You will be interested to know
that last week, a week before last now, I received a letter
from Bacchus Books in Rochester, New York. They want to publish
all of the hymns that I have written. So, Lord willing, this
week we'll be getting those off to the publisher. If God is pleased
to use those hymns to help His church worship Him, we'll rejoice. So you'll be praying for His
blessings upon that endeavor, if you will. It'll probably be
several months before anything is completed, but you'll be praying
for it and praying for God's blessings upon it. Turn with
me to Revelation 17. The book of Revelation chapter
17. In this chapter, We are assured
of the destruction of all false religion, as it is symbolized
by Babylon, the mother of harlots. Though supported through the
centuries by kings, nations, and empires, Babylon will fall
at last. Though it is maintained, enriched,
and adorned by Satan, with the gaudy ornaments of the earth,
all false religion will be destroyed at last. Though the kings and
people of the earth drink from the golden cup which the great
whore holds in her hand, though they are made drunk with the
wine of her fornication, the filthiness of the world's religion,
the abomination of freewillism and works religion will be exposed
at last, and those who have been deceived by it shall loathe it
forever. In the end, the truth of God
shall prevail. The church of Christ shall be
victorious at last. The gates of hell cannot and
shall not prevail against her. The gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace, the gospel of substitutionary atonement and
effectual mercy will win the day. Our Lord Jesus Christ will
see to it. In all things, we are more than
conquerors. through him that loved us. The
message of this entire book of Revelation, from beginning to
end, is a message of victory through grace. Though tried,
persecuted, scorned, derided, and afflicted, the Church of
God shall triumph over all her enemies. The Lord Jesus Christ
shall be exalted over his enemies. It is true. Yes, it is true. The God of peace shall bruise
Satan under your feet very shortly. In verse 14 of this chapter,
the Holy Spirit inspired John to show us that which the angel
specifically revealed to him concerning the saints of God. We read in verse 14, these shall
make war with the lamb. And the Lamb shall overcome them,
for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that are with
him are called and chosen and faithful. Now here are four things
which he gives us for the comfort and edification of God's saints
in all ages. First, the angel assured John
of this fact. It's a fact repeated throughout
the scriptures. The world is always opposed to
and always persecutes the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. When
John saw the kings of the earth, whose rule and power is inspired
by the hellish beast, the angel said, these shall make war with
the lamb. They do not make war with the
lamb personally. He's gone to glory. but they
make war with the Lamb's seed, with his redeemed ones, with
his church in this world. The kings of the earth represent
the secular, political, economic, philosophical, academic powers
of the earth, all acting in unison with and by the inspiration of
the great whore false religion. Now be sure you understand what
I have said. The whole world system, economic, political,
philosophical, academic. The whole world system is opposed
to the truth of God and to the Church of God. The whole world
is opposed to it. These shall make war with the
Lamb. In other words, the world which
is drunk with the religion of Babylon The world which is drunk
with the religion of freewillism, self-righteousness, and works
always has been and always will be opposed to Christ, the Church
of God, and the gospel of God's free grace. I stress this because
I want you to understand that the days in which we live in
many ways are just like all other days, just as it was in the days
of Cain and Abel it is today. The seed of the serpent persecutes
the seed of the woman as it was in the days of ishmael and isaac
it is today The children of bondage persecute the children of free
grace and the promise As it was in the days of old, it is now. God's church is always, the gospel
of God's grace is always, the glory of Jesus Christ is always
the object of the world's wrath, enmity, and persecution. The
truth of God is never accepted, supported, and maintained by
popular opinion. Never has been, never will be.
I hear folks talk and they They talk rather glowingly of days
when men everywhere believed the gospel. But it had never
been such a day as that. They talk glowingly of days when
all the churches preached grace. There had never been such a day
as that. There had never been such a day. The truth of God
has always been in the minority. It always will be in the minority
until Christ comes again. During the days of Noah, The
Church of God got down to one man. It was one man, Noah, against
the world. In the days of Abraham, it was
down to one family. Abraham and his family alone
knew God. And throughout the Old Testament
era, 4,000 years on this earth, there was no nation in the world
that had the light of divine truth but the nation of Israel.
In the early days of our Lord's ministry, He preached to crowds,
but the crowds dwindled away until at last, when He left this
world, He left His church, numbering about 120 people. There was a
time of great revival, just after the Lord's resurrection, when
thousands were converted. But even at that, compared with
the world at large, that church was a very small minority. And my friends, you need not
to expect the world to embrace, to believe, to rejoice in the
message of God's free grace. The world rejoices in its free
will. The world rejoices in its power,
in its dominion over God. It does not rejoice or even accept
and will not tolerate, unless forced to do so by God Himself,
will not tolerate the message of God's free grace. If you follow
Christ, you're going to have to fight the world. Specifically,
you're going to have to fight the religion of the world. Specifically. Our Lord speaks plainly to us.
The whole world religion is opposed to the gospel. The persecutions
that have arisen throughout the centuries always arise and are
inspired first and primarily by religious folks. Always just
read your history books, read the Bible. It was the religious
leader, the religious leaders of the day who brought the Lord
Jesus up to be crucified. It was the religious leaders
of the day who brought the apostle Paul to be put in prison and
finally beheaded. The religions of the world are
opposed to the gospel of Christ. And if you and I follow Christ,
If I preach the gospel of God's grace, if you support it, you're
going to meet with opposition in this world. And the opposition
you meet with, principally, will come from religious people. Principally
so. We must never seek, recognizing
these things, we must never seek to conciliate or to unite with
the enemies of Jesus Christ. I know the temptation is always
present. Let's try to kind of tone things
down. Let's try to be a little bit conciliatory. Let's try a little compromise.
Not much, not much, just a little. Let's try to win folks over by
kind of toning down the message. And we dare not do so when we
begin to tone down the message, when we begin to take the sharp,
rough edges off of gospel truth and make it palatable to men.
If we make this message palatable to natural men, we have destroyed
the message and it'll do them no good to receive it. None whatever. Our Lord tells us by the Apostle
James, don't you know that the friendship of the world is enmity
with God? He that would be the friend of
the world is the enemy of God. Now, we cannot embrace this world. I know that generally when people
talk about that, and they apply those texts of Scripture to lots
of things, but they talk about, you know, not being friends of
the world's system and the world's people and people out there who
are irreligious and profligate and vile, and it includes that.
But principally, principally, if you'll read the Scriptures,
the injunction of separation from the world is an injunction
that we should be separate from the world's religion. Totally
isolated from the religion of the world. Turn over to 1 Corinthians
chapter 6, or 2 Corinthians 6. Hold your hand here in Revelation,
and turn back to 2 Corinthians 6. Let me show you this. Paul is writing to these Corinthians,
men and women who were converted out of Gentile paganism. And
he says in verse 14, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
Don't form association with unbelievers. You're going to do nothing but
harm yourself if you do. Don't do it. For what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord, what agreement
is there between Christ and Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? You see, he's talking about the
religion of the world. There's no place where Christ
and Belial can be made to agree. What agreement hath the temple
of God with the idols of this world? For ye are the temple
of the living God. As God hath said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among
them, that is, the idol worshippers, those who refuse the word of
God, and walk after their own way, come out from among them,
and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing. What's he talking about? He's
talking about the idol house. He's talking about the religious
houses, the religious institutions, the religious worshippers of
this day who refuse to submit to God. Touch not the unclean
thing, and I'll receive you. And I will be a father unto you,
and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. So the first thing that the angel
revealed to John is the fact that the world is always opposed
to. and always persecutes Christ and his church. When John saw
this, he recognized it, he submitted to it, and he was encouraged
by another thing. The angel next showed John that
the Lord Jesus Christ, though opposed continually, shall overcome
all his enemies. Look at this next line. These
shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them. He shall. Now there's just no
question at all about that. Hold your hand here in Revelation
and turn back to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45. You're familiar with
the Scripture in Philippians 2. The Apostle Paul says that
God has given him a name that is above every name that at the
name of jesus every knee shall bow Of things in heaven and of
things in the earth and of things under the earth And that every
tongue should confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of
god the father That same text was prophesied back here in isaiah
45 and verse 22 The lord says look unto me and be you saved
all the ends of the earth for i'm god and there is none else
I have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness,
and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow. Now that includes everybody and
everything. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue
shall swear or confess. Surely shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men
come. And all that are incensed against
him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified and shall glory. The Lord God said to his
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator, when he had finished
his work, he said, sit thou at my right hand until I make thy
foes thy footstool. And the Lord Jesus Christ sits
upon the throne of glory today, awaiting the fulfillment of God's
promise when every enemy shall bow before him. throughout the
Word of God. And especially in this book,
Christ is constantly portrayed as the Lamb of God, pictured
in His sacrificial character. And it is by virtue of His sin-atoning
sacrifice that He must prevail over all His enemies. That is,
the gospel that we preach shall conquer the hearts of men. The
gospel which we preach is the message by which men must be
judged in the end. The Lord Jesus will overcome
some by the power of His saving grace. He's done that for many
of us. He's overcome us. We were incensed
against Him. We were rebels against Him. But
He overcame us by the power of His grace. Others He will overcome
by the rod of His wrath. In the day of judgment, His most
vehement enemy shall bow before Him and fall down and worship
Him as Lord alone. But He will overcome all His
enemies. The prophet said in Psalm 89 that the Lord God will
make His enemies to fall before Him. He will beat down His foes
before Him. The conquest of Christ is a matter
of absolute certainty because of this third thing that's revealed
in our text. He is totally sovereign over everything. John has this
message from the angel. He says that these shall make
war with the Lamb. And the Lamb shall overcome them
for or because he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Now there's just no question
about that. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a total sovereign. God the
Father, because of his finished work as our mediator, has made
him to have power over all flesh. He's made him Lord over all things. He's given into the hands of
Christ total dominion for the accomplishment of our salvation
and the accomplishment of God's purposes. If our God and Savior
were not totally sovereign over all things, we could not be certain
that any promise He has made would be fulfilled. There are
some who seem to think this matter of Christ's sovereignty is not
an important issue of faith. The fact is, if he were not sovereign,
we could not be sure that he would triumph in the end. Everything
would be unstable. Divine sovereignty is essential
to faith. Divine sovereignty is essential
to hope. Divine sovereignty is essential
to confidence in God's promise. We know He will do what He said
because He's able to do what He said, and none can stay His
hand nor say unto Him, What doest thou? If God were not sovereign,
we could not with sanity trust ourselves implicitly to His hands. But we rejoice to know that He
whom we trust, He into whose hands we have committed our souls,
is absolutely, totally, universally sovereign over all things. always
doing all things according to the good pleasure of His own
will. He's eternally sovereign. He's
universally sovereign. He's naturally sovereign as God.
He's rightfully sovereign as our Mediator. And blessed be
His name, Jesus Christ is graciously sovereign. He has mercy on whom
He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens. But hear
me, He does have mercy. He's graciously sovereign. He
exercises his sovereign rule over everything to show grace
and mercy to whom he will. And then the one thing that distinguishes
God's elect from all other people in this world is their relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ, this great, glorious, sovereign Lamb,
King of kings and Lord of lords. The people of this world shall
make war with the Lamb. And the Lamb shall overcome them.
For he is Lord of lords and King of kings. Now listen to how John
describes, or how the angel describes those who are born of God. And
they that are with him. With him. Are you with him? They
that are with him. Others make war with the Lamb.
These are with the Lamb. They are one with him. United
to him by grace. from all eternity. I was looking
at this text this afternoon. There's an astonishing mystery
that we shall not comprehend until we reach the other side,
I'm sure. But we are really and truly one
with Christ. Now listen carefully. So much
one with Christ. that in his mediatorial capacity,
in his office capacity as surety, mediator, king, prophet, priest,
he could not exist without us. Is that right? Yes, sir, that's
right. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks
of us being one even as he is one with the Father. The Father
could not exist without the Son, nor the Son without the Father.
The two exist together to make up the Godhead. And Christ could
not exist in His mediatorial office capacity as our representative
and covenant head if even one of His members were missing.
Let me show you from the Scriptures. In Ephesians chapter 1, the book
of Ephesians chapter 1, Now, this is something concerning
the glorious security of God's elect. We are members of his
body, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Paul says this
is a great mystery. I'm not talking about a husband
and wife. I'm talking about Christ in the church, really and truly
one. In Ephesians 1 and verse 22,
the apostle says, God has put all things under Christ's feet.
He made him Lord. He's made him mediatorial king.
And gave him to be head over all things to the church. Now
look at this next line. Which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all. The completion of him that filleth
all in all. Now, here's a body. Everybody
can see it. Here's one small little member. Cut that member off. And the
body is not full. The body is not complete. One
little member is missing. And that missing member makes
the body incomplete. And our Lord Jesus Christ being
the head of his body, the church, if even one of his elect were
to perish under the wrath of God and fail to attain to eternal
glory, he would not and could not be complete as the mediatorial
head of his church and kingdom. We're one with him. It's union
with Christ the Lamb is that which separates and distinguishes
God's elect from all others. It is this union with Christ
that makes us acceptable with God and secures our eternal salvation. God's elect are with Christ now,
always have been with Christ and forever shall be with Christ.
We were with Him as our surety in the covenant of grace when
He struck hands with the Father and accomplished redemption in
God's purpose. We were with Him as our representative
while He lived upon this earth, bringing in an everlasting righteousness. We were with Him as He died as
our substitute upon the cross, and we were crucified with Him.
I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. We were with him. when He arose
from the dead and ascended into heaven as our Mediator King.
He took His place at the Father's right hand. And the Apostle Paul
tells us that God made us to be seated together with Him in
heavenly places. We're with Him as He sits upon
the Father's right hand. And we're with Him right now.
Right now, one with Christ. And forever we must be one with
Him. More than that, we're with him in our hearts. By faith and
love, we're with him. We're with him. You know what
it means to be with somebody? Sometimes you send somebody on
a task to do a work and you say, well, I'm with you. I'm with you. And somebody comes
and they say, well, I've got a hard trying circumstance But I've
got to make some decisions Hope you'll pray for me and you turn
around you look at him. So well, I'm with you. I'm with you I want
you to know I'm with you or you see somebody going through trials
and struggles and you You can't say anything much to help them.
But you just say well, I I Want you to know brother. I'm with
you. I'm with you. That's what it means to be with
Christ These are they that are with him. Are you with him? Are
you with him? God's elect are. His cause is
our cause. We are with our Lord in all that
He does, in heart, in will, in purpose, in desire. God's saints
are with Christ. Now look at the last line of
verse 14. And notice how the angel describes
God's saints, identifying them by three distinct works of grace
on our behalf. Those who are with Christ are
called and chosen and faithful. With these three words, called
chosen and faithful, all who are truly born of God are described. These three words write the biography
of every redeemed sinner who enters into glory by the merits
of Christ. God's saints are called by the Spirit because they have
been chosen of God, and they are faithful to Christ because
they are called by God's free Spirit. Let me give you three
things, and I'll wrap this up. First, I want you to see that
all who are with Christ are with him by the almighty, effectual,
irresistible call of the Holy Spirit in regenerating grace.
Without question, there is a general call. A general call that goes
forth to all men, without qualification, every time the gospel is preached.
By the power, by the authority, by the very authority of God
himself. The gospel preacher commands
all who hear his voice to repent and believe on Christ. I stand
before you as God's ambassador. I believe I can speak with honesty
and declare I speak to you as God's ambassador with the authority
of God himself, with the authority of his word and with the call
of his spirit. And I command you in God's name
to believe on Christ, to repent and trust Christ. I am not inviting
you to anything. I'm not inviting you to a party.
I'm not inviting you to take sides with Jesus. I'm not inviting
you to join God's team. I'm commanding you in the name
of the King to bow down and worship the Son of God. The gospel is
not an invitation. It's a command. We are called
of God to preach the gospel to men and command all men everywhere
in the name of God to repent. It is the will and purpose of
God that this gospel of repentance be preached unto all men. And
so we preach this gospel and declare it in a general way.
Whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved. We declare it
in a general way. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. It is this general call which
we preach. The preaching of the gospel is not just an invitation
to go to heaven. It is a command of God. This
is His commandment that we believe on His Son. And there's all the
difference in the world between an invitation and a command.
An invitation is something that's optional. You're not going to
be punished if you refuse an invitation. Nothing's going to
happen if you refuse an invitation. Let's suppose that At the Fortner
house tomorrow night at 7 o'clock, we're going to throw a big party.
And I come up here and I invite you to come. Come over to the
house tomorrow night. We're going to have some cake
and coffee and pies and some ice cream and some sandwiches
and we'll have a time of fellowship together. If you'd like to come,
we'd love to have you. Come on. And Buddy says, well, I've got
to work. Well, that's all right. That's all right. Bobby says,
well, I got a ball game. That's all right. Nope, nothing
wrong with that. You can come next time. That'd be all right.
No problem with that. But now I come before you with
the authority of the sheriff of Boyle County. And I have a
piece of paper in my hand. I've got your name on it. It
says, Bob Ponce, I want to see you in court tomorrow morning at
10 o'clock. Now, brother, you come or you suffer the penalty
of the law for not coming. Do you follow me? And I'm coming
to you not with an invitation that you can come and join a
nice party with Jesus' name tacked on to it. I come to you in the
name of Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, and I say repent and
believe the gospel. If you refuse, you will suffer
the penalty of divine wrath forever when you refuse. This call, this
call to men to repentance, goes out to all who hear the gospel.
Now, somebody says we believe in a universal call. No, no, nobody does who reads
the Bible. Even this general call is not
universal. You read Matthew chapter 11,
you'll find that God hides this gospel from some and reveals
it to others as he will. There are multitudes in this
country today who have never yet heard the gospel of God's
free grace. Multitudes. I drive through town
after town after town after town every week, and I've passed through
towns where there's no gospel witness, no gospel preacher. Multitudes are perishing for
lack of knowledge, but God has not been pleased to send them
a messenger, and that's His sovereignty. But as we preach the gospel,
whoever hears it, the call goes out to them all. And those who
hear it are responsible to obey it. This call, this general call,
is necessary. Apart from the outward call,
apart from the preaching of the gospel, there is no possibility
of salvation. Let me show you a couple of texts
of scripture. Let's look at three of them. Begin at Romans chapter
10. Romans 10. This is the last verse
of our scripture reading this morning. Romans chapter 10. This call is necessary. The public
preaching of the gospel is absolutely essential to the salvation of
sinners. I call upon you. I thank God
that you rally to the call. I call upon you to support missionary
works around the world. I call upon you to do everything
we possibly can for the furtherance of the gospel. I thank God that
you hear what I'm saying. But there's a reason for it.
Men can't be saved without it, Bob. They can't be saved without
it. Nobody ever has or ever will be saved apart from hearing the
voice of a gospel preacher declaring the gospel of God's free grace.
I sometimes have folks to suggest that You know, the preaching
of the gospel is nice, but it's not necessary. God may say folks
apart from it, not according to the word in Romans 10, 17. So then faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. You can't believe it till you
hear it. Nobody can believe it till they hear it. Turn over
to James chapter one, James chapter one and verse 18. Is it necessary for men to hear
the gospel to be saved? Of his own will begat he us,
look at it, with the word of truth, that we should be a kind
of firstfruits of his creatures. Now look in 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter
1 and verse 22. 23, I'm sorry. Being born again. Not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible. But what is that seed? By the
word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh
is grass, and all the glory of man is as the flower of the grass.
The grass withereth, the flower thereof falleth away. But the
word of the Lord endureth forever. The word that he's talking about
is the whole book of sacred scripture. And how is it that men understand
this word? How is it that this word becomes
to those men who hear it the power of God to salvation? And
this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
What I'm doing to you tonight is preaching the word of God
to you. I'm declaring to you the message
of God's holy word. It is the gospel of God's free
grace. More than that, all who hear
this outward call, all who hear the gospel of Christ preached,
are responsible under God to obey it and trust Christ. Let
me show you some scriptures. Turn to John chapter 3. John
chapter 3. I'm talking now about this general
call. Does it matter whether or not
I pay attention to the preacher? Does it matter whether or not
we hear carefully and obey the word? John chapter 3. I'm telling you that you will
hear the gospel to the peril of your own soul if you refuse
to believe the gospel. John 3 verse 36. He that believeth
on the Son hath, right now, everlasting life. And he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Look in Romans chapter 10. Romans
10 and verse 21. The Apostle Paul is talking about
this thing of hearing and believing the gospel, the necessity of
the gospel being preached to sinners. In Romans 10 and verse
21, the Lord God says, All the day long, I have stretched
forth my hands unto a disobedient and a gainsaying people. Now,
I'm preaching the gospel to you. I'm saying repent and believe.
Call on Christ. Fall down and worship the Son
of God. Raise up the white flag of surrender to the claims of
the sovereign Christ. Say, I don't believe I will.
Oh, that's not to be taken lightly. That's not to be taken lightly.
Let me show you one more text. 1 John chapter 5. 1 John 5 and
verse 10. Some of you here have been hearing
the gospel a long time, and you harden your heart, and you harden
your heart, and you say, no, I will not believe. I will not
trust Jesus Christ. I will not submit to Christ.
Look at what God says. 1 John 5, verse 10. He that believeth
on the Son He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness
in himself, that is, the Spirit of God within bears witness that
we're the children of God. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because
he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son." We kindly excuse unbelief and
we make folks feel good about their unbelief. We act as though
unbelief is no terrible crime. The most horrible, vile, abominable,
wretched, loathsome crime in all the world is to hear the
gospel of Christ and not believe it. Is that right, Darwin? To hear the gospel and stand
in God's face and say, God Almighty, you're not fit to be believed.
I wouldn't say that. That's what you say by your unbelief.
God's a liar. God's a liar. I'm not what he
says I am. And Christ isn't who he says
he is. And it's not necessary for me to trust him. God's a
liar. Oh God, help you to hear me.
I'm preaching the gospel to you tonight one more time. It's your
responsibility to hear and obey. I'm calling you to faith in Christ.
Trust the Lord Jesus Christ right now. Right where you sit. Trust Christ. Confess your sin. Trust His atonement. Trust His
righteousness. Trust His grace. Trust His intercession. Trust Him. If you obey the gospel
call, You are right now S-A-V-E-D saved! If you refuse, in the
day of judgment, I'll stand before God, look you square in the face,
and say they deserve to be damned. Believe, and you're redeemed. Believe, and you're justified. Believe, and you're sanctified.
Believe, and Christ is yours. Forgiveness is yours. God is
yours. Heaven is yours. Eternity is
yours. But I know this. This outward
call alone will never produce faith in a sinner. If my voice is the only voice
you hear, You cannot do this. Yeah, you're responsible to,
but you can't do it. I preach to you and plead
with you and reason with you and pray for you. In preparing
the message, I seek a message from God, crying, Lord, God,
give me a message that those whom you gather need to hear.
I finished preparing the message and I call upon the Lord. for
power and grace and wisdom to preach the message. Speak to
your hearts. You may have noticed I sit up
here and usually have something to write down. I'm writing out
the cry of my heart to God. Lord, God, don't let me speak
alone. Fill my heart with a message from God. Fill me with the power
of your spirit and fill my words with power. to be delivered to
the hearts of you who hear. Because I'm fully aware that
many are called, but few are chosen. And I'm fully aware that
unless God speaks by me to your heart, it will do you no good
eternally to have heard me speak. No man, no matter how eloquent
no matter how sincere, no matter how earnest, no matter how convincing,
can preach the gospel effectually, producing faith in a man's heart,
or cause a sinner to come to Christ. Can't be done. Can't be done. Some of you know exactly what
I'm talking about. Many of you do. I preach to you. And preach to
you, preach to you. And you hear what I'm saying.
And you know what I'm saying is true. But somehow it doesn't
reach your heart. But then one day I come to preach. And the message comes from the
heart of God. through the pages of this book,
through the voice of this man in your heart, all the sins of
the world. That's the call I'm talking about.
That's the call I'm talking about. Oh, Spirit of God, do it. Do it again tonight. Call dead
folks to hear. Call dead folks. This is that
heavenly calling. Oh, may God make you partakers
tonight of this heavenly calling. Our text is talking about this
particular effectual call when it says, these are they who are
the called. They've been called not by the
voice of a man, but by the voice of God, the spirit. He uses the
voice of a man, but the call is divine. It's inward. It's
effectual. It's always saving. It always
produces faith. Oh, may God be pleased to make
you hear his voice. The hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live. It's the Spirit that quickeneth
the flesh, profiteth nothing. He calleth his own sheep by name,
and he leads them out. Whenever he calls one, he leads
them out. Blessed, O blessed, blessed is
the man whom God chooses and causes to approach unto Christ.
That's the cause spoken of in our text. It's illustrated time
and again in the Scriptures. The Lord called Ezekiel up to
look over a valley, a valley that apparently had been a battlefield
years before. It's full of bones. And behold,
they were very dry. They'd been bleached in the sun
for years. And the Lord said, Son of man, can these bones be
yours? Not if it depends on me, they
can't. Not if it's got anything to do with me, they can't. The
Lord, you know, you know, prophesy, O son of man. And as he spoke,
it commands from the Spirit of God to come upon those dry bones,
and the Spirit of God causes those bones to rise up, and flesh
to come upon those bones, and they stand before him as a great
army. That's the call of God's Spirit.
I'm calling out to dead sinners. Live! God tells you to live.
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
shall give you life. But you can't. You can't, unless
God the Spirit calls you. And if He calls, you'll live. Just that simple. I passed by thee, and I spread
my skirt over thee, and I said unto thee, live. Yea, I said
unto thee, live. And you stood and lived before
Him. You hath be quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sins. The Lord came to Zacchaeus, and
he came to where he was, and there sat Zacchaeus. There were
a bunch of fellows around. Zacchaeus sitting up there, out
of place. He's sitting up there among the
boys. There was a crowd of folks all
around. Crowd of folks everywhere. They heard that Jesus was coming
to town. This great healer, this mighty
miracle worker's coming to town. This man who claims to be the
Christ of God, the Messiah, the Son of God, he's coming to town.
And the streets were packed. They were jam-packed. Why, you
would have thought Ronald Reagan had come to Danville again. Everybody
wanted to see this man, Jesus. And Zacchaeus was up there in
the tree. And the Lord came to where Zacchaeus was, and he stopped
right there. Zacchaeus, come down, for today
I must abide as I have. What did Zacchaeus do? He sits
up there and says, well, I don't know if I want to come or not.
Ah, let me think this thing over a little bit. No, when the Son
of God calls, Zacchaeus comes down. The Lord came to the tomb
of Lazarus. And Lazarus had been dead for
four days. If the Lord had been there, Lazarus
wouldn't have died. But Lazarus died so that they
might see the glory of God. That's the reason God permitted
us to follow that Adam and Stark, so we'd see the glory of God. The Lord came to Lazarus' tomb,
and get this, he says to those who stood by, take ye away the
stone. Why'd he do that? For Merle,
if he could raise the dead, surely he could disintegrate the stone.
Why'd he do that? So they could have a little hand
in his mighty work. Oh, what a privilege. That's
what I'm trying to do tonight. I'm trying to take away the stone
from the mouth of your tomb. And pray that God will speak.
And when he spoke, he said, Lazarus, come forth. And I expect it's
just about in that tone. Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth
from the tomb. It always happens. When he calls,
always happens. You see, his call is personal.
He calls Lazarus in particular. He called Peter and John in particular. He saw Matthew sitting at the
receipt of customs, and he called Matthew in particular. He came
to Nathanael and called Nathanael in particular. It's a personal
call. It's a distinguishing call, for
it brings them out. When he says, Matthew, follow
me, Matthew dropped what he was doing and followed the master.
It's a convincing call. For by his call, he convinces
us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. And it's always
an effectual call, an irresistible call, so that those who hear
it can't resist. Now, people who don't understand
it, they say, well, you're talking about God forcing folks to do
what they don't want to do. No, no, no. No, it's God giving folks
a will to do what they never had a will to do before. One
day, I would not have Christ. Last
thing on this earth I wanted was that Jesus Christ should
be my Lord and I his servant. Now I wanted to go to heaven.
I wanted to get out of hell. I wanted to live a better life.
I wanted to overcome some of the problems I was facing. I
wanted to be assured that when I died I'd be taken on to glory.
I wanted all those things. But I didn't want Christ. I didn't
want Christ. Last thing on this earth I wanted.
I'd lived 16 years, nearly 17 years, in rebellion to Jesus
Christ. I did not want Him. And suddenly,
like a bolt of lightning from heaven, something took place
in my heart. And I heard a preacher declaring
Redemption accomplished at Calvary. And I wanted Christ more than
I wanted life itself. I had to have Him. Oh, I couldn't sleep if I didn't
get Him. I couldn't rest if I didn't get
Him. I could not find rest for my weary soul if I didn't get
Him. I had to have Him. What made the difference? God
called. God called. That's all. You see, you're calling, brethren.
Who maketh you to differ? God. By the grace of God, I am
what I am. We were dead, but God, who is
rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, has
quickened us together with Christ. We're called. Well, I'll spend
all my time there. I'll just have to touch on the
next two points. This call of the Spirit is the
proof and evidence of our eternal election in Christ. In our text,
the calling is put before election because we can't know our election
until we have been called. But election took place long
before we were called. The fact is, we were called in
time to give proof to the fact that we have been chosen of God
in eternity. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
we know your election of God, brethren, because our gospel
came to you not in word only, but in power and in much assurance
and in the Holy Ghost. Divine election. Oh, there's
a blessed, comforting, soul-cheering truth of Holy Scripture. It's
a blessed truth in which all believers rejoice as we see our
names And by the call of God, as we see our names written in
the book of life and the foundation of the world, our hearts are
made to dance before the Lord for his electing grace, like
David danced before the ark. The Lord God says, I have loved
thee with everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I shown thee. The Lord Jesus says, you've not
chosen me. My soul, I know that. But I have
chosen you and ordained you, that you should go and bring
forth much fruit. Whom he called, then he justified,
and whom he justified, then he glorified, because he predestinated
us to be conformed to the image of his Son. God hath saved us
and called us within holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Oh, blessed be the God
and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with
all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ, according as
he had chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Look
at this text over in first Peter, first Peter, chapter two or chapter
one, rather. Now, usually whenever you find
somebody who despises the gospel doctrine of divine election and
they want to disprove God's sovereignty in it, they'll turn to first
Peter one, two. So we'll look at the text. And they say, now,
look here, this means that we were chosen according to some
foreseen faith or some foreseen merit on our part or some some
foreknown act that we would perform. It says nothing of the kind.
Passage teaching God's gospel doctrine of election just like
all other texts where it's dealt with Peter says we are elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father Now that word
foreknowledge if you'll look down in verse 20 verse 20 Who
verily was foreordained? Before the foundation of the
world. It's the very same word the very same word So that when
Peter says we're chosen according to God's foreknowledge, he's
saying we have been chosen according to God's foreordination, even
that same foreordination that foreordained Christ as a lamb
slain before the world began. That same foreordination that
fixed all things from old eternity according to God's eternal purpose.
It also has in it the idea of of affection and love. We are
elect according to God's eternal, immutable affectionate ordination
on our behalf. Our election to eternal life
is through sanctification of the Spirit. God chose to bring
us to heaven by the regenerating, sanctifying grace of His Spirit.
who has given us in the new birth, he's given us a new nature, imparting
to us the righteousness of Christ. In regeneration, he's given us
a new heart, a new will, a new spirit that causes us to walk
after his will. And we're chosen unto obedience
and the sprinkling of the blood of Christ. Peter is telling us
that the object of God in our election was and is our obedience
to the gospel and the effectual application of the blood of Christ
to our hearts by faith. God the Father chose us, God
the Son redeemed us, and God the Spirit regenerated us, giving
us faith to obey Christ, trusting His blood for our complete atonement. As the result of God's eternal
election, love, as the result of His eternal electing love,
grace and peace are multiplied to us in Christ Jesus. He says
in verse 1, or verse 3 rather, He's told us that we're elect,
and He says, Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. Blessed
be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to His abundant mercy, that abundant mercy of God stored up in the
covenant, in His elective purpose, according to His abundant mercy,
He hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. He's reserved for us an eternal
inheritance in heaven. He keeps us by the power of His
grace. He has given us faith, and He's
accomplished salvation for us. Oh, we rejoice in His eternal
electing favor. And then the sure and certain
result of God's electing grace and the Spirit's effectual call
is faithfulness. All who are called and chosen
have faith in Christ. All who are born of God are made
faithful by His grace, and all who are called of the Spirit
remain faithful, persevering to the end. God's saints are
faithful. They're true, honest men and
women. You can trust them. God's saints
are faithful stewards, using whatever God puts in their hands
for His glory and His interest in this world. Whether it's money
or opportunity, whether it's ability or talents or gifts,
they use what God puts in their hands for his glory. And all
true believers are faithful to Christ. Faithful to the will
of Christ as their Lord. Faithful to the glory of Christ.
Faithful to the gospel of Christ. Faithful to the church of Christ.
Faithful to the people of Christ. And they'll continue that way.
They'll endure all trials. Overcome all temptation. triumph
over all their enemies, and at last they will die in faith. It is of God who chose us that
we are called. And it's God who gave us faith.
It's God who keeps us faithful in Christ Jesus. And it is to
God alone that our praise shall be forever, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost. Amen.