Revelation chapter 19, and I
would like to read verse nine, and then I'd like to read three
other verses. One of them is found in the book
of Revelation. Another one is found in 1 Peter and one in Colossians. And I think we'll see that they
are all so directly connected. that when the Lord gave the Holy
Spirit or when the Holy Spirit, the Godhead, gave John this message,
he is giving him a message that he has given in the past in the
sense of what God's people have now and what they have in store
for them. There is not a number of messages,
and if you are in one house of the Lord's, you are in every
capacity that He speaks about. If you're His, then you're His
in every capacity. And if He is your Lord, He is
your Savior in every capacity. Revelation chapter 19 and verse
7, excuse me, verse 9 it says, And
he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto
the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. So John was called on to write
these things. And he was to write them specifically
to the seven churches of Asia. And from there, they would be
a blessing to every church of God wherever they are found,
every assembly of the saints, every body that meets together
in the capacity to worship God throughout the world, recognizing
that everyone that is born again is in the Church of God, but
we have the privilege in different places of meeting together in
this local capacity, which we enjoy and rejoice in. And when
we travel across the country to find other people that hold
forth the word of life, that believe on the Lord as we find
in the scripture, we rejoice with them too. And we delight
in hearing about a group of people somewhere meeting together to
hold the word of God in that place, a light in a dark place.
All right, here it says, blessed are they which are called into
the marriage supper of the Lamb. Would you turn back with me to
the book of Colossians, but keep your finger here. We'll be back
here for the bulk of our study tonight. But in the book of Colossians,
we have some other words used, but essentially it is saying
the same thing. Colossians chapter one. We have
the Apostle Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to write these things
to a group of saints, and we get to hear, overhear them. We
get to overread them, and we get to be blessed by the same
words. The Word of God was written to God's people in all ages.
And it wasn't written to the world, it was written to God's
people. And so as it was written to these saints in Colossae,
we get to enjoy the benefit that letter was specifically to them,
but to us as overhears. All right, in Colossians 1, verse
12, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Now, the Apostle Paul is
not speaking of a different thing than what we find John writing
about over in the book of Revelation. Blessed are they which are called
into the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is written to the same
group of people. We're not talking about several
different kinds of things happening. We're talking, and as the scriptures
unfold, we're seeing that these words describe much the same
thing to the Church of God, to the saints of the Lord. Here
it says to the married supper of the Lamb, well, if you've
been born again, you're guaranteed to sit at the married supper
of the Lamb. Over here God brings us through
this great and wonderful salvation and he says I've done it in such
a way that you've been delivered from the power of darkness and
Translated into the kingdom of his dear son Guaranteed that
will be translated into his kingdom Turn with me if you would just
a little bit forward towards Revelation and first Peter first
Peter chapter 1 All of these scriptures complement each other.
Share with us a little bit more about what the Lord has for his
people. Here's the marriage supper of
the Lamb. I get to sit down with the Lord and learn more about
him. What happened when he took us out of the kingdom of darkness
and translated us into the kingdom of his dear son? What did we
get then? We got light and understanding
about the Lord Jesus Christ. We got to see more about him
than we'd ever seen. All right, here in 1 Peter 1,
verse 23, being born again. Well, the Lord left the message
to Nicodemus, you must be born again. Now, it's in past tense,
being born again. God has done something for somebody,
God has done something for his people, being born again. not
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever, being born again. If God brings this about
in the hearts of his people, he gives them the new birth,
brought them out of darkness, put them in the kingdom of his
dear son, then he also in every way will cause them to rejoice
in the marriage supper of the Lamb. They're all talking about
the same thing, spiritual blessings God has for his people. All right,
one other one found in the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter
20. We've read this a number of times,
but we'd like to read it again tonight, Revelation chapter 20.
Just as he shares in the previous chapter here about blessed are
they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb,
another way of saying being born again. Another way of saying
being regenerated. Another way of being saying taken
out of the kingdom of darkness and put it into the kingdom of
his dear son. Another way of saying being born again, not
by corruptible seed, but by incorruptible seed. Here it tells us in the
book of Revelation chapter 20, and in verse 6, it said, blessed
and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. Now,
this is not the Lord's resurrection. This is a part that he gives
us. Now, it is based upon his resurrection. That is true, based
upon his resurrection. But it says, blessed and holy
is he that hath part in the first resurrection. On such, the second
death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of
Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. So here again,
we're reading about the same thing. God's grace to his people
declared in this way, it's a resurrection. In another place, it's a translation.
In another place, it is a new birth. And in another place,
we found there, it is being in the marriage supper of the lamb.
All of these things, and we find it throughout the scriptures.
The description is, this is what God has for his people. Now,
I want to sit. Earlier today, I sat down to
dinner. I used to call it dinner. And he called the evening meal
supper. And I've just about been broken of that. All right. I sat down and ate. I had pork
and pork and green peas and potatoes and what else was there? Rice. Okay. Now, it was all the
same meal. And it was delicious. And part
of what made it delicious was having the people around the
table that was around the table. I said that to say this. Everything
that God says about his great salvation can be described in
so many ways. And he does it for our benefit
to show this is what I've done for you, and this is what I've
done for you, and this is what I've done for you, and this is
what I've done for you. I've invited you and caused you
to sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb. I've translated
you out of darkness. I've given you the new birth
by incorruptible seed. Our original birth, our first
birth, our natural birth, that's corruptible seed. We're born
with corruptible seed. But the second birth, the new
birth, the born again, that's incorruptible seed. That's God's
seed. And then here we find Blessed
and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. God
raises his people from the spiritual dead sometime in their lifetime. Now, nobody's going to wake up
in heaven and say, I never heard the gospel, but I'm glad I'm
here. It doesn't happen that way. Hearing the gospel is essential. And it is the preaching of the
word that God uses. to do this. I don't understand
it. I don't understand physical birth
by any means. I don't understand spiritual
birth. But I know that God does it. And he uses different terms
to describe it. And as we found tonight, there
are four different ways he describes what he does. You've been invited
to a marriage supper. You're going to get to know God,
Christ, like you've never known him. You've been taken out of
a kingdom of darkness. You've been born again, and you've
been raised from the dead. Different ways he uses to describe
the same thing for his people. All right, looking here in the
book of Revelation chapter 19, and in verse nine, this, he saith
unto me, write, blessed are they which are called. which are called. Now, I'd just like to discover
a little more of what is meant by that word called. And one
of the ways that I found to help me understand what it means is
to go to a couple or three other verses that share that same word
that's been translated and shows me what God does with this. And this subject is very important. The subject is vital to our life,
our spiritual life, and that is to be called by God. Now this doesn't mean, this call
does not mean that we're preacher called. This call doesn't mean
that we're parent called. This call doesn't mean that we're
religion called. This call means it came from
high up. It came from a special call.
Now in the Bible we find that there are two types of calls
generally spoken of in scripture when it comes to spiritual things.
And one of them is what we do when we speak to someone about
Christ. We're a spokesman. We're a representative. We represent Christ, and we want
to do that the best we can, and the best we can is to be honest
with God's Word. Don't add from it or take away
from it. Don't make it easier. Just leave it like it is. Hold
forth the word of life. It is a light in a dark place. And I realize that some people,
most people, all people won't appreciate it to begin with.
But if God has his way in this, and he will have his way with
his people, God has his way with his people. He will take that
call down to the heart, where we can't go. The Holy Spirit
does that. And the scriptures share with
us that there is this call that we send out. Today we had the
Bible class, it was a call, Nancy with her class, talking about
the things of the Lord. We spoke today from the Psalms,
we give the call. The call is always out. The call
is always given. The gospel is the call. Christ
is the invitation. Salvation is what God does for
his people. But it takes a special call in
the heart before it will be effectual. I can't get the job done. You
can't get the job done. The Holy Spirit is the only one
that can. Now, would you turn back with
me to the book of John? John chapter 10, as we think
about this call, blessed are they which are called unto the
marriage supper. Blessed are they who are called
out of darkness. Blessed are they called out of
the death and brought to a resurrection. Blessed are they. And it takes
a call. God has to issue this call. And it is so tender and effectual. Now the outcome may be, as we
saw this morning in the Bible class with Saul of Tarsus, God
turned him upside down. God worked in him. But the whisper
of God could change the direction of this world. The whisper of
God. God doesn't have to shout to
get things done. Still, small voice can get the
things done. He wants done. So he doesn't
have to shout to get his purpose done. A still, small, whispering
voice is powerful when it's the Lord God Almighty. The king has absolute power.
His whisper is absolute power too. Doesn't have to shout. He didn't have to send troops
out. His word is power. And that's the word of God is
power in the hearts of people. All right, here in the book of
John, John chapter 10, John chapter 10 and verse three, would you
read there with me? John chapter 10 and verse three,
it says, To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice,
and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
Now that word is the same word we find over here in the book
of Revelation. He calleth his own sheep. Now that call is so
special that it is his sheep that hear that call. Goats don't
hear that call. His sheep hears that call. It's
a very special call. It's a fatherly call. It's a
heavenly call. It's a call from God to save
his people out of darkness, to save his people from sin, to
save his people from destruction. He calleth his sheep, and he
calls his sheep by name. It is a special, special call. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Romans, Romans chapter 8. Paul was used, and it may
have been because we have such a declaration about his call. Paul was used, I believe, to
represent all of God's people in some capacity. When he saved
Paul, he's showing what he does to all his people. Paul was a
sinner, he saved sinners. Paul was alone, but he was with
people, but he still saved him alone. Paul was spoken to. Paul was stopped. Paul was arrested.
He does that. Now, we may not be going to Damascus,
literally, but all of us are going down there in a metaphorical
sense. We're all headed away from Jerusalem. And the Lord arrests us and brings
us. All right. Romans chapter 9. Paul was used
to write these things. Excuse me, Romans chapter 8,
verse 30. Romans chapter 8 and verse 30,
it says, Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. Here again, we have specific
action by God before time began, in time, and after time. Before
time, he predestinated. In time, he called. And after
time, he glorified. So he's dealing with his people
specifically and specially. It's a call that's effectual. And so it is, blessed are they
which are called to the marriage supper. It is a very special,
inside, down-to-earth, heart call that God gives. And it's
that new birth. It's that call to the marriage
supper. And one other, would you turn with me to Galatians
chapter one? Galatians chapter 1. Here we
find again as the Apostle Paul was used by the Holy Spirit to
share with us some things, some truths about this call. John's
writing about the same thing Paul's writing about. Peter writes
the same thing that the rest of them are writing about. They're
not in confusion. They're not writing about different
things. They're writing about the same thing. They're writing
about the gospel and the application of the gospel to God's people.
Galatians chapter 1 and verse 15, it says, but when it pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
his grace. He called me by his grace, his
unmerited favor. A very special call that he gave
to Saul of Tarsus. Now as we heard read this morning
in the Bible class, he was a real nasty person. Talk about that
loving kindness of the Lord. good in its character, God went
after the worst. He went after the cheapest of
sinners. That's what Paul said about it.
He went after the cheapest of sinners and saved him by his
grace. And here it says, he called me by his grace. What a special
call. He not only gives the voice,
but he sends the letter home. He calls. Now, turn with me,
if you would, to the book of Matthew, chapter 22. Matthew,
chapter 22. Here we have an illustration,
and this is about a marriage. It's about a marriage. Matthew,
chapter 22, verse 2. Matthew 22, this is a marriage. Blessed are they who are called
of Mary's supper of the Lamb. Now, in this illustration, in
this parable, the Lord shares with us what it is to get the
general call. And it uses a word in here that
is so typical of people when they hear the gospel, and they
hear it with this, they make light of it. Now that's used
right here. Matthew chapter 22, verse two,
it says, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which
had a marriage for his son. and sent forth his servants to
call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would not
come. And again he sent forth other
servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden. Behold, I have prepared
a dinner. My oxen and my fattening are
killed, and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage. Verse
5, But they made light of it. They made light of it. The king
called, and they made light of it. He's not asking them to come
put their fingers in a vice. He is not asking them to come
have their eyes put out. He is not coming asking them
to come take a beating. He's asking them to come have
dinner with him. And they made light of it. They
made light and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his
merchandise. Well, if we look at this in the
book of Luke, it says, one of them said, you know, I've just
bought some property and I got to go take a look at it. They
made light of it. Now, we think that's an idiot. That's an idiot. When my brother
and I were on our trip down to the lava beds, the Modoc War,
we having breakfast there in Klamath Falls. There's a guy
there from near Sacramento, and he told me that he was given
a piece of property over near Alturas. Now, if you know where
Alturas is, that is the edge of the world. It's not near the
edge. It is the edge of the world.
Well, he was given some property over there and he paid taxes
on it and one time he decided he better go up to see what he's
paying taxes on. He went and looked at it and
went to the courthouse and he says, I am not paying another
dime. It can be sold for back taxes.
I'm not interested in it. Well, he's showing signs of intelligence. This guy in the book of Luke
said, I got some property. I need to go look at it. He made
light of the invitation to supper. And another one, I bought five
yoke of oxen. I need to go prove them. What
an idiot. We'd say that's just foolish. If that was a business
deal, we'd call him foolish. Well, when it comes to spiritual
things, God's already said that. The fool has said in his heart,
I don't have to go to supper. They make light of the invitation. And the truth be known, and we
know what it says, they can't do anything else. Something else
has to happen. And then there's the other one,
I've married a wife, therefore I cannot come. And we've shared
this. He didn't know much about his
wife, did he? Because we don't know, I don't know a wife yet
that wouldn't go out to dinner when she's invited. We'd say, that's just plum foolish.
Well, that's what we are. We're foolish. We make light
of it. We make light of the invitation.
People have come and gone here, made light of the invitation.
They've made light of the gospel. They've made light of the preaching. They've made light of it. You
know, that's fine for some people. I don't need that. Well, let's
go on here. It says, Verse six, and Arema
took his servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them.
But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth, and he sent forth
his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their
city. Then saith he to the servants, the wedding is ready, but they
which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways,
and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those
servants went out in the highways and gathered together, gathered
together, Now this is the work of the Holy Spirit. He gathers
together those. Gathers together. They can't
make light of it. They're gathered together. They
get to go in. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. Blessed are they who are invited
to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Blessed are they who are
called out of darkness, translated into the kingdom of his dear
Son. Blessed are they who are born again by incorruptible seed. Oh, what a blessing. These people
didn't know what was even in store for them. The effectual
word of God strikes them, they're brought into the glory and presence
of the Lamb of God, and then they are able to see what God
has prepared for them. It says here, so the servants
went out into the highways and gathered together all as many
as they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was furnished
with guests. The effectual call, down to business
call, the call that meant something. Now, we've all practiced this
and we've all heard this. If you've ever been invited by
your parents to come home or come in for dinner or lunch and
you didn't come and mom comes or dad comes and he puts it in
such a serious manner that you know you better come in. Now
they're not asking us to take a beating, they're feeding us.
They're not asking to put out our eyes. They're feeding us.
They're not asking us to put our fingers in a vice. They're
feeding us. And we've got other things to do until it becomes
so serious. The invitation is so serious
to come in and eat. Now we know that our mother wanted
to get it over so she could get on to something else. And dad
was put in a position he had to take care of it because mom
didn't want to get involved. But it is the effectual call. and we hear it in such a special
way, and we come in and sit down, and we are given the sweet blessings
of grace. There's no beating about it.
There's no eyes about. It is the graciousness of God. Now, if we had to depend, if
all we had to depend on was the call from the pulpit, if that's
all we had to depend on, then we too would be given over to
the manner and means that are being used in modern religion
today to get converts. If that's all there was. Now,
if that's all there was, we would be involved in long invitations. We would be, and we're not because
we found out in the Bible that he has to do that internal call. That's why we don't, we're not
giving over to all that stuff. That's why we can just spend
our time reading and preaching the word and let the Holy Spirit
take care of business. But if there was no effectual
call, as most people believe, then we'd be given over to the
nonsense that's been going on in religion for centuries, trying
to get converts. Why do you think that they have
classes for little kids so they can go through confirmation and
add them to the church? Why do you think that they have
turned it into you be baptized and then you're saved? Why? because they have no understanding
of the effectual call of God. It's only the general call that
they understand. And it's the Holy Spirit that
goes out. Well, our time is about up. I
would that you would turn with me for just a moment to the book
of 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter one. This is the blessed Those
who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. So many take
it so lightly and just walk away. No, it's not for me. I don't
believe that. I've got my own religion. Well, if the Holy Spirit
ever reveals Christ, they'll say, I know what you're talking
about now. All right, 2 Timothy chapter
1. 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter
1. Second Timothy chapter one, verse
nine, who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ before
the world began. That effectual call. It's not just a call, come in
to dinner. It's a call, I'm going to bring
you into dinner. I'm bringing you into the marriage
supper of the Lamb. I go out and compel them to come
in. Starvation is out here. I compel
you to come in. And they lift, he lifts us up
and brings us in and how we are nourished. It's a holy calling. It's not an external call. It's
a holy calling. Now, the external call, by and
large, is just all that we can do. It's all we can do. It's all we can do. The internal
call, the effectual call, that's the Holy Spirit's work. And that's
all he's gonna do. He's gonna do it, he'll accomplish
his purpose there. Scriptures are so full of this
very statement about the effectual call, the internal call cannot
be disobeyed. One final verse, I think it's
Philippians. Philippians chapter two, the
internal call cannot be disobeyed. We might back up for a bit, but
it is going to accomplish its purpose. Thank God, or we'd not
come. We'd just take light of it and
walk away. We'd go look at our property,
and we'd go try out our dumb ox in there broken down and wore
out. We'd go to our sagebrush property
that couldn't grow alfalfa with all the water in the world on
it. We'd just go through the rest of our life Well, I married
a wife, therefore I cannot come. The foolishness, the foolishness.
If it wasn't for the grace of God to bring us in and say, oh,
he is my wisdom. He is my wisdom. All right, Philippians
chapter two, Philippians chapter two and verse 13, for it is God who worketh in you both to will
and to do of his good pleasure. It is irresistible. It can't
be disobeyed. It's going to accomplish that
where unto they sent it. So this is so good. It's good
for his people. We just stumble along and take
flight of it until our dying breath. So blessed are they which
are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And they,
and he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God. Blessed and holy is he that hath
part in the first resurrection. All those who are called out
of darkness, translated into the kingdom of his dear son,
being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. God
is so good. God is good to his people to
bring us out of that terrible plight of making light of the
gospel.