As Brother Mahan often said,
if that doesn't ring your bell, your clacker's broke. Thank God
for that amazing love by which he has redeemed and called us
to himself. There are three specific words
used throughout the Word of God. They're used throughout the Word
of God by which God identifies his people and distinguishes
them from all others. Three words by which God's people
are distinguished from all the sons and daughters of Adam throughout
the world and in every age of time. God's people are called
the elect. They are the elect. God loved
them, chose them in unconditional everlasting election before the
world was as his own. God's people are called the redeemed,
the redeemed of the Lord. The elect means not all are,
but some are. The redeemed means not all are,
but some are. If you're gods, you're gods because
he chose you and because Christ redeemed you with his precious
blood. And God's people are called the
called. The called. Some are elect, others
are not. The word implies just that. Some
are redeemed, others are not. The word redeemed implies just
that. Some are called, others are not. The word implies just that. Let's look at it together in
Romans chapter 1. We'll begin reading at verse
1 down through verse 6. My subject this morning is the
called. Those who are regenerated, those
who are born of God, those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
all who trust the Son of God are given this distinct, peculiar
title. by which they are separated from
all other men, thee called. Romans chapter 1. Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the
gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the
Holy Scriptures concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. and declared
to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead, by whom we have received
grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations
for his name, among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ."
The called. There are some people in this
world described here by God the Holy Spirit as the called. The called of Jesus Christ are
God's elect. Them that are sanctified by God
the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ unto the time of their
calling. Those sinners redeemed by the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus who have been saved by his almighty
irresistible grace. They are thee called. All the
rest of the elect shall be called. But those who are saved are thee
called. Called from death to life. from unbelief to faith in Jesus
Christ our Lord, called from darkness to light, called from
bondage to liberty, called from turmoil to peace, called from
condemnation to salvation, called to grace and called to glory,
thee called. May God the Holy Spirit be our
teacher as we look into his word this morning and see what he
has to say about the called. The Apostle Peter urges us to
make our calling and election sure. Make your calling and election
sure. You cannot know your election
by God or your redemption by Christ except by your calling
by God the Holy Spirit. Make your calling and election
sure. The elect are not known until
they are called by God the Holy Spirit. There's nothing at all
to indicate who they are or where they are until they are called
by God the Holy Spirit. We dare not presume any are elect
or any are not elect. We preach the gospel to all men,
knowing that God, by the call of his spirit through the gospel,
distinguishes his elect and brings them to life and faith in Jesus
Christ the Lord. If you're here without Christ,
I pray that God will call you this day. Oh, that he may call
you by his omnipotent grace and sweetly force you into the arms
of his darling son in living faith. The calling, however,
can only be known by faith in the Lord Jesus. You make your
calling sure by believing on the Son of God. The calling is
made sure when you trust Christ. I know that my name is written
in heaven. I know that my name is written
in heaven. I know that God set his heart
upon me and loved me with an everlasting love and chose me
in Christ before the world began. I know that Jesus Christ, God's
darling son, washed away my sins in his precious blood at Calvary.
I know that I had been born again, called to Christ Jesus the Lord,
called from death to life by the power of God, the Holy Spirit,
because I trust Jesus Christ. I believe on the Son of God.
That's the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. Joseph Hart put it this way,
as only he could. The moment a sinner believes
and trust in his crucified God, his pardon at once he receives,
redemption in full through his blood. The faith that unites
to the lamb and brings such salvation as this is more than a notion
or name, the work of God's spirit it is. It says to the mountain
depart that stand between God and the soul. It binds up the
broken in heart and makes wounded consciences whole. Bid sinners
of crimson light die, be spotless as snow and as white, and raises
the sinner on high to dwell with the angels of light. Now, certainly
we recognize that there is a general call. a general call that is
issued to all who hear the gospel of God's grace. God calls people
to himself in many ways. He calls sinners to himself by
the light of creation and conscience, so that men by nature know they
must meet God. Man does not hear the call, and
the call of creation and conscience will never give life to any sinner,
but men are called generally to God by creation and by conscience. God calls sinners to himself
by acts of providential judgment that come upon them upon their
individual lives and upon lives socially as cities towns nations
as Communities God sends judgment and says soon you must meet God
prepare to meet your God God speaks in judgment men often
ridicule I I often receive comments from folks by mail and otherwise
ridiculing the The faith of the gospel is or how can you say
that a tornado of it wiped away a community is judgment of God
How can you say that a hurricane is God's judgment? How can you
say that a flood is God's judgment? How dare you say otherwise? How
dare you say otherwise are you a fool Are you a fool God says
soon you too must meet God but the call of judgment never changes
a sinner's heart and Sickness never changes a sinner's heart.
Affliction and trial never changes a sinner's heart. People are
called in a general way like this. One reason your pastor
is not an ambulance-chasing preacher. I don't run folks down at the
hospital and try to get them to make a profession of faith
because they're having some trouble. I don't run to the jailhouse
to try to get your son converted because he got caught drunk driving. I said, I'm not going to do it. I want so to see the souls of
men. My friend Darryl McClung, most
of you knew him, I often heard him say, anything built in the
storm will die in the calm. And you can bake on it. You can
bake on it. No, judgment doesn't bring salvation. Judgment doesn't bring conversion.
Judgment doesn't bring a change of heart. If it did, folks would
be converted in hell. No, a general call won't do.
God calls sinners also in a general way, as I'm preaching to you
now by the gospel. I call upon you to believe on
the son of God. I call you to arise and come
forth and follow the Son of God. I call you to life and faith
in Christ. But if all you hear is this preacher's
voice, you will go home just like you came here. Nothing bettered. Nothing bettered. Oh, but if
God will, by the word of his gospel, through the lips of his
messenger to your soul, speak to your heart. If he will cause
the word that I preach to you this hour to come to you, not
in word only, but in power and in demonstration of the Holy
Spirit as the very word of God, then dead sinners shall be brought
to life by the call of God. This call is irresistible. This call is a call of omnipotent
mercy, irresistible grace, effectual. It is a call issued from God
that always produces life and faith in the sinner who's called. Therefore, we sing with the psalmist,
blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach
unto thee. This is the call of which the
Apostle Paul spoke in 2 Timothy. Turn there if you will for a
minute. 2 Timothy chapter 1. He's describing this call, 2
Timothy 1.9, when it says, God hath saved us and called us with
an holy calling. God saved us and called us with
a holy calling. Not according to our works. not
because we had prepared ourselves to get saved, not because we
had conditioned ourselves to get saved, not because we decided
to get saved, not according to our works, but according, this
is how God issues the call, according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Now, notice how the Apostle Paul
describes this call in his writings. We won't look at all of the text.
Let me just call your attention to some of them. When Paul spoke
of this call, this irresistible call of grace, this effectual,
omnipotent call of divine mercy, this call by which he had been
raised from death to life, This call that came to him on the
Damascus road when a light shined from heaven and a voice spoke
from heaven and he heard him and scales fell off his eyes
and he began to see. Paul describes that call in words
that seem to indicate he is so overwhelmed with it, so taken
up with it that he can't find words sufficient to describe
it. He calls it a holy calling. the
high calling of God, the calling of God, your calling, the heavenly
calling. What is this call by which we
are saved? What is this heavenly calling
of which we have been made partakers by the grace of God? It's described
in many ways in theological books. It's called the eternal call,
the effectual call, the irresistible call, the call of grace. And
all of those terms are good and accurate. But I really like the
way John Gill describes it in his Body Divinity. He describes
this effectual, irresistible call of grace which comes to
chosen, redeemed sinners by the sovereign power of God the Holy
Spirit through the preaching of the gospel in these words.
Let me read it to you. Christ stands in the gospel ministry
at the door of men's hearts and knocks and calls. He stands at
the door of men's hearts through the preaching of the word, as
I'm preaching to you now. He knocks and he calls. He says, open to
me. Gil goes on to say, having the
key to the house of David, he opens the heart by the power
of his grace and lets himself in. That's how he calls. He calls by the preaching of
the word. He knocks by his spirit. He says, open to me. And he has
the key to the house of David. He opens the door and lets himself
in. And when he does, you welcome
him with the faith he brings. Now, let's see how this call
is described in the scriptures. I want us to look very briefly
at seven distinct texts of scripture, just seven verses. These seven
verses will be my outline for the message this morning. It
won't take long the first at first Peter chapter 2 first Peter
chapter 2 The Apostle Peter here speaks to us in verse 9 and he
says ye are a chosen generation a chosen generation are you there
a royal priesthood and holy nations You who are God's, you are God's
peculiar people. You're a chosen generation. You're a royal priesthood. You're
a holy nation. You're God's priest, God's nation,
God's people. Look at this, a peculiar people,
a distinct people, a special people. That you should show
forth the praises of him. Now watch this. who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light. There my imprisoned soul lay
in darkness until God shined in my soul and
gave light. Then my chains fell off. My soul was free. I rose and
came to Christ my Lord because he called out of darkness. In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and
void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. Something happened
to God's creation marring God's creation Covering God's creation
with darkness emptiness and vanity The Lord God says I created not
the world in vain. I created not the earth in vain
He didn't create it in emptiness and darkness something happened
bringing this Catastrophic judgment upon it darkness and emptiness
So it was with our souls since the fall of our father Adam We
lived in darkness and ignorance. Ignorant of God. Oh, we know
that God is. We know that God is righteous.
We know that God is just. We know that we must meet God
in judgment. We know that God is powerful, but we don't know
God, not by nature. No man knows God, and no man
by searching can find out God. Utterly ignorant of God, ignorant
of Christ, his righteousness and his salvation, and ignorant
of ourselves. ignorant ignorant of all things
spiritual dark in our souls until called and as God in the beginning
Sends his spirit in a spirit brooded upon the face of the
deep and God said let there be light So God sends his spirit
in the regenerating power of his grace and calls Dead sinners
to life and when he does he says let there be light And now we
see, now we see. We saw it the other night in
1st John chapter 2. You have an unction from the
Holy One and ye know all things. By the effectual call of God
the Holy Spirit the eyes of our understanding have been opened.
We're now made to see light and walk in light as children of
the light. Believers, all believers, all
who are born of God have The mind of Christ. I've been studying that for a
long time and I haven't come close to getting what it is.
But part of it is this. Listen to this. They that seek
the Lord understand all things. They that seek the Lord understand
all things. Proverbs 28 verse 5. You have the mind of Christ. What does
that mean? Believers understand that God
rules. Believers understand God and
His ways. Believers understand themselves
and sin. Believers understand Christ and
His accomplishments. Believers understand grace and
salvation. Being taught of God regenerate,
enlightened, saved sinners have the ability to distinguish things
that differ. All of them do. All of them do. Every man and every woman who
is taught of God, all of them, know the difference between light
and darkness. They know the difference between
truth and error. They know the difference between
free will and free grace. They know the difference between
works and grace. They know the difference between
salvation by your will and salvation by God's will. All believers
understand all things. All of them. They have the mind
of Christ. I don't mean by that, don't mean
to suggest by that, that believers articulate all doctrine well. Not at all. But my sheep, the
shepherd says, what does it say about them? Anybody know? They hear my voice and they follow
me. They will not hear the voice
of the stranger. They will not follow the stranger.
They hear my voice and they follow me. So that when God's people
hear the word of God, That's the shepherd's voice, and they
follow him. They hear the word of God. That's it. That's it. Very often, Brother Todd Nybert
and I talk discussing various theological issues and passages
of scripture. I'll say something to him. He
said, I'll tell you something I know about truth. I've heard
him say this many times. As soon as you hear it, you know
it. Soon as you hear it, you know it, you know the shepherds
voice because you know the shepherd you have the mind of the shepherd
Now look at Galatians chapter 5 Galatians chapter 5 We have
been called out of darkness into the marvelous light of God's
grace and salvation the marvelous light of God and his son here
in Galatians chapter 5 in verse 13 Brethren, you have been called
unto liberty, called unto liberty. We were by nature children of
wrath, even as others. But now, but now in Christ, we
are freed from all the curse and condemnation of God's holy
law. We lived all the days of our
lives as home born slaves under the dominion of sin. But now
in Christ, we become the servants of righteousness. We spent all
our days under the power and influence of Satan. But now Christ
has made us his free men. I said we'd look at just seven
verses, but I can't resist turning back to Deuteronomy. I want you
to see the illustration of this call to liberty, Deuteronomy
chapter 6. Deuteronomy chapter 6. Oh, how I thank God for the blessed
liberation of grace. Satan, like a strong man armed,
held me in bondage worse than that of Egypt. We boast of freedom, like the
Jews when they were slaves to Rome. We're free men. Free. I want to express my freedom.
Isn't it strange that reprobates express their freedom all the
same way? Isn't it strange that men express
their freedom in rebellion and ungodliness, and they call it
freedom, doing my own thing? No, you're following the crowd,
in bondage to sin and to Satan. Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 20
This is what the Lord's done for us typified here in the deliverance
of Israel out of Egypt when thy son asked of thee in time to
come saying What mean the testimonies and statutes and judgments which
the Lord our God hath commanded you? When thou shalt say unto
thee thy son, we were Pharaoh's bondman in Egypt. We were slaves
in Egypt And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty
hand, verse 23. And he brought us out from thence
that he might bring us in, that he might bring us into heaven's
glory to give us the land, which he swear unto our fathers. Turn
back to Deuteronomy chapter four, Deuteronomy four, verse 31. The Lord thy God is a merciful
God. He will not forsake thee, neither
destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which
he swear unto them. Verse 32, for ask now of the
days that are past. which were before thee since
the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from
one side of heaven to the other whether there hath been such
a thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like this,
like it. Verse 33, did ever people hear
the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire as thou
hast heard and lived? Or hath God assayed to go and
take him a nation from the midst of another nation by temptations,
by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand,
and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to
all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your
eyes? Verse 35. Unto thee it was showed that
thou mightest know that the Lord he is God. And there is none
else. I was in bondage. Men in bondage
to sin are in bondage to law. You see, the man in bondage to
sin with a guilty, pricked conscience, while he insists on having his
own way and refuses to bow to the rule of the Lord Jesus, the
sinner ever seeks in some way to do something to soothe his
conscience and give him peace with God. And he seeks on the
footing of law to find acceptance with God. So he goes to church
and he rededicates up and he says his prayers and he makes
his confession. He goes to the confessional booth
and talks to the priest or he comes to the altar and talks
to the preacher or he counts his rosary beads or whatever
you do with those things or he goes through religious acts and
ceremonies and he tries to reform his life and he quit this and
start that and do the other thing and nothing satisfies. He lives in bondage in the flesh
seeking life by law. But God's called us to liberty. Liberty from the curse that the
law held over us. Liberty from the bondage and
tyranny of the law, the blessed liberty of grace called the glorious
liberty of the sons of God. I can't tell you, I can't tell
you how wonderful it is to be free. Any of y'all ever arrested? I have been. I recall one night
late, I was picked up in Winston-Salem and I was just a boy, taken to
jail. And I thought I was going to
spend a long time there. That's a horrible place to be. I thought, well, oh boy, you
fix things now. You fix things now. And the next
morning when I walked out, I can't tell you how wonderful open space
was. And I was just there overnight.
That's nothing. That's nothing compared to the
years of imprisonment my soul experienced in rebellion to God. And now I've been set free. No chains of bondage. No dark
dungeon. No iron bars. No guard at the
door. Just free. Free in Christ Jesus. Free to walk with God. Free to serve God. Free from the tyranny and dominion
of Satan. Free from the curse and dread
and fear of God's law. Free in Christ Jesus. Look again. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. I'm sorry, chapter 1. 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, verse 9. We've been called from darkness
to light, from bondage to liberty. Now, look at verse 9, 1 Corinthians
1. God is faithful, by whom you
were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord. God has called us into the fellowship
of his darling son, into the fellowship of the triune God
in his son. God calls his people to abandon
the world for Christ. Those who are called of God are
called to forsake family and friend like Abram and follow
Christ. We've been called and we are
continually called by our God to love not the world, neither
the things that are in the world. He calls us away from the riches
of the world, the recognition of the world, and the religion
of the world. It's a call which all who are
born of God heed. They're called out of the religion
of this world. They're called away from the
riches of this world. They're called to Jesus Christ
the Lord to follow him. And God's people gladly make
the sacrifice. It is a sacrifice. It is a sacrifice. But it ain't much. It ain't much. It's a sacrifice
of death for life. It's a sacrifice of misery for
joy. It's a sacrifice of torment for
peace. It's a sacrifice of darkness
for light. It's a sacrifice of degradation
to exaltation. Talk about what they've given
up for Christ. What? What? Frank Hall, you gave up hell
for him, nothing else. Nothing else. But he's paid so
much. Nothing. We're called into the
fellowship of God's Son so that we meet with God in His Son and
have acceptance at the throne of grace in His Son and worship
at His throne with His Son, one with His people. Listen to how
the Apostle Paul describes what we're doing here this morning.
We've come here to the house of God. We come here in the in
the name of the Lord Jesus Ye are calm unto Mount Zion Under
the city of the Living God now listen to this to the heavenly
Jerusalem If we if we come here to worship God come here by faith
in Christ come in the Spirit of God We've come not to this
little place on this hill outside the end of a Kentucky, but to
the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels,
to the General Assembly of the Church of the Firstborn, which
are written in heaven, to God the judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect. So we come together. Here's this congregation, some
folks over in Lexington, some folks up in Fairmont, some folks
over in Ashland, folks all around. We've come together, all in different
places. We've come together. Not to just
this physical locality, but we come to God in heaven as one
body in Jesus Christ the Lord, worshiping at the throne of God
himself. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
2, or chapter 7 rather, chapter 7, verse 15. Oh, what a privilege. We've been called into fellowship
with God, the eternal God. First Corinthians 7, 15. If the
unbelieving depart, let him depart. Talking about a man or woman
married to an unbeliever. If they're going to leave you,
let them leave you. Don't kick them out, but let
them leave you. A brother or sister is not in bondage in such
cases. But God hath called us to peace. Peace. Peace in our souls. Peace in
our hearts. Peace that passes understanding.
Peace. The wicked never know peace. I spent my life, my fist in God's
face and my fist in everybody else's face. And I never knew
a moment of peace. My life was constantly in turmoil. Constantly torn in a thousand
directions. Constantly turbulent. Constantly. Now, living in Christ, with Christ,
by faith in Christ, in the midst of turbulence, I have peace. Peace that passes understanding. In the midst of heartbreak, peace. In the midst of pain, peace. In the midst of many confusing
things, peace. In the midst of trial, peace.
How can that be? I'm God's. And God's mine. I'm at peace. What God does is right. I'm at
peace. When God sends sunshine, and
a warm breeze, and the spring, and the flowers bloom, and the
crops grow, and the fields are full of litter to harvest in
the fall, I'm at peace. And when God sends blasting and
mildew, and God sends tornado and flood, and God sends judgment
and war and pestilence, Still at peace. But don't you feel
those things? Oh, yeah. Perhaps more than others
do. I know who sends them. But I'm
at peace. Because He who is my God does
all things well and He does them just for me. I'm at peace. I'm
at peace because God's not angry with me. I'm at peace because
God never has a reason to be angry with me. I'm at peace because
God always, always is near and bids me seek him and his mercy
in time of need. I'm at peace because Christ is
mine. All right. Look, if you will,
at first Thessalonians chapter four. We've been called to peace,
peace. Let the peace of God rule in
your hearts. As much as is possible, live
peaceably among all men. Live at peace. God's called us
to peace. Now, look at 1 Thessalonians
4, 7. God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He's called us to holiness. God's called us to perform holiness. Not hardly, not hardly. He called
us with an holy calling. It's a call arising from God's
holy purpose of grace. It's a call based upon God's
holy principle, justice satisfied. It's a call into a holy standing,
justification and sanctification. It is a call which makes us a
holy people. You see this call, this call
doesn't, God's called us and now he's calling us to stretch ourselves and exercise
ourselves and be holy, be holy. No, no, no, no, no. Yes, live
right. Don't misunderstand what I'm
saying. Don't find an excuse here for ungodliness. God's called
us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil
world. By all means, do so. But don't
ever imagine that you're going to produce holiness. Samuel,
when God called you to life in Christ, He called you, giving
you a holiness which cannot be marred. He put Christ in you. without which no man shall see
the Lord. He calls us to be that which he himself requires of
us. Walk before me and be ye holy,
for I am holy. Be thou perfect, for I the Lord
your God am perfect. And so he calls us to holiness
in the fear of God. Look at Galatians 1, Galatians
chapter 1, verse 6. We've been called to holiness
And we've been called into grace. I marvel that you're so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ. We've been called by grace into
grace. We've been called by the instrumentality
of the gospel of God's grace. We've been called into the blessed
experience of God's grace. And we've been called to be partakers
to enjoy all the blessings of God's grace in Christ, so that
being called, oh, how I wanted forgiveness, how I wanted cleanness,
how I wanted to be freed from the horrible guilt of sin, how
I wanted have righteousness, how I wanted acceptance with
God, how I wanted peace in my soul. But how can Don Faulkner,
that wretched man, ever have such things? God says, come to
Christ. And he calls me to him. And now
they're mine. So that all the bounty of God's
grace is that into which he's called us. One more thing. Look at 1 Thessalonians
2. We've been called out of darkness
into light, out of bondage into liberty, out of the world into
fellowship with God, out of turmoil into peace, out of uncleanness
into holiness, out from under the curse of God's law into the
grace of the Lord Jesus. And we've been called out of
the kingdom of this world into God's kingdom and glory in Christ. 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 12, that
you should walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his
kingdom and glory. God has called you unto his kingdom and has called you unto glory. The Lord will give grace and
glory. If he called you into grace,
he called you into glory. Can you get hold of this? We've
been called by the grace of God to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. To the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. so that we who are born of God,
called by his spirit, are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus
Christ. And this kingdom of glory, his
kingdom, we shall possess. Look at one more text in this
regard, and I'll quit. First Peter, chapter one. First
Peter, chapter one. Look at verse three. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy,
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, a living hope, by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now watch this. To an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away. Reserved in
heaven for you. Reserved in heaven for you. You have the earnest of it. You
have the spirit of God. You had the pledge of it, you
had God's spirit, you had the promise of it, you had the promise
of God. This inheritance is reserved in heaven for you. Because Jesus
Christ the forerunner has run ahead of you and taken possession
of it. Not for himself, he always possessed
it. He's taken possession of it for
you who are his. Who's that? To you who are kept
by the power of God through faith. under salvation, ready to be
revealed in the last time. Reserved in heaven for you, for
you who are kept by the power of God through faith under salvation,
ready to be revealed. Now, will you hear the Savior's
call? Oh, God make you partaker of
it. This is what the Son of God says.
This is what he says. If you can hear it, he says it
to you. Come unto me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you and learn of me, for I'm meek and lowly in heart. and
you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden
is light. I've proved it so. He's given
me rest. In him I find rest for my soul and his yoke is easy. His burden
is light. Am I called and can it be? Has
my Savior chosen me? Guilty, wretched as I am, has
he named my worthless name? Vilest of the vile am I. Dare
I raise my hope so high? Am I called? I dare not stay,
may not, must not disobey. Here I lay me at thy feet, clinging
to the mercy seat. Thine I am and thine alone, Lord. with me thy will be done. Am
I called? What shall I bring as an offering
to my King? Poor and blind and naked I, trembling
at thy footstool I, naught but sin I call my own, nor for sin
can sin atone. Am I called an heir of God, washed,
redeemed by precious blood? Father, lead me in thy hand. Guide me to that better land
where my soul shall be at rest, pillowed on my Savior's breast. Amen.