Unsearchable, unsearchable riches,
past finding out. Who shall their greatness declare?
1 Corinthians 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, I hope
and pray, I really do, that the Lord will call someone this morning. Call me? Again, that's one of
my points. The call of God is powerful. It's personal. It's perpetual,
meaning it keeps calling. Call me. While on others, we're
going to sing that hymn at the close of the service. While on
others, thou art calling. Do not pass me by. Call me. Oh, that somebody might know
the hope of His calling. Salvation is to be called. For whom He did foreknow love,
forelove, He did predestinate. He purposed to save them. Everything
about them, predestined, ordered in all things that should. And
whom He did predestinate, He called. All the elect are called
by the Gospel. And whom He called, He justifies. glorified. Salvation is of the
Lord. Salvation is to be called. To be called. Salvation is to
be called by the Lord and salvation is to call on the Lord. There's no conflict here. No
contradiction here. If God doesn't call us, we won't
be saved. If we don't call on Him, we won't
be saved. That's what it said, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Then it
goes on to say, how shall they call on him whom they've not
heard? Believe, how shall they believe
him they've not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? So that's what I've been. 1 Corinthians 1 deals with the
call several times. Verse 1, I was called to be an
apostle, he said. Verse 2, he said, God's people
called to be saints, and they called on the name of the Lord.
Verse 9, God is faithful by whom you were called. And you know,
he goes on to say, you see your calling, don't you? See your
calling. What does it mean to call someone? We all do it. You call someone
on the phone, don't you? What does that mean? You want
to speak to them. You want to get a hold of them. We say that, trying to get a
hold of them. We need God to get a hold of
us. No, call. Call means to cry. Have you ever
called somebody? Hey! Have you? I mean, really called. Somebody's
getting away or out of distance. Have you? Hey! If you really want them to hear
you, do you? Well, hey! I tried. Help! That's a call. That's a call. When the Lord calls, it's powerful. It's powerful. When He takes hold of you, He's
going to call you in power. Come unto me. The Lord stood
up that day, great day of the feast, and said, Ho! Everyone
that thirsteth, come unto me. To call means to pay a visit.
I don't know if that's just a Southern saying. Let's go call on the
Davises. Means go visit them. We paid a call to that. I don't
know where that came from, but you know what it means to visit,
doesn't it? Oh, God needs to visit us then. He needs to visit them. So whoever
the Lord purposes to save, he calls. He cried the cry of the
gospel. The Lord calls him and he visits. Lord comes where they are and
he pays them a visit. He never leaves. And they call. They cry. And then when he visits
them, they come for a visit and they come to stay. Now, Peter
said this. Peter said this. Give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. Down in 1 Corinthians,
he said, you see you're calling, don't you, brother? Peter said, give diligence. Have
you been called? Huh? Have I been called? Well, sure I have. I'm a preacher.
Hold on now. Hold on. There have been lots
of preachers following the wayside. They must have quit calling. Right? Give diligence to make your calling
and election sure. My pastor always said this, that
you know your election by your call. We can't look in the book
and see our names, can we? That book's sealed. So one person's
going to open that book, and the names are all going to be
there. But he says, we know our election by our call. Paul said
this, knowing, brethren, to the Thessalonians. Knowing, brethren,
your election of God. How, Paul? Our gospel came unto
you with power. The gospel is the call of God. The gospel is the power of God.
The gospel is the word of God. The gospel is the voice of God.
People say, I don't need to hear the gospel be said. Then you're
rejecting all of God's word. You're rejecting what God said.
The gospel is the power of God. How shall they hear without a
preacher? You're rejecting it. Please God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them from death. Preaching of the cross,
mind you. Christ crucified. That's the
power of God. That's how we're called. Call
the gospel. The preaching of the gospel is
how God calls. It's the Word, it's the truth,
it's the gospel, and it's Christ crucified. Look down at verse
26. You see you're called in, brethren,
don't you? You see you're called in? How did God first call you? How did God first reveal Himself
to you? How did God lay hold of you? How did God arrest your attention? How? Preaching the Gospel. What is the Gospel? I thought
you'd never ask. The Gospel, look at verse 27. He said, you see your calling,
brethren, don't you? Not many wise men hath flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath what? Chosen. Brother John Davis, the gospel
began in the mind and the purpose of God before the world began
by God electing a people. Is that right? Can you preach
the gospel without preaching God's sovereign electing grace? No. Can you believe the gospel? No. Have you heard the gospel
if you haven't heard that? No, you haven't. So here's the good news. And
you who were dead, and you who were a child of wrath, and you
who walked according to the course of the world, and you, here's
the gospel, but God. Blessed be God and the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the first thing Paul mentions
in Ephesians 1, according to us, he has chosen us. You see here, Carlin brethren,
don't you see that when the gospel came, you realized you'd rejected
him all those years, but God chose you. We're not preaching
election here. We're preaching God's glory.
that God chose some. Why would He choose anybody?
Why would He save anybody? Why did He put up with Adam and
Eve? Why did He continue to put up with them? Because God is
rich in mercy for His great love. What was His love? The Gospel
begins with God's sovereign electing grace for whom He did foreknow,
forelove. He did predestinate. chosen of
God, and whom He predestinated, He called them. They're going
to be called by the gospel, they're going to believe, they're going
to be justified by faith, and they're going to be glorified.
They're going to see His glory. What's His glory? His sovereign
choice of you. You're going to be glorifying
Him throughout all eternity for choosing you. You know, I didn't
choose Him. The gospel begins with God's
sovereign electing grace. The gospel is how God's Son was sent by the Father to
a world of God-hating people, a world of rebels. And God sent His Son to this
earth to be made a surety of an everlasting covenant. to do
for them what they didn't want or need or ask to be done. Like
Joseph's brother. Remember what they did to Joseph?
Remember how they hated Joseph? Should Jacob have sent Joseph
to see about those boys? They're not worth it. Not a one
of them are worth it. But the father. Go see about
your brother. What happened to Joseph? What
all did they do to Joseph? Where did Joseph end up? In the
dungeon, in the prison. Huh? Where did Christ end up?
On the cross. Men took with wicked hands and
crucified the Lord of glory, but what's the scripture say?
They did what God determined before. They killed the lamb. But God said you need a lamb.
You don't even know it. So he sent the lamb. sure to
the everlasting covenant. Like Joseph, all that he went
through, all that Joseph went through, God put him on the throne.
And now his brethren, Joseph's brethren, are all going to come
to his feet, to bow at his feet and realize what they did to
him, but what God did for them through Joseph one day. And that's the gospel. God sent
His Son in love and mercy and grace to a bunch of unlovely
sinners. Sinful, dying world, but God
sent His Son to live for them, to die for them. to be their
substitute, to be their lamb that was slain. Oh, the wisdom,
the mercy, the love, the grace of God. How one man sent into
this world. Oh, what all sin has done to
this world. It's going to destroy this world.
God's going to destroy this world. Oh, but how the mercy and grace
of God, the power of God. He sent one man to do this work. One man. See, salvation with man is impossible,
but not with a God-man. It's certain that he sent Christ.
The gospel is how Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures. And all God's people hear that.
And we quote it again. I love it. You love it. But Paul said to Thessalonians,
we're bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren.
Look at verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 1. I thank my God always on your
behalf for the grace of God given you by Jesus Christ. Oh, we're
bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation.
Through sanctification of the Spirit. That's what Paul writes
here. Sanctification. He sets you apart. You've got a brother. I do too.
My brother doesn't believe the Gospel. I hope he will someday.
Your brother doesn't believe the Gospel, does John. I hope
he will someday. Your sisters don't believe the
Gospel. Anybody else? You've got a sister that doesn't
believe the Gospel. Why do you believe the Gospel?
Huh? Who maketh thee a different?
God. sanctified, set apart. God sent the Holy Spirit. John,
through the preaching of the gospel, said, arrest that man.
That's one of mine. That's my son right there. That's
my son. Go get him. Fetch him. He didn't
want to come. I didn't ask you to ask him.
I sent you to fetch him. He sends the gospel with power.
Well, you'll never get through to him. No, you won't. But God
does. Oh, bless the Lord. Oh, myself.
Thank my God, always. Sanctification of spirit and
what? Belief of the truth. The truth. The true gospel. The truth. I
just tried to sum it up. It's Christ. It's Christ only. It's Christ alone. It's His righteousness. It's not ours. It's His work. It's not ours. It's God's choice. It's not ours. It's God's will,
it's not ours, isn't it? It's us accepted in the blood,
not us accepting Him. That's another gospel. You've
got to hear the truth. You won't glorify God. You won't
give God all the glory if you don't see the salvations of the
Lord 100%. You will not, you will glory in your flesh, you'll
glory in your decision, you'll glory in your baptism, you'll
glory in something. If you don't see the glory of
God in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. See, of Him. Let me go ahead
and get to the end. Of God. This is all of the Lord. Are you in Christ? Why were those animals in the
ark? Did Moses stand there and go,
if anybody wants to come to the ark. Whole horses. Oh, all horses that want to come
into the ark. Lions, tigers, and bears. Who wants to come into the ark?
Did he do that? No. What did he do? He went out
and called them, and got them, and brought them into the ark,
or they wouldn't be there. They wouldn't be there. No one
knew that. All the family knew it. They
all knew that we're here because God brought us in the ark. God
called us and brought us in. Why did they stay in there? Why
did they stay? See, we're shut up to faith. And Paul said, God is faithful. It's His faith. By whom you are
called into the fellowship. Of God are you in Christ. You
know, once in Christ, always in Christ. Aren't you glad? Aren't
you glad? That's good news. There is no
good news if you're not kept by the power of God. So, where am I? The gospel. Oh,
the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God. Choosing people,
calling them. The gospel of God, I didn't quote
it up. Of God are you in Christ, who
of God is made unto us. See, we're all a bunch of fools.
Christ is the wisdom of God that came. You've got to keep the
law. We don't even know the law, we
don't care. Christ came by his knowledge and my righteous servant
just found it. You've got to keep the law perfectly
to get to the Holy God. Yes, you do. I can. I know that. So Christ came. Made on us wisdom, righteousness. How good you got me to go to
heaven? Holy. Holy. Holy. As holy as God. As good as God. I can. I know that. Christ was. Christ is. You understand that?
Not a doctrine. It's a person. Our righteousness
is not a doctrine. Not understanding that we have
to have imputed righteousness. No, no, no. It's understanding
that Christ is my righteousness. That I'm going to get the glory
because there's a man in glory. A perfect man. A holy man. A
righteous man. And God's well pleased for his
righteousness. He said, you come unto me and
I'll clothe you in my righteousness. I'm coming. He's going to receive
all of us. Accepted into beloved. Wisdom
writes the sanctification set apart. Every single one of God's
people know they're going to be in glory because of one thing. Jesus Christ. That's it. That's
what sets God's people apart. Every single child of Every single
Israelite in Egypt knew they were not killed, not slain like
the Egyptians because of one thing. What set them apart was
blood. Right? Right? Anything else? That's it. And they didn't even
put it there. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. We do a lot of bad things in
our life, don't we? A lot of things we don't even
know about. We're going to do some more. How can we redeem
ourselves? How can we pay for the things
we've done? Do we have any redeeming qualities?
Is it good enough just to say, Lord, I won't do it again? Yes,
you will. I won't think that again, I promise. I said, in my haste, I'll be
a liar. How are we going to be redeemed? How are we going to
pay for all the sin that we've ever done and will do? Who's
going to pay for this? Jesus Christ. Redeemed with the
precious blood of the Lamb without spot. You understand that, don't
you? You understand that, don't you?
You understand that? You understand that? You need to straighten
up and do right. Yes, you do. I'm all for that. I'm all for morality. I'm all
for it. You know, the Gospel does change people. Not to them,
not the way they see it of themselves, but He does. He does. He changes people. But that's
not what... You're not going to be saved
because of some change you made. You're going to be saved because
of the blood of Jesus Christ. Because of what Christ did for
you on Calvary Street. Do you understand that? then
you've been called by the gospel. You've been called. All right,
let me hurry. Let me give you three points
about the call of God, okay? Number one, the gospel is powerful. Number two, the gospel is personal. Number three, the gospel is perpetual. Powerful, personal, and perpetual. Okay? The gospel is powerful.
The gospel is the power of God. John doesn't say a power, it
says the power of God. The power of God. It calls people
from death to life. There was a time when I was dead
to God. I never gave God a thought. You? Anybody? But God. Gospel comes, and you stop thinking
on things above. Call from death to life. You
hath he done what? Quicken who work what? Dead in
trespassing. Dead. Quicken together with who?
Who did this? Christ. Christ is called from
death unto life. Our Lord came to the funeral. Every funeral He came to, the
person lived. I love that. It came to some woman's daughter,
Tabitha. She was dead. They were mourning
her. Anybody got a dead daughter? A daughter who's dead and trespassing
sin? Any hope? Yeah, same hope you have. Okay? And our Lord came. He didn't
ask her. He didn't tell somebody just,
you know, rubber feet or do whatever. He said, made arise with a word. Arise. Arise, my soul, arise. That's why you like that song
so much, isn't it, John? I do, too. Same thing happened to you
one day. Arise, my son, arise. That's
what it takes. Lazarus, come forth. So we pray, don't we, brother?
Would you call my daughter? Would you call my son, Lord? I can't do it. Would you call
my husband, my wife, would you, Lord? I can't do it. Please call
them. Call them like you've called
me. From death unto life, from darkness to light, man loves
darkness. I know, I do. Man does most of his evil, or
thinks he does, in darkness. Man's a nocturnal creature, you
know that? He's a nocturnal creature. He loves darkness rather than
light. God has to call us out of darkness. I used to love the
darkness. Not anymore. We made an iron bed at 7.30.
8. You say, it's just because you're
getting old. Well, maybe. But I can't wait for the sun
to come up. I like light. I had enough of
darkness. Didn't you, brother? I had enough
of that. I want to walk in the light as he is in the light.
Don't you, sister? You know, religion is darkness.
It's double darkness. A person can be in darkness sitting
in a pew, and God's got to call him the same way by the gospel.
They won't come out. The light that's in you be darkness.
Oh, it's how great is that darkness. I see, I see. Oh, do you now?
Tell me, tell me what you see. Tell me your hope of heaven.
Well, I may, I may, I accept enough said. You're in darkness. So the gospel is a powerful call,
powerful call. He makes the blind to see. I
mean the blind. Blind to God, blind to themselves,
blind to the truth. He makes the deaf to hear. I've
seen it. I've seen the gospel open deaf
ears. He makes the lame to walk. He
makes the wild asses cold to bow their head. He makes the
dead to rise. I've seen it. I've seen it. The
gospel is personal. Number two. The gospel is personal. He said, my sheep, Every one
of my sheep hear my voice. Every one of them. They hear
my voice. I know my sheep and I call them by name. Every one of them. Every one
of them, he said. It's personal. It's personal. The Lord one day
went walking on the seashore. It wasn't a random walk. It wasn't
a stroll on the seashore. He wasn't on vacation. He never
did take a vacation. He was here on purpose. He was
here with a purpose. He's here with a job to finish.
And that was to save every one of God's people. All right? He's
walking down the shore one day, and he came to a certain boat.
He passed by this boat, that boat, this boat, that boat. He
came there, and there they were, two that he'd been looking for.
There they were. Salmon! Andrew! Andrew! Andrew, I can't do it. I can't do it. I've been hollering like this
for years. I can't do it. He can, and he does. Paul, come. Simon and Andrew dropped everything
and everyone, their father, John and James, the same thing. He
chose them and they dropped everything. Their father left their boats,
their nets. To do what? Follow Him. It's
powerful and that's personal, isn't it? You ought to hear from
the Lord. You're not saved by the buddy
system. You're saved individually. And the Lord calls every one
of His sheep. You call your children, don't you? My name. Don't you? Each one of them. Some of you
had more than one. Sarah had five. My, my. He said,
all little children, come on now. He had to call each one
of them individually. Individually. He had to call them. My mother
did. Where's Robbie? Robbie? Robbie?
Where's Daniel? Daniel? Daniel? Becky? Paul? Where's Paul? Kept going. That's my next point. He's perpetual. He's continual. He never quits calling. Never quits calling. That gospel
call, personal, you're going to have to call. Andrew! You
know, there's two boys in here. I think they're hearing me right
now. You know what Andrew the fisherman
had to do? He had to call. Andrew had to call. The Lord
called him. Now what? He's going to have
to call. Simon Peter. Simon. He's coming. How do you know? He's calling. Simon Peter was going down. Lord,
save me. Personal, isn't it? It's powerful. You realize, I need saving. Not we're all a bunch of sinners
if God doesn't have mercy on us. I believe in election. I want to be an elect. I want
to be called. I'm the sinner. Lord, save me
or I perish. He called. Whosoever shall call,
Andrew, Andrew, Josh, Luke, Emma, Olivia, Daisy, Abby, Melanie,
Debra, Red, everybody called personal from the depth of your
being. You won't be saved again. You
know what? It's perpetual. You're going
to keep calling. If you quit calling, you're not
going to be saying. Isn't that right? Thank God He keeps calling us.
How do you know He keeps calling us? Well, what do you think about
what you've heard this morning? Have you heard this before? It tells me I repeat myself a
lot. And that's, I guess that's getting old. You just do. Some
of us more than others. Repeat ourselves over and over
again. She doesn't. She doesn't know. You know what? All I'm doing, all I want to
do, all I've got to do, this is my job. I'm called the Lord's
Remembrancer. Keep repeating. Keep repeating.
One thing. I've got one message to say.
I've got one thing to say. Call. Come. Bow. Repent. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Confess Him. Same thing. Over
and over again. Look to Christ. Look. Look. Look. Same thing. You've heard
it a thousand times. What do you think about it? You
keep hearing it, don't you? You keep coming. See, the Lord's
not calling the world, or they can take it. They don't come
to hear the Gospel. They've got to have new things,
a telling of hearing of some new thing all the time. That's
why you have to have spaghetti dinner and all that. You can't
get people to come here unless you have spaghetti dinner. You'll
get God's people to come when you serve the bread of life.
You just keep serving bread and wine, they'll come. Just keep
serving lamb, just keep preaching Christ to those that love Christ,
they'll keep coming. That's how you know. He keeps
calling them. Call them to the table. What's for supper? Christ! That's how you know. Blessed
are they that hunger and thirst. That's life. It's continual.
It's perpetual. It's an ongoing desire after
Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. And He keeps calling you. It's
perpetual. He keeps calling you over and
over again. You know, that song, we're prone
to wander. Prone to wander, and we do. Our
minds wander, our thoughts wander, our hearts wander, our minds
go after the world. It does. Every one of us. Every
one of us. We go, we get all caught up with
this and that and the other. Here's how you know you're one
of God's. He calls you back. He doesn't leave you. He could
leave you. There's many people that leave
and never come back. See, my hope is that God will
keep calling me. Keep calling. And so I call. Don't leave me. While on others thou art calling, Call me. Call me. So it's continual. Keep calling. Keep coming. Keep hearing. Keep seeking. That pilgrim in Bunyan's Pilgrim
Prophecy, he was leading the city of destruction. He had his
eyes, his mind, his heart on the celestial city. the wicked
gate, and that man on the cross. And he went running out of that
place with his eyes on Christ, with his fingers in his ears.
Did you want to hear anybody? They were all calling on him.
They were all wooing him. They were all, don't go, don't go. And
he cried one thing, life, life, eternal life. He that hath the
Son hath life. Do you have faith in Christ? Do you have a need for Christ?
Do you need to hear this gospel? Do you? Do you call? You must be called. Okay, you
must be elated. All right, John, let's sing a
closing hymn. Number 235.