What I want to talk about is
my calling, or your calling, your calling. And in verse 26 it says, for
you see your calling. How that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. You see
your calling. And the call of God is described
in many, many ways in doctrinal terms and in theological works,
ain't it? We hear a lot about the internal
call, don't we? The internal call of God. And
that is true. God does call His people when
He calls them by His grace, all those which He are pleased to
call, He calls them by His power, not His grace. He will speak
to their hearts. He will give them knowledge of
Himself, and they'll see themselves. They'll fall prostrate of themselves,
and they'll see Christ as their Savior, their only Savior, their
Lord, and come to Him by God's power and grace. Not that they
had anything to do with it, but what God had to do with them.
But the calling of God is an eternal call. And the Word says,
it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His
good pleasure. So when God calls His people,
He works His grace in them, His power, His Spirit, by His Spirit. And He calls them to faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls them to know Him. It's not what they had to do
with, but it's what He had to do with them. He called them. He called them by an effectual,
eternal call. God doesn't call people and then
turn them loose and let them go. Like people say, you know,
religious people, as Roland talked about, Yeah, I once knew God,
but not departed from God. No, if God knows you, God will
make it effectual to you who He is. You'll know God. And you'll not have anywhere
to go back to depart to, will you? You'll know God. It's an
internal call. It's not something you have by
nature, but it's something that He places in you, the power of
His Spirit. His grace in you. The hope of
glory. So that calling is of God. It's an internal call. And that
internal call is an effectual call. When it pleases God who
separated us from our mother's womb and called us by His grace
to reveal His Son in me. When He reveals Yourself in the
light of Him and His Son in you, you will bow to and rest in Christ. It's effectual. He brings you
to know the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God in 2 Timothy
1.9 says, Who have saved us and called us in the mind and purpose
of God. You always was His child. But
He, the Lord, stood as the Lamb slain, and in due time God sent
Him to die for you. And in due time, in God's appointed
time, He will call you to faith in Christ. He will call you when
it pleases Him, when it pleases God. Not when
I'm pleased or when I want to do something, but when it pleases
God to call me by His irresistible grace. He calls us with a holy
calling in this role and said it is not according to our works,
but it is according to His own purpose and grace which was given
to us in Christ even before the world began. And this call that
God calls us with is an irresistible call. When God calls a man to
faith in Christ, when he sees himself in the light of God,
he joyfully and willfully He comes to Christ. He is not forced
to. When He sees Himself, He gladly
bows to Christ. He gladly comes to Christ. This
call is an irresistible call. You cannot resist this call.
You do not want to resist this call. You are obedient to this
call. This is God calling, you see.
It is irresistible. It is the call of God's ultimate
infinite grace. Would it please God who separated
me from my mother's womb and call me by His grace. Call me such undeserving creature. God by His power. Call me by
His grace. He gave me grace in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And He called me by that grace.
Reveal Christ to my heart by His grace, the call of God. These
are good terms. They're accurate, ain't they? But it's best to understand Bible
doctrine and Bible terms, ain't it? We know these are Bible terms.
But salvation begins with God. It always begins with God. Whoever
God purposed to have in eternity past, He will have. They will
be in eternity glory, won't they, with Christ. He will have them
people. He said in 1 Peter 2.9, you are
a chosen generation. Not because you chose me now,
but I have chose you and ordained you that you should go forth
and bring forth fruit, meat for repentance. I have chosen you.
You know what? I chose me, except I work grace
in your heart. I chose you, and in time, I work
grace in you to reveal myself to you. You're the recipient. You don't give. You're the recipient. You see that? You're a chosen
generation. A royal priesthood. We are made
unto God kings and priests. How? In the Lord Jesus Christ. We are a royal priesthood. In
Christ, God looked upon us even before the foundation of the
world as holy as Himself. I don't understand that, but
He did. He carried in Christ. Because Christ was sure. He was a sure substitute. A sure representative. He couldn't
fail so God could look upon us in Christ, couldn't He? Because
Christ could not fail. You are a royal priesthood. You
are my sons, my daughters in Christ. Speaking about the church,
a holy nation. Men by nature are not holy. Men
by nature deserve the eternal wrath of God. But he said, you
are a holy nation. You are a holy nation in the
person of my Son, in the Lord Jesus Christ, in my own righteousness. You are holy. You are a peculiar
people. You are particular to me. Not
because of who you are or what you have done. Because this was
before you was ever born. This was before the foundation
of the world. but because of God. Why He chose
me, I don't know. But I know He did. And what God
does is forever. And what God does is right. He's
done it for a reason, not only to Himself. He made me a peculiar
person. He made you a peculiar person
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That you should show forth His
praises. Those who are particular to Him,
those who are peculiar people, those who are chosen in Christ,
they are to show forth His praises in God's time. When God calls
them by His grace and reveals Christ in them, they will show
forth the praise of God to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ,
won't they? They sure will. He called you
out of darkness. See that? He called me out of
darkness. We were stooped in religion.
We were going about with both hands and feet trying to serve
God, trying to do something for God. We had it all backwards. It's something that God must
do for and in men, ain't it? It's not what we do for God.
If God works in you by His grace and by His power to reveal to
you who you are in His light and you see Christ, then He's
done something. That's what He's done, you see
that? He called you out of darkness. We were in total darkness. We
couldn't see. We couldn't understand. We thought
we did, didn't we? But we couldn't. We didn't. We
knew nothing about the true God. But when God brought us to light
and life, we saw God in His holiness and we felt helpless before Him.
Do you see that? And saw Christ as our Savior.
The call of God is an internal call, ain't it? It's an internal call. It is
God which worketh in you. You see that? To will and to
do. It's God that calls you by His grace to reveal His Son in
you. As Paul said, in me, that I might
preach Him among the heathen. It's the call of God Himself. It's not my coming to God. It's
God's call to me. That brings me to Him. See what
I'm saying? I'm not saved because I came.
I'm saved because He called. You see that? He called. It's
an internal call. God works in you. See? He gives you a new nature, a
new spirit. He works in you effectually by
His saving grace. to call you out of darkness,
total darkness, into His marvelous light. Now we see Jesus, who
was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, that He might represent us in His life and die for us
and take upon Him the penalty of our sins and suffer the just
condemnation of God against us, God's wrath completely And you're
complete in Him which is the head of all principality and
power. Complete. We're complete in Christ. There's nothing to be added.
There's nothing that can be taken from you in Christ. See that? You're complete if you're in
Christ. Every just condemnation has been
answered for. The wrath of God is satisfied. You say, well, I'd sin all I
wanted to if I believed that. God's people sin more than they
want to by God's grace, don't they? They do. They sin and then
repent, don't they? Yes. God commanded the light to shine
out darkness in the creation of this world. And when God commands
the light to shine out of darkness in your dark heart, He gives
you a heart. A heart of light. And you see
yourselves in His light. And you see Christ as your Savior.
To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. So when was I called? When I came to God? No. When
it pleased God to call me. He called me by His grace. I didn't deserve it, but He called
me by His grace. What to do? To reveal His Son
in me, Paul said. When God reveals His Son in you,
you're no longer the one standing exposed. You see that? You don't
want to be exposed. You want His Son to be exposed. He's all. He's all. It's only by God's grace that
we know Christ by saving faith. It's only by God's grace. If
we get what we deserve, it's the eternal wrath of God. But
if Christ took our just desert and God was satisfied to punish
Him as our substitute, then we have nothing between us and God
to condemn us. We are new creatures in the Lord
Jesus Christ by the grace of God, ain't we? New creatures.
God has worked in you both to will and to do. See that? Of
His good pleasure. He's brought you to life. You see Christ. You follow Christ. You rest right there. You don't
rest anywhere else. You don't dare to. You rejoice
in Christ. Gladly rejoice. Gladly. My joy
is in Him. I don't have no joy here in this
flesh. My joy is in the Lord Jesus Christ. God hath made Him known to me,
this undeserving creature, the riches of the glory of the mystery
of His grace. I can't explain that to me. He has revealed Christ to me. This hell deserving creature.
But God did it. God did it for His own glory
and our benefit. God commanded the light to shine
out of darkness. It has shined in our heart to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Who commanded that light? God
did. Who sent that light forth? God
did. Who worked that light in you?
God did. Who gave you the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ?
God did. What did you have to do with it? Nothing. You just
received it. When did He do that? When it
pleased Him. When it pleased God to call you. That's when He did it. When I
was pleased to come to God? No. When pleased God? You was
pleased when God called you, but it was not your decision. It was not your choice. It was
God's choice. God's decision. You see that?
When God purposed to do so. Christ said, No man can come
to Me. No man. It is not possible. No
man can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw
him. And when the Father draws a man
to Me, He said, I'll raise him up at the last day. I'll make
him My sons. Sons of God in Me. He shall be
like Me. He won't be Christ now, but he'll
be like Christ. Christ will still be Christ. In John 10, verse 27, He said,
My sheep hear My voice. Anybody else hear God's voice?
God does a calling, Donnie. And He calls His sheep, whoever
He purposed to have in eternity past, before the foundation of
the world. Those are His sheep. He said, My sheep hear My voice.
Christ did. He said, I know them. They don't know Him. But He said,
I know them. And I'll make it known to them.
and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they
shall never perish." Just His sheep now. He's not talking about
anybody else. He calls them, they hear His
voice, and He gives them eternal life, and they shall never perish. There's no question mark there.
That's a statement. That's a fact. That's God speaking. which neither shall any man pluck
him out of my hand. My Father which gave to me is
greater than all, and no man is able to pluck him out of my
Father's hand." You know, remember what the religious world used
to say? What was they used to say? You know, you can't pluck
me out, but I can. That's stupid, ain't it? That's stupid. It's silly. Ignorant. Ignorant of God's righteousness.
Ignorant of Christ. And Job 11.10, he said, if he
cut off and he shuts up, or gathered together, then who can hinder
him? If God cuts me off in this nature,
in that regard, and he shuts me up to faith in Christ, who
can hinder him from doing that? Who can hinder God? God can work
and no man can hinder. God does work and no man is going
to hinder God. He is going to have all that
He purposed to have in eternity, in glory. He saved us and called us. He did not call us and then save
us. You see what I am saying? God saved you before the foundation
of the world in His all mind and purpose. And He called you
in His time. you. He called us by His grace. You
see that? By His grace. No. We're not deserving, but He called
us. And we wouldn't have come, but
He called us. See that? He called us. Who saved you and called you
with the holy calling? He gave us is the gift of God. For by grace
are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, not
even faiths of yourselves. I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
therefore my faith saved me. No, your faith didn't save you.
If you have true faith, it's because God gave you faith and
you look to Christ. You don't look to your faith.
My faith fails. I've commanded a lot of China.