1 with me now. 1 Corinthians
1. Read verses 1 and 2 with me. I hope you noticed. I hope you
look at the bulletin and read it ahead of time. But verse 1,
Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will
of God and sustenance. accompanied him in various places,
our brother, unto the church of God. He's writing to believers
at Corinth and whatever is written to one church is written to them
all, to all his people, God's people, church of God. To them
that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. with all that in every place,
all the saints everywhere that call upon the name of Jesus Christ
our Lord, both theirs and ours, the called and the calling. That's the subject and the title. Salvation is to be called by
God, called by Christ. Scripture calls it, He called
us from death to life. And you who were dead hath He
quickened. Like Lazarus, when the Lord came
to the cemetery that day, there were many graves, many tombs,
but He called one man. He called Lazarus by name from
death to life. He said, roll away the stone. And he called him by name and
he came out from death to life. He was dead, now he lived. Scripture says, called us from
darkness to light. Darkness, those that dwell in
outer darkness, in the gutter of sin or in the Religion is
darkness. If a light descended, you'd be
darkness. How great is that darkness? Double darkness. Some of you
like Saul of Tarsus, weren't you? Just like Saul of Tarsus. Self-righteous in false religion.
But God called you by our gospel out of darkness. Some of you
were right over there on the main street, weren't you? In
darkness. Thought you were good Christians.
But God called you out of darkness, didn't He? Into His marvelous
light. What's His marvelous light? You
didn't know then. It's the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's to be called. For whom He did foreknow, He
did predestinate to the adoption of children, to be His children.
Whom He did predestinate, He called. You're called. Verse 2 says,
"...to the church of God, to them that are sanctified in Christ."
Called saints. Called saints. We may look at
what it means to be a saint Wednesday night. Would you like to look
at that? Anybody? Saint. Good. All right. The eyes have
it. Just needed two witnesses, me
and him. Saints. Called saints. I want to be a
saint. You know, what a blessed term.
Let's save that for Wednesday. It says, to them that are sanctified
in Christ. Saint is short for sanctified. That means set apart, chosen. If you set something apart, you
choose it, don't you? Here's two of one thing, and
you go over there, and you make a choice. And you choose, you
set it apart. It's for you. This is what holiness
is, set apart for God, consecrated unto God, for Him, for Him. Sanctified in Christ are those
who've been chosen by God, set apart from the others, like Jacob,
set apart from Esau, like Isaac from Ishmael, right? Set apart,
like you, perhaps, and your sister. What a blessing that is. Think
about that. Sanctified. That's some high term. It must mean God chose
you to set you apart. You know what sets you apart?
It's not a what, it's a who. He's made under a sanctification. God chose Christ. He put us sanctified
in Christ Jesus. Sanctified in Him. Set apart,
put in Him. to Him to say, put in Jesus Christ. Here salvation is to be put in
Jesus Christ for safekeeping. To shut up, be shut up in Him. Like Noah. God chose Noah. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. The Lord sanctified Noah. Chose him apart from the
rest. Called him. Noah called him. With Noah being warned of God,
moved with fear. Come thou into the ark. Shut
him in. Put him in that ark and shut
him in and seal that door. Sanctified in Christ. Chosen
of God, given to Christ, who sanctifies us. That ark is what
sanctified Noah, wasn't it? It wasn't Noah himself, was it?
What set him apart from the world? What set Noah apart from the
world? What saved Noah? Why was Noah different? It's
in the ark. Everybody out there is out of
the ark. Those in the ark are sanctified. Sanctified in Christ. Given to Christ. Like you would
go pick fruit from a tree. You'll pick fruit from a tree.
Some of it on the ground, rotten fruit. Let's use that. You go pick rotten fruit off
the ground. You leave some of it. You take
what you will, and you pick what you will. You put it in a jar,
and you seal it. You seal it, and you keep it. Preserve it. It's yours. It's
for you in it. It's for you. That's sanctification. In Christ. Be put in Christ for
God. For God. You don't have anything
to do with it. Sanctified in Christ. Be found in Him. Oh my,
chosen of God. Called to be saints. Called to be saints. Paul said
this often. Romans 1, listen to this. Romans
1, verse 1 says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be
an apostle. Separated under the gospel of
God. And he went on to say, to all
that be in Rome, who are the called of Jesus Christ, albeit
wrong, beloved of God, called to be saints. Grace to you. Peace to you. Called. The called
of Jesus Christ is called. The called. You turn to John
10, John chapter 10, while I quote a couple of verses in Revelation
to you. John chapter 10. The called. the called of Christ. And I want
us all to ask, am I the called? Has the Lord called me? That's
part of the purpose for this message. I hope, I believe, the
main purpose is to glorify the Lord and His calling us and saving
His people and choosing and redeeming His people. But also, I hope
it will be that we might examine ourselves and ask ourselves,
have I been called? and find comfort believing, I
believe He's called me. I believe He has. And hopefully, He'll call somebody else. Hopefully. Oh, I hope that He'll call someone
else. This is how He calls. This is
it. Same old, same old. This is how
He calls. John 10. In Revelation, The Lord
said that those that are with Him, those that are with the
King of kings and Lord of lords, are the called, the chosen, and
the faithful. You know who's going to be with
the Lord in heaven someday? You know who's going to be with
Him? The called. Everyone He called. The chosen.
Everyone He chose. The faithful. Those that have
been given faith. In Revelation 19 it says, How
blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the
Lamb. If someone has a supper, marriage, do you just show up? Do you invite yourself? Well, if you did, went to the
rehearsal dinner, here I am, who are you? I'm just hungry. I thought, let's see your call. This was RSVP. Called. Everyone the Lord chose, He called. All He loves, He called. John
10 verse 3, He says of the great shepherd of the sheep, Him the
porter, that's the Holy Spirit, openeth. And the sheep hear His
voice, He calleth His own sheep by name and leadeth them out. He's bringing them out. He'll
put them in one fold, one shepherd. He calleth His sheep by name. Every one of them, every one
whom God gave to Christ, God through the Holy Spirit and the
preaching of the gospel calls them, calls them by His gospel. Verse 4, And He puts forth His
own sheep, and goeth before them. And the sheep follow Him. They
know His voice, you see. He keeps calling. That's how
you know that He's called you. He calls you not once, not twice,
but all your days. He keeps calling you and you
follow His voice. Well, what is His voice? No one
in here has heard the audible voice of Jesus Christ. But He
said, My sheep, Hear my voice, didn't he? Verse 16, look at
this, other sheep I have, he's talking about us, which are not of this fold, them
also I must bring, they shall hear my voice. Verse 27, my sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my My hand. What is His voice? The shepherd's
call. What is it? Have you heard it? He said, My sheep hear My voice. What is it? Well, you're looking
at it. You're hearing it. I just read
it to you. It's the Word of God. It's the Word of God. And somehow, miraculously, well,
I know how, in the Spirit of God, not by might, not the preacher's
ability, no matter how much he studied, not by power, not by
eloquence, liberty, none of those things, but by my Spirit said
the Lord. The same gospel, the same words
declared over and over again, over and over again, one day,
if, in God's purpose, whenever that may be, He takes that same
word that you've read and read and heard read, and it's Him
talking to you. It's Him talking to you. I know.
I sat right where you sit, and I heard, I mean, not here, but
in another place just like this. And I heard him, the same man,
I know him well, he's my dad. He's just my dad. He's not, he's
just a man. He's just my dad. I see him up,
see him down. I see him mad at me. And just
a sinner. But yeah, one day, by the mercy
of God, this prodigal son, this worthless boy, Sitting there, and I heard the
Lord speak to me. I was the only one in that plane. I was the only one who was talking
to Him. This was for me. That's my voice, Christ said.
So I keep preaching, hoping that the Lord has chosen, because
this is the means, this is the foolishness. God uses. This is the fool that He uses. And I'm sorry, but necessity
is laid upon me. And this is how we know. It's His
voice. It's His Word, the Word of Truth,
the Gospel, not an audible voice. John 8, go back to John chapter
8, verse 43. John 8, verse 43, our Lord said
this, to some other fellas, says, why
do you not understand my speech? Our Lord spoke plainly, didn't
He? Spoke plainly. There's no doubt what He was
saying. There's no doubt what this book says. How could anybody... John, you were standing at the
door Wednesday night saying to me, how could anybody read that
and not say it? Oh, it's right there. That's
what you kept saying. You kept going on and on. How can they
read this and not see it? Well, we know how, don't we?
Blind. Blind. Deaf. Have a ear but don't
hear it. Eyes can't see. I don't see it
that way. What do we mean? Read on. It says, Because you
cannot hear the Word. You cannot hear my Word. You're
of your father the devil. He speaks a lie. He's the liar
of it, the father of it. Verse 45, I tell you the truth,
you believe me not. Verse 47, but he that is of God,
heareth God's words. If you're of God, He's going to call you by this
word, and you're going to hear it. You're going to hear it.
And you'll hear all of it. You'll hear first the thing that
convicts you. First the thing that brings you
low. First, the thing that slays you. Paul said, when the commandment
came, I died. Killed me. Slew me. He said,
I thought I was a good fellow. Thought I was a religious fellow.
Thought I knew God. I found out I don't know God.
Got to kill your God, doesn't it? Got to kill you. Got to make
you hate yourself. That's the word that comes first.
Here's the call of God. Repent. It's not God loves you. He wants you, you know, He so
badly needs you. That's not the call of God. Call
of God is, I'm holy, just, and righteous. You've sinned against
me. You're in my hands to do what I plead. You haven't given
me a thought all the days of your life. You haven't been thankful.
Going about to establish your own right. You haven't given
me the glory. You glory in this. You glory in that. You love yourself.
Love is a pleasure more than love is a God. I've come to reveal
myself to you. I've come to show you that I'm
your God. You're in my hands. to do with
as I please. Now you're going to bow and you're
going to ask me for mercy. I'm a merciful God. I delight
to show mercy. I'm ready to pardon. And nobody's
going to ask for pardon that doesn't feel like they need it.
It's a call of God. The call of God, repent. The call
of God is to bow to His Son. Kiss the Son. Not, Jesus loves
you, He's outside your door, knocking on the door, won't you
please let... Oh no, lest he be angry. And you perish from
the way when his wrath is kindled a little. Kiss the Son. It's
the call of God, the call to believe. God commandeth every
man everywhere to repent. Doesn't ask anybody to believe
on his son. Commandeth everyone to repent.
Not ask, but command. He calls to come. Come now, come. Come now, let's reason together.
And He's not going to tell you what a good person you are. He's
going to tell you what a sorry person you are. And He's going
to tell you but the blood of Jesus Christ, my son. Come now,
let's reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
though you're just like Rahab, come now. I'll make them white
as snow. You've got to be scarlet. Come to worship. Come to worship the Son. This
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Come now and worship
Him. Let everything that hath breath
praise Him. We're not doing God a favor.
He's doing us a favor by showing us the Son. and worship Him, hear Him. That's
the call of God. John 8, verse 45, look at this,
verse 47. I already read that, didn't I?
I already read it. But he that is of God, heareth
God's Word. God's Word, truth, the gospel.
Go to 2 Thessalonians 2. This is the call of God. 2 Thessalonians
2. Go over there. While I read to you 1 Thessalonians,
we said in 1 Thessalonians, we know you're elect, brethren,
beloved, you're election of God because, this is how you know
you're elect. Peter said, give diligence to
make your what? Calling and election. Sure. Now you can't know if you're
elect. unless you've been called. If you've been called, you're
elect. Give diligence. That means listen
carefully. Do you want to know? Listen carefully
then. Diligent hearing. I want to know
if I'm one of the elect, if I want to belong to the Lord. I want to know if I've been called. Give diligence. Make your calling. Find out if He's called you.
You're one of the elect. Because you can't see your name
in the Lamb's Book of Life. But whom He foreknew, He did
call. Call. And He said here in 1 Thessalonians,
know in your election because our gospel came unto you. Our gospel. You know, Paul wrote
that intentionally, didn't he? Our gospel. In II Thessalonians,
look at this, chapter 2, verse 13, he says, Oh, we're bound,
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved,
foreloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to save you, to salvation through sanctification. Same, same message of the Spirit. and belief of the truth. You remember he said to those
Pharisees, you believe a lie. You believe another gospel. Our
gospel came. Read on. This salvation, whereunto
you're called, this salvation you're called by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. To behold
His glory. to behold His glory. The gospel
is the glory of God. The gospel is the glory of His
dear Son. The gospel is to the praise of
the glory of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the
beloved. The gospel is God's sovereign
mercy. That's His glory. Choosing whom
He will. Choosing anybody. Saving anybody. Showing mercy to anybody. Being
gracious to anybody, let alone me. That's glorious. Sovereign mercy, sovereign grace,
sovereign power, keeping you in spite of yourself. That's
glory. That's the glory of His power.
That's the glory of His choice. That's the glory of His Son.
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. Yes, cleanseth,
even me with all my sin. That's glory. That's to the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the glory of His Spirit who
will not let us go. He will keep us all the days
of our life. We're kept by the power of God.
That's the Spirit of God. Kept by His power. You will not
get away, Christ said. You will not perish. Nobody's
going to pluck you out of My hand. That's glory. That's God's
glory. It's all in spite of us, He said. Do you see that glory? You see
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ who has left His glory to come to this hell hole for
the likes of me? Do you see that? The gospel won't mean a thing
to you unless you do. Our gospel, say, came unto you,
oh my, the gospel of His glory. The gospel. Our gospel. There's
only one gospel. It's the true gospel. There's
another gospel. If you were supposedly saved
under God loves you and Jesus died for you and God needs you
and you just accepted Him, you're not saved. You haven't heard
the truth. No, no, no. Where's the glory
of God in that? If it was your choice, if you
accepted Him, you get some glory, don't you? Everybody else didn't,
but you did. So you get some glory. That's
not the gospel. That's not how God calls. You
who were dead. This is the glory of God. Lazarus
stinketh. Lazarus stinketh. The Lord looked
down to see if they were in. He said, they stinketh. God. I heard him preach that message
on tape. And every time he got to those
two words, he hollered. I mean, dad, you used to scream.
But this deserves to be heard. This is salvation. This is my
salvation. This is the salvation that wakes
the dead, the religious dead. Religious, steeped in religion,
thinking God loves me and everybody else doesn't. save him, but I
did." Oh no, it's but God. Our salvation is, this is you
wallowing. But God, to the praise of the
glory of His choice. But God sent His Son into this
world. I wouldn't give my only child
for anybody in this room. I'm sorry. I think I might lay
down my life, but not my beloved. Would you admit it? Would you give Stephen for me?
No. But God. And Stephen's a sinner. And my
daughter's a sinner. But God's Son's not a sinner.
He's not like us. He's the only holy, sinless man
who ever lived. The only lovely, altogether lovely
son, obedient son that ever walked this planet. God's beloved son. His glory, the glory of His love. Behold what manner of love the
Father bestowed upon us. God committed His love toward
us. He sent His Son. to die for us. Oh, for a good
man, some might die. For a righteous, some might dare
to die. But God... See, that's glory. See, people
think, when they think too highly of themselves, they think, God,
He ought to die for me. Everybody deserves a chance to
be saved. God ought to love me. No, that's
another gospel. That's a false gospel. Nobody
deserves to be saved. Nobody deserves the love of God.
Nobody deserves the blood of God's Son being shed for their
rebellion. Death row criminals don't deserve
mercy but God. But God. And that's not even
my text. Yes, it is. It always is. It
always is. That's what you say. You say,
this is our theology. All our theology can be wrapped
up in two words, but God. Here's Adam, rebelling against
God. But God. Here's a whole world
full of sin and none of them deserve to be saved. But God.
Noah found grace. Sodom. Couldn't find five righteous
in that city. Not five that called on the name
of the Lord, but God. Shows a lot. Among whom you're the called. You, called. Here's a good illustration
of this call, Acts 22. Acts 22 is an illustration of
the call of God. Those who are saved are called
of God, called by our gospel, not called by this false gospel
that says God loves you and Jesus died for you. There's no gospel
in that. Oh no, there's no gospel in that.
If God loves me and I might... and there are people in hell
that God loves, what's the love of God? What good does the love
of God do me? If Jesus Christ died for every
single human being, and there's some people in hell right now
for whom he died, what does the blood of Christ have to do with
my salvation? If Jesus paid it all, and yet
there are people in hell right now, then he didn't pay it all. They're paying for it. See, that's
another gospel. And if God wants to save me and
can't unless I let Him, that's a God who cannot save. I need
a God who is able and willing. And I was dead. And not only
able and willing, but that's exactly what He did. He came
and called me, by His grace. You're looking at the prodigal
son who was in the hog pen. Why did I come to myself? Why
did this prodigal son just all of a sudden, God called me? He gets the glory. Acts 22, this
is what happened to Saul who became Paul. Verse 6, he came
to pass, he said, I made my journey and a light, a great light shone
round about me and I fell to the ground. Folks, when you see
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, the light of
His presence, God who dwells in light which no man can approach
unto, a holy, a thrice holy God whose countenance is as the sun
that shineth, the Lord Jesus Christ, the true Christ of glory,
if you see His glory, you won't stand up and be counted. You
won't say, I, oh Jesus. You'll fall at His feet and say,
Lord. You'll quit calling Him Jesus
from then on. And you'll call him like Saul did, the Lord. Saul said, here's what I'm going
to do. Here's what I'm going to do. Saul was religious. I
have a free will. He said, I have a free will and
I'm going to go down and I'm going to get all these people.
I'm going to put this Jesus out of business. I'm going to put
this church out of business. And I'm going to but God. But the Lord Jesus Christ in
whose hands he was at that very moment put him in the dust, shone
round about him, had him surrounded, looking down on him. Now what
are you going to do? Tell me now about your free will.
Tell me now what you're going to do with Jesus. Tell me what
you've done for Jesus other than persecute me. Lord. Then he says, no bargaining here
is it? He doesn't have any bargaining
power. What will you? I mean, it's all
your will. He didn't know the Lord Jesus
Christ. He knew Jesus. He didn't know the Lord Jesus.
He didn't make Him Lord. Did He make Him Lord? Did the
Lord say, Paul, if you'll let Me be Lord of your life? Did
He say that? Look down at verse See, he was blinded, verse 11,
when I could not see for the glory of that light. Christ. When you see His glory, it'll
blind you to any goodness in yourself. It'll blind you to
anything in this world. You'll be blinded. One man of nice came, verse 13,
Brother Saul, the Lord has sent me to recover your sight. He's
blind, isn't he? And so is everyone that doesn't
see salvation in Christ alone. Verse 14, the God of our fathers
hath chosen thee that thou shouldest know His will. And it's His will. It's not your will. It's not
free will. It's God's will. Everything. He works everything
after the counsel of His will. Thy will be done. And to see
that just one. You know, you're only going to
be justified with God, declared holy and righteous, unblameable,
one way. It's not you and Jesus. Christ said, I am the way. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me, in me, by me, by me making you righteous. Not you
doing anything. By me making you righteous. By
me shedding my blood. By me giving you my holiness. That just one. And hear the voice
of His mouth. See, everyone's called, all His
people are called by our gospel, by the gospel. Not that other
gospel, but this gospel. To see His will, to see the just
one. Hear His voice and you'll be
a witness unto all men, verse 15, of what you've seen and heard.
What? What did Saul go about preaching from then on? Jesus
Christ the Lord, high and lifted up. Not man's will, not man's
works, not man's choice. No, you were dead, just like
me, but God. But God, that's the call. Let
me close with this. How do you know you're called
of God? How do you know that Christ has called you? Number
one, you hear the truth. God's people hear the truth. We just told you the truth about
God, the living and the true God, God who is God, not trying
to be God. That's not God. God who does
as He will with whom He will. The God who, He said, where were
you when I made the heavens? Did I ask you? No. He doesn't
ask anybody anything. He tells them, commands them,
to hear the truth of the Gospel, to hear the truth about yourself.
The truth about yourself, about myself is, we're wretched, miserable,
poor, blind, and naked, and dead, and trespassed in sin. And if
God doesn't choose us, we'll never choose Him. If God doesn't
put us in Christ, we'll be forever cast into perdition. If the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, is not applied to our soul, we're
going to perish. Not us. And that faith, if he
doesn't give you that faith, without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Yes, but that's not of yourself. It's the gift of God, the belief
of the truth. Believe, truly believe that Christ
is ours. And he sends this truth and we
bow and we believe. And our text says this in 1 Corinthians
1, and go back to this, and it says in verse 2, sanctified in
Christ Jesus, called to be saints with all that in every place
call. Those he calls, call. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10, right? Where did he
get that verse? Joel 2. Listen, Joel 2.32. It shall come to pass that whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For
in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the
Lord hath said. and in the remnant whom the Lord
shall call." Who the Lord calls, they call, not until. He doesn't call them because
they call. They call because He called. See, He gets the gold. Saul of Tarsus, again, when the
Lord told Ananias to go preach to him. And that's how the Lord
calls, through preaching the gospel. He told Ananias to go
preach to him. And Ananias said, he doesn't
believe the truth. Our Lord said, yes he does now. And he said, how do I know? He
said, here's what the Lord said to him, behold, behold, he prayeth. Now, he was a Pharisee. If you'd heard Saul pray before,
you'd have gone to the temple. I thank you, Lord. Oh, Jesus,
I accepted you as my personal Savior. I've served you all my
life. I've won many souls to Jesus.
I let you into my heart. Aren't you glad to have me? I'm
not like these other people. I'm a new man. You're a rotten, self-righteous
Pharisee. Get out of my sight. And now he prays, now what does
Saul of Tarsus say? He says with that publican in
the temple, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Oh,
wretched man that I am, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
God be merciful to me, the chief of sinners, the most unworthy,
the most rebellious, blasphemer, injurious persecutor. Would you
please show mercy to this hell-deserving sinner?" Behold, he prayeth. He's praying now. He's asking
for mercy. And God delights to do what?
Not reward good people, because there's nothing good, but to
save sinners. It gives Him glory, see, to turn
a self-righteous Pharisee into a publican. That takes the power
of God. Let me close with this. I've
got a few more minutes. I hadn't been that long. I've
got it right here. They call. Whosoever shall call. Now here's the point. I'm not
confusing things. If you don't call on the Lord,
you won't be saved. And the reason He hadn't revealed
Himself to you now as you haven't called. You haven't called on Him. Whosoever
shall call shall be saved. And here's the reason most don't
call. They don't want me saved. I like
what I'm doing. It's fine. Or, I don't need saving. I know this right here. I believe
this. Well, do you now? Not if you're not calling. No,
you don't believe this if you're not calling. Whosoever shall
call. And our Lord said, and whosoever
shall call. And there's no confusion here. The only confusion is in our
understanding. But you won't call unless God calls you. You
won't come. We said no man can come except
the Father which sent me draw him. And yet, If you don't call,
He won't save you. He won't save you. You say, I'm
confused. Yes, you are. But the ones who
are not are those that have been called. You know, don't you? Irene, you know, don't you? You
never called. You never called. You weren't
calling when He called you, were you? You weren't calling. I wasn't
calling. Saul wasn't calling. But God
called him. How do you know he's saved? How
do you know God called him? He calls! He called, Lord, save me or I
perish. And we confess. If you're called,
you're confessing. Ananias said to Saul, he said,
Arise and be baptized, calling on the name of the Lord. Not
Jesus. The Lord. Arise, he said, and
be baptized, calling on the name of the Lord. And what did he
do? He was baptized. He's a Pharisee
all those years. You mean, Paul, Saul, you weren't
saved? You're 50 years old and you aren't saved? No, I wasn't.
I didn't know Christ. What difference does it make
when we're saved? As long as we are. I can't tell you how many times
I wonder, Get in that pool again. No seniority here. In fact, the
seniority is this, the last shall be first. We call and we confess. You confess those you love. You
confess somebody that saved you. And when you ask somebody, are
you saved? This is how you know if He's called them. This is
how you know if the Lord saved them. This is what they're going
to say. Every one of them is going to say this. They're not
going to say this. They're not going to say, yes,
I accepted Jesus. Then the Lord didn't save you. You accepted
Him. But a person that God saves and
sent His Son to save, and he's out there drowning, Kelly, going
down. And the Son of God comes out
and He lays down His life to save you. What are you going
to say? The Lord saved me. Let everybody know, the Lord
saved me, chose me, called me, redeemed me, chose me. I have
nothing to do with it. I ain't splitting hairs here.
If the Lord saved you, you're going to say, the Lord saved
me. Not me and Jesus. Not mama prayed
for me. The Lord prays for me. The Lord
intercedes for me. The Lord is my shepherd. I'm
a sheep wandering. Why are you still here? The Lord
has kept me. Why are you calling? Because
the Lord called me. Salvations of the Lord. And if the Lord calls you, you'll
know it. And you'll say it. And you'll
get in that pool. And you'll say to the world,
I was a lost sinner, but God. I was a lost Pharisee in religion,
except that some Jesus. But God revealed the Lord Jesus
to me. I'm a nothing. I'm a nobody.
I'm a sinner. I'm Mary Magdalene. I'm a thief
on the cross. I'm Rahab. I'm the chief of sinners. But, God, you can't preach this
day without hollering. You can't preach it right. Lift
up your voice. Say unto the cities, Behold your
God cometh with salvation. It's His. Start calling. Start
calling. Away with this false gospel.
Man-centered, man-glorified, man's decision, man's will, man's
work. Everybody in glory said, unto
Him who hath loved us and saved us and washed us with His own
blood, unto Him be riches, honor, glory, strength, wisdom, everything. We don't have any. It all belongs
to Him. It's all for His glory, to the
praise of the glory of His praise. Are you called? Is that the gospel
to you? Is that what you heard? Who you
heard? Is it still calling you? Are
you still calling? Nobody who's been called says,
now I'm living above sin. Now, I'm set apart. I'm psyched. Oh, no. You feel like the older
you get, the worse you get. You're not holy. You don't feel
holy. You're unblameable, unreprovable
in God's sight in Jesus Christ. But in yourself you say, no good
thing. No good thing. And here's what
you say, Christ is all to me. He's all. Creed? Christ is all. What's your faith? Christ is all. What's your hope?
Christ is all my hope. What's your peace with God? Christ
is all. You hope God will accept you?
In Christ, the beloved. And you keep calling. You know,
I had several things I wanted to say, but time's up. You call on those you love, you
call on those You need to call on Him, commune with Him. Keep
calling, keep calling. You don't quit calling until
you die. Alright, may the Lord call us,
all of us. Number 235, 235. Pass me not,
O gentle Savior, hear my humble cry, while on others Derek Colling, Do Not Pass Me
By, 235. Let's stand.