Turn to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1. We could put several titles to
this message. Usually for me, in getting a message together,
I like the title first. Tell me where I'm going. If I
have the title, if I'm looking at something and I see a title
there, then it gives me a direction. And here, there were two or three
titles. Come Follow Me. I titled this one The Call. The
Call. The Call of the Lord Jesus Christ. I just titled it The Call. or
following Christ. There are so many. But they all
lead in the same direction. They all lead in the same direction.
So I titled it The Call. Our Lord came preaching, as it
says in verse 14, 14 and 15. He came preaching the gospel
of the kingdom of God, saying, Repent ye and believe the gospel,
the message. Now it's time to save some sinners
by that message. Time to call some sheep to himself. I'd noticed this for the first
time It never really struck me, but it says in verse 14 that
after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God. Of course, then he goes
walking by the Sea of Galilee. And as I was reading that, I
thought they probably heard him preach the gospel. These men
probably heard him preach there in Galilee. And then when he came looking for them, it's not a
stroll on the beach now. It says in verse 16, as he walked
by the Sea of Galilee, he's not out for a morning stroll. He's on the trail of his sheep.
And he had some sheep fishing in the Sea of Galilee. And I want us to look just for
a minute at the ones whom he called. This is God, this one
who's giving the call here, is God manifesting the flesh. This
is Almighty God walking along the beach, the Sea of Galilee
there. It always astounds me when I
read through the Gospels and I read where Christ is walking
through the crowd. walking in the midst of Him,
and His own creation does not even recognize Him. That just
astounds me, that He can walk in our midst. If He does not
reveal Himself, we'd never know who He is. We'd never know. But these ones that He called
were fishermen. You know, He could have called
some of the elite. He could have called some very
educated, upper society people and got some real attention.
But he chose to call fishermen. What are you going to do with
fishermen? They were called unlearned and ignorant men. by the Pharisees,
uneducated. He's going to turn the world
upside down with some fishermen? He called some common men. These men had no notoriety in
any way, shape or form in Galilee. They eked out a meager living
fishing. And these are the ones whom the
God of heaven and earth called. Called. Look over in 1 Corinthians. Why'd
he call fishermen? Why'd he call them? Why'd he
call you? Why'd he call me? In 1 Corinthians, in verse 26,
For ye see your calling, brethren, now that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world. Do you see that
when you look in the mirror? God has chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the
weak things of the world. That's what it says about me.
And you know what? It's dead on. Foolish things,
weak things, base things that describe me to the T. But those are the ones, for the
most part, for the most part, Those are the one whom God calls. He went and he called these fishermen,
these unlearned and ignorant men. He called sinners. That's all they were. They were
just sinners. Sinners, saved by the grace of God. And what
were they doing? This just jumped out at me. What were they doing when he
called them? Casting their nets, mending their
nets. If that does not describe our
lives, I don't know what does. We get up in the mornings and
we're either casting our nets, out there trying to make a living,
or we end up coming home and mending the nets. It's either,
you're always either casting or mending. That's our lives.
And that's all they, every morning, every day, they would get up,
Go to their little boats and throw a net out and catch some
fish so they could eat. And then they'd have to fix their
nets. That describes our lives to a T. We're either casting
nets or mending nets. That's not much right home out
is there? Not much. And we will do this,
men and women will do this. Until they die. Until they die. And meet God in judgment. Unless
He calls them by His grace. And He says, I will make you
become fishers of men. Fishers of men. And then here's
the call. First of all, it's from God.
This is God calling them. This is God in the flesh When
God saves a sinner, that sinner is called now by God Almighty. Now, if God calls a man, if God
calls a man or woman, if He calls someone here this morning, I
guarantee you, I assure you, I'll not have to beg that person
into doing something. I will not have to beg you into
accepting Christ. I'll not have to beg you into
coming to Christ. I'll not have to beg you to do
these things. If God calls you, the best thing I can do is get
out of the way. Just get out of the way. Because you're coming. You're going to come, just like
they did. And this is amazing. He says, he walks up and he says,
come follow me. They got down out of the boat,
left the boat in the water. Just left it there. Of course,
James and John, they left with their father. And the hired servants
there, they just got out of the boat and followed him. Now, this call was from God.
Sometimes it's said to be from God the Father. Sometimes it's
said to be from God the Son. And sometimes it's said to be
from the Holy Spirit, which shows us this, the harmony of the Godhead
in calling sinners to salvation. Any of your kids ever bring home
someone that you said, you don't need to bring him home again. Any of your kids ever run around
somebody, some of these are too young yet, but they run around
somebody and say, you know what, that's not a good relationship
here. That never happens with the Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit. That never happens. They're in absolute perfect harmony
on every center that's called to salvation. Perfect harmony. And then this call is from God.
And now, if it's from God, listen, if it's from God, it has to be
effectual. He said that his word will not
return unto him void. And if he sends the gospel out
to his word this morning and he calls you, you're coming.
It's not going to return void. It's going to accomplish the
very purpose it was sent to accomplish. And it's effectual. Christ said
to them, follow me. And you know what? They did. They did, and they did without
question. He said, follow me. They did not say, where are you
going? That would be our, the natural response would be, where
are we going? I've got this boat. What did
that one man say? He said, let me go home and bury
my father. And the Lord said, let the dead
bury the dead. You come follow me. He said, follow me and I'll make
you fishers of men. And they did. They got down out
of that boat. They left their boats. Two of
them left their father. Zebedee left the family. And they followed him. They followed
him. Wherever he went, his disciples
were with him. They were with him from that
time on, for three years, wherever he went, they were with him. Look in John chapter 10. Let me read verse one. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that enters not by the door into the
sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same as a thief
and a robber, but he that enters in by the door is a shepherd
of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his
voice, and he calleth his own sheep. He's not calling something
a duck. He's calling his own sheep by name. He's not just saying, hey, does
anybody want to follow me? Raise your hand. He calls them
by name. And listen, He leadeth them out. He brings them out. He knows
every one of His sheep and calls them when it's time to call them. And they follow Him. And this
call is not only from God, it's effectual, but it's also an inner
call. It enters right into the soul.
This call goes right to the heart. It's a penetrating call. I mean, how many times has the
Gospel been preached and you see unbelievers come and go,
come and go, come and go? Then one day, well, how about
yourself? How about yourself? Then one
day you heard it. You heard Him. And you had to
come to Him. You had to have Him. You believed
on Him. And the reason you believed on
Christ is because you could not help it. Now, when a man is born of God,
when a sinner is born of God, that sinner absolutely cannot
help but believe. It's natural. It's natural for
a for a sinner who's called by grace, who's been born of God,
to believe as it is for me to stand here and breathe." It's an intercall. All are commanded
to repent and believe the gospel. We looked at that last week.
All are commanded. He's commanded all men everywhere
to repent and believe the gospel, but few do. Few do. And why is that? Well, first
of all, men left to themselves will not believe at all. Christ
said, you will not come to me that you might have life. You
will not do it. Left to yourselves. Left to ourselves. We will not come to Christ. Our will is not to come. Our
will is to do whatever we want to do except that. God must. God must call a man. He must call effectually, powerfully. He must do it. Because, listen,
He's calling this man from death to life. It's not like calling
somebody from another room to come into here, to come into
this room. He's calling the man from death.
Lazarus, come forth. He's calling the man from darkness
to light. It's not just a call to go from
one place to another place. It's a call from darkness to
light and death to life. Only God can do that. Only God
can do that. And then it's a personal call.
He called them. He called them. Martha said to Mary, the Master
hath come and calleth for thee. Look over in Mark chapter 3. In Mark chapter 3, look in verse 13. And he goeth up into a mountain
and calleth unto him whom he would." And what did they do? They came to him. They came to
him. He went up into a mountain and
he called unto him whom he would. It's a sovereign call. It's a
personal call. It's a sovereign call. He walks
up to the ship. They're out here in the ship,
casting their nets. They don't have their minds no
more on Him and God. Their mind's on fishing. If you've
ever been fishing, that's what your mind's on. You're constantly
casting, trying to catch a fish. Their mind's not on Him, but
His mind's on them. And He walks up. And he says
to them, come and follow me. And you notice what this one
jumped out at me. No one, Zebedee, the servants,
no one else got out of that boat and followed him. No one else
got out of the boat. But James and John did. Simon
and Andrew did. Because that call went to them. It went right into their hearts.
And they got out of that boat and they followed him. And the
rest of them stayed in the boat and kept on fishing. Kept on fishing. It's a personal call. He called
them. Now, when God calls a sinner to salvation, he calls that sinner
from something to something. We're going to look at a few
of these. I know we won't be able to turn to all these scriptures.
We'll be here a little long if we did that. But when God calls,
when He calls a sinner powerfully, effectually, here are some things
He calls that sinner from, and I'm going to give you some things
He calls him to. First of all, He calls him from darkness. Look
over in 1 Peter. We'll look at a few of these. In 1 Peter 2, look in verse 9. But ye are a chosen generation.
God chose you. You're the elect of God, a royal
priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth
the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light. We were born in darkness. We
live in darkness. And when God calls us by His
grace, He calls us out of that darkness. Darkness is what this
human race lives in. It lives in darkness. You think we live in an enlightened
age? Man is still just as dark as
he ever was before. He's still just as dark. In his
knowledge of God, He's still just as dark, just as ignorant.
All the advancements we've made in technologies, I mean, you
just name it. The advancements we've made,
we've made no advancements in knowing God. The human race I'm
talking about, the human race has made no advancement in knowing
God at all. And then he's called
us from death to life. You were dead, Paul says in Ephesians
2, in trespasses and sins. You were dead. Every man outside of Christ is
dead, spiritually now, spiritually dead. And God has to call us
from death to life. And then he calls us from our
way of life. They were fishermen. They were
out there in a boat every morning, every day, fishing. And He called
them from their way of life to His. I am the way, the truth
and the life. He has to call us from our way
to His way. And then He has to call us from
the world. Look over in James chapter 4. James chapter 4, look in verse 4. He says, you adulterers and adulteresses
know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. He said you're an enemy
of God. And of course, there's another
verse. Oh, look over in Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12, verse 2, and be not conformed
to this world like you used to be. You know, we spent our lifetime
to conform to this world, didn't we? grew up as children and teenagers,
and we're trying to conform our lives to being like this world.
And he says here, after the Lord saved us, be not conformed to
this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. But don't be conformed to this world. He's called us
away from this world. And then he's called us out of
bondage. Bondage, slaves to sin, Satan, self, lust of this flesh. He's called it, sin shall not
have dominion over you. You're not under that bondage
anymore at all. And here's what he's called us
to. He's called us to discipleship. Discipleship. He said, follow
me. What is a disciple? A disciple
is a learner. It's one who follows. You know,
disciples following someone. We are following someone. You
say, oh, I'm my own person. Well, you're fooled. We're never
our own. Never at any given time. We are
never our own. We're called to be followers
of Him. If the gospel, God forbid, But
if the gospel were to leave here, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? I'll tell
you what we're going to do. We're going to follow Him. Follow
Him wherever it is. Follow Him. And then we're called to be servants.
He said, I'm going to make you to become fishers of men. Paul called himself a servant
of Jesus Christ. Jude called himself a servant
of Jesus Christ. Just as we follow someone, we
serve someone. And then we're called to fellowship.
Turn over to 1 Corinthians 1. We are called to fellowship.
1 Corinthians chapter 1. Look at verse 9. God is faithful by whom ye were
called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. We have been called to the fellowship,
communion of Jesus Christ and one another
in Christ. You know, as fishermen, as fishermen,
I thought last night, they were competitors. They were competitors. Because they're fishing for a
living. They're not out there just having fun. They were competitors. I
watched a program yesterday on extreme Alaska. And it's after
they're having this salmon run. And they've got this one river
where these salmon run. And they allow, they're supposed
to allow, and they count like every time they see one, they
count it as 100. And after a million go through, then they let these
men start casting their nets. Man, they started bumping boats
and shoving each other out of the way with their boats. I mean,
they were, there was no fellowship on that restraint. They were
fellows. They were competitors before
they became fellowshippers. Fellowship, people in the same
ship, fellows in the same ship. You ever go fishing with somebody,
who gets the front of the boat? It's the person that owns the
boat. They put you in the back of the boat. Competitors. I solved that problem. I bought
a kayak. I got the front and the back.
I solved that problem. But now, listen, now they are
friends, companions. companions. Paul said this in
one place. He said they were not envious
of one another. Paul says some preach Christ of contention.
Some preach Christ of envy. Some supposed to add affliction
to my bond. But you know what he said? I rejoice that Christ is
preached. They were not envious of each
other's ministry. I don't believe Peter was envious
of Paul's ministry and Paul was not envious of Peter's ministry.
The Lord's given us a ministry here. Let's take care of what's
here. This is it. I don't need to be in this ministry
out there because we're in the same ministry, just different
location. Different location. Called to
fellowship. And then we're called to glory,
look in Galatians chapter one. We're called to liberty, I mean,
called to liberty. He says in verse 1, Stand fast
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Look down in
verse 13. For brethren, ye have been called
unto liberty. You've been set free. Whom the
Son sets free, he's free indeed. You have been set free. You're
not under the bondage of sin. You're not under the bondage
of Satan. You're a free man in the Lord. The liberty that we
have in Christ is, I tell you what, you know, false religion
puts you in bondage. It's nothing but bondage, it's
misery, but you're free. You've been set free. You don't
feel like you have to go to do certain things, go through certain
things or do certain things. Our salvation is all in Christ
and Christ alone. It's not whether I'm doing something
or not doing something. It's in Him. In Him alone. And he said, Paul said, you've
been called to liberty. Now don't use that liberty as
an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. But
you've been called to liberty. And you've been called to peace.
You've been called to peace. And you've been called to holiness.
And we've been called to stand fast. Stand fast, Paul says,
in the Lord. Stand fast. It's over in Philippians
1.27. In holiness, he says, Be ye holy,
for I am holy. And you've been called into the
grace of Christ. God did not call those men because
of who they were. in their social standing. He didn't call them. That had
nothing to do with it. They were called by grace. They
were called by grace into grace. And we stand in grace. We'll
die in grace. And we'll go to glory in grace
by the grace of God. This is the call. This call happens
every time God saves a sinner. When the gospel is preached,
he says, repent, repent and believe the gospel. Over in the book of Acts, Paul
says, some believed, or it's written, some believed and some
believed not. Some will go home with no more
interest in the cave. And then some's going to hear. Some are going to hear. And you're
going to have an interest. You're going to have a real interest. And you're going to have a desire,
a real desire to follow Christ, to know Him. You're going to
have a real desire to know Him, to follow Him, to be with Him.
You're going to become obsessed with Him. All because He called you. He called you. He said, you didn't
choose Me, I chose you. He chose you and He called you
by His grace. The call. I pray somebody heard
it this morning. I do. I pray God somebody called
this morning. Come follow Me. You're interested
in something else, whether it's school or whether it's work. You're interested in it. Those things really don't mean
that much anymore. They just don't mean that much. The one
thing that means everything is Christ. You say, I've got to get to Him.
I've got to get to Him. What is it to follow Him? It's
to believe on Him. That's all in Christ, is believing
on Him, trusting Him.