I'd like to read the first verse
of Hebrews chapter 3. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession Christ Jesus. I want this morning, if I can,
to speak to you on three words that we find here in this first
verse of Hebrews chapter 3, holy brethren partakers. And then, of course, we will
say considerable about the heavenly calling which these brethren
were partakers of. First of all, then, we have these
three words, and these are the words which, by the Spirit of
God, we find described every child of God in this world and
in the world above. Holy brethren partakers of the
heavenly calling. With these three words, The Spirit
of God tells us three things about all true believers in Christ
Jesus. These three things characterize
all who trust sincerely, savingly in the Lord Jesus Christ. All
true believers are holy, we're told, holy. None are holy by
nature. None were holy as they were born
into this world in the flesh. The Bible says in Romans 3 and
verse 10, there's none righteous, no, not one. Not one who is holy,
not one who is righteous by nature. And these also, none of them
have made themselves holy by something that they have done
or something that they might not do. They have not made themselves
holy. All who have experienced the
grace of God in salvation know and gladly confess that Christ
is the Lord our righteousness. He is the Lord our righteousness. Our holiness is a holiness that
has been bestowed upon us by the grace of God alone. It is
the perfect righteousness of Christ that has been imputed
to us in justification and imparted to us in sanctification. We are made holy by having the
righteousness of Christ made over to us. Now that is the work
of God alone. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 11,
look at that. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren. So those that are sanctified
and that one who has done the sanctifying, they're all one. They're in union one with another. And it is because of this union,
this holy, living, lasting union that believers have with the
Lord Jesus Christ that they stand righteous and accepted before
God. God's great work of justification
took place outside. It took place outside of us. Now this is to be understood,
that that which God did in justifying us, it took place outside of
us. It took place on the hill of
Calvary. It took place when God laid upon Him our sin and our
iniquity. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
paid our sin debt in full, the Lord Jesus was doing a work outside
of us and was without our assistance. In Romans 8.33 it says, It is
God that justifieth. It is God that declares men and
women through faith in Christ, declares them to be without sin,
and declares them to be just as if they had never sinned against
Him before Him. Just as Christ was made to be
sinned for us, though He did no sin, he was without saying
he did not stand we are made the righteousness of god in him
though we can do nothing righteous now love it if you understand
what i'm saying you know i'm glad your heart you know rejoice
your heart it'll make you happy in the world if you can understand
what i'm saying let me give you that again we're made the righteousness
of god in the lord jesus christ Though we can do nothing righteous
ourself, and it's just the same as He was made to be sin when
He could commit no sin. The Lord Jesus could commit no
sin. He was God in a body of flesh,
but He was without sin. He could not sin. You and I could
not do righteous. We were sinners, we were dead
in sin, depraved, and the awful plague of sin was upon us, it
was a curse upon us, and we could not do righteousness ourselves. We was not able to do righteousness
just as He could not sin. Now that is the truth as I believe
2 Corinthians 5 and 21 sets it forth. He was made to be sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him,
in His person. Romans 3 and 12 says they are
all gone out of the way. What way? Well, it is the way
of righteousness. All men by nature have gone out
of the way. They are together become unprofitable. And that word there in the original,
I understand, means that they're unprofitable as a basket of fruit
that has over-ripened and just literally come to the point of
rottening is unprofitable. So we've all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not Not one. No man by nature does good to
the point where God is going to accept it and where God is
going to reward him with everlasting life and favor because of his
doing. It's not going to happen my friend.
You cannot be saved by your own doing. The salvation of the Lord
is by His grace and through His favor toward the sinner. Now
in regeneration, in the new birth, God the Holy Spirit creates a
man, a new man within the believer. The Lord Jesus Christ is created
in the believer. He makes those who are the recipients
of His grace to be partakers of the very nature of Christ
Himself. In 2 Peter 1 and 4 it speaks
of us being made partakers of the divine nature, meaning He
plants within every believer that holy nature which is born
of God. There is a nature, there is a
new man, in every believer, and that new man is the Lord Jesus
Christ. In 1 John 3 and 9 it says, Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in
him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. Now let me
ask you this morning, what part of you has been born of God,
if you're a believer? Has the flesh been born of God?
Absolutely not. It is that new man that has been
created in us that cannot commit sin. Christ could commit no sin
when he was in the world, and if Christ is in me, he still
Cannot commit any sin and so there is no sin committed by
the new man Jesus Christ his seed remains in the believer
And he cannot sin because that new man is born of God and this
needs to be understood By the believer we still have a body
in which we find that there is much sin when we find that there
is nothing But sin in this place you cannot breathe and not sin
Because you're in a body that is, and you have a nature that
is fallen, and this nature and the new nature in this body,
there is a war going on between those two natures. One is holy,
absolutely holy. One is without sin. One cannot
sin. And the other can do nothing
but sin. And therefore there is a war
going on all the time. This new nature, this new man,
that which is begotten of God in us is Christ in you, the hope
of glory. The only reason why we have any
hope this morning is because the Lord Jesus Christ dwells
in our hearts. It's Christ in us that is the
hope of glory. If Christ is not in you, He's
not yours. He must be in you in order to
be your Savior. Holy, holy, holy is the believer,
the child of God, because of the new man Christ. And then
there needs to be the outworking of this, there needs to be an
exercise of this new man in the life of the believer. There needs
to be holiness that comes out to the surface. Hebrews 12 and
14 says, follow peace with all men and holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord. This holiness needs to work out
into our lives and it manifests itself in us having no will but
His will, having no desire in this world but to abandon the
world and live to the glory and praise and honor of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're told in the Bible that
we've been called unto holiness in 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse
7. You've been called to it. You've
been called to a holy life. You've been called to a life
that has been ordained for you. That is a life of good works
in this world. We are not going to do anything
perfectly, but we're to do it as God enables us by His pure,
sovereign grace in our life. We read in 1 Peter 1 verse 15
and 16 that as He which has called you is holy, we ought to be holy
in all manner of conversation in our behavior. Our behavior
should be a holy behavior. And then also He says, as He
that has called us is holy, then be ye holy as I am holy. Be ye
holy as I am holy. So therefore, we have made this
comment on this first word. It is that all true believers
are holy. They're holy through imputed
and imparted righteousness and holy outwardly as the Spirit
of God enables them to mortify the old man and to live out in
exercise the righteousness of him who dwells in them. Now, the next word is brethren.
Notice this. Brethren, he says, wherefore
holy brethren. Now believers, all true believers
are brethren. They're all born of God. We all
have one father. We're all partakers of one spirit. We all share a common hope. We
all have one elder brother. We're all members of one blessed
family. We're brethren in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Hebrews 2 and 12, look at it,
saying, I will declare thy name. Notice in the last part of verse
11, he says he's not ashamed to call them brethren. That is,
those that are sanctified, set apart into God by the new nature,
he's not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare
thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while
I sing praise unto thee. These are the very words of our
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not ashamed to call those
that are in union with Him, those who have the Spirit dwelling
in them, He's not ashamed to call them brethren. Being brethren
in Christ, we all believe the same gospel. We seek the same
things. We worship at the same altar
and are motivated by the same things, namely, the will and
the glory of God. Brethren, brethren in the Lord. Now we do not believe in this
doctrine of universal brotherhood of man and we do not believe
that God is the father of all men. We don't believe that. The
Word of God don't teach it. The Word of God teaches that
God is the Father of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. All of those who are in Christ.
God is their Father. And so if somebody wants me to
call them brethren, then tell me of your faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Tell me, are you in union with
the Lord Jesus Christ? Tell me, do you love righteousness
and hate iniquity? Tell me, do you want to walk
with God? Do you want to live for Him?
Do you want to honor Him in your life in this world? And if you
tell me that, I say unto you, brethren, And I know the Lord
Jesus Christ is not ashamed to call you a brother. Now, and
being brother, we love one another. We love one another. The Bible
says by this you know that you have passed from death into life
in that that you love the brethren. You love the brethren. And so
we do as brethren love one another and we forgive one another. By
the grace of God we forgive one another and we encourage one
another and we support one another to the point that we rejoice
with those that rejoice and we weep with those that weep. We
are brethren in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our common bond is blood,
the blood of the everlasting covenant. Our unifying principle
is the glory of our God. That's what we want. All brethren
want the God of the Bible preached up, they want God glorified,
and they want the sinner preached down. They don't want man to
have an inch of glory. in this business of the salvation
of his soul. They want God to be glorified,
exalted, and lifted up. And so brethren, this is our
unifying principle. You come in here, everybody here
wants to praise the Lord. They want to give glory to God.
The people that come in this place believe God ought to be
honored. They believe God ought to receive
praise and worship from our hearts, adoration from our hearts. They
believe that. And so we be brethren in this
place. Our strength is in the unity
that's brought about by the Spirit. Our strength is not in the unity
that we all drive the same kind of vehicle, or that we all part
our hair on the same side of our head, or that we all have
the same taste and appetites when we sit down to the table
to feast. No! Our unifying, the unifying
strength of our hearts is the bond brought about by the Holy
Ghost and the Holy Spirit that dwells in us. That is the bond. We're bound together by the Holy
Spirit. The Bible says we're all baptized
by one Spirit into one body. And we've all been made to drink
of one Spirit. And this is the belief. So we
be brethren. Now then, may we ever be strong
in the bonds of holy brotherhood, Christian brotherhood. Strong
in the Lord, as Paul put it in Ephesians, and in the power of
His might. Strong in the Lord, and in the
power of His might. Now then, we come to the chief
part of the message, and that is for takers of the heavenly
calling. These brethren are holy, these
men are brethren, and they are partakers of the heavenly calling. Partakers of the heavenly calling.
I just get hung up on this. You're just going to have to
excuse me this morning, but I get all hung up on this business
of being partakers of something from heaven. Are you a partaker
of anything from heaven? The Bible says to us this morning
that a man can receive nothing except it be given to him from
heaven. John 3 and 27. Unless it be given
to him from heaven. There's no revelation of truth
except it be a divine revelation. There's no being made over and
being a Christian unless it's a divine remaking. Salvation
is the work of God from the beginning. I pray God that you will just
simply meditate as you hear the word, that you'll open your ears
and your heart and you'll listen carefully to what we have to
say about this. This is glorious truth that we
can talk about some sinners who have been made partakers of the
heavenly calling. Now there are some people in
this world described by the Holy Spirit in the Bible as the called. The called. Romans chapter 1
and verse 6 says, among whom are ye also the called of Jesus
Christ. is that God's people are called
people. They are called out of the world. Romans 8 and 28 says, and we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God
to them who are thee called according to his purpose. According to
his purpose. Now, those who are the called
of Jesus Christ are God's elect. Those sinners that have been
redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, who have been
saved by His almighty, irresistible grace, called already. Already called. Some here have
experienced the call. Over 165 times in the Bible,
salvation is attributed to a call from God. Have you heard from
God? Has God ever called you? If you've
not been called of God, then this morning, my friend, you're
not in Christ as of yet experientially. You're not in Christ. The call
must come from heaven to your soul. Now hear me out. Those
who are called of Jesus Christ are God's elect, called already.
All the rest of the elect shall be called as surely as they have
been chosen of God. As surely as they've been chosen
of God, they will be called. They'll hear the voice of the
Son of God and they will live. The call from what, you say? From what? Well, they're called
from spiritual death to spiritual life. John 5 and 24 says, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. passed from
death, spiritual death, unto spiritual life. And so my friend,
what have we been called from? Spiritual death. We've been called
to spirit life. From unbelief to faith in Christ.
Unbelief plagues all of Adam's race. The God of the Bible is
a God who cannot lie, but men and sinners in this world cannot
believe that God would be so merciful and so gracious that
He would send His only begotten Son into this world to die the
sinner's death and to suffer the sinner's plague. in order
that he might be redeemed. They will not believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. They will not trust him. They
hear the message of the gospel, but they will not believe. Some
of you here this morning have chalked your feet and you say,
I will not believe the gospel. I won't believe it. I will not. Well, there are some that have
believed it. Some have been called from their unbelief to have faith
in Jesus Christ. And I'm here to tell you this
morning that unless you have been called from unbelief, you're
still in it. You're still in it. It's only
when you're called out of unbelief that you will escape the unbelief
and the plague, the fires of hell that come in the plague
of those who do not believe the gospel. So we're called from
unbelief to faith in Christ. All of you that believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, you ought to say amen, hallelujah. I've
been called out of unbelief. God didn't leave me. He didn't
pass me by. He could have left me sitting
in my seat, but he didn't do that. He called me from unbelief. And then he called us from no
hope. No hope! You know where that is? No hope!
That's where you are this morning, sinner, if you've never been
called by the Spirit of God. You have no hope. No hope! And you're without God in this
world. You're without God having no
hope. That's the language of the Word of God. If you find
fault, find fault with God. Don't find it with me. I'm just
his messenger. Come here to tell you that true
believers, those who are partakers of the heavenly calling, have
been called from no hope to a living hope. They have a living hope
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they have an inheritance
incorruptible and one that fadeth not away. They've been called,
my friend, into a hope. And isn't it glorious that we're
able to lay down, make no difference what's happening in our lives,
and we're able to lie down at night with hope, hope, And even
when we take someone out to bury them in the cemetery, we saw
are not as others who have no hope, because we've been called
out of no hope unto a living, to a living hope. Now all who
are privileged to hear the gospel preached are called externally
by the preaching of the gospel. Everyone that hears the gospel
comes under the external call of the Spirit of God. But those
who are saved, thee called, have been called, hear me out, internally,
they've been called effectually, they've been called irresistibly
by God the Holy Spirit. These that have truly been saved.
Now there isn't anybody you can search this world over whom God
has truly saved that's against that at all! There isn't anybody
against what I just said. Every true... I'm talking about
anybody that's saved. Are you against the fact that
God has internally, affectionately, and irresistibly called you by
the Holy Spirit? Absolutely not. All you can do,
it just humbles you in the dust and you begin to praise the Lord.
When you raise your head, you praise the Lord. You give Him
glory because He has called you by the Holy Spirit effectually,
internally, and irresistibly. I'm not ashamed of those words.
I'm not ashamed of them at all. Now the called, mark it down,
are like the Thessalonian saints. like those in the book of Thessalonians.
Their election, their redemption, and their calling is made manifest
by the fact that the word of God has come to them, not in
word only, but in the power of the Holy Ghost. Now that is a
description of those who are partakers of the heavenly calling.
There was a day when they heard the word. They heard it, but
they said that's not just the preacher talking. That's not
just the preacher talking. I know that there's another voice
that's going out in this word, and this word that's going out
is the word of God. God is speaking to my soul from
heaven, and this word comes in the power of the Holy Ghost,
and these people, the result of it is they're called internally,
effectually, and irresistibly by God the Holy Spirit. And they
truly do come out of those places that we talked about earlier.
Spiritual death, no hope, no life. They come out of those
places. Unbelief, they come out. They
come out in droves. I read in the scripture, in the
book of Acts chapter 14, verse 1, where there was a multitude
that heard the brethren as they so spake, and they were brought
out. They believed the gospel. A multitude
believed the gospel. And so my friend, God is calling
people out. Now salvation comes to the chosen. The redeemed of the Lord in the
experience of grace, and you just mark this down, you can
meld it down, it comes out to this every time. Salvation comes
to the chosen, the redeemed of the Lord, in the experience of
grace by the power of God who can raise the dead. That's how
it comes. You say, you think God is down
here working now in this world? Preacher, be realistic. In this
world, do you think God is at work? God is at work, my friend.
God is at work. Salvation is of the Lord. Anybody
that gets saved, gets saved by the power of God. The same power
that can raise the dead. That power by which He's able
to subdue all things unto Himself. I'm not afraid that God can't
save any sinner in this building. God can save anybody in here.
If God can raise the dead, then He can save a sinner. And He
can save you because you're dead in sin. and save your soul or you will
not be saved. I believe that God on resurrection
morning is going to deliver all of his people out of the cemeteries. God's gonna raise them all from
the dead. And most everybody in this building will say amen,
I believe that. I believe God's gonna raise,
there's a resurrection morning coming. I believe it. And I tell
you what, between now and the resurrection morning, there's
gonna be sinners for his name's sake. that are going to be approached
and come upon by the power of God and they're going to be delivered
from their sin. Now this is the irresistible
effectual power, yea it is the work of the divine spirit alone. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit. It is this call of which David sang in Psalm chapter 64
or 65 in verse 4. He said, blessed is the man whom
thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee. Blessed is that man. And I say, I say blessed is the
man whom the Lord chooses and then causes to approach to him. You never come an inch. You won't
do it. You're a sinner if you could
get... ...on his back, but you will
not come humbly repenting to the Lord Jesus Christ. You won't
do it. You will not do it. You won't do it. Now my friend,
so I say that the Holy Spirit's got to do it. And the Holy Spirit
can work effectually in the heart. So David sang out that. I'd like
to hear him sing this. We love to hear brothers and
sisters in Christ sing. But I'm telling you, I'd like
to hear David sing this song. I'd like to hear him sing, blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and callsest to approach unto
thee. I don't care what tune you put
it in, I just would like to hear it sung by the brethren and certainly
by old David. This is the call the Apostle
Paul was talking about when he said in Galatians chapter 1 in
verse 15 and 16, listen to what he said. He said, God separated
me from my mother's womb. The fellow being in a womb and
bringing him out, bringing him forth, yes, he's got everything
to do with it. And let America take note of
the fact that God's got everything to do with birth, conception
and birth. It's in the Lord's hands. Do
not trifle with that which God is the author of. now God separated
me listen to what Paul said God separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by his grace and called me by his grace and
revealed his son in me now beloved I'm telling you the truth that's
what he said and those of you that know the word of God know
I'm telling you the truth that Paul looked back to his birth
and said God separated me from my mother's womb I didn't give
her back to them I got here on purpose. God brought me into
this world. He meant for me to be here. He had something for
me to do. He had a purpose for me. And
blessed be God when a man can look back and say, God separated
me from my mother's womb. And everybody that's saved can
say that with glory in their voice. God brought me into this
world. God brought me into this world.
But now notice what else He did. He called me by His grace. He
called me by His grace. Now that means that Paul became
a partaker of the heavenly calling. That means that he heard from
heaven. That means he heard from God. There was a day when God
arrested him on the road to Damascus and when God saved his soul and
revealed His Son in me. He revealed His Son in me. The
Lord Jesus came into his heart and every time that that you
see Christ in a believer. And we're not suffering from
seeing too much Christ in believers. Every time you see Christ in
a believer, you can say, God revealed His Son in that person.
God has revealed His Son. God put His Son in him, and He
revealed Him. Here He is. He's Christ-like.
And God has revealed Him, and therefore, there He is. You say,
is Jesus living today? Amen! He lives in all of his
people. Every one of them. He's alive. Living in his people. Again, Paul was talking about
this internal effect of call when he wrote to Timothy in 2
Timothy 1 verses 9 through 11 saying, God has saved us and
called us with a holy calling. Not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose. and grace, which was given us,
and I like that word given, don't you? Given. Given. It means you didn't buy it. That
means it's not purchasable. It was given. It's a gift of
God. Given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death. I like that. and hath brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel, whereunto
I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the
Gentiles." That's what Paul was talking about. He's talking about
this being a partaker of the heavenly calling. That this calling
is from God. It's a holy calling. And it wasn't
according to our works, but it was according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us long before the world began.
But it's now made manifest. it's made manifest. All right,
now notice something about the character of the call, this heavenly
call. Whenever the Apostle Paul speaks
of this call, he seems to me to be overwhelmed by it. He's overwhelmed by it. This
is something that that had just got a hold of Paul. It really
got a hold of him. Being called of God. Called of
God. Now do you know my friend, listen,
there's people in this world this morning, poor humble sheep
of Christ, who would give their odd teeth to be able to say,
I know I'm called of God. I know that God has called me.
Well Paul knew that God had called him. He knew it. There wasn't
any question in his mind. He seems to be in such awe of
these that he cannot find words sufficient to describe this heavenly
calling. In 2 Timothy 1 and 9, the verse
I just read to you a few minutes ago, he calls it a holy calling.
And in Philippians 3.14 he says, he calls it the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. The high calling. And then in
Romans 11, 29, he speaks of it as the calling of God. 1 Corinthians
1, 26 and Ephesians 4, 4, he speaks of it as your calling. The people of God, their calling.
Hebrews 3 and 1, our text this morning, he speaks of it as being
a heavenly calling. Now I want to describe this calling
further, and this will take up the last part of our message.
You just bear with me. I know what time it is. And I
will be very satisfied to close when I'm finished. And I wish
this morning that you would just listen and hear me out to the
very end. Now this calling of God, this heavenly calling is
described in many ways in doctrinal and theological works. But I
feel it is best described in the words of the Holy Scriptures
themselves. I think that if we're going to
grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord, we need to become
familiar with the Word of God, we need to become familiar with
the Holy Scriptures, that we'd be able to understand what the
Scriptures are saying to us. First of all then, it is a call
out of gross darkness. into God's marvelous light. In 1 Peter 2 and 9, I want you
to listen to this great and powerful verse of scripture. 1 Peter 2
and 9, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. What a verse! What a verse of
Scripture! In 2 Corinthians 4 and 6 Paul
says, For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness
has shined in our hearts to give the light, the knowledge, and
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. John Gill said,
when the Apostle Paul was called by grace, there was a light that
surrounded him as an emblem of that internal light which was
sprung in him. There was a light that shined
around about him. And after that, there fell from
his eyes, as it had been scaled, as a token of the removal of
his former darkness and his ignorance. A wonderful statement. Now before
God saved us, we were like all other men. All men are alike
in this respect. They're engulfed in gross darkness
of their own depraved hearts and their spiritual ignorance. Though we had been chosen of
God and redeemed by the Savior's blood, we were totally ignorant
of God's character. Totally ignorant. Totally ignorant
of God's character. They don't know who God is. That's
the reason why they can be hoodwinked by all the religions of the world
and be deceived by the religious tomfoolery of the world. Totally
ignorant of God's character and totally ignorant of their own
sin. They don't know how bad a sinner they really are. They
don't know. Does anybody here know the depth
of their depravity? No one. The Bible says that you
don't even know your own heart. You don't know how sinful you
are. You don't know how sinful, how wicked that you really are. We were all also ignorant of
the person and work of the Lord Jesus. The Scriptures. Anybody? I didn't know what the
first book in the Bible was from the last book in the Bible when
God saved me. Ignorant of the Scriptures. The
Gospel? Well the gospel, anybody could
have told me this is gospel and I would have believed it before
the Lord saved me because I was ignorant of the gospel. And you're
ignorant of it today too if you're an unbeliever. If you're a lost
sinner, you're ignorant of the gospel. Now I'm trying to exalt
here the call of God's grace. That's what I'm doing. I'm trying
to put man in his original state. in sin to magnify this glorious
heavenly calling. So we're ignorant of the scriptures,
we're ignorant of the gospel, ignorant of the providence of
God, and ignorant of the Spirit of Grace. Ignorant of it. We
knew absolutely nothing of God or of faith in His Son or eternal
life. We were blind and we were in
gross darkness. Now by the effectual call of
God, the Holy Spirit has come and the eyes of our understanding
have been opened. And Peter speaks of it as marvelous
light, being called out of darkness into marvelous light. We are now made to see the light
and walk in the light as the children of light. And it is
said, it is said, can you believe it? It is said that believers
have an unction with the Holy One and now they know all things. Can you believe it? These same
people that were in gross darkness, depraved, and in sin's darkness,
dark as Egypt, and now they have an unction with the Holy One
causing them to know all things. Believers have the mind of Christ,
we're told. Believers understand the truth.
The believer believes the truth, and he receives the love of the
truth. He receives it now. There's no
such thing as a true believer who despises, looks down on revealed
truth concerning God and His ways, Himself, and His sin, or
grace and salvation. Now I want you to listen to me.
I know there's a lot of people in this world, religious people
too, that despise the doctrine of God's grace, His saving grace,
the doctrines of grace, the truth of God's salvation. They despise
it. They look down upon it. And so
therefore, my friend, we conclude that those people never, never,
never have been called with this heavenly calling. They have not
received this calling which has brought them out of this darkness
into light. And so you find somebody kicking
against the doctrine of salvation, being all together for the grace
of God from beginning to end, then you know that person's in
darkness. He's blind. So being taught of God, born
of the Spirit, enlightened by His grace, saved people have
the ability to distinguish things that differ. Now I'm not saying
that men and women, boys and girls, are saved with a beard
on, spiritually speaking. I'm not saying that. I am saying
that as they follow on to know the Lord, they know the difference
between grace and works. They know the difference between
free grace and free will. They are called out of darkness
into light, my friend, and we no longer grope about in the
darkness, not knowing what the doctrine is, not knowing what
to believe. We walk in the light as He is
in the light. This is the calling from heaven. Now furthermore, Galatians 5
and 13 says, this calling is a call to liberty. A call to
liberty. For brethren, ye have been called
unto liberty. Only use not this liberty for
occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. We spend
all of our days before conversion under the power and the influence
of the devil. But we're now Christ free men. Free men. Did you get it? We're
Christ's free men. We were the servants of the devil,
but we're free now in the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God for
the blessed liberation of grace. Like a strong man armed, we were
held in bondage. We were held in sin's armed bondage
before this liberating call that called us until liberty came
down from heaven to our poor soul, grace has set me free. The Son, if the Son sets you
free, you'll be free indeed. The Lord Jesus Christ sets sinners
free. And you're never free until you're
set free by Him. And until you receive the call
to liberty, you're in bondage and you'll remain in bondage.
until that call comes from God down out of heaven. So grace
has set us free. We who believe have been called
into liberty, even the glorious liberty that the sons of God
enjoy in this world and shall enjoy for all eternity. Furthermore,
and I hasten to a conclusion, in 1 Corinthians 1 and 9 we're
told that God is faithful by whom ye were called unto the
fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I want you
to listen to that verse. First Corinthians 1 and 9. This
calling is by God who is faithful. He called you unto the fellowship. Unto the fellowship of His Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Called to intimate, sweet fellowship
with the triune God in our all-glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you think, can you think
about that a little bit? Can you think about having been
called unto fellowship? You say, me? Fellowship with
God? Well my friend, you say that
seems impossible. You've been called into it. You've
been called into it. This heavenly calling is a call
to your soul to fellowship with the God of heaven. God's house
is open to you. The Lord's table is open to you.
The very throne of God is open unto you. And God says, come
boldly to the throne. Make your request known and find
grace and strength to help in the time of need. You've been
called to fellowship with God. You say, well, what a privilege.
Well, bless God, it is a privilege. A holy privilege. A privilege
that has been granted to us by Almighty God. So what a great
privilege we have. Called in a fellowship with the
Eternal God. And so we close with mentioning
our text again. Holy brethren partakers of the
heavenly calling. Called from heaven to bring us
to heaven. Have you heard the call of God?
Well, God is pleased to give the effectual call as the gospel
is preached. As the word of the Lord is preached.
As the message is declared. That's why you should stay under
the sound of the word. Why you ought to listen to the
word of God. Why you ought to be reading the word of God. Why
you ought to be hearing. Oh Earth! Earth! Earth! Hear the word of the Lord! For
in the hearing of the word, God is pleased to send out the voice
of His Spirit to give you the heavenly calling and to bring
you out of your sin. God has chosen through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. How shall they hear
without a preacher? How will they call upon Him whom
they have not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? How shall they preach except
to be sent? He be sent of God to your soul. This message this morning, no
accident, no accident, you heard it, and you'll never be the same. May God be pleased to bless you. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And you've heard the Word of
God this morning, and I pray that you may also hear that heavenly
calling. I'm here to say, at the close
of this meeting, that there is no salvation. You cannot be numbered
among the holy brethren unless you're partakers of the heavenly
calling. That needs to be soberly, somberly
spoken and received. The heavenly calling you must
have. May God be pleased to give you
that call this morning from heaven. Come up here! Come to me! Come
to me! Come to me, saith Christ! Come
to me! All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me! and they that come to me I will
in no wise cast out."