered and clothed
them, covered their sins. That covering is, what we know
from the rest of scripture, that's the righteousness of Christ.
And so, able in offering the lamb, was believing what God
had done in offering his son in tithe and clothing his mother
and father, Adam and Eve. When he offered that sacrifice,
he was looking to cry in that offering. And God looked upon
what Abel offered, and he took so much pleasure in it because
it spoke. It reminded him. Not that God
needed reminding, but we speak of God in these ways, as we think,
because that's the only way we can understand it. God saw in
Abel's offering the offering his son would make of himself. And Abel looked to that offering
of Christ by faith in offering up that sacrifice just as he
had heard from his father and mother that God had done and
clothed them. So Abel acted in faith in Christ. And that's the point here. So
we see in Hebrews both the work of God in us teaching us about
the work of Christ for us by giving us this faith in Christ,
and that faith in Christ that he gives to us causes us to act
towards God accordingly. In Abel's case, he offered this
sacrifice. And that was atonement. God accomplished
his atoning work in that offering of his Son, and Abel looked to
that atoning work. He believed that Christ, the
propitiation for his sins, made satisfaction to God, removing
his sins and the wrath of God from him and justifying him in
God's presence. So Abel's faith teaches us, first
and foremost, of the atoning work of Christ and our justification
by him. Do you see that? That's the first
thing here in Hebrews 11. The next thing that occurs in
Genesis, in terms of faith, is that we see Seth and Enos. Seth was Adam and Eve's third
son, and Enos was the son of Seth. And that's what we're gonna
read about. And next week, we're gonna look
at Enoch, who followed after Seth and Enos and several others. He was the seventh from Adam,
Enoch was. And we'll see him. But with Seth
and Enos, we're gonna see here, after justification comes what?
Men calling on the name of the Lord. And then in Enoch, we're
gonna see a man walking with God. And then in Noah, we're
going to see a man who, being warned of God, took refuge from
that wrath in the ark in Christ. And how by that, taking refuge
in Christ, he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness,
which is a faith. So we see the progression here
through the 11th chapter of Hebrews of how faith works in the lives
of believers. It's the work of God in them
pointing them to Christ work for them, causing them to trust
him as enable to call upon him. and to walk with him, and so
on. So notice when you read the 11th chapter of Hebrews, notice
the things that believers did because they believed. They understood,
they offered, they obtained witness from God, and so on. Enoch was
translated, he pleased God, Noah feared, and he built the ark,
he prepared an ark, the saving of his house, he obtained witness
that he was righteous, being an heir of righteousness, and
so on. But now I want to focus here on the work of God in the
lives of his people in the second phase, which is in Genesis chapter
4 at the end. Notice in Genesis chapter 4 and
verse 25, we heard about Cain. Cain killed Abel. He envied Abel
because God accepted the sacrifice and so accepted Abel because
of the sacrifice. And Cain was mad. He couldn't
get a hold of God, so he got a hold of Abel and killed him.
Abel died because he held to Christ and Him crucified. Abel
professed his only hope in coming to God, his only access to God,
the only way he could be approved and accepted by God, is what
God thought. of the sacrifice. If God received
the sacrifice, Abel trusted, he would receive him because
of the sacrifice, and that's how he offered. Looking back
to what God had done himself in that clothing of his father
and mother, the testimony of God concerning his son, believed
by Abel, caused him also to offer and trust the one the sacrifice
pointed to. And God was, God said, he's righteous. He's righteous because of Christ. And Romans 3 verse 26 teaches
this, that God passed over the sins of those people then because
he was looking all the time, God was looking to Christ. And
this is what Abel believed. Then Cain, as I said, he killed
his brother. This is always the case that
when we hold to Christ and him alone, those who hold to their
righteousness find that offensive. It's offensive to the natural
heart of man that God would receive someone purely on the basis of
grace, on the basis of the obedience and death of another. and that
God would, in his own prerogative, show grace to a sinner, a foul
and filthy and ruined and helpless and weak and frail and dying
and miserable sinner who doesn't deserve anything from God, and
yet God, in his grace, considers his son for them. That's offensive
to the natural man because the natural man has only one thing
he can trust. It's what he does, who he is, what he thinks of
himself, his cooperation, his contribution, His continuance,
whatever it is, his tears, his sorrows, his sincerity, his experiences
as a religious man, his evidences, all the things that we naturally
trust cause us to find it offensive that God would only receive us
on the basis of pure grace, given out of his sovereign will because
of Christ. Now, Cain killed his brother
Abel, Abel died trusting Christ. He died because he trusted Christ
alone, and we do. In this world, we live, but yet
daily we experience the sorrows of death as we're struggling
in the body of this flesh, the body of death, of sin. waiting for the hope of righteousness,
trusting that my only acceptance before God, the only way I'll
be able to stand in judgment is because God has accepted Christ
for me. That's my only hope. And so like
Abel, we confess that. We confess it against our own
conscience, against the world, the accusing world, the devil,
everything. that it is for me, that my only
hope is that Christ died and that he removed all my sin and
justified me before God. Now, Cain died, and God picks
it up in verse 25 of chapter 4, Genesis 4, 25. And Adam knew
his wife again, and she bare a son and called his name Seth.
For God, said she, said Eve, hath appointed me another seed
instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. What does Seth's name mean? Another,
instead of. It means substitute. And that
helps us to understand the next verse. Look at verse 26. And to Seth, to him also, there
was born a son. So Seth, the substitute, had
a son. And Seth called his name Enos. Then began men to call upon the
name of the Lord. And that's the title of the message
here. Call on the name of the Lord. Seth the substitute had a son
Enos. The name Enos means frail, weak,
sick, miserable. Why would Enos be given this
name? Because the substitute stood
as the foundation. It was only through Seth that
were born children to God. He was the substitute. In Hebrews
chapter 2, Jesus spoke in the scriptures and he said this,
Behold, I and the children which God hath given me. What children? The children of God, chosen in
Christ before the foundation of the world, were given to Christ
to save, and He is the substitute. So Enos, the one whose name means
sick, frail, weak, miserable, is the son of the substitute.
He's the child of the substitute. And so Enos is held up to us
to represent all those who call on the name of the Lord. because
they're the children of God given to Christ a substitute to save. And so they call on the Lord
because they're weak and frail and miserable and sick. Sick
with sin. Not the healthy. The healthy
don't need a doctor, it's the sick. They're the ones who come. It's not the righteous, but the
sinners who are called to repentance. God's work in us is to point
us to Christ for us, and giving us faith in him, what do we do?
Verse 26, saith to him also there was born a son, and he called
his name Enos, then began men to call upon the name of the
Lord. Call on the name of the Lord. What does it mean to call on
the name of the Lord? Who do men call on? Why did these
men here call on the name of the Lord? You can imagine how
much time it had been. Enos was born when Seth was,
let me see, he lived 105 years old. It says in chapter five,
verse six, and he begat Enos. He's 105 years old now. And Seth
was born to Adam when he was 130 years old. So if you add those things together,
it's several hundred years now since the fall. And the Lord
had given the skins, had sacrificed that animal, and clothed Adam
and Eve in those skins. He had pronounced a curse on
the serpent. He had promised that the seed
of the woman would bruise, crush that head of that serpent, the
devil. Christ would overcome our arch enemy. But the promises
had faded. Men who were born to Cain, who
represented that line of people in this world who hate free grace,
salvation in Christ, and all those who trust Christ, they
had forgotten. And as the world began to be
populated, men forgot that they had lost That walking with God
in the garden in the cool of the day. That they had been created
by God and cast out of the garden because of sin. And they had
no hope and God had given a promise of a Redeemer to come to crush
the head of the serpent who tempted their mother, the mother of all
living. and caused the entire race through Adam to fall into
sin, in ruin, in the consequences of sin, in sickness and weakness,
and death because of sin. And so men had left off thinking
about the promise. They had left off an interest
in that reconciling blood that God had shed in order to clothe
his people, pointing to the blood of his son. And they weren't
calling. But here, When Seth and Enos,
the substitute, and his son, the one who would be the foundation,
the substitute, of all those who would call on the name of
the Lord, and his son, all the children of the substitute who
would, the ones who were weak and frail and helpless, when
they, by God's grace, when they were called by God, then they
began to call on Christ. That's what his teaching here.
So I want to ask these questions. Who do men call on? Well, he
says it here, they called upon the name of the Lord. The Lord
here, notice, is all capitals, it's all uppercase, L-O-R-D,
and that means Jehovah, Jehovah God. Now, throughout the Old
Testament, God reveals himself by these different names. Who
God is, is represented by his name. We can't understand God
just in his bare nature. He has to make himself known
and he does that by telling us his name. His name is who he
is. And I want you to, I'm going to give you some of these names.
In Exodus 17, he calls himself the Lord, my banner, Jehovah
Nisi. The word Lord here is Jehovah
and Jehovah Nisi means the Lord, my banner. Because Israel fought
and Moses held up his arms with the rod of God, Aaron on one
side and her on the other side, and as long as Moses held up
his hands, Joshua prevailed against the children of Amalek, the Lord
my banner. The apostle Paul said in Galatians
chapter 6, 14, I boast in nothing but Christ and him crucified.
What is our banner? The Lord who hung on the cross
to save me from my sins. That's what he held up. And then
another name God reveals himself by is Jehovah Shalom or the Lord
my peace. This was in Judges chapter six
when Gideon built an altar and called the altar Jehovah Shalom,
the Lord my peace. And so in Colossians chapter
one, verse 20 through 22, Christ is our peace. By the blood of
his cross, God has made peace in the blood of his son for us.
He's reconciled us to himself by the blood of his son, Jehovah
Shalom. Another name was Jehovah Rapha. which was in Exodus when the
bitter waters, the children of Israel couldn't drink of the
water, they were bitter. God told Moses, you cut down
this tree and cast it into the water. He did and the waters
were made sweet. The cross makes the bitter waters of judgment
sweet to us because God's law justifies us through the blood
of Christ. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that
healeth thee. We're healed by his stripes.
Another one is Jehovah, the Lord, my righteousness. Jehovah Sidkin
you. And that's in Jeremiah 23, the
Lord my righteousness. Now, I can keep going through
these, but throughout the Old Testament, God revealed himself
by the name Jehovah with all these additives. Jehovah my banner,
Jehovah my peace, Jehovah that healeth thee, Jehovah my righteousness,
the Lord my shepherd, Jehovah my shepherd. Jehovah Jireh, the
Lord will provide or see to it. In Genesis 22, when Abraham said,
my son, God will provide himself the lamb. He'll see to it. He
himself will take care of it. And he'll see Jehovah Sebaoth,
or Jehovah the Lord of hosts, Jehovah Medonishkim, which means
the Lord who sanctifies thee, who sanctifies us, the Lord. We don't sanctify ourselves,
the Lord sanctifies us. Only God who is holy can make
us who are unholy, holy in his sight. And so all these things
teach us about the Lord. The Lord is there, Jehovah Shammah,
El Shaddai, El Elyon, and Adonai. All these things are the name
God gives, the name of the Lord. Here in Genesis chapter 5 and
verse 26, it says that to Seth was born Enos, and then men began
to call on the name of the Lord. What name? Jehovah, Jehovah,
all these things that called on the Lord who is our peace,
our banner, our righteousness, the one who heals us. What do
all these things, these names of the Lord Jehovah speak of? Well, look at Matthew chapter
one. I'll show you what they all speak of. We can summarize
them, and we do summarize them when we get to this text of scripture. In Matthew chapter one, notice
how the Lord fulfills all the names of the Old Testament into
one name here. In Matthew chapter one and verse
21. And she shall bring forth a son,
This is God speaking to Joseph about Mary. She shall bring forth
a son, the seed of the woman. And thou shall call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And look
at verse 23. Behold, a virgin shall be with
child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Whose name did they call on?
God with us, Jehovah, Jesus, the one who saves his people
from their sins. Therefore he heals us. He is
therefore our peace and our righteousness. That's why he's all these things
is to save us. That's the one on whom men call. I want to show you another text
of scripture. Look at Romans chapter 14. The one on whom we call is Jesus,
Jehovah, our salvation. He wraps it all up and he puts
all those names into one name, Jesus. Emmanuel, God with us,
the one who saves us, Jehovah our salvation, Jesus Christ the
Lord. In Romans 14, he's talking here
in Romans 14 about those who, some who held that they should
not eat meats, of certain kinds of meats. And those who held
that they should observe a certain day. And others who also believed
were also God's people, they thought they could eat anything,
and they thought they didn't need to worry about a particular
day. So now he's saying to those who
think, well, you can eat anything, or you can observe any day, and
then in contrast to the others, no, no, you can only eat these
things, and you have to observe these days. He's saying to them
both, now listen, Listen, don't you hold your faith of these
things that don't matter one day over another or this meet
over that meet. Don't you sit in judgment over
your brother. That's the context here. Notice
what he says here. In verse 5 he says, in verse
4, who art thou that judgest another man's servant? That's
another man's servant there, your brother. Whose servant is
he? He's the Lord's. One man esteemeth one day above
another. That's the first case. Another
esteemeth every day alike. No, every day's just as holy
as the other. Let every man be fully persuaded
in his own mind. That's what faith is. Have it
towards God yourself. Don't make your faith force that,
that view of the day or the meat on your brother. Let the Lord
convince him. Verse six, he that regardeth
the day, regardeth it to the Lord. He that regardeth not the
day to the Lord, he does not regard it. He that eats, eats
to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that does not
eat to the Lord, he eateth not, and he giveth God thanks. It
doesn't matter if the Lord, if the brother does it in faith,
that he gives thanks because God gave him the food. If he
doesn't eat the food he gives God thanks, leave that food in
service to his Lord. He's thanking God. So it's both
out of faith. That's the important thing here.
And then he goes on, and this is building up to what I'm trying
to get to here. Verse 7. For none of us live to himself,
and no man dieth to himself. That's the key. Here he's bringing
it to a point. You don't live to yourself. You
don't die to yourself. Verse eight, for whether we live,
we live to the Lord. Whether we die, we die to the
Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or
die, we are the Lord's. We live to God. We live in the
presence of God. We live in communion with God. We live trusting the Lord. It's
all about Him. He is our life. He goes on, he's
really going to bring it to a head. For to this end Christ both died
and rose and revived. He died, he rose, and he's living. Why? Why did he die, rise, and
live again? For this reason, that he might
be Lord both of the dead and the living. All those who are
the Lord's died with Christ and therefore died to sin. They rose. They were redeemed from sin and
death, the devil and this world. Those things that were their
lords before, the ones they served before, are no longer their lord. Who is? The one who died, rose,
and lives for them. He is their lord. That's the
reason he died, rose, and lives again, to be the lord over his
people. See? But why dost thou judge
thy brother, or why dost thou set it not thy brother? For we
shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Who is the Lord? Christ. Who is the judge? Christ. We're all going to stand
before Christ. We don't live to ourselves, we
don't die to ourselves. We're the Lords. You see the
whole emphasis here? It puts us in the frame of mind
of living this life, not in the view of, I gotta go to work,
I gotta get some money, I gotta build my house, I gotta fix my
house, I gotta get a car, I gotta do these things and collect these
things and have a wife and children. It raises our whole view into
the context of faith and Christ as our Lord. the one who died,
rose, and lives to be Lord of us, who saved us. Now, I'm putting this in this
so that we can see the power of this. For we shall all stand
before the judgment seat of Christ, verse 11, for it is written,
as I live, saith the Lord. Who? Who is the Lord spoken of
here? We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
For to this end, Christ both died, rose, and revived, that
he might be Lord, both of the dead and the living. Who is the
Lord? It is Christ. He says, for it is written, verse
11, as I live, saith the Lord, Christ. Every knee shall bow
to me. Every tongue shall confess to
God. He's the Lord. He's God, Emmanuel. Yehovah,
our salvation. Who then did men call on in the
Old Testament when they called on the name of the Lord? They
called on the one whose character, whose word, whose work is expressed
by that name. the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
I want to go back to Isaiah chapter 45 so you can see these things,
how the Lord is teaching us this blessedness of the result of
faith that he gives to us so that he causes us to call on
Christ. He's the one on whom we call.
Isaiah chapter 45, and we see here his character. When we call
on the Lord, we're calling on him believing Him as He has revealed
Himself. How has He revealed Himself?
Who is He? Listen to verse 21, Isaiah 45, 21. God is speaking
to those who trust in idols, and He mocks them, and He sets
Himself in contrast to them, because there's none like Him.
Verse 21, tell ye and bring them near. You have these idols. You
have those who trust these idols. You tell them, bring near. Come
on. Let them take counsel together. All of you collectively put your
best thoughts, your best gods together. And now he's challenging
them. Who has declared this from ancient
time? What? What has been declared
from ancient time? Have not I the Lord? There is
no God else beside me. That's the message from the beginning.
There is no God but the Lord. in Genesis 4, they began to call
on the name of the Lord. There was no other God, but these
men, only a few, the sons of the substitute, who were in themselves
frail and weak and sickly and miserable, they began to call
on the name of the Lord, Christ. He says, have not I the Lord? I've spoken this from the, there's
no God beside me. Now listen, here is the God on
whom we call, a just God, righteous, His throne is established on
justice, his own justice, a just God and a savior. The one on whom we call is the
God of glory who is just and holy and true and righteous,
and yet he is a savior. Notice, that's the one about
to speak here. And so he says, Look unto me,
and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and
there is none else. Because he is the just, the righteous
God, and the Savior, no gods of the heathen ever could make
that claim. But faith teaches us the one
who is our judge died, rose, and lives to be our Lord and
our Savior. And he's the one, therefore,
on whom he calls. So he says, look unto me. This is God's warrant. When Seth and Enos were calling
on the name of the Lord and those that were with them there, which
of them were Jews and which were Gentiles? But it doesn't make
any mention of Jews and Gentiles, does it? because whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Here, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, the Prince of life, the King
of glory, says, look unto me, the just God and the Savior,
and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and
there is none else. And now, he speaks here in verse
23 what he said in Romans 14. 11, where we read it there, exactly
the same words. Romans 14, 11. I have sworn by
myself the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow, every
tongue shall swear, shall confess to God. It says in Romans 14,
11. Who is the one speaking? Jehovah. Jehovah who? Jehovah
Jesus Christ, the Lord, the one we call upon. We call on the
name of the Lord, the one who reveals himself in his son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And notice verse 24, surely shall
one say, now this is just a prototypical one. It's not just one only.
It means this is the way everyone the Lord saves speaks. Surely,
you could paraphrase it this way, shall all those who believe
Christ say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Where is my righteousness? Where
is my strength? How can I come to God? What is
my claim to having any strength to do anything? To believe, to
obey, to continue believing. What is my standing before God?
It's all in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is both a just God, my judge,
and my savior. I look into the face of my judge,
and there I see my savior. I hear of him who is my judge,
and I call upon him who is my judge to save me according to
his righteousness as my savior. And so he goes on. This is what
those who believe the Lord say, in the Lord have I righteousness
and strength, even to him shall men come. And all that are incensed
against him, like Cain, shall be ashamed. Who are those that
are ashamed? Those who hate Christ. They're
going to be put to shame. But, in the Lord shall all the
seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. How are we justified?
In the Lord Jesus Christ. Whose name do we call on? The
Lord. Look at Romans chapter 10. The Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 10, he says this. In verse
4 of Romans 10, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. The Lord Jesus Christ, we just
read there in Isaiah 45. In the Lord have I righteousness. Here he says,
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. In other words,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of glory, the Prince
of life, the one before whom all shall stand, and yet the
one who died, rose, and lives to be Lord over his people, and
their Savior to justify them in His righteousness. He's the
end of the law for righteousness. He Himself is the righteousness
of God. In fact, in Jeremiah 23.6, He's
called the Lord, our righteousness. He died just for the unjust to
bring us to God. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Christ is our righteousness,
the end of the law, the righteousness of God by His obedience in His
submission unto suffering and death for His people. That's
the one. He goes on. I'll skip over the
next few verses. I've explained them before, but
I'm gonna go to verse nine. That if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus. You see how he puts those two
together? The one who sits on heaven's throne is the Savior,
Jehovah, the one who saves his people from their sins. We confess with our mouth what
we truly believe in our heart. that Jesus is the Lord. In Acts chapter 2, the men there,
Peter was preaching to them on that day, and in verse 21 he
says, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be
saved. And he goes on to show, by quoting
from Psalm 16, that God has spoken through David about Christ, his
son, who would be crucified by wicked hands, be buried, and
yet would rise again, and God would set him on his own throne
and make him Lord of all. those who crucified him were
hearing him preach that message the very ones who took him by
their wicked hands and were convinced of their sin by that sermon they
were the ones hearing it and then Peter tells them that this
one is the Savior and so he they said what should we do They knew
that they were condemned. Look at Acts chapter 2. He says
in verse 30, Therefore being a prophet, David being a prophet,
and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the
fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise
up Christ to sit on his throne, David knew God was going to raise
up his son, who would be the Messiah, Christ, and sit Christ
on heaven's throne. God's throne. He, David, seeing
this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell. When he spoke in Psalm 16, he
was not speaking of himself, but of Christ. Neither his flesh
did see corruption. This Jesus has God raised up.
There were of you all witnesses. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Spirit, He has shed forth this which you now see
and hear." What? That God had given this gift
to preach the gospel so that men in other languages could
hear it as if it was in their mother tongue. Verse 34, David
is not ascended to the heavens. He himself said, the Lord said
to my Lord, sit on my right hand. Verse 35, Until I make thy foes
thy footstool, therefore let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom you have
crucified, both Lord and Christ. The one you took and crucified
is the Lord, and he is the Savior. The one you wickedly crucified
sits on heaven's throne as your judge, but as the Savior, the
just and the Savior. When they heard this, they were
pricked in their heart, and they said to Peter, to the rest of
the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said
to them, repent. Your mind has got to be completely
changed about Christ, who he is, and you're standing before,
and be baptized. You submit to him in this ordinance
of baptism, which confesses what? that you died with him. You were
buried with him. God remembers your sins no more
because of your union with him. And you rose again with him to
live to God. He is the Lord of death. He conquered
your sin. He set you free. Your mind has
to be radically changed. Be baptized, every one of you,
and confessing this in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins. And then you shall receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost. What the Lord is saying here
is it's our sins that crucified the Son of God, and God has set
Him on the throne, and now we call upon Him who is the Lord,
exalted because He, having paid for our sins, has been justified,
and we are justified in Him. He's our righteousness and our
strength. We look to Him, Isaiah 45. He's the one every knee's gonna
bow to. We bow to Him now. We call on His name. Look at
Joel chapter two. Now, the name of the Lord we
call on is the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is both Lord and
Christ, the one who was crucified for our sins, the one who is
a just God and the Savior. In Acts chapter four, it says,
there's no other name under heaven given among men. whereby we must
be saved. Whose name do we call on then?
There's no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must
be saved. We call on the name, Lord Jesus,
save me. Isn't that what we do? That's
what calling on him. In Joel chapter two, Joel is
right after Hosea. Hosea is right after Daniel. Daniel, Hosea, Joel. Joel 2,
verse 32. A prophecy of Joel which was
fulfilled and quoted in the sermon we just read in Acts 2, verse
21. It shall come to pass, God says
in prophecy, notice, that whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be delivered. And when it's quoted in Acts
2, 21, it's saved. Who do we call on? Jehovah, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the only name God has given for sinners to
call. We have faith, Acts 20, verse
21, we have faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said
in Acts 26, 18, that they might have faith in me. It's faith
in Christ. We're calling on him. He says,
and Joel, he says, whosoever shall call, whosoever. When this
is quoted in Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter 10 follows Romans
chapter 9. And what do you think when you
think of Romans 9? The elect of God, don't you? That God has
mercy on whom he will, and that he hardens whom he will. Therefore
it is of God, not of works. It's of him that calleth, not
of him that worketh. Who are those that call? That's
the question. We call on Christ, but who are
they that call? The ones God has chosen. Well,
then I have to give up because I don't know if I'm chosen of
God. And if I'm not chosen, there's no good. It makes no difference
what I do. No, that's the attitude of unbelief.
God never tells us to come to Him knowing our election. He
says, you come, you look to me, all the ends of the earth, be
ye saved. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, whosoever shall call. It's not for you
to look for your election, it's for you to look at Christ. This
is so essential. We don't look to see if we have
faith, we look to Christ, the one who is the object of our
faith. We can't find faith by looking within. You only discover
faith when you look to Christ. Then you see, I trust Him. But
you don't start there. You don't start with election.
What do you do? You call. You call on the name Christ,
the Lord, Jesus. For what? Notice Joel 2, verse
32. That whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be delivered, or saved. What are
we calling him for? We're calling, but what do we
call for? Lord, save me. Matthew 14, 30. Peter on the
water, sinking. Lord, save me. Or, like the woman
in Matthew 15, whose daughter was grievously vexed with the
devil. She said, Lord, help me. That's calling, isn't it? It's
the supplication and the prayers of our heart. When Jesus came
to, was going to Jericho and Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was
coming, he said, he couldn't see, he was blind. Bart, what? Jesus, son of David, have mercy
on me. That was a call. He called on
him. The people said, quiet, shh. No, he said it all the louder. And then Jesus stood still and
he called for Bartimaeus. And the people said, be of good
comfort. He calleth thee. Bartimaeus is
brought to Jesus. And the Lord said to him, what
would you that I should do to you? And he said, Lord, that
I might receive my sight. That's calling, you see. What
do we call for? Lord, save me, help me, give
me eyes to see. When the Lord calls us, like
he did Bartimaeus, then we call on him. The leper, in Matthew
8 verse 2, He came to Jesus being a leper. He was supposed to be
outside. No one was supposed to even get near him. Stay away,
I'm unclean. It goes from my skin all the
way deep into me, throughout me. I'm a leper. No one can heal
me. But then he said, Lord, in Matthew
8, verse 2, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. That's
calling. If you but will it, you can make
me clean. And Paul in Romans chapter 7
said, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Notice now, he said, I thank
God. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
he called. He was constantly calling on
the Lord Jesus Christ. These people were calling for
salvation. Whosoever shall call on Jesus
Christ as the Lord crucified, because of my sin and for my
sin, to make me clean before God, calling on Him, the just
God and the Savior, the One who is my Judge, who must be my Savior. They shall be saved. We call
because we're sinners. We call to be saved from our
sins, saved from all things. Who are those that call? The
ones the Lord calls. Look at 1 Corinthians 1, 1 Corinthians
1, verse 2. He says, unto the church of God, which is it Corinth, to them
that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called saints, which is
what sanctified means, the sanctified ones, the saints, with all who
in every place, whosoever, all who in every place call upon
the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. Isn't
that a blessing? The ones God has set apart and
made holy by Christ, set apart in electing love and made holy
by Christ's redeeming blood, they are the called. God calls
them, notice, they're called saints, and they call on the
name of Jesus. Who are the called? Who are those
who call? Those that God calls. The called call. Samuel? Speak, Lord, for thy
servant heareth. You see, you see the nature.
Faith is God's work. It's not of ourselves. And when
God gives it, we call. We call. Back in Joel chapter
two, he says this, whosoever shall call in the name of the
Lord shall be delivered for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall
be deliverance or salvation That's the church. That's where Christ
sits, his head. It's his body. In Christ, in
his kingdom, there's salvation. Those who are in Christ are in
the church, and in Christ there's salvation, as the Lord has said,
God's the one who did this, and in the remnant whom the Lord
shall call. Why do we call? Because God calls
to us. How does he call us? He calls
us as Enos, miserable, weak, frail, helpless, sick, cast out,
ruined by the fall, and yet made to call. One more place of scripture.
Look at Psalm 116. This calling is something we
do together as God's people. And we rejoice in doing this
together. We're all of the same body, have been saved by the
same Savior, indwelt by the same Spirit of God, calling on God
as our Father together, looking to Christ alone. And all of us
say together, in our hearts, from our hearts, we say, the
Lord is my righteousness and strength, as it says in Isaiah
45. Psalm 116, the first two verses,
he's gonna summarize what he's about to say in the rest. I love
the Lord because he has heard my voice and my supplication. That's why we love the Lord.
We called and he heard. We called and he answered. We
called and he saved us. But notice, verse two, because
he has inclined his ear to me, therefore will I call upon him
as long as I live. It's not like in the free will
works religion. Now, if there's anyone out there
who needs to be saved, raise your hand, come forward, ask
the preacher, do this, do that, say the prayer, and then go away.
When did you go? Well, I remember it was back
in 1994 or something. No, he says, I will therefore call upon
him as long as I live because he called me. Verse three, the
sorrows of death, here he's going to explain. Before he called,
what happened? The sorrows of death compassed
me. The pains of hell got hold upon me. I found trouble and
sorrow. Then called I upon the name of
the Lord. Oh Lord, I beseech thee. Save
my soul, that's what it means. Deliver my soul from its sin,
from the consequences of my sin. We call on Him for salvation.
We're sinners, we need saving. Everything in our life is because
of our sin. And when the troubles come that are not because of
our sin, they're coming to try us, to show the faith God has
worked in us to give Him glory through that. We continue to
call. Verse four. I'm sorry, verse five. Notice,
this is the summation, this is the conclusion of those who call.
Gracious is the Lord and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. He heard my voice. He saved me
when I was under the fear of hell and trouble and sorrow.
Verse six, the Lord preserveth the simple, but I was proud. Oh, I was brought low and he
helped me. You see how the Lord calls us?
The sorrows of death. Verse 3, Here the Lord brought
me low, and then he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul,
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with thee. That means graciously.
Rest in Christ. Verse 8, For thou hast delivered
my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, my feet from falling. We live in the context of salvation. He's delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears, my feet from falling. I will walk before the
Lord in the land of the living. I believed, therefore have I
spoken. Whosoever shall confess with
the mouth of Lord Jesus. I believed, therefore I spoke.
I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste, all men are
liars. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all his benefits toward me? Now that I've called, the
Lord has delivered me, what shall I render? What am I going to
do now?" Verse 13, here's what I'll do. I'll take the cup of
salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. The way he first
saved me is the way I come to him. Fill my cup again, Lord,
the cup that you gave to me of salvation and the water and the
blood in that cup. that made me come to you at first
and find my salvation there. I'm bringing the same cup now
and I'm gonna call on you because you saved me for salvation again. Keep coming. He saved us and
he shall save us. Verse 14, I will pay my vows
unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. There Seth
and Enos and men began to call in the name of the Lord. All
the church together call. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. Even our death is victory. Verse
16, O Lord, truly I am thy servant, I am thy servant, and the son
of thine handmaid now has loosed my bonds. We have been freed,
redeemed, we've been born of God. through the preaching of
the gospel which comes to us from the Lord's people, the son
of thine handmaid." Verse 17. Notice, here's that calling on
the name of the Lord. I will offer to thee the sacrifice
of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord. We
call for salvation. What else do we do? Thank God
the Lord saved me for Christ's sake. There's this attitude,
I need, I'm a sinner, I need to be saved, I call on the Lord,
the Lord saved me, he's gracious, he's merciful, I bring my cup
again, fill this cup of salvation Lord with your grace again, cause
me to call and in so calling I'm thankful to the Lord that
he saved me by his grace. I will pay my vows, verse 18,
I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his
people. The people of God gather to call
on the name of the Lord. We're all sinners. We all need
the same salvation. We all look to the same just
God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one name under heaven,
the one who was crucified for our sins. And we call on Him. We're the called. He called us,
therefore we call Him. In the courts of the Lord's house,
verse 19, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. That's the city
of God. That's Christ's people. Praise
ye the Lord. We offer our thanks, our praise,
our worship to God. Jesus told the woman of Samaria,
you don't know what you worship. We know what we worship for salvation. is of the Jews. We worship God
because of His salvation. We worship the One who saved
us. The One who saved us deserves all of our praise. God will not
share His glory with another. Therefore, the One who saves
us is our God and Savior. It's Him we call upon. Him we
thank for saving us, whose mercies and grace we remember. This is
the reason we're saved, and we keep bringing this cup as if
we're empty and need to be saved constantly, and yet we thank
God we find our salvation in Christ. We who call on the Lord
may sometimes wonder, how do I know the Lord saved me? It
doesn't seem like anything has changed. Ah, but it has, hasn't it? Because
now you're constantly calling on the Lord to save you. You
formerly trusted in your works. You thought you could do something
once and get saved or somehow do something continuously by
committing yourself or doing something. No. The Lord is my
righteousness and strength. And now I'm gonna call on him
as long as I live. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord,
that you call us, therefore we call you. And you've given us
this call, even though in ourselves we're sinners. You direct us
to yourself, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, and only Lord. And
we find the one who is our Savior sits on the throne of glory as
King and Lord. He is our judge who has saved
us. No one can condemn us. It is
Christ that died. No one can accuse us. God himself justifies us. And
in the Lord we have righteousness and strength. Help us, Lord,
to take this message that you've given to us about your saving
work in your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, and bring
this cup of salvation to you continuously. that we would not
leave off calling on you. We would join with your people
and continuously call and thank you and praise you for this salvation.
This is all of our hope and we could confess it before men.
We've believed, therefore we've spoken. Help us to confess with
our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart. God has
raised him from the dead, justified us in his death and brought us
to himself, that he might be our Lord, our only Lord, and
deliver us from all those who were lords over us, sin and death,
devil, this world, and he saved us by his work. In Jesus' name
we pray, amen.