Alright, let's look at that passage
that Brother Joe just read in Romans chapter 10. And this morning
I want to talk to you about this subject, calling on the name
of the Lord. Calling on the name of the Lord. You know, it's interesting to
note that beginning there in verse 11 of Romans chapter 10, The statement is made, it says,
whosoever, whosoever, whosoever believeth on him, on Christ,
shall not be ashamed, shall not be disappointed, shall not be
confused. There's an assurance of salvation. There's a security of salvation
by the grace of God. in Christ, not in self, not in
the church, not in the baptismal pool, but in Christ, who is the
Lord our righteousness. Verse 4 of this chapter, Christ
is the end, the fulfillment, the finishing, the completion,
the perfection of righteousness, which we must have if we're going
to be saved, if we're going to be accepted before God, the perfection
of righteousness. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. But it says in verse 11, whosoever.
In verse 12, it says there's no difference between the Jew
and the Greek. I don't know how to say that
any better. Because people today who call themselves Christians,
who claim to be looking for the coming of the Lord, they boldly
state there is a difference between the Jew and the Greek. God says
no. There's no difference between the Jew and the Greek. He'd said
that before in verse 23 of chapter 3. He said, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. That's all of us, Jew and
Gentile. And then he said there is no
difference. We're all sinners in need of salvation by grace.
He said in Romans chapter 3 and verse 9, the scripture hath concluded
all under sin, Jew and Gentile. The Jew is no closer to God because
of his physical connection with Abraham. That won't save you. That doesn't make you a child
of God. Christ said that in John chapter 8. He told the Jews.
He said, I know you're children of Abraham physically, but not
spiritually. You're children of the devil
spiritually because you deny Christ. You deny his blood, his
righteousness. The Jew is no closer to God because
of his circumcision. Circumcision availeth nothing.
Paul wrote in Galatians 6, 14, God forbid that I should glory,
have confidence, security, boldness, or even boast, except in one
thing, the cross, the finished work, the blood, the righteousness
of the God-man of the Lord Jesus Christ. By whom the world is
crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision."
That's the same thing as he's saying right here in verse 12
of chapter 10 of Romans. There's no difference between
the Jew and the Greek. The Jew was no closer to God
because of his attempts to keep the law. In fact, the Bible teaches
us that drove him farther away from God. For any sinner who
seeks salvation from God based on their works is condemned. That's right. There's no salvation that way.
So there is no difference. He says in verse 12, for the
same Lord over all is rich unto all. Now the word all is used.
He used whosoever. All right. Then he used all twice here.
All is rich unto all. And it says that call upon him. And then verse 13. For whosoever,
there's whosoever again, shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. Now, The issue is here, who's
he talking about? When he says in verse 11, whosoever,
who is that? That's a pronoun. I'm not gonna
try to take you back to English class today, but that's what
that is, that's a pronoun. A pronoun has to have an antecedent. You know what that is? That's
not an animal or a bug. If I, for example, if you come
across with some great morsel of information, and usually you want to add some
kind of authority to your information, a lot of times we'll begin that
statement with these words, they say. And then there's the eternal
question of questions. I guess you have to climb Mount
Everest and talk to the guru to find out who they are. But
nobody really knows who they are. I guess we're saying the
general public, but they is a pronoun. A pronoun is indefinite unless
it has an antasy. If I keep saying he, he, he,
or they, they, they, or it, it, it, who are they? Who is he? You say, well, who is whosoever?
All in this situation is used in the same way. All, who is
that? Well, when it says whosoever, does it mean everybody without
exception? Most people would agree with that in religion today
who call themselves Christian, especially in light of passages
like John 3, 16, which is quoted so much, but really very few
know what it means, because it talks about the world there.
Whosoever. Who is that? Well, he tells you
right here in verse 11. Whosoever what? Believers. Now
believe what? Believe on Him. Believe on Christ. Shall not be ashamed. That's
who it is. Over here, the all. He says all
that call upon Him. That's who he's talking about.
He's not talking about all without exception there. Look at it again,
verse 12, for there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
All are sinners, all are in need of salvation by grace. That's
right. The same Lord over all is rich
unto all. Does that mean He's rich unto
everybody without exception? No. All that call upon Him. That's what it says. Verse 13,
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. Now that
calling, Well, now here's what he's teaching. Now, first of
all, he's making it very clear, and he's done this all the way
through, that Jesus Christ and Him crucified is the one and
only way to God. There's no other way to God.
There's no other way of salvation but Christ and Him crucified
and risen again. The grace of God in Christ. Mercy in Christ. There's no other
way to acceptance before God, no other way of righteousness.
You must be righteous to go to heaven, period. You don't have
it, I don't have it, we can't work it. The best that we can
work is vanity, is sin before God. In fact, it's worse than
that. Isaiah 64 6, the best that we can work is filthy rags before
God. So where are we going to find
it? How are we going to get to heaven? How are we going to be
accepted before God? How are we going to be blessed?
Only in Jesus Christ the Lord our righteousness. What is his
righteousness? It's his obedience unto death
as the substitute of his people. He's the only way. Now if you
come before God, verse 11 teaches, if you come before God with any
other way, in any other way, No matter what it is, other than
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, you're gonna be ashamed. You're
gonna be confounded. You're gonna be very disappointed. And then, the riches of His grace
and His glory of salvation, it has nothing to do with whether
or not you're a Jew or a Gentile. It has with one thing, are you
in Christ? That's it. Are you washed in
his blood and clothed in his righteousness? All that call
upon him. And what about this salvation
and everything that's included? It's for whosoever. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord. And isn't it also interesting
that these whosoever's and all, that they're in the same context
where Paul had just finished talking about God's Sovereign,
electing grace, elect before the foundation of
the world, chosen. Who's going to call upon the
name of those whom God chose before the foundation of the
world? You say, well, that doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't
have to make sense to you or to me. God doesn't hide one and
emphasize the other. He brings them out both clearly.
I told you this, I think, but years ago I had a fellow tell
me, he said, now here's the way I see it. Now, usually when you
hear somebody say that, just be careful. First of all, who
cares the way you see it or the way I see it? What we're concerned
with is what the Word of God says. I'm not concerned with
the way you see it or the way I see it. What does God's Word
say? Period. But he said, here's the way I
see it. He said, when I get to heaven, he said, I'm going to
see the gate. Incidentally, that's symbolic language. There's not
a, you know, anyway, I'm not going to know. But anyway, he
said, I'm going to see the gate, and over top of the gate, when
I go in, it's going to say, whosoever will may enter. And I asked him,
I said, whosoever will what? Whoever wants to go, he said.
And he said, when I get through the gate, I'm going to turn around
on the back of the gate, it's going to say elect before the foundation
of the world. And I said, well now, are you
telling me that while you're here on earth, you can deny election,
but when you get to heaven, you're going to have to believe it? Did you hear what I just said?
I can deny it now, but when I get to heaven, I'm going to have
to believe it. He said, well, I don't think I'm saying that.
And I said, well, that's what you just said. I said, here's
the problem with it though. Both truths, God's elect in grace
and whosoever will believe and call upon, they're right here
on the front of the gate. You don't have to wait to get
to heaven to read that. It's right here in his book.
Right here. And the Bible says this whole
thing is given by inspiration of God for the believer's good,
for the believer's growth, for the believer's correction. So
in other words, it's not a situation, well, I can deny what God's already
built here on earth, but when I get to heaven, I'm gonna have
to believe it. You say, well, man cannot understand all things
of God. Well, what a revelation. I'm glad he finally figured that
one out. That's not, listen to me. Whatever glorifies God and
whatever's in the infinite mind and wisdom of God is right here
and we believe it. Paul didn't see these as contradictory. He may not have been able to
understand it all as none of us can, but they're here. But
here's the fact of the matter. Now listen to me. I can tell
you right now, God chose a people before the foundation of the
world. They're going to hear the gospel and they're going to believe
it. What are you to be concerned with? What am I to be concerned
with? I'll tell you exactly. Now here, you're a sinner, I'm
a sinner. We have no way of salvation but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You've got no other way. You
have no other way. There is no other way. Christ
said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. And in that regard, there's no
difference between the Jew and the Greek, the Jew and the Gentile.
No difference between male and female. No difference between
black and white. Not even any difference between
smart and dumb. We're all in need of mercy. And if we seek any other way
of salvation but by pure sovereign mercy, we shall be ashamed. Period. Now this whosoever, as
I said, it can't stand by itself. It really doesn't even say anyone
can be saved. But I'll tell you what it does
say. It says exactly who will be saved. Who will be saved? All who call upon the name of
the Lord. Whosoever calls upon the name shall be..." And then
what it says, read it again, verse 13, "...for whosoever,
Jew or Gentile, whoever it is, shall do what? Call upon the
name of the Lord." What is his name? Well, his name identifies
and distinguishes him from anything or anyone else. There are other
Gospels, but they're false. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
11 with me. Listen to this one. He has a name. The Lord Jesus
Christ has a name. Now we're not talking about a
label. We're not talking about just saying a name sounded out. And you'll see that in just a
moment. In other words, it's not just saying, Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus. We sing a chorus, Jesus, Jesus,
Jesus, there's something about that name. Like a fragrance after
the rain. Kings and kingdoms will all pass
away, but there's something about that name. And really, it's useless
to sing that song unless you really know that name. I'm not
just talking about a label. I'm talking about something that
identifies who he is, his character, his nature, and what he accomplished
on Calvary. That's his name. I love that
passage back in Jeremiah 23 in verse 5 and 6. It talks about
his name shall be called Jehovah Sidcanu, the Lord our righteousness. Because that's inclusive of everything
that he is as God and man in one person and everything that
he accomplished on Calvary to put away the sins of his people
and to establish righteousness for us. And then over in Jeremiah
33, 15 and 16 it talks about the church and it says, She shall
be called the Lord our righteousness. We take his name just like a
wife takes her husband's name. And the husband takes all the
responsibility for her well-being. Christ has taken all the responsibility
for our spiritual and eternal well-being. He's the husband
of the church. And so look here in 2 Corinthians
chapter 11, and look at verse 2. He says, For I am jealous over
you with godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband, who is our husband Christ, the head of the church. the Lord
our righteousness, that I may present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ." Now, to do that, what that means is talking about
spiritual virginity, and it means this, I'm not looking to, depending
upon, following, or loving, or trusting anyone else but Christ. That's spiritual virginity. If
your affections, or your confidence, or your trust, or your security,
is in anyone other than Christ or anything other than Christ
or anything plus Christ. That's spiritual adultery. Do
you understand that? That's what spiritual adultery
is. It's just like you husbands and
wives. Your loyalty is to each other
and not to any... If it's to any other, you're
an adulterer. You see what I'm saying? And that's the way it
is with the church in Christ. We're loyal to Him. He is our
hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Now, if I have hope anywhere
else or in anything else, that's spiritual adultery. So Paul says,
I don't want you to be spiritual adulterers. I want to present
you as a chaste virgin to Christ. He says in verse 3, But I fear
less by any means that as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ. That single, pure faith in Christ. Alone. Nothing else. No one else. His blood alone. His righteousness
alone. Verse 4, For if he that cometh
preacheth another Jesus... Now you can call upon the name
of Jesus, but what if it's another Jesus? And that word another,
you know, there's two words in the Greek language for other
or another. One means other of the same kind. This one here means another of
a different kind. So this is a counterfeit Jesus.
Now, I don't want to call on a counterfeit Jesus. How about
you? Counterfeits won't save. Counterfeits
are illegal, aren't they? He says another Jesus, whom we've
not preached, or if you receive another spirit which you've not
received. You see, it's not the Holy Spirit
that brings people to a counterfeit Jesus. That's a spirit of the
devil. The Holy Spirit, when He gives
life under the preaching of the gospel, that identifies the name
of Christ, who He is, what He did, why He did it, where He
is now, He drives a sinner to the true Christ. And so he says,
or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might
well bear, and that should be with me. That hymn is in italics
there. That means it's an objective
pronoun, and it should be me. Paul's saying, bear with me. We'll look back at Romans 10.
What is his name? Well, I can tell you he's God.
His name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God
with us. We could spend several months going through the scripture
just talking about all the names that identify Him, couldn't we?
His name shall be called Jesus, that means God our Savior, God
saves, Jehovah. His name shall be called Jesus,
which being interpreted, for He shall save His people from
their sins. His name is not a name that identifies
someone who's trying to save us. or who might save us if we'll
cooperate. His name is Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins." God-man. He's the Word. The Word
which was in the beginning, and the Word which was with God,
the Word which was God, and the Word which was made flesh and
dwelt among us. That's who He is. You can talk
about the I am's of scripture. I am the bread of life. I am
the water of life. All of these things. I am the
resurrection and the life. I am the way, the truth, and
that's his name. See, all these things identify
and distinguish him from all counterfeits. And so what you
need to be concerned with and what I need to be concerned with,
I need to be concerned that I'm preaching unto you the true Jesus,
not a counterfeit. You need to be concerned that
you're hearing the true Jesus and not a counterfeit. And how
are we going to do that? What's this book say about it?
That's the only one. Not how you see it, not how I
see it, but how God sees it. Right here in this book. What
is it to call upon his name? Well, it's not simply to call
out Jesus, it's not simply to call out Lord. You know, we live
in a day where religion, even so-called Christianity, is a
cliche. I preach a message and get everybody
emotional and then I stand, I don't do this, but some do. I stand
down here in an aisle and they play Just As I Am, and you come
down and you repeat after me, blah, blah, blah. Pray the sinner's
prayer, whatever that is. Repeat after me. You're saved. Put him on the road. Give him
a Sunday school class. That's cliche. That's not calling
upon the name of the Lord. That's not salvation. That's
a mockery. And I'm not being too hard here,
folks. Think about it. Think about this
thing. What does the Word of God say?
What is it to call upon the name? Turn to Matthew 7. Listen to
this one. You know, as you do think about
these things, there are scriptures that I think just ought to just
reach out and grab us. At 2 Corinthians 11 passage,
I was talking to a young man who was going to a seminary,
and I don't know how the conversation even got around to this. We were
talking about that very thing about, you know, well, everybody
believes in Jesus. This is what he told me. He said,
everybody believes in Jesus. And I said, well, some people believe
in another Jesus. He said, where'd you get that
at? And I said, turn to 2 Corinthians 11. And we read it together.
And he said, I didn't even know that was in the Bible. And he's
headed to seminary. But look at Matthew chapter seven.
Look at verse 21. Listen to this. He says, not
everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord. Now I can tell you
right now, calling upon the name of Jesus is not just simply saying,
Lord, Lord. Shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Now what we read in Romans 10, 13 is, Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He says, Not
everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven. Now what is the will of His Father?
That we embrace the Son, that we believe in the Son, that we
trust the Son and follow Him. He says in verse 22, many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
or preached in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works. And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you
that work iniquity. Calling on the name of the Lord
is not just saying, Lord, Lord. You know, one of the most dangerous
things that we can do is to read a scripture like this, back here
in Romans 10, 13. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. You read a scripture like that,
one of the most dangerous things that any of us can do is to attach
some logical meaning to this in our own minds, say, well,
I think it means this, or I think it means that, and not go to
the scriptures to see what it really means. to call upon the
name of the Lord. Somebody would read a passage
like Matthew 7, 21, 22, that we just read, 23, and those fellows
stand there, not everyone that says, Lord, Lord. And those fellows
say, well, haven't we prophesied in thy name? And you know what? Most people, when they look at
a passage like it, you know what they conclude? They say, well,
those fellows were not sincere. Logical meaning. Well I suppose
you are, aren't you? You're sincere, aren't you? I'm
sincere. I'm not just making fun now.
I really am not. But now if you conclude from
Matthew 7 to 11, well those guys weren't sincere, but I am. What are you really saying? You
want to analyze that one for a little bit? You mean to tell
me that God's going to receive you and accept you and say, well
done, thou good and faithful servant, because you're sincere. I know Buddhists that are more
sincere than most so-called Christians. Hindus, Muslims, who are sincere. That's not the problem with those
people. Read the context of that Sermon on the Mount. What had
he been teaching? In the Sermon on the Mount there in Matthew
7, he taught that the way to God is a straight and narrow
way. Am I right? That's what he said,
it's a straight and narrow way. Few there be that find it, he
said. As straight as S-T-R-A-I-T, that means it's a narrow way,
like a narrow inlet. And what he's saying is this,
there's only one way to God and that's through him, by God's
grace through Christ. Now he said, beware of false
prophets who come in sheep's clothing. What's a false prophet? He's a preacher that points somewhere
else other than Christ. And then he said, many will say
unto me, Lord, Lord, have we not done this? Have we not? When
we stand before God at judgment, what will we plead? The fact
that I've preached in his name? Is that my hope of salvation?
That I'm standing up here before you today preaching the gospel,
even the true gospel? That I've cast out demons? That
I've done many wonderful works? Is that my hope? No! That's building
your house on sand, and it'll fall. Build your house on the
rock. Who's the rock? Christ Jesus.
He's the rock. That's right. You know what those
fellas, their problem was? It wasn't that they were insincere,
it's that they didn't plead Christ. They didn't plead His blood.
They didn't plead His righteousness. They didn't plead Him. That's
the problem. They said, Lord, Lord, just like
the Pharisee outside the temple, Lord, I thank You that I'm not
like other men. Now think about that. Every one of us have said when
we've read some great crime, some awful crime in the newspaper,
every one of us have thought, well, I thank God that that's
not me. By the grace of God, there go
I. Haven't we said that? That's the same thing the Pharisee
was saying when he said, I thank you that I'm not like other men.
He attributed it to God. What's the problem? When I read
of some awful crime that comes out of the depravity of the heart
of man, I do say, I thank God that wasn't me. But that's not
my righteousness before God. That's not my hope of salvation. My friend, Christ is my hope. Christ is my... You see the difference? Think about this. All of this. Someone said one time that when
he says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved, that refers to anyone who just cries out for help.
Just cry out for help. And that's not true. In the book
of Mark chapter 5, there's a woman with an issue of blood. And it
says she went to many physicians for help. She was crying out
for help and she ended up worse off than she was before. She didn't get help for her problem
until she touched the hem of the garment of the Lord of Glory.
It's not just crying out for help. You know, Paul is showing
here the necessity of both Jew and Gentile hearing and knowing
and believing the gospel of Jesus Christ that they might be saved.
In other words, this is exactly what the prophet said. You know,
he's quoting here from the book of Joel. It's what Joel said. He told them. Joel, in his day,
he was telling the people that he prophesied to, he says, salvation
is not in your being a Jew, it's not in a physical connection
with Abraham, it's not in circumcision, it's not in keeping the law of
Moses, it's in looking to the promised Messiah who would come
and fulfill all righteousness. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Look at verse 14. He says, how
then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? This
calling upon the name of the Lord involves faith. And the
Bible teaches that faith is the gift of God. It's not what we
have naturally. This is not man calling out of
his natural bent or his natural goodness. He has none. In fact,
the scripture says in Romans 3.10, there's none that seeketh
after God. But it's a matter of faith. You're
not gonna call on Him unless you believe in Him. The Bible
says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves. It's the gift of God. Faith is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So
calling upon the name of the Lord means believing in Him,
who is Lord. But then it says, and how shall
they believe in Him of whom they've not heard? You can't have faith
without hearing. And that's not just hearing the
sound of it now. That's spiritual ears. You know
what he's talking about here? The new birth. You must be born
again or you cannot see or hear or understand or enter the kingdom
of heaven, John chapter 3. Christ told his disciples, he
said, they won't hear because of their stubbornness but blessed
are your ears for they hear. Blessed are your eyes for they
see, Matthew 13. So believing on Him, you must...
This faith comes under the preaching of the gospel that identifies
and distinguishes the true Christ from all counterfeits. The gospel
is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe it.
And how shall they hear without a preacher? It must be preached.
And he says in verse 15, how shall they preach except they
be sinned? It pleased the Lord by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. He sends his preachers. And he says, as it is written,
he quotes here from Isaiah 52 in the Old Testament. He says,
how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace, that's peace with God in Christ, and bring glad tidings
of good news. Verse 16, but they have not all
obeyed the gospel. Everyone who hears it doesn't
believe it. And then he quotes from Isaiah again. This time
he quotes from Isaiah 53. You know the passage where it
talks about the prophecy of the substitutionary work of Christ
to bring about the forgiveness of sins and the righteousness
of God in His death as a substitute, as the surety? He says, for Isaiah,
say, Lord, who hath believed our report? In Isaiah's day,
very few believed it. They heard it preached, but they
didn't believe it. They didn't have spiritual ears.
Verse 17, so then faith cometh by hearing, This hearing that
God gives, this spiritual hearing, and hearing by the word of God,
under the word of God, not the word of a false god or a false
word. Verse 18, but I say, have they
not all heard? Now, didn't they hear it? Well,
yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth and their
words unto the ends of the world. That is, this message was preached.
It was preached, but they didn't all hear it. Verse 19, now he
quotes again from the Old Testament, he quotes Moses from Deuteronomy
32. He says, but I say, did not Israel
know? Didn't Israel understand this? He says, first Moses saith,
I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and
by a foolish nation I will anger you. Now you know what he's saying
there? Moses back in Deuteronomy that this Deuteronomy was was
the second rendition of the law that Moses wrote down just before
the children the Hebrew children went into the promised land and
He told him he said God's given you this land. You didn't earn
it. You didn't deserve it. God's brought you together He's
preserved you you didn't earn it. You didn't deserve it God's
going to save the people through the promised Messiah who is to
come and And he's even going to save some Gentiles. That's
what he means by that. And by that, the Jews were going
to be provoked to jealousy and anger. Because that just didn't
fit their plan. Wait a minute. Going to save
who? Some Gentiles. Because you see, essentially,
there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek. All are
sinners. There's not a one of us born
of Adam, ruined by the fall, that deserves salvation or can
say at any time, at any stage, we've earned it. I can tell you right now, after
having been saved and preaching the gospel for about 30 years,
that I still don't earn it and I still don't deserve it. And
when I get to heaven, you know what I'm going to say? I still
don't earn it and I still don't deserve it. Worthy is the lamb,
that was like. And so he says in verse 20, he
quotes here from Isaiah 65, in the last two verses here, he
quotes from Isaiah 65, one and two. He says, but Isaiah is very
bold and saith, I was found of them that sought me not. Now
what's that tell you? That's man by nature. Now we
won't seek him, but he's going to be found of his people who
seek him not. He says, it was made manifest
unto them that asked not after me, the Gentiles. But to Israel
he saith all day long, I have stretched forth my hands unto
a disobedient and gainsame people." Man by nature. And the blame
is not upon God, but it's upon Israel. It's upon any who believe
not. You know what he's teaching here?
He's teaching, friend, we don't have any hope of salvation. but by the free, sovereign mercy
and grace of God. God said, I'll have mercy on
whom I will, I'll be compassionate, be gracious to whom I will. It's
not of him that willeth. Salvation is not the product
of your will or my will, it's God's will. That's right. It's not of him that runneth.
Salvation is not the product of you doing anything or me doing
anything, it's what Christ did. And we have to be given spiritual
ears to hear and faith to believe. All of salvation, it's the gift
of God. Israel heard it, but they didn't
hear of God saving His... They wouldn't have God saving
His elect among the Gentiles. Moses prophesied, Isaiah prophesied,
but here's the thing. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Let me show you a couple verses
in closing. I want you to turn back to Genesis. This thing about calling upon
the name of the Lord is specific. In Genesis chapter 4, the last
two verses. Now you remember the story of
the fall in Genesis 3. And you remember God He came
and He pronounced three curses. One, the curse upon the serpent.
That's where we have the first prophecy of Christ in Genesis
3.15. When He said that He put enmity
between Satan's seed and between the woman's seed. And you'll
bruise His heel. And speaking of the death of
Christ, the woman's seed, that's a prophecy of Christ. And he
said, he'll bruise your head. That's the death blow to Satan.
The seed of Satan and the seed of woman, which is Christ. And
Christ himself has a seed, his generation, the scripture teaches.
So you always have the seed of Satan and the seed of Christ.
And then he set down a precedent in Genesis chapter 3 verse 21.
Or verse 24, I can't remember. I think it's verse 24. What he
did is Adam and Eve tried to hide their nakedness behind the
fig leaf aprons of their own making that came out of the earth,
that represents the product of the cursed earth. God said that's
not good enough. He taught them a lesson that
we should never forget, and that lesson is stated in the book
of Hebrews, without the shedding of blood, no remission of sin. Why must there be blood? That's
death. That's what that means. The shedding of blood means death.
Well, the wages of sin is death. Period. Always. Sin will never
be forgiven. Sin will never be put away without
death. Fig leaf aprons won't do it.
Growing a good garden won't do it. Taught Cain that, didn't
he? Working hard in the garden, sweat of the brow won't do it. Works won't do it. Death is the
only thing. And it has to be the death of
someone particular, one whom God appoints, one who's able
to put sin away by his death, one who's willing to do so, and
that's the woman seed. And so what did God do? He established
a way of worship, a way of calling upon Him, when He took a lamb
and shed its blood and made them coats of skin. Then you see Cain
and Abel. Cain, he came with the works
of his hands, and he was rejected. That's the seed of Satan. Abel,
he came with the blood of the Lamb, which pictured Christ.
You know what Abel was doing? He was calling on the name of
the Lord. And look at Genesis chapter 4,
verse 25. It says, "...and Adam knew his wife again, She bare
a son, and called his name Seth." That means appointed. Appointed. "'For God,' said she, "'hath
appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.'" Seth,
what is indicated there, he's of the seed of Abel, the seed
of Christ, and not the seed of Cain, the seed of Satan. And
it says, "'And to Seth, to him also there was born a son, and
he called his name Enos, And it says, then began men to call
upon the name of the Lord. What do you think they did? They
worshiped by sacrifice. I'll show you one more. Turn
over to Genesis chapter 12. And I could show you a bunch
here. I could talk to you about Noah, but let's jump over to
Abraham. Paul used Abraham in the book
of Romans as a perfect picture of God's saving sinners and an
example of one who called upon the name of the Lord. Look at
Genesis chapter 12. You know this is the first mention of
Abram, or Abraham here in the Bible, how God saved him, God
chose him and saved him, not because Abraham was better than
the rest of them in Ur of Chaldees, Abraham had nothing to boast
about in the flesh, Romans 4 tells us. Abraham was an example of
how God justifies the ungodly. Abraham, you know, when God,
when Abraham was an heir of the Chaldeans, he was an idolater.
God's, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. But
look at verse 8, or look at verse 7 of Genesis 12. It says, And
the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will
I give this land, and there Builded he an altar unto the Lord who
appeared unto him." Now, what do you suppose Abraham built
an altar? What do you build an altar for back then? It wasn't
some kind of a praying bench or anything. It was for sacrifice. How do you know Abraham believed
that and taught that? Well, I'll guarantee you, you
remember in Genesis 22 when he took his son Isaac up on the
mount and he built an altar? What was Isaac's question? He
said, Father, I see the altar, but where's the lamb for sacrifice? That's what he taught his son.
What are we teaching our sons and our daughters? when it comes to salvation. Okay,
verse 8, he says, And he removed from thence unto a mountain on
the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the
west, and Hai on the east. And there he built an altar unto
the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. Luke chapter 18. What's the point here? What is
it to call upon the name of the Lord? It's to call upon His name
by sacrifice. Well, preachers, should we be
sacrificing animals? No. That was only for a time
period, and it was a picture of something much better. What
John the Baptist say? Behold the Lamb of God, which
beareth away the sin of the world. It's to call upon the Lord through
Christ. is to call upon His name. Look
at Luke 18 and verse 9. He spake this parable unto certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised
others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray. Now you know what they're doing?
They're calling upon the name of the Lord. One a Pharisee, the other a publican.
One an admired religionist, the other a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee. Now, I want you to recognize
this. Don't let this pass over you. Think about this. What did
the Pharisee say? He said what most religionists,
they start there, I thank God. He's not attributing this to
himself, but he's thanking God, and he says that I'm not as other
men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
I thank God I fast twice in the week. I thank God I give tithes
of all that I possess. He's calling upon the name of
the Lord. But how? Not through sacrifice. Not as
a sinner seeking mercy through the blood of the Lamb. Not based
upon the righteousness of another, but he's calling upon the name
of the Lord based upon what he believed God had enabled him
to do. But look at the public and look
at verse 13. You know what that word merciful there is? It's
propitious. Literally. Propitiation. What's
a propitiation? A sin-bearing sacrifice that
brings satisfaction through death. Who is our propitiation? Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. This publicans calling upon the
name of the Lord through sacrifice, like Abel did. That word propitiation
is established in the Old Testament as mercy seat where the blood
was shed. And Christ said in verse 14,
I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather
than the other. The publican was justified before
God. The Pharisee wasn't. He says,
for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved.