Let's turn together to the 8th
chapter of Romans, Romans chapter 8. There are numerous names and
titles given to God's people in this world which distinguishes
God's elect from other men, titles by which we are set forth as
being the peculiar, distinct objects of God's free, saving
grace in Christ. God's people are called the elect,
they're called the chosen, the redeemed of the Lord, and the
called. Those who are regenerated, all
who are born of God, all who believe on, who trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ, are given this peculiar, distinct name,
the called. And by this, God distinguishes
us from those who are not called by his grace. Look at Romans
8.28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are, now
look at the definite article, thee called. Thee called according
to his purpose. Now this is obvious, at least
it's obvious to anyone whose brain has not been addled or
pickled by the vinegar of Arminian freewill works religion. The
call in this passage does not refer to the general external
call that comes to men by the preaching of the gospel. Those
who believe as well as those who believe not are called in
that general sense. But this speaks of those who
are the called, who are loved of God, who are ultimately glorified
in Jesus Christ. So the call here is talking about
the personal. internal, effectual, irresistible
call of God the Holy Spirit by which sinners are brought to
Jesus Christ the Lord. I really like the way John Gill
describes this effectual, irresistible call of grace which comes to
chosen sinners at the time of God's appointed mercy and grace.
He says, Christ stands in the gospel ministry at the door of
men's hearts and knocks and calls. Having the key of the house of
David, he opens the heart by the power of his grace and lets
himself in in this way, and by this means the Spirit and his
graces are received. Men who are called are called
both to grace and to glory by the gospel. The call of the gospel
is that means by which God is pleased to bring sinners from
death to life to faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. He never bypasses
the means. He calls sinners by the preaching
of the gospel, whether orally, as I'm doing this morning, or
whether he calls them by the gospel written and published
and they read it. But he calls men through the
instrumentality of the gospel preached. Now today I want to
show you three things plainly taught in scripture about this
effectual call, and then we will try to answer one question. First,
understand this. Those who are the called of God
are called according to God's sovereign, eternal purpose of
grace in what's described in scripture as election, the election
of grace, eternal election, the election of God's purpose and
predestination. Sinners are not called to life. They are not called to faith
in Christ. They're not irresistibly and
effectually brought to Christ by the exercise of their wills,
but rather by the exercise of God's will. We do not come to
Christ and are brought to Christ as a result of our work, our
will, or something we do, or something we might do, but rather
by the power and work of God the Holy Spirit within us. That
which distinguishes God's elect from other people is distinguishing
grace. The apostle raised the question,
who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that
thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Let me
see if I can illustrate what he's teaching us. If some sitting
here this morning are believers, and the distinction between you
who believe and those who believe not is your choice, your decision,
your will, something you have done, then you have every reason
to glory before God. You have every reason to boast
before Him. You have every reason to say,
now here, the reason I differ from those who are lost is because
I chose the Lord. And that's exactly what religion
teaches men to do. But the distinction is not your
choice. The distinction is not something you do. You believe,
if you believe, according to the working of God's mighty power,
that same power which He brought in Christ when He raised Him
from the dead. Here in Romans chapter 8, in
verses 28 and 29, or verse 28, and then in chapter 9, the Holy
Spirit tells us plainly how men are saved according to God's
purpose. We read verse 28 of chapter 8.
Turn to chapter 9. And look at verse 16, Romans
9, verse 16. So then, since God has mercy
on whom he will have mercy, since God said, I Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated, so then, it is not of him that willeth,
but nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For the scripture saith to Pharaoh,
even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might
show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Now that's
not reading from some theology book, that's not reading something
I have written, that's reading directly from the word of God.
So then it is not in any way, shape, or form, at any point
of time. It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. Salvation is not the work of
man. It is not a work in which man
contributes his part and God contributes his part. Salvation
is of the Lord. God Almighty has, from eternity,
in His sovereign purpose of grace, ordained and decreed the time
in which He will call His people. You who yet are without faith
in Christ, if God has chosen you, at his appointed time, he'll
get you. He will call you. And He will
call you irresistibly. And when He calls you, you will
delight to come to Him. That's just fact. When we preach
the gospel, we do not preach the gospel hoping somehow maybe
it might, if we preach it just right, if we use just the right
words, use just the right phrases, use just the right catch words,
and massage men's minds and tell stories that will draw tears
to their eyes. We can persuade you maybe to
believe. Oh, no. We preach the gospel
with this confidence. Every sinner chosen by God Almighty,
redeemed by the blood of Christ, he will call. He'll call them
by his grace. And he will call them at the
time which he has set. Not only has he ordained the
time, he's ordained the very place where he will call his
chosen. And he will bring them to that
place. Read the 107th Psalm. That's what it's all about. In
God's wise and good providence, he rules all things good and
evil. He overrules the evil that's
in the hearts of men and the evil that men perform. He overrules
that which is apparently contrary to his purpose, and he overrules
it to bring his elect to the place and to the time where he
will call them. He has even ordained the instrument
by which he will call them. The Ethiopian eunuch could not,
I use the word deliberately, he could not ever believe except
by the voice of a man named Philip, whom God had ordained as the
instrument by which he would believe. And therefore the Lord
God caught Philip up and translated him miraculously, supernaturally
to that place where the eunuch was reading in the scripture
just at the time God had ordained from eternity at the place God
had ordained from eternity and Philip sat in the chariot with
him and expanded to him the scriptures and he believed on the Son of
God. Isn't that a marvel of grace? God brought Lydia to Philippi
just at precisely the time the Apostle Paul was passing through
Philippi and she believed. God arrested Paul in his providence
at Philippi just at the time when that crusty old soldier
had been put out to pasture, keeping prison house there at
Philippi in Rome, and he was arrested so that the time of
the calling of the Philippian jailer came precisely when the
instrument of his call was there. God has ordained everything with
regard to the salvation of his people. Nothing is left to chance.
Nothing. God has brought you, every one
of you who are His, through the path which you have come. He
has brought you through the experiences of life which you've experienced
to the time and place He would call you by His grace. Brother
Bob Duff sitting here told me, I think Tuesday night going out
the church door, He said, God put me flat on my back laying
in the floor for three weeks, I think he was saying. Laying
on the floor, just flat on my back. Been in church all his
life. Been teaching Sunday school most of his life. Laying me flat
on my back. My back, just terrible pain. And I laid there and did something
I'd never done before. I started watching you two or
three times every week. And God saved me by His grace.
Thank God for the back trouble. I have a friend, a man and his wife, he's a prisoner,
federal penitentiary, has been since he's 16 years old. But while he sat in prison, God
was pleased to call him by His grace. His wife, raised in Orthodox
Judaism, just a rebel, just a rebel, used to run with the hell's angels.
Called her by His grace. Thank God for the prison house,
for the arrangement of his providence. Does that negate man's responsibility? Does that mean a man's not responsible
for what he does? Not at all. Does that mean God
Almighty is gracious? That's what it means. Does that
mean God is all wise? That's what it means. Does that
mean God rules this world? That's exactly what it means.
We think, I don't know why we can't get over it, we all think
We know what's best. And therefore, we fret with God's
providence. Oh, God, teach me to trust your
providence. Every aspect of our calling must
be traced to God's purpose. The hymn writer said, "'Tis not
that I did choose thee, for, Lord, that could not be. This
heart would still refuse thee, hadst thou not chosen me. My
heart owns none before thee, for thy rich grace I thirst.
This knowing, if I love thee, thou must have loved me first.'"
Secondly, those who are the called are called by God's sovereign,
irresistible grace, by the almighty, irresistible power of God the
Holy Spirit. And when we say the Spirit's
call is irresistible, when we say grace is irresistible, we
do not mean that people don't resist. Oh no, no, we all resist. We all fight against God. We
all resist the Spirit. Every man does. Men will not
come to Christ, no matter what, except they be called. But those
who are called cannot resist. They cannot resist. How can you
say that? Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
15. The great impulse, moving cause
of the effectual call is the grace of God. The Apostle Paul
describes the call of God as a call of grace. Free, sovereign,
undeserved, irresistible, distinguishing grace. Look at verse 10, 1 Corinthians
15. The grace of God, by the grace
of God I am what I am. And His grace, look at it, which
was offered to me. Which was presented to me. His
grace, which I had a chance to get. Anybody got a Bible that
reads like that? No. His grace which was bestowed
on me. Isn't that wonderful? God Almighty
comes in the time of His love and freely bestows His grace. Look at chapter 1 of Galatians,
verse 15. The apostle says, when it pleased
God. When will a sinner be saved?
When it pleases God. We take our children, this grandson
that we hope to have in the next week or two. I have, since the
day I learned he was conceived, given him to my God. Before my
daughter was ever born, all the whole nine months Shelby was
pregnant with her, I had given her to God. Will God be pleased
to call? I can't say. I can't say. But
this I can say. If they're His, He will call
them when it pleased Him from eternity. And I can't do anything
to make it any quicker, and I can't do anything to make it any further
out in the distance. When it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb, what a word. God separated me from
all the rest of humanity before ever I was born. He called me
by his grace. You see that? Says David Burge,
you were midlife a little older. What was going on all those years? Oh, what a waste. Well, yeah, but not at all. When it pleased God, He called
you by His grace, put you in the place where you'd hear His
word and be glad you did. He separated me from my mother's
womb, called me by His grace. Listen to me now. God, as the
God of all grace, calls His elect to grace and glory by Christ.
The infinite superabundance of His grace in Christ was displayed
to us in the call. The first display any sinner
has of grace, the first display any sinner has of God's goodness
to him, the first display any sinner has that he perceives
of God's mercy is when he's called by his grace. Preachers everywhere,
they say, God loves you. God loves you. You have no right
scripturally, no right biblically, and you do positive harm to men.
You do positive harm to declare to lost, unbelieving rebels that
God loves them. You have no right to do it. God
loves sinners, yes sir. Christ died for sinners, yes
sir. But until you identify with that crowd, until God calls you
by his grace, there's nothing but the wrath of God on you.
Read the book. The scriptures nowhere, nowhere
declare to lost men that God's merciful to them. The first evidence
of the call is the display of grace in the call. Or the first
evidence of grace is the display of grace in the call. And then,
when God calls by His Spirit, through the word preached, we
see something of the infinite grace, mercy, and love of God
in Christ. And then we are with loving kindness
drawn to Christ. And that's the fruit and evidence
of the call. And we're drawn to him because
of his love in the time of his love. Now let's look at three
scriptures. Turn to Jeremiah 31. You can probably quote it,
but I want you to look at it. Jeremiah chapter 31. Verse 3, The Lord God hath appeared of
old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Who's called? Who's drawn to Christ by His
Spirit? Those whom He loved with an everlasting love. When does
he do it? In the time of his love. Look
at Ezekiel 16 verse 8. Ezekiel 16 verse 8. Now when I passed by thee, and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love. And
I spread my skirt over thee, and I covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. Now we were his already. He made
us. He created us. We were his by
election and adoption already. But we became His experimentally
in the time of His love when He called us by His grace. Now
let's look at one more prophecy, Zechariah 12, verse 10. When is it that sinners believe
on Christ? When will a man come to Christ?
What does it take for you to be drawn to Christ? Zechariah
12, verse 10. I will pour upon the house of
David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace
and of supplications. When God pours out his spirit
on you and causes you by his grace to supplicate his throne
as a needy sinner, then shall they look upon me whom they have
pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his
only son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one is in bitterness
for his firstborn. The fact that the call is given
to some and not to others demonstrates plainly that it is the work of
God's sovereign distinguishing grace. The fact that this call
comes, as it is spoken of and illustrated in the Holy Scripture,
always results, always, always. When God the Holy Spirit goes
fetching, sinners come running. When God calls, sinners come. That's always the way it's described
in Scripture, not a single illustration otherwise, not a single text
that says otherwise, but always. The result of the call is faith
in Christ. That demonstrates that the call
of God's grace is an irresistible effectual call. Now here's the
third thing. Those who are called are called
of Christ. This is what we're told in Romans
chapter 1. Look at it. You don't have to turn to that,
just listen. Romans 1.6. Among whom are ye also the called
of Jesus Christ. But I thought the call was the
work of the Holy Spirit. Read the book one more time and
you'll see that all three persons in the Holy Trinity are involved
in all the work of grace. But the whole work of grace performed
by the triune God is designed to give glory and praise and
honor to Jesus Christ as our substitute, the God-man mediator,
he who gave himself for us. Believers are described as the
call of Jesus Christ because the Holy Spirit calls those who
were redeemed by Christ. He is sent by Christ and they
are made by Him to come to Christ. Brother Todd and I were talking
coming down the road yesterday, coming back home, and I said
to Todd, we were discussing this matter of particular redemption.
It is the common point at which men seek to compromise and yet
pretend to honor God. They say, well, I believe in
this, that, and the other, but not particular redemption. Let
me tell you something. Particular redemption The whole of Christianity,
the whole of true faith, the whole of the gospel stands or
falls with the efficacy of Christ's atonement. Either he redeemed
somebody or he didn't. And if he didn't, we are yet
in our sins. Those who are redeemed by Christ
are called by God the Holy Spirit as he is sent by Christ to fetch
those whom he has redeemed. You remember David made a covenant
with Jonathan, and the time came for him to fulfill the covenant,
and David the king sent Ziba, the servant of Jonathan, down
to Lodibar to fetch Mephibosheth. And God, our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, our great David, the king of glory, sends his
Holy Spirit, who is sent to serve the souls of his people, to fetch
his elect at the appointed time of his grace. Well, let me try
to answer a question now. Who are the called? Who are those
who are called? Lots of ways to answer it. Those
you least expect. Sinners and harlots go into the
kingdom of God before scribes and Pharisees. Those you least
expect. Jesse's sons, he brought them
out for Samuel to anoint him. Samuel looked them over one after
the other. God told him, that's not him, that's not him. Samuel
said, Jesse, don't you have another son? Well, yeah, but it's David. He's that little ruddy cheek,
scrawny thing that would send him out to take care of the sheep.
He said, go get him. And David walked in the house,
the least expected of all sons. And the Spirit of God said, arise,
anoint him, this is he. You see your calling, brethren?
Of not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But
God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise. He's chose that which is nothing
to bring to nothing that which is. That's God's way. That's
His way. Who are the called? All those
who believe on the Son of God are called. That's it. That's it. We know
our calling and our redemption and our election when we, by
the grace of God, look to Christ. I've been called of God. I know
I have. I've been redeemed by the precious
blood of Christ. I know I have. I've been chosen
of God in everlasting love. I know I have, Bobby, because
this sinner trusts God's Son. And I could not and would not
trust Him had I not been called. All right. I trust that's helpful
to you. Lord Wendell Glens will be back
to teach you next week.